These were a few goals I set out a few weeks ago, and since I didn't want to lose track of them I am posting here to explain where I am.
1. Build my poker stars roll to be able to play 3-6
2. Qualify for a live event before the end of the year
3. Make a final table in Party Poker every month till the end of the year (10-30 tourneys)
4. Play 25k hands by the end of the year and show profit.
Let's start from the end and move up. First and foremost, I am almost a third of the way there with my hands. At this rate I should be able to top 30k hands. I am playing about at least 400 hands per day for 5 days of the week. I am showing a little profit, but I am working on analyzing my game to determine where I can be. Hopefully I can finish the year with a profit, and set goals based on what I have learned by playing: financial and moving up goals. For now I will continue to play the $2/4. I just want to accumulate as many tracked hands as possible, in order to be able to move levels comfortably.
I opened up my requirements, and I don't think I am sticking to the PP tourneys. Recently I have been playing at Full-tilt and its guarantees have less players which makes it a faster tourney. I shall also attempt a few Poker Stars Tourneys.
I haven't decided which live tournement I will start playing satalletites for, but I am leaning towards playing in the WPT event at Foxwoods in late November. I will probably be playing the satellites at Full-tilt.
I haven't really logged many hours of play in Pokerstars to increase my roll there which is unfortunate. I will probably play $1/2 there for a while and see how I do. Since I am trying to clear the Full-tilt sign up bonus most of my playing occurs either there or at Empire where I have a rake back program.
Today my new Dell computer arrived and it comes with a 24" widescreen monitor... I can't wait to get home!!!
sexta-feira, setembro 30, 2005
Tilt Recovery
I have to say I was very upset five days ago when I tilted and dropped about 70bb. I decided I wouldn't play cash games for one day. Instead I was going to play the tournement and take some time to analyze my game. As you have read, I have played the tournements and I feel I have been playing well. In analyzing my cash games, I feel that when I tilt is because I am playing a lot of hands or "trying" to outplay my oponents. Outplay my oponents not having the goods is one of the biggest mistakes I was making. I used pokertracker to see some of my biggest losing hands and they were QJo and a few others. After speaking to a friend he told me, how most of the times this hand is easily dominated. So I am droping out of hands I am playing, especially when I am 4 tabling. If I play, I will only play in the button looking to flop straight or OE draws. Tighting up alone has helped greatly.
Since the tilt session I have gained 138bb and I am moving in the right direction. I believe I am playing well in every aspect and I haven't had a losing session for the past 3 days playing 4 tables of $2/4.
I just started using the pokertracker feature that allows me to collect data on players while I am not playing. I am hoping this will increase my earnings by 1bb/100 hands.
I have to say I was very upset five days ago when I tilted and dropped about 70bb. I decided I wouldn't play cash games for one day. Instead I was going to play the tournement and take some time to analyze my game. As you have read, I have played the tournements and I feel I have been playing well. In analyzing my cash games, I feel that when I tilt is because I am playing a lot of hands or "trying" to outplay my oponents. Outplay my oponents not having the goods is one of the biggest mistakes I was making. I used pokertracker to see some of my biggest losing hands and they were QJo and a few others. After speaking to a friend he told me, how most of the times this hand is easily dominated. So I am droping out of hands I am playing, especially when I am 4 tabling. If I play, I will only play in the button looking to flop straight or OE draws. Tighting up alone has helped greatly.
Since the tilt session I have gained 138bb and I am moving in the right direction. I believe I am playing well in every aspect and I haven't had a losing session for the past 3 days playing 4 tables of $2/4.
I just started using the pokertracker feature that allows me to collect data on players while I am not playing. I am hoping this will increase my earnings by 1bb/100 hands.
I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!
This event is powered by PokerStars.
Registration code: 6478023
quarta-feira, setembro 28, 2005
Full-tilt 10k Guaranteed (10pm)
I played again last night. I didn't make the money, but I believe it was mostly because I never caught any good cards. I took the time to take notes on a lot of the players, since I ran into a few from the night before. I am thinking of playing this tourney 4-5 times a week. I like the field and the level of play. There are not a lot of donkies and I think although there are good players, it helps me improve my overall play since I am playing with better than average players. Not to say there aren't weird plays.
I couldn't catch any cards, but I was able to use my "tight" image to steal some blinds, and double up once. I lost to QQ with AhKh in the BB. Here is the hand: Blinds were $100/200, cutoff has 4800 and i only have about 1.2k left. He makes it 800 and I shove all my chips in. He calls and his Quens hold up. I am very happy with my play. I finished around 175th, and 45th paid.
I was also able to get back on the green track playing $2/$4 short handed. I played 2 tables and I was much more in control and didn't really venture in making "bluffs" which usually gets me in trouble. I played about 380 hands and I was up about 25bb. Not bad at all. One of the things I am trying to keep under control while playing short handed is the number of flops I see. I think a good range is between 28% - 35%. The nights I tilted I was at about 40% and that's way too many since I normally get involved in hands where I endup being second best.
I played again last night. I didn't make the money, but I believe it was mostly because I never caught any good cards. I took the time to take notes on a lot of the players, since I ran into a few from the night before. I am thinking of playing this tourney 4-5 times a week. I like the field and the level of play. There are not a lot of donkies and I think although there are good players, it helps me improve my overall play since I am playing with better than average players. Not to say there aren't weird plays.
I couldn't catch any cards, but I was able to use my "tight" image to steal some blinds, and double up once. I lost to QQ with AhKh in the BB. Here is the hand: Blinds were $100/200, cutoff has 4800 and i only have about 1.2k left. He makes it 800 and I shove all my chips in. He calls and his Quens hold up. I am very happy with my play. I finished around 175th, and 45th paid.
I was also able to get back on the green track playing $2/$4 short handed. I played 2 tables and I was much more in control and didn't really venture in making "bluffs" which usually gets me in trouble. I played about 380 hands and I was up about 25bb. Not bad at all. One of the things I am trying to keep under control while playing short handed is the number of flops I see. I think a good range is between 28% - 35%. The nights I tilted I was at about 40% and that's way too many since I normally get involved in hands where I endup being second best.
terça-feira, setembro 27, 2005
Full Tilt 10k guaranteed (10pm)
I played this tournement last night. I placed in the money and I believe I made many good plays. I was card dead most of the tournement, but I managed to make good plays at the right times with some value hands, and my tight image helped me steal a few pots down the stretch. I have to express I am little disappointed with the Full-Tilt tournement software. At the end players got moved out and into my table in random. Most importantly players with bigger stacks were brought in while others with smaller stacks got moved out. I say this because at one point I was the third biggest stack in the table with 13k in chips and the other bigs stacks were to my right 3 positions. This is great because if they are not that close to me, I can certainly steal some blinds since the smaller stacks are playing so tight. On the other hand, 2 short stacks to my right got moved to another table and 2 big stacks (2x my stack) were moved to my right. So when hands were folded around one of the two would put in a raise and I couldn't steal the blinds. Very annoying!
I believe I played a solid tournement. I made 2 mistakes, one great read, and there were 2 interesting hands. I will start with my mistakes. I doubled up a few times and i was seating aroudn 9k in chips. I had just been moved to this new table and I had seen this player move all in. I pick up 99 in the seat before the cut-off and it gets folded to me. I raise 4xbb to about 1300. Gets folded to the player who had just made the all in move and he pushes all in. At that time, I stopped and thought about what hands I thought he had. I could easily put him on AK or AQ which I would be a favorite, but I could also think that he had a slower pair and didn't want to play me, and was trying to scare me off the pot. In any case, I called. He showed AA and I lost the hand getting me to 2.8k in chips.
I waited around for some cards and a position where I could move all my chips in and hopefully double up. The two interesting hands were that I moved all in 2x with AQ, to get called by people with AQ and split the pot. I hated it, but I guess it is better than losing to a worst hand. The great read came early in the tournement. I think the blinds were 30-60 and I had 66 in the button. Someone in MP raises to $180 standard raise. I call hoping for a 6. The flop comes rainbow T 5 2. I really didn't think this was a scary flop. In any case if my oponent hit his hand he would make some sort of bet. He checked. I put him on AK immediately. So I wanted to buy this pot right there. I bet about $600 which is $120 more than the pot size. He and I have the same stack sizes about 1600. He actually had $60 more chips than me. He thinks and pushes all in. I called. He showed AK and I manage to dodge aces or kings in the turn and river.
My bad play came as we got into the money. I was seating on a decent stack of $13k and the blinds were 500/$1000 with $75 antes. I was really looking to make a move and double up soon so I can either contest for the final table or go to bed and sleep. It was about 12:40am. This player with about 20k had been a bully in the table. If people limped in from the small blind when he was the bb, he would shove all his chips in. He did that in several occasions. Everyone folds around to him, and from the cutoff seat he pushes all in. I have KsQs and I am in the big blind. I think about it and this is the situation: 54 players get paid and we are at 55. Someone in another table is the bb with all their chips and I am about to make the money (I am watching the other table and I see that this person loses). Since I have more chips than the person who got blind out, if push all in and lose, I will still be in the money. I decided to make a stand and I called. He showed AKo and my hand didn't improve. I came in the money at 54th place. Not bad, but I was hoping for more.
I can't say it was a big mistake, normally I like going with my reads and I constantly do that. My reads were good, but these players just don't fit correctly in my profiles hehe.
Good tourney though
I played this tournement last night. I placed in the money and I believe I made many good plays. I was card dead most of the tournement, but I managed to make good plays at the right times with some value hands, and my tight image helped me steal a few pots down the stretch. I have to express I am little disappointed with the Full-Tilt tournement software. At the end players got moved out and into my table in random. Most importantly players with bigger stacks were brought in while others with smaller stacks got moved out. I say this because at one point I was the third biggest stack in the table with 13k in chips and the other bigs stacks were to my right 3 positions. This is great because if they are not that close to me, I can certainly steal some blinds since the smaller stacks are playing so tight. On the other hand, 2 short stacks to my right got moved to another table and 2 big stacks (2x my stack) were moved to my right. So when hands were folded around one of the two would put in a raise and I couldn't steal the blinds. Very annoying!
I believe I played a solid tournement. I made 2 mistakes, one great read, and there were 2 interesting hands. I will start with my mistakes. I doubled up a few times and i was seating aroudn 9k in chips. I had just been moved to this new table and I had seen this player move all in. I pick up 99 in the seat before the cut-off and it gets folded to me. I raise 4xbb to about 1300. Gets folded to the player who had just made the all in move and he pushes all in. At that time, I stopped and thought about what hands I thought he had. I could easily put him on AK or AQ which I would be a favorite, but I could also think that he had a slower pair and didn't want to play me, and was trying to scare me off the pot. In any case, I called. He showed AA and I lost the hand getting me to 2.8k in chips.
I waited around for some cards and a position where I could move all my chips in and hopefully double up. The two interesting hands were that I moved all in 2x with AQ, to get called by people with AQ and split the pot. I hated it, but I guess it is better than losing to a worst hand. The great read came early in the tournement. I think the blinds were 30-60 and I had 66 in the button. Someone in MP raises to $180 standard raise. I call hoping for a 6. The flop comes rainbow T 5 2. I really didn't think this was a scary flop. In any case if my oponent hit his hand he would make some sort of bet. He checked. I put him on AK immediately. So I wanted to buy this pot right there. I bet about $600 which is $120 more than the pot size. He and I have the same stack sizes about 1600. He actually had $60 more chips than me. He thinks and pushes all in. I called. He showed AK and I manage to dodge aces or kings in the turn and river.
My bad play came as we got into the money. I was seating on a decent stack of $13k and the blinds were 500/$1000 with $75 antes. I was really looking to make a move and double up soon so I can either contest for the final table or go to bed and sleep. It was about 12:40am. This player with about 20k had been a bully in the table. If people limped in from the small blind when he was the bb, he would shove all his chips in. He did that in several occasions. Everyone folds around to him, and from the cutoff seat he pushes all in. I have KsQs and I am in the big blind. I think about it and this is the situation: 54 players get paid and we are at 55. Someone in another table is the bb with all their chips and I am about to make the money (I am watching the other table and I see that this person loses). Since I have more chips than the person who got blind out, if push all in and lose, I will still be in the money. I decided to make a stand and I called. He showed AKo and my hand didn't improve. I came in the money at 54th place. Not bad, but I was hoping for more.
I can't say it was a big mistake, normally I like going with my reads and I constantly do that. My reads were good, but these players just don't fit correctly in my profiles hehe.
Good tourney though
segunda-feira, setembro 26, 2005
Tilt Sessions
I have been playing well recently, normally winning 5 to 7 bb per session. I have been trying to clear the Full-tilt bonus and I just cleared my Empire Poker bonus. I had deposited $600 in the full-tilt account and I have managed to clear $40. I was up at around $780 in my roll there. In the Empire account I had deposited the $500 and managed to clear the bonus of $100 as well. I had $710 in this account. I was really happy with all of this, but I had 2 big bad tilt sessions where I did not play my best poker and I took a big hit.
First session was in FullTilt where I managed to lose about $200. I like playing 4 tables, but it's not possible to do that in full-tilt sometimes because they don't have enough players in the $2/4 tables. So I decided to play 2 full and 2 short handed. I got into a bad match with this player after a bad beat and didn't grab control of my tilt. I lost a full buy in ($100) in the short handed, and my play was definitely affected in the other 3 tables losing an additional $100 combined. After the loss I looked at my stats, and I was very annoyed that all my work for the past week had gone down the drains.
Last night, I enteded into my Empire account and I started playing well, but the table was so loose that I had to loosen up as well. I feel that because of my previous tilt, I decided I could make certain plays (bluffing, check raising). In the four tables I played I lost another $170 combined. This was not smart at all and I have to get back to playing smart poker and not let tilt take control of my play.
I really haven't come up with anything that prevents me from tilting. I need to figure it out, sooneer because tilt sessions are not good for your /hr + /100 hand avegare. I was at 2bb, but now I see myself just barely above .1bb/100 after 5k hands. Just really irritating.
Today I will play a few $10+1 3 table tournements in Poker Stars to see if I can get out of this tilt. I also played the 1:30pm $10+1 900 players in Poker Stars on Saturday. I played really well and I was getting cards but got sucked out 2x. Here are the two hands:
I have JJ in the small blind. Tight player raises 3xbb. I thought he had a really strong hand and I was out of position. Plus I had won 2 hands without showing my cards earlier. So I decided not reraise back which is something I do with JJ. I called and the flop came Jc 4c 3d. Great flop, unless he has AcKc or AcQc. Which means that he is not totally out. I make a pot size bet which is 2/3rds of his stack. The player goes all in. I call. He has AcAh. Turn and River are clubs and he wins. The other hand I had this other player covered. He raised UTG+1 4xbb and I had AsKs in the button. I should have probably reraised him to see where he stood, instead I gave the player credit and just called. Flop was Kd 7d 2c. He checks and I bet about 80% of the pot. He calls. I think he either has a set of KK or AK or AQ diamond draw. The next cards is a diamond. I didn't like it. So after he checked, I checked behind him. The river is another diamond and he pushes all in about 1.1k in chips. I folded and he showed Ad 5c. I was very disgusted with that hand. I didn't go very far. I ran into KK with AQ but I didn't think it was a bad tournement overall.
I will post some results tomorrow and now that I have 5k hands my worst hands.
I have been playing well recently, normally winning 5 to 7 bb per session. I have been trying to clear the Full-tilt bonus and I just cleared my Empire Poker bonus. I had deposited $600 in the full-tilt account and I have managed to clear $40. I was up at around $780 in my roll there. In the Empire account I had deposited the $500 and managed to clear the bonus of $100 as well. I had $710 in this account. I was really happy with all of this, but I had 2 big bad tilt sessions where I did not play my best poker and I took a big hit.
First session was in FullTilt where I managed to lose about $200. I like playing 4 tables, but it's not possible to do that in full-tilt sometimes because they don't have enough players in the $2/4 tables. So I decided to play 2 full and 2 short handed. I got into a bad match with this player after a bad beat and didn't grab control of my tilt. I lost a full buy in ($100) in the short handed, and my play was definitely affected in the other 3 tables losing an additional $100 combined. After the loss I looked at my stats, and I was very annoyed that all my work for the past week had gone down the drains.
Last night, I enteded into my Empire account and I started playing well, but the table was so loose that I had to loosen up as well. I feel that because of my previous tilt, I decided I could make certain plays (bluffing, check raising). In the four tables I played I lost another $170 combined. This was not smart at all and I have to get back to playing smart poker and not let tilt take control of my play.
I really haven't come up with anything that prevents me from tilting. I need to figure it out, sooneer because tilt sessions are not good for your /hr + /100 hand avegare. I was at 2bb, but now I see myself just barely above .1bb/100 after 5k hands. Just really irritating.
Today I will play a few $10+1 3 table tournements in Poker Stars to see if I can get out of this tilt. I also played the 1:30pm $10+1 900 players in Poker Stars on Saturday. I played really well and I was getting cards but got sucked out 2x. Here are the two hands:
I have JJ in the small blind. Tight player raises 3xbb. I thought he had a really strong hand and I was out of position. Plus I had won 2 hands without showing my cards earlier. So I decided not reraise back which is something I do with JJ. I called and the flop came Jc 4c 3d. Great flop, unless he has AcKc or AcQc. Which means that he is not totally out. I make a pot size bet which is 2/3rds of his stack. The player goes all in. I call. He has AcAh. Turn and River are clubs and he wins. The other hand I had this other player covered. He raised UTG+1 4xbb and I had AsKs in the button. I should have probably reraised him to see where he stood, instead I gave the player credit and just called. Flop was Kd 7d 2c. He checks and I bet about 80% of the pot. He calls. I think he either has a set of KK or AK or AQ diamond draw. The next cards is a diamond. I didn't like it. So after he checked, I checked behind him. The river is another diamond and he pushes all in about 1.1k in chips. I folded and he showed Ad 5c. I was very disgusted with that hand. I didn't go very far. I ran into KK with AQ but I didn't think it was a bad tournement overall.
I will post some results tomorrow and now that I have 5k hands my worst hands.
terça-feira, setembro 20, 2005
WPT Borgata Open Pictures
These were some pictures from my weekend. I was hoping to post them during the weekend, but it didn't work when I tried sending them from my phone.
These were some pictures from my weekend. I was hoping to post them during the weekend, but it didn't work when I tried sending them from my phone.
I wish I had played better so I could have more pictures. On a different note, I just cleared the $120 bonus from Poker Stars. I was playing $2/4 and I wasn't happy at all with my play. I only made 1.96BB/100 for over 1200 hands (not counting the $120 bonus). It got me thinking as to why I played so poorly and didn't make more. Tomorrow's post will show my 4 worst money hands and at least one hand explaining my bad play.
segunda-feira, setembro 19, 2005
WPT Borgata Open - Report
Oh well, I didn't get even close to making it this weekend. I really have to play more live tournements to get a feel for what I should be doing and not early on. I didn't last longer than the 4th round which in my mind is very lame. Here is the full report:
$50+15 sub satellite. ($2000 in starting chips - blinds go up every 25 minutes)
Table seemed pretty easy, but one guy decides he will be the maniac. He is always pushing all-in. I am cold carded and a play in the button didn't really work so I have about $1.2k in chips. No flops are hitting me and I am actually very tired. Guy goes all in and I see myself with 6 6. I call. He had me covered. He turns AJ and I show 66... Flop is KQT for the straight. Bye bye.
$200+25 satellite. ($3000 in starting chips - blinds go up every 30 minutes)
Tougher table, guys more seasoned. AK and AQ first 2 hands, after that I sat on my money for a while. I am really cold carded and I am letting others play. Blinds $100-$200 and some short stack goes all-in for $500 chips. I have AdJd and I reraise to $1200 leaving me with $900 chips left. Big stack pushes all in. I am committed and I call. The person shows JJ and the short stack had A3. We both lose to the JJ. I am out again.
Played in 3 $60+15 shoot-0uts that give you a seat in the $500+50 satellite + $100. Came in 4th (no cards - folded away), 4th (good cards but blind structure didn't help and in the end didn't win my races), and 1st. I played well, and I also felt the table didn't have many skilled players.
$500+50 satellite. ($5000 in starting chips - blinds go up every 30 minutes)
Really tough table. I was the fish there for sure and my play certainly showed that. Twelve hands into the tourney, I have KK. 2 Limpers in early position. I raise to $450. I had seen someone make a big raise, get called and then push all in. So I was sure I would get at least one caller. Instead I got 3 callers. The big blind being one of them. The flop is 9 4 3. It gets checked around to me. The pot has close to $2000 in chips. I make a pot size bet and the big blind calls me. 2 comes in the river and he pushes all in. I called. He shows 4 4 for a set of fours.
I had 450 left. I pushed with Ad8d and got called with TT. That was another tourney.
I liked the trip because it got me some live play, but I certainly need to strategize more prior to going to these tourneys. Patience is a big thing too, since I am so used to play online. Live play is like crawling. I need something to keep me motivated.
I hope for better luck next time.
Oh well, I didn't get even close to making it this weekend. I really have to play more live tournements to get a feel for what I should be doing and not early on. I didn't last longer than the 4th round which in my mind is very lame. Here is the full report:
$50+15 sub satellite. ($2000 in starting chips - blinds go up every 25 minutes)
Table seemed pretty easy, but one guy decides he will be the maniac. He is always pushing all-in. I am cold carded and a play in the button didn't really work so I have about $1.2k in chips. No flops are hitting me and I am actually very tired. Guy goes all in and I see myself with 6 6. I call. He had me covered. He turns AJ and I show 66... Flop is KQT for the straight. Bye bye.
$200+25 satellite. ($3000 in starting chips - blinds go up every 30 minutes)
Tougher table, guys more seasoned. AK and AQ first 2 hands, after that I sat on my money for a while. I am really cold carded and I am letting others play. Blinds $100-$200 and some short stack goes all-in for $500 chips. I have AdJd and I reraise to $1200 leaving me with $900 chips left. Big stack pushes all in. I am committed and I call. The person shows JJ and the short stack had A3. We both lose to the JJ. I am out again.
Played in 3 $60+15 shoot-0uts that give you a seat in the $500+50 satellite + $100. Came in 4th (no cards - folded away), 4th (good cards but blind structure didn't help and in the end didn't win my races), and 1st. I played well, and I also felt the table didn't have many skilled players.
$500+50 satellite. ($5000 in starting chips - blinds go up every 30 minutes)
Really tough table. I was the fish there for sure and my play certainly showed that. Twelve hands into the tourney, I have KK. 2 Limpers in early position. I raise to $450. I had seen someone make a big raise, get called and then push all in. So I was sure I would get at least one caller. Instead I got 3 callers. The big blind being one of them. The flop is 9 4 3. It gets checked around to me. The pot has close to $2000 in chips. I make a pot size bet and the big blind calls me. 2 comes in the river and he pushes all in. I called. He shows 4 4 for a set of fours.
I had 450 left. I pushed with Ad8d and got called with TT. That was another tourney.
I liked the trip because it got me some live play, but I certainly need to strategize more prior to going to these tourneys. Patience is a big thing too, since I am so used to play online. Live play is like crawling. I need something to keep me motivated.
I hope for better luck next time.
sábado, setembro 17, 2005
sexta-feira, setembro 16, 2005
Wpt Borgata open
2 hr drive to ac. A little tired. But got 2 red bulls.
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quinta-feira, setembro 15, 2005
Home Poker Game...
Yesterday I went to a co-worker's house for our Wednesday's poker night. Unfortunetely there were only 6 of us, and we decided to play one $30 buyin with the first person who gets knocked out getting a chance to rebuy. It would pay 1st $150 and 2nd $60 (if someone rebought).
There were only 2 players out of the six who concerned me, but I felt I could run the table. That's exactly what I did. Most of the players are passive and have no clue about pot odds, and they give out more tells than my son when he is excited about a new toy.
Since they rely most on luck, I had just to play my game and hope the poker gods would look my way. I did exactly what I needed to do, especially since I was getting a lot of good cards and hitting the flop most of the times. However, this is not a story that has a happy ending -- I finished last. I am unhappy about 2 things about last night's play and I hope I can improve in one of them.
Since I took a monster runner runner bad beat. I tilted and intead of waiting for a few hands, I decided to loosen up and just play every pot. I had about 13xbb and I think it was plenty for me to make a come back. However, I felt unrested and decided to just get lucky. I need to think about "chip-n-chair" and just hope for the best.
The second thing I have made note of is that I gave respect to one of the players in this group. I give respect for a move he made on me. It certainly took balls, what I am mad about is that I didn't look at the pot and my oponents stacks. I could have busted two players out since I had about 4-1 odds to call their bets and it would have left them with about $100 more in chips. Since I was the chip leader I should have just pushed and hoped for the best.
In any case I have to congratulate the winner of the tourney. He put me on a big tilt and still managed to win the tourney.
I lost more money when I went home. 2 AA cracked, KK lost to set of TT and set of 88 to set of JJ. It is at these moments that I enjoy playing Limit. My losses were not for my bad playing but just a bad run of cards.
Played some more this morning and recovered almost all of the money lost last night. Today at least the gods were a little bit nicer to me.
On a different note, I want to share some of my goals with you:
1. Build my poker stars roll to be able to play 3-6
2. Qualify for a live event before the end of the year
3. Make a final table in Party Poker every month till the end of the year (10-30 tourneys)
4. Play 25k hands by the end of the year and show profit.
I have other goals but these are the ones I am concentrating at the moment.
Tomorrow I will head to the Borgata Casino to play 1 sub-satellite and 1 satellite in a attempt to qualify for the WPT Borgata event that will happen from Monday thru Wednesday ($9700+300).
I will play the $50+15 sub-sattelite at 11pm tomorrow. This will be a turbo tourney and I should have a chance since it will qualify 1 in every 10 (9-1) and the field should be large. This will qualify me for the 3pm or 11pm saturday $500+50 event.
On Saturday at 11am, I will play the $200+25 satellite. This is a fast tourney and it only qualifies 1 in every 50, so it will be a lot more difficult.
I hope I can bring good news. I will try to learn how to wireless blog to make my blog work while I am playing.
Yesterday I went to a co-worker's house for our Wednesday's poker night. Unfortunetely there were only 6 of us, and we decided to play one $30 buyin with the first person who gets knocked out getting a chance to rebuy. It would pay 1st $150 and 2nd $60 (if someone rebought).
There were only 2 players out of the six who concerned me, but I felt I could run the table. That's exactly what I did. Most of the players are passive and have no clue about pot odds, and they give out more tells than my son when he is excited about a new toy.
Since they rely most on luck, I had just to play my game and hope the poker gods would look my way. I did exactly what I needed to do, especially since I was getting a lot of good cards and hitting the flop most of the times. However, this is not a story that has a happy ending -- I finished last. I am unhappy about 2 things about last night's play and I hope I can improve in one of them.
Since I took a monster runner runner bad beat. I tilted and intead of waiting for a few hands, I decided to loosen up and just play every pot. I had about 13xbb and I think it was plenty for me to make a come back. However, I felt unrested and decided to just get lucky. I need to think about "chip-n-chair" and just hope for the best.
The second thing I have made note of is that I gave respect to one of the players in this group. I give respect for a move he made on me. It certainly took balls, what I am mad about is that I didn't look at the pot and my oponents stacks. I could have busted two players out since I had about 4-1 odds to call their bets and it would have left them with about $100 more in chips. Since I was the chip leader I should have just pushed and hoped for the best.
In any case I have to congratulate the winner of the tourney. He put me on a big tilt and still managed to win the tourney.
I lost more money when I went home. 2 AA cracked, KK lost to set of TT and set of 88 to set of JJ. It is at these moments that I enjoy playing Limit. My losses were not for my bad playing but just a bad run of cards.
Played some more this morning and recovered almost all of the money lost last night. Today at least the gods were a little bit nicer to me.
On a different note, I want to share some of my goals with you:
1. Build my poker stars roll to be able to play 3-6
2. Qualify for a live event before the end of the year
3. Make a final table in Party Poker every month till the end of the year (10-30 tourneys)
4. Play 25k hands by the end of the year and show profit.
I have other goals but these are the ones I am concentrating at the moment.
Tomorrow I will head to the Borgata Casino to play 1 sub-satellite and 1 satellite in a attempt to qualify for the WPT Borgata event that will happen from Monday thru Wednesday ($9700+300).
I will play the $50+15 sub-sattelite at 11pm tomorrow. This will be a turbo tourney and I should have a chance since it will qualify 1 in every 10 (9-1) and the field should be large. This will qualify me for the 3pm or 11pm saturday $500+50 event.
On Saturday at 11am, I will play the $200+25 satellite. This is a fast tourney and it only qualifies 1 in every 50, so it will be a lot more difficult.
I hope I can bring good news. I will try to learn how to wireless blog to make my blog work while I am playing.
quarta-feira, setembro 14, 2005
Failure to recognize you are second best!
This is one of the mistakes beginners to not so experienced players make. Beginners most of the time are curious to see what the other player has and players who are not really good yet, just can't lay some hands down because they fail to read the actions throughout the play.
I am writing about this topic because I just finished reading Dan Harrington's Volume I and he talks a lot about reading your oponents style and also their actions. In addition, I made these mistakes last night which cost me 2 tournements (one $5 3-table in ps and another $10 - 1980 players in pp).
Players who make this type of mistake are rarely playing strong poker. Poker cannot be played only with the hands that you are dealt. Especially tournement poker where there will be a lot of scenarios where you will have to make moves due to the increase of the blinds. In any case, you should always be aware of the oponents in your table and also the actions ocurring in the current hand.
First I will go over the hand in the Party Poker tourney. We are down to 560 players, I think 260 pays. I have an average stack of around 4400 (average at this point is 3900), and I just got moved to this new table where I was sitted to the left of a big stack with 9k and on my left someone with 4800k in chips. I have no real read before this play happened since I had been in this table less than 1 full orbit. Most stacks are average like mine but there are 3 players with stacks below 5bb. Blinds are 100/200 no antes (pp doesn't have antes). I am in the BB and I have 9s 9c. UTG raises to 550 (2.5bb) and everyone folds up to the small blinds who calls. I thought about putting a raise here, but I decided I would see the texture of the flop and make my decision there. I call another $350 and we see the flop. The flop is 8 7 x rainbow. I liked the flop a lot, but I failed to think through the hand and that's where I made the mistake.
SB checks. I decided I was going to get some information and I also thought about taking the pot right there. I made a bet of 1k into a 1650 pot. I thought it was a good bet because it would give me a lot of information about the hand or it could take the pot right away. UTG player goes all in for his remaining chips, sb folds. Last week when I won a few tourneys I made good decisions, but for some reason last night I was feeling "invincible". The right play was to fold. Most players UTG are playing Pocket Pairs or AK, AQ, hmm AJ. If I put them on those hands I was certainly beat most of the time. Since I had no read on him, I had to give him the benefit of the doubt that he had a hand. He had to be a very good player to make that move with AK, AQ and AJ and if he did, you let him take the pot right there. In any other case you are beat!
Let's think it through:
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT - BEAT
99 unlikely
88, 77 - sets beat
AK, AQ, AJ and other Ax hands I am a favorite, but since I had no read on my oponents, and he made that play, I am a big 4-1 underdog about 80% of the times from the range of cards that I place him on. Again he is also making a play that suggest he has those cards. I called and he showed AA and I was out of the tourney in 554th place. Making a lay down would still give a good chance to win. I would have had 15x the bb which would get me close to the money. Anyways, I hope I learn from this mistake.
Now let's talk about another hand where I should not have been involved in, but my invincible mentality cost me. I failed again to think the whole hand through, and Harrington's talks a lot about some plays and getting information about your oponents and what the bets are suggesting.
This is the $5 tourney, it's early but I have managed to grow my chips to 2800. There are a few loose canons on the table, but many passive players. Someone limps UTG, MP who has me covered by about 300 chips calls, MP+1 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB folds (why) and I check. Blinds are $25/$50. Pot now has $325. I have 5c 3c. I liked seeing the flop cheap in this situation, and because there were some loose players I didn't think it would work to put out a big bluff.
Flop comes 9h 4c 2c. Yippiee I really like this flop. I think that I am probably 50% with any other hand mostly because i have the flush draw. So i put a nice $250 bet out there also trying to push some people away. UTG folds, MP and MP+1 calls everyone else folds. Interesting. I should definetely be concerned now. I think I could possibly be beat by another flush draw or over cards. The turn is Js. I decided to check and see what my oponents do. They both check behind me. River is Jc. For some reason I fell in love with the fact that I saw the club, and I completely forgot to think what hands my oponents could have. I told myself I would "trap", so I check. MP bets 300 (should be suspicious). MP+1 goes all in. Shouldn't this have been enough for me to fold??? Yes. I should have folded, but got caught in trying to make my play. The all-in by the way was of about 1.3k. So it was just about less than the pot size. I should have believed the information the oponents were giving me and folded the hand. Instead I made an even more stupid play. I reraised all-in. Only to have MP call me. He was glad I made the play.
MP show Ac 9c and MP+1 show 2s 2h. He takes the main pot with a full house and I lose the tourney in 21st place to MP who had me covered. He took the side pot.
You have to be aware of your oponents and why they are making the plays that they are making. I failded to recognize their strength and it cost me 2 tourneys.
This is one of the mistakes beginners to not so experienced players make. Beginners most of the time are curious to see what the other player has and players who are not really good yet, just can't lay some hands down because they fail to read the actions throughout the play.
I am writing about this topic because I just finished reading Dan Harrington's Volume I and he talks a lot about reading your oponents style and also their actions. In addition, I made these mistakes last night which cost me 2 tournements (one $5 3-table in ps and another $10 - 1980 players in pp).
Players who make this type of mistake are rarely playing strong poker. Poker cannot be played only with the hands that you are dealt. Especially tournement poker where there will be a lot of scenarios where you will have to make moves due to the increase of the blinds. In any case, you should always be aware of the oponents in your table and also the actions ocurring in the current hand.
First I will go over the hand in the Party Poker tourney. We are down to 560 players, I think 260 pays. I have an average stack of around 4400 (average at this point is 3900), and I just got moved to this new table where I was sitted to the left of a big stack with 9k and on my left someone with 4800k in chips. I have no real read before this play happened since I had been in this table less than 1 full orbit. Most stacks are average like mine but there are 3 players with stacks below 5bb. Blinds are 100/200 no antes (pp doesn't have antes). I am in the BB and I have 9s 9c. UTG raises to 550 (2.5bb) and everyone folds up to the small blinds who calls. I thought about putting a raise here, but I decided I would see the texture of the flop and make my decision there. I call another $350 and we see the flop. The flop is 8 7 x rainbow. I liked the flop a lot, but I failed to think through the hand and that's where I made the mistake.
SB checks. I decided I was going to get some information and I also thought about taking the pot right there. I made a bet of 1k into a 1650 pot. I thought it was a good bet because it would give me a lot of information about the hand or it could take the pot right away. UTG player goes all in for his remaining chips, sb folds. Last week when I won a few tourneys I made good decisions, but for some reason last night I was feeling "invincible". The right play was to fold. Most players UTG are playing Pocket Pairs or AK, AQ, hmm AJ. If I put them on those hands I was certainly beat most of the time. Since I had no read on him, I had to give him the benefit of the doubt that he had a hand. He had to be a very good player to make that move with AK, AQ and AJ and if he did, you let him take the pot right there. In any other case you are beat!
Let's think it through:
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT - BEAT
99 unlikely
88, 77 - sets beat
AK, AQ, AJ and other Ax hands I am a favorite, but since I had no read on my oponents, and he made that play, I am a big 4-1 underdog about 80% of the times from the range of cards that I place him on. Again he is also making a play that suggest he has those cards. I called and he showed AA and I was out of the tourney in 554th place. Making a lay down would still give a good chance to win. I would have had 15x the bb which would get me close to the money. Anyways, I hope I learn from this mistake.
Now let's talk about another hand where I should not have been involved in, but my invincible mentality cost me. I failed again to think the whole hand through, and Harrington's talks a lot about some plays and getting information about your oponents and what the bets are suggesting.
This is the $5 tourney, it's early but I have managed to grow my chips to 2800. There are a few loose canons on the table, but many passive players. Someone limps UTG, MP who has me covered by about 300 chips calls, MP+1 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB folds (why) and I check. Blinds are $25/$50. Pot now has $325. I have 5c 3c. I liked seeing the flop cheap in this situation, and because there were some loose players I didn't think it would work to put out a big bluff.
Flop comes 9h 4c 2c. Yippiee I really like this flop. I think that I am probably 50% with any other hand mostly because i have the flush draw. So i put a nice $250 bet out there also trying to push some people away. UTG folds, MP and MP+1 calls everyone else folds. Interesting. I should definetely be concerned now. I think I could possibly be beat by another flush draw or over cards. The turn is Js. I decided to check and see what my oponents do. They both check behind me. River is Jc. For some reason I fell in love with the fact that I saw the club, and I completely forgot to think what hands my oponents could have. I told myself I would "trap", so I check. MP bets 300 (should be suspicious). MP+1 goes all in. Shouldn't this have been enough for me to fold??? Yes. I should have folded, but got caught in trying to make my play. The all-in by the way was of about 1.3k. So it was just about less than the pot size. I should have believed the information the oponents were giving me and folded the hand. Instead I made an even more stupid play. I reraised all-in. Only to have MP call me. He was glad I made the play.
MP show Ac 9c and MP+1 show 2s 2h. He takes the main pot with a full house and I lose the tourney in 21st place to MP who had me covered. He took the side pot.
You have to be aware of your oponents and why they are making the plays that they are making. I failded to recognize their strength and it cost me 2 tourneys.
terça-feira, setembro 13, 2005
Hi everyone,
I started writing this blog, because I want to share some of my poker accomplishments and also because I would like to share my experience with other players who are just startingt to play. I feel that by writing here on a weekly or even a daily basis, I can see my poker skills develop and keep track of my progress.
I will give you a little background on me and also on how I started playing. I was born in Brazil, and came to the US, 13 years ago. I went to high school here and some college. Due to some personal issues, I didn't finish school. I work at a very successful technology firm in Manhattan and I am doing well for myself. I have a 6 year old son who is just starting first grade. I am very proud of him.
As the description of the blog suggests, I started playing just about 13 months ago. I really had no idea what I was doing, but my interest for poker was immediate. I have not been able to spend more than a week without playing poker. I improved my game mostly by talking to other players, reading poker foruns and playing a lot. Reading books really helped me understand the game, and some books helped me understand most of the other aspects involved in playing the game that don't concern the cards.
I believe I put in at least 15 hours a week, either by playing tourneys or by playing the ring games. I have played both live and online; but I have stuck to playing online since it's cheaper maintenance. I have shown a profit overall, but only recently (4 months) that I have seen a profit in my ring games. My final table finishes certainly cover any loss that I have head in the past. I have made 6 final tables of tourneys ranging from $20-$30 and over 500 players. Won 2, came in second 2x, fourth and 8th. I don't like to use these as a direct measure of my success. Although 3 of these final tables came during the weekend of Labor day and 2 happened in the same day. It was pretty cool and impressive.
I started playing in party poker, but have been trying to make the move to poker stars. I am trying to build a roll there. I started with $100 and I am up to $400 after playing a few multi table tourneys and $2/4 limit hold'em. During this period I made the $600 deposit to get the bonus and I am in the process of clearing that. This $600, is from my party poker roll so as soon as I finish this bonus, I will move it back there. My roll in party poker allows me to play $3/6 and some big tourneys ranging from $10 - $30.
This is just an introduction post, and I hope to share some hands, achievements, some newbie stuff, and talk about some of the traps that I have encountered in my past year.
I started writing this blog, because I want to share some of my poker accomplishments and also because I would like to share my experience with other players who are just startingt to play. I feel that by writing here on a weekly or even a daily basis, I can see my poker skills develop and keep track of my progress.
I will give you a little background on me and also on how I started playing. I was born in Brazil, and came to the US, 13 years ago. I went to high school here and some college. Due to some personal issues, I didn't finish school. I work at a very successful technology firm in Manhattan and I am doing well for myself. I have a 6 year old son who is just starting first grade. I am very proud of him.
As the description of the blog suggests, I started playing just about 13 months ago. I really had no idea what I was doing, but my interest for poker was immediate. I have not been able to spend more than a week without playing poker. I improved my game mostly by talking to other players, reading poker foruns and playing a lot. Reading books really helped me understand the game, and some books helped me understand most of the other aspects involved in playing the game that don't concern the cards.
I believe I put in at least 15 hours a week, either by playing tourneys or by playing the ring games. I have played both live and online; but I have stuck to playing online since it's cheaper maintenance. I have shown a profit overall, but only recently (4 months) that I have seen a profit in my ring games. My final table finishes certainly cover any loss that I have head in the past. I have made 6 final tables of tourneys ranging from $20-$30 and over 500 players. Won 2, came in second 2x, fourth and 8th. I don't like to use these as a direct measure of my success. Although 3 of these final tables came during the weekend of Labor day and 2 happened in the same day. It was pretty cool and impressive.
I started playing in party poker, but have been trying to make the move to poker stars. I am trying to build a roll there. I started with $100 and I am up to $400 after playing a few multi table tourneys and $2/4 limit hold'em. During this period I made the $600 deposit to get the bonus and I am in the process of clearing that. This $600, is from my party poker roll so as soon as I finish this bonus, I will move it back there. My roll in party poker allows me to play $3/6 and some big tourneys ranging from $10 - $30.
This is just an introduction post, and I hope to share some hands, achievements, some newbie stuff, and talk about some of the traps that I have encountered in my past year.
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