Monday, January 29, 2007

Sunday night/January results

Played in another of the $215's for the 2nd week in a row.

I started of really well, and doubled up to 20K real fast, then i got called by AK on a ragged board for a chunk of chips somehow, good call i suppose but this hit me hard and i couldn't get it together for a while. I went fairly deep and cashed for $470, a welcome sum after the cash games the night before. Another cash in the $3r only for about $30, but it all helps, so i am happy to be finally getting some MTT results together again. Trying really hard to play consistently. Played a few $50 HU's today and my style is really working well in them, after watching Ivey pwn Matusow on poker after dark game 4.

The Walsall sat was a let down, 150 players, 5 seats but i lasted about 4 hands, when i pushed with KcQc on an AcXcXd flop and was looked up by AA. I am probably gonna try to get into this again tbh, i didnt concentrate on it at all as was still tied up in the warm up.

I'm gonna make it a mission to play in either the million or the warm up every 2 weeks, i think 2 weeks is enough time to earn 13,000 FPP's to buy in, or 5400 to sat it.

Gonna continue to play consistently in the GTD's for a few weeks, as well as hitting some more HU's.

Jan Profit/Loss

Stars: +$652.33
BlueSq: +£98.06
DTD: +£2775.96
Mansion: -£5.28

TOTAL: +£3,202.38

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Introducing LeKnave, The MTT player

Online cash game poker is ridiculous, well its not...but it is for me...

I lack the ability and discipline to play this section of the game and will not be doing for a considerable time.

I will be playing a great deal of MTT's each night aswell and MTT SNG's such as the $12 45's and $22/$11 180's.

I have deposited on BlueSquare (Tribeca) and am really enjoying playing MTT's on there atm, doing really well and increased my BR by 50% already, (£200 deposit).

Last night despite being dangerously tired, i played a LOT of MTT's, i played solid good poker for once and it really came together:

Started of with an early morning $30 NLHE on trbieca which i came 4th in for $125, then i won my seat into the GUKPT $100r sat in a $10r sat. I then took a break and came back that night for the decent $100K and $20K freerolls on stars, aswell as the deepstack, the $20 $10K and the $3r $10K, i cashed in both $10K's, 14th in the $20 F/O which i lost a 220K pot to go chip leader when my AK failed to outdraw 99. I was very happy with the way i played this and i believe that race was the difference between a 4 figure sum and the $120 that i recieved.

On the live poker side, i went to the grosvenors £10 second chance torny, which was extremely boring and i didnt last 2 long. Then redeemed my lost £23 and some more in a £0.50/£0.50 cash game.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Challenge Day 2

I completed games 21-40 and the results are not quite as good, but still respectable

Session profit = $343 ($742)

1st = 1 (4)
2nd = 1 (2)
3rd = 2 (3)
4th = 1 (1)
5th = 2 (2)
6th = 0 (0)
7th = 1 (1)
8-45th = 12 (27)

After 16 of this session i was +$391, but a poor final 4 brought it back down.

Invested = $480
Return = $1232
Profit = +$742
ROI = 174%

The BR

DTD = £1242.33 (+£3242.33)
Stars = $2074.35 (+544.00)
Live = +£396

TOTAL = £4182.33

Will be solidly crushing the $12 45's all week and limiting the amount of multis il be playing on stars.

The Sunday Million

Today i did something i'd never done before...

Started the day with the intent of playing the the Million. I hit a $10r and spent $41 to no avail, and then the $39 lost a CF with QQ and no joy there.

So i had stuck $80 trying to get into the damn thing that only costs $215 to buy into! So....i decided, why bother playing satelites when i could play $12 45's and freeroll myself into it.

So at half 5 i played my first batch of 4, i had four hours to earn $215+$80 (to freeroll entry and satelite losses)

The first batch i ran ok, and made $51...the 2nd one i made 3 finals and finished $260 to the good. I was thinking of taking the money, but a good friend told me you only live once. So i took the plunge and put $215 into the tourny.

Managed to double up to 26K after a short while with a 9s7s on a Ks Js Xx Xs 9x board vs QT.

Soon after this i was up to 50K and playing well, the i got AA on the button, utg min raise to 3200, cut off made it 9700, so i pushed for 50K, utg folded and the cut off called with JJ, i held up and i was up to 100K! The bubble burst, I had cashed in the sunday million!

I managed to take my stack from 100K to 250K without have to show down a hand. Soon we were moving steadily up the pay brackets and this hand arose:


I get Ts8s in LP and limp for 12K,

SB completes and BB checks.

FLOP - Qs 9s Td

SB checks, BB bets 36K, i move all in for 200K, SB folds and the BB calls with Q9.

I miss the draw, and im out in 287th for a tidy $809.04

I was very happy with how i played, and was in a 50/50 to gain 400K in chips and have a real shot at some big money.

I think it is still a little expensive to make it a regular thing with my current BR, but we'l see if i feel like trying again in a few weeks!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Hitting the $12 45's...

So, i got off to a really good start playing the $12 45 seaters for my challenge and the results for the first 20 are as follows

1sts: 3
2nds: 1
3rds: 1
4ths: 0
5ths: 0
6ths: 0
7ths: 0
8th-45ths: 15

This totals at:

Invested = $240
Return = $649
Profit = +$409
ROI = 170%

I feel the strategy i am currently using will enable be to come in the top 3 a great deal of the time rather then numerous 6th/7ths which dont pay well at all.

The BR

DTD = £1283.03 (+£3283.03)
Stars = $1228.31 (+£115.55)
LIVE = +£396.00

2007 Profit to Date: +£3794.58


So, stars is picking up now with some disciplined play. I will return for another batch 2moro when im not too tired and underperforming!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

A challenge...

So, as you know i've been struggling to discipline myself to play solidly, hopefully that will all change with the introduction of my first challenge.

I will be settling down on stars to play 45 seater $11+$1 tournaments 4 at a time. I will be aiming to play 20 a night to begin and see how this goes.

I had made a fair bit of money from this to revive my BR and would like to make a decent sum from them. At the moment i have not got enough experience of them to predict ROI/Profit etc.

The payouts are as follows: $154, $110, $77, $55, $44, $33, $22 for the top 7. I will update with the first batch later on.

Peace Out.

Friday, January 19, 2007

The £8K calls again

It wasnt long since my last post that i was back on the £8K g'tee's final, this time i began 8th or 9th in chips but managed to win the thing for the tidy sum of £2103.75. I played the final pretty well, playing passively pre-flop and aggressively on flops/turns. Going into 3 handed i felt very confident with my 300K stack vs their 2 50K and 60K stacks.

I've not being playing much side action on crypto, leaving that to stars, where i am happy to update i have ran very well. Last blog i was in crisis mode on stars with a small portion of my origional BR remaining, i have ground that up playing $0.50/$1 cash and $11+$1 45 man tournaments. These tournys have proved exceptionally valuable to me in reviving the BR and winning 3 for $154 a pop has aided tremendously.

I decided on winning the £8K i would cash out some funds so as not to play too high stakes, so i took out £2200, meaning that i am £2000 up + the balance i have on the site.

The BR

DTD = £1297.31 (+£3297.31)
Stars = $1005.01 (+£2.54)

TOTAL = +£3299.85

So, both in profit again! Looking good and i'm full of confidence at the moment, but usually when im full of confidence...its going to get ugly, we'l have to see!

Unfortunately i haven't played live for a while mainly as i was waking up at gone 7pm this week, i will try to make a trip or 2 next week.

Happy Grinding.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Sick HU cash and another FT

Playing some HU cash from: Game #4141800844: Hold'em NL ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/01/12 - 04:01:29 (UK) until Game #4142156724: Hold'em NL ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/01/12 - 05:36:38 (UK) i managed to turn a $30 innitial buy in ito $243.05, from the same player.

$213.05 in 1 hour 35 mins wasnt bad going, and helped with the losses id encountered on stars.

The main reason i won so much was basically i had my way with a few cold decks which tilted him and he started making reckless plays for no reason.

I took down 4 pots over $50 in the game, he took none.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Played the sat to the £8K on crypto and qualified for £3, tourny was slow going and I managed to build a nice stack with a well timed KK vs. FD, I got to the final 1st in chips and managed to grind out a 2nd place finish for £1463.00, a good result on a slow day. That’s 2 finals in 2 days on crypto.

I think I will begin to play a good number of mtt’s, for example:

DTD - £12K, £8K, £4K, $4K
Stars - $10K, $25K, $15K, $20K, $18K

I’ll see how this schedule goes for a while. I played the £8K pretty well up to the final, but on the final I couldn’t get anything going, mainly because of the player to my left (the eventual winner) being a very good aggressive player.

The BR

DTD = £1823.24 (+£1623.24)
STARS = $434.31 (-£289.07)

TOTAL = +£1334.17

Safe to say, the MTT cash helped BIGTIME.

Got a few home games coming up this weekend, then probs go to grosvenor a few times in the week, must do some revision though! It appears il need to pass, as i cant make a living off PokerStars sit and goes! ;-)

Until next time, Happy grinding.

LeKnave

Friday, January 12, 2007

Tilt...with a pleasant aftertaste

I thought he was gone, but alas…he returned: LeTilt.

I wanted to be perfectly honest with this blog in the same fashion that BlueScouse is with his so i'l tell you the story of a burnt bankroll:

After the hopeful ending of the last blog, it all went pear shaped. I started to hit some $33 HU’s and got on a real bad run, lost about 5 and won 1, then launched into a $55 HU to recoup some losses, suffice to say, I lost and found myself down around $150.
Then the uncontrollable wreck I was decided it would be a good idea to get into some $0.50/$1.00 cash and after a $25 pot win with JJ, I got pwned all over the shop, and made a filthy $40 call on a J high board with QQ which I knew was nowhere.
So after another $60 loss, the hero gets into a $1/$2 cash game with a $120 stack, this goes in one hand:

Dealt to LeKnave [Ts 8c]
BDaws leaves the table
sexuelity: folds
LeKnave: checks
cosa nostra1: folds
Elvis-73: calls $1
wader: checks
*** FLOP *** [8s 5s Tc]
Elvis-73: bets $4
wader: folds
LeKnave: raises $8 to $12
Elvis-73: calls $8
*** TURN *** [8s 5s Tc] [7s]
Elvis-73: checks
LeKnave: bets $18
Elvis-73: raises $152 to $170
LeKnave: calls $88 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [8s 5s Tc 7s] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Elvis-73: shows [9h Jh] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
LeKnave: mucks hand
Elvis-73 collected $240 from pot

Another terrible call, boy I was on fire in these games! At this point I was so annoyed I wasn’t even thinking tbh so the call was always coming.

I then started talking to Brent and Rich about how stupid I am etc, they cheered me up and I got bk into the swing of this with my new $500 BR with some $0.25/$0.50. I’m going to play 4 tables of $0.25/$0.50 for 4 hours a day, in blocks (3 6 handed and 1 9 handed) to attempt to aid the BR back to its original state.

I'm not sure what it is that makes me do this, but its going to be a big problem with my online play unless i sort it.

Later on I hit the $25K and $15K on stars, missed the cash in both…then decided to hit the $4K on crypto with Brent, with the added bonus of a pint in a last longer bet. Didn’t really see much in the way of cards for a while then made a few moves and generated a bit of a stack. Then 2 AK’s in a row got me to the 30K mark. People started dropping off and we had the final 10, with 7 left I push UTG with Ktos for 27K (1500/3000 blinds) and the BB woke up with AA and it was over, $270 for the 7th place isn’t to be sniffed at after the night I’ve had.

So, lessons to take into account:
  • Stay in the same game you have planned to play
  • If you feel you’re tilting, take a break - have some sort of Kit Kat
  • Ship It home in a MTT

The BR
DTD = £339.06 (+£139.06)

STARS = $536.16 ( -$463.84)


I decided to look at this the good way, I am still in profit in 2007!
DTD = +£139.06
STARS = -£238.33

LIVE = +£396


TOTAL = +£296.73


So, it is now that the grind starts:


Stars

  • $0.25/$0.50 Cash Tables
  • $22+$1 HU games

DTD

  • $0.25/$0.50 HU Cash Tables
  • £0.15/£0.25 6 Handed Cash Tables

The next update WILL be in a week or so, unless another big night like tonight happens.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Grinding up the BR

Playing live im on fire at the moment, managed to cash for 4th last night for £110. Then made another £25 in cash.

But online its slow going, mainly as im not committed any more, this is going to change. Instead of chatting on msn/browsing blonde im going to be playing solid amounts of poker. Playing 2-4 tables at once.

The BR
DTD = £230
Stars = $1005

I will be playing, $0.25/$0.50 on stars and £0.15/£0.25 cash on DTD, both 6 handed, as well as $0.25/$0.50 HU cash on DTD.
I will continue playing the stars $20 and $30 HU's as i think i generally go well in them.

I will update in a week or so with how the BR is coming along.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Stoke

So, we set off for stoke at 6pm to make sure we got to the 8.45 cut off in time as last time traffic was very slow.

I got there and precided to watch Brent and Gibbo blow £52.50 and £40 respectively on blackjack, casino games have never tempted me. As EVERYONE always ends up playing til the death and cashing out for zip.

Anyway, we got there at around 8ish and met up with Daniel (Kinboshi) from BlondePoker, He was a generally nice guy and took away from the stereotype scouser in my mind. He had some interesting thoughts and is going to Copenhagen next week, so i wish him the best of luck. The screens flashed up with the seat numbers, and it turned out that neither Me, Brent, Rich, Gibbo or Daniel were on the same table of the 6 tables.

I got to table 6 seat 7 and played pretty tight to begin, mainly because the cards were dictating the way i could play, managed to find a 3c 4c after about 35mins and limped, most pots on this table were played for a 7-8 X BB raise, but this pot wasnt for once, about 6 limpers saw the Ac 5h Qc flop, I bet out 400 and get an insta call behind me, and the drunken button calls. The turn comes the Jc and i bet out 600, again and insta call behind me, and the button now folds. The river comes the Qs and i decide to bet 1000 as i think he must have A8 or something and this is probably the most he'd pay me off, turns out he called with AT and i took down a good size pot, taking my 8000 starting stack to around 10,000.

Then i just went dead, i couldn't catch ANYTHING finally a limp with Ah6h in LP allowed me to turn aces up and win a pot vs 88.

I got to the break with 9125, not too bad from the first period. I was hoping my table would be broke up soon so i could move onto a table full of loads of passive fish that we saw last time we came. Then my dream came true and i got moved to Brents table, the table of passivity, limp, limp, limp all over the shop.

As soon as i got here, i turned it on and managed to double my stack without showing a hand, pots got so big as at the 300/600 level with 5-6 limpers. Instantly betting 800-1200 on the flop usually takes it down. At this point i was up to 16,000, then Brent got moved and it all went south.

A poorly played, unobservant hand by me arose leading me to lose 4000:

LP raises to 1600
ME (SB) calls (Ac Th)
BB calls

FLOP - Ks Jd 4h

ME checks
BB checks
LP checks

At this point i know a bet on the turn will take it when looking at the LP raiser, but unfortunately i did not look at the BB and im sure i could've picked up something as he was a player i refer to as 'Tell City'.

ME bets out 2500
BB raises all in for 6500
LP folds
ME folds

This hand was very poorly played on my part but most times on this table, it would pick up the 4800 in the pot.

Soon after i bust out still being aggresive with an Ah Jh and making to 2200 of my 8000 stack, the next guy moves in and its folded back to me, i thought for a while, not wether i was ahead obviously, but whether he had 99 or 1010, something i am willing to gamble against, i called with my remaining 5200 and he turned over AdKd, I lost, and i deserved to, really bad play at the end of the tournament but i'm feeling good about my game.

Now i want to leave the most interesting hand, for me til last. I limp with KTos and the flop comes J J T, the BB bets out 600, and its folded to me, i decide to both try find out where i am, and look like i have a strong hand so i min raise to 1200. It gets folded back to him, and he makes it 2200 (1600 more) Now if he had a J here, this is exactly what he would do, so i insta folded. He then turned up K7os and commented that id been playing everyhand and outaggressing everyone, and obv he didnt want to be pushed around. I have developed my game to know pretty much what people have bye there betting patterns, BUT now its time to work out whether people actually have the goods they are representing. I'm not talking about obv bluffs when i can re-raise in an instant, but re-re raise bluffs when they have played it like a monster. I should have took the time to stare down this player, and i think i could have worked it out. Thats an aspect of my live game i need to sort out.

I was happy to see Brent go on and take down £80 for 6th place. He played a fantastic game and i managed to rail him for most of his game when i had bust.

Anyway a £25 loss for the day, but could be worse after watching Gibbo do about £80 off at BlackJack.

My live winnings this year (4 torns) now total £284, with £294 profit in Tournys and a £10 loss in a quick cash session.

I thoroughly enjoyed our 2nd trip to stoke, and would return in a minute. Players are treated fantastically and valets are round every 10 minutes offering the complimentary soft drinks which make the £5 buy-in fee well worth the money.

Not much to report online today, i will do an update after a few days playing $0.25/$0.50 HU cash on DTD and some $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1.00 6 handed cash on stars.

I have the start of the league of Leeds Grosvenor coming up tonight (£10 double chance 5000 pts) where first in the league recieves a trip for 2 to monte carlo...

Monday, January 08, 2007

2007 begins...

I've been playing poker for over 2 years now, and still love it.

It all began in college when i saw a few guys in the year above playing round a table, i had seen the game played on TV and this intrigued me. A guy i hardly knew called Brent asked me and a few friends to play (a moment that could have a huge impact on my life). From this second i was hooked and there was no going back. The buzz of coming home and emptying all this shrapnel out of your pocket!
Then as the months went by, home games with real chips started, casino visits and soon the shrapnel being taken out the pockets was hundreds of pounds.

I've always been one to update records effectively so writing progress on here shouldn't be an issue.

I will be playing online on Pokerstars with a $1000 bankroll and on Dusk Til Dawn (Cryptologic) with a £200 bankroll.

Live games i enjoy are at the Leeds Moortown grosvenor casino, where they have a great £10 double chance FO with 5000 chips. I enjoy playing there with my friends Brent, Steele, Rich and Gibbo, we usually ship it home no problem.

I recently went on holiday to Australia and staying in the Star City casino for 4 nights, this is the most live cash game experience i've ever had, i sat at the $80 NL tables ($1/$2 blinds) for 4 nights and managed to turn a $301.25 profit. I was happy with my introduction into the live cash game world, as my only previous experience was a £1/£1 game at Leeds gala for 10 mins and a £1/£1 at Grosvenor Walsall for an hour.

I have been to a few places playing including Leeds Gala, Grosvenor Leeds Moortown, Grosvenor Walsall and Grosvenor Stoke. Me and Brent enjoy going on roadtrips down south to play. And im looking forward to writing trip reports after each one we go on. The next scheduled trip is tomorrow, tuesday the 9th for the £25 FO with a fantastic structure and grosvenor stoke. We have gibbo accompanying us to this one and maybe Rich if he gets it together.

So thats the story so far, From £0.10/£0.10 cash games in college, to HU winners at bB3 to regular casino winners, to grinding with australia's best (or worst).

I hope i can take you all on an emotional journey over the next year, im sure there will be highs and sick lows, just got to get through it all and see what it changes in me.