LIVE from the $5 NLHE Final Table

I'm sitting at the top of the chip leader board with 9 to go. This is absolutely amazing, because with 22 players to go, I was near rock bottom. I had just 5900 to my name with the average somewhere around 7700. After the bubble burst, I realized that places 11-20 made a profit of $.20, lol.

At one point I completely forgot I was shortstack. I just suddenly realized I had like, 5BBs left. Raise, raise, raise became my mentality. I am a very good shortstack player. A damn good one. That, in combination with people being very bad bigstack players, makes it pretty easy for me to gather chips. I wait for good opportunities, as they come much more frequently than good cards. If I am folded to in the button, and am the shortstack, 99% of the time I am all in, regardless of what I am holding. This is because, there are only a few cards that your opponent can call with. Opponents have even showed me their mucked ATs! If they only knew I had 37o.

Anyways, I've turned this tournament around and am absolutely running over the final table. I'm sitting in 1st place with nearly 44k in chips and the average at 21k.

6 to go
KJ just lost to KQ. I'm virtually tied for 1st now.

5 to go
Dropping like flies here, 44 doesn't improve v TT. Time to start loosening up and stealing blinds.

3rd Break
At the third break, I am sitting in 1st place with 41k and the average at 34k. We lost 3 people in 3 consecutive hands, it was glorious. I don't know what else to write about so here is the payout structure for the final 5:

1. 153.90
2. 91.20
3. 65.55
4. 48.45
5. 39.90

Anyways, blinds start at 1k/2k with 200 antes. My stack is at 40k and the average is 36k. I've got chips to play with but I guess so does everybody else, haha. I'm trying to sit back and wait for decent hands and/or opportunities to steal.

4 to go
Looks like 67s raised x2 UTG and got called by the button with A9. Flop came 7 high, and the A9 pushed and was autocalled.

Busted in 4th for $48.45
Pushed KJ on the button, and was called by AQ in the BB. I'd gotten pretty shortstack compared to the table and even if I had been chip leader I probably would have pushed with KJ in that situation.

Friday

So apparently the $3 Rebuy $5000 Guarantee becomes the $3 Rebuy $7000 Guarantee on Fridays? Completely needless to say I am very excited. There are going to be over 500 entries, wow.

Today has been good, although not as good as the past 3 days. I'm going to have to accustom myself to having days like today. The day started off all right. I earned a $21.50 seat that I'll play in at 10:30 tonight, so hopefully I'll win the big $215 seat for the 200K on Sunday.

I also two tabled .25/.50 and ended up -$22 after losing a ~$95 pot. I had JJ on the button and the person in the cut off raised to $1.75. I bumped it up to $6, and after the blinds folded he called. There was 12.75 in the pot. The board came xJx with all spades. He checked to me, I threw out $10, and he pushed all in. I pretty much instantly called. He flipped over AsQx for overcards/nut flush draw and the turn brought him his flush. Eh, I'm not upset about the hand. I put my money in as a 72% favorite. What I am upset about though, is that perhaps I am not playing within my bankroll. If Mother Luck ever throws me a series of bad beats, I'm fucked. Regardless of me saying this, I'll probably be playing again tonight. Perhaps if I ever realize the other players are better than me, I'll drop down to a lower level. But pushing in as almost a 1:3 dog? I think I'll stay and play with these boys.

Anyways, as is the usual* I am playing MMTTs** and need to focus.

Wish me luck.

* You know how some people say "presh" when they really mean precious? They just, cut the word off? Well, I want to do this with "usual" by saying "ush" or "uush" or something but I haven't a fucking idea how to go about spelling this. Suggestions?

** Multi, Multi Table Tournaments.

Thursday MTTs; Hello $122

What I played today

• $2 NLHE (9th last time for $9)
  
• $3 Rebuy $2000 Guaranteed (3rd last time for $231)
• $5 NLHE
• $2 Rebuy
• $1 T+R 11:30pm Sun$215 Sat DE (6th last time for $3)

Results

• $2 NLHE
  
• 18th/157 for $3.14
  
• $3 Rebuy $2000 Guaranteed
• 28th/152 for $0.00
• Top 20 cashed
  
• $5 NLHE
• 10th/111 for $11.10
  
• $2 Rebuy
• 2nd/86 for $105.70
  
• $1 T+R 11:30pm Sun$215 Sat DE
• 7th/36 for $2.30

I ran so damn well today. This heater I'm in the middle of right now is really enjoyable. I won $122 today, cashing in 4/5 MTTs and finishing only 8 spots from the $2000 Guarantee's prize pool. Over the past 3 days, I've played in 10 MTTs, cashed in 7 of them, and have made $365. I estimate total buy-ins to be around ~$60 or so, and total time to be perhaps 10 or 11 hours. Talk about return on investment and hourly wage.

I haven't kept up with my promise of staying away from the cash games. They are so easily available and sometimes so irresistably lucrative. Yesterday I jumped into some .25/.5 and .5/1 action and although I came out losing $25, I felt great playing. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, I can compete at that level.

There are still a few leaks in my ring game. I have to remove all desire to bluff in cash games. As much as I want people to believe I've flopped a set, when I really just have TT, they are still doing to call me down with QQ and rake the pot. This is the mental error I make at least once a day, and it usually costs me my entire buy-in. I'm convinced I can fix it.

Anyways, my University is hosting 80's Night on the quad so I'm going to head over there with some friends and see whats shaking and baking. There are a few MTTs I would like to play tonight, but I only got 3 hours of sleep yesterday so who knows if I'll end up doing them. I might just play cash games and try to rack up UB points. UB lets you earn points and transfer them in for extra cash weekly, starting and ending Thursday midnights. There is also a $3 $5000 Guarantee that starts every night at 8PM, which I most definitely plan on playing on. That is the same buy in as the other Guarantee I play in, but with $3000 more in the pot.

This is getting ridiculous.

And sorry, once again, for not posting hands about the tournaments. It gets stressful to play 5 MTTs at once AND also write in this blog. I'm working on it though. I'll get a system down eventually.

So, once again, big news of the day: $122 made today.

Out of $3 Rebuy $2000 Guarantee in THIRD

I'm out of the $3 Rebuy $2000 Guarantee in 3rd place. I played extremely tight (8% of my hands) in the final table, and busted on a coin flip (A7o v 9Ts). I really think I need to loosen up as we get below 6 handed. I was card dead however and didn't really want to push my luck and raise with 37 every time it got folded to me on the button. I suppose I played all right. Once I was extremely shortstack and was blessed with AK. It was a 3 way all in fest and somehow I had both of my opponents dominated, A7 and K3? Or something like that. I knocked one out and nearly tripled up at the same time.

I won $231.84 which is far surpasses my previous record of 60-something, lol.

I've decided I'm going to stick to MTTs, at least for now.. My ring game is flawed and I'm also impatient. I lose money there. I'm just running really, really damn well in these MTTs to do anything else.

I feel so rich, haha.

Fourth Break in the Rebuy $2000 Guaranteed

We were on the bubble and the unbelievable occurred. Just like yesterday, I was dealt QQ and faced with a raise in front of me. I tanked and told myself over and over again to just lay it down. But of course I don't listen to myself and I called 2/5 of my stack with QQ. The board came xxJ. Check check. Turn was a rag. He bet 10k and I called, leaving me with around 28k. I put him on a strong, strong hand. The river was the beautiful Queen of diamonds. He bed 10k again. He really wanted a call with this value bet, as it was the same size as his turn bet. Typically, river bets are more expensive than the turn. He definitely wasn't trying to bluff me. I pushed all in for 18k more and he called with JJ, for a set. He cried for a little then cried more when someone said they had folded AQ. Yeah, I'm guilty of being a 1:49 dog, a 2% favorite, and spiking my one outer.

And it feels damn good.

I was in first place when this I limped with 66 and saw a board of 6cXcXc. One of the blinds immediately pushed all in and I called. He showed Kc2x for the K-high flush draw and hit on the turn. That would have given me the sickest of chip leads, as I was already way over x2 the chip average.

12 players remain and I'm sitting in 5th with 99k to my name.

Here is the payout for the final table (assuming I make it):

1. 544.32
2. 322.56
3. 231.84
4. 171.36
5. 141.12
6. 120. 96
7. 100.80
8. 80.64
9. 60.48
10. 40.32

Wish me luck.

Solid day, IMO

I really like rebuy tournaments because there is just so much money in the prize pool. Unfortunately, you spend at least 5 buy-ins so finishing ITM means nothing if you don't make the final table.

Anyways, I did pretty well today.

I busted from the $5 in the first hour when I misplayed JQo on a J56 board. For some reason I decided it would be wise to check my top pair and my opponent hit his open ended straight draw on the turn and I paid dearly for it.

I final tabled in the $2 NLHE and won a ballerific $9 for my efforts there. Not ballerific. This was probably the low buy-in, non re-buy MTT I play in. There just isn't enough money to be made. First place took $86 and even that didn't seem worthwhile for all the hours put in.

I also final tabled in the $1 T+R 11:30 PM Sun$215 Sat DE. This tournament is different than the others. It is a satellite to a satellite, if you will. In this tournament, a certain number of seats (around $21.50 in value) are given away for a tournament later in the day. Now, in that tournament, another certain number of seats are given away (this time $215 in value) for the big Sunday $200,000 Guarantee.

Anyways, the $1 T+R 11:30 PM Sun$215 Sat DE was giving away 3 seats and although I had a sick big stack with 8 to go, but lost huge coin flips and was 2-3 outed enough times to finish in 6th and win ~$4. Nothing is more frustrating.

I went deep in the $2 Rebuy and was even seated to the left of poker pro Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon. Google his name, his resume is absolutely impressive. Seeing him play was, well, an honor. It is amazing how good he is.

There is still one more tournament going on and we about to burst the bubble. 151 players, 337 re-buys, and 184 add-ons have created a massive +$2000 prize pool. I'm sitting just above average, 10th/22 players and 4k above the chip average of 58,000. Winner ships $544.

Wish me luck.

Tuesday MTTs

What I'll be playing in today. I don't usually play this much, seriously, but since I ran so well yesterday why the hell not. I'll come back and post or edit this or something with the results.

• $2 NLHE @ 11:45 AM
  
• $3 Rebuy $2000 Guarantee @ 12:00 PM
  
• $5 NLHE @ 12:45 PM
• $2 Rebuy NLHE @ 01:15 PM
• $1 T+R 11:30 PM Sun$215 Sat DE @ 01:20 PM
  

And then study for my Accounting test for Thursday morning.

Anyways, good luck to me.

PS. I really recommend the new Modest Mouse album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. My favorite track is by far Track #1, March Into The Sea.

B is for Bubble Boy

Anyone remember when I said it was possible to play a tourney for 3+ hours and then burst @ the bubble and not make a cent? Well, that had never actually happened to me until today.

I have been playing some sick MTT poker today. Unfortunately I don't have a penny to show for it. I played in the Rebuy $1000 Guarantee on UB today and got sent to the rail when my QQ didn't improve v KK. There were 237 entries, 570 re-buys, and 293 add-ons.

30 places paid.
I got 31st.

I played exceptionally well. I wonder if I should have folded QQ instead of pushing all-in. I would've definitely made the bubble. Oh well, that would've guaranteed me like, $7.70 if I'd made the bubble. I was playing to win and it sucks I ran into a monster. There were only 2 hands in the deck I'd be in trouble against and he had one of them. With his standard raise, he could've easily had any PP, AK, or AQ. One time he even popped 7To preflop. So, I guess I made the right play.

I guess I need to writing down the interesting hands of the stuff I play in. Next time.

A Third Introduction

Hello all, my name is Emily and I too love poker. I must say I'm not quite the fanatic Mark and Saeid are but I do what I can. I play online at Full Tilt when I have the time and I always join in the pick up games at Mark's house when we're all in town.

They call me the Chip Mistress because, naturally, I dominate them lol. I don't completely chip rape others every time I play but for the most part I hold my own. I'm known for winning big hands which, on bad days, I quickly turn around and lose. As you can tell by that and other comments, I'm a relatively "new" player still. I've read a couple books, watch the tourneys on TV, and pay very close attention to better players I'm up against - that is how I learn.

Since we're all talking about where we go to school I guess I'll embarrass myself. Um, so yeah, I went to Purdue University in the middle of a boring cornfield for my first year of college. I hated it so I came home to Houston and currently attend Houston Community College, taking basics so I can transfer, hopefully to University of Tampa or Tulane University. Yeah, boiler up.....woo.

Other than that, my life dream is to be sipping a Cosmopolitan while sitting at a table of card sharks with a nifty pair of shades on! Hopefully Mark and Saeid will be there too :)

CSA Tourney, Afterthoughts

Worst five bucks I've ever spent.

I show up to the address, and it's a church hall. That's right. First time I've set foot in a church since senior year, and it's to play in a poker tournament. Feel guilty? Try being there.

So I walk in, and there's about ten people there still playing blackjack from the hour before. I sit down at an isolated table and wait for it to start. When they finish the blackjack, I go up to the front table and get my paper bowl of 25 chips-- five each of red, blue, green, white, black. I ask someone in charge what the values of the chips are, and he says "one." "So they're all equal?" I ask. "Yes," he says. Hmmm. So it's going to be THAT kind of tournament.

I sit down at a table as more people start to show up and sit down. 15 people end up there-- 3 tables of 5, each with a dealer on staff with the CSA. It becomes immediately obvious that I've stumbled right into a quasi-meeting of the youth group. Everybody knows each other, and they're all the kind of people that go hang out at church on a Friday night. Lucky me.

I start off tight, folding on the first 4 or 5 hands, feeling out the competition. Everyone's laughing, having a good time. Advantage me.

Dollar signs start flashing in my eyes as I balloon from 25 chips to about 60 in the next 5 hands. I knock out two players on one hand with trips. Both re-buy. I had been previously unaware that this was a rebuy tournament. Disadvantage me.

2 loose and cocky bluffs and one river suckout later, I'm down to 10 chips. With the blinds only at 2/4, I decide to make my move. I catch 2 pair, he catches an overpair. Now, I could have re-bought, and probably made my way back into the chip lead at my table. But I said "no more," shook hands with my opponents, and got the hell out of there as quick as I could.

Oh well. It was worth a shot. I guess it's true that no college student in his right mind would drive to a church to play in a poker tournament on a Friday night. That can only mean one thing:

I've lost my mind.

My $50 deposit @ UltimateBet

A few weeks ago I decided to go ahead and deposit money onto an online poker room. I'd always thought that my poker room of choice would have been Full Tilt, but a few days before depositing I decided to give UltimateBet a spin. I ran really well in every freeroll I played there so after a few days I decided to play there.

I've ran my $50 deposit as high up as $150 and as low as $40. I won $276 in the span of a month by playing Multi Table Tourneys (MTTs), but haven't done so well in the cash games and Sit n Go's I play in. The two have perfectly balanced each other out. My balance remains at ~$50.

So, currently, I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I do think I am smart enough to be a profitable player at this game. Obviously my MTT game is the most profitable and my weakest areas are cash games and SNGs. But MTTs are tedious and take hours to play. It is possible to play for over 3 hours, burst @ the bubble, and not have a penny to show for your effort. Even if you do make the bubble, the real profit lies at the final table.

Ring/SNG games are going on around the clock and money can be made (and lost) in a matter of minutes. These are the games I'm going to have to learn to beat if I want to make a profit.

I haven't played in a few days but I'm planning on playing a lot this weekend. Good luck to Big Slick who is playing a tourney tonight.

CSA Tourney

Okay, so i'm somewhat excited... I'm going to a tourney tonight. The Catholic Student Association is hosting a tournament, and I played in this same tournament last year. Got about 15th out of 75 so I'll be looking to improve upon that tonight. $5 entry, $50 to winner, $25 to 2nd, prizes to other cash finishers. Updates later after I'm done!

A Second, Slightly More Hetero, Greeting

Hi, my name is Mark, and I'm a pokerholic. (Hi, Mark!)

What it do, peeps. I've been playing poker since about 2003. We were watching TV one night, and saw this poker tournament on called "The World Series of Poker." Interested in how they could broadcast people playing cards on television, we tuned in, and I got hooked.

Later that year, my dad came home from work one night and said "hey, i found this website where you can play poker either for free or for real money!" That website was Full Tilt Poker. I still play there, so as you can see, I haven't looked back.

Sometime right around senior year (my brain can't remember that but I can tell you what hand Joe Hachem won the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event... it was 3-7 offsuit by the way), Saeid, Emily, and I began to play poker together. We still play as often as we can, and I have few things I look forward to more than poker nights (Except for being around my girlfriend of 2.5 years, Sara -- love you sweetie). Since then, our group has grown tremendously: Lisa D., Big Chip Kelly, Liz, Nick, Sharzad, Sam and others (so sorry if I forgot anyone) have helped us fill up the table whenever we play.

I am now a student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. To tell you the truth, if I could major in poker, I would. In a heartbeat. And I know there's at least one or two people that will read this and say "Man, me too."

POP goes the cherry

What it do! My name is Saeid and I attend college at the University of Alabama. I suppose one could say that I have an interest in poker. And by "interest" I really do mean "passion." Borderline addiction? Perhaps.

I've been playing poker for almost 2 years now, although, looking back, I really wasn't playing poker. I couldn't tell you if a straight was better than a flush 2 years ago. Nowadays, I know what I'm doing. I play low low low limit games both live and online.

I thought it'd be cool to have a place to share hands and let anyone who is interested know about the poker aspect of my life.

My life partner, Big Slick, is also contributing to this blog. He is not actually my life partner, but my best friend. We have been playing poker together for, hmm, not even a year? Is that right? Haha.. but we both like playing the game (that is an understatement) and are always there for each other (that is a gaystatement)

Hope you guys enjoy!