Saturday's Notes (Edited)

The Saturday Majors. I whiffed in every major Guaranteed tournament I played in: the $10k Guaranteed, $2.5k Guaranteed, $2k Guaranteed Bounty, and the late-night $2k Guaranteed bounty and $1k Guaranteed. Oh well.

1428*/1000 hands played. According to PokerTracker, I played 1,428 hands today. However, midway through the session I realized that two of my tables weren't getting results. I have no idea how many hands I actually played.

I played very well this session which is why I kept on playing. According to PT, I finished up $30.02 on the night but it is actually $34.77. Again, PokerAce Hud was being retarded and wouldn't fetch hands.

Bad beat of the day.
Hand #45623640-54420 at Addison (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 30/Sep/07 05:29:29

Duke29757 is at seat 0 with $2.33.
Mrs_Sakki is at seat 2 with $3.50.
X50outzX is at seat 3 with $13.25.
Birds n Bees is at seat 4 with $55.23. Sick stack!
The button is at seat 2.

X50outzX posts the small blind of $.05.
Birds n Bees posts the big blind of $.10.
Duke29757 posts out of turn for $.10.

Duke29757: -- --
Mrs_Sakki: -- --
X50outzX: -- --
Birds n Bees: Ts Th

Pre-flop:
Duke29757 checks. Mrs_Sakki folds. X50outzX raises
to $.60. Birds n Bees re-raises to $1.90. Duke29757
folds. X50outzX calls.

Flop (board: 5s 2s 5c):
X50outzX checks. Birds n Bees bets $3. X50outzX
goes all-in for $11.35. Birds n Bees calls.

Turn (board: 5s 2s 5c 6d):
(no action in this round)

River (board: 5s 2s 5c 6d Jh):
(no action in this round)

Showdown:
X50outzX shows Jd Ad.
X50outzX has Jd Ad 5s 5c Jh: two pair, jacks and fives.
Birds n Bees mucks cards.
(Birds n Bees has Ts Th.)

Hand #45623640-54420 Summary:
$1.33 is raked from a pot of $26.60.
X50outzX wins $25.27 with two pair, jacks and fives.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Feel good hands of the day.
Hand #45623640-54393 at Addison (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 30/Sep/07 05:22:06

ShushuPay is at seat 0 with $9.92.
X50outzX is at seat 3 with $20.02.
Birds n Bees is at seat 4 with $36.50.
fg648 is at seat 5 with $10.63.
The button is at seat 5.

ShushuPay posts the small blind of $.05.
X50outzX posts the big blind of $.10.

ShushuPay: -- --
X50outzX: -- --
Birds n Bees: As Qh
fg648: -- --

Pre-flop:
Birds n Bees raises to $.35. fg648 folds. ShushuPay
folds. X50outzX re-raises to $1.30. Birds n Bees
calls.

Flop (board: Qs Qd 3c):
X50outzX bets $2. Birds n Bees raises to $8.65.
X50outzX calls.

I played this fast because its so transparent if I'd just smooth call his $2. In other words, he'd have known I had a Queen. I played this hand as if I had a medium pocket pair and didn't think the Queen hit him. He probably believed this as well.

Turn (board: Qs Qd 3c Ac):
X50outzX goes all-in for $10.07. Birds n Bees calls.

River (board: Qs Qd 3c Ac 8c):
(no action in this round)

Showdown:
X50outzX shows Ks Kc.
X50outzX has Ks Kc Qs Qd Ac: two pair, kings and queens.
Birds n Bees shows As Qh.
Birds n Bees has As Qh Qs Qd Ac: full house, queens full of aces.

Hand #45623640-54393 Summary:
$2 is raked from a pot of $40.09.
Birds n Bees wins $38.09 with full house, queens full of aces.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Hand #45623640-54359 at Addison (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 30/Sep/07 05:04:01

ShushuPay is at seat 0 with $9.50.
Iceman_CO is at seat 1 with $9.80.
pennstate13 is at seat 2 with $25.16.
X50outzX is at seat 3 with $36.12.
Birds n Bees is at seat 4 with $16.95.
fg648 is at seat 5 with $10.23.
The button is at seat 5.

ShushuPay posts the small blind of $.05.
Iceman_CO posts the big blind of $.10.

ShushuPay: -- --
Iceman_CO: -- --
pennstate13: -- --
X50outzX: -- --
Birds n Bees: Kh Kd
fg648: -- --

Pre-flop:
pennstate13 folds. X50outzX raises to $.35. Birds n
Bees re-raises to $1.20. fg648 folds. ShushuPay
folds. Iceman_CO folds. X50outzX re-raises to
$2.85. Birds n Bees calls.

Flop (board: Qh 8h 8c):
X50outzX checks. Birds n Bees checks.

Turn (board: Qh 8h 8c 4c):
X50outzX checks. Birds n Bees bets $4. X50outzX
goes all-in for $33.27. Birds n Bees goes all-in for
$14.10. X50outzX is returned $19.17 (uncalled).

River (board: Qh 8h 8c 4c 2d):
(no action in this round)

Showdown:
X50outzX shows Ah Qd.
X50outzX has Ah Qd Qh 8h 8c: two pair, queens and eights.
Birds n Bees shows Kh Kd.
Birds n Bees has Kh Kd Qh 8h 8c: two pair, kings and eights.

Hand #45623640-54359 Summary:
$1.70 is raked from a pot of $34.05.
Birds n Bees wins $32.35 with two pair, kings and eights.
----------------------------------------------------------------

1000 hands/day graph (since start)

Total Hands: 4494
Total Profit: $65.31


UB Bankroll: $263.10

Friday's Notes (Edited)

6th/132, UB $1.5k Guarantee. I was really shortstacked entering the final table but managed to steal enough to survive and bust in 6th place. I pushed 98hh and ran into an ugly 88 and that ended my miraculous final table run. Overall, I played very solid and very tight. 6th place was good enough for $90. I'm happy with how I'm playing. This is my 2nd final table in 2 days which has me feeling pretty confident. Tomorrow I'll be in two huge tournaments: the $10k Guaranteed at 1:30 and the $2.5k Guaranteed at 2:30. I'm also pondering playing the $2k Guaranteed Bounty at 5:00. All-in-all, I'm spending a max of $13.10 in tournament entries tomorrow. This is due in large part to qualifying to these tournaments in $1/$1r qualifiers. Without these satellites, I'd be spending something like ~$31.

272/1k hands played. Again, ran horribly. I think I finished down $24.35. The 1k hands/day are starting to get to me. I think I should play tighter and maybe more passive. Perhaps I just need to stick to an ABC game. At the same time, I'm not playing any differently than I did 2-3 days ago when I was up almost $110/1850 hands, so I suppose I'll just write this off as plain bad luck.

In other news, ValueKill is back at UB and raping. He is up ~$110 doing the 1k hands/day thing, so sick props to him.

Bad beat of the day.
Hand #45622825-79797 at Clinton (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 28/Sep/07 23:06:02

cmagic is at seat 0 with $12.04.
Birds n Bees is at seat 1 with $14.36.
RAVEN2934 is at seat 3 with $4.14.
rmoney6969 is at seat 4 with $17.91.
LorMan is at seat 5 with $15.92.
The button is at seat 1.

RAVEN2934 posts the small blind of $.05.
rmoney6969 posts the big blind of $.10.

cmagic: -- --
Birds n Bees: Jd Jh
RAVEN2934: -- --
rmoney6969: -- --
LorMan: -- --

Pre-flop:
LorMan folds. cmagic raises to $.40. Birds n Bees
re-raises to $1.35. RAVEN2934 folds. rmoney6969
folds. cmagic calls.

Flop (board: Ah 4d Ad):
cmagic checks. Birds n Bees checks.

Turn (board: Ah 4d Ad Kc):
cmagic checks. Birds n Bees checks.

River (board: Ah 4d Ad Kc Js):
cmagic goes all-in for $10.69. Birds n Bees calls.

Showdown:
cmagic shows As Kh.
cmagic has As Kh Ah Ad Kc: full house, aces full of kings.
Birds n Bees mucks cards.
(Birds n Bees has Jd Jh.)

Hand #45622825-79797 Summary:
$1.21 is raked from a pot of $24.23.
cmagic wins $23.02 with full house, aces full of kings.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Brag of the day.
Hand #45622885-69496 at Upper Saint Clair (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 28/Sep/07 22:52:27

fantom001 is at seat 0 with $6.05.
shootin10s is at seat 1 with $4.70.
jdbchips is at seat 3 with $11.51.
fishook66 is at seat 4 with $5.75.
Birds n Bees is at seat 5 with $9.70.
The button is at seat 4.

Birds n Bees posts the small blind of $.05.
fantom001 posts the big blind of $.10.

fantom001: -- --
shootin10s: -- --
jdbchips: -- --
fishook66: -- --
Birds n Bees: 9s 8h

Pre-flop:
shootin10s calls. jdbchips calls. fishook66 calls.
Birds n Bees calls. fantom001 checks.

Flop (board: Qd 7h 6s):
Birds n Bees checks. fantom001 checks. shootin10s
checks. jdbchips checks. fishook66 checks.

Turn (board: Qd 7h 6s 5c):
Birds n Bees bets $.30. fantom001 raises to $.80.
shootin10s folds. jdbchips folds. fishook66 folds.
Birds n Bees calls.

River (board: Qd 7h 6s 5c Ts):
Birds n Bees checks. fantom001 bets $1.25. Birds n
Bees raises to $5.85. fantom001 goes all-in for
$5.15. Birds n Bees is returned $.70 (uncalled).

Showdown:
Birds n Bees shows 9s 8h.
Birds n Bees has 9s 8h 7h 6s Ts: straight, ten high.
fantom001 shows 4s 3d.
fantom001 has 4s 3d 7h 6s 5c: straight, seven high.

Hand #45622885-69496 Summary:
$.62 is raked from a pot of $12.40.
Birds n Bees wins $11.78 with straight, ten high.
----------------------------------------------------------------

16th/126, UB $5. Meh, I think I played fantastic and was about to double up huge, having my AQ up against A2hh. Unfortunately, the flop came with 2 hearts and my opponent hit on the river. I can't complain though! I also remember another hand in a tournament where I had my opponent dominated and still lost. Eh. If anything it makes me feel better. Just sucks that it had to happen at that moment exactly. I won an insignificant $6.30 for my efforts, but I'll take what I can get. ITM is ITM, and I lost with the best hand. There is no such thing as a better situation so I can't complain.

Tonight's Schedule. I think my day is pretty much done. I've got 3 tournaments left today. The first is already underway and is a low buy-in $2.20 Bounty that started with an impressive 752 players. I'm playing near-perfectly and am keeping up perfectly with the chip average. Next is the $6.50, $2k Guaranteed Bounty at 12:00 a.m. followed by the $1r, $1k Guaranteed. Should any of these 3 tournaments see me in the money, I'll edit this post.

[EDIT: 45th/343 in UB $1k Guaranteed $1r] Yeah, I bubble this tournament last night. I was doing super fantastic and had a sick stack until I ran KK into AA. His PFR was 7 and I guess I should respect that? Although, I can see him playing KK, QQ, and JJ in the same possibly way. Just unlucky. I was crippled but managed to quadruple up with AQ > JK > some other retarded holdings. I ended up slightly below average and it seemed like I was going to make the money. A player who had just been seated at our, "punko" and had pushed his first hand from UTG+1. He was a shortstack. He took the blinds with this. Then, from UTG, he pushed again. I made an (in my opinion) easy call from the SB with AT and he showed TT and although I flopped an Ace the board finished with running clubs to give him the T-high flush. I don't know if I should have my tournament life on the line with ATo. I wasn't shortstack per se and I probably could have waited around just a little bit longer for a more decent holding. ATo is nowhere near the Top 5% hands. [/EDIT]

FTP Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition. I plan on waking up tomorrow, having a meal, and reading this book until its time to play the $10k. Its such an insightful read.

UltimateBet Bankroll: $258.85

Thursday's Notes

867/1000 hands. Things were going okay but not fantastic. I don't think I was ever up a complete buy-in at any given point. I finished the session wih 867 hands and a BB/100 hands of -7.27. Meh, I finished the session down $12.61. I feel like I played well and just kept running monsters into bigger monsters. So frustrating.

Some big hands:

Hand #45622854-69305 at Homewood (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 27/Sep/07 18:08:32

Lions 8 is at seat 0 with $17.36.
briar66 is at seat 1 with $4.86.
ShushuPay is at seat 2 with $7.96.
lolpwned is at seat 3 with $17.56.
Zigaoee is at seat 4 with $9.30.
Birds n Bees is at seat 5 with $10.29.
The button is at seat 3.

Zigaoee posts the small blind of $.05.
Birds n Bees posts the big blind of $.10.

Lions 8: -- --
briar66: -- --
ShushuPay: -- --
lolpwned: -- --
Zigaoee: -- --
Birds n Bees: Qs 9c

Pre-flop:

Lions 8 folds. briar66 folds. ShushuPay folds.
lolpwned folds. Zigaoee calls. Birds n Bees raises
to $.30. Zigaoee calls.

Flop (board: Qc 6h 9s):

Zigaoee checks. Birds n Bees bets $.35. Zigaoee
raises to $.70. Birds n Bees calls.

Turn (board: Qc 6h 9s Js):

Zigaoee bets $2. Birds n Bees goes all-in for $9.29.
Zigaoee goes all-in for $8.30. Birds n Bees is
returned $.99 (uncalled).

River (board: Qc 6h 9s Js 4s):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

Birds n Bees shows Qs 9c.
Birds n Bees has Qs 9c Qc 9s Js: two pair, queens and nines.
Zigaoee shows 6d 6s.
Zigaoee has 6d 6s Qc 6h Js: three sixes.

Hand #45622854-69305 Summary:

$.93 is raked from a pot of $18.60.
Zigaoee wins $17.67 with three sixes.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Hand #45643686-85459 at Broomfield (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 27/Sep/07 16:52:25

westicles89 is at seat 0 with $6.18.
johnsmith141 is at seat 1 with $6.22.
emf85 is at seat 2 with $10.14.
meyersj is at seat 3 with $3.44.
Birds n Bees is at seat 4 with $9.59.
Cr1msonking is at seat 5 with $3.52 (sitting out).
The button is at seat 3.

Birds n Bees posts the small blind of $.05.
westicles89 posts the big blind of $.10.

westicles89: -- --
johnsmith141: -- --
emf85: -- --
meyersj: -- --
Birds n Bees: 4c 4s

Pre-flop:

johnsmith141 calls. emf85 folds. meyersj calls.
Birds n Bees calls. westicles89 checks.

Flop (board: Jd 8s 4d):

Birds n Bees bets $.25. westicles89 folds.
johnsmith141 folds. meyersj raises to $1.15. Birds
n Bees re-raises to $3.85. meyersj goes all-in for
$3.34. Birds n Bees is returned $.51 (uncalled).

Turn (board: Jd 8s 4d Js):

(no action in this round)

River (board: Jd 8s 4d Js 5h):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

Birds n Bees shows 4c 4s.
Birds n Bees has 4c 4s Jd 4d Js: full house, fours full of jacks.
meyersj shows 8c Jh.
meyersj has 8c Jh Jd 8s Js: full house, jacks full of eights.

Hand #45643686-85459 Summary:

$.35 is raked from a pot of $7.08.
meyersj wins $6.73 with full house, jacks full of eights.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Hand #45622836-71588 at Bithell (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 27/Sep/07 17:06:53

2w3e4r is at seat 0 with $2.13.
emf85 is at seat 1 with $11.59 (sitting out).
Zenabi23 is at seat 2 with $5.54.
micheldi is at seat 3 with $4.45.
Birds n Bees is at seat 4 with $10.66.
firetamer101 is at seat 5 with $5.07.
The button is at seat 4.

firetamer101 posts the small blind of $.05.
2w3e4r posts the big blind of $.10.

2w3e4r: -- --
Zenabi23: -- --
micheldi: -- --
Birds n Bees: 6d 8d
firetamer101: -- --

Pre-flop:

Zenabi23 calls. micheldi folds. Birds n Bees calls.
firetamer101 folds. 2w3e4r raises to $.20.
Zenabi23 folds. Birds n Bees calls.

Flop (board: Kh Td 4d):

2w3e4r bets $.10. Birds n Bees raises to $.30.
2w3e4r calls.

Turn (board: Kh Td 4d 7h):

2w3e4r bets $.10. Birds n Bees calls.

River (board: Kh Td 4d 7h 9c):

2w3e4r bets $1.35. Birds n Bees raises to $5.40.
2w3e4r goes all-in for $1.53. Birds n Bees is
returned $3.87 (uncalled).

Showdown:

Birds n Bees shows 6d 8d.
Birds n Bees has 6d 8d Td 7h 9c: straight, ten high.
2w3e4r shows Qh Jh.
2w3e4r has Qh Jh Kh Td 9c: straight, king high.

Hand #45622836-71588 Summary:

$.22 is raked from a pot of $4.41.
2w3e4r wins $4.19 with straight, king high.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Brutal, huh?

Biggest hand of the night:

Hand #45622885-66743 at Upper Saint Clair (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 27/Sep/07 17:52:23

bigwood79 is at seat 0 with $7.08.
cardinal8756 is at seat 1 with $16.42.
Lions 8 is at seat 2 with $9.85.
jelly_man is at seat 3 with $9.33.
micheldi is at seat 4 with $6.54.
Birds n Bees is at seat 5 with $10.48.
The button is at seat 3.

micheldi posts the small blind of $.05.
Birds n Bees posts the big blind of $.10.

bigwood79: -- --
cardinal8756: -- --
Lions 8: -- --
jelly_man: -- --
micheldi: -- --
Birds n Bees: As Ah

Pre-flop:

bigwood79 folds. cardinal8756 folds. Lions 8 folds.
jelly_man folds. micheldi calls. Birds n Bees
raises to $.30. micheldi calls.

Flop (board: Td Kh 3h):

micheldi checks. Birds n Bees bets $.35. micheldi
raises to $1.65. Birds n Bees goes all-in for $10.18.
micheldi goes all-in for $6.24. Birds n Bees is
returned $3.94 (uncalled).

Turn (board: Td Kh 3h 7d):

(no action in this round)

River (board: Td Kh 3h 7d 8s):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

Birds n Bees shows As Ah.
Birds n Bees has As Ah Td Kh 8s: a pair of aces.
micheldi shows Kc Ad.
micheldi has Kc Ad Td Kh 8s: a pair of kings.

Hand #45622885-66743 Summary:

$.65 is raked from a pot of $13.08.
Birds n Bees wins $12.43 with a pair of aces.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday's Notes (Really long)

1st/77 in UB $5 MTT. I knew it would just be a matter of time before I took one of these down. It is with complete humbleness when I say that this MTT was a walk in the park. Before I knew it, we were down to 20 people and although I was below average I had a healthy stack. I played super tight and it paid off. There was one, humongous hand, that essentially gave me the tournament. With (I beleve) 5 players to go, I sucked out huge when I pushed KTo into AK. Thankfully, the board came 5T5xx and essentially gave me the chip lead. After that, not a problem. Its a completely new feeling to be able to say that an MTT was easy but I think I'm finally there. I feel like the 1k hands/day have been a great help to my patience. I'm planning on playing a ton of these $5 MTTs this coming week.

First place won $109.76.

Only played 400/1k hands. I got stacked by the same player twice and also doubled someone else up 3. I finished stuck $18. Things started out all right. Small pot poker all the way up to a net profit of $10. Then, disaster.

This hand, I knew I should have folded. I KNEW KNEW KNEW KNEW IT.

Hand #45627181-14078 at Cedarbluff (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 26/Sep/07 23:17:10

guobayen is at seat 0 with $1.30.
Birds n Bees is at seat 1 with $10.58.
BigBrownCow is at seat 2 with $3.71.
mmgod15 is at seat 3 with $3.11.
imbroke77 is at seat 4 with $11.52.
teaestea is at seat 5 with $4.58.
The button is at seat 4.

teaestea posts the small blind of $.05.
guobayen posts the big blind of $.10.

guobayen: -- --
Birds n Bees: Jc Js
BigBrownCow: -- --
mmgod15: -- --
imbroke77: -- --
teaestea: -- --

Pre-flop:

Birds n Bees raises to $.35. BigBrownCow folds.
mmgod15 folds. imbroke77 re-raises to $.60.
teaestea calls. guobayen folds. Birds n Bees calls.


Flop (board: 3c 5s 8h):

teaestea checks. Birds n Bees checks. imbroke77
bets $1. teaestea folds. Birds n Bees calls.

Turn (board: 3c 5s 8h 2s):

Birds n Bees checks. imbroke77 bets $2.45. Birds n
Bees goes all-in for $8.98. imbroke77 calls.

River (board: 3c 5s 8h 2s 6d):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

Birds n Bees shows Jc Js.
Birds n Bees has Jc Js 5s 8h 6d: a pair of jacks.
imbroke77 shows Qd Qs.
imbroke77 has Qd Qs 5s 8h 6d: a pair of queens.

Hand #45627181-14078 Summary:

$1.09 is raked from a pot of $21.86.
imbroke77 wins $20.77 with a pair of queens.
----------------------------------------------------------------

The first red flag was his min-raise preflop. Obviously I was calling it. I agree with my c/c line on the flop, in case he had AK/AQ (although doubtful with his rr pf). Anyways, I should have c/f'd the turn. Ugh, tilt. I'm better than that.

Another hand, where I tilted off a stack on a draw.

Hand #45627181-14081 at Cedarbluff (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 26/Sep/07 23:19:42

guobayen is at seat 0 with $.88.
Birds n Bees is at seat 1 with $9.85.
BigBrownCow is at seat 2 with $3.61.
mmgod15 is at seat 3 with $3.11.
imbroke77 is at seat 4 with $22.01.
teaestea is at seat 5 with $3.98.
The button is at seat 1.

BigBrownCow posts the small blind of $.05.
mmgod15 posts the big blind of $.10.

guobayen: -- --
Birds n Bees: Jc Ts
BigBrownCow: -- --
mmgod15: -- --
imbroke77: -- --
teaestea: -- --

Pre-flop:

imbroke77 calls. teaestea calls. guobayen folds.
Birds n Bees raises to $.55. BigBrownCow folds.
mmgod15 folds. imbroke77 calls. teaestea calls.

Flop (board: Qs 9h 6h):

imbroke77 checks. teaestea checks. Birds n Bees
bets $1.20. imbroke77 raises to $3. teaestea folds.
Birds n Bees calls.

Turn (board: Qs 9h 6h Tc):

imbroke77 bets $7.80. Birds n Bees goes all-in for
$6.30. imbroke77 is returned $1.50 (uncalled).

River (board: Qs 9h 6h Tc 3s):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

imbroke77 shows Ac Ah.
imbroke77 has Ac Ah Qs 9h Tc: a pair of aces.
Birds n Bees shows Jc Ts.
Birds n Bees has Jc Ts Qs 9h Tc: a pair of tens.

Hand #45627181-14081 Summary:

$1.02 is raked from a pot of $20.40.
imbroke77 wins $19.38 with a pair of aces.
----------------------------------------------------------------

I obviously didn't see him holding AA here. He l/c the flop and c/r the flop. If anything he has AQ, but very rarely AA. Regardless, I shouldn't have been in the hand after the flop and especially after the turn. Tilttttt.

Here is another stupid play by me, but thankfully it didn't cost me as much.

Hand #45623297-51448 at Pinellas Park (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 26/Sep/07 23:16:01

Vormancian is at seat 0 with $9.90.
Birds n Bees is at seat 1 with $8.85.
damageinc71 is at seat 2 with $7.97.
iMotiv3x is at seat 3 with $10.97.
veigh2 is at seat 4 with $5.85.
kartum9 is at seat 5 with $4.59.
The button is at seat 4.

kartum9 posts the small blind of $.05.
Vormancian posts the big blind of $.10.

Vormancian: -- --
Birds n Bees: Jh As
damageinc71: -- --
iMotiv3x: -- --
veigh2: -- --
kartum9: -- --

Pre-flop:

Birds n Bees raises to $.35. damageinc71 calls.
iMotiv3x folds. veigh2 calls. kartum9 folds.
Vormancian folds.

Flop (board: Tc 9d Qh):

Birds n Bees bets $.80. damageinc71 folds. veigh2
raises to $2.10. Birds n Bees calls.

Turn (board: Tc 9d Qh 6d):

Birds n Bees checks. veigh2 goes all-in for $3.40.
Birds n Bees calls.

River (board: Tc 9d Qh 6d 5d):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

veigh2 shows Qd Ts.
veigh2 has Qd Ts Tc 9d Qh: two pair, queens and tens.
Birds n Bees mucks cards.
(Birds n Bees has Jh As.)

Hand #45623297-51448 Summary:

$.61 is raked from a pot of $12.20.
veigh2 wins $11.59 with two pair, queens and tens.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Qualified for Saturday's $2.5k. This satellite was difficult than most because it wasn't a rebuy. $1 got you T1500 chips and that was all you got for the event. I just realized that the seat is worth $5.50 so needless to say I'm not too terribly excited but I guess this was something worth mentioning to the masses.

Qualified for Saturday's $10k (again). I emailed UB today asking them what would happen if I won another seat into Saturday's $10k. Although they gave me an odd answer, I think what they were trying to say is that I get Tournament Dollars. They just worded things really weirdly and I kinda got the feeling that I could only use the TD's for certain tournaments. I don't know. Anyways, I won T$22. Hopefully I can use that in not this weekend's tournament but next weekend's.

Bubble Boy. I was one of the big stacks going into the final table of yet another $10k Qualifier. The blinds are so sick towards the end of the tourney. Anyways, I rarely play a hand, yet felt like I had to in this situation. There was a shortstack with like 5-6BBs left and it was folded to me on the button with 88. Am I seriously supposed to fold this? I raised, he pushed, I called, and it was 88 v KK. I think his pushing range is pretty loose here and there are a ton of hands I beat, including 22-77, A9+, KT+, QT, hell, maybe even JT+. Its just unfortunate. I ended up busting in 9th, which won me a consolation prize of $4. Meh, I wanted another T$22. Ugh.

Bankroll. $284.46

Day Two: Only 710/1k hands played

Yesterday I played phenomenally and finished with a $/100 Hands of $4.20/100 which is really solid. I didn't know I could have better days.

Well, yesterdays session started w this and I never looked back. (Unfortunately, I didn't have PokerTracker on at the time). I had AA on the BUTTON and there was some action before me. A player had raised to $.40 and had gotten a caller. I repopped to something like $1.60 and they both pushed, in succession, putting in $5.40 and $6.91 to the pot. I obviously called and they showed JJ and 77 and I held.

I also ran into a tilting player, who was seated at 3 of my 5 tables. The biggest pot of of night (when PT was on), is as follows.

Hand #45623642-40117 at Pleasant Grove (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 25/Sep/07 19:18:54

Blondiest is at seat 0 with $6.62.
ericjemad is at seat 1 with $4.28.
Kris Krash is at seat 2 with $15.97.
nicolom is at seat 3 with $8.03.
Birds n Bees is at seat 4 with $29.89.
J_White is at seat 5 with $9.90.
The button is at seat 4.

J_White posts the small blind of $.05.
Blondiest posts the big blind of $.10.

Blondiest: -- --
ericjemad: -- --
Kris Krash: -- --
nicolom: -- --
Birds n Bees: As Ac
J_White: -- --

Pre-flop:

ericjemad calls. Kris Krash raises to $1.50.
nicolom folds. Birds n Bees re-raises to $4.75.
J_White folds. Blondiest folds. ericjemad folds.
Kris Krash calls.

Flop (board: 6d 5c 7s):

Kris Krash goes all-in for $11.22. Birds n Bees
calls.

Turn (board: 6d 5c 7s 4d):

(no action in this round)


River (board: 6d 5c 7s 4d Ts):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

Kris Krash shows 9d Kd.
Kris Krash has 9d Kd 6d 7s Ts: king high.
Birds n Bees shows As Ac.
Birds n Bees has As Ac 6d 7s Ts: a pair of aces.

Hand #45623642-40117 Summary:

$1.60 is raked from a pot of $32.19.
Birds n Bees wins $30.59 with a pair of aces.
----------------------------------------------------------------

I only put in 710 hands today because I ran out of time. I played a few MTTs earlier on in the day and then got busy with dinner and live poker (more on that to come). I ran at a sick $8.06/100 hands. Dirt.

I had one hand yesterday that still has me confused. The hand is as follows. Please read and I'd appreciate commentary.

Hand #45622825-73650 at Clinton (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 25/Sep/07 19:43:07

holly0485 is at seat 0 with $10.14.
smashhit is at seat 1 with $1.96.
Kris Krash is at seat 2 with $20.27.
Birds n Bees is at seat 3 with $21.43.
Boun67 is at seat 4 with $4.45.
PolyCrypt is at seat 5 with $10.
The button is at seat 2.

Birds n Bees posts the small blind of $.05.
Boun67 posts the big blind of $.10.

holly0485: -- --
smashhit: -- --
Kris Krash: -- --
Birds n Bees: Td 8d
Boun67: -- --
PolyCrypt: -- --

Pre-flop:

PolyCrypt calls. holly0485 folds. smashhit calls.
Kris Krash calls. Birds n Bees calls. Boun67
checks.

Flop (board: Jc Th Tc):

Birds n Bees bets $.35. Boun67 folds. PolyCrypt
raises to $.90. smashhit folds. Kris Krash folds.
Birds n Bees re-raises to $3.20. PolyCrypt goes
all-in for $9.90. Birds n Bees folds, showing Td 8d.
PolyCrypt is returned $6.70 (uncalled).

Hand #45622825-73650 Summary:

$.34 is raked from a pot of $6.90.
PolyCrypt wins $6.56.
----------------------------------------------------------------

The good news is that this was the biggest pot I lost all night. Yeah, $3.30 was my biggest loss of the night. Dirt.

I'll be posting the hand on 2+2 and see what they think.

As far as live poker is concerned, I played a $10r two nights ago. The structure was a starting stack of 75 chips and 15 minute blind intervals that started at 1/2 and progressed 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, and held at 5/10 for a while. HU was 10/20. Overall I think I played pretty well. I had one mistake later in the game that crippled me to like 20 chips with the BB6 or BB8 where I continued with my preflop aggression and reraised all-in with KQo and no fold equity on a baby board or like, x79 or x7T. Opponent had K7 and pretty much had me drawing dead.

Besides that, I played well I think. I pushed in a BvB situation with T7o when the SB limped. I was kinda shortstack but had a pretty decent sized stack. It was probably over 90% of his stack. He called with 22 and I hit a 7 on the turn to double up and cripple him.

HU, I reraised ai with 44 and my opponent called with ATo. The board came something like JxJ4x and that was the ball game. Net $60.

I also played NL10 4-handed yesterday with buddies and left with, meh, $7 net. I think the most important thing there is that we all had a good time.

Whew... First 1k hans and analysis

NL10, 6max
5 tables
118 minutes
1,033 hands

Here are the results in Poker Grapher:


Do you have sufficient preflop aggression? (divide "PF Raise %" by "Vol. Put $ In Pot")
From BUTTON? Yes.
From CO? Yes.
From HJ? Yes.
From UTG? Yes.
From BB? No.

Are you positionally aware? ("Vol. Put $ In Pot" should decrease from BUTTON > UTG)
From BUTTON? 27.40%
From CO? 25.00%
From HJ? 26.06%
From UTG? 16.67%

How's my stealing? (Att. To Steal Blinds)
30.80%. Good.

Defending the blinds.
Good.

Heads-up play
+$26.14 when I raise. Good.
-$7.31 when I called a raise. Bad.

Multiway pots
+$17.89. Good.

Pocket pairs
VPIP = 92.54%. Good.
PFR = 59.70. Very good.

Suited connectors.
Good.

Unsuited connectors
Good.

Postflop aggression
Good.

Check-raising
~%3. Too much. Play more straightforward.

Overall, good day.

Net profit: $43.38

Won a Seat to the UB $10k Guaranteed

Just wrapped up a $1r Satellite and finished 10th, good enough for a $20+$2 seat in this Saturday's UB $10k Guaranteed. This'll be my second biggest tournament after the big Sunday $200k Guaranteed that I've played in twice and made ~$300.

My tournament game has gotten a lot better. I'm patient during the first hour and try not to make too many moves then. Once the second level starts, I become more aggressive, especially with a short stack. I'm feeling confident.

Anyways, time to play 1k hands of solid poker.

"Birds n Bees" and "valuekill" team up.

Does anybody here remember me talking about a player named "valuekill?" He used to 4-6 table NL200 and NL400. It seemed like he was always winning, no matter what. Whenever I selected a table to play at, I'd stay away from his. I always railed him and loved watching him play. I wanted to be like him.

I remember exchanging AIM screen names with him a few months ago. Since I started playing again, I realized that he is never on anymore. So, I decided to send him an IM and see what was up.

He moved over from UB to AP and is grinding it out over there at NL10. Sick. He said he busto'd himself and was rebuilding.

It breaks my heart because I know this guy is a superb NL100 and NL200 and possibly even NL400 player. To see him stuck grinding NL10 kills me.

Anyways, we got to talking about bankroll management and decided to team up/be a support system for each other. The agreement is as follows:

• Play within your bankroll
• 20 buy-ins for NL10-NL50 ($200-$1,000).
• Must have 50 buy-ins to play NL100 ($5,000).
  
• Must have 100 buy-ins to play NL200 ($20,000).
  
• 2 hours of poker or 1k hands per day
• I will personally probably play more since I have a bit more time than he does. However, I'll also be mixing in tournaments in addition to the cash games.
  
• 5-table maximum
• I'm comfortable with 6 but whatever. 5 is probably better.
  
• 30 minutes of analysis
• We share interesting hands with one another and offer thoughts/suggestions/critiques/etc.

I love this plan.

I've got to get PokerTracker and AceHUD working again however. I miss their input and also need to save the hands from my sessions to be able to share with "valuekill."

Also, I will probably be changing my UB name in the near future. I am joining a rakeback program and need the money that that'll bring in.

I also plan on having enough UB Points per week to transfer into cash. I'll be playing a lot of cash games now.

Looking forward to this. I'll have the results of Day One posted later tonight.

UB cash games

Cash games are still running ridiculously well for me. A few changes I've noticed about my play:

With respect to hand selection UTG: I remember raising UTG with hands like QTo and K9s. In the long run, imo, these are -ev plays. With 5 people to act, these hands aren't quite strong enough. Being OOP just makes them that much worse. I've tightened up UTG.

With respect to 3-betting/squeeze plays: I am a huge proponent of 3-betting and squeezing. However, there is both a time and a place to do it. I realized that I was making these huge plays from the blinds. In the end, I'd be playing a shitty hand, out of position, with a huge pot. It is standard sense that the earlier you act in a hand, the smaller your average pot sizes should be. You don't want to play big pots out of position. When you have better position in a hand, your average pot sizes can and should be larger.

More to come. I want to get back to playing.

UB bankroll is somewhere around $340 right now, as I'm currently playing one table of $1/$2.

Get raped, UB fish. NL100 pwnage.

Why can I rape NL100/NL200 but not NL10? Simply because the little retarded NL10 players piss me off. They just don't understand advanced concepts like raising on draws, semi-bluffing, and 3-betting. Also, after scooping pots of nearly $1k last semester, I can't force myself to give a shit about bringing in retarded little $1.03 pots.

I sat down at an active NL100 (blinds are $.50/$1) with $33 and in a nutshell, raped. I was actually planning on playing $1/$2 but didn't have the miniumum requirement, to play, which was like $40. Assholes. So, I took my measly $33 roll to a NL100 table and moped the floor with the tools at the table.

Things were rough at first and I remember my stack being at a mere $20 at one point. That was until the following hand occured.

I'd previously squeezed all-in from the button when the player UTG raised x3.5 and got 2 callers. It worked the first time, when I held something like K6dd and I did it again, this time with QJo. The originial raiser folded but the second caller called, as did the third caller. Oh shit. The flop came QJx though and the first player to act put the other all in, and got him to fold. He showed AA and couldn't improve. Up the stack to $60.

The big hand against him was when I was feeling cocky and raised Q6hh (or maybe it was off suit??) and got a call from him. The board came 6xQ with 2 of the same suit and he checked to me. I bet about 5/7 of the pot and was min raised by him. I smooth-called. The turn brought another Q giving me Queens full of Sixes. He checked to me and I checked back. Poor guy had a Queen or, maybe a flush draw (although I was like 95% sure he had a Q). He bet pot for like $28 on the river which was some retarded baby card and I put him all in for only like $7 or $9 more. He called and showed QJ for trips. Get raped. He then started crying how unreal it was for trips to lose. I replied that its the 4th worst hand in poker. Hahahhahahahaah. Hahahahaha. HA.

There was another hand against the same player. I think he called a raise when I held JTss. The board came AKx with 2 spades, giving me the gutshot and the spade draw, for like 13 outs. He bet pot ($4) and I just called. The turn came the 7s I think, and he checked to me. I bet out $8 and he called. The river came some retarded hand and then he typed in the chat that he had AK and pushed. I called and he had like A5 the idiot. Not that it mattered.

In summary I raped one guy. He left after the third stack and I played small pot poker, trying to reach my goal for the night...

Leaving the table with $200 in profit.

Yes, I eventually stood up with $236.50. That is just sick. I ran good though.

UB $5 MTT Writeup

UB $5 MTT

I drew a decent starting table with no recognizeable names. With
the plethora of online players however, that hardly means
anything. There were a few solid players at my table. 2 seats to
my left "chibosfla" who had $5.7k in MTT cashes yet only cashed
in <10% of tournaments played. Directly across from me was
"Str8Flush5" who had nearly $1.3k in cashes and whose biggest
cash was just $88.50, meaning he's been playing a lot. The
biggest player at my table was "hottotrott" seated 3 seats to my
left. He had over 500 MTTs under his belt and over $16k in
earnings overall. I'm hoping to learn a lot from him by playing
with him. He is chip leader at our table already and being very
aggressive in hands he's involved in. 2 to my left is a player
named "blankets" who has been quiet thus far yet has over $10k in
MTT earnings and has an impressive <20% ITM percentage.
I slowly built up my starting stack of 1500 to 1700 but since
then have been card dead and have blinded down to just below the
starting stack. "hottotrott" is running the table and has amassed
about 4.6k already.

A new player, "snakels," has been seated at my table, 4 seats to
my left. He has a modest $1.3k in MTT winnings over 201 MTTs
played.

Thus far I've played very solid poker and feel like I have a
great table image. I'm playing tight preflop and aggressive post
flop, which is the recipe for success early on in MTTs.

"george8157" has taken the seat 3 spots from my left with an below average stack of 2670. He has $1.2k in overall winnings. Thus far he has exhibited a decent knowledge of poker, using position to his advantage in an unopened pot.

I'm still waiting for hands. I have 1385 in chips with blinds at 30/60.

"hottotrott" is on his A-game and has amassed nearly 13k in chips, good enough for second place in the tournament.

TT on the button, I call a raise from "hottotrott" and the BB joins as well. Flop comes 92QA5 and the 3 of us ck all the way through each street, and I take it down.

I openraise A2s in the CO and the BB calls. 9JTQ4 checks all the way through and we split the pot, A2s v A7o, 1760 in chips.

I've made the first break! 1760 in chips with the average @ 3627.

New player named "Miguel Gomez" has been seated to my immediate right and has a virtually new yet impressive PokerDB statistics. 25% ITM and 20% Final Table appearances.

First hand back from the break, I check T5o in the BB with only "hottotrott" in the hand, who had open limped. The flop came a nice KT5. I check-raised "hottotrott" and was surprised when he called. I bet out on the turn and took it down there.

I call a raise from "chibosfla" in the SB with 88 and 1 caller, "hottotrott." I flop top set on a 578 board with 2 hearts. I lead out for 1/3 the pot and get a call from the original raiser. "hottotrott" folds and the turn is a 5, giving me 8s full. I check over to "chibsofla" but unfortunately he checks as well. I bet roughly 1/3 the pot but he folds showing AKo.

I raise JJ on the button with only "hotttotrott" limping. He calls and flop comes a horrible 5QA which we check through. The turn is an ugly K and we check again. He immediately bets the river (obviously he hit something, more than likely on the flop). 3235 in chips.

I complete A6cc with only "hotttotrott" who had limped (as usual) and the flop comes something like 245 with 2 clubs. I lead out for 100 and get a call from "hottotrott" The turn comes the Kh and I lead out for 225 and "hottotrott" folds there. Next time I'll be checking over to him.

K6o open raise on the button rakes it down.

Table is being broken down. I leave with 3585 in chips and the average near 4k.

Only recognizeable players are "Str8Flush5," seated 4 to my right and "hottotrott" seated to me immediate right. Thank God I have position on them. PokerDB stats for the other 6 players coming soon.

One thing I've realized about "hottotrott" is that he likes to ck ck boards he's hit on the flop, turn, and then bet out on the river. Good to notice this, as it will save me money in the future. He also does not raise on draws it seems.

Seated to my immediate right is "bigtox" with over $6.6k in overall winnings and an ITM percentage of 20%.

4 seats to my left is "rlgolf" who is about 1/2 the chip average yet does have ~1.2k in winnings.

Raise AQ UTG+1 with "hottotrott" already in. Board comes x9T and we both elect to check. Turn brings a Q and we check through again. I bet when checked to on the river and take it down.

Openraise A5cc on the button and steal the blinds.

Check TJo and lead out on a QxT board. I get raised from 150 to 900 and call. Turn comes a 2 and I ck-fold.

Immediately accross from me is "bkmower52" who has almost @2k in cashes and an ITM% of 16%.

Raise A6o from the CO and button calls and SB pushes. I fold and button shows 77/88 and the SB shows TT. 2.7k in chips.
"Hottotrott" has amassed 21k in chips and is in 1st place. 2nd comes in with something like 12k. He's shown the ability to limp into pots with hands like KK and TT and is playinng incredibly well.

"Prez420" has sat immediately accross from me at the table and has a sick PokerDB page. Over $20.5k in overall winnings in just 320 MTTs played. I don't want to know his ROI, wow. He has about 4k in chips.

Openraise J9o from the button and take the blinds.

Openraise Q9o from the CO and take the blinds.

Openraise K9o from CO-1 and take the blinds.

3385 in chips after that little run. Average at 5.5k 17th place with 28 to go and 10 finishing ITM. I'm feeling very confident and playing focused and well.

"AWTiger" sits down 3 seats to my right with about $1.3k in tournaments winnings and a smiliar chip stack of about 3400.

Pocket 2s in the CO and I limp along with "hottotrott." SB pushes all in for 1.5BB more and we call and check all the way through and he shows QTss for the rivered straight, cracking the SB's wired aces.

I limp AJo UTG+1 along with "hottotrott" . The button and both blinds join as well. 5-handed, we see a board of 9K9 which I check-fold.

Blinds are at 150/300 and I have barely ~2k in chips. I'm in 20th/23 and desperately looking to steal blinds and double up. A blind steal would increase my chip stack by almosy 25%. One thing I've learned lately is to say "fuck you" to the "10BB=shortstack" rule I learned when I first started playing tournament poker. I find that 5-7BBs is still a great stack especially when you open-push it, particularily against the blinds. I suppose that 10BBs is better to push when in EP.

I pushed AJo UTG and got a call from fulboatwilly, who held A5dd and flopped the nut flush draw and rivered a diamond to knock me out of the tournament in 23rd place.

Overall I feel like I played very solid MTT poker. I probably could have been a bit more aggressive to have some chips towards the end of the tournament. Oh well. I made the correct play and was a 63/30 favorite (7.5% of a tie). There wasn't a hand I'd rather have seen than a dominated ace. Its tragic to play well like that and not come close to a big score. I really felt like I played solidly.

Anyways, I had a great time writing this and hope you guys enjoyed reading. I'll probably do it again sometime in the near future. I'm averaging about 1-2 of these UB $5 MTTs/day.

- Saeid

UB $5 MTT; 7th place

One of the CL going in to the FT. Unfortunately, things just didn't go right. I trusted a read, putting someone on AK on a xx79 board. I had T8 and decided to send him all in and he had A9 and I couldn't my 11 outs for the win. Disappointing because I feel like I played flawlessly for ~2 hours. Disappointing because I only made 7th and took home ~$19. Oh well, I feel like my MTT game is getting better.

I'm almost busto on Full Tilt. I'm really upset about it because I love playing there. Without an income though, I'm done with FTP until at least the winter.

I still do have a lot of money on 3 other sites. Playing $1-$5 MTTs, I should be all right. I hope, as usual, to have something big occur soon. I want to take one of these down so bad.

I also bought but have never completely read the Full Tilt Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition. I'm going to have to set hours aside each day to read this book. I've heard great things about it and not reading it equals $30 wasted. Hopefully I'll start this week.

I'll be playing MTTs for the rest of the day. I enjoy being done with class early.

UB $5 MTT; 7th place

So disappointing. I was one of the CL the entire tournaments. With 2 tables to go, I played flawlessly. At one point on the bubble, I was raising ATC from MP/LP and stealing the blinds with ease. I feel like I cruised into the final table. 2 short stacks busted immediately, leaving 8 players fighting for 7 spots. We were on the bubble.

I played very aggressive, raising ATC when it was folded to me in MP/LP. Obviously the blinds were getting upset and began to play back at me. The hand where I was crippled is as follows:

It is folded around to me and I openraise 2.3-2.5x the BB with T8o. It folds around to the BB, who obv is getting pissed at me raising so much, who min raises me. I don't want my raises to seem weak so I call. The flop comes 7 high and the BB leads out. I should have raised here to see where I was at. Doing this forces him to define his hand. If he has AK, he will fold to a reraise. If he has a big pocket pair, he will probably push.

I elected to just call and the turn came a 9. I had an OESD and still thought I was ahead. At this point, I really did have him on AK. I was execting him to check when... he bet pot, leaving himself with nothing behind him. He was committing himself to the hand. I didn't know what to do. I had outs at least 8 outs, but possibly 14.

I called and obv I'm disappointed I did. This isn't the way I want to go out, holding 10-high. Especially after playing well for the majority of the tournament.

Next time I'll remember that tournaments are about survival and I shouldn't take risks early in the FT because if I do and fail, I won't have a chance at making it to the #1 spot.

Better luck next time.

- Saeid

MTT time

Ever since my final table in the UB $800 Guaranteed a few nights ago, I've yet to make any significant cashes. I've ran deep in a few tournaments, but feel like I'm not on my A-game. I'm under my initial bankroll in 3 of the 4 sites that I play on.

I just don't feel like I'm focusing enough I suppose. I'm just going through standard MTT motions. Hopefully I can get out of this sick funk and make something happen.

I think I'm done with SNGs and ring games for the time being. I do ok at them, but I really want to be a good MTT player again.

Update

Full Tilt Poker
Bankroll: $14

Things started out horribly. I couldn't win at their SNGs. I couldn't cash in any of their tournaments. My bankroll sank to $18. Yesterday though, I 2-tabled NL10 full ring games and did very well. It was the first time I sat down at a full ring game and I really enjoyed the slower pace of it. It took away the aggression that is necessary to thrive at 6-max games. I sat back and waited for hands. I left the tables with ~$10 in profit.

I sat down earlier today at another full ring NL table and got dealt AA my first hand, in the big blind. It came back to me with an EP raiser and 3-4 other callers. It was .30 to call (not an option, ever) so I bet pot to $2. It folded around to the last caller who pushed all in for +$10, putting me all in. I called immediately and he tabled AQdd. The flop was a disgusting one and gave him the nut flush draw. He hit his diamond on the turn to have me drawing dead. Sucks that AAwant to have AA up against AQ, always.

There are a lot of $1 MTTs but I can't ever seem to get in them. I do play a lot of their 45-person and 90-person MSGs. I run deep in them and feel like I'm improving in many many aspects of my game. I'll talk more about these changes later on in the post.

UltimateBet
Bankroll: $53

UltimateBet is old faithful to me. It never lets me down. I final tabled the $1r $800 Guaranteed a few nights ago, lifting my bankroll up to around $80. I haven't been able to play that tournament since then, which is unfortunate because I've been very successful in that event all throughout my career and I enjoy playing it. Unfortunately, it starts at 1 a.m. every day and playing it all the way through usually takes long enough for me to get in bed by sunrise.

UltimateBet is my favorite website to play SNGs because their rake is less.

Bodog
Bankroll: $40

I don't really play much on Bodog. Not yet at least. Thats because I only recently discovered their MSG section and am starting to play a few of those. Just now I cashed in $1 45-person MSG for $4.05. Their MTTs aren't too great. I can't really find any cheap guarantees to play in. They do run a free $500 Guaranteed every day, but ugh, its a drag to navigate through a field of over 2000.

Absolute Poker
Bankroll: $25

I made the mistake early on of playing SNGs here. Thats dumb because the rake is too high ($1+$0.20) and because I can just play SNGs at UltimateBet and transfer money over to Absolute. They have a new partnershipish sort of thing that lets you exchange money between accounts at both sites.

--

I'm actually going to write a seperate post later discussing the improvements in my game.

Until then.

-Saeid

SNG sets: from 6 to 4

I think this will help me out tremendously: I'm lowering how many SNGS I play per set, from 6 to 4. I think this will help me focus a lot more in the earlier and more crucial times of the SNG. I realize that after I bust out of the first few games, I play better in the ones that remain. I don't know if this is because they are more progressed and have few players (I consider myself a good short-handed player), or because I actually do get to focus more on what is at hand. Anyways, I'm going to see how 4 feels. It'll probably be slow but I have a feeling that with the idle time I'll be able to pick up on a lot of things that 6-tabling didn't allow me to.

Also, my MTT day for this week has been set. This Thursday, I'm essentially playing all day long, save for a brief half an hour time around 12:30. I don't know if I'm setting a max on the number of tournaments I'm going to be playing. In my life, the max I've ever done is 8 tables, and that gets pretty ridiculous. I wouldn't mind doing that if I actually had another screen. In all honesty I think I could 8-12 table given a 2 screens and a mouse. Anyways, we'll see how things go Thursday. The bottom line though is that I really want to play as many MTTs as possible and I'm not setting a limit on myself. I'll probably play straight from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. if I can.

Tonight, my dorm community is hosting "poker night." I don't know what it is and it will probably be weak but I'm going with the hopes of meeting fellow poker players who play for actual money. Maybe I can get a game going sometime during the week. That'd be great.

- Saeid

UB SNG set

I played a SNG set on UB and tore it up. 3 OTMs and (3) 1sts for $8.40 in profit for the set. It took a while for all of them to start up which, in my opinion, may have actually helped me. Instead of being overwhelmed and 6-maxing from the get go, I kind of eased myself into taking them all in.
I don't see myself playing too many Bodog SNG sets because their site is smaller and I really doubt I can get 6 up and running simultaneously. They do have a lot more $2's running but I'm reallyn ot prepared to do that.

If things don't go well tomorrow in my FTP SNG set, I may be done playing sets there for awhile until I get my bankroll up. The only way I see that happening is through winning an MTT. Hopefully I can do that this weekend although I am actually planning on playing a lot tomorrow.

Tomorrow may be an MTT day. I've been having the sickest urge to have one and am really excited about doing it soon!

UltimateBet: $80.50
... slow and steady!

FTP & AP SNG sets

FTP SNG set:
5 OTMs, (1) 3rd for a $5.70 loss I don't feel like I played too terribly wrong just couldn't win a race for the life of me. It happens. Also, its just one set, so variance plays a huge roll. We'll see how things look after I get a couple under my belt.

AP SNG set:
AP was a little easier to beat it seemed, but yet again I kept getting outdrawn really sick. 4 OTM's and (2) 2nds for a $1.80 loss.

UB, FTP, and AP each have a different rake for their $1 SNGs.
UB, $1 + $0.10
FTP, $1 + $0.25
AP, $1 + $0.20

So, given this information, I should play SNGs @ UB because they charge a significantly less rake. Multiply this by the given number of games that I play and I could be saving a lot of money.

Also, the payout rates of the 3 sites are different, because UB plays 10-handed and FTP/AP play 9-handed.
UB, $5, $3, $2
FTP, $4.50, $2.70, $1.80
AP, $4.50, $2.70, $1.80

Yes, its all 50%/30%/20%, but I find it easier to survive just one extra person to make that little bit of money. In combination with what I mentioned earlier about rake, UltimateBet is imo superior to the other 2 sites.

One thing I found frustrating with Absolute Poker was that there was no "Bet Pot" button! I didn't really know what to raise to and the worst part was when there was a raise, 1 caller, and I had a hand I wanted to 3-bet/squeeze with. Towards the end I figured out that you had to use the slider thing, so that at least gives me different options that are in the multiples of the BB to choose from. Hopefuly I'll get more used to it but it is definitely something that I didn't like very much.

I deposited twice yesterday, to UB and AP, yet when I checked my online bank statement this morning, I had been billed a total of 3 times. Hopefully this 3rd one gets canceled or I'm going to get pissed, haha. It is listed as "pending" and therefore I don't know what the timestamp is. Without the timestamp I don't know if it was UB or AP that charged me twice. I did both in the same night but did UB first and AP about 20 minutes later.

I think I decided on having my big MTT days to be on Friday. There should be more players playing online since it is the weekend and hopefully more money. I have class at from 11-12 and from 1-2 and then I'll be able to play all day. We'll see how things work out though because I really do like spending time with my friends. Maybe I can manage to pull myself away from them all for 1 day of the week. I'm planning on playing all MTTs starting from 2 until about 4 and then calling it quits since I want to have a life at night. This isn't a whole lot nor is it prime MTT time but whatever. I'll take what I can get right now and maybe work something out later. Maybe Saturdays? I don't know. Actually, Wednesdays could work. Haha, I'll just keep you all posted.

Full Tilt: $30.75
Absolute: $44.20

I wanna play MTTs not SNGs :( I hate that they take 6 hours.

UB $800 Guaranteed; 8th place

Good to make a final table my first night back. I finished in 8th place out of ~232 and lost 99 v 99 v 66 to the other 99's flush. So gross. Cash was good for $32.30.

No other significant cashes but I did run deep in an Absolute $1r.

UltimateBet: $71.98

BEGIN.

Rail me on the following sites and names:
- Full Tilt Poker, under the name Show da Scrilla ($36.45)
- UltimateBet, under the name Birds n Bees ($50.26)
- AbsolutePoker, under the name INEO ($50.00)
- Bodog, under the name Barry McCocknya ($48.69)

I still haven't figured out which day or 2 days of the week are going to be my "MTT days," where I can just sit online and play MTTs the second I get back from class. I really need to sit down and look at my classes and see what works best for me.

Every other day of the week, I'll play SNGs that are within my bankroll. At this time, all I'll be playing are the $1's. I'll be playing SNGs in sets of 6, and probably switch sites after each set.

Ring games, I really really would like to stay away from. Unless it is $1/$2.

A fresh start and a a little less than $200 across 4 different sites. Delicious.

Fresh Starts

I haven't been able to play a whole lot because I just got back to college and have been busy with classes, jobs, and the girl. However, in the works is a plan for me to return to the poker scene.

After talking with some friends, it was decided that I really do have to return to playing poker. I beat the game for $1100 over the summer and was even up to $2k at one point. I've got to get back to playing. Unfortunately, my bankrolls are nowhere near those numbers. Full Tilt sits somewhere around $38 and for some reason I can't access Bodog in my dorm room.

MTTs were my bread and butter over the summer. That is where I made my money. Back in the UB days, I beat those and the NL200 games. I'd like to get back to playing mid-stakes 6-max ring games. But, I really have got to get my bankroll up there first.

I would like to play on the following sites during this comeback:
- Full Tilt Poker, under the name Show da Scrilla
- UltimateBet, under the name Birds n Bees
- AbsolutePoker, only because you can transfer funds between UB and AP now.
- Bodog, given the ability to fix whatever the fuck is wrong with it.

I will be able to grind MTTs one day per week. I am honestly going to play as many MTTs as I possibly can. Fuck limiting tables, I am playing as many as possible.

The other 6 days of the week I won't play as much but would like to limit myself to playing "SNG sets" (1 set = 6 SNGs) or 2-tabling 6-max ring games that are within my bankroll. I've been tearing up FTP SNGs for 2 days now and I know I can beat them pretty easily. I am getting better @ ring but still get bullshitted on one table and then tilt on the other 3. So, gotta work on that.

So, pretty straight forward plan, we'll see when it begins. I'll keep everyone posted.

- Saeid