Saturday, July 19, 2008
Downswong
I heard stories of running bad and having dry spells that lasted months and months. I'm experiencing one of these periods right now and I plan on using bankroll management (100 BIs) to ride this downswing out. Its annoying and can get into my head at times, but at the same time I still playing great.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Lalalala
The more and more I play the Sundayments the further I convince myself that one day I'll take one of those bitches down. With about 80 players or so remaining in I think the Sunday Mulligan (bubble had already burst at 90), the following hand came up. I had just finished running up my stack from 32k to 90k in 4 hands and was feeling confident and cocky in 2nd place overall. I held KQo in LP and faced a raise from a slightly-laggish player in MP. I elect to 3bet (feeling confident =\)and it folds back to him and he called. We see a board of KQx and after being checked to, make a c-bet of about 2/3 pot. Villain instashoves, and I instacall and am well ahead of his AA. Turn, A and I'm drawing dead. Sigh Sundays.
Every passing Sunday, playing these events becomes a poorer and poorer decision for me. I feel like I'm +ev in them but feel like I'm lighting money on fire at the same time. I understand that variance plays a large factor in these massive $200+ buy-in, 2000+ entrant events, but I don't have the bankroll to keep at it. So, unless I 1) find a backer or 2) satellite in, you shouldn't see me playing these events in the future. Of course things change when its Sunday and registration closes in 2 minutes and first place is well over $100k.
I am trying to tighten up on playing within my bankroll right now, especially since I've experienced the high-variance nature of these middle-stake MTTs are. So, for the meanwhile I feel extremely comfortable playing the $24s & $50s, as well as the occasional $69 event on Tilt.
I find if very difficult to take these events seriously however. I seem to have really fucked up my sense of money because because I look at tournaments with first place prizes of $2k and scoff. Its ridiculous to think this way though and I hope to snap out of it soon. I want to play solid poker from here on out, trying equally as hard in a $10 MTT as I do in the Sunday Brawl.
Have played a few events today and am 0-for with 5 remaining. These include the 28k, the 50k, the Daily Double, the 11.5k, and the Midnight Madness. Wish me luck, will post results later.
- Saeid
Every passing Sunday, playing these events becomes a poorer and poorer decision for me. I feel like I'm +ev in them but feel like I'm lighting money on fire at the same time. I understand that variance plays a large factor in these massive $200+ buy-in, 2000+ entrant events, but I don't have the bankroll to keep at it. So, unless I 1) find a backer or 2) satellite in, you shouldn't see me playing these events in the future. Of course things change when its Sunday and registration closes in 2 minutes and first place is well over $100k.
I am trying to tighten up on playing within my bankroll right now, especially since I've experienced the high-variance nature of these middle-stake MTTs are. So, for the meanwhile I feel extremely comfortable playing the $24s & $50s, as well as the occasional $69 event on Tilt.
I find if very difficult to take these events seriously however. I seem to have really fucked up my sense of money because because I look at tournaments with first place prizes of $2k and scoff. Its ridiculous to think this way though and I hope to snap out of it soon. I want to play solid poker from here on out, trying equally as hard in a $10 MTT as I do in the Sunday Brawl.
Have played a few events today and am 0-for with 5 remaining. These include the 28k, the 50k, the Daily Double, the 11.5k, and the Midnight Madness. Wish me luck, will post results later.
- Saeid
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Out of MSOP ME in 3rd hour in 1,011th place.
HOUR ONE
Raised KK from LP and got a caller from the blinds. Flop came nasty TTx and it went check-check until the river where I decided to fire a small less than 1/2 pot bet. Obviously it was minraised and he showed ATo when I called. Standard. Down to 4k from starting stack of 5k.
Ended Hour One with 3.1k in chips, average is 6k.
HOUR TWO
I get dealt 33 in the BB and after 2 callers, MP raises tiny to less than x3 pot. With 2 limpers this is an extremy poor/tiny raise. I call and we see a 4-5 handed flop of 2K3 with two spades. It checks around to the raiser who bets a little over 1/2 pot. I reraise him and get a coldcaller. Raiser folds. Cold-caller left himself with only 800 and the pot was over 3.5k at this point. We get it in on the turn and he shows QTss for the spade draw. He blanks on the river, I double up to 6.4k.
I dribble down to 20+ BBs or so and reshove a few times to take 5k to the second break. Average is 9k.
Friend Michael busted after openlimp/calling 22 OTB and got all in on a A289 board. Villian had turned the magical 2-outer on the turn, showing 99. Nasty cooler that left us both physically ill.
HOUR THREE
I hold KdQh OTB and it folds to the HJ who opens to 630 at 120/240. CO calls and I decide to ship it in for 4.6 total. HJ folds and CO calls with JJ. Board came the absolutely perfect ThKh2h leaving my opponent drawing solely to the Jack of Clubs or a runner runner straight.
Double up an opponent, KQ v 88. Chip down to less than 20 BBs, keep getting cards like 66 and 44 which I don't want to raise/fold, so I just muck 'em pre.
Hold TT in the SB. EP player minraises to 800 and shortstack shoves for 5k total. I reshove to 6.6k and EP folds. Shortstack shows 55 and board comes 8AAKJ to double me up. Now have about 13.3k, which is a bit above average.
I bleed down and lose some hands and once again become shortstack.
I hold 55 in LP with about 7.9k at 400/800. A player in EP opens to 1100 and after much much thought about shoving/folding, I elect to fold and wait it out. The hand still bothers me but I still feel its slightly better to fold there than to reshove.
Next hand, it folds to be OTB with KJ and I have an easy shove for my last 7.8k or so in chips. The SB snap re-shoves and I'm lucky to be very live versus his AQo. Sadly the door card is an Ace and therefor ends my MSOP run.
Overall I feel like I played very well. My friend BigPapi1827 busted in a sick hand that I'm sure will haunt him for a while. He openlimped 22 OTB and called a raise from the BB. He saw a gorgeous AT2 rainbow board, and correctly decided to play it super slow. He called the cbet. Turn was a 9 and they got all their chips in. The BB showed the cruel 99 for bigger set and eliminated BigPapi. These two guys were massive chip leaders at the time. Really sick cooler.
MSOP was fun, I played roughly 5-6 events and cashed in one, which I FT'd and took 3rd in for my largest cash at the time of 4.5k.
Raised KK from LP and got a caller from the blinds. Flop came nasty TTx and it went check-check until the river where I decided to fire a small less than 1/2 pot bet. Obviously it was minraised and he showed ATo when I called. Standard. Down to 4k from starting stack of 5k.
Ended Hour One with 3.1k in chips, average is 6k.
HOUR TWO
I get dealt 33 in the BB and after 2 callers, MP raises tiny to less than x3 pot. With 2 limpers this is an extremy poor/tiny raise. I call and we see a 4-5 handed flop of 2K3 with two spades. It checks around to the raiser who bets a little over 1/2 pot. I reraise him and get a coldcaller. Raiser folds. Cold-caller left himself with only 800 and the pot was over 3.5k at this point. We get it in on the turn and he shows QTss for the spade draw. He blanks on the river, I double up to 6.4k.
I dribble down to 20+ BBs or so and reshove a few times to take 5k to the second break. Average is 9k.
Friend Michael busted after openlimp/calling 22 OTB and got all in on a A289 board. Villian had turned the magical 2-outer on the turn, showing 99. Nasty cooler that left us both physically ill.
HOUR THREE
I hold KdQh OTB and it folds to the HJ who opens to 630 at 120/240. CO calls and I decide to ship it in for 4.6 total. HJ folds and CO calls with JJ. Board came the absolutely perfect ThKh2h leaving my opponent drawing solely to the Jack of Clubs or a runner runner straight.
Double up an opponent, KQ v 88. Chip down to less than 20 BBs, keep getting cards like 66 and 44 which I don't want to raise/fold, so I just muck 'em pre.
Hold TT in the SB. EP player minraises to 800 and shortstack shoves for 5k total. I reshove to 6.6k and EP folds. Shortstack shows 55 and board comes 8AAKJ to double me up. Now have about 13.3k, which is a bit above average.
I bleed down and lose some hands and once again become shortstack.
I hold 55 in LP with about 7.9k at 400/800. A player in EP opens to 1100 and after much much thought about shoving/folding, I elect to fold and wait it out. The hand still bothers me but I still feel its slightly better to fold there than to reshove.
Next hand, it folds to be OTB with KJ and I have an easy shove for my last 7.8k or so in chips. The SB snap re-shoves and I'm lucky to be very live versus his AQo. Sadly the door card is an Ace and therefor ends my MSOP run.
Overall I feel like I played very well. My friend BigPapi1827 busted in a sick hand that I'm sure will haunt him for a while. He openlimped 22 OTB and called a raise from the BB. He saw a gorgeous AT2 rainbow board, and correctly decided to play it super slow. He called the cbet. Turn was a 9 and they got all their chips in. The BB showed the cruel 99 for bigger set and eliminated BigPapi. These two guys were massive chip leaders at the time. Really sick cooler.
MSOP was fun, I played roughly 5-6 events and cashed in one, which I FT'd and took 3rd in for my largest cash at the time of 4.5k.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
About to play MSOP Main Event
In 10 minutes I'll be playing the MSOP Main Event. It seems like the event is going to bring in roughly 4,000 players. Although the number of entrants is rising so quickly I may be under-calculating. There are a handful of Full Tilt Red Pros playing the event, as well as a lot of regulars. Overall however, this field has to be extremely soft with its low buy-in and cheap satellites. I expect to see a lot of sub-par play for the first few hours and hope to stack a few fish in the early going.
I'm excited about the event and have been for months now. All the time leading up to it has me a bit nervous right now.
Good luck as well to my friend BigPapi1827, who'll be playing as well.
- SH
I'm excited about the event and have been for months now. All the time leading up to it has me a bit nervous right now.
Good luck as well to my friend BigPapi1827, who'll be playing as well.
- SH
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Update on the learning and such
It is such a refreshing feeling when you realize that all your hard work and practice is paying off. I still haven't deposited money online (freaking Full Tilt is spazzing on me) but I have been reading a lot and using my play chip account for massive practice haha.
Two of the books that I'm reading I strongly recommend to everyone. The first one is Alan N. Schoonmaker's Master the Mental Game: Your Worst Poker Enemy. It's all about psychology and is meant to help us realize why we do certain things that hurt our play like tilt, or call against our better judgement, etc. I'm only about halfway through but it's already been so helpful. The second one is David Sklansky and Ed Miller's No Limit Hold 'Em Theory and Practice. True to form, Sklansky and Miller have written for the advanced player. While most of this book is way over my head and very heavy on the formulas, I still find it helpful. I have found that on the first read (it has become clear to me that I'm gonna have to read it several times lol) simply grasping the basic concepts, even if I don't understand the more complex bits, has really upped my game.
So to the amazing moment of truth for me that proved I'm making some progress. I can't remember the hand exactly unfortunately but it went something like this: I had J10 in the hole so I raised preflop and everyone folded but the person to my left. Flop comes JxK so I'm thinking "sweet, I have a pair of Js and a somewhat straight draw". I lead out betting about 70% of the current pot size and he just calls. Turn comes Q and for some reason I decide to push because I feel like he can't possibly have a higher pair than me. Well he turns over pocket Qs and I am well and truly screwed. To make matters worse the river is the final Q, you know just to twist the knife that's already embedded in my heart. Well of course I quit playing immediately because I am seriously on tilt. The miracle here is that I was NOT angry because I was cheated by the cards or had bad luck or anything external like that. I was mad because I had done something wrong and for once, I realized what it was lol. I was OOP the whole time, I had no reason to push because I had plenty of big blinds left, I made a move based on gut feelings and not logic, I clearly hadn't paid attention to the board if I thought I had the highest pair, etc. So basically I discovered I am actually learning something, I just need to learn to apply it better and constantly be aware.
Just needed to share that haha :)
Two of the books that I'm reading I strongly recommend to everyone. The first one is Alan N. Schoonmaker's Master the Mental Game: Your Worst Poker Enemy. It's all about psychology and is meant to help us realize why we do certain things that hurt our play like tilt, or call against our better judgement, etc. I'm only about halfway through but it's already been so helpful. The second one is David Sklansky and Ed Miller's No Limit Hold 'Em Theory and Practice. True to form, Sklansky and Miller have written for the advanced player. While most of this book is way over my head and very heavy on the formulas, I still find it helpful. I have found that on the first read (it has become clear to me that I'm gonna have to read it several times lol) simply grasping the basic concepts, even if I don't understand the more complex bits, has really upped my game.
So to the amazing moment of truth for me that proved I'm making some progress. I can't remember the hand exactly unfortunately but it went something like this: I had J10 in the hole so I raised preflop and everyone folded but the person to my left. Flop comes JxK so I'm thinking "sweet, I have a pair of Js and a somewhat straight draw". I lead out betting about 70% of the current pot size and he just calls. Turn comes Q and for some reason I decide to push because I feel like he can't possibly have a higher pair than me. Well he turns over pocket Qs and I am well and truly screwed. To make matters worse the river is the final Q, you know just to twist the knife that's already embedded in my heart. Well of course I quit playing immediately because I am seriously on tilt. The miracle here is that I was NOT angry because I was cheated by the cards or had bad luck or anything external like that. I was mad because I had done something wrong and for once, I realized what it was lol. I was OOP the whole time, I had no reason to push because I had plenty of big blinds left, I made a move based on gut feelings and not logic, I clearly hadn't paid attention to the board if I thought I had the highest pair, etc. So basically I discovered I am actually learning something, I just need to learn to apply it better and constantly be aware.
Just needed to share that haha :)
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