Brag or Bad Beat, idk: 25th in UB $200k for $1100

I tried really hard not to go into the 200k today expecting to do well. But I couldn't help but hope and imagine taking it down for $45k. I envisioned playing solid poker and running as deep as I possibly could. That became a reality today, but sadly I couldn't go all the way, finishing 25th/800+ for $1100.

I understand how twisted it is to complain about this but I think people fail to realize is what I'm complaining about. I'm not upset about winning $1100, lol. I'm upset about not running deeper. Its sickening to me that I had to survive just 24 more players for the first place of $45k. Coupled with the fact that I lost with AK vs AJ all-in pre and had him dead to a gutshot on the river in a massive 100k pot, pardon me for ranting.

Anyways, I feel like I played really well overall, with just one hand that I'm still kicking myself for. But I'll try to live with misplaying one hand out of 300. I think I can deal. I played as a shortstack for nearly an hour and a half (half of Hour 3 and nearly all of Hour 4) but managed to stay patient and steal enough to keep my head afloat until I could double up. I played solid and because of that I really didn't find myself in a lot of tricky situations so I'm grateful for that.

I also made a new friend while playing and I weigh things like that pretty heavily for whatever reason. Poker has a social aspect to it and I feel that making allies in the community is important. Anyways, he seems like a very good player and I'm very much looking forward to picking his brain and keeping in touch.

With this cash I'm rolled for 1/2 although I'm still not sure how I feel about playing with almost 25 buy-ins. I feel like I'm becoming a bigger nit the higher I move up, which is great on one hand but on the other hand is potentially costing me money. Anybody have a problem 6-tabling 1/2 6-max with a 25 buy-in roll?

Anyways, thanks for reading.

- BnB -

Won UB $2k ($10r, 6-max); won $200k seat

I woke up yesterday with little memory of getting home and the events of the night. My laptop was on my chest (how it didn't fall off my bed and die, idk) and dead since it was unplugged. Ridiculous. I stood up to use the restroo... whoooooa there thats a hangover. Fuck.

I grabbed a soda since it makes me feel better after a night of drinking and sat down at my computer and did the usual routine: Facebook, Gmail, 2+2, TwoRags, and some friends' blogs. I had planned on playing a marathon like 18-hr day yesterday (kidding, ish) but at that point in the day the thought of 6-tabling made me physically ill.

I knew I wanted to play poker though so I jumped in the first tournament I saw, the UB $2k Gtd $10r 6-max holy hell thats a mouthful. I figured I could deal with one table whilst I remedied myself back to a decent condition.

After 6-tabling for so long, I can't tell you how easy it was just having this one tournament open. I watched nearly every hand and had a pretty good feel for the metagame of the table, blah blah blah. I also felt that my opening ranges were pretty solid for a 6-max table. I noticed a lot of players who were playing like it was full ring, as well as others who were playing like it was 3-handed. So, to be cliche: I was patient, picked my spots, played solid, etc... and ended up taking the event down.

When we were down to the final 3 tables, I noticed a player who was beginning to run as hot as fire and was playing amazingly well. I felt like he was going to be my biggest threat. I don't know what it is or what he did, but no one gave him credit for anything and ended up shoving middle pair versus him like 3 times and all of a sudden he has this sick chip stack that was minimum like 8x above the average.

I end up getting HU with this player and after one hand it immediately becomes apparent that he is the worst HU player I've ever played against. I'd say he bet pot about 75% of the time, regardless of position, who raised pre-flop, or texture of the board.

I wish I had the hand history for this but I remember a hand in particular where I raised KK OTB and he called and led out for pot-sized bets on the flop and turn and culminated in him shoving the river and showing nothing but like 7 high. I'd seen this play from him before and I don't know if it was necessary on my part but I was using up all of my time clock. I've no idea if this actually gave him the false idea that I was weak and strongly debating what to do, or if he just was that poor. I ended up taking the event down for about $960.

Later in the day, I joined a $10r that gave away guaranteed 25 seats to the Sunday 200k. I love rebuys because they're deepstacked and I just sit back and essentially coast, not getting too involved and really sitting and waiting for solid hands. I mean, there is time for that. Of course as the bubble approaches I put the pressure on a bit more but generally speaking, you just have a sick amount of chips and I personally don't see the point in risking them early on. The event drew 100 people and I was actually worried with about 30 left that I wasn't going to make it. The bubble was lasting a little longer than usual and I was folding premium hands when folded to since I didn't want people left to act to wake up with real hands. In the end though I won the seat and I'm looking forward to playing that event today.

I hate titles. Just read.

Cash games have been good lately. I really wish PT worked and I could have stats to look at though. Apparently my computer is so full that PT can't even compress the database anymore. Tilt. I've erased everything which I don't use, which apparently is nothing and unfortunately doesn't include large programs like Photoshop and Flash. I'm planning on on buying a rather large external hard drive from Radio Shack soon and moving a lot of my files over there. In fact, I'd love to move everything over there and completely restore my machine to its just-out-of-box state. The thought of playing poker without PT locking up my machine sounds too good to be true, but hopefully I'll be able to say "dream come true" in a few days.

After suffering an absolutely disgusting massive downswing over the past few days, I decided to turn things around and made about 6 buy-ins yesterday. It probably should have been closer to 10, but I remember 3 separate instances yesterday where I lost set under set. Being on the losing end of that makes my heart cringe at the thought of it. I honestly can't say I know how I put up with it on three separate occasions yesterday.

I've got plans to visit friends in College Station, TX this weekend, and I don't know what their internet situation is like. If they have wireless, I may put in a session or two earlier in the days. If not, well whatever. Hand me a brewski.

Gonna try and get in about 3k hands now before lunch. Peace.

- BnB

Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament

So I'm currently watching the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament: Elimination Match 13, and I just need to take this opportunity to vent about how much I hate Phil Hellmuth.

Six people were sitting at the table this round including some familiar faces like Gus Hansen and Mike Matusow and, unfortunately, our good friend Phil. This guy is a total douche bag. Not only does he act like a child at the table talking ridiculous smack and insulting the other players' play but he gets up from the table at one point to go listen to his music on the other side of the room and pout. At one point Matusow is talking to other players, not even Phil I might add, and Phil starts saying things like "Mike, how many times have I told you not to talk while I'm thinking?" and "I already warned you about this for an hour yesterday." Completely serious, no smile, he's not kidding. Well excuse us Phil, but who made you King Douche Bag? No one. Don't sit there talking the whole time and directing insults at people and then expect all to be silent when your dumb ass is thinking. So Matusow, my new hero starts talking loudly about the weather occasionally looking directly at Phil. Did I mention they were sitting next to each other? Hahaha take that Phil Fuck-up!

Poor Hansen gets knocked out first after withstanding what I'm sure in real time was hours of Phil's shit and finishes 6th with no points to add to his total. And what does Phil do the minute Hansen walks away? Starts talking shit about how Hansen shouldn't have been here anyway and blah blah blah.

A little time goes by and finally Phil is knocked out in 5th place after all of his shit and I am ecstatic. However, just when we all thought it was over, Mary Strong on the sidelines begins to interview him and here comes the pouting again. He keeps saying "I'm not happy about where I'm at" (even though he has 20 points and is in I believe 6th place overall - something like that) and "Well, I had to play with Gus who has no knowledge of the game so what can I expect?". Um, excuse me but didn't Hansen win this whole thing last year? Oh right, he did, so get over yourself Hellmuth. It got so bad that there was a good 10 seconds of awkward silence before she sent the cameras back to Chris Rose and Howard Lederer. Even they stepped out of the realm of professionalism and said "Well good try Mary, but when someone decides to act like a 10 year old there's not much you can do".

And then later, during Mike Matusow's interview (after finishing 2nd), Phil comes over and hogs the lime light once again insulting Matusow's play and saying he knows nothing about the game. Even though he was smiling at had a slightly nicer tone to his words, they were still completely unnecessary and condescending. Thankfully Matusow came back with the fact that he tried to read Phil's book but realized one chapter into it that Phil knows nothing. Balla! Matusow 2, Phil 0.

Oh and as a side note, Eli Elezra ended up winning lol.

In short, Phil Hellmuth clearly can't be a bad player because of his 11 bracelets and whatever other awards I'm sure he carries pictures of in his wallet, but if you act like a total and complete ass whole and embarrass yourself on national television all the awards in the world become null and void. Play the game hard, have the passion, be competitive, but also be a gentleman.


** P.S.
I apologize for all of the cursing through out this post, it just burns me up when people get so damn cocky and childish.

FTP $100 Freeroll, End

Alright, doin great, ready to move on and get closer to the mo--what?

*sigh* oh well.


Full Tilt Poker Game #5548706553: $100 Freeroll (42118124), Table 142 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:18:05 ET - 2008/03/08
Seat 2: All-in 123123 (49,860)
Seat 3: MerMaid12 (21,134)
Seat 4: BigSlick3188 (100,277)
Seat 5: shah419 (27,490), is sitting out
Seat 6: KingBlaza (131,117)
Seat 7: nyyankeefan1948 (52,041)
Seat 8: moosegreen (60,779)
Seat 9: SlowskyBill (111,652)
All-in 123123 antes 300
MerMaid12 antes 300
BigSlick3188 antes 300
shah419 antes 300
KingBlaza antes 300
nyyankeefan1948 antes 300
moosegreen antes 300
SlowskyBill antes 300
All-in 123123 posts the small blind of 1,200
MerMaid12 posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BigSlick3188 [Ad Kc]
BigSlick3188 has 15 seconds left to act
BigSlick3188 raises to 7,000
shah419 folds
KingBlaza has 15 seconds left to act
KingBlaza calls 7,000
nyyankeefan1948 folds
moosegreen folds
SlowskyBill folds
All-in 123123 folds
MerMaid12 folds
*** FLOP *** [Ah 6s 3c]
BigSlick3188 bets 12,000
KingBlaza has 15 seconds left to act
KingBlaza calls 12,000
*** TURN *** [Ah 6s 3c] [5d]
BigSlick3188 bets 25,000
KingBlaza calls 25,000
*** RIVER *** [Ah 6s 3c 5d] [Jc]
BigSlick3188 bets 55,977, and is all in
KingBlaza calls 55,977
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BigSlick3188 shows [Ad Kc] a pair of Aces
KingBlaza shows [Js Ac] two pair, Aces and Jacks
KingBlaza wins the pot (205,954) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
BigSlick3188 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 205,954 Rake 0
Board: [Ah 6s 3c 5d Jc]
Seat 2: All-in 123123 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: MerMaid12 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: BigSlick3188 showed [Ad Kc] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 5: shah419 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: KingBlaza showed [Js Ac] and won (205,954) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 7: nyyankeefan1948 folded before the Flop
Seat 8: moosegreen folded before the Flop
Seat 9: SlowskyBill (button) folded before the Flop

Nothing I could do aside from pushing earlier, but my stack was too big for that.
Oh well, I'll take 39th out of 2700... i guess.

$100 FTP Freeroll, 3rd Break

Well, I'm still going strong at the third break! A couple of big hands near the end of the last level have helped boost me up in the standings. I'm feeling great, and I guess I'm just not gonna sleep before the school tourney starts (in 4.5 hours! hahaha). It might actually be better, though, cuz I'm running good and making good decisions, but sleep might kinda reset my brain. Anyway, here's the stats right now:
21st/50; 65,426 stack; 81k average

$100 FTP Freeroll, Pt. 2

Well, I've reached the 2nd break. 90/185, 2700 started... stack of 17,945; average at 21,891; blinds to become 250/500 after the break. (And for those who scoffed at my other post i.e. playing 7-3 like it was the nuts, i say this: big blind, was limped around, pure read on the turn that turned out right... pardon the pun.)

FTP $100 Freeroll

So right now I'm running great in a Full Tilt $100 Freeroll... I like playing these because they help me hone my MTT skills. I'm actually practicing for tomorrow, when i'll be playing a free buy-in 600 player live tourney sponsored by the university... More on that tomorrow. But anyway, here's an example of just how good i'm running:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5548156983: $100 Freeroll (42118124), Table 111 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:35:40 ET - 2008/03/08
Seat 1: Walker6or7 (24,682)
Seat 2: BigSlick3188 (13,660)
Seat 3: X Mr Allin X (8,610)
Seat 4: bucks2303 (20,215)
Seat 5: Frank_White_520 (10,755)
Seat 6: pokerangy (19,675)
Seat 7: river horse r (13,630)
Seat 8: Timm11_32 (14,525)
Seat 9: sbxkoa (16,365)
Walker6or7 antes 25
BigSlick3188 antes 25
X Mr Allin X antes 25
bucks2303 antes 25
Frank_White_520 antes 25
pokerangy antes 25
river horse r antes 25
Timm11_32 antes 25
sbxkoa antes 25
Walker6or7 posts the small blind of 150
BigSlick3188 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BigSlick3188 [7h 3c]
X Mr Allin X calls 300
bucks2303 folds
Frank_White_520 folds
pokerangy folds
river horse r folds
Timm11_32 folds
sbxkoa folds
Walker6or7 folds
BigSlick3188 checks
*** FLOP *** [3d Kc 2d]
BigSlick3188 bets 900
X Mr Allin X calls 900
*** TURN *** [3d Kc 2d] [5c]
BigSlick3188 bets 1,800
X Mr Allin X raises to 7,385, and is all in
BigSlick3188 calls 5,585
X Mr Allin X shows [Ad Th]
BigSlick3188 shows [7h 3c]
*** RIVER *** [3d Kc 2d 5c] [3h]
X Mr Allin X shows a pair of Threes
BigSlick3188 shows three of a kind, Threes
BigSlick3188 wins the pot (17,545) with three of a kind, Threes
X Mr Allin X stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 17,545 Rake 0
Board: [3d Kc 2d 5c 3h]
Seat 1: Walker6or7 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: BigSlick3188 (big blind) showed [7h 3c] and won (17,545) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 3: X Mr Allin X showed [Ad Th] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 4: bucks2303 folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Frank_White_520 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: pokerangy folded before the Flop
Seat 7: river horse r folded before the Flop
Seat 8: Timm11_32 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: sbxkoa (button) folded before the Flop

Anywho, more updates to come

Week in Review

I read Doyle Brunson's blog on tworags.com last night and he posts these pieces called "Week in Review," where obviously he just shares his thoughts on his past 7 days. Intrigued, I've decided I'm going to try and do the same here.

This past week was a mental challenge, I think. I think I set the unfair, yet not unrealistic goal, of trying to one up my previous two weeks. This way of thinking is double edged. On one hand, setting such lofty goals can cause one to feel disappointed when they fail. On the other hand, however, one has an unquenchable desire for more and this will ultimately lead him/her to success.

In hindsight, I think its silly to think that this week was a complete failure solely because it didn't live up to last week. I still made money (I'll edit this with net profit/ROI% later), and any week where I make money should always be a good week.

This week, I'd like to do the following things:

• Play fewer tournaments. This one is going to be hard, haha, but right now it sounds like a good idea. The true reason behind it is that I'd just like a decent sleeping schedule since I'm a student. Other reasons include me just not wanting to feel burnt out like I sporadically did throughout the later parts of last week. I think I averaged about a dozen tournaments a day, which I guess must've gotten to me. I'm going to try to only play the following daily tournaments:
• 7:00 $5 Rebuy $1500 Guaranteed (if I leave work in time)
• 7:30 $35 Bounty $7500 Guaranteed (if dinner permits, lol)
• 8:30 $5 Freezeout $1500 Guaranteed
• 9:00 $11 Bounty $4500 Guaranteed
• 9:00 $3 Rebuy $2500 Guaranteed
• Completely avoid ****ing cash games. This is a huge leak in my bankroll management that causes me so much frustration. I convince myself that I'm going to play level headed for the entire session, and of course by the end of it all I'm stuck 3 buy-ins and calling someone down with a flushdraw + gutshot. I really want to stop playing them altogether.
  
• Research staking. Every good businessman has his investments, doesn't he? I think I'd like to stake some good players and work out a deal where we split any winnings 50/50 and I'm responsible for the losses. Hopefully I'll study very hard and not waste my money on some donkey. I'll be on the lookout though, for sure, because this really interests me.

Out of curiosity, I've calculated my net profit from MTTs as well as my ROI. I used February 4th (the day of my initial $50 deposit) as the start date.

Since February 4th,
- I've spent $1966.2 in MTT buyin and fees.
- I've won $4580.61 in MTT monies (for the record, pokerdb is ~$1300 for some reason)
- The total net profit is $2614.41.
- 133% ROI (err... wow)

I need to stop playing cash games because wow a lot of my bankroll is gone due to them.

- BnB

Refocusing.

Sorry for the recent lack of updates. I realized today that this blog is an account of my poker life, not just of my poker successes. I'm going to try to post with more frequency from here on out, regardless of how I'm doing.

Lately, I feel like I've been in a funk. This past week has been slow and painful, with no true results to show. For what its worth, I've cashed in something every day of the week, but always come short of the big bucks. Its frustrating to me to continuously run deep and still not have much to show for it. At the same time, I'm trying to remain positive by telling myself that at least I'm still running deep. I've made $786 in gross winnings since Monday.

I've taken stabs at cash games once again this week, which I hate myself for. I spew so much money at those tables. I guess its a lesson that I'm literally paying to learn. I'm not worried though as I've definitely cut down a whole lot. I feel like I'm weening myself away from the ring games. Soon I hope I am never tempted by them. I just look to players such as PearlJammed and P0ker H0, who are solely MTT players, for inspiration. Maybe they suck at cash games as much as I do and are just more disciplined in staying away from them. I'll get it right soon, I'm sure.

Anyways, lately I've played any tournament under $25. I'm not really happy with things the way they are now however and am instead going to focus on all tournaments under $15, with the occasional stab, of course. I do plan on playing the $20+2 $10k Gtd tournament every Saturday/Sunday... if only I could wake up in time, lol.

I became friends with Shannon "bluffforrent" Shorr today on UB. I sent him an email as well as chatted briefly on a NL2500 table (which by the way, I felt totally awesome being able to buy in for $1k, lol). Obviously I sat out however and just introduced myself to him. I'm looking forward to him answering my email as I just kinda picked his brain about his poker beginnings online as well as a few bankroll management questions.

Good luck at the tables,
BnB

It's Been A While

It's been a while since my last post. In the mean time, I fell from $100ish all the way down to $26 with some money still at tables. It was a combination of bad, overaggressive play and terrible, terrible luck. However, I managed to claw back and somehow find my way to $80. That's when everything started clicking. It all began with the 1:15 $3 freezeout, no guarantee. It's probably my favorite tournament, seeing as I've cashed I think 3/5 times playing. This particular night I grabbed a 3rd place for $70. I should've gotten more, had it not been for one hand. My 2nd to last hand, I'm the big blind, and the small blind raises into me when I had AQo. Being relatively short, it was an easy decision to push, and called and showed 67ss. Of course, he hits a 7 on the river and I'm more than crippled. Not a big deal cause it gets the roll to $150. That allowed me to buy into the $5 buy in, $1k guaranteed tourney starting at 2:30. While it forced me to skip my last class of the day (the late night from the $70 cash forced me to skip the others, so lazy), I was quickly ok with it when I managed to get heads up in the end. As the cl, the guy reraised me when I had Q8ss. Since I had been playing really aggressive up to then, I figured he was just tired of it, and called. He showed A3o. After an 8 hit on the flop, this was the result:
Needless to say, I was pretty amped about seeing my roll rise to $420. To ignore a lot of the middle of the story, I skip to tonight. I decided to play the $5 freezeout at 11:15. There was one nasty hand, where because I was shortstacked, I pushed preflop with A7o and was called by KK. Ouch. Even more painful when a king hit on the flop. Then, in one of the nastiest suckouts ever, the board came runner runner hearts, giving me a flush with my 7 of hearts. So disgusting. From there, there was no looking back. I final tabled, and absolutely dominated. When it was finally heads up, it was my AJ against my beloved 7s. Here's the result of that one:
So, when it's all said and done, I've had back to back days with tourney WINS. I'm playing really well and running just as good right now. Love seeing that roll get fat. I'll keep ya posted on whether or not the luck continues!

UB roll : $631. So crazy!

BigPapi

Birds n Bees finishes 7/678 in $4 Bounty $3k Guaranteed for $105

Third consecutive day with final table cashes. Unfortunately, today (Tuesday), I won't be playing very much since I go out with my mom to take salsa classes with her. How sweet, I know.

Also, I opened an account on Absolute Poker. I wasn't really planning on playing there, but it seems like they run some good tournaments and since I can transfer money seamlessly between UltimateBet/Absolute, I figure I might as well. If anything I'm just worried about playing too many tournaments, so maybe I'll just play the bigger events. We'll see, I really have no idea. For those curious, I'll be playing under the moniker b1rds_n_bees. Yeah, I'm starting to use that on all the sites I'm playing at. I want it to be recognized everywhere I go.

Edit: There are pretty much two tournaments I can play on AP during the regular week. They have massive prize pools and I'm really impressed. The tournaments are:

• $50 Freezeout $10k Guaranteed
• $3 Rebuy $8k Guaranteed
  

Currently there are no plans to play on PokerStars or Bodog... but, haha, we'll just have to see.

I withdrew money from UltimateBet yesterday so have $1931 sitting in my account right now. I'm decently content with that.

- BnB

WTF DO I HAVE TO DO?!?!?!?!

Alright, had a bit of a bad run in the afternoon, couple of semi-borderline bad beats, but nothing out of the ordinary on UltimateBet.

Then Saeid banked me into the $3 tourney. I was running great! Average stack or so with about 15 to go, with the final table paid. Feeling great, getting confidence, just what I needed as I'm having a bit of a dive right now. I'm feeling fantastic, ready to final table and cast off the curse UB seems to have on me...Then it happens.

I get AKo in early position, bet it up, guy calls. Flop comes 8A7 - YAHTZEE! - i bet out, he pushes, i almost autocall, putting him on AQ or some garbage like that. Well, well, well... 88. Surprise. Out. There it goes.

... as if my weekend wasn't sick enough.

I thought last weekend's score of $1050 couldn't be topped but amazingly I almost doubled that this weekend. I'm on a massive upswing right now. $2500 in two weeks, omy.

Saturday

• I won a Heads Up SNG for $20.
• Had $12 worth of bounties from various tournaments.
• Finished in 3rd place in the Bounty $4500 Guarantee for $472.50.
• Finished in 3rd place in the $2500 Guaranteed Rebuy for $366.03.
• Finished in 26th place in the $3000 Guaranteed Rebuy for $29.34.

Sunday

• Had $29 worth of bounties from various tournaments.
• Finished 4th place in the $1500 Guaranteed Rebuy for $215.47.
• Finished 45th place in the Bounty $3000 Guaranteed for $10.50.
• Finished 2nd place in the $6000 Guaranteed for $922.

Playing an average of a dozen tournaments/day, I finished ITM 25% of the time and FT'd 16.67% of the time. I made a total of $2047.84, but of course thats without taking out what I spent, which I'd estimate to be near $200 or so.

Double Final Tables

Someone was trying to tell me when I was losing money at NL50 for the past week. All the runbad and variance and swingy ups and downs and more downs and sicker downs were all a message from the poker gods: Stick to what you know. Play more MTTs.

I obeyed yesterday, playing in a dozen tournaments, 11 of which had guaranteed prize pools. I played everything that started after 6PM and cost less than $25: rebuys, freezeouts, bounties... absolutely everything.

At around 11PM or so it was becoming pretty evident that I was going to be having a monster night. I was running deep in two events, the 9PM $11 Bounty $4500 Guaranteed and the 9PM $3 Rebuy $2500 Guaranteed. It worked out great because the breaks matched up and the blinds were increasing at the same time. I have the oddest of bet sizes, so it helps to keep things similar.

The Bounty ran a little quicker since there were less chips on the table than the Rebuy. I was playing absolutely fantastic. I really wish I could remember some interesting hands fromt he FT, but I had a lot of other things going on as well. Too many tournaments.



In the Rebuy there was a player who was raising a ton of hands preflop, and it was evident that the table was letting him run him over. I knew what was going on and 3bet pushed the hell out of him. It was pretty sick to win 100k pots through doing this, but it worked. In the end, however, his aggressive persistence was just too much. I got too shortstacked and couldn't make a move.




I also cashed in a small rebuy for about $30.

I'll calculate net profits and edit this post later.

Bankroll @ $1437

UB, turn off my doomswitch.

No more cash games... for a long fucking time. I run absolutely terrible a them. Its unbelievable and I seriously just can't take it anymore. Also, back to only playing tournaments under $10. My roll is fine, but I was never truly comfortable playing the $25 MTTs anyways. I want to make this bankroll into something monstrous, but its going to be done one step at a time.

Runbad @ NL50; MTT focus.

Its been 2 or 3 days since my huge $1050 MTT score. I've been trying to play some NL50 since I felt like I was on a roll and my bankroll was large enough. Unfortunately, it hasn't been the smoothest ride. Its come down to a combination of running poorly and its ensuing tilt that has cost me probably $300+ in the last couple of days. $300 sounds like a lot, but thinking of it in terms of BBs, I've lost 6 buy-ins at NL50. From what I've heard about downswings, 6 buy-ins is a joke and nothing to be concerned about. I'll bounce back... but until then I'll be playing NL25 again, where the swings aren't so... swingly. I feel the need to rebuild my confidence as well.

I also should probably try getting more MTTs in, since I think I've been on a heater as of late (I FT'd two UB Guarantees last week). Being a student and having work kind of limits my playing schedule, but I think with the amount of time I have and where my bankroll is at, I'll be playing two events every evening: the 11:30PM $5 Rebuy $3k Guaranteed and the 12:00AM $25 Freezeout $6k Guaranteed. I'm confident my bankroll will be able to sustain these tournaments for awhile.

See you at the tables,
BnB

UB $10k Guaranteed

At the start of every month, poker players plop down in front of their computers and write down what they'd like to achieve in the upcoming month. Some examples are to play an x amount of hands, to practice good bankroll management, or to find and fix leaks in their game. Every month I try and do the same thing, although I'm not very skilled at it, especially as of late. This past post for February was weak as my only goal was to run my initial $50 bankroll up to $500. I'll justify that by saying that I'm just starting out and don't care how many hands I put in this month. Or that I couldn't give a flying shit about bankroll management because I barely have enough of a bankroll to manage anyways. Or just that I fucking run like god at poker and don't have any leaks to fix.

Not only do I write monthly Month in Review and Goal's posts, I also do yearly ones. I remember one of my biggest goals for 2008 was to have a four-figure score in an MTT. Well ladies and gentlemen, today was the day. I finished in 3rd place of the 1:30PM $10k Guaranteed and netted $1050 for the effort. I emailed UB Support for a copy of my hand history, and plan on writing a tournament report sometime this coming week. Look forward to that please.

My bankroll sits at $1415 and I've completely shattered my goal of $500 for the month of February. When I was making it, I told myself I should make it harder and aim for $1000. As Kanye West says, Reach for the stars so if you fail you'll fall on the clouds, or... something like that. I think.

Clearly I've graduated from NL10. My bankroll is too large for those swings to make a difference. The question now is whether to remain at NL25 or kick it up a notch to NL50. I have 28 buy-ins for NL50, which in my opinion is at least worth a shot. However, I would like to have at least 50 buy-ins before moving up to the next level, NL100.

So, this means that my next plateau is $5000.

As far as MTTs are concerned, I plan on playing every Guarantee under $22.

These are my updated goals for February.

PS, look forward to a strategy article about why you should widen your raising range from LP with limpers as well as how over-aggression from early position in the middle and late stages of an MTT will cost you in the long run.

Until then,
BnB

Friday Night

Early in poker careers, players usually make the decision as to whether they are going to be primarily be either cash game players or MTT players. The games are two completely different monsters, each with their own intricacies, and I think many find it difficult to master both. I believe I'm fortunate in that I've had decent success at both, at least at the levels I've played at.

I mentioned in my February Goals post that I wanted to stick solely to MTTs, particularly the $4.30 Bounty $3k Gtd tournament at 8:30, as well as avoid cash games. I haven't done either of which, but things couldn't be going any better for me. There are a few reasons, and I'll talk strategy in a bit.

I've played roughly 3000 hands of NL10 and about 1000 hands of NL25 since Monday. I've had a few fun and brief sessions of NL50 as well. Overall, I believe I'm up $160 in cash games. I'm uncertain because yesterday I realized that that PokerTracker wasn't correctly keeping track of my profits. Assuming yesterday was the first time it messed up, I am up about $160 and feel that I'm playing pretty good.

As far as tournaments are concerned, I believe I'm up around $110 overall. My one big cash game a few nights ago in the $1 Rebuy $1k Gtd that I took 2nd place in for $181.81. I just realized that there is no way I've lost $70 in tournament buy-ins, so my math must be off somewhere, either in tournaments or cash. Apologies, and damn you PokerTracker.

I've never had a problem gaining chips in poker. I think that a lot of people find it pretty easy. Get a hand, bet it, win pot. The problem and difficult part of poker is when you find yourself on the defensive. Knowing whether to call a bet or a raise is challenging because you not only have to look at what you have, you have to consider what your opponent has. So, while its easy to gain chips, its difficult for many to keep them.

I have this problem still, but I used to have it much so much worse. I wouldn't know where my AK was after getting check-raised on a A67T board. Enter, the Baluga Theorem. Without going into too much detail, it essentially tells you that if you face heavy action (a raise or *gasp* check-raise) on the turn, you are usually beat. After all, put yourself in the shoes of the raiser: what would you raise with? Minimum two-pair. The Baluga Theorem has helped my cash game and tournament game immensely as I'm now holding on to my profits. I like playing small pot poker, meaning I make most of my money off of pre-flop raises and continuation bets. I usually take things down on the flop. Its on 4th and 5th street however where I start thinking about whether or not I'm behind. Before, I'd bet AK on an A-high board on the flop, turn, and river. Now, I'm probably just doing it on the flop and possibly turn/river, rarely both unless my hand improves.

The thing to remember is to keep the pots small with your weaker holdings (as common as one pair is, it is still second worst hand in poker) and bet when you have huge hands or even strong draws. Thinking about it, I think I play strong draws harder than I do one pair.

Another thing I've realized and tried to change about my game has to do with position. Everyone knows that position is everything and that you want to raise in late position. However, many find it challenging to call a raise from the blinds and play post-flop. You put yourself at a disadvantage from the start, why would you want that? Imagine the following scenario. You have KJdd in the SB and it folds aroud to a MP player, who makes it 3.5 times the big blind. It folds back to you and liking your hand you elect to see a flop, which comes down 8J5. Here, I usually lead out. I want to know where I stand in the hand and leading out does that. Does he fold, call, or reraise? Fold, he missed with AQ/AK or 99. Raise, he's sitting on a premium pocket pair. It gets tricky with a call, as it can be a stingy player who can't split with AK, or a premium pocket pair. If he has AK, he's drawing to 3 outs and thats fine. If you're beat, at least we found out cheaply. I check/call the turn (if he bets) and also check/call the river, unless he doesn't bet the turn, which would make me bet the river. I try to keep pots small when out of position, and I rarely play my big draws as aggressively. I'm a very passive player when OOP. You don't want to get too involved unless you have a good hand, at least two pair.

My next bit of strategy is in regards to big stacks. Big stacks are intimidating to some. However, I see them as an opportunity to win huge, whether it be in a cash game or tournament. With bigger stacks, you have better implied odds. This means when you hit your hand, you'll win big. Again, Google for more information. I often call raises from these big stack players with suited cards and small pocket pair, because if I win, I can take stack them or get doubled up. I always remember the Baluga Theorem however, and know when to fold. Really, I want to get my money in with at least two pair, but definitely rarely one pair. Using the Baluga Theorem, I can take a stab at making a lot at a big stack without giving up too much. Its okay to call a x3 raise preflop, and lead out for 4 big blinds, and get reraised. You lost 7. In the future however, you could stack your opponent and take in a massive 70 BB from him. For me, its worth it. Having the Baluga Theorem just makes it that much better. And, for clarification, I call big stacks when I have a big stack myself. I don't really want to get my money in as an underdog (since I'd be playing tricky suited and connected cards) against a biggie. I want us to both be at least 50BBs deep.

I'm at work now until about 12PM. I plan on playing a ton, we'll see how that goes though. Living at home sucks because I never can play without being distracted. I also feel bad staying in my room from 12PM until midnight because, well, that is pretty standard for me.

Current UB Bankroll: $320.

My First Cash

So yesterday was a really rough day. Had tremendously awful luck early. The only hand that comes to mind specifically is when I had pocket kinds. I raise preflop and get 1 caller. Flop comes 974. I raise 2/3 pot and he calls again. The turn is a J, where I raise big again and he calls. The river is a 9 and I stupidly push and he insta calls. Idiot shows K9. A delicious 2 outer that cost me 5 bucks. Yikes. But it was like that all day. Dropped me from $60 down to about $4o. So I started grinding all the way back, which culminated in my first cash in a MTT. I played brilliantly. Looking back on it, I can't recall any suckouts. I played patiently, trapped well, reraised stabbers, gained tremendous respect, the whole thing. It was great. The tournament was a $3 freezout and I took down 4th for $28.20. I was pumped! I can't really remember much else about it though. But back to the tables today, feeling good and playin hot.

UB Roll: $75.92
BigPapi