More success at APAT

Date: Sun, Nov 11, 2007

Yesterday was the 2nd Regional leg of the APAT Championships. I went to the heat being held at the Grosvenor Victoria ("The Vic") where last time I made the final table, but out of the money. I was hoping to do better this time.

I almost didn't get in. When I arrived, they told me that there were 2 places left and there were 2 guys ahead of me interested in playing. However I think they may have been known players there who are used to playing at higher stakes as one of the managers came over and told them that it was only a £20 entry with 1st place only about £200. Luckily that put them off and they went to find a cash table instead.

Last month we only had 48 entrants, and I expected about the same number. This time we had 74. There was a limit of 80, but I think a number of players who had pre-registered didn't turn up.

I had a great first session where I increased my stack from a start of 3k to 8k. This was down to me catching some great flops with marginal hands. Therefore they were better disguised. I knocked out a woman directly to my left whilst holding Q8 in the small blind. She went all-in on the river after failing to hit her straight. Fortunately, I had hit my 2 pair.

Getting a good start early on really helped my confidence, and I played well and confidently without getting any great starting hands. My table was fairly tight/passive and I was able to steal alot. If I did get called, I had the confidence to make a lot of continuation bets which were usually enough to win the pot on the flop. It was also a very odd day in that I saw so many times, hands that were being completely dominated win. For example, I tried to knock out a short stack with AK. He had KT, but hit his straight on the river. I tried to knock out another short stack (in the big blind) holding 62 in the small blind. The flop was Q6x. I put him all-in, but he had Q8 for top pair. I caught a 2 on the turn to knock him out (ouch!). This was the story of the day. I seemed to lose some hands I should have won with, or get lucky to win with ones I should have lost with. I wouldn't say I was particularly lucky or unlucky in general as it all seemed to even throughout the day.

My stack continued to grow by each session. By the end of the 2nd session, I had about 14k, then 25k by the end of the 3rd session (it was as high as 32k, but I made a bad call against a short-stack with only A3 suited - he had 99). Again by playing solid poker, stealing blinds, and occasionally knocking players out, I was never once in trouble.

Evenutally when down to the final 2 tables, and 14 players left, the game really slowed. It took ages for a player to get knocked out. I was probably 2nd in chips at the time, and it got real easy to steal blinds as players were holding out for the final table. Myself and the chip leader (also on my table) had a lot of respect for each other and tried to avoid each other when we could. In fact I even folded AQ to his raise at one stage, not just because he had only been playing strong hands, but mainly because he was the only guy that could bust me. As it turned out, it was a bad, yet lucky fold because the mid-stack acting after me won the pot with a flush (the chip leader only had KJ at the time - so much for my reads!).

We made the final table after I busted Linda Iwaniuk who had been on my right. I know Linda from a couple of previous APAT tournaments and know her to be a very good and sometimes aggressive player. She had got short-stacked and pushed her Q9 only to be unlucky to run into me holding QQ.

I started the final table with 39k in chips. I think I was the 2nd highest stack. With the blinds now very high (1k/2k I think), there were a lot of all-ins. After the first player had got knocked out in 9th place, I had tried to take out the short stacks myself but failed on 2 occasions in short succession with 44 and 66 respectively. I then started moaning about how it would be nice to win a coinflip just once when the very next hand I got dealt JJ. I pushed again and got a caller who thought I was on tilt (that's kind of what I was hoping). He had AJ and my Jacks held up to double me up again.

I then eliminated 2 players when there were 2 all-ins with me holding AK. The others had TJ & KJ (if I remember correctly). A jack on the flop had me cursing my luck once again, but an ace on the river saved me.

Eliminations were coming thick and fast, and in no time at all, we were down to 3 players. There was myself, a Russian guy in a Scotland rugby shirt (???) and another guy who only had one move - all-in. In fact, although the blinds were high, it was still possible to play some poker and see flops, but Mr All-in wasn't having any of it. In fact I once tried to just call in the small blind with a marginal hand in order to see a flop. He still pushed. Myself and the Russian let him know what we thought of him. I got my own back on the next orbit when I was back in the small blind. I only had a measly 84, but went all-in. Mr All-in thought long and hard about it. He said "I suppose it served me right". He eventually folded and I took great delight in showing my hand, much to the amusement of the Russian and everyone watching. That moment made my day.

I had a slight lead over the others when the following hand came up. I had 99 and made a raise on the button. The Russian pushed in the big blind. I called instantly, he showed Q9. Great for me, I'm dominating the hand as 67% favourite to win. However he makes a lucky straight on the river to double up and cripple me. That was so cruel. If I had won that hand, I would have been huge chip leader and would've knocked Mr Russian out. Instead I was down to 19.5k.

However, I managed to make a couple of double ups straight away (I can't remember with what hands), so was back in it. In the meantime, Mr All-in got knocked out by the Russian, so we were heads-up with him holding a big lead. I folded the first 2 hands, but I couldn't afford to fold any more and the blinds of 5k/10k were eating into my stack. Mr Russian went all-in and I had no choice but to call with T4. He showed KK. EEK! No help on the flop, but a ten on the turn, then a 4 on the river doubled me up in a very lucky way. An immediate double up again with 76 brought us to about even in chips, so I asked the Russian if he just wanted to chop the money. The game had simply got to an all-in fest with the blinds being so high. He agreed, however we had to play on for the Gold & Silver medals. A few hands later, he won. All I remember is calling his all-in with A4 to his K5 (I think), but he hit one of his cards to win.

I actually did better in the deal than he did as my prize money went up from £176 to £199 after the chop. I also won a £75 entry to the National Championships next month, which I can't make. I'm hoping I can claim this back.

So, 2 events, 2 finals tables (9th and now 2nd). That puts a lot of pressure on me for the next one. I can't complain. I'm really enjoying these tournaments, and last night was probably some of the best poker I've ever played. I'm very happy!

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My biggest cash to date

Date: Sat, Oct 27, 2007

One of my favourite online tournaments has been the daily $13.k Guaranteed (formerly $11k) at Full Tilt Poker. It's a $24+2 entry fee but you can buy in with $26 tokens won through $6 or $8 two-table Sit n Gos. It's because of this, and the fact I love the structure of the tournaments at Full Tilt, that makes me like this particular tournament. The only downside is that it starts at 11pm UK time, which makes it difficult to play unless you don't have to work the following morning. If Full Tilt did an equivilant tournament starting at, say, 8 or 9pm, then I'd play these every day.

I hadn't actually played one of these for a while, but I had a couple of satellite tokens going to waste, so I thought I'd use one last night. What a good decision it turned out to be. Tonight saw a field of 647 entrants with top 63 getting paid.

I decided to play very tight and not take any chances. This tactic does leave me vulnerable to being bullied and relies on not just decent supply of good hands, but with them holding up.

There are times when you can play 'in the zone' and feel like you are getting good reads and making good decisions. This doesn't happen often with me, but last night I felt I played well and was really happy with a lot of my decisions.

The bubble seemed to approach very quickly, and I was frustrated to be card dead for a long period approaching it. But a nice double up with KJ v KT saw me make the money quite comfortably in the end, and it was then I managed to pick up hands and build up a nice stack. Hands such as AT>KJ, QQ>AK, AJ>QQ and A9>88 (when a guy tried to bluff me on an Ace high board) took me to 95k. This was with about 31 players left and I kept this lead for a very long time from here on.

But the hand of the night happened with blinds at 1500/3000. I held AA. A guy in early position raised to 6000. A short stack went all-in. I reraised all-in because I was confident the first guy also liked his hand and would join in. He duly obliged. They had KK & JJ respectively, and my aces held to take a massive pot of 220k and increase my lead even further.

I sat on my lead until the final table. Before then, there was a good loose aggressive player who was stealing a lot of blinds, and was slowly eating into my lead. He was my main threat, and I didn't want to tangle with him...not yet anyway.

We reached the final table with me still holding the chip lead, and I increased it further when I knocked out a short-stack on the 5th hand. I called his push with KJ. He held A3 and I caught my King on the river. I don't normally like calling with KJ, but I could afford to gamble on this occasion.

When we got down to 6 players, I realised that I was about to make my biggest cash since I started playing. Anything more now was a bonus. However, I had held the chip lead for ages, and I was never going to get a better opportunity to win one of these. My chances got even better when my AK outdrew JJ to take us down to 5 players.

During all this, I was on IRC with a few guys watching me and spurring me on. I had also been playing very tight whilst a couple of the more aggressive players kept raising and stealing blinds. I was worried they would overtake me. It was then that one of the 'railees', JRS, said to me that I had to start playing more aggressively. This was a wake-up call. I didn't thank him properly for this piece of advice, but I'm sure he'll read this, so once again, thanks JRS! I decided I would call more raises and try to play more flops. This worked and I was able to maintain my stack a bit better, and tell the others I wasn't going to rollover quite so easily.

The guy I was most worried about went out in 5th, and the 4th place guy gave his chips to the only other player I was worried about, who also kept making a lot of pre-flop raises and steals. The 3rd guy left had been playing well early on, but lost his nerve and just kept up a tactic of push or fold. This was probably the most difficult passage of play.

However, my hopes of a win were dashed with this cruel hand. Blinds were now at 5k/10k. Mr all-in folded, Mr serial-raiser raised to 27k. I called with J8o. Flop was 8QT, giving me bottom pair and a straight draw. Mr raiser bet 28k and I called. Turn was a beautiful 9 giving me the straight. Mr raiser bet 100k. He could have any 2 cards as he was raising so much, but top pair was most likely in my opinion. I reraised all-in for almost 350k. He called, showing the one and only hand I did not want to see, KJ for the higher straight. Only a King on the river could save me by splitting the pot. Alas it didn't come and I was down to 28k. I went out next hand.

So 3rd place for a cool $1,746. By far my best payout to date. I should be pleased, and I am pleased, but there's still that nagging feeling that it could have been the $3.8k for 1st place.

Recently I've been quite frustrated that I still hadn't improved on my biggest cash of $530 which occurred over 2 years ago, yet I'm a much better player than I was then. It's quite a relief that I've finally got a result that I was sure I was capable of. Let's hope I don't have to wait another 2 years before the next one.

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APAT Season 2 - 1st leg

Date: Mon, Oct 8, 2007

Season 2 of the APAT tournaments got underway this weekend with a new structure. Instead of several large oversubscribed tournaments around the country, APAT decided to have regional events where you can pick up ranking points and the top 10% of each one goes through to regular National tournaments.

I played the first of these regional events at the Grosvenor Victoria casino ("The Vic") in Edgware Road. I went along with Farzad from work and also met 2 of his cousins.

I was a bit disappointed that only 48 players entered. This meant that whilst the top 9 got ranking points, only the top 5 got paid prize money, including an automatic entry to the next national event. The change of structure also meant that we only had 3000 starting chips (instead of 10,000) and half hour blind levels. This meant a much faster structure.

I got off to a bad start losing about a third of my stack early on. A loose young guy limped in early position and I called with 65 both spades. I think we got another caller and the big blind checked. The flop was a nice 9d 8h 5d, and the turn was even better with 7d giving me a straight. Unfortunately there was a possible flush out there with 3 diamonds. I bet 500 (which was about the size of the pot). The young guy had check/called (the others folded on the flop). A jack on the river was even scarier as it also gave a higher straight if the guy had a ten. This time he bet 1200 which was about half my remaining stack. I folded. There was just too much beating me out there.

I managed to get my chips back later when I doubled up with QQ against JJ. A couple more small pots left me at 4100 at the first break.

After the break, another table broke up and 2 guys of contrasting styles moved to my right and made my life difficult. The first guy was a young Indian guy who was fairly aggressive raising first in whenever he could. The guy next to him, and to my immediate right was a poor player who was annoying to play against. Basically if playing first, he'd limp in, but call a lot of raises before him. He particularly liked doing this with weak aces. He would also call a lot of all-ins with bottom or middle pair. The trouble is most of the players who did this against him were either doing bluffs or on draws, so he'd win these pots. The reason it was difficult to play them is because if I wanted to make a move, I only wanted to do it against one of them, not both. The first guy would almost certainly fold to a reraise, the other definitely wouldn't, but I didn't get any strong hands to capitalise on this.

Fortunately our table eventually broke, but I was getting short. I managed to double up with AQ against TT, get a load of limpers to fold when I pushed AK in the big blind, stole a couple of pots and got blinds with pushes with AJ & KQ. Then the poor player got moved to my right again. I lost some chips when I played a hand badly against him considering my knowledge of him. I was on the button with 77. It was folded to him, and he limped as usual. I raised to 2400 (3 times the blinds at the time) and he obviously called. Flop was AJx and he pushed. I turned to him and said "playing your ace-crap again?", and folded. I was kicking myself, I should have just called.

I then got moved again as we were down to final 2 tables. I was struggling again and getting blinded away as I couldn't get a hand. Then down to about 3500 with blinds at 600/1200, I was in the big blind. All folded to small blind who pushed. I look down to see a delightful looking pair of kings. I call and hold against here A5.

I hold onto the final table and seats are redrawn. I am still the short-stack. A few hands into the final table, everyone has folded to me and I see KT both clubs. This is a good enough hand for me, so I push. Guy to my left also pushes but I'm pleased to see he has 99. I'll settle for a coinflip. Unfortunately, the board is all low cards with no clubs and I'm out in 9th.

It was a strange tournament as I never seem to have a workable stack to play with. I always seem to battling against the blinds all the time. I'm therefore pleased to get to the final table, although I got nothing from it...apart from 1 ranking point.

I am definitely preferring live play to online. For some reason I play much better. I think it's because I have more time to think. I'm not very good at reading players yet, but that will come over time. I'm going to play more of these this season as I do enjoy them.

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My 1st Stars 180 win

Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2007

I have played quite a number of the Stars $4 180 man SNGs previously. Although having made several final tables, I had best places of 2nd & 3rd, not quite managing to take one down. On Friday, I finally went one better.

I have pretty much avoided them lately as the last few times I’ve played them, I’ve just lost to horrendous beats by bad players who will call with anything and flop their 2 pair to crack your aces, or whatever. Whilst most will argue that I should be seeking out these players, not avoiding them, I just found the beats too depressing, especially when you’ve had a few in a row.

Anyway for some reason I decided to play one, despite trying to avoid them lately, and I’m glad I did. Here’s a summary of some key moments in the tournament:

I had been pretty card dead for the 1st few levels, although I was able to maintain a stack of around 10 big blinds with standard short stack play (i.e push or fold), but was mostly only winning the blinds. My first double up came when my 66 held up against AJ at the 100/200 level, then a few hands later I knocked someone out with QQ>88. I now had nearly 6k in chips and had a bit more breathing space.

At 150/300 I had AK. Raised to 900 and the Big Blind called. Flop was 757 rainbow. BB checked and I made a continuation bet of 1000. He called. Turn was a Q. It went check/check. River was a lovely King. BB went all-in. I was confident I was ahead. If he had KQ, he’d have bet the Turn. He certainly wouldn’t have called with K7 or K5. The only other hands that were possible, were that he was slow-playing 55 or 77. If that was the case, then so-be-it. I called and he showed 43s for the bluff. He was obviously chasing his gutshot. I’m now up to $11k.

At 200/400, we were approaching the bubble, and I took a big hit. I was in the Big Blind with Q2. UTG player limped as did a player in Mid Position. I duly checked. Flop was a glorious 23Q. I checked to induce a bet, and UTG duly obliged with a 1200 bet. I was hoping that he’d hit his Queen and so pushed. He called showing KQ. Unfortunately a 3 on the turn gave us both 2 pair Queens & Threes, but he had a better kicker. I hate it when that happens, but I do get on the right side of one of those later. I’m back down to $3.2k and in trouble.

However, very next hand I get some those chips back against the same player. I have 97s in the Small Blind. All fold to me, easy push. Big blind wakes up with AQ. Oops! Fortunately the board comes down J796K and my 2 pair wins. A few more pushes with KQ, AJ & 22 in a short space of time wins me the blinds to take my stack back up over $10k. I am also fortunate to have a very passive guy on my right who keeps giving up his small blind to me without trying to steal. He did this quite a lot as the blinds got higher, and it really saved me a lot of chips overall.

Still on the bubble, with blinds at 300/600, I once again get QQ. A short-stack guy pushes and I’m relieved to see he has TT. I’m now up to $17k and we’re now down to the last 18 and have made the money. I think I’m lying around 3rd or 4th at this stage.

At 400/800, I’m down to $13k after my AQ misses the flop and my continuation bet fails to shrug off my opponent.

I kick myself later when I fold 66 to a limp and a raise before me. I’d have made a set and knocked a player out if I played it. I had also folded AJ earlier to an obvious blind steal. I’m kicking myself for playing too passively.

Shortly after this, I knock out another player when my AK holds up against A6. Back up to $25k.

At 600/1200, we are approaching the final table with about 11 players left. Then I had another turning point hand. I have AQs (both clubs) in early position and raise to 3000. The small blind reraises me to 6000. The SB was the chip leader and seems a decent player. He had not made this move before. I decide to call and re-asses on the flop. In retrospect, I believe this is a bad call by me as there’s not a lot I’m beating at this stage. However flop is T87 with 2 clubs. SB makes a small bet of 4800 which is under half the pot. I call and am pleased to see the 6 of clubs on the turn for the nut flush. Once again SB bets 4800. I simply call. River is 8 of hearts. He bets, I push and he calls showing AK hearts. I double up and am big chip leader now with almost $65k. Whilst I certainly made a suspect call at the start, SB really overplayed that hand.

At this stage, I log onto IRC and am pleased to have the support of a few ITHers railing me.

We are now down to final 5 players. It’s very difficult to win a tournament without getting a bit lucky from time to time. Throughout this match, I get 2 such moments to stay in. I’m not including the 97 v AQ or AQ v AK here as in the first, I wasn’t that much of an underdog, and the 2nd, my opponent misplayed the hand (more than I did). However here is the first break – a short stack pushes his last $13k. I have 77 but he shows QQ. eek! Luckily a 7 on the flop keeps me alive and knocks my unfortunate opponent out. Whilst I wouldn’t have got knocked out if I lost, it still would have been a dent in my stack and made me one of the short stacks.

Two hands later I knock another short stack out when my 88 holds up against my opponent’s KJ. I now have $96k and we’re down to 3. 8s are good for me as I get them a few hands later to knock out against my opponent’s 66. We are now heads up. I’m against the AK guy from earlier.

After a couple of exchanges, my opponent has a slender chip lead against me. I am delighted to see KK. I slow play them by simply calling the small blind and my opponent checks. Flop is a harmless 258. We both check. Turn is a 6. I bet 4000, my opponent raises to 8000. Now I’ve seen this guy overplay middle pair several times, and I think he’s doing it again. A couple of reraises and we’re both all-in.
He shows 65 for 2 pair. Uh-oh. I’ve blown it! Now comes the 2nd bit of luck that I was talking about. The river is another 2 which gives me a better 2 pair.

I now have a massive lead of $241k to just $28k. At this stage, I’m reminded the last time I got heads up in one of these and threw away a 2:1 chip lead. I’m determined not to be so reckless this time. However things aren’t going to plan as I get completely card dead and fail to hit any flops. My opponent is slowing creeping back up to me until we finally end it on this hand:

I have QT in the Big Blind. SB raises and I call. Flop is 3T3. I bet, opponent raises and I push. He shows A6 and my hand holds up to great relief, and a lot of cheering on the rail. At last I’ve finally won one of these! I’m over the moon.

So a nice $216 win from just a $4 entry. After over 4 hours of play, I was shattered. It was also 2.10am and I had to get up at 7.30am. But I’d worry about that later as it was definitely worth it.

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September Quest - Day #3

Date: Sat, Sep 8, 2007

At last! A couple of decent scores in my quest. I only played 2 games after coming back from the pub, but managed 2nd in both for $29.70 each. At least it halted my bad run of 8 in a row without a cash. A win in either would have been nice, but I'll settle for 2nd in view of recent results.

Game #9: Nothing really of note. I played very solid and held the chip lead for a bit, until my A5 ran into AA. Oops!

Game #10: Doing steady until a great stroke of luck. I had AK which I'd been playing very aggressively today by coming over the top of early raisers. However this time I got called by KK & JJ. However I was lucky to spike my Ace on the flop and triple up. It's nice when luck evens out from time to time. I held the chip lead for a while until I was heads up. We were about even in chips, but I made a bad call of my opponent's push with QT. I'm not sure what I was thinking as I wasn't beating much. He had A5 and I was down to a meagre 130 chips v 13000. With a bit of jammy luck, I managed to double up several times in a row to get almost level on chips again, but alas I couldn't hold on. I'm just kicking myself for not being patient enough early on and waiting for a better opportunity.

Never mind, I can sleep better tonight anyway.

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September Quest - Day #2

Date: Fri, Sep 7, 2007

Okay, day 1 went very badly. Maybe I can salvage some pride. A win and another top 3 place should put me back on track.

Game #6: This is one of the tightest turbo tables I have ever seen. I am raising almost every other hand and getting no callers. I am quickly building my stack with the blinds. My image as a loose player is great as I knock out someone who's timing is real bad. He pushes as I'm holding AA. However, after being a big chip leader, I take a couple of hits. First I call a short-stack's push with AQ. He shows TJ, but makes a straight on the turn. Next I go up against the 2nd big stack on my left. I raise pre-flop with KQ and he calls. Flop is all low cards. I decide on a continuation bet, but immediately get reraised. I fold having lost a load of chips. Down to 4, I push with K8 and get called by A8. Frustratingly, I go out 1 place off the money after playing really well for the most-part.

Game #7: A much looser game and I struggle to find a hand. I get lucky for pretty much the first time this week when I push with A3 and get called by QQ. I double up with an ace on the river. This could be my tournament at last! Wrong! Down to 4 again and I hold JJ in the big blind. At the moment everyone is just in push fold mode. The Mr QQ pushes and I have an easy call. He has AA and gets his revenge. Arghhh! 4th again!

Game #8: Bad start in the first 3 hands as both JJ and QQ go against K high flops. First guy luckily plays his AK passively so I get off cheaply. 2nd guy bets big on the turn and I have to fold. Down to 825 chips, I get AA. I raise, everyone folds. Sigh!
I take down another small pot in a blind v blind battle, then I crash out again. I have AT and raise. I get one caller (Mr AK from earlier). He check/calls flop, we both check the turn and he puts me all in on the river. As it's all low cards, I'm trying to work out what he could have called with as he's been very tight. He's also showed a lot of weakness beforehand. Despite only having Ace high, I think there's a good chance I'm ahead. Also I'm down to 650 so I'm almost committed. I call and once again he shows AK. Out in 7th. I call it another night.

Okay, I probably played that last hand badly, but overall I feel I'm not getting my fair share of luck so far. My strong hands are running into stronger hands, or they're getting sucked out on when I'm a big favourite. Luck like this can make you change your game. I'm trying not to, and I'm hoping results will start coming my way soon. I still have 3 more weeks to go!

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September Quest

Date: Fri, Sep 7, 2007

To avoid the monotony, it's sometimes good to set yourself a target, or a challenge. I don't usually do this, but I've seen a couple of people on ITH start them recently, so I thought I'd have a go.

So, the challenge? Well I thought of what was a realistic challenge and one that I would enjoy. I almost went for a challenge to play as many $4 180 player SNG (sit n go) tournaments as I could and see how much of a profit (if any) I could make out of them. I then decided that due to the nature of them (i.e. lots of bad players getting lucky), it was more likely to be a depressing challenge, rather than one I'd enjoy.

So instead, I decided to go for the $11+1 (9 player) single table SNGs. I usually do well at them, and was on a good run on them during August.

The plan was do play them solely on Full Tilt Poker and maybe do about 5 or 6 a night whenever I played. If I'm feeling comfortable, I'll play 2 at once. I'm hoping to play a minimum of 50 of them. I may even do as many as 100 depending on how much I play.

Well, I wish I'd started this in August as my good run seems to have come to an end. I had a very bad start. Here's how my first evening went. (Remember, only top 3 get paid prize money):

Game #1: Out in 6th. Had to play carefully as there was a very bad player on the table who would call with anything. The trouble is he just kept getting very lucky and doubling up each time. As a result, I could only push with a decent hand as no one could get him to fold.
I got short-stacked as pushed with AK. Guy on my immediate left (who had slightly less chips than me) decided than KJs was a good enough hand to risk his tournament with (what???). He of course flopped a straight. I went out shortly afterwards.

Game #2: Got KK early on and so I pushed against an early raiser. He showed QQ which I was delighted with...until a Q came on the flop. Sigh! Out in 8th.

Game #3: Tough game. Lost a load of chips early after getting reraised on the flop as I tried a couple of bluffs. Ended up pushing AQ against 99. OK, now the odds have been cut for me from massive odds-on favourite in the previous 2 games to a coin-flip. No help for me and I was out in 8th again.

Game #4: Not got any playable hands. Decided to push on a flush draw on a K high board. Got called by guy who had been slow-playing AK and I didn't hit my flush. Out in 7th. This is not good so far.

Game #5: Pick up QQ. Get 1 caller against my pre-flop raise. I push a low flop. He has KK and I don't hit the dream card that everyone seems to be catching against me. Out in 9th.

Depressed, I give up for the night.

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Good result at the Gutshot

Date: Sat, Sep 1, 2007

Since I started the blog-feed to Facebook, a few people have mentioned that they read this blog and didn't understand a word of what I was saying. It was only expected that other poker players would read it, so it had a lot of jargon in it. However, as a result of the comments, I'll try to write it in more plainer English.

There will be times I can't get away from certain terms or situations. I am going to rely on people having a basic understanding of poker rules and hands or else this will take me forever. The only terms I will explain are the following:

Cards will be mentioned in the form of AKQJT (ace, king, queen, etc). Suits will be SHDC.
Suited (s) means both cards were the same suit.
Pushing means betting all of your chips in one go.
A stack is the size of your chips.

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Anyway, back to my trip to the Gutshot last night. I had planned to meet my friend Paul from ITH there. Unfortunately he failed to turn up, but luckily I had invited Farzad from work along, so I wasn't Norman No-mates. I was keen to play as they had re-introduced the £10 rebuy tournament which I quite like. Rebuy tournaments mean that in the first 40 mins of the tournament, you can re-buy back in for another £10 if you lose your chips.

You only get 500 chips to start with so the plan was to try and double-up as quick as possible by risking all my chips at a time with decent hands. I had a torrid time during the rebuy period and could not double-up. My JJ ran into AA, I also pushed A9 into a board of 962. Of course, some guy had to have 62 didn't he. I was almost about to give up at that stage, but I had set myself a budget of a maximum of £50 in buy-ins for this tournament. I had already paid out £30 and still had the option of an add-on of another £10 for 1000 chips at the end of the rebuy period. I announced, to any that was listening, that this was my last buyin.

At this stage, my table probably thinks I'm a complete donkey. I have been playing quite recklessly and rebuying lots. Add to this the fact that I haven't always been paying attention and forgetting who's dealing, cutting cards incorrectly, etc. However, this can sometimes be a good image if you can take advantage of it ;-).

I ended up on the break with the absolute minimum of 1500 in chips, and therefore needed some luck and cards if I was to last much longer in the tournament. There was a small turnout in this event which in the past usually attracts 100-120 players. Tonight there were only 45 with top 9 positions getting prize money. I had calculated that I needed to finish in 7th to break even...gulp!

After the break, my luck changed. I quickly doubled-up when I check-raised all-in someone with a flush draw. I hit my flush on the turn. Big relief! Shortly after that I doubled again when my QQ held up against TT.

Soon after this I moved tables, and didn't play a hand for a while. Then I had a great hand. A guy pushed all-in from early position. I was in the Small Blind, and looked at QQ again. Easy call! However, the lady sitting next to me in the Big Blind also called....eek! The 1st guy had 99, the lady AK. The flop came down Q9x. Myself and the guy had both made a set, but mine was higher, and it held to triple me up. I now had a decent workable stack. At this stage there were about 20 or so players left. I felt getting onto the final table and making the prize money was a realistic option now.

However, it's never a smooth ride getting to the final table as I found later. We were down to about 13 players. A short-stack (who hadn't played a hand for what seemed like 2 days) pushed his stack in. He had about 4k, I had about 10k. I was in the big blind to find the beautiful AA. The other guy had 89, and had to catch more than 1 card to win. The flop was 7xx (can't remember the others but they were unimportant). Turn was a T. The other guy was standing up and leaving, but I told him to wait. I just knew the 6 was coming for his straight....River: 6...yep, knew it! I was down to 6k and back to desperate mode.

It didn't take long to get to the final table of 9. I had made some money, but as I said, I needed 7th to break even. Curiously, I entered the final table 7th in chips. I decided to wait for the guys who had less than me to bust before I started taking risks. They really were on life support. One of them didn't take long to go, but the other was a young guy sitting on my immediate left. He managed to steal some blinds and also double up, so I was now the short stack.

Shortly after, I look down to see 77 in early position. I need to double up fast and this was as good a hand as any to do it with. I push. My nemesis on my left also pushes, uh-oh! He has TT and I'm about to exit in 8th place. No help for either of us on the first 4 cards, but the last card is the miracle 7. I've doubled up and survived. The other guy looked liked he'd been punched in the stomach. He (and I) couldn't believe it. To be fair, it was my only suckout of the day, and certainly made up for earlier.

A couple of other guys went out after this. I managed to knock out the kid on my left when he pushed his tiny stack. I was in the Big Blind with KQ, but it didn't cost me much to call. Once again he had TT, but I hit my Q on the turn.

Down to 5, the guy on my right was also short stack. An orbit later, I was in the big blind again. It was all folded to him in the Small Blind and he did the obvious push. I knew he'd be doing this with any 2 cards, and thought that I'm calling with any ace. I look down to see A5, good enough! He had something like Q4, but I make a straight on the turn, and he's out.

Down to 4. I can't believe I've got this far. To my left was the early chip leader. He had taken a couple of small risks and got lucky, but overall had been fairly sensible. Next to him, was an Asian guy who was quite loud and chatted a lot. He had entered the final table 2nd in chips, but had been playing recklessly since and for some reason wanted to keep taking on the chip leader. The last player was a young guy who was very solid, and in my opinion, the best player on the table. He had hardly made any mistakes, made timely steals and only showed down good hands where needed.

The Asian guy soon lost most of his chips to the young guy on my right, again through reckless play. I knocked him out shortly afterwards with KQ by checking down a K high board with the big stack to my left.

Down to 3. Blimey!! Now the hand that ended my run. I was in the Big Blind. Button folded, small blind only called. I checked with Q2. Flop 952. Guy checks, I only have about 11k, but bet 5k (I should have pushed, but that wouldn't have made a difference in this case). He reraised me all-in. I'm probably beaten, but I have bottom pair. I am pot-committed and am pretty much forced to call. He shows 52 for 2 pair. I can only win by catching a Q. It doesn't come and I'm out in 3rd for £205 :-).

Easily my best result there, and my first cash at the Gutshot. I didn't think I played well, but I did catch cards at the right moments, which is always important. Maybe I proved that I wasn't the donkey that some people had thought earlier...or maybe not. ee-aw!

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Abuse at the table

Date: Tue, Aug 21, 2007

So I was playing in one of the William Hill Headhunter tournaments last night, quietly minding my own business, when a hand came up against the tournament chip leader at the time.

I had doubled up with trip kings a few hands earlier, then got moved tables. Blinds were 75/150, and I had a stack of around $7000. I got dealt A8o in mid position. All folded to me, I made my standard 3x raise of $450. All folded to chip leader (with about $8500) who simply called in the small blind.
Flop was x67. He checked. Now I would usually put out a continuation bet here, but I had this feeling that I would be check-raised. My thinking was that you don't get to 8500 in chips early without being aggressive. Aggro players don't check. I therefore checked behind for the free card.
Turn was a 9 giving me an open-ended straight draw. SB put in a bet of 600 which was about half the pot. I was getting about 3:1 on my money, and if I hit, I could get paid by the aggro player, so I called.
River was a 5, giving me the straight. He bet, and I pushed. He called showing QQ.

I had doubled to a big chip lead with $14,000.

The guy then started berating me big time calling me all sorts of names under the sun. I kept quiet. The funny thing is that he misplayed his hand, and started accusing me of being a calling station. He then turned to a verbal tirade in German. My German certainly isn't good enough to work out what he was saying, but it was fairly obvious it was not pleasant. Anyway, I decided to copy the chat just in case it was nasty. The guy moved tables a few hands later.

In the meantime, I posted the chat on a couple of forums to see if I could get a translation from native German speakers.

We both ended up going deep in the tournament and the guy got moved to my table a further 2 times. On each occasion he would continue to call me names. This I could put up with as I could ignore it, but the worse thing was that he would comment to everyone else when I was in a hand. For example, I made a pre-flop raise first-in from cut off (with JJ), and he wrote "he's bluffing".

After the tournament, I checked the forums and found indeed that what he said wasn't pleasant (I won't repeat it). Everyone said I should report him, so I did.

We all get comments from time to time, but this went too far. I did not suck out on him, he misplayed the hand (I didn't tell him that). But to continue over an hour later, and make comments when I'm in a hand is simply inexcusable. I admit, it did put me off my game a bit, and I didn't play that many hands whilst he was around (although I was card dead for most of the time anyway).

I hope William Hill take some action, even if it's a temporary chat ban for him.

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Maybe these Headhunter tournaments aren't for me

Date: Tue, Aug 21, 2007

A while ago I mentioned that I loved the new Headhunter tournaments at William Hill. I've had some great finishes, but I've not made as much prize money as I should have.

The way the prize money works is that 50% of your entry fee goes to the prize fund, and the remainder goes towards the bounties. You get bounties for knocking players out.

I have reached the final table on about 4 occasions now with 2 top 4 finishes. My prize money was quite low on each occasion as I did not knock many players out (4 & 1 respectively, if I remember correctly). On a couple occasions, I have made the money only to receive less money than my entry fee. In a game last night, I finished 17th out of 163 (top 20 paid). Entry fee was £10, but I only won about £7.50 because I failed to knock any players out.

I may try other tournaments at William Hill instead for now. However, it could just be the nature of the Headhunter tournaments themselves that are causing me to have the good finishes (i.e. players playing more recklessly). We'll see!

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Costly Errors

Date: Tue, Jul 3, 2007

Generally I would say I've been playing quite well lately. Some notable highlights have been final tables in a William Hill HH (4th), Full Tilt 90 man SNG (5th) and a Stars 180 (9th).

However, I've crashed out in two tournaments when in strong positions due to bad mistakes by myself. Both of them are almost identical situations, and both happened within 2 days of each other.

On Sunday, I played in a Will Hill £10 HH tournament. Only 186 people started with only top 20 getting paid. We were approaching the bubble and I was lying in around 4th place in chips. I get dealt AA in the cutoff. On the button there was a medium stack who had a tendancy to call raises from the blinds. In the SB, there was a short stack on life support (he was my intended target). In the BB was another medium stack. Mistake #1. Blinds were only 150/300, and my stack was about 14,000. I wanted callers, so I only min raised to 600, instead of the usual 3x (900). The button called and the others folded. Damm! Flop was QTx. A scarey flop indeed. Mistake #2. I bet around 1000 (too low) and the button called. Turn was a J. I bet 2000 (I think), he called. River was another J. I bet 3000 and he called and showed KJ for trip jacks. I really should have bet more on the flop and check-folded the turn if he called. (There may also have been a case for pushing the flop, but as I said, it was a scarey board).

This lost me over half my stack. The next hand I was dealt 77 and pushed immediately. I got called by AK. I was looking good for an immediate double-up until he hit his King on the river. I went from 4th to busting out in 21st - just one short of making the money!

Then, determined not to make the same mistake again, I played a 90 man SNG at Full Tilt (btw, I really love these - double stacks and lots of room to play real poker). Similar position, I was lying in 5th place. Top 18 got paid and we were down to about 20 players. There were a couple of short stacks clinging on for dear life, but I had one of the chip leaders to my immediate left. Anyway, I was on the button with A7 and it's folded round to me. I decided to make a semi-blind steal (I say semi, because with only 3 players to act, it's probably the best hand right now). I make my usual 3x BB raise (blinds are 200/400, I have about $22k). SB calls, BB (short stack folds). Flop is a harmless K8J. SB checks. I was tempted to bet to take pot away, but a few hands earlier, he had come over the top of me when I tried that. I checked behind. Turn was a 7. I was sure I was ahead. He bet a meagre 1600, and I just called. River was another 7. Great! I've hit trips. He bets another 1600. If he did have a K or J, he's well beaten. I make a min-raise to 3200 to get a call. He pushes! (What the......!!). I check the board. There are no straight or flush possibilities. Maybe he was slow-playing KJ. I call, and he shows 88 for the full house. I'm out in 19th, again 1 off the money.

I sat stunned in front of the pc for a good 5 minutes. Why did I even get involved in the hand? I only had to wait for the bubble to burst, and all the short stacks would have been pushing like mad. I had a fantastic chance to get to the final table, and instead end up with zilch!

People always say you should be more aggressive on the bubble as people naturally tighten up. In the first hand I bet too passively and allowed my opponent to catch up. In the second, I just got involved with the one player at my table I should have been avoiding.

These are costly errors which have been playing on my mind, but hopefully I can learn from these and not make the same mistakes again.

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Headhunter Tournaments

Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2007

The Cryptologic sites have introduced a new type of tournament called "Headhunter". The concept is that every player has a price on their head, and if you knock someone out of the tournament, you get a percentage of their "head value". As you knock someone out yourself, your own head value goes up. At the end of the tournament, you get money back depending on the value of the the bounties you have taken.

To fund this, half the buy-in goes to the general prize fund, and the rest goes towards the bounties.

Anyway, I played my first one of these last night. I'm not sure whether I like them or not. They are basically like a crapshoot, but with a difference.

The good news is that I finished 4th out of 308 entrants. The entry fee was $5, and I won around $70 which was made up of roughly $55 for the prize money, and $15 for the heads I scalped (I only knocked out 4 players on the way).

The bad news is that if this was a standard tournament, I guess my prize money would have been more like $110. (Remember only 50% of the entry fee is put to the prize fund, and I won $55). It's obvious that the way to make your money is to knock a lot of people out on your way to a high finish.

The stategy is therefore very simple. If you hit your hand hard, get all your money in because you will get called. People are prepared to call with any old crap just for a chance to knock you out. Unfortunately, this does mean you have to wait for a hand. Pushing on a bluff just doesn't work - well, not early on anyway.

Here's a brief summary of what happened:

I started off badly. After about 10 hands in, I limped UTG with 77. Got about 4 callers. Flop came down 579 with 2 diamonds. I had hit my set, but didn't want anyone drawing cheaply to their flush. Therefore I pushed. All folded except one, who had limped in with 96s, and had therefore flopped their straight. My redraw didn't come, and I was suddenly down to 300 in chips.

I managed to double up with AK, then triple up. I was suddenly up to just over 2000 when this hand happened: I was on the button with 99. An early position player raised to 200 and he got 6 callers including me and the blinds. Flop was T94 with 2 clubs. The blinds checked, then an all-in, then another, then another, then a no-brainer from me. I suspected someone was on a flush draw, but the only hand I was worried about was TT for a higher set. It turned out the others were KK, JJ and A5 of clubs. Fortunately my hand held up and I raked in a massive pot of 8500 including 2 heads. :-).

I then had a long period of being absolutely card-dead whilst people were pushing all around me. However, all this time I managed to keep my stack fairly even with the odd steal. Once we got near the bubble, I took my 3rd scalp when my QQ busted a short-stack. I managed to make the money (top 40) quite comfortably in the end.

The rest is a bit of a blur until I got to the final table as the short stack on 16k. However, I managed to triple up with KTs, then double up with AK to take me up to 80k and in 2nd position. My 4th scalp came when I knocked out a very short-stack with AQ.

With the blinds getting very high it soon got down to push/fold from everyone. I was down to about 40k with blinds around 4k/8k (IIRC). I pushed with QJ in the small blind. The big blind called with KJ and had me dominated. My Q never appeared and I was out in 4th. gg me.

It was a fun tournament, and whilst the payout was less than a standard MTT, I have to also remember that I almost certainly would not have got as many chips as I did due to the nature of the game.

Was it only yesterday I said I haven't been doing well in MTTs? Hmmmmmm!

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Back to Sit n Gos

Date: Wed, Jun 13, 2007

Sometimes, I really wish I’d stick to what I am best at. It might help my poker bankroll from time to time.

I’ve been trying to play more larger tournaments recently. One slight problem – I’m not very good at them. :-(

My ‘best’ game is Sit ‘n’ Go’s (SNGs), or to be more precise, 1 and 2 table SNGs. I used to make a steady profit from them, but recently I’ve forgotten that and haven’t played any for a while. So at the start of June, I decided to go back to them, although I’d still play the odd larger tournament once in a while.

What a decision that proved to be. To give an example, my results from my last 10 games have been 2 x 1st, 3 x 2nd and 2 x 3rd places for a total of $297 in winnings. My entry fees only came to $88, that makes a nice $209 profit.

Hello profit! I haven’t seen you for a while.

I’ve also made a few improvements to my game which I think have helped a bit. Without going into boring detail, the changes include:

- Using position more (position is fab when you can use it);
- Using pot odds more particularly against pushes (odds have never been my strong point);
- Playing less tight around the bubble.

If only these changes would work in the big tournaments. Sigh!

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APAT Cardiff

Date: Wed, Feb 28, 2007

I entered my 2nd APAT tournament, this time in Cardiff which was on 24th/25th February 2007.

The only person I had planned to meet there was Simon (BuzzBeeSi) from ITH. Other than that I didn't really know anyone else apart from the odd face I recognised from the tournament in Birmingham. There was also a large contingent from the forum at BlondePoker.com. I joined there recently after being recommended it by Matty Millne. I had made a few posts there, and recognised some people, but didn't really 'know' them. As it turned out, over the course of the weekend, I got to meet quite a few 'Blonde' members.

Day #1.

What a bizarre day! I started off on the same table as Brendan & InTheBelly from Blonde with Colchester Kev as our celebrity dealer (he had appeared on TV on Sky Poker a couple of nights earlier).

I was card dead for well over half the day and kept yo-yoing from short stack to very short stack. I soon dwindled down to 5400 in chips, then back up to 11,200. At the first break, Simon had text me to say he had already been knocked out. Just after the dinner break, my AK ran into Brendan’s KK. Back down to 3200.

This is when I got the hand of the day for me. At this point with blinds at 400/800, I decided to push with A4 UTG before the blinds hit me. I got 2 callers. Flop was KTx. One player bet out forcing the other out. He showed KT for top 2 pair. I had nothing but Ace high. As I picked up my jacket, the turn was an Ace, then the miracle river 4 came down to give me a better 2 pair. I tripled up! My opponent was visibly stunned (so was I!).

Shortly after this I moved tables and sat next to Sheriff Fatman (one of the BlondePoker mods). I again went short by making a bad call with KQ against a shortie’s Ace rag. Then I went on a rush.

I managed to make double ups with JJ v AT, AK v JJ, AA v KQ & AA v AK. Next thing I knew I was up to ~100k.

I finished the day in 7th place with 96,500 and chip leader for my table. I was over the moon that I'd gone from nothing to one of the leaders in a short space of time. Out of 220 entrants, there were 32 players left with top 22 getting paid. I only had to wait for 10 players to bust.

Day #2

I don’t mind admitting I was very nervous for day 2. I certainly wasn’t safe and with blinds starting at 4000/8000, my M was only 8. All the people on my table that could crippled me were all to my left. I had to be very careful.

But I started the day well. I knocked out the Sheriff when I pushed from the SB with Q5 (his stack had been decimated a couple of hands earlier from a tough beat). He felt he had the odds to call with his 72, but my hand held up and I knocked him out. Shortly afterwards I knocked another shortie out with my AA v 66. I was up to a peak of around 135k.

The bubble lasted longer than expected. Although I was relatively safe, it was still a tense affair for me. Eventually it burst with 2 players going out at the same time, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt confident I could make the final table from then on.

Unfortunately my dreams were shattered in 2 hands. At this stage blinds were now 8k/16k. First a short stack pushed in EP. I had an easy call from the BB with KK. He showed A3s and caught his A on the flop. Back down to 79k. Ironically, this was the same player who outflopped me in Birmingham with my AQ vs his AQs. I went up to him afterwards and reminded him of it.

A few hands later, it was folded round to me in the SB. I looked down at A6 and pushed for my last 63k. The BB thought for a while, considered his pot odds then called with KT. My hand looked good until the Ten cruelly came down on the river.

I went out in 17th for a nice £300 payday. Considering I was almost out in around 170th, I’m very happy with the way things turned out.

This really boosted my confidence, and taught me 2 important lessons:

1) With the slow blind structure (40 minute blind levels), you can afford to be patient and not panic. I got lucky, but most importantly, I didn't panic.

2) When blinds are high, and you get a rush of cards you can inflate your stack very quickly. Again, if you have 10k and the leaders have 100k, don't panic. It doesn't take much to catch them.

I also got mentioned in the official APAT tournament report (along with my photo).:

http://www.apat.com/Review_Welsh.html

I'll publish the link to the official photos when they come out.

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