Poker is not just Poker

Please stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This how my Storm ended.

Poker Stars, $10 Buy-in (150/300 blinds, 30 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 9 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: 22,155 (73.9 bb)
BB: 5,970 (19.9 bb)
UTG+1: 9,705 (32.4 bb)
UTG+2: 6,598 (22 bb)
MP1: 11,455 (38.2 bb)
MP2: 12,114 (40.4 bb)
MP3: 15,025 (50.1 bb)
Hero (CO): 5,160 (17.2 bb)
BTN: 9,897 (33 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with T A
5 folds, Hero raises to 600, 2 folds, BB calls 300

Flop: (1,620) T A 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 900, BB calls 900

Turn: (3,420) 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 3,630 and is all-in, BB calls 3,630

River: (10,680) Q (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:

And busto another one! Okay so the best hand won, but why the tease.

Poker Stars, $7.34 Buy-in (100/200 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

MP3: 10,520 (52.6 bb)
CO: 3,886 (19.4 bb)
BTN: 3,040 (15.2 bb)
SB: 491 (2.5 bb)
BB: 2,335 (11.7 bb)
Hero (UTG+2): 1,472 (7.4 bb)
MP1: 681 (3.4 bb)
MP2: 2,794 (14 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with 9 T
Hero raises to 1,472 and is all-in, 4 folds, BTN raises to 3,040 and is all-in, 2 folds

Flop: (3,244) T T 3 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: (3,244) K (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (3,244) J (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results:

What's with the runbad?

Try to pull yourself through it though, can't win 'em all unfortunately!

Lol, I know but just seems that I hit huge streaks of it!

Did you manage to flop any quad aces lately??? Wow, I tuned in for a couple of hands and witnessed it. You're playing great though. Good luck.

I'm still in the big 11 BTW. GL us!

Haha you actually saw that hand?

And yep, gl us indeed!

Yes I did.

Not sure what he had but maybe you missed a bit of value on river??

Not long until you cash then you're back in business.

Felt like his range was incredibly weak there though, which is why I bet so small. I expect him to fold super often if I bet any bigger. But yeah, maybe I could've bet slightly bigger there.

Got a mincash for ~$270. So not a bad result in the end!

Bust in 178th for $98. My 1010 bt by A8s aipf.

Good night

Sick run! Well done man, and ul to bust like that.

So today could see a bit of a turning point for me.

I have said from day one that MTTs are my first love. I have also said that these aren't really possible due to work commitments.

Now, I have been playing 6 max STSNGs for a few months now and I do quite enjoy em but I'm not really getting that final table buzz (probably because I'm already on the FT, duh!). I have basically come through the last few months with a very small profit and don't really see me being able to get in enough volume to make any money at this game.

I am going to study and play MTSNGs for a while and see how it goes. I just played a little session and really enjoyed it. Okay, I did FT 5 out of 5 which is always nice for a profit of $192. That just about pays for my idiotic decision to play the Milly last night
My amazing shitty bust outs are still present but I'm learning to live with em, kind of!!!

It's been a while since I saw a graph like that so naturally I'm excited. So as they say "A change is as good as a rest". So i'm going to mix it up playing 18's, 45's and 180's for a bit.

Any thoughts???

Oh, had a meeting at work this morning. Still under investigation!!

Hey John,

Nice start. I don't know why I didn't suggest you give MT SnGs a go. You have good poker skills so slightly longer SnGs will give you a chance to use your skill edge over the average player.

Keep it up

Laz

P.S. Stay away from the 45s. They're mine

Ha Ha, Cheers Lazza

I was just thinking I would start with the 45's. Trying the $3.50s. Just lost a chunk on $7's. I'm going to mix em up a fair bit. Been checking out a few regs, every f**ker seems to be a winning player but me!! I'll give em a shot. It was suggested to me before but not sure why I didn't have a crack but I'm enjoying this journey I'm on which will hopefully culminate in me being able to get out of my shitty job and taking over the world.

I am so impatient. I was just reminiscing about not so long ago, probably at the start of this year. I used to wonder why people were so bothered about getting people to show their hands when I played live. I didn't even understand how they would use the info. Also I would not have been able to spot bad play, position meant shit to me.

I don't know why I had this little think back but glad I have because I have realised how far I've come in just one year here on PS.

I'm really looking forward to 2014.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, one winning session and all of a sudden the world is all rosie!!

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, one winning session and all of a sudden the world is all rosie!!

Let's just hope it won't be just one winning session!

Any further news on the job situation?

Hi Tino,

Job stuff still under investigation. I'm suspended on full pay until further notice. So my hourly is £12.05 an hour! (Before rake lol).

A +EV spot short term but long term could have a major downswing!

Ah okay. Better work on your game quick then to make sure you make more than £12/h in case you do lose your job!

Although you say you don't like your job, I'd assume you don't want to lose it right? I mean, a job is a job, and without a job you don't really get any money! Aside of unemployment benefits (is that the right English term for it?) you get maybe.

That said I can understand that having a job you hate isn't exactly great either :/

I'm not too sure to be honest. Indecision is my biggest problem in poker and in life.

I have no interest in fixing trucks. Ideally I would get a job working with young offenders but not much about at the moment. I still do my voluntary work with young lads just to gain experience for when something comes up.
A job of this kind would also mean a pay cut which is not important really as my wife earns mega bucks. I'm more or less the housewife here anyway so if I can earn a bit whether it be from poker or work then we would be fine.

My job requires me to work shifts which means that one week I'm on 6am - 2pm which sucks coz I'm always worn out. the next week I'm on 2pm - 10pm which is also crap coz I don't get home until 10.30pm so hardly see my wife that week. They also expect us to work 3 Saturdays out of 8.

This is not ideal for my wife or myself, plus it makes me miserable. I earn great money overall and the benefits are really good. I think I could live with it if I was just on the early shift but the constant changing of shifts and the actual job is not for me. I'm not lazy, I'm 36 now and don't want to be going over the same shit in another 10 years time, wishing I'd done something about it. When you arrive at work and tell yourself to be positive every day then spend the next 8 hours wishing it was home time, it gets a bit draining after a while.

Another way out for me is of course having kids, so fingers crossed.

I know we all go through it but here's a selection of my favourite hands from tonight. The guy in the last one was playing at 78/44 so that's why I called (next post AQ hand). The gods owe me sooooo much!

Poker Stars, $6.42 Buy-in (300/600 blinds, 50 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 9 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

BTN: 10,455 (17.4 bb)
SB: 3,650 (6.1 bb)
BB: 11,295 (18.8 bb)
UTG+1: 2,659 (4.4 bb)
UTG+2: 9,210 (15.4 bb)
MP1: 14,708 (24.5 bb)
MP2: 4,536 (7.6 bb)
MP3: 5,983 (10 bb)
Hero (CO): 5,004 (8.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A 9
5 folds, Hero raises to 4,954 and is all-in, BTN calls 4,954, 2 folds

Flop: (11,258) A T T (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (11,258) 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (11,258) 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:

Poker Stars, $3.16 Buy-in (25/50 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 7 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: 4,530 (90.6 bb)
Hero (BB): 835 (16.7 bb)
MP1: 1,725 (34.5 bb)
MP2: 865 (17.3 bb)
MP3: 1,525 (30.5 bb)
CO: 1,090 (21.8 bb)
BTN: 2,610 (52.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K K
4 folds, BTN raises to 100, SB calls 75, Hero raises to 835 and is all-in, BTN calls 735, SB folds

Flop: (1,770) 6 9 5 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (1,770) T (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (1,770) 2 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:

Poker Stars, $6.42 Buy-in (50/100 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

BB: 1,530 (15.3 bb)
UTG+2: 1,550 (15.5 bb)
MP1: 1,630 (16.3 bb)
MP2: 1,950 (19.5 bb)
MP3: 1,495 (15 bb)
CO: 1,400 (14 bb)
Hero (BTN): 1,355 (13.6 bb)
SB: 1,485 (14.9 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with K A
5 folds, Hero raises to 1,355 and is all-in, SB folds, BB calls 1,255

Flop: (2,760) Q T Q (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (2,760) T (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (2,760) 2 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:

Poker Stars, $6.42 Buy-in (100/200 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 9 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (UTG+1): 1,265 (6.3 bb)
UTG+2: 4,315 (21.6 bb)
MP1: 7,265 (36.3 bb)
MP2: 2,060 (10.3 bb)
MP3: 5,280 (26.4 bb)
CO: 1,448 (7.2 bb)
BTN: 1,205 (6 bb)
SB: 2,874 (14.4 bb)
BB: 801 (4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A A
Hero raises to 1,265 and is all-in, 6 folds, SB calls 1,165, BB folds

Flop: (2,730) 7 5 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (2,730) Q (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (2,730) 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:

Poker Stars, $3.19 Buy-in (15/30 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (BTN): 1,470 (49 bb)
SB: 1,420 (47.3 bb)
BB: 1,150 (38.3 bb)
UTG+2: 1,180 (39.3 bb)
MP1: 3,955 (131.8 bb)
MP2: 1,470 (49 bb)
MP3: 1,420 (47.3 bb)
CO: 1,435 (47.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with Q A
UTG+2 folds, MP1 raises to 3,955 and is all-in, 3 folds, Hero calls 1,470 and is all-in, SB folds, BB calls 1,120 and is all-in

Flop: (4,105) 3 5 5 (3 players, 3 are all-in)
Turn: (4,105) 6 (3 players, 3 are all-in)
River: (4,105) 2 (3 players, 3 are all-in)

Results:

So I decided to have an impromptu visit to DTD yesterday.
Decided at 3pm to drive there and jump in the Super 50 tourney with a massive 20k gtee starting at 5pm.

Almost 2hrs later we just made it. reg'd and sat down at a table with a few characters, one of which I have played with before at The Goliath. This guy wears a shirt with "I love it when you call" on the front and "Have a safe journey home" on the back!! (Tight as a nun's..........,this guy). Another had a kind of upside down shark hat on and shades, deary me! Another easy spot.

So you got 10k starting stack for £50 and were allowed 2 reloads at any point up until the end of level 5. I decided to not reload straight away but planned to take them at the end of level 5 unless I had over 100k.

After level 3 I had 70k and was flying. I ran pretty well but picked some great spots and ran 1 big timely bluff. By the end of level 5 I was dowen to 50k so took both extra bullets. Avg was still only around 35k.

I chipped up to just under 100k after knocking out a couple of shorties. The table dynamic totally changed when a young aggro player with chips got seated to my direct left. I couldn't get moving and found myself soon just about avg. I managed a double up just before our table broke, tank calling an all in on a flop of 5hAc4h with AQ. He showed J10hh and missed!

Out of 230 runners and 200+ reloads. 30 would get paid. The bubble seems to go on for ages and I was grinding around 10 bigs for quite some time. 2 people bust in one hand and we were in the the money (£150 :facepalm:).

Blinds were now 6k/12k with 1k ante (avg just under 200k) I was in UTG+1 and looked down to see AA. UTG shipped in his last 10bigs and I obliged by shoving in my last 100k (8.33333 bigs). Everyone else folded and I as usual was not confident of my MONSTER hand. He said "well I guess I'm behind then" and flipped over KJo.

Flop 4510r (still, strangely not confident!!)

Turn J

River???

AAhh well, that's the game, I shook his hand and shuffled off to the cash desk for my buy in back ♦

I wasn't really angry about it. I took the decision to drive there to have a shot at a better guarantee than my local game was offering and had a chance at the 5k top prize. I just had to now take the 2 hour drive back, the fuel, few drinks and pasta meaning I was in the red for the trip!!

I have not even tried to explain the AA hand to the wife when she asked "Did you win?"

Anyway, online I have been grinding away at the 3.50 mtsngs and 6/9 mans. I am about even up to now but my red line is finally going in the right direction. I have made some adjustments and they seem to be paying off. I may even play a few MTTs tonight but not sure as I'm a bit tired after only 5 hours sleep (with cards running through my mind). I've also been trying out some other sites as Stars is so full of regs and people generally doing close to the right thing. I think this is definitely the way forward but Stars software and traffic is just too good to ignore!!

Good luck one and all, HO HO HO

I have played a fair bit this month already.

I have been practising playing 10 tables in cascade mode. Anyone have any thoughts on table display options?? I noticed a few guys do stacked tables but I'm a bit frightened of making a wrong play when the tables pop up!!

I quite like the cascade mode TBH and it feels comfortable. I can just watch each table disappear as my aces and kings are inevitably cracked.

I have dropped down to the $3.50's whilst doing this but it appears that no sooner I hit a decent run (which lasted 2 days at best) I am of course on another horrible downswing. I refuse to let it take over my blog and start posting hands this time. Maybe this is a breakthrough????

I am still suspended from work on full pay. I am not happy about the way this has all gone TBH and will be looking for another job if I keep this one. Back to poker.

Graph for this month so far:

As we can see it appears I have been unlucky!!!! If that's what all in ev really means??

It has been really horrible and yet again left me thinking it is not possible beat these SNGs. Of course, I do know it is possible as many good players do beat em!!