gads...

3 tourneys tonight, one early bustout, and 2 third places. both 3rd places knocked me out with QQ. I had a K in each one but of course they didn't come.

The last tourney irritated me the most because the person who knocked me out was in 64% of the hands, then of course wakes up with QQ when I need to shove. They say "that's poker", I say it's crap.

Actually, I was lucky to money that last one at all - I had ONE HAND worth playing - a KK - and had 2 all ins with it - a JJ and a TT! Fortunately I dodged the 4 outs and tripled up. That allowed me to coast through my junk cards until the bubble. I made a move or two on the bubble and thought I was dead when people kept calling me, but I was able to keep the pot small and escape. Overall, 3 hours played tonight, $9 profit. Whoopee.

miserable 2 days

6 in a row out of the money. The first 3 I was the bubble boy-brutal enough. At least I was playing ok.

Tonight, first hand of the first tourney is AA. I raise my normal amount. The worst player at the table reraises me. I reraise him. He shoves. I call. He's got KQs. Exactly what I want, right? Over 80% to win, until a KQ comes on the flop and I'm down $30 in 60 seconds. Nice.

Second tourney I fight for a bit but my M gets low and I lose a race, AT vs 66. I had a flush draw and 2 overcards on the river (15 outs), but none of them came and I'm out in 5th.

Third tourney is another joy - an 18 hand love-fest where a donk player calls my AK raise with Ad8d, then shoves all her chips in with 2 diamonds on the 9dKd5c flop, and of course the Qd comes on the river to knock me out in 6th. Joy. Got my money in as a 63% favorite on that hand.

Tilt City right now - time to shut it down for the night. I've given back half the winnings of my tear from last week - the impressive spike in my PokerTracker graph is now just starting to look like a bigger up/down like I had for the 40 tourneys before.

live tourney results...

took 11th place out of 46. I was quite happy with my play. Very first hand of the night, I was in the small blind in the middle of a limpfest, got to complete with 77 and flopped a set! However, the flop with 6 7 9 with 2 clubs so I needed to be careful. I decided to lead right out 2/3 pot and hope to thin the field. I was successful - got only one caller.

Turn came an ace - completing no draws, and I fired again - 2/3 pot. He gave it up, but it gave me a nice start.

3 plays at the end made up the balance of the tourney for me. If any one of them goes my way I think I slingshot into the money:

With an M about 9, I raise it up to 3x with AJo at a 6 handed table. A shortstack pushes all in for exactly double that amount, giving me exactly 2-1 odds to call. Figuring his range includes lots of pairs, I call. He turns over KK - which I almost have odds to call if I know his cards (28% AJ vs KK, need 33% for 2-1 odds). No Ace on the board so I lose that one.

A weak-tight player under the gun raises it up to 2x. He has some kind of hand. A decent player on the button calls - I've seen him play some suited connectors and speculative stuff recently, even though his stack/M doesn't warrant it. I check my cards from the small blind and see AKo. I shove, roughly doubling the pot. UTG calls, button folds - classic race JJ vs. my AK, The extra money in the pot makes this a great shove even though I lose the race.

Desperation time - my M is 4, I get AT UTG and shove. Someone calls - the same player who knocked me out last month (with me holding AT) BTW - I figure I'm dead to a bigger ace, but he shows KT. YES! Then a King comes on the flop - NO! - and I'm out of the tourney.

So there it is - 3 key plays, none of which go my way, but all three of which I made the correct poker play. In AJ/KK, I called an all-in as a big dog but with the correct pot odds to do so (when you consider the entire range of hands he could be shoving). JJ/AK I'm about 45% to win but only need somewhere around 40% because of the dead money in the pot, and in the last hand I got in as a huge favorite and got 3-outed.

Made up for the loss by winning a 9 man full tilt $30 last night, so there.

good week continued

Super hot streak came to an end Wednesday, have gone 1 for my last 4 tourney monies. But before that, Saturday - Tuesday was an amazing streak where I doubled my modest Full Tilt bankroll, so I'm still well up. Actually, July is now my best month of the 5 months so far.

Tonight is the live monthly 50 man - will report later. I still remember every hand that has busted or crippled me in this live tourney - and after reviewing, I realize that every one of them was played out of position. My strategy for tonight is position, position, position. I promise to fold or raise from the small blind, and if I get a free play in the big blind, I will try and play "small ball" unless I flop a monster.

Of course, this goes out the window when you play for 3 hours with no cards and catch AT in the small blind (something that happened to me one time). Need to have discipline....

good comeback weekend

Continued a nice comeback for the month last night – 2 tourneys, a 2nd and a 1st place.

Most proud of the first place because there were 2 grinders at the table (1000 tourneys played, ROI +6 and +8). One was multi-tabling but he was to my right so I couldn’t do much to take advantage of him. Mostly I stayed out of his way.

Got a great hand in the second one – a good player raised from the button position, only 2x. He had raised small once before and showed QJo, so I didn’t think this was a trap with a monster. I had 88 and called hoping to flop my set.

And bingo – flop comes 3 8 T, but all spades. Not out of the woods yet. He checks, I fire out a half pot bet. He thinks and calls. Ok, he could be slowplaying a flush...

Then a lovely thing happened – the turn paired the board with a red 3. Now I’m PRAYING he’s got the flush since I’ve boated up. I take a look at his stack and figure out how to chop this into 2 bets so I can get the whole thing. I bet 2/3 pot and he calls again. Maybe he’s got the As and is praying for another spade.

The final card is a Kc. He checks. I decide that he doesn’t have the flush yet, so I bet just under the pot, hoping he’s got enough to call. He thinks until the time is almost over and then calls. He ended up having KT – the river gave him 2 pair. Ouch for him.

The final lucky stroke – I’m the chip leader with 5 players left. I’ve made 2 attempts to knock out the shortstack with a call and failed both times, so it’s me at 4000 and everyone else at about 2000. Then I get AA in the big blind. I figure with my luck, everyone is going to fold to me, but then another lovely thing happens – the shortstack shoves (he had 1700), and the button (2200) shoves over him! I call, of course – I’m up against AJs and KK. Niiiiice. My AA holds up and I’m at 8K to a pair of 2Ks. I play well enough to take them both out and win the tourney.

fast turnaround

As quickly as it comes, it can go too.

Tonight's 2 tourneys were not set up for me. In the second, had a bunch of calling stations to my left - they called big raises with crap like KQo and TT and A5. A5! Then one dude twice would limp in, get raised, then reraise all in! I saw him do this twice - once to me, once to someone else.

Lost some pots, got chopped down. One of the calling stations (stats 44/0) to my left limped in, I shoved with KQs - I knew she would call, but hoped she was in with K9 or somesuch. Nope, A8o. No K/Q comes and I'm done.

I think I played them both ok, just no luck. Off to review...

me - the maniac?

Played on $20 last night and won – mostly due to great cards early.

First hand I get dealt QQ in the big blind. 3 limpers to me – I raise to 6x – everyone bails.

Second hand, AA from the small blind. Someone raises 2x, I reraise again, he calls. Flop comes TT3 or something like that. I bet into him, he calls, turn comes a J, I shove. He folds.

Now everyone thinks I’m a maniac, right? Let’s see how far I can take it.

I raise it up from all late positions, regardless of my cards. Most of the time I pick up the blinds. One time, I get called, donked into on the flop and fold.

Soon I get 88 in the big blind, someone makes it 3x, but I can afford this now with a big chip stack and I call. Flop comes 8 A x. I bust someone with an ace.

Then in late position I raise it up with 79o. Big blind is officially sick of my shit and calls. Flop comes 7 9 2. I laugh maniacally out loud and wake up the dog. I think about checkraising, but maniacs don’t do that – they bet all the time. I bet. He thinks for a second and shoves – there’s no way this flop hit me, right? I call – he’s got 44!

Soon after I get AKo, and raise it up late. Someone out of position calls me. Flop comes Jack low low – she leads into me, but very small and I call.
Turn comes an Ace. This time min-checkraises me. I’m worried about 2 pair but call anyway.
River comes another Ace. She shoves, I have her covered. Should I call? Could she checkraise with Ace high only? Eh, what the hell, I’ll still have an average stack if I call. I call. She turns over Ace-7 and I outkick her.

Now the table is officially scared of me. Button and small blind fold to me almost automatically when I’m in the big blind. I start playing with raise sizes for fun, most of the time I just take the blinds down without a fight. Once I checkraise bluff someone when a 3rd flush card comes (I had bottom pair, I think) and get a fold. Chipleader is fun!

We get down to 4. It starts off as me and one bad player with bigger stacks early, but the bad player loses 3 hands and redistributes the chips so that they’re all even against me. (Me about 5000, them about 2500-3000). Blinds are high enough that I tighten up and wait for some good cards.

Get heads up against good player – he’s very good at outmaneuvering me – seems to have a read on my betting style. I end up trying to change it up – leading into the flop instead of checking, thinking a bit longer before calling to look like a draw, etc. We go back and forth in the chip lead until I win a nice pot with AA (2nd of the tourney, along with QQ, KK, AK twice, and my set of 8s) – and then I’m able to muscle him out for the win.

one card...

Played two tourneys last night. I decided to try get more aggressive in late position (after rereading "The Poker Tournament Formula" by Arnold Snyder). In the early part of the tourney, I was open-raising from the last 3 spots (button, cutoff, hijack) no matter what my cards were. Nobody’s calling my raises, and my chip stack slowly grows and keeps up with the blinds.

One hand doubled me up – donk limped in from middle position. I reraised him with position with JcQc. Flop couldn’t get much better – Kc Tc 9d. I flopped a straight, plus an open-ended straight flush draw. Flop goes check/check. Turn comes a red 2 or some blank – he bets (big) – I reraise – he pushes, I call – he turns over KK for a slowplayed set! Uh Oh. Fortunately the board doesn’t pair and I’m in business with the chip lead.

Later my aggression gets me trouble. I’ve got 3h4h from the small blind. I limp, fully expecting the big blind to raise me (which he’s done a couple times before). He doesn’t though and we get to see the flop. It comes 9 T T, with 2 hearts. I check out of position with a draw, he checks behind.

Turn comes a Jack of hearts. Ok, I’ve got my flush. I lead out, he raises me. I decide that maybe he was slowplaying a ten. Sure he could have a higher flush, but can I really lay down a made 3-on-the-board flush? Nah. I call, then check the river (“small ball”). He bets about 2/3 pot, and I call. He turns over Jack Jack for the boat, and I lose a pretty big pot.

In review – that Jh is the only card in the deck that makes me lose a big pot. Any other heart and I’ve got a flush with 90-10% chance to win. If the other jack comes, he’ll have his boat but I’m not calling anything with 3-4. Any other card comes and he’s got 2 pair and I’m also not calling.

Later I shove with 77 and a donk calls with TT and I’m out.

Second tourney went better – stayed aggressive, but not quite as much so because people on my left were defending more often. If I made a blind steal from one off the button and it worked, I wouldn’t do it again on the next hand unless my cards warranted it.

Got into the chip lead by winning a big pot but it could have been bigger – donk limped, I reraised him with QQ. He calls. Flop comes A Q x. Set of queens, sweet! Check/check. Turn comes (blank), he bets/I raise, he calls. River comes a 2. Now he donks into me with a pot size bet! What the hell does he have? Crap. In the heat of the moment, I decide to just call. He’s got A2 for 2 pair. My set of queens hold up, but what a weak call on the end. One of the good players at the table types “??”, and then “he should have been gone, taglius, why the call at the end?”. I type “I’ve been seeing monsters under the bed lately, lots of second best hands”. He replies “you put him on AA, lol!”. Checking out the hand in review, that is the only thing he could have had to beat my set of queens. Although, in my defense, I did have a slowplayed set of kings against me on the same night just one tourney before.

In this tourney I made it to second place against a beginning player who was catching the cards of his life (quad twos, AA twice, etc) – one time my KQ actually held up to his AA when I hit runner-runner QQ on the turn/river, but he was still a 5-1 chip fav and knocked me out a hand or two later.

bad run continues

Hasn't been pretty for about 2 weeks now. Every 5th tourney or so I place second or third, but I haven't had a win in a (relative) long time, and my July so far is about $90 in the hole. I've moved back down to the $20 tourneys, not based on bankroll, but more on confidence.

Lots of situations are contributing to my downswing. The first is making poor plays. Example - near the bubble - I raise it up with A9o, and a tight player (stats something like 13/7) shoves over me. I call. Why did I call there? His stats say he's going to 3 bet with something better than A9o, and his stats were correct- AKo. Buh-bye.

In one tournament, I got all my money in with the worse hand twice and sucked out both times, hitting 3 outers. I nailed the same guy on both hands, too (I even apologised after the second one). The suckouts were enough to get me to third place, at which point I got my money in bad a third time and got knocked out. Sure, I finished in the money, but didn't feel good about the way I did it.

Another recent problem I've had is loose-aggressive guys sitting to my right. When someone's raising it up like crazy, playing at a 40/30/8 clip, I'm finding it hard to take a stand against them. The "by the book" play of course is to rarely/ever cold-call a raise, but this becomes pretty tough when there's a raise on the table almost every time it's your turn to play.

It's much easier to take a stand against a maniac in a cash game where you can play sheriff and go broke a couple times and just reload. In a short SNG tourney, you really have to pick your spots or you'll find yourself on the rail. In more than one recent tourney a guy like this on my right has just paralyzed me - I check my stats after 50 hands and they're some super-tight 7/3 or somesuch. This ultra-tightness causes more problems in your game- other players will notice your tightness (either directly or through HUD stats) and start raising it up on you even more - it becomes a feeding frenzy on the guy who folds every time. Plus, on the few hands where you might get to open with a raise, everyone takes off because they look at your stats and figure you're waiting for aces.

I picked up Daniel Negraneu's new book and his "small ball" stuff is very interesting to me - some of his tactics might help me in spots like this. I'm going to work on really widening my range in late position, even if it means calling an aggro nut with an offsuit connector or even junk every now and then, just to put the message in his head that he can't roll over me. I believe there's also some stuff in "The Poker Tournament Formula" that I need to review to help me counter these aggro guys.

If anyone out there is reading this thing, I'll take any other suggestions as well.