They're not pushing with air ...They're not pushing with air ... They're not pushing with air ... They're not pushing with air ...

D'oh.

Last two tournies I've played reasonably in, until the last hand.

Tonights I played really well. Until the last hand.

120 runners. 27 left. I'm just moved table into the big blind. I seem to be getting into loads of trouble in the big blind these days and should really stop. Anyway I'm playing ~6000 (good for about 15th at the time). Blinds 150/300. UTG+1 limps, folded round to me.

I like to charge limpers on my BB, and this fellow I'd seen before and hadn't been too impressed with his play. So I raise to 1000, he thinks for a while and flat calls. Flop 89K. I've got bottom pair and bet 1300 into a pot of 2250. He thinks for a while, and calls. Turn a 2. We've both got about 4000 left, with about 4000 in the pot. I can push here if I think I can get him off a weak-ish Q/K, but I didn't, I checked. He pushed. Sometimes I can call this, if I think my opponent is capable of putting it all on the line here with either air (I sometimes flat-call obvious continuation bets and then bluff the turn) or a draw, but this fellow wasn't good enough for that. I should fold, but somehow called. He had K7. Poor really. And disappointing as I'd been playing well and really enjoying it. I put him exactly as the kind of player who would limp with that sort of hands from EP, and possibly fold to a raise. He would have definitely have folded if the flop hadn't hit him so I did it all right till the call at the end.

Last night I got into trouble trying to steal the blinds from the cut-off with T9s and not believing the big-blinds re-raise. I called and called a flop bet on a 988 flop. I think we both checked the turn and he pushed the river (although he could have pushed the turn). Either way again I make a poor call and he has KK.

I'm outplaying so many of these players by being aggressive I don't need to take risks calling big bets with marginal holdings. If I push/steal and get caught so be it.They are playing ABC poker and I need to remember this. Big bets on the river are so rarely bluffs, I've got to have a specific read before I can call.

*Shakes head*

1 more minor cash - but some criticism of my play

Back from camping a couple of days ago (aborted early because of the foul weather).

Last night I played a $55 tourny on Stars which I shouldn't have done as
1) I was still tired
2) There are some decent players in these tournies and I wasn't 'match-fit' having taken a week out
3) My brain wasn't screwed on.

Most particularly I failed in some style to adapt to the slower structure, and 3000 starting chips. I played way too aggressively, and misplayed AKs on a KQJ flop to donate too many of my chips to an opponent holding JJ. You really can play these patiently and I didn't. I then had a crack at a $10 headhunter, which I continue to hate, and continue to do terribly in when I do play. Stupid idea on every level those tournies. I was clearly on tilt even enterring, and had no hands the entire tourny. Still it was cheap enough.

Tonight I played a 101 person £22 on Crypto, finishing 7th for ~£80. Small beer. I made a number of loose calls from short-stacks and got quite a berating off one player.


Firstly:
ante=200,SB=800,BB=1600 (pot initally 3000)
being dealt K9o in the BB the button pushes for 7300, I have to call 5700 to have a chance of winning 11000.

I seriously reckon his range is any two here, but even if we make it, 22+, A2+, K7+, and any two other paint cards (roughly the top 33% of hands) I'm about 41% to win. Clear call.

He had ATo, I sucked out and got flamed ("yeah, but K9o, c'mon!")

Secondly:
Ante=300, SB=1200, BB=2400 (pot initally 5700)
Cut-off pushes for 6816, I'm in the BB holding 63o.
I have to call 4416 to have a chance of winning a pot of 12516

If we give villain the same range as before I'm about 31% to win the pot. So this again is a clear +cEV situation, and almost certainly a +$eV situation too. I was playing 20,000 chips at the start of the hand, and whilst it could be argued I'm better off saving my chips to be stealing/raising I don't hate this at all.

Still a couple of players have me marked down as a complete moron. Ho ho.

(Minor annoyance - in a 101 person Crypto tourny the top 20 pay (in a 100 person tourny the top 10 do) with positions 20-11 getting back slightly LESS than their buyin. Although this benefits players who understand bubble play it adds an air of farce to the situation).

I am a good player, honest

(Or, is it better to be thought a muppet or a genius).

I've been looking my results on on sharkscope.com and officialpokerrankings.com. These websites track SitNGos and MTTs respectively, and both apparently show I'm a bad player. At SitnGos sharkscope claims I'm a fairly big looser, and OPR claim I win a bit, but my ranking is ludicrously low.

My excuses for this apparent awfulness are:
* Most of money has been won on Crypto
* I've had 1 'big' cash on Stars, but this was a while back and the rankings are weighted against apparent fluke results like this. This wasn't a fluke (honestly) because I've been cashing regularly away from Stars, but these aren't shown
* My SnG results aren't very good, particularly as I had a short-lived bash playing the $55s where there are some decent players. I'm not convinced I could beat this game now actually.

Which led me to wonder whether its better to be thought of as much worse than you are or much better. I suspect either are beneficial actually, as you want your opponent to have an incorrect (or alternatively very wide) range of hands for you. In some cases they will put you on a premium hand when you may be bluffing - or vice versa - but its all mistakes from them.

So, although if people pop my name into these sites they might think I'm a weaker player than I am, that may well not be to my detriment.

The last two $55 games I've entered have been something of a non-event. I bluffed my chips away in them both really, having not hit a flop worth the name for a couple of nights now. No biggie. In last night's last hand I raised from the BB into 4 limpers with 109o trying to steal the pots, and was called by the first limper. I missed the flop, which was something like J72, and I pushed, which was about a pot-sized bet. The limper instacalled with 55. He can't have been calling my inital bet for set value, and I rarely make moves like this with weak hands in the BB (although I think I should try more often - but probably when I've got more chips to start with) so I was a bit unfortunate to get looked up really.

Anyway, no poker for a week as seeing as England is suffering its worst summer in living memory with virtual constant rain I'm off camping. Should be interesting.

2 more (small) cashes

Tonight, and yesterday I played the 10:00 $55 on Crypto. Each time there were just over 100 runners, with the top 20 paying, positions 20-11 getting about $51/$52 back, so making a small loss.

Last night I came in 10th, winning, ~$100, tonight 15th, "winning" $52.

Last nights game is most memorable for the last hand. I was getting very short-stacked (an M of 3 or 4) and on a 5-handed table was dealt 67s UTG. The other table had 6 players remaining - so one more and I was on the final table. I certainly didn't want to post my blind without getting my chips in the middle. While I was thinking about it a player was knocked out on the other table, and so I pushed. This had the effect I think of loosening the other players up so reducing my FE. Anyway the SB had AK, so nothing was going to happen differently, but I wasn't sure.

Tonight I played really well to make the money at all. I made most of my chips holding JJ and flopping J44. I induced a couple of bluffs off my opponent by slow-playing them.

After that though I had very few decent hands at all. When the blinds were 150/300 a player who limped a lot, limped from UTG+2 and it was folded round to me on the button holding T4o. I raised it to 1200, and he called. The flop was jack-high, rainbow. He checked and I bet 2200 into the 3000 pot. He thought about it for a bit typed 'AA/KK/QQ/AK' in the chat and folded. I auto-hide my hands, but would I have been correct to show there? I doubt it. I said (lied) 'Yes, one of those' but was pleased with my read on him as weak.

I also restole nicely from a shorty on an obvious steal when I pushed 56o from the SB, but other than that didn't have too many opportunities.

The last two hands were me with about 7500 chips, UTG with the blinds at 600/300+antes so about 1500 in the pot. I'm dealt KJ. I don't want to post next hand, so I push and am called my shorty (3000 or so) with 66. I flop a pair, but he turns a set. Next hand I'm dealt T8o in the SB. UTG raises to 1800, and I'm getting very short. Folded round to me, I flat-call and then push the A-high flop. He thinks for a while before calling with QQ.

Still I'm continuing to do well, and I'm getting increasingly confident in my ability to outplay most of the players at this level. There are about 5 names who consistently appear at the business end of these tournies, but they don't seem brilliant (although they are definitely good). I've think I've seen better players in the $20/180s on Stars though.

Why haven't I always played MTTs?

Looking back I've always known that I made most of my money from playing MTTs. I've got a reasonable feel for the flow of a tournament, and have generally been reasonable at both stealing, and extracting value from my good hands. I'm getting better at making decent lay-downs early too.

So here is the list of my main cashes:
01/09/05 -> 1: £182
07/10/05 -> 2: £244
14/11/05 -> 1: £405
(STTing)
29/07/06 -> 4: £71
10/08/06 -> 1: £165
20/08/06 -> 5 $262 ($10)
24/08/06 -> 2 £332 (£10)
05/09/06 -> 3 £172 (£10)
(cashing)
11/03/07 -> 4 $605.70 (8.80 on PS - 1173 entries)
12/04/07 -> 5 £480 (£25)
20/04/07 -> 2 £99.72
09/05/07 -> 1 £118.72 (£2)
17/05/07 -> 1 £154.53 (£2)
26/05/07 -> 1 $1425 ($25 on Ladbrokes)
07/06/07 -> 1 $762 ($20)
29/06/07 -> 7 $107.20 ($20)
04/07/07 -> 2 £380 (£20)
10/07/07 -> 3 $605 ($50)

There are two real gaps in it, and they are caused by me deciding to try other games.

When I first started playing poker I played STTs, with some success, but nothing stella. For a while I went back to it, and did OK, but again nothing fantastic.

I also had a bash at playing cash games, and did this for several thousand hands. I won a lot at the beginning, but lost it after a while. It could have been variace, or me playing differently due to over-confidence or boredom. Either way I stopped it and went back to the MTTs, where I've been doing very well as of late.

Virtually all of my games have been at 10 or 9-person tables, with only a couple at 6-max where I've never excelled. I think I'm getting better at it, so I may try them again one day. Oh, and this has all been NLHE apart from an early spel playing limit cash, and a single STT where I bought into a PLO game by mistake.

Anyway, I've had a spell where all my moves have been working, so it had to end. Just as the tournament was reaching the stage where the blinds become valuable, I moved table, and posted the big blind, which I folded to a raise. Next hand its folded round to me holding Q4 or some such garbage so I raise 3x, and the BB calls. Something gets into me that I can win the hand, so on a junk flop (962 or something) I check-raise the BB all-in - who calls holding middle-pair no kicker. He had me comfortably covered, but I was very surprised he called either bet with such rubbish - still it was better than mine *sigh*.

I need to work more at my play in the blinds. I tend to be quite aggressive when its folded to me in the SB, but any thinking opponent can usually use their position in the BB to their advantage.

Two phrases I've picked up. One from a trip report to the WSOP main event, where one player said he was the table captain - and I know what he meant. If and when I play live next I'm definitely going to be more aggressive than I have been, on a consistent basis too.

Secondly I was watching some poker tournament on telly when TheWife walked it and started watching it. Neither of us spoke for a while.

Me : "Its gripping isn't it"
TheWife: "Yes. Mind-numbingly gripping"

I know what she meant.

Feeling comfortable at the higher levels

I went through my hotmail account the other day and wrote down all the significant cashes from my MTT 'career'. The intention was to post them here, as a record so I can refer back to them (and hopefully add to them) as I go. Of course I left the paper at work, so can't now do it. D'oh.

I'd be adding to it again actually, as last night I played the $55 on Crypto at 10pm. It was an impulse decision to buy in. I've rarely been buying fully into these, preferring to satellite in on an occasional basis, but signed up. I'm glad I did, as I came in third for about $650. I played pretty well, and felt entirely comfortable at the level for the first time I think. There was still an extraorinary amount of poor players, but come the final table most (but not all) had been eliminated.

There was one fellow there who told me the URL of his blog, which I am going to continue reading. It actually gives me a good insight into his mindset, and some strategic thinking, which is more useful to gain an understanding of the level he is thinking at, and I'm not convinced its any higher than mine.

He and some of the other final tablers are clearly very regular and highly profitable participants, but I certainly didn't feel out-classed. I thought that they were not as creative as me, and certainly less aggressive. There was much less re-stealing for example than you'd expect, and much all-round weakness. Which was fine.

I built up a decent stack and so I was experimenting a bit with calling pre-flop pushes from shorties with marginal holdings (A5o,KQo) because if I was them I'd be pushing any two. In this case they weren't really, but I had enough chips not to cause any serious damage.

I made a couple of dodgy plays, getting involved in unneccesary blind V blind battles but hit cards when I needed to. I was also immensely fortunate that when short-stacked (M=~4.5) I started pushing a lot to pick up the blinds and was never called. I nearly doubled my stack with that.

My last hand was at least vaguely interesting. The chips are divided up in a ratio of about 5,000/10,000/4,000 on the Button/SB/BB. I'm shorty in the BB. The BB is roughly 500, and the button raises 3x. I've got A2o. I ended up pushing, but I'm not sure I like any of the options really. I'm not getting called by much that I'm ahead of, and I'm way behind when I am behind. Still he calls and turns over AJ and I'm toast. Perhaps I should have folded that and moved on, but I didn't.

My bankroll is now an impressive (for me) $3250, so I'll be playing more of the £25/$50 games for a while.

It had to happen - a second place

After a good run of wins I got a second place in the £22 on Crypto this evening. I was very short-stacked early, but hit some cards to get into a decent position near the bubble and then played well till the end.

There were 95 entrants and only the top 10 paid.

Once on the final table I had a good chip lead which I extended quite easily, through some simple aggression (I only re-stole once IIRC) but my stack was enough to put other people of tangling with me. I had enought to make calls from various short-stacks and ended up heads-up for with about a 2:1 chip lead - although the blinds were quite big. Unusually for me I was outplayed a bit heads up. I had virtually no cards, but most of my raises and re-raises were called. I suspect my opponent hit hands when he needed to, but it wasn't great. I ended up about down 2:1, climbed back to even, back down to 2:1 when the last hand came up. I had AT and raised from the button. He reraised as I knew he would and I pushed. He called with a 5, and although I hit my 10 on the flop he hit runner-runner straight for the game.

Still £380 isn't too bad for an evenings work. The good form continues.