2nd in the 10pm $4.5k

Poker is of course a game with a very high variance, but its getting to be slightly noticeable I still haven't won this tournament despite playing in it a *lot*. I've won the 9.30 - which has a much bigger (and stronger) field, and lost tonight when my heads-up opponent hit 2-pair on the river. We had about even stacks (I just covered him) and I had check-raised my top pair - and he 3-bet me with middle pair.

Still $1040 is not too bad for a nights work. I'll write more tomorrow (maybe).

I really need to work at my big stack play

I made a lot of chips early tonight in the 9.30 13.5k guaranteed $55 on Crytpo.

Within the first orbit I doubled up when holding JJ. I called a pre-flop raise and the board came Q32 all clubs. Checked round. Turn was the Jack of clubs, and the river the case Jack. My opponent had QQ, and of course went bust, all the money going in on the river.

I'm then dealt AA twice in two hands, taking pots without going to showdown. Next hand I get QQ and I'm then up to 5.8k, nearly treble my starting stack.

I then over-think my image slightly, when some guy limps UTG with QQ, and I'm holding TT from mp. I see a flop of 334, and he check-raises me. He actually doesn't raise a huge amount, so going by my people-play-back-at-me-when-I've-been-betting-a-lot theory I push and he of course calls. Back down to 4.2k

I raise AQ from early position and the same villain from the previous hand calls. I lead into a junk flop, he calls and I check-fold the turn. Very tempting to fire the second barrel.

Continuing the action (it all happened stupidly quick all this) I get JJ in the SB and an early postion limper raises all-in. I make a loose-ish call (thinking of my image here) and he turns over TT. Which is great in this hand, but I reckon thats right at the bottom of his range and I should probably have laid it down here. Back up to 6.6k.

2 hands later I see a flop with JTs. from LP. I fire into a 833 board, and have a caller. He bets small onto a J turn (300 into a pot of 1600) , and I call. I river another Jack and he bets small again. Looking back I didn't realise I had a full house until I was considering his bet as I was thinking of calling worrying about my kicker. I raised, he pushed and turned over 88. Another nice river, but I'm getting away from that hand quite cheaply normally. Up to 8950.

I fold for 3 orbits and pick up JJ in the big blind. Blinds are now 150/300. UTG+1 minraises, and MP calls. I make it 2400 and MP calls. Villain in this hand has proven to be pretty loose-passive and I can't give him credit for much here. I've then got 5625 remaining and the pot is 5550. The board is 9K3, and with the 1 over card I push. He's got a set of 9s and I'm toast. I don't think I can check here as he's not bluffing at it if he's missed it going by his previous action, and I'm happy not showing my cards here.

When I busted I felt I'd played the tournament badly - although I hadn't actually. Sure I got lucky on a few occasions to make a big stack, but other than missing a value bet on the river with a K-high flush I didn't do a vast amount wrong.

The heading to this post captures how I felt when I busted and when I sat down to review the HH, but having watched it back through (PokerReplayer is lovely) I'm not so disappointed as I was.

2 cashes ... some bad luck .. then a win!

I've been playing a bit the last few nights, and final-tables the 10pm Crypto $55 twice, but only coming in 6th and 10th for a small number of pounds. I played both games pretty well, but got stuck getting too aggressive at the end.

After that I had a little spell of not getting the luck I needed when I needed, and being sucked out on the rest of the time so its been a small dry spell.

I've also taken to multi-tabling now, signing up for two tournaments at the same time if I can (especially if the number of runners is similar - so they progress at roughly the same pace. I may continue with this, I'm not sure, although I tend to only concentrate (and then not much) on one table at a time.

Tonight I ran OK in the Pokerroom $109, busting about 17th in a 80-man field having been unable to lay down Aces post flop (on a Q74 board). I raised pre-flop, 2 callers. I had position and it went Check-Check-Bet(me)-RAISE-CALL!! Fairly clearly at least one of these guys has me beat. I'm guessing that the check-raised could have TPTK, or better, but the flat-call of the check-raise smells extremely strong. Anyway although I saw it, I was far to attached to the AA and pushed, only to run into 2 sets. After that I made a good laydown of QQ against an early-position limp-reraiser who held AA, but busted being aggressive.

At the same time I played the crypto £22, £1500 guaranteed. It had 88 runners, and I won for £528. Very nice. While all the excitement was going on in the pokerroom tourny I had been folding the junk I was being dealt for the first few levels.

With the blinds at 50/100 I'm down to 1225 having not won a hand, and hardly seen a flop. In the BB I'm dealt J5, 4 players see a flop. Its checked-round 3 times. I river a J and I win 400. That doesn't happen often.

I lose the gains though 2 hands later playing KJo badly (weakly - although I ran into someone playing a rag ace, and my passivity saved me from giving them my chips).

Still in some trouble with 1175 chips in the BB I'm dealt AA, and nearly double up after short (with JJ) pushes into me. 2235.

I pick up a few more with KQvQT in the blinds, and settle down in the mid-game which I'm generally playing quite well these days. I've added the raise-pre-flop-with-air back into my arsenal these days, albeit sparingly. Oddly I'm defending blinds less at the moment than I have in a while.

From the HJ I raise 3x to 599 with K9s, and the button flat calls. We check the junk flop, and I bet 2/3 the pot onto a blank turn which he folds. In this tourny my continuation bets generally worked - some days they do etc etc. Up to 4700.

With these small tournies you get to the late stages quite quickly and I'm on the final 3 tables with about 4500 in chips. I raise with AK and take the blinds. Shortly after this I raise with QQ, and called and (fortunately) my continuation bet in a Kxx flop takes it.

I'm also playing slightly trickier at the moment. Well, basically I'm going for the limp-raise a bit more, and tried it with KK. 4 callers (not planned) and I see a Kxx flop. I lead into this for 1/2 the pot, but take it down uncontested. 6.8k.

Final 2 tables ...

I'm quiet for a couple of orbits until I hit AA in the BB and the CO raises into me. I consider flat-calling (or making a small raise) but instead push and he folds.

Its quite a weak table so I'm opening with a wide range from the button and SB than I normally do.

The table is down to 6 and I raise to 1299 from the CO with A9. The button flat-calls for 1/3 of his stack, but the flop comes Q99 and I bust him. We're down to 11 and I steal up from 13k to 16k till the bubble bursts when I have AA against QQ. I've got 23k as the final table starts, good enough for second (although its all quite close).

I'm quiet for 2 orbits, then get KQs in the button. Flat call an EP raise, and push the 899 flop with the flush draw. I raise from the button, defend my BB from a fairly obvious button steal and am up to 29k. Chip leader. 7 left.

I try a bit more stealing and am found out by one player (who luck-boxed his way into second place). Down to 22k. I then bust one played with KK>A10 (33k). Holding 67 I see a cheap flop 4-way from the SB, and hit an OESD on the flop. Bets on the flop (standard) and turn (probably ill-advised) chase of my opponents. I assume the remaining player who saw the turn has missed with his flush.

With 4 left its very close (38k(me)/35k/31k/27) against opponents none of whom I recognize, or rate particularly.

I then almost bust when 99 beats my AJs, and I'm down to 3778 UTG. I fold the J4o, and pick up JJ in the BB next hand beating A2. Up to 7556. My 103s makes a flush next hand and I'm back to 15k One double from being a threat. I fold my BB, win back with my SB and double up when my KQs>66. Back of the net. And back up to 30k. I defend successfully to keep the pressure on the others, and double up again. I have A7s in the BB which I flat-call the SBs raise with (assuming I'm ahead). He pushes the flop, and I call with the flush draw assuming I'm behind with the FD and probably the ace as outs, but he had an OESD and only 6 outs, which missed. 75 now. the other had 30/17/15.

One busts and its 75/45/15 in my favour. Shorty (poor player) doubles. 75/30/25 and I win a fair few when AJ>JT. The chip could is a dream 92/14/22 and the other two start playing for second as I bully the pair of them.

Eventually one busts the other when its 111/6/8 and I win the HU without too much fuss, winning plenty of pots without showdown or difficulty early (although I end up sucking out with K5vKJ).

My bankroll is now a shade under $6k.

2 Interesting tournaments

The first was evidence of the ThereAreRubbishPlayersAtHigherLimits effect. Early in the Pokerroom $109 tourny. Most people have their starting stack. I raise from EP with KK and there is a caller. The BB shoves all his chips in, which is a massive overbet. I call and he turns over AKs. Of course he turns an Ace.

The second tourny was the Crypto $55 and 9:30, and I did two things I rarely do.

1) I've been planning to play TableCaptain for a while, and did so early when I hit a few cards. So I know I've got a laggy image and am liable to get played back at. This duly happened. I raise from EP with AQ, and get 2 callers. One of whom check-raises my flop bet (junk flop). Now normally its me attacking and folding to the 3-bet, but I pushed here, and he folded. Cool.

2) Manipulating my bet sizes more effective. With As9s, on a Jxx board with 2 spades, I make a small bet, the intention being that if I was raised the stacks would be right for me to shove with some FE. I was raised, and it all worked out well.

I nearly doubled my starting stack without showing down a hand once, and people were staying out of my way, because they thought they'd have to be playing for all their chips.

Anyway, I ran out of cards, tightened up and then completeley misplayed TT to go out, but it was fun. I'm going to have to consider playing the opening rounds more aggresively.

Stop playing like a donkey!

A couple of bad nights playing poker.

Last night I hit a couple of hands early, and doubled my starting chip stack, but got into all sorts of trouble playing weak aces. I rarely do this by virtue of not playing them, but last night it all went wrong and I played like a beginner.

Tonight, I had AK and QQ early, and won a small number of chips, but then lost when I raised the table captain who 3-bet me all-in. I actually think he had a hand, but that lost me a good stack of my chips.

Then I'm dealt 88 from EP (I've got about 1500, blinds 100/50). Captain is on my left, and I think he's going to push with any two as:
1) He got sucked out on on the last hand and he had shown evidence of tilt earlier
2) He was now short stacked
3) He couldn't rate me as a strong player after the 3-bet earlier

So I flat call. Table captain calls and another player pushes his 2400 or so. Its a big over-bet, but I'm at best flipping. He's probably got 99-JJ, with AK/AQs maybe. Anyway as my initial plan was to call the captain light I called this fellow without really thinking about it, and he had TT.

Really bad stuff. I'm going to have to buck my ideas up at these tables.

Speaking of which the table today was full of proper players, much to my surprise.

A heads-up tournament

I sat down tonight at about 9.55, ready and willing to play in the $55 @10:00. Unfortunately I failed to notice that whilst I had the lobby open I hadn't actually registered, so the start time came and went and it took my a minute or so to work out why.

That left me at a loose end. I could have watched telly (I watch virtually none these days) played a bit of backgammon (against the pooter - its quite an interesting game) or find some other tourny to play in. Discounting a Stars Multi-SNG, I signed up for a heads-up tourny at 10:10. I've never played in one of these, and I've been quite proud of my heads-up poker for a while, so I though I'd test it out.

It was a fantastic experience, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. Playing mano-a-mano has been described as the purist form of poker, and I can see why. It was immensely enjoyable, and the constant action was oddly appealing.

My first round opponent was fairly weak and predictable, and it was reasonably easy to dispose of him. My second round opponent was a bit better, and hit some good cards and busted me. I'm not really able to gage my level in these things yet, but I'll give them another few goes. Embarrassingly, having been playing $100 tourneys - this was only a $5 affair, but its a start I guess.

Two hands stick in my mind, both in the second game. Firstly, I held 87o on a flop of 976. 2 diamonds. I was feeling confident about my straight-draw, and I had a pair. I had position on my opponent who check-called bets on the flop and turn. The turn and river were both diamonds - so there were 4 on board, and we both checked the river. He turned over 85 for a flopped straight. The 4th diamond saved me from busting.

In my last hand I held AQ. He completed from the SB, and I checked. Jack-high flop, where he calls my bet. We both check the turn, I push the river - he has 2 pair (J5)and I'm toast.

The lesson I picked up from this tournament is
1) Position is even more important than I realized. I got into all sorts of problems with this.
2) I should be defending my BB more. If he's completing I don't really want to be playing OOP. If I've got junk, or a medium strength hand I may just check and see to keep the pot small, but if I've got any kind of hand (say 22-TT,AT+,KJ+,QT+) I think I'm gonna raise it up to try and win it there and then. The downside of course is then playing a larger pot OOP. Hmmm.

This is an interesting game - the first time I've played deep-stack HU, and one I'll certainly play again.

First cash in a $100 tourny!

112 runners. Third for $1437.50

Not bad at all. I've been playing badly recently, but had my poker boots on tonight.

I stayed out of trouble early, not paying too much attention, hit some hands and made some nice moves. I made one excellent laydown with JJ pre-flop against QQ and AQ, although the turned J made me a bit sick.

I played small-ball most of the time, although re-stole off this one guy quite heavily. I was sucked-out on twice, sucked out only once, and played pretty well. I was quite comfortable at the FT, and (typically) moved from about 8th to 1st in a very gradual manner, picking my spots pretty well.

Three handed is definitely a weakness of mine, and having folded the first 4/5 hands I found 44 in the SB, to push into the BBs AA. This left me with a tiny stack - and the tourny promptly went into a break. I struggled on for a bit, but busted shortly after.

More encouraging stuff tonight, and a boost to my bankroll. On the evidence of tonight I'd expect myself to be profitable at these tables!

My bankroll took a hit in recent weeks, but now stands at $5313.