Lazy week

Since the 3rd place in the stars 1k, I have been pretty lazy poker wise hardly playing at all. I did put in one marathon cash session that went pretty badly with me finishing -$20k all on 10/20. I ran pretty badly but also made one terrible bluff for a double buy in, oops. Since that ive played a few small sessions and got about $8k back leaving me $22k down for the month on cash. Still up for the month after the tournament scores but really hoping to turn round the cash side of things in the 2nd half of the month or hit another score in the $1k mtt, lol.

I sat down to play the Sunday tournaments yesterday buy gave up and unregistered from everything before the Sunday million ever started. I lost AA vs TJ AIPF in the warm up and QQ vs AJ in the party 300k to break my tolerance early.

Finally sorted my plans for leaving Australia today which sees me heading to Hawaii for a week of relaxing and time away from poker, before I become completely immersed in it for the 7 weeks after. I don't have enough extended times when poker is completely off my agenda so I'm hoping it will be a good recharge period before WSOP.

Thats all for now,

Pab

PS. here are the links to the animated hand history's of the two tournaments I mentioned in the previous post. You need a pokerxfactor account to view the links but its free to join. Any questions/random abuse of my donk play is welcome, enjoy.

Tilt - $30r win - http://www.pokerxfactor.com/HH125445/594_20080412_103634

Stars $1k 3rd place - http://www.pokerxfactor.com/HH124054/594_20080403_075927

April only 3 days in But plenty of Incident

So march finished and after playing very little I made a decent amount of $$ so was happy. I am back settled in Sydney again and the plan was to start playing a lot of poker again in April.

After a decent few months I decided to take a stab at the 25/50 games again at the start of April. Ive had a lot of success here in the past and my flatmate Dave (geeforce1) thinks the games have a lot more donks than 10/20. This hand was my first big pot I lost, I think How I played the hand by checking on the turn I have to go broke when he shoves the river, no getting away IMO, others may differ.

http://weaktight.com/150049

After that I kept playing but didn't play any more interesting pots but couldn't win a 3 bet pot to save my life and ended up $15k down on the session. Ill be moving back to 10/20nl for the time being, even though I am rolled for $25/50 I wouldn't want to put pressure on myself my incurring pretty big losses at 25/50. Ill keep taking shots if i see a weak game, or coming off the back of a good week, but 10/20nl will still be my regular game.

Onto tournaments and they have been a mixed bag in the last few days. I played a lot of the Sunday tournaments including the $1k buy in Sunday million on pokerstars. On the 8th hand of the tournament I had AA vs KK in preflop and lost to cripple me. I managed to hold on with my short stack for quite a while and then made a re-steal with 24s at the 500/1k level and ran into JJ, he time banked it for 15 BB's, lol . No cashes and I ended up quitting early through pure frustration, although I did give my $200 to charity as promised, :-)

Monday was a day off and then came back on Tuesday to play a few tournaments including the $1k buy super Tuesday on pokerstars. I managed to get 3rd in the Stars tournament for $34k and also won the F.Tilt $30r at the same time for $6.6k, ship the $40k. I would like to compliment Pokerstars on a amazing structure in the $1k tournament and would definitely recommend playing it to those who can afford it, or attempting to satellite in for lower stakes players I wont talk about the tournaments just yet as I'm looking to animate the HH's on pokerxfactor or cardrunners over the next few days and post the links up here.

All this week I am 'In the Well' On the blondepoker forum. Basically it is a week long QnA session with me. Moorman did it last week, and I was approached to be in this week, here is the link:

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=32412.0

If I manage to animate the HH's, ill post them on the blog, that's all for now,

Pab

EPT poland

Well, it took 30hrs to get door to door, Sydney to Warsaw, and I lasted a whopping 4 hrs 10 mins in the tournament. Such a long journey is not ideal preparation for a big live tournament but that was out of my control, so had to deal with it.

I was playing lots of small-medium pots in the first 2 levels, dropping a little bit then getting back to starting stack, very uneventful. The first indication that this wasn't to be my day was at the end of the 75/150 level when i picked up KTs on the button. This was the last level where I felt i had the stack to see a flop for cheap and try to flop big. A player opens in Mid position who seemed fairly loose, calling a RR with 85s in a previous pot OOP. I call on the button and the BB comes along as well. I see a near perfect flop containing the QJ spades and 1 small card giving me a proper up n down straight flush draw. The BB and the original raiser both check to me and I bet just under the pot size, maybe about 900 into 1100, the BB folds and the original raiser calls. I have no idea what this means as I'm very new to the table and have no image myself or any real information on my opponent. The check call by him led me to believe he had a hand like AJ, KJ, or maybe slow playing QQ or JJ. The turn is a low blank and he checks again, I thought about betting but didn't want to get blown off my hand if he was slow playing a big pair. Also by checking it shows weakness and looks like i was just having a stab on the flop in position. Unfortunately I miss my millions of outs on the river and he makes a pot bet into me and I give it up.

After that the blinds start creeping up but my stack is stagnant. A guy on my table plays out a pot where he is bluffing with T high and has to show it down on the river and doesn't seem happy at all, since it was one of those instances where the winning player requested his opponents hand be turned over after a river bet n call. The very next hand I raise 89 hearts UTG and the T high man from before is my only caller. Raising this hand with my stack was very marginal but my image was tight. The flop comes T 8 2 with 1 heart and I check, he instantly bets close to the pot size. I have enough to raise his bet 3x if i shove all in which is what I decided to do since i felt there was a good chance he was steaming from the previous pot and I have a couple of back door draws as well. So I shove and he instantly beats me in the pot with AA, good read me, I pick up a heart draw on the turn but miss on the river and depart. My play on the final hand is a little risky but i feel with my image and my perception of my opponent i get enough folds on the flop to make it profitable, but meh.

As I said it wasn't the best preparation for a big live tournament but since I won the seat online my hands were tied. This is likely to be my last live tournament before the WSOP although I am considering going to Costa Rica for the LAPT event a few days before the WSOP starts, but not sure. The Hyatt hotel in Warsaw was very nice but i didn't manage to venture out into Warsaw itself, simply due to the fact I was lazy. I arrived in Poland wearing jeans and a T-shirt, got into a taxi and the driver asked me If i flown in from Barbados, lol. 2 coats and a hat seemed to the standard attire for the weather.

As far as online poker goes, I had an issues with my copy of windows since when i first purchased vista I bought an upgrade version instead of the full one, but it gave me a 30 day period before ceasing to work. So I only had my mac OS for about 2 weeks which restricted me to playing on stars and f.tilt, whereas I wanted to play cash on ipoker. I hardly played cash at all during this period but did play a full session of Sunday tournaments which went dreadfully, the less said about it the better. I did make a pledge on the blonde Sunday thread to donate $200 (avg buy in) to charity everytime i play a full compliment of Sunday tournaments so i feel like I've done something worthwhile for the day.

With my windows been out of commission and with me traveling to the EPT etc.. I have only managed 7500 hands this month, but managed a $24k profit, the majority on ipoker 10/20nl. I will be trying to get more money onto stars and full tilt to play 10/20 on there if there is no action on ipoker or if Dave (geenetic) is playing on ipoker as we are living in the same flat.

That's about all for now, will be trying to play mostly cash with a few of the bigger buy in tournaments online starting with the stars million (quarterly $1k buy in) this weekend.

Pab

Long time no update

I have been rather lazy updating this blog, so thought I best do it now to try and get back into the habit as the WSOP is fast approaching. February was an up n down month, tournaments on a whole were very frustrating, with a few near misses but no real scores. I did spin up a step 3 EPT ticket which i didn't know i had into a EPT Warsaw package which is pretty sweet. I didn't play as much cash as liked due to the FTOPS series tempting me to play too many tournaments instead. I ended up about $15k down for cash, but with a few tournament cashes and the value of the EPT package it was about break even.

March has started better, no online tournaments so far which is fine by me, and $12k up from cash over 3800 hands. Ive been slacking putting in the hours in as I have just gone back to Sydney to meet up with friends from home and been having to much of a good time really. I have played a few of the WSOP steps on stars and have made it to step 6 twice, busting out of both to 3 outers in preflop, meh. Stars have just announced the Latin American poker tour (LAPT) which looks like great fun. I traveled Peru and Chile in 2005 and it was a great experience but one of my friends traveled S.America more extensively and had nothing but great things to say about it. Traveling that far to play a relatively small buy in mtt doesn't really appeal to me, but if i spin up from some steps and get to go for a freeroll id jump at the chance.

I am currently in Warsaw for the EPT, and will be starting day 1A in little over an hour. I did have a bitch of journey from Sydney, 30hrs door to door and had a women throwing up in the seat next door but 1 to me for the 1st 7hr flight. The taxi driver asked me if i had flown in from Barbados, I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, as it was 2 degrees in Poland.

Anyway hopefully ill run good in the EPT and get a nice score to report, live updates available on the blondepoker forum. A quick shout out to moorman who took down the $5k entry winner take all tourney on stars this weekend. Even though its a winner take all, moorman struck a deal either 3 way or heads up, but eventually took it down for about $55k i believe. For more details im sure he will have a write up on blog soon.

Tournaments again, sigh

Where to begin, I have been playing a ton of tournaments this week as it was the culmination of the FTOPS series on full tilt which has been a complete washout for me so far. I had some close calls in tournaments with a 3rd place in the 200r on ipoker for $3.3k ad $8k for the win. Had a 12th in the 100r on stars, and a 9th in the $300 Saturday freezeout. Playing a full schedule of tournaments has left me little time for cash games but the little I have played has gone a lot better with +$12k taking me back to almost even for the month in them.

Saturday was the $2.5k buy in ftops event with 5000 chips and a 30 min clock, heaven. I was really focused and playing goof poker, slowly building chips until my first big double up arrived. I limped KK utg+1 for 160 and MP made it 500 and got flat called behind, it came back round to me and I called. If I RR pre I completely telegraph my hand and even though playing KK oop in a 3 way pot may sound a little daunting, we are still pretty deep stacked and had confidence in my ability to throw the hand away post flop if i felt i was beat. Any anxious feelings about the flop were soon vanquished in the form of a KK5 flop, lol. The flat caller of the raise had 55 (harsh) and I was well on my way. I kept slowly building chips, playing lots of small pots until I had 24k stack and the new level was 120/240 with ante's. I then proceeded to have a complete brain meltdown and play maybe the worst hand of poker I have ever played. I don't have the HH, but i basically check raised all in on the turn vs a guy who had me covered with just the nut flush draw after check calling the flop. He obviously had a set and won the 200+BB pot, end life!

On to Sunday, always the most fun day of the week, for those with a sadistic side. Sunday started off much as I anticipated, struggling to build big stacks then losing a preflop race again and again. For the busiest day of the tournament week, I was down to only playing 1 table twice in the first 4 or 5 hours, thats how bad things were going. All the biggest tournaments were yet to come with the stars million and FTOPS main event etc.. I decided to enter the $500 Sunday contest on 2+2 to try and give myself a chance to win some money if i ran deep i a few tourneys without getting near a serious cash.

Stars sunday million was an early casualty, but I managed to double on the 3rd hand of FTOPS main event vs a satellite numpty and never looked back. I was playing good poker imo, seeing tons and tons of flops die to great structure and building chips nicely. I don't remember too many of the pots along the way, but I had built up to 180k with the BB at 3.4k and was in really good shape with about 400 ppl left when disaster struck. I button raise KK and the BB repops to 30k with 70k behind, I ship and he calls with AJ, flop comes AJx, yawn. Was grinding after that with 20BB's for a long time, not getting any hands or situations to exploit. With the BB at 6k, i had 160k but then made a stupid bluff to put me down to 70k. The BB went up to 8k on my BB i had 60k total but managed to find AQ, short version I get in vs AJ and Q9, flop Q9x, gg gg, brutal.

While the ftops was going on, and was the comp I was most focussed on, I was running deep in the UB 200k. I was a short stack from when we entered the $$ at 99 players and was still short with 2 tables left. Then after AA vs QQ and AK vs T8 (he was making a move lol) I was 2nd of 14, and looking to have a good shot at the $45k 1st place. I have 240k and the BB is 8k. I then lose AK vs Ax (dont remeber the x but was small) in preflop to put me 180k. Then I am in the BB and a shorty pushes for 33k total, I make the call with K7 and he has J7, he makes a flush on the turn. Right after that we are seated for he final, I have 175k at 10k BB but should have 400k :-(. 1st hand of the final I raise TJs MP and win the blinds to take me to 200k stack. A short stack then busts in 10th place before my demise occurs. I raise AK maybe Utg+3 to 28k and a guy who was me covered makes it 80k on the button. The player in question was very agressive and had pulled a big bluff on me blind vs blind a little earlier, flaoting me with the bad end of the gutshot on the flop and jamming over my turn bet when a flush draw hit and proceeded to show me. I gave it a little dwell but there was nothing that could stop my chips going in, he calls with AQ and the pot is 420k, BB is 10k winner is new chip leader. River is an inexplicable Q and im gone for $3400 (see picture)

I ran deepish in the stars 2nd chance getting butchered preflop AK vs A2 and semi deep in the mulligan on full tilt. My results were good enough to win the Sunday contest on 2+2 and my biggest cash of the night for $4.4k, lol

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=132514&page=4

Feel really burnt out now after playing stacks of tournaments and will be looking to take a little time off before the EPT Warsaw. I am heading to Australia tomorrow to meet up with 4 friends from home so a lot of drinking is likely to be involved.

Sorry for the long post, littered with bad beats and hard luck stories. I will end it with a positive. Me, geeforce and moorman have booked out house in vegas for 7 weeks over the WSOP. The sales woman said it was the house that ricky hatton used for the merryweather fight but that could be complete BS imo, still a sweet house

http://www.lasvegasretreats.com/rental/property/4-bedroom/casa-de-monte.html

Until next time, gl all

Pab

EPT warsaw

Just won a EPT warsaw seat on pokerstars via a step 6 sattlite. Really pleased to have a freeroll into a big live touranament as i love the events.

As far as cash goes it has been a pretty terrible month so far resulting in -$14k. I have been running really bad on ipoker but posting a list of HH's detailing my bad beats isnt gonna help me and am sure anyone reading this wont appreciate really either. I have been slowly trying to build a roll on party poker and helped with the $9k tournament win about 10 days about and my roll is about $15k there now.

I played all the sunday tournaments yesterday and have a sack load of hard luck stories that is inevitable, but talking about them in any detail is likely just to infuriate me again. I went deep in the betfair $100k even after losing a massive pot when some guy butchered QQ so horrible. I raise 3x to 600 utg with TT and this guy flats in the SB with QQ ad 11k stack behind. Flop comes 9 T J with 2 diamonds and he check raises my C bet to 3.5k, then insta calls when i shove, lol no fear. He obv gets there and im steaming. I grind along until we are 24 ppl left and I have 26k stack with 1.2k BB, folds to me in the Sb and I make it 3x, BB insta shoves with a stack a little bit bigger than mine. I snap call and get shown KT, he hits and I go out with no $$ instead of 3rd place and a bubble situation to abuse such a fine line.

Hope to turn round the cash games in the 2nd half of the month and also run deep in a FTOPS event. Have played 4 of them so far and am a little down, mainly due to being in the 100r for $1100, lol. Thats about all for now,

Pab

LOL donkaments - Part 2

Saturday and sunday were once again tournament days. Saturday I only played the early tournaments on stars, tilt and party. I had 3 cashes in the 100r stars, 300 f/o party and 300 6 max on f.tilt. On stars and tilt i lost multiple races at the business end and just wasnt to be. Party I was short for long periods and just never found good a good spot, o well thats how tournamets tend to go the majority of the time.

Sunday, where to begin. I handnt played a full sunday schedule for months due to unreliable internet connection and the awkward times of day for me in my current time zone. Since my body clock was a little more in tune and had access to a reliable net connection, I was set to go. Things started off really well with me building big stacks in the warm up and the party 300k. I bubbled party and finsihed about 220th in the warm up, for a huge return of $414 - lol. This however was to be my high point and it just seemed to get worse. A bubble in the $500 on party followed by this exit in the 100r :

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2042952

Next comp to fall was a $109 f/o on stars, my AA falling to str8 draw all in on the flop. After this hand in the mulligan I maybe should have called it a night :

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2044425

I was obviously getting frustrated at this point, as were geefroce on moorman, we had been on a 3 way msn convo all night moaning lol. My last tournament standing was the $162 freeeout on full tilt, this was the icing on the cake for the whole night :

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2044637

A complete disaster of a night, a total of 14 tournamets, buy ins of $4.1k and the measely return of $414, weeeeeeeee.

Since that cash games have gone a little better, am $4k down for the month. Add my $9k tournamet score and minus the buy ins leaves me roughly even. Seems like a lot of work to be even but am happy after going early $18k down on day 1 this month but am happy at the speedy turnaround. I will be playing a few FTOPS events which starts tomorrow, mainly the short handed holdem events. Here is to pushing on into the black!

Pab