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

LOL donkaments

Well january ended pretty good showing $22k profit, which got me back on track after december. Then february came around and it has all gone tits up again on the cash front, $17.7k down in 2 days. A lot of that came in a 25/50 session yesterday, where i bluffed off a buy in and then recieved this little gem a few hands later.

http://weaktight.com/94428

Gave up after that and logged off, something I wasnt doing in december. Despite the fact it was a rough hand/cooler its still gonna have an effect on my play in the rest of the session so best to stop for the time being.

Ayway came back later in the night after some food and a nap, to play a few tournaments for a change of pace. f.tilt 162, ipoker 50r and 300f/o, and party 200 f/o. Never got going in full tilt and bubbled the 50r on ipoker. The 300f/o on ipoker was going along steadily when this card crash of a hand came up, talk about action flop.


http://weaktight.com/94429 ---------- ugh


This just left the party $200 friday special, i plodded along for most of this comp and then went to work on the 2 bubble periods, the money bubble and the final table bubble. This put me in 2nd position once we started the final. All was going to plan, i was playing small pots, chipping up and then we were 5 handed. I had 340k, 2nd place had 250k and others had 70k/140k with the BB at 8k. For some reason I went after the 2nd place guy big time and it backfired with us gettin all in on the turn, me no pair no draw, obv, and him turned full house magic. Felt like a right twat after that but I still think going after the 2nd place guy was a good idea just needed to apply a bit more subtelty and deft. We get 3 handed and go on break, BB is gonna be 12k, I have 94k, leader has 700k, and other guy 240k. 240k wants to deal, I say no. After a bit of luck and some well timed pushes i was back level with the 240k guy and leader had 500k. Leader ends u bustig with me and the other guy taking about half his chips each so we start HU with equaly chips, me having a few k more. He says chop? Im really tired and there isnt that much play left in the structure so i agree, $9k which help offset the dismal cash session a little.

Funnily enough, the day before dave(geeforce1) had a 20k losing session on ipoker cash and then played a few tournaments later. He took down the 109r on stars for $20k to make him even for the day, lol

Getting back on track

Since my last post I have started playing more regular again at 10/20. Although fighting it out with dave (geeforce1) for the action is tough as he plays 14 hr sessions on a regular basis. Me and dave have been friends for a long time now and came up together in the poker world, we have never played against each other on the 6 max cash tables and am not about to start. We do play live together, usually drunk on 1/2 and its a car crash but great fun.

I feel confident everytime i play again now but will be far more aware to never become complacent again. Ive also been watching some HU videos on cardrunners and trying to improve my HU game. My main reason for this was because at the moment I can only play when the tables are relatively quiet and I am usually the oe starting tables. This leads to some prolonged HU games while I wait for the table to fill and was an area where i was leaking a lot of money in the past.

Just been looking through pokertracker to find some interesting hands from the last week but none really seemed worthwhile posting. I went to see the big buddha on koh samui yesterday (pictured) and is supposed to bring good luck. Seemed to work yesterday as I booked a $10k win, despite losing with AA twice all in preflop for full buy ins. Might be worth visiting every day while im here if it guarantees $10k days, :-).

To address the issue with not being able to play 10/20 all the time I am looking to get a roll going on party as they seem to have 4-5 10/20 games going at the hours i am available to play. I will earn the money first on ipoker and withdraw it before depositing on party. Hopefully that will happen within the next 2 weeks. Its always hard moving to a new site, figuring out the good regulars, looking to exploit them etc.. This takes a lot of time, but needs to done if i want to play 10/20+ on a regular basis which I do.

As far as tournaments go, moorman has been tearing it up in 2008, check his blog. He is on the verge of breaking into the top 10 rankings on pocketfives which would be immense. I am going to try and play a few events in the upcoming ftops on full tilt and play the full compliment of sunday tournaments on a couple of occasions in the coming months. This is to try and keep my tournament game a little sharp in preperation for wsop and also the chance at a $100k+ score, lol. As far as WSOP goes, me, geeforce, moorman and allinstevie should be getting a house. We have seen a pretty sweet place that was apparently ricky hattons base for the floyd merryeather fight, altough that might just be a sales pitch. Dave is in the process of booking it and hopefully it will be confirmed by the next time I post so I can put up some pics.

Thats all for now,

Pab