Friday, March 31, 2006

STT vs MTT, I finally win a MTT, well sort of.

Lately I've been trying to improve my currently struggling MTT game. My STT game has been awesome, so I have been puzzled by my lack of results. R1verrun has offerered me some advice, he is the current leader in the PSO League. Thanks.

Last night I played 3 MTTs. Bluff Poker Tour on VIP Poker, I went out 60ish out of 200, when my 88 did not hold up against an AJ. J on the turn. Poker Stars $1million qualifier. 120 people top 20 qualify, I go out 28th. Doh! WSOP Double Shootout qualifier, 70 players. I win my first table pretty easily. Final table, I build my stack nicely, especially on a flopped straight, and an opponnent flopped 2 pair. Played a nice aggressive game. End up heads up, and the guy wants to chop. I agreed even though I'm sure I could have taken him. He had a 2:1 chip lead on me after busting the 3rd place guy. So we split W$650 and $72.

So does this count as an MTT win or a SnG win?

Hmmm, just by writing this post I just thought of something. Maybe I'm trying to make moves against players where I have no information about (because of constant table changes). Something to think about.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Weekend Tourney Results - I'm nobody's prodige.

Got a chance to play a bunch of tourneys on Fri and Sun night, most of them on Stars, and all of them with disappointing results.

Friday
Stars 180sng - Bubbled out. Top 10 in chips most of the tourney, couldn't hit my flops later in the tourney, and was being reraised pretty often. There should have been 1 hand where I could have done a re-reraise bluff.
Stars Turbo Shootout $1mil qualifier - Had no problem with my 1st table, had everybody read perfectly, and played headsup pretty good. A suckout kept opponent alive longer than he should have been. Sucked out on the final table, bunch of limpers, pushed on the BB with AQ. Called by ATs. Hits their flush, and I'm out.
Party turbo $20sng - played 2. 2nd in one, lost the other. These are pretty easy and fun. Should have won both, but sucked out 3 hands in a row in my losing one, and outkicked on my 2nd place won over an inferior opponent.
Titan Rio Won that one pretty easily.

Sunday
Stars 180sng - Bubbled out 23rd. Played well up until the end. 1 play that I remember now that I folded where I think now I should have called. 2 limpers, KK on the button. BB at 200, I raised to 1k. 20% of my stack. 1 EP caller. Flop = Axx, EP goes allin. I barely have him covered. If he hit his set, would probably have check raised. If he had an A, would he make that play? Now that I think about it I think he was on a draw.
$1mil qualifier - Made it headsup on my 1st table. I don't think I've ever played that bad headsup. Not too sure how you play an opponent that only calls or checks preflop. Hard to judge his holding. He ended up winning by slow playing pocket Ks when I hit top pair (Js) on the flop.
PSO League - I suck so bad on this league. I would have to come 1st on the next 5, and I still wouldn't be guaranteed a winner. This time I lost out on AJ vs 77. TPTK on the flop, etoss hit his set.
Daniel's Prodige - 36 man final qualifier, winner gets the live table seat. I play solid poker, make the final table with avg stack. Lost a few key pots, and I think I'm eliminated Ax vs QJ. Now that I think about it, I lost a lot of pots vs QJ, wtf.

That is all, I suck, but I know where I have to improve. I should read my MTT books, but just no time. Still haven't finished HOHvol2 yet, on the headsup section. Just got my Kill Phil book which looks interesting. On a side note, finally busted out of 888. Lost on BJ, then put the last $25 on the Millionaire Genie. Never hit. Was fun while it lasted!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Win, Lose, Sucky, Lucky

Title says it all, and that has pretty much been my gambling play as of late.

MTT = Sucky
PSO Leage event #4. Decided to change my gameplay to being aggressive early. Worked for a while, but then I just couldn't lay down KK preflop and lost most of my chips. Ended up going out with 88 vs QQ.

STT = Win/Lose
Played some Titan and Party sitngos the past couple of days. Titan won 1/3. My 2 losses were river flush suckouts. I think most of these players still think they only need 2 to 1 to see the river. Party won 1.5 / 3. Won a $20 speed sng, lost a $10, and came 3rd in a wsop step 1 (have to play step 1 again). My play was pretty good in the $20 one, except maybe one hand which I misplayed a scary flop (by being scared). The step tourney I should have won, 2 big suckouts. Both times my opponent thought I was stealing their blinds. 1st time I had AQ and they pushed with J2. Q and J on the flop, J on the turn. 2nd time I had KT vs K8. Flopped an 8, and I was done. I was surprised though, the level of play was pretty high in this sng.

Casino = Win/Lucky
888 I continue to win off of my $150 sitting in there from Refer a Friends. Pretty sure I'm up over $600 now. Been betting $25 a hand, 3 handed. If my balance reaches $250 I would withdraw. I even told myself if I lost that bet I would take the $75 and throw it into the Millionaire Genie slot. I guess I'm lucky it hasn't happened yet.

Starluck I got pretty lucky. A refer a friend netted me $50 to play with. Threw it in a slot and got this my 2nd spin.














Too bad I reduced my bet to $2.25 from $4.50. After the wr, I ended up only cashing out $350 though. Thanks Nardo, a 2x ownage bonus for the next casino you do through me!

Monday, March 13, 2006

Weekend blah blah

Went away this weekend to the nations capital, well actually the neighbouring city in Quebec, but Ottawa is easier to say. Actually got to hit a casino, but unfortunately in Quebec poker is illegal, and all the other table games were pretty much packed. Resorted to playing some slots and entered a $10 slots tournament. Its the funniest thing in the world watching clueless middle age ladies hammer on the spin button as fast as they can. "Hello, hitting the spin button while the reels are spinning won't activate your next spin!!!" These women were just going crazy, was pretty funny to watch. Of course I didn't win, winner had double what I did, so I pretty much wasted $10 ($60 in total) pressing buttons.

Played some online when I got home after watching Sopranos. Pretty good episode, strange turn of events. March has not been a good gambling month for me. Ups and downs, pretty much just spinning my wheels. On Riverbelle I keep getting the 2nd best hand. Set over Set, outkicked, split pots on monsters, KK vs AA, JJ vs QQ. After I finish up my bonus, I think thats it for ring games for the month, March stinks.