Friday, October 31, 2008

Day 12

Today I was back to the drawing board. I only played 7 Sngs total and no MTTs so it was a pretty slow day. However I did do pretty well. In my earlier session where I played 4 I had two cashes 1 first and 1 second. My first was in 7 stud h/l, I would prefer to just play 7 stud h/l because it is probably my best game but nobody ever registers for these on this site so I mostly just stick to no limit holdem. The two that I didnt cash in kinda pissed me off becasue I bubbled in both. One of them I went allin with 9's and got called by q's and hit the 9 on the flop....obv the q came on river, sigh. In my second session I only played three but cashed in all of them, a first second and third. I even had a sweet suckout on 1 to cash 4's against 9's so that was sweet. Only play like 3 hours total to today and had a $70 profit.

Tip of the Day: Quick golden rule for bankroll management. Never risked more than 5% of your bankroll in any one game. So you have to have over $200 in your account to play a $10 game. In cash games you dont buy in for anymore than $10, which would be 15 25 cent blinds. If your new to the game and are just started I would recommend about double that or about 3% of your bankroll. If you follow this rule strictly it is very difficult to go broke, you can make it through the bad swings.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Day 11

Wow today was quite the day, and I even ended it early. I had a minor meltdown today. It started after my last class today I came home and enrolled in 4 sngs. Nothing real bad happened there I ended up breaking even. So then I decided to play some cash games for a bit... big mistake. I sat down with 20 on two tables. Played for a bit and got up to 40 on one table when I got pocket aces. I rasied two 2 and got two callers, the flop came j104 the first guy to act bet out 1.50 the other guy called and I rasied to 7.50 becasue I thought he might have kq, he called the other guy folded, this was suspect. the turn came 8 this time he checked and I bet half the pot, he instantly shoved allin, I had to call he turned over q9. This sent me into an angry mode. I played 4 turbo sngs immediatly and lost in all of them, now I was really pissed, so I decided to move up stakes to 20's.... not a good idea. I played three of these and made two terrible calls to lose in two of them and bubbled in the last one. At this point I wanted to jump through a window or just play a 100 sng. I calmed myself down, and looked at my bankroll, I was down to 500 ahhhh. I REALLY wanted to play more but instead I decided to cash out 200 and go back to my orginal roll of 300 before I did anything else stupid. So back to the drawing board I guess, but still up 200 overall.

Tip of the Day: This brings me to the tip of the day. When you are on tilt, QUIT. Dont move up in stakes and dont continue to play, you wont win. When your on tilt you going to make bad plays and calls you normally wouldnt make. I know its tough to quit when your down but it is the best option. I dont think I have ever won any money when Ive been on tilt, bad things just seem to happen. If you absolutely HAVE to play, move down in stakes until you calm down. Moving up in stakes in the worst idea, trust me I do that stupid shit way too much.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Day 9/10

On day 9 I only played 6 sngs, and didnt really run that well. I also played cash games and won a few bucks. Not much to talk about down $15 for that day. Today I woke up in the afternoon because I didnt have class (P.S I cant miss anymore class because ive been missing too much and my teacher told me I have to make every day to pass). Anyway I started playing early and played all day and night long. I played about 15 sngs total today and 3 MTTs. I started in the first session playing really well and getting very lucky. While I didnt cash in either of the MTT's I did awesome in sngs which is amazing. First time I have done this well playing sitn goes since I started this blog. I even had some sweet suckouts. The best one was I had qj in SB with very high blinds and 4 people left so I pushed the BB he called with AK. Flop came k93 turn 4 river 10 for the winning straight.... ended up winnin that one. I was up over $100 during that session. I took a few hour break and came back and played.... lets just say the the good run in sngs didnt hold. I only had 1 cash out of 5 and I took 3rd in that one from a horrible beat. This guy pushed allin and I made a call with a6 suited thinking he was trying to steal, he was he showed j6 and then he flopped a flush. I still had chips and went allin with aj next hand he called with kings. I flopped two pair and he hit a straight on the river to win, gay. I was playing a MTT during this time though and was just hanging around like I normally do. Had 1 big double up coin flip AQ to 1010 to get in the money. With 18 left I had about 5000 chips and short stacked. Shoved once with Aj no callers. A little while later with 4000 chips I had JJ in my BB, someone rasied to 1200 I pushed allin he showed 99. Flop came 9, I was like thats just standard. Then to my surprise I hit a miracle J on the river weeeee, 10000 chips. Folded for a while longer couldnt get a hand and lost a bunch of chips. Then with ten left I pushed with 5000 k10, aj called and I hit a ten to make the final table. Won a hand right away with kq to get to 15000. Then I got KK after one person limped in, I was not gonna take any chances so I pushed allin for 13000 chips 500 1000 blinds. He snaped called me and showed AA..... OBV. I took 8th out of 115 people for a really pathetic 30 cash. O well still up on the day about $60

Tip of the Day: Dont tell your opponent when he is playing bad. Alot of times when people take a bad beat from an opponent because they made a bad call on them, they will berate the player and tell them how bad they are. Often they will tell the player exactly what they did wrong. Instead of doing this just make a note of the player, this way they will continue their bad play which is profitable for you. If you tell the player when they make a mistake, they actually might listen and not do it again. You want as many bad players at your table as possible, you'll get them in the long run.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Day 8

I again only played 6 sngs today. In the early session I took 2nds out of three to put me up on the day. Later I played three and lost the first 1 in 4th place after flopping nut flush. I checked dude shoved allin for about 1500 showed ace rag. Turn 4 for two pair, river ace for full house... sigh. Next one 5 people left I have pocket kings and rasie to 350, one guy calls and BB shoves I shove, he shows 3's. The flop hits a 3.... gay. Then i watched one of my friends play for a while during my last tournament and I lost about 5$ playing cash games. He is funny to watch because he berates all the players. In the last tournament made it down the the final 4 again and needed to double up shoved with A2 suited from the button, kinda had to only had 1800 chips with 150/300 blinds. Guy called with 9's of course I didnt hit. You would think I would to even things out but it doesnt work like that for me on sngs. Im thinking about quiting playing them. Ill give it a day or two more than switch to cash for a bit i think. I figure Im down about 150 since depositing on SNG's that is not good considering ive played over 100. ANyway down 20 on the day.

Tip of the day: A new feature to my blog. A common mistake I see is when players get below 10 big blinds, they either just raise of limp. When you have less than 10BB's you either push allin or fold. The closer the position you have in relation to the BB/SB the lesser hands you shove with. A10, AJ are hands that you dont wanna just limp with or rasie. If you go allin they will either have to fold or maybe call with a lesser hand. Even if they have aq or ak, you are still more than 30% to win, so it is a profitable play. IF they fold you take the pot down right there and increase your stack by at least 20%. So if you have a hand you would normally raise with and have just 10BB or less left shove, or wait for a better spot if you dont think its gonna be good enough. This will get you more 1st and 2nd places instead of just barely making the money in 3rd. Remember 1 1st is better than 2 3rd's by quite a bit.

Rake the Rake

I had to put this tip in here for everyone because it is such an awesome thing that not many people know about. If your new or already play on a site, you can get 30% of your rake back. What this means is every hand that is played in cash games on a site and the 10% fee they take from you when you enter a tournament (SNG, MTT, exe...) you can get back 30% of that by just signing up at RaketheRake. At the end of the month they will send you a check for that amount. This is awesome because otherwise this money just goes to the site. It is free to sign up and you also get access to very vauable freerolls. IF YOU PLAY ONLINE POKER SIGN UP FOR THIS!!!!! FREE MONEY!!!! here is the site and my referal code.

http://www.raketherake.com/
Refferal Code: RTR35259

In the instructions its says sign up as new member, you dont need to do this if you already have an account there. Just go to step 5 and the enter your screen name and Email, then you can still enter the referral code. For someone who plays all the time, this is an awesome deal

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Day 7

Again didnt really have alot of time to play but it was a nice little session. I played to $10 sngs took 4th in 1 and 2nd in the other. Also played a 10$ MTT turbo. There were 150 people in it. It was an up and down tournament. In the turbo you have to shove allin fairly early in the game. So about 45 min the shoving began. I won one then lost one, then won one and lost one. Before I knew it there were like 15 people left and I was in the money. I won another allin with aj to a10 then was at the final table. At the final table i didnt play and hands for about 2 rounds of blinds. People were sucking out left and right then it got down to 7 people. blinds were 2500 5000 and I had 12000 with a8 suited on the cutoff. I had already decided that I was pushing allin no matter what. The guy in first position went allin it got to me and I pushed allin. The BB snap called so I knew i was beat. First pos showed q10 and the BB showed KK. I hit a 8 on the flop so I had some outs but I didnt improve. I took 6th place because I had more chips before the flop than the FP player. I won $70 and I was ok with that. Well now Im gonna go and get shitty

Day 5-6

Havent really played much the last two days. Thursday only played two and took 1 second, then went out and got drunk (and missed class the next day). Today I was hanging out with my girl so I only played 1, lol in that 1 though I actcidentally folded with a big hand when almost all my chips were in the pot...shitty. O well, Tomorrow Im gonna try and play a bunch

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Day 4

FINALLY, I shipped a tournament. Im done early today becasue I wanna end on a good note. Started the day just playing 2 sngs at once to see if I could get back on track. I also entered a $5 MTT with about 240 people in it. I played a $20 and a $10. The $20 i took 3rd, horray, and other one I didnt cash. I entered two more 10's with bad results again, by now Im really frustated and my bank roll is below $200. I decided I was gonna eat something and just be done for the day. Right when I thought it was over I doubled up a couple times and was in the mix in the MTT. I grinded for the next hour and a half and won a few more pots and was among the chip leaders with about 15 people left. My break through came when I had AJ in the small blind with two limpers, I just called and BB checked. The flop came 42J, everyone checked to the cutoff who bet about half the pot, the button instantly went allin. I wasnt too sure if I had the best or not but it was a great opportunity for me to gain triple my chips if I was good. I called cutoff folded and the button showed qj, and my AJ held. Now I had about 100K in chips and was big chip leader going into final table. The FT went pretty quick, I sucked out on one guy with 7 people left with A10 to Kings, but I had to call him was getting pot odds and had 5 times as many chips as him. At this point me and another player pretty much had all the chips on the table. We ended up heads up. Alot of back and forth, they were a tight aggressive player. I stole some pots from them with some big rerasises after they bet and ended up even in chips after about 15 min. Then I had one crucial hand. They rasied preflop and I called I had 54 offsuit. Flop came 24J, they bet out, I rasied big hoping they didnt have a J, the player flat calls. This was alarming because now I had about 30% of my chips in the pot. The Turn came 9 they checked and I put another bet out about 35% of the pot, they pushed allin, I knew I had to fold. I took a long time deciding on it to make it seem like I was making a tough laydown lol. They acutally showed me their hand when I folded they made trip 9's on the turn. I told them I folded j10 lolololol. Now they had a 3 to 1 advantage on me, a few hands later I dodubled up pushing with AJ they called with KJ, we were even again. After a back and forth for the next 10 min, the final hand happened. They rasied me preflop I had A5 clubs, I just called. The flop came K48 two clubs, they bet out I made a big rerasie OBV and they just called. The turn came 5 no club, they checked. At this point I had about 50% of my chips in the pot already and they showed weakness. I really only have two opitions here, check or move allin. If I check and dont hit the club I almost surely lose unless I somehow make a bad bluff on the river. If I move allin either they fold right away and I win a huge pot and have huge advantage or I get called and have about 14 outs on the river. I put them on a King so I figure I can either hit another 5, any Ace or any club. I push allin, they call showing k7 of diamonds. The river comes......... club horray!!!!!! I win about $120 more dollars from that club. While they were pissed off, they did call with a weak king and I feel like I made the correct play, and FINALLY got rewarded for it. Shipped $330 from that tourament, and have a nice profit from the day on just a $5 tournament. I needed this for my confidence, it is back now

Day 3

Just a terrible day. Must have played over 20 sngs with very bad results. Wasnt even gonna write anything today because im so pissed, but o well. I didnt suckout 1 time today, and I was losing about 80% of coin flips, ugh. So many bad beats I stopped keeping track, but here is one from early in the day that started my terrible run. I have 2400 chips and AK blinds 75 150. I rasie to 450, everyone folds to BB who calls. Flop comes KQ7, I bet out he pushes allin I call. He shows K10. turn comes J river 9 for the winning straight. Overall on the day I only had 4 cashes, no firsts. Down over 100 on the day. Tomorrow I gonna try playing less tables, like 2 or 3 at a time instead of 5 to try and get back on track. Things arent looking good for me right now though

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

day 2

A real shit show today on Absolute Poker. Morons and Donkeys everywhere today. I only played 12 sng's because I went out and got drunk but it was really pathetic only two cashes. I did get 5 4ths tho weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Anyway I did meet the worst poker player ever tonight, he was a real call station fagget and single handedly took me out of two tournament with his patheitc calls, so congrads to him he can now buy food stamps for his trailer court family. Anyway there were tons of canidates for bad beat of the day (there were alot) but I do have a winner. My BB I had 85 offsuit three limpers checked to me, of course i checked with 15 30 blinds. Flop comes J79 everyone checks, I check. Turn comes 6, sweet I hit a straight. Everyone checks to me, I bet the pot which was 150 two people fold the button rasies to 350, I instantly push allin, he calls and shows j10. River of course is an 8 for his winning higher straight yay. I totaled 5 bad beats today to lose 10/12 tournamnets worse than normal, zero real suckouts, I mean I won a coin flip or two but I dont count those. Not too happy. Anyway a really bad day down over $60 and pissed some regulars off because of my shit talk, I usually dont say anything but today was real frustrating

Monday, October 20, 2008

First day

I have been playing cards online now for about 4 years. I just recently started playing seriously (about a week ago). I am still in school but I graduate this sememster, so before I get a job I thought I would give this a shot. I play mostly SNG's like 4-6 at a time and am trying to build a bankroll. I just recently cashed out about $1000 because I had tons of bills to pay. So my blog will start from yesterday when I deposited $300, this is my last go at it I think. Since I just decided to do this I didnt really take notes on yesterdays play, but I'll give the quick run down. Played about 10 sng's $10 for each. Didnt do very well, only 1 first and 1 2nd no other cashes. Had some bad beats, then started to play bad because I was angry. I took a break then played 5 more, again I did badly only 1 3rd. After another break I was down to about $220 in my account. If you follow good bank roll managment I should be moving down to the $5 tables, but I didnt. Played 4 more $10 tables, got two firsts. Then ate and played 4 more $10's and got two more firsts. While I was playing these I entered a MTT for $10 there ended up being 72 people in it. I was done playing sng's for the day and was ok with the $306 I had in my account. I just kinda hung around in this tournament til the blinds got big then I pushed with two good hands and doubled up twice. I folded for about the next 45 min (card dead) then got down to about 14 people at second break. I was shorter stacked and was looking for a spot to push, but some people where playing crazy and all the sudden I was at the final table, top 9 cashed so that was sweet. I was in 8/9 place and in push or fold mode. Someone pushed on me when I had kings and doubled up. Folded a bunch got short stacked with 6 left someone pushed on my BB from SB I had A3 with only 7BB left so I kinda had to call. He showed 55 and I hit the A, sweet. Got down to final 3. First had 70,000 I had 20,000 3rd had 10,000. 1st was rasing every hand. He rasied allin from button into my BB I had AQ, I thought about it for a while because 3rd place was $90 while 2nd was $145 so it was a big difference, but I could really fold that hand there. I called he showed pocket 10's and I didnt hit the A or Q. I won $87 and my bank account is at $393.