Nothing is certain

I ended up playing 4mtts tonight, the aforementioned tournaments and the Early double. In EDB i got bounced early when i 4bet jacks, ran into AQ and couldnt win the race. In EDA i was grinding my shortstack for the entire tourny and eventually built myself a stack of chips. It wasnt meant to be. I lost a third of my stack 3betting AK and folding to the jam when i wiffed the flop. Then i lost the rest of my stack 3betting 88 and losign to KQ about 30 spots off the money (1200 runners)

Well, what i want to talk about right now is the fact that poker is a very interesting game. In a tournament where i started out with 14k good for 1st of 400 i thought that a cash was a near certainty. Im not really disappointed with my play, i think i navigated the tournament all right. My failing to cash just goes to show that nothing is certain. I have in the past thought that i would never be able to blow a big chiplead in an mtt and obviously i was wrong about that. It can be done.

One interesting thing that i have noticed is that all of my big scores (300+) have com when i entered the cash portion of the tourny in medium or bad shape. I have never approached the bubble of a big tourny with a really big stack as far as i remember.

The EDA is a perfect example of this, had my 8s held i probably would have cashed in about 140/200. That is what usually happens in my big scores, i weasel my way into the cash and then get something together and make a run.

Im not really sure if this is a coincidence or if its meaningful but it is interesting.

Well, ive updated this blog so many times today i doubt i will again. Forutnately i dont feel bad about poker today, im not disappointed, im not tilting i kinda want to play more. Im definately not in the mood to play an mtt right now though, thats for sure.

Maybe ill give some cash a shot.

BTW, make sure you catch some of the HORSE final table tonight, it should be fun

A new kind of dissapointing

I finished 85th/580. Busted on the last hand before the 3rd break when i shoved the button and ran into A10 and couldn't catch up. After such an explosive start to this tournament it is def dissapointing to finish 30 spots away from the money. For the past couple hours i have been very card dead and have run into a couple tough spots with marginal hands (the two snowmen hands). As far as overall dissapointment goes i think id rather endure this fate than finish 10th again. This was bad in the sense that there was soo much hope and promise that comes with having a giant stack early in one of these but Im not too disappointed with my play and carddeadness happens.

now i have 5 min to deciede whether or not to play the ED

Fighting

Gotta love the limp call w/ q9s

Jut doubled with 77.

This is not the way i wanted this tourny to go. Going to have to fight now and try to get my stack back

2nd hour

Well this hour didnt go quite as well as the first one lol.

I wasnt really able to play too agressive like i wanted becuase there were a couple maniacs with rather large stacks that i ddint want to go to war with. Here are the two big hands i played.

i think i played this hand well. I could have raised pre but with so many limpers i think limping along is fine. i checked the turn for pot control but that does set me up to get bluffed on the river. I was prepared to call a small bet but i didnt want to call the jam. Id really like some feedback on this hand.

This hand was standard. Anyways, im down to 11k whihc is good for 56/210 and 3k above average. I still have 50 bbs and a great stack for this stage of the tourny. I am going to take it easy i think and tighten up. Im going to try to grab a premium hand and get paid off. Hopefully it will go well.

Quick update

Boy am i glad i played these.

So far im regged for 5 $5 tournies. Two of them have fired, a doublestack and a turbo. The doublestack started with ~580 ppl and i am currently 2/480 at the first break due primarily to 3 hands.

I played the first level pretty solid, getting value out of my good hands but being tight overall. Then i made a pretty good (imo) call.

After getting to 4k this hand happened. On the flop i was saying "Please check around and turn the 8d please. Then with the action on the turn i was kind of nervous. I flatted the original better because i was honestly worried about the possibility of a better straight/boat. The big squeeze kind of felt weak to me, i didnt think a boat would do that. I have a ton of equity vs a hand like 75 or a better straight so i jam.

Then this hand happened like seconds later. I think it was actually the next hand.

I could have simply flatted pre and evaluated on the flop but this guy as a 40/6 over like 25 hands (not a big sample) but i felt comfortable enough that he could have an ace rag hand which i wouldnt mind folding here. He obv could have AA/KK/AK but i dont want to have to fold to any overcard. and AAKK are getting it in on the flop regardless.

God does it feel good to resuck every once in a while. (2 outers are so standard)

Well anyways, breaks over and im at 2k in the turbo and now 4/400 in the doublestack. Theres a TON of poker to be played but i really hope i can parlay this stack into a ncie run.

Im going to be trying to play pretty agressive, opening pretty light, 3betting light in good spots, but i am going to try to avoid putting large portions of my stack at risk.

Wish me luck yall!

Back at it

I was going to say that im sorry for ranting last night but im not. I was pretty pissed off at the end of that tournament and im glad that i got it out of me. Anyways, I dont really hate mtts, i love them. Nothing compares to going dee in an mtt and having the chance to play for a ton of cash. Navigating the final couple tables of a large tournament is the best feeling in poker to me.

After a good nights sleep and a nice long breakfast i think i have my head back on straight. I am going to win a tourny one of these days. It will happen. I know how to play well and eventually i will run well and take one down. Perhaps today will be the day.

I have the whole day to myself today and i think that i am going to try my luck with a nice heavy volume day. I am excited to play the Early Double in a couple hours and maybe ill be able to make something happen.

Hopefully ill have something good to report on later on today.

Good luck everyone

Tournament poker is so sick

Ok, Start this off......

I was going to post a trip report of my seabrook adventure but toots did such a good job i didnt want to just copy him.

Ive kind of dissapeared for the last week or so but thats becuse i havent played a ton of online poker for a couple of reasons....first was i had a couple bad sessions in a row which left a sour taste in my mouth. Secondly my good friend Jeff came home from FL and almost every day was spent chilling with him and my other friends.

Well tonight i came back to worcester and had the apartment to myself so i decided to play some online mtts. i settle in for a long night with a 3 dollar double stack and a 3 dollar ko turbo. I ended the turbo getting 3 outed about 20/40 spots from the money. standard.

In the double stack, which first place got 400 bucks btw, i started off great and got up to 6k. I bled down to 2k and fought back to starting stack by the first break. The rest of the tourny was me playing with 1/2 avj stack and trying to grind it and wait for a good spot to double up.

I was really proud with the way i played the entire tournament. I was doing a great job stealing and getting value whcih is key in a 6max tournament. Twice i got dealt AA and twice i got a player to put all their chips in with 99. Twice i held. Thats the highlight.

In the mid stages of the tourny i had a 20k stack which was 2/3avj and lost a big pot to go to 10k. I the turned on the aggression and fought back to 30k.

Anyways, with ~20 ppl left i have a 100k stack which is above average. I had just won a couple key pots. Then this hand happens.

Obviously i sucked out on him first but imo i played this hand near perfectly. My call preflop is standard i think with A8 and then when i flop gin im happy. When he bets out i put him on a good ace. I think i just 3 outed him. I really think he had AK,AJ,AT. I had seen him play for ~70 hands and i had a good feeling. When he calls my big raise i think, ive got this guy killed.

The turned kingmakes me put the breaks on becuase i was pretty sure thats what he had. And then when the river falls i basically cant beat anything. Luckily i was left with a workable stack which i promptly built back to 100k.

Well a little while later i was fortunate to ko the 14th player in one of the AA vs99 hands i mentioned above. Unfortunately this put my table at 4handed with two mainiac aggro players. They were 3betting often and making life difficult. I really wanted to tighten up and wait for a good spot but the shortys on the other tables kept doubling and i was bleeding chips with 2k/4k blinds. Anyways i was playing back at the aggros and eventually began openjamming to avoid getting 3bet.

Well my last hadn was 105o. i jam the button and the big blind calls with A9dd, Flop is 1057. The turn is the 8 of diamonds and go ahead and guess what the river was. If i had won that pot and doubled i would have been somewhere in the range of 5/14 with a 170k stack. But anyways i finish a heartbreaking 13th for 16 dollars.

Tournament poker is so sick. Not only do you have to play well and run well but if you lose one goddamn flip or cooler or bad beat towards the end your just screwed. A 3 and a half our marathon of playing really good poker is just wasted.

So goddamn sick. I used to be able to say, its ok b ecuase im just going to win the next one i play. But ive had enough of these near misses. I want to fucking win one of these tournaments. Its about time.

/end rant.

I was going to try and post a tourny report kinda deal but im def not in the mood now. Maybe later tomorrow. Anyways...im probly going to play some tomorrow i really hope it goes well.

Good luck everyone