Monday 31 March 2008

Party steps stats

I've played a total of 13 steps games and have had the following results:

L1 Played 9, cashed L1 x 4 times, L2 x 3 times, not cashed x 2

L2 Played 3, cashed L1 x 1 time, L3 x 1 time, not cashed x1

L3 Played 1, cashed L2 x 1 time

In the money 76.92%
ROI - 2.30%
Earnings -$2

So for an intial cash outlay of $12 I have played $87 worth of STTs and still have a $10 ticket left which will hopefully get me back to L3.

Overall they are quite fun and its not that difficult to make a small outlay go a long way. Am I prepared to put more money into these to try and reach Level 6 where real cash can be won? Not sure. If I do I might decide to have a seperate bankroll for this instead of using my challenge bankroll as I am doing at the moment given that its not actually cash I could use to play in other tourneys.

I think overall I am showing a very small profit for March, about $6 lol if I take the steps results into account.

Up the steps we go!

I've only played a few of these steps games since I last posted. Results are as follows:

Level 1 - Played 2 - 4th and 2nd so that's a level 1 and a Level 2 ticket
Level 2 - Played 2 - 1st and 6th so that's a level 3 and a level 1 ticket

So I have a Level 3 and a Level 2 ticket left at the moment.

The standard at level 2 is no better than at level 1 and it is just a case of playing tight for the first level or 2 as by then 3 players have usually been knocked out and you are guaranteed a level 1 ticket at least. Overall I've played 12 games and cashed 9 times, 4 of these being in the top 2 where you get a ticket to the next level which is pretty good I think!

I have a week off work this week! WOO HOO! So will hopefully be able to play a few games during the day.

Its the Nordic Bet $25k freeroll tonight so it would be great to go deep in that as I rarely play games with that big a prize pool. It will have over 5000 entrants but like most freerolls if you can avoid getting mupped early on and get a few hands you can make the cash.

UPDATE - well, no hands at all in the freeroll and out in 1920/8080.

I decided to play my L2 steps ticket and busted out in 9th. I got JJ in the bb early on and flat called a raise. The flop was rags and I bet the pot but folded to a re-raise. I then had AK clubs twice but only picked up the blinds. I was one of the shorter stacks with blinds at 100/200 and had AT diamonds. I called and picked up a straight flush and straight draw on the AQJ board. I pushed all in as I had a ton of outs but the caller had KT including the K diamonds and the turn and river were bricks for me and I'm gone in 9th. Disappointing but sometimes you have to take a chance!

So I still have a level 3 ticket which I will probably play tomorrow.

UPDATE 2

I decided to play the $30 ticket and came 5th so get another shot at the $10 level. I was card dead apart from when I flopped the nut straight with AQ but got no action. I doubled up with AK vs the loose chip leaders KJ call to get back to 2.5k. Then it was just a case of stealing the blinds with A2, Q9, K5, K4 to try and stay alive. I got AJ on the button and pushed. The chip leader called with 55 and hit his set and I was out. However, as I have said about the other levels, the standard is no different really and you still get some awful play.

Thursday 27 March 2008

Played 7, cashed 5 times

I played 3 more Party level 1 steps over the last couple of days. I came 5th in one, 4th to win another level 1 token and then 2nd tonight to win my 2nd level 2 token. One more level 2 token and I'll give the next level a go.

So that's 7 of these I've played and I've cashed in 5 of them which is not a bad record. I have witnessed some truly awful play and it does pay to be patient as people just seem to want to be knocked out without even having a draw!

What I will probably do is use the $25 free I got from the affiliate sign up to play these and once that's gone go back to the standard STTs. I don't want to waste too much of my bankroll on these but I'll see how it goes. If I'm playing these kind of low level satellite type games it might be better to play somewhere like Pokerstars or full tilt where I think, when you win satellite seats you can use the 'dollars' to enter any tourney you want rather than be forced to play the same format like you have to with the Party steps. But will see how it goes.

Tuesday 25 March 2008

More steps games

I played 2 more Party steps L1 games tonight and won tokens in both.....unfortunately they were for another try at Level 1! Boooooo! But better than not cashing at all I guess.

I basically had no cards and just picked a few pots hear and there raising in position. The standard is pretty poor and the amount of donks who get a big stack and then blow it all is quite ridiculous! I mean why if you have 6k and are on the bubble do you want to lock horns with the other big stack with just one pair when there are 4 spades on the board and your bet gets re-raised all in? Why call? LOL But I'm glad they do as I was sitting there with about 1000 chips with the blind at 300/150! I know the first 2 places are what counts really but why throw away such a great position with such an awful call! Totally crazy!

So played 4 of these and won 2 Level 1 and 1 Level 2 tokens. I think I will try and get 3 tokens for the next level before I give it a go rather than just try and play a single token as far as I can go.

Oh and also had a nice addition to the bankroll today as my free $25 from the Poker News affiliate deal I used to sign up to Party Poker came through. If anyone wants the code its here http://www.pokernews.com/party-poker-50free/1

As I said I signed up via it yesterday and got $25 free and a $25 bonus which is released after you get 150 party points. You have to open a real money account and make a deposit but its free cash. I have nothing to gain from this either in case you were wondering!

Challenge bankroll is now $282.75 after subtracting the initial deposits at Party and Gala

Monday 24 March 2008

Party steps games

Whilst continuing the bankroll challenge I have also decided to play the steps games on Party Poker. Basically, you enter a series of stts and instead of getting cash you get a token to buy into the next level which ultimately ends in an stt where you do win cash. I think the set up on Party is pretty good:

Level 1 $3 ($2.60 + 0.40)
1 -2 - level 2 token
3-4 - level 1 token

Level 2 $10 ($8.90 + 1.10)
1-2 level 3 token
3-4 level 2 token
5--7 level 1 token

Level 3 $30 ($27 +3)
1-3 level 4 token
4 level 3 token
5-7 level 2 token

Level 4 $70 ($63 + 7)
1-3 level 5 token
4 level 4 token
5-7 level 3 token

Level 5 $170 ($154 + 16)
1-2 level 6 token
3-4 level 5 token
5-6 level 4 token
7-8 level 3 token

Level 6 $500 ($470 + 30)
1 $2000
2 $1000
3 $700
4-5 $500

So as you can see the payouts at level 6 are pretty good and from level 2 onwards the top 7 at least get a token for another go at various levels. The blinds are 9 minute levels with 2k starting stacks so not too much of a crap shoot especially with the number of positions paid out. Some may say that 6 levels are a lot to get through but I don't think that the opposition at levels 4 or 5 will be as good as those who normally buy in to standard $70 or $170 stts - there are a lot of sharks at those levels who know ICM pretty well and multi table and make a serious profit. Step games are more likely to be against people like me who have moved up from the lower levels! Well I hope so anyway!

What I would hope to do is get a few level 2 tokens and then play them to try and get as many shots at the next level as possible.

I played 2 of the level 1 games tonight and had a bad beat in the first when my AA was cracked by the chip leaders flopped K high flush. Another club on the turn or river would have been great for my A clubs and would have pretty much been guaranteed a payout. However, I managed 2nd in the other game I played and have my first level 2 token! So we will see how it goes!

Sunday 23 March 2008

Can't win a race!

I played another $5 stt and bubbled in 4th.

Sometimes it seems that every time I pick up decent hole cards the flop is just awful for me, putting sets, flushes, straights out there for others but totally missing my hand! This game the cards deserted me when I needed them. In level 1 I raised 160 with QQ and got 3 callers. The flop was 622 with 2 h and I bet 500. I was instantly raised all in for 5k! I thought for a while but folded as there was no need to risk all my chips and be up against a set or a flush draw. I won 2k with AA after I got into a preflop raising war and we both got them all in. He had KT lol. The flop was Q63, the J on the turn was such a terrible card for me but thankfully the river 8 was a brick for him. After that I just had no cards whatsoever. Any raises with suited connectors, small pocket pairs were either re-raised or the flop was just awful for me if I managed to see a flop. I managed to get to the last 4 and raised with KQ. I was re-raised and I called going all in. Maybe I should have just shoved preflop but I didn't think the 66 he had was a particularly good move but it proved to be a winning move as my inability to win an important race reared its ugly head and I was out.

Not sure if I can be bothered to play another game today with the way the cards are falling for me at the moment.

Challenge bankroll is now $253.75

Saturday 22 March 2008

Back to the $5 stt

I played another 8 handed super deep stack $5 stt today and came 2nd. The usual patient approach was needed as the dealer was being unkind with the hole cards as usual! It was not until late in L2 that I had a hand in a position that was worth playing. I had QQ and raised 240. I got 2 callers but the AJJ flop was not what was wanted and I folded to a pot size bet from the chip leader. A couple of hands later I had KK and my raise to 180 was enough to take the blinds only grrrr.

I won a few small pots pre flop with AQ, AJ, 77 but was then card dead for what seemed forever and was always one of the short stacks. We were on the bubble now and there was another player with a couple of hundred more than me. I looked down at AA and raised to 1.2k. I thought about going all in for my remaining 2.5k but didn't want to scare everyone out of the pot. The other short stacked asked if I had 77 or QQ and he then went all in. I insta-called and he turned over 44 which begs the question why? if he thought I had a bigger pair. Anyway the flop was A67 to give me a set but the 5 on the turn gave him an open-ended straight draw and I feared the worst! However the river J doubled me up to 5.2k and left him with about 100. I knocked him out the next hand when his all in was called by one other player and we sensibly checked it down

In the last 3 I was the chip dog with 5k to 28K and 6K. I sneaked into 2nd when the chip leader rivered his 3 outer to knock out the other shorty. Heads up and I'm 35-5k chip dog. I needed to double up and a few hands later pushed with AT, he called with 96 and hit 4 diamonds for a flush and that was that. Still pleased given that I was card dead for long periods or got no action at all with my couple of decent starting hands.

Challenge bankroll is now $259.25

Friday 21 March 2008

Another STT win

I played a $2 stt on laddies today as the $5 were taking a while to fill and I had an hour or so to kill and didn't want to wait around. Was a good decision as I managed to win it.

I didn't get many hands early on so was patient and let 2 donks knock themselves out in L1. It tightened up a bit after that and I won 1.9k with AK in level 2. Level 3 gave me KK and I won 1.3K after betting out on a QJ5 flop with 2 hearts. In level 4 I had 88 in the bb,and checked. The 653 flop with 2 diamonds was about the best I could hope for and I led out with 400. I got 3 callers! eek! A 3 on the turn and I bet 1K and got a caller. The Q on the river slowed me up and we checked it down and I won 4k.

We were down to the last 4 and one guy who had been a big chip leader but he had played almost every hand and was yo-yoing all over the place, sat out and was blinded out in 4th lol. I was pretty card dead as he lost his last 2k so there was no need to be stupid when I could afford to sit tight and make the money without having a real short stack.

Down to the last 3 and I had 9K vs 19k and 12k so not that bad. Again I was patient as the chip leader on my right was raising every hand. I just waited for a hand to go back over the top with. It came in the form of TT and I re-raised him to 2k. He went all in with 55 and I called. The 764 flop was scary but the A, 2, were bricks for him and I now had 15k and the chip lead. It was my turn to bully now and I raised in the small blind4 times in a row to take the big blind which he noticed and told me. I told him I had a hand every time lol

It took a while to get to last 2 and was a small 22k to 18k chip dog heads up. He proceeded to go all in pretty much every hand but I was patient. I waited till he didn't go all in and I had something half decent to re-raise him with and he started to get the message that I wasn't gonna throw my chips in and pray lol. In the end it all ended pretty quickly in 2 hands as he called with absolute crap and thankfully my hands held up. I would put the hand detail here if I could get them out of poker tracker! But whenever I have it open with the laddies software it always takes for ever then crashes. Only ever happens when the bag of shite that is laddies client is running, works fine with all other poker clients running! grrrrrr! lol Got it working now and the last 2 hands hands were K9 vs J4 and QJ vs 63. Both times he pushed after I raised preflop and both times he bricked. I guess he had live cards but he needed to hit and its not the kinda position I want to be in lol

Oh I almost forgot I played a $1 MTT on laddies yesterday as it had 1k added and was limited to 300. I came 155th lol

Challenge bankroll is now $252.75. The graph seems to have hit a plateau over the last month rather than going up but then again I haven't played much and at least its not going down.

Thursday 20 March 2008

Card dead

First games for a while today and I got a 3rd and 6th in 2 super deepstack stts.

Nothing much to report really as I was card dead in both pretty much all the time. I had QQ 3 times in the first game but never won big pots as my rasies were either folded preflop or on the flop. I suffered a few beats when two pair was beaten by runne runner straight 2 hands in a row and ran TT into JJ on a raggy board lol. I thought I was out when in level I rasied to 1.2k with TT. There was i caller and the board came J87 (2 spades). I re-rasied all in for ym last 1.5k and he called with 66. Happy days until the turn was a 6..... arrrggghhh but the river 9 gave me a straight and I doubled up to 5.8k lol. Oh and of course I had the usual fold trash and flop a full house hand lol. I seem to get at least one of these every game!

In the end I got them all in with 66 and was called by AK who hits a K on the turn grrrr just can't seem to win a race these days. So a profit of $2.50 lol

In the 2nd game I was even more card dead but this hand probably sums it.

> 000rusty000 posted big blind (30)
> Game # 950,771,226 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(Jh Jc )
jens_dog> nh
> bren21 folded
Countalucard> ty ul
> Countalucard folded
> richmagpies1 raised for 180
> RiverKing66 folded
> Apresboarder folded
jens_dog> no i knew you had it :-)
> jens_dog called for 180
> s-pyro folded
> 000rusty000 called for 150
> Dealing the Flop(10c Jd Qc )
> 000rusty000 checked
> richmagpies1 bet for 555
> jens_dog went all-in for 400
> 000rusty000 called for 555
> Dealing the turn(6h )
> 000rusty000 checked
> richmagpies1 checked
> Dealing the river(Ac )
> 000rusty000 bet for 2,065
> richmagpies1 folded
> Extra chips returned to 000rusty000, 2,065
> jens_dog shows One Pair, Fives
(5c 5s Ac Qc Jd )
> 000rusty000 shows Two Pair, Aces over Jacks
(As Ac Js Jd Qc )
> 000rusty000 wins 2,065 with Two Pair, Aces over Jacks

I laid down the best hand here but there were so many hands beating me here - was a flush and straight on the board! Maybe my own fault as I should have bet the turn? I was a bit annoyed after that and not getting any cards at all didn't help. I managed to double up with 88 vs A7 but a few hands later I pushed with KJ after hitting top pair on a J high board. I was called by QQ and that was that! Crap play by me i think as I shouldn't be playing KJ really but then again it was in the big blind so just one of those things I guess.

So down $3 for the day for the STTs.

Challenge bankroll is $248.15

Monday 10 March 2008

NordicBet 10k freeroll

I played the NordicBet $10k freeroll tonight and like last week was totally card dead for the first 45 mins until I picked up AQ and went all in on a Q high board and managed to get back above the 1.5k starting stack. Next hand was AK and I was now on 2.5k. The last hand before the first break and I'm on about 3.5k and happy to make the break with average chips but I look down at AKs on the button and with just the blinds to get through decide to raise and take the pot there and then. However, I was called and after the flop it pretty much played itself! I thought the K on the turn would mean a split pot but it was a great card for me as it gave him 2 pair with his KQ and although he now had 6 outs for his full house, the river 3 doubled me up to 7.1k

> aura1989 posted small blind (100)
> chang31 posted big blind (200)
> Game # 1,911,752,296 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(Ks As )
> konnah folded
> The tournament has entered a rest break. Play will pause at the end of this hand, and will resume in 5:00 minutes from now.
> The tournament will continue in 5:00 minute(s)
> Jarss folded
> kasspoker folded
> 1marxiku8 folded
> Motoko folded
> KirillLand folded
> Kurts folded
> richmagpies raised for 800
> aura1989 folded
> chang31 called for 600
> Dealing the Flop(Qh 10s Jd )
> chang31, you have 10 seconds to respond
> chang31 bet for 850
> richmagpies called for 850
> Dealing the turn(Kc )
> chang31 went all-in for 3,058.75
> richmagpies went all-in for 1,850
> Extra chips returned to chang31, 1,208.75
> Dealing the river(3c )
> richmagpies wins 7,100 with a Straight, Ace high
> The tournament will continue in 4:00 minute(s)

There were 6276 starters and this was down to less than 1900 after the first hour! I was totally card dead after the first break but the bubble came and went and I managed to get back to 7k when I flopped a pair of 2s in the big blind and went all in. The short stack utg called with QJ and I almost doubled up. The next cash bubble came and went and I had about 4 big blinds left and went all in with KcQs in the small blind and had a straight draw and back door flush draw after the flop and hit runner runner clubs to quadruple up to 16k and up to 228/536 lol

> richmagpies posted small blind (600)
> harrypokker posted big blind (1,200)
> Game # 1,911,891,713 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(Qs Kc )
> Wolverine13 folded
> all_in_milla folded
> qwyx folded
> kasspoker called for 1,200
> 1marxiku8 folded
> Thedemius folded
> kollane called for 1,200
> Kurts folded
> richmagpies went all-in for 4,440
> harrypokker folded
> kasspoker, you have 10 seconds to respond
> kasspoker called for 3,840
> kollane called for 3,840
> Dealing the Flop(10c 6s 9c )
> kasspoker checked
> kollane went all-in for 26,224.44
> kasspoker went all-in for 2,390.12
> Extra chips returned to kollane, 23,834.32
> Dealing the turn(3c )
> Dealing the river(Qc )
> kasspoker wins 4,780.24 with a Flush, Clubs
> richmagpies wins 16,320 with a Flush, Clubs

There was something weird tonight as I won another big pot in the last hand before the 2nd break, this time with a somewhat less than attractive 72 off lol and was now in the top 100 and up to 26k which was above average again.

> Kurts went all-in for 547.50
> richmagpies posted big blind (1,200)
> Game # 1,911,911,026 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(2s 7s )
> harrypokker folded
> Wolverine13 folded
> all_in_milla folded
> The tournament has entered a rest break. Play will pause at the end of this hand, and will resume in 5:00 minutes from now.
> The tournament will continue in 5:00 minute(s)
> QVINTO called for 1,200
> kasspoker called for 1,200
> 1marxiku8 folded
> Thedemius folded
> kollane folded
> richmagpies checked
> Dealing the Flop(2c Ah 2h )
> richmagpies bet for 1,200
> QVINTO called for 1,200
> kasspoker called for 1,200
> Dealing the turn(7h )
> richmagpies bet for 1,200
> QVINTO called for 1,200
> kasspoker called for 1,200
> Dealing the river(4c )
> richmagpies bet for 2,836.87
> QVINTO called for 2,836.87
> kasspoker folded
> richmagpies shows a Full House, Deuces full of Sevens
(2s 2c 2h 7s 7h )
> QVINTO mucked
> Kurts mucked
> richmagpies wins 17,021.24 with a Full House, Deuces full of Sevens

After the break it was pretty much an all in and a call on every hand and with the blinds at 1k/2k I needed to make a move pretty soon. The end came when I pushed with 99 and was called by TT and KK so i ended up in 288th for $6


The challenge bankroll is now $252.50

Thursday 6 March 2008

Some days its just not gonna be your day 2....

I played a $2 stt this evening as the $5 ones had virtual tumbleweed blowing through them! I probably shouldn't have bothered as I managed a pathetic 5th. It was one of those games where I never got any cards or when I did - once with KK a small pre-flop raise was folded round. Any other hands such as JJ or TT brought scary boards with over cards and flush draws and when your continuation bet to find out where you are is re-raised all in, at this level its time to fold lol It ended with me pushing with 44 to a button raise - I think his call for most off his chips with 77 was a pretty marginal one but it was good enough lol

Oh I almost forgot I had the usual 'fold junk and flop a full house hand' which I seem to get at least once a game these days! One time I will call with some of this crap and hit lol


Challenge bankroll is now $246.50

Monday 3 March 2008

Some days its just not gonna be your day ....

....especially when in the last two days you have folded junk like J3 and T7 and then watch with a mixture of laughter and horror as you flop quads and hit quads on the turn lol

Folding pre-flop here to a 600 raise and then a short stack all in was the right move...until the flop lol


I maybe should be raising with T7 on the button but there as still a ton of play left with a 5k stack with blinds at 25/50 and the chip leader was playing every hand (as he should do!) so it was worth waiting until I had something half decent before taking him on. Alas when I did pick up KK it was beaten by Q9 who flopped 2 pair lol


Sunday 2 March 2008

Great gig and more STTs

I went to see one of my all time fave bands last night - The Mission - play their last ever gig! I've seen them loads of times and have had some great times going all the way back to 1988 so it was gonna be an emotional night! Shepherds Bush Empire was packed solid and there was a brilliant atmosphere as everyone enjoyed every last second of a great band!

True to form they put on an amazing show - played the whole of Carved in Sand and then a second set of greatest hits and live favourites. They played for about 3 hours in total and it was fantastic! I'm hoarse today after singing along (some may say shouting tunelessly) at the top of my voice for 3 hours. I thought I was gonna be upset at knowing that I'd never see them again and there was a lump in my throat at the end but but to go out like they did and being there with everyone else to salute them and say thanks for some great times was just incredible! The night was filmed for a DVD and I can't wait for that to come out! I just hope its not reduced to an hour but that they keep everything in especially the brothers....sisters...chant at the end of 'Deliverance' which went on for about 10 minutes - the whole place shouting as one was just mental and I'll never forget it!

So back to the rather mundane as I played another deep stack stt today with the last few bits of my hangover. Now bearing in mind these are 5k chips and 20 hand levels, it was played like a turbo. After 7 hands we were down to 6 and there was a big chip leader with 15k. I picked up AQ in the big blind and won 800 when I flopped a Q. By half way through level 2 we were down to the last3 which was crazy. I was the chip dog with 5k vs 8k vs 26k. I won a few hands with KK, KQ,KJ but nothing big until level 4 when i raised with A2 clubs in the small blind for 300 hoping to pick up the blinds. I had one caller and a flop of 874 with 3 clubs which was a good flop for me. I checked and called 700 hoping to for a club. The turn was 6 hearts and the check let me see a free river card which was a T clubs. I bet 525 and had 1 caller and raked in 3.1k.

I didn't get many cards but the play was really passive and I managed to get up to 8k. My last hand was the dreaded KK again in the small blind. I was gonna limp in as when I had raised before they just folded. So I min raised to 400 hoping for some action. The chip leader called and we saw a Q98 flop. He checked and I bet 200. He re-raised me to 1.5k and I re-raised him all in. He called and showed his Q9 lol and the board was no help and I was gone in 3rd for $8. Bloody KK!

The challenge bankroll is now $248.80