Still not playing!

Haven't played a game for months and not really missing it! I'm sure I'll play again but just not sure when!

90 player stt

I played a 90 player stt on Full Tilt today ($3/deepstack/turbo/knock-out) and came 5th for $19 ($18 for 5th place and $1 for 2 bounties). I didn't get involved in many hands early on because I wasn't getting any cards but I picked up the blinds a few times to keep my stack around the starting stack of 3k by the first break but this left me near the bottom of the leader

board.

In level 12 I pushed with AJ and was called by AQ...the river J saved me and doubled me up to 6K. Another double up in level 14 with QQ vs KJ took me to 12k and into the top 12 with about 20 left. Level 17 and my AA was good against a re-raisers TT and I was up to 21k and 4th and looking good for the final table. The blinds were getting quite high and you needed to try and steal them to maintain your position. I pushed with AK on the bubble and had 2 callers....thankfully they were AKh and A7 and I survived the other AKh 2 hearts on the flop to give him a flush draw to split the pot.

The bubble came and went and with blinds at 2/4k it was a relief to be put on the final table on the button. 2 shorties went pretty quickly and my cards dried up. I was in danger of dwindling away in 5th and pushed with J8 in the big blind for about 14k. The big stack on the bubble called with his 76 and flopped 2 pair and that was that.

Challenge bankroll is now $384.78

Full tilt matrix tourneys

I've not played much this month just a few STTs but over the last week I've had a few days off (and when I have not been trying to get my new PC to work ARRGGGHHHH! been doing my head in!) i have played some of these new tourneys on Full Tilt.

Basically you pay one entry fee and then play 4 stts against the same people and score 1 point for outlasting a player, 2 points for knocking someone out and 2 bonus points if you win a game. You get cash for 1st, 2nd, 3rd in each game and then also cash for 1st, 2nd, 3rd in points overall.

You ain't ever gonna build a roll playing these but they are good fun and good practice for multi-tabling novices like me. I have yet to fail to cash in any game and in fact am cashing in about 50% of the individual tourneys.

The standard is pretty poor as it is at these low stakes but I think it is helping me with being aggressive - the blinds are 6 mins but go up quite gradually so there is a surprisng amount of play - especially when it gets to the bubble. Its also interesting keeping an eye on the leaderboard and you can use that to your adantage as people try to ladder up and may not risk going out if they will earn an extra point by outlasting a shorty.

My challenge bankroll is $363.64 at the moment which is heading in the right direction.

Doing my head in!

I played another $5 STT on laddies and really frustratingly came 3rd. Does my nut in when the best hands pre flop never hold up and donkeys suck out! I was really patient and when I made good calls 3 times against the short stacks they all sucked out on me. GRRRRRR why the fuck cant hands hold up on this shitty site! I had AT vs KT so looking really good until the and T6999 board for a split pot...then AJ vs AT and of course the T comes on flop. Of course the last hand also was a suck out. The blinds were 2k/1k and so it was a total crapshoot. I pushed with A5 and of course was called by QJ and of course the river gave him his J and I out in 3rd instead of a big chip leader. One day I'll start to get the run of the deck...

Challenge bankroll is now $330.30 which is the highest its been so far so that's pretty good!

STT

Yesterday I played a $5 stt and had no cards at all and hardly played a hand. I had AA once but everyone folded to my preflop raise. I chased a flush draw when I had the pot odds but missed which left me the short stacked with about 2k. I was pleased to see 2 others donk out to leave me in the money lol.

In the last 3 I had 3k vs 13k vs 23k so not much chance. I got the double up I hoped for when I pushed with Q8 in the sb and hit a 8 on the river to beat KT. But then I got done with KQ after re-raising all in from the big blind and was a fave against K9 but the flop gave him his 3 outer and I'm out in 3rd.

Challenge bankroll is $330.10

5 paid stts

I played a couple of these 10 player tourneys on laddies where the top 5 get paid and cashed in 5th in both of them. Its just a case of hoping to get a hand, get a few chips over the starting stack and then steal the blinds when they get big later on. Its fairly easy to cash unless you are unlucky and run into a big hand or get sucked out on. I only play them when I havent got time to play a decent game.

Challenge bankroll is up to $327.60

Been following the WSOPE main event updates on the web and man is that a tough tourney with all the big names...this is the top 15 as we speak....scary!

Justin 'BoostedJ' Smith.
Talal Shakerchi.
Daniel Negreanu.
Chris 'Moorman1' Moorman. Gooooo Moorman - he does an excellent blog and was no 1 in pocket 5s mtt tourney rankings which is some achievement!
Scott Fischman.
John Juanda.
Chris Elliott.
Andy Bloch.
Johnny Lodden.
Mike Matusow.
Peter Neff.
Jani Sointula.
Brian 'sbrugby' Townsend.
Bengt Sonnert.
Erik Seidel.

Further down the leaderboard there is Devilfish, Josh Arieh, Robin Keston, Mel Judah....

Another STT

I played another $5 stt on laddies and my usual patient game and never really got going. I didn't pick up any decent starting hands so crap like KQ, KJ, AJ was looking quite good! I lost about 1500 when I had KJ and he had AJ and we both hit 2 pair, his A coming on the river of course.

We were down to the last 5 quite quickly and I was pleased to double up in the last 4 when I had KQ ob. I raised to 800 and the big blind called. The flop was a lovely KK7 rainbow and I called his ai with Q8 and doubled up to 7.5k. LOL and he did make a comment about terrible timing in the chat box which it was.

In the final 3 I was the shorty with 7K vs 12k vs 20K so wasn't expecting much and was just hoping to get a double up to at least have a chance. Well the 2nd stack committed suicide with a bluff and that left me with 10k vs 30k heads up. We had a right old battle which was pretty good and I managed to get to 30K when I had AK and he re-raised me all in with his QQ and I hit trips on the river. But alas I just couldn't finish him off and we were both up and down like a see-saw. By the end it was a bit of a crap shoot as blinds were 2k/1k but still an enjoyable game and predictably my timing was off on the last hand when I pushed with AQ to find him insta-calling with AK lol.

Challenge bankroll is now $324.20