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

morons & retards and fish, oh my!!

I decided to play the $3 (2k guaranteed) freezeout on blonde this afternoon and got off to a good start when I had KK first hand. A retard who limped utg+1 and then called my 24o raise re-raised me all in on the 442 flop with 53 for an open ended straight draw. How i laughed when the turn bought me the K for a full house and even louder when the donk hit his A for a river straight looooooool. I mean it wasnt even a re-buy and to limp UTG+1 with 53 and then call a 240 raise.....what planet are these morons on and thank christ he got exactly what he deserved!

Dealer: Starting a new hand (#1755420993)
Dealer: minec posts Small Blind 10
Dealer: richmagpies1862 posts Big Blind 20
Dealer: Dealing cards
Dealer: Your cards Kh Kd
Dealer: TheScarmaker folds
Dealer: guile85 calls 20
Dealer: GoliathREB folds
Dealer: frenk58 calls 20
Dealer: kcsaba17 calls 20
Dealer: Marcel84 calls 20
Dealer: tabler666 folds
Dealer: mrmickemellt folds
Dealer: minec calls 10
Dealer: richmagpies1862 raises to 240
Dealer: guile85 folds
Dealer: frenk58 calls 220
Dealer: kcsaba17 folds
Dealer: Marcel84 folds
Dealer: minec folds
Dealer: Dealing Flop2s 4d 2c
Dealer: richmagpies1862 bets 560
Dealer: frenk58 raises to 1,260
Dealer: richmagpies1862 goes All-in 700
Dealer: Dealing Turn2s 4d 2c Ks
Dealer: Dealing River2s 4d 2c Ks Ad
Dealer: richmagpies1862 shows Full houseKh Kd
Dealer: frenk58 shows Straight5d 3d
Dealer: richmagpies1862 wins with Full house2s 2c Kd Kh Ks 3,080
Dealer: richmagpies1862 wins with Full house2s 2c Kd Kh Ks 3,080
Dealer: frenk58 has finished tournament in 652. place

Well that was about the highlight as I never got a hand after that but witnessed some truly awful play. The end came with the predictability of a something really predictable (can't think of an example lol) when I pushed with AQ on the button for about 2k which was about 6 big blinds after there was 1 limper utg. The blinds folded and of course mr. limper called for half his stack with the mighty A9 off so he was miles behind and deservedly so...I mean how can you not get away from A9 utg after limping...if your gonna play rubbish at least raise and try to win rather than playing like a complete weak fish...what a moron....howver the RNG saw fit to reward the retard with a 9 on the flop and I'm gone in 165th. But as someone once said these are the kind of morons you want to play against and I would take the call every time!

I hate to bubble...

I bubbled a $5 stt yesterday and the hand below was key to this. I was pissing around on facebook, laddies forum etc and not really paying attention and folded here in the small blind when if i had been looking at the chip stacks it would have been a insta call with any 2 even though the chip leader was still to act. Would have cost me an extra 570 to call with 1200 in the pot already and the chance to knock out the shorty.....sigh....of course the shorty won with his T4 instead of being knocked out by my pair of Kings. 3 uncontested all ins in a row and hes not the shorty anymore and of course when I'm the shorty I get them in ahead and get sucked out on lol....still at least I may pay more attention in the future....then again maybe not!


** Game ID 1049054238 starting - 2008-09-15 22:44:40
** $5 Super High Stack- 20 hand levels [Hold 'em] (800.001600.00 NL - STT) Real Money

BOD75 sitting in seat 1 with $9570.00

[Dealer]- reggy sitting in seat 2 with $1370.00
richmagpies1 sitting in seat 4 with $7477.50
moderdy sitting in seat 5 with $20382.50
reggy posted the small blind - $400.00
richmagpies1 posted the big blind - $800.00


** Dealing card to richmagpies1: K of h, 3 of c

moderdy called - $800.00
BOD75 foldedreggy went all-in - $1370.00
richmagpies1 folded
moderdy called - $1770.00

reggy shows: 10 of h, 4 of d
moderdy shows: 7 of c, 9 of h

** Dealing the flop: 2 of h, K of s, 4 of h
** Dealing the turn: Q of s
** Dealing the river: 5 of s


reggy wins $4340.00 from the main pot
End of game 1049054238

Challenge bankroll is now $323.30

Another 5$ stt

today on laddies which took about an hour to fill but cashed in 3rd for $8. On the last hand I raised from the big blind after the 2nd chip flat called in the small blind. I then pushed with my J5 after hitting a J on the QJ8 flop and was insta called by the 2nd chip leader who had flopped a straight with his T9 lol. I couldnt really wait any longer with less than 10 big blinds 3 handed.

Challenege bankroll is now $328.80

Loving the EPT Barcelona live stream on www.eptlive.com Great work PokerStars!

Most stts ive played for ages...

I played 3 stts today which is probably the most in a day for months! Unsurprisingly there was no traffic at my favoured stts until the evening so I had a look on stars....I came 5th in a $3 9 seater, then won a $1 9 seater and then came 2nd in a laddies $5 super deepstack so a few dollars up for the day. Would have won the $5 if I could only get a medium pocket pair to hold up against two overcards heads-up but at least I'm getting them in ahead!

Challenge bankroll is now at $326.30 but still no where near the $1k i was aiming for this time last year! Better than losing though!

Quick update

Not played much (again) recently and have only managed to squeeze in a few Laddies 5 pay equal stts. These are 10 hand levels and turn into a crap shoot pretty quickly so not my cup of tea. But managed to cash in those that I have played in and along with the STT win and some free cash from Pokertrillion a few weeks ago the bankroll is now up to $319.90.

I will start playing the $5 stts again but the deepstack games i prefer are few and far between with the traffic on laddies rapidly disappearing!

I'll update again

when I finally manage to play more than a couple of games! played 2 STTs a couple of weeks ago and won the first and then in the second had my full house that I hit on the turn after flopping a set beaten by the nut full house that he made on the flop so no complaints as I was never getting away from it!

Hardly played at all recently...

Well, I think I have played about twice in the last 5 weeks and that was just a couple of quick cash sessions! Been a hectic month as we've bought a house and are moving in the next couple of weeks so had tons to do to sort everything out - the other half would not be impressed if she was left to do it all by herself while I played poker! Its also been Euro 2008, my birthday, had friends staying, started a new job so no time at all for poker!

Once we get moved in and get stuff sorted I will hopefully get some free time back and play a few more games!

Been following the WSOP a bit and at the moment a few of the guys from the laddies forum are playing in the main event and they've all made it through to Day 2 which is a great achievement! Let's hope they all go deep!

Another STT and...

...bubbled. No cards and a table of calling stations/ donkeys is not much fun. Was ahead in a few pots and my bets when I was ahead were called to the river with A high or gutshots which of course hit. Last hand I had ATs and raised to 400, the sb raises to 800. I've had enough and push for my last 2k. Maybe I should have waited but ATs 4 handed is gonna be good enough most of the time and if I start laying down to re-raises from donkeys I may as well quit now. Of course he calls for almost 2/3 of his stack with KJ offsuit where he is in a coin flip at best or at worst dominated... and of course hits his K on the turn.....sigh. So from being a 3:2 favourite and in good shape to double up and probably make the money I'm out....sigh. Still I want that call every single time as its winning in the long run...or so I keep telling myself lol

Challenge bankroll is now $291.56

May 2008 stats

Well, another winning month overall but a profit of $17 isn't much to write home about. Then again I only played 9 sessions. But at least it wasn't a losing month which is always good. The games I played broke down as follows:

STT

$2.30
p7, cashed 4 times (2x 1st, 2 x 2nd) for $9.50 profit

$5.50
P1, cashed o for $5.50 loss

MTT

P1, cashed 1 for $13 profit

And I have a really busy month this month with friends staying, doing stuff at the weekend, my birthday and hopefully moving house so I am probably gonna be playing even less this month. I'll try and play the odd STT but am not expecting to have much chance.

Oh and the WSOP starts so good luck to all those on the laddies and blondepoker forums who will heading out to Vegas hoping for big cashes and shiny bracelets! I'd love to play in it just once and maybe one year I'll decide to just say 'sod it' push some cash into it and be serious and play some satellites! You never know just win a few races in a sat and get lucky and it could happen!

Challenge bankroll is as it was on 26 May, $293.86 and has been hovering around the $290 mark for about 6 weeks now. Once it gets to over $300 I will go back to the $5 stts.

$66 satellite

I won a competition on Blondepoker tonight to get free entry into an Equal Chance $66 + $6 satellite - 10 runners and the first prize was a $660 seat at a $40,000 guaranteed live event in London next month plus a night in a hotel. Cool!

Shame I used all my luck up in winning the first comp and busted out the actual tourney in 6th lol. I think I got 44, 77 and AT and that was about it lol. I was down to about 10 big blinds and raised 300 with KJ and got a caller. The flop was 333 and I pushed. The caller had AJ and I'm out. Damn my perfect timing....!

Anyway, many thanks to Colchester Kev and Blonde for organising and giving me the chance to play in a decent size satellite which is way above my bankroll. Next time sort me out some cards too though please Kev!

2nd but could have been 4th or 1st

I played another STT today and came 2nd. Initially I was disappointed as it could (and probably should) have been 1st but was close to bubbling at one point so should be pleased really.

In the the first 3 levels i won a few hands with AK, AK, JJ, A4, 88,77, AA, 77, JJ but no big pots. I was on about 6k when we are down to the last 4 with 2 big chip leaders and another short stack. As usual the short stack pushes and the chip leader calls with crap and the shorty hits trips on the river twice in about 4 hands and I'm now the shorty and have gone totally card dead to boot! Not happy at this stage and looking like bubbling.

Its now level level 6 and I get a decent hand when I turn a straight with J8 in the big blind after checking preflop and calling a 400 bet with my open ended straight draw on the flop. A double up to about 6k is looking on when the chip leader pushes all in.....and of course he has J8 too! grrrr!

Then just what the doctor ordered and I get a mad rush of cards which hold up - I double up when I raise with 99 and the chip leader re-raises me all in with A5. Up to 6.7k. I then push all in with 66 and the same guy calls with QT and I win 11.5k. The former chip leader is now tilting everywhere and 3 hands later I have KK. I raise to 1.8k and he pushes all in for 5k with A7 and he's out on the bubble and I'm now the chip leader with 16.3k lol. Man, things can change sooooo quickly!

I then go and blow 10k with K8 on a J86 board when I am re-raised post flop by TT and stupidly call lol. So now down to 3.5k and back where I started! Doh! I push with J9 and am in bad shape against A5 but the J on the flop doubles me up to 6k. I am now pushing pre-flop and picking up the blinds and am up to 8k, then 9k and back in with a shout.

I win 6k when I hit my open ended straight draw on the turn and now have 12k vs 12k vs 14k so all to play for! I win a big pot of 13.6k with AQ on a J6682 board. I raised pre-flop, checked the turn and then bet the spade flush draw that came on the turn. He called and I can only assume he missed his flush draw with the river 8 clubs. I now had 20k and was chip leader.

About a dozen hands later we were heads up and I was in front with 20,045 to 19,955 lol so couldn't be much closer! I
got up to 26k on the first hand. But then was back down to 14 k as he rivered a straight to my 2 pair. The last hand I pushed all in with K4h after his limp in the small blind. He called with J6h so I was in good shape as a 3-2 fave but the river brings him a 6 and its all over. Bit of a roller-coaster!

As I said I was pleased to make money as was looking like another bubble but just needed the cards to hold up and would have won.

Challenge bankroll is $293.86

Bubbled...

I played another STT but the mini -run came to an end as I bubbled. I got off to a fairly good start when I won a 5.4k pot after a short stack pushed with Q9 pre-flop for 2.7k and my AA held up. After that it was all fairly mundane with the usual mix of being on the wrong end of awful play....

> SPASH16 posted small blind (15)
> Alex48 posted big blind (30)
> Game # 988,398,934 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(Ah Jd )
> richmagpies1 raised for 120
> inonot called for 120
> JDabadone called for 120
> beatlesuk folded
> SPASH16 folded
> Alex48 folded
> Dealing the Flop(7h 4d Js )
> richmagpies1 bet for 202.50
> inonot raised for 405
> JDabadone folded
> richmagpies1 called for 202.50
> Dealing the turn(5h )
> richmagpies1 checked
> inonot bet for 303.75
> richmagpies1 called for 303.75
> Dealing the river(Kh )
> richmagpies1 checked
> inonot checked
> richmagpies1 shows One Pair, Jacks, with kicker card Ace
(Jd Js Ah Kh 7h )
> inonot shows Two Pair, Jacks over Fours
(Jc Js 4c 4d Kh )
> inonot wins 1,822.50 with Two Pair, Jacks over Fours

The preflop call with J4? Ok it was only a 6xbb raise but still pretty shocking and very much losing poker in the long run. Then of course his shit play was rewarded with the flopping of 2 pair when he hits a 3 outer when miles behind my AJ. Still at least he checked the river which probably saved me a few chips!

I think the hand below was the turning point as I would have been the chip leader. He was miles behind with T9 when the J on the turn gave us both straights. Only one of the 3 remaining aces could save him from and of course it did!

> Alex48 posted small blind (15)
> richmagpies1 posted big blind (30)
> Game # 988,403,034 starting.
> Dealing Hole Cards(As 10h )
> inonot folded
> JDabadone folded
> beatlesuk called for 30
> SPASH16 called for 30
> Alex48 folded
> richmagpies1 checked
> Dealing the Flop(9s Ks Qc )
> richmagpies1 checked
> beatlesuk bet for 52.50
> SPASH16 called for 52.50
> richmagpies1 called for 52.50
> Dealing the turn(Jh )
> richmagpies1 checked
> beatlesuk bet for 131.25
> SPASH16 went all-in for 4,920.76
> richmagpies1 went all-in for 6,879.38
> beatlesuk folded
> Extra chips returned to richmagpies1, 1,958.62
> Dealing the river(Ad )
> SPASH16 wins 5,117.63 with a Straight, Ace high
> richmagpies1 wins 5,117.64 with a Straight, Ace high

Again I stuck to only entering a pot with a raise but I won most of my pots pre-flop. Flat calling is just not an option even with big pairs as these guys will call with any old shit and more than likely hit so its just asking for trouble.

Down to the last 4 and there are 2 big chip leaders and 2 short stacks. As is usually the case the other shorty stuck them in, got lucky and doubled up. I stuck them in with A2 with 4 big blinds left and was dominated when the chip leader had AK. Just the way it goes sometimes!

Challenge bankroll is now $291.36

I won't be playing anymore today as I'm off to see the new Indiana Jones film tonight - been looking forward to it for ages!

Another win!

After winning my last game I was hoping to continue upwards again and am pleased to have just won another STT, so that's 2 in a row. Not amazing I know but its still pleasign after the run I have had recently!

I had a decent start when I hit a set after raising 120 with 66. I called the short stacks all in for 1.2k and his 55 was in bad shape and I was up to 6.5k. However, I was back to where I started when i lost 1.6k with JJ after the soooooo loose chip leader (he played almost every hand) called my bets all the way to the river with AK on T955 board and rivered his K! No big pots until level 4 when I picked up KK and raised to 300. I got 2 callers and the T98 (2c) was a worry putting straight and flush draws out there. I bet 1k and loosey-goosey calls. The turn is 4s, which put a spade draw on the board. Well, I pushed all in for my last 4k and he called with 54 spades and missed his flush draw when the river was 8d and I was up to 11k.

Again I made a point of not limping into pots with marginal hands and when I played a hand it was aggressively with a raise preflop. I won pots in position preflop with JJ, A5, J8 by raising on the button and with T8 in the big blind.

I was then card dead for ages and my 12k stack was gradually being eaten away. By this time the the big chip leader had managed to donk off his whole 16k stack but unfortunately not to me and we were 4 handed.

I had about 6 k when I picked up AQ on the button and raised 1.6k.The sb called and the flop was AAJ. Obviously I checked and the turn brought Q to give me a full house but also put a flush draw on the board. I was so hoping he had hit his flush with the river 8 but he checked. I bet 900 and he called and I won 5.4k. In level 9 I limped with TT on the button for 600 as any raise preflop was being folded round and I wanted to get some action. The flop was 532 and I re-raised to 4.2k. The chip leader called and the turn was 3. We both checked. The A river was a scare card but I had to call the 600. No way was I gonna re-raise as he could have the A or 4 and I'm a loser. I was pleased to see the 12k pot come my way and I was now chip leader.

Another big pot came my way in level 9 with AK. I raised to 2.4k and got a caller. the flop was K62 all hearts and I had the A hearts so was in good shape! I bet out 2.5k and he called. The turn was 9d and he folded to my 5k bet for a 15k pot. After this my aggressive play pre-flop was going unchallenged and I was winning pots preflop which is good when the blinds are so big!

At the start of heads up we were pretty even in chips but it was now level 12 and the blinds were pretty big. I won a 24k pot with A7 after calling for 1k. The flop was AK6 and I bet out 4k. He called and the turn was 7. I bet 12k hoping he had an A or K but he folded. At one point I was up to 30k and called his all in with KQ hoping to finish him off but he had A3 and hit an A and were back even!

He was then the aggressor as my cards dried up and I was down to about 6k at one point. A couple of re-raises won me decent pots and I managed to get back to over 10k and was still in with a chance. Anyway I managed to eat away at his chip lead and my final had was QQ. I limped and the flop was 995. He pushed all in and I insta-called. He had 85 for 2 pair but was dead to a 5 and the 7, T were bricks for him and that was that.

I was pleased with the way I played especially heads up. Coming back from being a big chip dog is always satisfying!

Challenge bankroll is now $293.66 which is the highest ever!

Oh and here's a tight preflop fold with AT from this game where I would have hit quads!