Tourney Binkage

Decided to play a few tournaments last night and it went well! (I'm Ted_Maul6 in the Party one)

I won't bore you with the details of any hands cos it mostly involved me running hot and coolering or bad beating people up until I ending up busting. There is of course a hint of frustration in not going all the way in both tournaments, especially in the Party High Roller where the difference between 4th and 1st is a ridiculous $30k.

I also did a $1k WCOOP event last night where I made quite a significant mistake, mostly due to lack of experience where I got all in pre with AK for about 150bbs.  The way the hand went down I don't think its terrible, but it is definitely a mistake.  I'm just not used to having to playing hands like AKo cautiously.  Actually the villain in the AK hand ended up having AA and decided to slowroll me.  Let's hope the dick nut bubbled.

Despite the nice bit of run good gonna keep these sessions as an occasional thing. Cash games > Tournaments. obv.

August

Haven't updated in a while mainly because I have become additcted to twitter and have preferred to update in 140 character form. August ended up being a great month in poker for me as I managed to ship my biggest ever month in cash games.  I ran insanely hot in the first two weeks of the month and then more steadily won more from then, except for one poor decision to play $25/50 plo against players who are better than me. I was gonna post results but they're on another computer which is out of use at the moment while I am getting some building work done.  It might not be a good idea anyway as I've heard posting graphs (especially brag ones) is a trigger for some ridonkulous run bad.

Did another live tournament last weekend. Live tournaments are becoming a very expensive hobby for me so far this year.  A hobby I'm not even sure I enjoy.  I'm 0/12 so far in 2011 but I will keep plugging away.  Last weekend was the Unibet Open in Dublin which was a decent tournament and good structure (although starting with 400bbs is a bit dumb).  The hotel where the tournament was held was a little disappointing.  It was a bit outdated and the food there was only just about edible. I'm not too fussy about food so this isn't a massive issue for me.  The hotel was also a 30 minute taxi tourney from the city centre so a trip into Dublin always felt like a big deal that had to be planned out.  However, Dublin itself was really cool, with loads of the more traditional bars that I like and the locals seemed very friendly.  I'm looking forward to going back in January for the WPT event sponsored by PKR, just hope they put the qualifiers in a different hotel.

Onto how the tournament went down. I had a good day one, stacking a guy early on with 33 vs ATdd on A93dd (he misplayed his hand considering how deep we were).  Then I muddled through the rest of the day folding a lot until I was put on the feature table and versus a very passive table managed to chip up to well over average by winning a load of small pots. On day two I had a much more loose and splashy table so hoped I could get some hands. I managed to pair mine (will talk more about pair mining later) with KQo vs a loose old guy with a load of chips and manged to get it in on the turn on  K high board vs K9 to put me onto 150k with average 90k or so.  I was then put onto the feature table and first hand got into a difficult spot where I felt I had to get in AQs for over half my stack and was vs KK. Board ran out AxxKA which makes it a bit more painful.  Suddenly I'm short and lose another small pot where I raise A3s from ep (might be bad) and got one caller and bet turn and river on an A high board and got called by AQ.  Now down to 12bbs I shoved 99 from ep and got called by AJ and AK and didn't win. Having had a decent stack, I got unlucky (or failed to get lucky) twice in a row and suddenly the dream is over.  The rest of the weekend was spent eating, drinking, watching Spurs get absolute pummelled by Man city and going to the most essential tourist spot in Dublin, a Leprecaun museum.  Good times.

On to 'pair mining'.  Not sure if such a term has been coined before but if not I want to be the one to do it.  Basically pair mining involves playing a hand that has very good top pair value (eg. like KQo example above) with the intention of flopping top pair and not folding it.  Another example could be when you're playing heads up and decide to call a 3-bet with JQo vs an aggressive opponent with the intention of playing a top pair you might flop like the nuts.  It's obviously something people do all the time but as far as I know there wasn't a term for it.

Thanks for reading. Check out this video which I think is the best of those 'turn soundbites into songs' type videos that are are all over YouTube. The tune is really addictive!

Favourite hand of the day

Don't play that much $1/2 these days (too balla obv) but this hand actually had me fist pumping when he folded the river:

Hand info:

Date:	Tuesday, July 26, 07:16:40 ET 2011
Type:	Cash Games
Game:	Hold'em NL
Table:	38725209
Blinds:	$1/2

Table info:

Posts big blind $2

Seat 1:Rhymenoceros ($398.97)

Dealer, Posts small blind $1

Seat 2:12asso10 ($53.83)

Dealt to Rhymenoceros

Check odds

Preflop: (Pot: $3)

RAISE 12asso10, to $3
CALL Rhymenoceros, $2

Check odds

Flop: (Pot: $7)

CHECK Rhymenoceros
CHECK 12asso10

Check odds

Turn: (Pot: $7)

BET Rhymenoceros, $6
RAISE 12asso10, to $12
CALL Rhymenoceros, $6

River: (Pot: $31)

CHECK Rhymenoceros
BET 12asso10, $21.33
RAISE Rhymenoceros, to $42.66
FOLD 12asso10

Showdown:

SHOWS Rhymenoceros

Rhymenoceros wins the pot of $95.49

 I actually rather butchered the hand as I think leading the flop and the river is better than checking but whatever, it worked out. 

What's been going on

Hello readers (Mum)!  Since Vegas I have mostly been pretty unproductive and fallen back into my usual schedule of not doing much at all.  I have played some poker.  Online has been going well, I've been running extremely good in allins in the last two months which is basically accounting for all my profits as my adjusted winnings are about breakeven.  I played a £110 six max live event where I lasted approximately 20 minutes and didn't win a single pot and the £560 UKIPT main event where I lasted six levels or so, busting to a flush over flush with 68cc vs J9cc on 5c7sKcTc.  Though this is obviously a cooler, I could have certainly taken a different line, which may or may not have been more optimal.  I also played some live cash game sessions which was mostly £1/2 with some £2/5.  I lost £200 the first session and £1000 the second session and just when my dislike for live poker was turning to disgust I actually won for once!  I played a £1/2 session from 10pm until 9am and managed to ship a nice £2300 profit.

What else has been happening?  Yesterday I went to a huge war and peace show at this farm land near Tunbridge Wells which was really interesting.  They had battle reenactments and a bazillion different military vehicles on display.  One thing I would have liked to see was more information on the different weapons.  Although guns are obviously killing machines, many of them are also fantastic pieces of technology which should also be appreciated from that point of view.  One funny thing at this show was the amount of Nazi memorabilia for sale.  It was all over the place!  I can understand the interest in the authentic stuff like the uniform and other kit but they also had nazi mugs and massive flags which swastikas and SS logos on them.  Seriously who is buying this stuff except complete wronguns?  This actually reminded me I wanted to watch Schindler's List again, which conveniently was on sky movies today.

Talking of movies I have seen a few recently.  I'm getting so bored of super hero movies now and it's annoying how saturated the cinema schedules are with them.  I saw the Green Lantarn which was fricking awful.  One thing you would expect to be good about it was the special affects but even they looked very bad by today's standards.  They seemed about ten years out of date.  The new X-men film was decent, I really liked Magneto's character in this one.  Anyone wanting to see more of the actor, Michael Fassbender, should check out the film Hunger which is very powerful, but you'll probably only want to see it once.  The only super hero film I'm looking forward to is the Dark Knight Rises and there's a teaser trailer out for it now which manages to reveal almost nothing but still get you excited.  I've also started watching Breaking Bad after few recommendations and so far it's awesome.  There's new seasons of Curb and Entourage which are either just out or out soon so loads of good tv to watch.

While not watching films and tv I have decided to need to explore avenues outside of poker a bit and have decided to sign up to a part-time academic course.  Now that I have been out of university for over two years I am interested in studying again and the course I have my eye on is journalism.  It is 18 weeks and would amount of about one day a week including contact time and completing the required work which I think is good to ease myself into it and have plenty of time to play poker.  If I enjoy it I could look to add further modules later on.

I was going to talk about twitter, which I was very sceptical about originally but now really like it but as this blog post is already quite long I will just say follow me @Ted_Maul6.

Back from Vegas

Got back yesterday morning and feeling relatively normal again after the big change in time zones.  I was going to do a proper trip report but can't really be bothered right now.  Overall it was a lot of fun, though I came back somewhat poorer than when I went out.  Some of this loss was out of my control and some wasn't but live-n-learn and all that.  The PKR week was really good and very well organised, and everyone I met through that was cool.  Particularly the crew of Scotty Starburst, Zomgchipriffle and others were very sound, very non-pokerplayeree which I like.  Also the Cosmopolitan where PKR put us up was great,certainly the best hotel I have ever stayed at, Vegas or otherwise.  I feel like I should have planned out my trip out there a bit more and made better use of my time.  I didn't see a show this time (Saw the 'O' Cirque du Soleil last time which was awesome) and definitely should have arranged that during the ten days out there.

As I half expected, I didn't enjoy the live poker too much out there.  There's certainly some result orientated emotions involved in this as I completely whiffed two WSOP events and went 0/5 in cash game sessions so it's never going to be a whale of a time.  But I found when I sat down I was just thinking about when I'm going to finish playing, constantly checking tournament clocks for the next break or checking the time on my iphone thinking about what I will do later on.  I'm not the most sociable person at the table which doesn't help because talking to people can make the live experience much more fun.  Need to work on that.

There's just a lot of things that annoy me about live poker.  A new irritation I discovered in my play out there is revealing cards at showdown.  In live poker the rules about who should reveal their cards are a bit of a grey area because they can vary from room to room, and involve some etiquette considerations (eg. when you call a bluff on the river and the villain says "you got it", it's bad etiquette to ask him to show what he bluffed with).  I had a hand in a $2/5nl game in Vegas where I called 3 streets with a middle pair bluff catcher and announced "call" on the river.  The villain nodded, prompting me to reveal my hand.  He then shows his A7s for turned top pair for the win.  This seemed like a bit of an angle shoot to me as he nods like I have made a 'good call' and its very unlikely I'm ever tank calling the river with a better hand.  I didn't want to show my hand either, as it effects my image.

Another example is where I was down to $150 in a $2/5nl cash game and shoved my 30bbs in with KJs after a 4x raise and two callers.  Two people called (lol, how can I not beat these games) and the board ran out QQxx when first villain bet turn and the other folded.  River bricked and I had king high.  He looks at me expecting me reveal my hand.  I'm pretty sure he had a Q but tell him I have king high and finally after this he turns his hand over...low and behold, he has a queen!  You have trips queens sir, it's a very good hand and very likely winning, just fucking show it.  Mong.  I think the rules for revealing cards at showdown need to be cleared up and standardised because at the moment it's something that slows the game down and is open to angle shooting.  Don't get me started on when people say "two pair" at showdown and the board is like 6683K. Which two fucking pair!?

Anyway, after this bad experience of live poker I am doing the sensible thing,  playing the UKIPT in Brighton next week!  But in all seriousness, it's a small buyin and a lot of other people I know are doing it  so it will be fun.  Also going deep in this would be great with it being on tv and everything.

Twitter

Started a new twitter account for Vegas and WSOP: @Ted_Maul6

LOLMAHA

easy game innit....

Though I am still new to this game I feel I am improving pretty fast and the general level of competition is still far below that of nl.  Last night I sat with a reg on ftp and he seemed to have a default game which he didn't change throughout the match.  This strategy basically involved him just playing good starting plo hands and putting more money into the pot when he flopped/turned/rivered well and folding if he didn't.  No doubt this strategy works okay against complete donks but not versus someone that has a brain.  I could barrel in spots where he would not expect me too without the nuts and also click it back in 3-bet pots knowing he would always play his hand face-up.

Anyway, during this session (and throughout the month) I have run really hot in all-ins, either getting there with my combo draw vs sets or holding in the opposite scenario.  E.g....

	Hand info: Date: Monday, June 20, 08:26:15 ET 2011 Type: Cash Games Game: Omaha PL Table: Dino Blinds: $5/10 Table info: Dealer, Posts small blind $5 Seat 1:Button ($2,283.50) Posts big blind $10 Seat 2:BB ($4,755.50) Dealt to BB Check odds Preflop: (Pot: $15) RAISE Button, to $25 RAISE BB, to $80 CALL Button, $60 Check odds Flop: (Pot: $180) BET BB, $110 RAISE Button, to $280 RAISE BB, to $910 RAISE Button, to $1,913.50 CALL BB, $1,173.50 Check odds Turn: (Pot: $4,457) River: (Pot: $4,457) Showdown: SHOWS Button SHOWS BB BB wins the pot of $4,566.50
	Unfortunately towards the end of the session I ran into a couple of coolers.  Saying that, based on how the villain had been playing I think the river is a pretty easy fold in this hand...
	Hand info: Date: Monday, June 20, 08:30:07 ET 2011 Type: Cash Games Game: Omaha PL Table: Dino Blinds: $5/10 Table info: Posts big blind $10 Seat 1:BB ($1,928) Dealer, Posts small blind $5 Seat 2:Button ($6,108) Dealt to Button Check odds Preflop: (Pot: $15) RAISE Button, to $25 RAISE BB, to $80 CALL Button, $60 Check odds Flop: (Pot: $180) BET BB, $130 CALL Button, $130 Check odds Turn: (Pot: $440) BET BB, $290 CALL Button, $290 River: (Pot: $1,020) BET BB, $1,020 CALL Button, $1,020 Showdown: SHOWS BB SHOWS Button BB wins the pot of $3,059.50

I quit after this hand as didn't fancy playing this deep and the villain had de-tilted having won some money back so it seemed like good timing.  I am avoiding the inevitable plo downswing by withdrawing from FTP whenever I am able to, which depends on when Full Tilt randomly lets me.

Vegas in a week, boom!

p.s. I am not running at all like this in other forms of poker.