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I’ll be playing as a blogger in the PocketFives Open. P5s is adding some $530 Sunday Million seats for the poker bloggers out there.The PocketFives Poker Forum is the home of the best online poker rankings.Also, PocketFives boasts a member list that includes a who’s who of online poker, including top poker players such as Chad Batista and djk123.Registered:2121263624
I’ve got to put some bankroll building back into my play. The MTT’s have been slowly draining my resources so it’s back to SNG’s play. They can be a grind but I’ve got to play into my strength and that is the turbo SNG. I’ll be working a new rotation which will cut down on the MTT’s.
Started this by playing a few steps SNG’s last night at Full Tilt. Took me two step one’s to win a step two token. Turned the token into a third place finish for a little profit. Feels like my game hasn’t dropped off too much so I should be able to hop back in without too many growing pains.
The steps will be my focus for the short term.
My wife asked me what my bankroll was at last night. So I told her.
She was confused as to why it hadn’t changed since the last time she asked me. I tried to explain to her that I had been playing mostly tournaments and not the cash games that would slowly build up.
Her response:
“What happened to winning a tournament every month? You used to win one every month. You need to win another cruise. It’s time to go on another one.”
If only it were that easy.
I want to thank Klopzi, Fuel, and $mokee for replying to my call for input.
I wish Fuel would have expounded a little on his reason for folding.
In the moment of play I had the exact same thought process $mokee had. So exact it’s scary. I decided to push to force out the other two players. The original player had pocket 5’s for the flopped set. I hit my K on the river for a bigger set. Still didn’t manage to win though because the chip leader called preflop gambling it up with Ad7d. His flopped nut flush was enough to win the hand after he called my all in re-raise.
Second guessing myself afterwards I was convinced I made the wrong play here. With four of us seeing that flop and since I wasn’t re-raised a set or straight draw is very possible. That flop should have been scary even if their wasn’t the three diamonds. Since I had the second nut flush draw I figured it was worth the play at the time. I’m still a little undecided on what the right course of action should have been.
I guess that’s why this game hasn’t been solved yet.
This is a hand from a tournament I played in the other night. I’ve been debating with myself whether I played this hand right postflop so I’ve decided to ask for input.
The hand occurs after were already in the money but it’s still early after the money bubble.
Full Tilt Poker Game #5221922500: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (38945611), Table 16 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold’em - 1:00:58 ET - 2008/02/12
Seat 1: delmop (25,759)
Seat 2: Dannydm (39,903)
Seat 3: williams1 (82,255)
Seat 4: Jhouse1968 (38,512)
Seat 5: Montezuma67 (29,326)
Seat 7: dooce_kikker (32,450)
Seat 8: Jordan4523 (29,720)
Seat 9: lifesagrind (34,505)
antes 150
dooce_kikker posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lifesagrind [Ks Kd]
lifesagrind raises to 3,600
Dannydm calls 3,600
williams1 calls 3,600
dooce_kikker calls 2,400
As you can see my raises were getting plenty of respect.
*** FLOP *** [9d Td 5d]
dooce_kikker has 15 seconds left to act
dooce_kikker bets 28,700, and is all in
This guy took all of his time to make this play. I’m next to act so I have a tough decision to make.
What do you do?
I have plenty of options here and I’m not sure I made the right one. I’m not troubled about the decision because of the outcome. I’m troubled because it was a tough spot. I also feel a little lost on what the correct play is in this position.
Indicator that your playing above your comfort level: How about losing 2 1/2 buyins in 621 hands. I then dropped down 2 levels and have since gone up 2 buyins in 687 hands.
Indicator that your finally hitting your groove: MTT’s can be a drain on the psyche as well as the bankroll. The level of variance is well documented and my experience has been no different. The key is to feel secure in your own play and believe that you are making the correct decisions. I finally reached that feeling this week. It’s taken a few weeks of play but I definitely feel I’m back in form after my extended MTT absence.
Indicator that you didn’t play much in January: I received my rake back payment for January, it was $6.41. ‘nuff said.
After a month (well two weeks anyway) of nothing but Multi Table Tournaments I have 39 played and an ROI of -51.53%. In Satellites I have 3 played for an ROI of 321.49%. Overall that means I lost money this month.
I’ve managed to learn something about the low buy in events. I learned my “normal” style of play is a losing style. I have a tendency to be very erratic overall in my play. I can move from tight to aggressive and vice versa very quickly and I do so often. Presently, that’s a recipe for disaster.
I would surmise that in order to consistently cash in these events, and thus give myself a shot at winning them, I’m going to have to aquire a very rigid straight forward approach. This approach is three pronged.
First, during the initial hour of play I will need to be tight and play straight forward ABC poker.
Second, during the next hour I will step up the aggression and begin open raising more liberally.
Third, If I make it into the money I will look for large trapping opportunities.
I’m not sure this will be a good final approach but over the next two weeks I will give it a try and see how everything is meshing out. I’m also going to start rotating some cash game play into the mix. I keep trying to deny that part of my game since I suck at it but I simply can’t fight the urge. My work schedule for the rest of the week will also prevent me from playing tournaments so I’ll need cash game play to take up the slack. I’ve resigned myself to playing only one cash table at a time and also stepping up stakes. I’m hoping that will force me concentrate more and take the game more seriously.
That last sentence sounds stupid, but it’s true. My brain is just fucked up that way.
My sporadic vacation from poker has been nice but it’s time to once again join the fray. Starting this week I’m going back to five days of play but I’m going to start with nothing but MTT’s. I will be looking to play four tournaments at a time and joining new ones as I bust out of earlier ones. I will not be playing all of these events but this is the schedule I plan on using each week.
Schedule:
Sunday
(varied) Sundays are a family day and I don’t plan on playing any of the majors so the tournaments I play will be random whenever time permits.
Monday-Thursday
8:00 pm - UltimateBet 5K bounty
Full Tilt Daily Double A & B
PokerStars $5.50 NL
8:45 pm - UltimateBet $11 NL
Full Tilt Token Frenzy
9:00 pm - PokerStars $16.50 NL
Cake Poker 2K
Full Tilt 28K
Friday-Saturday
OFF
Blogger tournaments will be thrown in sporadically whenever the mood strikes.
See you at the tables.
I decided to play 6 MTT’s at the same time last night. This was the online poker equilavent of throwing a bunch of shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. The results were well below expectation as I managed to cash in the lowest buy in I played and I managed to win the one with the smallest payout.s
During The Math event I noticed a trend that I’m becoming very concerned with. I believe that as a “community” poker bloggers should be supportive and cordial to each other. Instead the trend has fallen to, who can berate and belittle the most effectively. If this was merely a form of trash talking or good natured ribbing I wouldn’t care. Sadly it just doesn’t seem like this is the case. There are even polls where everyone is vying to be the most “hated” blogger. Do you really want to be the biggest Asshat? Is this something to aspire too?
I don’t get it. Then again, I’m probably not supposed to.
It won’t stop me from playing the events. I’m secure enough in my belief, perhaps misguided, that I have game. None of it gets to me on a personal level. My concern is for the new players wanting to join in. My wife is a nurse and they have a saying that “Nurses eat their young”. This talks to the fact that the experienced nurses treat the inexperienced nurses like shit. Giving them all the dirty nasty work. I just don’t want the blogging community to turn into an equivalent where the inexperienced players are discouraged and shunned from playing and participating in the community.
Had some time to play last night so I fired up four tournaments and set out to make some money. I played the 28K., a 2K, a FTOPS sat., and a $5 event.
It was a night of bad cards as I only managed to squeak into the second hour of the 28K and the$5. The satellite went really well as I won the event and my seat. The seat wasn’t into the tournament I thought it was though. Turns out is was a “Super” satellite and not a “true” satellite so I get to play again in February for my seat into the FTOPS event #8.
In the 2K I made a bad read and went out just barely in the money. I put my opponent on a pure steal because his reraise was just too big. I decided to re-steal against him but he called with his middle pair and I couldn’t hit either of my two overs.
If you count the seat win as money then it was a profitable night. If not… then it wasn’t.
I’ve had almost a full month off from the tables now as my playing time has been very sporadic. I plan on going to a five day schedule of tournaments Sunday-Thursday starting in two days. No cash games.
 Play
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