1G!

Well, finally hit the 1 grand mark again. Nice to see a four-figure number. Hopefully I can get the 'ol BR up nicely in May.

I'm quite sick right now, actually, so I think I'll be playing a substantial amount of poker this weekend, nicely curled up with a blanky on my chair. As I have previously mentioned, though, I have a ton of things to get done, so that might prove to be a difficulty.

At any rate, I'm finally playing the 15+1s. I do surprisingly well at the 6.50s, and I'm on a great run there, but I played a set of 4 *15+1s, and busted 9th in two of them simultaneously. One of those hands I posted on 2+2 for revision. I came back, though, and won the other two, albeit with some errors.

My computer has been niggerbucketting it up today. Tons of stuff isn't working, and I'm afraid I might have to reformat at least one of the partitions (C drive/Windows installation). I'll try just repairing it, but tomorrow.


I've also been thinking about something I've been wanting to do in a while; I'd like to win an MTT. I never have; not even a small 45-player one. I've never been at a final table.

I'm thinking rebuys are a bit unrealistic for me, I dislike the idea of spending 30$ on a 3$ entry tournament, so I'm probably going to try and win a 20+2 180man SNG. When the 'ol BR permits, of course. I'm thinking once I have at least 2Gs in the bank, I'll be able to comfortably play four of these at a time. I don't know when I'm planning to move up to the 25+2s, but I definitely want 8-tabling them to be my main game for the summer. I also emailed stars about adding 35+3 full ring turbos. Hopefully they will.

On a final note, the second part of sheets's SNG guide is out on msn/foxsports. Sheets, for the uninitiated, is a really really good SNG player - one of the best in the world. In the words of another 2+2'er, 'he looks at the 225s as you do at the 6.50s'. Kinda puts things in perspective. Anyway, clicky.

Damn variance

Man, it really sucks when I try to move up for what seems like the hundreth time, and I get shot down again. Yeah, went down about 140$ on 15+1s, which is ~8 buyins. Played like 20 sngs. Oh well. I'm back up again, after some playing. I will have to cut down on poker-time this week and next week, though, because I've got schoolwork and things to get done, not to mention finals coming up soon.

Anyway, here's a nice hand from the 2+2 forums. Check it out.

Don't really have time to post. GL.

15+1s in sight!

Arr, good run today again. Up about 60$ today, for a total BR of 850. Still playing the 6.50s, I'm gonna wait for Jon (TwistedEcho) to help me with the 15+1s, just because of the mental block I might have with my previous limit-moveups this month.

Anyway, April has been decent (graph below). I'll probably be doing three sets of four tables every weekday for the first half of May, then 6-8 tables in the second half. Depends on how much schoolwork I'll have.

So, graph:



I'll take a look at a hand I played today.

Hand #1
Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t100/t200
(Ante: t25)
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t2305
Button: t1510
SB: t6240
Hero: t3445

Pre-flop: (4 players) Hero is BB with
2 folds, SB calls t100 (pot was t300), Hero checks.

He's got a bigger stack then me; if he wants to, he can push me around, especially with two substantially smaller stacks then me on the bubble. In short, I've absolutely no reason to try and steal this away pre-flop with the hand I have.

Flop: (t500, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t325, SB calls t325 (pot was t825).

I've got a pair and a gut straight, and he's shown nothing but weakness. Let's bet.

Turn: (t1150, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

Okay, so now I put him on either a jack, ten, a flush draw or a made 89 straight. There is a slight possibility he's on complete bullshit. He would probably raise me with a jack, so it's kind of unlikely, but it's still there. Anyway, the flush just came, if he's got any of the likely hands I put him on, he's beating me.

River: (t1150, 2 players)
SB bets t800, Hero calls t800 (pot was t1950).

So I just got a flush. I'm now beating everything but a flush caught on the turn, or a higher heart. The pot is now 1150, and he bets 800 at me. Would he bet that much with a flush? He wouldn't be getting any value out of it. I think he's trying to scare me out of it, and I don't think he has the flush. With something like an ace-high flush, he would bet half the pot, to at least get some value out of the hand. I call and take it down. He shows rags.

Results:
Final pot: t2750

Hotter than Hades

For the uninitiated, the title is derived from a great school paper.

On to the poker meaning of it. I ran tremendously good last night. Over about thirty sngs, I had a ROI of 80%+ Ended up close to 800$, playing the 6.50s. I'm going to continue playing the 6.50s until 850-1000$, depending on how good I'm feeling and how well it goes. I hate moving down, so I want to have a good amount of buyins for the 15+1s. A friend of mine uses the 100 buyin rule for turbos, but ain't no way I'm getting to 1600 on 6.50s, no matter how well I run. I think I'll start the 15+1s in May.

I've also been thinking about the purpose of this blog. It started out as a thing among friends, and we posted about it on liquidpoker.net. It was kinda funny with Jon and Ket and Serge still here, but they all kinda abandonned this blog after I did. Jon still posted something once in a blue moon, though, so kudos to him.

But anyways, as much as I'd like to write about fire-breathing dragons, dangerous escapades at 5000/10000 NL, and Grim Reapers, I can't do that. Unless I lie.

There is one blog that singles itself out from all the other ones - The Law School Dropout's Poker Blog. He plays fairly high-stake LHE. He dropped out of law school to do it, too. It's a good read. I'd start from the beginning, but it's long, so it would take you about 10 hours total to read it through. If you've got time, though, go for it.

Still, I don't play 225 turbos, or go to live tournaments and crack Phil Ivey's aces. My writing skill is classified as 'Is this supposed to be a joke?' by my English teacher, and my funnyness levels, although generally high in real life, go below 0 online. My poker insight, deep as it may seem to me, pretty much stops at 'push pre'. So, where to go from here? The first thing to do might be to get some readers. I have a feeling this is kind of like that time I was shoutcasting some TANL matches (online StarCraft tournament) and when I popped into the console to check how many listeners there were, I saw there was one. Better than none, you might say, but that listener was me. I forgot to turn off the stream on winamp (though that was muted, so I didn't hear myself in my headphones).

So yeah, time to start publicizing this thing. You can help out by telling your friends.

Keep on donking the turn,
Mike

Often misplayed situation

Here's a situation I see a lot of beginners misplay. Let's derive it from this situation:

7-handed blinds: 100/200
BB: 2200
Hero: 1100
BT: 3000
CO: 2000
LP1: 3000
LP2: 1200
LP3: 1000

You are pushing any two here, obviously, even if the BB will call with the top 20% of hands.

Now, let's say your chipstack and the BB's are inversed.

7-handed blinds: 100/200
BB: 1100
Hero: 2200
BT: 3000
CO: 2000
LP1: 3000
LP2: 1200
LP3: 1000

With the same calling range for the BB, you also push any two. This may seem like a waste of a decent chipstack, but adding that 200-300 to your stack is important.

Now let's add about 1000 to both stacks, with the same calling range.

7-handed blinds: 100/200
BB: 1900
Hero: 3300
BT: 2000
CO: 1000
LP1: 3200
LP2: 1000
LP3: 1000

Here you are the bigstack and are in a great position. Pushing any two would be a very bad play, simply because of your chip stacks. If you push and lose, you are in a terrible position. If you push and win, you are in no better a position than you were before.

If you're trying to decide whether to push or not and don't have time to open SNGPT, just ask yourself - how much will winning these chips help me? Do I have a real shot at getting ITM if I don't win these chips, without catching aces or kings or some other good hand and doubling off of it?

Post by Rekrul

Nice story by Rekrul from teamliquid.net / liquidpoker.net.

"RAISE!" Shouts some cocky kid as he throws 12$ into the pot as if he's a badass and God's gift to poker. Sitting there with his monster stack of 400$ that he just managed to get from doubling up his previous hand with aces in the hole. No 5/10 games or bigger running tonight thats for sure. Why the fuck was I even bothering sitting at this low stakes table with a bunch of grinders who think they are the shit because they can make a couple bucks playing cards? But hell...I went all the way to the casino and I got nothing better to do tonight so whatever...I'll continue to waste my time.

"DAN come to my bar 10/20 game 8 people good game...W Bar." The text message from an insane girl that I had met playing poker in the past. Yesterday I got that exact same message from her and went there because she said seven people were playing...only to arrive and theres no game and even she already had went home. Thats what casino managers do here...they usually lie and exaggerate about the games to ploy people into coming who would otherwise not have come. Once the degenerates come even if they were lied to and there is no game they usually will stick around and wait for one to form. This girl is the works. Not your typical korean girl by any means. She's about 30 years old, attractive though she has an insane look to her face. She uses fucked up korean slang and fucked up english slang all the times. Has a very very dirty mouth cussing all the time and never uses the respectful way of speaking korean to anyone. Don't go all-in on her with a draw and hope to hit without getting a "YOU WANNA DIE MAN? FUCKING SHIT YOU SHIT FUCK WHAT THE FUCK GOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!!!! *combined with her bashing her head into the table*" Anyways, I think she's a cool person and her and I were kinda friends from casino'ing so I decided to go check this place out because hell, if I can up the stakes by 10x i'll take that chance because even if it's not open again I can just go home instead of wasting my time on a 1/2 table.

I stroll up to the door of W bar at 1:00 AM. It was a very windy night and the wet was damp from the on and off raining all day. This place is in a different area from all the other casinos and there was not a soul in sight outside the bar other than some taxi's waiting outside the hotel across the street. But the door to the W Bar was a huge steel door with a locking mechanism. No doorbell, just a keypad to enter the password for the door to open. I didn't feel too safe being there alone and the mood of the night wasn't helping me too much. But nothing could prepare me for what lay inside.

*CLICK CLICK SLAM SLAM* Two car doors immediately open and shut as two guys get out from cars parked next to the bar on both sides of the bar. They are both wearing ear-peices that you'd think special agents wear. They walked up asking who I was and I said I was invited here by the girl whom I'll call Jesse. They asked if I came to play games and I said yeah and they immediately punched in the code and I walked in while they got back into their cars. I strolled through a semi-lit hallway, turned a corner, went down some stairs, turned another corner, walked down some more stairs, and then into the main room. I saw Jesse at the only table running and walked up to her and said hi. I hadn't really scanned the room with my eyes yet but then I stood tall and looked all around and saw things that I never expected to see. In korea the underground poker casinos generally attract the same people always nowadays. I did not recognize a single person aside from two dealers that I knew a long time ago who were dealing at the places I first playing live poker at. The table had a range of characters at it. Some young muscular guys with scars on their faces, some 40ish year old guys who just look completely dumb as hell and talk complete shit, some harsh looking old guys in suits, and one very slick looking dude with sunglasses on over his intense beady eyes. All around the table were small normal tables with more harsh looking guys in suits drinking alcohol or talking business together. There was also a main bar and several doors leading into back rooms. Sitting in seat three at the table was The Boss. This guy was atleast in his 70's, very short, long slick shiney grey hair with a pair of multi colored young-gun sunglasses resting atop of it. His face wasn't extremely harsh or scary looking, but this guy was scary as hell. He wore a purple and blue colored jump-suit and was covered in bling bling. Everyone in this casino acted abnormally too. Usually koreans use respectful tone and dialect and rarely curse...but these for these guys yelling "SHIPPAL KAE SEKKI YA" was completely normal and they didn't often speak up to eachother as "hyung" (respectful way to speak to a man older than you thats your friend). But with this guy, The Boss, not only did they use manner speak, they used the super respectful way of speaking in Korean every time they addressed him. This guy even had three young girls sitting next to him, behind him. The girls were young and extremely beautiful paying attention to everything he did and said but never speaking for themselves. They occasionally massaged him too. The game was 10/20 and the minimum buyin was 2000$. I got 2000$ in chips and took a seat. As I scanned the room some more I realized there were hired whores everywhere with these suited gangsters at the outside normal tables. This place put every casino I had ever been to to complete shame. All those 'gangsters' at the other casinos are wannabe's. I was in the midst of the Korean mafia.

"HI, WHATS YOUR NAME?" Says a cocky young one sitting two seats to my left. Him and the guy to my immediate left and right were the three jokesters at the table. I was in for a ride. "Dan." I replied. "IM MICHAEL," he responded and instant laughter burst all over the table letting me know that his name is not actually Michael but its some fucked up Korean humor.

"WHEH AH YU FRUM?"..."America."

"DO YOU HAVE GUN?" Asked the stupid looking yet crazy guy to my immediate left. "Yeah I got one but only in America."

"CAN YOU IMPORT IT FOR ME? I WANT GUN. KOREA SO HARD TO GET GUN." he says as the Michael chimes in pointing at the crazy one "he's korean mafia, real mafia man."

"Uhhh I don't think that's such a good idea, not only dangerous for me but I wouldn't really trust you with a gun." I say as the two of them begin cackling like crazy fuckers. Then the one to my left says "HAHAHAHA TRUE IF I HAD A GUN AND WE ALLIN AND YOU WIN ALL MY CHIP MAYBE I SHOOT YOU" as he put his hand in the figure of a gun up to my head. Laughter ensued on the whole table. And lets be honest here. Rekrul was scared as fuck.

This table was loose as hell. It was normal for 300 preflop to get 4-5 callers and it was a 99% chance that there was a bet of atleast 700$ on every single flop. Slow play and check-raise was the name of the game for me. Can't really play tricky poker here when the best chances of winning money in such a game is playing only premium hands that hit flops. Everyone was going wild and I was getting extremely cold decked. One guy explained in korean to the table that in America the games don't play like this at all, that everyone folds like crazy all the time to any bet preflop or on the flop, and on the flop it's usually 1on1. They kept making fun of me and calling me American style. I felt kinda pathetic on that table with 2000$ folding every single hand. But what could I do the EV+ was there and I only had 2k more in my wallet at the time. I'll sacrifice the fun I get from buying in huge and bullying tables full of tight asses for the money that was to be earned in this game.

AsQc in the big blind. Finally a "MONSTER!" hand! Everyone limps in for 20 and I make it 420 to go I had about 1400 behind at that point. The Boss calls me and the flop lands down AK3 all clubs giving me top pair queen kicker and the nut flush draw. The Boss does not take shit and bets a lot of flops and bets big. I check he fires out 700 and I go allin for 700 on top of that. He instantly calls and flips over 8c6c for a flush. I put out my cigarette that I was smoking just to fit in with these guys and flip over my hand. "I need a club."

The crazy stupid guy to my immediate left grabs another cigarette and sticks it in my mouth and lights it. "CLUB CIGARETTE LUCKY CIGARETTE CLUB CLUB CLUB!!!" as he pounds the table like a gorilla. Not that he wanted to defy The Boss, but sucking out on people and seeing people suck out on people brought this guy extreme pleasure. Then the other psycho guy with Waldo glasses to my right took out another cigarette and goes "TWO CLUB CIGARETTES CLUB CLUB CLUB, CLUB FOR DAN!!!!" as he sticks it in my mouth and lights it too. I'm sitting there puffing on two cigarettes as the turn and river land red as blood. No club for Dan. The Boss rakes in the 4000$ pot as I calmly say "nice hand" and put out my cigarettes. The Boss tries to throw me back 200$ in chips because he felt bad I guess and I said in Korean "No, no, no, that's okay really I don't need that."

The Boss finally speaks and says in Korean, "Dan, I insist."

The room went silent and all eyes were on me. I could feel the heat of the power that this guy commanded over all these mafia dogs. I really didn't want the money cause normally its my rule to not give and to not take but there was nothing do. "Well then, thank you very much sir."

I bought 2k more and the game resumed. I continued to fold and they continued to make fun of me for it. I felt like "the white guy" as I have explained that phenomenon in my previous articles. The short stacked grinder. I continued to get terrible cards Until finally I limped in the SB with all limpers I had AsJs and the psycho guy in the big blind made it 300 to go. He got four callers and I knew BB had shit so I moved allin for 1600 on top of his bet. He instantly called and everyone else folded. I flipped my hand over and he flipped over QcTs. I tell him good luck and he goes "GAMBBBBLLEEEEE" and shakes his head crazily as he high fives me. He lands his ten on the flop and the turn and river bring me no help. 4K down now.

I look in my wallet and there's barely any money left and the psycho to my right sees it and lets the whole table know. "AMERICAN BOY IS BROKE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" I said I'll be right back guys gunna get more cash. I left the place and got in a cab and started to think.

'Man...these guys want to hound me, they don't like me at all, I'm sitting there like a bitch folding and they all just want to stack me. This is the best game ever. If I want to stay in it I'm going to make these guys like me.' The plan was set.

I went and got 10k and came back and bought in the full 10k. The average stack at the table at this time was probably 5000$. Everyone was like whoa where'd you get that cash? What do you do for a living? I reply "I don't care about money, I won the lottery in Ohio 1.3 million. POWERBALL BABY!" Everyone was excited..I think they thought I wasn't going to come back. I ordered a beer, smoked some nasty cigarettes, and began to play poker. Finally I started getting decent cards. I got AA and raised to 200 UTG and got 5 callers and flopped drilled A86. I checked and the next to act bets 600 and gets two callers and I checkraise to 2000$. First bettor on the flop calls and everyone else folds. Turn comes a king and I put him all-in for 2000$ more and he calls with AQo and I win a nice pot. I gave the guy back 400$ of what I took from him and everyone commented about how much of a gentleman I was and good player I was and that they liked me. Though I can recall countless times when people walked by behind me I imagined the back of my neck getting sliced open by a knife.

After some more poker I continued to go up and down up and down but my stack was slowly growing. I gained lots of confidence and was playing well. At the start of the night not only could I win a pot, but I was SCARED to win a pot off these guys. Eventually I was even bantering back and forth with some of the younger ones in hands joking around getting comfortable. Though, no matter how comfortable I got I was still scared as hell.

Assorted looking freaks, goons, thugs, along with very slick looking gangsterish types were all over the room, probably about 4x as many people watching as playing. At one point in the back room you could hear a guy cursing out another guy and slamming him into the wall but no one seemed to react at all as if it was a normal occurance. More young beautiful girls being ushered into the the smoke filled room as psycho eyed crazy men in racing jump suits that didn't even know them instantly go up to them and half-molest them and in general joke around and go crazy with them. Countless times throughout the night the whores would slap one of the guys in the face really hard and he'd back off and everyone would start to laugh at him. It was a zoo. This is how the mafia plays. Gambling and whores.

AA in the big blind everyone limps in I make it 420$ to go. Two of the limpers call everyone else folds. Flop lands 743 rainbow and I bet out 800$. One guy calls. I had been watching this guy a lot when he calls and raises. Obviously I have AA on that flop I'm ahead of him but his call secured that feeling. The guy just hated to give up pots. Turn hits Js making it impossible for a flush to come on the river and I bet out 1500$. He calls instantly and the river comes a 2. I could have sworn on the flop he had a three or a four only, or maybe even a seven. Regardless if I push all-in here he's probably going to fold. So I value-bet 1000$ into a pot of 5500$. Without hesitation he pushes all-in, 2000$ more on top of my 1000$.

In hind sight, the pot odds were far too great and the board was damn good to ever fold no matter what my read was. But I hesistated because this guy had never made a bluff like this no matter how crappy of a calling station he was in other hands. The guy to my immediate right then stood up and started yelling like a crazy hyena. "COME ON COME ON COME ON IN CALL CALL, BIG POT BOY COME ON CALL CALL GAMBLEE HAHAHAHAHAH CALL COME ON MAN CALL CALL CALL!!!!!!" spit was flying from his crazy mouth and some hit me in the face. I look up at him like "What the fuck?" and then The Boss clears his throat and says calmly in Korean. "Shut the fuck up."

The goon instantly bows to him and sits down very quickly and clasps his hands and stares at the floor.

"Call, I got aces."

"TWO PAIR!" he says as my vision blurs a little bit. Losing a 12k pot in a live game feels bad especially when you get sucked out on. Online it's not that big of a deal but seeing a guy rake in that mountain of 100$ chips hurts.

"FUCK NICE HAND!!!" I say as he flips over his cards. I take a peek to see what two pair he had and if he rivered it and the blurred vision wears off and I see his 25o, one pair of deuces. I give a fucked up expression and everyone at the table starts laughing at me again including the guy who just lost the pot to me because he obviously did not give a shit. One younger guy says "I told you we play dirty," as they all kept laughing (except The Boss). But hell, I was happy and raked in the pot. I gave that guy 400$ back and said you can have this but please don't try that again. Everyone started laughing again and he smiled at me.

Whew. I sat there with a monster stack, having everyone at the table covered and some people saying "Wow this guy is good." But most of them kept saying I'm just a lucky fucker who gets good cards and only bets good cards. The game then slowly began to die and it got down to 4 handed at which time they raised the stakes to 20/50 NL without my approval. It was me, The Boss, the guy who had just tried to bluff me, and one slick guy who spoke english pretty well and while being scary as hell looking was one of the rather nicer guys at the table. Everyone was tired as it was now 7 A.M. but we continued to play short handed. I was on the button, The Boss limped in for 50 and I made it 200 with K6 diamonds. All three of them called and the flop landed 982 with one diamond. Everyone checked and the turn was the 5 of diamonds. The Boss bet out 600$ and I knew he was weak. I was going to go for my draw (seven, diamond, or king) and if I failed to hit it try to bluff him out anyways. River came a queen no diamond and The Boss checked. I bluffed 1600$ and The Boss thought forever and ever talking about how I only had good cards every time I bet. But The Boss is the ultimate calling station, I'm proud to make him think for so long before calling with his pair of eights haha. I flipped over my hand and said in Korean looking directly at him "I have nothing sir, very very nice call" confidently as if I didn't give a shit (actually I didn't give a shit, I was still up 10k on the night.) The Boss then spoke up in Korean. "WOW I didn't know you are capable of bluffing, you are a real poker player, I am impressed, your manner is good too, very nice" as other people watching seconded his opinion. I'm in. I have secured my spot and safety in the worst 10/20 and 20/50 poker game in the existance of humanity. $ $ $ $ $

The game shortly there after died and we all cashed out. The Boss stood up grabbed my hand and shook it and said "Dan please come back often." I replied "Of course this was a lot of fun." After saying good-bye to everyone I walked out of that place with about 25k on my body. Thank god it was daylight by then.

The moments I walked out of that place and got in the cab were the most paranoid moments of my life, I was looking behind my back every two seconds.

Thank you for reading,
Rekrul

Decent day

Today was a decent day. I'm back up to 630$, which isn't much, but at least I'm on my way. I want to get to 1000$ at least by the time school is out, which is June 20th. I don't see how I would fail at this, but let's just hope I don't.

I need about 315 more VPPs. That's 2 x 6-tabling sets a day.

Anyway, I'd like to discuss a hand I misplayed horribly today.

I don't have the HH anymore, but I did post it on another site, so click here to see it.

Anyway, this hand comes up surprisingly often in SNGs, and I made a post about this recently on this blog. I still don't know exactly what to do, but I think that:

• I should raise to 225-250 preflop, depending on the tightness/looseness of the table
  
• The pot will the be something like 600 on the flop. I can then bet 275-300. At best, I can save up to 225 chips. That would give me something like 8BB to play with, which I can easily push with the right position.
  

I'd like anyone else's thoughts on this hand. Comment.

Improve your SNG play in 1hr

If you want to improve your SNG play dramatically in under an hour (took me two, though), here's how. Just gonna quote my post on LP.net

This was all taken from 2+2, STT forum.

Below is a hand-history of a 20+2 played on Party. The link goes to a replayer, so you can see the action hand-for-hand without having to go through text-version.

Again, this is the work of Indy/Indiana (and a bunch of other guys) over at 2+2. Thanks very much to everyone who helped on this project.

The entire SNG is commentated by some of the best online SNGers in the world. These guys dominate the high-stakes SNGs. Learn from this.

Enjoy.
(note: Must be viewed in IE.)

You can also get the hand history and copy/paste in PT.

6.5t

Hey guys,

Gonna put on the poker for a while, at least until May, because I need to get to at least SilverStar. I only have 400 VPPs to go or so, but still, at 3VPPs/sng, it takes a while. 500 SNGs a month is a lot for me. Amounts to 16 SNGs a day, or 2 hours of playing while 8-tabling, which isn't good for my game - yet.

When you are learning, you have to reduce the amount of tables. You should only start adding tables when you are making break-even plays at worst. A professional SNG player suggested 2-tabling. It's much better to move up to higher stakes 4-tabling rather than 8-table a lower stake. Of course, you should have the bankroll for it.

Today, I'll look at a hand history of a friend of mine, Verbloten, and his 6.50 SNG.



Hand #1

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t10/t20
9 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is SB with :tc :qc
UTG calls t20 (pot was t30), 4 folds, CO calls t20 (pot was t50), Button folds, Hero calls t10 (pot was t70), BB checks.


Flop: (t80) :3c :kd :5c (4 players)
Hero bets t80, 2 folds, CO calls t80 (pot was t160).


Turn: (t240) :6h (2 players)
Hero bets t120, CO calls t120 (pot was t360).


River: (t480) :9c (2 players)
Hero bets t160, CO calls t160 (pot was t640).


Results:
Final pot: t800


I dislike this hand very much. The preflop call is okay, I guess. Getting nice odds on the call with two suited broadways.

There are t4 players on the flop, so I really dislike this bet. The chances that someone has a K - especially UTG - are large. Betting here will only get a call. You are OOP so you can't bet it or raise it on the flop and then check behind on the turn. Remember, when you are drawing, your goal is to draw for the least amount possible while maintaining good odds.

On the turn, Hero fires again. CO has said that he has a king, and a half-pot bet isn't going to scare him away if he called the flop. Hell, he might even raise you. After that bad bet on the flop, this is an even worse bet.

On ther river, Hero caught his flush, bet 1/3rd of the pot, and those odds were much too good for CO. Bad play by both players if CO had a K with a good kicker. CO should've raised on the turn at least, preferably on the flop. Hero shouldn't of bet flop, should've check/called to the river with proper odds. First hand, you have no reads, no point in getting frisky.



Hand #2
Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t25/t50
8 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is MP2 with :kh :kc
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t50 (pot was t75), MP1 folds, Hero raises to t200, 4 folds, UTG+1 calls t150 (pot was t325).


Flop: (t475) :9s :tc :jh (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets t200, UTG+1 raises all-in t925, Hero calls t725 (pot was t1600).


Turn: (t2325) :qd (1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t2325)



River: (t2325) :9c (1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t2325)



Results:
Final pot: t2325


Overall good hand. I don't like the flop bet, it entices draws to call and push you. I would bet 300 since you're calling an allin anyway at these stakes. At 25+2, I would bet 300 and fold, in all honesty.




Hand #3


Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t50/t100
7 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (7 players) Hero is SB with :ac :4c
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t100 (pot was t150), 3 folds, Hero raises all-in t585, BB raises to t970, UTG+1 folds.
Uncalled bets: t385 returned to BB.



Results:
Final pot: t1270




I'm actually unsure about this hand. You obviously have no FE with the limper, and two people left to act behind you. I'll post it on 2+2 and see what they come up with. Your tournament life is by no means over!


Those were the three main hands of the tournament. Overall game was decent, though I think there are some leaks postflop. Didn't get to see the push/folding at 1/200 and 2/400.

Circle of friends

Someone mentioned this on 2+2 in one of their Pooh-bah posts (long post people make when they achieve a certain amount of posts/certain rank).

The most important thing to have when you're trying to improve your game is a group of poker buddies you surround yourself with. They will improve your game, help you deal with bad beats and bad runs. Discussing hands, strategies, metagame, and poker in general.

So, on that note, if anyone plays SNGs at any level and would like to help me with my game or vice-versa, my MSN is o2xy@hotmail.com, and my AIM is AimIsTotallyCrap .



Keep on donking that turn,
Mike

-300$

Hey, guys. I'm going to try to start this blog back up. Jon and Ket are off making mucho moneys, while I'm back at the 6.50 SNGs trying to build a BR. My original goal back on Thursday for Tuesday was to get my roll to 1000$ through massive playing during the Easter weekend. Unfortunately, I did one of two things:

1) I went on a bad run,
2) I donked the turn

No idea which one it was, but according to a lot of people and 2+2ers, it was the former. I hope it is.

I started off the weekend with some 15+1 with a roll of 700$. That's over 40 buyins for the stake, and that might seem like a lot to some people, but others - such as Pacifist - often go to the next stake with over 100 buyins. I'm beginning to think that's not such a bad idea.

As soon as I played four sets, I had to drop down. Meh. This time, I only built up to 650$ before hitting them again. I busted down again, and then got mad and fired up 16 tables of 6.50. I used to actually have a positive ROI at the 15+1s while 16-tabling, but that was when I was on a heater of a run.

Anyway, my roll is at 500$ now. I'm going to run it up to at least 860$ before I try my hand at the 15+1s. Not only that, but I want to be sure all the decisions I'm making while 4-tabling the 6.50s are break-even at worst.

I've taken up some good habits in the past days. Namely, whenever I play a hand which I'm not sure about, I get the hand history for it and copy-paste it into a notepad file on my desktop. After the end of a set, or a few sets, I take a look at the hands and run them through SNGPT. I'm going to start doing that with hands that aren't push/fold and run them through 2+2 forums.


Take this hand for example:

PokerStars Tournament, Big Blind is t400 with t25 antes (6 handed) Converter on pregopoker.com

UTG (t1225)
Hero (t3210)
CO (t2180)
Button (t4382)
SB (t1409)
BB (t1094)

Preflop: Hero is in UTG+1 with As Ts
UTG raises to t1200 (All-in), Hero raises to t3185 (All-in)

This was a bad play. I should be really wary of the people behind me. I also should be hesitant to call because I'd be risking 1/3rd of my stack. This also points out another important point; my stack is very nice. Yes, it is below 10BB. However, the relevant stack is of importance.

I also strongly recommend you read this thread. It regards playing mediocre hands with 12-15BB.