UPDATE ON LIFE (AND A BIT OF POKER)

So, it turns out I'm actually still alive, but have been extremely busy with things away from poker at the moment. Mainly, I decided that I should actually get a job! After applying to the Big4 for different positions, I have attended a few interviews and assessment centres over the last month. Actually been offered a job with KPMG starting September 2007, but not entirely sure if I'm going to accept it at the moment. I have still have interviews and/or assessment days lined up for my other potential jobs, so I will attend all of these before making any kind of decision.

When I have played poker, I've been a little naughty and just played whatever stakes (within reason) have taken my fancy:

NL CASH - $50NL

Hands (Total): 2038 (19105)
$ won (Total): +$125.73 (-$147.47)
Current BR: ?

NL CASH - $100NL

Hands (Total): 409 (409)
$ won (Total): +$238.77 (+$238.77)
Current BR: ?

STTs - $12s

Games (Total): 12 (145)
$ won (Total): -$45.00 (+$285.00)
Current BR: ?

STTs - $24s

Games (Total): 39 (39)
$ won (Total): +$73.80 (+$73.80)

Current BR: ?

MTTs - $?

Nah!

Total BR: ??????

No idea where my bankroll stands as I've spent loads recently, although a lot I will get back in expenses for trips to and from interviews. The plan is to fanny about and play cash games and STTs throughout December without really caring about results in between interviews and other fun things I have to do. Then, sometime very early in January, I make a new plan and blog it again. Something similar to this but maybe without the MTTs as I've very quickly learned to despise them!

Think I will probably start a new blog for my new 2007 challenge. I will post the address of this new blog on here as soon as I decide to start it.

Apologies for the lack of updates if anyone was waiting for some, which I'm sure many many people were. Oh, and England make me sad in the ashes, but Sheff. Wed's ridiculous run of form in the Championship dries those tears.

Laters,

skegvegaspoker

WED 15th NOV

Well. An unexpected post this evening as I'm having a little change in strategy. After running stupidly bad today, and letting it affect other things that I need to be doing, I've decided to give poker a break until next week. On Tuesday I am going to Nottingham to play a live MTT so until then I will not play. I need to fill in and send off a number of job application forms as the places are quickly going, and could do with a bit of extra time to catch up with other stuff.

So, here is what happened today:

NL CASH - $50NL

Hands (Total): 0 (17067)
$ won (Total): $0 (-$273.20)
Current BR: $726.80

Couldn't face playing cash after last night's fiasco!


STTs - $12s

Games (Total): 0 (133)
$ won (Total): $0 ($285.00)
Current BR: $885.00


Didn't have time to play any of these.

MTTs - $11s

Games (Total): 7 (7)
$ won (Total): -$27.70 (-$27.70)
Current BR: $522.30

Firstly, Pokerstars kindly refunded my buy-ins from the tournaments I was disconnected from yesterday. Well done them. So, I played a few more today. And they sucked.

Tournament 1 - Absolute Poker NLH $2 rebuy

106 runners. Everyone rebought loads. Down to the last 36 runners and I'm about averagely stacked. Been plugging away, taking many hands with out showdown. Bustout 1.

Tournament 2 - Full Tilt $5.50 NLH Freezeout

188 runners. Been playing really REALLY well. Dominating bubbles, picking off bluffs. Really happy with the way I'm playing here. Get down to final 10, final table is top 9. 1st pays about $275 I think. Am 4th in chips. Ooooo, bustout 2.

Tournament 3 - Pokerstars $8.80 PLO

88 runners. Not doing too bad. Top 9 play and I need to make a move with 19 left and I'm in 13th. Pick up AsAd8s7d, I think that will do. I pot, opponent repots, I push, I call. Opponent has KdKc8c7c. Awesome. 8s 5s Td. Awesome. Kh on the turn. They weren't even joking...

Tournament 4 - Pokerstars $5.50 NLH Freezeout

517 runners. Still about 200 left, but I've got a fairly good chip stack. Until this. Crippled 4.
Painful. Oh well, I can build a stack now and get back into this. Oh, no I can't. Bustout 4.

Tournament 5 - VC Poker $11 NLH Freezeout.

Can't get the hand history for this as PokerTracker does not support VC Poker. But...
90 runners. Down to 32, I'm about 18th. Push over a button's raise with QQ with about 16xBB. He instantly calls with A4o. AA2 on the flop and I'm busted!

Tournament 6 - CD Poker $3.30 NLH $1000 Guaranteed.

365 runners. Had maneuvered the field pretty well. Got lucky with about 40 left to double up when A3s beat KK. Then doubled with AA vs KTo. However, all this was too much luck for one man and I was damaged with AK beaten by AQ. Still, when we were down to 12 players, I had built myself back up to 5th in chips. Silly me for getting AA. Bustout 6. Would have put me chip leader, with 1st paying around $300. 12th still bagged me $10.75 though. Awesome!

Tournament 7 - Ultimate Bet $5.50

205 runners. About half way through with 104 players left. Am about 30th in chips. Madness ensues preflop and after pushing with KK on the BB I am called by ATo (covered me), AKs (covered me) and AKo. Obviously an A falls on the river for them all to hit their one outers! Would have put me in a big chip lead.

TOTAL BR: $2134.10

A combination of having other stuff to do, and running like absolute turd, has forced me to take some time off. I know this is hard to hear loyal readers, but I very much doubt there will be any updates for a least a week. Something to look forward to I guess.

skegvegaspoker

TUES 15th NOV - UPDATE

Just sick.

NL CASH - $50 NL

Hands (Total): 1714 (17067)
$ won (Total): -$342.25 (-$273.20)
Current BR: $726.80

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch! Down 7 buy-ins since last update. Absolutely screwed. Just wanted to play "a little" before bed tonight. Unbelievable. Here's a few hand histories...

Hand 1

I over bet the flop and turn here as I know this opponent will call me down with KQ-KT and after his flop and turn call, I know this is his most likely holding. Probably should have checked behind on the river, but as I was pretty sure he would pay off my value bet with KQ,KJ still, both of which, along with KT were his most likely holdings.

Hand 2

Called re-raise pre-flop as I knew if i hit, he would donk off all those pretty chips. After flop, most likely he has an overpair so i call to hit a T,J or 8 and take all those pretty little chips. Turn, bingo. Give me those pretty little chips. River...or not.

Hand 3

Only 15 outs twice and runner runner outs. Not enough. A really good way to play AA from him aswell.

Hand 4

You'd thought I would learn my lesson. But no. This time only 14 outs twice and less runner runners. This was only a 50/50 because of that but of course, it was one that I lost.

Hand 5

Lush.

Hand 6

Just as nice. Found the betting pattern extremely amusing. He MUST know that third 7 is coming. There simply isn't any other way anyone could think that they would win this hand. What a donk!

Hand 7

After the hand I say, "got to call with implied odds there, makes sense" being sarcastic and very pissed off. He replies "yes, I guess you have". What? Really really really frustrating.

Hand 8

Couldn't be a bad session without one of these mixed in.

Hand 9

Then all of this really made me tilt. In my defense, I check the flop because he is extremely loose and will usually bet with nothing. I guess that his check behind should have told me he has extremely strong. However, my head was exploding at the time, so this thought process wasn't too clear. Called the turn as I he could have been doing this with AJ,9,A8, KhT, QhT, JhT. With the nut flush draw and possibly the best hand, I stand my this call. River check/call was probably poor, but I was getting 2-1 and in my tilty state I thought he would bluff this river the same way.

Hand 10

Lastly, calling for value gone wrong. On the flop he could have AK-AJ and I'm beaten. He could also have KQ,QJ,QT,A9,A8 or another random hand. Felt I had to call down with the the small bet sizes and nature of the board. But once again, I was wrong.

I'm so pissed off. Got back to 1 buy-in up over 15K hands, which is dreadful, but finally thought I was playing better. 1K hands later, and I'm 5.5 buy-ins down again. In 1101 hands in my last session I go dealt 42 pocket pairs. Statistically, I should average 65 for the session. 41 times I saw a flop. On average, for this session, I should flop 7 sets. Given I only saw 41 flops I should have flopped 4.5. I flopped 0. Nor did I turn a set, nor did I river a set.

A massive big cooler for me!

Finally moving on...

STTs - $12s

Games (Total): 49 (133)
$ won (Total): +$124.80 ($285.00)
Current BR: $885.00

They are really weak. And they pay off the bonus at a startling rate. Every set I get ~$6 from bonus + rakeback. Very handy. Especially when I'm trying to counter my massive coolers in cash and mtts. Speaking of which....

MTTs - $11s

Games (Total): 4 (4)
$ won (Total): -$26.40 (-$26.40)
Current BR: $523.60

Rubbish. Decided to play 4 MTTs on Stars. One was a FPP satellite to the Stars Million. 9 places, I'm 7th with 14 left. Another was the $10,000 guaranteed. I was 3rd after the re buy/add on period ended. Just started a $5.50 turbo and was ~50/100 in a 180 man $11 all at pokerstars. So, for no reason what-so-ever the pokerstars client decided to disconnect. And decided further not to reconnect. Mozilla connected to the Internet, IE7 did, MSN Messenger did, AIM did, Full Tilt Poker did, even Party did, but not Pokerstars.

I go onto 2+2 to see if anymore has the same problem or a solution. Nope, a few lags, but nothing major. So I reset the net. Nope. I reset the computer. Nope. I re-install the pokerstars client. Nope. So I give up.

After an hour, it randomly decides to re-connect. I'm out of the turbo, out of the PS Million sat, out of the $11 180 man, and have 2000 chips left at 500/1000 in the $10000 (which actually had a prize pool of about $19000 by the end). Decided not to re-enter just in case I could get any money back in compensation. Still waiting on that.

Either way, I will not actually be recording these tournies and will start again from 0.

TOTAL BR: $2135.40

Next week better be an improvement! Famous last words.

skegvegaspoker

SUN 13th NOV - UPDATE

Being a really mixed weekend regarding my poker fortunes. Here they are..

NL CASH - $50NL

Hands (Total): 191 (15353)
$ won (Total): +$146.90 (+$69.05)
Current BR: $1069.05

Maybe the best 191 hands I've ever played. Had flopped full house against a turned flush, my opponent donked. Had a KQ on 789TJ, overpushed the river, got called by 33 (ie, opponent donked). Had A high flush against Q high flush. Poker is easy sometimes huh. Hopefully, I can maintain my good play (read running well) from here onwards and actually become a winner at $50NL. Because not being able to beat that is frankly embarrassing.

STTs - $12s

Games (Total): 84 (84)
$ won (Total): +$160.20 (+$160.20)
Current BR: $760.20


The Full Tilt STTs are weak. Granted, I am only playing at the $11s. But they are WEAK! Hardly any multitablers at all and so many people who berate you so making standard +EV pushes. Its rather amusing. I really didn't seem to run well, in fact, if anything I think I ran a little poorly at times. Will certainly continue focussing on these during the week as they seem like very easy money.

MTTs - $16.50

Games (Total): 26 (40)
$ won (Total): -$204.99 (-$309.29)
Current BR: $515.71

Unreal. I finished as bubble boy in 5 of these tournaments. 2 of them NLH with AA vs lower pocket pair preflop. 1 razz with A235 vs 279K...hit trip jacks on the last streets. Sweet. 1 PLO with AcAsKcQs vs KdKs8s5s. 1 PLO8 with As2h3sKd vs JJ53. Pure class. Especially enjoyed the razz one as the hand before I had lost a lot of chips with A234 as my first four cards, when I was chip leader. 2 hands from chip leader to bubble boy, what a beauty!

Only cashed in 2 out of 26 tournies. One I was fairly short stacked coming into the money and lost a coinflip for my stack. Other was my last one tonight. 319 runner, $1000 guaranteed on Absolute Poker. Average stack is about 30000 and I have ~50000 chips. Top 4 pays over $100, 1st pays about $350 I recall. 12 people left. 6 handed on my table. CO (25000) opens for 7000 at 1000/2000 and I've got KK. Re-raise to 20000, he pushes, I call. AK good enough to win that one. Very next hand, same guy now CO+1 raises to 7000 again. I push my ~25000 into the pot with AK. He calls with AQ, which is good enough to win that hand. Really typified the way I've been running in these tournies. I had a massive grip on this tourney in my opinion and avoiding any beats, really think I would have won it.

So, it pains me so, but I'm going to have to move back down to playing the $11s max and $2.20 rebuys. Woo hoo. My average finish as a percentage in these MTTs is 0.28. All I can say is Mr. Variance has well and truly bitten my ass!

Here is a lush graph of my MTT downfall since moving to all tournies upto $16.50. Pretty darn fun!



Total BR: $2344.96

So, despite horrendous misfortune in my MTTs this weekend, I have managed to increase my BR by ~$130 in the last two days. Can't complain I suppose.

What I can, and will, complain about is Party Poker. To cut a long story short, they owe me $1800 from rakeback from September and October and it looks about 99% certain that they are refusing to pay me. This doesn't affect my roll, but its kind of annoying losing about £1000 that you were sure was coming to you. Party are so amazingly dishonest in their business practices and its pretty outstanding that they consistently are allowed to get away with it. However, I suppose that is just the nature of the industry.

Think I'm going to be giving my custom to FTP from now on. Until they do something outrageous at least.

skegvegaspoker

FRI 11th NOV - UPDATE

Again, have been focussing on job applications (and a little bit on Football Manager) over the last few days and so haven't really played too much. Where I have played, I think I've played fairly well though.

NL CASH - $50NL

Hands (Total): 1113 (15162)
$ won (Total): +$49.28 (-$77.85)
Current BR: $922.15

That's a bit better. A poster on 2+2 (Jay1986) has been a massive help to me this week, outlining the importance of wa/wb situations and just check/calling flops that I would before continuation bet a lot. My plan over the next few days is to work more on this and re-read the "value betting" section of Slansky's Theory of Poker. Also, have another online article on a similar topic to read, and more importantly, try to understand.

Played the occasional hand badly, usually ones where I try to fire a second bullet when it's obvious he's just going to catch my bullet and fire about 12 back!

Still enjoying cash games more than any other form of poker at the minute.

STTs - $6.50s

Games (Total): 50 (177)
$ won (Total): +$145 (+$264)
Current BR: $814

I haven't actually played 50 stts in the last two days, but one of my updates at the end of October disappered so for continuity of the blog, I thought I would just pretend I have. Been playing some on FTP. After emailing support, I can now play 12 tables at once and enjoy the structure of their sit and go's and I get rakeback on them. So, I'm going to play a few $12 turbos in the next week or so and see how they go. So, I will remove $214 from my BR and start at 12x50=$600 BR.

MTTs - $16.50s

Games: 0 (14)
Total: 0 (-$104.30)
Current BR: $695.70

Gone off these a little at the moment, but reading Phil Gordon's Little Green Book may prehaps reignite my passion for them.

Total Bankroll: $2217.85

Although less than 2 days ago, I have actually made about $100 so its all good.

Generally, I'm about done with Party Poker unless something drastic happens. Their games, in my opinion, are still the softest on the internet. However, their business practice leaves A LOT to be desired. I should have been receiving rakeback from them in September/October/November, but it seems unlikely that they will be paying my affiliate (as he is a US account) and so he cannot pay us. Kind of frustrating as I'm owed about $1800. Unfortunately, I can't see them resolving this situation and have almost written this money off, which is kind of painful!

At the minute, Full Tilt are getting the majority of my attention. Lucky them.

Finally, for nay relative newbies to NL cash, this series of articles are of great use. You can thank me later.

skegvegaspoker

skegvegaspoker

TUE 8th NOV - UPDATE

Been a while since my last update because I haven't been playing that much (or that well). Have been posting and reading 2+2 a lot, and filling in some job application forms. Nothing overly exciting.

NL CASh - $50NL

Hands (Total): 2106 (14049)
$ won (Total): -$114.32 (-$127.13)
Current BR: $872.87

GRRRR! This is getting frustrating now. I can't beat $50NL. However, I have started to post more and the first step to curing donkness is to admit you are a donk. So here it is, I am sick. I need to get better, and I will. Get these job interviews out of the way and I'm going "to do a Sponger" (but hopefully a lot quicker than he did). Game on! Here are the "interesting" hands from this week. Again, feel free to comment.

Hand 1 - Villain shows Qh9d

Hand 2 - Villain shows As5s

Hand 3 - Villain shows 5h5s

Hand 4 - I folded so...

Haven't played any STTs or MTTs since my last update.

Total BR: $2318.57

My BR really needs to start moving back in the right direction soon.

skegvegaspoker

TUE 24th OCT - UPDATE

So, this will be my last post for about a week as I'm touring the country getting drunk with different friends from school and University. Yeah, hard life I know. Played the cheque-raiser promotion again on Monday and then a few hands today.

NL CASH - $50NL

Hands (Total): 5919 (11243)
$ won: (Total): -$171.39 (-$14.24)
Current BR: $985.76

As I said, I attempted to get a top 10 spot in the "party poker" cheque-raiser promotion again on Monday, and as far as that was concerned I succeeded. However, at playing good poker, I kind of failed. 9 hour sessions in consecutive days probably isn't the best recipe for winning poker. Saying that, I've never seen so many "only card in the deck moments" and I just wasn't hitting any hands. For 9 hours. In 5,500 hands in that time, I made 11 flushes. This is playing 22/16. IE, "89s from late position is the nuts" type poker. Just a horrible day. I was ~$330 down after the session, but fortunately decided to play a little more at 3am on Tuesday and regained 2 buy-ins and then won another 2 at Full Tilt on Tuesday.

So, despite actually losing a few $s since moving up from $25NL, in reality it isn't too bad. With rakeback and bonuses I've actually pocketed about $800-$900 in 3 days, which can't be bad! As far as $50NL goes, I think it is easily beatable but not without some kind of work. On my return from this trip, I will be posting many more hands on the uSNL of 2+2 and spend less time playing less than optimally or watching TV shows.

I haven't played either STTs or MTTs since the last update.

Total BR: $2636.91

So, tomorrow night I will be playing in a live £20 rebuy tournament in Nottingham with a friend, and I am extremely excited about it. I have a strategy to ensure it is within my boundaries cost wise, and of course I have the strategy to pwn it and take it down. Obviously.

So, see you in a week.

skegvegaspoker