Well March is done and I have increased my play just a little, trying lots of different games.
Played a handful of Mini-Ftops and cashed in 1,
Played a few HU Razz and 7-game matches lately and doing alright (slightly ahead anyway),
Moving up (slowly) to $28 sng's on Full Tilt by adding some to my game selection,
Almost reached the bonus for 1k on Mansion,
Came in 2nd in Derk's (a pro at PovkerVT.com) 10 game sng challenge,
Didn't play in the cash game on Poker stars to be reviewed by Jon E (a pro at PovkerVT.com) leaving a space at the table for other members on the forum who actually play cash games as I am mostly a tournament player,
All bank rolls on all sites whet in a Northward direction,
Studied and watched videos while thinking a little deeper about my play,
Started participating more seriously in forum discussions about hands played and situations,
Had some guilt about not taking down a cash over 1k yet (but it will come in time),
Didn't get into too much trouble at my full time job (always a ++),
Had a run of surprise bills and car problems like I haven't had in over 3 years (like almost 4K which is a lot to me),
Gained about 15 lbs.... (I know, just in time to play softball for the summer ;) ),
Considered joining a prop bet with a pool of $600 to play 500 $6 sng's on Stars for the most profit (but can't my Stars roll is to small-now if it were on Tilt I'd be in in a heartbeat!),
Railed a lot of members and pro's going deep in MTT's which was fun and educational,
Kids are great, family is great, wife is great, poker is great,
Have a Happy Easter weekend everybody!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Owning a SnG on the bubble.
So I have been playing almost everyday with only 1 day off here and there over about a 6 month period now. Mixing in Sng's that are turbo, super turbo, 1 table, 3 table and 5 tables. Most larger MTT have been specifically satty's or mixed games.
Oh and I also played like 6 of the mini-ftops events on Full Tilt over the past week or two and some Canada/US free rolls on Poker stars.
Trudging along as my bankroll slowly increases, I can't seem to fathom just yet how come it keeps moving up on Full tilt and stays almost the same on Mansion. I do get way more bad beats on Mansion as well as the rake being a tiny bit more as it's $1 for every $10 entry fee and other sites not so bad. Yet I have almost the 480K Mansion points needed to cash in for a $1000 bonus.
Been doing okay in Mixed games too, cashing more than I probably should be while I am learning the games but I don't mind.
I came in 20th place in a 2,015 player HORSE MTT in event #14 of the mini-ftops which was nice, but if not for a few bad flops giving some short stacks hands to beat my KK and AA respectively I would have made the final table and had a chance at the $19K prize for first.
(Now for my pathetic attempt to share/give any kind of Sng advice while I am still learning to play and am NOT a consistent winner.... yet)
Lately I have also been finding myself getting to be the big stack near the bubble of some 1 table super turbos and love when the short stack is to my left. I can fold my small blind into him every round and take turns picking on the other two medium stacks until they get fed up, wake up with a hand or end up as small as the short stack. Even if one of them does wake up with a hand and doubles up no matter because then I can fold the other two shorties and raise the guy who just doubled up for a couple rounds again and make the bubble last longer. A situation came up today that was just that and I had every body at the table to 3 big blinds 2 separate times. Then when one of them finally shoved, I over shoved the BB who was at 1.2 big blinds and he folds hoping to make the money. If the guy beats me no worries I steal the blinds the very next hand, but he didn't and I shoved the next shorty with 2.6 big blinds who folded because the small blind was all in for his last 15 chips. If he hits I still add to my stack and do it again on the next hand, of course he didn't and then going into heads up I had a 10-1 chip lead and then took it down within a few hands.
Same thing happened in a satty to the mini-ftops main event today, I raised like every hand near the bubble (like literally 25 hands in a row) because I was the chip leader at my table and I could! Every body else just wanted to make the money and get the satty seat to the main event and didn't want to challenge me. I got re-raise shoved like 2 times and called very light because I had stolen so many chips from the rest of the table. I was getting like 2K in chips every hand and could gamble knowing they probably had AA or something super strong. When I started bubble raising I was at 22K in chips and the closest guy at my table with 18K was on my exact right and was playing tight passive, so every time he folded I raised, when he limped I min-raised and got heads up for most pots with position or simply took it down pre-flop. By the end when the bubble finally popped I was around 44K in chips, since like 244 players got tickets and the tournament had about 1200 runners to start everybody was happy to fold and fold and fold.
I feel my game is improving more and more, I only owe my skills to the videos, pros and forums that have given me extra insight to my game. Past trainers that are gone and moved on, current ones that still actively help out members weekly and practice, practice, practice. I feel if I was putting in volume of like 3-5K games per month I would be making around $3-4K since I am up about $8K in my last 7000 games over the past year (13 months, baker's dozen ;) ). I see it like this; If I was playing that much volume I would only be improving faster and faster, seeing things more, beats and wins, analyzing hands quicker and becoming way better with practice, on top of the training, forums, books, magazines, blogs and videos that I put my time into every month... I currently only play about 500 games on a slow month to 1000 games on a busy month, so times that by 3-5 and giving myself more time for studying my game and I can only get better, faster and in turn make more money at my most favorite hobby POKER! Currently my full time job puts a kink into that plan though... cheers to hopefully winning a satty into a big event and getting some cards to make a final table, a super large cash and a chance to take a shot at the big times... It's the thought that counts right! Right??
Anyway really quickly back to owning the bubble, one final thought is that when you are in a spot when there are two of you with large stacks and 2 with medium to short stacks, you can put pressure on the other large stack who will only play back at you with a monster. The 1/5 times he does play back at you, it's simple fold, then play the bubble safely but the 4/5 times he doesn't puts you into a perfect spot to start super abusing and owning the bubble setting you up to have a monster stack going into 3 handed or heads up play.
I don't raise every single hand when 4 handed and doing this, or the other players will pick up on what I am up to rather quickly, but to select each middle stack each round, folding for one raising the other and always folding the short stack especially if they end up on your left to eventual chip dominance and a huge advantage to winning the tournament. Most players won't realize that you are doing it selectively and will also put more faith into the raises you do make.
On another note work is okay, kid's are great, LOST rules the T.V. airways and my wife is learning to cook some new meals... well she bought some cook books and is thinking about learning to cook some new meals, it's the thought that counts right! Right??
Oh and I also played like 6 of the mini-ftops events on Full Tilt over the past week or two and some Canada/US free rolls on Poker stars.
Trudging along as my bankroll slowly increases, I can't seem to fathom just yet how come it keeps moving up on Full tilt and stays almost the same on Mansion. I do get way more bad beats on Mansion as well as the rake being a tiny bit more as it's $1 for every $10 entry fee and other sites not so bad. Yet I have almost the 480K Mansion points needed to cash in for a $1000 bonus.
Been doing okay in Mixed games too, cashing more than I probably should be while I am learning the games but I don't mind.
I came in 20th place in a 2,015 player HORSE MTT in event #14 of the mini-ftops which was nice, but if not for a few bad flops giving some short stacks hands to beat my KK and AA respectively I would have made the final table and had a chance at the $19K prize for first.
(Now for my pathetic attempt to share/give any kind of Sng advice while I am still learning to play and am NOT a consistent winner.... yet)
Lately I have also been finding myself getting to be the big stack near the bubble of some 1 table super turbos and love when the short stack is to my left. I can fold my small blind into him every round and take turns picking on the other two medium stacks until they get fed up, wake up with a hand or end up as small as the short stack. Even if one of them does wake up with a hand and doubles up no matter because then I can fold the other two shorties and raise the guy who just doubled up for a couple rounds again and make the bubble last longer. A situation came up today that was just that and I had every body at the table to 3 big blinds 2 separate times. Then when one of them finally shoved, I over shoved the BB who was at 1.2 big blinds and he folds hoping to make the money. If the guy beats me no worries I steal the blinds the very next hand, but he didn't and I shoved the next shorty with 2.6 big blinds who folded because the small blind was all in for his last 15 chips. If he hits I still add to my stack and do it again on the next hand, of course he didn't and then going into heads up I had a 10-1 chip lead and then took it down within a few hands.
Same thing happened in a satty to the mini-ftops main event today, I raised like every hand near the bubble (like literally 25 hands in a row) because I was the chip leader at my table and I could! Every body else just wanted to make the money and get the satty seat to the main event and didn't want to challenge me. I got re-raise shoved like 2 times and called very light because I had stolen so many chips from the rest of the table. I was getting like 2K in chips every hand and could gamble knowing they probably had AA or something super strong. When I started bubble raising I was at 22K in chips and the closest guy at my table with 18K was on my exact right and was playing tight passive, so every time he folded I raised, when he limped I min-raised and got heads up for most pots with position or simply took it down pre-flop. By the end when the bubble finally popped I was around 44K in chips, since like 244 players got tickets and the tournament had about 1200 runners to start everybody was happy to fold and fold and fold.
I feel my game is improving more and more, I only owe my skills to the videos, pros and forums that have given me extra insight to my game. Past trainers that are gone and moved on, current ones that still actively help out members weekly and practice, practice, practice. I feel if I was putting in volume of like 3-5K games per month I would be making around $3-4K since I am up about $8K in my last 7000 games over the past year (13 months, baker's dozen ;) ). I see it like this; If I was playing that much volume I would only be improving faster and faster, seeing things more, beats and wins, analyzing hands quicker and becoming way better with practice, on top of the training, forums, books, magazines, blogs and videos that I put my time into every month... I currently only play about 500 games on a slow month to 1000 games on a busy month, so times that by 3-5 and giving myself more time for studying my game and I can only get better, faster and in turn make more money at my most favorite hobby POKER! Currently my full time job puts a kink into that plan though... cheers to hopefully winning a satty into a big event and getting some cards to make a final table, a super large cash and a chance to take a shot at the big times... It's the thought that counts right! Right??
Anyway really quickly back to owning the bubble, one final thought is that when you are in a spot when there are two of you with large stacks and 2 with medium to short stacks, you can put pressure on the other large stack who will only play back at you with a monster. The 1/5 times he does play back at you, it's simple fold, then play the bubble safely but the 4/5 times he doesn't puts you into a perfect spot to start super abusing and owning the bubble setting you up to have a monster stack going into 3 handed or heads up play.
I don't raise every single hand when 4 handed and doing this, or the other players will pick up on what I am up to rather quickly, but to select each middle stack each round, folding for one raising the other and always folding the short stack especially if they end up on your left to eventual chip dominance and a huge advantage to winning the tournament. Most players won't realize that you are doing it selectively and will also put more faith into the raises you do make.
On another note work is okay, kid's are great, LOST rules the T.V. airways and my wife is learning to cook some new meals... well she bought some cook books and is thinking about learning to cook some new meals, it's the thought that counts right! Right??
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