Nice little afternoon...

I had a bit of a gruelling day on the grind on Friday afternoon, while waiting for Stef to finish work, I was depleting my bankroll away and not getting very lucky, I came close to making the money in quite a few tournaments but getting nailed near the bubble in the few MTT’s that I went in. I was a bit peeved until I entered a $15 turbo 45 man SNG, only to make the final table coming 4^th in chips, I lately I have really been improving my final table play and I have had some good results when making final tables.

We got down to 5 players when I ran 99 > AK of shorter stack and for him to hit an A on the flop and for me not to improve. I did however manage to play my short stack incredibly and finally make it to heads up when one of my opponents from Switzerland, pokegrandma was pulling some amazing beats, in fact he got a back-door runner-runner straight to knock out the 3^rd place and put us heads up.

Pokergrandma had everything going for him luck and a massive chip stack, he was over a 5:1 advantage with me have around 14k. I slowly stole blinds and reluctantly folded a few hands until I get dealt a beautiful starting hand for heads up, 9♥ 9♦. And thought this is it, he calls his small blind an I min-raise my big blind to 4k and he calls,

The Flop come J♦ 10♦ 4♥, I open shove for the remainder of my stack and he calls, turning over 10♣2♠, the board ran 6♦2♦, completing my flush and doubling me up. It seemed the luck had turned.  

And it was time to battle!

I had now just above 23k in chips and my opponent had over 40k,

My next big hand is A K, and I was limping a bit, so not to get rid of this monster I limp, he 3x I call, knowing I’m not folding any flop, with position – as he has to act first, he indeed does and shoves on a 10 high board, and I snap and my A K holds against his Q J.

I am now chip leader, and funny enough I can’t remember the last hand, I’m pretty sure he open shoved me pre-flop and I was holding an A, and I called and he didn’t connect. It was a nice win, it boosted my bankroll $192.26 – to well over $230 and making my much earned profit of $50 for the few hours that I spent. I left to pick up Stef with a smile on my face and we enjoyed a nice evening out with a few friends on the town.

I didn’t screen shot, as I know they look better, but here is my history:

PokerStars Tournament #414863423, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $13.78/$1.22 USD
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $620.10 USD
Tournament started 2011/07/15 17:43:24 AEST [2011/07/15 3:43:24 ET]
Tournament finished 2011/07/15 19:09:15 AEST [2011/07/15 5:09:15 ET]
 1: smokinsam69 (Australia), $192.26 (31.004%)
 2: pokegrandma (Switzerland), $133.32 (21.499%)
 3: 3rd Bro (Netherlands), $102.31 (16.498%)
 4: alexisdonk (Canada), $77.51 (12.499%)
 5: Mastamaschek (Germany), $55.80 (8.998%)
 6: blowflyz (Australia), $37.20 (5.999%)
 7: ozzieowen (United Kingdom), $21.70 (3.499%)
 8: sayago1962 (Spain),
 9: morrri (Poland),

You finished in 1st place.

Now I have to continue to build my money that I lost so I can hit Crown Casino next weekend with confidence. Will keep you up dated through the week… 

Coaching, Wins looses, etc...

Whats happening party people. So after a coaching session with a good mate of mien Andrew “higgerwattage” Watson, I have plugged a few leaks in my tournament game and have over the past few weeks managed to have a couple of deep runs and win a couple of nice SnG’s. My First deep run was in a $2.2 $4k Gt, and I place 5^th out of 5000, which was actually a bit of a let do as I went into the Final table as the Chip leader, I remember one had where I made a call of the short stack holding A5 and he had AA. And then I lost a had with AK > AQ with Q hitting the Board, after all in Pre Flop. And then Finally pushing my Button with K♠7♠ and running into K 10, and of course the board bricked out.

But that gave me over $400, bucks that I took out and paid for a few things with that week and put $200 into my bank roll. Lately I have been doing great with my normal SnG’s with a couple of 1^st, in $7/45 man ones, on Monday I played 4, cashed in 3 with one 1^st, boosting my online roll up to $160. So that should keep me a float for a few days.

My work friends decided to go for a casino run, last night and I had an arrangement to get staked by my mate into the $500 cash game, but when I rocked up he had blown over 600 on BlackJack and was not in the mood any more. So I took that $200 out and played the $1-$2 blinds, $200 NLH table and was off to a rocky start with trying to bluff this guy out after about sitting there for an hour card dead, of course this bluff didn’t work and I was down to $140.

On the button I was dealt K♠ 4♠, and made it $8 with a couple of limpers, and got 4 callers the board came:

K♥ J♥ K♦,

Everyone checked to my button and I bet out $16, the SB called and everyone folded.

I’m putting him on any J, or Flush draw, with may be QT and aswell.

The turn brought a 3♣, and he checks. And I bet out $35. He calls.

I think now based on his play that QT is gone, and flush draw is not that likely unless is is like A♥ 10 ♥ or something like that, so most likely he has a J with good kicker like Q, as I he likes to call his top pairs down.

The turn brought a 10♠. And he checks again, I push my remaining $85 into the pot, and he calls. And mucks when he see’s my 3 K’s.

K♥ J♥ K♦ 3♣10♠.

My hand: K♠ 4♠ oppents hand ? ? Pot $280+.

A few more hands go by and I manage to build over $300. When I get dealt the 3♣ 4♣, and make it $8.

I grab 4 callers again, this time I am UTG with two early position callers and, the BB tag along.

Flop brings:

5♣ Q♣ 2♣

Bingo Flush, ok now how do I get the money in? I continue again for $16, and get one caller, and  the same guy from my last big pot makes it $50. The SB gets out of the way. Now I go through my head as what this guy could have and of course I think yea he could have a bigger flush but – lets face it, this is Hold’em not Omaha, it is unlikely, so I’m more likely putting him on a set, or a really good Q with a Club in his hand, Like K♣ or even A♣, remembering he doesn’t really like raising me pre-flop without big pairs in his hand. And if he has the bigger flush, I don’t see myself folding anyway.

I made my decision and I grabbed a pile of chips, and pushed them in the middle, the dealer counted out $175 total. And he starts to literally shit himself, scratching himself, thinking what to do, like he has never been re-raised before. But to my surprise he goes all in and I instantly call and he turns over A♣ Q♦.

The turn brought the 10♣, I still have the 6♣ for a straight flush but the river brings a J and my hand goes dead.

Pot was over $600, my hand was a big favourite to win. Would have been nice, when I was up $100, I was thinking of how good it was to shout Stef, but then the $600 pot came along and all I was thinking about was how good it would be to pay a chuck off my loan, and take Stef out for dinner. I still took Stef out for a great meal at our favourite Japanese restaurant. Back to the online grind for a few weeks.

Lately I have been reading DevilFish’s auto-biography and it has been pretty interesting so far, there a good quote that I like from it that should sum up a poker player’s feeling about money and the ability to cope with bad beats, “As long as you realise the money means nothing, then your ahead”. And lets face it, you are ahead– well 80% of the time at least.

I’m looking forward to the Sydney champs coming up in September, with a few backers still needed, so get in touch if you are interested!