My 1st Stars 180 win

I have played quite a number of the Stars $4 180 man SNGs previously. Although having made several final tables, I had best places of 2nd & 3rd, not quite managing to take one down. On Friday, I finally went one better.

I have pretty much avoided them lately as the last few times I’ve played them, I’ve just lost to horrendous beats by bad players who will call with anything and flop their 2 pair to crack your aces, or whatever. Whilst most will argue that I should be seeking out these players, not avoiding them, I just found the beats too depressing, especially when you’ve had a few in a row.

Anyway for some reason I decided to play one, despite trying to avoid them lately, and I’m glad I did. Here’s a summary of some key moments in the tournament:

I had been pretty card dead for the 1st few levels, although I was able to maintain a stack of around 10 big blinds with standard short stack play (i.e push or fold), but was mostly only winning the blinds. My first double up came when my 66 held up against AJ at the 100/200 level, then a few hands later I knocked someone out with QQ>88. I now had nearly 6k in chips and had a bit more breathing space.

At 150/300 I had AK. Raised to 900 and the Big Blind called. Flop was 757 rainbow. BB checked and I made a continuation bet of 1000. He called. Turn was a Q. It went check/check. River was a lovely King. BB went all-in. I was confident I was ahead. If he had KQ, he’d have bet the Turn. He certainly wouldn’t have called with K7 or K5. The only other hands that were possible, were that he was slow-playing 55 or 77. If that was the case, then so-be-it. I called and he showed 43s for the bluff. He was obviously chasing his gutshot. I’m now up to $11k.

At 200/400, we were approaching the bubble, and I took a big hit. I was in the Big Blind with Q2. UTG player limped as did a player in Mid Position. I duly checked. Flop was a glorious 23Q. I checked to induce a bet, and UTG duly obliged with a 1200 bet. I was hoping that he’d hit his Queen and so pushed. He called showing KQ. Unfortunately a 3 on the turn gave us both 2 pair Queens & Threes, but he had a better kicker. I hate it when that happens, but I do get on the right side of one of those later. I’m back down to $3.2k and in trouble.

However, very next hand I get some those chips back against the same player. I have 97s in the Small Blind. All fold to me, easy push. Big blind wakes up with AQ. Oops! Fortunately the board comes down J796K and my 2 pair wins. A few more pushes with KQ, AJ & 22 in a short space of time wins me the blinds to take my stack back up over $10k. I am also fortunate to have a very passive guy on my right who keeps giving up his small blind to me without trying to steal. He did this quite a lot as the blinds got higher, and it really saved me a lot of chips overall.

Still on the bubble, with blinds at 300/600, I once again get QQ. A short-stack guy pushes and I’m relieved to see he has TT. I’m now up to $17k and we’re now down to the last 18 and have made the money. I think I’m lying around 3rd or 4th at this stage.

At 400/800, I’m down to $13k after my AQ misses the flop and my continuation bet fails to shrug off my opponent.

I kick myself later when I fold 66 to a limp and a raise before me. I’d have made a set and knocked a player out if I played it. I had also folded AJ earlier to an obvious blind steal. I’m kicking myself for playing too passively.

Shortly after this, I knock out another player when my AK holds up against A6. Back up to $25k.

At 600/1200, we are approaching the final table with about 11 players left. Then I had another turning point hand. I have AQs (both clubs) in early position and raise to 3000. The small blind reraises me to 6000. The SB was the chip leader and seems a decent player. He had not made this move before. I decide to call and re-asses on the flop. In retrospect, I believe this is a bad call by me as there’s not a lot I’m beating at this stage. However flop is T87 with 2 clubs. SB makes a small bet of 4800 which is under half the pot. I call and am pleased to see the 6 of clubs on the turn for the nut flush. Once again SB bets 4800. I simply call. River is 8 of hearts. He bets, I push and he calls showing AK hearts. I double up and am big chip leader now with almost $65k. Whilst I certainly made a suspect call at the start, SB really overplayed that hand.

At this stage, I log onto IRC and am pleased to have the support of a few ITHers railing me.

We are now down to final 5 players. It’s very difficult to win a tournament without getting a bit lucky from time to time. Throughout this match, I get 2 such moments to stay in. I’m not including the 97 v AQ or AQ v AK here as in the first, I wasn’t that much of an underdog, and the 2nd, my opponent misplayed the hand (more than I did). However here is the first break – a short stack pushes his last $13k. I have 77 but he shows QQ. eek! Luckily a 7 on the flop keeps me alive and knocks my unfortunate opponent out. Whilst I wouldn’t have got knocked out if I lost, it still would have been a dent in my stack and made me one of the short stacks.

Two hands later I knock another short stack out when my 88 holds up against my opponent’s KJ. I now have $96k and we’re down to 3. 8s are good for me as I get them a few hands later to knock out against my opponent’s 66. We are now heads up. I’m against the AK guy from earlier.

After a couple of exchanges, my opponent has a slender chip lead against me. I am delighted to see KK. I slow play them by simply calling the small blind and my opponent checks. Flop is a harmless 258. We both check. Turn is a 6. I bet 4000, my opponent raises to 8000. Now I’ve seen this guy overplay middle pair several times, and I think he’s doing it again. A couple of reraises and we’re both all-in.
He shows 65 for 2 pair. Uh-oh. I’ve blown it! Now comes the 2nd bit of luck that I was talking about. The river is another 2 which gives me a better 2 pair.

I now have a massive lead of $241k to just $28k. At this stage, I’m reminded the last time I got heads up in one of these and threw away a 2:1 chip lead. I’m determined not to be so reckless this time. However things aren’t going to plan as I get completely card dead and fail to hit any flops. My opponent is slowing creeping back up to me until we finally end it on this hand:

I have QT in the Big Blind. SB raises and I call. Flop is 3T3. I bet, opponent raises and I push. He shows A6 and my hand holds up to great relief, and a lot of cheering on the rail. At last I’ve finally won one of these! I’m over the moon.

So a nice $216 win from just a $4 entry. After over 4 hours of play, I was shattered. It was also 2.10am and I had to get up at 7.30am. But I’d worry about that later as it was definitely worth it.

September Quest - Day #3

At last! A couple of decent scores in my quest. I only played 2 games after coming back from the pub, but managed 2nd in both for $29.70 each. At least it halted my bad run of 8 in a row without a cash. A win in either would have been nice, but I'll settle for 2nd in view of recent results.

Game #9: Nothing really of note. I played very solid and held the chip lead for a bit, until my A5 ran into AA. Oops!

Game #10: Doing steady until a great stroke of luck. I had AK which I'd been playing very aggressively today by coming over the top of early raisers. However this time I got called by KK & JJ. However I was lucky to spike my Ace on the flop and triple up. It's nice when luck evens out from time to time. I held the chip lead for a while until I was heads up. We were about even in chips, but I made a bad call of my opponent's push with QT. I'm not sure what I was thinking as I wasn't beating much. He had A5 and I was down to a meagre 130 chips v 13000. With a bit of jammy luck, I managed to double up several times in a row to get almost level on chips again, but alas I couldn't hold on. I'm just kicking myself for not being patient enough early on and waiting for a better opportunity.

Never mind, I can sleep better tonight anyway.

September Quest - Day #2

Okay, day 1 went very badly. Maybe I can salvage some pride. A win and another top 3 place should put me back on track.

Game #6: This is one of the tightest turbo tables I have ever seen. I am raising almost every other hand and getting no callers. I am quickly building my stack with the blinds. My image as a loose player is great as I knock out someone who's timing is real bad. He pushes as I'm holding AA. However, after being a big chip leader, I take a couple of hits. First I call a short-stack's push with AQ. He shows TJ, but makes a straight on the turn. Next I go up against the 2nd big stack on my left. I raise pre-flop with KQ and he calls. Flop is all low cards. I decide on a continuation bet, but immediately get reraised. I fold having lost a load of chips. Down to 4, I push with K8 and get called by A8. Frustratingly, I go out 1 place off the money after playing really well for the most-part.

Game #7: A much looser game and I struggle to find a hand. I get lucky for pretty much the first time this week when I push with A3 and get called by QQ. I double up with an ace on the river. This could be my tournament at last! Wrong! Down to 4 again and I hold JJ in the big blind. At the moment everyone is just in push fold mode. The Mr QQ pushes and I have an easy call. He has AA and gets his revenge. Arghhh! 4th again!

Game #8: Bad start in the first 3 hands as both JJ and QQ go against K high flops. First guy luckily plays his AK passively so I get off cheaply. 2nd guy bets big on the turn and I have to fold. Down to 825 chips, I get AA. I raise, everyone folds. Sigh!
I take down another small pot in a blind v blind battle, then I crash out again. I have AT and raise. I get one caller (Mr AK from earlier). He check/calls flop, we both check the turn and he puts me all in on the river. As it's all low cards, I'm trying to work out what he could have called with as he's been very tight. He's also showed a lot of weakness beforehand. Despite only having Ace high, I think there's a good chance I'm ahead. Also I'm down to 650 so I'm almost committed. I call and once again he shows AK. Out in 7th. I call it another night.

Okay, I probably played that last hand badly, but overall I feel I'm not getting my fair share of luck so far. My strong hands are running into stronger hands, or they're getting sucked out on when I'm a big favourite. Luck like this can make you change your game. I'm trying not to, and I'm hoping results will start coming my way soon. I still have 3 more weeks to go!

September Quest

To avoid the monotony, it's sometimes good to set yourself a target, or a challenge. I don't usually do this, but I've seen a couple of people on ITH start them recently, so I thought I'd have a go.

So, the challenge? Well I thought of what was a realistic challenge and one that I would enjoy. I almost went for a challenge to play as many $4 180 player SNG (sit n go) tournaments as I could and see how much of a profit (if any) I could make out of them. I then decided that due to the nature of them (i.e. lots of bad players getting lucky), it was more likely to be a depressing challenge, rather than one I'd enjoy.

So instead, I decided to go for the $11+1 (9 player) single table SNGs. I usually do well at them, and was on a good run on them during August.

The plan was do play them solely on Full Tilt Poker and maybe do about 5 or 6 a night whenever I played. If I'm feeling comfortable, I'll play 2 at once. I'm hoping to play a minimum of 50 of them. I may even do as many as 100 depending on how much I play.

Well, I wish I'd started this in August as my good run seems to have come to an end. I had a very bad start. Here's how my first evening went. (Remember, only top 3 get paid prize money):

Game #1: Out in 6th. Had to play carefully as there was a very bad player on the table who would call with anything. The trouble is he just kept getting very lucky and doubling up each time. As a result, I could only push with a decent hand as no one could get him to fold.
I got short-stacked as pushed with AK. Guy on my immediate left (who had slightly less chips than me) decided than KJs was a good enough hand to risk his tournament with (what???). He of course flopped a straight. I went out shortly afterwards.

Game #2: Got KK early on and so I pushed against an early raiser. He showed QQ which I was delighted with...until a Q came on the flop. Sigh! Out in 8th.

Game #3: Tough game. Lost a load of chips early after getting reraised on the flop as I tried a couple of bluffs. Ended up pushing AQ against 99. OK, now the odds have been cut for me from massive odds-on favourite in the previous 2 games to a coin-flip. No help for me and I was out in 8th again.

Game #4: Not got any playable hands. Decided to push on a flush draw on a K high board. Got called by guy who had been slow-playing AK and I didn't hit my flush. Out in 7th. This is not good so far.

Game #5: Pick up QQ. Get 1 caller against my pre-flop raise. I push a low flop. He has KK and I don't hit the dream card that everyone seems to be catching against me. Out in 9th.

Depressed, I give up for the night.

Good result at the Gutshot

Since I started the blog-feed to Facebook, a few people have mentioned that they read this blog and didn't understand a word of what I was saying. It was only expected that other poker players would read it, so it had a lot of jargon in it. However, as a result of the comments, I'll try to write it in more plainer English.

There will be times I can't get away from certain terms or situations. I am going to rely on people having a basic understanding of poker rules and hands or else this will take me forever. The only terms I will explain are the following:

Cards will be mentioned in the form of AKQJT (ace, king, queen, etc). Suits will be SHDC.
Suited (s) means both cards were the same suit.
Pushing means betting all of your chips in one go.
A stack is the size of your chips.

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Anyway, back to my trip to the Gutshot last night. I had planned to meet my friend Paul from ITH there. Unfortunately he failed to turn up, but luckily I had invited Farzad from work along, so I wasn't Norman No-mates. I was keen to play as they had re-introduced the £10 rebuy tournament which I quite like. Rebuy tournaments mean that in the first 40 mins of the tournament, you can re-buy back in for another £10 if you lose your chips.

You only get 500 chips to start with so the plan was to try and double-up as quick as possible by risking all my chips at a time with decent hands. I had a torrid time during the rebuy period and could not double-up. My JJ ran into AA, I also pushed A9 into a board of 962. Of course, some guy had to have 62 didn't he. I was almost about to give up at that stage, but I had set myself a budget of a maximum of £50 in buy-ins for this tournament. I had already paid out £30 and still had the option of an add-on of another £10 for 1000 chips at the end of the rebuy period. I announced, to any that was listening, that this was my last buyin.

At this stage, my table probably thinks I'm a complete donkey. I have been playing quite recklessly and rebuying lots. Add to this the fact that I haven't always been paying attention and forgetting who's dealing, cutting cards incorrectly, etc. However, this can sometimes be a good image if you can take advantage of it ;-).

I ended up on the break with the absolute minimum of 1500 in chips, and therefore needed some luck and cards if I was to last much longer in the tournament. There was a small turnout in this event which in the past usually attracts 100-120 players. Tonight there were only 45 with top 9 positions getting prize money. I had calculated that I needed to finish in 7th to break even...gulp!

After the break, my luck changed. I quickly doubled-up when I check-raised all-in someone with a flush draw. I hit my flush on the turn. Big relief! Shortly after that I doubled again when my QQ held up against TT.

Soon after this I moved tables, and didn't play a hand for a while. Then I had a great hand. A guy pushed all-in from early position. I was in the Small Blind, and looked at QQ again. Easy call! However, the lady sitting next to me in the Big Blind also called....eek! The 1st guy had 99, the lady AK. The flop came down Q9x. Myself and the guy had both made a set, but mine was higher, and it held to triple me up. I now had a decent workable stack. At this stage there were about 20 or so players left. I felt getting onto the final table and making the prize money was a realistic option now.

However, it's never a smooth ride getting to the final table as I found later. We were down to about 13 players. A short-stack (who hadn't played a hand for what seemed like 2 days) pushed his stack in. He had about 4k, I had about 10k. I was in the big blind to find the beautiful AA. The other guy had 89, and had to catch more than 1 card to win. The flop was 7xx (can't remember the others but they were unimportant). Turn was a T. The other guy was standing up and leaving, but I told him to wait. I just knew the 6 was coming for his straight....River: 6...yep, knew it! I was down to 6k and back to desperate mode.

It didn't take long to get to the final table of 9. I had made some money, but as I said, I needed 7th to break even. Curiously, I entered the final table 7th in chips. I decided to wait for the guys who had less than me to bust before I started taking risks. They really were on life support. One of them didn't take long to go, but the other was a young guy sitting on my immediate left. He managed to steal some blinds and also double up, so I was now the short stack.

Shortly after, I look down to see 77 in early position. I need to double up fast and this was as good a hand as any to do it with. I push. My nemesis on my left also pushes, uh-oh! He has TT and I'm about to exit in 8th place. No help for either of us on the first 4 cards, but the last card is the miracle 7. I've doubled up and survived. The other guy looked liked he'd been punched in the stomach. He (and I) couldn't believe it. To be fair, it was my only suckout of the day, and certainly made up for earlier.

A couple of other guys went out after this. I managed to knock out the kid on my left when he pushed his tiny stack. I was in the Big Blind with KQ, but it didn't cost me much to call. Once again he had TT, but I hit my Q on the turn.

Down to 5, the guy on my right was also short stack. An orbit later, I was in the big blind again. It was all folded to him in the Small Blind and he did the obvious push. I knew he'd be doing this with any 2 cards, and thought that I'm calling with any ace. I look down to see A5, good enough! He had something like Q4, but I make a straight on the turn, and he's out.

Down to 4. I can't believe I've got this far. To my left was the early chip leader. He had taken a couple of small risks and got lucky, but overall had been fairly sensible. Next to him, was an Asian guy who was quite loud and chatted a lot. He had entered the final table 2nd in chips, but had been playing recklessly since and for some reason wanted to keep taking on the chip leader. The last player was a young guy who was very solid, and in my opinion, the best player on the table. He had hardly made any mistakes, made timely steals and only showed down good hands where needed.

The Asian guy soon lost most of his chips to the young guy on my right, again through reckless play. I knocked him out shortly afterwards with KQ by checking down a K high board with the big stack to my left.

Down to 3. Blimey!! Now the hand that ended my run. I was in the Big Blind. Button folded, small blind only called. I checked with Q2. Flop 952. Guy checks, I only have about 11k, but bet 5k (I should have pushed, but that wouldn't have made a difference in this case). He reraised me all-in. I'm probably beaten, but I have bottom pair. I am pot-committed and am pretty much forced to call. He shows 52 for 2 pair. I can only win by catching a Q. It doesn't come and I'm out in 3rd for £205 :-).

Easily my best result there, and my first cash at the Gutshot. I didn't think I played well, but I did catch cards at the right moments, which is always important. Maybe I proved that I wasn't the donkey that some people had thought earlier...or maybe not. ee-aw!