$1000 will do, Complete at last !!

Yep im a donkey, always have been probably always will be. Never won an MTT, lost 4 or 5 bankrolls so far playing cash. Marginally positive on Sharkscope but thats only $173 won SNGs.

New year new me. This year i am going to win, not much just a $1000. I started with FPP's on stars. Used them in the satellite to the sunday £200k guaranteed, then de registered. Built a Tournie$BR and converted it into a real dollar BR playing $2.20 180 man turbos.

This Blog is for me, to keep me playing, to stop me tilting and to make me think about hands. Starting BR $346 and T$22 on STARS.
Here goes!

steaks and game?

First report
$2.20 180man Turbos Played 4 ITM once. Profit $10
Lessons
1. Dont spew chips SBvBB without cards
2. Dont get pot stuck, If a bet is 1/3 of stack, push all in or fold

BR:$356

Kingnat, I like my steaks on a BBQ: Does it make a difference?

Originally Posted by kingnat

first

Hey Hopeful, good on ya to start a blog. You might want to tighten up your plan though. You want to win $1000? Playing what and how often?

Originally Posted by hopeful

lost 4 or 5 bankrolls so far playing cash

But now you know about proper Bankroll Management, right?

Thanks for the replies
A bit more info on my plans.
I like playing multi table SNG, i have positive ROI from sharkscope. (ROI 15% all SNG's 100%on 45 players or more) So I intend to concentrate on these larger games. I hope to play about 20-30 a week. starting at under £5 (stars $4.40 and $2.20 turbo)

The lost bankrolls went as follows. Start with around $200 play $.05/.10 and start to win. Generally get to $800 having moved up a couple of levels. I used a max5%of BR rule .
Then loose all the money going down the levels back to $200. I did this several times, mostly from bad play and going tilty when on a bad run. I dont suffer the same problems on SNGs.

Sunday results. $2.20 180's on stars
Played 4 ITM twice Profit $8

Went out with standard high blind confrontations. Can some one check these are ok.

Hero Villain Heros Pos Hero action Hero M
KK AQs Late re-reraise all in 15
99 A4 Late raise all in 6
AKs 55 BB re-raise all in 8

BR $364

Extremely std. Thats the thing about tourneys, you can play perfect and still lose.

Still, thats 100% ROI, cant complain .

sometimes its just not your night.
4.40 180 man played 6 lost 6.
a mixture of poor play and cards. WOrst was bluffing into a pair of aces, he limped in, checked flop I thought he had nothing, hit my K on the river and lost half a stack. One of many poor plays

BR $334

Had a go at STEPS on stars. won level 1, guess thats a $27 win but only tournie dollars.
with 3 left top two get same prize. Not sure what my plan should have been, I was the big stack. Example below call or fold?
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $7.00+$0.50 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 25 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t3610)
Hero (BB) (t8005)
Button (t1885)

Hero's M: 11.86

Preflop: Hero is BB with ,
Button raises to t1860 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero ?

$2.20 180 man played 4. Came 17th, 19th,19th,21st.

Really annoying. In two tournies i had a big stack approaching the bubble and blew them bothaway with sub standard holdings trying to re steal. In the others just to weak. Will spend a few hours analysing the main hands to try and work out where i went wrong.

The hand above. I think a call.

lost $5 BR $329

OK nobody reads my blog, cant say i blame them so i have to look at my own play. Firstly blowing the stack on a resteal.
This is a typical hand. Called on the button with the intention of taking away the hand on the flop. Villain is pretty weak and regularly trying to blind steal late. He doesnt lay down pre flop.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00+$0.20 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 25 Ante (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t5535)
UTG (t8120)
MP1 (t9665)
MP2 (t3560)
CO (t11335)
Hero (Button) (t15318)
SB (t6250)

Hero's M: 24.51

Preflop: Hero is Button with ,
3 folds, CO raises to t1200, Hero calls t1200, 2 folds

Flop: (t3025) , , (2 players)
CO bets t1500, Hero raises to t3900, CO raises to t6300, Hero folds

Total pot: t10825
It looked like a dry flop, perhaps i mis read the flop or was his play a re re steal? not sure but it is typical of the losses i had. (I only make this play occasionally, he hadnt seen it before.) Maybe its just a bad play.

Hands i should have made a move with, found loads of these in all tournaments last night. I missed so many opportunities i can hardly believe it.

All of these are pushes right?
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00+$0.20 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 75 Ante (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t3890)
Button (t7195)
SB (t9310)
BB (t4500)
UTG (t11315)
UTG+1 (t20800)
Hero (MP1) (t8943)
MP2 (t5875)

Hero's M: 4.97

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with ,

Total pot: t1400

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00+$0.20 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 100 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t12385)
UTG (t4675)
MP (t8390)
CO (t26245)
Hero (Button) (t9093)
SB (t7300)

Hero's M: 4.33

Preflop: Hero is Button with ,
2 folds, CO raises to t2000, 3 folds

Total pot: t3100

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00+$0.20 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 100 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t11285)
BB (t4575)
UTG (t8290)
MP (t28245)
Hero (CO) (t8993)
Button (t6700)

Hero's M: 4.28

Preflop: Hero is CO with ,
1 fold, MP raises to t2000, 4 folds

Total pot: t3100

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00+$0.20 Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 125 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 (t9700)
MP1 (t7715)
MP2 (t46254)
MP3 (t8460)
CO (t2750)
Button (t10465)
SB (t31370)
Hero (BB) (t8668)
UTG (t6375)

Hero's M: 2.96

Preflop: Hero is BB with ,
7 folds, SB calls t600, Hero checks

Flop: (t3525) , , (2 players)
SB bets t3600, Hero folds

Total pot: t3525

It is quite a few hands, but its clear that this one villain really pushed me around. Didnt notice until i went through them all. Must take greater notes when playing and up the aggression

Results played 6 SNG's (180 man or 90 Man) ITM 3 profit $6
Good ITM but poor profit. Have been working on my aggression and making moves, that seems to be working. Need to work on getting higher up the money scale.

Made a commment on the MT forum and got some good advice from mcatdog and drmc. Will be working today on buiding a plan for the following situation. High blind, you raise mid pos and a small stack goes all in. What do you call with? I have been folding too much here (as pointed out on the forum). I know you can lok these up but i am going to work it out for myself.
BR $335

Assumed situation
Blinds 200/400 ante 50 Hero stack 15 000 M=15

Hero raises 3bb and a smaller stack moves all in for total 6bb
What do you need to call
Assumption 1 the smaller stack moved with top10% hand
The following are favourits to win and hence must call TT+,AQ+ thats only 9 hands AA,KK,QQ,JJ,TT,AKs,AQs,AKo,AQo. In all other situations pot odds must decide.
Assumption 2 the odds. Pot = 9x50+200+400+1200+2400=4650
you must lay 1200 more in to a 4650 pot odds 3.8:1
Assumption 3 if expectation is positive then (P is win %)
Px4650>1200. So P>26%
So to have positive expectation you should call with all hands that have more than 26% chance against the 10% range of the villain.
These cards are an incredibly large number including Ax,Kx,Qx,J3+
It definately includes all of the cards i would have made the raise with in the first place.

So Lesson 2. If you get re raised behind by a small stack (all in) you should probably always call

Originally Posted by hopeful

Had a go at STEPS on stars. won level 1, guess thats a $27 win but only tournie dollars.
with 3 left top two get same prize. Not sure what my plan should have been, I was the big stack. Example below call or fold?
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $7.00+$0.50 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 25 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t3610)
Hero (BB) (t8005)
Button (t1885)

Hero's M: 11.86

Preflop: Hero is BB with ,
Button raises to t1860 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero ?

You're looking at a pot of 675 + 1860 = 2535 and you need to call 1460. So you're calling a little more than 2:1. 9Ts is 54% v's a random hand, but 35% v's a range of top 15% of hands. Then ICR comes into it, the fact that chips != $s. These steps have a very steep bubble cost, so I'd say its a fold.

I think you are right about the bubble, trouble was the short stack was desperate, what would i need to call him? I called with the 9Ts but wasnt sure of the range the small stack could have.

Update: I truly am a donkey. steps2, 5 left second in chips with M=10. Blew it all on TP, out of the BB. Thats my major leak. MUST PLUG IT.

just an update
Played 7 SNG MT ITM 3 Profit $10

Playing good tight poker at moment, got money in ahead every time except once (AJvAK on Axx board). Its turning into a grind with lots of small wins, having been missing out on a decent cash. Regularly getting to the money with a big (or reasonable) stack. When the blinds are big (M=10 or so) dont feel able to avoid the coin flips, similarly dont feel its right to fold on the flop when you have a reasonable hand. Lost a few last night like this. If anybody could check these i would appreciate it. All these are in the money, short table high blind situations.
1. Raise late ATo BB calls, flop 39T rainbow, BB shoves I call
2. Raise MP KQs 2 callers LP, flop Kd,Qd 3s. Get reraised all in and call
3. Call UTG 4BB raise on button with JJ, flop all unders UTG goes all in, I Call
I think their all OK but they cost me a lot of potential dollars, A big difference between top 3 and places 6,7,8 in 180mans

Obviously, the way u are putting the hands on here in your last post is going to make them ALL look like standard shoves/calls. Someone would need reads, stack sizes, blind sizes, etc in order to make an accurate evaluation of the hand.

Just saying "O I had such and such hand, and the flop came like this, and this happened," is a fish way of explaining a hand. Seems like you've been doing good posting HH's and stuff before, and I think you should continue to do so in order to get the most out of what the regs here are saying.

thanks for that dranger

OK so now i need help and dont know where to look. Last night i played 3 tournies results below
2.20 180 man turbo finished 11th
2.20 180 man turbo finished 14th
3.30 R/A turbo qualifier to sunday warm up finished 23 out of 200

I seem to be making the money or getting very close on a regular basis but am unable to turn that position into a decent score. Often i arrive at the money with a good sized stack last night 5th and 12th in the 180's. With 40 left in the R/A was 6th. This is a recurring theme in my play. Any advice about where to look would be much appreciated.

Not going to well, BR down $60. Made a few errors and lost important hands when got the money in with slight edge. Going to spend a few days a way from the tables reviewing my play, will pokerstove a few place and try to identify poor play and missed opportunities

Downswing continues, Played 5 ITM 1 loss $20.
Played some poor poker. Played really badly in a $12 180 man and in the $3 qualifier to sunday warm up. Need to get a grip of myself when loosing, starting to play scared and becoming reckless as a result.
Will concentrate on $2 and $3 SNG's until BR back up to $350, but playing the way i am at the moment that could be some time.

Still not making the most of opportunites, went out 14 in a 90 man (top 12 paid) missed a good opportunity with 25 people to go. should have pushed in CO. (AK) but just called pre flop lost a fifth of stack and allowed people in behind. not smart.

Played 4 over the weekend, ITM 2 but once again minimum payout so a small loss recorded. Didnt make too many mistakes, made a stupid call with AK again (got to stop that leak) otherwise played pretty good, built up reasonable size stack but lost it with big all ins. One I was ahead and one behind but tlost them both.

Becoming a regular post Played 4 lost 4.
Getting close to money each time, medium sized stack. Generally making a good decision(i think) but loosing. will post some hands later when more time

If i am ever going to win anything i must stop doing this
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00+$0.20 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 100 Ante (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t8714)
Hero (SB) (t17186)
BB (t10609)
UTG (t3245)
MP1 (t11917)
MP2 (t14580)
CO (t36193)

Hero's M: 7.81

Preflop: Hero is SB with ,
2 folds, MP2 calls t1000, 2 folds, Hero calls t500, BB checks

Flop: (t3700) , , (3 players)
Hero bets t3000, 1 fold, MP2 calls t3000

Turn: (t9700) (2 players)
Hero bets t3000, MP2 calls t3000

River: (t15700) (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t7480 (All-In), Hero calls t7480

Total pot: t30660

Just had a week of work, played quite a lot of poker mostly in the turbo 180 man $2.20 on stars but also played a few MTT's.
I seem to make the money on the 180 SNG turbos fairly regularly more than 30% of the time but rarely seem to be able to make it past the first level of money consequently its just break even.
I have been working hard on playing more hands and getting money in when i have a hand which seems to be going well. I am also pleased with my hand reading skills they have improved a lot and i often call peoples hands correctly, this is helping me make some good calls and good lay downs. I am starting to think that the turbo structure doesnt suit my game so well, of course i could be fooling myself, to find out i am going to play ten 180 man $11 regular SNG on stars and see how that goes, if i am right i should make some money if not i need to look at my game some more. I will post my results on here.

Well the play 10 180 mn $11 SNG's isnt going to work. They fill up to slowly I just can get in enough of them. Instead been playing the $4.40 version, donked one of them away ran a check raise all in bluff on a QQ3 board only to run into Q3. Then stupidly called a bet with NFD and didnt have odds hit ace on river but was up against two pair.
Lost 4 more when all in pre flop, 3 times as a favourite once as a dog in each case stack was destroyed by the confrontation and didnt manage to get back on terms.
Lost 2 when never got going no cards/no position ended up taking a chance and shoving.
Lost 2 when got money in on flop with a big hand, both times runner runner cards for villain.
Won 1 for $208
Stats played 10 for profit of $164. Very pleased with the result and even more pleased with how i am playing. Getting money in ahead and feel confident about my hand reading ranges.

Not played as much as i should last few days, but managed to get half a dozen $6.50 9 player turbos in. Dont normally play these that often but fancied a bit of a change won $27 so thats ok. ROI 70% which is pretty high for me. Got to say i ran well its a lot easier when the cards are nice to you. Had QQ 3 times then KK and AA in same game only one of the QQ lost all others took down nice pots. The QQ wasnt two expensive flop came AK7 easy lay down to a potsized bet.

Some hands just make you smile
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00+$0.40 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t1450)
UTG (t700)
Hero (UTG+1) (t2070)
MP1 (t3700)
MP2 (t1290)
MP3 (t1075)
CO (t1405)
Button (t1840)
SB (t1430)

Hero's M: 46.00

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with ,
1 fold, Hero bets t90, 2 folds, MP3 raises to t150, 4 folds, Hero calls t60

Flop: (t345) , , (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks

Turn: (t345) (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks

River: (t345) (2 players)
Hero bets t180, MP3 raises to t420, Hero raises to t720, MP3 raises to t925 (All-In), Hero calls t205

Total pot: t2195

Very dissapointed, made the final table of $11 180 man. With 6 left was in second place with over 70K in chips, 3 people under 20K. Made two poor plays and finished 6th. First one I called an all in with AJo, that wasnt in itself bad, the villain had been pushing every opportunity whenever he was first in. The bad part of the play was the situation, I just didnt need to play at this point, had a highM second place should have just folded. Villain showed AQo.
Second play I raised first in with KJo had 3 callers so we saw a flop for the first time in about 30 hands. Flop JJ7 rainbow. decided to slow play check called the flop, turn was 9, villain pushed all in and showed 8T for a straight. I should have raised that flop but its easy with hindsight. Two poor plays cost me a much larger pay day, hopefully I wont do it again.
Second tournie of the night was just as frustrating, 4.40 180 man was in the top ten with 25 left. Re raised from the button with AA, two callers BB and UTG flop Q59, BB goes all in with 88, I call all in only to sea another 8.
Hey ho at least another $90 dollars won though not a bad day but should have been sooooooooooooo much better.

Decide to try and improve my short table play, played a few hours of 6 max cash. Just .05/.10 blinds. Seemed to go pretty well found i could multitable 6 or so without any problems. Havent played cash so far this year it was good to make a few dollars and to practise shorthanded. Decided I have been playing to tight and to aggressive, need to play more hands and tone down the all ins abit when M is big.

One unforseen advantage was that i collected quite a few FPP's and used them to play in SCOOP qualifiers. They have got to be the softest games I have ever played, I even won playing OMAHA and i had to read the rules before i started. So collected $130 tournie will use them to play a few tournies above my bank role, probably $20 or $50.

Made the money in real $ MTT for the first time !! Came 62/1890 in a $5 2R1A on stars. Won $49. which is pretty cool.
Once again arrived at the money with a reasonable stack (in 25th place M>30) but didnt mange to make the most of the opportunity. To be honest I havent got a good strategy for the late game. Have been working so hard on getting to the money with some chips that havent worked out what to do when I get their. I guess that will be the focus of the operation for April. Make the most of end game.

The play was dominated by big bets and all in pre flop, even when people were not desperate. I wasnt ready for this, first job will be to read "Kill Everyone" again and try to get to grips with those calling tables.

Played an $4 180 man SNG, i only lasted 25 hands and of those I only played 3. I was against the same villain in each hand, he had played 17 of those first 25. I had him down as loose calling station.
Did I play badly ? here are the three hand histories.

Hand 1: a slow play
PokerStars Game #26391445435: Tournament #150990573, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/03/26 20:24:55 WET [2009/03/26 16:24:55 ET]
Table '150990573 18' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: duckdog1us (1530 in chips)
Seat 2: Janni1981 (2570 in chips)
Seat 3: tullonsk (1520 in chips)
Seat 4: PREFFERD (1440 in chips)
Seat 5: Utregs Beton (1480 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 6: fredfosterOE (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: hero(1460 in chips)
Seat 8: nicothejudge (4340 in chips)
Seat 9: villain (1900 in chips)
PREFFERD: posts small blind 10
Utregs Beton: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hero [Ad Ah]
fredfosterOE: folds
hero: calls 20
nicothejudge: folds
villain: raises 20 to 40
duckdog1us: folds
Janni1981: folds
tullonsk: folds
PREFFERD: folds
Utregs Beton: folds
hero: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [3c Td 9c]
hero: checks
villain: bets 220
hero: calls 220
*** TURN *** [3c Td 9c] [9h]
hero: checks
villain: bets 1640 and is all-in
hero: calls 1200 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (440) returned to chelimambo
*** RIVER *** [3c Td 9c 9h] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hero: shows [Ad Ah] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
villain: shows [Qc Kd] (a pair of Nines)
helensman collected 2950 from pot

Hand 2: Shoving the pot when I thought he was calling light
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00+$0.40 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t425)
MP3 (t2520)
CO (t2245)
Button (t2715)
SB (t1490)
BB (t1380)
Hero (UTG) (t2240)
UTG+1 (t4165)
MP1 (t910)

Hero's M: 49.78

Preflop: Hero is UTG with ,
Hero bets t120, 1 fold, MP1 raises to t210, 6 folds, Hero raises to t2240 (All-In), MP1 calls t700 (All-In)

Flop: (t1865) , , (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t1865) (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t1865) (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t1865

Results in white below:
Hero had Q, A (high card, Ace).
MP1 had J, A (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome:

Hand 3: Limp call call , he hasnt got anything has he?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00+$0.40 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t2430)
SB (t2245)
BB (t2685)
UTG (t1010)
UTG+1 (t1335)
Hero (MP1) (t1255)
MP2 (t4600)
CO (t2530)

Hero's M: 27.89

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with ,
2 folds, Hero bets t90, MP2 calls t90, CO calls t90, 3 folds

Flop: (t315) , , (3 players)
Hero bets t210, 1 fold, CO calls t210

Turn: (t735) (2 players)
Hero bets t955 (All-In), CO calls t955

River: (t2645) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t2645

Results in white below:
Hero had 10, 10 (full house, sevens over tens).
CO had Q, Q (full house, sevens over Queens).
Outcome:

I messed up here still not sure how I should have played these hands, probably not the way I did. I would appreciate anybodys feedback.

Made final table of $11 180man SNG, came 6th which was OK in the circumstances, was 5th with 40 left. Called an all in with JJ lost and ended up a few hands later 26th out of 30. Approaching FT got position back to 6/13 then eventually lost again with JJ this time against AQo.

Made a monster error in the $5 2R1A. Built stack to 9k in first couple of rounds then made a big bet on scary board, thought only one other player in pot. Sadly the big stack was still in and he put me all in. Lost 5K on that hand and never recovered.

Managed to start my reading to help make the most of situations. Got half way through HOH2. It was good reminded me of loads of things I have stopped doing. Will finish it this week and do Kill everyone next.

March coming to an end and results OK but could be better played mostly 180 man SNG with a 4 MTT's and one single table.
ITM 24% which is really good and ROI 68% which is a bit pants.
In April I really want some top 3 finishes to get that ROI up.

Joined a ventrillo group last night, got the details from chardrian. Instalation went ok and linked to the discussion group. Only two people in their and didnt really know what to do or say. Felt like a right plonk, anybody got advice on how to use it properly?

Finished reading HOH2 for the zillionth time, getting a good idea of how my late tournie strategy should develop. Whilst setting up ventrillo played a 9 man $3.5 SNG. Came first for $15 so not a wasted evening.

Had a really interesting night last night.

Firstly I was late getting home and missed the start of the scoop rebuy, which was quite annoying to say the least.
Then I entered the $16.50 360 max tournie. Played really well but only came 60th. After one and a half hours had a stack slightly bigger than average for the even. Dealt AKo in early position. Raised to 450 (3BB) one caller the BB on a stack similar to mine. Flop K93 rainbow. BB checks I bet 500 about half the pot. BB raises to 1,100. Quite an odd amount. I decided he was weak and stealing so pushed all in for another 6000. He thought for ages then called showing KQo. At this point I was 85% to win. When a Queenn arrived that % dropped to zero and I was gone.

Then the interesting bit I listened to chardrian giving a training session to one of the two students he took on. That was really good saw a few plays i had not seen before, in particular the Go and Go. Never even heard of that one. One hand really stuck in my mind. it goes like this

5.50 rebuy blinds somethin/150
Hero small blind AJo M=about 20
UTG raises to 450
Hero says i am going to set up a go and go, raise then shove any flop
Hero SB raises to 6000
BB raises all in to 72000
Hero says i have to call any way
UTG calls all in
Hero calls.

I would never have called in that spot but the pot odds are really compelling. On that last call Hero has to bet 6000 to win a pot of around 30000. Thats 5:1 money odds. Almost any hand could call preflop with those odds.

I am going to spend some time today with a spreadsheet working out the maths of the Go and Go play. I think it will be a really good addition to my repertoire when i understand it properly.

I really enjoyed listening to chardrian, hopefully he didnt mind well at least he didnt tell me to piss off so that promising.

The maths of the Go and Go.

I spent a couple of hours on a spreadsheet trying to look at the Go and Go play described in my last post. I had to make a whole load of assumptions so here goes
1. Hero is SB with AJo, Hero has M=20
2. Villain has similar or bigger stack to the Hero.
3. Nobody else enter the pot.

Scenario
Villain raises 3BB
Hero re raises 4 times villains bet, with the intention of shoving any flop.
Villain either calls or folds pre and the same post.

Hand ranges. I assumes that the villain uses the exact hand ranges for each position in HOH. Then folds those with mixed strategies pre flop and folds all hands that have missed or have become under pairs on the flop. He only calls the flop bet with TP or better.

The possible flops were categorized as follows
1. Flops hero hits, then split to hitting Ace, hitting Jack, hitting both
2. Flops hero missed were split 4 ways
i) all 3 cards lower than Jack
ii) 1 card higher than Jack
iii) 2 cards higher than Jack
iv) 3 cards higher than Jack.

The probability of each of these hands occurring was found from Prof Alspach poker and maths site. Equity in each situation from Pokerstove.
I ignore flushes and striaghts, kind of hope these cancel out and couldnt cope with the maths.

Results:
Versus UTG,UTG+1,UTG+2 the play has negative equity
Versus MP1, play has zero equity
versus MP2,MP3,CO,Button the play has positive equity and from MP3 on that equity is large.

First the bad news. Lost $150 of my small bankroll
The worse news. Played like a complete moran
their is no good news

You need to follow BR management. Which I think means ~50BI for single table sng's and 100+ for mtt's.
There is massive variance in tournament play.
Use the tournament converter, and post a whole tourney in the mtt forum, and not just the hands you lost.

I do have a BR management its my own but works well for me. I will only evr play for 5% of my roll. At the moment 5% of $500 is $25. As the roll gets lower I adjust down. Its higher than the management you suggest but I dont think its unreasonable.
Over the weekend I twice put $20 in a $5 rebuy, $16.50 twice in the 360 max, $65 in $6.50 \SNG. The rest went on $11 180 mans.
I think this is Ok what do you reckon?

Made the money in the $3 re buy and the $5 2R1A. Unfortunately for a total profit of $90.
I really need to run one of these tournies deep. The $5 has been a really good tournie for me played it 5 times ITM 3 times, but never getting deep enough. Its only my third attempt at the $3 r/a.

Since starting this blog my ITM on MTT's has really improved from 0% to over 20%. I just need to learn how to get deep in one of them.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Sometimes you just know its not your night. check this out from last night. Different villains same result all from one tournie.
My cards v Villain
KK v AA
AK v AA
QQ v AA
KK v AA

Not surprisingly I didnt win that tournie.

I guess the problem is im just not good enough.
Played a scoop tonight I just cant believe the stupid things i do.
Calling all in with KK when their is an Ace on board. What the hell is that about! I have played long enough and studied enough to know better but I dont.
Not sure if i can fix the leaks in my game. Not sure if their is anything else i can try. Probably time to think about stopping. I stopped last July for a couple of months, i started playing again becasue I didnt think I had given the game enough effort, didnt want to quite without having really tried.

Due to losses this month have had to step down a level. Certain tournies now out of bank roll. Unfortunately that includes the $5 2R1A which has been my most productive tournie to date.
Have also decided to tighten my BR management from 5% to 2%. This means i will play for a maximum of 2% of my BR.
With my roll down to $300 I am now looking at $6 tournies max.

Last night played 3 tournies at $2.75 level. made the money in 2 for a profit of $4.98. I played OK still working on building stack. Arrived at the money a head of average stack size which was good, the only problem was that when we hit the money the average stack had M=10. The usual crunch took place with lots of desperate players pushing all in and stealing. Unfortunatly I lost both of the big moves I made and was out.

A while ago i said i would re read some books. I have finished that and as always remembeed lots of things i had forgotten about. The kill everyone tables are also very important but impossible to remember and likely to be forgotten. My next project is getting a way of remebering this important stuff and using it correctly.

I got a book out of the school library today about writing mind maps. That might be the way to help me remember more. It may also be a sensible way of remembering to go through a thought process before pressing a call buttton.

I wrote my first mind map this morning on one of the calling ranges in kill everyone. 3 hours later and still remember it precisely and easily. I will start working on the maps for other ranges and one for the overall decision making process.

if any one interested how it works let me know

Played a 2.20 180 man last night, played pretty well was chip leader a few times ended up 6th. Have posted the closing stages of the tournie below. I would appreciate any feed back clearly I am not making the most of opportunities. This is my 5th 180 man final table in last coupl of months best finishing position is 5th. I have also monied 8 MTT's without making a final table. I expect something is wrong with my game if you have got yhe time to look i would be grateful.
-----Hand 33-----
Hero's M = 9.37
PokerStars Game #27164222073: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/04/16
21:07:09 UTC [2009/04/16 17:07:09 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: helensman (41247 in chips)
Seat 3: Renskr (31271 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (7558 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (11990 in chips)
Seat 6: Rod21287 (21568 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (33512 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (24085 in chips)
All players post the ante 200
andrespl: posts small blind 1000
Fauly 83: posts big blind 2000
Preflop: helensman dealt K A
Rod21287: folds
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: folds
helensman: raises 2000 to 4000

Renskr: folds
andrespl: folds
Fauly 83: folds
Uncalled bet (2000) returned to helensman
helensman collected 6400 from pot
helensman: doesn't show hand



-----Hand 34-----
Hero's M = 10.33
PokerStars Game #27164239929: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/04/16
21:07:40 UTC [2009/04/16 17:07:40 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: helensman (45447 in chips)
Seat 3: Renskr (31071 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (6358 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (9790 in chips)
Seat 6: Rod21287 (21368 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (33312 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (23885 in chips)
All players post the ante 200
Fauly 83: posts small blind 1000
Rod21287: posts big blind 2000
Preflop: helensman dealt K Q
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: folds
helensman: raises 2000 to 4000

Renskr: folds
andrespl: folds
Fauly 83: folds
Rod21287: raises 17168 to 21168 and is all-in

helensman: folds
Uncalled bet (17168) returned to Rod21287
Rod21287 collected 10400 from pot
Rod21287: doesn't show hand


7 A UTG+1 (M = 9.37; f+F)
K 2 UTG (M = 9.33; F)

-----Hand 35-----
Hero's M = 9.28
PokerStars Game #27164282698: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/04/16
21:08:54 UTC [2009/04/16 17:08:54 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: helensman (40847 in chips)
Seat 3: Renskr (30471 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (5758 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (8190 in chips)
Seat 6: Rod21287 (30568 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (36112 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (19285 in chips)
All players post the ante 200
Yumatop: posts small blind 1000
helensman: posts big blind 2000
Preflop: helensman dealt 4 8
Renskr: folds
andrespl: folds
Fauly 83: folds
Rod21287: folds
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: calls 1000
helensman: checks
Flop: T 6 Q
Yumatop: bets 2000

helensman: folds
Uncalled bet (2000) returned to Yumatop
Yumatop collected 5400 from pot
Yumatop: doesn't show hand


3 4 SB (M = 8.78; f+f+f+f+f+F)
T 5 BU (M = 8.51; f+f+f+f+F)
4 2 CO (M = 8.47; f+f+f+F)
2 2 MP1 (M = 5.61; f+f+F)
J 2 UTG+1 (M = 5.57; f+F)
J 2 UTG (M = 5.52; F)
2 K BB (M = 5.48; r+f+f+f+f+r+F)

-----Hand 36-----
Hero's M = 5.21
PokerStars Game #27164399083: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (1500/3000) - 2009/04/16
21:12:16 UTC [2009/04/16 17:12:16 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: helensman (32847 in chips)
Seat 3: Renskr (22313 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (8116 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (24280 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (29612 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (38385 in chips)
All players post the ante 300
helensman: posts small blind 1500
Renskr: posts big blind 3000
Preflop: helensman dealt Q 8
andrespl: folds
Fauly 83: folds
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: folds
helensman: raises 3000 to 6000

Renskr: folds
Uncalled bet (3000) returned to helensman
helensman collected 7800 from pot
helensman: doesn't show hand


T 5 BU (M = 5.93; f+f+f+F)
6 4 CO (M = 5.88; r+f+F)
4 2 CO (M = 6.12; f+F)
5 Q UTG (M = 6.07; F)
K 9 BB (M = 6.02; p+f+f+c+F)
3 2 SB (M = 5.47; r+f+f+F)

-----Hand 37-----
Hero's M = 3.88
PokerStars Game #27164513905: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (2000/4000) - 2009/04/16
21:15:35 UTC [2009/04/16 17:15:35 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: helensman (31047 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (17432 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (35680 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (46225 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (25169 in chips)
All players post the ante 400
andrespl: posts small blind 2000
Fauly 83: posts big blind 4000
Preflop: helensman dealt K 4
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: folds
helensman: raises 4000 to 8000

andrespl: folds
Fauly 83: folds
Uncalled bet (4000) returned to helensman
helensman collected 12000 from pot
helensman: doesn't show hand


3 T CO (M = 4.83; f+F)
3 4 UTG (M = 4.78; F)
9 5 BB (M = 4.73; r+f+f+f+F)
T 2 SB (M = 4.18; f+f+f+F)
A 6 BU (M = 3.88; f+p+F)
8 A CO-1 (M = 3.19; f+p+f+f+F)
8 Q MP2 (M = 3.15; f+p+f+F)
J T MP1 (M = 3.11; f+p+F)
3 6 UTG+1 (M = 3.07; c+F)
Q 5 UTG (M = 3.03; F)
2 K BB (M = 2.39; f+f+f+f+f+f+r+f+F)
8 4 SB (M = 1.93; p+f+f+f+f+f+f+F)

-----Hand 38-----
Hero's M = 1.68
PokerStars Game #27164714926: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVIII (2500/5000) - 2009/04/16
21:21:25 UTC [2009/04/16 17:21:25 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: john z stres (8414 in chips)
Seat 2: helensman (20147 in chips)
Seat 3: Rod21287 (9658 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (40032 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (26280 in chips)
Seat 6: strike9 (20239 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (28825 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (58969 in chips)
Seat 9: G4N1X (57436 in chips)
All players post the ante 500
Rod21287: posts small blind 2500
andrespl: posts big blind 5000
Preflop: helensman dealt K K
Fauly 83: folds
strike9: folds
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: folds
G4N1X: folds
john z stres: folds
helensman: raises 5000 to 10000

Rod21287: folds
andrespl: calls 5000
Flop: 7 T 9
andrespl: bets 10000

helensman: calls 9647 and is all-in

Uncalled bet (353) returned to andrespl
Turn: 2
River: Q
Showdown:
andrespl: shows 4 A (high card Ace)
helensman: shows K K (a pair of Kings)
helensman collected 46294 from pot


J 6 CO (M = 3.86; f+f+f+r+f+F)
7 5 CO-1 (M = 3.82; f+f+f+p+F)
K T MP2 (M = 3.77; f+f+f+F)
K T MP1 (M = 3.73; f+f+F)
9 5 UTG+1 (M = 3.69; f+F)
6 6 UTG (M = 3.81; F)

-----Hand 39-----
Hero's M = 3.76
PokerStars Game #27164846529: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVIII (2500/5000) - 2009/04/16
21:25:10 UTC [2009/04/16 17:25:10 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: john z stres (16328 in chips)
Seat 2: helensman (43294 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (69270 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (10866 in chips)
Seat 6: strike9 (9239 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (17825 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (27418 in chips)
Seat 9: G4N1X (75760 in chips)
All players post the ante 500
john z stres: posts small blind 2500
helensman: posts big blind 5000
Preflop: helensman dealt 6 K
andrespl: folds
Fauly 83: raises 5366 to 10366 and is all-in

strike9: folds
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: folds
G4N1X: folds
john z stres: folds
helensman: calls 5366
Flop: A 5 8
Turn: J
River: A
Showdown:
helensman: shows 6 K (a pair of Aces)
Fauly 83: shows K T (a pair of Aces - King+Jack+Ten kicker)
Fauly 83 collected 27232 from pot


5 9 SB (M = 2.35; f+f+f+f+f+f+F)
4 6 BU (M = 2.09; p+f+r+r+f+F)
6 2 CO (M = 2.14; f+f+f+F)
4 8 MP1 (M = 2.09; f+f+F)
2 J UTG+1 (M = 2.05; f+F)
3 K UTG (M = 2.00; F)
9 8 BB (M = 1.96; f+r+f+f+f+f+F)
4 5 SB (M = 1.46; p+f+f+f+f+F)
5 A BU (M = 1.18; f+r+f+p+F)
T 6 CO (M = 1.19; f+f+F)
Q 3 MP1 (M = 1.15; f+F)
4 5 UTG (M = 1.10; F)

-----Hand 40-----
Hero's M = 0.90
PokerStars Game #27165035738: Tournament #156399570, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (3500/7000) - 2009/04/16
21:30:34 UTC [2009/04/16 17:30:34 ET]
Condensed history provided by the Tournament Trimmer (v1.1.4w) from http://www.FlopTurnRiver.com
Table '156399570 13' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: helensman (13228 in chips)
Seat 4: andrespl (42970 in chips)
Seat 5: Fauly 83 (67432 in chips)
Seat 7: totalidas (24150 in chips)
Seat 8: Yumatop (94878 in chips)
Seat 9: G4N1X (27342 in chips)
All players post the ante 700
G4N1X: posts small blind 3500
helensman: posts big blind 7000
Preflop: helensman dealt 2 K
andrespl: raises 35270 to 42270 and is all-in

Fauly 83: folds
totalidas: folds
Yumatop: folds
G4N1X: folds
helensman: calls 5528 and is all-in

Uncalled bet (29742) returned to andrespl
Flop: Q 9 3
Turn: A
River: 5
Showdown:
helensman: shows 2 K (high card Ace)
andrespl: shows A J (a pair of Aces)
andrespl collected 32756 from pot

My attempts at learning the Kill everyone tables are going pretty well. Using the mind map book and looking for links within the tables have developed a way to make clearer decisions on my push/fold game.

Wanted to try it out so joined 5 $3 10 player turbo SNGs. I was only really practising my new strategy but got 3 second places. pretty cool guess i will have to look at my HU strategy next. Anyway won about $12. And having looked through the hand history didnt make a push/fold error (not to say I had a good result each time, i didnt).

Played the $2.75 9pm FO on STARS. Came 20th out of 5623 which is deepest I have run in an MTT so far. Really enjoyed it, had 500,000 chips for the first time ever which was fun. Managed to play a patient but aggressive game, it took 400 hands to get to that point I played 12% which seems kinda tight I guess.
In the end won $30 so back in the black for the month.
Best play was when I didnt donk my stack after loosing a major suck out for 90% of my stack. Stayed calm played a good push/fold game and won it all back.
Also played 4 $3 turbo STT. got third twice and tenth twice, so lost a few cents.

Spent a lot of time thinking about mental strategy and working on some hand analysis. Drmcboy answered a post I put in the MTT forum, he was very critical but absolutely right about my mindset. I need to work on that if I am to be successful.

Played a little poker last night a couple of STT and some turbo 180's won $20. Not a lot but 100% ROI so cant really complain.

Still working on my memory thing with kill everyone. Thats still going really well. Last night made a few decisions based on things i have memorised and they worked out pretty well. I might try to add some ICM analysis next.

my advice is get this book its really good

PHIL GORDON S LITTLE GREEN BOOK


TO BE HONEST IS THE BEST FROM THE BEST

Thanks for writting ranger and welcome to FTR, hope you get loads out of it. If you use the site a lot its really valuable, I have learnt loads mostly by putting hands in the MTT forum and reading what some of the other guys think. You will also get a lot from just reading the blogs. (probably not mine unless you are looking for what not to do!!)

Phill Gordon is not one of my favourite authors. To be honest I dont like any of his books (but only read 2). I think my chose strategy is very maths based I intend to keep adding more and more maths to my decision making as time goes on. i am aware, however, that I need to work on psycology a lot more and hope to do some research in that area soon.

This is one of those hands where I think my strategy might have been wrong, particularly SPR and bet sizing.
I decided that the two limps were probably weak, low pairs or the like. The $700 bet made me start thinking of ranges, with this large raise I decided the range was AJ+, 99+, KQs with a 10% chance it was just a steal. Against this range my JJ is a coin flip.
I decided to raise thinking villain would shove if he had QQ+ and probably shove AK. If he did shove i intended to fold. I expected villain to fold the weaker parts of his range.

Villain called so I had his range as TT,JJ, and maybe AK,AQ. with the usual 10% chance of something else entirely.

After the flop I decided I was well ahead of his range but that I couldnt allow a free card so I pushed all in.
The reason for the post is that despite my getting his range right I didnt manage to get him out of the pot. Was it bet sizing that was wrong ?
Should i have played it different?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $7.00+$0.50 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t1705)
UTG (t3095)
UTG+1 (t3705)
MP1 (t3015)
MP2 (t1155)
MP3 (t2785)
CO (t4520)
Hero (Button) (t5455)
SB (t7160)

Hero's M: 13.47

Preflop: Hero is Button with ,
UTG calls t150, 2 folds, MP2 calls t150, MP3 bets t700, 1 fold, Hero raises to t1650, 3 folds, MP2 calls t985 (All-In), MP3 calls t950

Flop: (t4990) , , (3 players, 1 all-in)
MP3 checks, Hero bets t1200, MP3 calls t1115 (All-In)

Turn: (t7220) (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t7220) (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t7220
Main pot: t3960 between MP2, MP3 and Hero, won by MP3
Side pot 1: t3260 between MP3 and Hero, won by MP3

Results in white below:
Hero had J, J (two pair, Jacks and threes).
MP2 had 9, 9 (two pair, nines and threes).
MP3 had K, A (two pair, Kings and threes).
Outcome: MP3 won t7220

Decidied top have a go at other forms of poker. Played 5 card draw for the first time. Took a little while to get the hang of it, didnt know the rules when it started! Anyway came first out of 6 in a $1 STT.

Then played two 180 man $4.40. ITM on one but didnt make FT. Played pretty well and got money in ahead all except once. (pre flop all in with JJ v AA).

Not suggesting that you're not doing this... but... anytime I'm considering opening for a raise in mid-to-later levels, I'm always looking ahead in the hand, paying particular attention to stack sizes of players in blinds &/or ones yet to act (ie. like you mentioned earlier.. what are you calling with if you get shoved back on by smaller stacks).
GL on your quest to $1K.
I've never bothered much with the 180's, 90's or 45's, much preferring MTT's over them all. With some patience &/or satelliting, a decent cash will come your way, enabling you to continue you on in hopes of getting rolled to play marginally higher buyins, etc.
I've got some other friends on smaller rolls who've predominantly played satellite MTTs (on Fulltilt) and have done great in them (ie. $20 >> $900 in 10days, playing fairly small volume) and then occassionally playing the bigger buyin MTT that they satellited into (ie. the $14+1 sat. to the 50-50 on Fulltilt, approx. 1 in 4 gets paid... lots of satellite regs. in them, but very beatable).
Will check back on your progress. GL!!

Thanks poker orifice, I like playing satelites I play a lot for FPP's and have done pretty well. Unfortunately because of where I live I can only play on Pokerstars. The internet connection here is so poor only their software seems to cope. ( I live on ascension island, in the middle of south atlantic 3500 miles from anywhere). You are right about tracking stack sizes I do sometimes mess up and have to call a shorty shove for more than I intended.

I have been experimenting with other forms of poker lately. Played some STT's in 5 card draw, HORSE and HOSE. Have an amazing win rate. Played 6 ITM 6 won 4. Never had a hit rate like that before. I am considering playing more of these, a lot pf the players do not seem to know the rules its a real laugh when playing RAZZ and some guy shows down KKKQQ and expects to win.

I need to check out some work on limit holdem made a few errors here especially with AK.

Experimenting with other poker continues to go well. Joined a cash STUD Hi/Lo game first at .04/.08 but that sucked because the pots were to small. Moved to .50/$1 really enjoyed the game and won 20 bucks. Still only learning but I like the limit format and the complexity of the hi and low hands.

Played more STUD Hi/Lo. $.50/$1 two tabling managed to win $25 but it was very up and down. Folded a good hand twice when I didnt realise I had it, once when i made the best low and two guys were betting out for the high, then was going low and missed the fact I had made a straight to the 9. Those two would have doubled my win.

Some things I have learnt.
1. Middle pairs (QQ or less) are useless just fold them
2. To win high you need at least trip 9's or better (in a big pot)
3. People will play an A like it is holdem
4. Live cards make the difference to you and your oppo but they usually dont get it.
5. Going low is often more profitable than going high. In a lot of hands people go for the high and raise a lot when they make it. Because of the qualifier, 8 or better, many hands do not have a low. You can often take half of a large pot when two or more people go on a made raising fest becasue they have all made trips, flushes etc.
6. Going high is more difficult, a lot of people go high and you often make the second best high. In this game two pair and low trips are usually not good enough.

I feel I have learnt quite a lot about this game hopefully it will help me on the HORSE tournies over the weekend. Next week will play some OMAHA cash as that is probably my next weakest format.

HORSE still going pretty well but did finish out of the money three times yesterday. Bubble boy on one which was stupid. Won a 16 player $6.50 turbo for $38 which was good. HORSE SNG's played 10 won 5 pretty awesome IMO.

Played a few hours double tabling STUD Hi/Lo 0.50/$1. Did OK but lost a buy in on one table so only break even for the session, won loads of FPP points, only need another 125 to make silver star, that will be a first.

OMAHA Hi/Lo causing me real problems, all HORSE tournies loosing in that area will be working on strategies today and tomorrow, in particular on valuing starting hands. I need a plan, what to play to be a TA? pretty sorted everywhere else but not on this one.

. ( I live on ascension island, in the middle of south atlantic 3500 miles from anywhere).

Where is that? I've heard of people living on an island out in the middle of the South Pacific but never the south Atlantic. Sounds kinda cool. Too bad about the lack of decent internet connection.

Good to hear you're running well in those games. I should try out my own advice, lol. GL on the tables!

Yea it is kinda cool, only 900 people live here, all on short term contracts with one of the organisations. Nobody has permanent residency status. Its like being on holiday all year, weather is warm, sea is great, beer is cold. Ascension is a small rock half way between Namibia and Brazil just below the equator smack in the middle of the ocean. My kids love it they are able to wander free, no strangers, no crime, no problems. 100 kids on the island so plenty of people to play with.

Anyway back to poker. Sometimes (quite often) I am a real moron. Last night was one of those. Played a HORSE tournie and an 8-game Bubble boy in both!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 19th out of 160 and 27th out of 285. worse I had plenty of chips in both ended up blowing them all on crappy hands i should have just folded.

(played a bit of cash won $0.20. playing .50/$1 STUD H/L) only 60 more points for silver star.

Two bubbles... bummer. Not sure if it's better to go out (while sitting in good shape) on a great hand and getting called down really light & getting sucked out on (which is what has been happening to me lately... often... sigh...).
WOW.. that island sounds very cool! What a great experience and sounds awesome for the kids!!
GL on the tables!

Have been working on some of themaths behind the different forms of poker. Started a thread a few days ago on 2-7 triple draw. Had a load of feedback from TLR and i think its really getting somewhere. I suspect he thinks I am a donk but he keeps helping. Thats the awesome thing about FTR. Decent players give constructive advice even when they are not getting much back in return.

The thread on 2-7 seems to have finished with some good results imo. I will definately be changing my strategy to go along with my findings. I will be tighter and more agggressive which is always good.

Next on the agenda is OMAHA how the hell do you decide to enter a pot? everyhand looks like a winner and they all look like loosers at the same time. Have a few places to check out, hopefully by this time next week i will be into the maths and working out some good strategies for my mixed game tournies. I dont think any of what i work out will apply to cash games but i dont play them.

If you are intersted in the 2-7 triple draw findings check ou tin the forum.

A pretty good weekend. Played quite a bit of Omaha H/L cash. Mostly fixed limit with a bit of pot limit. Made about $20 in total, most of which from scooping big pots in the pot limit. (quad 4's and A2345) Feel i am getting to grips with valueing my starting hands and not getting too involved when I cant scoop.

Played quite a few mixed game STT and SNG's. Should really have done better, made a small profit but folded a few winning hands which would have made a big difference. Anyway ITM 75% which is still high and profitable.

I have been looking around for mixed tournies inside my bank roll and their arent that many. Stars has a nightly $3 horse and $3 8 game, starting within half an hour. After that is seems to be a $33 HORSE followed by the $215 sunday games. Havent manged to find anything around $10 apart from STT's which is a real shame becasue that is the max i can afford. I similarly cant find any satelites I can afford. Only a $36 into the $215. If anyone knows of any other tournies I would appreciate the info.

Poker is going pretty well at the moment. Played 8 game cash (.20/.40) for a couple of hours won $9. Then came second in HORSE STT for $12 and qualified for the turbo takedown by getting seventh in the 8FPP rebuy. That was a laugh half way through pushed all in with aces got 5 callers and held up! more or less folded to the money from their.

Only need 10 more points for silver star!! should finish that off tonight, the 8 game cash is softer than the hORSE so will probably do it their. People dont know how to play 2-7 and they dont adjust play for no limit, at the lower limits STUD H/L play is just awful.

Silver Star Achieved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and i won $20 in the process

Had a week off work so no posting and not much poker.

May results interesting but not good

8 game win $48
NLHE loss $42
Other forms win $6

So a marginally profitable month but I think i will play a lot more 8game this month, maybe i can become an 8 game grinder!

Played a little last night won $10 playing .20/.40 cash and came 9th out of 150 in the $2.20 MTT for $7.50. (all 8game) The MTT is a bit of a pain really, 4 hours for a $5 win. I find it really difficult to multi table so cant up the win rate, suppose I should just play the cash.

Seriously considering becoming an 8game grinder. Won $32 over the weekend playing cash but lost $10 playing tournies. I will concentrate on cash for the rest of june and see how it goes. I suspect the only problem will be the lack of tables generally their is only 3 or 4 tables playing at the time I can play, that limits the field substantially but I anm still going to give it a go.

Ouch! Jue was looking so good, up $50 playing cash then BAM 2 buyins gone in space of 1 hour. Now it doesn't look quite so good.

DANGER DANGER
Got my BR over $800 so this op doing pretty well.

Looked back at my results this is the 5th time I have got this high, once on Bing, once on Total, Once on Party and now twice on stars.

Every time I have then started loosing and ended up back where I started.

Feel scared to play now!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

lost 3 buyins playing cash!!!!!!!!!
Played 3 tournies not even close to the money

Under $800 again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sometimes you just cant win
STT 4 left all in with KK loose to 88
2 table SNG 6 left all in with AK on AK7 flop loose to 44
MTT 4 short of the money stud, full house loose to quads, only 1 of them showing.
BRnow under 700, thats $150 lost in a couple of days. What a nightmarre. Going to take a few days off get it out of system then back to the tables

It has been the strangest few days. First of all I came first in the $2 8 game tournie for $101 which is fab.

Then I decided to take advantage of the stars reload bounus. The $20k free rolls look pretty juicy to me. My intention was to load $10 on and enter the free tournies. When i tried i got an postcode error message. I tried to sort it out with customer support and after 4 different pieces of advice (all useless) I was contacted by security that said they needed to manually update my postcode as it wasn't standard. They asked for a utility bill which I sent.

Next they email me saying that isn't good enough they need a complete copy of a bank statement.

There is no way I am emailing a complete bank statement to them and offer to email the part with an address on it. The return email says that isn't good enough and now they need a complete copy of the bank statement and a copy (front and back) of a government issued identity card.

Bearing in mind i have been a regular stars player since 2006, have reloaded 6 times and drawn money of 5, this really pissed me off.

Anyway I withdrew my entire bankroll and am now deciding which site to go to next. At the moment I fance Full tilt and having ago at that $600 new depositer bonus.

I think I will buy a copy of HEM and try to play the $25 no limit to get the bonus. Probably won't play mixed game straight away because i cant multitable and hence tend not to collect points quickly enough to make such a big bonus.

Anybody any ideas on best way to sign up, I want to make sure i have a rackback deal in place (never had one before).

So having calmed down a little and reviewing my plan I have decided to wait defore making my first deposit on Full Tilt. I will be going to the UK for 3 weeks at the end of July which will mean no poker for probably 4 weeks. That would make the deposit bonus much harder as you only have 120 days.

Needing a poker fix and not wanting to go rusty I logged back on to stars, they still won't let me deposit so I joined a free roll. I won 10 cents! Next I joined the 990 player 1 cents turbo and one another 10 cents.
I then entered the 360 player 10cents sit and go and won $1.70.
Since then I have been playing .01/.02 NLHE joining with $1. Initially just 1 table but leaving the table if i doubled up and then joining 2 tables.

My roll is now at $10.73

Its not that much but it has been real fun and i hope good practise for my full tilt bonus starting in August.

Wish I had BB/100 and all that jazz but havent got HEM yet. Not managed to get the postresql or whatever its called to down load properly yet.