Poker Weekend II

I went down to London on saturday with two friends to do the 100 Freezeout at Gutshot. 80 runners , $4,000 Tc and 25 mins blinds. So quite a nice structure. The table i was on didn't look too threatening, people didn't raise much pre flop and I think everyone wanted to get some cheap flops. Anyway, early on I pick up AKos from the Sb blinds $50/$100 I think, there was two limpers I decided to limp on this occasion. I would very often raise with such a strong hand but I didn't mind the two limpers in there, the blinds were small andI would be out of position post flop. Flop falls A K 2. Which is huge for me, I check it as do the rest. (not even a late pos steal!). Turn came 9, I fired out for 500, one caller.River 5. I decided if I bet small he may pay me off, but I don't like this hand getting showndown cheaply, and If I bet alot he may see it as a steal. So I fire out again, for $1300. He passes, I think he was drawing on turn anyway to be honest but a nice pot all same.
Hand 2- KQos I limp in ep, 2 more limpers and flop falls A A J. I didn't fancy betting on this flop and check as do the rest, turn 10. I fire out pot bet, I know someone got an Ace and I want them to pay alot to draw to their boat. One caller, river 5. I decided to check now and here's why- If I bet and he has an Ace he will almost certainly pay me off, but he may come over the top and could hold a full house.Which wont happen if I check, If I check he may think his trips are good and bet, I will call and win. And if he has a full house I will pay him off and will have saved some money not betting myself. Anyway, he took wise option and checked with Ah6h. I won.
Now I am sitting at around $4800. Two limpers and a loose guy raises to $600 pre flop ($75/$150) I am on button and find K K, I decide to raise it, and make it a big re raise ...$2,000. Limpers pass and he moves all in. He done same with A8s against someone earlier but I didn't care and announce call without dwelling too long. He turns over A A :(.And I am out very early on.Aelred busted out around hr and half later short stacked and moving in with A8 running into QQ, and Juan made final table moving all in with Ks7s and called by AQs, he came 7th.

Last night I decided to do the 50 Rebuy at notts, as I often do. I build my stack up during the rebuy with some nhs, JJ , KK and made nice pot with K 10.At end of rebuy I was sitting on $8200 with blinds going to be $100/$200 . They shortly broke our table up and I was getting a little short stacked. I moved all in on my other table from late with hands like A7, AQ and KQ without getting any callers but still am low on chips.They broke my table up again and now we are down to 3 tables. I find A9 in late and move in, no caller. Then I find AhKh, I am in mid ish and make it look like I am gonna pass and announce raise, I raise the pot of $5400 (800/1600) and the guy on button (observant player) moved all in. I call and am well happy to find I am against AJ, Board falls 5 5 4 10 10. And we chop it. Then I find AQos, limper in early and a tight guy moves all in, I am short stacked and AQ is strong hand but I decided it would be bad call and limper calls with K9s saying "ok I gamble with u" , the raiser turns up AK and I would have hit a Q :(.
We are now playing 7 handed on my table and 6/7 on other. And I am playing v agressive, I raise the bb from sb with K 10 and he gives respect flipping up KQos. I steal with J4,AQ,A3,and others.One hand I liked was AKos, I raise it up , the bb called me. I felt like I had the best hand going in on flop, and didnt want a tough decision on flop- I announce all in in the dark pre flop, the caller said ok.Flop hit me fortunately with J 2 A. And he passed.I liked that move cos 1- it can throw them off, 2- he knows hes playing for my whole stack , lets say the board is J 9 3 and he has 77 if we check it down post flop he wins, but with my in the dark move he may opt to pass there.
Then they all pass around to me in sb, I find QQ. I dwell on it for a bit , i notice the guy hasnt played a pot in a while, I announce "call" praying he will raise it and does so , $5600 back on me. I make it look like I am distressed and stare him down before I re raise , and he calls with 4 4. Another nice pot and now I have around $48000 with blinds $1k/$2k.

Final table and I have $55,000. I am in around 4th position, blinds are $2k/$4k. I raise a pot with AJos and take blinds, then I find ATos utg, I passed.My stack is beginning to dwindle, I cant get anything going as there is usually a short stack all in or I lack the courage to raise with complete trash , 23,25,27,38,etc. If I found suited connectors or weak Ks or As Id have raised a bit more but I was completely card dead. Anyway, a few guys die and I find AQos, the chip leader raises. I have $25,000 and his raise has set me in. Blinds $4k/$8k. I decide to make the call and well chuffed when he has KQ, unfortunately a K is first card off and I bust out in 7th. 2nd consecutive 50 final table but I was and am still a little disappointed...Whenever I make a final table I expect to make final 3/4 out of all the tournament stages, the final is usually where I play my best so I am understandably down, 450 quid for 7th isnt bad but 4,000 for 1st - big difference. Eh, another final table is still good for confidence.

Ciso.

15k Guarantueed Whill

Starting stack $2000, blinds up every 15 mins.
I start off with 88 in late and call $120 from a mid raise. Flop A 9 4. He checks, I decide not to get wild and check too. Turn 3, he bets $80, I decide to raise it a bit to see If he does have an Ace or if he was betting TT or JJ by raising to $270 , he moves all in and I pass.
I riase with 99 from Sb to $90 with blinds $10/$20 bb and limper from late pass.
I get moved and find 55 in early, I call. Flop 7 8 8 . The other guy in ep raises $70 into $150. I decide that he wouldnt play a 7 or 8 from early and re raise to $240,, he calls and turns come 7 . I surrender the pot.

A3 one off the button , I raise to $140 ($25/$50) . BB calls. flop A 2 8 (2 diamonds) he checks I fire $150 into $300, he re raises to $400. I opted to pass, my kicker stinks, and didnt face prospect of calling any more big bets down the line.Only $900 left .

QQ from SB, utg raises to $150 (big stack) , mid raises to $600, then theres a caller.My re raise is only $220 more, I move in . I figure the re raiser is the only one who could have my QQ beat, he re raises all in himself and the caller passes. He shows AKos , and I move up to $2500.Tripling up when I am a 57% fav. Nice timing and hand for me there.

3s5s, I call for min raise from Utg in mid.Button calls and BB moves in for $1400 , raiser folds as do i and the button. My call was 1- I had position, 2- I can muck my hand easy and 3- if I do hit I am gonna break my opponent.

Blinds $50-100. I raise from mid to $300 with 10 10. Button calls and BB re raises all infor $3300 (me all in). I felt it is unlikely he has QQ or better, since it is such an overbet, good chance he got AQs or AK , maybe 99 or something but I dont take the chance and fold leaving myself $2200.1st break - $2190.

I move in from BB with KQos when sb jus calls . $150 won.
And again in SB with A3 against BB.
And 3rd time from Button with AQos. sb and bb fold.
And again with KTos.$2900.(this was a risky one)
I limp in mid/late ish with A9os after a limper to my right, a short stack moves in for $1300 and I fold my A9.

I raise in late to $425 with A 10 os, bb calls. Flop 5 5 K. He checks, I think im good but wouldnt like the pressure if he should re raise, so i passively check . Turn Q , check,check. RIver A. He checks, I value bet $300 into $900.He folds.$3000.


I raise all in from button with A4, limper passes as do Sb and bb. $3165.
I move in with A9.
99 in late, mid raises to $600 ($100/$200), he passes. For first time in the mtt, im over $4000.
I raise to $1000 from ep with TT.They all pass. $4800. Blinds $150/$300.

I lost some of my blinds when I had to leave my room for 5 minutes and down to $3.9k. blinds $150/$300.

I come out 69th. I have $3500, late raises to $900. (he was all in before with A5) so I move inwith 66. He reluctantly calls with 33. Board comes 8 8 9 3 A. He wins $7300 and I am out. Fucking online poker lol.

Long Time Coming

Made the final of the PLHE 50 Rebuy last night, came 8/80. Played how I usually do, just had more hands this time to work with.

Had AA twice during the rebuy and got paid and didnt look back since. Was short stacked for a bit when we down to 2/3 tables but when I found QQ in BB and the button raised and the sb went all in, I knew he couldnt pass the ladies. Button passed SB has AJos and I was up to over $23000 blinds at $1k/$2k but there was a lot of short stacks near the bubble , and after a few steals with Ax, 88, K 10 when bb passed KJs (phew) I woke up with KK and got paid again froma guy in bb with 88.
I then lost JJ to A 10 all in pre flop but didnt hurt me too much, lost a bit when i made a compulsory call from the bb with J9 against AQs and ran into nut flush.

So when I made the final I was short stacked like i was last time with only $28000 and antes $4k/$8k. I moved in first 3 hands and won all with no contention , and done it often before I knew it i was hovering around $70,000 with 8 people left, I found AJos in ep.Blinds now $6/$12k. I thought...hmmm this is strongest I seen here on final table, and granted im not in good position but we are 8 way. AJ is nh,I raise to 36,000 . guy to my left moves in for 28,000 more . Which means that theres $6k + $12k + my $36k + his $36k + his $28k =108,000
If i Fold I have $39,000 and will be in bb, im getting jus over 4-1 on my money. I said to him , If you got KK I got to call, It would only be mathematically incorrect if he had AA, even if he had AK/AQ it would be a even money call. PLus if i win the pot I am coasting. I say call, and ask "you got Ks?" ....and he has them which is fine by me. Board comes Q 8 K 4 8 . He makes the full house . I am all in in bb and have AJ again and run into A5c and 10 10 which isnt too bad. But I miss and bust out for a measly 350 quid. Eh, I needed a final and got it. I felt I played v well and was a bit unlucky to run into KK in that spot.Hopefully I can make another final soon.

Ciso

Tough Decisions

Tonight I played in another 20 rebuy, quite fast structure with blinds up every 20 mins and TC only 2000.
I was on a sound table , thought I'd play only good cards tonight though and did, I worked my stack up to around $13,000 by the end of the rebuy which made me the chip leader on my table, I had a few good hands KK and AA. Then with my stack starting muscling the table and worked to good effect as without realising it I had around $27,000 when they broke my table up.

Here are a few tough decisions I had, I pick up KK utg, i limp in hope of a raise...pretty standard really. However the raise doesnt come and 2 people limp in with the blinds.Flop comes Q 2 4 (2 diamonds) I bet 2,000 into the $2500 pot and get one caller whom I consider to be tight. Right now I'm thinking a Q or a diamond. Thought hed prolly re raise with a Q. Turn Q. I check, he checks, hmmm what would he check behind me with? A full house most definitely a Q perhaps, a flush draw yes. River 8. I check and he fires out $3000. I do the fake call and bring my chips back to me to think.Its a good bet to be fair , $3k into around $6500. Id do a similar bet with a good hand, plus hes tight so i eliminate the bluffing chances a wee bit. Well , ive checked it to him twice - hes gonna fire out either way on river imo, I call. He announces good call and shows 6d7d. Some people would call alot faaster i did have overpair but I like to think my decisions through carefully I can pass KK there if there is a greater chance in my mind he has me beat.

Another I have 8c6c on button, late calls. I call. Flop 8 10 A. check,check, late bets $1k.I think , hmm at best hes got a Ten (hed raise in late with Ax) so im prolly ahead. Why re raise? Im comfy with my hand I call. Turn 7, he checks and i decide to fire before the board helps him, I raise $2500 and he quickly folds.

I get moved and soon realise my table has a table with many more rebuys then mine and a im no longer the leader on the table. I dont like jumping in and raising when I dont know all knowthe players yet, so I observe for a bit. First hand I play really is 10h 7h, A loose guy in early just limped. Flop comes 10 6 5. He fires out a pot bet of around $5600, I think gees, he could be flushing I dont think he'd bet that much with fuck all but my kicker stinks so I pass. He flips over just a Ten, Phew I was right.Even if i was wrong I didnt need to get involved there with a marginal hand.

Hand I bust out with - BB 9 9. Blinds $1500/$3000. I have around $14000 after I put in the call of the min raes from ep. One guy outside blinds called. Flop falls J 4 2. I check, he fires out big , 10,000 , limper passes. And I debate in my head what he may have, well it was min raise , I am htinking its one of the following QQ,KK,AA,AK.These are the hands I felt he would do taht mvoe with , he was a tight player who is unlikely to invest $10k into a pot with nothing. But I am short stacked...I think longer, okay he wouldnt raise that much on flop with As or Ks he could afford to slowplay them a bit , rainbow flop.Hmm j hi board , he doesnt have taht though. He wouldnt do taht with KJ or AJ, doubtful with JJ and even if he would he wudnt fire out so much. QQ though, there is 2 overcards that could still come, and only slight overpair, that is a hand he wouldnt slow play and same goes for AK. He may fire out with AK, id say 70% of time he would. I move in for the additional $4k and he calls and turns up QQ. And I am out. Bit of a silly move some might think, but I am happy with my conviction ,and if I would win that pot an even amount of times its a sound move if I am short stacked. I felt it had to be QQ or AK.So I was wrong, and finished around 2oth, not too bad, wasnt completely satisified wiht my performance but certainly not angry either. I played quite well, the blinds got up a bit too fast for my liking today as they often are in the 20 rebuy but eh, thats the nature of these low buy in mtts. Thing that was re enforced tonight is to have conviction and not be afraid to make what appears to be unorthodox moves, providing im going with what my read is, true I was wrong this time (though I did narrow it down to AK orQQ ) but at least I had a reason for my call/push. That is something for me to be happy with and maintain i hope.

Ciso.

Redemption (sort of)

Played another 20 rebuy tonight at casino, 90 something runners.
Came 12th, won't give whole story but will describe a few key hands at critical times.

1) 55 getting short stacked i raise in late,BB calls. Flop 2 3 6. He taps me, I think for a bit and call him. I figure if he had stronger then 55 pre flop he would have moved me in, so I rule out the overpair. He is capable of holding a 6, and I reckoned there was a 30% chance he was holding a 6. I call, he has 3h4h. I win.

2) AK beats 8 8 .

3) 2 tables left , I raise with Ad9d in early (prolly not wise eh) and someone who i consider tight goes all in, I am laid something in the region of 12-1 and call. He has 88 , and I lose.

4) I get 10 K os in late, 3 limpers, I move all in . I felt this was a very bold move, If i won without contest I would nearly have doubled up (without any callers!) and didn't think any of them were particularly strong especially this close to the final. A loose guy in late thinks for ages. I chat shit to him like he does to everyone. "26,000 is too much for you mate." He had 74000, but he was getting good odds in that spot. He passes and shows A 10os. I flip over 10 K and win an all in against the BB who was all in form the BB with 10 2. I win that, An ace came on the turn too :).

5) I have A 10os in bb, small blind who is the loose shit talking twat, raises the pot basically tapping me. Heres the interesting thing, I saw his cards! He had 55. I had 8000 in, and had an additional 31,000 I think, I wasnt the shortest stack at all and maybe this move was unwise when I usually dont like 50-50s but I wanted to have a good chance of winning not surviving. I lost the race and busted out in 12th. Basically the bubble isnt it.
Thinking back I prolly should have passed, good tournament strategy would be to pass there so close to the final. But apart from the last hand I am very happy with my play tonight, granted I won no money....somethings are more important. I didnt get that great cards, made some nice bluffs and good folds too and played alot better then my previous few tourneys..Defo good preperation for the tourney I do on Sunday.

Ciso

Novice

I done the 20 rebuy tonight, played well for first hr and a half playing solid handseg- 88 twice,33 twice, KQ twice and A 10 os.
I built my stack to around $12,500 before getting moved and played 2 hands out of the first 3 I played when I got moved being A3suited, A8 suited (both in late). When this hand comes along-
I pick up Ah Qh in 2nd position, I riase to $1800 (antes $300/$600). They all pass around to the SB who re raises the pot...$4200 back on me. I notice his hands were shaking when he grabbed his chips, first indication of his hand....hmm what does nervous hands mean, Hes strong isn't he Ciso. Ok , now how much is this guy playing, wow another $12000 ish after his raise , he must have been in there playing a lot of pots , hes old but he obviously isn't the tight passive guy you may assume an elderly man to be. Well, im pretty young he may think he can push me out of this pot, also he has seen me play 2/3 of my hands so far.

What hands may he have then, well I think he probably does have the courage to come over the top with 10s or better, I dont think hes so strong he has AA , possible QQ-JJ or something weaker like 99,TT,AJs. My gut initially told me I am behind.
" I'm all in" , I state $7000 more. He calls and turns up AKos. First card off Q, 2nd K.

What a moronic move, I am very comfortable in chips on this table why tangle with a guy who has alot aswell? If I lose I am out, also do I like playing big pots like this in tourneys ? Hell no! Am i committed? Hmmmm NO, I have put in only $1800. I still have $11,300 or so. Basically that is the stupidest way I have gone out of a tournament in my memory, I would love a stack of that size usually at that stage as I often get close to short stacked 3hrs or so in. Even if he is coming over the top of me, if he has 22 I shouldn't be playing that pot. This pot would only be worthwhile if I had him dominated, and that is unlikely here isnt it. A raise from early, a re raise and I am over the top with AQsuited lol. Nicest hand i seen up till then , but that dont mean shit. I have passed JJ,AK etc without even re raising a guy to make sure when I have conviction.

I am really disappointed with that last hand and really am going to try to rectify it but doing well in whichever is my next live tourney, no aspirations of final table this time. I got to win to make up for this error, if I didnt do taht move I think I would have done well tonight, granted it was not that late in the tourney ( 4 tables of 9 ) left I think. But taht doesnt cut it, anyway had to vent some anger there. Usually when I bust out of a mtt I am content with my play but not here, eh eh eh. Pressure is on again , hope I can do it again lol.

Poker Weekend

Done two tournaments this weekend gone, 100 freezeout at Gutshot and the 50 rebuy at Casino.Unfortunately didn't place in either. I played well I felt in both which is good I guess cos it means there is less leaks in my game then I thought, course not making a final in either was rather dissappointing.

The Gutshot tourney was good structure, nice buy in and around 75 runners. I started relatively well, $4800 at first break when the starting count is $4000. Then got moved onto another table, I played my normal game (perhaps a little looser then usual cos of the structure) but was unfortunate in an incident that my friends will know well. I raised in late to $1100 with blinds $200/$400 and the BB moved all in. I had AJos, had been raising in late alot and when I looked at him I felt sure I had him (even with a weak holding like AJ ) so I called for the additional $3200 which was like 1/2 my stack at the time, but the dealer didn't hear me! Thats right , to rub it in the opponent really was on the come, he had J7os! Oh well.
Then when antes were up to $250-$500 I had lost a few allins where I called a short stack, to name 2- AQ vs 99 and AK Q10s,he had live cards I guess. Then one of my friends in the tourney got moved next to me, we both playing short stacks and moving in quite frequently .
He moved in , and I found AJ, I called in a shot. He has A6suited, and we split when board is flush. So we still short stacked, then I lose AK to 10 J, and bust out finally when my push in mid with A 10 os runs into the BB who calls with AQ.Out in like 28th. Aelred, the guy who split the pot with me went onto come 3rd, congratulations mape!

The 50 rebuy, I was very tired honestly, been travelling past 2 days and just got home. Thought I'd do it cos i made the final two weeks runnning and wanted to see if I could do it a 3rd time. I still played quite well, maybe my C- game, and came in at a respectable 17th/85. When my A8os raise in late was re raised, I ended up committed with 3.3-1 on my money against 10 10. I hit an Ace but he runnered a flush, cant complain hes ahead.
Not much else to say really about this tourney, I made a good call against a guy with AQ on a board of J 6 6 , but that was about it. Pretty much played my hands and position.

Last night I decided to give an online tourney a shot, doing 2 at once , the 15k at whill and the 10k $99 rebuy on VC, won the Vc one bagging $4,000. Its nice to be able to play both online and Live, prefer live but I know I can still do well online too. I may be doing either the 250 at gutshot this weekend or the 100 rebuy that is much hyped up at Nottingham Casino. We'll see though, either one I do or even both, I really am planning on a final table again . Back to work eh?

Ciso.