So Ya Know...

Thought I'd give a wee update on whats being going down. I decided to stop playing online poker like a week ago - despite several strong cashes, I felt it was detrimental to my course and sleeping pattern was terrible. Since my tournaments were very late at night I was going sleep like 8am often sometimes later.


I had been playin a lot of live poker at the local casino too, like 3 times a week sometimes 4 so I decided to cut that down to 2 if I can. I played the sunday and final tabled for the 3rd consecutive time, problem is - 3rd,6th,7th. So thats not great, and the bigger competitions I had been doing were not getting me any final tables. I cashed tonight in the £20 (max 2 rebuys) coming 18th/119 which was okay. I lost a huge pot early on for 35k chips when AQ lsot to QJ on a q X X flop, we got it all in his QJ hit J on turn...damn. My all in blind utg move with 2c4c was beat by the bb's QJ. Eh , I cashed at least.


I bought loads of books for my course on sunday from amazon. I figure I need to actually work now? I got enough money in the bank from poker, bought a new laptop, sent some money to my family, and can play live whenever I want so I should focus more on my degree.


Tommorow's live competition is the one I set aside each week to do. I am putting pressure on myself to final this, cos Aelred (kompis) has been implying of late I can only FT the weaker comps , which isn't that hurtful since I know I am a strong tournament player, but If I think I am one of the best players in the cardroom, my results should show this.


I have been a record in my notepad of my tournaments winnings and losses' on a weekly basis ,and am down the last 3 weeks. So that big win would be nice. Stay tuned to find out about tommorows competition.


Lastly, the good news is I booked a holiday from december 14 for a week in lanzarote so if I do some good work on my course and nail some good live results I will be rewarded with my holiday at the end.
Ciso

Weekend of Poker

Saturday, I decided to make the 2 hour trip to london and play in there £100 Freezeout at Gutshot. I arrived a few hours early and was surprised to see that the hotel I reserved a room for didnt have my name down. Eh Eh Eh, I played the tournament , I busted out after about an hour when my K-K all in before the flop was called by a frustrated button riaser with, A6, he flopped trips and I was out.

Then It was quite early in the evening , so I thought I'd go back to nottingham, damn, no trains....hmm I could go back to peterborough and sleeep there, then go back to nottingham tommorow OR I could play cash games at gutshot till early morning then go back to notts via an early train.

I flipped a coin on it, the first 2 being peterborough (1st to 3), then 3 on the bounce for cash games. Who am I to argue?

After losing £100 with J-J when I re raised the raiser pre flop, someone smooth caled behind me for £39 with Ah9h, the riaser passed. flop of A-5-3 (2s), I pushed in to stop any other overs or for him hittin trips if he had lower pp, he called with A9 and that was one buy in.

Hmmm bad news, I lost from my last £80 on me down to £25, So I thought Id go to ATM....more bad news, atm wouldnt let me withdraw anymore.
So I played with that lsat £25, got it up to Js7s when I looked for a value in a 4 way raised pre flop pot, I won and was now sitting with around £90.
I then get AA and win another £40 , then quad 4s :) when 44 hits 44J on flop. I got paid nicely.

Then I was sitting around £260 and with blinds £1/£2 this meant I was fairly deep, I played pretty well and within few hours was sitting around £420. I was playing many pots, and this annoyed one young lad who thought he was the king, he was good imo, I respected him cos he spoke alot of theory that was true. But I replied one time when he said " relentess, he calls me down all time", When i called a flop and turn bet with Ah5h on a A rag rag (2s) then turn 4 (giving me open ended too) and he missed his flush on river. I replied with " complain when Ive been wrong".

Here are some hands in the cash game. Q-Q , I raised to like £8 , the young guy calls in position as does a limper before me. Flop comes K-4-3. Check, I check, he bets like £22. The other passes, I call. I call here to see if he shutdowns on turn, I check/call so I get value from a weaker hand but also so I dont lose laods if i raise and get re raised. Anyway, turn was like a 7, check check. Now I think I am prolly infront ,when river comes Q. I went to bet then thought actually, If i read him for no king, what can I call? So I check.He fires for £56, and cos I read him as not much I re raise the minimum. He looked worried and says " I think I know whats happened here", He reluctantly calls and I win a nice pot. I read him for KJ when he said this and he flashed a King.
He said, he checked turn to get paid well on river since he felt i had 10 10 or JJ when check call, check. Well played there by both of imo.

Another , I have AcKc, I re raise a new guy the pot pre flop to like £38 after he riased pot and 2 calls. He called leaving like £60 behind him. Flop came A-6-10, planning on gettin full value I check, knowing hes gonna bet, he pushes I fast call. Turn 3, river A. I turn over KA he has A6 LOL. Nice call pre flop eh? That left me down to like £250 or something.

Soon after AsKs, few limpers, I raise to £14 , someone re raises to £40, he was tight and chatty when I was pondering , I folded and showed. He only played KK before that, and He mucked his cards. Big fold there I reckon, but I was oop and felt Id have to hit before I bet. I felt pre flop he definitely had me beat , at worst QQ/JJ.

Ac8c, I call the young guys riase. Flop J 8 3 , he leads I call, turn 4 he checks, ( i shud have bet here, but he checks to me with top pair regularly)river K, check check. He has 9-9. I could have played that a bit better, but I played this session often like check/calling etc and limping before flop. It worked well, cos I didnt invest too much pre flop.

KK , I raise pre flop. 2 calls. Flop K Q 6 (2 hearts ) someone bets out a very weak £8, I figure he was drawing so I couldnt call for value, I had to re raise with the nuts, I made it £32, he called. Turn Q, He checked, again I had to charge if he was drawing cos if he misses I dont get paid, I make it like £32 again I think. Weak bet, but i want value . He calls river rag, he checks I bet £90 into like £187 hopin he might have a Q but not putting him on it. He has to fold like I thought. Damn I wish a heart came.

3h4h, I call the young guys raise as do 2 others. Flop comes 3 J 7, 2 check to me, I lead for like £20 into £24 , they pass. Boring hand actually.

Alot of the hands were me calling before flop or calling a raise and either takign it away post flop or hitting and trying to get value. My loose style worked well. I ended the session with £218 which isnt great but I lost JJ to A9 and AK to A6 for a very sizeable pot...like £380. So I could have left with over £650 but all things considered a good trip.

Then I got a 9am train to notts, slept on train.Woke up to my flat mate talking to the people next to me about Richard branson and their new ventures lol. Then we played the 2.30 pm £30 freezeout at gala nottingham..Poker Poker poker.
He came like 35th/75 I finished 3rd for £320. It was a weak field and picked up strong hands early on to give me the ammunition to control and raise later on. I wasnt ever hugely stacked just plugged away at my table. And they really let me lol. I was plannin only to win and was never gonna deal on the final table. I had Ad8d vs K10 late on and lost for abig pot. Then I came back only to lose A7 vs 67, but i still stole my way back up for like the 3rd time on the FT. When 3 handed my QJ all pre was beat by a6, despite a flop 10 9 K giving me the nuts, the turn and river of Q and J was mean. I fully deserved the FT win imo, as I was completely dominating still, a final table and 3rd place was reasonable.

I will play less online poker this week to catch up with uni work. Last weeks wins made me nocturnal hence a serious lack of university attendance.

Thanks for reading.

Ciso

Came Good

Very proud , last night saw me net $16,150 in the $55k gtd on ps. For me, I felt I haven't played too different from lately in live (havent played online realy since arriving at uni). I had to be a bit lucky though and was in different kind of luck, I only walked into KK once when i raised and got away from my 8-8 pre flop when I did. I also held up in vital spots, like JJ vs Qs6s on a 8s9s4c flop for 7.5 million chips. I would have had 2.5m if I lost that , but winning that pot 3 way allowed me to have a 9-1 lead on my opponent heads up.

Heads up I raised every hand almost until after our first break where I decided to take some flops and finally my flush and straight draw with one over beat his 2nd pair.There was plenty of raise before the flop in position with reasonable (suited connectors, Ax,Kx,pp sometimes) then Id lead on the flop and take it or re raise after the flop.I think the difference today and past is I haven't had a hand I HAD to play and ended up losing through bad luck or cooler. I am not all that cocky so I won't predict any future scores, chances are I won't ever win this comp again. I worked it out ,the average player would win this 1 every 4 years if they played it everyday. And I have 2 wins in a year roughly and I havent even played it 100. So I am obviously quite fortunate.

I am planning on putting most of it in my savings, hopefully get a car, bussing to my lectures can be a pain, I will continue to play live twice a week ish and think I can return enough from that and with the odd mtt online , who knows? Maybe I ll hit over a BR of what I was at last year....This time I won't piss it away though.

Thanks for reading.

Ciso