Just wanted to take this chance to greet everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May you encounter more sets, straights, flushes and boats in the coming year.
For a bit of poker news, started playing some MTTs again and results are mixed. Busted out early in the holiday freeroll and one other tourney but finished 5th in a 2.5K GTD. So that's quite encouraging. Looking forward to the next ones.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
When tilting is good...
I was playing an $11 Turbo SNG the other night. Everything was going well, we were down to 4 and I had the 2nd largest stack. I just finished 2nd in the other SNG that I was playing so I was confident and playing solid. I was gonna call it a night after this table planning to end on a good note.
That is until I flopped a set against the large stack who then proceeded to call 3/4 pot bets on the flop and turn. He was a conservative player and he pushes all-in after the river card when I checked after a 3rd heart showed.
If I had folded, I would have lost some chips but would still have enough left to be comfortably ahead of the short stack. The thing is I knew he made the flush. But I couldn't let go of the set and he eventually shows the King high flush to bust me out in 4th.
Serves me right. I had already analyzed the hand/moves and knew his probable holding but still couldn't let go. Normally, I take SNG losses quite well knowing its part of the deal. But the way I busted out on this one puts me on massive tilt.
So I immediately register for a $22 Turbo. I normally don't play at these stakes. But I was fuming about the loss and I wanted to make back the profit ASAP. Well, if the poker gods were going to teach me a lesson about bankroll management, this looks to be the best time to do it. We were down to 5 and I had the shortest stack when suddenly I go on a massive heater. I get AQ twice in a row for some nice pots. Then when we were down to 4, short stack goes all in with AQ. Lo and behold, I get AK for the automatic call. Dominated hand and I bust him out for the ITM.
Now I'm confident and solid 3 handed play with some nice bluffs thrown in gives me 1st place. So I not only make up the loss, I get a significant profit to end the day. Wahahah. I know, its a dumb and dumber moment and I wouldn't recommend what I did to serious poker players everywhere.
But to answer the question. When is tilting good ? When you're lucky. =)
That is until I flopped a set against the large stack who then proceeded to call 3/4 pot bets on the flop and turn. He was a conservative player and he pushes all-in after the river card when I checked after a 3rd heart showed.
If I had folded, I would have lost some chips but would still have enough left to be comfortably ahead of the short stack. The thing is I knew he made the flush. But I couldn't let go of the set and he eventually shows the King high flush to bust me out in 4th.
Serves me right. I had already analyzed the hand/moves and knew his probable holding but still couldn't let go. Normally, I take SNG losses quite well knowing its part of the deal. But the way I busted out on this one puts me on massive tilt.
So I immediately register for a $22 Turbo. I normally don't play at these stakes. But I was fuming about the loss and I wanted to make back the profit ASAP. Well, if the poker gods were going to teach me a lesson about bankroll management, this looks to be the best time to do it. We were down to 5 and I had the shortest stack when suddenly I go on a massive heater. I get AQ twice in a row for some nice pots. Then when we were down to 4, short stack goes all in with AQ. Lo and behold, I get AK for the automatic call. Dominated hand and I bust him out for the ITM.
Now I'm confident and solid 3 handed play with some nice bluffs thrown in gives me 1st place. So I not only make up the loss, I get a significant profit to end the day. Wahahah. I know, its a dumb and dumber moment and I wouldn't recommend what I did to serious poker players everywhere.
But to answer the question. When is tilting good ? When you're lucky. =)
Friday, December 14, 2007
Challenge Accepted
Whenever I post an update on what's been happening with my poker playing, I usually just put down some generalities on how I did and don't really list the actual numbers. Why do I do this ?
To be honest, I don't really know. I guess it's part of my upbringing wherein I was always reminded by my mom that some monetary things are meant to be private. Because no matter how we put it, online poker is still gambling. And as I noted in a previous post, my dad before he passed away suffered from some serious gambling issues. So there is some hesitancy on my part to talk about gambling wins or losses. It's also part strategy as you don't really want to give your opponents any idea on how strong or weak you may be.
Suddenly during my last post, somebody (a disgruntled reader, office colleague with a grudge or fellow online player?) accuses me of exaggerating my results. Although I do not need to make any kind of reply to these kinds of posts. I am somewhat insulted by this accusation as I've always tried to maintain a low key & honest approach to my playing & blog-posting. So just to shut him up. I am posting below my results in 4 major sites as per sharkscope. Although this is not complete (MTT results are not all included), this should give you a fairly good idea of my stats. Let the other readers decide if I have exaggerated my stats or results in any of my previous posts.
To be honest, I don't really know. I guess it's part of my upbringing wherein I was always reminded by my mom that some monetary things are meant to be private. Because no matter how we put it, online poker is still gambling. And as I noted in a previous post, my dad before he passed away suffered from some serious gambling issues. So there is some hesitancy on my part to talk about gambling wins or losses. It's also part strategy as you don't really want to give your opponents any idea on how strong or weak you may be.
Suddenly during my last post, somebody (a disgruntled reader, office colleague with a grudge or fellow online player?) accuses me of exaggerating my results. Although I do not need to make any kind of reply to these kinds of posts. I am somewhat insulted by this accusation as I've always tried to maintain a low key & honest approach to my playing & blog-posting. So just to shut him up. I am posting below my results in 4 major sites as per sharkscope. Although this is not complete (MTT results are not all included), this should give you a fairly good idea of my stats. Let the other readers decide if I have exaggerated my stats or results in any of my previous posts.
So now I'm giving back the floor to you. If you're as good as you claim to be and not just an anonymous coward. Then feel free to make a comment. Better yet, show me your own stats.
I may not play that many games nor do I play in the higher stakes. But I think my game can stand on its own.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Going Up
Just to give an update. I recently moved up to playing $11 turbos in various sites and so far so good. My average ROI on the 11s has been in the 20+ % range. This is higher than my normal ROI in the $6.50s so that's kind of strange. But I've played a small number of games so far so its most probably a temporary upswing. I did finish reading Harrington on Holdem vol 1 and that could have had a positive effect on my game.
Also qualified for the $20K Holiday Freeroll over at Pokerroom and the $50K Month-end freeroll at Poker.com. So those are some tourneys to look forward to near the end of the year.
I am quite realistic with my chances in these kinds of promotional tourneys as players will usually number more than a thousand with huge variance due to the number of fishes. But then again, its next to free so nothing to lose but your time and you get the chance to win significant money if you get deep. The only thing I hate is the waking up part as they would usually start early morning.
Well, that's about everything that's happening in the poker front. I did notice one thing though, how come pokerstars doesn't have 11+1 Turbo SNGs? It's weird. From the $6.50s, it immediately goes up to the 16s. Although its better value for money in term of rake, its a bit too rich for my blood right now. Full Tilt on the other hands skips to the $22 after the $11s. So if I'm after gradual increases in my SNG games, I'm going to have to go back and forth between the 2 sites. =)
Also qualified for the $20K Holiday Freeroll over at Pokerroom and the $50K Month-end freeroll at Poker.com. So those are some tourneys to look forward to near the end of the year.
I am quite realistic with my chances in these kinds of promotional tourneys as players will usually number more than a thousand with huge variance due to the number of fishes. But then again, its next to free so nothing to lose but your time and you get the chance to win significant money if you get deep. The only thing I hate is the waking up part as they would usually start early morning.
Well, that's about everything that's happening in the poker front. I did notice one thing though, how come pokerstars doesn't have 11+1 Turbo SNGs? It's weird. From the $6.50s, it immediately goes up to the 16s. Although its better value for money in term of rake, its a bit too rich for my blood right now. Full Tilt on the other hands skips to the $22 after the $11s. So if I'm after gradual increases in my SNG games, I'm going to have to go back and forth between the 2 sites. =)
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