Tilt Tales
Friday, July 15, 2005
Finally...some money back
Hi All,
I know that no-one is actually reading these posts but I'll continue for sanities (?) sake as it seems to have done some good. Up until the last post I was writing about events that happened in the past since then things have improved a little. I did play quite a bit last night, but I had been drinking so I can at least find an excuse. I went to bed wondering if I was perhaps just a very crap Poker Player.
Today, however I saw a glimmer of light. I didn't make the final table, but got well into the money finishing 39th out of 539 which saw me claim $20 plus some change. I probably could have check folded into the top 20 easily for the extra $7 ($27) but the two hands that sunk me were fair enough. There were 42 people left (40+ paid $14) and I was dealt AK suited (spades) and I called...at this stage I was sitting 27th with about $9K in chips. Somone on $3K goes all in...I called..they had JJ, so all I needed was a A or K or flush draw, but alais nothing they win with a pair JJ. Next hand I am delt 1010 I only have $4K left, down to 37th. Blinds are $1k-$500, so I go all in, the same player as before they have K9 suited...they get a K on the flop and win with KK, gone.
I was disapointed that I lost twice in a row to the same player with good hands, what was amazing is that that player didn't even go on to make the top 20 when I had given them $9K to their chip stack. Importantly though I was happy that I grinded it out with solid play to claim some money. If I can continue this focus I will get to that final table and win a tourney... ¶ Friday, July 15, 2005 0 comments
I know that no-one is actually reading these posts but I'll continue for sanities (?) sake as it seems to have done some good. Up until the last post I was writing about events that happened in the past since then things have improved a little. I did play quite a bit last night, but I had been drinking so I can at least find an excuse. I went to bed wondering if I was perhaps just a very crap Poker Player.
Today, however I saw a glimmer of light. I didn't make the final table, but got well into the money finishing 39th out of 539 which saw me claim $20 plus some change. I probably could have check folded into the top 20 easily for the extra $7 ($27) but the two hands that sunk me were fair enough. There were 42 people left (40+ paid $14) and I was dealt AK suited (spades) and I called...at this stage I was sitting 27th with about $9K in chips. Somone on $3K goes all in...I called..they had JJ, so all I needed was a A or K or flush draw, but alais nothing they win with a pair JJ. Next hand I am delt 1010 I only have $4K left, down to 37th. Blinds are $1k-$500, so I go all in, the same player as before they have K9 suited...they get a K on the flop and win with KK, gone.
I was disapointed that I lost twice in a row to the same player with good hands, what was amazing is that that player didn't even go on to make the top 20 when I had given them $9K to their chip stack. Importantly though I was happy that I grinded it out with solid play to claim some money. If I can continue this focus I will get to that final table and win a tourney... ¶ Friday, July 15, 2005 0 comments
Thursday, July 14, 2005
$5.00+$0.50 Plus $500
Well, 461 entrants finished in 206th. Seems bad, was 50th when out, I was dealt AA (Rockets) and someone raised $200 Pre-flop I called, three of us in. Flop 4 and 8 diamonds and something or hearts. I check, next guy bets $150, the next guy raises $3.5K well, I'm thinking do they have three of a kind. I felt as though I had to call, which I guess was my mistake, I called. He had 3 & 5 diamonds so he is looking for flush draw, between the two of us as the other guy folded. Next card 8 Spades...next card...9 diamonds...gone! I felt as though this was the right call, risky I supose as he had better odds of hitting a diamond over anything that I could get.
Summary - Pocket Rockets don't always win, they look good and get you excited but in the end can underperform. ¶ Thursday, July 14, 2005 0 comments
Summary - Pocket Rockets don't always win, they look good and get you excited but in the end can underperform. ¶ Thursday, July 14, 2005 0 comments
The Week
Events of the last post - Background Part 2 - have been those of the past week, 11th July and things in terms of my poker achievements have not improved. This week, so far, I have played about 10 $5.00-$0.50 tournaments and about 8 of those have moved been placed in top 80 with about an average stack size. I continue to have these brain explosions, mainly where I am holding A6 for instance and there are, say, 3 others in the hand. The board has 7, A, 2, 4, 9 and betting has been small, I have a pair of Aces, nothing else and for some reason go ALL-IN, or bet large and get raised so I re-raise or ALL-IN. I don't even consider that someone has two pair which is what has been happening. Just terrible poker play.
The main issue that I have is that I always up to that point play quite good poker, I build my stack, play the hands that are strong and fold the week. Indeed I quite often will fold pre-flop with A7 or KJ if there is a lot of betting and raising happening. So I can play well but for some reason I get into a panic or get ahead of myself and don't think about the possibilities and end up paying the consequences. I should at the moment be well ahead and should have out of the 10 tournaments that I have played this week at leat made 1 final table, but I have come away empty handed.
So, I'm registered for a tournament at 6pm today (AEST -4am EDT) a $5.00+$0.50 plus $500 which has a flatter prize structure so hopefully I can at least get into the money. I need to ensure that I read the board correctly and think about the possibilities based on my hand and what people have been betting. What I really need to ensure is that when I am betting large or even thinking of an ALL-IN to hold back and consider what is going on, what I have and what odds are involved.
I'll let you know how it goes...
Background Part 2
So May 2005, and an invite to a mates house to discuss the further development of our tipping and social site www.waxers.com.au re-introduced me to poker. There were a few others there as well and we decided to play some poker, Texas Hold'em, two of the guys are members of Pokerroom (MrNewbie and wilso4) so we play and I come out with a few dollars. During the evening there are a few hard luck stories that MrNewbie and wilso4 had experienced in Pokerroom, so this once again gets my interest.
So I log back into my old account and see the forgotten $0.95 and throw in $55 and register for a $5.00+$0.50 tournement and come around 126th and immediately back up into another one and get a little further about 80th. I get a call from Wilso4 saying that the next morning (Australian Time) is a DECCA freerole worth $5K, a freerole is were the organising company (Pokerroom) put up the prize money and people can join for free. They often have $500 freeroles, twice a day I think. Anyway, so I go in this free role and get 40th and get about $14 for a good 3 hours effort. Then, the big one the hooks me on again, I get to the final table in a $5.00+$0.50 finishing 6th and collect $74 very exciting getting to the final table. In this tournement I was very patient essentially only playing the top hands - pairs AA to 77 and AK, AQ, AJ, A10.
I read a few more articles around and was looking at a lot of websites, cardplay, ESPN, Pokerwire and went out and bought a deck of cards just to see if some of the river cards that I saw really do come off and it seems they do.
I played in as many tournements as I could, sometimes three to four a day and also on low-limit tables. This is when I started a very worrying trend in my poker play. I would get into a very good position, 40th largest stack with 80 people left out of 300+ entrants. Sitting pretty here you think, Top 60 are to be paid, this situation you'd expect to come out with say $14 or so, profit of $9. I could easily have check folded into the money and then played as normal again. But what has happened easily the last 7-8 times that I have played is that I bust out on very poor poker play. Take this example, classic
36th out of 620 odd. Top 60 paid, 85 entrants left and 2 minutes left to 2nd break.
I'm holding pocket Kings (KK) Blinds are $200-$400.
I'm two behind the button (Dealer) with the stack-leader one behind (i.e next to me) I call and stack leader raises $1200 other that are in fold, I call. Flop is K, Q, J...so looking at this I immediately forget everything that has me at 36th close to the money and bet about $4k (out my $10K stack) and the stack leader calls. Next card 10, so board reads K, Q, J, 10 - I check leader bets $6K without thinking I shoot back ALL-IN...after all I have KKK here, there was a brief thought that he has AA in pocket, but I that thought was bumped out of the way by, "If I win this I'm going all the way to the final table", I am sure that many of you can see something here already. He calls...next card was 7. Show-Down...I show KKK his pocket cards AK, he wins with straigh Ace high.
Out I go.... ¶ Thursday, July 14, 2005 0 comments
So I log back into my old account and see the forgotten $0.95 and throw in $55 and register for a $5.00+$0.50 tournement and come around 126th and immediately back up into another one and get a little further about 80th. I get a call from Wilso4 saying that the next morning (Australian Time) is a DECCA freerole worth $5K, a freerole is were the organising company (Pokerroom) put up the prize money and people can join for free. They often have $500 freeroles, twice a day I think. Anyway, so I go in this free role and get 40th and get about $14 for a good 3 hours effort. Then, the big one the hooks me on again, I get to the final table in a $5.00+$0.50 finishing 6th and collect $74 very exciting getting to the final table. In this tournement I was very patient essentially only playing the top hands - pairs AA to 77 and AK, AQ, AJ, A10.
I read a few more articles around and was looking at a lot of websites, cardplay, ESPN, Pokerwire and went out and bought a deck of cards just to see if some of the river cards that I saw really do come off and it seems they do.
I played in as many tournements as I could, sometimes three to four a day and also on low-limit tables. This is when I started a very worrying trend in my poker play. I would get into a very good position, 40th largest stack with 80 people left out of 300+ entrants. Sitting pretty here you think, Top 60 are to be paid, this situation you'd expect to come out with say $14 or so, profit of $9. I could easily have check folded into the money and then played as normal again. But what has happened easily the last 7-8 times that I have played is that I bust out on very poor poker play. Take this example, classic
36th out of 620 odd. Top 60 paid, 85 entrants left and 2 minutes left to 2nd break.
I'm holding pocket Kings (KK) Blinds are $200-$400.
I'm two behind the button (Dealer) with the stack-leader one behind (i.e next to me) I call and stack leader raises $1200 other that are in fold, I call. Flop is K, Q, J...so looking at this I immediately forget everything that has me at 36th close to the money and bet about $4k (out my $10K stack) and the stack leader calls. Next card 10, so board reads K, Q, J, 10 - I check leader bets $6K without thinking I shoot back ALL-IN...after all I have KKK here, there was a brief thought that he has AA in pocket, but I that thought was bumped out of the way by, "If I win this I'm going all the way to the final table", I am sure that many of you can see something here already. He calls...next card was 7. Show-Down...I show KKK his pocket cards AK, he wins with straigh Ace high.
Out I go.... ¶ Thursday, July 14, 2005 0 comments
Background
I first started playing poker in College we would play your basic 5 card stud betting for small amounts of money, usually just to fill in the time between lectures, tutorials and social events that usually involved the university bar. While we did play some poker we mainly played Black-Jack which got quite out of hand were paychecks were swapped at the end of each week, with $200+ changing hands on a regular basis.
In terms of poker, particulary Teaxs Hold'em, my real introduction was November 2004 when I joing pokerroom.com and deposited my first $20, but started off playing the 'Play Money' tables. This taught me the basics of the playing the game, the rules and gave me an understanding of basic strategy etc. I played around a few of the $0.25-$0.25 games and lost my first $5.00 quite quickly, so I realised that I needed to get a better understanding and went in search on a few articles on how to get a better understanding of positions, pots, odds and the plays involved. I started to hold my own in the low-limit tables, losing some and winning some but essentially staying even.
Then I found tournements, for $5+$0.50, I had the opportunity to win a couple of hundred, first place with 300+ people will get around $400-$500. So I entered, this was still November 2004, and in my first tourney somehow managed to get to the final table and finished 8th and got about $50, more the doubled the money that I had left in the account.
Unfortunately it did not take long for this money to go as I dabbled around with other games, Pirate Poker, Blackjack and as I had never played Roullete or Craps I had to have a plnuge on them also. So within the month of November I had lost my inital deposit and winnings of $69.05, leaving $0.95 in the account and I forgot about Poker until May 2005. ¶ Thursday, July 14, 2005 0 comments
In terms of poker, particulary Teaxs Hold'em, my real introduction was November 2004 when I joing pokerroom.com and deposited my first $20, but started off playing the 'Play Money' tables. This taught me the basics of the playing the game, the rules and gave me an understanding of basic strategy etc. I played around a few of the $0.25-$0.25 games and lost my first $5.00 quite quickly, so I realised that I needed to get a better understanding and went in search on a few articles on how to get a better understanding of positions, pots, odds and the plays involved. I started to hold my own in the low-limit tables, losing some and winning some but essentially staying even.
Then I found tournements, for $5+$0.50, I had the opportunity to win a couple of hundred, first place with 300+ people will get around $400-$500. So I entered, this was still November 2004, and in my first tourney somehow managed to get to the final table and finished 8th and got about $50, more the doubled the money that I had left in the account.
Unfortunately it did not take long for this money to go as I dabbled around with other games, Pirate Poker, Blackjack and as I had never played Roullete or Craps I had to have a plnuge on them also. So within the month of November I had lost my inital deposit and winnings of $69.05, leaving $0.95 in the account and I forgot about Poker until May 2005. ¶ Thursday, July 14, 2005 0 comments
