September - Results!

Last session of September tonight and after busting two tournaments pretty quickly, and scraping a min cash in the €10 freezeout, I soon found myself on the final table of the €25. Was short stacked for a long way, but after KK vs QQ vs JJ, where my kings held, I was chip leader with 3 left. It did enter my mind that I havent won a tournament for about 18 months now, always finding myself coming 3rd-6th, but I genuinely thought I had the better of my opponents and the €1000 first prize was coming my way. Unfortunately that wasnt the case, I was getting bullied on all my button raises and having to fold frequently. Soon I looked down at KTs and made the same button raise, only to get re-raised by the active BB for a small amount. I smooth called (mistake?). Flop came down an exciting 3QJ rainbow and after he mashed the half pot button, I decided to shove and put the pressure back on him (mistake again?). Unfortunately he snapped with KQ and after missing the A and 9, I stared long at hard at another 1st place gone missing.

Still, a 3rd place for €500+ isnt too shabby, and it means I end September nicely in profit. Here are the numbers:

Tournaments Played : 51
ROI : 43.86%
Profit : £498.72

Sweet comeback at the end of the month imo!

Next month I think I will be adding a few Ongame tournaments onto the schedule, which hopefully means more profit :)

Goodnight all!

Finally, the €10r final table!

Ok quite a while since my last update! Went to DTD on Saturday with an old mate Phil to play the £10 beginners comp. Was quite a laugh looking at the bad plays, but I still busted nowhere near the cash :p. So we played a few of the £10 sngs agreeing to split any profits/cashes and had a laugh, managing to walk away with not too great a loss!

Chilled out Sunday, and went out last night, so I felt eager to get on the grind tonight. I started off well, getting deep in the €20 deepstack, but making a poor shove to come 11th and final table bubble for a small profit. That annoyed me a little, especially when I busted out the €10 and the €25 in unavoidable situations. But the rebuy was still open and although I was short almost all the way, I managed to double up on the bubble and things went well from then in. With some help from Ben and Dawesy I managed to final table and scrape a 6th place for €430ish. Felt like I learned a lot tonight, and I am back in the profit on DTD. So all in all, a good night!

Pretty shattered now so going to bed, but will be back on the grind tomorrow/tonight! Hopefully off to DTD soon with Dawesy as well, which is always fun!

Bye all!

Agh so tough to take..

Had another session tonight and after running pretty bad in the first 3 tournaments I was hardly looking forward to the rebuy. Rebuy didnt go too well either, losing a couple of big races to spank a few rebuys. But the luck changed! With 50 left (in the cash), I find myself with a huge tournament chiplead. Was running good and it felt great! With 40 left I run into another huge stack with AK vs AQ all in pre flop. An unfortunate Q kind of crushed my spirits a little, and when I ran into kings not long after to bust I was pretty pissed.

But I do take some positives. On the bubble I really did abuse it, and this is one of the reasons I found myself with the chiplead when the bubble burst. I was 3betting a lot more also, and they seemed to be pulling off. So I feel like my tournament game is coming together. I really just wish I could run good when deep to get a big result to show my backer and myself that this is worthwhile.

Anyway, sorry to moan about luck, I promised not to do it but I'm just a little annoyed right now. No grinding tomorrow, going to be chilling with an old mate. Bye all!

More updates..

Had an awesome night out on Monday, was great to see everyone again and get back into uni life. Last night was chilling with mates but got back early enough to play 2 tournaments, missing the cash in both. Booted up again for another session tonight but it went poorly. Was average stacked in three tournaments before busting out of all three in less than five minutes. Not fun, especially when I am 99.9% sure I couldnt play them differently!

So, a little break before the rebuy started to clear my head, and off I go again, building a nice stack early on only to struggle at the bubble with my lack of cards, creep into the money, then bust instantly after a cruel river to send me to bed with a mincash. Ah well! No moaning from me, just got to keep playing when I have the time!

One concern is whether I am actually playing badly or if this is the negative side of variance. I have only played 39 tournaments which is nothing much to go on at all. I want to start reading more about variance and sample sizes etc. Only playing 4 tournaments a night means that downswings/upswings will last for a lot longer time-wise I imagine? The only way to truly find my ROI is to keep playing so I guess thats the aim. Just got to keep making sure I am finding the correct balance between work/socialising/poker, as all three are very important to me right now!

Bye all!

Plowing On!

Not a good night last night, cashing in 0/4. Cards didnt really go my well at all but thats fine, just got to keep pushing on! Going to try and start increasing my participation on 2+2 in the next few weeks as there is just bundles of experience and knowledge on offer if you get involved.

Going out tonight so won't be grinding. Gl to those that will be!

Bubbles..

Tonight was all about bubbles. Played all four tournaments again tonight and made three of the cash bubbles. Came 21st in a tournament where 15 cashed, and 26th in a tournament where 20 cashed. I did squeeze into the money in the rebuy tournament for the first time but once the bubble was over I had a measly 10BB stack that managed to get me 20th position and a €60 cash. A €30 loss for the night isnt damaging, but I feel pretty down about how the bubble is always a stage where I am losing chips and not gaining them.

Time to work on this! Tomorrow I am going to read some strategy on bubble play and analyse my hands from tonight. Ben said he might send me some HH's from his big win where he really abused the bubble, so this would clearly be beneficial to me as I feel it is me getting abused on most occasions :P

Other than this bubble leak, I feel a much stronger tournament player than I did a month ago. Playing so few tables is really making me more focused on my decisions and on the other players at the table. I feel positive about my profit making ability in this staking deal, just got to keep plugging those leaks!

Gdnite!

A profitable night!

Played the 4 tournaments on boss again tonight and missed the money in 3 of the 4 tournaments but did manage a €231 score for a 6th place in the €25 freezeout. Previous notes really helped me tonight so I was pleased about that and it will keep me motivated to continue to make notes!

The cash tonight put me back in the profit, but I am unsure how much as the Boss software doesnt pay you until the entire tournament is over, which is very annoying! It won't be a huge amount because I keep bubbling the rebuy which is the most expensive tournament. Maybe I should be dropping this from my lineup? I dont know. It doesnt seem a harder standard than the other tournaments so maybe its just the wrong side of variance in this particular tournament. It will even itself out I am sure!

Not much else to say really. One of my housemates moves in tomorrow so I am looking forward to that as I have been a tad bored the last couple of days.

Time for 24, then bed. Gdnite all!

New blog..

Hey all, I did have a blog up and running but since my poker has taken a different direction, I thought I would start a new one!

I have been playing around two years. Unfortunately my bankroll management has been pretty poor. I have had some wins, the biggest being a $1950 cash on stars. But my bankroll has never really grown due to awful management, and the temptation to withdraw frequently for other fun stuff!

Best way to cure bankroll management? Get staked!

Luckily for me a friend of mine Ben Dobson (f3nix35 listed on the right) offered me a staking deal and I was happy to accept. I won't go into the details of the deal but it's been running a week or so now and I have had mixed fortunes.

The four tournaments I play on the boss network are a €20, €10, €25 and €10r. I have played 21 tournaments and only cashed in two. One was a crappy mincash, so I was definately happy to come 3rd in the €20 for a €437.50 score. Unfortunately the fact I keep missing the money in the rebuy means I am down so far. But my spirits are pretty high and I am eager to carry on with this venture.

The players on boss seem pretty crazy and I am starting to get a good collection of notes on the regs there. Although I have seen more than my fair share of bad beats so far, I will be trying to keep this a positive blog as I have previously been in a habit of ranting about beats to others which is no fun for anyone. So from this post onwards, I will be cutting down on the use of phrases such as 'bad beat', 'running horribly' and 'dsahbfladshfDSLAH FKIN DONKEY'

Gdnite all!