O-Poker

$50 NL Tourney on Pokerstars

I played the $50 NL tourney on pokerstars last night. I guess you could say that I “played” the tourney. I had only been inlvolved in one hand in the 1st four minutes – limp, missed the flop and folded to a bet in mult-way pot.

Then the critical hand – I’m dealt QQ in early position. I raise and get 2 callers – late position and big blind. The flop came 583. Here is how the rest of the hand unfolded. (I should have tripled up.) What were these guys thinking?

*** FLOP *** [5c 8c 3d]
TiltHappens: bets 100
sportingimag: raises 260 to 360
Mancifex: folds
The Hat: calls 360
TiltHappens: raises 1080 to 1440 and is all-in
sportingimag: calls 1060 and is all-in
The Hat: calls 1040 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5c 8c 3d] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [5c 8c 3d 7c] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TiltHappens: shows [7d 8d] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
sportingimag: shows [Qs Qd] (a pair of Queens)
TiltHappens collected 40 from side pot
The Hat: shows [Ad 5s] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
The Hat collected 4450 from main pot

It was frustrating to get all my chips in with a chance to triple up early and lose.

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HU Step Challenge

I started the 10th session of my HU Step Challenge (click for details). I have played one match so far and I won it in exactly 1 hand – see below. I’ll update my progress on Monday.

PokerStars Game #3294248922: Tournament #16312657, Hold'em No Limit – Match
Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2005/12/10 - 12:48:04 (ET)
Table '16312657 1' One on One Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: HelmetSky (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: sportingimag (1500 in chips)
HelmetSky: posts small blind 10
sportingimag: posts big blind 20

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to sportingimag [Ac Ad]
HelmetSky: raises 40 to 60
sportingimag: raises 40 to 100
HelmetSky: raises 1400 to 1500 and is all-in
sportingimag: calls 1400 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Qs 3c 5d]
*** TURN *** [Qs 3c 5d] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 3c 5d Th] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***

sportingimag: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
HelmetSky: shows [Jc Jh] (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
sportingimag collected 3000 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 Rake 0
Board [Qs 3c 5d Th Tc]
Seat 1: HelmetSky (button) (small blind) showed [Jc Jh] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 2: sportingimag (big blind) showed [Ac Ad] and won (3000) with two pair, Aces and Tens


Have a good weekend.
cmitch

I'll make this quick. Poker Plans this weekend.

- Play 2 Heads Up Step Challenges - click here for details.

- Play Friday Night $55 NL tourney on Pokerstars at 10 PM

- Play 1 or 2 180 person $22 SNG tourneys on Pokerstars

- Play at least one other Multi-Table Tourney

- Play NL short handed cash games

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Work is crazy. Christmas time is crazy (or Holiday season for the p.c.). I am busy!! Hopefully, I will find some to to play some live poker soon. I may try to head to the Hard Rock in Tampa and play a tourney when I'm off between Xmas and New Year's.

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I am in the process of creating a new excel spreadsheet to track all my poker play. I will implement it on Jan. 1 to help track winnings for tax purposes next year. I will post the recap information and, hopefully, everyone will give me some constructive comments. I have broken it down by the following items for now:

NL-Cash Short Handed
NL-Cash Full Table
Limit-Cash Short Handed
Limit-Cash Full Table
SNG-Full
SNG-Short
SNG-Heads Up
SNG-2 table
SNG-Satellites
Multi-Table Tourney - haven't broken it down by type, but have it set up to sort by tourney type
Bonus Sheet

There is a lot of detail on each sheet and it all goes forward to the recap, as I finalize the spreadsheet I will post the details.

OK - That is all for now

cmitch

I just finished playing the 6th match ($105) in my 9th session and lost. So I netted $133 for that session and a whopping overall total of +$25.

I am a little burned out on the heads up matches right now and will probably play a tourney tonight.

I will start a new heads up step challenge this weekend.

cmitch

Yesterday was Day 2 of my Heads Up Step Challenge. (Click here - Heads Up Step Challenge for the details.) I got off to a very, very slow start, but things picked up at the end of the night.

Session 4-8 (-$105)
I lost five $21 heads up SNGs in a row. I played great in 3 of the games and poorly in one of the games. I forgot how painful playing heads up SNGs can be, especially against hyper-aggressive players. For some reason, a lot of the players at the $21 SNGs on pokerstars are playing the games like they are ultra-turbos.

The first game (session 4) set a bad tone for the night. The guy that I was playing against raised every pot from the start of the game to $120 preflop with the blinds at the 10/20 level. After about 8 hands of his $120 preflop bets with me folding, I was dealt JJ and re-raised him another $200. He immediately went all in and surprise, surprise he had AA. Uggh!! The one time where I can actually play back against the guy he has AA.

Some of the other matches:

I flop two pair when blinds are high and we are even. All the chips go in on the flop and other guy hits his flush on the river.

Player started going all in every hand once he was down to 800 chips. I call with 1010 and flop a set. He made a straight with his 78o. A few hands later my top pair and straight draw lost to his two pair.

Session 9 (still in progress - currently +$238)
Match 1,2 - I was having trouble playing against some of the all in maniacs at the $21 level. No one folds any draw to any bet and they were hitting their draws. I decided to switch things up a bit - probably not the smartest thing. Instead of playing Match 1 and 2 at $21 each, I played a $50 +$2.50 heads up SNG. It worked out because I won it pretty easily. I considered this win a Match 1 and 2 win.

Match 3 ($52.50) - Win
Match 4 ($52.50) - Win
Match 5 ($105) - Win

So, thanks to a jumpstart I am on to match 6 tonight. Hopefully, that move will propel me on up the heads up ladder.

Totals to date
Total winnings (still in progress) - $130
Total time played - 6.5 hours
Net/Hour - $20/hr
Record - 9-8

cmitch

I am a computard. I can't figure out an easy way to publish the spreadsheet that I am using to track my progress in the Heads up Step Challenge. I tried Tripjax's suggestions and it helped. Let me know if the spreadsheet below is messing up everyone's screen. It looks ok on my screen, but I have a strange feeling it might be messed up.

I played three sessions last night.

Session 1 (+$33)
Match 1 ($20+$1) Win - I got off to a very shaky start. I lost with JJ to 47 after a 4 on river early. I then lost with AA to 23s when guy caught his flush. I was down to 190 chips and came back to win. Patience was the key. The guy was horrible and I managed to wait and get lucky.

Match 2 ($20+$1) Win - Quick and easy match that didn't last past the 1st level. The guy was a maniac that was playing all in preflop poker at the 1st level. He went all in when I flopped top pair and he flopped bottom pair.

Match 3 ($50+$2.50) Win - I got all my chips in with top pair and open ended straight draw against an overpair. I got lucky and made two pair to win. It does happen both ways.

Match 4 ($50+$2.50) Loss - I flopped a set, all the chips went in and the guy rivered a flush.

Session 2 (-$21)
Match 1 ($20+$1) Loss - Another maniac that was going all in pratically every hand. After about 10 hands I flop two pair and he goes all in with his underpair to the board. He makes a set on the river.

Session 3 (-$15)
Match 1 ($20+$1) Win - It seems most of the players at the $21 level are maniacs. This match didn't last past the 1st level. I won it very easy by putting all my chips in with the nuts and the guy called with middle pair and drawing dead.

Match 2 ($20+$1) Win - Probably the fastest heads up match that I have ever played. It lasted exactly 3 hands. Another wild bettor went all in with top pair vs. my overpair.

Match 3 ($50+$2.50) Loss - Very, very frustrating. Somehow my connection slowed to a snails pace and it took 30 seconds for action to happen after I clicked check, fold, raise, etc. I timed out a few times when I had big hands. I eventually lost when the blinds started getting high with A10 vs AJ. Gotta check the connection tonight. I feel that I lost because of my connection.

Session 1-3 (-$3) - Net loss of $3. Record in matches was 5-3. I will try again tonight and see how it goes.

Good luck at the tables,
cmitch

A new idea – my own personal heads up steps.

I haven’t played the Party Poker Step SNGs in a while, but when I was playing them I did very well. Thanks to a 3rd place in the original 2 table steps for $3,600, a 4th place in the single table steps for $1,200, and 1st and 2nd place finishes in 2 mini-steps for $2,000 and $1,000. I then had some trouble advancing to the final steps and felt like I was in the movie Groundhog Day after spending around $2,500 of my winnings. I still netted over $5k but I got very frustrated with the idea of playing levels over and over or having to replay a lower level. I, eventually, stopped playing the SNG steps and moved on to other things.

I have been doing pretty well in some heads up SNGs lately and decided to try my own personal version of the steps for heads up SNGs. It is a variation of the betting system that I use when I play blackjack. Basically, you bet your minimum and double your bet after two wins in a row. You keep doing this until you lose. Once you lose, you go back to your original minimum bet. You never increase your bet when you are losing. If you go on a big rush and win a lot hands in a row you win big.

Thus, the heads up step SNGs challenge was born from my past success with steps, my current success with heads up SNGs and a blackjack betting system.

I will start at the $20 level and play according to the chart at the bottom of this post until I lose a match. Once I lose, I will restart from the beginning. If I win 3 in a row, I am assured a profit. If I lose a match along the way, then I wind up with the following results. Note: I will be playing three $200 heads up SNGs in a row because pokerstars does not have $400 heads up SNGs.

Lose match

Match 1 - $21 Loss
Match 2 - $2 Loss
Match 3 - $15 Loss
Match 4 - $33 Win
Match 5 - $28 Win
Match 6 - $123 Win
Match 7 - $113 Win
Match 8 - $303 Win
Match 9 - $493 Win
Match 10 - $373 Win
Match 11 - $853 Win
Match 12 - $823 Win
Match 13 - $1,793 win

And if I win Match 14 – total win of $3,793. I may decide to stop at Step 10 for a total win of $1,373 if I make it that far. We shall see…

Heads Up Challenge

Item Buyin Win P/L Total
1 $21 $40 $19 $19
2 $21 $40 $19 $38
3 $53 $100 $48 $86
4 $53 $100 $48 $133
5 $105 $200 $95 $228
6 $105 $200 $95 $323
7 $210 $400 $190 $513
8 $210 $400 $190 $703
9 $210 $400 $190 $893
10 $520 $1,000 $480 $1,373
11 $520 $1,000 $480 $1,853
12 $1,030 $2,000 $970 $2,823
13 $1,030 $2,000 $970 $3,793

I can't seem to post a copy of the excel spreadsheet. I will try again later, but this should work for now.

If anyone knows an easy way to post an excel spreadsheet, please let me know. I need help!!!!

Note: This is an experiment. I am going to try this 5 times and evaluate whether or not I want to continue.

Yep, you read that right. I won a $5 Gas Card! Woohooo!! Well, I actually won an IOU for a $5 Gas Card because they didn’t have any with them. Paul (Loopy), his wife (Piper) and I went to a local BBQ restaurant and played a free tourney. Nothing better than BBQ, beer, and poker – free poker at that.

It was a pretty interesting collection of players (um, I think the term player still applies) as you can imagine. The free tourney is weekly and it seemed like there were a lot of regulars. They had 6 full tables and probably 10 alternates – about 70 players total. First prize was a pair of Orlando Magic Home Game Tickets and second prize was some pretty cheesy poker lights.

I know I didn’t mention anything about anything Gas Cards as a prize. This was a surprise when I won it. It turns out that if your Aces get cracked, by say K9s, with all the chips going in preflop then you win a $5 Gas Card. Several players informed me of this after the King came on the flop and the 9 came on the turn. Mr. K9s had me covered by about 100 chips after putting in 1,300 chips against my Aces. So, I came out $5 ahead. Well, I kind of came out $5 ahead since all I have is an IOU for a $5 gas card. Mr. K9s went on the finish 3rd (bubble) in the tourney. He chipped up pretty good when down to two tables when his Q3 beat Piper’s AK.

Piper played very well and wound up finishing 8th when her 44 (in the BB) couldn’t beat 89. (The guy with 89 had just bet all in into a dry side pot on the previous with 44 on a flop of K107. ) She wins that hand and Loopy and her might be at the Magic game.

Loopy had a good point about the free BBQ tourney. It is great experience at playing against unpredictable fisheys. He, also, said that it is great for people that actually play poker, because the lucky fish start to think that they are great poker players and start playing in the home games or online.

Some of the comments that I heard at the tourney:

“He won with Ace high. Man, I haven’t won with Ace high since last week.”
“Why does he win?” – “He has a straight, you have top pair.”

Some of the things that I saw during the tourney:

22 beating AA (guess he got a gas card too)
All in early with bottom pair vs. middle pair
Limping with KK in early position then calling huge raises on Ace high flop
Final 3 – Limp on the button with 99 and ridiculous blinds
Too many others to remember

It was a fun free tourney with nothing to lose and everything to gain – Magic Tickets, cheesy poker lights, $5 gas card, and a nice buzz. I will definitely be back.

cmitch