O-Poker

The BBTwo Aussie Millions TOC Freeroll is right around the corner (tomorrow night).

For the few people reading this that may not know the details, the Battle of the Bloggers Two tournament of champions is a 27 player freeroll that awards one $18k Aussie Millions package to the winner. All the entrants won one of the 27 BBTwo tourneys plus two bloggers won their way in through writing a future trip report (2 people also won 2 events). FTP was awesome enough to add the $18k package thanks to Al.

I don't have high expectations. Most of the players are pretty good and I am very rusty when it comes to tourneys. I've only played about 40-45 online tourneys since the beginning of October (12 of those over the last few days) and most of those were satellites, BBTwo tourneys, or several smaller buy-in tourneys at the same time.

I started thinking about what kind of strategy I should apply to the game and then said WTF am I thinking. I never go into a tourney with a specific strategy. Why would I change that now? Instead I try to the most optimal way based on my table conditions - players at the table, position against the tight, loose, weak, good players, etc, etc. So depending on the table conditions, I may appear to the be the tightest nit or the loosest donkey and they may change throughout the tourney.

I think that I will have a great chance if I make it to the final 5 or 6 with an above average stack, because a lot of the players don't have as much short handed experience as I do (with a few exceptions). I'm not going to bitch about bad beats, suckouts, bad calls, bad plays, horrible players when/if I get knocked out. That is part of the game and there has been way to much blogger drama lately.

I was thinking about doing a last longer for the TOC, but I didn't get much response to an email that I sent out last night so it is looking like a no-go.

Handicapping the Tourney
I started to copy the names of the players in the tourney and was going to try to put odds to each player, but I realized I would only be able to do this for a handful of players. There are a lot guys that I haven't played too much against.

Who is going to win? Who are your top three?

I would have to say cracknaces, lucko, and xxmagicianxx have the best chance. They are all great tourneys players - even though Chad seems to think you have to be a huge luckbox to win it. Who are your top three?

Links to other bloggers handicapping of the TOC:

Chad - Funny comments about each player's chances. Astin FTW!!!

Vinnay - Good well thought out breakdown of each player that you may agree or disagree with. BTW, Alan and I are not the same person, but I take that as a compliment.

Hoyazo - He hasn't posted his odds yet, but I think there is a 99.9999% chance that he makes a post about it today. (assuming he doesn't put up another Days of Our Lives post)

Julius_Goat - He breaks down the players that he knows. I can see how he wrote himself into the tourney.

....let me know of any others.

It seems like I always decide to play tourneys when I am not in the right mind set to totally concentrate on poker. Multi-tabling cash games requires a lot more focus than the early levels of mtts. It is so easy to not pay attention everything going on at the table when playing several mtts. This is definitely the wrong way to approach the game, but it seems to be the pattern that I have fallen into.

Tired and still feel like playing poker?
Want to watch TV while playing?
Want to surf the internet or catch up on the High Stakes Poker Youtube vids while playing?
No problem just fire up several small-mid stakes mtts and go on auto pilot. This seems to be when I play mtts - obviously not the ideal situations.

I am going to try to concentrate more when playing in the future. I have done a good job over the last few months of knowing when I shouldn't be playing cash games. I need to apply the same standards to tourneys. I'm going to try to change this pattern or maybe ease into changing it. If I don't have the right poker mind set but still feel like playing, I may still fire up a few mtts but limit myself to X$ of buy-ins or only play 1 or 2 tables.

Last night was one of those tired nights and I played 5 mtts. I meant to sign up for the MATH, but somehow it was 10 PM before I knew it and I missed the registration.

Tourneys played

FTP - $30+$3 rebuy (out 167 of 241) - lost with AA vs KK medium stack vs medium stack aipf shortly after the rebuy period was over. (Loss $213)

FTP - Daily Double A&B - $10+$2; $10+$2 (A - out 254 of 1,204; B- out 487 of 1,113) - A out when shoved lated with 55 - called by 99. B out in Button(me) vs SB - all in on a Q high flop with KQ vs. SB's AQ (Loss $24)

FTP - $50+$5 ($50k guarantee) - (out 360 of 1,004) - AA from last position aipf - BB called with AJ - flop had a J; river was a J. (Loss $55)

Pokerstars - $20+$2 rebuy (out 26 of 385) - Hung on to a short stack late with chip leader on my right and 2nd chip leader 2 to my left. (Won $230 - $62 = net win of $168)

Total for the night (Loss of $124)

I'm guessing I could have done better if I focused instead of watching TV while playing or played less tables.

I've been a slacker when it comes to playing cash games and have had trouble sticking with playing only $1/$2. I am still working on getting in the 25k hands of $1/$2 - currently at 13.5k hands. I'm only around 4.5 ptbb/100 and am hoping to improve that to at least 5 ptbb/100. During the same time, I have put in about 3k hands of 2/4 at a weak 1.3 ptbb/100.

I'm going to try to complete the 25k $1/$2 hands between now and the end of the year, but will probably play a few mtts over the next two days to get in the right mindset for the Battle of the Bloggers TOC Aussie Package Freeroll.

GL at the tables.

I was told by a couple of people that they can't view my blog in Google Reader.

I don't know where to start to correct the problem. Anyone have any thoughts?

The only thing that I can think to do is change the template. I'm open to suggestions.

****EDIT: I think the problem is fixed. I set the feeds to full instead of the default "short" Hopefully everything works now

The flop wasn't so good for Aces. The turn was awesome though.

EDIT: In response to WillWonka's questions:

Nice check on the flop. Would you mind telling us your thought process there? Was this just pot control? Had you bet and he raised.. could you have called?

I checked behind on the flop for a few reasons. He cold called my 3 bet out of position, so I really felt like he his range was (from most likely to least likely) a big Ace (AK, AQ, AJ), a big pair TT-QQ, any other pair, possibly two face cards or suited connectors. For some reason, before the flop I really felt like he had AK since he had been either 4 betting or laying down hands to 3 bets oop pf.

Given his range and the dynamics of the table/my image, I felt like the most value could be gained by checking the flop. (I think that he folded to two of my preflop 3 bets before this.) If I bet, he is folding almost all hands that I beat and either calling or raising with hands that beat me. He was also capable of bluffing me off my hand in this spot, so if I bet and he raises big then I probably have to lay my hand down or flat call and see how he reacts on the turn.

If the turn was a blank, I would probably have bet $35-$45 and hopefully check down the river if he called the turn bet (applies to how I thought this player would play the hand). I felt like he might call a turn bet with AJ, QQ, TT, QJ and possibly some mid pairs because of my flop check.

Pot control was part of the equation. I didn't want the pot to get big enough where I would be committed against his range - especially on a flop that hits a lot of his range.

I would have probably bet the flop if it wasn't a rainbow flop.


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: pizza_midge ($268.10)
Seat 2: cmitch ($214.40)
Seat 3: MargheritAA ($100) -
Seat 4: plzlemmewin ($201) -
Seat 5: Topcat1680 ($439.70) -
Seat 6: MysteryV ($279.75)


PRE-FLOP:

plzlemmewin posts small blind $1
Topcat1680 posts BIG blind $2
Dealt To: cmitch


FOLD MysteryV
RAISE pizza_midge ($7)
RAISE cmitch ($24)
FOLD MargheritAA
FOLD plzlemmewin
FOLD Topcat1680
CALL pizza_midge ($17)


FLOP:

Pot: $51


CHECK pizza_midge
CHECK cmitch


TURN:

Pot: $51


CHECK pizza_midge
BET cmitch ($35)
CALL pizza_midge ($35)


RIVER:

Pot: $121


CHECK pizza_midge
BET cmitch ($90)
RAISE pizza_midge ($209.10)
CALL cmitch ($65.40)
UNCALLED pizza_midge ($53.70)


SHOWDOWN:
pizza_midge:

cmitch:


cmitch collected $428.8 from main pot with a full house, Aces full of Kings

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $431 Rake: $3

Final Board:


Seat 1: pizza_midge showed [Ad Ks] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($-214.4)

Seat 2: cmitch showed [As Ac] and won 428.80 with a full house, Aces full of Kings - Net Gain/Loss: ($214.4)
Seat 3: MargheritAA button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: plzlemmewin small blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1)
Seat 5: Topcat1680 big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-2)
Seat 6: MysteryV didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

I'm not sure which events I will try to play this year. Last year was pretty disappointing since I focused so much effort on the Main Event and failed to qualify. I might make a trip for a few of the smaller events.

This post is really just a place holder for the schedule (lifted from www.worldseriesofpoker.com) so I don't have to do an internet search every time I want to know the schedule.

Even since Neteller shut it's doors, my main method for transferring money out of online poker accounts is epassporte. I have their Visa ATM card and can withdraw money at an ATM as soon as it hits my account or a transfer will usually hit my checking account in 2-3 business days after the withdrawal.

Epassporte does not accept payments to/from Bodog because they offer sports betting and epassporte will only deal with transactions from poker only sites. So, when I decided to cash out some $$ from Bodog, I wasn't sure the best/quickest way to get the money. It looked like my best option was to request a check.

The request a check form says to "allow 15 to 20 business days" to receive your check. It seemed a little long, but I wasn't too worried about it.

Well, yesterday I received my check in the mail - 4 business days after requesting it. I thought that was extremely quick, especially since it came via regular mail. I had read on some of the forums that people have had trouble/questions when trying to cash these checks. My check was from a US based finance company and looks like any of the thousands of checks that a teller would see on a daily basis. No problem cashing it.

I was pleasantly surprised with the cashout process.

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: acedummy ($42) -
Seat 2: Snapcase ($50) Sitting Out
Seat 3: ILikeYourMum ($227.25) -
Seat 4: jpaznstyle ($244.35) -
Seat 5: AAtiltedme ($423.90)
Seat 6: cmitch ($505.55)


PRE-FLOP:

ILikeYourMum posts small blind $1
jpaznstyle posts BIG blind $2
Dealt To: cmitch


FOLD AAtiltedme
RAISE cmitch ($7)
CALL acedummy ($7)
FOLD ILikeYourMum
CALL jpaznstyle ($5)


FLOP:

Pot: $22


CHECK jpaznstyle
BET cmitch ($16)
RAISE acedummy ($35)
RAISE jpaznstyle ($237.35)
CALL cmitch ($221.35)


TURN:

Pot: $531.7




RIVER:

Pot: $531.7




SHOWDOWN:
jpaznstyle:

cmitch:

acedummy:


cmitch collected $404.7 from side pot 1 with two pair, Aces and Queens

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $531Main pot: $127
Side pot: $404
Rake: $3

Final Board:


Seat 1: acedummy button showed [Kd Ah] and won 124 with two pair, Aces and Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($82)

Seat 2: Snapcase is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: ILikeYourMum small blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1)
Seat 4: jpaznstyle big blind showed [Tc Jc] and lost with a pair of Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($-244.35)

Seat 5: AAtiltedme didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: cmitch showed [4c Ac] and won 404.70 with two pair, Aces and Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($160.35)


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

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Tebow is Da Man!!! (maybe not superman, though)