Another Sit-N-Go Cash!

Hey.

I seem to be doing alright with SNG's as I took a third for a $4 profit. That puts me in the black for the month.

I can appreciate that some players play on line for much larger sums of money than me. So be it. This is more of a hobby than anything else...but it is nice to be winning money regardless if if jingles instead of folds.

I'm recently picked up a copy of Harrington's Volume I and am looking forward to studying that book. Looking forward to playing better!

I'm moving up...but not by choice.

Hey.

I haven't written in a while...because I haven't been playing. I have been busy with work and with my family (a 15 month old will do that) plus I have been having headaches off and on over the last couple of days. Thus, I haven't been in the right mindset for playing. I did play a little bit a couple of days ago and have brought myself even for the month.

Anyway, I'm no longer playing 0.15/0.30 holdem as they say I'm no longer a beginner and thus can no longer play at those tables. The smallest now is 0.25/0.50...not great with a short bankroll like I have. Oh well, such as life I guess. Will just have to play conservatively but aggressive and keep learning as I go.

Later.

Grrr....

Hey.

Frustrating SnG last night. Not because of the gameplay, but because of connectivity issues. It seems there were "internet delays" every minute or so which resulted in 2 or 3 hands being folded on me. In addition, I lost my internet connection entirely so I had to restart my computer and log back in to find myself at a shorthanded table with about 350 chips at the 100/200 level. Yikes!!!

I finished 5th out of 10 people despite this but I was frustrated so I stopped playing before I went on full-bore tilt. One of those things I guess.

Have a good weekend!

Daniel will have to find another protege...

Hey guys.

I decided to cash in my ticket and played in the Protege Seat 1 Step 1 tournament last night. There were 127 registrants with the top 40 getting tickets to the Protege Seat 1 Step 2 tournament.

Pocket Queens were not kind to me.

The key hand that led to my downfall was me having pocket queens under the gun...so I did the traditional raise. Everyone folded except one guy who went all in. He was very short stacked (less than 10 big blinds) so I called. Unfortunately, he had pocket aces so that put me on the short stack. I eventually went out 90th on level IV when my Jc10c didn't improve against Qh9d. Didn't have much choice here as I was below 10 BB in my chipstack.

Overall, I thought I played well...didn't really get any cards and my hands just ran up against bigger hands. However, I was making some proper decisions. Here is an example from earlier in the tournament.

I was in the small blind with (surprise, surprise) pocket queens. A guy in middle position did the traditional 3X BB raise. He really hadn't been involved in much action so I had to give him credit with a big hand so I just called. The flop came A-8-8. I bet 1/3rd of the pot and he went all in. This seemed to confirm that he had aces so I just folded. Even if he only had one ace (A-K, A-Q), I was still behind and drawing nearly dead. Also, it was early in the tournament so it wasn't worth the risk. I'm glad that I had the ability to recognize it.

So how do I feel about it overall? I can live with it. It was my first larger tournament and I outlasted 1/4 of the field. I can't really think of a hand where I regretted my decision based on the way the hand played out. That is the way tournaments go I guess.

I haven't really played tournaments so I may need to check out Harrington's books on the subject. Maybe I'll play the Full Contact .net tournament for one of the other Protege seats (~1900 people).

Another Sit-N-Go success!

Hey.

A couple of days ago, I sat down to another $5 sit-n-go and finished second winning $15. Not too shabby.

I'm finding the key to these things is to be patient in the early stages and not do anything foolish. Let the wild ones eliminate each other. When I did get chips, I then punished those who folded too much. When I got to the final three, the other two players were playing weak and tight so, when in position, I kept raising them and they kept folding. The worst part was when I would be first to act. I would just fold my hand and let them battle it out. All they ever did was check to the river....pretty pathetic.

However, even players like these wake up to a hand. When heads up, I had top two pair but the other guy had the bottom set....ah well...these things happen but I was very pleased with my result.

And what comes down...comes up again...

Hey all.

Well things seemed to be sucking there...until I won a SNG. Paid my $6 and won it for $25.00. Wow...I finally followed my own advice. I stayed patient...especially when I was the short stack there for a while. But I played well and got the results I needed.

I didn't do very well in the 0.15/0.30 game afterwards essentially losing about $5 out my initial $7.50 investment in less than an hour. The usual donkey stuff...people getting cards on the river and such....or getting great starting hands (A-K) but hitting nothing on the flop....Ah well. At least I now have some breathing room.

On another plus note, I received a free tournament entry in Daniel Negraneau's Protege Promotion. Basically, I am a charter member of his poker forum. As such, I got this tournament entry. Long road but here it is...

(10) Round 1 MTT Restricted Freerolls (where I got the entry for). The top 40 from each group will play a Round 2 MTT Restricted Freeroll to cut the field down to the final 40 qualifiers.

These final 40 qualifiers will play a Semifinal MTT Restricted Freeroll and the 1st place winner will earn Seat #1 of the Grand Prize Final Table Tournament for the Protege position.

Like I said, it is a long road since you have to get through three tournaments in essence. I just have to figure out when I am going to play. I suspect it will be on Friday or Saturday.

Later.

What goes up must come down....hard.......

Hey all.

Well they say there are swings in this game and boy did I hit a negative one....bankroll down to $28.00. Wow....

I played Omaha 8 and got destroyed. Started with $25 and left with $9.50. I had no luck at all. I decided to play aggressive with good hands and got burned on turn and river cards. However, most times I had no hand at all to play with. I keep ignoring my inner voice which is starting to hurt. I also played in a Sit N Go that didn't end well...although I felt I played well with the cards I had....made one critical mistake not listening to my inner voice but, given the board, I can live with that one.

Now what? My bankroll (okay not really a bankroll...but work with me here) is on life support. I'll have to just play Hold Em 0.15/0.30 since that is the smallest game and one my bankroll can support. However, I think it is time to go back to basics with my whole game. I suspect it may be play money for a while and get some serious practice in. My confidence has been shaken....I have to admit that. I don't want to lose all the money since I want to try for any WSOP satellites that may be offered later this year.

I've been listening to Phil Gordon's Green Book (audio version) and it seems to be good so far. My plan with it is to listen and take notes. This should help me absorb the information more readily.

Time to build my confidence back up....

And a new year starts...

Hey.

Hope everyone had a good holiday. Mine was fine. No complaints.

My "bankroll" is $45.03. Omaha 8's has been good to me. I have been enjoying this game. The only complaint I got is that the game breaks down rather quickly with people leaving the table. Other than that, I have been making money at it so that is always good.

I haven't really made any extensive New Year's resolutions but I do have a couple.

1. To be more serious about my play. I have been reviewing my books again plus I plan to document my game more in terms of using spreadsheets and such.
2. To learn new games. In addition to hold'em and Omaha 8's, I would like to learn more about Pot Limit Omaha and Seven Card Stud in more detail...but realistically that may be further down the road.
3. Keep things in balance. I do have a family including a young daughter so they always come first before anything else.
4. Keep the game fun. I don't want to be playing it if I'm not enjoying it. Otherwise, it just becomes a chore...not good.

Other than that, things are going well. I managed to get the audiobook version of Phil Gordon's Green Book so I'll be listening to that over the next couple of weeks. If you have any thoughts or feelings on this book, feel free to share.

Later.