Cash Games, $20,000 added Tournie & Holiday!

So played cash game round Steve's on Saturday which was 8 handed for the first couple of hours, and then gradually dropped to three handed by 2am! Played really well the whole time and was £100 up by the end. Coincidentally this is almost exactly what I am down online this month! So in six hours i managed to even the month out which is a result. If I can get a little bit of momentum going over the next week or so online, then maybe I can turn this month into a winning one after all.

The $20,000 added Tournament is tonight at 8 and it looks like its going to be a big field. I had a look on Sunday and there were already 330 registered for it, so I think it may well be a full 999 sellout. As its a re-buy I wouldnt be surprised if the prizepool is somewhere around the $80,000 mark....which would mean $20,000 for the winner. I'll be playing extremely tight early on, and loosen up once the re-buys are over (if I make it that far!). Not sure if the level up is every 8,12 or 15 minutes but the longer the better as far as im concerned. Cant stand speed or even medium length level up times, as you have to make too many gambles to avoid being blinded out.

Its less than 2 weeks until my first holiday (abroad) for about 5 years. Gran Canaria. Cant wait for a few beers on the beach front, and SOME sun. I will be doing my best to avoid getting burnt. I cant do 7 days in a row on the beach so im going to have to find something else to do. Any suggestions?

Can it get much worse?

I bloody well hope not. At the time of my last post, i was getting poor cards but not getting outdrawn too much - just a lack of premium hands. I was making a few mistakes and generally not getting the best of luck. But since yesterday afternoon i have had about 10 terrible beats. One was a 2 outer on the river for a $76 pot. I played it perfectly - thats the most annoying thing. I dont usually talk about individual hands to Lucy, but she heard about this one last night! I started the month with $300 and im now down to about $120 which is really not good.

Cash game tonight round Steve's place - and i think its going to be 8 handed.....could be painful

Bankroll issues

Having a poor run of cards at the moment, basically since the start of February so around $100 down this month so far. Lost about $20 of that in one pot yesterday and looking back I don't think I played it very well. I'm usually pretty good at spotting betting patterns but I don't know why but I missed this completely. It was the first hand i played!!!! So I was on the Big Blind. Q-7 off suit. Guy in 1st pos limps in, as does the guy on small blind. Flop comes Q-7-2 rainbow. I don't usually check 2 pair, only trips or higher, so I bet $2 into a $1.50 pot. They both call. I'm thinking one has a pair of Q's or 7's and the other the same or even fishing. Turn is 3. I bet $6 as there is now a flush/straight draw on and I don't want to get done on the River. Guy (now on button) calls and the SB folds. This is the point where I should realise I'm in trouble. There was no flush or straight draw on the Flop and yet he call my bet which was bigger than the pot, and has now smooth called the 3 on the Turn. Looking back on it, it's so obvious the guy has trips and its this kind of situation that I'm usually good at avoiding. Anyway the river is a 5 which doesn't make a possible Flush. There is a straight out there but it would have been an insider for $6 so I dismiss that. I bet $8 when i should have checked, and the guy instantly puts me all in, which is only another $3 so i have to call. He turns over Pocket 2's so he hit trips on the flop. Pretty unlucky to hit top two pair on the big blind and walk into a limper who hits trips; it wont happen very often, but still I felt I could have saved at least $8 from that pot on the river. If I had checked he would either have bet for value $4 or so, or gone all in which would have given me a chance to get away.

Well you live and learn I guess

Got a few big tournaments coming up soon. VC are doing a $100,000 freeroll but i have to beat 998 other players for the $24,000 first prize. Think it pays $200 down to 80th or so, so making the money would still be very worthwhile. They also have a $20 rebuy, with $20,000 added so I think this will be $60,000 or so total prize pool, with $16,000 going to the winner.

I'll be off to the World series in June if I was to win either of them ;-)

Poker Update

About $40 down this month so far, but havn't really managed to put many hours into it. When i dont play much it seems to put pressure on me to win big in a small amount of time. I do need to put more hours in. Got Saturday evening to myself so will play for 4 hours or so in the evening, just cash games probably. Im not really worried about being down over the last few sessions, i feel like i can step up my game if i need to, and i also think im ready to start playing two tables at once. Played my first tournament since my win the other day, and came 11th out of 35 players. Not a bad result, but it only paid up to 6th!

Im playing with my fellow Badgers tomorrow night which should be a laugh. We dont play for cash, but its really fun because i can call raises with 6-9 offsuit like i used to when i was a really bad player! Man i love that hand. It's got me into a world of pain in the past though.

My Tournament Success!

At last I've won my first tournament. It was a $10 buy-in and there were 85 runners, and i pocketed $323. Funnily enough i think this is only the second tourney I've played since my last post about how i never do well in them! I just sat back with an average stack most of the way, and once we were down to 30 runners or so i started playing more aggressive and it worked a treat. It's certainly boosted my confidence and im looking forward to playing my next tournament tonight.

My cash games however have been up and down. I was losing badly playing limit poker, so switched to no limit. I really cant understand why i didn't do this sooner! It suits my game much better and it's starting to look like i can actually make some decent money out of this game. My bankroll is up to $816, which means i've made over £300 playing poker during January.

Anyway into Febuary, and this month will be the real test....to see if i can prove January wasn't just a lucky month and that I am actually a winning player instead of a breaking even player.