It's funny how you can know the right choice, yet still not choose it. Why is this? It is plain as day that if you want to go UP in an elevator, yet you push the DOWN button, you will not get to where you are going. DUH! So you push UP to go UP.
But when playing poker, you (actually, I'll just say me -not you) sometimes push the down button when you want to go up. First example: I'm playing in the FTOPS last night (event #1) and I build up an average chip stack by the first break. 30 minutes later I am up to almost 8000 in chips from our starting stack of 5000. I'm playing good, not great. I'm making some good reads but I'm bluffing way too much.
From the big blind I check to the button limp with Q10off suit. The flop comes A24 rainbow. I lead out for 3/4 of the pot and the button calls. He didn't insta-call but didn't take forever thinking about it either. I should know right here that I'm done with this hand. But here is where I push the DOWN button to go UP. The turn brings another Ace. I fire out another 3/4 pot size bet and he comes over me all in. I have him covered but obviously have no business being in this hand. I fold and lose a good chunk of chips, unnecessarily.
Second example: I'm down to 3500 in chips, and I guess I'm tilty. I'm watching lots and lots of action at the table which should tell me: Only push the UP button to go UP - TIGHTEN UP. Instead, I min-raise from middle position with 78sooted. Only the BB calls. The flop comes K83 with no colors to help my flush draw. BB checks to me and I fire out a pot sized bet. He thinks for a bit and calls. Now, I'm not putting him on a King, but I don't finish thinking the hand through. The turn brings a Queen. He checks and I fire all in. He thinks for a moment and calls and shows QJ and the Queen holds to take me out.
I know: terrible play! I either need to push on the flop, or get out of the hand altogether. If I think both of those hands through, I could have made better choices, but I snapped off pushing the DOWN button when I should have pushed UP.
Last example: Playing in the MOOKIE last night. I have QQ and raise preflop and get one caller: Texansbaby . Flop comes 10 high with no obvious draw. I lead with 1/2 pot sized bet and Texansbaby raises me 3x my bet. Here is where I could 1)think the hand through or 2)quickly push the DOWN button and hope my elevator takes me UP. I obviously picked #2. I shove, she calls and her AA takes me out. I could have realized she has JJ, KK or AA and since she called my pre-flop raise instead of re-raising me, it's obviously AA.
Anyway... That's why poker is such an evil game. Sometimes I just get caught up in my cards rather than paying attention to what the action in the hand is telling me. There is always a story, you just have to take the time to read it.
Good thing poker isn't my day job.
Stay patient....
Showing posts with label FTOPS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FTOPS. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
It's not how you play the game
"It's not how you play the game
It's if you win or lose
You can choose,
don't confuse,
win or lose"
Ozzy
I'm in! FTOPS event #1. See you there.
It's if you win or lose
You can choose,
don't confuse,
win or lose"
Ozzy
I'm in! FTOPS event #1. See you there.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Another FTOPS is coming: Check it out HERE
I don't know why, but I'm obsessed with getting the avatar.
If your new to Fulltiltpoker, don't forget to use referral code jamy600 to get a 100% match up to $600.
Monday, November 10, 2008
FTOPS Event #9 Recap
Here's my screen shot from the first break. I won a couple of decent sized pots, moving up to as high as 5800 (starting stacks were 5000). I had a pro at my table: Berry Johnston, but he played super super tight. He only played maybe 1 hand every 3 or 4 orbits. Somehow, people didn't realize it and he doubled up twice when he got dealt pocket Aces twice in 3 hands.
Here's a hand that I got burned on. I actually played it poorly. I raised pre-flop, as I tried to quite often from the button and cutoff. Harlindo is wearing an FTOPS jersey, so I know he has to be a decent player, since he has won an FTOPS event before. He has ~4000 to start and I have ~8000 in chips. He smooth calls my raise. After the flop, he checks and I decide to check behind. The turn comes a blank (but does give me some interesting outs) and he checks again. Now, I decide to fire out to see where I am and I bet about 3/4 of the pot. He smooth calls. Now I put him on a straight draw like K10 or maybe A6 or A5. After the river hits, he checks and I insta-shove to put his tournament on the line. I figure, he missed whatever draw he could be on and without a Queen, he can't call for his tournament to be over. He made a good read, called and won. I should have checked it down and saved myself about 2800 in chips. Now I'm right around 4100 in chips.
I still have enough chips to play aggressive, so I chip up buying blinds and c-betting a few times when needed. After the 2nd break, I am just under the average chips by about 1000. You can see Berry hit his two AA double ups, and Harlindo has hardly played anything.
This next hand is when I took Harlindo out. The nice thing was that I was putting in standard raise sizes still. I think later in the tournament you need to start varying things up, but this was in the third hour and I kept all my raises the same, so when I came at the blinds from the cutoff, AGAIN, Harlindo fired back at me all in and it was an easy call for me.
My buddy Rich (TheCloserX5), who plays fairly tight, at least a lot tighter than I do, was below average in chips but not short stacked by any means. He raised the big blind, who smooth called, and then couldn't get away from this flop no matter what. He finishes in 2511th place.
This is an example of the shitty play you will see, even though we have almost half the field gone. This guy was not short stacked at all. I raise pre-flop, then check call after the flop and after the turn. He checks on the river and when I shove all in and he calls, I think I might be in trouble. NOPE! I guess he put me on a total bluff.
Here's another race I won. I'm only a 53/47% favorite. I don't think I have lost a race yet, where I am getting my chips in ahead. That is critical in being able to continue moving up the ranks.
This is right at the 3rd break and I am sitting in 8th place with over 1700 players left still. The nice thing here is that my pre-flop raises are winning more pots now just because of my stack size. I'm still folding to large re-raises and I'm barely playing anything out of position.
Here's another hand where I got in ahead and it held up. I can't tell you how many times that I held up with the best hand in this tournament, and we all know how rare that can seem sometimes.
Here's one where someone limps, I re-raise and get two callers. After the flop, the first player fires all in from a short stack, so insta-reraise all in trying to isolate. Of course when I get a call behind me I know I am in trouble. This takes me from about 72000 in chips down to 50000. It was enough to sting. Are you getting away from this hand after the flop? Maybe if you don't have the other two covered, but I couldn't see anyway that I am folding this, especially given my relevant chip size.
Here's another example of the fabulous play on here. We are down to almost 1300 players and mc_gambler has been very aggressive with all in moves. And especially coming from the button, I put him on a pretty wide range. He had over 20,000 in chips and I had just over 50000, but I figured this was a pretty easy pre-flop call. I didn't realize how easy, but it was a nice gift he gave me. Again, getting it in with the best hand held up.
Here's another big hand that held up. I was a 60% favorite getting it all in after the flop, but it felt like he had about 45 outs.
4th break. I'm very happy to be in 10th place. I was in first or 2nd for half of the last hour so I'm starting to get excited that I have a shot at taking this down. But there is a lot of poker still to go!
This hand costs me half my stack, taking me from over 100K down to 50K. I really screwed this up as it was unnecessary to go all in preflop with QQ here. Especially since the Ace came on the flop, there would be an opportunity for me to outplay the Kings or get away from the hand. Either way, I was getting too cocky that all my good hands were holding up and I didn't take into account that I could be behind pre-flop.
Here's an easy laydown where I raised the blinds and got re-popped from the small blind. Some people are shoving with any pair here, but I think that I would rather play post-flop for all my chips.
Break #5 and I've dropped in the rankings considerably. I've basically hovered around the same chip stack for most of the hour by buying some blinds. But I'm starting to feel real pressure to make something happen. This is not a good feeling as I don't want to lose focus. We are in the money though, so even if I go out now, it is not a total loss.
Here's a hand I would like your feedback on. I'm in the small blind with 70,000 in chips and the big blind has 72000. The button is short stacked with 19,000. The button limps in and I simply call. The big blind raises 3 1/2 times the BB and the button comes over him all in. I folded. Would you have? Of course this would have been a huge double up for me.
Here's a hand I raise and get a call from the button. A c-bet takes it down. But it sets me up for the next hand which happens to involve the same player.
Here the villain raises pre-flop 2 1/2 times the BB. I insta-shove, hoping to take down the pot with antes. He insta-calls and tables the might ACEJACK-OFF. I absolutely hated the flop and confirmed that on the turn. I think if I smooth call him we are both getting it in after the flop anyway. So it was my time to go home.
214th place not bad, but was disappointed I couldn't go deeper. The real money didn't start until about 86th place and you needed to final table to make it to 20K or higher. Maybe next time.
Feel free to point out all the mistakes I made.
Hope the tables are treating you right. Stay patient...
Here's a hand that I got burned on. I actually played it poorly. I raised pre-flop, as I tried to quite often from the button and cutoff. Harlindo is wearing an FTOPS jersey, so I know he has to be a decent player, since he has won an FTOPS event before. He has ~4000 to start and I have ~8000 in chips. He smooth calls my raise. After the flop, he checks and I decide to check behind. The turn comes a blank (but does give me some interesting outs) and he checks again. Now, I decide to fire out to see where I am and I bet about 3/4 of the pot. He smooth calls. Now I put him on a straight draw like K10 or maybe A6 or A5. After the river hits, he checks and I insta-shove to put his tournament on the line. I figure, he missed whatever draw he could be on and without a Queen, he can't call for his tournament to be over. He made a good read, called and won. I should have checked it down and saved myself about 2800 in chips. Now I'm right around 4100 in chips.
I still have enough chips to play aggressive, so I chip up buying blinds and c-betting a few times when needed. After the 2nd break, I am just under the average chips by about 1000. You can see Berry hit his two AA double ups, and Harlindo has hardly played anything.
This next hand is when I took Harlindo out. The nice thing was that I was putting in standard raise sizes still. I think later in the tournament you need to start varying things up, but this was in the third hour and I kept all my raises the same, so when I came at the blinds from the cutoff, AGAIN, Harlindo fired back at me all in and it was an easy call for me.
My buddy Rich (TheCloserX5), who plays fairly tight, at least a lot tighter than I do, was below average in chips but not short stacked by any means. He raised the big blind, who smooth called, and then couldn't get away from this flop no matter what. He finishes in 2511th place.
This is an example of the shitty play you will see, even though we have almost half the field gone. This guy was not short stacked at all. I raise pre-flop, then check call after the flop and after the turn. He checks on the river and when I shove all in and he calls, I think I might be in trouble. NOPE! I guess he put me on a total bluff.
Here's another race I won. I'm only a 53/47% favorite. I don't think I have lost a race yet, where I am getting my chips in ahead. That is critical in being able to continue moving up the ranks.
This is right at the 3rd break and I am sitting in 8th place with over 1700 players left still. The nice thing here is that my pre-flop raises are winning more pots now just because of my stack size. I'm still folding to large re-raises and I'm barely playing anything out of position.
Here's another hand where I got in ahead and it held up. I can't tell you how many times that I held up with the best hand in this tournament, and we all know how rare that can seem sometimes.
Here's one where someone limps, I re-raise and get two callers. After the flop, the first player fires all in from a short stack, so insta-reraise all in trying to isolate. Of course when I get a call behind me I know I am in trouble. This takes me from about 72000 in chips down to 50000. It was enough to sting. Are you getting away from this hand after the flop? Maybe if you don't have the other two covered, but I couldn't see anyway that I am folding this, especially given my relevant chip size.
Here's another example of the fabulous play on here. We are down to almost 1300 players and mc_gambler has been very aggressive with all in moves. And especially coming from the button, I put him on a pretty wide range. He had over 20,000 in chips and I had just over 50000, but I figured this was a pretty easy pre-flop call. I didn't realize how easy, but it was a nice gift he gave me. Again, getting it in with the best hand held up.
Here's another big hand that held up. I was a 60% favorite getting it all in after the flop, but it felt like he had about 45 outs.
4th break. I'm very happy to be in 10th place. I was in first or 2nd for half of the last hour so I'm starting to get excited that I have a shot at taking this down. But there is a lot of poker still to go!
This hand costs me half my stack, taking me from over 100K down to 50K. I really screwed this up as it was unnecessary to go all in preflop with QQ here. Especially since the Ace came on the flop, there would be an opportunity for me to outplay the Kings or get away from the hand. Either way, I was getting too cocky that all my good hands were holding up and I didn't take into account that I could be behind pre-flop.
Here's an easy laydown where I raised the blinds and got re-popped from the small blind. Some people are shoving with any pair here, but I think that I would rather play post-flop for all my chips.
Break #5 and I've dropped in the rankings considerably. I've basically hovered around the same chip stack for most of the hour by buying some blinds. But I'm starting to feel real pressure to make something happen. This is not a good feeling as I don't want to lose focus. We are in the money though, so even if I go out now, it is not a total loss.
Here's a hand I would like your feedback on. I'm in the small blind with 70,000 in chips and the big blind has 72000. The button is short stacked with 19,000. The button limps in and I simply call. The big blind raises 3 1/2 times the BB and the button comes over him all in. I folded. Would you have? Of course this would have been a huge double up for me.
Here's a hand I raise and get a call from the button. A c-bet takes it down. But it sets me up for the next hand which happens to involve the same player.
Here the villain raises pre-flop 2 1/2 times the BB. I insta-shove, hoping to take down the pot with antes. He insta-calls and tables the might ACEJACK-OFF. I absolutely hated the flop and confirmed that on the turn. I think if I smooth call him we are both getting it in after the flop anyway. So it was my time to go home.
214th place not bad, but was disappointed I couldn't go deeper. The real money didn't start until about 86th place and you needed to final table to make it to 20K or higher. Maybe next time.
Feel free to point out all the mistakes I made.
Hope the tables are treating you right. Stay patient...
FTOPS Event #9 Cash
Definitely disappointed that I didn't make it further. I was in first place for a brief period, so that gave me visions of being able to take it down. I have screenshots and will do a full recap soon. I actually ended up winning 2 seats to this event: 1 for $75 and 1 for $11. That helps the ROI. 
Congrats to Sprstoner for finishing at 101. I didn't recognize anyone else ahead of me.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Free FTOPS seat!
If your looking to get into an FTOPS X event still, the MOOKIE is giving you a shot tonight. On top of the regular prize money, there will be 1 entry awarded to the first place finisher for FTOPS event #24.
Unfortunately, I won't make it. I'm going to the first round of the playoffs for my son's high school football team. He is still rehabbing his ACL from his recent surgery, so he won't be playing, but it should be a great game to watch just the same.
Stay patient (very, very patient for at least 4 years)....
Monday, November 3, 2008
Grinding it up
I am back playing at a highly confident level. I played in 9 tournaments this weekend and cashed in 3. I'll take a 30% ITM any day! My ROI was 212%. One of those 3 cashes was when I won a satellite that gave me entry to the Sunday 750K on FTP. It was so beautiful outside this weekend that I decided not to play and to keep the Tourney dollars. I am kind of torn about whether or not I should play in a tournament with a buy in that big. I know the nice thing is getting into a $216 buy in tournament for $8. Then again, that $216 will buy into a lot of tournaments if I'm playing at $26 or less for each one. Then I can continue grinding up my bankroll.
I decided to unregister from the FTOPS Event #7, following RaisingCayne's advice. I just wasn't comfortable playing a high stakes rebuy tournament right now. I am committing to grinding it out at the lower buy ins and I don't want to play something where I feel restricted right away because I don't want to do the rebuy or addon.
I am still thinking I will play in the FTOPS Event #9, $322 buy in event that I won for $75. I really want to take a shot at one FTOPS event this go around, even if I am going out of my bankroll comfort zone.
I was listening to Chris Moorman on a pocketfives' podcast. He made a great point about something that I had just figured out on my own (the expensive way). He was saying how many players will cash big in a tournament and then start playing over their heads and suddenly wipe out their bankroll 2 weeks later. You really need to have discipline with your bankroll management. He may cash for $60,000 but had just lost $40,000 over the last month. It's all relative, but a great player really focuses on their bankroll. Check out Chris' stats on Official Poker Rankings:
I had a hot run in August and September, but gave back almost half of it in October. But I was playing over my head. Instead of occasional $50+ buy in's, I was playing $75 -$200 buy in's and multi tabling them. That is simply too much for me. I have just recently gone back to focusing on smaller buy in tournaments, satellites, and SNG's. And I am multi-tabling less.
So if you are struggling, think about scaling back a bit. Play some smaller buy in tournaments. Also play some smaller fields. Like SNG's. There is not a much better ego boost than taking 1st place in a 9 or 18 player SNG. Just make sure you are managing that bankroll properly.
If you aren't listening to the poker podcasts available out there, you should be. There is some great content available at pokerroad, pocketfives, and even espn.
Stay patient....
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
FTOPS X coming
My poker play is still unprofitable right now, but I do feel I have turned the corner. I've stopped tilting so much, I've returned to my tight aggressive play. I've been playing a bunch of satelites to the FTOPS and Sunday Million's on FTP. The bad thing about that is they usually only pay first place or pay very small amounts to 2nd or 3rd spot. So that hurts my ROI when I finish in the top 10% 3 out of every 10 tournaments but don't necessarily get paid.
I did qualify for FTOPS#8. It is a rebuy tournament. It will be my first FTOPS to play in. Actually, I hope it will be my 3rd or 4th. I am trying to get into FTOPS#1 and any others I can satellite into.
I've been playing almost every single night on FTP and feel like I have to get a little "fix" each night. So I think I'm going to take a few days off. Slow things down a bit. I really need to FOCUS harder when I play and if I'm playing every single night, then I think that makes me sloppy. Part of the reason for playing more has also been thanks to TheCloserX5 winning $52K+ in the Sunday 750K Guarantee. He's been on a heater lately as he took down the Big Daily Double B last Saturday as well for $2700+. Watching him do it, definitely lites a fire under me that I can do it too.
One last person to mention is sprstoner . He's been on a heater as well. I had him linked on my site forever and then I finally took him off after he seemingly quit blogging. He's back now and I love his blog. His poker thoughts run similiar to mine (although I wish it were our poker skills that were similiar). Check him out if you get a chance. I'm throwing him back up on my links indefinietly.
Tonight is my monthly tournament to win a WSOP ME buy in next year. I'm still in first place, but I'm tied now, and there are several people on my heals. Time to turn it on and prove that last month was a fluke where I went out with a set of queens to a runner-runner straight. I'm going to try to throw up a poll so look for that too, soon.
Stay patient....
I did qualify for FTOPS#8. It is a rebuy tournament. It will be my first FTOPS to play in. Actually, I hope it will be my 3rd or 4th. I am trying to get into FTOPS#1 and any others I can satellite into.
I've been playing almost every single night on FTP and feel like I have to get a little "fix" each night. So I think I'm going to take a few days off. Slow things down a bit. I really need to FOCUS harder when I play and if I'm playing every single night, then I think that makes me sloppy. Part of the reason for playing more has also been thanks to TheCloserX5 winning $52K+ in the Sunday 750K Guarantee. He's been on a heater lately as he took down the Big Daily Double B last Saturday as well for $2700+. Watching him do it, definitely lites a fire under me that I can do it too.
One last person to mention is sprstoner . He's been on a heater as well. I had him linked on my site forever and then I finally took him off after he seemingly quit blogging. He's back now and I love his blog. His poker thoughts run similiar to mine (although I wish it were our poker skills that were similiar). Check him out if you get a chance. I'm throwing him back up on my links indefinietly.
Tonight is my monthly tournament to win a WSOP ME buy in next year. I'm still in first place, but I'm tied now, and there are several people on my heals. Time to turn it on and prove that last month was a fluke where I went out with a set of queens to a runner-runner straight. I'm going to try to throw up a poll so look for that too, soon.
Stay patient....
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