One tough game

Just had another tough session...played for about a stretch of 5 hours, and signed up for essentially all of the low-stakes tourney that started within 2.5 hours time span (buy-in from $2-$20 approx), and mixed in a couple of the $12 180-man turbos to fill up after I bust from a tourney.

I was able to accumulate a stack in almost all of the tourneys that I played tonight, but somehow just ended up losing the stack well short of the money. Not all of them were bad beats, but most of them were. Some were just me being overly aggressive and overplayed a few hands, but it's tough when you get players to put 160BB in the pot preflop with AA vs. their AK and they somehow make a flush from it. So other than a couple of min-cashes, there isn't really anything to show for tonight.

First real session in...quite awhile

It's been a good...3 months + now since I've put in any sort of an online session. Tonight's session wasn't even planned, but it sort of just happened when I ended up being wide awake at 2~ in the morning with nothing better to do.

For the last 2-3 months, I just never felt the motivation to play and put in hours. To me, poker will always be a hobby/game. I don't foresee myself ever taking it and turning it into a full-time gig. Therefore, as much as I have been able to take adv. of the poker boom the past few years (although not as much as others have obviously), I will only find myself playing it when I'm motivated to play, and having fun while doing it. As a result, the only hands I've played up until tonight, were essential micro-stakes games where I would fire up if a friend was playing, or just to see whether I was ready to take the plunge.

Back to tonight, I guess once again motivated by my desire to win a PCA/Aussie Millions package, I decided to load up a few MTTs and just get back into the game again. This is the first time in awhile (basically since I came back from the WSOP) where I played, with no other distractions. No MSN/Google-Talk/TV/Movie/Xbox 360/etc etc. It was simply 6 - 8 tables (which became 4 real fast) on my screen, and me trying to accomplish something.

Getting back into it, I once again received a full kick in a nuts, a reminder truly how cruel this game can be. I'm going to spare the details* (I will post about it...but it will be the last paragraph), but it was a frustrating session to say the least.

However, on the flip side, I found myself slowly being "back in the zone" where I made a couple of thin value-bets, a couple of relatively big river calls, and even a couple of bluffs. CLEARLY the few hands I played tonight is in no way an indication that I'm playing my best, I mean for all I know, all these things I was doing right was merely by luck/chance, but at the end of the day, at the end of the session, I feel the motivation coming back. A motivation to once again put myself in a spot to learn, to challenge myself, and more importantly, enjoy my time while doing it.

What's next for me? In life wise, I'm finally finishing up school, and joining the real-world (aka. starting a career) is on the horizon. Which means, having the opportunity to travel around to different parts of the world might come to end shortly. Which means...over the next little while, I feel as though my goals will be to satellite into various live events all over the world. If at the end of the day, I end up stuck in Canada the entire winter, while I will be disappointed, at least I HOPE I can say I tried my best.

So hopefully, I will be traveling down under for the Aussie Millions come Jan 2010.

*DO NOT read if you do not want the detail of my session. (aka the bad beats and the cold deck)
-out of the 6 MTT that I busted out in, 5 of the bust out (or majorly crippling) hands had most of the money go in the pot when I was at least a 2 to 1 favourte
-the other hand, well, KK > AA all-in preflop

WCOOP - Finally

So the first 2 weeks or so, I haven't played a single WCOOP tournament as much as I wanted to. Between various things coming up during the day, a cottage trip for the long weekend, and just not being able to satellite into some of the tournaments. With school starting again, that obviously gives me a change to play another tournament or so. So tomorrow, I will be playing the $215 NLHE "big ante" tournament. Looking at the structure, it looks like it will be a fun tournament for someone like me who plays a relatively LAGgy style. After that, probably won't play until the Sunday with the $215 tourney and hopefully the big main event. We'll see how it goes.

A Brief Session

I was able to put in a session today, basically registered for tournaments between 7-830pm EST or so. I think I played a total of about 8 tournaments, and right now I have 2 left. The $3.30 rebuy, and $27.50 Freeze-out.

I ran pretty deep in the $10 1 rebuy 1 addon tourney, but had essentially 1 bad orbit which caused me to go from top 30 in chips (with about 300 left - 128 paid), to busto.

Hand 1: A bit of background about the table, I have been essentially running over the table. Having taken about 2-3 uncontested pots preflop with a raise. Villain has been at the table for awhile, but I have yet to see any of his showdown hands and I haven't had to showdown too many hands myself. So here we go.

My stack: 60K, Villain's stack: 30K~
With blinds at 500/800 ante 75, villain raises to 2121 from the CO. I re-raise to 7200 from the SB. Villain shoves 50BB and I insta-call.

Board ran out: K 7 6 4 7. KJ > QQ

So instead of having about 90K in chips (would've put me in 5th or so), I get dropped to about average chip stack..and the next hand happens.

Hand 2: A couple of hands later, I'm OTB with 99. I think I might've misplayed this hand based on stack sizes.

MP (stack 17K) raises to 2200, CO (stack 24K) calls, I re-raise all in. MP folds and CO insta-calls and his KK holds.

Given the stack sizes, I think I might've been better off to flat preflop and not create a big pot preflop with just a mid-pair. In a sense I turned my 99 into a bluff in this spot, where as I should've played it with more caution in position. I originally chose to re-raise all-in, due to the fact that any 3-bet would already commit me to a 4-bet shove by either the MP or CO.

Hand 3: Very next hand, open shove with A5 with about 6K, gets called by the button, SB reshove, BB (which is less than SB) calls, button calls. It was A5 vs. A2 vs. 98 vs. 66. 66 rivered a set, 98 turned a pair and I was out.

Still in the $3R with 50BB or so, and the $27.50FO with average stack close to the bubble. Going to try my best to make something out of the last two tournaments.

Edit 1: Almost as soon as I clicked "publish post", AJ > AK on a AJx flop in the $27.50 and I'm down to 7BB

Edit 2: Doubled with AK < QJ to hopefully not bubble. Just folded AQ on a ATT89 board in the $3R

Edit 3: Shoved A3 into TT to bust the $27.50 FO.

Edit 4: What a spectacular way to bust out of $3.30R - KK < 66 < JJ

Quick Update

Just something quick. Barely played the last 2 weeks...probably squeezed in a couple of short session each lasting approximately 30 minutes. Nothing really to write home about, just 1 hand where I think I could've played it a few ways. Will probably make a post about it later. For now, another couple of weeks of hiatus from poker, and might get back into it when September rolls around.

Last Few Frustrating Days

The past few days haven't exactly gone well. Mixing in a bit of $0.50/$1, $1/$2 6max PLO, a game which I don't proclaim to be a good player in, but also a game that I know I'm +ev in. Also continued grinding the $12 180 man turbos and that hasn't gone well either. So right now, I'll probably be taking the next week or off more due to other things being busy. Between softball, Rogers Cup Tennis, and other things mixed in there, my next week to 10 days will be pretty packed. I might be able to sneak in a couple of short sessions here or there, but it won't be anything major.

Other than that, if you hate whiners/bad beat stories, you can stop reading. I'm just going to rant a tad in the next couple of paragraphs...(also allows me to actually have my thoughts recorded in case I decide to come back and read this or something in the future)

With PLO, I'm definitely not a great player at that game, but with that said, I believe at the level I play, I'm definitely a favourite at any random 6 handed table. It's been quite frustrated the last few days, as I've had numerous occasions where I've had the opponent move most (if not all) of his chips in drawing thin (a rarity in Omaha) and they somehow outdraws me. A couple of examples would be my top set + nut flush draw vs. his naked OESD + overpair. I got the villain to move his stack in when he was drawing to 5 outs and of course hits his straight on the river. Another one was when I had double suited AA78 against a complete LAGtard on the button, who held KK78 1 suit. I flopped a flush draw and no other draws available, and he hits his 1 K that would make him a set (but not my flush) and takes down a 250BB~ pot.

I've been learning more about PLO in general just by reading forums, and it's pretty frustrated knowing that my game is improving but the results isn't there.

It's been the case with the $12 180 man turbos. I've consistently been able to get to the final 36/27 with an average chip stack (which at this point M is at like 6 for average stack). Those times are essential push/fold situation, and I've had countless times where I lose the crucial 60/40, 50/50, or even 70/30. Of course, I understand the whole variance, but it's just pretty frustrating when it keeps occurring over a span of 8-12 tables.

Here's me hoping to get the "run bad" out of the way before WCOOP rolls around in less than a month.