Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)

[amcgrath1uk]

Managed to play live on weds and Friday night this week, got slowrolled on weds night and set over set on Friday night. Online isn"t going too badly, I"m sitting 3rd in the online rankings after good consistent performances so far without setting the world on fire, finally managed to play a league game last night and ended up 2nd. Won a few chips early then literally went on a rampage. At one point I had 130k in chips with 30 left, 2nd had 50k! Managed to lose a 90k pot KK vs AQ all in pre, flop K J 10, and still have 100k and the chip lead. Finalled as the chip leader, knocked out a shorty or 2, but never really got going, ending up going HU with a 5:1 chip deficit. Pulled that back with a quick double up, then butchered a hand chasing a straight. Can"t complain with a 2nd however. Congrats to Suz for leading the online league rankings at the mo, I"ve known her a very long time, and though I wouldn"t call myself a great judge, her game this year is excelling which shows up in her results. Stoke announcement is coming tomorrow and I"m not envying the England captains their job. Whittling a minimum of 40 down to 12 must be difficult, especially as I"m sure they"re going to have to say no to a number of good players and a number of friends as well. Looking forward to seeing the teams!

[amcgrath1uk]

So in the last week, I"ve found out I"ll be playing for the England "B" team in Stoke. To say I"m immensely proud and honoured is a complete understatement. My plans were to stay up till midnight ( due up at 6am) however working all weekend had taken its toll and I was zonked out by half 10. Randomly woke up at half 1 to a load of messages waiting for me on facebook as well as on here. Sleep didn"t really happen again on Monday night, with the same issue on Tuesday night!! It"s something I simply cannot wait for!

Went to play the Saturday night £30 f/out in Manchester, it got a grand total of 4 runners!! As most people are aware, I"m not a cash game player, but as there was a 25p/25p table, decided to sit down and have a laugh with my buy in. Managed to stack 2 players with 72os, flopping trips in one, and 2 pair in another hand. Also managed to stack AK holding 86os as well. All the good work undone in one hand. Holding Q9os, called a £15 4bet to a new player ( I know before any comments), the board comes   and he open shoves. I have no hearts. Call anyway. He shows   and the turn and river couldn"t be worse. A black 9 to kill my hand, then a   on the river . Ooops. Anyways!

I have the day off, got not much to do, so I think I"ll be playing a good few games today. All on stars. ( Apart from the APAT game later)

Schedule

15:15 $5.50 NLHE 1000 cap
15:25 $2.20 8 game
15:35 $3.30 PL Omaha Hi/Lo
15:45 $11    NLHE
15:45 $4.40 NLHE 8 max 1000 cap gone in 2 mins QQ on a AQJ board, all in on the J turn, obv someone has JJ
16:00 $8.80 The BIG $8.80
16:00 $1.10 NLHE
16:05 $2.20 NL Omaha Hi/Lo 6 max Turbo
16:30 $2.20 NLHE Turbo
16:45 $5.50 NLHE 1000 cap
17:00 $3.30 NLHE
17:15 $8.80 NLHE 500 cap
17:15 $2.70 NLHE Turbo Knockout
17:25 $3.30 HORSE
17:30 $11   The HOT $11 Turbo
17:45 $5.40 NLHE Turbo Knockout
18:00 $5.50 NLHE
18:15 $11    NLHE
18:15 $8.80 NLHE 6 max 500 cap
18:45 $2.20 NLHE Turbo
19:00 $11    The BIG $11
19:00 $3.30 NLHE
19:15 $4.40 NLHE 8 max 1000 cap
19:40 $2.20 8 game
19:45 $4.40 NLHE Turbo
20:00 $5.50 NLHE Turbo

[amcgrath1uk]

Knocked everything off from 19:00 on the above tournament, as I was 15 tabling at one point on my laptop.

Rather than grind all of them, I took a few risks and got some decent stacks. The 16:45 $5.50 1000 cap was the one I was running deepest in,and eventually was concentrating on that one at the expense of others.

Have tried looking at the Hand History for some interesting hands, but I can only seem to get the first 475 hands  

Anyways, I get to the final table in 1st, then go card dead for an hour. I basically get bored and frustrated, and with only 4 left, decided to up my aggression. 1st hand, get   , button raises, sb calls ( for 40k) and I shove approx 280k. Sb calls with   and I hit to double up. 3 hands later, get KK and eventually beat AQ after a scary J 10 9 flop to have 60% of the chips 4 ways. By the time I"m heads up, I have a 4:1 chip lead, HU I"m pretty comfortable, play it right, eventually get 6 6 and get it all in vs A 6 which holds. Nice ROI

[amcgrath1uk]

PokerStars Hand #89082244042: Tournament #638721703, $8.00+$0.80 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level III (20/40) - 2012/11/11 17:37:52 WET [2012/11/11 12:37:52 ET]
Table "638721703 27" 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: VaDimUgoLeK (2575 in chips)
Seat 3: BiGRpKcTDukS (3095 in chips)
Seat 4: Shenets (3010 in chips)
Seat 5: NOTE 377 (3680 in chips)
Seat 6: heyalisson (2539 in chips)
Seat 7: Pantelija1 (3000 in chips)
Seat 8: amcgrath1uk (6096 in chips)
Seat 9: jaska80 (2405 in chips)
jaska80: posts small blind 20
VaDimUgoLeK: posts big blind 40
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to amcgrath1uk [ ]
BiGRpKcTDukS: raises 40 to 80
Shenets: calls 80
NOTE 377: calls 80
heyalisson: folds
Pantelija1: folds
amcgrath1uk: calls 80
jaska80: folds
VaDimUgoLeK: folds
*** FLOP *** [ As Ts]
BiGRpKcTDukS: checks
Shenets: bets 280
NOTE 377: calls 280
amcgrath1uk: calls 280
BiGRpKcTDukS: folds
*** TURN *** [ As Ts] []
Shenets: checks
NOTE 377: checks
amcgrath1uk: checks
*** RIVER *** [ As Ts ] []
Shenets: checks
NOTE 377: checks
amcgrath1uk: bets 340
Shenets: folds
NOTE 377: folds
Uncalled bet (340) returned to amcgrath1uk
amcgrath1uk collected 1220 from pot
amcgrath1uk: shows [ ] (a Royal Flush)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1220 | Rake 0
Board [ As Ts ]
Seat 1: VaDimUgoLeK (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: BiGRpKcTDukS folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Shenets folded on the River
Seat 5: NOTE 377 folded on the River
Seat 6: heyalisson folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 7: Pantelija1 folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 8: amcgrath1uk (button) collected (1220)
Seat 9: jaska80 (small blind) folded before Flop

[amcgrath1uk]

Played 4 180s on Sunday night only as I was tired, and managed a 3rd and a 4th which was nice. Been off today and have taken it easy, as I"m working tons now. The rest of the next couple of weeks is late, late, late, late, all day, help in Wigan, late, late, late, off, late, all day. So in one sense it"ll be a break for 2 weeks of playing freshening me up for Stoke, however, as I"m playing and running fairly well, it is kind of frustrating. I"ll just save it all for Stoke

[amcgrath1uk]

Is it me, or are the APAT events getting better? The people are just awesome!

Cracking weekend....

Cliffs for me...

The camaraderie between the England B team, as well as with all the other players was immense, how poker should be.

Being on the feature table all day Saturday was damn tough but bloody good fun.. I do hope some of my more "creative plays" caused a bit of headscratching..

Being completely owned in about 10 pots by John Murray

Oh... and Adam Sharples tripping into a taxi...

[KarmaDope]

ffs...

[amcgrath1uk]

ffs...

What can I say... any nerves I had completely vanished...

[Santino67]

Is it me, or are the APAT events getting better? The people are just awesome!

Said just about the same thing on my blog as well  

[amcgrath1uk]

From an APAT point of view, the last week in personal terms have been damn good. First medal, bronze in the team event, first cash in a live event, even though it was 17th, I know I played damn bloody well, and if not running QQ into AA, I"m certain I could have gone deeper.

Then, because of work, I only managed to play 2 events in the online series, the PLO HL which went badly, and the main event, as well as the league game. I managed a 2nd in the league game, which initially I was slightly disappointed as I had a 3:1 chiplead HU, but by that stage I was down to the last 4 in the main event, and because I was really concentrating on the ME, I was chipped away solidly, then managed to run 99 into KK. That gives me 44 points ( I think from 3 or 4 weeks only) and a chance to get a bit of added value after next weeks game.

In the ME, I eventually went from 4/4 in chips to 1/4 after a good series of hands, eventually getting HU with Matt Carter, and managed to bink a river A8 vs A10 to take the win for my first gold. To say I was thrilled is a complete understatement, and as Leigh put it, what an APAT week for me!

[fandango]

From an APAT point of view, the last week in personal terms have been damn good. First medal, bronze in the team event, first cash in a live event, even though it was 17th, I know I played damn bloody well, and if not running QQ into AA, I"m certain I could have gone deeper.

Then, because of work, I only managed to play 2 events in the online series, the PLO HL which went badly, and the main event, as well as the league game. I managed a 2nd in the league game, which initially I was slightly disappointed as I had a 3:1 chiplead HU, but by that stage I was down to the last 4 in the main event, and because I was really concentrating on the ME, I was chipped away solidly, then managed to run 99 into KK. That gives me 44 points ( I think from 3 or 4 weeks only) and a chance to get a bit of added value after next weeks game.

In the ME, I eventually went from 4/4 in chips to 1/4 after a good series of hands, eventually getting HU with Matt Carter, and managed to bink a river A8 vs A10 to take the win for my first gold. To say I was thrilled is a complete understatement, and as Leigh put it, what an APAT week for me!

Your week sounds rather similar to mine sir, many congrats Asa.. i owe you a drinky at DTD btw  .. your ME bink gave me a free buy in to the worlds..(sorry Matt).
Enjoy your GOLD!! and a nice little pay day with Xmas fast approaching  

[ian.ski309]

Two APAT medals and a pile of cash all in one week... awesome performances ! VWP  

[Swinebag]

Getting to HU in both events last night is an awesome achievement.

Well done on gold.

[amcgrath1uk]

Just want to say thanks to everyone either on here or elsewhere sending me congrats etc for last weekend. It"s very much appreciated

I think I"ve played just 4 of the online league games so far, so to sit 7th with an outside ( very much outside) chance of finishing as one of the top individual performers. In one sense it has helped in a weird way that the NW team hasn"t a chance of a top 3 finish.

The online main events have been pretty good to me, I"m sitting 2nd overall which I"m obviously very happy with!

Weekend off, no real plans, just watching the footy now, then an afternoon of small stakes mtt grinding on stars.

Tomorrow will literally be waiting for the league game. Taking things easy this weekend as I"ve only one more day off before Xmas!

[amcgrath1uk]

Only ended up playing 4 tournies as I am fairly tired at the moment, and I think concentrating on more would"ve been tough.

Managed 3rd in the $3.30 HORSE ( my ROI must be fairly decent in that), as well as a 7th in a $8.80 500 max mtt. Big thanks to Grant, Tom and Rodders for the rail, helping me focus from 14 left onwards, where I could literally have shoved my micro stack at any time... as there were people watching, I ground it out more than I usually would, which probably made me another $80 or so.

I don"t have a specific bankroll, as I play for the enjoyment more than anything, but at the moment, things are healthy