Pokerpops ponders poker

[pokerpops]

Failed in another tourney on Tuesday, although not so badly as the Saturday.
Final Table at the £10+£10+£10 started with me as CL having c 26k of the 160k in play.
99then 66Both against shortstacks so I still have 20k when I manage to run AJ into the AA of one of the most irritatingly bad players I"ve come up against and exit on the bubble.
Felt I"d played well all evening and won a lot of pots without showdown and some big pots with sound reads and value bets. Made one hero call with bottom pair vs a pre flop aggressor. He minraised at 600/1200 on my BB and then bet 1200 on a raggy Khigh flop. I"d hit bottom pair and called with a view to seeing what happened and maybe taking it away on a scary turn. Turn was a brick so I checked and he checked behind, river another brick and I check again expecting him to check back and show me a smallish pair but instead he bets out 3/4 pot.
It just made no sense that he would check the turn and then bet the river.
If I was really good I guess I"d have managed to raise the river, but I was very pleased with my thought process which put him on A 10, AJ, AQ

I was wrong about his range, he had A9, but the logic was good as was my bottom pair.


I"m having a proper run at the satellites for both the UKIPT and the Stockton leg of the GUKPT over the weekend. I know they are both on at the same time but the UKIPT is at DTD and has a £1,000,000 Guarantee and if I can play it I will. If not, or if I play the wednesday at DTD and don"t make day2 then a seat for the GUKPT starting on The Friday won"t be too shabby as an alternative game for the weekend.

There will be some live satellites at the local G next weekend and apparently Sharky will be in attendance to dish out a few extra prizes. No doubt a few of the Gala regulars will overcome their issues with the G to turn up for some of this, maybe they"ll find it to their liking and the card room will start to see an upturn in numbers.

[pokerpops]

Another bubble...

I"m beginning to think that my cavalier approach to the bubble, and my disinclination to ladder is maybe not such a good thing.

On the one hand, I can pick up chips as others take a cautious approach

on the other hand, I seem to be bubbling a lot lately, both live and online

Take last night... FT of 10 in a 25runner live £15+£15. I have c 48k with average being 32k. 4 places paid.
I am active and winning my share of pots but the problem with this is that when you get resistance you know you"re behind...

Last night, I"ve had a couple of walks in the BB and I suggest to the SB that another would be welcome. He minraises me to 4,000. I have   and 3bet to 10,000. He tank calls and the checks the   flop.
I lead for 12,500 he tank raises to 25,000....



Eventually I"m down to around 9 BB at 1500/3000 with maybe one hand before it goes to 2000/4000 and it"s folded to my button.
I jam, both blinds call
board runs out  
BB flips his pocket nines
I have  
SB slowly reveals a rivered set of eights

Maybe I have to think about my late game strategy and tighten up a little.

[pokerpops]

I"ve been having a shot at the UKIPT satellites, mostly on DTD where the fields tend to be a little smaller in the feeders. Had a fair run at it on Saturday and made the full satellite via a E2.20 mini-feeder but didn"t get close to a seat.
Sunday, I couldn"t get past the feeders, tried a few minis and a feeder but then decided to go and play some live poker at the local G and take the ipad to play the League game as well.
I reg"d late for both the live and the online game and had the usual swingy spell. At the break (live) the guy who was dealing announced that he wanted to stop and since I was in Seat 10...
so now I"m not only playing two games, I"m dealing one of them. Luckily the guy who got put into Seat 10 kept an eye on the ipad for me and eventually I went out in 40th. No hands of note, no suckouts no bad beats just the usual "they alwyas get there/hold against me"... There were a few odd moments like the open raise from ep to 2000 when the blinds were 100/200 but that"s standard I guess.

So - back to the UKIPT satellite trail. I won a feeder into last night"s 3 seat guaranteed satellite and to cut a long story short (too late!) I won a seat  

Folded lots, avoided playing for big pots as much as I could for as long as I could.
Went down to 6650 at 150/300
picked up some then lost some, picked some up and lost some
got to final table in moderate shape and was chip leader with 8 left but a combination of being card and spot dead reduced me to shortstack at 4000/8000/400 and then I got lucky...
6 handed I open shoved deuces from utg with 5BBs and binked a 2 to beat QQ to take me to 88k

beyond that, and in less than 10 minutes it"s over

AJ shoved uncalled to get to 100k
AK>K9 reduces the table to 5 with 3seats and some cash for 4th and I now have 170k

By the time we"re 4 handed I have just under 300k with the other three having 185, 93 and 80 and I"m feeling confident enough to call with JJ over a cut off shove. He has QJo, JJ holds

I know the 22>QQ looks like I had some last night, but I just got my rungood at a better time than I got my runbad. Old David would n"t have survived long enough to get that bit of luck. Old David would have donked it off well before then.

I have no illusions about my ability to run deep in the UKIPT - that would take some exceptional good fortune. But I love the atmosphere at DTD on big days and I"m really lookin forward to being part of that.

[PHIL_TC]

Fantastic Dave WP! Well chuffed for you x

[pables]

vwp I look forward to your victory blog  

[mporter123]

Great result! VWP

[pokerpops]

 

vwp I look forward to your victory blog  

Don"t hold your breath us satellite folks are the value for the pros

All other considerations aside it"s a week and a half away

[pables]

Get some inside tips from Rupinder Bedi, he"ll put you on the right track.

Most pros sat in in any case...... Why pay full price?

[Swinebag]

vwp on getting a seat.

My only advice is this:

Do not think at any point that you are there to make up the numbers. I expect you to be shocked at the standard of some of the play earlier in the tourney. Just play your A game. That will be enough. the rest is down to a bit of run good.

GL

[pokerpops]

vwp on getting a seat.

My only advice is this:

Do not think at any point that you are there to make up the numbers. I expect you to be shocked at the standard of some of the play earlier in the tourney. Just play your A game. That will be enough. the rest is down to a bit of run good.

GL

Thanks for this. You"re ok for a City fan.

I need to remember it"s an hour clock and a three day tournament. My A game isn"t used to such luxury

[pokerpops]

So - if Monday was a high day for my poker life, Tuesday was definitely a low

I was in Northampton to visit my Dad and sonly duties done I nipped off to Aspers to play the £20FO

All was going well enough, I"d won a few chips including a rather disappointingly uncalled river bet where the villain folded and then spent the next five minutes telling me that he "definitely had the best hand" - which was unlikely on a   board where I had  

But "old Dave" then popped into the game. At 100/200 after a prolonged spell of being card and spot dead it was folded round to me in the hijack and I decided to raise   to 525 from around 5,500  
One caller and a flop of    
Villain checks and I c-bet 800
he calls, which most definitely was NOT in the plan. Looks like he may not believe I"ve hit that flop...

Turn is   and again he checks. Now, I think there"s a lot of turn cards I can represent and get a second bet through with, but this one gives me an OESD and I should maybe take a free card. Sensible satellite winning dave does that, but not Old Dave...

Old Dave bets out a Des - 2200 and villain starts to talk.. "I don"t think you"ve hit that" he says, and of course he"s right. "I think you"ve got AK or AQ" he says, and how wrong could he be?
I say "Nope, not AK, not AQ, nor even Ace Jack or Ace Ten"
He thinks a little harder and then, just when I think I"m getting the pot he takes a deep breath and says "I"m all in"

Satellite winning Dave tanki folds here. Satellite winning Dave says something along the lines of "I think you"re hollywooding a set and I"m going to fold what may well be the best hand" and leaves them thinking he had a medium overpair like 10 10 or JJ
Not the Dave that played on Tuesday night though. He calls
and misses

So, tourney over I sit to play some cash. £1/£1. Start with £100 and pretty soon it"s turned into around £170 and I"ve barely had to show down a hand. It does help when you can check raise the river with the stonecold nuts
Then I 3bet £32 over a £6 raise and a call from the button with   and call a shove from SB. He started talking as soon as it came to him and telling me I was just squeezing and I "had to call" and in the end I decided that I was ahead of enough of his "gobby range" to be right.
Board comes   and he snap turns over  
sigh

I reload and rebuild and at one point late on I had a small (£9) profit on the night.
That was time to go really, but there were people on the table who still looked like they had more to give so I stuck around. Mistake.
A misplaced bluff against someone who disguised their flopped set so well that I check raised them with bottom pair and a gutshot was expensive
Seeing a flop in a minrasied pot (minraised utg btw) from the button with   and receiving a flop of   I prepared to receive donations.
Somehow or other we manage to get it all in and he obviously has   and I"m praying for a 7 to get £100 out of the bad beat fund.

I <3 live cash

onwards and upwards - the Thursday game with the Stockton Massive awaits this evening and maybe a live satellite for the GUKPT on Sunday. If when If I bust the UKIPT on Wednesday at least that would give me something for the weekend.

[pokerpops]

OK Mrs Variance - you win.

Thursday"s home game with the Massive turned into a 2 table job with 11 runners. I got the joys of the Cock, the Rock and the Fossil plus Gary "luckbox" Motson and Fiddy McGowan. All went well initially. I got my raising boots on early and accumulated a big stack of chips (mostly 25s and 100s)

Just before the break I lose a chunk when Stu"s raise with 4 6 off stumbles onto a flop of 2 3 5. I check raise him on the river and call his reraise...  

I spend the first few minutes of the break asserting my dominance in the Fussball - a 9-2 victory.

Then, for the second time in the week my I flop top pair with a King in my hand and discover that my opponent has the rest of the Kings allowed in a standard deck... This was made even harder to bear due to the fact that it was the first time all night that Stu, the Former European Champion had actually had a hand to raise with...

It"s still early so I pop over to the G to see if there"s a cash game on. There is, and a seat available. (5 seats available when I sit tbh)

It"s a steady sort of game - .25/.50 with only one straddle allowed. I sit with £100 and enjoy the banter for a while. Calls are looser at this level and all sorts of hands can develop. It"s fun. Until....
The table now has 9 players, the straddle is on and one of the tourney regulars raises to £3.25 from the BB. I call from utg+1 with   and we"re heads up to a flop of 10 8 7. He bets £6, I raise to £18, he calls.
Turn is a 2, he shoves.
I call, he flips QQ and rivers a Jack....

Next hand, I straddle and the guy in the seat next to me asks, having called the £1, how the straddle works..
I look down at   and say, "It lets me act last preflop and means I can raise now" and make it £6 to play.

We get it all in on a 9 8 5 flop and of course he has 55.....  :"(

SO, Mrs Variance, welcome to my home and do stick around for a while making sure that you give me the upside of some of these when it matters. Wednesday April 11th; Saturday April 14th; Sunday April 15th and especially on Monday April 16th.

[pokerpops]

How in the name of all that is Holy does this happen?

Istana is from Madagascar btw, if that helps...

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $300(BB) Pacific Game#366473070

flores1982 ($8,294)
ozzteam ($27,748)
chinesin ($14,652)
edgeahead ($14,565)
pokerpops ($9,060)
shmalan456 ($19,637)
ynvjonesy88 ($24,888)
maksimushka ($19,010)
lstana ($43,922)

maksimushka antes $30
lstana antes $30
ozzteam antes $30
pokerpops antes $30
chinesin antes $30
shmalan456 antes $30
flores1982 antes $30
ynvjonesy88 antes $30
edgeahead antes $30
flores1982 posts (SB) $150
ozzteam posts (BB) $300

Dealt to pokerpops    
fold, fold, fold, fold, fold,
maksimushka calls $300
lstana raises to $1,215      fair enough I guess
fold, fold,
maksimushka calls $915
FLOP ($3,150)      
maksimushka bets $2,362
lstana calls $2,362                floating?
TURN ($7,874)        
maksimushka bets $5,905
lstana calls $5,905                   still floating??
RIVER ($19,684)              must be nice
maksimushka bets $7,123
lstana raises to $14,246          
maksimushka calls $2,375 (AI)
lstana shows    
(Pre 38%, Flop 8.4%, Turn 18.2%)

maksimushka shows Ts    
(Pre 62%, Flop 91.6%, Turn 81.8%)

lstana wins $38,680

[pokerpops]

Did a win last night in the £10+£10+£10 last night at G - only 11 runners, but still, a win"s a win.

To be strictly accurate I chopped it heads up with a guy that the Poker Room staff have christened Dr Donk. His assortment of moves includes open shoving 15BB utg with 10 5 off because "I wanted to either double up or take a rebuy" and 3 betting Q10 vs a tight open and snap calling the inevitable shove. Neither of those moves (in previous games) had worked out well for him, but last night he managed to shove J3 for his last 7BB well before the end of the rebuy period and river a straight. A little later he raised KJ 3 handed to 4100 out of a stack of 20k, called the 3bet to 9500 and shoved the K turn with KJ... his opponent obviously had AA, the K obviously came on the river...
He"s a constant drone at the table with his justification for his play and his post-hand analysis of everyone else"s play. He"s so good that he thinks I"m one of the tighter players in the game...
But it was 12.30, I was losing the will to live, and although I had a 60:40 advantage I just couldn"t be bothered to play on. Effectvely I gifted him £40, but I believe my sanity was worth the price.

Couple of highlights from the night,
Getting all in on the flop with   on a flop to see Brian"s  
Made the flush on the turn - but with the :-(
Took the second two bullets and moved on
Couple of good hero calls with bottom pair and a finely judged value raise of Dr Donk on the river  when he had raised pre and my call with A10 flopped two pair and turned a house. Chk chk, chk chk, chk bet raise and I collected a 30k pot

Had c33% of chips when we got down to 10 players from the 11 that started and never had much of a problem with it after that.

Really felt for the Fossil - his night ended in two hands v Dr D - both times he was ahead and all in pre, both times Dr D had lived up to his name. Brian has a properly good game and is due a score soon. I hope it comes this weekend at DTD.


There"s one other hand that I will try and write up for the Analysis board... wish I had Bedi"s memory for stacks etc, maybe I should make notes at the table

[pokerpops]

my very first UKIPT adventure...

Day 1a
Interesting table - a couple of names that Brian "The Fossil" Harland sent me a text about to say they had decent results in the past, plus Mitch Johnson DTD Cash legend, and a young lad called Anthony German who is currently a Brentford FC footballer and a regular cash game player at The Vic apparently (seems he spends a lot of time on the injured list...)

I played very tight initially, mainly because I had a lot of hands with twos in them, but also because I had set my stall out to avoid getting too active. Got a walk from Mitch at 25/50.. picked up KK and open-raised button only for both blinds to fold.
Raised QQ and got a call from young Mr German who had been accumulating chips at an alarming rate with some remarkable skill in hitting flops, or turns, or rivers...
on a 266 flop he check raised my c-bet and I reluctantly folded (a 6 very likely to be in his range to call a raise) with the thought that my time would come.
It did - he eventually doubled me up when he called my shove and my QQ held against his JJ.
Had a sense of deja vue when I managed to limp the cut off and see a flop four handed with 22 - flopped a set, checked the flop and then bet 500 into 800 on the turn which was a Q and brought a second spade on the board. The young lad in the BB then raised me to 3,000 out of a stack of 8ish
and folded to my shove..

The table broke around the 8th level and I found myself directly to the left of Jamie Dale, and two to the left of a former GUKPT winner whose name escapes me for the moment.
I built a stack on this table flatting a 3bet from Jamie Dale with QQ and check calling three streets on a J high board. Not sure what he had, but certainly didn"t have the confidence to check raise at any stage - I"ll learn that later.
Called a shorter stacks all in with QQ and held v 10 10 and hit level 10 with around 1.5x average stack. Sadly I spewed some chasing the NFD in a 3handed pot where a heart on turn or river would have given me a monster stack. Moved again having picked up a few more chips and managed to pay off two good value bets to the same villain.
Hand 1 - I open raise pre, he flops a set with 22 and I flop Top Pair, flush and straight draws. He check calls flop and leads river and I should know better than to call
Hand 2 - he open raises and I call with K10ss and  the board is 10 high.. bet/call flop, chk/chk turn, he bets river, I call to be shown KK

Last hand of Day One when we"re all agreed that noones going crazy it"s folded to me in the cut-off and I have , I raise and my nemesis who is in the BB calls...
he check calls my c-bet and we check it down after that and AK is good which means I bag up 34,100 to return to for Day 2.

next post will bring mention of my meetings with two female Pokerstars Pros, and a comedy genius, my early double up and my eventual fall a little short of the money.

Don"t miss the exit hand, it"s a car crash!