Tales of the Honeybadger

[Honeybadg]

Watched the end of the Sunday (7) Million ... nearly $10M in the middle ...

Interesting that when they got to the final table two of the players were very much need to make the deal very sweet or play on ... they finished 1st and 3rd ...

49287 runners to 1 in 14 hours (ish) ...

6 of the Pokerstars Pros made it to the money (6309 paid!) ... none made the top 750 ... super crapshoot ... or skill based lottery ...

Was weird not to be playing ...

Looking forward to the UKIPT on Thursday (Day 1C) ...

[Honeybadg]

Short and sour - I lasted 93 mins!

Exit hand : Queen Flush vs A Flush : Both playing the same game : Car Crash ...

Played pretty loose before - lost a few AJ into J5x4 vs 54s

Lost a few versus the baby flush.

Missed the chance to lose versus KKK whilst I hit a bit of the board.

Overall a weak perfomance - but went with a plan to accumulate - missed most of my hands and got slaughtered when I hit ... albeit I could have (in theory at least) found a fold at the end!?!

Not sure what is next?

L

[Honeybadg]

Early bath in The Sunday Warm up ... 77 vs 99 aipf ...

Daylight saving means - Sunday Million kicks off at 630pm - so that has to be tempting!

Weekend of the early baths ... perhaps the Sunday Million is the super late bath??

L

[Honeybadg]

... Sunday Million ... in the money for super minor cash ... 1040th of 8755 ... KJ vs AT in the blinds ...

[Honeybadg]

Played the EPT side event 19 ... £300+30 Turbo at the Hippodrome.

Finished 9th of 37 - 6 paid.

Would have been in great shape had 88 vs 44 vs J5 held up ... I won the side but J5 is "always" winning that one ... it was a fair super value call from the short stack ... but it meant that I remained under pressure ...

No cards on the final table so I made the call with 85s from the BB for the live cards ... vs Q9 who had chased off the original raiser in the hand ... I hit the 8 ... but he hit the queen ... shame ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Sunday Warm Up - Raised under the gun with AA - ended up with 3 callers - and whilst I led on the dangerous 567 flop - the turn T had me behind to T7 - still alive but wounded - so 44 became a shove UTG into AK (good) but also 77 (bad) ... who hit quads ...

Feels like it might be time for a few weeks off now ...

Of course the minute I write that - time to check what is happening next Saturday ...

Maybe this will be my next appearance:

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/festival.php?a=r&n=11655 : £250k g"tee

L

[Honeybadg]

Sky Poker Live at Aspers : £200 + 20

Last minute decision to play ... prompted by a tweet from Don Roberts in the morning.

Something like 260 runners started - 30,000 chips - 45 minute levels - I think - pretty sure that the first level started with a 40 minute clock ... then again the blinds seemed to be 50/100 ... but we played 12 mins at 25/50 ...

The day was also destined for 14 levels - but they only played 11 - perfect timing to miss the last tube to 5 minutes ... standard stuff ...

I think something like 88 going back tomorrow with 36 paid ... Midday start ... It would have been better to play the extra three levels tonight ... anyway ...

It was a pretty weird table - half of which wanted to float everything - yet despite this the first exit was at c9.50pm - from a 2pm start. With 2 levels of the day left I was ahead of average - but largely card dead - and my flat call with Aces only paid minor dividends ...

Early on when we were 9 handed - I managed to get a full table of callers min raising with 22 UTG ... flop Q62 ... one of my callers had Q2 ... maybe didn"t win the most there ... I also got pushed off 3 hands by shown bluffs in about 90 minutes ... I smiled ... and started showing some bluffs of my own.

Not sure if they are re-drawing the tables - but if not - a tough table now.

Good fun - but could do with a card rush for day 2.

L

[Honeybadg]

Standard exit : AQs vs AT ... river on the straight ... yawn ... maybe about 1 hour from the money ... and would have had a playable stack ... a familiar ring unfortunately ...

[Honeybadg]

Weird to be "watching" APAT from the comfort of my sofa his Easter. Needed the break from my epic work/poker run. Need to find some freshness for both.

Pleased to see good numbers for the High Roller - will be good to make a return.

L

[Honeybadg]

Official gauge of poker fatigue - moment of the weekend I first ponder playing ...

Sunday 6.50pm is pretty late - usually would mean that I am sick ...

Sunday Million kicks off at 7.30pm -a little bit tempting - but I think I will pass to start the week fresh.

Feels crazy to start such an event yawning ... (have done that before)

I have the feeling that the next 12 months might be light on poker ... it makes the epic quest to win something "big" so much less likely ... but there you go ...

The natural end to this blog is that "big" win ... at the start it felt like a matter of time ... I have improved a lot since then ... but won nothing bigger ... harder and harder to win ... but also playing a little less.

When I look back - I wonder why I didn"t play more face to face in London 6/7 years ago.

I don"t really have an answer - was working hard - but particularly seven years ago there was time. I guess I was playing more cash ...

Maybe if I "met" APAT a little earlier ...

Who knows?

L

[Honeybadg]

Weird to be back on a (virtual) poker table after a good few weeks off ...

Late regged for a value added satelitte to the Boyle Sports IPO which starts at Aspers on Wednesday.

Three day 1"s - then played to a finish over the weekend.

Quite a strange format.
Day 1"s - starts at 7pm - then 8 40 minute levels plus a 20 minute break - for a 1240am finish.
It"s a terrible finish time - means a £40 taxi home or some crazy night bus action - why not play a few more levels!?!

Anyway - 15000 chips - 40 minute levels - but these switch to 60 mins - half way through day 2.
Day 2 - 2pm start - 2am finish.

£225 entry - and I am in for £22 at the first attempt - got lucky with a AQ vs AK chop - but otherwise played well and made three disciplined folds with top pair or better - to grind down the passive heads up opponent plus the more active player eliminated in third.

Seems a long way away with an epic week of work to negotiate first.

L

[Honeybadg]

Made day 2 of the Boyle Poker International Poker Open ... 37.5 BB ... middle of the pack ...

Same table all day - 40 minute levels - 9 levels played.

Start of the day I was dying for headphones with the excited puppies all clammering to tell taller and taller poker stories ...

A lot of passive play - but a couple of players who wanted to dance all day - finally I turn a straight vs one of them to double up on the last level of the day ... with my button limp 56o ... before that won a race with TT vs AQ ... my shove ...

Re-start at 2pm - and levels switch to 60 minutes half way through the day - it"s the land of great structure but feeling this should be 2 days and not 3 ... 344 runners down to 135 ... after 6 hours play ... with 45 paid maybe we are at the money when the switch is made ... a lot of min cash nonsense to avoid ...

Earlier - the young American/Lithuanian going absolutely mad on a AA into Axx - sucked out by the Q6s who made the flush on the river - the prices were just about right for the then big stack to call. It was like a beautiful poker car crash that all could see happening - clue A - after initial raise - "don"t suck out on me" - Villian hits on the river and makes the value bet - which is insta-called with a concurrent speech about it being the most disgusting hand ever in poker ... oh well ... rare for me ... but I enter into a speech about he needs to play Q6s more ... nice to have some edge at the table ... but I didn"t get to bust him ... and nor is he bust ... despite twice losing all ins where he was barely covered ... he may return with 2.3 BB ... and probably win it??

L

[Honeybadg]

Aspers disasters ...

Cash Mega Aggro £1/2 table ... 4 runners see the fold for £20 ... I have 67s and position ... I started the hand with c£340 ... flop K98 for the flush ... standardish c-bet ... followed by a re-raise to c£95 ... I shove all in ... tank time ... but a finally a call with KQ - Q for the Flush - which duly arrives on the river ... 23%

Tournament Exit ... KK vs TT vs A5 ... only one winner there ... I wouldn"t have minded too much if the Ace had hit as the odds were there with three runners (A5 the original and serial raiser) ... but the run out was the heinous x5xx5 ... 25%. (If the A5 is dominated something like 11-14% chance to win from there)

It"s all standard - getting chopped to death by a silent axeman - who has soaked his axe in stinging poisons ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Was running pretty well in the $1m g"tee on Full Tilt - but lost a race calling with 88 vs Q9 - then AQ vs AK - then lost another race - then failed with my live cards ...

Just outside the money in the Bigger $109 ... again was running pretty well ... lost a race to push me back into the pack ...

Earlyish bath in the Sunday Warm Up - again losing a race ...

Thinking about Wembley events ... so next weekend will feature the qualify for Wembley night!

Friends teeing up a trip to Vegas ... also in June ...

It would be a good time to run good ...

L

[Honeybadg]

Work requirements derailing poker efforts ... Sunday night is a flight to Edinburgh for an early start on Monday ...

Wigan 1-0 - 33/1 big odds
Not massive bets - but once you nominate the goalscorer - odds go crazy - Kone and 1-0 - 290/1 - seems massive? If you ran it 290 times - you might get that happening a few times.

Also - McCarthy and 1-0 - 520/1

Will buy in direct to Wembley if either of these scorecasts come in ... would be a weird way to sat in.

L