How to lose over $1200 in 6 hours...

Because I know you all want lessons, please observe a master at work :

Let's start online. FTOPS started last night with Event #1, a $200+16 buyin NL Hold'Em short handed event. Normally I'm fantastic at these events, I've run deep in every short handed high buyin event I've played online. This time, not so much at all. I was crushed in this event. It started early getting involved in a few pots where I had made hands and got drawn out on and my 3000 starting stack turned into 1600 within 25 minutes or so. Then came the hand that killed me :

I raised the cut-off with 9h/4h, a fairly standard play, especially 6 handed I really tend to opt for alot of preflop raising and general agression before the flop, switching to very conservative post flop because you'll find opponents ranges wider than at a 9 or 10 handed table also. Anyway, both blinds call. The flop was decent enough, Jh/2h/2c. Paired board I never like chasing a flush but the quick 100 bet into 300 and a call behind made me fairly certain my flush was going to be the best hand, so I called behind also. The turn was a 5h. The initial better led 600, and got called, I shoved behind 1150, and got called by both. The river was absolutely devestating. 2s. Three 2's on board and now I know I'm toast. It goes check, bet, fold and the guy holding QJ wins the pot with his full house. The other player had a lower flush than me so the 2 killed my shot at the 4000 chip pot.

After this, since I didn't play poker most of the day in an effort to be ready for a long night in that tournament, I decided I was ready for a game. No tilt anywhere to be seen, I even told a friend how weird it felt, I was dissapointed because I wanted to play more poker than the half hour I lasted. Tilt never factored into it.

So, I decided to make a trip out to Fallsview. Ironically the casino has been debated alot on Jackseven lately, some think it sucks, some think it's great. I agree with column a. I think as a poker room, it's an absolute nightmare. The layout is horrendous(who puts the poker room that far away from any cage?), the service is awful(I still remember the session where I sat at a table for 6 hours asking to be moved to a new table because there was absolutely no action at my table and other people who asked after me getting moved). However, there's alot of action, so it's kind of a necessity for me to go there.

Anyway, I sit down at a 5/5 NL game with $500, and quickly run it up a little bit until this hand happens, that also gave me a big realization.

The cut-off(fairly solid) raises to 35, and I'm on the button with AQo, I call here(a play I'll discuss more later), and the blinds fold. The flop is A/K/7 rainbow. The cut-off leads 65. Here's a difficult spot for me because this is the kind of continuation bet he'd make holding almost ATC still, so I'm almost forced into a call, which I make(more on this later too). The turn is a complete brick, a 3. He checks now, which really confused me because I wasn't sure if that meant he had a hand like QQ or JJ and was giving up, or he had a big hand like AK, KK and was trying to trap another bet out of me. The river was another Ace. Now he leads 150, and again I'm faced with another fairly tough decision, it's possible we have the same hand, it's slightly possible I have him outkicked although I doubt it, so I have to decide if he has QQ or JJ and is trying one last steal effort, or if he has AK or KK and is value betting. I decide wrong and call, and he shows AK.

Now, let me take a moment to dissect this hand a little more. I discussed this with Griffin when I got home, and I discovered something with him during the conversation. Calling ranges should be even wider than I normally make them. I hate the idea of calling any raise with AQ. I already don't call raises with A/10, A/J, KQ, typically, obviously all this is circumstantial, but for the most part. Now I'm fitting AQ into that range. I'd rather have been calling his raise with 6d/4d than with AQ. 6d/4d, J/10 suited, any hands like that are easy post flop. I either hit big, I outplay, or I fold. There's no difficult decisions to leave yourself after the flop like there is playing a hand like AQ, AJ, KQ. All those hands leave you is alot of post flop work. And I feel like I'm too good at this game to put myself in a marginal spot like that where I have very difficult decisions.

A few hands later I go broke with 5s/2s on a As/10s/5d flop, and that leads to me reloading.

During this time, there was one player just steamrolling the table, he was hitting insanely well, a very agressive kid, although he seemed to know more or less what he was doing, he was just very agressive, and at the time was a card rack. All the same, I wanted to tangle because he was very agressive. That lead to this hand after I had worked my stack up again :

There were a few players that left the table and came back and posted(3 in all), they all check everyone else folds to the maniac holding the button, he goes to 50 straight. I'm in the BB and look at AA. Perfect, now I decide that although I don't like limping with players behind, I think I can be fairly safe they can't call after I have, so I just smoothe call the extra 45. The posters all fold.

The flop is 2d/5s/6s. Not a bad flop but not great. I lead at the flop almost as it's being dealt, trying to sell him on a pro-bet here. I bet 120. He instantly comes over the top to 300. I'm holding about 600 total at this point. I decide to just call the extra 180 and see the turn, already deciding I'm letting him set me all-in on the turn(barring a spade then I'll give it some thought). Turn is a blank, 9d. I check and he says all-in and I've called before he even puts a chip in the pot and flipped up my aces. I'm fairly certain I know what he's rolling over and I know I'm a 4 to 1 favourite. Sure enough, he shows me As/Qs. Almost a 2k pot now and I've got it in a 4 to 1 favourite. But, just to give me the final kick in the crotch for the day, the river peels off the 8s. Ship it over there please.

After that I take 1 more bad beat as I drive home, taking the back way from my house I get stuck at the Welland Canal bridge for about 20 minutes. Nice way to top off the night. Overall things kind of sucked.

Guilt update

Weird, it's been quite a while since I did one of these updates, maybe I should write one up.

So, where am I at?

Well, I've just moved most of my money off Pokerstars. It's nothing against Pokerstars at all, I do think it's the best site on the internet, but unfortunately I don't qualify for any rakeback bonus', whereas I will be able to get it on Full Tilt. That's 5k or more a month I'm earning just to switch sites, so I'm in the process of making that switch. Therefore, there hasn't been much for me in the way of online poker lately, I play a little every night, but not as intensely as I had been for the last few months.

I'm really eager for the FTOPS events kicking off this coming week, I think I'm in a good frame of mind poker-wise, and I feel like my tournament game is coming around a bit. I've been doing alot of reading and watching on card runners the MTT videos and entries to see if I can learn anything, and I'm more comfortable than I was a month ago playing an MTT. Some progress was shown at the live tournaments I run. I had played in(without an actual count), 15 or so events, and made 1 final table(finished 3rd), up until this week. This week I've played 2 events, and won them both.

The first event on Wednesday I felt like I got fortunate in some spots where I normally don't get lucky. One big spot was a 10/10 vs AA showdown where I caught a 10 on the flop. I felt like I played well though, grinding my way through some card-dead spells, and maximized opportunties.

Tonight however I think was a big turning point. Almost from the onset I felt like I dominated the tournament, there was hardly a moment I wasn't either chip lead or 2nd in chips. Granted, I ran fairly well(made 2 sets of quads, only got paid once for them), but I think the big thing tonight was I had a remarkable efficiency in pots I was in. Typically I'm very good at big pot poker, because I rarely put my money into a big pot when I'm behind. However, I find that I bleed chips back trying to play smaller pots and slowly widdling back to the pack before I double up again. Today was the opposite, today I won every big pot I played, but found a better rythmn in the pots around those big pots where I was just further extending myself from the field. I felt basically from 15 minutes into the tournament that I was going to win, and it worked out.

My tenative FTOPS schedule is now finalized, the only ones I know 100% for sure are I'll be playing Event #1(6 handed NL Hold'Em) and Event #3(PL Hold'Em) on Wednesday and Friday respectively. After that there are a bunch of question marks, although I deffinitely want to be in the 2 million dollar guarantee main event. Most of these will be straight buyins.

As for other poker, I went down to Fallsview on Tuesday and saw Marc and Bill there, hung out for a while, saw Marc roll a little bit, unfortunately I had to leave for work mid-way through the day and later found out he had been eliminated, although I'm fairly certain this was still a pretty good month for him, what with the marriage and all. His track record is one of the "new wave" of players who continue to amaze with their consistency. Guys like Scott Clements, Marc, Jared Hamby and other internet pros that have taken poker by storm not just by the magnitude of their accomplishments but by the consistency they accomplish these feats showcase how far poker has come and how well some people can play the game these days.

On a personal note, I got some fantastic news(hopefully, assuming from here on out things go well), that I got a job at Brantford Casino as a dealer. I'm making fair money playing poker, but the ability to have a well paying job and keep my poker bankroll seperate from that will be key, because were it not for constantly taking checks out for living expenses from my bankroll, it would be over $40,000, instead of the over $20,000 I cashed out a while ago from Pokerstars. This should make the run I'm on a little bit easier, both because I don't have to worry about finances at home, and because I don't have to take money from my bankroll. At least that's the hope. I'm very excited about that, obviously under the assumption I pass a credit and criminal background check.