The Good and the Bad...

Built several stacks today, but didn't see it go anywhere at the end of the day.

Felt like the day went really well from a play point of view. It's kind of hard to be that upset with your play when you have stacks in the Sunday Warmup, Sunday Million, Sunday Storm, Bigger 11, 11 Action Hour, Bigger 55, $20 1r and $50r all on the same day, but it's certainly not fun when despite building legitimately nice stacks in all of those tournaments you still book a loss for the day.

Let's get down to it:

Sunday Warm-Up I won a monster pot with about 1500 players left or so(maybe a bit more), to get up to 65k(pot was easy, KK 27bb deep, raise pre from EP, get a small stack jam, and an overjam from someone that had me covered. They had 66 and 1010 and I held).

Table draw was a complete nightmare though. Despite being top 50 of 800, I was 5th in chips at my own table, and the players were just blasting away like lunatics. It's a pretty helpless feeling when you run card dead, and every time you try to keep yourself afloat with 3-betting or 4-betting light they always have it and jam on you(or are just psychotic and jamming in insane spots).

Anyway, I eventually widdled down to 20bb, when it folded around to me literally on the bubble(575 players left, 570 pay) in the SB with KQ. I jammed, BB woke up with a hand(88), then won the race as well and I busted I think 572nd.

Bigger $55, I had about 30bb once we broke into the money, and simply lost a coin flip 1010 vs AQ for the racks preflop. Nothing super special.

The Bigger $11: Had a stack, lost a fair sized flip AQ vs 77 for 20bb each, then d'ed it fairly deep in the tournament, I opened KQs from the cut-off, button 3-bet me, I had about 25bb left and decided I wasn't folding to that, so I jammed and the button had a hand(AK) and won.
(For the record I don't think I d'ed it I was being sarcastic, I'm fine with that shove obviously).

Sunday Storm: What a fun tournament, nearly 40,000 players started, we got down to about 800 left. For the last hour and a half or so I was playing like a lunatic because people were playing so damn tight at my table. It was alot of fun to play, my image was completely insane. I'd steal several pots, then get caught and give some back. It was working to keep myself afloat and keep slowly chipping up, but the tournament moves so fast and the structure is so quick it wasn't enough, at some point I had to win a race, which I didn't do, running 25bb with AQ into KK.

In the $20 1r1a, I built a fair sized stack again(around 50bb with 150ish left), ran AK into AA pf for about 20bb, then a few hands later got completely scammed viciously on this hand:

PokerStars Game #73528855499: Tournament #554010537, $20+$2 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (1500/3000) - 2012/01/08 19:03:07 ET
Table '554010537 127' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: monument777 (113651 in chips)
Seat 2: magval10 (226418 in chips)
Seat 3: ottoman09 (57874 in chips)
Seat 4: rounder3989 (44433 in chips)
Seat 5: Bayleysa (58663 in chips)
Seat 6: skllzdatklls (136707 in chips)
Seat 7: Jackballs2 (68619 in chips)
Seat 8: kevvybrown (86343 in chips)
Seat 9: Roma-Tilt (51920 in chips)
monument777: posts the ante 300
magval10: posts the ante 300
ottoman09: posts the ante 300
rounder3989: posts the ante 300
Bayleysa: posts the ante 300
skllzdatklls: posts the ante 300
Jackballs2: posts the ante 300
kevvybrown: posts the ante 300
Roma-Tilt: posts the ante 300
Roma-Tilt: posts small blind 1500
monument777: posts big blind 3000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kevvybrown [Tc Ac]
magval10: raises 3250 to 6250
ottoman09: folds
rounder3989: folds
Bayleysa: folds
skllzdatklls: folds
Jackballs2: folds
kevvybrown: calls 6250
Roma-Tilt: folds
monument777: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3c 4d]
magval10: bets 7550
kevvybrown: raises 9440 to 16990
magval10: calls 9440
*** TURN *** [Ts 3c 4d] [4c]
magval10: checks
kevvybrown: bets 24490
magval10: raises 178388 to 202878 and is all-in
kevvybrown: calls 38313 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (140075) returned to magval10
*** RIVER *** [Ts 3c 4d 4c] [Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
magval10: shows [3s 3d] (a full house, Threes full of Fours)
kevvybrown: shows [Tc Ac] (a flush, Ace high)
magval10 collected 179286 from pot
kevvybrown finished the tournament in 147th place and received $109.77.
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 179286 | Rake 0
Board [Ts 3c 4d 4c Jc]
Seat 1: monument777 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: magval10 showed [3s 3d] and won (179286) with a full house, Threes full of Fours
Seat 3: ottoman09 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: rounder3989 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Bayleysa folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: skllzdatklls folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Jackballs2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: kevvybrown (button) showed [Tc Ac] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 9: Roma-Tilt (small blind) folded before Flop

In the $50r: Wasn't in the money, but just felt deeply burned by this hand for a huge stack of chips so I mention it:

PokerStars Game #73523984227: Tournament #554010597, $50+$5 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2012/01/08 17:32:00 ET
Table '554010597 24' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Salsicha (9000 in chips)
Seat 2: TMoney0209 (20962 in chips)
Seat 3: Sobizzle21 (5835 in chips)
Seat 4: MVPAT (9924 in chips)
Seat 5: kevvybrown (8254 in chips)
Seat 6: very ea$y (5696 in chips)
Seat 7: lokaio (8553 in chips)
Seat 8: bundesmiro (4 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: DeRp0kErGuRu (6772 in chips)
Salsicha: posts the ante 20
TMoney0209: posts the ante 20
Sobizzle21: posts the ante 20
MVPAT: posts the ante 20
kevvybrown: posts the ante 20
very ea$y: posts the ante 20
lokaio: posts the ante 20
bundesmiro: posts the ante 4 and is all-in
DeRp0kErGuRu: posts the ante 20
MVPAT: posts small blind 100
kevvybrown: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kevvybrown [Ah Td]
very ea$y: folds
lokaio: folds
bundesmiro: folds
DeRp0kErGuRu: folds
Salsicha: folds
TMoney0209: folds
Sobizzle21: folds
MVPAT: raises 400 to 600
kevvybrown: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [9c 7h Ts]
MVPAT: bets 800
kevvybrown: calls 800
*** TURN *** [9c 7h Ts] [3h]
MVPAT: checks
kevvybrown: bets 1490
MVPAT: raises 7014 to 8504 and is all-in
kevvybrown: calls 5344 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1670) returned to MVPAT
*** RIVER *** [9c 7h Ts 3h] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MVPAT: shows [Kd Jh] (a straight, Nine to King)
kevvybrown: shows [Ah Td] (a pair of Tens)
MVPAT collected 16596 from side pot
MVPAT collected 36 from main pot
kevvybrown finished the tournament in 575th place
bundesmiro finished the tournament in 576th place
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 16632 Main pot 36. Side pot 16596. | Rake 0
Board [9c 7h Ts 3h Qd]
Seat 1: Salsicha folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: TMoney0209 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Sobizzle21 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: MVPAT (small blind) showed [Kd Jh] and won (16632) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 5: kevvybrown (big blind) showed [Ah Td] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 6: very ea$y folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: lokaio folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: bundesmiro folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: DeRp0kErGuRu folded before Flop (didn't bet)

In the $11 Action Hour: Played a fairly brilliant pot on my end IMO where I opened 35bb on the buttonwith AQs, got 3-bet from the BB, and min-clicked him back to induce a light jam, which I got from A9o. Unfortunately I didn't hold and busted 40-somethingth rather than being one of the chip leaders.

And lastly that brings me to the Sunday Million, and the one hand I'm still questioning from my session. Built a stack in this as well...and then this happened:

PokerStars Game #73529723186: Tournament #554020010, $200+$15 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (1250/2500) - 2012/01/08 19:21:34 ET
Table '554020010 333' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: F1SHDONKEY (54069 in chips)
Seat 2: helstokk (21346 in chips)
Seat 3: tango-niner (25840 in chips)
Seat 4: Beverly Mars (54160 in chips)
Seat 5: RasA86 (19458 in chips)
Seat 6: Chaaai (46969 in chips)
Seat 7: kevvybrown (73902 in chips)
Seat 8: bgigra4 (39339 in chips)
Seat 9: Pokerfunboy (89620 in chips)
F1SHDONKEY: posts the ante 250
helstokk: posts the ante 250
tango-niner: posts the ante 250
Beverly Mars: posts the ante 250
RasA86: posts the ante 250
Chaaai: posts the ante 250
kevvybrown: posts the ante 250
bgigra4: posts the ante 250
Pokerfunboy: posts the ante 250
F1SHDONKEY: posts small blind 1250
helstokk: posts big blind 2500
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kevvybrown [Jh Jc]
tango-niner: folds
Beverly Mars: folds
RasA86: folds
Chaaai: folds
kevvybrown: raises 2650 to 5150
bgigra4: calls 5150
Pokerfunboy: folds
F1SHDONKEY: calls 3900
helstokk: folds
*** FLOP *** [8d 9d 7d]
F1SHDONKEY: checks
kevvybrown: bets 8080
bgigra4: folds
F1SHDONKEY: raises 40589 to 48669 and is all-in
kevvybrown: calls 40589
*** TURN *** [8d 9d 7d] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9d 7d Ks] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
F1SHDONKEY: shows [8c 8h] (a full house, Eights full of Sevens)
kevvybrown: shows [Jh Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
F1SHDONKEY collected 117538 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 117538 | Rake 0
Board [8d 9d 7d Ks 7c]
Seat 1: F1SHDONKEY (small blind) showed [8c 8h] and won (117538) with a full house, Eights full of Sevens
Seat 2: helstokk (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: tango-niner folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Beverly Mars folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: RasA86 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Chaaai folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: kevvybrown showed [Jh Jc] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
Seat 8: bgigra4 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: Pokerfunboy (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I'll do this in stages, first explaining what I thought at the time, then explaining what I think after reflection.

1 - At the time, when I bet I was intending on calling off a jam, I didn't start the hand all that insanely deep(30ish blinds), and he didn't start the hand deep at all(2oish blinds). So when I bet on a board that co-ordinated, I do expect to get some response from the other players a fairly high % of the time, which means I have to be willing to call since I expect a huge % of that range to be hands that I have beat for now(combo draws, pair+draws etc). I hate the idea of bet folding more than everything else I could do with that hand, and so I call.

2 - Reflection time: check/call then fold is the play, and I think you could make a strong case for flat out check/fold before you could ever make a case for bet-calling.

The theory that ran through my head is I'm not that deep, and this is a spot where I can be ahead alot of the time...but the negative is I'm barely ahead, which I was fine with. I negated the fact that a good % of the time he has me drawing near dead, or completely dead(I do believe all baby flushes are jamming on this flop), which is a bad scenario.

The right play is probably check/call then fold, but I will say my problem with this is JJ is so insanely hard to play on this flop that really, unless a black 10 rolls off the deck I'm still at a loss for where to go when I progress, and because the hand is so hard to progress with, I think you can make a case for just check/folding straight away, and just chocking the hand up as if you raised AsKs and that was the flop and you check folded. Yes it's a huge hand pre-flop, but it's relative strength on that flop is completely decimated, and it might be best to just save all 30bb and fold away.

The other contributing factor for that case is, it's the Sunday Million, and chips are so easy to acquire because the level of play is so abysmal, that there's no reason to ever not think that with 30bb I can't acquire chips fairly easily rather than deal with that nightmare flop.

So there it is: I ran the hand past most local friends, and to a man they absolutely hated bet-call with a passion. I think it's just a mistake of getting kind of stubborn and not taking a minute to really think about the hand in question.

In any event; book a small loss for the Sunday, no big deal. Monday morning I woke up and hit the gym with personal trainer who might as well have been Mike Tyson for the ass-kicking I recieved. Felt very good, but incredibly sore and tired afterwards(was still breathing heavily 20 minutes after the gym lol). All in all it feels good to be going something properly and hopefully getting my life in order.

As for poker, back at it tomorrow for a Tuesday session.

That Time Of Year...

It seems like I do this fairly frequently, but never show the initiative to follow through.

This year is going to be different, because the reason I'm re-starting the blog is more focussed. I have 2 goals in my mind for this year...

1 - Lose weight and get back into shape.
2 - By the end of 2012 be successful enough online to quit my job and do this full time.

Neither of those goals are all that easy to acheive obviously, especially since the first one is so far away. I've gotten so hideously out of shape over the last 10 years of my life it's incredibly embarassing is the only real word for it. I was always a skinny kid, and then I just completely stopped doing anything that even loosely resembled physical activity of exercise, and started eating like a fucking pig, and now I find myself over 300 lbs, which is deffinitely an enormous wakeup call to change my habits and get back into shape. I've already gotten a gym membership, and hired a personal trainer...so hopefully 2012 goes well.

As for goal #2, it seems so far away based on results, but so close based on actual performance. I very nearly won the last $1k Super Tuesday of 2011, sitting 2nd in chips with 16 left when I got all in for every single chip in play in this pot:

PokerStars Hand #72884336463: Tournament #553010001, $1000+$50 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXV (1400/2800) - 2011/12/27 23:46:49 ET
Table '553010001 13' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: akia86 (108205 in chips)
Seat 2: kevvybrown (154968 in chips)
Seat 4: gilcoe (90194 in chips)
Seat 5: Gorrioncillo (72048 in chips)
Seat 6: jkfrankfurt (139942 in chips)
Seat 8: TIESO.ES (130097 in chips)
akia86: posts the ante 350
kevvybrown: posts the ante 350
gilcoe: posts the ante 350
Gorrioncillo: posts the ante 350
jkfrankfurt: posts the ante 350
TIESO.ES: posts the ante 350
kevvybrown: posts small blind 1400
gilcoe: posts big blind 2800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kevvybrown [Qs Qc]
Gorrioncillo: folds
jkfrankfurt: folds
TIESO.ES: folds
akia86: folds
kevvybrown: raises 3980 to 6780
gilcoe: raises 83064 to 89844 and is all-in
kevvybrown: calls 83064
*** FLOP *** [Ah Kh 2c]
*** TURN *** [Ah Kh 2c] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah Kh 2c 3s] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kevvybrown: shows [Qs Qc] (a pair of Queens)
gilcoe: shows [Ks Td] (a pair of Kings)
gilcoe collected 181788 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 181788 | Rake 0
Board [Ah Kh 2c 3s 5s]
Seat 1: akia86 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kevvybrown (small blind) showed [Qs Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 4: gilcoe (big blind) showed [Ks Td] and won (181788) with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: Gorrioncillo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: jkfrankfurt folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: TIESO.ES folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Which crippled me down to 20bb, then ran AQ into Sir_Winalot's AK for the rest, or else that could have been the breakout moment so to speak.

In time it'll come, I've come to grips with that, and that it may take a while because I can only play a few days a week around my work schedule...but I have total confidence it'll come.

I've been very fortunate to be surrounded by many amazing players who have taken me under their wing so to speak and helped teach me the ins and outs of modern MTT poker...and for that I'm very grateful.

And, since coming off a ridiculous year in 2011, here's also hoping that 2012 has more big things in store for Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger, who's the central figure in that afformentioned group of friends.

I saw he's listed on Pokerlistings list of "top 5 players to watch in 2012" which is cool as hell...

http://www.pokerlistings.com/top-5-poker-players-to-watch-in-2012-93335

For what it's worth, that's a pretty fucking good list too. Telks, Carson and Gray are all insane sickos online.

And who knows, maybe he'll get a jump start on it, he's down at the PCA right now, just completed Day 1 of the PCA Main Event, ended the day with 57,000 in chips, blinds will start Day 2 at 500/1000 so plenty of chips.

All in all, things are good, and hopefully by the end of this year they'll be significantly more than good.

From here on out this blog will be heavily poker oriented and some other stuff, but it'll also be much more frequent as a way of holding myself accountable for both the exercise aspect, and the poker aspect. That'll be starting right away because I intend on blogging about my session tomorrow...so let's hope it's something good.