Ah! Another weekend of tournament poker in the books and shock horror, I somehow booked a winner winning both the $22 6max (for $2k) and the $27.50 360 cap (for 1.7k). Obviously not the big scores I'm looking for, but it certainly feels good to win two tourneys. I also made another deep run in the million last night, eventually finishing 250th or something. I'm afraid there's no interested hand history for this one, simply lost AK to QQ for all of the cheese. Despite 2 deep runs in majors in consecutive weeks, I'm brimming with confidence and feel that the big score is just around the corner.
For those of you who are not poker players, or just not tournament players, Stars is doing a really sick promotion for the December Tournament Leader Board (http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/passport/december/?utm_id=6), which in a nutshell means that if you finish in the top200 at the end of the month, you win a ticket to freeroll with 3 Stars Passports and cash prizes are up for grabs. I currently am sitting in 236th place with 3633 points. I figure if I max out on 12/180s for the rest of the month I should be close to a lock for top 200, but just to make sure, i'm going to play a ton of big field tournaments over the next few weeks just in case. Don't be surprised to see me playing a load of $1 freezeouts!
I suppose that's about it, I'd like to give a very loving shout out to Marty who is celebrating his 21st in Tally today, I wish I could be there to get wrecked with you sir. As for my birthday, obviously anyone who is around Cambridge next Monday is more than welcome to join, just hit me up on facebook/aim/skype for details.
Love you all
xx
Monday 14 December 2009
Saturday 12 December 2009
The morning after the night before
Yesterday was a messy one, just like the last time I went out with Ed and ended up with a huge cut on my gum from trying to drink out of a smashed Corona bottle (that really impressed the girls we were talking to) before getting kicked out of a cab for chundering. Last night was the 'GOSCARS' and as per usual it was just an excuse for everyone; especially me, Ed, Sam, Nico and India to get absolutely hammered. For those of you who aren't aware, the Goscars evening is the annual award ceremony for performances at the Gutshot, followed by a fun £50 KO tourney. All seemingly nice and fun, well that was until Ed and I came up with the idea of 'the tournament poker drinking game'. The rules are simple, all the players in the game have their chip counts taken at the end of each level and the player with the fewest chips has to buy the round of everyone else (the tournament had 15 minute levels by the way). There was an extra added bonus that if you busted out, upon leaving the game you buy a round of shots too. Despite never having to buy a round and lasting longest in the tourney, India was the first to go for a TC (tactical chunder), and I certainly wasn't far behind.
Apparently the tournament poker drinking game wasn't quite enough and Ed and I (who were tablemates) started on the double vodka/cokes and also managed to sink a few sporadic shots of Samuel Buca with Dhaam, JJ and Barry.
After I busted the tourney at about 11:45; which coincidentally was the last point I remember knowing the time, I went to the bar with Ed and Lou-Lou and as far as I can tell, in mid conversation with Ed, simply stopped talking and walked outside for my first TC. The wall to the side of the club was my first victim, swiftly followed by me trying to walk to old street underground only to stop 20 meters down the road to settle for about 10 minutes (this is where Phil saw me 'laying in my own pool of vomit').
As I slowly stumbled on, my next resting place was waiting for a tube to Euston, where I expertly found a good hiding spot to throw up in (especially sorry for whoever have to clean that one up) and I think some poor girl even came up to me and asked if I needed any help; to which I very politely declined. I managed to hold everything in when I was actually on the tube (which I think took almost all of my tactical knowhow), and the next place I remember being after that was Euston station toilets which funnily was the first time of the night I actually managed to throw up in a toilet or sink all night. After that I stumbled on the last train home and parked myself in the train toilet for the 20 minute journey to Watford; no prizes for guessing what I got up to. All in all, having left the club at 11:45, it took me well over 90 minutes to make the 7 minute journey from the club to Euston, and there are several things that are currently unexplained-like why I have a fairly deep cut on my thumb and bruises all over my body-that I'm sure will come to me in time. When I got to Watford, I stumbled home, threw up once more in my toilet before falling happily asleep in front of Eddie Izzard.
All in all, thanks very much to Barry for putting on such a fun evening, I look forward to making an even bigger dick out of myself next year.
Other than last night it had been a fairly quiet week. I had an awesome time out with Lizzie and Sarah on Monday, having dinner and predrinking and Sarah's before going to some club in Soho. I also managed to put in a winning live session on Wednesday to the tune of about £750. Im looking forward to putting in some MTT volume this weekend, hopefully that 6 figure score is around the corner.
Love and hugs to you all
xx
Apparently the tournament poker drinking game wasn't quite enough and Ed and I (who were tablemates) started on the double vodka/cokes and also managed to sink a few sporadic shots of Samuel Buca with Dhaam, JJ and Barry.
After I busted the tourney at about 11:45; which coincidentally was the last point I remember knowing the time, I went to the bar with Ed and Lou-Lou and as far as I can tell, in mid conversation with Ed, simply stopped talking and walked outside for my first TC. The wall to the side of the club was my first victim, swiftly followed by me trying to walk to old street underground only to stop 20 meters down the road to settle for about 10 minutes (this is where Phil saw me 'laying in my own pool of vomit').
As I slowly stumbled on, my next resting place was waiting for a tube to Euston, where I expertly found a good hiding spot to throw up in (especially sorry for whoever have to clean that one up) and I think some poor girl even came up to me and asked if I needed any help; to which I very politely declined. I managed to hold everything in when I was actually on the tube (which I think took almost all of my tactical knowhow), and the next place I remember being after that was Euston station toilets which funnily was the first time of the night I actually managed to throw up in a toilet or sink all night. After that I stumbled on the last train home and parked myself in the train toilet for the 20 minute journey to Watford; no prizes for guessing what I got up to. All in all, having left the club at 11:45, it took me well over 90 minutes to make the 7 minute journey from the club to Euston, and there are several things that are currently unexplained-like why I have a fairly deep cut on my thumb and bruises all over my body-that I'm sure will come to me in time. When I got to Watford, I stumbled home, threw up once more in my toilet before falling happily asleep in front of Eddie Izzard.
All in all, thanks very much to Barry for putting on such a fun evening, I look forward to making an even bigger dick out of myself next year.
Other than last night it had been a fairly quiet week. I had an awesome time out with Lizzie and Sarah on Monday, having dinner and predrinking and Sarah's before going to some club in Soho. I also managed to put in a winning live session on Wednesday to the tune of about £750. Im looking forward to putting in some MTT volume this weekend, hopefully that 6 figure score is around the corner.
Love and hugs to you all
xx
Monday 7 December 2009
Soul crushing weekend, but certainly taking positives
I'm blogging at 3:50 GMT, which means I've abandoned hope of Favre and his Vikings making a comeback and giving me 5 correct Sunday Night Football picks in a row, I suppose the run had to end at some point. I've also drunk quite a lot of beer in the last 90 minutes so forgive me if my blog isn't up to it's usual grammatical standards.
Basically this weekend reminded me why I quit playing tournament poker for a living and moved towards cash games, on each day I had a sick deep run in two huge field tournaments; on Saturday the $11/30 Guaranteed (with 6000 players) and on Sunday the $215 Sunday Warmup (with 4700 players) coming 18th and 25th respectively. Although retrospectively I can't really fault the way I played it's is extremely hard to go so deep in these tournaments and live with winning a few buyins.
Saturday's deep run was a bit of a joke (as you'd expect with such a low buyin), as the chipleader was a complete maniac (and not the good kind), the first spot I realised this was when he 3b/called my 30bb shove with 35 left HJ vs btn with K9s (and luckily my 77 held) but my AQo was not so lucky vs his K6s when I r/shipped UTG vs UTG+1 with 18 left 50bb deep. Having such a novice in the tournament really creates a strange dynamic, and I thought AQo was basically good to go with considering he'd 3b 7/8 of my opens since he'd been on my left and there was a decent chance I was at least a 70% favourite (with a small chance he may fold).
The Warm Up was effectively decided by one; what I think is a very marginal spot with JJ in MP2;
Poker Stars $200+$15 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t20000/t40000 Blinds + t4000 - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
BB: t1553562 M = 16.89
UTG: t1105280 M = 12.01
UTG+1: t769303 M = 8.36
MP1: t1717114 M = 18.66
Hero (MP2): t1761736 M = 19.15
CO: t701846 M = 7.63
BTN: t1523630 M = 16.56
SB: t1285372 M = 13.97
Pre Flop: (t92000) Hero is MP2 with J J
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t99779, MP1 raises to t560000, Hero???
I had no specific reads, but the table had been fairly active and there had been a decent amount of 3betting going on (even if most of it was from me and one other player). It's a fairly complicated hand just to 'run' on stove because of the possible side pots and overlays created, but it seems that if MP1 is raising a hand he's willing to go with for 19bb but folding all but AK, QQ+ then we're making a decent profit, but if he's not 3betting much more than AK and QQ+ then it's kind of spewy. Retrospectively it seems to be somewhere exactly in the middle of those two, probably folding out AQ (which is awesome) and TT/99 (which is to be expected). It still seems really close and i'll run the numbers properly tomrorow.
Despite the feeling of shock directly after busting both tourneys, I'm feeling pretty awesome now. I've made money in the last month or so away from tourneys so it seems that every time I get deep in a tournament it's some kind of a bonus. I'm really happy I decided to focus on cash games, and as well as improving my game it's generally just made me a happier person.
I'm thinking I'm going to put a ton of cash game volume in over the next few weeks, up until my birthday weekend, where I'll go out with my family on the Saturday, maybe play MTTs on the sunday and hopefully do something in Cambridge on the monday. I love you all lots for following my blog and the constant support you all give me.
Loves and hugs xx
Basically this weekend reminded me why I quit playing tournament poker for a living and moved towards cash games, on each day I had a sick deep run in two huge field tournaments; on Saturday the $11/30 Guaranteed (with 6000 players) and on Sunday the $215 Sunday Warmup (with 4700 players) coming 18th and 25th respectively. Although retrospectively I can't really fault the way I played it's is extremely hard to go so deep in these tournaments and live with winning a few buyins.
Saturday's deep run was a bit of a joke (as you'd expect with such a low buyin), as the chipleader was a complete maniac (and not the good kind), the first spot I realised this was when he 3b/called my 30bb shove with 35 left HJ vs btn with K9s (and luckily my 77 held) but my AQo was not so lucky vs his K6s when I r/shipped UTG vs UTG+1 with 18 left 50bb deep. Having such a novice in the tournament really creates a strange dynamic, and I thought AQo was basically good to go with considering he'd 3b 7/8 of my opens since he'd been on my left and there was a decent chance I was at least a 70% favourite (with a small chance he may fold).
The Warm Up was effectively decided by one; what I think is a very marginal spot with JJ in MP2;
Poker Stars $200+$15 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t20000/t40000 Blinds + t4000 - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
BB: t1553562 M = 16.89
UTG: t1105280 M = 12.01
UTG+1: t769303 M = 8.36
MP1: t1717114 M = 18.66
Hero (MP2): t1761736 M = 19.15
CO: t701846 M = 7.63
BTN: t1523630 M = 16.56
SB: t1285372 M = 13.97
Pre Flop: (t92000) Hero is MP2 with J J
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t99779, MP1 raises to t560000, Hero???
I had no specific reads, but the table had been fairly active and there had been a decent amount of 3betting going on (even if most of it was from me and one other player). It's a fairly complicated hand just to 'run' on stove because of the possible side pots and overlays created, but it seems that if MP1 is raising a hand he's willing to go with for 19bb but folding all but AK, QQ+ then we're making a decent profit, but if he's not 3betting much more than AK and QQ+ then it's kind of spewy. Retrospectively it seems to be somewhere exactly in the middle of those two, probably folding out AQ (which is awesome) and TT/99 (which is to be expected). It still seems really close and i'll run the numbers properly tomrorow.
Despite the feeling of shock directly after busting both tourneys, I'm feeling pretty awesome now. I've made money in the last month or so away from tourneys so it seems that every time I get deep in a tournament it's some kind of a bonus. I'm really happy I decided to focus on cash games, and as well as improving my game it's generally just made me a happier person.
I'm thinking I'm going to put a ton of cash game volume in over the next few weeks, up until my birthday weekend, where I'll go out with my family on the Saturday, maybe play MTTs on the sunday and hopefully do something in Cambridge on the monday. I love you all lots for following my blog and the constant support you all give me.
Loves and hugs xx
Saturday 5 December 2009
Live heaters, Parties...oh yeah and one of the greatest bands of the decade
Well it's been an interesting week to say the very least. Just over a week ago I essentially had a bit of a whine about not running well in November and apparently that's all I needed to give me a kick up the backside, actually play some hands and start making money. As well as being up 25 buyins in 7k hands online, I managed to come 5th in the £300 freezeout at the international on Saturday, and have two very profitable live 1/2 Omaha sessions where I really felt I was playing close to my A-game (as well as obviously running hotter than Usain Bolt).
Aside from poker I went to Nel's 21st Birthday shindig on Wednesday which apart from being the best girl-to-guy ratio I've ever seen (about 40 girls; most of whom were very attractive, to 4 guys; with me being the only one for about 2 hours) it was also generally a really fun night in which I made some new friends and happily drunk until I had to stumble on the last train home.
On my way home I just happened to get a text from Charlie T to the tune of, 'Joejoe, I happen to have 2 guest passes to go and see a Doves set in Leicester square tomorrow', to which I responded with an appropriate 'hell yeahz'. The venue itself; a small Church in Soho was quite strange but the band certainly didn't disappoint. The set was rather short but very enjoyable and I can tick one extra band of my 'top ten bands to see before they break up' (Blur and U2 still topping that last at the moment).
One funny situation I got myself in this week was being told to quit my job by a complete stranger. Well actually that one happens on something close to a daily basis but the strange part about this one is that I didn't even mention the fact that I play poker for a living. The Chinese Herbal medicine woman who I sought advice on how to cure my insomnia from was so distraught that I thought it was an early night to be getting to bed at 5am that she advised that I quit my job immediately. I thought her head may have exploded if I had told her I gamble for thousands of pounds each day.
Despite having a what is essentially a +£5k week playing live, I'm still pretty over live poker. I'd probably make the trip into London for an especially juicy live 1/2 Omaha game (perhaps when Wayra returns to London), but the prospect of sitting at a poker table all night playing 20 hands an hour really doesn't appeal to me (especially as i'm not getting as many FPPs as I do on stars).
Hears to hoping all you beautiful people had as much fun this week as I did
Later taters
xxx
Aside from poker I went to Nel's 21st Birthday shindig on Wednesday which apart from being the best girl-to-guy ratio I've ever seen (about 40 girls; most of whom were very attractive, to 4 guys; with me being the only one for about 2 hours) it was also generally a really fun night in which I made some new friends and happily drunk until I had to stumble on the last train home.
On my way home I just happened to get a text from Charlie T to the tune of, 'Joejoe, I happen to have 2 guest passes to go and see a Doves set in Leicester square tomorrow', to which I responded with an appropriate 'hell yeahz'. The venue itself; a small Church in Soho was quite strange but the band certainly didn't disappoint. The set was rather short but very enjoyable and I can tick one extra band of my 'top ten bands to see before they break up' (Blur and U2 still topping that last at the moment).
One funny situation I got myself in this week was being told to quit my job by a complete stranger. Well actually that one happens on something close to a daily basis but the strange part about this one is that I didn't even mention the fact that I play poker for a living. The Chinese Herbal medicine woman who I sought advice on how to cure my insomnia from was so distraught that I thought it was an early night to be getting to bed at 5am that she advised that I quit my job immediately. I thought her head may have exploded if I had told her I gamble for thousands of pounds each day.
Despite having a what is essentially a +£5k week playing live, I'm still pretty over live poker. I'd probably make the trip into London for an especially juicy live 1/2 Omaha game (perhaps when Wayra returns to London), but the prospect of sitting at a poker table all night playing 20 hands an hour really doesn't appeal to me (especially as i'm not getting as many FPPs as I do on stars).
Hears to hoping all you beautiful people had as much fun this week as I did
Later taters
xxx
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