Sunday, March 22, 2009
News From The Front
I finally played some actual tournaments, the PLO8 on Friday and the 500 Double Chance NL yesterday. I made it through half the field in both before losing the various flips and allins that you have to fade in tournaments, but think I played pretty well, especially in the NL. I even managed to get away from one hand that I'd never have passed online, but I'm 99% sure that my read was good and I played the hand correctly considering who my opponent was.
I have been surprised how much fun it's been so far, maybe I've just been lucky with the table draws :-). I've been making a few plays and trying to push the envelope a little bit, which has at least kept me interested and kept people guessing so that's all good. The plan from here is to play the 300 one rebuy on Tuesday and the Main Event (1500) on Thursday, and maybe mix in a little cash action in between.
I have been surprised how much fun it's been so far, maybe I've just been lucky with the table draws :-). I've been making a few plays and trying to push the envelope a little bit, which has at least kept me interested and kept people guessing so that's all good. The plan from here is to play the 300 one rebuy on Tuesday and the Main Event (1500) on Thursday, and maybe mix in a little cash action in between.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Live Tournament Spinup Let Us Gogogogogogo
I didn't manage a full break this week. I couldn't help it. How am I supposed to take a break when Paradise run a Stud tournament with a double overlay ? And then Full Tilt start some rocking WSOP Double Shootouts ? I'm only human.
Luckily I managed to resist playing tonight, I say luckily because I had a schedule all planned out but then Stars moved half their events back an hour, again. I'm sure this was completely unconnected to the Warm Up being 2000 players short of guarantee. Stars are lagging behind IMO, either that or Full Tilt are catching up. You might remember me complaining about Stars dropping the ball with WSOP Double Shootouts last year. What happened was the first one needed 63 runners to cover the $12,500 package. It got 62. Stars cancelled it. The next one was cancelled with 58 runners, the next 54, and within a week you could stick a fork in it, it was done.
This week, Full Tilt have started some shootouts. The first two or three were a few players short of the guarantee, but they ran anyway. Obviously within about two days they're filling up every night. Tilt have also relaxed their T&Cs, as far as I can see, so that you don't have to pimp them if you win a seat. So I'll be trying those, and yes, that means I'll probably be doing my bollocks in the desert sun again for anything from 2-6 weeks this summer. Beats sitting in an office watching the 3 hours of British summer through the window I suppose.
As of the now though, the kitchen is all go and I'll be playing live tournaments, providence help me, for a couple of weeks, mostly GUKPT but I might pop into this London Poker Circuit to have a look at that as well. I have five grand in £50s burning a hole in my pocket so let's rock.
Luckily I managed to resist playing tonight, I say luckily because I had a schedule all planned out but then Stars moved half their events back an hour, again. I'm sure this was completely unconnected to the Warm Up being 2000 players short of guarantee. Stars are lagging behind IMO, either that or Full Tilt are catching up. You might remember me complaining about Stars dropping the ball with WSOP Double Shootouts last year. What happened was the first one needed 63 runners to cover the $12,500 package. It got 62. Stars cancelled it. The next one was cancelled with 58 runners, the next 54, and within a week you could stick a fork in it, it was done.
This week, Full Tilt have started some shootouts. The first two or three were a few players short of the guarantee, but they ran anyway. Obviously within about two days they're filling up every night. Tilt have also relaxed their T&Cs, as far as I can see, so that you don't have to pimp them if you win a seat. So I'll be trying those, and yes, that means I'll probably be doing my bollocks in the desert sun again for anything from 2-6 weeks this summer. Beats sitting in an office watching the 3 hours of British summer through the window I suppose.
As of the now though, the kitchen is all go and I'll be playing live tournaments, providence help me, for a couple of weeks, mostly GUKPT but I might pop into this London Poker Circuit to have a look at that as well. I have five grand in £50s burning a hole in my pocket so let's rock.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Join me LOLing at Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth bitches like ... well, a bitch, quite frankly
An online chat session is good if it has one or two diamond lines - this one has at least six. Sample :
"PHILHELLMUTH: why U three bet with 6-5?
PHILHELLMUTH: OK
PHILHELLMUTH: U wanna play bad so be it
PHILHELLMUTH: Ill play even tighter
HOSS_TBF: sweet heavens xmas has come early"
Incidentally I played against Hoss_TBF in a limit tournament last summer, he was a cool guy, and he knocked me out IIRC. But now he's even cooler.
An online chat session is good if it has one or two diamond lines - this one has at least six. Sample :
"PHILHELLMUTH: why U three bet with 6-5?
PHILHELLMUTH: OK
PHILHELLMUTH: U wanna play bad so be it
PHILHELLMUTH: Ill play even tighter
HOSS_TBF: sweet heavens xmas has come early"
Incidentally I played against Hoss_TBF in a limit tournament last summer, he was a cool guy, and he knocked me out IIRC. But now he's even cooler.
Monday, March 02, 2009
February Wrap
Even though I said I wasn't going to set myself a target for monthly volume, 43 hours last month was pretty lame :-). Luckily I shipped $15K with a win on Full Tilt to end up with almost as much online profit as January. Adding $36K profit [1] from the TV donkament made for a good month all round.
This month I have a real excuse for low volume as the kitchen is scheduled for 2 weeks from the 16th so I'll be larging it in the West End and playing GUKPT Vic. A change is as good as a rest, hopefully. I started off on the right foot with my first Sunday deep run in a while, ending up 38th in the Party Million. Great tournament by the way, $600 buyin, $1M guarantee, first Sunday of every month. Some compensation for Ongame dropping their monthly Grand.
What We Learned This Month
Nothing specific, basically still working on the theme of knowing when to slow it down at final tables just a little bit. This depends to a large extent on the payout structure, but on some sites there are definitely spots where marginal situations can be avoided because you can, for example, double your money by seeing off two players. I stress only marginal spots though, and spots that I call marginal typically wouldn't even be considered by a lot of players :-). Hopefully I'm not missing out on any wins, but turning a few 7ths and 8ths into 3rds and 4ths can make a big difference.
[1] Incidentally this is a good example of how what you see isn't always what you get. That's what's left of the $50K after taking out swaps, (partial) buyin and sponsor clawback, and most players would lose a higher proportion than I do.
This month I have a real excuse for low volume as the kitchen is scheduled for 2 weeks from the 16th so I'll be larging it in the West End and playing GUKPT Vic. A change is as good as a rest, hopefully. I started off on the right foot with my first Sunday deep run in a while, ending up 38th in the Party Million. Great tournament by the way, $600 buyin, $1M guarantee, first Sunday of every month. Some compensation for Ongame dropping their monthly Grand.
What We Learned This Month
Nothing specific, basically still working on the theme of knowing when to slow it down at final tables just a little bit. This depends to a large extent on the payout structure, but on some sites there are definitely spots where marginal situations can be avoided because you can, for example, double your money by seeing off two players. I stress only marginal spots though, and spots that I call marginal typically wouldn't even be considered by a lot of players :-). Hopefully I'm not missing out on any wins, but turning a few 7ths and 8ths into 3rds and 4ths can make a big difference.
[1] Incidentally this is a good example of how what you see isn't always what you get. That's what's left of the $50K after taking out swaps, (partial) buyin and sponsor clawback, and most players would lose a higher proportion than I do.
