A few of my lovely friends/investors have jokingly enquired if they have invested in a golfing holiday due to the marked lack of daily poker updates. I'm pretty sure they're joking anyway...
The trip thus far has been pretty spaced out, in more ways than one. I feel a bit like I'm in the familiar position of playing quite well, but not getting the breaks, and being on the wrong end of the shaft all too often. With unlimited funds to fire, this is not a huge problem. You simply screw down and play through it, however, when you're on a budget it doesn't quite work that way. To this end I've adopted the strategy at the moment where I'm not going to fire shell after shell if I feel I'm not running great. I'm still playing my schedule, and of course one decent result puts a totally different complexion on an otherwise unremarkable outing. I'm still doing my thing as per usual, but it's just tempered with a measure of "it's not happening right now" so let's just be sensible with the budget. If I give it another few events and still have no joy then I'd re-evaluate if I would just man the lifeboats, and regroup and attack the WSOP instead in the Summer. Not fussed right now, but it's in the back of my mind as an option.
We don't need to hear that right now of course. We need to hear good things, so let's just crack on with today and try to do something decent.
My starting table fills up quickly, and in the first level I dip in and out a few times and go up and down on the 1K starting stack by a few thousand with little to note.
One guy joins the table, and gets and immediate double up with J 10 versus AA when a player with AA can't get away from his hand to a shove on a board with two tens on it. To me it was a straightforward fold, but I'm beginning to wonder what i know about poker based on the last few weeks. The guy with trips doubles up, orders an omelette and a screwdriver, and life for him is just great.
Level 2, and am on 16,500. 107/119 remain at present.
This table is a weird mix. A couple of players are solid ABC old rocks. One guy with hat, hood sunglasses, headphones...the works, who wants to stab at every pot. He will either get lucky, or more than likely, be out soon. There are a couple of guys who if they have a big pair or trip who will happily stack off every chip in their stack regardless of the board. It's actually what I'd call a "good" table. Of course, you still have to get paid, or get there, or have your hand hold up. That has been the difficult bit on this trip to date.
The sunglasses kid just lost a huge pot when on a paired board, the jammed with a flush, was called by trip kings, and the other guy rivered Quads. He didn't take it well, and must have exclaimed "fuck" around nine times. At one point he berated the guy, and told him he had one out. Err, no. I think he might not have been playing too long, as he still seems in shock, and said "that's the first time I've been rivered by quads". I've lost count of the number of times I've lost to quads over the years. Maybe that's because I'm an old fossil.
Level three. 16K and waiting for the ATM to pay out.
First break and I'm on 15K. Sunglasses kid is gone after running his micro stack up a bit, then running 77 into the QQ of the same guy who made quads against him. The irony of poker...
I normally manage to put the kibosh on proceedings at this point by saying something like this is a really good table, I like the line up, and I hope I don't get moved". We're all creatures of habit to some extent, so why would I be any different? Two bad beats, in the sense that both the guy who cracked aces with trip 10's, and also the guy who rivered Quads, have BOTH been moved to another table, so that's around 80K in chips that's just gone south. Not ideal when you're trying to build a stack. Never mind.
25/100/200, and 134/166 remain. I'm playing the odd small pot but have yet to be given a gift like a few of the others. hopefully patience and timing will give me something decent to report as we approach level 5.
Just saw a flop for 2K three way with JJ, it came with an Ace and a Queen and that was that. Down to 11K.
The guy on my right seems restless. He just shipped 14K in preflop saying "I've had enough, I want to go". He had 77 ad QQ took 10K or so of it. Why do I never get these gifts???
Level 6 and still not seeing anything. Down to 10K. Feels like I'm the only player at the table in a flat spot who just can't get on. I should get hyper and just spanner it off like everyone else seems to do, but despite that being the M.O for most, I still can't be reckless enough to be that stupid. it's only money right? Wrong.
The tilting guy on my right has been up to 25K, down to 4K, and now is back to 25K again. His A8 just got lucky with 2 pair to crack A 10, and he shows no sign of playing any more sensibly. It would be nice to be a beneficiary of someone like this, rather than a victim of their antics.
I guess being right and being sensible is still a curse in these things.
I just limped with 9d 9s with 2 short stacks looking ready to shove, plus the nutcase on my right and one old rock. It ends up the way I expected, with the short stacks shoving for around 4K each, me reshoving, and the rest of the field going away. I table my 99 and tell one of the short stacks he likely has 88. He shakes his head and turns over 8s 8h. The shorter guy has Ad 6d.
Board runs out 3h 5h Kh 7s......2h. The 88 makes a flush, and takes the pot, busting the other player and picking up all the extra dead money also. Great! Down to 6K. The guy with 88 complains that he didn't even get a full triple-up. I say nothing.
I hate writing these updates at the moment almost as much as you guys probably hate reading them. I should retitle the blog "miss every flop, and get anted away to death". It's super demoralising, especially when you feel you're on top of your game. Just saw a flop after raising with 10 10, it comes KKQ, I fold and get shown AK. I call with 44, it comes 678, which is about the worst flop possible for me. Even if i make a straight, it's likely no good. Getting ready to ship now as seeing flops and playing small ball just isn't working today, or on this trip so far.
And.....last hand of level 6, I bust. Right before second break. A few limpers and I shove my sub 5K stack on the button with A7 suited. I get reshoved, and he turns over KQ off when everyone folds.
Flop 9 J 3. Great, now I lose to a ten also if it falls. Any love? A Queen on the turn says no, and no Ace on the river confirms it. My only consolation is I didn't play yesterday as well.
I can re-enter, but I'm not going to. I seem to be up against it, and I'm not going to keep bleeding money when running bad, so that's that. I'll just call it a day and wait for the $600 $250K GTD in a few days. For all my cast iron constitution and all, it sucks to just be getting screwed repeatedly. I'll just tough it out and not let it affect my game.
The trip thus far has been pretty spaced out, in more ways than one. I feel a bit like I'm in the familiar position of playing quite well, but not getting the breaks, and being on the wrong end of the shaft all too often. With unlimited funds to fire, this is not a huge problem. You simply screw down and play through it, however, when you're on a budget it doesn't quite work that way. To this end I've adopted the strategy at the moment where I'm not going to fire shell after shell if I feel I'm not running great. I'm still playing my schedule, and of course one decent result puts a totally different complexion on an otherwise unremarkable outing. I'm still doing my thing as per usual, but it's just tempered with a measure of "it's not happening right now" so let's just be sensible with the budget. If I give it another few events and still have no joy then I'd re-evaluate if I would just man the lifeboats, and regroup and attack the WSOP instead in the Summer. Not fussed right now, but it's in the back of my mind as an option.
We don't need to hear that right now of course. We need to hear good things, so let's just crack on with today and try to do something decent.
My starting table fills up quickly, and in the first level I dip in and out a few times and go up and down on the 1K starting stack by a few thousand with little to note.
One guy joins the table, and gets and immediate double up with J 10 versus AA when a player with AA can't get away from his hand to a shove on a board with two tens on it. To me it was a straightforward fold, but I'm beginning to wonder what i know about poker based on the last few weeks. The guy with trips doubles up, orders an omelette and a screwdriver, and life for him is just great.
Level 2, and am on 16,500. 107/119 remain at present.
This table is a weird mix. A couple of players are solid ABC old rocks. One guy with hat, hood sunglasses, headphones...the works, who wants to stab at every pot. He will either get lucky, or more than likely, be out soon. There are a couple of guys who if they have a big pair or trip who will happily stack off every chip in their stack regardless of the board. It's actually what I'd call a "good" table. Of course, you still have to get paid, or get there, or have your hand hold up. That has been the difficult bit on this trip to date.
The sunglasses kid just lost a huge pot when on a paired board, the jammed with a flush, was called by trip kings, and the other guy rivered Quads. He didn't take it well, and must have exclaimed "fuck" around nine times. At one point he berated the guy, and told him he had one out. Err, no. I think he might not have been playing too long, as he still seems in shock, and said "that's the first time I've been rivered by quads". I've lost count of the number of times I've lost to quads over the years. Maybe that's because I'm an old fossil.
Level three. 16K and waiting for the ATM to pay out.
First break and I'm on 15K. Sunglasses kid is gone after running his micro stack up a bit, then running 77 into the QQ of the same guy who made quads against him. The irony of poker...
I normally manage to put the kibosh on proceedings at this point by saying something like this is a really good table, I like the line up, and I hope I don't get moved". We're all creatures of habit to some extent, so why would I be any different? Two bad beats, in the sense that both the guy who cracked aces with trip 10's, and also the guy who rivered Quads, have BOTH been moved to another table, so that's around 80K in chips that's just gone south. Not ideal when you're trying to build a stack. Never mind.
25/100/200, and 134/166 remain. I'm playing the odd small pot but have yet to be given a gift like a few of the others. hopefully patience and timing will give me something decent to report as we approach level 5.
Just saw a flop for 2K three way with JJ, it came with an Ace and a Queen and that was that. Down to 11K.
The guy on my right seems restless. He just shipped 14K in preflop saying "I've had enough, I want to go". He had 77 ad QQ took 10K or so of it. Why do I never get these gifts???
Level 6 and still not seeing anything. Down to 10K. Feels like I'm the only player at the table in a flat spot who just can't get on. I should get hyper and just spanner it off like everyone else seems to do, but despite that being the M.O for most, I still can't be reckless enough to be that stupid. it's only money right? Wrong.
The tilting guy on my right has been up to 25K, down to 4K, and now is back to 25K again. His A8 just got lucky with 2 pair to crack A 10, and he shows no sign of playing any more sensibly. It would be nice to be a beneficiary of someone like this, rather than a victim of their antics.
I guess being right and being sensible is still a curse in these things.
I just limped with 9d 9s with 2 short stacks looking ready to shove, plus the nutcase on my right and one old rock. It ends up the way I expected, with the short stacks shoving for around 4K each, me reshoving, and the rest of the field going away. I table my 99 and tell one of the short stacks he likely has 88. He shakes his head and turns over 8s 8h. The shorter guy has Ad 6d.
Board runs out 3h 5h Kh 7s......2h. The 88 makes a flush, and takes the pot, busting the other player and picking up all the extra dead money also. Great! Down to 6K. The guy with 88 complains that he didn't even get a full triple-up. I say nothing.
I hate writing these updates at the moment almost as much as you guys probably hate reading them. I should retitle the blog "miss every flop, and get anted away to death". It's super demoralising, especially when you feel you're on top of your game. Just saw a flop after raising with 10 10, it comes KKQ, I fold and get shown AK. I call with 44, it comes 678, which is about the worst flop possible for me. Even if i make a straight, it's likely no good. Getting ready to ship now as seeing flops and playing small ball just isn't working today, or on this trip so far.
And.....last hand of level 6, I bust. Right before second break. A few limpers and I shove my sub 5K stack on the button with A7 suited. I get reshoved, and he turns over KQ off when everyone folds.
Flop 9 J 3. Great, now I lose to a ten also if it falls. Any love? A Queen on the turn says no, and no Ace on the river confirms it. My only consolation is I didn't play yesterday as well.
I can re-enter, but I'm not going to. I seem to be up against it, and I'm not going to keep bleeding money when running bad, so that's that. I'll just call it a day and wait for the $600 $250K GTD in a few days. For all my cast iron constitution and all, it sucks to just be getting screwed repeatedly. I'll just tough it out and not let it affect my game.
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