Day 1 - Saturday 15th November
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
We're off to a good start...
Day 2 - Sunday 16th November
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
I'm not always as crap heads-up as I think I am. :)
Day 3 - Monday 17th November
I can see what you're saying about the way the money would have been all-in pre-flop if it was at a high professional level. I can imagine watching my hand on TV and the pros would most definitely have all their chips in before the flop. Jacks versus Queens. But is that always necessary the best way to play - aggressively pre-flop? I guess they know the approximate winning odds of every single hand they play.
If I was making £150 a day that's pretty good going to be honest! Over a week that's about 1K > £4K p/mo... £50K per year.
Tonight's results - not so good - lost just over one buy in, but I made a decent recovery. The first tournament I played I should have won, I was streets ahead but kept getting donkey calls and losing to the weaker hand. I played every hand to perfection in that tournament and when we were 3-handed I'd seen 4 flops in total and won 3 showdowns, knocking out 2 players. Sometimes that's the way it goes.
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
4. Pushed all-in OTB with 99 against QQ when the BB had only 700 chips left (blinds 150/300) - must learn to fold pretty much EVERYTHING at the bubble. SB (chip leader) had been folding everything orbit after orbit, I didn't expect him to call my push. Gave myself a proper telling off, but was I wrong to push? BB very much needed to make a move and I gave him an easy $27. :(
Day 4 - Tuesday 18th November
Quick post, as I need to go to bed! Depending on blinds, I'm all in or fold usually. True what you say about the bubble - it's an easy area to steal blinds as most people are running scared. Can also get you into all sorts of problems though, if the chip leader doesn't give a damn and is willing to call any shove with any two cards (as I experienced tonight).
Results:
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
Day 5 - Wednesday 19th November
Cheers guys, really good advice. The middle stacks are definitely the ones to target - I find if I'm the big stack then I can steal from the middler with a half decent hand as they probably won't call my all in. They'll be waiting patiently for their own opportunity. Although if you push with mediocre cards against the short stack and he calls, you're really exposed to the other two players (assuming we're at the bubble - 4-handed). If I'm short stacked I tend to push with any Ace, any K-8 or better, sometimes Q-9 or Q-T, any pocket pair or any two face cards. So far I've come out good from this strategy.
Also, if I'm the shortie, after a few steals I can find myself no longer sitting bottom, and I feel a bit of relief. I'm then very patient when I'm not longer the short stack, thus often I'm relieved when the 'new' short stack pushes and gets beaten. Although this means that when I go HU I'm fairly weak stacked.
What I also feel I can do is continue to push and push and push if I get a sequence of good hands... say A9, A7, JK, 77, K9 and eventually the short guy has no choice but to call. This has happened on a few occasions - and yeah sometimes you lose and the four of you are equal again but that's where I start to notice others getting more impatient than me. I play the waiting game and it usually works.
Anyway this is what's happened today... we've a bunch of 2nd's (which I'm really happy with, but frustrated I didn't win any), as most of the time I was heads up being the shorter stack. For some reason I don't like simply raising the SB when I'm BB and first to act. I'm all in or fold... I usually find that to push is the only way to make certain players fold, which is quite annoying. Also when I've got the lesser chip stack, I'm usually raised all in with any two cards by the other guy. Also heads up, I never flat call the BB, 9/10 times I'll get raised and have to fold - why pay for two big blinds in one orbit? Nope, it's shove or fold for me.
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
Day 6 - Thursday 20th November
Cheers C!
Mat, yeah, it's very situation dependent. Also I have to take into account the nature of the big stack's style of play. If he's willing to call any shove with any two cards then I have to be very careful what I shove with. In most cases, this doesn't make too much difference though. I'll still push all in with a lot of confidence in my hand... I just limit that range.
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
Day 7 - Saturday 22nd November
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
9. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
10. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
11. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
12. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
13. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
14. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
15. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
16. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
13. Number thirteen is unlucky for some and certainly seemed to be unlucky for me. Short stacked, heads up, push all in with A-6o. Got called with 5-5. Board: A-6-5-6-5.
Anyway, a profit of just over $50 on the day I think, a little over 3 x buy-ins. :) Certainly going to spend some time soon putting this data into Excel... it's crunch time!
Day 8 - Sunday 23rd November
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
9. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
Frustrating end to a frustrating day. Such the Bubble Buster.
Day 9 - Monday 24th November
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
Day 10 - Tuesday 25th November
Yeah, yesterday was quite frustrating because I kept bubbling with the better hand. When I lost with pocket 9's to 7-8 I went to bed. Anyway, a nice profit in what I think was $0.50 - better than nothing! Here's tonight's:
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
A good evening on the whole, despite it ending poorly. Really struggled to lay down pocket Jacks on a 6-7-8 board. The betting was crazy and I felt I put too much into the (4-handed) pot to fold the river, but I did and as it turned out saved myself a further 600 chips as the BB flopped an open-ended straight. I folded the river with about half my stack in the pot so hadn't lost everything and intended to make it back slowly. Three hands later ended up re-raising (shoving) pre-flop on the button with A-Js and got called by the initial raiser knocking me out with 8's. Wasn't to be. Anyway, I made a decent profit on the evening, and I'm really pleased to have won one. :)
Day 11 - Wednesday 26th November
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
Full of absolute donks tonight. Everywhere. Coupled with the fact that I shouldn't have even played, I'm absolutely shattered and never play well when so tired. Taken a bit of a hit but I'm still well up from when I started and I know I can make it back when I'm a bit more alert. Having said that, I did lose three times in the 7 tournaments with Kings - once to A-Q, once to 7-5 on the BB, once to 9-9 to a set. So you know, not a lot I could've really done. Why are there so many 4th's lately! ;fire
Day 12 - Thursday 27th November
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
C'est tout. :)
Day 13 - Friday 28th November
EP, thanks for your comments. Yes I agree with what you're saying; fortunately I haven't encountered anywhere near as many fish at this level of play (buy-in) so I'm really happy about that. Nowhere near as many idiots betting the flop like crazy as soon as they hit a middle pair or silly flush draws. I'm also noticing people are much more strategic in their play. The higher up the ladder you go, the more it becomes a game of complete logic... hence in live games the two hole cards are sometimes the least important factor. Anyway, babbling over, here are tonight's results. A bit topsy turvy but I managed a decent profit.
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
Day 14 - Saturday 29 November
Thanks a lot CF. :thumbs Couldn't agree with you more actually. It stands to reason that the higher up the levels you go, the earlier the action takes place. I have played a couple of these where the standard has been probably much better than the buy-in of $16 suggests, but not by a huge amount. When this happens the whole table can go 20 hands without seeing a flop (5 or 6 remaining) which I guess might not seem like that many but it's quite a large number considering the level of play.
As far as my bankroll goes, haven't really decided what my intentions are yet! For now I'm going to keep on plugging away. Not much point making any firm decisions until I've profited from about 500 tournaments. I've played 92 so far and I'm making a good enough profit so I'll see where I am at 250. If I think I can cut it a bit higher at some point next year then I'll give a bit of thought then to moving up the levels...
I made a spreadsheet tonight, got quite a nice graph going on in the positive direction, which is quite ironic since most of my past graphs have gone the other way! I think that might have something to do with the fact that I didn't realise until it was too late that I was playing at a donkey buy-in level. Anyway, here are today's results, pretty pleased :) although not too happy with the idiot calling my Jacks with 6-4o in tournament 10 for the bubble!
1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
9. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
10. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
11. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th