Johnny's STT Tracker

[John]

I want some of whatever you've been taking!

[Iron Chris]

Have kept looking in John, some very nice results indeed...

After looking at this and Matts' thread and all the input from Counterfeit & Mat I have started to play some poker again. Can't decide between the STT's or D2N's at the moment.

[John]

Thanks for the kind comments Chris and also for the green stuff.

And the same goes for you (you know who you are!) :)

Tonight was "one of those nights"... down about $65. Feel alright about it though to be honest. Busted out over and over usually with the better hand... luck just wasn't in my favour especially towards the end (although I did win one well). I even bubbled out of T3 shortly after doubling up with Quad Aces (vs Flush). Other aspects of the night were donktastic - fortunately not on my part. I can't remember playing anything particularly badly, my game was pretty solid throughout, I just seemed to be losing a lot.

Tell you what though, to this day I still don't know the you're supposed to play Jacks if someone goes all in before you (Level 3 so early on blinds-wise). I raised over the top all in. Q-A vs J-J and I'm out. Looking back it would have been a monster fold pre-flop and I had per-lenty of time yet. Wrong move to fold pre-flop though surely? I hate Jacks! When I see other people go all in with Jacks against say Q-A I think to myself "can't you just fold it away?" It ain't always that easy though is it?

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
9. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
10. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th

[John]

I am away from:

Saturday 13th - Sunday 21st December (inclusive)
Tuesday 23rd - Saturday 3rd January (inclusive)

Therefore unfortunately I won't be playing any poker during these dates :( (unless I decide to play when I get back late on 21st / 3rd).

This means that this thread will be on hold. Hopefully this won't affect my game too much and I'll come back bouncing along again in the new year.

[counterfeit]

John

I hate JJ and I hate 10 10. They both play so badly against so many hands. People think JJ is a monster but it's not. It is beaten by 3 hands, is a coin flip against 3 hands and is only 65/35 against any hand holding an A, K or Q.

As for yesterday's results, your philosophical approach is good. At the end of the day, if you have lost but can honestly say you played well but got outdrawn then there is nothing you can do. You know that 7 or 8 times out of 10 you would have been ahead.

[John]

Thanks mate. Good to have your backing as always. Before I talk about tonight, I agree that J-J is no longer the premium hand I have thought it was for such a long time. It can be very dominant in rag flops, but also easily dominated. For some reason I prefer T-T to J-J - probably due to me having a lot more success with it in comparison.

Okay - on to tonight. Well first thing's first - I lost with J-J 3/3 times. Secondly, on occasions, I felt I was being too aggressive. I don't have the hands to example but can tell you what happened. Pre-flop I have Q-Ao in early-mid position and raise to 400 (blinds 50/100). One caller - the big blind. Flop is rag with two suited cards not suited in my favour. He makes a bet of 450. I raise him all in for about 1,900 and he folds. My stack was about 2,300 and his was about 1,800 so we were fairly equal. So I managed to force him off the pot but I don't have a clue what he had and for some reason I felt that he had the better hand after I won the pot. I also felt like it was a pretty dangerous move to make.

Second situation, I'm short stacked at the bubble and just win a pot to give me about 6 big blinds and some breathing space. UTG I raise the following hand all in - 9-Ts connectors. I get called by the mid-stack with Q-2o and I'm out. Not sure he was right at all to make that call but he hit trip queens for it.

Thirdly, in the first two tournaments I played probably some of the best poker I've ever played. This was helped by being dealt a whole host of good cards in succession (in T2) - I had QQ, KK, QK, KQ, KA and QQ in a row. I also managed to knock out 4 players giving me a monster stack. HU I got extremely unlucky three times. 11,000 chips to me, 2,000 chips to my opponent, and you can guess who won with 3 straights and a full house. Still, I was buzzing from it, although really annoyed I didn't win.

Anyway, pressing on with tonight's results - made about $22:

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st

[John]

Additional points to note about how I'm playing now compared to a month ago (i.e. before I started this thread and went to the $16 level).

I am continuation betting an awful lot more, and can often tell when people call to see the turn card whether they're on draws or not. If my stack is bigger than theirs I'll nearly always bet more or move all in on the turn (in the right circumstances). I don't want to get to the river and have to show my hand afterwards... I'd do anything to not reveal information about myself. Plus I'm careful to bet an amount where my opponent isn't getting value on the pot odds to see the next card. Starting to wonder though if I'm being overly aggressive with this approach though. It's working a lot so far, but I'm gonna get caught if I do it too often. But I feel I have to go to such great lengths sometimes to make people fold.

I'm bluffing a lot more - just thought of another hand tonight where I raised from the button with Kh-7h and got a caller. Flop was all spades, so I made a big bet and got called. Turn card was a diamond so no use if he was on a draw (I assumed he was given his call on the flop). He checked and I made a heavy bet. He folds.

I've been giving my opponents a very scary image this evening (much of the above occurred during T1 and T2 by the way) and it's been working well. The counterbalance is that towards the bubble I'm trying to protect my stack and my blinds get stolen away. Sometimes this leaves me with a very average stack by the time we're down to 5 and 4, and I bubble after all the hard work I've done along the way. Not always but sometimes. I need to learn to protect my stack better during the approach to the bubble.

I could write for hours but I better get to bed. There's a lot of thoughts going on in my head at the moment and I'm starting to question why I'm acting in certain ways. Should I question myself if it works? Before I never used to continuation bet much, and would fold 90% of the time to one if I missed the flop. Now I'm playing at a bit of a higher level I've got to learn to stand my ground and not stand for any messing about... changing gears when I need to though.

[counterfeit]

Just a quick thought.

If the early aggression works why slow down near the bubble? It seems to me that that is the best time to be aggressive. Getting chips early is great but losing momentum will cost you a lot of 1st and 2nds. If you have a good stack early on, press home the advantage and when you get past the bubble you will be in a position to knock out the short stack without it hurting too much if you lose.

Anyway, keep it going. Another profitable day.

[John]

Cheers fella. That's been the case tonight actually. I've had a short to middle stack on the approach to the bubble (e.g. 5 remaining). When I notice the play to be quite conservative, I'm managing to min-raise and steal blinds with hands like K-To/s, K-Jo/s, A-xo/s but usually fold to a re-raise (although that hasn't been happening at conservative tables very often).

Tonight was actually quite frustrating. On the face of it my results look average to good - I managed a massive $5 profit but it should have been much more. Heads up twice, and heads down twice too, in that I had the better hand all-in pre-flop and a coin-flip leaves me 2nd. I usually push to the big stack with A-7+, K-9+, pocket pairs, suited connectors and of course premium hands. Premium hands I sometimes slow play - I know you're not a big fan of this but heads up it can be a super way to win. Has cost me in the past though!

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
9. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd

[John]

Break time now until the 21st / 22nd. Then after that; break time again until the new year. Huge thanks to everyone so far who's supported me along the way and offered opinions, support and advice. It's been incredibly helpful. Let's hope I can continue to play well again in 2009. Here are my stats to date (up to and including Friday 12th December 2008):

Tournaments played: 187 @ $16 buy-in ($2,992 total outlay)
Total profit: $356.00
ROI: 11.89%

See you soon. :)

[MattR]

Great stuff John, well done,hope it continues as well in the New Year

[paul183195]

well done john

[John]

Thanks for the kind comments chaps. :)

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
9. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
9. 1 x 9-seated STT - 8th
10. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
11. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd

Full of little Santa elf donks everywhere for the past three days. Hope the reindeers ride their donkey ideas into the snow and bury their smug faces alive. That and the fact that I've been card dead for three days too. 'Ave a wonderful Christmas everyone, anyway, lots of love from Johnny the Mardy Git who loves to play poker but probably should've spent his 'three day return to London' off the poker wagon. Kings Of Leon were bloody awesome though. :D Happy Christmas, see you next year.

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 9th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th

Nice to win one. :) I'm giving this poker lark a bit of a rest though, until my computer's mended. Might play the odd game here and there. But the last couple of times I've played haven't been good, I've made some poor decisions at the best of times. Whether it's the Christmas break causing havoc with my brain, I don't know... but I need to sort out my Mac. At the moment I can't access my spreadsheet as it's sitting in Mac OS (which I use all the time) and not Windows.

[counterfeit]

I've noticed in the past few sessions that you've posted up that there are a lot of finishes 7-9th. It doesn't really matter what donkeys are playing, there shouldn't be much excuse for finishing in those positions.

To be going out that early that often you must be playing too many hands. In the past 33 tourneys you have gone out in the 7-9 positions 11 times or 33%. You can't have had pre flop monsters that have got turned over that often.

You know that you are good enough to win at this level so you must just be having a dip in form (which often leads to people playing more hands in the hope that they can start to get lucky) which will turn around if you stick to your normal game.

[John]

Thanks mate. It helps to know someone is watching my game so closely. I had no idea the SR was that high at 33%... that's pretty bad.

To be honest, I can't really tell you what has been different other than my confidence. During the bad spells I had between mid-December and the new year, I was probably playing too aggressively and thinking "what the hell" chucking money into the pot hoping I'd win, because nothing was going right at some stages.

Yesterday, in one tournament, only on the second hand, I re-raised 250 chips all in to 1500 with a pair of tens - why? Don't ask, I have no idea, it was a stupid move and the other chap had Kings. I kicked my own backside for that one. I've been doing a few moves like that lately, thinking that "in a professional game all the chips would be in the pot before the flop" but then this IS NOT a professional game so I need to quickly abandon that thinking strategy.

So yes, there has been a slight dip. When I played for the three days during Day 27-29 I knew I had to make them count because I was only back in London for those three brief days before leaving again. After the first day went badly, I was almost playing a game of "loss chasing" with myself on the second and third days. I knew there'd be another break after the 23rd December so I was trying to make that spell count. Unfortunately for me I ended up probably playing too many hands, as you mentioned, thinking I could out-do my opponents.

And you're right - not much excuse for going out 7th-9th very often. Sometimes though, the table is very tight and also very good standard, so even when the blinds are raising to say 150/300 you can still have 8 players remaining. If you've only played 2 or 3 hands then you're short stacked for no real fault of your own, other than you've been card dead...

Anyway, January is here, and I'm going to try and make up for the recent bad spell... just going to play my normal game.

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 7th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 1st
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
5. 1 x 9-seated STT - 5th
6. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
7. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
8. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th

I've had enough bad beats today to justify the whole of 2009 already. AA beaten by T3o KK beaten by JJ, 99 beaten by 66, QQ beaten by 44 and a whole host of others knocking me out mid-tournament. So no wonder I'm grumpy - my results look through complete unfortunacy (I don't know if that's a word, but it should be).

I'm also questioning myself all the time again, my confidence has gone out the window.

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 3rd

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th

Why does KJ always seem to beat AQ?

[mathare]

What's your bankroll/profit like at the minute John? What about your ITM and ROI?

Maybe you should step down a level to try and book some easier wins and rebuild your confidence...

[sportingprofit]

Why does KJ always seem to beat AQ?

That happens to me about 37% of the time.

In all seriousness you should try reading some books on SNG's or watching some videos. Even if you already know alot of what they are teaching it helps drum in the fundamentals and give you more confidence in your decisions.

Keep at it, if you are a winning player your results will start to show that.

[John]

1. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
2. 1 x 9-seated STT - 6th
3. 1 x 9-seated STT - 4th
4. 1 x 9-seated STT - 2nd

Frustrating night, it really has been.....

[John]

What's your bankroll/profit like at the minute John? What about your ITM and ROI?

Maybe you should step down a level to try and book some easier wins and rebuild your confidence...

The thing is, I found the level below to be full of fish and donks, so this is why I stepped things up. My level of mentalness and awareness of 'proper' poker is in line with the level I play at the minute, I would say, and to be honest even though the recent days' plays have been below par, overall I'm in profit by about $200 (was $356 before I left for Christmas) so I've shown that so far I can make a profit at this level. It's just that recent results don't really reflect this.

I hate to admit it but my poker spreadsheet is in Mac only, not in Windows, and so at the minute I can't even access it. I'll be able to rescue it though, more on the Mac thing this weekend, everything is rescueable. :) And so I can update it with the results that are missing since it went kaput (Friday 2nd January onwards) when I retrieve it.

So for now, I'm unable to tell you my exact ITM or my exact profit, but have a look at the pre-Xmas figures and subtract a bit off 'em. That's the best I can do right now...

In all seriousness you should try reading some books on SNG's or watching some videos. Even if you already know alot of what they are teaching it helps drum in the fundamentals and give you more confidence in your decisions.

You mentioned two guys on Cardrunners in a thread recently (can't remember where) but I've got their names noted down in my phone. Would you recommend paying for some videos then? I'm tight when it comes to paying for this sort of thing and if I can get them for free anywhere then I'm there like a shot.

Me and my workmate fight over this... currently it's sat on my desk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phil-Gordons...1460699&sr=8-1

Really good book, very well written and tells you what you should be doing in certain situations. Has anybody read it?

Thanks both for your comments.

[mathare]

The thing is, I found the level below to be full of fish and donks, so this is why I stepped things up.

Aye, that's fair enough. I was hoping you'd respond in this sort of way to be honest. It shows you know why you're playing at this level and by typing up the response you did you should have been able to convince yourself it's the right level for you. We need to do something to get some confidence back into your play though as you're not the same Johnny who was playing and winning before christmas. At least I don't think so...

Me and my workmate fight over this... currently it's sat on my desk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phil-Gordons...1460699&sr=8-1

Really good book, very well written and tells you what you should be doing in certain situations. Has anybody read it?

I've had it a while but not re-read it for ages. Perhaps I should...

[Profit Seeker]

You mentioned two guys on Cardrunners in a thread recently (can't remember where) but I've got their names noted down in my phone. Would you recommend paying for some videos then? I'm tight when it comes to paying for this sort of thing and if I can get them for free anywhere then I'm there like a shot.

Try grinderschool.com. The cheapest training site out there as little as $10 a month. They specialise in micro and low stakes, and some medium stakes. They've got a couple of awesome cash game teachers who if you can understand the masses of mathematical detail they go into for every decision, will teach you to crush every level no probs. Bit too much for me the cash side as I'm a thicko, but equally as good tourney videos. Since I've joined I have 50% roi in 18-45 man games, tho the sample size isn't enough to cover all variance I've been pretty consistent month to month the past 6 months at least.

[John]

Thanks PS, I'll take a look when I'm playing again. :)