Sore heads and short-stacks (and $1 per hand FTW)

So I just finished my Saturday morning session, where the tables were littered with the aforementioned - mostly recreational players who need a change of underwear after being dealt AJs. Unfortunately there were only 4 active tables, so I took my seats and sat back to observe the inevitable weekend carnage. 


It's actually quite tricky to play these pesky, clueless short-stackers, because they just never know when to fold, and there is definitely an art to beating them - an art which I think I'm getting the hang of, but need to improve on. Thing is, during the week I dont really get to play many SS's, and if I do, they are usually half competent, but on a Sat morning... For example:

Posts big blind $2,00

Seat 1: PUBECORP ($210,05)
Seat 2: scoopthepot ($171,95)
Seat 3: DoktorJones ($353,97)
Seat 4: mabraha ($75,95) 

Dealer

Seat 5: oneplaner ($350,08) 

Posts small blind $1,00

Seat 6: ALEX1954 ($62,30) 

Dealt to oneplaner
 

Preflop: (Pot: $3)

FOLD scoopthepot
FOLD DoktorJones
RAISE mabraha, to $5,00
CALL oneplaner, $5,00
FOLD ALEX1954
FOLD PUBECORP 

Flop: (Pot: $13,00)

   
BET mabraha, $8,66
CALL oneplaner, $8,66

Turn: (Pot: $30,32)

    
CHECK mabraha
CHECK oneplaner 

River: (Pot: $30,32)

     
BET mabraha, $62,29
CALL oneplaner, $62,29 

Showdown:

SHOWS mabraha 
  
SHOWS oneplaner 
  
oneplaner wins the pot of $151,90 

Of course I got lucky on the river, and this play does look a bit fishy, but this guy was c-bet/giving up a lot, so I figured I'd bide my time - no point raising the flop or betting the turn cos if he jams I have to fold what could easily end up being the best hand, as he almost definitely doesn't have a K, so any Ace/Q/J or club (he wont like a club) that hits the river means I'm good a lot of the time. I hit the dream card as it goes, giving me the straight and him 2 pair, and he shoots his bolt all over himself :-)


I also know I can 3-bet pre here, but like I said earlier, there's just no point, as these guys will jam with such a wide range, and I'll obviously have to fold. Even if he just flats a 3-bet, there is no way on earth that he is letting go of middle pair, ok kicker (seriously, they wont, they will just check/jam to any c-bet). Anyway, I wont go into any more details about this morning's play - suffice to say that my $1 per hand graph is gathering momentum:

Please forgive my crap paintshop skills, Ta.

I know, I know, its too perfect! Although it will be interesting to see how long I can keep it up for... $10k out of the question??? (Haha, at NL200, I think it is). Its actually finished off whats turned out to be a pretty good month for me, and with my rake to go on top I should be just over $7k, which I'll always take :-) I've obviously ran well, but I feel as if I've played really well too, not getting too excited about winning big pots, and conversely not too down if I lose one. With my back still playing up after the climbing accident, I've been doing a fair bit of yoga and breathing exercises, which has helped my poker A LOT. In days of old, my graphs would just resemble my mood - very up and down - and I know this is part of poker, but I'm trying hard to stay on an even keel no matter what is going on in my poker world, and over the past few months its obviously worked out...

I've posted this today as I'm pretty sure that I wont be playing any more poker this month - time for a few days off to enjoy the bank holiday with friends and family. See you in June, enjoy :-)
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Why I prefer cash...

So last night I was invited to play in the 'superstars of PKR' tournament (a tourney exclusively for players who have won a PKR 'major' in the past), and figured that I'd take some time away from the cash tables and join in, especially as they were offering a WSOP final stage ticket for those who made the final table. Experience has taught me that playing cash and MTT's at the same time doesnt really work (for me anyway), so I also entered the Open and the Prime Time and happily 3 tabled with 'Good Morning Vietnam' on the telly - a nice stress free evening in the making...


I haven't played an MTT for almost 2 months and was quite looking forward to getting my tourney head on, as it really is so very different to playing 6 max cash. I busted out of the open after about 2 hours after shoving my KQs from the cut off with 14 BBs and getting snapped off by the SB big stack, who showed 88. No help for me and i was gone, meh, pretty standard. I was going deep in the other two however, and was hovering around the chip leaders in both whilst the bubble (top 30 for both - out of about 150/200 runners) was approaching, and feeling pretty confident about getting at least to the FT in both as I was isolating the small stacks and winning flips against them, and 3-betting the medium sized stacks in position and getting folds at the right times.


Then in the PT, a very well respected MTT player (Rocken1900) decided to shove in early position for about 30BB's (eh??) and it folded around to me in the cut off. I look down at AKo :-). As the format was a 'turbo' and the bubble had just burst, I obviously snapped and had him covered (I had around 40BB's). The remaining  middle/short stacks folded, and he flipped A6o. Of course he rivered a 6 and I shoved the very next hand with Q10s, only to be snapped by KK - hat, coat, and I'm out for whopping $91.80 for 28th place ($55 buy-in). 


Ok, fine, time to focus on the 'superstars'. This one was 6 handed and I'm dealt 99 from UTG+1 with 15BB's - I obviously jam and get called by the SB who flips 77 - yay! He flops a set, I bust in 17th place for another colossal cash of $56.87 ($28 buy-in) and the cat gets a toe-punt up the arse. Sorry Lola! 


So I'm back on the cash tables this morning where for the last 2 days I'm currently winning at a rate of $1 per hand - ha!

If anybody would like to tell me the best way to convert hand histories so that they dont make your eyes bleed when reading them (as mine do on my previous blog post), then please do! Email: jamjoy10@hotmail.com Thanx in advance! 

Run good Wednesday...

Ok, I did say I'd post a few hand histories, so here are a couple from today (pretty boring and fairly standard, but they were heavily responsible for me finishing just under $1k up for the day so thought I may as well include them). I dont often play full ring, but there were only a few 6 max tables going so I took this spot. When I sat down I was pleased to see a few 'fish' icons under the names of certain players, two of which were in this hand so happy days. For a split second I did think i might be behind when he shoved on the flop, but the only hand that beats me, that he would do this with is Q10, as I'm pretty sure that 66 or 1010 would flat (especially him). His 3-bet% was like 1% so he could easily have AQ, although I honestly thought he was just spazzing out with KQ. Hey ho, either way I'll take it.

Seat 1: Konsument ($289,54)

Seat 2: oneplaner ($480,00)

Seat 3: Jimmy1449 ($222,49)

Dealer

Seat 4: vjkjrjdf1 ($200,00)

Posts small blind $1,00

Seat 5: Vinku ($208,00)

 Posts big blind $2.00

Seat 6: Hannelore ($210,52)

Seat 7: xxice ($159,68)

Seat 8: mcyi9sd8 ($62,50)

Seat 9: watp0809 ($147,60)

Seat 10: Foosler ($204,80) 

Dealt to oneplaner
 
Preflop: (Pot: $3)
FOLD xxice
CALL mcyi9sd8, $2,00
FOLD watp0809
FOLD Foosler
FOLD Konsument
RAISE oneplaner, to $9,00
CALL Jimmy1449, $9,00
FOLD vjkjrjdf1
FOLD Vinku
FOLD Hannelore
CALL mcyi9sd8, $7,00

Flop: (Pot: $28,00)

  

BET mcyi9sd8, $15,00
RAISE oneplaner, to $55,00
RAISE Jimmy1449, to $213,49
CALL mcyi9sd8, $38,50
CALL oneplaner, $158,49 

Turn: (Pot: $493,48)

    

River: (Pot: $493,48)

     

Showdown:

SHOWS oneplaner
 
SHOWS Jimmy1449
 
SHOWS mcyi9sd8
  

oneplaner wins the pot of $507,48 

Second one is just a straight cooler, and the villain is a reg who just got unlucky on the river. I obviously had position on him in most hands, and he was betting half pot a fair bit and folding to my re-raises, so I thought it best to just keep flatting and hope that he hits something good. Thank you RNG :-)

Seat 1: coldfishAA ($232,85)
Seat 2: oneplaner ($232,01) 

Dealer

Seat 3: Vipress ($80,00) 

Posts small blind $1,00

Seat 4: Chivaz1 ($206,95) 

Posts big blind $2,00

Seat 5: Dunder101 ($202,14)
Seat 6: callmebabe ($197,00) 

Dealt to oneplaner
 

Preflop: (Pot: $3)

FOLD callmebabe
RAISE coldfishAA, to $6,00
CALL oneplaner, $6,00
FOLD Chivaz1
FOLD Dunder101 

Flop: (Pot: $15,00)

  

BET coldfishAA, $7,50
CALL oneplaner, $7,50

Turn: (Pot: $30,00)

   

BET coldfishAA, $15,00
CALL oneplaner, $15,00 

River: (Pot: $60,00)

    

CHECK coldfishAA
BET oneplaner, $52,00
RAISE coldfishAA, to $204,35
CALL oneplaner, $151,51 

Showdown:

SHOWS coldfishAA
 
SHOWS oneplaner
 


oneplaner wins the pot of $464,02 

The next one is against a good reg, although he does take an 
interesting line on this occasion...

Seat 1: andreiwp5 ($205,00) 

Dealer

Seat 2: oneplaner ($197,00) 

Posts small blind $1,00

Seat 3: michaelcrawley10 ($116,55) 

Posts big blind $2,00

Seat 4: RCHLFRMFRNDS ($216,30)
Seat 5: vjkjrjdf1 ($200,00)
Seat 6: Vinku ($197,00) 

Dealt to oneplaner
 

Preflop: (Pot: $3)

FOLD vjkjrjdf1
FOLD Vinku
FOLD andreiwp5
RAISE oneplaner, to $6,00
FOLD michaelcrawley10
RAISE RCHLFRMFRNDS, to $20,00
CALL oneplaner, $16,00

Flop: (Pot: $45,00)

   
BET RCHLFRMFRNDS, $26,00
RAISE oneplaner, to $66,00
CALL RCHLFRMFRNDS, $40,00 

Turn: (Pot: $151,00)

    
CHECK RCHLFRMFRNDS
BET oneplaner, $109,00
CALL RCHLFRMFRNDS, $109,00 

River: (Pot: $369,00)

     

Showdown:

SHOWS oneplaner 
  
SHOWS RCHLFRMFRNDS 
  
oneplaner wins the pot of $392,00 

Feel free to make any comment about how they were played, although these ones kinda played themselves i spose...