Poker: Lucky day today !

I am working from home today, so decided to get my hair cut at lunchtime….. luckily for me the hairdresser had a lot of people waiting, so didn’t bother to get my hair cut and instead stuck my £8 into the roulette machine in the bookies :-)     Fortunately my lucky numbers got lucky for me and came out with £20   Nice result for 10 minutes work ;-) and can still get my haircut tomorrow !

Wednesday is normally my online poker night, so decided to enter a 180 seater $4 buy in SNG Hold’em tournament.   It was  a bit of a long slog, but was worth the investment, as I managed to get chips early on and then got myself up into the top 50% of the players and stayed there for the rest of the game.   When we got down to the last 18 (all of whom got paid) I was in 9th place but got some good hands and managed to win the tournament !!    This netted me $216 for a $4.40 stake, so a great return for me there as well.  I also felt I was playing well and not getting too much of either good or bad luck, so very satisfied indeed

All in all a lucky day for me today, but now worn out by all the excitement so going to have a well deserved rest and beer :-)

Poker: Satellite Semi Final playoff

Before the tournament, Mick had unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute, so ended up just the three of us playing for the final seat at the final table.

The first level saw pretty much every hand being raised by someone pre-flop so was a pretty brisk game to begin with.   On one of the early hands, my 5-x on the small blind (SB) didn't look much , but I called when Sean just called and the flop gave me two more !    I had to check but no-one bet... the turn gave me another 5 for quads!   I checked again and was pleased to see the A come on the river, especially when Darren bet out.....

Later on, my J-T looked pretty good on a A-J-x flop as Sean betting out didn't necessarily mean he had a hand :-)  I was a little nervous but called down to the river and was pleased to see Sean with J-7 and I took a nice size pot.   

With a reasonable stack I could let Darren and Sean battle it out for a few hands, but with only three players it was always going to be brisk....

A key hand came when I had K-2 suited on the BB and decided to call Sean's raise from the SB   Darren also called and I was  happy to see the 8-2-2 flop !    Sean bet out and I raised, but Darren went all-in with a total of around 2400 chips... prompting Sean to go all-in as well with 3025 in total    I was in a quandary but couldn't work out what Darren had.... I considered various holdings but had to call really.   Sean had K-K but Darren had A-2 !      Running A-A gave Darren the Full House, but at least I won the top half of the pot and Sean was out ! (in 45 min's !!)  

Unfortunately Darren had 2:1 chip lead so was a tough proposition

By the break we were roughly equal in chips, but was tricky for either of us to win a lot of chips in any one hand so was a long slog

It was inevitable that there was going to be two good hands before the chips went all-in... sure enough on a un-raised flop by J-8 looked good for a shove all-in when the flop came J high..... but Darren called... with J-4   Unluckily for me , high cards came and we split the pot !

With the blinds going up to 500/300 and my stack staying stubbornly around the 4500 mark (to Darren's 7500)  I had to start taking some risks, but a couple of bad calls and Darren getting more aggressive (probably with good hands)  saw me down to around 3500 and needing to double up.   Getting 4-4 on the button seemed like a good spot to go for it and Darren called with A-T   The flop was blank but the turn saw the T come for Darren and it was all over....

Well done to Darren for a deserved victory, commiserations to Sean who at least went out with a bang (and a good hand!)

I'll see you at the final table, but probably only as Tournament Director !

Poker : SCOOP summary

Playing in the SCOOP events was quite time consuming but was pleased I took part.,

I was particularly pleased to satellite my way into the HORSE event and the 8 game events as this made it very cheap to have a chance at winning a huge pot, which is pretty exciting prospect :-)

As it turned out, my best change of cashing was the $109 HORSE event which was also the juiciest pot to have a go at, so was a little bit of a disappointing result, but certainly enjoyed the chance and felt I gave it my best and had a chance to win

The 8 game and NL Hold'em events were also fun to play so overall am happy I spent the time playing the satellites and the games themselves, and certainly feel I got a lot of value for money

Next time I would probably play both the HORSE and 8 game events again, but not play the low stake NL Hold'em as it really is a crapshoot at the beginning.  Instead I will take the time and effort to try and satellite into the higher stakes game as the number of players is a LOT lower and presume in the main the standard of play will be higher, making it less down to luck.  The ability to use the FPP to qualify in the satellite events also makes it particularly attractive to try this

All in all, a good set of Poker events, well run by PokerStars and seemed very popular with the players.   I just need to play better and cash in next time :-)

Poker: SCOOP NL Hold'em event result

The last of the SCOOP events for me this time round is No Limit Hold'em which is the most familiar of the games, but also the one where you will generally need to get lucky somewhere along the line to do well in these huge field events....

As it turned out there was a massive 9657 player field which is  bit daunting.  You get 2500 chips to start and can have one re-buy then an add-on after one hour play.  

My basic strategy is to play really tight, then play any good hands strongly. but keep an eye on my relation to average stack as I don't want to fall too far behind the average

There is a mix of playing styles on my table, with a couple of loose players, a calling station and the rest seem pretty tight/solid

The early stages see me calling with reasonable hands and raising with great hands, but either way folding if I miss the flop.   I am not playing many hands so the chips are down to around 2200 when the calling station goes all in in early position.  It seems a bit weird move to win the blinds as they are so low.... anyone else I probably would have folded my AKo but thought it was likely I was ahead or 50-50 so called all-in.  No one else got involved and so it transpired I was up against 8-8   Luckily a K came and I doubled up so could go back into my shell and wait for the next big hand....

The calling station raised all-in a couple more times during the game, with 4-4 and 3-3 but was also raising a fair bit with any A as well as calling may of the other pots...l as he had already had his rebuy it seemed he was just an action junkie !

At the break I had 3890 chips and was 6523 out of 8026 players left (average was 5047 chips) so was a no-brainer to take the add-on.  When the session re-started I had 7390 chips against the 8001 average and had promoted myself to 4694th place with the add-on !

After the restart I got a couple of good hands and had worked my way to around 8000 chips when I got A-Qo on the button.   The calling station called but everyone else folded.   I put in a standard raise and the BB plus the calling station both called.    The flop came A-Q-2 (2 hearts) which was a great flop for me, but the BB player quickly went all in for around 6000 chips and the calling station called.   The BB all-in seemed a bit odd and I put him on a flush draw and he wanted to win the pot straight away, but the calling station was a bit trickier to read.   I thought his likeliest holding was A-2 (with his range it could even be just an A)  I did worry about trips but he had so far been all-in pre-flop with all his pocket pairs..... so I went all-in and got called.    As it turned out, the BB had the nut flush draw but the calling station had 2-2 so I was in poor shape, with 4 outs (16% chance)  The flush came for the BB on the turn which was irrelevant to me anyway, so went out in 4'694th after 90 minutes play

I was actually pretty happy with my play in this game as I had been steady and tight.  Although I was wrong in my read on the last hand, my reasoning was sound so percentage wise there was still a good chance I was going to be ahead.  Had I won the hand, I would have gone to 22'000 chips and had a good shot at making the money, so overall not to disappointed.  

Poker : SCOOP 8 game event result

I really enjoy the 8 game format so have been immensely looking forward to this SCOOP event ever since I managed to satellite through to the event

Despite there only being $25'000 guarantee there ended up being 2'178 players and a very generous payout to the top 50 players

There are only 6 players to a table, so quickly determined that the player to my right was solid/tight/aggressive, the player to my left and player opposite were complete idiots in all games except hold'em, and the other two were very tight so was difficult to get a read on them (but at least I knew they were very tight)

With the poor play of the other players, who were in most pots, I was feeling pretty comfortable and built up from the 5'000 starting stack to around 7'000 in a couple of rounds (the games were changing every 10 mins)     Then the terrible player to my left got a bit lucky in Stud and despite showing 6-4-6 actually had another 6 and 4 hidden so took me to the cleaners with his Full House as my 2 pair improved to a flush so thought I was ahead.  I was still left with around 5'300 chips at this stage so nothing much to worry about

Later on I had a great draw in the 7-2 triple draw but despite only needing one card in all three draws ended up with A high and my opponent had a K high to take a large pot !  

The Omaha pot limit crippled me as I kept getting decent starting hands but there was a lot of aggression from the poor players pre-flop so was calling them and not hitting the flop... not even a dodgy draw so had to give up the hand.   

At the break I was 1'501 out of 1'965 remaining players and 3'737 chips to the 5'541 average so not in great shape, although not bad enough to panic yet

Unfortunately for me my cards played tricks on me and kept being drawn in by good starting hands which didn't improve and was soon down to under 1000 chips with the blinds going up to 100 in the hold'em round.   Ironically my last hand was Q-5 on the BB which was un-raised so was happy to see Q-J-9 flop as I was already pot committed   My opponent had J-9 of course, so that sealed my fate and was out in 1'859th place after 85 minutes play

Not a great result and was very disappointed.  Overall there was not a lot I would have done different and felt I played the cards and the players fairly well.   The terrible player to my left had got very lucky on more than one occasion, (not just against me) which was where a lot of my chips ended up going.     I could have played tighter in the early rounds and would probably have lasted longer but in the end you have got to play your cards when you get them.

I have one more SCOOP event to play tonight, which is the No Limit  Hold'em so one more chance to cash in.  Let's hope I get more luck this time !

Poker: SCOOP HORSE event - results

Having managed to satellite through to the final for the SCOOP HORSE event (event #7) I was looking forward to taking part.

Checking the number of players of Saturday morning, I was quite surprised there were only around 400 players registered, as the $250’000 prize pool guarantee was pretty significant.   Logging on half hour before the game started, I was surprised again as the number of players had jumped up to a rather more substantial 2674 players !    This was more the number I was originally expecting, so the task ahead was no more daunting that I had originally envisaged in the end.

The first prize was a whopping $43’452 but even the first cash prize for 520th position was a very reasonable sounding $117 so settled down for what I was hoping to be a long evening of playing poker.

As you should expect me to say by now, I started off playing steady, but with a lot of aggression in the early rounds it was difficult to commit to a pot without it costing several bets on each street.   The problem with limit poker of any sort is that you can’t scare people off the pot and you tend to get a lot of callers, so the low blind levels encourage people to call you to the river with very little and they hope to get lucky and draw out on you (and often get good pot odds to try)   On the plus side, it does mean that you can be the person doing the drawing, as long as you have the chips to do it with

For the game itself, I didn’t get much luck in the early rounds so lost around 1000 chips from my 5000 starting point in the first half hour, but by the first break after an hours play, I was back to my starting stack size (average was around 5100 at this point)

The next session saw me get some good hands and got paid off by them, so got up to around 8000 chips with the average around 6000 and was happy to sit back and play tight, but with the blinds going up you can’t sit around forever, and by now committing to a hand was costing around 1000 chips to get to the river.    There are also some bigger stacks emerging on my table around the 20’000 mark and couple of them seem loose and aggressive.   I commit to a hand against one such stack in Razz, but don’t improve…but even so,  the other fellow had to hit a lucky card on the river to beat me, so took a large chunk of my chips and I was down to just below average chips again !

After what seemed an age without a hand, my chips were dwindling so committed to a flush draw on a Stud hand.   By this time, a bet on every street was enough to put me all-in by the river and I was being called down by one of the big stacks (they can afford to be loose by this time!)   Luckily for me, my flush draw became a flush on the river so doubled up and had around 9000 in chips (around the average)    A little later I had one of those “dammit” moments, when I ditched a pretty awful Omaha Hi-Lo hand pre-flop of Q-7-3-3, only to see the other two 3’s come down on the flop !   There was significant action on all rounds of betting as well, so had I made a very loose call of the pre-flop raise then I would have made a huge amount of chips….. unfortunately making those calls is a long term looser so I definitely made the right choice…. but still feels sickening when you see the perfect flop for your mucked hand :-(

The next couple of hours saw me maintain just around or slightly above average stack.  By now the standard of play seems to be getting distinctly better than in the early rounds, with much better starting hands being showed down and more selective aggressive betting, so am pleased to be able to maintain my relative position…. but then a minor disaster !    On an Omaha round, I called pre-flop with a double suited starting hand, but then got distracted by the TV so glanced up to look.   I heard the beep to indicate it was my turn, so looked down and saw I had hit a flush on the flop, so bet out and called a raise from the one other player.    I bet the turn which was blank, but then realised to my horror I had misread the flop and only had a flush draw !  With another raise from my opponent, it seemed clear I was way behind so had to fold… but had given away about a third of my chips and was well below average stack now…..  Luckily it was only a few minutes before a break so had a chance to switch to the PC with the large monitor as it seemed I was getting tired and needed the clearer screen

The blinds are now getting high and my chip stack is definitely low, certainly any raise or calling a bet on the flop is committing me to the pot.   Luckily we are on a round of Hold’em now, which I am most comfortable with so hope I can pick up a few pots.  Unluckily I am not getting any cards so have to be patient.   On the BB I get dealt 8-4 and only the SB has called.   I consider making a move and raising, but he has a huge chips stack compared to me so decide to play safe and check.  The flop is a reasonable 9-8-3 rainbow for my hand but my opponent bets out.   Being the SB he could have any two cards so decide to re-raise to see how much he likes the hand, but unfortunately he calls….. the turn is a 5 which doesn’t seem like it would improve his hand (and certainly didn’t improve mine) so we both check.  The river is another 8 !  I am very happy with that, especially as my opponent checks to me…. so bet out.  His re-raise is a bit worrying but I have only enough chips left to call so am committed…. and am gutted to see his hand of 8-6    OK, so I was always behind, but it seems very unlucky that all four of the 8’s would come out

So my final result was 784th place out of 2674 runners and played for 5 hours 55 mins.  All things considered I don’t think I did too badly, but am still pretty disappointed with my result.  Overall I believe I played pretty solidly, although did make a few mistakes which certainly effected my finishing position as I felt I was playing well enough to have a good chance to make the cash prizes.

Oh well, will try again sometime and also have another couple of big tournaments to look forward to :-)

Poker : Annual Satellite - Heat 4

The final heat was being hosted by Jon, round Derek's house !

With only four players, all of whom could reasonably be ranked as "tight", you would think it would start out a tense, tentative match... and in the main you'd be right ;-) 

The first few levels saw a lot of unraised pots and first bet taking it down.   There was some aggression though, Derek raised 150 and got two callers.   The 8-7-3 flop didn't look promising, but Jock leads with 100 bet and Derek re-raised... but all folded and Derek took a reasonable size pot down uncontested.      Then we see Jock raise to 100 and Jon re-raising to 300 , only Jock called.   The Q-T-4 sees Jon check then re-raise to 1000 when jock bets.   The 2 turn doesn't seem to help anyone, but Jock calls Jon's 1000 bet.   The 9 on the river sees Jon ship all-in but Jock folds and shows A-J, Jon shows Q-Q so Jock made the right decision, although it left him with only 2175 chips left

We get to level 4 and see Jock raise to 200 and get called by Jon.   The Q-9-5 flop also sees a bet from Jock and call from Jon and with not many chips left the K turn sees a bet and call, then 8 on river which follow see Jock all-in and Jon calling.   Both have two pair, but Jon was lucky enough to have the higher two pair which he hit on the river !     

We are now down to three players and are on the first break.    Jon has 7800 chips, Darren 4800 and 3400 to Derek

The next couple of levels are cautious with lots of limping and folding to a bet.    There are some hands where it all suddenly starts to happen, for example at level 6 all limp to see T-4-2 flop.    All check then an 8 comes on the turn, at which point  Jon bets but all call.   The 2 of clubs on the river makes a flush possible but the 700 bet from Darren gets a call from Derek.   Darren has A-3 clubs for the flush against Derek's tip 2's !    Derek is down to 700 chips

Couple of hands later see's Jon raised to 700 with Derek on the blind, so has to call with Q-9  but Jon has K-9 and takes Derek out.

We are now heads up and Jon has 9300 to Darren's 6700 chips

The chips go back and forth with more raises pre-flop but more caution on the flop.     In an unraised pot, both check the 5-5-2 flop and the 2 on the turn   The 7 on the river sees Darren bet 1000 into the 2000 pot but Jon calls... Both have an A so the pot is split !

Level 7 sees a lot of caution and not much in the way of big pots, but Jon is being whittled down.  He goes all-in pre-flop with K-QQs and gets called by Q-3o so takes the 9000 pot and we're nearly all square again !

at the break before the last level, the chips stacks are 8000 each so can't be more evenly matched !

It quietens down for a few hands, but this time Darren is being whittled down.   Then Darren goes all-in with A-2 and gets called with Jon's K-J   The A holds up and Darren is dead even again at 8000 each

The next hand goes to Jon, then Darren gets all-in with 6000  Jon thinks, then calls with his J-8s and is doubtless happy to see Darren with T-6o   Unluckily Darren hit's and takes the pot leaving Jon 4000 chips

Then Jon is all-in with A-5 against Q-8 and without improvement this time, Jon immediately gets back to 8000

It was never going to last long, but  it was 15 minutes into the last round before we saw a final decisive battle.    Jon went all-in with A-K and got called by K-J  leaving Darren needing a bad beat, but the luck wasn't with him and Jon took the victory.

From a slow start, the game certainly built up to a fascinating and exciting finale, so well worth watching.   Roll on the Semifinals

Poker : Home Tournament - April 2009

I have really been looking forward to the Poker this month and was in suitably determined mood to make amends for my disastrous outing last month !  I had a feeling in my bones that I would do well so was feeling calm, relaxed and ready to play

A good omen was that there were no "wild" players on my table so was looking to play good solid poker.   Of course it didn't quite work out like that and found I was buying in three times in quick succession (still in the first level), but then my luck did change and managed to win some good pots to get a reasonable stack size.  There was a fair bit of action on our table, but the "wild bunch" on the other table were whooping and hollering and buying in a huge number of times.... Bill seemed to have a mountain of purple chips by end of the first level !!

I am struggling to remember the details now (as ever!) but do remember the last 10 minutes before the break saw a lot of action with Mick and/or Simon being all-in a fair few times to try and build up their stacks

At the break I was around 4500 chips with Karen being the chip leader on our table

With the break over the serious business starts and is no surprise that the "wild" table sees the first three knock outs.    On our table, Jon finds himself short stacked but has a couple of good double ups to build a good stack... only to get in with J-J against Darren's A-3s pre-flop and then saw the A come as the first card on the flop !   Darren improved to flush but had the pot wrapped up and left Jon very low again.  This time he couldn't recover and got taken out by Simon.  Within a couple of hands another three players got busted in quick succession and we have a final table already !

As I got seated at the final table, I was just telling myself I had to play solid, take my time, keep the pots small and don't take any risks... but the first hand I got pocket tens, so immediately raised the pot despite myself !!   Luckily everyone folded and I could tell myself off (again!) and settle down into the game

Lee has maintained his 100% record since starting but is taken on, and taken out as it turned out, by Alex who has a HUGE pile of chips .  

With blinds at 1000-500,  Karen who is now short stacked calls as does Darren but all else fold to me on the SB.  My 9-6s doesn't look pretty but am getting in cheaply so also call.    The flop is 9-5-5 rainbow so a good flop for me, but being out of position decided to check.   Bill checks but Karen goes all in for 2800 chips... Darren folds and I have to think as I have exactly 2800 chips left myself !     With Karen's range being quite tight, I decide to fold as I get the button next hand but was a close decision.   Bill calls and as it turns out, Karen had A-Q and takes a large pot with A high and is also now the chip leader.  I was a bit despondent, but still felt I made the right decision...

With the blinds going up to 2000 and me down to 2300, I have to wait for a good hand and hope it holds up in what would inevitably be a multi-way pot.   As luck would have it, I am dealt A-Qs in late position so still my chips in and get 3 other callers.    With a Q coming and no-one else having much, I have suddenly got 9200 chips !    Couple of hands later I get dealt K-K and re-raised Simon's all-in raise to get heads up with him.   Luckily my kings hold out and I knock out Simon and take my stack up to around 12'000.  This makes me 2nd chip leader to Alex, just at the right time as we have only about 5 minutes left to play

Bill is short stacked but doesn't get lucky against Alex "the destroyer" who takes out another player.   Darren puts up a solid defence and had several battles with Alex who was putting his huge pile of chips to work... but in the end got taken out by Karen in the last hand of regular time

With three hands left to play, Alex is significant chip lead with around 20'000 then Karen and myself are roughly level at around 12'500 each

My BB gets attacked by Alex's all-in so have to let it go, but Alex folds the button on the next hand and I decide to make a raise into Karen.  After a long think and advice from Sean ! she decides to go all-in, which I have to call.    My Q-8 isn't looking great against Karen's K-3 but the 8 on the flop seals our fates, giving me over half the chips and Karen has around 500 left   

The last hand is immaterial as I can take 1st place if I fold, which I duly do... but Alex takes out Karen to get an extra point to add to his assured 2nd place

It was very well played by all and certainly was a lot of exciting action going on....  can't wait until next time :-)