Poker: Financial results for August 2012

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50 Full Ring, 700 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max, all with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars      :  -$ 199.81
Black Belt Poker:  -$ 257.97 (-£162.63)
Live play       :  -£ 176.87

Overall a horrendous looking month, and to be honest it is :)  although not quite as bad as it seems...

August was another one of those "funny" months, with holidays, new hobby taking up an evening during the week and a touch of man flu at the end of the month, all made it seem disjointed again.   It's difficult to keep a steady Poker rhythm in the summer with so much going on !

The live games were my normal Casino trip to the £35+5 game, but also BBP DTD Live II.   BBP was a great weekend away and actually my longest run in a BBP live event.  Written about it here already (http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/holiday-nottingham.html) so won't dwell too much.   The normal Casino game also saw me have a decent run, but a bad beat did a lot of damage from which I never recovered. 

Pokerstars had more activity than normal, with my two new projects.... the WCOOP (http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/poker-wcoop-2012my-poker-project-for.html) and also EPT aspirations (http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/poker-ept-season-9-adventure.html)

My 8 Game cash is still pretty steady, showing $1.17 profit for the month.   This was despite one heavy losing session on the $4 tables early in the month, so recovered well in the end.

My WCOOP activities have seen $131 "invested" into satellites with two events secured (worth $324)  My WCOOP activities are all next week, so will report back separately.  Overall though, a good investment I feel

The EPT is a more speculative "investment", having spent $125.60 chasing the dream so far.    EPT Sanremo is no longer in consideration, so will be trying to qualify for EPT PCA (Jan 2013) later in the year

I also had time to mess around with a couple of other MTT tourneys, which actually netted a $55.62 profit, when I fluked 2nd place in a 5 draw Pot Limit tournament !   Was a lot of fun though.

Rolling 3 month total for 8 game cash is -$138.56, again due to the heavy loss in June... next month should shoot back up hopefully !

8 Game wins/losses by game type for August:
2-7        +70.50
Limit HE   -20.98
Omaha HL   -50.90
Razz       -14.50
Stud        -9.66
Stud HL    +22.46
NL HE      +21.47
PLO        -17.22

Razz and Limit HE seems to give consistent losses for me, with the other disciplines being a bit up and down.   Will be interesting to see if I can get more consistent in these areas.

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£81.15 overall)
NL Hold' em ($0.50)  114 hands   +£99.05
PLO         ($0.50)  363 hands  -£190.92
PLO8        ($0.20)  103 hands   +£10.72

Tournament Results (-£81.48 overall)

7x  MTT            -£3.53
2x   2 seat STT   -£20.06
5x   6 seat STT   -£43.87
1x  10 seat STT   -£14.02

Reflect

For Pokerstars, I'm still happy with my 8 game cash, but still got a lot of work to do on some areas.  These areas seem to change from month to month, but Razz and Limit HE seem to be definite areas where I need to focus now.  The EPT and WCOOP have been pleasant distractions, but have taken up some of my resources.  

For BBP, I have been distracted this month (again) and feel like I am lacking focus and discipline at the moment.   I have my moments, but am nowhere near being consistent.   The low level of sessions/hands played shows by how much I am losing the plot.  Although the actual numbers for my monetary results are pretty poor, the Omaha cash results were down to around 5 bad hands (some of which I should have won :) ) and the STT results are meaningless with the number played so can't really read to much into the one month.

Looking back, I've been moaning about being distracted by outside events since May, so really need to focus on... getting focused :)

Having said that, September will definitely be another bitty month, as have got holidays, two weeks of bedroom re-fitting and WCOOP to deal with !!   Fingers crossed.....

Adjust

- Try to get back to my normal routine and get some more volume in
- Study more on Razz and Limit Hold' em to improve 8 game cash results
- Keep studying Omaha and Omaha HL
- Rework Poker schedule as will miss Tuesday nights going forward

Performance against 2012 targets

* Keep to my revised Poker Plan
Didn't quite achieve all the numbers for Cash games in August

* Play BBP London Live and UKIPT Brighton tournaments
Played two BBP Live events this year

* Aim for break even month on month on all cash tables
NLHE near enough, PLO OK apart from odd poor month!, PLO8 inconsistent!

* Use learning tools and resources to learn and improve my NLHE, Omaha and PLO8 cash and tournament play
Am putting in the effort to do some learning.

* Avoid entering any BBP grading process !
Managed it this month :)

* Win a BBP league :-)
Looks like will be consistently missing Tuesday nights going forward

References
January 2012 results http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/poker-financial-results-for-january.html
February 2012 results http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/poker-financial-results-for-february.html
March 2012 results http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/poker-financial-results-for-march-2012.html
April 2012 results http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/poker-financial-results-for-april-2012.html
May 2012 results http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/poker-financial-results-for-may-2012.html
June 2012 results http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/poker-financial-results-for-june-2012.html
July 2012 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/poker-financial-results-for-july-2012.html

Poker: WCOOP 2012–Event 18 seat

I was happy to get my first event bagged up early on, in my quest for glory in WCOOP 2012.. but have also now got myself a cheap seat in event 18 as well ($109 No Limit Hold’em – $750’000 Guaranteed)

My first attempt was $38 Hyper Turbo 6-seat STT in which I bubbled (bad beat as well )  so then tried a more traditional $5 MTT but didn’t get close finishing, being 31st from 74.   My latest attempt was another $38 hyper-turbo and was successful this time   

I didn’t get anything playable for a couple of rounds, which turned out good in some ways as there was someone all-in pretty much every hand.  We were down to 4 players by the time I shoved, but managed to double up.   Held tight again and got another double up, then finally shoved into the short stack with KQ when down to three players and he called with JT and I took him out.  In this format, the top 2 get a seat, so job done for a total of $76.  Not a huge saving on the $109 entry, but still felt good to win the seat…

I’m no longer going to try for Event #19 (same day as Event #18) and am now on holiday for the second week, so am only left with Event 38 $320 8-game to try and satellite into.   

Can’t wait for the start of the games themselves now….

Poker: EPT season 9 adventure

You know how it is… you review the EPT schedule for the new season and start thinking “well, I could attend those dates in Sanremo….” and before you know it, you’re planning which PokerStars Satellites to register for !!

 

Yes, I have decided to add an EPT entry to my Poker objectives

With the poor schedule of the UKIPT tour this year, I have tried dabbling with EPT qualification before, with both the PCA and the EPT London events

This time round, I am going to probably try two or maybe three of the 33 Euro feeders for each event I am interested in.

There are currently satellites running for EPT Sanremo (Oct 2012), so that is first on my list…. then will probably try later in the year for EPT PCA (Jan 2013), EPT London (Mar 2013) and maybe even EPT Grand Final in Monaco (May 2013)   I’m sure the other locations are delightful, but will need to restrict myself to a sub set of events, else my bankroll will disappear to quickly !

Just hope I am not overstretching myself, but may as well take a punt at it, as would certainly be a huge deal for me just to attend!

Poker: WCOOP 2012–Event 11 seat in the bag

Having set out my target events, the first satellite I played was for a seat in Event WCOOP-11: $215 NL Hold’em [Heads-Up, $250K Guaranteed]

As it happened, the sat entry was 400 FPP (Frequent Player Points) rebuy, so is effectively a free entry from my point of view.  I ran like God and not only had A-A 4 times, and numerous other premium hands, but was hitting flops all over the place as well !    I did need a second buy-in but by the break was chip leader by some margin so didn’t need the add-on.  

Being a turbo event it was never going to last long, but we went from 21 runners down to 2 in about an hour.  The heads up battle saw me with 2:1 chip deficit and about 20 BB so it was always an up hill struggle, but my opponent was over aggressive and in the end I had the 2:1 chip lead.  The final hand was lucky for me, when the villain shoved for 10 BB from button and I decided his range was so wide could call with J-7… his A-K was way ahead but 7 on the turn was enough to see me take the seat directly into the event.    Woooohooo

Just hope that is not my “one time” used up !    Roll on the next satellite and hope I get some more run good….

Poker: WCOOP 2012–my Poker project for September !

Its been a while since I last played a WCOOP event, September 2009 to be exact… mainly because the buy-ins are to big for me so have to satellite in

The WCOOP 2012 schedule was published a week or so ago, so have decided to target some events for trying to satellite into.

The events that I want to play in, and can make the dates for are:

Event	Date	Time (UK)	Description
11	Wed Sep 05	19:00	$215  NL Hold'em Heads-Up
18	Sat Sep 08	16:00	$109  NL Hold'em **
19	Sat Sep 08	18:00	$320  NL Hold'em **
32	Wed Sep 12	19:00	$320  8 Game
41	Sat Sep 15	20:00	$320  HORSE
48	Tue Sep 18	16:00	$320  Mixed NL Hold'em/ PLO
54	Thu Sep 20	11:00	$320  NL Hold'em

** would play one or the other.. not both !

My key events are really the 8 game and the HORSE as really enjoy these events and have some previous success to boast of but would be happy to get into any of the above events, provided can be done cheaply!

Holiday: Nottingham

Having decided to play the Black Belt Poker Nottingham Live II event at Dusk Til Dawn (DTD), it was inevitable we were going to incorporate visiting my sister and general few days off into the equation.

We booked into the City Centre Premier Inn (London Road) after a leisurely drive up Thursday afternoon.    It was lovely and sunny, but unfortunately they do not have air conditioning, so the room was a bit warm!   Otherwise was very comfortable and about what you would expect for the price

The main attraction of this particular hotel was it’s proximity to the city centre, which we took advantage of soon as we checked in.   Nottingham seems to have a lot of decent shops, cake shops and several casino’s, night clubs, etc… so lots to see and do.     Thursday night was spent at my sisters who cooked a lovely dinner.  Didn’t stop to late though as had “work” to do on Friday.

Friday we had huge breakfast which lasted me the whole day !   Lee joined us at the hotel about midday, then it was time to drop Lynn at my sisters for a girly shopping day, while Lee and I went to check in at DTD for the Poker.      The Poker started at 2pm and was very well run event.  The structure was pretty good,  but was a shame we had so few runners on the first day.    Despite that, I had a decent game and managed to knock out a bounty player with my A-K v As-Js and earned $100.   Later on I got involved in a couple of hands when trying to be more aggressive and ended up calling all a 4 bet all-in with A-Q but was against Q-Q   I failed to hit my A and was knocked out around 9pm.   It was the longest I’ve lasted in a BBP game though, so an improved performance than previous attempts

Saturday was our anniversary.   We spent to day in the City Centre walking around the shops and eating cakes.    Then went out for a lovely meal with sister and husband at Browns.  

Sunday we woke up late!! then went to my sisters again.    Had a long walk in country park, then had leisurely BBQ which was very nice and relaxing.

Monday we had another huge breakfast before having to drive home, but was easy journey so no problem.

Even though I didn’t do great at the Poker, the whole long weekend worked out well, so was a great success and very much enjoyed by all.

Poker: Home Tourney–August 2012

Having set everything up and just about to start the clock, a minor emergency at home meant I had to dash back and sort it out, but was back before the end of the first level.   Sitting back down, started to wonder why I bothered as a run of unplayable cards followed for a couple of rounds. 

The normal adventures soon followed, when my A-T hit Axx flop and managed to persuade Bill and Andy to call a decent size bet on the flop.  The blank turn looked good for me, so got it all in but Bill hit his flush draw on the river (of course) and it was a double buy in for me

It was fairly quiet after that until the last hand before the break, when I raised A-J, Jon shoved his short stack and Lee called.   Being quite short myself, and the last buy in upon us, decided to go all in as well.   Lee had A-J as well and we ended up chopping when Jon didn’t hit with his junk hand.  At the break the average was around 5.8k and I was on about 3.8k

The first hand after the break saw the first casualty as Steve W got the wooden spoon by Alex.    The next hand saw Andy go by Bill and five minutes later we have our final table when Sean is busted, wow that was quick !

Jon is the short stack on the final table and has the Big Blind as well, but a few hands in it is Bill who gets his chips in bad and is next out and off to the pool table.

I’ve been nursing a shrinking stack, but although I can’t remember the hand, managed to triple up to give me over 10k chips with the average around 8k

Darren had been sitting quietly with a small stack for a while, but wasn’t able to maintain his momentum from previous months and was out in 7th.    

I got a decent run of cards, and also got a little more aggressive and managed to start taking down some pots to chip up a little, but Jock was also applying the pressure and took out Karen.  

My key hand was in the SB against Lee in the BB.  Blinds were 2k/1k by now and we both had around 15k stacks.  Folded to me with Qc-7c so decided to raise to 5k, hoping for the blinds really but Lee shoved.   I took a few moments to think it over, but knew I was calling with Lee showing 3-3   Sadly for me, I didn’t hit anything and I was still in the game, but with only 100 chips !

With me rooting for him, Jock took out another player when Alex shoved over his raise with A-J but Jock’s 4-4 held

I managed to triple up then double up in the blinds, but the miracle come back didn’t get off the ground when my 5-6 in the SB was overcome by the puny 4-3 of Lee in the BB when he hit his 3.   At least I got my money in good

Jock had a big chips lead but the battle for 2nd was furious.  The chips were flying around, but in the end Jon was busted by Lee

With only three hands left to play, Lee’s chip deficit was too much to overcome and Jock took a well earned victory

wp all and see you all next time