Mike's Blog: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Poker: Financial results for September 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 : +$ 1045.59
Black Belt Poker: +$ 150.41 (-£94.82)
Live play : £ 0.00

September was my worse month for a long time regards playing time, but the time I spent seems to have paid off :) I had a bad dose of Man Flu (again!) holiday and various trips to hospital for the Wife's ailments, meaning there were only 8 days I played any Poker at all, with all of it being online.

Pokerstars was always going to be about WCOOP and managed a substantial cash (http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/poker-wcoop-2012-summary.html) The only other Pokerstars was a few small stakes "messing around" MTT in which I didn't get anywhere. Didn't play any 8 game cash at all this month.

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (+£108.06 overall)
PLO ($0.50) 190 hands +£108.06

Tournament Results (-£13.24 overall)

1x MTT £0.00
2x 2 seat STT -£13.24

Reflect

What can I say..... I played hardly any games this month, although my WCOOP win was a marathon session. I'm not upset as I was not well so would have been silly to have forced myself to play in the state I was, and the holiday was well earned break. Maybe I got the better results due to not playing so much as normal ?

Certainly pleased with my PLO win, but was just one winning session and the profit boiled down to one huge hand that I won, so can't assume I am a winning player just yet !

Overall, well pleased with the results, but just a little disappointed about the volume achieved

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 achieve the numbers for Cash games in September

* 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

Friday, September 28, 2012

General: Bedroom redecoration

Since we moved house in Sept 2009, I have never liked the main bedroom decor, nor the fact that we cannot fit in a King Size bed. Being fundamentally lazy, have not got around to doing anything about it… although we have been doing up the Kitchen and Bathroom of course.

Photos below of the two bedrooms, after clearing out the rooms but before work started

We finally decided we needed the bigger bed, so to achieve this we need to rip out all the fitted cupboards… which of course means a redecorate of the room. Having got some quotes, thought we may as well do up the small back bedroom as well as the main bedroom… so are basically ripping everything out back to bare bones and re-doing everything in these two bedrooms !

The schedule is for two weeks of stripping back, changing electrics, then re-plastering walls and ceiling, followed by new coving, skirting boards and paint everything in sight. Then we have a week of no activity (due to us changing our mind on when to put in the carpets!) in which we will probably put up the new curtains, then the next week new bedroom furniture goes in, then the following week the carpets go down and finally our new bed will arrive the week after.

The first stage is being done by Altered Images, who we have used a couple of times in the past and always done a good job. we are now one week into the job and the plastering has just been completed. So far so good Smile

Photos below show current progress as at Friday 28th September 2012 (not much to look at !)

The first (Decorating) stage should be completed towards the end of next week, so will update then.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Holiday: Aldeburgh

We haven’t been to Aldeburgh for ages, in fact the last time I can find is September 2008 !so it was nice to get back there for a weeks stay. This time we decided to stay in B&B so picked Ocean House, right on the sea front.

The journey from home to my Mum & Dad’s was pretty grim, being Saturday morning I suppose, but then the journey from there to Aldeburgh was no problems and an easy run.

The B&B was OK in itself. I was a little disappointed by the quality of the rooms, but we did have a fantastic 180 degree view of the sea front and the hospitality was great as well.

To our delight, the weather was sunny and dry all week… albeit a little chilly when in the wind, so who needs to go to Costa Del Sol for the sun…..

Saturday night we ended up in the Fish & Chip restaurant “The Upper Deck” If you go to Aldeburgh, you definitely want to end up with a Fish and Chip meal somewhere along the way (or several times preferably Smile )

Sunday we had a lovely Sunday dinner with Margaret & Robin plus all the family. I ended up having the equivalent of 2 dinners and 4 puddings so was a little bit full !

Monday we went to Sutton Hoo. Having been told there was not much to see there, our expectations were low, however was very interesting and spent longer there than we thought. Being National Trust, was a cheap day out for us… well until we hit the cafe and shop ! Then went for a walk around Woodbridge and had some lunch. In the evening we went to the towns American Diner and had a surprisingly nice meal. Found out it was part of the same group that owned the Fish & Chip shops, so made more sense.

Tuesday was shopping day in Ipswich. After finding a tea shop for our mid morning cuppa, went round the shops first. To my surprise I ended up buying a load of clothes… with Lynn trailing me round the rails and the changing rooms… and Lynn bought nothing ! Talk about a change of roles Smile We then went to the waterfront and had a lovely relaxing meal in “Bistro on the Quay” Was good value as well as lovely food. After more mooching round town, we stopped for a very gooey cake and coffee before heading back to Aldeburgh and went to the cinema to see “Shadow Dancer” I wouldn’t have chosen to see the film, had it not been the only one on… but it did have good reviews. The film was quite interesting, but a little confusing in places. Overall was OK.

Wednesday was our walk around Aldeburgh day. It’s not a huge town, but when you meander along and pop in a few shops, it takes quite a while to make progress. Of course, had to stop at one of the coffee shops for our mid morning snack….. and I managed to drop most of my coffee in my lap ! Luckily had bought some trousers in Ipswich to use later on…. At the end of the high street is the traditional bakers where we bought our sandwiches for our lunch, which we then ate on the sea front. In the wind it was very cold, despite the sun, but when sheltered it was gloriously warm so had a nice pit stop. After our lunch, walked up to the Martello Tower then had to go for a nice cup of tea as was very chilly in the wind. Lynn wasn’t feeling well, so went back to the room and I read whilst Lynn had a sleep. We nearly didn’t go to my Aunt’s for dinner but in the end was glad we did as was another wonderful meal and I managed two dinners and three puddings so over ate again !!

Thursday saw Lynn still not well and had a rough night, so decided to go home early. Was a great shame but in the end was the right choice.

Despite the early end to the holiday, it was great break and was glad we finally managed to get to Aldeburgh again to see everyone.

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Poker: WCOOP 2012 summary

My original plan was to go for 6 events out of the WCOOP 2012 schedule, but due to going on holiday this was reduced to trying for three events

Having finished the events I was planning, these are my results for the series:

Event	Entry Cost	Satellite	Main Event	Total Cost	Return	Profit/Loss
#11 NL Hold'em (Heads-Up)	$215	Report	Report	$0	$0	$0
#18 NL Hold'em	$109	Report	Report	$76	$1095.49	$1019.49
#32 8-Game	$320	Report	n/a	$95	$0	-$95
TOTAL	$644			$171	$1095.49	$924.49

I am pretty pleased with my result Smile

Event #18 could have been a lot better if one of my last three flips fell in my favour, but can’t really moan too much, as did get some decent flops and no really outrageous suck outs against me

It is sorely tempting to buy in direct to the 8-Game now, as really was hoping to play, but will resist the temptation as is a too big buy in for me.

Overall them a very profitable and pleasing 2012 WCOOP campaign. Gives my Poker Fund a boost and will let me play other events, so a great result.

Poker: WCOOP Event #18–results

It's time for my last WCOOP event, namely Event #18 NL Hold'em $750k Guaranteed ($109 buy-in) after I had satellited in

There are 4435 entrants and 585 get paid, so will hopefully be a long night.... my first objective is to beat the 3 hour late registration :)

We start with 5000 chips and have got 20 minute levels, so my strategy will be fairly standard "tight is right" approach to begin with, although will be wanting to see cheap flops with some speculative hands as well.

We're off and the early hands see a lot of raising and not much calling.... I saw 4 flops with and played passively mostly, but ended up outdrawn 3 times (sigh) Did hit trips on the river after very dodgy flop, so couldn't bet it and won small pot. Just before end level get 9-9 and call tight player raise and cBet on 662 flop, the turn is 9 so call his turn bet and A on river is good for me as he calls my be... at last I've had some decent luck

End L1 : 768 from 5662 remaining (6751 chips against average of 5273)

First hand in next level, get 5-5 and hit trips on flop, but don't get any value. Fold K-5 (as you do) then board comes 6-K-K-6, then back to normal passive play with mediocre hands and start being outdrawn again :)

End L2: 1325/6345 (6828/5596)

Managed to three barrel bluff into a station Seemed a good spot, but cost me 1/3 my stack :( What happened to my playing tight ? :)

End L3: 2889/6540 (5586/6029)

Huge hand and doubled up with AsKd Called 3 bet from tight big stack, Flop Ad6d4d villian led out so I raise and he shoves with AcQc 5d hits so its all mine :)

Limp QQ early, raise from late and 3 bet. Call 3 bet but original raised shoves (Huge overshove) Debate what he could have here, decide he is tight range so fold.

End L4: 1186/6266 (9342/6728)
End L5: 869/5671 12271/7796
End L6: 1251/5030 (12196/9313)

Key Hand: AA on SB Raise and call, so 3 bet. Get call then all-in shove I call and other player folds I'm up against QQ A on flop stedies the nerves and I'm doubled up again :)

End L7: 427/4096 (21681/11789)

Horrah, registration is closed. There are 9959 entrants in the end.. 1260 get paid

End L8: 707/3332 (21231/14944)

77 < of shorty in BB with JJ

33 > AA vs KK ! Got it in 543 flop Tripled up !!

End L9: 138/2474 (43047/20241)
End L10: 343/1988 (37742/25073)

Aiming to stay > 39500 which is average when in the money. Doing OK so far !

End L11: 388/1564 (41730/31879)
End L12: 597/1336 (33555/37299)

Made the money !! :)

End L13: 331/1184 (53027/42127)
End L14: 391/896 (51190/55699)

A3cc > T8ss on AdKcQc,2h,3h board

Big hand. speculative call 87dd from SB J95 flop, c/c 6 turn, c/c 8 river c/allin Villian tank folds

End L15: 164/721 (93467/69255)
End L16: 251/558 (80717/89238)

Took a hit BvB Q8 < 66

End L17: 323/445 (59532/112404)

AQ> AJ phew....

96dd > QJss on A85dd Qh Td board (my over pot bet called down on river)

End L18: 45/355 (249370/140267)
End L19: 65/287 (251370/174108)

AA > AKcc allin pre, doubled up

End L20: 39/226 (351401/222299)

AQ > AJ on AQ7, 2,K board WOW!!

End L22: 27/140 (532237/355678)

66 < KQ allin pre Down to 30 BB

End L23: 54/116 (357150/429267)
End L24: 54/96 (405292/518697)

Finished 89th place at 1:25am $1095.49

Friday, September 07, 2012

Poker: Home Tourney–September 2012

The great thing about this league is that every game is different. This month some of the regulars were missing, but Roger and Martin turned up, giving a great different mix to shake things up.

When we play the £10 special, people also play differently than the £1 rebuy, although someone perhaps should have told Andy….. I had an early tangle with him in the first level after flopping straight against his two pair and Andy decided to re-raise me and shove all-in to my 3 bet. This set me up for a nice relaxed game and was able to pick my spots and take a more aggressive line in places.

The cards were actually pretty brutal though, with Roger A-Q hitting against my A-K (had to mention that Smile ) Jon hit a flush on the river a couple of times, and other people were sucking out all over the place. Certainly made for a lively table and the chips were whizzing about pretty rapidly on my table.

Andy’s bad run continued with his second chance chips, and was out the game first and on his way home, even before a late arriving Sean and Karen had turned up !

With the 20 minute blind levels, most people were pleased to see the extra chips after the second level and everyone made the first break safely. With a few more blind increases some of the stacks were looking a little short, which is what prompted Derek to over –shove on a Q-T-6 flop against me. I had limped in with Q-J so was trying to decide if Derek had trips or maybe just middle pair. I decided he didn’t want the call so did and was happy to see him with Q-8 (he did want me to call after all Smile ) With neither improving, Derek was the next man out.

We’re now on the final table bubble and Steve W is very short stacked. Jon shoves on him in a BvB confrontation but Jon’s A-x beats Steve’s Q-x suited and we have our final table. As it happens, Bill is also all-in on the other table with his A-T behind Jock’s A-K so we are down to 7 players already

On the final table, myself and Jon are the biggest stacks, Roger, Martin and Sean are shortest.

On the second hand, Roger limps fro late position and decides to get all-in against Martin’s raise. Martin shows A-K against Roger Qh-9h but any hope he had is dashed by A on the flop and another A on the turn so Roger is out and Martin has some chips

With 3 BB left, Sean calls in the SB against Karen’s min raise from the Big blind. The last chip goes in on the flop, but Karen prevails and takes out Sean

With every one having a fair number of chips with 5 left, it takes until the next blind level of 1000/500 for people to start getting busy again. Jon is getting short after some bad luck and decides to shove against Jock’s min raise of his BB. Sadly his A-4 is no match for Jock’s A-K and Jon is the next one to fall.

Despite putting up a valiant effort, Martin’s stack had been dwindling again and soon fall’s foul of Jock’s late surge, leaving the three remaining players battling it out for the top spots.

All three have similar stack’s but with blinds just going up to 2k/4k and the average stack 22k, there is not a lot of wiggle room. for anyone.

I’m in the BB, Jock min raises and Karen shoves so I duck out. Jock calls but is behind. Don’t remember the hand now… but Karen takes it down leaving us heads up.

I’m in the SB with 4 BB in total and Karen has a huge chip lead. I decide to shove my 5d-4d but Karen insta-calls her Q-J and hit Q on the flop to seal my fate and take down the victory

Well done to Karen and gg to all. It was great fun as normal and seemed a lot more action packed this time for some reason.

It’ll all be different again next month, so hope to see you there

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Poker: WCOOP Event #32 update

Despite it being my favourite game on my WCOOP 2012 schedule, sadly I didn’t manage to win a seat in Event #32 8-Game Sad smile

The financials are a bit bleak:

Event Buy-in = $320
Cost of attempting entry = $95 (4x satellites)
Profit/Loss = -$95

It is very disappointing not to make it through the sats, but it doesn’t make financial sense to keep trying. My third attempt was closest, and did feel I should’ve done better than a min cash in that game, but it seems it was just not meant to be for me in this event this time.

Will doubtless seek solace in either the 8-Game cash or maybe find some other MTT to take part in Smile

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Poker: WCOOP #11 results

At last, it's time for my first WCOOP game ! After securing my seat, I’ve been looking forward to the actual event itself.

It's a bit daunting to see 2159 players and know it could all be over in 5 mins, or last until the early hours (and continue tommorow night if I get lucky!) but am up for the challenge and will give it my best shot. Having played HU SCOOP last year, I kind of know what to expect as well. 256 places pay out so got some work to do...

First round starts at 19:00 and once again I get lucky and do not get an opponent, so through to round 2 already :)

Starting stack is 5000 and with 10 minute levels, there is going to be a fair amount of play each round, so happy to be able to skip the first round.

Level 2 starts at 20:15 with 2048 players. Finished 20:35 winning after a solid performance, quite comfortable in the end with never going below starting stack. Opponent was aggro pre flop and on the flop, but was capable of betting turn then folding to reraise, which I did quite often :) Glad to get through for sure.... roll on the next level, but it's gonna get tougher for sure.

Level 3 has 1024 players and start match at 21:45 My opponent is a lot more aggressive and I'm getting a bit beaten up. Manage to fight back a bit, but sadly don't last all that long and am knocked out when my 9-8 is overcome by 5-4 after about 10 minutes, after T-8-5 flop was followed by 4 on the turn and 2 river when the money went in (I was a bit short stacked by then as well) Was outclassed for sure, but didn't get much luck either.

Was a bit disappointed to be out on the second match, but was quite fun overall. Hopefully can do better in my next WCOOP game on Saturday

Can't complain too much on the financial side though:

Event Buy-in               = $215
Actual cost of entry =    $0
Cash won             =    $0
Profit/Loss          =    $0

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