If you're not getting it in bad... you're not getting it in enough (Shaun Deeb)

Well... three MTTs today that looked pretty good starting at 12noon. The MSOP5 ($16.50, satellited in on one try for $3), PokerTube $11 buyin w $500added, & Cardschat's last game on UB.
Was doing good in all of them, & feel I'm playing my A game for sure, BUT perhaps I need to work on getting it in bad more often?

Today was just FULL of badbeats for me - - >> getting it in real good, or getting villain to committ their stack after I flop a set, & then losing to runner runner bs. A few hands today that were just unbelievable.. I guess I'm supposed to like it that they play soooooo bad.

Busto hands today, some were standard, others were not.
PokerTube I go out with KK < AK
Cardschat AQ < JJ (1 off bubble)
MSOP5 A6s 14bb shove <<< K8s (< this f'n guy was just f'n awful. He'd actually had a final table in the $1K Monday on Fulltilt 3wks. ago but can't imagine what that game was like.. cuz he's the shits... totally clueless).
Another wild hand in MSOP5... have notes on player from past, knowing he's a HUGE f'n spewdonk.. he raises 4x midlevels in CO... I ship in BB w AQ putting him allin & he SNAPS with Q9s.. wtf?.. yay me.. til' he hits it that is, whoa. How do they do it? It never ceasess to amaze me at how bad so many players are willing to get it in with. It's a real joke at times, esp. when you get it in way ahead & bink.. out you go.
I guess playing 3 mtts, & getting it in good doesn't necessitate even getting in the money in any of them. It is frustating though, even after coming off of two small wins recently on Carbon (I f'n hate that site anyways).

Sunday May30 LOTS of Priv tourneys!

Played a TON of priv. tourneys & ran real bad in them in late levels.
Blue Lizard on Carbon was no different and a hand I get in early levels is good example.
Villain - had prior history with them - aggrospew, loves to bluff, way overvalues hands, etc.
I raise a limper with JJ, he calls with K9s.. flop is 9xx I bet 2/3 pot, he calls.. I check a brick on turn & he overbets POT (< plan is working) I ship it.. he calls.. then he hits 9 on river, lol. This left me with around 300chips but I didn't give up. Came back & took it down!!! Had some crushing blows on the bubble too, ie. ship it with TT SBvBB, BB calls with 55 & hits quads, lol. (They ended up bubbling though later, getting KO'd by me, awe... sweet justice, lol.... I was left with ~3bb's after my 80/20 BvB got donked, but put the anthill in alot (wasn't quite a 'pile' at that point).. and these guys were wayyyyyyy toooo tight as a fault - - nobody wanted to bubble. THen, to follow my pattern I ship otb but this time with AA.. same guy who'd donked me earlier snapcalls with AQ.. & my AA holds... weee!!

MSOP3 umm... not so good, lol

Well, MSOP3 ...ah.. not so good.
I played 4 satellites for this tourney, all the morning prior to it starting & all at the same time (along with some other games). Closing in on the bubble in all of them, I only needed to cash in 1 of them to break-even and it was looking like I was actually going to win a ticket in ALL of them.. YES!!!... Then I went out just off of the bubble in all of them... whoa!!

Then I get onto a shit table... hey that's okay.. I'll play super tight. The first hand I finally raise up with is AK from EP & BB defends. I fire a cbet & he calls.. I give up on the turn & check it down. He shows 62 in BB.. & called when he pr'd his 2 on the flop, LOL.

Awhile later I have this hand (I know.. no more whining on here, ha ha ha).. this one is funny though (sort of).

MSOP starts today! (CC Titan freeroll)

MSOP#1 started off today. 5 1/2 hrs. & I finish in 509th of 12,389

Cardschat Titan $1k freeroll today... f'n donkfest that game is but ez money too. Went out w ok stack just itm AK < K4 (& 4 hits on river, lol).

What's this blog really about? ... let's get some positive energy happening

I was noticing that my blog here has been turning into a badbeat/whiner blog for the past while. Sure I ran real bad in priv. tourneys in Feb. & March of this year, & yah I've had a bad run in the reg. MTTs in May.... but this blog wasn't supposed to be about whining.
I was thinking about it... you know.. what's this blog really all about? I believe initially I set out starting it thinking that if I wanted to refer some people to it I could/would,.. other players starting out & maybe helping them to avoid some of the pitfalls along the way OR more so, how to benefit from playing micro donkaments to build up a poker bankroll (and of course to keep track of my own progress). So I will try to change things around a bit from here on in.

Positive energy easier to come by today as I took down a 1st place in the Cardshcat Carbon buyin MTT, for $105.00 (which was nice). I finished 1 off the bubble in the CC Bodog buyin (only my 2nd time playing it as I'm barely rolled for anything on that site & blew most of it playing priv. super satellites to WSOP).

So.... what am I doing to improve upon my game today (or... 'lately'). I've been reading my way thru 'Winning Poker Tournaments - One Hand At A Time - Vol.2' (great book btw.. really liking it, only wishing it had a couple thousand more pages...perhaps I'll start spending more time on 2+2 in their MTT & STT HH section & far less time on Cardshcat & other sites... although a good thing I've done lately is to step away from the Railbirds site as it's been a complete waste of my time & if anything just brings on negative energy (it was okay for me a few yrs. ago but not now)).

Also trying to look after other areas of my life - work, recreation, & health (although not doing the greatest in the health dept.). Needing to hook up with a social network too instead of just hangin' with my g/f all the time. One day at a time. It's better today than it was last week.

I've decided to make the most out of the micro buyin 'cash-added' MTT's again. Hey, they're not 'great' games but for sure they're better than stuff at similiar buyin levels online & one can't argue about the added prize money in them. They're a win-win situation. A couple of very good ones coming up this next week ($5 & $10 buyins with $500 & $1,000 added both on Fulltilt, a $300 added on Pokerstars, a $1,000 freeroll on Titan & many more... all in the next week).

Then in July I will look to see about moving money off of some smaller sites & moving it over to Fulltilt so I can be sufficiently rolled for bigger buyins. Who knows, maybe I'll leave some on Doyles & Titan, giving me an oppurtunity to play in some other MTTs on occassion. Carbon though has got to go (leave just enough on there to play the priv. games).

That's all for now, MSOP series coming up on Fulltilt starting this weekend. Should be a donkfest, lol.

idk about playing any of the reg. micro MTT's & 180's

I don't know about this idea about playing the micro MTTs & 180's on Stars. I mean sure it's great that there's just a TON of morons who'll pay you off in a BIG WAY if you just play complete ABC TAG poker (which is boring as hell... but not as bad when multi-tabling), but again today same shit... get deep in pretty much all of them to go out with a donking. This one in the pic., going deep in a 180.. I shove here in SB & guess what fucknuts "SNAP"calls with?.. QTo ftw!!... 'gg' me. ridiculous.

$11 mtt.. with decent stack I 3bet MP raise with JJ.. LP 17bb stack shoves, I'm priced in obviously, he has KJo & takes it down. I'm left with 12bb... few hands later HJ raises I ship 99 otb & run into AA.. bink.. outta there.

Once in awhile... no biggy... but now ongoing for 3wks. with only a few shitty little wins... it's being to gnaw on my patience. I would much prefer to be playing at around $25&up but that ain't gonna happen for now... although I could take a run at a handful of MTTs on Titan as I'm still rolled on there for the $25's quite easily and there's a few of them running at around the same time in the afternoons.
I will persevere onward.
MSOP donkaments coming up soon... damn.. I KNOW what they're gonna be like, lol.

Back to the ol' f'n private donkaments I guess... sigh.. Hey.. better than having to play this shit all of the time. I don't think I could do it.
Switching over to ring is beginning to sound like an idea. OR maybe a different game altogether?

May24 CC UB 7th, hell with some micro donkaments on Fulltilt

A fairly decent Cardschat game on UB. Nothing unusual aside from an easy double up just off the bubble & then not winning a race with 7players left. I find it really odd the way some of the players have a tendancy to raise up REALLY BIG preflop, with both BigPr's & stuff like TT/JJ, AQ,etc.
I played a handful of micro donkaments on Fulltilt this afternoon (4 of them). How bad could it be? Well.. REALLY BAD!!! I went out just off the bubble in two of them, getting it in with the best of it in them AK < AQ, QQ Played a few last week on Doyles and figured.. 'why not on Fulltilt too?' Cuz it's f'n ridiculous.. that's why. I've never seen sooo many bad players on a table. I can't bring myself to play ABC donkey poker with these morons ever again. I've got to just take shots at marginally bigger buyins & although that's gone for the shits lately with zero cashes in SCOOP MiniFtops & MiniECOOP... I will try some more with the $26donkaments being the cheapest I'll play from now on (the rest are pathetic!). The $5's & $10's on Stars seem way better. Maybe they are?
Damn I'm thinking I need a backer now cuz this is getting really tedious.
NEED to keep trying to pick up some more wins via the private donkaments.. sigh.. and have had a real bad run of it in them earlier this year (still up over $900 in the ones I have been playing so I guess I can't complain too much).

Maybe I'll give the satellites a go for awhile?? THe $14 to Fifty-Fifty & the $14 super satellits to the $750K ($55.. basically 1 in 4).. might be a go. Same with the $6 Double Deuce satty.
Can't see the MSOP tourneys being worth playing. Will be more of the same kind of shit I was playing in today.

May 22 CC Guys vs Gals 4th of 32/ PokerTube PowerPoker

Out in 4th when dj113 raises 4x UTG as CL, I shove AK in SB w 14bb.. his TT flops a set & out I go. I never understand why these priv. tourney players start raising 4 & 5x on Final Table?? Today I saw it backfire on a few of them & at other times it's like they're playing their hands face up (at least ones I've taken note of... which is many if not most of them). On final table I was sitting in 1st of 9left & then folded some marginal spots where I was pretty sure to be ahead of player's shove raneg (ie. in BB w A7o.. 2 SS's on table & BTN shoves 8bb & I fold).
Worst play I witnessed was.. first hand of final table & 2nd biggest stack (many at or under 10bb's), shoves 30+bb in EP with QQ... losing a TON of value on hands you beat I would think.. & suredly wanting to get in a race with a SS, or to have them dominated & KO them (nobody's stack is of a size where they'll be flatting much... which is a tendancy amongst the weak priv. tourney players... calling when they should be folding or shoving due to stack sizes & table dynamics in general.. ie. bubble, shortstacks on table, etc.)... anyways, instead of a typical value open-raise, they open-ship 30+bb's with QQ.. and 3rd biggest stack (~28bb's) instacalls otb with KK.. & KK rivers quads ftw!!.. leaving the other player crippled & out on next hand. TERRIBLE PLAY!

PokerTube $5 buyin with $500added on PowerPoker. I'm sitting in decent shape with 13players left, top10 get paid. Last place even gets 7x buyin, 1st = $225.00 I shove AQo in CO & BB wakes up with QQ.. flop brings a Q...I'm phucked, lol. sigh.... close on that one.

Goals for rest of May 2010

Goals for the rest of May. Planning on putting in a bit of micro volume on Stars, Doylesroom, & Carbon. On Stars I'm going to play $10 mtts, $3reby & multitable 6x $4-180's. If the roll grows I will move up to the $10-180's as fast as possible.
The other two, mostly micro but also some $25 & $30 mtt's on Doyles.

For Fulltilt, I'm going to work on building up a few more Step2 tickets and then will play them all out for Step3's. Whatever I end up with will go towards $26mtt's & might save a few for the $26-45's (depending upon how many I end up with). Also plan on playing a handful of the $10-45's & every single MSOP NLHE event they have.

Along with this ^, I'm going to play a bunch of the priv. cash-added games & of course the CC freerolls. Hopefully will pull some profit over the last week of May.

RUSH 5nl - ez game

Feeling it these days

A 4th place finish in the CC UB Freeroll on Wed. Was a fun game but unfortunately I managed to lose some crucial hands on the final table (ie. with a flopped straight & managed to get TPTK & gutter to reraise me allin on the flop... he hits the gutter, sigh.
I've been feeling more in tune lately... just when you feel that your decisions & hand-reading is spot on. It's felt like that more often lately, probably due to all of the countless hours of hard work & perseverance. I continue to read articles & watch vids. almost daily.
Hopefully will get some results to post about today as I hope to play a handful of MTT's.

Was doing great in MiniECOOP#3 ....

Was doing good in the MiniECOOP#3, my first of a series of marginally higher buyins I've been planning/hoping to play on Titan.
My first go of it & I get dealt quite a few big hands & was picking up pots that were there for the taking.
End up getting decimated when AQ shoves for around 30bb over my EP raise with KK.. they flop 2 Q's for a set, then an A on the turn, lol. Out shortly after that.

CC UB Monday 3rd of 15

Barely ever watching this game the entire time (a bit in the early levels). Was a bit short-stacked at 50/100 but then got doubled up a couple of times and managed to get big hands paid off with 5 players left.
Went out when SB rs 4x I have AK in BB & shove ~22bb.. he snaps for stacks w 66..flops a set.. sigh...
Boring game but pretty ez money (when hands hold up).
Only two more of these until CC withdraws from the UB site due to current Security problems on Cereus Network. (too bad... was free monies)

CC Fri Variety on Fulltilt 6th of 54

1st of 116 Cardschat $200freeroll on Fulltilt

Took down another 1st place in Cardschat Freeroll. This is the third 1st of the season now. Another freebie $50 which I'll put towards playing the MiniFTOPS#9.

Received my copy of "Winning Poker Tournaments - One Hand At A Time - VOL.2" Taking my time reading thru this one (want it to last longer, lol). Up to Hand#22 of JonTurner's section of the book & so far only one hand I would've played differently than suggested & all the other hands I managed to take the exact same actions for the exact same reasons.... Very Re-Assuring for myself!! Looking forward to working thru the rest of this book as it is rated as the #1 MTT book of all time & for good reason.

Very First hand of MiniFTOPS#1

Cardschat May3 UB buyin $5 ($100added)

Decent game today on UB in the Cardschat $5 buyin ($100-added). 22 entrants today with Top9 paid (how could this not be +EV?). Last time we played this we managed to take 1st place for $60 (2wks. ago). When we hit final table we were sitting in 7th of 9left. Managed to make it to final 4 and held a decent stack with 4left. Made one mis-step and lost a big chunk but then picked up a few pots preflop uncontested. Final busto hand, Utg shoves ai for 16bb w 4-4, we snapcall in BB w AQs (w ~14-15bb). We don't improve and out we go, picking up $21 for the game (meager crumbs but remembering this is an account where I've never deposited & have been afforded with the oppurtunity to play in quite a few MTTs on there now & without even focusing much time to it (always with something else on the go). It's been an avenue to practise different stuff with MTT play, getting more practical experience making adjustments for stack sizes, lots of late stage final table-type experience and lots of oppurtunities for playing the player (with getting to know a bunch of them, seeing ALOT of familiar faces in many of the games even if they were with different poker forums (<<>

PokerTube $10+1 ($500added) ez game!

Couple hands in early/mid levels of PokerTube $10 buyin with $500 added on Fulltilt.

Couple players were very aggressive right from the get go, the rest were pretty much tight. Frst hand eg. we flat EP rs in LP w 22 w implied odds to set-mine. We wiff flop but villain checks to us & we check behind. Villain leads out on flop for 240 (~2/3 pot) so we raise to 840 & he calls. River, villain checks to us, pause to think how much we can get & we lead out for ~4/5th pot & villain snapcalls. "ez game"

Next hand we raise Utg w AQs (had just raised the hand before w AK, c/F the flop on a T-9-x ) & villain calls in SB. Flop comes Qhi, villain checks to us, we lead out & villain check-raises us allin.... vs. this guy.. ."ez call".... bink.. ez game, lol.

Off to another great start (ie. SCOOP repeat, lol) but then completely cardead for over an hour & just can't find any spots. We end up losing a big chunk when we raise otb w KTs, SB 3bet shoves & we're getting 2to1 on the call so we call assuming we're prob 60/40 at worst (villain likely smoothcalls us here w big pr. due to stack size) or perhaps are racing with med.pr. (BB was sitting out and last of his stack was posted in BB). Villain shows AJo, BB has KT also.. sigh... bye bye 2 of our outs and we don't improve. AI next orbit in CO w 87s.. BB calls w Q8o (dominated... sigh...).

SOOOP Series kicks off, Unipoker cash on Fulltilt

SCOOOP Series on Pokerstars kicked off today. I played the SCOOOP2L went out in 7,810th of 26,200 entrants, one mis-step with a guy who'd taken a 1st & 2nd in Super Tuesday, 4bet-folding when he'd 3bet my last couple of raises (guess I picked the wrong spot, lol... maybe?).

Played the UnipokerCup on Fulltilt - $10 buyin with $1,000 added. Out in 12th of 129 so it was better than a kick in the teeth.

Played a $10-$25kguar. on Stars and placed 59th of 3,298 for $52.75 (getting there... at least getting deep in some of these).

The Cardschat game on Fulltilt was dismal at best... mid-levels with one limper in I shove 16bb's with JJ & get looked up by AJo & lose, lol. Can't recall the last time I went out in a CC game getting it in bad? Getting really tired of these games lately & believe I need a break from them (the adjustments for randoms is pretty much half the field).

All-in-all not a bad day for a micro donker - - around $100 prizes, w ~$50 in fees