HU quest rules

I thought I better lay some actual rules for my HU play or it will just be madness!

1. Sessions will be 150 hands MAXIMUM
2. A maximum of 4 sessions a day, as I feel after thet I will not be concentrating properly
3. 20 Buy ins to step up (100 BB's)
4. Dropping below 15 Buy-ins will force me to step down
5. 1 table at a time and no sneaky MTT's SNG's at the same time, I must fully concentrate as I want to get really good at this
6. Double my money, I really should leave
7. When I feel like stopping I STOP!
8. Have fun and makes some monies!
The next is a hope/ semi-rule
9. Post a graph and my thoughts after every 2.5k hands ish

I realise at UB you can buy in for 200BB, but I don't think I will, I shall always stick to the 100BB buy in.

Thought I would make a table of values for moving up/down.

Level-----Step up to----------Step Down from
NL10------Starting------------Starting
NL 25-----$500----------------$375
NL50------$1000---------------$750
NL100-----$2000---------------$1500
NL200-----$4000---------------$3000
NL400-----$8000---------------$6000
NL600-----$12000--------------$9000

I think that is far enough for now :D
The hardest part of this IMO is the begining as I am starting with like 5 buy-ins and it could go wrong all so very fast.
I took a slight hit last night after taking near a buy in off somebody I lost it and my original buy in to someone else. One bonus is that I should be getting rakeback, well when rakeback.com start getting rake reports from the network again, god damnit hurry up!

Christmas is coming!

As christmas was coming up I decided I had to scrape all "spare" money together to buy some people some things for christmas, so I made a few withdrawals from poker sites. Normally I wouldn't mind, but its not for me :( I am not really that selfish... honest :D
I had not realised that I had left Ultimate bet untouched with $45 in it, yes its ultimate bet & Absolute now so I am two times as likely to be cheated. But honestly I am only going to be playing small so will it really matter? I am not a fan of UB tourneys because generally the small buy ins are sats or re-buys, and I'm not generally a fan of those. So I decided that I would play cash with my little find, not FR, or 6-max but heads up! Yes on CEREUS the cereal killer of online poker there are NL 10 HU games. I have a massive 4.5 buy-ins behind me what could posibly go wrong. I mean I never really knew the money was there in the first place, FREEROLLLLLLL HOLLA!
Taking a kind of challange approach(but not really as I am not setting any timeframe to this whatsoever) I will obviously just step up to the next level when I have 15 buyins, and back down when I hit 10. These rules may change, I may wish to make the move up number 20 buyins, I was also considering forcing myself to play 10K hands at each level, which isn't actually that much HU IMO so I think it would be a good move.
I should really be playing something silly like 0.1/0.2 HU but I can't see that being a great game. I bet NL 10 will even have its moments. Hopefully I will remember to come on and blog now and again.
The main thing about this is that I don't really know how to play HU cash, so I am going to be learning as I go so any help from my readers would be great. I will probably post hands on some forums and post feedback on here if it is useful so maybe we can all learn something.

So far I have played circa. 400 hands and I am up woohoo! Bankroll currently sitting at $69.89.
I had a look at my Holdem manager and my bb/100 was something crazy like 69, if only it worked out that way all the time. I may come back later with a few hands, but more likely I am going to fire up a table instead. GL

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 843249

Some non-poker ramblings

If you are only here for my sub-par poker performance and review this post sadly isn't for you.
I haven't been playing much poker recently due to other commitments and quite frankly not having the passion to play unfortunately. From a very young age I have always been confident in the fact that I will be successful at something, what that something is, to this day I am unsure. I feel that my people skills are extremely good and that my mood can very much be infectious to those around me, I have used these things to my advantage on numerous occasions. The problem comes is where I am unsure what I can do to take advantage of my natural skills, and deciding what would be the best thing for me personally. Many people have said things to me like "you definitely have the power in yourself to make yourself rich, if you wanted it" Well I want it and I'm not rich, that is for sure! I am never sure what they mean, is it a complement on my being and overall aura or is it an insult at my laziness/procrastination? At the current moment in time I am happy studying Civil Engineering and can half see a career in it, but will it make the most of my assets or give me the financial satisfaction I could attain elsewhere? Obviously I am still at an age where my next career may not be my last, in fact its rather unlikely that it is.

I am most definitely not the type of person that believes that money = happiness, but having money definitely helps life run more smoothly. In life I would like to be able to do what I like not have money as a restriction, I am sure many others are of the same thinking, and most will never achieve it. I don't want to be part of that group, I was never one of the many, but a leader of the few. There are things I would like to do, things that everyone dreams of, like being a high stakes poker player funding my life off the next poker bozo that comes along, or be a pop star, I have a good voice and I am able to entertain people singing, but I feel getting a record deal is a step to far.

I recently have decided to cut out shit things in my life that I can go without, lets be honest life is hard enough these days without outside situations/people making more shit. I have basiclly decided to cut a person in my family out of my life because I felt some extra shit previously and at the centre of it was this person. Many people are saying I should talk to them again, forgive and forget you are family etc. Am I wrong to not want bad influences/energy in my life, no matter who the person is?

Thanks for reading, the comments feature is there, please use it :)

First Step of a Month Long Journey

Well this is the outcome of the first tournament in my little challenge, I will probably blog the latter tournaments in less detail as it wares off, but bare with me through this report. Obviously comments suggestions would be much appreciated.

Tournament 1: 103650909
Buy-in:$3+ 0.30
Runners: 1392
Finish:91st
Payout: $6.69
+/- = +$3.39
Places Paid: 243
Top 3: $783.01, 474.82, 275,62

I was placed on table 27, it was playing loose, players calling flop/turn bets with AQ high and no draws. Levels 1 and 2 were uneventful, I limped and folded to raise and re-raises a couple times. In level 3 I play the first hand, I open raise from Hi-jack +1 with AdKd, and Laggy on the button re-raises all-in for 993, I of course call expecting to be ahead and he shows KcJc. The board missed us all so I take down the 2k pot.
Just before the end of level 3 I was still on the same table, there were two tight players both of them were playing less than 10% of hands, both directly to my right. I could not believe the way one of them played KK, then made a set on the flop then proceeded to get the minimum possible, can anyone explain this play?

Poker Stars, $3 + $0.30 NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 9 Players
[url=http://www.leggopoker.com]LeggoPoker.com[/url] - [url=http://www.leggopoker.com/hh]Hand History Converter[/url]

CO: 2,136
BTN: 2,365
SB: 4,275
BB: 1,685
UTG: 2,702
Hero (UTG+1): 2,293
UTG+2: 2,523
MP1: 2,585
MP2: 2,150

[b]Pre-Flop:[/b] (75) 7:diamond: T:heart: dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG calls 50, 2 folds, MP1 calls 50, MP2 calls 50, 2 folds, SB calls 25, BB checks

[b]Flop:[/b] (250) 4:diamond: 7:spade: K:club: (5 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks

[b]Turn:[/b] (250) 9:heart: (5 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, [color=red]MP1 bets 50[/color], 2 folds, BB calls 50, UTG calls 50

[b]River:[/b] (400) A:heart: (3 Players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks

[b]Results:[/b] 400 Pot
[i]BB showed T:spade: Q:diamond: (high card Ace) and LOST (-100 NET)[/i]
[i]UTG showed K:spade: K:diamond: (three of a kind, Kings) and WON 400 (+300 NET)[/i]
[i]MP1 mucked 5:diamond: 5:club: and LOST (-100 NET)[/i]

I was then moved to table 1, I hoped this was a good omen. At the beginning of level 4, blinds 50/100 I had 2,433 chips. I would like to have had a few more situations that I could have got involved, but I am still in the game and hoping to get a few hands to play.

I had made the first break with almost doubling my starting stack, 2743 chips with the blinds going up to 75/150 immediately after the break. I like the stars 15 minute blind structures, especially in the guaranteed tournaments where you start with 3k chips, so this was slightly faster than what I had been playing recently. Same situation as 15 minutes before, still alright stack-wise, but would definitely like some hands/situations to help build my stack soon. I was currently 301st with 520 players remaining.

The second table seemed to be of the same make-up of the first however it began to tighten up dramatically, especially after the first break. I did try to take advantage of this, but every time I made a move someone either had a hand or was just playing me. Then came a hand of small bets and calls that I never really understood the involvement of one of the players.

Poker Stars, $3 + $0.30 NL Hold'em Tournament, 75/150 Blinds, 8 Players
[url=http://www.leggopoker.com]LeggoPoker.com[/url] - [url=http://www.leggopoker.com/hh]Hand History Converter[/url]

BTN: 5,975
SB: 962
BB: 1,950
UTG: 3,785
UTG+1: 5,045
MP1: 3,065
Hero (MP2): 2,293
CO: 4,130

[b]Pre-Flop:[/b] (225) J:spade: 3:club: dealt to Hero (MP2)
3 folds, MP1 calls 150, 2 folds, [color=red]BTN raises to 300[/color], 2 folds, MP1 calls 150

[b]Flop:[/b] (825) 3:heart: K:club: K:spade: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
MP1 checks, [color=red]BTN bets 300[/color], MP1 calls 300

[b]Turn:[/b] (1,425) 5:spade: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
MP1 checks, [color=red]BTN bets 150[/color], MP1 calls 150

[b]River:[/b] (1,725) 2:club: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
[color=red]MP1 bets 150[/color], BTN calls 150

[b]Results:[/b] 2,025 Pot
[i]BTN mucked 7:heart: A:heart: and LOST (-900 NET)[/i]
[i]MP1 showed 9:club: 9:heart: (two pair, Kings and Nines) and WON 2,025 (+1,125 NET)[/i]

The highlight of my level 5 was recieving a walk, seriously. The blinds were now 100/200 and I was floundering on 2143. The 10 BB push/fold situation is upon me. I got two Pushes through. Then The limits went up to 175/250/25 ante, I was REALLY strugling now with 2445. I was sitting 265th out of 306 remaining. I could play to scrape the money, but I don't really want to play that way, my range will be oppened and I will be pushing, hopefully with a chance of doubling up. There is a player on this table "trusty1" who runs the clock down EVERY decision, and accepts timebank as soon as he is offered, sometimes he uses it sometimes he doesn't. I would say it was because we were nearing the bubble, but he has been doing it since I sat at the table. It didn't annoy me personally, but I'm sure it aggitated some, plus it used his timebank on straightforrward decisions, seemed stange to me. It got folded to me on Hi-Jack +1, so I pushed with 54o, everyone folded, I had TT the next two hands in a row, the first everyone folded. The second hand I was called by a short stack all-in with JQs, the three hands gave me some breathing room and put me on 5111.

The tournament moved onto level 8 with blinds 150/300/25 ante with sat just a smidge over 5k and 158th out of 253, so I really should cash as long as I don't do something silly. I understand people want to avoid missing the cash this close and that is why they use their timebank, but what happens if they survive and are put to a real decision later on which is worth a lot more money. By all means time out, but why waste your 60 second timebank?

And the bubble has burst, less than a minute before the second break. Due to the payout structure I have decided to get really LAGGY and try and either get competitive chip wise or leave with a small profit. To get double 243rd prize you have to come 63rd, so there is no point, in my opinion playing around for a couple of dollars. I now have a smidgen of 4000 with the blinds at 200/400/50 ante, so again it is push or fold stage. With 1050 in the pot before any action has taken place it makes it most definitely worth stealing! I had pushed 3 hands, the I pushed KK under the gun, and was called by QQ and I caught the Full house, which put me over 10k. I was comfortable stack wise, but I still wanted to push on fast or go out, purely because of the structure.

Level 9 was upon us with 300/600/50 ante with me just a shade under 10k, the second hand of the level I was dealt KK again, unfortunatly it was folded round, but I was happy to pick up the 1350. The game is becoming very repetitive, which is as to be expected with the high blinds.
With the blinds at 400/800/50 I got involved with AQ against a big stacks AK and went out, it was unfortunate, but I am glad to get off to a small but winning start.

(Insert witty title here)

To be honest I got a bit bored of playing STT's, this may have been down to the fact of me not winning enough to show anything or losing enough for it to hurt. After a few small couple hundred buck wins I decided to withdraw from stars and enjoy my poker winnings, something I believe everyone should do, it feels great, even if it is just a meal out with the bird or a night out on the razz.

I love setting goals for myself, so I am going to set one for the month september 2008.

***Increase my Pokerstars account balance from circa $150 to $1000 by Midnight Wednesday 1st October, playing MTT's and MTT SNG's (especially the 180 man SNG's)***

This will probably seem like a really easy goal for some, but I find it hard to get that consistancy, and I want to make that $1000 and buy me a new PC, Laptop or XBOX 360 Elite. I do however find setting Monetary goals for poker winnings a little strange, as I am unsure of the pressures it puts you under. I am not, hopefully, going to play cash with on stars in the next month, and play realistic sized tournaments, probably will be a 5% job. As I said before I think i will also avoid STT's due to them becoming a bit stale for me, I did enjoy playing them for a while but after 50 I got REALLY bored. I do have a problem of cashing but not getting deep in tournaments, which I hope to rectify. I have been given confidence by attaining a 1st and 2nd in consecutive 180-man SNG's, hopefully I can achieve that in a bigger field very soon. The one bonus to my STT challange, was that I seem to have lost the fish on my sharkscope, was finding it hard to shake off my learning/gash play.

I always say this but I will TRY update this blog a couple times a week, I will be placing a notepad next to me to note things throughout the month and update here periodically. I will need to get a few wins on the board fast so I can play the $11 $30K guarenteed on stars again, as I have cashed a few times, but the all to familiar story for me of getting 2-4 times my buy-in back. If I cam top 3 or four in this I would complete my challange in a oner :D.

I am still playing on Full Tilt, rakeback rules, there SNG's not so much. As I mentioned in a previous post there levels are quicker, but there are smaller jumps, I wasn't sure which structure is better suited for me. No I believe stars is much slower, therefore suits me better, Full Tilt's structure just jumps a little to rapidly, even with the extra levels.


EDIT: The challenge has just got a little more interesting, my good friend Pizzi will be joining me in "The Race To A Grand" You can follow his exploits on his blog, there is a link on the left, if he ever updates!

The bugger is back

I haven't played much poker at all for a long time now, I'm not sure why, a number of reasons I guess. The main ones were probably just the fact I had completely lost interested in the game, not even wanting to read Pokerplayer mag, which I used to rip open as soon as it came through my door. Also the fact that the small stakes wins just weren't rewarding enough.

So now I want to get back into the game again, so I have decided to go back to my poker beginnings, 9-handed SNG's. I am just going to play a bundle(not sure how many yet)of $5 SNG's on Stars and FT. I am also interested to see how the two sites compare, as stars have longer levels, but FT have more levels stuck in there. The issue of no rake back on Stars is an issue as I am unsure how much I can gain from their benefit program only getting 3 FPP a game. I will, in the main be playing 2 games at a time which I hope will keep me busy but also allow me to get a little thinking time and get to know the players.

Well I have played 8 so far, with a small profit, bubbling 3 with 3 ITM finishes also, nothing to write home about. I will make an update when I have a slightly larger amount of games.

Spunkmonkeys!

Yes again, I haven't updated in a while. Well anyway lets get down to the nitty gritty! I have been playing NL10 (6-max) on stars with some success, with over 6k hands I was running at over 7 bb/100 hands. But then I went on a 5+buy-in downswing, which doesn't sound like much but Fu*k me it hurts. Its not the monetary value I just hate losing to be honest. I am 99% sure some of it could have been prevented but I did have a few runner runner pots lost, which put me on tilt, the shame! So now my 7.5k+ sample (ok its small) is running over 3BB/100 hands, which just sucks. I also made a small move onto Full tilt to eventually try the software and get some rake back, I wasn't successful or unsuccessful, has been uneventful. I think I will move back to SNG's for a couple days just to steady myself again, I'm not sure about anyone else but I find in SNG's there are a lot more clear cut decisions and easier decisions than on the ring games. I want to get 30k hands logged in my PokerTracker so I really need to keep my cool. I will happily play the 30k all at NL10, but if I make enough money I will probably move up. So far in my PT I have noticed that I play more than anywhere else, in middle position, I think I can justify some of that by wanting to be first to act(i.e first to bet wins) I also discovered I am a losing player from the button, not quite sure why as yet, but I will be investigating!

Check the downswing! Definatly needing rectified ASAP!

Not much else to note, I did play my first Cards chat game on stars which I came 2nd in, which is obviously nice. In the past month I also came third in a HORSE MTT on stars, I only decided to play because I have really got into Razz and the low SNGs aren't very play friendly! When I get my bankroll a little more swollen I will definatly be hitting the Razz Cash!

Change of pace

I have been playing mostly cash for the recent history, and fancy a little change, so while I am continuing my micro cash challenge, I will have a little run at $4 180-man SNG's. These games seem pretty soft, at this moments in time I have just passed the bubble and I am sitting 10th out of 18 remaining in my first of this challenge. Hopefully I will make something decent out of it. To be honest I am extremly happy that I have cashed at all, as tonight I was staying up to finish coursework, due in but a few hours, yes I am a shoddy excuse for astudent, well I suppose we all do this sort of thing... I think! I have around 20 BB's and I am card dead, its really tempting to just pull some moves, purely because of sickness I am whitnessing at the table, but I am managingish to keep my calm, just now.

Finaly we reach the final table, I am sitting a long way back in 7th, however I still have 20 BB. I managed to float around that level, then this hand happened:
Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 8 Players

LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

UTG: 50,599
UTG+1: 11,023
MP1: 52,558
MP2: 59,476
CO: 40,224
BTN: 17,854
Hero (SB): 16,321
BB: 6,745

Pre-Flop: (2,400) Js Jh dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 4,000, 5 folds, Hero raises to 16,221 and is All-In, BB folds, UTG+1 calls 6,923 and is All-In

Flop: (23,746) As 2s Kc (2 Players - 2 are All-In)

Turn: (23,746) 9d (2 Players - 2 are All-In)

River: (23,746) Tc (2 Players - 2 are All-In)

Results: 23,746 Pot
UTG+1 showed 5s 5c (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-11,023 NET)
Hero showed Js Jh (a pair of Jacks) and WON 23,746 (+12,723 NET)

Im pretty sure the push pre-flop was the right move, obviously the right result! Another interesting hand:

Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 600/1,200 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BTN: 85,398
SB: 10,058
BB: 69,625
UTG: 49,420
Hero (MP): 23,444
CO: 24,255

Pre-Flop: (2,675) As Qd dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG raises to 2,400, Hero calls 2,400, 5 folds

Flop: (7,475) Qs 5h Js (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG checks, Hero bets 3,600, UTG calls 3,600

Turn: (14,675) 2d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: (14,675) Jd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Results: 14,675 Pot
UTG showed 7h 7c (two pair, Jacks and Sevens) and LOST (-6,125 NET)
Hero showed As Qd (two pair, Queens and Jacks) and WON 14,675 (+8,550 NET)

I know it was SUPER weak checking down but I really felt I could have been beat. The thing you don't see here is the Insta-check/call, and after the min-raise preflop, it just stank of a big hand, bigger than mine. Not much happened from then on in until:

Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,000/2,000 Blinds, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BTN: 122,494
SB: 14,932
BB: 117,596
Hero (UTG): 14,978

Pre-Flop: (3,800) 8s Ts dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 14,778 and is All-In, BTN folds, SB calls 13,732 and is All-In, BB folds

Flop: (32,264) 2d 9d 2s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (32,264) Jh (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (32,264) 4c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 32,264 Pot
SB showed As Qs (a pair of Deuces) and WON 32,264 (+17,332 NET)
Hero showed 8s Ts (a pair of Deuces) and LOST (-14,932 NET)

I had to push soon and I thought, no time like the present.... It backfired.
But never the less 4th is a nice way to start off!

Poker

Its a wonderful and frustrating game isn't it? I still wouldn't change it for the world, even when things do go horribly wrong. As I stated in my last post I have started a bankroll cash challenge type thing, boy its tough to stick too! I was running pretty bad and I did decide to play a couple tourneys to get my confidence back, which was going to plan, until I decided to re-raise a maniac all in on the bubble with TT, his AK hit on the flop and never looked back. Even though looking back it was a brave and probably the correct move, it shattered my confidence to tiny almost invisible shards. At this point I decided t stop playing for a few days, and found a copy of Risk II and attempted to take over the world. *Cue Pinky and the Brain Theme tune*

I eventually turned back to poker and began to assess the damage, the outlook was bleak. I had lost nearly 7 buy-ins with no return, yes at $5 PL THE SHAME! In the cold light of day I had made some amazingly stupid plays at the wrong time, but I did have various set over set and even a house over house situation, what made the house over house situation worse was that I held the baninizer, and lost. Not only had I lost my dignity, self-confidence, but my all important confidence in the Bani. Things did not look good. Where could I go from here? Well here it is where the most amazing thing that has ever happened. I played like a self-confessed complete and utter donkey and WON! There I was playing away and I was dealt QQ, I'll just post the history, I still laugh at how I played it, and even more-so that I won.

Bakti [Hold 'em] (0.02|0.05 Pot Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- yanne72 sitting in seat 1 with $0.88
- bvp sitting in seat 2 with $6.97 [Dealer]
- UKPP sitting in seat 3 with $6.75
- LittleMage sitting in seat 4 with $11.85
- ujoty sitting in seat 5 with $5.00
- lioz sitting in seat 6 with $1.83

UKPP posted the small blind - $0.02
LittleMage posted the big blind - $0.05
** Dealing card to UKPP: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds
ujoty folded
lioz folded
yanne72 called - $0.05
bvp called - $0.05
UKPP raised - $0.25
LittleMage called - $0.25
yanne72 called - $0.25
bvp folded

** Dealing the flop: 8 of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds, 8 of Spades
UKPP bet - $0.50
LittleMage raised - $2.30
yanne72 folded
UKPP called - $2.30

** Dealing the turn: 4 of Hearts
UKPP checked
LittleMage bet - $2.70
UKPP called - $2.70

** Dealing the river: 3 of Diamonds
UKPP went all-in - $1.52
LittleMage called - $1.52
UKPP shows: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds
LittleMage mucks:
UKPP wins $13.15 from the main pot

I mean come on! What did they put me on that they could beat. And the same goes for me WTF was I thinking? I have played a little with LittleMage (no pun intended) and they are an extremely loose and aggressive player, but not even that excuses that shocker IMO. I am however glad this happened, as it has pushed me somewhat in the right direction, long may it continue!