Just a couple of $3.40 games tonight...

BR up to 80.82. One winner and two third place finishes. Felt I played pretty well tonight, although when I was getting near the end of the games and decisions were coming thick and fast I lost some aggression when 3 handed so potentially cost myself some prize money. Nevermind! Play in these slower games is pretty straight forward. There are good players here, but plenty of fish too. Basically by playing sensible poker it seems quite easy to cash.
1/ play lots of big pot hands early on for cheap and hope to hit
2/ in the middle zone start stealing from the tightest players and play strong hands hard preflop against loose players
3/ pound the tight players who don't want to bubble
4/ play aggressive three or four handed as most players don't adjust and play as loosely as you're supposed to.
Will carry on in these games and hope the good form continues. PS I set myself an earlier goal of playing a few hundred DoN tournaments; well, I actually enjoy these more currently so that's why I've switched. If I get a bad run of results I may move back over but until then these are my hunting ground.

Growth Acceleration

Sounds a bit fancy doesn't it? I was reading about the profitability of accumulators in betting. Providing the bets are good ones - in other words if they have positive expectation - then accumulators can be very profitable. I wondered if we could structure our play in a way that our winnings could be invested in higher buy - in tournaments to increase ROI. I put some numbers into a spreadsheet and it is indeed possible to increase ROI and hourly win - rate in this way, providing we are winners at the stakes we buy - in to. We would also certainly need a bigger bankroll for doing this as standard deviation will be larger. So how could this work? Well one algorithm could be this :
1. Buy - in to our regular tournament (5.4 DoN, say)
2. If we win, use the winnings to buy - in to a 10.8 DoN; otherwise play another 5.4
3. If we win the 10.8 game, keep the money and play another 5.4
I am going to implement this in my play from now on. I'm pretty sure I can win up to the 10 buck games but not sure thereafter so will keep it to a single iteration. This goes for the normal games too, I'm pretty sure that you could maybe break even coming second and third in the low stakes SNGs and then your profit would come those times you cashed in the 10/11 buy - in games. Will let you know how it goes. By the way didn't get chance to play today so nothing to say about that.

Evenings play

bankroll 73.52. The slower format really made a difference for me this evening although the luck certainly picked up from this afternoon too. One winner, two seconds from the six. Another tournament I really threw my life away too. I'll post the HH here as a punishment but not tonight watching a movie with the family now. Just quickly... most of the play was really passive so was able to ramp up the aggro on the bubble and really grow the stack. Should be able to achieve good ROI in these so guess I'm going to wave tata to the turbos for now. Good luck at the tables.

$3.40 SNG

Played a few of these today, (pld 10, won 1, 3rd twice) but feel I haven't ran well at all. Losing a ton of flips and running into the top end of villain's ranges. BR down to 59.72. Maybe I suck? I feel I've played well and there is only a small percentage of ICM mistakes after analysis. As well as this I've opened up a little on the throttle earlier on in the games, stealing more from the tighter players and playing lots of pots when the implied odds look tasty. So many bad players that see flops with 50+ hands. The problem is... I'm not hitting anything. No sets, no straights, a few flush draws that's all. Just hope there's a purple patch around the corner. Will keep on grinding.
EDIT:
Had an idea, for peace of mind I may switch to the non turbo format while things aren't going my way, there's more play at the early levels and more time for my cash game skills to come through. I was a winner in cash up to NL25 over several tens of thousands of hands. Not very impressive but enough to know I should be able to beat these silly damn tourneys.

A bit of a break from play...

Had a break Fri and today due to busy work schedule and Thurs' fruitless 30 games. Day off tomorrow so going to play some more. Going to try some of the $3.40 tournaments and see what the play is like. A mate is crushing them at the moment and I want some! To be fair he's a much better player than I, but maybe the high rake keeps the better players away...

Poor evening session.... :'(

BR down to 68.35 after the last 12 this evening. Seemed to run bad in most of them, allied with the usual one or two errors. May start to be more aggressive during the first couple of levels against the tighter players to get a few more chips before the shovebot stage. Anyway, off to analyse the mistakes of the day.

Thurs July 23rd afternoon update...

Bankroll 85.55. Played about 18 this afternoon, obv more winners than losers but not been keeping tally - something I should rectify to verify my cashier balance. Mistakes are usually shoving too loosely between CO and UTG positions but I really feel this is improving the more I play. At some point I may have to learn a few rules of thumb to help me with this but at the moment my instincts are probably good enough for profit. So far so good.

Help with BB Calling

"Kill Everyone" by Lee Nelson, Tysen Streib and Kim Lee has the most detailed and thorough analysis of ICM and tournament play I've seen in a poker book. It's an excellent book and contains a chapter on calling given pot odds and risk (calculated using ICM). I'll try and use this chapter to improve my BB play. I highly recommend the book it's worth much more than it's selling for.

Loose calling in BB

Not too many mistakes this afternoon but a recurring problem is calling with too wide a range in the BB. The table pops up, I see some juicy pot odds and call with any two. I'll customise the SNGWiz quiz feature to focus on this which seems to be my weakest area currently. Still seem to be winning quite a few tournaments though as there's still plenty of weak players. Must improve! BR = $73.95

Another note, I've recently taken to playing at all times with the chat turned off. Players are quick to call names at these stakes especially when they see you pushing and calling with weak hands. It's better for my game if I don't hear it, even though I know that I'm usually right. Never have been good at taking an earful, it just tilts me. If I ever reach the point where my sharkscope graph converges to an even upward curve and i've made some proper money, well maybe I'll turn it back on. Until then, "talk to the hand, Hellmuth wannabe".

Bankroll building

Stars bankroll sits at $65.15, so only 12 buy - ins at 5.20 DoN. while I believe standard deviation to be low in these things I would expect a good chance of going broke with that roll playing those games. However I do have disposable income I can reload with should it come to that. I'll keep this figure updated in case anyone is interested in bankroll building. Going to try playing 6 at once since 4 has become comfortable and in an effort to reach 500 tournaments by the autumn. If I am a winner at these stakes I'll probably move up to the 10.40s then for a few hundred. Good luck at the tables

Simon nits out with queens.

SNGWiz gave me a tick for this show of nittiness.

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Seat 1: T-bronx CF ($1345)
Seat 2: duk_17 ($4945)
Seat 4: BankoBet ($1490)
Seat 5: Henzom ($1270) -
Seat 6: NOTIM ($4870) -
Seat 7: Kalzone05 ($1080) -


PRE-FLOP:

NOTIM posts small blind $125
Kalzone05 posts BIG blind $250
Dealt To: BankoBet


ANTE T-bronx CF ($25)
ANTE duk_17 ($25)
ANTE BankoBet ($25)
ANTE Henzom ($25)
ANTE NOTIM ($25)
ANTE Kalzone05 ($25)
FOLD T-bronx CF
RAISE duk_17 ($1000)
FOLD BankoBet
FOLD Henzom
FOLD NOTIM
FOLD Kalzone05

duk_17 collected $775 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $775 Rake: $0

Seat 1: T-bronx CF folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-25)
Seat 2: duk_17 collected 775 - Net Gain/Loss: ($500)
Seat 4: BankoBet folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-25)
Seat 5: Henzom button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-25)
Seat 6: NOTIM small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-150)
Seat 7: Kalzone05 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-275)


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Simon sucks out... WITH STYLE!!!

Played really badly here as I was tilting but poker gods took pity.

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Seat 1: KrefeldH�¼ls ($1440) -
Seat 2: stilts12 ($2040) -
Seat 3: picha-alain ($4570) -
Seat 4: Vino_Kulafu ($1090)
Seat 6: BankoBet ($1405)
Seat 7: rich1506 ($1635)
Seat 8: shatoh ($2820)


PRE-FLOP:

stilts12 posts small blind $50
picha-alain posts BIG blind $100
Dealt To: BankoBet


ANTE KrefeldHÃ�¼ls ($10)
ANTE stilts12 ($10)
ANTE picha-alain ($10)
ANTE Vino_Kulafu ($10)
ANTE BankoBet ($10)
ANTE rich1506 ($10)
ANTE shatoh ($10)
FOLD Vino_Kulafu
RAISE BankoBet ($200)
FOLD rich1506
FOLD shatoh
FOLD KrefeldH�¼ls
FOLD stilts12
RAISE picha-alain ($500)
RAISE BankoBet ($1395)
CALL picha-alain ($895)


FLOP:

Pot: $3210
   



TURN:

Pot: $3210
     



RIVER:

Pot: $3210
      



SHOWDOWN:
picha-alain:

BankoBet:


BankoBet collected $2910 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $2910 Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: KrefeldH�¼ls button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
Seat 2: stilts12 small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-60)
Seat 3: picha-alain big blind showed [Qd Qs] and lost with four of a kind, Jacks - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1405)
  
Seat 4: Vino_Kulafu folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
Seat 6: BankoBet showed [Qc As] and won 2910 with four of a kind, Jacks - Net Gain/Loss: ($1805)
Seat 7: rich1506 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
Seat 8: shatoh folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)


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Two hands from tonight's play.

Only one winner tonight, here's a couple of hands. These two aren't particularly impressive or interesting; in future I'll make sure I think they're worth looking at. I just wanted to use the hand replayer... lol.
I'd earlier played a hand poorly against the same player before I'd known he was a superfish. Standard shove I think. SNGWiz agrees somehow...

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Seat 1: Villain 1 ($2690) (13% / 6% / 1/ 16)
Seat 2: Villain 2 ($1365) - (0% / 0% / 0/ 16)
Seat 3: Hero ($1225) - (12% / 6% / 1/ 16)
Seat 4: Villain 3 ($1385) (13% / 0% / 1/ 16)
Seat 5: Villain 4 ($2370) (18% / 0% / 1/ 16)
Seat 6: Villain 5 ($2805) (79% / 11% / 1/ 16)
Seat 7: Villain 6 ($1500) (6% / 6% / 0/ 16)
Seat 8: Villain 7 ($1660) (56% / 11% / 1/ 16)


PRE-FLOP:

Villain 2 posts small blind $50
Hero posts BIG blind $100
Dealt To: Hero


ANTE Villain 1 ($10)
ANTE Villain 2 ($10)
ANTE Hero ($10)
ANTE Villain 3 ($10)
ANTE Villain 4 ($10)
ANTE Villain 5 ($10)
ANTE Villain 6 ($10)
ANTE Villain 7 ($10)
FOLD Villain 3
FOLD Villain 4
RAISE Villain 5 ($200)
FOLD Villain 6
FOLD Villain 7
FOLD Villain 1
FOLD Villain 2
RAISE Hero ($1215)
CALL Villain 5 ($1015)


FLOP:

Pot: $2660
   



TURN:

Pot: $2660
     



RIVER:

Pot: $2660
      



SHOWDOWN:
Hero:

Villain 5:


Villain 5 collected $2560 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $2560 Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: Villain 1 button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
Seat 2: Villain 2 small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-60)
Seat 3: Hero big blind showed [Jh Jc] and lost with a pair of Jacks - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1125)
Seat 4: Villain 3 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
Seat 5: Villain 4 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
Seat 6: Villain 5 showed [As Qd] and won 2560 with a pair of Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($1335)
  
Seat 7: Villain 6 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)
Seat 8: Villain 7 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-10)


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Next one a serious error on my part; this push was way too loose I think but I got away with it. SNGWiz thinks this is a big mistake.

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Seat 4: Villain 1 ($4777) (31% / 14% / 1/ 37)
Seat 5: Hero ($1111) - (8% / 8% / 2/ 37)
Seat 6: Villain 2 ($2510) - (8% / 5% / 2/ 37)
Seat 7: Villain 3 ($3797) - (38% / 13% / 1/ 37)
Seat 8: Villain 4 ($1105) (5% / 3% / 2/ 37)
Seat 10: Villain 5 ($1700) (18% / 8% / 2/ 37)


PRE-FLOP:

Villain 2 posts small blind $125
Villain 3 posts BIG blind $250
Dealt To: Hero


ANTE Villain 1 ($25)
ANTE Hero ($25)
ANTE Villain 2 ($25)
ANTE Villain 3 ($25)
ANTE Villain 4 ($25)
ANTE Villain 5 ($25)
FOLD Villain 4
FOLD Villain 5
FOLD Villain 1
RAISE Hero ($1086)
FOLD Villain 2
FOLD Villain 3

Hero collected $775 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $775 Rake: $0

Seat 4: Villain 1 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-25)
Seat 5: Hero button collected 775 - Net Gain/Loss: ($500)
Seat 6: Villain 2 small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-150)
Seat 7: Villain 3 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-275)
Seat 8: Villain 4 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-25)
Seat 10: Villain 5 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($-25)


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