I'm Back ... in the Black
This blog has been dead for about a year and a half now, but I've decided to resurrect it. After staying away from online poker for quite a while, I deposited $100 on FullTilt on October 11. I sit tonight at $426, though the last two weeks have been very up and down, as I was at $400 on November 1, dropped all the way to $240, rebuilt to $460, then dropped to like $330 again before coming in 25th out of over 2000 in the FTP Midnight Madness tourney tonight for like $85.
I've been playing mostly .5/1 LHE and some 1/2 since I came back. I've also been mixing in some SnGs and Donkaments and have actually done quite well in Tourneys. I've done pretty well at .5/1, but probably am down at 1/2. I've found the play to be much different than when I played a lot online years ago. The games are ton tighter, even as low as .5/1, but still probably beatable. I'd definitely like to read some more and try to figure out how best to adapt to the new style. I'm pretty sure I'm not playing completely optimally right now.
Anyway, on to the Midnight Madness tonight. I actually think I caught worse than average starting hands tonight, but managed to make things work by hitting a few key flops. Early on it was a rollercoaster, I'd get to like 4k, double somebody up and drop to just under 2k, then win a coinflip to double up myself. I did this at least twice. I was sitting at just under 7k when the key hand of the tournament came up. I raised in EPish with 8d5d and the button went all-in for like 220, then the SB called. It came back to me and I had to call 220 into a pot of like 3k, obviously I couldn't fold. The flop came something like 852 rainbow and the SB went all-in for 1700, of course I called, the SB showed AA and bricked out and I was up over 10k.
After that, I played solid poker, stole a lot of blinds and antes to build my stack. Won a few key pots where I raised on a steal and was forced to call the all-in of a shortstack. I made it all the way down to the fourth to last table with a pretty solid chipstack, but by the time we got down to 28 or 29 players left I was in like 17th and had several big stacks to my left. I wasn't getting many cards and really hurt myself when I tried to steal with KTo. With about 90k behind, I raised to 15k with blinds at 2.5k/5k with like a 600 ante. I got called by a huge stack two to my left who had over 200k behind. I decided that I pretty much needed to flop huge or I was done with the hand. Then the flop came A74 and I decided that my opponent might have a middle pair and and I should represent the Ace, so I bet 21k into pot of just over 41k. He instantly went all-in and I was forced to fold. That knocked me down to like 40k in chips, with huge blinds and 24 out of 27. With an M of like 3, I managed to win the blinds with 3 or 4 all-ins with fairly weak hands, since I still wasn't getting much in the way of hands. Then, with about 50k left and the blinds at 3k/6k with a 750 ante, I picked up 77. An EP player shoved for like 85k and I felt like I had to call since 77 was the best hand I'd seen in a while and his raise looked kinda weak anyway (in hindsight, I kinda think I maybe could've folded and looked for a better spot...at least maybe a spot where I could get my chips in the pot first instead of having to call off my stack). Anyhow, had 88 and I didn't suck out. All in all, I played a pretty good tourney and ran really well on some key hands even though I never really did hold much in the way of starting hands. I really wanted to win, or at least final table, but it seems to be my destiny to go deep, but not quite deep enough.
Anyway, I'm back...feeling pretty good about my game and hoping to improve and rebuild a decent sized bankroll.
I've been playing mostly .5/1 LHE and some 1/2 since I came back. I've also been mixing in some SnGs and Donkaments and have actually done quite well in Tourneys. I've done pretty well at .5/1, but probably am down at 1/2. I've found the play to be much different than when I played a lot online years ago. The games are ton tighter, even as low as .5/1, but still probably beatable. I'd definitely like to read some more and try to figure out how best to adapt to the new style. I'm pretty sure I'm not playing completely optimally right now.
Anyway, on to the Midnight Madness tonight. I actually think I caught worse than average starting hands tonight, but managed to make things work by hitting a few key flops. Early on it was a rollercoaster, I'd get to like 4k, double somebody up and drop to just under 2k, then win a coinflip to double up myself. I did this at least twice. I was sitting at just under 7k when the key hand of the tournament came up. I raised in EPish with 8d5d and the button went all-in for like 220, then the SB called. It came back to me and I had to call 220 into a pot of like 3k, obviously I couldn't fold. The flop came something like 852 rainbow and the SB went all-in for 1700, of course I called, the SB showed AA and bricked out and I was up over 10k.
After that, I played solid poker, stole a lot of blinds and antes to build my stack. Won a few key pots where I raised on a steal and was forced to call the all-in of a shortstack. I made it all the way down to the fourth to last table with a pretty solid chipstack, but by the time we got down to 28 or 29 players left I was in like 17th and had several big stacks to my left. I wasn't getting many cards and really hurt myself when I tried to steal with KTo. With about 90k behind, I raised to 15k with blinds at 2.5k/5k with like a 600 ante. I got called by a huge stack two to my left who had over 200k behind. I decided that I pretty much needed to flop huge or I was done with the hand. Then the flop came A74 and I decided that my opponent might have a middle pair and and I should represent the Ace, so I bet 21k into pot of just over 41k. He instantly went all-in and I was forced to fold. That knocked me down to like 40k in chips, with huge blinds and 24 out of 27. With an M of like 3, I managed to win the blinds with 3 or 4 all-ins with fairly weak hands, since I still wasn't getting much in the way of hands. Then, with about 50k left and the blinds at 3k/6k with a 750 ante, I picked up 77. An EP player shoved for like 85k and I felt like I had to call since 77 was the best hand I'd seen in a while and his raise looked kinda weak anyway (in hindsight, I kinda think I maybe could've folded and looked for a better spot...at least maybe a spot where I could get my chips in the pot first instead of having to call off my stack). Anyhow, had 88 and I didn't suck out. All in all, I played a pretty good tourney and ran really well on some key hands even though I never really did hold much in the way of starting hands. I really wanted to win, or at least final table, but it seems to be my destiny to go deep, but not quite deep enough.
Anyway, I'm back...feeling pretty good about my game and hoping to improve and rebuild a decent sized bankroll.
posted by TheCinciKid @ 4:17 AM
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