December 16th 2008

0 for 3 today, luck not any better. I was knocked out of a $16.50 PLO tourney with KK called by 99 and JJ, guy with 9's hit a 9 on flop then runner runner jacks sent me out. A nice little 3 outer in a $11 NLHE tourney holding A 10 on a board of 6 7 8 9, the guy called my all in shove with J 9 off and hit a 10 on the river. Then in my last tourney of the day, $5.50 NLHE i spiked a set of 8's and got it all in only for the guy to hit an ace on the river, he had AA. Then lost a flip with 77 vs AQ, then short-stacked i shoved all in with just over 10 BB's with JJ and was called by AA.

December 15th 2008

I managed to go 0 for 9 today!!! I lost my flips, called and bluffed off chips and was just plain awful in some others. Not a good day to say the least! Hopefully tomorrow will bring more luck and i can stay patient and not tilt (you'd think after playing for 5 years i'd be over the tilting). Oh yeah and one more thing i got knocked out holding 10 10 by a player holding k7 of hearts, he called my all in shove after he had raised which was just plain dirrrrrty!!!!

December 14th 2008

Decided to play in the Sunday Million on stars today- $215 NLHE. I remember only four hands clearly from the tourney as i was playing very tight and folded mostly- not my usual style but i was card dead for a very long time. I doubled up with AK suited vs 88 all in preflop in the second hour. I then flopped a set of aces and pretty much doubled thru again to $23,000. The next hand i played AK and check-called the A high flop to the river for a $30,000 pot, he showed AQ. I myself then had AQ and flopped the nut flush, which was good for another $35,000. The hand which crippled me was AJ of spades. I min raised to $10k fro the cut off and the SB shoved for $50k more- i figured his range would be pretty big here and made what turned out to be a bad call as he tabled AK and the board brought A K 5 8 J. The last hand i played was 10 6 off from the BB as i was crippled when the SB put me all in i had no choice but to call. He made 2 pair on the flop with his KJ and that was goodnight from me. The one thing that bugged me was that my finishing position was 666th lol, which earned me $452. I also went pretty deep in an $11 tournament finishing 68th out of over 5,000 runners. About a $200 profit on the day, let's s what tomorrow brings!

December 11th 2008

Another day, another final table. My first MTT in about a week and i made the final table. Once more i was using the small ball approach only this time i was min raising a lot which seemed to confuse quite a few opponents. I was playing solitaire at the same time so my focus wasn't really all there, but i did pick up on a few things around the table in betting patterns and so on. I seemed to glide to the FT in all honesty never putting my stack at risk, in fact the only 2 hands that come to mind are these. Firstly a player limps from middle position and me in the SB and the BB see the flop- i have K 10 0ff. The flops brings K Q 8 and i check call 1200 with the blinds at 300/600 and around 11k each left in chips. The turn brings a 6 and i check call 2400, the river comes a 9 and he shoves for about 7k. The only hand he could have is KQ really, but i dont put him on that and make the call, he tables A4 of spades for the bluff and i scoop the pot. The other hand i remember was QQ which i laid down and was right to aswell as there were two full houses on a board of 10 10 4 9 8, with one person holding 10 9 and the other holding 88. I finished 8th out of over 900 runners in this NLHE tourney and cashed $175 for the $8.80 buy in. My final hand i had 65k left with the blinds at 2500/5000, i open shoved and was called by KK, the board bricked out and i was gone.

2nd December

Just the one heads up battle today in a $33 NLHE tourney. he blinds we every 5, but again i was playing a fellow small baller and we got a lot of flops in- this was a far better opponent than i played yesterday and i had to really give it my best. Because we were playing so long the blinds got huge, we both still had around the starting chips of 1500 and the BB was 200 it was incredible. I finally picked up a pair of fives and shoved with them on the button i got a called from a3- he had no choice really as the blinds were so big and the board brought me a five so i picked up another HU win. Another shoutout to one of my poker buddies who also final tabled today- thats back to back to back for us three in the last three days, he finally succombed shoving all in pre with QJ with about 10 BB's left and was called by 55 and lost the flip. We play totally different styles as he plays big pot poker for the most part, but hey! whatever works for ya!

1st December

Just the 2 tournaments played today, one of which was $22PLO Hi Lo. My omaha game has picked up somewhat and i'm pretty comfortable playing now. I trebled up in the first level with nut nut, but never found a decent spot to get my money in after that. With around 4k left i got my money in on a k 6 8 Q board with QQ and the nut flush draw, my caller had KK and i hit my flush only for it to be the K and he quadded up. The other game i played was $55 HU. I saw a lot of pots as we were both small balling and with the slow blinds we played a lot of flops, i felt very comfortable playing this guy and felt i had a huge edge over him. I chipped away at him and had him down to 475 (we both started with 1500) and when i hit a flush on the river and he had trips i fired out 450- what a dumb bet that could have been! He called and i won the pot, but why i left him with 25 in chips i'll never know, he doubled up twice before i knocked him off- to which i got berrated in the chatbox by him, i don't think he had a point he just didn't like to lose i guess!! One of my good friends also made a final table today in a $5.50 NLHE tourney, but got knocked out with AK- his opponent held AA and the collision was pretty unaviodable really.

30th December

I played in 3 tournaments today all on Pokerstars- is there anywhere else to play really? The first tourney i played was $11 HORSE, i didn't really get much going in this as i'm still adapting to playing all these games at limit and i still am very poor at the Stud games. All in all i played pretty standard, but couldn't find a cash. The second tourney i played was $5.50 NLHE 6 MAX, now this tourney is one i regularly cash in as i like the way 6 handed games play. I can be aggressive and push the play, but still small ball at the same time. I did take a few beats in this tourney, but despite this i made the last 3 tables and a finish of 15th out out over 1,500 runners earned me a $70 reward. I was a bit dissapponted not to final table, but the cards went dry when we were down to 20 so i was pretty with 15th. The last tourney of the day i played was $11 NLHE. I played this at the same time as the 6 handed tourney and found it pretty easy to make it to the money. I got hands when i needed them and i made some of the best calls i've ever made- I limped with A9 off UTG with the blinds at $4000/8000 with around $160,000 and play a pot with the SB and BB. The flop comes down QJQ with 2 spades, SB checks and the BB shoves for $68,000, i thought through it and i think he's pushing pre with any paint really so i make the call and he tables 42 of hearts, he didn't suck out and i took a nice pot. Deeper in i picked up AA and was fortunate enough 2 of my opponents had QQ and 99 respectively, we were all in pre and my bullets held up for a $700,000 pot. I floated around the 1m mark for a while and the next big hand i played was at the final table. With 1.3m the only female on the table shoves pre with QJ for $400,000 and i call with 66, i win the flip and am upto around 1.7m. A lot of to and fro play and we were down to 3 players, i did nothing special in this time and just stole where i thought i could, but kept pretty quiet apart from that. The first hand 3 handed i pick up KK on the button and put in a two and half times the blind raise(still small balling) and the BB shoves for 1.2m, i have around 2m and make the call, he has A9 off with the ace of clubs, the board brings three clubs on the flop, but no help for him on turn or river and we are heads up. The first hand heads up i called a min raise with 10 6 off- not a play i recommend, but i wanted to see as many flops as possible as i felt i had the edge, the flop brings 10 9 10, he check raises me all in and i call- he tables AK and i double up to take the chip lead. We got back to even with 5.3 and 6m when i call another min raise with 52 off, the flop brings 3 K 6 rainbow and we both check. I know if i hit my 4 i can break him (i put him on a hand with the min raise as he raised more with air) the turn brought an 8 and i check-called $300,000. The river hits me in the gut and i make my straight with the 4, i check raise to 1.6m and he goes all in, i think for like 3 seconds and make the call- no way he's min raising me with 75 in that spot, he tabled KK for the set and i break him. 1st place and a $5,600 payday, not bad for a $11 investment!! This was the easiest tournament i have ever won, i was never all in from 100 players down and climbed chips pretty easily, small ball is the way forward people i tell you!!!