Ok so I missed a couple of days, not like anyone is really reading this as of now anyway. It is Saturday night lets see what has been going on since my last entry. I have been playing online still at very small stakes but I think I have had a few mental light bulbs that will help my game out. I was trying to make super star plays and at this level that isn't what the game is about. It's more about playing in a positive expectation format. Playing at the local card house, snapping off a bluff can make an average day into a really good day. My opponents online are not trying to bluff, and if they are its rarely enough that I should be calling as much as I was. That said I won two buy-ins yesterday over about 600 hands. Not great but a hell of a lot better than being in the red.
I was going to go to my first sparring practice today it was going to be very early and I knew that I was going to be playing some satellites for the big event tomorrow at the local card room, so I decided to skip because I didn't want to be exhausted. I got a call from one of my friends in the system yelling at me for skipping the class this morning. He has been in it for quite some time and is almost through with the curriculum, he does a good job of keeping me accountable. Sometimes its hard to motivate yourself to go work your ass off for 3 and a half hours and not see anything new. The point isn't to see something new every class but hey learning new stuff is motivation no matter who you are.
So about the satellites, for anyone who doesn't know a satellite is a way of trying to win your way into an expensive tournament for a cheaper price. The big tournament at the local room is $400 every six weeks, this is an awesome tournament and you get a lot of chips and the blind levels increase very slowly giving you lots of time to play. First place is usually $6k to $8k, I was lucky enough in December to win the "big one" as we call it. The satellites are held the day before the event and cost $90 a piece. You sit down with 10 other people and play until 2 people are left and they both win $400 that they can use to buy into the tournament, or you can just keep the cash. In the past when I played these I have done very well so now since I am not working at the card room I was eager to play and try to get my way into the big one for as cheap as possible.
My table is pretty soft, lot of calling stations but not really anyone I am overly worried about. I am running pretty well, I lost a few chips early on but was able to triple up when I picked up 33 and flopped a set. Then a little later I have 6 8 suited and its a limp pot and I am on the big blind. I check my action and the flop is 7 9 10 giving me the second nut straight, since there are a number of people in the pot I check knowing someone will bet. Never one to disappoint a guy bets and there is a call I make a small check raise and the original better called and the guy who called the original bet folded. The turn is a Queen which worried me a little bit but I knew I wasn't necessarily beat at this point. I bet enough for the guy to know that I was committed to the hand even if he pushed all in. He pushes anyway and I quickly call and he turns over QJ for top pair and a gut shot straight draw, the river blanks and I beat him. I have a lot of chips now and its looking like smooth sailing. I am known at this place for being aggressive so a lot of people are content to stay out of my way. I pick up pocket 5's and call a raise from a semi short stack because another player called as well. Another player calls as well behind me, he is not a good player and makes bad tournament decisions for large portions of his stack, and we go to the flop 4 handed. The flop comes 8 6 5 giving me bottom set, I am pretty ecstatic here I have a pretty strong hand. The first guy checks and I check not because I am a huge fan of slow playing but because I want the guy who has a short stack to put all his money in. The action checks around and an Ace comes on the turn, the short stack checks and by now I have to bet, this guy will either call or not but I don't want to lose this hand. I bet out and the guy behind me calls and he is second in chips I am assuming he has an ace but am not worried about it all that much. The short stack shoves his chips in and I decide that I will move all in because I want to play against just him. Well to my astonishment the guy who is second in chips also calls, very weird play because he should just get out of the way unless he has the nuts, no point in possibly losing all your chips to the only guy who has you covered. I am worried about a straight but the short stack has 88 for a set higher than mine, sucks but it happens. He doesn't have very much in chips so I can double him up and as long as the other guy has a worse hand than I do I will get all his chips and still make a lot of money in this hand. He turns over Ace 6 for two pair. I am excited at this point, I will lose the main pot to the short stack guy but I will get to bust this guy with a good amount of chips, I will have a lot of chips and can leave the table and make it into the big event. Well as usual I have bad luck and another Ace falls on the river giving the guy a full house bigger than me and the other guy. I was stunned, he had only 2 aces he could of hit to win that hand and he hits one. The guy put his whole stack on the line versus a bet a raise all in and another raise all in, just a bad play with Ace 6 but whatever.
That leaves me short stacked and I am out not much later. I sign up for another one with my friend Jim also playing. We are seated right next to each other with him having position on me. Once again I start out well building up some chips. I raise with 77 and he raises me I fold after thinking about it. He later told me he had AK which is kind of what I thought. This table is tougher than the last one but I am still doing all right. One thing to note Jim and I are not playing together but we aren't playing against each other either. I make a raise he won't get tricky and try to out play me and vice versa. Later on I raise with AQ suited and he moves all in. I think I am at a coin flip and decide to call. He shows 99 and I feel good about my read and know that I a little worse than even money to win. I see a 9 directly on the flop and know that I am going to be short stacked again. That hands leaves me with $350 in chips and with the blinds at 50/100 I have to pick to cards and get it in. I am out short time later, no big deal that is the thing with satellites, you have to play fast and super aggressive because the blinds move up at such a fast rate, you either pick up some chips quickly or your don't and your signing up for the next one.
So now I am 0 for 2, I think its dumb to play 3 satellites spending $270 when the buy in is $400. So I am put to a decision, do I want to buy in tomorrow for $400 or do I want to skip it and save the cash for my bankroll. There are arguments for both sides of the table. There will be a lot of really dead money there and with a prize pool of at least $6k that would really boost my bankroll, but its still $400 dollars and no one is a favorite to win a tournament of that size. I am still up in the air about it but will make my decision in a little bit.
You will find out tomorrow.
Later.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment