Joined: Dec '10
Location: United States
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 27
I started my own challenge back in December. To turn 55 cents into as much as possible. I started with one Satellite to the BLT with a borrowed $1.10. I won, payed back the dollar ten, and started climbing. Since then it's been a little bit of an up and down ride; but I'm tired of down, and just trying to go up from here.
------------ January 21st 2011
Today was a good day. Started out like any other day. With a Super Turbo Satellite to the BLT Tournament. I play those on the hour, every hour. They're pretty much my bread and butter right now. Mostly because I do whatever I want while I'm playing one, I keep minimizing the screen, it pops up, I fold. I play about 5 or 10 hands in the course of about an hour, then collect my $2.20. $1.60 profit. I played 11 of those today. 7 wins, 4 losses, for a profit of $8.80.
Played quite a few freerolls today, as it's the start of the freeroll weekend. But most importantly, I played my weekly league game. I won the last 2 weeks in a row, so there was a 10 dollar bounty on my head. I was sitting tied for second in overall points standings before the start of Event 5, today's game. There are 10 Events in total, in this league, and some healthy payouts for overall point standings at the end of it all.
I ended up winning the game, for a streak of three wins in a row. A nice Hat Trick. The turning point in the game, was when I called a reraise with JX. I flopped trip jacks, rainbow flop, decided to slow play them a bit. I checked. The other guy checked. The next card is a king. The flop was JTJ. Now there's straights possible, I am no longer comfortable slow playing this hand. I think and bet. I get reraised. I push all in. He calls. He has KQ. My trip jacks hold up, and I take an early double up to become chip leader.
After quite a few good hands, not just me, but good game in general, it gets down to heads up. I have about a 3 to 2 chip lead. I end up building my chip lead, but then not really getting cards, and my opponent getting better cards; we get to all square. I have a really good read on this guy. He likes to call. A lot. I decide to make it expensive. The blinds were too small to be worth betting too hard, so I kind of dragged ass a bit, and let the levels go by. I'm waiting for my hands, trying to choose a spot to end this. I get AA. He folds to my big blind pre flop. Well, not that hand. The game ender was QQ vs AJ. Raise, reraise, all in, call. My ladies held up.
During the time I was playing the league event, a freeroll started that I was registered in. I didn't want to be distracted, but it was a 25 dollar freeroll with only 17 entrants. My kind of odds. I kept minimizing that game, and only playing a few choice hands. Before I knew it, I was chip leading and on the final table in both tournaments. Luckily the league event was wrapping up, as it was down to heads up. The freeroll paid out three spots, $5, $7.50 or $12.50. No one on the final table wanted to bubble it. I had this Finnish guy on my left. He was a calling station, to the max. The league game wrapped up and I was able to focus now on getting in the money in the freeroll.
So I get KQ. I raise it up 3 times the big blind. The Finnish guy calls. The flop is QXT. I bet almost pot. He calls. In hind site, I should have shipped, but maybe this guy woulda called that too. The next card, Ace. I bet again. He calls. The river is a blank. I have 3K chips left. I bet 1K. He calls. He shows A5o. What the heck? ?? I don't even know what to think, but this guy is now on my enemy list. I went from chip leader to 2K, bottom stack. I angrily fold through some crappy hands. Shove with AK, and sure enough Finnish guy calls, with some sort of garbage cards and doubles me up.
It goes back and forth for a little while until it gets down to 4 of us. It was a pretty intense bubble. I picked up KK. Bet it big. Finnish guy calls. The flop goes 545. I bet huge again. He calls. Next card 4. I bet enough to put Finland all in and he folds. This crippled him. I end up taking him out in a few hands. We've made the money. Now we're battling for better pieces of it. But it didn't last long. I had a pretty big chip lead, with almost half the chips in play. The to other stacks go back and forth, and clash in a pretty big hand. This puts the loser of that hand on tilt, and in a hurtin' for more chips.
Then the game ending hand. I meant to get a screen shot, but I missed out.
FullTiltPoker Game #27488304616: KingsFreerolls.com (212844931), Match 1 - 120/240 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:46:01 ET - 2011/01/21
Seat 3: humanfaith (8,520) Seat 4: KingofAcorns (15,050) Seat 7: DealMeSumfin (1,930) humanfaith antes 25 KingofAcorns antes 25 DealMeSumfin antes 25 humanfaith posts the small blind of 120 KingofAcorns posts the big blind of 240 The button is in seat #7 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to KingofAcorns [Kd Ks] DealMeSumfin raises to 1,905, and is all in humanfaith raises to 8,495, and is all in KingofAcorns has 15 seconds left to act KingofAcorns calls 8,255 humanfaith shows [Kc Jc] KingofAcorns shows [Kd Ks] DealMeSumfin shows [Th Qd] *** FLOP *** [7s 3c 9s] *** TURN *** [7s 3c 9s] Ah *** RIVER *** [7s 3c 9s Ah] Ac humanfaith shows a pair of Aces KingofAcorns shows two pair, Aces and Kings KingofAcorns wins the side pot (13,180) with two pair, Aces and Kings DealMeSumfin shows a pair of Aces KingofAcorns wins the main pot (5,790) with two pair, Aces and Kings *** SUMMARY *** Duration 37s Total pot 18,970 Main pot 5,790. Side pot 13,180. | Rake 0 Board: [7s 3c 9s Ah Ac] Seat 3: humanfaith (small blind) showed [Kc Jc] and lost with a pair of Aces Seat 4: KingofAcorns (big blind) showed [Kd Ks] and won (18,970) with two pair, Aces and Kings Seat 7: DealMeSumfin (button) showed [Th Qd] and lost with a pair of Aces
Smallest stack shoves with the worst hand QTo into medium stack with the next worse hand KJs, who in turn shoves all in into me, the biggest stack, with the best hand KK. They needed runner runner at best, and my kings held. GAME OVER.
One of the best, if not the best, final table hands in my life.
I played a few more freerolls, nothing great. Had a good run in one, until my nut straight was beat by a full house. Railed a buddy all the way to a 3rd place finish. That was nice to watch. But mostly just kept playing the Satellites to the BLT and chatting and reading and posting on forums.
PS While I typed this up, I played my final Satellite to the BLT. Won.
------------
Edited by CoddBrunson (22 January 2011 @ 13:53 GMT)
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
Thats a loooooong post dude, but I just managed to get through it...your doing well, stick to them sats and build your BR. Dont think you need advise, can see you commited and I belive your going to do well, just dont let the downswings bother you. Keep up the good work and keep us posted. GL, I might even ship you some $ if you slip bad.
Joined: Dec '10
Location: United States
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 27
LOL, yeah, not suggested reading for everyone, but I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for the positive words. I really appreciate how you say, you might ship me $ if I slip bad, that's really awesome of you. I'm gonna put that out of my mind though, cause I don't want to think I have a safety net of any kind. I don't.
------------ January 22nd 2011
Today was another good day. Hell, today was a great day. The only downside of today, was I was a little tired, and started to play crappier towards the end of the night.
Last night I was winning, and I couldn't get off until I stopped winning. I ended up going to bed at 630 am. I woke up at 1030 am for a freeroll starting at 11. I only got 4 hrs of sleep, which ended up hurting me a little at the end of the night.
Started playing freerolls in the beginning. Nothing great, just warming up. Meanwhile I was playing my regular Satellites to the BLT. I had gone to bed at 5 straight wins in a row, and continued that streak when I woke up. After a 6th win in a row, I placed 27th for $1.65. Not a full win, but definitely not a loss. Then I won 3 more in a row after that, so basically 10 straight back to back satellite to the BLT wins. That's 16 dollars profit.
I played my first Poker Stars Home Game. It was a league points event for another forum I am member of. Being my first Home Game, I really wanted to start with a win. I was chip leading, and ended up gobbling up second chip stack with top set. That gave me an overwhelming chip lead, and it was only a matter of time after that.
The Final Hand:
Played some more freerolls, meanwhile the whole time playing BLT Sats. Min cashed in one that paid out 9 spots. A whoppin' 75 cents. Then I played a few more freerolls. Was doin really good in one. Got down to the final table and I was the chip leader. I was playing 4 tables at the same time. The final table really dragged out as only 4 spots paid, and no one wanted to bubble. I ended up going on tilt after things got really lame on all the tables I was playing on, all at once.
One table I couldn't get cards to save my life. So I kept folding. I would get a decent starting hand, raise it, and someone would shove all in, and I would have to fold. Another table I kept getting sucked out on. The final table I was playing, every time a player was almost eliminated, they'd either suck out in a hand, or someone else would double them back up in a really stupid hand. I was slowly dropping in chips, and ended up shoving on a hand I shouldn't have, after I was just too fed up. I was disappointed in how I played that final table, but I min cashed for $3.
After that, I busted out of the other freerolls, except one. It was on Ultimate Bet, it only had a few players, first place was $10; but it was the tournament that I couldn't get a hand to save my life. Luckily, things turned around. I started getting some cards. Made some good plays and started building my stack. I got down to the final table. The tourney paid out 5 places. We got into the money, then it came down to the final three. I was chip leading, but I had a real aggressive small stack on my left. The other guy was obviously less experienced. Every time I beat the aggressive stack down, he would get chips off the other guy. It was a pretty crazy final table. The aggressive small stack ended up doubling off the other guy, and then he finished him off.
Heads Up. Other guy was leading in chips with about 12k to 20k. Play went back and forth for a little while, then I raised a hand with something like K6. The other guy shoved all in. I felt he was tryin to bully, so I called all in. He had me dominated with K8, I believe. I ended up sucking out a straight, and winning the hand. Bad call, I got lucky. I was now the chip leader. About 24k to 7k. Play continued back and forth. Other guy never really recovered. I raised, and other guy shoved all in. He had done this several times to me, and I was really starting to feel, he couldn't possibly have a better hand everytime. I had folded quite a few like that, not wanting to double him up. I called. I had QJ. He had A5o. I ended up hitting a queen and he flipped out. Oh well, first place $10. I did get real lucky several times, the K6 hand was pretty bad, but what do you expect when you shove so much? You're kinda pulling a slot machine lever.
That was my biggest cash of the day. I ended winning 6 BLT Sats, cashing in 2, and losing 5 for a total profit of $8.15. Was a pretty good day, could have been greater, had a lot of fun until I started getting tired and playing crappier. I lost the last freeroll I played, in a really stupid hand. I was real disappointed in myself. Then my computer pretty much crashed when an auto scan came on and I had too many programs running. That really sucked. But I finished the day with a $19.69 profit.
------------ 23 January 2011
Today was a really off day. It all started when my computer froze up last night right before I was done. I ended up sleeping through some freerolls I really wanted to play, a PS home game I really wanted to play, and having to play catch up on some crap because of the computer freezing. It all started me off on the wrong foot, and I never really got balanced. I did no damage to my bankroll, but what I am really disappointed in, is the money lost that could have been earned. I ended up 23 cents up for the day. My usual BLT Sat's I finished $1 down, after a disappointing 2 wins, 7 losses and 3 of them voided out. Luckily I was up a dollar and some change from Badugi, which should have been more, but of course the one hand I walk away from the keyboard, I get dealt a Badugi on the button. That pretty much sums up the day.
Since I have nothing interesting or awesome to show for, I leave you with my favorite hand of the day:
Edited by CoddBrunson (24 January 2011 @ 14:32 GMT)
Joined: Dec '10
Location: United States
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 27
January 24th 2011
Today was a bad day. Started out great, but went downhill from there.
I started out playing my second Poker Stars Home Game ever. I got first place. I waited for some good hands, started getting them, winning pots, getting better hands, winning more pots, getting more good hands, winning. All in all, it was a really awesome game. I don't think I lost a sizable pot the whole game.
That makes 2 Poker Stars Home Games played. 2 Poker Stars Home Games first places.
The winning hand:
There is a payout for overall points standings at the end of the month January. I missed Game 1, won Game 2, slept through Game 3, won Game 4. I am now sitting in first in the overall point standings.
After that I played a few freerolls, but nothing good. Then I played the Dimer, with 4 entries. I started out good, I held top 100 for quite sometime with one of my entires. I was in 11th place at first break. But it went downhill after that. I waited for good cards, but it seemed every hand everyone wanted to get all their chips in. I was stupid, and did quite a few rebuys, and added on to all my stacks. I ended up spending $7 on a 10c tournament, and winning nothing. I was pretty sore about that. I hate rebuy tournaments. I hate the way people play in them, and I hate the way I rebuy sometimes. I have them filtered out of my Full Tilt lobby I hate them so much. It was my worst loss, and worst bankroll decision in at least a week or two.
I played some more freerolls. No good results. One, I was chip leading in, til we got into the money. I lost 1/3 of my stack on a open ended straight draw with mid pair. But top pair crappy kicker pushed all in, I called and yeah, lost. I ended up getting a dollar. But after the Dimer things kinda just went sour. Once again, I was running off only 4 or 5 hours of sleep, and I swear, I don't ever want to play poker tired again.
Here's some great hands that sum up yesterday:
'Ooh, back to back pocket aces!'
'Ah jeez, everyone's sitting out.'
The sounds all messed up on my computer. It goes in and out.
'Wasn't I playing a BLT Satellite too? Where'd that go?'
'Aw crap, pocket aces folded.'
'Jeez not again.'
Luckily, I ended up cashin in both those, or I'da probably thrown my computer out the window.
As if the day wasn't bad enough already, I decided to take $7 on Rush and dig myself out of a hole. Well, AK top 2 pair got beat by a mid set. Perfect ending to a horribly played day. Never gonna play tired again. Never gonna rebuy again. And Rush, whatever...
------------ January 25th 2011
Pretty bad, pretty bad, pretty bad.
I started out playing my noon Poker Stars Home Game. Since I am the resident kick ass, and points leader, there was a $1 bounty added on my head. The guy who runs it, was highly encouraging everyone to take me out. I loved all this, knowing that a bunch of idiots were going to be throwing their chips at me, I just had to wait for good solid hands. I played one hand, where I had a nice pocket pair, and got a free double up. Then I folded, and folded and folded. I played a hand here or there, but let things go real easily.
Then I got dealt 77. I hadn't played a hand in a long time. I raised it up a good amount. Got one caller. A guy who had called 75 percent or more of all the bets I had made. Obviously just trying to collect my bounty, and doin a pretty bad job. The flop goes 349, rainbow. I shove all in and he calls. He shows 66. Sweet. Gonna get another nice stack of chips. Turn card 6. WTF? River blank. I'm crippled down to about 500 chips. The guy says I knew it, like he made some great call. He made a great suck out, and an idiot call is all. I'm pretty pissed about this, and I'm kinda over this tournament. I fold a few hands and get dealt AJ. I shove all in, and get two callers. Of course. Flop has a king, one guy bets, other guy folds. I get beat by KTo. Dude called my all in for like 1/3 of his chips with KTo. Love it. Bout the only way they can beat me in that league is to suck out. Nice, well they can't suck out every time.
The good thing is I'm still ranked number one in the league, and there's only a few games left. I missed out on some valuable points, but I'll get more next time.
That's my only complaint so far with Poker Stars Home Games, the league I'm playin in only rewards points for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place finish. A guy who gets 4th, should earn something more than the first guy out. Also, just for showing up and playing, you should get more points than the guy who doesn't play at all. Pretty lame.
Played a few freerolls, nothin good.
Here is my 'What Were They Thinking Hand of the Day':
Doh! Good bye. Never seen someone play T9s so hard pre flop and post. He played them like the were aces or kings.
My first taste of final table felt, for the day:
I ended up losing that entire stack on one horribly misplayed hand. Stupid.
This was pretty cool. Four tabling, 3 entries in the Dimer, one a Freeroll. Just really refreshing to see aces hold up against so many hands.
So yeah, I played the Dimer, both of them, with 4 entries each. I maintained a top 25 chip stack with one of my entries, for the majority of the game, til we got down to about 500 left. I stopped getting hands, and just spent my time folding. I went out when the first decent hand I'd seen in a long time, TT ran into AA.
Played another freeroll. Went through a really nice stretch of hands. Seemed like sets were just raining from the sky. I saw another guy flop a set of 7's right around these same hands too.
I made it to the final table as chip leader, but my luck changed with a pocket jacks hand. Kind of put me on tilt, and I misplayed my way right out of the money. Too horribly misplayed final tables.
This hand pretty much sums up the day:
Well, I'm really sick of having crappy days. I was doing so good up until last Sunday. Something has to change. If it doesn't get a whole heck of a lot better, I'm gonna take a break.
Edited by CoddBrunson (26 January 2011 @ 13:41 GMT)
hmmm, dont know what to say to tierd after reading all this,, getting tired just thinking about the hours you are putting in on this,, anyway good luck