Zero To Sixty

Oh my goodness, I haven’t updated this blog in ages, and there is quite a bit of news. Let’s get caught up, shall we? Okay, on Carbon Poker I got in the money on a freeroll. That gave me a bankroll of a little more than $1.00. I took that bankroll and then started playing cash tables (as I said in my plan). Starting with 2/4 penny cash tables, I actually built my bankroll up to around $50.00. Then things went bad.

There were some ups and downs, but three single hands took me from $50 to less than $2! The first was an ace high flush where I went all-in and then lost to a full house. That took me to around $30. Then I went all-in again with an ace high flush and, you guessed it, lost again to a full house. I’m not sure how often that happens, but it just devasted my bankroll.

I was down to about $11 and then went all-in against a loose-aggressive player with 99 preflop. This came shortly after I had lost in the secon full house, and clearly I was making poor decisions and was on tilt. I lost to an overpair draw and that took me all the way down to pretty much exactly where I started–less than 2 dollars.

I had no choice but to start at the 2/4 penny level again, and it didn’t take me long to get to $5. I then switched to nickle/dime blinds cash games, and in three days I find myself back up to $20. Actually, I’m finding the nickle/dime cash games quite lucrative. I don’t win the big $20 pots, but I also lose extremely rarely and can easily make $5-$10/night.

The downside, of course, is that I will never make it to $60K at that pace. So I have a new plan. The first part is that I will only commit one third of my bankroll max at each cash table session. The second is that I will accelerate up the limits much slower. As you can imagine, I previously quickly went up to the 50 cent/1 dollar blinds level and that’s what wiped me out quickly. I believe by taking it more slowly, I’ll be better prepared for the chip and knowledge requirements of a higher level.

The other downside is that I’m not earning enough comp points on Carbon Poker to qualify for high dollar value freerolls. As a player, you receive comp points for playing cash games, and the higher the level, the more comp points you earn. If you earn 2,000 comp points over three days, you qualify for free entry into $1k and $2K tourneys. Part of my plan was to play plenty of $1K and $2K freerolls, but that plan will have to wait until I can handle the cash games that generate the comp points to let me qualify for those.

All in all, I’m in a good spot: Not broke and still learning!

Too Much Is… Too Much

I’ve cut down on my poker play, as I’ve been playing just way too much. I still play quite a bit, and I can see my play continue to improve, but I’m not playing six hours a day. I am going to focus on one freeroll every few days.

Progress

While I still haven’t finished in the money in a cash tournament, I can see evidence of my improved play. In the Carbon Poker Sit’n'go tourneys, I’ve made it to the third round in two of my last three attempts. I also am generally well-placed in tourneys heading into the first break. What knocks me out? Almost always a bad beat. For example, tonight I was kicked out of a freeroll on Absolute Poker when my pocket tens got beat by an under pair that matched with a second pair on the river.

Bummer

Earlier today I made it to the final two in the funstep 3 sit’n'go tourney on Carbon Poker. If I won,  I would have earned a full dollar. Hey, it’s something!

Anyway, I was up 5,000 chips to 1,000 and really was moving in for the kill, when I had to leave to do something with the family. So, I’ll take it as a moral victory, even though I had to forfeit my spot.

One of the things I need to find is a sense of balance. It’s pretty clear that as you play with erratic players and maniacs in freeroll tourneys that a looser approach pre-flop and a very disciplined approach post-flop can be incredibly lucrative. The trouble is that it is also fairly expensive. You go in on enough pots (and raised pots) in a row without that big payoff, and your chip stack is starting to look pretty thin. So a sense of balance is key.

That was one problem I had late last night on an Absolute Poker freeroll. I had a very long period of horrible cards and flops. I started out playing loose, but nothing hit so I had to tighten up considerable because my stack was dwindling. But nothing else came up over time either. Generally speaking, you can withstand these droughts because you will eventually hit a few big hands, but last night it went so long, and I had spent too many chips on loose plays early that I was in desperate shape.

As I said, I can’t really let this happen again. I’ve already identified my problem–calling too many big pre-flop raises. It’s one thing to call a 40 chip raise on a 20 chip big blind, but it’s another thing entirely to call a 120 chip raise on a 20 chip big blind. That’s just too much of an investment for the long odds involved, even for a potential full stack takedown.

One of the reasons I called these bets was that the sense of optimism involved in a big pre-flop raise generally means that they are willing to go all-in since they are confident in their hand. My plan is generally to call, hit the big flop, go all-in, and collect their stack. Again, hitting the flop is a long shot, but the effective implied pot odds of gaining a whole stack made it somewhat worth it. That is, if you have those chips to burn, which I don’t for any extended period of time in early rounds.

So I need to stop calling these big pre-flop raises unless I have a powerhouse hand. I still think calling pre-flop raises with mediocre hole cards that can improve to powerhouse hands is worth it… assuming your opponent is the type to go all-in at the drop of a hat and you can afford the chip outlay.

So balance is the word… not so many big raise calls and a tighter grip on “improvable hands.”

I can tell my play is significantly improving, but no matter how good you do, there is always the specter of the bad beat. Tonight it nipped me good. I was very much looking forward to finally building a bit of cash to move ahead, so it is quite depressing.

I was playing a $500 freeroll on Bodog, and I was doing quite well. I was in the top 250 with about 750 players left in the tourney. I was being patient and noticed how some players on the table were playing, which was pretty loose preflop and then fairly smart post-flop.

I was dealt pocket aces, and my only thought was how to best extract the maximum amount of chips. I was pretty sure that a pre-flop all-in would get no action and that a significant pre-flop raise would scare out quite a few limpers who would have mediocre hands. I knew it was a bit of a risk in terms of walking into a straight or a flush, but I felt that slow playing it was the best strategy for this group.

My best case scenario was that a king would fall, and a big raise by me would be met with an all-in by someone holding the a king. Well, a king hit the table with a couple of undercards. There was no chance of a straight or flush. My only concern was someone hitting trips, and the odds of that were very small. So I bet big out of the flop with a nice healthy pot due to all the limpers I had figured on.

And, as an added bonus, a player went all-in with me! He turned over a king and a two offsuit, and I can just imagine how his face fell when I turned over the pocket aces. Now, his only chance was hitting a king for trips or a two for two pair. That’s five cards out of 45. His odds of winning were a dismal 4 to 1 (20%). Winning this would put me in the top ten and I would be in VERY good position to end in the money.

The turn card fell, and it was that two I mentioned earlier. With one turn of a card, he hit a 4 to 1 shot and I was now behind. Now my only chance was matching up with one of the other cards or hitting an aced. That was eight cards, which ironically gave me roughly the same odds as my opponent had (5 to 1). I didn’t hit it, however, and I was out of the tournament.

All in all, a pretty lousy way to prove to yourself you’re getting better!

Well, it was so late (around 4am) that I just had to finish the tournament sooner rather than later, so sitting with in about third place (out of 5) and a good stack, I saw myself with A8 offsuit. Normally, I would muck the hand, but I was just looking for an excuse to finish, so I went all-in. I hit the 8, but lost to an overpair, and my tournament was over. I finished in fifth place.

Frankly, I feel confident that I could have fought for first place, but it was not to be with the hour of the night. As it is, my goal was to finish in the top 8, and I achieved that, so I feel really good.

My performances continue to improve. My freeroll finishes are now consistently in the top 125, and with a bit more focus and patience I can see myself consistently finishing in the money.

I played really well and now find myself in third place out of 17 players remaining in the Absolute Poker 5K freeroll. It’s the third break, and I am guaranteed a payoff in AP points since the prize structure goes to 18.

My goal is to finish top 8, but I have shot at the top, being only a few chips behind the leader.

I was going to write a post about how not much is happening other than my improving play. I’m consistently finishing in the 75 to 125 range in freeroll tournaments while a week ago I would have been happy to hit 300. So here comes tonight, and at the second break of the Absolute Poker 5K points freeroll I’m sitting in fourth place with over 100K in chips.

Only 82 people are left and the tourney pays out points to the top 16. It’s getting late, so I’m not sure I can stay up to close out the tournament, but I’m going to try! I’d love to finish in the “money” and grab some points I could use on higher stakes tournaments.