09/03/2011 - ^Peeeeeeeeeak!^

Yesterday I started off on the $2/$4 Stud 8. I had a great table but I got killed, guys literally spewing losing hundreds of dollars to everyone except me, playing hundred dollar pots every hand which I wasn't involved in. When I did hit a good run I'd get AA and get them cracked, so I'd run my $64 up to $150 and then watch it all slip away. When my hands held they usually ended on 5th St. At least I got rolled Aces again - and got SOME action! Seriously though most of the big pots I played I had them by the balls and they sucked out for half. I had 23459 all clubs on 5th (in that order!), 6th I make a wheel, one guy makes the AK flush on the river and the other guy who started with buried TT got a T on 6th and rivered a boat. So that was good for my implied odds but the fact is I should've scooped the whole pot and they were drawing dead to half. That is what is most frustrating about split pot games. You have them by the balls and they hit some ridiculous miracle not to scoop you, but to get half the pot - because that is all they could win - and they were a huge dog to get any of it. You just can't seem to hit your freeroll, you know? Other times you get it, you have like 4 outs with 1 card to come, 4 outs on a pure freeroll and you hit it. I've played huge pots before in PLO8 where I have the low locked up and a gutshot and put the guy all in, he shows his 2 pair or set and no low, exactly what I thought he had, we're all in and BOOM! Gutshot comes in, and I'm like "THAT'S WHAT WE CALL A FREEROLL MY FRIEND!"

So anyway, I had a sad face. I had around $1380ish and gave up on the Stud 8. I don't remember if I mentioned it but yesterday I was playing Stud Hi $1/$2, won a big $60 pot with a K high straight. That put me on $1475 before that Stud 8 session. Stud seems like a goldmine. Guys constantly paying you off with the worst of it every single hand. You raise with an Ace door and they will call with two Eights. Most times you have that beat except in obvious steal situations. But it's not too different in any poker game online - I mean - you rarely sit in any variant of poker online and think "I can't beat this game" or "These guys just aren't giving their money away". So yeah, sad face, and I took a little break and eventually sat on the $2/$4 O8 full ring and fired up a couple of $12 PLO8 sit n gos. 2 tables of the $2/$4 and two SNGs. I won both SNGs for $49.50 each and won a bunch of money on $2/$4, righting the ship and putting me on my peak.

No progress on Stars. I *almost* played some but thought "Nah I'll focus on Full Tilt and fix those losses."

Full Tilt BR: $1573.02

Stars: STILL $103.

Signing off,

-Lucy

07/03/2011 - 7 Game, 7th Place.

Yesterday I played a little bit of $2/$4 Limit O8 which got me up to $1330ish during the afternoon. Took a break and went to play the home game. Took out £40 from le banque, sat with £20, we intended to leave at around 10pm, and I worked it up to £78.

Been a while since I talked about any hands so may as well bring up the hands from the homegame I played. The first hand I won was in the Stud 8 round. We played £0.25/£0.50 with a £0.05 ante and did so for all the Stud games. We wanted to play one level higher but the host we generously call The Oracle denied it.

So anyway I fold a bunch of hands in that first rotation and get dealt 74A with a 74 of clubs. We were 4 handed. Maxcel completes the bet with a 3 up and I make it two bets with my all important Ace to represent Aces and well, because with that Ace I'm winning. Antony comes in on a low card and makes it 3 bets and Maxcel caps it up. I'm not really concerned they have much of anything other than some nice low cards, I'm pretty sure my Ace is winning. Call, call. They both get paint and I'm FTA with the Ace up. I get an offsuit 2 and lead out. Both call. They catch good on the next street and I bink a 6 for the made 76 low. So I bet and both call, chasing me down for half the pot! Love it. I think I hit an 8 of clubs next and they paint off again, both with low draws, my Ace is still good for high. So now I have a flush draw. I lead and both call. River I get an offsuit 3, giving me the lock low but sadly nothing other than Ace high for high. I bet, Antony passes, assuming he missed his hand, and Maxcel calls and I show my hand. He shows a measly pair of fives with 4 to a 76 low (drawing dead) but that's good enough to take half.

I fold a lot then it's PLO. I get KK24rb in the SB and there's no straddle on. Richard passes, Maxcel calls. I just call it and try and hit a set (otherwise I'm done). Antony checks. Board comes out K-T-x, x being some sort of low card I think. I lead out for almost pot, Antony raises pot, Maxcel folds. I dwell up and eventually move in and he calls with the QJ9 wrap straight draw. He hits his straight on the turn but I bink quads on the river to send his hand down in flames.

I fold a lot and we're 5 handed then it's Super Stud. That's 5 card 7 Stud Hi/Lo played pot limit, you discard 2 cards in 3rd and play from there. I get A24 rainbow. I limp FTA and Antony raises it up pot. Richard calls and Maxcel reraises, Martin's out and I decide I have to fold right there or move in. I like my hand too much so I move in and both call. Maxcel's got 3 low hearts, can't remember what Antony had, something low. Anyway I catch bricks but eventually I get 3 kings. Maxcel gets a low heart on 4th but both brick off so I scoop with the trup kongs.

In that game I also fold a big hand. I make a 6542A on 5th St and check it, Maxcel is showing 234 and Martin has A6A showing. He checks it and I check to Maxcel. Surprisingly he takes a free card. He catches a 5, I brick and Martin catches something he likes. Anyway he checks, I check and then evenutally  fold my hand when Maxcel bets. He had A234 with a pair on 5th and caught that wheel on 6th.

Next few rounds I spew off a bit, bluffed a hand in 2-7 NL where I got dealt 88844, got called postdraw by a T low. Get AQo in NLHE, 3-bet squeeze pre and c/f a 7-9-4 flop with a 2-suit. Lewy tells me he hit a set. Get 79s and limp. Antony raises to £2.20 (20p BB so 11x). I'm sitting on £45. Someone else called and I decided to call after I saw that he had 200 BBs, making sure implied odds were there. Flop comes 7 high and he bets ~£8. I call. Turn and river are K and Q, we check it down and he shows 88.

Eventually we start playing Svitten. In Svitten, it's PLO but you get dealt 5 cards and you have to make the best 5 card poker hand inside your holecards (with one draw going to the flop) as well as make the best Omaha hand on the board. So it's a split pot game and the way you scoop is you have the best Draw hand and then try and make the best Omaha hand. I folded a bunch of hands and then played AA. I raised it pre, flop came 443 w/ a flush draw. I had AA56x so I drew 1 and got a Q. We put it all in 3 ways and I had the best high hand so I got half the pot. I made my straight on the river but somone already had a boat. An A on the turn or river would've scooped me the pot.

Final hand of the night I get 78TJ all diamonds. I raise it up and everyone calls. Flop comes 563 and that 9 would be really useful right there. Sure enough I draw 1 and get an offsuit 9 and Antony and Maxcel put it all in with me on the flop. One has a set for the Omaha and other has a straight for the Omaha and the best they can muster for Draw is a pair. I hit a bigger straight on the turn, river's a blank and I say the three words they don't wanna hear in Svitten, "Straight and straight." I scoop a huge pot and we finish the session.

Get back and play the $26 7 Game again. I also play the $5.50 O8. I bust in the O8 and get 7th in the 7 game for $111. Not going to complain about that win, but I should've been more aggressive. I was too card-dependent.

Not sure what I'll do today but I'll play that tournament again and probably will for times to come.


Full Tilt BR: $1418.22
Stars BR: Still $103

Signing off before I sign on (JobCentre lol),

-LV

06/03/2011

In the past two days I've been playing the $2/$4 Stud 8. Also I played the $26 $3000 guaranteed 7 Game tournament last night. On Stars I'm destroying the $0.25/$0.50 game. In the $2/$4 game I'm still loser, down $50 after almost 3000 hands. But really that's just two pots I need to scoop to get even, and I certainly think that will happen.

In terms of swings I got as low as $1000. But I said I'm gonna keep at it so I hit the $1/$2 along with a $2/$4 and ground it all back up to $1300 and then $1326 yesterday. But I shipped my mate $26 for the $3k guaranteed because he gave it to me in cash, not something I liked doing since it's pretty much outside the agreement of my stake, but then again it's $26 and no big deal and I'm not ever making a habit of it whilst I'm on this stake deal.

Played a couple PLO8 sit n gos too, cashed in one for third.

Full Tilt BR: $1287

Stars BR: $103

Over and out,

-LV

03/03/2010 - Upping and downing.

Since my past entry I peaked at $1410 playing Stud 8. I played the $3/$6 yesterday no problem and held my own. That put me on $1340. Today I played $2/$4 and I did well at first, it got me to my peak. But I was playing on PokerStars with my new $20 someone from 2+2 sent me as a thankyou for getting them HEM for free and towards the end of the session I got tired. The game broke and I ended up heads up first with Cyndi Violette and them some other guy who said he knew me from 2+2. Playing Cyndi was simple enough but this other guy had my number. He was good. I felt it inside but didnt want to admit it. I tried bluffing him 3 times and it never worked. I was sitting on around $1370 when he came, then he took ~$100 off me. Or rather, I gave it to him. I donked off because I wasn't thinking, just pressing buttons whilst I got even more fatigued. I kept doing things I don't normally do. I called it a night after the game started again Full Ring because I knew I would end up losing more if I stayed.


Before I hit the $3/$6 yesterday I thought it was a big deal to play that high. That fear was what kept me at $1/$2 and below with this amount of money. I can definitely handle betting that kind of money better now. So I've got no qualms about playing any $2/$4 FL game except my slight concern still that 300 BBs is not enough. Then again any time I go back down to ~$1000 I can just go back to $1/$2.

Meanwhile earlier in the day, I played a bunch of tournaments. Normally I don't play tournaments but I thought it might be a good idea to create a list in Excel of all the tournaments that aren't NLHE or PLO. Subsequent to that thought I played every tournament going from midday onwards, till about 5pm. I cashed in 1 for a paltry $4 or so, and came 3rd in the two $12 turbo PLO8 sit n gos I entered. So no profit on that venture, sadly only a breakeven one. I didn't take the tournaments seriously at all because none of them were for more than $6. If I had been serious I probably would've won both PLO8 sit n gos for $100 total since I blew the chip lead in both 3 or 4 handed.

On PokerStars I've been playing $0.25/$0.50 Stud 8. The game is piss easy to beat and I've already got myself to $50 before dropping a few bucks because of my rolled tens getting beat. Guy caught open trup deuces and got his full boat on 6th after I raised him on 5. Standard. I'm getting numb to that stuff.

The plan with the Stars money is to grind up from the lowest limits so I can have money on each site. All the time I'm on this Full Tilt stake deal I can't cash out any money. So with a Stars roll there's the potential for that some point down the line.

PokerStars BR: $47.75

PokerStars Peak: ~$52

Full Tilt BR: $1275.96

Full Tilt Peak: ~$1410

Vacating the premises,

-LV

Update - 28th Feb + 1st March

Pretty amazing session. It was something in the region of 40 hours long.

I started with 1 table $0.50/$1 Limit 5 Card Draw and 1 table $1/$2 Stud Hi/Low. I sat with $16 on 5CD and worked it up to $104. Pretty awesome for a game with only 2 betting rounds. Kinda broke even on the Stud 8.

That was around 3 hours. Then I took a small break and went back to $1/$2. Maybe... what... 30 hours later? I was sitting on ~$1170 BR-wise. So I think I'm about to go to bed then I see $2/$4 Stud 8, MASSIVE Italian fish sitting at I HU table. I think this could be money in my BR so I sit with him. Maybe 1 hour later I've taken $122 off him.

Weird thing about the 40 hours was I was hardly ever tired. Adrenaline and coffee work wonders.

BR now 

Gonna play the $2/$4 Stud 8 FR now because the $1/$2 is not going and I can handle it. (March 2nd). BR now $1271.

Over and out,

-LV