Recent Results: 2 Final Tables...

I've had two decent scores in MTTs on Party the past week.

Firstly I made my 2nd consecutive final table in the daily $35k. Unfortunately I couldnt take it down twice in a row :( although that would have been fantastic. I placed 8th for $1.1k. Played fairly ABC up untill the final table where I ran pretty dry.

2 days later I final tabled the $10k $22R on Party and managed a 3rd place finish for $1k. I was average going into the final table and without getting any real hands managed to make it to 3rd place.

Screen shots below...

1st in the $162 Party Daily for $9k

I won the $162 $35k gtd tourney last night on Party. Its a great daily tourney with 20min blinds and around 200 runners.

I played for 5 hours outlasting 213 players to claim a first prize of $9,450.

I really enjoyed this tourney for a number of reasons, after the first hour I was amoung the chip leaders with around 10k (3k starting) and from here I just chipped up without being overly involved in major preflop allins.

I was always the most active at my table which got me plenty of action when I picked up a solid hand.

May post up some hand histories at some point, but for now heres the screen shot...

Party Poker Million: 52/1573 for $2.6k

Was really gutted to bust out of this months Party Million. Had an above average stack and got it in with AK vs QQ. Folded to me on the button, I make it 4x BB, aggro bb re-raises and I 4 bet shove. He calls with QQ and I don't improve. Would have seen me chip leader with 50 left and a good chance at first place which was $200k :( Anyway I sattied into this event for about $100 so $2.6k is still a fantastic return...

2nd for $2k on Party Poker

Finished 2nd out of 162 runners in Party Pokers $30 rebuy yesterday. Shame I couldn't win this one but still a $2k score is always nice...

Poker Stars Steps: Guide

My journey up the steps.

In order to avoid over use of my bankroll I set aside a certain amount I was willing to invest in the steps. This is a good tip as the rake in these is higher than that of standard STTs so be warned. I set aside $75 which allowed for 10 entries to the $7.50 step 1.

I also devised a strategy before play began, I decided that I’d play out all my step 1s before proceeding to step 2, then all my step 2s and so on.

Step 2 entries are worth $27 therefore you need to be winning one in three step 1s to make it worth your while, otherwise you should be entering directly into step 2. With that said I was looking to win 3 or 4 step 2 tickets from my 10 step 1s.

The challenge got off to a good start and I managed to win 4 tickets to step 2. My general overview of the play in step 1 was that it was fairly weak. However these are turbo events and only top 2 move up so you need to apply a certain strategy to your game which will be explained later.

For me step 2 was my worst step, not because it was a tough step to beat, but simply because the poker gods decided to rain down some nice beats. I quickly flushed 3 tickets down the toilet when my Ks ran into As preflop and my AK wasn’t good enough to beat A4 after getting it in preflop. I refocused and proceeded to use my last $27 ticket, after all, if I made it through I’d have a nice $82 step 3 ticket which would justify my $75 investment. I eventually managed to take it down and moved onwards and upwards to step 3.

Step 3 is the best step in my opinion, it pays top 5 of the 9 players and pays them well. There’s no business of moving down a step or 2, the top 5 players are guaranteed another crack at step 3 with the top 2 moving up to the $215 step 4. The standard of play defiantly increases at this point and you also have the option of registering to a non-turbo version which is a plus for most.

I finished in 3rd, 4th, 3rd and 5th in my first 4 attempts at this step, I lost endless 60/40s and didn’t run well at all. With that said the beauty of these things is that despite the bad beats you can return over and over again off the back of one ticket. If I had my way I’d jump right into the system at step 3, the play is a lot higher than the previous steps and I’m sure you’ll understand when I say its a lot easier to play better players than weak unpredictable players who don’t have a clue. It also give you the freedom to tighten up slightly when playing the non-turbo. As this step pays top 5 you’ll often get a lot of players looking to creep into the top 5 before opening up their play, this is easily exploitable and allows you to be the table aggressor.

I won both step 4 and 5 at my first attempts. Again these are full of nitty players who turn the game into a folding fest. I started to think “I’m only going to gain chips here if we get two monsters allin preflop“. It got to the point where people were simply raising with premiums and AQ-AJ. I ended up mixing things up and calling people out of position with air with the intention of check raising raggy flops, this worked 75% of the time and was a profitable play of mine, in turn it allowed me to accumulate lots of chips.

When I finally got around to playing a step 6 I decided to opt for a UKIPT qualifier. The main reason being the main event was in Galway so I could just take 2 days off work if I won as appose to a whole week. The morning before I played my step 6 I actually looked at flights for Ireland during the dates of the UKIPT, they were only about £1 each so I ended up booking about 6 different flights there and back in anticipation that I’d win a seat. The reason I booked 6 was because I could get a decent cheap flight home depending on what day I busted.

So the step 6 began and once again it was a nice nitty table, 75% of the time the original raise would be taking down the blinds. I recognised one player “Spraggs” who is a young UK online pro. So 9 players with top 5 places being paid, 4th-5th got $2,100 and 1st-3rd got the $4.5k UKIPT package. To cut a long story short I picked up AA, KK, KK and KK all within the first hour which got my stack up to about 10k. With 27k in play this was more than enough to see me into a seat so I just used my stack to pressure those on the bubble which worked to good effect. That was that and I took down the package.

Not really to much enlightening information however I’ll now try and provide a few tips which my help…


Useful Tips.

Do’s...

...Keep your range very tight in the first 3 levels. Avoid playing A-rag, however set mining is always good if you can get in cheap. Once blinds hit 50/100 at least 30% of the table will be in the 10 BB range. Therefore you need to be picking up blinds as often as possible in position.

...Exploit the bubble. When I say bubble I mean each stage. For example in Step 4 there is almost a continuous bubble (6th - step 2; 4th-5th - step 3; 3rd - step 4; 1st-2nd - step 5). When the game is 9 handed some people (believe it or not) are thinking “right, I’ve gotten this far on $7.50 I want to go away with at least a step 2 ticket”, and so on. Therefore exploit this way of thinking.

...Keep notes at all times. There are a large number of Step grinders who seem to exclusively play these, keep an eye out for them, those are the players you should probably be looking to avoid.

...Use database tools during the higher steps. During Step 5 and 6 for example you can view the records of the 8 players your up against. Keep an eye on those who regularly play the big $500+ games and pressure those who are the micro grinders. The micro grinders will be the tightest and the easiest to bully around. The only reason I’m saying this is because they obviously grinded up (on a budget) from step 1 so they wont be looking to go out to early.

Don’t…

...Play the steps to make money. If you’re a solid STT player then its more worth your while playing in STTs that payout cash. The rake is higher in the steps and tickets are worthless. Unless you make it to step 4 where you can use your ticket to enter any $215 MTT, the tickets have no cash value and are non-exchangable.

...Play one table at a time (At step 1 and 2). If you really want to push your want up the steps you need to grind these. $7.50 a pop is very expensive in my opinion and bankrolls could diminish very quickly without you realising. You want to be jumping in with at least 10 buyins at the first step and just grind away. Just playing “one now and again” is money down the drain, play a normal STT if you feel like a one-off 9 man tourney.

...Make reckless, unnecessary, unjustified plays. Keep it ABC in the early stages and mix it up later on.

Hope some of the information here helps.

Tom

$4.5k Package x2

Took down my 2nd $4.5k UKIPT Galway package last night. This was again in the Steps tourneys on Stars. Invested in 5x $27 Step 2s and worked my way up again. As I alread have a package to the Main Event I was given the $4.5k in cash.

$4.5k UKIPT Galway Package

This week I climbed from Step 1 to 6 to win a $4.5k package to the Irish Poker Championship in December. This is a very popular event with the likes of Vicky Coren, Andy Black and even Teddy Sheringham already registered. This will be my biggest live event to date with the buyin set at €2,000...

4th for $760 (500 players)

Took $760 for a 4th place finish out of 500 players in the daily $22 6 MAX on Stars...

Interview with thenutz.tv

Here is my interview after being knocked out in 4th of the £550 Main Event - Coral British Masters Poker Tour...

£6,250 - 4/150 Croal British Masters...

Final Table Results As Follows...

Total Runners: 150

1st.....£13,500.....John Gardner
2nd.....£20,000....Richard Lewis
3rd.....£16,500.....Chris Brice
4th.....£6,250.......Tom Piccirilli
5th.....£4,200......Adrian Pound
6th.....£3,050......Trevor Pearson
7th.....£2,350......Ady Eaton
8th.....£1,900.......Neil Blatchly
9th.....£1,600.......India Storrar

This is quick TR of my experience at the British Masters this past weekend. I havent proof read it or spell checked it so sorry for the errors or if some of it doesnt make sense, enjoy...

Right then time for the Trip Report. First of thanks to everyone for the railage, my brother took loads of screen shots of the chat and it was class loads of my mates were in the chat as well as the PCUK forum members (who are also mates ). Some people I havent spoken to for 2 years said they saw my facebook status and watched it last night haha.

I arrive on the Saturday and see 140 odd people are registered, I have an empty seat next to me and who comes to sit down??? none other than Matt Dale aka Mango Fish This was the most fun/entertaining table I've played at ever, Matt can talk for England and could even make the Queen laugh. He was the most active player at the table picking up quads, top two pairs and also trying a few unfortunate bluffs which seemed to always be called (to my knowledge). After almost 2 hours (i think) Matt looses a big pot, getting it in on the turn with top 2, he was up against a flush draw, gut short straight draw or 2 cards for the guy to hit trips, which he did. Matt was down to about 400 and although managed to double up didnt last to much longer which was a shame. The table went dead when he left, although I was able to focus and stop talking to Matt haha! We had many detailed convos about endless topics...Mad Marty, Gloucester Road, iPhone Fifa, The Christmas Party haha ! But when he left I got to work.

At the first break Matt Dale emerges from the smoking area with a friend ... the one PCUK vetern and future Hulkamaniac Lucky Scrote. Got chatting with Dan for a good while and hes a top lad, easy going and easy to chat to Also got to know Tom Fielding over the weekend to which was nice, again a v cool lad Also met Paddy, Rod, Drago Judi (Im sending to your £50 dont worry ) and Toby over the weekend too, also great guys a great mix of people on the PCUK forums

Back to the poker... for the first 4 hours or so nothing really happened I was maybe at 13k from the original 10k. I eventually moved tables where I got involved with a bigish pot...

Im in the bb with J10 and its folded around to the button who makes it about 1000 (blinds 200/400/25 - i think, there or there abouts anyway). I call as I fancied seeing a flop, flop comes JA6 and I check, the button bets out 1500. I think for a while, an A is defo within his range although he could have a medium pair, KQ, etc... so I decided to just call and see how he plays the turn. Regardless of the turn card I was always gona check it back to him, so I check in the dark. The turn is a J and Imake 3ofakind. He bets out 9k which has me covered. Its a strange one as I could obv have the J and have him beat so why is he putting me all in? I cant put him on AJ/KJ as why would he bet that amount? I'm never folding here so make the call within a few miliseconds and he turns over A9, river is a blank and I take down a 20k ish pot.

To be honest I really cant remember anymore major hands from day one, due to the blind structure I really tried to enforce pot control, I avoided putting myself in horrible situations as there was no need. I was never allin (bar the J10) and just small balled. I built up to about 60k on day one however lost 3 medium sized pots and got blinded away abit to end the day on 30k with the average at about 50k.

Day 2

My plan for the start of day 2 was just to settle in and not do anything rash to early. I wanted to get a feel for my table and see who the blind stealers were/tight players, etc... after 2 hours I pick up AK on the button blinds are roughly 2000/4000 and I have about 40k so I shove. the big blind calls with 1010. Now... obv this is a standard race so AK > 1010 isnt that major. However the way I won the pot was very cruel lol... flop comes down 6 10 2 and the guy fist pumps his trip 10s and Im getting my hoody heading for the exit however the turn is a Q and river is a J I didnt really fancy saying sorry as I was allin Pre, it would have been a different story if I moved in on the flop after he slow played and I hit that lol that would have been a complete sickner but AK > 1010 AIPF isnt major anyone wana work out the odds of me winning on the flop? haha!

Thats takes me to about 100k, I then small ball and make it to the FT with about 130k. In the whole tourney (prior to the Final Table) I was AIPF once which I'm happy with. Theres no real need to get busy in these tourneys unless your Blachly lol. He ended Day 1 on 160k and he said he had pocket Aces 10 times in Day one, most of them were shown down as well.

Anyway at the FT I pick up Aces twice in the first 10 hands or so, although I only pick up the blinds and antes its still a nice boost to the stack. The first major hand of the FT was when it was folded around to India in the sb who moves allin, I'm in the bb and think to myself "please just once have a good hand to call with" ... AK ... Call. She shows K8s, the board runs dry and she busts out, that was a nice boost to my stack.

Blatchly starts getting short so shoves allin a number of times. He then raises about 3.5 times the bb from under the gun"ish", Adrian Pound thinks for ages before folding. When he raised I actually sneaked a look at my cards and see 1010, as people were making their decisions I was thinking how I would play the hand (assuming it was folded to me in middle position). I thought about folding but then thought no, I can't give him that much respect. I thought about calling but hes nearly always shoving the flop and its always gona be a hard call if any over card hits. So I decide to raise (if it folds around) just over double his raise. Anyway its folded around to me and I pretend to look at my cards and instantly put a 50k stack in. He thinks for a while but once he starts thinking I know hes folding because if he shoves I have to call (pot committed) so he lets them go.

There is a flurry of bust outs and we are quickly down to the final five with a minimum of £4k for the next bust out. At this point I had achieved above and beyond my expectations, qualifying for $5 and I greaful for the experience and the chance to meet some forum members and play my first tourney above a £200 buyin. So I realx although keeping in mind there is a £2k pay jump for the next bust out.

One key hand played out which I feel I played like a donk but it was the right fold as the ripper told me what he had, and he assured me he had no reason to lie and he 100% had the hand he said he had. Anway I'm in the sb and ripper is in the bb, its folded round (not sure of the blinds maybe about 8k/16k. I looked down at KK and limp from the sb. He checks and the flop comes down 668 with 2 diamonds. I check and he bets 30k. Now ive been sitting with him for about 4 hours and everytime hes bet into a pot and showed down hes had the hand. He bet big into a pot earlier and a guy moved over allin he insta called with trips. So he doesnt like to slow play. Theres every chance he has a 6 or even an 8. I call and decide to re evaluate on the turn. The turn is a rag and I check, he moved allin. There is 2 diamonds out so I can only assume he has a 6 and thinks im fishing for a flush, so hes happy to take the pot here and now. I think for a while and fold my kings. I bump into him outside the toilets at the break and asked him what he had he said A6, I said "I can only hope you did, but it was a fantastic bet all the same" I tell him i folded Ks and he cant believe it, I just said great play even if he was bluffing but im 90% sure he had A6. The way hes been playing all day, the reason he had 600k at that point was because he was betting his big hands hard and no one was believeing him so they were moving allin over the top and getting called.

Anyway Adrian Pound busts out in 5th, he was allin with 66 and gets called by 55, river brings a 5 lol. It was so nearly going 3 handed as John had like 2 bbs but he kept doubling up. I pick up KQ on the button and shove, get called by 6s and bust. GG.

CBMPT Day 1

This is just a quick update as its 3.30am (4.30am technically). I just finished Day 1 of the Coral British Masters Poker Tour £500 ME @ The Harbourside. 150 runners, 30 left, average stack about 50,000 and I have 30,800. Blinds will be 1000/2000/200 (i think) when play resumes tomorrow. I'll do a proper TR when the tourney is over. fyi I won a £50 last longer I had going with Matt Dale and other members of the Poker.co.uk crew. Although If I cash that will be handed to the player to bust before me (who didnt cash) which was Judi.

Nite.

Back2Back PCUK Forum Game Wins

Every week the very kind MD of PCUK holds a €150 value added tourney for it's regular forum posters. I've only been playing the weekly game 3 weeks and have taken it down twice over the past 2 weeks, cashing for €230...

(click image to enlarge)

Good Game.

UKSPC 2009 - Broadway Casino, Birmingham

(Me in the white, 2nd from left)

UKSPC 2009

This report is long overdue, however I thought I'd quickly blog bout my experience at this years UKSPC.

This was a 2 day event held at The Broadway in Birmingham, you started with a stack of 10k on a one hour clock so plenty of room for lots of play.

The tourney had a buyin of £33, however the sponsors BetFred added a WSOP Main Event Seat for the winner, which generated a huge overlay and was more than an added incentive to play.

Play started at around 2pm on a Thursday afternoon.

I was somewhat card dead for the few first hour so played like a nit. I picked up one hand from the button and I flopped the nut straight with J10s, the flop came down AQK with the BB having AQ, so I won a decent sized pot.

One hand of note was when I picked up 44 in late position. MP made it 3x bb and I called, everyone folds. Flop comes down 10 5 8, the guy bets the pot. This guy had been playing weak throughout so I wanted to test his hand with my 4s, I put in a 2.5x raise and he tanks. Finally he folds and shows K10. I rake the pot and show him one of my 4s lol. He looks sick and we move onto the next hand :D

After this hand I stayed quiet for a while and after 6 hours of play I finally move tables :( At this point I have about 15k, which is below average, blinds are about 600/1200 (roughly).

First hand at my new table I pick up AK on the BB. UTG makes it 2800 to go, its folded around and I shove my 15k. He tanks for ages before finally folding, he tells me he folded QQ.

After 20mins at this new table I get moved again :(

I have about 20k at this point and after a few hands at my 3rd table I pick up AJs on the button, its folded around to me so make a standard 3x bb raise, the bb shoves for like 20k (I have 15k behind). I figure although his range is fairly wide here, theres a good chance I'm either a small dog against 22-1010 or a big dog against AK or AQ. I decide to fold.

Later in the day I have about 18k with blinds at 750/1500 and I pick up JJ. UTG makes it 3x BB and I make the shove. A guy behind me moved allin over the top, everyone including the original raiser folds and my Js are up against AK. The flop brings all blanks, so does the turn BUT the Ace spikes the river and I'm gone.

All in all a good experience and I feel I played a good solid game. I didnt show down many hands and took lots of pots I wasn't entitled to. Just a shame my Js didn't hold up as that would have seen me into the second day.

Good Game.

Weekend of relaxation

Absolute SPA Hotel - Limerick, Ireland

I spent this weekend with the girlfriend, I flew to Ireland on Friday after work and we spent the weekend at the Absolute Spa Hotel in Limerick City. It was a very nice stay however the "extras" were a little pricey. It was €12.50 for breakfast so €50 for the both of us over to days, and it was €25 each for one hours use of the Spa haha. Didn't mind too much as it was only a 2 day stay, however I wouldn't stay there any longer than that. I arrived home on Sunday so decided to hit the virtual felt for the evening...

Pokerwise

Due to the weekend trip I didn't play much poker this weekend, however I did manage to squeeze in a four hour session this evening.

My schedule consisted of 3 tourneys, results shown below: -

1. €150 - €100k on Poker.co.uk. This tourney saw 698 runners and I was gutted to only last an hour and a half. Busted in 464th place after coming over the top of a big pre flop raise with AKs. We ended up getting it AIPF and I was up against AQo, needless to say the board brought a Q .

2. €22 deepstack on Poker.co.uk. Finished in 27th place out of 260 for a €32.20 cash. Would have liked to have pushed for the final table in this one :( I made a squeeze play with KQs and got called by 1010, the board ran dry and I busted.

3. $5R on Coral. This was a sub satty to the $80 direct satty to the Coral Masters. This tourney saw 18 runners and I managed to take this one down within 2 hours...

GSOP III - Event 1: $200 NLHE

The first event of the GSOP III was the $200 buyin NLHE event, which drew a total of 2,241 players, I finally busted out after 4 hours of play in 757th place.

Nothing really major to report from this one, you started with a 5k stack on a 20min clock so plenty of room for lots of play. First hour I managed to chip up to 10k winning lots of small pots. The next 2 hours I was card dead and had around 6k at the third break.

I busted just short of the fourth break, i had around 4k with blinds at 200/400/40. UTG raises to 1200, it's folded around and I shove my 4k from the Button with AKs, UTG calls and shows AKo (with a diamond). Board brings 4 diamonds and I hit the rail, GG.

I also managed 6th out of 24 players in the $80 CBMPT satty, with top 2 getting paid. I busted again with AKs AIPF vs A10s and of course, A10 hits the flush... GG. :P

2 solid games of poker on my part, however unable to really gather chips tonight. I got my money in good in both tourneys but it was just the right move at the wrong time.

Ciao for now.

The Grand Series of Poker III

Today marks the start of the Grand Series of Poker III, an online poker festival running on the OnGame Network. It consists of 16 events ending with a big high roller $5,000 buyin NLHE event.

I doubt I'll be playing many of these events due to work, however I'm going to be playing Event 1, the $200 buyin NLHE Deepstack which has a guarentee of $350,000.

Event 1 kicks of today at 7pm GMT, with a starting stack of $5k and a 20 minute clock.

I'm also playing the $80 buyin direct Coral British Masters Poker Tour satellite, although I've already won a seat I've been told that if I win a second seat I can register for the £220 side event and recieve the rest of the money in expenses.

So today (27/9/09) I'll be playing the following online tourneys: -

• 6pm GMT - $80 British Masters Qualifier.


• 7pm GMT - $200 GSOP Event 1 - $350,000gtd Hold'em NL.

This should keep me busy this evening, the outcome of these events will be posted upon completion.

$3,796 (13% ROI) = Poker Stars Shark

After 1,729 games on Poker Stars, profiting $3,796 (£2,300 approx.) I'm officially a Poker Stars Shark, for now at least.

These stats cover both SnG and MTT's. Not really mind blowing stats but good enough for now at least.

The graph below indicates my profit trend...

$1,050 British Masters Package

I took down the weekly $80 satellite on Coral Poker to bag my first package to the Coral British Masters Poker Tour. I have chosen to play the final leg in Bristol at the end of Oct.

These events have a starting stack of 10,000 on a 1 hour clock so plenty of room for pre and post flop play.

The package includes £550 entry to the Main Event and £175 for hotel.

The screen shot below is of my satellite win.

$2,340 in 5 days (inc. 3 Final Tables)

After upping my volume this week, I've made 3 final tables on Full Tilt however the best I could manage was 4th.

Details of recent results can be found below: -

1/207 for $1,117.80 (heads up mtt)

This is an old blog post from P5's, thought i'd add it to this blog as this will be my only blog from now on. Since this post I also took down the daily $5.50 and $2.20 Winner Takes all Heads Up on Stars. These tourneys don't track on OPR as they are only 64 and 128 runners. Great value for a $200+ and $300+ return. The post below dates back to Dec 08, so a few months old...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today I finally managed my first 1st place finish in a multi for a while, albeit a heads up MTT. I took down the daily $22 on Stars with 207 runners for roughly $1,120. I didn’t get a bye in the 1st round so all in all it was 8 consecutive heads up wins over 4 hours.

Some of my matches were fairly soft, consisting of players whom wanted to fold their way to AA or KK then hope to double through. So I basically played aggressive against the ultra tight players, constantly chipping them away.

I made a few decent calls throughout which is always rewarding and bet my big hands hard which forced players to bluff some chips off on more than one occasion.

My final match was over in 3 hands. I had raised the first two hands and took down the blinds, then managed to pick up QQ on the button. I continued my aggressive play and raised again, my opponent called and the flop came down 3 (heart) 4 (heart) 10. My opponent checked and I bet double the pot, he moved all in and I called. He shows 2 5 of hearts for a straight flush draw. Both turn and river were blanks and I took down the tourney. I was probably about a 45% dog when I was allin so I got a little lucky my hand held up but hey. I'm sure I induced the allin from my aggressive play of the hand and he was probably looking for me to fold there and then.

Whilst playing the heads up tourney I was also in the $22 (1R 1A) on stars. Around 600 runners, I made it into the final 80 with a decent sized stack. I picked up pocket Ks and made a 3x BB raise, the aggressive chip leader moves allin and I called. He shows pocket As and the board fails to bring a K, he takes down a $125k pot. If I take that pot I’m in great position with only 80 runners left. It’s very hard to lay down KK to a guy who has been raising all day long. Just one of those things I guess, taking down the HU Multi softened the blow.

Screen shot of my win below: -