Balls deep

So I've been getting deep in some big fields lately and just overall in general. I used to get a lot of min-cashes and not reach the good money very often. I think a lot of it has to do with my play when I'm shortstacked and also when I'm in between 10 and 20 big blinds. When I have between 10 and 20 big blinds, I'm generally not raising preflop unless I'm really committed to going all the way with the hand. If I fall below 10 big blinds, well then it's time to find a good hand in a good spot and just stick it all in.

If the antes haven't kicked in yet and I'm down to 7-8 big blinds, I'm not shoving crap. You can still be patient, there isn't as much in the pot to win. Once the antes kick in and you are 10 BBs or less, I'm just looking for any spot that I think has potential for one reason or another. Maybe the BB is a nit, maybe you have 2 limpers, maybe it folds to you in middle position and you have J-10ss. Whatever it is, try to find a spot where when you shove, you have a reason for doing so. Don't just blindly shove because you are short. Have a reason for every play you make.

If I'm above 20 big blinds I will make calculated steals based on who is in the blinds and my postition. I'm not going to raise stacks who are very short. I'm looking to pick blinds of the medium stacks. Stacks whos sizes are such that you can fold to a re-raise if you were raising with air. If a shorty shoves and you are priced in it's just spew to be raising their blinds with junk.

Date Buy-in Tournament/Event Place Entrants Winnings

3/3/08 $3.30 NL Hold em 20 1338 $14.05

3/3/08 $1.10 Razz 14 216 $3.56

3/4/08 $4.40 NL Hold em 180 5 180 $46.80

3/4/08 $0.50 NL Hold em 16 3652 $5.48

3/4/08 $2.20 NL Hold em 21 2087 $10.44

3/10/08 $11.00 NL Hold em 6 621 $263.93

3/14/08 $4.40 Pot Limit Omaha 7 463 $70.38

Those are my deep finishes for the month. Hopefully I can keep it rollin.

F beanie

One of the most screwy tournaments I've ever played

Tonight/this morning I played the $11 NL on Stars at 0300. I had only 1,670 at the first break. Barely more than my starting stack. Then in the 75/150 and the 100/200 levels I went on a nice run and got up to 12,000. When we were approaching the money bubble (top 90 paid, we were down to about 105) I got disconnected from Stars. My internet was working. I was posting on www.pocketfives.com. I don't know what the hell happened but 30-40 minutes later when it finally let me back on I had blinded down to 4,600 at the 400/800 level and we were in the money with 53 people left.

Well, I tripled up shortly after and then doubled that on the next orbit. Before I knew it I was in 4th with 22 remaining. I went pretty card dead and my steals weren't working and I started getting short again. I made it to the final table in 8th place out of the 9.

On the 3rd hand of the final table I get disconnected again. This time for only about 10-15 minutes. When I got back on we were 8 handed and I had 20,000 chips at the 2000/4000 level. I doubled that and doubled again later and somehow managed to take 6th place for $264.

Who knows what would have happened had I never got disconnected. Maybe I take a bad beat somewhere along the way and never make the FT. Maybe I make the FT with a lot more chips. I'll never know but it was an interesting ride for sure.


Later days

Micro Satellites

My roommate recently deposited $25 on Poker Stars and started the process of trying to build a bankroll. He does well in the 45-man SNG's so I told him to grind the $1.10 45-man turbos on Stars. That's been going well for him but we also just found a nice little bankroll builder for micro stakes. The $2.20 satellites to the Sunday Hundred Grand.

They pay out 1 seat for every 5.5 people in the prize pool. That's 18.18% of the field. If you win the seat 1 out of every 5 times you will break even +FPP's. If you win the seat 2 out of every 5 times you will have 100% ROI +FPP's. Currently my roommate and I are both running right around that 40% mark. That means our EV for these is $2.20 for every 1 played. Play 100 of them in a month, that's $220! Not bad for micro land.

My roommate has turned his $25 roll into $100 in just over 2 weeks playing almost nothing but these and the 45-man turbos.

PM me at www.pocketfives.com if you would like some strategy advice on how to play these. My screenname there is SICKTIGHT311.

And remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires!

Up to #4 in the Long Beach rankings!!!!!!!!!!

I've been doing decent lately at MTT's. I'm starting to get really comfortable 4-tabling and I feel like I know what to do in almost any situation. Shoutout to everyone at www.pocketfives.com for all the help over the last year and a half. It's only gonna get better but I'm gonna have my work cut out if I want to get to #1.



Username
Points
Biggest Score
Average Score
1. srenshaw
855.56
(120.19)
(30.56)
[Recent scores]
2. FI5HMAN
750.43
(89.79)
(18.76)
[Recent scores]
3. Weapon X
656.09
(107.02)
(32.80)
[Recent scores]
4. SICKTIGHT311
336.03
(46.65)
(9.33)
[Recent scores]
5. adjayscent
330.75
(53.66)
(10.02)
[Recent scores]
6. halohalo
266.66
(72.03)
(24.24)
[Recent scores]
7. JanVanOranje
264.89
(67.96)
(11.04)
[Recent scores]
8. holmes304
248.21
(61.13)
(11.28)
[Recent scores]
9. kxywrx
246.38
(77.15)
(10.27)
[Recent scores]
10. ActionEJ
162.29
(20.82)
(7.06)
[Recent scores]
11. gsronrnrs
117.15
(14.24)
(4.88)
[Recent scores]
12. Ryan Snyder
116.23
(27.60)
(12.91)
[Recent scores]
13. billybuster
87.79
(17.23)
(9.75)
[Recent scores]
14. DCF in SoCal
81.62
(36.88)
(9.07)
[Recent scores]
15. avagadia
65.92
(11.37)
(8.24)
[Recent scores]
16. Jackalslayer
60.76
(7.72)
(2.53)
[Recent scores]
17. ChanceH
58.65
(26.41)
(6.52)
[Recent scores]
18. rudinho
56.63
(18.18)
(7.08)
[Recent scores]
19. ma1n3v3nt8
39.68
(17.81)
(7.94)
[Recent scores]
20. masman21
29.38
(12.92)
(9.79)
[Recent scores]

I won my first $4.40 180-man last night!!!

I've probably only played about 50 of them but I always run like shit and got to hating them. I know a lot of people that crush them and I know they are full of dead money but I just kind of avoided them. Well last night I_BLADE_U and JRoth15 were talking about playing one as we were railing an OT tourney. I said "f it" and signed up. Got off to a bad start and lost half my stack on the 4th hand. I was shortstacked the whole first 2 hours of the thing and was the shortstack when we were down to 8. Long story short, I took it down. I really think it was one of, if not the, best tourney I've played start to finish. I had a buddy upload it to PokerXFactor.

http://www.pokerxfactor.com/servlet/pxf?a=mv&handid=113519&t=myhand2&fn=19024_20080209_15322919024&time=1202620030108

Check it out if you like. I think I played pretty damn solid. Might be good for some people who don't play many of them.

pz lil

Found a nice little soft game

I've been playing the $3.25 six-handed SNG's on Poker Stars lately. They are rediculously soft. It's seriously a joke how easy they are. My results show that too. I've played 13 of them, won 6 of them and got 2nd place 3 times. 9/13 cashing, LOL. $42.25 in buy-ins, $89.10 in cashes for a profit of $46.85. That's like 110% ROI. WTF. Might not be substainable but I'm sure somewhere around 60-75% might be in these things, the play is that bad.



In other news, my company is doing catering and concessions in the plaza outside of the Super Bowl. I'm leaving Thursday morning to go out there and I'll be coming home Monday. I doubt I'll get to go inside the stadium or anything but we are gonna be catering to people in the hospitality tents and shit right outside. Should be fun.


Pz lil

Up to #6 in the Long Beach rankings.

Username
Points
Biggest Score
Average Score
1. srenshaw
1,126.95
(160.25)
(37.56)
[Recent scores]
2. FI5HMAN
738.21
(89.79)
(18.46)
[Recent scores]
3. Weapon X
442.15
(107.02)
(34.01)
[Recent scores]
4. adjayscent
355.98
(53.66)
(11.12)
[Recent scores]
5. JanVanOranje
327.12
(101.94)
(13.63)
[Recent scores]
6. SICKTIGHT311
296.94
(46.65)
(9.00)
[Recent scores]
7. kxywrx
287.99
(102.86)
(12.00)
[Recent scores]
8. halohalo
287.71
(72.03)
(26.16)
[Recent scores]
9. holmes304
162.81
(36.16)
(7.75)
[Recent scores]
10. billybuster
125.97
(22.97)
(12.60)
[Recent scores]
11. gsronrnrs
117.81
(14.24)
(4.91)
[Recent scores]
12. Ryan Snyder
109.73
(27.60)
(13.72)
[Recent scores]
13. rudinho
74.54
(24.24)
(9.32)
[Recent scores]
14. avagadia
67.17
(11.37)
(8.40)
[Recent scores]
15. Jackalslayer
52.51
(7.72)
(2.50)
[Recent scores]
16. DCF in SoCal
39.48
(13.40)
(6.58)
[Recent scores]
17. ChanceH
36.25
(7.88)
(4.53)
[Recent scores]
18. masman21
33.33
(12.92)
(11.11)
[Recent scores]
19. ma1n3v3nt8
24.63
(17.81)
(8.21)
[Recent scores]


Just a month ago I was sitting at #12. It's been a decent December and beginning of January for me. I'm starting to see some positive results from all the work I've been putting in. Shout out to threeven, sandler1860 and pokerjamers for helping me out with hand discussions and different things. My goal, although a little lofty, is to be #1 by the end of the year and crack the top 100 in the state of California. I feel like my early stage play and my shorthanded/end-game is solid but I really need to work on my middle stage play (bubble play up until the final table).