I have TT on the button. I limp, hoping to catch a well disguised set against some early LAG players. Raising has no value because it won't thin the field, won't tell me more about their hands since they'll call with anything, and if I miss - well it's a waste of money.

Anyway, flop comes J84, rainbow. The short stack in the big blind pushes all in for a pot sized bet of ~800. One early limper calls, so I fold my TT thinking that one of them has a J.

Shorty shows K5o, caller shows Q4o. To compound matters, the third T comes on the turn.

A bit later, I'm the small blind with 76o. Many limpers, so I get 10-1 on a call. I do so, and the flop comes K86 rainbow. I check, not really over enamoured with bottom pair.

LAG in mid position bets about half the pot. One late position calls, so I move out the way (even though I'm getting 5-1 on a call!). Turn comes a 7, and to cut a long story short they end up all in on the river and show J9s and A5o respectively.

... more.

So er.. I find myself with a lot of time on my hands, and this is the end result. A comical depiction of what I'd love to do to the villains that play like Stevie Wonder without the aid of his extremely talented guide dog.

I have a few more plans for HERO, whether they come to fruition or not is another matter, but for now, here's Episode 1.

On the poker front, it's been a bit of a dull Saturday really. Played a few SNGs, failed to cash. Got sucked off.. out on a few times, but it didn't really affect my overall stats too much. I reckon one more decent cash before the month is over, and I'll be very happy.

There were a couple of horrible happenings though. I lost with Ax (my BB) to AK on a flop of AAK with NO preflop raise! Who limps AK!? (A job for HERO perhaps?) In the next tourney, I lost with KJ to AK on a flop of KKx. AK on the big ... more.

Been playing a few Heads Up games last night because the Punters Lounge focus game was a $10 Heads Up MTT played on the Boss Network, and $10 is still just beyond my meagre $300 bankroll, so i played some $5 Heads Up games instead. after winning my first 2 comfortably, in the 3rd i found myself down to 300 chips(from an initial 1500) after running into better hands not once, not twice, but 3 times. First K4s flop TK4 running into KK. Then A7 hitting the A and running into AK. Then AT on a flop of A78 running into A7. Feeling a bit demoralised i shook it off and played some excellent shortstack poker to even up before winning the final all in 99 vs A7. the 4th game pretty much followed the same, early defeats a good comeback and a swift victory. 4 wins in a row at this point and i'm feeling pretty pleasedwith my play, i'd woken up in the morning feeling good and confident, getting my first caffeine hit of the day i told myself "Today is a good day to play Poker", which remaine... more.

I had a nice long post typed up, then my browser crashed. Pants.

Anyway, suffice to say that I played 2 SNGs this morning, and finished 2nd in them both. I got my money in with the goods 95% of the time and it held up. I did a bit of stealing, the odd bluff and plenty of value betting. Some good pushbotting towards the FT bubble, and I managed to come into the final 9 somewhere in the middle both times. From there, steady, careful play led me to 3 way. A couple of nice hands put me HU both times with a chip disadvantage...

The first HU finished when I bluffed my (chip lead) opponent, and he called me with a draw and an A. I didn't improve, so GG me. I'm happy with it though, I was a loose call from him on the end.

I almost took down the second one. Ended up with me as chip lead, and tricking my opponent into re-raising me all in preflop. I showed AQo, he showed KTo but the king on the river left me with peanuts and I was out shortly after. Luck can be so cruel - I'd he... more.

I had a spare $20 in Poker.co.uk that I was using for a league I can't play in any more, and I had some time to kill so I bought into a $10+1 freezeout with 241 entrants. Top 20 pay, first prize of over $700... nice!

I decided to play nice and tight in the early levels, waiting for some big hands to play aggressively and hope to chip up. In the past I've fared quite well in $10 buy in MTTs, but this one didn't go so well... below is a fairly complete report. Starting stacks 1500.

Level I - 10/20

Folded for two or more orbits. Completed the SB with T8o, missed and folded. Some short stacks moving all in every time I'm on the blind.. I would've missed anyway.

Stack: ~1450

Level II - 15/30

Saw maybe 5-6 hands, all trash. More folding. Stack: ~1400.

Level III - 25/50

Getting a bit concerned I haven't played a hand yet. QQ UTG, I raise from 50 to 200, everyone folds and I take the blinds. There isn't much pre-flop raising, b... more.

Finally, luck goes my way, and ends my OTM streak. A total of 9 games without cashing, then a 2nd place.

I played well towards the final table, basically pushbot poker, shoving AQ+ into raises. Thankfully, they held and I came into the final table as a middle stack. I took a few pots on value bets, stole from the weaker players (which I was pleased I could identify easily enough), and didn't run into any monsters.

Down to the final 5 and I had a big hand that I was probably due after so much horrible luck. I had J9s in the big blind, with one caller in mid-position. I triple raised, but he called anyway.

Flop was 846, two clubs. I bet 4800 into a pot of 8250, and was re-raised all in another 3000 or so. With a pot of about 21000 and 3000 to call, I couldn't fold (being given 7-1 odds). I called, he showed AK and I caught a 9 on the river to save me and put me into chip lead.

Once down to 3, the other large stack kept pushing all in. We were about even, and ... more.

I always promised myself this wouldn't turn into a bad beat blog.. where I just bang on about how unlucky I am and how unfair it is. It's boring to read, and it's boring to write.

But..

Bad beats are like ex girlfriends. Once you've had one and it moves into your past, it stays in your memory. You can't think about anything else, you can't get that frustrated feeling out of your stomach, and the urge to punch your PC monitor rears it's ugly head every now and then.

The problem is solved as soon as another bad beat (or girlfriend) comes along. I find I can't remember the old one, since the new terrible suck out is filling my mind. Of course, certain shockingly bad beats do stick.. like losing AKo vs AKo (2%!!!).

I've been hovering at around 50-60% ROI for a while now. I can't seem to place in the top 3.. due to bad beats. AA < AQ, KK < QJ and so on. My hope is that now my bad luck has surely run out - I can't KEEP losing 80/20 shots.. so I'm expecting a big ... more.

First hand, T9o in the small blind. I complete, and flop AT9 - up from 1500 to 2400.

Few hands later, AA in mid position. Three way all in: QQ vs AK vs my AA. Board comes KxxxK and I'm down to ~900.

A few hands later I'm up to ~2000 thanks to a double up I can't remember (probably AK or something).

Here's the interesting one. K5s in the big blind. Couple of limpers, SB completes, and I check. Flop 236, two spades. SB leads 600 into the 800 pot, making it 1400 total and >2.1 to call. I go into my time bank and consider my options.

Assuming he's betting on either top pair or a straight draw, I have Ks, 4s and spades as outs (15). If he's made a straight already, the 4 may still be an out, and spades definitely are (9-12). If he's betting on a flush draw, chances are it's lower than mine.. so however I look at it I'm roughly 50/50 (60% in the first case), plus I have a little fold equity since I have another 1200 chips on top of his bet.

My raise a... more.

It's been a while, but I think the main reason I haven't been posting on here is because it takes so darned long to load with these stupid ads. So I'm taking them off. Ha!

This month (and last) I've been working on building my bankroll from it's puny beginnings to a prehistoric beast that can withstand the vicious and often devastating offensive front that is variance, and downswings.

I started playing 18 seat $5+0.50 SNGs on PokerStars, and did OK. I played 10-15, and had an ROI of 25%, ITM of 23%. Not great, but not terrible. After losing 8 in a row, I decided that my bankroll couldn't take the swings, and stepped down to a lower level, holding a not to be sniffed at $18.50 profit.

The level down is 45 seat $1+0.20 SNGs, again on PokerStars. I played a few of those in June, making $5 or so profit (ITM 29%, ROI 27%), but have played 30+ in July so far (I don't get much daily time for poker, and am restricted to playing 2-3 games in the mornings), and achieved much nic... more.

finished 21/90 in the Goal Poker $1 mtt fairly enough, q3o on the bb, button calls, flop T 3 7 x bet c turn T x bet c river Q bet all in c he had KTo, so i've got no issues with that one now in the $1000 freeroll i was doing rather well, like 3-7 hovering out of the 30 left, call with k8o in mid position looking to pick up a small bluffed pot, bb raises me single, and i instantly know he's got nothing, since he was all in every good hand he'd hand for the last hour, flop comes Q 5 6, he bets 80,000 of his 180k remaining chips and i call, turn is a 7, he goes all in and i call, he turns over J4o so now the 4 wont help him ... whats the river ... oh yeah ... a god damn jack, that took me down to 42000 with blinds at 20,000 and 40,000, i go all in the next hand and lose, out in 20th place for $4.50. 20/4485 isnt bad ... but losing to a GREAT call with the BEST hand ... AGAIN, is just annoying... more.

after finding this incredibly useful page on freerolls i decided to spend today totally dedicated to improving my mtt game, free of charge.
and after about 6 so far i've not hit the money on any, but have gone out with the best hand in 5/6.
examples include just now (5 minutes ago) 79s on the big blind in the 32red(ipoker) $100 freeroll freezeout, flop 8 10 J , all in, called by 10Qo ... river is a 9. Ultimate Bet TEC Freeroll, all in JJ (as fairly large stack) called by bigger stack with 77. now is it me or is going in with the best hand, and then losing, something that simply shouldnt happen this often, even in a freeroll. now i'm currently 1/72(90) in a $1 nl on Goal Poker and 172/718(4485) in a $1000 freeroll on prima. we'll see how things progress... more.