Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Back on track


So.... I ended my weekend on a good note, gaining back most of my losses from sat/early sunday.

But the way I did it was pretty stupid from a bankroll management perspective. On Sunday evening, I jumped back into 25NL, trying to keep up the momentum from earlier in the day. Nothing was going right, though early on I was playing well. Until I had to fold AA. Then another big hand had to go. Then I spewed a buy in with AQ into 2 players that OBVIOUSLY had me beat (yes, I was 0% on the flop... leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it).

I took a walk at that point to collect myself. I was tilting, but not in my old "throw crap around the house and punch the pets" kind of way. Just mad at myself for playing so badly. I sat back down a little while later determined to play my best A game possible. And to make sure of that, I threw in a sink or swim scenario... I jumped into the 100NL tables.

This makes me tighten up and play my best, but good bankroll management it is NOT. I just wanted to play a few hands, break even or make a couple bucks, then jump out. Yeah, it's my "Johnny fucking Chan" moment, just to see if I can do it. The downside if I run bad is that I feel even worse for losing another 100 bucks.

Lucky for me, variance was on my side for once. I ran like a god, hitting str8s, trips and 2 pair hands at will against the fish at the table, and terrorizing the regs for their lunch money. I logged out after about an hour up close to $200, and almost breaking even from the beginning of the month.

I spent a bunch of time yesterday looking at my *many* leaks and made a game plan for 50NL. It's working so far. I played a solid, tight game, got folds where I needed them, and calls where I needed them. I got lucky on the river twice (one time as a 60/40, and one as a 70/30 dog). Both times I was done with the hand for a small loss unless it improved, both times I was able to stack the other guy because I did improve. My big hands held. I felt like I was reading the other players well, and where I couldn't figure out what was going on, I dumped my hand early. My worst loss was -13.65 to a shorty. (top 2 vs rivered flush, if you must know).

So at this point... back on track for the challenge. My goal right now is to get to 3k and start nibbling at 100NL (properly rolled at 30BI). I'm not setting any time limits, and if I feel like I'm not playing my A game I won't jump into it until I do. It's always much easier to look at goals like this when I'm running well. I may end up just setting a hand limit at 50NL since it seems to be giving me so much trouble, and spend time trying to identify leaks before I move up. I'll have to play it all by ear...

BWOP has generously added some pot sweeteners to this challenge. I hadn't planned on playing too many MTTs except the Mookie (see my greatest performance here), so now there's incentive to add Mookie title #2 to my list of things to do. Thanks CK!

First Attempt = FAIL

I decided to fire up a $5.50 PLO tournament on Full Tilt to kick off my participation in The Challenge II. (Is that the "official" name now?)

234 entrants, 27 paid, $304.20 to first.

I started off well, maintaining an above-average stack until I was run down by a guy who was chasing a flush draw against my nut straight / re-draw to higher straight. I tried to grind my way back and was the beneficiary of this courtesy double up.



Action on the flop was bet by villain, pot by me, re-pot by villain putting me all in. Omadonks really crack me up sometimes.

Things went nowhere from there and I was forced to Bayne it up with this hand.



Thanks to the triple up, I was out of the Dank position but still in critical mode.

The final blow was this hand:



I limped on the button against two big stacks because I wanted to see a flop before committing the rest of my stack. Arguments can be made for potting pre, but given the relative stack sizes, it wasn't going to make much of a difference. Action on the flop was checked by the two players in the blind. I potted. Villain min-raised, driving out the BB. I was a slight underdog at 55/45, which in the world of omaha isn't that horrible. No diamond for me, and I exited the tournament in 40th place while cursing Dawn Summers.

Final results:



In case you haven't been following along in comments, I added a sweetener to The Challenge II. I will pay $5 to any participant who wins a Mookie (minimum 27 entrants) or has an online tournament cash of greater than $250. I will pay $15 to any participant who has an online tournament cash of greater than $500. Maximum payout of $25 per participant. (By participant, I mean any person who is involved in at least 2 of the first 3 monetary bets that are part of The Challenge II. You do not have to agree to make a similar bet.)

Good luck everyone!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Wheeeee!


Can you say running bad? The red line above is my EV. Around hand 1400 I dropped down to 25NL and only 2-3 tables, and only playing rested and for short time periods. The times I normally play are pretty bad for my concentration, and looking over a lot of these hands, I could have avoided a bunch of the smaller losses while waiting for my all ins to hold.

Pretty sure I'm kicking MHG's ass in # of hands though.... bwahahahahaaaaa

** just noticed, I'm already close to losing more that all your bankrolls combined. jeebus.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Awesome start to the challenge!


NOT!

KK into AA, KK into 45 (yes, he cold called a frigging 3bet oop, shoved the flop with 4xx and turned a 4), and AA into flopped 7's. I had the KK hands at the same time on 2 different tables. I actually rolled my eyes when I had AA...
Lots of work to do here already....

Friday, January 1, 2010

So not ready...


But it won't be stopping me anyway.

Looking forward to some fun.

I'm ready....

Ready for what, I don't know. But here goes anyway...

Bring It!