Thursday, March 4, 2010

Howdy!!

Well, I am taking a short break from poker for awhile. I'm very busy with straightening things outs with work so really their isn't much time. I'll be playing in the 10k Bronze Iron Man freeroll and 5k sit n learn freeroll aswell as the Miniftops warm up. I just have no time, but soon enough I'll get back into grinding and keeping everyone updated.

I will be keeping everyone updated though, just yea been way to busy to keep up with playing poker and posting blog entries. I'm hoping for a nice boost to my bankroll though with the 2 freerolls and the Miniftops warmup.

Anyways good luck at the tables everyone and I'll be back shortly! Also check out Curb your enthusiasm if you havn't already. Such a great comedy show from the co creator of Seinfeld. Larry David is genious..you don't believe me..check this out.



-George

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

XD!!!

Well after a long session I'm currently standing at 6k FTP's and $95 dollars. Suprisingly this time around my bankroll has been going up and down playing rush. I hate the game, but for my current goal it's the best scenario.

So pretty much now I can continue to grind some challenges with rush/ring games. I'm thinking on grinding the 180player 20FTP satellite to the Sunday Brawl sit n gos. See if I can win a easy 2500-3500 points. Would defintly save some time if I could win one of these except for the play in them is completly ridiculous.

I'm tryng to acheive the 14.7k ftps as quick as possible cause I'd like to just get on with MTT/SNG playing with my BR that I have left. Im not bored at ring games, but I feel to maybe switch things up if I havn't reached over my $120 curse then playing SNGs/MTTs instead of $5NL could get me up to that $200 as the $5NL game seems to be very rancid to me.

Anyways stats:
6074 FTPs
25 Academy Credits
$95.88 Bankroll

Overall I'm glad with my progress so far, but I really wanna break the $200 mark. So wish me luck!

-George

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Well well well!

Soo my progress is going well today. I managed to grind the hell out of Academy challenges to 4k credits and 600 ftps and my current BR of 72 dollars. It's not bad, I mean I have to be patient.

Overall I'd love to earn myself those poker chips. Pretty much all I'd need come time I graduate from school is buy a nice racetrack poker table for the home game and my poker room stuff would be complete. Well the main things. No I'm not saving ftps for the full tilt tables...ahaha god no.

It's rewarding though, when you actually accomplish something and getting what you want. Even though the selection in the full tilt store is kinda "limited" for me as theres only a few things of interest to myself I'd personally like to own.

I have been playing rush tables non stop. Mainly for the challenges, the ftps I'm earning while I'm doing it and well just maximizing profit and losses. I can tell yo though sometimes it is frustrating. I've seen so many times where I shutdown on the turn with aces as I feel/know he's made a set or better or on a draw and ready to shove putting me in a gross situation. Needless to say I've made some great plays and reads and saved me alot of $ with aces...

Then there's this. Ok I know why..why shove PF all in with aces? On rush I feel it can be a great move as no table image and the chances when you meet on a table to the guys who play AK like it's a godsend tend to call this all in or puts KK QQ even JJ to a novice player to make a decision for all their chips and when the novice player is playing rush and see these hands they have a real real tough time to fold them. I know this I mean, I've looked back at myself with hand histories and noticed, I was dealt cold cards for quite some time and see KK and couldn't get away from it.

Anyways I am up against 1 limper, I thought for 2 seconds before shoving, the larger stack insta calls me and im in deep for 13 dollars on $5NL. The limper requests time and sits on it for awhile and calls for his stack of 8 dollars.

SB shows 99
LP1 shows JQoff
I show AA

I'm thinking wow, a brave call from 99 and I'm already sighing as I know what's happening. 99 is going to flop a set and jqoff a draw right on the flop or turn. Well I was half right. 99 flops his set. JQ turns a straight draw, but missed. I know, it happens, but just put a damper on my mindset so I logged off to watch some Dexter.

Anyways bout time I finish watching the finale of Season 2 of Dexter. See ya on the felt and best wishes!

-George

Monday, February 22, 2010

Been awhile.. :P

I've been back and fourth on poker, running errands and well emmmm partying. I knew I'd slack on my blog, but It's Monday so what better time to freshen up!

I've been on a cold run of card latly. I had $120 and played some $5NL and $5NL rush and was just getting destroyed, tilt'd for a bit and lost around $20 dollars or so. I then said to myself "Maybe I should go and play some sng's multi table a few of them and earn some money" Needless to say I had no such luck. I would go in with the best of it and it seemed to be I'd be up against very weak hands from short-mod-large stacks and didn't matter if it was my AK vs A2 they would always outdraw me and crippling my stack or busting me.

I just couldn't believe it. I worked so hard for awhile and had next to $10 dollars in my bankroll after withdrawing 60 because I was so frustrated. I said ok. What do I do best? It seems that when I have little I can build quite well. So here I am after grinding $2NL and a few BLT 80 cent sat's and I'm up back up to $90.

I took a peak at the full tilt store again as I do once in awhile and always eyed the poker chip set. I know I know, I can build my roll up and sat into tournys with FTP's, but quite frankly as a non rakeback player, those FTP's I earn to me is a incentive for playing frequently and playing frequently means your doing something right(Unless of course your losing and insta depositing) so I figure why not get something I can have and get use of. I had this second win to strive for 14k FTPS again after receiving my pro baseball style hat and shirt. Great quality appareal. I've had nothing but complinents on the hat :)

Back on track to my game and my current BR. I'm gunning right now to play $2NL and make my way up to the dreaded 110-120 mark as it seems anytime I get there I'm in that rutt to stay there! I really want to grind it out too because my goal for Feb was to make it to $10NL. I got 8 days to make 110 so it may be tough, but the last time I had 8 dollars and grinded for a week I managed to get +$100, 5k academy credits for a total of 7k full tilt points.

As you can see judging by my posts, I'm a ring game player. I love MTTS and SNG's, but I seem to be on a bad streak(Don't believe me check me on sharkscope ahha)

I'm temped to make the switch and grind MTTs/Sngs for a bit. In the past I was a winning sng/mtt player, but now it seems what I am doing is just not pulling my weight when dealt at the table.

Anyways a little update for the people reading, keep ya posted on my happenings.

Breif Outline Goals:
Reach $200 by end of the month
Earn 5k Acad credits for 5k ftps
Earn 2k Ftps for playing frequently
Oh and of course! NOT TILT!

Cheers!~

Friday, February 12, 2010

New Province!!

Well, I've been busy latly with packing and running errands preparing for my flight from Nova Scotia to Alberta. I arrived at Alberta today and all settled in at my new home. Was a great flight, no waiting between connecting flights and was a relaxing few hours.

My blog will be a bit slack for a bit as Im going to be spending time with family and friends so nothing much will be posted, I am going out drinking tonight with friends so very excited as it's been awhile since I saw some of these guys and well it's been awhile since I had a few beer (Coors Light) :)

Anyways Ill be back to regular updates probably starting Monday!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A busy day...

Well, woke up today and decided to run a few errands before I jumped online to play some holdem. I'm in the process of moving from Nova Scotia to Alberta for work and just dropping off some forms/equipment/uniforms to previous employers, get T4's for taxes, pack up my clothes ect for the flight this Friday at 6am.

I just jumped on poker playing the short stack'd tables. I'm in the process of just build up my BR to play $5NL. I want to have 24 buyins rather then just the $100 dollars so that if I go down by a chance badly I don't have to go back to the $2NL. Anyways after a bit I managed to get up to $111 dollars. So at $120 I'm going to jump into the $5 NL that way I get to grind out some easy challenges while I'm earning a buck or two.

All in all my goal for this month is to break the $5NL mark and be playing at $10NL starting this March. I think it's a realistic goal and I will achieve it.

For now well as I'm writing this I'm playing the $2NL table with a nice fishy loose table. Im UTG and raise 3xbb with KK which is folded to SB who is super agressive, wont fold pre flop and re raised all in to show 66 vs my KK. Took down a 3 dollar pot. I love these micro tables, seriously. You could fold 45 hands in a row, come in raising 4-5x with AA and half the table to call you.

I also have recently tried the new beta for Pokeredge 5. It's going to be great once it's finalized and everything. The HUD view is amazing, and has a autoswitch for each street. You see preflop stats and automatically the whole table changes when it comes to the flop and it shows flop stats, turn is next and finally the river. Also the layout itself is just alot more better. I'm very impressed and can't wait till the retail version is released.

As far as grinding goes tonight, probably not much action for me till later in the evening as I'm leaving Friday am, I am leaving friends, family and my girlfriend so going out for dinner tonight and a movie.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Home game, looking good...gone bad :P

Well, started off tonight with a simple 5 player $5 dollar sng. I was playing tight agressive as always at these as my friends are all loose players and I can usually sit and wait for nice hands and play them out and they still pay me off.

I was moderate for the whole game until I'm dealt AA in the SB which I raised to 3x the BB. There were 2 limpers and then the BB in front of me so they all just called my raise.

Flop was 10 5 7. UTG check, UTG+1 bets. I shoved all in(I never would, but I know this guy is a maniac and would shove his stack in for top pair on board.) Anyways he called with 106 off and my aces held up to the river and get a nice double up to chip leader.

I then was dealt AK and raise on the button 3xBB and get a call from a loose player who will not re raise preflop with any hand unless its KK AA. The flop came 722. I knew he had neither of which with my read, and he bets into me. I called and the turn came up a ace and he then pot bet'd me into it. I re raised all in. He called. He had JJ.

At this point were down to 3. One moderate stack, one short stack and chip leader is me by a long shot.

I then play more aggressive as their tightening up and both know they don't wanna go up against me as my range is a bit higher now that I'm raising a bit more and its more difficult to put me on a hand. I busted the short stack in a hand with QK he had A4 and he just limped and I'm BB so I checked. Flopped a King and was pot committed considering he only had like 4xbb left and I have 1 in there with top pair and a nice kicker.

Then it's heads up...

I'm a great heads up player especially against my friends. With a nice chip lead it's even easier. I am raising and applying pressure each hand and the tight player that my friend is when it comes to heads up is folding hand after hand. He's then left with about 15bb left and moves all in with Q10 and I have a9 suited. He flops a pair of 10's and I hit a 9. Turn's another 10. So double him up.

Exactly next hand I'm dealt 99 and he raises 4xbb. I re raise him about 2.5x his raise and he ponders for a bit and moves all in which I then called only to find out he has KK :(

I never hit a 9 and he doubles up again.

So at this point were neck and neck. So frustrating for me as I had a nice chip lead and the heads up curse that I seem to have with all ins is doing me good.

Played about 45 minutes more and blinds were getting steep and I was getting good hands......that he would fold when he has the button. AQ twice, AK, QQ. I couldn't believe it.

The final hand...he's got a bit more chips then myself and I'm dealt A10 suited. I raised 3.5xbb he called. Flop was 6spade 10 Jspade. I bet the 2/3 pot he calls. Turn is a King clubs. I checked. He bet into me. I wanted him to, as with now a nut flush draw and a pair on the board I figured there's a good chance if he has a king it's KJ/KQ. So I'm drawing to 9 spades, 3 aces and 2 10s. I ended up shoving all in to find my read was right. He did in fact have QK and the river...

2 clubs and It's all over. I stick by phil gordon's logic on "hands to bring to war" which is I think 12 outers or more to shove all in or call an all in. Either way to me with 14 outs I was easily prepared to move all in. I could've just called to see the river, but the tight player that he is I figured that I could push him off a King on that board.

Looking back I should've called, but frustration from getting elite hands folded to me and him doubling up twice was just destroying my mindset.

I managed to get my money back so broke even for the sng.

Day 1

Well, this is all new to me. I've always enjoyed writing in elementary up to high school. Something I could always have no problem with. I could easily write ideas and thoughts to paper with no hesitation and also enjoyed it, but enough of the small talk I'll get right into business and start off how I decided to start this blog, aswell how my stats started.

I have always played on full tilt, for a year now. Starting out as a donkey/fish making crazy calls, playing over my limits and mass tilting led to me being a losing player in the long run. Fortunately I was lucky enough to make a few hundred dollars out of my last year 3 month long run on Full Tilt so it worked out in the end...sorta.

I decided like most aspiring poker players to learn more about the game and made my first purchase. A poker book. Phil Gordon's little green book to be exact. I read it twice and took my style of poker and some of his tips/facts into the game and noticed I was improving. Not by much, but their is some success here.

Long story short, from there I continued to practice and think more logically about the game.

Then I took a break. It was April of 09, I took the remaining $400 on my account and left. I went back to full time working, skateboarding and spending time with friends and poker took a stand still up until this Sept of 09.

Anyways let's say min depositing 2x from Sept-Nov was a rotton time. My game was terrible. I didn't care, I tilt'd played over my limit and couldn't fold a hand. Don't know what happened, but almost seem'd like my attitude was gone for the game and I was just gambling.

Then came December, I was well motivated. I said ok I can do this. I can be a winning player. It takes time. You don't go from $0 to 100 overnight(Haha, I know depending on the person it can be done) You have to work on it. You take your beats. You continue to play and you don't tilt. When you do tilt walk away. Do something and stay within your bankroll. That way you always have outs. :)

Needless to say I started with nothing in December. I was bored and saw a friend online who had some $ on FTP. I asked him to spot me $5 and I'd play a sng and win and send the 5 back and play with my winnings. I did in fact do that. I played a 1.10 90 player sng and took it down. So paid back his $5 within 2 hours and I'm now sitting on a $22.50 bankroll. I then continued to play 1/2 cent cash tables for awhile fluctuating from 22-30. I would eventually make it to 58 dollars over a period of time from December to late Jan. It was Jan 26th actually I decided to withdraw $50 dollars. Leaving me with $8.42. I don't know why I withdrew, but I did for some reason. Anyways at this point I was getting into the full tilt academy and set a goal for myself to get 5k credits to get 5k full tilt points and buy myself a hat and shirt while boosting my bankroll.

Well after a 6 day session this is what happens:

Bankroll:
Jan 29th $8.42
Feb 4th $74.26
Feb 5th $105.67
Feb 6th $120.00 -$60 withdrawl giving me a total of $60

Full Tilt Points
Jan 29th 65
Feb 4th 1255
Feb 5th 1319
Feb 6th 1980

Academy Credits:
Jan 29th 715
Feb 4th 2.1k
Feb 5th 3k
Feb 6th 5k

Currently I purchased a full tilt hat/tshirt. Should've kept the points, but I wanted the gear as a accomplishment for that 1 week feat.

To end this monster of a first post I'll leave my current stats and continue from a day to day basis for my sessions/beats/brags ect.

I'm current at $89.49 with 700 Acad Credits and 1600 FTPS.

I'll be back tonight to post a small bit on a home game I'll be attending tonight :P Add to the ol online poker BR :)

-Luh Burger