Friday, October 9, 2009

Daily Recap 10/09/09

I'm starting this entry during the first break tonight. I started playing a little later than normal (about 9pm) and I am not playing in optimal conditions. I had a big dinner and drank a couple of beers, so I was already a little tired. I felt okay when I started but now I'm a little drowsy. I also chose to play longer tournaments tonight as well instead of the 45 and 90 man ones. So I guess my motivations for playing tonight were more because I haven't played much this week and not because I felt like I would play my A game. So...now going into the rest of the session, I am going to have to work doubly hard to stay focused and make +EV decisions. I'm going to be conscious about tendencies to make loose calls because I'm tired or tripple barrel bluff without a read. I will be more focused on making reads and putting players on a hand and I will also not nit up like I used to do when falling back to B game tendencies. I will trust my instincts and act on them and not make emotion based decisions.

---

Break #3 - I misplayed a hand when I called a flop bet with 77 on a monotone board looking to spike a 7 high flush. I got there, but so did AA. I didn't bust on the hand, but I lost a fair amount of chips. It was a 3 bet pot and I called to set mine and then called around a 1/2-2/3 pot bet to hit the flush. I think calling was a mistake not because he could have a higher draw, but because I'm not going to get paid when I hit. It's a scary board and I don't have the implied odds to make the call profitable. That's actually a good lesson learned that I don't think people realize sometimes.

I was also able to lose the minimum with KK vs. AA. It was a pretty obvious spot, but still one that many people go broke in because they "aren't going to fold KK".

PokerStars Game #33846077695: Tournament #200031055, $10+$1 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (60/120) - 2009/10/09 22:40:46 ET
Table '200031055 157' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: DDSM31 (945 in chips)
Seat 2: bannedfrmFTP (11310 in chips)
Seat 3: goleafsgo31 (4320 in chips)
Seat 4: DP388 (6230 in chips)
Seat 5: Jestok (2544 in chips)
Seat 6: imgrinding23 (10015 in chips)
Seat 7: gomezdedeye (12765 in chips)
Seat 8: wrios_23 (5090 in chips)
Seat 9: streetpup (8920 in chips)
DDSM31: posts the ante 15
bannedfrmFTP: posts the ante 15
goleafsgo31: posts the ante 15
DP388: posts the ante 15
Jestok: posts the ante 15
imgrinding23: posts the ante 15
gomezdedeye: posts the ante 15
wrios_23: posts the ante 15
streetpup: posts the ante 15
streetpup: posts small blind 60
DDSM31: posts big blind 120
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [Kc Kd]
bannedfrmFTP: folds
goleafsgo31: calls 120
DP388: raises 360 to 480
Jestok: folds
imgrinding23: folds
gomezdedeye: folds
wrios_23: folds
streetpup: folds
DDSM31: folds
goleafsgo31: raises 360 to 840
DP388: calls 360
*** FLOP *** [8d 3d Ah]
goleafsgo31: checks
DP388: checks
*** TURN *** [8d 3d Ah] [Th]
goleafsgo31: checks
DP388: checks
*** RIVER *** [8d 3d Ah Th] [Qd]
goleafsgo31: bets 360
DP388: calls 360
*** SHOW DOWN ***
goleafsgo31: shows [Ac Ad] (three of a kind, Aces)

----
4th Break - Looking decent and playing well. I feel like I'm playing my A-game and I'm consciously finding steal spots where I often start nitting up and blinding down during the mid stages. I'm raising JT type hands in earlyish/middle position with like 9M. I think staying active stealing is important with that stack size and I usually completely shut down because I'm afraid of losing 1/2 my stack c-betting. But I think if I just focus on stealing and only stick with high percentage c-bet situations/boards then I'll be fine. I need to keep my stack afloat while I pick other spots to double up. We're getting closer to the bubble in the two tournaments I'm in, so we'll see who tightens up and if I can chip up.

----
Just busted in the Stars $70k in 221st. Bubble was 216. Meh, oh well. AK vs. TT. I tried to keep myself from getting to 10bb, but I didn't find enough situations. But the way stacks were, I would have ended up in that race anyway so oh well. I was hoping to cash 2 out of 3 tonight, but I didn't so I'm gonna focus on getting deep in this other one and putting myself in a position to win.

---
I just found out something about my play. It can be a good thing and bad thing. I sometimes wait too long before opening up my pre-flop raising range because I don't have reads on the other players. This is fine early on, but when it's late and people keep moving back and forth between tables you can't wait forever. Sometimes you have to just be aggressive and learn for yourself what their tendencies are.

---
Break 6 (I think) - Was able to chip up nice at a new table and made some good reads. I almost got to 100k at the 1k/2k level but lost a flip with 88 vs. AK and went to 65K. Picked up a couple of steals, but for the most part I've been kind of dead. I'm staying patient and I'm about 11bb now, so I'm looking for good shoving opportunities. I don't know how deep I am and I really don't want to know yet. I just want to keep playing and making good decisions.

---
Grrrr...super aggro table and I can't pick a spot to shove. Finally shove QQ for 5bb and AK wins the race. 37th. I'm happy to get deep don't get me wrong, but it was a $10 tournament too. I can't complain about results. I think I played well, but I think there are a few spots where I needed to probably 3bet shove with trash or open the pot with trash simply to stay alive. Not sure...I felt like I was reading the tables well and I wasn't too nitty, but I still ended up blinding down a good bit towards the end. I'll analyze the HH tomorrow.

Flka;lkdfapoihg...just checked the payout and for getting 37th out of 1900 people it's only $34.20. That's pretty rediculous. I'll have to make a note of that and never play this tournament again.

No comments: