Online Poker Tournament Rankings

August 2009 - Posts

• Playing Poorly or Running Poorly?

  By dtools22 - Aug 27 2009, 05:55 PM

  The age old question in poker, "Am I playing bad or just getting unlucky?"  Sometimes it's our initial pride that refuses to allow us to admit defeat.  We all at one point or another suffer from the, "It can't possibly be my fault" syndrome.  The journey that I have gone on thus far in the poker world has been a 3 year exercise in humility and that journey seems to be a never ending struggle between moments of pure ecstasy mixed in with utter pitfalls of depression.  How we handle situations like this goes a long way to making or breaking our future in the poker world. Recently I've hit some harder variance in both cash games and tournaments.  I understand that sometimes this game is a swingy one and variance is a cold hard ruthless fucking bitch, but there does come a point where I question whether or not it's me just simply playing poorly.  The best way to do this is just go over the HHs of sessions past and see for yourself how well, or poorly, you've been playing.  The general rule of thumb I've heard is that if you're losing when the money gets in good, that's just variance and it will come around.  The answer isn't just that simple though.  If you're ALWAYS getting the money in good, strange as this may sound, chances are that's a sign you're not playing well because it's likely you're not making enough attempts to steal, resteal, etc.  One thing is for sure though, you need to be able to go back and with humility go back over the hands that you lost on and see why you lost.  If you need to make yourself a whiskey sour or grab a beer to ease the pain the go for it. From my own personal experience what I've noticed is that MTT problems are much easier for me to fix than cash game issues.  I was reading a great post from a cash game grinder that said, "Limit poker is linear in nature while NL is exponential."  I think the same logic applies when comparing MTTs and cash games online.  Cash games you have deeper stacks which makes your preflop hand selection not quite as important and makes your flop and post flop play not only relevant but crucial to survival.  In an MTT you're often not deep enough to play much beyond the flop with your opponent.  Most of the tough decisions are made preflop and on the flop in terms of picking spots, spotting weakness, and so on.  Therefore, my cash game struggles are causing more problems because it's a totally different mindset involved.  It will make me a better player in the long run to struggle with it now and learn how to think about and fix my mistakes. As a side note, most of my posts recently have been much more serious in nature and I'd like to try and bring back some humor and entertainment to the proceedings.  Since I've been getting a little frustrated I figured I would share with you all some of my tricks to stay away from tilt: + + = Let me know if that works as well for you guys as it does for me.  IMHO it's nearly impossible to get a better stress relief without either begging your gf or paying a professional for a handjob (Maybe more depending on the chick, less experience is def +EV in this spot, be sure to check the tread left on the tires). 5 Comments on this post. Click here to post a comment.




• Summer Grinding to a Hault

  By dtools22 - Aug 25 2009, 10:34 AM

  For all my fellow college grinders you guys know what time it is.  Summer 2009 is slowly becoming a mere footnote on our past as the school year comes on fast and furious.  Most people are beginning the migration back to our apartments/dorms, buying books, ans asking our parents for just a little bit more money for "food".  As we all get ready to go back to our lives away from our parents most of us start to dread the school work that lies ahead for us.  This year for me however, I'm looking forward to the start of the school year for a change. My WPI schedule for the first 14 weeks of the year is great.  I have one class on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday which leaves me plenty of time to get my homework done and then just degen my way over to Foxwoods to play some live cash games.  I also have a ton of flexibility to play poker at more or less the same schedule I have been playing over the summer online.  The only thing that changes is my proximity to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun makes a day trip much easier.  Senior year is looking like it's going to be easy enough to get some real serious poker grinding going and I'm very excited to try and step my game up. I've been thinking a lot lately about the mini rut I've been in in the past 3 weeks.  My MTT success slowed to a standstill, my cash game grinding has been less than efficient, and taking a hit playing some live cash where AK<A5 (see, even live poker can be rigged) have all put me in a different frame of mind.  Things like this really used to frustrate me, as I'm sure everyone else can attest to, but for whatever reason I've been much more mellowed out about my struggles than I usually am. I think part of my new attitude is that I looked over my spread sheet from all the poker of the past year and I couldn't help but smile a bit.  At the start of 2009 I had a mere $65 dollars for a BR, if you can even call it that.  Slowly but surely I started grinding my way up on FTP, won some $T using FPPs on Stars, FTed a few $2.25 180mans on FTP, won a $4.40 180man on Stars, and suddenly I had about $500 between the two sites and some extra cash to play 4/8 FLHE at Foxwoods.  To have come from such a humble start and be where I am now proves to me I can keep this up.  It proves success in this business really is possible for me. I have always been someone who has believed in the addage, "Never forget where you came from or what it took to get you where you are."  In poker I think a lot of people tend to forget about the smaller wins they have had in their careers.  They are quick to forget that they have already moved up in limits before, that they did just start with $50 in their account and now have a few hundred to play with.  I have 10 weeks left of my trial by fire to become a pro, and I'm not going to get frustrated by one hand in the short term.  This is a lifelong game and should be treated as such. No Comments on this post. Click here to post a comment.




• Car Problem = MTT Win?

  By dtools22 - Aug 20 2009, 05:55 PM

  My recent online poker success has been fueled by my MTT success in the recent weeks.  I have registered a number of micro stakes wins, and even managed to find a few cashes that broke the $1K barrier that has long been mocking me.  I have also noticed a somewhat comical omen that has been successfully predicting my prowess on the virtual felt.  Whenever I have car problems during the day, later that night I have a big session playing MTTs. Ok, now I get that this is a pretty ridiculous notion, but just roll with it for me.  I have a 2000 Dodge Intrepid that has just over 112K miles on it.  The car is in very good shape since it hasn't really been too badly beaten up over the years.  It does run a little choppy but that can be expected with a nearly 10 year old car. About 5 weeks ago I shipped one of the two nightly $11KOs on FTP for just shy of $1100.  During the day I was driving back from a film shoot for the "Something Remote" web series on I-495 when I saw a white pickup truck stop short about 9 car lengths infront of me.  I had pleanty of time to stop and avoid an accident however there was a green SUV infront of me that had to slam on its breaks as well.  Long story short I had to swerve my car off the road and over a pretty big ditch.  My car bottomed out hard and the tire wells in the front of the car both smashed.  I had them cut off and drove the car home.  Later that night I decided to play some cards and my only cash just so happened to be a win in the $11KO. Last week my tires started squeaking very loudly when taking a left hand turn.  It soundsed a lot like when your brakes squeak only it was louder and far more agitating.  I spent the day washing dust out of the tires and the car still made the same noises.  Later that night I found myself at the $3 rebuy final table on FTP.  This is another one of those events I just really badly want to win.  The blinds got ridiculous in a hurry and the eventual winner just started running like a God.  We went from 8 handed to 3 handed in the span of about 15 hands, all the KOs from the guy who would not only win the rebuy, but KOed everyone in the process.  I came in third for another $1K payday. Earlier today my car would not start.  I had to have it towed from my apartment in Worcester, MA 55 miles to my parents house in Wilmington, MA.  There it will sit in the driveway until Monday when I will again need to have it towed to bring it to the dealership.  A busted car as a goodluck charm?  I've heard stranger things, might as well rake in a few thousand in the process. 2 Comments on this post. Click here to post a comment.




• My Story From the $340 Mega Stack

  By dtools22 - Aug 18 2009, 10:04 PM

  I decided to write this post a day late (was hoping for two days late, but more on that in a bit) so I could talk about my first chance at redemption in live poker, the $340 Mega Stack $100K guaranteed at Foxwoods.  As I have been saying this was the first step in my 11-week grind to become a professional poker player and build not just the bankroll, but the skills needed to sustain that BR for many years to come.  The goal wasn't actually to win the tournament though it would have been a very big win, what I wanted to do was get the bad taste out of my mouth from my terrible play last year at the WPF.  I can at least say I did that much. First let me just say, online registration is magical.  I did cost me an extra $14 to get my ticket on the web, but it let me sleep in, get a solid breakfast, and not feel rushed to get to the casino.  When I got there 30 mins before the start of the event the place was packed.  The line must have been at least 250 people deep and went from the back entrance, all the way to the front, and then looped around the registration desk.  Thankfully I just got my seat number and walked over the the sunset ballroom where tables 1-40 were.  Do to the overwhelming number of people, the tournament started 33 minutes late.  Plus to accommodate everyone (you'll all love this) we started the tournament 11-handed.  Just to be even cooler the stacks that came in late were not blinded off...let me cliff note this for everyone: WE STARTED 11-HANDED THE STACKS THAT SHOWED UP LATE DID NOT GET BLINDED OFF Very first hand I managed to bluff off 2K of my 15K starting chips and it was rough waters from there on.  I got down to as low as 10.5K before I actually won a hand.  after three levels I found myself on break with a stack on 11275 and blinds at 100/200/25 when we got back.  First hand back UTG+1 limps which he has done with ATC so far.  To me in UTG+2 I look down and see 9h9c and I decide to pump it up to 800.  Even just the 15K starting stack is so deep at this point that there is no need to really get too reckless.  I'm trying to get myself into a pot with the UTG+1 limper, who has been the ATM at the table despite a few suck outs to put him around 45K to start the hand.  Action folds to the SB who calls, the BB calls, and the limper follows suit...not my ideal situation.  The flop comes down: 8h 2c 7h Action checks to me.  To this point, no one has slowplayed anything at this table.  We've seen two full boats, a few flopped straights, and no one has tried to get cute so I do feel comfortable with my spot right now.  I bet 2200, SB folds and to my surprise the BB calls, UTG+1 now decides to raise and make it 5200 total.  He has made this move 4 times before and thus far the best hand he's had was an open ended straight draw with backdoor spades.  I figure I have the best hand at this point so I shoved the last 8250 in my stack.  To my shock the BB and UTG+1 called.  The turn comes down: 3c Actions gets checked around.  River is a disaster: As I feel my heart sink as the BB reaches for chips and puts his last roughly 10K in the pot.  UTG+1 folds and I say to the BB, "You have Axhh?"  Proudly he shows Ah2h and I'm busted out from the event. Overall I'm happy with the way I played.  I can certainly say that the bitterness from last year is gone and that I've become more comfortable in these $300 events.  I'm not that upset about the beat, since he is flipping with me on the flop.  UTG+1 claims to have had 65o which I have no trouble believing.  Bottom line is that I'm happy with my performance, now on to the regular grinding before the next event starts, the MiniFTOPs as well as the WCOOP on Stars. 2 Comments on this post. Click here to post a comment.