SwingSwingSwing's Poker Journey

SNG target update

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:53:34 +0100

So, how am I doing on my goal to win $177 dollars at SNGs before the end of year?

Since my previous post, I've played 19 $3.40 regular Sit'n'Gos with a ROI of 17% - winning a grand total of $11. So only $166 to go!

Looking back at the results, I'm quite happy with the results. I definitely need to improve my Heads Up play though as I've not managed to win one of those 19.

I played the BritBloggerment on Sunday and finished in 6th. Very disappointing as I'd played well and was unlucky to go out when I did. The blinds were getting high and I doubled up when I pushed QJs and help up against Clouds pair of 7s. At this point we'd played around 150 hands and I had not many premium hands. I remember thinking that I'm due to get Aces soon. Then, lo and behold, a couple of hands later, when I'm in the small blinds, the aces arrive. It's folded to me and I'm against a large stack in the BB. My stack was too big to push, so I made a standard raise and hoped the BB would react. The BB makes my day by pushing and naturally I call. He turns over Kings. I mean could it get any better? Unfortunately, it didn't. A King appeared on the flop and despite turning a flush draw, I missed and was out. I took it well though!

I'm still running at 15% ROI in the BritBloggerment so I can't really complain.

SNGs are meant to be easy

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:26:36 +0100

Sorry for the lack of updates - it's been a busy time at Chez SwingSwingSwing recently with trips to IKEA and subsequent assembly of various bits of furniture and having two extra doggies in the house while a friend was on holiday. Four dogs, especially when one is a hyperactive collie pup, is quite a bit more work than our two.

So what have I been doing poker-wise?

Well, as mentioned in my previous post, my other target for the year is to get my Sharkscope winnings into positive territory. So I've been studying and playing Sit'n'Gos. In order for to better understand my goal, I also spent a bit of time analysing the results that Sharkscope has for me.

My graph looks a bit strange, with a sharp fall at the start and then a plateau and then more losses. It wasn't until I'd downloaded my results and looked at them that I realised why. The sharp drop at the start was when I first started playing poker online. All the websites said that SNGs were great for getting your feet wet so I jumped in. Now in 2005, Stars didn't have any micro level SNGs; the minimum was $5. I played a few of these, fixed limit mind, and took one hell of a beating. It didn't take long to realise that I'd soon be busto so I switched to cash games. The plateau phase was a period when I took a fancy to playing the 70FPP satellites to the Sunday Hundred Grand. These have no monetary cost but the results were tracked by Sharkscope. Only the winner got the ticket. I played about 40 of these and won 2.

The rest of the graph is what I would call "proper" Sit'n'Go play. And with that in mind, I'm going to adjust my target. Rather than say "get Sharkscope figures back into positive territory", I'm going to say "get my proper SNG results back into positive territory" basically writing off my early fixed limit SNGs as a learning experience.

So my revised target is to win $177.70 in SNG's before the end of the year. Shouldn't be too hard, should it?

One Goal Achieved

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:17:27 +0100

I'm not much of a goal-setter. Never have been, probably never will be. For my poker playing I have two targets; to get better and to be in profit. Both very woolly and in the case of the former, quite hard to measure. Occassionally I may set a more specific target and at the start of the year I set myself two.

To get my Sharkscope graph back into positive territory.
Be profitable at all my regular limits in limit 5 Card Draw.

Target 2 was achieved last night. When I started playing 5 Card Draw on Poker Stars, the lowest limit available was 50c/$1 and as such that was where players new to the game would be. With so many bad players there, making money was easy. Easy, that is, when the games ran. 5 Card Draw isn't the most popular game around. My win rate at 50c/$1 is 3BB/hr (i.e. $3) single tabling.

For a bit of excitement, I would take shots at $1/$2. On the face of it, it didn't seem like a tougher game. There were more solid regulars than at 50c/$1 but still a fair amount of fish. But I was getting a hammering. Now I was only taking shots, so after losing I went back to my regular level to recoup losses.

For even more excitement, I would take the very occasional shot at $2/$4. $2/$4 is very different, far fewer fish and more aggressive regulars. When playing at $2/$4 I was there purely to hit and run. If things were going bad I'd leave pronto. If things were going well, I'd leave pronto too just to "lock in" the profit.

So I was making money at 50c/$1 and $2/$4 but taking a beating at $1/$2. Then PokerStars introduced micro limit 5 Card Draw and all the entry level fish dropped down leaving 50c/$1 pretty barren. I didn't really want to go down with them so decided to concentrate on $1/$2.

And last night, thanks to hitting trip Aces when drawing 4 to a solitary Ace in the Big Blind I managed to get back in profit at $1/$2. Woo Hoo!

So now it's time to focus on my Sharkscope stats.

Apart from the playing 5 Card Draw, I haven't been playing much poker. I had a few days off work which meant that I missed the announcement and the start of the Full Tilt Bloggerment tournies. Oh well. I suppose it gives me a break for a bit!

Frustration

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:35:24 +0100

I think everyone who plays poker will agree that it is a frustrating game. You can play poorly and be rewarded. You can play perfectly and yet have little to show for it.

The last few days have been frustrating for me. I've played 12 SNGs or small field MTTs this month. My ROI for these is -64%. Now it's only a $39 loss but the frustrating thing was the way the games played out. of the 12, I bubbled in 5 of them and cashed twice, both of them second places. Of the second place cashes, the first I went out when my opponent pushed all in preflop with Q4s into my Aces and he hit his flush and the second catching the idiot end of a straight was my undoing as my opponent had the non-idiot end.

Bubbling 5 out of 12 shows that I really need to relearn bubble strategy and so I've created a little timetable of PXF videos to watch which I'll be working on this week. For some of the 5 I think I played correctly but there were a couple that I know I butchered. The worst one was a $3.40 I played last night. There are five players left with the blinds at 75/150. My stack is 2785 which is comfortably in second place. Two to my left is a player who plays nearly every hand, something like 60% VPIP. She's taken a big hit (though she still has 2000 chips) and she's been pushing a fair bit the last orbit. Acting after her is the other villian in the hand, the chip leader with 5850 chips.

I'm in the BB and check after Loosey-Goosey and ChipLeader limp in. I've got A7o and flop two pair on an As7s5d board. My first reaction was "yeehaw - time to get some money off of Loosey-Goosey". I bet out 600 and Loosey-Goosey, as I'd hoped, reraises all in. What I didn't pay much attention to was that ChipLeader called her all in. The action came to me and I reraised all in with my two pair without even thinking about ChipLeader's action meant. The cards get turned over. Loosey-Goosey had T7o for a pair of sevens which was exactly what I was hoping for. Unfortunately ChipLeader turned over a pair of 5s for bottom set and I'm toast. ChipLeader knocks us both out and the other two players who had about 10BB each suddenly find themselves in the money.

Absolutely horrible, horrible, horrible play by me. I was so consumed with getting money from Loosey-Goosey that I had not even stopped to think what ChipLeader was doing. And he was the only player who could bust me. And he did. Oh well, lesson learned I hope.

July Round Up

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:11:59 +0100

There's not a lot happening poker-wise recently so I haven't been posting much.

In July, I've played a grand total of nine tournaments. My ROI for these nine is 100% which isn't too bad. I've cashed 4 times in a row in the BritBloggerment a streak which was broken last Sunday when I came in 6th.

Highlight of the month was the PXF Euro Subscriber tournie last night. It's not often I get the chance to play these as the tournie generally starts before I get home from work. But yesterday I was home nice and early and I decided to stump up my $5. For a $5 buyin, this tournie is hard. Everyone who enters is a PXF subscriber and, as such, they want to better their game. Plus Sheets, JohnnyBax and Mindwise usually play too. It's a tough grind for a poor payout.

My table draw was horrendous with Sheets and Bax at my table. I had two hands of note against them. The first was against Bax quite early on. I got to see a free flop in the big blind with 96s. Flopped an open ended straight draw. Called a smallish bet from Bax. Bax checked the turn as did I. My draw came in on the river and I managed to get Bax to pay me off. "Owned", he said.

The hand against Sheets was quite a bit later on when the blinds were more significant. Sheets opens for 3x from early position. Folded to me in the small blind. I raise 3x his bet which is about half my stack. Sheets went into the tank. With about ten seconds left in the time bank, Sheets asks "Do you have it?" to which I reply "not saying". With his time bank running out, he folds and I say "I would show but you always teach not to". To which he replies "Damn"!

I ended up finishing 7th, making the final table and cashing which I was very pleased with given the strength of the field.

Bonus Cleared

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:48:15 +0100

That's the PokerStars Battle of The Planets bonus cleared. I had to earn about 34 FPPs per day before July 9th to make it in time so I've finished way ahead of schedule. But I've lost money overall. Some of this was being unlucky, some was me making stupid calls.

Early last week it was the stupid calls that were my undoing. Paying off large river bets from tight players is just not a good play, especially with Ace high :-) I learned my lesson though and played considerably better (well as much as Short Stack Strategy allows) and I managed to recoup the earlier losses by the middle of the week. Then over the weekend, in the final push to clear the bonus, I hit some bad luck. In the space of 4 hours, I had Kings cracked by threes, Jacks and sevens losing $70 along the way. Switching to limit didn't help as my Aces fell to AKs for another $20. So I lost more than the bonus was worth in the process of clearing the bonus.

Now, I've got a dilemma. I only need 300FPPs to reach Silver Star and 4 days to do it. I might give it a go.

I missed the BritBloggerment last week as I was at my cousins' wedding but managed to make it along last night. I cashed in third place which was OK considering that I was completely card dead once the bubble burst. I was folding so much junk that Amatay thought I had disconnected. My final hand was a shortstacked push with K3s. Amatay called with QJs and when the flop gave him an gutshot royal flush draw, I knew that my goose was cooked. A non-flush straight card came on the turn and I hit the rail.

No BritBlogger for me next week as I'll be in south Germany hopefully catching some nice summer weather.

Until next time.

Bonus Chasing

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:01:53 +0100

I played slightly more poker last week due to the fact that the expiry of my Stars Battle of the Planets reload bonus is looming. By my calculations I need to earn about 35FPPs every day from now until July 9th to get my $80. This isn't factoring in my holiday in Germany at the end of June or my cousin's wedding or various visits to friends so I really need to get a move on.

So I've been shortstacking 0.50c/$1 NL full ring. I'm ahead of schedule in terms of FPPs but slight down in terms of cash. My table selection strategy, namely sit at the table with the biggest average pot, is paying dividends when it comes to accumlating FPPs due to the number of donkeys who are willing to gamble their large stacks on marginal hands but is not so helpful as the same donkeys are quite capable of calling my 20BB all-ins with pish. For example, I'm UTG with AKo. I've been quite cagey with AKo in early so I limp in. There are a couple of other limpers and then the loose aggro big blind bumps it up to 8BB or so. Now given this guy's play so far I reckon there's a very good chance he's at it. There's around 12BB in the pot and I've only got 18BB left so I push all in. The limpers fold, the big blind calls with K4s and hits his four on the flop. Rebuy, please. As I've said before, Domination - What is it good for?

If I wasn't so risk averse, I'd be tempted to buy in for the max and nut-peddle. It might get me a bigger payday against these donks.

BritBloggerment rolled around on Sunday as normal but it wasn't good for me. At the first break, I was top 3 after taking a race against Rosie and winning with JJ. First hand after the break, it's folded to me in the small blind and I min raise with KJo hoping to take an easy blind from TanOrpheus who hadn't sat back in. Just before I pressed the raise button, Tan reappeared. He re-raised me a large amount. Now what I should have done was cut my losses but no, I decided he was full of shit and called. The flop came all low cards missing me entirely. I checked, Tan bet, I folded. What should have been an easy blind steal turned into me losing over a third of my stack. My stack then dwindled and decided to push 12BB with a pair of twos from early/mid. But Tan had woken up to a pair of tens and after a bit of a pause he called. Goodnight Vienna.

Ho hum. But I've still a positive ROI so I'm happy!

BritBloggerment revamped

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:33:38 +0100

Acorn has just announced details of the new EuroBlogger website and tournie and the revamped BritBloggerment logo. The new logo, seen here on the left, is a 1940's bathing beauty and as I'm a big fan of the music, the fashions and the dancing of the 30s and 40s, I think it looks great. Kudos to Mr Cloud for all the work.

Another weegem Non-Report

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:56:00 +0100

Blah. Busy, busy, busy again. No time to play poker. Although looking back, I can't remember doing anything constructive during the week which is a bit disconcerting.

Came second to TanOrpheus in the BritBlogger last night, which was nice. And a very enjoyable tournie it was too.

The weegem Non-Report

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:58:29 +0100

It was a bit busy last week. My birthday, Wii Fit and an abundance of footie on the telly were to blame meaning that I actually didn't play any poker until Sunday evening.

Sunday was not a great day. I was not feeling that well and was having a very lazy day indeed. I picked up a little bit in the evening and signed up for two RakeTheRake freerolls, one a winner-takes-all $5000 WSOP package and the other a $3000 freeroll paying the top ten. But as soon as I started playing I knew my head wasn't in it and I donked out of both tournies before the first break. Knowing that I wasn't feeling or playing well, I decided to skip the BritBloggerment thus saving the $5.50 that I would have otherwise donated and went through to the living room and watched Lost.

I don't think this week is going to much better either. OK, there's less footie on the telly (which means it's time to cancel Sky Sports for the summer) but there is a whole load of jobs needing doing that I've been dragging my heels over.

Perhaps this is the time to take a little poker break and recharge the batteries.