Still Spinning Wheels...

I DEFINITELY play my A-game when I'm patient and tight early, conserve chips early, and then get aggressive when the blinds rise. I find that I play my best when I wait for the other guy to make a mistake.

Games played on 5/24/2006:

3 $60 Turbo SNGs
3 $55 SNGs
2 $109 SNGs

Results:

1 1st $109 - $450
1 2nd $55 - $135

Total Profit/Loss: $22

Here is a graph of my SNG profitibility to date:

Getting back on track...

Played 4 more SNGs and won the last one. I absolutely dominated it... when it was three-handed I had 10,000 chips and the second place guy had 1800. Hopefully the cold streak is coming to an end.

1 $109 SNG
3 $55 SNGs

Buy-Ins: $274

Results:
$55 SNG - 1st place -- $225

Total Profit/Loss: -$49.00

I RARELY slow play aces, but I thought I played this hand particularly well:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?346314

Kryptobear had me beat on this hand... he told me i made him laydown queens... he had just seen me slow play aces, and i played this hand similarly... i told him I had Ace/Jack.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?346318

Went Nowhere Fast!

1 $109 SNG
2 $55 SNG
1 $33 SNG
1 $ 27 Turbo SNG

Results:
$33 SNG - 2nd place - $81
$27 Turbo SNG - 1st place - $112.50
Total Prize: 193.50

Total Buy Ins: $279

Total Profit/Loss: - $85.50

Another $109 SNG

Buy In: $109

Place: 3rd

Total Profit/Loss: +$71

While 3-handed; blinds 100, 200 antes 25 - I was on the button and raised to 600 with a pair of 2's. The small blind had me covered and put me all-in. I called putting him on 2 over cards. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a great move because, at BEST, it was a coin-flip and if I folded I still had plenty of chips to work with. Anyway, he had a pair of 7's and knocked me out.

3 MTTs

Buy-Ins: $141

Results: No cashes

Total Profit/Loss: - $141

Had a stack of @ 20K in the 10:15 poker stars rebuy after the rebuy period, but then went kinda card dead and ended up bluffing off most of my stack to someone holding the nut flush... doh! It was something that I really didn't need to do... i gotta work on that, cuz I do it too frequently. Anyway, I built the stack back up a bit but then my A/K lost to A/Q in a pre-flop race. Lame! I finally went all-in on a harmless looking board with K/10 of hearts... "cigar" on Poker Stars (the guy with the previous nut flush) made an awesome call with A/Q for the rest of my chips.

In the $55 MTT, I went out real early as I got all my chips in with K/K. The other guy had A/A...oh well, nothing I can do there.

Finally, in the 90-man $55 i went out around 24th or so. Got low on chips and tried to bluff by going all in while in the small blind. The original limper had aces and the big blind had jacks.... i had 9/J. Bad timing!

2 More $55 SNGs

Buy-In: $110

Results: 1 2nd place for $135

Total Profit/Loss: +$25

Note: Not surprisingly, I play much better when not multi-tabling.

Roll Continues...

Nice! On May 15th, I played another $55 SNG. Another 1st place! I am on a serious roll with 3 1sts and one 2nd in my last 5 tournaments played. Again, I wish I had more time, but the parents are in town from AZ, and work has been crazy.

Total Profit/Loss: + $170

This is pretty amazing because in early May I cashed out almost my entire Poker Stars bankroll totalling about $4.5K after a fight with my wife regarding poker :) I left myself exactly $275 and have now built this back up to $1K. W00T! Now I can feel comfortable that I am not playing limits that are beyond my bankroll. I will keep playing the $55s until I hit $2K. Some people will say that $1K isn't enough to play the $55s, but I'm so confident in my game now that I don't feel like its a stretch at all.

On A Roll Without Much Time

What a shame... not much time to play, but when I do play I am kicking ass!

Had time for 1 $55 Turbo SNG. Another 1st place...

Buy-In: $55
Prize: 247.50

Total Profit/Loss: + 192.50

Not Much Time To Play

I played 3 Sit 'n Gos over the last week. Work and family life has been insane.

1 $109 9 person
2 $55 9 person buy-ins: $219

Got 1st place in the $109 for $450. Played real well and dominated the table.
Got 2nd place in one of the $55's. I dominated this table as well but got unlucky while heads up. Oh well.

Prize: $450+$135
Total Profit/Loss: +$366

5th in the Stars 55K

Won/Lost: +$3666

Yeah! On May 1st, on my 4 year old son's birthday, I fired up Poker Stars and entered the Stars 55K Rebuy at 10:15 PM. I came out of the rebuy period with 14K in chips, which is decent, but not great. I then proceeded to build a nice chip stack early on by hitting some solid hands and continuation betting when I missed.

My stack was 89K when I lost my Internet Service Provider. Boy was I pissed! Finally, I ended up turning on my laptop and connecting to my neighbor's (unsecured) wireless network. Thank god for people who don't secure their networks! Anyway, when I finally got back into Stars I was down to 70K. I was still fuming about the disconnect when this MAJOR suckout occurred... I needed to get some chips and I put the initial raiser on a sub-par hand:

*********** # 256 ************** PokerStars Game #4808612162: Tournament #23911738, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (3000/6000) - 2006/05/02 - 02:28:14 (ET) Table '23911738 58' 9-max
Seat #1 is the button Seat 1: tico10 (70201 in chips)
Seat 2: rhdog43 (116163 in chips)
Seat 3: RollTide1992 (86726 in chips)
Seat 4: oldikee12 (55362 in chips)
Seat 5: cljunior (230000 in chips)
Seat 6: Bobbie222 (83662 in chips)
Seat 8: I'll Attack (133193 in chips)
Seat 9: Orioles_Rule (84165 in chips)
tico10: posts the ante 300
rhdog43: posts the ante 300
RollTide1992: posts the ante 300
oldikee12: posts the ante 300
cljunior: posts the ante 300
Bobbie222: posts the ante 300
I'll Attack: posts the ante 300
Orioles_Rule: posts the ante 300
rhdog43: posts small blind 3000
RollTide1992: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Orioles_Rule [5c 6h]
oldikee12: folds
cljunior said, "thr"
cljunior: folds
Bobbie222: folds
I'll Attack: raises 12000 to 18000
Orioles_Rule: raises 65865 to 83865 and is all-in
tico10: folds
rhdog43: raises 31998 to 115863 and is all-in
RollTide1992: folds
I'll Attack: folds
*** FLOP ***
[Qd 9d Ks]
cljunior said, "nice po"
*** TURN ***
[Qd 9d Ks] [6d]
cljunior said, "t"
*** RIVER ***
[Qd 9d Ks 6d] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rhdog43: shows [9h Ah] (two pair, Nines and Sixes)
Orioles_Rule: shows [5c 6h] (three of a kind, Sixes)
Orioles_Rule collected 194130 from pot
cljunior said, "f'in sick"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 194130
Rake 0 Board [Qd 9d Ks 6d 6s]
Seat 1: tico10 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: rhdog43 (small blind) showed [9h Ah] and lost with two pair, Nines and Sixes
Seat 3: RollTide1992 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: oldikee12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: cljunior folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Bobbie222 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: I'll Attack folded before Flop
Seat 9: Orioles_Rule showed [5c 6h] and won (194130) with three of a kind, Sixes

even though, I pulled a naked bluff, I cannot believe the big blind called my all in with A/9. Either he sucks, or it was a crazy-good read. Anyway, now I had some chips! After hovering around 180K to 190K for a while this hand came up:

*********** # 279 ************** PokerStars Game #4808728100: Tournament #23911738, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (4000/8000) - 2006/05/02 - 02:50:46 (ET) Table '23911738 58' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: tico10 (56101 in chips)
Seat 2: rhdog43 (98196 in chips)
Seat 3: *BSC* (32856 in chips)
Seat 4: oldikee12 (140324 in chips)
Seat 5: cljunior (153668 in chips)
Seat 6: Bobbie222 (42362 in chips)
Seat 7: BacoFoil (152640 in chips)
Seat 8: I'll Attack (93493 in chips)
Seat 9: Orioles_Rule (187930 in chips)
tico10: posts the ante 400
rhdog43: posts the ante 400
*BSC*: posts the ante 400
oldikee12: posts the ante 400
cljunior: posts the ante 400
Bobbie222: posts the ante 400
BacoFoil: posts the ante 400
I'll Attack: posts the ante 400
Orioles_Rule: posts the ante 400
I'll Attack: posts small blind 4000
Orioles_Rule: posts big blind 8000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Orioles_Rule [Ah Ac]
Orioles_Rule said, "yep"
zigzagcrew [observer] said, "so much 4 that bumb ryan"
Orioles_Rule said, "he's a beast!"
tico10: raises 47701 to 55701 and is all-in
rhdog43: folds *BSC*: folds
oldikee12: folds
cljunior: folds
Bobbie222: folds
BacoFoil: folds
I'll Attack: folds
Orioles_Rule: calls 47701
*** FLOP *** [4h Js Qh]
Orioles_Rule said, "damn"
*** TURN *** [4h Js Qh] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [4h Js Qh 4s] [3s]
Orioles_Rule said, "double damn"
zigzagcrew [observer] said, "60 000 000 4 nothing"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Orioles_Rule: shows [Ah Ac] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
tico10: shows [4c 4d] (four of a kind, Fours)
tico10 collected 119002 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 119002 Rake 0 Board [4h Js Qh 4s 3s]
Seat 1: tico10 showed [4c 4d] and won (119002) with four of a kind
Seat 9: Orioles_Rule (big blind) showed [Ah Ac] and lost with two pair, Aces and Fours

Then, my "M" falls to around 5, so I decide to push with this hand... didn't really want any callers, but oh well. I'll take it.

*********** # 314 ************** PokerStars Game #4808842433: Tournament #23911738, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIX (8000/16000) - 2006/05/02 - 03:14:54 (ET) Table '23911738 92' 9-max
Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: mgw21 (210412 in chips)
Seat 2: SheaPoker (139336 in chips)
Seat 3: ollis 3:16 (128170 in chips)
Seat 4: benzibox (167984 in chips)
Seat 5: Orioles_Rule (145081 in chips)
Seat 6: Atlas Glass (270997 in chips)
Seat 7: nines&twos (79460 in chips)
Seat 8: BacoFoil (321760 in chips)
Seat 9: Bobcatz04 (405108 in chips)
mgw21: posts the ante 800
SheaPoker: posts the ante 800
ollis 3:16: posts the ante 800
benzibox: posts the ante 800
Orioles_Rule: posts the ante 800
Atlas Glass: posts the ante 800
nines&twos: posts the ante 800
BacoFoil: posts the ante 800
Bobcatz04: posts the ante 800
ollis 3:16: posts small blind 8000
benzibox: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to Orioles_Rule [Ah Td]
Orioles_Rule: raises 128281 to 144281 and is all-in
Atlas Glass: folds
nines&twos: calls 78660 and is all-in
BacoFoil: folds
Bobcatz04: folds
mgw21: folds
SheaPoker: calls 138536 and is all-in
ollis 3:16: folds
benzibox: folds
*** FLOP *** [As 8d 6c]
*** TURN *** [As 8d 6c] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [As 8d 6c Qd] [3c]
Tiger7210 [observer] said, "shea and benzil boh tight"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Orioles_Rule: shows [Ah Td] (a pair of Aces)
SheaPoker: shows [Jc Jd] (a pair of Jacks)
Orioles_Rule collected 119752 from side pot
nines&twos: shows [7d 7s] (a pair of Sevens)
Orioles_Rule collected 267180 from main pot

Now I have major chips! Commence Bullying!

*********** # 316 ************** PokerStars Game #4808849555: Tournament #23911738, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIX (8000/16000) - 2006/05/02 - 03:16:29 (ET) Table '23911738 92' 9-max Seat
#4 is the button
Seat 1: mgw21 (238412 in chips)
Seat 3: ollis 3:16 (118570 in chips)
Seat 4: benzibox (142384 in chips)
Seat 5: Orioles_Rule (375877 in chips)
Seat 6: Atlas Glass (269397 in chips)
Seat 8: BacoFoil (320160 in chips)
Seat 9: Bobcatz04 (403508 in chips)
mgw21: posts the ante 800 ollis
3:16: posts the ante 800
benzibox: posts the ante 800
Orioles_Rule: posts the ante 800
Atlas Glass: posts the ante 800
BacoFoil: posts the ante 800
Bobcatz04: posts the ante 800
Orioles_Rule: posts small blind 8000
Atlas Glass: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to Orioles_Rule [4c 9h]
BacoFoil: folds
Bobcatz04: folds
mgw21: folds ollis
3:16: folds
benzibox: folds
Orioles_Rule: raises 32000 to 48000
Atlas Glass: folds
Orioles_Rule collected 37600 from pot

This hand was key and I won it through pure aggression:

*********** # 371 ************** PokerStars Game #4809009826: Tournament #23911738, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XXI (15000/30000) - 2006/05/02 - 03:57:59 (ET) Table '23911738 18' 9-max
Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: LOPPER (395072 in chips)
Seat 2: Speareman (476520 in chips)
Seat 4: Orioles_Rule (456169 in chips)
Seat 6: kewlcoyote (395005 in chips)
Seat 7: melissak1 (597915 in chips)
Seat 8: supernova9 (427240 in chips)
Seat 9: Macknot (226218 in chips)
LOPPER: posts the ante 1500
Speareman: posts the ante 1500
Orioles_Rule: posts the ante 1500
kewlcoyote: posts the ante 1500
melissak1: posts the ante 1500
supernova9: posts the ante 1500
Macknot: posts the ante 1500
Macknot: posts small blind 15000
LOPPER: posts big blind 30000
*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to Orioles_Rule [Qd Kd]
Speareman: folds
Orioles_Rule: raises 90000 to 120000
kewlcoyote: folds
melissak1: calls 120000
supernova9: folds
Macknot: folds
LOPPER: folds
*** FLOP *** [4h 5d 3c]
Orioles_Rule: bets 334669 and is all-in
melissak1: folds
Orioles_Rule collected 295500 from pot

I don't have time to post every hand, but basically I played aggressive when I felt like I was ahead of the tournament structure stealing many pots when my stack was large. I had one more major suckout that propelled me to the final table... it was my A/Q against his A/K. After that hand I bullied and bullied. Then, ended up going out 5th at the final table.

I'm fired up because this final table gives me the bankroll that i've been pushing for... now, let's see what I can do with it!