I absolutely intend to continue the soon-to-be “series” of blog posts about What I Do Well and What I Don’t Do Well, but right now I was in a writing mood and just wanted to get something out there. So let me back-track a little bit and give anyone who might be interested a bit of background…


I’m from Denmark originally, but have lived in several different places all over the world and – as anyone who follows this blog just some of the time will know – now currently reside in Sydney, Australia. My girlfriend and I didn’t come here with aspirations of me becoming a professional poker-player/obnoxious blogger, but things have just kind of worked out that way. I’ve been severely struggling to get a job in my field of expertise – which, supposedly, is shipping/logistics – although I’m starting to doubt a little bit exactly how much of an expert I should be considering myself, seeing that no one is looking to hire me!

Side note: Currently, I AM turning a profit from poker and it IS my only source of income, so technically the above reference to ‘professional’ is correct, but let’s not kid ourselves – I’m not exactly raking it in at the moment.

Anyway, we left Copenhagen and came here because of my girlfriend’s desire to undertake a Master’s Class that was being offered by the Sydney Opera House. She’s a professional violinist (but no – does not lull me to sleep with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star each night – unfortunately) who wanted to work behind the stage, instead of on it. We sold our apartment in Denmark and were EXTREMELY lucky to walk away with a six-figure profit, which has helped sustain us so far. It is also the source of my poker bankroll, which I have surprisingly, not yet squandered.

…and why do I tell you all this? Again, just felt like getting something out there. I feel like I’m on my way towards making a big 4-figure score in the not too distant future and WHEN (not ‘if’, very important to word-select properly to BIG-UP the motivation) I do hit it, this blog might actually receive some attention and I’ll be forced to write ONLY poker-related stuff. So – last chance to get this out there.

Speaking of poker, I’ll leave you with a little hand from one of my tournaments today and another lesson of what not to do. I should’ve trusted my read, but couldn’t find the fold button, even though I knew he was value-town’ing me in a big way.

It’s a $10 rebuy and we’re very close to the money-bubble. 30 get paid and I believe we were down to 38 at this point. I’m a semi-big stack and have a very solid TAG image. At a 9-handed table I find 7h7d in early position (UTG+3, stack 24560) with blinds at 400/800/a100.

It folds to me and I make it 2100. Two folds and the CO min-raises to 3400, which is such a donkish play (and yet, as this tale shall tell – maybe not) and somebody oughta shake this guy up real good to prevent him from doing so again. The rest fold. I know what he has. I estimate there’s about a 75% chance of him having AA, a 24.5% chance of it being KK and 0.5% chance of him having some random two-card-combo, because of a misclick or something equally insane. I call because I can never fold to a min-bet, but I am effectively set-mining. I even tell myself that, before the flop hits – simple reiteration of the fact that I am dominated and need to bail out if I don’t see a seven out there.

…but then disaster strikes.


(Pot 8900) FLOP: 8d 5s 6c


“Oh come on…” Are you shittin’ me? I can’t fold now, with that stupid-looking flop out there. All of a sudden, I’ve improved to 40% against AA. Anyway, he has position and I check to him. He checks back. (?)


(Pot 8900) TURN: 3s


On the flop I was dead-certain he had AA. I would’ve sold my grandmother (my grandma is definitely +EV if anyone’s interested?) to the devil, just to prove how bombin’ ass right I was. Then he checks. All of a sudden that little turn-around voice, which has gotten me in trouble SO many times before, creeps up out of nowhere and starts whispering something about AK. “Oooohhh… (the voice has ghostly tendencies, go figure) – he proooobably has Ace…KING!!!”
I check. He bets 4000. I call.


(Pot 16900) RIVER: 2h


In a matter of seconds I’ve sold my grandmother, and done a one-eighty on the AA. I’ve managed to donk myself into thinking that AK is a real possibility. He bets 9600 and I pay him off.


I busted a few spots later, just shy of the money.

Lesson learned

… again.


Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 213

One of the things that still really annoys the shit out of me – about myself – is that I STILL haven’t managed to lose the trash-talking, when I get sucked out on. You should think that for someone who plays as much as I do, I would know all about variance, would fully comprehend the bliss of getting someone to put their money in bad and therefore would be completely at peace, when getting 2-outed.

-and actually, I do! Honest to god, I really do understand all of that and for the most part (if I had to put a number on it, probably about 80% of the time); I manage to basically ignore what just happened or merely type in ‘nh’. Then there’s that 20% though. Mostly, it’ll be the situational context that propels my immature mocking, hazing and/or whining – meaning 2 suckouts very close together or sometimes a badly played hand and THEN a suckout will do it. A donkey possessed describes my state of emotion most of the time and even though I’m not big on name-calling or swearing at my opponent, I do find real pleasure in berating their play. I’m ashamed of posting this, but here’s a taste of what it might look like:

Semi-shortstacked with approx. 15 BBs, I open AK off-suit from the CO. The SB, sitting on 29 BBs calls and we see a flop of K93. I bet 60% of the pot and after some deliberation he calls. Turn is a T. I move the rest of my chips in and he snaps with QJ. If I’m feeling a little off, I might go ahead and type something like:

“Wow, nice soul-read champ. You saw straight through me on that flop. I DEFINITELY would’ve called with a gutter there too. Moron. *sigh*”

Ok, so I’m not exactly proud of it… embarrassed, actually covers it better, even though some of you might find yourselves wondering, “hmmm… that’s not even THAT bad – I’ve seen/heard a lot worse”. And granted, you probably have, but that still doesn’t make it right. IF I write anything, it should be ‘nh’ and/or ‘gg’, but better yet, would be to simply shut the window down and forget about it.

The silver lining is that I’ve become a lot more polite, since I started playing some 4 years ago. I actually do manage to squeeze out a mock ‘nh’ (tone-of-voice-sarcasm is hard to discern in a chat window!) most of the time and just move on. It’s the way it should be.

Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 223

I suppose primarily my friends back home are to blame, since they’re the ones who encouraged my writing to begin with. There were roughly 16 of us, who would alternately play 10-man-sit’n’gos at my place, on a pretty regular once-a-month basis. USD20 buy-ins, unlimited re-buys, an add-on as well as a USD10 per-player-per-night compulsory contribution for the player-of-the-year pool. So basically “fun stakes” and in reality it was all about bragging rights – outwitting your friends, hero-calling with the slimmest of hands and bluff-check-raising the river if possible.

I’ll paint you a picture of that last possibility. The bluffer wouldn’t subsequently just show the bluffee his cards. Hell no, the person would be getting up – slamming the cards down on the table, double-fistpumping the air and high-fiving anyone willing to back him up. Shit, one of the guys even had an obscene little dance – a pretty annoying pelvis-thrusting-Ricky-Martin-ain’t-got-nothing-on-me looking act you’d be forced to observe if he ever got the better of you. Fuck, those were the good days…!

It was the type of the game, where you were likely to see the typical math-geek (that would be yours truly) rambling about, “…27% equity! – No, hang on, you’ve got 11 outs and you’ve got a possible re-draw, must be 43.71%. Any jack, deuce or spade! Ok, deal the turn!” I was such a poker-dork. You might also run into a player, who – during a hand – would be frantically sifting through PokerForDummies, trying to see whether a straight beats a flush. True story.

Back to the writing bit: Since there were 16 of us, but only one 10-person table, not everyone could play each time, which is why I started putting together tourney reports after each monthly session. At first, this was just an outlet for me, getting the opportunity to trash-talk about everyone, name-call (“uber-donk” & “dim-witted retard” still come to mind) but ultimately also summarize the action as accurately and humorously as I could. The reporting caught on and soon a summary email was expected from me, leading to disconcerted emails, if I didn’t deliver within a day or two.

And finally, here we are – present day. I still love writing about poker, still love it when other people enjoy what I write and only wish that I can keep up both playing and writing forever. Speaking of which, I’ve come up with a new blog topic which I’ll delve into as soon as I finish up this one. It’ll be an account of sorts, in which I try to detail what I do and don’t do well in poker. Obviously, one should be a hell of a lot longer than the other. Until next time.

Bankroll: USD 6,553.13
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 226

For those of you who have been following this blog and my progress, thanks a lot for your interest and support. For anyone just coming into this blog, I thought it might be a good idea to briefly re-cap my goals, rules and progress thus far. As stated, I’ll keep the re-cap short and focus more on stats & profit.

It’s been approximately 2 months since my first blog and from the rather detailed excel spreadsheet that I use to keep score, I can see that I – in that time - have entered a total of 198 MTT & STTs. Time to see whether I’m even semi-decent at this poker-thing. First a bullet-point-look at the challenge and the rules:


CHALLENGE DETAILS + PROGRESS

a) Overall Goal: Win enough money to buy into Aussie Millions (main event, obviously – but prelims as well)

b) Starting bankroll: USD 5K (this is my ‘own’ money – i.e. not money won playing poker)

c) Game selection: Only MTTs and STTs. No turbo tourneys though. No cash games.

d) Bankroll Mngt: “100 BUY-IN RULE”. This refers to overall investment, i.e. 5K bankroll does not permit $50+5 tourneys, nor does it allow for $20 rebuys (I don’t NOT rebuy/addon). Strict adherence hereto.

e) Focus: No more than 3 tables at a time

f) Writing: Twice-a-week blog report



I’ve been pretty happy with the way things have gone so far. I’ve stuck to all of my rules with one exception – the focus part. I admit that I have at times played more than 3 tables simultaneously and fortunately, so far, with just as much success as 3 tables. 5 is however my limit. I don’t have double-monitors set up in my office, so all my play is on a laptop screen and that sets a natural limit.


The frequency of my blog-reports has been fairly unstable, but the overall number (once I post this) stands at 15 in this – my 8th week of the challenge, so I’m pretty happy with that. Sometimes there’s just nothing interesting to blog about.


RESULTS

$4.40-180’s played: 21
Result: $-7.44
ITM finish: 3/21 = 14%
Final tables: 2/21 = 10%

- I wrote in a previous blog, that I’d never played these 180-person tourneys and a kind reader alerted me to the fact that the opposition is a lot better than the buy-in amount points to. I still think some of the plays I’ve seen were pretty atrocious, but it is true that the later stage of these tournaments has a very high percentage of good players, considering the stakes. I’m not exactly getting crushed over this puny sample size, but maybe I don’t need to prove myself in these tourneys? Think I’ll have to try a few more, before I throw in the towel.



STTs played: 82
Average buy-in: $15.89
Result: $+136.70
ITM finish: 26/82 = 32%

- So, I play quite a few STTs, as I don’t always have the time to commit to a full-length MTT. I will probably be playing more from now on, but will move to the higher buy-in ones, preferably the $20 and $30 tourneys. I definitely feel like my profitability should be more than a buck-sixty per game.



Double-stack STTs played: 6
Average buy-in: $11.67
Result: $+63.00
ITM finish: 4/6 = 66%

- I feel there’s a huge difference between a sitngo with a normal starting stack and the ones that start you off with double, so much that I’m not including the double-stacks in the STT stats. This is no sample size obviously, but I feel like my edge in these is pretty good. Unfortunately, not too many of them around.



MTTs played: 89
Average buy-in: $21.64 (includes rebuys+addons)
Result: $+1,360.87
ITM finish: 29/89 = 32%
Final tables: 11/89 = 12%

- I have been crushing. That’s what it feels like anyway. Especially in the last couple of weeks. I think my ITM-finish percentage is just about as good as anyone’s and my final table presence is obviously rock-fucking-solid. Yep, I’m bragging, but hell – I’ve deserved it! The next step will be to cover myself in run-good-lotion for the next final table and actually get another win soon.


OVERALL PROFIT: $1,553.13


Boys and girls, that’s it for me this time – hopefully more successful shenanigans and efficacious escapades to report about, next time I see you.

Till then – thanks for reading.


Bankroll: USD 6,553.13
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 239

I just finished watching the Cavs sweep the Hawks in the conference semifinals. I love watching the game, but to be quite honest my knowledge of it is limited, so any predictions I provide here are to be taken lightly. That being said, they sure do look like a championship team to me. I love that their big guy Ilgauskas has a 3-point jump shot in his arsenal, the tenacity with which Varejao gets the offensive rebounds is remarkable and the combo-threat of Williams and West is ridiculous. Oh yeah, their last player is supposedly pretty good as well... hmmm, big guy with tattoos on both arms – has a strange affinity for throwing chalk in the air. Damn it, name escapes me… what can you do.


Anyway, not what this blog entry is supposed to be about! As the title denotes, I went deep and collected some dough during one of my recent MTTs. At Mansion Poker I entered the $7.70, 5K guaranteed rebuy tournament and took 3rd from a starting field of 291. It provided a payday of 600 dollars and 60 cents. First place was actually within reach, but I chose a marginal spot for my last hand (was getting a little antsy) and oh well, couldn’t make it work.


I’m sifting through the hand history, looking for unusual/key hands and have found a few, but what really springs to mind about this tournament is the unusually short-stacked structure (considering it’s a rebuy). I guess you can attribute it to tight play around the bubble, but basically everyone was playing 15BB stacks by the time we got down to 3-4 tables and right up until the end. As many online pros have pointed out (articles I’ve read), it’s an element you need to master, but… hell – it’s just not as much fun as when you actually get to see a flop once in a while.


With this score – as well as a few timely STT money-spots I’ve been picking up recently, I’ve now moved my bankroll into the “$22 1R1A” range. When I started the challenge I declared my intention to maintain rigorous bankroll management policies and I’ve stuck to all of my rules so far. One key one was (and is) the 100 buy-in rule. As the $221R1A tourneys prompt a likely $62 investment, it requires at least $6200 in my roll and only now do I have the funds necessary to take that shot… - and I’m psyched to do so!


Key hands from the tournament:

Hand1: 10-handed and I’m MP1 with 58 (stack 3000). Blinds have just gone up to 15/30. At this point I’ve been quiet for the initial 10 hands of the tourney and have seen the typical outrageously poor play that characterizes early stages of low-buy-in rebuy tournaments. As a result, I decide to get involved in this spot.

UTG folds, UTG+1 calls – so does UTG+2 and it’s on me. I decide to raise it up and make it 140. Raising limpers – especially from early-ish position – usually commands a ton of respect, so when we’re playing deep I tend to do it quite often. Folds to the HJ who calls and folds back to the two limpers, who both call.

(Pot 605) FLOP: K 5 4
This is about as good a flop as I can hope for. The king is very likely to have hit me, in the eyes of my opponents and if someone decides to call me on this flop, I actually have a little something with potential. I bet 400 and everyone folds.

Note: In this spot – with 3 callers – if I completely whiff the flop AND it hits in a way that is very likely to have hit my opponents range (say, QJ8) I’ll probably just check and give it up. This has the added advantage of me not becoming too predictable. The next time I raise with e.g. AQ, my c-bet on the K96 flop will probably garner enough respect for me to take it down.


I’m going through the hands and am currently at the 250/500/a50 blind level. NOT a single interesting hand played at this point. It’s completely standard play all the way. Raise AJ from MP, get a call from the blinds. Flop is KQ4 – he leads for 80% of the pot, so I fold. (*shrug*) Another hand, I raise QQ from LP when it’s folded to me (yeah, who fucking doesn’t!?!? – not interesting) and everyone folds. Yippee. I check my K9 hand from the BB with four limpers. Flop comes 726 and I lead at the pot. Short-stack shoves his remaining chips in and I obviously call (was being laid 8-1 to the pot) hit a king and outrun his J7. There you go. That represented about 90 minutes of play.


Yawn… Now I’ve gotten to the 500/1000/a100 level and all of a sudden I’m shoving A3 suited from the CO with a 9BB stack. Such a boring tournament, now that I’m reviewing it. No fun. Just paying attention to stack sizes, stealing and re-stealing when appropriate (and getting away with it – important to note) and generally waiting for a good spot.


Oops… wow. I had completely forgotten about this next hand. Guess that just corroborates what everyone always says – you remember the hands where someone sucks out on you, but for whatever reason – your brain decides to selectively delete the ones where you get lucky. This is one such hand.

Blinds are now at 800/1600/a160 and I’m sitting with a puny stack of 7700 chips. I’m in MP1 with Q9 and when it folds to me, I decide I can wait no longer. I’m all-in. The HJ insta-calls, everyone else folds and there it is – two kings. Fuck me. SPADES! Goooo SPADES!

Flop comes down: 54A. Well, no luck with the spades. If it were live, I would be up – out of my seat, probably already shaking everyone’s hand. Turn: 2. Could it be? Really? River: 3. Seeing the history has jogged my memory and I remember laughing out loud, when the river hit. Damn. I’m obviously a luck-box.


I proceed to pick up blinds & antes a few hands later with 77, then double up with AK vs KJ and ultimately I pick off a short-stack when I raise A9, he shoves and I call to beat his A5. How quickly things can change. My stack thereafter allows me to open-raise a bit wider, which – with the overall tight play – pads my stack nicely. No interesting hands until we get down to the last 2 tables – blinds now at 1500/3000/a300.


I’m in the BB with TT (stack approx. 64K) and am surprisingly one of the largest stacks at this 9-handed table. After UTG folds, UTG+1 shoves for 24K. It folds to the button who calls all-in for his 11K stack. I only really have UTG+1 to worry about and make what is essentially a very easy call. UTG+1 shows K8 and the button reveals 77. Even though it comes 586, disaster never strikes and I cruise to the final table from there.


And that’s it boys and girls. Nothing else happened that you haven’t heard about or seen a thousand times before. Anyone out there who doesn’t raise AK on the final table? Didn’t think so. Anyone not fold 6h3h UTG, 8-handed? I rest my case. Oh yeah – the last hand. Well, I’m in the SB with KT (blinds 15K/30K/a3K) and I shoved my 320K stack into the BB who was sitting on a 350K stack. There’s a bit of history behind this shove, but essentially I’ve got a fold-or-shove hand here I think. A min-raise might be effective against some timid players, but this guy wasn’t that at all. Anyway, he called with A8 and flopped an ace – guess I’d run out of luck at that point. :-)


May your upcoming sessions be fruitful. Thanks for reading.


Bankroll: USD 6,407.30
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 253