Hi all...currently just finishing off my tables for the night. I load up no more than five tables when I get home from work, and load no tables later than 9pm so I can be in bed at a reasonable hour.

Tonight I got smashed early on two ridiculous hands on separate tables, loaded up one more and kept it at four for the rest of the night. I don't mind getting sucked out on early, but it's when you've invested four hours or more and then cop it that I just have to smile, go pour a cognac and watch TV to wind down before bed lol.

Out of the five I managed to mincash one, make two final tables and then took two ugly beats.

The first one I have about 15BBs and sitting fourth out of seven (with 2nd to 4th about even in chips), it's folded to me on the button holding 10-10. I three-bet and the BB who is chip leader flat calls. The flop is 10-Q-9 and is checked to me. I bet 2/3 of the pot and the CL shoves.

I insta-call knowing KJ the only possible hand he could holds that crushes me, and he turns over 78o for the open ender. Sick, I hate it when people call these hands out of position. I'm gunning for a boat on the turn to lock it down, but no dice...he rivers a 6 for the straight and I'm out in 7th place.

The second one I am 8/8 and facing an early position raise from a loose player whilst holding 99 in the SB. I flat because I still have 6 blinds left and recognise I am quite possibly behind here but prepared to gamble and see it as likely he'll call a pot sized shove if the flop likes me. The flop comes 6-6-10 and I believe I am good here quite a bit of the time. I shove, he calls and turns over KQo drawing to six outs. He rivers the K and I'm out in 8th place.

I'm currently on the last table for the night, sitting 11/11 with 12BBs. Three FTs would be nice :)

post script: I ended up 9th, all in AKo v QJs - bring on tomorrow night :)

After copping a few sick beats over the weekend resulting in mincashes or bubbling, I had a good run last night - three cashes from five tourneys, including two final tables. The way the 180-max structures work mean that your profits really come from final table placings, so when I get there I am really trying hard to be patient, pick my spots, attack the right players/flops and place as high as I can so I can hopefully move up levels in a few months.

These tourneys do not require much in the way of fancy play - I find that thinking, ABC poker is all you need. The most crucial elements for success at these levels in my opinion are bet sizing/pot control, which is generally what builds/protects your chipstack, and keeping notes on players so you know who you're up against. I will write more about these topics and other things I'm learning about this level when I get some more time, but I'll leave you with an interesting final table hand from the night.

We're down to three runners, Villain has just been boosted up by knocking two other players out to take the chip lead. Other than that I have had a comfortable lead for the entire final table. Villain has started to get a bit pushy to keep the distance between us, but has mostly been showing down reasonable hands. An orbit ago I three bet in the SB with KQo and he three-bet raised me in the BB to which I time bank/folded. He didn't show but told me in the break he held QQ, other than this there has been no re-raising pre which is not that uncommon in a 4.40 180-max game (which I why I doubt I'm getting played at here). My image has been active, but I have only shown down good holdings and have knocked out most of the other final tablers. The short stack has not seen a flop and pretty much folded/blind stole his way to the final three so I have no reads other than to assume he is tight.

The payouts are $216, $144 and $86. Far from life-altering, but important to me given I'm trying to build my roll and move back up in stakes again, since the difference between third and first is significant.

Blinds are 2000/4000
Villain (button): 160k in chips
Shortstack (SB): 30k in chips
Me (BB): 80k in chips

Villian raises the button to 12k, SB folds, I opt to flat holding KQ in the BB.

My rationale for flatting pre was that he was the big stack and I didn't wanna get pointlessly committed preflop with the shorty about to bust. I figure the button probably has a range of average holdings that he will use his button to raise in this situation and I can take it away with top pair good kicker on the flop or let it go if I brick and look for a better spot.

Pot size is roughly 26k.

Flop is K 10 8.

I fire out 18k (roughly two-thirds of the pot) and the button insta-shoves. I have 50k behind.

His shove makes for a sick situation, and highlights why not raising pre for information can get you in a lot of trouble. I figured Villain could shove under the following scenarios:

- he holds a weak King
- he holds a mid-to-high pair that he is defending, thinking that I may bet out with any 10, 8 or pair here
- he holds any other hand with some showdown value and does not consider it likely that I will call without a set here since I am almost guaranteed second place or better if I fold

The latter influenced me to call, figuring that the only hands I am crushed against is a flopped set. Even two pair gives me outs here, and I am dominating his K-x hands more than he dominates mine.

Result: He turns over AK and I don't improve. 86 bucks for third.

Pretty basic hand vs hand combat, it's the dynamics around it that have me wondering whether or not I acted correctly given the type of game, payouts and relative stack sizes. I thought about the alternative actions (reraising preflop, shoving preflop, flat calling pre/check raising flop) and conclude that they are all likely to have resulted in the same outcome - me busting. Does anyone agree/disagree? I am happy to hear feedback from any readers.

Ironically, the next hand the shorty picks up 77, shoves into AJ and loses the flip.

This is my first blog here, so greetings. I have another (social) blog, but it was getting very poker-oriented and wanted a separate one to be able to distinguish between my poker and non-poker life, so expect reasonably regular updates.

The reason I'm here is, well, I had spent most of last year building up a smallish ($2k) roll playing cash games and the odd tourney on PokerStars, and thought everything was going great. I got a little bit ahead of myself in terms of buy-in size for my roll, had a downswing in terms of wins, and consequently donked the lot of it off over the last month or two. The other thing that contributed was trying to qualify for a few local events via PokerStars satellites using my existing bankroll rather than topping up for it.

I've heard people go busto before and I guess it's a pretty humbling experience, but I figure I can learn something from it and I'm happy to admit it. I've got a reasonably well paying job so I've never really worried about the cash for buy-ins, so I considered just reloading. Then I thought about it some more, and figured if I was really going to be spending so much time playing it, I'd rather it be profitable.

I have always been a student of the game, as well as railing lots of tourneys and finding those who are more skilled at the game and trying to learn from them. That's my general approach for most things that I'm interested in. So I spent a bit of time going through the old 2+2 forums, reading books and blogs such as the ones on here and took a short break from the game.

2009 kicked off, and I started that year with a specific strategy that will hopefully keep me permanently rolled for the game and improve my discipline.

The basic premise is that I intend to make sure I always have 100x my average buy-in in my bankroll, and to keep grinding away at a level until I have enough to move up. I'm sure most successful players have already figured this out.

To avoid super micro stakes, I am funding myself into the 4.40 180-max games on PokerStars until I can get up to the next level ($3+R and $11 180-max). I could have loaded more on and played the $11 straight away, but I figured it wouldn't be as much of a learning experience if I did, since the $11 are not that much of a step down from where I used to play. That's why the blog is called 'the successful path is rarely a short one'...since I figure the grind at the beginning to build up my bankroll is going to take a while, but that's how it has to be - there are no real shortcuts here :)

So I deposited 50 dollars or so into my PokerStars account and started off on January 1. I will keep you updated each month as to my progress. Happy to field any comments or questions along the way, and will probably discuss some of my thoughts/learning process on the game as I go.