Sweating the rail on the other side of the world.....

I sweated the donk as he played a sixer. I thought he played well he made some big folds shorthanded that I dont think other ppl would make. Actually I dont know why he coined himself the "Donkey" I got a chance to play live with him over the summer during the WSOP and was impressed with the reads. Im not one for dude on dude compliments cuz thats not how I roll....Anyway zwell played.

I played a HU match a few days ago and got lazy about blogging it. This guy was a total push over. I chipped away at his stack for most of the match raising and betting with nothing. The guy ended up catching a run of good cards and eventually got even. The final hand I have 97 , flop comes 973 rainbow. This is where i messed up cuz i check the flop the turn come Q I check raise he moves AI and I call he shows Q3 and im out. Bummer I havent played on since. As a group were making baby steps. Gotta crawl before you walk, crawl before you walk.

6 handed sit and go for a change - and make some $$$

It seems no matter what I do on the bankroll experience I never win. I change buy-ins, limits, and players per tourney and can’t make a profit. I have been playing on my own account lately finding I make my money playing 6 handed sit and go’s more than anything else. Why not give it a go on the bankroll exp?

6 handed sit and go’s are a completely different ball game in terms of style of play, what hands can be played and how the action is played. Needing to play looser is better in 6 handed but also wanting to put all the money in with at least 2ND pair is a must. The top 2 in 6 handed sit and go’s get paid. Which is great, with odds at 3-1 to make the money, I favour myself to at least make the money or win it.

I don’t play for a while until I find Jd10d. It is raised pre-flop but in a normal tourney I muck straight away, but 6 handed play changes. There are three of us to the flop. BANG flop comes down with me having the nuts! 7d 8c 9h with no draws. I check to the raiser who leads out for half the pot, telling me he has a big hand and is not scared of the flop at all. I raise just over double trying to keep him in with the other horsey involved mucking and the initial raiser smooth calling. A blank Kc on the turn, and more money in the pot than I have left I immediately push all my chips in and he calls and shows 10c 10s. That’s not too bad knowing full well I can’t loose but can only split. That’s when the repeat 9c comes down on the river and I double up – In the kind words of ‘The Pro’ HOLLA!

Nothing happens for about a round and a half until I am on the button and wake up with pocket rockets!!! Before the action gets to me the short stack pushes all of his chips in costing me $845 to call. I don’t even get the chance to raise before it gets to me but I don’t mind the action before me. I think for a while before just smooth calling hoping for some more fish in the sea but unfortunately everyone folds. He rolls over 8 8 and of course I’m a mile ahead and praying for no 8. Blanks out and I chip up a pot over $1700, increasing my stack to over $3800.

Play is so slow and we are four handed. I haven’t had a hand besides AK and I hit nothing and was forced to fold to a very nice bet. Chip stack is dropping and down too $2800 but still remain chip leader by only a couple of hundred $$$.

We are finally down to 3 handed and play has become very aggressive. I have had to fold AK 4 handed but was correct fold against pocket jacks. I am short stacked now and trying to find a hand ti double up with quickly or hope the two big stacks try to fight it out between each other.

Double up twice with Ace high and a pari of Ace's and knock out the 3rd player making us heads up. The player I'm playing against has by far been the most aggressive player of the lot and tries to push everyone else of pots and fair to him/her they have been the chip leader most of the whole way through the 6 handed tourney. But I know I can catch him if I am patient and aggressive enough when I have the hands to be, knowing full well he will pay me off or try to make a move when I have him dominated.

Last hand I have AQ and have him crippled a couple of times already taking the chip lead and just letting him do all the betting. I have him on the ropes when he pushes me all in after I flop top pair and I insta call, knowing I’m ahead and hoping it will blank out, which it does and the bankroll exp finally makes some money from ‘The Donkey.’

It’s the first time I have done something for the bankroll exp and I’m guessing ill be playing 6 handed sit and go’s until it fails on me. Having ‘The Pro’ watching and railing me definitely helped. Things will change and time for the Donkey to come out of the closet and consistently make money – mark my words!

Roll now at over $347 with a litte change aswell - Giddy Up!

KO... as good as Street Fighter!

I've been off to Sydney for 5 days, finally back home today and playing a $3.30 Knock Out Double Stack 90 plys tournament, $0.50 for each KO sounds like the right option for my next few hours of entertainment! Cos this is a KO tourney, I'll only be blogging my KO hands, give me all the reasons to be a bit slack! So... hope I'll get to KO a few plys if not there's gonna be nothing to write about! LOL!

I haven't played a hand yet! Now up to the 6th level of blinds 50/100, I'm the SB, PicassoPoker [utg] raises to $400, 2 callers, the Button re-raises All-in for $3520, I'm All-in too with Kh Ks, PicassoPoker calls and it leaves us 3 to the pot. PicassoPoker shows Jd Js but the Button shows Qs 4h, that's a beau-ti-ful! Board: 7d Ac 9s Ad 8c, so lucky for me having pocket Kings on such a board when no-one had the Ace! Too bad for pocket Jacks and I earned $0.50 for KO PicassoPoker out! $8895 in chips now.

Now at $10595, I haven't played a hand for a while! Blinds are now 200/400 with ante 50. 3 plys ahead of me folded, I raised the pot amount of $1800 with Qs Qh, no callers, up to the BB sn00py_14 raises to 3785 and is all-in, I call. BB shows Qc Kh, holding 1 of my outs plus an over-card! Board: 3c Ah 2h 6c Ad, such a similar board as above but both times no-one had an Ace so ship it and I also earned another 50c for KO sn00py_14! 7th in chips with $14000, 1st has $27000, 27 plys remaining after 1hr of play and we are now on a 4mins Break!

400/800 19plys left, getting blinded out, haven't played a hand for 3 levels now down to $10000, managed to steal some pots so back to $14000! 18ply now, 2 tables! Hand for Hand now with 11 plys left, been quite lucky have $32000 3rd in chips now. H for H for like 3 levels, which was really good for me cos it slows down the number of hands being dealt. Final Table now which means I've already made the $$$. After like 10-15 mins, I got KO and came 5th winning $18 plus $1 for 2 KO, so a total of $19 to our account! A great experience, KO is very exciting!

WPBT weekend.....

Last weekend I was very fortunate to be able to attend a fews days of the WPBT, here in Las Vegas. I got outta work around 7pm Thurs. night, and made my way to MGM around 9pm. As I walked through the casino floor to the poker room I was a little nervous / anxious being that this is my first WPBT and Im a newbie to the blogging world. I left a message to Dr. Pauly as I waited for my 1-2 table. 5 minutes after being sat I was excited to see the Doctor spotting me as he walked through the room. From there we strolled over to the bar in the sports book and he introduced me to a slew of well known poker bloggers such as his brother Derek, Maudie, Iggy, Otis, Jen Leo. We had a great time socializing with everyone, I was able to catch up with Change 100, and Mene Gene. A few hours later the Doctor, Change 100, Mene Gene, and my self among other made our way down to the Excalibur where we continued to drink talk about this past years WSOP which we were all a part of, and make o/u bets on the cowboys roping calfs. I finally ended my night busting out at the pai gow table with the same company from the bar. Again big shout out to Dr. Pauly for making an outsider feel welcomed.
I look foward to working with you guys down at the Aussie Millions next month.

$3+$.30 KO 90 player sit and go - No good again!

So this isn't what I normally play but it looked fun and interesting. I have never played a KO (Knockout) tournament and it seemed appealing. Basically from the original buy in of $3.00 - $2.50 is put towards the pool and the remaining $.50 is a bounty on every player. So each player you knockout you get $.50. To me this means if I don't make the money but still manage to knock out 6 players I make a total of $.30. In a broader scale, you can still make money without actually making the money!

Play has been going for 25 minutes and not much to explain really. I have already been lucky enough to have pockets rockets but no action and also a few other stolen pots have me sitting at $3115, which is only $115 more than starting stack but in saying that the field is already down to 60 players (30% deduction).

I don't end up lasting too long and eventually get eliminated in 47th place - no knockouts, profit and no money. The last hand is below but the explaining is what ill do now. I of course have pocket Jack's (also known as a bad pocket pair to some). And before the action gets to me its raised to $480 and called by someone else, I don't want to go broke and risk all my chips in a race so I smooth call leaving me $2,200. I could have folded preflop after someone else has already called but like I said, don't want to risk all my chips preflop unless I have pocket Kings or Queens.

Flop comes down 5h 3c 5s - beautiful I think to myself. The initial raiser bets out a bet of $960 and the caller folds with action no on me. I think "I can't call here, must raise or fold." I already had this person on AK preflop and the bet is a little weak for my liking, so I push = WRONG!!!

Kiara 79 immediately calls and shows Queens. Ouch - no improvement and I'm out.

Roll now stands at :

Thanks to ... a Great Deal!

Day off today so heaps of time and energy to sit around and play a decent tournament, which means I've got my eyes on the $5.50 45 plys. I know it's a bit of a high stake game for our little Bankroll but my friend and I made a 50% deal so I'm fully insured!

While blinds are still 15/30, my 1st hand was Qh 8h, I don't usually play these hands but in the SB it's not too bad especially with only 3 plys left to the pot. Flop: 9d Ts Jh. Giddy up! Flopped the 2nd nut Straight on a rainbow flop, I bet the pot of $90 and they both called to see the turn. Turn: 9c, pot bet of 360 and no-one wants to pay to see the river.

20 mins gone, played a few hands and winning small pots but, we've already lost 15 plys! Chip count of $1650 compared to the average of $3200, need some magic cards! Down to $1290 after paying the blinds. 80/160 Qd Qh in LP with 2 callers ahead of me, I didn't want to slow play and let the Aces limp in, I moved all-in for $1290. It's a massive pot with 4 plys all-in! angelways0630 shows Jh Kd, Spike880 shows Ts Th and bodiedog 1 shows Kh Ah. Not much chances for the Kings or 10s but any Ace and I'm gone, so no Ace! Flop: Jd 8s As. Damn Ace! Queen, just a Queen will do! Turn: 3d. River: 4s! The worst part is I'm still in with $135 left!

This should be my last hand unless I win! Kh 6h in SB with 3 other plys in the pot. Flop: 4d 7h Ah, I'm all-in with 2 other callers. Turn: Kc. River: Ad. No Flush... I'm out!

Hope my partner in crime will do well. After like an hour I finally got my reward, she managed to win the heads up game that lasted 20mins and won $85.50. So I got my share and $42.75 is credited to Bankroll Exp!

Double Stack... Rapid Stack!

1st time ever, I decided to play a Double Stack $1.25 90 Plys SnG, just for the taste of it! Starting with 3K in chips, feels goooood! 5 mins into the game on 15/30 I've got Qd 10d on the button, the 2nd player to act B-townGrinder raises to $75, with 4 callers ahead of me - I have to call for... "the Value"! Flop: 8d Ad 5c, B-townGrinder bets $240, HamboneK38 raises to 2,760, and is all in, the rest folds; I think for a while n would like to gamble for a flush, are now heads up. HamboneK38 shows Ks Ac, I desperately need a diamond to win. Turn: 4h n River: 5s, busted flush draw n now I'm crippled to $165.

With only $165 left, I really need to get lucky n double up, triple up, quad-triple up... 3 hands later I get very lucky with Kh Ks. 20/40 Priobui raises to $160, I move all-in for a whopping $165, HamboneK38 calls n Priobui is not going nowhere with an extra $5 to call. Flop: Jd 8d 2h, with an over pair I'm thinking "Gold", check to the turn. Check? Wow, I'm winning for sure! Turn: 9c, Priobui bets $200 n Hambone folds. Priobui shows 8c 8h, "Arggggghh" slow play his set on the Flop, gave me false hopes that I'm way ahead! King! All I need is a King! River: 6s. Oh well... I'm out n I thought I just "got lucky". At least it was an easy cheap game, only wasted 10-15 mins of my poker life.

Current bankroll is $294.35. Off to bed now will play another 1 tomorrow n hopefully I'll manage to make some "CASH".

Another sit and go - and go quickly!!!

After a long break away we meet again and this time at a $2+.025 single table sit and go. Nothing funny about this one, meaning no turbo tonight. I must apologize for my lack of action with the bankroll experience team as I have not had time to be on the net to play and have been flat out with business as well as leisure. To put it simply I have been a little slack shall we say.

Anyway back to the game. A full orbit and not a hand to be played. Both my blinds have been raised meaning I haven’t seen a flop with cards to play with. Just hanging low and seeing what the field is like whilst the blinds are still small. No-one eliminated yet and to be honest already get the feel that this is a tight table!

Wait wait and wait and I finally pick up AK off suit. I raise it up (pot bet) and get called by the BB (big blind) Flop comes down rags and he bets out $180. I thought for a while and it smelt a little fishy so I call with nothing but two over’s and a runner runner straight draw. The turn is checked and he checks again on the river when I decide its time to take this pot down and make a $600 bet into a $900 pot. I don’t believe he has anything and presumed he quickly mucks and I take down my first pot of the game. We are down to 8 players and I’m standing at $1770 – 5th in chips.

5 handed and yet again find myself in the familiar position of being the short stack. Been playing 5 handed for about 20 minutes and nothing is changing. Chips are getting passed around left, right and centre of me – just not in my direction.

After not playing a hand and trying to pinch and losing I manage to do the usual and finish 4th again! Final hand was J 4 off suit in the BB with the SM limping in with only pocket Aces. Flop is Jack high and s/he checks to me and I move all in with not much behind me and s/he insta calls and I'm finished!!!

Roll is dropping ever so slowly