Challenge Update: Bankroll At $1206

Well, my winning streak at Paradise is finally over, with my last three sessions being losing ones. It was bound to happen, though, so I don't feel too bad. Tonight, though, could have been a winning session if I didn't play one particular hand very badly.

With blinds of $1/$2, I'm in MP with JhJc. It's folded to me, so I raise it up to $8. Only the SB calls. Flop comes up 8hKd2h, and SB checks, so I bet $12 into a pot of $18. SB raises to $24, and I call. Turn is Ah. SB bets $24 into a $66 pot, and I call. River is the 7h. SB bets $45 into a $114 pot, I raise it to $160 to put him all-in, and he calls. He turns over KhJd for the nut flush, and I lose $216 in this hand.

In retrospect, I should have folded after being check-raised on the flop. I had another chance to fold on the turn, but I didn't think he had a higher heart, so I chased the flush. Then, on the river, he only bet 1/3 the pot, so I mis-read it thinking he might not have a better flush, and raised him all-in. So, a combination of not respecting his check-raise, chasing a non-nut flush, and misinterpretting his river bet led to a very poorly played hand on my part. At least I'll learn something from this hand, though it was an expensive lesson.

Earnings-to-date: $4197
Challenge bankroll: $1206

Challenge Update: Bankroll At $1370

I tried to join a $500 NL table today, but apparently on Paradise, you need to have $2000 in your account before you can join a $500 NL table. This is supposed to be for "security reasons", though I have no idea what that really means. As for my challenge, however, I will have to try to finish it playing at $200 NL. I thought about switching to another poker room, since I've just finished clearing my bonus, but I think I'll just stay at Paradise. The play at $200 NL is soft enough that I feel I have a good chance of completing my challenge successfully there.

The cards have been running a bit cold lately for me, though, with no monster hands coming my way since the last time I doubled up my bankroll. I did get AA twice tonight, however, and won two very large pots with them. At one point, my bankroll was at about $1550, but then I lost a couple big pots when my QQ ran up against KK and we both made sets, and when my AQo lost to A5s on a 22A5T board. Oh well, I was still up overall for the night, so my streak of winning sessions continues on Paradise.

Earnings-to-date: $4197
Challenge bankroll: $1370

Challenge Update: Bankroll At $1127

I played a bit tonight at Paradise, but there was no traffic at $500 NL, so I had to go back to $200 NL. Managed to increase the bankroll a bit, but nothing too exciting. I will keep trying to find a good $500 NL game, but if I can't find any I may have to try to finish the challenge playing $200 NL. I still have to finish clearing the bonus, so I don't really want to change poker rooms, yet.

Earnings-to-date: $4197
Challenge bankroll: $1127

Challenge Update: Bankroll At $1034

Well, my winning streak at Paradise continues. I finally got a chance to play again tonight, and managed to more than double up, allowing me to move up to my final level of $500 NL. This is getting a bit nerve-racking. I just hope all this good fortune so far isn't setting me up to fail on my final level :(

I'll just summarize the key hands:

TT vs AA - I flop a set, and net $253
KQo vs QJs - we both flop trip queens, but I have the better kicker, and I net $125
AKs vs K9s - 2K9 flop, but runner-runner J's gives me the better 2-pair, and I net $94
QQ vs Q5o - board is 534A7, no idea why he calls me to the end, and I net $59

Overall, I didn't find the play at $200 NL to be very much different. It's a bit slower-paced, with people thinking about their hands more, before deciding their action. It's also a little bit tighter, although I did manage to find some loose tables to play at. I always try to find tables with players-per-flop% in the 30's. Anything less than 30%, I find the play is too tight and I don't get enough action when I get a good hand. Also, too low a percentage will generally indicate a table full of better players. Anything higher than 40%, I find the play to be too loose, and thus the variance (swings in my bankroll) becomes too high. With too many players seeing the flop, my strong starting hands are less likely to win, although when they do win they will win a bigger pot to more than compensate, on average. At $200 NL, there are still some obviously bad players, as the last hand above clearly shows.

Anyway, I'm a bit nervous about playing at $500 NL, but I'm not about to quit now. There doesn't seem to be much traffic at this level either, at least on Paradise. I've checked a few times, and there is usually only one full table and one or two short-handed tables playing during peak hours. The play at the full tables seems quite tight, too, with the players-per-flop% usually at 30% or less. I'm only going to play at a full table, so it looks like I'll have to play one table at a time, instead of two like I have been doing at the previous limits. I guess that's better anyway, as I can devote my full attention to trying to finish my challenge successfully. Wish me luck!

Earnings-to-date: $4197
Challenge bankroll: $1034

Played My Third Home Tourney Last Night

The first home game I played in was back in December. I was a complete newbie then, and was the first one knocked out. The second time, I hosted a tourney in April. By then I had been playing limit hold'em for a while online, so I was more comfortable with the game, but my no-limit experience was completely lacking. That one I finished eighth out of a field of eleven. Fast-forward three months, and now I'm at the point where I feel I'm a solid no-limit player in full-table cash games, but my tournament play still needs work. So last night, I went in thinking that I could probably squeak into the money playing my tight-aggressive game, but probably won't come close to winning it. Well, surprise, surprise! I ended up placing first out of sixteen players for my first ever tournament win!

The night started off with a bit of $0.25/$0.25 limit hold'em, with about six of us at the table. I played tight, and managed to win a big pot when my pocket 7's made a set on the flop. Won maybe a couple other small pots, and finished ahead about $4.

Then the two-table tourney started. It was a $10 buy-in for 1000 chips, unlimited rebuys in the first hour if you bust, and a $10 add-on for 1000 more chips at the end of the first hour. I didn't get any good cards for a while, and limped in with maybe a couple drawing hands which completely missed on the flop. Nearing the end of the first hour, I was down to about 850 chips, and with a few limpers ahead of me, I limped in with KJo in late position. I hit a K on the flop, and took down a decent sized pot.

After the add-on, I continued to get trashy hands. Luckily, I got to see a few flops for free from the big blind, and I think I took down a couple pots with top pair or two pair. I can't really remember as I didn't take any notes. Eventually, it got down to eight of us, and we all drew for spots at a single table. I had about 3600 in chips, with blinds at 300/600, and the very first hand at the final table I got AKo in middle position. With a couple limpers ahead of me, I pushed all-in. The chip leader behind me thought for a while, as he didn't have a read on me since we were on different tables. He decided to call, and a small stack whom I had covered also called. Chip leader turned up J8o and small stack 22. I didn't hit an ace or king, but luckily rivered a straight and tripled up. I won another decent pot when I raised pre-flop with AQs, got one or two callers, and won with a Q-high flop. I was the chip leader by then, with one other guy close behind. I knocked someone out when, in the big blind, I checked with 97o and the flop came up 89T, giving me middle pair and an open-ended straight draw. I check-called my opponent's weak bets which gave me good odds, and rivered another 9, went all-in, and was called. Can't remember what he flipped over, but he lost.

It eventually got to heads-up, where I had about a 2:1 chip lead. My lead dwindled to about 1.5:1 when I got KJo and raised to 5000 with blinds at around 800/1600. My opponent called, and flop came up something like 426, basically all low cards. He thought for a long time, while staring me down. By then, I could pretty much tell he had just two overcards, since he usually bet without hesitating much if he had anything on the flop. He pushed all-in, I thought for a while, and decided to call based on my read, and also because it was getting late (about 1:30 am), and I had to work in the morning. He turned up Q9o, and admitted he was trying to bluff me out of the pot, and my king-high held to the river.

All in all, it was a fun night, and I was pretty surprised to win it since I didn't get many good starting hands at all, my best ones being AKo and AQs. I didn't get any premium pocket pairs at all. Most of the players there were loose-passive, and a couple were loose-aggressive, which pretty much fit well against my tight-aggressive style. I also got to meet Doug, one of the guys behind Cake Poker. He was really nice, and brought along a Cake t-shirt which was the bounty prize for knocking him out. For a guy who's running a poker room, though, his poker skills need a bit of work, as he was second to get knocked out. He told me that he was pretty happy so far with the number of players at Cake, considering that they haven't even started marketing yet, and are basically still tweaking their software. I think I'll sign up and check it out, maybe play in a few of the freerolls.

I made about $170 last night, but I'm not going to bother including home game results in my poker earnings. I play these games more for entertainment than for profit. Besides, I gave it all to my wife and kids so that they can treat themselves to something nice, since I stayed out all night. I think I'll do that from now on, kinda like how Barry Greenstein gives all his tournament profits to charity :)

Challenge Update: Bankroll At $436

Man, Paradise Poker has been very good to me so far! I've only played 110 hands since my last update, and already I've doubled up again and will be moving up to $200 NL.

There were three key hands this time. First one, I'm dealt TT in the big blind. Four people limp in for $1, including the SB. I raise it up to $5, hoping to steal the pot, but if someone calls I may still get a favourable flop. UTG+1 and MP call. Flop comes up 9hQsTh. I hit my set, but with a 2-flush on board, I don't like to slow play, plus since I was the aggressor, I go ahead and lead out. I bet $8 into a $17.50 pot. I made the bet slightly less than half pot-sized to make it look like a continuation bet trying to steal the pot. Only MP calls. Turn is an Ad. I decide to check to make it look like I'm either scared of the ace, or I haven't made my hand and don't want to put more money in the pot. MP bets $24 into $35.50 pot, I push all-in to $87, he has me covered and calls. River is an 8c, opponent turns up AcQc, and I net $104 in this hand.

Second hand, I'm in CO and dealt QdJd. UTG calls for $1, I call, BB checks. Flop comes up 6c2d8d. BB checks, UTG bets $5.50 into $3.50 pot. I think about the overbet for a while, then decide to call with the two overcards and a flush draw. BB folds, and turn comes up 9d. Yay, I made my flush! UTG bets $12 into $14.50 pot, I raise all-in to $62, UTG calls. River is a Qc. UTG turns up Tc7d, showing he made a gut-shot straight on the turn, but loses to my flush. I net $67 here.

The other hand, I'm in BB and dealt AA. UTG +1 calls for $1, MP+1 raises to $3.50, and it's folded around to me. I contemplate a re-raise, then decide to call. UTG+1 also calls. Flop comes up Kd6s7d. Even though there's a 2-flush on board, I decide to check as I'm pretty sure someone else behind me will bet. UTG+1 bets $4 into an $11 pot, MP folds, I raise to $12, he calls. Turn is a 3s. Pot is $35, I bet $30 to put UTG+1 all-in , he calls for $27. River is an 8s, opponent turns up KcJd, and I net $44 in this hand.

So, I've played for three nights and have managed to double up each night. I know I'm playing solid poker, but I've also been pretty lucky as I haven't been cold-decked yet. Hopefully, my winning streak will continue and I can finish this challenge before too long.

Earnings-to-date: $4197
Challenge bankroll: $436

A Piece Of The WSOP Pie

I didn't make any attempts this year to qualify for the World Series of Poker. I've only been playing for about seven months now, and am still working on improving my game. I've been focussing on full-table no-limit cash games, and haven't worked much on my tournament play at all. For next year, though, I will definately be working on improving my tournament game to try to win a seat at the WSOP.

Fellow PSO poker blogger Actyper, on the other hand, is an excellent tournament player, and has been working hard this year to qualify for the WSOP. He finally accomplished that on Sunday by winning a WSOP Main Event package through PokerStars. Congratulations on a well-deserved win!

Now, the next best thing to actually playing at the WSOP, I think, is to have a stake in it and have someone to cheer for. So I asked Actyper if he would sell me a stake in his tournament, and he graciously (and very humbly, I might add :) ) agreed. So for $200 (2% of the $10,000 buy-in), I now have a 2% stake in his WSOP finish. With an estimated $10 million first prize at the Main Event this year, this means my $200 investment has the potential to turn into $200,000. Not too shabby, eh?

I wish him the best of luck at the tables, and will be following his progress closely starting next Friday, July 28th. No pressure, just have fun out there and do your best!

Earnings-to-date: $4197 (took out the $200 stake money)
Challenge bankroll: $228

Challenge Update: Bankroll At $215

I managed to double up again after a night of play, and will be moving up to $100 NL. Gee, I hope the rest of the challenge goes this well!

Had two big hands tonight. First one, I pick up AA in the big blind. UTG and UTG+1 call, MP raises to 3xBB, I re-raise to 9x, MP calls. Flop comes up 3cJs5s. I bet $5 into $10 pot, MP raises to $15, I re-raise to $35, MP re-re-raises me all-in, I call. Turn is a Td, river a 4d. MP turns up KdJd, and I net $47. Man, talk about overplaying top pair!

Second hand, I'm in CO with AhQh. It's folded around to MP+2, who raises to 4x, I call, the rest fold. Flop comes up QsQd7h. MP+2 bets $3.50 into $4.75 pot. I pause, pretending to hesitate, then call his bet. Turn is a 2c. MP+2 checks, I pause a bit again and make a smallish bet of $5 into an $11.75 pot. MP+2 raises to $14, I take a really long pause before calling. River is an 8s. MP+2 pushes all-in, I of course call. He turns over KdTd for an outright bluff, and I net $49. I felt really good about this hand, as I'm sure my hesitant reactions played a large part in encouraging him to bluff.

Earnings-to-date: $4397
Challenge bankroll: $215

Challenge Update: Bankroll At $112

Well, after one night of playing, I managed to double up my bankroll, and will be moving up to the next level at $50 NL.

There were two key hands where I won big pots tonight. First one, I'm in UTG+1 with JJ and raise to 4xBB. MP+2, CO, Button, and SB all call. BB re-raises to 9x, everyone calls. Flop comes up 3s5hQs. SB checks, BB bets $2 into $13.50 pot, I raise to $6, MP+2 is all-in for $4.15, folds around to BB who calls. Turn is 7h. BB checks, I push all-in, BB folds. River is Jd. MP+2 flips over 33 for a set of 3's, and loses to my rivered set of jacks. Yeah, I got very lucky there, and netted $20.

Second hand, I pick up KK in the big blind. UTG calls, CO raises to 4xBB, Button calls, I re-raise to 13x, CO re-re-raises to 22x, I call. Flop comes up 5J2 rainbow, I bet $6 into $12 pot, CO calls. Turn is a Q. I push $13.50, CO calls. River is another Q. Opponent turns up AhKh, and I net $24. Yeah, he was a total fish. I mean AK suited is a nice hand, but calling my huge bets when his hand hasn't even improved? I only hope there's more players like this at the higher levels.

Earnings-to-date: $4397
Challenge bankroll: $112

Cash Game Challenge

I was planning to do more promos at ECD so that I could get enough points to order a poker table. However, the table I wanted is no longer available, plus now that they've removed Caribbean Sun Poker as a promo, I won't be able to get enough points anyway. So I'm taking a little break from clearing promos and will be starting a Cash Game Challenge for myself.

This challenge was inspired by fellow PSO blogger Scottwire's Challenge, which in turn was inspired by Chris Ferguson, the poker pro. Chris recently won $2 in a Full Tilt freeroll, and challenged himself to turn this into $10,000 before the WSOP Main Event. I'm not sure how far he has progressed recently, though, since I can't seem to find any updates on the web. Last I heard he was up to about $200 back in the middle of June.

My own challenge will be a little less daring. I will be depositing $50 into a poker room, and will start by playing two tables of $25 NL. I will move up in stakes when I make enough for two buy-ins at the next level. The challenge will end when I either bust out, or make $2000, which would take me to stakes of $500 NL. The highest level I have played before is $200 NL on Poker Share. I did okay at that level, although I only played for a little while to quickly finish up my promo. If I can make it to $500 NL, it will be interesting to see how the competition is at those stakes.

Paradise has a $100 reload bonus offer which clears after 1000 raked hands of minimum $0.25, so I will be starting the challenge there. Any bonus money earned will be included in the challenge, so I will likely be moving from site to site to take advantage of any bonus offers. I will transfer the starting bankroll of $50 out of my current bankroll figures, and will be keeping track of its progress separately in a sidebar.

On a side note, my blog entries are more or less up to date, now. I've noticed that my Earnings-to-date figure is a little bit off compared to my actual current bankroll+cashouts+prizes, so I will adjust the figures in this blog entry. I probably lost the $13 playing at one of the poker sites, which I have not accounted for.

Earnings-to-date: $4397
Challenge bankroll: $50

Reload At PartyPoker

Party offered me a reload bonus of $75 cleared after 750 raked hands. I took this opportunity to deposit some money into my Party account so that I can withdraw it into my Canadian bank account. As I mentioned before, an electronic funds transfer through Party is the best way to withdraw money into your bank account, since Party has extremely good currency exchange rates. For example, Party's exchange rate today was 1.1466, while the Bank of Canada's nominal rate was 1.1274 and cash rate (which includes the bank's service charge) was 1.08.

After finishing the play requirements, I lost $23 at the tables and earned $75 in bonus money, for a net profit of $52.

Earnings-to-date: $4460

Finished Hollywood Poker

I played terribly on this promo. I made several bad calls, and by the end of the requirements, I had lost $192 at the tables, earned a $50 bonus, and got 600 ECD points (which I'm saving up for now), for a net loss of $142.

I won't get into the details of the key hands, but at least I identified a leak in my game from this experience. Most of my losses were due to an inability to fold my hand even though the betting was pretty clearly telling me that I was already beaten. I'm gonna have to work harder at plugging up this leak.

Even ignoring my poor performance, I can't really recommend this site, at least for now, because of one reason: glitchy software. The hand history file frequently just stopped being written to, which messed up my Poker Tracker records. I had to find out which hands I was missing, and then manually pull up the missing hands from their website. However, the website hand histories don't show hole card data, so my Poker Tracker records are still kind of incomplete. Partway through the promo, they had a software update which fixed this problem; however, the update created worse problems. The tables became very laggy, and it was impossible to play more than two tables at a time, as the program would crash. And if you put yourself on several waiting lists before you started playing, the program would often crash if, while you were playing at a table, these other tables popped up because a seat opened up for you. Anyway, the second I finished the requirements, I quickly withdrew my money and left the site. It was just too frustrating, and I don't plan on going back any time soon.

Earnings-to-date: $4408

Finished Ladbrokes Poker

After playing about 800 hands of $0.05/$0.10 NL 6-max, I managed to lose only $1.46 at the tables despite playing like a fish. I then played some $100 NL 'cause I felt kinda bad for taking advantage of their bonus system, and ended up making $81 at those tables! I earned $145 in bonuses (I screwed up my initial deposit, and ended up getting only $70 instead of $100 in deposit bonus), and got $50 from LawGuy32 for using his referral, for a net profit of about $275.

I highly recommend this offer since the bonuses are so juicy (although I think they've changed the referral bonus, now), and the risk in playing the micro-limits is so small.

Earnings-to-date: $4550