End of year accounts

I had a look back at Jan 2006 postings to see what progress I've made in the last year

My targets for 2006 were :

1. A profit of £200 per month £2400 for the year, enough to pay for a holiday

2. To win one of the evening guaranteed mtt's on Betfair

3. To progress my cash game, and to make an overall profit on cash games

4. To make the final table in a live game at the Casino at Teesside Park by the middle of the year and a top 3 finish by the end of the year

5. To play and qualify from sattelites for the £10k or £15k Gtd on Betfair and to make the final table on one of them

6. To win a big mtt on Partypoker, I like the $2 mtt at 2.45 pm but unfortunately, work does not allow me to play it too often, or maybe the $5 rebuy with a huge prize fund

My results against these are as follows :

1. Total online profit for 2006 £1600.09 total live profit for 2006 £298
Total profit for the year, just short of £1900, not quite on target but better than I expected mid-way through the year.

2. A win on the old $5k Gtd fits the bill here, achieved on 28th June

3. The lease said the better as far as cash games are concerned, still have'nt got to grips with ring games and lost $170 overall on the year

4. Teesside park is a bit to far away from Gib, but I have won a live tournament in Gib Casino for £750 so I guess I can tick this one off too.

5. I won entry into a few higher value tournaments, but no final table yet

6. I cant play on Partypoker from Gib so this one is a no no, but I have won mtt's on Betfair, Wm Hill, UKBetting and Paradise.

Overall 3/6 not a bad attempt but must try harder in 2007

Next posting : Targets for 2007

Running Bad

Im in the middle of one of those runs which makes you wonder why you bother with poker at all.
Yesterday I played 8 STT's and didn't make the money in any of them, in fact I think that I only actually increaded my chip stack beyond the original 1000 in one game.
I cant win a pot, never mind a tournament.
I have had AK run into AA, JJ into AA had AA busted by 44, it would be funny if it wasn't costing me money.
I keep thinking that my luck will turn soon, but it hasn't happened yet.
I played the challenge team Betfair tournament last night, had AQ on a Q high flop, pushed all in, only to run into AA again.
As I am typing this I have had top two pair beaten by a fish on a flush draw hitting on the river and top pair beaten by middle pair making trips on the river.
I think its time to follow my own advise and take a few days off from poker.
Work has a staff invitational freeroll on boxing day so maybe I'll sit out until then, see if I can come back refreshed

I know they pay you long term but........

How the hell can he call with A8

I know the raise with KJ is a bit dodgy but I was getting impatient

but what was he thinking ?
its calls like this that really get me down

I moved away from the £2 mtts to avoid this, and it happens in a £10 game

Game #2806691223: Hold'em NL (100/200) - 2006/12/17 - 11:50:26 (UK)
Table "1" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: White029 (1960 in chips)
Seat 3: __data__ (8700 in chips)
Seat 4: Nick10001 (4505 in chips)
Seat 5: tiddles (6522.50 in chips)
Seat 6: redcar (2677.50 in chips)
Seat 7: Chas10 (2005 in chips)
Seat 8: Redan11 (2857.50 in chips)
Seat 9: Calcichew (7250 in chips)
__data__: posts small blind 100
Nick10001: posts big blind 200
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to redcar [Jd Ks]
tiddles: folds
redcar: raises to 600
Chas10: folds
Redan11: folds
Calcichew: folds
White029: folds
__data__: folds
Nick10001: calls 400
----- FLOP ----- [8c Kc 5h]
Nick10001: checks
redcar: bets 600
Nick10001: calls 600
----- TURN ----- [8c Kc 5h][3d]
Nick10001: checks
redcar: bets 1477.50 and is all-in
Nick10001: calls 1477.50
----- RIVER ----- [8c Kc 5h 3d][8d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
redcar: shows [Jd Ks] (Two Pairs, Kings and Eights, Jack high)
Nick10001: shows [Ad 8h] (Three of a kind, Eights, Ace high)
Nick10001 collected 5455 from Main pot

So near yet so far

Thats the story of the week this week, I always seem to be able to get past the first break, but as we creep towards the bubble, I always seem to find the wrong spot to gamble.
Im either unlucky and get outdrawn by a muppet caling with rags or I run into a monster.
It cant all be down to bad luck though, I must be doing something wrong. Im still having problems with mid pocket pairs, after two orbits of folding I always want to raise with them in any position. The problem then comes, after raising to 600 I think Im good on any flop but AKQ.
Especially out of position, any meaningful bet seems to get me pot commited and even if I'm ahead I end up losing.
I guess I'll just have to fold em in early position, and risk the death of a thousand cuts that is blinding out, Im trying to be more aggressive though and this does go against the grain.
Maybe I need to be more aggressive earlier on in the tournament to build a big enough stack to ride out losing a few pots later on.
I guess the truth is, there are so many bad players, even in the later stages of mtt's that its very difficult to read anyone.
Just because he called with 5 limpers before him, doesn't mean he can't hold pocket Jacks, and that big raise under the gun doesn't necessarily mean he has a PP or a Big Ace, sometimes you just have to put you tournie life on the line, and take the rough with the smooth

Dont play turbo Sats !

I know I should avoid them like the plague, but I've fell into the trap of trying to qualify for decent tournaments via turbo structured sats. Its a recipe for disaster.
I have been playing the $2.5k Gtd and the $4k Gtd on Crypto recently at my new standard buy in of $25, I will also play the £4k Gtd if I can play earlier in the evening.
Im playing almost exclusively on MTT's at the moment, I've played 124 MTT's and only 4 STT's since October, and I have just about given up completely on cash games.
Crypto is my online poker room of choice since Betfair shot itself in the foot with the Pokerchamps "upgrade".
I still venture onto Betfair now and again, due to some misplaced sense of loyalty, but the delays between hands are a real pain in the ar$e and single tabling is therefore not an option.
My live game is on hold also, the only venue for live poker on the rock is the Casino, which is now booked up for Xmas parties for the rest of the year.
I seem to have developed a habit of finishing in third place in MTT's having finished there for my last three paid finishes.
I have gone out to some pretty unlucky hand though, trapping with the nut flush, only for the board to pair on the river to give opponent a full house in the most recent demise.
The previous beat was when limping from the BB with T6, the flop is JT6 and after I check, the button is all in with QJ, turn and river are both Kings to give him a bigger two pair.
All in all I'm pretty happy with the way Im playing, have to fight the urge to push too hard when I start to get bored and keep looking for value added tournaments with slow structures.
And above all, repeat after me......" I must not play Turbo sats for tournaments"

Another 3rd Place

I managed another final table, and third place again on the Crypto $2.5k Gtd last night for $290.
It was a funny tournament to play, I had no cards at all early on, but every time I took a gamble I got a call and managed to win 3 or 4 50/50's to stay in contention.
Then just as the bubble approached I had a great run of cards to take the chip lead, even all my mid pocket pairs made trips, or even full houses.
Got down to the final three with about 40k, chip leader had 70k and short stack about 20k.
Needless to say the short stack came back to win.
Its a bit dissapointing when you get so close and fail to win, apart from the cash, $580 for 2nd and $870 for 1st, its a while since I actually won one of these things, it would be nice to break my duck before Christmas.
The late night Gtd tournaments on Crypto don't seem to have too much value in them since Betfairs split, the $5k Gtd is now only $2.5k Gtd. They do run $4k £8k and £12k Gtd tournaments, but all the satellites are Thunder format with 6 minute levels, which makes qualifying a bit of a crap-shoot, but I guess also guarantees an above average proportion of fish in the main events than would normally be the case.