Thanks for the tip and good luck tomorrow!


Tonight I bricked the first game but broke my down-"trend" with an outright win in the second game for $235. The bounty pool is now up to ~$1100, that would be so sweet to win...

In other news, during the game I bought tickets for a meat raffle for the first time. Odd Australian thing where they hold raffles for meat trays in pubs. They really like their meat here... I was clearly running hot tonight, because I actually also shipped a tray with ~3 kg worth of sausages and steaks. So I guess it's time to fire up the barbie!!

gratz on the win and the meat

Played an 8 hour online session yesterday, churned through $300 (or 20% of my online roll) and broke even at the end of the day. Few close calls:

AK<QQ deep in Big $27.50 for 80bb stack. Villain just ripped in 35bb from MP over my UTG+1 2.5x open. Sigh call. Got tilted by villain getting a "nh" from another player...

KQ < AT on QT9 F3T of $3.3+R for chiplead. I cbet (UTG) 15k into 33k and villain just jams 120k.

A7 < A4 aipf HU in FTP bowl after flopping a 7 to finish 2nd.


It's funny in MTT's how you start a session excited to win all the money, and quite often at the end of regging you're like "Breaking even sounds pretty good too!"


In the live arena I'm stoked that I get to play the $330 Summer Series opening game at the Star end of this month. I'm up $3.5k from grinding pub poker games this year, but I haven't actually played a dealer-dealt game yet . I've sold 45% to some pub game regs and Sqwerty (thanks again!) and I'll be firing two bullits (if necessary). Let's ****ing go!!


Online bankroll: US $1535
Live bankroll: AU $3467

Good luck in the summer series, really enjoying this thread

Confirmed 10% on 2 bullets.
Good luck. Rooting for you to come 2nd.

Good luck man Ill be there too, prefer the ~100 size fields MTT less variance but how can u say no. Good value, and good structure. Looking forward to it.

This rly sucks when it happens online I always wonder if they know eachother or the other guy just hates me for some reason haha

GL in the 330$ liveament and thx again for posting the eptnotlive thing in my thread, was a very fun listen

Thanks!

Yeah, no worries. Welcome to my thread, please leave some residual heat here, you seem to have plenty of it at the moment


Played a short online session today, did not go well. I have a lot of shoulder/neck issues at the moment, which combined with running cold does not make for an enjoyable experience. Probably sticking to live play until I have those physical problems sorted.

I also played some live games in the last few days. There is actually a new Monday game quite close to me which I wanted to check out, $50 freeze out $1.5k gtd. I think there were ~25 players, which was more than expected by the TD, so it's quite a good game with probably always overlay. I bricked after making a thin call vs. an v. aggro player, but there were plenty of bad regs I recognize from other games, so definitely a new juicy game.

This was actually my 100th live tournament this year, so that calls for a graph:



Online is going not so well lately :



To close it off, a bad reg from my regular games gave me some high-level strat about this hand he played last week: "So we just chopped for $300 each [$800 left to play for] and I've got aces and I'm chipleader. But we're 4-handed and I don't want to get crazy, so I just call [limp in]". It took me quite some effort to keep a straight face and just nod...

Online bankroll: US $1360
Live bankroll: AU $3382

First things first: I'm very excited for tomorrow to watch the WSOP final table stream but just found out WatchESPN is not available in Australia. Any Aussies here with tips how to watch the Main Event online? I'm sure illegal streams will pop up, but I don't want to go through the hassle during work to keep finding new ones/put up with crappy quality. Tips appreciated!


So last week I had taken some time off since I was mentally pretty drained from working non-stop on my PhD the last five months or so and also because of my shoulder/neck issues. I didn't play online very much, but did try to find a live game every evening.

I bricked every single game...

Bricking live games is quite ****ty to be honest, since it is immediately followed by having to grab your stuff and the walk of shame home. During which regularly you're either blaming yourself for having misplayed a hand, or annoyed/frustrated in various degrees because you got sucked out on. But almost always I notice the actual walk home helps a lot in cooling down and getting over it and by the time I'm home I can get on with other stuff. It works remarkably well. So having to update that I bricked all the games this week doesn't actually bother me. Today I played great, Friday I was pretty solid and disciplined, Monday I was too fancy and Thursday unlucky. That's all my leftovers from last week. Live and learn.


To conclude, some random fun hands:

Thursday Flipping
Blinds 1k/2k, 7-handed, I'm in SB with AK with 50k behind. UTG opens to 6.5k, UTG+1 calls off all in, MP calls, BTN calls. I ship my 50k. UTG calls, leaving 30k behind . MP folds. BTN calls leaving 50k behind .

They check down a AK48J board.

UTG shows TT, UTG+1 has K3 and BTN called off half his stack pre with 77. Ship it.


Friday Trash Catching
Blinds 300/600, 8-handed, average 40k. Three players limp in ahead of me, I'm on BTN with 52. I call. SB raises it to 1600 total. BB, limpers and myself all call.

Flop T64, pot 9.6k. SB bets 1600, BB calls, HJ calls, I call.

Turn 3 , pot 16k. SB bets 2600, BB calls, HJ folds, I raise to 12600. SB calls. BB shoves all in for 35k. I rejam, SB folds and I fade the river vs. 63.


Sunday Waking Up With It
Blinds 200/400, average stack is ~45k. Very Old Man Coffee (who only plays with the goods) opens to 4k. He has decided on this sizing after his 4x open a little earlier did not get the respect he deserved and his big pair got outflopped by big blinds 89s. The brutality.

HJ decides that this is a good spot to put on the pressure of VOMC nutted range and raises to 8k.

Folds to me in SB and I wake up with AA. I contemplate just calling, but these guys don't raise like this with nothing, especially VOMC. As I'm the only "young" guy by quite a margin on this table I take advantage of my guaranteed "wild" image and jam 43k. Or 110bb. VOMC thinks for a moment and calls. HJ shows that he had 3bet with AJ () and folds. VOMC has AQ and I win a 240bb pot.


Online bankroll: US $1430 (mini turbo session today +$35 and 11th in Weekly Windfall Flipout Freeroll +$35)
Live bankroll: AU $3301

Just ended my cashing drought with a 4th (out of 45) in the $25 freezeout for $120. Pretty bizarre bust out. I never really get excited about runouts like the locals since I've seen so many of 'm, but this was impressive.

20k/40k, 6-handed, avg stack ~300k. I fold UTG and young guy in UTG+2 (beginner who has to be told what to do a lot of the time when it's on him) opens to 80k. CO next to act shoves, and SB is already all in for 20k. UTG+2 calls the ~140k shove with 9T. CO shows JJ, SB has 85.

Flop: 999...


Very next hand, 4-handed, we're in the money now. The young guy limps in UTG, BTN calls, SB folds and I'm in BB with AK. I shove for 205k total. UTG calls, BTN calls.

Flop K85, both check.

Turn 5. UTG bets 80k, BTN calls.

River A. UTG is so excited he just flips open his 55... BTN made his flush on river but obviously doesn't have a decision.

Vegas is officially a go! I just chopped the $110 quarterly $8k guaranteed game for $2.7k!!


I actually have noted down all hands from final two tables until 3-way chop. Mostly shoving spots, I would love for some feedback from you guys. Shall I post all hands except absolute trash?


Online bankroll: US $1430
Live bankroll: AU $5903

Nice

Was actually on the fence about playing this, since it's a bit far away for me, ~1.5 hour with public transport. In the end I just couldn't resist.


In total 126 players showed up for this $60+$50 game. In the first few hours I ran up a stack in some big pots:

Inducing the spew
Blinds 300/600, I'm UTG with ~45k and holding KK. I open to 1800, BTN and BB call. A reg (who isn't playing) told me earlier villain in BB tiltspews easily. I just would have to wait until he's tilted and he'll gift his chips. He's complaining at the moment that I've raised his big blind numerous times now, he definitely seems frustrated with me.

Flop J32, pot 5.7k. BB donkleads for 5k. He's done this a couple times earlier and shown down middle/bottom pair type hands, so I raise to 12k. BTN folds, BB calls

Turn 9, pot 30k. BB checks and has a potsized stack behind. Based on his tilting tendencies and his perception of me as an "always raising" player, I jam. He snapcalls me with TT. My hand holds and he tells me "that he thought I had AK".


Always fun, the double checkraise
Blinds 500/1000. MP (competent compared to table, but not great. Only other big stack at table, ~110k) opens to 2600. Folds to me in SB, I have ~95k and hold QQ. I opt to just call because BB is supertight and will probably fold and 3-bets have been very rare so far on this table. Raising here from SB against the only other big stack just screams big hand.

Flop KQ4, pot 6.2k. I check and villain bets 3.8k. It's a draw heavy board, we're deep, and my hand is disguised, so I check raise to 12.5k. Villain calls.

Turn K, pot 31.2k. My checkraise on flop looks a lot like a draw, with which I will probably not barrel when the board pairs the king. If villain is drawing, he's also less inclined to call another barrel when the board pairs. So I check.
Villain bets 18k. He either has a draw or a king a lot of the time here, and the sizing seems very big for a draw. Also, why not take your free card here? I conclude that he has a king here a lot and given his sizing he seems to be quite fond of it. If I'm on a draw here I wouldn't call such a big bet OOP. The pot is now ~50k and I have 80k behind. With my hand so disguised I decide he'll have a very hard time putting me on a better hand if he has a king when I jam, and might be even more inclined to hero call me because I could be playing a big draw super aggro. I go all in. I see him puke a little and he tanks for ~3 minutes. Eventually he calls with KJ and I fade river to pick up an immense 200bb pot.


Picking up a few stragglers
At 2k/4k I call off a jam by a 27k stack and a rejam of a 52k stack with QQ. My hands holds versus 2x AKo.

At 4k/8k I open with 77 UTG to 18k. BB calls and we see a flop 568. He donk jams 50k into the 40k pot and I call. My hand holds vs. T6.


Blind battles
Blinds 4k/8k, I'm in SB with ~350k and I'm holding AQ. BB has 150k and seems semi-competent. I open to 24k. He calls.

Flop JT4, pot 48k. This hits his range more than mine, but a bet will fold out his smaller pairs and suited connectors. I cbet 22k, he raises to 62k. I fold and he shows JJ. I dodge a bullet.


Blinds 5k/10k, I'm in SB with 280k with A9 versus the same villain in BB, with 170k. For the third time in a row I open raise his BB from SB, this time to 27k. He raises to 52k. I can see a jam here, but villain has been playing legitimate hands so far and I'm getting a good price. I opt to just call.

Flop T73, pot 104k. I check and villain bets 50k, leaving 70k behind. I have such a strong hand this is just push-and-pray. I jam and villain tankfolds pocket fives!!

Eventually I lose a bunch back to another BB when I jam 22 blind versus blind for 125k effective at 10k/20k, but BB wakes up with aces. I make final two 8-handed tables with 230k left at 10k/20k. 13 get paid.


Continuing in new post.

Sick run, Gratz! Can't wait for the next installment of hand histories!

Thank mate, running pure in late stages of tournaments is the fix we all crave, and I was in for a treat.

Final 2 tables
With 16 players still in it's only 3 until the money, but I've lost my momentum and I'm sitting on 230k at 10k/20k as one of the shorter stacks. Mincash is only $110, but you're so desperate not to go home empty-handed after you've played just the 1 tournament for 10 hours, that I was getting quite nervous. I didn't find any spots until on the stone bubble a shortie gets it in with AJ vs AK. He spikes a J on the river...

Play continues and or our table a player goes all in. Folds to BB who has to call 80% of his stack. He talks and tanks and winds up calling with KQ. The all in player shows 55. When the king hits the river you can see the utter disgust and disappointment in her face. These sweats can be so sick and cruel, but it's also fantastic fun in it's own way.

With the bubble bust I start recording my hands. I'll leave out the trivial stuff, but with stacks so short there are plenty of possible spots


Making final table

13 left, 6 handed play, blinds 15k/30k

Hand 1: BTN, 170k, Q9o. I shove and get folds.

Hand 3: HJ, 215k, A5. I shove and get folds

Hand 4: UTG, 260k, A8o. I fold. I chickened out with this middling ace after having shoved 2/3 previous hands.

Hand 5: BB, 260k, Q3o. SB completes, I shove, he folds.

Hand 7: BTN, 275k, A8o. I folds to tight CO open to 70k.

10 left, 5-handed, blinds 20k/40k

Hand 11, BB, 275k, 94o. BTN limps, SB completes, I check. Fold to SB 70k bet on A634 turn.

Hand 12/13, SB/BTN, J9s. Folds to early shoves. Bubble bursts on other table.


Final table
9th pays $200, 1st $4500. I'm 8/9 in chips and start in Lojack with 215k. Blinds still 20k/40k, average is 450k.

Hand 17, UTG, 215k, 55. Clear shove obviously, but need 8 folds now! 7 players fold, but BB snaps with AK, It's funny after having played so many tournaments where you've busted deep in a flip, you sort of automatically resign to the fact that you're out. I was sweating every card like crazy, but the board remained friendly: 74J63

Hand 20: BTN, 390k, T9. MP opens to 100k, folds to me. This is the player who burst the bubble by tank calling with KQ, I think I have very little chance of getting a fold if I shove and will always be behind. I fold.

Hand 24: MP, 390k, A4o. I fold with 6 players behind.


Messing up my shoving ranges

8-handed, blinds 30k/60k

Hand 26: UTG, 390k, 22. I fold. Felt like a mistake, still does. Push/fold is not my forte, and I chicken out sometimes.

Hand 28: SB, 405k, T5o. I got a walk last hand, and BB is a competent player who is able to call of correctly. I fold.

Hand 30: CO, 390k, 77. MP (265k) snapshoves, I fold. Probably close, dunno.

Hand 36: SB, 330k, AQ. BB misclick folds, UTG opens to 120k and it folds to me. Jam either way, but even more so with BB out and UTG aware of that. UTG calls with 66. Again I thought "fun ride, time to go home", but the board runs out AK437 and suddenly I have an above average stack!

I fold some hands and we lose some players.


Let's run this up!

6-handed, blinds 40k/80k

Hand 49: BB, 630k, AQ. SB (chipleader) minraises to 160k, I shove, he folds.

Hand 50: SB, 790k, J8. I have given BB (now blinded down to 280k) two walks already this FT and this ends now. In. Your. Face! He snaps with AJ... Board runs out Q9385

Hand 55: BB, 1.16M, A7. We're now 5-handed, average is ~1M. SB (starting FT chipleader, now 1.1M) opens to 185k. In hindsight I should shove here, but there are two shorties and SB does not appear like a competent player. I feel comfortable seeing a flop versus him, so I call.

Flop 762, pot 370k. Villain instajams ~900k. In theory I would go through the thought process of how unlikely this jam is with a bigger pair/two pair/set. Which means I'm ahead. Which means I have to figure out how much a call versus his range that might contain straight/flush draws is ICM correct.
In theory, yes. In practice, and I'm not proud if this, his demeanor and instaship screamed of wanting to shut it down now and I snapcall the massive overbet. I show my hand, and I see his disgusted face before I see his hand. Seeing that look, you don't get that online. And call me an *******, but this part of live poker is just awesome. Realizing from someones face that you just crushed his soul, before you see his cards. He flips 33 and my hand holds.

Just like that I now have 2.3M with 5M in play 4-handed, and my eyes start to wander not to 4th place money, but to 1st place. I was just focused on laddering for the last hour and a half, but now I'm chipleader!


Let's get that money!

4-handed, blinds 40k/80k. 4th: $850, 3rd: $1300, 2nd: $2400, 1st: $4500.

Hand 59: BB, 2.3M, 86. UTG (other big stack with 1.6M) opens to 175k. I call.

Flop 853, pot 390k. I check, UTG bets 200k. I contemplate a raise but the sizing eludes me. I want to pressure him and not give free cards, but what size has enough fold equity but doesn't commit me? Suggestions? Or just not raise? I wind up calling.

Turn A, pot 790k. I check, he bet 375k, I fold. I don't believe he's bluffing here much into chipleader and it costs too much to find out.

Hand 69: BTN, 1.8M, AJ. There have been a bunch of shoving by the shorties but no showdown, and some walks. SB has 2M, BB 800k, UTG 400k. I opt to open to 175k to induce BB to shove but have some wiggle room vs SB. SB folds, BB shoves, I call. BB shows AT.

Flop A23, pot 1.6M.

Turn T

River 8

Can't win them all...

Hand 71: BB, 1M, K9. UTG folds. BTN folds. I know what SB is going to do and I know that I'll call the shove. Loose and be short. Win and be a contender. SB shoves, I call. SB shows J9

Flop QT7, pot 1M.

Turn 7

River 9

There is this snap moment when river comes where we both check if the straight didn't come in, but I'm good.

We shake hands and I propose to look at a deal. We count chips and stacks are thus:

Me: 1.25M
Middle aged asian guy (MAAG) to my left (very solid): 1.9M
MAWG: 1.7M

With blinds at 40k/80 leaving us all short I mention I'm down for an even chop. MAWG is fine with it (probably because he just got his big stack) but MAAG has to think about it. I'm sitting there cool as a cucumber like I don't give a ***, but internally I'm desperate for such a favourable deal. Three minutes later MAAG speaks up: "**** it, let's chop".

I take home $2700. I split a cab with MAAG, who makes me pay for it, and it turns out that he has final tabled the NPL Quarterly three times and won it once for $52k last year. This year he chopped another tournament for $20k. It sounds like I got an awesome deal in the even chop, but hell, he makes me pay for the cab?!

Haha I know the MAAG you're talking about. I wouldn't exactly describe him as solid but yeah he's binked a few things.

Good job....may the run good continue next week!

Heh, it was more a "solid" in hindsight given his poker chat in the cab and his scores. I only played him on FT where it was just push-fold anyway. It's funny how on the poker table you assign villains to a "type" initially based in appearance/age, and how often this is actually correct. It certainly wasn't for this guy, or maybe he was just picking up monsters all the time, who knows.

Fish on a heater IMHO.

another Sydney player here - mainly cash, although I play all the tourney series and have been to wsop the past two years.

Nice thread, congrats on your success. The Opening Event is a donkfest and you'll be well prepared given you know how to beat pub poker players. I won't be there that week but will play the main, but good luck!

Thanks mate, I'm looking forward to it.


Just played my first game this week, my local $25 freezeout, after my big score on Saturday. I got HU with 500k vs another (bad) reg's 900k. Proposed an even chop since I was tired as hell, and he was fine with it. It pays off to stay on a friendly basis with other regs. They're more likely to give you favorable chops, but of course it also makes for funner tables. Anyway, walked away with $350. Let's try to hold on to this heat until at least next week!


Online bankroll: US $1430
Live bankroll: AU $6228

A couple hands from last night:


Blinds 200/400, average stack 35k.

3 players limp in and I'm on BTN with 76, I limp behind. Against these players I'm never folding a hand with this kind of playability on the button. SB, the super spewy easily tilted villain from a while back, raises to 1600. Two limpers call so now there is 5800 in the pot and 1200 to call. I call, partly because winning chips of this whining moaning scumbag is one of the most fun ways I know of to spend my time.

Flop, Q45, pot 7k. SB bets 4k, MP calls and, getting 4-1 with an open-ender, so do I.

Turn 8, pot 19k. SB overjams pot with 22k, MP thinks for a long time and folds (AQ apparently because he was worried about me) and I snap. SB shows 99 and goes absolutely ballistic once he sees my hand.


Blinds 300/600, 6-handed.

UTG (who folded the AQ in the previous hand and is a competent player) opens to 1600. I contemplate raising on BTN with AQ, but I just call in position. BB calls as well.

Flop T42, pot 5100. BB checks, UTG checks, I check.

Turn K, pot 5100. BB checks, UTG bets 3600, I call, BB folds. I'm drawing to a lot of (nut) outs, I might already have the best hand, let's see a river. UTG sizing looks like a K who doesn't want to give draws a good price.

River T, pot 12.3k. UTG bets 7.5k. Sizing is weird, why so big if you're betting with a K? Is he trying to get a hero call from exactly my hand? Call from a worse K? I tank for a long time but I see enough missed combodraws in his range and I have nut no-pair hand. I call and my hand is good vs. A9 (which is surprising to see, why turn a hand with that much showdown value into a bluff?)


I'm not playing until the $330 summer series game next week, let's go back-to-back-to-back in binks!

wooo ship it

How hard can one human crush!?!

When I used to play online more I would have, as any tournament poker player, periods where nothing seemed to go right. I'd lose important flips deep in big tournaments, I would run way below evbb/100 etc. You know, the usual. Break even months and downswings are part of tournament poker. Upswings are too, and I've had a few of those too (one in particular springs to mind).
Funny thing about upswings or big scores, when I got mine I was ecstatic but also always felt like I was "due", and I'm certain most tournament poker players would see it the same way. You've grinded away, dealing with bad beats and coolers, and now it's time to reap the rewards. Fair enough.

This year however I'm experiencing a new sensation. I'm thankful. I'm very aware of how hot I've run in live games this year. Sure, the opposition is insanely bad and fields are small. Also my sample is small, something that's unavoidable in live tournament poker. I have played ~110 live tournaments this year and currently my ROI is 200%, which can't possibly be sustainable. I have only played around five $100 tournaments, and managed to chop one after reaching FT as 8th in chips with 6bb. When I started playing live in January I didn't have any bankroll to speak of, but I cashed my second game and then proceeded to win/chop four games in my first month.

Part of all this can be attributed to my skill, I'm clearly much better than my regular opponents. But I'm realistic enough that although I'm sure your true ROI can be achieved in less tournaments live than online, my sample is way too small either way despite playing >2 nights a week. I'm pretty friggin grateful that I've managed to pick up so many wins this year and that I've run hot in the few bigger games I played. For the first time in my years playing tournament poker, my success this year I did not feel "due" for, but just really insanely lucky.


Of course this doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and relax, I've got another tournament to bink tomorrow!