ThePokerhaus.com

so it’s been a while since i last updated… a brief rundown since i left off on october 27th: from friday the 27th to sunday the 29th i went through a streak of not cashing in 40 odd straight tournaments (which ended late sunday night when i final tabled the ub 25k guaranteed), and really felt there was something wrong with my game. i watched some videos on cardrunners but it was really a comment made to me by pat (pmjackson21 on fcp and all the sites) that pointed out to me what was wrong and what i needed to fix. he basically told me i needed to focus more on protecting my stack once i get one than building it through accumulating - and then it hit me that i had been playing way too many hands too aggressively in position when the stacks are not nearly deep enough to warrant it. i have always felt like the strongest part of my tournament game (and the most important part of being a solid tournament player) is being consistently solid - trying to make as few mistakes as possible and just play good solid poker: shove when the situation/my stack warrants it, fold when i know i’m beat, make value bets when i’m reasonably sure my hand is good, etc.

since monday the 30th i definitely feel like i have picked my game back up and am playing reasonably well (although i am constantly making mistakes and trying to learn from them). i had a pretty breakeven stretch from monday the 30th until saturday the 4th. i was taking lots of tough beats at the wrong times and just never got anything going at the right time - i made a few final tables and had several cashes but no top three (where the real money is) and hence no real profit. the highlight of that stretch was definitely the ub 10k guaranteed 33 rebuy, which i final tabled and ended up taking 3rd in on thursday the 2nd. i took a terrible beat when we were down to 18 (30 paid) when i got KK all in preflop with 88 only to lose to a river 8 which crippled me to just under 2 BBs. however, i was able to double up a couple times and ended up making the final table, busting in third when my J8 was bad beat by A4 all in on a board of K 8 4 7 - the river was an ace. i really felt like i played my a game this entire tournament and was very proud of fighting back to finish third - probably more proud than some of my other higher finishes. anyways, all told i ended up down a little under 2k for the week of october 29th - november 4th.

that brings us to today, sunday the 5th (i know this blog is being posted on the 6th but to me it’s still sunday night). i started off today with great expectations, as i do all sundays - sunday is the big day of the week for online poker players and all the biggest weekly tournaments (headlined by the pokerstars million dollar guaranteed) are on sunday. i played 14 total tourneys today and cashed in 4, including a win in the full contact us grand prix ($162 buyin, 60k guaranteed) for $15k. today is the last day US players can play on full contact’s software due to the new regulations on online gambling so i’m happy that i could hit and run all the donkeys on that site one last time :] tourney by tourney summary:

bodog 100k: lost most of my stack with top pair vs nut flush draw and then lost a few coinflips after chipping back up. pretty standard for me on bodog.
stars 1m: never got anything going, pretty sure i didn’t win a pot till i had lost 5k of my stack and ended up busting in 4000th shoving with KJ and running into A9. next week i pledge to make something happen in this tournament.
ub 200k: i lost half my stack early with AK vs AQ on a A Q 3 flop - i thought i played the hand pretty well and lost the minimum, but i had reraised preflop and the pot was decently large going to the flop so i was probably destined to lose a decent amount there. anyways as i’ve talked about previously, ub’s structure has a ton of play in the first few hours and i was able to fight back and ended up making the money with a very solid stack - in about 30th/100. anyways i played pretty standard but found myself shortstacked as we got to the final few tables and ended up busting in 29th when i pushed with 64o and ran into the big blind’s 88. cashed for $1.1k.
tilt 350k: busted in 800th or so out of 2006 when my top pair was no good against a naked flush draw that hit on the river (obv). the good news about this tourney is that my roommate the toilet made it very deep and eventually busted in 2nd for a gigantic 45.3k cash. the toilet owns, obv…
fcp 60k: i was able to build a huge stack early when i flopped two sets and stacked people both times, and from there i pretty much ran this tournament over. i’m not positive but i’m pretty sure i was top 10 or 15 in chips from 300 people (it started with 367) all the way down to the final table. anyways i entered the final table 2/10 and played standard tight poker - full contact (part of the ongame network) doesn’t have antes so with my large stack i was pretty much sitting around waiting for hands. i was able to eventually get heads up with a complete donkey who had made several questionable plays over the final two tables and pretty easily dismantled him when he kept paying me off with bottom pair and similar hands that were obviously no good. ship the 15k, weeeeeeeeee.
stars second chance ($215 buyin, 200k prizepool or so): i built a pretty nice stack early but lost it all to the table idiot with KK against his A7 and busted pretty early in 600th or so.
109 rebuy: ummmm yea not much to talk about here. i was in for 809, started the second hour with the bare minimum (5000) and busted 10 minutes into the second hour with QQ < JTs. at least i won't be tempted to play it again till next sunday!
ub 40k: played a pretty solid tournament and cashed in 35th for $220 when i pushed QTo as a shortstack in the cutoff and ran into AT in the BB. don't remember too much about this tournament as i was focusing on the fcp final table during most of it. i didn't even realize i was in the money or had cashed until after i busted and realized that 35th out of 397 is definitely the 10% and therefore probably paid. oops.
tilt 40k ($163): built a stack early but eventually got pretty short and pushed with 7s8s on the button and ran into 99. busted in 144/465.
stars $22 rebuy: i was very happy with my play in this tournament. after the first hour i was in for $302 and had 8.3k with the average right around 9k... not so goot. however, at the start of the second hour the blinds are only 75/150 so i had tons of play and was able to build a stack to take into the money. when we got in the money i lost a huge pot for a top 10 stack with JJ < AQo all in preflop. i was able to double up after that with AA > A6 but that still left me short and soon after the blinds went up, leaving me with an m of 5 or so. it folded to me in the cutoff with JTo and someone at the table had previously commented on how tight i had been playing when i turned over AA so i decided the time was right to push - unfortunately the big stack right behind me called with AQ and despite a ten high flop i went out in 48th for $143 to a river ace.
stars $55k guaranteed $11 rebuy: for once i was in to a rebuy tournament for the minimum and actually had a decent stack, 13.3k at first break with average at around 10k. i got crippled in the second hour with 44 vs AhQc on a ac7c8c flop but i was able to double up a few times and rebuild my stack. then a little later i got it all in with 63o vs 4Jo on a 4 5 6 5 board… obv the river was a 4 and i busted in 645/1800.
ub 25k: played pretty standard tournament and ended up busting in 79th out of 250 or so with AK < TT.
tilt 30k (6 handed): i have been playing very well in this tournament recently and tonight was no exception… i had an above average stack when we got down to about 70 but i took a bad beat to cripple me and busted soon after in 57th (42 paid, 461 started) when it folded to me in the small blind and i pushed with A6o and the big blind woke up with AQ.

all in all… 14 tournaments played, 4 cashes, and a very solid day. however, i’ll have to settle for second best night in the pokerhaus tonight (faraz and his monster 45k cash). also, lately two of my students, ssaul2 and wandigo, have been absolutely crushing the lower limit tournaments… both have won $22 180 mans in the last week (sinan has won 2) and they are both playing extremely well. so i’ll end this entry on that note… the pokerhaus owns. gl at the tables.