Summer Classics 2008

Alright.. I'm back with the report from last weeks games.. the Summer Classics 2008 @ Holland Casino Utrecht..

It was a real nice experience to play in a big tournament.. I met with some collegues from work to travel to Utrecht together.. we got there at 1PM.. subscribed for the tourney and sat down at the tables..

The first tournament was a 100€ single rebuy/addon LIMIT hold'em event. Yes... LIMIT. That's something none of us knew.. and it was a big surprise.. especially since we have never ever played limit hold'em before.. it was weird to adapt to the game.. I wasn't aware of any of the limit strategies.. so I just tried to play a tight game.. Going to the flop with premium hands and also suited connectors.. try to hit the flop, if not.. get out of the pot.. There were 200 participants in this tourney.. and I had a really boring run of cards.. I ended up folding almost all my hands, playing very few.. I never had any ups or downs.. I made it to the last 50 players.. only the first 14 would end up in the money.. the blinds were getting high and I was short-stacked, when finally I get an "okay" hand to raise and go all-in on the flop.. I got JJ.. I raise.. everyone folds because I have been playing pretty tight.. I got one call.. But because of my raise, i'm left with almost NO chips.. not even enough to pay the big blind.. So I said to myself, whatever comes on the flop.. i'm going all-in.. Flop was bad for me.. it was Q73.. I go all-in, offcourse the other person calls.. and shows KQ.. turn & river didn't save me, and I was eliminated in 49th place.. I'm happy with this tourney because I feel that I didn't make any mistakes.. I just had an extremely bad & boring run of cards.. So I was unable to build a nice stack.. and because of that, I had to play tight.. Altough it was limit.. I think I did a pretty good job to end in 49th place for my first tourney ever! 

Total cost of this tourney : 300€ (plus 200€ of losses on the caribbean poker because my collegues didn't want to leave the casino immediatly :( .. )

The day after we went back for another tourney in the Summer Classics 2008.. the 200€ unlimited rebuy/addon event.. I was seated on an extremely loose table, in the rebuy period.. so loose that it really discuted me, and has made me HATE unlimited rebuy tournaments.. from the very first hand people started going all-in with junk hands.. especially one guy who went all-in with almost every hand he got.. Finally I'm dealt AA after a few hands.. Like always, one guy raises, the loose guy goes all-in.. offcourse I call.. the raiser calls also.. Me and the raiser have about 500 chips left (from the starting 1500) Flop comes KQJ.. very bad flop for 2 Aces.. the raiser goes all-in.. I have to call offcourse.. He shows me KT.. no flush draw, but toppair and a straight draw.. the loose guy who went all-in showed 67s .. so he was almost drawing dead.. Turn is blank and offcourse the river is a 9 so the guy makes his straight.. and tripples up. I lost my stack twice again with all-in raises.. but I don't remember the hands.. then in the last hand I get JJ.. 2 loose guys go all-in, I call.. and I win the race.. trippeld up.. and I took the addon also. So i've got about 6500 chips after the break, an okay position.. first hand after the break I get TT.. Everyone folds, I raise pretty big.. 2 callers.. flop comes 963 rainbow.. I tought a good flop for TT.. one guy checks, the other one raises .. I'm thinking he's trying to steal the pot or holds A9 .. So i have to reraise him to see where i'm at.. the other guy folds, and the raiser re-re-raises me all-in ... at this point i'm pretty much discusted offcourse.. I already donated half my stack into the pot, wich is now getting really big.. I asked the dealer to count his all-in and there was a misunderstanding with me and the dealer.. he told me 1800 and I tought that that was the total ammount, so I said call.. but the dealer meant 1800 on top of my raise.. so it actually put me all-in.. instead of an extra 1800.. and since I already announced "call" I had to call.. I was discusted because there is a big diffirence between being all-in and still having 2000 chips in front of you.. I was pretty sure he had a set or something, but I said call because I thought I would still have about 2000 chips in front of me wich is still enough to play a little.. but now I was almost all-in (only 300 chips left) .. and yep, offcourse.. he showed me a set of 6's .. and there was no savior on the turn or river.. So i'm left with 300 chips, just after the break.. and I felt really bad and mad at the dealer also because he confused me.. so yeah, this was bad play.. I had the feeling i was against a set but I just couldn't lay it down because the pot was getting so big and I already donated more then half my stack to it.. and I had the overpair so yeah.. pff.. eventually I got blinded out, finished in 99th place (with 140 participants)..

Total cost of this tourney : 1000€ .....

Total cost of the summer classics : 1500€ .. this is a little to much for me.. I didn't know that the rebuy tourney was gonna cost me 1000€ .. these losses cracked my bankroll.. wich is now BELOW 0 .. so I'm going to have to reload offcourse.. wich I will.. just not sure of how much yet.

I also made a few rules for myself:

- Only play 2/2 cash games

- Only play single rebuy or freezeout tourneys

- And... try to win :p

Fun experience.. but costly.. and a little dissapointing offcourse.. but I will be back.. I will play the freezeout tourney in Valkenburg and also the single rebuy & freezeout tourney in Breda.. these tourneys are in october..

Next up:

2/2 NL Cash game @ Holland Casino Breda on Wednesday..

Stay tuned :o

Live game..

So I went to the cash-tables in the Holland Casino in Breda.. 2/2 NL.

Early on, I lost 2 big hands.. I remember this hand:
- I have KJs .. On the button. People limp to me, I decide to raise it up.. 4BB. 3 callers.. Flop comes 259 rainbow.. Everyone checks, I check.. Turn 8.. Everyone checks, I check.. River J.. Everyone checks, I bet 24.. One caller, who shows "AA" .. Okay then.. That pot wasn't so bad but it discusted me that the person showed AA..

- I have A5s .. Someone raises small, I call.. few other callers. Flop is 34Q .. with 2 spades (I have suited spades).. Someone bets small, I call.. few others call aswell.. Turn comes a 6.. Someone bets small, I call.. 2 other callers.. River comes 8.. Everyone checks, I try to steal the pot because I smell weakness .. Bet pretty big .. One caller, who shows "AA" AGAIN.. what's up with these slowplayers ??

Further on the evening I get NO hands at all.. I try to see some flops with some mediocre hands, flop nothing.. I get blinded out.. Eventually I get ATs .. I raise, one caller.. Flop comes T52.. I raise, I get reraised.... I tought that he had a T .. or a medium pocket pair.. and that he tought I was raising just to see where I was at, and if my AK or something hit nothing.. So I reraised all-in because I felt I was pretty strong there.. He calls.. and shows "JJ" .. So I lost my stack there completely.. I rebought for 400 .. So I was in 800€. Finally I got a few nice hands, won some nice pots.. ended the evening with 630€ in front of me.. so I ended up loosing 170€.

Live bankroll : 480€

I subscribed for the Summer Classics 200€ rebuy/addon tourney also.. So.. my planning for next week is:

Monday : Holland Casino Breda (Cash games 2/2)
Tuesday : Summer classics 08 in Utrecht (100€ single rebuy/Addon tourney)
Wednesday : Summer Classics 08 in Utrecht (200€ rebuy/addon tourney)
Thursday : Holland Casino Breda (Cash Games 2/2)

We'll see how it goes...

Tried the internet again..

So I was bored and I still had a few hours to kill before tonight's live game.. So I thought I might try the internet tables since I found out that I still had a 65$ bankroll on FullTilt..

Since I find cashgames on the internet extremely boring, I chose to play some SnG's..

First one was a 11$ buy-in turbo FR SnG.. in one of my first hands I got knocked down to the shortstacked because I couldn't laydown my Top pair with medium kicker.. But I got myself back up again and I ended up winning the SnG.. winning 49$ and upping my bankroll to 100$..

I saw a system-message that the 7K guarantee was about to start.. and there were "only" 350 entrants.. with a 25$ buy-in.. first price was 2,5k .. So I took a shot.. My tournament got ended early because of the following hand: I have KTs .. i'm on the button.. everyone folds to me.. I raise to 3BB.. the 2 blinds call. Flop comes T42 rainbow.. someone raises, one calls, I re-raise.. the original raiser calls me, other one folds.. river is a 7.. I make a big bet because that openend a flush-draw .. he re-raises me all-in for like 300 more chips so I had to call and he shows me AT.. I know I should have layed it down but damnit.. :)

Now i'm participating in the Double Shootout sattelite to the 750K guarantee tournament.. It was only 3$ buyin and only 39 entrants so.. That's a nice opportunity to get into the 250$ buy-in tournament with a 750k guarantee :)

** update : I ended in third place on my table.. we were the last remaining table, blinds were getting very high and we ended up pushing it all-in .. all three of us .. I had A8s, the 2 others had QTs and K9o .. so I liked my chances.. but there came a K on the flop.. So he won it all and placed for the final table..

So.. my internet bankroll is back to 65$ .. Next up will be the live game :)

I'm back..

I took a break in Poker for about a year or so.. since I had some other interests and had a few bad beats in my last games (that I forgot to blog.. sigh :)) 

But now I'm back.. more than ever.. Playing live-games every week now. I will start to blog all my games from now on.. and I will quickly inform you about the games that I had last week..

Monday morning after work me and 3 collegues played a little cash game.. I wich I ended up break-even but then won 200€ on "high-card draws" with one of them :)

That's when I said.. okay.. I've got 200€ profit now, I will be using that to play poker and start up a bankroll.. 

Tuesday is never a working day for me, so that will be the day that I hit the Casino in Breda where they have 3 NL poker tables with 2/2 blinds.. So I sat down with 200€.. went up and down, played some nice hands, etc.. eventually I ended up with 600€ of profit.. wich upped my bankroll to 800€.

Few days later I went back to the tables.. but I was on the waiting list to get a seat so I tried my luck with the Caribbean stud poker.. lost 200€ there.. damnit.. then finally sat down at the table, and ended up winning 100€ there after a lots of ups and downs.. wich gives me a total of 100€ loss.. wich downed my bankroll to 700€

Then.. tonight.. The people where I used to play my home games called me up and told me that they were planning a game.. so offcourse I went down.. Sat down with 25€.. won some pots, but then lost it all.. rebought for 25€.. lost it all.. rebought for 50€ (100€ total) and finally started to play some solid poker.. won some nice pots, sucked out a 2 times on a big pot.. god I love it.. I'm dealt QJo .. someone raises, it's folded to me.. I call.. flop comes QJT.. scary board but I hit 2 pair.. I raise, he reraises.. I have to call.. although I was fearing AK.. turn comes a blank.. I check, he raises me all-in.. But he only had like 25€ left in a pot of 130 or so.. So i had to call.. he shows me AK.. but the river comes another Q and I make my fullhouse :)

After that I'm dealt AK.. I raise, one caller.. flop comes 47J.. I raise, he re-raises me all-in .. but the re-raise all-in was only 10€ more in a pot of 90€ so.. offcourse I had to call.. turn comes a T.. river comes a Q.. I make my straight, lol :-) 

So there we are.. I bought in for 100€.. Buid up my stack to 400€.. the end is near, when the following hand happened..

I've got T5s.. Someone makes a small raise, everybody calls, so yeah.. I call to since it was one of the last hands.. flop comes T5Q.. original raiser raises 50€ wich makes the pot 100€.. everyone folds.. I put him on AQ so I re-raise him to 150€.. he calls.. turn comes a 2 but opens possibility for a flush.. he checks.. I bet 100€.. he moves all-in for 160€.. offcourse I call the remaining 60€.. he shows Q9.. even worse then I thought, so I have the best hand.. but then the dealer shows me a 9 on the river, wich gave him a higher 2-pair.. and shrinked my stack to 50€.. so I ended up losing 50€ that night.. instead of winning 300€.. BAH ! So.. my live bankroll is down to 650€

But.. I have to say.. My play really got better.. I'm currently reading "theory & practice" by David Sklansky .. and reading the twoplustwo forums.. and watching lots of poker episodes on pokertube.. and i'm also thinking about subscribing to deucescracked of cardrunners community to improve my game some more.. Also, something very important.. I feel alot more comfortable at the table and the stakes I play because I'm making much more money now with my Job that I did last year.. so I can take a few bad beats.. and I'm not scared to get my money in the pot..

Next up:

Tommorow we are going back to Holland Casino in Breda for a night of 2/2 NL..

Next week I am playing the Summer Classics 2008 in Holland Casino in Utrecht.. it's a tournament with 100€ buy-in.. single rebuy & addon.. and 180 entrants.. 13 first places are in the money..

Live bankroll : 650€ (still have to pay the buyin for the tournament)

Next update is coming tommorow.. :)