Faith Restored

Pud's Poker Progress / Matthew Pitt / 29 August 2008 / 2 Comments

Over the past week or so, I have felt a little depressed and have been very negative in everything I have done. Why? I do not know to be honest but it seems to have passed on now thankfully. I played quite a few hands on Betfair last week and was doing quite well but every time I made two steps forward, I seemed to be taking three steps back.

I would put in a session of 400 hands, play good poker for 399 and be ahead then make a ridiculous call to lose my profit and generally piss me off! For a change of pace I entered a couple of tournaments on Saturday night, one was the $5.50 $800 guaranteed turbo and the other was the $400 guaranteed with the same entry fee.

The $800 GTD had 191 runners, meaning that 18 spots paid out, but I was never really in the running, had to shove QdTd preflop for four big blinds, and got called by TT and 88, never improved and finished in 27th. Next up was the $400 GTD and I was looking forward to this MTT a little more as the blind structure was much slower and allowed for more play. A couple of hours in the 99 entrants had been whittled away to the final 10 players and we were on the final table and money bubble, as the final nine won money.

Then this hand cropped up (more...) I am not happy with how I played it to be honest. I was going to shove pre but it seemed a little spewy, then a normal re-raise would have committed me anyway. The flop was almost as good as it gets for TT but it was not to be my day and I bubbled, more frustration! Any thoughts on the hand from you, the reader?

On Tuesday, my mate Cadmunkey asked if I wanted to go play some live poker at the casino and having not played live for an age I decided to take him up on his offer. I was really looking forward to it all day, even more so when I won a small tournament online in the morning for a nice $108 profit, my first MTT win in what seems forever! Anyway, we rolled up to the casino for the tournament and found there were only going to be 23 runners! LOL! It was a £10 entry with one add-on allowed in the first 90 minutes and with 5k in chips, it was a bit of cheap, harmless fun.

My table was full of lunatics. If they limped, they had to call any sized raise. If you raised 3xBB you got 4 callers. It was crazy! I managed to pull off a bluff when I raised preflop with 55 and only got one caller. Flop comes KJ6 and it goes check/check. Turn is a 7 and I check-raised the fish and he quickly folded. I somehow built a semi decent stack but was quickly asking for more chips after this hand unfolded.

A serial limper to my right limps as per usual and I raise with ATo. Everyone folds to limper and of course, he calls. Now this guy told me he plays the side events at the GUKPT and is a massive gambler (he's sat with £400 in playing chips). Flop comes T88 with two clubs, I have none. He leads out and I shove on him, as the pot is now a decent size. He tanks and calls. I ask if he has a flush draw to which he tells me he has and turns over Kc5c! LOL! Turn is an Ace and the river the 2c and I reload!

In another massive pot, my Q8 in the BB made trips to beat a young Asian guy's Q3o that he limped with in MP but then I proceeded to throw my chips away at an alarming rate and ended up busting in 15th place. My heart simply was not in it, I became disillusioned by the play of my opponents, and I kid you not when I say the standard was like a $1 SnG! Despite my poor showing, the MTT restored my faith in all things poker, as I know that I could beat any of those fish hands down on most days.

Over the past day or two I have been ultra confident after watching some videos by Foxwoods Fiend. The guy is an amazing player and explains everything so well it is impossible not to learn from him. Every move he makes is calculated and for a reason and whilst he does not do anything out of the ordinary in the clip, a little light bulb was going off in my head every 30 seconds! I have started to incorporate some of the things he mentioned and I am so far 2.5 buyins up from a little over 800 hands. Hopefully it will continue.

After the weekend, I will be playing the WSOPE qualifiers on Betfair. My mate has sent me £100 to cover the costs of the games and I am just waiting for the money to move over to Neteller so I can play and hopefully qualify for the big 21-seat guaranteed WSOP Europe game on September 7 (more...). I was going to send the money via Paypal (more...) but my bank is shockingly bad and issues e-cheques that take 14-21 days to clear! LOL! I will let you now how I do and obviously moan about the inevitable beats!

As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!

Comments (2)

1. david | 01 September 2008

   re the 10 10 hand - two questions... why bet the flop when your opp has already raised pre?

   and why shove when he re-raises you? You had plenty of scope to let him bet first... you are behind to a lot of his preflop raising range and it's a lot easier to fold if you haven't already stuck 20% or so of your stack in first.

   as for the standard at the local casino, that would appear to be standard at the £10 level from what I've heard. I find it pays to tighten up your range and stick to 10 10 +, AQs+, AK
   and be prepared to fold on a discouraging flop

2. Amatay | 03 September 2008

   When you gonna start earning some dosh mate. You talk a better game than most fish i've ever listened too and i have chatted to quite a few good fish either in person or via the net over the last few years. However, you dont seem to really make any progress? WTF is the deal with that? Why such slow progress? Its strange, i dont get it. I dont wanna sound harsh but im just saying it as i see it. You never seem to get going mate. You should make at least $1k a month imo just from pissing around for a few hrs at mirco/small stakes. What you reckon?