Pud's Poker Progress / Matthew Pitt / 23 September 2009 /

Don't worry readers, I've not suddenly and changed allegiances and become a dirty West Ham fan, nor have I taken up Michael Jackson's favourite 90's pastime, I am simply getting owned by the bubble in the games I am playing.

Bubbling is horrible, in fact it is worse than horrible if that is possible. I'd much rather bust out in last place than invest time and effort into a tournament only to fall short of the cash by one or two places. In the games I am playing the top seven places are paid out so I am counting the bubble as positions eight through ten, though you could probably add a couple of spots to it if you wanted.

So far I have played 155 games for my backer and things haven't quite turned out how either of us had planned. I was hoping to be making a couple of hundred dollars profit a week, at least, but its been much of the reverse of that to be honest.

I've cashed in 16.1% of the games I've played, which is lower than the 20%+ I was aiming for but better than what you would expect if you were an average player (you'd expect to cash 15.5% on average) but my ROI is minus 12.2% which is simply awful. The rake is 8.3% which accounts for some of the losses obviously but I should be killing these games.

The main problem is the number of bubbles I have busted out on, which stands at a staggering 15 from 155 games, or almost 10% of the games I have played. People reading this will say that I obviously have some glaring holes in my bubble play, which may be the case, but it also appears that I run like death when down to the last 10 players. In fact I run awful with 14 players remaining as 19.4% of my games result in me finishing 8-14th!

It feels like I am running into big hands at vital times to either cripple or stack me. Here's a hand with just eight fish left where villain is obviously correct to call but it sucks to run into KQ there. Then in the same tournament my QT manages to find a lovely pair of aces waiting for me! I guess I'm being a little results orientated but it's difficult not to when you are playing with someone else's money.

One thing I think I need to do is start folding pocket kings preflop. Obviously I am joking but when this, this and this happen in the same session it makes you wonder WTF you have to do to have a big pair hold up! It's not all doom and gloom though as this hand here proves, I can win as a 7.7% favourite sometimes!

If I take away my results, I am quite happy with how things are going and I know if I carry on as I am it is only a matter of time before the variance evens out and I'm able to make several brag posts in a week!

In other news, I won't be travelling down to London to watch the Caesars Cup at the WSOPE as I had initially planned. I am beyond skint and can't afford, or justify, spending £60 on petrol, £8 on the ripoff congestion charge and whatever I'd spend feeding and watering my fat face whilst I was there. Hopefully all will be sorted by the time the Main Event final table plays out as I'm really looking forward to watching that unfold live.

Well that's all for now. As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!

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