My Poker Journal

[Joe]

I just read your thread for the first time... as far as beats like aces or kings all in preflop... yes, they are bad beats... yes you got your money in good. However, keep in mind that a single hand is but a battle and the tourney is a war. Aces and kings are just a pair, the five cards on the board can do a world of hurt on a pair. A pair is the second weakest hand. Now if you're short stacked and the blinds are significant, yes getting your chips all in is good. However, early in a tournament or with a decent stack size, getting all in on simply a pair is not the best idea preflop. Now this doesn't mean go to limping aces, just it's no sense risking your whole stack on a pair. Aces will get cracked by kings 19 times out of 100. etc. Get smaller chipups rather than double ups and stay alive in the tournament.

I generally go all in if I have about ten big blinds or less unless I have a pair of aces.

[Joe]

I love playing the $1.10 double or nothing sng over at carbon. Today I played five of those to earn my ticket into the freeroll fury. I won four out of five.

[xwabba]

I generally go all in if I have about ten big blinds or less unless I have a pair of aces.

I would have to say that's a mistake that'll lose you many opportunities. Unless you're just playing cards and not poker. If you're purely playing the cards dealt, then I guess that'd be an appropriate action. However, if you pay attention to the table opponents nad their plays, it's not a good idea. Make a 2.5preflop bet when you're going to play a hand. Keep track of hand ranges for the rest of the table and their raising ranges. Then you'll have a chance to escape a lot of hands that you're dominated by also. 5-6 BBs is a VERY workable area. I feel extremely comfortable in that area. Just a couple days ago I didn't raise above 8bbs for 2 hours of tournament play, then came back and won it once I started getting what I needed and the right reads.

[Joe]

I just finished playing the freeroll fury on carbon and I made it into the money for the first time playing this tournament.
Has anyone noticed a difference in the competition and amount of entries for this particular tournament in regards day of the week?
In other words has this tournament been easier or harder during the week vs during the weekend?
Anyways, I finished 121 out of 969, and the first 171 get paid. I made it up a few pay grades so I'm happy with my performance.
On my last hand I had king ten suited and I had less than ten big blinds so I went all in. I was in later position, I don't think I was on the button, but I think the opponent that called was on the big blind and he had a much bigger stack than I did. He had ace eight offsuite and he caught an ace so I lost.

[Joe]

I just finished the freeroll fury on carbon and I made it into the money.
I finished 162 out of 1047.
I didn't make it as deep as I did last night but I'm okay with that.
On my last hand I had less than five big blinds and I had been at about ten big blinds for a big part of the tournament by this point.

[Joe]

I just finished the freeroll fury on carbon and I busted out of the tournament within the first half hour.
I had a healthy stack close to the 3k that you start out with and I raised preflop with a pair of kings to three big blinds.
I was in early position and the person one or two seats to my left, who had a slightly smaller stack than I, shoved all in.
It was then folded around to me.
I called.
I was a little worried to see my opponent show aces but that didn't happen.
My opponent had a pair of sevens and caught a seven on the flop.
So I lost.
I was left with about three hundred and I didn't make it that far after that.
I'm guessing that most of us here would of probably not re-raised with a pair of sevens in the given situation, but would any of you folded if you were in my shoes.
who was the bigger donkey here, me or the opponent?

[Joe]

I just finished a tournament on carbon and I cashed. Before this I had only cashed at the sngs and the freerolls.
It was a $1.10 buy with re-entries and a late registration period, with a $1k gtd. I joined the game late and I think there was more than an hour left on late registration period. I re-entered once so I bought in for $2.10 but I only won $2.09 so I almost broke even.
I have played in a couple of these bigger tournaments before so is was a pretty big deal for me.
I entered the tournament with about ten big blinds and I actually spent most of the tournament with less than ten big blinds but I got really close to making a little money.
For the last hand I was in middle position with a pair of tens and I had less than five big blinds so at this point I'm pretty much shoving no matter what. This other guy shove all in with about 12 to 13 bb's and he had entered the tournament a little latter than I had. He had pretty much folded or shoved the entire time so I kind of knew he had a wide range of hands that he was shoving with.
So I had no trouble shoving against him. If we were on the bubble then maybe I would of folded but probably not.
Another opponent, who was in later position, shoved with a much bigger stack than both of us.
So it was three us all in.
The opponent in earlier position had a pair of sixes so I was right about what hands he could of had.
The other opponent had ace queen offsuite.
He caught an ace so I lost.

[Joe]

I just played the $250 gtd tournament on carbon. It was a $1.10 buy. I got knocked out after the rebuy time expired so I didn't win.
I basically got blinded out I don't remember if I really even played a hand.
I think in the near future I will have to experiment more with this late entry strategy.

[Joe]

I played a $1.10 sng on carbon, it was the double or nothing variety and I won. I was going to play five sng's to earn another coupon to the freeroll fury but I don't have enough time to do so.
Going to check out the poker client now to see what's going on.

[Joe]

I am going to start posting my bankroll with the hopes of motivating myself to do better so I don't have to publicly shame myself by posting bad results.
So my carbon bankroll is $21.54 and I have 157.6 vip points.
I want to build my bankroll up to $30 by the end of this month.
I have to get 500 vip points in one month in order to get into the first tier of the vip club but I don't think thats going to happen any time soon because I just don't play that much, I would like to. I would probably be able to earn 500 vip points by july maybe but in one month?