Friday, July 31, 2009

Successful Grinding

Last night’s grinding went very well, thank you very much. Four tabled Limit HE on Poker Stars and won 30BB in two hours play. I noticed that the number of flops I saw for the night was very low, around 15%. The night before I had a horrible session and the number of flops I saw was 21%. Hmm….Seams there may be something to playing tighter after all. Well this matters I also played much more focused last night. My wife was watching and she was amazed being I was calling out people’s cards exactly in many hands. One hand, I wasn’t even in, while four tabling I stated that the one played had pocket sevens and the other A-J. I was spot on in both calls and the sick thing is neither of them had hit anything on the board, yet was able to play the hand in reverse to figure it out. (Final board was 4-4-8-Q-10) The night before I was playing on auto-pilot and the big loss I took showed it big time! Also did well in Step Sit-N-Gos last night. I played a Step one on Stars and won a Step 2 ticket. Also played my Step 9 on Ultimate against some tough players.(Step 9 cost $800 to buy so I didn’t want to lose in this one.) I focused well and was able to get knocked out in 4th for a repeat Step 9 ticket. I need to play this on a weekend against the softer players. Still everything went well for me last night, wish I could focus and play well like this all the time. TGIF. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Grind

Last night’s grinding didn’t go too well, but it could have been much worse! I four tabled to try to earn a lot of VPPs being I only had 3 days left in this month to maintain my VIP status on Poker Stars. I especially like to play in the 30K free roll on Saturday being I cash in 50% of the ones I play in. After an hour I was getting crushed down 60BBs! One hand really stung when I had A-K of spades and made the nut flush on the turn. I bet, got raised, so I re-raised just praying the board wouldn’t pair. Of course it did and he bet right into me, made the crying call to be shown the full house, with his pocket threes. That pot was huge being we had 5 players setting a three bet pre-flop! Knew I wasn’t going to have a winning night but kept trying to recover my loses anyway. At least this gave me incentive to earn more points. By the end of the night I made a comeback to only be down 25BBs. It’s kind of a moral victory when I earn back more than half of my low point in a bad session. Been playing Poker long enough to know that some nights, no matter what I do I will lose anyway. Looking back in my records I win around 72% of my ring sessions. This is pretty high but the problem is my losing sessions are usually really bad and my winning sessions aren’t always that big. Am still a winning player over all but need to work on using some kind of a stop loss rule on bad nights. This is a leak I have been trying to plug for years. When I am winning I lose incentive to keep playing and am happy “booking a win”, but when behind I get hungry to get revenge to get my money back. Like I said before some days no matter what you do you will lose, so these days can be real bad. Always room for improvement in this crazy game of Poker. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Battle of the Planets, Continued

Last night I continued on with my Quest to win the Battle of the Planets Promotion on Poker Stars. I only had time to play one Sit-N-Go, did well by taking a 2nd in it. So far so good I have 90 points in 3 Sit-N-Gos. If I continue on this pace my score will be 600, which is good enough for First place for the week! Doubt I will get 600 but I will shoot for as high a score as I can get. Limit HE multi-tabling went very well also, won 25BBs in two hours play. Tonight will have to grind some more being there are only 4 days left in the month for me to maintain my VIP status. Don’t forget on ESPN tonight is the first installment of their WSOP coverage! Think tonight is the 40K WSOP event, should be fun to watch. Look for me on Stars tonight. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

P.S. – I added Infolinks to my BLOG so please click though on some of the highlighted links in my Posts, thanks in advance!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Battle of the Planets

Battle of the Planets Quest has been going fine for me on Poker Stars. My ROI in micro-stakes Sit-N-Gos is 22%, even after paying the crazy rake of 20%! That is because some of the players are so bad that the dead money in these more than makes up for the high rake. This week I will focus on a few levels higher being my Roll is now healthy again. Started playing yesterday and had success in my first two of a block of twenty. I took a third and a first for a great start for the week. Didn’t run as well in the micro-stakes version, only cashing in 2 of 7 Sit-N-Gos, with four bubbles! Got my chips in way ahead or in coin flip situations but just ran bad to start the week off. Also need to grind some Limit HE this week, to help maintain my VIP Status on Stars. Playing the micro-limit SNGs doesn’t earn the VPPs fast enough. I am short 900 points that I will have to earn before Saturday. There will be a lot of grinding this week for me. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Donkday.

Another Donkday is here and again I can't sleep. Like a child on christmas morning I awake super early every Donkday and go straight to my computer. I like to read the news of the world and play some Sit-n-Gos early every Sunday. Problem is lately I am waking up at like 3:30 in the morning! Being I go to sleep around midnight on Saturday nights this isn't even close to enough sleep for me. Of well guess a nap sometime today will remidy the situation. The wife and I took our bikes out yesterday for some exercise. Damn my butt is sore today! Remember beware of the Donks playing today. Happy Donkday. Tony

Friday, July 24, 2009

Sit-N-Go Hand

Warning the hand I am about discuss is a bad beat so read ahead at your own risk! Played in another slow brutal bubble in a micro-stakes Sit-N-Go on Poker Stars. Like I have written about before only playing in these to try to win some extra cash in the Stars “Battle of the Planets” promotion. Anyway we are on bubble, which already has lasted 20 minutes. I shove A-9 off from the button, hadn’t been playing many hands, only showing down big hands. The big blind, who has maybe 20% more chips than me, snap calls with the mighty K-10 off. I don’t even have to talk about what a bad call this is, being he is either crushed or flipping. The flop comes a safe A-9-3 rainbow so I have top two pair and am looking to be the chip leader and hopefully win this SNG. Nope my hopes are crushed when a King comes on the turn and a King comes on the river. Bite me Joker Stars, what a joke. This beat put me on tilt for a few minutes, spewed chips in my other SNGs and live game until I came back to my senses. Moral of the story is if you grind a lot of Sit-N-Gos expect to feel tons of crazy beats. TGIF. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Sit-N-Go Obsession

It feels like I have been caught by the Sit-N-Go bug big time lately. I got sick of playing hours and hours in MTTs and only min-cashing, started to grow old real fast. Have a high percentage of cashes in MTTs but the frustration was really starting to get to me. At least Sit-N-Gos are short and sweet. Plus I play six at a time so when I get knocked out of one just sign up for another to take its place. My ROI on Stars is a respectable 9% overall for over 1100 I have played in the last 3 years. In the micro-stakes ones I have a 22% ROI. Being I have a day job playing MTTs late into the night isn’t really a feasible option for me. On the weekends I don’t mind grinding out some MTTs, when we don’t have anywhere important to be. Like I have written about previously Poker Stars Battle of the Planets adds more incentive for me to grind out even more SNGs then I normally would. It’s tough for me to get a block of 100 in a week but I will attempt it. At the $5 level you can win $700 for having the top score in a block of 20 and another $700 for the top score in a block of 100. This is not too bad a prize to shot for. See you at the SNG tables. Tony

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Battle of the Planets Quest

I finished my first block of 20 with a decent score of 268. This puts me on pace for 1340 for the high orbit, which is a block of 100. Based on previous weeks this would put me in the top 30. Which would give me 200% rakeback for the week in low limit Sit-n-Gos. I may have to grind them out this week to complete the block. Don't usually put that kind of volume in but now I have incentive. We will see how much time I have this week. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Monday, July 20, 2009

Micro-Stakes Sit-N-Go from Hell

I am playing in the longest most boaring low limit Sit-N-Go. Everyone is playing so serious and slow that I may just shove all in to get knocked out! We have been 5 handed for like 30 minutes! I am only playing in it for the Battle of the Planets Points on Stars. Have a really good shot of finishing in the top 30 this week. May have to continue on and play a block of 100 for the high orbit cash. Please end soon I have to work tomorrow, LOL. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday, July 19, 2009

PokerStars World Record MTT

PokerStars Tournament #200900719, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $1.00
65000 players
$65000.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $130000.00
Tournament started 2009/07/19 14:10:00 ET


Dear AVIGANOLA,

You finished the tournament in 12519th place. A USD 2.20 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

I just cashed in the world's biggest Online Tournament! Also am deep in FullTilt's attempt to break the old record. I am the king of low limit MTTs, LOL. Happy Donkday! Tony

Lack of Sleep

These days I can't seem to get a good nights sleep on the weekends. It's 4:30am now and I am playing some low limit He on Ultimate Bet. Wish I could fall back to sleep! Here is an early warning to beware of the donks today! Happy Donkday. Tony

Thursday, July 16, 2009

November Nine

Phil Ivey is a member of the November 9! I remember playing $5-10 Stud with him at the Tropicana in the nineties. Also remember him kicking my Ass in a $500 No Limit Tournament at the Taj! I was very green in No Limit tournaments at the time. Ivey Limped under the gun and I raised with A-K from late position. He pulled the old Shove all in after a limp move. I went into the tank and decided to call him, being I had him slightly covered. He of course had pocket Aces and took most of my chips. At least I have a story about playing with him before he was huge in the Poker world! Also great job by Joe Sebok. I love PokerRoad and highly recomend thier Podcasts. They can be found on Itunes as well as the PokerRoad site. Can't wait for ESPN's coverage of the WSOP. Thanks for reading and Go Ivey! Tony

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Let's Go Ivey!

20 players left in the WSOP main event! Ivey is short with 5 million in chips. Still think he has a great chance to make the final table. Hope he makes it to keep it interesting. We got to have a name player in the November Nine. Let's go Ivey!!!! Tony

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Small Deep Stack Score

PokerStars Tournament #176962312, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
2376 players
Total Prize Pool: $23760.00
Tournament started 2009/07/12 12:00:00 ET


Dear AVIGANOLA,

You finished the tournament in 229th place. A USD 22.57 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 64.77 tournament leader points in this tournament. For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

King of Micro-Limit Poker

PokerStars Tournament #178802050, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $1.00/$0.20
27 players
Total Prize Pool: $27.00
Tournament started 2009/07/12 13:08:31 ET


Dear AVIGANOLA,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place. A USD 4.80 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 38 Sit & Go Leader Board Points for the Mercury Division in this tournament. For more information about our Sit & Go Leader Boards, see our website at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/battle/


Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

Beware of the Donks today! Happy Donkday. Tony

Friday, July 10, 2009

Sit-N-Go Frustration

I hate nights like this one. I played 10 Sit-N-Gos and got my chips in ahead every time and lost anyway. Forget about winning coin flips, kept losing when I had the other player dominated. How many hands in a row can I lose all in with A-Q to A-J or A-9 off? Tonight I lost 8 in row when I had them crushed! It's just sick how bad am running tonight. Of well tomorrow is another game and I will be at it again. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Cousin Neil's Home Game

Another Wednesday night, another home game at my Cousin Neil’s house. Even though I had a headache and was real tired still had a good time, like I usually do in this game. Interesting hand came up in the first Sit-N-Go of the night when I called a raise with J-10 of Hearts. The flop came down Q of Hearts, K of Hearts and the 4 of diamonds. We had four players in this pot so I had to decide how to play it. My cousin Nick, “King Rag”, made a continuation bet and I decided to flat call. Usually I will raise this hand up and play it real fast being I am rarely behind any holding he has. Don’t flop an open ended Royal Flush draw very often. I decided to let everyone in behind me so I would win a huge pot if I got there. Also didn’t feel I had much fold equity if I raised anyway. Had this feeling that flop hit Nick with at least top pair. The turn brought a blank and he bet ¼ of the pot so I took a look at the river. The river blanked for me and I folded my sick draw face up for everyone to see. Nick had K-J, one of his signature hands and I lost 20% of my chips in the first level. After this I just kept missing flops and ended up out in 5th place. In the second Sit-N-Go I had a lot better luck. Not much great happened to me but I played patient Poker and let my cousin Ant knock everyone out until we got heads up. I only had to win 2 hands the whole Sit-N-Go to take 2nd place out of ten. He was happy also being he ran like a god and got 8 bounties included with his win. Looking forward to the next game in two weeks. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Monday, July 06, 2009

Battle of the Planets Final

Battle of the Planets Mercury Division - Low Orbit Leader Board

Monday, July 6, 2009 9:50 AM

From:

"PokerStars Support"


Hello AVIGANOLA,

Congratulations on your performance in last week's Sit & Go Leader Boards. A cash prize of USD 8.00 has been credited to your account. This credit can be viewed under the History section on the PokerStars Cashier.

The final rankings for last week's competition can be viewed in the PokerStars client by selecting the 'Requests' menu, then 'Sit & Go Leader Boards'.

If you have any questions regarding this promotion, please contact "PokerStars Support"


I had to split the 2nd payout wih 5 other players, we all had the same number of points. I don't mind, it's the challenge I play for. This week will try to improve my score. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Battle of the Planets

I finally broke through in the Poker Stars Battle of the Planets promo. As of 10:30 last night I had 443 points and was in a solid 43rd place. Top 100 get money, not a lot but I am happy being the 43rd best SNG player for the week on Stars. (At the micro level that I played for :-).) I am waiting for the final conformation email from Stars this morning. Remember that today is Donkday so expect those sick 3 outers to hit all day long! Happy Donkday. Tony

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Happy Independence Day

I ran really good at low limit SNGs yesterday on Stars. So good that I am making a run for a cash in the Battle of the Planets today. I cashed in 7 of 11 yesterday with 3 first place finishes. I will update on my progress later. Happy July 4th to all! Tony

Friday, July 03, 2009

The King of Freerolls

PokerStars Tournament #175255529, Pot Limit Badugi
Freeroll Super Satellite
5509 players
Target Tournament #174530586
64 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started 2009/07/02 18:42:00 ET


Dear AVIGANOLA,

You finished the tournament in 50th place.

This qualifies you for a seat in Tournament #174530586. A ticket to this tournament was issued in your name. You can use this ticket to register. See Tournament #174530586 Lobby for further details.

You earned 41.77 tournament leader points in this tournament. For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


Please contact "PokerStars Support" if you have any questions.