Dublin Poker

Finally, it seems as if this nasty run of luck has ended. Well I'm hoping so anyway! Looking back over the last few posts, I'm annoyed at how much of a moany f**cker I am when I'm on a bad run. It just really does my head in when I seem to be playing good poker, but I'm not getting any results.

Everyone gets bad beats, its a part of poker. It the TIMING of mine that really get to me. I can handle losing to a one outer at the start of a $3 MTT, or to a shortstack that cant really do any damage. But it seems that all my bad luck seems to be coming deep into a tourney, when I have a decent stack, and I run into a donkey with a mountain of chips. Most people love having these idiots at their table, because they can outplay them and take their chips.

I must be doing something wrong because anytime I seem to get involved with these people, I usually get it in with the best hand, but invariable the board kills me. I don't know whether I should just avoid clashing with these players or what, but clearly something has to change, because I seem to be getting knocked out of every tournament lately by players who I think I should be beating. Im getting the cards in ahead, and although sometimes I am just a marginal favourite, none of my hands seem to hold up. The most annoying was just missing out of the Drogheda feeder, when numerous times I should have taken a ticket. Ah well... I'm due a bit of variance now!

Anyway, the reason for the whole change in the tone of posts, is that the last few days I probably had my best sessions ever online. Not based on the amount of $$$ I made, but just by the fact that for the first time ever, I actually got to play some real poker.

I only had $8 in my PPP account, because I had lost my BR last week (only $100, as I had already withdrawn most of it). I had lost almost all of it in cash games, either getting sucked out or not being able to drop KK to AA (twice). I think I can beat the 50c/$1 and $1/$2 games, but I have to build a bankroll that can take these bad runs. Its not to difficult to make money playing ABC poker, and most times I sat down I would usually double or triple my buy-in before going bust on one big hand. AA vs KK lost me a few hundred, and I lost a $350 pot when I caught a straight on the turn and lost to the higher straight.

There was a few bad beats in there for $50+ pots, but for the most part the pattern was usually the same. I would slowly gather cash, until I was landed in a big pot with a tough decision. Invariably I lost basically every big pot, either through bad luck or running big hands into... bigger hands. Another thing was I was buying in short to these games. I know this isin't good as you should'maximise profits, not minimise losses'..etc... but I only had a small bankroll an wasn't willing to risk it all in one cash game. I usually built myself up to the max buy-in within an hour or so anyway. I also wasn't willing to drop down a level just so I had the max buy-in, because I couldn't seem to make a profit against the super-fish that swim at these levels.

This seems to be a big problem of mine. I play my best at the higher levels, but I dont have the bankroll for these. I don't have the bankroll to play these because I am not willing to invest much money in online play because I've had such bad experiences with it in the past.... hmm... going around in cirlces here! Something has to change...

Anyway, as I was saying, its Sunday night and I had $8 in my account. I wasn't planning on lodging any money until next week, as i'm pretty skint at the moment. Ive had a lot of expenses this month (new catalytic converter for the car, deposit for holiday in Thailand, tickets for Hi:Fi etc.), so I couldn't afford to throw any money into PPP until I got paid.

So I had $8 to work with... I jumped into a cash game and got this up to $11 soon enough, so I had enough for a $10 + $1 STT. I normally wouldn't play these, but I was in dire straights! Anyway, thankfully I won this and had about $40 to work with. I threw $25 + $2.50 into a $25 STT, and the rest into a cash game. I won the STT and got $112.50, but lost the $15 or so in the cash game. No surprise there then!

On a nice winning streak now, I decide to go all out and play a big game. Theres a $50 + $5 f/o MTT starting so I jump into that. This is the highest game Ive ever PAID into on PPP... which tbh is ridiculous. I just havent got the confidence online to fork out over $50, when I'd much prefer to go down to the $50 game in the Fitz/SE, and at least enjoy what I'm doing! But this will have to change if I want to actually make money online...

anyway, I was running nicely in the $50, and I saw that there was another f/o MTT starting, $20 this time, so I jumped into that. There was about 90 players in each, with the top 9 being paid in both. I got down to the last two tables of each, and I was above average stack in both, and for the first time ever online I was actually enjoying myself!

I wasn't getting particularly lucky, but more importantly I wasn't getting unlucky. Raises were being respected, and I built up an image at the table, something which which I wouldn't even bother doing at the lower levels. I was watching the other players, and for the most part they seemed to know what they were doing. At last! Obvioulsy there were still a few fish at the table, but for the most part the standard was what I would expect in a $50 game.

Anyway I got knocked out of this soon after in 18th when my AQ didn't hold up vs J9... a terrible move by the other player as we both had about 4K, with the average at about 6K, but it didn't really matter as I enjoyed the tourney. I felt I could actually play my game, and not constantly be worrying about bad luck and bat beats etc...

I was shortstacked in the $20 game, but picked my spots and after a few double ups, I creeped onto the final table with about 14K. The average was about 20K, but it was very disproportionate. The CL had about 70K, another lad had about 40K, and there was 4 players with 5K-10K. With the blinds at 1K/2K, it was push or fold for more than half the table...

I played a bad game at the final table, because I was playing scared. I would normally play for 1st, but the money looked so inviting that I was merely hanging back hoping a few shortys would get knocked out and bump me up the ladder. 9th was about $55, and 1st was about $550, so there was a big difference! The money was top heavy as usual, with 1st, 2nd and 3rd taking almost 70% of the prizepool. 3rd was $222, 2nd was $370, so I was hoping to sneak into the top three.

My plan actually worked, and I just kept folding until we got to 4, making the odd push here and there to steal the blinds. I doubled up twice in quick succession with QQ and AK, and knocked out 4th place at the same time. I now had 50K, and a nice stack to work with. I robbed a few pots and was soon up to 70K. The other lad had about the same, and the shorty had 40K. They had clashed a few times but the shorty kept on getting lucky and pulling through.

Anyway, we played around for a bit until I picked up Ad10c. I raised it up to 10K and it was flat called by the CL, who had a few grand more than me. He flat called and we saw a flop of 77Q with two diamonds. I checked, as did he. Turn comes Jd, so Ive a nut flush draw, and a straight draw, but am probably behind so I check. I would call a 10K bet here but not much more. The river brings a low diamond, so Ive made the nut flush, and I lead with 10K. He raises it up to 30K, and now I'm left with a decision...

His bet screams of a house, and I've only got 20K out of 70K invested. If I fold I would still be left with 50K, more than the shortstack. If I flat call, Ive still got 30K left, which is still playable. So what did I do? I went all in... he called instantly with quad sevens...D'OH! What a brainfart.

So $222. Not bad, but I'm annoyed at how badly I played the last hand. I couldn't put him on quads, but my instinct was screaming that I was beat. At worst he had trip sevens, i think thats what I was trying to make myself believe. Ah well...


I checked my account and I had €201 so I quickly withdrew €200 before I did anything stupid! I could do with the money, so I was happy with how the games had gone. I was out Monday night, and sat down on last night to see if I could pull another miracle with the $1.76 I had left. Somehow I built this up to $6 in a cash game, and was aiming for $11 to play a $10 + $1 STT, but unfortunately I lost it all when my JJ was cracked by AK.

I felt I was playing well though, so i lodged €50 back into the account to see if I could beat a few STT's. I did a little more than that!

I jumped into 2 9 player STT's, a $10 and $15. I wasn't concentrating on them too much, as Lost was on TV, and I must admit I'm a bit of an addict... I ended up winning both games, and jumped into another 2 of the same buy-in. Somehow I won these two aswell, and at this stage it actually clicked that I had just won 4 in a row! I dont think I've ever won more than two in a row, but somehow I had just won 4! I though back to see if I was mistaken, which wouldn't have been to difficult as i had been concentrating on the TV more than the laptop, but my cashier confirmed that it had gone up exactly the amount of 1st in two $10 games, and 1st in two $15 games.

I decided I had to try for five, as I didn't actually think it was possible! A proposition bet on boards earlier this year was based on something similar, after Amaru had claimed he had won 5 games in a row on PPP. tbh I didnt believe this could be done, but here I was after winning 4! I wish I could say it was unbelievable skill or luck, but from what I can remember it was just a matter of grinding out to try and make the top 3, and then playing for 1st.

Anyway, I must have jinxed myself in the 5th game, because I ended up getting 2nd... :( I was playing sooo cautious the last game, and there was one player who kncoked out basically every other player. When we got to heads up he had 15K and I had 3K. Unfortunately I had no miracle comeback and thus ended my attempt at 5 in a row.

Funnily enough, once I started thinking about getting five in a row, my attitude totally changed. There was so much more at stake that I wasn't willing to take risks that I would normally take. In fact, Im pretty sure that if I hadnt been watching TV I wouldnt have gotten past the second game. It was only because I wasn't concentrating fully on the games that I could play each one as a separate game. The minute I realised I'd won four in a row, I f**cked up. So I found the secret to winning steadily online... TV!

I played another two STT's and manged to get 2nd and 1st in these aswell. These were different than the other games in that I doubled up early and sat on my lead until we were down to three. Still, thats easily my best record ever online. 1st 1st 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 1st. I made a lovely profit from it, but I was only playing $10 and $15 games, so it wasn't nearly enough for what I had just accomplished. I wanted to keep on playing through the night, but bed was calling and I had to be up early for work... I cant wait to get home today though...



EDIT: Mr 'Anonymous' wants proof so here it is... you can see the four in a row, and the 3rd in the $1500gtd. Oh and 'anonymous', please stop pestering me, or at least have the balls to post under your own name ...