1. Get money in ahead.
2. Lose.
3. Repeat.

That’s basically how I’ve either been crippled or bombed out of my last 5 or so SNG’s. Some examples:

:Kc: vs :Qs: – All in preflop, he turns a straight and I’m crippled.

:2d: vs :4c: – Flopped set and end up all-in vs a gut shot straight draw that gets there.

:9s: vs :Jd: – Flopped trips, opponent turns the straight.

and the old :Ac: hand that I told you about before.

Don’t worry, despite the past couple of posts I’m not going to start turning this blog into a “bad beat” whinge fest. I don’t even really like the term bad beat for most of these examples. It’s just getting frustrating when I’m trying to build my bankroll back up and I get my money in ahead only to be repeatedly screwed by lady luck.

I know it will turn around.

Hopefully the formula from here on out can be:

1. Get money in ahead.
2. Win.

At least sometimes?

It’s the old $4+$0.40 180 player no-limit hold’em SNG over on PokerStars. I have an above average stack of around 20K, blinds are 300/600 with a 50 chip ante.

It’s the bubble.

Now like most of these tournaments there’s no real money on offer until the final table and even then not until around 5th place. Places 10-18 pay only $8.64 which is hardly worth the time you invest into one of these. Given that information, when you’re dealt:

:Ac:

In the big blind and the small blind player who’s just recently joined the table and has you covered with about 33K in chips raises it up to 3000 after one limper what do you do?

I went through the options:

1. Fold. This seems weak but will almost guarantee me at least some money. My thinking though is this isn’t the kind of play that’s going to get me into that top 5 at the final table.
2. Call. Nah, I don’t want to put myself into any tricky situations post flop this hand.
3. Raise. Sounds logical, how much? Well, I want to get rid of that other caller (though the action so far has probably taken care of that). I’m thinking up to about 9000. That only leaves me with 11K behind though in what would be a 18K pot plus ante’s. I’m probably going to be all-in this hand if I do this. So…
4. All-In? Sounds good, I can take down an already decent sized pot right here and if he calls he’s way behind.

So I push and am very surprised when he calls and then very happy when he shows:

:Ks:

then very mad when the flop is:

:2s:

I don’t improve and I go out in 19th.

So, tell me. Do you bubble here too? Even if I don’t push pre-flop I don’t see myself getting away from that pot with that hand on that flop. I don’t even think I’m supposed to be able to… Am I?

Thought I was dead didn’t you?

Well, surprise! I’m not dead, I just haven’t been playing much poker. In fact from about my last post in August ‘07 until the 1st of Jan ‘08 I played approximately 500 hands (give or take) which earlier in the year would have been equivalent to a small session after work. Effectively I’d stopped playing all together.

So why haven’t I been playing? Was it the UIEGA? No, that wouldn’t make sense, I’m not American and apart from drying up a few of the online fish ponds it hasn’t affected me. Perhaps I was scared off by the recent cheating scandals or the fear of being overrun by bots? While these are certainly issues worth keeping in mind, nothing I’ve seen so far has made me want cash out and leave the world of online poker. If anything the strong backlash on these issues throughout the poker blog community has reassured me that the people trying to cheat us out of out hard earned will be tracked down and exposed.

It might surprise you that the real reason I haven’t been playing is actually a happy one, I’ve met someone and she’s pretty special! My focus simply shifted from spending my free time swapping chips on the online felt to spending as much of my spare time as possible with her and I’ve been having a ball. In fact I even cashed out the majority of my online bankroll to fund a trip with her to Perth at the start of this year. It was awesome and also the first time I’d really used my poker winnings to do something meaningful. Good, good times.

New year though and I’ve been feeling the itch to get back to the tables, been playing a bit on the 6Max limit hold’em tables at reduced limits due to my smaller bankroll with the aim of building things up again just like I did before. I’m a little rusty however and down slightly for the month to date. Some of this is due to some very poor play on my part which I might share with you in another post, I feel I’m on top of my mistakes though so it should all come back to me soon. I’ve also been playing some low limit SNG’s where I’m enjoying more success.

So, I’m back (I think I’ve said that before) and even though I don’t really like new years resolutions as they generally don’t last past March I do have a few:

1. Ride my bike to work and back daily and get fit – OK, not poker related but it’s important to me and I’m proud to say I’ve ridden every work day this year and am feeling great.
2. Try to time my poker sessions to when they are most profitable. That is when I’m awake, in the right mood, have the time to spare and if possible during the peak online poker hours (Unfortunately these are approx 9am ’til 4pm local time – GMT +9.5 – which is when I’m at work but if I can get a few hands in these hours on the weekends it would be good).
3. Related to #2, build my bankroll back up to where it was mid ‘07 and start cashing out more reguarly (even if it’s just for a carton of beer I’d like to feel like my poker is actually achieving something more than just ticking over numbers on the screen – it makes the money real and should help my discipline).
   
4. Blog. This site was originally meant for me to write down some of the thoughts flowing through my mind about my play, strategies, etc. I find when I write stuff down it can help make it clearer, I want to get back to that this year.
5. This one may be tough but I’d like to start up an online poker league for Australian (and those in timezones nearby or who like to stay up late) bloggers where we can get together and player a regular game similar to those that are run over in the U.S. I need to do some more research into this though and if anyone has any ideas or suggestions please let me know.

Phew, some hard ones and some easy ones, it’s a good thing I enjoy a challenge. I’m looking forward to letting you all know how I do.