Close but no cigar...
So i guess this is what classes as an MTT downswing; certainly feels like it anyway. Ive got around $400 left on pokerstars and my $4.40 ROI is practically now at 0% because of my recent run of luck >_>
Something like my last 12 final tables ive finished 6th or worse; which is huge considering the final table is where everything's decided. Continually getting it in good and sucking out...
Minraise to 2000 in front, i push AKo for 23,000 more and he snaps with KTs, makes a straight on the end and i wave a 50k stack goodbye.
Already detailed the AA < QQ run in my earlier blog also. I pushed 21k or so on 88 and got someone calling me with A9o who clearly doesnt understand ICM, lost that flip. Pushed TT into A2o and shouted one time only to see the ace flop and bust me again. In my most recent effort i pushed AJs over a raise into KK, a marginal but i think justified push (i took into account a lot of factors). Ive lost countless flips along the lines of AK vs JJ and so on... i know long term this will balance but im still awaiting the month where all of these go my way and i run 4th or higher over some freak period :P
Needless to say without any really high finishes im currently grinding at a gradual and depressing loss. Whether it be dominating, a flip or dominated i seem to always come one board away from a decent position; but never quite get there. I'm content to carry on pushing volume in these for the rest of this month though since im confident im not making mistakes and that i will have a positive long term ROI.
On a more positive note ive become far more observent/patient at tables and am making more and more use of the note-making feature; helping me in future encounters and final tables. It just feels like forever since i actually broke into the top 5; its certainly been several months of misses on final tables. If the board were slightly more favourable in just a few of those then i'd at least have some high placings keeping me afloat in an otherwise dry spell. I guess i'll keep pushing for the final tables and hoping things go my way =]
Comments
hi alex,i have an 86% roi n 180s on stars over 240+ games and i know they are full of donks,u just need 2 no how 2 use that 2 ur advantage,here are a few tips
play aj,aq,ak strong, i would get it in pre flop against 99% of players n 180s because ul have them dominated so often,the 1% being against the occasional decent player n them
be patient,i have often gone down 2 6 or 7 bbs and came back to win,dont do anything fancy,wait 4 good cards and play them strongly,eg if u pick up qq and there are 5 limpers just shove or make it 3x plus 1x for each limper so it wud be 8x in this case,so unless u are very deep stacked 8x is commiting u so just shove and 1 of them will prob call u wit a6 etc and ur 70/30 2 double up
dont be worried about losing when u get it n miles ahead preflop,play more games and the luck will even out
how many tables do u play at a time?how many hours do u play per week?do u use pokertracker/holdemanager?
glglgl
only do two tables at once generally, cant get in a huge amount of volume due to other commitments.
3x +1 per limper is obviously pretty standard but a lot of it becomes push/fold poker in the latter stages in which im confident in my shoving/calling ranges etc.
And yeah i use pokertracker which can be of use in early levels/final table but when its shove/fold it matters less. Pretty much no one understands stack depths anyway =/
Getting it in with AJ/AQ/AK pre is pretty subjective and obviously also action-dependent. Early on i think its spew to get it in with AQ or AJ even vs this field, but when in shoving range (M < 10) im obviously open shoving all of these (and worse, position depending).
u say pt3 stats are useless when its push/fold,i disagree,u can shove a lot wider n2 someone wit a vpip of 10 than someone with a vpip of 30,and use the fold bb to steal stat 2
also 2 tablen games that take 4 hours is goin 2 be very hard 2 make $$$$ i often go 10-15 180s without a cash,so thats a week of 2 tablen playing part time,try adding a table every couple of days ul be surprized how fast ul be up to 6+ tables and take it from there
i said less useful, not useless =/
ATS and such comes into it but pretty much if theres a guy in before you with an M of around 5; as long as they understand stack depths their range is pretty standard and as such calling ranges become standard too.
I can get more tables in if i feel like it; i used to routinely do 4 tables but as i say ive been pretty busy recently with other things.
Ok i know ive read the poker mindset and am supposed to be prepared for this but.. fuck it, i need somewhere to rant.
Seriously just cant get a thing going. I just did 6 MTTs today and busted out in record time; one semi deep run that started looking promising (~9kish) i then lost a flip AQ < JJ (~5.5k), then swept and waited patiently a bit. Got A9s, shoved and swept. 44 straight after, another sweep. 7k and i pick up QQ next hand, the perfect spot. Push it expecting to be called light, and its AK. AAx flop and im out, just as im getting hope.
Another one i had aound 3.5k and 3bet shoved AKs out of the SB vs the button. He snaps with aces and im out there too. The other four were all over by the third level... AA first level, 3bet and am called by J9.. K9J gg. Then AT gets one caller to ATQ and he shows up with AQ, gg again. The worst two, though, were to come. With like 900 chips left i 3bet shoved 99 from the button. The SB flatted and the OR came along too, and i was fully expecting to be crushed. 49Qr came down, which immediately fills me with hope. I see the action go bet/call to a jack turn, at which point one of them shoves and the SB player folds. The MP original raiser shows down Q4s, and before i have time to celebrate the 2-out Q hits and im staring at an empty seat. Finally, AKs on the SB. Button makes it 150 to go, i make it 500 and he snaps. Jxx all spades, i have ~pot left and push it. He insta-calls with J9s no draw, and holds.
I suppose its good news that the field seems to be getting worse. Maybe it has always been this bad and im only seeing how awful the hands are now they're showing down with two pairs etc against me, idk. Had a few recent busts too where ive got the ~6k i sometimes have by around top 27 and am looking for the double up to stand a chance... obviously by this time a couple of hours have gone into the run and AJ loses to 44 and its over again.
Is it normal that with the runs that i have im normally hitting final table with just 20k or so? I constantly see people deep in these with stacks of like 30k+, constantly picking up big pairs and holding, getting shortstacks moving in with AJ vs their AQ etc... its only ever happened to me once, and 45k means nothing when AA < QQ on the final table vs someone with more. My runs generally go like:
-Top 18 with ~10k then am in shoving range
-Shove a sensible range, hope to catch a flip or get called when i have AK vs AQ... sometimes double sometimes bust
-On runs where i double i sweep and maintain this stack with no big hands and hit FT, eventually.
-Sometimes i become card dead and drain even further, rarely i pick up several strong aces in a row and manage to sweep a few times to 25-30k but thats about as good as it gets.