Poker is a cruel game. At it's worst times it makes us greedy, selfish, tired and lonely. Too many poker players think that they are sooo unlucky because of all the bad beats and suckouts but what they don't realise is that they are, as a generalisation, lucky to be doing what they do for a living. It's very important to maintain healthy relationships with friends and family to make sure that the grind that poker is doesn't consume or control you. On the upside poker also gives us the freedom to work whenever we want and have time off whenever we want. Only problem is that there are not enough poker players out there who are taking advantage of this, at times i admit that i am one of them. I believe that we as poker players should use this freedom to make time for our loved ones and make their lives easier and more relaxing. By saying that i don't mean throwing your wads of cash at them, while it's always nice to receive a gift every now and then the best gift you can ever give is your time. So being aware of the dangerous swallowings of poker i have put my theory to practice by planning a full on surprise birthday for Laraine, my girlfriend...
OK, so Laraines birthday is the 23rd of December however she unfortunetly has work on that day and she was really disappointed that she couldn't celebrate her day to the fullest. So what i'd been planning all last week was a surprise whole day of things for her on Sunday 19th Dec because that would be the only day she had free up untill Christmas.
After losing sleep because i was so excited on saturday night i eventually woke up and told her that i was going upstairs to play some tourneys online, it's the only way to convince her to stay asleep so that i could buy some time and cook her breakfast. I came downstairs and put the breakfast on her bedside along with a birthday card and woke her up surprising her by telling her that today we will be celebrating her birthday! After she awoke properly from snapping out of her standard Ryan Reynolds dreams i then put out three wrapped presents for her to open. After some time deliberating which to open first she eventually opened all of them only to find the camera that she has been drooling over and a few accessories for it. Seeing her face so far i knew she was going to have a ball of a day!
I then took her over Bondi way to test out her new toy and then go to lunch that i had booked along the beachfront, little did she know was that i'd planned a little surprise for lunch! We walked along the beachfront for a bit and then rocked up to restaurant for Laraine's heart to stop when she saw our table full of her friends and family that had driven up from Wollongong for the day! And so we had lunch and enjoyed the company of our wollongongians then the next activity was in order!
We wrapped up lunch with embarrassing Laraine by singing happy birthday to her over a dozen of cupcakes with a candle in each. Then we drove over to EQ (Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park) and went to Strike Laser and Bowling for a few games of Laser Tag, something Laraine has been wanting to do for ages! We ran, we shot, we died, we conquered and the overall winner in the end was.... ME!!... ofcourse ;). After we sweated out a storm in that rave looking room we headed home to relax a bit before dinner and the after dinner plans.
A few hours had past and we refeshed ourselves ready for dinner. We headed out to a place on Crown St in Surry Hills called The White Horse and enjoyed a feast of steak, nachos and pasta! The weather outside began to rain heavily and that was a real shame because what i had planned was an outdoor thing and with the rain we couldn't go. So instead of the Moonlight cinemas out at Centennial Park we decided just to wind down and watch a movie at home instead. We threw on Prince of Persia untill our eyes couldn't stay awake any longer and we hit the hay and called it a day!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
First week off for the Christmas/New Years break!
This week has been an amazing week off the felt for me and i must say i am feeling great! We had Jamie and Jackie head home to Melbourne after a very busy fortnight that was the APPT Syd and our new residents at the Waterloo Inn (aka our home) are my brother and soon to be sister in-law Daniel and Amber.
I am now doing more work with mental sports coach and good friend Jamie Glazier on his website www.dare2dream.com.au and will be participating in his forums, so head over to his site and have a look around and if you don't already know of Jamie then get onto his stuff cos it's good stuff! I have been doing work with him for about 6 months now and am constantly seeing results with everything we've done together. One main thing Jamie and i talk about is things i do off the table that improve my game and so i put in the extra effort to make sure i am out there and getting active. So here is a blog of things i've been doing with my time off...
Last Wednesday a group of 5 of us including my brothers Jay, Josh and Daniel trekked on over to Homebush to see the almighty Linkin Park live at the Acer Arena and boy did they put on a show! I think i definitely speak for everyone when i say that i'm really not a fan at all of their new album, but because they are Linkin Park they did play for quite sometime so we got our moneys worth of over a decade of albums. A big disappointment for me was that they didn't play one of my favourites "Somewhere I Belong" but they made up for it with pretty much every other tune they performed. I would definitely recommend seeing them play if you ever get the option because they are just pure professionals on stage and you will never get bored throughout their whole set, unless ofcourse they play a song off their new album.
A few days of relaxation and freedom from that traproom of online poker had past and then came "No Sleep Till Sydney". No Sleep Till Sydney is a smaller music festival no different from Soundwave or Big Day Out with 3 stages and a mixture of bands from hardcore, punk, rock and metal genres. The band that i really was going to see was, and i've mentioned my love for them already, A Day To Remember. I had a look at the schedule before i went because Laraine had to work all day until 6:30pm so i wanted to make sure i didn't miss them. They didn't play until 8:45pm so that was great for us to not rush and grab some food n see a few other bands.
The festival was hosted at Entertainment Quarter over at the old Fox Studios which is great for us cos we live just across the road, it's a 15 min walk. I walked over at about 7pm to meet Laraine and there were people EVERYWHERE! Turns out that on the same night of this festival just in the stadium next door was one of the many Bon Jovi concerts! Only difference to both concerts was that the average age of the Bon Jovi concert was twice as much as No Sleep Till Sydney age lol.
The other main band that we watched was Parkway Drive and man do they put on a show! I really love watching hardcore bands play because the energy that you see between the band and the crowd is amazingly inspiring to me being the wannabe rockstar that i am. After Parkway finished their kickass set we rocked over to the stage that A Day To Remember are to be playing at and the crowd was building. We set up camp right next to the barrier at the sound desk so that we could get a good view of the stage. After a some time and anticipation waiting they came out on stage and put on a siikk show of breakdowns and melodic choruses. My favourite part of the show was when the singer instruction the crowd to make a massive circle around the sound tent that was in the middle and everyone must run around like a massive whirlpool! It was hectic and from the view we had it looked amazing. The only disappointment to their set was that their mix was terrible, the sound guys did a great job at stuffing that up.
So that was my first week chillin' out and getting some outside activities in. Feels great and i can't wait for even more of it over the next few weeks.
I am now doing more work with mental sports coach and good friend Jamie Glazier on his website www.dare2dream.com.au and will be participating in his forums, so head over to his site and have a look around and if you don't already know of Jamie then get onto his stuff cos it's good stuff! I have been doing work with him for about 6 months now and am constantly seeing results with everything we've done together. One main thing Jamie and i talk about is things i do off the table that improve my game and so i put in the extra effort to make sure i am out there and getting active. So here is a blog of things i've been doing with my time off...
Last Wednesday a group of 5 of us including my brothers Jay, Josh and Daniel trekked on over to Homebush to see the almighty Linkin Park live at the Acer Arena and boy did they put on a show! I think i definitely speak for everyone when i say that i'm really not a fan at all of their new album, but because they are Linkin Park they did play for quite sometime so we got our moneys worth of over a decade of albums. A big disappointment for me was that they didn't play one of my favourites "Somewhere I Belong" but they made up for it with pretty much every other tune they performed. I would definitely recommend seeing them play if you ever get the option because they are just pure professionals on stage and you will never get bored throughout their whole set, unless ofcourse they play a song off their new album.
A few days of relaxation and freedom from that traproom of online poker had past and then came "No Sleep Till Sydney". No Sleep Till Sydney is a smaller music festival no different from Soundwave or Big Day Out with 3 stages and a mixture of bands from hardcore, punk, rock and metal genres. The band that i really was going to see was, and i've mentioned my love for them already, A Day To Remember. I had a look at the schedule before i went because Laraine had to work all day until 6:30pm so i wanted to make sure i didn't miss them. They didn't play until 8:45pm so that was great for us to not rush and grab some food n see a few other bands.
The festival was hosted at Entertainment Quarter over at the old Fox Studios which is great for us cos we live just across the road, it's a 15 min walk. I walked over at about 7pm to meet Laraine and there were people EVERYWHERE! Turns out that on the same night of this festival just in the stadium next door was one of the many Bon Jovi concerts! Only difference to both concerts was that the average age of the Bon Jovi concert was twice as much as No Sleep Till Sydney age lol.
The other main band that we watched was Parkway Drive and man do they put on a show! I really love watching hardcore bands play because the energy that you see between the band and the crowd is amazingly inspiring to me being the wannabe rockstar that i am. After Parkway finished their kickass set we rocked over to the stage that A Day To Remember are to be playing at and the crowd was building. We set up camp right next to the barrier at the sound desk so that we could get a good view of the stage. After a some time and anticipation waiting they came out on stage and put on a siikk show of breakdowns and melodic choruses. My favourite part of the show was when the singer instruction the crowd to make a massive circle around the sound tent that was in the middle and everyone must run around like a massive whirlpool! It was hectic and from the view we had it looked amazing. The only disappointment to their set was that their mix was terrible, the sound guys did a great job at stuffing that up.
So that was my first week chillin' out and getting some outside activities in. Feels great and i can't wait for even more of it over the next few weeks.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Monday Majors 13th Dec
I had a later night than usual for a Sunday this week, usually I get to bed by around 9 or 9:30pm to get a decent sleep before the massive grind that is the Monday majors. The Monday majors are the biggest and best day to play online poker for the week and the day usually starts from about 4am and goes through until about 5pm on average (depending on how I go for the day). On an average Monday I play roughly 25-35 tournaments throughout the day and am usually in for an average of about $6k-$8k depending on how the rebuy tourneys go, etc. So you can understand why I try and get a really decent sleep to be well prepared. The reason I was up so late was because I was over at the casino railing Jono take down the biggest and best score of his career to date. There was a lot of hype going on over there and it was something I definitely wasn’t going to miss witnessing. I stayed there until about 10:30pm cheered him on and gave him a congratulatory hug and so on then got home by about 11pm or so.
I contemplated not playing majors this week only because I had had such an exhausting week with the APPT tournaments. I knew I needed a break but I had decided that it would be better to tough it out and play this Monday but have the rest of the week off and possibly the next few weeks off to enjoy Christmas and New Years. My year has been a massive year with the most exciting upswing and one of the most gruelling downswings too; I need to relax the mind, body and soul.
It is now Monday morning at about 4am; I woke up and had a shower to wake me up fully. I log on to my computer only to realise that I had misread my schedule for the day and that I didn’t actually need to start playing till 5am. That’s a pretty sick way to start a day but that wasn’t the only annoying thing to start the day with, I also had a splitting headache and nose blocking hay fever. I took a few meds to try and decrease my sickness and increase my focus and stamina levels, and no guys I know what you’re thinking but these meds are fully legal! I’m not into that sort of stuff. I got my head stuck down and got my grind on!
The day was going ok for the first 3-4 hrs or so and before I knew it I was on a final table of a $530 buy-in “high rollers” Party Poker tournament that I upsettingly finished 5th in for about $7k. Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing way to begin the day because now I am effectively free rolling the whole day so any money I cash for is profit! That definitely fills me with confidence and encouragement to play really well and hungrier to glide through the day hunting for any profits I could make.
The rest of the day was going ok and I had made a couple of min cashes but it was the $55 daily ninety grand that I was looking sexy in. By this point it was about 3pm and I was sitting in the top 5 chip leads with only about 100 players to go out of a tournament with 7000 players. First prize is worth a whopping $42,500.. for a $55 buy in that ROI (return on investment) is ridiculous! My equity is also so great because the field is full of much softer players than any other tournament worth that much money. I was keen to lock down and destroy this thing and make it really worth while me toughing out that day while being sick and exhausted.
I was clutching it out really well and before I knew it I was on the final table and sitting up the top coming 2nd out of the 9 left. I had noticed a lot of players playing very aggressively and to my knowledge it looked like a very bad kind of aggressive. It’s like a lot of them didn’t really know how to play a final table or that a few of them really didn’t understand optimal winning strategy. If anyone knows me as a player then they will know that this is not good for me. I play really well against tight conservative players and so for these players to be playing back at me so often I knew I needed to adjust my game. I will admit that for about an hour of the final table I was picking a lot of spots that usually work for me but wasn’t working for me and I knew I needed to shift my game just slightly and accordingly. There was a 5 min break and I took it as an opportunity to calm down and refresh, so I took a quick shower.
Coming back from the shower there were 3 of us left and I had my game on. I was forcing others to play a lot of post flop play because obviously applying pressure to them to play pre-flop was not working. And it worked great for the remaining of the tourney and after a struggle of about another hour and a half I had taken it down!
It is a massive achievement for me to be able to have the rebound skills of busting out short of a final table worth $470k for first in the APPT main event and then only 2 days later get my act back together and play a full day online (whilst sick) and take down a really decent payday. I am super content with that and now I’d decided to only play each Monday up until I head to Melbourne for the Aussie Millions.
I am currently working on my own fully self-maintained website www.brendooor.com and I am hoping to have it launched by the New Year! On the web site you will find all sorts of things including a bio, training videos, fun videos of stuff I am doing outside of poker, blogs, video blogs, etc. I am really excited about this and when I get the website up and going I hope to hear a lot of positive feedback. So if you have anything to suggest or ask me then you can find me on facebook or email (b_rubie@hotmail.com).
Ciao for now!!
I contemplated not playing majors this week only because I had had such an exhausting week with the APPT tournaments. I knew I needed a break but I had decided that it would be better to tough it out and play this Monday but have the rest of the week off and possibly the next few weeks off to enjoy Christmas and New Years. My year has been a massive year with the most exciting upswing and one of the most gruelling downswings too; I need to relax the mind, body and soul.
It is now Monday morning at about 4am; I woke up and had a shower to wake me up fully. I log on to my computer only to realise that I had misread my schedule for the day and that I didn’t actually need to start playing till 5am. That’s a pretty sick way to start a day but that wasn’t the only annoying thing to start the day with, I also had a splitting headache and nose blocking hay fever. I took a few meds to try and decrease my sickness and increase my focus and stamina levels, and no guys I know what you’re thinking but these meds are fully legal! I’m not into that sort of stuff. I got my head stuck down and got my grind on!
The day was going ok for the first 3-4 hrs or so and before I knew it I was on a final table of a $530 buy-in “high rollers” Party Poker tournament that I upsettingly finished 5th in for about $7k. Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing way to begin the day because now I am effectively free rolling the whole day so any money I cash for is profit! That definitely fills me with confidence and encouragement to play really well and hungrier to glide through the day hunting for any profits I could make.
The rest of the day was going ok and I had made a couple of min cashes but it was the $55 daily ninety grand that I was looking sexy in. By this point it was about 3pm and I was sitting in the top 5 chip leads with only about 100 players to go out of a tournament with 7000 players. First prize is worth a whopping $42,500.. for a $55 buy in that ROI (return on investment) is ridiculous! My equity is also so great because the field is full of much softer players than any other tournament worth that much money. I was keen to lock down and destroy this thing and make it really worth while me toughing out that day while being sick and exhausted.
I was clutching it out really well and before I knew it I was on the final table and sitting up the top coming 2nd out of the 9 left. I had noticed a lot of players playing very aggressively and to my knowledge it looked like a very bad kind of aggressive. It’s like a lot of them didn’t really know how to play a final table or that a few of them really didn’t understand optimal winning strategy. If anyone knows me as a player then they will know that this is not good for me. I play really well against tight conservative players and so for these players to be playing back at me so often I knew I needed to adjust my game. I will admit that for about an hour of the final table I was picking a lot of spots that usually work for me but wasn’t working for me and I knew I needed to shift my game just slightly and accordingly. There was a 5 min break and I took it as an opportunity to calm down and refresh, so I took a quick shower.
Coming back from the shower there were 3 of us left and I had my game on. I was forcing others to play a lot of post flop play because obviously applying pressure to them to play pre-flop was not working. And it worked great for the remaining of the tourney and after a struggle of about another hour and a half I had taken it down!
It is a massive achievement for me to be able to have the rebound skills of busting out short of a final table worth $470k for first in the APPT main event and then only 2 days later get my act back together and play a full day online (whilst sick) and take down a really decent payday. I am super content with that and now I’d decided to only play each Monday up until I head to Melbourne for the Aussie Millions.
I am currently working on my own fully self-maintained website www.brendooor.com and I am hoping to have it launched by the New Year! On the web site you will find all sorts of things including a bio, training videos, fun videos of stuff I am doing outside of poker, blogs, video blogs, etc. I am really excited about this and when I get the website up and going I hope to hear a lot of positive feedback. So if you have anything to suggest or ask me then you can find me on facebook or email (b_rubie@hotmail.com).
Ciao for now!!
APPT Main Event day 3 (in the money)
This day is definitely one of the most important days of my career to date. With 32 players left in the main event in my hometown and i was one of the top 5 chip leaders, there was no doubt that i lost a little bit of sleep and had those sickening butterflies in my stomach all night and morning.
I went to breakfast with some friends and good friend Jonothan Karamalikis (Full Tilt Red Pro) just across the road from star city casino at about 11am. The place was so popular that we had to create our own table outside and a few of us unlucky ones had to sit directly in the sun. It was such a nice day outside without a cloud in sight, to be stuck inside all day is usually a shame to waste such beautiful weather. Not today though. I was keen to be in the casino for as long as possible.
Jono and i have been friends for a bit over a year now and we've been through some pretty sweet times together. He staked me for about 6 months or so and after starting really bad i ended up pulling through with flying colours by taking down some really good value tournaments. And vice versa, i have taken some percentage and/or swapped percentages with him in the past and he has done really well aswell. So it's no suprise to us both that we'd decided to swap some percentage in this tournament too as a little insurance bet and also for support to one another.
After breakfast we walked on over into star city and headed down into the sports theatre where the tournament is going to be held. The whole place was set up amazingly with a feature table that had cameras, bright lights and microphones to catch all the action, and that's when the nerves really catched on. My starting table was however not the feature table but instead the table below seated with players Eddy Sabat, Grant Levy and Mitchell Carle. While my table draw was good with most of the good players having short stacks my day still began terribly and pretty much continued terribly.
I was in alot of tough situations and everytime i was all-in i seemed to be behind or flipping then i'd lose. I like to believe that i am educated enough to get away from alot of those hands but with the pressure of so much at stake on my shoulders i definitely believe that i was a little trigger happy on the all-ins. I must admit i am still a little shocked from my disappointing finish in the FTOPS main event from a few weeks back and to be this close to a final table that big again i definitely believe that i choked pretty hard under the pressure. When anyone thought it would be an easy life to play tournament poker for a living and try and win hundreds of thousands of dollars.. they were wrong, so very wrong.
After i lost a massive pot with 99 against KK i was down to just 15 BBs and my tournament was near but over with my only decisions being to shove or fold then i was pretty calm. I grinded the short stack for a good 2 hours there and i doubled once but then could not get the ball rolling. I got involved in a 3-way all in with AQ up against A9 and 77 only to have some guy yell out that he folded an ace. Like, honestly i really don't wanna know that. There's nothing more than i hate a poker table then when people tell other people that they folded their outs when they are all-in and their tournament is at stake. We play tournaments for the buzz and hype of getting it all in and anxiously watching those 5 community cards peel across the table. So please people, if you aren't involved in the all-in then shut your mouth and just watch!
When i lost the all-in with my AQ i was down to 4 BBs and couldn't get it back up. I was out. 15th position. Cool. My words were very thin from that point on, i was so upset. I walked silently to the cashier to collect my money and i pretty much left the casino straight away. I drove straight home and layed on my bed with my life partner Laraine staring at the ceiling, all so reminiscent of my FTOPS finish. I couldn't believe it.
But after some time laying silently i started talking to my beloved Laraine and there's something about her and what she says that really comforts me and helps me through these tough times. She knows the right things to say and she re-assures me about all the good things to come and good things outside of poker that i should be happy about. I highly suggest that you all invest in one of these girlfriend thingys, they are great value :P .
After some time being upset and lifting my spirits we started getting ready and headed over to Alison's (my sister) house for her 30th birthday party. I think this is really good timing for me to have her party to go to straight after an unfortunate bust out. I can have a few drinks, celebrate with her and brothers were all there so we all had a great time just being brothers. The party definitely got my mind off things.
And so that was it, my 2010 live tournament schedule has finished off with a decent, yet disappointing, finish and now have nothing on the live circuit untill Aussie Millions in January 2011
I went to breakfast with some friends and good friend Jonothan Karamalikis (Full Tilt Red Pro) just across the road from star city casino at about 11am. The place was so popular that we had to create our own table outside and a few of us unlucky ones had to sit directly in the sun. It was such a nice day outside without a cloud in sight, to be stuck inside all day is usually a shame to waste such beautiful weather. Not today though. I was keen to be in the casino for as long as possible.
Jono and i have been friends for a bit over a year now and we've been through some pretty sweet times together. He staked me for about 6 months or so and after starting really bad i ended up pulling through with flying colours by taking down some really good value tournaments. And vice versa, i have taken some percentage and/or swapped percentages with him in the past and he has done really well aswell. So it's no suprise to us both that we'd decided to swap some percentage in this tournament too as a little insurance bet and also for support to one another.
After breakfast we walked on over into star city and headed down into the sports theatre where the tournament is going to be held. The whole place was set up amazingly with a feature table that had cameras, bright lights and microphones to catch all the action, and that's when the nerves really catched on. My starting table was however not the feature table but instead the table below seated with players Eddy Sabat, Grant Levy and Mitchell Carle. While my table draw was good with most of the good players having short stacks my day still began terribly and pretty much continued terribly.
I was in alot of tough situations and everytime i was all-in i seemed to be behind or flipping then i'd lose. I like to believe that i am educated enough to get away from alot of those hands but with the pressure of so much at stake on my shoulders i definitely believe that i was a little trigger happy on the all-ins. I must admit i am still a little shocked from my disappointing finish in the FTOPS main event from a few weeks back and to be this close to a final table that big again i definitely believe that i choked pretty hard under the pressure. When anyone thought it would be an easy life to play tournament poker for a living and try and win hundreds of thousands of dollars.. they were wrong, so very wrong.
After i lost a massive pot with 99 against KK i was down to just 15 BBs and my tournament was near but over with my only decisions being to shove or fold then i was pretty calm. I grinded the short stack for a good 2 hours there and i doubled once but then could not get the ball rolling. I got involved in a 3-way all in with AQ up against A9 and 77 only to have some guy yell out that he folded an ace. Like, honestly i really don't wanna know that. There's nothing more than i hate a poker table then when people tell other people that they folded their outs when they are all-in and their tournament is at stake. We play tournaments for the buzz and hype of getting it all in and anxiously watching those 5 community cards peel across the table. So please people, if you aren't involved in the all-in then shut your mouth and just watch!
When i lost the all-in with my AQ i was down to 4 BBs and couldn't get it back up. I was out. 15th position. Cool. My words were very thin from that point on, i was so upset. I walked silently to the cashier to collect my money and i pretty much left the casino straight away. I drove straight home and layed on my bed with my life partner Laraine staring at the ceiling, all so reminiscent of my FTOPS finish. I couldn't believe it.
But after some time laying silently i started talking to my beloved Laraine and there's something about her and what she says that really comforts me and helps me through these tough times. She knows the right things to say and she re-assures me about all the good things to come and good things outside of poker that i should be happy about. I highly suggest that you all invest in one of these girlfriend thingys, they are great value :P .
After some time being upset and lifting my spirits we started getting ready and headed over to Alison's (my sister) house for her 30th birthday party. I think this is really good timing for me to have her party to go to straight after an unfortunate bust out. I can have a few drinks, celebrate with her and brothers were all there so we all had a great time just being brothers. The party definitely got my mind off things.
And so that was it, my 2010 live tournament schedule has finished off with a decent, yet disappointing, finish and now have nothing on the live circuit untill Aussie Millions in January 2011
Thursday, December 9, 2010
APPT Main Event Day 1
Yesterday i had plans to chill out for the morning then play a session online from about 12:30pm. I was gonna stay away from online for the week because of all the events but i've been feeling good and i thought that a light session of about 4 tourneys online wouldn't hurt.
I went off to bondi beach in the morning with Jackie and we layed on the sand talking/perving on all the ridiculously fake things we were seeing along that beach. It was no doubt that my body shape/figure was definitely out of place, but that didn't stop me from aggressively ripping off my shirt and David Hasselhoffing my way down that sand into those waves.. only to be carried away in a rip and be told by a bondi lifeguard over the mega phone to move into the flags. So keep an eye on bondi rescue this week, you may just see a hero shot or two of my rippled figure.
After cruisin' home and showering off all that sexy sand inbetween my toes i turned on the computer like you'd turn on your girlfriend and i registered for a few tourneys. That lasted about 2 hrs and i ran like ass so i was done and lost. I wasn't sure what to do for the rest of the day now.
My original plan for the main event was to play tomorrow (day 1c) and register late in about the 3rd level when blinds are 100/200 with a 25 ante and i'll get a starting stack of 30k. I think that by losing maybe 1% equity of missing all those early hands when 95% i'll most likely be folding i gain a further 5% equity in how much more fresh i am and less fatigued. These main events are stressful and the long days are grueling. I will do anything i can to reduce those hours and prevent fatigued brain snaps.
So because i was lost for things to do for the day i decided to play the main event and register late as planned anyway. I drove in and made my way up to the buy-in desk and only to have the credit card machine spew on me and i had no cash on me. Sigh, i guess i'll play tomorrow. But wait! I know people, i have connections. I did a few quick laps of the poker pit and somehow managed to rack up the $6300 buy in for the main event and after a further 30 mins of stuffing around i took my seat on the table right in the middle of Pokerstars Team Pro Celina Lin and Full Tilt Red Pro Simon Watt. I knew a few other players at the table but the majority were unknowns.
I cruised through that day just fine, didn't get involved in too many massive hands. I built my stack up to about 55k in the first hour or so and then had a fry run for about 3 hrs and got down to about 23k and all of a sudden i found myself with 29 BBs and 15 mins to go of day 1. Then i got involved in a hand which i was slightly over exhausted to to be involved in.
With my table image I knew that i would get raised lightly in any pot i would like to open. So when i picked up AJs UTG i don't really like these spots but i admit i was a little steamy from not being able to get the ball rolling and we are nearing the end of the day. I open to 1800 at the level of 400/800 and i get flat called once and then a guy on the button squeezed to 7200 who had a stack of over 100k. My thinking here is that i noticed that the player didn't really look around at stack sizes or anything and therefore i sensed that as weakness because most players with a strong hand want to know exactly the right amount to bet to get max value from their hand. with my stack only being another 14k into a 30k pot for him to call if i shoved i thought to myself that he is definitely committed to call and in the chance that he is light then i have a great oppurtunity to double here if i have him crushed. Worst case scenario is that i am a 70/30 underdog and i am happy to take that chance judging by how my day had been going. So i proceeded to shove all-in and the first called folded which then left the squeezer a decision to call off the 14k into a 30k pot. He thought about the decision for a good 2-3 minutes and the longer he thought the more i was happy about my decision and that i had him crushed. So the longer he takes the more i want him to call. Eventually he called and tabled AQ off-suit, which i was upset and confused to see. I understand that most of the time i have him crushed in that spot but with the price he was getting on the pot i really think its a no brainer that he should call pretty much within the next 10 seconds to me going all-in.
I stay in my chair befuddled at the unintentional slow-roll and watched anxiously as the dealer produced a 3 7 J flop. I had gotten lucky and picked up one of the only three cards in the deck i could get. Aaaand i was doin' the inside happy dance again but also had my heart pumping because i still needed to dodge a queen from coming in the next two cards to come. The dealer did well in brick laying the next two cards and it was a lock that i would double to roughly 46k like it was ment to be!
The tournament director, not long after, announced that there were only 3 more hands left for the day and i was relieved. I needed to end the day and come back on day 2 with a refreshed mind, different run of cards and ready to play my A game that i apparently left at home for the day.
That was a wrap! I bagged my chips and i winded down with an easy dinner with friends and family. Gonna take it easy in the day off untill day 2!
I went off to bondi beach in the morning with Jackie and we layed on the sand talking/perving on all the ridiculously fake things we were seeing along that beach. It was no doubt that my body shape/figure was definitely out of place, but that didn't stop me from aggressively ripping off my shirt and David Hasselhoffing my way down that sand into those waves.. only to be carried away in a rip and be told by a bondi lifeguard over the mega phone to move into the flags. So keep an eye on bondi rescue this week, you may just see a hero shot or two of my rippled figure.
After cruisin' home and showering off all that sexy sand inbetween my toes i turned on the computer like you'd turn on your girlfriend and i registered for a few tourneys. That lasted about 2 hrs and i ran like ass so i was done and lost. I wasn't sure what to do for the rest of the day now.
My original plan for the main event was to play tomorrow (day 1c) and register late in about the 3rd level when blinds are 100/200 with a 25 ante and i'll get a starting stack of 30k. I think that by losing maybe 1% equity of missing all those early hands when 95% i'll most likely be folding i gain a further 5% equity in how much more fresh i am and less fatigued. These main events are stressful and the long days are grueling. I will do anything i can to reduce those hours and prevent fatigued brain snaps.
So because i was lost for things to do for the day i decided to play the main event and register late as planned anyway. I drove in and made my way up to the buy-in desk and only to have the credit card machine spew on me and i had no cash on me. Sigh, i guess i'll play tomorrow. But wait! I know people, i have connections. I did a few quick laps of the poker pit and somehow managed to rack up the $6300 buy in for the main event and after a further 30 mins of stuffing around i took my seat on the table right in the middle of Pokerstars Team Pro Celina Lin and Full Tilt Red Pro Simon Watt. I knew a few other players at the table but the majority were unknowns.
I cruised through that day just fine, didn't get involved in too many massive hands. I built my stack up to about 55k in the first hour or so and then had a fry run for about 3 hrs and got down to about 23k and all of a sudden i found myself with 29 BBs and 15 mins to go of day 1. Then i got involved in a hand which i was slightly over exhausted to to be involved in.
With my table image I knew that i would get raised lightly in any pot i would like to open. So when i picked up AJs UTG i don't really like these spots but i admit i was a little steamy from not being able to get the ball rolling and we are nearing the end of the day. I open to 1800 at the level of 400/800 and i get flat called once and then a guy on the button squeezed to 7200 who had a stack of over 100k. My thinking here is that i noticed that the player didn't really look around at stack sizes or anything and therefore i sensed that as weakness because most players with a strong hand want to know exactly the right amount to bet to get max value from their hand. with my stack only being another 14k into a 30k pot for him to call if i shoved i thought to myself that he is definitely committed to call and in the chance that he is light then i have a great oppurtunity to double here if i have him crushed. Worst case scenario is that i am a 70/30 underdog and i am happy to take that chance judging by how my day had been going. So i proceeded to shove all-in and the first called folded which then left the squeezer a decision to call off the 14k into a 30k pot. He thought about the decision for a good 2-3 minutes and the longer he thought the more i was happy about my decision and that i had him crushed. So the longer he takes the more i want him to call. Eventually he called and tabled AQ off-suit, which i was upset and confused to see. I understand that most of the time i have him crushed in that spot but with the price he was getting on the pot i really think its a no brainer that he should call pretty much within the next 10 seconds to me going all-in.
I stay in my chair befuddled at the unintentional slow-roll and watched anxiously as the dealer produced a 3 7 J flop. I had gotten lucky and picked up one of the only three cards in the deck i could get. Aaaand i was doin' the inside happy dance again but also had my heart pumping because i still needed to dodge a queen from coming in the next two cards to come. The dealer did well in brick laying the next two cards and it was a lock that i would double to roughly 46k like it was ment to be!
The tournament director, not long after, announced that there were only 3 more hands left for the day and i was relieved. I needed to end the day and come back on day 2 with a refreshed mind, different run of cards and ready to play my A game that i apparently left at home for the day.
That was a wrap! I bagged my chips and i winded down with an easy dinner with friends and family. Gonna take it easy in the day off untill day 2!
High Rollers Event
I rolled out of bed on thursday feeling really good and excited about the high rollers event. I went and had some breakfast with Jackie and Jamie Glazier, who had been staying with me over the series, just down the road from where i live and i decided to take a healthier option and ordered some soup which i thought would be a great change to my usual poached eggs on toast with avo on the side. Turns out i misread the menu and the soup i had ordered was a hot soup with chilli.. yeah, i hate chilli food with a passion. This was just the first unfortunate event to unveil in my day.
I drove into the casino rockin' my new favourite album that i am in to by a band called A Day To Remember. They really put me in a good mood even though they land in the heavy rock genre. Either that or i'll listen to my favourite Taylor Swift album :)
After registering for the event i went to my seat and saw the table that i was allocated to. I was relatively happy with my table draw, i had a few notable players but more unknowns than knowns which is always good. I looked around for Daniel Negreanu but he was no where to be found, i guess he was too hungover from the pokerstars party last night to bother coming in.. and so is the life of a true high roller! So that was another dissapointing start to the day as that was something i was looking forward to.
I was cruisin' along ok for the first 2 hrs and didn't get involved in any massive hands and then my head started getting real heavy and painful. To reduce errors and brain snaps due to my sudden fatigue and headache i decided that taking a lap or two of hands away from the table is the best option. I went for a walk down to a convenience store and chose a fruit and veg "energy" drink out of the 1500 drinks in the fridge to hopefully lift my head and get back into the zone. It worked great! I got back to the table and won a few little pots which was great for my confidence levels and also to make my stack a little healthier. Then all hell broke loose in this one hand that was beyond my control to lose.
My image at the table at the moment after winning a few hands is fairly loose which is great if you are aware of that and use your image to your advantage. I was then dealt JJ on the big blind, that's when my walls came caving in on me. Blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante and my stack was about 20k, my opponents stack was about 18k. All players fold to the button and he raised to 1200, small blind folds and i three-bet to 2800 from the big blind. I raised small to induce a four-bet bluff, this player is capable of easily falling for this trap. He decides to call and we take a flop of J 10 7 rainbow (OMG, I have a set). I think here, given our stack and pot size, i think the best way to get him to stack off here is if i bet the flop. I really don't like slowplaying the flop in this situation out of position. So i proceed to bet 3800 on the flop to give the player great pot odds to bluff raise his whole stack in the middle or if he has any piece of it then it makes it hard for him to get away from it. He fell right into my plan nicely and began to stack his chips up ready to dump them in the pot. One by one as he stacked those chips up i just couldn't wait to get mine in too, so when he pushed them forward i then instantly did the same. He, so awkward but proudly, turned over AQ off-suit for nothing but a gut-shot against my hand. Yeww! I was doin the happy dance inside to see that i am about an 85% favourite and in hold'em that is pretty close to the best you can get it in. However the turn card did not seem to like me very much as the king of spades fell ever so softly onto the felt to complete his broadway straight and put me down to a 20% underdog. The river was a meaningless 5 like it was destiny and before i knew it my stack was gone and i was short-stacked. I couldn't double my last few chips and that was it for the high rollers for me.
I left the casino straight away because i was in no mood to talk to anyone and i just needed to cool off. I drove home and went to the gym to let it all out with a decent cardio session, which makes me feel better and more relaxed afterwards. I called it a day and got over it.. well i wish it were that simple, but i slept on it.
I played day 1b of the main event today and i will post about it tomorrow morning but right now i need some sleep so i am going to call it a night.
ciao!
I drove into the casino rockin' my new favourite album that i am in to by a band called A Day To Remember. They really put me in a good mood even though they land in the heavy rock genre. Either that or i'll listen to my favourite Taylor Swift album :)
After registering for the event i went to my seat and saw the table that i was allocated to. I was relatively happy with my table draw, i had a few notable players but more unknowns than knowns which is always good. I looked around for Daniel Negreanu but he was no where to be found, i guess he was too hungover from the pokerstars party last night to bother coming in.. and so is the life of a true high roller! So that was another dissapointing start to the day as that was something i was looking forward to.
I was cruisin' along ok for the first 2 hrs and didn't get involved in any massive hands and then my head started getting real heavy and painful. To reduce errors and brain snaps due to my sudden fatigue and headache i decided that taking a lap or two of hands away from the table is the best option. I went for a walk down to a convenience store and chose a fruit and veg "energy" drink out of the 1500 drinks in the fridge to hopefully lift my head and get back into the zone. It worked great! I got back to the table and won a few little pots which was great for my confidence levels and also to make my stack a little healthier. Then all hell broke loose in this one hand that was beyond my control to lose.
My image at the table at the moment after winning a few hands is fairly loose which is great if you are aware of that and use your image to your advantage. I was then dealt JJ on the big blind, that's when my walls came caving in on me. Blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante and my stack was about 20k, my opponents stack was about 18k. All players fold to the button and he raised to 1200, small blind folds and i three-bet to 2800 from the big blind. I raised small to induce a four-bet bluff, this player is capable of easily falling for this trap. He decides to call and we take a flop of J 10 7 rainbow (OMG, I have a set). I think here, given our stack and pot size, i think the best way to get him to stack off here is if i bet the flop. I really don't like slowplaying the flop in this situation out of position. So i proceed to bet 3800 on the flop to give the player great pot odds to bluff raise his whole stack in the middle or if he has any piece of it then it makes it hard for him to get away from it. He fell right into my plan nicely and began to stack his chips up ready to dump them in the pot. One by one as he stacked those chips up i just couldn't wait to get mine in too, so when he pushed them forward i then instantly did the same. He, so awkward but proudly, turned over AQ off-suit for nothing but a gut-shot against my hand. Yeww! I was doin the happy dance inside to see that i am about an 85% favourite and in hold'em that is pretty close to the best you can get it in. However the turn card did not seem to like me very much as the king of spades fell ever so softly onto the felt to complete his broadway straight and put me down to a 20% underdog. The river was a meaningless 5 like it was destiny and before i knew it my stack was gone and i was short-stacked. I couldn't double my last few chips and that was it for the high rollers for me.
I left the casino straight away because i was in no mood to talk to anyone and i just needed to cool off. I drove home and went to the gym to let it all out with a decent cardio session, which makes me feel better and more relaxed afterwards. I called it a day and got over it.. well i wish it were that simple, but i slept on it.
I played day 1b of the main event today and i will post about it tomorrow morning but right now i need some sleep so i am going to call it a night.
ciao!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
APPT Sydney 2010
Over the past week I have been gearing up and adjusting my game accordingly from my usual online aggression to a live small ball strategy accomodating for the big 2 weeks that is APPT Grand Final Sydney. It's all happening, all the interstate and international players are here. Time to pack the online grinding station away for a fortnight (bar monday majors ofcourse!) and buckle down to have a great series and get some live scores on the board!
The Events I will be playing/have already played will be as follows:
- $1100 Opening Event (early KO)
- $1100 6 max Semi-Shootout (early KO)
- $2200 6 max (early KO)
- $15200 High rollers (I play tomorrow 7/12)
- $6300 Main Event (I will play day 1c on thurs 9/12)
As you can see I haven't had the greatest start to the series but it's been a good warm up for the ones that will really count. I am happy with the way I've been playing so far and, while everytime you play you make mistakes, I don't think i am making any more mistakes than normal.
I am really looking forward to playing the high rollers event tomorrow. I think it's a combination of it being a slightly bigger buy-in than normal at $15k and the fact that it is held in the sports theatre downstairs at Star City rather than it being held upstairs in that dungeon of a poker room. It being held in the sports theatre gives the event much more hype and attention which then makes me more excited and much more motivated to give it my 110% because more people will be watching. There is some extra pressure on me for this event but at the same time it is less stressful because i have sold a decent chunk of my action (action = a % of the buy-in) to friends which makes me more nervous that i am representing alot of people but more relaxed that i don't have as much money invested.
Word on the street also is that Daniel Negreanu and Ted Forrestor are in town! I have gone ahead and assumed that Daniel will be playing the event tomorrow. This is really exciting for me because when i first got into poker with my brother and friends we used to watch him play on High Stakes Poker etc. We talked about and idolised him as the sort of poker player we all wanted to be someday. To think that only two and a half years later I will be playing with him in a $15k buy-in event fills me with all sorts of crazy exciting emotions.
Well, I am going to get a decent sleep now and prepare accordingly for a big day tomorrow. I will have a decent breakfast and get some sunlight before being trapped inside all day as a great way for me to start.
Stay posted as I will be updating the blog later with a report on how my Monday went online today and how the big event tomorrow goes. I will be making it a regular thing to post a decent report on every stage of the day throughout my day on Mondays. I will be getting my video blog up and filming final tables and/or deep events, then adding interesting hands to the blog when I can get my head around editing and uploading videos.
Peace out..
The Events I will be playing/have already played will be as follows:
- $1100 Opening Event (early KO)
- $1100 6 max Semi-Shootout (early KO)
- $2200 6 max (early KO)
- $15200 High rollers (I play tomorrow 7/12)
- $6300 Main Event (I will play day 1c on thurs 9/12)
As you can see I haven't had the greatest start to the series but it's been a good warm up for the ones that will really count. I am happy with the way I've been playing so far and, while everytime you play you make mistakes, I don't think i am making any more mistakes than normal.
I am really looking forward to playing the high rollers event tomorrow. I think it's a combination of it being a slightly bigger buy-in than normal at $15k and the fact that it is held in the sports theatre downstairs at Star City rather than it being held upstairs in that dungeon of a poker room. It being held in the sports theatre gives the event much more hype and attention which then makes me more excited and much more motivated to give it my 110% because more people will be watching. There is some extra pressure on me for this event but at the same time it is less stressful because i have sold a decent chunk of my action (action = a % of the buy-in) to friends which makes me more nervous that i am representing alot of people but more relaxed that i don't have as much money invested.
Word on the street also is that Daniel Negreanu and Ted Forrestor are in town! I have gone ahead and assumed that Daniel will be playing the event tomorrow. This is really exciting for me because when i first got into poker with my brother and friends we used to watch him play on High Stakes Poker etc. We talked about and idolised him as the sort of poker player we all wanted to be someday. To think that only two and a half years later I will be playing with him in a $15k buy-in event fills me with all sorts of crazy exciting emotions.
Well, I am going to get a decent sleep now and prepare accordingly for a big day tomorrow. I will have a decent breakfast and get some sunlight before being trapped inside all day as a great way for me to start.
Stay posted as I will be updating the blog later with a report on how my Monday went online today and how the big event tomorrow goes. I will be making it a regular thing to post a decent report on every stage of the day throughout my day on Mondays. I will be getting my video blog up and filming final tables and/or deep events, then adding interesting hands to the blog when I can get my head around editing and uploading videos.
Peace out..
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Pilot
So, I've created this blogspot to allow people to follow my work and relate to the day to day lifestyle that is a young professional poker player that I am. I will be doing half/half video blogs and written blogs. I will also be recording all final tables I am in online and every now and then I will be posting certain hands and situations in video form where you will see my hole cards and get an idea of some of my thought processes throughout hands.
I will also be blogging about day to day stuff that is off the poker table but related to maintaining a winning lifestyle. And I will be posting about places that I go and the people I meet.
If you follow this blog you will experience the massive ups and downs that is my life and the grueling swings that is tournament poker. At times I will seem like a genius and at other times I will seem like an absolute idiot. But I wanna share as much as possible with the people interested in what I do and let them know how hard it really is to make a living from what I love and still maintain a stable life with healthy relationships.
I really hope to get alot of positiveness out of this blog by re-assing everything I do and hopefully get positive and negative(be nice lol) feedback. So if you read or watch something you like or don't like then be open and comment on it and I will be more than happy to discuss with you about whatever it may be :) .
Peace out..
I will also be blogging about day to day stuff that is off the poker table but related to maintaining a winning lifestyle. And I will be posting about places that I go and the people I meet.
If you follow this blog you will experience the massive ups and downs that is my life and the grueling swings that is tournament poker. At times I will seem like a genius and at other times I will seem like an absolute idiot. But I wanna share as much as possible with the people interested in what I do and let them know how hard it really is to make a living from what I love and still maintain a stable life with healthy relationships.
I really hope to get alot of positiveness out of this blog by re-assing everything I do and hopefully get positive and negative(be nice lol) feedback. So if you read or watch something you like or don't like then be open and comment on it and I will be more than happy to discuss with you about whatever it may be :) .
Peace out..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)