Sunday Morning Mugging
I was thinking about going out and taking a nice ride on my motorcycle, maybe do some lawn work. After this sample of my luck, though, I don't think I'm going to handle anything potentially dangerous today. Words can't summarize, so let's go to the tape, shall we?
Game one. The try at $30+$3.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (4 handed) converter
UTG (t3990)
Button (t2228)
SB (t1290)
Your_Luckless_Hero (t492)
Preflop: Your_Luckless_Hero is BB with Th, Qd.
UTG folds, Button folds, SB raises to t400, Your_Luckless_Hero raises to t492 (All-In), SB calls t92.
Flop: (t984) Ac, 4c, 8c (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t984) 9s (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t984) 5s (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: t984
Main Pot: t984 (t984), between SB and Your_Luckless_Hero.
Results:
Your_Luckless_Hero shows Th Qd (high card, ace).
SB shows Jh Ks (high card, ace).
Outcome: SB wins t984.
This was my own damn fault... I had some decent holding. Unfortunately, they all came at the beginning of the tournement and everyone was playing fast and loose.. I figured the best tactic would be to let these jokers sink each other, which worked... Problem was, once I got to a point where I could make moves, the cards died on me.
-$33
Great start. Okay, so I'm done with $30 level, here we go with the $20...
I'm in great position here. I've got the monster stack, and I'm feeling good. Then I run into QQ when I try to take out someone with JJ with 4 left. Hmmm.. Okay, no real bad damage there... Then the cards die again. Meanwhile, everyone is sort of playing with themselves waiting for me to die, it seems. My first trip of the day down the river comes shortly thereafter. Something that ended up being the first verse of the theme song of the day.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (4 handed) converter
SB (t3265)
BB (t2020)
Your_Luckless_Hero (t745)
Button (t1970)
Preflop: Your_Luckless_Hero is UTG with Ts, Kd.
Your_Luckless_Hero raises to t400, Button folds, SB folds, BB raises to t800, Your_Luckless_Hero calls t345 (All-In).
Flop: (t1645) 8d, 4d, 2c (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t1645) Ks (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t1645) Jd (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: t1645
Main Pot: t1590 (t1590), between BB and Your_Luckless_Hero.
Pot 2: t55 (t55), returned to BB.
Results:
BB shows Jh Jc (three of a kind, jacks).
Your_Luckless_Hero shows Ts Kd (one pair, kings).
Outcome: BB wins t1645.
Saved by the turn, killed by the river. Gotta love poker. -$22
Undeterred, I head once more unto the breech.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) converter
UTG+1 (t785)
MP1 (t1685)
MP2 (t665)
Your_Luckless_Hero (t775)
CO (t905)
Button (t860)
SB (t725)
BB (t800)
UTG (t800)
Preflop: Your_Luckless_Hero is MP3 with Kc, Kd.
UTG raises to t60, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, Your_Luckless_Hero raises to t150, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, UTG raises to t450, Your_Luckless_Hero raises to t775 (All-In), UTG calls t325.
Flop: (t1575) 7s, Ad, Qs (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t1575) 2s (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t1575) 5c (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: t1575
Main Pot: t1575 (t1575), between Your_Luckless_Hero and UTG.
Results:
UTG shows As Ah (three of a kind, aces).
Your_Luckless_Hero shows Kc Kd (one pair, kings).
Outcome: UTG wins t1575.
And that's about all I've got to say about that. -$22
WTF, eh? This can't keep happening. Statistically, it's impossible.
Again, I wade along in okay chip position and we're 4 handed... And play friggin just stops. Everyone tightens up to an almost perfect vaccuum and we go 10 hands without a flop. Finally I get a hand I think I can steal with, seeing as how these guys are just cowering in the corner. I've gotta do something or I'm going to get blinded to death.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (4 handed) converter
BB (t2880)
Your_Luckless_Hero (t875)
Button (t1395)
SB (t2850)
Preflop: Your_Luckless_Hero is UTG with Ah, 3c.
Your_Luckless_Hero raises to t875 (All-In), Button folds, SB calls t725, BB folds.
Flop: (t2050) 5s, Jc, Qh (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t2050) 8s (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t2050) Kh (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: t2050
Main Pot: t2050 (t2050), between Your_Luckless_Hero and SB.
Results:
Your_Luckless_Hero shows Ah 3c (high card, ace).
SB shows Qd Qs (three of a kind, queens).
Outcome: SB wins t2050.
You'd have thought by now I would have gotten the fucking picture that today was not my day. -$22
Seeing has how the game I lost above was moving glacially slow due to the World Poker Tour style pauses (in fact, the fucktard who called me down with QQ waited until the timer went to 1 to do it... What in the name of Christ was he waiting for?), I decided to fire up another tournement to break the boredom.
Silly me.
Again, decent chip position, doing well, blinds are up there, blah blah blah, like it fucking matters:
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (5 handed) converter
UTG (t2555)
Your_Luckless_Hero (t725)
Button (t2310)
SB (t290)
BB (t2120)
Preflop: Your_Luckless_Hero TEYour_Luckless_Hero%%%%%7d, 7c.
UTG folds, Your_Luckless_Hero raises to t300, Button calls t300, SB folds, BB folds.
Flop: (t750) Jc, 6c, 8c (2 players)
Your_Luckless_Hero bets t425 (All-In), Button calls t425.
Turn: (t1600) Tc (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t1600) 3c (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: t1600
Main Pot: t1600 (t1600), between Your_Luckless_Hero and Button.
Results:
Your_Luckless_Hero shows 7d 7c (flush, jack high).
Button shows Ac 9c (flush, ace high).
Outcome: Button wins t1600.
Why did I shove after the flop? I don't know. Frustration I guess. I lack the ability to care at this point. Maybe when I don't feel like God hates me I can break this day from Hell down a little further. -$22
So, a total haul for today of -$121. So, not only did I fail in my bid to make a dent in the $30 range, but I'm down to the $10 range again. Silly me. I started feeling like when I got to the $30 level I was perhaps going to start actually getting somewhere with this challange.
My ring game bankroll is around $150 now, so things suck ass all over. Definately back to the 50/1 hell for a while in terms of grinding. I dunno. Like I said, I at this point lack sufficient ability to care. I haven't seen a beating this brutal since Tyson vs. Holyfield.
Statistics, you say? Oh, they're fun! Lessee...
For today, my VP$IP was 11%.
I saw 13% of the flops.
I won 31% of the time when I saw the flop. Yes, Virgina, 31%.
I went to Showdown 46% of the time and won at showdown 33% of the time.
My aggression factor was 2.89.
So.. Since I appear to be completely baffled, I'm interested in some suggestions. Do you, of clearer mind and infinite poker wisdom see this as bad luck or bad play? Help me Obi Wan Kanobi, you're my only hope.
4 Comments:
well, for one thing you're experiencing the variance of sng's. because sng's depend not only on your holdings, the community cards, and your opponents holdings, but on the _timing_ of those three things, (ie him having QQ when you call with JJ), there's more variance/variables to sng's than ring games. your strategy of playing super tight early on is designed to decrease the variables, by making it a 1out5 rather than 1out10 game. However that only decreases the variance slightly, and your tournament challenge is still a risky proposition despite a good basic strategy: you're moving up a level when your bankroll goes +$100 and that is simply too little to handle the swings.
sure, you can still try it. and you might hit a good run and skyrocket up in bankroll/limits. my only advice to the contrary would be this: you'd be amazed at how much clearer headed you are, especially on the bubble, when you're playing at a limit your bankroll can handle, at a limit where you've lost before and won before, where you're not in a make-or-break position in which a single tournament result can swing your day to the good or bad.
if you feel you're too good for $10+1 then you should either grind out some $10+1 success until you have a comfortable $20+2 bankroll, or add some money to your poker roll in another way, and move yourself up.
good luck, it's been enjoyable reading about your sng days during my own sng day.
-dankhank
Have you tried any other poker sites? Party is definitely the site with the most players and most fish, but the SNG format is tough. Your chips are low and the blinds move fast. You almost have to make a decent score sometime fairly early to be able to survive. Most other sites give you 1000 chips, which allows a little more skill to come through. Stars has a better blind structure as well. Othewise I don't know what to tell you. I've been playing on Paradise, and have been doing very well in the $20 SNG games. I've mostly played pretty tight and allowed the crazies to knock each other out, and only tried to steal from the weak/tight players. Bluffing almost never works with these players. You defnitely seem to be paying attention to your game, so I certainly can't find any obvious leaks in your game, othe than playing too high for your bankroll. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
The second commenter already said this, but the thing I noticed is that when it comes down to the 4 or 5 hand you're somewhere south of your starting stack. Not majorly so, but compaired to the competition you're tiny. The thing I've noticed is that no matter how tight/good you've played your game the small stack bet gets no respect so even steller hands get cracked more often that you would think. Now, I'm not suggesting that you change your style of play much, but something I picked up from my studies is that SNGs are like any other tournament, you want to play conservative up to the bubble (4 or 5 players left). That doesn't mean only play group 1 and 2 hands, but bet conservatively unless you have the nuts. The obvious name of the game here is survival. On the bubble as you've noticed, things appear to get so tight that farts are ultra-sonic. Despite advice to the contrary, I don't think this is the time to loosen up, it's a waiting game to see who cracks under the strain/boredom of being a tight, tight folding machine or slips and tries to steal the wrong pot. Now obviously if you're the small stack you've got to protect your blinds if you can, steal other peoples blinds when possible, and be all in when you believe in your hand. However, as I've recently experienced myself, if you're not playing a premium hand on the bubble, you're begging to get booted from the game. I've got a lot more thoughts on this, I'll use it as fuel for a post on my blog. Hopefully the dealer will smile on you more often in the future.
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