Having come to the conclusion that my poker game has been lacking discipline and some set goals I have decided to set myself a challenge. I've given myself a $200 bankroll with the aim of turning it into $20k. All action will take place at Pokerstars. I've not set any time scale on it, as its clearly a long term challenge. I have however set a few rules that i must abide to. They are as follows:
1. Starting stakes are 0.02/0.05c and $2 tournaments. (the only exception being the Sunday Storm)
2. I can only move up in stakes when my bankroll reaches $400. i can then play 0.05/0.10c and $5 tournaments.
3. Each time my bankroll increases by $200 i can move to the next stakes, but must return to the previous level if i drop below the required bankroll level.
4. i must write atleast one blog every week.
5. at the end of each week i must do a database review and analyse my play.
im hoping that these rules will ensure that i stick to the challenge and have enough motivation despite the low stakes i will be playing.
Having started the challenge on Tuesday i proceeded to have two losing days having mainly played 6-max hold'em and a few MTT's. I felt that i played reletively well however never managed to get paid with my big hands and losing a few coin flips.
today i decided to play some PLO as i feel i have a big edge at these stakes. The only downside to playing PLO is that i cant record any hands on Holdem Manager. As well as recording my first winning session in cash, i also cashed for the first time in a $2 6-max MTT. Out of 4095 runners i managed to finish 131st for a $9.41 payday!
The hand i busted with was an interesting situation which i thought id share.
With the blinds at 2k/4k (500 ante) i raised to 8.8k with A-6 spades from UTG+1. i started the hand with 55k and the only caller was the BB who was sitting with 250k. the flop was Q-Q-6 with two diamonds. He imediately shoved 152k in the middle, putting me all-in. I had only been at the table for 29 hands and he had the following stats:
VPIP: 34
PFR: 17
3B:8
AF:5
My gut instinct was that he never has a Queen in this spot. id expect him to 3bet good Queens and fold any Q-x type hand, even with the odds he's getting. he also is losing out on so much value if i have no hand as i can just fold, so id expect him to check-raise, or maybe even check-call if he has queen. id also expect him to 3bet with any pair, so everything led me to my initial thought that he was just shoving a flush draw. therefore i decided to call and he turned over A-J of diamonds for the aforementioned flush draw. the turn and river were both diamonds and i busted.
the question i ask is even if im 100% certain that he has a flush draw, should i call? Im about 52% to win the hand and 114k which would have given me an above average stack with 130ish players left.
i would welcome anyones thought about the hand and how they would have played it and any general thoughts on the situation.
my personal reasons for calling were as followed:
1. i was very certain i had the best hand (as explained above)
2. i had the chance to win 114k as a 52% favourite
3. i would have been happy to flip 50/50 preflop with A-K, A-Q and 7-7+ so why not in this spot?
4. with the payout being so top heavy i felt i needed a big stack to have the best chance of winning and this was a good spot to win that stack.
As it turned out i made the right play but didnt get the result i wanted. this seems to be a re-occuring situation at present and has been affecting my confidence when getting deep into MTT's. However, im always happy to get my chips in with the best hand regardless of the outcome so i try not to get to disillusioned.
I will leave it as that for my first post. i will try and update this as often as possible.
Day3: Bankroll = $158.57
Q
4
(4 players - 1 is all in)