Something Like Poker

The trials an tribulations of an aspiring poker professional.

I’m about to head to AC with my girlfriend for a couple days, so this is just a quick update.

I ended up going to the Borgata yesterday for their $215+35 satellite into their upcoming 3-day deepstack $500,000 guaranteed tournament. First of all, I got there at about 10:30am (the tournament was scheduled to start at 11), and the line lead out of the poker room, all the way back to where the hallway in the casino splits (by the cashier’s cage). I’d estimate there were about 200+ people in line in front of me. It took about 45-50 minutes to get through the line to get a tournament ticket, and while I missed a few hands, I didn’t miss any blinds.

The tournament itself went really well with regards to my play and my stack size. I tried to play more conservatively than I have before in tournaments, as I know I raise too many weak hands (e.g.: QJs) in early position. I ended up folding more paint cards when there were more people to act behind me, and I think it helped me out a ton.

Everyone started with $6,000 in chips, and by the second break I was up to about $30,000 in chips. With about 600 players and the top 10% (60 players) receiving satellite seats, then each of those 60 players would have an average of $60,000 in order to survive.

Finally, with about 70 players left (10 more players to bust out before winning a seat), I was starting to get a bit short in chips. I had less than $30,000, and the blinds were $3000/6000 with a $1000 ante, giving me an M of about 1.5. Harrington suggests shoving with an M of about 5 in hopes of stealing the blinds and antes when they are worth so much relative to your stack, and other players still have some fold equity. As such, when it folded to me with K9s in the cutoff, I shoved my remaining chips hoping they would help me survive another orbit or two. The small blind woke up with JJ and insta-called me. Unfortunately, he had me slightly covered, and my hand didn’t improve. So long, 5 hours and dreams of winning a sum of money that could significantly change my life!

Because of the enormous player field in the tournament, the cash games were blowing up. I decided to not miss out on this opportunity after busting out in the satellite, and I sat down at a $1/2 NLHE table with $200. After 4 hours of play, I ended up +$412. This is even after losing a $500 pot when I flopped an underset, and losing another $320 pot when my QQ lost to a loose player who called my early position $40 reraise with T8s. I’d say that being up $412 despite having those two big losses is pretty significant! (Though really, I’m only up $162 on the day since I lost $250 in the tournament.)

Also, I didn’t have a chance to mention it on Saturday, but I played a bit more $1/2 LHE on Full Tilt. I 4-tabled for only an hour or so since I didn’t have much time to play, but I managed to book a win of $44.75 (7.22 BB/100 hands).

When I first started, my VPIP, attempt to steal blinds, and perhaps my aggression factor were a bit too high. I have toned these down a bit, which is reflected in this short session as well. (However, it may simply be due to variance in the cards dealt, players at the table, etc.) Over 310 hands, I had a VPIP of 27%, attempt to steal blinds 39%, won at showdown 52%, and aggression factor of 2.88.

As I mentioned, I’m heading to AC the next couple of days. I’m going to get some poker play in, but not as much as when I go alone since I’ll be spending more time with the girlfriend. I’ll be updating when I get back. Also, I may drop back down to 0.5/1 LHE for a bit on Full Tilt when I get back since I unknowingly had a previous deposit reversed, taking $300 out of my online account. Nothing major though; it will give me more practice at smaller stakes while the risk is cut in half.