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So almost 4 months has passed since i updated my blog. That doesn\’t mean that I\’ve stopped playing…no, absolutely not!

Now i\’m crushed and this is my way to clear my head. A minute ago i was
playing in two multitable tournaments and was dropped from both of them
in a strange way.

The first one was early on when i got Aces in the BB. Player in middle
position raised to 300 which was a little too much because blinds were
15/30. Another player smooth called and action came to me and i was
thinking: \”raise or call\”. I decided to go all-in to about 1200 because
i suspected that original raiser had QQ or KK and i wanted the caller
to fold. The original raiser did just that, he went all-in and he had a
little more, about 1400. But the caller didn\’t fold, he called. The
hands were a little odd: middle position player had TT and the caller
had 22! Well flop was good and i was on my way to triple up but turn
brought a deuce so the caller won. This was a bad beat i might say?

The second tournament was in later stages and i had about 13xbb. I was
in the big blind and woke up with TT. Blinds were 100/200. Player in
middle position raised to 500 and everyone else folded and i decided to
call. If the flop would bring over cards i could fold. The flop came
T95, so i had a set! I was quite sure that the player would bet so i
checked. The player did just that, he bet 1000 and i moved all-in, he
called. The player had QQ so i was in good shape. Well unfortunately
turn was a 8 which gave my opponent a flush draw and a gut shot. Well
at this point i thought that the flush is coming and i didn\’t even see
the straight possibility. A straight came and my tournament ended.

Afterthought

The first hand could have been played differently. I could have just
called and then bet the flop aggressively. I think the player with
deuces would have folded and i\’ve won the hand. Aces play quite good
against two opponents so that could have been a better play. I still
think that my play was reasonable and i just got luckier opponents.

The second tournament result couldn\’t been avoided. The flop was so
good to me that the elimination couldn\’t be avoided. I just can\’t blame
my opponent either because he/se had an over pair.

These past two weeks have been strange. I decided to play 10 pleyer
tournaments more and first the results were good but now things are
going bad again. My question in this battle is: How difficult can it be
to rise to the next level?

I\’m sure that i\’m doing many mistakes so a hand-by-hand overview must be done soon!

As the title descibes i\’m still struggling to get to the next level. Last night i played couple of tournament, cashed at both but winnings we\’re pennies. Next week i try to play in many tournaments!

I think i\’ve had a cold deck and a too much gambling in my game and things haven\’t improved yet. Then again it takes only a couple of good results and i have enough. Well i still have time.

NL Hold\’ em World Championship started also and i\’m interested to see how thing develop. Finnish player Antonius started last night and seems to have a healthy stack at this point in day 1B.

More next week.

Ok, the title is a bit misleading. I have been struggling lately and
confidence isn\’t the best possible right now. I think i started playing
a little too risky when i was almost reaching my goal this summer: 10+1
sit\’ n go\’s. Actually i played one $11 freezeout tournament last night
when those sit\’ n go\’s didn\’t go well..again! That particular
tournament was a small success and i ended up 27th and won almost 10
buy-ins to smaller stages.

It is now proven that when in downswing it can take 10-20 tournaments
to get back on track. That information should be kept in mind because
in my case i could burn a big chunk of my bankroll if i would rise to
the next level now. I\’m trying to be patient but it\’s hard because i
also know that i could easily manage the  higher level. The skill of
play doesn\’t improve much, i think.

This hand was played in one unfortunate tournament couple of days ago.
There was only 9 players left and blinds were 150/300, i had just
doubled up to 4560 which was a nice improvement. Then i was dealt Ah
Kd. The player in middle position raised all-in 5745, so he had more
than me. I thought for a while because i had just doubled and with this
stack i could steal couple of blinds and avoid this situation. Finally
i called that bet because i\’m there to win the tournament and i thought
it would be 50-50 or even better for me. Opponent had Jd Jc and the
pair held up. So i finished in 9th place and didn\’t know what to think.
I still think my decision was right because the blinds were so high.

AK is a hand that i can even throw away in first stages in tournaments.
I have written before that i don\’t want to gamble too much early on. In
that sense i prefer small-ball when it\’s possible.

Bytheway… $50k HORSE is being played right now. I\’m hoping that
either Doyle Brunson or Daniel Negreanu wins that tournament. It\’s even
possible because they are in good positions after day 3. Doyle is 6th
and Daniel is 2nd. Let\’s see what happens!

That\’s poker, one could say. I had a upswing and now downswing follows. I have played many tournaments since last blog entry and have done bad in them. Just a while ago i finished one tournament where i finished 6th.

Confidence drops when these things happen. I haven\’t been playing all that bad but i have been getting more frustrated. When that happens, mistakes start to build up and then i\’m more and more willing to gamble in bad situations.

Last tournament i had AK twice (in a row, i think) in the small blind but lost or folded both. The second time i was uncomfortable and folded preflop. Blind were 150/300 and a guy in middle position (chip leader, very aggressive) raised to 600. The guy in the button raised to 900 and then i had 750 to call. I thought that i could call but then wasn\’t sure what these opponents had and maybe those both players would go all-in. Finally i folded (which was really bad) and big blind and the chip leader called. Flop was 8 6 4, all diamonds, bb checked, chip leader went all-in and then both folded. I had 3120 chips at the time so it would have been best to go all-in.

I have been experiencing difficulties with bad players in last tournaments. Some players tend to raise too much or go all-in right away in early stages and i don\’t want to gamble too much. Sometimes couple stages go by and i\’m not involved in any hands. I end up throwing good hands away and then it\’s really hard to find anything playable in later stages.

Today i\’m turning things around, hopefully!

Tournaments have gone well. Last time i wrote about couple of victories and after that blog i won the very next tournament i played. Just a while ago i finished second and 9th. I have played just a couple of tournaments but results have been nice.

One little unfortunate hand happened in one tournament when classic set over set happened. I had a set of jacks and my opponent had a set of kings. That particular tournament was going very well but this time my opponent had little more chips than me and that was it.

One thing has been bothering me in those tournaments. Let\’s imagine that blinds are 400/800 and i have about 7000 and my opponent has 10 000. I have AK and i raise to 1800 and this opponent calls from the big blind. So the pot is 4000. Then flop is something like Q95 and my opponent raises the minimum, 800. I call and the same happens in the turn. and the river. This happens sometimes in these tournaments and my options are quite bad. I could call all the way but that\’s weak. I could go all-in on the flop but if the better prizes are close, it\’s hard. I could also fold but that is bad also. If i just keep calling i might lose over 4k. Many times my opponent might have anything so it\’s hard to know where i am. Of course many times i have outs so that\’s why i\’m thinking that all-in on the flop is the best option…

Of course i should go all-in before the flop but i don\’t want to do that every time.

I have to say that maybe this writing is helping just bit. I wrote about the fact that i had much smaller cashes and that maybe i was playing too tight in late stages. Now i have more bigger cashes and i\’m playing tight but aggressively through the tournament.

Since my last post i have played 11 tournaments and won 2 of them. Others have ended before money.

I just ended the other tournament that was victorious. Actually this time i was the chip leader by a mile for quite some time. At one point i had about 23k and a player in the second place had below 7k. HU didn\’t last long because first i added my lead and in the last hand i called with QQ, opponent raised, i raised more and he went all-in with 99. My queens held up.

Almost all the time i have been playing one tournament at a time. It seems that i can focus better on one tournament and the hands in it. Of course it can be slow and frustrating at times.

Stats after 57 tournaments:

4 times have been FIRST

5 times have been SECOND

2 times have been THIRD

ROI ~92%

That\’s all. It can be a while when i\’m writing again. Next week can be a little busy but i\’ll try to play when i can…

At some point i have to study those tournaments that ended badly. Maybe i can find some critical mistakes.

Things got better last night. Tournament win really got my confidence back if it was ever dented. Of course hopefully i can keep winning now.

The tournament went good right from the start and i was the tournament leader early on. Later i lost a couple of pots and in the final table i was even the last one for a while. The tournament was odd cause it was took a lot of time to drop players in the final table. Crucial moment were when my 22 held up to AT. I had only 2750 when blinds were 300/600. After that i had over 6k and i was 2. on chips. HU lasted 17 hands and i have to say that my opponent played good. In these stakes opponents can be quite awful at times and then tournament have to be resolved in coin flips. It\’s difficult to play anything when opponent keeps pushing all-in. It didn\’t happen this time and the tournament ended when i had Q7 and he had Q6, the board was 5 9 Q 3 9. We both were trying to get value for our hands but this time my kicker played and i won the tournament (all-in in the turn). A little luck was needed for that.

In this tournament i tried to keep my aggressiveness all the way and i think i succeeded it it pretty well.

Now i have played 47 tournaments after my restart (9th of April). My ROI is ~90% and i have been in the money ~40% of the time. Pretty good stats but also there\’s too much final table finishes without cashing (12). I have been playing a little too tight many times.

Another frustrating session of poker. Twice I got knocked out in the bubble and once i won the smallest prize which is practically nothing. I think I just have to be patient because i haven\’t made any huge mistakes. At least i think…

The most frustrating hand was when late in the tournament a guy moved all-in (about 3000) and I was sitting in the bb with KK. Of course i called and he showed AJ. Well the turn brought him the ace so i lost a big pot. I would have been in great shape if the hand would have gone my way. I fought still but lost the tournament few hands later.

These are the hands that could possibly affect playing. I\’m a quite calm when playing and usually those don\’t affect me. Today in the last tournament i finished 6. again and maybe i was playing a little too fast. In the previous hand i won the blinds with KQ (all-in) and in the next hand i tried the same with A9s. It didn\’t work out(opponent had AK) but now i\’m thinking that there wasn\’t a need to go all-in right away. Maybe i played too much today.

Also i\’m considering my tournament play when prizes are getting closer. I\’m tightening up and maybe getting a little too tight. Sometimes i throw away small aces when in six handed. After a raise i might throw away something like A8 or A9. Many times i prefer to raise with those hands rather than calling. Maybe i should focus on the bigger prizes and loose up a little bit.