Still walking through "Bad Beat Valley"
After a very successful last quarter in 2008 I went into a big downswing in 2009. After almost bubbling two times in Dublin in early February I now can't get any decent results anymore. I know I am guilty of what can be described as the "Matusow Blow-up" e.g. ruining a good game with one awful decision two times. But beside that I play a very good game that is only stopped by bad beats.
And yesterday wasn't any better. Originally I had planned to attend the PokerNews Cup in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. Unfortunately the side-events have a ugly structure which is worse of what can be found daily around in the Salzburg area. Therefore I decided to boykott this event and play the "Tandem-Tournament" at the Poker-Club in Salzburg. It's a real shame that somebody like Pokernews (who should know better) is willing to offer crapshot events. The onyl one with a decent structure is the main-event.
For the tandem tournament at the Poker-Club you have to team-up with a partner. Each team member plays in his own tournament and the results are combined. Half of the prizepool is distrubuted on the single result and the other half on the team result. The structure is generous: 20,000 starting-chips and 30 minute levels. 5x times more chips then in the Poker-News Cup opening event and 20% longer blindlevels!
Until the first break I was able to maintain my stack at around 20k. Most remarkable hand was a turned straight-flush with 68s that unfortunately didn't pay many chips. During the 200/400 (50) level the following hand occured: The player in first position raised to 900. I re-raised to 3,000 with AA from second position. A player in MP called and the original raiser called too.
Flop comes 2-3-5. Not a bad flop for Aces. First position checks and I bet 6,000 into a 10k pot. MP folds and first position calls. Wow! Pot is now around 22k. Turn is a 6. What can he have that beats me? A4? Raising from EP and calling a re-raise. Unlikely. A set of 2s, 3s or 5s? Possible but still overpaid. KK or QQ? Again possible but overplayed (he invested 20% of his stack by calling my pre-flop re-raise).
So what to do now? I could check but this didn't make much sense here. He had only 7k left (and I had 10k). So I would assume he would bet the river anyway and I wouldn't fold here. So I bet all-in and he immediately called showing me 44 for a turned straight.
Wow! Calling my re-raise with 44 was already a loose call ... but then calling my bet on the flop on just a draw ... I'm speecheless. Now down to 2,5k and busted shortly after. Poker can be a cruel game.
So what are my next plans? In early April there is the Pokertour.at event in St. Pölten followed by some SCOOP online events at PokerStars. Shortly after the Pokertour stopps in Linz again. Of course I plan to make it to the WSOP again mainly targeting the Venetian DeepStacks and (if offered again) the Caesars Mega-Stacks. Trying to add a lower buy-in WSOP event too. In late August I will be back at my favorite Pokerrrom: The Dusk Till Dawn is place of the WCOAP World Amateur Championship Main Event (organized by the APAT). Thanks to Des Duffy (MD of the APAT) for helping me with my troubles during the sign-up process!
There are several other events of interest (some interfering with each other). Depending on my success or lack of that I decide what I will play. E.g. there is the Shortstack Championship in early June in Dublin as well as some other well structured events everywere.
If you want to have a share in my action then I suggest you to visit "Chip Me Up". I told you about this page in a former post and I used it as well as buyer and seller so far. Transactions can be done easily and its's fun to have people invest in you as well as to find the right people to invest in. So if you want to try your luck ... this is my plan of offered shares so far (more added later):
And yesterday wasn't any better. Originally I had planned to attend the PokerNews Cup in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. Unfortunately the side-events have a ugly structure which is worse of what can be found daily around in the Salzburg area. Therefore I decided to boykott this event and play the "Tandem-Tournament" at the Poker-Club in Salzburg. It's a real shame that somebody like Pokernews (who should know better) is willing to offer crapshot events. The onyl one with a decent structure is the main-event.
For the tandem tournament at the Poker-Club you have to team-up with a partner. Each team member plays in his own tournament and the results are combined. Half of the prizepool is distrubuted on the single result and the other half on the team result. The structure is generous: 20,000 starting-chips and 30 minute levels. 5x times more chips then in the Poker-News Cup opening event and 20% longer blindlevels!
Until the first break I was able to maintain my stack at around 20k. Most remarkable hand was a turned straight-flush with 68s that unfortunately didn't pay many chips. During the 200/400 (50) level the following hand occured: The player in first position raised to 900. I re-raised to 3,000 with AA from second position. A player in MP called and the original raiser called too.
Flop comes 2-3-5. Not a bad flop for Aces. First position checks and I bet 6,000 into a 10k pot. MP folds and first position calls. Wow! Pot is now around 22k. Turn is a 6. What can he have that beats me? A4? Raising from EP and calling a re-raise. Unlikely. A set of 2s, 3s or 5s? Possible but still overpaid. KK or QQ? Again possible but overplayed (he invested 20% of his stack by calling my pre-flop re-raise).
So what to do now? I could check but this didn't make much sense here. He had only 7k left (and I had 10k). So I would assume he would bet the river anyway and I wouldn't fold here. So I bet all-in and he immediately called showing me 44 for a turned straight.
Wow! Calling my re-raise with 44 was already a loose call ... but then calling my bet on the flop on just a draw ... I'm speecheless. Now down to 2,5k and busted shortly after. Poker can be a cruel game.
So what are my next plans? In early April there is the Pokertour.at event in St. Pölten followed by some SCOOP online events at PokerStars. Shortly after the Pokertour stopps in Linz again. Of course I plan to make it to the WSOP again mainly targeting the Venetian DeepStacks and (if offered again) the Caesars Mega-Stacks. Trying to add a lower buy-in WSOP event too. In late August I will be back at my favorite Pokerrrom: The Dusk Till Dawn is place of the WCOAP World Amateur Championship Main Event (organized by the APAT). Thanks to Des Duffy (MD of the APAT) for helping me with my troubles during the sign-up process!
There are several other events of interest (some interfering with each other). Depending on my success or lack of that I decide what I will play. E.g. there is the Shortstack Championship in early June in Dublin as well as some other well structured events everywere.
If you want to have a share in my action then I suggest you to visit "Chip Me Up". I told you about this page in a former post and I used it as well as buyer and seller so far. Transactions can be done easily and its's fun to have people invest in you as well as to find the right people to invest in. So if you want to try your luck ... this is my plan of offered shares so far (more added later):
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