Sunday Million Preparation?

Part of my plan for August is to play the Sunday Million at the end of the month and to also play a handful of $50 multi table tournaments as part of my preparation. I am happy to spend c$500 on what can only be described as speculative entries. I am ready for a change I think from playing low stakes sit n gos. I have lost focus recently and think taking a shot at something a bit different might help. As part of my preparation I have been doing the following:

• I have played a few multi table tournaments at very low stakes with a few min cashes but no great progress.
• I have played quite a few 180 man games in the last month or so with poor results so far. It would appear that I am banned from the final table from these games at the moment.
• I have been watching re-runs of Sunday Million final tables which have been very interesting. One in terms of how deals are done at this stage and two in that the play is very much as you would expect. There is no radical strategy here, most players seem to play sensible but aggressive final table strategy. The trick is getting there I guess.
• I have been re-reading Harrington on Holdem volumes one and two which delivers a solid if conservative approach to MTTs.
• I have been watching some hands of Kev Steele (two time Sunday Million winner) to see if I can pick up some strategic pointers. I believe I have.

Unfortunately my current form and mindset is poor. In fact I have had a disappointing few weeks poker wise and will probably lose quite a few dollars in July. Worse than that on a number occasions I have not enjoyed my poker. Perhaps this is not the right moment to take a shot at a few decent tournaments or maybe it is just what I need to get back on track. I think the latter, especially as I should benefit from I couple of short breaks that I have coming up. Let me know what you think via my latest survey and please feel free to comment.

 

Good luck.

Mickey Mouse

In a couple of weeks the Tomlinsons are taking a trip to Disneyland Paris for a few days. The main reason I mention it on my poker blog is that this an additional, originally unplanned break which we are only really making because of holiday fund support from my poker winnings. Given the current economic uncertainty this is probably a little excessive, but the kids are the perfect age for it right now. Partly, I am continuing to try to help my mental game by linking my poker success to real tangible benefits, as opposed to a bankroll sat in various poker and bank accounts. Partly, I am just doing what the wife tells me!

Unfortunately I am not expecting much poker action over in Paris though I hear Disney Princess Ariel is a bit of a fish! 

Rio Challenge Result

A positive finish but an average performance overall. I guess -3% is not too bad given the high rake and the consolation win but I always planned to have a positive ROI. I was also unhappy with my freeroll returns. For 250 games $357 is a reasonable return, demonstrating the hidden returns for Jackpot players from rakeback and consolation wins. Overall though, I did not have a good enough strategy or simply did not play well enough to win more games. The truth is I am not which one was more important.   Kartajana   250 -$0.65   $20   -3% -$163   Hot N/A iPoker 5/1/2012 6/26/2012 SNG Only   Outcome summary:

	To Date	Target
Direct Profit	-163	150
Rakeback	185	200
Freeroll Wins	35	150
Consolation	300	300
Total	357	800

Anyway, onwards and upwards. My ambitious plan moving forward is to focus on a more mixed set of games in July and August, including some MTTs prior to a shot at the Sunday Million at the end of August. Following that audacious plot I aim to play one thousand Maui games Sept-Dec and finally hit the sit n go Jackpot. Time to be a small island on the poker map.

Good Luck

A Game Of Two Halves

The end of my 250 game Rio Sit N Go Challenge coincided with the end of Englands Euro 2012 campaign. Both efforts had some merit, some early success and some general progression but ultimately ended short of what could be considered success. Other than my early consolation win the second half of my challenge was much more effective than the first based on a key strategy change. The two finishing distributions tell the story.   In the second set I was much more active in pursuit of an early (but not high risk) double up. I identified a number of methods to achieve this and was able to use my more often gained double stack as a platform to secure more top two spots at the expense of thirds. Having more fourth spots did not matter as the overall second set of games was marginally profitable and much more so than the first. At some point I may generate a Rio strategy document to match my Maui one. I have got most of it in draft form already. If anyone is interested in it let me know.

 

One consistent theme from these Rio games is the amount of abuse players get from each other. I was targeted several times and ironically was berated again in my final challenge game which I won. In this game at the push fold stage my weaker ace was called by a better ace and I got lucky. I was advised to try winning a hand by initially having the best hand. I have made a note of this top tip. Good fortune it would seem is frowned upon in these circles. I am certain there would be great demand for some kind of Jackpot sit n go players support group where players could talk about bad beats, other players bad play and how the games are rigged. I do find some of this very amusing, though I have sympathy for anyone going through a bad run.

 

 

I will report in full on the outcome of my Rio challege in the next few days.

Regulars Fried!

In a week I will report on my  Rio Challenge results. Whilst it has been tough going I have really enjoyed playing the Rio Jackpot sit n go games over the last couple of months. I am not alone in this it would seem as during the time of day I play (9pm -1am UK time) there are a number of regulars who are chasing down that Jackpot dream. The trouble is even the best of regulars will struggle to beat the high rake in these games. Sure there are a few terrible players helping us out  but ironically it is the sheer number of regulars themselves that makes it so hard for them to profit from the game. Most regulars generally know what they are doing and don't make massive mistakes. I often sit down and know all the players at the table which really is often a negative EV situation.

 

Now why do I feel so hungry!

Rio Challenge Strategy 3: Bubble Trouble

One of the hardest things to do in poker is fold when you are confident you have the best hand. Another really tough thing to do is shove a poor hand knowing that you will probably be called by a better hand. On the bubble in a sit n go is these situations are commonplace and important to master. Weakness in this area is a significant leak for many players, including me. In Hand A we will look at the situation from the perspective of a player with 1000 chips on the big blind with the blinds at 100-200. The other shorter stacks fold and unsurprisingly the dominant chip leader shoves. What hands are worth calling with here? According to ICM the answer is strong pairs only, says nines or better. I would probably only call with Jacks or better. Ace King has to be folded here unless you are playing specifically for first or first and second as part of a jackpot sequence. HAND A 500 Fold 1000 Fold 3500 All In 1000 ? This situation becomes even more complex in the very next hand when the big stack does not push and our player is left with a decision. This is an area I myself struggle with. In Hand B what hands should be shoved in this spot?    HAND B 1000 Fold 3700 Fold (Would expect a shove here around 75% of the time) 800 ? 500 ICM suggests the small blind pushes with 80% of hands and the big blind calls with around 90% of hands. A key clash is imminent. It is the pushing range of the player with 800 chips that interests me here as you can understand the very likely call from the big blind. The math says you shove hands like 84 suited or 75 offsuit here. I think I am only shoving maybe 60% of my hands in this spot, folding these weaker hands to a likely caller. This is a mistake it would seam and something I need to work on and understand more fully. I will try to analyse post game some real examples in the weeks to come and maybe post about the most interesting one. Some poker players have suggested that sit n gos are easy, robotic with few tricky spots and not a true form of poker. But could they fold AK in hand A and push 75 in hand B. I doubt it. Anyway, meanwhile my Rio Challenge position is as follows after 190 games with 60 games to play. I have fought back somewhat over the last couple of weeks and come close to another consolation bonus. Direct Profit -25 150 Rakeback 135 200 Freeroll Wins 14 150 Consolation 300 300 Total 424 800

May The Force Be With You

The force was strong with Kartajana in May. I did not play particularly well yet had a very good month, hitting a Rio consolation bonus for $300 and two Sunday Million satellites for $215 each. All in a month I was accused of being the worst player on the I-Poker network! To be fair I have not been ripping up any trees this year poker wise but finally I am at least trampling on a number of shrubs. On the last day of the month I hit my second satellite win as follows:   PokerStars Tournament #568509688, No Limit Hold'em Super Satellite Buy-In: $8.00/$0.16 USD 36 players Total Prize Pool: $288.00 USD Target Tournament #575020010 Buy-In: $200.00/15.00 USD 1 tickets to the target tournament Tournament started 2012/05/31 18:53:06 ET Tournament finished 2012/05/31 19:05:41 ET   1: Kartajana (United Kingdom),  (qualified for the target tournament)   2: Supersvintus (Russia), $16.00   3: SMKDSALMON51 (Canada), $16.00   4: ankoval (Russia), $16.00   5: Chop_Chop96 (Israel), $16.00   6: sunshine077 (Germany), $9.00     The accusation of being the worst player on I-poker demonstrates the tilt that can be caused by the Rio games. In a game where I had been pretty lucky on the bubble and beyond, I pushed into the chip leader with T9 with high blinds and he called with QJ. We both had similar chips but the player in third was short stacked. According to ICM this was a push from me and a fold from my opponent. Lets just say he or she was not happy and I was subject to a sequence of abuse. Not only am I the worst player on I-Poker I know I am apparently. I think Boba Fett would have showed less patience than I did here. To be fair it is frustrating to lose with the best hand in a key spot and I was pretty lucky over a few hands but that's poker, in particular jackpot sit n go poker. To reinforce the variance point here, my short stacked opponent went on to win the game following a series of coolers, bad beats and blatant good fortune. That dude must be the second worst player on I-Poker!   Beware the dark side!