Starstealer Journal - February 2005

[starstealer]

February 16th, 2005 (Wednesday)

So I'm now geared up to play the $200 tournament on Sunday ($350,000 guaranteed prize pool). However, I don't really feel prepared. I want to get into a few no-limit tournaments between now and then, but I'm not sure what I will have time for. There's a $5+.50 tonight, but it starts at 8pm - and that's usually too early for me. Beyond that, there's a few $3 tournaments, and there's always the $10+1 + rebuys - but since that would be a completely different beast, I just don't think it would be worthwhile.

Still, I am going to work on my NL game this week and see if I can benefit from it. Right now, I'm looking at a field of 2500+, as long as I make it to the money, it will be a big payday for me. I wouldn't even have to make it too deep before it starts being a great night... Of course, picking up a final table finish would be astounding, but that's secondary to making it to the money. I'm hoping I can pick up on my mistakes in the previous tournament (too many Axs hands...) and capitalize on my winning hands just like I did.

I still can't decide if some of my finishes in NL tournaments is a good sign or not. To be knocked out within 8 hands of the start, that's something that can be looked upon as good (because I'm not shying away from the big bets) or bad (because I'm going allin too frequently (hence putting me closer to losing).

(Continued)

I decided to play in a cheap $3 tournament for some more NL HE experience and gear up for the weekend's tournament. In addition, I think I am close to finishing off the bonus at Interpoker, which will be a nice addition once it comes.

In the tournament, I was doing exceptionally well and had most of the important hands go my way. I'll do a tournament report later, but here's the gist of why I got knocked out in 114th instead of doing much better: In UTG+1 I had around 8k in chips (blinds @ $1k/$2k with a 100 ante) and was dealt AKo. I raised all-in as the first player in. Folds around to the big stack of the tourney (he had 70k) - who calls. The big stack has AQo. He turns a queen and I'm out. If I dodge that queen, I'm up to 28k. But hey - I want him to make that call every time in that kind of situation...

I've now played 627 hands at Interpoker. Although I haven't released the bonus yet, I'm in no rush as I'm up another $40 there (though Pokerplex for some reason was treating me much better...). Once the $90 gets cleared, my hourly rate will jump back up some - which is nice to know, especially when my hourly rate this month is worth 4x what I have done overall since I started.

Here's todays numbers:

2/16 9:53pm $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, 10:58pm, 64 hands, +6.75
2/16 9:53pm $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, $20 rebuy, $20 rebuy, 1:07am, 198 hands, -41.75
2/16 11:05pm $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, 1:18am, 111 hands, +60.46
$244.21 (+90)

2/16 10:30pm $3 NL HE multi (1958) 5285968, 114th, 1:31am, 174 hands, +2.87
$255.86

[starstealer]

February 17th, 2005 (Thursday)

Tonight I'll be going to Mark's home game. I told him last night that my wife and I wouldn't be able to make it because we didn't have a baby sitter and that since I wanted some time with my wife, just having one of us wasn't really an option. I suggested moving the game to my house, since, if at least one of us didn't show up, the game would be cancelled - but he's too stubborn for that. Sometimes the guy just needs to learn that the world doesn't revolve around him - and I definitely don't live and die by going to/not going to his home game. Sure its easy money, but time with my partner is more important.

In any case, we did find someone to babysit the kids - so now we're going. I'm not overly enthusiastic about going because he's been pissing me off lately (with stuff far worse than the above), but maybe I can take solace in making some money off of him tonight. And if not, I'll call it an early night and play a tournament at home or something.

I realize at the beginning of the month I had only set a tentative goal of $200 for the month - and I've broken that 3 times over. Now that I'm very close, I want to push this month to above the $1000 mark. I'm not too far - especially with the $90 from Interpoker coming soon.

The funny thing is - this month - I really haven't done anything "normal" - I've played very few SNGs (only 2 so far - I usually play 20-30/month), less than normal multitable tournaments (9 so far - I usually play 20-30/month). I've played entirely $1/$2 - but my bankroll is hefty enough to manage $2/$4. Most of the reason why I've played $1/$2 has to do with the bonus clearing I've been doing. Once I'm done with Interpoker, I'll be done with it for the month (I think). Then its just a matter of getting some hours in on Pokerstars.

By the way, if anyone is reading this - I suspect Pokerstars will be offering a reload bonus in the coming week to coincide with the US trials for the World Cup. My version of a stock prediction... take it for what its worth...

(Continued)

Mark really ticked both my wife and myself off tonight - so I probably won't be going to the game again. The guy is so inconsiderate - I mean - I've known him all my life - but please - let him get a clue that he should at least acknowledge that he pisses people off... Lindsay didn't stop complaining about him the whole way home - and I have to say I agreed with her.

Here's a small example. I don't smoke - in fact no one but Mark smokes at the table. I don't mind that he does. However, in three separate occasions he blew smoke directly into my face. Each time I made a comment about it (in fact everyone did), but each time he did nothing about it - no apology - no attempt to not blow smoke in my face again. I'm planning on talking to him tonight to let him know that I won't come to his place again and the reasons why. I'm sure he'll be pissed - but hey, I was last night. On the positive side, I cleaned up last night - I was up about $60 last night (though $30 of that was my wife's loss).

Before I went to poker, I also got a short session in at Interpoker for 32 hands. I netted a win of $14 in those hands - which is nice while I'm working on the bonus.

Here's today's numbers:

2/17 6:25pm $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, 7:03pm, 32 hands, +14
$258.21

2/17 10:30pm $2 Mixed Games, $40 buyin ($20 for me, $20 for Lindsay), 12:40am, +37

[starstealer]

There was one hand from last night that really got people (in general) pissed off. I admit it - I play poker to make money - and even though enjoyment is more important to me in that particular game, I happen to like the way I played it.

The game is 5-card draw and I'm first to act. I've got a set of sevens with a four king. I bet out $0.50 (usual opening bet. I can bet up to $2 - but any time I do so it is met with grumbles around the table. So I opted for the smaller bet - with the possibility of getting outdrawn. The next player - an extremely loose player raises another $0.50, which is called around back to me.

At this point, I raise $2. Immediately I get comments from around the table of how this is a "friendly game" and such. I still get two callers. I draw two, both of the remaining players draw one. I lead out for $2 and get called once. He shows two pair and I take the pot.

However, even though I had a huge hand for draw and was just protecting it by reraising - everyone is now in a positively sour mood. I won the pot, but I feel like I broke some unspoken code. Now - the problem is not the raising (which is common in that game), and it is not the reraising (also common), but rather the fact that I bet out $0.50 (small) and reraised $2 (big). Personally - I think they're being a little hypocritical and were only raising a fuss because I was the big winner for the night.

Oh well, as I said before, I won't be going back (and surprisingly enough - this isn't really one of the reasons why I won't be going back...) - so I guess it doesn't matter.

/d

[starstealer]

February 18th, 2005 through February 21st, 2005 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)

I've been away from my writing of the journal for a few days - which is common for the weekends. So in general, I will post a summary of how things went on Monday (or in this case Tuesday).

In any case, I had a lot going on this weekend with the preparation for the $200+15 tournament on Sunday. First though, I had to get through Friday.

On Friday I wanted to finish up my bonus at Interpoker, which I did. However, the road to get there was a little bumpy. First off, I tried a little pot limit Omaha High - not my usual game. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong time to have a semi good hand and the wrong time to put someone on the wrong hand, and it cost me my stack. Since my bankroll wasn't really ready for the swing, I stopped with a loss of $150. I will make it back eventually, but not until I have regained my confidence in that arena.

I also played 2 limit Hold'em tables on Interpoker that night where I essentially broke even - which with my $90 bonus from Interpoker released, means I finished the night there down $44.

Also on Friday, I played in a $20+2 SNG on Pokerstars where I finished a disappointing 4th. I played a $10+1 Omaha Hi/Lo tournament, but only made it to 145th out of 291. The highlight of the evening was playing a little $2/$4 Hold'em and finishing up $64.50.

All in all, I was down for the night to the tune of $12.50 but it was a roller-coaster to get there.


On Saturday and Sunday, Lindsay and I went out furniture shopping. We had already gone by Jordan's furniture in Natick and found a couch we liked as well as a mattress we were willing to spring for with our tax return. The mattress was $1799, the couch and chair we were looking at would be $1198. Honestly, this was beyond what I wanted to spend, but I was willing to do it because of our massive tax refund.

However, on Saturday, we decided to look at Bob's Discount Furniture in Worcester - which purported to have an equivalent mattress for a mere $999. We checked it out and liked it enough to purchase it on the spot. We also found a nice sectional couch - but needed to wait to find out if it would fit in our living room.

The couch would indeed fit, but we needed another item to go with it, so we went back to Bob's on Sunday around noon and found a nice recliner to compliment the couch. The couch (both pieces) ran us $799. The recliner was $399. Essentially, it cost us the same amount as with Jordan's - however, we got an additional 2-3 seats because of the bigger couch. Plus we like the new couch more. This is officially my endorsement for Bob's Discount Furniture - if you're in the area - it couldn't hurt to check it out!

After furniture shopping, I went back home and had about 20 minutes to kill before the tournament started. All told - there were 2556 players in it. I will be doing a tournament report on the tournament, but suffice it to say I was pleased with the way I played it. I finished 367th which was 97 places out of the money, but still within the top 15% of the field.

Later on Sunday, I played some more $2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo and did well enough (up $22.50), but dropped out of the money in 3 separate SNGs (2 $20+2, 1 $30+3). The SNGs were frustrating because every hand that I went into I was a clear favorite for the pot, but the river counterfeited me. This happens all of the time, but it doesn't make it any easier...

On Monday, Interpoker was giving $10 to anyone receiving pocket kings, so while I played my regular $10+1 tournament on Pokerstars, I also opened up 2 Hold'em tables on Interpoker. I played a total of 225 hands on Interpoker - but didn't receive a single pair of kings in the hole. Instead, I finished up $1.25 between the two tables, which would've been more except for 2 hands where the person I was up against (in both cases), drew 2 cards to an inside straight and raised a pot on a "semi" bluff where I had the nuts until the river. He hit his card on the river (another gutshot), and extracted a few bets more out of me. They left a bad taste in my mouth, so I called it a night.

Over on Pokerstars, I had a lackluster performance in the $10+1 tournament (finished 235th out of 421) and had another good session of $2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo (+$22.50).

Here's the numbers for the weekend:

2/18 9:35pm $.50/$1 PLO high (10) $100 buyin, $50 rebuy, 12:16am, 97 hands, -150
2/18 9:59pm $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, 1:41am, 182 hands, +47.25
2/19 12:22am $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, $20 rebuy, 1:45am, 61 hands, -32.25
2/18 9:35pm - 2/19 12am, 200 hands, +90 bonus
$214.21

2/18 10:08pm $20+2 O8 SNG (9) 5412466, 4th, 11:14pm, 58 hands, -22
2/18 11:15pm $10+1 O8 multi (291) 5286067, 145th, 12:35am, 51 hands, -11
2/19 12:44am $2/$4 HE ring (10) $60 buyin, 1:39am, 58 hands, +64.50
$287.36

2/20 4:30pm $200+15 NL HE multi (2556) 5120617, 7:19pm, 367th, 188 hands, 0

first break - 2280 - 1774 players left
antes - 3590 - 1189 players left
2nd break - 3685 - 728 players left, 591st
400/800 - 382nd out of 549
600/1200 - 403 out of 405

2/20 9:35pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10), $60 buyin, 12:43am, 139 hands, +22.50
2/20 9:45pm $20+2 O8 SNG (9), 5507334, 5th, 10:37pm, 44 hands, -22
2/20 10:55pm $30+3 O8 SNG (9), 5498547, 7th, 11:57pm, 50 hands, -33
2/20 11:42pm $20+2 O8 SNG (9), 5508084, 7th, 12:33am, 41 hands, -22
$232.86

2/21 9:18pm $10+1 O8 multi (421) 5472165, 235th, 10:37pm, 52 hands, -11
2/21 10:47pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $60 buyin, 11:37pm, 39 hands, +22.50
$244.36

2/21 9:37pm $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, $20 rebuy 11:30pm, 117 hands, -25.50
2/21 9:41pm $1/$2 HE ring (10) $40 buyin, 11:30pm, 108 hands, +26.75
$215.46

[Felonius_Monk]

Hey star, coupla quick q's....

What's the number at the bottom of your daily stats (I get all the other stuff but what is "$215.46" for instance in the last line?).

Also, I play PLO high at interpoker, and I was doing so on friday night. What's your handle? I have been on a lucky run and tearing up the tables there for about 60BB/100 in the last week or so.

Monk
xxxxx

[starstealer]

Sorry - that's just a placemarker for my ending bankroll figure for the day at the site (which I don't always say which site it belongs to...)

I'm "Starsteal" on Interpoker - but I wouldn't expect to see me there for a while. It really is too big of a game for my $1400 online bankroll - both actually and mentally...

/d

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

February 25th - February 27th (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

After my significant loss on Wednesday, I decided I would play a little lighter for the next few days. I wasn't giving up on $2/$4 - but I wanted to make sure I was playing with the right frame of mind.

On Friday night, Lindsay got home early and wanted to play a tournament with me, so we sat next to the computer and talked about each hand as it came up - playing 2 no-limit hold'em tournaments at once.

The first tournament was actually a satellite to the $500+30 tournament on Sunday. I wasn't expecting much - but as it was a FPP tournament, it cost me nothing in terms of cash - so I was willing to take a chance again. I didn't really get anything going in it and was knocked out in 127th out of 300. The top 4 got the seats into the bigger tournament.

Anyway, the next tournament was a $10+1 no-limit hold'em tournament. Here, Lindsay and I were doing quite well - hitting our hands well and eventually made it to the money. The field was in the order of 1300 and it paid out to 135. After the money hit, I hit a hand to give me a reasonable stack, when this one came up:

Blinds are 600/1200 with a 75 ante. I'm in middle position with 9k in chips and it is folded to me. At this point there are 103 players left and the next payout level is at 99. The players after me have proven to be fairly weak, so I suspected a raise all-in would be enough to either a) steal the blinds and antes or b) get a call from a lesser ace. Obviously a bigger ace or a big pocket pair would call - but they'd have to be worried about me with aces or kings - especially since although I was the shortest one at the table - I wasn't behind by much.

In any case, I raised all in and was called by the BB. He flips pocket tens and we see the board: 89A (I have top pair), J (I have top two) and 7 on the river (gives him a straight). He had me covered by about 1500, so I was knocked out.

I have no problem with my play, as I suspect I had a better than 50% fold equity (considering the amount of time he spent thinking about the call - I suspect he was pretty close to folding himself). With about a 50% chance of winning the hand from preflop to river - that gives me about 3:1 that I win here. With the size of the pot - I suspect it would've been enough to propel me into the realms of the real money of the tournament. It just happens he outdrew me (after I outdrew him).

Sometime after the second tournament started and I was knocked out of the first, I decided to also play a $10+1 limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament. With a relatively small field (311), I managed to finish almost to the final table at 15th. I had plenty going for me, but at the end, I just didn't have enough momentum to carry my into the final table. I'm very pleased with my play (as of right now - tournament report for this one and the one previous to be coming later today or tomorrow).

Lastly, I did play a little $2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo again and managed to recover about $78 of my loss from Wednesday.


Due to a major toothache that manifested on Saturday, I did not play on Saturday. I can't express how much it hurt - but I decided against calling a dentist and tough it out until Monday. The tooth that hurt is one that I already have marked as needing a root canal - so you can imagine how happy I was to know that it now was likely infected.


In any case, on Sunday, Lindsay wanted to play some more poker with me, so I loaded up Pokerstars again. We didn't have any tournaments starting that interested us, so I signed up for a 9-player $20+2 Omaha Hi/Lo SNG. There wasn't anything special about it, though I did break out to an early lead. I managed to get myself knocked out in 5th - after one of my key hands was counterfeited on the river against two all-in opponents. It wasn't stellar play on my part - but I wasn't too upset about it.

After the SNG, I decided I'd play a few more hands before bed, but there weren't any limit Omaha Hi/Lo tables to play (10 player either $1/$2 or $2/$4). Instead, I signed up for a juicy $2/$4 Hold'em table ($35 avg pot, 35% see flop percentage). One of my early hands from this table:

I have pocket queens UTG+1. UTG limps, I raise and it folds around to the cutoff, who calls two bets cold. Now it folds around to UTG - who now reraises. (I have no read on this player, but I suspect he has a range of AK, KK, QQ, AQ, and JJ - just as a guess). I call the reraise - and now the button comes off with the cap (I don't expect this means anything - maybe a big pocket pair - but I doubt aces or kings for him).

The flop is AKQ - which could be really good if I was against AK or AQ - but I could be really hurting against AA or KK. UTG bets, I call and the other player calls. Curious. The turn is a low card (a 5 I think). This time UTG checks, I check and the button bets. UTG calls, I call as well. The river is another ace (possibly the worst card I can think of) and UTG bets. I make a crying call and the other player folds. UTG shows AK and takes the pot. I don't like the way the hand turned out - but I'm not sure how I should've played it.

I managed to recover from that hand however, and finished on the table after about 50 hands up by $43. It was a lucky finish as the table broke up in the last 2-3 hands and that's where I won the bulk of my money. Overall for the night, I finished up $21.

Numbers from the weekend:
2/25 $200 withdrawal to Neteller from Interpoker
2/25 $250 deposit to Pokerstars from Neteller
2/25 10:00pm 500FPP NL HE Satellite (300) 5468861, 127th 10:58pm, 52 hands, 0
2/25 10:05pm $10+1 NL HE multi (1355) 5472361, 103rd, 1:03am, 164 hands, +2.55
2/25 10:29pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $60 buyin, 2:13am, 157 hands, +78
2/25 11:15pm $10+1 O8 multi (311) 5472365, 15th, 2:48am, 184 hands, +26.32
$361.23

2/27 9:41pm $20+2 O8 SNG (9) 5677903, 5th, 10:37pm, 44 hands, -22
2/27 10:52pm $2/$4 HE ring (10) $60 buyin, $40 rebuy, 11:36pm, 57 hands, +43
$382.23

[starstealer]

Well this has been a fun month. Couple of observations:

1. $2/$4 will be taking up most of my time when I am not releasing bonuses. Sometimes, game selection at this level is a little tough - as on Pokerstars, they just don't have a lot of these games running. I did however, manage to get one started very easily the other night (was up to full capacity in 15 minutes).

2. I will be doing a fair amount of bonus work in the future. Interpoker and Pokerplex's bonuses will be a mainstay and Empire and UB will be background bonuses. Stars of course will remain to be the staple of my playground - especially since the number of players there seems to be growing daily (last night - a Monday - they were at 38k when I glanced at the number).

3. With just under $1000 in profits for the year so far, I'm going to continue to be aggressive in growing my bankroll as much as I can. Each month from here on out will have a tiered system for growing it:

(This only applies to profit from online play - home game money will continue to stay in my "lunch money").
3a) For the first $500 in profit for the month, it will stay in my bankroll
3b) After the first $500, up to the $1000, I will pull half of it into my regular checking account to help pay down debt.
3c) Beyond the first $1000 - the rest will go into paying down debt.

I expect that from March on, I will be able to maintain a win rate from 200+ each month. This is mostly because I have $140 in bonuses to start with plus anything from Pokerstars, Empire and UB to work with. If I get enough time, I may expand to other crypto sites, but since I am pretty much hitting my limit on the number of hours I am willing to put in each month - I don't know if this will really happen.
---------------------------------------------

Summary for the month

I don't really have the data from last night - but it wasn't anything special. I placed 103rd out of 400+ in a $10+1 Omaha Hi/Lo tournament and I played some $2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo and finished down by $45.50.

The last few days of the month were really good or really bad from my perspective. The $240 loss was the worst I have ever endured; but the $100+ win was a nice night (expecially in terms of the multitable performance). Last night was a miss and a miss. I got knocked out of the tournament when a draw for someone else got there; I stopped playing on the ring game when I hit my time - it just happens that I lost $40 in the previous two hands before I left. Things like that happen - I'm just glad I walked away - because that's something I've had trouble with lately.

So February was a total of $446.86 which can be broken down into:

Home Game: +$195
Online: +$251.86

January was also a good month and netted a total profit of $463.69. I had some additional winnings from home game play - but that number is not reflected in January's total.

So far for the year, I am up $910.55 total and my online bankroll stands at a healthy: $1185.34.

Hope March is good for everyone.
/d