I’ve been easing back from Party Poker’s cash tables over the last few days for a variety of reasons, one of which was that I wasn’t particularly happy with my style of play and felt it could do with a brush up. So rather than take a break from poker altogether I’ve been sitting down at the nightly Freerolls in a bid to nurture a more aggressive game and to try it out under ‘match conditions’.
My preference is to play in the Full Tilt Freeroll even though the payout at Party extends all the way down to 80th and the field is a lot smaller. At Full Tilt there are regularly over 1500 starters in the Australian Freeroll and they only pay down to 27th place, however the blind structure is a lot slower giving you a realistic chance to recover from a beat without being blinded out.
Last night was the first time I made to the money in a Full Tilt Freeroll and, not only that, I went deep finishing in 5th place.
The most satisfying part of the tournament was a comeback from dead last place when there were 57 remaining. I was in a comfortable position with around 55,000 chips until I basically threw away all but 4,500 of them. With the blinds at 3,000 / 1,500 and the ante at 100, I wasn’t going to last very long and it certainly didn’t look as though I was going to cash. So, when I was UTG I chucked my last 4,000 chips in with J 8c and resigned myself to closing up shop. Three callers were all over me, but when I flopped trip 8s I was pretty sure I was saved.
I picked up QQ the very next hand, threw it all-in again and my tournament was alive and kicking once again. But then, I not only get back in the game, I proceeded to race through the field until I was chip leader heading towards the final table.
So what did I win for over 5 hours of hard work, good play and good luck? $6!!!
Read it an weep suckers
A Second Grinding Challenge
So, I have managed to add a lucrative $6 in freeroll earnings to the sick and sorry Full Tilt account to bring it up to the grand total of…um…$10.
I’ve been bleeding cash badly at Full Tilt and the situation’s dire. The main problem is that I haven’t been preserving my profits when I’ve been ahead at a table. It’s the same story as before, I’d be sitting on a handy profit for a session only to eventually bust out due to bad play or bad beat.
As with what I’ve been doing at Party Poker for the past 2 and a half months, I propose to devote some time at Full Tilt to build up my bankroll using a similar bankroll strategy. I’ll be playing the $10 NLHE tables and will leave a table AS SOON AS I make a profit, regardless of the size of the profit. I’ll then move over to another table and (hopefully) repeat the process.
Starting bankroll is $10.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Freerolling At Full Tilt
Posted by Damien at 3:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bankroll Management, Freerolls, Strategy Progress
Monday, January 7, 2008
Is the Air A Bit Thinner?
I haven't exactly been choking but I've definitely noticed a difference.
It's been around a week since I moved from the $5 NLHE tables at Party Poker to the $10 NLHE tables and have had mixed results with a couple of winning nights and a couple of losing nights. I've got no problem with experiencing losses...I accept them as part of the ups and downs of playing poker. But it's the way that I've been losing that has been a concern.
I've noticed one important difference between the two levels I've now played and if I am going to succeed at this and higher levels, I'm going to have to make a mental adjustment PDQ. The level of aggressive play is higher at the $10 tables. I'm sure it only gets more and more aggressive as the stakes rise, too. Too many times I am finding myself folding my hand to a raise when I should have stayed with it.
I know that some part of this is due to the perception that the bet sizes are larger so it feels as though I am risking a great deal more. In dollar terms, this is true but in percentage terms it is around the same or even less risk.
I've been up and I've been down and I've had a few days rest to reassess my playing strategy and my progress in $$$ is virtually nil. Hopefully, though, my education has benefitted and I will be a stronger player when I next hit the tables. I just have to put it into practice.
Posted by Damien at 2:28 PM 0 comments
Labels: Strategy Progress