Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Boston Globe Article
Hi Guys,
Today there was an article in the Boston Globe about poker that mentioned me quite a few times. I was flattered at first, until I read it and saw that the author misrepresented the final hand!! Read the article here (link).
Now to set the record straight- this is how the tourney ended. Heads up, 3k/6k/1k blinds and antes. I have 80k, opponent has 144k. He wants to chop, with him getting 200 more than me. I turn it down. He is very easy to read- reminds me of playing poker against a foxwoods fish. I steal the blinds 3x in a row, to pick up 18k to make it 98k me 126k him. Next hand, I flop open ended straight draw, in a limped pot. Villain leads out for 10k, I call, turn is blank, villain bets 10k, I raise to 34k, villain waits and calls. River is an Ace, missing me completely. Villain checks, I ship it in on the prayer bluff, villain instamucks. Now I have 131k, he has 93k. Here is the hand wrongly represented by the paper- I have AQss on the sb. I raise to 10k total. Villain reraises to 20k total. I call. Flop is QJ4. Villain open shoves remaining 73k into 42k pot. I briefly consider the possibility that he would open shove AA or KK, then slap myself for being so foolish. I call, he shows AK0, turn x, river Q. GG Pat Wins.
The paper was correct in stating that he had a better hand to start the hand, but when the vast majority of the chips were put into play, I was well ahead. K thanks.
Anyway, enjoy the article. Please note that I am also 23, not 22, and already graduated college. Details.
Today there was an article in the Boston Globe about poker that mentioned me quite a few times. I was flattered at first, until I read it and saw that the author misrepresented the final hand!! Read the article here (link).
Now to set the record straight- this is how the tourney ended. Heads up, 3k/6k/1k blinds and antes. I have 80k, opponent has 144k. He wants to chop, with him getting 200 more than me. I turn it down. He is very easy to read- reminds me of playing poker against a foxwoods fish. I steal the blinds 3x in a row, to pick up 18k to make it 98k me 126k him. Next hand, I flop open ended straight draw, in a limped pot. Villain leads out for 10k, I call, turn is blank, villain bets 10k, I raise to 34k, villain waits and calls. River is an Ace, missing me completely. Villain checks, I ship it in on the prayer bluff, villain instamucks. Now I have 131k, he has 93k. Here is the hand wrongly represented by the paper- I have AQss on the sb. I raise to 10k total. Villain reraises to 20k total. I call. Flop is QJ4. Villain open shoves remaining 73k into 42k pot. I briefly consider the possibility that he would open shove AA or KK, then slap myself for being so foolish. I call, he shows AK0, turn x, river Q. GG Pat Wins.
The paper was correct in stating that he had a better hand to start the hand, but when the vast majority of the chips were put into play, I was well ahead. K thanks.
Anyway, enjoy the article. Please note that I am also 23, not 22, and already graduated college. Details.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Poker Goals 2008
Glad to see the feedback coming in so quickly!
I was asked about my poker goals for the year. here is a quick rundown of what I hope to accomplish this year:
1. Since I started over from scratch, my primary goal is to rebuild the bankroll. Get to 5k bankroll and move up to 2/4 nl plus mtt's. 15k bankroll brings us to 5/10 nl, plus all the bigger mtt's and rebuys.
2. play live at least twice a month, and build my live roll independent of my online bankroll. Here the focus will be on 1/2 nl and 2/5 nl at foxwoods, plus 150 6 way sngs at Rockingham and Seabrook, and the usual live mtt's 200-500 buy in. Mix in some qualifiers for larger events, such as WPT at foxwoods, Empire State Championship at Turning Stone, etc. etc.
3. I always play better when I have something I'm playing for. For the past two years, my goal was to win the cash for a condo. Now that we've taken care of that, my new goal is to make enough this year to buy a new car next spring when my lease is up. Target 45k. GL me.
Finally, I've got a sick new deal with rakebrain.com to get rakeback. If you are interested in signing up, post something here and I'll send you the referral link. You get bonus money and so do I by getting referred.. its a win win.
Pat
I was asked about my poker goals for the year. here is a quick rundown of what I hope to accomplish this year:
1. Since I started over from scratch, my primary goal is to rebuild the bankroll. Get to 5k bankroll and move up to 2/4 nl plus mtt's. 15k bankroll brings us to 5/10 nl, plus all the bigger mtt's and rebuys.
2. play live at least twice a month, and build my live roll independent of my online bankroll. Here the focus will be on 1/2 nl and 2/5 nl at foxwoods, plus 150 6 way sngs at Rockingham and Seabrook, and the usual live mtt's 200-500 buy in. Mix in some qualifiers for larger events, such as WPT at foxwoods, Empire State Championship at Turning Stone, etc. etc.
3. I always play better when I have something I'm playing for. For the past two years, my goal was to win the cash for a condo. Now that we've taken care of that, my new goal is to make enough this year to buy a new car next spring when my lease is up. Target 45k. GL me.
Finally, I've got a sick new deal with rakebrain.com to get rakeback. If you are interested in signing up, post something here and I'll send you the referral link. You get bonus money and so do I by getting referred.. its a win win.
Pat
time to bring the blog back
Hi Everyone,
So I decided to bring the blog back into existence. I'd given up on poker for a while to deal with the purchase of a condo, and now that that is squared away, it's time to get back to the grind.
I got back into things 3 weeks ago by depositing $600 on full tilt. I know what you're thinking- he is going to play over his head and bust that $600 in a week. First couple days I played solid 22 sng turbos, built up to around 900. Then I went to foxwoods that weekend, had a 72 hour session of 1/2 nl, with a 560 mtt mixed in. Lucky me, I ft'ed the mtt and got 6th place for $1650. Easy Game.
I made a handful of good runs in mtt's, but didn't get any big scores. I was getting frustrated because the bankroll was dropping again, so after a talk with old friend Bluechip, I took his advice and started on 1/2nl on the side of my mtt's. So far, so good. I'm using pokertracker, pahud, and playing an overall solid game on the cash front while trying to win my mtt's at the same time. FTOPS are going on right now too, so I'm playing some of those for the backer. I'm just getting started back on the poker front, but so far so good, and I'm glad to be back.
Oh one other live tournament note- I played in the New England College World Series of Poker yesterday (website here). It was advertised as a 300 person tournament with ~20k to first place, but oops it only had 30 people, so first was < 2k. I won though, so I guess if you want my autograph or something just send me an address and I'll get that to you.
That is all for now, I'll try to get an update in every day or so for a while to keep you all interested again.
-Pato
So I decided to bring the blog back into existence. I'd given up on poker for a while to deal with the purchase of a condo, and now that that is squared away, it's time to get back to the grind.
I got back into things 3 weeks ago by depositing $600 on full tilt. I know what you're thinking- he is going to play over his head and bust that $600 in a week. First couple days I played solid 22 sng turbos, built up to around 900. Then I went to foxwoods that weekend, had a 72 hour session of 1/2 nl, with a 560 mtt mixed in. Lucky me, I ft'ed the mtt and got 6th place for $1650. Easy Game.
I made a handful of good runs in mtt's, but didn't get any big scores. I was getting frustrated because the bankroll was dropping again, so after a talk with old friend Bluechip, I took his advice and started on 1/2nl on the side of my mtt's. So far, so good. I'm using pokertracker, pahud, and playing an overall solid game on the cash front while trying to win my mtt's at the same time. FTOPS are going on right now too, so I'm playing some of those for the backer. I'm just getting started back on the poker front, but so far so good, and I'm glad to be back.
Oh one other live tournament note- I played in the New England College World Series of Poker yesterday (website here). It was advertised as a 300 person tournament with ~20k to first place, but oops it only had 30 people, so first was < 2k. I won though, so I guess if you want my autograph or something just send me an address and I'll get that to you.
That is all for now, I'll try to get an update in every day or so for a while to keep you all interested again.
-Pato
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Monday, October 1, 2007
WCOOP wrap up
Well, the WCOOPs finished last night.
I wound up playing in 3 events. I played the 1k nlhe 2million guarantee, and finished around 1000 with 500 getting paid. Made a bluff river shove on a 34569 board with 810, and bb snap called with AA. Theres a lot more to the hand then that, but I'm not in the mood to relive that melt down.
I also played the 320 Horse Event. I busted around 3rd hour of this tourney playing razz, when my A2346 lost to the wheel of my opponent. My hand was (hole cards in bold) A246233. Thought I was in good shape. Villain had 3547AJ2. Puke.
Finally, last night I played the 2500 Main Event. I didn't get much going, but got my way up to 25k at a high point (starting with 20k). Finally, I lost a 7k pot when I had 15k at 100/200 25. I raised AQcc UTG +3 to 850 with one limper UTG+2. Limper called. Flop 7c9c9x. Check I bet 2200. Call. Turn Kd. Check, I bet 4400. He tank calls. River 9. He shoves. I fold. I obviously dont like how this hand turned out, but I'm not sure what I should do differently. Do I give up on the turn and hope to hit my free card? Or do I just limp? Blah
Anyway, busted a half hour later when I raised AQss, and an active player put me all in. He had 50k and I thought his range was large enough that I have to gamble my last 7k with AQss here. His AK looked good though. GG me.
I also played the WCOOP 2nd chance 500 buy in yesterday. I faired better in that, making the money and finishing 73rd. Good for 1300. Still down for the day and for WCOOPS, but not gonna complain about a cash. Atleast it stops the bleeding for a bit.
I'm gonna get back into the nightly 20r, 109, 100k, etc etc, so hopefully I'll start winning some small mtts again.
TTYL
I wound up playing in 3 events. I played the 1k nlhe 2million guarantee, and finished around 1000 with 500 getting paid. Made a bluff river shove on a 34569 board with 810, and bb snap called with AA. Theres a lot more to the hand then that, but I'm not in the mood to relive that melt down.
I also played the 320 Horse Event. I busted around 3rd hour of this tourney playing razz, when my A2346 lost to the wheel of my opponent. My hand was (hole cards in bold) A246233. Thought I was in good shape. Villain had 3547AJ2. Puke.
Finally, last night I played the 2500 Main Event. I didn't get much going, but got my way up to 25k at a high point (starting with 20k). Finally, I lost a 7k pot when I had 15k at 100/200 25. I raised AQcc UTG +3 to 850 with one limper UTG+2. Limper called. Flop 7c9c9x. Check I bet 2200. Call. Turn Kd. Check, I bet 4400. He tank calls. River 9. He shoves. I fold. I obviously dont like how this hand turned out, but I'm not sure what I should do differently. Do I give up on the turn and hope to hit my free card? Or do I just limp? Blah
Anyway, busted a half hour later when I raised AQss, and an active player put me all in. He had 50k and I thought his range was large enough that I have to gamble my last 7k with AQss here. His AK looked good though. GG me.
I also played the WCOOP 2nd chance 500 buy in yesterday. I faired better in that, making the money and finishing 73rd. Good for 1300. Still down for the day and for WCOOPS, but not gonna complain about a cash. Atleast it stops the bleeding for a bit.
I'm gonna get back into the nightly 20r, 109, 100k, etc etc, so hopefully I'll start winning some small mtts again.
TTYL
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Back to Playing
Hi Guys,
Sorry for the couple weeks of between posts. I took some time off from poker because I was just not feeling it. I was so burnt out that I was spewing money, so I needed a break. Couple that with the start of football season and some hectic things around the house, and I just forgot about poker for a while.
Anyway, I played last night. Heres the recap:
I played poker last night for the first time in a week. realllly wasn't feeling it, shit away some sngs on full tilt to start, and thought that the break needed to continue.
Then fired up stars, played the 11pm 30 freezeout (1500 chips), the 11pm 100 freezeout (3000 chips), and a 2000fpp rebuy to wcoop 14.
11pm 30 freeze i entered midnight break with 4600, then lost on first hand after break. utg limps, I 4x AA in mid pos. UTG calls. Flop Q46, he leads out 400, I shove, he calls AQ, finds a Q on the turn.
11pm 100 freeze i entered midnight break with 4200. around 12:45 i'm sitting on 5700 and i limp utg with AA. 4 callers @ 100 200, gets to button who makes it 800. BB calls (stack of 7500), I reraised to 2200. folds to button, he folds, BB calls. Flop KQJhhh, I have Ah. He checks, I shove, he calls. Kx10h for him. Turns a 9 gg.
So fish that I lose two tourneys in a row with AA. It's like the reverse bluechip corollary.
Guess I should explain that- the bluechip corollary is when you'find an opponents AA to lose greater than 50% of your tournaments over a given sample size.
11:15pm 2000 fpps rebuy turbo wcoop sat. I have 20,000 fpps by the way. I rebuy for 4000 to start. It plays really tight, and we start with 1k chips. I stack a guy with 33 on a 348 flop vs his JJ to double. Then 1 min before break, I find KK utg. I open shove at 100 200 for 4600. 4 callers. Peal a K to quad up. I addon at the last second of break to try to get the total seats up to 3 (didn't get there). After break I nit around and make it to final two tables. Blinds are now obscene, 500/1000 avg stack 8000. I get to final table short. I somehow survive to final 6. We play 6 way for on unheard of 1 hour with avg stacks ~12000 and 1500/3000 blinds. Then we lose 2 on one hand when JJ open shoves, AK calls button, A10 suited calls bb as big stack and sees a board of A24410 to ellim two. 4 way big stack is horribly bad, he is my small blind and folds the blinds to me each time without ever challenging. Occasionally he limp folds to my shove. We get three way and me and other guy both have 17000, big stack has 40000. We play 3 way for 30 minutes. My position is amazing- big stack keeps folding to me, and the bb is so tight that I can steal his blind fairly quickly. Other short stack finally shoves on big stack. QK < A9, so I won the seat. OMFG I can't believe I won a tournament. Too bad it was a zero buy in, but hey still got the seat. Now here's the bankroll management question: what to do with the $1040 W dollars. I can exchange them at cashmanbrian.com for $832, and try to build my roll on stars back from $1000. Conversely, I can play the 1000 buy in wcoop event. I'm leaning towards playing the event and possibly cashing, maybe even ft'ing, and slight chance of winning. I think I gotta go for it now. Also, I might try to win this same tournament every night this week, since it is so fish. If I win it a 2nd time I'm deffinetly playing.
Alright that is all for today. I'm back to the blog scene so keep reading, tell all your college friends who are learning poker about the site, and if you live in new england and have a live game going post it in the comments section.
Pat
Sorry for the couple weeks of between posts. I took some time off from poker because I was just not feeling it. I was so burnt out that I was spewing money, so I needed a break. Couple that with the start of football season and some hectic things around the house, and I just forgot about poker for a while.
Anyway, I played last night. Heres the recap:
I played poker last night for the first time in a week. realllly wasn't feeling it, shit away some sngs on full tilt to start, and thought that the break needed to continue.
Then fired up stars, played the 11pm 30 freezeout (1500 chips), the 11pm 100 freezeout (3000 chips), and a 2000fpp rebuy to wcoop 14.
11pm 30 freeze i entered midnight break with 4600, then lost on first hand after break. utg limps, I 4x AA in mid pos. UTG calls. Flop Q46, he leads out 400, I shove, he calls AQ, finds a Q on the turn.
11pm 100 freeze i entered midnight break with 4200. around 12:45 i'm sitting on 5700 and i limp utg with AA. 4 callers @ 100 200, gets to button who makes it 800. BB calls (stack of 7500), I reraised to 2200. folds to button, he folds, BB calls. Flop KQJhhh, I have Ah. He checks, I shove, he calls. Kx10h for him. Turns a 9 gg.
So fish that I lose two tourneys in a row with AA. It's like the reverse bluechip corollary.
Guess I should explain that- the bluechip corollary is when you'find an opponents AA to lose greater than 50% of your tournaments over a given sample size.
11:15pm 2000 fpps rebuy turbo wcoop sat. I have 20,000 fpps by the way. I rebuy for 4000 to start. It plays really tight, and we start with 1k chips. I stack a guy with 33 on a 348 flop vs his JJ to double. Then 1 min before break, I find KK utg. I open shove at 100 200 for 4600. 4 callers. Peal a K to quad up. I addon at the last second of break to try to get the total seats up to 3 (didn't get there). After break I nit around and make it to final two tables. Blinds are now obscene, 500/1000 avg stack 8000. I get to final table short. I somehow survive to final 6. We play 6 way for on unheard of 1 hour with avg stacks ~12000 and 1500/3000 blinds. Then we lose 2 on one hand when JJ open shoves, AK calls button, A10 suited calls bb as big stack and sees a board of A24410 to ellim two. 4 way big stack is horribly bad, he is my small blind and folds the blinds to me each time without ever challenging. Occasionally he limp folds to my shove. We get three way and me and other guy both have 17000, big stack has 40000. We play 3 way for 30 minutes. My position is amazing- big stack keeps folding to me, and the bb is so tight that I can steal his blind fairly quickly. Other short stack finally shoves on big stack. QK < A9, so I won the seat. OMFG I can't believe I won a tournament. Too bad it was a zero buy in, but hey still got the seat. Now here's the bankroll management question: what to do with the $1040 W dollars. I can exchange them at cashmanbrian.com for $832, and try to build my roll on stars back from $1000. Conversely, I can play the 1000 buy in wcoop event. I'm leaning towards playing the event and possibly cashing, maybe even ft'ing, and slight chance of winning. I think I gotta go for it now. Also, I might try to win this same tournament every night this week, since it is so fish. If I win it a 2nd time I'm deffinetly playing.
Alright that is all for today. I'm back to the blog scene so keep reading, tell all your college friends who are learning poker about the site, and if you live in new england and have a live game going post it in the comments section.
Pat
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