SSC Event #4

SSC Event #4
Thursday, 2 April 18:00 GMT
$2,000 guaranteed six-seat no limit Hold'em rebuy
990 runners, $750 starting chips, 10 minute blinds

I finally got a nice result to talk about. In yesterday´s tournament, the 6-seater rebuy, I made my first cash of the series! My good play which I showed in almost every event up till now finally got rewarded with a decent 28th place finish. Not an immensely great place yet, but certainly a step into the right direction and a result which gives me confidence towards the next couple of events! I’m sure that if I continue playing the way I did so far some more good results will follow.

I’m not gonna bore you with every hand I played and won that’s just too much, given the fact that it was a 6-seater and I played pretty aggressive all the way through the tournament a lot of pots were played almost the same. I picked up a lot of pots preflop uncontested with raises in position with marginal hands and when I got some action on my raises I picked up a large amount of pots on the flop with continuation-bets and once in a while with a good made hand. After that being said I will now walk you through some key hands that made it possible for me to get as far as I did in the tournament.

Only using 1 rebuy right at the beginning of the tournament to give me a decent playable stack right away I didn’t have any problems to make it to the first break. In the break there was a short amount of time to make a add-on to get some additional chips, but unlucky enough for me I missed out on that opportunity thanks to a little software lag! Missing this add-on meant for me that my at that point a little below average stack shrunk into a short-stack!
Being pretty pissed off about that I decided that I would go all-in on every decent hand I found. That hand being [Td Qd]vs. [Ah Kh] I was In need of some help of the dealer. Like some sort of miracle the board showed [9d 8d Qh Tc Jd] me winning the pot with a Straight Flush! The next couple of blind levels I was able to slowly build out my stack and the next big pot wasn’t played until just before the second break.

I got dealt [Ks Kc] and made a $4000 raises witch 2 players, one big stacked Idiot and the player in the BB called. On the flop [8d 8h Jh] and the others checking into me I decided that my [Ks Kc] was winning and moved all-in for my remaining $7,970 to make sure a free card wouldn’t outdraw me and pick up the pot right away. Surprisingly enough for me the player of which I already thought he was an idiot proved to be so and called my all-in with only [7d Td]!! giving him only 4 outs to win.. Lucky for me he didn’t suck out on me and I more than doubled my stack to $29.040 chips, $25.110 being the average and went into the second break with only 148 players left.

With just 70 players more needed to go out after the break it wasn’t really hard for me to make that money finish. I continued playing like I was doing whole tournament long and easily made my first cash! I even battled myself through to the 3rd Break, but not much later after that, I made one of my first mistakes of the day with [7h 4d] which did cost me my whole stack. I limped in from the SB and when the flop came [9c 8d 4s] I fired away a $30.000 bet with only about 28K behind making me pretty much committed to the pot. Unfortunately for me the first limper shoved all-in having me covered and after I called hoping he would be on a straight draw he showed [8c Ac]. The [Ad] on the turn and the [5h] on river didn’t help me and I was out in 28th place.

Maybe I could have made it to the final table with some more luck and patience but that’s just guessing. All in all a fair decent result of which I can be pretty content. Hopefully I can keep this form and make an even better result in one of the next events. Wish me Luck!

Greetz, Durdy

SSC Event #3

SSC Event #3
$4,000 guaranteed no limit Hold'em Deep & Steep
1036 runners, 8000 starting chips, 5 minute blinds

Here I am again with some inside information about my doings in the Small Stack Championships events. For the first time this year I am not writing a story from behind my computer inside the house but on my notebook at the balcony of my apartment. Ok it´s my parents place, but hey that’s just a little unimportant detail. The reason of me sitting here instead of safely inside the house is that today the sun is shining here like it didn’t do for about 6 months! Well at least I can´t remember when it the last time happened that you could find me sitting here in the middle of the day writing with my sunglasses on and enjoying the nice weather and a nice ice cold beer! Enough about it time to tell a little bit about yesterdays tournament.

I’m not a big fan of the Deep & Steep format to be quite honest. Given the fact that the blinds go up every 5 minutes in a blind structure that by itself already annoys me, (yes I think the gaps are too big they should take a look at the other sites and fix it that’s just my opinion tho) these kind of tournaments always end up in a crapshoot where the luckiest player wins. And well talking about that, luck I didn´t really have last night!

I picked up some decent limping hands at the start hitting 2 pairs and big draws, but unfortunately ran into a set twice. I didn’t lose a lot of chips though in these pots, which could have happened if the opponents were a little better. After 20 minutes I finally found a great starting hand, [Kd Ks]. I did my usual 3.5x BB raise as being the first in and surprisingly enough 3 players behind me called. On the flop that came [6h Qh As] I checked and after someone raising it and even a reraiser on top of that I couldn’t do anything else than give up on the pot and fold my kings and search for a better opportunity to win a big pot.

About 2 blind levels later I got dealt [Qh Qc] on the BB. With two limpers already in I made a slightly bigger raise than normal only having the SB next to me to flat call. Once again the flop came with an over card [2c Th Kc], but with the player in the SB checking and me being in position I decided to make a big continuation bet this time. I raised $1,100 and unlucky enough for me the SB Check-Raised All-in. After some thinking I safely folded my Queens. Which was the right decision given the fact that the player showed his [Kd Jd] the exact hand I put him on before the flop.

After these 2 pots my stack was seriously crippled. A couple of hands later picking up some little pots uncontested but not really building out my stack I still had only $4,045 left with these blinds going up like crazy already being $300/$600 ante $75, not a great position to be in, I decided to move All-in with [Ac Jc]. With two players calling one holding [Kh 9h] and the other [Ad Kd] and a board that came [As Tc 8d] I was I desperate need of a Jack to come! Lucky enough for me the turn showed the [Jh] and after the river giving me a [Jd] for a Full House I won the pot with a hugh suckout!

After an hour of play at the first break I had a $12580 stack already a lot below average with 486 people left in play. Unlucky enough for me I didn’t even get one big hand to move in with after the break. My stack slowly shrinking and the blinds still rising out of proportions the tournament ended up in the crapshoot I thought it would be at the beginning of this, A sick all-in fest!
At the 16th blind level the average stack already being less than 8 BBs and with me holding an amazingly big stack of only $9,080 and [2c Jc] on the BB, blinds being $1,500/$3,000 $300 ante, I only could hope for the best. On the flop showing [Jh 8c 6c] top pair and a flush draw better than I could dream of, I instantly moved in for all my chips. My little stack of course couldn’t scare of the player holding [7h 5s] for an open-ended Straight draw who called. And once again like in every event I played up till now my hand couldn’t hold up! The [7s] on the turn and [5d] on the river gave her two pair and knocked me out.

I can’t say I enjoyed this one. The bad tournament set-up and the 288th finish out of 1036 also didn’t help. Well I’m off to have a drink with a nice girl I met last week. Hope I do better with her than so far in the SSC.. Wish Me Luck haha!

SSC. Event #2

SSC. Event #2
Tuesday, 31 March 18:00 GMT
$500 guaranteed pot limit Omaha
520 runners, 2000 starting chips, 10 minute blinds.

After the unlucky 115th finish in the first event, just short of the money, it was now time to play the second event. Pot Limit Omaha was scheduled next. Even though I once won a PLO Tournament it isn’t a format in which I really have that much experience. I’m more of a PLO cash game player and the short stacked play I use there can’t be really used in a tournament I think. Well we will see what will happen in this event. I can’t really say much about my changes upfront. Given the somewhat bigger field than usual I might have a little advantage over the majority of players who seldom play PLO and overestimate their marginal starting hands. Or overplay their great looking Hold’ em hands like big pairs.

In the first 30 minutes I didn’t really play well. Better said; I played bad! I was involved in way to many pots and made the mistakes I hoped the other players would make against me. I once overplayed my middle 2 pair and saw to many flops with hands without much flush or straight potential.

Late in the 4th blind level I finally won a nice pot. With a stack of $1,580 I min-raised with [Jh Ah Ts 9d] from the BB to $200 and the SB who limped in called. The flop came [Td Kd Th] giving me a set with Full House outs, runner runner Flush and Straight possibilities. The player in the SB bet out only the minimum and I reraised him for $400 total. He flat called and the turn came [4h]. Once again he raised the bare minimum which didn’t seem to represent a lot of strength to me. I didn’t put him on a Full House and I instantly moved all-in for my last $980 chips. He called with [Jc 4s Qs 7s] with only an open-ended straight draw. The [2c] didn’t help him and I doubled with my Three of a Kind tens.

In the next 25 minutes before the first break I picked up some little pots and as I did in the first event I survived the first hour. Like yesterday once again with a below average stack. Only a mere $3610 while average was $5279. With 200 players left in play I was in desperate need of picking up some good hands and double through.

Unfortunately for me I missed out on some double opportunities with medium run down hands like [9c 8d 7h 5c] and [8s 6s 5c 4d] which both would’ve given me the nut straight. And by not getting any action on my all-in raises with hands such as AAxx and KKxx I was once again down to a very short stack. I only had $3,210 chips left with $400/$800 blinds. Given the fact that I was in the BB my tournament life wouldn’t last much longer without some help of the Pokergods.

I held [5s Jc Ac 8h] and in the four-way pot and I decided to check and move in on any flop that would give me some outs with the chance of a triple up or more. As some kind of miracle the flop came [4s 7h 6d] giving me the nut straight at that time. So as planned I instantly move all-in for the remainder of my awfully short stack. One guy called my all-in with [Td Ks 9s 8s] giving him pretty decent outs to outdraw my Straight. And yes that’s what happened. The [5c] on the river gave him a better Straight!

A bit unlucky maybe, but that was the end of my tournament. This time I finished in 85th place out of the staring 520 players, while the first 60 got paid argg! Again not that bad, but I’m not content with the way I played. I played way to many hands in the start and played too tight in the middle stage and because of that I missed out on some nice double opportunities. Well I hope I do better in today’s event!

Greetz, Durdy

SSC Event #1 no limit six-seat Hold 'em.

SSC Event #1
Monday, 30 March 18:00 GMT
$4,000 guaranteed no limit six-seat Hold 'em.
1045 Runners, 2000 starting chips, 10 minute blinds

If you were paying close attention to what I’ve been writing and to the date and time I’ve posted my last piece you could have known that the first event was already played. I just finished the intro this afternoon instead of yesterday. All because I needed to play an indoor soccer match very late last night, 22.30 local time here (If I ever met the guy that comes up with these times…). I wasn’t home before 01.00 and didn’t have the energy to finish it and put it online. Ow btw the match was a straight down disaster! We lost with 2-7 and ended the game with only 4 players instead of the normal 5! Thank god I scored once, which made the game for me personally not a complete waste of time.

Well it’s about time now to tell a little more about the first event of the SSC. As stated on top of this it was a 6-seater tournament a format that should suit my playing style. I like to bully around and play a rather aggressive game, but sometimes I tend to play a little too aggressive at these 6-seater tourneys, which sometimes leads to a blow up if I don’t play focused enough. I still like the 10 seater deep stacked tournaments a bit more. So well I started the first tournament with a mixed feeling given the fact that this isn’t my strongest format, but I was ready to show that with the right focus and playing my best poker I could still make it a long way in this event.

The first decent pot I played was still pretty early on in the tournament in the 2nd blind level, blinds $20/$40 and me holding a stack of $1,740. At that point I found [9d Jd] on the BB. The player UTG limped as did the SB and I just checked hoping to hit a nice draw on the flop. The flop came [6d 8d Ad] giving me a Flush right away on the flop. I checked hoping to trap the UTG limper, who could have hit top pair, but he also checked and on the turn the [9c] came. Surprisingly the SB now bet out $120 a full pot bet. I just flat called, keeping in mind to make a reraise on the river if the SB would bet out once again, given the fact that it could be very likely that he had made a straight now or maybe could get some help of the board and make his straight on the river. The UTG limper also called the bet and we went on with 3 players to the river. The [7c] completed the board which now showed [6d 8d Ad 9c 7c] making it very likely that someone made a straight and was in big trouble against my made Flush on the flop. The player in the SB who raised on the turn now checked and I made a bet of $320 in the $480 pot. The UTG player folded and the player in the SB just flat called my raise. My made Flush on the flop was good enough to pick up the $1,120 pot and I was back on average with a total stack of $2,380.

In the next couple of hands nothing much happened. I managed to build my stack with [As Kc] to around $3000 chips and lost some chips later on with [As 9d] vs. [Kh Ah] unfortunately my opponent hit a better 2 pair on the river against my 2 pair Aces and Nines.
Not much later this happened.With a stack of $2,560 and the blinds $30/$60 I decided to limp in with [Jd Th]. The player next to me made it $120 to go with a minraise. I called and the flop came [Jh 7s Tc] giving me top 2 pair. I bet out $180 and he flat called. I fired once more on the turn this time $340 when the [Ad] came on. When he flat called again and didn’t reraise whilst the [Ad] made a straight possible I put him at something like AK, AQ. So what I did on the river can be called very stupid! The [Ac] on the river should have scared me of right.. He now made, based on my read before, a set right? Still I raised $730 and he instantly moved all-in for $1,670 total. After some thinking I called him and he indeed showed what I thought he had [Ah Kd] having hit a set on the river… This awful move did cost me my tournament! I was now unbelievably short stacked with only $250 left!

But you know what they say; you only need a chip and a chair right? Well indeed! I got lucky one hand after another and managed to double up with [Ts Ac] vs. [Ah 2d]. Once more with [Qh Ad] vs. [Td Tc] and with [7d 9c] vs. [6h 7h] on a [7c 5c 7s] flop my money went in again and I once again doubled up! Not even that much later I found myself going in on a [9c As Ad] flop. Me holding [Ah Js] vs. someone bluffing all-in with nothing more than [Qd Ts]!!!

You can call it a little miracle but I made the first Break with 3520 chips, just a little below average, and 455 players left out of the original 1045. Not that great but hey I could have been out already I was down to 250 chips with 30/60 blinds haha.

After the Break I got moved to another table and a couple of hands later I picked up [6s 7d] on the button. Because I was the first in I raised to $600 the SB folded and after using an awful lot of time, even using his time bank, the BB Moved in over the top for $1,585 total. I decided that my [6s 7d] was live and called him. He showed [As 5h]. The board came [8s Ts Qc 5d 4s] giving me a straight and knocking one player out. Now for the first time since the start of the tournament I had a decent stack of $5,255 total.

The next couple of blind levels nothing special really happened, I found some nice raising hands like 77, 66, AQ and could slowly build my stack to $8,455 without much resistance. Late in the 8th blind level I got dealt [Ks Kh] in the SB. Someone from middle position made it $900, 3 times the BB to go. I decided to just flat call to disguise the strength of my hand and the player in the BB also just flat called. The flop came [7s 9h 3s] I checked and the player in the SB with only a stack of $1,045 still behind bet out only $300 a min raise. I instantly reraised to $1200 which made the original raiser lay down his hand and the SB called all-in for his remaining chips. He showed [9c Ac] and didn’t get help on the turn or river. I won a nice pot there giving me a $11,425 stack a bit above average at that time.

In the next 2 blind levels I maintained my aggressive play and slowly but steady build out my stack to 14k. But after losing an all-in call with [Kd Kh] vs. [Ah 8c] and the next hand which I played terrible with [Qh Jc] vs. [Ad Js] on a Jack high flop I was all of the sudden down to a mere stack of only $5,515! Not much later I was pretty unlucky again with a flopped 2 pair against a straight draw. I had to call the short stacked guy’s all-in, but no luck for me. He sucked out on the river making his straight. At that point with blinds being $400/$800 and me only having a stack of $1,440 left I was once again in need of a miracle!

I doubled up once with [Ac Ad] and picked up some blinds with a desperate [Th 7s]all-in move and a couple of hands later I made the same play with [8h Th]. But my luck ran out not much later. I moved in once again but this time with a pretty decent hand [Jd Js]. I got called by [Ac Th] and [Kc Ah] and unfortunately an Ace flopped and my tournament was over. I was out in 115th place.Not a bad start 115th out of 1045, but just 28 places short of making an in the money finish.

Overall I’m pretty content with my play. Besides the mistake I made early on and the horrible play with the QJ I played pretty decent aggressive poker during the whole tournament. Well I hope I can maintain this level and even improve in the next events. Maybe I can get a decent result in tomorrow’s Omaha event . Wish me luck!

Greetz, Durdy

Small Stakes Championship

I’ve been away from online poker for a couple of months now, but after seeing last week’s show “Lords of Poker” on Dutch Television, (RTL7 if I’m correct) I subconsciously felt the need to play some poker again. I dusted of my mini-notebook and logged on to my favorite Poker site.

As I already said I didn’t play for about one month and a half. This was because in middle February things didn’t really worked out for me in the magical world of Online Poker. I had some decent results though, but in the bigger tourney’s I just couldn’t win any coinflips or better at the important moments. I almost got myself a $1000 package for PKR Live II held in London, but my dream collapsed at the bubble going out at 8th place, with AQ vs. JJ on a AQJ Board, whilst the top 7 finishers were awarded! Man what did I feel stupid afterwards! I should have played more careful, but hey you only get better from making mistakes right?

After this disappointing result and some other even worse played tournaments from my side I decided to take a break and stop playing regularly. I cashed out 90% of my bankroll and bought some great stuff of it. I’m still in love with my IPod Touch and Notebook that much that I find it important enough to mention haha. Oow well I’m drifting off a bit.

So after seeing some poker on the telly I logged on PKR once again with the idea to play some small tournaments to get my A-Game back. I’m not going to play as much as I did before, I’m just too busy with some more important real life stuff and I promised to play one more Mohaa cup, some old game I used to be pretty much addicted to.

Well after logging in I saw there was a new thing almost ready to start on PKR. From March 30th to April 12th they are holding the SSC, Small Stakes Championship. 14 events with a hugh variety of games all for a really small buy-in and guaranteed prizes. A perfect opportunity for me, I would say, to get back into and improve my game and maybe if I play well to boost my bankroll a bit! At the point of writing this I already bought myself in for all the 14 events, giving me a maximum sized stack for an additional 15th event, a $2000 freeroll on April 19th.

Today I will be playing the first event in my imaginary “Little WSOP” Quest, the 4k guaranteed no limit Hold ’em 6 seater. I will report back daily with results and a little summary of how things went in every single event on this very same blog.
I’m off to play the first event, Wish me Luck!

Greetz, Laterz, Durdy.

Ps.
visit http://www.pkr.com/poker-community/pkr-ranking-profile.cfm?userid=1185249 to see my best results on PKR in the events i played up till now.

Just a simple twist of faith..

Dealing [Kh Ks] to Durdy
Bea1860 calls $0.50
Polarbear1 folds
welle24 folds
Essential folds
KidNinja folds
jesushairdo109 raises to $ 8
Durdy raises to $31.50 (all-in)
MrCapone187 folds
Bea1860 folds
jesushairdo109 calls $31.50

Durdy shows [Kh Ks]
jesushairdo109 shows [Qd Qc]

Dealing Flop [Qs 4h Ad]
Dealing Turn [8s]
Dealing River [5c]

jesushairdo109 has Three of a Kind: Queens
jesushairdo109 wins $63.75 with: Three of a Kind: Queens

Ik geef het op.. God hates me :)

BadBeatMachine

Wow hoe lang geleden had ik ook weer gepost? Nahja doesn't matter. Luck hasn't changed yet! Het is weer lekker begonnen!

Dealing [Kc Ac] to Durdy
Durdy raises to $100
CRAZZZYLADY calls $100
Kaitsu65 calls $100
jacand1066 raises to $180
Durdy $1,300 (all-in)
CRAZZZYLADY folds
Kaitsu65 folds
jacand1066 calls $1,300

jacand1066 shows [Jc As]
Durdy shows [Kc Ac]

Dealing Flop [3h 4s Jd]
Dealing Turn [Js]
Dealing River [2h]
Durdy has One Pair: Jacks
jacand1066 has Three of a Kind: Jacks
jacand1066 wins $3,330 with: Three of a Kind: Jacks