Funnnnnnnnnnnnn times!

Date: Thu, Jun 12, 2008 Professional Internet Live Tournament Women

Man, I have so much to talk about this time so expect to keep reading for a while...

I'll start with WPT Barcelona. I got through day one of the main event with 50k or so in chips which was top 15 out of 120 left I think. Day 1 went pretty smooth from the start, I picked up some hands, got paid etc. Had 3 key hands that day which I think were all pretty interesting:

1. I have about 23k after chipping up from 15k startingstack. I had been pretty active at the tale but also showing down fairly strong hands and no big bluffs. Marc Goodwin, a good British player is to my immediate right. He's a typical live pro, has reasons for everything he does, but sometimes his logic can be very flawed even if it makes sense in his mind. He had been very active, accumulating well and sitting on around 25k. The blinds are 150-300/25. Our table had been playing very tight for the most part, with not many re-raises or flops.

Marc raises utg to 800. Ok, so ur prolly thinking I need a very good hand to continue, which I under normal circumstances would, but he had been opening utg the last 5 orbits, and sometimes showing one card like a random 7.. so I'm pretty sure his opening range is pretty wide still. I look down at 4d6d utg+1 and decide to re-raise to 2750. This is not something I do very often, but it was such a perfect spot for me to come over the top cuz he HAS to put me on a huge hand. I also think that he's gonna do the good ole live pro 'call hoping to set mine or hit a good flop against me to stack my 'overpair' without getting right odds to do so' move. So I will be able to take down the pot on the flop a ton of the time, and I can also hit a really disguised flop if I'm lucky. Comes back around to him and he calls relatively quickly... no surprise there.

Flop QdTd5x

He checks. (which im 99% sure he's gonna do no matter what he has so that doesn't tell me anything.) I obviously flop huge here and I'm trying to think what my best line is against him. I think he can easily have a hand like AQ that he's just not folding cuz he doesnt like to give me credit for a hand very often. I also think he can have KJ and might check raise me on the flop. TT is also a possibility, but for the most part I think he just has some random pocket pair or suited connecters that whiffed and will fold the flop. So I decide that I kinda wanna get some more chips outta my flushdraw (as weird as that sounds lol), so I decide to check behind planning to shove on any turn bet hoping he thinks I'm on AK and bets out with whatever he has and then realizes I was slowplaying the flop with an overpair or QQ. There's no way hes gonna call a turn shove even if he thinks I have AK.. hes just not that type. I also dont wanna get checkrasied on the flop and blown off my hand, because any checkraise on his part commits him, so I won't have fold equity anymore.

Turn: 9d

Beautiful card, completing my flush, and also making it much more possible for him to have hit some part of that board. He checks again.. I was pretty sure that he was giving on at this point, but I had to protect my hand. So I bet 4300 into 6k or so just hoping for him to do something stupid. To my surprise, he insta shoves!! Kinda scared me... but I obviously call and he shows 9s... awesome, ship 45k pot myyyy way please!

River: Blank

So after this hand, Marc is down to 4k or so and hes really pissed off at me for 'getting lucky and hitting the only card in the deck that he gives me action on... I just laugh cuz I win the pot on any card but the last 9 in the deck that doesn't complete my flush and that's all. I was betting turn and shoving river if he called regardless what came, and he can't call two more streets with 9s. So he's losing chips in that hand on 43 turn cards and 42 river cards which is pretty funny if u ask me.

He then goes on tilt a little bit but manages to get his stack back up to 25k or so by getting some ridiculous calls and getting some good cards.

Hand 2.

Last level of the day. 200-400/50

I look down at AK offsuit which is a big hand with my image lol.. So I raise it to 1050 utg+2. Guy two to my left... apparently a rich guy with tons of money and a friend of Marc re-raises to 4500 or so with 20k behind. I really had no idea what to do here... folding felt incredibly weak, and I think he was getting tired of me raising every single hand it was folded to me after Marc doubled me up earlier. So I just ship it in expecting to be racing a fair amount of the time, and getting folds the rest. He shrugs his shoulders and says 'ok, gamble' and calls. I'm like... ahhh dear, good game 25k of my stack. He turns over QJ offsuit! I can't help myself... I go 'WHAT????!?!?!?!' cuz I was so surprised... Obviously I'm delighted that he called until the Q rolled off on the flop and I bricked the turn and river. I got really mad... don't ask why, but I had been on a really bad run for a loooong time and I flipped out. I calmed down after 20 min or so stearing at the chips that shoulda been mine and given me the Chip Lead in the tournament... instead I was down to 25k again. Sigh.

3.

So last hand of the day.. I told marc when they stopped the clock to play the last 5 hands of the day that I'm probably gonna mess up cuz I like to spew the last hands lol

Still 200-400/50

I'm on the SB with AK... oh god, told ya eh... one guy limps for 400. Marc raises to 1600 on the button. I really really reeally dont wanna play this hand at this point, and I definitely dont wanna see a flop with it OOP against him, so I reraise to 6500 pretty much telling him I'm not going anywhere and that I just wanna get the hand over with... It's probably pretty exploitable against very strong players who will know I have AK here and fold anything but KK+, but marc isn't like that. Limper folds, comes back to Marc, he shoves....sighhhhhhhhhhh. I snapcall cuz I' never ever folding after putting in 25% of my stack preflop with AK on a reraise. I show my hand and he says 'I KNEW I ws ahead, and slams his 7s on the table.. wtffff, like, lol, is logic doesnt make any sensssssse. He told me he thought I had AT, AJ, AQ, AK and maybe small pairs. LOL again. First of all...I'm folding AT, AJ to his single raise preflop, all pairs im prolly set mining.. I'm never gonna turn AQ into a bluff by reraising cuz I wont be able to call a shove. And If I did reraise light I'm not gonna reraise that much of my stack and fold to a shove the last hand of the day to put me on tilt before the next day. So my real range there is QQ+ and AK... I wouldnt say ur 7s does very well against that range, Marc...I'm sorry.

He gets punished for his bad play when I hit a K on the flop to win the pot and then he starts going off on me again telling me how bad i am and that I'm the biggest lucksack in the world and that all I do is run good. Whatever... go beat ur mates in the GUPT instead or whatever that tourney series over there is called lol.

Good way to end the day.

Day two didnt go so well tho... I start out with Patrik Antonius to my right with a big stack. I try reraising him once about an hour after we start playing but he obviously 4bets me and I'm too much of a wuss to shove with my Q8o so I fold. After that I win a small pot and get moved to a new table

Still have 50k. Blinds 500-1000/100

I raise to 2600 with AdTd utg+1. Dont really have any reads on the table but figure it's good enough to raise with regardless. I get 4 callers... yay..not. I'm pretty much done with the hand unless I flop a monster.

Flop Tx9d4d

Hmm... not bad huh. I bet out 8500 definitely not planning to fold my top pair top kicker with the nut flushdraw. Guy to my left insta throws in all his 5k chips which totalled about 40k leaving himself with 10k or so. Comes back to me.. I cant fold so I ship, he calls and I lose to his 9s. a lot of ppl have been asking me why I didnt put him on a set when he bet like that.... and my thinking was that if I had a set in his spot I would at least give it some thought... Maybe hope the ppl behind came into the pot because they only had between 20-30k so there's no way they're ever just calling 8500 on the flop, which is a good argument for flat calling and slow playing the set knowing that the action is opened back up to him again if someone shoves and that I will most likely stick my chips in if I have an over pair either way. So I really thought his range would be more weighted towards the same kind of combo draw I had, with hands like Jd8d, QdJd. QdKd, 7d8d, 8d6d or maybe T9s. Which I have crushed. Even if his range is only one or two of those combinations and sets I'm still getting like 2,7:1 to call only needing a little over 3:1, so Its definitely the right call regardless, just unfortunate.

After that I went and signed up for the 300 euro rebuy plo tourney to tilt away some money, but I ended up taking third in it instead for 16,600 euros which felt really nice. I also got deep in the 1k and the 2k events, but no luck late.

After Spain I went straight to Portugal for the Betfair Portugese Poker Tour (BPPT). I thought it was gonna be a really boring event since the buy in was so low, and I didnt know anyone else going. I ended up meeting some really cool ppl there tho. One of them being a member of the portugese team, Roberto. We had lots of fun all week, and we got along really well. He was to my surprise also a very talented, good player. I railed him for a whole day in the side event after I busted out the first hand when I flopped an open ended straight flushdraw and got it in vs top pair..lol. But I do think he has potential and is definitely someone to look out for the next couple of years.... guess what.. he also ended up winning that tourney! Congrats on that... I know you'll be reading this. Wanna thank you for a nice time in portugal and for making my stay there much better than expected. Look forward to seeing u again soon! And that also goes for the rest of u that I met there. (Thanks for the earring Mafalda :) I will now be happpppy when Betfair sends me to Portugal next time!

Thats it for this time.. I could've written another 4 pages from that trip but I'm exhausted and have a flight in 7 hours to spain for the spanish open before going to Vegas for a month. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Annette

More from Barcelona

Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 Professional Internet Live Tournament Women

I just got back couple of days ago.

My friend got 2nd in the tournament which was huge for him. Kinda sucks that he ddint win cuz he was way better than his opponent when he got HU, he just didnt have the chips to fight with. Hes happy tho, and I'm proud of him for doing so well at his first big FT! Good job Mike :).

I'm actually going back to Barcelona in just a week for the WPT there, so if anyones going, come say hi. I'll be there from the 20th-27th I think and then heading to Portugal for a portugese even sponsored by Betfair. Actually looking forward to it. Will be my first time in Portugal and I've heard its really nice there. Not sure what the tournament will be like but I know for sure I wont donk outta this one unless I get really unlucky. Cant be too many pros in it since its only a small buy in. Should be easy heh.

On a poker related note, I've been running really well on Betfair lately. Have played a lot of tourneys the last couple of days and I'm starting to really get a feel for the site. I was struggling in the beginning because the play here was just generally so different from other sites. You'd expect that because americans cant play there would be a lot of scandis, but maybe I'm generalizing too much when I say most scandinavian players are over aggro. The play here is really weak for the most part and the avg skill level of the players compared to the buy in of the tourney is a lot lower than any other place I've played. Looking forward to get into the head of the regulars here thats for sure.

One specific thing that I've noticed is that ppl play really tight when they're shortstacked. They dont shove any two if they have 7bbs in the CO and its folded to them. I kept making the same mistake isolating medium strngth hands like KJ, A2, 33 vs them thinkign they're on any two cards but they dont seem to care if they get very short. So after seeing this and adjusting my ranges accordingly I've stayed out of situations that I used to get into too often. (This of course doesnt count for every player on the site cuz some of them knows what they're doing)

Enough about that... dont want them to know the mistakes they're making :), altho I'll prolly call someone out when I start making vids. I tried recording today for the first time. Had an hour of material untill I found out the audio wasnt working...lol. Oh well, just gonna have to do another one I guess. If anyone has any requests for what to record, please make a post in the betfair forum and I'll try to look through it from time to time!

Will write again soon (i promise).

Annette

More from Barcelona

Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 Professional Internet Live Tournament Women

I just got back couple of days ago.

My friend got 2nd in the tournament which was huge for him. Kinda sucks that he ddint win cuz he was way better than his opponent when he got HU, he just didnt have the chips to fight with. Hes happy tho, and I'm proud of him for doing so well at his first big FT! Good job Mike :).

I'm actually going back to Barcelona in just a week for the WPT there, so if anyones going, come say hi. I'll be there from the 20th-27th I think and then heading to Portugal for a portugese even sponsored by Betfair. Actually looking forward to it. Will be my first time in Portugal and I've heard its really nice there. Not sure what the tournament will be like but I know for sure I wont donk outta this one unless I get really unlucky. Cant be too many pros in it since its only a small buy in. Should be easy heh.

On a poker related note, I've been running really well on Betfair lately. Have played a lot of tourneys the last couple of days and I'm starting to really get a feel for the site. I was struggling in the beginning because the play here was just generally so different from other sites. You'd expect that because americans cant play there would be a lot of scandis, but maybe I'm generalizing too much when I say most scandinavian players are over aggro. The play here is really weak for the most part and the avg skill level of the players compared to the buy in of the tourney is a lot lower than any other place I've played. Looking forward to get into the head of the regulars here thats for sure.

One specific thing that I've noticed is that ppl play really tight when they're shortstacked. They dont shove any two if they have 7bbs in the CO and its folded to them. I kept making the same mistake isolating medium strngth hands like KJ, A2, 33 vs them thinkign they're on any two cards but they dont seem to care if they get very short. So after seeing this and adjusting my ranges accordingly I've stayed out of situations that I used to get into too often. (This of course doesnt count for every player on the site cuz some of them knows what they're doing)

Enough about that... dont want them to know the mistakes they're making :), altho I'll prolly call someone out when I start making vids. I tried recording today for the first time. Had an hour of material untill I found out the audio wasnt working...lol. Oh well, just gonna have to do another one I guess. If anyone has any requests for what to record, please make a post in the betfair forum and I'll try to look through it from time to time!

Will write again soon (i promise).

Annette

On the road as usual.

Date: Wed, May 7, 2008 Professional Internet Live Tournament Women

So, I'm sitting here in my hotel room in Barcelona

I just came here from London after playing in the European Ladies Open event. I wont even bother writing anything about it because I busted 45th outta 52 and it was just one of those days where nothing seemed to work. We all have those, and there's not much to do about it.

The reason I'm in Barcelona now is because a good friend of mine, Mike Lawson ('Meeelosh' online) managed to go through a field of 2250 players online in theWorld Poker Crown $3 million guaranteed tourney that was held online couple of weeks ago. The last ten players took their chips with them to Barcelona to finish the final here, and hes now here 2/10 in chips fighting for a $1mill first prize. I really hope he does well here cuz hes due to have a big score after grinding mid/high stakes tournaments for so long. Hes a very solid, good player with a lot of potential still, and if anyone deserves to win this its him!

Anyway, I dont wanna jynx him, just want to give a shout out and wish him GL at the final table that will be played may 8th.

Annette

On the road as usual.

Date: Wed, May 7, 2008 Professional Internet Live Tournament Women

So, I'm sitting here in my hotel room in Barcelona

I just came here from London after playing in the European Ladies Open event. I wont even bother writing anything about it because I busted 45th outta 52 and it was just one of those days where nothing seemed to work. We all have those, and there's not much to do about it.

The reason I'm in Barcelona now is because a good friend of mine, Mike Lawson ('Meeelosh' online) managed to go through a field of 2250 players online in theWorld Poker Crown $3 million guaranteed tourney that was held online couple of weeks ago. The last ten players took their chips with them to Barcelona to finish the final here, and hes now here 2/10 in chips fighting for a $1mill first prize. I really hope he does well here cuz hes due to have a big score after grinding mid/high stakes tournaments for so long. Hes a very solid, good player with a lot of potential still, and if anyone deserves to win this its him!

Anyway, I dont wanna jynx him, just want to give a shout out and wish him GL at the final table that will be played may 8th.

Annette

The beginning of something new

Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 Professional Internet Live Tournament Women

I have something really exciting to talk about this time....

I've been talking to Daniel Negreanu and his crew a lot the last months about joining his new training site called PokerVT. It is very uniqe and different from all the other sites out with tons of new ways to teach poker and how to improve ur game. I wont go into details, but I can see this becoming huge in the feature and I decided to come along for the ride by signing a contract with them. I'll now be making instructional videos for the site after the launch which will be in a couple of weeks from now. I'll be making all my vids on Betfair, so if u want some lessons, sign up and come play with me and I'll berate u and let u know how bad u are muahahah!! Nah, just kidding, :), I'll try to be nice for the most part, but no promises!

Anyways, other than that, Monte Carlo went to hell, and I didnt do well in anything other than a 1k side event that I cashed in. Ran bad in the main event and got sucked out on to bust. Then played some smaller tourneys but didnt do too good. Bubbled one and busted early in the other one. Oh well, there's always another tourney.

Speaking of, I'm going to London tomorrow to play in the European Ladies Open. It'll will be my first ladies event. Not really sure what to expect, but i think the play will be pretty weak for the most part, so I like my chances. Hopefully I'll get in some interesting spots that I can blog about afterwards, but I have a feeling it will become more or less a crapshoot some hours in, like most televised tourneys. Should still suit me well as I'm used to fast structures online, but it definately increasess the variance heavily, so I dont expect too much going into it.

Will update more when I have something to write about :)

Take care,
Annette

The beginning of something new

Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 Professional Internet Live Tournament Women

I have something really exciting to talk about this time....

I've been talking to Daniel Negreanu and his crew a lot the last months about joining his new training site called PokerVT. It is very uniqe and different from all the other sites out with tons of new ways to teach poker and how to improve ur game. I wont go into details, but I can see this becoming huge in the feature and I decided to come along for the ride by signing a contract with them. I'll now be making instructional videos for the site after the launch which will be in a couple of weeks from now. I'll be making all my vids on Betfair, so if u want some lessons, sign up and come play with me and I'll berate u and let u know how bad u are muahahah!! Nah, just kidding, :), I'll try to be nice for the most part, but no promises!

Anyways, other than that, Monte Carlo went to hell, and I didnt do well in anything other than a 1k side event that I cashed in. Ran bad in the main event and got sucked out on to bust. Then played some smaller tourneys but didnt do too good. Bubbled one and busted early in the other one. Oh well, there's always another tourney.

Speaking of, I'm going to London tomorrow to play in the European Ladies Open. It'll will be my first ladies event. Not really sure what to expect, but i think the play will be pretty weak for the most part, so I like my chances. Hopefully I'll get in some interesting spots that I can blog about afterwards, but I have a feeling it will become more or less a crapshoot some hours in, like most televised tourneys. Should still suit me well as I'm used to fast structures online, but it definately increasess the variance heavily, so I dont expect too much going into it.

Will update more when I have something to write about :)

Take care,
Annette