Entabeni's grind: 2009

Thursday, December 24, 2009

2009 summary - 2010 goals

Well 2009 has been a good year pokerwise. Started off rocketwise and then had a fallback in the summer to get better again near the end of the year. I guess it's due to variance. So i decided in 2010 i will beat the variance and play a huge amount of games in relation to what i normally play. For me this means putting in more more more hours. I normally 4-5 table and want to increase this also to 8-10. At the moment i'm playing the 18man 6$ games at Stars and i'm beating them hard at the moment. Once january ends i will have a bigger sample to se if i still beat them as hard as i do now and if that's the case i will move up to 18mans 16$. It's not a little jump from 6$ to 16$ but i'm used to playing 11 -15 $ games at Betfair so it's still in my comfort zone.

I have set myself some goals for 2010 pokerwise and it's the first time i do that , i really felt i needed it as otherwise you don't really care for a 6$ game after a while. So : i made GOALS !!!!!!!!! I will not post them yet but they are in my office and when i see a goal, i want to make it , so that's good.

Business wise i don't know what's going to happen. i'm still doing my stage for work , but i don't need to put in any hours in this office i work now. So maybe i change office in march - april if the poker doens't work out or bores me. The original plan was to start my own office around september but with the economy being as it is i don't reallt feel the urge to invest half of what i own/worked for in an insecure economy where it seems like the government only helps the ones who don't work/are illegal/have no good intentions instead of encouraging willing people like me. So if i can make a reasonable living out of poker without touching my savings and without paying 1euro in taxes i feel really comfortable for the time-being. I've fully paid off my mortgage last year and i mean it's the best thing i've ever did in my life , financially. It relieves me of any pressure and i'm able to take every decision i want now. I've been home for 1 1/2 years now and watched my kid grow up which was magnificent , and my wife is pregnant again so i might do it all over again lol , playing poker and earning my monthly needed money ;-)

Good holidays to all and have a good 2010 !!!! Saturday i'm off to the Cote d'Azur for a week ...........

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

November conclusion

Well pokerwise and otherwise it's been a strange month for me. First the poker summary : i always loved to play mtt's but somehow didn't get to play much of them lately . Well in November that's changed, and how. I played about 30 , won 4 and cashed in another 9. This for a total profit of 480$ in mtt. I also experimented a little in cash which won me 60$ ( playing 0.05/0.10 )and a 60$ in RB makes a total of 600$ won this month. You're right : where's the SNG profit ??? Well i managed to win 1.2$ in November but i WILL NOT takes these in my summary lol. That said , i managed to lose 160$ in HU's sng , first time i have a monthly loss in that ....

Anyway ; we don't really care where the profit comes from, as long as we make profit !!!!!!!!!

Otherwise also strange month as i said. I am currently working in a real estate agency as i have to for a year before i am able to start my own business ( in Belgium it's a protected profession ) and last week i had a discussion with my boss. I only get to do the dirty jobs, which is maybe normal at this stage, but i don't like it anyway. So i told her. We came to the conclusion maybe it's better for me to look for another place , so i will do after newyear.

Don't know if i will be playing much in december as for me this is really family month. I lost my mum 6 years ago ( today ) and since then i try to take more time for my precious ones instead of working full time. Which means i play more with the kid, go on restaurant with the lady, have friends come over and go to my dad in France the last week of December. So poker will be on second/third/fourth plan this month.

This weekend my son ( 19 months old )had his elbow dislocated so we had to rush to the emergency. Ofc he was in a lot of pain and his mother in total panic. But they just put it back in place and it was over right away... If your kid is hurt, you put every badbeat in perspective right away i must say ........................

Back on track in January !!!!!!!!!!!

Good holidays to all.

Friday, November 27, 2009

MTT hot streak - SNG cold run

Only thing that's going at the moment are the mtt's i play. ROI must be huge this month. Plan on making detailed recordings of how much i win/lose in each discipline from next month on . That's cash, sng and mtt all apart. Never done that before and always thought my roi is biggest in sng but this hot run in mtt is making me doubt that. Ofc for the mtt part, it's not good to start recording after u won 3 out of last 10 you played i guess ....

Started playing more and more on Stars too, but i think i made a mistake in playing to low stakes to get to know the software better. The beats you get at 2.2$ 180mans are just unreal. Always thought BF was bad but this is way worse. OFC at 2.2$ they play any two cards at any level no matter howmuch you raise preflop so you can never put them on a hand and most certainly not push them off second pair. I will have to adapt my game i think. i have 200$ on that account, if i ever lose them i never go back there and embrace Bf as it was the most beautifull girl in the world lol.

So be back in a few days with an update , good luck at tables.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

2 in row

Must be doing something right i guess .........

Super turbo lottery ??

Analysed my superturbo mtt win from yesterday. Off course i must say that superturbo's are more a lottery then regular where blinds increase every 15 minutes, pure logic. But it isn't always as lottery as it seems.

Keyhands from yesterday :

1/ i have 1010 in LP with 1200 stack , blinds 100/200. I push, get called by QQ in SB, i suck out.
2/ i have 10dJd in LP with 1400 stack , blinds 200/400 , shortie pushes for 700 , i go over top , get called by AA on button. Flop 2 pair and get nice stack.3/
3/ i manage to steal blinds a few times to keep a good stack

Part 1 = twice lucky and some good steals. Standard stuff i'd say.

4/We are about 25 left ( 18 paid ) and i have 3500 chips, blinds 600/1200. UTG goes allin for 2000. I am sat UTG +2 with 77. Decision time. First of all , what does this guy have. OBV any pair will do, as will A-rag of 2 paints. So against him i have good odds to call. BUT : I take a good look at stacks behind me and see noone has more then 4K and BB only has 2.6K. As he allready invested 1200 it's only 800 for him to call the allin. So really i need to isolate the UTG. BUT i only have 3.5K , so how can i isolate ?? I clearly can't push any decent hand off this spot. If i push allin, it takes the BB 2.3K to call in a 9K pot .... That's 4/1 which makes it a almost must-call if he has anything.
I chose to fold, maintain my stack, hope for a quick bubble so i get a new table with a little bit of fold equity left when i push. So ; fold 77.
As turns out, very good decision : UTG shows 55 , BB called with A10 ; Ace hits flop. And i am glad i laid down 77 in this spot. I am sure 90% of players go allin there.
5/Bubble is gone and i get Qs9s UTG+1 with 2.5BB , i look at BB and he has like 300 left after putting in his blinds. So he will be obliged to call. I have him covered and hope for the rest to fold so i can isolate and i have like a 55/45 shot v BB. As planned all fold and BB calls with Q4. I double up.
6/Hand after i get KK UTG , which i obv push. 2 callers , flop KQQ and i'm chipleader when i triple up.
7/ Quick look at payout structure and i see very topheavy payout, so we play for top3now.
8/ We get to 3 left, blinds very high. I get 94 in BB ( blinds 10K/20K ), i have 39K left after paying BB, which means if i fold in this spot i have no more folding equity , nada... So when SB makes the expected push, i put him on anytwo and decide to call with any two as if i win i take him out and have a good shot at first which pays 300. And if i fold i am clearly shortie and good favourite for 3rd which pays 119. So i call, he shows A10. I hit 9 on flop, him ace on turn and me another 9 on river.
9/ HU's. I had seen this guy being reasonable tight. Thus he folds twice when being SB. I say , well i will try and steal then. I limp in SB , he checks. I c bet flop with complete air. He folds and i have 2/1 chiplead. Hand after he pushes allin, i get 59 and as i have him covered i decide to call. If i hit, i win. If i miss i push allin hand after.
I hit and i win.

OBV much luck , but still i really like my 77 fold as my analyse was spot on and everything happened as i though it would. If i call i'm out there in 25th. I'm sure if the guy who finished second gets 49 in the spot i did when SB put me allin, he would have folded. I played for first there, not scared and got rewarded.

Conclusion : superturbo are lottery, but some are better at these lottery-games then others. If u don't agree, check out Feeeefeee on sharscope on betfair account....

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Finally not second

Nice win today in MTT. Running good in these lately, makes up for running bad in SNG i guess. Last three times i made a nice cash in MTT i finished second taking a 30/70 to go out. Today i finally delivered a 70/30 to win. Last hand i have 59 and he pushes but it's blinds 10K/20K and it's just another 19K to call, leaving me with 40K if i lose. He shows 69 , grrrrrr. Nice flop 585 , and another 5 on river gives me four of a kind to finish in style lol.

Does me good.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Badbeat, badbeat, badbeat. He had 0.3% after flop, 4.5% after turn.... Says it all about the last days , weeks , months .......

I know i just have to play through, but sometimes, arrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

*********** # 93 **************
PokerStars Spel #35311118610: Toernooi #212275633, $12+$1 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 13/11/2009 16:04:40 ET
Tafel '212275633 1' 6-max Plaats #3 is de button
Plaats 3: PaddyB500 (6501 in chips)
Plaats 4: ddesantis1 (1350 in chips)
Plaats 6: entabeni (1149 in chips)
ddesantis1: zet small blind 75
entabeni: zet big blind 150
*** GESLOTEN KAARTEN ***
Gedeeld aan entabeni [8c Jh]
PaddyB500: callt 150
ddesantis1: foldt
entabeni: checkt
*** FLOP *** [2c 8h 8s]
entabeni: checkt
PaddyB500: bet 150
entabeni: callt 150
*** TURN *** [2c 8h 8s] [Ad]
entabeni: checkt
PaddyB500: bet 150
entabeni: raiset 150 naar 300
PaddyB500: raiset 150 naar 450
entabeni: raiset 399 naar 849 en is all-in
PaddyB500: callt 399
*** RIVER *** [2c 8h 8s Ad] [As]
*** SHOWDOWN ***
entabeni: toont [8c Jh] (een full house, Achten over Azen)
PaddyB500: toont [7d Ac] (een full house, Azen over Achten)
ddesantis1 zei, "nh"
PaddyB500 won 2373 van pot
*** SAMENVATTING ***
Totale pot 2373 | Rake 0
Board [2c 8h 8s Ad As]
Plaats 3: PaddyB500 (button) toonde [7d Ac] en won (2373) met een full house, Azen over Achten
Plaats 4: ddesantis1 (small blind) foldde voor de Flop
Plaats 6: entabeni (big blind) toonde [8c Jh] en verloor met een full house, Achten over Azen

Stars

Been playing more on Stars lately due to the low traffic on betfair. It takes a little to adapt as it seems on Stars they are far more willing to gamble at a certain time ( for sure on bubble ) so you have to get lucky at times and maybe narrow a little my pushing range and widen a little my calling range. Still to see. Am playing the 13$ 6packs now and running at about 17% ROI , which seems good but as yesterday i had a vey bad losing 7 out of 9 70/30s on bubble i think i should manage to get 20% ROI after a good sample of games. What i also find interesting is the fact you see way more winning players and way more big fishes then on betfair. Either the players are good or very bad. On Betfair many lose like 5% , on Stars many lose 20 - 25% ....

Poker is strange , frustrating, funny , ............. Yesterday, as said, all went wrong, lost twice with a FH to a bigger FH where they hit 3 outer on river when both committed, ran with AA into K8s who calls 5BB raise on bubble, hits his FD and hits flush on turn when he pushes allin for 35BB, anyway way too much bad luck to tell all , and i'm sure ure not interested.

Was down 65$ , which ofc is far from a drama, but for me it is a bad day. When my wife was feeding the baby and i wanted to play a turbo MTT on BF . I misregistered and found myself in a 2$ superturbo omaha MTT ffs. So i decide to play all hands. First hand a guy raises and we are 4 to call. I hit open end Str8 draw and decide to call his C bet. I hit my Str8 on turn and have the nuts with a Q high FD going with it, so i decide to CR and get all the chips in. As thought he bets pot again , i CR for the rest and he calls with a set of jacks and only the river to come. OFC the river k paires the board and i lose another 75/25% when played to perfection. Left me so frustrated i went allin with my remaining 160 chips, doubled up 4 times in a row to get me back to starting stack. Went on to win the tourney ( 46 players ) for fecking 30$ ( which cut my losses in half , good ). But i had another session planned for the evening but couldn't bring myself to it anymore after this ridiculous rollercoaster of anger , luck, relief , joy........ Moral : get it in 75/25 , lose and the gods will be with you the rest of the tourney lol.

Will post one HH from yesterday which i must say i quite enjoyed and it made a losing day still worth remembering. Checking the nuts 3 times and getting rewarded 3 times ;-)

*********** # 107 **************
PokerStars Spel #35254428789: Toernooi #211876666, $12+$1 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 12/11/2009 10:31:30 ET
Tafel '211876666 1' 6-max Plaats #2 is de button
Plaats 1: entabeni (5272 in chips)
Plaats 2: tammasch (3728 in chips)
tammasch: zet small blind 75
entabeni: zet big blind 150
*** GESLOTEN KAARTEN ***
Gedeeld aan entabeni [Ad Ac]
tammasch: callt 75
entabeni: raiset 300 naar 450
tammasch: callt 300
*** FLOP *** [Ah 5s As]
entabeni: checkt
tammasch: bet 450
entabeni: callt 450
*** TURN *** [Ah 5s As] [2h]
entabeni: checkt
tammasch: bet 450
entabeni: callt 450
*** RIVER *** [Ah 5s As 2h] [3h]
entabeni: checkt
tammasch: bet 2378 en is all-in
entabeni: callt 2378
*** SHOWDOWN ***
tammasch: toont [7s Qd] (een pair Azen)
entabeni: toont [Ad Ac] (four of a kind, Azen)
entabeni won 7456 van pot
*** SAMENVATTING ***
Totale pot 7456 Rake 0
Board [Ah 5s As 2h 3h]
Plaats 1: entabeni (big blind) toonde [Ad Ac] en won (7456) met four of a kind, Azen
Plaats 2: tammasch (button) (small blind) toonde [7s Qd] en verloor met een pair Azen

Sunday, November 1, 2009

October summary

Well the month went well , made like 1100$ , betfair and stars account accumulated. Should be like this every month. altho since a few days my luck has turned around and my play is about the worst in months; I'm gettting so much suckout it's getting to me, i can't believe they luckboxed another 3-4 outer and i pay them off. I pay them off way too much last two days , and it has to be the other way around. I'm not the fish, they are !!!!!!!!!!! So i will have to take a days break or so , otherwise it's going to affect me for a longer period. Lost 75$ today, let's say first30 due to nasty suckouts or coolers ( had KK v AA twice , QQ v AA , QQ v KQ lost preflop ) and last 45$ combination of suckout-unbelieve-tilt-paying off. So will stop for the day as it's not getting any better, i can feel it. Next week we go to normandie for a few days, should do me good, do should also do my game some good.

Hope to jump up a level when i get back. But must say ; it's not the first time i'm saying this and the same thing has happened to me everytime i say this ; i get beat after beat and it gets my confidence down and i start playing bad. Work on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After all, nice month october ( 4th largest monthly win on bf ) so can't complain.

Take the beats and carry on i would say to myself ;-)

gl at tables

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

6K

6K is reached on scope ( Betfair account ) , so i'm due to step up a level. Next week though we're going away for a few days to Normandie and will wait till i'm back to take it a level higher. Will start first with the 20$ HU's superturbo and the 20 $ regular 6 and 9 seats. Will stay in 12$ for the turbo's at the moment and first see what my thoughts are about the skill at the 20$ level. If i think it's not very much better then 12 , then i change turbo's too.

Started playing a little on stars again too as during the day there's not very much traffic on betfair and too many regs. Decided not to play turbo's on stars but only regs 12 and 18 man sng. So far my roi in these is 87% and 29% . That's for 6$ games. If i'm more used to playing the software i will step up to 12$ games too.

Am on a good run , played one of the new superturbo's MTT on betfair yesterday night and finished 2nd/154 . Could have won as had a flip versus second in chips whil is had him nicely covered, but lost with AK v 66. There were 2 other guys in with 1BB left and this guy calls allin with 66 for 11BB. If he goes out he has 70$ instead of 200$ he has for a certain second if he passes preflop. Proves once more some just don't get it. He went on to win 3 more flips in a row to beat me hu's tho, so i'm just satisfied with the 200$....

May be running well, but i think the biggest change to some months ago is i'm playing better . Because i still get the worst beats imaginable ( this is bubble of 12 man on stars ) :

(100/200) - 27/10/2009 10:18:02 ET
Tafel '207237746 2' 6-max Plaats #5 is de button
Plaats 2: Bartek0085 (4480 in chips)
Plaats 4: entabeni (3590 in chips)
Plaats 5: Prokaucz (5885 in chips)
Plaats 6: zdpd57 (4045 in chips)
zdpd57: zet small blind 100
Bartek0085: zet big blind 200
*** GESLOTEN KAARTEN ***
Gedeeld aan entabeni [Kh Td]
entabeni: callt 200
Prokaucz: raiset 200 naar 400
zdpd57: callt 300
Bartek0085 zei, "whos gona play lose like a goose?"
Bartek0085: callt 200
entabeni: callt 200
*** FLOP *** [Th Qs Tc]
zdpd57: checkt
Bartek0085: checkt
entabeni: checkt
Prokaucz: bet 600
zdpd57: callt 600
Bartek0085: foldt
entabeni: raiset 2590 naar 3190 en is all-in
Prokaucz: raiset 2295 naar 5485 en is all-in
zdpd57: foldt
De niet-gecallde bet (2295) is geretourneerd aan Prokaucz
*** TURN *** [Th Qs Tc] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [Th Qs Tc Js] [9s]
*** SHOWDOWN ***
entabeni: toont [Kh Td] (een straight, Negen tot Koning)
Prokaucz: toont [Ts Ks] (een straight flush, Negen tot Koning)
Prokaucz won 8580 van pot
Bartek0085 zei, "Q5????"
*** SAMENVATTING ***
Totale pot 8580 Rake 0
Board [Th Qs Tc Js 9s]
Plaats 2: Bartek0085 (big blind) foldde op de Flop
Plaats 4: entabeni toonde [Kh Td] en verloor met een straight, Negen tot Koning
Plaats 5: Prokaucz (button) toonde [Ts Ks] en won (8580) met een straight flush, Negen tot Koning
Plaats 6: zdpd57 (small blind) foldde op de Flop

Anyway not complaing, i understand his play, nothing wrong, just lady luck not being nice to me .....

Good luck at the tables.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Back in town

OK . Think i 'm back. Having a good run at the moment. Both hitting more hands and playing more solid. Am on a 500$ upswing in 150 games or so , which is pretty good at 9 - 12$ games. This only confirms what i allready stated in my earlier post : if u want to make a monthly profit u should play at least 1K sng's per month. Otherwise you will always hit some losing months. Decided to not longer withdraw any money from my account. I don't really need it and want to do some proper BRM and move up a stake. I know i will encounter more grinders there but only need to get half the ROI i have now to equal the profit. Plus RB will be higher so profit should be higher. The moment i hit 6K on scope i will move up. Will not look back untill i hit 5K . Hopefully will never look back lol.

Poker is a strange psychological game : all the winning players i know seem to have it so hard/are so frustrated when the fish hit a 20/80% shot. That includes me, i'm also too results orientated. From now on i will work hard on that as it's my biggest leak. We should be happy they stick it in 20/80 ffs !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope the run continues !!!!!!!!!!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Still Variance or me ?

I don't know what's happening but everything seems to go wrong at the moment. I lose every 70/30 i play, so i won't say how many 50/50s i lose. Cannot win a game at the moment.

Am i just on a terrible swing of luck ?
Has my game changed ?
Has the game changed ?

I think it's a mix of everything so from now on i will only play regular games and 6pack turbo's. No more Hu's superturbo where i wait for AK to lose to another 62 allin. No more D2N where i wait for QQ to another K2 allin. I need to get out of this swing and the only way i see me doing this is by playing slowpaced games where skill comes more into play then blindless aggression/luck.

Yesterday i play a normal HU4s game , first hand i get AQ in pos , i raise he calls preflop 3BB. Flop comes AQ10 all spades. He checks, i elect to check behind, not build a too big pot with all these draws and see turncard first. Turn is another Q. I therefor have AAAQQ. He bets turn , i raise to build pot, he gets it allin. i ofc snapcall to see a flopped Royal Flush. Good game, ty vm.

Can it get any worse ??

Tilted of some more after this hand. not pissed about the way he played or so, just about the immense coolers i'm getting at the moment . So sick this game.

Anyway, still hanging in there. We'll see in a while. If profit doesn't come back i stop for sure as it's too frustrating. I hear many regs having probs and stopping at the moment. Think it's due to the fact that the game is more and more evolving to a gambling game. They stick it in with anytwo any level any position certainly at my levels ). Everybody says that's what u want them to do but i don't agree , i want flops, i want them to fold sometimes when i raise. All i want is to minimize gambling and for the moment this isn't working. So first return to reg games . And then we'll see.

Good luck, good game and nice Royal Flushes when opp has FH.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Variance and how to deal with it

I think this is one of the hardest things in poker, how to deal with variance. I think for me at the moment it's a big problem as i don't play enough games to beat the variance in a short period. I have 4.5K games on Sharkscope and last 1K i am having a breakeven strech. Off course this is not dramatic, but if you're used to winning it's no fun !!!!! I was running at 15% ROI after 3.5K games which was, in hindside, huge as half of my games are heads up matches.

As said, the real problem is that i only play 200-300 games a month, so if i'm on a bad run of 1K games for me that means 3/5 months , which is far too long.

So an important lesson is : if you ever want to beat the variance, or play more professional, play more games. When i look a the real SNG grinders like Gnasher, Rivva rat, Bigbanker, MrKangaroo, Arbboy , they all play loads.......I would say 1K a month is a minimum.

But from now on i look at it in this way : i win money everytime i register for a game, variance or not. I have 12% ROI on 11$ average limit, so that means i win 1.32$ per game in long term.

Also decided that once i reach 10K$ profit i will only play 20$ games from there on. Must try it once and it will certainly increase rakeback.

Day before yesterday had a bounty for taking out Imper1um in a 25$SNG , didn't receive it yet, mailed betfair and they say they have no details of the game, always problems with their stupid helpdesk .......

Friday, August 7, 2009

First post

Hi poker community. I'm Entabeni and i started playing poker like 2 years ago. By making this Blog i hope i get to know interesting poker players. I will be publishing my results as well as thoughts on poker, plays, or life in general.

These 2 years i've been playing on Betfair , mostly heads up , 6 pack turbo and MTT. I started at 5$ games and am currently playing 9$ to 25$ games. My bankroll is now 9147$.

Well that's for a short first message. Sorry if my English isn't perfect , it is not my first language.

Greetings, and good luck at the tables.

Entabeni's grind