Taking A Shot

Earlier in the year i committed to playing at least 2 Sunday Millions by the end of the year. I kinda lost site of that for a while, but after railling Kennl from RTR go deep in FTOPs #24 i realized that i should've at least given it a shot.

So i decided to start playing more sats. Tonight i got home from work and got into a few sats; a $24 stt to the 750k on sunday, a $7.6 sat to a $55 sat to the 750k and 2 $8.8 $26 token sats. I won a $26 token, the $55 seat, and the seat in the 750k... It was a really good night. Here's one hand i played when we were 3 handed that was perhaps one of my sweetest hands in recent memory;

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 3 Players

BTN: 160
Hero (SB): 6,300
BB: 7,040

Pre-Flop: (300) :Ac :3h dealt to Hero (SB)
BTN folds,Hero raises to 600, BB calls 400

Flop: (1,200) :3d :3s :Qd (2 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets 600, Hero raises to 1,200, BB calls 600

Turn: (3,600) :Ah (2 Players)
Hero checks,BB bets 1,000, Hero calls 1,000

River: (5,600) :6c (2 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets 1,200,Hero raises to 3,500 and is All-In, BB calls 2,300

Results: 12,600 Pot
Hero showed :Ac :3h (a full house, Threes full of Aces) and WON 12,600 (+6,300 NET)
BB mucked :Ad :Jh (two pair, Aces and Threes) and LOST (-6,300 NET)

With this hand i secured the win and a seat in the tourny.

So over the next few days i plan on watching as many sunday major videos or hand histories as i can. Hopefully if i get a bit of luck and run good i can have a huge day.

- ISgrinder

Sooo Close!

I played several tournaments lastnight and got deep in the $25+2.5 25K Guaranteed, I finished 35th of 1452 runners. I was sitting 8th of 38 with thoughts of final tabling and taking this thing down, when i completed A6o in the small blind.

I normally would've raised this hand but there was a utg limper. On the flop villain insta pushed and i knew exactly what he had so i insta called. of course after i lose the hand and i'm sitting 35/35 i start to second guess the call. But from everything i've read and learned it is wrong to pass up on obvious +ev plays. Besides had i won this hand i wouldve final tabled for sure... and you know how i feel once i final table a tournament... i'm taking that sucka down!

First prize was around 7k i think. I checked the result this morning and the donk villain in this hand busted 24th... 24th! winning this hand put him in 1st or 2nd place with around 60bb and he finished 24th. So sad.

I had played a $11 mtt and a $11+1r+1a earlier but busted both quickly because i had just come home from work and was tired. I also played the $55 50k that started about 30 minutes after the 25k and was running ok when i misplayed a flopped set on a coordinated flop to bust 391st out of 1289.

All in all i feel really good with my play lastnight. Most importantly i learned that i can play at these buy-ins. when playing higher than normal we automatically assume that opponents are gonna be so much better based solely on the buy-in, but that simply was not the case in any of these tournaments. I felt i was better than at least 60% of the field. Of course the final table would probably be alot harder.

I will continue to work on my game, hopefully it pays off in a high 4 figure or even 5 figure cash.

-isgrinder

Bankroll Management & Taking Shots

If you are a member of any forum you will see this question asked frequently, "what bankroll do i need to play 'X' buy-in tournaments". The responses usually range from 30 to 100 buy-ins depending on what type of tournament you're planning on playing.I personally use 100 buy-ins as my default bankroll. But I think the bankroll you decide to use also depends on other factors.

Comfort level
Even if you're bankrolled for a higher level, if you're not comfotable playing at that level for whatever reason you will lose. Perhaps the money means too much to you, or you feel that everybody at that level is so much better than you... etc etc.
If you're not comfortable then you should continue to play at you're current level and move up gradually.

Skill Level
This was mentioned above but i feel it needs its own paragraph. Some people have alot of success early and as a result they decide to move up simply because conventional bankroll management wisdom says if you have the buy ins play this level. If you've not played enough to develop the skills necessary to beat that level you will be a fish at that level. Of course, you should also move up to challenge yourself and spur growth in your poker knowledge by playing better(hopefully) opponents.

Just lastnight it dawned on me what a huge bankroll nit i've been. I've had some success early and my bankroll is now +$2k but i still regularly play the $3 45 man turbo sngs on stars. I'm extremely comfortable at this level and the variance is marginal.

In one of my recent entries i posted about how i was crushing this level and i was gonna play more of them until i reached 500 total then move up. But lastnight after thinking about it i realized that i was again falling into a grinder's mentality.

Yes i know the blog is called The Island Grinder but that was mainly from my cash game days, and my bankroll building up to this point. why am i thinking about moving to the $6 45 man turbo sngs and then the $12 turbos? This is the way grinders think, move up methodically through the levels. This is not my goal. My goal this year for poker is to become a good MTT'er! period.

Last month i only played 11 Mtts. I will try to play at least 30 this month. I've been checking the pokerstars lobby and i like the guarenteed tournaments, and some of the regular larger buy-ins that have smaller fields. The $3 & $5 rebuys and the $8 & $16 360 max also look interesting.I will continue playing the $3 turbo sngs and the 180 man sngs as a way to keep my bankroll and confidence stable while playing larger buy-in mtts.


I'm done with the grinding.... i'm taking shots!