DayLee Grinder

Well back fully on the online poker train. Mainly been playing $4.40 & $12 FTP Rush 135-mans but been getting pretty crushed. Getting sick of playing without a bankroll as usual and I have made my final deposit I will ever make unless it is for a bonus or on a new site. Currently have a $396 bankroll on FTP thanks to a couple desperation victories on a $4.40 and a final table of a $2 rebuy.

With my current bankroll, I will be starting out playing $10NLfr. I have approx. 39 buy-ins which I am absolutely comfortable playing with at this level. If I drop down to $150 bankroll, I will grind $5NLfr but will not be fond of it. But it is not going to happen, so no worries! When I grind to a $1000 bankroll and have atleast 10,000 hands of $10NLfr, I will move up to $25NLfr. Might take some stabs at $25NLfr around the $800 mark but will see how my play is.

Still trying to figure out a way to play MTT as well through this process. Was thinking a combination of rakeback + FTP Points to play them but will wait and see.

Will start this expedition out on Friday and try to grind out 2-3k hands.

Until then,

dNA

Played a couple $6.50 90-man KOs on FTP tonight and had a decent run going in one of them until some donkey ass douchebag decided AK was to good to fold when I fired a pot sized bet with 2 pair on the flop and he had no draws. So many people play AK so poorly, it pisses me off.

Most people fall in love with AK PF because they know that they can rarely be much worse than 50% to win the hand if they get all of their money in heads up. While this is true, the reverse is also true: Rarely will you be much better than 50% to win an all-in showdown. So why is AK considered such a great starting hand? Folding equity!!! You can increase your pot equity to well over 50% by getting your opponents to fold in situations where they shouldn't. AK is not a strong hand if you don't hit on the flop, in the end all you have is Ace high.

Here are three keys to getting the most out of A-K pre-flop:
-Raise enough when you have AK to give your opponents a chance to fold
-Don't raise so much that the only hands that are willing to call you are the hands that have you dominated (AA KK)
-Jam with AK, but don't call all-in with it unless your M is improper

Take example this hand:
Full Tilt, $6.50 Buy-in (120/240 blinds, 25 ante) NL Hold'em Sit'N'Go, 8 Players
UTG+2: 3,515 (14.6 bb)
MP1: 6,382 (26.6 bb)
MP2: 10,940 (45.6 bb)
MP3: 2,235 (9.3 bb)
CO: 21,947 (91.4 bb)
BTN: 3,070 (12.8 bb)
Hero (SB): 14,426 (60.1 bb)
BB: 10,260 (42.8 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with 5c 4c
2 folds, MP2 raises to 720, MP3 folds, CO calls 720, BTN folds, Hero calls 600, BB folds

Flop: (2,600) 3c 5d 4s (3 players)
Hero bets 2,600, MP2 calls 2,600, CO calls 2,600

Turn: (10,400) Kc (3 players)
Hero bets 11,081 and is all-in, MP2 folds, CO calls 11,081

River: (32,562) As (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Results: 32,562 pot
Hero showed 5c 4c (two pairs, Fives and Fours) and lost (-14,426 net)
CO showed Ac Kd (two pairs, Aces and Kings) and won 32,562 (18,136 net)

Flatting from CO actually makes me want to call here from the SB with 45s. Prolly not the greatest of calls from me here but CO could have taken this pot down with his AK however got himself into a world of hurt! When I pot-size bet the flop, CO needs to realize that his/her AK is no good there 95% of the time. Chances are I flopped a set, straight or a sneaky 2 pair :D

I do realize I should be nowhere in this hand most of the time however how can people donk off 12% of the chips with Ace high? No clue I guess, just needed to rant and rave a little about peoples failings in playing AK!

Thx to Rafe Furst as I used some of his AK notes

After a long weekend of grinding 25NL and Mini Ftops events, I logged into FTP on Tuesday to play in the PTP Appreciation tournament. Extremely fun tournament, would say 95% of the entrants had bounties on their heads. I put a $5 bounty on my head.

First hand I played was pocket deuces. Raised from UTG and had 3 callers. Flop came out 3 2 2. WHOA! Just flopped Quads. I lead out when BB checked to me and all i got was fold, fold, fold. BLAH! Reasoning behind leading out was figuring these players are too good to think I am not going to C-Bet when I PFR UTG. Also was thinking 1 of them was playing a PP but no my theory was completely and utterly wrong.

Biggest swing hand of the tournament was with AK and flopped TPTK. Bet the flop and had 1 caller. Turn made both a straight and a flush and I stupidly led out, Was check-raised and mucked TPTK. I really need to start checking TPTK on the turn but I always try to hammer it home. Eventually had like 500 chips left and blinds were 50/100 so I snap shoved with QJs and was called by K10, which flopped a king.

Prolly will not get to play much poker until the weekend, where I will once again lock myself in my apartment and grind 25NL and some MTT. Really need to start grinding my online poker bankroll so I can play in a big SCCOP Poker Tournament or two!!! They have some sick tournaments running with awesome prize pools. You people HAVE TO PLAY in a SCCOP Poker Tournament, some of the entries are only $11. Just think you can save $11 in a week by not having a SCOOP of ice cream after dinner. This is my SCOOP motto... 1 less SCOOP of Ice Cream, 1 more SCOOP tournament entry! Gawd I am a frickin genius but hope Ben & Jerry's doesn't hurt too much from this because Cherry Garcia is the bomb!

Some quick SCOOP 2010 stats:
• Total Guaranteed Prize Pool: $45,000,000
• Number of Events: 38
• Lowest Buy-In: $11
• Highest Buy-In: $10,300

SCOOP 2009 Stats:
• Events Played: 22
• Total Number of Buy-Ins: 199,958
• Number of Unique Players: 49,029
• Total Prize Money: $38,324,830
• Countries Represented: 163
• Countries Cashed: 118