royalraise85
So, the month of August comes to a close and my micro-stakes poker grind continues. Considering my poker career is only six months old I think I'm doing quite well. I have yet to to post a minus balance on the monthly bankroll sheet and while I'm far from giving up the day job I have trebled at this stage what I started off with.
In the local poker league I finished 2nd in both the July and August leagues. I had hoped to play the Poker In The Pub Irish Open that was held in the Regency Hotel in August but alas, it clashed with work. Online I'm still grinding away with the micro stakes cash games. I find that 5/10c limit is what I'm comfortable with for now and maybe 2/4c if there is no other tables available. 1/2c games I will not touch now as you could play them for hours and win/lose 30 cent or something stupid. At least with the 5/10c the pot builds to about €1.50 so their is something to play for. I think at my level of experience it would be unwise to step above this level for now.
Again I have found the Poker School Online (link posted below) course very useful and I passed the Sit n' Go course module. The reward for this was seven $3.50 tournament buy-ins so I look forward to those. I cashed in about 3 tournaments for very small money but I was happy with my finishing positions, the best being 18th out of 1585 starters in a Ladbrokes New-player freeroll. For this I was awarded a whopping, wait for it.........€3.85c! Still, it's money in the bag.
The highlight for me this month was finishing ahead of Niall Smyth (Paddy Power Irish Open 2011) poker champ in an online bounty tournament. I knew their was a bounty on his head and when he landed at my table I smelt blood, especially as I had 3x his chip stack. After watching him fold hand after hand for the best part of an hour I knew that as soon as he had a reasonable starting hand he would shove all-in as he had less than 8 big blinds. He shoved, I called and it was all going smooth until the guy In The Cut Off also shoves all-in and he had me well covered. So I had to make a decision. Should I fold and try to concentrate on getting into the money (Top spot paid out €60)? or should I call and hope I hit for the bounty of €150?
I called and don't regret doing so. It was the right thing to do even though I didn't get the result I was looking for. Niall turns over Q 7o - I had raggy 5 3o - and my new best friend in the cut off turns over pocket A's. Ouch! I knew I was crushed. Flop came 6 3 4 and I started to get all hopeful again. Any 2,3 or 7 and I would have hit. Turns comes a Q which gave Niall a chance of hitting a set on the river which bricked a 10 and gave the win to the nice chap holding the pocket A's. I suppose it was fair as he hand a monster of a starting hand. As a consolation though the lobby showed that I finished 40th while Niall finished 41st so technically I finished higher that the guy who won a massive €650,000 back in April.
In the local poker league I finished 2nd in both the July and August leagues. I had hoped to play the Poker In The Pub Irish Open that was held in the Regency Hotel in August but alas, it clashed with work. Online I'm still grinding away with the micro stakes cash games. I find that 5/10c limit is what I'm comfortable with for now and maybe 2/4c if there is no other tables available. 1/2c games I will not touch now as you could play them for hours and win/lose 30 cent or something stupid. At least with the 5/10c the pot builds to about €1.50 so their is something to play for. I think at my level of experience it would be unwise to step above this level for now.
Again I have found the Poker School Online (link posted below) course very useful and I passed the Sit n' Go course module. The reward for this was seven $3.50 tournament buy-ins so I look forward to those. I cashed in about 3 tournaments for very small money but I was happy with my finishing positions, the best being 18th out of 1585 starters in a Ladbrokes New-player freeroll. For this I was awarded a whopping, wait for it.........€3.85c! Still, it's money in the bag.
The highlight for me this month was finishing ahead of Niall Smyth (Paddy Power Irish Open 2011) poker champ in an online bounty tournament. I knew their was a bounty on his head and when he landed at my table I smelt blood, especially as I had 3x his chip stack. After watching him fold hand after hand for the best part of an hour I knew that as soon as he had a reasonable starting hand he would shove all-in as he had less than 8 big blinds. He shoved, I called and it was all going smooth until the guy In The Cut Off also shoves all-in and he had me well covered. So I had to make a decision. Should I fold and try to concentrate on getting into the money (Top spot paid out €60)? or should I call and hope I hit for the bounty of €150?
I called and don't regret doing so. It was the right thing to do even though I didn't get the result I was looking for. Niall turns over Q 7o - I had raggy 5 3o - and my new best friend in the cut off turns over pocket A's. Ouch! I knew I was crushed. Flop came 6 3 4 and I started to get all hopeful again. Any 2,3 or 7 and I would have hit. Turns comes a Q which gave Niall a chance of hitting a set on the river which bricked a 10 and gave the win to the nice chap holding the pocket A's. I suppose it was fair as he hand a monster of a starting hand. As a consolation though the lobby showed that I finished 40th while Niall finished 41st so technically I finished higher that the guy who won a massive €650,000 back in April.
Niall Smyth (Irish Open Champ 2011)
If you wanna hook up online you can find me on twitter @pauljonesnavan
Till next time!
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