No good in First BPT Event

I only made it through half of the field in last nights BPT event. I recorded my play so that I could review it and try to adjust.

Unfortunately, I felt that I played well until my final hand. I'll post it on here tonight after I clip it out of the recording. Basically I had AKs in middle position, UTG+1 min raised I reraised (but regretted not raising more) and ended up getting in a 4 way pot (IIRC) I was talking to a friend on IM and knew right then that my hand wasnt going to be good. I hadnt really committed alot of my chips but the pot was almost equal to my stack. It was checked to me and I thought that there was a chance my opponents would fold if I pushed and it would give me a nice chip stack. I really didnt spend enough time analyzing the hand, and it cost me the game.

While, I am dissapointed I feel that if I learn something then its not a complete waste. I have thought about different ways that I could have played this hand, and am going to review the rest of my tournament play. I have several tournaments coming up in the next 2 weeks that I will be playing, and want to be on my A game.

I am comptemplating doing a HU challenge and playing 50 HU matches. Obviously I am not bankrolled enough to play anything over $5 HU matches so te competition will generally be weak.

I have been studying HU play this last week and looking at some pretty solid strategy. I have actually played in alot of HU matchesin the past which you will already know if you have read any significant amount of my blog. However, I usually only play them in small batches.

Heads up play is one of the toughest games in my opinion. You really have to play any 2 cards and learn to recognize and exploit your opponents weakness and tendancies. I know some of the best players started out playing HU matches and it has helped them play a solid game. If you consider that most hands in a ring game end up heads up, having a significant amount of experience with different types of players and situations gives you an edge. Poker is all about getting the biggest edge that you can.

Another benifit of HU experience can be related to the endgame. Having the ability to take down the game is crucial. There is always a significant difference in the prize between first and second, and I could never be a player who plays for second. In fact I am not even motivated just to cash, I would rathe rstick my nexk out and take a shot in order to have a chance at first than to shut down and wait for the $.

I also have added alot of links on my page. I am going to go thru and review the links, and some are going to get the ax. I've listened to several of the podcasts, and quite frankly while some are great acouple of them suck ass. I would pull them off now, but I want the chance to critique them first. It amazes me the amoutn of misinformation being spread by donks about online poker.

Just because you got lucky once or twice and have a online poker account you are not a poker authority! I dont sit here and try to tell people how to manage their bankroll, because I havent done a great job with mine. I listened to one of these podcast about bankroll management and the info they gave was horrible. Another podcast had 2 idiots playing a 30 man $10 sitngo with a bunch of donks. These guys couldnt even offer a valid explanation for the moves they were making and how they came to that conclusion.

MAybe I am biased because I have been fortunate enough to run into a handfull of excellent online players who have helped me see the game from multiple perspectives, and to analyze situations. While I dont do the best job of thinking the situation through, I feel like I am continually improving on that.

I just would like to offer a warning to the people out there looking up free information on the net. Unless you have a reason to give the person offering the advice credibility, scrutinize this "free" information. It may end up costing you in the long run. While you may find the occasional nugget of information, there is a lot of overburden to dig through. What I have learned in the past 6 months is that the players that are winning the most didnt learn how to win from books, the learned from experience and from being able to analyze and remember situations they had been in, as well as discussions with other players about their experiences. A book might give you the fundamentals, but in the long run its only hoing to get you so far.

Thats my rant, now I will step off my pedestal because I am still learning the game myself. I improve my game every session and will eventually be playing with the best of the best, and I am going to let the weak players pay for my education.

I am playing a small freeroll tonight, and other than that I may start my HU challenge. I still have to decide the venue that I am going to play at. I have cashed out all of my funds to my neteller account. UB is having a 100% redeposit bonus still, and now stt's help work off that bonus. They are also pretty quick to cash out these days. Absolute is full of free money, and looking attractive, but they offer deposit bonuses several times a week. I will probably go back to UB, although I am getting discouraged about my rakeback there, they still havent fixed their affiliate system.

Well Thats my epic entry for today. I might post a couple of reviews tonight after I finish my session. My bankroll hasnt changed since my last entry b/c I wasnt including my BPT entry in the #'s and only played a freeroll. I didnt really discuss the freeroll, I held first or second through the entire field only to bubble out in tenth place by making a move on a player who I felt had been bluffing into alot of pots, too bad for me he had toppair this time and called me.

March 23 bankroll
start/finish - $129.83