I was on tilt when I posted my previous message, I still f&*king hate Party Poker, but I still have a Mini Step 4 free roll that is still yet to be played, so I logged in earlier today to play my freeroll and hit rock bottom on party poker.
The freeroll itself is worth about $150, so it is nothing to scream at too bad I can't just sell the damn thing. So I hop in the room ready to play, and the first hand I get pocket Q's, I was in the Big Blind and this is all you can ask for from the big blind position. A guy in late position raised the pot to $75, and everyone else folded, it was the perfect situation I was in the Big Blind with a monster, so I called his raise and the flop came 3 K Q, oh shi* I hit a set, there were two spades out there but since we were heads up I figured there was no way this guy had two clubs, so I checked and he came out with a bet of 100, I raised the bet to 200, he thought about it for a second and called. the next card was a 7 of clubs there is a flush on the board, so I feign like I am backing off of my bets and check he checks to be safe and the river is a 6 of spades and the action is to me. I take a long time trying to figure out a bet he would call so I bet 225 into him, he called it and I show my 3 Q's to take an early lead. As the game went on I had worked my way into the chip lead, and I wanted to tighten up but I then made a mistake. I was big blind and everyone else folded but the small blind, he thought about his hand for a while because I had 2700 chips and he only had 800 he limped and called the BB, I figured he had a somewhat weak hand, but the mistake I made was I wasn't paying attention to the game instead I was text messaging someone and I just checked instead of raising, I had 10 9 off suit BTW. The flop came J 4 6, he bet and I raised he called, the turn was a 7 of Clubs he pushed all in and I called with nothing the river came with another 4 and he busted me with J 2 off suit, what a horrible hand here are the mistakes I made just in case you are counting:
1. Wasn't paying attention to the game
2. Let small blind limp when I had a dominant chip position and it was heads up
3. I compounded the problem by calling his bet knowing he was short stacked
4. Even after he called my raise the betting should have stopped there
5. I called an all-in for a smallish pot
That demolished my chip lead and I was out in 6th place several hands later my reward was an entry into Mini Step 3, oh great I drop a level.
So I went into mini-step 3 pissed off about my snafu in the earlier game and even more pissed at party poker, maybe I play better when I am pissed because I took control of the table from wire to wire. I was table captain by the 10 hand and my stack increased from there, this was the perfect table for my playing style everyone was playing somewhat tight because they must have paid their own money to get there instead of winning their way there like I did, so I used some of the knowledge I have gained from Harrington on Hold'em, and I won a few big pots early using brute big betting with good hands and when the people folded or called my bet ont he river I showed all good hands KQ, AK, 99 and I used checking to setup all the hands, this caused the exact effect I was looking for. I was able to steal pots later by just betting because everyone was playing so tight, and they were scared to bet when i would check a hand because they remember how I beat people earlier, after 5 people were eliminated I was gauranteed no worse than an entry at the same level I was at so I picked my game up even more. I then elminated 2 people in a row and I had 5000 chips %50 of the total chips in play, and people were scared to play in pots against me, that doesn't happen all that often when I play because there is always someone who feels they have to stand up to you. So it got down to 3 people left I still had about 5400 the guy to my left had 850 and the other player had about 3500 or so. The top 2 move to the next level and for the first time I found a player on the same page as me, we took turns raising the blinds on the small stack and we team all-in'd him 2 times but couldn't get him out. I finally took him out when I cracked his AA with a horrible beat I made a straight with 7 9, I call those Party Poker Hookups.
At this point it doesn't matter who finishes first and I was content just going all in until it was over because we both were getting the same prize entry into mini step 4. Well I went all in and lost on the first hand and I had about 1700 chips left, then I went all int he next hand and he folded, then he folded the blinds to me on the next hand. So, I figured I might as well get some practice in with heads up play, I put my bully mask back on and I intimidated him from the short stack, I went from 1700 to 8000 chips in a dominating chip position, and I eventually won, it pumped me up it was about as perfect as I have ever played a game of poker. A lot of things went my way, and I made the right decisions and most importantly I was focused most of the time.
Hand of note:
I was big blind and dealt K 4 I had 4 limpers flop came KC 7D 9D, I checked and everyone else checked except jbaum he bet 75, I immediately figured he was taking a stab and missed his hand 2 people folded and I called along with someone else, the next card was a 4S I had hit two pair, so I lead out with a bet of 275 the other guy went away jbaum called the 250, the river was 3D, I feared maybe he was chasing a flush so I only bet 50, jbaum came back over the top for 350, the pot was big, and I was holding 2 pair in my hand jbaum was representing a flush, and 350 was about a fourth of my chips, so I would still be healthy (that's not what I was thinking lol, that's what I should have been thinking), instead I was still pissed about my recent bad luck from the day before and I said f%@k it I don't have anything to lose, he has the flush great I will be done with Party quicker and I called he had J 10 and I took half of his chips. I was thinking it was a bluff, but I may have laid that hand down if I wasn't as loose as I was.
Overall I think this was a blessing in disguise playing tight is a good strategy, but in poker you have to put yourself in a good position to win, and even then you will lose, so loosen up and play your game. I think I can use all of this as a way of improving my game, I will put the hands in poker tracker and see how I played them when I get home.
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