Nordic Spring Million Qualifier and $250 GTD.

This one has no cash rewards, so I'll use it for practicing my play.

It seems I still have trouble following my own advice - I'm quite certain I played too low hands in that last Bankroll Builder game.
Two new rules:

• Avoid All Ins as much as possible. I'm not good enough to risk those consistently yet
• Try not to invest more than one-fifth of the stack in one round. Need experience.

These... will be revoked, later on. More like guidelines?

A total of five tournaments for today, BTW. That's a lot, oh dear... Well, I need to gain experience fast, so there ya go...

Anyway, some gameplay logging follows....

00:00 - chips start at 3000, I'm up to 3320 after first round - not giving you the big blind for free, b...
Oh, did I mention I hate those guys who just go all-in constantly? It's poker, not lottery! Anyway, I'll just fold on 'em for now....


00:05 bet 320 on a pair of threes, came out with a bit over 4000 chips, thanks to getting three threes on the turn. 


00:09 got QQs, went to 600 on raises 'til a guy went, *sigh*, All in. Now I only have 3300 in chips.


00:15 Raised to 200 on a Q9. a bit risky.... but got a Q on flop. Bet additional 700 for a total of 900. I checked on turn & river, won, and went up to 5200.


00:20 After AQ I'm at 6240 chips. Was on BB, so only paid 1000 to call 1200, then when I got a second Q I raised by half the pot, and they folded.


00:24 WHOOO! Okay, went to raise with T3 suited crap, got three threes and now I'm up to 22K since I was forced to go All In. (Only A3 or AA hand woulda won at that point.) I'm currently FOURTH. 


Okay, another tournament begins so no more logging The other tournament is called a $250 GTD, and there's a cash reward up to 100th position, so I'll be really tight with it, just trying to hang in there...


NOOO!! 


Okay, Nordic Spring whatnot, came in 38th - Went all in in an iffy situation, which sucks. Was doing pretty well, would'a probably finished in top 10, if I'd hold to my 46K when I had it, but I had a pair of trumps, so I was... overvaluing pairs, again. Was defeated by a pair of Jacks. My best position was SECOND at one point.


Now, forcusing on the $250 GTD. 


00:55 Doing averagely well, nearly 2x avg chips remain. Current position 54/487.... 

Free Tournaments

Are awesome. Also, damn hard! My best result thus far was 161st position.
Today, I've already dropped out of one $50 Freeroll one early on, totally my fault. I wasn't playing particularily badly, just a bit too riskily in the short term. I'm trying to learn Negreanu's Small Ball Poker, and I tried it out a bit --- a bit too much when I had a mediocre stack compared to the stack leader.

I think, sitting out most of the early play unless you have a Tier 1 or 2 hand (as per Wikipedia) is probably a good idea, as there seems to be a lot of reckless people who go all-in pre-flop constantly.

Oh, yeah - the poker jargon - I'll just link you to Wikipedia, again. I'm a bit fuzzy on it myself, at this point. In any case, my basic strategy is to play some mediocre cards, not bet too much, and to try to bluff pretty often after the flop, if there's an obvious potential in the flop.

Still, at my skill level, it's best if I just play really tight - I wonder how high could I go if I just avoided all but the blinds, and just folded anything but those - with the exception of Tier 1s, I guess - would be a shame not to try out if I happen to get AA or suited AK....

I'm currently playing on Bankroll Builder $100 Freeroll tournament, which has reward from position 50 up. Basically, if I just survive that long, I should get something... so, I'll try only playing top hands and blinds until blinds get so large I must get more aggressive.

So:

• Only play top tier hands outside blinds
• When playing, user Small Ball tactics
• Most importantly, SURVIVE.

I'll be logging here.

23:12 - I tried to play with JJs, but failed. Got hit by a pair of queens. Same failure as last game, tried calling too risky a bet when the possibility of QQ was way high. Stupid me.

23:14 - AJ unsuited. Flop was a pair of queens. Folded, stack down to 220.

23:16. Folded BB, losing 60, played SB, got back to 220. 

23:18. AGAIN I had a pair, and played, and the opponent went all in, forcing me to do so too. That's the third time. I clearly overvalue getting a pair in hole cards. Finished 971/1630. Lame.

Oh well, next tournament in 37 minutes. Think I'll take a nap 'til then.

Zero

Is my balance at Partypoker, which was the network I chose, for my attempts at getting rich relatively quick. 

I'm... not exactly joking, but I don't have high expectations. Still, I'll give it a good try, as I quite enjoy Texas Hold'em, since it isn't a luck-based game. Sure, luck has a huge effect, but a careful player should profit in the long run. 

In any case, as I have no cash balance at Partypoker, I'll be trying my hand at the freeroll tournaments, to build a balance of at least 0,80$ - which is the minimum sum - rake, I think, it's called - for playing no-limits hold'em at Partypoker. 

I'm a near-total newbie, so we'll see how it goes.