I started playing poker in 9-handed games. I had underwent a coaching program for it. Then after a year or two, started playing 6-handed games. Then eventually, I started to play the form of the game that I thought I was weakest at -- heads up.
A lot has happened since then. Stopped playing poker for more than a year. Tried some other things. This year, I started to play poker again. When I got back to playing, I started playing 9-handed games again. Around this time, I thought I had come full circle in poker. From 9-handed to 6 max to heads up and now back to playing full ring. I thought, wow! This is something. I never thought I'd be back playing a boring game of a full handed table.
It wasn't full circle, yet.
I played a Tournament Leaderboard Series last month, this is something I haven't done in years. During this series, I reignited my love for tournaments. Poker tournaments is the form of poker that I was first exposed to. Watching the "imported" World Poker Tour (WPT) on TV up to the local version that was the Filipino Poker Tour (FPT). I dreamed of playing in both. I dreamed of doing that interview for TV. I even got to live 1/2 of those dreams. I got the chance to play for a TV table for the FPT. Unfortunately, for some reason, that season of the FPT didn't make it the TV.
After that TLB series, I started playing tournaments again. It was here when I realized I have come full circle. It was in tournaments where I started my career in poker. From playing a 50-peso winner-take-all tournament with friends to scoring my biggest career winning this year. From playing 9-handed online tournaments to live cash games. From full ring to six mas to heads up and then back again. From tourneys to cash games and now back to tourneys.
It feels good to know how far I've come. I am not done yet though. The goal for the year is to take down my first major live tournament!
Monday, August 31, 2015
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Road to PLO
This week, I decided to play purely PLO. And for the first time I took learning it seriously.
PLO or Pot Limit Omaha is a fun game where the swings are sick and variance is twice as fun than No Limit Hold Em. For PLO basics click here.
For a more detailed post about my PLO quest and discussions about it, I started a thread here in PokerManila and here in Asia Poker Academy.
PLO or Pot Limit Omaha is a fun game where the swings are sick and variance is twice as fun than No Limit Hold Em. For PLO basics click here.
For a more detailed post about my PLO quest and discussions about it, I started a thread here in PokerManila and here in Asia Poker Academy.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Biggest Buy-in Tourney To Date
Last Hand:
CO: 9,203.00
BTN: 2,085.00
SB: 3,577.00
Hero (BB): 4,392.00
UTG: 5,182.00
UTG+1: 12,029.00
MP: 3,324.00
MP+1: 5,515.00
CO posts ante 20.00, BTN posts ante 20.00, SB posts ante 20.00, Hero posts ante 20.00, UTG posts ante 20.00, UTG+1 posts ante 20.00, MP posts ante 20.00, MP+1 posts ante 20.00, SB posts SB 75.00, Hero posts BB 150.00
Pre Flop: (385.00) Hero has 5c 5s
fold, UTG+1 raises to 300.00, fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls 225.00, Hero calls 150.00
Flop: (1060.00, 3 players) 4h 9s 5h
SB bets 300.00, Hero raises to 1,200.00, UTG+1 raises to 11,709.00 and is all-in, fold, Hero calls 2,872.00 and is all-in
Turn: (9504.00, 2 players) Kh
River: (9504.00, 2 players) 2h
Hero shows 5c 5s (Three of a Kind, Fives) (Pre 51%, Flop 74%, Turn 23%)
UTG+1 shows Ah Qh (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 49%, Flop 26%, Turn 77%)
UTG+1 wins 9,504.00
Thursday, September 6, 2012
HU SNGs
Today I will officially start grind the Hyper Heads-up Sit-N-Go at Poker Stars under the tutelage of OPIUMWAR7. I hope this turns out well and improve my overall game in the process.
Heads-up and Sit-N-Go's are two of the weakest parts of my game. Good luck to me.
Heads-up and Sit-N-Go's are two of the weakest parts of my game. Good luck to me.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Every Hand Revealed (sort of, LOL)
Here's my shot at Gus Hansen's book. :) An overview of my MIDT 2012 run.
Day 1a: I don't know why but I like playing day1a. I was assigned at table 19, seat 2. Most of the players on my table were familiar faces. More than half of them were 25/50 regs at The Metro. For day 1, we will play 10 levels. 40 minutes each, starting stack of 15,000 with starting blinds of 25/50. My kind of game. :) 300BB FTW!
First pot: I am not sure how the action pre-flop went down but I saw a flop with 24s vs 2 players. post-flop action was weak and I got to take down the pot with a nicely sized river bet.
Second pot: Right after I won my first pot, I got dealt with KK. This time it was raised to 225 (I think) and there were three callers. I raised to 1625 total. Everybody else folds except for the last player who called the 225 raise. He calls my 3bet and gives up on the flop.
After that hand the mood on my table was like this: 4x BB pre-flop raises with 2-3 callers.
I took down a couple of small pots then a couple of hands later I got dealt with AKo. An early position player raises to 225, 3 callers. I squeezed to 1525, all of them calls. Flop came QQJ or QJJ, took down the pot with a Cbet. From a starting stack of 15k, I was up to 29k. Almost doubling up my stack without showdowns. :)
Folded a couple of hands then I got dealt JJ. Mike Takayama raises at EP to around 3x BB. One player calls, I call at middle position, two other players come along. Flop comes J66, fullhouse on the flop. Mike didn't Cbet, player next to him checks, I check behind, player next to me stabs for 1500, Everbody else folds. Turn was a T. I check, villain checks behind. River was another T. I bet 2000 (yeah I should've checked again), villain folds. Boo. Break time and I now have around 32k, doubled-up without any showdowns.
I few hands after the break I was moved to a new table. This time, there was one player who I knew was going to give me a hard time: Mr. Michael Manlapaz. I played against him a couple of times in Metro's major tourneys. He was playing very loosely and I can tell he recently read Making The Final Table by Erick Lindgren.
Spewed a little and was down to 25k, but I got it back up to 30k in no time.
First big mistake: I had 77 and raised 3.5x BB, Mike M. on the blinds calls. He was calling me light in any position. Flop was J8x with two hearts (forgot about the other card but it was lower than my 7s). I Cbet and he check-calls. turn was a T. He checks, I barrel again and he calls. Before he calls he announces to the table that if he calls my turn bet, he'd shove river. River was another 8. He checks, I thought for a sec and said to myself "wala nagbago sa board" so I bet again (for value). Mike tanks. Ask for my remaining chips and shoves. I fold. LOL. While he was about to muck his hand he was acting like he wants to show, I call out his hand and says "busted flush draw ka?" He shows and I am right! Mental lapse. I was betting river for value and folded to a shove. Terrible fold. I was back to 15k after this hand.
Grinded steadily and I was adding chips to my stack. I was going up and down from 20k-15k.
I got moved to a new table. I got dealt TT at EP and raised to 4x BB. Martin Corpuz on my left flats and we see a flop of ATx. I Cbet, he raises, I shove, he calls. I double up to 30k+.
KQo, from around 30k, I went down to 19k. Raised pre-flop and two-barreled with overcards and got called down with pocket 7.
I got moved (again) to a new table. From 19k, I was grinded down to 16k. Tournament director announces that it was break time. Yatz Javier on the CO raises my big blind. I pretend to look down at my cards and shove. :) He tanks for the longest time. Break was 10 mins, 3 mins into breaktime he was still tanking. Then I opened my mouth. I said "magbreak na tayo Yatz." Yatz snapcalls. Haha! I show Q5o, he shows A9s. Flop Q5x. ;) I got lucky. Doubled up to 32k, and ended day1 with 33k.
Day 2: We were down to 120+ players and we're playing down to 40 players. Two hands into day 2, our table broke. I was moved to table 22 (I felt lucky). Folded my way to M=4. Then the hand that started it all!
QJs: UTG limps (I saw this player limp at early position with KTs) so I knew this was weak. Another player limps, also not the type to limp with a monster. SB completes. I was on the BB, I shove. Both limpers fold. SB tanks then finally declares call. He shows AKo. Board ran TT89x. I double up to M=9, SB got crippled.
JJ: Early position I raise to 3.5x BB. Player next to me calls. Everybody folds to a very tight player who shoves his short stack. I asked the dealer to count the chips and if he was able to min-raise me. He did, I shove. Player next to me tanks. He folds. Short stack player shows KK! Flop JACK! The rest is history. The player who folded says he had TT, flop was JTx. I thought should I have flatted? My problem with flatting is he might shove over me. And I will be put on the a difficult spot. I was definitely calling a shove if I flatted so I just went ahead and shoved and gave him the difficult decision. Went up to 64k with an M of 12.
From 64k went up to around 90k. Bled some chips, went back to 64k then got it back up to 80k and eventually crossed the 100k mark. I think this was the part where I was abusing the all-in button. :)
From 100k, went as high as 150k. I got grinded down 120k then the flip happened. Two players to ITM, it was blind vs blind. SB raises to 20k (I think). I look down and see KJo, I shove. He calls. He had 99 which held up. I was down to around 70k. Next hand after that, same players busts out with AKo vs KK. Haha!
Finished day 2 with 72900.
Day 3: Rollback! M=8.
I raped the all-in button. That's all I can say. from 72k, grinded it up to around 200k, without showdowns. Just well-timed shoves.
First showdown: I was on the BB, blinds 10k/20k with ante of 1k. Player on the middle position had around 160k, he looks at me, looks at my stack and declares all-in. Action was folded to me, I looked down and see an ace, I almost snapcalled with just looking at one card. Look at the other card and it was A3 soooooted! I call. Villain had QTo. I think I called this one because of my big mistake in day 1. What good is a read if you're not going to act on it?
Second showdown: KK < 88. I'm going to quote this one from my post in Poker Manila.
"may story yun why chris ramayrat called with 88. natilt sakin. and i knew na this time he was gonna call.
chris was on my right. di ako nagreresteal/play sa kanya. pag raise nya, wala ako. fold!
until i saw him limp with K6o blind vs blind... yung next time na naglimp sya blind vs blind, nagraise na ko i had QJo, he had A3 daw, fold sya. tpos medyo natilt na bakit ako nagraise QJ lang...
i told him na pag may hand sya, raise nya na kasi autofold ako... LOL
so he started raising... tpos nanotice ko he was raising light na... then first time i 3bet shoved him with 44. LOL. he tanks, and folds tpos he showed an ace. i didnt show, medyo lalong natilt. LOL.
sabi ko nxt na 3bet shove ko sa raise nito, cacall na. then THE hand happened. bubble time to final table he raises under the gun. i look down and see KK, i insta shove. he tanks for the longest time and then says "370k lng ako this cant survived the final table" sabi ko ayos cacall na. kumall nga.. he shows 88. window card 8, pag spread isa pang 8. naku po. hahahahahaha! i was left with 50k with blinds 15k/30k."
I was left with 50k with blinds of 15k/30k ante 3k. That's all she wrote. :)
Day 1a: I don't know why but I like playing day1a. I was assigned at table 19, seat 2. Most of the players on my table were familiar faces. More than half of them were 25/50 regs at The Metro. For day 1, we will play 10 levels. 40 minutes each, starting stack of 15,000 with starting blinds of 25/50. My kind of game. :) 300BB FTW!
First pot: I am not sure how the action pre-flop went down but I saw a flop with 24s vs 2 players. post-flop action was weak and I got to take down the pot with a nicely sized river bet.
Second pot: Right after I won my first pot, I got dealt with KK. This time it was raised to 225 (I think) and there were three callers. I raised to 1625 total. Everybody else folds except for the last player who called the 225 raise. He calls my 3bet and gives up on the flop.
After that hand the mood on my table was like this: 4x BB pre-flop raises with 2-3 callers.
I took down a couple of small pots then a couple of hands later I got dealt with AKo. An early position player raises to 225, 3 callers. I squeezed to 1525, all of them calls. Flop came QQJ or QJJ, took down the pot with a Cbet. From a starting stack of 15k, I was up to 29k. Almost doubling up my stack without showdowns. :)
Folded a couple of hands then I got dealt JJ. Mike Takayama raises at EP to around 3x BB. One player calls, I call at middle position, two other players come along. Flop comes J66, fullhouse on the flop. Mike didn't Cbet, player next to him checks, I check behind, player next to me stabs for 1500, Everbody else folds. Turn was a T. I check, villain checks behind. River was another T. I bet 2000 (yeah I should've checked again), villain folds. Boo. Break time and I now have around 32k, doubled-up without any showdowns.
I few hands after the break I was moved to a new table. This time, there was one player who I knew was going to give me a hard time: Mr. Michael Manlapaz. I played against him a couple of times in Metro's major tourneys. He was playing very loosely and I can tell he recently read Making The Final Table by Erick Lindgren.
Spewed a little and was down to 25k, but I got it back up to 30k in no time.
First big mistake: I had 77 and raised 3.5x BB, Mike M. on the blinds calls. He was calling me light in any position. Flop was J8x with two hearts (forgot about the other card but it was lower than my 7s). I Cbet and he check-calls. turn was a T. He checks, I barrel again and he calls. Before he calls he announces to the table that if he calls my turn bet, he'd shove river. River was another 8. He checks, I thought for a sec and said to myself "wala nagbago sa board" so I bet again (for value). Mike tanks. Ask for my remaining chips and shoves. I fold. LOL. While he was about to muck his hand he was acting like he wants to show, I call out his hand and says "busted flush draw ka?" He shows and I am right! Mental lapse. I was betting river for value and folded to a shove. Terrible fold. I was back to 15k after this hand.
Grinded steadily and I was adding chips to my stack. I was going up and down from 20k-15k.
I got moved to a new table. I got dealt TT at EP and raised to 4x BB. Martin Corpuz on my left flats and we see a flop of ATx. I Cbet, he raises, I shove, he calls. I double up to 30k+.
KQo, from around 30k, I went down to 19k. Raised pre-flop and two-barreled with overcards and got called down with pocket 7.
I got moved (again) to a new table. From 19k, I was grinded down to 16k. Tournament director announces that it was break time. Yatz Javier on the CO raises my big blind. I pretend to look down at my cards and shove. :) He tanks for the longest time. Break was 10 mins, 3 mins into breaktime he was still tanking. Then I opened my mouth. I said "magbreak na tayo Yatz." Yatz snapcalls. Haha! I show Q5o, he shows A9s. Flop Q5x. ;) I got lucky. Doubled up to 32k, and ended day1 with 33k.
Day 2: We were down to 120+ players and we're playing down to 40 players. Two hands into day 2, our table broke. I was moved to table 22 (I felt lucky). Folded my way to M=4. Then the hand that started it all!
QJs: UTG limps (I saw this player limp at early position with KTs) so I knew this was weak. Another player limps, also not the type to limp with a monster. SB completes. I was on the BB, I shove. Both limpers fold. SB tanks then finally declares call. He shows AKo. Board ran TT89x. I double up to M=9, SB got crippled.
JJ: Early position I raise to 3.5x BB. Player next to me calls. Everybody folds to a very tight player who shoves his short stack. I asked the dealer to count the chips and if he was able to min-raise me. He did, I shove. Player next to me tanks. He folds. Short stack player shows KK! Flop JACK! The rest is history. The player who folded says he had TT, flop was JTx. I thought should I have flatted? My problem with flatting is he might shove over me. And I will be put on the a difficult spot. I was definitely calling a shove if I flatted so I just went ahead and shoved and gave him the difficult decision. Went up to 64k with an M of 12.
From 64k went up to around 90k. Bled some chips, went back to 64k then got it back up to 80k and eventually crossed the 100k mark. I think this was the part where I was abusing the all-in button. :)
From 100k, went as high as 150k. I got grinded down 120k then the flip happened. Two players to ITM, it was blind vs blind. SB raises to 20k (I think). I look down and see KJo, I shove. He calls. He had 99 which held up. I was down to around 70k. Next hand after that, same players busts out with AKo vs KK. Haha!
Finished day 2 with 72900.
Day 3: Rollback! M=8.
I raped the all-in button. That's all I can say. from 72k, grinded it up to around 200k, without showdowns. Just well-timed shoves.
First showdown: I was on the BB, blinds 10k/20k with ante of 1k. Player on the middle position had around 160k, he looks at me, looks at my stack and declares all-in. Action was folded to me, I looked down and see an ace, I almost snapcalled with just looking at one card. Look at the other card and it was A3 soooooted! I call. Villain had QTo. I think I called this one because of my big mistake in day 1. What good is a read if you're not going to act on it?
Second showdown: KK < 88. I'm going to quote this one from my post in Poker Manila.
"may story yun why chris ramayrat called with 88. natilt sakin. and i knew na this time he was gonna call.
chris was on my right. di ako nagreresteal/play sa kanya. pag raise nya, wala ako. fold!
until i saw him limp with K6o blind vs blind... yung next time na naglimp sya blind vs blind, nagraise na ko i had QJo, he had A3 daw, fold sya. tpos medyo natilt na bakit ako nagraise QJ lang...
i told him na pag may hand sya, raise nya na kasi autofold ako... LOL
so he started raising... tpos nanotice ko he was raising light na... then first time i 3bet shoved him with 44. LOL. he tanks, and folds tpos he showed an ace. i didnt show, medyo lalong natilt. LOL.
sabi ko nxt na 3bet shove ko sa raise nito, cacall na. then THE hand happened. bubble time to final table he raises under the gun. i look down and see KK, i insta shove. he tanks for the longest time and then says "370k lng ako this cant survived the final table" sabi ko ayos cacall na. kumall nga.. he shows 88. window card 8, pag spread isa pang 8. naku po. hahahahahaha! i was left with 50k with blinds 15k/30k."
I was left with 50k with blinds of 15k/30k ante 3k. That's all she wrote. :)
Friday, April 27, 2012
I'm Winning, That's What Matters
Somebody asked me today how much my biggest winning was on poker. I answered with a very brief "Not much, I play cash games not tourneys so I don't get those big wins." I was met with another question: "So how much exactly is have you won from playing poker?" This time I answered with a novel. LOL.
Here's my answer:
A winning player will never tell you how much he is winning. A losing player will never hesitate to boast their biggest win. A story which ends in this very familiar line for gamblers -- "pero naubos din."
I think it's very inappropriate to ask a poker player how much he is making. It's kinda like asking your office mates how much everyone's salary is. I'm sure that is one taboo topic in the office.
So anyway, I thought about it and decided to come up with a decent/direct answer.
I make enough money from poker to pay for my bills:
Rent + Groceries + Daily Expenses
I make money from buying and selling online dollars:
I buy at 40, sell at 45.
You do the math. Haha!
Here's my answer:
A winning player will never tell you how much he is winning. A losing player will never hesitate to boast their biggest win. A story which ends in this very familiar line for gamblers -- "pero naubos din."
I think it's very inappropriate to ask a poker player how much he is making. It's kinda like asking your office mates how much everyone's salary is. I'm sure that is one taboo topic in the office.
So anyway, I thought about it and decided to come up with a decent/direct answer.
I make enough money from poker to pay for my bills:
Rent + Groceries + Daily Expenses
I make money from buying and selling online dollars:
I buy at 40, sell at 45.
You do the math. Haha!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
How Bad Do You Want It?
I watched this video. If anything, it made me feel like I'm not yet there (successful). Then I read the whole speech. When I read this "I'm here to tell you today that you can come here, you can jump up, you can do flips, you can be excited when we give away money. But listen to me, you will never be successful cause I don't have to give you a dime to use it. You won't be successful until you say I don't need that money. Because I got it in here." It made me feel great.
Last DICC, I wasn't able play because I wasn't able to get a seat. It's the first time in a long time that I missed a major tournament at The Metro. I could've bought in if I wanted to, but I didn't. It sounds like a failure but it was actually a success for me. I broke away from staking.
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