Adam LaBare's Poker Blog

Didn't have any grand expectations this weekend, but did have a determination to make something happen. And happen they did... (how dramatic)

Here's how it went down.

Didn't play at all Friday night. Used Friday to unwind with my wife, relax, eat a nice dinner, see a movie. No poker on Friday's really seems to help my focus come Saturday. Got a good night sleep and tried to hit the ground running Saturday. Didn't quite work out that way. My total bankroll was all in play by 2pm Saturday afternoon and I came up with nothing. I was playing shitty and had nothing to show for it. Had to clear my head. Stepped away for a few hours.

It can be pretty eye opening to go through an entire budgeted bankroll and see that you have nothing to show for your many, many hours of effort. You can't necessarily pin point bad play. But you know that as you play with the last remaining funds in your roll, you are in essence playing differently. I hate that. I know better. Play the same, no matter what. I chose to reload my account. I put in $500 with the mindset that I just HAD to turn this into something.

With some money back in my account, I decided to hit a few 20 table SnG's. Things were going well as I played these so I decided to get a 3rd table running. Took a chance on the $100 Saturday deep stack at 7pm. My logic was, invest the $100 and know I'll have a chance to play a long tournament which provides me the opportunity to make my own success. Broke out a bottle of wine, got relaxed and played my A game. While I don't encourage anyone to get drunk while playing, a glass or two of wine can really relax the nerves. For what it's worth, I think it helped.

As I was playing the $100, I cashed in a few of my other smaller games which put me in a good place mentally. Took that momentum and applied it to the big one. 9 hours later, made a 3 way deal and walked away with over 4k.

I knew I was getting into a long tournament. But man, 4am was pretty rough. But obviously well worth it.

In hindsight, played a good game. Chipped up and didn't risk my stack unnecessarily. When the right situations presented themselves, I struck with authority. So, in some regards, I did play tight/aggressive. But later on, I did change that around and became far more aggressive as my stack grew. Once I picked up the momentum, I didn't look back.

Went to bed quite satisfied with my turn around.

Sunday comes awfully early. But I got up with a smile on my face. Spent some time in the kitchen baking of all things with my wife. Ran some errands. Was home by 2pm. At this point, knowing that Sunday's big tournament on Stars was a $1000 event, I didn't have any grand aspirations for playing it. However, I did decide to take a shot at a 1 table satellite for it. This table went so quick, I had to really ask myself if it happened. I took it down in less than 30 minutes. Was crazy. Everyone just kept pushing and I woke up with a few good hands that held up. I was now bought in for the $1000 at 4:30.

Things were working out well. Decided to relax and stay away from my computer until game time. Got my head straight and just enjoyed the day.

4:30 comes around and I'm feeling good. Confident. Focused. Things started out slowly but about 1 1/2 hours in, I started picking up decent hands. With these hands, I chipped up on a steady basis. Several hours in, I found myself with a healthy stack. Before I knew it, the money bubble approached. Knowing I was only in for $100, I did not stress. Bubble came and went and I was very happily in the money.

At this point, just became a feeding frenzy. Obviously many were content with the bottom payout. People pushing their stacks left and right. I took advantage of this and continued to build my stack. Quickly found myself 3 tiers into the money.

Things were looking great. Sitting there with the button and look down to see AA. With 100k in chips, this could really be a key hand. All fold to the cutoff who has about 60k in chips. He pushes all in. I re-raise to isolate. Just him and I in the hand. He shows 66. I'm feeling okay when I see this but you know that little feeling in the back of your head you get every damn time you enter this situation. Sure enough, flop comes KK6. No help on the flop or river. Crippling. Brought me down to around 39k in chips. Talk about deflating. Before I had any real time to evaluate the situation, next hand brings AK suited. I'm in the CO. Middle position table chip leader raises for 15k. All fold to me, I push. Just him and I. He shows QJ. I hit an A on the flop and double right back up to 80k. Next hand after that, AQ. I come in for a 15k raise and pick up the blinds. I'm sitting comfortable again at 105k.

Talk about a stressful little point of the game.

Things continued to go well. I soon found myself in the next money tier but was losing chips. Before long, i was short stacked again and needed to create a situation. I was down to 50k and decided in late position to be aggressive with an AQ. A fellow short stack in middle position pushed before I had the chance. He was in for 60k which obviously covered me. I went into my think tank. This guy was being overly aggressive. He had been racking up chips but got called down twice showing him in with mediocre hands. This push at this point looked like a tiltish play. I put him on a range from AJ to A9 with smaller pairs. I specifically remember telling myself here, that "I do not have to call". I should have listened to my inner gut. I called anyway thinking this was a good chance to chip up. He shows AK. And I'm out in 69th with $3200 more in my pocket.

The cashing part was great. But I would be lying if it wasn't bitter sweet. Seeing a 1st place payout of $350k and knowing I had a real shot...well, it can be eye opening. I made a mistake with the AQ but did believe I had the better hand at that point. Not going to beat myself up too much though. Overall, I played a good tournament and had a great weekend.

With that being said, the plan from here will be to do nothing stupid. Going to pick and chose a few decent tournaments this week and try to keep this momentum going.

Anyhoo...back to the real world.

Labels: adam labare, poker tournaments, pokerstars, stars sunday million, tournaments

I feel like I say this every time I run bad, but I've been a horrible blogger these past few months. And yes, I've been running bad. To the point where I decided to take a few weeks off altogether. The break was two fold. One, to clear my head. And two, my bankroll took a considerable hit therefore the choice to break was easy. Whatever the reason though, I think the break was necessary.

And now for some bloggidy goodness...

Current Status...
Decided to get back in the mix this past Saturday. Enjoyed a relatively peaceful day and got some funds into Stars. What a pain in the ass this has turned into. While I won't go into great detail on the legalities and hindrances with funding your poker account these days, I will offer a gleam of hope...

Paytrucard.com is a godsend to the poker player. PokerStars.com actually suggested I give this company a try. Long story short, you sign up, you instantly receive a Visa debit account. You can associate it with your own credit card and be on your way. Full card number and expiration were provided immediately. I was able to get money onto stars in a matter of 5 minutes. I was very impressed.

I went to use them again this Saturday and was a bit paranoid when their site was down. However, this was a temporary issue and was resolved very quickly.

I also signed up for ePassporte.com and netspend.com but have decided not to utilize. The fee's and hoops with epassporte are just ridiculous. And netspend, while the option to fund via paypal was intriguing, it was not an instantaneous transaction. In the end, Paytrucard.com worked like a charm and they have me as a long term customer if they stay in the game!

With a little ammunition in my account, i was finally able to play some poker. Getting the money in to the account was like a warm, soothing effect. A calm came over me. It was actually kinda weird.

I took it easy Saturday night and played in 3 MTT's. Placed 29th in a $10 event. Put me plus $8 for the day. Cough. Hey, a profit is a profit, shut up!

Didn't have any great game plan for Sunday other than taking a stab at the Sunday Million on PokerStars.com. This tournament has been a thorn in my side for a long time. When my bankroll was healthy a while back, I opted to buy straight in to this tourney rather than hitting satellites. Just plain stupid. This ate through a good chunk of my roll without any significant wins.

I deiced to hit a 1 table satellite. Didn't really have any great run of cards but managed to survive. When the bubble came around, I was fortunate to hit a few key hands which put me in a great position to win outright. After a short battle, I took it down. At this point, it was early in the morning and decided to just relax and not play before the big tournament.

Finally came time to play and I pretty much went in my think tank (headphones and iTunes). Things started out slow but toward the end of the first hour, I made a few moves which backfired completely. I found myself with just over 4k in chips (players start with 10k). I was kicking myself in the ass but remained focused.

Over the next two hours I managed to battle back and found myself on a great run bringing me up to 28k in chips. I managed to sustain in this ballpark for quite a while. I took a little hit down to 19k but managed to double up with a bit extra which brought me up to 48k.

Long story short, I made it into the money. I was running cold at this point though and had to make a move shortly after the bubble burst. When I finally decided to stand my ground, this prompted a good 3 hand run which put me at 98k. I was in a great spot at this stage. I was entirely content with opening my play at this point and directing traffic as I found myself second in chips at my table.

Here comes my regrettable hand of the tournament. Sigh.
2000/4000 blinds w/ an ante.
Under the gun comes out with a raise, double the blind which makes it 8k. At this point, people were shoving good chunks and doing a lot of stealing. The raise in hindsight was fishy. Everyone folded to me in late position. I just call with KQd hoping to hit the flop obviously. Everyone else folds. Flop comes something like 742 rainbow.

At this stage I was actually pleased with the flop thinking it was relatively non threatening. He comes out betting the minimum 4k.

So, I'm going through my normal routine as to what he's holding. Early position, raises minimum, wants to get some value in there but probably doesn't have a high pocket pair. First to act, he probably would have just called. AK maybe? AQ? Maybe middle pair.

I ended up convincing myself I could get him off this hand. Going into the hand, he was at 48k, I was at 98k. After he put his 4k in, I pushed enough in to put him all in. I wanted the pressure back on him and take the pot right here.

He immediately calls and turns over AA. Yeah, I fell for it. Turn, no help. River, K. Naturally.

So, that severely crippled me. I should not have gotten into this situation to begin with. I should have been far more suspect of the raise before hand. I made a bad read at the end of the day. I really did not figure him for AA. However, shame on me for getting this much of my stack involved. If I could replay this hand, I probably should have raised my KQ pre-flop to determine where I really was.

Even though short stacked, I managed to survive two more levels into the payout. I finished 527th out of 6964. Overall, I played a good tournament and it was very nice getting into the money. That AA was really bugging me last night, but it was what it was.

To Sum It All Up...
Was a pretty good weekend of poker. Didn't over due it. Didn't stress myself out. Made a nice little addition to the newly revised bankroll. Certainly plan on continuing that trend.

Job Well Done...
I wanted to say Great Job to my buddy Matt Waldron who had a great run at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star. Matt is a regular at Lifesabluff.com and represented the site with style. Matt did extremely well in day 1 and went in to day 2 with a decent stack. Unfortunately, the stars were not properly aligned and Matt finished a mere 30 or so spots from the money. What a horrible beat. You can read how it all went down by checking out the following thread.

Sick Bay...
I also wanted to shoot Frank Frisina well wishes. Frank is the creator/writer at Lifesabluff.com. Frank has been severely under the weather and I just wanted him to know my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. Damn collapsing lungs. Might think those things would stay inflated. If you're a fan of lifesabluff.com, you can read more about Frank's situation here.

What's Next?
As for next steps. The original intent this weekend was to actually start giving a hard look at the WSOP satellites. They are officially on my radar.

That's it for now. I'll be returning with a few new articles that can be viewed at www.lifesabluff.com and www.pokerxtreme.com.

Stay tuned!

Labels: adam labare, epassporte.com, frank frisina, lifesabluff.com, matt waldron, netspend.com, paytrucard.com, poker, pokerstars, stars sunday million, world poker tour, wpt, wpt bay 101 shooting star

Yesterday was my shot at greatness. However, it was not meant to be.

With a healthy bankroll, I played a few satellites and got myself into the big tourney at 4:30. I was feeling good. This was my tournament to shine.

First hour was a bit daunting. I made a few small hands. It became pretty apparent I had an individual at the table that was taking advantage of "scared money" that first hour. What I mean by this...this tournament can be intimidating to the first time participant. Many individuals find themselves thrown into this tournament through much smaller satellites and quite literally are out of their league. Certainly no disrespect intended. They just don't have the large MTT experience and it shows. Anyway, this guy just kept raising and check raising each smaller raise and everyone continued to fold to him. I finally had a good hand and went up against him. Didn't put a lot on the line but he sucked out on the river. Figures. Few hands later, similar situation presents itself. I raise small in late position, he re-raises in late position. I just call. I hit a set on the flop. He bets strong. I call. He bets strong again, I raise. He calls. He checks, I bet his remaining stack. He folds. This was the start of a good run for me.

Had a few bumps. Had to battle back at one point. But 3.5 hours in, I find myself at 60k in chips with only a few hundred left to the money. That might sound like a lot of people, but we started with some 6000 entrants and people were dwindling extremely fast.

It's at this stage I usually tighten up and ensure my placement in the money. From there I go on the hunt and play my aggressive game. However, for this tournament, I didn't just want to squeeze into the money. Perhaps I was over eager, perhaps it was just stupidity. But here's where things went south.

I'm feeling great with 60k in chips. Average at this point was 48k. I was second leader at my table...however, the chip leader at my table was also the overall chip leader. He was flirting just over 200k in chips. The one thing I said to msyelf, do NOT tango with this guy. Just stay out of his way and prey on the other stacks. Did I listen to my advice? Obviously not.

So I'm on the button and I'm dealt AQ diamonds. Fairly nice hand I'm thinking. One call in front of me, I raise about 4x the BB. I don't remember the exact raise amount. Chip leader is in the BB. I should have paid better attention. I raised unaware that he was in the BB and would probably play almost any hand at this point. He calls my raise. The other caller folds. Flop comes 9 8 3 with two diamonds. He comes out betting. Okay, my mindset went like this. He's obviously playing his stack, as he should be. However, I really think he's full of shit at this point. Call it intuition, call it a gut feeling, whatever. Point is, I really believed I had a better hand at this spot. And in the case that I did not, with the nut flush possibility on my hands, I saw this spot as an opportunity. Like I said, I did not want to just squeeze into the money. I wanted this to be my swan song. I took a chance. I pushed back and went all in. He insta calls with 55.

...

Turn and river bring no help and I'm out of the tournament. Just like that, in the blink of an eye...gone.

It took me a while to cool down. And obviously, I'm still bent out of shape over this. I'm sure other pro's would analyze this play and beat me up over it...but I felt good about my move. Had I walked away the winner in that hand, I would have been sitting with about $140k in chips and a commanding presence moving into the money. My goal was not to play too cautiously. I wanted to be aggressive in certain situations. I deemed these one of those situations and it didn't work out.

In hindsight, would I have played it any differently? I became too attached to this hand, that much I realize. However, thinking back, I should have paid better attention to whom was in the BB. I got carried away with my great position with a good starting hand. Had I just smooth called here, I believe he would have raised and I probably would have come off the hand.

Ugh.

Okay, I'm not going to torture myself. As my wife said last night, there's always next week.

Good luck everyone!

Labels: adam labare, poker, pokerstars, stars sunday million, world series of poker, wsop