Hmmm interesting. Played a couple of comps on Thursday night and gave away the chip lead in both the 15k and 5k rebuy comps on Tribeca simply by playing really badly after playing really well. Decided i wouldnt do the same in the 20k and made the FT with a healthy stack. Then after a few players had been eliminated i made a risky re-raise in a battle of the blinds against a player who in hindsight wasnt good enough to fold the hand. Anyways, i thought he would fold all hands bar AK,AQ,AA,KK,QQ,JJ and 1010 but sadly he called me with 88 and the trash i had, 75 sooooted didnt perform miracles. Came 5th for $1k so not too bad.

Tonight was a different story, lost a lot in the cash games (but im used to the swings now) and then broke a guy for about $1100 before he made a sick outdraw on me on the turn and semi-tilted me. I lost about $1.2k tonight but i think i played well although should have probably not 4 tabled cash whilst 5 tabling tournies- bit too much computing even for an ADD addled brain like mine. During this holiday period im now going to play MTT's till about 2am then play cash 4 tables at once short handed being as loose aggressive as possible till i crush the weaker players who end up fighting back at the wrong moment. Had a beauty today, convinced a table (of non-regulars) i was a mug for about $80 (which is cheap advertising for me) before he walked str8 into me for a $700 pot with TPTK v my Top set. Sadly him runner, runnering a flush wasnt part of the plan.
Got a few new insights into cash games too. Raise with any pair in any position once you have an idea of how your opponents play. If the pot is contested HU always fire a 3/5th pot continuation bet unless the flop is horrid and has to have hit them somehow, for example 9d10dJh.
If you hit a set lead out every time.
Raise with any 2 connected cards or 1 gapper cards 56 or better if the 1st to voluntarily enter the pot in either the cutoff or on the button.
If the SB completes in a blind v blind contest, bet approx 70% of the time, up this to 90% of the time if he is multitabling as he probabaly will be focused elsewhere.
If in the SB in a battle of the blinds (hereby referred to as a BOTB) bet regardless of the flop 1/2 the pot nearly 80% of the time. In reality i sometimes bet 100% of the time if i have hit or have a draw to anything or if my opponent is tight. In reality most hands miss most flops and even if he connects your average online player is so focused on "tight is right" that he will only cal with top pair and often fold that. If you get called then go through possible hand holdings and take the pot off him if a scare card hits on the turn/river.
If you find yourself at a table full of ABC rocks (which by the way i love) then for christs sake dont play big pots without the nuts or something close to it. They are waiting for the big hands, whilst you can smash up the little pots whilst generating a fantastic image. They want to play long ball, you play short, they start check raising when you semi-bluff in position, theres nothing wrong with a free card.
Whatever you do, dont play their game. I rarely pay off these guys because its so obvious what they are up to. Consistent hammering and forcing them to fold is what enables you to get under their skin, get them playing outside their comfort zone and gets them slow-playing hands which arent strong enough to be slow played.


Anyhow tonight Aussie millions $200 satellite went rosy before KQ got beat by shorties Q10. Went into grind mode and played very astute poker, nicking pots postflop, preflop and ducking and diving well before KK fked me by running into AA. It really fucks me off because i occasionally see a premium hand and think "at last, i can get it all in pre" when actually the way i go deep in comps is by seeing flops in position and outplaying people.

Such is life. Im going to win the 20k gtd tomorrow night. Im not lying, i can piss on this comp if i dont watch the telly :)

Tip of the day, if you arent prepared to play loose aggressive and want to play solid poker, find the right table. A good way of finding out who the fish are is looking for a table where a number of players have a lot less than the maximum buy-in. That is in fact my tip[ of the year as it saves massive amounts of time and locates the donkeys effectively. Keep quiet about it.

Failing that, look for players who seem to always be on active tables and let them do the work for you by adding them to your buddy list. Table selection and seat selection are more important than bet sizing.

signing out till the new year, and wishing all of you a happy one, Alex