1st March challenge updates.....

Well I waited all day for someone to Propose to me but @ 8-30 pm its likely now I won't be asked. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Another 4 years until the next one :grin: Well back to it then. 23rd Feb arrived and really didn't have any will to play so kept putting it off and off until 10pm I thought meh best try and get this rake over the 100 mark so I played a stt you know the score, 5 seater Speed €3.30 1st hand QQ happy days, but folded round to my raise. 2nd hand AK and ended up all in and boom met AA and although I flopped the king and turned a nut flush draw I ended up bricking and that was that bar 30 chips from the blinds I picked up the hand before. Fired a couple more up in a quick session 1 was €5 the other €15 and both were speed. The difference between speed, Turbo and Normal is, Normal is 8 min blinds, Speed is 5 min blinds and the turbo 3 min blinds. Although I love hypers for the sake of the challenge I found it a bit too spewey, so go for the Speed and 5 min blinds. I do play these quite well and I think it was Mike who said the stt's have almost been mastered now, so its obv pretty good for me that the other 4 players haven't quite got there yet....... Anyways 10 min laters and there both in the bag for a nice €52.50 and €17.50. I should play more of these to be honest...... But again I don't know why I don't.

Feb 25th and again not much happening so Played a €1 hyper tournament and surprised myself with a 4th place finish for €17.20. Sort of played about 5 hands and then after that because the blinds were so fast you were all in whenever its your blinds and then pure luck. So makes a small increase in the overall ROI with the result. But really struggling to grind any length of time on the cash tables, but what can you do if your in bits with pain after playing an hour?

So whats the worst thing that can happen after reading the last couple of lines above ? Thats right you end up having the biggest tournament win of the challenge so far the day after. Fantastic !! Let me explain, Feb 26th was a Sunday and Normally Sundays are a minefileld with those all in 1 Jobbies for the Sunday €50k. But I have been very good with holding myself back from playing these over the last month well Feb at least. But I still take the odd shot for the evening's €8k if I see the all in sat nearly full. Its not like stars were they fill really fast and it can takes hours sometimes to fill a 10 seater. So if I see it nearly full I normally take my shot for €3.30. Well 1st attempt Boom ave it, thats me in tonights game and cant recall the last time I played this. But while sitting there chuffed with my luck I see it almost full again and chance my arm again...... Boom OMG thats twice in 2 sat's I win with the best hand. Well actually not true, I chopped the 2nd so we had to have another hand which I won with my 2 3 v AQ. So because I am in it already I get the cash in my account thank you very much for the extra €33... So I have my seat and @ 8pm the cards are in the air.2000 chips and 12 min blinds. 2nd Hand I get dealt AK on the button and with 1 limper already in the pot I make it 90 to go and all 3 see the flop of 2J4 with the 2&4 both spades. I have the Ace Spades and its checked round to me. The pot is 290 and I make it 217 to go and just the BB call. The turn is the 7 clubs making 2 flush draws out now with the Jack on the flop being a club. Again he checks to me, I dont like checking here because has soon as I do I virtually give up the hand. BB could of re popped pre with any biggish hand to get me off my Button bluff but I often fire twice with AK to avoid just that. There is 724 in the pot and I make it 362, looking back I think it was a bit too low, but I remember at the time anymore and it screams I want him out of the hand. Once he calls again I pretty much knew he was waiting for the Spade flush or an open ender str draw. Anyways he just calls again and the turn is an harmless 10 Diamonds. I have 1331 behind with 1448 in the pot. I consider jamming if he doesnt but once he checks again I can resist the urge to fire the 3rd Bullet. Get it wrong and its pretty much game over but I just bet half the pot leaving 607 behind. I must of thought I could get back in the game with a bit of luck and promptly smile when he folds....... So I'm off and win some more chips with AK on the 5th hand.

30 mins in I take my 1st bounty with 10 8 suited when UTG shoves for 10bb and I call it in mid Position. Happy to take the chance here, I have 3833 in chips and pretty certain I should be live here. Not happy to see the guy to my left call as well like but at least he didnt shove to isolate..... Flop 492, I check and he checks, turn 6 to give me a gutshot and I check again and again so does the guy to my left. Boom the river is the Nut str card 7 for me and promptly bet half the pot and for the Brucie Bonus the guy calls and shows AJ for Ace high, Hmmmmmm Not sure on that one but happy days. All in Guy has AQ and he's toast. Thats my 1st Bounty and worth €12.50. Always good to get the 1st one because I dont buy into this so if I play its cos I won the sat for either €6.60 or €3.30 so its all profit from here.

I wont bore you with all the juicy hands after that, but it stood me in a good Position to go a little deeper. The top 40 were paid and when I made the cash I was sitting pretty in 11th. Cashing in a bounty game is no big deal because the amount is pretty low with I think €19.78 ish for 31-40 and not much higher for 21-30 and even 10th only collects about €62.

However my wheels well and truley fell off. I lost half my chips a few hands back when on the BB holding 20bb and calling a shorty shove for about a third of my chips with Q6 Suited when he had KQ and then 2 hands later on the button had to fold after the SB shoved to my raise.

Amazing, just checking back on the HH I actually call a min raise while in the BB with just 4 BB left and fold after I miss with my 8 9. I know why I called because someone was all in for less than 1 BB and just had to see the flop.......

So I am 31/31 with 3BB left and not 1 like I worte in the 1k thread. I checked on the tracker just now, but I was defo 31/31 and on the button with QJ knowing full well it was going in. Were 6 handed so just had to be done. I'm up against KQ off & A9, the Board comes 4 8 10 turn 6 so any 9 or Jack, B O O M jack, takes me back to 11 BB.

Few hands later I'm in again K2 suited on the button v A10 BB, hit the King on the river and knock out a big bounty for €45.

I make the Final table sitting in 7th out of 10 and double up in the SB with 3 7off v AJ on a flop of 3 7 J flop, That puts me in the mix and then AK v AQ with a Q on the flop but a river King sends me top of the pack with 6 left.

I sit back and really want to land 3rd min for a €482.62 + bounties cash and before I know it I am Heads Up. Totally knackered, my back in Peices and well and truely zonked. HU was going great for me and then boom back to were I started, which was a 2/1 dog. Again after 15 mins I almost get it back to 50/50 and he sucks out again. Its 2-20 am and to be honest I give up. I wanted 3rd min to reach 2nd was a bonus and thats why I took a stand with just a gutshot and I called an all in with it. He had top pr which of course held. Yes given different times and a different night I would of hung around grinding him down. But meh with the bounties I take home a very nice €814.50 and all for €3.30 ave it.........

I did manage to win a €6.60 sat to play on the 28th Feb but luck was not my side and went out without any Bounties. They also had a couple of special tournaments on the 29th Feb. One was a €5k added €5.50 and the other was a €5k freeroll for playing 250 hands or more during the Month of Feb. It was a nice surprise but thats all it was after the Donkey's decided to enter both of them and it wasn't long before I was of both.

Well thats the tournaments covered I guess I had better start on the cash tables I managed to rip up since my last update. Has mentioned earlier I am finding it harder and harder to grind the tables so its always bits here and there. But overall it was a good month and I recouped all of January's losses and make a bit more on top. I have posted both screenshots of my playing days with profit and although I only played 14 days out of 29 it was a feeling knowing I only had 2 losing sessions. The BadBeat tables are back up and running and I do try to play more because when it goes that would be that and the challenge complete. Anyways you can also see my Stats and carrying on from the last update I have been aware more of my playing Stats and did look to raise more pots and do different things in Postion and after seeing the stats I was pretty chuffed about them. Yes there is still room for improvement but dont forget I only play full ring games and not Short Handed cash games.

So I made a total of €146.69 on the cash tables this month and not bad considering I only played 677 hands on the 12/25c tables. So 15 buy in's up over the month is again pretty good going I hope you agree.......






I am hoping for a good month in March with nothing really getting in the way. I visited family in the Middle of Feb for 8 days and all appointments have freed up March as well, I just hope I can grind a bit more than the last 2 months. But I did say I wanted to play at least 5k hands in the year...... So thats been smashed and 12k hands in 2 months is good going for me.

I forgot to mention about the rakerace that I was so looking forward to and I did a bit of checking and found Opoker wasnt the only poker site to be running it. Its not a network race it was an independant race, anyways having checked it earlier in the month found it totally bollocks and never attempted in the end. Fail !!!!



Now for the big totaliser.............€2935.90, just €65 to make the 3k mark........ and my New year's poker goal will be complete. Once again thanks for reading and hopefully next update will be the Magical €3k