January started with a trip to the Fox Club for their main
event, having made day 2 and busting to a cooler a few places from the money in December I
was hoping to do better this time around. There were 143 entries with 15 paid
and a top prize of just over £13k. The first few levels were fairly standard and
I was winning a lot of pots without showdowns by mixing up my play, I won a big
pot when I opened with Aces over a limper who called, the flop came down 2cJc8s
and I ended up getting it in v T9c, I had the guy covered and it was only about
50% of my stack but it was still a sweat, but the board bricked and I was amongst
the chiplead after winning another decent pot turning the nut straight with KT,
although I chopped with another player who had KT also, we got a 3rd
player’s stack who had the small end of the straight. Soon after I got A8o on
the button and opened to 1,400 from an 85k stack, the blinds are 300/600 and at
this point I get distracted by the Fox Club blogger who wanted a chip count etc from
me, meanwhile the BB shoved for 9k and slightly distracted I
made a quick call, it felt like the guy was making a stand to the button open,
I had been fairly aggressive and so I
called and he flipped AQh and I lost the pot and kicked myself somewhat for
making the call, however soon after the same player 3 bet shoved rags and
busted which made me feel a little better since he was clearly capable of
raising wide but I just happened to run into him having a hand. At the end of
the first day I bagged 102k; with an average stack of 84k and 38 players left I
was happy with my play and looking forward to day 2.
Soon into day 2 I get AA and raise over a limp and get
called, the flop comes 884 and I c-bet and get called, I know the limper is
loose and I have heard him say previously that 8 is his favourite number so I
am very wary and check the brick turn, he fires on the brick river and I call
and he shows 83o and I drop to 75k ish. After this I struggle for momentum for
a while before doubling with JJ v Ace rag and we go down to 2 tables, with 15
being paid I try to pick up the aggression and win a few small pots but by the
time the bubble burst I am just below the average stack, soon after a strange
player shoved 5bb or so from EP it folded to me in the BB and I had JQo, this
guy had previously shoved hands like 92o while folding Ax hands, I decided I
was in good shape against him and called, he flipped 84 but he made a full house and that left
me short, soon after I open shoved J2h and ran into kings and busted in 15th,
which while it was a cash was also a disappointment since I had had a good
stack for most of the tournament.
The very next day I won Welllbet’s Home Game on PKR but
despite this January was a miserable month a few minor cashes and winning
Welllbet’s again at the end of the month didn’t stop me recording a loss for
the month, I also played the £540 APT event at the Fox but didn’t really get
anywhere in it and lost a flip with JJ to AK, all in all January was pretty bad
and I had had higher hopes for February. 2 wins in a month without many other
serious cashes is not enough for someone who plays lots of mid and high stake
MTTs throughout the month.
February would prove even worse, a 2nd and 3rd
in the Monte Carlo were my only notable results and my bankroll was taking a
severe hit. I was feeling really low about my game and was seriously considering taking a break, I decided to give it another week or two and I managed to win the Monte
Carlo, this helped me to regain some of my confidence and a few days later I
won a Primetime and the day after that the Dirty Dozen, these 3 wins combined
were worth nearly $5k and suddenly things were looking up again, a more steady
stream of minor cashes also helped maintain my bankroll and I won the Dirty
Dozen again towards the end of the month. March had proven to be a really good
for me and had more than made up for my losses in the previous two months.
It just shows how quickly things can change in MTTs, I was
down and out a few weeks ago but suddenly my confidence was back. I am a firm
believer that confidence is a huge factor in MTTs, when I am feeling confident
my instincts are generally better and I make better decisions in marginal
spots. Let’s take an example of where I have been card dead in an MTT for a
while and I get dealt QQ, UTG raises and I 3 bet from UTG+1 and all of a sudden
a mid position player cold 4 bet shoves, instinct tells me they have AA or KK
most of the time but if I am feeling low on confidence then I am more likely to
call because I have no belief that I can get chips elsewhere, either because I
am not playing my A game or the cards are not going my way or a combination of
both, whereas when I am confident I can hit the fold button easier trusting my
abilities (and also variance) will allow me to regain chips in a better spot.
Confidence also naturally means I play more aggressive and providing this doesn’t
lead to over-confidence and over-aggression this can only be a good thing as
controlled aggression will win more chips without showdowns than a tight game
will, this in turn usually leads to better results since less showdowns means
less luck is involved and this generates a confidence cycle. As I type this I
am feeling confident about my game and have had a few decent results recently, which
have been a combination of me playing my best game and also getting a good run
of cards (I don’t think I have been in god mode in terms of variance but I have
been running above EV which is always a welcome change).
April has so far continued as March left off and I am going
to play the London Calling Main Event at the Fox club over the Easter weekend
so I am hoping I can transfer my online results into a deep live finish,
hopefully my next blog will be about me winning my first live MTT J
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