Pocket pairs, and newfound succes

Hi!

Today I would like to give my view upon small pocket pairs. Many of us actually pretty much know how to play them, but in fact we end up doing another thing. How often dont you see 55 vs aj-ak in the early stages of a tournament. Some guy in ealry position decides to raise his 55...only to be reraised by ak in late position...now...it doesnt work to just call here, its way to expensive betting on hitting a 2-outer, so its either fold or allin here. but even though you are a favourite with 55, how do you know that the other eprson doesnt have a higher pair, that clausable. So here's my reasoning on small pairs:

ealry position: if the blinds are low, you only have the option to call, and fold to any kind of raise.

middle posistion : no action before you or calls, you can call, any kind of raise..fold

late position: no raises so far, it is a matter of how high the blinds are in my opinion. if its early in the tournament, i wouldnt raise as what you get out of it is too little compared to the kind of bluffs i find myself getting into when my raise gets called. In the later stages of a tournament, i would always advocate that you should raise if noone has made a move so far. But raises before that will make me fold it.

small - big blind: i would probably call up to a 3 times bigblind raise here as i am already invested in the pot.

Generally these small pairs are hard to play, and i have great succes using the rules above, but i havent been good at following them. i will from now on though as it wortks out great. Some might say you should call raises, and yes you can do so in the early stages of a tournament, but if so then get away from it if you dont hit well on the flop.


Newfound succes: I dont know if its related, but since i started writing in here, i am playing well...yesterday i played three SNG of 15+1 9 particpants, and came second in the first and won the third giving a total of 60 $ in surplus. so if i play 9... :- ))) Anyway I would have liked to post the hands, but i am a fool to these technical things, so it will have to wait a few days more:-)

small pairs for me: 22-99

The surroundings

As I have promised my girlfriend not to play too much this week (read; almost nothing at all) i will try to focus on the differents aspects of my game that i need to improve.

The surroundings are just so important. See, my girlfriend isnt that wild about me playing poker, actually she dislikes it, but I have stood my grounds and kept to my right to keep my hobby. Its worked so far, to a certain extent, becuz she still cant understand that when i am playing, thats all i am doing. I cant be running around seeing the small changes she made to the bathroom, or giving her kisses while my blinds get eaten up. The problem is that if i dont do it, she'll get mad, and a small amount of discomfort will sneak into my mood, which eventually will reach my playing style, and make me that good old manica at the tables...*SIGH*

Also I need to keep the tv off, i need to ocncentrate 100 % on what i am doing. Ok, i mean, if i am playing small sit'n'goes, i guess i can mange with the tv on, but if i am to play a MTT at a high lvl, i need to god damn focus!

Played a single sit'n'go yesrterday, getting an early lead. Then I xtended the lead wih ak against a weak player going all the way with KQ (what did he think he was leading against?) Got myself to 8600 and a HUGE lead...but then my girlfriend came home...and i managed to throw away the lead losing heads up. Ok fair is fair, i got bad beated with JJ against A%, he hit runner runner straight of course! Oh well, won 40 $ extending my cash flow making it 767 $ the last two days. '

I have a few hours tonight and plan to do a few sit'n'goes. Also I will be starting to post hands here, instead of just explaining them, just give me a few days as i need to learn how first :o)

A new Beginning

To start of this blog, let me say that I dont have a goal, for now, to become a prof poker player or to win huge amounts on my game. I do however wish to become better at what i do always, and that includes poker. It would be nice if, when i play, i could keep to my A-game most of the time. great, becuz i have shown then that I CAN actuall compete then. Proof of that later in this blog. If i should proclaim any goals for the forthcoming year, it would be one of the following

1) Win a tournament prize of 5000 dollars or more + break even at least.

2) Win entry into an ept,wpt or any other bigger live turnament

3) win enough cash to go on my dream trip to Vegas


First of, let me tell you shortly about me: I live in Roskilde with my girlfriend. I am 30 years old and work as a an accountmamanger at Jobindex, a workportal in Denmark.

Poker: Ive played poker for apporx 10-12 years, starting out a a loose maniac with absolutely no skill. Over the years i have developed good sense for the games mechanisms, going from bluffing to a more steady course in my betting actions as well as hand selection. As for now, my biggest challenges must be: patience and bigger laydowns - and also taking it just as serious when the first prize is 2000 dollar as when it is 10-100.000 $.

This brings me to the actual first blog. Yesterday I qualified for the pokerstars sunday million. I have good experinces from this, having played 4 times previously, and having gone into the money 2 of those 4 times. The big starting chip amount and the overall better quality of the playrs seem to fit me. But mainly the reason for the good statistic (50 %), is that i just seem to focus more when its that big. I give it my full attention, and become just that bit more tight, not playing kj off utg, not playing the small paris at the bigger blind lvls. And it pays off. Yesterday was no exception. Starting over 7100 participant, i got off to a calm start playing only two hands the first hour. AK suited, raising to 600 in middle position (blinds 75-150), getting one caller, an ace hitting the flop, which basically shut that pot. KK...getting hardly any action. I finished the first hour in 14k, which i was pleased with. The second hour i got off to a flying start as a loose player sitting just before me raised, i reraised with kk, the flop coming q XX to diamonds..i bet a small amount, he raised and i went all in to get a call from kq...TY :-) I stayed in the 20-30k for the next hour, not getting much action with AK and qq. Then i hit an ace with ak against two allin smaller stacks moving me up to 55 k...from there i played slow until in the money at 1100 left. I then hit kk again, getting myself as far as 150 k, with 450 particpants left. Unfortunately i busted out with the blinds being 10k-20k, getting aq dd, reraising a click raise all in, which just happened to be AA.

Now i know some of you might advocate that i should just call, but most of the time these DAMN click raises are just a weak player playing his cards wrong...I HATE CLICK RAISERS..., so why give him the chance on the flop, when i can take it down there...well, please tell me if i am wrong on this?? Anyway, overall i played one of my best tournaments ever, giving me high hopes for the coming weeks. I just need to be calm and collected and play the right hands.

Thats it for now, see you soon again