Continuing from the previous post, the team had the toughest possible pairing in round 1, against reigning champion team of Nicosia I (Trigiorgis, Melas, Martides, Papatri). Despite this, we were able to put up some serious resistance on the first 3 boards. Eventually we lost by 0.5-3.5 with Andreas in board 3 getting away with the draw. We finished Saturday with a marginal win over Famagusta with 2.5-1.5, by winning on boards 1 & 3, drawing on 2 and losing on 4.
On Sunday morning we faced Ofis and won by 3-1 after drawing blood on boards 1, 2, 3. We finished our games with a devastating 0-4 against the strong Larnaka I. We had to settle for a bye in the final round (9 teams participating). We would prefer to play one of the teams competing for 3rd place with us, but we still had chances if results in 3 of the matches were favourable. Indeed, the teams which has previously beat us won their games and we were hoping Ofis would score at least 1.5 points against Pafos. The match ended in a 2-2 tie, ole!
After discussing merrily outside the venue, we returned for the trophies giving ceremony to find out that we finished 4th?! wtf? Larnaka II had won also their last game and was tied with us. They outrun us for 3 place due to scoring 2 points more than us based on individual results. If only Kasparis had won 2 games in which he had overwelming advantage instead of loosing them... Or if rest of us managed to score that extra draw/win when we had the chance... I am not accusing anybody here, the players tried for the best, it was just not meant to be.
Our fist trophy outside university of cyprus is yet to come. Who knows, maybe next time...
Until then, have fun and a nice holiday.
Happy Easter!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
It's been a while...
I have been rather lazy and forgetful lately to update.
You can forget about my optimistic view in the last pst regarding huge field multitable tournies. I played 7 of them in 2 days, for which I was in again for 50% with the remaining sold as shares, with a total cost of $170. After some early bustouts and some deep runs I ended up with $0 cashes, sigh, a fruitless investment of time and money. I have not played a single mtt for almost 3 weeks now. My pokerstars account has since then been inactive, only 2 heads up sit & goes. My grind was limited to shortish cash games on full tilt, my game of choice being 6 handed pot limit holdem tables at my usual stakes ($0,25-$0,50). Had my first lengthy session after a while today, managing a profit of about $85 with an initial investment of $50, in approximately 2 hours. I was running well, playing even better, refreshed after my some kind of break from the game. Bankroll at the end of March: Full Tilt Poker $592,32 - Pokerstars $330,88.
Lets wait and see the effect of my not so short break from chess on the quality of my play during the annual team chess championship. The event is taking place this weekend, with teams fighting it over 4 tables. Time control is set at 40 minutes initial time for each player plus a 30 second increament for each move. My team has Konstantinos Konstantinides playing on 1st board, yours trully Michalis Philippou (me) on 2nd, Andreas Georghiou on 3rd, Nikolas Casparis on 4th and Cyprus Chess Federation president Christoforos Tornaritis as a reserve. Apart from our 3rd board player, the rest of the team has been inactive lately, thus I am hoping the team will be able to hold its own tomorrow. Fellow player and close friend Konstantinos told me about a dream he had a few years ago. Him and I we were playing such a tournament, having Robert James (Bobby) Fischer, the 11th World Chess Champion (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) , as team mate. Do you think that the spirit of Bobby Fischer is going to be with us tomorrow? We shall see...
While hoping to hear good news from me soon, take care.
You can forget about my optimistic view in the last pst regarding huge field multitable tournies. I played 7 of them in 2 days, for which I was in again for 50% with the remaining sold as shares, with a total cost of $170. After some early bustouts and some deep runs I ended up with $0 cashes, sigh, a fruitless investment of time and money. I have not played a single mtt for almost 3 weeks now. My pokerstars account has since then been inactive, only 2 heads up sit & goes. My grind was limited to shortish cash games on full tilt, my game of choice being 6 handed pot limit holdem tables at my usual stakes ($0,25-$0,50). Had my first lengthy session after a while today, managing a profit of about $85 with an initial investment of $50, in approximately 2 hours. I was running well, playing even better, refreshed after my some kind of break from the game. Bankroll at the end of March: Full Tilt Poker $592,32 - Pokerstars $330,88.
Lets wait and see the effect of my not so short break from chess on the quality of my play during the annual team chess championship. The event is taking place this weekend, with teams fighting it over 4 tables. Time control is set at 40 minutes initial time for each player plus a 30 second increament for each move. My team has Konstantinos Konstantinides playing on 1st board, yours trully Michalis Philippou (me) on 2nd, Andreas Georghiou on 3rd, Nikolas Casparis on 4th and Cyprus Chess Federation president Christoforos Tornaritis as a reserve. Apart from our 3rd board player, the rest of the team has been inactive lately, thus I am hoping the team will be able to hold its own tomorrow. Fellow player and close friend Konstantinos told me about a dream he had a few years ago. Him and I we were playing such a tournament, having Robert James (Bobby) Fischer, the 11th World Chess Champion (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) , as team mate. Do you think that the spirit of Bobby Fischer is going to be with us tomorrow? We shall see...
While hoping to hear good news from me soon, take care.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Another Tuesday, another post...
Lets see how far this trend will go. The truth is I had not much going on this week.
Pokerwise, I played 4 mtts on Friday with total cost of $99. I was in for 50% as the rest 50% was sold in shares through www.chipmeup.pokernews.com, where I use the nickname mifili64. I had a deep run in the $55 buy-in, 64th out of 1773 for $141. Another close finish and makes me feel that I am near a big score, which I will achieve if I put some decent volume in tournaments. That's why I offer my shares at cost, unlike many who overvalue themselves while lacking the stats for this, I want to play more & bigger buy-in tournies. On Saturday I lost $135 playing $0,25-$0,50 cash games on full tilt and shortly after I tried a 6max table. In contrast to 9 handed, the 6 max cash table featured fast, loose play and bigger pots. I played one short session on Sunday as well and I decided to give up 9 handed and focus solely on 6 max cash. On Monday I played only 102 hands and finished the day with $137 profit, more than I had lost. It took me 62 hands to realise that I was sitting on a pot limit instead of no limit table, despite of the different slider, doubling up on my very first hand and busting a medium stack in the process.
I also played in a chess tournament (live) on Saturday. It was a 5 round rapid with 25 minutes for every player. On my first real game after 15 months, I played imaginatively, sacrificing a rook to launch a winning attack. The bad news is that my attack was leading nowhere as I missed a saving defensive move by my oppo. I soon had to sacrifice a piece to maintain some threats. I won back the piece but still, I was a whole rook down when my oppo failed to spot my mating combination in one move! On the second game I was outplayed by current champion, Fide Master Alkis Martides and blundered in time trouble. 3rd game I agreed to a draw in an inferior position. 4th game I drew again, this time against the father of my previous oppo. I was a pawn up and had more seconds in my clock, but failed to spot the winning plan due to time pressure and other distructions and offered the draw myself. I used to dislike this family when I played chess religiously but on Saturday I felt good to see them, talk to them, play with them. I was also less result orientated than back then and played just for fun, which was really enjoyable. With this mentality, I took my round 5 demise against second champion, after a HUGE blunder in just a few moves, very lighlty. Overall, a 2/5 score is not that tragic, my goal was 2,5 points, I was close...
I started adding some links on this site, I will seperate them by subject, enjoy.
Until next time, I gogogo!!!
Pokerwise, I played 4 mtts on Friday with total cost of $99. I was in for 50% as the rest 50% was sold in shares through www.chipmeup.pokernews.com, where I use the nickname mifili64. I had a deep run in the $55 buy-in, 64th out of 1773 for $141. Another close finish and makes me feel that I am near a big score, which I will achieve if I put some decent volume in tournaments. That's why I offer my shares at cost, unlike many who overvalue themselves while lacking the stats for this, I want to play more & bigger buy-in tournies. On Saturday I lost $135 playing $0,25-$0,50 cash games on full tilt and shortly after I tried a 6max table. In contrast to 9 handed, the 6 max cash table featured fast, loose play and bigger pots. I played one short session on Sunday as well and I decided to give up 9 handed and focus solely on 6 max cash. On Monday I played only 102 hands and finished the day with $137 profit, more than I had lost. It took me 62 hands to realise that I was sitting on a pot limit instead of no limit table, despite of the different slider, doubling up on my very first hand and busting a medium stack in the process.
I also played in a chess tournament (live) on Saturday. It was a 5 round rapid with 25 minutes for every player. On my first real game after 15 months, I played imaginatively, sacrificing a rook to launch a winning attack. The bad news is that my attack was leading nowhere as I missed a saving defensive move by my oppo. I soon had to sacrifice a piece to maintain some threats. I won back the piece but still, I was a whole rook down when my oppo failed to spot my mating combination in one move! On the second game I was outplayed by current champion, Fide Master Alkis Martides and blundered in time trouble. 3rd game I agreed to a draw in an inferior position. 4th game I drew again, this time against the father of my previous oppo. I was a pawn up and had more seconds in my clock, but failed to spot the winning plan due to time pressure and other distructions and offered the draw myself. I used to dislike this family when I played chess religiously but on Saturday I felt good to see them, talk to them, play with them. I was also less result orientated than back then and played just for fun, which was really enjoyable. With this mentality, I took my round 5 demise against second champion, after a HUGE blunder in just a few moves, very lighlty. Overall, a 2/5 score is not that tragic, my goal was 2,5 points, I was close...
I started adding some links on this site, I will seperate them by subject, enjoy.
Until next time, I gogogo!!!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Starting point
Not much has happened this weekend in the poker front. The only thing of notice were my 10 straight losses in the $11,5 heads up sng's (my specialty, lol). Saturday's score 3-7 and Sunday's 0-4, made me question my ability to win these games. Last time I had a similar upset I refrained from playing them for more than a whole week. Also, when I ran bad in this type of game my level of play diminishes, so I was quick in closing the pokerstars lobby and spend the next 8 hours playing a fantasy MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), which is free to download and play. For additional info you may refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_World
I have had some deep finishes in stars mtts but opposition keeps hitting 3outers against me either to bust me or seriously diminish my chances, for example AQ < AJ, ATs < QT, KQs < K5, AKs < A3.........
Bankroll today:
Full Tilt Poker $647.47
Pokerstars $427.48
Until next time, I fold....
I have had some deep finishes in stars mtts but opposition keeps hitting 3outers against me either to bust me or seriously diminish my chances, for example AQ < AJ, ATs < QT, KQs < K5, AKs < A3.........
Bankroll today:
Full Tilt Poker $647.47
Pokerstars $427.48
Until next time, I fold....
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Introduction
From the tender age of 5, I started demonstrating a keen interest in the gaming world. It all began with board games, mostly chess, with card games and video games soon to follow. Add some popular sports games and you have the whole picture. I was invlolved in anything, I liked everything.
Nearly two decades later, not much has changed. Since I discovered online poker in the eve of 2008, I have spent countless hours on the virtual tables so this will be the topic mostly discussed on this blog, along with others which might be of interest.
I have recently restructured my poker bankroll resulting in me having active accounts in the two major pokersites, pokerstars and full tilt. I also play some cash games in a smaller network which uses euros as currency. Nowadays I use my betfair account balance only for the sporting exchange.
Until next time, gl at the tables!
Nearly two decades later, not much has changed. Since I discovered online poker in the eve of 2008, I have spent countless hours on the virtual tables so this will be the topic mostly discussed on this blog, along with others which might be of interest.
I have recently restructured my poker bankroll resulting in me having active accounts in the two major pokersites, pokerstars and full tilt. I also play some cash games in a smaller network which uses euros as currency. Nowadays I use my betfair account balance only for the sporting exchange.
Until next time, gl at the tables!
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