Krewe of Hercules No Limit Tournament

This was my first appearance in the Krewe of Hercules No Limit Tournament. I was told there were about 160-180 players that showed up. Early on, it was a donk fest trying to chip up early and got caught in the middle couple times trying to win some races. 3 rebuys + 1 addon later I finally got my chipstack up to $42,000 from a total donk on my right. He had been preflop raising every other hand with very marginal hands like 45 suited, A2 suited, J9 suited. I had about $18,000 chips beginning at this new table and if I was going to play a few pots with this guy I was going to make it count.

Two key hands stick in my mind with this one very very agressive player. He had about $45,000 at the time and he was to my right. Blinds were 2,000/4000. He min raises 1 spot before the button, and the guy in the BB had been very tight at this point with about maybe 3 1/2 BB's left. Well I looked down at 3 4 spades, and thought about it for about 5 seconds with $24,000 left in chips and I decided to shove because he was obviously trying to pickup blinds like before. Everyone folded back to initial raiser, he thought about it for about 15-20 seconds folded showed me his 55 and said "I'll give you some respect". Well being that he had been really agressive, I knew I could probably put him on tilt if I showed him my 3 4 suited. Well, I told him I had pair and showed him the 3. I didn't want the rest of players to think I had loose image and that I really had a hand. Well about 3 hands later I picked up QQ, once again he raised 3 times the blind and I pushed, he only had half his stack left and he called me with J10. It held....gg....

Now we down to the last 4 tables. Had about $42,000 left when I got 99 in late position with small blind and big blind left to act. Of course I pushed preflop with blinds $5,000/$10,000 which I only had like 4 big blinds. Small blind took about 1 minute to call and flopped over K10 off suit. He flopped K, and the rest is history... good game sir, good call at the right time. If my 99 holds here I have a very good chance of getting to Final Table with my agressive play and as long as I was getting cards to push. Before this hand, the table was playing pretty tight after that first donk I chipped up from. All in all, I had a very good time, and I feel it was a pretty good turnout.

Sincerely,

Derek Ridley

Variance 101

Well, I hear a lot of upcoming players talking about variance, some for the good side of situations and others for the bad side of certain situations in a hand. Over all variance is either side; however, you can minimize your variance to the good side with how you play a certain hand and on the right reads as well. I'll summarize up in a short story.

Each person at the table is a tool of knowledge for each and every hand that either you, someone else at table, or whoever it may be up against at that table. The trick is to find out who are the donkies/fish, who are the tight players, and most important who are the suckers. A sucker is a person who is in between a donky/fish and tight player. This person will RARELY call a big chunk of stack on flop with a very good draw and once in a blue moon he will hit his draw, taken a chance, risky player early on and tend to play to tight towards end of tournament causing them to get minimal cashes. If you can't spot the sucker in the first hour, you probably are the sucker. Stay away from the donks unless you got the nuts, or you feel they are making moves from late positions and you are in a later position with a good hand you can bust them with a good flop and it doesn't cost that much. As far as tight players, take advantage of their blinds, their limp ins, and becareful when they min raise. Anyways, more tips to come and play, play, play.... it's the only way to compete with the best...

NEXT POST WILL BE ON STRATEGIES

Online Weekend

Here is a link to my current BAP (Buy A Piece) on neverbeg.com
http://forum.parttimepoker.com/showthread.php?t=271915

Very good weeked on Pokerstars. Ran 56th out of 3799 entries for $70.00. I was 55 away from $6500. Ran AK into AK suited, who was chip leader, and lost to flush. GG.

OTHER ONLINE STATS:

OPR =
http://www.officialpokerrankings.com/pokerstars/Derek_Ridley/poker/results/E81A08F6748D4126A526DEA0A8E677AD.html?t=2

Bodog = Pro Ridley
http://www.bluffmagazine.com/thepokerdb/Pro+Ridley/Bodog/3216891/player-profile.asp

Poker Stars = Derek_Ridley
http://www.bluffmagazine.com/thepokerdb/Derek%5FRidley/PokerStars/3476601/player-profile.asp

Derek Ridley

POOL AND POKER PLAYER

Good morning everyone, my is Derek Ridley and I'm a winning pool and poker player. Whether I'm playing poker online, live, or playing pool I'm playing because of the love for the games. The money is just extra; however, the more I win the more I can play. I'm fortunate enough to be mentored by some of the greatest in both pool and poker and my overall goal is to be ranked #1 in pool and #1 in poker. I have a lot of experience in both and even though I'm not considered a professional, I'm not far from it and if I was not working in accounting as main job, I probably would have gone professional by now. Only time will tell, my goals are reachable, lots of hard work, long hours, studying, analyzing, watching video, group discussions, and many more aspects have helped me to stride one step closer to my goal. It's not for the money, mainly recognition and love of the game is what motivates me the most. This is The Cajun Grinder and have a good week.

SCREEN NAMES:

Bodog = Pro Ridley
Pokerstars = Derek_Ridley

Thanks,

Derek Ridley