May results

May results

May has been a decent month, even though I feel I haven't played too well.

4NL: 1400 hands and +$45 for 78bb/100 (aka running hot)
10NL: 4200 hands and +$23 for 5.5bb/100 (aka not bad, not good either)

Cash games: +68 (a record month)
SNG/MTT: -5
Bonusses: +$20

Obviously, I'm happy about the +$83, but I'm not satisfied with my game at the 10NL.
I'm still down 3.5 BI after 7.5k hands and I'm not able to have a couple of winning sessions in a row.

Everest Poker is a rollercoaster and generally the games are too loose: raises get no respect at all (I'm raising 4x or 5x + 1x per limper and I'm still getting called all the time), cbets get no respect (people just keep drawing and then folding on the river). But that's great you say?! Well, yeah, it is when they miss, but there are so many family pots, it becomes hard to win one. I guess, I'll have to tighten up a lot there and generally cut back on cbets and semibluffs big time. It makes for a high variance game though, which is challenging.

I'm thinking about making a video to, hopefully, get some feedback on my game as I don't feel confident about it right now.

June goals

Unless I drop some more buyins, in which case I'll drop back to 4NL, I'm going to play 10NL all month, aiming to put in about 5k hands (2 or 3tabling). No specific goals in terms of bb/100, just gonna try play a tight agressive game while focussing on building good reads (even though, I feel it's nearly impossible to put 80/4/2 calling stations on a range of hands). I do plan to shift to a solid abc-game on Everest, limiting semibluffing big time and valuebetting light instead.

It's weird though: on Pokerstars a lot of players are very tight and on Everest most players are way loose and still I'm struggling to consistenly capitalize on that.

Keep up the faith...


Astafas

Comparing sites and a milestone: a $500 BR

I have spread out my bankroll across 4 sites: PokerStars, Party Poker, Everest Poker and Titan Poker. Except for Titan, where I still have some 40 euro left (a bonus I cannot withdraw until I earn like 2k TP's), I deposited/kept $100 on each of them.
The next few weeks I'll be rotating them playing 10NL so I can compare level of competition, software and bonus/loyalty programs. The goal is to increase my BR at every site from $100 to $200, dropping back to 5NL if I fall below $100.

So far Pokerstars and Everest seem to be the extremes in terms of level of play. At Pokerstars, the average is definately higher than Everest, and maybe that's because at Everest 10NL is the lowest stake. In fact, there are a lot of bad shortstackers and on a typical table, it seems there may be one or two decent players and two to four total fish. On Pokerstars I'd say there's about two or three decent players (at this level of course) and one or two fish. Both Party and Titan seems to be in between.

After a very nice and sunny week-end with the family and friends, I was eager to play some good poker last evening. I quickly got up $15 and after a short break, I decided to add a third table (playing at Everest). I ended up $25 in about 350 hands so that was great. I played well, got some decent hands and people were paying off nicely. Next up in the rotation is Titan Poker.

I also decided to play the 2+2 Pokercast Invitational on PokerStars, which is a freeroll (well, it's 1 fpp) with some nice prizes ($200 for first). I didn't last very long though.
I'm OTB with AKo and decide to raise a bunch of limpers. UTG+1 3bets and I call (bad, bad, bad, bad, bad). I miss the flop and fold to villain's flop bet.
Then I'm card dead for a while and have to push with 2BB left. I get two callers and I'm out. No biggy, but it's weird: I feel I understand the basics playing cashgames, but have no idea how to play tournies. Also, I find it difficult to mix a tourny with several cashgame tables opened as well.

For what it's worth: that 2+2 Pokercast is a good show, with a lot of interesting guests (last episode featured Daniel Negreanu), strategy segments with aejones, Sklansky and others regularly throwing in some advice and stuff to think about, and a decent coverage of the latest news. As it is sponsored by the Pokerstars VIP program, Pokerstars gets some extra attention. So, my advice is to check it out at the 2+2 site. You can also add it as a podcast via iTunes.

Have fun!

Astafas

Another rough session

I put in about 500 hands yesterday evening and was stuck most of the time.
At first, I slowly build up some winnings but then two hands knocked me down 2 buyins, both against the same opponent.

This guy was playing like 70/35/8 so he was all over the place and already at a stack of 300bb.

First hand was a bit of a cooler I guess: he raises on BTN and I reraise from the BB with AKo. Flop comes Kxx, I bet, he raises (he was raising A LOT of hands) and I shove. Villain has AA and I loose $10.

A couple of hands later, he raises again from the BTN and I call from the BB with KQo, a MP limper calls as well.

Flop comes QJT, so I have TPWK and an OESD.
We check to initial raises who bets $3 into a $1.50 pot.

This was a tough spot for me: his bet really says I have something good but I don't want anyone to draw, so that could mean AA, KK, AQ, AK (unlikely), QQ (unlikely), JJ, and maybe AJ, TT, KQ, KJ. There was also the possibility he was trying to bully again.

Because he had been pushing people out of so many pots, I figured I was slightly behind at worst so I raise to $6. (maybe should have shoved or folded there)
Villain shoves and have to call $3.5 for a $16.5 pot, so I have to call.
Of course he shows QJ for top two and I have 10 outs (A, 9 and K) but miss them all.
I guess I didn't make a huge mistake here, but I just didn't get lucky.

I spent the rest of the session trying to get back and end up with a $3 loss.

Again, not a big loss, but again, not a win either.

Bye

Astafas

And then a not so decent session at 10NL

Well, I'm right back to where I was: down 4 buyins at 10NL.

As I wasn't feeling all that fresh, I was thinking to skip my usual Sunday evening session and watch some tv instead. Finally, I did sit down to play and stupid me even opened 4 tables. I shouldn't have done that, in fact, I shouldn't have played at all (head-aches are bad for your A-game).

I quickly dropped a buyin due to a bluff that didn't work and several missed flops where I faced strength on the turn. After a little while I got it back up to almost break-even (this is when I should have quit), but then dropped back to - $4.

By this time, I started closing tables when I get AKo OTC and raise it to 3.5x and I get two callers. The flop is good: K42 with two clubs, so I make the 2/3 cbet.
Now the BB checkraises me to $6. For some reason, I thought he was semi-bluffing here and I wasn't going to fold TPTK (I guess the typical I'm stuck, so I'm not giving up this pot syndrome, so I shoved. But like I said, I was tired and had a head-ache and somehow I managed to not notice we were 150bb deep instead of 100bb.
A quick call by villain tells I'm beat, and he shows 22 for trip deuces.
FUCKING DONKEY ME!!!! I could have hit my head against the wall if it didn't hurt already. Seriously pissed.

I did fuck up in other ways as well though: I kept playing on a table I should have left (a super-aggro bigstack attacking every pot, combined with a few calling stations is a tough spot) or I should have at least adjusted my play.

Most of it was missed flops, big hands getting little action and a lack of focus.

I guess I'm a bad winner and a bad looser: if I'm ahead I start to push it to get even more or keep the pace when the cards aren't just as good, and if I'm behind I tend to push it to get it back. Arrrgh, patience is a not only a virtue but a necessity in poker.

I know I'm capable of beating 10NL, I just need to play solid every session, instead of playing well three sessions and then blowing it in the next.

Astafas

Decent session at 10NL

I played some 350 hands at 10NL 6max yesterday, sticking to 2 tables as planned.
I quickly got up about $5 but then made a mistake (another lesson learned):

I raise PF with AKo and get a call from the BB.
Flop comes K93 rainbow and the BB checks.
I'm thinking I'm not gonna make much if I cbet, plus I wanted to balance my range here by checking.

Turn is a Q and now the BB leads out. Bingo! I continue my slow play and just call.
River is a T and now the BB checks and I bet half the pot, only to be raised...
And I make the call. BB shows a QJ straight and I loose 50BB.

F***ing idiot! DO NOT slowplay TPTK when the board shows some draws!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Won't be doing that again.

I loose another pot with KQ and a Q on the flop versus AQ.
The next few hands I rebuild from -$5 to +$5 and then I make another mistake.

I raise two limpers from the BB with AKo and both call.
Flop comes KQ6 with two diamonds (I have the ace of diamonds) and I make a potsized cbet (previous lesson learned) to keep people from drawing. Now the short-stack villain pushes, the other guys flats and I call.

I don't know why I called here. I didn't give the shortstack too much credit, but the overcall was a bit worrying. I guess I figured he was getting pretty good odds to draw, but could have a made hand as well. It should have been bet/fold, but I played it weak and just called.

Now the turn comes a J and the villain makes a 1/2 potbet and again I call.
River is a T of diamonds and I check (figuring villain might have made the flush).
Villain checks behind and shows a set of 6's.
I scoop the pot, but it was a horrible runner-runner suckout.
I was very surprised to see his set though, I really thought he would have played it harder to protect it against such a dangerous board. Perhaps he was afraid I had KK or QQ?

Anyway, I did play solid most of the time, putting in some good 3bets and generally showing some good aggression. I ended up $10 in the black, but it should have been break-even. I do tend to call raises too often: several times I called a raise on the flop and then folded to a turnbet. No big mistakes, but they do affect the bottom line.


Adios!

Astafas

Long term result of 10bb/100 at 4NL

With a nice result yesterday, I've finally achieved my goal of 10bb/100 at the 4NL level (after almost 45k hands).

As I wrote in earlier posts, I had reviewed and adjusted my game in october last year because I had been treading water at 4NL untill then ( -3.7bb/100 over 18k hands). After that, my results improved a lot as I ran at 19.5bb/100 over then next 26k hands, resulting in 10bb/100 overall.

Yesterday was kinda meh: I wasn't playing very well and quickly dropped 1.5 buyins due to some bad calls and stupid bluffs. Nevertheless, I ended up winning $7, partly by paying a bit more attention but mostly because of the much appreciated tendency of some of my opponents to just donate their money.

The weirdest plays keep popping up at this level all the time, which makes it harder to try and put people on a range of hands, but obviously is a +EV game.

A short example: I'm in the BB with 86o, and one guy limps in in the CO, so it's just the two of us.
Flop comes J86 rainbow, and the villain in CO shoves his remaining $2.50 in the middle. I mean, why on earth would you shove there? I made the call and he had a weak Jack and my two pair held up.

I'm definately running extremely well this month and that won't last, but at this point I'm up $54. I'll be playing 10NL for the rest of the month and I'm just hoping that will turn out better than my first (short) attempt at 10NL. The differences between FR and 6max are pretty big and it seems 6max is a lot more fishier. Most nits probably stick to full ring.

I came across a new pokersite, SimbaPoker, which has a nice and fast client and offers some non-standard stuff like Dealer's choice and Chinese poker, a loss limit (basically you can set a certain limit on your losses, after which you account is frozen for a period you choose), and some extra security features. The site also offers a transparent progressive rakeback scheme, with rakeback up to 50%.
The problem is the lack of traffic (they're on their own independant network), but I'm hoping that will pick up in the next few weeks/months as I'd consider to switch to this site because of the good client/security/rakeback scheme. Also, I sympathise with the underdog. So, if you're interested, check it out at www.simbapoker.com.


Until next time...


Astafas