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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Variance or bad plays (or both)?

Things aren't going very well as I am down about 5 buyins at 5NL so far this month.
I am definately running bad: my EV stat tells me I should be up $5 instead of down $25. You know, just the usual bad beats. Also, I played some big combodraws, where I am 50%-40% to win the pot, very aggressive but then missed. Again, I didn't tilt as bad as I used to, but still made some mistakes I shouldn't have, making calls when that little voice in the back of my head told me not to.

In an effort to turn things around, I started playing a bit tighter post-flop even though I'm not all too happy with that, because now I sometimes feel I'm just weak-tight. I also disabled my own stats on the HUD as I noticed I sometimes make decisions based on my own stats, like "I should 3bet here because I haven't 3bet enough".

Even though I show a profit almost every month, I really need some kind of winning streak to build confidence. It's nice to see that bankroll grow slowly but steadily, but 3/4 of all my profits have come from bonusses and rakeback and that just doesn't make me feel like a winning poker player.

I guess I'll just have to keep trying...

Thursday, October 8, 2009

What's the rake like?

Rake is kind of a weird thing (for me): if you loose the pot, you don't have to pay rake and if you win the pot, it's just a tiny peace of it so it doesn't really matter, right?

I had been reading on differences in rake structures across the sites and that you shouldn't play on Full Tilt at 10NL or below or in live games any game below 5-10 is pretty hard to beat because of the rake etc.

So I took a look at my rake and noticed a few interesting points. Anyway, for some of the levels I probably don't have a sufficient sample size, but here are a few numbers and conclusions (all 6max):

2NL: 12.8 bb/100
5NL: 13.2 bb/100
10NL: 15.5 bb/100

Everest Poker: 16.3 bb/100
Party Poker: 12.0 bb/100
Pokerstars: 9.1 bb/100
Full Tilt: 15.3 bb/100
Titan Poker: 15.9 bb/100

Overall: 14.9 bb/100

Obviously, the effective rake is affected by the play: loose tables = more and bigger pots = more rake. I guess that's why Everest has the highest number.
Full Tilt rake > Pokerstars rake: I don't think there's a big difference in looseness here, and you can see the result of a better rake structure at stars (for these levels). Also, and again pretty logical, rake at full ring is less than 6max.

I was surprised to see these numbers to say the least. Being only slightly better than your opponents clearly isn't going to be profitable. I guess this also means that every 100 hands almost and entire stack is taken off the table because of the rake. Hence the huge profits of Stars and company.

Sure, the rake in bb/100 drops down at higher stakes because of the cap, but achievable winrates probably drop down even faster.


Laterz.

Monday, October 5, 2009

September results

September results

Cash games
2NL: 2.2k hands and + $15.28 for 34.4bb/100
10NL: 6k hands and + $17.05 for 2.8bb/100

Bonusses and rakeback
Everest Poker: $50 bonus
Full Tilt Poker: $10 bonus
Full Tilt Poker: $4.56 rakeback

Total + $96

I also cleared the maximum bonus of Take2 at Full Tilt for another $50, which is a nice start for October.

So, result wise, September was a great month. Nevertheless, I'm not that thrilled about my play. I still kept stacking off in spots I should have known I was behind. It seems my mind gets clouded whenever the pot gets big. I didn't have any major tilt sessions though and I feel I have improved in that area at least a bit.

October goals

I'll be playing a mixture of 2NL, 5NL and some 10NL, mostly on Full Tilt to clear some more of my first deposit bonus. I have drawn a little schedule where my number of tables at a given level depends on my winrate at that level. This means I will limit the number of tables to 2 until I achieve my expected winrate. Once, I reach that winrate, I can increase the number of tables to a maximum of 4. Hopefully I'll have the discipline to stick to it and see some better results.

2NL: 1k hands 4-tabling
5NL: 4k hands starting with 2 tables
10NL: 1k hands 2-tabling

So, less volume for (I hope) a better winrate.


Bye!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Back to back

I was playing some 2NL on Pokerstars yesterday (I was pretty tired, so I didn't feel like playing 10NL) and after about an hour I was stuck a little as I wasn't getting any good starting hands and was missing a lot of flops.

I was already thinking stars had decided to just give me no cards at all and I figured I was probably going to get cold-decked on my first big hand :)

Then a funny thing happened: I got QQ on one table, AA on another and TT on a third table at the same time.
TT: I raise a bunch of limpers from the BB and take down the pot preflop.

QQ: I openraise from the BTN and take down the blinds.

AA: I raise from MP to 4x and get two callers. Flop comes 347 with two clubs.
Now the BB bets out $0.10 into a $0.25 pot. I really don't like this flop and the donkbet. Sure he'll probably be on a draw, but at these limits, it's going to take a big raise to make him fold his draw, plus I have another player behind me. I decide to play it cautious and just call. The third player now raises to $0.20 and the BB calls. I really don't know what to make of that minreraise, but the pot is getting big already and I decide to fold (very weak play, I know, but I had a bad feeling about this hand.) Anyway, the turn is another 7 and now the guy in LP bets big and takes it down. I guess he had at least top pair on the flop, possibly even a set.

The very next hand on the QQ table I get QQ again, back to back (and take down another small pot).
And... the very next hand on the AA table I get AA again, back to back (just thought that was pretty funny). I raise again, this time to 5x and get one caller. The flop comes Kxx, I bet halfpot, villain reraises and I shove and felt the villain who had, get this, K6o. So, aces and queens back to back at the same time :)

I had another hand from a previous session I'm not sure about how I should have handled it:

10NL, I just sat down at the table (in fact it was my first hand at that table)

Villain with a stack of about 65BB UTG raises to 5x (which is definately more than usual).
I have AKo in the BB and call (a mistake, I probably should have reraised there).
Flop comes Kxx rainbow and I check.
Villain makes a potsized bet that I flatcall. The pot now is $3.
The turn is a low and second club, I check again and now the villain shoves.
I'm almost getting 2 to 1 here and don't know what to do: if he's a good player, he most likely has AA, KK, AK, maybe KQ and once in a blue moon Ax with with a FD. If he's a bad player, he could be doing this with QQ, JJ, TT, figuring my calls are weak. In the back of my mind, I knew I was in trouble, but given my pot odds I couldn't lay down TPTK. He shows AA and takes it down.
Is this an auto-fold or would you call as well?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Never go broke in an unraised pot...

I know!! Still managed to do just that twice this month and even with the same holecards AND even with the same flop.

Hand 1: I'm in the BB with K2o in a limped pot.
Flop comes K92 rainbow, I bet, get raised and soon enough all the money is in the middle. I'm up against K9 and loose.

Hand 2: I'm in the BB with K2o in a limped pot.
Flop comes K82 rainbow, I bet, get raised and ... you get the picture.

Donkey anyone?

At this point, I've got a nice little streak of 5 consecutive loosing sessions going and I'm down 10 buyins overall at 10NL and beginning to accept my future poker career will be spent grinding it out at the 5NL tables. Fortunately, the next sessions have been a lot better and after a monster win of $50 in my last session, I have recovered 9 buyins. Especially that last session, I played my best poker (and was running pretty hot too), so my confidence got a much needed boost.

Anyway, I already cleared my $50 bonus at Everest and I'm still on pace to pick the $50 Take2 bonus on Full Tilt. The rest of the month, I'll be playing a mixture of 2NL, 5NL and 10NL and really focus on my game instead of volume.

I'm also practicing hand reading by recording all hands with a showdown using holdemmanager. I'd be pausing the video to analyze betting, position, stats and trying to narrow down hand ranges.

My game needs some serious work and I'm quite sure I have leaks all over the place.
Exhibit 1: position is very important and good players show a bigger profit in later positions. Right?
Well, not me. Here's my ranking of positions based on profit: UTG, MP, LP, CO, BTN, SB, BB. That's right: my most profitable position is UTG. I have no idea what a decent BB/100 in the BB is, but I'm guessing a whopping -50bb/100 isn't very good.

Exhibit 2: big pots are for big hands. I know this, but still have stacked off 10+ times with just a pair.

I do feel I'm getting better in the stealing and valuebetting stuff though.

Finally, some good news: against all hope, Simbapoker has refunded my $100!
With a little luck, I might see a $250 bankrollboost this month.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Bonus chasing

This month is bonus chasing month as I got a nice bonus offer from Everest and Full Tilt is running another Take2 promotion.

On Everest I get $50 if I reach 600 points by the 16th. Currently, I'm at 230, so I figure another 4k hands at 10NL should do the trick. Because I'm at Base Camp, I'll get another 1200 points extra (200% bonus) and at 1$ per 250 points, that's a few more bucks.

Full Tilt is running a Take2 promotion which actually is a double bonus.
First, you get double points if you multitable. Nice, but not that great...
Secondly, and this is a great bonus, you get cash for playing regularly during this month: $5 if you play 5 days, another $10 for 10 days, another $10 for 15 days and another $25 for 25 days. So that's a potential $50, plus you only have to earn 1 FTP for that day to count. Bottom line for me: play about 10 minutes a day at Full Tilt and pick up $50.

Combined that's over $100 in bonusses to be earned and I'll definately make an effort to pick that up. I just need to make sure I don't drop too much on the tables when chasing these bonusses (as I have done in the past).

At the tables, I'm still struggling, making too many mistakes for sure, but it is sooo hard to put the many fish, playing >50% of the hands, on a hand. Often they really could have anything, from AA to J6...

Friday, August 14, 2009

Rock bottom for Mr. POW

That's right: I'm a Pay Off Wizard.
I raise AKo, get called, get raised on a dry board, call the turn, call the river and donate a buyin.

I'm now down 8 buyins at 10NL in under 15k hands.
VPIP, PFR, PFA, WWSF, WTSD, W$SD: all decent to good. In fact my stats could serve as guideline for any 10NL player, but still I'm stuck and I'm stuck well.
Why? Stacking off to others often and have others stack off to me rarely.

My graph is like: up, up, up, up, up, bang all the way down, up, up, up, bang all the way down (repeat at will).

I'm going camping for a week with family and friends next week, which probably is a good thing for my bankroll...

After that I'm gonna hang a sticky on my monitor:

DO NOT MULTITABLE !!!
BIG POTS ARE FOR BIG HANDS!!!
DO NOT BLUFF !!!
(with anything less than a big draw, and even then).

Goddamn POW.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Frustrating session

Yesterday's session kinda pissed me off. Early on, I got rivered a couple of times, and a few hands later, I folded the best hand against two opponents. Now, I wasn't tilting in a way where I would start raising every hand or pot but I started calling light. Too light, which costed me some BB's, and at that time I was down 150BB's.

Anyway, I decided to take a deep breath and try to play my best game and then this hand occurs:
On the button, I raise a limper in the cutoff (he was playing 85/0!) to 4x with A9o.
The SB and limper both call, so there is $1.30 in the pot.

The flop comes AQJ with two clubs and the limper it gets checked to me.
I figure my hand is good often enough to cbet this flop, so I bet $1.
Now the SB reraises to $2 and then the limper shoves his remaining $2.70.

At this point I'm thinking there is no way I'm good here. I could be up against a flopped straight, two pair, even a set (since the limper never raises and I had seen him limp with AA). Now the SB could be on a FD, but surely the limper must have a big hand 3betting this flop. So, I fold...

The SB calls and I get to see their cards: the SB has A2o and the limper has A6o...
And I am pissed again...

A couple of hands later, I flop top pair with a 9 kicker.
I'm up against a fish, so I decide to valuebet: 2/3pot on the flop, 1/2 pot on the blank turn and on the river I decide to check it down. My opponent had been calling my bets with third pair and obviously hits two pair on the river...

I made some awful mistakes too though. Well, I grind it back up to break-even, but I end the session almost $4 down. It's hard for me to believe maybe I'm just no better player than my competition at these micro-tables. I'm playing somthing like 22/17/2.5 with about 4% 3betting. And most of the time I'm the only one with stats like these. Most players are like 50/4/2 or 60/10/1 or even 80/0/1.5 (fish), some are 10/9/3 or 12/6/1 or even 4/4/2 (rocks) and occasionally there is a 30/20/4 or a 60/30/3 or 30/25/7 (aggro's). So, I'm thinking my pre-flop play is better right? Obviously, my post-flop game is the problem, and even more: the few tilt session that usually trash my winrate. I'm back in the no-confidence zone either way.

Some good news though, I finally gor a resonse from Simbapoker about my refund. It seems there were some delays, but they are still in the process of refunding their players, so it's just a matter of time. So, maybe that $100 eventually will find it's way back to me.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Back from vacation

After three weeks in France with the family it's back to work and back to the tables for me. We went to the Montagne Noir, near the city of Carcassonne (which has an awesome castle site) and then to the Provence on a nice camping site where we had a spot 5 metres from a little river, the Sorgue. Great weather, a nice swimming pool, lots of stuff to visit and the kids having great fun... Also, I didn't smoke a single sigarette the entire three weeks!

Even though I haven't given poker and work much thought, I couldn't resist checking out who were the November nine. Can you believe Phil Ivey, with 2 bracelets and a final nine spot in the main event is not the undisputed wsop player of the year? Surely, their scoring system could use a few adjustments.

Pokerwise July was a disaster as I have dropped 10 buyins at the 10NL tables just before I left for France. On top of that, Simbapoker decided to call it quits, and even though they guaranteed every player would get their money refunded, I'm still waiting for my $100. I tried emailing then the minute I got back from vacation but I haven't got any response so I fear that $100 is lost. Big time bummer if your roll is just $500.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

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

Monday, May 25, 2009

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

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

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

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

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

Thursday, May 14, 2009

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

Monday, May 11, 2009

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

Friday, May 8, 2009

Bluffcalling?

I was in a fun hand on 4NL 6max yesterday.

I pick up JJ OTB and openraise to 4bb, obviously hoping the blinds think I'm stealing.
The BB decides to 3bet me and he raises my $0.16 to $0.82(!).
A 5x reraise feels weird so I'm thinking he either has QQ, maybe KK or air a lot of the time.
Because we're bot 100 bb deep, I decide to just call (I have position).
The flop is perfect J 9 5 with two clubs.
Now the BB cbets $1.50 and I decide to shove it, now pretty convinced he does have that big pair.
Villain instacalls with... ATo, so he's pretty much drawing dead.

I guess 3betting an OTB raiser with ATo could be reasonable, however, why make it 5x?
Cbetting such a dry board, well, sure, why not.
But then calling a shove with ace high from someone who called your big preflop 3bet?
Please, send me more of these :)

Have a nice week-end!

Astafas

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Short but winning session

I didn't play too many hands yesterday, coz I spent most of the evening surfing to check out poker deals (bonusses and rakeback). Still managed to earn $13 in 150 hands 4NL and 150 hands 10NL.

I did witness some complete donkyness on my 4NL tables. Perhaps I was sitting at an exceptionally fishy table, but it seems level of play is actually dropping on these tables. I saw people going broke with second pair, paying off obvious straights/flushes etc. There was also an extreme tendency to limp. I was pretty card dead the first half hour, but after that I was able to take some money of my eager-to-donate opponents.

Just an example: I'm in the SB and have A2o. Everyone limps and, since I just sat down, I decide to complete instead of raise (raising wouldn't have worked anyhow, I learned later on).

Flop comes A K 9 rainbow and I check, figuring at least 1 of my 5 opponents must have a better ace than me. The table checks around. Turn is a ten. I'm still no really believing I'm the only one with an ace, but hey, let's find out: I make a potbet and get called by one player. River looks like a brick, but I check again, as I don't see many weaker hands than my TPWK callin a bet here. My opponent had called me with a 9. That's right: 4th pair in a limped pot, on a board with an ace and a king. Go figure.

On a 10NL I got to stack an opponent: I'm raising PF with AQo OTC and the button and the BB call. Flop is A x x (2hearts) and I make a potsized cbet and get a call
from the guy OTB. Turn is another heart and I check it. Now villain bets like $0.50 in a $2.00 pot, so I have to call. River is another heart and I make a small bet to induce a raise and sure enough he pushes AI (another $5) with a lower flush. Thank you.

Cheers

Astafas

Monday, May 4, 2009

Steamrolling 6max

I haven't regretted my switch from full ring to 6max yet as I'm runnning hot as hell at the moment: up $42 in only 1500 hands for a 72 bb/100! Obviously not sustainable, but a welcome boost in terms of results and confidence.
Even better, I'm having great fun playing poker again, still only playing 1 or 2 tables. Nice bonus: I made a king high straight flush that got payed in full :)
I'll probably play some more 4NL first and if my results keep up, I'll add a few 10NL session again to see if I'll do better this time (have a $44 hole to fill there).

Yesterday, I ended up playing HU at one table and even though I normally would switch tables then, I decided to sit down a little longer. We were both sitting with a full stack and after playing pretty conservative for a while, I felt I had a decent feel for my opponent's game. He was limping and checking quite often pre-flop and made minbets or small bets when he didn't have a hand. He also wouldn't lay down his hand often if he had hit the flop. Great spot for me: I started raising a lot of hands and tried to apply as much pressure as possible. After ten minutes or so (could have been five) he called bets on every street with his flopped top pair against my two pair and he lost half his stack.

By now some more players join the table again, and a little later I felt the HU guy and another player. Always feels nice :) How people can 4-table or 6-table HU is beyond me though: I had trouble keeping up playing 1 table 6max and 1 table HU.

Generally 6max seems pretty straight forward: play very aggressive, raise with a wide range of hands and add a (very) few tricky plays (like a check on the flop or a flatcall PF with a big pair). When facing real strength, let it go if you're likely behind. A lot of players will fold too often and the few aggro's are trappable.

I'm still not very comfortable playing pots OOP and I tend to play a lot more conservative when I'm called PF and/or on the flop. I'm aware this is a leak so any suggestions on how to deal with that kind of situations (PF raise, villain call IP, flop cbet, villain call/raise and I have missed) would be appreciated.

On a side note: in episode 9 of this season's High Stakes Poker, Tom Dwan plays an interesting pot with Howard Lederer: Lederer raises, Dwan reraises in position, Lederer 4bets and now Dwan raises yet again! I won't spoil the rest of the hand and the holecards, so head over to youtube to check it out yourself.

In another cool hand Phil Laak and Patrick Antonius go at it and here Antonius makes a great read. Excellent stuff to think about (it would be even better to hear Antonius explain his thinking there).

This episode also includes a nice degen story: at one point Antonio Esfandiari claims his stack is 50k short (as in $50,000!). Since he keeps saying he's 100% sure, it's a pretty bad situation. Turns out there are still 2 25k chips in his paper bag. I would have checked my bag 5 times to make sure it's empty, but I guess these guys handle money a bit differently.

Have a good time at the tables!

Astafas

Thursday, April 30, 2009

April recap

Results for April:

4NL FR: 922 hands at 1.5 bb/100 for $0.57
4NL 6max: 712 hands at 50.2 bb/100 for $14.30
10NL: 2002 hands at -9.6 bb/100 for -$19.22

Total: 3636 hands and a loss of $4.35

I must say that I thought it would have been worse. It definately felt worse.

My second 6max 4NL session was decent. I did make a few bad calls, where I put money in when I was behind, but this time it was my turn to suck out a couple of times. Still I was running over my tables most of the time and raising so many hands and betting so often makes people thing you're full of it all the time, so I got calls on some big hands. I also noticed I was able to make a good read several times and making notes and watching how my opponents play did improve my result.

Also I focused on 3betting this session, looking for spots to 3bet myself and keeping a close eye on when others were 3betting.

In one hand I decided to 3bet with AQo when villain playing something like 20/14 raised OTB to 3x. He folded quickly.

A few hands later a standard situation I guess: a really tight (especially for 6max) player playing stats like 9/4 makes it 5x in the CO after one player has limped.
Obviously, I put him on a pretty decent hand, somthing like AQ+ or TT+.
I'm in the SB with AA, so now I'm hoping my aggressive image will pay off. I decide to raise big to 4x, making it $0.80 to go and soon enough all the money goes in, him holding KK and I felt him.

A third hand I 3bet, a somewhat aggressive player raises OTB and I 3bet 4x with AKs from the SB, villain calls. The flop is a rainbow jack and two lows, one heart. Maybe I should have cbet this flop but I checked as did villain. Turn is a 9 and I decide to check again, because I feel I cannot rep much here and by now villain might have made a pair or more. Villain bets and I let it go. I probably would have bet myself if that 9 was a heart.

Well, at least I was doing things for a reason (right or wrong) instead of just betting and hope for the best of it.

Have a nice day!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Loosing is a pain...

My first attempt moving up to 10NL hasn't gone well. I'm down about 4 buyins and because my confidence took quite a hit, I'm taking a step back for a couple of days/weeks? I wasn't playing that awful as a couple of hands were close, but I did get too much money in in marginal spots.

In one hand I hit two pair and build a big pot and villain rivers his two pair and I loose a buyin.

In another hand, I play aggressive but miss my OESD + FD on the river: another buyin gone.

A third buyin was lost in a hand where I made the wrong read.
I raise in LP with KK and get a call from villain (I think he was OTB).
Now this guy was playing rather aggressive and had called my raises a couple of times before.
Flop comes something like 5c4c9h and I make a potsized cbet which he calls.
Turn is a jack and I bet little over half the put (thinking he was on a draw).
He raises me, but it's not a big raise. At this point I'm in doubt: he could have a made hand, like a set or two pair or he could have a flush-draw or a combo-draw. Also, he probably knows I have an overpair here. I felt calling was no option, so it was push in or fold.
I pushed and he showed pocket 4's: adios to another buyin.
Afterwards, I was thinking about the size of his raise: maybe the fact that he put in a small raise should have told me he didn't have a draw...

I wasn't playing very well, got no action on my big hands, got a bit unlucky in a few spots and at the end I felt a tilt coming so I shut down the computer and took the loss.

It's not that big of a hit: my bankroll is still over $400 and I could continue at the 10NL tables but it doesn't feel right. A loss of a few buyins shouldn't destroy my confidence up to a point I'm wondering if I even have the slightest idea of what I'm doing.

Either way, I feel a $20 loss at the 5NL and a $40 loss at the 10NL warrants some reflection, so I've decided to take it slower and just stick to 1 or two tables and really think about the game, the hands and the decisions I make. Too often, I get into this numb clicking mode, not putting much thought into what I'm doing, not paying too much attention to what others are doing etc.

Also, I'm gonna try and switch to 6-max, partly because I'm worried playing 1 or 2 tables FR will bore me into bad play and partly because I feel 6-max tables allows you to get a better understanding of how your opponents play and it forces a more aggressive game. In the unlikely event I would progess to higher stakes, 6-max is more standard anyway.

Because I really want this to be a(nother) new start, I'm disregarding any previous results (even started a clean HEM database).

My goals for the rest of the year is to mix in 5NL and 10NL:
8k 5NL at 15 bb/100
20k 10NL at 8 bb/100

Considering the amount of time I put into poker (about 3 to 4 evenings per week), these goals are an absolute minimum to justify continuing to play poker. Money-wise it's not worth my time and if there's no progress, it makes more sense to devote my time to other fun things. Even though I enjoy poker a lot, it's not really a 'relaxing' activity, so I'd like some return on my time and 'stress' investment if I'm to keep playing in the future.

Anyway, first session yesterday was great: mostly 1 table (6max 5NL). I played aggressive, got a decent feel for my opponents' game and had a good result (up $9 in about 380 hands), picking up lots of pots (I even managed to win the first 7 hands I played). No 'grinder' feeling, no 'standard' clicking and no stress keeping up with all the tables, taking plenty of notes and generally having a good time.

Greetz!

Astafas

Friday, April 24, 2009

It's been a while

Not much poker this month, as I've been on nice vacation in France for a week.

Even though last month, I was heading for a record result, it all went south in the last couple of session: a - $28 session on the 4NL tables and the next day a - $18 session on the 10NL tables and my awesome high of $55 up was mostly gone.

I did clear my reload bonus on Party Poker, but lost just as much chasing the partypoints/playing too many tables.

I have been playing 10NL this month (a little down for now) and I am kinda surprised about the difference between 10NL and 4NL: people are a lot more tight (table VPIP is often around 10-15) and there's a lot less action. There are many nits and even more shortstackers, which is an absolute pain, because then there is not much money to be made. Still, I'm not too worried yet, being down less than 1 buyin and I'm also running below expectation (AA loosing against JJ, KK against AA, QQ against KK etc.) Nevertheless, I have cut back on the multitabling and now stick to 4 tables or less.

In case you haven't watched season 5 of High Stakes Poker, check out youtube now, coz it is awesome, especially the first group of players with Greenstein, Dwan, Elezra, Eastgate etc. are spectacular and show some world class poker, not to mention the biggest televised cash game pot in history. The only problem: they should post a "don't try this at home" message at the start of each episode: for Tom Dwan's aggressive style to work, you need to play high stakes and ... be Tom Dwan ;)

When I raise on the flop with my open-ended straight draw + backdoor flush draw and then bet again on the flop after picking up the flush draw, people just call me with a pair of queens and I miss my many outs (bye bye $10).

May your opponents never draw out!

Astafas

Monday, March 9, 2009

Eleventh consecutive winning session

Even though I thought I was jinxing myself when I wrote I had won 7 sessions in a row, the pokergods havent't punished me (yet).

Last weekend I played on Saterday and Sunday evenings, and even though I took a hit early on in both session, I succeeded in showing a profit at the end of each session.

So, now I have won eleven sessions in a row and my target of a long term result
of 10bb/100 at the 4NL is within my reach as I'm at 8.3bb/100 after 35k hands.

My play wasn't all that good actually. I made a horrendous call with pocket jacks when I knew they were no good and I definately bluffed in spots where I shouldn't have a couple of times. On the other hand, opponents had drawn out on the river twice in a big pot, even though I did't lay them the right price. It's funny though, if you're winning you don't mind the suckouts all that much.

I'll have to keep playing 6 tables or more to be able to clear my $25 bonus this month, but it does effect my results more than I like.

I'm seriously considering moving up to the 10NL tables, weather I achieve that 10bb/100 target this month or not. At this point I'm just grinding it without too much thought. I know I'm beating this level and I just have to put in the hands, but playing on auto-pilot doesn't make me a better player so I guess I need to get out of my comfort zone soon. The lack of challenge is making me a lazy player.

Maybe I'm overdoing it in the bankroll management department...

So here's the plan for the rest of the month:
Normally I play 3 or 4 nights a week: every Sunday and 2 or 3 weekdays.
If I have improved my overall bb/100 at 4NL on the weekdays, I'll play 10NL on Sunday.
Improving the overall bb/100 would mean winning at least 10bb/100 and I think Sunday is a good evening to take a shot because of increased traffic.

Have a great time at the tables!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Multitabling

I had received a new reload bonus from Party Poker (25% up to $100), so I added $100 to my account. This bonus clears in parts of $5 and I'll have to earn 50 party points per $5. Usually I 4-table, playing about 500 hands per session, which earns me between 15 and 25 party points. Because this bonus expires in 30 days, I'd have to increase my volume if I want to score that $25 bonus.

Yesterday, I tried to add some more tables up to a point where I was playing 9 tables. I rather quickly had to shut down two of them, because I couldn't keep up and I felt I was destined to make some huge mistakes. Overall, it was a swingy session: up $6, down $5, up $3, down $2 and finally up $5.

I guess 6 or 7 tabling should be doable without trashing my winrate. I'm hoping to play 10-12 more sessions this month, so I'll be able to clear most if not all of that bonus.

Even though I misplayed a couple of hands yesterday, I was able to make some good reads and pick up on bluffs.

One hand had me troubled (and because this type of hands occurs regularly I would appreciate some feedback:

Villain UTG limps, a couple of players in MP limp as well and I make a good raise with my JJ.
Now, villain reraises me (3x) and I make the call (should I fold JJ here?)

Flop comes 10 high with no big draws and villain makes a potsize bet (about $2).
I make the call (and immediately knew it was a bad play).
Turn is a blank and villain bets again (half pot) and I fold my JJ.
I really should just fold on the flop here and wait for a better spot.
I hate folding an overpair here, but I'm probably facing AA, KK, or QQ often enough to make folding the correct play.

'till next time...

Monday, March 2, 2009

February review

In February I have played almost 4k hands at the 4NL tables, winning $38 (24 BB/100) which was a great result. After picking up $2 in a short session at 10NL, I'm up $40 for the month.

The last couple of months I went from a break-even player to a winning player: after my first 18k hands I was down $28 (-3.7 BB/100), the next 15k hands resulted in a profit of $134 (22 BB/100). Combined I'm at 7.9 BB/100 at the 4NL after 34k hands and I feel I could take a shot at 10NL. In March, I will still mostly play 4NL though, because I'm aiming to reach 10 BB/100 before I move up to 10NL.

Last night was a good start: up $15 in almost 600 hands.
One hand stood out for me:
I had a maniac on my right, who was playing at something like 75/45/inf.
HE was raising and reraising constantly and often people just folded. One guy called him and the maniac won a big pot and was at $12.
I had been in a couple of pots with him, but I hadn't flopped anything or he was pushing me off my hands (twice I had top pair but a very crappy kicker). Up until then I didn't like my hand enough to put the chips in the middle and I knew I had the perfect position and just had to wait for a strong hand.

So a couple of hands later it gets folded to the maniac, who open-raises to 4BB, I call with KJo and both the blinds call as well.
The flop comes 6c5cJh and the blinds check. The maniac checks as well. Because I was willing to take a risk in order to have a shot at his stack, I decided to check as well (normally I would bet here about 99% of the time).
With the drawheavy board, I'm pretty confident I have the best hand at this point.
Turn is a Ts and again both blinds check.
The maniac bets 2/3 of the pot and I throw in a decent raise...
And again he tries to push me off by shoving it. Even though I only had top pair
with a decent kicker, I had to make the call and he showed K9o and gets stacked.
Four hands later, he dumps the rest of his stack and leaves.


Sayonara!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Seventh consecutive winning session...

...even though I was playing rather weak and I didn't hit anything the first hour and a half, I managed to book another winning session last night. I'm probably jinxing myself but there it is: a new record streak of 7 winning sessions in a row.

I have tightened up even more the last few weeks, stats are usually around 17/8/2.5.
Yesterday I saw a particular fish at the table: he was minbetting every made hand (and folding the others). And when I say minbetting I mean betting 1BB on the flop, on the turn, and on the river with a flopped nut flush. In the one hand we played, he outdrew my second pair on the river (I should have made a bigger raise). Of course, a few hands later he got felted. This guy was so trying NOT to win any money, it was funny.

For the most part, I played ok, again picking up a lot of uncontested pots while waiting for a big one. One straight paid off max, but then I had to slowplay a set into oblivion:
I raise 4 BB in LP with TT and get called by an EP limper.
Flop comes a nice AT6 rainbow, villain checks and I check behind, because often he will not have anything to call with here. Turn brings a king and villain bets, I raise and he calls. We get it in on the river and he shows QJ for a straight.
Because I'd almost never call a raise with QJ OOP, it didn't cross my mind some do...
Good thing my opponent wasn't full stacked.

Another thing I often see (and occasionally, I make the same mistake) is that people tend to forget what happened on earlier streets. If you flop QT5 and check your queen, people assume you don't have a queen most of the time, and you can get paid off some (like in a limped pot). Yesterday, I even saw a couple of times where the turn fills a possible flushdraw, it gets checked around and then people call big bets on the river.

Until next time...

Monday, February 16, 2009

All is well

The last few weeks, I have been running pretty good. I started the month with a loosing session, but the last 5 sesssions I have been up and, so far, I'm ahead $25 in 2.5k hands. Yesterday was a lot of fun: I definately played my A game: selective but aggressive and when the cards are falling right as well... People were folding when I was (semi-)bluffing and calling when I had the goods.

I was also able to pick up on bluffs by villains. The river bluff seems very popular amongst a lot of players at my tables. Check/calling every street and then betting the river often indicates a bluff. I'm trying to play a bit more aggressive post flop and that really pays off.

After clearing my reload bonus ($10) at Part Poker, I got a mail from Pokerstars about their 25billionth hand promotions, including a nice 25% reload bonus. So, I deposited $80 in my account and will have to accumulate 400 base FPP's to clear that $20 bonus. Because I didn't have a clue how many hands that is at the 5NL, I played a short session of 80 hands and got... 1 FPP. So that's going take a while.

One hand kinda bugged me:

I pick up AA UTG+1 and I make it $0.20 (4BB) to go.
It gets folded to the button, who calls.
The big blind calls as well, and the pot is $0.67

Now the flop comes 8c 7h 5c and the big blind makes a potsize donkbet,
and I go into the tank...

I figure there's 4 possibilities:

he has a straight/set and wants to protect his hand: possible, but I'm very likely to make a cbet, that might be called by the button, so check/raising seems more profitable.

he has a big draw: as flush and/or straight draw. again, possible, but why bet the pot? surely, check/call or check/raise is more likely.

he has some other hand like an over pair: unlikely, why would you bet a hand like that with two people left to act?

he knows this is a bad flop for a big pair or AK/AQ kinda hands and decides to bluff. Possible, but he is OOP.

I just didn't know here and because I had the button behind me, I decided to fold.
I'm sure reraising big here can often be the right play and if it were heads up, I probably would have done just that.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see my opponents cards, because the button shoved and after a while the big blind folded. In the end, I guess folding might have been the right decision this time. These kind of hands do reveal a lot of info about a players style, so this would have been a big note if the cards had been shown.

Be cool.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

January recap

January sure was a bleh month: up $20 and all the way down again to - $1.
I played almost 6k hands and started off well, but three loosing sessions in a row (in one I lost 3 buyins) later I was just hoping to break even. Last Saturday, I was a bit tired so I decided to play a short session on 10NL at Titan. I quickly picked up $7.50 which was nice. Because I picked up $20 in bonusses, I ended up adding about $24 to my bankroll.

I did have my first live game, having a homegame with my collegues at my place. Most of them have little to none experience and with the low stakes ($0.02-$0.05) the play was extremely loose and passive. I decided to play tight and just valuebet my big hands and I doubled up this way. One of the players hit a real nice run of cards, hitting 3 boats and a couple of straights/flushes. Even though it wasn't great poker, we did have a good time.

I have started marking hands I don't play well, so I can replay them with Holdem Manager. I plan on reviewing these hands in detail, both loosing hands (obviously) and winning hands (did I make maximum value?).

Be well and play well!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Baaaad day

Yup, yesterday evening didn't go too well. A combo of bad play and worse luck hit me big time. At one table I lost three big hands in a row (QQ, TT, AK) and I was down 4 buyins in no time.

I was definately playing too aggressive and tilting a bit as well, up to a point where my UTG raise (with AKo) got shoved by the shortstack (well, he did have 45 BB). I felt he was shoving with a wide range because he might think I was on a complete tilt, so I called. My read was correct as he showed AQo, but when things go wrong, they do go wrong all the way, and he caught a queen on the turn.

I was really pissed at myself, because even though I took some bad beats, I spewed chips as well. So, I had a choice: accept my losses and call it a day or try to win some back. Because I knew I was going to be in a shitty mood being down $20, I took a deep breath and tried to make a comeback. I ended up being down $12.

You win some and you loose some...

The good news is the money from Titan Poker is now in my Moneybookers account, so that went really smooth.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Exit Titan Poker

I have decided to withdraw my bankroll on Titan Poker and I'll probably even cash out as well. I haven't really played a lot there, mainly because the player base is a lot less than what I'm used to at Party Poker and I don't like the software that much. Especially when multi-tabling it's a pain, because you switch to mini-view, which is too small for me.

I'll have to leave my no-deposit bonus though, as I'm nowhere near the 1500 tp's I need to be able to withdraw that. So, the plan is to cash out everything except the bonus (about $50). Because I was going to take a shot at 10NL, I'll play some 10NL session with that bonus.

Apparantly, it will take 2-5 days before the cash is in my moneybookers account and some players have been requested to email id shots when trying to cash out. I can understand sites want to secure these kind of transactions, but I find it curious that kind of stuff isn't required when you deposit.

I just hope it won't be too much of a hassle and I can get my money fast.

Because I should be rolled for 10NL by March/April, I'm thinking about where to play. Should I go for another first-deposit bonus on a new site? Or should I return to Everest (lots of bad players I read) or just stick to Party Poker?
I didn't really like the Everest software (slow network and poor software for multi-tabling), but 10NL is the smallest stake there, so the competition might be weaker compared to other sites.

Any suggestions on that part are appreciated.

Currently I'm running 7BB/100 over 27k hands at 4NL, even at 30BB/100 over 9k hands since October 2008 (when I made some major adjustments to my game). My goal is to try and push that up to 10BB/100 over 40k hands and than take a decent shot at 10NL.
I really don't know what to expect in terms of stronger competition: is there a substantial difference? Is it the same level of play, but just for a little more money?

Again, any input on that is welcome.


PS: My favorite poker show 'High Stakes Poker' is currently running season 5, so I'll be checking out Youtube. I'm sure most poker players know that show, but if you don't, go check it out!!


Untill next time!

Sunday smile

Had a great poker evening yesterday. I was hitting left and right and picking up a lot of other pots with aggression. Must have had at least 3 or 4 sets and a couple of straights (one low-end straight did cost me half a buyin). At the end of the session I was up $15. Again, I saw the weirdest plays: people calling big bets with second or even third pair, people calling with two pair with a 3flush on the table and a big bet. Here's one of those weird hands:

Villain in MP raises 4 bb to $0.16.
It gets folded to me in the SB and I have KK.
I don't like to slowplay KK OOP so I reraise to $0.50.
Now the villain instashoves and I make the call.
He has AKo
Now I had been raising quite a bit (because I was getting good cards), but a shove?
Turns out he would have won the pot if he just flatcalled.
The flop show AQx and I'm already cursing. Turn is a king, river blanks and I pick up the pot.

Another interesting hand:

I pick up 77 in LP and I raise two limpers to $0.24.
Now I get repopped to $1.24 by a maniac OTB. I only had about 30 hands on him but his stats were about 70/35/5/33. Plus I had seen him do that (reraising OTB) twice before. Because three 3bets in 30 hands did seem quite a lot, I decided to make the call.... and i hit a set on the flop. He bets half the pot and I shove and get a quick call. He shows aces and I pick up the pot: wrong read, but great result.
A couple of hands later I raise again with 44 and again he reraises me. This time I fold.

I felt another guy, calling his MP raise with 88. I flop a set again, he bets and I shove (he was shortstacked). I get a call (JJ) and even hit quads on the river.

Biggest pot I lost was half a buy-in when I flop two pair and villain flops a set.

I also played a quick $0.50 SNG on Titan (but wasn't really paying too much attention.

I'm not getting any cards and have about my starting stack of 1500 when the blinds get to 50/100. Now I see a raise to 200 in front of me, and I decide to gamble a bit, planning to bluff on the flop/turn, so I call with 5h4h. The BB minraises to 300, Initial raiser calls so I have to put in another 100 into a 850 pot.
Flop come AsQhTh. Initial raiser bets half the pot and I shove my remaining 1200.
Well, both opponents call, and I cheer when the turn is another heart.
Because the BB is holding the Ah, I say 'no more hearts' but of course....
And that was it...

Have fun at the tables!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Treading water

I played a rather long session yesterday (about 4 hours) and I got nowhere: up $3
I hit a couple of sets but didn't really get payed off, other than that: not a single straight or flush and I think one full house. I was just not hitting any flops, and I even had to get lucky to stay in the black:

Two guys limp in and the button raises to $0.24.
He wasn't superaggro, but I held QQ so I figured I was ahead of his range.
Because I felt the limpers would tag along if I just flatcalled, I repopped to $0.80.
Now the button shoves for another $1.80 and I make the (bad?) call.
He shows KK and I hit a Q on the flop. Standard 2-outer suck-out :)

I gues I was playing too weak the first half of the session, check/calling/folding too often. After a short break, I tried to show more aggression and got back from
- $4 to + $3.

I had a 20% reload bonus, so I deposited $50 and cleared the $10 bonus in the same session. It's not much but this way the roll grows little by little...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A quick update

I've been looking into adding some MTT's (freerolls that is) to my playing schedule, so I stumbled on a couple of big freeroll MTT's on Party Poker and played a few.

First one was a Limit Holdem tournament, and, low and behold, I cash!
Errm, that actually means I ended about 800th out of over 7k players and scored a wonderful $0.03! It was fun though, because, believe it or not, I had never played limit holdem. Boy, that really is a very different game than NLHE. People were calling, limping, raising with anything and then calling every street with almost anything. I always thought pots would be smaller (because it is LIMIT) but it seemed the complete opposite (of course a freeroll MTT is never standard play).
Still, it's felt really weird not being able to protect your hand and see so many multiway pots.

I was also playing a couple of 4NL cash game tables at the same time and I must say, that combo didn't work very well for me. I tried it again a couple of days later and I ended up pushing every hand in the freeroll, so I could get back to only cash game tables asap. Since the potential reward from the freerolls is a lot less than what cash tables could net me, I'll be passing on those MTT freerolls for now.

My regular game has been meh: down $10 in the first session of the month (played very poorly), up $10 in the next, break-even in the third (good start, bad end).

Standard ABC poker is a winning strategy at these stakes, but only if you don't donk on a regular base :)

Still, I'm up a little and used my PP to get $10 in bonus, so that bankroll is getting bigger (slowwwwwly).

Let's try and put in a great session tonight.


May your aces hold up!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Happy New Year!!

First of all: a happy and healthy 2009 for everyone!! :)

Looking back on 2008

I had a couple of great months playing 2NL on Everest, which helped building a bit of a bankroll but led me to believe I actually knew what I was doing. So when I moved up to the 4NL on Stars and Party poker I had to think again, because I was moving up and down and up and down again, eventually getting nowhere...

Mid October, I decided to take a step back and take a look at how I was playing and, after rereading Dan Harrington on Cash 1&2, I tried again. More focus, more aggression, more patience, less tilting, less optimistic calls etc...

The last three months were great, with December turning out to be my best month ever: up $41 in only 2k hands.

Looking forward to 2009

Obviously, it's a lot more motivating to play disciplined and patient if it shows in your results, so I'm curious to find out if I've actually gotten (a little) better or if I have just been lucky.

I'll keep playing the 4NL for a couple of months and, if all goes well, move to the 10NL around April.

I have no specific goals for 2009 in terms of winnings or number of hands or anything. My main goal is to improve on my game, keep enjoying it and become a winning 10NL player in the course of this brand new year. If things go really well, I might add some SNG's or MTT's to my calendar as well.



Have a great 2009!