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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!