While Ferocious Kitty has conceded in our prop bet (free onion strings FTW), he has made up for it and then some by taking down a Stud Hi tourney for a nice little chunk of cash. Who knew Kitty could mix it up so well at stud? Not me, but this isnt the first time he has surprised me with his poker skillz.
So do me a favor and go show him some love on his blog, the man deserves it.
PS My other good friend OES is starting back up his blog as well, he is also a major beast and I'm sure would greatly appreciate some love on his blog as well. Hit it up! Linky
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Update
As the my first semester of junior year comes to a close, work has been piling up which equals no poker. Since my success in the CAP games at the end of november, Ive only played a couple more sessions but they were almost entirely breakeven. In 4 days Im heading back home to MA which I pretty excited about. Finally gonna see Ferocious Kitty for the first time in like 4 months, so there will be alot of catching up to do, looking forward to that. Also with more free time, there will be more time for poker, so hopefully Ill have more to blog about soon. Just gotta get through 2 finals and a 10 page paper and ill be done
Good luck everyone and happy holidays!
Good luck everyone and happy holidays!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hope everyone is having a safe and happy thanksgiving!
And to my non-American readers, happy thursday!
And to my non-American readers, happy thursday!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Noticed something pretty cool
I was just perusing through PokerTableRatings when I got a silly idea to see how my performance in the CAP games over the last week compared to the rest of the world. The results were pretty surprising, and very encouraging...
Yep, thats me in 2nd place. I officially have the 2nd most money won in the CAP games at my stake on full tilt, and after only 2 days too.
Good luck everyone and have a happy and safe holiday!
Yep, thats me in 2nd place. I officially have the 2nd most money won in the CAP games at my stake on full tilt, and after only 2 days too.
Good luck everyone and have a happy and safe holiday!
Sweet smell of success
As I mentioned last post, I am trying to transition to the 25 CAPNL games on full tilt. For those that dont know, CAP is basically the same as NL but players can only put up to 30BB in the pot. Once those 30BBs are put in, the player is ruled all in. I played a bit yesterday, with an early session in which I ran horrendously and dropped 30 bucks, and a later session where I played pretty well and made it all back.
Today I got 2 nice sessions in (not really sure how many hands cause Copilot hasnt been working for my CAP hands). My first session netted me about 60 bucks (8 CAP "buy ins"), I played well and the play in these games is pretty horrible. The later session ended with me up 90 more dollars for 12 CAP "buy ins". In this session I ran like god. I sucked out on people some and all of my hands held, it was really satisfying.
In the CAP games, I play very similarly to my style in the NL games. But it is important to recognize the amount you have put in the pot so you dont end up leaving yourself in awkward spots. Its also important to know that people are willing to stack off lighter in cap games, so marginal hands gain a lot of value. Its a little tough to get used to, but CAP games can be pretty juicy.
Ill leave you with a pretty sweet hand but it kind of exemplifies the downside of cap games, in a regular game I probably gain two stacks. Money got in on the river.
Today I got 2 nice sessions in (not really sure how many hands cause Copilot hasnt been working for my CAP hands). My first session netted me about 60 bucks (8 CAP "buy ins"), I played well and the play in these games is pretty horrible. The later session ended with me up 90 more dollars for 12 CAP "buy ins". In this session I ran like god. I sucked out on people some and all of my hands held, it was really satisfying.
In the CAP games, I play very similarly to my style in the NL games. But it is important to recognize the amount you have put in the pot so you dont end up leaving yourself in awkward spots. Its also important to know that people are willing to stack off lighter in cap games, so marginal hands gain a lot of value. Its a little tough to get used to, but CAP games can be pretty juicy.
Ill leave you with a pretty sweet hand but it kind of exemplifies the downside of cap games, in a regular game I probably gain two stacks. Money got in on the river.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Quick Update
Since I last posted I havent been playing much poker. My roommate just picked up FIFA 10 and I have been hooked, playing in almost all my free time. With Fifa and and a bunch of work this week I never really got around to poker. I plan on continuing to play at 10NL until I reach 400, maybe 500. I might also throw in some 25NL CAP because I have had alot of success at that stake. Wish me luck!
Good luck at the tables!
Good luck at the tables!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Renewed Faith
Since the beginning of my prop bet, I have played about 5-6 sessions of 10NL and none have gone particularly well. Other than the first session, none of the sessions have been particularly terrible with me losing on a buy in or two, but they all have been fairly frustrating. I couldnt get anything going and was unsure if I could actually beat the level. I definitely had some leaks but I felt I was outplaying my opponents just not able to get stacks from the donks.
After a fairly frustrating session on friday afternoon, in which I lost about 3/4 of a buy-in in 500 hands, I was seriously feeling doubtful about my ability. I had a free evening before I was to go out for the night so I decided to fire up some tables. Im sure glad I did. Everything seemed to go right, I was getting paid off, making good call downs and making some folds I dont think I would have made earlier in the week. One thing I have changed is going from the deep-ante tables to the regular 100BB stack tables. I dont know if this is making the difference but Im not going to change back until I see a reason to. The final tally for the day was 2700 hands and 8.5 buy ins.
With the big final day, I am officially done with my 7k hands and finished with a whopping ..........1.48 in profit!!!!! WHOO!!!!!
Beat that ferocious kitty!
Seriously though, the huge winning session has reminded me that I really can beat these games and I just have to be willing to put in the hands in order to do so.
Good luck at the tables!
After a fairly frustrating session on friday afternoon, in which I lost about 3/4 of a buy-in in 500 hands, I was seriously feeling doubtful about my ability. I had a free evening before I was to go out for the night so I decided to fire up some tables. Im sure glad I did. Everything seemed to go right, I was getting paid off, making good call downs and making some folds I dont think I would have made earlier in the week. One thing I have changed is going from the deep-ante tables to the regular 100BB stack tables. I dont know if this is making the difference but Im not going to change back until I see a reason to. The final tally for the day was 2700 hands and 8.5 buy ins.
With the big final day, I am officially done with my 7k hands and finished with a whopping ..........1.48 in profit!!!!! WHOO!!!!!
Beat that ferocious kitty!
Seriously though, the huge winning session has reminded me that I really can beat these games and I just have to be willing to put in the hands in order to do so.
Good luck at the tables!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Propbetaments
I sat down to my first session that would be part of my prop bet and it certainly did not go as imagined. The day started pretty good, I chipped up on a bunch of my tables at a good clip, picking up smallish pots on multiple tables (I was playing on 9). After only about 25 minutes or so I was up over 1.5 buy in and thinking that this prop bet would be a breeze. I was wrong. I proceed to get coolered in multiple 400BB pots (one with flopped top set vs a turned straight, and one with AA vs a set), have KJhh and bet out on every street on a Kc 7h 5h 9s 2h only to have my river shove get called by A4hh, and get KK vs AA twice in over 150BB pots. I dont think I played particularly badly, just got myself in crappy situations that I was likely not getting away from. I ended the day down 5 buy ins over 1600 hands, for a BB/100 of -32.05. Not a great way to start the bet (but if youre following on Ferocious Kitty's blog he hasnt been fairing all to well either).
Hopefully I can turn it around in the coming weeks. Good luck everyone!
Hopefully I can turn it around in the coming weeks. Good luck everyone!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
I’m Back and Broker Than Ever
It has been a while since my last blog post, unfortunately there is not much good to report. Since I last blogged I fell victim to my recent nemesis and played him once again. This time at 1/2 and some 2/4, and again it did not go well. It was a while ago and still dont remember much how it happened, but I’m sure I didn’t play well. At multiple times, I had my entire roll on the tables, and there were times where my whole roll was in the middle. When the dust settled, I was down to 100 dollars in my account (with 240 dollars in T$). It was crushing, not only was I down to the start of my stake, but I was now down a significant amount of money in that stake. I decided to cash my T$ into real money and looked at my account to see $325.
Three hundred and twenty-five dollars. Ugh, it just hurts to write. I am so far away from where I was. I am down to .05/.10 stakes, and totally unmotivated. I haven’t played a good session in over a week and for a while thought poker was over for me. I think I was being overdramatic, but we will see. Stake doesn’t determine passion, just because I am playing smaller stakes doesn’t mean I should be less passionate about poker. I need to get back in the mindset of wanting to learn as much about the game as possible, trying to improve every day.
Luckily, my good friend, Ferocious Kitty has made me an offer that will hopefully get me back into the right mindset. He has challenged me to a prop bet in which we will both play 7,000 hands at 10NL from now until December 19th (when we both go home for winter break) and whoever has won more money wins a free dinner at our favorite restaurant. For both of us, the bet is not really about the dinner (though it will be delicious and free), the bet is about improving both of our games, trying to ensure that we are playing the best poker we can. You may have noticed that the hand amount is pretty small, but I think that this is for the best. First, Ferocious Kitty is a pretty busy dude. He’s out in London right now, studying abroad, and is working in freakin’ parliament, meaning he’s got a lot of stuff on his plate. 7k hands a good amount of poker, while not being enough to overwhelm him. Secondly, for both of us, only having a 7k hand requirement doesn’t force us to play when we don’t want to or need to. Forcing play is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make. Forced poker is bad poker. By giving both Ferocious Kitty and me some leeway in choosing when to play, we can ensure that we will only play when we age going to play our best poker.
The climb begins now. Let’s do this
Three hundred and twenty-five dollars. Ugh, it just hurts to write. I am so far away from where I was. I am down to .05/.10 stakes, and totally unmotivated. I haven’t played a good session in over a week and for a while thought poker was over for me. I think I was being overdramatic, but we will see. Stake doesn’t determine passion, just because I am playing smaller stakes doesn’t mean I should be less passionate about poker. I need to get back in the mindset of wanting to learn as much about the game as possible, trying to improve every day.
Luckily, my good friend, Ferocious Kitty has made me an offer that will hopefully get me back into the right mindset. He has challenged me to a prop bet in which we will both play 7,000 hands at 10NL from now until December 19th (when we both go home for winter break) and whoever has won more money wins a free dinner at our favorite restaurant. For both of us, the bet is not really about the dinner (though it will be delicious and free), the bet is about improving both of our games, trying to ensure that we are playing the best poker we can. You may have noticed that the hand amount is pretty small, but I think that this is for the best. First, Ferocious Kitty is a pretty busy dude. He’s out in London right now, studying abroad, and is working in freakin’ parliament, meaning he’s got a lot of stuff on his plate. 7k hands a good amount of poker, while not being enough to overwhelm him. Secondly, for both of us, only having a 7k hand requirement doesn’t force us to play when we don’t want to or need to. Forcing play is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make. Forced poker is bad poker. By giving both Ferocious Kitty and me some leeway in choosing when to play, we can ensure that we will only play when we age going to play our best poker.
The climb begins now. Let’s do this
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Well, its all over
I don't really know what to say. I never really thought that this day would come, but my weakness and competitive attitude got the best of me.
I had an afternoon free and decided to play some poker: try to get back in the swing of things, get my head back on straight. I played some HU 100nl, it went ok, lost a little more than a buy in or so.
I was still kinda itching for a game, still wanting to make my money back from the last few days. I was scrolling through the tables at HU 100nl and noticed my nemesis sitting at a table, the same guy that took my money on thursday and friday. I was determined to beat the guy. I did not, far from it. He absolutely destroyed me. The guy ran better than anyone I have ever seen, it was absolutely unbelievable. Every 3-4 bet pot, I would have the better hand preflop and he would hit a pair on the flop. I'd raise with AQs, he'd 3bet with K5, I 4bet and he'd. Flop K84. He checked, I cbet and he'd call. He'd check the blank turn and a Q came on the river (it was unbelievable how many times the river gave me a good but not great hand and at the same time he'd either have a better hand or the river would improve his hand more) he'd check, I'd bet and he'd call taking down a very large pot. This happened countless times. Here are some gems from the night:
So basically, this guy took his boomswitch and raped me with it. Raped me hard. After running really good the guy challenged me to 1/2HU and I was certain I could beat him plus extremely tilted so I accepted. Here are a couple of hands that exemplify my experience.
Here is my biggest hand of the night, it is undeniably the stupidest thing I have ever done in my poker life. I was so tilted, so focused on beating this guy that I misread my hand and thought I had flopped a straight. I end up calling the guy down with 9 high to his rivered straight (I was very close to folding the river, while I still was under the impression I had a straight, I just KNEW he hit the straight but couldnt fold). Just another example of how this guy runs so well, if he doesnt hit the straight, he folds the river and I take down the big pot, regardless of whether I read my hand correctly. This is so embarrassing.....
And 20 hands later, here's the last hand of the session. I think it sums up my night entirely.
So where am I now?
I am at a point I havent been at in over a year. I am in the red. It feels really weird to say that but it's reality. I started this all with a 1500 dollar stake and I am now at 1300. I am not rolled for 100NL or even 50NL. All of the work of the last year is pretty much erased. Poker-wise I am at the lowest point mentally that I have ever been.
What's the future for me and poker?
I have self-excluded myself for the next week, but I am 100% certain that I will continue playing poker and will try to grind my way back up to where I was before. Although my work of the last year has been erased in the sense that my money is gone, I still have learned immense amount of information from the thousands of hands that I have played. Hopefully, this information will help along the way by making my rise through the stakes much quicker. I have put in almost thirty thousand hands at 50NL 6max and once I become sufficiently rolled, my familiarity with the game will definitely help me build up my roll at that stake.
I currently have 500 dollars on a 2+2 prop bet, which if I win will pay back 700. Currently, the bettor is on pace to win the bet, so it looks like I wont be seeing that money, but I'll be continuously checking the progress of the bet and hoping that I can get a now very significant amount of money in victory.
Once my self exclusion ends, I will begin grinding up 25NL 6max or 50NL 6max depending on the result of the bet. It will be a tough and probably long road but I will keep pushing forward and will update this blog at every step along the way.
Good luck everyone!
I had an afternoon free and decided to play some poker: try to get back in the swing of things, get my head back on straight. I played some HU 100nl, it went ok, lost a little more than a buy in or so.
I was still kinda itching for a game, still wanting to make my money back from the last few days. I was scrolling through the tables at HU 100nl and noticed my nemesis sitting at a table, the same guy that took my money on thursday and friday. I was determined to beat the guy. I did not, far from it. He absolutely destroyed me. The guy ran better than anyone I have ever seen, it was absolutely unbelievable. Every 3-4 bet pot, I would have the better hand preflop and he would hit a pair on the flop. I'd raise with AQs, he'd 3bet with K5, I 4bet and he'd. Flop K84. He checked, I cbet and he'd call. He'd check the blank turn and a Q came on the river (it was unbelievable how many times the river gave me a good but not great hand and at the same time he'd either have a better hand or the river would improve his hand more) he'd check, I'd bet and he'd call taking down a very large pot. This happened countless times. Here are some gems from the night:
So basically, this guy took his boomswitch and raped me with it. Raped me hard. After running really good the guy challenged me to 1/2HU and I was certain I could beat him plus extremely tilted so I accepted. Here are a couple of hands that exemplify my experience.
Here is my biggest hand of the night, it is undeniably the stupidest thing I have ever done in my poker life. I was so tilted, so focused on beating this guy that I misread my hand and thought I had flopped a straight. I end up calling the guy down with 9 high to his rivered straight (I was very close to folding the river, while I still was under the impression I had a straight, I just KNEW he hit the straight but couldnt fold). Just another example of how this guy runs so well, if he doesnt hit the straight, he folds the river and I take down the big pot, regardless of whether I read my hand correctly. This is so embarrassing.....
And 20 hands later, here's the last hand of the session. I think it sums up my night entirely.
So where am I now?
I am at a point I havent been at in over a year. I am in the red. It feels really weird to say that but it's reality. I started this all with a 1500 dollar stake and I am now at 1300. I am not rolled for 100NL or even 50NL. All of the work of the last year is pretty much erased. Poker-wise I am at the lowest point mentally that I have ever been.
What's the future for me and poker?
I have self-excluded myself for the next week, but I am 100% certain that I will continue playing poker and will try to grind my way back up to where I was before. Although my work of the last year has been erased in the sense that my money is gone, I still have learned immense amount of information from the thousands of hands that I have played. Hopefully, this information will help along the way by making my rise through the stakes much quicker. I have put in almost thirty thousand hands at 50NL 6max and once I become sufficiently rolled, my familiarity with the game will definitely help me build up my roll at that stake.
I currently have 500 dollars on a 2+2 prop bet, which if I win will pay back 700. Currently, the bettor is on pace to win the bet, so it looks like I wont be seeing that money, but I'll be continuously checking the progress of the bet and hoping that I can get a now very significant amount of money in victory.
Once my self exclusion ends, I will begin grinding up 25NL 6max or 50NL 6max depending on the result of the bet. It will be a tough and probably long road but I will keep pushing forward and will update this blog at every step along the way.
Good luck everyone!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Where I'm at now
So I'm sure many of my loyal readers (Ok, like two of you; you two rock!) are wondering what exactly happened on friday that caused me to blow up like that. The story is actually a pretty simple one. It started on thursday night when I looked on my PTR buddy list and found a bad player sitting at a couple tables of .5/1 HU. I happily sat down and played him for a while. To say this guy had a weird strategy is an understatement. He would have very streaky trends as to his opening amounts on the button: for 10 hands he might min-raise, then 10 hands he'd open to $5, then 10 hands of limping, then 10 hands of opening to 7. It was truly one of the weirdest things I had ever seen. He was pretty aggro when he had it and would cbet/fold turn when he didnt. This would be easily exploitable but his definition of "having it" was much looser than mine, meaning he's go with his hands alot looser than most. This made playing against him difficult because I wasnt sure of the threshold at which my marginal hands became strong again. I also seemed to have terrible luck and only pick up medium to good hands when he had the top of his range. Thursday night I lost almost 8 buy ins. I was pretty bummed but still had over 5k in my account.
Friday afternoon I was thrilled to see the very same guy at multiple tables. I was determined to beat him and was sure that if I picked up some cards occasionally, that I could beat him. Well, I didnt. A combination of tilt, bad cards and an overwhelming need to beat the guy caused me to spew horrendously and lose over 10 buy ins. Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated and disappointed. Only a week prior I had over 7k in my account and now i am stuck with under 4k.
I have no idea what to do now, move down to 50HU, or go back to 6max where I havent been in a while but am confident in my ability to win at.
Thursday and friday were very sobering days and I wouldnt wish them on anyone. I just gotta keep pushing on and grind back what I have worked so hard to accumulate.
Good luck everyone!
Friday afternoon I was thrilled to see the very same guy at multiple tables. I was determined to beat him and was sure that if I picked up some cards occasionally, that I could beat him. Well, I didnt. A combination of tilt, bad cards and an overwhelming need to beat the guy caused me to spew horrendously and lose over 10 buy ins. Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated and disappointed. Only a week prior I had over 7k in my account and now i am stuck with under 4k.
I have no idea what to do now, move down to 50HU, or go back to 6max where I havent been in a while but am confident in my ability to win at.
Thursday and friday were very sobering days and I wouldnt wish them on anyone. I just gotta keep pushing on and grind back what I have worked so hard to accumulate.
Good luck everyone!
Friday, October 9, 2009
I am beyond tilted right now
Long story short, I play a verified donk. He sucks horrendously, he runs hotter than the sun. SO FUCKING FRUSTRATED. Lost 2k to him at 100NL HU. INSANE. THIS IS RIDICULOUS.
Monday, October 5, 2009
I Did a Bad Thing
It was bound to happen soon, but that’s no excuse. I told myself that I would only be playing the donks at 100NL HU, but last night (after having a great afternoon in which I won over 4 buy-ins) I got greedy. I opened my PTR buddy list and saw that there was a donk playing at a 3/6 CAP (180 max bet) table. I figured that I could just focus on the donk and try not to get into bad spots with marginal hands. Well, I got on the waitlist and was looking for other games on the side when I got a notice that a seat was open for me in the game. I looked around at the other seats and noticed that I was in fact taking the seat of the donk. That was when the little devil on my shoulder said, “Hey, here’s a chance to make a couple quick bucks”
Wrong-O.
I ended up losing a couple hundred bucks, which led to me trying to chase those losses with any semi-good action I could find. I turned a 400-dollar win day into a 300-dollar loss day. I’m actually pretty lucky that it didn’t go worse. I was down 800 on the day at one point and ran pretty hot towards the end.
It’s pretty clear that my PTR buddy list is both a blessing and a curse. It allows me to find out whether the players I want to play against are available to play, but it also shows me when some bad players are online in games I really shouldn’t be playing in. It’s really tempting to see a big losing player sitting with a full stack at 2/4 deep, but I really cannot afford to be in that game. Not only will a loss kill my bankroll, the stakes of the game will cause me to not play my A-game, so I’m getting hurt on two levels. I need to leave the bigger games alone and stick to what I am solid and comfortable playing. Hopefully I can do so. And to keep me in line, if any of my loyal readers see me at any game with 2/4 blinds or above (I’m pretty comfortable at $1/$2, not enough to make it my regular game but if I want to take a shot against a donk I think that fine) , scream at me in the chat/IM/text/whatever, to up the stakes if you see me at a 2/4 game or above and point it out to me at the time or with a HH, you will win yourself a cool 26 bucks, just enough for anyone to enter a 24+2 tourney and luckbox a win in a giant donkament.
Good luck everyone!
Wrong-O.
I ended up losing a couple hundred bucks, which led to me trying to chase those losses with any semi-good action I could find. I turned a 400-dollar win day into a 300-dollar loss day. I’m actually pretty lucky that it didn’t go worse. I was down 800 on the day at one point and ran pretty hot towards the end.
It’s pretty clear that my PTR buddy list is both a blessing and a curse. It allows me to find out whether the players I want to play against are available to play, but it also shows me when some bad players are online in games I really shouldn’t be playing in. It’s really tempting to see a big losing player sitting with a full stack at 2/4 deep, but I really cannot afford to be in that game. Not only will a loss kill my bankroll, the stakes of the game will cause me to not play my A-game, so I’m getting hurt on two levels. I need to leave the bigger games alone and stick to what I am solid and comfortable playing. Hopefully I can do so. And to keep me in line, if any of my loyal readers see me at any game with 2/4 blinds or above (I’m pretty comfortable at $1/$2, not enough to make it my regular game but if I want to take a shot against a donk I think that fine) , scream at me in the chat/IM/text/whatever, to up the stakes if you see me at a 2/4 game or above and point it out to me at the time or with a HH, you will win yourself a cool 26 bucks, just enough for anyone to enter a 24+2 tourney and luckbox a win in a giant donkament.
Good luck everyone!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Poker Copilot and Some Interesting Observations
Many of my loyal readers have seen some of the charts I have been putting up, for those who don't know, this all is possible through a program known as Poker Copilot. I have a mac and all of the well known poker tracking programs (Poker Tracker, HEM) are not directly available on macs. Luckily, a great man known as Steve Mcleod took up the task to create a quality tracking program for macs. He has been working on the program for months now and I have seen it grow since some of its earliest stages. The progress he has made is absolutely astounding and the product is incredibly polished and unbelievably helpful. If you are playing poker on a mac and not using Copilot, you are doing yourself a disservice. Poker Copilot helps every player on their opponents, which are like a user's manual for how to dismantle their play. Not only that, but looking at one's own statistics can also be very beneficial: you can see where you are losing money, against who and why. Plugging leaks is one of the most important aspects of poker and this program allows you to do exactly that.
What inspired this blog post was me doing exactly that: looking for leaks. Poker Copilot allows you to see your stats from every position at every stake, so naturally I wanted to see where I was winning and losing my money.
Since starting my HU journey, I always assumed that a majority of my losses came when I was out of position. When I am out of position, I am out of power. I am first to act so I don't have the advantage of knowing what my opponent does on every street. I checked my Copilot and found something extremely surprising. I am winning when OOP and losing when in position.
When I'm on the button:
When I'm in the BB:
I have to sit down and analyze why I am losing much more in position. This can be done through stats reviews and session reviews which will happen during the coming weeks.
Havent played much recently, been watching football all day (Pats win! barely.....)
Good luck everyone!
What inspired this blog post was me doing exactly that: looking for leaks. Poker Copilot allows you to see your stats from every position at every stake, so naturally I wanted to see where I was winning and losing my money.
Since starting my HU journey, I always assumed that a majority of my losses came when I was out of position. When I am out of position, I am out of power. I am first to act so I don't have the advantage of knowing what my opponent does on every street. I checked my Copilot and found something extremely surprising. I am winning when OOP and losing when in position.
When I'm on the button:
When I'm in the BB:
I have to sit down and analyze why I am losing much more in position. This can be done through stats reviews and session reviews which will happen during the coming weeks.
Havent played much recently, been watching football all day (Pats win! barely.....)
Good luck everyone!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Screw Psych and Poli Sci, at WashU I'm studying Bumhunting
In my last post I declared that I will only be playing against opponents that I have labeled as donks. Not just donks, but super donks. Well, I sat down this evening with the intention of only finding the worst players and taking off a couple stacks.
I did exactly that.
I found 3 different players who I had labeled green on my Full Tilt notes and player them across 4 tables. I had played some of them before so I had already developed some very useful reads that I used to exploit my opponents. I ran very well, hitting alot of my draws but a lot of my money didnt come from hands where my draws hit. I did however miss a lot of value in this session, which is definitely a leak I need to plug. I had at least 8-10 hands where I was OOP, and I check called the flop and turn with a strong hand. I then hoped my opponent would shove the river but realistically he isnt doing so without a premium hand. I should be putting out some bets to get value from hands that will call but not necessarily shove.
All in all, I finished my session this evening up a little over 4 buy ins. I am also proud to say that including my tournament dollars, I am now back to 7k. Wow, that was fast; I guess variance works in strange ways.
Good luck everyone!
I did exactly that.
I found 3 different players who I had labeled green on my Full Tilt notes and player them across 4 tables. I had played some of them before so I had already developed some very useful reads that I used to exploit my opponents. I ran very well, hitting alot of my draws but a lot of my money didnt come from hands where my draws hit. I did however miss a lot of value in this session, which is definitely a leak I need to plug. I had at least 8-10 hands where I was OOP, and I check called the flop and turn with a strong hand. I then hoped my opponent would shove the river but realistically he isnt doing so without a premium hand. I should be putting out some bets to get value from hands that will call but not necessarily shove.
All in all, I finished my session this evening up a little over 4 buy ins. I am also proud to say that including my tournament dollars, I am now back to 7k. Wow, that was fast; I guess variance works in strange ways.
Good luck everyone!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Don't Call It a Comeback
So, after what can only be described as a disaster of a week. I came back to FTP determined to play well, game select well and make back alot of the money I had lost. Over the last couple of weeks, in order to help my game selection, I have been PTR-ing as many players in the 100NL HU games as I can. I look at their stats and give them a colored note which denotes their skill (not an exact measure of skill but I can usually assume a big winner is good and a big loser is bad).
I really only like to play those that are marked green, which equates to a big loser, but occasionally I get restless and play some people who are unmarked (dont have enough info to say) or yellow (either a winner at 100NL and loser at 200NL OR a slight winner at 100NL). Over the past two days I have only been playing green marked foes, and it has helped ALOT. I even trusted some of my notes enough to follow some of them to 200NL (probably a bad move, but I knew I could beat the guy). I used to feel bad about employing bum hunting as a legitimate strategy, but I realized that I am trying to make money in this game not prove I am the best, so bumhunting it is! Im back up to 6.3k and looking up. I really have to make sure I dont get too cocky, but if I dont, and I run fairly well, Ill be back to where I once was.
Here's a graph of my last 2 days (WARNING: May induce boner)
Good luck everyone!
I really only like to play those that are marked green, which equates to a big loser, but occasionally I get restless and play some people who are unmarked (dont have enough info to say) or yellow (either a winner at 100NL and loser at 200NL OR a slight winner at 100NL). Over the past two days I have only been playing green marked foes, and it has helped ALOT. I even trusted some of my notes enough to follow some of them to 200NL (probably a bad move, but I knew I could beat the guy). I used to feel bad about employing bum hunting as a legitimate strategy, but I realized that I am trying to make money in this game not prove I am the best, so bumhunting it is! Im back up to 6.3k and looking up. I really have to make sure I dont get too cocky, but if I dont, and I run fairly well, Ill be back to where I once was.
Here's a graph of my last 2 days (WARNING: May induce boner)
Good luck everyone!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Nope, I just suck
I am not liking poker much lately. Yesterday afternoon, I fired up some tables, proceeded to lose 3 buy ins. It was mostly to one player who I should have realized was better than me, but I have a hard time quitting someone when I'm down money. Its a HUGE leak of mine.
So late last night I decide to try to find some donks and get back my loses for the day. I find 3 donks according to their PTR ratings, and get them on four tables total. Things were going great, I had erased my losses and then some and I was running really well. I was dominating 2 of the 3 "donks", while slightly losing to the other. Well, the 2 losing donks had enough and were immediately replaced by the 3rd. I guess he thought I was the donk. He ws right. I dont think he played particularly well, but I played pretty bad and before I knew it, it was 330AM and I had lost all my profit plus 6 buy ins more. UGH.
I was just at 7k, now I'm back down to 5k. It is unbelievably frustrating I dont really know where to go from here. I dont wanna give up on my HU goal but I dont really want to move down since I feel so over rolled for it. I am really lost on this, blahhhh.
Here is a graph of my last week. WARNING: MAY INDUCE VOMITING
So late last night I decide to try to find some donks and get back my loses for the day. I find 3 donks according to their PTR ratings, and get them on four tables total. Things were going great, I had erased my losses and then some and I was running really well. I was dominating 2 of the 3 "donks", while slightly losing to the other. Well, the 2 losing donks had enough and were immediately replaced by the 3rd. I guess he thought I was the donk. He ws right. I dont think he played particularly well, but I played pretty bad and before I knew it, it was 330AM and I had lost all my profit plus 6 buy ins more. UGH.
I was just at 7k, now I'm back down to 5k. It is unbelievably frustrating I dont really know where to go from here. I dont wanna give up on my HU goal but I dont really want to move down since I feel so over rolled for it. I am really lost on this, blahhhh.
Here is a graph of my last week. WARNING: MAY INDUCE VOMITING
Saturday, September 26, 2009
I suck, but I might not!
After I finished my last blog post a few days ago I hung out, ate dinner then fired up some HU tables to try to win some of the money back. I searched for a player that I have had some success against, found him at three tables and joined all three. Long story short, I ended up dropping 8 buy ins to this guy. It was brutal, I played so bad, making bad bets, bad folds and even worse calls. It was horrid. It didnt help that he went 4 for 4 on flips, but w/e. It was really rough, but I think I am capable of winning it all back. Its just really frustrating.
On a much better note, I was on FT looking for some juicy HU games, when I noticed a player named bosoxx34 sitting at a table. I instantly recognized the name from deucescracked and knew he was one of there small/mid stakes HU coaches. I thought it might be interesting to play him for some hands and try to see if I could learn anything about my game from seeing how he might be trying to exploit me or play back at me. The match started off really well for me,
I dont really know how he can call me down here when I am repping so much strength. I almost never double check-raise but I was hoping he had an over pair on the turn and I could get him to call me down.
He grinds me down to almost even when I play this hand, which I think I played well, but it may be somewhat standard. I was trying to rep a K, its not clear whether or not Im actually bluffing with the best hand on that river tho.
I then lose a flip 150bbs deep with AK vs his JJ which hurt but I still wanted to play more, to see if I could learn something.
Ten hands later, I win a 300BB pot against him. I think the hand he shows up with is at the absolute bottom of his range and I was lucky to have him show up with it. He definitely could have had a overpair, but I knew that he over valued top pair somewhat so TP2K was good enough to get it in. His check raise doesnt really fit with an overpair type hand either, so I thought there was a chance he was bluffing with a FD or air and he would fold to my shove.
This was the very next hand:
He had been min 4betting some and he showed it down once with A6 so I knew it didnt always mean strength, so I wasnt done with my AQ, but I dot think 5betting is good cause I fold out all worse hands. I flop good and c/r him all in with 2 outs, it doesnt hold tho.
So we were back to even, we played probably 75 hands more. None of em were super interesting tho. We had a pretty aggro dynamic going tho and it was def a fun match because I knew he was a high level thinker. After 75 hands I was up 50 or so bucks. On the final hand, he 4bet pre and I shoved with AK to which he folded. He insta quit me after, but he was on tons of other tables still so it wasnt because he had to go. He quit me because I was too tough, me! A DC coach quit me! Thats not at all to say I am better than him, not even close, but it does show that I am doing things right in my HU game, good enough that I am not a donk. This is a huge confidence boost, its the best Ive ever felt 2 days after a 11 buy in downswing.
Good luck everyone!
On a much better note, I was on FT looking for some juicy HU games, when I noticed a player named bosoxx34 sitting at a table. I instantly recognized the name from deucescracked and knew he was one of there small/mid stakes HU coaches. I thought it might be interesting to play him for some hands and try to see if I could learn anything about my game from seeing how he might be trying to exploit me or play back at me. The match started off really well for me,
I dont really know how he can call me down here when I am repping so much strength. I almost never double check-raise but I was hoping he had an over pair on the turn and I could get him to call me down.
He grinds me down to almost even when I play this hand, which I think I played well, but it may be somewhat standard. I was trying to rep a K, its not clear whether or not Im actually bluffing with the best hand on that river tho.
I then lose a flip 150bbs deep with AK vs his JJ which hurt but I still wanted to play more, to see if I could learn something.
Ten hands later, I win a 300BB pot against him. I think the hand he shows up with is at the absolute bottom of his range and I was lucky to have him show up with it. He definitely could have had a overpair, but I knew that he over valued top pair somewhat so TP2K was good enough to get it in. His check raise doesnt really fit with an overpair type hand either, so I thought there was a chance he was bluffing with a FD or air and he would fold to my shove.
This was the very next hand:
He had been min 4betting some and he showed it down once with A6 so I knew it didnt always mean strength, so I wasnt done with my AQ, but I dot think 5betting is good cause I fold out all worse hands. I flop good and c/r him all in with 2 outs, it doesnt hold tho.
So we were back to even, we played probably 75 hands more. None of em were super interesting tho. We had a pretty aggro dynamic going tho and it was def a fun match because I knew he was a high level thinker. After 75 hands I was up 50 or so bucks. On the final hand, he 4bet pre and I shoved with AK to which he folded. He insta quit me after, but he was on tons of other tables still so it wasnt because he had to go. He quit me because I was too tough, me! A DC coach quit me! Thats not at all to say I am better than him, not even close, but it does show that I am doing things right in my HU game, good enough that I am not a donk. This is a huge confidence boost, its the best Ive ever felt 2 days after a 11 buy in downswing.
Good luck everyone!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
I think I found my personal poker hell
Everyone has something that just gets under their skin more than any other, and in terms of poker I definitely found mine. I sat down against a player HU, first hand he raises to 5 and I fold. Two hands later, he opens to five again, and I pop him up with AT, he calls and we see an A high flop. We end up getting it in by the river with my two pair vs his lower two pair. His starting hand? 73o!
So at this point, I search for him and see him at another table which I instantly sit at. This guy, in less tha 15 hands, has made it clear that he is an absolute donk. He bets pot when he has anything, anything! So, naturally I widen my range for calling on all streets and start to fire when checked to. I, initially win some money but nothing huge and then my opponent gets smacked in the face with the deck. If any other player makes some of the bets he makes, I usually fold, but I know calling him down light is the right play. He just is hitting better hands than mine. Nine times out of ten, I take multiple buy ins off this guy. But today, he over 3 from me. It was so frustrating.
And that my friends is my personal poker hell.
Good luck everyone!
So at this point, I search for him and see him at another table which I instantly sit at. This guy, in less tha 15 hands, has made it clear that he is an absolute donk. He bets pot when he has anything, anything! So, naturally I widen my range for calling on all streets and start to fire when checked to. I, initially win some money but nothing huge and then my opponent gets smacked in the face with the deck. If any other player makes some of the bets he makes, I usually fold, but I know calling him down light is the right play. He just is hitting better hands than mine. Nine times out of ten, I take multiple buy ins off this guy. But today, he over 3 from me. It was so frustrating.
And that my friends is my personal poker hell.
Good luck everyone!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Yuck
The last two days have been pretty crappy poker-wise. After my last blog post I had a nice winning day where I won about two buy ins and felt like I was playing a pretty solid HU game.
Unfortunately, the high quality of play did not last. On Friday, I played a short session while watching TV. It started off pretty quick with me winning a buy in on the second hand with a set vs an overpair, but after that I just could not play well. I was stacking off light, giving no one credit and making stupid bluffs. I ended the day down two buy ins.
On Saturday I put in a marathon session, playing over 3k hands. The first 1500 hands or so, I was just playing bad, plain and simple. I was not going with my reads, I never thought they had it and I was down over 6 buy ins. Over the next 750 hands or so, I picked it back up. I was getting my money in good and making good decisions. I eliminated the losses and was up a little more than a buy in. The on one of my tables, a guy was talking alot of trash. I had played him before and didnt think he was particularly good (PTR agreed), so I asked him if he wanted to played more tables, to which he quickly agreed. In the first 10 hands I got it in with my set of sixes to his overpair of Q's on the turn only to have a queen fall on the river. And it was down hill from there.
My opponents style was really difficult to play against (57/55/4.07AF/9.73%3b/61%F3B). He was highly aggressive, 3betting a bunch and betting out when it was on him. I tried to adjust by 4betting and floating, but he would pick up on it and fire second barrels and shove over my light 4bets. I lost a ton of money by calling 3bets in position and folding to cbets or floating cbets and folding to 2nd barrels. Im not sure what exactly to do to combat this. Should I bet tightening up preflop, and if so, which hands should I eliminate out of my range, the low suited connecting hands (J9s) or the mediocre high card hands (K7o)? Or should I be eliminating them both?
I was also losing alot of money by 3betting OOP and getting called then having my cbets called when I dont have much and having to fold to turn bets. Do I tighten my 3betting rage? Start firing more 3 barrels? Any help would be appreciated.
I ended up losing 4 buy ins to him, ending the day down 3 buy ins. I am going to start watching more DC HU vids and try to learn how to play against these guys and just play better in general. Hopefully I can tighten my game up and get things going again.
Good luck everyone!
Unfortunately, the high quality of play did not last. On Friday, I played a short session while watching TV. It started off pretty quick with me winning a buy in on the second hand with a set vs an overpair, but after that I just could not play well. I was stacking off light, giving no one credit and making stupid bluffs. I ended the day down two buy ins.
On Saturday I put in a marathon session, playing over 3k hands. The first 1500 hands or so, I was just playing bad, plain and simple. I was not going with my reads, I never thought they had it and I was down over 6 buy ins. Over the next 750 hands or so, I picked it back up. I was getting my money in good and making good decisions. I eliminated the losses and was up a little more than a buy in. The on one of my tables, a guy was talking alot of trash. I had played him before and didnt think he was particularly good (PTR agreed), so I asked him if he wanted to played more tables, to which he quickly agreed. In the first 10 hands I got it in with my set of sixes to his overpair of Q's on the turn only to have a queen fall on the river. And it was down hill from there.
My opponents style was really difficult to play against (57/55/4.07AF/9.73%3b/61%F3B). He was highly aggressive, 3betting a bunch and betting out when it was on him. I tried to adjust by 4betting and floating, but he would pick up on it and fire second barrels and shove over my light 4bets. I lost a ton of money by calling 3bets in position and folding to cbets or floating cbets and folding to 2nd barrels. Im not sure what exactly to do to combat this. Should I bet tightening up preflop, and if so, which hands should I eliminate out of my range, the low suited connecting hands (J9s) or the mediocre high card hands (K7o)? Or should I be eliminating them both?
I was also losing alot of money by 3betting OOP and getting called then having my cbets called when I dont have much and having to fold to turn bets. Do I tighten my 3betting rage? Start firing more 3 barrels? Any help would be appreciated.
I ended up losing 4 buy ins to him, ending the day down 3 buy ins. I am going to start watching more DC HU vids and try to learn how to play against these guys and just play better in general. Hopefully I can tighten my game up and get things going again.
Good luck everyone!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Prop Bet Win + New BR Milestone
So I havent played all to much lately, only a few hundred hands of HU resulting in the win of a couple of buy ins, but I just recently found out that I won the prop bet I entered last month! I am now 1 for 1 in prop bets and I'm pretty proud of that. We'll see if I do any more soon, it would need to be a pretty ridiculous one to get my attention since I think alot of these prop bets can be won by the players if they put in the necessary hours.
With the win, my account balance only increased 200 bucks but since I also got my buy in back, it felt like I was getting back 800 weeeeee! With the new funds I have reached another milestone in my bankroll. Only a little further to go until I get out of my stake and can start making the real money!!!
With the win, my account balance only increased 200 bucks but since I also got my buy in back, it felt like I was getting back 800 weeeeee! With the new funds I have reached another milestone in my bankroll. Only a little further to go until I get out of my stake and can start making the real money!!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Mini FTOPS #9
It's Sunday which for most of the poker world means tourney day. I have a bunch of HW so I didnt wanna sign up for a lot of tourneys if any. I browsed the tourney lobby and noticed the mini FTOPS HU event was about to start so i decided to sign up and ponied up the 50 dollar buy in. My first opponent was a winning tourney player, including a win in the 50-50, but didnt play much HU. The match was short and ugly. Here are the two hands of note
I dont know what my play should be here. I guess I shouldnt be 4betting if Im gonna fold to a shove otherwise my hand is essentially a bluff. But I think calling the 3bet is too weak especially since he has been 3betting a bunch. I also think that folding is likely the right play since the blinds are just so low that it wouldnt make sense for him to get it in with anything worse the AKs ad QQ+. I dunno, I asked him what he had on that hand after the match and he wouldnt say.
This was literally 5 min later
UGHHHHHH
I dont know what my play should be here. I guess I shouldnt be 4betting if Im gonna fold to a shove otherwise my hand is essentially a bluff. But I think calling the 3bet is too weak especially since he has been 3betting a bunch. I also think that folding is likely the right play since the blinds are just so low that it wouldnt make sense for him to get it in with anything worse the AKs ad QQ+. I dunno, I asked him what he had on that hand after the match and he wouldnt say.
This was literally 5 min later
UGHHHHHH
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Working Hard on Labor Day (warning: long)
On Monday, I had an epic day of poker. It started like any other day at the tables: I checked Poker Table Ratings to see if any of the usual donks were playing. There were only two players on the tables, one at .10/.25 and one at .5/1 HU. Since I was itching to play, I joined the waiting list for one of the HU tables the donk was playing. I had never played against the guy before, but he was one of the biggest losers at 100NL for the week so I added him to my buddy list.
I got off the wait list, sat down and played this hand. It was a sketchy spot pre, and I dont think a flatis best but I didnt really wanna shove. Also I obv knew I was gonna hit a boat on the flop
After this hand, he insta rebuys and Im dancing in my seat. A couple hands later, I cant fade his draw...
A hand later he asks if I want to play on more tables. Of course, I tell him I would LOVE to do so. He then requests 6 tables, most of them being deep and I get all warm and fuzzy inside. I had never played 6 HU tables simultaneously but I felt I didnt need my A game to beat this guy. I was right and wrong. I didnt need my A game to beat him, but I needed to not run like crap as well.
After opening up the 6 tables, I found that this guy was unbelievably aggro. To give you an idea, his AF was 8. 8!!! 5 is extremely high, ive never seen an 8 AF in a large sample. Since he was gonna be betting into me a bunch, I figured Id wait for good hands and just let him bet into me. It worked for a while; after 75 or so hands I was already up 1.5 buyins. Then I cant fade hearts again....
That one still stings, ugh.
For the next 200 hands or so, I run about breakeven and not much interesting happened (except for this hand where I soulread him). After that hand I win a nice 200BB pot where I check call TP9K on two streets for lots of value.
Then, disaster strikes. In less than 40 hands, I proceed to lose 10 buy ins. Then 5 more in 60 hands, less than 10 minutes later. It was unreal. The 10 buy in drop was only 5 important hands too, all for at least 160BB each. Here are two interesting ones (interesting because I get sucked out on)
In the other three, I flip once, get it in with QQ vs AA preflop and get it in with TPTK vs his overpair. Not fun.
I was pretty tilted, but I knew I could beat this guy (famous last words, I know) so I continued playing him. I end up making 6 buy ins back in the next 250 hands, but then proceed to lose them back, mainly all in this hand (Which I played awful. I was planning to c/r the flop but he checked back. On the turn and river, I just wasnt convinced he didnt have a random ace since it AJ wasnt out of his 5bet calling range)
I kept fighting though, and made back 11 of the 15 buy ins, but then disaster struck again and I lost most of it back, including two simultaneous hands in which I got stacked for 200BB each.
But then, variance came back around to finally help me out. I went on a super heater, which started right after those simultaneous hands. In the next 175 hands, I made 8 buy ins. And the following hour, I was able to make back all I had lost plus about 200 bucks.
All in all, the match last over 5 hours, over 3700 hands, and spread over 6 tables. I came out up almost 2 buy ins and had some of the biggest swongs Ive ever had in one day, but as long as I profited, Im happy. If the timeline of the match is hard to follow, check out the graph below and it'll give you a better idea (although the graph is missing some hands because my internet constantly disconnected, Copilot says I only profited 27 bucks, but from my FT account I can tell its closer to 180).
Needless to say, I didnt play a hand all of today. 5 hours of poker is enough for a while.
Good Luck everyone!
I got off the wait list, sat down and played this hand. It was a sketchy spot pre, and I dont think a flatis best but I didnt really wanna shove. Also I obv knew I was gonna hit a boat on the flop
After this hand, he insta rebuys and Im dancing in my seat. A couple hands later, I cant fade his draw...
A hand later he asks if I want to play on more tables. Of course, I tell him I would LOVE to do so. He then requests 6 tables, most of them being deep and I get all warm and fuzzy inside. I had never played 6 HU tables simultaneously but I felt I didnt need my A game to beat this guy. I was right and wrong. I didnt need my A game to beat him, but I needed to not run like crap as well.
After opening up the 6 tables, I found that this guy was unbelievably aggro. To give you an idea, his AF was 8. 8!!! 5 is extremely high, ive never seen an 8 AF in a large sample. Since he was gonna be betting into me a bunch, I figured Id wait for good hands and just let him bet into me. It worked for a while; after 75 or so hands I was already up 1.5 buyins. Then I cant fade hearts again....
That one still stings, ugh.
For the next 200 hands or so, I run about breakeven and not much interesting happened (except for this hand where I soulread him). After that hand I win a nice 200BB pot where I check call TP9K on two streets for lots of value.
Then, disaster strikes. In less than 40 hands, I proceed to lose 10 buy ins. Then 5 more in 60 hands, less than 10 minutes later. It was unreal. The 10 buy in drop was only 5 important hands too, all for at least 160BB each. Here are two interesting ones (interesting because I get sucked out on)
In the other three, I flip once, get it in with QQ vs AA preflop and get it in with TPTK vs his overpair. Not fun.
I was pretty tilted, but I knew I could beat this guy (famous last words, I know) so I continued playing him. I end up making 6 buy ins back in the next 250 hands, but then proceed to lose them back, mainly all in this hand (Which I played awful. I was planning to c/r the flop but he checked back. On the turn and river, I just wasnt convinced he didnt have a random ace since it AJ wasnt out of his 5bet calling range)
I kept fighting though, and made back 11 of the 15 buy ins, but then disaster struck again and I lost most of it back, including two simultaneous hands in which I got stacked for 200BB each.
But then, variance came back around to finally help me out. I went on a super heater, which started right after those simultaneous hands. In the next 175 hands, I made 8 buy ins. And the following hour, I was able to make back all I had lost plus about 200 bucks.
All in all, the match last over 5 hours, over 3700 hands, and spread over 6 tables. I came out up almost 2 buy ins and had some of the biggest swongs Ive ever had in one day, but as long as I profited, Im happy. If the timeline of the match is hard to follow, check out the graph below and it'll give you a better idea (although the graph is missing some hands because my internet constantly disconnected, Copilot says I only profited 27 bucks, but from my FT account I can tell its closer to 180).
Needless to say, I didnt play a hand all of today. 5 hours of poker is enough for a while.
Good Luck everyone!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Breakeven poker is lame
So since I last posted I have played a couple thousand hands but Im just spinning my wheels in the mud. I've been dabbling with HU but I dont think I am good enough to make it my regular game yet. I'm gonna try to watch some videos on DC to help with my HU game and hopefully that will turn into a big money maker for me.
It seems as tho HU games are generally a good source of winnings if youre doing things right and playing the right people, both of which are difficult tasks to accomplish. On the one hand, playing a solid HU game is not easy, youre playing many more hands and therefore you need to have much better hand reading skills (or skillz). Mastering HU can take months, but I hope that my months playing 6max and some occasional HU playing can help me transition. Finding people to play is also a crucial albeit frustrating part of HU NLHE. Since there are a lot of good players that realize the potential of HU to be a good money maker, they are often trolling around HU tables looking for games. When looking at HU tables lists youll often see 5-10 tables with 1 person there, well why dont they play each other? Since they dont wanna play any poker player, they wanna play the worst ones, the ones that will make them the most money, so they wait around hoping donks will sit with them. Because of this, finding a good game is hard since lots of player are either really good, or will just not play you.
This does not mean Im done playing 6max, I think Ill still put in good sessions often. I just really want to commit to this HU thing since I think the games could be really juicy once I get a good grasp of some important concepts.
Good Luck Everyone
PS Go check out my friend Ferocious Kitty's blog. He's studying abroad in London this semester and is blogging about his travels and experiences there (which will likely include some poker). Check it out!
It seems as tho HU games are generally a good source of winnings if youre doing things right and playing the right people, both of which are difficult tasks to accomplish. On the one hand, playing a solid HU game is not easy, youre playing many more hands and therefore you need to have much better hand reading skills (or skillz). Mastering HU can take months, but I hope that my months playing 6max and some occasional HU playing can help me transition. Finding people to play is also a crucial albeit frustrating part of HU NLHE. Since there are a lot of good players that realize the potential of HU to be a good money maker, they are often trolling around HU tables looking for games. When looking at HU tables lists youll often see 5-10 tables with 1 person there, well why dont they play each other? Since they dont wanna play any poker player, they wanna play the worst ones, the ones that will make them the most money, so they wait around hoping donks will sit with them. Because of this, finding a good game is hard since lots of player are either really good, or will just not play you.
This does not mean Im done playing 6max, I think Ill still put in good sessions often. I just really want to commit to this HU thing since I think the games could be really juicy once I get a good grasp of some important concepts.
Good Luck Everyone
PS Go check out my friend Ferocious Kitty's blog. He's studying abroad in London this semester and is blogging about his travels and experiences there (which will likely include some poker). Check it out!
Monday, August 31, 2009
All good things must come to an end
And boy did this one end badly.
As you may know, I had been running really hot as of late and had put together a nice little upswing to begin my poker exploits in St. Louis this year. As was expected, I would eventually have to stop running good and things would even out.
Well, not only did they even out, they did a complete 180. After two long sessions over the weekend, I lost over half of what I had won in the two sessions prior. I did not play good poker in the slightest. I made some really stupid calls and shoves that I knew I was wrong in doing, but just clicked the button anyway. I think the difference between when I run good and bad is that sometimes I make calls/shoves that are definitely -EV, like they might be good 20% of the time, but when Im running good, my opponent shows up with that 20%. This hand is a classic example. There is literally no reason why I should be shoving that flop, I only get called by better and if I'm lucky maybe a draw Im flipping against. When Im running good, my opponent shows up with the draw and I hold, or he shows up with 8s or something. But when playing long sessions, these things accumulate and I lose a bunch of big pots.
This hand doesnt really need explanation, it is just plain atrocious. I dont even know what Im doing here.
Alot of my big losses come from hands like these where I just do not go with what is logical and kinda just say "Fuck it".
Unfortunately, this semester looks like its going to be a lot of work so I'm likely not going to be able to play as much poker as I hoped, but dont worry, Ill definitely get a bunch of hands in. I was hoping to really have this semester/year to take poker from a hobby to a serious investment. Doing things like getting a coach, starting to seriously watch DC videos and start participating much more in strat forums were things on my list this semester, but its not looking very likely at this point. But its only week 1 of classes, we'll see how things go.
Heres a graph of my last week
Good luck everyone!
PS I just remembered that I have to detail the prop bet I'm taking part in. The basics are that a guy on 2+2 bet that he could play 525,000 hands of 1/2 NL 6max in one month. Not only that but he would have to end with a win rate of at least 1.6bb/100 or .8PTBB/100. I didnt know whether or not this would be impossible or just really difficult so I saw the responses to his proposal and it seems as though most people didnt think he could do it. I have been lurking on 2+2 and seen all of there prop bet threads so I decided to throw my hat in the ring on this one. I put up 600 on 3-1 odds (if he doesnt complete the challenge, I win 200) and have been keeping track of him daily. You can follow his progress here. He is currently behind on # of hands but has a sufficient win rate. I hate rooting against people, but in this instance, BOO Hodge BOOO!
PPS This was pretty cool, though I got NO value
As you may know, I had been running really hot as of late and had put together a nice little upswing to begin my poker exploits in St. Louis this year. As was expected, I would eventually have to stop running good and things would even out.
Well, not only did they even out, they did a complete 180. After two long sessions over the weekend, I lost over half of what I had won in the two sessions prior. I did not play good poker in the slightest. I made some really stupid calls and shoves that I knew I was wrong in doing, but just clicked the button anyway. I think the difference between when I run good and bad is that sometimes I make calls/shoves that are definitely -EV, like they might be good 20% of the time, but when Im running good, my opponent shows up with that 20%. This hand is a classic example. There is literally no reason why I should be shoving that flop, I only get called by better and if I'm lucky maybe a draw Im flipping against. When Im running good, my opponent shows up with the draw and I hold, or he shows up with 8s or something. But when playing long sessions, these things accumulate and I lose a bunch of big pots.
This hand doesnt really need explanation, it is just plain atrocious. I dont even know what Im doing here.
Alot of my big losses come from hands like these where I just do not go with what is logical and kinda just say "Fuck it".
Unfortunately, this semester looks like its going to be a lot of work so I'm likely not going to be able to play as much poker as I hoped, but dont worry, Ill definitely get a bunch of hands in. I was hoping to really have this semester/year to take poker from a hobby to a serious investment. Doing things like getting a coach, starting to seriously watch DC videos and start participating much more in strat forums were things on my list this semester, but its not looking very likely at this point. But its only week 1 of classes, we'll see how things go.
Heres a graph of my last week
Good luck everyone!
PS I just remembered that I have to detail the prop bet I'm taking part in. The basics are that a guy on 2+2 bet that he could play 525,000 hands of 1/2 NL 6max in one month. Not only that but he would have to end with a win rate of at least 1.6bb/100 or .8PTBB/100. I didnt know whether or not this would be impossible or just really difficult so I saw the responses to his proposal and it seems as though most people didnt think he could do it. I have been lurking on 2+2 and seen all of there prop bet threads so I decided to throw my hat in the ring on this one. I put up 600 on 3-1 odds (if he doesnt complete the challenge, I win 200) and have been keeping track of him daily. You can follow his progress here. He is currently behind on # of hands but has a sufficient win rate. I hate rooting against people, but in this instance, BOO Hodge BOOO!
PPS This was pretty cool, though I got NO value
Friday, August 28, 2009
Hmmm, maybe I should live here full time
Another day at the tables, another big win. Last night I logged on to Ft to play a little. I found a donk sitting at a 6max 1/2 table so I got on the waiting list. While waiting, I sat down at some .5/1 HU tables to pass the time. I dont think Im plying unbelievably well, but I am just dominating. Last night, I made almost 6 buy ins at HU alone. Couple of big hands:
Pick off a double barrel- I call a three bet in position and see an ugly flop for my 7s. When he bets out, I just dont believe him. I think its alot more likely he has an ace. The turn doesnt change anything if I go with my read. It makes K's less likely, but he definitely could have a Q. On the river, if he fires again, I think I let it go, but he checks so I check and take down a pot.
Suck, resuck- I 3bet with my 8s and get called. The flop is pretty good for me giving me second pair and an OESD. I bet out for value and get called, I pretty much put him on a one pair type hand or a fellow OESD draw. When the turn is an 8, Im in a weird spot. I have a good hand but straights obviously beat me. I dont really think straights are often in his range however. Hands like 107, 109 and 95 could possibly be in his range, but they represent a really small portion. I really dont know what my play should be here tho. Betting out leaves me in a spot that could get bluffraised often, but checking lets him try to scare me off as well. I opt for a check raise all in which may be a terrible idea since I only get called by worse, but I do have outs if he does have a 5 or T. He ends up showing up with 55, which surprised me since he just has a gutshot and 4th pair. I end up pairing up on the river and taking the juicy pot home.
Get a little lucky, when my opponent plays too passively- This is the 7th hand of what would turn out to be an epically good HU match. I 3bet 56suited, and get called. I sometimes like to 3bet SC's because they widen my 3betting range and can obviously hit pretty well when my opponent does call. I flop a pair, and try to take it down right there. He ends up calling and I hit a 2nd pair on the turn. I employ a move Ive been using a bunch lately, which is to check and make my opponent commit himself with a bet than shoving over the top. Luckily it works and his KJ doesnt catch up
I miss value: Basically this hand plays pretty standard till the turn, where I try to go for the same move I did in the last hand. My opponent doesnt fall for it and when an A on the river comes, I lose a lot of the value I could have gotten if I bet on the turn. I do get him to call a value bet, but Im kicking myslef for not getting his stack
The very next hand: I call a 3bet and a cbet with just a pair of 4s. I hit a set on the turn and get him to commit a bunch of money with probably nothing and he folds when I shove over his bet.
The very next hand #2: Im not gonna show the HH cause its boring but I get it in with JJ vs AQ and lose.
Sometimes I play good: Were both 200BB deep, I 3bet 75hh and get called. I flop a gutshot and a FD and cbet, which gets called. The turn completes my flush (and straight ftw) and I check hoping to build a pot. He bets out and I call. The river is a 9s, and I check hoping to induce. He obliges and I shove when he promptly folds. Darn, tho I do get 1.5 buy ins
I get trixy: I pick up KK and flat a 3bet on the button because he has shown himself to be more aggro than passive. The flop is pretty dry and I end up getting it in against him with the nut flush draw and an over, and I win.
Final hand: At this point, I had taken a bunch from him and I think he was getting kinda tilted. I didnt think he had much on the flop so I raised his cbet and he called. He left himself with almost nothing left on the turn and we get it in. With him having a pair of 7s. Weeeeee. He promptly quit me right after.
I also picked up a buy in at 1/2 6max. Overall on the night, +769!!!
Good luck everyone
Pick off a double barrel- I call a three bet in position and see an ugly flop for my 7s. When he bets out, I just dont believe him. I think its alot more likely he has an ace. The turn doesnt change anything if I go with my read. It makes K's less likely, but he definitely could have a Q. On the river, if he fires again, I think I let it go, but he checks so I check and take down a pot.
Suck, resuck- I 3bet with my 8s and get called. The flop is pretty good for me giving me second pair and an OESD. I bet out for value and get called, I pretty much put him on a one pair type hand or a fellow OESD draw. When the turn is an 8, Im in a weird spot. I have a good hand but straights obviously beat me. I dont really think straights are often in his range however. Hands like 107, 109 and 95 could possibly be in his range, but they represent a really small portion. I really dont know what my play should be here tho. Betting out leaves me in a spot that could get bluffraised often, but checking lets him try to scare me off as well. I opt for a check raise all in which may be a terrible idea since I only get called by worse, but I do have outs if he does have a 5 or T. He ends up showing up with 55, which surprised me since he just has a gutshot and 4th pair. I end up pairing up on the river and taking the juicy pot home.
Get a little lucky, when my opponent plays too passively- This is the 7th hand of what would turn out to be an epically good HU match. I 3bet 56suited, and get called. I sometimes like to 3bet SC's because they widen my 3betting range and can obviously hit pretty well when my opponent does call. I flop a pair, and try to take it down right there. He ends up calling and I hit a 2nd pair on the turn. I employ a move Ive been using a bunch lately, which is to check and make my opponent commit himself with a bet than shoving over the top. Luckily it works and his KJ doesnt catch up
I miss value: Basically this hand plays pretty standard till the turn, where I try to go for the same move I did in the last hand. My opponent doesnt fall for it and when an A on the river comes, I lose a lot of the value I could have gotten if I bet on the turn. I do get him to call a value bet, but Im kicking myslef for not getting his stack
The very next hand: I call a 3bet and a cbet with just a pair of 4s. I hit a set on the turn and get him to commit a bunch of money with probably nothing and he folds when I shove over his bet.
The very next hand #2: Im not gonna show the HH cause its boring but I get it in with JJ vs AQ and lose.
Sometimes I play good: Were both 200BB deep, I 3bet 75hh and get called. I flop a gutshot and a FD and cbet, which gets called. The turn completes my flush (and straight ftw) and I check hoping to build a pot. He bets out and I call. The river is a 9s, and I check hoping to induce. He obliges and I shove when he promptly folds. Darn, tho I do get 1.5 buy ins
I get trixy: I pick up KK and flat a 3bet on the button because he has shown himself to be more aggro than passive. The flop is pretty dry and I end up getting it in against him with the nut flush draw and an over, and I win.
Final hand: At this point, I had taken a bunch from him and I think he was getting kinda tilted. I didnt think he had much on the flop so I raised his cbet and he called. He left himself with almost nothing left on the turn and we get it in. With him having a pair of 7s. Weeeeee. He promptly quit me right after.
I also picked up a buy in at 1/2 6max. Overall on the night, +769!!!
Good luck everyone
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Its good to be back
I'm baaaaaaack! College has begun again! My junior year has started, and I had my first classes today. Its exciting to be back with my school friends and Im looking forward to a great year.
Today my monitor arrived at my apartment and I decided to fire up some tables to get back in the swing of things. I havent played a serious session in weeks so it was good to play again.
To say the session went well is an understatement. I played well and ran well, and wasnt sucked out on when I got my money in good. I never lost a full stack on a single hand, which is obviously not sustainably, but it means I'm flipping good and not getting my money in bad.
There were only a few interesting hands:
My biggest pot of the day- I flop the world and let my opponent do the betting for me. I definitely could have bet the turn, but I figured if any more money was going in, it would be his stack (his stack was about equal to the pot) and I could get it on the river.
I dont believe you sir- Preflop, I isolate a limper, as I am known to do and completely whiff the flop. I cbet and he calls. At this point I dont really think he's super strong but I dont really know what he has. Could be a draw, could be a pair, could be air. The turn pairs my 9 and I check. Looking back, Im not really sure I like my check. What do I do if he fires 3/4 pot? Fold? Cause I cant really just call. Putting out a smallish bet may be good, but Im not sure and all comments are appreciated. When he bets more that pot on the turn, Im thrown for a loop, but dont really see him having a hand that beats me. He's playing his hand like a draw or a hand that doesnt wanna see a river aka a bluff or weak pair. Since I have both of those beat, I just stick the money in and see that I am up against air.
Mmmmm, suckouts- This hand isnt that interesting and I dont think I played it particularly well (didnt notice his stack size at the time), but I suck out hard. Nice to see me do so once in a while.
Overall, I finished the session up just under 5 buy ins. A good day for my first session back. Here is the graph and stats from my day.
Good luck everyone!
PS I have 600 dollars on a prop bet I saw on 2+2, Ill detail it more fully next time I blog
Today my monitor arrived at my apartment and I decided to fire up some tables to get back in the swing of things. I havent played a serious session in weeks so it was good to play again.
To say the session went well is an understatement. I played well and ran well, and wasnt sucked out on when I got my money in good. I never lost a full stack on a single hand, which is obviously not sustainably, but it means I'm flipping good and not getting my money in bad.
There were only a few interesting hands:
My biggest pot of the day- I flop the world and let my opponent do the betting for me. I definitely could have bet the turn, but I figured if any more money was going in, it would be his stack (his stack was about equal to the pot) and I could get it on the river.
I dont believe you sir- Preflop, I isolate a limper, as I am known to do and completely whiff the flop. I cbet and he calls. At this point I dont really think he's super strong but I dont really know what he has. Could be a draw, could be a pair, could be air. The turn pairs my 9 and I check. Looking back, Im not really sure I like my check. What do I do if he fires 3/4 pot? Fold? Cause I cant really just call. Putting out a smallish bet may be good, but Im not sure and all comments are appreciated. When he bets more that pot on the turn, Im thrown for a loop, but dont really see him having a hand that beats me. He's playing his hand like a draw or a hand that doesnt wanna see a river aka a bluff or weak pair. Since I have both of those beat, I just stick the money in and see that I am up against air.
Mmmmm, suckouts- This hand isnt that interesting and I dont think I played it particularly well (didnt notice his stack size at the time), but I suck out hard. Nice to see me do so once in a while.
Overall, I finished the session up just under 5 buy ins. A good day for my first session back. Here is the graph and stats from my day.
Good luck everyone!
PS I have 600 dollars on a prop bet I saw on 2+2, Ill detail it more fully next time I blog
Monday, August 3, 2009
A very blah couple of weeks
The last few weeks, I havent really had much motivation to play or write. Ive played some short sessions, some profitable but one went very badly. It ended with me down 4 buy ins, mainly due to me playing badly and getting played back at with nothing and getting called when I was bluffing. It was just one of those quintessential sessions where everything went wrong. My GF is coming to town in a couple of days so I likely wont be playing much. I think Ive been really burnt out from work and the hot days outside. Hopefully, once I go back to school (Aug 22nd) I'll get back into the swing of things in terms of grinding. Ill def be playing a bunch so look forward to that.
Good luck everyone!
Good luck everyone!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
A couple of frustrating, yet profitable sessions
After the epic failing of last week, I decided to take a couple of nights this week and seriously sit down and play some poker. On Wednesday and Thursday night, I fired up 9-12 tables and tried to get some quality sessions in to bring back my confidence. Both nights did not go as planned in that I did not play good poker at all and had really swongy sessions. Luckily, both sessions ended in the black but only because I was able to come up with a big hand just as I decided to shut it down for the night. I really hope I can pick up my game soon, Id like to get back to beating 100NL comfortably again since I know I can do it if I have my head on straight and I dont spew. Here are a couple of things I noticed about my play during the sessions:
1. When it comes to cash games, I can handle 9 tables, but 12 may be a few too many. Since I have a mac, and dont know of any scripts that auto hit time for me, there are times when 12 tables gets a little too much for me. When playing 12 tables, I cant really take an extended look at a hand for too long until 2-4 other tables need attention. I'm sure practice and familiarity will help me increase the number of tables, but at this point, I dont think I'm ready.
2. As good as I think I am, I am still constantly making TERRIBLE plays. Even though I ended with a net profit in my sessions, I lost probably over 300 dollars in potential profit by making some terrible plays. I really need to watch myself more carefully because I am making plays that even below average players dont make. For example, I'll 4bet QQ, get called and cant get away when a K flops, when I know he has me beat. Its hands like these, the ones where I say in my head that Im beat, but still click the call/bet button anyway that just kill me.
3. I am a bad table selector. When I have the PokerTableRatings buddy list running and I can find donks at a bunch of tables, my sessions are much more profitable when no one on the list is online. When I dont have a mark (a donk from my buddy list), I tend to not stand up from a table until it breaks, no matter how tough it turns out to be. Although I do some rudimentary table selection (looking at avg. pot and players in the pot) I really should do more to table select better.
I'm sure there are more things to cover, but its Sunday aka poker day so Ima be firing up some tourneys and some cash to hopefully make up all the money I lost last weekend.
1. When it comes to cash games, I can handle 9 tables, but 12 may be a few too many. Since I have a mac, and dont know of any scripts that auto hit time for me, there are times when 12 tables gets a little too much for me. When playing 12 tables, I cant really take an extended look at a hand for too long until 2-4 other tables need attention. I'm sure practice and familiarity will help me increase the number of tables, but at this point, I dont think I'm ready.
2. As good as I think I am, I am still constantly making TERRIBLE plays. Even though I ended with a net profit in my sessions, I lost probably over 300 dollars in potential profit by making some terrible plays. I really need to watch myself more carefully because I am making plays that even below average players dont make. For example, I'll 4bet QQ, get called and cant get away when a K flops, when I know he has me beat. Its hands like these, the ones where I say in my head that Im beat, but still click the call/bet button anyway that just kill me.
3. I am a bad table selector. When I have the PokerTableRatings buddy list running and I can find donks at a bunch of tables, my sessions are much more profitable when no one on the list is online. When I dont have a mark (a donk from my buddy list), I tend to not stand up from a table until it breaks, no matter how tough it turns out to be. Although I do some rudimentary table selection (looking at avg. pot and players in the pot) I really should do more to table select better.
I'm sure there are more things to cover, but its Sunday aka poker day so Ima be firing up some tourneys and some cash to hopefully make up all the money I lost last weekend.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Roller Coaster Weekend
So since I last blogged, a lot of poker has been played and alot has gone down. When I posted last week, I was at about $5300, psyched about my new set up and looking forward to increasing my hourly rate by including more tables.
Initially all was going well, I played a couple of sessions and won money in pretty much all of them, culminating in a short but sweet session on Saturday morning in which I was able to pick up 3 buy ins in less than an hour. By Saturday afternoon, my roll stood at a very healthy 6053. Unfortunately, things only get worse from there.
Saturday afternoon, my friends and I went back to Seabrook to see if our live poker streak could live on. Good news: IT DID! Bad news: Not by me. Ferocious Kitty (check the blog here) ended up chopping at the final table for 500 smackaroos. Congrats again kitty! I, on the other hand, didnt have a great day at Seabrook. I played the Saturday evening tourney ($100 and 6k starting stacks) and chipped up early but then went very card dead for the longest time and ended up getting it in with my QQ vs AK, losing the race. I'm pretty happy with my play overall and was just unlucky to not pick up cards for an extended period of time.
I thought my luck would turn around when early in a $60 SnG I shoved over a MP raiser with AQo (start with 100/100 blinds with 3k starting stacks 10 min levels, horrible I know) and got snapped off by AK. I binked a Q on the flop and doubled. I then proceeded to dominate the table running my stack from around 5500 to 8700 in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, the table was super passive and no one was getting knocked out. I eventually got it in BvB with AK vs KJ with 7 left against a guy with 3k. Flop AQ6r, turn 10 (obv) and riv blanked. The two hands later I shove over a raiser with my JJ and get called by QQ and Im gone. From 1st to out in 3 hands.
I then donked off 40 more in let it ride, fun game which I usually run good at but not Saturday.
On Sunday, I was busy in the afternoon but in the evening I decided to grind some tourneys with my friends. Played a couple of 45 mans and satts and nothing really materialized. I lost about 200 in tourney buy ins, no biggie. I was all set to go home at 1030 and get a nice rest for the week to come. But noooooo, as I was about to go to bed I thought it would be smart to check how many ironman points I had earned that day. I wanted 100, I only had 84 so I fired up PokerTableRatings to see which donks were online. I noticed one sitting at 2/4 HU. I figured that I was running hot and that I knew I could beat the donk. Eventually, he stood up and there was a random opponent sitting there alone. I then made the very stupid decision to play him anyway. I was quickly down 120 bucks when a double barrel bluff failed and I quit him after 15 or so minutes. Now my roll was at just above 57oo and I did not like that one bit so I fired up a 1/2 HU table where I lose a race with AK vs 99 all in pre, so I am down another 200. I am now desperate to get back the money I had lost and opened another 2/4 HU table where I placed a hand in which I turned 2nd nut flush, but couldnt get away when the board paired on the river (pretty ugly hand on my part). After all the dust had cleared I had lost almost 750 dollars in one night after trying to just get 15 #%#@-ing ironman points.
Ugh rough ending to a week with potential. Here is the graph. YUCK
Initially all was going well, I played a couple of sessions and won money in pretty much all of them, culminating in a short but sweet session on Saturday morning in which I was able to pick up 3 buy ins in less than an hour. By Saturday afternoon, my roll stood at a very healthy 6053. Unfortunately, things only get worse from there.
Saturday afternoon, my friends and I went back to Seabrook to see if our live poker streak could live on. Good news: IT DID! Bad news: Not by me. Ferocious Kitty (check the blog here) ended up chopping at the final table for 500 smackaroos. Congrats again kitty! I, on the other hand, didnt have a great day at Seabrook. I played the Saturday evening tourney ($100 and 6k starting stacks) and chipped up early but then went very card dead for the longest time and ended up getting it in with my QQ vs AK, losing the race. I'm pretty happy with my play overall and was just unlucky to not pick up cards for an extended period of time.
I thought my luck would turn around when early in a $60 SnG I shoved over a MP raiser with AQo (start with 100/100 blinds with 3k starting stacks 10 min levels, horrible I know) and got snapped off by AK. I binked a Q on the flop and doubled. I then proceeded to dominate the table running my stack from around 5500 to 8700 in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, the table was super passive and no one was getting knocked out. I eventually got it in BvB with AK vs KJ with 7 left against a guy with 3k. Flop AQ6r, turn 10 (obv) and riv blanked. The two hands later I shove over a raiser with my JJ and get called by QQ and Im gone. From 1st to out in 3 hands.
I then donked off 40 more in let it ride, fun game which I usually run good at but not Saturday.
On Sunday, I was busy in the afternoon but in the evening I decided to grind some tourneys with my friends. Played a couple of 45 mans and satts and nothing really materialized. I lost about 200 in tourney buy ins, no biggie. I was all set to go home at 1030 and get a nice rest for the week to come. But noooooo, as I was about to go to bed I thought it would be smart to check how many ironman points I had earned that day. I wanted 100, I only had 84 so I fired up PokerTableRatings to see which donks were online. I noticed one sitting at 2/4 HU. I figured that I was running hot and that I knew I could beat the donk. Eventually, he stood up and there was a random opponent sitting there alone. I then made the very stupid decision to play him anyway. I was quickly down 120 bucks when a double barrel bluff failed and I quit him after 15 or so minutes. Now my roll was at just above 57oo and I did not like that one bit so I fired up a 1/2 HU table where I lose a race with AK vs 99 all in pre, so I am down another 200. I am now desperate to get back the money I had lost and opened another 2/4 HU table where I placed a hand in which I turned 2nd nut flush, but couldnt get away when the board paired on the river (pretty ugly hand on my part). After all the dust had cleared I had lost almost 750 dollars in one night after trying to just get 15 #%#@-ing ironman points.
Ugh rough ending to a week with potential. Here is the graph. YUCK
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
My New Set Up
So not much has happened here in terms of poker. I played a little, won a couple buy ins but havent had the motivation to log in the hours I should.
I did, however, have the time to put together my new poker set up. Its nothing special but my monitor is now up and running. I had to fiddle around with (edit: break) an old desk we had in the basement. Heres a little snapshot. (The picture is actually a mirror image of my set up, i have my monitor on the right and the laptop on the left, and theres a TV in the background).
Hopefully double the monitors equals double the monies!!!
I did, however, have the time to put together my new poker set up. Its nothing special but my monitor is now up and running. I had to fiddle around with (edit: break) an old desk we had in the basement. Heres a little snapshot. (The picture is actually a mirror image of my set up, i have my monitor on the right and the laptop on the left, and theres a TV in the background).
Hopefully double the monitors equals double the monies!!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Random Poker Musings
So, as promised yesterday, I thought Id share some thoughts on some random poker things Ive been thinking about.
Poker Table Ratings- PokerTableRatings.com is a website that tracks hands on cash games across many of the major poker sites. I love using it to not only see how good or bad my opponents are, but to see some of the biggest donks at certain limits. By far, my favorite feature of the site is the Buddy List (which is actually down now due to FTP's updates). The Buddy List is just like that of the AIM variety; it tells you when youre friends are online. In this case however, your friends are not your chums, but the donks that you love playing against. Before logging on to FTP I always check my buddy list to see if any of my favorite ATMs are online. If they are, I immediately join their table and let the money roll in. If you dont have a program like SpadeEye, PokerTableRatings' Buddy List is a great tool.
WSOP ME Drama- So as you may or may not have heard, people were being shut out of the Main Event because it was full. Apparently the issue arose when many people chose to register for day 1D, the final starting day, and assumed that since there has never been a problem before, they could just walk up to the registration booth minutes before the start and get in OK. Seemingly hundreds of people had the same thought process and showed up at 1130 for the noon start time. The WSOP staff only had enough tables set up for 3000 players, and with many players preregistering, there would be some people left in the cold. A few high profile players were not able to play in the Main Event due to the table shortage, including TJ Cloutier, Ted Forrest and even Patrik Antonius. Understandably, those shut out were outraged. Some had planned for months to come to Vegas to play in the ME and then were told they would not be allowed in.
I for one have no sympathy for those who missed out on the ME. It was well known that there were 3 other starting days for the ME, not only that, but there has been preregistration for almost a year now. Furthermore, it was known that days could be sold out and that players should plan accordingly. The players that were shut out were kinda caught off guard, but their situation was completely avoidable.
FTP Update - When I originally was going to write about the update I was going to berate full tilt for doing such a crappy job. But, after the crappiness was somewhat diminished with today's update, I must say that the update is net positive. I love the hand replayer, the 7 game mix and the supposed performance enhancing software. On the other hand, I lost my card mods, Copilot is confused by some new stuff (I dont use it much now tho) and the new small cards are REALLY hard to read when multitabling. Sure the #s are big but I cant see the suit! Im confident these things will be fixed and FTP will be back to their ass kicking ways.
Th-th-th-thats all folks
Good luck everyone!
Poker Table Ratings- PokerTableRatings.com is a website that tracks hands on cash games across many of the major poker sites. I love using it to not only see how good or bad my opponents are, but to see some of the biggest donks at certain limits. By far, my favorite feature of the site is the Buddy List (which is actually down now due to FTP's updates). The Buddy List is just like that of the AIM variety; it tells you when youre friends are online. In this case however, your friends are not your chums, but the donks that you love playing against. Before logging on to FTP I always check my buddy list to see if any of my favorite ATMs are online. If they are, I immediately join their table and let the money roll in. If you dont have a program like SpadeEye, PokerTableRatings' Buddy List is a great tool.
WSOP ME Drama- So as you may or may not have heard, people were being shut out of the Main Event because it was full. Apparently the issue arose when many people chose to register for day 1D, the final starting day, and assumed that since there has never been a problem before, they could just walk up to the registration booth minutes before the start and get in OK. Seemingly hundreds of people had the same thought process and showed up at 1130 for the noon start time. The WSOP staff only had enough tables set up for 3000 players, and with many players preregistering, there would be some people left in the cold. A few high profile players were not able to play in the Main Event due to the table shortage, including TJ Cloutier, Ted Forrest and even Patrik Antonius. Understandably, those shut out were outraged. Some had planned for months to come to Vegas to play in the ME and then were told they would not be allowed in.
I for one have no sympathy for those who missed out on the ME. It was well known that there were 3 other starting days for the ME, not only that, but there has been preregistration for almost a year now. Furthermore, it was known that days could be sold out and that players should plan accordingly. The players that were shut out were kinda caught off guard, but their situation was completely avoidable.
FTP Update - When I originally was going to write about the update I was going to berate full tilt for doing such a crappy job. But, after the crappiness was somewhat diminished with today's update, I must say that the update is net positive. I love the hand replayer, the 7 game mix and the supposed performance enhancing software. On the other hand, I lost my card mods, Copilot is confused by some new stuff (I dont use it much now tho) and the new small cards are REALLY hard to read when multitabling. Sure the #s are big but I cant see the suit! Im confident these things will be fixed and FTP will be back to their ass kicking ways.
Th-th-th-thats all folks
Good luck everyone!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Upswings FTW
After the gf left on Sunday night, I wasnt really in the mood to play until Monday evening. I utilized my newest tool (PokerTableRankings.com's buddy list feature, more on that in a future post) and found some potentially juicy games. I played 6max on 7-8 tables (still no new monitor, not really sure where to set it up), signed up for the waiting lists on some heads up tables and had what I thought was a decent session. I knew I wasnt up alot, but maybe a buy in or so. Nope, when I checked my session I was down 7 dollars, whoops. I stopped when I did because of a pretty big migraine I had coming on; Im a frequent migraine sufferer and I could tell this one would be bad.The session lasted over an hour and all the while I was still on the waiting list of one of the HU games. As I was quitting the 6max games due to my headache, the HU table opened up and I was able to play the opponent I was waiting for. I had played this guy a bunch at 6max 50NL and he definitely was not good. He wasnt a superdonk that basically gives away his money, but he was a fairly straightforward player who wasnt too tricky and was easy to read. I decided to try to play through the pain and get in some HU poker action. What a very good decision it turned out to be...
My headache had turned into a full blown migraine and I was just trying to keep my mind off the pain and focus on the poker. Here are some of the highlights:
Nice flop eh: Obviously I flop gin and cooler this guy, but I think I missed alot of value on the river. If hes calling 67, hes probably calling more, even a shove. I really hate my river bet looking back on it.
Mmmm, thin value: I played this hand kinda tricky. At least pre and post flop. He had been 3betting pretty wide, but not maniacally. When I just call the 3bet and call the flop bet, I could have ALOT of hands. When my opponent leads the turn, I put him squarely on a worse ace and decided I wanted to get my money in here however I could (I was praying he didnt have AK). My plan worked and I got his money when he shows up with a barely worse kicker. Weeeeeee!
Nicer flop, eh: I had developed a read on this guy that he would bet the flop when first to act if he had a hand he liked. Knowing this, I wanted to build a pot to get his monies in. The turn is a bit scary since sets and some two pair hands boated up but I wasnt slowing down. I bet enough on the turn to allow for a little less than pot sized bet on the river which he gladly calls with 2nd pair.
Blech: I pick up 10s and get 3bet, since he had been doing this pretty wide, I four bet him and he flats. Against some players, this move is the absolute top of their range, but against this guy I knew he could be looking me up with worse (A9s+, A10+, 8s+). The flop isnt great but I wanted to end the hand there, he shoves and Im pretty much committed, considering he could have some overcards+FD hands that I still have equity against. He flips up KQ and I lose. IMO, his flat of my 4bet is pretty terrible. a) hes OOP b) I hadnt 4 bet much so I can only assume my perceived range is like 9s+, AJ+. A range that crushes his, especially since I dominate KQ often. Whatevs, moving on...
WP sir: This hand is kinda a cooler, but he played the hand really well in my opinion. He disguised the strength of his hand with the flat of my 3bet and even his raise on the flop doesnt mean he has me beat. I was a bit unlucky to have such a pretty board come out for my hand, but regardless, he played it well.
Poker is easy when you have aces: Pretty standard, value bet the crap out of my aces.
He valuetowns himself: Another pretty standard hand. I dont think my hand is strong enough to raise on the turn or the river but I am definitely calling. I knew he had a hand he liked somewhat, but I had a pretty good kicker so I thought TPGK would be good enough to merit a call.
The backbreaker: I have been calling raises OOP with smallish pairs HU trying to flop sets recently. I dont flat much with anything else (sometimes SC's) so this is kinda exploitable, I gotta fix that leak. I slowplay my set and get the perfect turn card for his hand. His two pair cant beat my 3 of a kind and I take down a sizable pot. He got pretty pissed after this one since he said it always seemed like whenever he had a good hand, I had a better one (definitely somewhat true). He played a few more hands then quit me. I ended up taking almost 500 clams from this guy. Definitely good medicine for a splitting headache.
I played a little yesterday, trying to replicate my HU success but I ended the day down some (less than a buy in).
Today, I logged in to see there was a new software update. This always excites me since there are sometimes a couple of drastic changes that dramatically change full tilt (tourney dollars, shootouts, late regging etc). I opened two tables of .5/1 (after trying out the 7 game mix for a bit) and there are definitely some big changes (more on that later) but was even happier to see that I sat down at a gold mine. In my experiment, I was able to win more than 2 buy ins. I like running good.
After a great couple of days, this is where I'm at:
Wow, 5k. Thats a lot of monies. It really shows how far Ive come. Wow.
Post coming soon discussing FTP changes, WSOP ME fiascoes and PokerTableRatings.
Good Luck everyone!!
My headache had turned into a full blown migraine and I was just trying to keep my mind off the pain and focus on the poker. Here are some of the highlights:
Nice flop eh: Obviously I flop gin and cooler this guy, but I think I missed alot of value on the river. If hes calling 67, hes probably calling more, even a shove. I really hate my river bet looking back on it.
Mmmm, thin value: I played this hand kinda tricky. At least pre and post flop. He had been 3betting pretty wide, but not maniacally. When I just call the 3bet and call the flop bet, I could have ALOT of hands. When my opponent leads the turn, I put him squarely on a worse ace and decided I wanted to get my money in here however I could (I was praying he didnt have AK). My plan worked and I got his money when he shows up with a barely worse kicker. Weeeeeee!
Nicer flop, eh: I had developed a read on this guy that he would bet the flop when first to act if he had a hand he liked. Knowing this, I wanted to build a pot to get his monies in. The turn is a bit scary since sets and some two pair hands boated up but I wasnt slowing down. I bet enough on the turn to allow for a little less than pot sized bet on the river which he gladly calls with 2nd pair.
Blech: I pick up 10s and get 3bet, since he had been doing this pretty wide, I four bet him and he flats. Against some players, this move is the absolute top of their range, but against this guy I knew he could be looking me up with worse (A9s+, A10+, 8s+). The flop isnt great but I wanted to end the hand there, he shoves and Im pretty much committed, considering he could have some overcards+FD hands that I still have equity against. He flips up KQ and I lose. IMO, his flat of my 4bet is pretty terrible. a) hes OOP b) I hadnt 4 bet much so I can only assume my perceived range is like 9s+, AJ+. A range that crushes his, especially since I dominate KQ often. Whatevs, moving on...
WP sir: This hand is kinda a cooler, but he played the hand really well in my opinion. He disguised the strength of his hand with the flat of my 3bet and even his raise on the flop doesnt mean he has me beat. I was a bit unlucky to have such a pretty board come out for my hand, but regardless, he played it well.
Poker is easy when you have aces: Pretty standard, value bet the crap out of my aces.
He valuetowns himself: Another pretty standard hand. I dont think my hand is strong enough to raise on the turn or the river but I am definitely calling. I knew he had a hand he liked somewhat, but I had a pretty good kicker so I thought TPGK would be good enough to merit a call.
The backbreaker: I have been calling raises OOP with smallish pairs HU trying to flop sets recently. I dont flat much with anything else (sometimes SC's) so this is kinda exploitable, I gotta fix that leak. I slowplay my set and get the perfect turn card for his hand. His two pair cant beat my 3 of a kind and I take down a sizable pot. He got pretty pissed after this one since he said it always seemed like whenever he had a good hand, I had a better one (definitely somewhat true). He played a few more hands then quit me. I ended up taking almost 500 clams from this guy. Definitely good medicine for a splitting headache.
I played a little yesterday, trying to replicate my HU success but I ended the day down some (less than a buy in).
Today, I logged in to see there was a new software update. This always excites me since there are sometimes a couple of drastic changes that dramatically change full tilt (tourney dollars, shootouts, late regging etc). I opened two tables of .5/1 (after trying out the 7 game mix for a bit) and there are definitely some big changes (more on that later) but was even happier to see that I sat down at a gold mine. In my experiment, I was able to win more than 2 buy ins. I like running good.
After a great couple of days, this is where I'm at:
Wow, 5k. Thats a lot of monies. It really shows how far Ive come. Wow.
Post coming soon discussing FTP changes, WSOP ME fiascoes and PokerTableRatings.
Good Luck everyone!!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Long time no blog
It's been a while since I have made a post, but that is mainly because its been a while since I have put in a serious session online. The gf is in town so no pokers for me, and just before that I was getting accustomed to my new job at a local summer camp which meant much less poker.
In a couple days, I'm going to set up my monitor and get back to multitabling 100NL. I hope this break doesnt hurt my skilllllllz, but I think I should be fine.
One last thing, check out Ferocious Kitty's blog, he's got some great info up on his forays into low stakes cash and MTTs. He's looking for some feedback on a couple of interesting posts he's put up, give it a look see.
Good luck everyone!
In a couple days, I'm going to set up my monitor and get back to multitabling 100NL. I hope this break doesnt hurt my skilllllllz, but I think I should be fine.
One last thing, check out Ferocious Kitty's blog, he's got some great info up on his forays into low stakes cash and MTTs. He's looking for some feedback on a couple of interesting posts he's put up, give it a look see.
Good luck everyone!
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