I added a new column which converted their $ values for bb (I think? – probably got it wrong, but whatever), then the lowest values for each buy-in level is bolded. Finally I added another column which gave the bb reduced by my rakeback (albeit at my rate as an affiliate – drop a few points off that for the masses).

It looks like nl5 might be ok with Bodog, and then above that Cake looks good. nl2 is clearly a waste of time. The only thing about Bodog is that it’s not a regular rake sign-up, it has to be a ‘secret’ bonus offer I can offer through people already signed up with meteoricpoker.com and I haven’t figured out how to enable it yet (sooo professional!). I already have the Cake account though, so could just jump in at nl25. No HUD though which is a bit scary.

Still, glad to be back, if only because I can understand what everyone’s saying again (mostly – Cambridge is multicultural to say the least). I’m weighing up whether to start going to Italian lessons, and also continue the Spanish course I was doing last year (off to Barcelona in a week’s time).

Pokerwise, playing better than ever but unfortunately it’s at miserable $5 stakes. BR crushed again. The weekend so far;

Even though most of this weekend I’ve been breakeven, it felt like I was in a dominating position during the games. I’d then make one hero call too many and shift the game to them and then not recover – so the best I can say is I’m playing really well 90% of the time, but that other 10% is killing me. The graph also shows me over EV which is a pretty bad sign (actually $100 under ev for the year, but whatever). So definitely not bad beats to blame – it’s all me unfortunately.

Update forgot to mention – just had a straight flush

At these stakes no-one can lay down a flush (zeebo!), and his turn lead couldn’t have been anything else (Could I lay down a 7 flush? The turn PSB was a bit expensive to call, esp as there weren’t many clubs lower than mine out there & virtually no bluffs or non-flushes in his range. So in retrospect I was probably the idiot there, although maybe calling and hoping the river will be cheap isn’t so awful). Since it was obvious he had a club, I banked on the zeebo effect and went for the shove on the river rather than a less than pot value bet. That was for the final of a 4man too, so very nice

Just pokerstoved that turn – if we assume he’s got a flush then I’ve only 38% equity. So calling $120 to win $360, that means, uh, it’s a bad call? I hate these pot odds stuff. Must be bad, surely. With his actual hand I’ve only a 5% shot on the turn, so Meteoric luckbox strikes again

uh, think I figured out the pot equity/odds thing – after he bets, my 38% equity is $91, so that’s the most I should call. So having to call $120 is bad odds. Can implied odds be factored in? If I do hit my miracle card, then we’ll be playing for stacks (as we did), but how does that work mathmatically (or can’t it without having some magic number for his calling % or FE etc)?

Bank holiday monday, nothing else to do and plenty of time, so figured I’d stick a bit of cash onto Pokerstars and play their HU knockout MTTs (where it’s $10 buy-in, then you win $5 for each player you knockout). I thought I’d keep signing up for them throughout the day while taking down a few regular husngs in the quiet spots.

Didn’t even get that far.

I registered for the first one and opened a regular husng while waiting. In the opening hands I tried a few cbets to see where I stood – he called all of them and we went to a cheap showdown where he had bottom pair each time.

I then tried a few delayed cbets and some check-raises. Every time I got called, and somehow he had a piece of the board. I figured I couldn’t put him down as a calling station as he had hit each time, even though he was calling really light.

I finally hit a flop, albeit OOP. I lead out each street with him calling me down. He paired his King on the river and took that pot.

I was starting to feel a bit incredulous, plus a bit short of chips. There were a ton of hands like this;

At least he couldn’t get value out of monsters, but I was running out of ideas. I had won a pot only twice out of 80 or so hands (I 3bet pre and missed on the dryest board ever – had to lead out and he folded. The other hand was a flopped straight!).

Finally I was desperate with 500 chips – my KQ hit top pair on 7KTr, I raised and he shoved to show AQ. A Jack landed on the river and game over.

Amazing. But what can you do? The MTT started and I tried to shrug it off.

First game was a Russian maniac. Every pot had a stupid reraise somewhere (several 4bets at times). Finally it came down to my TT vs his AJ, and he hit. So that was that – next MTT in an hour.

So I went back to regular games while waiting. And again all the players were hitting any part of the board and calling down. Over and over again.

Tilted beyond comprehension, I withdrew the remaining cash from PS and gave up. It was only mid-day, ruined utterly

I don’t believe poker is rigged at all, but it’s so easy to see why so many people do. At the microstakes if anyone with the smallest amount of money can play, then why not be giant calling stations – it’s all about the gamble! When their J2 hits a KQ2 board for the win, then whoohoo!

Maybe if I called every street a bit more I could win too…

Well, maybe not totally true Looking back over the hands I was definitely running hot on the upswing, although did really well at keeping myself out of trouble. For the games I lost, the errors I made stood out a mile;

That guy was chasing draws all over the place and as soon as he raised the river I just knew it was QT (but I still called). I then looked back at the hand and realised how terribly I’d slowplayed it and let him draw out cheaply. FFS, such an idiot, yet at the time I thought I was being smart. Seems it takes quite a few smacks in the face before I can learn a lesson.

Shouldn’t complain though, as still plenty of that heater left in the account.

I’m still playing $5 & $10 games, which also isn’t very exciting, especially when everything’s coming out break-even;

Not exactly a huge sample for almost a month’s play either. Nevertheless I’m feeling good about it – todays games were a walk in the park, and I ought to play a load more while it’s going well.

Just need to move up to where they respect my humour…

So should be easy right? So far I’m playing like an idiot, and still making big pots at the wrong moments.

Haven’t needed to make that deposit yet though, and if I’m not beating these then there’s no point playing any higher. I’ll just keep on going until I’m not making any of these huge donkey mistakes that I’m doing now…

Update: ok, getting a bit better. Still feels like too much luck involved though;

Anyway, that fired me up again to try regular husngs to see if I ought to be winning. My BR is pretty bad right now, so this is just $5s, and it went like this;

Game 1: First hand dealt KK – money goes in, villain has TT & my hand holds. Nice start!

Game 2: Straightforward, picked up several 200 chip pots, then on 20th hand hit trips on turn & finish him off.

Game 3: V passive opponent, hard to get value out hands. However on 106th hand get QQ and manage to get him all-in with his FD + gutshot. He hits the gutshot. First game lost.

Game 4: 38th hand my AA’s are cracked. Second game lost.

Game 5: Hand 6 my 88 go in against villain’s 99. Third game lost.

Game 6: 3rd hand, my TPTK (AJ) goes all the way against his TPWK and I’m back up to breakeven.

Game 7: AA cracked again. Another loss.

Game 8: Tried to push villain off a hand but he clings on with his 74o & hits his OSED which gets paid off since I hit my K on the river. Perhaps this was my fault.

Game 9: My 44′s go in against 88′s with expected results.

And then I run out of steam. The HEM chart has only 9 games on it, but it makes me feel that if I carry on it’ll just keep plummeting. Why is it all so different to the start of this year?