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January Results

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Half good, half bad month.

The bad was my cash games – I started out the month after some in depth revision of my play, and came to the conclusion I was pushing too hard with paired hands (not PP) – overvaluing them and trying to get too much value. I was doing well at all-in play, and making good value out of 2pair+ hands, but the weaker made hands were wiping out those gains.

So I trimmed down my game and initially it seemed to be working – a nice 12 buy-in climb. It then collapsed dramatically, and to be honest I’m still not sure why;

At the bottom of that dive Full Tilt bought out Rush Poker, and I instantly switched, lured in by the appeal of big rakeback and racking up a large volume of hands. I’m not a big volume player, and the idea of boosting the number of hands was to reduce variance, but somehow I became swingier then ever. I possibly could have worked my way back to zero, but I was dispirited with the whole thing. My new year’s resolution was to not care about the limits I play, and just go with my bankroll, which is still fine, but it hurt to be within $8 of moving down to NL5 :-(

However  at that point I switched to husngs. Which was the good half of the month :-D

For some reason I’ve been unstoppable – $5 buy-in games went fine, enough to give me confidence with the $10s. I then won 75% of $10 games – 17/23! Yesterday I tried some $20 games (not january I know), and won 2/3, so early days there – however the cash profit from these is astounding. Furthermore I’m not feeling bad (much) when I lose a match, not like when I’ve just spewed 4 buy-ins at NL10 – however that could be because I’m on a winning streak, sooo I’m not going to make too much of that right now.

Final gains: $120 including Rakeback. $70 without rb – have to admit, rush poker did win in that respect!

February I’m concentrating on HU. Maybe this is a turning point in what kind of game I play, we’ll have to see…

ps. forgot to mention 21st in the WBCOOP main event as well :-)

Also got two weeks of stox from trulyfree, better get watching some vids I guess!

Uh, So What’s This SCOOP Ticket Thing?

Monday, February 1st, 2010

So having played 8 hours of poker into the wee hours, I came away with a $215 SCOOP ticket. Two hundred and sixteen dollahs!!! Yeah!

Or maybe not. Looks like SCOOP tickets aren’t redeemable, at least not going by last years rules (haven’t tried with this ticket, so hopefully I’m wrong, but I saw on another blog a similar thing so I’m thinking I’m SOL with this).

So can I win loads of dosh with it? Um, no, I can win a place to another tournament. SCOOPS is a steps tournament – that $215 gets me into step 4. I have to win that, and then another to see any money.

Like that’s going to happen…

Hmph. How much could I have won playing 8 hours of husngs or cash? If it wasn’t for the great atmosphere of it, ie the chat with other bloggers, the live blogging etc, then it was a big waste of time.

Fake Profit: a ‘$215′ ticket

Real Profit: two new additions to my blogroll; Black Widow of Poker & Rabbi Poker News (there’s a few others I want to hunt down too – ppl who were chatty during the game)

WBCOOP Main Event

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Nuts all the way :-)

NL Holdem $20(BB) Poker Stars
SB ($2,450)
BB ($2,408)
UTG ($2,470)
UTG+1 ($2,470)
UTG+2 ($2,470)
MP1 ($2,460)
MP2 ($2,807)
CO ($2,440)
Hero ($2,525)

Dealt to Hero Tdiamonds poker card Kdiamonds poker card

UTG raises to $80, fold, fold, fold, MP2 calls $80, fold, Hero calls $80, fold, BB calls $60

FLOP ($330) Jdiamonds poker card Adiamonds poker card Qclubs poker card

BB checks, UTG bets $200, MP2 raises to $560, Hero calls $560, BB folds, UTG folds

TURN ($1,650) Jdiamonds poker card Adiamonds poker card Qclubs poker card 7hearts poker card

MP2 bets $750, Hero calls $750

RIVER ($3,150) Jdiamonds poker card Adiamonds poker card Qclubs poker card 7hearts poker card 6diamonds poker card

MP2 bets $820, Hero raises to $1,135 (AI), MP2 calls $315

MP2 shows Jspades poker card Aspades poker card
(Pre 61%, Flop 17.3%, Turn 9.1%)

Hero shows Tdiamonds poker card Kdiamonds poker card
(Pre 39%, Flop 82.7%, Turn 90.9%)

Hero wins $5,420

  • S1ndr0me seems to have fallen asleep, guess he’s not playing. United113 got a good early start too. Haven’t found anyone else yet…
  • Took a stab at a 3way pot, but got check-raised by someone who appeared to be disconnected. Looks like this is going to be it’s usual shove until I die spewfest bingo crap…
  • Found BurnleyMilk – he’s still on a starting stack. Still looking for more compadres – should be more of us around somewhere.
  • So many people sitting out, and so many timeout disconnections :-( Very sloooowww!
  • Bit of stealing, bit of bluffing. Twice avg pot.
  • Damn, all in AK against AJ – boards gets two Jacks. Back down to an average potsize :-(
  • Hit another straight. Not much action though. Chickens.
  • Same idiot with AJ calls down my top pair to hit his ace on the turn. Getting annoyed now :-(
  • Pulled off a bluff for $1000 – maintains me at average stack size (~$3k)
NL Holdem $40(BB) Poker Stars
SB ($5,700)
BB ($5,615)
UTG ($2,215)
UTG+1 ($2,260)
UTG+2 ($2,765)
MP1 ($3,220)
Hero ($3,185)
CO ($2,170)
BTN ($640)

Dealt to Hero Tdiamonds poker card Adiamonds poker card

fold, UTG+1 calls $40, UTG+2 calls $40, MP1 calls $40, Hero raises to $200, fold, BTN raises to $640 (AI), fold, fold, fold, UTG+2 calls $600, fold, Hero calls $440

FLOP ($2,060) Thearts poker card 3hearts poker card Tspades poker card

UTG+2 bets $2,125 (AI), Hero calls $2,125

TURN ($6,310) Thearts poker card 3hearts poker card Tspades poker card 6hearts poker card

RIVER ($6,310) Thearts poker card 3hearts poker card Tspades poker card 6hearts poker card 5hearts poker card

UTG+2 shows 2spades poker card 2clubs poker card
(Pre 19%, Flop 7.2%, Turn 4.8%)

Hero shows Tdiamonds poker card Adiamonds poker card
(Pre 27%, Flop 80.7%, Turn 73.8%)

BTN shows Jdiamonds poker card Jhearts poker card
(Pre 54%, Flop 12.1%, Turn 21.4%)

Hero wins $4,250
BTN wins $2,060

  • Nice :-) Shame the shortstack got the flush
  • Damm, lost a weak TP against a set of 5′s
  • Wheee, I hit a set of 5′s and take a $1k pot ($4k stack, $1k ahead of avg)
  • Few more pots, up to a $5k stack, and we go into the first break.

$1.5k ahead of the average stack – things are going ok I guess. At least I’ve seen a bit of action and hit a few hands. Still feels like I’m skirting on the edge of disaster – after the husngs being so straightforward, FR play feels like a crapshoot. Still 1440 players from a field of 2000 – field’s not thinning very quickly unfortunately. Never mind – keep this up and I might just get a $11 tourney ticket :roll:   Anyway, time for a pee (and not into a bottle)

  • Looks like BurnleyMilk took a hit, he’s down to $1.3k :-(   United113 is, like me, on a $5k stack.
  • Cowboys! 3bet the raiser, he folds. Just great. United’s pulling ahead to $6.5k
  • Nice – this irritating leprekahn02 idiot is constantly stealing – I 3bet him from the button, he calls, I cbet and take a nice $800 pot :-D Perhaps the idiot will calm down now
  • United’s storming further ahead – $7k! I’m still $6k, average stack is $3.8k
  • BurnleyMilk’s out. 1359th place. Tough break m8.
  • Leprekahn02 gives me another $1k pot. Mind you, he’s doing well with a $9k pot, so I should be careful of him really.
  • Crap, United113 has taken a hit – he’s down to $1k. I’m still at $6k. Leprekahn is still stealing :x
  • United’s out. 1263rd.
  • Hit a set of 8′s, 3way pot. Wimps all fold – I thought I was overdoing the aggresive image, but obv not. $7k stack, avg = $4k, still over 1k players left (bleh)
  • Found another blogger – Conan776. He’s on $4k which is ok, but judging from his blog he was doing better before the break
  • Guy to my left has been sitting out entire time. Free blinds :-) Otherwise still chipping away. $7k now (avg = $5k). Almost overtaken Leprakahn
  • Last hand before the second break I get QQ. Someone in MP shoves his short $1.5k stack, I shove all-in to fold out the dregs. It holds up (J8o I think), and now I’m $10k, avg $6.5, 785 players left.

Doing well I think – normally I spew out of control in these things. Awesomely Conan776 has knocked out the red pro at his table! No bonus for that I guess? Just kudos :-D

  • Arse. All-in against a $6k stack with AKs – he has AQo. Of course a Q comes up. Down to $3k.
  • Push hard for a few reasonable pots. Up to $5.6K
  • DevlsBnkroll (winner of an earlier wbcoop game this week) has joined our table. $8k stack. On my immediate left. Just great! :-(
  • Haha, I LAG him out of $2k :-D   Stack = $6.6k, avg is $8.8 now though… (yes, LAG is now a verb)
  • Just did a complete donk idiot move! AK in UTG+1, UTG raises & I 3bet, rest of table folds & he calls. Flop is low and dry – he shoves his stack. Now it’s not that big, but still pretty big, $4.5k or so. I put him on a bluff and call – he has TT! I hit a K on the river. Super lucky! Stack now $11k – above the average :-D
  • QTo hits two pair on the flop. Villain with $3k stack leads into me. I’m not sure what to do – two tone flop, my nemesis! So I shove, he folds, I’m happy with that.
  • 500 runners left
  • Wow, DevlsBnkroll is a nit! Wasn’t expecting that… could be dry run of hands perhaps
  • Conan776′s on $11k! Something good happened – I think I just missed it since there’s just gg in the chat box (lol). Wow, it was a royal flush
  • $4k pot from 2nd pair
  • Damn leprekan took me for a $7k pot – I had K9 on a K55 pot. He just let me bet into him… At least I pot controlled myself a little bit (only a little bit tho)
  • Oh no – Conan776′s on $500 – guess it’s game over for him
  • aaaand, he’s out :-(
  • And then I do this to leprekahn :-)
No Limit Holdem Tournament
9 Players

Stacks:
UTG (10,875)
UTG+1 (17,320)
MP1 (4,235)
MP2 (6,685)
MP3 (9,953)
CO (3,150)
Hero (14,023)
SB (15,312)
BB (5,348)

Blinds: 100/200 Ante 25

Pre-Flop: (525, 9 players) Hero is BTN Jspades poker card Jclubs poker card
4 folds, MP3 raises to 500, 1 fold, Hero raises to 1,500, 2 folds, MP3 calls 1,000

Flop: 2spades poker card 6hearts poker card 2hearts poker card (3,525, 2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets 3,000, MP3 goes all-in 8,428, Hero calls 5,428

Turn: Jhearts poker card (20,381, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: 5hearts poker card (20,381, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: 20,381
MP3 shows a flush, Queen high
Qdiamonds poker card Qhearts poker card
Hero shows a full house, Jacks full of Deuces
Jspades poker card Jclubs poker card

Hero wins 20,381 (net +10,428)

MP3 lost 9,953

  • Muwahahaha!  $24k stack, almost twice the average.
  • Turns out it was lipaonline that knocked Conan776 out (runner up in an earlier event, 2nd place maybe?). He seemed to have all the tough tables!

3rd break. $26k stack, average $13.8k, 370 runners left. Not a bad run for me really.

  • Raise 55, get shoved over by a $5k stack, folds to me so I call hoping not to see another pair. He has AQ but it hits a straight (see – AQ is hard to beat!). $20k stack, avg is $15k so still ok
  • :-( nits to my right, LAGs to my left. Just great!
  • Looking throught the field, lipaonline is 6th – just how does he do it every time?

Amazing that this still happens this deep;

$200/$400 Ante $50 No Limit Holdem
9 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($4,394)
Hero ($21,774)
MP1 ($9,934)
MP2 ($24,141)
MP3 ($6,608)
CO ($6,195)
BTN ($47,036)
SB ($1,352)
BB ($42,845)

Pre-Flop: ($1,050, 9 players) Hero is UTG+1 7spades poker card 6spades poker card
UTG goes all-in $4,344, Hero folds, MP1 goes all-in $9,884, 3 folds, BTN calls $9,884, 2 folds

Flop: 5clubs poker card 7diamonds poker card 8diamonds poker card ($25,162, 3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: 5diamonds poker card ($25,162, 3 players, 2 all-in)

River: 4diamonds poker card ($25,162, 3 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $25,162
UTG shows
Aspades poker card 8spades poker card
MP1 shows
9spades poker card 9diamonds poker card
BTN shows
Jdiamonds poker card Aclubs poker card

BTN wins $25,162 (net +$15,228)

UTG lost $4,394
MP1 lost $9,934

and yes, the winner was the biggest fish at the table…

  • Average stack is catching me up :-( Need to play some hands! Tables getting a bit shove happy tho
  • Just realised people are betting odd amounts, like $2,999 – the spare change creates a huge stack graphic. Pretty good idea, might make some think the bet is bigger than it really is.
  • Thankfully I get the chance, not that I hit any flops but fortunately my opponents have no balls. Two hands go my way and up to $28k, avg at $19k
  • Fish in hand earlier is now chip leader. The name Labschie rings a bell though – maybe he’s not a fish? The hands he’s been playing tho… Hmmm, seems he’s like lipaonline and is one of these pokernews bloggers who don’t blog…
  • Took some money of Labschie, stole a few blinds, stack at $30k, avg $20k, feeling comfortable now to win my $11 tourney ticket (whoohoo)
  • Hmm, he took some back off me, putting his stack over $100k. Good grief…
  • Just realised it’s not an $11 tourney ticket, it’s $22 OMGOMGOMGOMG! Gotta get in the money now!
  • Last hand before the break, and again won a big pot – $12k this time, giving me stack of $32k. Not quite sure how it happened tho – I was on the button, raised for a steal & got 3bet. I called although had a very weak hand – I mainly called because it was obviously a defend from this 31/22 guy. I hit bottom pair on the flop which left me in an awkward spot – he checked though. I put in a 1/2pot raise and he folded. I’d won a pot that was way bigger than I expected. I gotta be careful I think!

4th break. Stack $32k, average $23k, 216 runners left (153 for ITM)

  • 1st hand – $18k pot, AT & hit an A on the flop – bet flop and turn and checked back the river. Villain showed A6. Stupid call from the BB by him really… My stack $41k, not quite twice the average.
  • In a nice spot now – nits to my left. Also guy to my right tried to steal, I 3bet with 66, low flop and I got him to fold which was a nice pot. Not sure I can do that too many times to him though – seems like the kind that would fight back. $49k stack.

Good grief – this is against Labschie;

$350/$700 Ante $85 No Limit Holdem
9 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($47,560)
UTG+1 ($55,929)
MP1 ($36,733)
Hero ($49,088)
MP3 ($27,643)
CO ($32,055)
BTN ($8,545)
SB ($25,084)
BB ($80,094)

Pre-Flop: ($1,815, 9 players) Hero is MP2 Khearts poker card Jspades poker card
3 folds, Hero raises to $2,100, 4 folds, BB calls $1,400

Flop: 5spades poker card 7spades poker card 7hearts poker card ($5,315, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2,700, BB calls $2,700

Turn: Aclubs poker card ($10,715, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5,700, BB calls $5,700

River: 9clubs poker card ($22,115, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $22,115
BB shows
Kspades poker card 4spades poker card
Hero shows
Khearts poker card Jspades poker card

Hero wins $22,115 (net +$11,530)

BB lost $10,585

  • Then my TT stood up, so now on $65k, 10th place out of 193 runners

OMG!!! I get 33 on the button, labschie limps so I give a good raise. He reraises though, so I shove, thinking ‘wtf, I’m tired, I have him covered (just), if I lose I still might make it to the tickets (only a few to go out). He calls with AA.

The flop, turn and river sloowly eek out into a fuck’in 4567 straight!!!

I’m 2nd place in chips – $106k! 160 runners left. Wow, awesome suckout :-D

  • A misclick loses me $10k – I thought I was clicking bet to steal the blinds, but someone had already raised – duh. Down to 6th place. Still not ITM yet! C’mon!!!
  • ok, tables are synchronising – one more poor fool to go out and we can start playing poker again. Smallest stack is about 2 orbits, so might take a while
  • ITM
  • Bit of a card drought :-(

Another break. God I wish I hadn’t drank that bottle of wine earlier – I’ve a headache, it’s work tomorrow, it’s 1am. Oh well, let’s keep going. Stack’s $102k, 5th place out of 127, which means another 64 players to go out before my ticket goes up to $55. How many more hours? God knows…

  • Still card dead. C’mon, c’mon…
  • Hmm, made a couple of really bad plays and donked off $25k. Tiredness and frustration at no decent hole cards. Ok, slap in the face, concentrate, don’t be a donk.
  • Another pot lost – JT in early position (I know, I know), btn calls. A J arrives on the turn, but the river brings a possible straight if he has 87. How likely is that? I decide to check-call. Of course he has it… Stack $46k – less than the avg stack. 93 left in – need another 30 to go out. Gonna be close I think unless I can win a reasonable pot
  • Call a $10k stack’s shove with AT. He has QQ and it holds. I’m 54th out of 88. A couple of blinds come my way, but it feels miserable
  • Someone called JBug40 has the most gorgeous avatar ever! Although she has a bit of a strong chin? Hope I’m not doing a crying game there
  • AKs, I 3bet, they fold. Half way down the field now. Should make it to the $55 ticket, now 16 players need to go out.
  • UTG to my right shoves his $20k stack. I have 55??? It’s early position and too many to act after me, and that’s half my stack. I fold – it goes round the table and someone calls. He had 99 – phew!
  • Conan776 still railing! Hope it’s not too dull man!
  • KK on the button. Get a nice bundle from Jbug (not to showdown unfortunately)
  • Straight away another $28k pot as KT hits TPGK. Now 20th out of 67, above average stack – easily into the next bigger prize
  • A nice run of cards at last – a couple of AJ’s, and into 18th. Tables sync as we wait for one more idiot to fall
  • Play the most bizarre line ever against a big stack – folded to me in the SB, I check, he think and raise, I call and check-raise the monotone flop. I think he just folds out of confusion
  • Hit TPTK, and get a nice $40k pot – 8th out of 64 now. Still waiting for that last idiot! And it looks like it’s going to be our table as loads of ppl shove! 44 beats AK, but no-one goes out
  • Hit a set, but no action. The idiot has gone, I now have a $55 ticket

Another break. Why’s this on a Sunday?!?

  • Hooray, another person sitting out to my left – free blinds!
  • Oh, he woke up :-(
  • Table’s become very tight. So dull! So I start randomly splashing around raises, particularly effective from utg, utg+1 – up to 9th now. Hope they’re not reading this
  • 7th
  • ah, messed up – tangled with the guy on my right, realising only afterwards he was a nit and the flop hit his range really hard – I folded river, but should have folded pre, or on the flop. Back to 11th
  • And a bigger mess. Guy two places to my left never makes sense. He plays it just like a FD, then calls a big river bet with bottom pair? Of course I had nothing, but that’s not the point
  • Had a nice semi bluff with 33. People seem to be folding ok
  • 6 more to go out for $215 ticket!
  • Mass all-in knocks two people out! I get moved to a new table with new strange people who haven’t seen my manic play yet. Cool!
  • Which fails instantly as I throw $70k at someone (half my stack!). Oh well :-) Half way down the field again.
  • won a couple of reasonable pots, plus some blinds. Not really moved up the field much, but at least I’ve kept my stack up with the joneses – 2 players to go out for next prize up :-)
  • 1 more to go out. After that I’m not sure if I can stay awake. Lots of shoving going on the other tables, but the shortstacks keep doubling up.

And now we’re on a break…

  • So I take the last guy out myself on a lucky T4o call hitting a 4. Shortie was btn and raised, I called expecting the BB to also call and we’d check it down. But he folded, duh. Still, lucky result. Now have $216 ticket.
  • Took someone else out with A8s. Good grief – the next prize up is $2k! I guess I’ve got to keep going – I’m 11th at the moment, 23 to go out
  • Picked up a few more shortstacks. Now 7th. Too tired to blog much really
  • QQ, flop has a K and I get cold feet checking the turn. That lets the other guys flush in :-( Down to 21st out of 27 – need 17 to go out to win $2k, feels a bit like a long shot in a way
  • I’m too tired. I shove KJs against a bigger stack. I get my flush. I’m now 9th – it won’t let me go

Ah, then I finally get in trouble – I get 3bet and I call. Flop is low, but a bit connected. I go for a checkraise (I just have overcards), but realise the pot is too big, and all I can do is minraise. He thinks then shoves, and I decide to fold. It left me very low in the field – very careless!

Immediately the next hand is AQs – I reraised by a bigstack and I go all-in. He has 44 and it holds up. Game over.

So, a $215 SCOOP ticket. I’ve no idea what that means, but I’m too tired to find out now. I might play it rather than cash it, since right now it’s not money or even bankroll – it’s just a ticket. We’ll see.

Anyway, if you’ve been following (and thanks to Conan for railing!), thanks, and good night!

also, in before tl;dr

(pic ‘Borrowed’ from Conan776)

WBCOOP

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Almost out of a preliminary WBCOOP game – on a break but I’ve only a couple of BB left thanks to this hand;

NL Holdem $80(BB) Poker Stars
SB ($3,941)
BB ($1,100)
UTG ($1,528)
UTG+1 ($2,830)
Hero ($1,780)
MP1 ($1,430)
MP2 ($1,426)
CO ($1,425)
BTN ($3,650)

Dealt to Hero Qclubs poker card Qhearts poker card

UTG raises to $1,518 (AI), fold, Hero raises to $1,770 (AI), fold, MP2 calls $1,416 (AI), fold, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($4,662) Jspades poker card 3spades poker card 9spades poker card

TURN ($4,662) Jspades poker card 3spades poker card 9spades poker card 6hearts poker card

RIVER ($4,662) Jspades poker card 3spades poker card 9spades poker card 6hearts poker card Aclubs poker card

UTG shows 3diamonds poker card 9diamonds poker card
(Pre 15%, Flop 62.7%, Turn 76.2%)

Hero shows Qclubs poker card Qhearts poker card
(Pre 68%, Flop 26.1%, Turn 19.0%)

MP2 shows Tdiamonds poker card Tclubs poker card
(Pre 17%, Flop 11.2%, Turn 4.8%)

UTG wins $4,662

Bit of a bingo game going on…

On the brighter side I had a go at at HU SNG’s as recommended by Yegor. Technically I’m rolled for $10 games, but I tried out the $5 ones first just to get my toes wet.

So far, won 7, lost 1 :-D Profitz of $28

Obviously I’m very pleased with that. I’m also pleased with the way I played – the wins were ‘real’ wins rather than suckouts, although I did hit some very nice hands along the way. Best of all was the feeling of crushing the life out of my opponents. I suspect HU could be a very ego inflating game :-)

Update: survived my first desperate shove Q8 vs AK, fortunately hitting a Q… Still an M of about 4, so not looking so hot

Update II: Hooray, survived 2nd shove. M maybe 5 or 6? Can never work these things out on the fly…

Update III: And another! Ok, M is 8 now, back in the game… Still way down the field, about 530th out of 880 (ITM is 150 places)

Update IV: Won a reasonable pot – M of 10, although stack is still only 3/4 of the average. Lots of action on the table still – crazy crazy people…

(forget the Update xx crap). Another couple of nice pots. Now have an above average stack, M = 21 & 296/716…

How’s this for value betting :-)

NL Holdem $150(BB) Poker Stars
SB ($7,143)
Hero ($4,853)
UTG ($90)
UTG+1 ($5,732)
UTG+2 ($85)
MP1 ($738)
MP2 ($10,301)
CO ($21,174)
BTN ($8,077)

Dealt to Hero 6hearts poker card 6spades poker card

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to $375, fold, fold, Hero calls $225

FLOP ($1,005) Kclubs poker card 9hearts poker card 5spades poker card

Hero checks, CO bets $780, Hero calls $780

TURN ($2,565) Kclubs poker card 9hearts poker card 5spades poker card Tclubs poker card

Hero checks, CO checks

RIVER ($2,565) Kclubs poker card 9hearts poker card 5spades poker card Tclubs poker card Tdiamonds poker card

Hero bets $1,150, CO calls $1,150

CO shows Aspades poker card Qhearts poker card
(Pre 45%, Flop 26.5%, Turn 22.7%)

Hero shows 6hearts poker card 6spades poker card
(Pre 55%, Flop 73.5%, Turn 77.3%)

Hero wins $4,865

Unfortunately threw it away a few hands later. M down to 13. 300th out of 530

Damn, just lost half my stack to a draw that failed. Villain had AK on the button – smooth called pre. Looks like he got more value out of it that way for sure (needed an idiot like me to do it)

Ahh, got a set of tens. Didn’t get a complete double up out of it though, wasn’t sure how to play it – two tone flop & I’m always paranoid of those things. More than I should be…. 356th out of 411. Still not great…

AK hits on the flop but I’m left with PSB for my whole stack so I go ahead and push. Villains (2 of ‘em) fold. M now 7. 270th out of 380. Stack about 1/2 average. Maybe should have eeked more value out, but again two tone flop – I’m such a chicken!

Crap! Mess up with the same villain who smooth called earlier with AK. And he had AK again!!! And he smooth called pre with them again!!!!! (exclamation mark overdose…)

I’m left with about one orbit of blinds & antes left, so shove my K8 suited. Fortunately half the table calls. My K8 hits a K on the flop, holds up and I’m back to where I was before I messed up against AK doofus. :-D Not that that says much… M is 3, I’m 325 out of 343. Things are looking grim as we go into the second break.

Oh well, with M of 3 I shoved ATs, got called by 77 and didn’t hit on the flop. 339th from 1740 runners.

I’ve registered for the main event on Sunday. Hopefully that’ll go better. Is it worth blogging like this while it’s on (like some idiot twatter)? If this was even vaguely interesting tell me and I’ll announce my hole cards throughout the main event (yeah, right).

World Blogger Championship Of Online Poker

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Snappy title says it all. Time to step up and get noticed.

The games are at 17:00 ET. It really annoys me that they state times as ET – what is that? There isn’t an ET timezone – there’s EST for east coast USA (or eastern australia), CET for central europe, EET is east europe. I guess they mean east coast States – typical American internet myopia (which also means a crappy 10pm starting time).

None of the following text is mine, the sneaky buggers have managed to get a bunch of links from this. Oh well, $60k freeroll is good enough I guess.


Online PokerI have registered to play in the Pokerstars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 930826

New State of Mind, Plus New Hands Tracker

Monday, January 4th, 2010

So after my end of year post I opened some tables and tried to play more moderately – less bluffs, more pot control, and generally less spewage. Straight away it started working with a great session, winning 2 buy-ins. That was on Party Poker, and then today I switched to Pokerstars which was in a real state – I’d lost $60 there and it was down to $15 in the account. I considered reloading it, and then figured I’d just put $5 on a couple of tables and see if I could revive it by playing. 150 hands later I’d won $30!

Spot the other difference? That graph is from Hold’em Manager – I watched a video where this guy was doing some nice analysis with HEM and I figured I ought to splash out and try it.

After trying it for a few days I’m hooked! It’s way better than PokerTracker. The interface isn’t as pretty (grey isn’t a good colour), but the functionality is way ahead. I can now plot my winnings so it includes rakeback and bonuses, and for the first time it’s actually a winning amount rather than a losing amount :-)

The HUD is also easier to operate and hasn’t struggled at any of the sites I’ve tried. It has a fantastic hand review feature giving a very clear and instant view – PokerTracker you have to dig out the hand and view it in the replayer which is a bit too clunky when you’re trying to play at the same time.

Filters are really comprehensive, although PokerTracker wasn’t too bad in this respect.

The only thing that PokerTracker wins is the final export of the graph – as you can see in the pic above HEM isn’t as aesthetically streamlined as the PokerTracker charts. I’ll perhaps still plot out the charts using PT for this blog, although for now HEM is definitely replacing my tracker of choice…

2009

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

The holiday season hasn’t been kind to me – in the second half of December I’ve thrown away $150. A lot of it was literally thrown away too. In a recent session I discovered that turning up the aggression slightly was working well – one move in particular where you’re out of position and it’s the kind of flop you’d cbet (dry board, single A or K on it), so you check and let your opponent do the cbet, and then you raise. Previously I’d call, and lead the turn, but obviously this has the downside of giving another card. So the flop check-raise was proving successful, and then I watched an awesome video on being a LAG. This unfortunately had the effect of me spewing $40 in a few hundred hands!

I think the differences between the session where the aggro worked and the one where I spewed were;

a) First session I’d already played for a while, and hadn’t shown myself to be anything out of the ordinary, while the second session I sat down and started firing away. Any idiot could put down as a aggrotard, and this is what happened (my check-raise was reraised every time just about).
b) I picked my spots more carefully the first time. I had got to know the players at the tables, and was able to pick and choose when to push harder. The second session I’d just started, and was basically trying to bully complete unknowns.
c) The second session I didn’t back down. I often continued against those players who pushed back at my 3bets. Consequently I ran into AA several times quite quickly. At one point I had to three barrel bluff, and the final river push finally made the guy fold, but how stupid is that! It worked once, but I don’t think it was a profitable thing to do…

So anyway, 2010 I will stop being an idiot. I’m still bankrolled for nl10, but only 10 buy-ins above the move down point – if I don’t even out I’ll be back at NL5 by February. However, you’ve got to experiment with your game I believe, so I don’t feel too bad (it’s not as if I’m going to turn pro any time soon).

Ok, onto the 2009 review;

Cash:

Tourney:

Well, it’s in the black! :-) (the $40 lost yesterday was 2010, so close thing to ruining the year’s results, lol).

The New Year, 2009
This time last year I’d dropped right down to NL2 – most of my game up to that point had been NL10 at Full Tilt (which was their lowest stakes at that time), and it hadn’t been going very well. So I moved to Pokerstars and dropped down, first to NL5 and then to NL2 as I continued to lose.

The Redeposit – April
In April I finally lost my entire account. I redeposited, and for some reason known only to myself at the time I went back to NL10. I then had a massive heater, gaining $350 in 20k hands. How that happened I’ve no idea! I should go back and look at those hands in detail, but as far as I can remember I was very very lucky – PokerTracker all-in performance says $120 over expected value at its peak.

The Cash Out – July
Inevitably the heater ran out, and I lost a bunch of $$$ pretty quickly. I think I’d upped the number of tables I was playing, plus overconfidence, and that led to much spewage. As it came crashing down a personal credit card problem suddenly arose and I had to withdraw my entire roll to pay for it. In hindsight this was actually a useful thing to happen to me. Firstly, it showed the kindness of friends as they immediately transferred to me a little bit of spare cash to keep playing. Secondly it made me decide to follow bankroll management properly. Up until that point I’d play NL10 if I had over $100 in my account (or over only $50 sometimes). Starting from $30 with the knowledge that I wouldn’t be able to redeposit in the next couple of months really made sure I did the right thing to avoid going busto again.

The Grind
So I returned to NL2 again. This time my game was much stronger and I rapidly built up enough to move to NL5. I carried on playing well and clipped $200 to move into NL10. I then lost a few buy-ins, and moved back down. Ground up, bust down. I did this 3 times (the three peaks at 41k, 51k and 65k hands). I suddenly realised I was doing the bankroll management slightly wrong – I had a single threshold of $200 where I moved either up or down. What I needed to do was set the move-up threshold higher than the move down one (ie $250 to move up, $200 to move down). This way I’d have a 5 buy-in margin to lose before having to move down.

The Donkament Win – November
I was within $20 of the $250 threshold, and it was taking ages (it says $60 on that graph, but I was also getting rakeback and bonuses which aren’t shown on the graph). It was November now, and I seemed to be on the most miserable downswing ever – no big spews, but not a single +ve session for ages and ages. Then one Sunday I was messing around playing some MTTs (as you can see from the graph above, I don’t tourney much), and suddenly went deep in a $2 180 man SNG. I walked away with $70 – I was finally in NL10 territory again.

The Final Fall
I seemed to be playing well and built my roll up to $450. It didn’t feel like a heater this time, and I felt confident that I was winning appropriate hands rather than sucking out. I decided to look closer at Rakeback and see which site was the best for me, and so I split my roll amongst 4 sites – Full Tilt, PokerStars, Ultimate Bet and Party Poker. The difference between the sites was amazing – at NL10 UB and PP was full of limpers who’d try to see every street, while FT and PS still had its usual compliment of 2p2 players. Despite this I’ve failed to profit from them, and even worse seemed to have spewed a ton of money.

Final Roundup
So what’s the roundup of the year? I have to be honest with myself and say I’m not very good at poker. Almost 100k hands, and still being buffeted around by variance and barely keeping above the rake. In fact since my chart shows only +$44 profit, it’s obvious my entire roll ($350 at end of 2009) is made entirely of rakeback and bonuses.

Is that a big problem? I guess not as I still enjoy playing. I still enjoy the challenge of learning a game where it’s clear that gaining knowledge and experience will lift you through the ranks. The frustration is coming from seeing the stakes I play as a goal in itself.

So my resolution for 2010 is to let go of the idea that I’m not a winning player if I can’t ascend rapidly up the stakes. I will play poker at the stakes my bankroll allows, and concentrate on being the best player I can for those stakes. I guess ascending graphs of $$$ won will show whether I’m succeeding, although for me it’ll be how I achieved it that’ll be more important…


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