Friday, November 28, 2008

A little no-limit, I think to myself

I decided to check out the full ring no-limit tables on Tilt.

Bought in for $50 on a couple of tables (both 0.5/1). I played ok, and the tables were fishy enough. One table got up to $140 or so, when my AA got taken down by a rivered two pair. Built back up to $100, and then disaster struck.

In three consecutive hands, I picked up JJ. First two, no problems. Third one, disaster:



I should explain that the villain here is a big fat fish. I saw him donk off $200 in an earlier hand with his QQ with the board showing JT792 - the other guy flopped a straight and bet all the way to the river. In general, he was playing an awful lot of hands (his PFR is about 13). The river is obviously a gagging call, but I think the pot got too big for me to be able to fold. Should I have raised more on the flop or turn (I don't suppose it matters with him holding a huge draw lihe that)?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Finally: Live 10/20

I finally got to the casino for some live 10/20. We (me and SidekickBoy) rocked up around 10 to 8 and found two tables of 5/5 NL, one of 10/20 Limit, and surprisingly a table of 10/20 limit Omaha. I signed up for limit, and had to wait nearly 45 minutes for a second table to open. Sidekick jumped onto the (very fishy looking) Omaha table.

My table was a real mixed bag. There were probably four or five pretty decent players, and three or four loose passive who would see nearly every flop. Fortunately, I found a good seat with the loose players all on my right and tight players on my left (though there was never ever an opportunity to blind steal).

I only played about two hours and twenty minutes, and within that time found myself down $150, up $150 and ended up going home with a grand profit of... $10. Well, at least I beat the rake! In fact, it could have been so much better than that as I was up about $200 until the river card of the fourth last hand.

It panned out like this: I had A9o in middle position (second hand in a row). As usual, there were a couple of limpers ahead of me so I limped as well. Player to my right (good player) limps, and the blinds come along. Flop comes down J92 with two diamonds. Checks around to me, I check, bet, blinds fold, two calls and I call. Turn is a beautiful 9 of clubs. Checks around to the raiser, who bets, fold, call, checkraise, and he calls reluctantly. River is 8 of diamonds. Checks to me, and I make an idiotic bet into the river card which has hit about 75% of drawing hands. Inevitable raise, call and I make a crying call to see his QT for a rivered straight. I played it ok except for the idiotic bet on the river. Big pot to lose when you're getting ready to go home!

I had a couple of other nasty beats. One was to the table moron who called UTG and I raised w QQ. Three saw the flop of T66: check, check, bet, call, call. Turn J, check, check, bet, UTG checkraises (uh oh - maybe he has a Jack but I'm very unhappy). I call him down (foolishly probably) and he shows 96o, and he starts going on about the "good feeling" he had about nine six frigging offsuit. I saw this same guy donk off about four bets on the river with the bottom straight to a guy that obviously help the nuts (guy with the nuts thought he saw splitting and didn't keep raising!)

Another river beat was with me playing A6s in the SB, hitting an ace on the flop and a 6 on the turn. Got a checkraise in on the turn, only for a nine on the river to pair the board to counterfeit my sixes and turn AK into the winner.

I don't think I made too many mistakes, although one was on a hand where I played Q7s in the SB. I made a flush draw on the flop, and it checked around. Turn gave me a gutshot, and I bet out as a semibluff. MP checkraised and I called (with one other). River lands my gutshot with the board showing 6543J. I foolishly fail to bet and it checks around. It's obviously stupid to attempt to checkraise on a scary board like that.

Other nice hands were AQ hitting an ace on the flop, and holding up despite a fairly scary board and an aggressive player betting into me; and 77 hitting top set on a rainbow board - I called the flop, then bet and three bet the Q turn (when the other player folded his two small pairs).

I'm going to have to learn to play Limit Omaha, because that table was just ridiculously bad. Here is how bad it was: I watched one pot where the flop was A24 rainbow. Eight players (I am not exaggerating) paid capped betting on the flop. As I watched it unfold, I though that it was obvious after about the second raise that at least one player had a wheel, and probably redraws to a higher straight. It played out to the river where only one player out of those eight had the wheel, one had a set of aces (also pretty obviously), so Lord only knows what the rest could have had - there wasn't even the possibility of a massive wrap straight draw the way the cards lay. The final pot was something close to $800. It's fishy, but the variance will be huge.

Anyway, I beat the rake which is not a bad achievement for the first 10/20 game, and the first live cash. Sidekick meanwhile made a very handy $250 profit at the ridiculous Omaha table.

Monday, November 17, 2008

A bit of fun

I'm planning to play a PLO tournament at the local casino tonight for a bit of fun. It's a R&A tournament, and my plan at this stage is not to rebuy but to take the addon if it seems sensible at the time. If I bust early, I will look to play some holdem cash.

I "warmed up" for this last night by turning $40 into $140 on two PLO tables, so that theoretically covers my buyin. These PLO tournaments are generally full of terrible players, so even though I don't really know PLO well I rate myself a modest chance of a good result.

Edit: Looks like the PLO is off for tonight. My partner in crime, aka "SidekickBoy" can't make it. It's probably not a bad thing, since I'm not willing to invest the 5-6 buyins that it takes for a serious tilt at an R&A tournament.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Muppets at sizable stakes and a ridiculous heater

TFAL's instinct was right - $5/$10. I kid you not. The site? I probably don't even need to tell you - suffice it to say that it is full of fish (and it's not Eurolinx).

It was a massive heater to begin with. The very first hand was blind vs blind against the maniac. I conveniently outkicked his pair. Pocket tens making top set against four runners was pure gold (but no doubt aided by the extra bets from all the loose bad players).

The 3-bet from the SB with K8s seems a bit ludicrous, but the button was stealing with any two. The BB coming along was a big problem, but I felt obliged to Cbet, getting heads up with the lunatic. Nothing on the turn, and normally I would fold - but the button was holding random cards as far as I was concerned, so I reluctantly called down. The result was nothing short of astonishing.



In the end my heater went off the boil - the maniac inevitably got paid off hitting a real hand. The maniac busted out and I departed the table 35BB to the good.

Guess the stakes

Starting from my left:

Player 1: Idiot 60/15, WTSD/W$SD 65/35, fairly aggro postflop, saw him defend 83o in the BB unimproved to the river
Player 2: Loose passive 82/9, aggr 0.6, saw him fold on the river in a big pot with an obvious split pot
Player 3: Loose passive 47/0, aggr 0.4, WTSD/W$SD 30/70. Despite the ridiculous stats, I think he plays pretty well postflop and I have seen him win a lot of money in this game.
Player 4: 55/15, aggr 0.8, WTSD/W$SD 40/60
Player 5: Complete raving lunatic 85/56, WTSD/W$SD 60/30, very aggro postflop

I have position on the lunatic. Any guesses as to the stakes and site? Bear in mind I've been on a bit of a cooler recently.

Will add the answer to my post (along with some hands and results) after a couple of comments.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Feels like home

I've now recovered my composure after running over the tables at Pacific for an hour. 40BB profit, mostly from one table (WTSD 44, W$SD 81!)

God I love those 60/5 fishies: free flops in the BB with 85o are gold.

We're comin' back baby!

And so it continues

The session was going badly already, after I ran into aces with a hand THREE times. Also flopped two pair vs a set. Then this shit happened to cap it all off.



Yes folks, that's a one outer on the river.

p.s it was Euro

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The dreaded downswing

This is horrible. I didn't realise quite how horrible until I looked at the graph:


That's nearly 150BB downswing played mostly at 2/4 in ooh, about three days. Excuse me while I go and have a little lie down.

Thoughts on rake

The following graph shows comparitive rake at the major poker sites compiled from shorthanded fixed limit data at marketrake.com:




There are a few interesting things to note about this graph. Firstly, 2/4 seems to be a bit of a sweet spot in terms of rake - cheaper than 3/6 and even 5/10 at some sites.

Secondly, the rake is very different from site to site. Cheapest by far are Full Tilt, Pokerstars and Everest. Sites like OnGame, iPoker and Micro sit nearly 50% higher. This puts things like VIP bonuses and rakeback in context. For example, you probably pay more rake at Microgaming compared to Pokerstars even if you have 30% rakeback.

It is also interesting to compare NL with limit. NL is typically cheaper than Limit, but the difference is not really marked until you go above 100NL

Lastly: never, ever, ever play 0.5/1 at Pacific!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Too much excitement: 5/10!

From time to time I will open a game at a higher limit than I play in order to observe hands and analyse play. I found a 5/10 table on Eurolinx, and after watching a while noticed the biggest fish I've ever seen at midstakes. He was 70/10 preflop, but folded to Cbets 60% of the time and played essentially weak tight postflop. The ultimate fish. I couldn't resist - I had to sit down.

Anyway, it was fairly nerve wracking stuff. I went down $60, back up to plus $50, down to -$100 and finally about level. The fish left after a short while, and I probably played on for too many hands after he left - especially when the player on my right woke up and started playing aggressively.

Anyway a few hands:

Naturally at my first hand playing 5/10 I run into aces! QTs was good enough to call a bet, and I played aggressively with the flush draw and turned gutshot. I guess villain was afraid of a 9, but I think his play was quite weak.


5/10 Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG monkeybusiness ($453.63)
UTG+1 jugggg ($301.53)
CO coolbrezze ($58.53)
BTN joeparulesND ($250.94)
SB donutmon ($478.13)
BB Hero ($205.00)

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is BB

monkeybusiness raises, 4 folds, Hero calls

Flop: (4.5 SB, 2 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, Hero raises, monkeybusiness calls

Turn: (4.2 BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, monkeybusiness calls

River: (6.2 BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, monkeybusiness calls

Final Pot: 8.2 BB
Hero shows:
monkeybusiness shows:

monkeybusiness wins 8.0 BB ( won +4.0 BB )
Hero lost 4.0 BB



Second hand soon after I get a very nice pair of ladies. I was gutted to see the ace after the PF cap, and was astonished when they both folded my Cbet. This is a very weak table! We haven't even seen the superfish jugggg yet.


5/10 Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG donutmon ($418.13)
UTG+1 Hero ($169.00)
CO monkeybusiness ($515.13)
BTN jugggg ($251.53)
SB coolbrezze ($56.03)
BB joeparulesND ($327.94)

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1

donutmon raises, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, coolbrezze 4-bets, 1 fold, donutmon calls, Hero calls

Flop: (13.0 SB, 3 players)
coolbrezze checks, donutmon checks, Hero bets, coolbrezze folds, donutmon folds

Final Pot: 7.0 BB

Hero wins 6.7 BB ( won +4.2 BB )
coolbrezze lost 2.0 BB
donutmon lost 2.0 BB


Hand 3 is a classic way ahead/way behind situation. Superfish jugggg seldom raises or 3 bets, so I have to put him on ace-big or a big pair. Maybe I missed an extra bet, but I was happy enough that he Cbet to the river with two overcards to his QQ!


5/10 Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG joeparulesND ($302.94)
UTG+1 donutmon ($402.38)
CO Hero ($203.50)
BTN monkeybusiness ($507.63)
SB jugggg ($263.91)
BB coolbrezze ($49.16)

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is CO

2 folds, Hero raises, 1 fold, jugggg 3-bets, 1 fold, Hero calls

Flop: (7.0 SB, 2 players)
jugggg bets, Hero calls

Turn: (4.5 BB, 2 players)
jugggg bets, Hero calls

River: (6.5 BB, 2 players)
jugggg bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 8.5 BB
jugggg shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins 8.2 BB ( won +4.2 BB )
jugggg lost 4.0 BB


Hand 4: This is an uncomfortable spot with a PF cap. Flopped TP+FD is nice, and I planned to checkraise. Turn 3-bet is scary. Maybe I can fold the river, but I think I have to call.


5/10 Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
CO Hero ($220.50)
BTN monkeybusiness ($498.35)
SB coolbrezze ($81.32)
BB joeparulesND ($316.57)

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 4 players) Hero is CO

Hero raises, monkeybusiness 3-bets, coolbrezze 4-bets, 1 fold, Hero calls, monkeybusiness calls

Flop: (13.0 SB, 3 players)
coolbrezze checks, Hero checks, monkeybusiness checks

Turn: (6.5 BB, 3 players)
coolbrezze bets, Hero raises, monkeybusiness folds, coolbrezze 3-bets, Hero calls

River: (12.5 BB, 2 players)
coolbrezze bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 14.5 BB
coolbrezze shows:
Hero shows:

coolbrezze wins 14.2 BB ( won +8.2 BB )
Hero lost 6.0 BB
monkeybusiness lost 2.0 BB


Hand 5: I played this really badly. PF is a marginal call I think. Checkraise with top pair of 5s is maybe pushing it a bit, but his 3-bet is almost certainly an overpair on that board. A FD is a thin possibility. I think I should probably fold the turn, and definitely the river after the third heart appears.


5/10 Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
CO monkeybusiness ($478.35)
BTN coolbrezze ($160.82)
SB joeparulesND ($309.07)
BB Hero ($165.50)

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 4 players) Hero is BB

monkeybusiness raises, coolbrezze calls, 1 fold, Hero calls

Flop: (6.5 SB, 3 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, coolbrezze calls, Hero raises, monkeybusiness 3-bets, coolbrezze folds, Hero calls

Turn: (6.8 BB, 2 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, Hero calls

River: (8.8 BB, 2 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 10.8 BB
Hero shows:
monkeybusiness shows:

monkeybusiness wins 10.4 BB ( won +6.0 BB )
coolbrezze lost 1.5 BB
Hero lost 4.5 BB

Hand 6: Now monkeybusiness is getting aggressive PF, albeit mostly with decent hands. OOP this is a tough spot on the flop. I'd appreciate ideas here.

5/10 Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
CO Hero ($134.00)
BTN monkeybusiness ($537.10)
SB coolbrezze ($143.32)
BB joeparulesND ($294.07)

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 4 players) Hero is CO

Hero raises, monkeybusiness 3-bets, 2 folds, Hero calls

Flop: (7.5 SB, 2 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, Hero calls

Turn: (4.8 BB, 2 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, Hero folds

Final Pot: 5.8 BB

monkeybusiness wins 5.5 BB ( won +2.5 BB )
Hero lost 2.0 BB


Hand 7 is the saviour. I think I am getting better at correctly calling with a gutshot, and thankfully the magical card came on the turn. Also fortunate was both villains holding top pair to pay me off 6BB on the turn and river. After this I got up at the next BB a magical $1.50 ahead for the session. It was educational!

5/10 Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
CO monkeybusiness ($562.23)
BTN coolbrezze ($138.32)
SB joeparulesND ($286.57)
BB Hero ($119.00)

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 4 players) Hero is BB

monkeybusiness raises, coolbrezze calls, 1 fold, Hero calls

Flop: (6.5 SB, 3 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, coolbrezze calls, Hero calls

Turn: (4.8 BB, 3 players)
Hero checks, monkeybusiness bets, coolbrezze calls, Hero raises, monkeybusiness calls, coolbrezze calls

River: (10.8 BB, 3 players)
Hero bets, monkeybusiness calls, coolbrezze calls

Final Pot: 13.8 BB
coolbrezze shows:
Hero shows:
monkeybusiness shows:

Hero wins 13.4 BB ( won +8.9 BB )
coolbrezze lost 4.5 BB
monkeybusiness lost 4.5 BB