Raising the River

A fun hand

2010-10-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Capped three ways on all streets! Who says poker is dead?

Hand Information

Game:	Limit
Room:
Blind:	$1.50 / $3

Table Information

Seat 1:	cakeseat1	($156)
Seat 2:	cakeseat2	($256)	Dealer
Seat 3:	cakeseat3	($180.25)	Small Blind
Seat 8:	Hero	($84)	Big Blind
Seat 9:	cakeseat9	($63.25)
Seat 10:	cakeseat10	($116.46)

Dealt to Hero

Preflop (Pot:4.50)

cakeseat9

RAISE

cakeseat10

RAISE

cakeseat1

FOLD

cakeseat2

FOLD

cakeseat3

FOLD

Hero

RAISE

$12

cakeseat9

CALL

cakeseat10

CALL

Flop (Pot: $40.50)

Hero

BET

cakeseat9

CALL

cakeseat10

RAISE

Hero

RAISE

cakeseat9

CALL

cakeseat10

RAISE

$12

Hero

CALL

cakeseat9

CALL

Turn (Pot: $85.50)

Hero

BET

cakeseat9

CALL

cakeseat10

RAISE

$12

Hero

RAISE

$18

cakeseat9

CALL

$12

cakeseat10

RAISE

$24

Hero

CALL

cakeseat9

CALL

River (Pot: $175.50)

Hero

BET

cakeseat9

CALL

cakeseat10

RAISE

$12

Hero

RAISE

$18

cakeseat9

ALL-IN

$9.25

cakeseat10

RAISE

$24

Hero

CALL

ShowDown:

cakeseat10 SHOWS

Hero SHOWS

cakeseat9 SHOWS

Hero	win the pot: $158

Winrates and idiots

2010-09-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Sometime I wonder how a good winrate can be "only" 1BB per 100 hands. I wonder this, particularly when a bonafide idiot comes along and hands you about five of them in a single hand.

The only downside is that he left the table before I could tag him..

Back in the saddle

2010-08-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Rumours of my demise have been somewhat exaggerated.

After doing my best to annihilate my online bankroll, I took another hiatus from poker of several weeks. Having dropped significantly more than half of my bankroll, and probably 80% of the online roll I was basically on the felt as far as online poker was concerned. I did actually manage to zero all of my poker site accounts, but still had a bit sitting in Neteller.

A couple of weeks ago then, I decided to deposit $100 to play a $10 rebuy on Red Star. I went deep in the tourney, but not deep enough, basically just recovering my buyin. That left me with $78 after losing some in a cash game. Since then, I have run like God, starting with single tables of 1/2 and working up. In two weeks, I would estimate that I have probably won around 300BB at all stakes.

In the context of the cooler of the last few months it's still a pretty tiny dent, but gee it feels like such a long time since I've run this good.

Sorry, can't help it..

2010-07-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.holdemmanager.net
Limit Holdem $2(BB) Prima Game#3435842680

ShotintheDark ($98.20)
Hero ($35.52)
zappa12 ($215)
LuigiVampa ($129)

ShotintheDark posts (SB) $1
Hero posts (BB) $2

Dealt to Hero Ad Ah
fold,
LuigiVampa raises to $4
ShotintheDark raises to $6
Hero raises to $8
LuigiVampa calls $4
ShotintheDark calls $2
FLOP ($24) 9d 5h Ks
ShotintheDark checks
Hero bets $2
LuigiVampa calls $2
ShotintheDark calls $2
TURN ($30) 9d 5h Ks 5d
ShotintheDark checks
Hero bets $4
LuigiVampa folds
ShotintheDark calls $4
RIVER ($38) 9d 5h Ks 5d 6s
ShotintheDark checks
Hero bets $4
ShotintheDark raises to $8
Hero calls $4
Hero shows Ad Ah
(Pre 81%, Flop 90.0%, Turn 95.5%)

ShotintheDark shows 6d 6h
(Pre 19%, Flop 10.0%, Turn 4.5%)

ShotintheDark wins $51.30

We resume our normal programming

2010-07-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so a few days of running good have been well and truly reversed.

Exhibit A: the one outer

Fun times

2010-07-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

It's a very long time since I've felt really good about a hand.

The irony is that I had only just won two big pots by calling down bluff raises on the river from the same player.

Good beat!!

2010-07-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

This makes for a nice change:

and this:

especially coming after this:

and this:

Still here, nothing new to report

2010-06-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. I'm still here, still playing occasionally, still running like a warmed up turd.

It's been a remarkable run. I've played 29 months of online poker now, and the last three months have each been worse than any month prior to those three. And two of those three were three times as bad as any previous. The net result is I have lost almost exactly 50% of my bankroll in three months. The total losses in BB terms are probably in the vicinity of 1000, and bonuses and rakeback are not remotely close to covering it.

I took good advice, taking a break and slowing down my play only to come back to this sort of shit:

My graph now looks like this:

As you can see, there's really been no let up. The situation now is that I cannot afford to play the stakes that would recover the losses in anything resembling a reasonable time. As a result, I am now essentially a casual player only. I'll still try to get to the casino occasionally, as the 10/20 there is juicy and I can but hope my turd ball does not extend to the actual felt.

Running good when it really Matters

2010-05-02T21:12:00.001-07:00

baby Alexander, born last night:

What a great way to put the rest of the world in perspective.

A litany of shit

2010-04-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a snapshot of how my last two months or so have gone. It continues to get worse, and I will very soon not have an online bankroll left. Oh well, it was (sort of) fun while it lasted

I didn't play all of these perfectly, but there is some element of kick in the arse to almost every hand.

Good luck on the tables everyone. God knows you need it.

Bad.

2010-04-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

So bad. Horrible.

This describes the last month, the last week, the last hour.

The worst month I have ever had by a factor of three. The worst week I have ever had. The worst hour I have ever had. My 2010 profit flatlined.

My graph now looks like a teepee, and my ability to play the games I want to is in some jeopardy.

I think I might be too busy to play poker for a while.

February summary

2010-02-27T22:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, it looks like I have hit my targets, but not before taking a bit of a bruising in the last couple of sessions. I tend to tilt a bit when my sessions start badly, reacting by getting looser and more aggressive (i.e the opposite of what I should do).

Nevertheless, it was another strong month, with a net profit of $2236 , consisting of $450 from a RedStar rake chase, $150 from a deposit bonus and nearly $1000 in rakeback. As you might gather, it's been a pretty heavy month at fairly high stakes (for me), and positive in that play came out in the black to the tune of around $636 - that was hammered by a loss of nearly $700 in the last couple of sessions.

The month was also marked by another of my horriffic $1000 coolers mid-month, but compensated by a $1000 heater the next day and a pile of rakeback.

RedStar is great value for me right now. Between the bonus, rake chase and rakeback, I am netting nearly 70% of my rake back. That's pretty great value.

I have a pretty busy few weeks coming up, with the start of semester and all that jazz, so I'm expecting to take some time off from the pokers. Except for a live tilt or two at the ANZPT in Perth, I might even try to take two or three weeks off from poker completely. Now that is a real challenge!

So I look down at AA

2010-02-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

So I look down at a beautiful pair of aces (spades and diamonds) and raise (playing 8/16 6max limit). Only the big blind calls. Flop comes down JdTc6c, bet, call. Turn 9c - an ugly card, but I bet, and he calls. River Qc. Check, check.

He turns over 8h5c for the runner-runner 6th nut flush, which is why poker is clearly a game of skill. Or limit is, at least.

For his next trick, he runs down my KK with the mighty T6 suited.

Table selection shmabel selection

2010-02-24T17:26:00.000-08:00

This month I am chasing a $450 rake chase bonus on Red Star, and as a result have played nearly all my sessions on there (Cake). Apart from choosing first the tables with the high % of players to flop, I have virtually stopped table selecting - I just hop on as many tables from 3/6 to about 6/12 as I feel comfortable playing. I am pretty confident that I can beat any table at these stakes (on this site at least), and with rakeback, rake chases and a deposit bonus I am way into green territory. And I am still constantly surprised at the number of poor players who hover around the higher stakes.

Case in point was a nice little half hour heater at 6/12 which netted 25BB or so. The player on my right was an awful, awful loose passive player who would play way too many hands preflop, call too many bets and then fold the river if he didn't have a pretty strong hand. Earlier, I played with a mouthy guy at 4/8 who is a dreadful weak tight player - he plays way too tight preflop and then completely fails to get value from his monsters (his set of kings went check-check on the turn and river because someone raised him on the flop).

It's probably obvious from reading the above that I am running well - up nearly $2500 since the last cooler just over a week ago. I am planning to take a bit of a break once I hit this month's $2500 rake target, since I have been playing way too much and have a lot of other stuff going on in my life.

Insane swings

2010-02-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

I had a $1000 cooler yesterday in the space of a couple of hours, mainly at $3/6. 150BB is the very definition of severe. It was pretty painful stuff - one of those days when your monsters get coolered or just win the blinds, and your steals and marginal hands get threebet mercilessly. I tilted a bit by refusing to quit when I probably should have, even though I don't think I was making bad decisions.

Today was a completely different story, winning almost all of it back again mainly at 3/6. It makes such a difference to hit a few flops and the occasional runner-runner. Not to mention idiots who will call four bets cold with pocket deuces.

The swings are a little bit insane, and are a little bit hard to take. To give you some context, in real life I still have a crappy five year old $200 CRT telly because I'm too tight to spend $700 on a new one. So $1k in 2 hours is kindof a big deal. Though I must say $1000 down followed by $1000 up is much easier to deal with than the reverse.

On rake, rakeback and going pro

2010-02-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

I had a little look at some more stats from the last year. In particular, I wanted to look at the rake I'm paying to play fixed limit at my main sites: Red Star on the Cake network, and Purple Lounge on Microgaming. I have 33% rakeback on Red Star, and a VIP deal which is superficially considerably more than that on Purple Lounge. I play mainly 2/4 to 5/10 Euro on Purple lounge, and 3/6 and 5/10 USD on Red Star.

On Cake, both 3/6 and 5/10 are costing me roughly 3 big bets per 100 hands in rake. I get 33% of that back automatically, and probably another 15% through races and bonuses.

On Microgaming, I was somewhat surprised to discover that 2/4 and 3/6 are costing me almost 5 big bets per 100 hands. At that rate, I need 60% VIP in order to make the equivalent of what I get on Cake (not including the Cake races and bonuses). My deal is good, but it's not that good. 5/10 is a little better, costing around 3.8BB/100 in rake but I find that the variance at that level is a bit steep, even when the play seems terrible.

In play, I actually made a small loss of around 0.5BB/100 on Microgaming in the last 12 months (easily covered by the VIP bonus but still not great), while on Cake I made a profit of 1.7BB/100. It felt to me like I was just running bad on Micro and good on Cake, but looking at the numbers it seems like the difference can be entirely explained by the 1-2BB/100 difference in rake between the two. I am going to have to have a think about where I am going to play over the next year.

Considering the above, I had a think about hourly rates. If I were to play 4 tables and a mix of limits of 3/6 and 5/10, I could probably make around $30 an hour or more from rakeback alone. Races and bonuses would probably add another $10-$15. Then if I actually managed to turn a profit on the tables, that would add a further $30 or maybe more based on a winrate of 1BB/100. That's over $70 an hour based on a pretty modest winrate.

It's certainly food for thought. I don't think I would ever consider doing this full time, because I like my job, and because playing 40 hours of poker a week could be just soul destroying. But it is interesting to see that I could probably make a pretty decent income from it if I really needed to. For now it's a handy extra bit of money from time to time, and an ability to cover some decent tournament buyins.

And it is of course always interesting to note that the poker rooms and affiliate mafia make at least as much money out of me as I do.

January summary

2010-02-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

January turned out to be a pretty tidy month, despite a week's holiday and a couple of really nasty cooler sessions.

The net result was $2216 profit, including about $670 from rakeback and the RedStar rake chase (turning into a nice extra bankroll boost). It was actually pure coincidence that I just made the $1000 rake target to get the $150 rake chase prize (otherwise would have been just $50).

Of note is that I busted out on Purple Lounge and had to rebuy, and am continuing to take shots at the fishy 5/10EUR game but without stellar results. My first choice limits now are probably 3/6 and 6/12 in dollars and 2/4 to 5/10 in Euro. Also I played some PLO100 with pretty good results over a few sessions. PLO is definitely something I will be adding to my regular mix - time to fork out on the Holdem Manager Omaha plugin.

ANZPT qualifier fail

2010-01-27T23:28:00.001-08:00

but all is not lost

Cliff notes on last night's action:

Beat: rebought five times in the ANZPT satellite and still finished second last
Brag: won $800 playing 10/20 limit before and after the tourney
Variance: should have stuck with Limit

For some of the time, that was the worst limit table ever (and by worst I mean best). Much of the play was short handed (4 or 5), including when I sat down, and a couple of the players were going "friendly table here, no bluffing or raising." I didn't buy into that, because I have to play my game - there's too much money on the table to deliberately play bad. I just quietly ignored them and they didn't actually complain about my (mostly) open raising preflop. Iso raising the guy on my right who limped every hand was fun, except that I was very frequently cold called on my left and sometimes in several places. I kept it friendly by chatting a lot, showing some winning hands (see, I don't bluff you), and occasionally checking down multiple streets.

The classiest bit was a four way capped hand preflop, where 63o UTG sadly found his 6 high flush was no good against Q7o in the CO (my AK had to go in the bin on the turn).

The win also came despite losing a $250 pot in a massive cooler with eights full of tens to quad tens. The guy with quads slow rolled me unintentionally I think, having genuinely thought that full house beat quads.

The tourney was not fun. I shoved JT on a flop of J98, guy has QT. I flop trip tens with my AT, and get run down by a flush. I flop top, top and get run down by not one but two flushes. I make one or two bluffy moves and get cut down each time. Just wasn't my day. Or it was my day, just not my table.

But yeah, winning 40BB in four hours of fixed limit despite a huge cooler hand is pretty good going. Shame about the tourney.

A cursory glance at a yerar's statistics

2010-01-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

A few observations on my limit holdem stats over the last 12 months.

Hands played: 65k

BB/100 actually -0.2. Not marvellous, but certainly more than covered by rakeback.

It's actually better than that though, because I have 1.4BB/100 over 30k hands at 3/6 and 5/10 and 13BB/100 over 1k at 4/8. I lost at 0.5/1, 1/2 and 2/4, and also made statistically insignificant losses at 6/12 and 8/16 plus a big heater win at 10/20.

I wonder whether the lower stakes are causing me to play suboptimally due to a lack of sting?

End of year summary

2010-01-14T00:19:00.001-08:00

After the fairly amazing November result, December was a bit of a downer with a net loss of nearly $900. This set back my bankroll back below the $10,000 target I had set at the start of the year. However with my overall profit sitting at around $11k, I am not too concerned.

2009 goals:

$10k bankroll: hit, then dropped below. I'm very happy with the result, considering my roll started the year on just over $2k.
Play more tournaments: not really - I'm finding it hard to set aside enough time to play online tourneys
Play more big live events: the APPT teams was the biggest event I've played and provided a lot of great experience. It was good to mix it with (and outlast) some of Australia's top pros.
Get back to 3/6 and 5/10 limit: definitely achieved. These are my staple levels in FL, including Euros on Purple Lounge.
Get into cash NLH: Not really achieved. I've had a few shots at NLH and PLO, but not enough to be confident of beating these games.

Overall year result: net profit of around $8600. Not bad pocket money for a hobby.

WBCOOP

2010-01-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

I 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: 764889

Shot taking WIN!

2010-01-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, blog slackaments no post in donkeys. I am overdue in posting my year summary so that will come in the next day or so.

But I did have to report yesterday's awesomeness. One table of PLO100. 45 minutes. Five and a half buyins profit. Between that and some 5/10 limit, I had a $1000 day.

Here is the PLO session. The whole session was 79 hands, and I have removed the hands where I folded pre or on the flop - leaving 42 hands (giving an inkling of how good I ran).

I don't think I ever played PLO100 before, and I certainly haven't thought deeply about the game. Advice appreciated.

Rule #1: remember to run good once in a while

APPT teams: Mincashaments!

2009-12-04T23:25:00.000-08:00

Cliff notes from event #9 teams:

Outlasted Joe Hachem, Tony Hachem (playing w Sean Keeton), Lee Nelson, Amanda, Donna, John Juanda's wife (apparently)
Played on a table with Tony. He got steamed after some fish called a big preflop raise w QT and caught two pair to crack his kings
Joe bubbled
Had to rebuild my stack twice from super short after my partner's round - he escaped from some very awkward situations including laying down aces on a paired board when some fish ended up taking it down with trip 8s (82s FTW)
Mostly got respect for my 6-10BB shoves
Sucked out only once, when my K6s shove caught a king against AQ. Busted same guy with my AQ a couple of hands later
Despite the large number of live and online pros, there were still quite a lot of really awful players
One guy minraised my BB from the SB, leaving <4bb>
Quite a few players were really weak after the flop, check-folding after PFR, or open limping buttons and then checking two streets
Finished 9th out of 77 for about $1925 (minus buyin divided by two = not much)
Lol mincashaments

Many thanks to TFAL for the suggestion, and for playing really well. I had a great time. Full trip report later if I have the energy.

Poker is so easy

2009-12-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

I stopped by Star City last night to get my bearings before tonight's tournament, and witnessed the biggest hand I have ever seen live.

The game was 10/20 No Limit Holdem with a buyin of 2-5k. There is a young guy (YG) sitting in front of me in seat two with a big stack that I estimate to be at least 10k, and former APPT winner Grant Levy (GL) shortstacked in seat 4. I picked up the action preflop, where the young guy (YG) had raised to about 120 UTG, and was reraised by GL to about 420 (leaving 1k behind). A middle eastern guy (MEG) on the button flat calls the 420. Now YG announces raise and throws a 1k chip on the table. GL goes all-in with his last 1k chip and MEG flat calls again. YG calls the 300 more. Pot is now nearly 4500. Flop comes QT3. YG bets 2500 into the sidepot. MEG goes all-in for about 6k total. I catch a peek of YGs AA, and the turn comes the miraculous A. Miraculous, because MEG turns over his monster QT as the blank falls on the river. YG drags the $16000 pot with barely a murmur. Poker is so easy.

November summary

2009-11-30T19:12:00.000-08:00

The month began with a bankroll of $7565. Closing balance is $10664, for a massive monthly profit of $3109. This just eclipses my previous best monthly result of $3090 achieved in May this year. The most remarkable thing about this result, is that it was achieved in a month which included my worst ever one day downswing of -$1500.

I put in a lot of volume at Purple Lounge and Red Star, and I would estimate that at least $1300 of the net result comes from rakeback, bonuses, and a little rake chase on Red Star. Those 3/6 and 5/10 tables certainly generate a hell of a lot of rake.

December's goals? I'm not quite sure. Obviously I'd like to to well on Friday at the APPT, but I'd also like to take a couple of shots at qualifying for the Aussie Millions. I'd also like to stay profitable, and keep that bankroll well above the $10k mark.

BR target achieved

2009-11-29T16:57:00.000-08:00

At the risk of offending the poker Gods and triggering another 100BB downer, I am going to post about hitting targets again!!

At the beginning of 2009, with my bankroll sitting on $2k, I set a target to build the bankroll to $10k by the end of the year. I have now officially achieved that goal (as distinct from getting my total profit above $10k).

Today, my bankroll is sitting on $10200, with perhaps another $300 or so due in rakeback payments. It is interesting to note that the bankroll build has come almost entirely in three 'heater' month - April, May and November.

My reason for wanting a $10k bankroll, apart from the obvious, was to be able to play tournaments more freely (especially live). To this end, I will be celebrating hitting my target by joining a fellow Blogger in the Teams Holdem event this Friday at the APPT in Sydney. With a $1100 buyin and hopefully a field of around 100, this should be a good opportunity to test our mettle against some good players. It comes at the end of the penultimate day of the Main Event, so there should be a good atmosphere and some top class players around aiming to avenge their elimination.

After this, chances are the bankroll will dip back below the $10k mark, but this is an investment in good experience as much as anything. And once you hit the felt, anything can happen!

Head back above water

2009-11-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

The recovery is complete, with another very nice session on RedStar last night: +60BB or so.

At this point, I thought I would reflect on my graph (total profit), going back to about the beginning of the year:

As you can see, I am a very swingy player. The two red lines show some nice upward trends (well the first was really a two month heater), but there are also some very long flat spots. I wonder how other players seem to manage a much more consistent and less volatile trend (yes, I'm looking at you Bonus Chasing Grinder)? I think I am probably now playing slightly higher stakes on average, but I also suspect that I am a much LAGgier player and am undecided as to whether that's a good thing or not. It certainly makes for some excitement!

And to finish up, here is the funniest hand I have played in a long time (on the crazienst table I have played in a long time). TT is not a hand I expect to hold up in a six way capped pot preflop. Even less so when a king and queen appear on the board.

Apologies for the crappy formatting - anyone know of a hand converter which works for Cake histories?

Hand#2059012067000707 - Lillehammer (Turbo, 6-max) 12067 -- $2/$4 FL Hold'em -- 2009/11/24 - 17:57:41
Seat 1: Rabi***1 ($108 in chips)
Seat 2: sick***2 ($99.50 in chips)
Seat 3: 2iti***3 ($13.25 in chips)
Seat 8: Hero ($60 in chips)
Seat 9: PUTA***9 ($112 in chips) DEALER
Seat 10: flir***10 ($65 in chips)
flir***10: posts small blind $1
Rabi***1: posts big blind $2
Dealt to Hero [Ts,Th]
sick***2: raises to $4
2iti***3: raises to $6
Hero: raises to $8
PUTA***9: calls $8
flir***10: calls $7
Rabi***1: calls $6
sick***2: calls $4
2iti***3: calls $2
*** FLOP *** [3h,Kc,7s]
flir***10: checks
Rabi***1: checks
sick***2: bets $2
2iti***3: raises to $4
Hero: calls $4
PUTA***9: calls $4
flir***10: folds
Rabi***1: folds
sick***2: calls $2
*** TURN *** [Qs]
sick***2: checks
2iti***3: is all in 1.2500
Hero: calls $1.25
PUTA***9: folds
sick***2: calls $1.25
*** RIVER *** [ Ks ]
sick***2: checks
Hero: checks
***SHOW DOWN***
2iti***3: shows [4s 4c] (Two Pairs, Kings and Fours )
Hero: shows [Ts Th] (Two Pairs, Kings and Tens )
sick***2: mucks
Hero: wins $64.75 with Two Pairs, Kings and Tens
sick***2: mucks [ 7c, Ad ] (TwoPair)

And a little bit more

2009-11-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

Another +50BB on RedStar 3/6 tonight and I am back above the $10k profit line for the third time. Cue the next massive cooler?

Swing swong

2009-11-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

This is getting a little bit insane.

I redeposited on RedStar the other day to take up a reload bonus, and managed to win nearly 70BB in the space of about 150 hands of $3/6 yesterday. It's not quite the same as E5/10, but it was a welcome recovery after my horror session on PL.

I am now looking forward to a work trip to Sydney and the opportunity to play in one of the APPT lead up events.

Do the poker gods read my blog?

2009-11-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

God know few others do.

I need to stop posting my wins. Seriously. I just took a massive reaming on some seriously fishy 5/10 Euro tables on Purple. $1200, or about 80BB in the space of about 90 minutes. Standard stuff, but just hand after hand - my AJ < AK on A high board. My AJ < AQ on A high board . My tptk crushed by turned 2 pair. My flopped set crushed by the paired turn(bigger boat) . Second pairs losing to top pairs. Huge draws (str8flush+overs) not getting there.

Just Ugh.

Variance insanity

2009-11-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

I have had an upswing of $3k in the last week, nearly all of it at the fish tank which is Purple Lounge. That's just crazy stuff - the equivalent of at least 300BB at the stakes I usually play. It follows a nearly $1k downswing over the week previous to that, so it's not entirely plain sailing.

Of course all of this is raindrops compared to the utter insanity of the high stakes action at Full Tilt of the last week or so. Unknown newcomer 'Isidur1' has been wreaking absolute havoc - yesterday he was playing eight simultaneous tables ($500/$1000 blinds NLH) against the three best players in the world: Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Tom 'durrrr' Dwan. The new guy is up overall to the tune of about 4 million, mainly thanks to crushing durrrr in some insane six table matches, but all these guys have seen million dollar swings over the last few days.

Shot taking WIN

2009-11-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

Fishy table, 10/20 Euro, 4-5 handed. Insanity right?

I decided to have a shot based on running good the last few days (great strategy amirite?) and I have to say this: Winning a humungous pot with AA on the second hand does great things for your ability to play poker properly (and not like some nitty shot taker).

End result: back over the $10k profit mark at last (only took two months)

A very belated update

2009-11-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I haven't posted now for nearly six weeks. To be honest, I've been running so badly that I didn't want to bore everybody with a litany of bad beats, coolers and tilt.

My worst day (ever) was just last week, when I somehow managed to dump 200 big bets (over $1000) in a couple of hours playing 2/4 and 3/6. This pretty well puts paid to the notion that 300BB is a big enough bankroll for limit.

As for the missing months: September was a net -$300, and October was a net -$500.

You would think that November was going the same way after that $1000 turdball, but you would be wrong. Somehow I managed to turn it around with a $1000 winner yesterday on Purple Lounge. That was around 100 big bets playing between 2/4 and 5/10 Euro.

It started with a pretty long heads up session against a loose/weak fish. I must have been running good, but this guy was so bad I don't think I could have lost even with bad cards. He was seeing about 70% of flops, but with only 25% WTSD. He was folding about 40% of the time to Cbets, and frequently limped his button letting me see free flops with rags. He also failed to Cbet when he missed on scary boards, letting me take down lots of pots with nothing. This stuff is suicide heads up, and I took him to the cleaners (even though HU is not my best game). I felt that I couldn't lose even if I ran bad. There is something very primal about playing heads up until one of you goes busto. This wasn't durrrr vs Isildur1, but it felt like it to me with my tiny little roll.

Shortly after that, I ran into my old friend johnoda, a 75/10 fish who took me to the cleaners at a HU 10/20 Euro game some time ago (which I then recovered from him the next day at 5/10 6max). Found the Jesus seat on a 5/10 table, with a couple of nits on my left - just how I like it. I continued to run good there, and on a couple of other tables (again, well placed with nits on the left and fish on the right). I even managed to survive a huge cooler, when I ran my AK into QQ on a flop of QKK. That wasn't very pretty, but about three hands later I ran my A7cc into the same guy's KQcd on a flop of JT6ccc with the fourth club on the turn.

The win is my biggest ever one day total on cash tables. And boy did I need it after the worst day only last week. As an added bonus, I should have a huge bonus coming in as a result of my VIP deal with Purple Lounge.

Bad to worse

2009-10-05T01:52:00.000-07:00

Run bad -> run worse -> tilt monkey.

I need to take some time to reassess what I'm doing. The last couple of weeks have been horrific. Tilt manifests itself in an unwillingness to get up from a game when stuck, even when the table has ceased to be good.

Two steps forward and three (or five) steps back

2009-09-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

I should just shut my mouth. Seriously.

Last night was horrific. Over 100BB in the space of about two hours. Most of it was at 2/4EUR, where one particular megafish (who was seeing 100% of flops and about 60% of showdowns) was running all over me. He started out on my left, which was horrendous because he was also pretty aggressive. I managed to get him on my right, but by then much of the damage was done.

The $10k mark is suddenly quite a long way off, and it will probably get a bit further, as I am planning to play a qualifier at the casino tonight.

One small comfort is that I'll get a couple of hundred in rakeback at the end of the month, but I am still left with a bad taste.

The swings and the roundabouts

2009-09-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

I was all set to write a "woe is me" post on how badly I have run since hitting the $10k milestone last week, but actually I have made a pretty rapid recovery. The low point was at least $800 down on the peak (probably more, because I think I sank lower mid-session). In the last couple of sessions, I have managed to recover to be only $300 under the peak, and set to bust through that $10k mark permanently.

As usual, the swings are down to playing at the limit of my online stakes - 5/10Euro on Purple Lounge. There have been one or two tables running at this stake every night for the last couple of weeks, and it is pretty good fishing territory. I have seen at least two or three different megafish in this game with stats like 70/10/0.8, and a whole host of bad regs (too loose mostly) that are losing a lot of money according to my DB. Sadly the downs have exceeded the ups on 5/10 in the last few days, with the wins coming mainly from 2/4 - but I'm sure I'm going to hit some cards soon and have a big win.

If anyone wants a great VIP deal on Purple Lounge, check out the notice on the right of the blog and drop me a line.

The thing about milestones:

2009-09-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

.. is that hitting them doesn't mean you stay in front of them.

In fact, my experience so far has been that hitting milestones is often followed by a massive cooler (as BCG will attest), or a heater that causes you to hit the *next* milestone before you know it.

In my case, it was the former. I had a crazy swinging session yesterday, where I ranged from being $200 up to being nearly $800 down (5/10 and 3/6 Euro will do that to you). Luckily I managed to finish ok and am now just $150 down from my $10k milestone, and with a chunky bit of rakeback to come.

Five figures: just call me Jesus

2009-09-22T22:50:00.000-07:00

A little over 20 months ago, I started playing online poker with $10 of free money from VCpoker. Today, I moved my "net profit" over the $10,000 mark for the first time. I don't think I expected to be able to do that when I started, and it feels pretty good.

My actual bankroll is actually still down around the $8800 mark, due to taking some dividends and also the small loss on Eurolinx. My aim for the year was to achieve a $10k bankroll by the end of the year, and that is well on track even though I thought it ambitious at the time.

In my mind, I have achieved my own version of Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson's $10,000 challenge (Ferguson started from zero and ground up to $10k on FTP over the course of about 16 months). Of course the two challenges are not really comparable, since I made liberal use of bonuses and rakeback to achieve my target, while Ferguson had to do it over the table only. On the other hand, Ferguson started his challenge as a professional player while I was Joe Nobody.

To steal a good line: "I don't think this is quite what they meant when they taught me to be more like Jesus"

The Blindman is now an affiliate!

2009-09-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

I have an excellent VIP offer on Purple Lounge. If anyone is interested, email me at blindmanaffiliate@gmail.com, and I can give you the full details of the offer along with signup instructions.

Purple Lounge is on the Microgaming network, which I have found to be infested with fish at fixed limit up to 5/10 Euro. There are obviously some concerns about Microgaming after the Eurolinx debacle, but it still seems to be pretty viable with big rooms like Ladbrokes and Unibet providing a lot of players.

Running good

2009-09-16T20:20:00.001-07:00

Had a nice reminder yesterday of what it's like to run good. 25BB in five minutes of 2/4EUR (and 350 overall for the session) is pretty nice. The bigger part of that was after getting sucked into a huge pot with JTs capped preflop. Usual story - couple of limpers, I limp along, one of the blinds raises, I call, one of the limpers decides to jack it up and suddenly we are five way in a humungous pot. Flop comes AJx (at which point I think this is going to be one expensive hand), and I check call one or possibly two bets. Turn is another jack, and I check call again. Checkraise the blank river heads up against the preflop raiser and drag a humungous pot.

I'm back to playing mostly on Microgaming, even after the Eurolinx debacle. I've got a ludicrously good rakeback deal on Purple Lounge and I can't resist the megafishes that play up to 5/10EUR. I'll be careful about my bankroll on the site, and on balance I think the risk is worth it.

Belated August summary

2009-08-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

Usual story, really. Started the month with a horrific cooler, recovered late to be well ahead and finished a little bit on the cool side.

Bankroll started at $8286, and finished on $8333. That takes into account the fact that I had to transfer $253 from my bankroll to a new "losses" column owing to the collapse of Eurolinx. It's possible I will one day see some of that money, but I somehow doubt it.

The gain in "total profit" was a pretty measly $301. Most of that probably came from bonuses and rakeback.

My biggest problem at the moment is that my lucrative sites have dried up. The NoiQ rake races which once were fantastic have turned into wimpy weekly bonuses worth 10% at best (for me). The RedStar rake race turned into a "rake chase" which is a complete waste of time. Eurolinx, of course, has died completely, taking with it a rake race which has paid amazing dividends for most of the last year.

My main objective for this month, then is to find a new decent long term room with decent rakeback and something extra like a race or regular bonus. In the meantime, I might also look for a quick kickback or two.

Mid-September update:

I now have a pretty good rakeback deal on Purple Lounge, which allows me to continue cashing in on the Microgaming fish. Continuing to play on Microgaming sites is a bit risky, since they obviously do not have adequate protection for punters. I will protect myself as much as I can by minimizing my roll on the site as much as I can. On the whole I think it's worth the risk. Just.

I also decided to do the Regalos PokerTime kickback bonus. This bonus looks very attractive, at around $200 and 200%RB equivalent. The problem is that PokerTime (previously on the Microgaming network) is now a stand-alone room - a fact I was unaware of when I signed up. They now have barely twenty tables running at any one time, all no-limit holdem, and only 3-4 at NL50 or above. I am still going to finish the kickback, as it is very easy and the players on the site are laughably bad. The biggest downside is that almost everyone on the site is short stacking - probably because they're all doing kickbacks at >100% rakeback. This site is going nowhere fast, and I am going to finish the deal and cash out as soon as humanly possible.

In other news, I have burned a whole stack of cash on Full Tilt attempting to do their "take 2" promotion. Yuk.

Dodging bullets: Eurolinx bites the dust

2009-08-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

The following message appears on the Eurolinx website:

MALTA – The Linx Media Group has today announced that it is seeking to put its businesses into liquidation and will cease trading with immediate effect. As yet, the Linx Media Group does not know how long this process will take, but it will provide updates on the situation as and when information becomes available and when liquidators are appointed.

This is a tragedy for the online gaming industry. Eurolinx was a popular cardroom on the Microgaming network. It had a reputation for running really good promotions and for looking after its players.

The warning signs came as early as April, when some players started reporting delays in withdrawals on 2+2.

I have played on Eurolinx for nearly a year, and did very well out of the rakeback, bonuses and a series of lucrative rake races via Rake the Rake. I noticed the 2+2 thread around the beginning of June, and was surprised as I had received a withdrawal without problems at the end of April. The thread concerned me enough to request a withdrawal of just about half my balance. After a number of emails, I eventually got my money in early July. The problems were appearing to persist, so I withdrew a further substantial part of my bankroll immedately. The latter withdrawal was received in early August after an email to RTR. It now looks like I may have been one of the last players to receive money from Eurolinx, and some of the players that were waiting since April never received their money. As it happens, I busted the few hundred dollars I had remaining on Eurolinx and so my balance at the time of liquidation was just $250 due to some rake races and rakeback. There is no doubt that I have been very fortunate to escape from this situation - at the time that I became aware of the problems I had nearly 25% of my bankroll on the site.

Some players are reporting losses in excess of $250,000. Some players had their entire bankroll on Eurolinx. Many are being put in very difficult personal situations due to this loss of money.

What lessons can be drawn from this debacle? Firstly, it is essential to diversify online money. It is a mistake to keep your entire bankroll in any one place, even Neteller or reputable sites like Pokerstars. I think I will be pulling a few $000 offline in the coming month partly to protect it, and partly to get it working earning interest.

Secondly, there are now legitimate concerns being raised about the way Microgaming is run. It is evident that Eurolinx was 'investing' player deposits on real estate and stocks, and was irreparably damaged by the financial crisis. One wonders how Microgaming is set up that its skins can be allowed to operate in this way without liquid reserves sufficient to cover player deposits. A number of Microgaming skins connected with the Tusk company collapsed last year, so there are now some serious concerns about the viability of Microgaming overall.

Running good is awesome.

2009-08-01T07:28:00.001-07:00

Played the $5k guaranteed on Cake on Friday ($10 rebuy, 162 runners). Had another deep run, accompanied by the most incredible "run good" I have ever experienced in a tournament. At the 25/50 level I had 310 big blinds at one stage. Then, after donking off half my stack in a fit of stupidity (see the AKcc hand below) I went on an unreal winning stack, until I was chipleader with nearly three times as many chips as second place, and with 15% of the total chips with 30 odd players left. Unfortunately despite that I only managed to finish 5th for $280 rather than 1st for $1000 odd.

The finish was pretty disappointing. I lost a chunk to a preflop reshove with AQ vs QQ. I figured that he could have been stealing, but actually I should really have been playing smaller ball versus an early position raiser. After that came two just bad beats which put me out (flopped set < rivered straight and AQ < KJ AIPF). Winning either would have placed me well within shot of winning, but it wasn't to be. Bottom line is that you really need to run good for the last hour, not the middle hour.

A good live session

2009-07-22T20:26:00.001-07:00

Played the 85+15 "deepstack" on Tuesday. I say deepstack, but when level 5 goes from 100/200 to 200/400 and level 7 goes from 300/600 to 500/1000 it gets very shallow very quickly. By the time we reached the second break, the average chipstack was down to 10 big blinds (I had a "good" stack with 16).

I had a fairly good run, and ended up splitting 10th place for a min cash. We also had a little sweetener for the bubble, so I came away with an awesome $30 profit from 5 hours of poker :-/

The final hand had the poker Gods pissing with me. I shoved 69cc (big blind special) on a JJ4cc board. JQ reshoved. Turn 2c . River 2h .

I then sat in the 10/20 limit for an hour or so because I had arranged to meet up with another player. I had a good run and came away with $330 profit. It would have been a lot more if I hadn't been busted twice (in about five hands) by runner-runner one card flushes. At least I checked behind on the river both times.

The last hand was a classic. I was UTG with 67dd. I would normally dump it, but the table was loose and passive so it wasn't a bad spot to gamble (plus it was my last hand). I limped, expecting a good chance of a 4-5 way pot since the players are so bad. Another limper, a late position raise, BB calls and we see a flop 4 ways. Flop comes down T98 rainbow, so I have the arse end of the straight. BB checks, and I check planning to checkraise. PFR bets as promised, but then the BB checkraises. I don't quite know what to make of this. He could easily have QJ, but sets and two pair are quite possible too or pair and a draw. I flat call, and everyone calls. Turn is blank, like a 2 no flush draws I think. BB leads and I just call. River is a K, BB checks (Eureka) I bet and everyone calls. MHIG and I rake a 16 big bet pot .

My line was pretty weak to be honest. I think I should be at least raising the turn to make anyone with a jack or queen pay the maximum. Still, I managed to be paid off nicely by all the missed draws anyway.

(almost) Every Hand Revealed

2009-07-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

I played the $50k guarantee ($75 buyin) on Pacific this morning (3:30am), courtesy of a free ticket. I managed a pretty deep run, and was actually chipleader at a few points. Sadly I made a few bad errors and had a difficult run towards the end, and ended up with a min cash of $140. This was sadly a long way short of the $12.5k 1st prize that I was aiming for.

I suspect my lack of NL tournament experience showed at times, and in general I did run good in the early to middle stages. I'd be interested in some expert comments.

Here is pretty much the whole tournament laid bare. These are the key pots (all pots where I won or lost 10 or more big blinds). Starting stack was 5000, 10/20 blinds, 20 minute levels.

Individual hand comments:

35: This was the first hand of the tournament. Gotta love flopping two pair and turning a boat. The river bet was an attempt to look bluffy by overbetting the pot. It's tough to get good value so early.
JTdd: Getting busy in late position here. As you can see, the play was pretty retarded for a $75 tournament. Incredible that he can go bust with a single pair here.
54o: Another two pair. This time I am probably giving the flush draw too good a price, but I wanted to keep the pot under control with such a vulnerable hand. The donk bet on the river was a dead giveaway - I probably would have value bet significantly more if he checked to me.
TT: This is probably my limit play getting the better of me. When an overcard flops my pair, I like to raise the flop and see a cheap showdown. I think this early I should probably give the flop donk bet respect, as the players are generally pretty obvious. Dropping so much on the hand was pretty poor, but I was suspiscious of the small bets.
QTo: Getting busy on the button again, and again it works out well. I probably could have got better value out here. Turn check was an attempt to get him to lead the river, but maybe I just need to play straightforwardly and extract maximum value from his K or A.
35hh: Middle pair on the flop, plus a gutshot on the turn. I thought the combination of the turned ace and the rivered pair and flush made it a good spot to bluff, but it didn't come off. I think he folds without an ace.
J9cc: Pretty straightforward. Is there any point in value betting this river? I suspect not.
QQ: Another nice hand. Should I bet the turn? I figured the pot was big enough to get a decent value bet in on the river anyway.
TT: A monster hand, which basically set up my run. It's a cooler for AA, but A2dd got what he deserved.
KQdd: A bit cheeky to fire the second barrel here, but it worked out ok. I shutdown if he calls, obviously.
JJ: Always getting it in versus the shortstack here, and run good enough to river my two outer.
J6dd: Just got drawn into this hand, and hit the wrong outs on the river. I don't really think I could have played it differently.
A8o: Weird hand. Scary board, but the minbets on flop and turn made it pretty clear that he had nothing. I might have folded a bigger river bet, gutshot being the only real possibility for a good hand.
TT: A lot of limping on this table. I liked to punish this tendency from late position. Villain was short, so race was inevitable.
JQss: I should explain that asbo was the megafish on this table. He open limped any two cards, and liked to donk any flop and often followed up on the turn and/or river. But he often folded when put under pressure. After the turn raise, I have to credit him for a hand, and just call for my double belly outs.
AJcc: Overcards plus flushdraw I figure good enough for this allin checkraise. My equity was certainly enough unless he has a set or big pair. I saw a lot of light calls during this tournament.
KQo: Did I mention that asbo was retarded? He claimed this was a bluff gone wrong, but that does not explain his final call on the river. He copped a lot of shit from the table after this.
AQdd: Huge, huge hand. Flop and turn were obviously semibluffs. The river 2.5x pot bluff was just completely inexplicable. I just couldn't put him on the backdoor flush, and surely sets would have done something smaller sooner? Whatever, it was a big call and put me into the tournament chiplead. The guy gave me shit about it for ages, basically calling me a fish for calling his retarded bluff, but whatever.
AQo: Did I mention that asbo was retarded? Yeah, I guess I did. I'll isoraise him all day, and float his inevitable donk bets liberally. Amazingly, he was still building a big stack by pushing the rest of the table around with these obvious and repeated bluffs.
A7o: Isoraising the fish again (the rest of the table were pretty weak, notably the BB here). My top pair is good 90% of the time here. Turn raise, because my kicker problem went away. Unfortunately it came back on the river. Cest la vie.
AQcc: Muppet from previous hand. Shortstack shove is quite likely to be air, but if not my pair outs ought to be good.
JQo: Detecting a pattern here? I like this button raise, especially when it folds out the other limper and leaves me with asbo once again. I had seen this river bluff so often, this was an instacall. After this hand, I hit my peak of 80k in chips which put me comfortably chipleader, with maybe 150 players left.
88: To be honest, I should find a fold here after the limp-reraise from the very tight player. But I figured he might have AK often enough that it was worth calling the short shove.
AJcc: Should probably fold the flop checkraise here. This guy hadn't got too out of line. Turn bet was obviously too big to go fishing for a flush. But part of me still thought that he had air and was just making a play against my presumed blind steal.

After that hand, there was a hell of a long time where I picked up nothing. Very little preflop, and nothing at all to play beyond the flop. Few opportunities to steal (or none). Worse however, I was moved tables leaving my megafish and assorted weak tighties behind.

KQdd: Preflop is fine. On the flop I just need to fold with the guy behind me. Raising was asking for trouble, and I got it. Shut down once he called my raise.
72o: Nice hand to bust out on eh? Flopping top pair is all very nice, but I probably shouldn't push it with four players seeing the flop. The raise is questionable to say the least. Once AAMERICK shoved over the top, I recalled the KQdd hand and figured he could be making a play recalling the same hand. The bet size certainly looked like it didn't want to see a call. Daft way to play a set, but perhaps an even dafter way to play 72o. Note in my defence: I had been playing for over five hours by this stage, having woken at 3:30am to play.

It's notable that I went from 200/400 to 800/1600 (6 levels) winning only one hand of note. So if my early tournament was a heater (you bet), then my late tournament was probably a cooler.

A punch in the guts

2009-07-09T05:18:00.000-07:00

45 minutes, $400 down the toilet. It happened so fast I want to punch someone.

Here are the highlights from one table:

Reevaluating opening range

2009-07-04T04:41:00.000-07:00

Looking at the stats for my last post made me have a little think about whether I am playing a little too laggy, so I thought I would go back to basics and have a look at my opening ranges.

To keep things simple, I am looking at 6max fixed limit games from 1/2 up. Initially, I am simply looking at my opening range UTG or UTG+1. This opening range more or less calibrates my range in other positions and with other action (limpers, raises in front etc).

Using Holdem Manager's filters, I selected for these conditions and came up with about 11000 hands which is not a bad sample (about 100 of each offsuit hand, 30 of each suited and 50 of each pair). Then I can see what I normally do with each hand in these positions, and what the average result is.

My current opening range is something along these lines: 22+, A7o+, A5s+, K9o+, K7s+, QTs+, QJo, suited connectors down to 87. Sometimes I also play the other suited aces, QTo, Q9s, J9s and a few other marginal hands.

This is a fair bit laggier than the Stox recommendation, which is roughly: 55+, A7s+, A9o+, K9s+, KQo, QTs+, J9s+, T9s, 98s.

Looking at my database, I discovered the following interesting facts:

All the pocket pairs are profitable
Almost all the suited aces are profitable, except A2s.
Suited kings are profitable down to K9 (with the exception of an unusually bad KQ). Lower kings are marginal but not bad.
Suited connectors and 1 gappers are basically marginal all the way down. Everything else is not worth worrying about.
A8o and lower are pretty clearly unprofitable.
KTo is one of my most profitable unsuited hands (weird, must be an outlier I guess). KJo and KQo are also pretty solid winners.
All the other unsuited hands are marginal at best. QJ is maybe the only one that is playable.

The conclusion I draw from this is that it is pretty clear that I need to tighten up all around, except for perhaps loosening the small suited aces.

The opening range I come up with is this:

33+, A2s+, ATo+, K9s+, KTo+, QTs+, QJo, JTs.

If I'm at a tight table I can add the following: 22, A8o+, K5s+, K9o, Q9s, QTo, suited connectors and gappers down to 54 and 64. But in general all these hands will do nothing except for increase variance.

Note that this analysis is based on my stats, which means it is heavily influenced by the way I have played these hands postflop. Obviously, the better you play postflop, the more hands you can play pre. I suspect I don't play all that well out of position, hence the need to tighten up in these early spots.

Am I a winning player?

2009-07-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of days of run good does wonders for the confidence. Yesterday was a pretty solid $300 winner. Some of it was running good, but I also made some good plays like carefully calculating my outs to call two cold on the turn with bottom pair and a gutshot (catching the gutshot to win a huge pot). I also made a good call with king high to a weird donk bet on the river.

For a long time I have been wondering if I am actually a winning player or not. Obviously I am if you include rakeback and bonuses and all the rest, but I'd really like to think I am winning at the table as well. For a long time my winnings were almost excusively down to bonuses, and I was actually a significant loser at 1/2. At 2/4, initial success succumbed to a massive downswing to take me into negative territory there as well.

Looking afresh at my results over the last six months, I think I can say with moderate confidence that I am a winning fixed limit player at the tables as well now.

A few things to note:

I am definitely a LAG. Much looser than bort for example. I am probably verging on Loose/bad at 1/2, perhaps because I am not playing "properly" due to the money being small.
3/6 seems to be a sweet spot, but in general it is interesting that I don't win any more at lower stakes than at those higher stakes.
0.5/1 is down to a huge cooler while trying to qualify for a freeroll ticket on Titan with a very small roll. Why I was playing 0.25/0.50 I have no idea :)
HEM only imports Cake hands after May 5th (new file format), and therefore my massive April heater on RedStar isn't included. That should boost the 3/6 stats a bit further when they eventually support the old hand histories.
Despite playing quite a lot of hours, I actually play relatively few hands. Many grinders would play this many hands in one month. My preference is to play no more than 3 tables, or 4 at a stretch. I will never comprehend the 12 table grinders.
I think it's a fairly representative sample, since it includes the tail end of the huge downswing at the start of the year and the recent downswing as well as the April-May heater.
My stats over "all hands" is not nearly as good as these for the last six months. But that just means I'm getting better, right?

Downswing officially over

2009-07-02T18:59:00.000-07:00

My last peak prior to the big downswing was June 7th, and I am very happy to have eclipsed that mark. One month in the doldrums I can handle - it's when it stretches out to two and three that it drives you up the wall.

Bad news this month though in that RTR have dropped the RedStar rake race, which is very bad news. Choosing a Cake room seems to be a bit of a lottery, since you can only have one room with rakeback and the promotions change so much from month to month. I have a deposit bonus to finish, but once that's done I may need to find another room or two.

June summary: rakeback FTW!

2009-06-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

In something of a miracle, I have ended June in (marginal) profit. I started the month with a BR of $7909 and finished with $7964 for a princely profit of $45. I actually owe myself some dividend from last month so that will probably drop a little bit.

That result is actually pretty good, considering that I found myself in a $1500 hole at one point. It was, of course, rakeback that saved me - I have a policy of only adding rakeback to my account at the end of each month. I made about $470 in rakeback and another $400 in rake races, along with $100 of the RedStar signup bonus. That means that I lost over ($900) on the tables, which is not a very marvellous result.

I had a nice short shot at 5/10Euro the other night with one of my favourite fish which provided something of a boost. I resisted the temptation to join a very juicy looking 10/20Euro table yesterday. I think I want to get the BR to $10k before I get too deep in those kinds of games.

By the way, my Eurolinx withdrawal finally came through after nearly a month of waiting. I'm really hoping they have sorted out their problems, because it is still one of my favourite sites to play with some great races and promotions. I've just requested another withdrawal to keep a minimum bankroll on the site, and am hoping this one comes through much more quickly.

PLOtastic

2009-06-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

I rocked up for a $100 PLO donkament at Burswood on Tuesday with a pretty solid understanding that I suck at PLO. I was joined by none other than TiocfaidhArLa from "Poker Career Downunder", who flew in - scheduled to arrive at the airport at 6:35, made it to the casino by about 6:55 (tourney started at 6:30) and got to his stack only 150 down. It was a pleasure to finally catch up, and we managed to have a good chat over a beer as well as playing a bit of (lol)limitaments afterwards. He busted out of the PLO shortly before me.

Played pretty tight for quite a while and found no playable hands. My first raggy AA hand I limped in EP intending to RR if the opportunity arose. Alas, it was called in about 5 places and I had to release it on the flop. The second AA hand I raised in MP, called from the button. Flop top set, but don't get paid. Maybe I could have checked it since the board was raggy but NM.

First really big hand was AKQ9, maybe double suited, maybe button. I Raised, flop goes 3 way. Flop KK9. Checked to me, I bet out nearly pot. One caller on my left (has me covered). Turn A (oh yes), I bet, he calls, river rags out and we get it all in. MHIG: he says he had K9. A couple more small pots and I am up to nearly 11k in chips with average still at 3.5k.

Then I lose a bit to a short stack, my KK53hhcc against his KQQxss when he makes a spade flush on the river. Move to a new table and the next big hand (cooler): I have AKJJss, pot it, flop goes 3 ways. Flop is JT6dd. I pot, call, guy on my right with Tourettes (but seemed like a really good bloke) raises AI, I call, other player folds. He has TT with the diamond draw. Diamond comes on the turn, river does not fill my boat. After that, I wasn't quite crippled but pretty badly damaged. I lost another AIPF against a dominated short stack with something like AKKJ to his KQTx with him making some stupid straight or something. My really bad hand (getting a bit short) was to raise KJT9cc, flop comes ATxhh, and I pot in an attempt to take it down. He RR me all-in, and I fold (he showed AQTx no hearts). I probably had the odds to call for the gutshot, but elected to limp on with my remaining pittance. It didn't last too long - I got it in good heads up once again but got drawn out on the turn.

Not too unhappy with how I played. If my top set of jacks had held up, I would have been in pretty good position to final table and maybe cash. And of course it was about 100 times better than the last rebuy PLO where i didn't win a single pot.

After that, I played 90 minutes or so of limit. Had pretty good position on two truly awful players. One middle aged lady (regular) who limp calls almost any cards preflop and cold calls most raises, and plays cards virtually face up postflop. The other was a chubby guy from Victoria who sounded like he plays a lot but just played so bad, calling down bottom pair to bets and raises multi-way etc. Anyway I started by losing nearly 100 when I raise JJ in MP, and get called by the usual suspects. I bet all the way on a board of tiny cards, and get raised on the end with the board reading something like 23459. I can probably fold easily here, but the pot was huge so I called to see not one but two players catching 6 high gutshots on the end (to be fair, one of them had a small pair to go with it, but still).

After that I won a decent pot with 77ui on a K25Tx board. I Cbet the flop (3 way), and the turn went check-check, so I value bet the river. I got raised and nearly folded since chubby was AI and the sidepot was tiny, but I call and he can't beat chubby's pair of 2s so MHIG. After that I won another decent hand and left exactly even to the dollar. But wow, the standard of play on that table was terrible. There were a couple of regs at the other end of the table who were decent, everyone else (except for TFAL sitting in the Jesus seat on my right) was either a passive calling station or a rock.

footnote:

Playing poker with Tourettes must be a particular challenge. The guy in the tournament was twitching constantly, occasionally shaking his head dramatically, and sometimes letting out an unintentional expletive. I didn't really try too hard to get a read on his tics, but I'm sure they must be readable.

Diary of a sick cooler.

2009-06-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

It's like some strange twisted version of Newton's law. Every heater is followed by an equal and opposite cooler. The last week has been incredibly sick. The bankroll has taken a hit of over 20%. That's probably about 250 big bets on average. Not a whole lot of fun.

It feels of course as though my decent hands are just not holding up, so I had a little look at HEM. This is the last 500 hands of 5/10 sorted by starting hand:

And 3/6:
And 2/4:

I think it's quite bad, but on the upside, I picked up 50EUR for the losing aces hands via a Eurolinx promo (if I ever get my $$ out). I also won 100 Euro while writing this post.

.. but the worm inevitably turns.

2009-06-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

Why is it that every big heater is followed by a massive, flat-on-your face cooler?

Yesterday was a disaster. I've dropped about a grand in barely a couple of hours of play. Probably 120BB or so.

I felt like at times I was playing poorly or that other players were running over me. But that's the thing isn't it? If other players are being very aggressive against you with marginal hands you need a little something to play back and when nothing comes, your cap for value preflop looks a bit foolish.

Blah whatever. I'm going to go play a $50 rebuy at the casino tonight and blow off some steam.

As an aside: I would advise not depositing at Eurolinx for the time being. There are problems with withdrawals there. I have a couple of grand in there which I am very much hoping to get back, otherwise this week will go down as the worst bad beat in my short history.

Diary of a sick heater (AKA May summary)

2009-05-31T22:36:00.000-07:00

As much as I'd like to believe that I am just a fantastic poker player, I cannot deny that the last month (or two) has been a bit of a sick heater for me.

Since mid February (the low point after the highs of Oct-Nov), I have nearly quintupled the bankroll. Since the end of March, I have more than tripled the bankroll. The last week has been pretty flat though, due to some rollercoasters.

The newly solidified bankroll puts me in a pretty good position to play up to 5/10 fairly comfortably. I have done so on Cake, Pacific and Eurolinx (Euros) and been fairly successful at all three. I also took the documented shots at 10/20, which netted a slight positive result despite the sick cooler at the first shot. I don't think I can stomach the swings of 10/20 Euros HU just yet. But I will probably continue to look at the 10/20 6max games when it runs and jump in when it looks tasty.

The month began with a bankroll of $5133, from which I took dividends of approximately $310. The month has finished with a bankroll of $7910, which is a net profit of $3123 (and another new record). This win comprised approximately $460 in rakeback, $350 in rake races, $110 of the RedStar signup bonus, a $300 tournament prize (4th $5 R&A). The remainder of nearly $1900 was made up of cash table wins at mainly 3/6 and 5/10. I'll take a pretty sizable dividend out of that and take my wife out for a really nice night out.

Holdem manager is due to add the ability to import Cake HHs very soon. I am looking forward to this, as I'd really like to be able to track my progress on RedStar. Once I have that, I will post some hand stats for the last couple of months.

I also have every intention of going back to playing some NL. The thing is the fish at FL have been everywhere recently, and at quite high stakes. Also I have been rake racing (which is way faster at the FL limits I play compared to 50 or 100NL).

Comeback!

2009-05-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

johnoda (villain from yesterday) found me and sat two to my right on an already fishy 10/20 table. Bottom line: I managed to win back all of yesterday's loss (but not before getting sucked out by a rivered flush and a runner-runner gutshot straight).

It was a risky move to sit at 10/20 again, but it was too juicy to resist. The result is that my bankroll has been on a bender: down $500, up $700 today, and up and down like a yoyo over the past four or five days.

I'll have to sit down and decide if I really want to keep taking shots at 10/20.

Shot taking FAIL

2009-05-28T17:20:00.001-07:00

An error of judgment, or just a cooler?

I found a fish I knew from 5/10 kicking around at higher stakes. He was sitting three handed on a 25/50 table, which was way out of my bankroll. But a little later I saw him playing 10/20 heads up. After a string of bad beats, he busted the other guy, and I decided to sit down.

This was a big call. It's the highest stakes I have played, and obviously playing heads up means a lot more action. I put 400 Euro on the table, which is a lot of money for me. I was feeling confident though, since I have been on a big heater for weeks if not months, and won a fair chunk playing 2/4 and 3/6 earlier in the night.

The bottom line is that 20 big bets lasted me a grand total of 53 hands. The first hand told the story really, with my KK getting killed by a 5 high runner-runner flush.

I actually didn't take the loss too badly. I think I have succeeded in psychologically separating my poker money from my "real" money. 400 Euro is over 700 Aussie dollars, and I would probably be apoplectic if I lost that much by smashing up the car or something like that.

Having a whale of a time at 5/10

2009-05-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

I noticed a EUR5/10 table running on Eurolinx, and watched a few rounds.

This caught my attention:

Yes, that's right folks, he checks AA in the BB in a multi-way limped pot, then check-calls two streets, and THEN raises when the board has paired. Awesome. The best part is that his stats are like 96/60, and he clearly only checks the nuts here.

Needless to say, I jumped on that list. Unfortunately, I had to wait ages before a spot came up. When it did, it started poorly but eventually turned around:

Postscript:

I'm back on the table. The uberfish left and came back. He's now on my left, with a 62/10 on his left, and a 70/17 on my right. The 47/21 on his right is a nit by comparison. One proper TAG opposite, and we have a 58/25 table. Wow.

PPS:

Finished the session with QQ vs AK on a AQx flop. That was nice. 45BB on a 5/10 table is quite a lot :-D

First cooler in a while

2009-05-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

I had my first tough session in some time last night. I played a EUR5/10 and 3/6 table on Eurolinx, and a 3/6 on Cake. I ended up just under $200 down, which wasn't too bad considering I was probably down closer to $400 at one stage.

It wasn't one of those bad beat after bad beat sessions, but just one where it seemed like my good hands were never paid off (AA wins the blinds) while my marginal hands were pounded, and my draws seldom came in.

I'm glad I stuck with it, as I ended up getting paid off by a 20/5 nitfish on my left on the EUR3/6 table. My pocket aces were capped preflop. Flop came king high, and I just called his threebet fearing KK a little bit. Turn was an A for top set and we capped up both the turn and river. Fish turned up AK for the most abysmally played top two in the face of my pretty obvious AA or KK. Nice result for a >130 Euro pot.

More tournaments and a cracker of a bad beat..

2009-05-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

I played a few more tourneys last night. Bubbled in a PokerStars 180 player $10 SNG.

In a $10 R&A on Eurolinx, I was doing pretty nicely in the mid stages (about double average) until this happened:

Holding pocket fives, I flopped a set on a nine high flop (raised pre with one caller). Villain calls my modest flop and turn bets, and then donks all-in on the river which paired the nine. I go to snap call, and.....

Misclick the fold button.

Gnargh. Argle. Faark.

The third tournament was a $5 R&A ($3k guarantee) on cake. I did pretty well and was in or around the chiplead going into the final table. Four handed I was one of two huge stacks (the player on my right was chipleader). And then this:

Hand#18664F7D06001993 - Tournament Table 22 T5209350 -- Table 25 -- $1,200/$6,000/$12,000 NL Hold'em -- 2009/05/16 - 00:40:12
Seat 4: Filo*** ($257,616 in chips)
Seat 6: sava*** ($486,600 in chips)
Seat 7: Hero ($442,108 in chips) DEALER
Seat 10: sill*** ($162,176 in chips)
Filossoff posts ante of 1,200
savat24 posts ante of 1,200
Hero posts ante of 1,200
sillynagger posts ante of 1,200
Filo***: posts small blind 6,000
sava***: posts big blind 12,000
Dealt to Hero [8s,8c]
Hero: raises to 32,000
sill***: folds
Filo***: folds
sava***: calls 20,000
*** FLOP *** [6c,Qd,8d]
sava***: bets 37,400
Hero: calls 37,400
*** TURN *** [2d]
sava***: bets 74,800
Hero: raises to 200,600
sava***: calls 125,800
*** RIVER *** [ 3d ]
sava***: bets 12,000
Hero: calls 12,000
***SHOW DOWN***
sava***: shows [7d 6s] (Flush, Queen high)
Hero: mucks
sava***: wins 574,800 with Flush, Queen high
Hero: mucks [ 8s, 8c ] (ThreeOfAKind)

OMFG you've got to be kidding me. 76o on the flop, bottom pair on the flop, bottom pair plus awful FD on the turn. After that I busted out in 4th for $300. But it could have been 1st for $850. Would have been huge chipleader if my set had held up.

I probably should have raised a bit more on the turn but really...

As an aside, cash games are also going reasonably well right now. I have had some more successful tilts at 5/10, and 2/4 and 3/6 are also going pretty well.

I guess this was the wrong time to take a shot at the 5/10 table

2009-05-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

(Euros btw) But it was fishy, and I couldn't resist:

But on the plus side:

I didn't lose as much as I might have
I didn't tilt
I didn't chase the loss after the fish on my right left
I managed to (almost) break even on the session, even after dumping 15BB on a 2/4

Sidenote: Capping 87s pre is pretty bad, but I think check calling the flop with a set and then donking the turn is possibly worse.

Sometimes it's good to have the fish on your left

2009-05-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it can be handy to have the passive calling fish on your left.

For these hands, both the players on my left were huge fish calling almost any action preflop with any two cards, and paying off with marginal hands postflop. This gives you a great opportunity to play drawing hands like small pairs and suited aces from early position.

Sitting UTG+1 and UTG (consecutive hands), I would nearly always dump 66 and A3s at a FR table. Here, limping gave the opportunity to create a big family pot.

Note there is a bit of a glitch in the replay, as I was UTG+1 and UTG not UTG+2 and UTG+1. Also Ron was BB in the second hand.

The first hand didn't work so well when fish #2 folded, and we ended up three ways. On the eight high diamond flop I figured my hand was worth a value bet, but unfortunately my gin on the turn was not paid off.

Hand two worked almost perfectly, with my two fish coming along for the ride and a late position raiser. The TP+FD flop was perfect, and I bet for value. The turn bet is probably a mistake since I am almost certainly still drawing.

I made a few more good pots against alli after these. I made "isolation" raises, which he would call and the rest of the table fold. He then calls two Cbets and my Q high junk holds up :)

April summary

2009-04-30T18:09:00.001-07:00

Looking back, I don't think I ever posted a summary for March. Maybe that's because I finished March down $300 after my PLO disaster and a couple of bad sessions.

Anyways, I started this month with a bankroll of $2495. I finished with a bankroll of $5133. That's an incredible 106% return. The net profit of $2638 was made up of $310 in rakeback, $250 in rake races, a $150 reload bonus on Euro, and about $120 of the RedStar signup bonus, and then about $1808 in poker profit (including $700 in tournament profit from Wednesday's second place).

Just reading that last paragraph, I can hardly believe it - especially with the relatively tough run I have had over recent months.

I actually went back to fixed limit for most of this month. Initially this was because the fishiness level on Eurolinx was very high, especially at the EUR3/6 level. My first sampling of the Cake (RedStar) waters was also very profitable on the limit tables. I wish I had tracker stats on RedStar, because I'd really like to know how hot I am running (apart from *very*) and how bad the fish are (some of them, also *very*).

The rake races on Eurolinx and RedStar were also great value this month, although RedStar got suddenly tougher in the last week when RTR emailed everyone to point out that there were 21 unclaimed prizes. I could have made it up to a $150 prize on Euro (rather than the $100 I ended up with), but I was tired after the tournament and needed a break so didn't play the last day.

One extra bonus showed up on Wednesday - I bought the Harrington tournament books as a set using my Eurolinx points. So that's an extra $100 or so of value right there.

For May, I plan to play a couple of live WSOP super sats and hopefully a bit of cash too. I will continue with the EL and RS races, and try to play some more no-limit. I will also aim to play a few more tournaments - maybe one or two a week, and maybe at slightly higher buyins.

Finally, here are a couple of hands from the tournament. I tried this overpot value bet on the river a couple of times and got paid off well by weak hands (gotta love the hero call with ace high).

Landmark of the month: I have now won more money playing poker in the last year than I lost on the stock market :)

Big tournament cash!!

2009-04-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

I foolishly started a couple of $11 R&A tournaments last night at 10:30pm after getting home from some indoor climbing.

Four hours later (or was it five?) I took down 2nd place on Eurolinx for a very nice $750. In the similar tournament on RedStar (Cake), I busted out with TT when my top set was cracked by a rivered straight.

I have a theory that there is an awful lot of dead money in these R&A tournaments from players who rebuy very late in the rebuy period (like the third level). At that point, a rebuy buys so few blinds that you are forced to shove preflop pretty well straight away. The Cake R&A has extra value, since it takes late registrations until the end of rebuys. I think at least half of the players are usually late starters.

I will probably post some hands tonight or tomorrow. After watching Tom Dwan play in the Aussie Millions cash game, I was inspired to try a couple of overbet (1.5-2 times pot) river value bets. The results were great, with calls coming from hands (including an ace high call) that I'm pretty sure wouldn't have called a "normal" value bet.

Blind battles 101

2009-04-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

I love the hand to hand combat of blind battles. The villain of this piece was folding his BB way too often (over 60% IIRC), so I was pretty liberally raising from the SB.

In hand one, he plays back on the flop and I fold. In hand two, I started to get the feeling he was getting wise to my SB raises and making a play (he had also been 3betting my raises from the button a lot). The turn jack was a nice card to play back at him. A risky play though, and not one to attempt too often.

Hand three plays out similarly, except with a proper hand in AK I am happy to see a showdown. Sometimes the villain gets lucky on the end.

Cake is bad, and theblindman runs goot!

2009-04-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

How many bets does it take before you realise that your top pair 2nd kicker (no redraw) is no good on a paired flushing board? Quite a lot apparently!

Come to mention it, 3/6 on Cake is incredibad too!

2009-04-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Just spent an hour in the Jesus seat on Cake 3/6 FL. Guy on my right was limping and cold calling nearly 100% of flops, and calling many bets beyond with no pair and no hope. Not only that, but he had $1000 in front of him! Sadly it didn't last, and he eventually went away. The bottom line was very good for my bankroll however - around 40BB

3/6 FL on Microgaming is incredibad

2009-04-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

3/6 Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

CO	_temujin_	($174.39)
BTN	Hero	($175.78)
SB	puppy12	($686.53)
BB	MrTromso18	($150.55)

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

_temujin_ raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, MrTromso18 calls, _temujin_ calls

Flop: (9.5 SB, 3 players)
MrTromso18 checks, _temujin_ checks, Hero bets, MrTromso18 calls, _temujin_ calls

Turn: (6.2 BB, 3 players)
MrTromso18 checks, _temujin_ checks, Hero bets, MrTromso18 raises, _temujin_ folds, Hero 3-bets, MrTromso18 4-bets, Hero calls

River: (14.2 BB, 2 players)
MrTromso18 bets, Hero raises, MrTromso18 folds

Final Pot: 17.2 BB

Hero wins 16.8 BB ( won +8.8 BB )
_temujin_ lost 2.0 BB
MrTromso18 lost 7.0 BB

3/6 Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

UTG	Hero	($105.90)
UTG+1	taratoto	($51.00)
CO	MrTromso18	($15.53)
BTN	lowehjerte	($69.31)
SB	_temujin_	($164.29)
BB	pikkupeto	($217.35)

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

Hero raises, taratoto calls, MrTromso18 calls, lowehjerte 3-bets, 1 fold, pikkupeto calls, Hero 4-bets, taratoto calls, MrTromso18 calls, lowehjerte calls, pikkupeto calls

Flop: (20.5 SB, 5 players)
pikkupeto checks, Hero bets, 1 fold, MrTromso18 raises, lowehjerte calls, pikkupeto calls, Hero calls

Turn: (12.6 BB, 4 players)
pikkupeto checks, Hero checks, lowehjerte bets, pikkupeto calls, Hero calls

River: (15.6 BB, 4 players)
pikkupeto checks, Hero checks, lowehjerte checks

Final Pot: 15.6 BB
lowehjerte shows:
pikkupeto shows:
Hero shows:
MrTromso18 shows:

Hero wins 15.1 BB ( won +11.5 BB )
lowehjerte lost 3.6 BB
pikkupeto lost 3.6 BB
taratoto lost 2.0 BB
MrTromso18 lost 2.6 BB

Sometimes the flop deserts you

2009-04-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is quite amazing. A short session of 1/2 tonight. 32 hands, which included: KK four times, AA once, QQ once, AKs twice, AQo once, AJs once, 77 once, JTs twice.

AA didn't hold up, neither did QQ or either AKs. KK held up twice. Whole session ended up -$2.

Going fishing

2009-04-17T00:23:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed that sometimes there seem to be *more* fish at high stakes rather than fewer?

While dipping my toes back in the limit waters over the last couple of weeks, I have definitely found more fish at the 2/4 and 3/6 (Euro) tables compared to 1/2 (and 3/6 has usually been worse than 2/4). In the evenings I am finding a very consistent supply of fish in the 80/5, to 50/20 range. Some hyper aggressive postflop (60% bet percentage), some ultra-passive (15% bet percentage), but all pretty bad. I wonder if this is indicative that some players who are just there to gamble will simply play the highest stakes available - which is usually the 3/6 game.

The results have been very good, or at least I have managed to run reasonably well. The last few nights I have managed to rack up a few decent 10-30BB wins, which at 3/6 Euro is very nice indeed. This has dug me out of another hole which owed to my PLO disaster and a brief NL cooler. Meanwhile I am also racking up rakeback like gangbusters and shaping up well for a $100-$150 finish in the rake race.

LOL limitaments

2009-04-14T18:23:00.001-07:00

I went down to the Casino for a $125 WSOP super satellite. I played ok, doubled up early and then crippled myself with a hand that I played very poorly. I picked up AKcc with the blinds at 50/100, and sitting on a stack of around 5800. With two limpers, I raised to 600 - called in one position. Flop came down KT9 with two hearts. I bet 700, call. Turn was an offsuit Q. Check to me, I bet 1500, villain checkraises all-in for 2200 more. I make some lame excuse about the pot having got too large and call. He has JJ.

A little bit of context: this guy was a fish. He was limp-calling about 60% of his hands. He doubled up a few hands earlier when he hit top set with his AA. His hands were shaking so much when he called the all-in. In this hand his hands didn't seem to be shaking, but I did notice him hiding his hands under the table while I was contemplating the all-in call.

Three pretty big mistakes in this hand. First, I should have raised more on the flop - maybe pot or more. At 700, I am pricing in the flush draw if not the gutshot that the villain actually held. Secondly, I should have checked behind on the turn. Even considering the bad player, there are very few hands I can beat here except maybe AT. Finally it was brutally obvious that the guy had me beat when he shoved. I should have just folded and saved my playable 3000 stack.

After busting out a mere 45 minutes into the tourney, I signed up to play limit. After waiting quite a while, I finally got a seat (nearly lost the seat because you can't hear your name being called in the stupid poker room). I had a horrendous run for the first hour or so. Flopped flush draw didn't get there. Flopped double belly didn't get there. Flopped pair and gutshot didn't catch up. I was down to $105 from my initial $300 when this little miracle happened:

I pick up A6cc in the big blind. I remember specifically thinking "please let me just flop the nuts for a change". Three players to my left limp (lol limitaments), the small blind completes, and I briefly contemplate raising for flush equity, but check. Flop is 865ccc - Hallelujah, I've hit the jackpot. I bet out, and get called in three places. Turn is some random overcard. I bet, player to my left raises, a fold and a call, and I obviously threebet in rhythm. At this point, they know what I have but can't fold. They both call me down on the river. One player says he had pocket eights, the other shows his ten high flush, and the player who folded said he had pocket fives. I rake in a pot over $300 and am back to slightly better than even for the session.

One particularly special hand was when I flopped TPTK with my AT against four runners, turned trips and checked a scary river (making a four straight on board) for the other guy to turn over an unimproved pair of deuces (reminder: five players saw the flop).

I went up a bit and down a bit from there, and finished up very happy to be only $10 down for the session when the table finally broke around 10:30pm.

Been a little while..

2009-04-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

It's nearly two weeks since I posted! I'm a very bad boy. The reason for that, inevitably, is a horror cooler. Part of that was a live PLO rebuy tournament where I rebought twice and did not win a single hand whatsoever.

Recent days I have made a decent recovery playing some good old fixed limit on Eurolinx. The fish have been everywhere this week. Here is a nice hand from tonight:

2/4 Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

UTG	nkgud	($22.35)
UTG+1	Rayon	($143.55)
CO	redman42	($89.16)
BTN	vortice	($101.38)
SB	mallo83	($192.00)
BB	Hero	($94.90)

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

nkgud raises, 1 fold, redman42 calls, vortice calls, 1 fold, Hero calls (7:1 is good enough for ATC here)

Flop: (8.5 SB, 4 players)
Hero checks, nkgud bets, redman42 calls, vortice calls, Hero calls (middle pair is just fine getting about 100:1 here)

Turn: (6.2 BB, 4 players) (bingo, time to checkraise)
Hero checks, nkgud bets (awesome), redman42 raises (hmm, maybe not so great), vortice calls, Hero calls, nkgud calls (pot is huge, so I have to see a showdown)

River: (14.2 BB, 4 players)
Hero checks, nkgud checks, redman42 bets, 1 fold, Hero calls, nkgud folds

Final Pot: 16.2 BB
Hero shows:
redman42 shows:
(that's right, folks two bets cold in the cutoff)
Hero wins 15.5 BB ( won +11.0 BB )
nkgud lost 3.5 BB
redman42 lost 4.5 BB
vortice lost 3.5 BB

Ahhh, fishies..

2009-03-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

Gotta love 'em, gotta hate 'em.

By the way this is Euro, not $$. I was doing fine until this hand came along. It went up and back down the toilet after that.

http://www.holdemmanager.net
Limit Holdem $2(BB) Prima Game#2500150881

Hero ($80.75)
Arnaldo19 ($80.30)
Sokje ($118)
Rayon ($75.61)
Twistoffate ($280)
AKONNIE ($63.50)

Hero posts (SB) $1
Arnaldo19 posts (BB) $2

Dealt to Hero Kc Kd
fold, fold, fold,
AKONNIE calls $2
Hero raises to $4
Arnaldo19 raises to $6
AKONNIE calls $4
Hero raises to $8
Arnaldo19 calls $2
AKONNIE calls $2

FLOP ($24) 6c 3h Jd
Hero bets $2
Arnaldo19 raises to $4
AKONNIE calls $4
Hero raises to $6
Arnaldo19 raises to $8
AKONNIE calls $4
Hero calls $2

TURN ($48) 6c 3h Jd 6h
Hero bets $4
Arnaldo19 calls $4
AKONNIE raises to $8
Hero calls $4
Arnaldo19 calls $4

RIVER ($72) 6c 3h Jd 6h 4h
check, check,
AKONNIE bets $4
Hero calls $4
Arnaldo19 calls $4

AKONNIE shows 5d 6d
(Flop 25.2%, Turn 90.5%)

Hero shows Kc Kd
(Flop 55.3%, Turn 4.8%)

Arnaldo19 shows Jc As
(Flop 19.5%, Turn 4.8%)

AKONNIE wins $81

Argh.

2009-03-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

This game gives me the shits sometimes.

I had a massive, massive cooler over the weekend. Lost about 12 buyins altogether over only a few hours of play. I probably wasn't playing my best, hit cooler after cooler, and possible ended up a little bit on tilt by the end of the session.

Example horrors were my flopped set and turned boat killed by quads, and AQ flopped ace, turned trips killed by a boat. I might collate a litany of the session and post it up a bit later.

The bottom line is that all my good work in no-limit play has been destroyed in a single session.

I think I'm going to play a live PLO rebuy on Tuesday to blow off some steam.

Side note: Full ring on iPoker is the most ridiculously nitty game I have ever seen. One table after 50 or so hands: (VPIP/PFR) 0/0 0/0 5/5 15/5 8/5 0/0 0/0 42/30 (hmm, that last one would be me raising ATC from MP on). Note that this was just one table for a short while, and not the reason I got stacked time after time.

Live poker + bad play = profit!

2009-03-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Finally made it into Burswood last night, and sat down with $200 at a 2/3 table.
I was actually quite disappointed with how I played. I played very weakly in the last few rounds especially.

I was amazed by the badness of the play in general. It felt like I was playing a sort of 10/30 limit game, where nobody bet anywhere near the pot size on the later streets. Lots of players would go limp, call a raise to 10 or 12 or 15 and then fold to some pathetic flop bet. Other guys would go all the way with middle pair and no kicker on a 6 way flop.

After folding a round or so, I picked up an AK under the gun. Raised to 10, called by a mid position player and the fairly tight Asian player in the SB. Flop was Q high and ragged. I Cbet 20, MP folded, SB called. Turn blank, I bet 50, he raised to 125 and I folded. Not a good start. I was down to about 80 and rebought for another 100.

After a while, I picked up KQ UTG+1. I would normally raise or fold this, but given the table conditions I limped. In hindsight, I think a raise was probably better. Anyway, it went to the flop with a bunch of limpers - maybe 5. Flop came down something like K85 rainbow (the sort of flop where I would much rather two opponents than five), and I bet about 12 called in a couple of places. Turn was a very pretty Q, and I bet about 25. I think there was just one caller this time. River J (no flush on board). I bet 60, and the villain minraises to 120. Side note, this guy has been playing with his cards face up - if he has a pair he bets. The raise is strong but could easily be only one pair. I push the rest of my chips for about 140 or so, but fear a slow played set (I couldn't credit the runner runner gutshot straight). He turns over AK for a masterfully slowplayed tptk. Actually, he tried to underraise to 100 so I was quite lucky he had announced "raise" and was forced to complete.

A while later I picked up KK in MP. I raise to 10, and still manage to pick up about 3 callers despite playing very tight in early position. Flop comes Q74 with two clubs. I Cbet 30, one caller - a not-too-terrible player in the blinds. Turn blanks and I fire 60. He calls, somewhat reluctantly. River blanks and for some reason I check behind. He showed A9cc for a busted draw and I drag another decent pot. I really should have value bet the river to extract some value from a queen - he only had about 80 behind.

After this I had some respect, and managed to Cbet some pots with air, and built my stack to around 600.

At some point I picked up A9o in the cutoff. With a couple of limpers to me, I decided to pump it to 15 - two callers. Flop came AKx, and a player (who talked a good game but played some complete garbage for raises in the blinds) donked 25. Second player shoves for about 39. I'm unhappy, but call. Turn is a blank and we check it. River is another blank, and he fires 50. I call, and they both turn over AJ. I don't know if I should have folded the flop here, as I think they are turning over worse aces or kings much of the time.

Eventually most of the complete muppets left, and the table started to look as if it vaguely knew what it was doing. I picked up A9hh (A9 was my trouble hand when I played live 10/20 too), and pulled my "complete moron" play of the night. I flopped a flush draw and called very modest flop and turn bets. River didn't complete my flush and I folded to a pathetic $10 bet. Trouble is, the board read KK66x and my ace rated to be good for at least half the pot. I don't know what I was thinking, but after that I figured I should probably call it a night.

With a few hands to go, I overlimped QJcc in MP. Flop came down KT2 with two diamonds, and I check called a small ($10?) bet (as did my sidekick sitting on my right). Turn was something like a 6 putting two spades on board. I check-called a $30 bet, and sidekick folded (what he later told me was KQ). River was an offsuit 8, and I gave up only for the villain to drag the pot with 52dd for a princely pair of deuces. I am quite dark about how I played this hand. I completely failed to show any aggression, and then gave up when the river blanked out. In some ways I would have been happier if I checkraised all-in on the turn and got called (villain had another 80 or some behind). This is also a good example of where it can be worth sticking in a minbet on the river (say 25 or so) - since the other player can easily have another busted draw that beats yours but will fold to a tiny bet.

Anyway I still managed to get up with a $91 profit, which is not too bad considering how abysmally I played.

It had to happen...

2009-03-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

Inevitable that the good run had to end. I've just been stacked three times in the space of about 50 hands.

Hand 1: In general I am happy to get stacks in with AK PF against when playing 100bb deep, but I'd be interested in views. Sometimes I will call and evaluate, which usually means folding to pressure on the turn.

Hand 2 was against a compulsive limper. It's the sort of flop where I want to get the chips all in, with heaps of outs against most hands I am trailing (but not so many against AA).

Hand 3 is bad, I think. Maybe the button call is ok PF, but I think once he min 3bets the turn I should know that he has a bigger flush. Maybe the straight flush draw clouded my thinking here.

Double up!

2009-03-13T04:46:00.000-07:00

I've just had a look at my records, and made a startling discovery. The low point of my downswing was $1650 on February 16th. Last night I broke through $3300 for the first time. So I have doubled my entire bankroll in less than a month.
Obviously the NoiQ rake races were a pretty big part of that recovery, but I am also running very well since my transition to playing 6max No Limit Holdem.

Perhaps it is just that I am running well, but I have to say that No Limit feels a lot less precarious than limit. Even in the sessions where I have been stacked, I am usually compensated by winning a number of small pots or stacking some muppet who calls down my set on three streets with middle pair.

Last night was a case in point, where I think I was stacked four times (my set two outed on the river, overpair JJ beaten by overpair KK, stuff like that). Despite what I thought was a pretty bad run of luck I still managed to come out of the session slightly ahead, and a rakeback kick put me through that $3300 barrier.

So far I have played mainly 20NL (Euro) and 50NL ($ and Euro). I will start taking shots at 100NL with a full stack quite soon. Then we will see whether this is all just good fortune or whether NL really is the game for me.

River shove=bluff?

2009-03-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

These two hands tonight amused me after the discussion about river shoves with TFAL.

Credit to the villain in the first hand - he got me good.

Side note: after the second hand above, my NL is continuing to run extremely well.

Playing the man

2009-03-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty happy with this hand. I was playing 100NL half stacked as the 50 tables had long lists.

I had been watching this guy for a while. He was very aggressive, but seemed to be also willing to go to showdown pretty light. He had been fairly hammering me in the blinds, and he stacked me in an earlier hand when my flop checkraise shove (with a middle pair that I rated to be good a fair percentage of the time) was snapped off by his overpair JJ. I waited quite a lot of hands to finally pick up something decent with which to let his aggression defeat him.

I wouldn't normally just cold call preflop, but I wanted to let him take the lead in the later betting since that had been the pattern in our prior encounters. I raised the turn to a) give him a chance to checkraise all-in, and b) to let me make a modest shove on the river if he called the turn and checked to me.

A river shove bluff

2009-03-07T04:38:00.000-08:00

I want to share a hand I played just now on NoiQ (50EUR table). I had just been stacked with a straight vs quads, so wasn't too happy.

This was a very tight player - 5/5 over 50 hands, but weak postflop. No showdowns in 50 hands, and I had already taken a couple of pots from her by calling Cbets and bluffing the turn.

Here my PF call is standard on the button. The flop is a bit scary for a PF raiser. Her range is maybe just overpairs and AK. The Cbet is half pot. I would peel this bet 100% of the time with overcards. Turn Cbet is also half pot. I can probably raise this and win a reasonable percentage of the time, but the bettor can probably put me on a draw and call. Instead, I decided to call the turn bet and bluff any ace or six on the river. Six comes, villain checks to me, I take it down.

In hindsight, my choice of bluffing outs was poor. I think after the weak Cbets, AK is a very significant part of the villain's range. So bluffing on an ace is a no-no. Instead, I think bluffing any six, eight or club is probably better - or even any non-ace. I am also expecting any king or ten to give me a winning hand pretty often. The six of clubs which arrived was really the perfect bluffing card.

Any thoughts?

Finally cracked the $3k.

2009-03-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

I finally cracked the $3k mark last night, after I had actually aimed to get there by the end of 2008. It's good to get it out of the way.

I played two limit tables (1/2 and 2/4 Eur) and a $50NL table on Eurolinx. Ran ok in NL, finishing up about $20. Ran bad on the 1/2 (down 20BB), but very well on the 2/4 (up about 15BB). The 2/4 was actually a very fishy table with about three players with VPIP over 50, and going to showdown too much. I won quite a few nice pots showing down ace high and weak pairs.

I don't know why, but it seems to me that the average play at 2/4 (and often 3/6) on Eurolinx seems much worse than 1/2.

I took up a reload bonus recently on Eurolinx - $150 at 13 raked hands per dollar (I could have gone for bigger, but I didn't manage to finish the last one). This makes for a pretty good deal when you add in the rakeback and rake race. I'm also looking at signing up for a new kickback on Unibet (also Microgaming) via PSO.

February summary

2009-03-01T06:50:00.001-08:00

Well I spent a long time in the dog house, but I'm finally back in the black. Having started the month on $1911, and sinking as low as $1650 during the month, I finished on approximately $2893. This is up from my previous high of $2710, and means my first dividend since November.

The result is due in very large part to the NoiQ rake races. I scored $300 from the Jan-Feb main race, and $400 from the RTR exclusive race. I also made $100 on the monthly race at Eurolinx, and $150 in rakeback ($100 from NoiQ and $50 from Euro).

Pokerwise, I made a princely profit of about $30. But I am actually really pleased with how the poker is going, especially considering that the month started on a continuation of a massive cooler. I am still in a transition phase to NL, and am running incredibly well at the 20EUR NL tables, up over 30bb/100. I *was* running well at 50EUR NL until a nasty session a couple of days ago where I lost three buyins to a mix of bad play and bad beat.

I probably won't play as much in March. I overdid it in Feb a little, due to the races and need to slow down. The NoiQ races are much tougher now, and I think the best I can hope for is a small score in the RTR exculsive race (maybe $50-$100). I'll aim to repeat the $100 win on Eurolinx, as that is pretty easy. I also aim to continue playing predominantly NL - $50 6max tables for preference, or else a mix of 20 and 50 Euro.

I may look for a new kickback this month, and might also attempt to sort out RTR VIP on Littlewoods (which I have tried and failed a few times). I still havent played that live session, but will try again this month - though perhaps it will be 200NL (2/3 blinds) rather than 10/20 limit.

Broken streak, but still pretty happy

2009-02-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

I had a modest losing NL session last night for about 20EUR on two fullstack 50EUR tables, but I'm still pretty happy. I was well ahead until the second last hand, where I picked up 66. One shortish stack called my raise, and the flop came 345r. I bet in position, and the other guy mincheckraised. I called, thinking he probably has an overpair. Turn came 5, which is not a great card and he bets about 1/3 of the pot. I call for my straight outs. River is a 7 for the straight, and I call his smallish shove and he shows 44 for the turned boat. I don't think I could have gotten away from this hand given his small bets and short stack.

The other iffy hand was the first one, where I held KQhh on the button. I raise and someone reraises and we end up with four players going to the flop. Flop was J84 rainbow, and the preflop raiser bets 10 into a 40 pot. I chose to fold, concerned that my overcard outs are probably tainted. Shoving is probably not out of the question here, but I'm quite worried about overpairs. Anyway the queen showed up on the turn, and the preflop raiser ended up winning a 60EUR pot with his 99 unimproved against a pair of 8s.

Still running good

2009-02-24T15:56:00.000-08:00

I've had two more winning sessions, taking my streak to five. My "tables" winning streak was broken at 11, however, when I lost a 50EUR stack with QQ vs KK AIPF (it wasn't a full stack, as I had lost a few small pots before that). Fortunately I made up for that by running 20EUR up to about 90 on another table.

Overall, the no-limit experiment is going very well. In 4000 hands of 0.10/0.20 (mostly Euro), I am running at 30bb per 100 hands. This is obviously very good, and probably unsustainable. I am now moving towards playing full stacks on 50 Euro tables, and we will see if the run can continue at the higher level.

What I am observing suggests that bad players are frequently getting stacks in with very weak hands such as pocket pairs with an overcard on the flop, or mediocre draws. The EV advantage when players play that way is huge at NL, while at limit these plays are often at least close to correct.

RakeTheRake and NoiQ: two thumbs up

2009-02-22T03:28:00.000-08:00

I have been playing at the new Entraction NoiQ site for 45 days. In that time, I have raked approximately $685. In return, I have earned $205 in rakeback, won $300 in the Jan-Feb rake race, completed a 120 Euro (about $155) first deposit bonus (just short of the 140 maximum), and am on target to take $400 in the RakeTheRake exclusive freeroll for a total of around $1060 in bonuses.

That is absolutely amazing value. I really hope the transition to Entraction is successful, as they have really invested in the players to achieve it. It's just a shame that I donked off most of the bonus in the process :-/

In other news, I played a couple of freerolls this morning (one of which was on NoiQ via RTR). I bombed out of both, and also failed to place in a couple of sit 'n gos. On the upside though, my NL cash game streak continued to three sessions and about eight tables (with no loss on any table). I played two 50EUR tables with a full stack, doubling on one and winning about 10 on the other. On the double up table, I didn't stack anyone but just built up a stack slowly by playing aggressively on the button and picking up small pots. On one hand, I called a raise on the button with some junk like J9s and whiffed the eight high flop. When the flop checked around and the turn paired the board and checked around to me, I simply bet 5 into a 7 pot and picked it up. Poker really shouldn't be that easy.

NL Session review

2009-02-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting session I played last night. Again, I ran good, but in fact I chose this table to share before I spiked the quads to double up.

I am particularly interested in views on my line with AQhh unimproved where I bluffed away $10 (in fact it was Euro) before giving up on the river. In the hand with 55 on the button, I think the 3 bet was an error of inattention (failing to notice the raise ahead). It worked out ok though when I hit my set and stacked off. There is also a missed Cbet with 43cc due to multitabling.

http://www.stoxpoker.com/pokertools/session/521/

Tips for reviewing the hands: click the "skip hands with no flop" option and increase speed to the highest setting, then make judicious use of the "next" button.

The thing I noticed most of all playing these micro levels today, is that it is pretty rare to be threebet preflop, and that is is unusual for players to checkraise your Cbets. These two factors make it very easy to raise in position and Cbet liberally. Even when you get called, you retain total control over pot size, which allows you to see showdowns with modest hands like top pair weak kicker and play for stacks with big hands.

No, no limit, gonna reach for the sky..

2009-02-21T04:49:00.000-08:00

No valley too deep, no mountain too hi-igh..

I have finally arrested my slump with a very nice short session over lunch today. I played two 50EUR table with 20EUR buyin, and two 20EUR tables with a full buyin. It was good session, with cards coming my way both preflop and post. I ended up with a solid profit on all tables, although my confidence took a dent when I had worked 20 EUR up to about 60 on a 0.25/0.50 table only to lose the lot all-in on the turn to a rivered 2 high flush. But I rebought, and still managed a solid profit at the table.

Overall, I probably won about eight 20EUR buyins across the tables in a pretty short period. I felt like I played it pretty well, but I was certainly helped by some insanely bad plays by my opponents. The guy losing his stack by calling big bets with middle pair was a particular highlight (although I also like the hand where I doubled up with a pair of 3s).

Check the stox link below to review some of the hands:
http://www.stoxpoker.com/pokertools/session/520/replay/

There is one big factor which makes NL somewhat more attractive than limit, and that is that the fish lose their money faster. The calling station type play is simply not as damaging in limit. In no-limit: it's murder.

A minor stroke of luck

2009-02-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

The NoiQ main race finished on Friday, and I had a minor piece of good fortune in finishing in 99th position in the "Raked Hands race" for a $300 win (101st was $150). They paid 500 places in the rake race (in which places 251-500 also get $300), and 175 places in the hand race (where only those who miss in the rake race are eligible). So $300 was definitely the optimal result there, especially considering I am also well placed in the RTR exclusive race which finishes end of Feb. TFAL also scored in the hands race.

A bit of good fortune was sorely needed, because in all other respects I am still running like a turd. In fact, I think my resolution for the rest of February is to play limit only when I am racing or a ludicrously juicy table is available.

Telesina family pot

2009-02-10T03:31:00.000-08:00

Here's one for TFAL:

Game # 1071734248 - Telesina Pot Limit EUR 0.05 - Table "Port Vila"

Players(max 6):
sarajee (EUR 3.85 in seat 2)
theblindman (EUR 8.05 in seat 3)
pizzaman1 (EUR 2.60 in seat 4)
A114464A (EUR 25.86 in seat 5)
mngftg (EUR 5.35 in seat 6)

sarajee Ante (0.05)
theblindman Ante (0.05)
pizzaman1 Ante (0.05)
A114464A Ante (0.05)
mngftg Ante (0.05)

sarajee was dealt: ?? - Td
theblindman was dealt: Ks - Kh
pizzaman1 was dealt: ?? - Jh
A114464A was dealt: ?? - Ah
mngftg was dealt: ?? - Ad

A114464A Bet (0.20)
mngftg Raise (0.85)
sarajee Call (0.85)
theblindman Call (0.85)
pizzaman1 All-In (2.55)
A114464A Call (2.35)
mngftg All-In (4.45)
sarajee All-In (2.95)
theblindman All-In (7.15)
A114464A Call (5.45)

Vela Kd

sarajee was dealt: ?? - Td - Qd - Ac - Qc
theblindman was dealt: Ks - Kh - 7s - 7d - Js
pizzaman1 was dealt: ?? - Jh - 7h - Jd - 8h
A114464A was dealt: ?? - Ah - 9s - 8d - 9d
mngftg was dealt: ?? - Ad - 8c - 8s - Ts

theblindman shows: Ks - Kh - 7s - 7d - Js (a full house, kings full of sevens)
A114464A shows: 9h - Ah - 9s - 8d - 9d (three of a kind, nines)

theblindman wins: EUR 5.15 side pot (with a full house, kings full of sevens)

mngftg shows: Qs - Ad - 8c - 8s - Ts (a pair of eights)

theblindman wins: EUR 4.30 side pot (with a full house, kings full of sevens)

sarajee shows: 9c - Td - Qd - Ac - Qc (a pair of queens)

theblindman wins: EUR 4.75 side pot (with a full house, kings full of sevens)

pizzaman1 shows: Kc - Jh - 7h - Jd - 8h (two pairs, kings and jacks)

theblindman wins: EUR 12.35 main pot (with a full house, kings full of sevens)
Rake: EUR 1.35

Game ended 2009-02-10 12:26:16 GMT+01:00

January Summary

2009-02-09T23:51:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

I have been offline for a few days due to moving into a new house - our first "owned" house as it happens. I was impressed to be online with a 14Mbit ADSL connection within two days of moving in, so props to iiNet.

There's not a lot to report about January. It was another bad month. I sStarted at $2056, and finished at $1910, for a net loss of ($146). This included $100 from a Eurolinx/RTR race, and about $225 in rakeback - meaning poker was played at a considerable loss once again.

The bottom line at the end of February should not be as bad as that however, as I am due to cash $300 in the NoiQ race which finishes in a few days, and a further $300-$400 at the end of the month for the RTR exclusive NoiQ race, plus another $100 at Eurolinx. Hopefully these races will restore a bit of sorely needed decency to the bankroll.

The big positive to come out of January was that I am feeling increasingly confident about my shorthanded no-limit play. I booked a number of wins, and finished up a few buyins in NL play (albeit at tiny stakes for now).

For February, I aim to firstly maintain my race positions. I don't aim to shoot for higher positions, since they require a considerably higher level of play proportionally to the return. I am continuing to play a fair bit of limit holdem, especially where I am racing - it makes sense to play the higher rake games when you are getting >100% effective rakeback. Otherwise, I am planning to ramp down the limit and play more no limit. I also want to keep up with the training videos from Stoxpoker, which I feel have helped my NL play enormously. I also want to play that live game that I have been putting off for months.

... and then run like shite just for a change

2009-01-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

I've gone busto on NoIQ... AGAIN!

A combination of river suckouts, staying too long at bad tables and *tilt*

Grrrr. I'm going to need a humungous hit in the races to compensate for this rubbish.

I've dropped $300 in three days, which hurts quite a lot.

And when all else fails.. run good!

2009-01-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

I was pottering along playing two table of 20EUR NL, doing ok - up 1/2 a BI on each table when these hands happened:

On the second table, my hand conversion failed. I held TT, raised UTG and called a three bet and shortstack shove (slightly over the three bet). Four players saw a flop of 377. Another short stack bets all-in, and I minraise enough to put the last guy in - he calls.

First shorty show KK, second shorty shows 88, and the bigger stack shows A7! Not so goood for our hero. Turn comes 3, and the river a miraculous T to take down a nearly 40EUR pot.

Hilarious hand

2009-01-25T05:59:00.000-08:00

I three bet my pocket eights, hoping to get heads up. When the big blind capped and we went into the flop four ways I wasn't too confident, especially when the flop is ace high.

WTF? I guess everybody had pairs, but three players *all* folding to a single bet in an 8BB pot after a checked flop? Wow.

Launching into NL

2009-01-22T05:51:00.000-08:00

I often catch public transport to work, which takes up to 45 minutes each way. I have read a lot of poker books on this commute, but reading on bouncy buses and crowded trains can be very difficult (not to mention nausea inducing). So the other day I loaded some Stoxpoker videos on my portable Asus Eee netbook and watched/listened to those instead. It turns out to be a really good way to absorb knowledge. You don't even need to see the screen for the "classroom" style videos, since everything is described in the voiceover. So I just clutch my little laptop with my headphones plugged in.

Anyway, so I've spent the last few days of commutes listening to Ed Miller's "Poker Made Simple" series. I found them to be perfectly pitched for someone like me who knows poker pretty well but is not well versed in the finer points of 6max no limit cash. I have to say I had no idea about the importance of position until I saw these videos - yes, I knew that you play tight UTG and loose on the button. But Miller basically advocates an ultra tight style in almost all positions, and then going to town on the button. He covers a lot of good material on how to leverage position by bluffing and value betting strongly.

After about three or four hours of Ed's material, I felt like a pro already and took a shot at no limit tonight with three tables of 20EUR tables on NoIQ. Very micro stuff at this stage. I played about 30-40 minutes and was amazed at how weak the tables were, not in terms of preflop stats exactly but just the way everybody folded to aggression (and showed little aggression themselves). About a million hands went limp, limp, raise (me on the button), fold, fold, call, flop nothing and then fold to my Cbet. Or I 3 bet preflop and took it down post.

I lost one big pot with TPTK (AK) versus a KQ which hit a big draw on the flop and made a straight on the river. I lost a couple more pots (too big probably) with middle pairs (88 and 99) that didn't connect and lost to bigger pairs. I won a humungous pot (50EUR) with a flopped top set jacks turned boat vs trips and a missed TT, and a few others with normal stuff like two pair and TPTK. Profit after 240 hands was only 20EUR or so, so basically down to that one big hand, But I felt like I had a really good handle on the right way to play 6max NL for the first time. I felt like I was really running the tables from the button and cutoff. I could really easily laydown hands when played back at postflop since it happened so rarely that I was very confident of where I sat. Obviously higher stakes are going to be tougher, but I am comfortable enough to give it a shot. I'll do a few more sessions at .10/0.20 and then take a look at 0.25/0.50.

After that, I opened a single table of 1/2 limit and promptly won 35BB in about 60 hands with a huge heater. I was running so hot my stats were something like 67/52 PF, and AF of 7 post (70% aggression), making me look like a complete maniac. In fact, I was just playing my normal 32/23 style and hitting heaps of good cards and following up with heaps of good flops (sets, flushes, straights, two pair, you name it). Oddly my WTSD was only 30%, probably because I was taking out a lot of pots without showdowns.

Test your poker IQ

2009-01-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.donkeytest.com/

I managed a fairly respectable 117. Not too bad, considering I don't actually play no-limit and have never properly studied it.

It is quite a good quiz, with lots of tough situations to consider. It is also quite long (52 questions). Let's have your scores!

As an aside, NoIQ is looking to be quite lucrative this month in the Rake Race stakes. I found that not only am I in $400 position in the RTR affilliate race, but I'm also sitting in a $300 position in the main NoIQ race. I suppose the $150 I donked off playing PLO on tilt the other night helped out there :-P

Mornings still suck..

2009-01-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

So I was going to post about how I've actually run pretty well the last couple of days and recovered a fair bit of bankroll.

Then I logged in for a quick half an hour of 1/2EUR and ran like a dog turd on valium. I don't think I won a single pot, and I somehow managed to dump 25BB in the space of about 40 hands. Every time I had a raising hand I was three bet and flopped the anti-nuts. Friggin marvellous.

On the upside, I ran pretty good for the previous couple of days. I have been playing mainly on Eurolinx where I cashed a $100 rake race prize and managed to double it pretty quickly, and on NoIQ which has just moved from iPoker to Entraction (where I am back to even par after starting with a good run). Both of these sites are running good rake races via RakeTheRake at the moment (see sidebar link). Eurolinx has a $10k race from 12th to 31st Jan, paying 40 places. From prior experience it should be very easy to pick up $100 in this race, and possibly up to $250 if I manage to get a bit of volume in. NoIQ has a massive $70,000 race running from 5th Jan to 28th Feb, paying a huge 120 places (minimum $200 prize). I have only played a couple of days on NoIQ and yet I am already sitting in a $400 position in the race. When added to 30% rakeback and a decent signup bonus, this looks potentially very very lucractive.

The one problem with NoIQ at the moment is that it isn't supported by Holdem Manager. It is supposed to be supported by PokerOffice, but I haven't had any luck with it so far. It is supported by PT2 but not by PT3.

Goals for 2009

2009-01-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

My objective when I began this experiment a year ago was to build a bankroll big enough to play some serious poker at serious stakes. I have partly achieved that already, by satelliting into some serious ($1k buyin) tournaments.

I really enjoy playing tournaments, especially live ones. So my principal aim this year is to build a big enough bankroll to be able to liberally play tournaments of up to about $250 buyin. That includes nearly all of the local Casino events (except for the big finals which I would aim to satellite into again), and also online tournaments such as the PokerStars Sunday Million. To achieve this, a bankroll of around $10k would be the target for the end of the year. BCG has shown that this is entirely realistic even playing pretty low stakes and chasing bonuses.

In order to facilitate the above, I will also be aiming to do more study of no-limit and tournament play, principally via the Harrington books and sites like Stox Poker.

My stretch goal over the next few years is to satellite into a really major live tournament such as the Aussie Millions or WSOP. I came close a couple of times this year, so I hope with a larger bankroll I will get many more chances to do so.

In terms of online play, I will continue playing shorthanded limit and try to get back up to the 3/6 to 5/10 level. I will also try to make a transition to playing more no-limit cash, perhaps up to the 1/2 level. I will also aim to play more sit n gos, where the potential ROI is much higher than for SH limit, and the variance probably lower too.

Year end summary

2008-12-31T22:09:00.001-08:00

Well December has ended the year in pretty disastrous fashion. From an opening balance of $2710, the month ended with a deficit of $665 to end on $2045. The stats suggest that there was a significant cooler going on at 2/4, with W$SD of under 40%. But I suspect I have not been playing my best at times, with VPIP and PFR creeping a little too high at 34 and 22 respectively.

Unfortunately I missed my year-end target of $3000, but on the upside I had another successful live satellite and played well in the $1100 buyin Aussie Millions satellite, finishing pretty close to the big package places at 33rd.

Overall the year has been quite a ride, and pretty successful given my modest beginning. I started on about January 10th, with a $10 no-deposit bonus at VCpoker. The first week I must have hit quite a heater, as I managed to turn the $10 into $70 playing 0.1/0.2 and 0.25/0.5 limit. i broke $100 within three weeks, but then went through some crazy swings after joining Tower poker: down to $30, back up to $100, down to $17, up to $50, down to $20. Finally I managed another upswing, followed by cashing (just in time) a $96 bonus on Tower along with a couple of quads promotion bonuses ($50 each).

By early March, I had a BR over $250. By mid-April I cracked $400, and bought into Pacific via Pokerlistings for the 50% $150 bonus. Pacific was another rollercoaster, where I started with a huge run of bad beats. On one day in particular, I had a huge succession of big pairs from JJ through to AA cracked time after time. I hit a low of $150, before recovering via a couple of heaters and finishing the bonus. By the end of April, I was close to $600 and feeling pretty confident.

May was something of a landmark month, where I had quite a bit of tournament success. My first foray to the casino was a $60 satellite for the $100,000 Sapphire series final ($1100 buyin). I won through to the top four places out of 100 to make the final. Also in May, I came second in a 100 player tournament for a $200 cash, won a 94 player freeroll and cashed in a few SNGs. May was also when I cracked $1000 for the first time.

June through August were a flatline online, though I did play another live sat (busting top 3rd with AA aipf) and then the Sapphire series final (where I scraped into the top half in a pretty dry run).

Finally in September I had a really big $1k month. This coincided with the discovery of William Hill and kickback bonuses. October was also pretty good overall, with over $700 profit. Since then it hasn't been good hunting online, but the sub-satellite win and playing in the Aussie Millions Satellite were probably the highlights of the year. I also had a break-even shot at live 10/20 limti, which I was quite happy about. The year ends with a BR of around $2050, having taken $350 in profit dividends through the year.

On the whole I am pleased with the year, especially the satellite wins. My aim overall was to build up to playing serious stakes poker, and in a sense I have achieved that with the live tournament finals and a few shots at 5/10 online and 10/20 live.

I'll post my New Year's goals in a few days time.

Silliness

2008-12-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

So after dumping all that cash last night I did a very very dumb thing: I signed up for a 10,000 player SNG on Pokerstars :-o

Stars are running these around the clock as a Christmas promo, adding $10,000 priemoney to the $1 buyins. The whole thing was not quite as turbo as I expected. Anyway, I did far too good in it for my own wellbeing, and ended up playing five hours or so, finishing inside the top 250 for a massive payout of about $18 :-/ By the end, I was just about delirious and I got snapped off shoving all-in with 42o when I wasn't too short, but the blinds were massive.

At the same time, I finished 18/216 in a $2 shootout for a couple of Sunday million places and also managed to go out first hand in a 375FPP, 36 player Sunday Million satellite. I picked up AA, and made a large raise of about 8bb for two callers. I shoved on a flop of QT4 rainbow, and they both called: AQ and QT. No improvement, and I was gone.

Grrrr...

2008-12-27T05:18:00.000-08:00

Sadly, it seems like every heater in the last two months in matched by a cooler twice as bad.

I just dumped 30BB on Eurolinx in ridiulously short order (playing the 2/4 Euro that I should have been steering clear of). Normal stuff - my KT trips beaten by KJ, my KJ in the BB 3 bet pre (vs 100% SB stealer), runs into a turned flush from 69hh to beat my top pair. W$SD=35%.

My bankroll is in really hideous shape now.

At long last: a heater

2008-12-24T05:08:00.000-08:00

A little one, but at least it's nice to be reminded that sometimes the cards do turn your way. This one was just one table of 1/2 (Euro) and only half an hour, but was around 25BB running at around 55 and 65 (WTSD and W$SD) - in contrast to my recent form of 40 W$SD at 2/4 this month. The funny thing was that I seemed to be flopping monsters (trips, flushes, two pair) even when I had folded pre. If I was playing way too loose, I might have won twice that much :)

Anyway, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a nut New Year.