Another topsy turvy day

iPoker runs like a dog. Pacific runs like God on a scooter (apologies to whichever blogger I stole that from).

I found a beautiful fishy table at 2/4 on iPoker yesterday, with one 100/0 fish and another 80/40 maniac sitting on my right. Unfortunately the maniac sucked out a couple of massive pots on me, and then promptly handed it over to one of the table TAGs and left. Feeling pretty disgusted, I fired up a four $10 SNGs and busted out of all of them in double quick time. That was a tilt, I think.

A little later I played a couple of 2/4 tables on Pacific and won back 20BB or so to mollify my mood somewhat.

I have to say that in my observations of 2/4 in the last couple of weeks, I have found it to be actually a weaker game than 1/2. Is this possible? There certainly seem to be just as many fish compared to 1/2. Another element is perhaps that I am playing a little better at 2/4 because the stakes are significant compared to my bankroll whereas my play at 1/2 can get a bit undisciplined at times.

When poker makes the mainstream news...

It's rather unfortunate that the biggest story to make the mainstream news about poker concerns the UB and AP scam. What I didn't know, is that the scam was ultimately uncovered by an Aussie, Michael Josem.

I hope that this story does not cause a crisis of confidence in online poker. I am not too concerned about cheating at the levels I play. I figure if you can see the other guy's cards you are probably going to play at least medium to high stakes and not waste time playing 1/2 and 2/4.

I would assume that this particular loophole has been closed at UB and AP. My concern with depositing money at those two rooms is less about cheating, and more about the failure of the company if a large civil action against the company were successful. I completed the PSO kickback at UB without any dramas.

The cooler that was bound to come

Had a nasty cold session the other night on Pacific. Lost maybe 50BB at 2/4 and some more at 1/2. The tables felt pretty fishy, so I persisted, but unfortunately the turnaround never came. I won a total of seven pots in the last 100 hands ( playing 5-6 handed), and caught a ridiculous number of second best hands (2nd best straights etc).

What I am quite happy about is that I don't feel too destroyed by it (even though it's probably my worst single session loss). In the context of my month and my week, I'm still pretty happy overall.

In other news, I just finished my books on Paddy. Now for the two month wait for them to turn up so I can learn something to plug my leaks ;)

A timely reminder..

I played a couple of 3/6 tables just now, and was sickened by the following beat:

AA in the pocket, board runs Ts3s4d8d5d. The villain turns over 67 to make his gutshot on the river. Huge pot, multiway action. Sick, sick, sick. I was UTG+1, and only cold called the UTG raise PF - perhaps I should have 3 bet? Oh well. It's just as well I finished 15BB up on the other table :/

Yes, yes it is

It is unfortunate, now that this blog actually has an audience that I have to share this and inevitably attract sharks to my (currently) favourite pool, but this is too good to keep to myself.

I sat at three tables on LuckyAce tonight, one 2/4 FR, one 2/4 6max and one 1/2 6max. In the space of 90 minutes, I netted around 85BB (mostly at the 2/4 tables). 1/2 table actually looked the fishiest, but I was just treading water there mostly. I hit a massive heater in a very short space of time, making big hands on all three tables simultaneously. This one was king (or should I say Queen).

***** Hand History for Game 2120764923 *****
$2.00/$4.00 Limit Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, September 23, 08:41:12 ET 2008
Table Shirley Temple (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Seat 2: Tini516 ( $84.00 USD )
Seat 3: Xmylly ( $440.45 USD )
Seat 4: _blindman_ ( $98.90 USD )
Seat 5: jayke ( $61.25 USD )
Seat 6: any2baby ( $117.15 USD )
Seat 7: NGT23 ( $49.55 USD )
Seat 8: 27272 ( $177.85 USD )
Seat 9: liandev2 ( $143.08 USD )
Seat 10: kkrotov ( $163.75 USD )
27272 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
liandev2 posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to _blindman_ [ Qc Qd ]
kkrotov folds
Tini516 calls [$2.00 USD]
Xmylly folds
_blindman_ raises [$4.00 USD]
jayke calls [$4.00 USD]
any2baby folds
NGT23 folds
27272 folds
liandev2 calls [$2.00 USD]
Tini516 calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, 7h, Qs ] (oh yeah baby)
liandev2 checks
Tini516 bets [$2.00 USD]
_blindman_ calls [$2.00 USD](Yeah, flush draw but I'll take a punt on milking it)
jayke raises [$4.00 USD] (Thankyou!)
liandev2 calls [$4.00 USD]
Tini516 calls [$2.00 USD]
_blindman_ raises [$4.00 USD] (Hammer time!)
jayke raises [$4.00 USD] (nice)
liandev2 folds
Tini516 calls [$4.00 USD] (nicer)
_blindman_ calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ad ] (great card)
Tini516 bets [$4.00 USD]
_blindman_ calls [$4.00 USD] (the pot is huge, nobody is going anywhere)
jayke raises [$8.00 USD]
Tini516 calls [$4.00 USD]
_blindman_ raises [$8.00 USD]
jayke raises [$8.00 USD]
Tini516 calls [$8.00 USD]
_blindman_ calls [$4.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Tc ] (KJ? pretty unlikely)
Tini516 checks
_blindman_ bets [$4.00 USD]
jayke calls [$4.00 USD]
Tini516 calls [$4.00 USD]
_blindman_ shows [Qc, Qd ]
_blindman_ wins $101.50 USD from main pot (yeah, baby)

The fishiest game ever?

I wonder if 2/4 on Pacific isn't the fishiest game ever. I played for a while yesterday, and while the cards never really ran my way (a few too many river beats), the players were terrible. VPIP was running at over 70 for a while, and most of the players were passive too (80/2, 70/8, that sort of thing). I was well down for a while until I took down a monster pot with AA (capped PF with 3 players and plenty of action right to the river). I ended up only about 12BB up, but I think that was an unlucky session overall.

iPoker is still running pretty cold for me. I don't think I will stick around after I finish the book bonus.

A frustrating weekend

I opened an account at PaddyPower (iPoker) to take advantage of the 2+2 book offer. Unfortunately after only a couple of hours play there I find myself down nearly $100. I have stuck to 1/2 so far, but just seem to be missing all the flops. Oh well, I guess it will turn around.

I also dragged myself out of bed at 4am this morning (in the freezing cold, I might add) to play in a $15,000 freeroll for the EPT London on Pacific. Sadly it was not my day, and I finished around 64 out of 86 runners. I actually saw plenty of decent PF hands, including AA, KK, QQ, and a couple of AKs - but I just never managed to get paid off with the decent hands, and instead I got people playing back at me when I had marginal hands like AT, KQ and 77. In the end I busted out on a completely bonehead bluff. I correctly read the weakness of my opponent's hand, but he found a call with TPNK.

Another landmark in the bankroll

Hit the $2K mark today with a very short session, finishing the Lucky Ace cashout requirements and turning a tidy profit while at it (mix of 1/2 and 2/4).

I'm feeling very comfortable playing 2/4 with a HUD, because it is really apparent how fishy some opponents are. Previously I felt a bit intimidated when moving up a level..

Rejoicing in 2/4!!

What can I say? Massive heater playing 2/4, aided by a few fish on Lucky Ace Poker (a Pacific skin). I must have shot up by 40BB in half an hour. That is the business.

Of course I broke my rules again, and played two 2/4 tables. But I had the HUD on, and both tables looked fishy.

Here is a big hand:
***** Hand History for Game 68395034 *****
$2.00/$4.00 Limit Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, September 17, 09:08:42 ET 2008
Table Peroni (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Seat 6: johanva9 ( $74.15 USD )
Seat 7: JERONI14 ( $41.98 USD )
Seat 8: _blindman_ ( $134.95 USD )
Seat 9: Brandes ( $179.95 USD )
Seat 10: sabi78 ( $102.65 USD )
johanva9 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
JERONI14 posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to _blindman_ [ Kh As ] (yes please)
_blindman_ raises [$4.00 USD]
Brandes folds
sabi78 folds
johanva9 calls [$3.00 USD]
JERONI14 calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3h, Ks, 8h ] (lovely)
johanva9 checks
JERONI14 checks
_blindman_ bets [$2.00 USD]
johanva9 calls [$2.00 USD]
JERONI14 calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3c ]
johanva9 checks
JERONI14 checks
_blindman_ bets [$4.00 USD]
johanva9 calls [$4.00 USD]
JERONI14 raises [$8.00 USD] (uh oh, does he have a 3? He is a loose fish so anything is possible)
_blindman_ calls [$4.00 USD]
johanva9 calls [$4.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ] (perfect)
johanva9 checks
JERONI14 bets [$4.00 USD] (ok, he probably has the case king)
_blindman_ raises [$8.00 USD] (but he is a fish, so I'll pay the rake to find out)
johanva9 folds
JERONI14 raises [$8.00 USD] (surely he has a king?)
_blindman_ raises [$8.00 USD] (show me)
JERONI14 calls [$4.00 USD]
_blindman_ shows [Kh, As ]
_blindman_ wins $70.50 USD from main pot (lol you fishy fish fish)

Incidentally, I joined Lucky Ace to get the free Idleminer hand grabbers. I'll also do the 25%/$100 bonus which is on the same conditions as the Pacific bonus (credits instantly, 20x play through to cash) - I've mostly finished that requirement already.

So much for discipline..

I played another 2/4 table last night, and promptly broke two of my rules: I didn't use a HUD (because my trial of Idleminer had expired), and I didn't observe a few rounds first (just a few hands). So much for discipline.

Anyway, I rapidly found that there were a couple of juicy fish on the table - one very loose passive (my favourite kind of fish) and one very loose passive/aggressive. The other players were pretty standard tight players (tighter than normal for shorthanded), so the table looked pretty ripe.

I played a few hands and pretty quickly found myself down 10BB. The table looked so good though that I stuck it out, and rebought back up to 15BB. Then came this hand (recalled from memory):

I find Q4 of clubs on the BB. UTG and UTG+1 limp (both loose fish), button raises and I find a loose call. UTG calls, UTG+1 raises (damn!). Raiser calls, so I relcutantly call. UTG caps (grrr! so much for seeing a cheap flop), and it's called around to me, and I call. Four players see the Flop of Q32 with one club, I've got a piece of it so I fire aiming to work out if anyone has a better queen (as I expect). Everybody calls - ok that's very interesting, surely AQ or KQ must raise with the pot so big? Turn is 9c, giving me a flush draw so I fire again and one fish calls. River is an ugly Ks, so I check. The fish checks, and somehow I drag down the monster pot.

Anyway, I played on until the fish left and departed around 10BB to the good overall. Unfortunately I then pissed it all away at the 1/2 tables *sigh*.

OnGame giving me the yip!

Ok I finally finished the Hollywood PSO bonus, but I ran so bad on Hollywood (and especially the last couple of hours) that I actually managed to come out only just barely even including the PSO kickback. I got murdered last night - lots of good starting hands, few flops hit (and those I did hit often ran into bigger hands).

Thank goodness for the kickback, because otherwise I would have taken quite some damage..

First ever poker purchase!

I used my Neteller prepaid card to make my first ever purchase with poker funds yesterday - a big bunch of flowers for my wife.

Looking at the transaction itself, I got an effective exchange rate of 1.26 (AUD per USD) including all of the transaction fees. This looks very good indeed, better even than the mid-market rate of 1.23 yesteraday according to xe.com. So thumbs up all around on the prepaid card as a means of accessing poker funds.

Upsie down town

Had a little session on Pacific last night. Played a couple of tables of 1/2 to begin with (starting a bit down), and observed a 2/4 table for a while. Eventually, I decided to take a shot at the 2/4 table since the stats were looking fishy (55-60% avg VPIP). I got myself in perfect position on the left of a 90/30 LAG. Sadly I didn't manage to catch any cards at the right times, and I ended up a bit down on the session (about 9BB). Meanwhile on the one remaining 1/2 table, I started out by going down about 25BB. Then it turned around big time, and I ended up about 35BB ahead (that was 60BB in an amazingly short period). Overall, I came out about about $50 ahead, which was pretty good.

I think I will continue to take occasional shots at 2/4. The rules at this stage:

• Only one 2/4 table at a time
• No more than 2 tables altogether while playing 2/4
• Always use a HUD
• Observe a few rounds before play if possible
• Stand up if the table is not fishy (easier to write than to do)
• Stop loss at 25BB (but it should only get that far if it's a fishy table).
  

Gotta love Pacific sometimes..

***** Hand History for Game 173447056 *****
$1.00/$2.00 Limit Texas Hold'em - Monday, September 08, 07:11:10 ET 2008
Table Baby Orange Fizz (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 4: jjbl ( $200.08 USD )
Seat 5: japega5 ( $38.34 USD )
Seat 6: iadde ( $216.41 USD )
Seat 7: chef139 ( $52.88 USD )
Seat 9: Hero ( $19.00 USD )
japega5 posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
iadde posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ah Qc ]
chef139 raises [$2.00 USD]
Hero calls [$2.00 USD]
jjbl calls [$2.00 USD]
japega5 calls [$1.50 USD]
iadde calls [$1.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jc, Jh, Ad ]
japega5 checks
iadde checks
chef139 checks
Hero bets [$1.00 USD]
jjbl calls [$1.00 USD]
japega5 calls [$1.00 USD]
iadde folds
chef139 calls [$1.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jd ]
japega5 checks
chef139 bets [$2.00 USD]
Hero calls [$2.00 USD]
jjbl calls [$2.00 USD]
japega5 calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Js ]
japega5 checks
chef139 checks
Hero checks
jjbl bets [$2.00 USD]
japega5 folds
chef139 calls [$2.00 USD]
Hero calls [$2.00 USD]
jjbl shows [Qh, Kc ]
chef139 shows [6c, 6h ]
Hero shows [Ah, Qc ]
jjbl wins $8.86 USD from main pot
chef139 wins $8.87 USD from main pot
Hero wins $8.87 USD from main pot

This was so funny it was worth getting counterfeited on the river. At least he noticed his error straight away..

Drastic differences between sites

Played a couple of hours last night on Pacific and Hollywood (On-Game). The difference between the two was quite stark.

The Pacific players were very loose-passive across several tables (6 max). Statistics like 75-8 (VPIP-PFR) were common, and the table average VPIP was usually over 60. At On-game however (5 max tables), there were a number of tight-aggressive players, with stats like 23-18. I did manage to find a couple of fish at On-Game - one was running at about 99-5, but played very aggressively postflop.

In the end, Pacific ran very good and Hollywood ran very bad, which is not that surprising given the stats. Roughly +40BB at Pacific, and -30BB at Hollywood so it wasn't a total disaster, and I got through a fair bit of the PSO Hollywood bonus requirements and also nearly finished the points requirements for this months Pacific freerolls.

The most incredible thing I've seen in online poker

This hand took place on William Hill last night. I've never seen anything like it. Both players were loose maniacs, but even that did not explain what took place...


$1.00/$2.00 Limit Texas Hold'em
Table Ultradefence (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Lucsdad ( $79.25 USD )
Seat 2: Sinoptik ( $111.10 USD )
Seat 3: 1229willy ( $23.85 USD )
Seat 4: elola ( $74.34 USD )
Seat 5: Theboy1 ( $159.35 USD )
Seat 6: Hero ( $50.72 USD )
Lucsdad posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
Sinoptik posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero[ 6s Kc ]
1229willy folds
elola raises [$2.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$3.00 USD]
Hero folds
Lucsdad folds
Sinoptik folds
elola raises [$2.00 USD]
Theboy1 calls [$1.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, 8d, 3d ]
elola bets [$1.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$2.00 USD]
elola calls [$1.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ts ]
elola bets [$2.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Jd ]
elola bets [$2.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$4.00 USD]
Theboy1 raises [$4.00 USD]
elola raises [$2.34 USD]
Theboy1 calls [$0.34 USD]
elola shows [Ad, 4d ]
Theboy1 shows [9s, 9d ]
elola wins $147.18 USD from main pot

Seems like an expensive way to give money to your mate. Raising once with 99 on the river there is crazy let alone eight times. And it it were normal poker, surely the nut flush is going to start worrying about boats and quads at some point?

A good run, and finished the Captain Cook bonus

I've been on a good heater the last few days. I finished the Captain Cook bonus ($220 all up), and improved the balance there by a further $150 in the process (still slightly down on play but much better than it was). I'm up on William Hill on top of the $50 bonus, and I'm up $50 on Betsson having completed the 100 points for a free Poker Office license.

All up, I reckon that takes my balance up over $1500 for the first time.

I have been trying out Holdem Manager for tracking and HUD the last few days. It looks very, very good so far. I like PokerTracker3, but it is extraordinarily frustrating waiting for them to add the poker rooms (including Microgaming and Cryptologic) that they have been promising for more than 6 months. PokerOffice (for which I should have a free license via Betsson) is also pretty good, and comprehensive in it's coverage but seems to have an unusual selection of stats by default and doesn't look as comprehensive as PT or HM. PokerOffice gives you outs and pot odds on the current hand on top of the normal HUD stats, but I don't find that particularly useful. The other reason I prefer HM and PT is that they use Postgresql, meaning you can store your database on the network and if you have multiple clients they can all share the same database.

Goals for September

I set myself the following goals for September, some of which are completed already:

• Finish the Captain Cook bonus (only 100 raked hands to go)
• Earn the $50 William Hill Bonus (almost done)
• Earn a free Poker Office license through Betsson (done)
• Earn enough points on Pacific to get into the $5k monthly freeroll and the $15k EPT London qualifier (I messed up the freeroll quals last month). I probably need to play about 40FPPs to do this.
  
• Play one other bonus - perhaps the Hollywood bonus on PSO.
• Play less poker overall. To be honest, I've been playing a bit obsessively recently and I need to step back a little bit. It will help when the Captain Cook bonus is done (it's taken longer than I expected). An hour or two three or four days a week is enough.
  

Mini-heater

Don't you just love those little mini-heaters where you win every hand?

I just had a 5 minute, 11 hand heater on CC, winning 9 out of the 11. Admittedly it was only 3 handed play, but it was still pretty good. The funny thing is that when they fold the first couple of hands under heavy pressure, you get pinned as a maniac and get great value when the hands keep coming.

Here's how it played out:

Hand 1: 87o checked the BB, flopped an OESD. Bet flop and turn and rivered the straight (won without showing).

Hand 2: K2o. Raised PF (SB). Flopped 2 pair, turned a boat, rivered quad 2's :) won without showdown.

Now I'm sure my opps think I'm a maniac. I've bet every street so far.

Hand 3: QQ (Eureka): Raise PF. Flop 993. PF caller bets, I raise. Turn T: bet, raise, call. River J: Bet, raise call. He mucks his KT. Thankyou table image :)

Hand 4: T4s: Call in the BB (raise from SB). Flop a pair of 4's, turn 2 pair, win without showdown.

Hand 5: K8o: Raise and win PF.

Hands 6 and 7: Ruin my table image by folding PF (w 53) and on the turn (w K3 missed).

Hand 8: 45s: Raise PF (getting cheeky now). Flop a flush draw and take it down.

Hand 9: AJ: win PF.

Hand 10: K5: win PF.

Hand 11: K2: call raise (from SB) in the BB. Flop trip kings. Check/call flop, check/raise turn, win uncontested.

They have had enough and run away... Don't blame them :)

August Summary

August balance: $1050
July balance: $710
Profit: $340

Bonuses: Party: $100, Gnuf/PSO: $120, UB/PSO: $135, WillHill $50.
Rakeback: WillHill/RaketheRake: $15
Play: ($80)

In the end, a disappointing result. Mid-month, I was running hot at William Hill and Party and by the end I had pissed it all away. Bottom line is I'm running like a dog on Microgaming. Once I'm finished that Captain Cook bonus (which is only 200 raked hands away), I'm going to steer clear except for the juiciest bonuses.

I have also bought into Betsson in order to qualify a free license for Poker Office (easy at 100 points). I am testing Poker Office, Poker Tracker and Holdem Manager. HM actually looks very good once I get the HUD working. PT3 is very nice, but development has stalled for the last six months, and it still doesn't support half the sites that PT2 does. PO has a slightly funny set of statistics, and seems a bit flaky under Vista.