Wednesday 1 September 2010
Just started my first website about affordable web hosting. So if you're looking for cheap hosting, or general info about shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting, have a look :)
Friday 18 September 2009
MOOOOOVING
Not sure if anyone's still reading this blog, but I just wanted to inform you that I've moved my blog over to HUSNG.com since I entered a 6mo coaching deal with Primo.
New blog
Run good :)
New blog
Run good :)
Friday 22 May 2009
Stupid flu!!
Looks like I won't reach my 1200VPP goal unless I somehow manage to play another 150 games until the end month. Unfortunately, I got the flu atm, and taking meds isn't really +EV for my game. In addition, I've got friends coming over for a visit over the weekend, and I'm gonna move flats mid next week...which means I probably won't have Internet the last 3 days of the month. I'm still gonna be Platinum Star for 2 months, so at least that's something.
On the plus side, I got 2 tabling completely figured out now, and I don't think it diminishes my edge a lot compared to 1 tabling. My bankroll's currently at $710, so technically I'm totally overrolled for the $11s. But I decided to stick with that level a bit longer because it's cheaper to learn 2 tabling at lower stakes than at the $55s.
Right now I'm literally crushing the $11s (20% ROI), and in the past few days I had several 6+ consecutive wins sessions. I feel a bit like a nit for not moving up, but I figure it's probably +EV considering I'm on meds and "only" playing my B-game because of it.
I've railed a lot of $22s, and $33s recently...and the level of play doesn't seem THAT much harder, so I'm pretty confident I'll be alright once I move up.
Lastly, big thanks to Sharpy, FreakG, Tr1ppy, Nathan, and Filthy from 2+2!!! All the strat talk and sweat sessions has improved my game a ton :)
I recommend everyone to get some poker buddies to talk strategy with, it's probably the most +EV move you can make!
On the plus side, I got 2 tabling completely figured out now, and I don't think it diminishes my edge a lot compared to 1 tabling. My bankroll's currently at $710, so technically I'm totally overrolled for the $11s. But I decided to stick with that level a bit longer because it's cheaper to learn 2 tabling at lower stakes than at the $55s.
Right now I'm literally crushing the $11s (20% ROI), and in the past few days I had several 6+ consecutive wins sessions. I feel a bit like a nit for not moving up, but I figure it's probably +EV considering I'm on meds and "only" playing my B-game because of it.
I've railed a lot of $22s, and $33s recently...and the level of play doesn't seem THAT much harder, so I'm pretty confident I'll be alright once I move up.
Lastly, big thanks to Sharpy, FreakG, Tr1ppy, Nathan, and Filthy from 2+2!!! All the strat talk and sweat sessions has improved my game a ton :)
I recommend everyone to get some poker buddies to talk strategy with, it's probably the most +EV move you can make!
Saturday 16 May 2009
Grinding away
It's been a while since my last update, but that's because I'm busy grinding :)
Stars has an awesome promotion for UK players this month:
So in essence, if I manage to get 1,200 VPPs this month, I'll automatically get 60k VPPs credited to my account by Stars. That's more than half the amount I need for supernova!! So far I'm on track, and I'm pretty confident I'll manage to achieve my goal.
I won the $5 HUMTT (winner takes all) 2 days ago, which helped to offset a rough stretch of games earlier this week. I've started 2-tabling the $11s now, and if all goes well, I should be able to move up to the $22s aftere this weekend. So far 2-tabling hasn't decreased my ROI at all, but the sample size is somewhat small. I'd have to play another 226 $11 games to achieve my 1,200 VPP goal for the month, but moving up to the $22s would almost cut that number in half...obviously playing ~130 $22s until the end of the month wouldn't be a problem.
Anyway, running at 23% ROI this month, so can't really complain even if for some weird reason I should miss my goal.
Goals for May:
1) 1,200 VPPs+
2) Maintain a 15%+ ROI
3) Move up to the $22s sometimes this month
As for non-poker related news:
I finally got accepted at my #1 choice uni for my MSc Real Estate!! This came as a HUGE relief after having been made redundat at my previous work place in February. I've received quite a few job offers, but wasn't really excited about any of them...and I'm not someone who does something if I'm not 100% convinced.
The course stars in September. I'll be moving to Switzerland at the end of the month, because I got a pretty cool part-time job offer at a Hilton. I won't completely move, most of my stuff will be dumped at a tiny (understatement of the year) flat I'm renting for 3 months before coming back to London. It'll also allow me to jet back and forth whenever I feel to need to party :)
Stars has an awesome promotion for UK players this month:
So in essence, if I manage to get 1,200 VPPs this month, I'll automatically get 60k VPPs credited to my account by Stars. That's more than half the amount I need for supernova!! So far I'm on track, and I'm pretty confident I'll manage to achieve my goal.
I won the $5 HUMTT (winner takes all) 2 days ago, which helped to offset a rough stretch of games earlier this week. I've started 2-tabling the $11s now, and if all goes well, I should be able to move up to the $22s aftere this weekend. So far 2-tabling hasn't decreased my ROI at all, but the sample size is somewhat small. I'd have to play another 226 $11 games to achieve my 1,200 VPP goal for the month, but moving up to the $22s would almost cut that number in half...obviously playing ~130 $22s until the end of the month wouldn't be a problem.
Anyway, running at 23% ROI this month, so can't really complain even if for some weird reason I should miss my goal.
Goals for May:
1) 1,200 VPPs+
2) Maintain a 15%+ ROI
3) Move up to the $22s sometimes this month
As for non-poker related news:
I finally got accepted at my #1 choice uni for my MSc Real Estate!! This came as a HUGE relief after having been made redundat at my previous work place in February. I've received quite a few job offers, but wasn't really excited about any of them...and I'm not someone who does something if I'm not 100% convinced.
The course stars in September. I'll be moving to Switzerland at the end of the month, because I got a pretty cool part-time job offer at a Hilton. I won't completely move, most of my stuff will be dumped at a tiny (understatement of the year) flat I'm renting for 3 months before coming back to London. It'll also allow me to jet back and forth whenever I feel to need to party :)
Saturday 25 April 2009
Hungover
Went to the Camden Crawl yesterday, and it kinda destroyed my liver :(
Anyway, poker's going great, running at 24.5% ROI this week, so really can't complain. HEM even says I'm running bellow expectation, because my EV adjusted ROI should be 27.5%. Something finally clicked! I also played a 210FPP satellite to the 250K-guaranteed, and was totally stunned by how soft they are. Won T$11, and doubled that by playing an $11 HUSNG.
Food for thought: Quality > Quantity! At least in my case it works. Instead of just mindlessly grinding away, I now make every tournament count, and always think before making moves. Works great so far :)
Anyway, poker's going great, running at 24.5% ROI this week, so really can't complain. HEM even says I'm running bellow expectation, because my EV adjusted ROI should be 27.5%. Something finally clicked! I also played a 210FPP satellite to the 250K-guaranteed, and was totally stunned by how soft they are. Won T$11, and doubled that by playing an $11 HUSNG.
Food for thought: Quality > Quantity! At least in my case it works. Instead of just mindlessly grinding away, I now make every tournament count, and always think before making moves. Works great so far :)
Tuesday 21 April 2009
2nd coaching session
Just had my 2nd coaching session with Steve. He sweat me for 3 games, which I all lost even though I always got it in as a HUGE favourite. Thank you Pokerstars!!
Anyway, I'm now permanently playing the $11s, and won't move down to the $6 games unless I absolutely have to. The people at the $11s are mostly just as bad as at the $6 games, so as long as I'm properly rolled for that level, there's no reason to move down.
I hit some pretty harsh variance the past 2 days, but I'm fighting my way through it, and I don't seem to tilt at all. As long as I continue getting it in as a favourite, success will follow. AK will sometimes loose against A3, it's just variance...
Comedy hands:
Anyway, I'm now permanently playing the $11s, and won't move down to the $6 games unless I absolutely have to. The people at the $11s are mostly just as bad as at the $6 games, so as long as I'm properly rolled for that level, there's no reason to move down.
I hit some pretty harsh variance the past 2 days, but I'm fighting my way through it, and I don't seem to tilt at all. As long as I continue getting it in as a favourite, success will follow. AK will sometimes loose against A3, it's just variance...
Comedy hands:
PokerStars Game #27316192681: Tournament #157493121, $11.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/04/21 2:34:52 WET [2009/04/20 21:34:52 ET]Funny video of the day:
Table '157493121 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: aceboomgoon (1480 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero (1520 in chips)
Hero: posts small blind 10
aceboomgoon: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [9s Js]
Hero: raises 40 to 60
aceboomgoon: raises 40 to 100
Hero: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [6d Jc 2c]
aceboomgoon: bets 220
Hero: calls 220
*** TURN *** [6d Jc 2c] [2s]
aceboomgoon: bets 760
Hero: calls 760
*** RIVER *** [6d Jc 2c 2s] [Qd]
aceboomgoon: checks
Hero: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
aceboomgoon: shows [8c Ah] (a pair of Deuces)
Hero: shows [9s Js] (two pair, Jacks and Deuces)
Hero collected 2160 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2160 | Rake 0
Board [6d Jc 2c 2s Qd]
Seat 1: aceboomgoon (big blind) showed [8c Ah] and lost with a pair of Deuces
Seat 2: Hero (button) (small blind) showed [9s Js] and won (2160) with two pair, Jacks and Deuces
PokerStars Game #27316280920: Tournament #157493121, $11.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/04/21 2:38:06 WET [2009/04/20 21:38:06 ET]
Table '157493121 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: aceboomgoon (420 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero (2580 in chips)
aceboomgoon: posts small blind 10
Hero: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Jd Kh]
aceboomgoon: calls 10
Hero: raises 40 to 60
aceboomgoon: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [9h 4h Kd]
Hero: checks
aceboomgoon: bets 100
Hero: raises 2420 to 2520 and is all-in
aceboomgoon: calls 260 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2160) returned to Hero
*** TURN *** [9h 4h Kd] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [9h 4h Kd Jh] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Jd Kh] (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
aceboomgoon: shows [8h Ac] (high card Ace)
Hero collected 840 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 840 | Rake 0
Board [9h 4h Kd Jh 3s]
Seat 1: aceboomgoon (button) (small blind) showed [8h Ac] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 2: Hero (big blind) showed [Jd Kh] and won (840) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
Friday 17 April 2009
Coaching
After my whiny tilt-post, and a successful coaching session with filthyvermin, I figured it was time to look for a coach to fast-track my learning.
I looked around a bit on 2+2, and found out Insane Steve is offering low-stakes coaching at a very reasonable price.
The session lasted around 1.5hrs, and started off with him sweating me for 2 games. After that, we discussed the hand history, and he soon noticed a few leaks, and suggested alternative lines. The full review of my session can be found in his coaching thread on 2+2.
Anyway, the positive effect of the coaching was immediate:
28% ROI in the last 24hrs
I've already booked my next coaching session, and I'm confident that he'll be able to help me move up quicker than I could on my own. I'm still pretty confident I'll be playing the $22s sometimes in early may, especially now that I'm back on track.
A few things that I've been working on in the last few days:
- Tighten up on the BB: This had probably the most drastic effect on my ROI.
- Villain categorization: I'm now quicker at categorizing villains, and acting accordingly.
- Playing straight forward: I used to outlevel myself by playing too fancy against brainless villains, NO MORE!!
A good example hand of how absolutely insane the players at the low stakes are came up during yesterday's coaching session. The hand before, I called the villain's river bet with 3rd pair, and he showed up with a busted draw...that kinda put him on monkey tilt.
Overall, I'm in a great mood and actually looking forward to grinding a lot in the next few days. I've also started chatting to many more fellow players on AIM, and discussing hands with them has done wonders for my own game.
As for non-poker related things:
I've lost my job in March, and surprisingly I'm not really unhappy about it. Even though I loved the type of work, the company atmosphere was just really bad after a bad incident 6 months earlier...and no, I wasn't involved in the incident.
Anyway, I now have A LOT of free time, lol. I'm on a pretty hardcore workout schedule, I thai box around 4 times per week, and started weight lifting 5 times per week on the side. In addition, I've also changed my whole nutrition, which not only had a positive effect on my body, but also my mind. I've gained like 6.5kg in the past 5 weeks, and my punches and kicks are now a lot harder than before.
I've also applied for the MSc in Real Estate at London's CASS University. The course would help my career development a lot. I've also got a job offer in Montpelier (France), but I'm not sure if I want to take the offer, even though it's a pretty cool job. Got a lot of thinking to do in the coming days...
Funny video of the day:
I looked around a bit on 2+2, and found out Insane Steve is offering low-stakes coaching at a very reasonable price.
The session lasted around 1.5hrs, and started off with him sweating me for 2 games. After that, we discussed the hand history, and he soon noticed a few leaks, and suggested alternative lines. The full review of my session can be found in his coaching thread on 2+2.
Anyway, the positive effect of the coaching was immediate:
28% ROI in the last 24hrs
I've already booked my next coaching session, and I'm confident that he'll be able to help me move up quicker than I could on my own. I'm still pretty confident I'll be playing the $22s sometimes in early may, especially now that I'm back on track.
A few things that I've been working on in the last few days:
- Tighten up on the BB: This had probably the most drastic effect on my ROI.
- Villain categorization: I'm now quicker at categorizing villains, and acting accordingly.
- Playing straight forward: I used to outlevel myself by playing too fancy against brainless villains, NO MORE!!
A good example hand of how absolutely insane the players at the low stakes are came up during yesterday's coaching session. The hand before, I called the villain's river bet with 3rd pair, and he showed up with a busted draw...that kinda put him on monkey tilt.
PokerStars Game #27139215033: Tournament #156231275, $6.00+$0.25 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level III (25/50) - 2009/04/16 4:41:17 CET [2009/04/15 22:41:17 ET]
Table '156231275 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Villain (1290 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero (1710 in chips)
Villain: posts small blind 25
Hero: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Radeh [Qh Ah]
Villain: raises 1240 to 1290 and is all-in
Hero: calls 1240
*** FLOP *** [Kh 9h 7c]
*** TURN *** [Kh 9h 7c] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [Kh 9h 7c 8d] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Qh Ah] (high card Ace)
Villain: shows [5h 3d] (a straight, Five to Nine)
Villain collected 2580 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2580 | Rake 0
Board [Kh 9h 7c 8d 6s]
Seat 1: Villain (button) (small blind) showed [5h 3d] and won (2580) with a straight, Five to Nine
Seat 2: Hero (big blind) showed [Qh Ah] and lost with high card Ace
Overall, I'm in a great mood and actually looking forward to grinding a lot in the next few days. I've also started chatting to many more fellow players on AIM, and discussing hands with them has done wonders for my own game.
As for non-poker related things:
I've lost my job in March, and surprisingly I'm not really unhappy about it. Even though I loved the type of work, the company atmosphere was just really bad after a bad incident 6 months earlier...and no, I wasn't involved in the incident.
Anyway, I now have A LOT of free time, lol. I'm on a pretty hardcore workout schedule, I thai box around 4 times per week, and started weight lifting 5 times per week on the side. In addition, I've also changed my whole nutrition, which not only had a positive effect on my body, but also my mind. I've gained like 6.5kg in the past 5 weeks, and my punches and kicks are now a lot harder than before.
I've also applied for the MSc in Real Estate at London's CASS University. The course would help my career development a lot. I've also got a job offer in Montpelier (France), but I'm not sure if I want to take the offer, even though it's a pretty cool job. Got a lot of thinking to do in the coming days...
Funny video of the day:
Sunday 12 April 2009
Quitting...or not :)
Well, hours of studying videos and reviewing hands don't seem to show any positive effect. In short, I've almost lost my whole HUSNG role, and just don't know what to do in order to become profitable at this game.
I started posting hand analyses a lot more on 2+2, and overall it seems my analyses are sound...it just doesn't seem to translate to my own game.
I've played quite a bit of HU cash on Cake, and that's the only thing that keeps me profitable overall.
Gonna give it another week, after that, goodbye HUSNG :(
_____________________________________________________________
UPDATE:
So after typing the above, filthy from 2+2 had mercy with me and played some play money HUSNG with me on FTP. I only had 3k play money chips, so we had to do some hilarious chip dumping so I could register to the 100k play money HUSNGs.
Anyway, he found some glaring leaks in my game:
1) Way too loose OOP...no, 56 isn't good enough to call a 3BB raise with.
2) Read #1 again!!
3) Read #2 again!!
4) Open more IP.
He also gave me some more hand specific tips, and I can't wait to apply them.
Dude, if you're reading this, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
PS: Sorry for the above whine post, sleep deprivation, running badly, playing badly, and a few Guinness apparently turned me into a whiny little bitch...
I started posting hand analyses a lot more on 2+2, and overall it seems my analyses are sound...it just doesn't seem to translate to my own game.
I've played quite a bit of HU cash on Cake, and that's the only thing that keeps me profitable overall.
Gonna give it another week, after that, goodbye HUSNG :(
_____________________________________________________________
UPDATE:
So after typing the above, filthy from 2+2 had mercy with me and played some play money HUSNG with me on FTP. I only had 3k play money chips, so we had to do some hilarious chip dumping so I could register to the 100k play money HUSNGs.
Anyway, he found some glaring leaks in my game:
1) Way too loose OOP...no, 56 isn't good enough to call a 3BB raise with.
2) Read #1 again!!
3) Read #2 again!!
4) Open more IP.
He also gave me some more hand specific tips, and I can't wait to apply them.
Dude, if you're reading this, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
PS: Sorry for the above whine post, sleep deprivation, running badly, playing badly, and a few Guinness apparently turned me into a whiny little bitch...
Thursday 5 March 2009
Downswingaments
In short, I was on an epic downswing. The whole thing was pretty soul-crushing because I still think I played well for the most part. It's just really really really hard to stay motivated if your 2-pair keeps on running into better 2-pair, or your straight runs into full house after full house. The worst is if some donk keeps on calling you down to the river, just to hit his bloody 3 outer on the last card...it's fine the first time, and I can handle the 2nd time...but if it keeps on happening over and over again I'm going nuts. My bankroll dipped down to $154 at one point!!
The one thing I need to stop doing is continue playing if I lost more than like 8 BI, that's when my play starts to deteriorate. I went over a few hands this afternoon, and noticed that I made some horribly pointless bluffs when I shouldn't have...just because I try too hard to win pots. The thing that keeps me going is that I'm still running better than I should according to HEM's EV graph.
Good example of how the past 3 days went:
PokerStars Game #25606268972: Tournament #145417960, $11.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/03/04 22:57:32 GMT [2009/03/04 17:57:32 ET]
Table '145417960 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Villain (1500 in chips)
Hero: posts small blind 10
Villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [7s 9s]
Hero: raises 40 to 60
Villain: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Tc 8d Js]
Villain: checks
Hero: bets 70
Villain: raises 150 to 220
Hero: raises 300 to 520
Villain: calls 300
*** TURN *** [Tc 8d Js] [Qs]
Villain: bets 920 and is all-in
Hero: calls 920 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Tc 8d Js Qs] [2s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [Ts 6s] (a flush, Queen high)
Hero: shows [7s 9s] (a flush, Queen high - lower cards)
Villain collected 3000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 | Rake 0
Board [Tc 8d Js Qs 2s]
Seat 1: Hero (button) (small blind) showed [7s 9s] and lost with a flush, Queen high
Seat 2: Villain (big blind) showed [Ts 6s] and won (3000) with a flush, Queen high
On the flop, I'm a 93% favorite to win, and even on the turn it's 81%. The small flop bet was to sucker him in, since this villain normally folded to any flop cbet unless he has a piece of the flop, or I showed weakness. When he reraised my flop cbet, I figured he probably has the strong jack, a set, two pair, or an overpair...and he NEVER folded top pair throughout the entire match. Nevertheless, I wanted to keep him in in the pot, so I only reraised him 2.5x his flop 3bet. When he went all-in on the turn, I was a bit worried about AK, but at that point there were too many chips in the pot, and no way I'm folding a straight. Never expected him to call a 4bet with bloody MPWK, and then shove the turn!!
On the upside, I noticed that I had $82 left on Cake, and I decided to play some HU cash kamikaze style...that worked out well, and I transferred the money over to Stars. So overall I'm down "only" $19 since posting last time. Still pretty pissed off because I put in a ton of games.
I'm flying back home to Switzerland tomorrow for a 3 week vacation. Plenty of time to catch up on HUSNG.com and TheSNGacademy videos, review hands, and hopefully achieve enough VPPs for Silverstar until mid-March. I'm also going to clear a $50 bonus in the next 2-3 days. Over the next few days I'm going to play a lot of 4-mans, I have a pretty sick ROI in them (133%...61% ITM!), and seem to be doing well in the second level of those matches. Two days ago was awesome, and I won 7 out of 10 4-man matches, great bankroll booster.
Anyway, a few notes to myself:
- Just play straight-forward and don't try to be too tricky!! It's pointless to try out "special" stuff if your opponents aren't thinking players.
- 8BI stop loss, just do it!
- Don't slow play your strong hands.
- Don't triple barrel bluff at the $11 level.
- Really, don't triple barrel bluff at the $11 level!!
I've also updated my HEM HUD because I started multi-tabling and a HUD helps a bit. Here's the download link in case anyone's interested: LINK
Current bankroll: $392
The one thing I need to stop doing is continue playing if I lost more than like 8 BI, that's when my play starts to deteriorate. I went over a few hands this afternoon, and noticed that I made some horribly pointless bluffs when I shouldn't have...just because I try too hard to win pots. The thing that keeps me going is that I'm still running better than I should according to HEM's EV graph.
Good example of how the past 3 days went:
PokerStars Game #25606268972: Tournament #145417960, $11.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/03/04 22:57:32 GMT [2009/03/04 17:57:32 ET]
Table '145417960 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Villain (1500 in chips)
Hero: posts small blind 10
Villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [7s 9s]
Hero: raises 40 to 60
Villain: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Tc 8d Js]
Villain: checks
Hero: bets 70
Villain: raises 150 to 220
Hero: raises 300 to 520
Villain: calls 300
*** TURN *** [Tc 8d Js] [Qs]
Villain: bets 920 and is all-in
Hero: calls 920 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Tc 8d Js Qs] [2s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [Ts 6s] (a flush, Queen high)
Hero: shows [7s 9s] (a flush, Queen high - lower cards)
Villain collected 3000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 | Rake 0
Board [Tc 8d Js Qs 2s]
Seat 1: Hero (button) (small blind) showed [7s 9s] and lost with a flush, Queen high
Seat 2: Villain (big blind) showed [Ts 6s] and won (3000) with a flush, Queen high
On the flop, I'm a 93% favorite to win, and even on the turn it's 81%. The small flop bet was to sucker him in, since this villain normally folded to any flop cbet unless he has a piece of the flop, or I showed weakness. When he reraised my flop cbet, I figured he probably has the strong jack, a set, two pair, or an overpair...and he NEVER folded top pair throughout the entire match. Nevertheless, I wanted to keep him in in the pot, so I only reraised him 2.5x his flop 3bet. When he went all-in on the turn, I was a bit worried about AK, but at that point there were too many chips in the pot, and no way I'm folding a straight. Never expected him to call a 4bet with bloody MPWK, and then shove the turn!!
On the upside, I noticed that I had $82 left on Cake, and I decided to play some HU cash kamikaze style...that worked out well, and I transferred the money over to Stars. So overall I'm down "only" $19 since posting last time. Still pretty pissed off because I put in a ton of games.
I'm flying back home to Switzerland tomorrow for a 3 week vacation. Plenty of time to catch up on HUSNG.com and TheSNGacademy videos, review hands, and hopefully achieve enough VPPs for Silverstar until mid-March. I'm also going to clear a $50 bonus in the next 2-3 days. Over the next few days I'm going to play a lot of 4-mans, I have a pretty sick ROI in them (133%...61% ITM!), and seem to be doing well in the second level of those matches. Two days ago was awesome, and I won 7 out of 10 4-man matches, great bankroll booster.
Anyway, a few notes to myself:
- Just play straight-forward and don't try to be too tricky!! It's pointless to try out "special" stuff if your opponents aren't thinking players.
- 8BI stop loss, just do it!
- Don't slow play your strong hands.
- Don't triple barrel bluff at the $11 level.
- Really, don't triple barrel bluff at the $11 level!!
I've also updated my HEM HUD because I started multi-tabling and a HUD helps a bit. Here's the download link in case anyone's interested: LINK
Current bankroll: $392
Thursday 26 February 2009
Variance is a bitch
So I've played around 85 games in the past 2 days, and ended up break-even. I should be pissed off, but I reviewed my hands (took a good 4 hours), and apart from a few stupid moves, I seem to get my money in ahead. 85 games breakeven stretches don't seem to be out of the ordinary judging from what I hear from others, so I'm not too worried at the moment.
On the plus side, I don't seem to tilt...at all. I haven't made too many stupid moves based on being angry or going batshit crazy because of a few suck-outs.
The bad things I did note about my play are:
- Getting stubborn with AK/AJ/AQ.
- Trying to bluff lagtards when not hitting hands...it just burns money. I should never bluff them with nothing, and should at least have a tiny piece of the board.
- Sometimes I try to be too tricky, which at the $11 level doesn't seem to work...at all.
- Value bet, value bet, value bet! God damnit I need to stop missing value by trying to faint weakness and checking behind when I have the nuts. Not only that, but I give the dude a chance to hit his outs for free.
Anyway, I'm really only in it to learn, and I don't really have a monetary goal right now...so just gonna continue to analyze my hand histories, and focus on improving. I wanna move up in stakes because I beat the lower levels, not because I have the necessary bankroll. Since I've restarted my challenge again, I've run at 19.6% ROI, including this breakeven stretch...so I can't really complain.
Comedy hand of today:
PokerStars Game #25358531633: Tournament #143696410, $11.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/02/26 2:51:53 GMT [2009/02/25 21:51:53 ET]
Table '143696410 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Villain (1685 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero (1315 in chips)
Hero: posts small blind 10
Villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [8d Ac]
Hero: raises 40 to 60
Villain: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [8h 8c Td]
Villain: bets 20
Hero: raises 70 to 90
Villain: raises 190 to 280
Hero: raises 975 to 1255 and is all-in
Villain: calls 975
*** TURN *** [8h 8c Td] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [8h 8c Td Js] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [Ts Qs] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
Hero: shows [8d Ac] (three of a kind, Eights)
Hero collected 2630 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2630 | Rake 0
Board [8h 8c Td Js 4h]
Seat 1: Villain (big blind) showed [Ts Qs] and lost with two pair, Tens and Eights
Seat 2: Hero (button) (small blind) showed [8d Ac] and won (2630) with three of a kind, Eights
No, top pair isn't always good...especially in a 4bet pot!! I actually put him on the remaining 8 with a weaker kicker...
Anyway, I will probably play a few more 4mans over the next few days. Over my super small sample size of 24 games in 2 days, I achieved an ITM of 50%, which leads to a pretty ridiculous ROI. Not sure why, but I feel really good playing the 2nd game starting with 3000 chips.
PS: I also final tabled the $5 HU tournament again. Ran pretty much card dead on the final table. I lost because I got a bit desperate and tried to bluff a lagtard and he made a few crazy calldowns with med pair on super scary boards, and I never really recovered.
On the plus side, I don't seem to tilt...at all. I haven't made too many stupid moves based on being angry or going batshit crazy because of a few suck-outs.
The bad things I did note about my play are:
- Getting stubborn with AK/AJ/AQ.
- Trying to bluff lagtards when not hitting hands...it just burns money. I should never bluff them with nothing, and should at least have a tiny piece of the board.
- Sometimes I try to be too tricky, which at the $11 level doesn't seem to work...at all.
- Value bet, value bet, value bet! God damnit I need to stop missing value by trying to faint weakness and checking behind when I have the nuts. Not only that, but I give the dude a chance to hit his outs for free.
Anyway, I'm really only in it to learn, and I don't really have a monetary goal right now...so just gonna continue to analyze my hand histories, and focus on improving. I wanna move up in stakes because I beat the lower levels, not because I have the necessary bankroll. Since I've restarted my challenge again, I've run at 19.6% ROI, including this breakeven stretch...so I can't really complain.
Comedy hand of today:
PokerStars Game #25358531633: Tournament #143696410, $11.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/02/26 2:51:53 GMT [2009/02/25 21:51:53 ET]
Table '143696410 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Villain (1685 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero (1315 in chips)
Hero: posts small blind 10
Villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [8d Ac]
Hero: raises 40 to 60
Villain: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [8h 8c Td]
Villain: bets 20
Hero: raises 70 to 90
Villain: raises 190 to 280
Hero: raises 975 to 1255 and is all-in
Villain: calls 975
*** TURN *** [8h 8c Td] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [8h 8c Td Js] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [Ts Qs] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
Hero: shows [8d Ac] (three of a kind, Eights)
Hero collected 2630 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2630 | Rake 0
Board [8h 8c Td Js 4h]
Seat 1: Villain (big blind) showed [Ts Qs] and lost with two pair, Tens and Eights
Seat 2: Hero (button) (small blind) showed [8d Ac] and won (2630) with three of a kind, Eights
No, top pair isn't always good...especially in a 4bet pot!! I actually put him on the remaining 8 with a weaker kicker...
Anyway, I will probably play a few more 4mans over the next few days. Over my super small sample size of 24 games in 2 days, I achieved an ITM of 50%, which leads to a pretty ridiculous ROI. Not sure why, but I feel really good playing the 2nd game starting with 3000 chips.
PS: I also final tabled the $5 HU tournament again. Ran pretty much card dead on the final table. I lost because I got a bit desperate and tried to bluff a lagtard and he made a few crazy calldowns with med pair on super scary boards, and I never really recovered.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
