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
Thursday, 5 March 2009
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.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Learning a lot
Today was a bit of a grind. I wanted to spend the day trying out different moves at the $11 games, to learn how the average opponent reacts to donkbets, weak cbets, monkey-aggro 3betting, and so on. This led to some interesting swings...but I kinda expected this because when you try out stuff you're bound to crash 'n burn once in a while.
The most important lesson I learned today, is that at this level, elaborate bluffs just burn money against the average opponent. A lot of them make crazy call-downs with bottom pair, even if the board is super-drawy and you've bet strongly for 3 streets. The best strategy seems to be to just play straight-forward, be tight on the BB, and valuebet strongly when you hit.
Here's an example of how bad the players at this level are, and how crazy they go if they hit any part of the board, even with a ridiculous weak kicker:
***** Hand History for Game 25268429846 ***** (Poker Stars)
$3000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 06:04:02 ET 2009
Table 143075609 1 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Hero ( $2065.00 USD )
Seat 2: Villain ( $935.00 USD )
Villain posts small blind [$15.00 USD].
Hero posts big blind [$30.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ah Kd ]
Villain raises [$75.00 USD]
Hero raises [$270.00 USD]
Villain calls [$210.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7c, 9d, Ks ]
Hero checks
Villain bets [$635.00 USD]
Hero calls [$635.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jc ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qs ]
Hero shows [Ah, Kd ]
Villain shows [Kh, 3d ]
Hero wins $1870.00 USD from main pot
First he calls a 3.5x 3bet with K3o, and then goes all-in on the flop because he hits top pair and doesn't know what else to do. Reverse implied odds...even if he hits his king (which unfortunately for him he did), his pot-sized bet will only be called by better hands.
Anyway, I feel I learned A LOT today. I played a few $22 regulars who dropped down to the $11 games, and they didn't seem any better than the average $11 player. Overall, I feel very comfortable playing and expect to move up relatively quickly.
I also spend 2.5hrs watching (more like "studying") videos, which in my opinion helps immensely in learning quicker.
Current bankroll: $411.2
The most important lesson I learned today, is that at this level, elaborate bluffs just burn money against the average opponent. A lot of them make crazy call-downs with bottom pair, even if the board is super-drawy and you've bet strongly for 3 streets. The best strategy seems to be to just play straight-forward, be tight on the BB, and valuebet strongly when you hit.
Here's an example of how bad the players at this level are, and how crazy they go if they hit any part of the board, even with a ridiculous weak kicker:
***** Hand History for Game 25268429846 ***** (Poker Stars)
$3000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 06:04:02 ET 2009
Table 143075609 1 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Hero ( $2065.00 USD )
Seat 2: Villain ( $935.00 USD )
Villain posts small blind [$15.00 USD].
Hero posts big blind [$30.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ah Kd ]
Villain raises [$75.00 USD]
Hero raises [$270.00 USD]
Villain calls [$210.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7c, 9d, Ks ]
Hero checks
Villain bets [$635.00 USD]
Hero calls [$635.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jc ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qs ]
Hero shows [Ah, Kd ]
Villain shows [Kh, 3d ]
Hero wins $1870.00 USD from main pot
First he calls a 3.5x 3bet with K3o, and then goes all-in on the flop because he hits top pair and doesn't know what else to do. Reverse implied odds...even if he hits his king (which unfortunately for him he did), his pot-sized bet will only be called by better hands.
Anyway, I feel I learned A LOT today. I played a few $22 regulars who dropped down to the $11 games, and they didn't seem any better than the average $11 player. Overall, I feel very comfortable playing and expect to move up relatively quickly.
I also spend 2.5hrs watching (more like "studying") videos, which in my opinion helps immensely in learning quicker.
Current bankroll: $411.2
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Long overdue update
Well, it's been a while...but I was super busy and didn't get to play much.
The snowboard vacation rocked, and I did a lot of snowshoe trips. I took my laptop along, and managed to tag into a super-weak wireless connection. However, I told myself I wouldn't play because I'd just disconnect and lose money...but sometimes I don't listen to myself, so disconnecting and losing money is exactly what I did. Didn't bother me all that much though, had too much of a great time snowboarding.
Anyway, once I came back, there was a letter in my mail from the company I work for. I got super excited thinking it's the bonus pay notice. Turns out it was a letter of redundancy...great start into the new year. So I've been super busy the past month wrapping up my last few projects, and trying to get a new job. Finding a job in finance/consulting in London isn't an easy thing thanks to the financial crisis. Anyway, I now have 2 offers which would have me start in May, and both would result in a significant pay raise compared to my old job. So overall I'm quite pleased...having good contacts in this business definitely helps. Anyway, until May, I'm on an extended vacation. So plenty of time to play poker, go out, snowboard some more...and generally enjoy life!
Poker wise things are finally turning around as well after having donked of some money playing drunk and with a crappy connection during my vacation. I never redeposited, but was down to $50 at one point. Since then I've worked it up to again, and winning a $5 HU tournament definitely helped.
I moved to the $11 full-time now, and thanks to all the free time I have, I'll be putting in a lot of volume. Once I hit $550, I'll get started on the $22s.
On a side-note, I've signed up with TheSNGacademy to benefit from Primo's videos, and love the content so far. I've also joined HUSNG.com because their lineup is awesome: xSCWx, RyPac13, Croixdawg, an Skates!!! I bought xSCWx's old video pack, so joining HUSNG.com was a no-brainer. And it looks like Hokie will produce a few guest videos as well...so well worth the money. I've paid for HUSNG.com with poker winnings, which is pretty cool.
Current bankroll: $362 (+$165 I spent on HUSNG.com)
The snowboard vacation rocked, and I did a lot of snowshoe trips. I took my laptop along, and managed to tag into a super-weak wireless connection. However, I told myself I wouldn't play because I'd just disconnect and lose money...but sometimes I don't listen to myself, so disconnecting and losing money is exactly what I did. Didn't bother me all that much though, had too much of a great time snowboarding.
Anyway, once I came back, there was a letter in my mail from the company I work for. I got super excited thinking it's the bonus pay notice. Turns out it was a letter of redundancy...great start into the new year. So I've been super busy the past month wrapping up my last few projects, and trying to get a new job. Finding a job in finance/consulting in London isn't an easy thing thanks to the financial crisis. Anyway, I now have 2 offers which would have me start in May, and both would result in a significant pay raise compared to my old job. So overall I'm quite pleased...having good contacts in this business definitely helps. Anyway, until May, I'm on an extended vacation. So plenty of time to play poker, go out, snowboard some more...and generally enjoy life!
Poker wise things are finally turning around as well after having donked of some money playing drunk and with a crappy connection during my vacation. I never redeposited, but was down to $50 at one point. Since then I've worked it up to again, and winning a $5 HU tournament definitely helped.
I moved to the $11 full-time now, and thanks to all the free time I have, I'll be putting in a lot of volume. Once I hit $550, I'll get started on the $22s.
On a side-note, I've signed up with TheSNGacademy to benefit from Primo's videos, and love the content so far. I've also joined HUSNG.com because their lineup is awesome: xSCWx, RyPac13, Croixdawg, an Skates!!! I bought xSCWx's old video pack, so joining HUSNG.com was a no-brainer. And it looks like Hokie will produce a few guest videos as well...so well worth the money. I've paid for HUSNG.com with poker winnings, which is pretty cool.
Current bankroll: $362 (+$165 I spent on HUSNG.com)
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Off to Switzerland
Going to leave for the airport in 10min, only managed to squeeze in 1 more game for now. I'll try to play another 10 games or so once I arrive, depending on whether I go out with my bro' once I arrive or not.
Running ridiculously hot, but the sample size is kinda small, so I'm not expecting this to last forever. Current ROI at the $6.5 and $11 is at 64%, with an average profit of $4 per game, good times...
Current bankroll: $155
Running ridiculously hot, but the sample size is kinda small, so I'm not expecting this to last forever. Current ROI at the $6.5 and $11 is at 64%, with an average profit of $4 per game, good times...
Current bankroll: $155
First Post \o/
First post!!! Kinda got inspired by great poker blogs by HokieGreg, ChicagoRy, and PrimodialAA.
I've been playing poker for 8 months now. My job's quite demanding, so I couldn't really put in a sick amount of hours per day...but I joined DeucesCracked and read a lot of posts on 2+2 to learn the basics. In the past 8 months, I've deposited about 3-4 times, the usual $50 like most have probably done when they started off. Ran it up to 2-3k a few times playing way out of my bankroll, mostly through 6max NL Holdem and NL HU cash. I was forced to cash out my entire roll (~$3.6k) in November because some idiot copied my debit card stealing all my money (including overdraft) and I had to somehow pay for bills and rent until the bank reimbursed me.
Got the money back, but decided I want to try and start from the bottom again and set myself a bit of a challenge. In short, I want to become really good at HUSNGs. The reason is that I can't bring myself to multitable 6max (got no patience for that), and I've always preferred HU over all other games. I intend on mixing in some PLO HUSNGs once my bankroll's good again. Hopefully this blog will help me stay motivated...I've deposited today, and will at least try to stick to somewhat proper bankroll management this time.
Initial depostit: $100
Current bankroll: $149
I know I can easily beat the $6.5 and $11 turbos unless I play intoxicated (which I've done multiple times before unfortunately), so this is where I'll start off. I intend on playing those stakes until I hit $450, at which point I will mix in some $22 by bumhunting and finding some -5% ROI players. I'm not really in a rush, but I hope to move up quickly to a level where the money actually means something to me. I played 13 games today, with a ROI of 62% (yes, ROI, not games won)...of course that's totally sustainable. I didn't run really that hot card wise, it's just that the competition at this level seems horribly week compared to let's say 50NL HU even, and I tried to play my A-game. Only got in 2hrs today, still preparing for my vacation trip.
Anyway, I can play until the 27th this month, at which point I'll be off for 3 weeks to go snowboarding in Switzerland with my brother. I might have internet at our flat there, but we'll bring a giant bag of weed with us, and I promised myself not to play intoxicated anymore...we'll see if I'm strong enough to resist ;)
Here's a pic from the view I'll have every morning when I wake up as of the 27th:
I've been playing poker for 8 months now. My job's quite demanding, so I couldn't really put in a sick amount of hours per day...but I joined DeucesCracked and read a lot of posts on 2+2 to learn the basics. In the past 8 months, I've deposited about 3-4 times, the usual $50 like most have probably done when they started off. Ran it up to 2-3k a few times playing way out of my bankroll, mostly through 6max NL Holdem and NL HU cash. I was forced to cash out my entire roll (~$3.6k) in November because some idiot copied my debit card stealing all my money (including overdraft) and I had to somehow pay for bills and rent until the bank reimbursed me.
Got the money back, but decided I want to try and start from the bottom again and set myself a bit of a challenge. In short, I want to become really good at HUSNGs. The reason is that I can't bring myself to multitable 6max (got no patience for that), and I've always preferred HU over all other games. I intend on mixing in some PLO HUSNGs once my bankroll's good again. Hopefully this blog will help me stay motivated...I've deposited today, and will at least try to stick to somewhat proper bankroll management this time.
Initial depostit: $100
Current bankroll: $149
I know I can easily beat the $6.5 and $11 turbos unless I play intoxicated (which I've done multiple times before unfortunately), so this is where I'll start off. I intend on playing those stakes until I hit $450, at which point I will mix in some $22 by bumhunting and finding some -5% ROI players. I'm not really in a rush, but I hope to move up quickly to a level where the money actually means something to me. I played 13 games today, with a ROI of 62% (yes, ROI, not games won)...of course that's totally sustainable. I didn't run really that hot card wise, it's just that the competition at this level seems horribly week compared to let's say 50NL HU even, and I tried to play my A-game. Only got in 2hrs today, still preparing for my vacation trip.
Anyway, I can play until the 27th this month, at which point I'll be off for 3 weeks to go snowboarding in Switzerland with my brother. I might have internet at our flat there, but we'll bring a giant bag of weed with us, and I promised myself not to play intoxicated anymore...we'll see if I'm strong enough to resist ;)
Here's a pic from the view I'll have every morning when I wake up as of the 27th:
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