VPIP%

Hiatus

2007-10-17T08:38:00.000-04:00

Sorry guys - been on a little bit of burnout lately with playing.

Therefore, i'll be taking a break. I should be back soon though!

downswing

2007-09-25T15:46:00.000-04:00

i'm officially on a $2k+ downswing

5 out of my last 6 sessions have been losing ones

i feel like i'm losing my shit... about to go crazy here...

maybe one day i will move up to 200NL and actually run ok...

NOVA!

2007-09-20T15:57:00.000-04:00

It feels like it's been forever, but I finally made it.

Now if only I could learn to play well, I'd be all set!

Good month so far

2007-09-13T18:43:00.001-04:00

I'ts been a really good month for me so far - at least by my standards.

This is a chart of my 100NL 6max for the month... started out rocky but i've been doing a lot better lately.

I did try 200NL yesterday, but I didn't run particularly well at all. Lost a buyin w AA, then lost 3 buyins w KK, and that was that.

I came back down to 100NL where i'm a little more confident to work some of the roll back, but i should be stabbing at 200NL again soon.

nice day - moving up soon!

2007-09-10T23:21:00.001-04:00

Another nice day - i'm having a pretty nice run these last cpl days and am going to step up to 200NL soon.

Some of the money I made today was due to players like this. I have no idea what he's trying to accomplish with that turn bet.

evny (SB): $110.05
BB: $128.90
UTG: $119.50
MP: $187.50
CO: $110.40
BTN: $278.00

Preflop: evny is dealt K K (6 Players)
3 folds, BTN raises to $2.00, evny raises to $9.00, BB folds, BTN calls $7.00

Flop: ($19) Q 7 8 (2 Players)
evny bets $15.00, BTN calls $15.00

Turn: ($49) 9 (2 Players)
evny checks, BTN bets $68.00, evny raises all-in to $86.05, BTN calls $18.05

River: ($221.10) 9 (2 Players - 1 All-In)
Pot Size: $221.10 ($3 Rake)

BTN had 2 6 (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-$110.05)
evny had K K (two pair, Kings and Nines) and WON (+$108.05)

Supernova soon!

2007-09-09T22:37:00.000-04:00

So, to hit supernova status on PokerStars you need to get 100,000 VPP in a calendar year.

Since i started playing in March, i've accrued 92,597 VPP, so i'm only 7,403 VPP away - so close I can taste it.

I guess the benefits of nova is i'll get FPP 40% faster, I get to play in the weekly freerolls (which is equivalent to ~ $80 MTT) and i'll finally get to exchange my 225k+ FPP for some cold hard cash.

Also, i can slack off for a while and not lose status (a big one in my book)...

AHHHHHHHHH so close

Weird line w set

2007-09-09T18:50:00.000-04:00

I think this is a weird line that i took but not positive. I guess the alternate lines would be crai on the flop, or check-call the turn, or lead the river if it went check-check on turn

I decided to try this out and see if it worked... and for some reason it did. I instadonked the turn (basically i think i got my chips in there b4 the turn card even showed) trying to make it look like some stupid steal bluff, bc ppl do this to me all the time w air.

SB: $120.35
evny (BB): $100.00
UTG: $191.50
MP: $98.00
CO: $17.75
BTN: $100.00

Preflop: evny is dealt J J (6 Players)
UTG raises to $2.00, MP folds, CO calls $2.00, 2 folds, evny raises to $10.00, UTG raises to $18.00, CO folds, evny calls $8.00

Flop: ($38.50) J A 3 (2 Players)
evny checks, UTG bets $35.00, evny calls $35.00

Turn: ($108.50) T (2 Players)
evny bets all-in for $47.00, UTG calls $47.00

River: ($202.50) 4 (2 Players - 1 All-In)
Pot Size: $202.50 ($3 Rake)

UTG had K K and LOST (-$100.00)
evny had J J (three of a kind, Jacks) and WON (+$99.50)

trippy villains completely own me

2007-09-09T18:23:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure anything annoys me at the moment more than a hand getting cracked by some random low trips. I think i misplayed some of these hands, but i'm still annoyed.

I contemplated 3betting the flop cuz he could have had draws, overs, etc etc but i didn't - i figgered there was a good enough chance he had some random over or often enough i see ppl pulling this minraise move on paired flops w the "other" card (the 5).

SB: $140.60
BB: $140.45
UTG: $26.40
evny (MP): $183.05
CO: $110.10
BTN: $78.80

Preflop: evny is dealt K K (6 Players)
UTG folds, evny raises to $3.50, CO folds, BTN calls $3.50, 2 folds

Flop: ($8.50) 7 5 7 (2 Players)
evny bets $6.00, BTN raises to $12.00, evny calls $6.00

Turn: ($32.50) J (2 Players)
evny checks, BTN bets $18.00, evny raises to $84.50, BTN calls all-in for $45.30

Uncalled bet of $21.20 returned to evny
River: ($159.10) A (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $159.10 ($3 Rake)

BTN had 7 A (a full house, Sevens full of Aces) and WON (+$77.30)
evny had K K (two pair, Kings and Sevens) and LOST (-$78.80)

This one is just a bad beat sob story. Not much to see here.

evny (SB): $197.95
BB: $147.60
UTG: $111.60
MP: $100.00
CO: $101.00
BTN: $73.35

Preflop: evny is dealt A K (6 Players)
UTG raises to $4.00, 2 folds, BTN raises to $14.00, evny raises all-in to $197.95, 2 folds, BTN calls all-in for $59.35

Uncalled bet of $124.60 returned to evny

Flop: ($151.70) Q Q 5 (2 Players - 2 All-In)
Turn: ($151.70) 2 (2 Players - 2 All-In)
River: ($151.70) 6 (2 Players - 2 All-In)
Pot Size: $151.70 ($3 Rake)

BTN had K Q (three of a kind, Queens) and WON (+$75.35)
evny had A K (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$73.35)

I assumed that there weren't many 3's in his range here besides the occasional A3s type hand. I was obviously wrong.

SB: $52.65
BB: $44.20
UTG: $92.00
evny (MP): $100.00
CO: $188.20
BTN: $100.00

Preflop: evny is dealt Q Q (6 Players)
UTG folds, evny raises to $3.50, 3 folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) 3 3 2 (2 Players)
BB checks, evny bets $5.00, BB calls $5.00

Turn: ($17.50) J (2 Players)
BB checks, evny bets $11.00, BB raises all-in to $35.70, evny calls $24.70

River: ($88.90) 2 (2 Players - 1 All-In)
Pot Size: $88.90 ($3 Rake)

BB had 3 4 (a full house, Threes full of Deuces) and WON (+$41.70)
evny had Q Q and LOST (-$44.20)

I think i definitely screwed this one up. I'm not at all sure why I didn't bet the turn for value. He was short enough so I wasn't particularly worried about pot control. Good job man way to screw up a hand!

SB: $123.00
BB: $129.05
evny (UTG): $106.05
MP: $37.85
CO: $51.75
BTN: $99.70

Preflop: evny is dealt A T (6 Players)
evny raises to $3.50, MP calls $3.50, 4 folds

Flop: ($8.50) A 9 6 (2 Players)
evny bets $6.00, MP calls $6.00

Turn: ($20.50) T (2 Players)
evny checks, MP checks

River: ($20.50) 6 (2 Players)
evny bets $13.00, MP raises all-in to $28.35, evny calls $15.35

Pot Size: $77.20 ($3 Rake)

MP had 6 K (three of a kind, Sixes) and WON (+$36.35)
evny had A T and LOST (-$37.85)

the comeback (the LAGish play continues also!)

2007-09-09T14:16:00.000-04:00

Ever since last last shitty session, i've been on a little comeback.

After that -$500 session, I actually started the next session down another $300 and was wondering if this was going to be another of my typical meltdowns.

Somehow though, i managed to pull through it and end that (very long) session up a little bit which was a huge boost for my confidence.

Today i got back on and was hoping the trend continued. After a short session i made another $200 something back

If you're attentive, you'll see my PFR and VPIP numbers are way up compared to where they used to be. For the last 100k hands or so, i've been pretty much always slightly lower than 19/16, which are pretty default "TAG" type stats. Lately though i've been really trying to open up my game and add to my agression. I've been stealing a lot more when i think i can get it through, and I think it's really helping me. I'm getting involved in MANY more postflop situations which adds too the fun (and difficulty). I really hope i can keep up a pretty good winrate playing this style bc it's tons of fun.

Will go back through these sessions and post some interesting hands.. there are a lot of them in there...

Plummeting?

2007-09-08T18:32:00.001-04:00

I really didn't need that, but oh well it happened. I won't bore anyone with tales of beats and coolers, but I did get stacked 3x by quads in 800 hands and that sucked.

Calling down light

2007-09-06T14:40:00.001-04:00

This has it's good and it's evil - sometimes you maximize value on a hand you would otherwise have made nothing with, and other times you pay off the nuts and feel stupid afterwards. Here are two hands - one where i win, one where i lose

We'll start with the one i lost.

I called the flop chk-minraise bc often that's a "feeler" type bet. Also, minraises are dumb cuz they give you crazy pot odds. I have an overpair, and I can see him with anything from a 2, less likely a 3, a FD, a SD, any pair, etc etc etc.

I almost folded the turn. The J could have hit an AJ KJ QJ JT type hand, but with such a small bet i'm calling that getting almost 4:1.

Another overcard to my pair on the river sucks, but after some thought i decided to call anyways. I was almost positive he didn't have a 3, and actually expected to see air quite often there. getting more than 3:1 i decided it was a bluff or worse often enough to call. i may have been wrong on my reads who knows.

SB: $111.20
BB: $100.00
UTG: $116.20
MP: $53.00
Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $114.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9 9 (6 Players)
2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, BTN folds, SB calls $3.00, BB folds

Flop: ($8) 2 3 3 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6.00, SB raises to $12.00, Hero calls $6.00

Turn: ($32) J (2 Players)
SB bets $13.00, Hero calls $13.00

River: ($58) T (2 Players)
SB bets $25.00, Hero calls $25.00

Pot Size: $108.00 ($3 Rake)

SB had A T (two pair, Tens and Threes) and WON (+$51.50)
Hero had 9 9 and LOST (-$53.50)

Here's one i won.

The villain's line makes no sense at all, which is why i called on the river. On that flop, why would a 3 lead unless they have some read that i'm crazy and will always raise and bloat the pot and get it in w/ worse easily (ok mebbe that happens a lot when i'm tilting but i'm playing pretty solid atm). i raised bc that type of donkbet usually folds to the raise - he def surprised me w the call

On the turn he donks again! now wtf does that mean?... i really don't know... but if he has a real hand he usually goes for the chkraise on the turn. there aren't any realistic draws, and any made hand on the flop is still good here. i call.

River i have a difficult decision. the bet is sizable, but not that sizable in relation to the pot. The 5 means i now beat any strangly played AK AQ AJ type hands, i still beat any bluffing 6's, and i'm still behind any 3's (though like i said earlier i think those are unlikely)

I call.

This should probably be a lesson to people who want to bluff. If you're going to run a multi-street bluff, at least make it look believable, bc if the line just doesn't make any sense to someone, they are more likely to call.

SB: $36.25
BB: $122.90
UTG: $112.60
CO: $9.15
Hero (BTN): $98.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt A 5 (5 Players)
2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, SB folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) 3 3 6 (2 Players)
BB bets $4.00, Hero raises to $14.00, BB calls $10.00

Turn: ($35.50) A (2 Players)
BB bets $15.00, Hero calls $15.00

River: ($65.50) 5 (2 Players)
BB bets $40.00, Hero calls $40.00

Pot Size: $145.50 ($2 Rake)

BB had 4 6 (two pair, Sixes and Threes) and LOST (-$72.50)
Hero had A 5 (two pair, Aces and Fives) and WON (+$71.00)

Glossary

2007-09-05T13:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, so some people are telling me they have no idea what I am talking about, so I'm making a glossary. I'll update this post as I think of more things

AI: all-in

AIPF: all in pre flop

BB: big blind

BTN: button - pretty much best absolute position most of the time - you get to act last!

CO: cutoff - position before the btn (button)

Donk: bad player

FD: flush draw

IMO: in my opinion

LAG: loose-aggressive - preflop style where you raise a wider range of hands

MP: middle position - in 6 max this is the position after UTG and before CO (cutoff)

OESD: open-ended straight draw (typically 8 outs)

OESFD: open-ended straight flush draw (typically 15 outs and often time to push the chips in)

PFR: preflop raise, how often a player raises preflop - the higher it is the more aggressive they are

SB: small blind

TAG: tight-aggressive - preflop style where you raise a narrower range of hands

UTG: under the gun, the first positiion AFTER the BB (big blind)

VPIP: voluntarily put in pot, this is a PokerTracker statistic that measures how loose/tight a player is preflop. it's calculated by dividing the number of times a player puts money in the pot by total hands

WTF: what the f*#%

I play LAG!

2007-09-05T10:28:00.001-04:00

well, kind of.

one of my goals for a while has been to loosen up a bit, and i've been having problems bc it seems no matter how much i "loosen up" i still stay right at 19/16.

yesterday though i managed to play 23/19 over about 1500 hands which is CRAZY for a nit like me. and i won! i basically opened my CO/BTN opening range way up - was opening stuff like J2s, J8o, Q2s, etc etc etc when i thought btn wasn't a crazy cold caller and thought i could squeeze it through the blinds

will try to keep up this loose play - i think it's good for me anyways. playing robotic doing the same thing over and over and over again can really drive someone nuts

Biggest. Cooler. Ever (ok mebbe not but sucks nonetheless)

2007-09-04T23:34:00.000-04:00

I knew that river killed me!!!

hero (SB): $100.00
BB: $86.55
UTG: $21.70
MP: $112.85
CO: $75.55
BTN: $98.10

Preflop: hero is dealt A J (6 Players)
2 folds, CO calls $1.00, BTN folds, hero calls $0.50, BB raises to $5.00, CO calls $4.00, hero calls $4.00

Flop: ($15) 3 4 8 (3 Players)
hero checks, BB bets $14.00, CO raises to $40.00, hero raises all-in to $95.00, BB calls all-in for $67.55, CO calls all-in for $30.55

Uncalled bet of $13.45 returned to hero

Turn: ($248.65) J (3 Players - 3 All-In)
River: ($248.65) 8 (3 Players - 3 All-In)
Pot Size: $248.65 ($3 Rake)

CO had 8 8 (four of a kind, Eights) and WON (+$148.10)
BB had 4 4 (a full house, Fours full of Eights) and LOST (-$64.55)
hero had A J (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$86.55)

AKs - i'm all in!

2007-08-30T23:22:00.000-04:00

Not that interesting of a hand, but was my biggest pot of the day and i got to suck out on two other players so here it is

BTW, wtf is up w the minraise - what do people expect to do w that move?

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $1/$2 Blinds - 6 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $264.90
hero (BB): $219.20
UTG: $222.00
MP: $277.10
CO: $37.70
BTN: $240.70

Preflop: hero is dealt A K (6 Players)
UTG raises to $8.00, MP calls $8.00, CO calls $8.00, 2 folds, hero raises to $38.00, UTG folds, MP raises to $68.00, CO calls all-in for $29.70, hero raises all-in to $219.20, MP calls $151.20

Flop: ($485.10) J Q 4 (3 Players - 2 All-In)

Turn: ($485.10) 6 (3 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($485.10) K (3 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $485.10 ($3 Rake)

CO had A Q and LOST (-$37.70)
MP had A J and LOST (-$219.20)
hero had A K (a pair of Kings) and WON (+$262.90)

Haven't posted for a while

2007-08-30T18:15:00.000-04:00

I was on vacation for a week, and on did a little playing since I got back.

I'm playing absolutely horrible this month. I can't even blame it on running bad at all - basically i'm just playing like absolute shit.

It's strange, bc i feel myself not caring at all when i lose. Basically i'm just giving stacks away - and most of them to donkeys. I may be burning out, and may just be getting bored. When i'm up against a good player, i have been playing pretty well... but once i'm against a donk i'm basically an ATM. I gave away over 1k in the past 2-3 days just bc i'm playing bad.

On a positive note, heres a hand i think i played well today. Villain was 25/15. I checked the flop hoping he would check through and we could keep the pot small, which luckily happened. The 2 on the turn was a blank and there was a good chance he was just stabbing, so i check-called. The river 2 was another blank, and although i thought about folding, I had just played the hand so weak that i thought i was ahead of his range most of the time.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $1/$2 Blinds - 5 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $51.95
BB: $164.75
UTG: $202.80
hero (CO): $216.15
BTN: $244.80
Preflop: hero is dealt (5 Players)
UTG calls $2.00, hero raises to $9.00, BTN calls $9.00, 3 folds

Flop: ($23) (2 Players)
hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($23) (2 Players)
hero checks, BTN bets $12.00, hero calls $12.00

River: ($47) (2 Players)
hero checks, BTN bets $26.00, hero calls $26.00

Pot Size: $99.00 ($2 Rake)

BTN had (a pair of Deuces) and LOST (-$47.00)
hero had (two pair, Tens and Deuces) and WON (+$50.00)

overagro villains

2007-08-16T14:39:00.000-04:00

This hand was weird. was my first hand at table. villain's minraise = weak steal attempt, or superstrong hand trying to get me to reraise. considering he has no history with me, i assumed the former

i checked the flop behind thinking was either way ahead (worse aces, pairs < A, etc) or way behind (6, better ace). 6 is pretty unlikely i think though... 76, AKQJ/6

on the turn folding did cross my mind, but i decided that chances of him holding AT+ w that action was low, and he would probably do same thing with a worse ace. luckily for me, he was drawing dead on the turn

SB: $43.55
Hero (BB): $100.00
UTG: $19.20
BTN: $49.25

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9 A (4 Players)
2 folds, SB raises to $2.00, Hero raises to $7.00, SB calls $5.00

Flop: ($14) 6 6 A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($14) 2 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $8.00, SB raises to $24.00, Hero calls $16.00

River: ($62) 2 (2 Players)
SB bets all-in for $12.55, Hero calls $12.55

Pot Size: $87.10 ($2 Rake)

SB had K J (two pair, Sixes and Deuces) and LOST (-$43.55)
Hero had 9 A (two pair, Aces and Sixes) and WON (+$41.55)

Plan the trade, trade the plan

2007-08-16T10:16:00.000-04:00

well at least, that's what you're supposed to do.

i took a non-standard line here. board wasn't all too scary so didn't mind checking the turn behind. on river i was planning on either valuebetting if he checked, or raising if he led the river.

Also, i planned on folding if he 3bai on the river - reason being that a) it is a VERY unlikely bluff (people rarely rarely 3bai bluff rivers - if they have anything but nuts type hands they gonna be afraid of my raise and either call or fold) and there aren't many hands i beat that play this way. KK/QQ etc plays this way like.. 1% of the time...

another thing... a UTG limp-call = pair pretty often... i think that skews the range towards a set when he pushes...

so w all that in mind... i fold to the 3bai... oh wait oops!... thats what i planned and not what i did... when it came down to it, i convinced myself that 3:1 pot odds were good enough to call... honestly though, i'm ahead far less than 25% of the time, so in this case pot odds were just my excuse to make a bad play.... learn from my mistakes!

SB: $119.65
BB: $114.70
UTG: $99.90
MP: $14.00
Hero (CO): $109.15
BTN: $132.25

Preflop: Hero is dealt A A (6 Players)
UTG calls $1.00, MP folds, Hero raises to $5.00, 3 folds, UTG calls $4.00

Flop: ($11.50) 6 8 T (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $7.00, UTG calls $7.00

Turn: ($25.50) 6 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: ($25.50) 2 (2 Players)
UTG bets $14.00, Hero raises to $34.00, UTG raises all-in to $87.90, Hero calls $53.90

Pot Size: $201.30 ($3 Rake)

UTG had T T (a full house, Tens full of Sixes) and WON (+$98.40)
Hero had A A and LOST (-$99.90)

nice day yesterday

2007-08-14T13:40:00.000-04:00

had a pretty nice day yesterday - made about 2 buyins.

the latter part of the session was very frustrating though - basically i couldn't win any pots for the last 90 minutes and ground down more than $150 never losing more than $11 in any single pot.

those are typically the situations when i find myself starting to tilt and trying to force the issue a little bit more, but i'm aware of that and trying to keep from doing that

will look for some hands to post when i get home!

i break even!

2007-08-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

800 hands tonight and -$16!... better than losing more i guess...

**********************************************************************
villain here was a 26/10 type if i remember correctly...

i chose to simply call his flop raise bc the flop was relatively dry, and i planned on CRAI the turn

i think if the turn got worse i would have just bet/fold, but it seemed innocuous so i elected to check. his turn bet seemed strange to me bc he bet half his remaining stack, though in relation to the pot it was a normal bet - basically his bet committed him.

now that i think about it... it's hard for my raise to get called my worse... or is it?... are AK/KQ type hands in there?... actually crap now that i look at the hand again... EP limp calls... that's almost always a pair... and it's AK/KQ like... never... i think i just answered my own questions and i hope i'm not being results oriented here...

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 6 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

evny (SB): $99.50
BB: $165.95
UTG: $93.00
MP: $72.60
CO: $98.50
BTN: $131.45
Preflop: evny is dealt (6 Players)
UTG calls $1.00, 3 folds, evny raises to $5.00, BB folds, UTG calls $4.00

Flop: ($11) (2 Players)
evny bets $7.00, UTG raises to $20.00, evny calls $13.00

Turn: ($51) (2 Players)
evny checks, UTG bets $38.00, evny raises all-in to $74.50, UTG calls all-in for $30.00

Uncalled bet of $6.50 returned to evny

River: ($187) (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $187.00 ($3 Rake)

UTG had (three of a kind, Sevens) and WON (+$91.00)

evny had (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$93.00)

**********************************************************************
had no reads on this guy before this hand... but i was happy to get the money in on that turn vs a shortie... needless to say... when i saw his cards i thought "what the *#ck" and made a nice little note for him. seriously, who calls a raise from sb w 97o?

SB: $52.20
BB: $26.35
evny (UTG): $100.00
MP: $49.75
CO: $114.00
BTN: $43.00

Preflop: evny is dealt (6 Players)
evny raises to $4.00, 3 folds, SB calls $3.50, BB folds

Flop: ($9) (2 Players)
SB checks, evny bets $7.00, SB calls $7.00

Turn: ($23) (2 Players)
SB checks, evny bets $14.00, SB raises all-in to $41.20, evny calls $27.20

River: ($105.40) (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $105.40 ($3 Rake)

SB had (two pair, Nines and Sevens) and WON (+$50.20)
evny had and LOST (-$52.20)

**********************************************************************
this hand i'm not too sure if i played right either. the villain had been 3betting me a good amount from the blinds, so i decided to try a 4bet bluff. i rarely rarely try stuff like this, but it makes me angry when people 3b me a lot from the blinds so decided to step out of the comfort zone. not sure if this was horrible or not...

i checked the flop behind bc i didn't see much chance of taking the pot down on that low flop.

on the turn i contemplated pushing the rest in (my thinking was that AK/AQ type hands usually would have just pushed pf, bc playing a 4b pot OOP (out of position) is ridiculously hard) but alas, i decided i was just a big weenie and checked...

SB: $99.00
BB: $197.45
UTG: $89.70
MP: $100.40
CO: $35.65
evny (BTN): $105.15

Preflop: evny is dealt (6 Players)
2 folds, CO calls $1.00, evny raises to $5.00, SB raises to $15.00, 2 folds, evny raises to $34.00, SB calls $19.00

Flop: ($70) (2 Players)
SB checks, evny checks

Turn: ($70) (2 Players)
SB checks, evny checks

River: ($70) (2 Players)

SB checks, evny checks

Pot Size: $70.00 ($3 Rake)

SB had (two pair, Kings and Sevens) and WON (+$33.00)
evny had and LOST (-$34.00)

lol silly villains

2007-08-12T23:53:00.000-04:00

You would think that by now, people would know you can pop open the hand history and see what people had at showdown...

It just made me chuckle that people out there are trying to lie to make themselves look less retarded...

this is what the brilliant MP said after the hand:

robert556 said, "what i expected"
robert556 said, "JJ"

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 7 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

evny (SB): $113.35
BB: $105.20
UTG: $13.00
UTG+1: $29.85
MP: $81.85
CO: $112.85
BTN: $0.00
Preflop: evny is dealt (6 Players)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $1.00, MP raises to $3.00, 2 folds, BB calls $2.00, UTG+1 calls $2.00

Flop: ($9.50) (3 Players)
BB checks, UTG+1 bets $7.00, MP raises to $14.00, BB calls $14.00, UTG+1 raises all-in to $26.85, MP raises all-in to $78.85, BB folds

Uncalled bet of $52.00 returned to MP
Turn: ($77.20) (2 Players - 2 All-In)
River: ($77.20) (2 Players - 2 All-In)
Pot Size: $77.20 ($3 Rake)
UTG+1 had (a flush, King high) and WON (+$44.35)

MP had and LOST (-$29.85)

OESFD

2007-08-10T13:53:00.000-04:00

I think i played this hand well - I have a lot of equity by the turn and I wanted to dbl barrel. I was scared that if he checkraised i wouldn't be able to continue though so i bet a little small just in case... as played he left me with a pretty ez call and i actually hit!

* actually after stoving it i actually have 30-32% equity vs sets, overpairs etc and i paid 31%... guess it was neutral EV and i got lucky?... theres about a 0% chance he has a bluff there...

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 6 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $244.00
BB: $79.00
Hero (UTG): $117.80
MP: $103.60
CO: $28.50
BTN: $112.70

Preflop: Hero is dealt J T (6 Players)
Hero raises to $4.00, 3 folds, SB calls $3.50, BB folds

Flop: ($9) 2 3 Q (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6.00, SB calls $6.00

Turn: ($21) 9 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $13.00, SB raises to $52.00, Hero calls $39.00

River: ($125) 4 (2 Players)
SB bets $56.00, Hero calls all-in for $55.80
Uncalled bet of $0.20 returned to SB

Pot Size: $236.60 ($3 Rake)

SB had 9 9 (three of a kind, Nines) and LOST (-$117.80)
Hero had J T (a flush, Jack high) and WON (+$115.80)

yay!

2007-08-09T18:54:00.000-04:00

i'm finally having somewhat of an upswing!

made yesterday and made a couple bi today also... finally green for the month too...

i realized that i've been playing very poorly this month... i've been getting a little coaching, and i've been trying to look at hands a little differently... it's kinda messing me up truthfully, bc i'm typically so robotic on my plays by now that when i try and comprehend each situation and think about the hands in a different light, it messes me up when that timer is ticking down... somehow, when caught in a hard decision (at least this month) i keep on going w the worst option :o

oh well... i know it's good for me and soon i'll be a better player for the beating i'm getting...

hrmm... am i getting worse over time?

2007-08-07T22:18:00.000-04:00

Played this hand cpl days ago... i pretty much did the wrong thing on every street...

villain was a fish

flop i should have checked - had the TT been a lower pair i could feel more comfortable betting out... but as it was i shouldn't have bet there..

i think i can officially give myself the "donkey" label after that one...

SB: $23.95
Hero (BB): $110.65
UTG: $121.85
MP: $235.25
CO: $158.90
BTN: $100.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt Q A (6 Players)
2 folds, CO calls $1.00, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5.00, CO calls $4.00

Flop: ($10.50) T T A (2 Players)
Hero bets $8.00, CO calls $8.00

Turn: ($26.50) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $10.00, Hero calls $10.00

River: ($46.50) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $28.00, CO raises to $66.00, Hero folds

Pot Size: $140.50 ($3 Rake)

2007-08-06T23:23:00.000-04:00

I lost money again today... -$225... August is not starting well at all :p

here are a couple hands that gave me trouble - a 3way KK hand, a 3 way 2pair hand in an unraised pot, and a typical 3bet pot with JJ

*********************************************************
In this hand, btn and BB were tag's - not the best tags but tags nonetheless...

my thinking on the turn went a little something like this - i'm gonna check cuz btn prob gonna bluff/bet, and i'm gonna CRAI - well the BB straight cold calling that raise put a little kink in the plan.

my 3 options are as follows:
fold: weak as hell, since i underrepresented my hand by checking the turn there, though i may very well be beat... i really have no idea what BB is calling with, but the board is relatively dry (mebbe a gutter hit that turn but it's unlikely) so it doesn't seem like he's drawing to anything. therefore, he can be slowplaying a good amount of stuff that beats me (set 2pr etc) or can he really be drawing to an OESD on river?... doesn't seem likely considering my read

call: this is an ok option... i can call and evaluate on river... but prob is it leaves such awkward stack sizes... if i call that, pot is 105 or so on river, and i've got about 60ish on river... really not sure here and i think i may end up getting stack in a lot on river anyways...

raise: not sure what this does but fold out worse hands, prob any draws, and i get called by hands that beat me

from talking to people, it seems that first of all i should have bet more on the flop - closer to pot, and i should lead that turn... i think it's a bit of a pickle no matter how u look at it...

BB ($249.95)
UTG ($208.50)
Hero ($104.50)
Button ($133.90)
SB ($160.65)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Kc, Kd.
1 fold, MP raises to $4, Button calls $4, 1 fold, BB calls $3.

Flop: ($12.50) Td, 7c, 4s (3 players)
BB checks, MP bets $8, Button calls $8, BB calls $8.

Turn: ($36.50) 9h (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $23, BB calls $23, MP raises to $92.5, Button folds, BB calls $69.50.

River: ($244.50) Qs (2 players)

Final Pot: $244.50

Results in white below:
BB has 9d 7d (two pair, nines and sevens).
Hero has Kc Kd (one pair, kings).
Outcome: BB wins $244.50.

*********************************************************
Ok so heres another tricky one... i wasn't quite sure what to do on the river bc 1) i think i need to valuebet my hand but 2) stack sizes are weird (the guy behind me has only 57 left)

if i check i think i miss out on a lot of value from one pair hands and worse 2pair (though theres not all that many combinations of 2pair like 45 and J4) - so i just pushed

Button ($287.25)
SB ($195.50)
Hero ($101.50)
UTG ($88.50)
MP ($135.30)
CO ($100)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5s, Jd.
UTG calls $1, 3 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($3) 4c, 5c, Jh (3 players)
SB bets $2, BB raises to $8.5, UTG calls $8.50, SB calls $6.50.

Turn: ($28.50) 8h (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $22, UTG calls $22, SB calls $22.

River: ($94.50) 9d (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $70 (All-In), UTG calls $57 (All-In), SB folds.

Final Pot: $208.50

Results in white below:
Hero has 5s Jd (two pair, jacks and fives).
UTG has 4d 4s (three of a kind, fours).

Outcome: UTG wins $208.50. Hero wins $13.

*********************************************************
Here's the last hand - villain is dumb, agro, and bluffy - there was a hand before where i PFR and he called, i checked a Kxx flop behind, and he instamincheckraised my turn bet on a blank...

i think i played this well

SB ($69.25)
BB ($101.90)
UTG ($105.45)
Hero ($105.75)
Button ($79.70)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Jh, Jd.
UTG raises to $4, MP raises to $14, 1 fold, SB calls $13.50, 1 fold, UTG folds.

Flop: ($33) Ks, 4c, 5d (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($33) 6h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

River: ($33) 2h (2 players)
SB checks, MP bets $19, SB folds.

Final Pot: $33

Results in white below:
Hero has Jh Jd (one pair, jacks).
Outcome: Hero wins $33.

made some back.... still tilty as hell...

2007-08-06T10:16:00.000-04:00

i made back about $400 in not many hands on friday... which helps a bit... wasn't anything special just running well and having ppl willing to pay me off...

played about 1k hands this sunday also. i rarely rarely play on weekends, but just happened to have some downtime. I see now that i'm in a very tilty state right now, and I need to be careful.

what seems to happen is i'll get those perfectly normal streaks where i can't seem to win a single pot - i.e. i was sitting behind a 68/0 massive callstationdonkey for more than an hour. Over this hour, i manage to lose a buyin purely by raising good hands and not ever hitting a pair or better - $4 at a time, w the occasianal cont. bet thrown in. great right?... well here's the kicker... finally i manage to hit against this guy - hand follows:

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 5 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $102.60
BB: $219.85
Hero (UTG): $130.55
CO: $117.70
BTN: $103.60

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9 9 (5 Players)
Hero raises to $4.00, 3 folds, BB calls $3.00

Flop: ($8.50) 9 6 8 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6.00, BB calls $6.00

Turn: ($20.50) T (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12.00, BB calls $12.00

River: ($44.50) 5 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Pot Size: $44.50 ($2 Rake)

BB had 7 K (a straight, Six to Ten) and WON (+$20.50)
Hero had 9 9 and LOST (-$22.00)

I think an argument can be made for valuebetting the river, and now that i read it over i definitely should have vb'ed the river - there are so many worse hands (2-pair combinations/top pair type) that i'm sure a player like him calls with on the river. Oh well looks like i made a mistake that happened to work out in my favour this time.

this hand almost made me crazy again - i'm glad i was able to catch myself before that happened.

I made a pretty dumb mistake in this following hand - this is what happens when u start to see monsters under the bed. it's clear call... he ended up showing AA which really sucks... it was a huge mistake on my part and i missed on a ton of value bc of it...

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 5 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $98.00
Hero (BB): $119.10
UTG: $84.10
CO: $151.35
BTN: $98.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 2 T (5 Players)
UTG folds, CO calls $1.00, 2 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($2.50) 7 T 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $2.00, CO calls $2.00

Turn: ($6.50) J (2 Players)
Hero bets $4.00, CO raises to $14.00, Hero folds

Pot Size: $24.50 ($0.70 Rake)

crazy monkey tilt

2007-08-02T20:55:00.000-04:00

Today was horrible.

I tilted like a madman and it really makes me sad - considering yesterday i wrote that one of my goals for the month was to control tilt.

i couldn't win a pot for the life of me (in 1200 hands my biggest win netted me 30BB) and as i descended into the depths of hell i just kept making the wrong move over and over again... basically threw stacks away like i didn't even care...

all told it cost me 6 bi... great way to start the month huh?... oh well time to grind it back...

Heres a couple hands... the first two are pretty standard... the rest are stupid monkey tilt...

..............................................................................................................................................................
This hand was pretty standard. villain wasn't very good, but not completely retarded either... the thing is... when it's a 3bet pot w 100BB, you can't really let go when you hit w AK... here my options are either to just push it in on the flop, check call any turn, or donk the turn...

i opted to just put it in bc if i call it leaves very awkward stack sizes

Hero (SB): $101.00
BB: $77.55
UTG: $188.30
MP: $100.00
CO: $37.00
BTN: $104.05

Preflop: Hero is dealt Kh Ac (6 Players)
2 folds, CO calls $1.00, BTN raises to $4.00, Hero raises to $14.00, 2 folds, BTN calls $10.00

Flop: ($30) Ah 8s 3d (2 Players)
Hero bets $17.00, BTN raises to $42.00, Hero raises all-in to $87.00, BTN calls $45.00

Turn: ($204) Qd (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($204) Jc (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $204.00 ($3 Rake)

Results in white below: BTN had 8h 8c (three of a kind, Eights) and WON (+$100.00) Hero had Kh Ac (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$101.00)

..............................................................................................................................................................
This is also very standard... 15 outs i'm getting my chips in there and hoping he can find a fold, or i can win my flip...

SB: $26.55
Hero (BB): $118.05
UTG: $100.00
MP: $228.15
CO: $100.55
BTN: $87.75

Preflop: Hero is dealt Qs Js (6 Players)
3 folds, BTN raises to $3.00, SB calls $2.50, Hero calls $2.00

Flop: ($9) 9s Th 2s (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $5.00, BTN raises to $13.00, SB folds, Hero raises all-in to $115.05, BTN calls all-in for $71.75
Uncalled bet of $30.30 returned to Hero

Turn: ($178.50) 6c (2 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($178.50) 6d (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $178.50 ($3 Rake)

Results in white below:
BTN had Qd Qh (two pair, Queens and Sixes) and WON (+$87.75) Hero had Qs Js (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-$87.75)

..............................................................................................................................................................
This guy was 66/25... bad bad bad...

on the flop i decided i was going to call down just about anything, cuz if i raised his donkbet he would most likely fold all the hands that i beat that he would keep betting... flop is also very dry so i don't need to protect against much...

my call on river is pretty donktastic... i thought for a while then just decided that i wanted to call... knowing that it was the wrong move... a smaller bet prob woulda been ok, but when he overbets and puts me all in i just don't know... the river completed SD's, BDFDs, who knows what else... and yea thats a big mistake on my part...

SB: $180.25
BB: $37.70
Hero (UTG): $109.35
CO: $73.60
BTN: $0.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt Kc As (4 Players)
Hero raises to $4.00, CO folds, SB calls $3.50, BB folds

Flop: ($9) 8s 6h Kd (2 Players)
SB bets $8.00, BTN calls $8.00

Turn: ($25) Jd (2 Players)
SB bets $20.00, Hero calls $20.00

River: ($65) 4d (2 Players)
SB bets all-in for $148.25, Hero calls all-in for $77.35
Uncalled bet of $70.90 returned to SB

Pot Size: $219.70 ($2 Rake)

Results in white below:
SB had Js 8h (two pair, Jacks and Eights) and WON (+$108.35) Hero had Kc As and LOST (-$101.35)

..............................................................................................................................................................
ok villian here was an agrodonk... was minraising liberally and i was letting it get to me... (which obv i shouldn't)

so... this is what i did....

what i think i should have done was just called and led most turns, planning to call a raise ai... that way my money gets in better at least...

what i did here was put all my money in when it was most likely i was either a slight favorite or way behind... i'm only a very slight favorite to most draws out there - esp if they have an overcard in there... and i'm obv a big dog to bigger pairs/sets etc

SB: $194.00
BB: $23.60
UTG: $39.40
Hero (MP): $102.85
CO: $94.45
BTN: $89.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt Tc Td (6 Players)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $4.00, CO calls $4.00, 3 folds

Flop: ($9.50) 3h 6h 7s (2 Players)
Hero bets $8.00, CO raises to $16.00, Hero raises all-in to $98.85, CO calls all-in for $74.45
Uncalled bet of $8.40 returned to Hero

Turn: ($190.40) 4c (2 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($190.40) 3c (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $190.40 ($3 Rake)

Results in white below:
CO had Jd Js (two pair, Jacks and Threes) and WON (+$92.95) Hero had Tc Td (two pair, Tens and Threes) and LOST (-$94.45)

..............................................................................................................................................................
Here's another minraise situation. villian was an unknown, but it my experience ppl do this a lot w med-strength hands... i could have called getting a great price, but since i was in an agressive spewy mood i decided to just push (which isn't bad at all against reasonable opponents). well.. he was obv not reasonable, bc when i saw what he called me with i almost flipped out... so much for emotional control huh?

SB: $137.00
BB: $38.00
UTG: $176.70
MP: $208.65
Hero (CO): $108.30
BTN: $78.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt Jd Tc (6 Players)
UTG folds, MP calls $1.00, Hero raises to $5.00, BTN calls $5.00, 3 folds

Flop: ($12.50) Qc 7s 9h (2 Players)
Hero bets $6.00, BTN raises to $12.00, Hero raises all-in to $103.30, BTN calls all-in for $61.50
Uncalled bet of $29.80 returned to Hero

Turn: ($159.50) 9d (2 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($159.50) Qh (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $159.50 ($3 Rake)

Results in white below:
BTN had Jh Js (two pair, Queens and Jacks) and WON (+$78.00) Hero had Jd Tc (two pair, Queens and Nines) and LOST (-$78.50)

..............................................................................................................................................................
This hand was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was already tilty... and down 4+bi by then...

villain was a 50/2 calling station, so i wanted to get max value from my hand. against a typical villain i check that turn behind often for pot control reasons... but in this case it was full steam ahead...

i'm obviously beat on the river... calling stations don't bluff like that... esp not rivers...

problem was... i was badly tilted... so i convinced myself that > 4:1 odds was GREAT and i HAD TO CALL!!!! - of course i'm prob good like... one of of twenty times there... GG!

SB: $22.55
BB: $99.00
UTG: $138.75
Hero (BTN): $143.15

Preflop: Hero is dealt As Kd (4 Players)
UTG calls $1.00, Hero raises to $5.00, 2 folds, UTG calls $4.00

Flop: ($11.50) 9d 7s Ks (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $8.00, UTG calls $8.00

Turn: ($27.50) 4s (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $22.00, UTG calls $22.00

River: ($71.50) 4h (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $44.00, UTG raises to $97.00, Hero calls $53.00

Pot Size: $265.50 ($2 Rake)

Results in white below:
UTG had 4c Kc (a full house, Fours full of Kings) and WON (+$131.50) Hero had As Kd and LOST (-$132.00)

Don't play when tired!!!!

2007-08-02T09:51:00.000-04:00

So, i get done with work yesterday at 4. I was tired as hell and headachy, but I decided i needed to play some hands regardless (see previous days post - have to hit 25k!)

Well, it wasn't a great idea. Normally I play 6 tables no problem - seems pretty slow to me. Yesterday though, i loaded up 6 and was totally lost. it felt like dings were going off everywhere and i was having trouble even making simple preflop decisions.

I thought about quitting, but i just shut 2 tables down and stuck w/ 4. Played for about an hour - but the whole time felt discombobulated. Luckily I only dropped $80 over 500 hands, but really... i played like crap the whole time

Decided afterwards that when i feel like crap, i'm just gonna play Wii instead.

August Goals

2007-08-01T14:15:00.000-04:00

This was my July:

Not the best, but not the worst either.

My general goals for the month of August:

25k hands of NLHE
2k hands of PLO
$2k profits
post at least once every two days

Poker specific goals:

Work on bet sizing
Be more agressive
Loosen up
Don't tilt!!!

Post Number One - Introduction

2007-08-01T13:59:00.000-04:00

So, I've decided to blog about my successes/failures as a small stakes poker player. I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up, but hopefully I will stick with it.

Also, I'm not quite sure what the exact point of this is, but I'm hoping it will not only prove to be interesting to other people in my position, but also help myself improve.

Please feel free to comment - I'm neither a great writer or a great poker player, and words of advice are always welcome!