hhmm, not fairing well

just finished a huge session for me and didn't perform as well as i had hoped. down just under a buy-in, which is not catastrophic but still a loss.

found a super huge mega fishie though, the whole tabl was there just to milk this guy playing aomthing like 85/50/2. i lost a buy-in early when his monster 6/4 off beat my a/k but managed to make it back with another a/k all in pre to his 8/9. picked up a few other pots here and there but even though he was a mega fish he was hard to play against because you never knew where you stood against him. plus with everyone else being so aggro with him you had to pick your spots pretty carefully.

on other tables i didn't have a great time either, a few pots here and there but in general i just wasn't hitting anything and there were too many calling stations to really bluff at a flop.

i did start noticing, more clearly then before, certain lines other players were taking and how strong they really were. if i had ben able to enter more pots i think i could have exploited them some more but i just wasn't comfortable opening with the mighty 7/3 or q/2. really need to forget my cards and just play the player but its a weird feeling!

thats about all for now. have a work night out tonight...which i'm paying for and won't be drinking at because i'm still on meds. boo!

stack a donk

today i performed my first ever proper stack a donk. the stack a donk play permeates a lot of the videos on card runners and up to this point i've never had the opportunity to perform it.

for those of you not familiar with the play its not simply getting it all in with the best hand or making progressive pot sized bets until its in the middle. its a play where you release the initiative with the goal of calling that lovely juicy bet you expect.

here is my hand history with an explanation,

Table Greycrest (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Holdem

SB posts small blind [$0.25]
BB posts big blind [$0.50]
Seat 3 (BTN) has the button.
Seat 1 : MP with $41.70.
Seat 2 : CO with $98.30.
Seat 3 : BTN with $43.25.
Seat 4 : SB with $56.60.
Seat 5 : BB with $80.10.
Seat 6 : Hero with $52.25.

** Dealing hole cards **

Dealt to Hero :



Sklansky group: 4
Hero raises to $1.75
MP calls [$1.75]
BTN folds
SB folds
BB folds

** Dealing Flop ** [Potsize: $4.25]



first you need a flop of sheer greatness for you yet one that looks like it would have missed you completely

Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets [$2]

first make a weakish bet, you must be first to act and you must lead here as checking doesn't have the same effect

MP raises to $4

oh no, please don't min raise me! obv he has something, so have a little think and make a reluctant call, sob

Hero calls [$2]

** Dealing Turn ** [Potsize: $12.25]



Hero checks

oh no, a high card, i'm so scared of it i must check and give up on the pot...please don't bet heavy here as you'll just take the pot away from me you big strong bully player!

MP bets [$35.95, and is all in]

oh no! you didn't listen to my pleas to check behind and now you have gone all in betting 3 x the pot to take it away from me. what should i do, oh what should i do...

Hero calls [$35.95]

oh go on then, i'll make a crying call because i missed that board like you thought and you are totally out playing me after the flop...oh hang on, is that a full house i have, wait, does that beat a pair of deuces? oh it does, wow. aren't i lucky! i think you just been stacked my donk friend :)

MP shows :



Hero shows :



** Dealing River ** [Potsize: $84.15]



MP shows two pair, Fours and Twos
Hero shows a full house, Eights full of Fours
Hero wins the pot ($81.15) with a full house, Eights full of Fours

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $84.15 Rake $3
Board: [4h 4c 8c Qh Kh]
Seat 1: MP showed [2s 2d] and lost with two pair, Fours and Twos
Seat 4: SB (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: BB (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Hero showed [8h 8s] and won ($81.15) with a full house, Eights full of Fours

back to nl50

so after a horrid nl25 session i decided to have a little go at nl50, not in a tilty way but because i had already withdrawn my roll from pokerstars ready to go into my ftp account meaning i would be rolled for nl50 shortly. so although not officially set for nl50 i decided to go ahead anyway, bbbrrraapp!

so far so good, have been reviewing a few nl50 vids on cardrunners to get my head on right and eliminate some donkfish mistakes. going into nl50 though i was already 3 buyins down from my last escapade so need to get that back before it really matters.

second, first impressions are much the same. there are a few more iron men about but the play doesn't seem that much better. people are very hard to bluff (which has cost me) but i've been getting good action when it counts.

so stats since i have made the move are as follows, small sample size but am happy so far, i wouldn't go as far to say as i'm crushing, in fact i would say i'm no where near that, i've enjoyed 99% bad card which i've managed to lose a little on and 1% awesome, smack me square in the face with the deck and call me shirley good cards which i've managed to get paid off on!

nl50
442 at 14/11/3
+$115.80
26bb/100

the above also includes my first ever $100 day, woop, makes me wonder why i'm not a professional :)

thats about all for nows i guess. got no correct answers for my pop quiz, not even close answers so you can all stay in the dark and i'll have the slightest of edges over you all when we play, ah ha!

sometimes poker can be such a c*nt

Stacks:
UTG with $39.35
MP with $30.90
CO with $25.00
BTN with $34.85
SB with $24.40
BB with $25.00

Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
Site: Full Tilt Poker

Dealt to BTN:Q♦ K♦

Preflop:
UTG raises to $1
2 players fold.
Hero calls [$1]
2 players folded.

Total folds this street: 4
Potsize: $2.35

utg was a fairly tight aggressive player, i was happy to see a flop from the button here and see what develops

Flop:
A♦ 3♠ 6♦
UTG bets [$2.35]
2 players fold.
Hero calls [$2.35]

Potsize: $7.05

i thought i would float the guy here as we were both pretty deep and i didn't give him credit for an ace so i was going to re-evaluate on the turn

Turn:
3♦
UTG checks
Hero bets [$3]
UTG calls [$3]

Potsize: $13.05

great card for me, with the check i'm thinking he's scared of the flush but i don't want to lose him, half bet should suffice and it did

River:
J♣
UTG bets [$7.25]
Hero raises to $18
UTG raises to $28.75
Hero calls [$10.50] [ all-in ]
Uncalled bet of $0.25 returned to UTG

the rest is great, i raise hoping to get him to come over the top which he does and i'm actually smiling to myself as i had been stuck before this and this would make good.

Results:
UTG shows :
3♣ A♣

UTG wins the pot ($67.05) with a full house, Threes full of Aces

conclusion, what f*cking muppet raises from utg with a/3, and then luckboxes out with a turned full house. sooooooo soooooo sick, the poor guy got berated by the table after that and i had to leave as i could feel myself about to expload with rage.

retooling - review

so i've retooled my game now and i just wanted to really review the process and share my thoughts on my game as honestly as possible throughout the process.

before retooling:
looking back on the way i played before i'm surprised i made any money! hows that! i was really tight and selective about the cards i played and i never made a move on anyone unless i was tilting and just got lucky they didn't have the goods either.

the way i played, i really grinded, waiting ages for those premium hands only for everyone to fold to my raise as it was the only one i had made. i got lucky on some instances where some donkfish would play a long with me and i'd stack him but those occasions were pretty rare and i think playing at 3bb/100 provided that point.

so why did i play that way. well probably because of slansky and malmuth! play tight, play super tight. give credit and only show down the nuts. thats all well and good but in nlh you rarely get to see a showdown so waiting around for the cards and the play to align so i could show down aces really didn't help me on a path to a steady profit :)

looking back, i really sucked, and i mean really sucked! most poker players blame the cards, suck outs, bad beats or the poker gods and i did the same. but guess what, it was me. i was just a bad player!

post retooling:
right now i love my game. i'm really happy with the way i play, my reads, my aggression, my table awareness and many many other things. the retooling process was well worth the effort and the strange feeling of admitting to myself that i wasn't a winning player or would never move beyond the micro stakes.

i will however say that since i started retooling i have run bad in places and you only have to look at the two hands i posted a few days back to see that i'm not making it up and i'm not lying to myself. reviewing the session where i lost $46 or about two buyins you can clearly see that the biggest pot a lost outside of those to $25 a piece coolers was $2.25, there were no mistakes in between, no chasing draws, no calling when i was behind, i was just playing solid grade 'a' poker and it was working.

i had another little session just to see if the above wasn't true and to see if i hadn't learnt as much as i thought and the results are as follows

nl25
106 hands at 17/16/8
+$39
74bb/100

verdict: crushed!

so with that said i look back over the last week where i basically erased everything i had learnt right or wrong and approached the game as a total newbie. i invested about 8 hours running through videos in detail and probably the same playing 2 tables and my understanding of the game has increased sooo much!

there is still so much more to learn but right now i actually feel like i have the foundation of a game that i can build on, get better and ultimately move up the levels and make a profit. the futures bright, the futures poker, hehe!

retooling - report 4

so i've watched all of the videos on playing nl 6max as a solid tag player and i have learnt a shag load! seriously, all those hours spent on the train reading slansky and malmuth were wasted compared to watching 5 hours of solid video coaching!

after the last video there were a few more areas in my game that i in hindsight needed some work and they are

1) table selection: i was totally looking for the wrong things and now after a little experimentation i think i'm back on track.

2) slow playing: thought i was well cool, innit, for slow playing my aces. financially its not true, have had my eyes opened here.

3) value betting: i was either missing value or looking for it in the wrong spots.

so my final retooling session went pretty well and i think i plugged the holes from the last session

nl25
235 hands at 11/9/9
+$28.05
24bb/100

verdict: crushed once again! really felt on fire today. my play was solid, i kept putting the donks on hands, picked my spots and crushed anyone that tried to play back at me! think my stats were a little low but really wasn't picking up anything and as the videos said, forcing it at the micro stakes usually back fires, which is pretty much what happened last session.

key hands:
did i lose value here?

so with that said, i'm pretty pleased with how following the video series turned out. there is still a ton more to learn and there are loads more videos to watch but am pretty pleased with where i am. i think once i practice this style a little more and get really comfortable with the plays a good next step for me is to see where i can open up my range a little more. will let you know how that goes.

gonna watch rounders now and critique matt damons play...donkfish!

hurting a little at the moment

was completely motivated, fighting to get at the tables, ready to apply everything i have learned and then this happened. feeling totally dejected now :( did i play either of these hands wrongly?

i know that its variance and making donkfish calls keeps the donkfish coming back but come on, could i not have scooped one of these? all my hard work for the day gone plus more, meh

sat down, very first hand and this happened, total cooler

pocket snowfish

then after going on a little raising with nothing run and enjoying a little 3 betting i get this hand and i was praying the donkfish had seen me being aggressive so i could stack him

pocket cowfish

and to round it off, do i have any beer in the house, course i effing dont!

retooling - report 3

so i've watched the 4th video in the five part series i'm following and again its pulled out some seemingly obvious points that i need to tweak in my play

1) table image: i always thought that this was something only the high stakes players needed to worry about but as the micro players get better the more attention you need to pay to your table image.

2) hand reading: i also need to define peoples range a little more and use the turn card as the defining point in the hand where i can really narrow down a holding.

3) timing tells: again not something i have ever really looked at in detail but its another weapon in my armour.

so after watching the vids i hit the 6 max tables again but didn't fair as well this time

nl25
363 hands at 12/11/6
-$32.90
-18bb/100

verdict: overall i felt i played ok, there were some big holes in my game as i was trying to put 4 hours worth of videos in to practice and it backfired in places. i was also playing at some massively loose aggressive tables which didn't help my game at all, and i was defo not getting the help of the deck. however i think i learnt a lot from this and it will help me put down some stronger foundations as i move forward from here.

key hands:
why did i slow play this? stupid mistake
felt my aggression here was fine and just got unlucky

so yes, it was a loss, but i have identified my leaks and can move forward from here with them plugged. one video to go now and i should be back on track.

retooling - report 2

so very happy with the results of my first session after erasing everything i had learnt and starting again. i then watched the third video in the 5 part series and pulled out a few more areas i need to address, as follows;

1) flop texture: harder to read then i thought, spotting the nuts is the easy part but evaluating it with your oponents range was something i wasn't doing often enough, or i just gave them credit far too often.

2) continuation betting: simple right? i thought so but continuation betting when you have missed or are out of position combined with the flop texture is tricky.

3) building value in a pot: get the money in when you are ahead! easy to do when you have poc aces but i never considered their range vs mine in any given situation. for example maybe a/q off is massively ahead of their range, so build value earlier!

so after my second retooling session my results were as follows;

nl25
150 hands at 11/11/26
+$10.05
13bb/100

verdict: very happy. the tables i played at were a lot tricker this time, with the majority of players playing full stacks and having decent lag stats. it kept me on my toes but i still owned the hands i played. the reason for the massive aggression factor above is that not one hand made it to showdown, in fact i don't think there was one hand i played that i didn't take down on the flop! and i picked up some decent hands to 3 bet a fair few time. again, played near 11 vpip and 11 pfr, this may be where i net out at, only time will tell, 300 hands just isn't enough.

key hands:
much better aggression from me here
my aggression pays off

so although its only 2 sessions i already feel my game has improved hugely. really highlights the massive leaks i had previously. the first hand posted above is a prime example, i would never have 3 bet just 48 hours ago! two more videos in the series to go and i'm very much looking forward to continuing this upward momentum!

retooling - report 1

right, so i have watched the first two videos of a five part series on cardrunners to help me play in a more optimal way and exploit the fish-er-roos that swim down at the small stakes to micro stakes.

after the first two videos there are a number of areas that i have identified that need to be addressed pre-flop to improve my game. these areas are;

1) opening up my range: looking over my stats i am defo tight nitty. its why my big hands get paid and why my stack slowly but surely dwindles and i'm easily exploitable. i need to open this up more.

2) open limping or over limping: i just get nothing from these plays, i don't get any information, i don't take control of the pot and i give myself a weak image on the process.

3) never reraising: even with my monster hands i never reraise pre-flop. don't know why, i need to get more money in the pot when i'm ahead and protect my weaker hands by controlling the pot more often.

4) position: yes i knew how important position was but i never applied having position in the correct way.

so to my first retooling session, stats are as follows;

nl25 6max
149 hands at 12/11/8
+$20.55
27bb/100

verdict: crushed! big word for only 149 hands but i played exactly the way i wanted to and got the result i wanted to too. i think my stats of 12/11 are good, i think they will naturally go up as i was getting a lot of trash hands in the session and will probably net out at around 15-18 vpip with a pfr of 14-17.

key hands:
biggest pot won
biggest pot lost

overall i was a lot happier with my play, i felt i was controlling the pot and the table when i wanted to and pressured other players a lot more therefore causing them to make mistakes such as the big hand above.

i also felt that my pre-flop game was a lot more natural and effective. i played correctly in all the spots i was put in and the end result was a winning session. there were a few occasions where my post flop play was a little weak but the videos haven't covered that yet and i don't want to continue to play the way i was before so in instances where i wasn't sure or they were marginal i folded.

next stop is post flop play so hopefully i can improve that and make better judgement calls moving forward.

retooling my game

i think my recent horrid run at nl50 has really opened my eyes to where my game is at. i was out of my depth at times, making stupid calls, playing weak and generally doing the total opposite of crushing!

with that in mind i've decided to totally retool my game. there is a great selection of videos on cardrunners that will hopefully reset my head and get my playing in the most optimal way. to do this i need to drop back down to nl25 and also swap to 6max. now is probably the right time to do this as i'm very motivated and don't see any long term winnings coming from the way i am playing at the moment.

what i'm going to do now is watch and internalise a video at a time and then play a short 60min session, 2 tabling only and see where it gets me. after each session i'm going to share my results and thoughts and hopefully further ingrain the thinking and play into my subconscious. i'll combine the first 2 videos together as part 1 is very much an intro so there should end up being 4 'reports' on how my game takes shape.

so watch this space, the first report should be later today and hopefully it will have a positive return on investment!

question?

anyone else hate 6/3 off suit, i do...aaaaa lllooottt!

nl50, the drama continues

still taking a shot at nl50 and the differences are coming through and i'm starting to adjust my natural game. so far i've noticed the following;

1) tighter - the games have tightened up a little i think, not by much but i would say players ranges are a little tighter so you need to be playing hands that can withstand a little pressure

2) aggression - this has shot up from nl25. players really push marginal hands on the flop and also play their draws aggressively, especially flush draws

3) floating - never really noticed this at nl25 but have certainly seen players floating and pushing on the turn

4) shortstacking - geez, its everywhere, really hard to find a game with all players sitting on a full buy-in. funny thing is, players seem to be shortstaking with 50-60bb or so but aren't willing to commit as easily as they do in nl25. think this is defo -ev

still looking for more differences and no doubt i'll continue to spot them as i play there but the good news is that i've managed to wipe out the disastrous start i had at nl50 and turn the month around to be in profit...just :)

also still unsure what to do with my first rakeback. any suggestions would be helpful!

nl50, thoughts

well took a much postponed shot at nl50 today. didn't really go to plan but have to say the play at this level isn't really that much better then n;25, or at least the tables i was sat at weren't.

i did find that draws were played a lot more aggressively which put me on the back foot a little and meant i lost some pots i should probably have won if i was a little more aggressive.

i'm happy to say the random pots are still present, for example i got myself into a battle of the blinds with a/5 on a a/j/3/4/5 board...i wonder what the small blind had, ace two of course, you couldn't write this stuff!

anyhoo, although i'm slightly underolled for nl50 i'm probably gonna take a few more shots before i decide if i need to drop back to nl25. i certainly wasn't blessed with any hands and i know where i went wrong and those leaks are easily plugged. hopefully i can run well and make the move a permanent one. fingers crossed!

meh

just had a horrid session, dropped 2 buy ins in an hour. nothing went right, no cards, no flops and any move i made got called down. even when i had a hand which was twice, somehow my donk of an opponent would play some random hand and get smashed in the face by the deck!

feeling rrrreeeeaaaallllyyyy tilty at the moment and want to jump back on the tables and try and win it back. musn't though, am gonna watch the other half of the muddy waters vs green plastic head up match on card runners to cheer myself up.

farking donkeys, aarrgghh

does it get any better then this?

has been an eventful start to the month so far. i'm hoping march will be a turning point or at least a stepping stone month for me with only positives coming from it. so far three good things have happened

1) it is roughly 6 months before the lovely christina milians birthday, so even though i'm clutching at straws here is another looooovely pic of her


2) i've taken the plunge and joined cardrunners, have started to watch the videos and read the forum. seems to be a wealth of info out there, plus its quite enjoyable just to watch some of their pros crush the higher stakes even if its way out of my reach for now

3) just had another profitable session which gives me a little buffer in my roll and i'm thinking of taking a shot at the next level. i'll probably play a few more hands at 25nlh just to clear the next bonus level on ftp but then i'm thinking i'll take a shot. if i lose then i'll drop back down and start again but am feeling good about my game at the mo and if confidence is high its worth a gambol. watch this space

profit...at last

finally i'm in profit for the month, its been a rollercoaster thus far but just rounded out a session leaving me one fith of a buy-in up for the month!

would have been a lot more if my qq didn't get done over by 5/8o, i mean i'm sure the guy new that my pre-flop raise, and re-raise of his flop bet meant his pair of fives were good...and he was half right when he hit an 8 on the river!

anyhoo, in prof, thats all that matters!

oh aces, i love/hate you

thought i'd log on for a quick sess tonight to try and recoup some of my losses from my spew fest the other night. i found myself a few decent tables and sat down ready for action.

i few hands in i'm dealt the loathsome pocket aces, i'm sitting one off the hijack so min raise to try and get a little action from a blind at least and draw 2 callers, one little scamp being a short stack. flop comes down dry and my pot bet is swiftly raised all in by shorty. no hesitation on my part, call and...

aarrrggghhh! ...or so i thought, but then i remembered the words of short-stacked shamus and ryverrat who commented on my last aces nightmare. with that in mind and a few woo saa's i was back to normal within seconds. just glad the scamp was a shorty so i had a shot at a speedy recovery.

a few hands later and i picked up the dreaded aces again. straight away i feel petrified i'm going to experience more of the same, or converesly no action at all. either way i was ready to laugh it off. much to my surprise i got the action i wanted on almost exactly the flop i dreamed of. all the money went in and the only thing i'm scared of is some poc 8's.


no poc 8's (i don't think i would have been able to hold it together if he did have 8's though) and my aces are good and i felt my poor little opponent, woo hoo! some semi faith in aces has been restored, there is still a long way to go but job done for now!

wow!

thats pretty much all i can say. i've just experienced my worst losing session i've ever had and going over the beats i'm not sure what to say. i just couldn't buy a break, nothing went my way and i mean nothing. every hand i made got cracked. my aces full of eights got beat by aces full of nines, my aces high flush was busted by a straight flush, the list goes on and on.

then this happened and it sent me on tilt. i've never really been on tilt, maybe for a hand or so while i gained my composure back but i lost it with this and started hurling chips all over the place. i mean i couldn't throw them at people fast enough. i'm sure the full tilt servers had problems keeping up with the chips flying out my account. what a disgrace.

i think i need a little break. i may log back on later to try and recoup some winnings but i'm hurting pretty bad at the mo. god dam 9's!

does villains line make sense

just played this hand and wanted your thoughts on villains (bb) line here and if you feel a call is justified. villain was playing 15/8 over a fairly small sample

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players

MP2: $7.05
CO: $13.70
BTN: $34.10
SB: $9.55
BB: $27
UTG: $5.15
UTG+1: $26.10
Hero (UTG+2): $26.60
MP1: $8.80

Pre-Flop: 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG+2)
2 folds, Hero calls $0.25, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.25, 2 folds, SB calls $0.15, BB checks

Flop: ($1) 5 T 6 (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $1, MP2 folds, SB calls $1, BB calls $1

Turn: ($3) K (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $2.50, SB folds, BB calls $2.50

River: ($8) A (2 Players)
BB bets $8

runner runner flush?