January results

A new year, good results in the first month, so a good time to start posting results again :).



I haven't played many hands this month. The December 2007 'results' made me less inclined to play, and I was at a PhD school in the end of the month. 100NL was going great again; from the deepest point to the end of the month I'm running at 9.5 PTBB/100 over 15k hands. 200NL wasn't going so great, but I feel confident that it will turn around again. Some nice hands:

Hand 1

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (5 handed)

BB ($45.00)
UTG ($378.10)
MP ($272.10)
Button ($89.55)
Hero ($198.00)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K.
1 fold, MP raises to $4, Button calls $4, Hero raises to $18, BB calls $16, MP calls $14, Button folds.

Flop: ($58) 8, 6, T (3 players)
Hero bets $44, BB folds, MP calls $44.

Turn: ($146) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $88, MP raises to $176, Hero calls $48 (All-In).

River: ($458) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $458

Results in white below:
MP has 9s Jc (straight, jack high).
Hero has Kc Kd (two pair, kings and sevens).
Outcome: MP wins $458.



One I'm still not sure about:

Hand 2

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (6 handed)

BB ($200.00)
UTG ($559.80)
Hero ($197.60)
CO ($249.25)
Button ($34.00)
SB ($616.31)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, Q.
UTG raises to $7, Hero raises to $22, 3 folds, BB calls $20, UTG calls $15.

Flop: ($67) 9, J, 2 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $44, BB raises to $88, UTG folds, Hero raises to $175.6, BB calls $87.60.

Turn: ($418.20) 3 (2 players)

River: ($418.20) 4 (2 players)

Final Pot: $418.20

Results in white below:
BB has Ks Kc (one pair, kings).
Hero has Qh Qs (one pair, queens).
Outcome: BB wins $418.20.

Hand 3

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (6 handed)

Button ($336.84)
SB ($19.80)
Hero ($210.18)
UTG ($526.00)
MP ($69.18)
CO ($197.00)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4, 4.
1 fold, MP calls $2, 1 fold, Button calls $2, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($8) 9, 4, 8 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $8, MP calls $8, Button calls $8, SB calls $8.

Turn: ($40) A (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $34, MP raises to $59.18, Button folds, SB calls $9.80 (All-In), Hero calls $25.18.

River: ($168.16) A (3 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $168.16

Results in white below:
SB has 7h 5h (one pair, aces).
Hero has 4c 4h (full house, fours full of aces).
MP has Ad 8d (full house, aces full of eights).
Outcome: MP wins $168.16.

Hand 4

And I never hit my draw to a straight flush :(

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (5 handed)

Hero ($381.90)
SB ($198.00)
BB ($197.90)
UTG ($200.00)
MP ($194.00)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6, 8.
MP raises to $7, Hero calls $7, 2 folds.

Flop: ($17) 4, T, 9 (3 players)
MP bets $13, Hero raises to $43, MP calls $30.

Turn: ($103) J (3 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $62, MP calls $62.

River: ($227) A (3 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $82, MP calls $82 (All-In).

Final Pot: $391

Results in white below:
UTG has (flush, ten high).
MP has Th Ad (two pair, aces and tens).
Hero has 6d 8d (flush, ten high).
Outcome: Hero wins $391.

Blog updates

I haven't posted much updates lately, for various reasons. Biggest reason being that I'm was on a break-even / marginal profitable / downswing period and therefore didn't felt like posting. I was also (and still am) working on clearing a bonus, so each time I had some time I started playing, went down and didn't want to do anything with poker anymore the rest of the evening (so no blogging). I played a lot of hands on my laptop and didn't sync with my normal database, so making stats is not so easy - still have to find a way to do that. Obviously I didn't felt like looking at red numbers anyway. Finally I made a calculation error (counted money on a site double) which made my bankroll a lot smaller and I didn't want to admit it here :).

Things are going better now; I talked about downswings and poker in general with Tim and got some more confidence in my game. Having somebody who is playing at roughly the same limits and has the same attribute to the game (based on math or based on 'feeling') is certainly very helpful.

Inspired by the many people who were inspired by the CTS plan of raising each hand on the button when folded / fullstacked limped to you I also tried this, with great succes. I also had some luck doing this, but I enjoyed the game a lot more. It's also really funny to see how everybody just keeps on folding to your raises and waits for "that big hand" to get you. Obviously they are not getting payed off and I sometimes still outflop their monster. Table stats vary between 30/28, 28/23 and 20/17 depending on the rest of the table, which I also like as an improvement to my game. I also have not much experience with 3bet pots, 4betting (light, small, etc) but I think many players and regulars are even worse and will have huge leaks when adjusting to a good, thinking 25/23 player.

The only remnant of my downswing is that I'm keeping on to my winnings; I just played a short session of ~300 hands and didn't want to continue playing when I have a BB/100 in the double green digits :). I basically have to ask myself: `are you still playing your A-game, are the tables good?' and if the answers are yes/yes, I have to force myself to keep playing. It worked out the other day, where I clicked my unclicked 'post blinds' buttons a few times and went on playing (and successful, luckily :)).

Ah well, I'll post some graphs/stats/etc later, when I find a good way to sync the databases.

A new month... *sigh*

My hopes that lady Fortune would be more kind in the next month evaporated quickly. A few hands:

Hand 1

Finally got a hand against the table fish. He already called off 50% of his stack on a 27Qr bord and folded the river so he wasn't particularly bright. Ah well, he played postflop correctly.

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

BB ($113.07)
UTG ($363.86)
MP ($201.35)
CO ($96.00)
Hero ($88.00)
SB ($177.65)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, K.
1 fold, MP raises to $3.5, CO calls $3.50, Hero raises to $15.5, 1 fold, BB calls $14.50, MP calls $12, CO folds.

Flop: ($50.50) K, 3, T (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $40, BB calls $40, MP folds.

Turn: ($130.50) Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $32.5 (All-In), BB calls $32.50.

River: ($195.50) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $195.50

Results in below:
BB has Qs Ah (flush, ace high).
Hero has As Ks (one pair, kings).
Outcome: BB wins $195.50.

Hand 2

He put me on KK obviously:

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (3 handed)

BB ($107.95)
Hero ($106.90)
SB ($108.40)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 4, 4.
Hero raises to $3.5, SB calls $3, 1 fold.

Flop: ($8) 4, T, 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6, SB calls $6.

Turn: ($20) 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $12, SB calls $12.

River: ($44) K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $20, SB calls $20.

Final Pot: $84

Results in below:
SB has Tc Ts (three of a kind, tens).
Hero has 4s 4c (three of a kind, fours).
Outcome: SB wins $84.

Hand 3

This should be a valuebet on the river but for some reason I checked behind (and usually I'm wrong because he'd pay me off). I don't know if I escaped a tarp on the river or that he put me on TT.


EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

BB ($136.15)
UTG ($102.35)
MP ($168.20)
CO ($45.50)
Hero ($104.50)
SB ($83.70)

Preflop: Hero is Button with T, Q.
2 folds, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $4.5, 1 fold, BB calls $3.50, CO folds.

Flop: ($10.50) 8, 9, T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $7, BB calls $7.

Turn: ($24.50) T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $14, BB calls $14.

River: ($52.50) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: $52.50

Results in below:
BB has 8d 8s (full house, eights full of tens).
Hero has Th Qh (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: BB wins $52.50.

Hand 4

This Villain was a bit erratic and I felt I could easily have the best hand on the flop. Ah well, it's the river that counts.

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

SB ($174.90)
BB ($30.20)
UTG ($99.25)
MP ($24.55)
Hero ($104.40)
Button ($78.25)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K, A.
1 fold, MP raises to $3.5, Hero raises to $12, 3 folds, MP calls $8.50.

Flop: ($25.50) 7, J, 2 (2 players)
MP bets $12.55 (All-In), Hero calls $12.55.

Turn: ($50.60) A (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($50.60) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $50.60

Results in white below:
MP has Kd Qd (flush, king high).
Hero has Kh Ad (one pair, aces).
Outcome: MP wins $50.60.


Now I'm officially in the red at 100NL after being up $723. Sigh.

Hand 5

And finally one of these; I probably should get my share of KK < AA but at least I'm done in the AA < KK department. It's an original way of cracking my AA, that's granted.

EVP No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (4 handed)

Hero ($108.30)
UTG ($76.00)
Button ($49.27)
SB ($12.70)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A.
UTG raises to $3.5, Button calls $3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $14.5, UTG raises to $47.5, Button folds, Hero raises to $108.3, UTG calls $28.50 (All-In).

Flop: ($188.30) T, Q, 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($188.30) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($188.30) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $188.30

Results in below:
Hero has Ah Ac (one pair, aces).
UTG has Kd Kh (straight, king high).
Outcome: UTG wins $156. Hero wins $32.30.