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.

Lol donkaments

Finally got me ITM in a $10 MTT. After a few earlier tournaments where I busted out quickly (usually I got bored and started to steal blinds with 72o, hit the K75 flop and lost against an obvious AK). I played more patiently today; mixed in a few cash tables and played a lot better. I got to the final table (186 players, 10 placed paid) where everybody suddenly started to play extremely tight. I started the final table with 35k chips, blinds 600/1200/125. I got some excellent help on msn for the final, brutal phase. A few players busted out quite soon and then there were 5 players remaining, stack sizes:

Hero 35k
5408 33k
kraf 70k
flush 15k
scpcp 31k

43 hands of stealing, stealing and stealing later:

Hero 90k
5408 32k
kraf 42k
flush 10k
scpcp 10k

It got folded around to the BB so much I started to minraise any two on certain positions. It was my msn buddy who noticed that it was the 2nd time in a row it was folded to the BB in a certain position. I might need something to keep record of that stuff; maybe I should make some notes when I reach final table and keep stats of how often people minraise/raise/allin and how they respond to it.

A few players busted and I entered the HU session with 135k versus 43k and it took us 9 hands to finish it, when my K9 > his AQ. I now got a solid 213% ROI on MTTs but I doubt that's sustainable :).

Going down...

The first day of playing after my holiday proved to be a brutal one, being down $136 over 500 hands. I think I played the majority of the top-n losing hands correct but I'm still not happy about it:

Highlights including
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

CO ($96.00)
Button ($70.15)
Hero ($206.35)
BB ($97.50)
UTG ($100.00)
MP ($200.90)

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

Flop: ($4) T, 4, 8 (5 players)
Hero bets $4, BB folds, MP calls $4, Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $44, MP folds, Button raises to $69.15, Hero calls $25.15.

Turn: ($146.30) 8 (3 players)

River: ($146.30) 5 (3 players)

Final Pot: $146.30

Results in below:
Hero has 4h 4d (full house, fours full of eights).
UTG doesn't show.
Button has Ts 8c (full house, eights full of tens).
Outcome: Button wins $146.30.

He had 20% on the flop which puzzeled me for a while, until I noticed he had a backdoor flush draw which accounted for 5%. Great.



******* Hand 1 ********

Cryptologic
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2
4 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (4 players) Hero is UTG with A♣ A♦
Hero raises, Button 3-bets, 2 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: J♣ 2♥ 2♠ (7.5SB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero re-raises, Button re-raises, Hero re-raises, Button calls.

Turn: Q♥ (8.75BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero calls.

River: Q♦ (12.75BB, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 14.75BB
Button shows Qs Ks
Hero mucks Ac Ad

He had 5% on the flop and again 5% on the turn.


******* Hand 2 ********

Cryptologic
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2
5 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is CO with Q♦ Q♠
UTG folds, Hero raises, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: 6♦ T♣ 7♦ (4.5SB, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB raises, Hero re-raises, BB re-raises, Hero calls.

Turn: 3♣ (6.25BB, 2 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB calls.

River: 9♦ (10.25BB, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

Results:
Final pot: 12.25BB
Hero shows Qd Qs
BB shows Ts 3s

I think I gave a bit too much action here and just should have called down from the turn but he was quite aggro.


The only option now is to win a $10 MTT to finish the month +EV :)

July 2007 results

July proved to be a fantastic month for me; I almost made my day-time salary. The first 7 days made me about $100/day each. I slowed down a bit in playing because I was preparing for my holiday.

I hit the cryptologic network to play 6max limit and play for the $10/table hour bonus, which made me a decent amount of money and a healthy winrate. I enjoyed playing limit again and think I'll even be better now I've read stoxtrader's book about it on my holidays. I think my winrate will drop a bit but I hope to keep it at about 2BB/100, which makes the bonus-whoring quite lucrative. I could even settle for 1BB/100 as the bonus makes me about 5BB/100 :)). I think I keep on playing the limit games there and join the 2p2 session reviews to improve it, but I don't know how good it is to play both limit and no-limit.

The no-limit games obviously went really great and I know for sure I won't be able to keep this up (the first day of July proved this) but it does make the transition to 100NL easier. The full-ring stats were some short-stacking but I doubt I'll ever do that again :)


August goals are to keep playing the short-handed limit games and start playing some more MTTs seriously. I think I'm not doing very good in those, although they are usually filled with horrible players. Maybe I'm not able to keep up my concentration for such long amounts of time, but I also know I never review them or post about them.




Total roll: $8300.

Lol minbet

I said I shouldn't be playing limit FR anymore because it's not worth the time. Such statements are obviously connected to (perceived, short-term) negative winrates and can easily be taken back by (perceived, short-term) positive winrates. I found a game with a % saw flop around the 40; the amazing part is that it even stayed around this number. There were some new loose players which made it a very profitable game. I don't know how many of the good players I have in my database, because I don't play there that often, but I think I can assume somebody sucks unless proven otherwise.

Two nice hands:

Hand 1

EVP 2.00/4.00 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, Q.
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, 2 folds, Hero gets a warm feeling inside and raises, 1 fold, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls.

Flop: (12.50 SB) T, 2, 6 (6 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls.

A very good flop, time to start building a pot. Nobody folds, it almost starts to look like a live game. Although some of the callers probably have junk, there will be some flush draws and overcards out here.

Turn: (9.25 BB) 4 (6 players)
BB bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, Hero raises, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls.

Betting into such a large field does show strength, even if it's a donkbet. From a good player, such a bet could mean a very good hand: he expects the field to call and me to raise, to make a gigantic pot. In this case BB didn't look like a very good player, and which such an gigantic overlay I have to raise anyway.

River: (21.25 BB) 9 (6 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets, BB calls, UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds.

Luckily the river was a blank. Even with such a pot, the last value bet is important.

Final Pot: 23.25 BB
BB mucks and ship it @ $90 for a $72 profit. It's like stacking somebody at 70NL with only a 16NL risk :)

Hand 2

EVP 2.00/4.00 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, A.
1 fold, MP1 calls, Hero raises, MP3 calls, CO calls, 1 fold, SB calls, BB calls, MP1 calls.

The amount of cold-callers in this game truly was amazing and heart-warming.

Flop: (12 SB) 7, T, J (7 players)
SB checks, BB bets, MP1 folds, Hero raises, MP3 calls, CO calls, SB folds, BB calls.

A monotone flop, coordinated and I have none of the suit. Although it doesn't look great, the pot is big with 7 players, so I have to do whatever it takes to win this pot, even if it costs me a few bets. I was actually happy that BB donks, allowing me to raise and face somebody with 2 cold. Obviously they didn't fold; how would you get a 7-way raised pot if they did?

Turn: (10 BB) 2 (5 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, MP3 calls, CO calls $6.97 (All-In), BB calls $3 (All-In).

A welcome blank turn. BB is betting again, whereas he could have build a large pot by 3betting the flop, trapping the field. Both he and the CO are all-in anyway, so the only concern should be MP3. If I could get him to fold a one-card flush draw it'd be a great result, but I doubt he would.

River: (17.49 BB) 5 (5 players, 2 all-in)
Hero bets, MP3 raises, Hero calls.

Another good blank. I wasn't happy about MP3 raising but getting 20:1 I could never find a fold here.

Final Pot: 21.49 BB
MP3 had KK with a (lol) and MHIG.