Sunday, March 6, 2011
Friday, March 6, 2009
Ariston and on and on and on and on and on............
I just can't win. Whatever worked for me all last year doesn't work anymore. I decided to put $2k in ongame and broke even for a while and then smashed up a keyboard after another stack went a-begging and I found myself another 5bi below EV (to add to the other 45) and busted the rest of the 2k playing 5/10. I don't get it. I didn't think it was possible to be breaking even over 100k hands with wwsf close to 50% and WTSD/W$SD at 27/55. Almost all the stats are where they should be and it makes no difference. I would estimate that I've been on the wrong side of a good 18 of the last 20 all-in preflop with QQ+, AK situations aswell.
I withdrew almost everything I had and left about $4k in to play 100nl and try to rebuild my confidence and any leaks that have crept in while while running like shite. I lost 7 stacks in first 2k 100nl hands with the usual suspects (QQ no good vs TT etc etc, you know the drill) and was 5bi below EV aswell. How can this be possible without riggage? Bizarro-world.
It's a pretty cruel game where you can put your heart and soul into learning it for a long time, and it just kicks sand in your face day after day. I've organised some coaching just to make sure that I'm not playing like a retard as a result of constantly being down 3 buyins before the seat is warm. I honestly think I'm a decent enough player and well capable of beating at least 200nl and have read on forums that decent players consider me a tough opponent so wtf?
The bad run has definitely affected me outside poker aswell. My job as a scientific researcher comes pretty easy to me in comparison to some people who live in the lab, and I don't have much trouble banging out a good amount of interesting papers each year with minimal effort, so poker is in a way the 'challenge' in my life and when it goes badly I'm naturally annoyed. The thing is that such a large fraction of the result is down to variance that I'm unduely pissed off a lot of the time. If I play ok and lose a few buyins I'm annoyed and there's no changing that and vice versa..
The stupidest thing of all is that ultimately I'm not driven by money, if I was I wouldn't be working in a University! I would much rather a decent salary and the freedom to come and go as I please in work than to be some highly paid hot shot who has to be in work at 9am sharp and is constantly on the laptop after hours.
I would like to remember when I'm playing, that buyin it hurts to lose doesn't really mean that much to me in the first place. Oh so I can buy a TV thats 2" bigger, wow my life is complete now that I can enjoy Eastenders in a whole new way.
Nonsense. Its a pastime that happens to net me some extra money to flitter away when its going well and I at least break even when its going poorly. Most people's pastimes cost them money.
Moral of the story. Enjoy the challenge, and enjoy the profit if it comes. If not, just give up.
I withdrew almost everything I had and left about $4k in to play 100nl and try to rebuild my confidence and any leaks that have crept in while while running like shite. I lost 7 stacks in first 2k 100nl hands with the usual suspects (QQ no good vs TT etc etc, you know the drill) and was 5bi below EV aswell. How can this be possible without riggage? Bizarro-world.
It's a pretty cruel game where you can put your heart and soul into learning it for a long time, and it just kicks sand in your face day after day. I've organised some coaching just to make sure that I'm not playing like a retard as a result of constantly being down 3 buyins before the seat is warm. I honestly think I'm a decent enough player and well capable of beating at least 200nl and have read on forums that decent players consider me a tough opponent so wtf?
The bad run has definitely affected me outside poker aswell. My job as a scientific researcher comes pretty easy to me in comparison to some people who live in the lab, and I don't have much trouble banging out a good amount of interesting papers each year with minimal effort, so poker is in a way the 'challenge' in my life and when it goes badly I'm naturally annoyed. The thing is that such a large fraction of the result is down to variance that I'm unduely pissed off a lot of the time. If I play ok and lose a few buyins I'm annoyed and there's no changing that and vice versa..
The stupidest thing of all is that ultimately I'm not driven by money, if I was I wouldn't be working in a University! I would much rather a decent salary and the freedom to come and go as I please in work than to be some highly paid hot shot who has to be in work at 9am sharp and is constantly on the laptop after hours.
I would like to remember when I'm playing, that buyin it hurts to lose doesn't really mean that much to me in the first place. Oh so I can buy a TV thats 2" bigger, wow my life is complete now that I can enjoy Eastenders in a whole new way.
Nonsense. Its a pastime that happens to net me some extra money to flitter away when its going well and I at least break even when its going poorly. Most people's pastimes cost them money.
Moral of the story. Enjoy the challenge, and enjoy the profit if it comes. If not, just give up.
Monday, February 23, 2009
La Cucaracha
Still on my self imposed exile from cash, but I wasn't going to skip the Everest VIP freerolls yesterday. There are 2 with one ($10k) being open to almost anyone who grinds a bit and one ($25k) for only the top tiers of the VIP structure. I had to grind 40k hands of 1/2 and 2/4 to get into it. I assumed there would be no more than 50 people in this, but I forgot about the SNG and full ring guys, and it ended up with 120 runners. Still decent value getting effectively a $200 buyin for nothing. As you can imagine it was an incredibly tough field with 100% regulars and not an easy chip on offer.
In the 2nd orbit (1500 stack 10/20 blinds), EP made it 65 and I 3bet from the BB to 210 with AA. He calls and flop is Jxx. I bet ~300, he calls, I shove turn he calls with JJ...I'm left with 110 or 5bb. GG, FU very much. For some reason I didn't tilt shove the rest of my chips in and picked proper spots and hung around for a good while. but never got anything going and lost a reasonably big pot and was down to 2bb at the 150/300 level when I shipped A5o in MP and BB called with KK. I spiked an A and with the antes I was up to about 6bb. Shortly afterwards I shoved it into the BB from SB with AK and he called with AJ and I held and I was now 'comfortable'.
From the time there were about 40 left (10 paid) I was really struggling all the way. I never had more than 15bb and as the bubble approached I was very uneasy as I don't have a ton of experience in playing those situations. I was pretty sick with 12 left when SB shoved and I called with KQ. He showed J4 and flopped a 4, but the board ran straight for a chop and I hung on just about.
I relaxed a lot at the FT and went in about 6th in chips 10 handed. Again I think I picked my spots very well and my patience was an asset, though there may have been something to be said for being a little more aggressive and trying to set myself up for a win. I got to 4 handed with 25k and another guy had the same, with the 2 other guys having about 65k. This lasted for an absolute as neither me or the other shortie were willing to give it up. Eventually he capitulated and there was a break with me on 28k and the other guys on about 80k and 70k. with the blinds at 1.5l/3k. Maybe 4 hands after the break I picked up 77 in the BB and the SB pushed with AK and hit his A to send me out in 3rd for a payday of $3125. I wasn't even a little bit annoyed which was good, though $5k for 2nd would've been nice!
It's such a ridiculous game. I'm totally at my wit's end with it having a terrible month and only up about $400 and then this score comes along, just as I was perfectly happy hating poker and making other plans! The break from cash is definitely a good idea. Hopefully I can approach it in a more positive mindset come March when I start back. I'm going to play on ongame to see what its like. I think the VIP deals available equate to about 40-50% rakeback which is probably good for a variance-phobe like me, coz even when things are going shit at least you've got something coming in!
Actually scrap that, I'm gonna become a tourney pro!
GL.
In the 2nd orbit (1500 stack 10/20 blinds), EP made it 65 and I 3bet from the BB to 210 with AA. He calls and flop is Jxx. I bet ~300, he calls, I shove turn he calls with JJ...I'm left with 110 or 5bb. GG, FU very much. For some reason I didn't tilt shove the rest of my chips in and picked proper spots and hung around for a good while. but never got anything going and lost a reasonably big pot and was down to 2bb at the 150/300 level when I shipped A5o in MP and BB called with KK. I spiked an A and with the antes I was up to about 6bb. Shortly afterwards I shoved it into the BB from SB with AK and he called with AJ and I held and I was now 'comfortable'.
From the time there were about 40 left (10 paid) I was really struggling all the way. I never had more than 15bb and as the bubble approached I was very uneasy as I don't have a ton of experience in playing those situations. I was pretty sick with 12 left when SB shoved and I called with KQ. He showed J4 and flopped a 4, but the board ran straight for a chop and I hung on just about.
I relaxed a lot at the FT and went in about 6th in chips 10 handed. Again I think I picked my spots very well and my patience was an asset, though there may have been something to be said for being a little more aggressive and trying to set myself up for a win. I got to 4 handed with 25k and another guy had the same, with the 2 other guys having about 65k. This lasted for an absolute as neither me or the other shortie were willing to give it up. Eventually he capitulated and there was a break with me on 28k and the other guys on about 80k and 70k. with the blinds at 1.5l/3k. Maybe 4 hands after the break I picked up 77 in the BB and the SB pushed with AK and hit his A to send me out in 3rd for a payday of $3125. I wasn't even a little bit annoyed which was good, though $5k for 2nd would've been nice!
It's such a ridiculous game. I'm totally at my wit's end with it having a terrible month and only up about $400 and then this score comes along, just as I was perfectly happy hating poker and making other plans! The break from cash is definitely a good idea. Hopefully I can approach it in a more positive mindset come March when I start back. I'm going to play on ongame to see what its like. I think the VIP deals available equate to about 40-50% rakeback which is probably good for a variance-phobe like me, coz even when things are going shit at least you've got something coming in!
Actually scrap that, I'm gonna become a tourney pro!
GL.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
GAME OVER: Please Insert Coins to Continue
Congatulations Everest Poker. You beat me. I'm tapping out. The submission hold you've had me in for the last 3 months has finally become too painful to endure any longer.
After last night's session I withdrew everything I had online. I won't rehash the numbers again, but since I moved back from Belgium I'm ~1 million buyins below EV and in cooler terms I'm somewhere around liquid helium. I have trips, they have boat. I have boat they have quads, I have quads they fold to cbet, I bet flop and turn with top set, they runner straight.
Blah blah blah.
I remember watching a Brian Townsend video a long time ago (maybe even his first one) where he says that you have to be accountable for your own results and if you're not winning, then you've no one to blame but yourself. This is wrong.
If you examine the stretch of hands where I'm 40 buyins below EV (leaving out the stuff I can't qunatify like coolers, as I'm sure my mindset is magnifying this element a bit); say a semi-recreational player plays 100k hand in 6 months at 200nl and runs 40bi above his EV of a modest 3ptbb/100. His EV is about ~$12k so with running hot he's up about $20k. Now say he runs 40bi below EV for that stretch. Now he's only got $4k to show for his 6 months work.
I'm sure this has happened to plenty of people and for medium volume SSNL players a disparity of $16k over 6 months would be pretty big! Even for a higher volume player it's still maybe 3 months of torture, which is quite a long time when its day-in day-out.
It's funny to think if I had been on the other side of the coin, I'd be thinking about shots at 5/10 now!
Instead I'm gonna take a few weeks off, move to a different site and take most of my money out of poker. Maybe start again with $5k at 100nl where I can re-tool my play a bit before making another run at 200nl/400nl. I'm pretty sick of it really and if I didn't think I had a positive expectation of a few $k a month I would happily give up and just play the odd tourney for fun. I have to remember that even in my worst absolute worst months I still made ~$20 an hour after rakeback. I enjoy studying the game, discussing hands etc. but in practice, grinding is frustrating the hell out of me.
After last night's session I withdrew everything I had online. I won't rehash the numbers again, but since I moved back from Belgium I'm ~1 million buyins below EV and in cooler terms I'm somewhere around liquid helium. I have trips, they have boat. I have boat they have quads, I have quads they fold to cbet, I bet flop and turn with top set, they runner straight.
Blah blah blah.
I remember watching a Brian Townsend video a long time ago (maybe even his first one) where he says that you have to be accountable for your own results and if you're not winning, then you've no one to blame but yourself. This is wrong.
If you examine the stretch of hands where I'm 40 buyins below EV (leaving out the stuff I can't qunatify like coolers, as I'm sure my mindset is magnifying this element a bit); say a semi-recreational player plays 100k hand in 6 months at 200nl and runs 40bi above his EV of a modest 3ptbb/100. His EV is about ~$12k so with running hot he's up about $20k. Now say he runs 40bi below EV for that stretch. Now he's only got $4k to show for his 6 months work.
I'm sure this has happened to plenty of people and for medium volume SSNL players a disparity of $16k over 6 months would be pretty big! Even for a higher volume player it's still maybe 3 months of torture, which is quite a long time when its day-in day-out.
It's funny to think if I had been on the other side of the coin, I'd be thinking about shots at 5/10 now!
Instead I'm gonna take a few weeks off, move to a different site and take most of my money out of poker. Maybe start again with $5k at 100nl where I can re-tool my play a bit before making another run at 200nl/400nl. I'm pretty sick of it really and if I didn't think I had a positive expectation of a few $k a month I would happily give up and just play the odd tourney for fun. I have to remember that even in my worst absolute worst months I still made ~$20 an hour after rakeback. I enjoy studying the game, discussing hands etc. but in practice, grinding is frustrating the hell out of me.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Swimming Against the Tide
My fortunes didn't improve in January. I went on to finish the month having played over 40k hands. It ended with a 20 buyin downswing, most of which was all-in EV related and I finished the month about ~$5k below EV, and down a little bit in real money. Also had a delightful hand where I lost a 650bb pot with a fullhouse vs quads. Happened against yesterday but only 200bb pot this time. Luckily rakeback meant I made a few hundred profit for January!
This month has been slightly better. I think I'm up about $1500 from play though still abt $1k bi down in EV
Since Christmas that makes a total of 33 buyins ($7.6k) below EV. I know everyone says 'Oh all-in EV is meaningless, it's just one small indication of how you're running'. Well, unfortunately if the only indication I can put on the graph in front of me so screw you! (and if I were to guess, I'd say I've been on the wrong side of the coolers too :p)
It's pretty annoying trying to grind through it, because you end up learning nothing new. I just spend all my 'study' time reviewing hands and stats to make sure that what I'm doing is OK and my game isn't totally going off the rails, whereas if I was running good and full of confidence I'd be trying new things out at the tables and potentially improving as a player, instead ot the current mode of 'not getting worse'.
One positive is the amount of hands I'm putting in. Most days I manage 1k hands, though there might be something to be said for playing less tables when on a bad run.
I hope to hit 25-30k hands this month and maybe, just maybe I'll run good for the rest of them!
Away from the tables, I'm currently looking to book flights to Canada. I saw last year that there was going to be a conference in Montreal, so I actually did some work to ensure that I'd get a free holiday, as Canada is my 'home away from home'. I'm going to fly in to Montreal at the end of April and attend the conference for 3 days then take a train down to Toronto where I'll stay for a few days and get all nostalgic. I ran good in that the Bluye Jays are at home for the few days I'm there, so I'll def get to 2 if not 3 (gf dependent!) of the games.
There's a lot of flight options so I'm trying to maximise my EV: US Airways are cheap (have to pay for gf's ticket) but they fly a 757 which won't be much fun for 7.5 hrs; American and BA both require doubling back for the connecting flight, meanning the journey is much longer but obv more comfortable; and the final option is to take Aer Lingus to New York. My mate is a pilot on that route so we could prob get free Business class, but then we'd have to make seperate arrangements for getting up and down to Canada, and in these days of 'screw you' air travel, if we miss the connections it could get pricey...decisions, decisions...
Anyway, defo looking forward to a holiday as all my travelling for the last several years has involved moving countries or travelling 8 hours to spend 3 days there for work and back again. Hope for some run-good in the pokers so I can afford front row seats at Skydome (can't call it Rogers' Centre).
This month has been slightly better. I think I'm up about $1500 from play though still abt $1k bi down in EV
Since Christmas that makes a total of 33 buyins ($7.6k) below EV. I know everyone says 'Oh all-in EV is meaningless, it's just one small indication of how you're running'. Well, unfortunately if the only indication I can put on the graph in front of me so screw you! (and if I were to guess, I'd say I've been on the wrong side of the coolers too :p)
It's pretty annoying trying to grind through it, because you end up learning nothing new. I just spend all my 'study' time reviewing hands and stats to make sure that what I'm doing is OK and my game isn't totally going off the rails, whereas if I was running good and full of confidence I'd be trying new things out at the tables and potentially improving as a player, instead ot the current mode of 'not getting worse'.
One positive is the amount of hands I'm putting in. Most days I manage 1k hands, though there might be something to be said for playing less tables when on a bad run.
I hope to hit 25-30k hands this month and maybe, just maybe I'll run good for the rest of them!
Away from the tables, I'm currently looking to book flights to Canada. I saw last year that there was going to be a conference in Montreal, so I actually did some work to ensure that I'd get a free holiday, as Canada is my 'home away from home'. I'm going to fly in to Montreal at the end of April and attend the conference for 3 days then take a train down to Toronto where I'll stay for a few days and get all nostalgic. I ran good in that the Bluye Jays are at home for the few days I'm there, so I'll def get to 2 if not 3 (gf dependent!) of the games.
There's a lot of flight options so I'm trying to maximise my EV: US Airways are cheap (have to pay for gf's ticket) but they fly a 757 which won't be much fun for 7.5 hrs; American and BA both require doubling back for the connecting flight, meanning the journey is much longer but obv more comfortable; and the final option is to take Aer Lingus to New York. My mate is a pilot on that route so we could prob get free Business class, but then we'd have to make seperate arrangements for getting up and down to Canada, and in these days of 'screw you' air travel, if we miss the connections it could get pricey...decisions, decisions...
Anyway, defo looking forward to a holiday as all my travelling for the last several years has involved moving countries or travelling 8 hours to spend 3 days there for work and back again. Hope for some run-good in the pokers so I can afford front row seats at Skydome (can't call it Rogers' Centre).
Swimming Against the Tide
My fortunes didn't improve in January. I went on to finish the month having played over 40k hands. It ended with a 20 buyin downswing, most of which was all-in EV related and I finished the month about ~$5k below EV, and down a little bit in real money. Also had a delightful hand where I lost a 650bb pot with a fullhouse vs quads. Happened again yesterday but only 200bb pot this time. Luckily rakeback meant I made a few hundred profit for January!
This month has been slightly better. I think I'm up about $1500 from play though still abt $1kdown in EV
Since Christmas that makes a total of 33 buyins ($7.6k) below EV. I know everyone says 'Oh all-in EV is meaningless, it's just one small indication of how you're running'. Well, unfortunately if the only indication I can put on the graph in front of me so screw you! (and if I were to guess, I'd say I've been on the wrong side of the coolers too :p)
It's pretty annoying trying to grind through it, because you end up learning nothing new. I just spend all my 'study' time reviewing hands and stats to make sure that what I'm doing is OK and my game isn't totally going off the rails, whereas if I was running good and full of confidence I'd be trying new things out at the tables and potentially improving as a player, instead ot the current mode of 'not getting worse'.
One positive is the amount of hands I'm putting in. Most days I manage 1k hands, though there might be something to be said for playing less tables when on a bad run.
I hope to hit 25-30k hands this month and maybe, just maybe I'll run good for the rest of them!
Away from the tables, I'm currently looking to book flights to Canada. I saw last year that there was going to be a conference in Montreal, so I actually did some work to ensure that I'd get a free holiday, as Canada is my 'home away from home'. I'm going to fly in to Montreal at the end of April and attend the conference for 3 days then take a train down to Toronto where I'll stay for a few days and get all nostalgic. I ran good in that the Bluye Jays are at home for the few days I'm there, so I'll def get to 2 if not 3 (gf dependent!) of the games.
There's a lot of flight options so I'm trying to maximise my EV: US Airways are cheap (have to pay for gf's ticket) but they fly a 757 which won't be much fun for 7.5 hrs; American and BA both require doubling back for the connecting flight, meanning the journey is much longer but obv more comfortable; and the final option is to take Aer Lingus to New York. My mate is a pilot on that route so we could prob get free Business class, but then we'd have to make seperate arrangements for getting up and down to Canada, and in these days of 'screw you' air travel, if we miss the connections it could get pricey...decisions, decisions...
Anyway, defo looking forward to a holiday as all my travelling for the last several years has involved moving countries or travelling 8 hours to spend 3 days there for work and back again. Hope for some run-good in the pokers so I can afford front row seats at Skydome (can't call it Rogers' Centre).
This month has been slightly better. I think I'm up about $1500 from play though still abt $1kdown in EV
Since Christmas that makes a total of 33 buyins ($7.6k) below EV. I know everyone says 'Oh all-in EV is meaningless, it's just one small indication of how you're running'. Well, unfortunately if the only indication I can put on the graph in front of me so screw you! (and if I were to guess, I'd say I've been on the wrong side of the coolers too :p)
It's pretty annoying trying to grind through it, because you end up learning nothing new. I just spend all my 'study' time reviewing hands and stats to make sure that what I'm doing is OK and my game isn't totally going off the rails, whereas if I was running good and full of confidence I'd be trying new things out at the tables and potentially improving as a player, instead ot the current mode of 'not getting worse'.
One positive is the amount of hands I'm putting in. Most days I manage 1k hands, though there might be something to be said for playing less tables when on a bad run.
I hope to hit 25-30k hands this month and maybe, just maybe I'll run good for the rest of them!
Away from the tables, I'm currently looking to book flights to Canada. I saw last year that there was going to be a conference in Montreal, so I actually did some work to ensure that I'd get a free holiday, as Canada is my 'home away from home'. I'm going to fly in to Montreal at the end of April and attend the conference for 3 days then take a train down to Toronto where I'll stay for a few days and get all nostalgic. I ran good in that the Bluye Jays are at home for the few days I'm there, so I'll def get to 2 if not 3 (gf dependent!) of the games.
There's a lot of flight options so I'm trying to maximise my EV: US Airways are cheap (have to pay for gf's ticket) but they fly a 757 which won't be much fun for 7.5 hrs; American and BA both require doubling back for the connecting flight, meanning the journey is much longer but obv more comfortable; and the final option is to take Aer Lingus to New York. My mate is a pilot on that route so we could prob get free Business class, but then we'd have to make seperate arrangements for getting up and down to Canada, and in these days of 'screw you' air travel, if we miss the connections it could get pricey...decisions, decisions...
Anyway, defo looking forward to a holiday as all my travelling for the last several years has involved moving countries or travelling 8 hours to spend 3 days there for work and back again. Hope for some run-good in the pokers so I can afford front row seats at Skydome (can't call it Rogers' Centre).
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Vent
Back to bottom of the barrel. I've played more hands than ever before this month, passing 30k today. It started off slow with a 10k BE stretch then I went on something of a heater albeit a fairly damp one. The past couple of days I've come crashing back down to the tune of $2.5k. I've played about 18k of 200nl and 12k of 400nl. Once again I've up ~$0 at 400nl for the month, and am now a loser there over close to 40k hands, while a 5ptbb winner over 100k+ at 200nl.
I still think, though I made be deluding myself, that I'm good enough to win in the 400nl games for 2-3ptbb. However the longer it goes on, the less you can blame running bad, and the closer to the 'true' situation you get. Now I do believe having researched it, that after 40k hands you're only generally within 5ptbb of your true winrate so there is a chance that I'm genuinely running at the extreme lower band of variance which I'm clinging to desperately. I mean I generally only sit at tables with 2 poor players and I'm not that far behind the level of most 2/4 regulars in terms of thought process. I use virtually all the training aids out there and work pretty freakin hard at the internet pokers so surely I should be able to make a buck from it.
Again I'm on the fence about continuing to play 2/4 with the endless stream of lost coin flip and all-in preflop coolers. Bleagh, whatever no one wants to read my whines.
Since Christmas Eve:
Cliff notes: I suck and made fuck all money so far this month.
I still think, though I made be deluding myself, that I'm good enough to win in the 400nl games for 2-3ptbb. However the longer it goes on, the less you can blame running bad, and the closer to the 'true' situation you get. Now I do believe having researched it, that after 40k hands you're only generally within 5ptbb of your true winrate so there is a chance that I'm genuinely running at the extreme lower band of variance which I'm clinging to desperately. I mean I generally only sit at tables with 2 poor players and I'm not that far behind the level of most 2/4 regulars in terms of thought process. I use virtually all the training aids out there and work pretty freakin hard at the internet pokers so surely I should be able to make a buck from it.
Again I'm on the fence about continuing to play 2/4 with the endless stream of lost coin flip and all-in preflop coolers. Bleagh, whatever no one wants to read my whines.
Since Christmas Eve:
Cliff notes: I suck and made fuck all money so far this month.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Curtains on 2008
So that'd be a year then.
A tale of 2 limits is really what it was for me. Yesterday, I decided I'd have another pop at 400nl as it was probably going to be fishy given the season. Unfortunately the curse continues. I had QQ lose to 56s in a 3bet pot, royal flush draw no good for a stack, QQ lose to AK, QQ lose AA and AK lose to TT all in preflop, and found myself down $2.5k after 1000 hands. I managed to recover it to -$1.5k but finished the session -$1.7k in all-in EV. You really dont need that shit when taking a shot :(
So that session leaves me down $5.5k lifetime at 400nl, and tbh I really havent played that bad. I was almost even, and that entire drop has happened in the last 5k hands. I'm pretty sure I'm a winner in the game, but that's gambling for ya. I'm still well rolled for it, but I think its back to 200nl for another while.
My 200nl graph is nice and I'm at 5.7ptbb over 84k hands. Anyone who compared the two would really think that there was a doomswitch activated for 400nl! I think there's no shame in staying at 200nl and grinding out 5ptbb. I was watching a video recently and the guy was making the point that so many people get caught up trying to be the next superstar, taking shots at higher limits, that they end up not making muc h money because they're a) passing money up the pyramid as they can't beat the higher games, or b) moving up and playing very few tables which doesn't maximise their hourly earn. Its pretty apparent to me that I'm not the next superstar, so I probably should accept my place in the poker ladder of taking $100/hr off the fishes and poor SSNL regulars.
All in all for the year, I made about $20k profit which isn't bad for my first year at it, but coulda been a lot better if I kept away from 400 nl! I'm happy enough with my standard of play and though I obviously have a ton of leaks, I'm generally pretty solid and my dedication to watching videos, reviewing sessions and discussing hands is very good. The only thing I still have trouble with is dealing with variance. If I'm playing and down a bit, I keep trying to grind it back, despite knowing I'm not play ing well, and then afterwards I let it weigh on my mind when I'm doing other things.
Next year I'll definitely keep it up and if I wa s to make some 'goals', they would be to play 250k hands of provisionally 200nl and make $50k but obviously over a 250k sample its hard to predict with much certainty.
Hope you all have a good year!
Rob
A tale of 2 limits is really what it was for me. Yesterday, I decided I'd have another pop at 400nl as it was probably going to be fishy given the season. Unfortunately the curse continues. I had QQ lose to 56s in a 3bet pot, royal flush draw no good for a stack, QQ lose to AK, QQ lose AA and AK lose to TT all in preflop, and found myself down $2.5k after 1000 hands. I managed to recover it to -$1.5k but finished the session -$1.7k in all-in EV. You really dont need that shit when taking a shot :(
So that session leaves me down $5.5k lifetime at 400nl, and tbh I really havent played that bad. I was almost even, and that entire drop has happened in the last 5k hands. I'm pretty sure I'm a winner in the game, but that's gambling for ya. I'm still well rolled for it, but I think its back to 200nl for another while.
My 200nl graph is nice and I'm at 5.7ptbb over 84k hands. Anyone who compared the two would really think that there was a doomswitch activated for 400nl! I think there's no shame in staying at 200nl and grinding out 5ptbb. I
All in all for the year, I made about $20k profit which isn't bad for my first year at it, but coulda been a lot better if I kept away from 400
Next year I'll definitely keep it up and if I wa
Hope you all have a good year!
Rob
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Nearly Settled Again
So I made it back without any major catastrophe, though it was a seriously annoying month and I won't be in a hurry to move country again. The trip itself went ok, apart from the van rental company putting the wrong fuel cap on the Transit, but it's nothing my mates boot and a wheel brace couldn't get the better of :-) Things nearly got ugly when we went to return the van though!
Also, if you're ever presented with opportunity to stay in one of those Forumla 1 hotels on the continent, DONT! What a nightmare. They're the Ryanair of hotels. You dont even get a toilet in your room, and ones in the hallway are like aeroplane toilets. They auto-lock when you're done and clean themselves. The dining facilities consist of a vending machine, and there's no staff on the premises between 6pm and 8am!
Eventually we made it to the boat, despite the French motorways which have absolutely no lighting or visual aids and are pretty lethal after dark imo. The new Irish Ferries ship is really nice, much better than the one that went before it. Much cleaner and smoother and the facilities on board are much better. We went for the 5 star suite cabin just to make the journey a bit more tolerable and it was sweet.
Back to poker, I only got settled in the new house last week and I'm currently just using a neighbour's wireless internet. NTL are coming tomorrow to install the 20MB package. I played about 1500 hands and I suppose I'm just using the rest of December to get back into things. I think the months break did me a lot of good, and I'm thinking much clearer now, but obviously I'm very rusty in certain spots. I've been posting a few hands on boards each day and I'll keep that up for a while until I'm on top of the basics again. Pretty annoying hand yesterday where I misclick opened 55 on the button to $46 and then the SB who's already gotten ATo in against me with no history shoved. It was obvious he was trying it on and I think I had to call it off but I had no luck vs his KQs! I should get one more update in before the year is out.
Also, if you're ever presented with opportunity to stay in one of those Forumla 1 hotels on the continent, DONT! What a nightmare. They're the Ryanair of hotels. You dont even get a toilet in your room, and ones in the hallway are like aeroplane toilets. They auto-lock when you're done and clean themselves. The dining facilities consist of a vending machine, and there's no staff on the premises between 6pm and 8am!
Eventually we made it to the boat, despite the French motorways which have absolutely no lighting or visual aids and are pretty lethal after dark imo. The new Irish Ferries ship is really nice, much better than the one that went before it. Much cleaner and smoother and the facilities on board are much better. We went for the 5 star suite cabin just to make the journey a bit more tolerable and it was sweet.
Back to poker, I only got settled in the new house last week and I'm currently just using a neighbour's wireless internet. NTL are coming tomorrow to install the 20MB package. I played about 1500 hands and I suppose I'm just using the rest of December to get back into things. I think the months break did me a lot of good, and I'm thinking much clearer now, but obviously I'm very rusty in certain spots. I've been posting a few hands on boards each day and I'll keep that up for a while until I'm on top of the basics again. Pretty annoying hand yesterday where I misclick opened 55 on the button to $46 and then the SB who's already gotten ATo in against me with no history shoved. It was obvious he was trying it on and I think I had to call it off but I had no luck vs his KQs! I should get one more update in before the year is out.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Back Seat Time for Poker
I'm currently packing up my apartment here in Belgium. I'm finishing work on the 19th and we're out of here on the 26th. Some friends are driving a Transit over from Dublin (all the way in one day..ugh) and we're gonna pack up our stuff from here and drive to Cherbourg for the ferry to Rosslare. There's quite an amount of shit to do when moving countries and I won't be sad when its all done with. I still have to organise all of the stuff on the other side like a house in Dublin, a car, and thats all before the usual Christmas madness.
All of this means that I'll have very little time for poker over the next while. This suits me fine. My bad run of late culminated on Saturday with me playing 3.5k hands like a complete robot just trying to get unstuck after getting off to a slow start. During the course or my extended downswing, all imagination has completely gone from my play. I just load up 6-8 tables, dont pay any attention to hand reading and wait to run good. The longer this goes on, the more you really forget why you're doing anything. At the end of that session I literally didn't know anymore what hands were good to be cold calling from the blinds vs. certain guys etc...just a total mental block. The auto-pilot thing might be ok if you table select, but of course I just played on any old table waiting to run good.
Anyhows the breakeven stretch is something like 45k hands now which is godawful but that's life. Looking at Leatherass' well it seems that this is possible in the normal run of things though I'm in no way putting it all down to variance. I realise that I'm not very good into the bargain. I ran good all Summer so I can't complain about the year overall. I started with $900 playing 20nl and 50nl and I made it up to about $24k (currently $19k). I'm gonna take out a fair bit as I promised myself I could buy a ridiculous car with a big engine if I took the money for the road tax from poker. I also need to withdraw some for a new TV and various other crap. Might as well enjoy some luxuries to make up for the last 2 months of frustration :)
If I do play over the next few weeks , it'll just be 2 tables where I'm really trying to apply the stuff I pick up from training videos and articles etc. Its really a curse playing too many tables before you're a good player, so my plan is to be able to implement stuff which goes beyond the basics on 2 tables and then hopefully it'll sink in to my thought process and I'll be a much better player on 4-6 tables after that.
When I get back into it properly my main goal is to get enough together for a month in Vegas in the Summer and a maybe a shot at a WSOP-ament or two, which is a very reasonable goal. Obviously next on the list is enough for a new model (like 02-03) 7-series!! Hmm I'm rambling now. Gonna miss this Belgian beer!
All of this means that I'll have very little time for poker over the next while. This suits me fine. My bad run of late culminated on Saturday with me playing 3.5k hands like a complete robot just trying to get unstuck after getting off to a slow start. During the course or my extended downswing, all imagination has completely gone from my play. I just load up 6-8 tables, dont pay any attention to hand reading and wait to run good. The longer this goes on, the more you really forget why you're doing anything. At the end of that session I literally didn't know anymore what hands were good to be cold calling from the blinds vs. certain guys etc...just a total mental block. The auto-pilot thing might be ok if you table select, but of course I just played on any old table waiting to run good.
Anyhows the breakeven stretch is something like 45k hands now which is godawful but that's life. Looking at Leatherass' well it seems that this is possible in the normal run of things though I'm in no way putting it all down to variance. I realise that I'm not very good into the bargain. I ran good all Summer so I can't complain about the year overall. I started with $900 playing 20nl and 50nl and I made it up to about $24k (currently $19k). I'm gonna take out a fair bit as I promised myself I could buy a ridiculous car with a big engine if I took the money for the road tax from poker. I also need to withdraw some for a new TV and various other crap. Might as well enjoy some luxuries to make up for the last 2 months of frustration :)
If I do play over the next few weeks , it'll just be 2 tables where I'm really trying to apply the stuff I pick up from training videos and articles etc. Its really a curse playing too many tables before you're a good player, so my plan is to be able to implement stuff which goes beyond the basics on 2 tables and then hopefully it'll sink in to my thought process and I'll be a much better player on 4-6 tables after that.
When I get back into it properly my main goal is to get enough together for a month in Vegas in the Summer and a maybe a shot at a WSOP-ament or two, which is a very reasonable goal. Obviously next on the list is enough for a new model (like 02-03) 7-series!! Hmm I'm rambling now. Gonna miss this Belgian beer!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Fuck
Title says it all really. Was going along ok for the month...gettin to grips with 400nl then came the disaster as you can see on the graph. I'd say at leasy 1k of the downswing is pure tilt, where I valuetown donks for 2 streets and then they shove the river when the board pairs and I tilt call just to verify they have trips (they do). I really played shit for the last 5k hands and paid for it. Dropped to 200nl there today after dropping 1.2k at 400nl and then got stacked twice with QQ aipf. When it rains it pours obv. Pretty much feel like breaking stuff now and had the usual thoughts of withdrawing the lot. Standard. That'll subside in a few days and I'll start afresh for November and hopefully not spew so much. I might just play 200nl coz I'm so fucking bad and sick of donating at 400nl for now. Now its time for an exceptionally large beer and to find a bit of perspective on the fact that I'm enraged that I 'only' netted $2k (after RB etc) for playing a game on the PC for the month.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
One Orbit of HSNL
I decided to move up (3) levels on Saturday when I saw some complete idiots at 10/20nl. The 3 of them had about $400 max so I bought in for that much. First hand I played it was folded to my SB and I had ATo, and the BB had $100 so easy ship and hold up againstK3s. Next hand is here: http://weaktight.com/451096. I laughed a lot and then sat out when the BB got around to me again, for a profit of about $650. Great fun...must keep an eye out on future Saturday nights.
Today, like a moth at a lightbulb I played cash at B2Bagain and dropped e380 in 450 hands. I'm running 8 buyins below EV there in 7.5k hands and now for sure am not playing there anymore. Doing pretty good on Everest though even after a terribad start to things, the graph is below. Might play a bit tomorrow, then its back to Ireland for the IPO, which I'm lookin forward to. I'll write a report on my run there, however short it may be!
Ciao
Today, like a moth at a lightbulb I played cash at B2Bagain and dropped e380 in 450 hands. I'm running 8 buyins below EV there in 7.5k hands and now for sure am not playing there anymore. Doing pretty good on Everest though even after a terribad start to things, the graph is below. Might play a bit tomorrow, then its back to Ireland for the IPO, which I'm lookin forward to. I'll write a report on my run there, however short it may be!
Ciao
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
End of a Long Month
Tough month. Feel like I ran bad for a LOT of it, but everyone says that when they're not kickin' ass. It contained my epic-est breakeven stretch of my 'career' to date. Obviously because I was struggling, I played the most hands I ever did in a month. 5k hands of 2/4, where I made exactly nothing and ran $1k below EV....standard for me at 2/4 :( 1/2 wasn't great either where I won at 3.3 ptbb over 16.7k hands and the same rate at .50/1 over 3k hands.
Stats look good all the same at 20/15/2.8 with 44% W$WSF, which is a record for me.WSD is at 27% and W$SD is at 56% which are both solid too I think..and yet I'm on my worst stretch in ages...conventional wisdom is wrong. Still 3-betting virtually never which is probably bad, but the way I naturally seem to play...I'm happy to take regulars on under my terms in single raised pots where I think I play better. I should try and do it a little more, but they pay me off on my big hands anyway so why bother! Twice this month aggro guys have gotten in A7 pre-flop against me (both won against my JJ and AK of course).
Bankroll currently stands in the mid 19's. Need to get motoring if I wanna hit my year end goal of 30k. It should be doable, I don't think $3-4k a month is beyond me.
With any luck I'll win the IPO in October and that'll do the trick ;-) I'll write a trip report of it anyway, which should make for more interesting reading than these mundane updates I normally make. It should be funny. I've barely played a hand of live poker in my life, so I hope people don't get too annoyed at my inevitable stream of mistakes.
Bonuses/Tourneys: $1300
Net profit: $3750
Stats look good all the same at 20/15/2.8 with 44% W$WSF, which is a record for me.WSD is at 27% and W$SD is at 56% which are both solid too I think..and yet I'm on my worst stretch in ages...conventional wisdom is wrong. Still 3-betting virtually never which is probably bad, but the way I naturally seem to play...I'm happy to take regulars on under my terms in single raised pots where I think I play better. I should try and do it a little more, but they pay me off on my big hands anyway so why bother! Twice this month aggro guys have gotten in A7 pre-flop against me (both won against my JJ and AK of course).
Bankroll currently stands in the mid 19's. Need to get motoring if I wanna hit my year end goal of 30k. It should be doable, I don't think $3-4k a month is beyond me.
With any luck I'll win the IPO in October and that'll do the trick ;-) I'll write a trip report of it anyway, which should make for more interesting reading than these mundane updates I normally make. It should be funny. I've barely played a hand of live poker in my life, so I hope people don't get too annoyed at my inevitable stream of mistakes.
Winnings for the month: $2450
Bonuses/Tourneys: $1300
Net profit: $3750
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Pretty Sick
Sick in more ways than one. I've been off work the past couple of days with a cold/flu type of thing. Great, I can get some hands in! No. $1700 down in 2k hands, $1200 in all-in EV. That leaves me up an awesome $1150 through play in 18.3k hands for the month. Not really in line with the $4-5k/month I thought I could knock out. I'm not really that bothered.
As I said before, I would like to get together enough to put together a deposit for a house through poker as I'm far too bad at saving to do it in real life, then I'd probably consider the whole venture a success. I suppose that about $40k or so would get the job done. We're gonna rent a place for a year when I get home to Ireland in November so that gives me a bit over a year to get it together (though I'll be taking bit for a holiday next Summer too), so $4-5k a month gets me there, which I think I can manage at $1/$2 if I carry on playing 20k+ a month.
My motivation to move up is pretty low. From $2/$4 up its mostly regs at the tables, and I just don't have the interest in eeking out a slight edge over them getting in 3/4/5 bet wars and dealing with the increased variance. I've worked pretty damn hard to get from $10nl to here in less than a year and I feel like I'm getting to the point now where the extra effort to get better is greater than the reward for gettin there. Most people say 3-4ptbb/100 is very good at 400nl. But if I can beat 200nl for 5 or 6ptbb, play more tables, way over-rolled and have less stress and variance then why not?!
That reminds me, Everest is starting to get annoying. The utterly retarded speed of the software (80hph max) and the top-up feature along with the growing number of decent aggressive regulars makes me wanna move some money elsewhere. I was going to put some on Stars, but a) I dont know if it'd be any better, and b) gettin a large sum of money on there is painful to the max.
Meh.
As I said before, I would like to get together enough to put together a deposit for a house through poker as I'm far too bad at saving to do it in real life, then I'd probably consider the whole venture a success. I suppose that about $40k or so would get the job done. We're gonna rent a place for a year when I get home to Ireland in November so that gives me a bit over a year to get it together (though I'll be taking bit for a holiday next Summer too), so $4-5k a month gets me there, which I think I can manage at $1/$2 if I carry on playing 20k+ a month.
My motivation to move up is pretty low. From $2/$4 up its mostly regs at the tables, and I just don't have the interest in eeking out a slight edge over them getting in 3/4/5 bet wars and dealing with the increased variance. I've worked pretty damn hard to get from $10nl to here in less than a year and I feel like I'm getting to the point now where the extra effort to get better is greater than the reward for gettin there. Most people say 3-4ptbb/100 is very good at 400nl. But if I can beat 200nl for 5 or 6ptbb, play more tables, way over-rolled and have less stress and variance then why not?!
That reminds me, Everest is starting to get annoying. The utterly retarded speed of the software (80hph max) and the top-up feature along with the growing number of decent aggressive regulars makes me wanna move some money elsewhere. I was going to put some on Stars, but a) I dont know if it'd be any better, and b) gettin a large sum of money on there is painful to the max.
Meh.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Wake Me Up When September Ends
So it goes on. Got off to a slow start this month down $1k after 3k hands, but I''ve been on a bit of a heater since and I'm up $1.3k now and Everest gave me an extra bonus which I've cleared about $250 of, then I won $350 in some Betdaq free tourney so that's a total of just shy of $2k for the month, and the bankroll stands at $18k or maybe a shade under.
I'm a joke though. I'm still not happy at $400nl playing nitty coz I'm not happy losing that much at once. That's just ridiculous really...45 buyins and still affected! I suppose I'll get comfortable eventually. As it happens, it doesn't really matter as MSNL on Everest appears to have dried up completely, so I'm left playing $200nl most of the time, which is fine as it lets me keep working on things and ramping up the aggression and exploring new lines vs regulars I have good reads on and the money is pretty good there too.
If I were to set a goal for the month it would be to be over $20k, but goals are silly.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
August Wrapup
Another month in the books poker-wise as I'm heading back to Ireland tomorrow for a few days. I got over the 20k hands mark which I'm happy with and want to keep up but it was one of the less enjoyable months of my career for definite.
I moved to 400nl and got battered by variance as outlined in a previous post. However, 200nl was good and I made just over $5k there in 15k hands to offset the just over $3k I lost at 400nl.
The graph below doesn't show about $500 I lost when something when screwy with my computer, and also 200euro I lost on Betdaq when flopping the nuts and getting the money in wasn't enough :-(
Even 200nl was fairly crappy towards the end of the month. As the graph shows, another 5k breakeven (that my not be over yet!!) Although the games were very good, I couldn't make a hand which is quite important when playing against people who dont fold! As a result, my non-showdown numbers went very poor, but I finished the month today at a high point in terms of $ won which is nice
I think I have just short of $16k now...meh what a long breakeven stretch, but thems the breaks. Hopefully I can still get to my target of $30k by the end of the year. I'm going to work away at 200nl for another while, and I plan to have another pop at 400nl when I get close to 20k. As ridiculous as it may sound, I'm just not comfortable with the money and another 8 buyin downswing there would kill my spirit so I'll wait a while and try to keep improving at 200nl. Its not like I 'need' to move up. Anyways...back in September to breach the $20k barrier if all goes well! Good luck.
Winning for August: ~$1200
RB and Bonus: ~$800
Total Profit: ~$2000
Friday, August 15, 2008
Keeping at it
I've dropped down for the time being to 200nl. I find it much more relaxing to play than I found 400, and I'm happy to just grind away there for now. My lifetime graph for 200nl is below and I'm quite happy with it. I was just very unlucky to run into so many coolers during my brief stay at 400. Very flippin expensive!! There are a lot of the same players as I saw at 400nl and they are similarly aggressive, but the fact that I'm more comfortable with the monetary amounts at 200nl means I'm much more willing to take them on and play back at them.
My recent bad run has again succeeded in helping me to see the big picture and I'm better at forgetting about the result and not setting goals than I used to be. I just play now and only if I'm in the mood, and only if the games were good.
There was a while were I was a bit obsessed by the whole thing, so it's nice to ne enjoying it more again, and if the money comes, then grand. Though thats not to say that I won't still work hard, watch videos, review hands etc.
I played a hand today which I thought was interesting, but I'm not sure if I should be happy with it or if I just got the right result.
***** Hand History for Game 3587528006 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 15, 02:23:47 ET 2008
Table Suva9 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Villain ( $942.10 USD )
Seat 2: ChrisNL1 ( $197.00 USD )
Seat 3: dufcco ( $199.00 USD )
Seat 4: Hero ( $264.00 USD )
Seat 5: peps03 ( $393.30 USD )
Seat 6: marotta4ever ( $1045.78 USD )
peps03 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
marotta4ever posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
Dealt to Hero [ Js Ah ]
** Dealing down cards **
Villain raises [$7.00 USD]
ChrisNL1 foldsdufcco folds
Hero calls [$7.00 USD]
peps03 folds
marotta4ever calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, 9s, 4s ]
marotta4ever checks
Villain checks
Hero checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ac ]
marotta4ever checks
Villain bets [$16.00 USD]
Hero calls [$16.00 USD]
marotta4ever folds
** Dealing River ** [ Ts ]
Villain bets [$30.00 USD]
Hero raises [$95.00 USD]
Villain folds
I think my AJ doesn't beat a whole lot on the river as every other realistic Ace beats me now. I guess calling here pre-flop is actually a bad after an UTG raise but anyway. My thinking on the river was that calling would be pretty bad, but really all he (19/16/3 and definitely solid player) can have is a one pair type hand (AK, AQ most of the time imo) that can't stand much heat, and that its very possible for me to have a flush the way the hand was played. I figured that turning my hand into a bluff was the best play here. Maybe I would have bet a FD when checked to me on the flop but I think I could conceivably check it behind as the other guy in the hand was an idiot.
I'd like to hear some comments on it. Maybe its not rocket science but I'm happy that I managed to work in something of a decent thought process while the hand was being played. I really want to become better at assigning ranges and playing accordingly, instead of just taking standard lines.
My recent bad run has again succeeded in helping me to see the big picture and I'm better at forgetting about the result and not setting goals than I used to be. I just play now and only if I'm in the mood, and only if the games were good.
There was a while were I was a bit obsessed by the whole thing, so it's nice to ne enjoying it more again, and if the money comes, then grand. Though thats not to say that I won't still work hard, watch videos, review hands etc.
I played a hand today which I thought was interesting, but I'm not sure if I should be happy with it or if I just got the right result.
***** Hand History for Game 3587528006 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 15, 02:23:47 ET 2008
Table Suva9 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Villain ( $942.10 USD )
Seat 2: ChrisNL1 ( $197.00 USD )
Seat 3: dufcco ( $199.00 USD )
Seat 4: Hero ( $264.00 USD )
Seat 5: peps03 ( $393.30 USD )
Seat 6: marotta4ever ( $1045.78 USD )
peps03 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
marotta4ever posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
Dealt to Hero [ Js Ah ]
** Dealing down cards **
Villain raises [$7.00 USD]
ChrisNL1 foldsdufcco folds
Hero calls [$7.00 USD]
peps03 folds
marotta4ever calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, 9s, 4s ]
marotta4ever checks
Villain checks
Hero checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ac ]
marotta4ever checks
Villain bets [$16.00 USD]
Hero calls [$16.00 USD]
marotta4ever folds
** Dealing River ** [ Ts ]
Villain bets [$30.00 USD]
Hero raises [$95.00 USD]
Villain folds
I think my AJ doesn't beat a whole lot on the river as every other realistic Ace beats me now. I guess calling here pre-flop is actually a bad after an UTG raise but anyway. My thinking on the river was that calling would be pretty bad, but really all he (19/16/3 and definitely solid player) can have is a one pair type hand (AK, AQ most of the time imo) that can't stand much heat, and that its very possible for me to have a flush the way the hand was played. I figured that turning my hand into a bluff was the best play here. Maybe I would have bet a FD when checked to me on the flop but I think I could conceivably check it behind as the other guy in the hand was an idiot.
I'd like to hear some comments on it. Maybe its not rocket science but I'm happy that I managed to work in something of a decent thought process while the hand was being played. I really want to become better at assigning ranges and playing accordingly, instead of just taking standard lines.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Wrong Way Around imo
Terrible month so far...I'm killing $200nl and getting killed at $400nl. For the most part its just stupid coolers. I've been stacked 11 times in 5k hands at 400nl and 9 of them were either set-over-set or all in pre-flop with QQ+ and losing. The only saving grace was winning back to back all-in pots with a guy when he had $1500 and I had $500. Otherwise it'd be a complete write off and I'd probably have quit by now, but I'm still down 8 buyins in my last 1500 hands in the last 2 days at 400nl, including: QQ
I'm also playing like a scared idiot most of the time and so for now, I've decided to not bother will 400nl for another while....probably until I have 40 buyins again. Meanwhile at 200nl I've won $2k in <4k>8ptbb over 32k at 200nl so I must be doing something right.
Anyway, I'll use this time at 200nl to work on my game vs. the ever increasing aggro of the regs. I've improved a little bit in that regard lately but more to do.
Moving up is hard.
400nl
200nl
Friday, August 1, 2008
July in the Books
So the aforementioned downswing halted at 16 buyins, and the punishment Everest handed out for leaving seems to be over. I've been doing ok the last few days, including a $1k day at 200nl on Thursday. I'm playing pretty well and opening up EVER so slowly, playin 20/17 ish with good aggression. My main mistake now is not 3-betting enough. It's down at about 3.8%. The problem is that I forget to 3-bet light when I'm playing 6 tables, so most of the time I'm only doing it for value, though I did pick a nice spot for a cold 4-bet today which was a thing of beauty. August will be a mix of 200nl and 400nl. I hope to stop being scared money at 400nl soon, as I'm currently running at about 13/9 there!
In total I played about 22k hands.
Lost $1100 on Betdaq
Profit on Everest of $3700
Bonus and RB of $430
for a Net Profit of about $3030
In total I played about 22k hands.
Lost $1100 on Betdaq
Profit on Everest of $3700
Bonus and RB of $430
for a Net Profit of about $3030
Bankroll currently stands at just under $15k. It'd be nice to touch the $20k mark this month and its possible if I run good for the month, but maybe a bit ambitious. I learned a good bit about ignoring results and playing each hand on its merits during my recent downswing, so I don't have any realy targets except playing good and continuing to study hard!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tempt Fate Would We?
Good Jaysus...I will never post about doing well again. Entraction network is rigged beyond all belief...Went back to Everest to find it was also rigged now. Dropped $3.5k, or 11 buyins in less than a week. Time for a break. Hopefully I won't hate poker for too long. Bankroll still at about $13.5k I think... so not the end of the world but a serious f#$%#$n kick in the guts.
YOU KNOW IT.
YOU KNOW IT.
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