Well, what a shame January had to end. I had a mediocre last week, mainly just avoiding too much damage, but still profiting almost every day. Then Friday, BAM!!! $400 in 6 max at OnGame, and $350 at pokerstars, mainly from a big tilted NL100 HU player. So not a little finish to the month by any means.
Obviously this just tops what has been by far my best month, well and trully cracking a $2K month in terms of poker profit. Obviously I want this to be my smallest month this year in terms of profit, and just as obviously I know this won't happen. Swings are inevitable, and while I thought late Jan would brings more downswings, it just never happened.
However, I still think it has to happen in Feb, so I'm just going to strive to keep playing as well as possible, and do what I need to do to give myself better long term expectancy this month. Goals will follow when I create some.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Got HEM
Well, I got some inspiration of some sort, and researched HEM a bit, after noticing they support OnGame properly now. So I spent some time setting that up last night, and though it wasn't super smooth, I managed to get it as I wanted it pretty much on the first night without much effort. I was playing some NL10 to trial it, and even turned on mini-tables, but on my already smaller screen (15" laptop with big resolution) I just wasn't comfortable with that. Obviously, I'd love to 5-6 table, and the mini-tables make that possible, so once I'm looking at more than 3 tabling, I will re-invest time with them.
My NL100 session followed, and I felt kind of out of it at first, donking off here and there, mainly getting sucked out on and paying off, but I was getting dealt a lot of big hands and getting action which is usually good. In the end I payed off with KK vs AQ when he hit an ace, to reduce my breakeven night to a $60 loss. But even that was lucky, as I hit a huge drawing/made hand on the river where I wasn't quite favourite when the money went in. Also I just generally hit some good hands when I didn't get sucked out on.
I headed over to HU, and things were pretty standard (down a bit) until I played a $15 short stack. He twice got it in bad and lost (with a "gg" after each reload), then reloaded to $30 the 3rd time. I caught a magic turn card in a spot and he paid off, and starting talking about his bad luck. This was a bad idea. He ran like crap after that, and almost every pot greater than a cbet ended up either him or me sucking out on turn/river cards. I think I called a few bad spots, but was getting rewarded :) It wasn't terrible either, usually he'd have me coolered, like Q high, QJ vs KQ and hitting a Jack on the end. I mean that is terrible, but it's not like I was getting it in really light and then just hit a card on the river, I did have a hand before that, but was certainly running above expectation on river cards. He wasn't pleased to say the least, and commented a few times that even though I came out +2 full BI's, he was the better player. He also whinged that this session crippled his nice night before that. But honestly, if you think you can win a good session, then cap it off at HU, you are mistaken. It's a wild ride here, and while it's saved my night, or capped it off before, it's also buried my bad nights even worse too. Still on this occasion, it did in fact save my night somewhat, I ended up profitable.
I'm debating whether to get the last few points I need to make Silverstar on Pokerstars for the month, or just grind out OnGame for a much more likely winrate. Is the extra FPP's you can gain worth anything at all? I don't know but playing a little HU won't quite get me there, I probably need to 3 table NL50 or NL100 for a couple of hours to properly reach it.
My NL100 session followed, and I felt kind of out of it at first, donking off here and there, mainly getting sucked out on and paying off, but I was getting dealt a lot of big hands and getting action which is usually good. In the end I payed off with KK vs AQ when he hit an ace, to reduce my breakeven night to a $60 loss. But even that was lucky, as I hit a huge drawing/made hand on the river where I wasn't quite favourite when the money went in. Also I just generally hit some good hands when I didn't get sucked out on.
I headed over to HU, and things were pretty standard (down a bit) until I played a $15 short stack. He twice got it in bad and lost (with a "gg" after each reload), then reloaded to $30 the 3rd time. I caught a magic turn card in a spot and he paid off, and starting talking about his bad luck. This was a bad idea. He ran like crap after that, and almost every pot greater than a cbet ended up either him or me sucking out on turn/river cards. I think I called a few bad spots, but was getting rewarded :) It wasn't terrible either, usually he'd have me coolered, like Q high, QJ vs KQ and hitting a Jack on the end. I mean that is terrible, but it's not like I was getting it in really light and then just hit a card on the river, I did have a hand before that, but was certainly running above expectation on river cards. He wasn't pleased to say the least, and commented a few times that even though I came out +2 full BI's, he was the better player. He also whinged that this session crippled his nice night before that. But honestly, if you think you can win a good session, then cap it off at HU, you are mistaken. It's a wild ride here, and while it's saved my night, or capped it off before, it's also buried my bad nights even worse too. Still on this occasion, it did in fact save my night somewhat, I ended up profitable.
I'm debating whether to get the last few points I need to make Silverstar on Pokerstars for the month, or just grind out OnGame for a much more likely winrate. Is the extra FPP's you can gain worth anything at all? I don't know but playing a little HU won't quite get me there, I probably need to 3 table NL50 or NL100 for a couple of hours to properly reach it.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Breaking even in style
Well, another few days of poker are over with, and really, I've perfected how someone should break even, all on Pokderstars:
* Lose some in satellites for the Sunday majors
* Win some back in HU cash
* Donk off 200BB trying to get a nit off top trips in 6 max NL100
* Lose more in satellites for the Sunday million
* Buy into the Sunday million because you can't win a seat
* Mincash in that
* Lose some playing HU cash
* Move up to NL100 HU cash while losing, lose another BI there and win a BI and a bit back against another
And that's it. How to break even at poker, the interesting way. With some of the crazy pots I've lost in the last few days, it's barely believable my Pokerstars account didn't bust. What's even crazier is you pay a shit load of rake and don't really get any FPP's to show for it all, but that's another story.
The Sunday Million was fun, although once you reach the 1.5K blinds, everyone just shuts down and waits for the nutz, as you are all 20-30BB deep and can't do much else. Not really exciting. My 3rd hour was absolutely card dead, and in the end, I had to make a stand against the one aggressive player. He'd noticed both I and my left players were tight, so he was getting raises in before I could try any steals. I finally 3 bet him, and he insta folded, and NEVER raised again. It was like a leaking tap that was suddenly turned off properly, amazing. So this allowed me to steal enough to cruise into the money. At that point I ran QQ into the powerhouse that is A5o all in pre flop, and shortly after died trying to keep alive, when my A8s ran into AK, and was virtually dead when a king flopped. Interesting, but not as fun as I thought, because there really wasn't much poker after the first few levels. as everyone just fought to stay above 20BB's. Possibly the worst player at my table finished the deepest when I look at the results, so lol donkaments.
In the coming week, I'll have a few different things to think about. One is about showdowns. As a very brief, there is one time where your hand is important, and that's when it's shown down. It needs to beat your opponents hand at that point, but if it's not shown down, it doesn't need to be better. I want to think about this some more and flesh it out a bit. The other is to do with reprocity, which Tommy Angelo goes into depth about. His theory is if we flopped top set and stacked our opponent with their mid set, we've made $0 long term, because we also would have stacked off with mid set in the same situation. However, to make you a winning player, you must be doing things your opponents are not. Yet, this is really hard to understand just what these are sometimes for me, so I want to think about it a bit.
* Lose some in satellites for the Sunday majors
* Win some back in HU cash
* Donk off 200BB trying to get a nit off top trips in 6 max NL100
* Lose more in satellites for the Sunday million
* Buy into the Sunday million because you can't win a seat
* Mincash in that
* Lose some playing HU cash
* Move up to NL100 HU cash while losing, lose another BI there and win a BI and a bit back against another
And that's it. How to break even at poker, the interesting way. With some of the crazy pots I've lost in the last few days, it's barely believable my Pokerstars account didn't bust. What's even crazier is you pay a shit load of rake and don't really get any FPP's to show for it all, but that's another story.
The Sunday Million was fun, although once you reach the 1.5K blinds, everyone just shuts down and waits for the nutz, as you are all 20-30BB deep and can't do much else. Not really exciting. My 3rd hour was absolutely card dead, and in the end, I had to make a stand against the one aggressive player. He'd noticed both I and my left players were tight, so he was getting raises in before I could try any steals. I finally 3 bet him, and he insta folded, and NEVER raised again. It was like a leaking tap that was suddenly turned off properly, amazing. So this allowed me to steal enough to cruise into the money. At that point I ran QQ into the powerhouse that is A5o all in pre flop, and shortly after died trying to keep alive, when my A8s ran into AK, and was virtually dead when a king flopped. Interesting, but not as fun as I thought, because there really wasn't much poker after the first few levels. as everyone just fought to stay above 20BB's. Possibly the worst player at my table finished the deepest when I look at the results, so lol donkaments.
In the coming week, I'll have a few different things to think about. One is about showdowns. As a very brief, there is one time where your hand is important, and that's when it's shown down. It needs to beat your opponents hand at that point, but if it's not shown down, it doesn't need to be better. I want to think about this some more and flesh it out a bit. The other is to do with reprocity, which Tommy Angelo goes into depth about. His theory is if we flopped top set and stacked our opponent with their mid set, we've made $0 long term, because we also would have stacked off with mid set in the same situation. However, to make you a winning player, you must be doing things your opponents are not. Yet, this is really hard to understand just what these are sometimes for me, so I want to think about it a bit.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Heaterville
I have had yet another big day of winnings. It's rediculous, I've never come close to seeing the money rolling in that's rolling in every other night right now. I'm talking about more than my entire bankroll in October, a few separate times in the last week.
So last night didn't start ordinary. I had a lot of time to play, but I'm not really feeling comfortable playing the 500 hands of 6 max I'm setting myself. Still very early on I got a double up when I flopped a set. I then flopped a set or had an overpair in one or two other spots, and apart from the short stack flipping well against me or a couple of missed bluffs or laydowns, I was running over tables. In fact the best spot was when I had an image of an aggro donk, after missing with a couple of bluffs, so the following hand was perfect. I raised KJo and villain, very tired of me barrelling him, called once more PF (haven't you heard of a 3 bet?). He was tight except for my opens, and had folded a lot to me postflop, so I knew he was ready to play back. I flopped the OESD on QTx and see no reason not to bet and get called. I had barrelled before, and probably was going to again, when the ace brought me the nutz. Perfect situation, I definitely barrell now, as it looks like a typical turn scare card raise. He minraises and it's all I can do to stop laughing, as he either has a set, is splitting with KJ himself, or has a big problem on his hands. I contemplate calling, but his minraise actually looks very strong (I'd be folding a lot of hands), and shove the remaining. he snap calls with 2 pair and misses his 4 outs, for another stack in my direction.
Not much else happened, but after 370 hands, I found another 3 BI's in my account. I quit for a while, very pleased, then came back to donk at Pokerstars HU. I couldn't get a table, either players sitting out when I arrived, or playing 2 hands and then sitting out. I must be on some database as running hot right now. Eventually 1 player sat down with $30 and I got some action. It didn't take long to ruffle his feathers with some 4 bets and check raises, and of course, when he goes with it, I have close to the nutz and stack him. He reloads for $30 more, and I take another couple of small pots. He then reloads for $50, and that hand I stack him again, right after he reloaded to $50, rather than losing $20 less. A beautiful thing as my J9 flops two pair, turns a house and the river gives him a straight. He left. I couldn't get another game, so decided to 1 table NL100 6 max on Pokerstars. 1 fish, 4 nits and me. 1 nit tries a 3 bet or 2, but doesn't like my 4 bet. The rest get out of my way every single raise, and the fish comes along most of the time. I split one pot where we stacked off with the same weakish hand, then stack him good for $60. I basically steal flops and blinds from that point on, and finish up $70.
Huge heater like activity happening here, and it's a beautiful thing. It's hard to imagine this won't help fuel my interest in poker for some time to come, even if things do "normalise" in a horrible way.
On to my targets, I finally spoke to Joseph (coach) for the first time in a long while, and he suggested 5ptbb/100 is a little high to aim for. He said that's a very big winrate over a long period, and warned me not to get my hopes up. That's really unfortunate to hear, but we agreed that 3.5 would be solid and more reasonable, so I'm still aiming at 5 including my bonus/rakeback amounts. I will start the trek for leaks by having a lesson with him Friday, and will otherwise start to plan more coaching sessions after our initial 4 have finished. It's a little expensive to do too many, but when I think about how much 1ptbb/100 means in long term dollar terms, every little bit helps. I won't play tonight, but will look through pokertracker looking for leaks.
So last night didn't start ordinary. I had a lot of time to play, but I'm not really feeling comfortable playing the 500 hands of 6 max I'm setting myself. Still very early on I got a double up when I flopped a set. I then flopped a set or had an overpair in one or two other spots, and apart from the short stack flipping well against me or a couple of missed bluffs or laydowns, I was running over tables. In fact the best spot was when I had an image of an aggro donk, after missing with a couple of bluffs, so the following hand was perfect. I raised KJo and villain, very tired of me barrelling him, called once more PF (haven't you heard of a 3 bet?). He was tight except for my opens, and had folded a lot to me postflop, so I knew he was ready to play back. I flopped the OESD on QTx and see no reason not to bet and get called. I had barrelled before, and probably was going to again, when the ace brought me the nutz. Perfect situation, I definitely barrell now, as it looks like a typical turn scare card raise. He minraises and it's all I can do to stop laughing, as he either has a set, is splitting with KJ himself, or has a big problem on his hands. I contemplate calling, but his minraise actually looks very strong (I'd be folding a lot of hands), and shove the remaining. he snap calls with 2 pair and misses his 4 outs, for another stack in my direction.
Not much else happened, but after 370 hands, I found another 3 BI's in my account. I quit for a while, very pleased, then came back to donk at Pokerstars HU. I couldn't get a table, either players sitting out when I arrived, or playing 2 hands and then sitting out. I must be on some database as running hot right now. Eventually 1 player sat down with $30 and I got some action. It didn't take long to ruffle his feathers with some 4 bets and check raises, and of course, when he goes with it, I have close to the nutz and stack him. He reloads for $30 more, and I take another couple of small pots. He then reloads for $50, and that hand I stack him again, right after he reloaded to $50, rather than losing $20 less. A beautiful thing as my J9 flops two pair, turns a house and the river gives him a straight. He left. I couldn't get another game, so decided to 1 table NL100 6 max on Pokerstars. 1 fish, 4 nits and me. 1 nit tries a 3 bet or 2, but doesn't like my 4 bet. The rest get out of my way every single raise, and the fish comes along most of the time. I split one pot where we stacked off with the same weakish hand, then stack him good for $60. I basically steal flops and blinds from that point on, and finish up $70.
Huge heater like activity happening here, and it's a beautiful thing. It's hard to imagine this won't help fuel my interest in poker for some time to come, even if things do "normalise" in a horrible way.
On to my targets, I finally spoke to Joseph (coach) for the first time in a long while, and he suggested 5ptbb/100 is a little high to aim for. He said that's a very big winrate over a long period, and warned me not to get my hopes up. That's really unfortunate to hear, but we agreed that 3.5 would be solid and more reasonable, so I'm still aiming at 5 including my bonus/rakeback amounts. I will start the trek for leaks by having a lesson with him Friday, and will otherwise start to plan more coaching sessions after our initial 4 have finished. It's a little expensive to do too many, but when I think about how much 1ptbb/100 means in long term dollar terms, every little bit helps. I won't play tonight, but will look through pokertracker looking for leaks.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Nice rebound
Goals:
1. Look for spots to get more value out of your made hands
2. Put people on ranges and use reads when you make a hand
3. Work out what things about the fish you can exploit.
4. 450+ hands.
Results:
1. Hmmm. Not enough still. 6 max I feel too tense to really extract, as I feel like I'm always protecting against draws or putting in bigger raises so that only BIG hands could raise me. Not happy about this.
2. I feel like I did this pretty well, just didn't apply it to my bet sizing so much.
3. Well, I kind of had some reads going, and was fish hunting a bit, but ended up tangling with TAG/LAG's for most of my bigger pots, which is kind of like borrowing money from them now to give it back tomorrow.
4. 400 hands of 6 max, plus a bunch of HU, so not bad.
Well, tonight started off as bad as ever. Down a BI in no time due to flipping poorly against 2 short stacks JJ < AK and AQ < 77, plus was picking on a fish, who woke up with a miracle river card. I had to take a short break, as everything was going against me, but came back and opened 3 fresh tables. It was a lot more aggressive tonight, and I found myself getting 3 bet quite a bit, and having cbets raised more etc. I also found myself having to quit a few tables where the table had evolved into 4 TAG's against me, which is not profitable enough. The most aggressive of tables donated $60 worth my way in two small pots where I was simply value betting, before I isolated with KK. Aggro 200BB stack never believed me until I shoved the river (I had him on worse hands that might call), and he folded. But this added another BI to my stack, and saw me up around 1/2 a BI. I pretty much bounced up and down for another hour and finished up that 1/2 BI.
I moved over to Pokerstars NL50 HU. I must say, I"m starting to feel a little like a reg there. People are insta-sitting out against me, and when I match up against another TAG, they'll often quit me. I might have played 4 tables, winning on each, but only small wins, and smaller edges than I would have liked. Even though a couple of players played very straight forward and face up, it's still a small edge, as they fold a lot of small pots, and then build it up when they get something, so it's hard to profit much from just those small pots. I got onto a table against a $50 stack, and almost first hand I sense him as being weak with his small raise, and shoved an OESD and possible overcards thinking he'd insta fold. He called with underpair and held, and again I run bad at flips, this time for more than my previous 4 tables profits, DOH!!!
Eventually I got a live one. He started with the old $31.25 trick of "Oh this is my whole bankroll." I never fall for that anyway, but decided to see what he had. He started off aggro, and seemed overly so, so , with overcards and a Jack high flush draw (3 clubs on board) I happily stacked off for his $40, and he had nothing but the king high flush draw, actually making us another coin flip (I'm 50.2% equity, so favourite :)... which I finally won. Obvious comment, "Big Fish" and tilt came to town, and what do you know insta rebuy to $50 (what, it wasn't his whole bankroll?). He auto stacked off when I floppped top pair, HH didn't say what he mucked. I then 3 bet TT and flopped overpair, so was going with that against this guy when a king hit. I actually thought about this as a good card to get him to stack off light, as shoving looks more like a bluff than AK or KQ. He called, again I didn't see, but it was worse than TT. We had a bit more back and forward, him 3 betting 30% and me folding (my edge wasn't in shoving light) and this guy would 5 bet shove or call with nothing, so I waited for value hands, which never came. I eventually couldn't resist with a medium pocket pair, and shoved his big 3 bet. He called my shove with T3s and got there, but donated a lot of that back in nearly every big pot we played, while he took most of the small ones. Eventually he coolered me with AK vs AJ on an AxxxK board for about $40, but fortunately my TT held on for his stack after he 3 bet QJs and called my shove. He finally quite, so I ended up $200 for the night, and $230 of that from this guy, thanks for the bankroll boost if you are reading.
I worked out my OnGame bonus, and at NL100, it seems like bonus money is worth around 1.5ptBB/100 hands, so if you can beat the players for 3.5ptbb/100 then you'll reach a goal of 5ptbb/100 overall. This really makes it look very doable, and drives me to work out the best way to beat this site for at least a bit of consitant money.
1. Look for spots to get more value out of your made hands
2. Put people on ranges and use reads when you make a hand
3. Work out what things about the fish you can exploit.
4. 450+ hands.
Results:
1. Hmmm. Not enough still. 6 max I feel too tense to really extract, as I feel like I'm always protecting against draws or putting in bigger raises so that only BIG hands could raise me. Not happy about this.
2. I feel like I did this pretty well, just didn't apply it to my bet sizing so much.
3. Well, I kind of had some reads going, and was fish hunting a bit, but ended up tangling with TAG/LAG's for most of my bigger pots, which is kind of like borrowing money from them now to give it back tomorrow.
4. 400 hands of 6 max, plus a bunch of HU, so not bad.
Well, tonight started off as bad as ever. Down a BI in no time due to flipping poorly against 2 short stacks JJ < AK and AQ < 77, plus was picking on a fish, who woke up with a miracle river card. I had to take a short break, as everything was going against me, but came back and opened 3 fresh tables. It was a lot more aggressive tonight, and I found myself getting 3 bet quite a bit, and having cbets raised more etc. I also found myself having to quit a few tables where the table had evolved into 4 TAG's against me, which is not profitable enough. The most aggressive of tables donated $60 worth my way in two small pots where I was simply value betting, before I isolated with KK. Aggro 200BB stack never believed me until I shoved the river (I had him on worse hands that might call), and he folded. But this added another BI to my stack, and saw me up around 1/2 a BI. I pretty much bounced up and down for another hour and finished up that 1/2 BI.
I moved over to Pokerstars NL50 HU. I must say, I"m starting to feel a little like a reg there. People are insta-sitting out against me, and when I match up against another TAG, they'll often quit me. I might have played 4 tables, winning on each, but only small wins, and smaller edges than I would have liked. Even though a couple of players played very straight forward and face up, it's still a small edge, as they fold a lot of small pots, and then build it up when they get something, so it's hard to profit much from just those small pots. I got onto a table against a $50 stack, and almost first hand I sense him as being weak with his small raise, and shoved an OESD and possible overcards thinking he'd insta fold. He called with underpair and held, and again I run bad at flips, this time for more than my previous 4 tables profits, DOH!!!
Eventually I got a live one. He started with the old $31.25 trick of "Oh this is my whole bankroll." I never fall for that anyway, but decided to see what he had. He started off aggro, and seemed overly so, so , with overcards and a Jack high flush draw (3 clubs on board) I happily stacked off for his $40, and he had nothing but the king high flush draw, actually making us another coin flip (I'm 50.2% equity, so favourite :)... which I finally won. Obvious comment, "Big Fish" and tilt came to town, and what do you know insta rebuy to $50 (what, it wasn't his whole bankroll?). He auto stacked off when I floppped top pair, HH didn't say what he mucked. I then 3 bet TT and flopped overpair, so was going with that against this guy when a king hit. I actually thought about this as a good card to get him to stack off light, as shoving looks more like a bluff than AK or KQ. He called, again I didn't see, but it was worse than TT. We had a bit more back and forward, him 3 betting 30% and me folding (my edge wasn't in shoving light) and this guy would 5 bet shove or call with nothing, so I waited for value hands, which never came. I eventually couldn't resist with a medium pocket pair, and shoved his big 3 bet. He called my shove with T3s and got there, but donated a lot of that back in nearly every big pot we played, while he took most of the small ones. Eventually he coolered me with AK vs AJ on an AxxxK board for about $40, but fortunately my TT held on for his stack after he 3 bet QJs and called my shove. He finally quite, so I ended up $200 for the night, and $230 of that from this guy, thanks for the bankroll boost if you are reading.
I worked out my OnGame bonus, and at NL100, it seems like bonus money is worth around 1.5ptBB/100 hands, so if you can beat the players for 3.5ptbb/100 then you'll reach a goal of 5ptbb/100 overall. This really makes it look very doable, and drives me to work out the best way to beat this site for at least a bit of consitant money.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Run good ends abrubptly
Goals:
1. Get 3 tables, and try to get reads going
2. Quit tables quick if there isn't good stacks in position or aggro players on left
3. Try to make the "good play" rather than calling/raising/folding without thinking it through
Monthly goal for hands:
20 hours left - 250 hands/hour = 5K hands by end of Jan
Tonights goal = 500+ hands
Results:
1. Yes, and a little. Reads were thinner than usual, partially because 3 tables, partially because I wasn't playing 100% A game and feeling tilt and dizziness at different points. I really missed out on hand ranging somewhat.
2. I actually did this pretty well, but the tables weren't the problem.
3. I feel a little rushed still with 3 tables up, and don't always make the best decision, especially in limped pots, or when a table is 3 handed for a bit.
I also added in a hand goal. I said I'd do that next month, but there is no reason why I can't start a 3 table goal for now. I figured about 250 hands per hour, or 500 over two hours was reasonable. I ended up very close to 250 hands/hour, but only got 375 hands in due to not being happy with either of my small sessions. I also snuck in two HU sessions, so I'm sure I achieved a decent play amount overall.
So to my performance. I have looked over pokertracker, and it's a lot of coin flips, all where I lose. AQ vs JJ, AK vs 55, KK vs turned flush where I had 2nd nut flush redraw and overpair, OESFD and overs vs top pair in on the flop (I am big favourite here). A couple of coolers like overpair in a HU match versus a set, and more coin flips there. Also plenty of ugly rivers that of course changed the result of the hand away from me. Even then I re-sucked when my flopped set was 2nd best hand by the turn when a flush hit, and one of my 10 river cards hit (why I love sets, you always have clean outs against straight and flushes), but this was only against a short stack.
So my night started at OnGame, playing 3 tables. I instantly got handed KK and lost $75 to a turned flush with a redraw. Sign of things to come. I pretty much got 0 momentum this session, and quit down $150 after about 50 minutes. I played some HU NL50 on pokerstars, and also ran bad. Overpair vs set and lost another coin flip. I took a break now, down around $250. I felt motivated again and started OnGame once more. I started playing better and getting some back, before I fell through the floor again. A missed bluff (really quite good, he just couldn't fold ace high, and it's duly noted), and quite a few missed cbets and turn cbets. Bluffing too much obviously. One more coin flip, and rather than being up I was down another $75, to now be $325 down. I didn't feel too bad and returned to Pokerstars HU, and coolered a decent (not great) player a couple of times, to finally get some back. I then won a flip against a short stack and decided that was it, down only $230 by the end, so at least not a bad finish.
Looking at pokertracker, I'm not disappointed by last night. I'll put it down to variance somewhat, and maybe try to get to a point where I can avoid getting too frisky against unknowns (who always end up being calling stations). On a positive note, my $100 PSO bonus was confirmed, and my $250 from OnGame is humming along (why is it you seem to get a lot of bonus points on big losing sessions :)), and should be finished sometime this month if I can keep 3 tabling NL100, which will be great. Still, it's nothing compared to running good or bad, so my focus will be far from here.
I think if there is one clear message to be learned from tonight, it's you need to distinguish the calling stations from the tight weaks postflop. I probably could have saved $100 if I'd just left these guys alone, but I felt like I had to go after them, because I didn't have the reads, but thought my hand looked stronger than it was. It's really hard to win at poker when you have some ideas of what your opponent might hold, but don't know if he can fold it. If you know what they hold, and whether they can fold it, you are really miles ahead.
Another thing I picked up on, is when you have air like AK on a 975dd or 87s on AK8r, you really focus a lot more on what your opponent has, but if you have KK overpair, you are worried a lot more about how strong your hand is, and how to extract value. Your first thoughts about what to do on a board would be to think about his range and what he'd do with that range, and play accordingly. Your hand only matters if it gets to showdown, so work out if you want it to get to showdown, and then work out if the board hits opponents range hard enough to extract some value while getting to showdown, or if you can get him to fold if you don't want a showdown.
1. Get 3 tables, and try to get reads going
2. Quit tables quick if there isn't good stacks in position or aggro players on left
3. Try to make the "good play" rather than calling/raising/folding without thinking it through
Monthly goal for hands:
20 hours left - 250 hands/hour = 5K hands by end of Jan
Tonights goal = 500+ hands
Results:
1. Yes, and a little. Reads were thinner than usual, partially because 3 tables, partially because I wasn't playing 100% A game and feeling tilt and dizziness at different points. I really missed out on hand ranging somewhat.
2. I actually did this pretty well, but the tables weren't the problem.
3. I feel a little rushed still with 3 tables up, and don't always make the best decision, especially in limped pots, or when a table is 3 handed for a bit.
I also added in a hand goal. I said I'd do that next month, but there is no reason why I can't start a 3 table goal for now. I figured about 250 hands per hour, or 500 over two hours was reasonable. I ended up very close to 250 hands/hour, but only got 375 hands in due to not being happy with either of my small sessions. I also snuck in two HU sessions, so I'm sure I achieved a decent play amount overall.
So to my performance. I have looked over pokertracker, and it's a lot of coin flips, all where I lose. AQ vs JJ, AK vs 55, KK vs turned flush where I had 2nd nut flush redraw and overpair, OESFD and overs vs top pair in on the flop (I am big favourite here). A couple of coolers like overpair in a HU match versus a set, and more coin flips there. Also plenty of ugly rivers that of course changed the result of the hand away from me. Even then I re-sucked when my flopped set was 2nd best hand by the turn when a flush hit, and one of my 10 river cards hit (why I love sets, you always have clean outs against straight and flushes), but this was only against a short stack.
So my night started at OnGame, playing 3 tables. I instantly got handed KK and lost $75 to a turned flush with a redraw. Sign of things to come. I pretty much got 0 momentum this session, and quit down $150 after about 50 minutes. I played some HU NL50 on pokerstars, and also ran bad. Overpair vs set and lost another coin flip. I took a break now, down around $250. I felt motivated again and started OnGame once more. I started playing better and getting some back, before I fell through the floor again. A missed bluff (really quite good, he just couldn't fold ace high, and it's duly noted), and quite a few missed cbets and turn cbets. Bluffing too much obviously. One more coin flip, and rather than being up I was down another $75, to now be $325 down. I didn't feel too bad and returned to Pokerstars HU, and coolered a decent (not great) player a couple of times, to finally get some back. I then won a flip against a short stack and decided that was it, down only $230 by the end, so at least not a bad finish.
Looking at pokertracker, I'm not disappointed by last night. I'll put it down to variance somewhat, and maybe try to get to a point where I can avoid getting too frisky against unknowns (who always end up being calling stations). On a positive note, my $100 PSO bonus was confirmed, and my $250 from OnGame is humming along (why is it you seem to get a lot of bonus points on big losing sessions :)), and should be finished sometime this month if I can keep 3 tabling NL100, which will be great. Still, it's nothing compared to running good or bad, so my focus will be far from here.
I think if there is one clear message to be learned from tonight, it's you need to distinguish the calling stations from the tight weaks postflop. I probably could have saved $100 if I'd just left these guys alone, but I felt like I had to go after them, because I didn't have the reads, but thought my hand looked stronger than it was. It's really hard to win at poker when you have some ideas of what your opponent might hold, but don't know if he can fold it. If you know what they hold, and whether they can fold it, you are really miles ahead.
Another thing I picked up on, is when you have air like AK on a 975dd or 87s on AK8r, you really focus a lot more on what your opponent has, but if you have KK overpair, you are worried a lot more about how strong your hand is, and how to extract value. Your first thoughts about what to do on a board would be to think about his range and what he'd do with that range, and play accordingly. Your hand only matters if it gets to showdown, so work out if you want it to get to showdown, and then work out if the board hits opponents range hard enough to extract some value while getting to showdown, or if you can get him to fold if you don't want a showdown.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Still running good
Well, what a difference running good makes. I have never run this good, just constantly finishing sessions up 1-4 BI's, and with few hands and little effort usually. I'm pretty sure a stuffed animal couldn't lose these sessions, people just continue to let me run over them or get their money in bad, and I'm holding more often than not. Since moving to NL100, I haven't lost a full stack yet, which is obviously just running WAY over expected value, as even AA vs 88 loses once in every 5, let alone the hands where I'm much closer to 50% equity holding.
I must admit though, I'm really starting to apply reads better. Last night I twice put villain on draws, and value bet very thinly, and both times I was right, and showed down a winner in two 50+BB pots with average hands. I'm also letting go of hands a lot earlier rather than chasing a losing battle against a range. It's a really liberating feeling to let go of a hand that might be good sometimes (against possible bluffs etc), only to get a big pot back later from the same guy. Finally, I'm bluffing very successfully right now. I know a little of that could just be variance, but I'm picking my opponents and their ranges pretty well, and even higher variance moves (like bluffing more than what's in the pot) are successful right now.
So I'm NL100, but still getting to terms with 3 tables, which I will probably be comfortable with very soon (2 seems a bore now). Next comes 4 tables, and then I'll be setting hand targets. It will be roughly in the order of 300-350 hands an hour, so at 10-12 hours per week, around 3000-4000 hands a week. I will see just how reasonable that is, then I'll be setting a hand target for every week once it stabilises, and try to achieve that. Obviously, I will bow out of playing some nights where I'm too tired, or playing/running bad, so I want to be realistic about it all. At 3000 hands a week, 5ptbb/100 (including rakeback), that's a pretty impressive $US300 a week, or $AU450. Very reasonable goal, and one I am striving to get within the next 6 months, after all the variance is ironed out. If all goes well, I'll be taking out anything over about $3K at the end of each month, and tracking how much I've taken out, as it will still act as part of my bankroll if I hit a big downswing and don't want to move down. Once I'm comfotable about moving up a level, I will make sure I've taken out at least $US3K, and put that back onto the site and play NL200. I'll make a tentative target to do that by June/July, so I really hope to have also taken out another $US2K+ for just spending money unrelated to poker by then, or realistically I won't really be ready. That is, if I've only taken out $US4K in total and yet played around 60K hands, that means I will have only won 2ptBB/100 hands (excluding rakeback) and really not worthy of moving up to NL200 after that.
I must admit though, I'm really starting to apply reads better. Last night I twice put villain on draws, and value bet very thinly, and both times I was right, and showed down a winner in two 50+BB pots with average hands. I'm also letting go of hands a lot earlier rather than chasing a losing battle against a range. It's a really liberating feeling to let go of a hand that might be good sometimes (against possible bluffs etc), only to get a big pot back later from the same guy. Finally, I'm bluffing very successfully right now. I know a little of that could just be variance, but I'm picking my opponents and their ranges pretty well, and even higher variance moves (like bluffing more than what's in the pot) are successful right now.
So I'm NL100, but still getting to terms with 3 tables, which I will probably be comfortable with very soon (2 seems a bore now). Next comes 4 tables, and then I'll be setting hand targets. It will be roughly in the order of 300-350 hands an hour, so at 10-12 hours per week, around 3000-4000 hands a week. I will see just how reasonable that is, then I'll be setting a hand target for every week once it stabilises, and try to achieve that. Obviously, I will bow out of playing some nights where I'm too tired, or playing/running bad, so I want to be realistic about it all. At 3000 hands a week, 5ptbb/100 (including rakeback), that's a pretty impressive $US300 a week, or $AU450. Very reasonable goal, and one I am striving to get within the next 6 months, after all the variance is ironed out. If all goes well, I'll be taking out anything over about $3K at the end of each month, and tracking how much I've taken out, as it will still act as part of my bankroll if I hit a big downswing and don't want to move down. Once I'm comfotable about moving up a level, I will make sure I've taken out at least $US3K, and put that back onto the site and play NL200. I'll make a tentative target to do that by June/July, so I really hope to have also taken out another $US2K+ for just spending money unrelated to poker by then, or realistically I won't really be ready. That is, if I've only taken out $US4K in total and yet played around 60K hands, that means I will have only won 2ptBB/100 hands (excluding rakeback) and really not worthy of moving up to NL200 after that.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
NL100 baby!!!
Well, I just tipped over the 30 BI's for NL100, and that's even with a bonus cleared and not in my account yet and another $250 bonus half redeemed. So I'm officially taking a pretty big shot at NL100, and realistically hope not to step back down, but will if required. I haven't quite worked out what the amount I'd have to drop would be, but something like $6-700 after just starting a level would be enough to realise it's not working out I think.
Funnily enough I'm already playing NL100. I decided at 28 BI to start taking a shot, and sure enough ran good and finished up 1.5 BI at OnGame. As from memory the players were dreadful, and it was going to take very big coolers or suckouts to stop me from winning tonight. It wouldn't surprise me if some of these players hadn't played poker much. I have a theory some gamblers can't stomach playing 10c blinds to build up their skills and bankrolls and instead step into the $1 games as $100 is a decent amount to win or lose, and they aren't upset by losing $100. Of course online poker is rigged when they do lose. Tonights play pretty much confirmed that, and I really hope to find these players in the future months.
I quit right on the border of having 30 BI's, but decided to play a few hands of Absolute to make sure I have covered the PSO bonus. I'm not sure, because Absolute shows status points for the months and credits for lifetime. I think PSO pays if you clear enough status points, so I really don't know if I definitely made it, but my maths say I should be clear. I got on live chat with Absolute, which was the funniest conversation, and left me with "absolute"ly no faith in the people behind this sites. Still I thought I'd just grind a little more to be sure, at NL50 there. I ran up a 1.2 BI profit in no time to make sure the 30BI mark was well and trully crossed.
So with the goals, I have firmly set myself to play NL100 4 tables and that hasn't changed. NL200 isn't a concern, as I can make a decent wage from NL100, so I plan to withdraw a lot of my money above what I need in the coming months. Obviously I won't hold myself back, but if I was rolled to play NL200 by mid year and was playing well enough (big IF there), I'd be very happy. I'd have to grow my BR to $6K, so I'm going to make the tentative goal to withdraw a decent chunk, and keep my BR growing by an average of $500 a month after Jan. End of Jan I'll take out anything above $3K (hopefully it will still be above).
So how will I do that and what can I expect if I'm good enough to do this? Firstly, I need to get 4 tables going. I'm getting comfortable at 3, but will need to get more comfortable before even thinking about 4. That's one part. Secondly, I need to play well enough to make at least 5ptbb/100. I figure 10 hours a week at 350 hands an hour is 3500 hands. 3500 hands * 22 weeks = 77000 hands. So if I could get to profitably 4 tabling in 4 weeks time, I can expect $7700 profit up until mid year, for which I'd have taken out around $4.5K and left the rest in the bankroll to move up a level mid year.
This sounds great in theory. I'd love to fast forward to mid 2009 and see just what eventuated from all these goals :) I'll put a reminder in my phone to look up this blog post and see how well I predicted my next 6 months.
Funnily enough I'm already playing NL100. I decided at 28 BI to start taking a shot, and sure enough ran good and finished up 1.5 BI at OnGame. As from memory the players were dreadful, and it was going to take very big coolers or suckouts to stop me from winning tonight. It wouldn't surprise me if some of these players hadn't played poker much. I have a theory some gamblers can't stomach playing 10c blinds to build up their skills and bankrolls and instead step into the $1 games as $100 is a decent amount to win or lose, and they aren't upset by losing $100. Of course online poker is rigged when they do lose. Tonights play pretty much confirmed that, and I really hope to find these players in the future months.
I quit right on the border of having 30 BI's, but decided to play a few hands of Absolute to make sure I have covered the PSO bonus. I'm not sure, because Absolute shows status points for the months and credits for lifetime. I think PSO pays if you clear enough status points, so I really don't know if I definitely made it, but my maths say I should be clear. I got on live chat with Absolute, which was the funniest conversation, and left me with "absolute"ly no faith in the people behind this sites. Still I thought I'd just grind a little more to be sure, at NL50 there. I ran up a 1.2 BI profit in no time to make sure the 30BI mark was well and trully crossed.
So with the goals, I have firmly set myself to play NL100 4 tables and that hasn't changed. NL200 isn't a concern, as I can make a decent wage from NL100, so I plan to withdraw a lot of my money above what I need in the coming months. Obviously I won't hold myself back, but if I was rolled to play NL200 by mid year and was playing well enough (big IF there), I'd be very happy. I'd have to grow my BR to $6K, so I'm going to make the tentative goal to withdraw a decent chunk, and keep my BR growing by an average of $500 a month after Jan. End of Jan I'll take out anything above $3K (hopefully it will still be above).
So how will I do that and what can I expect if I'm good enough to do this? Firstly, I need to get 4 tables going. I'm getting comfortable at 3, but will need to get more comfortable before even thinking about 4. That's one part. Secondly, I need to play well enough to make at least 5ptbb/100. I figure 10 hours a week at 350 hands an hour is 3500 hands. 3500 hands * 22 weeks = 77000 hands. So if I could get to profitably 4 tabling in 4 weeks time, I can expect $7700 profit up until mid year, for which I'd have taken out around $4.5K and left the rest in the bankroll to move up a level mid year.
This sounds great in theory. I'd love to fast forward to mid 2009 and see just what eventuated from all these goals :) I'll put a reminder in my phone to look up this blog post and see how well I predicted my next 6 months.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Still running hot
Well, it's been a really hot start to the year, after the first 3 days treated me like garbage. I can still count 4 times last night where I was rivered by a 1 outer, 2 3 outers and a 4 outer, but still managed to win over 2 BI's at Absolute. It's like printing money compared with Pokerstars from what I've seen. On Pokerstars you could probably just grind away at the tight weaks and get a decent profit, as long as you are very careful about who and when is playing back at you. At Absolute, you should probably just play good poker, at least up until the NL50 level, and return 10ptbb/100. I'm running at slightly less, but only due to my own fault for sure. And just for the maths, at only 4 tables, that'd still be $35/hour without thinking about the excellent rakeback and bonuses there. Only problem is the fields are thin, especially beyond NL50.
I'm almost fairly comfortably 3 tabling without giving away too much of my edge now, but have more work to do in that area. My reads are getting stronger though. HUD stats give you everything you need to know about preflop and flop, so if you are playing a lot of tables, you really just want to know how people play postflop, and use the HUD for PF and the flop. There is only one thing, which is what do people call 3 bets with, or limp call with. Knowing some of their starting hands, or how they play position can help define a range much nicer preflop too. But anyway, things like minraised a cbet and folded later on a very dry board, or miinraised the flop and showed down a set, or raised a flop and showed down a draw, or overplayed 2nd pair type hand. Probably at a much more general level you can label people as tricky, straight forward or just bad. I'll have to keep working on these concepts.
So I'm relatively free now, although I do have a half filled bonus at OnGame. I've just finished my PSO bonus for Absolute, so will have another $100 to put into the bankroll, leaving me almost fully bankrolled at NL100. In line with my new years resolution, I'll be staying where the fish are, which at the moment is a choice between OnGame, Absolute/UB or iPoker. All seem very soft, and really, playing NL100 and table selecting a bit and not tilting much, I should be printing money. If I halved the 10ptbb/100 I claimed should be possible at NL100, that's still $35/hr + bonuses 4 tabling, which at OnGame might be around the $40+/hr without winning too big. That'd be $600 AUD a week, which would be insanely good for our mortgage and bills at home. My definite overall personal goal stays at successfully grinding NL100 for 4 tables at any site for an average of $40/hr over a period of time, and cashing out a lot of my winnings, to help heal the amount of time I've spent away from other things I could have been doing up until now. I don't doubt that's still out of my reach, seeing as 3 tabling still seems a little hard and NL100 could be a lot tougher to play. But it's a good personal goal to set, as it sets me a real challenge.
I also want to come up with some short term game related goals soon. I sat down to write my list of nightly goals, and really couldn't come up with anything interesting related to gameplay. So in the next week or so, I'm going to set myself some acheivable goals that I want to focus on until the end of Feb, then each night I'll think about these goals before playing. I think I definitely need more work on turn and river play, and want to look at spots where my bluffs aren't working well.
I'm almost fairly comfortably 3 tabling without giving away too much of my edge now, but have more work to do in that area. My reads are getting stronger though. HUD stats give you everything you need to know about preflop and flop, so if you are playing a lot of tables, you really just want to know how people play postflop, and use the HUD for PF and the flop. There is only one thing, which is what do people call 3 bets with, or limp call with. Knowing some of their starting hands, or how they play position can help define a range much nicer preflop too. But anyway, things like minraised a cbet and folded later on a very dry board, or miinraised the flop and showed down a set, or raised a flop and showed down a draw, or overplayed 2nd pair type hand. Probably at a much more general level you can label people as tricky, straight forward or just bad. I'll have to keep working on these concepts.
So I'm relatively free now, although I do have a half filled bonus at OnGame. I've just finished my PSO bonus for Absolute, so will have another $100 to put into the bankroll, leaving me almost fully bankrolled at NL100. In line with my new years resolution, I'll be staying where the fish are, which at the moment is a choice between OnGame, Absolute/UB or iPoker. All seem very soft, and really, playing NL100 and table selecting a bit and not tilting much, I should be printing money. If I halved the 10ptbb/100 I claimed should be possible at NL100, that's still $35/hr + bonuses 4 tabling, which at OnGame might be around the $40+/hr without winning too big. That'd be $600 AUD a week, which would be insanely good for our mortgage and bills at home. My definite overall personal goal stays at successfully grinding NL100 for 4 tables at any site for an average of $40/hr over a period of time, and cashing out a lot of my winnings, to help heal the amount of time I've spent away from other things I could have been doing up until now. I don't doubt that's still out of my reach, seeing as 3 tabling still seems a little hard and NL100 could be a lot tougher to play. But it's a good personal goal to set, as it sets me a real challenge.
I also want to come up with some short term game related goals soon. I sat down to write my list of nightly goals, and really couldn't come up with anything interesting related to gameplay. So in the next week or so, I'm going to set myself some acheivable goals that I want to focus on until the end of Feb, then each night I'll think about these goals before playing. I think I definitely need more work on turn and river play, and want to look at spots where my bluffs aren't working well.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Struggling with the finer aspects
Well, I've had some interesting days. It's one of those times that even though there really are no huge ups and downs money wise, it still feels like it's been swingy as ever.
The poker players mindset is brittle. Think about it. Lets say you play tennis, and just cannot win a point against someone. They seem to have your number at least tonight. But do you keep asking them to play more sets? Probably not, as you would rather be winning while you are playing. Poker is very similar. You always want to be winning sessions, yet this isn't a reality. If you are winning every session, you are either many levels above the players you are playing, or are just running good. If you can't take the negative days, you have a leak. What's more disturbing is the maths going on when behind. I have run bad tonight (may be true), and am down 2 BI's. These tables don't look like giving me any action, I'll move up a stake, where I'll only need one lucky hand to get that money back. Another more disturbing thing is it's a relaxing, fun game you can play on a computer at home, which is where I'm stuck most nights. I also enjoy a drink, and drinking and playing poker is bad, but it feels good. You are relaxing with your drink of choice and your pastime of choice, too easy. Only it's a damaging thing to your bankroll as you are easily more -ev while drinking, if not terrible while drinking.
So last weekend was a mix of the above paragraph. Fridays are my new super Fridays, grinding for as many hours as I like, and I was pumped before playing, and may a nice 1.5BI profit in no time. Rather than instantly spoil it all, I had a break, watched a movie with the Mrs, and let her go to bed while I went back to the tables. About 1 hour in I was going average at some HU on Pokerstars, and decided to end it soon, so cracked open a beer. It wasn't terrible, but I'd say I probably drank 2-3 more while playing, which didn't actually effect my game that much, and I ran up a 2BI profit on stars for a nice night.
Saturday is always a no poker day, but my wife is obsessed with a book, so soon enough forum searching and other stuff suddenly seemed secondary to poker, even though I'd probably had 4 drinks before starting the session. HU cash again at stars, and I ran pretty bad. I had a horrible 2BI loss against one average player, where I got it in with the better pair for stacks QQ vs AT on Txx, KQ vs JT on KJx, and lost both. It wasn't long after this that I decided NL100 HU would be better and proceeded to hit a flush and have top pair hold on against an OESD FTW. He left, and I quit, up five american dollars :)
Sunday, again I should not have played, as I had 3 drinks before and was enjoying the gentle art of watching sport on TV with those beers. However, I felt like running good again, and once more made a couple of tender moves and was probably down over 1BI. I didn't move up at least this time, but did run good, and managed to take 1.5BI's off a real donk, and another 0.5BI's off a solid player to finish up a little over a BI.
So as I said, no disaster stories in there, but plenty lurking if I keep this up. This weekend coming up is super important for my mental approach to the game now.
Last night (Monday), it's back to normal grind mode at Absolute Poker, except I'm really ready to 3 table NL50 now. I feel almost bored 2 tabling now (right up until now, I've been intent on getting great reads and watching players), and feel I can get those reads with less effort (becoming 2nd nature). So I opened 3 tables, and did feel a little rushed and confused for a while, probably tilting off 1 BI just playing like a donk, which is to be expected I guess. When I'm rushed I actually loosen up, which is weird. Anyway, I kept saying to myself that this was just something I had to work through. I still went further down when aces were cracked for a full BI, but managed to gain control and saw my profits returning soon. I probably just had it back, when I tried to semi-bluff (I had the best hand til the river) an overly aggro preflop player, but otherwise solid player. I was trying to rep a small set (had 44 unimproved) as I thought he had overpair or AK. The river came a king and I still donked $25 his way, repping a set pretty strongly. He tanked forever, before making the call. I kicked myself for trying to bluff him off TPTK, it's a very high variance play if it ever works at these levels. Still lady luck came a running and I coolered someone with Ace high flush versus King high flush (ATss vs K9ss, funny), and then top pair vs a donk, to be up $10 for the night. I was pleased with my 3 tabling efforts, very pleased with the results, but not pleased that most of the losses of the night came from trying to bluff people. I have to play more straight forward on these tables. It's probably a little bit of HU creeping into my postflop game.
So I will continue to 3 table, and try to make a video tonight doing that. I feel I'm ready to have my game re-assessed since making a lot of substantial improvements since last session I had. If anyone out there wants to see my video, just let me know. It won't be as educational as a Cardrunners one, but it's always good to see what the real strugglers do compared with yourself.
The poker players mindset is brittle. Think about it. Lets say you play tennis, and just cannot win a point against someone. They seem to have your number at least tonight. But do you keep asking them to play more sets? Probably not, as you would rather be winning while you are playing. Poker is very similar. You always want to be winning sessions, yet this isn't a reality. If you are winning every session, you are either many levels above the players you are playing, or are just running good. If you can't take the negative days, you have a leak. What's more disturbing is the maths going on when behind. I have run bad tonight (may be true), and am down 2 BI's. These tables don't look like giving me any action, I'll move up a stake, where I'll only need one lucky hand to get that money back. Another more disturbing thing is it's a relaxing, fun game you can play on a computer at home, which is where I'm stuck most nights. I also enjoy a drink, and drinking and playing poker is bad, but it feels good. You are relaxing with your drink of choice and your pastime of choice, too easy. Only it's a damaging thing to your bankroll as you are easily more -ev while drinking, if not terrible while drinking.
So last weekend was a mix of the above paragraph. Fridays are my new super Fridays, grinding for as many hours as I like, and I was pumped before playing, and may a nice 1.5BI profit in no time. Rather than instantly spoil it all, I had a break, watched a movie with the Mrs, and let her go to bed while I went back to the tables. About 1 hour in I was going average at some HU on Pokerstars, and decided to end it soon, so cracked open a beer. It wasn't terrible, but I'd say I probably drank 2-3 more while playing, which didn't actually effect my game that much, and I ran up a 2BI profit on stars for a nice night.
Saturday is always a no poker day, but my wife is obsessed with a book, so soon enough forum searching and other stuff suddenly seemed secondary to poker, even though I'd probably had 4 drinks before starting the session. HU cash again at stars, and I ran pretty bad. I had a horrible 2BI loss against one average player, where I got it in with the better pair for stacks QQ vs AT on Txx, KQ vs JT on KJx, and lost both. It wasn't long after this that I decided NL100 HU would be better and proceeded to hit a flush and have top pair hold on against an OESD FTW. He left, and I quit, up five american dollars :)
Sunday, again I should not have played, as I had 3 drinks before and was enjoying the gentle art of watching sport on TV with those beers. However, I felt like running good again, and once more made a couple of tender moves and was probably down over 1BI. I didn't move up at least this time, but did run good, and managed to take 1.5BI's off a real donk, and another 0.5BI's off a solid player to finish up a little over a BI.
So as I said, no disaster stories in there, but plenty lurking if I keep this up. This weekend coming up is super important for my mental approach to the game now.
Last night (Monday), it's back to normal grind mode at Absolute Poker, except I'm really ready to 3 table NL50 now. I feel almost bored 2 tabling now (right up until now, I've been intent on getting great reads and watching players), and feel I can get those reads with less effort (becoming 2nd nature). So I opened 3 tables, and did feel a little rushed and confused for a while, probably tilting off 1 BI just playing like a donk, which is to be expected I guess. When I'm rushed I actually loosen up, which is weird. Anyway, I kept saying to myself that this was just something I had to work through. I still went further down when aces were cracked for a full BI, but managed to gain control and saw my profits returning soon. I probably just had it back, when I tried to semi-bluff (I had the best hand til the river) an overly aggro preflop player, but otherwise solid player. I was trying to rep a small set (had 44 unimproved) as I thought he had overpair or AK. The river came a king and I still donked $25 his way, repping a set pretty strongly. He tanked forever, before making the call. I kicked myself for trying to bluff him off TPTK, it's a very high variance play if it ever works at these levels. Still lady luck came a running and I coolered someone with Ace high flush versus King high flush (ATss vs K9ss, funny), and then top pair vs a donk, to be up $10 for the night. I was pleased with my 3 tabling efforts, very pleased with the results, but not pleased that most of the losses of the night came from trying to bluff people. I have to play more straight forward on these tables. It's probably a little bit of HU creeping into my postflop game.
So I will continue to 3 table, and try to make a video tonight doing that. I feel I'm ready to have my game re-assessed since making a lot of substantial improvements since last session I had. If anyone out there wants to see my video, just let me know. It won't be as educational as a Cardrunners one, but it's always good to see what the real strugglers do compared with yourself.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Super Friday
I played Super Friday last night. In my new years resolution I've decided to not play Thursday, but not drink Friday and play a few hours. I was really looking forward to this night for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's an out and out reason to gamble it up for many hours without questions from the wife. Secondly, I'd run good on Wednesday and looked forward to more of this.
Sure enough after not too long, I was up almost 1.5 BI's on Absolute. I thought about quitting, but decided to keep on playing, and finished up around 1 BI after a big call that saw me ahead on every street, but 4 outered on the river. Still nice session, and I loved how I played it.
I logged on Pokerstars intending to play a little and ses how it goes at HU, but ended up playing hours of HU cash. I can only remember 1 time where I got it in against big stacks (either I or they were shorter on all other occasions) badly, yet still managed to barely win in those big pots due to runnig bad, twice 80%+ favourite. Even so I still made a decent profit and now have had 2 good sessions in a row and am up quite a bit.
I actually feel like my thoughts on poker have really solidified and I'm very close to being able to crush the lower stakes like nobody's business. I feel like my hand ranging has mostly been a past time rather than an active endevour, even though I blog about it often. But all of the sudden, I'm hand ranging. I'm doing it almost all the time right now, which is so weird as even 2 weeks ago, I almost never did it. Just one night I started doing it, lol. So looking forward to what the next 3 months have to bring, as I really feel like it's all coming together right now.
Sure enough after not too long, I was up almost 1.5 BI's on Absolute. I thought about quitting, but decided to keep on playing, and finished up around 1 BI after a big call that saw me ahead on every street, but 4 outered on the river. Still nice session, and I loved how I played it.
I logged on Pokerstars intending to play a little and ses how it goes at HU, but ended up playing hours of HU cash. I can only remember 1 time where I got it in against big stacks (either I or they were shorter on all other occasions) badly, yet still managed to barely win in those big pots due to runnig bad, twice 80%+ favourite. Even so I still made a decent profit and now have had 2 good sessions in a row and am up quite a bit.
I actually feel like my thoughts on poker have really solidified and I'm very close to being able to crush the lower stakes like nobody's business. I feel like my hand ranging has mostly been a past time rather than an active endevour, even though I blog about it often. But all of the sudden, I'm hand ranging. I'm doing it almost all the time right now, which is so weird as even 2 weeks ago, I almost never did it. Just one night I started doing it, lol. So looking forward to what the next 3 months have to bring, as I really feel like it's all coming together right now.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
When the world coolers, cooler it right back
Well, a couple of day recap. Before starting my session two days ago, I had been listening to an Ed Miller series on Stox about light 3/4/5 betting. I have a blog dedicated to this, as it's opened my eyes a bit about the subject, and in fact while only about 1 in 10 players I play against probably have any idea about this stuff in the slightest, I now realise what some of them have done in the past, like 3 betting, then check raising the flop all in.
So the first couple of days I couldn't get anything going, and Tuesday was no different. Every time I'd start to run over the table, I'd get coolered and be back to zero. It was a miracle, and even some luck that kept me even.
I call upon degenerate gambler at that point, and he correctly pointed me at the HU cash games, as I really needed to flesh out this light 3/4/5 betting stuff a bit more and the 6 max games were too damn boring with everyone folding to 3 bets or even folding to your raises too often. HU was mostly fun and yet frustrating, with two stacks going to absolute stone cold suckouts/coolers, and the rest being a mix of me playing well at points, bad at others. I also paid off the same guy for a total of 120BB's when he rivered me twice.
So a quick recap of my year up until this point. Day 1 I got nothing going at Absolute for -$20, so started my first session at Pokerstars, got coolered with KK vs set and a couple of other hands, played a bit meh due to new site and different playing styles. Day 2 saw me running over 2 Absolute tables when I ran QQ into AA for 120BB's. In retrospect it was close, but I think I could fold. I squeezed a TAG, and he 4 bet. I can't call, and didn't think I could fold, so shoved, expecting some folds, and the occasional AK with the KK/AA, but he flipped AA. Later I realised I don't think this guy can 4 bet light, so QQ is actually terrible against his value 4 bet range. Pokerstars continued to cooler/suckout, and I salvaged my bankroll by playing a couple of HU SNG's, but still ended up negative. Day 3 ran QQ into AA again, this time no regrets. Player was very light 3 bettor, and I 4 bet for value, which means I can never fold to a shove, but he had it of course. I also got monster coolered in two big pots (one was 87% PF, 93% flop, 40% after he hit his 2 outer turn, river dead other hand I flopped nut straight, he hit flush after the money was in). At the point I quit, I was down another $140 at Pokerstars for the day, and generally feeling rubbish about poker.
I will say I was happy with how I was thinking about poker though. I may not be playing well, but I know my mind is growing, and I know I will laugh at feeling like the first step of 2009 actually seemed like a cliff face. All up, I estimate I started 2009 down about $320 in a mix of games and sites. All played sober and reasonably untilted mind you.
Day 4 started off different. I was running over a tight table, and getting dealt rubbish on the other. However, my very first raise, which was about 3 orbits in was a 3 bet with AA from SB, to which BB cold calls (usually scary), and original raiser calls too. Typical low flop saw me cbet with the intention of getting it in, even if someone called with 55 or 99 and flopped a set. BB obliges and shoves, but his range includes TT+, with JJ/QQ being very likely, and sure enough it's QQ, and I cooler someone back. I don't like his play 100%, as I hadn't raised in 3 orbits, but oh well. The rest of the time saw me going up and down a bit (I was up $80 already by that point) and finishing up the $80 bonus from months ago, so quit and watched a movie up around $170. I will point out there was a fair bit of 3 betting going on, and since paying full attention to the Ed Miller series, I felt very comfortable in these conditions.
The movie ended giving me about an hour or so to grind, so I consulted degen who informed me Absolute NL100 6 max is probably quite weak, and looking at the PF %'s, he was right. I'm not rolled for NL100, but it's only money right degen? Damn straight!!! (I love degen, I really do) I was happily running over the tables when I hit a cooler versus a short stack, which brought me back to even. I was making a note on a player when I looked up at $21 of chips being bet PF, by me??? Something I typed in the notes made it to the betting, and I'd just 3 bet a $3.50 raise to $21 with 85o and got called. I considered cbetting, but decided not to and my opponent bets almost pot, knowing of course what happened. Not happy. I then made the same mistake for much less money 2 minutes later, and decided I had to be very careful with note taking from now on. I got in a couple of coolers, then hit a set vs AA and doubled up on one table. The other I got coolered in small pots, and finished up around $125 before quitting. So all up a nice little $300 night, or all up a -$20 month so far. It does show that when the world coolers you, you will eventually cooler it back, so the most important thing is to be doing everything else right outside of the cooler hands.
I'll be honest, I'm feeling super comfortable at all sites right now for NL50. I feel the 3/4/5 betting series moved my poker brain to a new level, and while it's not applicable much to my games, it is very interesting stuff. So I don't feel like I "have" to quit pokerstars, but still probably will just for the ultra softness of the other sites. I should finish up my Absolute bonus ($90) before maybe checking out OnGame again. I do like the idea of grinding pokerstars and going for Supernova, but realistically the site is tight, supernova is hard to get, and in the mean time I get better bonuses and rakeback from other sites. It's nice to know that in December I beat 6 max at OnGame for quite a lot, have so far beaten Absolute 6 max, and have now beaten Pokerstars 6 max even with some variance and over a very small sample. I also felt like I had reads on most of my players, and a little bored at times last night waiting for action, and definitely need to try out 3 tabling from now on. I think I will make this the aim for the rest of the month, to be comfortable 3 tabling NL50 at whichever site I continue to play. Sorry for the horribly long and pointless blog.
So the first couple of days I couldn't get anything going, and Tuesday was no different. Every time I'd start to run over the table, I'd get coolered and be back to zero. It was a miracle, and even some luck that kept me even.
I call upon degenerate gambler at that point, and he correctly pointed me at the HU cash games, as I really needed to flesh out this light 3/4/5 betting stuff a bit more and the 6 max games were too damn boring with everyone folding to 3 bets or even folding to your raises too often. HU was mostly fun and yet frustrating, with two stacks going to absolute stone cold suckouts/coolers, and the rest being a mix of me playing well at points, bad at others. I also paid off the same guy for a total of 120BB's when he rivered me twice.
So a quick recap of my year up until this point. Day 1 I got nothing going at Absolute for -$20, so started my first session at Pokerstars, got coolered with KK vs set and a couple of other hands, played a bit meh due to new site and different playing styles. Day 2 saw me running over 2 Absolute tables when I ran QQ into AA for 120BB's. In retrospect it was close, but I think I could fold. I squeezed a TAG, and he 4 bet. I can't call, and didn't think I could fold, so shoved, expecting some folds, and the occasional AK with the KK/AA, but he flipped AA. Later I realised I don't think this guy can 4 bet light, so QQ is actually terrible against his value 4 bet range. Pokerstars continued to cooler/suckout, and I salvaged my bankroll by playing a couple of HU SNG's, but still ended up negative. Day 3 ran QQ into AA again, this time no regrets. Player was very light 3 bettor, and I 4 bet for value, which means I can never fold to a shove, but he had it of course. I also got monster coolered in two big pots (one was 87% PF, 93% flop, 40% after he hit his 2 outer turn, river dead other hand I flopped nut straight, he hit flush after the money was in). At the point I quit, I was down another $140 at Pokerstars for the day, and generally feeling rubbish about poker.
I will say I was happy with how I was thinking about poker though. I may not be playing well, but I know my mind is growing, and I know I will laugh at feeling like the first step of 2009 actually seemed like a cliff face. All up, I estimate I started 2009 down about $320 in a mix of games and sites. All played sober and reasonably untilted mind you.
Day 4 started off different. I was running over a tight table, and getting dealt rubbish on the other. However, my very first raise, which was about 3 orbits in was a 3 bet with AA from SB, to which BB cold calls (usually scary), and original raiser calls too. Typical low flop saw me cbet with the intention of getting it in, even if someone called with 55 or 99 and flopped a set. BB obliges and shoves, but his range includes TT+, with JJ/QQ being very likely, and sure enough it's QQ, and I cooler someone back. I don't like his play 100%, as I hadn't raised in 3 orbits, but oh well. The rest of the time saw me going up and down a bit (I was up $80 already by that point) and finishing up the $80 bonus from months ago, so quit and watched a movie up around $170. I will point out there was a fair bit of 3 betting going on, and since paying full attention to the Ed Miller series, I felt very comfortable in these conditions.
The movie ended giving me about an hour or so to grind, so I consulted degen who informed me Absolute NL100 6 max is probably quite weak, and looking at the PF %'s, he was right. I'm not rolled for NL100, but it's only money right degen? Damn straight!!! (I love degen, I really do) I was happily running over the tables when I hit a cooler versus a short stack, which brought me back to even. I was making a note on a player when I looked up at $21 of chips being bet PF, by me??? Something I typed in the notes made it to the betting, and I'd just 3 bet a $3.50 raise to $21 with 85o and got called. I considered cbetting, but decided not to and my opponent bets almost pot, knowing of course what happened. Not happy. I then made the same mistake for much less money 2 minutes later, and decided I had to be very careful with note taking from now on. I got in a couple of coolers, then hit a set vs AA and doubled up on one table. The other I got coolered in small pots, and finished up around $125 before quitting. So all up a nice little $300 night, or all up a -$20 month so far. It does show that when the world coolers you, you will eventually cooler it back, so the most important thing is to be doing everything else right outside of the cooler hands.
I'll be honest, I'm feeling super comfortable at all sites right now for NL50. I feel the 3/4/5 betting series moved my poker brain to a new level, and while it's not applicable much to my games, it is very interesting stuff. So I don't feel like I "have" to quit pokerstars, but still probably will just for the ultra softness of the other sites. I should finish up my Absolute bonus ($90) before maybe checking out OnGame again. I do like the idea of grinding pokerstars and going for Supernova, but realistically the site is tight, supernova is hard to get, and in the mean time I get better bonuses and rakeback from other sites. It's nice to know that in December I beat 6 max at OnGame for quite a lot, have so far beaten Absolute 6 max, and have now beaten Pokerstars 6 max even with some variance and over a very small sample. I also felt like I had reads on most of my players, and a little bored at times last night waiting for action, and definitely need to try out 3 tabling from now on. I think I will make this the aim for the rest of the month, to be comfortable 3 tabling NL50 at whichever site I continue to play. Sorry for the horribly long and pointless blog.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Kick off the year
I managed to finish off 2008 in crushing style, just not being able to put a foot wrong in December and November. I still scared myself by playing a lot drunk, so right off the bat in 2009 I started my new years resolution... Friday night. Friday is generally a weekend night for me and weekends were all about relaxing at pubs/restaurants until kids came along. They slowed that right down and now it's about relaxing at home, but with drinks too usually. And poker quite often. The last couple of months it's mainly been grinding some rediculous game like NL5, doubling up and then doubling stakes to NL10 etc etc. I'd usually try to run $5-$15 into something rediculous. My best effort in November was $15 into $800+, and I was playing NL400!!! Drunk as, playing a 40/38 style the whole time, and catching cards when I needed to.
So Friday night I've always noticed to be a good night for poker, as in, more fish seem to be around, so my new game plan is to not drink Fridays, and instead grind like nobody's business for 4+ hours on that night. Sweet!!! I also have to knock off an Absolute bonus (about half way there) and two Pokerstars bonuses, one for $80 which is about 2 nights away, and one for $150 which may take a few weeks. I mention these two sites as they aren't sites I'm attracted to long term, and I am really just playing to clear the bonuses as well as check out the fields while I'm there.
First up on Friday I played Absolute. Two tables, couldn't get a good table position going (but there were fish), and couldn't get the cards to fall my way. I ended up down $20, but really was itching to check out Pokerstars. I'm torn between learning more tables and playing NL25 or keeping myself going at NL50, but since I was excited to play and have the bankroll for NL50 now, I thought I'd start there for a big grind. It started bad. I couldn't seem to get a great table there either, mainly battling one or two fish and 3 or 4 TAG's. But the table count is huge. There are tonnes of NL50 grinders, I even played a couple of supernova's playing NL50!!! The hands weren't that exciting, just had me the loser on every occasion. I should have folded KK overpair, which I hate doing, then I found out he raised with air, and hit a set on the turn, doh!!! Eventually I finally cooolered a fish for a 220BB pot, but it really amounted to damage control, as I was almost freefalling at that point, and if I'd lost that pot (I had flopped a set, he turned trips) to an unlikely better boat, I would have quit for the night. As it was I kept grinding, and finished the night coin flipping a $20 HU SNG, and fortunately won. This again was damage control and saw me only lose $55 or just over a BI. Not the most pleasant night, and I felt like I played pretty badly at points, mainly just not being patient enough or folding enough. I understand losing nights are part of the parcel, but can honestly say I don't like playing when I don't feel I have a huge edge, and I didn't feel like that.
Stuck to my word of not drinking and playing poker last night as I had a few beverages, so I'm really looking forward to having more balance in my life and enjoying things other than mucking around at a poker table. Here's to 2009!!!
So Friday night I've always noticed to be a good night for poker, as in, more fish seem to be around, so my new game plan is to not drink Fridays, and instead grind like nobody's business for 4+ hours on that night. Sweet!!! I also have to knock off an Absolute bonus (about half way there) and two Pokerstars bonuses, one for $80 which is about 2 nights away, and one for $150 which may take a few weeks. I mention these two sites as they aren't sites I'm attracted to long term, and I am really just playing to clear the bonuses as well as check out the fields while I'm there.
First up on Friday I played Absolute. Two tables, couldn't get a good table position going (but there were fish), and couldn't get the cards to fall my way. I ended up down $20, but really was itching to check out Pokerstars. I'm torn between learning more tables and playing NL25 or keeping myself going at NL50, but since I was excited to play and have the bankroll for NL50 now, I thought I'd start there for a big grind. It started bad. I couldn't seem to get a great table there either, mainly battling one or two fish and 3 or 4 TAG's. But the table count is huge. There are tonnes of NL50 grinders, I even played a couple of supernova's playing NL50!!! The hands weren't that exciting, just had me the loser on every occasion. I should have folded KK overpair, which I hate doing, then I found out he raised with air, and hit a set on the turn, doh!!! Eventually I finally cooolered a fish for a 220BB pot, but it really amounted to damage control, as I was almost freefalling at that point, and if I'd lost that pot (I had flopped a set, he turned trips) to an unlikely better boat, I would have quit for the night. As it was I kept grinding, and finished the night coin flipping a $20 HU SNG, and fortunately won. This again was damage control and saw me only lose $55 or just over a BI. Not the most pleasant night, and I felt like I played pretty badly at points, mainly just not being patient enough or folding enough. I understand losing nights are part of the parcel, but can honestly say I don't like playing when I don't feel I have a huge edge, and I didn't feel like that.
Stuck to my word of not drinking and playing poker last night as I had a few beverages, so I'm really looking forward to having more balance in my life and enjoying things other than mucking around at a poker table. Here's to 2009!!!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2009?
Well, it's here, and it's pretty darned real. For the first time I'm doing a new years resolution. In fact several. I'll keep this blog about the poker parts, but sufficed to say poker played a part in a few points.
I'll start by discussing 2008 very briefly. January I joined Cardrunners for the videos and thought that was a big step. I really wasn't playing the game well at all, and I can now explain why, even if I still can't explain how to play "really well". By about March or April I had improved enough to be consistantly beating any game I played in, even if small. I then started finding bonus sites and soft games, and my bankroll steadily climbed, reaching $2.5K. I started withdrawing money, and getting up the courage to grind NL100, which I had played just a bit, when I fell into HU. I ran pretty good and with bonuses and playing made it to about $3.5K roll, ready to grind either $55 HU SNG's or $100 cash games. Unfortunately, my ideas of how to play were still rather immature. I only managed to keep my bankroll from freefalling, but consistantly lost money, and then mixed in drunken play and ... Cashed out, grinded again from at one point about $17 I think. I since added a couple of hundred, but overall, have won since then every month, with strong winrates, and a really improved game, after admitting to some pretty massive leaks.
So I won't actually repeat my resolution, but will put a list of goals together. So the first point is to look at what turned my game around. It was definitely playing the game, and not the money system. There is a secondry lure around the rebates sites give you. Your winrate is this + rakeback. So if I play a lot, or a lot of tables, then my rakeback improves, and I can get away with winning less. Only, if you 6 table, when you should only 2 table, you will lose far more in one poorly played pot each hour than you will get in total rakeback, so you really must be on top of the grinding ability before deciding it's an easy way to make money. Likewise grinding higher rakeback games like turbo HU or multitabling SNG's. It's possible to win big and get great rakeback, but make sure you are a winner there before chasing the big rakeback. Now I will definitely still chase bonuses, but not to the point where I know I'm a losing playing trying to chase it. Maximising profit means playing the weakest players, not getting the most rakeback. Saying that, I'm planning to still "chase" rakebacks if they are profitable enough to do so, but don't want to be sucked in to thinking I have to 5 table NL100 to finish a bonus. It has to be a profitable decision, that won't cost me more bankroll than bonus in expected rates.
Secondly, I'm splitting my drinking and poker. Both are great fun to me, but now poker is too serious to allow me to drop $50 trying to push people off top pair at NL10 while playing like a complete maniac. This works one night, and suddenly you think it's the way to enjoy a few drinks. Guess what, 40/38 style is very hard when sober. Yes you will win some nights, but most times, you will lose in the long run, no matter how well you play postflop. So if I think I've lost $20 equity by playing for 3 hours drunk, and my bankroll is only $500 I get upset. Some nights I work hard to win $20 sober, and lose $50 drunk. Why? So I will be strict this year. Poker and alcohol do not mix, not even freerolls. I have to drink a little less anyway, so will pick some non-poker nights to have some drinks and apart from that happily grind sober and ready to crush. And nights I drink, I will be happy to call poker free.
On top of that I have to set a playing goal, and my medium term goal, which I realistically want to be very close to by say April, is to be taking money out of poker each month. Now I'm not going to do that now, as I'm only making enough to build a bankroll, so a couple of things need to change. I need to be grinding NL100, and I need to be playing 4 tables. NL100 alone will take a bit of time to achieve, but I played 3 tables the other night, and it wasn't too crazy. I think given a couple of months I'll happily be at 4 tables, and playing well. I figure 4 tabling NL100 with a decent winrate puts me at about an $800 withdrawel from poker each month, which is a great start. This is definitely an aim of mine, and from there when I feel like I'm crushing that all the time, I will look at moving up levels, and will hopefully move up one or two more this year.
Lastly, my game. I am happily moving forward right now, but I really just want to get inside the poker knowledge base. I feel like I know so much more about every aspect of the game just in the last 3 months, but I want every bit of that to grow a lot. I expect to look back at this blog and laugh and how I thought I knew quite a lot. But I won't let that ruin my confidence at the tables now, as all I plan to do in the short term, is play on tables where there are worse players than me. I don't need all the skills in the world right now, just enough to make me better than other players at the table, and that feels like a real strength of mine right now, leaving unprofitable tables. I want to learn more and more how to exploit fish, and more and more about how to find those fish. It really is that simple.
So 2009 is here, and it's looking promising from just about every aspect of my life, and poker is a big part of that this year I think. Here's to running good in January and all year.
I'll start by discussing 2008 very briefly. January I joined Cardrunners for the videos and thought that was a big step. I really wasn't playing the game well at all, and I can now explain why, even if I still can't explain how to play "really well". By about March or April I had improved enough to be consistantly beating any game I played in, even if small. I then started finding bonus sites and soft games, and my bankroll steadily climbed, reaching $2.5K. I started withdrawing money, and getting up the courage to grind NL100, which I had played just a bit, when I fell into HU. I ran pretty good and with bonuses and playing made it to about $3.5K roll, ready to grind either $55 HU SNG's or $100 cash games. Unfortunately, my ideas of how to play were still rather immature. I only managed to keep my bankroll from freefalling, but consistantly lost money, and then mixed in drunken play and ... Cashed out, grinded again from at one point about $17 I think. I since added a couple of hundred, but overall, have won since then every month, with strong winrates, and a really improved game, after admitting to some pretty massive leaks.
So I won't actually repeat my resolution, but will put a list of goals together. So the first point is to look at what turned my game around. It was definitely playing the game, and not the money system. There is a secondry lure around the rebates sites give you. Your winrate is this + rakeback. So if I play a lot, or a lot of tables, then my rakeback improves, and I can get away with winning less. Only, if you 6 table, when you should only 2 table, you will lose far more in one poorly played pot each hour than you will get in total rakeback, so you really must be on top of the grinding ability before deciding it's an easy way to make money. Likewise grinding higher rakeback games like turbo HU or multitabling SNG's. It's possible to win big and get great rakeback, but make sure you are a winner there before chasing the big rakeback. Now I will definitely still chase bonuses, but not to the point where I know I'm a losing playing trying to chase it. Maximising profit means playing the weakest players, not getting the most rakeback. Saying that, I'm planning to still "chase" rakebacks if they are profitable enough to do so, but don't want to be sucked in to thinking I have to 5 table NL100 to finish a bonus. It has to be a profitable decision, that won't cost me more bankroll than bonus in expected rates.
Secondly, I'm splitting my drinking and poker. Both are great fun to me, but now poker is too serious to allow me to drop $50 trying to push people off top pair at NL10 while playing like a complete maniac. This works one night, and suddenly you think it's the way to enjoy a few drinks. Guess what, 40/38 style is very hard when sober. Yes you will win some nights, but most times, you will lose in the long run, no matter how well you play postflop. So if I think I've lost $20 equity by playing for 3 hours drunk, and my bankroll is only $500 I get upset. Some nights I work hard to win $20 sober, and lose $50 drunk. Why? So I will be strict this year. Poker and alcohol do not mix, not even freerolls. I have to drink a little less anyway, so will pick some non-poker nights to have some drinks and apart from that happily grind sober and ready to crush. And nights I drink, I will be happy to call poker free.
On top of that I have to set a playing goal, and my medium term goal, which I realistically want to be very close to by say April, is to be taking money out of poker each month. Now I'm not going to do that now, as I'm only making enough to build a bankroll, so a couple of things need to change. I need to be grinding NL100, and I need to be playing 4 tables. NL100 alone will take a bit of time to achieve, but I played 3 tables the other night, and it wasn't too crazy. I think given a couple of months I'll happily be at 4 tables, and playing well. I figure 4 tabling NL100 with a decent winrate puts me at about an $800 withdrawel from poker each month, which is a great start. This is definitely an aim of mine, and from there when I feel like I'm crushing that all the time, I will look at moving up levels, and will hopefully move up one or two more this year.
Lastly, my game. I am happily moving forward right now, but I really just want to get inside the poker knowledge base. I feel like I know so much more about every aspect of the game just in the last 3 months, but I want every bit of that to grow a lot. I expect to look back at this blog and laugh and how I thought I knew quite a lot. But I won't let that ruin my confidence at the tables now, as all I plan to do in the short term, is play on tables where there are worse players than me. I don't need all the skills in the world right now, just enough to make me better than other players at the table, and that feels like a real strength of mine right now, leaving unprofitable tables. I want to learn more and more how to exploit fish, and more and more about how to find those fish. It really is that simple.
So 2009 is here, and it's looking promising from just about every aspect of my life, and poker is a big part of that this year I think. Here's to running good in January and all year.
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