1k goal reached

Got to play poker pretty much all through t-giving. I grabbed an extra airport base station from work and installed it at mom-in-laws and was up and running in no time. I ran way below EV, but managed to play well enough to stay even (get stacked by river 1 outer, work back up, get stacked by river 3 outer, work back up, rinse, repeat). My hands finally started holding up and I ended up passing the 1K mark for total earnings. The good thing about the past weekend is I'm finally playing a solid game. I'm feeling pretty comfortable now in 25NL and looking toward 50NL somewhere around the 1500 - 2000 mark. Just have to stay focused and keep grinding it out.

I don't have a screenshot of my HEM graph, but here's my PTR graph in it's place:

The low point/blue dot is where I started 10NL 6 max. The yellow dot at the top is close to where I started 25NL. The dip after the yellow dot is where I spewed all those chips.... pretty sure I'll be able to control that from here on out... Even with all that, I seem to be running at about 3.12BB/100 at 25NL - only 5k hands, so doesn't mean much, but at least I'm on an upward trend for now.

My goal at this point is to make it to 100NL. From what I understand the game at 200NL and above starts to change pretty drastically. I don't think I have the time/energy to dump into making a profitable run at higher stakes. Hey, I'm such a fish now, I shouldn't even be thinking about it, but there you go. I learned a long time ago to not put any time or number of hands constraints on my goals, but I am trying to practice good bankroll management and if I go on a downturn, it's back to 10NL until I'm back up. I have the time. I have the desire. Guess I'll find out if I have the chops...

Get it together man!

Quick update today, no graph. Not sure what's going on, but it looks like the HH request feature isn't working correctly (or HEM is munching it wrong). I've been downloading my HH at work to post graphs (I play at night at home). The HH beta import shows me at a profit for 25NL. HAH! I wish.

On Friday I fired up FT for a quick session just to pass some time. I broke every one of my rules: don't play tired, don't play while drinking, don't play distracted. Over the last couple months I had strictly adhered to these rules (I've been beer-free for over 2 months) and my results showed it. This weekend I broke the rules and payed for it. I was inches away from crossing the $1k mark. I proceeded to spew 3BI in about 25 hands. And I mean spew. I think I shoved on an UTG raise with AJo. I forget the other hands, but they were equally as bad. I tightened up immediately after that, but the damage was done... run bad set in and I lost another 3 buy ins to cracked AA, cracked KK and a couple messed up coolers. What should have been a fun 1/2 hour of poker turned into a 6 hr session trying to make my $$ back. By 3am I was 1/2 way there but couldn't stay awake any longer. It was too bad too. I had a talker to my right that was down $1400 according to PTR (at least $200 of it that night at my table) that was pretty much giving $$ away. He rivered me a couple times so it was pretty swingy, but ended up on that table.

I took Saturday off, but Sunday went no better. Again, I was tired, drinking, not making the best decisions, and not running well.

I took a couple days off and last night got back to basics. No beer, kept the session short, and played a decent 21/19 game. Was up to about $45 and ready to quit when I got KK on the button, raised the CO limper and BB who were both 45/0 spazzes, BB shoves for 30 something bucks, I insta call and he shows A9o (which was actually the frigging TOP of his range). He had slow played every big hand he had previously, so when he shoved I knew I was way ahead. Of course he turns an A, but I'm happy to get it in with odds like that. I stuck around for a few more minutes, but I had made up my mind to log out, and that's what I did. Spazoid hit-and-ran right after he won with his A9 anyway, so the table became much less profitable.

So I'm 4 BI down from my high point, and looking to grind back up (and beyond). Hopefully I'll be able to control the spew sessions and get back to the steady upward graph that I know and love.

Have a groovy holiday all. Hopefully I'll have a few minutes to play, as I know this will be a fish filled few days, but will be tough to get away from the family (because I enjoy their company, not because I need to get away).

Moving along...

Seem to be hanging on ok at 25NL, though I spew monkeyed last night chasing a fish that couldn't find the fold button. Worked my way up to about 2 BI profit early on when an aggro fish sat directly to my right. For the next 200 hands, I couldn't hit a flop to save my life, and finally started tilting off $$ by calling flop, turn, fold river over and over again with AK, AQ KQ etc... Missed every street, knew by his betting he hit at least a pair and would felt it with as low as a pair of 3's, which I couldn't even beat. Was a great way to get rid of money. At one point, we both had $60 stacks and if I held out for long enough, I'd eventually felt him for the entire amount. Instead, I gave him most of my chips, and only got them back when I hit a set over his flopped 2pr. At the same time, I bluffed off all my profit on the second table by representing the frigging card the other dude was holding. Could have been worse, but definitely could have been much, much better. Obv. from my redline, I'm still attacking in most of the right places and getting folds when I want them. Now I need to work on hanging on to it when I have it...

Got my HH from last night with FT's new HH beta. Pretty cool new feature, looking forward to the final version.

ugh.

So how many times can you get it in as a favorite and get your balls slapped.... let me count the ways...

I'm about 2 BI down in EV. I made up for it in non-showdown aggression, which was really good practice. I 3bet and 4bet the hell outa folks and it mostly worked out. Gotta try to keep that up, definitely some $$ to be made.

10 bucks of my bonus cleared, so my night was essentially a wash. Tired and cranky. Good night.

How would you play this?

Finally taking some small stabs at 25NL. things are still going pretty well here at casa BLAARGH. I find there are a lot fewer really weak spots at 25NL... 10NL is full of crazies. I'm trying to tighten up my game a bit to compensate, but below maybe too tight? Whaadaya think?

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 374714

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



SB: $26.22

Hero (BB): $25.75

UTG: $11.02

MP: $5.00

CO: $5.83

BTN: $19.33

This is pretty early on in the session, MP has been pretty tight so far. I've been able to steal his blinds on every round. This is the first time I've seen him raise. I've been somewhat active and my numbers are high because I've gotten a few playable hands.

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with Q K

I get QKcc in the BB. So the question is... do I:

A) Balls 'o Steal: Shove for his shorty $5. 

B) Wimpasaurus: Call and see what happens on the flop

C) Why are you even playing this game???: Fold

A, I think he folds everything but TT+, maybe JJ+

B, I can probably put him in on any favorable flop, and get away from anything that looks stupid with minimal damage.

C. Well, he did seem pretty tight, but come on... I'm sooooooted! But he does have my range pretty much crushed the times he's not raising baby pairs, Unless he has an unlikely JQ or KJ

Which of these options is most +EV over time? If I shove and win, I get .25. If I shove and he calls, sometimes I'm racing with baby/mid pairs, lots of times I'm crushed by AQ, AK, AA, KK. Even though I have a Q and a K, those are still viable hands. Obviously a better read on him would be preferable... and maybe just folding is the most +EV because he folds his blinds so much....

For the most part I prefer aggression. I didn't include a rr to 2.50, as that would probably have the same effect as shoving and put him in control of the hand, plus it would commit me to the hand anyway if he shoves...

Pokerstove KQcc vs top 10% - actually seems pretty good....

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

 167,805,792  games     0.297 secs   565,002,666  games/sec

Board: 

Dead:  

equity win tie      pots won pots tied

Hand 0: 41.229%   36.70% 04.53%      61582773  7602597.50   { KcQc }

Hand 1: 58.771%   54.24% 04.53%      91017824  7602597.50   { 88+, ATs+, KJs+, QTs+, AJo+, KQo }

1 fold, MP raises to $0.75, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.50



Flop: ($1.60) 4 3 T (2 players)

Hero checks, MP bets $1, Hero folds



Final Pot: $1.60

MP wins $1.52

(Rake: $0.08)


Yeah, I'm a big pussy. Fuck you. So what do you do?

SECTsing the Cherry*

So.... as of last night, things are still going well at 10NL. Above is the graph of my progress since October 12th, when I started 6max. According to HEM, I'm a frigging lucksack. Which is only partially true. I DEFINITELY had a few good suckouts early on. The rest it seems, is pretty much just running well. My big hands are holding up. I'm getting in what I believe are good spots with fish.

Which leads me to this graph:

I read this post by Gugel (anskypoker.com) about a program called SECT. It computes your equity by street, rather than by when you got it all in. Read his explanation, he does it much better than I could. I think the above graph shows a more accurate picture of my play. Yes, I'm still running well overall, but I've been getting in with good equity to begin with, which is what I'm most concerned about. Don't get me wrong, I can still spew with the best of 'em, but I'm really trying to fix whatever leaks I can find.

So on that note.... I'm thinking I might start posting some hands and graphs as I go along. There are already too many of these kinds of blogs out there, but I think I want to do this more for myself to check my progress... and if anyone else is into it, great... if not... fuck you, you're an idiot. If nothing else, it will be a good forum for Waffles to make even more fun of what an absolute fish I am.

*with deepest apologies to Jeanette Winterson for soiling her title

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Sorry for the super long delay in posts (not that anyone reads this drivel anyway). It's not that I haven't been playing, I have been. A lot. A real lot.

Summer Bankroll Challenge decimated my bankroll. I managed to go from a high of around $800 to a low of about $400. Truthfully it had nothing to do with the challenge itself, it was a combination of running really bad and trying to learn to play cash games. I was playing 25NL FR at the time and playing a really high variance LAG style and not playing it all that well...

I moved down to 10NL, lost a bit more, but studied quite a bit. Switched over to 6 max which, for whatever reason seems to be the right move. I also happen to be running super hot. I think I'm at about 10bb/100 over 10k hands right now. I'll save my views on how I'm running for a later post, as I don't think HEM tracks EV in a reliable way.

So last night, I blew past my goal of getting back to $800 thanks to a fish that just could not find the fold button. I got him all in 3 times on the river while he was chasing runner runner gutters. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe he just has $$ to burn. Maybe he just doesn't care about the 50 bucks. All I know is he was paying me off big time. I cashed out about $3 short of my goal after the fish left and decided to fire up a $5.50 18 man sng. 2nd place and I'm somewhere around $820.

My goal now is to move back to 25NL and see how that goes. I still have some serious leaks to fix, but I feel a whole lot more comfortable in a whole lot more situations. Maybe I'll keep this blog updated more often... we'll see.

By my own rules, I'm allowed back in the Mookie. If I drop below $800, I can't join. So.... hopefully see you all on wednesday....

And congratulations to Waffles aka "Super Turbos" for getting sucked out in 4th place last night...