Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The Rape Continues

So yep, awesome, kept it rocking just like the last session. Got smoked with straights, boats, and flushes. I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong, but it seems like 25nl just kicks me in the god damn face.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Re-motivated

I actually read through my old blogs, and definitely reminded me how much I used to want to make poker happen for me. I really do want to excel, and I'm going to try to use this blog to push me towards my poker goals.

I'm going to try and be more active in posting on here. Summarizing my day of play every day, and that should also help force me to review my sessions. Going to start right now, probably only putting in an hour or so, but no time like the present to start right?

All right, so I finished my first 25nl session for 2010. Short version, it sucked. I flopped two flushes, and got both in against bigger flushes, awesome.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $25.55
BB: $111.60
UTG: $44.05
MP: $17.85
CO: $15.85
Hero (BTN): $33.15

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with 8♠ Q♠
1 fold, MP calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.25, SB calls $0.15, BB checks

Flop: ($1.25) K♠ T♠ 9♠ (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP checks, CO bets $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, SB folds, BB folds, MP folds, CO raises to $2.25, Hero calls $1

Turn: ($5.75) 4♣ (2 players)
CO bets $0.25, Hero raises to $4, CO raises to $7.75, Hero raises to $30.65 all in, CO calls $5.60 all in

River: ($32.45) 5♥ (2 players - 2 are all in)

[spoil]Final Pot: $32.45
CO shows 6♠ A♠ (a flush, Ace high)
Hero shows 8♠ Q♠ (a flush, King high)
CO wins $30.85
(Rake: $1.60)[/spoil]

Hand #2

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $25.00
BB: $115.80
UTG: $27.95
MP: $25.25
CO: $28.60
Hero (BTN): $37.20

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with 2♣ 4♣
UTG raises to $0.75, 1 fold, CO calls $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($2.60) 8♣ T♣ 6♣ (3 players)
UTG bets $1.50, CO folds, Hero raises to $7, UTG raises to $27.20 all in, Hero calls $20.20

Turn: ($57.00) Q♦ (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($57.00) 6♥ (2 players - 1 is all in)

[spoil]Final Pot: $57.00
UTG shows J♣ 3♣ (a flush, Jack high)
Hero shows 2♣ 4♣ (a flush, Ten high)
UTG wins $54.20
(Rake: $2.80)[/spoil]

********************************************

So that was fun. Then I played AQ terribly, I really felt like he would've played different if he had it on the flop, and I went with my gut. I was right, but it ended just as badly as if he had flopped it right along anyway.

Grabbed by[url=http://www.holdemmanager.net] Holdem Manager[/url]
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($34.70)
[color=red]BB ($44.95)
Hero ($26.25)
[/color]CO ($48.95)
BTN ($45.10)

Dealt to Hero A:diamond: Q:heart:

[color=red]Hero raises to $0.75, [/color]fold, fold, fold, [color=red]BB calls $0.50[/color]

FLOP ($1.60) 8:heart: Q:spade: 5:spade:

[color=red]BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB calls $1.50[/color]

That's a wet board. I made a solid bet, and sets shouldn't be flatting here too often. They're going to shovel money in before the board gets too scary. That must've been where my subconcious was at, and was what I expected to see for board texture to explain why I went against what should be an obvious Baluga Theorem.

TURN ($4.60) 8:heart: Q:spade: 5:spade: J:diamond:

[color=red]BB checks, Hero bets $4, BB raises to $11.25, Hero calls $7.25[/color]

When he makes this bet, I still have his range as not very strong. I felt that strong hands needed to protect on the flop, the only hand that just got there was QJ, or T9, so if I was best on the flop, I'm probably still best here. I decided to flat, anticipating villain will bluff a missed flush draw after firing two barrels. In retrospect I think shoving myself here or folding is probably best, as flush draw calls now, and possibly doesn't bluff off when missing the river.

RIVER ($27.10) 8:heart: Q:spade: 5:spade: J:diamond: A:club:

Now I'm back ahead of QJ, still behind T9 and sets. He shoves, and I make what I would expect to be a good call. And he shows me JJ for a turned set, sweet. Chaulk another one up to Baluga Theorem.

[color=red]BB bets $13, Hero calls $12.75 (AI)[/color]

BB shows J:club: J:spade:
(Pre 58%, Flop 14.8%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero shows A:diamond: Q:heart:
(Pre 42%, Flop 85.2%, Turn 0.0%)

BB wins $50.60
***********************************************

Yee haw, here's my start to the day:

New Year

So it's another year. 2009 was pretty dismal for me as far as poker goes. I didn't play much, did fine on PS when I did, solid winrate, but no volume, and got demolished on FTP (again).

2010 I do want to set some goals, but I know it's going to be hard. My life is going to be taking a lot of time once the Air Force does get me shipped to OTS and beyond. Until that time though I'm going to focus on my online pokers.

I'm happy that I killed live poker in 2009, and I really enjoy that game. Live is definitely a nice variant, and it helps being 30 minutes away, though I'd really like that trip to be 10 minutes or less. Definitely would be there a lot more often.

I decided to start over from ground zero. I'm focusing on my 6max game, and I basically cleaned out my online rolls. I left $200 on PS and another $200 on FTP. My PS account is up to $494.86, and FTP is at $240.23. Not sure if I have this month's play in the graph or not, but this was the end of December and maybe the one session I've played this year.














I've taken a few new approaches. I've become extremely positionally aware. Here are my stats by position.










And this doesn't fully represent how I'm actually playing now, as there are some older hands in that sample. The early limping I see makes me want to vomit, and that's gone 100%. But anyway you can see how many more hands I play on the Button and CO.

I'm also basically just staying away from pots that someone else opened. I used to think I'd flat in position, or when I'd raise and get 3bet, I'd over-estimate my equity versus their range. Now I just fold, move on, and play a different hand where I'm the one who's in control.

I've taken to much larger bets in general. Opting almost always for a pot-sized bet. I think this has given me an advantage in that players are not nearly as willing to play back at me lightly. I build pots that are larger, and generally I am the one deciding whether we'll be playing for stacks or not since I also usually have position.

I'm hoping that I shake this sickness I've come down with, because I'm just really tired, and not with it. Not the best way to play poker, and I really really really, want to have at a bare minimum Silver VIP status by the end of January.