Operation 7k5

Okay, so all the cool kids have their own "challenge" threads and "operation" threads. So here's mine.

I'm setting myself the rather long-range target of taking my bankroll from it's measely $1000 status of today, 1st October 2006 and plan to make it $7500 by this time next year. Hopefully before.

Why 7.5k? Well, yes, I was inspired by another thread and, let's face it, I was hoping that I'd get a bit of dyslexic traffic in my thread.
Works for microsfot.com

The plan is to make an acheivable $305 this month, and then to improve my rate by 10% each month until it reaches like $800-$900 a month next autumn.

At the moment this is acheivable as I am clearing about $500 of bonus per month; so as long as the crypto reloads are around I can clear $550 +rb a month for about 15k hands of $1/2.
I'm also moving over to $50NL, although I see limit as my main game.
This month I lost a lot, if I can be playing breakeven by next spring I'll be on course.

Of course I'm hoping things will go a LOOOT better than that. But start small I say.
On the meteoric rise to 7.5k I will hit the milestones of being rolled for $2/4 (again), $3/6 and $100NL by Christmas, $5/10 by April and then the big ones: $200NL and $10/20 next summer.

I consider $200NL to be my goal level of NL and I want to reach $10/20 so I can start posting in the High Stakes Limit forum

Anyone want to guess when this thread will die out? Before Christmas? Time will tell...

It's always good to see goals made, and it's even more important to see yourself through them. With your monthly goals I think it should be easy to stay on track. I've read many of your other posts and even though you've had a few tough runs, you do appear to be advancing as a player and are genuinely interested in improving your game, which is definitely a winning mindset. I've found that writing about your playing definitely helps you clarify what is going on, especially if you are having a hard time. Good luck, hope to see lots of updates

Thanks for the encouragement Setzy.

Well, month has started much like the previous one. I'm trying to be more aggressive, mostly I either raise or fold pre-flop and frequently after the flop.
Cold calling pct is currently at 0.34% (2 hands- 88 and JJ in position) and I hope to keep it down. (Last month was at 0.83%).

It's really tough to fix my BB stat when this sort of thing happens:

Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($1/$2)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksUTG: $63.75
UTG+1: $4.32
UTG+2: $15
MP1: $59.75
MP2: $19.50
MP3: $16
CO: $43.75
BTN: $97.25
SB: $55
Hero: $40


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with 3 3
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises, UTG+2 calls, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero calls,

Flop:(8.5SB) A 2 3 (4 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, UTG+2 calls, CO calls, Hero 3-bets, UTG+1 calls and is all-in,UTG+2 calls, CO calls,

Turn:(16.25BB) K (4 players 1 all-ins)
Hero bets, UTG+2 raises, CO calls, Hero 3-bets, UTG+2 calls, CO calls,

River:(25.25BB) K (4 players 1 all-ins)
Hero bets, UTG+2 raises and is all-in, CO calls, Hero 3-bets, CO calls,
Final Pot: 33.25 BB

UTG+2 had AK. Which sucked, but CO called down with K6 so I got a tiny side-pot at least.

Then this today:

Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($1/$2)
Converted by FTRConv
9-handed

StacksSB: $37.13
Hero: $38.50
UTG: $51.75
UTG+1: $76.65
UTG+2: $13.62
MP1: $81.25
MP2: $11.75
CO: $45.50
BTN: $57.75


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with A K
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 raises, MP2 folds, CO folds, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero 3-bets, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls,

Flop:(9.5SB) K 9 5 (3 players)
Hero bets, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls,

Turn:(7.75BB) T (3 players)
Hero bets, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls,

River:(9.75BB) J (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets, Hero calls,
Final Pot: 11.75 BB

Yup. QQ.
Those two alone put a dent my BB. Already running at 0.38BB/hand in the BB over the first 600 hands. A way to go if I'm to improve that position.

And: why it's important to call once you get to the river. In this example I only need win 1 in 9 to make it profitable. Turn call is more of a question mark.

Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($1/$2)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksMP3: $36
CO: $89.62
BTN: $69.75
Hero: $40.75
BB: $41.75
UTG: $47
UTG+1: $76.50
UTG+2: $25
MP1: $103.50
MP2: $41.75


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with A K
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, BTN raises, Hero 3-bets, BB folds, UTG folds, UTG+2 folds, BTN calls,

Flop:(9SB) 6 4 5 (2 players)
Hero bets, BTN calls,

Turn:(6.5BB) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls,

River:(8.5BB) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero folds,
Final Pot: 9.5 BB

Villain showed KQ. :S

Still sometimes the top hands hit, even in a multiway pot:

Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($1/$2)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksSB: $62.75
BB: $83.75
UTG: $56.41
UTG+1: $60.50
UTG+2: $61
MP1: $81.75
Hero: $35
MP3: $33.75
CO: $31.25
BTN: $63


Pre-Flop: Hero is MP2 with K K
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, Hero raises, MP3 folds, CO calls, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls,

Flop:(11.5SB) T 6 2 (5 players)
UTG bets, UTG+2 raises, MP1 calls, Hero 3-bets, CO folds, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls,

Turn:(17.75BB) Q (4 players)
UTG checks, UTG+2 checks, MP1 checks, Hero bets, UTG folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 folds,

River:(19.75BB) 7 (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero bets, UTG+2 calls,
Final Pot: 21.75 BB

UTG+2 had T9s...

So, so far down about $9, made half that in rakeback... but I had swung solidly into profit before swinging back down again, but today I'm up and a lot of the time I'm getting my money in with good hands I think...

Well I'm one week into my challenge, 51 to go

So far it's going pretty well from my own low standards. I've actually managed to swing into a profit at the tables (this despire my best attempts, I lost $45 playing $2/4... have to face the fact I'm not ready for it, too sensitive to the swings).

So I'm up a little, have cleared the remaining $80 of the Betfair promotion (and sadly, thanks to that stupid jaunt at $2/4 I'm a net loser off Betfair, despite taking $300 in bonus).

I'm working through the Interpoker $100 reload now, a little up with 20% cleared.
By the end of the week I should have done about two-thirds of my month's target with half the month remaining.

The biggest problem I foresee is just the lack of games in the off-peak period (from a European perspective). Right now there are under 900 players on the Crypto network and there are just two players on the $1/2 full ring tables.
I used to get a lot of my play done before I started work, before things get busy here; but if i have to play during the peak European-hours it's going to be much tougher.

Probably going to have to make the switch to 6-max at some point soon, more hands and more tables... but I still don't like the swings.

Bah stupid American legislature... put me in an awkward position: to 6-max or not to 6-max. That is the question.

I think I'm improving as a player.

I'm not sure if this is exactly the right move in the following hand but I had an idea based on what i made of the opponent and the position and it worked.


Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($1/$2)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksUTG+1: $57.75
UTG+2: $38.75
MP1: $67
MP2: $55
MP3: $41.75
Hero: $40
BTN: $53.75
SB: $85.75
BB: $50
UTG: $24.96


Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with K 7 (poster)
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, Hero checks, BTN folds, SB calls, BB checks,

Flop:(3SB) T Q J (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets, Hero raises, SB folds, BB calls,

Turn:(5.5BB) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks,

River:(5.5BB) 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls,
Final Pot: 7.5 BB

I paid an extra $1 on the flop to see the river (rather than calling a potential $2 turn bet).
This sort of free-card play was actually something I didn't even know about a month or so ago (probably before I read SSHE).

So whatever the results, I *do* think I'm improving my knowledge of the game and that has to be worth something...

Well, finished off the Interpoker reload and moved onto Poker Plex ($200 for 1000 MPPs).

Now I can mix in a little NL. Had a reasonable session of FR $50NL but everyone kept pushing at me... I miss limit!!

Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksBTN: $32.08
SB: $140.41
Hero: $52.25
UTG: $40
UTG+1: $58.60
UTG+2: $57.45
MP1: $12.01
MP2: $59.02
MP3: $83.98
CO: $34.15


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with K Q
UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero raises to $2, UTG+1 calls, CO calls

Flop:($6.75) K 4 9 (4 players)
Hero bets $3, UTG+1 folds, CO calls

Turn:($12.75) T (3 players)
Hero bets $7, CO raises to $29.15 and is all-in, Hero folds, CO doesn't show hand
Final Pot: $26.75

I don't know if that's a bluff or not, but TPGK wasn't enough for me so I folded.
What could he have? A flopped set, suddenly panicked by the straight possibilities?

Hand 2
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksMP2: $42.28
MP3: $140.91
Hero: $55.25
BTN: $10.17
SB: $22.28
BB: $58.20
UTG: $136.45
UTG+1: $48.75
UTG+2: $55.85
MP1: $38.95


Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with A A
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 raises to $1, MP3 folds, Hero raises to $3, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls

Flop:($9.75) T 6 3 (3 players)
MP1 checks, MP2 bets $39.28 and is all-in, Hero folds, MP1 folds, MP2 doesn't show hand
Final Pot: $9-75

A lot cheaper but still very irritating. I was getting frustrated: how do you play against this crap?

Then I thought: oh yeah, make sets. Get paid.

Hand 3
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksUTG: $50
UTG+1: $140.16
Hero: $40
MP1: $40
MP2: $60.80
MP3: $57.45
CO: $8.26
BTN: $58.27
SB: $120.48
BB: $47.80


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG+2 with 9 9
UTG+1 calls, Hero calls, MP1 folds, MP2 raises to $1, MP3 folds, CO folds, BTN folds, SB folds, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls

Flop:($4.25) 3 9 3 (5 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2, MP2 raises to $4, BB folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises to $10, MP2 folds, UTG+1 raises to $62, Hero is all-in $29

Turn:($92.25) K (3 players)

River:($92.25) 4 (3 players)

Final Pot: $92.25


Oh yeah, A 7 *sigh*

Hand 2 is an easy call. More often than not you're up against QQ/KK here.

Meh, can't be that easy a call. I folded

So it's +EV to call this huge overbet? Is it likely to be TP? Or a lower overpair?

I really don't know who would push here... or why...

Now this was not a welcome sight:



I was on 5 tables, the other 4 restarted but this one sat there a while. Finally restarted and the guy called:

Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($1/$2)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksBTN: $18.41
SB: $41.50
BB: $56.75
UTG: $35.38
UTG+1: $43.25
UTG+2: $80
MP1: $53.95
MP2: $124.25
Hero: $39
CO: $16


Pre-Flop: Hero is MP3 with 4 A
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, Hero calls, CO folds, BTN calls, SB calls, BB checks,

Flop:(6SB) 4 A 4 (6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets, BTN calls, SB folds, BB folds, UTG folds, UTG+2 folds,

Turn:(5BB) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero raises, BTN calls,

River:(9BB) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets, BTN calls,
Final Pot: 11 BB

Yes! Variance swings around my way and since I'm currenlty playing NL it's paying off!

My BR has shot up to $1400 now, so I've passed my month's target with $300 of bonus still to claim. I'm about 5% done with Poker Plex; and Sun still to do.

I'm running pretty hot at the moment (35BB/100 over 300 hands, so just waiting for the other shoe to drop).
Am clearing the bonus about as quickly on the $50NL 6-max tables as I was on the $1/2 tables, obviously more hands played per hour, even if I'm only comfortable 2-tabling at this level atm.

So things are going well.
Part of it is bad play by oppoonents, but still, doing very well despite some terrible play=variance.

Hand 1:
The river bet here was probably stupid. But at least he didn't re-raise anything too heavy.

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksCO: $90.61
BTN: $127.95
Hero: $30.40
BB: $20.45
UTG: $49
UTG+1: $10


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with K T
UTG calls, CO folds, BTN calls, Hero calls, BB checks

Flop:($2.00) K 9 8 (5 players)
Hero bets $1, BB folds, UTG calls, BTN folds

Turn:($4.00) 8 (3 players)
Hero bets $2, UTG calls
River:($8.00) T (3 players)
Hero bets $4, UTG raises to $8, Hero calls
Final Pot: $24.00


Hand 2
I probably could have afforded to be a bit more aggressive here. Couldn't be sure my overcards were any good here...

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksSB: $87.56
BB: $133.20
Hero: $53.50
CO: $36.75
BTN: $44


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with K Q
Hero raises to $2, CO calls, BTN calls, SB folds, BB folds

Flop:($6.75) 3 9 4 (3 players)
Hero bets $3.50, CO folds, BTN raises to $7, Hero calls

Turn:($20.75) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $10, Hero calls
River:($40.75) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $10, BTN calls
Final Pot: $60.75


Hand 3
My opp, a Swede, called me some very bad names (in Swedish) after this...
I wasn't too happy with my play either, but for different reasons. Can you really check this flop? Not sure if pushing to his turn re-raise is better. But it all got in in the end.

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksBTN: $90.60
Hero: $48.80
BB: $82.55
UTG: $54.50
UTG+1: $47.50
CO: $50


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with 8 8
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, CO folds, BTN raises to $2, Hero calls, BB calls

Flop:($6.00) 8 J 6 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, BTN bets $2, Hero calls, BB calls

Turn:($12.00) 4 (3 players)
Hero bets $5, BB folds, BTN raises to $11.50, Hero calls
River:($35.00) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $20, BTN raises to $40, Hero is all-in $13.30
Final Pot: $101.60

Bah. Stupid! Gah!

Played for too long tonight. Got tired. Got stupid.

My unbelievable run carried over into tonight's session and I was up about $130 at one point, managed to proceed to donk off some of it (and to be fair about one buy-in was lost in three pots where I got it in with the best hand and got sucked out on).

Still, can't really complain: today I managed to put in 887 hands for $119. Cleared lots of bonus, took obscene amounts of rakeback...
$50NL-6max is great

BR has gone to $1547. If I clear the rest of this PokerPlex bonus this month while staying at least break-even I'll have reached my November target already!

I *WILL* stop playing like a complete donkey.

I *WILL* stop playing like a complete donkey.

I *WILL* stop playing like a complete donkey.


I have played some really bad stuff today.

Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksSB: $33.69
Hero: $41.95
UTG: $41.90
CO: $18
BTN: $71.05


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with K K
UTG raises to $2, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero calls

Still not sure about this. Missing value by calling, but have isolated...

Flop:($4.25) 9 7 3 (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $3, Hero calls

No. No. No. Why? The plan was to raise here, why did I call? Why?!?!?!

Turn:($10.25) A (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $6, Hero calls

Getting silly now.

River:($22.25) 3 (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $15, Hero calls

Getting REALLY silly now.

Final Pot: $52.25


Hand 2
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksBB: $11.25
UTG: $45.50
UTG+1: $166.08
Hero: $65.85
BTN: $58.88
SB: $39.50

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with T T
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $2, BTN calls, SB folds, BB folds

Flop:($4.75) 7 3 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, BTN calls

Turn:($8.75) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $6, BTN raises to $12, Hero calls

Ahm? Really? Are you sure you want to do that? This is exactly how you would have wanted to play it if you had the flush. So what are you doing calling this?

River:($32.75) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $10, Hero calls

Oh ffs.

Final Pot: $52.75


Hand 3
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksBB: $38.90
UTG: $76.36
CO: $40.40
BTN: $34.25
Hero: $66.10

Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with Q K
UTG folds, CO calls, BTN folds, Hero raises to $2, BB folds, CO calls

Flop:($4.75) 3 J 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, CO calls

Turn:($8.75) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River:($8.75) K (2 players)
Hero bets $3, CO raises to $22, Hero calls

WHAT AM I DOING?!?!
Final Pot: $52.75

Too comfortable at these tables. I knew better in every single instance and yet still donked off those pots.

Got revenge on villain from Hand 3...

Hand 4:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksUTG: $44.45
CO: $27.45
BTN: $53.55
SB: $36.70
Hero: $61.15


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with K A
UTG calls, CO calls, BTN folds, SB calls, Hero raises to $3, UTG folds, CO folds, SB calls

Flop:($7.50) 4 Q 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB raises to $6, Hero calls

Turn:($19.50) 3 (2 players)
SB bets $11, Hero raises to $22, SB folds
Final Pot: $41.50

How could I have made that turn re-raise? What inspired read did I have?
Nothing.
I was trying to click on another table (stupid overlapping tables), my daughter distracted me and I accidentally hit the 'raise' button.

Lucktastic.

Today's session so far: 471 hands, +$56.
BR has gone past $1600 now, it's getting silly.

Just imagine what it would have been if I hadn't played like a spaz in the above hands!

The 88 and KK hands are bit nasty (you know this already, im sure) - Pls stop slowplaying against these chimps dude.

You obv put alot of effort and thought into your game - you can def do this. Good luck.

Thanks Jimmy. It's great posting stuff here and getting a bit of sanity.

Things are still going insanely well at $50 6-max and well, generally.

I did the 5-hours on Will Hill yesterday at $1/2 Limit, made about $10 on top of the $47 bonus.

Went back to NL 6-max today and only had time for about 350 hands (I love how fast they rack up shorthanded).

Managed to blow a buy-in and thought I'd be looking at a losing session. Came back a while later and evened it up. I thought I'd be jokingly posting about how I had a bad session because I only ran at 4ptbb/100 today... but then bam! Took a big pot and yes I finished up almost a buy in again.

It's not like I'm having outstanding luck or anything, it's just that my opponents are showing down with crappier crap than my crappy crap waaaay too often and they're paying off a lot of my good hands.

My BR has reached $1740, which was my target for NEXT month, so I'm well ahead of my plan. I've still got $350 of bonus to work through (added Paradise's $100 reload) so if things keep up like this I could be rolled for $100NL in a week or two.

Which is, in some respects, really bad news because I'm sure these games are making my play worse.

I know this thread is becoming a bit braggy, (which is why I appreciate the feedback on some of my hands so much) but it'll be interesting to look back when this variance swings around again and put everything in perspective.

Okay so today really was a bad day: only ran at 1bb/100

No, but I decided to see how much multi-tabling I could manage. I gave a bit of 7-tabling a try (but with a laptop + 17" monitor there's a lot of overlapping).
Apparently I do play worse 7-tabling, but not as bad as a lot of the crypto gang...


Hand 1:
Doh! Early hand.

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
3-handed

StacksSB: $50.25
Hero: $48.95
BTN: $46.25

Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with 3 T
BTN calls, SB folds, Hero checks

Flop:($1.25) 8 6 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $1, BTN calls

Turn:($3.25) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, BTN raises to $4, Hero raises to $10, BTN raises to $44.75 and is all-in, Hero calls
River:($98.75) 2 (2 players)

Final Pot: $98.75

Turn call was probably stupid. Trying to work out how often does he just have the ten-high straight here? If never then it's certainly stupid. If it's like a third of the time then perhaps m flush-draw compensates a little... still a nice donkey move to start my session off well.

Hand 2
Up against a showdown muppet. FOLD DAMN YOU!!

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksHero: $42.95
CO: $50.10
BTN: $68.77
SB: $34.30
BB: $45.45
UTG: $65.65


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG+1 with K K
UTG calls, Hero raises to $2.50, CO calls, BTN folds, SB calls, BB calls, UTG folds

Flop:($10.50) 9 6 8 (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $7, CO folds, SB folds, BB calls

Turn:($24.50) 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $20, BB calls
River:($64.50) T (2 players)
BB bets $15.95 and is all-in, Hero is all-in $13.45
Final Pot: $91.40

Felt I had to call his river bet with so much in. Of course he had 77.


Hand 3
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksSB: $168
BB: $31.33
UTG: $22.01
UTG+1: $50.68
CO: $7.71
Hero: $62.86


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with T A
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, CO folds, Hero calls, SB calls, BB checks

Flop:($2.00) T 2 A (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $1, SB calls, BB folds, UTG+1 folds

Turn:($4.00) 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB calls
River:($10.00) 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $7, SB raises to $23.50, Hero calls
Final Pot: $57.00

Why couldn't I get away from this? This was just stooopid. Should I have just checked behind here with the draw on the board? Seems a bit weak.

Hand 4
Have decided to get a bit more aggro at times. When I believe the villain can lay it down. Semi-bluff like this is a bit new for me.

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksCO: $53
BTN: $68.50
Hero: $52.05
BB: $39.55
UTG: $52.20
UTG+1: $92.70


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with 9 A
UTG raises to $1.50, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, BTN folds, Hero calls, BB folds

Flop:($5.00) 6 Q 7 (3 players)
Hero bets $2, UTG raises to $7, CO folds, Hero calls

Turn:($19.00) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $15, Hero raises to $43.55 and is all-in, UTG folds
Final Pot: $49.00


Hand 5
This was fun.

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
4-handed

StacksCO: $50
Hero: $67.10
SB: $63.13
BB: $70.15


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with T 8
CO raises to $3, Hero calls, SB folds, BB folds

That was a mis-click. I meant to fold

Flop:($7.25) 3 J 3 (2 players)
CO bets $6.50, Hero calls

Still a flush draw. Why not get nasty.

Turn:($20.25) 9 (2 players)
CO bets $6, Hero raises to $20, CO folds
Final Pot: $32.25

Hee hee.

I play like such a donk sometimes.

Well, quite a lot really.

This is a fun way to lose a stack in two consecutive hands:

Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG+1: $35.70
CO: $21.65
BTN: $53.80
SB: $28.45
BB: $126.05
Hero: $48.75


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with T T
Hero raises to $2, UTG+1 folds, CO raises to $4.50, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds, Hero raises to $22, CO is all-in $17.15

Flop:($46.05) 6 K Q (2 players)


Turn:($46.05) 8 (2 players)

River:($46.05) 6 (2 players)

Final Pot: $46.05


Hand 2

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG: $35.70
UTG+1: $41.85
CO: $53.80
BTN: $28.20
SB: $125.55
Hero: $27.10


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with 9 9
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, CO folds, BTN calls, SB calls, Hero raises to $27.10 and is all-in, BTN calls, SB folds

Flop:($55.20) T 5 4 (2 players)


Turn:($55.20) 3 (2 players)

River:($55.20) 8 (2 players)

Final Pot: $55.20

Opp in hand 1 has been getting a bit agro and since he's so short I decided I'd play this one for stacks. Sucks if he has an overpair...

In hand two I thought, since they'd just seen me go down it'd be fun to push and see if I can get a call off a small PP or perhaps a couple of high cards.
Gamboool!

They both had rockets

They're both the same hand...

I was briefly wondering if the first was me - i ended up all-in last night against a shorty who had TT - I had JJ, fortunately.

Ooops.

Fixed.

I've had some time to reflect and I still can't believe I did that in hand 2. What was I thinking?

I also donked off another $25 which was when I knew it was time to quit.


No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG+1: $35.38
CO: $37.75
BTN: $53.20
SB: $20.20
BB: $129.55
Hero: $48


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with Q Q
Hero raises to $2, UTG+1 calls, CO folds, SB folds, BB folds

Flop:($4.75) A A 6 (3 players)
Hero bets $3, UTG+1 calls

Turn:($10.75) T (3 players)
Hero bets $4, UTG+1 calls
River:($18.75) 2 (3 players)
Hero bets $5, UTG+1 raises to $15, Hero calls
Final Pot: $48.75

Really frustrating as I'd got a beat earlier today and was down almost a buy in and slowly got myself even by just winning the little pots and waiting for a set.
Then after I close down two tables and am on my last orbit of number three I blow $75..... bad!!

Took a break from NL for a bit and went back to some limit.
Now my BR has escalated a bit more I feel more comfortable at $2/4.

Had sat there winning some/losing some when I hit my first big hand:

Hand 1:

Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($2/$4)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksUTG+1: $95.25
UTG+2: $99.50
MP1: $83.75
MP2: $84.75
MP3: $54.25
CO: $138.13
BTN: $269.50
SB: $203.75
Hero: $66.87
UTG: $199.25


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with K K
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 raises, CO folds, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero 3-bets, MP3 calls,

Flop:(6.5SB) 3 T T (2 players)
Hero bets, MP3 raises, Hero 3-bets, MP3 calls,

Turn:(9.25BB) T (2 players)
Hero bets, MP3 calls,

River:(11.25BB) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets, MP3 calls,
Final Pot: 13.25 BB

Was little bit worried that he might have the T
He actually had A3o... so there you go. He had 4 outs on the river I suppose...
Anyway, I was up and feel better about the session when I got this:

Hand 2
Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($2/$4)
Converted by FTRConv
10-handed

StacksUTG: $95.25
UTG+1: $99.50
UTG+2: $83.75
MP1: $84.75
MP2: $34.25
MP3: $138.13
CO: $269.50
BTN: $202.75
Hero: $85.87
BB: $199.25


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with Q Q
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 raises, MP3 3-bets, CO folds, BTN folds, Hero 4-bets, BB folds, MP2 calls, MP3 calls,

Flop:(13SB) 8 5 Q (3 players)
Hero bets, MP2 calls, MP3 raises, Hero 3-bets, MP2 calls, MP3 calls,

Turn:(15.5BB) 2 (3 players)
Hero bets, MP2 calls, MP3 raises, Hero 3-bets, MP2 4-bets, MP3 calls, Hero calls,

River:(27.5BB) 6 (3 players)
Hero bets, MP2 raises and is all-in, MP3 3-bets, Hero 4-bets, MP3 calls,
Final Pot: 37.5 BB

One of those lovely hands that absolutely plays itself. No need to think about anything so long as it's getting capped. It was just about the perfect set up.
Mp3 had AA.
MP2 had 55.

Who says you can't make big cash at limit?

Here's a little quiz for you:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($50NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksBB: $59.75
UTG: $50.80
UTG+1: $24.92
CO: $4
BTN: $13.80
Hero: $49.50


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with 5 6
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, CO folds, BTN folds, Hero calls, BB checks

Flop:($1.50) 6 Q 8 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks

Turn:($1.50) Q (3 players)
Hero bets $1, BB folds, UTG calls
River:($3.50) 8 (2 players)

So theturn bet didn't get rid of opp. And now the river has left you facing at best a split pot; if opp holds a card higher than 6 it's lost.

The only chance is if you can get your opponent, who is a bit on the weak-tight side to fold.

What's the least risk course of action that can get him to fold this hand?

No takers on my quiz?

Game continued.
Hero checks. UTG folds.

I kid you not. That's the power of my checking


NLT&P arrived in the post the other day, (along with my new copy of SSHE) so time to do some study.
Managed to get quite a few hands in today, partly because I went to Party for a bit where it's fairly fast.

I made the mistake of depositing $130 into my Party Account to take advantage of the free $15 they'd given me.
Well, the mistake was probably not sitting at the $25 FR tables and just grinding off the bonus and seeing if I couldn't pick up a little extra.

Instead I tried out the 6max tables. Managed to lose $66 (so about $51 of my own money). Bad news.
Very loose tables, full of gambooooling.

Managed to lose an AI preflop AKo v 89s (flop: 72J, then 6T).

My favourite: AA v 55: flop 246, all in, turn: 7, river 8.

Things much better on crypto, up $80 (so up $14 at the tables, + $15 bonus + rb + crypto bonus).

I'm running at 5ptbb/100 over 5k hands now @ $50NL.

Still got about a 1000 hands to go on Poker plex and then about 1500 to do on Sun. Then I'll have a crack at the Paradise reload.

Finished off the Poker Plex bonus, had some real luckbox hands yesterday... almost feel bad about it.

Almost.

Am currently playing on Noble (iPoker network) because I saw there 40% up to $100 reload and thought I'd go for it.

I plan to deposit at Sun but leave it until next month to do (I can do Oct + Nov reloads plus the extra bonus for $300 for 1500 MPPs, add to that the $200 at Poker Plex and $100 at Interpoker and I've got plenty to do next month).

I've still got the $100 at paradise to do, but I don't think that expires so quickly (if at all??).

The iPoke network is fairly terrible. Software isn't great (and the "turbo" is too turbo... even on the "non-turbo" tables.. I've had a number of good hands fold while I'm trying to size my bet...)

So far I'm up about €85 which I guess is about $120 (see what I get for it when I transfer back to Neteller and have earned $0 in bonus... which kinda makes the bonus seem less significant.

What I didn't realise was the bonus expires 1st November, so I'll give it a go and seew where I get. If I keep making this sort of profit it won't really matter.

Serious risk of reaching my January 1st target by month's end. Operation threads rock!!

Anyone who's been reading this and waiting for me to get my comeuppance (or perhaps comedownance) after all that good upswing may be interested in tonight's episode

Last night I played some more 6-max on iPoker and, yes, it's stupid to try to play too many tables with their speeded-up play.

Donked off a fair bit of cash, some really bad play on my part, I guess I blew about $120.

I called an all-in check-raise for about $40 with JJ v a board of 6785 (I know!!), I lost $60 when my 87s lost to a higher flush and I called down like a donk with A3o v AKs for another $30.

Don't think I could have laid down the flush, but the others... *shudder*

Anyway, heroic efforts this morning left me up $100 on the $50NL tables, leaving me just $30 down and much happier.
But I lost it all + some on the $100NL table I was playing.

One session, down $130. (The fact that 1.3 buy ins feels a lot shows why I'm not ready to make $100NL my game yet).

Three hands sunk me:
$100NL 5-handed
Anosmic is BB with K J

pre-flop
UTG raises to $4, 2 fold, Villain calls, Hero calls.

Flop: ($12, 3 players) Q T 7
Villain bets $10, hero calls, UTG folds.

Turn: ($32, 2 players) 2
Villainbets $10, hero calls.

River: ($52, 2 players) T
Villain bets $10, hero raises to $40, Villain calls

Still not sure if a $65 (put him all in) would have done it.
Villain had AQ.

Should have gotten away from this pre-flop and failing that: on the flop.


Hand 2 was straight forward. I had TT, UTG limps, I bet $4, Villain raises $7, I raise $22, he pushes $50 , I call.

He had AKo, which was more or less what I expected (actually exactly what I was counting on). He hit his A, but can't complain I got it right in that instance (lost $51 here).

Nail in the coffin, while I was just about up for the session (factoring in the $50NL wins) this happened:

$100NL 5-handed
Hero: $100
Villain: $52
Anosmic is BB with AK

pre-flop
Villain limps, 2 fold, btn limps, SB calls, Hero bets $7, Villain raises $13, 2 folds, hero calls.

Flop: ($28, 2 players) K K T
Hero checks, villain bets $5, hero calls.

Turn: ($38, 2 players) J
Hero bets $10, Villain raises to $20, Hero raises to $55, Villain calls all-in

River: 2

Villain had JJ.
Now villain can probably fold this flop if I fast play and I have to be prepared to see this through given that there's $28 in the pot and villain has $39 left. It's just a matter of getting it in.

So I check to the bettor, he makes a wimp bet (which from him is, I think, a big sign of weakness). I call, put in $10 on the turn which if he calls allows me to put in a half-pot bet on the river and put him in.

So I don't know how bad this is. I left him "draw out on me cheaply" but I wasn't looking to protect this hand I was looking to get his stack in the middle.

Anyway, there you go. Back to NLT&P for me...

How is that book working out for you Anosmic. It's next on my list. I have read TOP, SSHE, HOH 1 & 2 and lee jones 'winning low limit hold em'. I have a disasterous amount of books in PDF and getting time to read them is hard enough. I had to print the last two just to get a chance. When I have computer time I like to play or FTR. I have not read any since about May and am thinking of picking them back up now that I have table experience, especially TOP. I have forgotten more than I can remember, as evidenced by my blog.

I have a hard time with the limit books being a little too "limity". HOH 1 was pretty good, even for ring, but not dead on. TOP is great but I didn't understand alot of the other games, so some get's lost in translation. I may be better off now.

Sorry for the quick Hijack. I know this thread is about you, so back to your problems. I have my own thread for mine.

Luck!

Hey don't worry about it, I just like the fact that someone's reading other than me

NLT&P is very interesting. Lots of stuff to think about there.
It's like TOP I think it'll take a few more reads to start to absorb some of the ideas.

I've got a load in PDF, if they're particularly useful I'll buy them. And yes finding time is hard. My copy is in the loo... well at least I'm there every day.

SSHE was great and I learned a lot and I think this current run, as well as being variance, is due to some of the improvements to my NL game that arose from playing a fair bit of LHE.

It's all going quite well at the moment.
My BR has reached $1900. If it stays where it is until the end of the month then rakeback will roll me for $100NL.

Played a bit of FR $50NL yesterday and today, with a little bit of 6-max my BR today reached $2000.

Basically have reached my January 1st target already

Let's see if $100NL kicks my bottom or what...

So that was a really tough weekend.

Managed to drop $40 playing $50NL 6-max, and $100NL 6-max, and $100NL FR.

A mixture of ridiculous play and bad luck. I also lost a truckload playing short-handed LHE. Down about $200 on Saturday.

Today started okay. Up $15 or so on $100NL 6-max. Then went to play some $1/2 SH.

It was sick variance really. The games are soooo loose at there's odds for everything.
Bet and 3-bet QQ preflop. Flop comes up AQ5 (two spades), I bet and get called both on flop and turn.
Villain wakes up on river(spade) and bets, I foolishly raise, get 3-bet, call and see the flush.

8To, flop is 789, bet, re-raised by K5s. Turn is 6 makes my straight and river is 4s making his flush.

But I stuck with it, playing a little bit tighter and well-placed aggression and managed to scrape my way back to a positive finish (+$4).

Went back to $100NL 6-max and finished up about $50. Mostly due to this one hand:


No Limit Hold'em iPoker ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG+1: $69.45
CO: $39.10
BTN: $19.60
SB: $22.05
BB: $39.60
Hero: $101.15


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with J J
Hero Raise $4.00, UTG+1 Fold, CO Fold, BTN Fold, SB Fold, BB Call

Flop:($8.50) 9 4 5 (6 players)
BB Check, Hero Bet $6.00, BB Allin $35.60, Hero Call

Turn:($79.70) 7 (6 players)

River:($79.70) A (6 players)

Final Pot: $79.70

(Villain had T9o)

So it's the end of month 1.

Progress has been great. My BR was around the $1100 at the start of the month (taking Rakeback into account). It's now doubled.

I've left the Sun Poker reload and most of the Paradise reload for next month, but cleared Will Hill, Interpoker, Poker Plex, Party ($15) and $70 from Noble.
It was all good except I managed to lose $65 picking up the Party $15 bonus... doh!

I set out to improve my LHE stats, and I did to a degree even if only over a very small hand sample.

Not as good at short-handed, still have to work on that.


My position stats for LHE have shown some improvement. I wanted to get my BB down from -0.31/hand and I've managed a little.


NL was a much more clear success. I finally got into a groove at short-handed NL, getting a good performance on both Crypto and iPoker.
My efforts at $100NL have been mixed so far, and I lost a bit at £50NL, but that's all Biondino's fault!!


When I couldn't be bothered to concentrate on poker, like when watching TV or something I played some FR which went well too:


My short-handed position stats look like this:


Because this has been a little image intensive I won't post the graphs, but they are:
All shorthanded
and
Just $50NL

Bankroll is $2100, with about $135 coming in rakeback. Never really imagined that I could have a month this good. Especially as I was wondering if I could play short-handed, if I could manage $50NL.

Thanks to all who are reading and offering encouragement. Let's see what November brings...

Great job, Too many bonuses to track or what? Can't get them all done? Just a point that I noticed. You may be a little too loose in the 6 max. I know that you should be looser than FR but maybe until you get it down, be a little nittier. Might help, but what do I know, I'm battling $25NL.

Thanks TJ.

Yeah, lots of bonuses... trying to be systematic about it.


And with apologies to Warpe... November had a good start

Played on a PS FTR table. DaNuts had stacked me with
KK v QQ

I think this is my biggest pot ever

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

BB ($111.25)
UTG ($255.90)
UTG+1 ($99)
MP1 ($82.45)
MP2 =(Warpe) ($276.70)
MP3 ($220.50)
Hero ($174.30)
Button ($98.50)
SB ($261.05)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 2, 2.
3 folds, Warpe raises to $4, 1 fold, Hero calls $4, 1 fold, SB calls $3.50, 1 fold.

Flop: ($13) 7, 2, T (3 players)
SB bets $8, Warpe raises to $24, Hero calls $24, SB calls $16.

Turn: ($85) K (3 players)
SB checks, Warpe bets $50, Hero calls $50, SB folds.

River: ($185) T (2 players)
Warpe bets $100, Hero calls $96.30 (All-In).

Final Pot: $381.30

Results in white below:
Warpe has Ah Th (three of a kind, tens).
Hero has 2c 2d (full house, twos full of tens).
Outcome: Hero wins $377.60. Warpe wins $3.69.

Trips are not Sets.

I will learn that lesson one day.

Played lots of poker yesterday. Because I was playing short-handed LHE I got in a lot more hands than I usually would.
Managed to clear the $100 Interpoker bonus at the cost of $10 (up $10 at $1/2 and down $20 at $2/4).

Went to Will Hill and managed to completely collapse. Lost something like $100 on the $1/2 full-ring tables. Some very loose and bad play, and a the standard limit fair of leading until the river but being unable to do anything than make opp pay to get there and then keep the pay off small when they hit.

For some reason although PT says I'd played 5 hours I didn't get all five bonus installments. So I went back this morning and played a table for a full hour to make sure I got the bonus.
Finished up about $35 so in all I lost $45 and got $47 in bonus.

Makes my stats look crap though.

Went over to Paradise for a bit... I've really gone off their site over the last couple of months, but I have $100 of reload bonus left.

Managed to lose the following pot:
Paradise Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (3 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($103.50)
Hero ($44.30)
Button ($41.45)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7, 5. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
Button calls $0.50, 1 fold, Hero checks.

Flop: ($1.25) Q, 7, 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Turn: ($1.25) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $1, Button calls $1.

River: ($3.25) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, Button raises to $4, Hero raises to $10, Button raises to $39.95, Hero calls $29.95.

Final Pot: $83.15

Results in white below:
Hero has 7s 5c (three of a kind, sevens).
Button has 7d 8d (full house, sevens full of eights).
Outcome: Button wins $83.15.

Just terrible play. I nearly left because it was going so badly but I thought to myself that there were plenty of bad players, playing badly, and even if they're catching some results now it can't last.

Managed to get all but $3 of my losses back. Favourite hand:

Paradise Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

UTG ($79.40)
MP ($57.60)
Button ($31.65)
Hero ($52.30)
BB ($41.35)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, J. Hero posts a blind of $0.25.
1 fold, MP raises to $2, 1 fold, Hero (poster) raises to $5.25, 1 fold, MP calls $3.25.

Flop: ($11) 3, A, K (2 players)
Hero bets $8, MP calls $8.

Turn: ($27) J (2 players)
Hero bets $25, MP raises to $44.35, (All-In) calls $14.05.

River: ($110.40) 4 (2 players)

Final Pot: $110.40

Results in white below:
Hero has Ah Jd (two pair, aces and jacks).
MP has 8c Ac (one pair, aces).
Outcome: Hero wins $110.40.

Bit scarey and probably suicidal against any reasonable opponent. But the opp wasn't reasonable

So I was down $3 as I say, although had cleared $10 of the bonus. But this hand put me back in the +$


Paradise Poker - $1/$2 5-Card Draw
Seat 1: MrPPVRVD ($19.00 in chips)
Seat 3: Anosmic ($40.00 in chips)
Seat 5: ndetroit21 ($49.25 in chips)
Seat 7: FunBluff ($8.50 in chips)
Seat 9: cathry ($14.50 in chips)
MrPPVRVD: Post Small Blind ($0.50)
Anosmic : Post Big Blind ($1)
Dealing...
Dealt to Anosmic [ K Q K 3 K ]
ndetroit21: Fold
FunBluff: Fold
cathry : Call ($1)
MrPPVRVD: Fold
Anosmic : Raise ($1)
cathry : Call ($1)
Discarded by Anosmic [ Q 3 ]
Dealt to Anosmic [ T 4 ]
Anosmic : Bet ($2)
cathry : Call ($2)
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $8.25 | Rake: $0.25
Anosmic bet $4, collected $8.25, net +$4.25 (showed hand)
[ K T K 4 K ] (three of a kind, kings)
cathry lost $4 (showed hand)
[ 2 2 2 8 Q] (three of a kind, twos)

The main reason I seem to win at 5cd at dise is that I'm the only one who practices starting hand selection...

Oh yeah. BR has reached $2k5. Which means that according to my original operational plan I'm good up to 1 Feb 2007

Woo hoo!

The weekend was a bit slow-going.

I've been playing $2/4 limt because the bonus clears lightening quick there (playing 6-max you can easily get in 500 hands in 90 minutes or so, and 500 hands is pretty much $50 of bonus).

Had a terrible run on Sunday, down about $130, which put me about -$90 since the start of the month at the $2/4 tables.

This evening I was sitting playing some more and was soon down $50 and then in the space of five minutes completely reversed it to finish up $88.

Well as long as I stay around the break-even point I suppose I'll get used to the swings.

Took a break from online poker last night to play a bragging rights game with friends. It's the typical gang so I'm starting to get to know them quite well.

All pretty inexperienced and know little theory. It really is hard to put them on hands when the'll play pretty much any two cards.

Won it in the end. Mainly by playing tight early on, gaining respect and then grabbing the blinds more in the middle period.

The deciding hands were a mixture.
Heads up with the guy who's been finishing well since he joined our game. Can play aggressively and has hit some really great hands (some amazing suck-outs too).

Anyway, had K4 and the flop is 567. So after his check I push (he's got me covered) thinking that the OESD + the king gives me a shot at the best hand now or a good chance of hitting it.

He calls, eventually and flips over K8. Now the K is no good and my 4 is no good.
Turn was a 3. River a blank and I took the chip lead.

Final hand I had A6s, the I bet pre-flop, he calls and then pushes into me on the flop (Axx). I think about it and then call, got to be ahead of his range.
He shows 45o, and it's all over two cards later.

Shame that the hand that really mattered was the only time I made a howler all night... not bad given that they go in with any two cards

One function of this thread, and my blog too, is that it helps put things in perspective.

I had my worst day ever BR-wise. I lost about 12% of my BR at the $100NL tables. Down $350. And that stings more than a little.

But before I'm tempted to be disheartened I can look back at earlier posts and see the bigger picture.
For instance I'm still 1k up form where I was less than a month ago and my BR is where it was about five days ago.

Sure I've lost a lot, but I'm still comfortably rolled for $100NL and I'll try to learn from my mistakes... oh and they were some terrible mistakes.

I'll take my howler on stars... made worse 'cos Renton was opposite me and so my humiliation was more "public".

No good reads which makes this all the worse.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

CO ($99.50)
Button ($85.30)
SB ($92.50)
BB ($119.20)
Hero ($95.50)
MP ($269.25)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, T.
Hero raises to $4, 4 folds, BB raises to $12, Hero calls $8.

Flop: ($24.50) 8, 6, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($24.50) 5 (2 players)
BB bets $19, Hero raises to $55, BB raises to $107.2, Hero calls $28.50 (All-In).

River: ($215.20) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $215.20

Results in white below:
BB has Qc Qh (two pair, queens and sixes).
Hero has Kd Td (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: BB wins $215.20.

This was too risky given villains pre-flop re-raise and my calling. Just really stupid.
I was soon down $150 on this table and it took a while to claw back some and finish just -$80

My experience would have been easier to handle had it not been for my nightmare on Crypto.

Made worse because I was up a little on this table... so getting stacked hurts more...

Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($100NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG: $62.18
UTG+1: $263
CO: $129.50
Hero: $130.75
SB: $100
BB: $34.50


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with A K
UTG raises to $2, UTG+1 raises to $5, CO folds, Hero raises to $18, SB folds, BB folds, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls

Flop:($39.50) K J 9 (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $30, UTG+1 raises to $245 and is all-in, Hero is all-in $82.75

Turn:($265.00) K (2 players)

River:($265.00) 3 (2 players)

Final Pot: $265.00

Don't know about this hand. I felt I had to pot it with such a connected board.
The emphatic push is a danger sign. I'm asked to put in $82 to a $180 pot with TPTK. Is this a bad call? He didn't 4-bet me, what does he have? AA-KK are unlikely. AK a possibility. Would JJ 4-bet?

Of course he had 99 and took me out. Did I have enough information to get away from this? Hmmm. Dunno.


Other hands were easier: this is just stooopid.

Hand 2
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksHero: $83
BTN: $80.40
SB: $51.75
BB: $10.50
UTG: $135


Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with 9 9
UTG folds, Hero raises to $4, BTN raises to $9, SB folds, BB folds, Hero calls

Flop:($19.50) J 4 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $14, Hero calls

Turn:($47.50) K (2 players)
Hero bets $30, BTN raises to $57.40 and is all-in, Hero calls
River:($162.30) T (2 players)

Final Pot: $162.30

I successfully determined that he'd missed the flop and I had the lead. The turn came and I bet.
What I didn't stop to really think was that given that he 3-bet and missed his flop what could he have? The chances that he's got a K is significant.
He had it and there goes the stack.

Hand 3
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksCO: $48.97
Hero: $90
SB: $101
BB: $148.75
UTG: $80.25


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with A Q
UTG calls, CO calls, Hero raises to $6, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls, CO folds

Flop:($19.50) 3 Q 6 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $9, BB folds, UTG calls

Turn:($37.50) 5 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $25, UTG calls
River:($87.50) J (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $50 and is all-in, UTG is all-in $40.25
Final Pot: $168.00

There's every chance he's playing a lowish flush and fears something higher. But I feel the flop and turn bets are okay. Especially as I'm drawing to the nut flush.
But the river bet is just stupid. There's little chance I can get them to fold a good hand and little of getting a call from a draw/weaker queen.

Checking behind would have saved me $50 against his pocket sixes.


And just to make me feel a little better:

Hand 4
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
4-handed

StacksBTN: $133.25
Hero: $96
BB: $127.25
CO: $29


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with A K
CO raises to $29 and is all-in, BTN folds, Hero calls, BB folds

Flop:($59.00) 8 2 K (2 players)

Turn:($59.00) A (2 players)

River:($59.00) T (2 players)

Final Pot: $59.00

Felt the shorties range warranted a call from AKs. There may be those who disagree, but they're wrong. So there. It's like the third or fourth best hand and I'm not letting it go for $30.

After the flop it looks good, the turn looks even better. But his JQ now has 4 outs and that's what he hit.

So what do I take from this:
I think my play has gotten better of late. My willingness to stick in a meatey bluff here and there has actually paid off well. But there are some examples here of really bad timing.

I obviously need to be a better hand-reader to continue to function at this level; but I'm not scared off of $100NL yet. (Still intend to put in a couple k hands and I've still got 25 buy-ins).

Time my bets better.
Try to hit a better balance between value betting and getting cheap
showdowns.

I'll just have to take it out on my co-workers in tonight's work tourney

I'm giving up Limit.

There you go. I've done it, it's over. Let's move on.

Had another swingy session at LHE $2/4 and I've had enough. I'm not interested enough to figure out why I'm losing so much there.

Finished down $180 on those tables, up a little on the $1/2 tables.

Overall this month I've played almost 4k hands of short-handed LHE and lost $350.
I cleared maybe $200 of bonus and got $100 in rakeback, so fine, shrug it off and move on. But it's just ridiculous.

Went back to NL, up $80 on the $100NL tables, takes the sting out a little.

BR is hovering around $2400 level, down a lot from the $2800 I had a couple of weeks ago. Probably have to wait until Christmas to reach the $3k stage I've been looking forward to...

I'm thinking this should be an easy river call.. and that I should probably have bet earlier... but can villain get away from this even if he's beat?

Of course if he's got Qx or something I'll have "let him draw out" on me... but I found this a difficult spot.

Felt I had to call here, but what does he put me on? Is this a stone cold bluff?


No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($100NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksBTN: $109.50
SB: $12.56
BB: $131.50
Hero: $225
CO: $219.18


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with K K
Hero raises to $6, CO folds, BTN calls, SB raises to $11, BB calls, Hero raises to $50, BTN folds, SB is all-in $1.56, BB calls

Flop:($125.06) A 5 8 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn:($125.06) Q (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
River:($125.06) Q (3 players)
BB bets $81.50 and is all-in, Hero calls
Final Pot: $288.06

Previous post: villain had 22 btw.

Today I put in a good session earlier and was up about $40 or so, and then managed to lose it all without playing badly (even managing to fold bottom two pair at one point)... did lose a pot when software disconnected with me on the nut-flush... grrr... argh.

Two hands killed me today. The first was my own fault, there were enough hands out there to beat me, but I just didn't see his coming...


Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($100NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksUTG: $33.75
CO: $103
BTN: $136.25
SB: $133.50
Hero: $122


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with 8 A
UTG folds, CO folds, BTN raises to $3, SB calls, Hero calls

Flop:($9.00) 5 A 7 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, BTN folds, SB calls

Turn:($15.00) 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $12, SB raises to $30, Hero calls
River:($75.00) T (2 players)
SB bets $66, Hero calls
Final Pot: $207.00

Thought I'd just call the button. Mis-read the pot on the flop and underbet far too much.
Pretty sure I'm toast by the river, so shouldn't have called. But had such a hard time working out his hand.
(it was 69o).

Still, should have folded it... although when you see the standard of what people call with...

Hand 2
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksSB: $45.75
BB: $79.50
UTG: $147.50
UTG+1: $47.75
CO: $143.50
Hero: $98.50


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with K K
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, CO folds, Hero raises to $5, SB calls, BB folds, UTG calls

Flop:($16.00) Q T 2 (3 players)
SB checks, UTG bets $7, Hero calls, SB raises to $40.75 and is all-in, UTG calls, Hero raises to $93.50 and is all-in, UTG calls

Turn:($250.75) 5 (3 players)

River:($250.75) 9 (3 players)

Final Pot: $250.75

This is simply a bad beat, but just goes to show how mad the play is there.
That $250 would have made up for a bad session, instead I'm down almost $250 (sure, it's only 2.5 buy-ins... but aaaargh!).

The hands were as follows (BB, UTG, me):

Code:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=2187009
pokenum  -h 6h 5h  - qd 9h  - kd kh  -- qs th 2h 
Holdem Hi: 903 enumerated boards containing Qs Th 2h
cards  win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
6h 5h  265  29.35   638  70.65    0  0.00  0.293
Qd 9h  124  13.73   779  86.27    0  0.00  0.137
Kd Kh  514  56.92   389  43.08    0  0.00  0.569

Got the first $100 bonus from Sun Poker today, but with the rest of it, I'm down $130 or so.

BTW, I quite like BB's play... if I'd lost to him (well, I'd have broke even with the side pot), well I wouldn't have minded half so much.

How bad is my flat-calling this flop with two opponents? I was planning on raising the turn (not sure how I'd play if another heart fell, I do have the runner-runner possibility). The BB squeeze threw me.

Clearly I've got a few problems to work on, but at least I made the fewest mistakes.

I took a break from my 7k5 challenge to clear the Party bonus. I deposited $500 from outside my roll with the idea of cashing out again directly. Wanted to see if I could use some of the bonus money towards a new pair of skis.

Finished up $185 + $75 bonus, so that's almost enough to cover it. Not bad for couple of hours over the weekend.

I played a bunch of $25NL, because I only needed raked hands. I was amazed at how much easier it is now, given that I crashed hugely at these tables about two months ago.

Could be a result of the U.S. exodus, but I don't think that explains it all.
As a result I have a much nicer $25NL FR stat than I had a few days ago.

I also played some SH stuff, including their $100NL tables.

I think one thing I need to work on is getting away from these sorts of hands:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

CO ($80.85)
Button ($155.35)
SB ($60.40)
BB ($133.50)
UTG ($65.36)
Hero ($124.50)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, K. SB posts a blind of $0.50.
1 fold, Hero raises to $4, CO calls $4, 3 folds.

Flop: ($9.50) A, T, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $5, CO raises to $10, Hero calls $5.

Turn: ($29.50) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $12, CO calls $12.

River: ($53.50) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $30, Hero calls $30.

Final Pot: $113.50

Results in white below:
Hero has Ac Kh (one pair, aces).
CO has As 8s (flush, ace high).
Outcome: CO wins $113.50.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Hero ($170.70)
BB ($117.89)
UTG ($100.50)
MP ($141.05)
Button ($52.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, J. Hero posts a blind of $0.50.
3 folds, Hero (poster) completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($2) 4, J, A (2 players)
Hero bets $1, BB calls $1.

Turn: ($4) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BB raises to $7, Hero calls $4.

River: ($18) A (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $10, Hero calls $10.

Final Pot: $38

Results in white below:
Hero has 4d Jd (two pair, aces and jacks).
BB has As 3s (three of a kind, aces).
Outcome: BB wins $38.

Both were far too passive before the river; and the river I should have been able to find a fold I think. Even against the amazingly bad Party players.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP3 ($24.80)
Hero ($24.65)
Button ($29.40)
SB ($36.27)
BB ($24.40)
UTG ($41.47)
UTG+1 ($4.75)
UTG+2 ($24.75)
MP1 ($4.23)
MP2 ($23.20)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, K. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
2 folds, UTG+2 calls $0.25, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.25, 1 fold, SB (poster) completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($1) 2, J, K (4 players)
SB bets $0.25, BB folds, UTG+2 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2, SB folds, UTG+2 calls $1.75.

Turn: ($5.25) 5 (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $4, UTG+2 calls $4.

River: ($13.25) 2 (2 players)
UTG+2 bets $12.42, Hero calls $12.42.

Final Pot: $38.09

Results in white below:
UTG+2 has Jc 7c (flush, king high).
Hero has Qh Kd (two pair, kings and twos).
Outcome: UTG+2 wins $38.09.

Ouch.

This sort of thing just really, really, gets my back up.

Fresh from disconnecting while I held the nut-flush, Sun Poker last night disconnected while I had the nut-straight.

-----HAND 2------
Game #4049367194: Hold'em NL ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/11/21 - 18:35:19 (ET)
Table "Hundreds" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 2: lawik ($34.55 in chips)
Seat 3: iamokay ($80.52 in chips)
Seat 5: Hero ($87.15 in chips)
Seat 6: rossonero ($65.20 in chips)
iamokay: posts small blind $0.25
Hero: posts big blind $0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Hero [Tc 8c]
rossonero: folds
Game #4049367194: Hold'em NL ($0.25/$0.50) - (Incomplete)
Table "Hundreds"
Hero: checks
----- FLOP ----- [Jc Ac 9h]
iamokay: checks
Hero: bets $1
iamokay: raises to $2
Hero: raises to $5
iamokay: calls $3
----- TURN ----- [Jc Ac 9h][7h]
iamokay: bets $5
Game #4049367194: Hold'em NL ($0.25/$0.50) - (Incomplete)
Table "Hundreds"
Hero: bets $35

He called. I bet about half my remaining stack on the river (a 9) and then suddenly I was disconnected. Got back to find that I had lost the money...

It's possible the guy filled up and called, but it's more likely he pushed back at me and I got auto-folded.

Extra irritating that I was on about $90 on that table ($50NL) and that one hand pretty much wiped out my profit from the session.
Of course the HH is garbled so according to PT I'm up from the evening, but my balance on the site shows a different story.

Anyway, all this is very typical, if frustrating.

Icing on the cake was support's email which basically was an idiots guide to the interweb and disconnects.

Rather than a reply about my actual gripe: how about a system that recovers hand histories after disonnects so I have some smegging idea what happened next? Or even that my PT software has a chance of reflecting reality?

So another month comes to an end.

Slightly disappointing overall, but still far ahead of my original plan (I should be on about $1700 now, I'm actually on $2785).

Not including my Party Poker bonus and profit (which wasn't part of this operation), I cleared $550 in bonus (couldn't clear the extra $100 from Sun ran out of time).
I earned about $200 in rakeback, and yet finished just $325 up this month. So obviously a fair amount of losses at the table.

Well, it was at $2/4 SH-LHE.

Witness the awesome destruction:


I'm now quiting LHE for the time being. I'll need to play something like 900 hands of $1/2 on Interpoker and 350 hands of FR on Will Hill (unless I decide to play $100NL for the bonus). But that' s it. I'm done with it.

I had a rather standard time at $25NL on Party, little bit more LAG nowadays than I used to be and quite profitable.


Main game has been $100NL for a bit now. Got 3k hands in at it, finished down, but balanced out by some $50NL on the side.


Ups and down at $100NL, but I don't really feel intimidated, even after the -$350 day I had in the middle of the month.

If just one hand had gone the other way I'd have been up. This is a hand from yesterday which just underscores for me how swingy poker can be.


Opp is fairly aggressive. Earlier I called him down with TPWK against TPGK and I caught 2p on the river, so I know he'll go a long way with a reasonable hand and he will suspect me of calling too light (and he may be right ).

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($100NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksBTN: $126
SB: $99.75
BB: $73
Hero: $161.18
UTG+1: $105.57
CO: $103


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with T A
Hero raises to $4, UTG+1 folds, CO raises to $12, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds, Hero calls

I believe I have enough against his range to make this worth a call. It gets expensive

Flop:($25.50) J 5 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $22, Hero calls

Putting him on JJ+ and perhaps AK my EV is 44% here. I thought that the A+draw made it worthwhile and the stats bear that out

Turn:($69.50) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $48, Hero calls

He left about $20 behind. Funnily enough I was ready to fold to a push (which is roughly PSB). But the pot-size now means I have to call. The extra outs from the gutshot keeps me at around 30% if we take away AK from his range. 2.4:1 to call.

River:($165.50) J (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $21 and is all-in, Hero calls

I'm not sure if you can call here. I did, there's nothing I can believe is in his range which I beat here. So it's a stupid call, but it's hard to not call for $20 into a pot that big.
Is there any value in it? Not sure if enticing him to bet value bet his rivers more can work to my advantage...
Final Pot: $207.50

Basically, I only regret the river call. The rest I think was +EV.

I started my december rounds yesterday at Interpoker.

Was back on the $1/2 LHE tables. Wow. That really sucked hard.
I seem to be going from bad to worse at LHE (at least last month I finished up at $1/2). Lost about $80 to clear a $100 bonus (+ $15 rb).

Played a couple of hundred hands of $100NL. I'm hoping things run well to start the month to let me build a bit of confidence.
Right now I've started the month down a 1.5 buy-ins. Hope it'll improve.

Most interesting hand from yesterday. I was playing this guy heads-up for about ten minutes and another guy just sat down at the table.


No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
3-handed

StacksSB: $83
BB: $84.73
Hero: $55.25


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with Q A
Hero raises to $4, SB raises to $7, BB folds, Hero calls

Flop:($15.50) 8 6 3 (2 players)
SB bets $10, Hero calls

Turn:($35.50) Q (2 players)
SB bets $20, Hero raises to $38.25 and is all-in, SB calls

Villain shows AQo

River:($112.00) 9 (2 players)

Final Pot: $112.00

Normally would have been a lot more cautious on the flop, but was fairly sure he'd missed that flop and there was the backdoor possibility.

I'm going to try to post more $100NL hands in this thread this month; see if I can't take my play up a notch so I can do better than hang on at this level...

It's one of those moments. The ones I seem to have every other month in poker.

It's the oh-crap-so-I-can't-play-this-game-and-I-suck-why-don't-I-just-frakkin'-quit? moment.

Down 4.5 buy ins in just under 700 hands. That's an astonishing -32bb/100.

Another couple of days like this and I'm not going to be rolled for $100NL any more and the question of whether to move down will be academic.

I'm finding it hard to get perspective on this, I mean if I dropped $200 at the $50NL tables I'd shrug it off. But I've got 10K hands showing a healthy profit at that level.

Trouble is this isn't just variance. I'm getting beaten up at this level.
So it's time to find out I suppose. Am I going to break through and raise my game, or am I about to drop back to under $2k and back to $50NL?

Part of the point of this thread is to make my successes and failures public. So here's my nightmare hands from this evening:

Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksBB: $85
UTG: $42.25
Hero: $106.50
CO: $166.26
BTN: $122.50
SB: $53.77


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG+1 with T 9
UTG calls, Hero calls, CO folds, BTN folds, SB folds, BB raises to $4, UTG folds, Hero calls

Flop:($10.50) J 8 9 (2 players)
BB bets $7, Hero raises to $17, BB calls

Note to self. Raise more

Turn:($44.50) 5 (2 players)
BB bets $64 and is all-in, Hero calls
River:($172.50) 8 (2 players)

Final Pot: $172.50


Hand 2
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksBTN: $53.50
Hero: $129.75
BB: $166.26
UTG: $99
CO: $48.27

Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with A J
UTG folds, CO raises to $4, BTN folds, Hero calls, BB calls

Flop:($12.00) A 4 3 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $5, CO folds, Hero calls

Turn:($22.00) J (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks
River:($22.00) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $15, BB raises to $35, Hero raises to $75, BB raises to $157.26 and is all-in, Hero is all-in $45.75
Final Pot: $313.50

Not sure on what level of stupidity I should place the 3-bet...

Hand 3
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksCO: $207.69
BTN: $106.50
SB: $71.28
BB: $104.25
Hero: $142.66
UTG+1: $111.61


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with K A
Hero raises to $4, UTG+1 calls, CO folds, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds

Flop:($9.50) 3 T 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $6, UTG+1 raises to $12, Hero calls

Turn:($33.50) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $14, Hero raises to $40, UTG+1 raises to $66, Hero folds,
Final Pot: $127.50

I don't know if I need to bet that much on this move

Originally Posted by Anosmic

It's the oh-crap-so-I-can't-play-this-game-and-I-suck-why-don't-I-just-frakkin'-quit? moment.

Worst feeling ever. I remember my first shot at 100nl a while back, went kind of like yours ~1000 hands -4 buyins. I felt so terrible and moved back down to regain confidence.

fwiw you seem like a good player, but you look too loose preflop and are calling more than you should. That AJ hand in the sb I would either re-raise if co had been stealing or just fold, I think calling is the worst option. You also don't seem to like giving up on pots (who does? ).

I've been following your thread a lot but havne't commented yet. Maybe your luck will turn around from me saying GL!

Let's hope so.

But then if it's cost me $500 just cos you were too lazy to post...

I'm cutting back to 2-tables right now and trying to work on my reads a lot more. I'm getting trapped much more than I ever have before because I don't put them on the right ranges.

That AJ hand from yesterday, he had 45s and I didn't see it coming.

I'm going to try to be more specific as to what range I put my opp on, and see how often I'm right...

Have had a few winning sessions... the last couple have been barely winning, but still up.

Have got back to around -$200 for the month at $100NL, which is an improvement. Not getting to play more than a couple of hundred hands per day, hope to play more next week if I'm to acheive my goals before Christmas.

This was a fun flop.
Unfortunately I managed to lose much of the winnings on other tables, including one where villain hit a royal on the turn and I nearly stacked off on the river when the board paired
Only lost $22 on that hand, which seems like progress to me

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksHero: $98.50
SB: $177.25
BB: $95.75
UTG: $170.26
CO: $188.53


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with 2 5
UTG folds, CO folds, Hero raises to $4, SB folds, BB raises to $8, Hero calls

Flop:($17.50) 4 3 6 (2 players)
BB bets $10, Hero raises to $30, BB raises to $87.75 and is all-in, Hero calls

Turn:($203.00) 2 (2 players)

River:($203.00) 9 (2 players)

Final Pot: $203.00

Villain had rockets.

Have recovered from the -$450 point to now be -$22. Could I have green stats in the near future? We can only hope...

First hand of the day...

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksBTN: $112.50
SB: $53.57
Hero: $100
UTG: $187.50
CO: $18.75


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with A K
UTG folds, CO raises to $3, BTN calls, SB calls, Hero raises to $15, CO folds, BTN calls, SB folds

Flop:($37.00) J A J (2 players)
Hero bets $25, BTN calls

Turn:($87.00) T (2 players)
Hero bets $30, BTN calls
River:($147.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $30 and is all-in, BTN calls
Final Pot: $207.00

Dude you're gonna have to pull you're socks up if you're gonna beat me to our goals. Run good like me please.

Dude I was running just fine until you posted this... then downswing city.

Now down 3.5 buy-ins again...

Good that was my plan all along! mu-ha ha ha haaaa

Oh crap.


No really. OH. CRAP.

I just donked off $428 in 159 hands. Just played so badly... yeuch!


That really has screwed up the month. Which was lying at "slightly poor" is now "ouch ouch ouch ouch".

BR drops to around $2400. Which is a net loss of about $350. About $679 down at $100NL.

Will have another crack at $100NL next year...

Right, I'm back.

Didn't play any poker over Chrimble. So it's back at it now.
The plan is to knock off $200 of bonus from Interpoker, $200 from Plex and $100 from Sun.
If I can do it all at $100NL it'd be really cool.

I played a bit of $1/2 limit on Will Hill to clear that $50, was up $30 at one point, but it evened out to about $5 (equivalent of about 1bb/100- which I can live with).

Back at $100NL today. My new plan is to not play the big hands without the big cards until I trust myself with reads again. That means none of the fun heroic calls that are so much fun but get me into so much trouble.

Was lying about $50 down after the first hundred hands or so and then I hit a couple of hands and finished up a little and have cleared 7% of the interpoker bonus.

So far 2007: good

Still running good on Interpoker.

About 750 hands into the year and I'm running about 6bb/100.

That's only $80, so one bad 50-50 and it's all gone, but it's nice having a plus to burn rather than being down $200 and hoping to claw it back.

The main question for me now is: can I get the hands in and maintain focus. I'm mainly 3-tabling at the moment, sometimes adding a fourth if I feel I can concentrate.

Guesstimate that I need 11k hands to clear my bonus targets, which is about as much as I can manage in a month.
The carrot being around $800 in bonus and rakeback. Anything better than breakeven and I'll be a happy fellah.

Well. I've played almost 2k hands this month. Which is about 20% of what I want... so time to kick it up a gear.

I need to keep focused. I had the aim of playing more solid poker, letting go of big pots with TPTK against big raises etc.
For a while it was working very well. By the time I got to 1k hands I was up about $300.

Yesterday I had a terrible session. Some big mistakes, some poor cards and I swung down $300, but finished at around -$150 for the night. So I'm still up around 1.5bb/100.

Some illustrative hands:

Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG: $113.99
UTG+1: $169.25
Hero: $93.25
BTN: $116.25
SB: $37.20
BB: $188.97


Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with J J
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $4, BTN folds, SB folds, BB calls

Flop:($8.50) 5 8 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $7, BB raises to $14, Hero raises to $30, BB calls

Turn:($75.50) Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $25, BB calls
River:($125.50) 9 (2 players)
BB bets $35, Hero is all-in $34.25
Final Pot: $194.00

Villain caught the runner-runner flush to go with his pair of 8s. *sigh*

Hand 2
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
4-handed

StacksBTN: $77.75
SB: $112
BB: $102.75
Hero: $89.75


Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with J K
Hero raises to $4, BTN calls, SB folds, BB folds

Flop:($9.50) K 8 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $7, BTN raises to $17, Hero raises to $33, BTN calls

Turn:($82.50) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $40, BTN raises to $40.75 and is all-in, Hero calls
River:($164.00) J (2 players)

Final Pot: $164.00

Terrible play. The exact problem I'm trying to overcome.
Luckily I sucked out on the river v AKo.

Hand 3
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG+1: $44.68
CO: $116.16
BTN: $103.50
Hero: $97.50
BB: $57.41
UTG: $284


Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with A Q
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, CO raises to $2, BTN folds, Hero raises to $8, BB folds, UTG calls, CO calls

Flop:($25.50) 5 8 6 (3 players)
Hero bets $16, UTG calls, CO folds

Turn:($57.50) A (2 players)
Hero bets $25, UTG raises to $50, Hero raises to $73.50 and is all-in, UTG folds, Hero doesn't show hand
Final Pot: $182.50

This sort of hand makes it harder to let go to these raises.

Hand 4
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG: $56.25
UTG+1: $137.50
CO: $59.12
BTN: $82
SB: $200.75
Hero: $100


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with Q A
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, CO folds, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero raises to $4, UTG calls

Flop:($9.50) 2 A 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $6, UTG raises to $13, Hero calls

Turn:($35.50) J (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $26, Hero calls
River:($87.50) J (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $13.25 and is all-in, Hero calls
Final Pot: $114.00

Of course he had AJ. Not sure if I should have re-raised the flop or bet out the turn.

Hand 5
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
5-handed

StacksBB: $101.50
UTG: $186.87
CO: $45.25
Hero: $98.50
SB: $82.50

I acutally like my play in this one. And it comes off.

Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with K J
UTG folds, CO calls, Hero raises to $5, SB folds, BB calls, CO folds

Flop:($11.50) T A 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $11, BB raises to $33, Hero raises to $93.50 and is all-in, BB calls

Turn:($209.50) 3 (2 players)

River:($209.50) Q (2 players)

Final Pot: $209.50
Villain had AQo

God to see ya back. Kick ass, take names.

see ya at $100NL soon.

Cheers TJ.

I'm keeping an eye out for you at the $100NL tables. When you make it don't be suprised if I get up and walk off from the table. I've seen the improvements you're making and I'd rather have easier opponents

Things for me are weird.

I thought I was going through a downswing, but I don't know what it is. There's a chance that what's going is I'm playing too poorly and then re-focusing when I start to lose and then it turns around.

The other night I was down $300 and had to work hard to get back to $-150.

Last night I had another 600-hand session. By about 100 hands I was nearly down $300 again. Yet by the end of the night I was up $85. Some of it may just be the swings, but some of it has to be down to my play.

By the end of the night I was up a buy-in or more on several of my tables and suddenly couldn't get action from anyone... I suppose Tagg+big stack = scarey.

I took a shot at $200NL last night. Bought in for $100 to test the waters. I managed to get stacked in an SB v BB hand where I flopped an OESFD and bet aggressively, I hit a flush only for it to turn out my opponent (BB) had QJs and a higher flush.

Took me another 100 hands or so, but I clawed it back to finish up $0.50 on the $200NL table. Yes! Pwnage.

But seriously, they don't seem so tough at $200NL.

First 10k of $100NL complete... not very good, but getting better I suppose

Historically I've always lost money in ym first 20-30 minutes of play, then made it back - and more, if I'm lucky - in the 30-120 minute segment. In fact, there is a period, after maybe 75 minutes, where I enter a zone where I play great poker, which lasts maybe an hour before I can feel mistakes creeping in.

Yeah, that's definitely an issue with me too. Maximizing that period where I'm playing well and easy is more important than I realised.

But not stacking off with TP so often would really improve my play a looot.

Did it again tonight at $200NL. Costly.

Wondering if I maximized my return on this hand:


No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksCO: $200
BTN: $194
SB: $368
BB: $817.92
UTG: $174.75
Hero: $184


Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG+1 with K A
UTG folds, Hero raises to $8, BTN calls, SB folds, BB folds

Flop:($19) T Q J (3 players)
Hero bets $10, BTN calls

Turn:($39) 5 (3 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $28, Hero calls
River:($95) 3 (3 players)
Hero bets $30, BTN calls
Final Pot: $155

Perhaps check/raise the turn... he had TJ, so maybe I could have got more. The river card was a scare card for both of us.

I think I've managed some more deceptive hands recently where I've not played my big PPs aggressively and have got big results.

Hand 1:

No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG+1: $213.70
CO: $117.50
Hero: $122.75
SB: $551.82
BB: $91.50
UTG: $64.30


Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with A A
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $4, CO folds, Hero calls, SB folds, BB folds

Flop:($9.50) A 2 9 (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $6.44, Hero calls

Turn:($22.38) K (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $10, UTG+1 raises to $32, Hero calls
River:($86.38) 8 (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $81, Hero is all-in $80.31
Final Pot: $247.00


Hand 2
No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksUTG+1: $92
Hero: $106.75
BTN: $112
SB: $113.25
BB: $126.75
UTG: $137.25


Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with A A
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $4, Hero calls, BTN folds, SB calls, BB folds

Flop:($13.00) 8 6 8 (3 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 bets $8, Hero calls, SB folds

Turn:($29.00) 8 (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $20, UTG+1 raises to $80 and is all-in, Hero calls
River:($189.00) A (2 players)

Final Pot: $189.00

77 and QQ respectively.

What to post? What to post?

I feel I should perhaps stop posting my nice hands and instead post one of the many retarted calling-down-with TP just because-he-might-be-bluffing.

But, nah. I want to post my first ever $400 pot.

Man, I remember when $400 was a roll not a pot...


No Limit Hold'em CryptoLogic ($NL)
Converted by FTRConv
6-handed

StacksHero: $200
UTG: $196.60
UTG+1: $259.25
CO: $56.50
BTN: $82.25
SB: $186.75


Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with 6 4
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, CO calls, BTN folds, SB calls, Hero checks

Flop:($10) 3 5 K (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, CO checks

Turn:($10) 2 (5 players)
SB bets $4, Hero calls, UTG raises to $194.60 and is all-in, UTG+1 folds, CO folds, SB folds, Hero calls
River:($403.20) K (2 players)

Final Pot: $403.20

A4s... ouchie.

I want to make love to that hand.

Originally Posted by biondino

I want to make love to that hand.

lol qft!