Operation: Ben learns poker and builds a roll

Damn was that KK hand really such an easy fold. I remember gabe saying how he doesn't think he's ever folded AA/KK to one raise and I can see why, so it still seems like a tightish fold.

You are doing really well man.

congrats, keep up the good work.

God, just dropped 2 buyins due to a shitty deck.

AA runs into A4s on Q44 flop from fairly tight player for a stack.
KQ runs into KK on Q4T flop from a loose aggressive player
JT calls 3 barrels from a loose maniac on 93J9A board, he had A5.
33 v's 77 from shortstack stealing on button.
A6s v' A5o v's shorty on 459 flop w/ flush draw doesnt improve.

WTSD% 29.2 W$SD$ 14.3

Sigh, break time then try again I guess.


[edit]This weekend just gets crazier. That session was 40 mins long and was my biggest losing session ever. I just played a 30 minute session which was my biggest winning session ever to be up $35 so far today and within whiffing of $3k ($2980). This is the swingiest weekend ever (for me).

[edit2]Weekend over. After all those swings, I played 2k hands and finished up...$4.69. Bleh. I guess I earned a bunch of rake(back) at least.

Just did a very quick look over my big losers, it wasnt too bad. From today only one bad hand (called a shove with an OESD and nowhere near odds), and one bluff I didnt need to run (but which probably wasnt too bad v's that player). Those two hands together I should have saved $150 which would have been good to have now, however 1k hands I guess 2 bad ones arent bad.

Yesterday was a bit worse. The KK hand, and ai with 66 preflop (although to be fair I was 54% there and any sane person would have folded AJo to my 4-bet shove). Also a TPGK v's set which I darn well knew was a set. A few other hands maybe I could have gotten away from, but they were more borderline, I just kept running into the tops of peoples ranges.

So lessons to learn. I'm trying to grind more now, and back to 4 tables, but I think I'm slipping up and playing a few more bad hands, getting out of the A zone. Gotta work on that.

50 min session this morning, ship $210 to burst through $3k.

Jyms helped me out yesterday setting EyePoker back up and filters/etc for it. Today I found myself (by luck) a 70/60 I got position on, and using EyePoker got on 2 tables with a 45/10 and just kinda took monies off them both. In my first 40 hands at the table with the 70/60 he hit 2 gutshots and flopped a straight (v's my TP+SD), so its not like I ran particularly good v's him, just made the most of the opportunities when I was ahead.

BR - $3,065.

I'll post some hands soon.

Wow, I just threw myself a curve ball. I was chatting to Taipan about reaching $3k. He mentioned withdrawing due to the price of the aussie dollar to US dollars (0.71 for him, 0.655 today). Thats free money I decided I couldnt pass up.

I just withdrew $1050 dollars from my roll. Should convert to a touch over $1500 AUD, which will achieve my first two personal monetary goals from poker. It will pay back poker (all the money I've spent in deposits, training sites, books, software, everything), and enough left over to buy a new lamp for my home theatre projector.

So it should be awesome to make my first proper withdrawal, but in reality I'm very nervous about the affect it will have. Leaves me with $2015 in my roll, so I kind of need to make my 100nl start all over again, and if I run bad instead of good this time, then I'll need to drop back.

God, not a good start.

KK v's AQ on KJT two tone flop.

44 v's KK on 488 flop, rivers an 8.

BR - $1817.

Ahh well...

Sounded a touch whingy. My stoploss to drop back to 50nl is $1700 and I REALLY dont want to do that though. Just normal variance and I've run pretty hot, just the timing sucked a bit. I cashed in some loyalty bonus I had waiting and some FPPs to get back up around $1.9k. Will probably only 2-3 table for a bit and hope for the best. One thing I considered that chose to risk is that this could affect my FPPs (for VIP level for the month) and rakeback for the rakerace, if I need to drop down, or play too few hands for the rest of the month due to less tables.

loldonkaments...

I've played a number of these recently. Just cheap ones, $10 FOs and $2 r/a's. I won one, and think I've gone out on the money bubble within 2 spots of cashing on almost every single other one. I was 2nd chip leader with 46 to go (40 money) in a $2 turbo r/a tonight with 113k chips, and picked up KK OTB and the CO with 85k chips shoved (blinds were around 5000/1000 I think very shortstacked), so obv I shove over and he flips AJo. Cool, 70%+. Flops a J, turns a J ship the pot to him and suddenly I'm down to $35k chips and only 3bbs in my stack. Nothing comes, end up in the BB at 10k/20k blinds (so 15k behind) and EP guy whos shoving fairly light shoves and I look down at TT. Weee!!! Two people go all in before me. I nearly fold, theres only 42 left, so two more and I money, but I have 12k behind and the SB next hand. I think its still close but I call.

EP guy had ATo would have crushed him but as it is I know only have two outs because:
SB has JJ.
Other guy had QQ, noone improved and SB swooped the pot.

If my Ks had held up I'd have had 50k more chips than 2nd place, and instead I bubble. Loldonkaments indeed.

I don't get how you have 2 outs when another guy has AT and how no one improves but JJ > QQ ?

You are the man, don't let this get to you. Keep on keeping on!

I only have 1 out, typo .

QQ should have read KQ.

Wow, I really did have TT though, I got that bit right . The more I think about it, given folding would have left me with less than 1BB and in the SB next hand, and no guarantee 2 would go out any time soon, and if I'd won I'd have quadrupled my stack and been in the top 5 again, I think the TT was a good call.

Also, I think I've spent less than $50 on tourney fees and won $250, so I cant really complain. $600+ for first in that $2 r/a last night though and I would have been in a great spot if Ks had stood up. Obv with the blind structure it would have been a crapshoot, but I highly doubt anyone else in the field would have as much experience with shortstack p/f strategy as me, so with a significant chip lead I'd have been in a great spot.

Roll is around $1950 atm. I was over $2k for a bit last night, but probably $20-25 in tourney fees last night (played a $10 FO as well), and lost half a stack playing some cash (nothing bad, just gradually lost a few small pots and didnt really win any).

Poker feels good, and I'm running slightly over 7ptbb/100 at 100nl (I thought it might be more as HEM was missing some winnings, but worked out that must be my tourney win not counted). My graph is so spastic though. Looks like one of those heart monitors during a heart attack. An overall upward trend, but over the last 5k hands I must have about 10 dips and spikes between 2 and 4 buyins each. If i can string a couple of the upward ones together I'll be set. If I catch a couple of the downward ones in a row I'll be in trouble. Overall though, I feel really good about my poker atm. My mind/emotions probably have never been better.

Well...my ptbb/100 wont be too good now. Just played my worstest session ever. Lost $288. The fun/interesting/shitty/whatever my feelings are at the time about the session. My EV for the session was $35. So I ran about $310 down on EV. Woot for poker!!

KK < AK
AQ < Q8 on A574 board (yes thats a gutshot, no pair and he called a big check raise on turn to do it after donking pot on flop).
KK< AA (small pot fortunately)

And just a heap of medium pots where I either had to fold goods hands in bad spots, my bluffs would get floated on scare boards, my big hands never got paid. In fact on review, I never got all in and won the hand in the entire session. It was like no matter how much I 3-bet noone would 4-bet me, or call my 3-bets when I had QQ+. No matter how many times I raised someone on the flop, they'd never play back when I had a hand.

I guess I ran really hot for the last month, so eventually I had to catch a bad run.

On the plus side I didnt really tilt. Played for nearly 3 hours and played fairly consistantly. There were times I leaned towards tilting, but I generally managed to get it back under control quickly. I did manage to win a lot of small to medium pots, and played some hands really well I think. Some I played poorly, but that happens.

Ahh well, BR of 1867. Gotta build it on back up again. Still up about $400 for the month so far. I'll get some loyalty bonus tomorrow I can cash in.

Grats on being up for the month Ben despite your recent session and good luck getting those buy ins back this month =)

Just checked my graph, I was actually 4 buyins down at one stage, won back 1 1/2 towards the end then dropped 1/2 right at the tail end. Found some bluff monkey who had position on me, but that doesnt count for much when you know he's bluffing 90% of the time.

I'm not really so worried about the fact I lost 3 buyins. That happens, in terms of buyins (as against dollars) its not even my worst. Its the fact that I'm now within a buyin or two of needing to move down. I'm prepared to do it, but maintaining my VIP status and earning loyalty bonus/rakerace positions is obviously a lot easier when I'm paying twice the rake and earning twice the points.

Good luck man but don't start saying shit about you were just running good when your EV clearly states you are a +EV player.

Oh, I'm not suggesting I was just lucky. Thats why I'm not too worried about the loss. More I guess I've held up really well in the 70%+ pots for a while now, so while the timing sucks and losing a couple in one session sucks, I was probably due to lose some "big favorite" spots soon.

EV I was up, but if those two hands (70% and 90%) had held I'd have won $120 for the session. Probably more if I remove the little bit of tilting I did. Ahh well.

you're tonnes good enough - and you know it. Stay with solid brm and you'll be sweet.

Oh man. Another 2 buyins down in the last hour. If yesterday was a tale of bad beats, today was coolers/running into the top of peoples ranges.

Inside the first 10 minutes I called down a maniac bluff monkey with top pair and he hit a set with his underpair on the river. My OESD+FD+overcard ran into 2P from another bluff monkey. TPGK runs into a runner runner straight v's someone who cant fold. A high call downs v's bet monkeys when they pair river. Didnt hit a set. Didnt hit anything better than TP I dont think. Its like all my reads were right, but they'd win anyway. Guy who has 70% bet v's missed c-bet happens to have TPNK when I check a PP (2nd pair). It just went on an on.

Down to $1753 (I cashed in about $80 worth of bonus last night). I'll have to see how I feel about staying at 100nl or moving down. A lot of people say 15 buyins move down, I was thinking around 1700, to be safe.

I'm now break even at cash for the month. Only my $200 profit in MTTs keeping me up .

OK, last one. If I keep running bad I keep it to myself from now on.

In the last 2 days I've played 2k hands, I'm down 8 buyins and I'm running 5 buyins below expectation. Then theres the coolers, or hands where the money didnt go all in but I was well ahead until river and lost sort of 30-80bb type pots. On the other hand, my three biggest losses for the last 2 days were bluffs. One pure bluff and 2 semi-bluff shoves.

Other than that though, if I look through my other big pots I dont think I've played too bad. A few hands not great, but not bad. I dont think I hit a draw the entire 2 days, and any sets I hit didnt get paid. Largely I just didnt get any big hands. The biggest pot I got for the period was 48bbs and after that the next biggest 38.

Have to drop down to 50nl though. Sucks. Hope it doesnt mess me up for rakerace and vip level, and hopefully I turn it around and heater for a bit now.

Ok, this post could get long.

I was planning to get up this morning and play lots of 50nl to try to run good and get back up asap, but I've had some time to think and instead I want to do a real solid review of my game and note down my leaks. I know some have leaked in. I think I've made some poor adjustments, and slipped into some bad habits. I thought while I do the review I'd take notes here, both to record them, and maybe someone else will be interested in how I go about it or give some ideas.

So first thing I do is filter for the last three days, then change my group by to Month on the Sessions page in HEM. This just gets my last 2k hands as a singe line item so I can view them all at once. Then I order by $ ascending (so biggest losses on top).

Biggest 2 losses are both draws. I was down on these yesterday, but they're not terrible. One I got A Q OTB and got 3-bet by a guy with like 12% 3-bet over a large sample, so I assume his blind defense is even wider. I decide to call, flop is 8 9 K, he c-bets and I put in a big raise with my FD. He ships and I call with odds and he had 99 and I didnt improve. Given how much of his range is bluffs and how much he folds I think its fine. Maybe I should have just shipped it to avoid giving him any idea of FE on his behalf (wouldnt have mattered this time, but in general). Other ones closer and I most post it in the SH forum. Aggro fish raised UTG and I called UTG with A T and the friggen table tagged along and flopped 4 9 Q, and aggrotard checked. I was lost so stuck in a PSB, unknown called, then TAGgish retard shipped and I had odds to call, unknown called as well. He had 99 for a set, retard had 8 4. So I got my money in bad, but it was a $310 pot, so I probably would have shipped it in with cards face up as played, but maybe leading out was bad. Close enough not to be a big leak either way though I think.

Next couple were beats where I got my money in at least 70% favorite. Then there was a bluff in a 3-bet pot at 200nl cost me half a stack (so a full buyin for 100nl). Leak there is pretty friggen obvious. Stop playing above my level until rolled!! Man, next one was yet another draw, 9 Q on 87K when I'd isolated a fish, but SB called as well and SB c/r'd my c-bet. I think this should have just been a fold, was probably tilting a bit at the time.

Next few were pots where I called lagtards on flop with a correct read as best hand but they improved on turn or river. I'm a little torn here, but I really think I need to avoid getting too heroic here. I think if I have a hand thats too likely to be beaten (like a mid PP) in later streets just let it go. I'm also getting raped by fish going for thin value (not that they know they are, but betting like 3rd pair when I have A high and they've checked to river and bet river a lot or stuff like that). Again, gotta fold more.

I also think I'm getting into too many marginal spots with marginal hands. I think from initially targetting fish I widened up my ranges, but lately I've been calling way too wide. I need to stop calling PF with marginal hands. I think this is one reason my non-showdown pots is plummeting lately. Gotta tighten back up PF, and probably more aggressive.

Big winning pots dont show much. Mainly again I havnt been getting all my chips in with the big hands, but shitty flops. KK hitting A flops, QQ hitting K flops. Sets hitting 3-flush boards, or straightish boards, and so on.

Onto reports. Losing money calling 3-bets. Gotta stop calling with PPs with marginal odds, and just crap. Even if I think they're 3-betting light I shouldn't call with crap stuff. I wouldnt have to remove many of these to be positive. Dont think its just a blanket "dont call 3-bets", just be smarter about it.

Position...well I've lost money in all positions. WTF!

SB - doesnt look too bad. Two biggest pots I was big favorites with, if I'd held up on those I'd be winning.
BB - Gotta fold more. A lot more. No real big losses, but a lot of my 10-20bb losses are shit hands and they added up to a lot.
UTG- Fairly good. I had a 2P hand v's TPGK where I raised flop and bet turn ahead and he rivered a straight. Holding up there would have made me positive. In fact since I checked river (as did he when 3 flush came in) I lost $50 but would have probably won $100 as he's unlikely to fold TPGK for $50 into a $100 pot.
MP - Meh. This had the ATs hand in there, a QKs where I called 3-bet then called a turn bet with FD. Top 2P ran into a gutshot that hit a straight. Other than that theres probably more mediocre hands being played from here than should be.
CO - Again if a 70% had held up I'd be nicely positive here. Had the bluff at 200nl, and got into some trouble calling with stuff like Axs and being dominated, and calling with some pretty mediocre hands when 3-bet.
BTN - Only $30 down here. The other two of my big draw hands make for my two biggest losses. One fine, the other not. Just folding that not good one would have made me positive. Bad call down with 55, bad call down with A high.


Summary: That'll do for now. Maybe a bit tilty at times. Got into trouble with some semi-bluffs and draws. Calling with weak hands (both 2-bet and 3-bets. Calling down too light. Playing out of my limits. In one sense theres a lot to fix, in another there wasnt a lot of just pure spew in there. First thing is to tighten up my calling ranges. Wouldnt have taken a lot of changes to have stopped this downswing. Coolers and beats hurt me, but I'd say I could have cut losses almost by half by playing better. A bit of a perfect storm of running into some nasty negative variance at the same time as playing poorly.

Originally Posted by bjsaust

Ok, this post could get long.

I was planning to get up this morning and play lots of 50nl to try to run good and get back up asap, but I've had some time to think and instead I want to do a real solid review of my game and note down my leaks. I know some have leaked in. I think I've made some poor adjustments, and slipped into some bad habits. I thought while I do the review I'd take notes here, both to record them, and maybe someone else will be interested in how I go about it or give some ideas.

Thanks for taking the time to do this online - I've been trying to add "post session" study in after EVERY FREAKIN' session, so it's nice to see the thought process you use to analyze your game.

I read, nothing to really add except gl and keep grinding.

Thanks.

Whats a sure fire way to tell you're running bad?

Twice in one session different people with greater than 10% 3-bet over more than 10k hands have AA v's your AK when you get it in PF.

50nl about break even so far. TBH I havnt played a lot. Felt like I ran hot with my hole cards this session, just either got no action (wtf, they 3-bet like monkeys when I have crap but deal me AA and they fold like cards), they suckout, or I split a pot. Fortunatly I find enough genius's who take lines like c-bet flop, c/r turn ai with FD to make up for it.

Havnt played poker for almost a week. Have very little motivation to do so. Thought I'd need to play a bit for rakerace, but checked and I'm actually well out ofd the running, wtf I've already earned more than the month I placed, I assumed it would go up a bit but not that much. Likely take the rest of the month off too, downswing has messed with my head, even though in buyins its nowhere near my worst one.

Dude just sendin' some positive vibe your way - your wake up call to me last month has me on huge upswing - good play, good luck and learnin' tons. You're doing this thing right - it'll come good for ya. All the best.

Thanks.

Its hard to explain. I'm obviously bummed about running bad (and I hate the line), but I think I've played relatively fine, nothing too terrible (or not many that terrible), and I've had months where I've had -10 buyin swings two or three times in a month (and always come back) and this ones only 8 buyins atm. I guess some of it is coming off such a rush. I ran so good for a while there that it seems to have hit harder. I've also (or perhaps because of this) allowed myself to get distracted by other things as well. A fresh head wont hurt though, and really a week or so of not playing really shouldnt be a big deal.

I haven't played much either. Some RL fun got in the way of grinding.

Is your BR actually still $3k? Are you counting the money you withdrew as part of your roll?

No, thats gone. My BR peaked at $3.1k, its now at around $1.45k, after withdrawing $1.05k. So I've only lost $600 since I withdrew. Lol, wow I thought it was actually $800, never actually did the sums. So I lost 6 buyins. I guess the frustrating part is if I hadnt withdrawn, I'd be around $2.5k now which whilst I wouldnt be happy, I'd still be a long way off moving down, but since I did I'm now back at 50nl and gotta grind it on back up again.

[edit]Worked it out. I also cashed in about $150 of loyalty bonus during that period, so thats added to my losses.

Don't fret moving down man. You can still make some good money at 50nl. I know the whole goal is to keep increasing stakes but you'll get there and you know for a fact you can after already being there once. Good luck.

You know, I think its just an ego thing. First time I've really had to move down in ring games.

Realizing that makes me realize I should put my ego to work for good instead of evil and be egotistically determined to bounce back up as quickly as I can!!

Originally Posted by bjsaust

You know, I think its just an ego thing. First time I've really had to move down in ring games.

Realizing that makes me realize I should put my ego to work for good instead of evil and be egotistically determined to bounce back up as quickly as I can!!

haha, true. I didn't even play HE for a year after Frist because 25NL wasn't worth it monetarily, and it included completely revamping my game.

Maybe a lesson learned though: Don't cashout leaving you right on a boundary.

Yeah, my original plan was based around that theory, then in 10 minutes or less of thinking I did otherwise .

Organised and played in a work poker tourney last night. 8 players (started with 9 but one left and took their buyin). I won!

Fun little game, mix of skills but this was the first one that most people played at least somewhat decent poker. I think I played a few key hands really well, and actually made my first "tell" based play. I cant bluff live v's people I know. Strangers I can keep a straight face, but with friends I cant. Its weird. I think I only made one bluff and two semi-bluffs for the night. Thought my semi-bluff would get paid, got two calls on the flop who both said they knew I was bluffing, then when I hit my hidden straight they both folded turn. For actually playing hand strength/ranges though I felt I did really well.

Winnings barely cover my meals for yesterday and today at work, but its all fun .

Show them who's boss, Ben!

They danced like puppets on my strings .

Played my first poker online for a couple weeks tonight. Around 650 hands in two sessions (1 was just 30 mins before I went to watch a movie). Pretty happy with my play overall. Felt like I was playing a bit nitty, but ended up around 20/15 (for those that know me, thats loose compared to my normal game, even though its nitty for 6-max generally). Also I think I 3-bet my pre-arranged range all the time which is a change. My range is around 7.5%, I was running around 5.5% tonight just due to sample size I guess. Think I did a fairly good job of folding OOP pre-flop, but not so good folding postflop. Not terrible, just gradual leaks there still.

So 650 hands, for a bit over a buyins profit. Included AQ v's JJ on A77 flop where we got to the turn with a PSB behind and he turned a J. A shortstack muppet who shoved over with J7o and I called with QTs but didnt hold. Also I hit the wrong end of a straight and called 2 smallish bets, think that was a call turn, fold river situation though rather than cooler.

Probably the hand I'm most pissed at is AKo utg got 3-bet by UTG+1 who had 3.5% 3-bet over large sample and then shortish donk 4-bet shoved for about 30bbs. I'm not sure how close this is, havnt run pokerstove, but I thought its the kind of situation where I likely face at least one PP if not a monster one, and likely blockers to my outs, and UTG+1 showed a lot of strength given he probably only had me running 15% pfr and like 8% UTG if he ran a HUD, so I thought I made a good fold. UTG+1 called with AJo and donk flipped KQo and noone improved. Hard not to be results oriented there, but not really sure if it was good or bad fold.

Nothing else real exciting, played some hands I won really well I thought, exploiting opponents tendencies. Laugh of the night came when I got AI with QQ v's an aggro fish who had AK and I held up:

sobeuc: PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
sobeuc: HOW
sobeuc: CAN U GO ALL IN WITH QQ
sobeuc: ??????
sobeuc: FVCKING BINGO PAYER
Me: I like Qs

Lol, shows what that guy knows, QQ is a shit starting hand for bingo.

Very nice sir. The AKo thing I probably fold if I have a good amount of hands on villain. Kind of sucks though for you because of your tightish stats making it more seem like I fold but I probably still get it in. Def. if it's suited.

About 500 hands last night, $38 profit I think. Felt like I ran bad, but I actually ran good. Must stop calling flop folding turn so much, thats when my little red line starts heading downwards.

Its weird, feels like I'm running kinda bad, and only playing decent, yet the 1.1k hands I've played this month I'm running at 10bb/100. I've got some more thoughts, might get to them later.

BR around 1,560 now. Moving in the right direction at least. Last day away for work, so now the next few nights are visiting people so wont get any poker played till early next week.

Bit of a bleh session. Dropped almost 3 buyins which was the profit I'd made so far this month. I actually felt fairly good, and played well most of the time, but a few bad hands. One problem was bad adjustments to a particular fish. This guy was 60/1 and 100% bet on flop if unopened (so either donkbet or bet if missed c-bet in front). Thing was, he wouldnt fold either. Regardless of his hand. So I probably blew about $50 just trying to move him off his crap hands which he kept improving on. i.e., QJ < K8 on 9T4r flop. He called a pot sized raise there, then donked out on turn as well. AQ < 55 on TJ6r flop, again called big c/r and then donked turn. So any pot got big v's him, which meant I really should have had something when it got down to it. I saw him c/r river ai v's someone else with 88 on a K high board, so I didnt need the nuts, but needed something.

Other than that, I floated AJs on an all unders board and hit top 2 on turn and river v's a guy who turned a flush. Tried a few bluffs where people seemed to have draws and hit so I had to shut down. A few times where I correctly read someone as being weak and called flops either for them to improve or to still have slightly better hands than me.

I dunno, running through them it looks like a bunch of bad (or at least questionable) hands, but it didnt seem to bad at the time. I think my main problem came at the other end of my results. Only one hand I won more than 20bbs on. Its not even that I ran cold, I hit a few sets and flopped a straight, even got a weak boat. I just didnt get paid on any of them. No particularly big hands PF, KK once and got all folds PF and AKs once the same. I ran 27/20 which is pretty laggy for me. Not sure if that was just the cards or if I started getting a bit out of line for me. Having a quick look through it doesnt look too bad, probably just need to fold to 3-bets a bit more (one of my ongoing leaks).

Thought about this some more. I think where I got confused about how well I played is that I dont think I tilted in there. I just played badly at times for reasons other than tilt. Maybe not concentrating enough, being in the moment. Being aware or however Zook put it. Normally tilt and bad play go hand in hand for me, so whilst I felt I avoided tilt I figured I must have played fine, but in reality I didnt play fine even though I didnt tilt.

Kind of dissappointing. Normally if I can avoid the tilt-monster I feel I play really good poker. I'll have to make sure to really concentrate and be in the moment next time I play.

Originally Posted by bjsaust

He called a pot sized raise there, then donked out on turn as well. AQ < 55 on TJ6r flop, again called big c/r and then donked turn. So any pot got big v's him, which meant I really should have had something when it got down to it.

I think you realized the problem with these hands. Raising is bad in itself vs. him but why not raise smaller to try to get the same job done?

At the time my theory was he was calling smaller bets loose, but thought he might fold to big bets. I think I'd already done a few smaller c/r's. Also with his range I felt I had a lot of equity if called. In both of those I'm assuming my overs are good as well as my draws.

Couldnt sleep tonight so logged on to play some hands. In 42 minutes I made over $150 to more than make up for that last bad session . I think I played well, made some good folds, 3-bet well. Stuff like that. Nothing too fancy, although I attempted to c/r river twice for value which is something I rarely do (one worked other didnt).

On the subject of folds though, one I'm not too sure about. Havnt been at this table long, villain is running something like 30/25 with aggression factor 5, and I played this hand v's them already:

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($50)
Hero (UTG) ($50.75)
MP ($59.90)
Button ($50.10)
SB ($103.30)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, Q
Hero raises $1.75, 1 fold, Button calls $1.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($4.25) 3, Q, 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $3, Button raises $13.25, Hero calls $10.25

Turn: ($30.75) J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($30.75) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $35.10 (All-In), Hero calls $35.10

Total pot: $100.95

Results below:
Button had 9, A (high card, Ace).
Hero didn't show K, Q (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Button won $100.95

Errm, obviously something wrong with the hand converter there. I won v's a pure bluff (after a flop raise bluff). Then this hand happens:

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($53.80)
Hero (MP) ($97.85)
Button ($49.25)
SB ($54.95)
BB ($49.25)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K, A
1 fold, Hero raises $1.75, 1 fold, SB calls $1.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($4) 7, 9, 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4) K (2 players)
SB bets $4, Hero calls $4

River: ($12) A (2 players)
SB bets $49.20 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $12

I really cant work out whether he's a crazy river shoving bluff monkey and I'm well ahead, or if he thinks I'll call him really light after the previous hand and this is meant to be for value. The thing is, no value bet makes sense. Its not like he can have a boat and think I have a flush or something. Unless he has QhXh and is hoping I have a worse flush. So maybe it was a call. I'm only behind a set or a flush, and none of them make much sense to bet like this. Obviously I feel like a tool if I do call and he has it, but I dunno. Thoughts?

I really like both hands, Ben.

What's ironic is that I was just about to post something in my thread about not being able to sleep last night as well and was going to say some stuff on that. I obv. didn't play poker but curious if we are the same person ld0?

why aren't you on AIM lately

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Originally Posted by bjsaust

I really cant work out whether he's a crazy river shoving bluff monkey and I'm well ahead, or if he thinks I'll call him really light after the previous hand and this is meant to be for value. The thing is, no value bet makes sense. Its not like he can have a boat and think I have a flush or something. Unless he has QhXh and is hoping I have a worse flush. So maybe it was a call. I'm only behind a set or a flush, and none of them make much sense to bet like this. Obviously I feel like a tool if I do call and he has it, but I dunno. Thoughts?

I'll take a stab. Two months ago, I snap call. Today, I think for a few seconds and fold. If it's a mistake, it's a $6 mistake. If it's not, it's stack off mistake. I'm trying to err toward $6 mistakes. Also, if he thinks he can run you off big hands, he'll do it again. You'll get his stack soon enough. At least that's what I tell myself.

vnh on KQ. gl grinding.

Robb you're wrong when you say it's a $6 mistake if you folded incorrectly

Originally Posted by bigspenda73

Robb you're wrong when you say it's a $6 mistake if you folded incorrectly

ahh...ldo

Guess I meant the risk is a stack, so the risk of being right/wrong is huge. When in doubt, I'm folding. But I suck at poker.

oh I'm folding too

Normally I'd have raised turn, but I just called because I expect him to bet river 100% (probably too early for such a read, but gotta go with what you've got). I'm probably not surprised if he even overbets the river, but the shove came as a real surprise. Thanks guys.

Aim, I've been on a bit lately. Been using pidgin and sometimes if I close it I forget to reopen it though.

Originally Posted by kmind

I really like both hands, Ben.

What's ironic is that I was just about to post something in my thread about not being able to sleep last night as well and was going to say some stuff on that. I obv. didn't play poker but curious if we are the same person ld0?

Wonder what you were going to post about it? I actually think playing poker when you cant sleep is generally bad. If you're tired but just cant nod off, its unlikely you'll be in the right mind for poker. Likewise if you cant sleep because your minds on something else. Last night though I just didnt feel tired. Dunno why, big day of work, some physical labor in there, felt buggered, but when I layed down I was wide awake.

Ok, I need to get a bit formal about this. I really want to get to the point where I can be making regular withdrawals, but I'm just not playing poker much. Finding too many other things to do.

I sat down last night and setup a time plan for my days. Gave myself two 1 hr sessions for Poker each work day that I'm home. I basically have 7.5 hrs work, 2 hours gym, 2 hours poker, and the rest is meals/relaxing. Problem is actually ordering them all optimally. I'm really not a morning person. I tried getting up at 6:30 and starting poker at 7 this morning, but it just didnt work. I'm too tired still. I hate going to the gym as soon as I wake up, but I have a feeling its the only way I'll fit it all propery. Heres what I had:

6:30 up and breckky
7:00 poker
8:00 gym
9:00 work
12:00 lunch
1:00 work
5:30 gym
6:30 dinner
7:30 poker
8:30 bed.

One thing is I dont like working out on a full stomach, so if I have breakfast before hand I need a break. Heres what I'm thinking it needs to be:

6:30 up and gym
7:30 brecky
8:00 work
11:00 poker
12:00 lunch
1:00 work
5:30 gym
6:30 dinner
7:30 poker
8:30 bed.

If I feel ok after gym and breakfast I might start doing my poker session from 8-9am instead.

Few notes, no I wont be going to the gym 2 hrs a day every day. Some I will (weights AM, cardio PM) but the times I dont those gym slots will be doing work at home instead (in the garden, household chores, etc). Also as you'll notice I like sleep. I really need a good 8 hrs a night, and when I'm working out a lot I need more. Cuts down on my available time.

Anyway, all that aside I tried to play this morning, all the tables had like 10 people on the wait lists (people are dumb), so I decided to break a rule (told you I'm not good when still sleepy) and played some HU. Lost $100 or so. Shitty session. Every time I bluffed he called, every time I value bet he folded. He only had a bet pot button apparantly, and was using it a lot, but the times I called he had the nuts. Eventually I got ai with K high flush v's A high flush for a second buyin and quit.

Played another session just now. Was going fairly well just grinding along with small pots, no big hands, and then flopped a set v's a straight ( 22 v A4o on 235 two tone flop). Turn was a seven and he raised me all in for about 2/3 of a buyin and I didnt improve. Lost $10 for the session. I've now won a grand total of $6.77 for the month after 2006 hands (see why I need to start playing more).

Tried to get a bunch of hands in today, played 3 sessions.

First session up a buyin, nothing special.

Second session down a buyin, nothing special.

Third session started hot. AA ai v's KK holds up second hand of session. 5 mins later I hit my first set in ages and get half a stack. Then things started to get unstuck. JJ v's QK on 4578 board (I raised pre, he c/r flop shove turn) rivers a Q for a stack. AK v's 77 on A78tt board in 3 bet pot v's a fish for another stack. QQ v's 36s v's another fish on T36r flop. Then to top it off I tilted at the end and called a 3-bet from a 10% 3-bettor with QTs and called my stack off on J8QAJ board (he had AQ ldo). -$131 session. REALLY didnt need that .

I dunno where my heads at, atm. I'm trying to force myself back into poker, but not really having much fun. Would really like to be successful (as a part timer), but lack of motivation combined with some running bad when I do force myself to play is making it hard (and its not all just running bad, my game isnt great atm). I'm wondering if maybe I spend a higher percentage of my time watching vids/analysing my game for a bit?

Yup, when we run/play bad, the best thing (until we can have the needed mental strenght) is to analyse our game (again and again) and stop playing for a bit.

Ok, thought a bit about this. I'm going to take it easy for the rest of November. Less poker in general, more likely to watch videos than play, and importantly when I do play I'll play 2 tables instead of 4. I need to get my confidence back and work on my game. Come Dec I should be refreshed and ready to go, may even take kmind up on his suggestion of a prop bet for nbr of hands (although I'm away for at least a week in Dec so would need to take that into account). I also need to start doing proper reviews of my sessions again.

Going to spend more time in IRC, to up my "chat about poker" amounts, and I think I'll need to move my laptop back into the lounge when done working for the day if I want to play.

Overall though, the next week or so I'll throw myself into work (job and around home) and take a bit of a break.

No update pokerwise, think I played one session and dropped $60. Not sure if its a good thing or bad thing but felt I played well and was really surprised to see how much I lost.

Been thinking about things though, especially after that session, and somethings occurred to me. I've just plain lost my confidence. I normally sit down convinced I'm better than my opponents and that I'll win. That baring bad cards/beats/coolers I expect to finish any session up. That hasnt been the case. I'm not neccessarily saying I expect to run bad, but that I'm playing without that edge that I normally think I have. Nothing changed from above, gonna take it easy till Dec, but I'm basically "starting again". Try to forget the last couple of months. I'm down to $1250 BR atm. I need to pretend like I only just moved up to 50nl from 25nl and work it all over again. Not be in such a rush to get back. Go back and review my own posts from around that time and focus on the same things I was then. Do the same things I did then. I think if anything I became overconfident which may be why now I've plummeted way back down to a lack of confidence.

Time flys when you're having fun. A week went by without me noticing. Only played one session (think on 30th Nov) and lost $65. One iffy spot for a buyin (all in on 3-bet flop w/ NFD v's bottom pair after being 3-bet by 64o ffs). Just really wasnt there mentally.

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/tip-ema...sit?utm_id=379

Not sure if people can read that, hope so. Its a bit about taking a break, heres a quote:

The main sign to look for is that your desire to play is waning. You should play poker when you want to play. It sounds obvious, but too many of us inexplicably keep playing even when we don't want to.

I also find that when I'm experiencing a lot of negative feelings, that's a good time for a break. If I'm feeling negative, not just from poker, but maybe from something else going on in my life, that's going to affect my play, usually for the worse.

The other thing I keep an eye out for is when I'm gambling more than usual. If I'm playing tournaments and I'm finding that I'm too willing to get all my chips in on a coin flip, that's a sign that I'm not playing my best and I need to walk away rather than let myself burn out.

Whatever your particular signs may be, the fact is that if you're consistently losing, chances are there's a reason for it. A lot of players will say, “Oh, I'm just running bad,” but it's rare that that's all there is to it.

I think that sums me up. Now he talks about taking a few days off, but I'm just not there yet. Its Wednesday now. Next week I'm away all week, and then the week after that I take leave from work on the Thursday until early Jan and will be away most of that time. Unless I feel good and WANT to play, I think I'll just take all of December off as well and come back pumped next year hopefully. That'll blow my VIP rating at noIQ, so I may also reconsider where I play. The new Everest points system seems cool and thats the fishiest site I've played yet, and maybe FT for guaranteed rakeback and many more tables to select from. Will have time to think about it later.


Btw, contrary to an earlier post, as part of this break I'm really removing myself from poker a lot. I'm only checking FTR maybe once or twice a week and really only this forum and PMs, and not logging into IRC. If anyone wants to chat I'm still on MSN, AIM, email/etc.

play some Badugi dude

Not offered on iPoker, where they have that?

pokerstars, m8

you can also try some stud or omaha hi/lo

anything to "refresh" you

Oh, something I just kinda realised chatting to Swig online. We're also at the end of spring, moving into summer down here. I'm much more tempted by outdoors atm, plus a bunch of work to do in the gardens. Compared to a few months ago when I was happy grinding a lot more in the middle of winter.

Ben's in a "clear the head" state, not "refocus on new game" state IMO

Just 4-tabled 50nl FR for an hour. Won 2 buyins. Seemed really easy and fit my naturally nitty style fairly well. I've been tempted by the FR guys on here pwning it up so much. One advantage of FR (on the assumption I run a lot more tables) is that I'd easy generate more rakeback/bonus, one downside is that it didnt look like iPoker had much in the way of tables running. Maybe my standards are too high though. Checked out Everest and their new system isnt as good as it looks. Maybe its back to FullTilt where I already have 30% rakeback.

Anyway, I think I might mix the two games up a bit (not at the same time). I'm still technically on a break, but took a look at the money I've spent that I want to payback from poker and its adding up fast!

welcome back

SSFR is so fucking easy you'd crush it.

Ok, think I'm ready to jump back in the saddle.

Just requested full withdrawal of all my noIQ monies, and have managed to retag my Everest acct to raketherake to get some extra bonuses there. Once the withdrawal is through I'll deposit back to Everest and play FR 50nl there and try to move up (8 tables max on Everest I think).

Aweesome. Good to have u back man. Wats the roll at?

Around $1345 atm.

gogogogo :P

welcome back, btw u can play more than 8 tbls at everest. i regularly play 10 while im there and 12 coulkd be the max

Oh nice. That must be an old thing then.

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wtf, wait till my money goes in to do that shit.