DB's Part Time Grind

[donnybaker]

Hey guys, long time semi-active poster/lurker, the name's Jay. Been meaning to do this for a long time-no time like the present, right? I'll go over my poker story real quick first.
I got into poker a few years ago and donked around in the pre UIGEA days. I was probably barely above break even but made a few k if you included bonuses. I made a few attempts to get serious but never really got there. I played up to 100NL in those days.
In the days following the UIGEA I withdrew everything including a couple k from neteller (man, neteller was great, wasn't it?) and didn't play online for half a year or so. I played some live $1/2 NL and it's fun as hell, but I don't have that kind of time. Anyway, I got the bug to get back online.
At some point last year (the end of may says PT) I started effing around on Stars playing play money games and freerolls. I won a dollar something in a freeroll and lost it in limit in like 2 seconds. Then I won another dollar something ($1.31)and discovered $.01/.02 NL. I ran sick good allowing me to build up a microstakes roll and came up with some BR limits and grinded the shit out of $.o2 NL.
Somewhere around the the $.10 NL level I got a cardrunners membership 'cause I learned a ton from the vids (and that's easier to pay for than getting money onto the sites) and started to really learn how to play goot. I had a long hiatus at the end of last year due to work obligations, but have been back with a vengence since Jan 08.
I took a shot at 100NL at about 25 buy-ins and with a sick run of good cards, i'm sitting on a $3400 roll.
... Oh yeah, on to the operation...
I have a lot of social and work obligations, but I love studying/playing poker. My goal is getting the best hourly rate with the min time put in. I'd like to make poker full time an option for the future. So really, I'm just trying to get really damn good.
I don't have any poker-obsessed friends, so I feel like I need to vent poker stuff, and this is the place. I really dig FTR and everyone who posts here.
So anyway, wish me luck! I'll figure out how to post some graphs here and make updates as well as talk some poker strategy.

See you at the tables...

[donnybaker]

profit by date graph...let's see how this works...

nev mind, figured it out

[donnybaker]

50NL

Edit: took out a couple graphs.

So my results for 50NL:


I played ok for this period, there was some bad play and some legitimate variance, but overall it went pretty well.

On to 100NL, like I said I've been running great. But I need some solid numbers to aim at. I've got over 30 BIs for 100NL, (actually sitting on $3400) but I'd like about that number for 200NL before I move up. So I need about 2.6K more. Running about 5 PTBB/100 on 4 tables (though I will play more), this will take about 70 hours of play and at least a $36/hr win rate.

I'm going to try to get in a minimum of 30 hour/month playing and about the same amount of time studying/posting/learning. If this goes well, by the end of May I should be taking shots at 200NL.

Anyway, I'll post my progress here as well as thoughts as I go along. Hands will mostly go in the short-handed forum, but I'll post some interesting ones here, as well as some where I played like crap. Anyway, that's the plan. GOGOGOGOGOGo!

[donnybaker]

Ran bad and subsequently played bad on saturday losing 4 buy-ins at 100NL and 4 at 50NL. Something I really need to work on is stopping when things aren't going my way. I usually play 1-2 hour sessions and when I'm playing longer than that it's usually because I'm stuck. I've found that I'm still very psychologically affected by the results of my play, something I'm trying to get away from. I think I played fairly well on saturday at 100nl and mostly spewtard at 50nl. A lot of my losses were against one loose passive big-stack who really had my number. I'll post some of those hands.

Today, I played a short session in the afternoon (100nl) and absolutely killed. I netted almost 5 and a half buy-ins in an hour. I'm amazed how swingy this is, having such a large swing in a small amount of time helps me get some perspectives on the 1-2 BI losing sessions. Anyway I played well, caught some good cards, etc, but what really surprised me is that I didn't play many big pots. I was mostly just buying pots and picking off bluffs and short stacks.

For the operation, since the 20th, I'm down $0.35 over 5.8k hands. Not stressing it too bad, I'm still running pretty good at 100nl.

Here's a pokerev graph of the weekend


The big dip at about 1700 hands was a 300 bb pot that i lost vs the lp guy.
He was playing 52/11/.6 over about 100 hands. Here's the big pots I played with him.
Lost 100 bb to him with AK v AT all-in preflop
Lost 150 bb in flush under flush (I may need to look at this closer)
Then this little gem
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

SB ($99)
BB ($103.50)
UTG ($115.35)
MP ($352.40)
CO ($105.95)
Hero ($182)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, 7.
1 fold, MP calls $1, CO raises to $5, Hero calls $5, 2 folds, MP raises to $21, CO folds, Hero calls $16.

Flop: ($48.50) 4, 6, 7 (2 players)
MP bets $19, Hero calls $19.

Turn: ($86.50) 9 (2 players)
MP bets $56, Hero raises to $142, MP calls $86.

River: ($370.50) 8 (2 players)

Final Pot: $370.50

Results in white below:
MP has Td Ah (straight, ten high).
Hero has 9s 7s (two pair, nines and sevens).
Outcome: MP wins $370.50.

I thought that the preflop was a little out of line, but I felt I was even with his range on the flop and miles ahead on the turn. Anyway, that was fun. I have some more interesting hands I'll post either here or in the 6-max forum.

[donnybaker]

Played well tonight, aside from a few hands. I was 6-tabling 100nl and made about $180 in 2 hours which is as much as I've made since I've started this blog. Still, I'm doing very well for March so far and I've gotten my 30 hours in already. One thing I need to do is make an end goal for this operation, besides just getting better. I've thought about it, and my goal is to run up my pokerstars bankroll (which is my online BR) to 16k. At that point I will be playing 200nl with the bankroll to start playing 400nl. I feel this is a definite turning point in cash games, from low to mid stakes.

My BR is at about $3500. At 7k I'll move up to 200nl, and 400nl at 16k.

[donnybaker]

i pwn drunken 25nl

small sample size obv

for small stakes guys, try stars $.05 NL 6max when you're playing drunk you can buy in for 200bb


my 'roll has stayed much healthier since i made it a rule that i move down a couple levels after a couple beers

[donnybaker]

Was busy for the first 10 days of April, so this is a little late, but I want to post my results from march. I started this op in march, so i didn't have a specific goal in mind, but it turned out to be a very profitable month for me.

Here's the stats:


Ran very well at $100NL, essentially doubling my BR this month. Didn't run so well at $50NL, oh well. The 25NL and 5NL were playing under the influence.

I did make my goal of playing 30 hours this month. I actually got in 38 hours for a nice $66/hour. That's very nice for me given that when i was grinding up from about $1 to $500 my hourly rate was $2/hr.

Anyway, on to April. Did my taxes, poker didn't hurt as much for 07 as it did for 06 when i was playing much higher and had to itemize my deductions. I filed by session as well rather than by table, so that reduced the "perceived taxable income" as well.

I missed a quarter of the month before playing, so I'm going to go for 25 hours of play. If I can maintain a $50/hr win rate, I should make $1250. It's less than last month, but I'm going down a limit to play head's up (sick game btw) so I'll get fewer hands in at 6 max.

I also plan to analyze in depth at least a hand a week as well as posting on the boards. I tend to keep falling into the trap of studying much less than playing when I feel at my level my time should be fore like study = playing. I'll post the in depth analysis hands here and the normal question hands in the 6 max/HU forums.

Since I'm almost to mid-month already, here's where I'm at:
Hours: 10.5
Profit: $657
Hands: 4.4K

I'm really enjoying HU play, it's honestly the first time I've felt like I'm absolutely owning someone (part of the time anyway; I've been bwned a few times myself).

[donnybaker]

This hand was from a couple weeks ago. I suppose it's not too interesting, but I have to start somewhere...

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

saw flop|saw showdown

Hero ($122.45) 23/18/3.4/lots
CO ($76.55) 53/4/2.9/53
Button ($58.70)
SB ($102.50)
BB ($130) 27/0/.8/11
UTG ($59.30)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, Q.
1 fold, Hero raises to $4, CO calls $4, 2 folds, BB calls $3.

Ok preflop considerations. I'm in UTG+1 w/AQs, I'm raising here all day. My normal range here is fairly tight, especially because there's some loose passive in the CO/button behind me. The small blind is tight and the BB ... to few hands to consider. Looks loose passive so far. Anyway I'm likely to end up with at least one opp with position on me, so I don't want to raise complete garbage like I might at a tighter table. I suppose QJs is the weakest hand I raise here.

With the preflop action, I have to put the opps on a pretty wide range. The CO hardly ever raises preflop and I don't know if he ever 3bets, so I can't discount anything (KK+ etc). Since it's a raised pot, I imagine he's calling half his VPIP range, or 25% of possible hands. The BB i have less info on but he's getting very good odds. I'm going to put him calling about 18% of his holdings here.
Ranges so far:
CO: 22+, Axs, A7o+, K8s+, Q9s+, SCs 54s+, all broadway. Maybe wider.
BB: 22+, Axs, ATo+, SCs 54s+, all broadway. This is more like 21%, but I feel he's calling with a lot here.

Pokerstove sez I'm about 41% against these ranges.

Flop: ($12.50) 8, 5, 4 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, CO bets $4, BB calls $4, Hero calls $4.

The flop is very coordinated given straight possibilities and my first inclination is not to cbet and hope to see a free turn. Against one opp, I might cbet most of the time. Anyway, I get very little information on this flop except that everyone is showing weakness unless they're slowplaying a set or 67, either of which would be dumb. I hesitate to even adjust ranges here because there's so little information. COs 1/3 pot bet looks weak, and I think you could certainly make a case for check raising here. It would look bluffy, but it might work. given the passiveness of the players, I elect to call. I don't think a bluff is going to win often enough to be profitable and we can bluff any high card on the turn.

Against the same ranges I now have 33% equity in the hand, not near enough to put in money for value.

Turn: ($24.50) 3 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, CO bets $8, BB calls $8, Hero raises to $28, CO folds, BB calls $20.

The turn is a good card for me, giving me the nfd and a gutter (plus overs). Lets reduce the 18 possible outs to 12 (flush will be good most of the time, pairing overs, low straights good sometimes) and I'm about 3:1 to improve on the river. In any case i need to define the hands a bit more here and reduce my opps ranges. I think i need to semi-bluff bet this pot. It would be easy for one of them to bet me off my hand, and checkraising here actually looks more like what I actually have. No one has shown reall strength thus far, so I think the best play is to open on this street. In the actual hand I checked but luckily the CO made another weak bet and I put in a sizable raise.

Now it's a tricky spot. If I'm reraised here, I'm not yet sure what to do. If it was by the CO I'd probably play based on pot odds, but the BB could probably still get me off my hand. However, I don't want to leave the pot so small, that turn card really improved my equity in the hand. So by checkraising here I get myself into trouble when betting would have been better.

CO folded and BB called, so now I can revisit his range. It's definitely on the drawy side.

I narrowed down the BB range to
22+,KcJc,JcTc,Tc9c,87s,76s,65s,54s,87o,76o,65o,54o
and on the turn I have 32% equity against this range. He could have some other garbage here some of the time too I suppose.

Another important consideration though, is that my play on the flop looks bluffy, and if I make my flush, it's not going to be easy for him to put me on it.

River: ($88.50) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $86.45 (All-In), BB calls $86.45.

Allright, we river our gin card. It gives us a flush and also completes a bunch of straights. Also, we have one psb left in the effective stack sizes. When he checks to me I make the "desperation shove" and hope to get looked up by a straight/2pr+/or a lower flush. I can argue for value betting smaller here but I honestly think shoving looks fishier. I think a good player would fold here (especially given my cr on the turn club/straight scare card).

Final Pot: $261.40

Results below:
BB doesn't show. (6c4d - 6 high straight)
Hero has Ac Qc (flush, ace high).
Outcome: Hero wins $261.40.

I don't think this was played horribly (by me) but it was not played perfectly. I don't know, comments are welcome. I obviously need to improve my hand analysis process. Maybe over time I will have more insight.

[donnybaker]

Had a poor session on Sunday. Played 6-8 tables of $100NL and I didn't feel that I played very well. Dropped 2.5 buy-ins in about 1.5 hours. I wasn't really mentally prepared to play and in a rush to get a session in. I have to remember to relax, poker isn't going anywhere.

[donnybaker]

Not running so well this month. I'm going to take some time off and really analyze my game. It's frustrating not having the time to really study and play a lot. Oh well.

[donnybaker]

Didn't get to play a whole lot this month. I got my 30 hours in, but about 10 of that was long, not as profitable sessions. I do much better in 1-2 hour sessions. Had a few setbacks, but here's the graph for the month:

Stats (Apr):
31.68 hours
$996.25 profit
$31.44 hourly rate

I'm going to move up at 6-7k to $200NL 6M and $50NL-100NL HU. I feel under qualified to make the jump, but if my BR can support it, I may as well learn at a higher stake. It seems that every day I see or hear about something that pretty much blows my mind. I think a big part of continuing to move up is going to be how I analyze my game. I'm going to have to look even more critically at the hands I've played and think about ev at every street.

[donnybaker]

My BR hit about 5500 so I took a shot at 200NL 6 max. It was pretty brutal, I experienced about exactly the opposite of the upswing I took when I moved to 100NL. I ran poorly which tilted me a bit. I was overset two or three times and got it in with nut flushes and straights to lose to rivered or turned boats. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

I noticed the play was much more aggro. I'm going to 3bet a bit more in position and less out of the blinds. I'm also going to throw in some more 4bet bluffs to balance my range with my big pocket pairs, something I really haven't done much up to this point.

In the meantime, back to 100NL to get my confidence back!

Oh yeah, I'm down about 1k at 200nl, but last night i was playing some of the 180 man $12 turbos and took a first and a 2nd so maybe I should be playing those lol. I'm really a tourney donk, but they're fun.

[donnybaker]

I just had a session at 100nl where I ran sick good. I won every hand i put money in (it seemed like). I played with real confidence.

I think a lot of it was moving up and moving back down. 200NL played tougher, so I felt like I was able to push my edges a little better at 100nl. I was able to keep my won w/o showdown well in the green. I think that it's important to move up aggressively (using appropriate br management of course) to expose yourself to better play.

Anyway, here's my shot at 200NL and my subsequent recovery at 100NL:

[donnybaker]

Here's my may graph.


I took a few shots at 200NL, you can see two of them in the graph, they're the giant dips.

In the last few days I kind of figured out what I was doing wrong. I was getting 3bet a lot more preflop than at 100nl and I felt I had to defend against this. I was 4betting pretty light and getting called. Also I was calling 3bets out of position and spewing money there.

I'm on my laptop right now so I'm only playing about 6 tables and able to think about my play a little more. I'm also being very deliberate about going through the hhs after play and reviewing hands. As I find hands with legitimate questions I'll post them.

I'm happy with how I finished the month out, +1850 in 30.8 hours of playing.