Requiem for a Wired Pair

April So Far (Thumbs Up!)

2009-04-03T18:33:00.004-05:00

Alright well I tried my hand at 6-max and didn't go so hot. I over-adjusted and played too aggressive and ended up losing $12 fairly quickly. So, I decided to put off switching to cash and keep focusing on SnG's.

Still grinding the $3 Turbos. I've profited $142.80 over 81x $3 turbos: 50.6% ITM / 51.9% ROI

Not too shabby..

Also, I'm working on a video on $3 SnG turbos. Plan was to record a 4-table session and commentate on it. So the first one I was doing fairly well and got to the bubble on a couple tables and I get a warning about low disk space and had to cancel the video. Next time I another 4 tables going and am still in on two tables.. not playing particularly well and the video finishes. Next time I don't record and get 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd. Wish I had recorded that one.

So I'm not sure if I'm going to do commentary on the one I have or try to record a better session.

I'm going to start mixing it up every once in a while taking shots at $6 SnG turbo.

Goodbye March (and thanks for the laughs!)

2009-03-31T22:51:00.004-05:00

Well, I finished off March with a 1st in a SnG.. had been running just over breakeven and then I took that one down, and I think that was one of the better games I've played in a while.

I started off the month around my $30 that i cashed in the Sunday 200K off FPP's. I added the $50 I deposited on Tilt so I was around $80 at the beginning of the month. So I've made in the neighborhood of $115 this month :) Not too shabby.

Going to keep up the SnG's for a while but I think I may venture into some 10NL 6-max ring games. We shall see.. maybe I'll play 5k hands and see what I think. SnG's though for now.

I had Stick and Savage Penguin helping me out a bit today which I'd like to do a bit more often I like bouncing thoughts back and forth and finding out what problems they might see with my game.

I'm out of the CC events for a while, I just was not playing the LPS games well, the freerolls as late have been pretty frustrating. I was big stacked late in the OFC and got busted out on a big suckout and a couple bad situations. That's about how my MTT experience has gone for the past week. I think I've got some big problems in my MTT game and I can only focus on so much at once.. and for now that STT Sn'Gs and 6-max 10NL.

Good luck in april everyone, especially you Chuck.. you're due for a good one!

More progress!

2009-03-29T19:55:00.001-05:00

So things are still going pretty well. I haven't cashed in any CC events lately which sucks. Despite that my BR is still growing rapidly from the $3 SnG's. I've also started playing the 2-table (18-player) $3 SnG's.. which are just as easy as the $3 1-tables. So far I've played 4 of these and have: 2x first place, 2x no cash. So that's nice :)

My BR would be even higher but I went on a little donk session on Friday night. Note to self: when playing poker sounds like fun I should not play, it means I want to play exciting poker and that is not good for the bankroll :P

More later!

My first $5 SnG

2009-03-24T14:26:00.002-05:00

One $5 SnG One 1st place! That was a nice experience.. I was a bit hesitant to move to $5 and peel suggested I try one a week or so, that was some good advice! I've only played one so far but that game was S-O-F-T!

I built myself up a chip lead headed in to the bubble and ran into shortstack AA with my 99.

Built stack back up and shortstack gets knocked out several hands later A7 v AQ. Then this next hand irked me a bit. Shortstack goes all in, I call and chip leater raises all in with NOTHING! I wouldn't have hit, granted, but it was still a stupid stupid play.

I'm 2nd in chips.. way behind chip leader and finally picked off the shortstack with ATs vs 75o. Go into heads up $3,040 vs $9,810. K9s vs QTo holds up for me and I double up.. and I roll that up and knock him out a few hands later. Felt good to get revenge on this guy ;)

Anyway... bankroll UPDATE!

BR Update

2009-03-23T10:18:00.003-05:00

So, I'm still playing the $3 SnG's, and the CC freerolls when I can. I have been busy recently with family stuff and work so I haven't played a whole lot. Anyway, I'm just going to list my current totals for the $3 SnG's and my BR totals.

TOURNEYS

$3+0.4 10-Turbo:
===================
1st ($15) - 2x
2nd ($9) - 2x
3rd ($6) - 4x
4th-10th ($0) - 6x
===================
Won: $72
Entry: $47.60
Profit: $24.40 (~$1.75/game)

BANKROLLS
Site (Initial BR): Current Total, +/- initial, +/- last post

Pokerstars ($50): $103.97, +$53.97, ($0)
Bodog ($0.36): $24.36, +$24.00, ($0)
=============================
Total ($50.36): $128.33, +$77.97, ($0)

That's it for now. I am planning to average about 4-6 SnG's/day this week. So hopefully I will have about 25-30 more by the end of the week and we'll see how the numbers stack up. And I'm still trying to get the $24 from bodog over to stars, but i'm not too terribly worried about it. If I don't get it done in the next couple of weeks I'm just going to cash it out and re-deposit it to stars a couple weeks later once I get the check.

I <3 SnG's

2009-03-18T13:33:00.004-05:00

UPDATE:
I woke up just in time today to play todays $100 bodog freeroll (late night last night)... and I got 2nd place, cashed $24, AND won the Challenge! Also, I got the $50 from Full Tilt transferred to Pokerstars so... here's what my bankroll is looking like

Pokerstars: $96.67
Bodog: $24.46 (had .46 leftover in my account)
======
total = $123 - $50 tilt deposit = $71.13 profit so far!!
/UPDATE

So.. I moved up to the $3.40 turbo SnG's on Stars. I've played 10 so far... and here are my results:

1x first place
2x second place
3x third place
4x did not cash

60% win rate!

My $30 bankroll on stars is now at it's highest point: $46.57

Here's a few frustrating beats.

Some quick updates...

2009-03-16T12:23:00.002-05:00

I've had a lot of stuff going on with work and personal stuff over the past few days so I haven't played a whole lot. However, I have decided that splitting my bankroll between stars and tilt was a terrible idea so I'm working on combining them. I decided to scrap my ring-game playing and focus solely on SnG's. When I combine I'll have a bit over $80 on stars, and I'll use that to play the $3 regular SnG's.

In preparation for this I have been reading up on ICM (independent chip model) and push/fold strategy for short-stack/bubble play. I'm going over the SnG's I have with SitNGo Wizard as well as using its' quiz feature to get a good feel for it before I start hitting the SnG's heavy. So far I have a 1st and 2nd cash over 8 games.. not great, but not terrible I suppose. Also, I will be shutting down to 2 tables until I start making some consistent profit.. meaning basically I'm going to play 50 games and see where I'm at, if I like what I'm seeing then I'll add another table and see how it goes.

If all goes well I will be writing a fairly comprehensive SnG guide explaining ICM and, more importantly, how to apply it to your game. ICM HUD's are banned on most sites, and the calculations are pretty much impossible to do in your head.. so how to apply the concepts without the calculations is a pretty important topic, I would say look forward to that probably in about 3-4 weeks or so, assuming my SnG play does well.

Another reason for the switch to the SnG's is that I think it suits my current poker mentality. I like to take breaks every hour or so and SnG's typically last 30-60 minutes so I think it'll be good. I four-tabled $1 SnG's twice and what I found out was that 1) I played much better when I got down to two-tables and 2) the length of the SnG's felt just right.

Anyway, more updates later! I'll post my SnG stats once I get to 20.

-spore

New strategy

2009-03-12T11:22:00.000-05:00

Okay I took a bit of a break to reassess. I was marginally profitable at both FL and NL micro ring games over about 5.5k hands, lost a couple buy-ins at some SnG's so I pretty much break even since I started. Not very encouraging.

I think a big part of my problem is consistency. I keep trying different things (switching from NL to FL and back, trying some SnG's, etc...)

Here's the new plan:

2 bankrolls
$33 on stars just for SnG's (mainly the double or nothings)
- $1 double-or-nothing until $45 then up to $2, etc..
- 4 tables at a time

$50 on tilt just for micro ring NLHE
- regular BRM rules, 5%
- 4-6 tables at a time

I started this plan last night and I won 4/4 double-or-nothings on stars and up a little bit on tilt (only over about 100 hands or so). I really like these double-or-nothings. It really suits my style of play and my goal is to cash 75% of them. If I do that it works out to $0.40/game profit at $1, $0.80/game at $2, $1.20/game at $5.

So, I think this solves one big problem for me, which is that I like to switch games. I found that I start playing much worse when I'm getting "bored" at a game.. like I started out at 1c/2c NL and starting running bad and switched to 5c/10c FL. Did well at that for a while, ran bad, and switched back to 1c/2c NL. Also threw in a couple SnG's for some reason.

Now I haven't really tilted hard but for a couple times. Mainly what happens is when I go on a dry run I start to justify shoves that I shouldn't be making. Not like shoving with JTs pre-flop or anything of that magnitude (except for once or twice).. but more along the lines of not thinking through the hand very well and just shoving automatically with TPTK (regardless of board) or shoving trips with a rag kicker, etc..

Anyway, so the plan is.. when I get into a funk at the rings at tilt to switch back over to the SnG's at stars and vice versa. I think this change of pace will allow me to clear my head and return with a renewed vigor.

What does everyone think? I mean, you outside observers must think I'm a freaking mess with how often I'm changing my strategies. Let me know what you think I should be doing!

Looking back at some NL

2009-03-09T23:39:00.000-05:00

Found this interesting. It shows the results of all hands i ended up with an overpair on the river.

I'm liking limit

2009-03-08T20:52:00.000-05:00

Alright. So, I still haven't quite built up my BR to where I peaked (about $42). It's currently just under $36, but things are going much better. I've been studying up at 2+2 and sklansky's small stakes hold'em, and that's helping me out a bunch. Plus I cut down on the amount of stats I'm using w/ HEM. Also, I feel that I am much much more comfortable. I spent a while looking for big leaks in my game using HEM and I found a few biggies. Since I started working on those big leaks I have been feeling SOOO much more comfortable. It's getting a lot less frequent that I question what I should do.. 95% of the hands I play now are pretty much automatic. So, I'm feeling like I'm probably going to cruise to 10c/20c ($60BR). Once I move up then I'm sure some more big leaks will expose themselves. Anyway.. here's some charts and graphs to peruse.

Limit Stats Overall

Hands	$	bb/100	VPIP%	PFR%	3Bet%	WTSD%	W$SD%	Agg	Agg%
2068	$6.86	6.95	21.4	6.9	3.3	30.3	52.5	1.79	33.6

5c/10c Limit Profit Graph

Overall Profit Graph

Anyway I'm closing in on 5k hands overall. Over 2k at limit. My consistency has gone up tremendously playing limit. To show my progress here is how my BB/100 stat has been doing over various samples.

[LIMIT BB/100 STATS]
Overall: 6.95
Last 1500: 14.67
Last 1000: 13.16
Last 750: 19.92
Last 500: 20.32
Last 250: 15.92

Finding a groove at the micro LHE tables.

2009-03-06T12:17:00.000-06:00

Alright, so here are my overall stats for at .5/.10 LHE ring games.

Game	Hands	$	bb/100	VPIP%	PFR%	3Bet%	WTSD%	W$SD%	Agg	Agg%
$0.05/0.1 LIM	1171	$1.13	1.93	18.8	6.7	3.2	32.6	52.5	1.62	33.6

Ok the BB/100 is not great, but it's steadily climbing back up (it's 13.44 over the last 250 hands). I think I like where my VPIP is, I think my PFR should be a bit higher. I'm not sure about my 3B%. I also like my WTSD and W$SD.

Anyway I feel a lot more comfortable playing fixed limit. Although I have played much more NL, I think I know more about FL and play it better. I'm still hovering around that initial $30 but I'm confident that I'm just going to keep climbing.

Also, I've been analyzing my play better in-game. I'm thinking through hands better and making much better decisions. I'm not paying off obvious made-draws and such like I was and generally I'm not losing important hands as often.

Here are my top two and bottom two hands so far this month (in terms of BBs won/lost)

Top-1

Top-2

Bottom-1

Bottom-2

Also a few more interesting stats overall..
Facing Flop Continuation Bet: -72.20BB
Did 3 Bet Preflop: +6.40BB
Last to Act on Flop: -11.00BB (hmm, i'm not playing my position well)
Final Pot Size > 20BB: +95.40BB (i like this stat!)

The Losing Streak Continued... And Came To An End!

2009-03-04T13:03:00.000-06:00

Well that was rough.

I had my previous losing streak and then took a trip to Chicago. I read up on strategy a bit while I was gone and was ready to dive right back in on Monday.....

Yeah, that didn't go so well. My losing streak just picked right back up where it left off. At one point I decided to play a couple $1.20 SnG's for some stupid reason.. I'm still kicking myself over that one. Between the SnG's and the .01/.02NL tables I ended up giving away everything I had made and was back to that initial $30. At that point I stopped and decided to make a couple big changes.

1) Switch to Fixed Limit
The majority of the studying I have done has been in terms of Fixed Limit Hold'Em (Sklansky's Books). I think I am a much better Limit player currently than NL at ring games. I also figured the play at the .05/.10LHE would be a lot less wild than the .01/.02NL and reduce my tilt-factor. I was right. And there's still so much bad play that I think it will be even more profitable than taking the big swings at .01/.02NL ring games.

2) Quit using Holdem Indicator
Basically I felt that it was turning me into a donkey. When I was on one of those really dry runs it became easy for me to justify calls that I normally wouldn't make. I know my odds for most common situations so.. I don't know why the heck I was using this in the first place other than the fact that it's nifty.

So, I did #1 before #2. When I first made the switch to LHE I continued right down my losing streak. I went down about $5-$6 before I threw Holdem Indicator out the window and finally started rallying back. I think the rally honestly had more to do with finally getting a few hands and not getting killed everytime I had something than with using Holdem Indicator.. but I still think ditching Holdem Indicator is making me play much more solid.

So, I got back to my initial $30 again and that's where I left it last night. I went back through some of my hands from my LHE session and, to me, it looks like I'm playing pretty well. I need to stop making some bad river calls but other than that I think I'm playing pretty solid at LHE.

Finally, I just want to add that I think I handled the big losing streak fairly well. A year or two ago that would have sent me on a big downward spiral and I would have lost it all in a day or two. This time I think more than anything I just started to second-guess myself a lot and tried to get my stack in the middle when I had a good hand.. more so than normal. So, not good but not as bad as it has been in the past... so progress!

Anyway, I will update later tonight or tomorrow with some HHs and stats.

A nice losing streak..

2009-02-26T14:30:00.001-06:00

Well I don't know what was going on yesterday but I did not do very well. I erased a bit of my progress.. started off about $42 and ended about $35. Still about $5 up on my initial and I doubt I can have a worse session than that. BUT, I'm going to Chicago for the weekend for work.. so I'm just going to be studying up until next week.

Part of this bad streak was bad play and part of it was bad luck. I need to remember how to play when I'm not getting cards. My VP$IP was lower than normal, but then I overvalued the hands I did get and ended up stacking off quite a few people.

At the top of my worst hands yesterday I had top pair (AQo) and stacked off a guy (KQs) who flopped broadway. He was 100/27, WTS=91, 3B=66.7 so I didn't give him credit. Pretty standard hand I guess, he raised preflop I called. I bet flop, he raised, I re-raised all in.

Really I think the crazy stats there made me play it badly. I think I need to move up the limit of number of hands before it will display stats to like 50 or something.

Sorry I'm not posting the actual replays I don't have time, I'm leaving in a few minutes. Anyway.. next biggest lost was same guy, I raised from the SB with K6s and he 3-bet me I called. I flopped top pair and got all-in on the flop.. he had JJs and was on a gut-shot which he ended up hitting on the river.

So I dunno part of me thinks that a lot of the $ I lost yesterday were in good spots. But I'm going to pour over my stats and make sure that I catch anything.

Eh, screw it i'll post a few of my big losers.

Bit of a rough night 'eh? Oh well, it's just more motivation for me to get better. I'm going to go back and read Theory of Poker and Holdem Poker for Advanced Players (both by Sklansky), and keep reading Small Stakes Holdem (again by Sklansky).

Until next time!

Edit: I guess I should mention that my EV$Diff according to Holdem Manager was above +$9.00 for the session. So I think the results made it seem like I was playing a lot worse than I was. Down over $7.00 for the session and above +$9.00 EV$Diff, can anyone out there give me any insight on that?

A few hands from today...

2009-02-24T20:11:00.000-06:00

Well I ended the day up $7.58 (46BB/100) and I'm up $9.20 (26BB/100) for the month, so today is by far my biggest day.. and it appears that I'm still improving. Not much else to say, so i'll post my top 2 and bottom 2 hands from the day.

Top-1

Top-2

Bottom-1

Bottom-2

Introduction

2009-02-24T11:23:00.000-06:00

Well after a little over a year's break from online poker (for the most part).. and poker in general as well; I have decided to make a serious run at it. It started a couple of weeks ago when I saw I had some FPPs on Stars laying around. So I took some and bought into a STT satellite into the Sunday $200k tournament. I ended up being severely short-stacked going into heads-up and managed to fight my way back and win it. So, then I played the Sunday 200k (which made it to 300k) and ended up placing like 3800th(ish) and winning $30. So, there's my initial bankroll.

Until a few days ago I was extremely rusty... I was making a lot of bad plays, trying to bluff too much at 1c/2cNL (STUPID!), playing 10% rather than 5% BR. In short, I needed some refreshing so I quit playing for a few days and just read up on CardsChat, watched videos, and started re-reading some old books. I was losing money.. now I'm back and profiting.. her's a comparison of my stats so far this year vs. past two days.

This Year

Last Two Days

Now, I'm not sure why but HEM likes to show some hands as 6-max even though it's a full ring.. who knows. So my BB/100 is going up, my VP$IP is looking better, my PFR% is going down which is something I adjusted for playing at these micro limits (at higher stakes I would definitely want this to go up), AGG and AGG% is about the same (if anyone has any thoughts on those stats let me know!), and of course my W$SD% and W$WSF are both going up significantly.

And now just for reference, here is my profit graph for this month.

I'm up to about $37.00 from my initial $30.00

That's all for now. Later on I will be posting different hands and stats and who knows what else. Until then see you around the felt!