Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Now that's what I'm talkin' about

New MTD:

That's with a $1430 night last night.

It's amazing to think that just a few short months ago, having a day where I lost $1500 sent me on a two-month-long tailspin of lifetilt where my play, my attitude, and my entire assessment of this little experiment all suffered. Around late March I was having very serious thoughts about abandoning poker, and either utilizing my degree or taking steps to procure a new one, to get the sort of job that made me miserable for all those years.

Now, a $1k downswing just ain't no thing. Whatever. I've had something like four of them in the past three months, and each and every one of them took less than three days to climb out of. My confidence is back, I feel like while there are certainly other skilled players at NL200 at Full Tilt, not a single one of them is somebody I fear to mix it up with.

My style of play is a bit different than a lot of other winning regs at NL200, in that I'm a bit tighter, and a bit less aggressive. My AF this month is only 2.76, as opposed to a lot of regs that run in the 4-5 range, and that's consistent over my last 100k. I also tend to lose money in non-sd pots, which is fine because my showdown record is extraordinary. I love snapping off bluffs and keeping people honest, and use that tendency to dictate the terms of a hand. So many poor players are too passive and can find neither their fold nor raise buttons. Yet so many winning regs are too aggressive and have trouble finding their call button, even when it's appropriate.

There's still a lot for me to work on, of course, and it's nice having the cushion of all the superfish that wander up as high as NL200 to fall back on, but if I ever want to move up (and I do), beating regs will be more and more a part of that process.

The past month and a half, since moving up to Wisconsin, has been truly spectacular from a poker perspective. My confidence has never been higher.

Friday, October 3, 2008

First three days of October


So, this month got off to the wrong start on Wednesday afternoon, when I played about 1,200 hands and lost $991. Pretty sick situations, mostly coolers, a couple I maybe sort of could have been able to get away from:

My biggest losing hands were:

AA against a flopped set of 8's. Flop was 489 and the turn was a J; put my opponent more on TJ than a set as he cold-called the flop. Lost $210.

33 in SB on 345 flop against BB. BB had 67. Lost $207.

JJ against Ks8s, I flopped top set, he turned flush, played it straightforward, I couldn't get away from the set. Lost $200.

TT on TJ5 rainbow flop. Turn of an 8 gave Qd9d a well-disguised straight. I stacked off. Lost $166.

AdQc on a flop of AhQh4s. Opponent had 44. Other opponent had Kh Jh. I missed my 4 outs, the draw hit. Lost $160.

So, it was kinda like that. Couldn't get anything going.

Later that night, despite the fact that I'd taken a couple of shots with Brian and Cam, I hopped on again and won $422 of it back.

I took last night off, not really feeling up to playing after the 2500 hands I'd played on Wednesday.

Tonight I played 2500 hands and won $825.95. Not a bad score at all, except for the fact that I blew $200 on my second-to-last hand of the night in a bluff. Dude called me down with TPNK, J9o on a dry jack high board, after I had raised from EP and bluffed every street with ATs. I should know better than that at this point. The fact that people call down with bullshit like that makes me wonder how much value I lose. I try to be as contemptuous as possible when dealing with fish, but I tend to overestimate their intelligence and lose value as a result.

At least I'm back in the positive for the month, with a lot of month left.

Bailout

All that money, and not a dime earmarked to bring back Firefly. Fucking politicians are useless.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

September

A lazy attitude and, having moved in with Brian and Camille last month, a vacation mindset that was hard to shake off, made for a very low-volume month of only just over 16k hands. That said, this is the first complete month where I've truly brought the boomstick to NL200, making for what is by far my best month of poker yet:

$4736.95 in 16,060 hands for 7.39PTBB/100. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Seriously, I thought my play was superb for most of the month, and running pretty hot doesn't hurt a thing either. For once I wasn't being oversetted 1-2 times per session, because, really, that was getting old.

Only two losing days this month: 9/4 where I lost $61, and 9/10 where I lost $235. That's just awesome. I would have had a losing night on the 29th but on my very last hand of the session I caught JJ from UTG, raised, got a call out of the blinds, flopped top set, and the dude chose to shove in a total bluff with AQo.

Also, my 24" flatscreen, ordered from the Full Tilt store, arrived yesterday. The thing is sexy. What a beast! It makes 12-tabling a breeze. Unfortunately Full Tilt dropped it from their store not long after I bought mine, meaning it's entirely plausible that I got the last one.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Not motivated, but winning

After last Friday's amazing 7.5BI, 25.67PTBB/100 run, I've only put in two sessions: one this past Tuesday night, and one tonight. I won $250 in the first session and about $350 tonight, in what was my longest session so far this month: 1,910 hands, 4.63PTBB/100, and that was with a couple of disgusting hands:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($200)
MP2 ($78)
MP3 ($205)
Hero (CO) ($237)
Button ($282.50)
SB ($88.35)
BB ($102)
UTG ($312)
UTG+1 ($78.75)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 2, 2
UTG raises to $7, 4 folds, Hero calls $7, 2 folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($22) J, 2, 10 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $22, Hero raises to $68, 1 fold, UTG raises to $305 (All-In), Hero calls $162 (All-In)

Turn: ($482) K (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($482) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $482 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
UTG had K, A (straight, Ace high).
Hero had 2, 2 (three of a kind, twos).
Outcome: UTG won $479


Oh well, I suppose I can't win every hand where I get it in as a 2:1 favorite.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($105.60)
BB ($80)
UTG ($238.20)
UTG+1 ($201)
MP1 ($237.95)
MP2 ($50)
Hero (MP3) ($200)
CO ($205.50)
Button ($178.40)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 6, 7
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $2, 2 folds, Hero calls $2, 1 fold, Button calls $2, SB calls $1, BB checks

Flop: ($10) 8, Q, 9 (5 players)
SB bets $4, BB calls $4, UTG+1 calls $4, Hero calls $4, 1 fold

Turn: ($26) 5 (4 players)
SB bets $6, BB raises to $19, UTG+1 calls $19, Hero raises to $84, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $65

River: ($219) 2 (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $111 (All-In), Hero calls $110 (All-In)

Total pot: $439 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
UTG+1 had K, J (flush, King high).
Hero had 6, 7 (flush, nine high).
Outcome: UTG+1 won $436

I'm not sure I like my river call here, given that the way this donkey played the hand up to this point it should be pretty pointedly obvious he had the higher flush. That said, his turn call is pretty horrific.

Luckily, both villains gave back:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($200)
UTG ($47.60)
UTG+1 ($200)
Hero (MP1) ($388.80)
MP2 ($216.30)
MP3 ($110.05)
CO ($200)
Button ($527.70)
SB ($227.15)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A, A
2 folds, Hero raises to $9, 3 folds, Button raises to $32, 2 folds, Hero raises to $78, Button raises to $527.70 (All-In), Hero calls $310.80 (All-In)

Flop: ($782.60) 6, 4, 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($782.60) 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($782.60) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $782.60 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
Button had K, K (flush, King high).
Hero had A, A (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: Hero won $779.60

This is the villain from Hand 1. Garden variety AA v KK, though when playing for double stacks I'm not sure I'm so eager to stick it in as he was.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($79.20)
MP1 ($106.85)
MP2 ($226.20)
MP3 ($438.25)
Button ($200)
Hero (SB) ($200)
BB ($200)
UTG ($169.20)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 10
4 folds, MP3 calls $2, Button raises to $8, Hero calls $7, 1 fold, MP3 calls $6

Flop: ($26) K, 10, 6 (3 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets $18, 1 fold, Hero raises to $76, MP3 calls $58

Turn: ($178) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $116 (All-In), MP3 calls $116

River: ($410) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $410 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
Hero had 10, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
MP3 had K, 10 (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $407

Villain from hand #2. He was a chatty dude and asked, "hmm, how good am I" before his big flop call. After his turn call I said "not very".

I also won a stack with QQ vs AKo, AIPF, and closed off the night with these two amusing hands:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($219.15)
UTG ($62.75)
UTG+1 ($200.80)
MP1 ($129.20)
MP2 ($385.75)
MP3 ($356.90)
CO ($58.05)
Button ($48.40)
Hero (SB) ($357.90)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
4 folds, MP3 raises to $7, 1 fold, Button raises to $48.40 (All-In), Hero raises to $152, 2 folds

Flop: ($105.80) 4, A, J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($105.80) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($105.80) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $105.80 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
Button had J, J (three of a kind, Jacks).
Hero had K, K (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Button won $102.80

Okay, so a garden variety suckout on the part of the villain, who has to stick JJ in short here and got lucky.

But then, the very next hand, I catch KK again.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($217.15)
BB ($62.75)
UTG ($200.80)
UTG+1 ($129.20)
MP1 ($385.75)
MP2 ($349.90)
MP3 ($58.05)
CO ($102.80)
Hero (Button) ($309.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, K
2 folds, MP1 raises to $7, 1 fold, MP3 calls $7, CO calls $7, Hero raises to $309.50 (All-In), 3 folds, MP3 calls $51.05 (All-In), 1 fold

Flop: ($133.10) A, A, Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($133.10) 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($133.10) 6 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $133.10 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Aces and Kings).
MP3 had 4, 7 (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $130.10

Um, okay? I'm hoping that was some kind of misclick, but Jesus. 47s?

It's an interesting thing I do from time to time, to play on an image. If I just caught a beat in a hand and catch a very strong hand right after, I sometimes look for spots to feign tilt and make huge over-raises. I got a stack off a guy at NL100 a few months back who called my huge overpush with 77 (I had AA). Here with KK obviously I'm risking running into AA on the part of the original raiser, but this is still an ideal spot as with all the cold-callers, there's a good chance someone will take the opportunity to play sheriff.

That being said, although it tends to get called off weaker than you'd ordinarily think, it doesn't normally elicit calls from 47s. That's a new one :)