Update 2

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jun 16, 2008 in General | 2 comments

In what looks to be the 2nd of 3 updates today things continue to go well.

Hands: 219
Tables: 5
Time: 37 minutes
BB/100: 6.77
Overall Result: +$7.45

Looking and feeling good once again. Finally. No big hands here obviously just a lot of good little pots.

We’re Back Baby!

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jun 16, 2008 in General | 0 comments

Alright today looks like a great start for my epic mid-month comeback. Got a lot done in the AM, so I found myself with 45 minutes of free time which means poker time.

Hands: 223
Tables: 4
Minutes: 45
BB/100: 26.37
Amount Won: +$29.40

Thank goodness. I was very careful not to play an overaggressive game and try to get maximum value for my hands. I also found my stones again...

Hand 1: Found my nads and used them.

Standard preflop action. Standard bet for the flop with TPTK (top pair top kicker). Villain has loose aggressive stats but realistically he either hit a set of 2s or 4s or has an over pair (KK or AA). I really didn't think he had KK or AA, so at this point I think he has either a set of 4s or 2s or a dirty Q or AK. I call. He pretty much bets the pot with the T, and at this point I'm thinking that he thinks I'm on the flush draw. There was a part of me that wanted to fold this but I took some of the advise to heart from CC and on here and just found my stones and said "F YOU!" and shoved. He showed KQ for not even TPTK and I take a stack down.

Usually there's a hand at this point where I piss away half a stack. Not this time fortunately

Mid-Month Update

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jun 16, 2008 in mid, month, poker, Results | 2 comments

This month has been crap in terms of me playing poker. Haven't had too much time to play, and when I have I've polluted the FullTilt air.

Here are my goals for June 2008:

Goal #1: Play 4,000 hands at $25nl.
Progress: Already succeeded. Played 4,373. Unfortunately I am way behind last month's win rate.

Goal #2: Get one of my three friends who already committed to do so to finally deposit at FullTilt and clear $40 of the $100 in bonus money.
Progress: Succeeded. I am 40% cleared of the required FTPoints, and she is around 20%.

Goal #3: Win a token into a $26 tournament on FullTilt and play the tourny.
Progress: Not accomplished.

Goal #4: Have at least 10 sessions with 5-tables, and at least 6 sessions of 6-tables when playing cash games.
Progress: Succeeded.

Goal #5: Finally finish the Harrington on Cash Games Volume 1 book.
Progress: Not accomplished. I have like 35 pages to go!

Goal #6: Have Zachvac do a 45 to 60 minute commentary on a cash game session of mine and see if I've improved since the time ChuckTs did the video for me.
Progress: Not accomplished. Zach was almost done when his CPU crashed and hasn't gotten around to doing it over again.

So things aren't going so well and I haven't played out of my downswing (last 1500 hands). Here's this month's profits chart:

I played for about 45 yesterday when I had downtime.

Hands: 220
BB/100: -5.64
Total Result: -6.20

I played just fine focusing on nut peddling and not going crazy 3betting and being to aggressive knowing that players at 25nl suck and not using theories meant to be played at 100nl. Of course, I lost my brain on one hand and it accounts for the negative result for the session:

Don't Bluff a 25nl Player (plus he had it)

This went from standard steal attempt to me double-barreling with A high with more than a quarter of a stack! Obviously I took the shot but again its just pointless to play like this at this level. Looking back it smells like he had AA-JJ.

Hand 2: Same hand, much different result.

This hand I really felt like he was trying to steal and it really helped that I hit top two pair at the flop. I basically raise to about the pot value at the turn and he does a weird flat call. I felt he was weak and maybe had something like Ax or Tx. When he checked the river I knew that he knew he was weak so I had to make some sort of value bet to extract more from him and it worked. He took his time calling this bet, I think he knew he was beat but couldn't get himself away.

So today I want to put in another lunchtime session and will work hard this morning to try to get that to happen. Later.

The Day of Futility

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jun 13, 2008 in General | 1 comment

I'd like to that WVHillBilly, KingCurtis, and SavagePenguin among others for their great comments. It helps, especially when I consider myself to be slumping like I am right now. Today I got so much done in the morning I found myself around 3pm with nothing to do for work. So I decided it was time to 4 or 5 table it up ... and today's stats are fortunately not negative. Well, they aren't positive either.

Hands: 652
bb/100: -0.15
Total Result: -$0.50

So I pretty much played a breakeven game today. I think part of me sees a little bit of a cooler. For instance, I got AA six times during this session. Very impressive indeed! Sadly, twice was on the BB and had it completely folded around for NO action. Three more times I made a 3x raise PF to have it completely folded around to me. The only other time I was called PF with the 3x raise, only to cbet it and have it folded. Ugh.

There were some trouble hands and some good hands. What I did today was incorporate some AHK scripts! These are very handy programs that make life easier. Now I am using:

AutoBetPot: A program designed to auto-calculate bets on difference streets. Very helpful since this is a hole in my game.

AutoReloader: Makes life a lot easier to get chips when you are below 100bb.

Table Highlighter: When multitabling without cascading you have to scan around to see which is the table that needs action. This script highlights the top bar in yellow to make it super easy to spot.

So the scripts were a big success but I don't think it helped my thinking process playing the game all that much. Let's break down a few hands.

Hand 1: Set paid off!?!?

The limp in EP with 77 really can't be critized. SavagePenguin left a good comment that I really shouldn't limp on the button with 77 against total folds. Against 3 players I hit bottom set and bet 75% of the pot (yay for the new script). Next guy pops me 4x which is great since there really is only a weird straight draw out there (QT?) but most likely this guy has a crappy K. I notice his stack size and just pop him all in while he's hot. Works to perfection and he turns over his unlucky top two pair and goes away. Too bad he didn't have a full stack size!

Another Win with an Overpair

Again I limp in EP with 99 (mid pair). I think more agressive players would like to see a 3-4x raise PF. Villain with 15/10/1.5 stats raises it just right and I make the call. The 875 flop looks real pretty to me since I put him on AK - AQ. I make the move for the pot first and he flat calls (again, either with a weird straight draw holding a 6 which makes no sense really) or has over cards (most likely). The 4 hits and really I am trusting my gut that he has overs and not something like 66 and make the 66% pot bet (thanks to the script again), AGAIN called. Just how far does this guy go with overs?! The board pairs the 7, and I come out with a 9.90 bet (which I need to somehow correct to just make it a more reasonable number) and is folded.

The Hand of Suckiness : What to do?

Same villain. Same preflop action. I hit bottom set with a flush draw out there. I check with the intention of check-raising (I read to do this as a mix up 70-30% in the Harrington's book), and I pop it up nicely. Flat call. That lends my thinking again that opponent either has overs or suited overs on a draw. Crappy club card comes on the turn. I get scared admittedly. I come out with a 50% pot bet. Villain here just stacks it off. She took her time too. I'm not 100% sure I made the right move here, but the last time I "hit the call button and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best" it turned out horribly. I posted the hand at CC hopefully someone provides decent analysis.

Misclick Costs my A$$

The preflop play was pretty standard, and I decided not to cbet this because I really cbet way too often IMO. Two dangerous overs are out there so I am not really thinking it's too horrible to check that flop. The turn again comes A, and with the villain (good regular) giving the check there (weak weak play) I had my raise all set and then somehow my mouse jumped and hit the check button (WTF?!). I knew he didn't have an AK and probably held some weird low pair or suited connectors. He bets a little less than the pot there at the end and I decide to flat call just in case he was slow playing a K or A ... when in fact he just hit a miracle 9 for a boat there at the river.

In retrospect I played much more solidly than last time, and felt some cooler effects with my absolute NO action for AA (6 times) and seeing a set blow up in my face (but perhaps avoiding losing a stack).

My playing stats (dont like to post these but i'll just give today's stats) for this session were pretty solid for a TAG game.

12.27 / 7 / 4.55 (the VPIP is low IMO)
Steal attempt: 18%
Cbet Flop: 78%

At least I racked up a lot of FT points which I need to unlock the refer-a-friend bonus of $100. That'll be real nice when that shows up. So, not sure if I'll get any more chances to play this weekend, so my next update might be the mid-month progress report.

I Will Lead You People … To Slaughter!

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jun 13, 2008 in General | 2 comments

Usually the tables at FullTilt are tighter than those at PokerStars. I base that off of my PT3 stats that say the VPIP is lower at FTP than PS basically. Well yesterday, the maniacs and nutjobs were out there. I think that might have attracted some of the better players too because the table dynamics were definitely different than what I was used to ... that, and I think I am not playing an optimal game at 6-tabling and based off of this performance will drop to 5.

Yesterday's overall results:

Hands: 705
BB/100: -14.21
Overall Result: -$50.10

Yeah, another wipe out at the tables. This always seems to happen when I reach a new bankroll milestone. So lets try to break this down and look and the trouble hands.

Hand 1: Biggest Win (sad)

Preflop action for this hand is pretty standard against an unknown player. The flop is all rags, so all I am concerned with is if he hit a baby set or is on a possible straight draw. He min-raises me and then I make the mistake of not bumping it higher on the 3bet. He flat calls, and really I think I was testing the waters to see if he did hit a set. The turn is another two pairing the board, a presumable blank for us both. Again, I screw up by betting 30% of the pot. (I can see now that I was tilting after dropping two flopped sets previously) Another flat call has me a little concerned that he is indeed drawing to a straight with something like 45s. Another rag comes on the river and I check to basically see what this guy is going to do and he does a 25% pot bet which I just flat call because at this point I just have an over pair on what looks like a really weird board. I win all but a few dollars of the guy's stack anyways with this hand.

Slaughter Hand #1 : UGH.

Villain's line over 53 hands is 13.2/5.6/0.6 so we know post flop this guy is pretty passive. Too bad I didn't pay attention to that. Preflop action is pretty standard. I make top set for the momentary nuts against 2 players. I give a decent bet of about 64% of the pot and its called by the button. Although he didn't have the odds I put him on a flush draw (not a straight draw). The A is a bit of a scare card because then I realize he might have made a straight or most likely (again my thinking at the time) was drawing to one and the flush draw. I check for that fact and he bets around that 60% of the pot mark so I raise to really see where I am. He flat calls, so I'm thinking he is still drawing but in retrospect we can see that his action post flop was "Call, bet-call" so either he's a huge fish OR ... I'm in trouble. The river is a blank ... so I pop it for absolutely no good reason other than it's the proper bet size compared to the pot. He has a no-brainer call with the nuts.

Slaughter Hand #2 : Geeze, really!?

Preflop action is somewhat passive, with position and folds to me I simply limp with 77 on the button. I don't raise because if i hit my set I want action. Oh, and action is what I got. I hit middle set with a possible flush draw or weird 1 gapper straight draw. 1st position opens with a bet that is flat called ... at this point I pop it to $1.75 into a pot of $1.75. One caller. This is where I made a huge mistake. A bet-call indicates to me that he might have mid or lower pair, or a flush draw. The two of spades hits the turn. I get check raised solidly with the scare turn card. Again, another HUGE mistake here as I raise (minimally) his check-raise. Predictably he stacks, and this is the point where I just close my eyes, hit call, and if he has the flush hope the board pairs. He does, it doesn't, and I lose my stack.

Slaughter Hand #3 - I'm giving away free money!

Looking back now I can see I was really playing way too aggressive for these stakes and making some big blunders. Prefop I call a 3bet from a mid-stack with TT which I don't have a huge problem with. The flop is actually pretty favorable with 1 over card. Again I blunder and bet 63% of the pot (not 75% like I should ... I think I should look into an AHK script to help me) which really didn't matter anyways. I get solidly raised and at this point my aggression got carried away. I really can't even begin to describe what I was thinking there with the stack-off 3bet at the flop with middle pair. Unreal. He has a no brainer call (where is my set NOW) with TPTK. The end.

Final Hand of Slaughter - Did I really just do that?!

Based on advice from ChuckTs, Zachvac, and the crew at CardsChat, I set mine with just about any pocket pair in any situation I can preflop. It pays off because players overplay TPTK all the time and stack off with it. It's a very profitable play and my stats show that some of my most profitable hands are 66, 33, etc etc. Villain here is 13.8/10.3/2.5 so definitely TAG by all accounts. Pretty standard preflop action. I hit my TPTK at the flop and I bet (again this stupid 60ish% bet) into it. Flat all is pretty weird on this flop but he was the SB so he really could be holding anything (another drawing bastard?). He checks again so I bet again (same size) and comes over the top. Weird, right? (Weaker Q?) Looking at PokerStove I can see now that preflop my equity position is a 55-45 favorite, which at the turn is now a 85-15 favorite against his range. I flat call, which I don't think is a horrible move if I planned to check down the river. The bomb gets dropped on the river. A club drops but I know he's not drawing to a club flush because his flop play wouldn't make any sense at all. But at this point, that bet is 62% of the pot but at the same time represents a lot of money at this table. My river-check theory is destroyed and I decided to flat call with the hopes he is playing a weaker Q. NOPE - just a well concealed set.

Anyways ... bad play is bad play and sets losing happens. I can bounce back but i have to play a lot tighter post-flop and pay more attention. I'm going to just 4-table it if I get a chance to play today and if I "earn the right" I will add a table for my next session.