Poker Blog – icemonkey9 on PokerStars

Since I have banned myself from playing any more this month, I guess I can do the recap a day early. It’s just so strange that such a “good month” $ wise feels so crappy. Let’s review the goals from the beginning of the month.

July Goals

1. 7,500 Hands at $25nl.
Passed. At the $25nl level, I played 9,831 hands, mostly in the 2nd half of the month and when I moved to PokerStars.

2. At least 8 sessions of 5-tabling, and at least 5 sessions of 6-tabling
Unfortunately, Holdem Manager doesn’t tell me how many tables I had going per session, but from memory it was rare that I didn’t 5 or 6 table. Passed.

3. Finish 1/2 of the Harrington on Cash Games Volume 2 Book
Failed. I’m sick of reading. I’ll start it up next month.

4. Make my own video cash session with commentary (post to cardschat)
Passed – I did a sweat session with bw07507 that was pretty solid, and I did a funny WSOP movie that everyone loved.

5. Meet up with the CCers in Vegas. Play some cash game poker!
Failed. I certainly tried and even made plans … just couldn’t find AlienGenius and Jane got sick!

July’s Statistics

Here are the stats for the 25nl level for the month of July.

Hands: 9,831 ( a new career high for a month)
Profit: $216.65 (a new career high for a month)
bb/100: 4.41

Let’s compare that with June:

Hands: 8,203
Profit: $196.85
bb/100: 4.80

Looking at bb/100 (defined as “Big Bets per 100″) since playing at $25nl:

July: 4.41
June: 4.80
May: 5.35
April: 4.39
March: 3.55

Let’s look at the graph … keep in mind the 6,288th hand almost identically coincides with my move to PokerStars from FullTilt.

So what we are seeing is that basically for the first half of the month I ran pretty break even and you can see some pretty good swings in there. Once I moved to PokerStars that all changed and I went on a super-heater and went up as much as +$330! Then variance set in, confidence got shot in the heart … and I end the month on a serious downslide. I stopped playing to stop any more sliding and end the month at a high profitablity level, but at an average bb/100 figure.

Biggest Pot Won: + $27.80. I flopped a set of 3s setmining and doubled through.

Biggest Pot Lost: – $27.95. Played horrible pocket 10s vs villains pocket Qs. Definitely tilting.

List of Things I Learned in July 2008:

• There are several factors that cause a slump in your play. They include: variance, tilt, bad play, bad theory, wrong stakes. If you add them together you go on a sustained downswing. If one or two hit you, then you might have a short slump period that you can shake yourself out of.

• The play on PokerStars is dramatically more juicy than the play on FullTilt. There is also a lot more action (more tables/players) and the customer service on PokerStars is absolutely awesome. I’m very happy I made the move with my bankroll.
• Don’t play distracted, don’t play tired, and don’t play your regular stakes outside of your comfort zone. If you are tired and want to play … then play something for fun at a small stakes … otherwise you are putting your profitable work at serious risk.
• Don’t tilt, and when “variance hits” just laugh it off. Eventually the laughing stops if it continues … at that point the best thing to do is take a break and walk away and come back when your confidence is back.

Final Thoughts for July, 2008

This month was a tidal wave of swings up and down … it really made me wonder how pros handle such swings, and made me understand why a lot of them are moody, drinkers, smokers, drug addicts … the swings that are inherant to playing odd-based games are naturual but psychologically damaging regardless of how you prepare. I think the real challenge to people is more about how you recover.

I’m excited about some of the new things that PokerStars has to offer … I’m playing in a depositor freeroll for entry into the $5,000 WCOOP tournament, and that should be fun. I’m excited to unlock the $240 bonus … but that doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon (maybe in 2 months). I’m excited to maybe even qualify for SilverStar status in August (outside shot, who knows).

I think one more day away from the tables altogether today will get me back back into the mood of playing. I banned myself from cash game full ring until Saturday, and I’m sticking to that. My wife is out of town Saturday and most of Sunday so I’ll have plenty of opportunity to play this weekend so I’ll use my time until then to get stuff done freeing myself up for the weekend.

In summary, a good month for making money, a poor month for the psychie, a month of wild swings, all added together set up for what should be the most interesting month of poker yet in August, 2008.

Alright, I’ve had it. Seriously, I’m beyond the fed up stage and just “over it” at this point. Another big downswing (-$33) for the afternoon FR Cash Session @ 25nl … this morning I played about 30 minutes of 6max (3 tables) at 25nl and made $5 but felt over my head. Last night I played a $5 SNG and had fun, and survived to take 3rd and ITM. The cash game session during lunch was another brutal time and I found myself not even having fun and spacing out. After this happened, I was just over it … so no more Cash Games until Saturday.

Villain here has a line of 56/44/4 so he’s an absolute maniac. Just wild and crazy as can be at a full ring table ya know? So, I pop it up 4x (with WVHillBilly’s voice in my head) and this dude’s raise means nothing to me. I figure him for some weak Ax hand or some suited connectors … either way at this point I’ve got 74-25 equity in the hand. I flat call hoping to take it assuming I dodge the nasty AKx flops. I bet it and he shoves. So what does a wild player like this shove with? Damn near anything really … flush draw certainly (seen it tons at 25nl with this type of player), and we still have 78-21 equity in the hand. It’s a no brainer call right? I’ll have to think about that, but I make the call, he rolls over JJ for the set, I lost a stack … again … with a pocket-overpair to someone who hits a ridiculous flop/turn.

Anyways, this act has gotten old. Seems like a lot of guys are running like this for the week. So I’m banning myself from the cash tables, and if I play it’ll just be SNGs.

The last 24 hours have been one of suckage at the poker tables. It hasn’t been a fun ride at all. It’s the standard bitch/whine type of stuff…

• When I get a big pocket pair (AA or KK) I’m not getting ANY action … sigh …
• When I get a good pocket pair (QQ or JJ) I’m getting slaughtered on the flops … or running into a big pocket pair … sigh …
• When I hit a set I’m getting slaughtered by straights, flushes, or even straight flushes … grumble …
• Piss piss, moan moan

In the last 24 hours over the course of 930 hands I’m down -$72.80 which sucks. Fortunately a late surge in the last ~20 hands of that got me out of the -100 hole. I feel pretty beat up and don’t feel like playing at the moment, so it’s time for a break for at least the rest of the day. Was all of that bad luck / cooler? No, I made some pretty horrible river calls. I also dodged some bullets brilliantly. Overall am I happy with my play over the last, say, 5 days? Definitely not.

I think part of my problem is forcing myself to be adjusted to the 6 tables … I just dont seem to have success when I do it. I feel like I can handle it, I dont panic, but the results speak for themselves. I think I’ve just found a maximum for now of what I can do profitably. It’d be great to do 6 or even 8 but 5 is where it stops for me. I think in another month I’ll revisit 6 tables but there’s a new rule in place – 5 max.

Looking back at the hands during this period, it just looks like 6 or 7 hands were pretty brutal … in retrospect I could have avoided them all … but in all honesty, I shouldn’t kill myself over it.

I think a long deep breath is in order and I’ll come back when I feel calm about it and the losing streak isn’t in the back of my mind. I’m not feeling pissed or even upset really. When you’re playing with wild and weird players (Pokerstars) it’s going to be really swingy. I think I am very well prepared for it and handling it well. I won’t ever mention “almost got the roll to go to 50nl!” because every time I do that, some sort of horrible losing streak happens. So, you won’t hear me say it again, ever.

OK – so that’s it. No hands, I don’t want to relive the past analyze bad play / cooler types for you this time around.

I never get to play poker online during the weekends. I’m usually busy with family related activities so tonight is a rare treat as the wife is out with her girlfriends for the night. I had a feeling the horrible players would be out in force. Fortunately, taking their money is a very fun hobby of mine.

Site: PokerStars, 25nl, 5 Tables
Duration: 55 minutes
Hands: 265
End Result: ** + $69.40 **

That ~$70 profit figure is a new all time session high for me. I’ve also broken through the +$300 barrier for the month. Just unreal … I decided not to move to 50nl until I had 25 buy ins … man I might be there a lot sooner than I thought, but I am just having too much fun at 25nl to move just yet So, lets look at some of the bizarre stack-taking hands I enjoyed.

AA Beats an Dude With Crazy Stats

I had never seen someone with a line like this – 94/11/3 (WOW!). Hand pretty much played itself. I was not happy about the Qh at the turn, that was a HORRIBLE card for me, but I already knew I was stacking regardless. And I did. And I won. Yay.

I Love Sets. The Set-Mining Strategy was the Best Thing I’ve Ever Added to my Game. Yes I Know This is a Very Long Title.

Again I am just trying to think what some of the best players I know would do. Usually I might just flat call that flop (huge mistake) or do a 3x raise, but with the money in the pot I decided to make it 4x. It really committed the opponent who makes a decent play there at the flop, stacking with an overpair and OESD. However I was still a big favorite when he put his chips in (70-30 for me) and it holds up.

Very Fortunate Flop for me on Loose Player

I don’t usually make this raise with AJo, it’s a hand I don’t like playing too much because I tend to overplay it. The flop was VERY favorable for me actually. We both flopped two pair and both of us stacking off here is very standard play.

I used to have an avatar that was me wearing sunglasses and my hands in a prayer position together next to my face. It looked cool. Unfortunately, when I uploaded it to Pokerstars it looked (at least a little bit) dubious, and at the very least a lightning rod for abuse. “Hey icemonkey is that a big d**k in your mouth!?” and I would say “No, those are my hands clasped together in prayer” and then “No it’s a D**K!” etc etc. It got real old, real quick. And what was worse was that I was not allowed to change my avatar since I had done so already once. I emailed PokerStars support and literally within 15 minutes they let me reset my avatar picture. Kudos to “Owen” and the rest of the PS support team, another reason I am very happy I switched over.

OK – so … as the title suggested I was able to get my head together, and thanks to a kick in the balls from WVHillBilly (who has great constructive criticsm by the way) I got myself together at the tables and actually got back all the money I lost earlier today. I’ll post 2 “bad” hands and two “interesting” hands where my play wasn’t spot-on but resulted positively.

Session: 25nl / Pokerstars / 6 tables (yes 6 but it was on and off)
Duration: 56 minutes
Hands: 232
End Result: + $40.90

Did I play every hand perfectly? No. Is my name Johnny Chan? No. So I can excuse that. But the good news is I didn’t horrifically misplay any hands. Lets look…

Took a Shot, Knew When I was Beat (Losing Hand 1)

His bet felt like an absolute cbet, and it probably was. Only problem is that he definitely felt like he had something that had me beat (ace high), so I let it go rather than going nuts here. Okay, I can breathe.

Villain Who Doesn’t Like Money (Losing Hand 2)

What a weird hand. I get in there with a suited-one-gapper. I get a free look at the turn which gives me crap pair. But I figure here that any 7, 5, or diamond probably gives me the best hand. I’m not getting perfect odds here to call but it’s worth it to take a shot (in my head at this point). One of my “outs” hits … my plan was a healthy check-raise. I raise it up 3x his bet … and he flat calls … WITH A BOAT. Not sure what on Earth he was thinking flat calling me there. No clue.

Setmining (Boat Mining) Works Wonders for the Bankroll (winner)

Funny thing is that when I saw this hand preflop I thought “I misplayed my last 99 set horribly, I won’t this time” and it worked out well for me. I bet 50% on the flop as a donk bet. I don’t quite know donk-bet-betting strategies (if there are any) but I was getting money in the pot. He raises really weak so I actually miscalculate here to another raise to $6 (not a huge problem). He flat calls and with the Q on the turn I just plop it in fully expecting a call with an Ax type of hand. His KK was a bit of a surprise and I guess he figured me for something like 9x or TT or JJ. Still, hard to reason why he called my turn-shove with KK on an AA9Q board (guess he had whatever was going in my head from this morning).

Very Nice Little Winning Hand Here with Big Slick

Preflop I thought about 3betting, but don’t because its 25nl … I know I know, WVHillBilly would in a heartbeat because it’s the right play. I admonished myself as soon as I hit that call button. The flop ain’t great but it ain’t bad either, I was thinking this had to be a situation where if a A, K, or Q showed up and wasn’t a spade I was most likely way ahead. This made the flop call easy. With the nut Q turning for me, my goal was to just get em both to shove. Looking back I should have just bet $14 here instead of 7, and the minimum raise there should have been about $9. Something to remember for next time when trying to stack two opponents (which honestly I haven’t tried to do very often). Realizing that I should have just put Sunir all in before, I just stack him off, and he folds. I win a nice pot, the end.

Holy moley … what an absolute craptacular session I just put in at Stars. Like the title said, apparently the fish wanted their money back. During my recent hot streak (apparently and abruptly over) I wasn’t having monsters cracked or getting sucked out on. No more! Just brutal … a few hands just suck and a few hands I just had to call down with (sucked) and one or two hands I just got outplayed. All in all, this hurt.

Looking back it looks like I was getting decent/good hands, and they were ones that I just could not get myself to fold despite the gut feeling that I was beat. I look like a damn calling station in these hands.

Session: 25nl / Pokerstars / 4 tables
Duration: 45 minutes
Hands: 183
End Result: – $29.55

Yeah dropped over a buyin. I remember there was a hand where I thought “Did I really just have my AA cracked again by shit?” and unfortunately the answer was yes. Lets look at the bloodbath, shall we?

AA Cracked by Fishie

I wasn’t thrilled to see three callers to my raise with AA. The main villain, chrisxcross1 had a line of 48/10/3 … so yes with his powerhouse hand of J8o he hits a miracle flop. I lose about $12 on that hand.

AA Cracked by Setminer

The call at the turn had me pretty scared, for some reason I thought he had something like AJ which meant I was toast at the turn. You can just see I know here that I’m beat and I just can’t let go of my AA hand. Thus the flat call at the river, I knew I was beat. Ugh.

My overpair loses to his overpair

From the outset, in 25nl usually you see a 3bet PF call with only AA, KK, or QQ and the occasional AKs. Since I had QQ, that put him on AA or KK or AKs … I flat call with an overpair and a Q high flush draw at the flop… the turn (again I have a feeling I’m horribly beat) I call again. The river I call a third time, with an over pair only scared of one of two hands, AA or KK. Whoops.

I Misplay a Set Horribly

I was trying to build a good pot here after the flop against a villain with a line (no joke) of 81/0/1.4 … the flat call at the turn was a horrible play on my part. I have to pop that up. Anyways, even if I had, I am sure he would have flat the raise called anyways. The 10 is just the worst card that could have hit for me, and again it’s a hand (set) I can’t get away from. He shows his lovely J7s and takes it home.

Played on Stars this morning since it’ll be the only time I will get to play today. The session just follows everything else that has come to pass on PokerStars since I made the move three days ago – horrible play by my opponents and I’m jumping all over them for it. I can’t tell you how many eye-popping moments there have been where I have said “What?!” … so on the heels of WVHillbilly’s advice, I’m simply betting more when the pot gets big and stacking off opponents that feel committed to the pot. It worked.

Session: 25nl , Pokerstars, 5 tables
Duration: 42 minutes
Hands: 174
End Result: + $43.15

Almost made it to 2 full buyins at 25nl. I was in such a hurry to get to 50nl, and now I don’t want to leave 25nl because I’m having so much fun. Here’s some of the fun…

Punishing The Noobs

The old adage of stacking off with TPTK (top pair with top kicker) is a lovely one. I hope it never goes away. I really didn’t think the straight was any possibility and i put him on something like JJ or TT or AK or AQ with the 3bet call PF. In all of these scenarios I’m way ahead at the turn but I get that sense of committedness to the pot from him so I stack it off and he called with TPTK.

KK Holds Again

I really doubt he had me pegged for KK and knew he had 11 outs at the river. I think he figured “well I’m open ended and I’m comitted” … the PF call was horrible on his end. He flopped the OESD so his call at the flop wasn’t horrible. His turn bet of $1 was a pathetic stab in the dark.

I Admit It, I got Lucky Here… and misplayed the river!

Preflop play is standard. I’ve only been doing the 3x raise at Stars and since things are going so well I’m not inclined to change it up even those it might mean committing my opponents more to pots. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right? Anyways, I float the flop here which has been real successful against donk bets where I’d blast the turn card. Fortunately (not really!) the turn card hits my Ace . The bad thing he did was slow play the flop/turn. I spike the J on the river to give me the straight, and I bet it decently (should have bet a LOT more ugh) and he flat calls. Winner winner chicken dinner.

Triple Barrel Bluff

I’ve noticed a lot of players at PokerStars won’t fold flops but will fold well bet rivers. I have also found they call down a lot with any draw. My flop bet is usually one that isn’t called but in retrospect it should have been $1.75. He flat calls and I’m putting him on something like JQ offsuit. He checks and I half pot it … and he flat calls. The 4 on the river didn’t help him if he had JQ or J9 … he checks again, and I finally bet it decently and that scares him away.

It might look like a heater, but it isn’t a full heater right? I haven’t had AA vs KK or flopped quads vs a boat, or anything fun like that at all. I just haven’t gotten totally sucked out on, but I’ve avoided those situations entirely. In fact … I really haven’t had any hands that take down entire stacks. I’m just playing decent solid TAG poker and getting into some good tables. There have been some bizaro-world type of hands, but apparently that kind of thing is consistant at Pokerstars.

Stakes: 25nl, 5 Tables
Duration: 89 Minutes
Hands: 356
End Result: + $65.90

The great pokerstars results continue. What I do is try to get in to a table with the best “Players at the Flop” + “Avg Pot” mix, which has been really good. Nothing gets folded around at these tables and I just wait and play the big hands. People call down with really bizarre things. A lot of the time I would steal or raise with a decent hand, get a caller, and then the cbet took it down. It was like clockwork. The double-barrel bluffs worked very well too at this level. Now for some of “just the good stuff” … which is good because I still look back and see holes on every hand lets look at some hands I won where I didn’t like my play. But first, this first hand is for laughs.

Glad I picked up AA against this moron

I’m pretty sensative to the fact that I don’t like to insult players at a table or even really in this blog. But this guy was just open shoving, with any “decent” ace. It’s non-sensical to me but it was apparently working for him (I did see him take a pot away from someone that called with A4o). Anyways this was a easy call lol … what was funny was that crisb732002 took 20 seconds to fold his hand.

Another Example of Shocking Play for a Win

Villain has the lovely lines of 44/8/3.7 here. My flop raise should have been for more, but I figured I would only get 1 caller anyways. I did NOT like to see that 10 fall on the turn, but the $2 bet into $13 was so weak I definitely had to call. A final “crap” card falls on the river. I’m beat right? I can’t lay a pot down this big to a $1.25 bet. He shows A3.

Set Takes a Nice Pot

Villain is a TAG 13/10/3, and I put him on AK right away. Flop is gorgeous but not perfect. I bet weak to induce a huge bluff on the flop (yes this is me getting tricky). It doesn’t work and another scare cards hits fulling the OESD from the flop. No more tricky play and I bet it. A weak raise against my turn bet, and I get a little scared here for no good reason in retrospect. The boat hits the river, dismissing any fears of a straight. The even $5 is a bit of a value bet, if my original read was right it would be very hard for him to call this. I was wrong, he did have the straight with Q8s (apparently a steal attempt gone wrong for him), which really makes me wonder why he didn’t raise the river with a stack (unless he had me read for a full house right?)

KK Continues to Hold

Both villains have VPIPs over 33. No joking around at the flop and I bet it well. He leads out with a horrifically bad turn bet, and I throttle a 5x raise (he calls). The river card wasn’t thrilling to see since I figured he might have either mid pair (9 or a T) or playing Qx. This is why I called the river, since it looked like he was playing Qx he would have me beat. Instead he turns over JT thankfully.

Man the play at Stars 25nl is *horrible* , and this is during the day before the “average joes” of the world come out and log on having a few beers while donking off their stacks to us good players.

Site/Limit: PokerStars 25nl
Tables: 5
Duration: 41 minutes
Hands: 184
End Result: + $30.65

So I’m up two full 25nl buyins today alone, which is a great thing. No timetable for 50nl, when I get there is when I get there. I just had to share some hands with you all …

My KK vs Someone from Mars

Again I just love the min 3-bet from the BB with K5o. I mean, really? I have absolutely no explanation outside of “my first time playing poker” or “I was on acid” to explain that maneuver. The 5bet shove is awesome too. Stars doesn’t show you the hand until the river, so when I saw the A on the turn I figured I had lost the hand actually (put him on AK). Silly me.

Why Set-Mining is better than Die-Hard Flush-Mining

The min raise at the flop was to induce a stackoff right there. I thought this was going to be a classic TPTK vs made set hand (he would have AJ). Instead the villain stacks off as a 77-23 underdog. Thank goodness I held up

On the heels of the terrific 40% bonus for reloading your account, I’ve moved my bankroll from FullTilt to Stars (thus will work the next 3 months to unlock $240 in bonus “free” money!). With the combined bankrolls, I’m “just about a hair away” from being properly bankrolled for 50nl. I’m going to try to go to 21 buyins and then make my move. Today’s play at Pokerstars was a far, far cry from the results I’ve been getting lately at FullTilt. These tables are a lot fishier (much higher VPIPs and weak postflop play) and I see really weird plays at 25nl on PS that make absolutely no sense. It’s good for me though, I like winning money. I didn’t win big but I just won consistantly, which is fine with me. Last night I put in a 40 minute session on FullTilt, winning $13.50. Let’s check out today’s first “official” Pokerstars session…

Site: Pokerstars
Limit: 25n, 4 tables
Time: 30 minutes
Hands: 130
End Result: + $7.73

Some hands…

Knew my set was no good. Called regardless.

The reason I called the river was because it was SUCH a small bet (I really felt he had the straight and that it wasn’t a horribly weak bluff) is that I just had to see it. Didn’t cost much in the grand scheme of things but I really wanted to know if PS is *that* much different than FullTilt in terms of play. Looking back I hated my bet on the turn, it was too small. I tried a blocking bet on the river, but he min raised.

Weird Hand Shows Bad Play Rewarded/Punished

PF steal attempt gets called. I actually hit top pair so I bet it nicely. Another flat call. Board pairs the 3 and so I fire again, only to be called for a third time. Getting dicey, is he slowplaying a big pocket pair? He bets small. I don’t think I’m beat but I’m not totally convinced I’m ahead so I call with 10-1 odds, and he flips of a pair of 5s. Yeowza.

So this is what it feels like to have KK hold up.

I love how a shortstacker in this hand calls a 6x BB raise with Q6s for appoximately 50% of their stack. I have no rational explination for that. I was hoping to get both players all in at the flop, but I only had 1 taker.