Apparently the Fish Wanted Their Money Back (ouch!)

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jul 25, 2008 in General | 1 comment

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.

The Hot Streak Continues

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jul 23, 2008 in General | 2 comments

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.

A New Record For Amount Won

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jul 22, 2008 in General | 2 comments

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.

Another Successful Stars Session

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jul 22, 2008 in General | 0 comments

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

Moved to PokerStars. 1 Session Positive.

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jul 21, 2008 in General | 0 comments

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.