Hip Hip Hooray [449 Hands / +$90.95]

Posted by icemonkey9 on Sep 30, 2008 in General | 0 comments

After what has been a brutal month I finally caught a heater and then my great play and proper shoves paid off. Before the heater I was thinking, "okay thats it I am DONE with september" and then low and behold I win my biggest pot ever. The poker GODS must be crazy eh?

Stats:

Hands: 449
Tables: 50nl, 6tables, Fullring
Profit: +$90.85
bb/100: 20.23

It felt GREAT to win again. Man I had really lost that feeling. I have ended July and August with awesome surges and maybe today will be my late month surge for "graph + bankroll respectability" that I enjoy Let's take a look at the lows and highs ...

The Hilton Sisters are on CRACK

UGH. Alexklar is a 25/9/2 and his limp raise in this preflop action had me SCARED. I was hoping AK. I mean, really, I'm holding QQ in this situation and someone has KK or AA?! I was hoping to see the river as cheap as possible but was willing to stack off and that's what I did with the overpair. I lose a stack.

JJ used for a Squeeze Play ... What would you do?

There you go. I am putting this on Cardschat here.

89s Hits a Draw - Are We Recording This?

I've been in these spots before where the right thing to do was shove, and I would shove, and that would fail miserably. I hit my open ended straight draw with also the flush draw out there for me. Nice win.

QQ This Time Wins Big

See this is what happens when you have Queens that aren't on drugs. They are clean, they hit sets, and they win stacks.

AA = Sick Heater. Biggest Pot Won Ever.

Just awesome.

Update … Nothing Good I Guess!

Posted by icemonkey9 on Sep 30, 2008 in General | 0 comments

I spent the weekend in San Diego and got in a couple of sessions down there. Last night the wife went to hang out with her cousins so I put in the mother of all single-sessions (for me) with a 103-minute 597 hand marathon. Unfortunately it didn't go well at -$21.75.

I checked my graph ... the EV situation continues to get worse and now I'm playing a full -$200 below EV. Nothing I can do about that but know I'm getting my money in good and ending up bad.

AA Visits Planet Craptaculon

Just gross. Obviously I had to call that $10 since I had put him on KQ or maybe AK ... just gross.

Ugly Spot

With the gutshot, overcard, and nutflush draw I cbet. I didn't figure him to min-bet which raises a big red flag. I've noticed a lot of people say "oh min raises show weakness" but this is just a point where I totally argue with the poker community at large. I've only seen top pair or the nuts when someone min-raises in a spot like this. Are we stacking off? I posted this hand in the Cardschat.com hand analysis section. Please comment!

Another Bleh Moment

Hit the Straight on the Flop. Didn't Turn Out Well (but not horrible)

I figured I have the nuts because AK in LP just limping in is too horrible even for the fish at 50nl to do. So I get him in, we both have the straight only mine is better ... and of course the chopping K hits the turn while I was a 90-10 favorite to win. **NOTE: The hand replayer doesn't accurately show the chop in this hand***

This is Ugly ... Sorry for the Negativity

My steal % has been around 50 to 60% now. This villain is a 16/8/inf after 25 hands who has a 0% fold to flop bet ratio. I figured I could get him to stack off his hand at the turn ... and uh ... he did. Unfortunately with the better hand.

Something Positive

This is a situation where I think betting on the flop only folds every worse hand out there which is probably both of what these guys are holding. BUT - I'm not checking twice because I have to get value. Anyways that turned out nice.

Quick Update …

Posted by icemonkey9 on Sep 26, 2008 in General | 1 comment

Wow, I haven't updated the blog in 3 days! I think that's a good thing ... sometimes I think I put too much into this thing.

Brag: I scored a writing gig with www.PokerHandReplays.com , and I'll be contributing 2 articles a week for them. Awesome.

Beat: Ran terrible on Tuesday night and Wednesday so bad that I banned myself on Thursday from Pokerstars to force myself to get work done and spend the "poker time" studying videos from Stox and reviewing my HHs and reading HA threads.

Brag: Had a sweat with BW07507 this morning at 50nl and ran like a champ. Played a quick 3-table session also afterwards and today I am running at 37.7bb/100 at 50nl. Good times.

So today I will probably put in 1 more afternoon session, and then late tonight I'll be playing for a few hours. Tomorrow I am excited because once I have my house cleaning chores done it's all poker from about 11-4pm. After that I am spending time with my family in San Diego through Sunday Night.

I cleared Silverstar status two days ago, and I am very close to finally unlocking that $240 deposit bonus. Fun!

Late Night Ridiculousness [344 Hands / -$4.20]

Posted by icemonkey9 on Sep 24, 2008 in General | 0 comments

I think the -$4.20 is appropriate because I think everyone online on pokerstars right now is high on pot. Tonight's session was one of the most bizarre groups of people I've ever played with. Unfortunately my sickness continues at the tables as I play now a full $200 below EV. The suckouts are just sickening. Couple that with things like flopping a boat with KK and getting no value and the "Monsters Making Nothing" and "Suckouts With The Best Hands" is getting *very* old but something I'll have to work through.

From The "Are You Serious?!" Files ...

Uhhh ... why did he call the flop bet? Misclick? HIGH!? SUPER USER?!?!?!? Someone please explain in the comment section because I have no reasoning ... and yes he sucks out his 91-9 underdog on the river. I guess I am thankful this was only a $20 pot and not a $100 one.

If you don't fall out of your chair when he flips his cards over, then you're a robot.

My friend here is a 52/2/1 fish. I bet the turn as a bad semi-bluff (had a gutshot and an overcard). I hit my jack and make a modest $2 bet on the river. He calls. CALLS CALL CALLS. And you just have to see it to believe it. I couldn't and still can't.

Bye Dude

Hey I did win on occasion so it ain't all bad.

Swing Day … But a Fun One [1,144 Hands / +$20.50]

Posted by icemonkey9 on Sep 24, 2008 in General | 0 comments

I got to play a lot because I was very productive at work yesterday and early this morning ... often I slink into work at 7am and then at noon I've done most of what I needed to do that day. I think plugging in hands at 50nl is really the best way to jump into the fire so I'm not backing down from the challenge. At one point I was -$80ish but end up +$20 for only a 1.8bb/100 but all things considering I am happy with where things ended up. Again it was VERY frustrating to see AA folded around for a free walk TWICE but I tried not to let it get to me, and fortunately at the very end I got nicely paid off for AA.

Since moving to 50nl 6max I'm fortunately even which is great considering my disaster first day. Looking at the "All-In EV" graph I am still running $150 below expectations, so hopefully that turns around soon. It's not like it's anything I can control, so I'm not sweating it.

Hands hands hands ...

Posted @ CardsChat HA Section ...

You can read the HA by clicking here. Basically everyone loved my play against a guy who was over 3betting me and this was a definite call here at the flop.

Worst Hand I played today

I don't know how but these 59/0/1 types just always draw out against me. Anyways my PF raise was too small. Second my flop raise was TOOOO small. I think the turn bet is so small I guess I had to call. And of course the "whammy" card hits again for me making me trips but giving him a flush. I turned off my brain and decided to min-raise the river to "get value" and ended up providing a wonderful cash service to the donkey. Just piss poor. I posted this to make myself embarrassed and it worked.

Big Pot Win

Watt is a 36/27/2 muti-tabler. On two or three previous hands he had check/raised (c/r) my turn double barrel. He must have figured me for a semi-bluff draw or 2 overs because his call of my shove is brutal. When he called I thought I might be tacos and he hit some miracle trip 3s on the turn, but I was best and won.

AQ Wins Against Maniac Station

Like I said before I really am exploiting position with the button and love to 3bet there. A lot of 50nl players freak out to 3bets. I like it Anyways, the villain here is a 88/46/2 guy over 24 hands that bought in as a shortstacker and won a couple of hands. Fortunately I hit my A on the flop making this hand a lot easier for me. At no point was I going to slow down in this hand ... with stats like these he wasn't folding. I might have over-valued my hand at the river by shoving but I really felt like he was on a weaker A ... and sure enough he calls with one.

Heater Semi-Brag

LOL ... am I about to complain about this heater? Sure! Always has to happen against the shortstacker. You can bet I was drooling at the flop with that $74 villain Oh well, I won!