Poker Blog – icemonkey9 on PokerStars

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

Tonight was just a fun time at the poker tables, although I didn’t expect to come out a winner actually. I got saved at the end of the session (the reason I stopped) because I was able to stack off and take it down. I really wasn’t seeing any value for AA and KK and I think I got it like 6 times … it got real old real quick.

Hands: 379
Tables: 4 tables @ 50nl 6max on Pokerstars
Profit: +$37.10
bb/100: 9.79

Want to see some crazy hands? I knew you would.

Sometimes the WORST card in the deck can hit you

Villain here is a 35/8/2 fish that I’d been abusing since sitting down and had taken about ~$15 from so far. Good cbet at the flop and his 50% fold to flop bet ratio held up since he called. An apparent brick hit the turn but his min-raise had me off guard. WTF does he do that with!? 33? 57?!?! Shit bluff!? Too weird so I flat call and he peels off a 1/3 pot bet at the river … normally I jump on this show of weak/weird betting but I just didn’t know … and the absolute WORST card in the deck actually hits for me … not my flush but filling top two pair. Anyways the showdown was disappointing and surprising at the same time. He called that flop board with nothing more than a gutshot and hit it. Wow.

Fist Pumper 2000

Villain here is a multi-tabling 36/27/2 over 22 hands with a 0% fold to flop bet number. Only 22 hands though so I was keeping that in mind. Perfect cbetting flop and I get the one caller and the board pairs on the turn. Now on this check raise I really didn’t put him on much because he had done the EXACT same floaty thing on 2 separate hands before this one and I had to cut it loose … so I wasn’t just calling here it was GO time. I figured either he hit the miracle 3 or had 99 or TT which would be great. He turns over 68 – and it’s FIST PUMPING TIME!

Also I played in a MTT with my friend KingCurtis who won a slick $13k on Monday night. Unfortunately the results for me for the MTT were not good (43/180, no $) but I did hit my first ever ROYAL FLUSH!

Just put in the 1 session today and had a blast. OMG are there fish at 50nl. I put in refresher time before the session with some of the Ed Miller’s Poker Made Simple videos from Stox and then hit up the tables. The games were standard and I made some great reads versus LAGs and exploited the TAG and Nit play.

Consider this … in 250 hands I got AA twice and KK twice. Combined profit from those four hands: $4.60 … that’s right, never got to see a flop with any of them. In addition I hit a set with some 7s, but the board was a nasty 9JQ with two hearts and the opponent called my cbet and then shoved the K turn that filled the straight and the flush (obviously I let it go). Since my big hands weren’t getting paid I really feel this session went well and I made solid reads by exploiting position and 3betting at the right time.

Stats:

Hands: 240
Tables: 4 @ 50nl on PokerStars
Profit: +$40.85
bb/100: 17.02
3bet %: 6.2

So I’m really happy obviously with the amount won. I am real close to retaining Silverstar status and should I put in some work hours tonight I’ll have more free time tomorrow and Wednesday to get that done. Couple that with a totally free Saturday morning (VERY rare for me) to hit up the tables and I’m looking good.

Some hands …

Jedi Hand Reading? Maybe.

Villain over only 9 hands is a 100/0/0.3 … yeow. Anyways I put him on some crap hand. The flop is great for me and I was actually surprised he flatted me. I bet again and when he flatted I really thought he had some overs … something like A9 or even AJ. I went with my read and bet the river and I can’t explain his call.

Exploiting Position + Weak Bets from Opponent

His cbet was really weak so I figured I’d float him on that flop. The plan was that if he checked or did another really weak bet I’d pop him, and if he 3/4 to potted it, I’d go away. Well he weak bet the turn and so I raised him very healthily and took it down.

Last night I had a really good chat with Zach and KMC that lifted my poker spirits, and on top of that my wife got me a giant King-Sized Ice Cream Cone from the gas station that put me in a great mood. Additionally I got a brilliant night’s sleep (thank you Night Time TheraFlu) and woke up feeling great. So my wife went to a beach clean up this morning (I didn’t want to go and be cleaning the beach and simultaneously littering it by blowing my nose into tons of aloe flavored kleenex) and I decided to do some poker studying.

I had finished up Ed Miller’s Simple Aggression series from Stox Poker, and that was pretty interesting and helpful. Then on a recommendation on their forums I watched the Poker Made Simple series, actually just the first video plus the quiz. It’s funny how the simple concepts can just blow your mind and put it all into place. After the video and the quiz I just felt it ya know? I really had a ton of confidence, and I remembered back to when I was pledging my fraternity when I faced adversity … did I quit? Or did I come back and say “Thank you sir may I have another!” … well as you can tell I am no quitter.

So I fired up 4 tables of 50nl 6max. I wasn’t even nervous. I was making reads and playing ranges and really looking at the table in a whole new way. I really thought through what my bets would mean to my opponents, and think about how much value I should be getting. Monsters meant I bet a lot on every street … weak hands meant I looked past where I was at in the hand to see where I wanted it to be by showdown. It just clicked today in a way that hand not before. I hope this zen like poker feeling sticks … I imagine it will with a good mental mindset and solid play I can take pride in.

I am feeling happy about this bounce-back small session for a profit of half a buyin (only 30 minutes) but I will take my victories as they come.

So with that … some hands …

Zen Moment? Outplayed the Bad Player.

I am a straight out prick if I have the button. I feel sorry (not really) for the poor bastards that play with me when I am on the button because I will kick you in the nuts and then make fun of your hair. On my standard steal I get two callers from absolute fish … both had nearly identical numbers of 64/9/0.6 (Chris) and 64/9/4 (Mush). Their ranges are much wider than mine! The flop is good for a cbet but not great and I expected one caller with some mid pair 6 or a flush/straight draw. The 5 isn’t great and if he fired (stacked) at this I would of course lay it down, but I wanted to see what the river would bring and see how he reacted so I checked behind. Another A hits … and he checks. So this is where I might have clammed up before and given up. But then I thought, “Wait a minute. If he had anything here, he would have had to bet to get value. He has NOTHING” so I put in a decent value bet and he runs away.

Streets o’ Value

On this hand I have zero hands on the villain, he just sat down … so I make my raise with QQ almost expecting a 3bet from the TAG button but he folds. The flop is damn near perfect for my hand … a broadway undercard and some connection. This is an easy cbet but then a not so great 3 falls … his check let me know he probably didn’t have it and was on something like AJ or KJ or a flush draw. The 9 I recognized as a total brick for his range. I don’t want to pot it because even a hand like AJ probably folds to a pot bet, so I make a half-pot value bet and get called by a guy that most likely knew he was already beat.

Gee. I thought after my 50nl run things couldn’t get worse. How wrong was I … yeow. First I get steamrolled in my HU match when I run into KK making a stand.

Second … good grief you just have to see for yourself … I thought I’d round out the day by having a fun little session back at 25nl. WRONG…

So with that I am done with poker … probably for the weekend. As “cool headed” as I am after reading The Poker Mindset, I have to realize that there’s only so much a human being can take in one day. So, I’ll take a break and come back next week with a fresh mindset and hopefully much better luck.

Today I started my 50nl career … and I started it in craptacular fashion. Fortunately, I have a witness to my session, as I was having Zachvac from cardschat.com sweat me (that is when he watches me play and comments). As Zach will attest, what happened to me was some pretty bad fortune. And I roughly quote, “…and I thought I was running bad,” said Zach. Indeed … indeed. Looking at the graph for the session I ran $150 below expected EV. Yeow.

Anyways I would say 50nl is just as fishy, and when the fish don’t get so lucky I should definitely be a winner at this level. Just looking at the two hands I got sucked out on, that’s a $166 swing. Quite a different story if those hands go the way of the favorite. I did notice a lot more blind resteals and 3bets, so I’ll have to find out what those mean but overall I never felt overwhelmed and found it pretty exciting.

So lets look at these hands …

The Biggest Pot I’ve Ever Lost

Villain in this hand is a 26/6/1 guy I saw at 25nl actually. I get it in with the nuts at the time and was a 90-10 favorite at that point. Running cards give him the straight over my set. Good grief.

Another Flopped Set … Another Runner-Runner Loss

This villain must have thought of me as his personal ATM machine, and even another player commented on how bad he was and how f’d I was getting. The villain is a 71/6/3 player who folds to exactly NOTHING EVER. At the river he hits his gutshot … and for whatever reason (thankfully?) he flats my pot river bet. Zach couldn’t figure out why he would just flat that bet, and it’s my guess that he didn’t know he had the straight.

Same villain … same result.

The idea at the PF and flop bets were to just get in the hand (he’s calling anything) and then have him bet the flop as he did whenever I checked. I guess his check should have sent alarm bells, but could I really put him on a higher flopped flush!? He min-raises me … twice … so I just flat … YUP – he had be beat.

Triple Barrel Respect?

I flop top pair and on Zach’s advise I flat the flop and turn. With the triple barrel on the river I give it respect and lay it down … probably had a better A … but even a hand like JQ had me beat.

When I did have a big PF hand …

Yeah I got VERY cold cards. Zach said in the video that “I think pokerstars forgot to put in J-A in this deck for you” … but when I did have a big PF hand, this would happen OR I would make a standard raise and everyone would fold.