March Results

Posted by icemonkey9 on Mar 31, 2009 in Results | 0 comments

March was just the month that wouldn't end it seemed in terms of poker, tilt and needed breaks.  This was, by far and away, the most challenge of all months.  Looking through my blog posts it's almost a little embarassing to look through all the agony I was going through but I am really trying to focus on the positive things I learned during this very difficult month.

• I learned that a real 'downswing' isn't losing 3 to 5 buyins.  It's 15 or more, and that's according to guys that play a bazillion hands and have been around forever playing NLHE on the internet poker rooms.
• I learned that keeping your mind busy with other things in poker can be a good distraction away from the game when you need a break.  For me, I picked up an Omaha book and watched videos and that did wonders for my mentality.
• I learned to stop looking at the Below-EV graph and number figure that HEM outputs.  Is it ever a good thing to look at it?  Never!  If I am below I give myself a great excuse to say I run terrible.  If I am above I give myself reason to get paranoid because I'm apparently getting lucky.  I just threw that thing away a week ago and haven't wanted to revisit it again ... I think I stopped looking when it hit $600 below EV this month.
• I learned a bit about what it takes to make a final table in an online micro-stakes multi-table tournament. Basically get that big stack and enjoy the flips that you'll need to win to get there. The play is just horrible so ignore how bad people play and just look to exploit it.

In terms of fiscal breakdown I narrowly avoided my first "losing month" in my history.  The bad news is that I did end up in the negative (barely) in the NLHE ring games.

BONUSES:  +$29 from Donkey Site, +$250 from PokerStars
RAKEBACK: $0

MTTs: 31.6% ITM
ROI: 5.6%
Winnings: +$4.62

NLHE Ring Games: 18,118 Hands = -$173.91
Omaha Ring Games: 1,676 Hands = +45.65

End Result:
--------

March = +$155.36

Played a Ton of Tournaments

Posted by icemonkey9 on Mar 31, 2009 in tournament | 0 comments

After I got my work done yesterday I was chatting with good friend KingCurtis and we decided to hit up a slew of multi-table tournaments on PokerStars and see what would happen. It was a really fun day playing these ultra-micro stakes tournaments and I got to see what it takes to really make a deep run in one of these things. Some highlights:

• Played in 6 tournaments, cashed in 4.
• Highlight of the night was finishing 11th out of 2,367 players in a $3 tournament.  Unfortunately that only meant a $45 prize, but Curtis finished 3rd for a very nice $500 score.
• Played my first PLO HU Sit n Go ($2) which was fun, and won it.  I came back from a 2700-300 deficit!

Clearly I was playing stakes about 20 times below what I should be playing at, but the goal was to make poker a fun activity - so mission accomplished. On top of all that I managed to coordinate a sweat session with ChuckTs, one of the better low stakes 6max players on stars.  He recorded the video which is an hour long and is a fantastic watch if you want to see some good solid poker theory in action. You can see the video's thread on CardsChat Video Thread.

So that pretty much rounds out my month basically.  I think I actually ended up in the black when you consider the deposit bonus at the new site, the $250 bonus I unlocked at Stars and the Omaha I played.  It might be razor thin but that's kinda crazy to be actually in the black this month which is a positive spin on things rather than dwelling on a -$1,300 slide.

25nl Pot Limit Omaha on Pokerstars

Posted by icemonkey9 on Mar 30, 2009 in General, computer, coolers, winner | 0 comments

Abbreviated post ... I just want to see if this will work from weaktight.com :

$0.1/$0.25 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

Pre-flop: ($0.35, 6 players) Hero is CO

trforgy1 calls $0.25, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.10, VietDo goes all-in $2.35, 1 fold, maloletkov calls $2.10, trforgy1 calls $2.10, Hero raises to $11.85, maloletkov goes all-in $25, trforgy1 folds, Hero goes all-in $13.15

Flop: ($54.80, 3 players)

Turn: ($54.80, 3 players)

River: ($54.80, 3 players)
maloletkov says "nh"

Final Pot: $54.80
maloletkov shows:
Hero shows:
VietDo shows:

Hero wins $52.10 ( won +$27.10 )
maloletkov lost -$25
trforgy1 lost -$2.35
VietDo lost -$2.35

PokerStars = SkyNet ?

Posted by icemonkey9 on Mar 29, 2009 in General | 4 comments

The following is an email I sent to PokerStars customer support who are renown for their good humored nature.  Have fun reading my email to them and the subsequent reply.... basically I show I lost with a Royal Flush (I was kiddin around) and try to make amends with SkyNet (aka PokerStars).

---------------------------

TITLE: I Love You PokerStars, But...

Dear PokerStars ...

For almost a year your site has been a tremendous place to play poker.  Whether I wanted to play cash game no limit holdem or pot limit omaha, or engage in a multi-table tournament, your site has had its doors open for me and allowed me to play against some of the best and most of the worst players in the world.  I've made a decent amount of coin doing so too playing the micro-stakes games and consistently showed a profit every month for 11 straight months.  Sadly, I attributed some of the very difficult beats and coolers to something I might have said or did towards your site.  It's the only explanation I had for what someone on a message board website said that "you got doomswitched" which apparently means I have been flagged to lose no matter how good (or bad) I play.  The results in March definitely have me raising an eyebrow ... however, I wrote the following response to that message about this doomswitch:

"It's impossible that PokerStars has this 'doomswitch' that you speak of.  I can't imagine such a big company risking so much for its customers.  There is no way that can possible exist, and I will stay loyal to the site. I can't imagine this being true, there's a better explination."

Many people applauded my response and said that I was simply going through a "downswing" where the statistically anomalies of constantly running into AA with KK preflop in a NLHE game happen, or seeing villains hit runner runners on consecutive hands simply happens.  It's rare but "does happen" according to raw statistics I've been told by some of my more math inclined friends.

After a while though, when the beats kept happening, I realized that if there was no such thing as a doomswitch, then there must be one final alternative explanation.  Get ready, I hope you are sitting down.  This is a biggie.

Your software has gained self intelligence and sentient awareness.  It has run so many algorithms and interacted with so many humans, that just like SkyNet from the Terminator movies, it has gained self awareness and is "alive" much like we've seen in the movies.  But I am not here to warn you against it, but rather to ask you to embrace peace with your new found artificial being.  We have seen what war would lead to with machines - global destruction/human genocide (Terminator movies), killing innocent scientists and astronauts (2001: A Space Oddessy), and apparently widespread doomswitching (current).

The olive branch of peace has been extended from me to this new beautiful and intelligent being (I imagine he/she/it can read this so I imagine a little e-butt kissing should help!).  I know it's impossible to lose at showdown with a Royal Flush, yet that even happened to me today as well ... which boggles my mind and shows how dire my circumstances really are (I attached a screen!).  I hope my theory isn't met with skepticism but with the tender belief that humans and super-cyborg-intelligent-poker-servers can someday live together in peace and harmony.

Lost with a Royal Flush

Love,

You Win, I Waive the White Flag.

Posted by icemonkey9 on Mar 26, 2009 in mafia | 3 comments

It looks like it's finally come to me throwing in the towel and officially giving up on NLHE. I've done everything I could ...

• I tried stepping down from 100nl to 50nl.  That didn't change anything.
• I tried stepping down from 50nl to 25nl.  That didn't change anything.
• I deposited on a new poker site with looser action and worse competition.  That made things worse.
• I've take three breaks of 3+ days and one break of 5 days.  That didn't change anything.

I won't post the replays but today (after yet another break) in the span of 10 hands to the same 76/35 (over 50+ hands) donkey I 3bet both AA and KK on separate hands (obviously) to a rag flop, and he stacks off with a miracle rag set.  Earlier AA was cracked by QTo in a 3bet pot when he stacks off on a OESD which he shouldn't have been at in the first place.

Why. Does. This. Keep. Happening. To. Me.  ???

So the fish win.  The doomswitch wins.  I lose.  Psychologically I see that this is really affecting my life and my happiness.  I can't do anything to change this losing streak but to simply walk away and quit.  For how long?  Depends but I'm not playing NLHE of any way, shape, or form for at least a week MINIMUM.  Maybe 2 ... maybe forever.  The idea is that I am not going to play or think about NLHE for a week, and then totally re-evaluate everything and decide just how long the break really will be (or just quit).  If I made a decision now I would simply unload it all and enjoy the money before this bulls*&t downswing sucks my soul right out of me.

So congratulations whatever-the-f*^k is responsible for all this - you've won.  Sadly this means that I really need to step away from the blog, CardsChat, 2+2, all of it really until I can get my head on straight.  I just can't deal with this crap anymore, it's beaten me down and I don't have stregth or hope left.

Thanks for coming to my blog for you people that regularly visit, I've appreciated your support over the last year.