What I Learned From September 2009 – Big Pocket Pairs Can Suck, Table Scanner, Two Poker Sites Gone and October Goals

Posted by icemonkey9 on Oct 1, 2009 in recap | 3 comments

So How'd the Poker Go?

Frankly here's the quick line for September 2009: You can actually run bad all month and hope to break even, and will eventually if you stick to it.

Last month started swingy, went well, then went rather poorly, then ended up with me at 1BB/100 for the month after 12k hands. Last month I remember I hit sets something like 19% less than I should have and that cut into my winrate for a sub-par month. This time it felt like big pocket pairs were cursed by a Furby possessed by the devil. I ran a HEM report for Preflop cards. Stunning.  I'll actually reveal some numbers here ...

• July 2009: Taking all AA+KK+QQ dealt for the month over 14k hands = +$1,399
• August 2009: Taking all AA+KK+QQ dealt for the month over 18k hands = +$1,950
• September 2009: Taking all AA+KK+QQ dealt for the month over 12k hands = +$51

It's amazing how much of the win-rate comes from big pocket pairs and sets when you look deeply.  I've looked through the big pocket pairs in the replayer ... I'd say three hands were botched, the rest very straightforward and standard.  Just variance, plain and simple ... but quite a startling anomaly to say the least.  Back to back four figure months and suddenly one month that's break-even.  Poker ... it'll drive you insane.

I'm hoping to realign and refocus myself and enjoy poker while also plugging leaks and staying on the mindset of just playing well for each hand I'm dealt and putting together an intelligent session.

Interesting Poker Articles

I was a busy bee in September and had a few stories that stuck out.  For PokerSoftware I reviewed the new Table Scanner for HEM which is a cool feature and a great way to find fishy tables, best used by HU and 6max players.  I did a lot of WCOOP and MiniFTOPS coverage which was interesting but not tremendously riveting.  The Marc Karam interview published on Poker News Daily was very interesting which leads to the two biggest stories of September - we saw not one but two poker sites die.

EuroLinx was on the Microgaming network and unfortunately for Marc, one of the good guys of online poker, he took a huge loss financially.  The site is gone and he is out a ton of money, but he has a great attitude and is moving on personally and professionally.  His interview was candid and a serious wake-up call to those that think the industry can self-regulate.

The other huge story was the Pitbull Poker scandal which apparently came to a final conclusion just yesterday with rumors being confirmed that the poker site had indeed shut down.  Our contact and former Network Manager, Dave Brenes, reported that the site was shut down and that he felt betrayed by ownership.  Apparently the allegations of superusers were indeed true and it might even have been ownership themselves with those accounts.  Again, quite a few people out there are now SOL with their bankrolls on that site.

In October I have a few articles coming that will be interesting.  The biggest one will be the interview with Bertrand Gospellier, otherwise known as ElkY, who just might be the best poker player on the planet.  He recently took down two WCOOP events at PokerStars.  The man is just plain sick.

October Goals

I really haven't laid out myself specific goals for the month for a while.  I guess I just want to:

1. Play poker.
2. Have fun doing it.
3. Not worry about climbing the ladder to 200nl.
4. Cash out some money, put it to good use (computer upgrades!) should I win.
5. Play smart thinking poker when I do play poker.