When aggro man hits a hand

.... Its inevitable that I also have a solid but losing hand.

Last night I found myself heads up against a 60/50 maniac with KK on the button and i'm just licking my lips at the prospect of a big pot. Capped heads up preflop and flop comes down AA6. I'm not that happy with seeing an A, but i'm still way ahead of his range where he's shown down complete trash even after a cap earlier.

Unfortunately for me, on this particular hand he ends up flipping over AA for quads.

At that stage i'd found myself 30BBs down in the space of 20 minutes on one of my tables - which again luckily was only a $1/2 table, and apart from the maniac was full of passive fish. I had looked for some bigger tables and had a couple $2/4 and $3/6 tables running from time to time, but any higher and it was a complete TAG/Rock fest. I guess I expect that though these days in the midweek off peak periods.

By the end of my session i'd recovered 20BBs on that table as finally a few of my hands held up against mr maniac, when he kept showing down trash. Add a few BBs on the other higher limit tables and I end the night actually up about $50 in total. Add on a nice little rakeback credit, and its a successful evening for the hour i've played.

Won't be playing tonight, so will be back Monday.

Current bankroll: $19,100
July time played: 7h30m
July profit/(loss): $550

Wasted energy worrying about progress

Don't get me wrong, its obvious I like to keep a detailed record of my results over time.

However, what I have noticed is that during a session, I really don't worry about where i'm at - whether i'm up or down, it's not really important to me. This allows me to play each and every hand on its own merits, combined with any reads on my opponents.

I suspect that if you did start worrying about your progress mid session, then it would inevitably impact the way that you played your hands. Even being on a hot run, and then being tempted to play more hands than usual is a form of tilt to be avoided. Thankfully for me, I have avoided this form of tilt, as well as the other form when you get hammered by several bad beats, and i'm sure it has served me well.

The only points at which I really start checking how i'm going at the tables is if I fall below the 12BB mark in my current stack where I will always reload. If you're less than that you can't cap every street, and may potentially be losing value if you hit a monster. The second point I check how i'm going is basically as I close every table at the end of my session to update my tracking spreadsheet.

In my 20 minute session last night which was spread mainly across a couple $2/4 tables, briefly a $3/6 table or two and a couple $1/2 tables I had the general feeling that I was doing okay but not great. It's kind of a nice surprise when I close down my tables and realise i'm up about 10BBs at all levels (with a 20BB gain on one $2/4 partly offset by a 10BB loss on the other).

On another note, my BB/100 on Bodog at $1/2 has finally moved back into the green at 0.00BB/100. Its funny that I can run like that over 34,000 hands ... and then run at 2.5BB/100 at Fulltilt over 30,000 hands, when i'm actually table selecting a lot more on Bodog than I ever did at Fulltilt. I guess that is variance for you, and my actual skill level is somewhere in the middle of those two.

Current bankroll: $19,000
July time played: 6h30m
July profit/(loss): $450

My new rakeback site: http://grinder.rakebackpartners.com/

Obviously I can't be buggered creating my own rakeback from scratch, so it's not exactly original, being more or less just an affiliate page through rtr, but hey, it will do the job. And anyone signing up will get the best possible rtr deal available with the comfort of their support and reputation.

All I need to do is draw up myself a decent logo and i'm set. Kind of a pity that I have the artistic ability of a small stone or some other inanimate object, but we'll see what I can do if I ever get around to it.

So for you guys who don't have a deal or affiliate for rakeback at a number of sites feel free to check it out: http://grinder.rakebackpartners.com/

On to poker news - I finally cashed in a Kamikaze .. for all of about $10. I think it was held at about 4am my time, so obviously I missed all the action, but hey, can't complain about any free money, given it only cost me some crappy Cake gold card like a 4 of spades. Bit of a pity that I couldn't win at least one more hand and it would have made me some decent cash.

My half hour session last night was a bit of a non event. Although I ended up about $50 in front, my stacks never really moved much. I did lose one 22BB pot where it was capped four ways preflop with me sitting on KK and flopped 762r. On the flop I got checkraised and with another caller I ended up just calling down. Obviously the check/raiser had TT, and turned another T. Grrrrr.

Current bankroll: $18,900
July time played: 6h
July profit/(loss): $350

Running with muppets

Dropped my buy in (25BBs) on a $3/6 table in about half an hour over the weekend, where a few of my muppet mates seemed to call down and hit miracles time and time again. (well 3 or 4 outers anyways .... ). Interesting that I lost one 25BB pot when my flopped trips lost to a rivered gutshot. I'm sure the guy who chased it couldn't actually read the board, as it was extremely dangerous, but he kept calling anyways. That one hand would have been the difference between a losing and winning session. Such is often the way with limit holdem though.

The whole session was a bit of a struggle because the only time over the weekend that I could play was well outside of peak playing times.

This was offset partially by a 10BB win on a $2/4 table, which could also have been a lot bigger had another hand or two gone my way.

Played a home game with the boys on Friday night as well, and I luckboxed pretty hard to have a good night winning three games out of four in some super turbo equivalent NL holdem sitngos. Good sledging, good action, great fun.

Current bankroll: $18,850
July time played: 5h30m
July profit/(loss): $300

Mid 2009 review

Thought i'd better have a look back and see how i'm tracking for the year so far.

If I examine my goals from the start of the year:

Maintenance goals: (a continuation of what i'm doing now)

• Results: Average approx $1k per month total return (inc rakeback). I will be more than happy with a bankroll of $26k by the end of 2009, with half of that offline in some income earning investment. Ideally it would be good to produce this result with fewer hours played at higher stakes. Result: Not a single month has returned $1k although I am playing fairly significantly fewer hours than last year - probably 15-25 per month rather than 30-40. A relatively poor year on the tables with 4 losing months which were made profitable by rakeback/bonuses.
• Discipline: Only play on loose tables where I have good position on either a fish or maniac. Result: 100% achieved. I can't recall the last time i've stayed on a table where it's turned poor, or even sat in on a poor table
• Discipline: Play within my bankroll and keep tracking results. Result: 100% achieved - although i'm still not tracking Cake as I understand it is against their conditions
• Bonus chasing: Find at least one other long term site to play on (even if it a site I currently use on an irregular basis). Result: I probably should have recorded which regular sites I was on at the time of making this goal .... Now on Cake, Bodog, Fulltilt, and Pacific somewhat regulary. May add Microgaming to the list in the second half of the year
• Bonus chasing: Continue to research and take up the best bonus deals to maximise my return. Result: Have been a bit slack here as i'm a bit more settled in regular rakeback deals. That being said I still take up all added bonuses
• Research: Continue to check 2p2 and other forums a minimum of weekly for bonuses or specific site news and play advice. Result: 100% achieved
• Research: check out other's blogs. Result: 100% achieved
• Motivation: Maintain motivation through occasionally mixing it up with freerolls and double up sitngos. Result: 100% achieved although I am finding now that playing a lower volume is resulting in me staying motivated for as many cash games as I can get into
  Motivation: Do not push myself to play when I don't feel like it. Result: 100% achieved

Specific site reload goals:

• Play the Bodog monthly reloads until conditions change making them not worthwhile. Result: 100% achieved - still playing them
• Play the interpoker monthly bonuses until crypto is no longer EV+. Result: Unfortunately crypto is basically no more from my perspective
• Take up the cake reloads whenever offered. Result: 100% achieved - still clearing although clearance rates have halved, MGR deductions have also disappeared
• Pray for a fulltilt reload bonus .. I mean come on .. once every couple years sux. Result: My prayers go unanswered

New Goals from January 2009:

• Tournaments: Finally tabling at least two freerolls (mainly for the practice). Although having this goal probably won't change whether I do or don't enter tourneys. Affiliate tourneys always appear to be good value. Result: Fail - although haven't had too many to enter this year so volume is a problem. Not a priority
• Reading: Have a read of the harrington tourney books so that I can at least see the reasoning of why i'm making particular moves and apply it consistently. Result: Fail - and still not a priority
• Stakes: Get back into more $3/6 tables and at least take a couple shots at $4/8 on Bodog (and with any luck stay permanently there!). Result: Achieved. Have played a bit of $4/8 on Bodog where i've run super cold. However, am also playing $5/10 when the tables look good and results have been exceptional over a very small sample size
• Results: Improve my BB/100 by focussing more on seat selection than I did last year. Result: In theory successful. In practice - fail.
• Other: Am I going to get into no limit cash games? Doubt it. Result: Haven't
• Tracking: Get round to converting my PT database to SQL ... Result: oops. one day.

So ... apart from not actually having the best of results on the tables, i've still eeked out a bit of a profit every month which is somewhat reassuring. I've achieved or mostly achieved most goals that are a priority to me, so am happy with that as well.

Is there anything that I want to add for the last half of the year?

Well, not really. I'm hoping that my table and seat selection will start to show through in some more positive results on the table, and would like to also play a bit more at the $5/10 level, but those goals are both really encasulated in my goals from the start of the year.

Current bankroll: $18,950
Year to date profit/(loss): $3,150

A different fish type

Found my new favourite fish type last night - the 80/5 guy that then goes to showdown only 20% of the time. If you bet/isolate and cbet you win 80% of the time without it even going past the flop. No risk, no stress of being sucked out on. Having him on my right and him dropping 30BB/100 was a huge bonus.

I'll have to look for him again in future.

An odd midweek session for me though - plenty of tables to choose from and the fish were out in force. On one brief $5/10 table though I just couldn't get a starting hand and over 60 hands i'd seen a total of 9 flops with a vpip of under 10%!! I could see the fish on my right gradually being cleaned out by another TAG, but just couldn't do anything about it. Frustrating, but you get the sometimes, and it could have been worse - the fish could have been sucking out on me.

At the same time I had a good $3/6 table running as well as a $2/4 and $1/2. Talk about mixing levels although I don't ever seem to get mixed up .... All three of those tables however ran okay, with at least two fish on my right, and I more or less ended 10BBs up on the two higher ones and 25BBs up on the $1/2.

Current bankroll: $18,950
July time played: 4h30m
July profit/(loss): $400

Closer in the Kamikaze

Entered my second Kamikaze last night with a $3k prize pool. At a cost of a Cake gold card (2 of spades or something like that) its not like i'll get any better value out of a common Cake gold card).

Check this morning and I am 600ish out of 2400 entered. Not enough to cash, but it looks like I must have survived the first hand - possibly with it being a split pot, as you'd think the first hand of a kamikaze should knock out about 2000 people if pots aren't split. Didn't do well enough to cash, but getting closer. Maybe next time i'll get lucky.

Played a bit of $1/2, $2/4 and $3/6 last night and things actually ran fairly smoothly. I was up about 30BBs at $1/2 and gave a few back when I decided it was time to stand up to the table maniac. I raised with AQ on the button and got 3 bet for about the tenth time by mr maniac on my left. That gave him a pretty broad range based on prior experience - any A, pocket pair, a fair few Ks and most suited connectors. On a flop of KK4r I decided this hand was worth a stand, although I wanted to see a showdown as cheap as possible. He donked the flop, I called, he bet a blank turn, I called. He checked a blank river.

Hmmm does he have air? I check behind as I have some showdown value, and he flips over KK for quads. Oops.

Anyways, I was about to quit at about $50 up in a bit under half an hour and was on my last orbit on the $3/6 table when I received KK preflop and got to cap it three ways. A J high flop had me looking pretty good so I bet out and got two callers. Turn of a 7 paired the other seven on the board, and my bet again got called. River of a King, and my one remaining opponent donks, which I obviously raise. He calls and shows QQ so was behind the whole way. Excellent, and now i'm up a good 8BBs on the $3/6 table as well before I fold the last couple hands and quit when its my big blind.

I also cashed out of Interpoker and received a windfall $100 with the foreign exchange difference from when I initally deposited there and won a few $. I had to look back on how i'd treated foreign exchange gains in the past, and noticed i'd charged a fx loss against my winnings for the month previously. So ... may as well add it back to winnings with a gain ...

Current bankroll: $18,800
July time played: 3h
July profit/(loss): $250