Monday, June 30, 2008

Investigating new deals

Played all of 15 minutes to end about square on 24poker although should be closer to clearing another $50 in bonus there. I will have to check tonight exactly how much bonus I have to go there, as there is no system and you have to contact their customer service every time you want to be paid any bonus.

No real hands of interest although I did play a few hands heads up, praying that the table would quickly fill as it had a waiting list. Unfortunately it didn't. And even less fortunately I was getting smashed on the table, where nothing was hitting, and the one time I hit two pair, my opponent had a bigger 2 pair. A few muppets on my other tables did pay me off though so the session wasn't too bad.

I'm investigating a new deal that is on Bodog. I've been wanting to open an account on that site for a while, since it allows US players it should have reasonable traffic. It also limits the number of tables you can have open at one time, so generally there should be fewer sharks / grinders. Will let everyone know how it goes, and might need to add another link for my rakeback/bonus providers on the right there.

Current Bankroll: $9,300 (+360 Aug)

Sunday, June 29, 2008

June Summary

Yeah I know .. 2 posts in the same day ... but here's the summary anyways :)

My couple big downswings during the month of 100BBs+ really hurt a lot, but again I really can’t complain with the final result. My total time at the tables was probably less than 30 hours .. which I could check if I bothered adding up each of my posts, but I am too lazy for that!

Added a total of $800 in cash to my bankroll, and also have another $360 coming in August which I earned in bonuses, so $1,150ish for the month really isn’t too bad.

For the month I played mostly $3/6 and $2/4 on Littlewoods as can be seen from the bonus/rakeback stats below. Cleared probably $300 of the 24 bonus as well playing mainly $1/2 and $2/4. Since it clears at the same rate at either stakes I generally just look for the softest tables which are usually $1/2.

Finished the month on $9,300 (with $360 owing in August) which is equal to the highest point that I made it to for the month.

The gain of $1,150 for the month was made up of:

Bonuses: $1,310
  • William Hill: $50 for 5 hours play bonus
  • Cake: $0 reload bonus (played a few hands, but not enough)
  • 24: $300 sign up bonus
  • Littlewoods: $600 monthly bonus
  • Littlewoods: $360 in lieu of ipod bonus
Rakeback: $510
  • Littlewoods: $300
  • Littlewoods rake race: $200
  • William Hill: $10
Poker winnings / (losses): ($670) LOSS … Ack

For July the goals in order of priority are:
  • Clear as much of my 24 bonus as possible ($200 remaining)
  • Play my 5 hours on William Hill for the $50 bonus
  • Clear my last $80 on cake
  • Clear some of the Sun bonus - maybe $20 (through double up SnGs mainly)
  • Maybe find a new site to play on and score some new bonuses

The other thing I want to do is to compare rake and rakeback between sites. At the moment my rakeback on fulltilt is 27% compared with say 40% on sun. However, Sun takes a much larger amount of rake in the first place out of each hand, so it looks like Fulltilt is actually a better deal. Will investigate further.

If it works out though, I may be playing a fair bit more back on Fulltilt, as there are always a lot more games running, and as long as you table select well, there are plenty of fish to catch.

The other achievement for the month was actually cashing out $2k mostly from Cake via neteller. I've now taken out more than i've put into the game which I think means i'm at least getting something right.

Current bankroll: $9,300 (+360 Aug)

Up for my final session for June

Thought i'd do a quick summary of my final session before posting my overall totals for June. I guess over the weekend I got in not quite a full hour of poker. Was too busy out downhilling on the mountain bike for much poker. You get that sometimes though.

Anyways in that session I actually did quite well, picking up around 10BBs on Littlewoods (FINALLY A WIN!!!) and another 20BBs on 24poker for about $100, as well as confirming that I had cleared the next $50 on 24poker. Also made $200 in the rake race on Littlewoods I think (will change this if its the case but I am pretty sure its right).

Not too many hands of interest but since Colossus requested I figured I can post a couple. On a side note, I still managed to score AA twice and lost both of them. Annoying. My last hand of the session also kinda sucked where I raised QTs from the CO and got one caller on the big blind. He called my raise on a Q72r flop. He raraised my raise on the turn when it was a J. He checked another J on the river, which I checked behind as I figured I could have been behind with the Q and a bigger kicker, and the 2nd J was possibly a really bad card for me. Obviously he flips over AJo ... so he was drawing to basically his 3 outer from his flop call. Unreal ....

Anyways a couple hands and my thinking along the way (and whether or not I think I made a mistake.... (bugger me if i cant find a hand converter friendly with 24poker ... if anyone has a good link let me know)

This is probably a really simple hand I think, but I am reasonably sure I made a mistake ...

** Can`t Buy Me Love [Hold 'em] (1.00/2.00 Fixed - $ Cash Game) Real Money
- rohkonn sitting in seat 1 with $68.45
- schimmi23 sitting in seat 2 with $93.64 (bit of a loose muppet)
[Dealer]- pansit22 sitting in seat 3 with $101.53 (unknown opponent)
- Manandoun3 sitting in seat 4 with $38.98
- sibware sitting in seat 5 with $54.71
- Hero (ME) sitting in seat 6 with $63.23
pansit22 posted the small blind - $0.50
Manandoun3 posted the big blind - $1.00
** Dealing card to Hero: 9 of s, A of s
sibware folded
Hero raised - $2.00 (easy open raise for me from MP)
rohkonn folded
schimmi23 raised - $3.00 (didn't really want a repop from the button .. but oh well)
pansit22 called - $3.00
Manandoun3 folded
Hero called - $3.00 (obviously gotta call it)
** Dealing the flop: J of s, 2 of s, 8 of s (sweet flop giving me the nuts .. only way to lose is if the board pairs)
pansit22 checked
Hero checked (check to pre flop raiser, hoping to be able to check raise. would be annoyed if he flat calls)
schimmi23 bet - $1.00 (ty aggro muppet)
pansit22 called - $1.00
Hero raised - $2.00 (check raise! ty. I guess I could flat call to slow play, but I rarely slow play made hands. Also I was thinking both may still call the check raise which builds the pot)
schimmi23 called - $2.00
pansit22 called - $2.00 (both called ... interesting)
** Dealing the turn: 3 of h
pansit22 checked
Hero bet - $2.00 (obviously bet the turn .. cannot slow play the nuts)
schimmi23 raised - $4.00 (wow .. maybe this guy isnt too bright. I wonder if he has the Ks ... or possibly trips or 2 pair).
pansit22 folded
Hero raised - $6.00 (must reraise with the nuts!)
schimmi23 raised - $8.00 (WTF? hmm maybe he also has a flush?)
Hero called - $8.00 (no option to raise on 24 .. betting is capped .. man i wish this hand was on crypto where i'd keep pumpin it)
** Dealing the river: J of c (OMFG ... board is now paired, so I no longer have the nuts. flush draw also missed if he has Ks)
Hero bet - $2.00 (i think this bet is a mistake - i am only going to get called/raised by hands that beat me, and will get raised by a full house. possibly the only callers I will get are those holding two spades, and any other hand on a draw would fold).
schimmi23 called - $2.00 (phew ... i'd have been a little sick if he had raised here)
Hero shows: 9 of s, A of s
schimmi23 mucks: K of s, 10 of s (hehe he had the best possible cards against my hand)
Hero wins $34.20 from the main pot

Second interesting hand which i'm still not sure I played right ...

** Tell Me Why [Hold 'em] (1.00/2.00 Fixed - $ Cash Game) Real Money
- sibware sitting in seat 2 with $115.80 - CaprizPoker sitting in seat 3 with $77.56
- Manandoun3 sitting in seat 4 with $19.00
- Hero sitting in seat 5 with $37.25
- pansit22 sitting in seat 6 with $197.71 [Dealer]
sibware posted the small blind - $0.50
CaprizPoker posted the big blind - $1.00 (absolute maniac. has raised and reraise bluff turn and river every hand ... and had nothing most times so has lost a fair few $)
** Dealing card to Hero: A of h, 7 of s
Manandoun3 folded
Hero raised - $2.00 (A7o is good enough to try to steal with in the cutoff)
pansit22 folded
sibware raised - $3.00 (not a good sign but he could be trying to isolate)
CaprizPoker called - $3.00 (this idiot could have any 2 cards)
Hero called - $3.00
** Dealing the flop: Q of d, 2 of d, 5 of h (damn .. clean missed this flop ... wonder if A high is enough?)
sibware checked
CaprizPoker checked
Hero checked (actually checked behind here as I was pretty sure Capriz would checkraise any hand regardless of whether he hit or not)
** Dealing the turn: 5 of c
sibware checked (looks like he really didn't have anything ... that's promising)
CaprizPoker bet - $2.00 (he would bet anything .. but does he have a hand?)
Hero called - $2.00 (I am still thinking my A high is ahead of Capriz .. hoping Sibware folds)
sibware called - $2.00 (damn why didn't u fold .. maybe he has a biggish A?)
** Dealing the river: 7 of c (a sweet card for me .. now i'm pretty sure i'm ahead)
sibware checked
CaprizPoker bet - $2.00 (bet into again ... hmmm...)
Hero called - $2.00 (I still think i'm in front, but don't want to get reraised with such a medium strength hand)
sibware folded
CaprizPoker shows: 7 of d, 10 of h (yep he was playin trash again ....ty)
Hero shows: A of h, 7 of s
Hero wins $18.05 from the main pot

Anyways. Not really sure what kind of hands people want to see posted. There's lots of simple one's with continuation bets etc .. as well as the normal bad beat ones ...

Current bankroll: $9,300 (+360 Aug)

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Oooops .. again

I keep saying to myself to stop abusing people in the chat box and I *think* i've found a way to stop doing it. Instead of blasting them, I will simply take notes on them instead - should be much more profitable.

However, saying that, I think I tilted some guy today. He got me fairly annoyed when I tried to steal from the button with Q7s and he reppoped me. I sorta hit a flop of J76r, which he donked into me, so I figured he was probably weak as he was a half decent player who liked to check raise if he had the goods. I reraised and he called. Turn was a second club, 3c. He checked, I bet and he called. River was the Qc hitting a backdoor flushdraw, however he donked the river, which was a very bad sign for me, so I simply called. He showed down Kc2c. WTF .. he had totally whiffed that flop, had no draw, and called my raise. I'm not sure if a 3bet preflop from the BB is correct with K2s either ...

Anyways, I wasn't all that impressed to say the least and may have called him a retard or the equivalent .... After a few more orbits, I actually won a couple of hands off him when he called me down pretty light, to each I responded "nh r". A few hands later I found myself with JJ and in a hand with him and one other guy. A flop of KTT wasnt the best for me and I donked into it and got 2 callers. Not real pretty. The turn was a miracle J, and the betting went ballistic, which i was happy to reraise until capped. River was a blank and the same guy reraised and called my 3 bet with only K9o. Ship it. 15BB pot .. pity it was only on $1/2 on 24poker.

A few hands later i'm again trying to steal from the button with A3 and the flop is 445. My man again repops me from the BB preflop. He bets out and I raise him. He calls. Turn is a miraculous 2. Which he bets, raises and I cap. River is another A, however the board now has 3 diamonds .. as well as the pair. He bets out, I raise, he reraises, and so I just call. He shows down A2 for two pair. Hehe. Chump.

Anyways in the whole 20 minute session that I played I managed to make 25BBs on the $1/2 tables so it turned out reasonably well. However, I will in future try to take more notes, and send less abuse!

Forgot to check my bonus on there. I'm sure i've played enough to release another $50. Will check tonight.

Current Bankroll: $8,950 (+$360 Aug)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Still running like ass

Got in another half hour of play, and I guess one table sums it up.

I had position on a nice big fish, who was running with a VPIP of 65%, preflop raise of 5%, aggression factor of 0.5 and a went to showdown of 75%. Almost the perfect calling station. However, over the 50 hands of the session, of those 75% showdowns he managed to win over 50% of them!!! (given an average winning player at 6max limit has a vpip of 30, pfr 20, wtsd 35-40 and W$SD of 50%, this is a super hot run!!)

At the same time, with position on him, I was running at VPIP 33% (actually had some nice starting hands, or overlimpable hands), PFR of 22%, aggression factor of 2 and went to showdown of 20%. Of those 20% showdowns, I managed to actually win 22% of them. ARGH!!! Is it possible to run that cold??? I even scored AA twice and KK once preflop and lost them all. The KK was annoying .. A hit on the turn, and there were 3 players before me betting and raising so I folded facing 2 bets to call. Obviously another K hit on the river. sigh.

The biggest pot I lost when I had a draw to the 2nd nuts on the turn where betting had gone ballistic three ways. I think I had AcJs with Kc4sQs7s on the board. The river unfortunately paired the board with Ks giving me the 2nd flush. It was bet and then raised before me, but I couldn't bring myself to lay down for 2bbs in a 30BB+ pot. The winner obviously had 44, and the raiser actually had 2s3s ... I dunno wtf he was thinking raising with a 3 high spade flush on a four flushed paired board into 2 players.

If I hadn't cleared the $200 bonus, i'd be down $200 for the session. At least I think i've played enough hands on 24poker to release another $50 bonus there as well. Will find out tonight.

Hopefully I will soon be able to report on a super hot run of my own ....

Current bankroll: $8,900 (+360 Aug)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

K7o ..u suck

Had a 40 minute session last night with what seems to be the typical terrible start on Littlewoods. Found a fantastic table with 2 big fish and one moderate fish, who promptly sucked out on the river on me 4 times in a row ... add in 3 missed flush draws and i'm down the 25BBs I buy into fixed limit tables with.

Fast forward 10 minutes though and the fish have donated it all back, only delivering a few more nasty suck outs, but generally they were calling me down when drawing virtually dead ... apparently any ace is good even on extremely dangerous boards and having a poor kicker ... Unfortunately though that table broke up so my last 15 minutes was not on a table as good as that one. Still found a fish, who also managed to drill me a couple times. His T6 was too good for my AJ when he called down my continuation bet and rivered a T.

K7 also appeared to be my nemesis hand. Twice I had AQ, flopped AKx and the river was a 7 only for villain to show down his K7o calling my raise.

Anyways even for the session, but so close to clearing the next $200 bonus on Littlewoods its not funny .. maybe 30 MPPs only to go!!!

Current bankroll: $8,900 (+360 Aug)

Monday, June 23, 2008

Tight(ish) play

Only had time for a very small 15 minute session, and only really received 2 hands of note in the whole session. Played basically pretty tight for folding several weak aces where I may occasionally play them and get myself into trouble.

The first hand of note was when a big fish limped in UTG (VPIP 100%!!! PFR 10%) and I was in the small blind with A8o, when it was folded to me. I reraised to isolate and the button folded as I hoped making it heads up. Flop was A84r, which the limper raised, so I reraised, he called. Turn was a K, which didn't really bother me all that much as I figured he would have probably raised preflop with AK. He donked again so I reraised, which he called. River was an 8 which filled me up. Again he donked into me with a raise, so I reraised again. He called and flipped over A3o ... thanks for the donation!

The only other hand I was in the big blind with K8o, one early position limper (an 80% wtsd over 70 hands .. wtf does he never fold?) and the SB (unknown) also called. Flop was AAK with 2 clubs. SB checked, I bet, and both call. Hmmm .. fair chance i'm in front here if SB shows weakness again. The turn is a 3rd club which SB checks again, I bet hoping to take down the pot, but limper calls. SB folds, so now its heads up - maybe he has a flush (although he surely would have raised??), but I still doubt he has the A, so I call. River is another club which is really really ugly for me as neither of my cards are clubs. Limper bets, and I decide to make a crying call, and he flips over Q8o for a stone cold bluff. Ship it.

Overall made about 12BBs plus got credited with the $70ish in rakeback cash from the weekend.

Current bankroll: $8,900 (+360 August)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Great Table + Great Position = Big Downswing???

I'm not sure how the math in my title works .. but it really was getting annoying.

I managed to drop 100BBs in 3 hours on the $3/6 tables, where it appeared every time I had a made hand I'd get rivered, and every flush draw seemed to miss.

The main table that I was on was great ... I was sitting to the left of a guy running at 85/30/1.2/45 so he was playing almost every hand. The remainder of the table had a couple tags, one of which showed down way too much and a couple other fish.

Problem for me was that every time I had fishy dominated .. say AK v A8 .. of course the A would flop and the 8 would then hit on the turn or river. I had QQ and JJ a few times, and got rivered by an A and a K 6/8 times, when the chasers had at best their 3 outs. Add on the times when I have KK v fishy with 85, and his 8 flops and 5 rivers and all up you get a pretty frustrating session.

I actually did have a lot of playable starting hands, although I missed 6 flush draws in a row, and then hit two, only to be beaten by a larger flush both times. One of my draws also had an OESD to the nut straight, which also missed in a 30BB pot which was won by a single pair!! That pot alone would have made a big improvement to my final figures. There were 2 other 25BB pots that I also lost when my made hand (trips) got rivered by the flush draw hitting. I guess the story of my day came down to flopping the nut straight versus my opponent with an overpair, and him being in very bad shape, turning still the nut straight, which gave my opponent trips, and finally the river pairing the board giving him a full house for another 25BB pot ... ARGH.

The only positive for the session was that I didnt tilt too much .. although said a few choice words in the chat box .. i really gotta stop doing that. Also the fact that I cleared some more MPPs helped, so i'm now only around 180 MPPs short of clearing the next $200 bonus cash, and should receive another $40 in rakeback with any luck.

Oh and it appears i'm also in the money in the rake race so could make an extra $150 to $250 in bonus cash by the end of the month.

I keep thinking i'm having a horrible month on the poker tables, which I guess technically is true, however, I am actually still up $250 in cash at the moment plus the extra $360 i've earned in bonus cash to be paid in August. So in the bigger picture i'm still up over $600 for the month so I really can't complain at all. (and hopefully will be even more when i clear these last couple bonuses).

Current bankroll: $8,750 (plus $360 in Aug)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Maniac hands me the cash!

Finally had a great session on Littlewoods. Found an awesome table with 3 fish to my right, and the biggest maniac i've ever seen on my left.

My mate the maniac gave me a huge stack of BBs on the 3/6 table .. probably 50 all by himself. He would reraise preflop with stuff like 23o and then bet and raise on all streets. He even 6 bet me on the turn once when he had his 23o and I had top two pair. He also 6 bet the river a couple times when I had the absolute nuts ... he folded to my 7 bet though :( ... i was hoping to take his whole stack in one hit.

Funny thing is, for the first hour, this guy was actually winning and had built up his stack from about $150 to $300 ... before it all went pear shaped for him and he gave almost all of it to me.

Oh yeah .. forgot to say I have the day off work so I put in about 4 hours on the tables this morning so it was a pretty decent session.

I earned a heap of MPPs as well so i'm looking forward to seeing how much rakeback i've also taken in during the session. I earned enough MPPs to hit the next goal to earn another $80 from Littlewoods as well!

Current bankroll: $9,300 (+360 in Aug)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A great table ...

.... but card dead. ack

Found almost the perfect table (but not quite the best seat) in a very short session (maybe 20 mins). Two huge fish, one 85/0/.2/19 and the other 76/0/.4/60, one aggro fish 60/30/3/20 and a couple other tight passives. I played around 50 hands, and I think I only entered the pot voluntarily 4 times outside of the big blind. I did see 72o quite a few times, which was extremely frustrating, and the one time I start with AQ, one of the fish calls me down and hits his second pair on the river and shows 87s. My only other decent starting hands were 88, which was dog meat on the flop of AKQ, and then I hit 55 on a flop of K87. I would probably have played the 55 hand except it got raised and was 3 handed post flop. Bit disappointing to see a 5 hit on the river, but one guy showed down AA and the other K4o so it was a good fold.

Dropped about 4BBs there before I had to quit .. i really wanted to stay playing on such a fantastic table, but had to go. I did make up for that small loss on another table though, but that table only had one real fish, and a few TAGs so I had to quit that when the fish sat out.

On the cash out front I successfully transferred some cash to the prepaid card, and cashed out $1k the other day, so its nice to know I can actually get my money out from the online world!

Current bankroll: $8,900 (+$280 pending in Aug)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

A win on Littlewoods?

Well, bugger me, after the usual start of a session on Littlewoods where I dropped a quick 20BBs against one muppet, I actually managed to come back and end up in the positive.

My key losing hands were QQ on a KQ2r flop, which got 6 bet on the flop before I finally called, figuring he must have had the nuts (good onya Crypto .. I guess there's no cap to the betting on any street?). I decided to call down after that, and when the turn was a 9 and river a 4, I ended up with the trips I started with. Muppet then showed JTo, so he actually 6 bet the flop with only 8 outs, but actually hit it on the turn. ARGH

Next hand I have AK, and his A8 obviously beats me when the flop is A8x. Couple hands later I have 22 and raise which he calls. Flop of JJ8. He calls my raise on the turn of a 3 and then the river pairs the board again with an 8. I decide to b/f and he calls my bet and shows down 76o to take the pot with 7 high ... no pair, no draw ... WTF???

However, after that I found a seat at a great table, with one fish sitting directly on my right with a VPIP of about 75, PFR of about 5, AF of 0.5 and a WTSD of around 50%. Almost the perfect fish! And he started with a stack of around $200 which he luckboxed up to $300 off a couple other guys on the table. Of course he sucked out a couple early on me as well, and I was beginning to think here we go again, but then he proceeded to call me down several times when I had top pair or better and he had literally nothing. I also flopped a fullhouse at one stage and someone again called me down, and later I managed a bit of a suck out against a decent aggro opponent with my A2s preflop v AK with a flop of 652r ... although at least I flopped a pair and when my opponent didn't bet the blank river I figured I was in front still.

By the time the fish left he had around $100 left, and I probably had about $100 of what he had lost. In the end I made about $50 on Littlewoods. Not a big win, but at least a step in the right direction.

I checked my Pokertracker stats, and I have actually been showing down too much on Littlewoods which is contributing to my losses there. I am around a 44% WTSD where i'd rather be a little under 40% so i'm obviously calling down or betting too much when I am behind. The last session actually dropped my WTSD to 43.5% so hopefully I can keep playing well (or hitting good cards if my WTSD stays so high).

I also picked up $50 in bonus from 24poker last night, so I have about $250 to go in bonus $ there, and also finished the monthly $50 from William Hill, and won around 20BBs on the table at the same time, so it turned out to be a reasonable session.

Current Bankroll: $8,900 (plus $280 in August from Littlewoods)

Monday, June 16, 2008

Still super cold ... but withdrawing some cash

I still can't seem to take a trick. In another small session I again dropped 10BBs, but could easily have made a big pile of cash. Unfortunately I was beaten a fair few times by a couple fish (80/10/.5/50) who then gave my cash away to a couple other strong players. I'm running at a ridiculously horrible -5BB/100 on Littlewoods now.

At least my KK held up this time. Although I also had an overpair 3 times to someone's under lower pair who hit trips each time. Blah.

I did however receive $50 in rakeback from my play over the weekend, so that at least made up for the loss, for a nil effect on my total bankroll.

I also realised I had $3.5k lying around on Cake, so figured I may as well withdraw some of that partly to make some ready for use on other sites, and the other chunk I will withdraw completely and invest in a high interest account. Since i'm an Aussie, its pretty easy to just withdraw to Neteller, and then reload their prepaid card. I will try to withdraw some cash today and see how it goes.

Now that I think about it I will also accrue any interest on my withdrawal from my poker bankroll. (However, I will only do this after I have effectively earnt enough to cover any interest that I would have earned on my initial deposit onto Fulltilt). Even if it was only $2k it would still earn $160 per year in interest, which is a nice little addition to the bankroll.

Current bankroll: $8,750 (plus $280 to come from Littlewoods in Aug)

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Card dead ... thank god for bonuses!

Well, I continue to get slaughtered on Littlewoods. Got in a good 5 hours on the weekend, but only 2 of them in peak time. The other 3 hours I was lucky to find a single table running between Littlewoods, 24poker and cake.

Overall on Littlewoods from actual play I dropped probably a little under 100BBs ($450). Over half of that was in my last session of a little under an hour, and probably 2 key pots contributed to that, where in both I had the nut straight, only for the river to pair the board to give my opponent a full house in one hand, and then in the second the turn and river brought a runner runner flush. Each of those pots was around $100 or 25BBs each!!

A quick check of my pokertracker stats showed actually how cold I ran on the weekend. I had a VPIP of around 20% instead of my normal 28-30% which shows how few starting hands I was receiving. My WTSD% was about 26% which is hugely lower than my usual 38%, which means that even though I wasn't seeing many flops with the low VPIP, I was still not flopping to my hand often enough to get to showdown. (And from memory I missed almost every flush draw so that low number does make sense to me too). My W$SD was even sicker, at around 30% instead of up around 50%. So even when I did get to the showdown, I was getting slaughtered. Even with decent hands a lot of the time.

Over those 1,200 hands over the weekend, i've not actually received AA, KK, or JJ. ARGH. AKs and AQ are also big losers, as well as QQ.

Part of it was my own fault though, as I wasn't picky enough on table selection, and played on a table that was a bit tighter than usual, with only one really fishy player. It seemed however, that everyone was able to outdraw me, including the fish!

Interestingly enough though, when I played on William Hill to clear my $50 for 5 hours bonus, I was playing against the same players as those on Littlewoods, but on the $1/2 tables. There I managed to actually win 100BBs in no time. Pity the stakes were smaller though!!

In the end I did manage to clear $200 in bonus from Littlewoods, as well as $50 from William Hill, so I actually ended up square for the weekend's effort. Thank god for that, as it wasn't looking pretty otherwise! Come to think of it, my rakeback for the weekends play hasn't been credited yet either, so I am probably still actually in front by about $60. Could easily have been much much better though.

Anyways, the next goal is to get another 500 MPPs on Littlewoods for another $80 in bonus, and around $50 more in rakeback, followed by another 1,000 MPPs for another $200 bonus plus around $100 in rakeback by the end of the month. I'm also well over halfway to clearing another $50 on 24poker too, so that should boost the bankroll slightly as well.

Current Bankroll: $8,750 (plus $280 to come from Littlewoods in Aug)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

A small week

Well after a huge start to the week of 4 hours over the long weekend, i've managed to put in a whole 5 hours for the entire week in total.

Nevertheless, given I started the week on $8,350 the return for my 5 hours of effort has actually been quite good.

I did the live chat thing with 24poker again as planned, and asked them to credit my next $50 in bonus which they did without me playing a further hand. Guess I got the right person this time! Also played all of 20 minutes last night on Littlewoods on the $2/4 and $3/6 tables. I had promptly lost around $60 to some big fish. My AA still managed to get beaten by two pair hitting on the river and I think AA is now a losing starting hand on Littlewoods for me again. ARGH.

However, the fishies continued to chase and call down, several times when they had top pair and no kicker and I had top pair and top kicker. They ended up giving me my losses back quite quickly when I also hit my nut flush a couple times - although one was only a small win as the villian folded on the 4 flush board. Ended up making about 10BBs between the tables, so up around $50.

Should be able to play at least one decent size session this weekend, so hopefully I can continue to run reasonably well.

I'm also only 20 points from clearing the $280 bonus (in lieu of ipod) on littlewoods, so that is not going to take very long at all. Its only paid out in August though, so I won't count it in my bankroll until its actually been paid.

And Colossus - refer to my comment response in the previous post!

Current Bankroll: $8,750

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Internet down

My ISP was down for the first time that I can actually remember in the last 3 years.

Extremely annoying as I probably could have put in a good one hour session.

Oh well. I wonder if they will refund me for my foregone winnings?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Respecting my raises?

I've read a few people posting on their blogs that they have moved up limits so that people will respect their raises.

Are you guys crazy?? I want people to be calling my raises light. Any time my AA gets called by A6 or some other trash I know i'm in a great position to win a fair few extra bets, particularly if another A flops. Yes you do get sucked out on more often because you will be up against more opponents, but for every suckout you probably win an extra 10BBs from them, and probably more. These are the players I make my profit out of, and if it weren't for these guys, there's no way i'd be making any money out of poker. Of course I complain about the nasty beats though :) ... but what makes me even more than those beats are those guys calling me down with trash when I have a moderate (but winning) to monster (and dominating) hand.

In my brief session last night on Littlewoods, I managed to get sucked out on about 5 times, which was starting to get annoying by these guys calling very light. J4o in the big blind beat my A9s UTG raise, my AK went down to A6o when a 6 hit on the river .. etc etc.

However, in the same session I had one guy call with 4c5c in the SB when I had raised from the CO with Ah5h. I suspect that might be a half reasonable call at Nolimit against a small raise, but I can't see how that can be a good call in Limit Holdem. Anyways, the flop came 8h3h2h which gave me the nuts, barring the board pairing by the river. He raised, and I chose to flat call the flop, which is probably one of the very very few times that I have ever slowplayed a flop. (I'm still not sure it was the right decision). Turn was something like the Js, which he raised, and at this point I reraised. Now to me, someone flatting the flop and then raising the turn indicates a pretty big hand usually, and he called my reraise. The river was the Ac which effectively gave him the nut straight, which was obviously still losing to any flush, which I had. He has then raised and 3 bet me on the river, which of course I capped and took down a $90ish pot. I think he was way too aggressive on the river, although in his position I probably would have put in a single raise. Although possibly I would have let it go on the flop whilst the pot was so small. (I would actually have folded preflop most likely unless the raiser was raising light and often folded postflop).

There were probably a few other good examples of hands where those guys should not have called my raise preflop and got burnt, when they were dominated, but none of them come to mind at the moment.

I played a little on 24poker, although there weren't many tables running, and those that were, were very tight. Given the significant bonus i'm earning on there, its still probably +EV to play there when the tables are tight, but i'm not going to make much (if anything) from actual play winnings. I ran into a bit of trouble with their live support though, as they stated I hadn't played enough hands to clear my next $50 in bonus. Thinking about it now, I'm absolutely positive that I have, so I will hit them up again tonight. I think it depends a bit on which support person you get as to whether or not they get it right .....

Current Bankroll: $8,650

Monday, June 9, 2008

Clearing away ...

Just had a long weekend which allowed me to put in a good four hours on the poker tables, with mixed success.

The $1/2 tables on 24poker were treating me quite well, although I was struggling to find enough fish to make it really worthwhile. I think i've played enough hands to clear the next $50 in bonus, so I will check that tonight. That will take my total 24poker bonus cleared to $700. Only had one really memorable hand, where my opponent slow playing actually save him money. I believe I was UTG with 66 and raised preflop. He called from the button. Flop was 862r, so obviously I raise the flop, he calls. Turn is a 2, so I bet out again, and he calls. River is a 6 giving me quads, which I bet out. He then raises, I reraise and he caps the river before flipping over 88 for a boat. So his flat calling on the flop and turn ended up saving him a few BBs, as i'm sure I would have capped the flop, and probably reraised the turn before slowing down.

The $3/6 tables on Littlewoods, however, were another story. They were actually a lot fishier than the $1/2 tables on 24, however, the fish were again managing to kill me. My AK twice lost to 86o and 84s in the space of about 4 hands. I capped another hand preflop with QQ, and had someone donk into my raise and then call on both the flop and turn with a J high board. The river showed a K and he of course flips over KTo .... ARGH. There went a $108 pot. Annoying to say the least. Some other chump calls my UTG raise (me holding AKs) with T7s, and obviously my AK flop ends up getting flush rivered. ARGH

On the plus side I released $200 in bonuses from those tables and accrued about $70 in rakeback. Only another 150MPPs or so before I clear the biggest part of the bonus, the $280 for clearing the 1,000 MPPs. Looking forward to that!!!

I'll then clear another 500 MPPs for another $200 in bonus, and $50ish in rakeback.

Anyways my total bankroll is almost back up to my all time high, so I guess I can't really complain.

Current Bankroll: $8,600

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Bonus getting even better!

Another quick session last night, firstly on Party to ensure I don't lose my bonus ranking there. Turned out to be a stupid decision, as I managed to lose a quick $50 to earn about $0.50 in bonus cash. (Won't play party again until I have a good reload or free cash!!). Didnt actually play badly, but suffered a few pretty nasty beats.

Littlewoods has given me a bit of a turn around story. For some reason my premium hands are still not holding up all that often, although they are improving, but my other more speculative hands continue to do well. In my database, AQs has now hit 3 times and is a decent winner. KQs has also gone from a loser to a winner. AA continues to bite me, when it came up against 97o..... dont ask. AK has made a slight recovery winning once and losing once since last time, but the win was significantly bigger than the loss. From having 2 wins from 15 sessions, I now have 9 wins from 22, which is 7 wins in a row - maybe i'm not a complete loser!!

Had one small highlight, where a a very aggro muppet had lost a couple hands to me where I let him do the betting into my top pair and he showed down bottom pair once, and J high the other time. (No idea why he called that one, as I was value betting the river each time). He then 3bet me from the BB to my button raise when I had AJ and hit the A on the flop. Of course he bet every street to hit his runner runner straight holding 67o. Very next hand I have J9s in the CO and raise pre again, and again he reraises. Hit my 9 on a T high flop, so I bet and he raises. Time for call down mode, until I hit another 9 on the river, so I raise his river bet. He calls and shows KK ... oops ... but I figure I was owed that one! He might actually not be a complete muppet as he then left the table rather than tilting off his whole buy in.

Ended up making a good 30BBs all up, and cleared some more points to get credited with $100 in bonus cash. Was happy with my table selection discipline too, and was quick to shut down any tables when the fish left.

On to bonuses - Littlewoods has increased their bonus for June as a 'summer promotion'. Effectively now my 1,000mpps will earn me $200 in bonus cash, $280 in lieu of the ipod, and approx $100 in rakeback - an extra $100 over my initial estimate which i thought was a great deal in the first place. Actually also if I do another 500mpps on top of that, I will gain another $200 in bonus (and probably around $50 in rakeback). So I might consider doing that as well now that I think about it.

Current Bankroll: $8,350

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Hmmmmm

Well, finally had some wins on Littlewoods. Three tables in a row even for about 25BBs. Although it started in negative territory when my QQ got rivered by a K with someone holding nothing other than the K and chasing it down. After that however, a few limpers helped me limp into pots from late position and the Big blind and hit the flop extremely hard, which gave me some good wins with fairly trash hands.

At the same time, however, 24poker $1/2 tables were full of fish who were killing me. The number of times I lost to 84o, 68o, 73o were incredible. I had two players on the table with VPIPs of over 80, and they were hitting the flop every time, and often harder than my over pair, AK, AQ etc. And when they didn't hit the flop, they managed to chase down runner runner straights, flushes, 2 pairs and 3 of a kind.

At least I cleared another $50 of the bonus on there.

I played quite a solid game and really concentrated in a TAG/LAG style for the 6max tables. In the end it did pay off, but could have been a lot better if the fish weren't killing me! (and then giving it all away to the only other TAG/LAG on the table)

Current bankroll: $8,200

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Getting colder!!

Another terrible session for me, including the usual horrendous beats. Had my AA flop A74r and obviously someone with 96s calls down and hits their runner runner flush for a 17BB pot. Next hand I recieve AK, and flop AK2r. Obviously get called down by QTo who hits their J on the river for another 20BB pot.

Manage to lose with AA again about 4 hands later. Talk about a roller coaster ... AA WOOHOO ... turn, river ... lose showdown ARGH! I then score QQ .. A on the river of course to lose, get AK again and flop AA7r, runner runner flush again to lose. Also managed to lose another AA to 52o again with the straight hitting on the river - that must be my bogey hand.

Overall I managed to drop another 90BBs (at $2/4). Maybe i've developed some leaks in my game?? I had a quick check of pokertracker.

On littlewoods, out of my 15 tables played, I have won 2 sessions. Normally I would win 8 of those. Weird.

Checked my summary tab on Pokertracker to find if there were any hands in particular that were costing me heaps. Some of my big losers are AA, AKs, AK, AQo (haven't even had AQs yet), ATs, AT, KK, KQs, KQ, KJs (actually not a single K hand is green), QQ, QJs, TT, 99, 88. I guess I should be happy that at least JJ is currently a winner?? Sheesh.

At least i've cleared almost half of the requirements for my Littlewoods bonus .. although at this rate the bonus will be less than what i've lost!!! I'm sure my hands will start holding up soon though! I won't include any of the bonus in my bankroll though until it clears.

Current bankroll: $8,100

Monday, June 2, 2008

another cooler

I guess it was overdue, but had a brief, but nasty little session of only about half an hour - which also happened to be my first session on Littlewoods. Hopefully they go better in future!

In that time though I managed to lose 60BBs ... although fortunate in some ways, 50 of them were at the $1/2 tables and 10BBs at the $2/4 tables.

It was just one of those sessions where nothing goes right. I had a massive fish next to me, although unfortunately on my left. He had a VPIP of 90% so was basically seeing every hand, even to a raise, and then either calling or raising with bottom pair all the way to showdown, so my position really didn't matter too much. What was bad for me though was that I was scoring premium starting hands a LOT to give me a VPIP of around 40% but everytime I was involved in a hand with the fish, he'd actually suck something out.

My AA got cracked by 52o when his runner runner straight hit, my KK got cracked by J9 with a turn J and river 9, My AJ got cracked by A3 (where he reraised my raise preflop!!!). My JJ got done by a river A. No flush draws hit and I missed three OESDs. (As I said, I received a LOT of premium hands!!). What was even more annoying was the other guys at the table were calling my fish down with A high or even worse and were beating him, effectively transferring my cash to them! ARGH. I slightly tilted in one hand calling down with A high on a very dangerous board, which I think was just after he beat me on another hand with 82o v my AKs.

Oh well, I'll get it back next time .. and i've already earned about 60 MPPs towards my 1000MPPs to clear the $480ish worth of bonus.

Current Bankroll: $8,500

Sunday, June 1, 2008

This month's plans changed already!

Played a couple hours on the weekend for an okay result in the end. Started off horribly when I ended up playing 3 handed versus a couple chumps. They would call everything, and given I was receiving quite a few premium hands, this would normally be a good thing. Unfortunately 63o was way too strong for QQ, KK was not good enough against 92s … etc. Dropped a good 25BBs on the $2/4 table on 24.


Managed to get half of that back on the $1/2 tables though, and made a quick 15BBs on a $3/6 table on Cake where one player was generous enough to bet/raise into me when I was holding the nuts.

Overall, I cleared $100 of my 24poker bonus, so now I have $400 left to clear.

However, I’ve already decided to shift my goals for the month (or 2 months). Found a new bonus that I’m going to grab which I think is a very attractive deal (non US players though unfortunately for you guys who are US based). For this deal, once cleared you get:

- $100 in sign up bonus
- $280 / or an ipod. (If you are a Euro player you get the ipod, if not you get the cash!)
- $100 approx in rakeback (30%)

To do this you have to earn 1,000 mpps by 31 July 2008. Which at the $2/4 level is probably around 1,500-2,000 hands. Now I think a return of somewhere between 25c and 35c per hand is a pretty good deal, and won’t take all that long to clear.

To sign up you need to go through Raketherake and sign up with Littlewoods (provided you don’t already have an account there). Again, here’s my link for anyone interested (and I’d greatly appreciate it)!!!

http://www.raketherake.com/?refer=RTR23533

Looks like I’ll be a busy beaver clearing that bonus and finishing the 24 one. I'll also make sure I do the William Hill bonus too, but the others may have to take a back seat.

Current bankroll: $8,650