Patience is a virtue on the poker table

I managed to play an unusually large 4 hours over the weekend, which is quite a lot for me these days. A one and a half hour session was driven by a raketherake freeroll this morning so that gave me the chance to multitable a few cash games at the same time.

In my one and a half hour session on the Saturday, my bankroll literally did not move. I think the biggest swing would have been about 5BBs, and that's with 4 tables open at the same time, mixed between $1/2, $2/4 and $3/6, and all of which I had position on a pretty big fish. Thank god for rakeback or it would have been a complete waste of time. As it is, i've probably made a decent chunk of rakeback out of it. (And am not far from clearing my 30 pound bonus on interpoker).

On one table the player to my left was running at 65%/0%/0.3/45% ... so basically a huge fish. The player to his left was running at 96%/4%/.2/60% - a super massive fish, about as big as you can get. However, in 100 hands, the 96%/4% guy also had a W$SD of 60%. She basically won over half of the hands played for 100 hands solid. She ended up about 80BB/100. It was interesting to hear in the table talk that even though she was up about $150 ($1/2 table), she was actually down $600 for the day - not really surprising to be honest. I ended up actually down a couple BBs by the time the two fish left which was disappointing, but that's poker - sometimes the fish do win over a fair sample of hands. I guess it could have been a lot worse, but the guy to my immediate left donated a fair few BBs to me, even after the player before him kept on sucking out.

My first hour on Sunday was almost the exact opposite. Although I still had good position on a couple of fish, these were more aggressive than the day before. Add on me flopping the nuts or turning the nuts, and these guys are reraising and capping the flop and turn, I found myself up a good 60BBs, mainly across the $1/2 and $2/4 tables. Obviously I lost a few pretty big pots versus their aggressiveness when they did hit, but they paid me off at least a couple 25BB pots. Interestingly I was at a very low VPIP of around 21%, so I guess my patience in waiting for the right spots was actually paying off. At the same time, this result actually put my play at Bodog back into the green, so i'm actually showing a very small, but positive BB/100. Interpoker also continues to improve.

The cash tables when I played the freeroll were back to Saturday's form. I did managed to start off in front a few BBs but basically just didn't get anywhere. I had a couple great tables going, but a few nasty suck outs and any profit quickly evaporated.

I couldn't actually find the hand that I really wanted to post, but here's a couple others. Although they may not be particularly interesting, I may have made a mistake or two so will post them anyways:

Hand 1:

$1/$2 Limit Holdem • 6 Players
UTG 49.13 (bit of a lagfish)
Hero (UTG+1) 48
CO 94.5 (taggish)
BTN 101.38
SB 75.19
BB 58.33 (loose fish)
Pre-Flop (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with KhTh (not bad but can be a trouble hand)

UTG calls, Hero raises, CO 3-bets, 2 folds, BB calls, UTG calls, Hero calls

Flop (12.5 SB, 4 players) (i obviously have to bet here, but the 3 bet kinda sux)

6h8hQd (FD so looks good given the pot is so big)

BB checks, UTG bets, Hero calls, CO raises, BB calls, UTG calls, Hero calls (i'm just calling the UTG bet given CO is still to act behind and i'd hate him to raise out a caller or two. UTG open limped then called 2, and has now donked. Weird line, although he is a bit of a LAG but quite loose with a 50 VPIP. Possibly trips? CO raise after me kinda sux though ... AA, JJ, TT, 99? AK overplayed? AQ most likely? QQ would be annoying. I can't let go the K high FD obviously)

Turn (10.2 BB, 4 players)

Qh (gives me my flush ... but also pairs the board)

BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, CO calls, BB calls, UTG raises, Hero calls, CO calls, BB calls (After 2 checks I'm raising here. Not super confident after the UTG c/r, but pot is way too big to fold and I could easily be in front. He might even have Ah)

River (18.2 BB, 4 players)

2s (excellent card for me .. complete blank)

BB checks, UTG bets, Hero calls ......

Would you play same? (results to come)

Hand 2:

$1/$2 Limit Holdem • 6 Players
UTG 94.46
UTG+1 16.65
CO 56
BTN 66.15
SB 36
Hero (BB) 59.4
Pre-Flop (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is BB 7h4h (kinda sux .. but possibly playable)

1 fold, UTG+1 calls, CO raises, 1 fold, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls (I called here only because UTG+1 was an extreme passive so i figure i'm getting 7:1)
Flop (8.0 SB, 4 players)

7s8h4d (awesome. i'm hoping CO is on either big paint and drawing almost dead or a big pair drawing very slim)

SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 bets, CO raises, SB folds, Hero 3-bets, UTG+1 calls, CO 4-bets, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls (i'm going for the c/r here with my check. Surely no one has 65, and there is absolutely no way CO is in front unless he has 88 .. which he may have overlimped with rather than raising preflop. The cap is somewhat disappointing, but i'm hoping he's on a big pair.)
Turn (9.0 BB, 3 players)

3d

Hero bets, UTG+1 calls, CO calls (I was debating a c/r here, but thought I really don't want this to get checked through. Since he just called I'm sure he's not on 88. UTG+1 could be chasing a gutshot I think. With two diamonds on the board I figured it would suck to get checked through and another diamond on the river)
River (12.0 BB, 3 players)

2s (sweet .. a blank)

Hero bets, UTG+1 calls, CO folds (i was a bit surprised by the CO fold here, but meh)
Final Pot: 15.0 BB
Hero shows 7h4h
UTG+1 shows Ad8s

Hero wins 14.2 BB ( won +9.2 BB )

Oh ... almost forgot, my freeroll. Jeez, these things are frustrating. It was only a $3k, 110 player raketherake freeroll on Interpoker, and after an hour and a half I found myself on a slightly smaller than average stack (say 4.5k avg 5k), with blinds about 200/400 or 300/600 and a smallish ante. I'm in the CO with 88, and there is one limper from middle position. I shove and get called by the super short stack buttong, and also SB who has a stack of 6k with AKo. Flop included an A, and supershortstack was holding one of my 8 outs, and its goodbye to me. So about an hour and a half for nothing. At least I earnt a bit of rakeback on my other 3 cash tables whilst playing it though! I really should read some poker theory on how to play tourneys. Maybe shoving at that stage is not the right play at all. The chip leaders at the time only had about 15k though so i'd have been right back in it if i'd held up.

Current bankroll: $15,200