Thought i'd ease into July with a brief midweek session when I know its going to be hard to find decent tables.
Ended up jumping on a $5/10 table where I recognised three guys to the right of a vacant seat as massive fish - one's who liked to call down with dominated hands / bottom pair etc. So, the order of the day was no bluffing, and call down with any good hands.
That strategy rapidly dropped me about 15BBs, but eventually I had a few hands hold up to finish my 20 minute session up about 10BBs. Could have actually been a bit better but had a couple nasty hands, where in one I ran my flopped nut straight into a rivered flush, and another where I split a big pot where I had a nut straight but one of my cards paired on the river giving my opponent the same nut straight when he was drawing to gutshot.
Interesting timing on the Blindman's comment in that I was just considering getting back into Microgaming last night. I remember it being pretty fishy there, and I need a site with a few more tables running to allow me to table select a bit more (or actually multitable with a few more tables open simultaneously).
I'm yet to try Cake at the $5/10 level, but i'll keep an eye out.
Current bankroll: $18,650
July time played: 30m
July profit/(loss): $100
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
June 2009 Summary
My poker month didn't really start until the 8th as I was off Honeymooning and had better things to do.
I still put in 15 hours though, so not too bad, and generally ran pretty well, which is a change from the last few months. After three months of losing at the tables, and only staying in the black through rakeback/bonuses, its good to clear a profit from actual play.
After complaining about no Cake reloads for a while, I actually received another two reloads here as well. I dunno who runs their promotions department, but doing two reloads in the space of a week seems a little odd. Particularly after no reloads for a few months.
The only small significance was a brief hit up of the $5/10 tables where i've never played before, and having a small success there. Haven't been able to find any super fishy tables since then, but i'll keep on the look out, as it appears new players often just go to that level even with no clue.
Not sure how much volume i'll actually get in for July. Will see how it goes, but i'm not expecting a huge amount.
Last month's goals for June:
For July the goals in order of priority are again pretty similar to June:
May time played: 15h
May profit / (loss): $850
I still put in 15 hours though, so not too bad, and generally ran pretty well, which is a change from the last few months. After three months of losing at the tables, and only staying in the black through rakeback/bonuses, its good to clear a profit from actual play.
After complaining about no Cake reloads for a while, I actually received another two reloads here as well. I dunno who runs their promotions department, but doing two reloads in the space of a week seems a little odd. Particularly after no reloads for a few months.
The only small significance was a brief hit up of the $5/10 tables where i've never played before, and having a small success there. Haven't been able to find any super fishy tables since then, but i'll keep on the look out, as it appears new players often just go to that level even with no clue.
Not sure how much volume i'll actually get in for July. Will see how it goes, but i'm not expecting a huge amount.
Last month's goals for June:
- Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible (cleared only about $20 - accidently had full tables hidden so didn't even see all the juicy tables in the lobby!)
- Clear some of my Cake reload that I received at the end of May (cleared only about $20 here as well)
- Take advantage of the 40%+ rakeback at William Hill for June through RakeTheRake (cleared maybe $1 worth as I decided the tables weren't often fishy enough to bother with)
- Play some more Pacific if it seems fishy (actually did play a bit here - but often there's not many tables running)
- Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?) (didnt get round to it .. never seem to)
The gain of $850 for the month was made up of:
Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $180- Bodog $30
- Cake $40
- Pacific $80
- Fulltilt $30
Poker bankroll Interest: $60
Poker profits: $610For July the goals in order of priority are again pretty similar to June:
- Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible
- Clear some of my Cake reload that I received at the end of May & June
- Play some more Pacific if it seems fishy
- Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?)
May time played: 15h
May profit / (loss): $850
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Here fishy .....
Played a couple hours friday night, and another couple Saturday morning, but that was it for the weekend.
Friday night was interesting as I found one nice $3/6 table on Pacific, which had a couple big fish to my right and a couple tags to my left.
I fairly quickly found myself 30BBs down to mostly nasty beats .. such as a runner, runner flush to muppet calling 92s followed quickly by another runner runner flush by a guy with 65o and no pair. A few more of those beats and i'm kinda swearing under my breath.
Then it turned around. One hand had 4 limpers into my 82o in the big blind. Flop was a hail Mary 822 with 2 spades. I bet out and get three callers to a 9 on the turn which also put a flush draw on the board. Turn I bet out and get c/raised by the fish to my right, although he doesn't cap my three bet. River is a Q but didn't complete the flush and one guy folds although guy to my right c/r's me again. He flips over JTo for a rivered straight, and a decent pay off to me.
Half an hour later and i've recovered all 30BB and in the next half hour i've added another 10. All in all a nice little result after a rubbish start.
Saturday's session was a bit more run of the mill - ended up with 4 tables open across cake and bodog at only $1/2 as I couldn't seem to find any empty seats next to the fish. No matter how hard I looked. The $1/2 tables were good though, as I seemed to be consistently adding a few BBs to my stack each orbit. All of a sudden i'm up about 50BBs there as well. Eventually I find a decent $2/4 table and $3/6 table where I started on fire up about 20BBs before giving 10 back.
Cake has also been kind enough to offer another reload over the weekend so I took that up, although now i've got more bonus cash there than I can probably clear. No matter, they no longer charge deposit or withdrawal fees. Kind of weird - they can have no reloads for several months, and then all of a sudden they do two in the space of a week.
I also realised I have been a bit of a muppet on my Bodog table selection - i'd accidently left "do not show full tables" checked so I wasn't actually seeing most of the tables that i'd normally add myself to the waiting list to without a second thought. At least that's fixed now.
Current bankroll: $18,550
June time played: 15h
June profit/(loss): $850
Friday night was interesting as I found one nice $3/6 table on Pacific, which had a couple big fish to my right and a couple tags to my left.
I fairly quickly found myself 30BBs down to mostly nasty beats .. such as a runner, runner flush to muppet calling 92s followed quickly by another runner runner flush by a guy with 65o and no pair. A few more of those beats and i'm kinda swearing under my breath.
Then it turned around. One hand had 4 limpers into my 82o in the big blind. Flop was a hail Mary 822 with 2 spades. I bet out and get three callers to a 9 on the turn which also put a flush draw on the board. Turn I bet out and get c/raised by the fish to my right, although he doesn't cap my three bet. River is a Q but didn't complete the flush and one guy folds although guy to my right c/r's me again. He flips over JTo for a rivered straight, and a decent pay off to me.
Half an hour later and i've recovered all 30BB and in the next half hour i've added another 10. All in all a nice little result after a rubbish start.
Saturday's session was a bit more run of the mill - ended up with 4 tables open across cake and bodog at only $1/2 as I couldn't seem to find any empty seats next to the fish. No matter how hard I looked. The $1/2 tables were good though, as I seemed to be consistently adding a few BBs to my stack each orbit. All of a sudden i'm up about 50BBs there as well. Eventually I find a decent $2/4 table and $3/6 table where I started on fire up about 20BBs before giving 10 back.
Cake has also been kind enough to offer another reload over the weekend so I took that up, although now i've got more bonus cash there than I can probably clear. No matter, they no longer charge deposit or withdrawal fees. Kind of weird - they can have no reloads for several months, and then all of a sudden they do two in the space of a week.
I also realised I have been a bit of a muppet on my Bodog table selection - i'd accidently left "do not show full tables" checked so I wasn't actually seeing most of the tables that i'd normally add myself to the waiting list to without a second thought. At least that's fixed now.
Current bankroll: $18,550
June time played: 15h
June profit/(loss): $850
Thursday, June 25, 2009
5 minutes
Didnt really have time to play last night, and in fact only sat down on a 4 handed $1/2 table for a whole 2 orbits.
Got called down with TT by 55 one hand and another hand I had two calling me down when I raised preflop with KQ and flopped a K, and then turned a Q. Its nice when guys call down drawing slim, and even dead on the river as they flip over K3o and Q6o.
Might get in a bit of play over the weekend with any luck, but I think the main times that i'll be playing are off peak, so it will be a struggle to find good tables.
Good luck over the weekend guys.
Current bankroll: $18,300
June time played: 11h
June profit/(loss): $600
Got called down with TT by 55 one hand and another hand I had two calling me down when I raised preflop with KQ and flopped a K, and then turned a Q. Its nice when guys call down drawing slim, and even dead on the river as they flip over K3o and Q6o.
Might get in a bit of play over the weekend with any luck, but I think the main times that i'll be playing are off peak, so it will be a struggle to find good tables.
Good luck over the weekend guys.
Current bankroll: $18,300
June time played: 11h
June profit/(loss): $600
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Slight turbulence
Found a couple good tables to play on last night - a slight miracle for midweek.
However, it was a bit of a bumpy ride, with me dropping 30BBs in total on a $3/6 and $2/4 table in the first 5 minutes where I scored some premium hands in the first orbit, only to see them all get sucked out on.
The next 50 minutes were spent treading water, as I just couldn't get paid back by the couple fish to my right.
The next 5 minutes resulted in the fish actually paying me back, when my KK held up 4 ways on a Qh7h3s then 6h turn to give me that sinking feeling. River blanked, and all three fish called me down on both the turn and river. Add AQ on a board of AJJ against a super aggro fish who decided his TT was good versus my preflop 3bet, and continued to think he was good facing my flop and turn raise.
The last half hour was a different session, and that one started down, and stayed down. I made one fold where I had 88 which was capped 3 ways preflop. The flop was T62 with two hearts, and after my check out of position there was a raise and reraise so I folded. Unfortunately for me they ended up flipping over AKo and AQs for A high and my 8s would have held up. I still don't think its a bad fold though.
In the end I was stuck for almost $100, and at worst I was down about $180 so it wasn't too bad in the end.
It seems like the last few days have been stuck in mild turbulence - up a bit one day, and down a bit the next. Should get a small rakeback credit shortly which will help the bankroll a little too.
Current bankroll: $18,250
June time played: 11h
June profit/(loss): $550
However, it was a bit of a bumpy ride, with me dropping 30BBs in total on a $3/6 and $2/4 table in the first 5 minutes where I scored some premium hands in the first orbit, only to see them all get sucked out on.
The next 50 minutes were spent treading water, as I just couldn't get paid back by the couple fish to my right.
The next 5 minutes resulted in the fish actually paying me back, when my KK held up 4 ways on a Qh7h3s then 6h turn to give me that sinking feeling. River blanked, and all three fish called me down on both the turn and river. Add AQ on a board of AJJ against a super aggro fish who decided his TT was good versus my preflop 3bet, and continued to think he was good facing my flop and turn raise.
The last half hour was a different session, and that one started down, and stayed down. I made one fold where I had 88 which was capped 3 ways preflop. The flop was T62 with two hearts, and after my check out of position there was a raise and reraise so I folded. Unfortunately for me they ended up flipping over AKo and AQs for A high and my 8s would have held up. I still don't think its a bad fold though.
In the end I was stuck for almost $100, and at worst I was down about $180 so it wasn't too bad in the end.
It seems like the last few days have been stuck in mild turbulence - up a bit one day, and down a bit the next. Should get a small rakeback credit shortly which will help the bankroll a little too.
Current bankroll: $18,250
June time played: 11h
June profit/(loss): $550
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A session that went to plan
Got in an hour last night, and managed to find several of my favourite fish.
A couple had 70%+ vpip's who were often hellbent on getting to showdown which generally works in your favour except for the odd runner runner straight or flush. Another wasn't the best type of fish in terms of preflop stats in that he was around 50% vpip with a pfr of 20%. However, he was weak in terms of going to showdown around 50% of the time, so you knew he was showing down crap reasonably often.
The session then basically did go to plan, with only a bit of a loss early on a $2/4 table when one of my 70% guys hit a runner runner nut straight with J7o versus my AK on a AK3TQ board. Well chased. He gave it back to me later on though, plus another 10BBs on top of that.
Add a solid 25BBs on a $1/2 table where a couple guys seemed to want to just give their money away when they were bluffing consistently with complete air, such as 6 high with no draw.
And another 10BBs on a $3/6 table which I could only stay on for two orbits when the fish on my right was replaced by a TAG and overall my session was pretty decent.
I also got an email last night from Neteller saying that they've removed the dormancy fee from their Net plus card. They'd actually called me the other month wanting to walk me through applying for the card, but I had declined as I didn't want to pay a dormancy fee as i'd rarely use the card.
I'll probably order a card now, as its a fairly easy way for me to withdraw any of my bankroll - although the currency conversion fee is 3%. Recently i've only been cashing out my monthly rakeback from RakeBackStat as they have cash outs as an option for rakeback from some of their rooms, so its good to have another option.
Current bankroll: $18,350
June time played: 9h30m
June profit/(loss): $650
A couple had 70%+ vpip's who were often hellbent on getting to showdown which generally works in your favour except for the odd runner runner straight or flush. Another wasn't the best type of fish in terms of preflop stats in that he was around 50% vpip with a pfr of 20%. However, he was weak in terms of going to showdown around 50% of the time, so you knew he was showing down crap reasonably often.
The session then basically did go to plan, with only a bit of a loss early on a $2/4 table when one of my 70% guys hit a runner runner nut straight with J7o versus my AK on a AK3TQ board. Well chased. He gave it back to me later on though, plus another 10BBs on top of that.
Add a solid 25BBs on a $1/2 table where a couple guys seemed to want to just give their money away when they were bluffing consistently with complete air, such as 6 high with no draw.
And another 10BBs on a $3/6 table which I could only stay on for two orbits when the fish on my right was replaced by a TAG and overall my session was pretty decent.
I also got an email last night from Neteller saying that they've removed the dormancy fee from their Net plus card. They'd actually called me the other month wanting to walk me through applying for the card, but I had declined as I didn't want to pay a dormancy fee as i'd rarely use the card.
I'll probably order a card now, as its a fairly easy way for me to withdraw any of my bankroll - although the currency conversion fee is 3%. Recently i've only been cashing out my monthly rakeback from RakeBackStat as they have cash outs as an option for rakeback from some of their rooms, so its good to have another option.
Current bankroll: $18,350
June time played: 9h30m
June profit/(loss): $650
Monday, June 22, 2009
Brief but missed
Played about half an hour last night, and managed to find a couple particularly fishy $3/6 tables - one on Cake where my notes said that the player to my right would play any two cards, even to a raise in many cases.
After losing to him twice with my AK on a board of A334T, and with KK on a board of T8J48 versus his 83o I found my notes to be spot on the mark, but results relatively ugly.
I found a similar table on Fulltilt, and again had similar results, managing to drop about 35BBs in my half hour session. I did manage to win one showdown which was nice ....
I'll search for them again tomorrow I think. Hopefully they can give some of that back.
Current bankroll: $18,200
June time played: 8h30m
June profit/(loss): $500
After losing to him twice with my AK on a board of A334T, and with KK on a board of T8J48 versus his 83o I found my notes to be spot on the mark, but results relatively ugly.
I found a similar table on Fulltilt, and again had similar results, managing to drop about 35BBs in my half hour session. I did manage to win one showdown which was nice ....
I'll search for them again tomorrow I think. Hopefully they can give some of that back.
Current bankroll: $18,200
June time played: 8h30m
June profit/(loss): $500
Sunday, June 21, 2009
In the beginning
"Mr Cea said...
How much did u start with and what site? what level?"
Maybe it's time to revisit how I started. Step one - I clicked on my very first post for a bit of a refresh as to how my blog started. Step 2 - realise i've omitted a bit. Step 3 - write this post
I actually originally started with a $50 deposit on Party Poker in about May 2007. I think I had just downloaded a basic starting hand table for fixed limit full ring poker so thought i'd give it a go at the 0.05/0.10 tables.
I didn't really know anything about bonuses etc although I had found a bonus code for party, and then managed to input it incorrectly and missed out on the bonus.
With just that basic poker knowledge I was able to make a pretty steady profit, albeit relatively small in $ terms due to the small stakes. At this point I decided to buy Phil Helmuth's book and read that before realising it wasn't that helpful to the games I was playing. I also watched Annie Duke's DVD which was something about the basics of online play. I think it briefly covered both limit and no limit and had some decent common sense.
Something along the lines of my reading lead me to 2p2 and the realisation that a) I should be using some kind of poker tracking software (both for my own game and analysing others) and b) I was nuts to be playing without any sort of bonus or rakeback (i'd now finally learnt about rake and what it was).
At that point I had moved up to 0.1/0.2 and the occaional 0.25/0.50 fixed limit on Party but realised I couldn't get a deal there as I already had an account. So in July 2007 I decided to take up the fulltilt rakeback offer and $600 sign up bonus through RakeTheRake. I decided I could afford a $600 (although probably closer to $900 Australian) commitment, and with any luck i'd be able to withdraw it back so that I was only playing with profit.
I also purchased pokertracker and learnt how to use and interpret the information it provided as well as how to set up a HUD. I'm still using PT2 and gametime+ as a HUD - although i'm sure i'd be better off with a more comprehensive HUD. If Holdem manager didn't crash on my Vista64 install suspect i'd be using that now.
I believe the smallest tables at the time on Fulltilt were .25/.50 so I started there and at the same time read a heap on playing 6max rather than fullring - starting with 2p2 and then also getting stox's book when that came out.
I fairly quickly switched over to playing purely 6max as I found fullring a little boring. Interestingly enough though i'm fairly conservative by nature so fullring probably suits my personality better, but now that i've found how to play a decent 6max game I can't see myself ever going back. Supershort though is a bit of a struggle for me, so I just don't play it.
I gradually added tables so that eventually I was playing 6 tables of .25/50 or .50/1 6max fixed limit. My initial results weren't even that good and I was barely profiting even with rakeback. But since I was playing a few tables at a high rake game, I was clearing the bonus pretty quick and even occasionally had shots at the $1/2 tables just to clear it even quicker. As another side note, I usually only play four tables maximum now and even that was a bit of a struggle yesterday. Since i'm much more picky on table selection its often difficult to get a lot of tables running so i'm a bit out of practice.
After that bonus cleared, I found i'd only marginally improved my bankroll, but my play had improved significantly. I then went on the search for other bonuses elsewhere such as a stack of them through Poker Source which gave me a much bigger kick start to the bankroll with well over 100% rakeback.
Hmm and that's a very long winded answer to a pretty short and simple question.
Early morning freeroll rethink
Got up at 4.30am yesterday to play in a $5k freeroll with about 65 runners who actually bothered to turn up.
Ran okay early and actually doubled up with KK, scored AA twice but everyone folded to my 3BB raise. After that though I was pretty card dead, and stayed afloat stealing a few blinds, although got caught a couple times which didn't help the image.
Eventually though I was down to 9BBs and had 99 UTG with 7 other players on the table. I pushed all in and then got called by the BB who had a little over 7BBs. He flips over KQo, and I figure i'm a fair chance when the flop is T73r. Turn J gives him a gutshot as well, however he doesn't need that when the river is a Q and i'm basically out next hand.
I then felt like crap all day because I hadn't really slept that well. Not sure if I can be bothered getting up that early in future. Maybe I will if I sleep okay, but just stay in bed if not. Bring on daylight saving - at least then the starting time is 6.30am which is a bit more reasonable.
At the same time I played a $1/2 cash table on Bodog which stripped 25BBs from me in the hour that I played the tournament for. A couple massive fish were winning at 65BB/100 and there was nothing much I could do. I ended up winning a fairly poor 30% of showdowns for the session.
However, that contrasts with the rest of the weekend where I played a total of about two and a half hours, and generally won every other single small session on Cake, Bodog, Fulltilt and Pacific to end up a couple hundred for the weekend.
So overall a decent result, apart from feeling ill for a whole day, which just wasn't worth it given I didn't even cash.
Current bankroll: $18,400
June time played: 8h
June profit/(loss): $700
Ran okay early and actually doubled up with KK, scored AA twice but everyone folded to my 3BB raise. After that though I was pretty card dead, and stayed afloat stealing a few blinds, although got caught a couple times which didn't help the image.
Eventually though I was down to 9BBs and had 99 UTG with 7 other players on the table. I pushed all in and then got called by the BB who had a little over 7BBs. He flips over KQo, and I figure i'm a fair chance when the flop is T73r. Turn J gives him a gutshot as well, however he doesn't need that when the river is a Q and i'm basically out next hand.
I then felt like crap all day because I hadn't really slept that well. Not sure if I can be bothered getting up that early in future. Maybe I will if I sleep okay, but just stay in bed if not. Bring on daylight saving - at least then the starting time is 6.30am which is a bit more reasonable.
At the same time I played a $1/2 cash table on Bodog which stripped 25BBs from me in the hour that I played the tournament for. A couple massive fish were winning at 65BB/100 and there was nothing much I could do. I ended up winning a fairly poor 30% of showdowns for the session.
However, that contrasts with the rest of the weekend where I played a total of about two and a half hours, and generally won every other single small session on Cake, Bodog, Fulltilt and Pacific to end up a couple hundred for the weekend.
So overall a decent result, apart from feeling ill for a whole day, which just wasn't worth it given I didn't even cash.
Current bankroll: $18,400
June time played: 8h
June profit/(loss): $700
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Very low volume week
Over the past couple days i've put in half an hour of poker .. total. Stuggled a bit to find good tables, and the only decent one of note - a $4/8 table on Cake broke up after two orbits.
That was time enough to receive about five solid starting hands which I won four of (although a couple just got the blinds) to end up about 10BBs.
Bodog offset part of those gains though where I dropped about 10BBs at $1/2 on one of the fishiest tables i've ever seen. I don't think a single opponent had a vpip under 50. Unfortunately for me, the 70/5 guy sitting on my right managed to run like god for about 30 hands, and I now have just over 100 hands logged against him and he's running at +68BB/100. Go figure.
Anyways, i'm unlikely to play tonight, so it looks like this will be my last post for the week. Hopefully i'll get in a few hours over the weekend. Good luck all.
Current bankroll: $18,200
June time played: 5h30m
June profit/(loss): $500
That was time enough to receive about five solid starting hands which I won four of (although a couple just got the blinds) to end up about 10BBs.
Bodog offset part of those gains though where I dropped about 10BBs at $1/2 on one of the fishiest tables i've ever seen. I don't think a single opponent had a vpip under 50. Unfortunately for me, the 70/5 guy sitting on my right managed to run like god for about 30 hands, and I now have just over 100 hands logged against him and he's running at +68BB/100. Go figure.
Anyways, i'm unlikely to play tonight, so it looks like this will be my last post for the week. Hopefully i'll get in a few hours over the weekend. Good luck all.
Current bankroll: $18,200
June time played: 5h30m
June profit/(loss): $500
Monday, June 15, 2009
Another brief shot
Struggled a bit to find decent tables again last night.
Had a brief 2 orbit run on a Bodog $1/2 table before the two fish to my right were replaced my TAGs and a similar run on Pacific $3/6 which lasted less than two orbits.
I ended up checking out a fishy looking $5/10 table on Full Tilt, which had three fish that were known to me. All had similar stats around 55/5 and were all fond of playing any two suited cards, and any unsuited connector down to 32o. The only tagish player on the table was to my left and he was one of those guys who were a bit too tight at 22/8.
Anyways, in the first half hour I managed to run AK on a flop of AQ3 into 45o, which rivered a 2. Couple hands later my KK falls to J4s limped utg who rivers his flush. My 67s on a flop of T98 runs into QJ x 2. JJ on a T high flop runs into a runner runner flush versus 49s. All of a sudden i'm 30BBs down, and my shot is looking pretty nasty.
I debated quitting, but the table really hadn't changed. The three players to my right were all 10BB/100+ losers and just happened to be hitting almost every time. Surely this couldn't continue ....
And it didn't. I got a little revenge when 3 of them limped into my BB of 35o and flopped 246r. One of them actually had JJ so I got called and raised to the river. One even said in the chat box that I kept showing down nothing so they would always call me down. Good to know. Although I think i'd only shown down air once ... i'd just been beaten a bunch of times with solid top pair, two pair or even better hands to their ridiculous draws earlier on.
Fast forward 30 minutes and i've recovered my 30BB loss, and am actually up around 8BBs before the table splits up as my fish leave. I didn't make any fancy plays, just solid poker against guys who were often calling with crap.
At one stage I was facing a 3 bet with two cold callers after my early raise UTG with AQs. Flop AT3r and I thought i was looking fairly decent. I got in a c/r and had two of them call again. Turn was a Q to give me two pair and my bet just got called by both. River blanked, and both again call. My fishy mate on the button had actually cold called a 3 bet with QTo. tyvm
Overall another small success at the higher level - although based on the start it could have ended very differently.
Current bankroll: $18,150
June time played: 5h
June profit/(loss): $450
Had a brief 2 orbit run on a Bodog $1/2 table before the two fish to my right were replaced my TAGs and a similar run on Pacific $3/6 which lasted less than two orbits.
I ended up checking out a fishy looking $5/10 table on Full Tilt, which had three fish that were known to me. All had similar stats around 55/5 and were all fond of playing any two suited cards, and any unsuited connector down to 32o. The only tagish player on the table was to my left and he was one of those guys who were a bit too tight at 22/8.
Anyways, in the first half hour I managed to run AK on a flop of AQ3 into 45o, which rivered a 2. Couple hands later my KK falls to J4s limped utg who rivers his flush. My 67s on a flop of T98 runs into QJ x 2. JJ on a T high flop runs into a runner runner flush versus 49s. All of a sudden i'm 30BBs down, and my shot is looking pretty nasty.
I debated quitting, but the table really hadn't changed. The three players to my right were all 10BB/100+ losers and just happened to be hitting almost every time. Surely this couldn't continue ....
And it didn't. I got a little revenge when 3 of them limped into my BB of 35o and flopped 246r. One of them actually had JJ so I got called and raised to the river. One even said in the chat box that I kept showing down nothing so they would always call me down. Good to know. Although I think i'd only shown down air once ... i'd just been beaten a bunch of times with solid top pair, two pair or even better hands to their ridiculous draws earlier on.
Fast forward 30 minutes and i've recovered my 30BB loss, and am actually up around 8BBs before the table splits up as my fish leave. I didn't make any fancy plays, just solid poker against guys who were often calling with crap.
At one stage I was facing a 3 bet with two cold callers after my early raise UTG with AQs. Flop AT3r and I thought i was looking fairly decent. I got in a c/r and had two of them call again. Turn was a Q to give me two pair and my bet just got called by both. River blanked, and both again call. My fishy mate on the button had actually cold called a 3 bet with QTo. tyvm
Overall another small success at the higher level - although based on the start it could have ended very differently.
Current bankroll: $18,150
June time played: 5h
June profit/(loss): $450
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Gave some back
Only had time for an hour of play on the weekend, although the first half hour was a bit of a disaster, dropping 25BBs at $3/6 and 25BBs at $1/2 to give up over half the month's profits to date.
Third hand in on the $3/6 table I receive KK and the betting is capped 3 ways. Flop of Ks9s9h and I bet out and both opponents call. Turn is Qd and betting gets capped. River 2s and betting gets capped again. One villain turns over 99 for quads. Not a good start to the day.
Miss a couple draws and that's me down a quick 25BBs.
The $1/2 table was a bit more of a regulation loss when playing against fish. They hit 4 or 5 draws in a row and suddenly you find yourself 25BBs down.
Fortunately over the remainder of the session I grabbed back all 25BBs at $1/2 and about 10BBs at $3/6 - although I missed a three draws on very large pots which would have put me in front which was unfortunate. Should have earned a bit of rakeback to cushion a bit more of the blow, but in only an hour that wouldn't be too much.
Current bankroll: $18,050
June time played: 4h
June profit/(loss): $350
Third hand in on the $3/6 table I receive KK and the betting is capped 3 ways. Flop of Ks9s9h and I bet out and both opponents call. Turn is Qd and betting gets capped. River 2s and betting gets capped again. One villain turns over 99 for quads. Not a good start to the day.
Miss a couple draws and that's me down a quick 25BBs.
The $1/2 table was a bit more of a regulation loss when playing against fish. They hit 4 or 5 draws in a row and suddenly you find yourself 25BBs down.
Fortunately over the remainder of the session I grabbed back all 25BBs at $1/2 and about 10BBs at $3/6 - although I missed a three draws on very large pots which would have put me in front which was unfortunate. Should have earned a bit of rakeback to cushion a bit more of the blow, but in only an hour that wouldn't be too much.
Current bankroll: $18,050
June time played: 4h
June profit/(loss): $350
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Nice little heater
It has been a bit of a heater to start the month - hopefully a sign of things to come.
After an hour last night I thought i'd have a quick check of my stats in Pokertracker for the month, and it showed I was running at a hugely unsustainable +15BB/100 across Bodog, Fulltilt, William Hill, and Pacific at all levels from $1/2 to $3/6. The relatively few hands i've played on Cake would probably show a similar result as well, but unfortunately I can't track them. Admittedly its only over about 700 hands in total, but a nice little hot run nonetheless.
On Bodog i've actually been running a little cold preflop showing a vpip of about 22% and a PFR of 14% and in terms of premium pairs i've only received KK once and nothing else above 99 in the space of 200 hands - and yet i'm still running at +15BB/100. I think a few fish have donated me quite a few BBs there when they've let me limp in with crap from the BB which has hit the flop hard.
I was also actually going to play a freeroll this morning, but it was 5am and I couldn't be knackered getting up that early.
Current bankroll: $18,150
June time played: 3h
June profit/(loss): $450
After an hour last night I thought i'd have a quick check of my stats in Pokertracker for the month, and it showed I was running at a hugely unsustainable +15BB/100 across Bodog, Fulltilt, William Hill, and Pacific at all levels from $1/2 to $3/6. The relatively few hands i've played on Cake would probably show a similar result as well, but unfortunately I can't track them. Admittedly its only over about 700 hands in total, but a nice little hot run nonetheless.
On Bodog i've actually been running a little cold preflop showing a vpip of about 22% and a PFR of 14% and in terms of premium pairs i've only received KK once and nothing else above 99 in the space of 200 hands - and yet i'm still running at +15BB/100. I think a few fish have donated me quite a few BBs there when they've let me limp in with crap from the BB which has hit the flop hard.
I was also actually going to play a freeroll this morning, but it was 5am and I couldn't be knackered getting up that early.
Current bankroll: $18,150
June time played: 3h
June profit/(loss): $450
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tapping on the glass
Okay i've got to make a real effort to not tap on the glass when the fish are playing. For one, its a huge battle midweek to actualy find fishy tables, and two, it might alert other players that you know what you are doing, and three, I might get myself chat banned on another site.
So from now on, no chatting in the cash tables.
That being said, I only played all of 15 minutes yesterday, and only found three tables worth playing on - one at $2/4 which within my first orbit the fish left, and the second a $1/2 table on Bodog, where I had a couple fish to my right, who were replaced by TAGs within a couple orbits, so I had to quit there as well. I played about three orbits on a four handed table which had two known fish to my right and one TAG to my left.
I ended up about even on the $2/4 table, but the $1/2 tables were a bit more generous where I started down about 5BBs when I missed a draw on both tables, before turning the nut flush 3 ways on the first table and flopping a fullhouse in a limped pot on the short table where all 3 opponents called me down all the way. A couple more decent hands that held up before the fish left, and I quit up a quick 20BBs and my bankroll has hit the $18k mark for the first time.
Current bankroll: $18,000
June time played: 2h
June profit/(loss): $300
So from now on, no chatting in the cash tables.
That being said, I only played all of 15 minutes yesterday, and only found three tables worth playing on - one at $2/4 which within my first orbit the fish left, and the second a $1/2 table on Bodog, where I had a couple fish to my right, who were replaced by TAGs within a couple orbits, so I had to quit there as well. I played about three orbits on a four handed table which had two known fish to my right and one TAG to my left.
I ended up about even on the $2/4 table, but the $1/2 tables were a bit more generous where I started down about 5BBs when I missed a draw on both tables, before turning the nut flush 3 ways on the first table and flopping a fullhouse in a limped pot on the short table where all 3 opponents called me down all the way. A couple more decent hands that held up before the fish left, and I quit up a quick 20BBs and my bankroll has hit the $18k mark for the first time.
Current bankroll: $18,000
June time played: 2h
June profit/(loss): $300
Monday, June 8, 2009
1st session for the month
Seems weird posting my first session and its already the 9th....
Got off to a cracking start though, with one $3/6 table donating me 40BBs within the first half hour. It seemed every time I cbet with air or a gutter, or 3rd pair, i'd actually hit the turn and get called down with a worse hand.
Late in the session though I gave back 15BBs when I just couldn't hit anything. Nice to start off with a win though.
My other couple tables gave me about 20BBs as well, although they were at $2/4 and $1/2. It was a bit of a struggle to find tables worth playing at - but I guess it was a Monday so you have to expect that. I had a quick look on Stars as I have a reload to clear there, but it seemed every time a fish turned up on a table, it was swarmed with at least 5 sharks sitting on the wait list. I suspect i'll stick to bodog/cake/william hill / pacific and throw in a bit of fulltilt for the time being.
Probably won't actively seek any new bonuses this month as i've still got $ to clear on Cake. I'm probably also too late for any rake races, but will see.
Current bankroll: $17,950
June time played: 1h30m
June profit/(loss): $250
Got off to a cracking start though, with one $3/6 table donating me 40BBs within the first half hour. It seemed every time I cbet with air or a gutter, or 3rd pair, i'd actually hit the turn and get called down with a worse hand.
Late in the session though I gave back 15BBs when I just couldn't hit anything. Nice to start off with a win though.
My other couple tables gave me about 20BBs as well, although they were at $2/4 and $1/2. It was a bit of a struggle to find tables worth playing at - but I guess it was a Monday so you have to expect that. I had a quick look on Stars as I have a reload to clear there, but it seemed every time a fish turned up on a table, it was swarmed with at least 5 sharks sitting on the wait list. I suspect i'll stick to bodog/cake/william hill / pacific and throw in a bit of fulltilt for the time being.
Probably won't actively seek any new bonuses this month as i've still got $ to clear on Cake. I'm probably also too late for any rake races, but will see.
Current bankroll: $17,950
June time played: 1h30m
June profit/(loss): $250
Sunday, June 7, 2009
May summary
Better late than never ....
Just got back from my break, so time for a quick review.
From memory, May was a pretty horrible month, with a fairly large downswing of 200+BBs at one stage and I was looking at having my first ever overall losing month. Fortunately though, I was receiving 50% rakeback from William Hill for the month, and my last few sessions all booked reasonable wins of 10-20BBs to end the month booking a win.
A couple nice developments for the month though - finally received another reload from Cake, and Pacific are now doing points to cash.
Last month's goals for May
The gain of $300 for the month was made up of:
Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $480
Poker losses: ($230)
For June the goals in order of priority are pretty much the same as May:
Just got back from my break, so time for a quick review.
From memory, May was a pretty horrible month, with a fairly large downswing of 200+BBs at one stage and I was looking at having my first ever overall losing month. Fortunately though, I was receiving 50% rakeback from William Hill for the month, and my last few sessions all booked reasonable wins of 10-20BBs to end the month booking a win.
A couple nice developments for the month though - finally received another reload from Cake, and Pacific are now doing points to cash.
Last month's goals for May
- Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible (cleared only about $60 - not as many good tables running this month)
- Take advantage of the 50%+ rakeback at William Hill for May through RakeTheRake (pulled in about $300 - plenty of tables at ipoker, but requires table selection
- Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?) (didnt get round to it)
- Play some more Pacific if it seems fishy (cleared about $60 in bonus cash there. not a lot of tables running)
The gain of $300 for the month was made up of:
Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $480
- Bodog $60
- Cake $30
- Pacific $60
- Fulltilt $30
- William Hill $300
Poker losses: ($230)
For June the goals in order of priority are pretty much the same as May:
- Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible
- Clear some of my Cake reload that I received at the end of May
Take advantage of the 40%+ rakeback at William Hill for June through RakeTheRake - Play some more Pacific if it seems fishy (plus they now have points for cash, thanks pacific, so feel free to sign up with them through RakeBackStat )
- Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?)
Current bankroll: $17,700
May time played: 20h
May profit / (loss): $300
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