Rough start to September

Only played a brief half hour session, but ran into quads twice when holding a full house within the space of one orbit, which provided a terrible start. What was worse was that it was at $5/10 and the guy who scored them both was a 65/5 muppet.

Dropped about 30BBs all up when I ran into a couple sets as well when holding premium pairs and just to add insult to injury my top pair and gutshot lost when my gutshot hit on the river, and my fishy mate also had the gutshot, plus the over as well that made a larger straight.

Yuk.

In brighter news, I won my AFL dreamteam cash competition which was a handy little bonus over the weekend.

Current bankroll: $20,050
September time played: 30m
September profit / (loss): ($300)

August 2009 summary

I thought July with only 16 hours played was light on for volume, but i've played even less in August - only 13 hours. Again i've run fairly well to have a solid result for the month.

Hit my next milestone during the month - $20k profit from poker. It's taken me a while, but does feel like a real achievement. I'm still enjoying my poker, and to me it's a great part time hobby.

Last month's goals for August:

•Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible and hopefully hit some fishy $4/8 tables (cleared a bit, but not a huge amount due to the lack of hours - and when I did play it was mainly fulltilt to clear the bonus)
•Clear some more of my Cake reload that I received at the end of May & June (cleared a little here as well)
•Play some more Pacific if it seems fishy (actually played here a bit)
•Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?) (nope)

The gain of $650 for the month was made up of:

Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $150

• Bodog $10
• Cake $20
• Pacific $10
• Fulltilt $110

Poker bankroll Interest: $60

Poker profits: $440

For September the goals in order of priority are:

• Put in some more volume than August
• Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible and hopefully hit some fishy $4/8 tables
• Clear some more 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?)

Hmm .. goals are pretty much the same as last month. Oh well .. if it ain't broke ...

Current bankroll: $20,350
August time played: 13h
August profit / (loss): $650

Back on the tables

Finally got back to the tables last night for a solid one hour session. Table selection was a bit of a battle though, and I found myself swapping in and out of a few tables, and never had more than three running.

Ran like turd when I had position on a 60/3 fish and to his right was a 95/20 muppet. I just could not get a hand to hold up, and found myself quickly down 30BBs. Eventually though with them continuing to play trash I recovered, and when I had AdKs on a AcJd4d flop and I had a caller who then decided to three bet a diamond turn, and also capped a diamond river with the Kd versus my Ad nut flush, and i'm suddenly making a half decent profit for the session.

Given my limited play this month I won't be qualifying for my usual freeroll. Not really concerned about that as it saves me from getting out of bed at a ridiculous hour next month.

Current bankroll: $20,300
August time played: 12h
August profit/(loss): $600

A weekend without poker?????

I think that would have been the first weekend for me (excluding honeymoon) that I haven't played a single hand of poker for at least a year. And admittedly it didn't really bother me too much.

I got out mountain biking, and unfortunately decided to crash, and fell through a thorn bush which wasn't all that much fun. After an hour of the missus pulling out thorns from my back i'd had about enough ....

I really should have been wearing all my body armor. Oh well. Live and learn - at least nothing broke! Fair bit of damage to the bike though, and I need to get some new gloves as they now have a few holes through the fingers.

The AFL dreamteam went okay, alhtough I did lose in one league against a chump which was disappointing. In my league where its for cash, winner takes all, i'm into the grand final this week so will be watching that closely on the weekend.

Hopefully i'll get in some poker as well this week!

Limited play

Still not playing much - too much wii action instead, although the shoulders are getting a bit sore ....

In the time I did get onto the poker tables, it was a fairly regular session, with me sitting to the left of a couple fish, who happily donated me a few BBs here and there.

One of them was a bit more aggro than your usual fish, and would donk into my PFR with virtually anything, including queen high. Unfortunately for him, a couple times I had 2nd or top pair, and an over pair against another of his donks. After my reraise he was paying quite a few BBs to see a showdown whilst drawing very slim.

Its looking like a busy weekend this weekend, as i'm still looking to buy a house somewhere, so not sure how much poker i'll get in.

Its also prelim finals for AFL dreamteam, which i'm still in, so hopefully I have a bit of luck there as well.

Current bankroll: $20,200
August time played: 11h
August profit/(loss): $500

New distraction

Grabbed myself a new distraction from poker - Ashes Cricket 2009 for my wii. I'm thinking that will take up a bit of time, and creep into the spare time that was poker time.

I'm sure i'll get sick of it sooner or later, but for now i'm it will be a good time waster. Probably getting a wii motion soon as well, which i'm sure i'll give a fair crack.

On the poker front, i've played less than half an hour, and only on a table or two as the fishy tables just didn't exist. That being said, made a few BBs on the $3/6 table, after ealier losing a little on the $2/4 table to a 90/40 maniac. He was running at -66BB/100 ... but actually winnning from me before giving it to the other players.

Hopefully I can find some half decent tables to play on tonight ... or possibly i'll be playing Wii...

Current bankroll: $20,150
August time played: 10h30m
August profit/(loss): $450

The poker subconscious

Didn't realise how ingrained poker has become into my psyche until the weekend, when I woke up at about 3.30am Sunday morning.

Something must have kicked off in my mind that it was the third Sunday of the month, which meant that my $5k freeroll was beginning in an hours time. I hadn't even read the email that i'd been advised that i'd qualified for it, so I've got no idea why it would suddenly come to mind when i'm basically asleep.

I ended up getting up for it at 4.30, and played some reasonable poker. I'd kept a little above the average stack with a few steals, and a couple cbets, but didn't really get too many hands.

I had about a $4k stack with blinds at about 100/200. An aggressive button with only a $2k stack raised 3xBB first in and I was sitting on 88. I figured I may as well see if I can resteal here and pushed all in ... only to see him snap call and flip over AA. Flop with an A and i've got no chance in the hand, and am back to a short stack.

I then received a few good hands (AKs) that held up with a couple all ins, and all of a sudden i'm second at the break.

First hand back i'm looking at KK and face a raise and reraise, which I shove to, and am up against QQ ... flop Q high .. and i'm now back to the middle of the pack again.

Eventually I dwindle down to about 7BBs and find A8s on the button and folded to me, which I shove. Big blind then calls with AA ... wtf .. i've run into it again. And i'm out, but at least in the money for around $100 so not a complete waste of time.

Haven't actually got in much poker in the last few days. That hour and a half is about it, and played a little cash at the same time to win a few BBs on the $5/10 tables, and have also finished my fulltilt bonus. Back over the $20k mark for the bankroll again though which i'm happy with. Its always a little disappointing to hit a milestone and then drop back below it for a period of time.

Current bankroll: $20,100
August time played: 10h
August profit/(loss): $400

Friggin cat

Haven't had much time to play lately so not much to report, although still managed to get in half an hour last night. I ran into one maniac who was running at around 80/60, and often giving away a lot of BBs to various players around the table. Unfortunately for me, the only time he seemed to hit, was when I was in the hand.

I then found myself in a pretty big pot when all of a sudden my mouse stopped working. I knew the batteries were low, and quickly switched it out with a new one. No response. ARGH ... luckily my keyboard has a touchpad built in for a mouse, so I switch to that just before I get timed out and can raise the turn.

Phew. Thought I was in trouble there. Pot is already about 15BBs and I have top set on an uncoordinated board.

River is a blank, and I go to bet ... wtf? now my keyboard isn't working. Panic sets in as I try to figure it out ... I put the keyboard on the charger just in case it's flat as well. Nothing. The charge light doesn't come on.

I get timed out and fold to one of my opponents bets who had middle set.

I then realised that the cat had been behind the PC earlier, and had pulled out the power cable to the usb receiver/charger for the keyboard and mouse. FFS. That was costly. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, and cat haters will point it out .....

I think I dropped about 35BBs all up, and that would have recovered quite a few. Scored a decent rakeback credit and have cleared some of the fulltilt bonus, so losses aren't as big as they could have been. Hopefully the weekend goes better.

Current bankroll: $19,900
August time played: 8h30m
August profit/(loss): $200

When stats don't tell you the full story

Didn't really play last night so i'll give a few more details on my session the other day which was a little interesting as a few players played somewhat differently than I had thought that their stats on my HUD would suggest.

For example, I had one guy who was around 45 vpip, 5 pfr, 0.35 aggression factor, with a wtsd of around 35%

Now to me, that means with a 45 voluntary put in pot (vpip) he is playing too many hands - although i'd often look for even fishier, but he is still quite loose.

The low (5%) preflop raise % indicates that he doesn't raise preflop unless he has something like AA-TT, AK-AJ, and maybe KQ, but unlikely. So basically, if this guy raises, unless I have something big i'm getting out the way.

The 0.35 aggression factor looks like he's not that aggressive, so probably only bets when he has a pretty solid hand. Possibly even better than top pair.

The 35% wtsd is about right - a little lower than normal, but since he's playing crappier hands preflop you'd expect him to showdown a little less. Overall you'd say he's generally showing down with half decent hands.

Now ... come actual play against him and i'm like wtf is he doing.

In one early hand he's open limped with AA and then waited for the river to actually bet it. Although given his low aggression factor that's probably not surprising.

A few hands later I 3 bet his opening raise when i'm holding QQ. He calls and donks a K high flop with one other runner. I didn't have a note on what he like to donk with so ended up just calling him down due to his low aggression factor. He actually bet every street with a naked AJ. Obviously when I scoop a decent size pot there I take a note.

An orbit or two later and he's cold called a raise by me which he's done a few times. This time I have AK and hit an AK4r flop. He donks again, calls my raise and then donks the turn of a T. Surely not QJ? Surely he's not betting it that hard on the flop and then donking the turn. I call his donk, and his river bet, and he flips over a pair of 8s. To me that's a pretty aggressive and completely spewy way to play a pair of 8s - and really doesn't gel with his low AF.

So I just scoop another largish pot, and take another note. This guy only seems to bet when he doesn't have much and slowplays his monsters. I guess that's a good way to play if you don't like money. It is also an interesting case where you need to rely more on notes than pure statistics.

Current bankroll: $20,000
August time played: 8h
August profit/(loss): $300

$20,000

Taken a while, but i've finally hit the $20,000 mark. Been a bit slower going than i'd like this year, but its nice to achieve the next milestone.

I played about an hour and a half on the weekend, and even then it was often only a couple tables max. The first hour was pretty slow going - made maybe 10BBs on a $3/6 table and even on a couple others.

However, the next session I ran reasonably hot, with a couple aggro donks donating me 40BBs in the space of 20 minutes on one table. Add on about 5BBs on a $5/10 table and a bit of rakeback, and when I completed my balances spreadsheet, I was pleasantly surprised to have hit the $20,000.

I'm sure its much smaller than a lot of people have made from poker, but i'm happy with how things are going, and the levels i'm playing at.

Have to make a cash withdrawal per my bankroll strategy, and i'm sure i'll use a portion of it for some kind of reward for effort.

Current bankroll: $20,000
August time played: 7h30
August profit/(loss): $300

Ripping through the Fulltilt bonus

I thought the fulltilt bonus might take a while to clear, but was definitely wrong there as i've got through over 25% in only a couple sessions.

I also found myself on the right side of a bunch of dominating hands in my session, such as K8s versus K3s, AK versus A9 etc, and was even flopping the top pair. Unfortunately four out of four managed to suck out their 2nd pair on the turn or river, which left my session looking a little poor.

Overall down around 25BBs at $3/6 offset slightly by a rakeback credit.

Hoping to run a little better over the weekend, although am fairly busy so might not get in much volume.

Current bankroll: $19,550
August time played: 6h
August profit/(loss): ($150)

Raining quads #2

Signed up for the fulltilt bonus last night and fired up a number of tables between $2/4 and $3/6. I don't actually have that much money on fulltilt, so that's probably as high as I can go for the moment, unless I deposit more.

In this session I then saw quads no less than 5 times.

Of these I went to showdown on three of them, and unfortunately for me, on all three my opponent was the one to have the quads. In fact, the only time I won was when I had KK and flopped KdKs4d, only to see a raise, and reraise infront of me, which I though about for a second before three betting being fairly sure someone was on a diamond draw. Fold fold. argh.

For the one I got away from I actually had an overpair to the board, but it was coordinated and I was facing two or three to the face so folded. The first two losses at showdown I had the top boat, and obviously lost a lot of bets to quads on each occasion. The final showdown loss was in a blind v blind battle, where my AJ on a flop of AKQ was obviously no good when he has QQ and also turns a Q.

Had a few other problems with the super aggro types getting lucky - for example I managed to lose 6/6 AK hands, with one paricularly bad one where it was capped preflop, and i'd also had the opportunity to raise the flop when it came as AJ3r. In the end I found I was up against QQ and 88. Obviously 88 then calls two cold on that flop ... and then rivers an 8.

Overall after an hour I was down about 40BBs at $2/4 and another 30BBs down at $3/6 and things were not looking at all pretty.

Then a couple saints came along on a $3/6 table where they were willing to bet and raise with hands like 62o on every street, on a board that flopped AA8r .... with me holding A8. Inside of 20 minutes and I leave the table with about 35BBs profit which left my session still at a loss, but a much less significant one.

Current bankroll: $19,650
August time played: 5h30m
August profit/(loss): ($50)

Win 45BBs, lose 40BBs = small loss

Another 30 minute session mainly on $2/4 to $5/10 resulted in a hot run on a $3/6 table where I won 25BBs in the space of 15 minutes where I hit several monster hands including a couple AAAxx boats which somehow had two callers all the way to showdown.

A solid winning run on the $1/2 table also provided me with a nice little return where I had found myself a 90/10 fish who also showed down 80% of the time, and often with complete air.

Unfortunately that was offset by a poor run on a very fishy $2/4 table where I dropped nearly 25BBs. One of those nasty little runs, where I played only 20% of hands, went to showdown only 25% of those, and only won 33% ... ugly.

Add on another 10BB loss on a $5/10 table where I was again totally card dead, and i'm actually a few $ down for the session, although that has probably been made up through rakeback.

Might sign up for the fulltilt new software bonus tonight and start cranking that out for hopefully a nice little profit.

Current bankroll: $19,800
August time played: 4h
August profit/(loss): $100

Lose 30BBs, win 25BBs = okay profit

Played a 30 minute session last night ranging from $1/2 to $5/10 up to six tables running at once. I think i'm fairly used to having varying stakes (and sites) up simultaneously so don't have any problems with misinterpreting the bets on any tables.

Ran pretty card dead again on the $5/10 table which was annoying, and I think in about 25 hands i'd only two playable hands - 66 and KK. My 66 was from the button and got 3 bet by the big blind, however, flopped Ks6s2d and I got called all the way to the river. My KK was up against AQ and an Ace flopped so I got cracked there.

$1/2 was a bit of a horrible run, dropping a quick 45BBs at one stage before recovering a few. Up against some monster fish, who just kept on sucking it out, however, this was made up by a $3/6 table where I was up about 30BBs within the space of two orbits before eventually quitting 25BBs up.

At the end of the day a solid result for me: +$100 even though negative in BB/100 terms.

Current bankroll: $19,800
August time played: 3h30m
August profit/(loss): $100

New August goal

Got my email from Fulltilt the other day offering a $100 bonus for basically trying their new software.

That's my second bonus there in the space of two years, and probably takes my equivalent rakeback to somewhere near 50% so there's no doubt i'll be clearing as much of it as possible. I think i've got another week or so to take it up, so i'll hammer out a few hands on other sites to maintain my status before I take this one up.

So my new goal will be to clear as much of that bonus as possible, once I accept it.

The weekend's play ended up a bit of a non-event. I put in more volume than normal for about three hours play, up to six tables at a time, and pretty much broke even on the tables, so would only be up a nice little rakeback credit.

I can't even remember any hands of interest, although at one stage I had a VPIP of 0% on a $5/10 table after three orbits. A bunch of which I would have flopped monsters .. but you just can't play 54o versus a raise and expect a flop of 367r.

Current bankroll: $19,700
August time played: 3h
August profit/(loss): $0