So far i've cleared almost $160 of my bonus, so only $140 to go. The last few sessions have been fairly painful though and i've been dropping BBs quicker than the bonus has been clearing - more or less purely through a couple muppets who seemed to hit more than they missed.
eg the 99/14 guy who went to showdown 60% of the time and won 50% of those showdowns. Having him on my right would normally be a massive advantage, but this time it was crippling.
The losses at $2/4 have been somewhat offset by small gains at $3/6 and $5/10 - hopefully I can find my muppets again tomorrow and win some back. Doubt they'll have any cash left though. Plenty of other fish in the sea though.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $158
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $142
Days left: 20
Current bankroll: $22,250
December time played: 2h
December profit / (loss): ($100)
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
November 2009 summary
Well, the first day of November started with a $300 loss. Since then I haven't really looked back and started the month bonus clearing on Cake before switching across to the new Fulltilt holiday hundred bonus which turned out to be the holiday three hundred for me. It's going to take a fair chunk of December for me to work my way through it, and Cake also just gave me another reload so there's already another bonus to clear once Fulltilt is done.
I finally got round to registering Pokertracker 3, so i'll stick with that for my database and HUD for a while.
For November the goals in order of priority were:
• Make a profit again (tick)
• Put in some more volume than August and September and October (significantly more)
• Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible (cleared a bit, then got sidetracked with Cake and Fulltilt bonuses)
• Clear some more of my Cake reload and see if I can score a few more gold chips and qualify for the freeroll again (tick)
• Play some more Pacific or Microgaming if it seems fishy (Cake and FT took over so missed this one)
• Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?) (too busy clearing bonuses. Maybe in January .....)
The profit of $1,600 for the month was made up of:
Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $380
• Bodog $80
• Cake $140
• Fulltilt $160
Poker bankroll Interest: $70
Poker profits: $1,230 (less $80 PT3 licence)
Goals for December are:
• Clear the remainder of my Fulltilt bonus
• Clear some more of my Cake reload
• Qualify for the Cake and Fulltilt freerolls in January
• Play the December Cake and Fulltilt freerolls
• Take up as many xmas freerolls, gifts and bonuses as possible
Current bankroll: $22,350
November time played: 34h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,600
I finally got round to registering Pokertracker 3, so i'll stick with that for my database and HUD for a while.
For November the goals in order of priority were:
• Make a profit again (tick)
• Put in some more volume than August and September and October (significantly more)
• Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible (cleared a bit, then got sidetracked with Cake and Fulltilt bonuses)
• Clear some more of my Cake reload and see if I can score a few more gold chips and qualify for the freeroll again (tick)
• Play some more Pacific or Microgaming if it seems fishy (Cake and FT took over so missed this one)
• Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?) (too busy clearing bonuses. Maybe in January .....)
The profit of $1,600 for the month was made up of:
Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $380
• Bodog $80
• Cake $140
• Fulltilt $160
Poker bankroll Interest: $70
Poker profits: $1,230 (less $80 PT3 licence)
Goals for December are:
• Clear the remainder of my Fulltilt bonus
• Clear some more of my Cake reload
• Qualify for the Cake and Fulltilt freerolls in January
• Play the December Cake and Fulltilt freerolls
• Take up as many xmas freerolls, gifts and bonuses as possible
Current bankroll: $22,350
November time played: 34h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,600
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tis the season for poker bonuses
The next month or so always seems to be the best time of year to play poker. The sites seem to all throw out great bonuses and other freerolls and incentives to ensure the casual players hit their site in particular during their holidays.
The casual players drink more and are relaxed more and give their money away more easily as well.
All in all, a win win situation.
After Fulltilt's bonus the other week, Cake has now pumped out a nice little reload which i'll also take up. Only 25% to a max of $100, but since they don't deduct fees, it's free money to go along with my rakeback. From memory their bonuses expire in 90 days which is tons of time to get it cleared. If anyone could confirm that would be handy. They're also running some other promotions in the lead up to xmas.
Looking forward to seeing what the other sites have to offer.
Has anyone heard anything about wbcoop this year? I haven't heard a word. Surely Stars are running it again???
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $88
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $212
Days left: 23
Current bankroll: $22,400
November time played: 31h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,650
The casual players drink more and are relaxed more and give their money away more easily as well.
All in all, a win win situation.
After Fulltilt's bonus the other week, Cake has now pumped out a nice little reload which i'll also take up. Only 25% to a max of $100, but since they don't deduct fees, it's free money to go along with my rakeback. From memory their bonuses expire in 90 days which is tons of time to get it cleared. If anyone could confirm that would be handy. They're also running some other promotions in the lead up to xmas.
Looking forward to seeing what the other sites have to offer.
Has anyone heard anything about wbcoop this year? I haven't heard a word. Surely Stars are running it again???
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $88
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $212
Days left: 23
Current bankroll: $22,400
November time played: 31h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,650
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Optimum stakes for clearing FT?
From memory the optimum stakes for clearing the Fulltilt bonus were at $2/4 for fixed limit holdem. I'm not sure if it's still the case but I will just assume it is.
Actually i'm playing a mix of $3/6 and $2/4 as i'm not finding enough fishy tables at either level to have a solid four or five tables running. Admittedly I did get up to six tables last night at one stage, but I'm too far out of practice with six and found myself cutting it fairly fine on timing out. (I did time out twice but thankfully it was where I would have folded anyways).
What I do find with fulltilt is that the fishy tables tend to tighten up fairly quickly, and what started off as a fantastic table to play at can suddenly turn into a TAG fest within a couple orbits. I use the colour coding available in fulltilt to mark each player, so that I can quickly see when I need to quit a table - for example when the player on my right turns from a green fish to a red TAG.
Last night's session ran pretty hot throughout and I was never really down. Ended banking a solid 50BB win to more than make up my loss from the night before and am now past a quarter of my bonus cleared.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $83
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $217
Days left: 24
Current bankroll: $22,350
November time played: 30h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,600
Actually i'm playing a mix of $3/6 and $2/4 as i'm not finding enough fishy tables at either level to have a solid four or five tables running. Admittedly I did get up to six tables last night at one stage, but I'm too far out of practice with six and found myself cutting it fairly fine on timing out. (I did time out twice but thankfully it was where I would have folded anyways).
What I do find with fulltilt is that the fishy tables tend to tighten up fairly quickly, and what started off as a fantastic table to play at can suddenly turn into a TAG fest within a couple orbits. I use the colour coding available in fulltilt to mark each player, so that I can quickly see when I need to quit a table - for example when the player on my right turns from a green fish to a red TAG.
Last night's session ran pretty hot throughout and I was never really down. Ended banking a solid 50BB win to more than make up my loss from the night before and am now past a quarter of my bonus cleared.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $83
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $217
Days left: 24
Current bankroll: $22,350
November time played: 30h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,600
Bump in the road
Got hammered on the $2/4 tables whilst clearing my FT bonus last night. Dropped a good 50BBs within probably half an hour which is a fair effort. The $3/6 tables ended up a few BBs, but still a decent loss, partly offset by a rakeback credit.
Also found I have a small problem with Fulltilt in that it freezes my machine when I load it up, and has now frozen it once in play - which is far worse. Not sure if anyone knows of anything that would cause this, but a solution would be helpful.
Hopefully get in a bit of play tonight when the mrs is out at netball. Its probably going to be a fairly light weekend this weekend so I need to get in front on my FT bonus clearing.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $65
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $235
Days left: 26
Current bankroll: $22,100
November time played: 28h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,350
Also found I have a small problem with Fulltilt in that it freezes my machine when I load it up, and has now frozen it once in play - which is far worse. Not sure if anyone knows of anything that would cause this, but a solution would be helpful.
Hopefully get in a bit of play tonight when the mrs is out at netball. Its probably going to be a fairly light weekend this weekend so I need to get in front on my FT bonus clearing.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $65
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $235
Days left: 26
Current bankroll: $22,100
November time played: 28h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,350
Monday, November 23, 2009
My xmas present
My Xmas present fresh out of the packaging from my lovely wife arrived from ebay the other day. It was a little large for me to miss .... hadn't put the cupholders in when I took the photo, but still looks good to me. Best present ever ... well almost. Apparently i'm not allowed to use it until after xmas though. No home games scheduled between now and then so that's okay.
Played a little poker last night and made a few more BBs. Nothin much to write about though. Also had a mate of mine ask if there were any decent poker PC games - anyone know of any? I can remember WSOP on xbox that I had a few years ago, but am not sure if anything has been released lately.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $53
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $247
Days left: 27
Current bankroll: $22,200
November time played: 27h
November profit / (loss): $1,450
Sunday, November 22, 2009
My monthly reminder
Played my Cake freeroll on Sunday morning where I lasted 45 minutes or so.
I'd built up my stack slightly from the starting stack of 1,500 to 2,500 early after the super loose aggro table muppet who played every single hand pushed all in versus my nut flush with his complete air.
At about the 40 minute mark I would have held about the same number of chips thanks to a few blind steals but other than that being pretty much card dead, until I ran into another super loose short stack with 900 or so chips. He open pushed all in from the cut off and after seeing some of the trash he was playing I called in the BB for 700 chips with AJo. He flipped over K5s and when we both whiffed the flop and turn, obviously he has to river his K.
Very next orbit and i'm in the BB again and this time with 88. Min raise from the cut off of 400 is called by the SB, so I decide to push with my 7BBs. Open min raiser folds and cold caller then calls and flips over 77. Happy days. River 7. And i'm out.
At least I didn't spend hours playing for nothing, but it does remind me why I generally don't play MTTs. The frustration is huge.
I kicked off my Fulltilt bonus as well on the weekend so will keep track of how i'm clearing to make sure I clear it all before it expires in 30 days. With a total bankroll of $550 on Fulltilt I was hoping to not have to deposit as that would incur fees which hit my rakeback. My start was poor though, dropping a quick 20BBs at $3/6 and another 20BBs at $2/4. I was looking like I needed to deposit or i'd be restricted to 2 or maybe 3 tables. A few massive fish turned it around though and I made it back and in the process cleared $40 of the $300 bonus.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $40
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $260
Days left: 28
Current bankroll: $22,100
November time played: 26h
November profit / (loss): $1,350
I'd built up my stack slightly from the starting stack of 1,500 to 2,500 early after the super loose aggro table muppet who played every single hand pushed all in versus my nut flush with his complete air.
At about the 40 minute mark I would have held about the same number of chips thanks to a few blind steals but other than that being pretty much card dead, until I ran into another super loose short stack with 900 or so chips. He open pushed all in from the cut off and after seeing some of the trash he was playing I called in the BB for 700 chips with AJo. He flipped over K5s and when we both whiffed the flop and turn, obviously he has to river his K.
Very next orbit and i'm in the BB again and this time with 88. Min raise from the cut off of 400 is called by the SB, so I decide to push with my 7BBs. Open min raiser folds and cold caller then calls and flips over 77. Happy days. River 7. And i'm out.
At least I didn't spend hours playing for nothing, but it does remind me why I generally don't play MTTs. The frustration is huge.
I kicked off my Fulltilt bonus as well on the weekend so will keep track of how i'm clearing to make sure I clear it all before it expires in 30 days. With a total bankroll of $550 on Fulltilt I was hoping to not have to deposit as that would incur fees which hit my rakeback. My start was poor though, dropping a quick 20BBs at $3/6 and another 20BBs at $2/4. I was looking like I needed to deposit or i'd be restricted to 2 or maybe 3 tables. A few massive fish turned it around though and I made it back and in the process cleared $40 of the $300 bonus.
Fulltilt bonus cleared: $40
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $260
Days left: 28
Current bankroll: $22,100
November time played: 26h
November profit / (loss): $1,350
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Frustration ..... off the tables
For the past couple weeks i've been trying to get a home loan approved.
Home lending company requests your information, you send it in. You get approved. Simple right?
Apparently not. At least four different times over the space of 10 days I've been told this is the last thing you have to do before getting approved, which I have then provided within the space of minutes. It's also a week after our "subject to finance" clause expired for the purchase of the house, so i've been getting grief from everyone including the vendor). I reckon i've spent a good six hours on the phone or emailing various numb nuts in that time, and my customer service officer has gone missing for at least four business days out of the last seven. We finally have approval but it feels like i've been running a marathon for days.
Fortunately for me though, poker has been running reasonably well with a 4BB/100 return so far this month on the tables. I try not to let poker influence my mood too much, but when you're having a good run, its hard to resist - especially when other things in life aren't going as smoothly as they should.
Only played a little last night, and made a few BBs mainly from one aggro muppet who's first hand after I sat down was a raise with Q9o from MP after one limper was already in. Second hand he capped 66, however, I hit a runner runner K high flush to take a nice pot after whiffing the flop. As happens more often than not with these guys, they don't last long, and being midweek on Aussie time the tables tend to dry up quickly.
I also picked the wrong day to leave my mobile at work, where one of my mates was messaging me about a freeroll for the Aussie millions on either party or cake, i'm not sure which. Apparently the winner got a seat, but there were seats to plenty of the other events for lower placing players. Ack.
Current bankroll: $22,000
November time played: 23h
November profit / (loss): $1,250
Home lending company requests your information, you send it in. You get approved. Simple right?
Apparently not. At least four different times over the space of 10 days I've been told this is the last thing you have to do before getting approved, which I have then provided within the space of minutes. It's also a week after our "subject to finance" clause expired for the purchase of the house, so i've been getting grief from everyone including the vendor). I reckon i've spent a good six hours on the phone or emailing various numb nuts in that time, and my customer service officer has gone missing for at least four business days out of the last seven. We finally have approval but it feels like i've been running a marathon for days.
Fortunately for me though, poker has been running reasonably well with a 4BB/100 return so far this month on the tables. I try not to let poker influence my mood too much, but when you're having a good run, its hard to resist - especially when other things in life aren't going as smoothly as they should.
Only played a little last night, and made a few BBs mainly from one aggro muppet who's first hand after I sat down was a raise with Q9o from MP after one limper was already in. Second hand he capped 66, however, I hit a runner runner K high flush to take a nice pot after whiffing the flop. As happens more often than not with these guys, they don't last long, and being midweek on Aussie time the tables tend to dry up quickly.
I also picked the wrong day to leave my mobile at work, where one of my mates was messaging me about a freeroll for the Aussie millions on either party or cake, i'm not sure which. Apparently the winner got a seat, but there were seats to plenty of the other events for lower placing players. Ack.
Current bankroll: $22,000
November time played: 23h
November profit / (loss): $1,250
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
My bonus gets even better
Checked my bonus on Fulltilt - it's actually $300. Not sure if i'll even be able to clear that much, but i'll give it a good crack!
I then had a quick look on 2p2 - it looks like a lot of people are getting $100, but a number are also getting up to $500. $300 seems good enough for me - more than happy with that.
Played for nearly half an hour last night, and found some muppets on microgaming as well as pacific. The microgaming guys jagged a couple big pots off me but I ended the session about even with a full house on the last orbit that someone raised the turn and then even the river against me.
A $3/6 table on Pacific donated me a solid $100 when a super aggro fish kept betting with complete air. I called him down with mid pair a couple times successfully. Unfortunately though he quickly ran out of money and left the table which meant time for me to leave as well.
Current bankroll: $21,950
November time played: 22h
November profit / (loss): $1,200
I then had a quick look on 2p2 - it looks like a lot of people are getting $100, but a number are also getting up to $500. $300 seems good enough for me - more than happy with that.
Played for nearly half an hour last night, and found some muppets on microgaming as well as pacific. The microgaming guys jagged a couple big pots off me but I ended the session about even with a full house on the last orbit that someone raised the turn and then even the river against me.
A $3/6 table on Pacific donated me a solid $100 when a super aggro fish kept betting with complete air. I called him down with mid pair a couple times successfully. Unfortunately though he quickly ran out of money and left the table which meant time for me to leave as well.
Current bankroll: $21,950
November time played: 22h
November profit / (loss): $1,200
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Fulltilt holiday bonus
I received my Fulltilt bonus email last night. Good to see they are finally offering bonuses at least a little more regularly. Since it expires in 30 days, i'll probably take it up on saturday morning which will allow me an extra weekend to clear the bonus.
That basically means i'll be playing a ton of Fulltilt, a chunk of Cake, and maybe a little Bodog next month, and that's about all.
I played for an hour last night, but wasn't concentrating 100% as I could only find a couple tables at best to play on. I was running super hot on one table though, and won 45BBs within half an hour, where it seemed every hand I played would hit. Even if it didn't everyone else would fold to my cbet.
No really huge pots as there was a lot of folding by the loose fish post flop. The biggest pot I won was 87s in the big blind with three limpers on a board of 6h7s8h. I bet, get raised and called by the other limper. Turn is Qd and raiser bets which I decided to call. River was 7h completing the flush and also giving me my boat which I check/raise the river with the villain showing down 54o for the flopped low end of the straight.
Received my monthly bodog reload bonus as well, although I'm not sure I received all of it and will need to check tonight.
Current bankroll: $21,850
November time played: 21h
November profit / (loss): $1,100
That basically means i'll be playing a ton of Fulltilt, a chunk of Cake, and maybe a little Bodog next month, and that's about all.
I played for an hour last night, but wasn't concentrating 100% as I could only find a couple tables at best to play on. I was running super hot on one table though, and won 45BBs within half an hour, where it seemed every hand I played would hit. Even if it didn't everyone else would fold to my cbet.
No really huge pots as there was a lot of folding by the loose fish post flop. The biggest pot I won was 87s in the big blind with three limpers on a board of 6h7s8h. I bet, get raised and called by the other limper. Turn is Qd and raiser bets which I decided to call. River was 7h completing the flush and also giving me my boat which I check/raise the river with the villain showing down 54o for the flopped low end of the straight.
Received my monthly bodog reload bonus as well, although I'm not sure I received all of it and will need to check tonight.
Current bankroll: $21,850
November time played: 21h
November profit / (loss): $1,100
Monday, November 16, 2009
Interesting comment
"zero to hero said...
just letting you know fulltilt have a xmas promo running, similar to the last $100 bonus, no deposit needed and 1 month to clear, i hadnt received an email but saw it on the system chat updates, just go into requests and check bonus offer and it should offer it to you "
I'll be checking this out tonight. Free money on Fulltilt is always a good thing!
Played another hour last night and won a few BBs here and there. It was a real struggle to find tables worth playing on, and most of the time I was single or double tabling. Hopefully that Fulltilt bonus works to give me some more options on a high volume site.
Current bankroll: $21,650
November time played: 20h
November profit / (loss): $900
just letting you know fulltilt have a xmas promo running, similar to the last $100 bonus, no deposit needed and 1 month to clear, i hadnt received an email but saw it on the system chat updates, just go into requests and check bonus offer and it should offer it to you "
I'll be checking this out tonight. Free money on Fulltilt is always a good thing!
Played another hour last night and won a few BBs here and there. It was a real struggle to find tables worth playing on, and most of the time I was single or double tabling. Hopefully that Fulltilt bonus works to give me some more options on a high volume site.
Current bankroll: $21,650
November time played: 20h
November profit / (loss): $900
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Chippin away
Played a few more hours on the weekend, so this really is turning into a large volume month for me compared to recent times.
This time there wasn't much to write home about ... the usual few nasty beats in huge pots, followed by a stack of TPTK hands holding up. I found one nice little loose aggro fish on a $2/4 table who seemed to raise his top pair on every street, no matter what the board was like. Needless to say with him on my right, he paid me off on several very large pots to keep me in front for the session.
Scored a nice little rakeback credit as well.
I've been playing a lot on the Cake poker network lately. I've still got about $30 in bonus cash to clear, and with my 33% rakeback its basically getting an equivalent of 50% rakeback. I highly recommend the site for the casual type player, as stat tracking is not permitted on Cake, so you won't be at any huge disadvantage if you're not using a tool like Pokertracker3. Any bonuses are also paid out in $10 increments, and take 60 days to expire.
Now that I have Pokertracker3 I use it to track my own stats on Cake, which allows my to find leaks in my own game. Other than that I rely on my notes that I take on individual players and generally look to find tables with at least a couple known fish.
If you're interested in signing up feel free to use my link: RakeTheRake. There's generally a nice freeroll each month, and a rake race if you're planning on playing any significant volume.
Current bankroll: $21,600
November time played: 19h
November profit / (loss): $850
This time there wasn't much to write home about ... the usual few nasty beats in huge pots, followed by a stack of TPTK hands holding up. I found one nice little loose aggro fish on a $2/4 table who seemed to raise his top pair on every street, no matter what the board was like. Needless to say with him on my right, he paid me off on several very large pots to keep me in front for the session.
Scored a nice little rakeback credit as well.
I've been playing a lot on the Cake poker network lately. I've still got about $30 in bonus cash to clear, and with my 33% rakeback its basically getting an equivalent of 50% rakeback. I highly recommend the site for the casual type player, as stat tracking is not permitted on Cake, so you won't be at any huge disadvantage if you're not using a tool like Pokertracker3. Any bonuses are also paid out in $10 increments, and take 60 days to expire.
Now that I have Pokertracker3 I use it to track my own stats on Cake, which allows my to find leaks in my own game. Other than that I rely on my notes that I take on individual players and generally look to find tables with at least a couple known fish.
If you're interested in signing up feel free to use my link: RakeTheRake. There's generally a nice freeroll each month, and a rake race if you're planning on playing any significant volume.
Current bankroll: $21,600
November time played: 19h
November profit / (loss): $850
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Brief flurry of flopped monsters
Had an interesting couple sessions in the last two days. The first session, albeit brief, saw me flop monster after monster. It's often tricky to work out how to play them I find, although nine times out of ten (or probably more) i'll just bet the flop if i'm the preflop raiser, as i'll normally bet whether I hit or whiff.
Within two orbits i'd had and won:
Within two orbits i'd had and won:
- AT versus my opponent's AK on a flop of KQJr
- Ac9c on a flop of Jc7c2c
- TT on a flop of AcTcTd
The only flop I decided to just check was the TT one where I only had one caller preflop. He was then kind enough to call my turn and river bet. Funny thing is, i'm usually pretty wary when the reverse is done to me. If a preflop raiser checks the flop and then bets the turn its often not a very good sign.
In my next session I was quickly down about 15BBs on a juicy, but aggressive $4/8 table. One opponent had hit a 2 outer followed by a 5 outer the next hand which quickly dropped me down about 10BBs alone. The next hour was spent gradually getting those losses back, and eventually I quit all of 1BB up as one of the fish to my right had just been replaced by a solid tag.
Completely unrelated, can someone tell me if the hours total reported in Pokertracker3 is your actual hours played? I believe it probably is, as the individual table hours don't actually add up to the total hours. Also is there any tab which shows you your average number of tables played simultaneously? I seem to remember that statistic being on the front page of Pokertracker2 but can't see it quickly on PT3. Maybe i'm just blind.
Received a decent chunk of rakeback from Cake yesterday as well, so the bankroll is still looking fairly good this month, even after the poor start.
Current bankroll: $21,500
November time played: 16h
November profit / (loss): $750
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Misread the board again
Only played a couple orbits last night, and soon found myself in the following hand. My wife had come into the room and started to chat with me just after the flop had come down, and I suspect that as a male, I can't do two things at once ....
I also had a big pot going on a $1/2 hand at the same time as well.
$4/$8 Limit Holdem
6 Players
Stacks:
UTG $96
UTG+1 $51.44 (39/0 afq 26 hands 33)
CO $491 (43/9 afq 35 wtsd 31 w$sd 70 hands 136)
BTN $277.15 (66/13 afq 34 hands 15)
SB $205.90 (50/3 afq 37 hands 279)
Hero (BB) $372
Pre-Flop: (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is BB 8c 8s (nice to have as the first hand of my 2nd orbit)
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 1 fold, BTN raises, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls (calling here for set value)
Flop: Jd 4c 8d (8.0 SB, 4 players) (sweet! hit my set. Not a huge fan of two diamonds but as long as there's no diamond on the turn i'm looking good. At this point my wife comes in to chat, but i've already decided i'm capping this flop, but will cry if any diamond hits on the turn or river)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, BTN bets, SB calls, Hero raises, UTG+1 3-bets, BTN calls, SB calls, Hero 4-bets, UTG+1 calls, BTN calls, SB calls
Turn: 4d (12.0 BB, 4 players) (at this point i've basically gone arrr crap, that diamond makes the flush. surely one of these 4 was on the draw)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, BTN bets, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls (still talking with the missus, but calling for one bet with outs is a no brainer)
River: 9c (16.0 BB, 4 players) (blah .. missed my outs to a boat or quads)
SB bets, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, BTN raises, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 folds (made the first crying call here in such a large pot for 1 bet, although since i'm still talking, i'm not really concentrating. Not happy with the check raise from the SB at all and I suspect i'd fold here usually).
Final Pot: 22.6 BB
BTN shows 2d Kd
SB shows Ad 6d
Hero shows 8c 8s
Hero wins 22.6 BB (net +16.6 BB) (hang on ... the chips are coming my way ... duh ... i'd turned my boat)
I also had a big pot going on a $1/2 hand at the same time as well.
$4/$8 Limit Holdem
6 Players
Stacks:
UTG $96
UTG+1 $51.44 (39/0 afq 26 hands 33)
CO $491 (43/9 afq 35 wtsd 31 w$sd 70 hands 136)
BTN $277.15 (66/13 afq 34 hands 15)
SB $205.90 (50/3 afq 37 hands 279)
Hero (BB) $372
Pre-Flop: (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is BB 8c 8s (nice to have as the first hand of my 2nd orbit)
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 1 fold, BTN raises, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls (calling here for set value)
Flop: Jd 4c 8d (8.0 SB, 4 players) (sweet! hit my set. Not a huge fan of two diamonds but as long as there's no diamond on the turn i'm looking good. At this point my wife comes in to chat, but i've already decided i'm capping this flop, but will cry if any diamond hits on the turn or river)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, BTN bets, SB calls, Hero raises, UTG+1 3-bets, BTN calls, SB calls, Hero 4-bets, UTG+1 calls, BTN calls, SB calls
Turn: 4d (12.0 BB, 4 players) (at this point i've basically gone arrr crap, that diamond makes the flush. surely one of these 4 was on the draw)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, BTN bets, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls (still talking with the missus, but calling for one bet with outs is a no brainer)
River: 9c (16.0 BB, 4 players) (blah .. missed my outs to a boat or quads)
SB bets, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, BTN raises, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 folds (made the first crying call here in such a large pot for 1 bet, although since i'm still talking, i'm not really concentrating. Not happy with the check raise from the SB at all and I suspect i'd fold here usually).
Final Pot: 22.6 BB
BTN shows 2d Kd
SB shows Ad 6d
Hero shows 8c 8s
Hero wins 22.6 BB (net +16.6 BB) (hang on ... the chips are coming my way ... duh ... i'd turned my boat)
So basically i'd gone from making what I thought was a fairly poor river call with trips, to fairly poorly playing a turned boat. However, if I had raised the turn, I wonder if they would have raised the river? I may have cost myself a few bets, although thanks to the river checkraise by the SB maybe I didn't.
Still .. its a bad sign when I misread a board, so I quit at the end of the orbit. Won't complain though. I guess the moral of the story is .. don't talk to your wife whilst playing poker .. but if you have to, try to accidently win a huge pot.
Current bankroll: $21,300
November time played: 14h
November profit / (loss): $500
Monday, November 9, 2009
Whoa, another 4 hours played
This is turning into a big poker month for me - only a third of the way through and i've almost played as much poker as I have in each of the last three months.
I had the day off work, so was able to put in a few hours, although day time here is really the offpeak time for poker so the tables were pretty dead. Early morning is the best time, but I just can't be bothered getting up. I'd rather sleep.
Suprisingly though, I still had 3 or 4 tables running for most of the time, although they probably weren't as fishy as I usually play on. That said, my most fishy table cost me the most BBs where I was down 45BBs ... but only at $1/2.
That was mostly made up on another table where I was up around 35BBs (again at $1/2).
The rest of my games basically were fairly even ($3/6 and $2/4 on Cake), apart from a nice and juicy $4/8 table where I was up maybe 10BBs in about two hours of hard slog.
I was having a few connection issues as well yesterday and got dropped out a couple times, but it never cost me. I suspect that may have been caused by the extreme heat here which may have caused a few issues with Telco equipment. I quit for a while after each issue just to minimise the risk of a drop out costing me a big pot.
Current bankroll: $21,200
November time played: 13h30m
November profit / (loss): $450
I had the day off work, so was able to put in a few hours, although day time here is really the offpeak time for poker so the tables were pretty dead. Early morning is the best time, but I just can't be bothered getting up. I'd rather sleep.
Suprisingly though, I still had 3 or 4 tables running for most of the time, although they probably weren't as fishy as I usually play on. That said, my most fishy table cost me the most BBs where I was down 45BBs ... but only at $1/2.
That was mostly made up on another table where I was up around 35BBs (again at $1/2).
The rest of my games basically were fairly even ($3/6 and $2/4 on Cake), apart from a nice and juicy $4/8 table where I was up maybe 10BBs in about two hours of hard slog.
I was having a few connection issues as well yesterday and got dropped out a couple times, but it never cost me. I suspect that may have been caused by the extreme heat here which may have caused a few issues with Telco equipment. I quit for a while after each issue just to minimise the risk of a drop out costing me a big pot.
Current bankroll: $21,200
November time played: 13h30m
November profit / (loss): $450
Comment response
"Yorkshire Pud said...
Can I ask why you seem to play $3/$6 when you are
rolled for $20/$40
Is it you don't feel ready to play even say $10/$20,
I'm just interested that's all "
There's a few reasons why i'm not playing higher but probably mainly because of the psychological effect of having even a minor downswing at those stakes.
If I were to lose say 100BBs at $10/20 then that's $2,000. If I could see it as just chips, that wouldn't be a problem, but at the moment, $2k is $2k to me. Let alone what would happen if I went on a 300BB downswing which I have done a few times at $1/2 on hugely fishy tables.
So say if I drop 300BBs at $20/$40, that's $12k or over half my roll. I suspect that would be crippling psychologically. And it is not really an 'if' but more a 'when'. Sure I could easily win 300BBs before that happens, but i'm absolutely certain that the 'high' that i'd get from winning that much would be nowhere near how far negative the 'low' would be if I lost that.
That being said, I was checking out a $8/16 table the other day, but it just wasn't quite fishy enough for my liking. If i'd jumped on then, that would be the largest stakes i've ever played.
I'm probably playing more $4/8 that I have been in the past now, but also probably more $1/2, mainly as i'm playing a lot on Bodog at the moment where there are never many tables running and their 6max tables are limited to $1/2 then $4/8 then $8/16.
I suspect i'll start playing more $5/10 in the near future though, and play a bit more on the larger networks which have more table availability to actually increase the chances of finding more fish.
I'm still not concerned with how quickly I rise through the stakes - I play for the fun of the competition as much as anything so as long as i'm enjoying the stakes i'm playing, i'm happy. (and winning doesn't hurt either ....)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
A swingy weekend
Well, I finally put in more than an hour or so on the weekend, and probably played a solid 5 hours all up.
I started with a super heater - up a good 30BBs on a single $4/8 table and something similar on a $3/6 table on Cake. At the same time I was down about 20BBs on a $1/2 table but that was somewhat irrelevant at the time.
Next session, I started off dropping 30BBs on a $4/8 table against some huge fish. At one stage i'd played 50 hands and only gone to showdown 4 times, winning none of them. All up i'd only won 3 hands without a showdown. However, my fishy friends then paid me off consistently until I ended up around 10BBs.
My last session started again horribly, down 35BBs, however this time I couldn't recover completely and finished around 25BBs down.
Overall, a fairly decent weekend.
Current bankroll: $21,150
November time played: 9h30m
November profit / (loss): $400
I started with a super heater - up a good 30BBs on a single $4/8 table and something similar on a $3/6 table on Cake. At the same time I was down about 20BBs on a $1/2 table but that was somewhat irrelevant at the time.
Next session, I started off dropping 30BBs on a $4/8 table against some huge fish. At one stage i'd played 50 hands and only gone to showdown 4 times, winning none of them. All up i'd only won 3 hands without a showdown. However, my fishy friends then paid me off consistently until I ended up around 10BBs.
My last session started again horribly, down 35BBs, however this time I couldn't recover completely and finished around 25BBs down.
Overall, a fairly decent weekend.
Current bankroll: $21,150
November time played: 9h30m
November profit / (loss): $400
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Hit n run
Only a brief session last night - tables just didn't keep running so I ended up playing only one or two orbits each before leaving as it seemed every time I sat down the fish got up. I pretty quickly just spat the dummy and quit searching for new tables.
Made a few BBs though as I won a few hands right off the bat, and with a small rakeback credit i'm almost back to square for the month.
Hoping to get in a decent session of play this weekend and with any lucky i'll be in the black again soon. I have accrued enough rakeback that I probably am now, but won't count it in the bankroll until I actually receive it.
Current bankroll: $20,700
November time played: 4h30m
November profit / (loss): ($50)
Made a few BBs though as I won a few hands right off the bat, and with a small rakeback credit i'm almost back to square for the month.
Hoping to get in a decent session of play this weekend and with any lucky i'll be in the black again soon. I have accrued enough rakeback that I probably am now, but won't count it in the bankroll until I actually receive it.
Current bankroll: $20,700
November time played: 4h30m
November profit / (loss): ($50)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Cake crashes
A more than irritating problem with Cake Poker for me at the moment is that when I close a table there's a fair chance the whole application will crash. This usually isn't a big problem as I don't often have too many Cake tables running at the same time.
However, last night I had three running and closed one whilst I was halfway through a hand holding KK. It was a $2/4 table and i'd had three callers preflop and another two on the flop before cake crashed. I tried to get back in but only made it just in time to see the river betting, with one guy winning a $40 pot with a pair of 6s. ARGH.
I played a bit on a Bodog $4/8 table where I had found one muppet running at 70/60. I quickly found myself 15BBs down when his 84o crushed my JJ and then his 42s flopped 35Kr rivering a 6 versus my AK. He'd raised both those hands preflop and i'd 3 bet them. Annoying. Given he was so aggro both pre and post flop though I figured i'd eventually be able to get my money back, and kept 3 betting preflop and by waiting for the turn to check/raise on several occasions he did pay me off and I ended up making a few BBs. He actually got up and moved from my right to my left, so I figured that was time to leave.
The $1/2 tables were another story where I was playing on a couple tables where every flop had a good 4 callers - even to my utg raises. Unfortunately for me, with my big hands I whiffed most flops and had very few limping hands to call for multiway goodness. Ended up dropping 25BBs there.
Current bankroll: $20,600
November time played: 4h
November profit / (loss): ($150)
However, last night I had three running and closed one whilst I was halfway through a hand holding KK. It was a $2/4 table and i'd had three callers preflop and another two on the flop before cake crashed. I tried to get back in but only made it just in time to see the river betting, with one guy winning a $40 pot with a pair of 6s. ARGH.
I played a bit on a Bodog $4/8 table where I had found one muppet running at 70/60. I quickly found myself 15BBs down when his 84o crushed my JJ and then his 42s flopped 35Kr rivering a 6 versus my AK. He'd raised both those hands preflop and i'd 3 bet them. Annoying. Given he was so aggro both pre and post flop though I figured i'd eventually be able to get my money back, and kept 3 betting preflop and by waiting for the turn to check/raise on several occasions he did pay me off and I ended up making a few BBs. He actually got up and moved from my right to my left, so I figured that was time to leave.
The $1/2 tables were another story where I was playing on a couple tables where every flop had a good 4 callers - even to my utg raises. Unfortunately for me, with my big hands I whiffed most flops and had very few limping hands to call for multiway goodness. Ended up dropping 25BBs there.
Current bankroll: $20,600
November time played: 4h
November profit / (loss): ($150)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Slowly catchin back up
Only a brief session last night, but another small win booked which is helping to recover from a fairly terrible start to the month. It should have been even better but my fishy mate hit a runner runner in a $80 pot on one hand and the very next hand rivered a gutshot for a $60 pot.
He then donated quite a lot to the rest of the table, but I couldn't seem to win a hand off him. An overaggro tag did hand me some fairly decent pots though when his whiffed AK was not up to my flopped top pair, and later he bluffed into my nut flush.
At one stage I found myself on a 3 handed table and had clicked auto post blind before i'd realised a couple guys were sitting out. First hand both opponents limped into my Q3o and the flop was KQ3r. One guy bet into me, but then folded to my turn bet. I was tempted to stay after seeing the limping but I still don't have a lot of faith in my super short game so figured i'm better off just unchecking autopost and leaving. Stole the big blind on my second hand and then folded my button before quitting for the day.
Current bankroll: $20,600
November time played: 3h
November profit / (loss): ($150)
He then donated quite a lot to the rest of the table, but I couldn't seem to win a hand off him. An overaggro tag did hand me some fairly decent pots though when his whiffed AK was not up to my flopped top pair, and later he bluffed into my nut flush.
At one stage I found myself on a 3 handed table and had clicked auto post blind before i'd realised a couple guys were sitting out. First hand both opponents limped into my Q3o and the flop was KQ3r. One guy bet into me, but then folded to my turn bet. I was tempted to stay after seeing the limping but I still don't have a lot of faith in my super short game so figured i'm better off just unchecking autopost and leaving. Stole the big blind on my second hand and then folded my button before quitting for the day.
Current bankroll: $20,600
November time played: 3h
November profit / (loss): ($150)
Monday, November 2, 2009
Finding leaks
I really need to head on back to 2p2 to have a look at how hands should be played. I'm sure I made a mistake last night. I'll have to grab the hand history, but I played way too passively.
I had a flush draw on the turn on a AA6 board where my opponent had tried to steal my blind. I elected to just call his bet instead of following through with a check/raise which basically cost me the hand. Annoying. (obviously I missed the river).
I'll have to post a few stats from PT3 as well. After a quick look at some of my key statistics, I think i'm playing reasonably, although folding my BB a little too often. Haven't gone through all my stats in too much detail, but i'm sure it will highlight a few leaks. I'm sure my game has changed over time, so i'll probably also need to narrow the timeframe that the stats are displayed for.
Played about half an hour of poker last night, and couldn't find many active tables - although the couple I found were full of somewhat aggressive fish. Started poorly with KK < 99 followed by JJ < AQs on a T72r flop versus the same opponent, but the session quickly evened up when I 3bet a button steal raise with QJo and flopped J92r. Opponent raised my flop bet, but then just called me down after I hit my Q as well on the turn. He showed A9o and complained about the 3bet. His PFR was about 25% so I figured his range was pretty wide there and QJ was fairly likely to be in front.
Current bankroll: $20,550
November time played: 2h30m
November profit / (loss): ($200)
I had a flush draw on the turn on a AA6 board where my opponent had tried to steal my blind. I elected to just call his bet instead of following through with a check/raise which basically cost me the hand. Annoying. (obviously I missed the river).
I'll have to post a few stats from PT3 as well. After a quick look at some of my key statistics, I think i'm playing reasonably, although folding my BB a little too often. Haven't gone through all my stats in too much detail, but i'm sure it will highlight a few leaks. I'm sure my game has changed over time, so i'll probably also need to narrow the timeframe that the stats are displayed for.
Played about half an hour of poker last night, and couldn't find many active tables - although the couple I found were full of somewhat aggressive fish. Started poorly with KK < 99 followed by JJ < AQs on a T72r flop versus the same opponent, but the session quickly evened up when I 3bet a button steal raise with QJo and flopped J92r. Opponent raised my flop bet, but then just called me down after I hit my Q as well on the turn. He showed A9o and complained about the 3bet. His PFR was about 25% so I figured his range was pretty wide there and QJ was fairly likely to be in front.
Current bankroll: $20,550
November time played: 2h30m
November profit / (loss): ($200)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Horror Halloween weekend
What a cracking start for November. My first session was a little over an hour for:
$1/2 = -78bb
$2/4 = -15bb
$3/6 = -23bb
$4/8 = -7bb
This was all on some fairly fishy tables too. At least the main disaster was at the $1/2 tables where I did not win a single showdown in 160 hands. I didn't win too many without a showdown either - every cbet seemed to get called. Every river catch for my opponents seemed to hit. Ugly. Just ugly.
My second session then started in the exact same fashion - down another 25BBs in no time. This one did recover however, and after having been down over $500 for the weekend at one stage, I made a small recovery to end down about $300 all up. Bodog is just not my friend at all. I seem to be playing against the fish, but my win rate is horrendous - much worse than any other site. I'll stick it out though ... surely it will turn around .... surely.
One other thing I noticed over the weekend was that the fish were back on Cake. And they were back in force and playing at all levels of stakes. I even had one guy with K8 on a 679 flop say afterwards he thought he had a straight when the turn and river were A and Q which went nicely with my A9.
Anyways, time to suck it up and work the rest of it back again. I should get in a few hours later this week.
Current bankroll: $20,450
November time played: 2h
November profit / (loss): ($300)
$1/2 = -78bb
$2/4 = -15bb
$3/6 = -23bb
$4/8 = -7bb
This was all on some fairly fishy tables too. At least the main disaster was at the $1/2 tables where I did not win a single showdown in 160 hands. I didn't win too many without a showdown either - every cbet seemed to get called. Every river catch for my opponents seemed to hit. Ugly. Just ugly.
My second session then started in the exact same fashion - down another 25BBs in no time. This one did recover however, and after having been down over $500 for the weekend at one stage, I made a small recovery to end down about $300 all up. Bodog is just not my friend at all. I seem to be playing against the fish, but my win rate is horrendous - much worse than any other site. I'll stick it out though ... surely it will turn around .... surely.
One other thing I noticed over the weekend was that the fish were back on Cake. And they were back in force and playing at all levels of stakes. I even had one guy with K8 on a 679 flop say afterwards he thought he had a straight when the turn and river were A and Q which went nicely with my A9.
Anyways, time to suck it up and work the rest of it back again. I should get in a few hours later this week.
Current bankroll: $20,450
November time played: 2h
November profit / (loss): ($300)
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