Thursday, May 27, 2010

Chasing points

Just realised last night that I haven't qualified for my June Cake freeroll, so have to play a little more Cake in the next few days to make sure I earn enough points for a ticket.

I've also got to remind myself to do the June iron man on fulltilt to get my mid year ironman bonus. Don't think I have left much of a bankroll on fulltilt, but hopefully I can run hot early ....

Played a solid session last night which started badly when in my first hand it was limped by 4 players with me sitting on 84s in the big blind. I flopped the flush at K52 and donked and three bet the flop. Blank turn, but river paired the board with another K. Numb nuts flips over K5o for the boat. Couple hands later there are 3 limpers again and I'm looking at Q9s on the button so call to see me flop a flush draw. My draw hits on the river, and the cutoff bets, so I raise and then he calls, and flips over the nut flush with ATs. Seriously wtf. At least he didn't reraise when holding the nuts.

Thankfully those numpties paid me all that back and then more mainly when my 44 hit a set on the flop again with four callers and one raiser, before filling up my boat on the river with a couple Ks on the board. I have to keep my eye out for a bunch of those guys as they were basically willing to just throw their money away.

Current bankroll: $27,300
May time played: 19h
May hands played: 4,946
May profit / (loss): $1,500

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Purple Lounge challenge update

I set myself a challenge back on 28 April to build my Purple Lounge balance up from $300 to a more playable roll. I had quickly boosted that up to $400ish and since then had another super hot session at $1/2 before running super cold again to end up with a balance around $450. Add a little rakeback at the end of the month and my little self challenge is going fairly well.

Played a little last night, and ran reasonably well again on a mixture of $3/6, $2/4 and $1/2. I think I lost a little at the $1/2 level, but that was more than made up for on the slighly bigger tables.

One single hand at $2/4 made a significant difference when a 45/35 guy raised from the cutoff, and I figured I probably have equity to isolate on the button with QTs. Problem was both blinds decided to come along for the ride and my 3 bet was suddenly not looking so good. Flop was the hail Mary J98r, and somehow the flop got capped four ways. Turn was an Ace, which was a great card for me, given it also gave me a flush draw, and the turn also allowed me to three bet four ways. River was a T which kinda sucked, as there was now a chance I was splitting the pot. The cutoff checked, I bet, and both blinds folded. The cutoff then raised so I three bet as there was no way I was giving him credit for KQ although we could have been splitting if he had a Q. He called and flipped over 87o for the bottom end of the straight, so I scooped the whole pot. Not sure what he was doing with his capping of the flop ....

Current bankroll: $27,200
May time played: 18h
May hands played: 4,719
May profit / (loss): $1,400

Monday, May 24, 2010

Small slide on the tables

Got smashed by a huge fish the other day for about 30BBs in the space of an hour. He played his 70%+ of hands raisng about 15% and then showed down 50% whilst still winning 50% of hands. He successfully chased several runner runners and it turned out to be quite a frustrating session.

Fast forward to the next session and I found my $8/16 numpty on a $3/6 table. This time he was raising and firing constantly, and I slid down another 20BBs which wasn't looking real good, but I was confident that if he kept bluffing and I kept showing down even half reasonable hands, eventually a few will hold up. The table dropped to three handed, but I could see him just bleeding off cash to the other guy whilst I was treading water. Finally I had several hands hold up in a row where I ended up just calling down with a fairly ordinary pair, and I had recovered almost all of my losses from both the current and previous session. I ended up having to leave when he still had $200 left, which was a little disappointing, but I was happy with the session overall.

I received my final Bodog reload bonus, and that put me back into the black overall for the last few days.

Current bankroll: $27,050
May time played: 17.2h
May hands played: 4,607
May profit / (loss): $1,250

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Withdrew too early

Dammit, the Aussie dollar keeps on going down so I guess I withdrew a couple days too early. Oh well, you win some, you lose some ...

Hardly played last night (30 hands all up), but had a couple accounts credited with rakeback so the bankroll continues to improve. I'd comment on a hand or two, but for the life of me, I can't even remember what happened in a single hand. Not sure I can even remember playing for that matter. I guess I was pretty tired at the time.

Current bankroll: $27,000
May time played: 13.4h
May hands played: 3,543
May profit / (loss): $1,200

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Withdrawal time

I nice little hiccup for the Aussie dollar allowed me to make another withdrawal from the bankroll. Unfortunately the share portfolio is taking a huge hammering at the same time for the same reasons as the drop in the dollar.

Haven't had much time for poker, and still have the remnants of my cold, but still had a small, but solid win. When I logged in I couldn't see any tables worth playing on, apart from a couple with waiting lists four deep, so I added myself to those lists and waited. After about half an hour, another couple tables open up and I jump on them, as well as two others that I add myself to the waiting list of.

All of a sudden i've gone from playing no poker, to having four tables (which were also quite fishy) running, and i've got a couple waiting lists blinking at me that my seat is available.

I started slightly poorly on the tables with an early hand showing 65o in the big blind with one limper. Flop was 334, and he called my flop donk. Turn was another 4, and I bet again and he called. River was an 8. So my option was bet/fold and hope to bluff or check/fold giving myself no chance to win the pot. I elected to bluff, and he called me with T9s which had no draw and he was calling with T high. Seriously wtf?

Fortunately for me, fishy kept playing like that and paid me off again and again. I also made one somewhat hopeful calldown, when I had KTo and raised the one preflop limper. Flop was JJ9, which basically gave me a gutshot, and one over. The preflop limper I had down as having a huge AF and a very high WTSD so when he donked the flop I actually thought I could still be good with K high. Turn was a 6 which didn't help and river was a T, which meant the only way I was losing would be versus his J. He flipped over 96s and proceeded to go mental in the chat box.

Current bankroll: $26,850
May time played: 13.3h
May hands played: 3,513
May profit / (loss): $1,050

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Limited play

Still have this stupid cold, so my play has been limited somewhat as the headache makes it difficult to concentrate.

I found one huge muppet on a $8/16 table though, but I had to leave after a couple orbits when he still had about $50 or so left out of $400, so I guess I didn't miss out on too much. He donated me a quick $100 when he raised preflop with 62s, and I 3 bet with 99 from the big blind. He check / called my flop bet on a pretty ugly flop for me of QJ7r. Not sure how he called that flop for that matter, since it didn't hit his draw and his hand really sucked. I checked the turn, and he bet the river 6, which I called, obviously beating his fairly crap pair. He called down another hand when he held nothing, where I held slightly more than nothing, and I think that was the only other hand I played in the two orbits.

Played a few other tables at the same time, but no real hands of significance. I found it a little tough to find tables over the weekend that were worth playing on. Maybe people are out in the warmer weather in the northern hemisphere instead of sitting inside playin online poker.

Current bankroll: $26,750
May time played: 12.6h
May hands played: 3,397
May profit / (loss): $950

Friday, May 14, 2010

Another stupid cold

Been stuck in bed and resting most of the time the last few days as i've managed to catch a cold again which has knocked me about a bit. Hopefully i'll be over it by the end of the weekend.

That being said, i've played a few hours in various short sessions, and have found a few fish determined to give away their money, so i've obliged them. Missed a couple huge pots where muppets have jagged a gutshot after capping with only a gutshot, so it could have been better, but nevertheless, I've had a decent run on the smaller stakes tables.

Current bankroll: $26,600
May time played: 11.5h
May hands played: 3,086
May profit / (loss): $800

Monday, May 10, 2010

Played my SCOOP event

A month or two back I scored a $33 ticket for the SCOOP in the WBCOOP. Try saying that ten times quickly ...

I found the events available for a $33 ticket were fairly slim pickings. I was hoping to try a short handed fixed limit holdem tournament, but there are not many of them on the schedule (maybe 1 or 2 max) and they were not for $33.

My next choice was trying to find a normal NL tournament, but again, there weren't many options, so I had to settle for a 4-max NL tourney this morning. Even though I play 6max normally, i'm not super strong at the very short games in my opinion. I'm probably still a bit too tight.

I think there were about 8,000 entrants, with the top 1,200 being paid, but you really needed to make the top placings to make some decent cash. 1,200th paid about $40 from memory. I played a reasonably tight game, running somewhere at about 35/25, and probably folded too much from the blinds, but it also worked for me in that when I did come in to a hand I often was able to steal it away either preflop or on the flop.

I was also able to let some of the more aggro guys bet into me and either check / raise and bet or call them down depending on how big their stack was and how likely they were to bluff into me when I held a very strong hand. I took out about four players like that.

Possibly the most interesting though was when two guys were having a go at each other in the chat box and eventually they ended up all in on a hand with one guy holding AK and the other holding A7 with the flop K7x. Blank turn, but the guy with A7 spiked his two outer 7 on the river. Unfortunately for him though, he'd already closed the table, so he was automatically sitting out until he bled off all his chips. He still had about 3k chips at the time when the average was 10k so he wasn't really out of it.

Basically I stayed just under the average stack for a few hours, and squeaked into the money with about 25k chips left when the average was probably 40k and blinds at 200/400ish. Once the bubble burst I went completely card dead though, and even though I did last to the top 750 or so, eventually my push with K8s for 10bbs was called by a larger stack with K9o. I flopped the flush draw, but no help and i'm out for about $50.

I played a cash table at the same time for only the first hour or so until the fish ran out. After that I only played the tournament, just so I could concentrate and get the most out of the experience. In the end it was beginning to test my concentration span though, so i'm still fairly sure tournaments aren't the way for me to go.

Current bankroll: $26,450
May time played: 8.7h
May hands played: 2,196
May profit / (loss): $650

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Downswing over?


Took a few months, but i've finally recovered my 500BBs, and am now showing a positive (albeit slight) return from the tables plus a chunk of rakeback on top of that. I was thinking there would be some feeling of relief that i'd attach to it, but to be honest, I don't really care all that much.
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All I really want to know is that i'm making a profit, and even if I were still running at a loss on the tables, provided it was more than made up in rakeback, i'd still be happy. Maybe if I were only making one or two dollars per hour in rakeback then i'd be a little more disappointed, but at the moment i'm enjoying my poker and probably making around $30/hour all up. I'd probably still be happy making $10/hour (or possibly even less), as long as i'm still enjoying the game.
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The last couple sessions i've actually lost a few BBs, but have made a profit as i've been losing say 10BBs at lower stakes which is more than offset by winning say 8BBs at stakes that are twice the size. Three hands in a single session where i'd hit the K high flush only to get rivered by a single card A high flush were the main culprits in losing a quite a few BBs at the lower stakes.
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I also popped on to a $8/16 table briefly over the weekend and won a few BBs which made up for around 25BBs in losses at the $1/2 tables. The only problem with higher stakes appears to be that the fish don't seem to last long at all, and then the table breaks up. I think I played maybe three orbits tops, before the two fish on the table ran out of cash and left, and the other players then sat out.

Current bankroll: $26,300
May time played: 6.8h
May hands played: 1,920
May profit / (loss): $500

Thursday, May 6, 2010

First hand of the session

Now that i'm awake for my first hand, last night I received 99 off the bat. Two limpers and one raiser, so I reraise, and get the two callers. Flop is 963r - kaching. I bet and the raiser again raises, who I know is a super aggro muppet running at 70/40 and yet goes to showdown 50% of the time. Obviously he's just leaking chips constantly.

The other guys fold and aggro man caps my raise. Turn is a 3 to pair the board, and gives me top full house. Turn gets capped, and i'm starting to get concerned about 33. He raises my river bet when the river actually hits a flush draw, and I have a look at his stats again, and yep he is super aggro post flop as well as preflop, so I reraise again. He caps, and flips over 33. ARGH.

Next hand my AQ loses to 45s that called a 3 bet cold. Flopped my ace but he rivers his flush. So i'm down 15BBs in the space of my first two hands. Yuk.

Fortunately for me, the muppets stay at the table, and over the next three orbits I get all that back plus a bit more.

Current bankroll: $26,150
May time played: 4h
May hands played: 927
May profit / (loss): $350

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Be awake for the first hand

Had a disappointing first hand last night whilst I was still opening other tables.

I was in the big blind with T2s, which is generally a fold to a raise, so when I saw what I thought was a 3 bet, I folded. I wasn't really paying attention, and then realised that

a) it was only a single raise and
b) there were two limpers already in the pot.

Now basically I play any two suited if there is a raiser and two limpers, and there was nothing to suggest the original two limpers would limp reraise, so that should be a call for me.

Even more disappointing when the flop came down T2x followed by a T on the turn.

Probably a bit results orientated, but it can be quite annoying to fold what is a winning hand, when you'd normally play it. Of course 99 times out of a hundred that I do fold preflop and hit something I wouldn't really care, as its normally the right decision to make and i'm more or less following my starting hand chart. (varied slightly for opponent).

Current bankroll: $26,050
May time played: 3.1h
May hands played: 721
May profit / (loss): $250

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Fixed Limit versus No Limit cash

Something I’ve been considering in the last few month is on sticking with fixed limit versus switch across to no limit. Whilst I’m still enjoying (and winning) at fixed limit, it’s fairly likely that I will stick with it.

In saying that I also thought about things a bit further in terms of Bankroll management and win rates (possibly in an attempt to further justify staying with fixed limit).

Firstly some assumptions on required bankroll –

1,000 big bets being the required bankroll for fixed limit
100 buy ins of 100 big blinds being the required bankroll for no limit.

Therefore, if you have a bankroll of $1,000 then you’d be playing (assuming 6 max shorthanded):

$0.5/$1 fixed limit or
NL$10 ($0.1 big blind)

Putting that into perspective with win rates, a decent win rate for fixed limit is say 1BB/100, so at those stakes you’d be winning $1/100 hands.

At no limit, I’m not really sure what a decent win rate is, but I’ll take a guess and say 5bb/100. That would equate to $0.50/100 hands.

Overall, it looks like fixed limit is the winner (and rakeback would push it further ahead too), but, since there is a much higher win rate with NL, your overall variance should be lower, so downswings shouldn’t last as long. (although since pots are bigger this may be offset a little when compared with fixed limit).

Maybe my math is off, and I’m sure someone can point to the errors in my logic, or can show me where someone else has done the equivalent calculation better than I could.

But for now, for me, fixed limit is where I’ll stay.

Current bankroll: $26,000
May time played: 2.8h
May hands played: 627
May profit / (loss): $200

Sunday, May 2, 2010

A few small sessions

Didn't get to play much over the weekend, and when I did it was only in short bursts. Each session less than half an hour with the following results

+$50 (solid grind - never really up or down)
-$150 (mainly crucified on a $2/4 table for 40BBs by at 80/60 guy and a 50/4 guy)
+$100 (very brief session of only a few orbits, but hit several hands at a $3/6 table which had tightened up)
+$50 (half an hour of struggle before winning several showdowns on my last orbit)

All in all, up $50 plus some rakeback, so can't complain too much, particularly after some of the beats I'd had on the $2/4 table in that nasty little session.

On the plus side my Purple Lounge challenge balance has moved up to $400 thanks to a solid final E1/2 session which was the bulk of my last profit.

Still playing some Need for Speed on the Wii, so that will keep me out of trouble for a little longer.

Current bankroll: $25,850
May time played: 1.75h
May hands played: 405
May profit / (loss): $50