Firstly, I actually played for another hour - this is looking like a huge week compared to most so far! Again managed to start down about 25BBs when the usual muppet sucked out a 3 on the river to give them trips versus my AQ flopping an A. Also lost when my nut flush draw hit the flush on the river, which also paired the board, sinking me with a full house. I did get revenge on the muppet later though when his flush draw hit on the river but turned my K9 on a K9xx board into a full house.
Found my saviour on Cake though, who appeared to be a complete maniac, and I had the prime position sitting on his left! In the 3 hands I tangled with him, once I had the nuts, which he bet and called all streets to show down with nothing, next I had top pair/top kicker, and again he showed down with nothing, and the final hand I had only A high, and he again bet into me with nothing. He actually left the table after the first one, and someone else at the table chatted 'damn, I wish that guy reloaded'. About 5 seconds later he reappeared on the table in the same seat!!! Just when I was about to leave too, but when he reappeared, I decided to stay till he busted out ... which didnt take long.
Anyways, I pulled in about 40BBs all up at $2/4, which is a fairly nice return after the negative 25BB start. Haven't quite played enough hands to clear any more bonus, but it shouldn't be far away.
Okay .. cash out methods. I've finally decided to actually cash out some of my bankroll. I will still keep it separate from any other funds, but invested and earning interest. May as well have my bankroll growing rather than just sitting there on poker sites or neteller not earning any interest at all. I actually received my prepaid card yesterday from Neteller, so will do my first cash out soon. Hopefully it goes smoothly!
Current Bankroll: $8,450
Showing posts with label bankroll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bankroll. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
April Summary
April was not too bad, although a couple of quite significant losing runs put a big dent into the profits. One 120BB losing streak (at $3/6!!!) and at least a couple 50BB losses really doesn't help all that much.
On the plus side, found a few very nice bonuses which helped, and also have recovered a significant portion of the losing streak losses. Will be glad when I get back to my all time high though hopefully fairly soon in May. I probably didn't put in too many hours in May either so can't expect to be jumping up huge amounts of cash.
I finished the month on $6,750, which is a gain of $1,000 which I really can't complain about. Also played a reasonable number of hands at $3/6 where there have been appropriate fish, and am relatively comfortable at that level, even though I got massively sucked out on :)
However, one of my main bonuses clears via raked hands at $1/2, so that's where I'll be playing quite a bit in May I think.
The gain of $1,000 for the month was made up of:
Bonuses: $625
- William Hill: $50 for 5 hours play bonus
- Sun: $20 bonus for playing 160mpps
- Cake: $110 bonus cleared
- 24: $150 sign up bonus
- Big slick: $25 sign up bonus
- Party: $10 reload bonus
- Pokerroom: $210 through PSO
- Pokerstars: $50 sign up bonus (finally got round to clearing this one)
Rakeback: $115
Fulltilt: $0
Sun: $25
Cake: $80
William Hill: $10
Poker winnings / (losses): $260 (disappointing .. although probably didnt play a huge amount)
For May the goals in order of priority are:
- Clear as much of my 24 bonus as possible ($850 remaining)
- Play my 5 hours on William Hill for the $50 bonus
- Clear some of the Sun bonus - maybe $20 or $50 (through double up SnGs mainly)
- Clear $45 on party which expires in 10 days
- Clear my last $50 on cake
- Clear a chunk of the $450 remaining on Big Slick
Current bankroll: $6,750
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
A downer .. what is that?
Been a while since i've had a losing session, but managed to achieve that in another quick 45 minute session last night.
It was one of those where within 3 hands, i'd flopped top pair, and top or 2nd kicker only to lose to an overpair twice, and also managed to lose with AK flopping 2 pair to the button's preflop raise with 53s which of course hit the flush.
Only dropped about $50 though but was down by about $100 at one stage. Am a fair bit closer to releasing my next $50 in bonus which would put me back to square. Should clear that in the next few days.
Holiday here tomorrow, so probably won't post again till Monday.
Good luck!
Bankroll: $6,900
It was one of those where within 3 hands, i'd flopped top pair, and top or 2nd kicker only to lose to an overpair twice, and also managed to lose with AK flopping 2 pair to the button's preflop raise with 53s which of course hit the flush.
Only dropped about $50 though but was down by about $100 at one stage. Am a fair bit closer to releasing my next $50 in bonus which would put me back to square. Should clear that in the next few days.
Holiday here tomorrow, so probably won't post again till Monday.
Good luck!
Bankroll: $6,900
Monday, April 21, 2008
Getting killed ... or so I thought
Didn't get to play on the weekend, as I was pretty much out all the time. Although had a home game with the boys which was fun. Effectively playing a bunch of small STTs ... plenty of sledging and enjoyment for all.
However, did play a few hours yesterday, and I was literally getting nothing, and when I did have something the suckouts were coming thick and fast.
I figured i'd have to be down overall by quite a bit, but as it turns out I ended up marginally down from playing, but made over $100 in bonuses. Somewhat of a relief actually, although very disappointing to lose a couple big pots when I took a stab at $3/6 with a massive fish on the table, who consistently sucked out.
Anyways, I really cant complain at the end result, because my stats were looking really terrible. Around a 18% VPIP (got nothing playable) a WTSD of around 25% (hardly ever had anything to show down) and a W$SD of 33% (man did I get sucked out on).
Didn't abuse people too much, well not until I was about to leave the table, and then I let fly. So at least i'm getting a little better there :)
Current bankroll: $6,850
However, did play a few hours yesterday, and I was literally getting nothing, and when I did have something the suckouts were coming thick and fast.
I figured i'd have to be down overall by quite a bit, but as it turns out I ended up marginally down from playing, but made over $100 in bonuses. Somewhat of a relief actually, although very disappointing to lose a couple big pots when I took a stab at $3/6 with a massive fish on the table, who consistently sucked out.
Anyways, I really cant complain at the end result, because my stats were looking really terrible. Around a 18% VPIP (got nothing playable) a WTSD of around 25% (hardly ever had anything to show down) and a W$SD of 33% (man did I get sucked out on).
Didn't abuse people too much, well not until I was about to leave the table, and then I let fly. So at least i'm getting a little better there :)
Current bankroll: $6,850
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Super muppet
Very brief session of 3 tables of William Hill, plus a cake table or 2. Managed to clear $20 of the $50 William Hill bonus for the month already, and in the process lost $30 ... great work there. Lost a couple terrible hands, where some muppet in middle position called my raise (AQ) and called down his T9o with no draws on the board to hit his T on the river. Couple other nasty suckouts and instead of winning a packet I ended down.
Cake was a different story though where I found a player who I will call super muppet. This guy would check/call raises on the flop and turn and then fold on the river. Now I know that doesn't necessarily sound too bad, however, he would fold when he could actually check, and i'm sure at least once he would have had me beat. Needless to say he was pretty easy to play against - a bet represented a hand, and if he had nothing he'd fold ... was kinda handy, and made me a good 15 - 20 BBs.
I will probably focus a bit more on Pokerroom tomorrow as that should be finished by the end of next week at the latest as well as playing cake whenever a fishy table is available. After that the next bonus will absolutely have to be found :)
Still haven't got past my small tilt problem where I chat in the chat box and may call people muppets.... Gotta get past that, as I dont want to scare off the fish!! especially my mate Super Muppet.
Current bankroll: $5,830
Cake was a different story though where I found a player who I will call super muppet. This guy would check/call raises on the flop and turn and then fold on the river. Now I know that doesn't necessarily sound too bad, however, he would fold when he could actually check, and i'm sure at least once he would have had me beat. Needless to say he was pretty easy to play against - a bet represented a hand, and if he had nothing he'd fold ... was kinda handy, and made me a good 15 - 20 BBs.
I will probably focus a bit more on Pokerroom tomorrow as that should be finished by the end of next week at the latest as well as playing cake whenever a fishy table is available. After that the next bonus will absolutely have to be found :)
Still haven't got past my small tilt problem where I chat in the chat box and may call people muppets.... Gotta get past that, as I dont want to scare off the fish!! especially my mate Super Muppet.
Current bankroll: $5,830
Monday, March 31, 2008
March summary
A few more fish on Cake last night enabled me to increase my bankroll a little further since my last post. It wasn't looking good when I was down 10BBs for a fair while, and then went to 15BBs before I finally hit a 2nd nut flush to take a 20BB pot, followed by another 10BB pot the very next hand with top 2 pair. Won a small amount on Pokerstars as I still have the $50 bonus to clear there as well, however the play there was much more aggressive. Luckily a couple times I really did have a good hand, and they paid me off.
March turned into my best month to date, beating February by a whole $50. I believe however, I played for considerably less time - less than 25 hours for the month. For the end of the month my bankroll made it to $5,750 which was a gain of $1,400 for the month. That was made up of:
Bonuses: $447.50
Playing a lot more of 2/4 (and still a bit of 1/2, although mainly on William Hill) has allowed me to increase the amount of bonuses I am clearing and increase the amount of rakeback I am receivin even though i've played fewer hours . Still nowhere near enough hands to tell if I am a long term winner at 2/4, but I am very comfortable playing there now, and have shown pretty good results to date.
I did manage to cash in the Fulltilt freeroll, however, should have done a lot better when i went out with a stupid hand. Chalk that up to experience i guess.
For April the goals in order of priority are:
March turned into my best month to date, beating February by a whole $50. I believe however, I played for considerably less time - less than 25 hours for the month. For the end of the month my bankroll made it to $5,750 which was a gain of $1,400 for the month. That was made up of:
Bonuses: $447.50
- William Hill: $50 for 5 hours play bonus
- Sun: $20 bonus for playing 160mpps (still waiting for that to be credited)
- Cake: $120 bonus cleared (with another $70 remaining that expires in 3 months)
- Party: $7.5 reload bonus
- Chan: $250 through easypokerbonuses
- Rakeback: $160
- Fulltilt: $24
- Sun: $24
- Cake: $100
- William Hill: $12
Playing a lot more of 2/4 (and still a bit of 1/2, although mainly on William Hill) has allowed me to increase the amount of bonuses I am clearing and increase the amount of rakeback I am receivin even though i've played fewer hours . Still nowhere near enough hands to tell if I am a long term winner at 2/4, but I am very comfortable playing there now, and have shown pretty good results to date.
I did manage to cash in the Fulltilt freeroll, however, should have done a lot better when i went out with a stupid hand. Chalk that up to experience i guess.
For April the goals in order of priority are:
- Clear as much of my Cake bonus of $80
- Clear the last 250 points of my Pokerroom bonus for $210 - and boy does that clear FAST!
- Play my 5 hours on William Hill for the $50 bonus
- Clear some of the Sun bonus - maybe $20 or $50 (through double up SnGs mainly)
- Clear 500 points on fulltilt to qualify for the freeroll (and place in it again!!)
- Find a new bonus to clear
Current bankroll: $5,750
Sunday, March 30, 2008
A nice hand
Actually played a bit of poker on the weekend, so maybe did about 3 hours. The highlight would have been the following hand on Cake:
QJo in BB, with one raiser on the button and one caller. Flop of AsQsTs, which actually did match my Js. SB bets ... kinda weird, but okay, so I call, and Button calls. Turn Ks .. kaching - that's my second royal flush ever. Now, how on earth am I going to get the most out of this I ask myself. SB again bets out - so do I just call hoping to keep button in or reraise? At this point I decided to just call, and thankfully so did the button. River is 9s! SB checks the river, so I bet, and gain two callers, and take down a bit over a 10BB pot. I can't see how I could have extracted any more than that, but feel free to give your opinion. Not my biggest win ever, but its always cool to see that royal flush :)
I ended up signing up on Pokerroom through PSO. (and bubbled their weekly freeroll final which was annoying. My JJ didnt hold up v AQ). However, as far as the bonus goes - with my deposit of $150, I need to get 400 MPPs to clear a $150 PSO bonus, and then another 80 points after that to clear another $60 direct from the room. No rakeback deal is better than that, so I figure its worth my time.
I did play a bit on the weekend, and have knocked off about 120 points so far from that bonus, and my cake rackback for the month has finally hit $100. Actually ran fairly hot on pokerroom(found plenty of fish to sit to the left of), which always seems the way for ongame for me . At the beginning of each bonus I blitz the tables, then give it back just as I clear the last $50. Hopefully this won't be a repeat performance with all the fish on there!
Current bankroll: $5,600
QJo in BB, with one raiser on the button and one caller. Flop of AsQsTs, which actually did match my Js. SB bets ... kinda weird, but okay, so I call, and Button calls. Turn Ks .. kaching - that's my second royal flush ever. Now, how on earth am I going to get the most out of this I ask myself. SB again bets out - so do I just call hoping to keep button in or reraise? At this point I decided to just call, and thankfully so did the button. River is 9s! SB checks the river, so I bet, and gain two callers, and take down a bit over a 10BB pot. I can't see how I could have extracted any more than that, but feel free to give your opinion. Not my biggest win ever, but its always cool to see that royal flush :)
I ended up signing up on Pokerroom through PSO. (and bubbled their weekly freeroll final which was annoying. My JJ didnt hold up v AQ). However, as far as the bonus goes - with my deposit of $150, I need to get 400 MPPs to clear a $150 PSO bonus, and then another 80 points after that to clear another $60 direct from the room. No rakeback deal is better than that, so I figure its worth my time.
I did play a bit on the weekend, and have knocked off about 120 points so far from that bonus, and my cake rackback for the month has finally hit $100. Actually ran fairly hot on pokerroom(found plenty of fish to sit to the left of), which always seems the way for ongame for me . At the beginning of each bonus I blitz the tables, then give it back just as I clear the last $50. Hopefully this won't be a repeat performance with all the fish on there!
Current bankroll: $5,600
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The fishiest table I have played on
Found a fantastic $2/$4 limit table last night. All 4 opponents had a VPIP over 65%, and 3 had a PFR % of less than 10. Two were relatively aggressive post flop which was the only small downer of the table.
The only problem was, I was getting beaten reasonably badly. One of the fish with 65/35/2.5 somehow managed to have a 55% WTSD and a 65% W$SD. With those ridiculously high winning stats, you'd think he would have a huge win rate, however, it was something like 4BB/100. He had a bad habit of bluffing super dangerous boards with nothing. However, every time I did make a decent hand, he seemed to have me beaten, so he wasn't giving it to me.
I actually played the whole session quite well, and I dont think I had even a hint of tilt. I was receiving reasonable starting hands, however, every time I had KK or QQ and A would flop and inevitably one of the 3 callers would have an A, and i'd either end up losing the showdown, or having to fold a premium hand. After losing about 20BBs I finally left the table about 13BBs down. It did mean that I cleared my Chan bonus of $250 relatively easily though, as every single hand would have been raked.
I also fired up Cake at the same time, and found a table with one of the biggest maniacs i've ever seen. He was raising pre and every street, and wasnt afraid to reraise with 52o pre flop and also chuck in a river bluff with the same hand. I played him fairly simply. Isolated where I had a half decent hand. Called down if I had even the slightest piece of the board - even K high. He kindly donated me about 30BBs in the space of 20 mins, where I managed to score 3 premium hands in a row AJ or better. He did manage to win a few small pots off me, but paid me quite a few larger one's where I would wait for the turn to reraise and he would at worst call me down, or even bluff into the river which I would pick off.
Just working out my next site for bonuses. I think it will probably be Pokerroom through PSO, for the $150 for only 400 points.
Current bankroll: $5380
The only problem was, I was getting beaten reasonably badly. One of the fish with 65/35/2.5 somehow managed to have a 55% WTSD and a 65% W$SD. With those ridiculously high winning stats, you'd think he would have a huge win rate, however, it was something like 4BB/100. He had a bad habit of bluffing super dangerous boards with nothing. However, every time I did make a decent hand, he seemed to have me beaten, so he wasn't giving it to me.
I actually played the whole session quite well, and I dont think I had even a hint of tilt. I was receiving reasonable starting hands, however, every time I had KK or QQ and A would flop and inevitably one of the 3 callers would have an A, and i'd either end up losing the showdown, or having to fold a premium hand. After losing about 20BBs I finally left the table about 13BBs down. It did mean that I cleared my Chan bonus of $250 relatively easily though, as every single hand would have been raked.
I also fired up Cake at the same time, and found a table with one of the biggest maniacs i've ever seen. He was raising pre and every street, and wasnt afraid to reraise with 52o pre flop and also chuck in a river bluff with the same hand. I played him fairly simply. Isolated where I had a half decent hand. Called down if I had even the slightest piece of the board - even K high. He kindly donated me about 30BBs in the space of 20 mins, where I managed to score 3 premium hands in a row AJ or better. He did manage to win a few small pots off me, but paid me quite a few larger one's where I would wait for the turn to reraise and he would at worst call me down, or even bluff into the river which I would pick off.
Just working out my next site for bonuses. I think it will probably be Pokerroom through PSO, for the $150 for only 400 points.
Current bankroll: $5380
Monday, March 24, 2008
A grinder?
Having looked at my weekend's efforts, I don't think I can really claim to be a grinder. I played maybe all of 3 hours in the last 4 days, which was a long weekend with two public holidays. I managed to play maybe 3 SNGs and the rest cash games.
The SNGs didn't go well, and I only doubled in one out of the 3. One was my own fault, where I accidently min raised towards the end instead of pushing all in, and unfortunately got called by a muppet who hit on the river to beat my pair of 6s. Oh well.
The cash games started badly again, with me managing to pick up KK v AA, even picking up a K on the turn and losing to an A on the river, followed slightly later with AQ v AA with a Q high flop. Managed to run into AA with JJ, and that really was the story of about 45 mins.
The fishiness of the tables then dried up, and I spotted a 3/6 table that was showing a VPIP of around 83%, so now was as good as any time to take a shot. Upon sitting down there were a couple of rounds before the BB got to me, so I figured I could watch for those to see what was happening. To my surprise it was folded all the way round twice .... huh .... how is that 83%??? Anyways, there was actually a fish on the table who I had good position on, and managed to win an okay pot with AK and a K high flop. The table then broke up after about 2 orbits, with me about 10 BBs up, but overall down $100 for the session. I guess it coulda been a lot worse...
My next session a couple days later for an hour or 2 went significantly better. The fish were paying me off quite well, including a guy calling down one hand with Q5o for Q high .. go figure. One amusing hand that I got blasted for was quite interesting. I was in the big blind staring at a fabulous 74o figure there was another big blind down the drain. 4 callers and I was able to check to see a flop of 356r ... sweet. One raise and a few callers so I then reraise and everyone calls still. Turn is an 8 .. sweet again. My bet causes a couple folds but one guy decides to reraise, which i then reraise. River is a 9, which is a little annoying, giving anyone with a 7 a split pot with me. I still bet and get called, by some guy who then goes ballistic at me for being a donkey, as he had KK. I thought it a little odd to be called a donkey when I had flopped the nuts for free from the big blind. Oh well. I guess I coulda stirred him up a bit, but just ignored it, as the table was donating me money fairly quickly.
Party poker also had a reload bonus and some easter promotion of free $ and freeroll entries just for getting more than 10 party points. I shoulda read the terms a bit more closely as you had to get 100 points in a day to get any bonus cash, and I was only scoring 10 for the freeroll entry that I wasn't even using. At least I cleared my $7.50 bonus in less than an hour of play i guess... and made a hundred bucks or so in the process.
Finished my William Hill 5 hours for the week bonus as well, and I think I have about 30 more fulltilt points to clear to get my freeroll entry there. That only really leaves chan poker where I need another 370 points to clear $250.
Cake had an easter reload as well, so I deposited $400 there to give me $100 in bonus that I will need to clear over the next few months.
If everything goes to plan I should clear Chan by the end of the month for a handy little boost to the bankroll :)
Current bankroll: $5200
The SNGs didn't go well, and I only doubled in one out of the 3. One was my own fault, where I accidently min raised towards the end instead of pushing all in, and unfortunately got called by a muppet who hit on the river to beat my pair of 6s. Oh well.
The cash games started badly again, with me managing to pick up KK v AA, even picking up a K on the turn and losing to an A on the river, followed slightly later with AQ v AA with a Q high flop. Managed to run into AA with JJ, and that really was the story of about 45 mins.
The fishiness of the tables then dried up, and I spotted a 3/6 table that was showing a VPIP of around 83%, so now was as good as any time to take a shot. Upon sitting down there were a couple of rounds before the BB got to me, so I figured I could watch for those to see what was happening. To my surprise it was folded all the way round twice .... huh .... how is that 83%??? Anyways, there was actually a fish on the table who I had good position on, and managed to win an okay pot with AK and a K high flop. The table then broke up after about 2 orbits, with me about 10 BBs up, but overall down $100 for the session. I guess it coulda been a lot worse...
My next session a couple days later for an hour or 2 went significantly better. The fish were paying me off quite well, including a guy calling down one hand with Q5o for Q high .. go figure. One amusing hand that I got blasted for was quite interesting. I was in the big blind staring at a fabulous 74o figure there was another big blind down the drain. 4 callers and I was able to check to see a flop of 356r ... sweet. One raise and a few callers so I then reraise and everyone calls still. Turn is an 8 .. sweet again. My bet causes a couple folds but one guy decides to reraise, which i then reraise. River is a 9, which is a little annoying, giving anyone with a 7 a split pot with me. I still bet and get called, by some guy who then goes ballistic at me for being a donkey, as he had KK. I thought it a little odd to be called a donkey when I had flopped the nuts for free from the big blind. Oh well. I guess I coulda stirred him up a bit, but just ignored it, as the table was donating me money fairly quickly.
Party poker also had a reload bonus and some easter promotion of free $ and freeroll entries just for getting more than 10 party points. I shoulda read the terms a bit more closely as you had to get 100 points in a day to get any bonus cash, and I was only scoring 10 for the freeroll entry that I wasn't even using. At least I cleared my $7.50 bonus in less than an hour of play i guess... and made a hundred bucks or so in the process.
Finished my William Hill 5 hours for the week bonus as well, and I think I have about 30 more fulltilt points to clear to get my freeroll entry there. That only really leaves chan poker where I need another 370 points to clear $250.
Cake had an easter reload as well, so I deposited $400 there to give me $100 in bonus that I will need to clear over the next few months.
If everything goes to plan I should clear Chan by the end of the month for a handy little boost to the bankroll :)
Current bankroll: $5200
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Almost spoke too soon ....
Had another quick 45 min session yesterday which included one double up SNG, one fulltilt 2/4 table and a couple chan poker tables.
The double up went quite smoothly, so nothin really to say there. I had top pair, top kicker and another player decided to put in a small bet on each street, and then he showed down bottom pair. Not exactly sure what he was thinking. Anyways that gave me a significant stack and with a few blind steals I ended up just basically folding for the win.
My fulltilt table was interesting. There were 2 players who were either maniacs or borderline. One was 80/40/4 and the other 60/30/8. I proceeded to get hammered a bit by these guys, particularly when I lost out with QQ v T5, and AKs v A7. A nasty gutshot didn't help either. At one stage i was down a good 20BB. I was getting a little annoyed, as i wasn't receiving any starting hands, and the other players were taking cash from the maniacs like candy from a baby. I think my VPIP was something like 12!! Fortunately though in my last round at the table before I was going to quit a hand went something like this -
I received A4o in the BB. Called by UTG, Raise by MP, Call by CO, Call by Button. So I figured with that many bets out there i may as well call for 1SB. Unfortunately then UTG decides to raise, and its called around to me, so I figure for 1SB i may as well see the flop, since the pot is now quite large relatively speaking. The flop is all clubs, which seems to quite nicely match my Ac. I check, which is promptly raised by UTG, called by MP and then raised all in by CO. Button then raises again, and there's no way i'm folding here so i call a couple cold. UTG then decides to fold ... The turn is a sweet club, and although i guess there was a chance of a nasty straight flush, i'm pretty happy at this stage, so i check and when its raised to me I reraise it up. The other guys call my raise. I raise the river straight out, and one player had 9c and button had 67c. 20BBs - ship it, and i've broken even on the table
Ongame however, didnt go so well, even though I had a super fish or two sitting on my right (70,0,.35) every time I had a hand, my fishy mate had at least 2 pair of something I completely didnt expect. It kind of evened out in the end, when one kinda aggressive player decided to steal my BB from the SB when I held A8, and the flop came down A8X. I called his flop bet, and check raised his turn bet. His fold on the river gave me an okay pot, but I did finish down a few BBs. I did accrue about $10 in Chan bonus though, and i'm sure a good $5 or $10 from fulltilt since almost every pot would have been raked. Will wait and see for that though, and I still havent included chan in my bankroll, even though i've now accrued about $140.
Current bankroll: $5,010
The double up went quite smoothly, so nothin really to say there. I had top pair, top kicker and another player decided to put in a small bet on each street, and then he showed down bottom pair. Not exactly sure what he was thinking. Anyways that gave me a significant stack and with a few blind steals I ended up just basically folding for the win.
My fulltilt table was interesting. There were 2 players who were either maniacs or borderline. One was 80/40/4 and the other 60/30/8. I proceeded to get hammered a bit by these guys, particularly when I lost out with QQ v T5, and AKs v A7. A nasty gutshot didn't help either. At one stage i was down a good 20BB. I was getting a little annoyed, as i wasn't receiving any starting hands, and the other players were taking cash from the maniacs like candy from a baby. I think my VPIP was something like 12!! Fortunately though in my last round at the table before I was going to quit a hand went something like this -
I received A4o in the BB. Called by UTG, Raise by MP, Call by CO, Call by Button. So I figured with that many bets out there i may as well call for 1SB. Unfortunately then UTG decides to raise, and its called around to me, so I figure for 1SB i may as well see the flop, since the pot is now quite large relatively speaking. The flop is all clubs, which seems to quite nicely match my Ac. I check, which is promptly raised by UTG, called by MP and then raised all in by CO. Button then raises again, and there's no way i'm folding here so i call a couple cold. UTG then decides to fold ... The turn is a sweet club, and although i guess there was a chance of a nasty straight flush, i'm pretty happy at this stage, so i check and when its raised to me I reraise it up. The other guys call my raise. I raise the river straight out, and one player had 9c and button had 67c. 20BBs - ship it, and i've broken even on the table
Ongame however, didnt go so well, even though I had a super fish or two sitting on my right (70,0,.35) every time I had a hand, my fishy mate had at least 2 pair of something I completely didnt expect. It kind of evened out in the end, when one kinda aggressive player decided to steal my BB from the SB when I held A8, and the flop came down A8X. I called his flop bet, and check raised his turn bet. His fold on the river gave me an okay pot, but I did finish down a few BBs. I did accrue about $10 in Chan bonus though, and i'm sure a good $5 or $10 from fulltilt since almost every pot would have been raked. Will wait and see for that though, and I still havent included chan in my bankroll, even though i've now accrued about $140.
Current bankroll: $5,010
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Mini milestone achieved
Played about 40 mins partly on William Hill as I cleared my 4th hour of the 5 hours worth of bonuses. Was tough to find a decent table on there, and ended up only a few $ up and quit as soon as the lone fish left the table. Only one more hour to clear though which shouldnt be too tricky - hopefully I find a nice loose table next time I log in.
At the same time I played a couple double up SNGs on Sun, one for 10 pounds and the other for $5. Both went relatively smoothly where I managed to double my stack in both well before the bubble, and basically then cruised through to the money.
Only hand I can think that was noteworthy was when I was dealt T8s in the small blind, and it was folded around to me. I did my usual 3x BB raise, and I was a little surprised when the button called (he had a medium stack). The flop was a sweet TTx rainbow, so my next thoughts were how to get the rest of his stack in - around 1,200 chips with me having about 2,200 behind me. I insta min raised the flop, which he reraised around 200 chips. I thought about it for a few seconds before calling. The turn was a blank, which I ended up checking hoping that he'd continue his betting, and given he raised the flop I figured there was a decent chance of that. He thought for about 30 seconds before pushing his last 1,000 chips in, which I insta-called. I guess he could have had another 10, or a full house, but I was hoping in a blind battle this was not the case. He flipped over QQ, and received no Q on the river, so he was out.
I guess he learned his lesson not to slowplay and just call a raise with QQ. A reraise preflop would have put real pressure on me to fold. Still, i'm not sure if I played the hand quite correctly, as my no limit experience is very limited, and I still haven't read any of the theory on it.
Anyways it let me hit my $5k milestone, which i'm quite pleased with, although its obviously still small stakes to many people.
Also received in my email another 15% reload offer from party up to a max of $100. I will take up some of that offer, although with only 7 days to clear and not having a lot of time to play i will only make a small deposit.
Current bankroll: $5,030
At the same time I played a couple double up SNGs on Sun, one for 10 pounds and the other for $5. Both went relatively smoothly where I managed to double my stack in both well before the bubble, and basically then cruised through to the money.
Only hand I can think that was noteworthy was when I was dealt T8s in the small blind, and it was folded around to me. I did my usual 3x BB raise, and I was a little surprised when the button called (he had a medium stack). The flop was a sweet TTx rainbow, so my next thoughts were how to get the rest of his stack in - around 1,200 chips with me having about 2,200 behind me. I insta min raised the flop, which he reraised around 200 chips. I thought about it for a few seconds before calling. The turn was a blank, which I ended up checking hoping that he'd continue his betting, and given he raised the flop I figured there was a decent chance of that. He thought for about 30 seconds before pushing his last 1,000 chips in, which I insta-called. I guess he could have had another 10, or a full house, but I was hoping in a blind battle this was not the case. He flipped over QQ, and received no Q on the river, so he was out.
I guess he learned his lesson not to slowplay and just call a raise with QQ. A reraise preflop would have put real pressure on me to fold. Still, i'm not sure if I played the hand quite correctly, as my no limit experience is very limited, and I still haven't read any of the theory on it.
Anyways it let me hit my $5k milestone, which i'm quite pleased with, although its obviously still small stakes to many people.
Also received in my email another 15% reload offer from party up to a max of $100. I will take up some of that offer, although with only 7 days to clear and not having a lot of time to play i will only make a small deposit.
Current bankroll: $5,030
Monday, March 17, 2008
So close
Had a 2 hour long session which I haven't done for weeks last night. Played a little fulltilt, although it was a struggle to find a fishy table. Ended up playing one $2/4 fulltilt table, and opening up Chan Poker at the same time for a $2/4 table and a $1/2 table.
The Fulltilt table proved to be very rewarding. Since i have colour coded my opposition, table and seat selection is easy before even sitting down. I managed to sit on the left of a fish and maniac, and they promptly gave me about 20BBs. However, the fish then left, so i decided to quit the table in search of something jucier.
Whilst making BBs at Fulltilt, Ongame was not performing well at all, dropping a quick 15BBs. As usual a few nasty beats from the fish sucking out a gutshot or two contributed to that, as well as having a J high flush with the A and K on the board, but my opponent had the Q. There was also one decent player at the table, and I had a couple run ins with him, and unfortunately he decided to suck out a gut shot or two as well. For my 150 hands in total against him, he's running at a WTSD of about 38% and a W$SD of 75% !!! :O ... kind of annoying that he has consistently hammered me by hitting all his draws. Anyways, when my fish left that table, I had to close that one down as well.
Found another Ongame table which had a fish and a maniac showing around 65,50,6. I sat to the left of the maniac, and apart from one suckout, he managed to pay me off (with a lot of raising and reraising) when I hit my flush / top pair on the river, had the nut straight, flopped trips, flopped TPTK to his 3rd pair that he bet hard. He even bet into my flush and the only hand that could beat me was Axs since i had KJs. I think I made at least 25BBs on that table, so my run ins with maniacs to date have been quite rewarding.
I've now accumulated 650 of the 1250 ongame points I need to release my $250 Chan bonus.
Cashwise my bankroll has improved a little, however, it will be nice to hit the $5,000 mark. I guess if I inclued the proportion of the Chan bonus I would already have achieved that goal.
By the way does anyone know how to get your HUD info up before you sit down at the table? Gametime doesn't seem to do it but it would make seat selection on most sites a whole lot easier.
Current bankroll: $4,990
The Fulltilt table proved to be very rewarding. Since i have colour coded my opposition, table and seat selection is easy before even sitting down. I managed to sit on the left of a fish and maniac, and they promptly gave me about 20BBs. However, the fish then left, so i decided to quit the table in search of something jucier.
Whilst making BBs at Fulltilt, Ongame was not performing well at all, dropping a quick 15BBs. As usual a few nasty beats from the fish sucking out a gutshot or two contributed to that, as well as having a J high flush with the A and K on the board, but my opponent had the Q. There was also one decent player at the table, and I had a couple run ins with him, and unfortunately he decided to suck out a gut shot or two as well. For my 150 hands in total against him, he's running at a WTSD of about 38% and a W$SD of 75% !!! :O ... kind of annoying that he has consistently hammered me by hitting all his draws. Anyways, when my fish left that table, I had to close that one down as well.
Found another Ongame table which had a fish and a maniac showing around 65,50,6. I sat to the left of the maniac, and apart from one suckout, he managed to pay me off (with a lot of raising and reraising) when I hit my flush / top pair on the river, had the nut straight, flopped trips, flopped TPTK to his 3rd pair that he bet hard. He even bet into my flush and the only hand that could beat me was Axs since i had KJs. I think I made at least 25BBs on that table, so my run ins with maniacs to date have been quite rewarding.
I've now accumulated 650 of the 1250 ongame points I need to release my $250 Chan bonus.
Cashwise my bankroll has improved a little, however, it will be nice to hit the $5,000 mark. I guess if I inclued the proportion of the Chan bonus I would already have achieved that goal.
By the way does anyone know how to get your HUD info up before you sit down at the table? Gametime doesn't seem to do it but it would make seat selection on most sites a whole lot easier.
Current bankroll: $4,990
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Bankroll management
It’s interesting to read people’s thoughts on bankroll management. Often you read that for full ring limit poker the required bankroll (for a winning player) is around 300BB. I assume that is 300 big blinds as opposed to big bets. Then people point out on the forums that 300 was the requirement of the old days – being a few years ago, when players were much much looser, and online poker was easy money.
Playing shorthanded, I obviously am subject to a higher degree of variance than full ring, so I’ve decided to be quite conservative with my bankroll management. At the moment with a $4k bankroll I’m still playing a lot of 1/2, however, I have no problem with playing 2/4 as well whenever I see a juicy table. I think I started taking shots at 2/4 when my bankroll was around $3k, but at that point the table had to be very fishy.
I’m not sure that I’m actually winning at 2/4 (I will have to check Pokertracker), however, there has been a dramatic increase in my bonus clearing rate, which would probably make up for fewer playing winnings.
So I guess as far as my bankroll management goes, I like to have around 1,000 big bets in my roll before I climb up limits. When will I take shots at 3/6? Hmmm, maybe when I have $5,000, but probably more like $6,000. I think I’m heading towards the upper limit of my comfort zone of how much I like to have riding on individual hands, although the actual $ don’t influence my playing decisions. The other reason I think I’m getting more conservative as I go up, is that the opposition is obviously a lot stronger, so my win rate will obviously go down.
So far I don’t think I’ve ever tilted enough to join a table that is outside of my bankroll. (and I don’t think I tilt too much at all, but that can be a topic of another blog).
With respect to SitnGos, I think commonly recommended is 30 to 100 buyins. I think that with the SitnGos that I play (double ups), I’m sure you could get away with the lower end of the scale. Admittedly after playing nearly 100 I’ve made only about 20 buyins profit. And this is only at the $5 or $10 level. Over that 100 I’ve never experienced a super bad run, although I did manage to only double up on 3/10 at one stage. I think I’ve doubled the last 7 out of 7 though, and have had a few similar runs in my 100 tourney sample. That being said, 100 tourneys I’m sure is an extremely small sample.
How has the poker been going otherwise – well up and down as per usual. I had a shocking run the other day where I
Received hardly any starting hands (VPIP around 15)
When I did get a hand, it never hit (WTSD around 25%)
When I did get to SD, I was getting sucked out on or had second best all the time (W$SD 18%) …. Someone hitting trips on the river 3 or 4 times in the few hands that I played was extremely frustrating!
I ended up losing a quick $100, however, at the same time cleared my $150 sun poker bonus.
On the plus side as well, I have almost cleared all my bonuses for the month, with only an hour or so to go on William Hill as a must clear. Cake I have a couple weeks to clear a $300 bonus, however that is released in increments of $10. I will focus on Cake for a while, and then try to clear my Chan bonus, and maybe do another $100 reload on Sun.
Current bankroll: $4,250
Playing shorthanded, I obviously am subject to a higher degree of variance than full ring, so I’ve decided to be quite conservative with my bankroll management. At the moment with a $4k bankroll I’m still playing a lot of 1/2, however, I have no problem with playing 2/4 as well whenever I see a juicy table. I think I started taking shots at 2/4 when my bankroll was around $3k, but at that point the table had to be very fishy.
I’m not sure that I’m actually winning at 2/4 (I will have to check Pokertracker), however, there has been a dramatic increase in my bonus clearing rate, which would probably make up for fewer playing winnings.
So I guess as far as my bankroll management goes, I like to have around 1,000 big bets in my roll before I climb up limits. When will I take shots at 3/6? Hmmm, maybe when I have $5,000, but probably more like $6,000. I think I’m heading towards the upper limit of my comfort zone of how much I like to have riding on individual hands, although the actual $ don’t influence my playing decisions. The other reason I think I’m getting more conservative as I go up, is that the opposition is obviously a lot stronger, so my win rate will obviously go down.
So far I don’t think I’ve ever tilted enough to join a table that is outside of my bankroll. (and I don’t think I tilt too much at all, but that can be a topic of another blog).
With respect to SitnGos, I think commonly recommended is 30 to 100 buyins. I think that with the SitnGos that I play (double ups), I’m sure you could get away with the lower end of the scale. Admittedly after playing nearly 100 I’ve made only about 20 buyins profit. And this is only at the $5 or $10 level. Over that 100 I’ve never experienced a super bad run, although I did manage to only double up on 3/10 at one stage. I think I’ve doubled the last 7 out of 7 though, and have had a few similar runs in my 100 tourney sample. That being said, 100 tourneys I’m sure is an extremely small sample.
How has the poker been going otherwise – well up and down as per usual. I had a shocking run the other day where I
Received hardly any starting hands (VPIP around 15)
When I did get a hand, it never hit (WTSD around 25%)
When I did get to SD, I was getting sucked out on or had second best all the time (W$SD 18%) …. Someone hitting trips on the river 3 or 4 times in the few hands that I played was extremely frustrating!
I ended up losing a quick $100, however, at the same time cleared my $150 sun poker bonus.
On the plus side as well, I have almost cleared all my bonuses for the month, with only an hour or so to go on William Hill as a must clear. Cake I have a couple weeks to clear a $300 bonus, however that is released in increments of $10. I will focus on Cake for a while, and then try to clear my Chan bonus, and maybe do another $100 reload on Sun.
Current bankroll: $4,250
Sunday, February 24, 2008
table and seat selection
I can't stress how critical table selection is. I occasionally get lazy and don't table select or seat select very well, and inevitably it costs me some of my bankroll, or I dont make as much as I should.
My current rules for table and seat selection for 6max limit poker are:
My current rules for table and seat selection for 6max limit poker are:
- VPIP over 40% (and preferably higher!)
- Loose / passive to my right, and preferably 2nd to my right as well (better to be able to check the big blind rather than fold to a raise)
- Tight player to my left and possibly 2nd to my left (I like to steal blinds!)
That's really about it ... although if there is a maniac on the table, I dont mind them on my immediate right. Sure i will fold a bunch, but when i do get a hand, he/she will pay :)
So, how is the poker going now? Well, I haven't really been playing too much, but maybe put in a couple hours. Had a decent run, with both luck going for and against me, and have made a few more dollars. Can't remember too many hands of note, as most have played fairly straight forward. The last hand I can remember was pocket 7s on the big blind, where I got raised. Flop 7d8dQs and I check raised. He checked, I raised a blank turn. River was an A which I still bet and got raised, so I reraised, and he flips over AQ.
I had someone else 4 bet me pre flop when they were in a steal position and I had the button with A9s (yes i knew he was an over aggressive stealer). He showed down with KTs unimproved!!
Current bankroll: $4,099
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