Why seat select?
Couple reasons really -
1. If you read any poker books, they will tell you that money tends to move clockwise around the table. The simple reason for this is that you have position on the opponent to your right, so for five hands out of six, you get to see them act first before you have to make a decision. Therefore you want to have a seat to the left of the biggest donaters on the table.
2. The second reason is to play as many hands as possible against the loose/passive players. If you are not near the fish or they are on your left, then you're not going to play as many hands against them as:
a) other aggressive players will raise you out of the hand,
b) the fish will see your raise and act after you giving them the opportunity to fold or
c) you'll be acting first and fold what could have been a decent hand multiway after they limp.
Basically you want them to be limping in, and then you follow with a raise to either isolate / build the pot with your big hands, or overlimp with decent pot odds. If you're playing before them, then they can fold their trash to your raise, rather than feel obliged to call a raise after limping in.
How do you seat select?
Seat selection is fairly simple really. Find the fish, and sit on their left. You want them limping in just in front of you allowing you to raise and potentially isolate as discussed above, or also giving you the opportunity to limp in with more marginal hands that are now priced to play because of a limper in front.
If you can find a fish that is prepared to just limp in the small blind giving you a free look from the big blind, you've almost found the perfect seat.
The player on your left is not quite so much of a concern. Ideally, i'd like a table full of fish, but if not, a tight passive on my left is also quite good. That would let me isolate my fish on my right, and also allow me to regularly steal their blinds. If I have position on a couple fish, I wouldn't even be concerned if the player to my left was quite good.
If I am looking for a really juicy table, i'll want the two players directly on my right to be loose, passive fish. That way I know that i'm playing the most possible hands against the worst possible players.
The theory applies similarly to an overaggressive loose player. It's generally a good idea to have them on your right, which allows you to three bet fairly liberally preflop to isolate, whilst also having position on them on every street post flop. These types of opponents can give you a lot of cash, but I prefer going up against the loose passives as they generally provide for a lower variance session.
How do I do it?
Basically if there's an empty seat on the left of the fish, its a no brainer, I sit down.
If the empty seat is on the right of the only big fish on the table, I won't sit down.
If i'm on a big downswing, i'll often only sit if there are two fish on the right of the empty seat. If i'm running well and playing at lower than my average stakes (say $1/2 or $2/4) I might accept a tight passive on my right, who won't be raising me off hands, if there is a super loose passive fish to their right.
Mostly though, its a matter of finding tables that have several fish, although they are likely full, and adding myself to the waiting list. At the start of my session i'll add myself to a good five to ten table wait lists (generally across two or three sites) which should allow me to find seats on four tables I normally have active simultaneously.
If the seat that comes up from the wait list does not meet the above criteria, I simply decline the seat, and add myself back to the wait list if the table still looks fishy overall.
If i've already got four tables running and a seat comes up, then i'll only sit at down if it has at least two fish to the right of the empty seat.
Once seated, I basically stay there until the fish run out of cash and are replaced by better players. With any luck they'll either be replaced by another fish, or get lucky and suck out on a number of opponents, whilst continuing to donate to me. I am also prepared to get up from my current seat and move to another one on the same table that is empty next to a fish if necessary. I always want to have the most advantage possible.
I think that about covers it ...
Current bankroll: $25,500
April time played: 10.6h
April hands played: 2,333
April profit / (loss): $800
Showing posts with label seat selection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seat selection. Show all posts
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Table and seat selection
I've decided to keep on going with my table and seat selection nittiness.
In the last couple days i've only managed to play for all of 10 minutes, and in that time i'd have opened and closed at least 15 tables. If the seat i'm allocated doesn't have a fairly loose player on my right i'm more or less getting up straight away.
As luck would have it, it seems every time I sit down there's a 30/20 tag on my right ... or at least not someone loose enough that I want sitting there.
I've decided to make a few small exceptions though -
In the last couple days i've only managed to play for all of 10 minutes, and in that time i'd have opened and closed at least 15 tables. If the seat i'm allocated doesn't have a fairly loose player on my right i'm more or less getting up straight away.
As luck would have it, it seems every time I sit down there's a 30/20 tag on my right ... or at least not someone loose enough that I want sitting there.
I've decided to make a few small exceptions though -
- I'll play with a tag on my right if there is a very loose and showdown bound fish on his right. I should still be playing enough hands against the fish with a large enough expectation for it to be worthwhile.
- If the majority of the table is fishy and the player to my right is tight but passive.
Otherwise, i'm pretty much just getting up and waiting for a better spot. It does also mean that when a fish busts out on my right and is replaced by a TAG, i'm getting up at the next BB.
In terms of play i've made a few BBs (mainly through one 80/5 guy who then had an AF of 3, so calling him down with medium hands in a couple spots was profitable) in my limited time at the tables, and got credited a nice chunk of rakeback, so my bankroll is finally back to an all time high. I should be able to get in an hour or more tonight though so at least i'll be putting in a bit more volume than the last couple days.
Current bankroll: $17,450
May time played: 3h30m
May profit/(loss): $50
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Lobby table selection
Often it seems pretty obvious on which tables to select when you're in the lobby of a poker room - just pick the one's with the highest percentage of players seeing the flop and jump into the table or add yourself to the wait list.
There can be a few problems with this though - if a huge fish has just left the table, then the players seeing the flop percentage may now be significantly lower (particularly in 6max). Even worse if you're on the waiting list and one or two of the fish have just busted out, and then you take your seat to replace them often you'll find yourself sitting next to good players and potentially on a table full of TAGs.
Furthermore the accuracy of the players per flop figure may also be questionable, as it depends on how many hands it is calculated over. If its calculated over a lot of hands, then the actual players on the table may be vastly different from the average calculated due to player turnover.
Natural variance may also impact the figures displayed if a number of players have been dealt decent limping hands several times in the last couple orbits.
So, how do you work around this? Well I rely on my own player notes and HUD to actually check the individual players on the table I sit down at. Normally I don't bother to check them before sitting down unless there are two vacant seats to sit down at. However, once i've sat down, priority number one is to check that the player to my right is a loose fish. I will occasionally accept a tight, but very passive player on my right, if the player to his right is a complete loose passive fish.
Where I don't have a HUD I still rely on my own player notes, but I also go back to the Lobby every so often to check that the table hasn't tightened up too much overall.
For example, I put in a 45 minute session last night between Cake and Bodog. The only decent table on Cake was a $3/6 table showing a very nice looking 60% players seeing the flop. I added myself to the waiting list. About 30 seconds later I was sat down when a seat became vacant. To my left was a player that my notes said "Huge fish. Nrly 100% vpip. Will SD ANY pr on dang brd m/way". To my right my notes said "Tag? OR first in. T8s or co. Vbet top pair". Given that, I stood up straight away, waited for the seat to fill and added myself back onto the wait list.
After about only another two minutes I was seated again, on the left of the fish. Happy days. Even happier when first hand in Tag raises, fish calls, and I have 44 in the BB and flop 864r. So about 10BBs up after one hand. Next hand KK, and I end up heads up with the fish, who actually has JJ on a T high flop with two hearts. Third heart on the river gave me some concern but he just checks, so in two hands i'm up 15BBs, and have great position on a big fish.
Next 30 hands I get nothing though, except probably a decent chunk of rakeback with the fish playing every hand and another fish also playing most hands with the other three on the table being quite aggressive three betting preflop and the flop, leaving me to simply fold. Eventually I did score a couple more decent hands that the fish called down with me in position, and left the table 20BBs up.
On Bodog I added myself to the wait list of the two $1/2 tables that were running. Eventually I was seated, but had a tag to my right, so again stood up without playing a hand and added myself back onto the waiting list. A couple minutes later I was on both tables with good position over a couple passive fish. They promptly sucked out on me a couple times, and I was quickly 15BBs down. Ack. However, by the end of the session, they'd given me back all my losses, and donated me another 20BBs before one of the fish left and was replaced by a TAG so I closed the table.
Add on a bit of rakeback, and the day's progress was actually very good.
Also got an email from Sun saying that on top of the 30% cashback, they are doing a deposit bonus that will match the cashback, which is not deducted from MGR, so effectively 60% cashback. I sent a query email on how long till it expires and am waiting on a response, but i'll probably take up the offer.
Current bankroll: $16,150
There can be a few problems with this though - if a huge fish has just left the table, then the players seeing the flop percentage may now be significantly lower (particularly in 6max). Even worse if you're on the waiting list and one or two of the fish have just busted out, and then you take your seat to replace them often you'll find yourself sitting next to good players and potentially on a table full of TAGs.
Furthermore the accuracy of the players per flop figure may also be questionable, as it depends on how many hands it is calculated over. If its calculated over a lot of hands, then the actual players on the table may be vastly different from the average calculated due to player turnover.
Natural variance may also impact the figures displayed if a number of players have been dealt decent limping hands several times in the last couple orbits.
So, how do you work around this? Well I rely on my own player notes and HUD to actually check the individual players on the table I sit down at. Normally I don't bother to check them before sitting down unless there are two vacant seats to sit down at. However, once i've sat down, priority number one is to check that the player to my right is a loose fish. I will occasionally accept a tight, but very passive player on my right, if the player to his right is a complete loose passive fish.
Where I don't have a HUD I still rely on my own player notes, but I also go back to the Lobby every so often to check that the table hasn't tightened up too much overall.
For example, I put in a 45 minute session last night between Cake and Bodog. The only decent table on Cake was a $3/6 table showing a very nice looking 60% players seeing the flop. I added myself to the waiting list. About 30 seconds later I was sat down when a seat became vacant. To my left was a player that my notes said "Huge fish. Nrly 100% vpip. Will SD ANY pr on dang brd m/way". To my right my notes said "Tag? OR first in. T8s or co. Vbet top pair". Given that, I stood up straight away, waited for the seat to fill and added myself back onto the wait list.
After about only another two minutes I was seated again, on the left of the fish. Happy days. Even happier when first hand in Tag raises, fish calls, and I have 44 in the BB and flop 864r. So about 10BBs up after one hand. Next hand KK, and I end up heads up with the fish, who actually has JJ on a T high flop with two hearts. Third heart on the river gave me some concern but he just checks, so in two hands i'm up 15BBs, and have great position on a big fish.
Next 30 hands I get nothing though, except probably a decent chunk of rakeback with the fish playing every hand and another fish also playing most hands with the other three on the table being quite aggressive three betting preflop and the flop, leaving me to simply fold. Eventually I did score a couple more decent hands that the fish called down with me in position, and left the table 20BBs up.
On Bodog I added myself to the wait list of the two $1/2 tables that were running. Eventually I was seated, but had a tag to my right, so again stood up without playing a hand and added myself back onto the waiting list. A couple minutes later I was on both tables with good position over a couple passive fish. They promptly sucked out on me a couple times, and I was quickly 15BBs down. Ack. However, by the end of the session, they'd given me back all my losses, and donated me another 20BBs before one of the fish left and was replaced by a TAG so I closed the table.
Add on a bit of rakeback, and the day's progress was actually very good.
Also got an email from Sun saying that on top of the 30% cashback, they are doing a deposit bonus that will match the cashback, which is not deducted from MGR, so effectively 60% cashback. I sent a query email on how long till it expires and am waiting on a response, but i'll probably take up the offer.
Current bankroll: $16,150
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Seat selection vs bonus clearing
Had an interesting dilemma last night. I know i've been struggling to find tables to play on for the Ladbrokes rake race, and again there were only a couple tables running that were even worth looking at.
There were two fish on the table but the only seat available was the seat to their right. To the right of that vacant seat was a tight passive, so it could have been worse I suppose, but normally i'd get up and wait for the seat on the left of the fish to become free.
However, given i'm a bit behind on the rake race, I decided to sit there and play anyways. In my half hour session I dropped about 5BBs, but made that much up on bonuses cleared, and am now also a bit closer to getting onto the rake race leader board.
I actually was a little unlucky on a few hands .. such as flopping trips to lose to a runner runner straight, but overall, I don't want to be playing out of position versus the fish. I think though, that I will still play in that seat whilst i'm chasing a rake placing, but once I get in the money, I will seat select more carefully to maintain my rake position, whilst giving myself the best chance of a good return on the tables.
Current bankroll: $16,000
There were two fish on the table but the only seat available was the seat to their right. To the right of that vacant seat was a tight passive, so it could have been worse I suppose, but normally i'd get up and wait for the seat on the left of the fish to become free.
However, given i'm a bit behind on the rake race, I decided to sit there and play anyways. In my half hour session I dropped about 5BBs, but made that much up on bonuses cleared, and am now also a bit closer to getting onto the rake race leader board.
I actually was a little unlucky on a few hands .. such as flopping trips to lose to a runner runner straight, but overall, I don't want to be playing out of position versus the fish. I think though, that I will still play in that seat whilst i'm chasing a rake placing, but once I get in the money, I will seat select more carefully to maintain my rake position, whilst giving myself the best chance of a good return on the tables.
Current bankroll: $16,000
Monday, November 3, 2008
Multiple sites simultaneously
I've noticed having multiple sites open at once is normally not much of a problem. However, when you add Cake into the mix with no HUD, it does become a little more tricky, as I have to make sure I have time to make manual notes. I'm still comfortable with 4 tables open, although it can be a little hectic and occasionally I need to open hand histories to back track on notes on some players.
I don't think it hurts my win rate though, as I can spot the fish relatively quickly, although do have the occasional revision where i've mistaken a LAG for a fish.
I got in about an hour of play last night, which turned out to be relatively profitable. Cake had some nice $2/4 and $3/6 tables, although I didn't really go far with them but made a few BBs. Should have some nice rakeback though. I found a nice $2/4 table on Interpoker though, and for once I didn't get slaughtered there. I'm back to being a bit better than -3BB/100 there now ... after making 25BBs ... sheesh. There was one other pretty decent table on interpoker with two tags and three pretty big fish. Problem was I found myself directly to the left of the two tags, and that made for some pretty hard going, so I quit the table after a couple orbits.
Current bankroll: $14,000
I don't think it hurts my win rate though, as I can spot the fish relatively quickly, although do have the occasional revision where i've mistaken a LAG for a fish.
I got in about an hour of play last night, which turned out to be relatively profitable. Cake had some nice $2/4 and $3/6 tables, although I didn't really go far with them but made a few BBs. Should have some nice rakeback though. I found a nice $2/4 table on Interpoker though, and for once I didn't get slaughtered there. I'm back to being a bit better than -3BB/100 there now ... after making 25BBs ... sheesh. There was one other pretty decent table on interpoker with two tags and three pretty big fish. Problem was I found myself directly to the left of the two tags, and that made for some pretty hard going, so I quit the table after a couple orbits.
Current bankroll: $14,000
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Great table, relatively poor position
Found a fanstastic, although high variance table last night with the average VPIP up around the 60% mark. It looked something like:
maniac 70/45/4/36
superfish 95/3/.3/40
maniac 65/55/5/45
Lag/Tag 25/18/2/35
Me
tp 16/2/2/25
Obviously my seat was not ideal being to the right of the tag, however, since the table was so juicy, I just couldn't give it up. The tight passive on my left was kinda handy though, as he was folding almost every hand.
Each hand preflop would go Maniac 1 raises, Superfish calls, Maniac 2 generally raises, Lag/Tag either 3 bets or caps or folds, I either 3 bet or cap or fold, and tight passive folds.
Ended up being a pretty high variance session although I made about 20BBs mainly through playing premium hands that hit the flop hard. Lost a couple big pots such as when Maniac 1 opened and I 3 bet with AKo. Flop of AK5r, turn 3, river 8 and he flips over 42o .... go figure. Had a similar hand occur later as well, but may have been on another table.
The other benefit of that table would have been that every hand would have been raked significantly, so I will be getting a decent chunk of rakeback.
Funnily enough in the second half of my session I found another table with possibly the maniac of all maniacs. He was often 5 or 6 betting with 3rd pair, and I pulled in another 20BBs there in very quick time, basically calling down with any pair and even raising multiple times with only top pair. I will have to dig out some of the hands to post, as they were ridiculous. I've never seen anyone put in so many bets with such poor hands before.
Current bankroll: $13,750
maniac 70/45/4/36
superfish 95/3/.3/40
maniac 65/55/5/45
Lag/Tag 25/18/2/35
Me
tp 16/2/2/25
Obviously my seat was not ideal being to the right of the tag, however, since the table was so juicy, I just couldn't give it up. The tight passive on my left was kinda handy though, as he was folding almost every hand.
Each hand preflop would go Maniac 1 raises, Superfish calls, Maniac 2 generally raises, Lag/Tag either 3 bets or caps or folds, I either 3 bet or cap or fold, and tight passive folds.
Ended up being a pretty high variance session although I made about 20BBs mainly through playing premium hands that hit the flop hard. Lost a couple big pots such as when Maniac 1 opened and I 3 bet with AKo. Flop of AK5r, turn 3, river 8 and he flips over 42o .... go figure. Had a similar hand occur later as well, but may have been on another table.
The other benefit of that table would have been that every hand would have been raked significantly, so I will be getting a decent chunk of rakeback.
Funnily enough in the second half of my session I found another table with possibly the maniac of all maniacs. He was often 5 or 6 betting with 3rd pair, and I pulled in another 20BBs there in very quick time, basically calling down with any pair and even raising multiple times with only top pair. I will have to dig out some of the hands to post, as they were ridiculous. I've never seen anyone put in so many bets with such poor hands before.
Current bankroll: $13,750
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Position
Only played another small session last night, but should get in a longer session tonight. Played about half an hour but due to the time, there were relatively few tables running, and even fewer that were worth playing.
I've decided now to be a bit more strict on my seating position. I have been allowing myself to play on a table if there were basically at least two fish on the table, irrespective of my position. My new approach will be to only play on those tables if the player to my right is either one of those fish, or a tight passive. There's no point in playing if there's a LAG/TAG to my right, as I will be continuously raised off of hands preflop. I suspect though, i'd still play it if there were 3 fish on the table, but will see.
I will also accept a maniac on my right, as that gives me the opportunity to reraise to isolate, as well as limp reraise from time to time. Admittedly the maniac is going to be much higher variance, so i'd prefer the fish on my right, but i'm sure it will still be positive.
As far as play goes, in my session I did manage to play on a tightish $2/4 table with a maniac on my right, who donated me a good 15BBs in the space of around 20 minutes. I had to actually get up and leave the table and sit back down to get the right position on him, but it was well worthwhile with me just letting him bet into me when I had medium strength hands which generally held up. I also had a Bodog table running at the same time, which was super fishy with a couple guys with VPIPs over 70, and I had position on two of them. Unfortunately they then managed to suck out and destroy me with my AK losing to A2, AQ losing to Q4, nut flush losing to a rivered paired board for a full house and various other nasty beats to drop about 25BBs. So all in all the bankroll ended a few BBs up.
Current bankroll: $13,400
I've decided now to be a bit more strict on my seating position. I have been allowing myself to play on a table if there were basically at least two fish on the table, irrespective of my position. My new approach will be to only play on those tables if the player to my right is either one of those fish, or a tight passive. There's no point in playing if there's a LAG/TAG to my right, as I will be continuously raised off of hands preflop. I suspect though, i'd still play it if there were 3 fish on the table, but will see.
I will also accept a maniac on my right, as that gives me the opportunity to reraise to isolate, as well as limp reraise from time to time. Admittedly the maniac is going to be much higher variance, so i'd prefer the fish on my right, but i'm sure it will still be positive.
As far as play goes, in my session I did manage to play on a tightish $2/4 table with a maniac on my right, who donated me a good 15BBs in the space of around 20 minutes. I had to actually get up and leave the table and sit back down to get the right position on him, but it was well worthwhile with me just letting him bet into me when I had medium strength hands which generally held up. I also had a Bodog table running at the same time, which was super fishy with a couple guys with VPIPs over 70, and I had position on two of them. Unfortunately they then managed to suck out and destroy me with my AK losing to A2, AQ losing to Q4, nut flush losing to a rivered paired board for a full house and various other nasty beats to drop about 25BBs. So all in all the bankroll ended a few BBs up.
Current bankroll: $13,400
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
A win on Littlewoods?
Well, bugger me, after the usual start of a session on Littlewoods where I dropped a quick 20BBs against one muppet, I actually managed to come back and end up in the positive.
My key losing hands were QQ on a KQ2r flop, which got 6 bet on the flop before I finally called, figuring he must have had the nuts (good onya Crypto .. I guess there's no cap to the betting on any street?). I decided to call down after that, and when the turn was a 9 and river a 4, I ended up with the trips I started with. Muppet then showed JTo, so he actually 6 bet the flop with only 8 outs, but actually hit it on the turn. ARGH
Next hand I have AK, and his A8 obviously beats me when the flop is A8x. Couple hands later I have 22 and raise which he calls. Flop of JJ8. He calls my raise on the turn of a 3 and then the river pairs the board again with an 8. I decide to b/f and he calls my bet and shows down 76o to take the pot with 7 high ... no pair, no draw ... WTF???
However, after that I found a seat at a great table, with one fish sitting directly on my right with a VPIP of about 75, PFR of about 5, AF of 0.5 and a WTSD of around 50%. Almost the perfect fish! And he started with a stack of around $200 which he luckboxed up to $300 off a couple other guys on the table. Of course he sucked out a couple early on me as well, and I was beginning to think here we go again, but then he proceeded to call me down several times when I had top pair or better and he had literally nothing. I also flopped a fullhouse at one stage and someone again called me down, and later I managed a bit of a suck out against a decent aggro opponent with my A2s preflop v AK with a flop of 652r ... although at least I flopped a pair and when my opponent didn't bet the blank river I figured I was in front still.
By the time the fish left he had around $100 left, and I probably had about $100 of what he had lost. In the end I made about $50 on Littlewoods. Not a big win, but at least a step in the right direction.
I checked my Pokertracker stats, and I have actually been showing down too much on Littlewoods which is contributing to my losses there. I am around a 44% WTSD where i'd rather be a little under 40% so i'm obviously calling down or betting too much when I am behind. The last session actually dropped my WTSD to 43.5% so hopefully I can keep playing well (or hitting good cards if my WTSD stays so high).
I also picked up $50 in bonus from 24poker last night, so I have about $250 to go in bonus $ there, and also finished the monthly $50 from William Hill, and won around 20BBs on the table at the same time, so it turned out to be a reasonable session.
Current Bankroll: $8,900 (plus $280 in August from Littlewoods)
My key losing hands were QQ on a KQ2r flop, which got 6 bet on the flop before I finally called, figuring he must have had the nuts (good onya Crypto .. I guess there's no cap to the betting on any street?). I decided to call down after that, and when the turn was a 9 and river a 4, I ended up with the trips I started with. Muppet then showed JTo, so he actually 6 bet the flop with only 8 outs, but actually hit it on the turn. ARGH
Next hand I have AK, and his A8 obviously beats me when the flop is A8x. Couple hands later I have 22 and raise which he calls. Flop of JJ8. He calls my raise on the turn of a 3 and then the river pairs the board again with an 8. I decide to b/f and he calls my bet and shows down 76o to take the pot with 7 high ... no pair, no draw ... WTF???
However, after that I found a seat at a great table, with one fish sitting directly on my right with a VPIP of about 75, PFR of about 5, AF of 0.5 and a WTSD of around 50%. Almost the perfect fish! And he started with a stack of around $200 which he luckboxed up to $300 off a couple other guys on the table. Of course he sucked out a couple early on me as well, and I was beginning to think here we go again, but then he proceeded to call me down several times when I had top pair or better and he had literally nothing. I also flopped a fullhouse at one stage and someone again called me down, and later I managed a bit of a suck out against a decent aggro opponent with my A2s preflop v AK with a flop of 652r ... although at least I flopped a pair and when my opponent didn't bet the blank river I figured I was in front still.
By the time the fish left he had around $100 left, and I probably had about $100 of what he had lost. In the end I made about $50 on Littlewoods. Not a big win, but at least a step in the right direction.
I checked my Pokertracker stats, and I have actually been showing down too much on Littlewoods which is contributing to my losses there. I am around a 44% WTSD where i'd rather be a little under 40% so i'm obviously calling down or betting too much when I am behind. The last session actually dropped my WTSD to 43.5% so hopefully I can keep playing well (or hitting good cards if my WTSD stays so high).
I also picked up $50 in bonus from 24poker last night, so I have about $250 to go in bonus $ there, and also finished the monthly $50 from William Hill, and won around 20BBs on the table at the same time, so it turned out to be a reasonable session.
Current Bankroll: $8,900 (plus $280 in August from Littlewoods)
Monday, May 26, 2008
Monday night table selection sux
As expected, available tables on a Monday evening Aussie time really sucked.
For 24poker, there was only one limit table running between the $1/2 level and $3/6. It seemed juicy enough, with about 65% of players seeing the pot, so I added myself to the waiting list as it was currently empty. An hour later when I had finished my session, I was still sitting at #1 on the wait list. ARGH
In the mean time, however, I had fired up Cake, as at least there's normally one table there I can join as well between $2/4 and $3/6. Well, no, not this time. There were no $2/4 tables running and one $3/6 table which had 4 players sitting down and 19% of players seeing the pot. Dont see how that table could be profitable so I gave it a miss for a start. There was one juicy $1/2 table going so I jumped on that for want of a better offer. I had notes on a couple of the players and had them marked as easy money (green). I found myself sitting on the left of a massive fish, so had the opportunity to take a few notes -
For 24poker, there was only one limit table running between the $1/2 level and $3/6. It seemed juicy enough, with about 65% of players seeing the pot, so I added myself to the waiting list as it was currently empty. An hour later when I had finished my session, I was still sitting at #1 on the wait list. ARGH
In the mean time, however, I had fired up Cake, as at least there's normally one table there I can join as well between $2/4 and $3/6. Well, no, not this time. There were no $2/4 tables running and one $3/6 table which had 4 players sitting down and 19% of players seeing the pot. Dont see how that table could be profitable so I gave it a miss for a start. There was one juicy $1/2 table going so I jumped on that for want of a better offer. I had notes on a couple of the players and had them marked as easy money (green). I found myself sitting on the left of a massive fish, so had the opportunity to take a few notes -
- HUGE FISH, called raise 43o in the CO. Limps almost every pot. Will always see a turn, but folds to a turn bet if unimproved. Will bet only if has a hand. Will actually raise preflop with TT+ but nothing else. Chases all gutshots.
Unfortunately for me, his 43o hit a straight when an A hit on the river to pair my AQ preflop. He also managed to hit a flush draw and a few two outers. He quit the table when i was down by 25BBs!!!!! I had to rebuy in, as the table was still fishy even without him.
I then decided to check back in at the lobby, and noticed he had moved to the $3/6 table and had $120 sitting in front of him. Here's my chance to make some cash back!! So I jumped on there for the next 40 minutes. There was another big fish playing on the same table as well, who I had some notes on.
- Limp PF any pos with weak A or any 2 suited. Folds flop to raise. Calls raise with weak A. Will shut down to aggression even if he has near nuts or nuts!! Chases gutshots every time.
Unfortunately though, my seat position wasn't good as I was sitting to the right of the two big fish. I figured however, that since they were so bad, and the two to my right were not raising or 3 betting much forcing me to fold, I'd still make a decent profit.
First few hands on the $3/6 table, I saw my original fish hit a runner runner flush, and a gutshot straight holding 84o. Luckily for me, I wasn't involved in those pots, however, his stack was now over $200.
From then on, he didnt manage to suck out on many hands, and I relentlessly value bet with any reasonably strong holding, and continually bet the turn, no matter what card had hit. One hand I think I had 96s, missed the flop, bet, he called, turn was another blank, I bet hoping for a fold, but he called. River was another blank, so I checked and he checked behind, and I won the hand with 9 high. Its beyond me why he was calling down with 7 high and no draw.
Anyways, each pot wasn't too big because of the serious lack of aggression, however, I made about a 15BB profit on the table, before his $200 stack ran out. So I took nearly half of it, which I can't complain about. At the same time i'd won back my 25BBs on the $1/2 table, and had made another 5BBs on top of that mainly due to that table staying very fishy, and a number of my big hands holding up.
On bonuses, I think Cake must be looking at my account every time they want to announce a reload bonus. Every time my remaining bonus to clear is down to $10, they release a new bonus. This time 25% up to $100. So I made my $400 deposit to maximise the potential bonus. The session tonight cleared my final $10 of the previous bonus, so it looks like i'll continue to play Cake when there aren't enough free tables on 24poker.
What I also like about Cake is that their rake structure is actually quite good for low fixed limit poker, roughly comparable to fulltilt or stars, and a LOT better than ipoker or microgaming. Oh and the rakeback is 33% which is not too bad either.
I still have another $500 to clear in bonuses off 24 as well. Should take another 6 weeks or so at the rate i'm going.
Current bankroll: $8,300
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Lessons from the fish
I had a quick half hour session on 24 with 2 or 3 $1/2 tables open and one $3/6 table on cake.
There was a bit of chatter going on in the chat box on a 24 table and one of the fish called me an idiot for folding on the river – “why not call the river when you’ve already called the flop and turn?” he then asked. I had missed my OESD into 2 players and I wasn’t closing the action. Had a bit of a chuckle to myself as I noted him down as easy money, and didn’t reply as I’d prefer it if he thought I had no idea. Won about 15BBs off him over the next 15 minutes which was handy.
My cake table that I’d opened up showed 70% of players per flop so I couldn’t really pass it up, particularly at the 3/6 level. Since Cake doesn’t allow pokertracker, I had a quick look at my notes next to each of the players. As luck would have it I had a seat to the left of a guy I’d marked as ‘green’ which means easy money. Looking at my notes on him showed – “super aggro player. Will bet all streets with air inc river. Will reraise in the BB with J3o. Generally should call down with pair or better.” So I had great position on basically a maniac, and there were also a couple other fish on the table I’d also marked as green.
Started not so well, with me having at least top pair and top kicker in two of the first three hands. With maniac betting all the way, and me raising the early streets and calling down, both times he showed a rivered gutshot straight. So straight away I’m down about 10BBs.
About two hands later I’m dealt with KQ in the BB. Folded to maniac who raises. I obviously reraise, which he calls. Flop was AA7 which didn’t really help me, but was a little scary. He bet, and I raised, he reraised which made me think maybe he did have an A, or possibly a pocket pair. Based on my notes though I figured I was still a chance and he could easily be K high or worse. So I went into call down mode. He then bet the turn which was another A, and then bet the river which was a K. At this point I know I’ve got the second nuts and am only losing to him holding the last A. I ended up just calling instead of reraising, which I’m not sure was the right thing to do. He showed down QJ giving me a decent pot.
Won a few more pots against him and eventually got into a 3 way pot with 33 in the BB. One limper, he raised, I called, limper called,. Flop was something like 678, which wasn’t the prettiest flop, but not a complete disaster for me. He raised the flop as per usual, and normally I’d muck here, but figured I could be in front so threw in a raise. The limper folded. Turn was a T, which did really suck, however he checked, so I figured I’d raise to take down the pot. Unfortunately he called. River was another 7 giving me 2 pair. He checked and I checked in behind with him showing down KQo. I’m not sure if I played the hand quite right, although I’m happy with the flop reraise to force out the other limper and potentially clean up some outs.
Anyways I ended up winning about 15BBs there, clearing another $50 in bonuses on 24, and winning about 25BBs on the $1/2 tables, which was a pretty big win rate for such a brief period of time. Thank you fishies :)
Current Bankroll: $7,900
There was a bit of chatter going on in the chat box on a 24 table and one of the fish called me an idiot for folding on the river – “why not call the river when you’ve already called the flop and turn?” he then asked. I had missed my OESD into 2 players and I wasn’t closing the action. Had a bit of a chuckle to myself as I noted him down as easy money, and didn’t reply as I’d prefer it if he thought I had no idea. Won about 15BBs off him over the next 15 minutes which was handy.
My cake table that I’d opened up showed 70% of players per flop so I couldn’t really pass it up, particularly at the 3/6 level. Since Cake doesn’t allow pokertracker, I had a quick look at my notes next to each of the players. As luck would have it I had a seat to the left of a guy I’d marked as ‘green’ which means easy money. Looking at my notes on him showed – “super aggro player. Will bet all streets with air inc river. Will reraise in the BB with J3o. Generally should call down with pair or better.” So I had great position on basically a maniac, and there were also a couple other fish on the table I’d also marked as green.
Started not so well, with me having at least top pair and top kicker in two of the first three hands. With maniac betting all the way, and me raising the early streets and calling down, both times he showed a rivered gutshot straight. So straight away I’m down about 10BBs.
About two hands later I’m dealt with KQ in the BB. Folded to maniac who raises. I obviously reraise, which he calls. Flop was AA7 which didn’t really help me, but was a little scary. He bet, and I raised, he reraised which made me think maybe he did have an A, or possibly a pocket pair. Based on my notes though I figured I was still a chance and he could easily be K high or worse. So I went into call down mode. He then bet the turn which was another A, and then bet the river which was a K. At this point I know I’ve got the second nuts and am only losing to him holding the last A. I ended up just calling instead of reraising, which I’m not sure was the right thing to do. He showed down QJ giving me a decent pot.
Won a few more pots against him and eventually got into a 3 way pot with 33 in the BB. One limper, he raised, I called, limper called,. Flop was something like 678, which wasn’t the prettiest flop, but not a complete disaster for me. He raised the flop as per usual, and normally I’d muck here, but figured I could be in front so threw in a raise. The limper folded. Turn was a T, which did really suck, however he checked, so I figured I’d raise to take down the pot. Unfortunately he called. River was another 7 giving me 2 pair. He checked and I checked in behind with him showing down KQo. I’m not sure if I played the hand quite right, although I’m happy with the flop reraise to force out the other limper and potentially clean up some outs.
Anyways I ended up winning about 15BBs there, clearing another $50 in bonuses on 24, and winning about 25BBs on the $1/2 tables, which was a pretty big win rate for such a brief period of time. Thank you fishies :)
Current Bankroll: $7,900
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Maybe I smell?
Played about 40 mins or so, but bugger me, if every time I sat down at a table it would be empty within 10 minutes. I cant remember pissing people off, so maybe I stink?
Found one great $3/6 table on Cake, with a players seeing flop a bit over 60%. There were 2 people on their that I had noted as fish, but unfortunately the biggest fish of all was the person who left to allow me to get onto the table. I found myself sitting to the left of an almost maniac, who would steal raise every time. Luckily for me on a couple steal attempts I happened to be holding an Ace and obliged him with a 3 bet, and also managed to flop an A on 2 occasions. Ended up making about 10BBs there.
Couldnt find much on 24poker, so sat in some fairly tough games, purely to clear bonus rather than expecting a profit. Ended up a little down on those tables, but overall up for the session. I think i'm about halfway to clearing my next $50 bonus as well which I might clear tonight with any luck.
good luck for the weekend everyone. i'll be back next week.
Current Bankroll: $7,500
Found one great $3/6 table on Cake, with a players seeing flop a bit over 60%. There were 2 people on their that I had noted as fish, but unfortunately the biggest fish of all was the person who left to allow me to get onto the table. I found myself sitting to the left of an almost maniac, who would steal raise every time. Luckily for me on a couple steal attempts I happened to be holding an Ace and obliged him with a 3 bet, and also managed to flop an A on 2 occasions. Ended up making about 10BBs there.
Couldnt find much on 24poker, so sat in some fairly tough games, purely to clear bonus rather than expecting a profit. Ended up a little down on those tables, but overall up for the session. I think i'm about halfway to clearing my next $50 bonus as well which I might clear tonight with any luck.
good luck for the weekend everyone. i'll be back next week.
Current Bankroll: $7,500
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Sometimes you just run hot
Played for just under an hour last night, mainly on William Hill to do my 5 hours of play worth $10 per hour. Played 3 tables at once and cleared 2 lots of the bonus, and must be very very close to clearing the final $10. Wouldnt be surprised if it is already cleared when I next log in.
Anyways in that time I managed to win around 60BBs - although pity it was only at the $1/2 tables, but thats all you need to play on to clear the bonus, and at $30 per hour when 3 tabling that seems like a pretty good deal to me, given its very low risk.
My table selection was good, although I was a bit stuck for seat selection. On two of the tables there were two fish with VPIPs of around 55% and almost no aggression. On one of the tables, I had position on both the fish, but on the other table they had position on me which kinda sucked. Where I had the ideal seat, I won 40+ BBs. The other table was still a winning table, but nowhere near to the same degree. I guess it does indicate the importance of seat as well as table selection (although a very small sample I know).
There weren't too many hands of note that I can recall, although I did get called down a lot, when I was holding a good but not great hand (which ended up being the best hand) and got raised a few times when I was holding the nuts or near nuts, which is always nice. A few more bad suckouts than normal, but that was only because these guys were playing so many hands - but they also gave it all back to me and more.
Played my first Sitngo for a couple weeks, and managed to double my cash there. Only really played one hand where I called a couple limpers with 98s. Flop of 88J was looking pretty sweet. 9 on the turn just iced the cake, and added about 800 chips to my starting stack of 1500. Basically folded my way into the money after that, with only a couple pot steals, and one successful flop continuation bet.
The only real downer about the session was that it was mostly at the $1/2 level rather than something higher where i'd have made a lot more. But the levels I play at currently are driven by bonus clear rates / risk management more than seeking out the highest level to possibly play at.
Also cleared another $50 at 24poker, which still clears at the $1/2 level. Pity there's just not enough traffic on the site when I want to play there. I might have to start playing at the $2/4 level there as well, just to clear the bonus. Thinking about it, I probably will as long as I can find tables that are fishy enough. I have another 60 days to clear another $800 in bonus there so really need to pull my finger out. (And still have a stack to clear on bigslick as well!!)
Current bankroll: $7,300
Anyways in that time I managed to win around 60BBs - although pity it was only at the $1/2 tables, but thats all you need to play on to clear the bonus, and at $30 per hour when 3 tabling that seems like a pretty good deal to me, given its very low risk.
My table selection was good, although I was a bit stuck for seat selection. On two of the tables there were two fish with VPIPs of around 55% and almost no aggression. On one of the tables, I had position on both the fish, but on the other table they had position on me which kinda sucked. Where I had the ideal seat, I won 40+ BBs. The other table was still a winning table, but nowhere near to the same degree. I guess it does indicate the importance of seat as well as table selection (although a very small sample I know).
There weren't too many hands of note that I can recall, although I did get called down a lot, when I was holding a good but not great hand (which ended up being the best hand) and got raised a few times when I was holding the nuts or near nuts, which is always nice. A few more bad suckouts than normal, but that was only because these guys were playing so many hands - but they also gave it all back to me and more.
Played my first Sitngo for a couple weeks, and managed to double my cash there. Only really played one hand where I called a couple limpers with 98s. Flop of 88J was looking pretty sweet. 9 on the turn just iced the cake, and added about 800 chips to my starting stack of 1500. Basically folded my way into the money after that, with only a couple pot steals, and one successful flop continuation bet.
The only real downer about the session was that it was mostly at the $1/2 level rather than something higher where i'd have made a lot more. But the levels I play at currently are driven by bonus clear rates / risk management more than seeking out the highest level to possibly play at.
Also cleared another $50 at 24poker, which still clears at the $1/2 level. Pity there's just not enough traffic on the site when I want to play there. I might have to start playing at the $2/4 level there as well, just to clear the bonus. Thinking about it, I probably will as long as I can find tables that are fishy enough. I have another 60 days to clear another $800 in bonus there so really need to pull my finger out. (And still have a stack to clear on bigslick as well!!)
Current bankroll: $7,300
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A couple very different sessions
Had a terrible start to approx 2 hours of poker, where I managed to drop 50BBs (@$2/4) within half an hour. This time it wasn't only because of nasty beats (although I capped preflop with AKs and some numpty called/raised with 44, flop hit AT7r, and obviously you'd call with 44 hoping to hit your two outer, which did hit him on the turn ....) - I actually played some very very poor hands - like calling down a maniac who was raising every hand, when I had Q high .... all it takes to destroy a maniac is a bit of patience, and obviously I had none at that point in time.
So after that horror start, it was time to stop, reevaluate, and go back to basics.
Was I selecting good tables? Pretty much yes, the best tables available, although they were not quite as juicy as i'd normally like. One table I should have quit earlier though.
Was I selecting the right seats? NO ... the main fish had position on me and I had a TAG or two on my right ... that is a BIG problem.
Okay, time to correct my seating issue, and wait for some fishier tables.
Found some and managed to recover all my losses within about an hour. Mainly due to two hands. One which had a raiser and two callers with me looking at 67s on the BB. Flop was J45r. All 4 players stayed in to one raise on the flop. Three players remained in to a raise, my call, and then a reraise when the A hit on the turn. River was a glorious 3 giving me the nuts, and one other player decided that was worth capping the river on. Ship it ... :)
The other main hand was when I had KK and some other guy had A6 and he decided it was worth betting and raising his pair of 6s on a Q high board all the way to the river. He had sucked out a smaller pot earlier from me, so I guess that was justice.
Cleared another $50 from 24 as well.
Current Bankroll: $6,750
So after that horror start, it was time to stop, reevaluate, and go back to basics.
Was I selecting good tables? Pretty much yes, the best tables available, although they were not quite as juicy as i'd normally like. One table I should have quit earlier though.
Was I selecting the right seats? NO ... the main fish had position on me and I had a TAG or two on my right ... that is a BIG problem.
Okay, time to correct my seating issue, and wait for some fishier tables.
Found some and managed to recover all my losses within about an hour. Mainly due to two hands. One which had a raiser and two callers with me looking at 67s on the BB. Flop was J45r. All 4 players stayed in to one raise on the flop. Three players remained in to a raise, my call, and then a reraise when the A hit on the turn. River was a glorious 3 giving me the nuts, and one other player decided that was worth capping the river on. Ship it ... :)
The other main hand was when I had KK and some other guy had A6 and he decided it was worth betting and raising his pair of 6s on a Q high board all the way to the river. He had sucked out a smaller pot earlier from me, so I guess that was justice.
Cleared another $50 from 24 as well.
Current Bankroll: $6,750
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
2nd quick stab
Played about an hour since my last post. Couldn't find a decent $2/4 table on Cake, so took my second stab at $3/6. Kinda weird - the two 2/4 tables were tight as rocks, but the 3/6 table had a vpip over 65% ... go figure.
Anyways, it turned out to be reasonably uneventful, and I won around 7BBs, although was never down for the session. My seat was also ideal, with 1 massive and one minor fish sitting on my right, and the only TAG of the table to my left. Unfortunately I had to quit my super juicy table to get ready for work (not too disappointing though as the two main fish were down to about $30 left each - but woulda been nice if i'd taken it from them). I still have $40 in bonuses to clear on cake as well.
At the same time I opened a couple tables on 24poker, where I need to clear my $1,000 bonus, 320 or so raked hands at a time for a $50 release. The odd thing is using raked hands, is that it clears no quicker at $2/4 than it does at $0.50/1 .... so I figure i'll play mainly $0.5/1, with a bit of 1/2 if there aren't enough fishy tables at the lower levels.
Also just received another party reload offer, and will probably take that up as well for a very small amount. The irritating thing about party now, is that you lose 10% of your party points every week that you dont play. I can't believe that is in any way a good business decision on their part. Hopefully they lose a bunch of players and have to change it back soon. Since i'm currently clearing a party bonus though, I did open a $2/4 table there, and promptly won 20BBs before the fish decided to leave, so I had to quit the table as well, as the rest were extremely tight.
All in all a good little session, although played over too many sites which does get a bit confusing.
Current Bankroll: $6,600
Anyways, it turned out to be reasonably uneventful, and I won around 7BBs, although was never down for the session. My seat was also ideal, with 1 massive and one minor fish sitting on my right, and the only TAG of the table to my left. Unfortunately I had to quit my super juicy table to get ready for work (not too disappointing though as the two main fish were down to about $30 left each - but woulda been nice if i'd taken it from them). I still have $40 in bonuses to clear on cake as well.
At the same time I opened a couple tables on 24poker, where I need to clear my $1,000 bonus, 320 or so raked hands at a time for a $50 release. The odd thing is using raked hands, is that it clears no quicker at $2/4 than it does at $0.50/1 .... so I figure i'll play mainly $0.5/1, with a bit of 1/2 if there aren't enough fishy tables at the lower levels.
Also just received another party reload offer, and will probably take that up as well for a very small amount. The irritating thing about party now, is that you lose 10% of your party points every week that you dont play. I can't believe that is in any way a good business decision on their part. Hopefully they lose a bunch of players and have to change it back soon. Since i'm currently clearing a party bonus though, I did open a $2/4 table there, and promptly won 20BBs before the fish decided to leave, so I had to quit the table as well, as the rest were extremely tight.
All in all a good little session, although played over too many sites which does get a bit confusing.
Current Bankroll: $6,600
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
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
Sunday, March 16, 2008
slowly slowly
I meant to post on friday where I had managed to drop a quick 35BB, which had put me back down into the 4.6ks, but didnt have time in the end. It was a pretty typical losing session - every flush draw I missed. Every flush draw for someone else managed to hit, even runner runner more than once!!! Even the fishy players were killing me!
Didnt play much on the weekend. Ended up installing oblivion and playing a bit of that instead - oh well.
However, in the time that I did play I managed to find a super fish, with stats something like 85,0,0.4 ... I took up my position to his left, and after a couple nasty beats, proceeded to keep playing until his initial stack of $100 ran out. Admittedly I didnt take it all but got more than my fair share in that position.
I had another table going at the same time where I had a similar fish sitting on my right, however, he was more like 65,20,.75 ... and he also managed to donate a decent chunk of change to me.
So just when i was thinking it was going to take me a while to make back my 35BBs, I ended up getting it all back in maybe an hour. I've got to make sure that i maintain my discipline for seat and table selection, as it does make a HUGE difference.
In my last session I had a nice aggro fish, who managed to suck out a 2 pair showing 94o when his 4 hit the river versus my top pair top kicker. Very next hand I am in the CO with KQs and reraise pre flop with the same fish being the only caller from the BB. Flop is J82 with 2 of my suit. Happy days, when its checked to me so I reraise, and he calls. Turn is a K, so I figure i'm probably ahead now, and have a flush draw to boot. Surprisingly he bets into me, and after thinking for about a split second, I decide to reraise. He reraises back ... surely he doesnt have 3 of a kind? Maybe QT? maybe AK but he woulda reraised pre flop surely? Maybe a flush draw too? I end up calling that bet and hit my flush on the river. He checked so I raised, he called and flipped over K3o for a pair of kings. So in the end, I was in front all the way. Ship it :) ... i wonder if i shoulda capped the turn?
Bankroll: $4830
Didnt play much on the weekend. Ended up installing oblivion and playing a bit of that instead - oh well.
However, in the time that I did play I managed to find a super fish, with stats something like 85,0,0.4 ... I took up my position to his left, and after a couple nasty beats, proceeded to keep playing until his initial stack of $100 ran out. Admittedly I didnt take it all but got more than my fair share in that position.
I had another table going at the same time where I had a similar fish sitting on my right, however, he was more like 65,20,.75 ... and he also managed to donate a decent chunk of change to me.
So just when i was thinking it was going to take me a while to make back my 35BBs, I ended up getting it all back in maybe an hour. I've got to make sure that i maintain my discipline for seat and table selection, as it does make a HUGE difference.
In my last session I had a nice aggro fish, who managed to suck out a 2 pair showing 94o when his 4 hit the river versus my top pair top kicker. Very next hand I am in the CO with KQs and reraise pre flop with the same fish being the only caller from the BB. Flop is J82 with 2 of my suit. Happy days, when its checked to me so I reraise, and he calls. Turn is a K, so I figure i'm probably ahead now, and have a flush draw to boot. Surprisingly he bets into me, and after thinking for about a split second, I decide to reraise. He reraises back ... surely he doesnt have 3 of a kind? Maybe QT? maybe AK but he woulda reraised pre flop surely? Maybe a flush draw too? I end up calling that bet and hit my flush on the river. He checked so I raised, he called and flipped over K3o for a pair of kings. So in the end, I was in front all the way. Ship it :) ... i wonder if i shoulda capped the turn?
Bankroll: $4830
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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