Another downswing

Bodog is continuing to beat the crap out of me.

After a solid session on Saturday where I made a few BBs at $1/2 and $4/8 on Bodog, and a few BBs on Pacific after I finally bit the bullet and purchased the handgrabber their. Not sure if it was the right decision as the play was a fair bit tighter than I remember. Nonetheless, my deal on Pacific isn't too bad, and there were still fish to be found. All up profits from my two hour session paid for the hand grabber.

Sunday I put in two hours playing mostly $4/8 on Bodog, as well as a couple $1/2 tables, and my affiliate freeroll on Cake. I was doing okay in the freeroll at about 30th with 60 players left and about an average stack. Then I decided to call a 3BB raise from the Big blind with KQs. Flop KQ3r, and I check/raise a pot sized bet. I get three bet for him to be all in, and then um and ah before calling hoping to see AK .... KK is flipped over and i'm virtually drawing dead and crippled. Next hand I get KJs UTG and decide to push for my last 6BBs. A6o calls me from UTG+1, flops an ace and i'm out in the space of two hands.

My Bodog session though turned out to be pretty terrible. I dropped 55BBs at $4/8 when one muppet managed to hit 2, 3, 4 and 5 outers on me consistently. I had hands that should have won quite a few showdowns, but ended up losing enough of them to make my session fairly horrible. At the same time I dropped 70BBs on the $1/2 table, where the fish continued to suck out left and right.

I did lose some discipline towards the end when the 65/25 fish on my right quit the $4/8 table and I continued to play for another half hour with a 43/17 player on my right. That is not quite fishy enough for my liking so I should have left immediately. I suspect its still profitable to play against that type, but my poor run continued and I dropped 10BBs in that last half hour.

So all of a sudden i'm down $600 for the weekend and it's not looking pretty. Had a bit of a recovery though when good ole Cake gave me back $50 and Pacific donated me $100 on the $2/4 and $3/6 tables within the space of half an hour.

Its been quite a while since i've had a super hot run, with the past couple months being filled with running to average or poorly most of the time. I'm sure one will come soon as this month is now looking a little sick! That being said, i'll continue to be on the look out for the fish and play my usual game.

Oh, and on the next site question, I may take up blindman's suggestion on Noiq, although i've potentially got the william hill first deposit to clear as well. Just waiting on RakeTheRake to get back to me on whether the bonus is deducted from MGR or rakeback or not deducted at all like previous WH bonuses.

Current bankroll: $16,800

Uh?????????????

Well, my weekend of poker actually started out pretty well. I got in a couple hours, and was winning on Bodog, Interpoker and Cake at all stakes from $1/2 to $4/8. I'd boosted my bankroll back up to $17,300.

Then came an hour of pain. On one $4/8 table, I was completely card dead, and in 50 hands I had a VPIP of 5%, and had won a total of 1 hand - 62o from the BB .....

On another $4/8 table, I had a vpip of around 20% and was hitting flops pretty hard .. and then getting screwed. I had a wtsd of a whopping 70% .... and a w$sd at a miniscule 15%. I guess its' best explained with a few examples.....

Hand 1:

$4/$8 Limit Holdem • 5 Players. (huge fish had just left 2nd to my right. sigh)
UTG 420.50 (50/5 fish ... wish i had position on him but that seat never opened)
CO 442.50
BTN160.10
SB 420.50
Hero (BB) 269.35
Pre-Flop (1.5 SB, 5 players) Hero is BB with QsQh (about time I got a hand!)

UTG calls, 3 folds, Hero raises, UTG calls (heads up against the fish .. good)
Flop (4.5 SB, 2 players)

Qc9s5s (awesome!)

Hero bets, UTG calls (here fishy fish)
Turn (3.2 BB, 2 players)

Ts (okay that's probably the worst possible card in the deck that someone could have peeled for. KJ hits their straight, and it hits the flush draw)

Hero bets, UTG calls (nevertheless I have to bet here. He is a fish and with his call he probably didn't hit anything still. Maybe he has a single spade?)
River (5.2 BB, 2 players)

Jh (you gotta be kiddin me. that puts the oesd on the board ... i guess a spade would have been worse ....)

Hero checks, UTG bets, Hero calls (gotta crying call here as there's a fair shot i'm in front)
Final Pot: 14.2 BB
UTG shows Kh2h (Uh?????????????)

UTG wins 7.0 BB ( won +3.5 BB )
Hero lost -3.5 BB

Hand 2:

$4/$8 Limit Holdem • 6 Players
UTG 88.50 (45/7 .. showed down too much too)
Hero (UTG+1) 345.50
CO 394.00 (50/5 fish from above hand)
BTN 452.50
SB 144.30
BB 439.00

Pre-Flop (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with KhTh (not bad)

UTG calls, Hero raises, CO 3-bets, 1 fold, SB calls, 1 fold, UTG calls, Hero calls (dont mind limpy fish coming in. Not overly happy with the 3 bet from the other fish who is reasonably tight with his PFRs)
Flop (13.0 SB, 4 players)

9hKdTs (two pair for me. QT, TT or 99 could be a concern from UTG but unlikely. KK is the only worry from the CO, so i'm most likely in front.

SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, CO calls, SB calls, UTG raises, Hero 3-bets, CO calls, SB folds, UTG calls (hmm utg c/r ... but i'm not giving him credit for a better hand yet. Big pair for the CO?)
Turn (11.5 BB, 3 players)

2h (gives me my flush draw as well as 2 pair. nice)

UTG checks, Hero bets, CO calls, UTG calls (given both just call i think i'm in front)
River (14.5 BB, 3 players)

Jc (well thats a horrible horrible card for me putting the straight on the board)

UTG checks, Hero checks, CO bets, UTG calls, Hero calls (gotta crying call here - pot is massive!!)
Final Pot: 34.6 BB
CO shows AhQh (where is the justice from hand 1??? f me. Not a horrible beat though in hindsight as he basically had odds to chase it ... and he often chased and missed ... against other opponents ... )
UTG shows Tc9s
CO wins 17.1 BB ( won +12.1 BB ) (about a $135 pot. would have made a big difference to my final results .... but that's often how it is - a single showdown often is all it takes)
UTG lost -5.0 BB
Hero lost -5.0 BB
SB lost -2.0 BB

I also managed to lose 35BBs on a $1/2 table within about 50 hands. Here the villain is running at 85/25 with a 70% wtsd, and a 80% w$sd ... He was also super aggro on all streets with basically crap and was consistently hitting miracle turns and rivers.

Hand 3:

$1/$2 Limit Holdem • 5 Players
UTG 102.75
CO 42.00
Hero (BTN) 77.50
SB 41.20
BB 32.43 (above mentioned muppet. started with literally $10)
Pre-Flop (1.5 SB, 5 players) Hero is BTN with Qh8h

2 folds, Hero raises, SB calls, BB calls
Flop (6.0 SB, 3 players)

6h8c5h (sweet .. top pair and the flush draw)

SB checks, BB bets, Hero raises, SB calls, BB 3-bets, Hero 4-bets, SB calls, BB calls (i'm happy to cap here with my big draw and two people along for the ride. BB could easily have just top pair, and maybe a bigger kicker)
Turn (9.0 BB, 3 players)

Qc (nice .. two pair now and still the flush draw. I should be in front)

SB checks, BB bets, Hero raises, SB folds, BB 3-bets, Hero calls (not super happy with the 3 bet from BB, but I figured I was probably in front and wanted sb to fold .. maybe he has trips?)
River (15.0 BB, 2 players)

Tc (that's reasonably blank even with the FD on the board)

BB bets, Hero calls
Final Pot: 33.5 BB
BB shows 4d7s (Uh?????????????)

BB wins 16.5 BB ( won +9.5 BB )
Hero lost -7.0 BB
SB lost -3.0 BB

Current bankroll: $17,000

What constitutes a swing?

I more than doubled my poker hours for the month over the weekend, with overall pretty poor results. I think it was mainly from running kind of cool.


In my first two hour session, I played mainly on Interpoker, mixed between 3/6, 2/4 and 1/2. On the 3/6 table, I was getting smashed to the tune of about 30BBs, on the 2/4 table I dropped another 30BBs, but on the 1/2 table I made 50BBs. Each of those tables was equally fishy, and I even had position on the exact same player on the 1/2 as the 2/4 table ... and he really was retarded. Anyways ... that seemed pretty swingy to me, and is what i was going to title this post .. until i thought well ... 30BBs whilst being somewhat painful is not really that big of a swing.

The interesting thing of that session was that my W$SD was under 40% on all tables, so I must have been running cool. Card dead is a better description for the 3/6 table where my VPIP was 15%! The main difference on the 1/2 table was hitting quads twice, and getting turn and river capped for one of those for a massive pot. Unfortunately on the other tables I couldn't start with or hit anything at all.

My next two hour session was pretty boring, with my bankroll hardly moving in any direction. Even though I was playing against a bunch of fish. Oh well. At least i'll get some rakeback.

My final session was mainly on Bodog, and then a stack of double ups on Interpoker. I had both a $1/2 table open and a $4/8 table open, with the same 65/25 aggro fish sitting on my right. Of course I started off horribly again, and quickly lost 25BBs on the 4/8 table, whilst winning about 20 on the 1/2 table. FFS. I'm almost stuck back to 1/2 on bodog again .... i just cant seem to catch a break against the fish at 4/8 even though they are absolutely horrible players. I was also now down for the month.

The table then broke up and I found a juicy 3/6 table on Cake. Good ole cake. They donated me back 30BBs and I also won 6 $5 double ups at Interpoker at the same time. All in all back to even for the session after a horrendous start.

I'm sure i'll have some luck on the higher stakes tables sooner or later .....

Current bankroll: $17,200

Bankroll creeping

Played about 40 minutes yesterday between Bodog and Sun. I'm getting somewhat skeptical on the rakeback rates quoted by Sunpoker, as it seems to be a lot closer to 20% at my VIP level than 30%. (and then double it for the deposit bonus). Might need to flick them an email.

I played up to five tables max in that time, but it was one of those sessions where the fish kept leaving or busting out so i'd have to close tables. I ended up playing on 20 different tables in the 40 minutes which is basically the opposite of when I had my cooler the other day and could stay at each table for hours at a time.

Having to constantly close tables and find new one's though is somewhat distracting for your game (although the HUD makes it manageable), but it means I also don't have much of a feel for how i'm going for the session as each time I close a table it will be effectively adding to or subtracting from my overall bankroll. I guess I don't really see it as that important to know exactly how i'm going during the session. As long as i'm playing well, and table/seat selecting well, I'm confident the results will come in the long term.

This time it was a nice surprise to see at the end of the session when I closed all my tables my bankroll had crept up around $100, and the majority of that was from Bodog. Finally the fish actually gave me some back. As long as they keep doing it for about another 400BBs i'll be back up to expectation.

I also played a satellite freeroll, which was another interesting experience. I decided to play it fairly aggressively, and was prepared to go all in with top pair early hoping to double up. For the first few blind levels no one really played back too much, and I tripled my stack. Then it went a bit pair shaped when my AJ was no match for an A9 short stack with A on the river. I stole a few more blinds to get back into slightly better than terrible shape, when my KQ was then no longer good enough versus a shortstack QJ on a Q high flop. A couple hands later I get AK UTG with only about 4BBs left and push all in. The medium stack in UTG+1 calls me with A4s. He flops a flush. gg. I still dunno how you tourney guys do it ....

Current bankroll: $16,050

Some volume - super cold streak

I did actually get in about 5 hours of poker over the weekend which is a fair bit for me.

On Saturday I played a three hour session on Bodog, where I had four tables open for almost the entire time. On three of them the two players to my right had a vpip of over 50% and on the fourth one player to my right had a vpip of over 60%.

What then followed was one of the worst sessions i've ever had, and in 900 hands I managed to only get to 30% of showdowns and of those I won 30%. A quick bit of math tells you that results in running at somewhere around -16 to -20BB/100. A little more math tells you, that's a loss of 180BBs. (And just remember how fishy those tables were to add insult to injury ....)

Obviously there were many horrendous beats in that time, but I think my play actually stayed fairly robust. I didn't play any more hands than I normally would, although I maybe have called down three hands a little lighter than normal versus a maniac who was bluffing all streets quite regularly. Then again, maybe I wasn't incorrect in those plays.

My next session of the weekend was an hour on Sunday, where I played a little bodog and won back about 20BBs, and also opened some $2/4 and $3/6 on Sun where I ran like turd again, to drop 10 and 15BBs respectively. So now i'm down about $500 in about 4 hours of play for the weekend ....

Monday I get in another hour (public holiday here), and finally run semi okay to win back around 10BBs at $3/6 and just another 10BBs at $2/4 whilst running down until the last few hands at $1/2 to end up by 20BBs there as well. Thankfully my Bodog reload bonus also came through for this month which gave me a bit over $150. It is kinda handy also when losing at $1/2 but winning at $3/6, every one BB win makes up for a three BB loss.

Having a look at bodog, i'm now 225BBs down from peak, with my downswing at worst hitting 275BBs. And that's against total fish. Ouch. Looks like $4/8 is a bit of a way off again on Bodog .. Like about 150BBs at $1/2 ...

Surely this month will turn around soon, and i'll get a heater???

That being said, if I take a big step back and look at my results for the month, i'm still up by $150 (with probably another $100 to come from the Ladbrokes rake race). I've also not put in a huge number of hours for the month, and I still really enjoy the game. It still feels very much like i'm playing for fun, and any win, no matter how small is like icing on the cake.

Current bankroll: $15,950

Just one showdown ....

.... win would be nice.

Well, the best laid plans didn't come to fruition last night, and I ended up playing for a bit under half an hour in total instead of putting in a longer session.

I had no trouble finding some great tables, albeit mostly at $1/2, however, I managed to get pounded by the Bodog fish again, and in 80ish hands I did not win a single showdown. Its not like I wasn't getting decent starting hands, although admittedly my VPIP was down a little at 23%.

However, AA got cracked by T3o, and then again five hands later against the same player's JTo. KK couldn't stand the heat of Q6s, and my QQ failed versus 83o. So for those hands that I actually could play, I got more than my fair share of premium hands. They just happened to go quite badly.

Anyways, that's another 40BBs off the bankroll, but hopefully if I can get in a bit more volume over the next week or so, I can make some up. I'm still confident I should be smashing the bodog muppets, even though i'm again showing a loss at the tables after 17,000 hands, and i'm now a bit further away from $4/8 again.

Current bankroll: $15,950

Finding the fish - Wednesday's suck

Played about an hour and a half last night, and is was a huge battle to find some fish to play against.

Not only were there relatively few tables running across Ladbrokes, Bodog, Interpoker and Cake, but those that were tended to be fairly tight, or the vacant positions were to the right of the fish.

I ended up playing mostly $3/6 and a handful of $2/4 tables but rarely got up to having 4 tables open at the same time. I probably should have opened fulltilt as well, like I usually do if I can't find enough fish, but it just didn't occur to me last night. I did play a couple sitngos instead though, but busted out of both of them to the usual 3 outer when my big pocket pair got cracked all in preflop versus a muppet.

On the cash tables, I actually ran pretty well, even though I had to keep closing a table here and there when a fish left, and then had to patiently wait for another fishy table to appear. Several times I found myself down to a single table. I guess midweek is a bad time to be playing online poker - there's a severe lack of fish.

I probably should also sign up to another deal or two to give me some additional flexibility in site choice.

Anyways in total I made about 10BBs on each of the $3/6 and $2/4 tables, although it could easily have been a lot more in a couple big pots, where either I missed a big draw - once had the nut flush draw/oesd draw v two other opponents drawing to the same flush - that would have been a big payout. And a couple other pots where i'd flopped trips and some numpty had drawn to their gutshot on the river after huge action on the flop and turn. A decent turn around though compared to recent efforts. I figure i'm due for a good positive run now though so keep it coming.

Current bankroll: $16,000

Limit holdem = high variance

I've been reading a few articles lately on variance in limit holdem and then general consensus is that since it is a game of very small margins, variance is huge. 300BB swings can often occur and some people even mention up to 750BB swings!!! That would be painful.

What does this mean for me?

• Well, it means downswings can happen often, and for an extended period of time.

How do I combat it?

• I keep reviewing my game, and making sure i'm playing correctly.
• The rakeback and bonus deals I take advantage of also help to smooth out the downswings.
• Also by ensuring good table and seat selection, and the discipline to quit tables when the fish leave maximises my potential to win at the tables.

Im not really sure what else you can do, other than just put up with variance as a fact of life if you're playing poker.

Given i've written on this topic, its probably relatively obvious that my session last night didn't go well. Again. I played about an hour in total, and whilst I held about even on the $2/4 and $3/6 tables, I again managed to get smashed by some super fishy players at $1/2. I probably lost 40BBs at the $1/2 level in around 120 hands when I couldn't win a showdown to save my life as the fish playing any 2 suited were hitting flush after flush. About 50 of those hands were on fulltilt where I literally did not win a single showdown.

My last hand that I saw a flop in of the session on the $2/4 tables ended with me picking up AA on the button, and managing to get it heads up and capped preflop versus an UTG raiser. Flop was 7 high rainbow, and I ended up capping the flop as well as my opponent is most likely on AA or KK and possibly QQ when he 3 bets the flop. Given I have AA i'm fairly sure i'm ahead. Turn was a blank which he checks and I bet and he calls. River is a Q, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what he had when he leads out for a bet. And there's my final beat of the night for a 15BB $60 pot. Irritating.

Overall i'm down around 160BBs in my last few sessions. Still hoping it turns around soon! Variance by its nature will eventually turn around and go my way. Also fortunately for me, most of the loss has been on the $1/2 tables, with the $2/4 and $3/6 tables holding up relatively well.

That being said, i'm actually still showing a positive return for January ... just (thankyou rakeback and bonuses!), and I almost have enough points on Ladbrokes to ensure a rake race position.

Current bankroll: $15,900

Still cool

I fired up Ladbrokes, Interpoker and Bodog in search of some fish to play against. Found a single $2/4 table on Ladbrokes worth playing so I sat down there, and rapidly found myself down 15BB when I couldn't win a showdown. KK was no good versus 67o, KK then ran into AA, and my JJ got rivered by an A. Superbly hot starting hands in the first two orbits .. horrible result. And after two orbits i'm down 20BBs.

On Interpoker I found two tables that had potential out of about 10 that were running at the right stakes. Of those two the first that I sat at ended up being full of tags, so I left after one orbit but was up a few BBs. The second was a little better, until my fish on my right left after a couple orbits and was replaced by a tag. Managed to drop 10BBs in that time though as I again managed not to win a showdown.

Bodog I found three fishy tables, where I had position on a very loose passive on every single one of them. My form from the previous day continued though, and I was soon down 30BBs. I received relatively few premium hands, but they were good enough to see a flop, and continue. Only takes a few suckouts though and i'm getting spanked again. My fish disappeared relatively quickly on two of the tables though, so I didn't get the chance to win it back.

Ladbrokes did turn around though, where the fish decided to call me down a few times when I was betting hard. One had I had A6s in the big blind on a flop of A64, so I was more than happy to reraise a flop bet and take the betting lead on all streets. My QQ also held up against my earlier 67o fish which was the first one that had held up for the day, quickly followed by JJ holding up, and before I know it, i'm back in front on Ladbrokes, and the loss for the session isn't that bad. Hallelujah.

Current bankroll: $16,050

A cold start to Ladbrokes

For some reason I can't work out how to put a picture in the middle of my post. Anyways the graph above relates to sitngos on Interpoker which I will talk about later in this post.

I managed to get in another two hours of poker over the weekend, as well as a home game friday night for fun.

In my online time, i've cleared the sign up bonus on Ladbrokes, and as a rough estimate I believe I will need to rake another $30 to $40 there to place in the rake race. However, in my 800 or so hands so far, i'm running at a fairly cold -8BB/100, which is mainly due to my W$SD being around 41% instead of 51%. AKo has been a big loser to me, but when I looked into it, i'd lost to some pretty obscure 2 pair holdings, such as 62o, and also to a gutshot and runner runner flush draw. I've actually only had AKo five times in 800 hands so i'm not havin a lot of luck there.

I had found great position on a good $2/4 table with a huge fish on my right who was somewhere in the 95/5/.4/50 range. He had a reasonable stack of $80, and proceeded to donk off his entire stack within about 100 hands. Unfortunately for me, every time I was in a hand with him he hit his miracle outs, and then in the next hand he'd give my loss away to someone else. Frustrating. Especially when I end up down 30BBs.

Did a little better on a Ladbrokes $3/6 table to recover 7 or 8BBs, however, effectively now i'm only break even on Ladbrokes AFTER including the $100 sign up bonus and my $120 Boogster bonus. Hopefully I can run at least a little warmer when I play my last few hands to make sure I place in the rake race!

Interpoker, Cake and Bodog all paid me off 5-10BBs playing from $1/2 to $3/6. Probably made back about $80 all up in relatively few hands split fairly evenly between all three sites. Had a bit of trouble as per usual to find tables loose enough on Interpoker, but did spot a couple that I had good position on a couple fish. On a few others though, I had to quit after a single orbit as they were full of tags, but as i've noted before i'm determined to only play where I have a good edge, so i'm never going to stay at a table like that.

I also hit up 3 double up sitngos whilst I was waiting for decent cash tables to open up. The first was $5, which ended at the 15/30 blind level. I hand't received any starting hands worth playing but all of a sudden I notice there's only three of use left and i'm in the money. Score.

The next was a $15 sitngo where about 5th hand in i'm dealt AA on the button. Folded to me and I raise 3x BB to about 60 chips. Big blind then reraises me to 200 chips. I think about it for a few seconds and 3 bet to 500 chips to which he pushes in his 1,500 stack so I obviously snap call. AA holds up, and with the occasionally steal and not a single further showdown I easily double my cash.

My third double up was only a $5 again, and this one was much tougher, with all 6 players still in at the 100/200 blind level. I open push from the CO with 88, get called by 44 on the big blind who flops a 4, and i'm out. Oh well. Can't win em all.

My Interpoker double up sitngo sharkscope graph is attached above. ROI of around 17% which I think is okay. Haven't played too many as I play them as more of a change up from the cash routine but I will keep playing them to keep fresh (and whilst they are profitable)!

Current bankroll: $16,100

Read the fine print .... then hope for the best

I usually read the details of bonus offers pretty closely whenever I sign up to a new deal. The Ladbrokes one though is a bit interesting, as i'm not sure having a sign up bonus precludes me from being in the rake race.

I think I am still eligible, however, won't be counting it as an addition to the bankroll until I actually see it in my account. Will wait and see. Even if I just clear the sign up bonus I should be very close to being on the leaderboard, so might only have to play one extra small session to make sure I qualify for a rake race payment. At the moment I rank comfortably in the top 3,000, although i'm only due for a $100 payment. I could send an email to clarify, but I figure its just as easy to wait and see and hope I receive it, rather than point out a potential reason for them not to pay it out.

I played another freeroll last night - the Sun poker migration freeroll. About half the runners were left and I had a stack of about 1,900 where average stack was a little under 3,000 and blinds were 100/200. I opened all in from the cutoff with AKs, and the button big stack then called quickly flipping over QJs. Obviously he sucks out a J on the flop of JT2r. I turn my A though and suck back out on him. River is a K to hit my two pair but complete his straight for one of his 6 river outs to reresuckout on me. Tournaments ....

I also had a few Ladbrokes cash tables running, and proceeded to get pounded for another 25BBs there. My friendly fish that I had position on seemed to think that 62o was good enough to call a raise from my AA. On a flop of 62J it was. I had a quick check of my stats and i'm running at 40% won $ at show down, which is pretty horrid when seeing only 30% of showdowns. Hopefully I can even it back out in the next session or two, as i'm already 2/3 of the way through my sign up bonus requirements.

A rakeback payment stopped the session being too bad for the bankroll, but it would be nice to have a winning session on the tables some time in the near future.

Good luck for the weekend everyone. Back next week

Current bankroll: $16,000

2009 - start over

Well, as often happens my heater was followed by a nasty cooler.

My two huge fish on my Bodog tables were running the tables completely. One had a VPIP of 85%, WTSD of 55% and W$SD 70% and was over 100BBs up in 100 hands. I was soon down 40BBs.

Take two a few hours later when I got back on for my third hour's play for the day, and a new fish with almost exactly the same stats strips another 25BBs off me in the space of 15 minutes.

Add on my foreign exchange loss of about $50 for the month on Interpoker, and i'm back below my starting 2009 bankroll.

Fortunately the fishes in my last session then paid me back about 30BBs in the next 10 minutes, so not a total disaster, and i'm back to where I started for 2009. Although probably up a little rakeback and partway through my Interpoker bonus.

I also played another William Hill freeroll, where my AK 5BB raise preflop was not enough to scare off 64s. Flop of K52r and he of course calls my all in to turn a 3 and that's me done. I dunno how u guys do tourneys ... i'd be pullin my hair out. Although I guess I was ready to punch someone in my previous cash session when the fish were sucking out every single hand.

Current bankroll: $15,800

Fair start to 2009

Have played a couple hours of Bodog, and a little less of Interpoker to clear my 30 pound bonus for the month there. I think I probably should have signed up for the 60 pound bonus as i've already cleared a quarter of it. Maybe next month.

Interpoker started on fire, up 25BBs in a matter of minutes, before giving back almost all of it over the remainder of the session. I couldn't get anyone to fold to a cbet which was proving costly, although did result in a couple nice payoffs. A couple fish also produced some big river suckouts, otherwise Interpoker would have remained on target for a cracking month.

Bodog was a little different - starting down about 10BBs before recovering that, and then more to end up 70BBs to the good .. although only at $1/2. I had position on some pretty big fish on the three tables I had open, and they decided it was a good idea to pay me off over and over again. A couple fish on one table I realised I couldn't cbet into as they'd rarely fold, so I switched to simply value betting versus them.

I also layed one of the William Hill turkey freerolls (well MPP purchased buy ins) this morning, but busted out in about 200 out of 900 when I pushed with trash attempting to steal the blinds and a limper. Limper called with QJs for half his stack and hit a QJ flop. I have a few MPPs left there so might enter a couple more if they are at a convenient time.

Current bankroll: $15,900

SitnGo bankroll management

Had a mate of mine ask me about SitnGo bankroll management the other day.

The conversation was something like:

Q: How many buys ins do you need in your bankroll?
A: At small stakes probably 60 for STTs, 100 to be fairly safe if you're a winning player

Q: What stakes SitnGos do you play?
A: $5 - $15

Q: Okay, so 100 times 15 is?
A: $1,500

Q: And your bankroll is?
A: $15,000

Q: Ummm ... why are you playing so small stakes then?
A: Well, I only really play SitnGos for fun, as I don't think i'm that good at them - they're not my game of choice so there's no point blowing a lot on them. That being said, if I was losing on them, I wouldn't play them at all. My ROI is around 16% (and then rakeback on top of that) from about 200 games, and the majority of those are double ups which i've researched a little on how to play them.

Q: What should I be playing?
A: Well, start with your bankroll and calculate what that allows you to play. Then research your game of choice, be it Cash games, STTs or MTTs. Everyone has their own style and a game which suits them best, although i'm sure anyone could be a winner across all three if they put in the time and effort and have the skill. Obviously you need to know what you are doing before jumping in, and make sure you track your results to make sure you are profitable.



For me obviously cash games are my game of choice, and I will only play on soft tables. I'm also a bankroll nit as most people will notice, as i'm still mainly playing only up to $3/6. Maybe when a shot at $4/8 actually goes my way i'll move up a bit more permanently.

I've actually got in about an hour and a half of play in the last day since my nasty little downswing followed by moderate recovery. I'm pleased to say that I hit a mini heater, and returned a positve 15BBs at $3/6 on cake, followed by a good 45BBs on Pacific, which I decided to check out when I couldn't find enough tables running on Bodog and managed to find a super soft table there.

I'm thinking of taking up the Ladbrokes PSO offer in the new year to kick start the bonus chase for 2009, but I figure i'll still be mainly kickin around on Bodog, Cake, Interpoker for their reloads/rakeback.

Current bankroll: $15,650

Another shot at $4/8

Found a bunch of decent tables on bodog this morning, with 3 decent tables of $1/2 and one superb $4/8 table. I decided to sit down at the $4/8 with two vpip 50+ guys on my right, two on my left, and one tight passive opposite me.

As per usual though, I got off to an absolute shocker right from the start. My hands were not even holding up against 72o ... which obviously my opponents were playing against me, and for some reason they thought it was good ....

After 72 hands I still had not won a showdown, and by about 130 hands I was down by 60BBs on the $4/8 table, which is a decent dent in the bankroll. I'd had to buy back in twice, but I knew I was playing well and had fantastic position on a super soft table so didn't really consider quitting. To top it off, at the same time on my other 3 $1/2 tables I was also down 60BBs ... so that's a 120BB downswing in the space of an hour and a half.

After playing for another 45 mins or so, however, I had recovered a solid 30BBs at $4/8 and 30BBs at $1/2. Why can't I start like that?? Still down fairly substantially, but could have been a lot worse.

Overall on Bodog $4/8 i'm now all of 523 hands VPIP 25% PFR 16% WTSD 42% W$SD 40% ... = -10BB/100. At $1/2 i'm 13,000 hands VPIP 26% PFR 19% WTSD 37% W$SD 48% ... = -0.5BB/100. Overall my W$SD is still under 48%. It would be nice to run a little warmer .. or at least to expectation for an extended period of time ... I also want to push up the vpip a little - probably mostly through playing my BB a little more whenever there are cold callers in addition to an open raiser.

I also played my WBCOOP step 3 ticket on stars, and got absolutely nowhere ... I think I was second out after flopping 3 good, but second best hands (including one runner runner flush draw - argh!) and I ended up shoving a weak ace versus a better ace to lose badly.

Current bankroll: $15,300

Bit of a cooler

After my half hour session yesterday, had a quick look at my stats. Any time you run at a 14% W$SD its not going to be pretty.

Fortunately I guess, most of it was at the $1/2 tables, because every single one of the 5 $2/4 and $3/6 tables that I opened had vacant seats in terrible positions with respect to the fish, so I closed them straight away.

I twice had KK cracked, which obviously happens reasonably often, although once was against KJ, and the other against 32s on a K high flop. The 32 guy was actually in the CO facing my UTG preflop raise. Go figure.

It was a pity I couldn't keep playing longer, as the tables that I did have running were super fishy and I had great position on every single one of them. Obviously that doesn't guarantee a win given I managed to drop 50BBs in quick time, but i'm sure with time i'd have grabbed a fair chunk of that back. One of my few winning hands was pocket Js on a KJJ flop, with my opponent bluffing into me with A2o and calling my turn c/r and river bet.

Good luck to everyone in the blogger today. As predicted i'm missing it again!

Current Bankroll: $15,150

Variance doesn't always go your way

I actually got in almost two hours play in the last couple days. More than I played in the entire last weekend, but I digress.

It started fairly well, up about 25BBs on the $1/2 tables inside the first 20 minutes.

I then found a seat on the left of a bit of a maniac on a $2/4 table. He was running at 80/40/2/50. I then proceeded to rapidly donk off about 40BBs. Every possible runner runner, or rivering he would hit. The times my AK hit, he'd show some crappy pair that had made a set on the turn or river. Unbelievably frustrating, as I ended up with something like a 30% WTSD (yeah I clean missed a LOT) and a W$SD of 30% due to some of those very rude suckouts.

I actually meant to capture one of the hands against him which i've lost now. It was an interesting spot, which i'll try to find. I think I had something like JTs in the BB and reraised his steal attempt from the SB and he then 3 bet me preflop (although he was a maniac with the first raise he often did not 3 bet, and would often fold to a raise if he just limped in the sb). The flop was AJ2r, which he bet and I called, so i'm figuring there's a fair chance he has the A - ie given his 3 bet preflop, i'm in trouble here reasonably often, but given its 7:1 and I have a pair in a blind battle i'm not giving up yet. Turn is a K, which is pretty horrible although does at least give me a gutshot. Here he checks .... and i'm thinking wtf ... how can he not bet that? It gives me a gutshot at least.

So the question for anyone is what do I do here? Just check behind? Or take a stab to see if he folds? Maybe my pair of Jacks is enough? This is probably a no brainer, but I actually had to think about it for a bit and i'm still not 100% sure I took the correct course of action.

Anyways, that was my last hand on that table before it broke up which was annoying. Hate having to leave just after i've paid a BB.

Add on another 10BB loss on the $3/6 tables and my bankroll is shrinking quicker than i'd like.

Fast forward another half hour or so, and i've had a fairly decent run and nailed a couple big pots with the nuts. (Also managed to lose one particular hand in a largish pot of say $70 when my opponent hit a runner runner two pair whilst holding T5o with no draw on the flop versus my QQ. Go figure .. and yes I am always playing on the left of a fish who does chase that kinda crap, although I guess they are not THAT bad very often). I had probably recovered about 30BBs, and it could easily have been a lot more if a couple other key hands had gone my way. I was still down statistically on my W$SD, which would have at least evened me up, and more likely put me in profit if I was running to expectation.

The last half hour of play saw me giving back a little of my recovery, where again a in a couple big hands I got crucified on the river by some punk chasing a runner runner gutshot to bust my AA on a A high rainbow flop.

Add on a rakeback credit from the other day, and my session only ended up being a moderate loser. Plenty of very frustrating beats though where I was ready to punch someone, but you get that sometimes.

Current bankroll: $15,050

A new graph .. interesting results

After a comment from TiocfaidhArLa on my last post, I've added a new graph to the blog, at least temporarily, which shows results by month split between poker profits/losses, rakeback and bankroll interest earnings. Who'd have thought doing such a simple graph could be quite useful for analysis? (oh and sorry about the size. dunno how to get anything bigger in there).

By the looks of it my total poker earnings are around 2/3 from rakeback and bonuses, and 1/3 from actual poker play. I believe that does seem reasonable for a limit player given the relatively high rake, but don't know of anyone keeping those kind of stats, and haven't read about it on 2p2 that I can recall.

I guess it really does highlight the need for a good RB/Bonus deal at all times!!

The graph also shows a few lean months lately for August, October and November. November I was expecting a much slower month due to a lower volume than usual. I'm probably expecting a similar result in December because I know i'm fairly busy this month most weekends so will be lucky to get in 3,000 hands this month verus the usual 5 or 6. I'd also note that i'd played more in the first few months of the year than I have been playing in any of the last 5 months.

So, what happened in August and October? Well in October it looks like I hit a fairly decent sized downswing, and was having a shocking run at showdowns. In almost the first 3 weeks i'd made a grand total of $100 including bonuses!! So in the end the final October figure was probably better than expected.

August was my real horror month. Even by the 27th of August I was actually down $350 for the month, and again had a good rally in the last few days, so results could easily have been much worse. It looks like one of the main causes was losing 100BBs at $3/6 in two hours, which is always going to be painful. However, the whole month appeared to be cooler after cooler, with a number of sessions having W$SD < 30%.

So overall, nothing really to worry about. A bit of variance in those couple months which given my low volume should be expected. I suspect that monthly analysis is not particularly useful, (albeit interesting) although could be used to potentially identify areas for further investigation.

I played for an hour last night, but struggled to find good tables. Ended up spread between $1/2 and $2/4 and quickly found myself down 40BBs to some massive fish who somehow thought T7o was worth a call against a raise on a flop of AK7 and called down to hit their two pair T on the river versus my AQ. (One of many, many beats that kinda sucked).

I kept at it though and recovered about 35BBs as these guys were massive fish. Bodog even gave me a profit for the first time in ages, although Cake gave me a losing session for the first time.

Current bankroll: $15,000

Shooting ... and missing ...

Took another shot at Bodog $4/8 and got burnt … again.

Found a couple good tables, although didn’t necessarily best position on the fish. Offsetting that was that the players to my right though were still passive and slightly loose, so I didn't think i'd actually get pushed off too many blinds, which turned out to be the correct assumption.

However, the fishes decided it was time to slaughter me.

Atshizzle – 71/11/.84/54 with W$SD 47 … with most of those wins against me …
YA221 – 78/29/1.24/45 with W$SD 45 ..mostly against me
Tungpeter – 51/27/.84/43 with a W$SD 43 .. again mostly against me …

A frustrating procession of me v fish resulting in suck out, followed by fish v someone else losing my money to them. Annoying, but I still didn't tilt at all that I could see - in fact I don't think I loosened up at all in trying to chase losses, or overplay any marginal hands that flopped poorly.

My stats for the session:

VPIP 24% .. I was a bit down on receiving decent starting hands
PFR 16% … as above
AF 1.43 … down on usual .. maybe I was a little passive .. but more likely I was having to check/call a few marginal hands
WTSD 33% … low … I couldn’t hit a flop to save myself
W$SD 42% …unbelievable that I can go that badly with such a low WTSD. But I guess the suck outs hurt a lot.

The thing is … at the $1/2 tables at the same time I also managed to drop 75BBs in about 2.5 hours running even colder .. about a 20% WTSD and a 30% W$SD over 600 hands. Only played about an hour and a half of $4/8 and at one stage was 50BBs down before finishing at 20BBs down. Boy was it ugly for a while. Couldn’t hit a draw to save myself.

Anyways .. a few hands from the session: (sorry about the lack of converter .. I’m getting errors on weaktight for bodog at the moment).

Hand 1:

Hold'em Limit ($4.00/$8.00) - 2008-11-08 18:24:22
Table 'Bristol (max 6)' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: HERO ($370.00)
Seat 2: atshizzle ($212.75)
Seat 3: troutman101 ($92.82)
Seat 4: doseone916 ($135.22)
Seat 5: Ducati Hottie ($303.61)
Seat 6: YA221 ($648.00)
------------------------------
NEW HAND
atshizzle: posts the small blind $2.00
doseone916: posts the big blind $4.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
HERO is dealt [Ad,Kd] nice!
Ducati Hottie: folds
YA221: folds
HERO: raises $4.00 to $8.00
atshizzle: calls $6.00
doseone916: folds
--- DEALING FLOP [6s,6d,6h] not a horrible flop. i'm in front of everything except pocket pairs and this dude is a muppet ...
atshizzle: checks
HERO: bets $4.00 value/c bet
atshizzle: calls $4.00
--- DEALING TURN [3d]
atshizzle: checks
HERO: bets $8.00 value/c bet
atshizzle: calls $8.00
--- DEALING RIVER [Qd]
atshizzle: bets $8.00 u gotta be kiddin me .. surely the Q didnt help
HERO: calls $8.00 Don't think i can fold here.
atshizzle: shows [Qc Td] FFS ... thats about the 3rd suckout he's laid on me.
atshizzle: wins main pot($58.00)

Hand 2:

Hold'em Limit ($4.00/$8.00) - 2008-11-08 18:19:11
Table 'Bristol (max 6)' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: HERO ($360.00)
Seat 2: atshizzle ($264.75)
Seat 3: cleovictoire ($53.72)
Seat 4: doseone916 ($154.00)
Seat 5: Ducati Hottie ($355.61)
Seat 6: YA221 ($492.50)
------------------------------
NEW HAND
HERO: posts the small blind $2.00
atshizzle: posts the big blind $4.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
HERO is dealt [Qd,Qs] at this point i havent had a hand for a while, so this is great!
cleovictoire: calls $4.00
doseone916: calls $4.00
Ducati Hottie: calls $4.00
YA221: calls $4.00
HERO: raises $4.00 to $8.00
atshizzle: folds
cleovictoire: calls $4.00
doseone916: calls $4.00
Ducati Hottie: calls $4.00
YA221: calls $4.00
--- DEALING FLOP [Jd,6h,8c] (frickin cold callers and i've missed .. but still my overpair is likely to be good)
HERO: bets $4.00
cleovictoire: calls $4.00
doseone916: folds
Ducati Hottie: calls $4.00
YA221: calls $4.00
--- DEALING TURN [7d] (thats not a good card ... 678 ... still ...)
HERO: bets $8.00
cleovictoire: calls $8.00
Ducati Hottie: calls $8.00
YA221: raises $8.00 to $16.00 (arr crap. wonder if i'm now drawing dead?)
HERO: calls $8.00 (calling ... but dunno if this is correct)
cleovictoire: calls $8.00
Ducati Hottie: folds
--- DEALING RIVER [9h] ARGH
HERO: checks
cleovictoire: checks
YA221: checks interesting ... I would have folded to a bet i think 3 ways
HERO: shows [Qd Qs]
cleovictoire: mucks
YA221: shows [7h 6d] WTF? and thats his 3rd suckout on me for the session as well .. although he would have had the odds to call that flop after his idiotic preflop effort.
YA221: wins main pot($113.00)

Hand 3:

Hold'em Limit ($4.00/$8.00) - 2008-11-08 18:39:12
Table 'Bristol (max 6)' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: HERO ($287.50)
Seat 2: atshizzle ($180.25)
Seat 3: troutman101 ($17.14)
Seat 4: doseone916 ($112.22)
Seat 5: Ducati Hottie ($353.11)
Seat 6: YA221 ($778.18)
------------------------------
NEW HAND
HERO: posts the small blind $2.00
atshizzle: posts the big blind $4.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
HERO is dealt [Jc,Kd] cool.
troutman101: folds
doseone916: folds
Ducati Hottie: folds
YA221: calls $4.00 here fish
HERO: raises $4.00 to $8.00
atshizzle: calls $4.00
YA221: calls $4.00
--- DEALING FLOP [Qh,7s,Jh] Not bad ... 2nd pair. i'm probably in front
HERO: bets $4.00 cbet
atshizzle: folds good
YA221: calls $4.00 hmm
--- DEALING TURN [4c] good
HERO: bets $8.00 cbet
YA221: calls $8.00 prefer a fold here ..
--- DEALING RIVER [4d]
HERO: checks i'm going to c/c my showdownable hand here
YA221: bets $8.00 not a good sign.
HERO: calls $8.00
YA221: shows [5s 4s] OMFG
YA221: wins main pot($61.00)

Hand 4:

Hold'em Limit ($4.00/$8.00) - 2008-11-08 19:52:15
Table 'Bristol (max 6)' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: HERO ($181.51)
Seat 2: atshizzle ($158.60)
Seat 3: cminuts ($161.50)
Seat 4: doseone916 ($249.72)
Seat 5: Ducati Hottie ($346.39)
Seat 6: Stitch676 ($145.00)
------------------------------
NEW HAND
atshizzle: posts the small blind $2.00
cminuts: posts the big blind $4.00 LAG/TAG
--- DEALING POCKETS
HERO is dealt [Js,Ad] cool
doseone916: folds
Ducati Hottie: folds
Stitch676: folds
HERO: raises $4.00 to $8.00
atshizzle: folds
cminuts: calls $4.00
--- DEALING FLOP [Jd,6d,2s] wicked
cminuts: checks
HERO: bets $4.00
cminuts: calls $4.00
--- DEALING TURN [Tc] cool
cminuts: checks
HERO: bets $8.00
cminuts: calls $8.00
--- DEALING RIVER [Th] hmm
cminuts: checks
HERO: bets $8.00
cminuts: raises $8.00 to $16.00 oh crap
HERO: calls $8.00
cminuts: shows [Ts Ac] you lucky F ... POS
cminuts: wins main pot($71.00)

Hand 5:

Hold'em Limit ($4.00/$8.00) - 2008-11-08 20:09:42
Table 'Billings (max 6)' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: YA221 ($393.00) (note he had almost $800 earlier ... and even took more off me to donate to the others)
Seat 2: 1rockstar ($125.00)
Seat 3: HERO ($364.50)
Seat 4: elpsredmen ($220.50)
Seat 5: cminuts ($509.49)
Seat 6: tungpeter ($379.50)
------------------------------
NEW HAND
YA221: posts the small blind $2.00
1rockstar: posts the big blind $4.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
HERO is dealt [Ah,Qh] sweet
HERO: raises $4.00 to $8.00
elpsredmen: folds
cminuts: folds
tungpeter: calls $8.00
YA221: folds
1rockstar: folds
--- DEALING FLOP [Kh,Js,Ac] nice
HERO: bets $4.00
tungpeter: calls $4.00
--- DEALING TURN [6h]
HERO: bets $8.00
tungpeter: calls $8.00
--- DEALING RIVER [9d]
HERO: bets $8.00
tungpeter: raises $8.00 to $16.00 oh oh ... surely i woulda heard from QT earlier and who calls an UTG raise from the button with QT?
HERO: calls $8.00
tungpeter: shows [Jc Kd] interesting ... i guess you call an UTG raise with KJo from the button and play passively to the river....
tungpeter: wins main pot($75.00)

Hand 6:

Hold'em Limit ($4.00/$8.00) - 2008-11-08 20:13:07
Table 'Billings (max 6)' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: YA221 ($415.50)
Seat 2: 1rockstar ($109.00) also appears to be a fish ...)
Seat 3: HERO ($346.50)
Seat 5: cminuts ($489.49)
Seat 6: tungpeter ($388.50)
------------------------------
NEW HAND
1rockstar: posts the small blind $2.00
HERO: posts the big blind $4.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
HERO is dealt [6s,7c] yuk ..
cminuts: folds
tungpeter: raises $4.00 to $8.00
YA221: calls $8.00
1rockstar: folds
HERO: calls $4.00 with one cold caller who is a muppet i think worth a call
--- DEALING FLOP [7d,Ts,6d] Nice!
HERO: checks
tungpeter: bets $4.00
YA221: folds
HERO: raises $4.00 to $8.00
tungpeter: raises $4.00 to $12.00
HERO: raises $4.00 to $16.00
tungpeter: calls $4.00
--- DEALING TURN [8s]
HERO: bets $8.00
tungpeter: raises $8.00 to $16.00 (hmm i'm up against trips or the 9? calling down now)
HERO: calls $8.00
--- DEALING RIVER [Ah]
HERO: checks
tungpeter: bets $8.00
HERO: calls $8.00 I think pot is big enough to call here, although that A is a terrible card as I was in front of AT before.
tungpeter: shows [8c Th] FFS .. out turned again ... T8o is an interesting CO raise
HERO: mucks
tungpeter: wins main pot($104.00)

Hand 7:

Hold'em Limit ($4.00/$8.00) - 2008-11-08 20:24:02
Table 'Billings (max 6)' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: YA221 ($390.50)
Seat 2: 1rockstar ($172.00)
Seat 3: HERO ($287.50)
Seat 4: atshizzle ($234.10)
Seat 5: cminuts ($460.99)
Seat 6: tungpeter ($344.50)
------------------------------
NEW HAND
YA221: posts the small blind $2.00
1rockstar: posts the big blind $4.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
HERO is dealt [As,9s] not bad
HERO: raises $4.00 to $8.00
atshizzle: calls $8.00
cminuts: folds
tungpeter: raises $4.00 to $12.00 okay this guy is a bit of an aggro muppet preflop so could have anything
YA221: calls $10.00 nice call fish
1rockstar: calls $8.00 here fishy
HERO: calls $4.00
atshizzle: calls $4.00
--- DEALING FLOP [8s,4s,Kc] awesome flop
YA221: checks
1rockstar: bets $4.00
HERO: calls $4.00 call here waiting for the tungpeter raise so that YA and rockstar aren't facing 2 bets to call
atshizzle: raises $4.00 to $8.00 interesting
tungpeter: raises $4.00 to $12.00 man ..dont scare em off
YA221: folds doh
1rockstar: calls $8.00 bonus
HERO: calls $8.00 toss up between a raise and a call .. i decided to call here given atshizzle had reraised before
atshizzle: raises $4.00 to $16.00 can't complain here
tungpeter: calls $4.00
1rockstar: calls $4.00
HERO: calls $4.00 (capped here so i cant reraise otherwise I possibly would)
--- DEALING TURN [7h] hmm woulda been nice to hit that spade here ...
1rockstar: checks
HERO: checks
atshizzle: bets $8.00
tungpeter: raises $8.00 to $16.00
1rockstar: calls $16.00
HERO: calls $16.00 hmmm ... i wonder if i'm up against trips. if i'm up against another spade draw that does reduce my outs significantly. I really dont want to see the board pair on the river, but need that final spade. Not sure, maybe this should be a raise since the pot is already huge.
atshizzle: calls $8.00
--- DEALING RIVER [Ks] well .. that's hit my flush .. but also paired the board .. could be ugly
1rockstar: checks
HERO: bets $8.00 dont really want this to be checked through.
atshizzle: raises $8.00 to $16.00 oh oh he's back awake again ...
tungpeter: folds raise turn and fold the river in a huge pot for 2? wtf ...
1rockstar: raises $8.00 to $24.00 ack .. this isnt looking good
HERO: calls $16.00 can't fold in a pot this big when i've surely got reasonable equity
atshizzle: raises $8.00 to $32.00 argh ..this is lookin bad ...
1rockstar: calls $8.00
HERO: calls $8.00
atshizzle: shows [Kh Qd] heh .. you owe me a lot more than just that one
1rockstar: shows [Ts 5s] doofus preflop, but unlucky flush over flush.
HERO: shows [As 9s]
HERO: wins main pot($281.00) biggest pot ever for me I think .. but i'm still way down for the session

So .. all in all a pretty horrible session, but at least recovered late with that hand. So coulda been a lot worse. Looks like I’ll be back to the $1/2 tables on bodog for a while. And that could be quite a while as I’m still running very cold there in total at a 36% WTSD and now I’m actually under 47% W$SD…. And that’s over 8.5k hands…

I also played a stack of $5 double up sitngos on interpoker as there were literally no cash games running when I was playing. I think I cashed in about 6 out of 8 of them and they are quite fun. It looks like most people dont really know how to play them. As soon as my bankroll hits $500 on there I might take a swing at the $15 double ups. I'm assuming the play there is also fairly terrible.

Current bankroll: $13,800

Craptacular running

Both Bodog and Interpoker are still killin me! Interpoker i'm heading down towards requiring to reload range again, although I have about $80 in rakeback to receive shortly so hopefully will be okay there.

I came up against my nemesis fish Strasink or something like that on Interpoker. He's currently running at 70/40/4/50 with a W$SD of 65% as well over 150 hands. His main winning hands are 82s and T3s ... and every time he seems to suck out against me. I played another 30 hands against him in a half hour session, and again managed to not win a single showdown. Surely the card gods will smile on me soon and allow me to have a W$SD of 65% for a few hands even. My BB/100 has now dropped to -4BB/100. F me.

Bodog is a little more interesting where my BB/100 is now 0.5BB/100. Thing is i'm still running at a fairly cool 36% WTSD with only a 47% W$SD over 7,000 hands. So i'm basically a good 6%-8% down on my showdown wins, which equates to around 5BB/100. I'm probably reasonably lucky then to still be showing a profit over that many hands. Surely i'm going to warm up soon, or even show signs of normal showdown win rates ... i'd be happy with that. 7,000 hands is quite a lot to me to be running cool, as that's about all i'd play in an entire month. I know there are 2p2ers who have done 100,000 hands of break even, but I figure i'm probably a bit more table selective and seat selective so shouldn't run into that.

Hopefully will run hot soon, as it feels like its been a while since i've had a nice consistent run .. well not since last month :) hehe

Current bankroll: $13,550