TUE 24th OCT - UPDATE

So, this will be my last post for about a week as I'm touring the country getting drunk with different friends from school and University. Yeah, hard life I know. Played the cheque-raiser promotion again on Monday and then a few hands today.

NL CASH - $50NL

Hands (Total): 5919 (11243)
$ won: (Total): -$171.39 (-$14.24)
Current BR: $985.76

As I said, I attempted to get a top 10 spot in the "party poker" cheque-raiser promotion again on Monday, and as far as that was concerned I succeeded. However, at playing good poker, I kind of failed. 9 hour sessions in consecutive days probably isn't the best recipe for winning poker. Saying that, I've never seen so many "only card in the deck moments" and I just wasn't hitting any hands. For 9 hours. In 5,500 hands in that time, I made 11 flushes. This is playing 22/16. IE, "89s from late position is the nuts" type poker. Just a horrible day. I was ~$330 down after the session, but fortunately decided to play a little more at 3am on Tuesday and regained 2 buy-ins and then won another 2 at Full Tilt on Tuesday.

So, despite actually losing a few $s since moving up from $25NL, in reality it isn't too bad. With rakeback and bonuses I've actually pocketed about $800-$900 in 3 days, which can't be bad! As far as $50NL goes, I think it is easily beatable but not without some kind of work. On my return from this trip, I will be posting many more hands on the uSNL of 2+2 and spend less time playing less than optimally or watching TV shows.

I haven't played either STTs or MTTs since the last update.

Total BR: $2636.91

So, tomorrow night I will be playing in a live £20 rebuy tournament in Nottingham with a friend, and I am extremely excited about it. I have a strategy to ensure it is within my boundaries cost wise, and of course I have the strategy to pwn it and take it down. Obviously.

So, see you in a week.

skegvegaspoker

SUN 22nd OCT - UPDATE

Apologies for not delivering this update on time, but blogger was down yesterday evening so I thought I would update tonight. I think its fair to say, I've been busy....

NL CASH - $25NL

Hands (Total): 1296 (9744)
$ won: +$181.80 (+$625.53)
Current BR: $1125.53

As of Saturday night these results were accurate. However, although I hadn't quite made the level to move up, I decided to move to$50NL on Sunday. This is because I was attempting to complete the $75K cheque-raiser promotion, and wanted to do so all at one limit, rather than keep opening and closing tables at multi limits. So, after Saturday night I removed the surplus $125.53 from my NL cash bankroll and moved up to $50NL.

As this marks the end (hopefully forever) of $25NL, here are my stats and graphs.

Hands: 9744
Amount won: +$625.53
PTBB/100: 13.07

Pretty happy with my progress at $25NL. Felt I very much had the better of almost all my opponents, and ignoring the slight cooler toward the end, pretty much dominated it. 13.07PTBB/100 is certainly satisfactory.

Here, the first pretty graph of the new blog.


NL CASH - $50NL

Hands (Total): 5324 (5324)
$ won (Total): +$157.15 (+$157.15)
Current BR: $1157.15

An absolute LOLLERCOASTER to start $50NL. The promotion at Party was that the top 10 players in terms of number of raked hands got an extra $300 and 11-30 got an extra $150. So, 6 tabling 6max $50NL for 9 hours without a break was the task. And I succeeded in that. Finished 7th overall for $300 bonus. A nice bit of spending money for my time away next week. Was exhausting mind.

I'm too tired to dig out the hand histories, but today I had two A high flushes (with 2 flush hole cards) beaten by straight flushes. However, made amends when my AA beat KK on a AKAKT board. That was fun! Also, hit quads twice, but in over 5000 hands only hit 3 sets. And two of them lost big stacks when top 2 pair filled up. Very annoying stuff. The other one got no action. After a 1000 hands I was down $250 and fairly pissed off. But I had a 30 minute spell where I went from -$250 to +$60. Flopping straights and flushes, hitting my OESDs etc. Was beautiful to watch. LOL.

Up and down for the rest of it, but one table I finished with $310 (620xBB) which I was happy with. Wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to play for 9 hours straight. Wasn't exactly enjoying at times, but not really a chore either. And I financially worthwhile with the offer being on, so I think I might do the same thing tomorrow, if I can build up the enthusiasm. We shall see.

Only another $1342.85 until I can move to $100NL. Easy.

STTs - $6.50s

Games (Total): 82 (127)
$ won (Total): +$66 (+$119)
Current BR: $669

Am a big fan of pokerstars for sngs. Never realised, while I was at Party, how good they were. It is impossible to get rakeback at Pokerstars, but the lowered rake in the turbos, compared to Party, means you aren't losing as much as it seems. Due to the excellent table mods and supportive software, I have found it easy to 12,15 and even 20 table these, by just laying 4 on the screen and have the one with the action rise to the top. MTH tells me if I'm ever sitting out, which I haven't been so far.

Not bad results so far either. Just have to put in some volume to get the extra $291 to move up to the $16s. Think I'm really starting to progress now.

MTTs - $16.50s

Games (Total): 0 (0)
$ won (Total): 0 (0)
Current BR: $825

Nothing to see here.

TOTAL BR: $2651.15

Sorry this update couldn't be more in depth as far as hand analysis etc, but that 9 hour session has kind of tired me out. Happy to move to $50NL and although not the best of starts, it could have been worse. There is a marked improvement in the play IMO, although most say there isn't, but I still think I am superior to the standard. Looking forward to playing loads more hands.

So, next update will be on Tuesday night, and will be the last one for a while, as I'm going to Newcastle for a re-union weekend, with trips to Nottingham and Durham to see friends from home who are at uni either side of the trip. Am going to play in the £20 rebuy live competition in Nottingham, which although is currently slightly out of my BR will be pretty awesome and I wont be counting it as poker, but more as entertainment. (ie I will be a fish, lol). Also need to learn how to riffle chips before then; make me look better than I am.

Right, until Tuesday.

skegvegaspoker

THUR 19th OCT - UPDATE

In my last blog entry, I claimed I was optimistic of moving up levels in NL cash either by this update or Saturday's. But, as is usually the case, things haven't gone entirely to plan. They've not been disastrous, but just not as I expected.

NL CASH - $25 NL

Hands (Total): 937 (8448)
$ won (Total): -$135.15 (+$443.73)
Current BR: $943.73

Yeah, I got destroyed. I hit my first real cooler lately. Had the following hands. I realise that the last couple are terrible but I fear my judgment, especially on the AQ hand was a little influenced by my very short term results.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?566419

Pretty sure my opponent had the J or a pair here. My read on this player was that he would have check-called a better nine on the flop as he was pretty bad, so I called the flop raise assuming he would fire out on the turn with a J if the turn bricked. It didn't. The check-call on the turn though made me think he had the K or J and was hoping for a showdown. I was a little concerned with the river, but I was getting 4-1 on the call, and brilliant, I've been runner runnered.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?566412

This hand I posted on 2+2. Difficult to put someone on the set here with reasonable draws out there and the fact players at this level with stack off with as little as AT here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?566430

Flop play was a little debatable but was sure my opponent was stacking off here with AJ-A8 type hands. Because of this, what a lovely turn. Oh, no it isn't, its the worst card in the deck.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?566437

villain had re-raised my button raise several times for the BB so I thought I would 3-bet him this time as a semi-bluff and see how serious he was. He flat called. Magic flop. Times to represent a missed AK and he'll call off all his chips with JJ-99 etc. Yup, set over set. Lovely.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?566431

Not a beat as such, but bad timing. Villian had been raising about 80% of hands from the button and I hadn't got out of line from the SB before. Thought I would be unlucky for him not to give me credit for a big A, even AK, but he didn't and he probably had it himself. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?566434

Almost the only card in the deck where he's getting any money off me on the river. Nothing usually, but a bit annoying given all this was in one session.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?566423

After the flop, I was pretty sure he had AK and but was so infuriated at seeing the worst card in the deck just mashed the bet button. Suppose I should try and stop this. :)

I realise that most of these hands aren't exactly bad beats, or even beats, but they were pretty hard to take in one session when I had been playing/running so well previously. However, I certainly have something to learn from these hands, and in particular the AQ vs AK hand at the end. I was about 95% of my read and should have trusted it and not just got my money in for the sake of tilt. Very disappointed with myself for that. However, mistakes are the easiest way to learn IMO.

STTs - $11s

Games (Total): 21 (45)
$ won (Total): +$31 (+$53)
Current BR: $603

Played a few $11 regs at pokerstars this week to get used to their software. With help from wiggs (2+2) regarding pokertracker and futuredoc85 (2+2) regarding multitabling at stars in general, I am ready to take the STTs a little more seriously once again.

However, the stars regular STTs are VERY long and extremely dull, especially when compared to the party speeds. So, I am going to start playing the turbos. The problem here comes with the buy-in levels. They are no longer the standard levels. They are instead $6+$0.50, $15+$1, $25+$2, $55+$5.

Consequently, I am going to add these levels in to the steps I set in my original post. Hence my $603 current BR will be used for the $6.50s and when I reach $960, I will start at the $16s with an $800BR. Easy. Although this means moving down a level, it shouldn't be for long, and will allow me to get more familiar with the software.

MTTs - $11s

Games (Total): 8 (74)
$ won (Total): +$348.05 (+$499.22)
Current BR: $1049.22 (***$825 see below***)

Oh yes. I scored one. Well almost. Came 2nd in a 400 man $5.50 on FTP (which I know love - especially the flash final table feature) for ~$290, 3rd in a 50 man $5.50 Omaha8 on FTP and 4th in a 50 man NLH $11 on UB. The 2nd place was a real rollercoaster.

Didn't seem to do that much early on, but was in the top 20 with 70 left. And I pwned the bubble like never before. 36 paid and when we were down to 38 I raised every hand for a whole orbit. Had to make one CTN bet to take that down and had a short stack push over me with KJ on one hand. Very fortunately, I had JJ...and it held up. With 70 opponents I would say I was in about 20th with 14000 chips. After the bubble, I was 2nd with about 50000 chips with only one showdown. I really like doing that.

Continued to dominate my table and when we reached the final table (of 9), I had 75000 of the 350000 chips in play. However, AK was beaten by AJ for a 40000 chip pot. Then, I got into a lovely situation and my opponent called off a lot of chips when perhaps he shouldn't have. Here. My threatening warning was a success!

That gave me my lead back. Then, this would, and should, have given me way over half the chips in play. That sucked! A bit quiet after that but got to final 4 with 180(me), 190,130,40. And then I got fairly (read very) lucky with a beauty of a river. Following that, I really should have taken it down, but my opponent and I entered HU about even in chips. He was REALLY aggressive, except for the one hand where I had AA. He completely dominated me. However, If I had have picked up any hand at all I would have been able to fight back easily. Eventually K9 was beaten by A2 and I got 2nd. Taking it down would have been ~$450 which would have been nice, but in no way can I complain.

I'm also going to slightly alter the buy-in levels associated with MTTs. There are some pretty good tournies with buy-ins in between levels, so I'm going to add a $16.50 level and $27 level in on the MTTs. Maybe more as I move up. So, I would move up when I reached $990 ($16.50 * 60) and start again at the $16.50s with $825 ($16.50 * 50). So I will pocket the difference and now play any freezeouts with entry less than or equal to $16.50 and rebuys less than or equal to $3.30.

TOTAL BR: $2371.73

Although this is only $20 greater than last update, I have taken $225 out of my poker related finances. Spend that on something balla no doubt.

Ok, going to start playing some Stars $6.50s now I think. Next update is Saturday. Stay tuned.

skegvegaspoker

TUE 17th OCT - UPDATE

Since Saturday I have really started playing a little bit more, which I am pleased with. However, I am still not playing as much as I should be. It seems at the moment, I can only play NL cash tables for about 1h30 before feeling like I've had enough. Will really have to try and motivate myself and keep concentration for longer session and/or play more sessions.

I have also set up a new account with RB at FullTiltPoker. For many months, I have had the FTP software downloaded and have been impressed by the site as a whole. So, as the future of the party games are a little unstable at the moment, I thought I would branch out. Also, they have a good array of MTTs, so I will be able to add one or two tables of them when I'm in an MTT session. When you sign up to FTP you also get a $600 bonus. I am currently paying that off, but remember that doesn't toward my roll, and so is a nice bit of spending money.

NL CASH - $25NL

Hands (Total): 2845 (7511)
$ won (Total): +$180.55 (+$578.88)
Current BR: $1078.88

Don't really have too many hands to mention this time, and I guess that can only be a good thing. I'm thinking a little more about the 3rd barrel in some situations. Generally, it is thought to be a -EV play, but I think if you can read an opponent well for an OESD or FD, or even read a good player with 2nd pair or TPMK at these levels, it can be profitable. It also helps when you do fire that third barrel and hit a 5 outer to suck out.

My impressions of Full Tilt have so far been positive. After downloading their program I searched around 2+2 to try and find some support software. I was extremely pleased with the fulltiltbuddy and fulltiltwatch AHK scripts that I found at www.overcards.com/wiki. However, the latter of these two programs is no longer compatible with FTP after their new update, which sucks a little. Isn't an essential program, but a useful one for following the fish. Finally, their bonus does seem pretty easy to clear, at $25NL it seems to clear at about $10/1000 hands. Nice little side earner.

So, if I can continue to avoid running badly, and get some more hands in, I might be at the stage to move up to $50NL by my next report or, more likely, the one after. Only $172 to earn.

STTs - $11s

Games (Total): 0 (24)
$ won (Total): 0 (+$22)
Current BR: $572

Haven't played any. A little disinterested by them at present and with Party's recent problems they are only available in the evenings. When they do recapture my interest, I will look at PokerStars more carefully as they seem to be the only site for 12 tabling to be a viable option.

MTTs - $11s

Games (Total): 10 (66)
$ won (Total): +$21.68 (+$151.17)
Current BR: $701.17

Only played one session of MTTs since Saturday. And it was pretty mixed. My first 11 OOTM. Then came a $5 at Absolute Poker. Turned out this event was a rebuy, which I didn't realise, but as I already registered, I decided to play it properly and rebuy as was required. Turned out I never needed to and took the double add-on at the end of the rebuy period. Again, absolutely pwned the bubble and went from ~11000 to ~30000 without a showdown. Then, just before the final table, AQ>44, which was pleasant and I went into the FT in 2nd. By the time we were down to 5, I was practically joint second. 4th and 5th place weren't desperately short and the CL was playing pretty scared.

Then, this hand occurred. Here's my reasoning. Pre-flop every was pretty tight and a 6000 raise was often taking down the pot. However, I had down this quite a lot from the button in the last few orbits and I think my FRANKFOLDS may have been getting a little suspicious. Hence, I thought his flat call could be any suited broadway or maybe a low to middle PP.

On the flop, I was ready to shut down. However, both players had always bet out their good hands since I'd been on their table, which was down from 27 players. I had no reason to believe that a reasonable CTN bet wouldn't take this down. However, when I was called I thought my opponent must have a flush draw or a set.

However, when he check/called I became a little confused. The pot was offering him only 2:1 on a flush draw so calling with that seemed strange there. I thought perhaps a badly played set was another option.

Then he checks the river. Now I'm really confused. I was really tempted to push here. Surely a set would check the river. He couldn't have played any straights like this. Flush draw didn't make it.

Unfortunately, I bottled it. I was too scared of the king as with so much committed I didn't think my opponent could fold any king. I could only push for ~35,000 giving him 3:1 on the call. I was also worried my initial read may have been incorrect and that I would be pushing into a really strangely played AA-JJ which he would call with.

I would really like to know everyone's thoughts on this river. Can I push this? Is he folding enough hands to make it worthwhile. Note that I still have 35,000 chips if I check behind, which is about equal with the other two shorties.

After a mini revival after, with a BB special, 92 on a Q92 flop with a 2 on the turn, I managed to get back into it. But never really enough to take it down. I busted 3rd (for ~$100) when 88 was beaten by AQ after getting all-in preflop. Can't complain really. Certainly needed a score after the terrible session I was on.

Overall, I think my MTT game is by far my weakest. I spent many many hours reading and writing posts in the STTF of 2+2 and have watched almost all of Green Plastic's cardrunners NL cash videos. However, I really haven't spent much time working on my MTT game. I have read HOH I&II but think my next focus should be to buy volume 3 and start to post and read more in the MTTF of 2+2.

Total BR: $2352.05

I'm going to have to take a little time off in the next few days to really speed up the applications for proper jobs (which I still don't really want, lol) so my volume may suffer a little. We'll see. Will update on Thursday night.

skegvegaspoker

SAT 14th OCT - UPDATE

Well, there has been some really interesting happening since last time I updated. No more US players at Party, cancellation of Party's "MONSTER", some intriguing hands and some poker theory attempted by yours truly. Firstly, latest results.

NL CASH - $25NL

Hands (Total) : 1226 (4657)
$ won (Total): +$84.99 (+$398.33)
Current BR: $898.33

Had some interesting hands this week....

Best played hand

I really think I played this hand well. Slightly unorthodox, but my thinking was, in my opinion, spot on. Preflop, al1971 wasn't raising a great deal, but I thought that I could easily define my hand with the re-raise as he would only call with 99+, AQ+. That was my read on him anyway. When he did call, and I caught a beautiful flop, I thought I would see how he approached it. If he bet, I was pretty sure now that he must have an overpair. He duly bet, and I flat called. Not sure why I flat called here. I guess a re-raise would have been just as good as if he had QQ-JJ, an A or K would slow him down. The turn was an obvious blank, and by betting I was trying to make my opponent think "how could the deuce have helped him?". Again, I guess checking would have been OK here, as he is probably shoving an overpair anyway, but I didn't want to give him another chance to hit a card to get away. He pushes and I duly call. Shame about the result, but think I played the hand well to stack him (95% of the time - lol).

Worst played hand

Too often, my mind just goes blank. After he flop I put him on AA-JJ or AK. He probably would fold KK on the turn, but the flop call meant he didn't have JJ. Also, I thought that he would fold AK to my push, but obviously he was getting good enough odds (and not savvy enough) to lay it down, which I should have realised. I am unnecessarily losing big pots that I don't need to be, and this is really cutting into my win rate. At $25NL, there really is no need to make these fancy plays. Just wait for AQ/KQ in this situation and get paid off.

However, my win rate currently stands at about 35BB/100 so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. But, one should always strive to improve, however well they are doing.

Biggest idiot opponent

Turns out Party Poker isn't getting any less fishy now the Americans have left.

Unluckiest hand

I won't lie to you, this pissed me off.

STTs - $11s

Games (Total): 0 (24)
$ won (Total): $0 (+$22)
Current BR: $572

Didn't fancy playing any of these this week due to the party problem (which I shall go into further later).

MTTs - $11s

Games (Total): 21 (56)
$ won (Total): -$15.04 (+$129.49)
Current BR: $679.49

Played quite a few of these. Got cold-decked in quite a few. Most annoyingly was a Party Poker $11, for which 1st paid $1100. I took my 3000 chips to 12000 before we entered the bubble (which was about average stack), with only 3 showdowns, two of which I lost. I was making all the right plays at all the right times. By the time the bubble burst (almost an hour later), the average stack was 20000 and I had got my 12000 upto 35000. Immediately after the bubble with the blinds at $1200/$2400, BTN raises to $4800 and I re-push from the SB with JJ. Easy call for his whole stack (about another $15000 on top) with A6. Easy A on the river. Then KK is beaten by a short stack's QJ and I'm down to 5000. A push from the BTN with A8 and BB wakes up with AK. Hero to zero in an orbit and a half. I think I'm beginning to understand the term LOL_donkaments.

Total BR: $2149.82

Can't complain. However, my week was much more profitable than this. About 3 weeks ago, I decided to see what the fuss was about and entered one $5 stt where the winner got an entry to a weekly satellite for the party poker monster. I won it. Lovely. So I register for the weekly monster freeroll, but forget about it. I get blinded away into 1945/4250. Luckily though, top 2000 get entries into the monthly freeroll. Bonus.

A few days after I see an advert on party poker called "back to school" or something. Answer 10 questions about the monster and win a prize, either partypoints, cash or a monster monthly entry. 10 easy questions, 30 seconds, 1 monster monthly for me.

However, Party Poker decide that because of the new legislation, they are forbidding all US players from playing at the site. Bad news. Well, usually it is. But, because of this they were forced to cancel the monster and in compensation have paid a certain amount of EV for each ticket.

To my surprise, a monthly freeroll ticket was worth $350. Two of them and that's $700 in the bank. Thank you PartyPoker. Then, to keep me playing there, I also get a 50% upto $150 reload bonus. This is all very kind of them. And for now, they still have my custom. However, an issue involving rakeback for September may or may not change that shortly. We shall see.

Now, finally, I did a lot of thinking about late game strategy this week, with some pretty long winded calculations. If you are interested in STTs, I really do think that this could be an interesting post for you to read. Additionally, I would like to ask you to respond to the question I posed about your range or re-raising hands. You will know what I mean when you have read the thread.

I'm going to do a little more work on this next week, and see what I can come up with. Although, many argue that STTs are a "solved game", I do not believe this to be the case. I think with ICM and pushing has taught us how to significantly beat the game, but do not think that the game cannot be beaten by a greater degree. Anyway, here's the thread. Enjoy.

I think I'm going to update this more frequently now, maybe 3 times a week, so next post should be on Tuesday night. Until then.

skegvegaspoker

WED 11th OCT - UPDATE

I have been embarrassingly bad at playing since my last update. I wasted Saturday - Tuesday either getting drunk or nursing a hangover, and as I have a rule not to play whilst drunk (cost me my entire roll last summer), I haven't really put any hands in. However, I played a few tournies this afternoon/evening and had limited success in one.

NL CASH - $25NL

Hands: 648
$ won: +$31.76
Current BR: $813.34

Haven't really been focusing on my NL cash this week. Well, I haven't focused on anything. Still, guess I'm still up over a buy-in. I'll take it. Pretty sure I'm a winner at this level, and it's just a case of how long it takes me to reach the next bankroll limit to move up.

STTs - $11s

Games: 12
$ won: -$62
Current BR: $572

Only played one set again this half-week and it went pretty badly. Very short-term variance is all.

MTTs - $11s

Games: 8
$ won: $126.02
Currrent BR: $694.43

Out of the 8 MTTs played this week I moneyed in two. And in both I finished 2nd. The first of these was a partypoker.com 20 man $11 NLH. I really bullied the bubble to go from mid-chips to chip leader, but once I reached HU, my opponent and I both had around 20000 chips each. With the blinds at 800/1600, my opponent limped from the button and I checked my blind with J9o. Flop comes J93. I bet 2400 into the 3600 pot and my opponent calls. Turn is a 3 and to my surprise when we get all in he has aces. Done.

The other was a much more frustrating affair. Only 90 runners in an absolutepoker.com $2 rebuy tournament. I rebought immediately to double my chips from 2000 to 4000. I won a few pots to get upto 6000 by the end of the rebuy period. Final hand of the rebuy I have AA vs QQ pre-flop to double up and a double add-on meant that I came into the freezeout period with 16000 chips (around 10th/50 left). Was card dead for ages, and managed to hit middle set from the BB and double back up to about 20000. 13 players played and when we were down to 17, I really made my move. I went from 20000 to 58000 without showdown. Then had AK vs AK on a A63 flop and AQ vs AQ on a AQ6 flop. These hands really helped my image, and I used them to my best advantage. When we were down to 12, I was chip leader with 100K chips without ever showing down a hand. This was definitely the best I have played and felt completely in control of the whole table. Won JJ vs KJ to get into the final 9 as CL.

From here, it all went wrong. Some guy claimed that he had to leave as he had a live tournament to be at. He proceeded to go all-in every hand. 7 hands later we are down to 4. However, I managed to avoid confrontation with him until I picked up KK which held up against his 86o. A few minutes later, the psycho and I are heads-up. Considering this was only a $2 re-buy, I REALLY wanted to win it. It would have been my first win and the difference was $80 between 1st and 2nd, and I fancied that as well. However, chip counts were 200000 (me) to 400000. As he had to go, he decided to tell me his hand every single hand and then go all-in every time. And I still couldn't beat him. At one point I had 575000 chips to his 25000. However, I then make sure that everytime the money goes in I am at least a 70% favourite. 5 all-ins later, and I've proudly got myself a second. Sick.

TOTAL BR - $2079.77

I think I'm going to try and grind quite a few STTs out while I still have the chance on Party, which might only be for a few more days. Additionally, I still have one STEP 4 to play in the mini-steps which is a qualifier to a $430 buy-in STT, which would be nice to play. And the nice people at cdpoker.com have given me a free buy-in to the $250K qualifier next week. Apparently, I'm a VIP. Always good to know.

skegvegaspoker

SAT 7th OCT - UPDATE

So, as I start out on my new mission, here are my results so far. I have mainly been playing MTTs so far, as that is what I missed playing the most while I was on my STT quest. However, I have played one successful set of $11 STTs and a few hands of NL cash. All results except current BR are since last update

NL CASH - $25NL

Hands: 1079
$ won: +$151.66
Current BR: $781.58

Had some really good sessions in NL cash recently. Since I started, I am running at over 20PTBB/100, which is really good, even for this limit. I am confident with my game, which I have generally learnt from watching Green Plastic's videos on www.cardrunners.com, a website that I would highly recommend to students of the game.

Highlights in NL cash since my last update was (correctly) laying down AA on a fairly dry flop to some overwhelming pressure from two opponents. Here. Although I should have raised more pre-flop, I was happy with how I played the rest of the hand. I was instantly going to call the first push, but second player was fairly tight post-flop so I was sure he had 2 pair at worst. I guess this is fairly standard for regulars, but being new to the game I was impressed with myself for laying it down.

Also, I was happy with getting my $25NL buy-in upto $130 in about an hour, but all the hands that got me there were pretty simple so none are worth posting.

My worst hand by far was this. Here. I have to stop even thinking about making calls like this in these situations. This guy was pretty good and there is almost no chance he is stacking himself with a hand that I can beat here.

STTs - $11s

Games: 12
$ won: +$88
Current BR: $638

Nothing to mention here, except I forgot just how bad the players at the $11s are.

MTTs - $11s

Games: 26
$ won: +$18.41
Current BR: $568.41

I very much enjoyed these MTTs this week, although my results weren't that fantastic. Some real near misses though. Came 11th/940 in a Party Poker $11 NLH for +$90. With 11 players, I was a pretty average stack, but my only hands for the next 20 mins were a steal from the CO and AJ losing to KQ against a small stack. After 20 mins there were still 11 players as every short-stack had double or tripled up and I was becoming a shorter stack myself. So, I pushed 44 from the button for about 8xBB and unfortunately ran into 99 and I was gone.

I the same tournament the night after, I finished 15th. This time, I was 3rd in chips and was failry annoying when the chip leader's AKo beat my AA after getting all-in on a K62 flop. Another K on the river and I was gone. This was painful as this time I felt I had a huge chance of taking it down, and 1st paid a healthy $2500. Had to settle with $86 for 15th.

Otherwise, I came 4th in a Razz tourney on Absolute Poker ($11 buy-in), but there were only 30 runners so only a $35 pay out.

Looking forward to one day taking down one of the big ones on Party for a sizeable amount. Came 60th in a 2000 runner $11, but was disappointed when I overplayed my JJ with a greater than average stack and ran into what was fairly obviously AA-QQ to crash out. That was $3500 if I'd taken it down. They are certainly worth winning.

Total BR: $1987.99

So, I'm going to try and up the volume this week after Saturday and Sunday have gone out of the window after drinking a little too much on Saturday night. Hopefully, will get nearer to a moving up limit in one of the 3 classes. Wish me luck.

skegvegaspoker

After the unfortunate and abrupt end to my previous blog (sttquest.blogspot.com), I am going to start keeping track of my games on this brand spanking new blog. I spent 3 months moving up in the STT world and although I was enjoying the challenge, it became impossible to continue it, due to reasons outlined in the final post on the aforementioned blog (Damn you Frist).

So, here is the new plan. I am aiming to become a poker all-rounder! A brilliant one at that...I dream. So, I'm going to move up and down the limits according to the following bankroll management (with my starting levels in italic):

NL CASH - 20 buyins (levels @ $5NL, $10NL, $25NL, $50NL, $100NL, $200NL, $400NL, $600NL, $1000NL)
STTs - 50 buyins (levels @ $5.50, $11, $22, $33, $55, $77, $109, $215)
MTTs - 50 buyins (levels @ $3.30, $5.50, $11, $22, $33, $55, $110, $220)

The NL cash requirement is pretty standard I believe. During my STT quest I became a believer that 75 buy-ins is the correct amount cushion. However, as I will be moving down as soon as my bankroll drops below the amount applicable for a lower level, and vice-versa, I think that 50 buyins should be sufficient. Finally, it is suggested in the MTTF FAQs that one should have 50-100 buy-ins for MTTs. However, as I will be playing a mixture of tournies lower than the maximum buy-in for my bankroll, I believe that 50 buy-ins should suffice. Again, if I were to drop buy-ins here and fall below a predetermined amount for another buy-in then I would drop down. In MTTs, I can only play in rebuy tournaments less than 1/5th of my level.

As I am currently living off my poker winnings, I will also need to be taking money from my roll to support myself. So, I will be doing this by not actually moving up a level until I have 25 buy-ins for NL cash and 60 buy-ins for STTs/MTTs. This way, every time I move up a level, I can take out a certain amount of my roll. This, combined with rakeback and bonuses, should be suffice to live on in the short-term.

I will be keeping a separate bankroll for each section, so that I don't move up too hastily in cash if I hit a big MTT win for example. I also will not place any specific targets for the amount of each type I will play over a given time period. I prefer this idea to that of my previous challenge, as one can easily get bored of STTs for example and so I might not fancy playing many of them in a certain week. My only aim is that I don't slack off all the time and make sure that I play a reasonable amount every day. I'm also fond of this plan, as I believe each different form of poker offers a different challenge and skills learnt in each are very much transferable.

As far as my virtual home is concerned, now that Party Poker is imminently losing its U.S. players, I will be moving all over the shop. Rather than keeping my bankroll for each on any specific site, I will be spreading my roll to ensure I can play on many. These will include Party Poker (still), Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. I might also add in Ultimate Bet if it keeps U.S. players on the books in the coming months.

I will be keeping strict records of my progress, using PokerTracker for my cash games, TourneyManager for my STTs and either PokerTracker or an Excel worksheet for the MTTs. Rakeback and bonuses will not contribute to my bankroll, as I believe there is greater benefit in not adding to your roll from non-poker winnings.

Finally, I shall be posting bi-weekly with progress reports and interesting hands/situations that may crop up. I actually started this last night and so far have only play a bit of NL cash (spent my time reading up on NL cash strategy). So, here is my progress so far (All except current BR are since last update)...

NL Cash - $25NL

Hands : 1704
$ Won: +$129.92
Current BR: $629.92

STT - $11s

Games: 0
$ Won: 0
Current BR: $550

MTT - $11s

Games: 0
$ Won: 0
Current BR: $550

TOTAL BR: $1729.92

So, wish me luck as I venture in every form of this beautiful game. Next post will be on Saturday night.

Oh, and damn you Frist!

skegvegas