If I ever become something important in poker I am probably going to view August as the start of when I finally got my act together. I created a floor to build upon I hope. My 5NL stats for august are as follows
27,000 hands
5.75PTBB/100
2.10/hr
22BB/hr
Hours:71
Profit:143.00
Pokerstars bonus:20.00 - Silverstar member
Bankroll % increase:30%
Total profit:163.00
Bankroll: 704
I am very encouraged by this first month- mainly because I did so much experimenting early on. I did everything from 20 tabling, to only limping, new software, and those are experiments and not including how weak my leaks were and some of the improvments to my game.
The plan for Sept. is to stay at 5NL - I am heading for a 50.00 bonus plus another VPP bonus. If I can keep my winrate anywhere near the same that should be a 200 dollar month. Steady Steady is my goal here. Plus I am taking a week off in Sept with my girlfriend. So i'd rather stay grinding right now then having to worry about finding a table balance and dealing with new Regs.
Oct 1st is the day to move to 10NL - its a Friday with a whole weekend to grind out some of the variance (hopefully)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Moving on up!
I am trying to sit back and think about the best way to move up levels. I have been reading a lot of different ways to go about it. From the ultra conservative of having 100 buy-in's -- to a system of people who grind 4 buy-ins - then move up - if you lose 3 buy-ins - go back down and grind again and repeat.
To me- the most important part is being able to establish that you can beat a level. Once that has been established over 25 thousand hands (Min.) you can plan your growth from there. At the same time, I don't want to be playing 5NL forever and I believe grinding up 100BI is a bit excessive at this level. To counter that, the most important thing is to establish a win rate at the next level. To do that you need time at the next level. If you run bad, you can be knocked down 3 Buy in's in one sessions, or you maybe start playing different if you fall behind one or two.
So I think a more balanced approach is in order. I am thinking of grinding up 8 buy-in's -- then retreating back when I loose six to regrind back to 8. I think its important to be able to play and establish at the next level and I feel six buy-in's is a solid measure. You need to be able to get in volume to deal with variance and also to tweak your game for the next level.
Now - Techincally I am up 8BI to move to 10NL- but I am not gonna do that until I reach a min.of 25 thousand hands to make my win rate is a bit more established.
To me- the most important part is being able to establish that you can beat a level. Once that has been established over 25 thousand hands (Min.) you can plan your growth from there. At the same time, I don't want to be playing 5NL forever and I believe grinding up 100BI is a bit excessive at this level. To counter that, the most important thing is to establish a win rate at the next level. To do that you need time at the next level. If you run bad, you can be knocked down 3 Buy in's in one sessions, or you maybe start playing different if you fall behind one or two.
So I think a more balanced approach is in order. I am thinking of grinding up 8 buy-in's -- then retreating back when I loose six to regrind back to 8. I think its important to be able to play and establish at the next level and I feel six buy-in's is a solid measure. You need to be able to get in volume to deal with variance and also to tweak your game for the next level.
Now - Techincally I am up 8BI to move to 10NL- but I am not gonna do that until I reach a min.of 25 thousand hands to make my win rate is a bit more established.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Reboot--
I have been grinding 5NL basically trying to get my way back into being fully committed to the game of poker. I have basically decided to do a reboot of the way I was going about playing poker. Focusing on volume as much as anything. I have been doing pretty successful this first month as i've been able to 8 Table 5NL at a 6.0PTBB/100 hands - averaging about 2.20 an hour over 13K hands. This was actually really much more then I thought I would be able to make playing penny poker.
I am trying to push myself with more tables -- but found myself struggling a bit with 12. Might be I just have to get used to it, as I struggled with 8 early on. Or maybe I need to come up with a new setup.
Either way - as stated - I wanted to start a reboot on my approach to poker. I feel that I was all over the place. Cash games to tourney's, 5NL to 10NL to 25NL and back again anytime I ran bad. I felt that it was very important to establish a base. a ground floor if you will. The plan is to finish out the month with at least 25 thousand hands. From there I will have to decide if the best course of action is to increase my buy-in at 5NL (which is an usual option of being able to buy in for more 100BB)
I guess the only way to find out is to try them both and see which is more profitable. The super easy 5NL or the higher 10NL. Though I believe trying 10NL first- as you also have to include Pokerstar bonus's and eventually I want to challenge myself to move up.
Take Care-
Tarheelfan
I am trying to push myself with more tables -- but found myself struggling a bit with 12. Might be I just have to get used to it, as I struggled with 8 early on. Or maybe I need to come up with a new setup.
Either way - as stated - I wanted to start a reboot on my approach to poker. I feel that I was all over the place. Cash games to tourney's, 5NL to 10NL to 25NL and back again anytime I ran bad. I felt that it was very important to establish a base. a ground floor if you will. The plan is to finish out the month with at least 25 thousand hands. From there I will have to decide if the best course of action is to increase my buy-in at 5NL (which is an usual option of being able to buy in for more 100BB)
I guess the only way to find out is to try them both and see which is more profitable. The super easy 5NL or the higher 10NL. Though I believe trying 10NL first- as you also have to include Pokerstar bonus's and eventually I want to challenge myself to move up.
Take Care-
Tarheelfan
Thursday, April 8, 2010
AK 4 handed
Tough situation came last night. I was playing in a 27 man Sit N Go -- I had been playing pretty well but took a couple of bad beats. I managed to build my stack up to about 6,000 chips when we were down to 4 handed. Chip leader had about 17,000, second had 9,000, I was in third, and 4th place had 1800.
Blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante-- The chip leader had built his stack by becoming an extremley agressive 3 better -- coming over the top of what are standard weak raises and playing the gap between money wins very well. He has actually played very tight until we got short handed, so he was able to blow me off some pots he probably shouldn't have. To add some more details -- the short stack had just lost 80% of his chips on the previous hand.
I pick up AKo UTG and make my standard raise of 3x BB -- with the blinds so big, and having such a strong hand. 2nd place folds, and I am just begging that the short stack (SB) picks up a weak ace that he feels he will be forced to push. He folds-- and of course the big aggressive stack 3 bets me all in. I wanted to fold. I did. But this is just a terrible fold against htis range. The only justification is playing for 3rd place money. This range at this point is any pair, any broadway, and a lot of much weaker suited aces. AK is a huge equity.
Of course I bring this up because I called - and lost a race to 88 and lost a good bit of money (relative) from 4th place to 3rd. Though the fold is easily the correct play there. If I win the race, I am the chipleader so I put myself in a good position to win the top prize. but more important to this situation is if I fold - I lose my 1200 I put into the pot which brings me down to 4800 -- and im in the blinds next-- bringing me to 4150 after the blinds. and each round is costing me 700 chips - 1/6th of my stack each round. So yes, this is an obvious call, but I just wanted to demonstrate how bad a fold it is. My girlfriend was watching me play, and she was like "Fold Fold Fold" and then when I lost, she said "I told you so"
Real money from touraments come from 1st and second.
Blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante-- The chip leader had built his stack by becoming an extremley agressive 3 better -- coming over the top of what are standard weak raises and playing the gap between money wins very well. He has actually played very tight until we got short handed, so he was able to blow me off some pots he probably shouldn't have. To add some more details -- the short stack had just lost 80% of his chips on the previous hand.
I pick up AKo UTG and make my standard raise of 3x BB -- with the blinds so big, and having such a strong hand. 2nd place folds, and I am just begging that the short stack (SB) picks up a weak ace that he feels he will be forced to push. He folds-- and of course the big aggressive stack 3 bets me all in. I wanted to fold. I did. But this is just a terrible fold against htis range. The only justification is playing for 3rd place money. This range at this point is any pair, any broadway, and a lot of much weaker suited aces. AK is a huge equity.
Of course I bring this up because I called - and lost a race to 88 and lost a good bit of money (relative) from 4th place to 3rd. Though the fold is easily the correct play there. If I win the race, I am the chipleader so I put myself in a good position to win the top prize. but more important to this situation is if I fold - I lose my 1200 I put into the pot which brings me down to 4800 -- and im in the blinds next-- bringing me to 4150 after the blinds. and each round is costing me 700 chips - 1/6th of my stack each round. So yes, this is an obvious call, but I just wanted to demonstrate how bad a fold it is. My girlfriend was watching me play, and she was like "Fold Fold Fold" and then when I lost, she said "I told you so"
Real money from touraments come from 1st and second.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Heads up:
I am terrible at heads up play. Just awful. It reared its ugly head again last night. I think I am just going to have to bite the bullet and practice some heads up sit-n-go's. Even though at this stage its basically throwing money away. Last night, before bed I decided to get in a single table Sit N go on stars. I played very well counter punching. We had a maniac on the table, but I was able to avoid any big confrontations with him/her once I was able to get a lot of chips.
The first big key hand came on the second level. I had about 1700 in chips. Blinds are low. player makes a second position raise for 4xBB. (these are estimates, I will pull the hand and post it later) This player didn't seem to be out of line, so I have to put him on a solid top starting hand. The SB calls, and im in the big blind with 87s. Against two players with relative deep stacks, this is an easy call here to try and hit a home run.
Flop comes: 986 Rainbow-
I've hit middle pair with an up and down straight draw. SB checks, and I check as well. I've put the raiser on a big hand, and I don't want to be check raised out of the pot if he has an overpair. The raiser bets 300 into a 400 chip pot. So this seems to be a big hand, that he is trying to protect. Though I think he would still make this Bet with AK a good percentage of the time. So there is 700 in pot, it costs me 300 to call- and I have about 1500 in front of me. I've got 8 outs to my straight, and 2 outs to my 8-- which I believe to be winners that I can win a nice pot. A 7 maybe a winner, but I think it would kill action against all be the weakest of players. (TT is in his Range- so a 7 would br my stack)
A funny thing happened on the way to all these calculations. The SB calls the 300- now making it 300 to me with 1000 in the pot. Before the SB got involved, this was a borderline call, but one I will make early in a tourney as I believe I can play my shortstack well enough, and when I hit my hand I will win enough chips to put myself in position to win.
The SB call makes some things interesting. One, the pot is now big enough that Im happy to take it down. So thats the first question, can I take the pot down now? I don't think so, the only way I win the pot is if the initial raiser has AK and the SB has JT- and even then I think the SB would call because there is so much money in the pot, and he is probably even a favorite. So with Raising out of the question- the question becomes weather to call or fold. For that we need to see what the SB is playing and if any of my outs are forfeit. Lists of hands that he is playing here are JT, A9, A7, 97s-- A set is a possiblity, but I would suspect he would raise here with that. Epsically if he reads the raiser as stong as I have. But a set doesn't really affect me any, it just means if I hit, I can stack my oppt.
For all the calculations, i've come to the decision that if I hit my draw, at worse im splitting the raisers chips-and at best, im stacking both players. Just too much money out there, I make the call.
Turn: 5 - completing the rainbow - I think a Ten is probably a better card for me - as TT and JJ are both in raisers range- and JT is high probablity for the for SB-- that would give them both huge draws and overpair-topair or top set. in which case all the money is going in the pot. The 5 is obviously not a bad card- and with only 1100 in front of me, and 1000 in the pot-- I am only concerned about getting the most out of this hand. There is no play that either player could make that would make me fold.
SB checks- I decide to check here as well-- I will let the raiser make the play here- With so much money in the pot- it will be hard for him to not take a stab at the pot with an overpair when his two oppt both show weakness. The Raisers goes all in for his last 1000 or so-- and the SB instantly calls- Makes me think that my straight is shared- but a set or A9 are still possibilities. I of course call-
Raiser - JJ and SB - A9 -- and I win a massive pot and knock out two players -- and I am a big chip leader with six players left to go.
Now I think that both the raiser and the SB played the turn very bad. Basically doing my job for me. For the Raiser- he has two oppt who played there hands like a draw. and a card that makes the draw hit- Against two oppt. there is a good chance you are drawing dead. even if I had JT and the SB has A9 - (a perfect situation) there are still 13 outs - and you are going to lose the tourney 25% of the time.
The SB - if you are going to call an all-in raise on the turn, you might as well raise on the flop. if you were behind on the flop- your behind on the turn. and now a draw card has hit. These kind of plays are what you count on from weak players. The A9 only beats air here.
With a big chip stack - I was able to basically bully the table from there on out. At one point 4 handed I had over 10,500 chips (there are only 13,500 at the table) So how did I lose? we'll. I am terrible heads up. I may go ahead and post the heads up portion of this sit n go and ask for some advice. I think I will look to see if I can find some good heads up books. Its worth the investment because the difference between the 2nd place and 1st place is the huge.
The first big key hand came on the second level. I had about 1700 in chips. Blinds are low. player makes a second position raise for 4xBB. (these are estimates, I will pull the hand and post it later) This player didn't seem to be out of line, so I have to put him on a solid top starting hand. The SB calls, and im in the big blind with 87s. Against two players with relative deep stacks, this is an easy call here to try and hit a home run.
Flop comes: 986 Rainbow-
I've hit middle pair with an up and down straight draw. SB checks, and I check as well. I've put the raiser on a big hand, and I don't want to be check raised out of the pot if he has an overpair. The raiser bets 300 into a 400 chip pot. So this seems to be a big hand, that he is trying to protect. Though I think he would still make this Bet with AK a good percentage of the time. So there is 700 in pot, it costs me 300 to call- and I have about 1500 in front of me. I've got 8 outs to my straight, and 2 outs to my 8-- which I believe to be winners that I can win a nice pot. A 7 maybe a winner, but I think it would kill action against all be the weakest of players. (TT is in his Range- so a 7 would br my stack)
A funny thing happened on the way to all these calculations. The SB calls the 300- now making it 300 to me with 1000 in the pot. Before the SB got involved, this was a borderline call, but one I will make early in a tourney as I believe I can play my shortstack well enough, and when I hit my hand I will win enough chips to put myself in position to win.
The SB call makes some things interesting. One, the pot is now big enough that Im happy to take it down. So thats the first question, can I take the pot down now? I don't think so, the only way I win the pot is if the initial raiser has AK and the SB has JT- and even then I think the SB would call because there is so much money in the pot, and he is probably even a favorite. So with Raising out of the question- the question becomes weather to call or fold. For that we need to see what the SB is playing and if any of my outs are forfeit. Lists of hands that he is playing here are JT, A9, A7, 97s-- A set is a possiblity, but I would suspect he would raise here with that. Epsically if he reads the raiser as stong as I have. But a set doesn't really affect me any, it just means if I hit, I can stack my oppt.
For all the calculations, i've come to the decision that if I hit my draw, at worse im splitting the raisers chips-and at best, im stacking both players. Just too much money out there, I make the call.
Turn: 5 - completing the rainbow - I think a Ten is probably a better card for me - as TT and JJ are both in raisers range- and JT is high probablity for the for SB-- that would give them both huge draws and overpair-topair or top set. in which case all the money is going in the pot. The 5 is obviously not a bad card- and with only 1100 in front of me, and 1000 in the pot-- I am only concerned about getting the most out of this hand. There is no play that either player could make that would make me fold.
SB checks- I decide to check here as well-- I will let the raiser make the play here- With so much money in the pot- it will be hard for him to not take a stab at the pot with an overpair when his two oppt both show weakness. The Raisers goes all in for his last 1000 or so-- and the SB instantly calls- Makes me think that my straight is shared- but a set or A9 are still possibilities. I of course call-
Raiser - JJ and SB - A9 -- and I win a massive pot and knock out two players -- and I am a big chip leader with six players left to go.
Now I think that both the raiser and the SB played the turn very bad. Basically doing my job for me. For the Raiser- he has two oppt who played there hands like a draw. and a card that makes the draw hit- Against two oppt. there is a good chance you are drawing dead. even if I had JT and the SB has A9 - (a perfect situation) there are still 13 outs - and you are going to lose the tourney 25% of the time.
The SB - if you are going to call an all-in raise on the turn, you might as well raise on the flop. if you were behind on the flop- your behind on the turn. and now a draw card has hit. These kind of plays are what you count on from weak players. The A9 only beats air here.
With a big chip stack - I was able to basically bully the table from there on out. At one point 4 handed I had over 10,500 chips (there are only 13,500 at the table) So how did I lose? we'll. I am terrible heads up. I may go ahead and post the heads up portion of this sit n go and ask for some advice. I think I will look to see if I can find some good heads up books. Its worth the investment because the difference between the 2nd place and 1st place is the huge.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
playing playing playing
Sorry for the long delay, I've actually written 4 or 5 blogs but I never had time to finish them due to other issues. My game has really picked up recently due to my forced aggression. I played a 45 man Sit-N-Go last night. I finished 3rd (Top 7 money) and was really happy with the way I played. One of the main reason is that I lost two big races, and called an all-in for about 20% of my stack with AT, when another played had AJ (I felt at this point he was pushing with any pair, and any Broadway and some much weaker hands.
I was able to lose these hands and build my stack back almost immediately. I honestly don't think I made a bad read all night. (Though there were a couple of lay downs I will never know for sure) Incase you were wondering why I didn't win, I got all my chips in with 88 vs.. K5s when I picked up a hand against an aggressive player. Board came QJ7JQ-- defaulting my 8's.
The best stats of the night for me was
Saw the flop: 32 times
Pots won at showdown: 6 of 8
Pots won without showdown 26
Anytime you are winning as many pots as you see the flop, I think you are putting yourself in a good position. The only problem was I stayed up too late playing as usual and am going off of 4 hours of sleep. Tis the life of a wanna be poker player. Take care.
On a side note: I am branching out into other types of ways to improve my overall game. I have been playing the 50BB Min cash game as a way to improve my deep stack play. (as well as playing the Stars deep stack) I've also been considering playing some heads up sit n go's to work on my heads up game. Its on of those things where I will probably have ot take a loss for awhile until I can master my game. Does any know any good heads up books that I could read? I prefer books avail on Kindle but I will actually buy a book if it is worthwhile.
I was able to lose these hands and build my stack back almost immediately. I honestly don't think I made a bad read all night. (Though there were a couple of lay downs I will never know for sure) Incase you were wondering why I didn't win, I got all my chips in with 88 vs.. K5s when I picked up a hand against an aggressive player. Board came QJ7JQ-- defaulting my 8's.
The best stats of the night for me was
Saw the flop: 32 times
Pots won at showdown: 6 of 8
Pots won without showdown 26
Anytime you are winning as many pots as you see the flop, I think you are putting yourself in a good position. The only problem was I stayed up too late playing as usual and am going off of 4 hours of sleep. Tis the life of a wanna be poker player. Take care.
On a side note: I am branching out into other types of ways to improve my overall game. I have been playing the 50BB Min cash game as a way to improve my deep stack play. (as well as playing the Stars deep stack) I've also been considering playing some heads up sit n go's to work on my heads up game. Its on of those things where I will probably have ot take a loss for awhile until I can master my game. Does any know any good heads up books that I could read? I prefer books avail on Kindle but I will actually buy a book if it is worthwhile.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Good Sessions:
Been playing much better as of late. Actually had my best invididual session moneywise last night. Mostly this was because I had monster after monster, but poker is not just about hands and flops, but also about extraction. When I sit down at the table there is a very loose aggressive player who is raising 4 out of 5 pots. to my immediate right is a very loose passive player who is calling 6 out of 10 pots with anything suited in any position. Though she (I say she becuase her icon is a cute kitty, and in my mind, its a she) has a short stack. Everyone else at the table is filled with short stacks, and seems to play pretty standard. I have everyone at the table covered except for the big raiser, so I immediatly start to think how I can get his chips.
I fold a few rounds trying to really study the players and hope I can pick up something before the raiser and the flopper give there chips to someone else. Speaking if which, I pick up QQ -- on the button.. and guess who my Big Blind is. The aggressive raiser. I raise 4x the big blind as only our limper has come in before me. Big Blind calls - and the flop seeker has folded.
Heads up - Flop -- Q88 -- What more could I ask for? I make three pretty nice sized bets, and he calls me all the way down to the river -- and I take a really nice pot as i've won half my buy in-- He writes in chat that he had a 8-- which pokertracker confirms that he had A8. I am not wondering how I didn't felt this guy. I replay the hand 3 different times, wondering how I could have played it differently to get more money. Should I have let him take the lead? Bet bigger. This bugs me. I left chips on the table. Chips he was going to give to someone, might as well be me.
As i'm folding and replaying my QQ -- some interesting developments happen. Our Flop seeker has gone on a massive heater. Dealing bad beat after bad beat. she has increased her stack size 5x in the past little bit. Including calling all of her chips on a flop of KQ4 - with 99. She was up against a set of Q's, only to hit runner runner for a back door flush. Flop Seeker now almost has as many chips as I do -- Also in these last couple of rounds -- The aggressive player has gone broke and left the table and I sulk at wondering how I could have gotten those chips. (Its easier when you know the player has trips. Good play by him)
Two more people buy-in to the table and I see that no one beside flop-seeker even has 20% of the chips that we have. I consider leaving the table with all the short stacks, but Flop seekers large chip stack convinces me to stay.
We end up battling a few times, where I usually came out ahead, including getting a few extra bets in when I flopped quads. It all came to a head when I got KK, and isolated-- I flopped top set-- figured Flop seeker was on a flush draw and took 75% of her chips overbetting the pot. Free Money.
Good Time.
I fold a few rounds trying to really study the players and hope I can pick up something before the raiser and the flopper give there chips to someone else. Speaking if which, I pick up QQ -- on the button.. and guess who my Big Blind is. The aggressive raiser. I raise 4x the big blind as only our limper has come in before me. Big Blind calls - and the flop seeker has folded.
Heads up - Flop -- Q88 -- What more could I ask for? I make three pretty nice sized bets, and he calls me all the way down to the river -- and I take a really nice pot as i've won half my buy in-- He writes in chat that he had a 8-- which pokertracker confirms that he had A8. I am not wondering how I didn't felt this guy. I replay the hand 3 different times, wondering how I could have played it differently to get more money. Should I have let him take the lead? Bet bigger. This bugs me. I left chips on the table. Chips he was going to give to someone, might as well be me.
As i'm folding and replaying my QQ -- some interesting developments happen. Our Flop seeker has gone on a massive heater. Dealing bad beat after bad beat. she has increased her stack size 5x in the past little bit. Including calling all of her chips on a flop of KQ4 - with 99. She was up against a set of Q's, only to hit runner runner for a back door flush. Flop Seeker now almost has as many chips as I do -- Also in these last couple of rounds -- The aggressive player has gone broke and left the table and I sulk at wondering how I could have gotten those chips. (Its easier when you know the player has trips. Good play by him)
Two more people buy-in to the table and I see that no one beside flop-seeker even has 20% of the chips that we have. I consider leaving the table with all the short stacks, but Flop seekers large chip stack convinces me to stay.
We end up battling a few times, where I usually came out ahead, including getting a few extra bets in when I flopped quads. It all came to a head when I got KK, and isolated-- I flopped top set-- figured Flop seeker was on a flush draw and took 75% of her chips overbetting the pot. Free Money.
Good Time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)