BING!

PokerStars Tournament #310883895, No Limit Hold'em
Super Satellite
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00 USD
36 players
Total Prize Pool: $360.00 USD
Target Tournament #2010090032 Buy-In: $320.00 USD
1 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started 2010/09/15 13:05:44 ET


Dear NimhOfJoy,

You finished the tournament in 1st place. You qualified to play in Tournament #2010090032 and are automatically registered for it. See Tournament #2010090032 Lobby for further details.

If you choose to unregister from this tournament your account will be credited with T-USD 320.00. Tournament US Dollars can be used to buy into any tournament. Visit our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/ for more details.




Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

It's for the $320 6max event.  It's too bad I can't play it, but with the T$ and my roll, I have about $1000 now.  I had a good session this morning (a bit spewy in the beginning, but I pulled it back up).  I was sitting on $690ish, played this $11 double-shootout 6max sat to the event, and shipped it.  Trying to figure out how to turn it into real money.  Maybe I can find someone who's already in the tournament to trade with me.  Been a sick run this week so far.  Lovin' it.

Current Status

So I've cycled the money, and I currently have just under $600 in my roll.  It's been an interesting couple of days.  For two days, I had $1450 in my account (which was pretty cool to look at, to be honest).  I withdrew $800 of that (taking some extra for personal expenses), and promptly went on a $200 downswing.  It was crazy.  I ran 4 buyins under EV (and obviously played sub-optimally as well).  The two big suckouts were:

I 3b AA as a "squeeze" (raiser and cold-caller in front), original raiser calls.  Flop comes J-high, villain stacks turn with JTs, BAM!, river is a J.  :(

Call w KQs, call squeeze, called turn shove on Qhi two-tone, villain shows 83s for a pair + FD (and the flush draw only came in on the turn), and spikes his diamond to ship the pot, and while I don't go on "monkey tilt", I certainly don't play as well as I could have.

In any case, at some point I get the bright idea to try playing hyper-turbo sats into the 4max WCOOP event, and actually SHIP 3 OF THEM.  I was at like $200 roll, played a double-shootout 4max turbo for $16, shipped, used the tournament money to play a few hyper-turbo 4max sats and ship two of those.  So I had like $200 in cash and like $300 in tournament money.  I've been grinding HUSnGs since, and doing alright, I think.  I haven't imported all my tournament results yet.  I think I'm going to set up an email address just for poker, and have all the results sent to that email address.  I know PokerTracker can import directly from email, so maybe I should look into that.  The only problem is I still have to request the tournament summary from PokerStars, which will take forever.  I also know that there is a AHK script that will do it for you, but alas, I am on a Mac, and I can't use it.  I'll have to figure something else out.

That's all for now.  It's been quite a run, and I'm glad I'm in a good spot to turn it into something.

Sorry I've Been Gone

Hey loyal readers (whoever you may be),

Sorry to have disappeared for so long.  It's been an interesting run.  I took some shots @ 50NLHU (which obviously went super terrible).  I had one night where I stayed up really late two-tabling this guy heads up for like 3 hrs.  It was an epic session and a ton of fun, but I lost like $250, which was 1/2 my roll at the time.  Obviously, it was all downhill from there.  I then went on to deposit like another $200, and lose most of that playing 2.20/180s (which apparently I'm not very good at; I shipped like three the first two sessions I played them - so obviously I'm amazing :) - and then failed to FT anymore from then on).  I play a little 2NL/5NL (which was super boring), and ended up sitting on like $30.  I started looking on 2+2 for a stake to try and get back into the 25NL games.

Then this happened:

PokerStars Tournament #307559688, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $4.00/$0.40 USD (NOTE: 4-max tourney - the players at the final table were GOD AWFUL; it still blows my mind they made it this far)
1000 players
Total Prize Pool: $4000.00 USD
Tournament started 2010/09/06 16:20:00 ET


Dear NimhOfJoy,

You finished the tournament in 1st place. A USD 640.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 514.94 tournament leader points in this tournament. For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/



Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

BOOM!  Back in this bitch.  I'm going to play enough to cash out the $200 I deposited (after cycling $500 to get the $100 WCOOP bonus), and I'll be sitting on a $500ish roll (plus the $100 bonus and a $50 bonus I'm about to get), and I'll be jumping back into 25NL.  I disabled 50NL with the responsible gaming tab, so I'm actually not allow to sit down at a 50NL table until I turn it off (and it takes 24 hrs to reset), so that should protect me from myself.  I'm going to play 25NL until I'm up to $1500, then I'll unlock 50NL for myself.  I would like to get into HU more seriously, so I've been playing some HUSNGs, which I've been doing pretty well in (trying to make less spewy bluffs + thinner valuebets).  I'll probably play a few more tournaments as well.  After the withdrawal is properly made, I'll be posting my current bankroll and an update on how I'm doing.  Feels good to be back in this.  I'll also probably be looking into some cash game coaching, but we'll see.

Ciao!

Back at 25NL, and an EPIC SESSION

I didn't listen to my own advice.  Shame on me.  Instead of moving down after tilting off those buyins, I took a break, and jumped right back into 25NL.  Turned out in my favor, though, as I now sit at $475ish.  I've had some sessions before, have been winning again, but I had an epic session today which really shows how much I've grown as a player.  Here are some of the big hands:

I'm leaving the player names mostly because some of the hands involve the same villain, so there is some history/metagame going on in some hands.  I know posting screen names is somewhat frowned upon, but oh well.

First big hand, villain is obviously just an idiot.  Easy money (I'm using PokerTracker for hand conversions now):

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

GREKARUS (CO): $19.82
NimhOfJoy (BTN): $25.00
durrrr418 (SB): $25.80
AAtobill (BB): $25.35
wedo54 (UTG): $36.71

durrrr418 posts SB $0.10, AAtobill posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Ah Ac

wedo54 calls $0.25, GREKARUS raises to $1.25, NimhOfJoy raises to $3.25, fold, fold, fold, GREKARUS calls $2.00

Flop: ($7.10, 2 players) 8s Jh 7h
GREKARUS bets $5.00, NimhOfJoy raises to $21.75 and is all-in, GREKARUS calls $11.57 and is all-in

Turn: ($40.24, 2 players) 3c

River: ($40.24, 2 players) As

GREKARUS shows 9h 9s (One Pair, Nines)
NimhOfJoy shows Ah Ac (Three of a Kind, Aces)
NimhOfJoy wins $38.25

Like, what is he doing?  One of the other players commented he was a total fish, and easy to read, which is unfortunate that he quit the table right after this.

Next decent hand, got 3 streets of value out of KK (not posting it because it's totally standard).

Standard double barrel with a big draw:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

2v2v (CO): $34.96
Austin3484 (BTN): $42.86
poketterie (SB): $19.51
NimhOfJoy (BB): $39.34
mellado38 (UTG): $14.67
fallus88 (MP): $25.00

poketterie posts SB $0.10, NimhOfJoy posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Kc 3c

fold, fold, fold, Austin3484 raises to $0.75, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $2.50, Austin3484 calls $1.75

Flop: ($5.10, 2 players) 2c 5c 3s
NimhOfJoy bets $3.00, Austin3484 calls $3.00

Turn: ($11.10, 2 players) 7s
NimhOfJoy bets $7.00, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $10.56

I point out this hand because I started to open up my 3-betting range a lot, and it really causes a lot of the future hands to play out the way they do.  Manipulating my table image and what people think about me is a big part of why this session was so much fun and so successful.

Staying out of danger:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Ben221 (UTG): $27.46
goillini79 (MP): $25.00
NimhOfJoy (CO): $44.07
siatus (BTN): $28.61
AAtobill (SB): $30.63
edwolb (BB): $18.75

AAtobill posts SB $0.10, edwolb posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Ts 9s

Ben221 raises to $1.25, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $1.25, siatus raises to $4.25, fold, fold, Ben221 calls $3.00, NimhOfJoy calls $3.00

Flop: ($13.10, 3 players) 3h 4c Tc
Ben221 checks, NimhOfJoy checks, siatus bets $8.00, Ben221 raises to $23.21 and is all-in, fold, fold

Ben221 wins $27.68

I called the 3b here because T9s is a great implied odds hand I can semibluff if I hit a good flop, and it's an easy fold if I hit a one-pair type hand, like I did, as there is no way I'm ever good here.  There would have to be some serious history I'm not aware of for that to be good, and I didn't have that read.  I like Ben221's play here; his range is either a set (TT), a good overpair (JJ+, although I'd be surprised if he didn't 4b QQ/KK/AA pre, especially with a coldcaller - me - in between), or a big draw (AKs, AQs, AJs), and as a good portion of siatus's range is bluffs/junky squeezing hands, the shove here is good.

Float/bluff-raise:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Billy Jorge (BTN): $19.02
RRS Dolla (SB): $32.01
KuzRus (BB): $26.91
Love Panda (UTG): $25.00
NimhOfJoy (MP): $26.54
electro_mm (CO): $5.40

RRS Dolla posts SB $0.10, KuzRus posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Qs Ah

Love Panda raises to $0.75, NimhOfJoy calls $0.75, fold, fold, fold, fold

Flop: ($1.85, 2 players) Ts Kc 7c
Love Panda bets $1.25, NimhOfJoy calls $1.25

Turn: ($4.35, 2 players) Tc
Love Panda bets $2.50, NimhOfJoy raises to $8.00, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $8.90

These are the types of plays I love making, and they never worked at 10NL, because no one folds a K here at that limit.  I just have to remember to balance my range in these spots, and raise flushes/sets on this turn (although I would probably raise sets on the flop, as it's so wet, to charge draws, and actually check back this turn when I boat up; once I do, there are few hands/cards I'm afraid of, and my range is weighted to Ks checking back for pot control, and this allows the villain to bluff at me or call a river bet with a weaker hand).  Those are the leaks I'm going to have to look at besides my tilt control as I start to move up in stakes.

Fold river?

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Dogtoot2 (BTN): $4.93
goillini79 (SB): $31.25
NimhOfJoy (BB): $33.67
TheNoocH (UTG): $24.85
nhartle (MP): $28.67
mvp4kobe (CO): $23.65

goillini79 posts SB $0.10, NimhOfJoy posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Qs Ad

TheNoocH raises to $0.75, fold, fold, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.60, 2 players) 9h Kh As
NimhOfJoy checks, TheNoocH bets $1.00, NimhOfJoy calls $1.00

Turn: ($3.60, 2 players) 4c
NimhOfJoy checks, TheNoocH bets $2.00, NimhOfJoy calls $2.00

River: ($7.60, 2 players) 7s
NimhOfJoy checks, TheNoocH bets $6.00, NimhOfJoy calls $6.00

TheNoocH shows 7c 7h (Three of a Kind, Sevens)
NimhOfJoy mucks Qs Ad (One Pair, Aces)
TheNoocH wins $18.64

I just posted this one at 2+2:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/25nl-tpgk-wet-board-facing-river-bet-836555/

I called the river here because I felt my hand was a) underrepped and b) looked a ton like a busted draw, and that villain could be betting a wide river range as bluffs, as well as overvaluing AJ/AT type hands.  Upon evaluation, the bet seems much bigger on the river than the turn (and I took a note on his bet sizing), and I think I could have folded.

That followed up with this spew:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Dogtoot2 (UTG): $4.43
goillini79 (MP): $31.50
NimhOfJoy (CO): $25.00
TheNoocH (BTN): $34.18
nhartle (SB): $28.42
mvp4kobe (BB): $23.65

nhartle posts SB $0.10, mvp4kobe posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has 9h 9s

fold, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, TheNoocH raises to $2.50, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $1.75

Flop: ($5.35, 2 players) Jd 7c Ks
NimhOfJoy checks, TheNoocH bets $3.00, NimhOfJoy raises to $7.50, TheNoocH calls $4.50

Turn: ($20.35, 2 players) As
NimhOfJoy bets $15.00 and is all-in, TheNoocH calls $15.00

River: ($50.35, 2 players) Tc

NimhOfJoy shows 9h 9s (One Pair, Nines)
TheNoocH shows Kh Kc (Three of a Kind, Kings)
TheNoocH wins $48.35

Yeah, terrible, I know.  The thing about it, though, is that in the past, this hand would have ruined my session.  I would have gone on monkey tilt, lost another 2-3 buyins, and went to bed very upset.  Instead, I said in the chat, "nh, that was pretty terrible" and moved on.  And managed to come back and have a winning session.  It was really positive for me to be able to see a marked improvement in my self-control here.

Not too much to see here, relatively standard, but important for metagame:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Jgold2790 (CO): $25.35
KuzRus (BTN): $26.24
Love Panda (SB): $25.00
NimhOfJoy (BB): $31.04
maori hard1 (UTG): $9.95

Love Panda posts SB $0.10, NimhOfJoy posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Jc Jh

fold, Jgold2790 raises to $0.75, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $2.50, Jgold2790 calls $1.75

Flop: ($5.10, 2 players) Kh 5d 9h
NimhOfJoy bets $3.00, Jgold2790 calls $3.00

Turn: ($11.10, 2 players) Ts
NimhOfJoy bets $6.00, Jgold2790 raises to $19.85 and is all-in, fold

Jgold2790 wins $21.98

There are two or 3 other big hands against this villain.  I end up totally soul-owning him later on :).

Mixing up my donking hands:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Austin3484 (CO): $39.95
goillini79 (BTN): $27.61
NimhOfJoy (SB): $25.87
TheNoocH (BB): $73.05
nhartle (UTG): $25.00
mvp4kobe (MP): $22.03

NimhOfJoy posts SB $0.10, TheNoocH posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has 4h 3h

fold, mvp4kobe raises to $0.85, Austin3484 calls $0.85, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $0.75, fold

Flop: ($2.80, 3 players) 6d Ts 5d
NimhOfJoy bets $2.00, fold, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $2.66

I planned on barrelling any 2, 7, diamond, A or (maybe) K.  In situations where you're setting up a semi-bluff, you have to remember when you're trying to represent and have a plan for future streets.  This is something that I'm much better at online than live, where the amount of times I have done things like call a turn c/r to fold to a blank river is pretty bad.

The value of 3betting relentlessly:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Jgold2790 (UTG): $26.46
lammarn (MP): $27.62
KuzRus (CO): $25.45
Love Panda (BTN): $25.35
NimhOfJoy (SB): $25.00
maori hard1 (BB): $29.83

NimhOfJoy posts SB $0.10, maori hard1 posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Kd Ks

Jgold2790 raises to $1.00, fold, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $3.25, fold, Jgold2790 raises to $7.00, NimhOfJoy raises to $25.00 and is all-in, Jgold2790 calls $18.00

Flop: ($50.25, 2 players) 2s Js 7s

Turn: ($50.25, 2 players) 4c

River: ($50.25, 2 players) Ad

NimhOfJoy shows Kd Ks (One Pair, Kings)
Jgold2790 shows Ac Kc (One Pair, Aces)
Jgold2790 wins $48.25

Yeah, I lost, but I got him to put his entire stack in way behind.  No one believes you have anything, ever, and you get PAID on your big hands like crazy.

Picking off a bluff:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Jgold2790 (SB): $48.36
lammarn (BB): $16.87
KuzRus (UTG): $25.00
NimhOfJoy (CO): $28.63
maori hard1 (BTN): $37.61

Jgold2790 posts SB $0.10, lammarn posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Jd Qs

fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, maori hard1 calls $0.75, Jgold2790 raises to $3.75, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $3.00, fold

Flop: ($8.50, 2 players) 8c 9d 5d
Jgold2790 bets $4.75, NimhOfJoy raises to $24.88 and is all-in, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $17.13

As you can see, we've been playing back at each other a bit, and I managed to get the upper hand in this one.  Just felt like he was squeezing pre, and if he felt like hero calling Ahi/small pair I had some outs to back me up.  It's pretty marginal, but I was pretty sure he had junk there.

Betting him off a chop:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Austin3484 (MP): $39.22
goillini79 (CO): $25.16
NimhOfJoy (BTN): $29.65
jonnnz (SB): $25.00
nhartle (BB): $37.74
Davis0987 (UTG): $25.35

jonnnz posts SB $0.10, nhartle posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Js 8s

fold, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, fold, nhartle calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.60, 2 players) 9s 8c Jd
nhartle checks, NimhOfJoy bets $1.00, nhartle calls $1.00

Turn: ($3.60, 2 players) 7s
nhartle bets $2.00, NimhOfJoy calls $2.00

River: ($7.60, 2 players) Ts
nhartle checks, NimhOfJoy bets $25.90 and is all-in, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $7.23

Sometimes your barrels don't work:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Jgold2790 (UTG): $39.51
Jefftrez (CO): $25.85
jonnnz (BTN): $26.45
NimhOfJoy (SB): $37.93
maori hard1 (BB): $35.34

NimhOfJoy posts SB $0.10, maori hard1 posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Ac 7h

fold, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, maori hard1 calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.50, 2 players) 9d 9s Js
NimhOfJoy bets $1.00, maori hard1 calls $1.00

Turn: ($3.50, 2 players) 8s
NimhOfJoy bets $2.25, maori hard1 calls $2.25

River: ($8.00, 2 players) Kd
NimhOfJoy bets $4.50, maori hard1 raises to $10.00, fold

maori hard1 wins $16.17

I just felt the board ran out pretty sick, and there were a lot of hands that would fold, but I was also playing really aggressive, and it's entirely possible he flopped or turned a boat here and was trapping me.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

LiLZhiMiNG (CO): $26.10
qazikm2000 (BTN): $26.45
poketterie (SB): $40.12
NimhOfJoy (BB): $51.91
mellado38 (UTG): $12.13
fallus88 (MP): $42.38

poketterie posts SB $0.10, NimhOfJoy posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Td Ts

fold, fallus88 raises to $0.75, fold, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.60, 2 players) 4c 9d Qs
NimhOfJoy checks, fallus88 bets $1.00, NimhOfJoy calls $1.00

Turn: ($3.60, 2 players) Ac
NimhOfJoy checks, fallus88 checks

River: ($3.60, 2 players) 7s
NimhOfJoy bets $2.50, fallus88 calls $2.50

NimhOfJoy shows Td Ts (One Pair, Tens)
fallus88 shows Qd As (Two Pair, Aces and Queens)
fallus88 wins $8.18

I got to give my villain a lot of a credit for checking back the turn here.  It looks like a cbet and done type hand, an underpair, or a weak Q scared by the ace.  Gave me the chance to bluff at it, and it worked.  Kudos.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Jgold2790 (CO): $37.61
inkm0n (BTN): $30.77
jonnnz (SB): $26.20
NimhOfJoy (BB): $39.77
woodyrulz (UTG): $25.00

jonnnz posts SB $0.10, NimhOfJoy posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Jh 5h

fold, Jgold2790 raises to $0.75, fold, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $2.50, Jgold2790 calls $1.75

Flop: ($5.10, 2 players) 6h 8h Tc
NimhOfJoy bets $3.25, Jgold2790 calls $3.25

Turn: ($11.60, 2 players) 5d
NimhOfJoy bets $8.00, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $11.04

Same villain.  Remember the metagame: I got it in v him in a very similar spot holding KK.  He's got to be nervous with even JJ/QQ, and I really felt like he was floating me here, as I had been 3betting/cbetting a lot.  The turn improved my equity and gave me a lot of outs, and I bet big to look like a big pair trying to protect against a flush draw.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Jgold2790 (BB): $29.86
ricooe1977 (UTG): $25.00
jonnnz (CO): $25.00
NimhOfJoy (BTN): $52.51
woodyrulz (SB): $25.10

woodyrulz posts SB $0.10, Jgold2790 posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Ad As

fold, jonnnz raises to $0.75, NimhOfJoy raises to $2.25, fold, fold, jonnnz raises to $7.00, NimhOfJoy raises to $52.51 and is all-in, jonnnz calls $18.00 and is all-in

Flop: ($50.35, 2 players) 8h 9h 6h

Turn: ($50.35, 2 players) Ah

River: ($50.35, 2 players) Ac

jonnnz shows Qs Qd (Two Pair, Aces and Queens)
NimhOfJoy shows Ad As (Four of a Kind, Aces)
NimhOfJoy wins $48.35

Pure metagame.  Villain here is total nit.  No way in heaven or hell is he 4betting QQ as a standard play.  But against a button that's be aggro as shit like me, 4b/c here is perfectly reasonable.  What he should know is that v him, because I know he's a nit, I'm not going to shove here with less that KK+/AK which I guess he has the equity to call off against, but he's always going to be in a tough spot OOP v me.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

electro_mm (UTG): $17.64
NimhOfJoy (CO): $43.28
jonnnz (BTN): $25.65
nhartle (SB): $25.00
Davis0987 (BB): $29.22

nhartle posts SB $0.10, Davis0987 posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has 7c 5c

fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, fold, nhartle raises to $2.00, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $1.25

Flop: ($4.25, 2 players) 4c 2d Th
nhartle checks, NimhOfJoy checks

Turn: ($4.25, 2 players) Ac
nhartle checks, NimhOfJoy bets $3.00, nhartle raises to $6.25, NimhOfJoy calls $3.25

River: ($16.75, 2 players) 6h
nhartle bets $8.50, fold

nhartle wins $15.93

This was definitely a mistake.  Turn check/raise is almost a minraise.  I had great equity with a FD + gutshot, and I don't believe the line represents anything, so he's folding a lot of times to a shove here.  I knew it the moment I called and bricked the river, too :(.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

LiLZhiMiNG (UTG): $28.48
qazikm2000 (BTN): $25.00
NimhOfJoy (SB): $53.79
ricooe1977 (BB): $25.14

NimhOfJoy posts SB $0.10, ricooe1977 posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Jc Ac

fold, fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, ricooe1977 raises to $2.25, NimhOfJoy calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.50, 2 players) Td 7c 6c
NimhOfJoy checks, ricooe1977 bets $3.00, NimhOfJoy raises to $8.00, ricooe1977 calls $5.00

Turn: ($20.50, 2 players) Qs
NimhOfJoy bets $15.00, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $19.50

Standard semi-bluffing a big draw.  So many outs on the turn, and I really feel he had a weak pair here.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

LiLZhiMiNG (SB): $51.01
qazikm2000 (BB): $25.70
goillini79 (UTG): $25.75
NimhOfJoy (MP): $60.72
joey93107 (CO): $34.49
ricooe1977 (BTN): $25.00

LiLZhiMiNG posts SB $0.10, qazikm2000 posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has 4s 6s

fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, fold, ricooe1977 calls $0.75, LiLZhiMiNG raises to $4.25, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $3.50, fold

Flop: ($9.50, 2 players) 4h Qd 8s
LiLZhiMiNG bets $6.25, NimhOfJoy calls $6.25

Turn: ($22.00, 2 players) 9h
LiLZhiMiNG checks, NimhOfJoy bets $13.00, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $20.93

I called pre a) because it looked like a squeeze and b) great implied odds hand against a villain I'm deep with.  Flop is basically a float, because I expect him to have a ton of junk in his range, and I just take it away on the turn.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Il_Nistra (BB): $25.00
durrrr_cn (UTG): $25.92
NimhOfJoy (MP): $38.84
jonnnz (CO): $25.00
nhartle (BTN): $38.68
Davis0987 (SB): $25.00

Davis0987 posts SB $0.10, Il_Nistra posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has Qs Tc

fold, NimhOfJoy raises to $0.75, fold, nhartle calls $0.75, fold, fold

Flop: ($1.85, 2 players) Js 5d 9h
NimhOfJoy bets $1.00, nhartle raises to $3.00, NimhOfJoy calls $2.00

Turn: ($7.85, 2 players) 5h
NimhOfJoy checks, nhartle bets $4.00, NimhOfJoy raises to $11.00, nhartle calls $7.00

River: ($29.85, 2 players) 4c
NimhOfJoy bets $24.09 and is all-in, fold

NimhOfJoy wins $28.38

I didn't feel he was raising the flop with a set.  I felt he was raising my standard cbet with some top pair hands, maybe a straight draw, maybe some underpairs.  I didn't feel the flop raise was strong, given my image and the table dynamic (kind of a gameflow thing), as I would expect a set to call the flop and let me keep barelling.  I check/raised the turn because I felt I would get a lot of folds against what felt like a weak range.  When he called, I felt he probably had a J, maybe TT, maybe a stubborn 9, and even if I brick the river, I'm just so committed to the pot, I didn't think I could give up now, and I didn't think he was that strong.  The shove was almost potsized, and BIG, especially since we're both somewhat deep (which is part of the reason I check/raised the turn, as I felt those weaker one-pair hands are probably folding, expecting a pot-sized river shove).

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

qazikm2000 (BTN): $26.25
goillini79 (SB): $26.04
NimhOfJoy (BB): $70.35
joey93107 (UTG): $34.49
ricooe1977 (CO): $25.00

goillini79 posts SB $0.10, NimhOfJoy posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) NimhOfJoy has 5c 5d

joey93107 raises to $0.75, fold, qazikm2000 raises to $2.25, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $2.00, joey93107 calls $1.50

Flop: ($6.85, 3 players) 4s 3h 7c
NimhOfJoy checks, joey93107 checks, qazikm2000 checks

Turn: ($6.85, 3 players) Tc
NimhOfJoy bets $4.00, joey93107 calls $4.00, qazikm2000 calls $4.00

River: ($18.85, 3 players) 4h
NimhOfJoy checks, joey93107 bets $9.00, fold, NimhOfJoy calls $9.00

joey93107 shows Qc Ah (One Pair, Fours)
NimhOfJoy shows 5c 5d (Two Pair, Fives and Fours)
NimhOfJoy wins $35.06

Oh, this was such a sick call.  Honestly, I called pre because I thought I'd get good odds if I took the flop 3 way.  Turn is a stabby bet at a pot no one seems to care about, and when the villain bets the river here, I just feel like his line represents absolutely nothing.  Any pair/hand that beats us, we would have a heard from on the turn, honestly, as the board gets a little wet.  The only hand I feel he can represent is TT, and that is such a small part of his range, whereas the bulk of it was whiffed Ahi hands (I don't feel AT is a) calling a 3b OOP preflop or b) betting that river that big - what is he getting value from?).  Sick call, imo.

Alright, time to go to bed.  Also, I suck at tournaments; I really need to play less of them.  They just drain my bankroll.

The Tilt Monster Rears Its Ugly Head

So I'm down to $290.  Partially tilting, partially on two big suckouts worth like 3 buyins.  I got it in on a 3 flush w NFD + gutty against an OESD (he tried to bluff at the flush with some) and couldn't fade the 10? outs.  Another, got it in w bottom 2 against an over pair and the top card paired.  Lost another 3 buy ins playing a little heads up buzzed last night after coming home from the bar (heads up under-rolled is still my biggest leak, and playing buzzed is always a terrible idea).

I need to have the wherewithal to move down to 10NL before I spew off my whole roll.  I'm bumping down to 6 tables of it and concentrating.  I've got a $50 VIP Stellar bonus coming, and I've got close to 2,800 FPPs, so I'll be able to buy another $50 bonus from the store soon, so with that coming, and some work, I'll be jumping back into 25NL in no time.  This time, I'm going to wait until I have close to $650 before jumping in, just to give me that cushion when I get started.  I'm also not going to move up to 50NL until I have $1,500 in my roll.  I have a tendency to level myself into thinking people are bluffing more than they actually are (although I made a good read on the first suckout; he was a total fish and I had been watching his play), and I call way more than is appropriate.

I'm feeling a little tilted right now, so I quit play.  I may jump into 10NL for a bit on the train ride home.  We'll see.

So I Moved Up a Little Early... But It's OK!!

I'm up to $520. Right after posting the hand from my previous post, I cleared my head and moved up to 25NL. I'm only playing 3 tables at a time, as this feels more like "real poker!!" rather than at 10NL, where it's slightly more aggressive donks + slightly less calling stations than 5NL.

I've been playing pretty well at this limit. I actually went from $350 to about $450 at 25NL, then went from $450 to about $470ish at 10NL before deciding to move permanently up to 25NL. I lost a few buyins at Omaha as well (10PL).

God, I love Omaha. It's such a sick game. Will definitely be including some HHs from those sessions, including a slightly drunk one I played a little earlier (nothing too crazy).

In any case, leveled this one guy in NLHE right before I quit the session: (thread was locked, but have a look)

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/brag-leveled-guy-beat-25nl-itt-830974/

Fine times.

The One Where I Spew Deep

This is generally a huge problem for me, and it's why I won't go back to the deepstack tables until I have a bigger roll:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Villain (BB) ($21.06)
UTG ($14.38)
MP ($18.78)
CO ($11.03)
Hero (Button) ($29.30)
SB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J♣, 9♣
3 folds, Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold, Villain raises to $1.20, Hero calls $0.90

Flop: ($2.45) K♥, A♣, 7♣ (2 players)
Villain bets $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

Turn: ($5.65) 3♥ (2 players)
Villain bets $3.80, Hero raises to $26.50 (All-In), Villain calls $14.46 (All-In)

River: ($42.17) 3♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $42.17 | Rake: $2

I don't mind the call preflop. This hand is very playable, especially deep and in position, against even a strong villain's 3b range. Now, he had a 3b% of 7, so I also thought, given a good flop fit, I could semi-bluff off a decent amount of the time.

The flop comes, and I have a flush draw. Goodie. But it's also where I make my first mistake.

In retrospect, I should have either: a) raise/folded the flop, check behind turn if I missed, and fold river unimproved (obviously, if I hit it's bet turn, bet river, or check turn, bet river) or b) call flop, fold turn.

I put waaay too much emphasis on his 7% 3b stat. We didn't have any light 3b dynamic going on, so there was really no reason to think he's doing it light besides the stat. He also doesn't 3b much from the SB, which I realized later, looking at his stats in PokerTracker.

If he's 3betting light, I felt there were some weak Ax hands that would fold the turn. Maybe even AJ/AQ, depending on the villain. However, on the turn, once he makes that big turn bet, he's very clearly committed to the hand, and I don't think I have the odds to call.

QQ- are not betting the turn. Kx probably isn't. So what is? AK, KK, AA, maybe some weak Ax hands, and of those, maaaaaybe some weak Ax hands are folding. Unless he was an aggro villain, and would bet the turn without a strong made hand, shoving the turn wouldn't be bad. But I didn't have that read.

Obviously, the river bricked, and he did have KK, but I shut down the session right after this hand, as I'm very tempted to go into spew mode after something like that. I ruined a perfectly good session with that play, too. Dammit.

I'm down to $345ish right now. I had some downswings, I came in 8th in a 6max turbo tourney for $85ish, then built up and spewed down again to where I am now. I feel OK, but I definitely am still calling way too much, which is my biggest leak. Trying to bluff-catch when no one bluffs.

Running HOT!!!

So I spewed off a few buy-ins semi-bluffing in the deepstack games, but I've rebuilt, and since then, I've been running super hot at 10NL. I'm actually up to $380ish. After breaking-even for a while, winning some, losing some, I've finally got my act together and have been playing really well. I've posted a few hands over at 2+2:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/10nl-one-where-i-want-fold-set-824490/

Yes, I did actually fold here, although in retrospect, I feel this was more of a brain-fart than a sick read. At the time, it just seemed that any one-pair hand that would 3b there would have bet that flop, and when he bets the turn, I felt (at the time) that his range became more weighted to sets/AJ. However, in looking it over, I think most sets are betting that flop as well, and the turn is more like AQ, AJ, JJ, AT, and maybe some pure bluffs (like weak Ax hands he squeezed with). Honestly, I'm not really sure. But I did fold, so I guess I'll never know.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/10nl-flopped-trips-3way-limped-pot-825778/

As the first (and only) poster says, yes, I really did butcher the shit out of this one. I don't mind the flop flat initially, but when it get minraised and called, I should have 3bet. This is a tragedy of too many tables, honestly, and I'm starting to use PokerTracker, so I was trying to configure it and not playing as well as I could have. Play it fast, get called by fish, that's what I should have done.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/10nl-qq-bad-river-card-825774

I explain exactly what my thought process was in the thread:

Villain is 20/17, 50% fold to 3b over 250ish hands. He willing to semi-bluff his draws, and I've seen him bluff at scary boards (bluffraised an Ahi flop, c/r as a semi-bluff w a FD on another Ahi flop; in both of those hands, his villains were stationy), but neither of those are in 3b/4b pots, so I'm not sure how he plays in those, if he plays any different.

I also have a hand vs him where he c/r me when a flush came in after I flat the flop.

I just felt that I was way behind his 4b for value range, and that the best way to get value out of his bluffing range was to let him bluff. It's also not a CO v BTN situation, it's MP v CO, so I don't expect him to view my 3b range from the CO v MP as particularly bluffy, but I called preflop because the 4b looked weak (raising $1 to $2). When he checked the flop and then bet the turn, I felt even more like he was bluffing, and as I said, I would call any river shove. Unfortunately, the K popped, and I was now behind AK as well as some other weak Kx hands he may have 4b as a bluff, so I folded.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/10nl-river-bluffraise-spew-826130/

I actually love this play. It did work, but I was wondering if I'm being too proud of myself or if it was actually a good play. Again my thoughts are in the thread:

His range seems heavily weighted to weak one-pair hands, and my range looks like I was drawing or slow-playing a big hand which I popped on the river.

Life is good. Still need to do a review of the next round of the quintuple shootout I won. Other than that, just chugging along. Hoping to get to 25NL soon. That would be sweet...

Review of the Quintuple Shootout - Round 1

I know it's been a few days since I posted. 10NL has still been pretty swingy, still around where I started. I play very well when I'm focused, winning 4-5 buyins in a couple hours, but when I'm not focused, I drop that same amount in a much shorter period of time, so it's been pretty difficult to build up my bankroll. I'm going to review the Quintuple Shootout victory. It wasn't exactly a Quintuple Shootout, as I got a bye the first round.

First hand of the "second" round, I get AA, raise in the CO (since it's 4-max, it's CO, BTN, SB, BB), get two callers, bet a KJK flop, and take it down. Not too shabby.

Second hand, we get to see how fishy some of these players are:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t1480)
Hero (BB) (t1640)
UTG (t1440)
Button (t1440)

Hero's M: 54.67

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4♣, 10♣
1 fold, Button bets t40, SB raises to t100, 1 fold, Button calls t60

Flop: (t220) 2♥, 10♥, 3♦ (2 players)
SB bets t120, Button raises to t240, SB calls t120

Turn: (t700) 4♠ (2 players)
SB checks, Button bets t260, SB calls t260

River: (t1220) 4♥ (2 players)
SB checks, Button checks

Total pot: t1220

Results:
Button had A♣, 10♦ (two pair, tens and fours).
SB had 9♦, 9♣ (two pair, nines and fours).
Outcome: Button won t1220

3rd hand in, big stackoff on a huge cooler:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t880)
Hero (SB) (t1620)
BB (t1440)
UTG (t2060)

Hero's M: 54.00

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8♣, K♠
1 fold, Button calls t20, 1 fold, BB checks

Flop: (t50) 5♥, 6♦, 10♠ (2 players)
BB checks, Button bets t40, BB calls t40

Turn: (t130) 6♣ (2 players)
BB checks, Button bets t80, BB calls t80

River: (t290) 10♣ (2 players)
BB bets t310, Button raises to t620, BB raises to t1300 (All-In), Button calls t120 (All-In)

Total pot: t1770

Results:
Button had 6♠, 6♥ (four of a kind, sixes).
BB had 7♦, 10♥ (full house, tens over sixes).
Outcome: Button won t1770

I 3-barrel here to push someone off a busted FD or middle-pair type hand:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t1750)
Hero (BB) (t1700)
UTG (t520)
Button (t2030)

Hero's M: 56.67

Preflop: Hero is BB with J♦, K♥
1 fold, Button calls t20, 1 fold, Hero bets t60, Button calls t40

Flop: (t130) 9♦, 10♠, 5♦ (2 players)
Hero bets t80, Button calls t80

Turn: (t290) A♣ (2 players)
Hero bets t180, Button calls t180

River: (t650) 3♠ (2 players)
Hero bets t400, 1 fold

Total pot: t650

Results:
Hero didn't show J♦, K♥ (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t650

I play a pretty aggressive game, and I saw this guy minraise in position with top pair just a few minutes ago, so I didn't really think he had anything decent by the time I got to the river, so the third barrel felt like the right play. Betting the turn scarecard is standard. Can't win by checking, right?

After getting coolered, the shortstack had been struggling to find some spots to chip up. He picked this one (a bad one) and lost:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t1365)
Hero (Button) (t2495)
SB (t490)
BB (t1650)

Hero's M: 55.44

Preflop: Hero is Button with J♦, 3♣
2 folds, SB bets t90, BB raises to t150, SB raises to t490 (All-In), BB calls t340

Flop: (t980) 2♥, 5♦, 9♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t980) 4♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t980) 6♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t980

Results:
SB had A♣, 7♣ (high card, Ace).
BB had 10♣, 10♦ (one pair, tens).
Outcome: BB won t980

Down to 3 handed. Nothing special happened until this hand:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t1545)
Hero (SB) (t2390)
BB (t2065)

Hero's M: 53.11

Preflop: Hero is SB with J♠, 9♠
Button bets t90, Hero calls t75, BB calls t60

Flop: (t270) 9♣, 5♠, J♥ (3 players)
Hero bets t150, BB calls t150, Button calls t150

Turn: (t720) 4♦ (3 players)
Hero bets t540, 1 fold, Button calls t540

River: (t1800) 7♦ (2 players)
Hero bets t765, 1 fold

Total pot: t1800

Results:
Hero didn't show J♠, 9♠ (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t1800

Flopped a big hand, bet right out, and expected to bust the villain on the river and be shown AJ. Give the fold, he probably had another middle-pair type hand or a busted draw like QT or even KQ (T8 got there, which would have sucked).

I now have a decent chip lead, with more than half of the chips on the table. This one's just funny because of the board (I wish someone had a Ac):

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t765)
Hero (SB) (t3310)
BB (t1925)

Hero's M: 44.13

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♦, J♣
Button bets t150, 1 fold, BB raises to t300, Button raises to t765 (All-In), BB calls t465

Flop: (t1555) 9♠, J♠, 10♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t1555) Q♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t1555) K♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t1555

Results:
Button had 10♦, A♦ (straight flush, King high).
BB had A♥, K♣ (straight flush, King high).
Outcome: Button won t777, BB won t778

Middle stack loses some chips, shorty and I pick up some chips from him, then this big flip happens:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t1002)
Hero (Button) (t3735)
SB (t1263)

Hero's M: 24.90

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q♠, A♠
Hero bets t300, SB calls t250, BB raises to t1002 (All-In), Hero raises to t3735 (All-In), 1 fold

Flop: (t2304) 7♠, 2♠, 10♦ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t2304) 7♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t2304) 6♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t2304

Results:
Hero had Q♠, A♠ (one pair, sevens).
BB had 9♥, 9♣ (two pair, nines and sevens).
Outcome: BB won t2304

Such a good flop, but no dice! I'm now about even with the once short-stack. The new short stack is doing a terrible job of picking up chips, until he doubles up through me:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t2404)
Hero (SB) (t2833)
BB (t763)

Hero's M: 18.89

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5♥, A♥
1 fold, Hero bets t300, BB raises to t763 (All-In), Hero calls t463

Flop: (t1526) 10♦, J♦, 4♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t1526) 3♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t1526) 5♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t1526

Results:
Hero had 5♥, A♥ (one pair, fives).
BB had 6♦, 6♣ (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: BB won t1526

We're a bit closer to even, the antes start to kick in, and I make my second big bluff:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t2254)
Hero (SB) (t1970)
BB (t1776)

Hero's M: 13.13

Preflop: Hero is SB with J♣, K♠
Button calls t100, Hero bets t300, BB calls t200, Button calls t200

Flop: (t900) 2♠, Q♥, Q♠ (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, Button checks

Turn: (t900) 7♥ (3 players)
Hero bets t500, 1 fold, Button calls t500

River: (t1900) 7♠ (2 players)
Hero bets t1170 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t1900

Results:
Hero didn't show J♣, K♠ (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t1900

After the flop gets checked through, I didn't think anyone had the Q. Leading OOP looks super strong, and once I hit the river, I feel like the villain has a low pocket pair he's going to be willing to fold, given the action. Ultimately, I'm not REALLY sure, but I just didn't think he had the queen, and would fold to a shove there.

That puts be back on top with around 3k in chips. I call the flop here pretty light :):

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t1754)
Hero (BB) (t3070)
Button (t1176)

Hero's M: 13.64

Preflop: Hero is BB with 3♣, K♣
Button calls t150, 1 fold, Hero checks

Flop: (t375) 3♦, 4♥, J♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t150, Hero calls t150

Turn: (t675) Q♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: (t675) J♥ (2 players)
Hero bets t300, 1 fold

Total pot: t675

Results:
Hero didn't show 3♣, K♣ (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t675

Villain had been making these "stabby" looking bets in limped pots a few times, and I didn't necessarily think he had anything. When I got to the river, I figured I was marginally ahead (of like an A hi hand or busted FD) or marginally behind (of a pair of 4s or maybe a small pair), so betting the river was to take it down right there, instead of being annoyed to find I'm behind something he would have folded.

Another shorty double-up:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t1679)
Hero (SB) (t3445)
BB (t876)

Hero's M: 15.31

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♥, 4♦
Button bets t450, 1 fold, BB raises to t876 (All-In), Button calls t426

Flop: (t1827) 9♥, 7♣, 6♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t1827) 4♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t1827) 10♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t1827

Results:
Button had Q♠, J♣ (high card, Queen).
BB had A♣, Q♥ (high card, Ace).
Outcome: BB won t1827

Here, I'm not even sure if I'm value betting or bluffing (are there worse 2 pair that will call?):

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t653)
Hero (BB) (t3070)
Button (t2277)

Hero's M: 13.64

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8♣, 9♠
Button calls t150, 1 fold, Hero checks

Flop: (t375) 7♦, 3♣, 8♥ (2 players)
Hero bets t300, Button calls t300

Turn: (t975) 10♥ (2 players)
Hero bets t450, Button calls t450

River: (t1875) 9♣ (2 players)
Hero bets t1350, 1 fold

Total pot: t1875

Results:
Hero didn't show 8♣, 9♠ (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t1875

Shortstack sucks at picking up chips, and finally gets it in here (ahead, but loses):

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t631)
Hero (SB) (t3992)
BB (t1377)

Hero's M: 17.74

Preflop: Hero is SB with J♥, 10♥
Button bets t631 (All-In), Hero calls t556, 1 fold

Flop: (t1412) 2♥, 6♣, K♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t1412) Q♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t1412) 5♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t1412

Results:
Button had 10♣, K♣ (one pair, Kings).
Hero had J♥, 10♥ (flush, King high).
Outcome: Hero won t1412

And we are down to HU with a 3:1 chiplead.

As as soon as it starts, it's over:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t3648)
SB (t2352)

Hero's M: 12.16

Preflop: Hero is BB with A♣, A♦
SB bets t400, Hero raises to t600, SB raises to t2352 (All-In), Hero calls t1752

Flop: (t4704) A♥, J♦, 9♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t4704) J♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t4704) 10♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t4704

Results:
SB had 8♦, 8♣ (two pair, Jacks and eights).
Hero had A♣, A♦ (full house, Aces over Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won t4704

The min3b was intended to get him to spazz shove or just call, as I felt it was more likely that he would shove himself than call off a shove (like if he minraised QJo or something, he may spazz-shove or just call and take a flop). Given what he showed up with, it probably mattered very little what I did, as long as I raised.

So goes round 1. I'll do an overview of round 2 later. Right now, my internet is giving me issues, so I need to go take a look at that and run a few errands. I'll keep you posted as to how the cash games are going.

I haven't played at all today. I'm trying to find a good workflow for doing review. I spent an hour or so going through some of the villains I have a ton of hands on, looking at the hands that went to showdown, and drawing reads from them. I'm playing around with PokerTracker, now that they have a Mac version, as I want the positional stats (raising, 3betting, limping and coldcalling by position vs. positional opening) for preflop, and right now, PokerCopilot doesn't have it. I've emailed the developer a few times about it, and he's mentioned it as an upcoming possibility, but I'm going to play around with the trial of PT and see if I like it. It's a pretty complicated program, but it may work better. I've imported all the hands into the database, and right now, the program is updating the cache. Hopefully, it won't take TOO long and I'll be able to play today.

Brief Update

10NL has been pretty break-even overall. I had a big initial upswing, where I got up to around $280ish, then dropped a whole bunch of it getting waaaay too loose for the limit. I'm sitting on around $167 right now. I'm closing in on enough FPPs for the $50 bonus from the VIP store, and I'm about halfway to the next VIP stellar reward. I think I'm going to extend the amount of my roll I'm going to save up until I move up to the next limit, as I can see myself spewing off a lot in terrible spots and blowing my whole roll at 25NL (which I've done before). I feel like I'm playing a much better game, although I'm definitely waaay too stationy as well.

I've played some hands on the deepstack tables, and it's a fucking goldmine. Everyone is extremely weak-tight, and if you're a decent handreader, it's really not difficult to pick a few good spots to bluff, and at the deepstack tables, people will fold TP/MP to 3 barrels. Just gotta pick your spots well.

Going to do some work, as well as some review. I'm going to go through some hands from the tourny I shipped and talk about them a bit. So there's something to look forward to :).

Boo-yah

PokerStars Tournament #284580135, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $2.00/$0.20 USD
368 players
Total Prize Pool: $736.00 USD
Tournament started 2010/06/23 20:15:00 ET


Dear NimhOfJoy,

You finished the tournament in 1st place. A USD 117.76 award has been credited to your Real Money account.



Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

Woot! Moving up to 10NL now. I have $180. Enough 5NL, now I'm getting somewhere!

Back Down to $70

I played a bunch of tournaments last night and bricked 'em all, so that cost me like $25 (I need to stick to the cheaper ones until I get to a point where that's not such a huge portion of my bankroll; I play the $8.80 6-max @ 9:40, as well as a few MTT SnGs). I then played cash and was playing break-evenish until I made a few spazzy bluffs and immediately shut it down. That's what I get for playing tired. Bad news bears.

I did play a little this morning, and won back a buy in+, so I know for certain I'm getting the hang of playing down here; I just need to not play tired (obviously) and stick to the limits of my roll for tournaments. Unfortunately, Stars doesn't have a lot in the way of 6-max tournaments, so I try and play in as many of those as possible, and some of them are really beyond my roll right now.

It's too bad this blog doesn't have more strategy; it's just that there's not a lot of strategy to be discussed down here. Bet you decent made hands until they give you a reason not to; I semi-bluff a bit, but mostly just stick to value spots. Players call 3 streets with middle pair, so just bet bet shove, and make manies :).

Back Over $100!

Yup, title says it all. I tightened up my game, bumped up the number of tables, and I climbed over the hump. I'm back over $100 and feeling really good about myself. I just gotta stop getting mad that players don't fold TPTK and start exploiting them for it:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($6.94)
SB ($7.13)
BB ($5.96)
UTG ($9.11)
MP ($0.43)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8♠, 8♥
UTG bets $0.10, MP calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.10, 1 fold, BB calls $0.05

Flop: ($0.42) 9♥, A♦, 8♦ (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $0.15, MP calls $0.15, Hero raises to $0.55, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.40, MP calls $0.18 (All-In)

Turn: ($1.85) 7♠ (3 players, 1 all-in)
UTG bets $0.20, Hero raises to $1.35, UTG calls $1.15

River: ($4.55) 5♥ (3 players, 1 all-in)
UTG checks, Hero bets $4.94 (All-In), UTG calls $4.94

Total pot: $14.43 | Rake: $0.71

Results:
Hero had 8♠, 8♥ (three of a kind, eights).
UTG had A♣, K♣ (one pair, Aces).
MP had Q♦, 9♣ (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Hero won $13.72

(Yes, I mis-sized my turn raise, I thought it was big enough at the time to get to the river with a pot-sized bet left, but I did the math wrong :(... still, it worked out for me.)

Breakever Over 8 SnGs

Yup. Broke even. I definitely feel I am much better at cash games than SnGs. I just think I need to learn SnGs, as the home game I'm playing at might be switching to that format. Maybe I'll play SnGs more, get some experience before this weekend.

New Layout

I hope you like the new layout. I'm playing 8 tables of $3.40 SnGs. After I'm done with that, I'm out to run some errands. Wish me luck!

Short, Nice Session

Made like $18 today, which is nice. Puts me just around $80. I'm taking a break today, as I have some work to do. Will be doing some session review throughout the day (to take a break from the work). I've posted some hands @ 2+2:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/5nl-ato-flops-trips-value-line-809116/

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/5nl-qq-good-fold-vs-unknown-808364/

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/5nl-set-vs-river-overshove-806795/

Another Few Short Sessions - Still Breaking Even

Title says it all. I was playing a short session this morning, I was up a little bit towards the end of the session, and just as I was wrapping up, this hand happened:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($12.48)
Button ($7.02)
Hero (SB) ($5.76)
BB ($1.88)
UTG ($10.28)
Villain (MP) ($5.15)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q♣, Q♦
UTG bets $0.20, Villain calls $0.20, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.65, Villain calls $0.65

Flop: ($2.60) 7♠, 2♠, J♥ (3 players)
Hero bets $1.75, 1 fold, Villain raises to $4.30 (All-In), Hero calls $2.55

Turn: ($11.20) A♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($11.20) 10♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $11.20 | Rake: $0.55

Results:
Hero had Q♣, Q♦ (one pair, Queens).
Villain had J♦, A♣ (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
Outcome: Villain won $10.65

I know I shouldn't be using this blog as a place for me to complain. I just don't know how to get past 5NL with this shit happening. It's making it very difficult for me to keep a level head when suckouts of this nature are constant. The amount of times I've had something like this happen (i.e. recent hand where I had AA, villain l/c w T5o, calls 2 streets on TJxx rainbow, and rivers his 5) makes it difficult for me to feel comfortable going to value bets in spots where I probably should be. It's hard for me to say "I'm ahead of his range here" because their range is FUCKING ANYTHING.

Like this shove. Higher levels, villain is flatting flop, shipping turn when he improves (or folding turn if he doesn't). If the villain is shipping this spot at 25NL, it's more likely he's got a set and I should probably fold. Down here, though, TPTK is the nuts, nobody folds 2nd pair to 2 bets, it's crazy. And if that's the case, I don't know if I should value bet rivers sometimes w TPTK or TP2K, because people will hit all sorts of stuff. It's crazy, and I'm finding it difficult to adjust.

I've also been looking at my EV graph, and I'm running like $500 below EV over the past 3 months. Granted, it's at various limits (and I know A LOT of that was the short stint I did at FTP; god, the downswing I had when I moved over there was RIDICULOUS - never going back), but still, knowing that you're getting it in ahead a lot and getting screwed is both comforting and frustrating at the same time. Just have to remember that if you keep playing well, you'll get there.

In more positive news, I played a live game and walked off with all the chips yesterday. Made $79. At least I know my live game is improving tremendously. The guy who hosts the game suggested switching it to a SnG tourny structure instead, so that other people have a chance to make money, as I've won all the money 2 out of the 3 times we've played. I'm not as much of a SnG specialist, but if it keeps the game running, I'm down.

I've got commitments for today, but if I get a chance, I'm going to do some review.

To update, I am at $63ish right now. I've been swinging up and down between $60 and $80. If this upswing in the live game continues, I'm going to take some of that money and put it online. I want to play 10NL. (Really, I want to go back to 25NL, but I want to work my way up there on my own.)

That's all for now. I feel I'm remaining generally calmish, but I shut down the game after the above suckout, because it totally ruined my session. Oh well, what can you do? Just gotta stay positive.

Epic Breakeven Stretch

Between the last few sessions I've played I'm up like $2 over some like 3k-4k hands. I've bumped up the number of tables and tightened up significantly. I probably need to fold more, to be honest. That is my biggest problem in general. Too much bluffing, not enough folding.

I have tightened up preflop, though. No more opening weak aces on the button, no more opening suited connectors UTG. No more 3betting T7s to balance my range. Just pure value hands. I also need to start folding 1 pair hands to aggression at this level. People don't bet that much without 2pr+. So yeah, I'm getting there. Just gotta stop getting frustrated.

Wow... just... wow

I'm down $40ish since I last posted, putting me around $64. I played two sessions that both went badly. One down around $25, one down $15ish. I'm starting to do some review of some of my hands, but I need to do a solid review of everything before I get back into it.

I know I keep saying that, and I'm so far behind the number of sessions I need to review to get caught it. It's just that it takes so long to review everything, that I'd spend more time reviewing than I would playing if I got caught up on everything.

For starters, I need to tighten up my game. I play waaaay to loose, and since no one folds at this level, I'm a) bluffing too much and failing or b) getting sucked out on a lot by people who can't fold second pair or BDFDs. There have been a few coolers as well (running my FD into NFDs, set over set, set running into made/drawing-to-made flushes, etc.). So yeah, I'm going to bump back up to 8 tables and go back to what I was doing @ 2NL, which was waiting for decent hands and betting them when they hit. I really have not being just playing solid poker properly and I've been losing as a result.

I know I'm below my 5NL threshold, but I can't go back to 2NL. I just can't. If I drop below like $40 (which I REALLY hope doesn't happen), then I'm dropping down. But right now, I'm going to tough it out. I'm going to tighten up significantly, doing some reviewing, and see where we go from there.

So I Lied...

I played a short session today. It went much better. I made $15ish, which puts me around $102ish.

I've started reviewing some more hands. The CardRunners HH replayer is working a bit better; I don't if it's because of my email or what happened. I did find that if I made some random edit, undid the edit, saved the file, and THEN uploaded the hand history, it worked. I have no idea why or what the deal is with hand histories and replayers, but it's a fine enough workaround, so I'm not really going to worry about.

I have soooo many sessions to review. I'm going to start going through them a little more today. Ultimately, I don't really feel it's necessary to review everything as I'm going; it's just important to be constantly reviewing your play. I'm working my way through all the HHs I have so far, taking notes about my play, adding notes into Stars on my opponents (to me, that's the most important part; when you're playing 6-8 tables, you don't have time to watch every hand and take notes on your opponents play in hands you're not in), and generally, trying to improve myself as I move forward.

It's too bad I had such a bad day yesterday, but poker is like that. You take 2 steps forward, one step back, downswings and breakeven stretches are the norm, and sometimes you tilt and undo a lot of good play. Ultimately, if you go into every session in the best possible mindset and a clear head, the cards will do what they do.

Oh My FUCKING God - I hate 5NL

This type of shit is constant, and I can't take it anymore:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

SB ($2.58)
BB ($0.50)
UTG ($2.01)
Hero (MP) ($9.94)
Button ($4.32)

Preflop: Hero is MP with J, 10
1 fold, Hero bets $0.15, Button raises to $0.25, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.57) 7, 2, J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $0.35, Hero calls $0.35

Turn: ($1.27) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $0.45, Hero raises to $1.45, Button calls $1

River: ($4.17) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.30, Button calls $2.27 (All-In)

Total pot: $8.71 | Rake: $0.42

Results:
Button had 9, 9 (three of a kind, nines).
Hero had J, 10 (two pair, Jacks and tens).
Outcome: Button won $8.29

I need to stop, and do some handhistory reviewing before I continue playing. I have to know how much of this downswing was bad play, and how much of it was from this kind of bullshit. I WANT TO PLAY 10NL SO BAD!!! AAAARGH!!!!

I'm taking tomorrow off, and I'm limiting my play Monday to just a few tournies. I ended up down $47 today, which completely undid my great day the other day, and leaves me around $89.

Now, I know some of that was bad play, I know at least $15 of it is suckouts (I have the EV graph to prove it), there were a few coolers (one was a boat over boat, there were a few set of set situations as well). I need to find a hand history replayer that works tomorrow and review all this, because this is really starting to piss me off. I'm sure this hot weather isn't helping either.

God dammit.

Big Ups, Big Downs

Bleh, today I lost $23ish. Definitely lost a bunch at the beginning of the session on suckouts. I don't think I tilted too much, honestly, but I definitely played a REALLY long session, and played a good portion of it without enough focus on what was going on. I needed more coffee and maybe more sleep in general. Can't be doing that, definitely -EV. However, given my mental state and the suckouts, I definitely think it could have been a lot worse, which is pretty good. I kept my cool well enough to play OK poker, not A-game, but definitely at least B-game.

Yeah, definitely need more coffee. My head is starting to hurt :(.

I haven't received a response to my email to CardRunners about their replayer, except to say that its been forwarded on to their tech department. I'm going to play around with it again tonight, but we'll see what I'm going to do about that.

ARRRRRGH!!

So now the CardRunners HH replayer is giving me trouble. WTF?! How hard could it be to make a working HH replayer?! I sent them an email, we'll see if I get a response and how long it takes them to fix it. If I don't hear from them by tomorrow, or it doesn't get fixed soon, I'm moving on to try the Universal Replayer. I'll let you know how that goes.

It's too bad; if the CR HH Replayer just parsed the HH file properly, it would be a really nice program. But alas! Not all is well.

Beginning Some Review

For starters, I'm using the CardRunners HandHistory replayer. I was having some trouble with it initially, but I found if I put two line breaks at the top of the hand history file, it will parse the first hand correctly. I know Bluff.com was having some trouble with that as well. I guess it detects the HH as starting at the top of the two lines, rather than extending two lines, or something. I don't know; I figured out how to make it work though, and that's all that matters :).

So I started off reviewing some of my HHs. This was the first big one, in the first HU SnG I played. 4th hand, nothing special has happened so far, and I get overshoved into on the river after rivering my straight on a paired board. Do you call this?

Poker Stars, $2 Buy-in (10/20 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 2 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


Hero: 1,600 (80 bb)
regfish: 1,400 (70 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7 6
Hero raises to 60, regfish calls 40

Flop: (120) K 8 8 (2 players)
regfish checks, Hero bets 80, regfish calls 80

Turn: (280) 5 (2 players)
regfish checks, Hero bets 180, regfish calls 180

River: (640) 4 (2 players)
regfish bets 1,080 and is all-in, Hero ???

Posted @ 2+2 here:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/58/heads-up-nl/2-hu-sng-get-overshoved-into-w-str8-paired-board-799900

Honestly, how often does villain c/c, c/c, shove a naked 8 here vs. a boat or some other pair? His line looks like he wanted to get max value and was afraid of me checking behind. So he either his a set or K8. In retrospect, I think 8x without a boat has to raise somewhere earlier. It's only with hand like a boat where he doesn't really have to worry about me improving that he can just c/c, c/c like that. It's tough to fold a straight HU, though. How often is villain just spazzing here? At this level, probably very little.

Is this result-oriented thinking? Because he obviously showed up with the boat...heh.

(Edit: I got an interesting response on the forum that I hadn't considered:

"ez call every time. fish do this with missed draws even an 8 here enough times. ya sure small % of the time they have the boat and get to the river w/o building a pot and go "oh, fk" and just over jam to get stacks in."

Maybe I am being results oriented. I think it's just that I ran into this situation in another SnG that's changing my thinking.)

After reviewing a few SnGs, I realize I am pretty bad at HU SnGs. Need to be a bit more active, stop limping my button so much, stab at a few more pots, and not call off all my chips w A4o (yes, that's how one of them ended; after a long, protracted battle, we got down to 50/100 about even with 1500ish each, I raise, villain shoves, and I call...wtf was I thinking?)

The review is certainly helpful, though, as I played the few HU sessions I reviewed pretty passively/stationy, and not well as all. With HU SnGs, it's usually waaaay too aggressive, or waaay too passive. Still trying to find that medium.

Off to bed! More review in the morning.

Great Day for ME!!

Played a couple sessions today. Made $40! Up to $136ish. Been playing much better recently. Bluffing at better times, making thinner value bets. I did have one big hand that I still don't understand the villains thought process:

CO limps, I raise to .2 w AA on the BTN, SB calls, CO min3bets to .35, and I 4b to .9. In retrospect this was definitely too small. SB + CO call.

Flop comes down T75cc, he c/c the turn. Q hits, I ship, villain turns over Q8cc, rivers another Q.

Maybe because I 4b too small, it allowed him to call that 4b, and after that, the hand played itself. I still can't believe he did that w Q8s though. Oh well. I played pretty well the rest of the day.

I noticed I got kind of angry/tilty after that hand, but I found myself regaining my composure a lot quicker than I used to, and I was able to recover that session in the black by keeping my head in the game and just playing good poker.

I also played a Step 1 SnG and shipped that for a Step 2 ticket. I'm not aiming to play the WSOP or anything, but I know the steps program is a pretty good deal. So occasionally I'm going to try and play some step 1s, try to amass some tickets, and see if I can work my way up to have a few step 6 tickets. I'll see if I can satellite into the next big tourney series or something.

Bluff.com hasn't been working so well for me. Having some uploading problems again there, so I'm looking for something more reliable that I can use to upload my sessions and watch them. Anyone have any suggestions? I have a ton of sessions that need to be reviewed, and I need a better solution. Thoughts?

5NL and a Confession

So I've played 2 sessions in the past couple days. I played 2NL to get just over the $100 mark, so I've finally graduated to 5NL. However, upon moving up to 5NL, I promptly tilted off a few buy-ins, then played another session where I went on a epic heater and won most of it back, putting me at about the $95 mark.

My confession is that I have not been doing as much session review as I should be. I had some 2NL sessions that I was going to go over, as well as the HU SNGs that I played that I want to review. Now that I'm playing 5NL, I'm going to skip over the 2NL sessions and just start focusing on 5NL. I'm going to review the SNGs and the 5NL sessions, post some hands, then get back to playing.

I know the downswing @ 5NL was at least partially due to getting outdrawn, but I know I made some plays (like a squeeze play that wasn't necessary, as well as some c/r bluffs that weren't necessary) that were definitely spewy. Add that together, and I tilted a bit, and that's where another part of the downswing came from.

Fortunately, when I sat down today, I was in good spirits. I had played a live home game last night at a frat house and basically owned. Made some really good plays, and sat down to play a short session in good state of mind. Ran like god too :), but I ended up making most of that downswing back (in case anyone is curious, no, live earnings are not being added to my bankroll; not at least until I'm playing live somewhat regularly, after my home game gets rolling).

Next, I just need to upload the sessions I've played so far and review them all, take some notes, and then take another crack at the game. I feel good finally being able to play 5NL. It's going to be a lot of work before I'm back up to 10NL, though, so I'll be here a while.

My next post will probably be some discussion of the live game I played, as well as some hands from 5NL.

Update: Not too much to say

Sorry about the lack of updates. I haven't been playing too much lately, just been really busy with work, trying to find a new job, plus taking care of some other things. When I get a chance to do some session review, I'll look at the tilty session I had and discuss what happened.

Some HU SNGs - Not So Good :(

Played a bunch of HU SnGs. Lost about $6 playing those. Unfortunately, I'm clearly not cut out for heads up yet. Need to learn more patience. HU gets really frustrating when I'm not getting hands, and I tend to start making really spewy bluffs. That's kind of a general problem of mine. I need to learn to be more patient.

My First Losing Session

And the tilt monster rears its ugly head. Just when I thought I was about to cross back into 5NL, I have a -$7.50 session. Back down to $89.5ish. Part of it was definitely tilt. It's kinda stupid tilt too. I'm going to definitely review all my hand histories for that session before I do any more playing. I let you know what that turns up.

I gotta take this kind of thing as a learning experience though. Figure out why I tilted, what hands I played badly, vs what hands were coolers (there was one hand when I raised AA, got shoved on a low board, and was shown a set; I wonder sometimes if I should be folding those spots or what).

Another Short Update

Another short session, made about $2.8ish, so I'm around $97. Almost up to 5NL. Will probably get there on Monday, although I won't be able to play as much Monday because I'm working in the morning. Definitely going to play the quintuple shootout again on Monday though. Going deep in that was awesome, and I was CRUSHING when we got down to HU on each table. I'll be doing some review Monday, mostly, if I can play at all, and I'll probably be sharing some hands from that tourney. There was basically one key hand on the last table that basically cost me that tourney, where I made a hero call with middle pair and was wrong :(.

Short Session

Played another short session. I feel like I'm paying people off too much. Gotta do some more hand history review. Made like $4.5ish, so I'm up to $94.5ish. Bedtime!

Tourney Review

Reviewing the tourney from yesterday, there are a couple hands that stand out. The first was a really terrible bluff I made, which I'm going to decline to share with you :). Although I did manage to get most of my chips back from that fish from a set when he couldn't fold top pair. The first interesting hand, though, is this one:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds 10 Ante (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t6910)
BB (t8905)
UTG (t6860)
MP1 (t2140)
Villain (MP2) (t14380)
CO (t2665)
Button (t2720)

Hero's M: 31.41

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7♥, 7♣
2 folds, Villain calls t100, 2 folds, Hero calls t50, BB checks

Flop: (t370) 8♥, 2♠, 8♦ (3 players)
Hero bets t200, 1 fold, Villain calls t200

Turn: (t770) Q♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, Villain checks

River: (t770) 6♦ (2 players)
Hero bets t300, Villain raises to t1300, Hero folds

Total pot: t1370

Results:
Villain didn't show
Outcome: Villain won t1370

If villain had a AQ and floated the flop, I would've expected a turn bet. The only thing I can really think of him having here is an 8, maybe 6 that thinks I'm bluffing, or air. Is he turning 2A into a bluff? I'm not really willing to give villains at this level that much credit, but I don't really know what he could have in this spot period. Should I have check/called the river? Looking over some of his hands from earlier, his play has been a little weak, so it's possible he had an 8 and didn't think he'd get any more value from betting the turn. I posted this hand on 2+2:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/23/mtt-strategy/2-20-90man-getting-little-deep-river-decision-787755

Actually, that was really the only hand. Nothing else really needs a whole lot of discussion. As I stated in my earlier post, I lost a flip (55 < AJ), which in retrospect, is more OK than I felt about it at the time. I also open shoved my button w K3s a little short, which I'm less happy with. Overall, I think I played pretty well. Can't win 'em all.

Nice Run in the Quintuple Shootout

I came in 15th place, for a nice $30 cash. That puts me at an $85 roll. I've got some stuff to do today, so I'm going to go get that all done, do some reviewing, and post some key hands from my tourney yesterday and the shootout today. So far, the challenge has been going pretty well. I've been mediating, and I'm almost at the 5NL level. I would like to be there by the time the day is over, so I do plan on playing some cash games later today as well.

Today's Play

I played the $3.30 6-max MTT @ 9:40 and played really terrible. I'm starting up the $2.20 4-max quintuple shootout (which is SO MUCH FUN), so hopefully that will go a little better now that I've gotten the spew out. I did meditate this morning, so I'm feeling good otherwise. Got my coffee, doing some review while I'm waiting. I'm going to review the tournament I went deep in (but didn't cash). I know there are a few hands I want to talk about in that tournament, see what mistakes I made. Post-shootout, I'll have around $55ish in my account, but I plan on playing some cash games later as well, after I've finished reviewing (and finished with some other stuff), so hopefully, I can at least bump that up to $70ish by the end of the day.

Why, God, WHY?!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($2.39)
Hero (CO) ($5.84)
Button ($7.89)
SB ($7.16)
BB ($7.20)
UTG ($2.54)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 6♣, 2♠
UTG bets $0.08, 2 folds, Button calls $0.08, SB raises to $0.28, 1 fold, UTG raises to $0.80, 1 fold, SB calls $0.52

Flop: ($1.70) A♦, 9♦, 5♥ (2 players)
SB checks, UTG bets $0.84, SB raises to $1.68, UTG raises to $1.74 (All-In), SB calls $0.06

Turn: ($5.18) 3♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($5.18) 2♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $5.18 | Rake: $0.25

Results:
SB had 2♥, 9♠ (two pair, nines and twos).
UTG had K♥, K♠ (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: SB won $4.93

Gotta love 2NL.

Busted :(

I busted the tourny in like 20th, which sucks because I was the big stack for a while.  I lost like 3 flips in a row (AJ>55, AJ>K3s, 99>A3; granted, the last wasn't a flip, but an ace came on the flop every time except for mine :( ).  It was a nice run, I feel like I'm playing tournies a lot better than I used to.  I like playing one or two tournies a day, hoping for a big cash, while playing cash games on the side.  The players are so bad, it hurts sometimes.

I've got stuff to do today, so I'll probably do a session review Wednesday, and maybe play again either Wednesday or Friday (although Friday is my birthday, so I'll probably go out).

Cash Session Wrap-Up

I ended the session up $13.48.  I feel I played pretty well, although I still find I'm getting egotistical (yes, even at this limit), and battling it out with other players in particular, rather than just playing my cards as best I can.

I'm still surprised how many people will call 2 or 3 streets with bottom pair.  Honestly, I don't even understand why these people play poker.  Is it just gambling to them?  Are they just trying to get to showdown and see who wins?  I just don't get it.

I'm going to upload my sessions and do a session review right after I wrap up this tournament.  I'm right now 12th out of 35 in my second $2.20/90 tourny.  The first one I busted making a really spazzy shove on a draw against a guy who obviously had trips and wasn't folding.

We're on break now, so I'm running to the bathroom after typing this :), and hopefully, I'll ship this and move up to 5NL.

I'll keep you posted.

Alright, No More 2NL Hands

I was looking over the hands I posted from yesterday.  Clearly still trying to find my "voice."  None of those hands were really that interesting.  You probably won't see a lot of individual hands from me until I hit at least 10NL.

I'm planning on a session today, as well as playing one $2.20/90-man SnGs.  Top prize is around $50, so a victory in one of those will propel me into 5NL, which would be nice.  I'll keep you posted as to how it goes.  Getting used to reviewing my sessions and taking notes is more of a discipline game than I thought.  As I was saying yesterday, it can be really tedious, especially at the level I'm at now.  Still, it's good practice for the future, so I'm sticking to it.

Session Review - Oh, 2NL...

So I'm going through my session.  Nothing too crazy.  A few hands I'd like to discuss:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($5.93)
Villain (SB) ($1.04)
BB ($2)
UTG ($2.13)
Hero (MP) ($2)
CO ($1.05)

Preflop: Hero is MP with J♠, J♦
UTG calls $0.02, Hero bets $0.08, 2 folds, Villain calls $0.07, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.20) 4♥, 3♦, 8♦ (2 players)
Villain checks, Hero bets $0.14, Villain calls $0.14

Turn: ($0.48) 9♦ (2 players)
Villain checks, Hero bets $0.28, Villain calls $0.28

River: ($1.04) 5♦ (2 players)
Villain bets $0.54 (All-In), Hero calls $0.54

Total pot: $2.12 | Rake: $0.10

Results:
Villain had 8♠, 7♠ (one pair, eights).
Hero had J♠, J♦ (flush, Jack high).
Outcome: Hero won $2.02

Am I reading this correctly? Did a 2NL villain just turn his hand into a bluff? I thought he might have a counterfeited baby flush, at the time. I'm kind of in the middle of my range, so I figured it was worth a call. Correct?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

MP ($5.50)
CO ($3.04)
Button ($2.52)
SB ($3.19)
Hero (BB) ($2.78)
UTG ($0.97)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8♣, 8♦
UTG bets $0.12, 1 fold, CO calls $0.12, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.37) 9♥, A♦, 10♥ (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.18, 1 fold, Hero folds

Total pot: $0.37 | Rake: $0

Results:
UTG didn't show
Outcome: UTG won $0.37

Anyone consider reraising this pre? Or would I be getting to aggressive there? Is calling ok? I usually don't see 2NL villains raising that large preflop; could he have a big hand there? I don't hate the way I played it, but wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

BB ($1)
UTG ($3.32)
MP ($0.97)
Button ($1.38)
Hero (SB) ($2.48)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A♣, Q♣
UTG bets $0.06, 1 fold, Button calls $0.06, Hero calls $0.05, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.20) 10♦, 8♦, A♦ (3 players)
Hero bets $0.16, UTG calls $0.16, 1 fold

Turn: ($0.52) J♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.36, UTG calls $0.36

River: ($1.24) 3♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Total pot: $2.24 | Rake: $0.10

Results:
Hero mucked A♣, Q♣ (one pair, Aces).
UTG had A♠, 10♠ (two pair, Aces and tens).
Outcome: UTG won $2.14

This is the first mistake I came across. If I'm going to check that river, I have to check to c/f. He's not betting anything I beat there. I'm just still trying to adapt to passive villains. That was an OK flop for me, and a bad turn for me. I'm ahead of what, A9, A(x<7), and some busted diamond draws, none of which are betting that river. Bleh.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

UTG ($0.78)
MP ($1.58)
Button ($0.81)
Hero (SB) ($4.16)
BB ($2)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K♥, 9♥
UTG calls $0.02, MP calls $0.02, Button calls $0.02, Hero calls $0.01, BB bets $0.10, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.26) K♦, 2♠, 6♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.10, Hero calls $0.10

Turn: ($0.46) 10♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.60, 1 fold

Total pot: $0.86 | Rake: $0

Results:
Hero didn't show K♥, 9♥.
Outcome: Hero won $0.86

I feel like I c/r the turn here because I didn't want to have to herocall the river. Should I have let him barrel it off? No one's folding a K here, right?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

BB ($0.83)
UTG ($0.77)
MP ($1.32)
CO ($1.60)
Hero (Button) ($4.52)
SB ($3.90)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10♥, 9♥
2 folds, CO (poster) checks, Hero bets $0.08, SB calls $0.07, 1 fold, CO (poster) calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.26) 3♥, 2♦, 9♦ (3 players)
SB checks, CO bets $0.12, Hero raises to $0.36, 1 fold, CO calls $0.24

Turn: ($0.98) 7♦ (2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks

River: ($0.98) K♣ (2 players)
CO bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

Total pot: $1.38 | Rake: $0.05

Results:
Hero mucked 10♥, 9♥ (one pair, nines).
CO had 3♦, 3♣ (three of a kind, threes).
Outcome: CO won $1.33

I don't mind the flop raise to get value from flush draws, and I had to call such a small bet on the river to see what he had. These are the type of hands that I make a note on (i.e. villain leads flop w a set multiway). Handhistory reviews are good for making those kinds of notes that are difficult to make mid-game.

This process is getting a little tedious, especially at these stakes. I'm done for now, I'll probably come back at some point later and post some more updates. There's also another hand that same session where I stack a guy w a set vs TP, but it's not really notable. If anyone has any thoughts, please comment. Although none of these hands really have too much going on.