Hello 2008!

2008 is upon us, and it's time for me to get back into the swing of things.

I just started a new job at the beginning of the year, so I was able to take some time off during the holidays while I was between jobs. It was nice not having to go into work for almost two weeks straight. My new job is vastly different than my old job. My old job was as a Hardware Engineer and it was interesting, but it was really slow. Which actually, was fine with me. I would come in late, take a long lunch, and leave early. If I needed to drop off or pick up my daughter at pre-school, it was no problem. But my career was going nowhere. And the job security was terrible.

And here I am at my new job as a Software Quality Engineer. It has the potential of being interesting, but I haven't seen it yet. I already find myself staring at the clock, wishing it would move faster. Granted, I haven't been given any projects yet, so maybe that will change. I'm trying to remain optimistic.

*******************************

As far as poker goes, 2007 was another decent year for a casual poker player. I think I averaged around a grand a month, so that's not bad. Of course, that was how 2006 was too. But 2006 had a higher percentage of profit coming from bonuses. 2007 I made a decent chunk of change from the actual poker tables. So that must mean I became a better poker player? Sweet!

Later this week, I'll put up my December results (It was good until the last day). But I'll first show some graphs of the last five months.

That's kind of a sad overall graph, isn't it? There is that huge upswing around Thanksgiving.

And here is the PokerEV graph. I'm a good $1,200 below expectation. Hopefully my blue line is higher than my red line for 2008.

********************************

I plan on posting more here (So tell your friends and link me up!), and one thing I am going to do is have a Sweet and Sour hand of the day.

So here is the inaugural Sweet Hand of the Day!


Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $197
SB: $225.60
Hero (BB): $201.20
UTG: $190.70
MP: $148.85
CO: $222.40

Pre-Flop: 4c 5h dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, CO raises to $7, BTN calls $7, SB folds, Hero raises to $31, CO calls $24, BTN folds

Flop: ($70) 2c Ad 3h (2 Players)
Hero bets $40, CO raises to $191.40 and is All-In, Hero calls $130.20 and is All-In

Turn: ($410.40) Ks (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($410.40) 8s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $410.40 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 4c 5h (a straight, Five high) and WON $407.40 (+$206.20 NET)
CO showed 9d 9c (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-$201.20 NET)

I go for a typical Squeeze play here. I hadn't been very active yet on this table, so I felt it was a good time to do this. The CO was a Slightly LAG (about 21/17) regular, and the button was a loose/passive donk. Of course I was hoping to just take it down pre-flop, but that flop was sweet. I bet just over half pot so that if the CO pushed, he would think it had some fold equity (If I bet closer to full pot, a push by him gives me 3:1 on the call, where as only betting 40 make his push a pot size push giving me only 2:1).

------------------

And The Sour hand of the Day


Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

CO: $180.80
BTN: $259.25
Hero (SB): $321.55
BB: $272.55
UTG: $194
MP: $272.10

Pre-Flop: 7d 7s dealt to Hero (SB)
4 folds, Hero raises to $6, BB raises to $14, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($28) 8s 3d Ac (2 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks

Turn: ($28) 7h (2 Players)
Hero bets $20, BB raises to $40, Hero raises to $120, BB raises to $258.55 and is All-In, Hero calls $138.55

River: ($545.10) 4d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $545.10 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 7d 7s (three of a kind, Sevens) and LOST (-$272.55 NET)
BB showed Ah As (three of a kind, Aces) and WON $542.10 (+$269.55 NET)

The BB was a mega-donk, running about 55/25. I think I could have gotten away from this hand, but this guy had been so agro, that it could have been AJ-AK too. A min-raise PF, then a min-raise then a push on the turn from anyone else, and it is easily AA. Oh well. I'll chalk it up to it being a cooler. That makes me feel better :)

-----------------------------

I got a comment from reader Luger asking about bankrolls and when to move up. I'm a huge bankroll nit. I have almost 65 buy-ins in my online roll for the stakes I play. And I even play the stakes one lower too. If you look at conventional bankroll management, I have enough to play 400NL right now. I have started to take some shots there though.

But for the smaller stakes, I would say to go ahead and start taking shots at 15-20 buy-ins (so $750 for 50NL), and move up full time when you have 30 buy-ins. Also, you want to have yourself convinced that you can beat the 25NL stake before moving up. As far as quality of play from your opponents, I don't think there is much of a difference between 25NL and 50NL. You may start running into some good regular multi-tablers at 50NL, but they will be few and far between. Just stay away from those players. You'll be able to spot them pretty easily. There are still plenty of donks out there.

Good Luck!