Still Alive

I should probably just go back and delete that post I made at the beginning of the month with my July goals. I'm not even close to achieving any of them. I haven't played much poker lately. I've played only 3 days in the last two weeks, with about 700 hands only.

Since my last post, I had crawled my way back to even, and then went on another downswing. I'm still running like crap, not getting any sets, and this month will be my worst month ever by a long shot. Combine that with being super busy this summer, and I just haven't felt like playing poker.

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If any of you folks are down in Austin Tx, I'll be down there for work next week for NI Week. I'm flying in on Sunday and leaving Thursday morning. I have no idea how busy I'll be, but shoot me an e-mail/comment if you're in that area. I was hoping that there would be a ton of card rooms/Casinos in Austin, but apparently you can't play live Texas Hold 'em in Texas. WTF?

Cheers!

See, A Whiney Post Is All It Takes

I hit the poker tables last night, and things ended up pretty good. Maybe I need to make more whining/bitching posts?

I played in 5 MTTs and cashed in 3 of them, and won about $700 at the cash game tables.

- Had a baby cash in the Full Tilt 50/50. I had right around an average stack and went out with 99 vs 22 when he flopped a set. WTF is someone calling PF with 22 and no where close to the correct odds to set mine. +$20. Yipee
- Busted out of the $26 26k guaranteed on FT when KK can't beat A5s and my KQs push gets called by the JackAce. -$26
Busted just before the money bubble in the Stars 50/50 when some donk open pushed from the SB with 97o. I called with KQ, hit a queen on the flop, but he hit his OESD on the river. -$55
- Won a satellite into the Sunday Warm-up ($215) in a $10 rebuy. Only $31 invested, so +$184
- Cashed again in the PokerStars $10 Rebuy. I seem to always cash this. It has to be above 50% lifetime ITM for me in this thing. This time, I played super tight, but in the end I started getting short and pushed with A8o from the CO, but the chip leader in the blinds woke up with AA. 89th out of 3024 and a $110 profit.

Add in the Cash game play, and I made just over $900. Woot

Here are a few interesting hands from the cash game play. I'd like to get your opinion on them. I think I could have gotten more value out of them

Hand 1: We're Deep and the PF raiser is a passive fish. His stats are about 50/5 after 700 or so hands, but he has been raising more the last couple orbits. He has been pretty passive post-flop.

Seat 1: UTG ( $128.10 )
Seat 2: MP( $496.90 )
Seat 3: CO ( $200.00 )
Seat 4: Button ( $366.90 )
Seat 5: HERO ( $457.35 ) <----- SB Seat 6: BB ( $200.00 ) <---- BB Dealt to Hero: [Qh] [Jh] UTG calls $2, MP raises to $8, 2 folds, HERO calls $7, UTG Calls $6

Flop ($26): [Th] [Ah] [Ks]
HERO checks, UTG checks, MP bets $22, HERO raises to $65, UTG folds, MP calls $43

Turn ($156): [2h]
HERO bets $110, MP calls $110

River ($376): [7h]
HERO ?????

How is my play so far? I have $274 left and he covers. Do I want to bet here? Or does the only hand that calls a river bet have the Kh in it for the nut flush? Should I check/call anything and let him try and bluff at it with a set or two pair, or a lower flush?

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Hand 2: I raise from MP and get called by 3 people. Yuck. Flop is a good one for me though. CO is a LAG running at about 26/21 or so. I haven't seen him around much, so he must be new to this site/level.

Seat 1: Button ( $65.55 USD )
Seat 2: SB ( $478.25 USD ) <------ SB Seat 3: BB ( $203.00 USD ) <------ BB Seat 4: UTG ( $333.85 USD ) Seat 5: HERO ( $292.60 USD ) Seat 6: CO ( $275.00 USD ) Dealt to Hero: [Ah] [4h] 1 fold, HERO raises to $7, CO calls $7, 1 fold, SB calls $6, BB calls $5

Flop ($28): [2h] [Jc] [3h]
SB checks, BB checks, HERO bets $21, CO raises to $55, 2 folds, HERO calls $34

Turn ($138): [Th]
HERO checks, CO bets $80, HERO raises $230.60 and is all-in

I didn't 3-bet the flop, because I didn't think I had much fold equity (Or do I?) If I 3-bet and we get it all-in, I have at a minimum of 11 outs, and as many as 15, which is pretty much a coin flip. Do I have enough fold equity to make 3-betting the flop more +EV?

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

At What Point Do You Just Give Up?

July 1 was good. July 2 - 7 was bad. Really bad

For the month, I am $1500 below Expected Value. That is in only 3200 hands. That equates to almost 12 ptBB/100. And that doesn't even count the AA vs smaller pocket pair that flopped a set hands that I have seen this month. I looked back, and from the beginning of May until now, I am $4,000 below expectation in 14,000 hands (7.2 ptBB/100).

Here are some of the big hands that I've lost recently:

• KK loses AK All-in PF for 250BB pot
• I Flop a straight with T8 and get it all-in on flop vs a set and lose a 250BB pot.
• I make a thin river value bet with TPTK on a K4228 board, and donk has A2 in another 200BB pot.
• In a Re-raised pot, I get AA all-in on a KQx flop vs JT. I have two of his outs, but he hits anyways. 200BB pot
• AA vs QQ all-in PF and he hits a set and rivers quads. 200 BB pot
• 400BB Re-raised pot with AA and I lose to 66.

I've been dealt AA and KK 37 times and have lost $1,146 from them. The most I have won in one pot with them is 60 BBs when I got AA all-in PF with AQ. The next most I have won is 14BBs.

It's frustrating as hell. The only positive that I can think of through all of this, is that I haven't tilted. I kind of just shake my head and move on because I am expecting it right now.

Oh well. In the past, everytime I've made a whiney post like this, I've turned it around, so hopefully that will happen again. Eventually I'll start running around normal, right?

July 1: Success!

July 1st is in the books, and I am starting off on the right track



1.5 hours, 734 hands, +$664.00

I had either 4 or 5 tables going, and I ran at 21.5/16.5. Pretty much where I want to be. I hit a couple sets, and ran pretty good. There was one big 400 BB hand that I lost, but there was nothing I can do about that. Details below.

I made a couple moves, but other than that, I played pretty straight forward poker.

Here is a hand against an UTG raiser where I have JJ in the blinds. I mix up my play between calling and 3-betting, but it was early, so I decided to take the passive route and just call.

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

CO: $248
BTN: $208
Hero (SB): $198
BB: $73
UTG: $474.20
MP: $199.55

Pre-Flop: Jc Js dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $7, 3 folds, Hero calls $6, BB folds

Flop: ($16) Ad Ac 8c (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $10, Hero calls $10

Turn: ($36) Tc (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $26, Hero raises to $60, UTG folds

Results: $88 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked Jc Js and WON $85 (+$42 NET)

I wanted to represent an Ace, so I just called on the flop with the intention of check-raising the turn. Turn brings the third club, and I think the only way he can call my raise is if he has AK, AQ, AT or KK with the Kc. Anyone have any comments about this hand? I didn't have much of a read on this guy, since I just started a new database, but he isn't labeled as a regular in my notes. If I remember correctly, he had TAGish type stats.

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Here is an example of me firing the 2nd barrel and betting the scare card. Against most people, they will fold anything but two pair plus.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

SB: $47.85
BB: $79.55
UTG: $133
CO: $91
Hero (BTN): $204.40

Pre-Flop: Qd 7s dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) 3d 5h 8c (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $10.50, BB calls $10.50

Turn: ($36) Ac (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $24, BB folds

Results: $36 Pot ($1.80 Rake)
Hero mucked Qd 7s and WON $34.20 (+$16.70 NET)

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This guy was had pretty nitty stats (about 15/12), but he was 3 betting like crazy. This was the 4th time he 3-bet me, and every other time I had to fold. I finally decided to take a stand and call. I ended up hitting my set, but it was a monotone flop, uggg.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BB: $395.75
UTG: $204.25
CO: $86.60
BTN: $76
Hero (SB): $200

Pre-Flop: 3d 3c dealt to Hero (SB)
3 folds, Hero raises to $6, BB raises to $18, Hero calls $12

Flop: ($36) Qh 3h Jh (2 Players)
Hero bets $22, BB raises to $76, Hero raises to $182 and is All-In, BB calls $106

Turn: ($400) 7d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($400) Js (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $400 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed Kd Ah (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$200 NET)
Hero showed 3d 3c (a full house, Threes full of Jacks) and WON $397 (+$197 NET)

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And here is the big pot I lost. This was right after I had just won another stack with nut flush vs 2nd nut flush. Nothing I can do about this one. I had top set on the flop, and he had nut flush draw plus a gutshot. I'm actually surprised he had AQs here. I put him on AA, AK or maybe QQ because he was a super nit with stats of 9/6 and 3-bet stat of 1%. That is the definition of NIT.

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

BTN: $266
SB: $368
BB: $200
UTG: $400
Hero (MP): $408
CO: $307.90

Pre-Flop: Kd Kh dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, SB raises to $23, Hero calls $16

Flop: ($48) Tc Kc 9h (2 Players)
SB bets $30, Hero raises to $90, SB raises to $345 and is All-In, Hero calls $255

Turn: ($738) 6c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($738) 5c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $738 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed Qc Ac (a flush, Ace high) and WON $735 (+$367 NET)
Hero showed Kd Kh (three of a kind, Kings) and LOST (-$368 NET)

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I should be able to get a good amount of hands again tonight, and I might play the mookie. But I'm so pumped to play cash games right now, I think I'll skip playing my Wednesday night MTTs.

One other thing: Hold 'em Manager is awesome. TONS better than PokerTracker 3. Not even close if you ask me. If you play anything other than 200NL 6 max at Full Tilt, you should pick it up.

Cheers!

July Goals

I'm ready and rejuvenated to get back into the swing of things at the poker table in July. June saw me have my Best Month Ever™ due to the Blogger Tournament of Champions win. I think it will be a long time until I break that record. Unless I get another big tournament score, or move up to 1000NL (lol).

As far as everything else, it was probably a break even month. I didn't play many cash game NL Hold 'em hands at all. Maybe 3000 hands. I put in a decent amount of Omaha hands towards the end of the month, and did pretty good winning a few hundred bucks.

But now that we are in July, I decided to hit those 6 max tables in full force. I'm taking a page out of EurekaKid's blog and writing down my July Goals. I doubt I'll hit them, but it is worth a shot:

- Install, purchase, and set-up Hold 'em Manager (almost complete. This will be done today)
- Play 15,000 hands
- Make $2,500 for the month (4.2 ptbb/100 at 200NL)
- Watch 10 CardRunner videos
- Three blog posts per week
- Make two videos of my play and post them on Internet for people to watch and critique my play
- Get two coaching sessions in with Twelver
- If I have the time, make sure each of my sessions are at least an hour long (Meaning: No logging off after 15 minutes and one bad beat. I need to work on Tilt Control)
- Don't berate the donks (I've grown a habit of typing in "lol" after I lose to a bad beat. I have to stop doing that cause it can put me on tilt)
- If games aren't good at Full Tilt, play 100NL over at PokerStars
- Get down to Iowa and play in some live NL at least once.

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I forgot to blog about my trip to Treasure Island last weekend. The wife and I stayed the night and met some friends, so I was able to get in a good 5 hours of live poker. Unfortunately, Minnesota does not allow NL to be played, so I had to play either limit or spread limit. I ended up playing 2-10 spread most of the night and ended up about $30 or so. I think I played pretty good. I probably lost some value on a few hands, but the boards were pretty scary, so I played them a little passively.

My biggest pot was with KK in one of the blinds. There was a raise to I think $6 and a couple callers. I bumped it up to $16 (max) and got 4 callers!! Then the flop came 976 with two spades. Yuck. I led out $10 and got called by all of them but one. Turn was an offsuit 4. So far so good. I bet out again and all three of them called. Yikes, how many of them are on flush draws? The river brought the Q of spades putting three spades out there. Great. Flush draw just hit. I checked, intending just to check/call to whomever hit their draw. But it checked around and my Kings were good. One of the guys showed 88 for the OESD. But I have no idea what the other two people had. Did they each have an 8 too? Maybe someone had a pair of 9's? Anyways, I was really surprised my KK was good there, and I dragged the $160 pot.

Towards the end of the night, I moved over to the 2-60 spread game. This game is the closest thing to NL that we have in Minnesota. But the game had died down and there were only 5 or 6 people playing by the time I got moved there (Apparently there were two groups of drunk buddies that left about the same time). I didn't play here long as 3 of the 4 other players there were pretty good. One bad old player busted 15 minutes after I got there, and then another young bad player sat down, but busted 15 minutes after that. I ended up losing about $50.

So all-in-all, I lost about $20 or so for the trip. It was fun though. During the previous times I've played live, I would get bored after a couple hours. Probably due to the slowness of the game. But I didn't get bored at all that night. That's a good sign. Maybe I'm getting better at live play.

Cheers!