The Opposite Of Bad

I don't want to say that I am running good and/or hot right now and jinx myself, so I will say that I am doing the opposite of bad right now. The past four days have seen me win at least a buy-in, and it feels pretty good to finally have some hands hold up. I'm actually running a little bit above expectations right now!! Say what?!?! Here is the monthly graph so far:

Though, it isn't too hard to make money when you have players making these type of plays on you:

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

SB: $200
BB: $191.60
UTG: $141.45
Hero (MP): $547.75
CO: $205
BTN: $279.15

Pre-Flop: Qd Qs dealt to Hero (MP) UTG raises to $4, Hero raises to $15, 4 folds, UTG calls $11

Flop: ($33) 6c 4s 6h (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $22, UTG raises to $126.45 and is All-In, Hero calls $104.45

Turn: ($285.90) Ac (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($285.90) Qc (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $285.90 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed 2s 2h (two pair, Sixes and Twos) and LOST (-$141.45 NET)
Hero showed Qd Qs (a full house, Queens full of Sixes) and WON $282.90 (+$141.45 NET)

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

Here is an interesting hand where I flop a set on a monotone and coordinated flop. Villain is a agro donk/spew monkey. What should I do on the turn here? Just keep on firing and be happy to get it all-in? Or would checking behind here ever be good?

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

BB: $200
UTG: $160.95
MP: $237.50
Hero (CO): $461.60
BTN: $200
SB: $305.35

Pre-Flop: Jc Jh dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, MP calls $2, Hero raises to $9, BTN folds, SB calls $8, BB folds, MP calls $7

Flop: ($29) Qd Jd Ad (3 Players)
SB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $18, SB folds, MP calls $18

Turn: ($65) 7h (2 Players)
MP checks, Hero ??????

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

Here are two hands where I wondering if I should value bet the river here? Or am I only ever getting called by better hands?

Hand1: UTG was a donk running at 56/6/1.7 (VPIP/PFR/Agg). A raise on the flop or turn doesn't really make sense, because it is one of the situations where I am way ahead or way behind. I beat KJ, K8-K2 (doubtful he has one of these, but he is 56/6) and air. He doesn't call with Air. He fore sure calls with the other hands, but KJ is the only likely hand he can call with that I beat.

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

SB: $200
BB: $124
UTG: $201.20
Hero (CO): $221.40
BTN: $44.70

Pre-Flop: Kh Qd dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls $2, Hero raises to $9, 3 folds, UTG calls $7

Flop: ($21) Kc 9h Kd (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $14, UTG raises to $28, Hero calls $14

Turn: ($77) Ad (2 Players) UTG bets $34, Hero calls $34

River: ($145) Tc (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero ???

Hand2: Villain is not a regular and he is running at 21/11/1.9 after 255 hands. I just call with AJo with position. If this was a regular LAG, I would 3-bet here, but not with someone like this.

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

Hero (BTN): $223.95
SB: $207
BB: $215.10
UTG: $86
MP: $727.65
CO: $160.80

Pre-Flop: Ad Js dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO raises to $7, Hero calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($17) 8h Jh 4d (2 Players) CO bets $14, Hero calls $14

Turn: ($45) 2s (2 Players) CO bets $33, Hero calls $33

River: ($111) 7h (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero ?????

So the flush draw and straight draw hits, and it could definitely look like I have one of those draws. Would you bet here and maybe get value from KJ or QJ? Or just check behind?

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

And the Funny hand of the Day! I don't really have to say much about this hand. 4 handed, and this dude flops the nizzles, but never once bets. gj, nh, gg, wp.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players
BTN: $206.15
SB: $214.60
BB: $203
Hero (UTG): $203

Pre-Flop: 5h Ah dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, BTN calls $7, SB calls $6, BB calls $5

Flop: ($28) 8d Qc Qs (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($28) Jc (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($28) 3d (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Results: $28 Pot ($1.40 Rake)
BTN showed 7s 7c (two pair, Queens and Sevens) and LOST (-$7 NET)
SB showed Qh 8h (a full house, Queens full of Eights) and WON $26.60 (+$19.60 NET)
BB mucked 6c 8c (two pair, Queens and Eights) and LOST (-$7 NET)
Hero showed 5h Ah (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$7 NET)

Cheers!

Tournaments Are Fun

You know what? I really enjoy playing in poker tournaments. I'm not really sure why though. I've never had a big score in them. And I know for a fact that I down a lot of money from playing tournaments. But damn, they are fun.

This past Monday turned out to be my big tournament night for the week. And I fired up a lot of them. Probably too many, but that is ok. I played in:

- Full Tilt's $10+2 Daily Double A
- Full Tilt's $10+2 Daily Double B
- PokerStars $50+5, 55k guaranteed
- Full Tilt's $50+5, 50k guaranteed
- Full Tilt's $24+2, 28k guaranteed
- PokerStars $15+1.50
- Monday's at the Hoy ($24+2)
- BoDog $20+2

I cashed in one of them, the Daily Double B for a whopping profit of $10.42. Pretty nice, huh? I got pretty far in a few of them, but just wasn't quite lucky enough. I had a nice stack in the 28k, but KK can't beat AK, and then AK can't beat A6 in back to back hands.

I had the chip lead in the Daily Double B for a while. I was crushing the competition. The money bubble finally burst, and I was still in the top 10. Then this hand happened. I win this, and I have the chip lead again with about 150 people left.

The I got moved to another table 10 minutes later where the very bad chip leader was at. He had twice as much as 2nd place at this point, and he was playing every hand. EVERY single hand. I saw him call all-in's with K6, QJ, etc... My bust out hand went like this. A short stack who had 1/3 of what I had open pushes. I find QQ and push my average chip stack in. Chip Leader donk calls. Short Stack had AA. Chip Leader donk has KJ. Quess who won.

Oh well, one of these days I'll get a tournament win.

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

Cash games have been pretty good this past week. I haven't played much, but my quick sessions have been pretty good. I attribute that to being able to actually win a few coin flips. I'm running at about 3 ptBB/100 at the 200NL level, and 7 ptBB/100 at the 100NL, which is pretty respectible.

Here is today's Sweet Hand of the Day.

Villain was running about 33/11 after about 50 hands or so.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

SB: $162
BB: $151.95
Hero (UTG): $198.35
Button: $63.60

Pre-Flop: 6h 6s dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) Kd 6d 5c (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB raises to $30, Hero raises to $80, BB raises to $144.95 and is All-In, Hero calls $64.95

Turn: ($304.90) Qd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($304.90) 7d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $304.90 Pot ($2 Rake)
BB showed As Ah (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$151.95 NET)
Hero showed 6h 6s (three of a kind, Sixes) and WON $302.90 (+$150.95 NET)

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

Here is the Sour Hand of the Day.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this hand. The SB was a donk, running at 51/16. So I have an overpair on the flop, the SB checks, and the donk BB leads out. I raise, which is pretty standard to do on a donk lead. Then the SB cold calls my 3-bet, and the BB obviously folds. The only draw on the flop is either 76 or JT. The turn is a blank 3, which can't possibly help his hand. Now that I think about it, I probably should just check behind there and keep the pot small. I'm either ahead (with him having anywhere from 5-8 outs), or I am way behind. What do you think? The river bet was so small, I had to call and see what he had.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

CO: $108.15
BTN: $79.20
SB: $123.50
BB: $35
UTG: $30.05
Hero (MP): $120

Pre-Flop: Js Jc dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, SB calls $3, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($10.50) 4c 8h 9s (3 Players)
SB checks, BB bets $4, Hero raises to $18, SB calls $18, BB folds

Turn: ($50.50) 3c (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $36, SB calls $36

River: ($122.50) Tc (2 Players)
SB bets $15, Hero calls $15

Results: $152.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed 9d 8d (two pair, Nines and Eights) and WON $149.50 (+$77 NET)
Hero mucked Js Jc (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$72.50 NET)

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

Yippe! Lost is on again tonight! I can't wait.

Cheers!

I Cashed in FTOPS #1!!

Wednesday's are easily my favorite poker day of the week. You got the Mookie, Buddy Dank Radio, and lots of good tournaments going on. Add into that the start of Full Tilt's Online Poker Series Tournaments last night, and you got a great night of poker. I very rarely play in any of the big online tournaments. Mainly because I'm a cash game donk and that most of the big tournies start at dinner time on Sunday's. But with the $200 stating at 8 PM on a Wednesday night, I decided to give it a shot. I tried a few satellites last week, but never won my way in. So I decided to buy right into this thing. I've been running really well in the cash games, so I just figured that I satellited in through the 1/2 NL tables.

Things started out slow for the first hour, as I hovered around the starting stack. Then not too long after the first break, I went on a short card rush and won a few hands. Within six hands, I was dealt QQ three times, doubling up on two of those. That sent my stack into the top 30. First QQ hand I doubled up against 77. In the second QQ hand, there were two limpers, and I raised the 40/80 blinds up to 500 (about 10% of my stack). I got four callers! The flop was a beautiful AQ4. I got it all-in with the donk on the button who had AJ.

Short time after this, I busted one of the Full Tilt Pros, Ali Nejad. I don't know much about Ali, but apparently he is a High Stakes player and also a commentator for NBC on some of their poker shows. He was a short stack and I raised up ATs in late position. He pushed with A8, and I flopped the nuts. As a reward for busting a Full Tilt Pro, I won my buy-in back and a free T-Shirt!

And then for the next couple hours, I went completely card dead. I picked KK once, but only won the blinds. I stole every now and then, but my stack always hovered around the 10k - 17k area. To make a long story short, I made it into the money, and busted out in 533rd place when I pushed with 76s in late position with an M of 2.5 and got called by AQ. I flopped a flush draw, but none of my outs came. 533rd place payed out $308, so I won a whopping $93 for my efforts ($293 if you count the pro bounty)

I probably should have been more aggressive towards the end, but I just wasn't getting any cards to get aggressive with. In well over 250 hands, I did not see AA once. I got KK the one time where I won the blinds, and I got QQ only those three times (All within six hands of each other in hour 2). No JJ or TT, and 99 and 88 once. I only got AK and AQ twice each also.

In addition to FTOPS #1, I also cashed in the $24+2 28k guaranteed, busting out in 84th out of 1347. I didn't see AA in that tournament too. Yikes!

Cash games were also nice to me. +$500 for the night there, and that is even with two massive suckouts and one KK vs AA Blind vs Blind war. One of the massive suck outs saw another of my sets go down in flames to a rivered gutshot. The other was me flopping the nut straight with AK, and a donk going runner runner Royal Flush on me, LOL.

Before I get to the Sweet and Sour hands, here is a very interesting hand where we are 200 BBs deep. There were two major donks at the table, The CO and the BB. The CO was playing pretty much every hand, and he limps. The Button is a very good regular LAG, who I see at 2/4 NL a lot. He has been raising a lot to isolate the donks. Well, I pick up AKs and squeeze from the SB. But the Donk in the BB cold calls (his stats were 33/10 with low aggression factor). Flop comes a pretty coordinated KJ9 rainbow. He calls my flop bet. The turn is an 8, but I'm not too worried about that, as it doesn't help any draws. I bet again and he calls. Uh oh. A cold call of a 3-bet PF can definitely mean monster. Now I am really worried about AA here.

What do you do on the blank river?

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

BTN: $197
Hero (SB): $404.65
BB: $478.05
UTG: $383.35
MP: $200
CO: $428.90

Pre-Flop: Ah Kc dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO calls $2, BTN raises to $9, Hero raises to $33, BB calls $31, 2 folds

Flop: ($77) Jd 9c Ks (2 Players)
Hero bets $50, BB calls $50

Turn: ($177) 8h (2 Players)
Hero bets $120, BB calls $120

River: ($417) 2c (2 Players)
Hero ?????

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

Here is today's Sweet Hand of the Day.

This guy was really loose and playing a lot of hands. I was little worried about the second Ten falling on the turn, but when the third one fell on the river, I knew i was good.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

SB: $292
BB: $446.15
UTG: $347.40
Hero (BTN): $191

Pre-Flop: Ac As dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $7, SB folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) Td 4s Qh (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($39) Th (2 Players)
BB bets $14, Hero calls $14

River: ($67) Ts (2 Players)
BB bets $54, Hero raises to $158 and is All-In, BB calls $104

Results: $383 Pot ($2 Rake)
BB mucked Js Qd (a full house, Tens full of Queens) and LOST (-$191 NET)
Hero showed Ac As (a full house, Tens full of Aces) and WON $381 (+$190 NET)

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

And today's Sour Hand of the Day.

Here is the previously mentioned runner runner Royal Flush hand with ATo. Villain was a donk with stats of 59/33. Thankfully I didn't pay him off (tried to get by cheap by throwing out a blocking bet).

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

UTG: $216.15
Hero (MP): $328.85
CO: $200
BTN: $345.50
SB: $365.30
BB: $214.95

Pre-Flop: As Kc dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $7, CO folds, BTN calls $7, SB calls $6, BB folds

Flop: ($23) Td Qh Jh (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $16, BTN calls $16, SB folds

Turn: ($55) Th (2 Players)
Hero bets $36, BTN calls $36

River: ($127) Kh (2 Players)
Hero bets $42, BTN raises to $100, Hero folds

Results: $211 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed Tc Ah (a Royal Flush) and WON (+$101 NET)

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

February kicks butt. Please don't activate DoomSwitch!

Cheers!

Pocket 6's is the nuts

That was a pretty exciting Superbowl yesterday. At the beginning of the game, I really didn't care who won. I was just hoping for a good, close game. I wouldn't have minded New England winning because I've always been a Randy Moss fan, and it would have been nice to see him with a ring. And I also wouldn't have minded New York winning because then us Vikings fans could say that our team destoyed the Super Bowl champs. But as I was watching the game, I started rooting more for the Giants. I guess I just like rooting for the underdog. I've got a pretty short attention span, and I very rarely can watch a whole football game from beginning to end without either doing something else, or flipping constantly between shows. But the game yesterday was good from beginning to end, so it was an easy one to get into.

Poker was pretty good this weekend. I'm up a decent amount so far this month. I made just over $800 on Sunday, so that was really nice. I've even ran into quite a few coolers too, but I'm still up, so I can't complain. Three of my sets this month have gone down in flames. One to set-over-set, and the other two to straights. WTF?

Like I said a few posts ago, I was going to try and play some more cash game hands over at PokerStars. I did that, but I don't think I'll be putting in too many more hands there. It is just more difficult to find the fish and stay away from the regulars without being able to datamine. Add into that the 27% rakeback, and I think it makes the decision easier to make.

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

Here is Today's Sweet Hand of the Day

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

CO: $318.95
BTN: $218.60
SB: $97.85
BB: $80
Hero (UTG): $275.20
MP: $89.95

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

Flop: ($22) Qs 7c 5c (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $16, BTN calls $16, BB folds

Turn: ($54) 8d (2 Players)
Hero bets $41, BTN raises to $82, Hero raises to $252.20 and is All-In, BTN calls $113.60 and is All-In

River: ($445.20) 6d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $445.20 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed Ks Kd (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$218.60 NET)
Hero showed Qc Qh (three of a kind, Queens) and WON $442.20 (+$223.60 NET)

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

And the Sour Hand of the Day

This happened last wednesday night. SB was the fish at the table. The BB is a regular 2+2 LAG (Loose Aggressive) player with stats around 26/22 or so. I knew that he could be squeezing really light, especially with the fish between us. Not sure what the heck he is doing with AJ there. Does he think I am going to fold after 4-betting? His play is so terrible, but of course he gets rewarded by winning the 72/28. I'm pretty sure this is my biggest losing pot ever. If I win this hand, I have my first ever $1000 day. Boooooo

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

CO: $160.25
Hero (BTN): $618.60
SB: $198.20
BB: $281.45
UTG: $29.75
MP: $324

Pre-Flop: Qd Qh dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB calls $6, BB raises to $28, Hero raises to $90, SB folds, BB raises to $281.45 and is All-In, Hero calls $191.45

Flop: ($569.90) Td 4c 2h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($569.90) 5d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($569.90) 3c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $569.90 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed Qd Qh (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$281.45 NET)
BB showed Ah Js (a straight, Five high) and WON $566.90 (+$285.45 NET)

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

I also have to mention one other hand played last Wednesday. In this hand, I witnessed one of the worst poker plays I have ever seen (and of course they got rewarded). It was at the final table of a FTOPS #1 sattelite. Top 4 got $215 seats, and there were 9 left. I had just below average chip stack, with about 12 Big Blinds or so (but only about an M of 5.5). I find AK in early poistion, and I push. I don't like to mess around with AK with an M that low. I like to see zero cards or all five cards. I get called by a bigger stack in late position. The SB also calls. I had the SB just barely covered. The Late Position guy had KJ. The SB had 66. So that means that the SB calls off his whole stack (about 10 BBs worth) after two people have already gone all-in with 66. Obvisouly a 6 came on the flop and he tripled up. And then to rub it in even more, he knocked me out on the next hand with my QQ <>

So that's the kind of poeple that will be playing in FTOPS #1? I am seriously considering buying directly into FTOPS #1 on wednesday night. I'm due for a nice tournament score, so mayeb it can happen on Wednesday.

Coming up tomorrow, I'll review January.

Cheers!

November 2007 Results

Well, November was a good month thanks to 5 hours over the Thanksgiving Weekend. I think this graph pretty much sums up my poker: Break Even with an occasional hot streak.



Was November my best month ever? I made just over 2 grand, which is where I have been quite a few times. So the answer is: Yes, but just by a little.

Cash Games: $2,177.00

• 100NL: $334.45 (8799 hands)
• 200NL $1,990.80 (5767 hands)
• 400NL -$148.25 (134 hands)

PL Omaha: $27.35

Tournaments: -$189.46

October Rakeback (small due to MGR being reduced because of my Ipod purchased from PT Points): $210.00

Grand Total: $2,224.89



Poker Tracker says I played a total of 43 hours. So if you factor in a little bit more rakeback, I made about $58 an hour. Not too shaby!

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

I didn't play much poker this weekend. Made a couple hundred though. Lost with AKs vs QQ all-in PF against a donk, but 2 orbits later, I got it all-in against a nit with AA vs JJ and won. These two hands show what image can do for your bottom line. Because the nit saw me get it all-in PF with AKs, he felt a lot better about his JJ and called my all-in when I had AA. If he would not have seen that hand, I think he easily lets go of his JJ to my 5-bet (I 3-bet from the blinds, he 4-bet to 40BBs , and I 5-bet shoved)

I've also played some cash games over at PokerStars. I think I am going to play more 100NL over there, especially when there are no good tables going on at FT.

Cheers!

Weekly Review

Man, I've played like a donkey the last two days. From Monday through the first half of Wednesday, I continued my hot streak, winning another $650 (and pushing my monthly total above $3000). But since then, it's been bad.



I think there are few things factoring into this short downswing. First, I am only playing enough to get my 200 Full Tilt Points, so that I can make the Platinum level in the Iron Man Contest. That leads me to rushing through my sessions. And 2nd, I haven't played any long (hour or more) distraction-free poker sessions at all this week.

I also watched a CardRunner video from Fabian on Wednesday. It was a very good video, and he is a very very good player, and an expert hand reader. In his second video, he made very heroic call, and was right against a decent thinking player. So I thought that I could use that knowledge I learned from that video, and do the same.

WRONG!!

My mistake? I was trying to make heroic calls against donkeys. You can't can't can't CAN'T make heroic calls against donkeys. When some passive donkey with an aggression factor of 1.0 starts betting and raising you, more than likely they have a hand.

Oh, and one other thing PokerFool. Ya, I'm talking to you PokerFool. When some donkey limps, then min-3-bets PF, what do you think they have? And when you hit your top pair, and they keep mashing the bet pot button, what do you think they have? Ya, I thought so. SO FOLD!! It's ok to call that min-3-bet PF since you have really good implied odds. But one pair ain't gonna cut it. *smack*

I'm planning to put in a nice session tonight against the weekend donks. Hopefully I can stay above the 2 grand mark for the month and declare November as My Best Month Ever™ !!!

Cheers!

Super Duper Hot Streak

I had one of my best weekends ever over the Thanksgiving Holiday. But what is most surprising, is that I only played a total of 5 hours and 1800 hands.



I only played 5 hours because I also picked up Call of Duty 4 for the PC on Friday. Instead of continuing to play against the mega donks that showed up this weekend, I wanted to play COD4. How sick is that? Running super hot, and then deciding to play something else. I probably could have got in an extra 6 or so hours this weekend. Oh well, it was fun, and I probably would have lost money instead, heh.

Here is a graph of Thursday through Sunday


My Poker EV graph isn't as crazy as you would expect it to be. You would think that with running this hot, my Actual Showdown Winning line would be a lot higher than my Expected Showdown Winning line. But it is only $300 higher.

(This graph also shows Wednesday nights poker play. I ended up even at the end of the night after being down $400)

One thing to note, is that I only flopped 6 sets all weekend. SIX! And still won all that money. I was dealt 150 pairs, saw a flop with 98 of them. Eleven sets would have been average.

Here are some hands from the weekend. First the big winners at 200NL

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1741950
Some donk raises small and pretty much everyone calls, so I call too. Swool is a regular, and I was afraid he had the nut flush. But there is no way I am folding the 2nd nuts here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1741959
Holy Crap, I won a coin flip! AKs vs QQ against a regular and I flop the nuts!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1741962
I flop a flush draw and hit on the turn. A 33/6 dude has two pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1741970
I 3-bet a regular with AA. He 4-bets and I shove and he calls with AQ. Woot!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1741975
A passive 28/5 guy flopped a set a 4's against me, but I hit my gin card on the turn. A cooler for him, but he could have played it a lot better.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1741991
AA vs QQ against a 55/15 donk.

Then there were a bunch of standard pots from half stack donks. I had people calling my all-ins or pushing against me with top pair/crap kicker, bottom pair, a straight on flush boards, etc...

A couple big 100NL hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1742003
I trap a 85/17 donk and he overbets pushes all-in on the turn drawing dead.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1742012
An 18/12 nit regular plays it really really bad. I gave him reason to fold PF, on the flop, and on the turn, but I still got his stack.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1742019
Definitely scared money here. I didn't put him on KK, that's for sure. I flop mid pair and a flush draw, and trip up on the turn.

A couple other standard hands, like KK vs AK all-in PF and my hand holding up, etc....

And here are the big losing pots for me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1742034
This table had a couple donks and was very passive. I usually raise with 76s there, but open limped because of the table conditions. What do you think of my push on the flop? I flop bottom two pair, and the SB leads out, with the donk flat calling. I put the donk on a flush draw, and the SB on a jack or something like that. It turns out NDHawg folded Ax of spades, so he had the nut flush draw and folded the winning hand. The donk was better off than I thought, with his top pair plus the flush draw. After the money gets all-in, it was a coinflip, and I lost this one. Oh well. I got most of that money back from him later on.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1742049
This hand confused me. Tygerlily was the donk at the table, running at 51/20. I knew I was ahead of him, but I was confused about what Jimmy had. I probably should have bet the turn, but I decided to check and see what the others would do. When Jimmy folded to Tyger's bet, I knew I was ahead. Tyger hits one of their 10 outs. Boooo.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1742066
I own this over-agro 33/21 donk, and he gets rewarded on the turn after all the money gets in AA vs TT.


There you go. If I don't play any more poker this month, I will finish with my Best Month Ever™! But I want to hit the top Iron Man status, so I need to get 200 FT points every day the rest of the month.

Cheers!

Weekend Hijinks

I played a decent amount of poker the weekend, and did really well. Losing streak over maybe? I sure hope so.

I played in my very first Omaha Tournament this weekend. It was the nightly $24+2, $4,000 guaranteed at Full Tilt.



4th place and a nice $400 profit. I even had to take a 20 minute break when it was down to 12 people to go pick up my wife at the bar, ha! I left with an M of around 10 and in 6th place. I got back, and it was down to 8 people, and my stack had been cut in half but still in 6th place. I stayed around until it was down to 4, and then pushed with a JJxx one suit hand and was called by a QQxx hand. I flopped a flush draw, but didn't hit any of my outs.

I did look back at the hand history to see if I missed any big hands, and there was one hand where I was dealt a good AAxx hand, and would have lost on the river. So it turns out that having to take that 20 minute break made me an extra $300!

Cash games went pretty good this weekend also. It was very up and down at first, but in the end, I came out ahead $600 or so.



I even played some Omaha Hi cash games, and turned a nice $150 profit there. I am really liking the Omaha games, and I think I will have to check out some of the Omaha CardRunners videos.

So all-in-all, a very profitable weekend. Somewhere around one grand in profit. Very Nice!

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

A few interesting hands from this weekend.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1721117
This is against a 21/16 regular. Should I check the turn to induce a bet from him? Or just keep playing it fast?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1721134
Against another very aggressive regular running at 20/15 and aggression factors of 3/3/1.9/1.8. I flop Top Pair, plus a flush draw, plus a gutshot. If he has an overpair, I have 18 outs. Is my push ok?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1721144
Against a 50/10 donk. I checked the river planning on check-raising all-in. He checks behind with the nuts. LOL!

Cheers!!

7 Month Review

I've been playing poker over at Full Tilt full time now for 7 months. So I thought I would go through my stats/graphs of my cash game play and put up a review post. I think it is good to do this every once in a while and see how you are progressing as a poker player.

April
I don't have a pic handy, but here are the stats for April

• 9617 hands @ 100NL
• Profit of $843.49 = 8.77 BB/100 ( 4.39 ptbb/100)
• VP$Ip = 20.1; PFR% = 14.2
  

May


June


July


August


September


October


Grpahs (I have two databases, so two graphs)



So, I've played:

• 64,786 hands at 100NL 6 max. I have made $6,853.55. That is 10.58 BB/100 (or 5.29 ptbb/100).
• 18,796 hands at 200NL 6 max. I have lost $443.20. That is -1.18 BB/100 (or -0.59 ptbb/100)
  

That's pretty good from what I hear for 100NL. But yuck @ the 200NL stats. Why can't I beat 200NL? Man this is frustrating.

I like that first graph. A nice steady upward climb (That graph consists of 41K hands @100NL, and only 6400 hands at 200NL). That second graph is ugly (24K @ 100NL, 12.4K @ 200NL). Holy Up and Down Batman!

Not sure where to go from here. I want to improve as a poker player, but I also want to make some nice spending money. I could make a lot more money 6 tabling 100NL than I could 4 tabling 200NL. But would I improve as a poker player? Can a casual player do well playing 400NL and higher? Am I just on a downswing and things will eventually turn around (Look at my pokerEV graph a few posts down)?

What I think I need is a coach. But I don't think I can justify the price tag of one when I only play 10 hours a week. Maybe a study partner? Someone who plays 100NL - 400NL, with extra free time to burn, where we could go over each others Hand History sessions?

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

A couple frustrating hands from yesterday:

a 24/12 guy in the Cutoff open raises. I 3-bet from the Button with AQ and he calls. Flop comes 952 with two hearts. He checks, I c-bet and he calls. A non-heart King comes off. That's a good card for me I think. I could definitely rep AK here. I would think I could get any hand (Except for slowplayed AA or KK) to fold there. I would think TT-JJ would fold also, since there is now an overcard, plus I am showing a lot of strength. But he check/calls. WTF does he have here? 99? jeez, I would think AA or KK would raise somewhere in there. River is some blank and I check behind. What does he have? 96o. ya, figure that one out. So he put me exactly on the hand that he beats?

Another AQ hand. This time against a calling station fish. I open raise with my AQ and he calls in position. Flop comes Q63 with two spades. I bet pot, and he calls. I know he is drawing. Turn is a non-spade blank. I bet pot again and he calls. River is a 5. Not a spade. I have about a pot size bet, but I check trying to induce a bet from a missed flush draw. He obliges and pushes and I call. Cards get flipped over, and yes, I am right. he does have two spades and was drawing. but the chips slide his way! WTF? He had 74 of spades and the 5 gave him his gutshot straight.

Add that to the two set vs overpair losses the last couple days, and you can see how my poker has been going.

I know, I know. Quit being results orientated. *grumble* *grumble*

Mega-Post

I've got a Mega-Post here, because I played some Mega-Poker Last night. I played in a bunch of tournies, and played about 900 hands of 200NL.

Here are the tournie reports. I also played in the Mookie, but went out after the first break. I 3-bet from the blinds and then pushed (which was pot sized) the Q94 flop. I got called by TT. I guess he put me on AK (I had A9). No respect for the PokerFool. I'm ok with my play, as I think AA-QQ and AK push PF, and I can find an easy fold.


Full Tilt's 28K guarantee:

• I double up with AA vs 99. I 3-bet from the SB with my aces, and he pushed.
• 1 limper, and I raise QQ up to 400 (50/100 level). The big stack on the button, plus the limper call. FLop is 863 rainbow. Button calls my bet. Turn is another 8. I push and button calls with 76o and I double up. Thanks you sir! I now have a really nice stack.
  
• I lose a decent sized pot to the same idiot above with Top Pair/3rd Kicker (KJ) to his Top Pair/Top Kicker (AK). He didn't RR PF, so I had trouble putting him on AK. Bad play by me anyways.
• I short stack beats my KK with AJ.
• I win a decent pot with AK on an Ace high flop
• 1 limper, then the SB completes, and I have AK in the BB. I raise, and the limper pushes. Huh? I call and he has KQ and my hand holds!! WOW!
• Blinds 200/400, and I try to steal with A2s. Someone with 1/3 of my stack size pushes, and I have to call because I have odds. He has TT and I lose.
• I win a nice size pot with KK vs QQ.
  
• 400/800/100 level, and I have 15,000 in chips. I get it all-in with someone who has 10,000 in chips with KK vs their AQ. An Ace obviously flops, and I lose.
• I'm now short with an M of 2, and push my JTs and get called by AJ and lose
  

I cashed, but it wasn't much of a profit. Maybe $30?

Full Tilt's $10 rebuy:

• I played kinda of crazy in this one, pushing a lot of crap. And finally, after a couple rebuy's, it started to pay off. I ended the rebuy period with a massive stack, and was in the top 3 in chips. The big hand was me having two pair plus the 2nd nut flush draw getting called by bottom pair. That was an 18,000 pot at the 25/50 level.
• About half an hour into the "regular" poker, I lost a huge hand to a donkey when his two pair were higher than my two pair. Then I doubled up off of him two hands later with KQ vs JJ.
• Then the hand of the tournie. I knock out three players in one hand. I'm just gonna post the HH.
  

Seat 1: aviaman (4,845)
Seat 2: fisherking320 (4,790)
Seat 3: OMGitsPokerFool (8,480)
Seat 4: rusostreet (17,545)
Seat 5: payems (15,915)
Seat 6: birdynumnumz (13,890)
Seat 7: BRA51 (7,925)
Seat 8: RollinTheDice (10,830)
Seat 9: jasoncroft427 (15,080)
aviaman antes 50
fisherking320 antes 50
OMGitsPokerFool antes 50
rusostreet antes 50
payems antes 50
birdynumnumz antes 50
BRA51 antes 50
RollinTheDice antes 50
jasoncroft427 antes 50
payems posts the small blind of 200
birdynumnumz posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [Kd Ad]
BRA51 raises to 800
RollinTheDice calls 800
jasoncroft427 folds
aviaman calls 800
fisherking320 raises to 4,740, and is all in
OMGitsPokerFool raises to 8,430, and is all in
rusostreet folds
payems folds
birdynumnumz folds
BRA51 calls 7,075, and is all in
RollinTheDice folds
aviaman calls 3,995, and is all in
OMGitsPokerFool shows [Kd Ad]
BRA51 shows [Qd Qs]
aviaman shows [Ac 4c]
fisherking320 shows [Qc As]
Uncalled bet of 555 returned to OMGitsPokerFool
*** FLOP *** [Kc 9d Ah]
*** TURN *** [Kc 9d Ah] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9d Ah 7h] [8h]
OMGitsPokerFool shows two pair, Aces and Kings
BRA51 shows a pair of Queens
OMGitsPokerFool wins side pot #2 (6,160) with two pair, Aces and Kings
aviaman shows a pair of Aces
OMGitsPokerFool wins side pot #1 (165) with two pair, Aces and Kings
fisherking320 shows a pair of Aces
OMGitsPokerFool wins the main pot (20,810) with two pair, Aces and Kings
fisherking320 stands up
aviaman stands up
BRA51 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 27,135 Main pot 20,810. Side pot 1 165. Side pot 2 6,160. | Rake 0
Board: [Kc 9d Ah 7h 8h]
Seat 1: aviaman showed [Ac 4c] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: fisherking320 showed [Qc As] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 3: OMGitsPokerFool showed [Kd Ad] and won (27,135) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 4: rusostreet (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: payems (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: birdynumnumz (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: BRA51 showed [Qd Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: RollinTheDice folded before the Flop
Seat 9: jasoncroft427 folded before the Flop

Some other idiot at the table berated me afterwards for a nice suckout. Not sure what he meant, because I was 33% to win that, with QQ only winning 47% of the time. I don't think that qualifies as a suckout. What else am I going to do with AKs there?

• I was having fun with this idiot, saying things like "I was at least a 70% to win that hand" and "I had 4 outs 5 times. That's like, 80%!). Then I knocked him out with JJ vs his AK.
• I raise 76 of hearts and get called in the blinds. Flop is 9h 8s 4h . The blind leads out and pushes just over the size of the pot. I'm opened ended with a flush draw, so I call. He has overs plus a gutshot (QJs) and then goes runner runner spades to win.
• Blinds are getting up there, and my M is around 11. I try and steal with A7o and get called from the blinds with somone who just barely has me covered. Flop is 345 rainbow. I bet, and get min-raised. Not really sure what to do here. I figured I have my straight outs (A 2 or 6 gives me a straight) and my Ace might be an out. I figured them to have a min-pocket pair like 88. So I pushed and they had 33. No 8 outer for me, and I get busted right near the bubble.
  

PokerStars $10 rebuy

• I played this rebuy a lite crazy, rebuying a couple time also, but I didn't get a biug stack in this one. I ended the rebuy period with only 7,000 in chips, which was about half of average. Yuck
• I played super tight in this tournie. My stack flucuated between 8000 and 5000 for the next hour and a half. With blinds at 300/600, and my M of 5.5, I pushed AQ and got called by QQ. But I win! Suckout for me!
• With my M sitting at 6, I double up on the big stack, who was playing really bad, when my AT beats his KT (I'm thinking that calling an All-in with KT, even if you are the chip leader, is bad). I now have some breathing room, and I am near average.
  
• I double up on the big stack again, When he 3-bets me AGAIN, and I push. I have Aces this time. What does he have? KT again. LOL. I now have a stack above average and am looking really good.
• I'm still right above average. I raise my AKs and the button pushes. They have me just barely covered. I make the easy call, and they have AQ. Horray! Flop is AQ5. Unbelievable. If I win that, I am in the top 10 in chips. Instead, I am knocked out right near the bubble.
  

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

Cash game were really up and down. I played about 900 hands at 200NL back over at Full Tilt. I ended up a whopping $60. And that was with winning my biggest pot ever at the cash games. There were so many suckouts, it was unbelievable.



Biggest pot. I flop the nut flush against a donk I've tanlged with a lot in the last few orbits (One of the hands below is from him). I'm not too happy when the board pairs the river, but I think my river push could look tilty. Especially against a donk.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651691

I tanlged with this dude quite a bit, and I think he was getting frustrated with me. I decide to just flat call PF with my Kings.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651699

I opted to just flat call the 4-bet from the regular, instead of just push PF with my Aces. What looks like an awesome flop for me, is actually bad, because there is no way I'm getting any more money from him unless he has AK.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651702

I'm embarrassed to post this hand. Up against two donks. I should have re-popped PF, but I hate it when donks min-3-bet PF. Especially 50/10 donks. When they both check the turn, I figured I had the best hand. When the other donk calls my big bet, I should have put him on on two pair or something that beats me. Even a flush draw. And then the river brings the flush card, and I still call his shove. Really really bad call by me. Of course, his call on the turn is terrible and donks always get rewarded at Full Tilt.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651709

This hand is against the guy from the KK vs JJ hand and happened 2 or 3 hands before that one. He has your typical Tagish stats, and he might be a regular. That board is pretty tame, without many draws there. What do you think of my Flop Re-raise? I'm kind of OK with this I guess. It did set up our KK vs JJ hand, so it had meta-game advantages
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651719

Another very similar hand as the above, except this one is against a 55/4 donk. This re-raise probably isn't good against an idiot who probably doesn't think beyond just what he has in his hand.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651735

This one is against the donk from my biggest pot ever. Again, another terrible call by him gets rewarded. My river call is marginal though, but I put him on a hand with a 5 in it, like 65 or something. So I thought that two pair hands are in his range. With the river card also bringing the flush though, I think this is more of a check/fold on the river. Argggg.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651754

And then we'll end on funny note. I decide to fire a 2nd barrel here. Check out what he calls (and wins) with. Dammit PokerFool! Don't bluff the calling stations!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1651761


Cheers

Up a couple buy-ins over at Stars

I've played the last couple days over at PokerStars, and I think I am up a couple buy-ins. My first impressions of the cash game players at 100NL 6max are that they are a little bit worse than Full Tilt. I had people limp/calling with K5o, people calling cont bets with no pair/no draw, etc...

Here are the more interesting hands:

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

This guy was a 40/35 donk. Probably should have bet more on the flop. What do you think I should have done on the turn when that 3rd club comes? Is this push ok?

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

MP: $240
CO: $136.90
BTN: $43.25
Hero (SB): $203.80
BB: $41.95
UTG: $51

Pre-Flop: 8 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO raises to $3, BTN calls $3, Hero raises to $15, BB folds, CO calls $12, BTN folds

Flop: ($34) 8 5 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $22, CO calls $22

Turn: ($78) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $166.80 and is All-In, CO folds

Results: $78 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked 8 8 and WON $75 (+$38 NET)

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

This guy was running at 50/11 and liked to lead out of position a lot. He seemed to fold if faced with resistance, so I pegged him as a "bluffer". He has $58 left, so I think a push is the only play here. Though, a case can be made for a flat call and let him bluff the river again (Though I wanted to charge him if he had a Ten in his hand)

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

SB: $94.90
Hero (BB): $123.05
UTG: $113.15
MP: $96
CO: $102.95
BTN: $52.60

Pre-Flop: J Q dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, SB calls $0.50, Hero raises to $4, SB calls $3

Flop: ($8) J Q 9 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $7, SB calls $7

Turn: ($22) 2 (2 Players)
SB bets $25, Hero raises to $112.05 and is All-In, SB folds

Results: $72 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked J Q and WON $69 (+$33 NET)

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

I didn't know what to do here on the turn when the 3rd heart fell with KK out of position. I'm thinking Bet/Fold?

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

SB: $113.15
BB: $100.50
UTG: $86.30
Hero (MP): $140.30
CO: $76.50
BTN: $101.45

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG calls $1, Hero raises to $5, CO calls $5, 3 folds, UTG calls $4

Flop: ($16.50) 3 8 Q (3 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $13, CO calls $13, UTG folds

Turn: ($42.50) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $18, Hero raises to $122.30 and is All-In, CO calls $40.50 and is All-In

River: ($159.50) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $159.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed K K (three of a kind, Kings) and LOST (-$76.50 NET)
CO showed 2 A (a flush, Ace high) and WON $156.50 (+$80 NET)

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

Cooler

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BB: $115.20
UTG: $58.70
MP: $135.30
CO: $127.95
BTN: $154.75
Hero (SB): $99

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP calls $1, CO folds, BTN calls $1, Hero raises to $6, BB folds, MP calls $5, BTN folds

Flop: ($14) A 7 K (2 Players)
Hero bets $9, MP calls $9

Turn: ($32) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $25, MP calls $25

River: ($82) 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets $59 and is All-In, MP calls $59

Results: $200 Pot ($3 Rake)
MP showed Q T (a flush, Ace high) and WON $197 (+$98 NET)
Hero showed K A (two pair, Aces and Kings) and LOST (-$99 NET)

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

Another Cooler. Top Pair, Top kicker with nut flush draw. No way I'm getting away from this.

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

UTG: $111.55
Hero (MP): $118.15
CO: $143.35
BTN: $42.95
SB: $94.40
BB: $50.15

Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $4, 3 folds, BB calls $3

Flop: ($8.50) 8 A 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6, BB raises to $14, Hero calls $8

Turn: ($36.50) A (2 Players)
BB bets $7, Hero raises to $100.15 and is All-In, BB calls $25.15 and is All-In

River: ($100.80) J (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $100.80 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked A K and LOST (-$50.15 NET)
BB showed 8 A (a full house, Aces full of Eights) and WON $97.80 (+$47.65 NET)


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

I am planning on playing in the Mookie tonight after trick-or-treating. I haven't quite decided how much longer I want to be playing cash games at PokerStars. It is definitely more difficult since I don't have stats on anyone over there. But it is a nice to do something different, especially when I'm in a rut.

Cheers!