Still moving along nicely

Bankroll: -327

Tonight was another great night. I'm trying to limit myself to 2 tables, and only a couple of hours a night. I had some wonderful hands tonight. I'll post a few of the gems here now, and I'll try to fully analyze them tomorrow to see if I played them as well as I thought.

Full Tilt Poker $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 829600

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



CO: $2.09

BTN: $1.87

SB: $1.75

BB: $1.96

Hero (UTG): $2.34



Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is UTG with 8 8

Hero raises to $0.07, 1 fold, BTN raises to $0.14, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.07



Flop: ($0.31) J 8 8 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20



Turn: ($0.71) 6 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40



River: ($1.51) 3 (2 players)

Hero requests TIME, Hero bets $0.77, BTN raises to $1.13 all in, Hero calls $0.36



Final Pot: $3.77

BTN shows A J (two pair, Jacks and Eights)

Hero shows 8 8 (four of a kind, Eights)

Hero wins $3.52

(Rake: $0.25)




Here, my opponent has been playing a 20/8 game over 60 hands. When he 3-bets my UTG raise, I know he's got something decent, but he min-3-bets it. Given that he has a full stack, I'm going to call at 3:1 odds and hope to hit an 8.

When I flop TWO Eights, I can only hope he hit his hand. I'm not concerned about flush draws here, so I check and hope he leads out. He obliges and I call. Same with the turn. At the river, I'm fairly certain by the way he's betting that he has either one or two jacks in his hand, which means he's dead in the water. If he's got 2 jacks, he'll put it in. If he only has one, then I need to simply milk as much as I can, given that by now he must suspect that I have one eight in my hand (or at least a jack). I lead out with a half pot size bet hoping that he'll call. He was nice enough to push, and I scoop after he shows AJ. I'm surprised he allowed things to get this far out of hand, and I was lucky enough to flop the nuts while an opponent hit a strong (but not monster) hand.

On the next hand, I flop a monster draw and hit. With some unusual betting, I manage to eeke out almost a full stack once I hit my flush.

Full Tilt Poker $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 829605

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



MP: $2.03

CO: $2.05

BTN: $1.47

SB: $2.02

Hero (BB): $5.24

UTG: $2.75



Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with 8 7

3 folds, BTN calls $0.02, 1 fold, Hero checks



Flop: ($0.05) 4 T 9 (2 players)

Hero bets $0.04, BTN calls $0.04



Turn: ($0.13) K (2 players)

Hero bets $0.02, BTN raises to $0.19, Hero calls $0.17



River: ($0.51) 9 (2 players)

Hero bets $0.04, BTN raises to $0.20, Hero raises to $1.11, BTN raises to $1.22 all in, Hero calls $0.11



Final Pot: $2.95

BTN shows K T (two pair, Kings and Tens)

Hero shows 8 7 (a flush, King high)

Hero wins $2.76

(Rake: $0.19)




Here, I don't have a lot of history on my opponent. Just 6 hands, and he's called in 4 of them... so maybe loose, but can't be sure at this stage. I flop a draw to an open ended straight and a flush (or a straight-flush). I bet out, and hope he'll call.

I hit my straight, and now the issue is how to extract as much as possible. I want to seem like I'm betting weakly, in an effort to draw him in. The danger here is that another heart could drop on the river, and then I've got some hard choices. After I lead out for 0.02, he decides I'm bluffing and bets the pot. I will either raise or call. If I raise, I think he'll see the flush and fold, so I simply call, and hope to make more money on the river.

A second nine falls, but not another flush card. I no longer hold the nuts any longer. If he's got a pair of 4's, 9's, T's, or K's, I've lost. Same with any number of better flushes. Given his betting so far, any of those hands is possible, but so are a multitude of other one-pair or two pair hand. I'm still trying to get some more money into the pot.

To be consistent with the turn, I bet 0.04. I'm afraid a larger bet may wake him up to the possibility that I actually hold the flush. Luckily, he takes the bait and reraises. His reraise is only 40% of the pot, so I don't think he's got one of the monster hands I described. I reraise nearly his whole stack, he puts in the rest, and shows me two pair, losing the hand.

My whole night has been like this and its been wondeful.

Anyways, my bankroll at Full Tilt has grown to $46. That covers the 20 Buy In's at NL2 I need, plus an extra $6. $6 is more than I need for an NL5 Buy In, so I will take a shot at NL5 next time I play. Wish me luck.

Post-Holiday Play!

Tonight I decided to get back into it, after a short Holiday break.

First up was Pokerstar's Multi-table tournament promotion for getting all the questions on a quiz correct. By responding correctly, you can join the tournament with a $5 entry fee, but they add $20000 to the prize pool. I checked just before the time-slot, and it looked like just over 2000 players joined, so I hopped in, seeing as how only $10,000 of the $30,000 prize pool was covered by the players (kinda making my $5 worth $15, if you think about it!).

Unfortunately, I had to sit out of the first hour of the tournament due to nagging household chores, but after I jumped into the saddle to play, I actually placed quite well. The bubble was at 324 players, with prizes starting at $15.00. I was knocked out at roughly 425th - so just out of the bubble.

I then proceeded to play 2 separate $5.5 sit and go's! (an attempt at moving up in stakes!). Regretably, I ended up placing 5th in one and 6th in the other.

Thinking that perhaps I'd chewed off more than I could handle, I fired up 2 separate $3.4 sit and go's! (back to what I'm used to!). I lost both in 5th place again! (What's with me and 5th place?).

In the end I played 4 more. I was 2nd place in the last 3, so this made up for the other $3.4 losses at least.

At the same time, I played a little bit of NL2 cash during the low and mid blind play when my concentrated isn't needed as much, and came away with some small change. This makes my last 4 sessions positive, which almost makes up 3/4 of a buy-in. So I'm happy with my progress there.

Anyways, the bankroll is now at $221.78. Still off from the higher point of $254, but still quite respectable.

Have a happy holiday everyone.

How I can't win with a Full House!

OK.

I've played 14 hands tonight at cash. On hand number 8, I lose a full $5 Buy-In on another Full House, losing to a better full house made on the river! Sound like my last post? You betcha! I know this is just a bit of bad luck, but it can be very discouraging.

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - View hand 438143

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



UTG+1: $4.63

MP1: $4.71

MP2: $4.16

CO: $5.20

BTN: $5.00

Hero (SB): $5.00

BB: $2.29

UTG: $6.50



Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB with 9 9

UTG calls $0.02, 5 folds, Hero calls $0.01, BB checks



Flop: ($0.06) 9 6 5 (3 players)

Hero bets $0.04, BB folds, UTG raises to $0.16, Hero raises to $0.28, UTG calls $0.12



Turn: ($0.62) 5 (2 players)

Hero checks, UTG checks



River: ($0.62) T (2 players)

Hero bets $0.24, UTG raises to $6.20 all in, Hero calls $4.46 all in



Final Pot: $10.02

Hero shows 9 9 (a full house, Nines full of Fives)

UTG shows T T (a full house, Tens full of Fives)

UTG wins $9.52

(Rake: $0.50)





Lets see how we roll for the rest of the night!

Rough night at $3.40 SnG's!

Its been awhile since I've posted (and played!). Holidays are taking their toll, plus having two flu shots at once on Tuesday meant being ultra-sleepy -> not the best state to be playing poker!

So, got back into it tonight. Been playing one cash table, which so far has been break-even over 60 or so hands.

Unfortunately, during that time I've participated in 3 separate $3.40 Sit and Go's. I lost all three... the first one I lost with a heartbreaker of a hand. The table was so aggressive and loose, it was closing on the bubble and the blinds were only at 25/50!! Here it is for all to see.... Brutal Hand.

Poker Stars $3.00+$0.40 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t25/t50 Blinds - 5 players - View hand 435044

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



BB: t2855 M = 38.07

UTG: t1830 M = 24.40

CO: t2590 M = 34.53

Hero (BTN): t1445 M = 19.27

SB: t6280 M = 83.73



Pre Flop: (t75) Hero is BTN with K Q

UTG raises to t100, 1 fold, Hero calls t100, SB calls t75, BB calls t50



Flop: (t400) Q Q 3 (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks



Turn: (t400) K (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets t150, Hero calls t150, SB folds, BB folds



River: (t700) A (2 players)

UTG bets t200, Hero raises to t500, UTG raises to t1200, Hero calls t695 all in



Final Pot: t3090

UTG shows A Q (a full house, Queens full of Aces)

Hero shows K Q (a full house, Queens full of Kings)

UTG wins t3090

The Meaning of Tilt

The evening before yesterday, I had a fairly even night.

On the one hand, the bad news is that I lost 2 $3.40 Sit and Go's. I finished 4th place in both - just out of the money.

On the other hand, I won $4.48 in NL2 cash play in 217 hands. The next night, I was not as fortunate.

Encouraged by my success the previous evening in cash, I decided to fire up 4 tables at NL2. Unfortunately, the cards ran really cold, and after 3 and a half hours, I was down $4, nearly a full buy-in. At this point, its 1:15 a.m. A rational person would call it quits and hope for a better day tomorrow. BUT NOT ME!!!

Instead, I'm angry that I spent so long at the tables without hitting a hand with action (the only big pair I had out of 440 hands last night was KK. Everyone folded to my pre-flop raise, netting me $0.03). So, exhausted and angry, what do I do?

Why, I buy in two levels above! NL10! And not only that, I do it on a table format I haven't been playing -> 6 max! The land of aggressive players.

Needless to say, my play from that point on was not pretty. I started up a couple of dollars with a nice hand, but within 20 minutes, I had spewed away one and a half full buy-ins.

I fully deserved what I got. A prime example of my awful play was a hand like this:

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/428598
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG): $10.00
MP: $12.50
CO: $7.20
BTN: $10.00
SB: $6.80
BB: $7.15

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with 5d Kd
Hero raises to $0.30, 4 folds, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65) 4d 5c 3h (2 players)
BB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.70, BB calls $0.50

Turn: ($2.05) Ts (2 players)
BB bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.90, BB calls $0.80

River: ($3.85) 6s (2 players)
BB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $3.60, BB raises to $5.25 all in, Hero calls $1.65

Final Pot: $14.35
Hero shows 5d Kd (a pair of Fives)
BB shows Qd 2h (a straight, Deuce to Six)
BB wins $13.65
(Rake: $0.70)

SURE, he should not have been calling my flop and turn raises with the low end of a straight draw (they were priced too high), but I certainly had no business making those raises with a pair of 5's.

So, in summary, my total loss for the night was $18.83. WAY TO GO, ME! That's a whole week's work destroyed.

I suppose the only redeeming thing is that as I while writing this, I played 19 NL2 hands, and recouped $1.53. Hit trips twice, and was dealt KK (cowboys) on the last hand. Woo-hoo! Anyways, time for this post to end. No more poker tonight.

Bankroll is now $233.71

Waiting for the Depositor Freeroll Finals!

Only 1 or 2 minutes to go before the depositor freeroll finals! For some reason, I'm more excited about this than anything else this week. It looks like the field will be composed of 5066 entrants. Top 500 are paid $10 or more. I was trying to prime myself by playing a little NL2 just beforehand. On my 2nd hand, I'm dealt a tough one. I've got to fold KK once the flop is bad, and it just gets worse down to the river.


Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/423911The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
UTG+2: $3.05
Hero (MP1): $5.00
MP2: $6.75
CO: $2.72
BTN: $1.01
SB: $1.61
BB: $5.00
UTG: $5.56
UTG+1: $1.29

Pre Flop: ($0.03)
Hero is MP1 with Kh Kc
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.04, UTG+2 calls $0.04, Hero raises to $0.28, MP2 calls $0.28, 6 folds

Flop: ($0.67) Jc As Td (2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, MP2 calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.27) Js (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

River: ($1.27) 9c (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $1, Hero folds

The Story So Far

This graph fairly represents the Bankroll since I started playing with a $50 deposit to Pokerstars at the end of June 2009. Its been a VERY rocky 5 month journey!

As you can see, the first month was fairly rough. I was playing $1+$0.10 Double or Nothing sit and go tournaments to build my bankroll. I was quite successful at these Double or Nothing's, but unfortunately, I was also spending time playing cash games at NL2 (blinds are $0.01 and $0.02). I was losing more at cash than I was making in the DoN's - hence the tragic plummet, which had me at a low point of $14.50 in late July. At this point, I realized that playing even the lowest stakes with real money was vastly different than playing for play money, and I pledged to improve and become a winning player.

August was a month where I ran well, and stuck to what I was good at, and essentially rebuilt the shattered bankroll. I avoided cash games altogether. The huge spike at the beginning of October was due to my $50 first deposit bonus clearing.

The massive crash in November can pretty much be accounted for by my decision to run at higher stakes. Almost as soon as that decision was made, I did poorly at the new stakes. Once I saw the freefall, I moved back down in stakes, but then I started running very poorly, and just couldn't seem to win any key showdowns.

Luckily, things seemed to stabilize at the end of November, and I've been running very well, recouping a lot of lost ground in a very short time. This has been very encouraging and has given me a lot of hope for my future with this game