Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Pushing over limpers

I remember promising to do a strategy post eventually. Well, I figure, since I’m losing, and am fresh out of posts that don’t involve whining about losing, this may be a good time to try one. And who knows, maybe I’ll learn something. Maybe I’ll discover that elusive leak that is causing my losses.

This is going to pertain directly to late game Sit&Go’s, and I suppose, MTT’s too.

Alright, every good SNG player has adopted essentially the same late game strategy – the pushbot. Once your stack gets to the magical mark of 10bb, essentially the only move you have is to go all in preflop. Skill at this point is the ability to correctly assume your opponents calling ranges. When you are about to push, since you have zero information about the strength of your opponents hands, you can only assume they have been dealt a random assortment of cards, in which they may or may not call. If you are sitting there with 23o on the button and it’s folded to you, it may be profitable to push this hand all in depending on the style of your opponents in the blinds. If they are the type to only call with strong hands, then yes, push away. But if they either suck and will call with K9o or they are really good and they will call with K9o, then you are better off folding and waiting for a better spot.

Anyways, that is beyond the scope of this post. Get Sit & Go Poker Tracker if you are unfamiliar with standard pushbot strategy.

This post deals with when you have a little extra information about your opponent’s hands before pushing. How do you obtain that you ask? Simple - they have acted before you. Each opponent before you has the conscious choice to fold, call, raise or push each hand (duh). When they push, it’s a fairly straight forward decision for you, since they’ve taken away any “play” you can make, you no longer have any fold equity. You can only call and win at showdown, and obviously need a fairly strong hand (basically stronger than theirs) to call.

But what is your play when they raise, but not all in? Or how about when they limp? Do things change? Well, it all depends. Many people early game will limp with a ton of shit, since they have so many chips relative to the blinds. But once the blinds are representing a large portion of each players stack, everyone is much less likely to limp with shit (obviously there are exceptions). So, when a player limps at this point, and you are sitting there with a hand you would have pushed had it been folded to you, what’s your play?

Again it depends. But for the most part, if they are limping late game, they are either trapping with a big hand, or they just suck and are limping with some marginal hand they either should have raised with or folded. Generally, you will be able to tell. Good players simply don’t open limp with marginal shit late game. You can be almost certain that if you see a good player limp late game when they have around 10bb, they have KK+. If you are sitting there on the button with A7 and you see a good player limp ahead of you, throw it away.

Now, when you are faced with a bad player limping late game, this is where your decision making will make a huge difference in long term EV. Bad players limp with marginal to good hands late game. They generally limp with low-mid pairs (22-99), 2 face cards, semi-weak aces (A2-AT) and suited connectors. Most bad players will know enough to raise with premium aces and pairs, but you will still see many limping with them for reasons unexplained. What they intend to gain by limping AQo late game is beyond my understanding, but you will see it, albeit infrequently.

Now, when you are sitting there with your 2 cards that you probably would have pushed into the blinds if it was folded to you, you have to decide if it is worth it to try to push over the limper as well as the blinds. Mathematically the presence of the limper makes the pot odds of your push stronger, since there is more money in the pot to win. But, obviously, it is harder to push over a limper that has shown some semi-interest in the hand, rather than just the blinds.

Without going too much into the math behind it, you need to be pushing a tighter range when a donk has decided to limp. In my experience the limper will call an all in about 50% the time. Since they have limped, they have already shown a proclivity to suck. And we all know that sucky players don’t like to fold. I see a lot of regular multitablers pushing a huge range when there is a limper in the pot. I on the other hand take a slightly more conservative approach. Since I know they will call all in’s often, I have to push with hands that have a decent chance against what they are going to call with. Let’s go through all the hands they will call with.

1. Pairs (22-TT): For these hands ideally you want a higher pair, but 2 overcards isn’t a terrible result if they decide to call. Having a weakish Ace here is probably the worst result since usually you will be worse than 40% to double up (ie A5 vs 66). Suited connectors probably fare the worst against mid pairs since often times you’ll either be dominated, share a card with the pair or even have 2 undercards.

2 Face Cards: For these hands having an ace is your best bet, since any ace is about a 55% favorite over 2 face cards. A pair is about the same as having an ace here, as most pairs are 55% favorites over 2 higher cards. Suited connectors here fare better than against pairs but still are pretty big underdogs. Yes you will have “live cards” but still an underdog. But, they are not as bad as what can happen if you push 2 face cards yourself. If you decide to go all the way with QJ and they turn over KQ, you obviously are fucked. Pushing 2 face cards here other than exactly KQ is definitely a –EV move, assuming you somehow know they have 2 face cards as well.

3. Weak Aces (A2-AT): What’s interesting about them calling with weak aces, is that you can almost push any 2 cards and never be that big of an underdog. Pairs are your best bet here, as generally you’ll be between a 51-65% favorite, depending on where your pair lands. With 2 face cards you are a dog, but only a 45% one. And even if you push a weak ace yourself, unless they have a stronger than average kicker (8 through King) you aren’t really in that bad of shape since often times you will split the pot, and other times you can suckout by pairing your kicker. Suited connectors again fare badly. They run into big problems when they share a card with an ace.

4. Big Pairs (TT-AA): Obviously if they “trapped” you with a big pair you are in big trouble no matter what you have. Your best bet here is a weak ace, since you generally will have an overcard on your side. All other hands other than maybe hands containing a K are going to need a lot of help, and you are probably going to lose. Even the fabled suited connectors don’t perform good enough to make pushing a +EV play. They don’t even outperform a weak ace, unless against exactly AA.

Putting all this in a chart, we get (using poker stove):













Damn that took a shitload of time to calculate. But at least I learned something.

The fact is, when dealing with late game limpers, you are treading on dangerous territory. They are apt to call you often and even though you can even go in ahead sometimes, you will often lose and it will drive you nuts. That being said, if you can play robotic and simply look at every play by its relative EV, you can use these numbers to guide you.

Now, in the chart, I left out “obvious” pushes like AT+ and TT+, since with those hand you are generally going to be ahead and don’t have to worry too much about being called, since that is essentially what you want if you are ahead. Now, if it is a bubble situation, it changes everything, and you probably want to ignore all this.

As you can see, pushing with suited connectors isn’t the greatest idea in the world against their limping range, so you can probably ignore pushing any other 2 cards not listed, as they will fare equally or worse.

Otherwise, the best way to use the chart is to first compare your stack size to the blinds. If you are around 10bb or under, then you can consider pushing. Now, in order to figure out your equity in the hand, you’ll have to do some quick poker math. You’ll have to consider your stack size, the pot size, and the chance that the blinds and / or the limper will call. As stated earlier, in my experience, a limper here will call 50% of the time. Yes, I got that number completely from my ass, and is probably way off (probably on the low side). I’d be interested in parsing some hand histories to determine how much they are calling, but let’s assume 50% for now.

So if you do your regular assumption about the calling ranges of the blinds, you can now somewhat accurately define the equity of your push over the limper as well. With the assumption that they are calling 50% of the time (as I think about it, that number seems way too low) pushing with any ace, any two face cards and any pair seem to be +EV, since even if they call, we aren’t in horrible shape. The extra chips they put in the pot just adds to the equity of the play, and for every time they fold, you gain big time in the long run.

Obviously, this isn’t a play to get carried away with as your opponents will actively try to get you to push over them if they see you doing it a lot. Always be aware the second time you see a donk limp, as generally they are either trapping or are going to call you no matter what.

Alright, I’m really tired, and if you made it through the post, congrats. Hopefully I can touch on how to react to a raise rather than a limp later.

Monday, August 28, 2006

If you can't beat em.. busto?

So I think I'm pretty much fucked.

I have played break even or worse poker 5 straight sessions.

Ok, that probably looks pretty pathetic. I mean, obviously I'm just in a downswing right? It will turn, etc, etc...

No, this time, it's for real.

I've lost all confidence. I've lost all desire to succeed. Every game ends with me saying "yup" under my breath, as if it's just expected now.

To top things off, I just purchased a car. With cash - about half of my bankroll. It was a smart play at the time since I was effortlessly pulling in $1k/days. But since the exact moment I bought it, I've lost every session since. I've completely given up on playing the 114s and am still getting my ass handed to me in the 60s.

Ok, this post is pretty fucking miserable. But that's how I feel. I honestly can't process a positive thought right now. There have been exactly 0 times in the last 5 days that I've been up at any point of the day. I've been constantly pissing money away with zero return. Here's a graph.
















Awesome eh?

I realize that people have gone through worse, and I think I even have. But this time it's different. There hasn't been a glimmer of hope that things will return to normal. Something has changed, and I can't decipher it. I think I'm playing the same, but I'm clearly not. And the other problem is, each fresh session I sit down for, it takes me less and less losses to get tilty. When I was winning, tilt rarely appeared. But now, the first suckout sends me off the deep end.

I wish I could just erase my memories, but retain my knowledge. If I can't get out of this funk soon I may have to hang it up, as my bankroll is taking a serious hit. Here is my favorite hand from today:

Seat 1: RikkiDee (1790 in chips)
Seat 3: kampana (2110 in chips)
Seat 5: deut23-10 (3295 in chips)
Seat 6: robbastow (1370 in chips)
Seat 7: jazbailey (1965 in chips)
Seat 8: ozkar4141 (1020 in chips)
Seat 9: Santana627 (1950 in chips)
RikkiDee: posts small blind 50
kampana: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Ah Jd]
deut23-10: folds
robbastow: folds
jazbailey: folds
ozkar4141: folds
Santana627: raises 200 to 300
RikkiDee: raises 1490 to 1790 and is all-in
kampana: folds
Santana627: calls 1490
*** FLOP *** [Js 7h 8s]
RikkiDee said, "wtf"
*** TURN *** [Js 7h 8s] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Js 7h 8s Kh] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [Ah Jd] (a pair of Jacks)
Santana627: shows [Jh 8h] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
Santana627 collected 3680 from pot

May I add that was an insta call.

Whats funny, is that this month is still my most profitable yet, even though I'm vastly underachieving.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Ballin out of control?

Actually I've been pretty static this week, down a slight bit over 200+ games. I just don't think I'll ever maintain a 15%+ ROI if I play continuous, especially at the 114s. I mean, I'm happy with a 10% ROI as long as I can get 50% more games in, but for the moment, its difficult to deal with the mediocrity that is a 10% ROI.

Today was fun:
















You like how it started? Down like $800 fucking instantly after 10 games. Gotta love that +$1k swing around game 40 though. Imagine if could constantly pull that off? Ended up -$50 for the day. I'll take it.

I've been having some fun with the new HORSE tournaments that Stars is running, even though I'm pretty sure Razz is 100% zero skill. I wish they would add some higher buyins tho, as $3 doesn't really motivate me too much. I also don't see why they can't make it NL for Hold'em or PL for Omaha. I realize that is the way that HORSE tournaments are traditionally done, but I still don't see why it can't be changed. I did notice that they have HORSE cash games right now as well, which must be the juiciest games of all time for people who actually know how to play. It's must be just like what happened to poker players when internet poker blew up.

On the weekend I saw Snakes on a Plane. I was disappointed to see that there were only about a dozen people in the audience, when I expected a full house packed with cheering internet geeks. The movie itself was pretty bad. But not so bad that it was good. Just kind of an average movie with only the occasional over-the-top scene. Still worth it for Sam Jacksons line though.

Some day I'll post an actual worthwhile, interesting read. Today was not that day.

P.S. Is anyone sick of that fucking stupid sound that one AA hand makes? I can't wait for September to roll that bad boy into the archives.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

So thats why they call them Donk and Go's

Everyday I see horrid poker. I see people limp-calling off their whole stack with KJo. I see people calling all ins with flush draws. Sit & Go's bring out the worst players I swear. Essentially they attract players who like tournament style games, but don't have the time/patience to play a MTT. So these monkeys sit down and when they see a shiny ace its all in time.

But something was different today. Generally as you get closer to the weekend, the stranger and more erratic the play gets. If I had to guess, this phenomenon goes something like this. Thursday morning monkey receives paycheck, monkey deposits half of it on Stars, monkey donks it away before the weekend is through. Maybe there was a world wide monkey bonus this week or something.

Because that is the only way to explain the weird shit that occur ed tonight. During tonight's play there were times that I actually was taking more time to copy/paste awesome hands than actually playing. Ok, lets get to the hands already.

Hand 1: I didn't copy the stack sizes, but the blinds are 10/20, so everyone is pretty much even.

Dealt to RikkiDee [Qh 2h]
BillyIdle: calls 20
pcarr: folds
JaaK: folds
paushtero: folds
spiker1234: calls 20
b33nz: folds
beanmo: folds
RikkiDee: checks
*** FLOP *** [7h Th 8d]
RikkiDee: bets 60
BillyIdle: raises 60 to 120
spiker1234: calls 120
RikkiDee: calls 60
*** TURN *** [7h Th 8d] [6h]
RikkiDee: checks
BillyIdle: bets 440
spiker1234: folds
RikkiDee: raises 900 to 1340
BillyIdle: calls 900
*** RIVER *** [7h Th 8d 6h] [3c]
RikkiDee: bets 20 and is all-in
BillyIdle: folds
RikkiDee collected 3110 from pot

Stellar fold sir...

Hand 2:

PokerStars Game #5959078025: Tournament #30175230, $55+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/08/18 - 01:46:10 (ET)
Table '30175230 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: jesse17 (2555 in chips)
Seat 3: LuckyLock (1090 in chips)
Seat 5: enrymiami (4875 in chips)
Seat 8: lee676 (3890 in chips)
Seat 9: RikkiDee (1090 in chips)
jesse17: posts the ante 25
LuckyLock: posts the ante 25
enrymiami: posts the ante 25
lee676: posts the ante 25
RikkiDee: posts the ante 25
lee676: posts small blind 100
RikkiDee: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [3d 5d]
jesse17: calls 200
LuckyLock: folds
enrymiami: folds
lee676: folds
RikkiDee: checks
*** FLOP *** [3s 4d Td]
RikkiDee: bets 865 and is all-in
jesse17: calls 865
*** TURN *** [3s 4d Td] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [3s 4d Td 6h] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [3d 5d] (two pair, Fours and Threes)
jesse17: shows [Ac 6c] (two pair, Sixes and Fours)
jesse17 collected 2355 from pot
LuckyLock said, "nh thanks for taking the terrorist idiot out"

I can handle getting called by weak hands. Even if he had 22 I could get over it, but this is just fucking sick. Here he limps A6s UTG and calls my overbet with nothing. And the chat afterwards adds more hilarity to it all. I can't remember what I said earlier, but I'm sure I was just laughing at some stupid fish. I still can't help tapping the glass from time to time.

Hand 3:

PokerStars Game #5959163741: Tournament #30176072, $55+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/08/18 - 01:57:24 (ET)
Table '30176072 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: lee676 (3610 in chips)
Seat 2: The Hoost (2390 in chips)
Seat 3: gilliganz (3433 in chips)
Seat 4: polobeach4 (912 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (3155 in chips)
polobeach4: posts small blind 100
RikkiDee: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Kh 6d]
lee676: folds
The Hoost: folds
gilliganz: calls 200
polobeach4: folds
RikkiDee: checks
*** FLOP *** [7h Kd 2c]
RikkiDee: checks
gilliganz: bets 200
RikkiDee: raises 400 to 600
gilliganz: calls 400
*** TURN *** [7h Kd 2c] [6c]
RikkiDee: bets 800
gilliganz: calls 800
*** RIVER *** [7h Kd 2c 6c] [7c]
RikkiDee: checks
gilliganz: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [Kh 6d] (two pair, Kings and Sevens)
gilliganz: mucks hand
RikkiDee collected 3300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3300 | Rake 0
Board [7h Kd 2c 6c 7c]
Seat 1: lee676 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: The Hoost folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: gilliganz (button) mucked [Qh 3h]
Seat 4: polobeach4 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: RikkiDee (big blind) showed [Kh 6d] and won (3300) with two pair, Kings and Sevens

That hand I really have no clue what he was doing. At the time I thought the 7 on the river saved his KT or whatever, but no, just Q3s. Yea, no clue.

Hand 4: This one is today's limp-call of the day.

PokerStars Game #5959146254: Tournament #30175218, $105+$9 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/08/18 - 01:55:04 (ET)
Table '30175218 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Kcbigpapa (2770 in chips)
Seat 4: semibluff777 (1700 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (2920 in chips)
Seat 8: SCTrojans (6110 in chips)
Kcbigpapa: posts the ante 25
semibluff777: posts the ante 25
RikkiDee: posts the ante 25
SCTrojans: posts the ante 25
semibluff777: posts small blind 200
RikkiDee: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Jd Td]
SCTrojans: folds
Kcbigpapa: folds
semibluff777: calls 200
RikkiDee: raises 2495 to 2895 and is all-in
semibluff777: calls 1275 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [5s 6c 9d]
*** TURN *** [5s 6c 9d] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [5s 6c 9d Qh] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
semibluff777: shows [4s 9c] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
RikkiDee: shows [Jd Td] (a pair of Queens)
semibluff777 collected 3450 from pot

Whats funny is this particular player is actually profitable over almost 3k games. I have no clue how he makes money with plays like these. This is probably one of the worst limp-calls of all time, since he doesn't even have anything resembling a hand. Oh and him winning (and me subsequently bubbling this tourney) makes it all the better.

Hand 5: This one is a bit different, and I'll explain after the hand is over if you miss it.

PokerStars Game #5959166419: Tournament #30175939, $105+$9 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/08/18 - 01:57:46 (ET)
Table '30175939 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: bdubs3737 (1990 in chips)
Seat 6: Sdouble (3730 in chips)
Seat 7: STALAN (6185 in chips)
Seat 8: RikkiDee (1595 in chips) is sitting out
STALAN: posts small blind 100
RikkiDee: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [5h Qh]
bdubs3737: raises 1790 to 1990 and is all-in
Sdouble: folds
STALAN: calls 1890
RikkiDee: folds
*** FLOP *** [Js Kd 9h]
*** TURN *** [Js Kd 9h] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [Js Kd 9h 8d] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
STALAN: shows [Ac Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
bdubs3737: shows [Ad 9s] (a pair of Nines)
STALAN collected 4180 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4180 | Rake 0
Board [Js Kd 9h 8d 7h]
Seat 2: bdubs3737 showed [Ad 9s] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: Sdouble (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: STALAN (small blind) showed [Ac Jh] and won (4180) with a pair of Jacks
Seat 8: RikkiDee (big blind) folded before Flop

When multitabling, occasionally I accidentally click off a screen and I time out, sitting me out. There is no way to detect if this happens to you, so I usually just blind off unknowingly. I had been sitting out in this tournament for about 20 minutes, and wasn't coming back. Since the 3rd place stack had me out chipped, all he had to do if he wanted to make a free 3rd place finish was fold. Fold, fold, fold and fold again. Then I'm out and he wins. Unless he gets aces or something of course. But he decides for some reason to push A9o from the cutoff with almost 10bb. Good move. And again, this player is a profitable player at the 114s. Maybe he thought I was setting some elaborate trap with my sitting out strategy.

Was it good for you?

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Grinding aint easy

Many thanks to the nice comments everyone left on my last post, 'tis truly appreciated, as it's something I actually feel I accomplished, other than you know, winning monies.

So after popping my grinder cherry this month, I've realized that maintaining grinder status is going to be a challenge in of itself. There hasn't been a day this month where I haven't experienced ridiculous 1k+ swings. Take yesterday for instance. I played 24 games in the afternoon and cashed a cool $800. Later on in the evening I played only 18 more and lost it all plus $400 more to end up losing. Not fun. Today I started nicely, grinding it up to the tune of $1100 over 30 games, all just to see it go down in flames over just 15 or so more games. But, being the grinder that I am, I pounded out 30 or more games and profited over $1500. It's so much fun.

I think playing continuous is the cause of this sick variance. When I played sets, I could keep a clear mind throughout each one, rather than the madness that ensues when playing continuous. All that confusion has to be messing with my mind at times, and I'm probably sacrificing some ROI to obtain the more efficient continuous method, but overall, since I'm playing more games per hour, it's worth it.

The month itself isn't really going as planned as far as my grandiose $20k goal goes. At the half way point here, I'm sitting at $5676, which, all things considered, is actually good, but only half of my actual goal. I knew a 20k month would be pretty much impossible, but I thought I'd start high, and see where I ended up.

The problem is, even with my hyper-increase of games/day, I'm still no where near the amount that that top player on Stars puts in a month. I've averaged about 65 games/day so far, which is just sick, but to obtain a $20k month, I'm going to need to be averaging at least 80 if not more a day, which at this point just seems like too much. I can only legitimately play for 3-4 hours at a time without losing my mind, at least for the moment.

I think what I'll need to do is increase the number of tables from 8 to 10, and eventually 12. I think I could handle it if I was playing just $60s, but when the $114s are mixed in, I think even 10 is pushing it at this point.

I'll leave with the limp-call of the day. A segment I'm hoping to turn into a daily post. Enjoy...

PokerStars Game #5940122920: Tournament #30080281, $55+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/08/16 - 15:40:53 (ET)
Table '30080281 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: jbotballs (2835 in chips)
Seat 2: bkfrem4ever (1775 in chips)
Seat 3: Basurero (3790 in chips)
Seat 6: asuna_11 (745 in chips)
Seat 7: RikkiDee (950 in chips)
Seat 8: beastiemiked (3405 in chips)
beastiemiked: posts small blind 100
jbotballs: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Th Ks]
bkfrem4ever: folds
Basurero: calls 200
asuna_11: folds
RikkiDee: raises 750 to 950 and is all-in
beastiemiked: folds
jbotballs: calls 750
Basurero: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kh Jd 2d]
*** TURN *** [Kh Jd 2d] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [Kh Jd 2d Qd] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jbotballs: shows [3s 2s] (a pair of Deuces)
RikkiDee: shows [Th Ks] (a pair of Kings)
RikkiDee collected 2200 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2200 | Rake 0
Board [Kh Jd 2d Qd 8s]
Seat 1: jbotballs (big blind) showed [3s 2s] and lost with a pair of Deuces
Seat 2: bkfrem4ever folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Basurero folded before Flop
Seat 6: asuna_11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: RikkiDee (button) showed [Th Ks] and won (2200) with a pair of Kings
Seat 8: beastiemiked (small blind) folded before Flop

Yes these are actually my opponents...

EDIT - Wow, I just realized that the hand I posted wasn't even a limp-call... it was just a stupid blind call and the limper folded. Still funny though.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

This is how we do it

I didn't think before I started playing poker, that I could ever handle a variable income. And even though I lost $1415.00 two days ago, I've come to an understanding that shit happens. And sometimes, the variance gods smile at me.

Today was one of those days. Avert thine eyes if thoust detest brag posts.

This is what happens when I run good:













And heres how I did it:












Its easy to make money when you bubble the least out of almost any position.

So thats right, a total of $2724.00 profit today. At one point I had cashed in 12 of 15 games. My boner at the moment is also at an all time high.

I have been kicking serious amounts of ass this month. Not just profit, by the amount of games I've been grinding out every day. I haven't played less than 50 games on any day, which is just sick when I think about it. There have been entire months where I didn't play 50 games in one day.

I'm mostly just happy that I've been able to play through wins and losses, and just play more games.

Next post: Biggest loss ever

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

The real me

So I promised I would post a donk hand to make up for my brag post yesterday. I found this neat app to post hands as well. So here it is, a horrible donk play by me.

CLICKY HERE TO VIEW HAND IN ACTION

This is probabbly one of the wierdest hands I've ever played. First off, I limp with AA. I think since I started playing SNGs I've limped with AA about 1 time out of 5000. I decided to do it this time because about 5 of the players at the table were regular multitablers and they probabbly wont give me action if I raise. If I limp they'll be more likely to put me on a low pair, since thats what I always limp with.

Anyways, I get my wish, and the BB pops it up. At this point I can raise or call. Since the size of his raise was probabbly enough to drive away the limping SB, I was comfortable calling since the limp-reraise pretty much screams "I have two aces" when 2 multitablers are going at it. I planned on reraising his continuation bet, probabbly all in, but he really threw me off with a check. I figured he had either flopped a set, or missed with AK. His check/call again throws me way the hell off, as I figure if he has an overpair, he is probabbly leading out at this flop, or at least check-raising. If he has AK, he is folding after checking. I had no idea where he was at.

On the turn he again checks to me. I'm extremely suspicious at this point and can only figure him for a rediculously slow-played set. So I check behind.

And on the river he fucking checks again. I'm clueless. What hand raises 5bb preflop from the blinds, check/calls the relatively safe flop, and checks the turn AND river. Keep in mind this player is a regular multitabler who just isn't going to be sticking around with AK. At this point I rule out the slow played set as he would now have a boat and must be worried I'm going to check behind. After all, I merely limp-called his raise preflop, bet when checked to and checked behind on the turn. I'm not exactly showing a lot of strength here. I've never been so lost in a hand in my life, and with the river check I put him on one of two hands: a stubborn AK or a strangely played overpair, with the off chance that he is still slow playing a fucking set.

Oh well, wierd hand. Horribly played on both mine and my opponents part. Just don't limp AA kiddies.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Yawn...

Tired from a weekend away, I returned today and vegged out on my computer into the wee hours of the night. Uninspired to play any actual poker, I started up a few random tournaments and watched some freshly downloaded episodes of High Stakes Poker and The Professional Poker Tour. I busted out of a H/L Stud and Fixed Limit (yech) Hold'Em earlyish, but I was hanging around in a random $20 180 man tourney. Oh and by "hanging around" I mean "fucking dominating".















Whats weird is I wasn't overly excited throughout any portion of the whole tournament. Even as I won, I merely employed a quiet fist pump and went along with my business. $1k is nice, but in all honesty, for the 4 hours or so I invested in this tourney, it honestly doesn't seem worth it.

I am a spoiled little monkey. Too many quick turbo games have desensitized me from the highs of MTT wins, especially when winning comparable amounts of monies.

Thinking back a few months, if I won something even as insignificant as a satellite into the $215 Sunday MTT or a 45 person MTT, I'd be on here posting away a 3k~ long post complete with hand histories. And now, I got nothing. No emotion. Even throughout the tournament I was fairly ignorant of what was really going on. I just went into my SNG mode and just fucking killed people. I'd post the hand history but it truly is sad, I'd almost feel bad for exposing their names. The level of play was so far below that of a regular $114 or even $60 SNG that I can hardly comprehend it.

Wow this post is getting really elitist and smug, sorry about that. Tomorrow I'll post some donkey plays I made or something.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Variance is becoming my bitch

I think I'm maturing as a player. I think I'm able to deal with variance like someone who understands basic probability should. And I think I'm on my way to getting the sand out of my vagina about "booking wins". Trust me, I'm no where near conquering these obstatcles, but I'm definitely becoming consciously aware of changes in my psyche.

For example, this month I've already played 134 games (67/day). To put that in perspective, in June, I played a total of 301 games (15/day), and that was one of my most profitable months. Despite the impending doom of the influx of Party players, I've put forth a concentrated effort sofar this month to play through wins and losses, and just stay focused on playing a certain amount of games. And even though the results haven't necessarily been there yet, I'm satisfied.

In fact I'm more than satisfied. I've accomplished something much more fundamentally important than winning money. Obviously the idea is to make money, but that only comes when the fundamentals are in place. And even though I've been playing for months making money, change is definitely needed.

For a long time, I tried so hard to maintain winning days. And even though I knew booking wins was a frivolous endeavor, it satisfied me regardless. I was a happier person with a winning day, even if it was only a few hundred. I always knew my winning potential was much more than that, but I just didn't want to risk losing those wins. So I ended up quitting early a lot, and ultimately costing myself money. If I'm in the right mood to play, I should be playing. It's that simple. I have a positive expectation on each and every game I play. It's simply inefficient not to play.

I read a post on 2+2 the other day entitled "July Results". There were about 30-50 replies by various posters detailing their monthly take, ROI and number of games played. Most results were pretty standard, except one. A poster named "schwza" who plays on Stars with me everyday posted his results. 2k games played, 10% ROI and $20k made. Here is a player who plays the exact same buy-in as me, and is essentially equal in skill, making 4x the amount I make. Now its pretty natural of me to get jealous of players who post their monthly/yearly results when they are sick amounts, but in this case it hit home a lot harder. I could easily be making this amount. It's simply a matter of motivation and variance resistance.

So thats the game plan. The goal is to play about 70-100 games a day all month. Today I did it and made $1477.50. Sounds impressive, but since I lost $900 yesterday, I was mostly just playing catch up. I've been working on playing continuous rather than sets, and I think I'm pretty used to it now. If I play 8 tables at a time, continuous, I can get about 11 games/hour in. So if I put in a normal mans daily average of working hours, I can easily get my daily goal.

Here's to a $20k month.