A Little 6-Max To Get Right

I played 2 sessions tonight. The 1st was my standard 8 table NL50 full-ring session. It sucked. I ended up cutting it short at only 300 hands and while down $58 (-19.5BB/100). I closed Full Tilt and realized that I might not have made the required points for the day to hit gold level Iron Man (I needed 1 more day over 100 FTPs to hit it). So sure enough I logged back in to check and I was 10 points short! Well that meant I HAD to play again but instead on NL50 FR I decided to sit down at 4 NL25 6max tables since I've seen all the cool kids over at CC playing 6max! Anyway I killed. These guys were stacking with any pair it seemed. It's like if you take away 3 seats the collective IQ drops to an average of 60! Anyway I played 300 hands there and finished up $75 (48BB/100). So net profit over 600 hands of $17. Better than if I'd quit after session 1, but I will admit that sitting back down to hit some stupid number may be the dumbest reason ever to play.

Anyway here's a little 6-max stupidity:


Villain (70/13/6) and I here have a bit of history as I've taken his $10 buy-in twice in ~45 hands. I've also 3bet him several times thus far and he's decided he's had enough. So when he min raises me here I decide he's got nothing and I'll try to push him off with nothing. Unfortunately he doesn't want to cooperate and I have to fold with a bit of $$ in the middle. When he makes the 4th min bet he could have anything from JT and the nuts to complete air. I would catch him a bit later for another $20 so I guess I got this money back before I left the table.

I'll give this month's final numbers on Friday night since I won't be playing again til Monday.

Mental Bankroll Barriers

Ok so with my recent ups and downs, I've been looking at my game and I know it's far from perfect but I've also noticed other times when I've hit these type patches. The 1st was as my BR neared $500, then somewhat at $1000, and now $2000 seems to be the sticking point (how I breezed by $1500 is beyond me). Come to think of it, it was exactly the same when I played at Bodog. It's like I hit these invisible barriers that I have to get through before I can get back to playing good winning poker. Is it self-sabotage? Well from some of the hands I post here, it's a definite possibility, but I don't think so. I really think it's the money!

I don't want to think about poker that way, but I do (especially lately). If a pots large and I missed whatever draw I was chasing or I think my opponent outdrew me on the river, I don't do what I should and give up. I either bluff if I missed or I call down light if my opponent bets. It's like I don't want to give up the pot because it's soooo much money. Crazy I know. I also know that if I did play better in these spots, I'd win more money! This month my BR has been fluctuating (just using that word reminds me of this brilliant Tommy Angelo quote) between $1600 (when I was down for the month) and $2200 (those 2 wonderful days when I was way up) and it currently sits just $40 shy of $2000. Here's to a barrier breakthrough coming real soon.

I did play some poker over the past couple of days. Some good, some bad, ending up $80 over 1250 hands (6.35BB/100). I can certainly live with that. Here is the worst:



Villain here is 20/0/.5 over 40 hands. I can't even explain to you why I didn't get the rest of my stack in on the turn. Had I pushed there I would have turned a stupid river call into a bad beat. Basically I needed to take BW's advice on this one. This guy is NEVER betting that river without a hand the beats my kings. Just bad and a prime example of my issue with folding in big pots even with weak hands compared to the board. Maybe one day I'll get it and break on through.

Oh and if you'd like to read more from Tommy Angelo check out his blog, and pick up his book, Elements of Poker for a great read.

Finally A Good Run With Only One Real Mistake

Really good run tonight. 600 hands, $170 profit (28BB/100). I feel I actually played well, although I do think I'm way too results oriented when it comes to my perception of my play. Anyway, I did get a bit lucky to have AA vs KK and I also won a stack with AKs v 88 AIPF. So I do realize, had the cards fallen slightly differently, the end result could have been much different. Either way it feels good to book a solid win and get back in the green for the month (although still just barely).

Here is the one hand I feel I made a serious (read expensive) mistake on:


Wow, that looks really bad! The villain here had decent TAG stats (13/9/3) but I had seen him lose a stack with AK in a very similar spot (he 3 barreled that pot from OOP as well). So when he bet the river I used all my time and decided to make the "hero" call. Let's rename it the sucker call shall we. Whenever a villain turns over a boat and you have to show 2nd pair on a paired board, well let's just say dumb is about the best thing that I felt.

Had a couple of great fantasy football drafts yesterday and managed to stay relatively sober. I have 3 drafts to go and they're all this Sunday! Looks like it's going to be a long day. Good thing Monday's a holiday!

You'll Only Get Called By A Hand That Beats You Or Me

Few sessions since Friday's post with no real BR movement one way or the other. Total profit of $6.75 over 850 hands. Meh, at least I didn't give away too many stacks. I'm really beginning to wonder if I have what it takes to play this game for any kind of real money (not for a living but for some decent fun money). I mean I've been playing so much more than my usual over the last few months and I really felt I was improving and my BR agreed. Now when I look back at some of the horrible mistakes I've made this month, I wonder if I hadn't just been lucky for a few months and this month is closer to my real expectations? I hope not, but I'll admit I have been considering that possibility.

Anyway you know the poker cliche that says that in certain spots you shouldn't bet because you'll only be called by a hand that beats you? Well that obviously doesn't apply when you're playing me:



So we hit our set on an Ace high flop and get a caller to our check-raise, great! Why then do I fail to bet the rest of his stack on the turn? Then when the board gets amazingly scary our villain turns his very strong hand into a bluff but gets lucky because he's playing my dumb ass. This is a hand we beat no where near enough to call when he pushes here. Folding the river should be pretty standard (especially to a loose/passive player like this villain 36/2/1), but I just can't fold my incredibly weak, for this board, hand. Ugly.

Anyway tomorrow marks my first fantasy football drafts of the season. The first is for a keeper league I have been the commissioner in for 4 years (I'm not in that league I just run it) and it will be held at a friend's bar. I'll have my laptop with the software (Fandraft) connected to the big screen and I'll just be running the draft while enjoying a few beers. Then a few hours after that draft ends I'll be participating in the draft for my longest running (7 years) league. It's an online draft but I'll be hanging around the bar and doing it from there (the owner of the bar is in that league as well). I can't wait to get going. I love this time of year. Even better yet it's only 6 days to opening day for my beloved WVU Mountaineers!

Oh No, We Suck Again

August sucks. I haven't posted in days, because well, there just nothing good to say. Since my last post I've dropped $301 in just under 1900 hands (-16BB/100). On the month I'm down $45 before rakeback. In my largest losing session since my last post (-$180) I had not 1 but 2 full houses beat by quads! And then I started tilting and bluffing away stacks. Just really, really ugly.

Worst hand? Hell there all bad right now. Here's a random one for you:


Horrible. This was from the session where I dropped the $180 and was one of those tilty, make no sense bluffs I was talking about.

Well, it's Friday night so I guess I should go see if the fish are biting. Hopefully, I don't get eaten.

3 Good Sessions, 1 Bad Bluff

I've played 1300 hands over 3 sessions in the last 2 days. I ended each session up and won a total of $146 (11.3BB/100) proving once again there's nothing like a weekend to turn things around. I don't know when I last saw so many horrible calls and bad plays, probably last weekend.

Well it seems that www.pokerhandreplays.com (the site I use for the cool hand replayer) is not converting at the moment so it looks like my bad bluff hand will have to wait. Sorry you won't get to see me do anything stupid today.

Running Backwards and Mid Month Update

I've figured out my current problem, I'm running backwards. What the hell does that mean you say? Well it means that when I get my $$ in as a big favorite I'm getting beat and losing stacks
and when I'm getting in with the worst of it, I'm sucking out (sometimes pretty hard)


The 1st hand above is from a session I played late last night. I finished down $77.60 over 570 hands (-13.7BB/100). I never mind getting AI with KK and when he turned over Queens I figured I was good, but then I forgot I was running backwards.

Hand #2 is from tonight's session (up $62.15 over 357 hands) and looks much worse than I thought at the time. The villain here had pushed KK earlier into an Ace high flop and was called but hit a King on the river to win. She's also lost more than she gain with A-rag several times and I thought I had her range crushed with AJ here. When she flipped AA I nearly shed a tear, but then I remembered that I was running backwards. It's hands like these that make me glad I turn off chat when I play.

My mid month update is somehow uglier than hand #2 above! Here's the graph:


My goals are in shambles and I doubt any of them are realistic now other than maybe the number of hands goal. What I really need now is a heater like I had for the 1st 2 days of the month!

Here's to hoping that I at least get turned around and start running forward for the rest of the month.

My Bad Play Gets Rewarded

I had an overall good session tonight with only a few mistakes and some really big hands. I ended up $113 over 500 hands (23.9BB/100). I had some luck (a little bad and a little good) but generally I played good poker overall. I focused on putting my opponents on hands and then bluffing, folding, or value betting accordingly. At micro stakes online poker, that's really all that's necessary to be a winner.

I mentioned a few mistakes and a little good luck. Well today dumbest thing illustrates both:



Calling his 3bet preflop is a real loser. Even if I can count on stacking both players (almost impossible) I'm not getting the odds I'm looking for to set mine. This hand came on the heels of winning a big pot on another table and sometimes when that happens I get a little winner's tilt and go crazy. It's nice to win these but it's horrible to know I made a pretty big mistake to get there.

Anyway, I'll post the ugliest graph you've ever seen tomorrow for my mid month update. Just a little preview, so far this month I'm running at just under 2BB/100! I don't even want to think about my monthly goals.

Couple Of Sessions With Very Little Luck

Well 2 session with a total loss of $39 over a total of 800 hands (-4.9BB/100). I've played decently and actually have won a few stacks but it seems like I'm losing just as many and quite often, at least recently, it when I'm getting my $$ in VERY good. So I'm not going to beat myself up over this loss. I know that if I keep getting my chips in this good things are going to turn sharply upward sooner or later. :)

I had bigger losers today but I think this hand illustrates a real issue I have too often:



Our villain here is pretty laggy (29/23/3) and will likely bluff raise this turn often enough to make my second barrel very -Ev. We likely only get a fold from this villain if he holds a pocket pair under 99 and even then he'll bluff raise sometimes. Check/folding here saves us a bet and occasionally we'll get to SD without putting any more (or at least much more) money in the pot. Bad turn bet.

I also decided to join the Cardschat Tuesday Full Tilt night free roll tonight. Man I hate tourneys any more but it's always nice to play with the great people from CC. It's the only time I even turn on my chat anymore and I really enjoyed it even though I busted out around 50th when I pushed with AQ v AT v AK and AK held. So rigged. :)

Finally...I Luck Into A Winning Session

So early this morning I played a 415 hand session ending UP $76 (18.25BB/100). I played ok, but I probably could have done better. It just feels good to win again.

I did get extremely lucky in one hand:



The villain here is tight (11/10/3) and 3betting preflop probably should be my standard play. I of course decide to just call and then we get all-in when he hits his set (I'm not down on the all-in call because he would have done the same with a SD, FD , QQ, and maybe AJ with the A of clubs). The turn of course saves me $25 and makes the session look $50 more profitable.

Undoubtedly the worst thing I did during this session was this hand:


I have no business flatting the bbs 3bet. I'm not getting any kind of odds to set mine and the cutoff could still 4bet me out of the hand. Plus I'll be in horrible relative position postflop no matter how favorable it may be. It all adds up to being a horrible call.

3 Sessions, Still No Winners!

Well since my last post I've played about 1500 hands for a net loss of $68 (-4.65BB/100) over 3 sessions. I ended each individual session down. I feel though that I actually played better than I had been overall. I've just hit a horrible bad luck streak and I think my opponents can smell the blood in the water. It's just been sick. I'm actually down ~$22 overall for the month despite starting the 1st 2 days up ~$450! I've so far stuck at 50NL but still may move down before BR would dictate.

Here are a few of the worst I've played over the past few days:



This should have been an easy fold when the button 3bet. AQ just doesn't win here enough when called and it's an auto fold to the all-in. Just a poor decision to 4bet light OOP.



Just a bad bluff against a player with a broken fold button (WTSD over 35%). Note to self: Looks at SD stats before doing anything too stupid!



I raise preflop here with ATs to try to steal the blinds because of the extra money in the pot because of the UTG poster. Anyway when the cutoff flats and then raises my cbet, I decide to get cute (again OOP). Just giving it away really.

Anyway, I've decided that today is a poker free day. I'll see what happens when I hit the tables again tomorrow. Can't be much worse than the last week (at least I hope not).

I Officially Suck

Another day, another huge loss. Down $174 in 538 hands (-32BB/100). I haven't won a stack in days. Seems like every time I get my stack in, it gets pushed to my opponent. Whether it be by suckout, cooler, or just a bad play by me, I'm just taking a beating at the moment. It's starting to effect my play (and probably making the losing continue). I'm playing more passively. I'm failing to cbet. I'm still bluffing. I'm just playing horrid poker.

I'm really thinking about dropping back to 25NL for a bit just to get some confidence in my play again. I don't know.

Sorry no horrible hand today as I can't bear to look right now.

Does Playing Bad Lead to Running Bad

Something I've noticed for a while now. When I'm playing bad (I mean at my worst), I end up taking more bad beats than when I am playing well. I think it may have to do with table image. People, even at micro stakes NL, notice when you say call down with an underpair or push on the turn with a OESD with little chance your opponent will fold and they tend to stick around long enough maybe catch those hands that beat you.

I unfortunately noticed this again tonight. I played horribly tonight dropping $157 in just over 600 hands (-26BB/100). Along the way I made terrible plays and bluffed entirely too much. But I also had people calling me down with middle pair and catching their 2nd pair on the river. These are players with decent stat too, not just the calling stations. Basically my horrid image had made it right for them to call me down with little to nothing because well let's just say they had plenty of implied odds :( .



This one's bad. I think I had some major tilt issues by the time this hand rolled around and damn it I was going to keep betting till he folded. Of course that didn't happen. Good thing I didn't have a deeper stack here. I wouldn't have stopped. Please take my $$ sir.

Woops...What A Bad Bet

Tonight session was a roller coaster ride that ended with me being up $19.50 after 550 hands (3.5BB/100). I was fairly fortunate to get back to positive numbers when I took my only stack of the night with my KK beating AJ that flopped a J.

The absolute worst play of the night was also my only lost stack. For your entertainment:



Villain here was 11/8/1 and I knew when he bet the river I was beat but I figured he had a J and might fold it to an AI. I don't know if he would have or not but he's certainly not folding a set. My line here is horrible and he probably calls with KJ or better anyway. Just very poorly played on my part.

Calling 3 Street Against A TP = Dumb = Me

We'll I've played 2 small session since my amazing run on Friday with mixed results. Saturday's session ended with me being up $115 in 500 hands (23.5BB/100), while Sundays session cost me $91.50 in 580 hands (-15.75BB/100). So the month so far is still VERY far above expectations but there has been a bit of a correction. I guess 53BB/100 wasn't sustainable after all!

Anyway here's a hand that I think I misplayed totally postflop:



The villain here is Tight-Passive player (12/4/1 over 150 hands) who's probably never double barreled in his life, yet I decide that calling 3 bets against him is smart. I'm actually a little surprised he bet on all 3 streets with "only" TPTK. I expect to win this hand almost never. Definitely a losing play against this type of player.

I also played for about 5 hours at a friends home game Saturday night. I ended up losing $40 (AK < 75) but the real interesting thing was that I decided to keep track of the number of hands we managed to play, using chips as a makeshift abacus. This is your typical pass-the-deal home game and we managed only 72 hands. Yes, just under 15/hour. I knew it was slow but I never realized how slow until last night. It's no wonder it seems like I only play about 2 hands/hour there, it's because I do!

God, I LOVE Friday nights!!!

First off let me start by saying that this is not going to be my normal blog posting. This post is a celebration. You see I just had my biggest single session ever finishing up $335 over 625 hands (53.75, totally sustainable, BB/100). What a way to start the month.

So anyway what I'm going to do tonight is show you every stack I won. I knew the night was going to be good when this was my very 1st hand of the night:



I know I rail against slow playing your monsters but with so many limpers here I figured at least 1 of them would bet the flop or that maybe someone would make their flush. When we were raised on the turn I knew he had a Queen and wanted to get it all-in before a flush card came out to scare him off. 1 hand, 1 stack! Next!



At the time made the call (well raised by $4 technically) I didn't feel great about this one, but I honestly thought he was on an overpair with a single spade. Needless to say I was thrilled when he turned his cards over.



This hand is a little different. Our villain here is like 6/5/.3 over 125 hands, so I knew going in I likely didn't have the best hand but I also knew that I could probably take the pot away by just showing max aggression on a scary flop. Well then I went and flopped good (that's the secret of poker kids) and he never bet or raised but he did call all the way, including the over the top push on the end. I noted that I couldn't steal pots from him but that he would pay off value bets all day long. :)



Villain here was a total idiot (85/17/4 over 60 hands). I knew he'd call the flop bet with nearly any pair or even a weak draw but even I was surprised how light he called down. Thank you sir. May I have another?



Yeah I know it's not technically a stack job but it's basically a full buy-in so I'm counting it. :) Anyway, out villain here is nitty and normally very aggressive (10/9/5.5 over about 300 hands), so calling with any pair is a no brainer. He checks into 3 callers, I'm sure hoping to Check-Raise, only to have everyone check behind and allows me to get that beautiful turn card. I debated raising the turn but honestly I was scared that if we got our stacks in my boat wouldn't be the winner (yes, I played a FH for pot control!). I was very glad to see him just call on the river. If he had shoved there, I would have shit myself.

So those are the big ones. Yes there were other stacks taken but mostly from horrible short-stackers and I won't bore you with me getting AIPF with AQ vs a horrible (90/25/1) shorty who had AT and taking his $10 for the sixth time in the session.

I think I love August (at least so far)!

July Wrap-Up And August Goals

Ok, all I'll say about the last few days is they sucked hard. I've dropped a total of $70 since my last update and I've been all over the place on a huge rollercoaster ride. Tonight's session for example stared with dropping 2 full BIs in 10 hands! QQ less than JJ when he flopped a set and KK less than AA when I didn't get my set!

Here's how my goals played out:

1) Play 15,000 hands - Passed easily (21,307)

2) Clear my mid-year $100 bonus - Done with ease

3) Maintain a 6BB/100 win rate - Managed all month until my last session (5.9) :(

4) Grow my BR by $450 - Yes. Total BR gain with rakeback and bonus - Stox fee = $909

5) Be ready and rolled to play 50NL by the end of July (BR > $1500) - Started at 50NL on 7/18/08

6) Make finding hands to post here everyday harder for myself - Failed miserably.

So a mixed month all told and the end of the month really put a bit of a damper on things. Here is the graph:


August Goals

1) 15,000 hands at 50NL

2) Withdrawal 1/2 of my August profit (or $500 whichever is less)

3) Maintain a win rate of at least 5.5 BB/100

4) Grow my bankroll by $500 after withdrawal

5) Quit spewing chips pushing with under pairs and crap draws (they're not going to fold)

6) Tilt less.

7) Post at least 5 hands for analysis on CC

8) Watch a ton of videos over at Stox.