Good Run Continues And I Miss A River Bet

Good fortune continued to smile down upon me yesterday as I ran at 9.25 BB/100 over 1045 hands for a total profit of $97. Along the way I found my new best friend. My new best friend gave me $125 in just 81 total hands. My new best friend was 93/30/3.5 over that time and WTSD 25% of the time (often with WAY less than top pair). Here is an example (note my new best friend shall remain anonymous for my own benefit):



I know he could have had me beat here but his calling range is literally middle pair and up. Note my stack at the start of this hand. Almost all of it had come from my good buddy. I hope he wasn't just drunk last night.

Now on to my big mistake and in this hand there are actually a couple:



The first mistake in this hand is made by our villain, not 3betting JJ out of position is just not smart. When our villain donks and then calls on a dry flop, I should be worried about an over pair. Then when the Ace hits the turn we get bluffy again and try to represent. After he called my turn bet I actually checked the fold to any bet box (really dumb) thinking there was no way I would call a bet if he decided to throw chips in on the river. I then went on to the next table and didn't even realize I'd made 2nd nuts on the river until I reviewed my session! I really wish I had seen it during the hand so I could have bet the river, not because I think he would have called but because I wouldn't have had to show my cards and give away free info. Live and learn.

Running Hot Makes Me Crazy

Quick update on Saturday night's live session; I killed it. I had cards most of the night. When I didn't have cards, I was aggressive and stole a few pots. I caught cards when I was WAY behind (my QQ > AA AIPF ~$45). All told I ended up over $200 (this is a .25/.50 cash game with 8 players). We ended up breaking up the game at 3AM after playing for 8 hours. It's always fun but when you're running as well as I was, it's amazing. Great time.

So I woke up late on Sunday and took the wife out for a great sushi lunch and then came home for a nap (what a tough life). After my brief rest I decided to jump on Tilt and play a little and again I ran insanely well, ending up $115 over 485 hands (24BB/100). I was running so great that I got stupid, here's proof:



This hand started as a bluff (I raise JTs from UTG almost never) and I got crazy with how far I was willing to take it. Of course I catch 1 of my 3 outs on the river and actually win a just under $70 pot (the replayer incorrectly shows the amounts so you'll just have to trust me). I guess this type of stupidity is a form of tilt (too successful tilt?). I can't even guess to explain my play here. Just one of those I'll push you off this pot spots, I guess. Really just bad play.

First 50NL Sessions And A Really Bad Bet

Well after I posted last night's entry I logged on to Full Tilt and loaded up 8 50NL tables and played 560 hands ending up down $43 (-7.7BB/100). I was a little disappointed in my play (I got crazy bluffy for some reason) but the bottom line wasn't too bad and the level of play was as bad, maybe worse, than 25NL. An example:



So after I woke up this morning I decided I needed to jump back into it and I played pretty well (still a few to many bluffs) and after catching a few cards I ended up winning $92 after 430 hands (21.4BB/100). So this makes my 1st day at 50NL a winner being up $49 at a winrate of 5BB/100. I'll take that. Another "benefit" is the increased rake. I've never seen FTPs add up so fast. It should allow me to qualify for a free Stox membership through rakebreak.com (they pay the monthly $25 fee as long as your MGR is over $500) next month certainly and possibly this month.

Now let's see what stupidity looks like at double the stakes.


I call with decent set mining odds and hit bottom set on a possible straight board, so I bet out and get 1 caller (58/8/1.5). When the 2 hits the board this gives any 3 the straight, yet when our villain checks I inexplicably push all-in. Overbetting the pot and essentially ensuring that I only get calls from the hands I fear most (bigger sets and straights). Just a horrible play on my part and one that I plan to try to avoid from now on. We'll see how that works out.

Tonight I'm playing at a home cash game so no more online till tomorrow.

Soul Read Illiterate

Couple of decent sessions since last post. Up $34 over 900 hands (7.5BB/100) and it really should have been about $40 more. I played well and finished clearing my mid-year bonus, so with just under $1500 in my BR I plan to start playing 50NL immediately after posting this entry! Wish me luck.

Today's example of bad play has me misreading the strength of the villain's hand by about a mile!



I really thought his bet was a missed flush draw and I had NO IDEA how strong he really was. Oh well at least I didn't raise his river bet.

Bottom Two; Rarely Good In A Big Pot

Well, today's 1st session was more of the same for me. Down and no where to go but down. Then a strange thing happened when I played today's 2nd session, I started winning and winning big. I caught cards, I hit sets, I made soul reading calls, I folded in all the right spot, and I managed to hang on to the profits. Total for today is +$72 over 910 hands (15.8BB/100). This erased my loses from yesterday and got me back on track to start 50NL VERY soon (I'll be within $70 once my bonus clears tomorrow). Should be interesting cause then you'll get to see me do stupid things in even bigger pots! Yay!

Anyway this is a hand from session 1 (the loser).



I make my standard opening raise from the SB (I open for 4x from any other position) and get a call from the BB (40/15/7). The flop is good for us giving us a pair and the flush draw. When the turn makes my second pair I think I went a little crazy with the check/raise all-in. It pretty much eliminates most hands we beat and gets called by hands that we fear most. Having the flush draw actually gives us some equity here but when that misses we've lost a 130bb pot.

Just Plain Ugly

So last night didn't go so well. I dropped $65 in 950 hands (-13.8BB/100)! Just gross. I only lost 1 full stack when my AIPF KK ran into TT that flopped a set, but it seemed like I was bleeding chips. Of course I didn't help myself out any when I started pushing weak holdings and bluffing badly. I know I shouldn't do it but I started tilting pretty badly and I did the worst thing possible, I kept playing. Here is an example of just how bad it got:



You think maybe our villain here had seen me show up with nothing before? Calling down with TPNK is usually a reciept for disaster but against me last night it was as good as gold. Man, I haven't played that spewy in a while. Hopefully it will be even longer before I post a hand quite that poorly played again.

Mid Month Update And I Should Have Bet The Turn

One session last night before bed and I ran very good. I finished up $43.50 over 480 hands or 19.75BB/100. My big bets on my big hands were being called with seemingly any two. It was really nice. Even my worst plays weren't very costly and I made relatively few of them. Here is last night's worst:



I check the flop to play it as a wb/wa hand (either he has the A or he doesn't). After he checks behind on the flop I should bet the turn for value but I check again for no real reason. The river of course is a horrible card for us and we're forced to check/call his little bet. No real huge loss here but if I had bet the turn it would have been a small gain.

Updates

1) Play 15,000 hands - Ahead of pace (9,600 thus far)

2) Clear my mid-year $100 bonus - $80 of $100 cleared so far

3) Maintain a 6BB/100 win rate - So far so good (7.96)

4) Grow my BR by $450 - Ahead of pace ($392)

5) Be ready and rolled to play 50NL by the end of July (BR > $1200) - Modified this one to start when I have a BR > $1500. Currently at $1250 with $100 bonus and $110 rakeback to come, so looking good.

6) Make finding hands to post here everyday harder for myself - Mixed. When I'm playing bad it's WAY too easy.

7) Don't make plays that I am embarrassed by - So far so good.

Monthly graph to date with SD and NSD winnings included for Jagsti (click to see full size):