25NL to the nosebleeds

Finally I'm seeing some good results this year. Since my last post I think I'm up like $120 from 25nl, making this year's graph look a little nicer:

There have been some very funny hands along the way, which I'll be sure to post soon in a special 'hands-only post'.

I also came 6/785 in an $11 6-max MTT for $240! Very happy to have a nice MTT score for the month, but at the same time disappointed that I couldn't take it down, as my 88 < JJ all-in pre-flop.

Staking has also been kind to me this month, leaving me up around $600 from it thus far. Fortunately, I had 5% in an incredible MTT player who came 2nd in the $3+R on PS for over $10,000!

Will be moving over some $ onto Full Tilt next week and grinding it out there for a bit, so hopefully will have some nice results to show for it!

Had a nice couple days, putting in a couple thousand hands. Starting to feel pretty good about my game, so just need to put in the volume!

Past 2 days:

This month/year:

Today the Poker God's gave me a slight reminder that I can play poker, and that there is still money to be made.

The first 426-hand session sent me into the red pretty quickly, but then villain helped me out:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1107548
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $32.61
CO: $57.17
Hero (BTN): $39.94
SB: $26.63
BB: $34.75
UTG: $25.22

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with 4 8
1 fold, MP raises to $1, CO calls $1, Hero calls $1, 2 folds

Flop: ($3.35) 4 4 T(3 players)
MP bets $2.75, CO folds, Hero raises to $6.75, MP raises to $31.61 all in, Hero calls $24.86

Turn: ($66.57) 3(2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($66.57) K(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $66.57
MP shows A A (two pair, Aces and Fours)
Hero shows 4 8 (three of a kind, Fours)
Hero wins $64.57
(Rake: $2.00)

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Only one 200bb pot in the second session, but it along with several mid-sized pots helped make today a +2BI day:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1107554
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: $31.98
UTG: $50.31
MP: $49.69
Hero (CO): $25.00
BTN: $25.20
SB: $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with A J
2 folds, Hero raises to $1, BTN calls $1, 2 folds

Flop: ($2.35) 3 A J(2 players)
Hero bets $1.75, BTN calls $1.75

Turn: ($5.85) 8(2 players)
Hero bets $4.50, BTN calls $4.50

River: ($14.85) 3(2 players)
Hero bets $17.75 all in, BTN calls $17.75

Final Pot: $50.35
Hero shows A J (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
BTN shows T A (two pair, Aces and Threes)
Hero wins $48.35
(Rake: $2.00)

It's just a shame that JJ<KK on a low-board in the last few hands of the session :(

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And this month's progress:

Praying for some run-good!

Cooler/Suckout world continues to hold me captive. This year so far:

On a side note, a thread I started over in the microstakes forum as had some interesting discussion on the true value of AK preflop, that I'd suggest taking a look at --> Prove AK's value to me.

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Bit of Zeebo-Theorem in practice:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1106012
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $25.00
SB: $26.66
BB: $24.87
UTG: $25.00
MP: $13.26
Hero (CO): $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with Q K
2 folds, Hero raises to $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.75

Flop: ($2.10) J 3 K(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB calls $1.50

Turn: ($5.10) K(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.50, BB calls $3.50

River: ($12.10) K(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $19 all in, BB calls $18.87 all in

Final Pot: $49.84
BB shows T J (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
Hero shows Q K (four of a kind, Kings)
Hero wins $47.84
(Rake: $2.00)

And an example of the theorem owning me (but seriously, huge cooler):

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 1106014
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: $25.00
BB: $25.35
UTG: $25.22
Hero (CO): $43.80
BTN: $60.15

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with Q Q
UTG raises to $0.80, Hero raises to $2.25, 3 folds, UTG calls $1.45

Flop: ($4.85) T 8 6(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4.85) 6(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $2.25, UTG calls $2.25

River: ($9.35) 6(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $6.50, UTG raises to $20.72 all in, Hero calls $14.22

Final Pot: $50.79
UTG shows T T (a full house, Tens full of Sixes)
Hero shows Q Q (a full house, Sixes full of Queens)
UTG wins $48.79
(Rake: $2.00)

--

However I did ship a $180+ profit today with a horse I staked so I ran good there!

Today I just ran awful. -$100 after first one hour session, then another -$70 in the next couple hour one.

Some lovely hands:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1102074
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $25.70
UTG: $50.98
MP: $32.27
CO: $25.00
BTN: $47.46
SB: $25.39

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with T T
UTG raises to $0.75, MP calls $0.75, 3 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, MP calls $2.25

Flop: ($6.85) 2 5 7(2 players)
Hero bets $4.50, MP raises to $11.75, Hero raises to $22.70 all in, MP calls $10.95

Turn: ($52.25) 6(2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($52.25) 4(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $52.25
Hero shows T T (a pair of Tens)
MP shows 7 7 (three of a kind, Sevens)
MP wins $50.25
(Rake: $2.00)

Feel I could have gotten away from this hand and probably could have just flatted pf (but UTG was like a 60/40 donk so I felt the need to 3bet).

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1102592
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: $39.76
MP: $25.00
CO: $48.23
BTN: $59.72
Hero (SB): $49.46
BB: $28.65

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with K K
1 fold, MP raises to $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 1 fold, MP calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.25) 4 6 5(2 players)
Hero bets $5, MP raises to $21.50 all in, Hero calls $16.50

Turn: ($50.25) 2(2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($50.25) Q(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $50.25
MP shows Q Q (three of a kind, Queens)
Hero shows K K (a pair of Kings)
MP wins $48.25
(Rake: $2.00)

Standard. Funnily enough I am probably going to be receiving coaching from MP in coming weeks.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1102594
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: $30.12
MP: $33.92
CO: $41.38
BTN: $82.29
Hero (SB): $25.99
BB: $38.92

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with A K
UTG raises to $0.75, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.75, Hero raises to $3.50, 1 fold, UTG calls $2.75, 1 fold

Flop: ($8.00) 3 A 9(2 players)
Hero bets $6, UTG calls $6

Turn: ($20.00) 9(2 players)
Hero bets $16.49 all in, UTG calls $16.49

River: ($52.98) 3(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $52.98
UTG shows 9 T (a full house, Nines full of Threes)
Hero shows A K (two pair, Aces and Nines)
UTG wins $50.98
(Rake: $2.00)

These two sessions left me in pretty bad shape but I managed to earn most of it back in a brief one hour +$105 session.

Hand of the session:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1102597

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $43.19
CO: $49.03
BTN: $60.18
Hero (SB): $25.10
BB: $42.72
UTG: $41.01

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with 8 8
UTG raises to $0.50, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.40, BB calls $0.25

Flop: ($2.00) 5 8 9(4 players)
Hero bets $2, BB calls $2, UTG folds, BTN folds

Turn: ($6.00) 4(2 players)
Hero bets $4, BB calls $4

River: ($14.00) Q(2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $20, Hero calls $18.60 all in

Final Pot: $51.20
Hero shows 8 8 (three of a kind, Eights)
BB shows 6 K (high card King)
Hero wins $49.20
(Rake: $2.00)

Against my favourite 25NL fish- check comments for a bonus hand against this same player.

All of this left me- (yeah, 4.4 buyins [$110] below EV over 1500 hands)

However, some good did come of today. Looking out my sd/nsd winnings graph below, I noticed a big improvement in my often declining red line, which I'm really pleased with as I did intentionally push up the aggression and fight for pots harder.

So all up, whilst it was a pretty sick day, I'm happy to have cut my losses by $100 and see such a great improvement in non-showdown winnings.

Hey DC members... firstly, welcome to the blog. I hope you find it interesting, compelling, and at times funny, and of course that you come back! Will be posting results here, along with interesting/bbv hands, and perhaps some other content.

A little about me - micro grinder from Australia, have dabbled in SNGs, MTTs and nlhe cash games, with the latter being my strongest/most profitable. I'm currently at 25NL, with hopes of taking a shot at 50NL in 7-14 days.

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01/01/2011 Results (don't mind the date, our year starts early in Australia):

As you can see I ran pretty nice in my first session (first 900 hands), then just as well in the second session up until a couple messy hands at ~1200 hands.

--

A hand I loved:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1101329

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (MP): $25.00
CO: $56.30
BTN: $32.75
SB: $39.23
BB: $25.00
UTG: $43.11

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP with Q Q
UTG calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, CO calls $1.25, 3 folds, UTG calls $1

Flop: ($4.10) 6 K 8(3 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($4.10) 8(3 players)
UTG bets $2.75, Hero calls $2.75, CO folds

River: ($9.60) 2(2 players)
UTG bets $4.50, Hero calls $4.50

Final Pot: $18.60
Hero shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Eights)
UTG shows 4 7 (a pair of Eights)
Hero wins $17.70
(Rake: $0.90)

Had a couple notes on villain who was a complete fish, which helped me call down his bets.

A hand I hated:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1101331
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $67.42
SB: $24.75
BB: $25.44
Hero (UTG): $25.35
MP: $13.73
CO: $33.29

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG with A Q
Hero raises to $1, 3 folds, SB calls $0.90, 1 fold

Flop: ($2.25) A 9 9(2 players)
SB bets $1, Hero calls $1

Turn: ($4.25) 7(2 players)
SB bets $5, Hero calls $5

River: ($14.25) 3(2 players)
SB bets $10.25, Hero calls $10.25

Final Pot: $34.75
SB shows 9 T (three of a kind, Nines)
Hero mucks A Q
SB wins $33.05
(Rake: $1.70)

I should have found a fold on the turn. I think a raise on the flop is as good as it is bad, so I'm not very critical of the flop as I am of my turn + river call.

A hand I suck-out:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1101332
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $25.69
CO: $25.00
BTN: $12.74
SB: $57.32
Hero (BB): $25.00
UTG: $40.31

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with Q Q
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.50, SB calls $0.40, Hero raises to $2.50, BTN calls $2, 1 fold

Flop: ($5.50) J 6 T(2 players)
Hero bets $3, BTN raises to $10.24 all in, Hero calls $7.24

Turn: ($25.98) A(2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($25.98) A(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $25.98
BTN shows J T (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
Hero shows Q Q (two pair, Aces and Queens)
Hero wins $24.70
(Rake: $1.28)

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Thanks for getting this far in my blog and if you haven't seen the following video, I recommend watching it immediately.

-brycead