Journey Through The Micros

Last post was in june and it was about starting playing heads-up cash. Didn't go that well in my first 50HUNL shots on Party but gained some valuable experience. Since then, some things happened. First, I really wanted to get into HU, but I thought 50NL was a little bigger than what I wanted fo my 2,5k BR (yes, I'm a BR nit) in a type of game/limit I had almost no experience. So, I opened a account on iPoker (BetFred), which has smaller limits than 50NL for HU cash, deposited part of my BR there and started playing 20NL. Second, I started getting coached by 2fouroffsuit. I first got to know him through his series "Heads Upside Down", which is simply the best series for the people who are starting to play HU (and when I say that, you can be sure I watched practically every single HU small stakes - plus tons of medium/high stakes -  videos from DC, CR, Leggo and BF). He is a very nice guy and has a great way of thinking about poker. Better yet, he has great teaching skills (as opposed to some coaches, who can be good players but can't teach well) and a good amount of patience with my poor ability of speaking English... 

In those 2 months of coaching so far, I feel I've learned way way more than in 2 years reading books, watching videos, reviewing sessons and going through the forums. Not that these things aren't important, they are, but that only shows the importance of a GOOD coach. At the moment, I've been playing 50HUNL and taking shots at 100HUNL, let's see how it goes...

I have been playing very low volume this month, and almost no 6-max. This month I started playing some HU at Party Poker. The results haven't been great so far, but I'm just getting used to it. I've been reading some theory on HU (some articles, 2+2 threads and stuff like that) and watching some videos (Bosoxx34, WiltOnTilt, 2fouroffsuit). I've not been able to play a lot this month because of personal problems, but I believe the results will get better.

On the flip side, I'm running bellow EV (shocking, huh?) and the reed line is slightly positive :)

In terms of absolute results, it was not a total disaster. A total loss of $102 is something aroung 4 BIs on the stakes I usually play (25NL), which can be lost in a single session. But what bothers me is that I ran like s***, and I don't mean just the EV, it's the coolers that I think that really hurts us as players. When we go AI pre with AA vs 22 and a deuce hits the river, it sucks, but we don't question our play. But when we constantly get things like set-over-set, flush-over-flush, KK vs AA AI preflop and less "acute" coolers (a 2-pair vs a set facing a very aggressive villain or when you bet for value 3 streets with a good TPTK hand in a dry board vs a calling station that calls you down with 2nd pair and hits 2-pair OTR) you start questioning yourself, thinking you played bad and that may lead to you really start playing bad, folding hands you shouldn't fold and playing with fear. For next month, I just hope to be able to keep playing my normal game despite of how bad or good I run. Good june for all of you (I mean, us. Can't leave myself out of this, can I ?)!

In between my DS, I would like to mention that I really enjoyed Bart Hanson's series on live poker named "Poker With Your Pants On". I'm a long time fan of "Deuce Plays" and this first episode of the series corresponded to my expectations, and I really liked the format.

Well, I think it's too early to say I'm bouncing back, but I managed to finish my last two sessions up. More important, I didn't run bellow EV (weeeeeeee).

Nice big pot yesterday:

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1323046
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $25.70
CO: $10.78
Hero (BTN): $59.07
SB: $26.03
BB: $68.38
UTG: $30.93

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Q Q
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, SB calls $0.65, BB raises to $2.50, Hero calls $1.75, SB calls $1.75

Flop: ($7.50) 6 Q 3(3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $5, SB folds, BB calls $5

Turn: ($17.50) 7(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $13, BB raises to $60.88 all in, Hero calls $38.57 all in

River: ($120.64) K(2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $120.64
Hero shows Q Q (three of a kind, Queens)
BB shows A A (a pair of Aces)
Hero wins $117.64
(Rake: $3.00)

Despite of still running bad (you can see from the updated graph starting at the beginning of my downswing, almost 12 BIs bellow EV on the last 22k hands) I feel that this is starting to actually make me play bad. The All-In EV line is BE and it doesn't even account for the coolers (if I'm not mistaken, there has been about three set-over-sets, some KK running into aces and stuff like that in this period). And please don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not that type of person who is always trying to find excuses for what's going wrong, I actually think I usually beat myself too much when I'm running bad. 

But I guess there's no other way to get back on track other than keep on playing and letting variance catch up to me (on the positive side this time). ONE TIME BABY, ONE TIME !!! 

I don't think I've posted ym setup here, I use two 22 inch monitors and a Sony Vaio notebook

Another session running bad, my last 10K hands add up to 8 BIs bellow EV (Jesus, not even I can stand all my whinning anymore... lol).

Today:

Last 10K:

Interesting hand:

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1305161

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $27.49
SB: $41.75
Hero (BB): $25.00
UTG: $25.00
MP: $36.99
CO: $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with Q Q
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.75, SB calls $0.65, Hero raises to $3.25, BTN calls $2.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($7.25) 5 9 5(2 players)
Hero bets $5.50, BTN calls $5.50

Turn: ($18.25) K(2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $9, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $9

River: ($36.25) 6(2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Final Pot: $36.25
BTN shows Q A (a pair of Fives)
Hero shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Fives)
Hero wins $34.44
(Rake: $1.81)

Villain was an aggressive reg (not an aggro-monkey, but aggressive). He was running something like 33/30/3 with 0% Fold to 3bet in 116 hands.

Preflop I squeezed for value since I thought villain could totally call with worse. I cbet the flop with the intention of getting it in if villain raised me. OTT, I didn´t think there was enough value on betting myself. Yes, I think he still could peel the turn with something like TT or JJ, but I thought there was more value on letting he bet the scare card and take the c/c line (after the flop action, there was $18.25 in the pot and I had $16.25 behind, I was totally commited and not planning on folding anymore).

Btw, I posted a thread on "General Discussions" forum about some math on 4betting, check it out and say what's your opinion: http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/4-General-Discussion/topics/391861-Checking-the-math-on-4bet?page=0&per_page=15#post_3355991

Kept the "bad run " of last session, running a little over 2 BI bellow EV in 1,3k hands. Last two sessions combine a total of 6 BI bellow EV in 4k hands, gotta love the variance.

 Today's lol hand:

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1302256
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $25.00
UTG: $41.99
MP: $2.47
CO: $25.77
BTN: $25.35
SB: $37.55

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with A 5
UTG calls $0.25, 4 folds, Hero raises to $1, UTG calls $0.75

Flop: ($2.10) 3 9 J(2 players)
Hero bets $1.50, UTG raises to $3, Hero raises to $9.75, UTG raises to $40.99 all in, Hero calls $14.25 all in

Turn: ($50.10) Q(2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($50.10) T(2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $50.10
Hero shows A 5 (Ace Queen high)
UTG shows 2 T (a pair of Tens)
UTG wins $47.60
(Rake: $2.50)

On the bright side, I made my 2nd Royal Flush lifetime (of course, just a small pot...)

Played a devastating session today. If it was not enough to run 4.5 BIs bellow EV, I had coolers like KK vs AA pre and a massive pot with a K-high flush loosing to the nut-flush.

 Some hands:

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1298440
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $19.93
CO: $16.85
BTN: $25.88
SB: $26.19
Hero (BB): $25.35
UTG: $10.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with A A
4 folds, SB raises to $0.50, Hero raises to $1.75, SB calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.50) 6 5 8(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB raises to $11.50, Hero raises to $23.60 all in, SB calls $12.10

Turn: ($50.70) 9(2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($50.70) 8(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $50.70
SB shows 7 T (a straight, Ten high)
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Eights)
SB wins $48.17
(Rake: $2.53)

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1298444
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: $6.67
MP: $31.87
CO: $28.17
BTN: $23.52
SB: $25.25
Hero (BB): $26.84

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with A K
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.75, SB calls $0.65, Hero raises to $3, BTN calls $2.25, SB raises to $25.25 all in, Hero raises to $26.84 all in, 1 fold

Flop: ($53.50) 9 J Q(2 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: ($53.50) 4(2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($53.50) 4(2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $53.50
SB shows Q A (two pair, Queens and Fours)
Hero shows A K (a pair of Fours)
SB wins $50.83
(Rake: $2.67)

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1298445
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: $26.55
MP: $25.00
CO: $25.45
BTN: $27.13
SB: $54.32
Hero (BB): $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with 6 6
UTG raises to $0.85, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.85, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.65) 6 3 Q(3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $2.65, BTN folds, Hero raises to $6.50, UTG raises to $25.70 all in, Hero calls $17.65 all in

Turn: ($50.95) A(2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($50.95) 9(2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $50.95
UTG shows 8 T (a flush, Ace high)
Hero shows 6 6 (three of a kind, Sixes)
UTG wins $48.41
(Rake: $2.54)

Overall graph up to now (including today's session):

Played a crazy session today. After an initial drop fo more than 4 BIs on the first 300 hands (kindda tilty, isn't it?) I managed to put myself together and slowly recover throughout the rest of the session, finishing almost 1 BI up (not that it matters...).

The last hand of the initial collapse is this one:

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1297212

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $25.00
SB: $12.15
BB: $10.25
UTG: $8.75
MP: $24.80
CO: $40.73

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with J T
1 fold, MP calls $0.25, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.10, 2 folds, MP calls $0.85

Flop: ($2.55) Q T T(2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $2, MP calls $2

Turn: ($6.55) 4(2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $5.50, MP calls $5.50

River: ($17.55) 7(2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $16.40 all in, MP calls $16.20 all in

Final Pot: $49.95
Hero shows J T (three of a kind, Tens)
MP shows 7 7 (a full house, Sevens full of Tens)
MP wins $47.46
(Rake: $2.49)

As I mentioned in my last post, I was about to finish a coaching program. It's been a very busy period in my regular job and I haven't been able to put almost any volume. Also, there was the "Black Friday" during this period and that caught my attention too, despite of being brazilian and not directly affected.

The following graph is "during/post coaching" and I believe it shows some good results. It's not a great sample size (it never is, isn't it?), but 30K hands is reasonable enough. It is a more consistent upswing (not like the erratic BE graph in the last post) and I just hope it's more a result of some leaks fixed than good run, but only time will tell that...

The stats of the same period: