6 months, 60 thousand (+$801.45)

This week has been a week full of super swongs.

To start things off, I had a MAJOR downswing/tilt session. What started off as a 10 buyin losing session turned into a 32 buyin tilt session, which basically consisted of me constantly running into super laggy aggro europeans top of ranges, and then tilting a bit, and then playing some 2/4, 3/6 (BAD IDEA) and then running even worse there. In that session I lost $3200. Pain, yes I felt great pain. I wasn’t exactly raging afterwards because I’ve lost more than that in a day – rewind back to November when I lost $5500 in a day and miraculously grinded back $5000 the next day – but I definitely lost all confidence in my game for that brief period of the day.

Here’s a graph showing the destruction I had made:

Poker Stars $2/$4 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $400.00
MP: $498.50
CO: $126.00
Hero (BTN): $631.05
SB: $400.00
BB: $422.50

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is BTN with Q A
3 folds, Hero raises to $12, 1 fold, BB raises to $48, Hero raises to $124, BB raises to $422.50 all in, Hero calls $298.50

Flop: ($847.00) 8 Q 9 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Turn: ($847.00) 8 (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: ($847.00) J (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $847.00
Hero mucks Q A
BB shows Q J (two pair, Queens and Jacks)
BB wins $844.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Nothing much to say here. The villain was pretty aggro. Running around 28/24. His 3bet was 8.5% which wasn’t quite high, but from the blinds it was something more along the lines of 25%. I think a few hands before he had shoved over the top of me, so I decided to call this time… and got sucked out.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $122.40
UTG: $179.25
CO: $101.50
Hero (BTN): $120.00
SB: $100.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with 9 Q
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, BB raises to $11, Hero raises to $25, BB calls $14

Flop: ($50.50) 8 Q 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $28, BB calls $28

Turn: ($106.50) 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($106.50) K (2 players)
BB bets $69.40 all in, Hero calls $67 all in

Final Pot: $240.50
BB shows 9 9 (two pair, Nines and Eights)
Hero shows 9 Q (two pair, Queens and Eights)
Hero wins $238.50
(Rake: $2.00)

Interesting hand. The villain was an really tight running 16/12 and 3betting 6.5%. I had picked up a read though that his 3bet range was really polarized (or at least I thought), so I decided to 4bet here. When he calls, I feel kinda confused, but I’m pretty sure he’s calling with a wide range. Am I worried? Not really. I think a very very small percentage of the time he would flat with monsters. But in general, I can still show profit in these spots cos I have position. On the flop I’m pretty sure I’m ahead. I thought about open shoving here just cause it really seems suspicious, like some kinda AK that wanted to shove for fold equity, and I could get looked up light here, e.g. from 77, 99, TT. I check turn for pot control to hopefully allow him to bluff river. He shoves river and I kinda tank for a bit. I think KQ could be in his range, but I weighted his hand range more towards mid PPs, and medium strength hands. With that said, if he did have those hands then I would expect him to check the river because they do have some SD value. But I’d also picked up the fact that this guy does some really weird shit which makes no sense….so that, and the fact that it was impossible for him to have AK, QQ, KK or AA in this spot, I decided to hero call and fist pump at the result.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $112.00
MP: $100.00
Hero (CO): $115.50
BTN: $43.95
SB: $105.45
BB: $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A K
UTG calls $1, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4, BTN calls $4, 2 folds, UTG calls $3

Flop: ($13.50) J 4 A (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $9, BTN folds, UTG calls $9

Turn: ($31.50) 9 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $18, UTG calls $18

River: ($67.50) A (2 players)
UTG bets $28, Hero raises to $84.50 all in, UTG calls $53 all in

Final Pot: $229.50
UTG shows A 4 (a full house, Aces full of Fours)
Hero shows A K (three of a kind, Aces)
UTG wins $226.50
(Rake: $3.00)

This was against a 50/6 passive fish who totally owned me. In all fairness, he played the hand great. The river shove basically value owns myself, but I think it’s okay against a 50/6, and even TAGs pending on your image. Against a fish though, I’m pretty sure he’s never folding an ace so I definitely want to get value from worse trips. As it turns out though, he slowplays my ass and I value kill myself.

Anyways, after my huge downswing, I began rethinking about playing poker. I don’t consider myself one to get stressed at all, but losing 32 buyins in a day IS stressful. I was pretty much down and depressed for the rest of the day. I thought about quitting poker. I wanted to blame the fact that it was purely due the fact that I run bad, but that wasn’t the truth. There were some glaring leaks in my game.

Like most people who go on a downswing, the only cure for it is to get drunk! The following night was my friend’s birthday so we all went out for dinner and clubbing afterwards. That was a huge relief. I really needed to go out to take my mind off things.

The other cure for a downswing of course, is also BBV. Haha. Yep, I went onto the BBV forums on 2+2 for those rags to riches story. Reading about how Isildur lost nearly his entire bankroll of a couple million, or how Nebuchad lost his entire bankroll back then of 500k made my meager 3.2k loss look like a grain of salt. I also found solace in knowing that unlike them, I had blown less than half of my bankroll.

After a break on Monday, I came back on Tuesday and must say that I’ve been playing my best game yet. I’ve definitely made some adjustments to my game. I felt that before I was simply playing a bit too robotically and my play was too standard. For example, everytime I got 3bet I was only 4betting if I had AA, AK, QQ, and in some cases, JJ. I also found that I was folding 2nd pair too much in some spots. In short, what I’ve realised is that with games getting more and more aggressive these days, people rarely have anything. That means bluff raising in spots where I was too timid to raise in and calling a little more often in spots I was too afraid to call in. I’ve also realised that most regs at 100nl polarise themselves way too much and play the middle of their range poorly.

Since Tuesday I’ve managed to make back $1440, whilst running $800 below EV. I’ve also cleared my $1500 bonus this week too so I’ve pretty much made back most of what I lost in my downswing. All in all, I’m feeling pretty good. Not only have I managed to make myself unstuck, I’ve been sleeping well too and have actually (surprisingly!) been quite attentive during lectures this week. It’s a great feeling in fact. We’re learning about ECGs, EP studies and arrhythmias and usually I’m quite tired or bored in lectures, but for once, I am finally enjoying lectures! Maybe I’ve finally found my niche in medicine.

Note: another one of the big changes I’ve made to my game is finally getting my red line to go up!

Some interesting hands:

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $101.50
Hero (MP): $502.80
CO: $100.00
BTN: $99.50
SB: $338.05
BB: $116.85

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is MP with K Q
1 fold, Hero raises to $4, CO calls $4, BTN calls $4, 2 folds

Flop: ($13.50) 3 5 K (3 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $9, BTN folds, Hero calls $9

Turn: ($31.50) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $19, CO raises to $50, Hero raises to $417, CO calls $37 all in

River: ($205.50) 3 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $205.50
Hero shows K Q (two pair, Kings and Threes)
CO shows 6 7 (a flush, King high)
CO wins $202.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Villain was your standard tag. While usually I will cbet this flop, I decide to play my hand differently this time. 1) Underrep my hand and 2) if I do get raised on this flop, I don’t want to be check-calling with my eyes closed on future streets.

As played, I check-call the flop and lead turn which looks REALLY goofy. I mean, who does that on their own preflop raise? On the turn, things got a bit tricky. I think hands he is raising here for value are stuff mainly sets: 33, 55. He almost never has KK here (not one to slowplay them pre) and never has 22 here. I think a gutshot is POSSIBLE, but unlikely because he usually never plays gutshot draws aggressively by betting 3way on the flop. On the turn I think he can raise here with combo draws. As2s, As4s, and 6s7s. I think there’s also a good chance he might semi-bluff this turn with naked flush draws, probably around half the time. He might also do this cause my hand looks like some kind of underpair like hand, such as QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, so he may think he has more fold equity than he thinks.

So when I evaluate his range, I am really only losing to 33 and 55. Given that he only has $37 behind him on the turn, I opt to shove here to get him to commit the rest of his chips whilst he’s behind. Turns out, he binks on the river. Regardless of the result, I think I played this hand well.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $202.45
Hero (BB): $245.15
UTG: $101.50
MP: $103.20
CO: $100.00
BTN: $50.80

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with 5 A
2 folds, CO raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero raises to $11, CO calls $8

Flop: ($22.50) 4 4 J (2 players)
Hero bets $14, CO calls $14

Turn: ($50.50) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $44, Hero raises to $88, CO calls $31 all in

River: ($200.50) A (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $200.50
Hero shows 5 A (two pair, Aces and Fives)
CO shows 7 6 (a pair of Fours)
Hero wins $197.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Villain was a reg, a bit aggro. I think he will float some, raise some and fold some in position in 3bet pots. On the turn, I think he will check behind any jack and any pair. He doesn’t have a 4 here often, albeit not impossible as he peels quite wide in 3bet pots. Anyways, on the turn I figure to have the best hand most of the time, so I opt to check shove to get him to commit whilst behind.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $119.45
SB: $216.95
Hero (BB): $113.95
UTG: $100.00
MP: $100.00
CO: $118.65

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with 8 8
UTG calls $1, 1 fold, CO calls $1, 1 fold, SB calls $0.50, Hero raises to $4, UTG calls $3, CO calls $3, SB calls $3

Flop: ($16.00) K 5 2 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $10, UTG folds, CO calls $10, SB folds

Turn: ($36.00) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $20, Hero calls $20

River: ($76.00) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $42, Hero calls $42

Final Pot: $160.00
Hero shows 8 8 (two pair, Queens and Eights)
CO shows J 9 (a pair of Queens)
Hero wins $157.00
(Rake: $3.00)

This was an interesting hand. My image at this point was quite solid and people had seen me slowplay some.Given it’s 4 way most of the time I’ll check this flop. This time I cbet because I figure I probably have the best hand a majority of the time. On the turn I think villain was most likely to check back his kings unless he had KQ or AK (which he never has). Other than that he will bet his draws, mainly flush draws. Also, if he had a queen I think he would check back turn, even if it was a queen with flush draw, since I’ve pretty much turned my hand face up and his pair of queens (if he did have it) is probably good. On the river when he bets again I am sure he isn’t value betting a king. His range is basically KQ or busted flush. Since there’s only 4 combinations of KQ left, I opted to call. It also occurred to me that he could have a set of 3s or 5s on the flop that he decided to slowplay. But I think he very rarely slowplays sets, especially in a 4 way pot.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $100.00
UTG: $304.30
Hero (MP): $101.50
CO: $299.45
BTN: $188.40
SB: $115.40

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is MP with K K
UTG raises to $3, Hero calls $3, 4 folds

Flop: ($7.50) 5 9 9 (2 players)
UTG bets $5, Hero raises to $10, UTG calls $5

Turn: ($27.50) Q (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $20, UTG calls $20

River: ($67.50) 7 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $68.50 all in, UTG calls $68.50

Final Pot: $204.50
UTG shows T Q (two pair, Queens and Nines)
Hero shows K K (two pair, Kings and Nines)
Hero wins $201.50
(Rake: $3.00)

I slowplay my kings pre cos this guy was kinda loose and folded to alot of 3bets. I decided to minraise on the paired board just because when you raise on a paired board no one EVER believes you. Only when it’s a paired-paint board do they ever fold. I expect him to peel with ace highs even when I raise.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 4 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $148.15
SB: $109.50
Hero (BB): $100.00
CO: $101.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with K K
1 fold, BTN raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($6.50) 6 4 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $6, Hero raises to $18, BTN raises to $143, Hero calls $79 all in

Turn: ($200.50) J (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: ($200.50) Q (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $200.50
BTN shows J J (three of a kind, Jacks)
Hero shows K K (a pair of Kings)
BTN wins $198.50
(Rake: $2.00)

And it’s damn cold! Don’t think London has snowed this much in decades; definitely not this much for the past four years I’ve been here.

Anyways, school starts on Monday and instead of feeling down and depressed about it, I’m feeling quite absurdly excited? Must be the good mood I am today – I fit in two sessions of poker and made around 800! Woop woop. On top of that, I finally got my ass to the gym after not exercising for almost three months because of a calcified Achilles tendon. Didn’t exactly spend too long in there, but at least I went, haha.

Back to poker-related stuff – my friend pulled me out to the Vic earlier and an interesting hand went down:

£1/£2 9max full-ring.

I get back from a break and a new guy has sat down two seats to my left, and my god does he look young. He said he was 19 but he could’ve passed for a 12 year old.

The max buyin is 200bbs at £400 and he buys in for about £220. I get 55 on the cutoff and it’s folded to me. I make it £8 to go. Button, who’s shortstacked and pretty bad, calls behind me. Then the kid squeezes out of the SB to make it £30 to go.

At this point, thoughts come racing through my head. It’s his FIRST hand at the table. Usually I give credit for people 3-betting in casinos just because the players there tend to be so passive and never 3-bet light like they do online. However, this kid was young, like SERIOUSLY young. He also bought in for at least 100bbs which tipped me to think that he must be somewhat good, or at least played online and knew the dynamics of the play. In addition to this, his 3bet size was an amount I’d expect an internet player to make because people at the Vic usually make retarded 3bet sizes, like £50-£70.

Given this information, I think about my options. Obviously I can fold. But I hate folding. Especially pocket pairs. Calling is pretty bad, but not gross, since I don’t have enough implied odds to call. Then there’s a 4bet. I was pretty certain he was 3-betting light here, so I opted to 4-bet. I made it £80 to go.

It’s folded back to the kid and he tanks for quite a while. I look at him and he looks pretty serious and maybe a little stiff. He takes about 25-30 seconds before silently pushing all-in for another £130 more. At this point I feel kinda grossed out because I’m a bit pot committed yet calling an all-in with just 55 isn’t exactly desirable. For some reason his timing tell really made me think he was weak. Before he pushed, I pretty much decided that if he insta-shoved or took really long to go all in then I was going to call because my spider senses told me he was willing to 5-bet shove light. Looking back, if he had taken about 10 seconds less to shove all-in then I probably would have folded.

As played though, I go ahead with the call. He asks me if we want to flip our cards over to sweat, in which I reply, “Nah, I’m too embarassed.” I’m praying for no paint to hit the flop.

Flop comes down Ks Ts 7s. Great, what an awful flop. I ask him if he’s got a pair and he cheekily replies, “Now I do.” What a dick. At least I have a flush draw, and I hope it’s clean. Turn comes 7c and river puts 4 spades out to complete my flush. Still not content I’ve got the winning hand with a baby flush, I ask him to turn his hand over first. He shows AK with no spades. Woot! In my mind I’m secretly fist pumping with joy. I scoop a nicely sized pot as people look at me with disgust that I just called an all-in with pocket fives, and won. God I love poker.

If you’re gonna provide free wireless internet, at least make sure it’s decent. You cost me 70 bucks.

Suppose to be packing my suitcases as I’m leaving for London tomorrow morning (sadly). Going to miss HK a ton – had an awesome time seeing friends again and family in Taiwan. It’s crazy to think that most of us, albeit me, are close to or have graduated from uni already. Time flies.

Anyways, instead of packing, I decided to fit in a small session of poker and here’s how it went:

Swang a bit, as you can see lol.

Session tally: $308.80

Not many interesting hands went down, but here’s a couple:

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players – View hand 461684
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $141.05
UTG: $181.00
MP: $50.00
CO: $251.60
BTN: $116.45
SB: $61.20

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with J J
3 folds, BTN raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $10, BTN calls $7.50

Flop: ($20.50) 8 2 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $12.50, BTN calls $12.50

Turn: ($45.50) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $28, Hero calls $28

River: ($101.50) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $65.95 all in, Hero calls $65.95

Final Pot: $233.40
Hero shows J J (a pair of Jacks)
BTN shows K Q (high card King)
Hero wins $230.40
(Rake: $3.00)

Villain was running pretty aggro at around 26/25/7.0/9.0 3bet%. My reason for checking behind turn was because A) I didn’t want to get bluffed off the winning hand and B) if he was floating the flop, which he was, then I wanted to give him a chance to bluff the turn and hopefully the river.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 4 players – View hand 461699
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $94.30
CO: $102.00
BTN: $114.25
Hero (SB): $155.20

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with 5 6
CO raises to $4, 1 fold, Hero raises to $12, 1 fold, CO calls $8

Flop: ($25.00) 3 4 A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($25.00) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $15, CO calls $15

River: ($55.00) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $128.20 all in, CO calls $75 all in

Final Pot: $205.00
CO shows 9 8 (a flush, Ace high – Nine higher)
Hero shows 5 6 (a flush, Ace high)
CO wins $203.00
(Rake: $2.00)

Villain was 28/22/1.0/6.7 3bet% and only folded to 3bets 33% of the time. Hate his call pre-flop for only 100bbs. I check flop to go for the check-shove cause I’m pretty massive. Looking back, river is still a shove for me because he almost never has a 4 or 3 for a house, unless he has 44 or 33 for quads (rare). But apart from that, I want to extract max value against Ax.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players – View hand 461701
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $47.25
MP: $106.95
CO: $119.75
BTN: $81.50
Hero (SB): $100.50
BB: $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with K K
2 folds, CO raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $2.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($7.00) 6 5 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($7.00) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $4, CO raises to $17, Hero calls $13

River: ($41.00) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $40, Hero calls $40

Final Pot: $121.00
CO shows J A (high card Ace)
Hero shows K K (a pair of Kings)
Hero wins $118.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Villain is an supernova elite and a pretty solid TAG reg. He was running 20/16/3.9/5.8 3bet%. His fold to 3bet was 70ish so I decided to slowplay my kings preflop because I was certain on most boards he would be double barreling and I could extract more value that way. I also believe slowplaying preflop with QQ+ is something people probably don’t do enough at small stakes. I don’t believe in balancing all that much at 100nl, but if you were to do it, these would be the times to do so.

As played, he raises me on the turn Qd. Am I scared? Nope, not at all. Vs this type of player I really doubt he has a set ever. He will almost never slowplay a set, esp on this board. The only hand he’s raising here for value that I’m losing to is a set of Queens. But most of the time, he’s raising turn with AQ or diamond draws. The river 7 is quite an innocuous card for me. It IS possible he might’ve raised the turn with something like 89, but I would have expected him to cbet the flop otherwise. I think about leading river too because a portion of the time he might not value bet his AQ again, but against this opponent, I doubted that.

A New Year has gone by and I’ve decided as a New Year’s resolution to set myself a challenge: 6 months, 60 thousand dollars.

Currently a small stakes grinder playing 100nl, I hope this year will be the big break. After a few downswings in Nov-Dec, I took a semi break from poker. I basically went back to Hong Kong (where I live) for the holidays and didn’t get to put any volume in, nor did I have much motivation to do so. With the New Year, I’ve come up with the idea of challenging myself and starting this blog to chronicle the highs and lows that I will experience. I’m not exactly an avid blogger – I will be mainly updating my progress through this challenge – but I will definitely try and add some of my thoughts on non-poker related things too in order to keep things interesting.

Will it be hard? Hell yeah. I’m sure most people would agree that playing poker whilst juggling a college life is no easy task, especially that I’m now in my BSc year of medical school. With exams in February and May, reaching the goal will be a bitch. Impossible though? Na.

Anyways, aside from my reaching my challenge goal, here are some other goals I’ve set myself for 2010:

• Get a 2.1 or better for my bachelor’s degree this year.
• Actually goto class more often!
• Pick up something creative; rekindle my lost passion for art.
• Start going to the gym again (at least 2x a week).

and…

• Qualify for the WSOP!