Folding Pocket Aces

I fold.

xix — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:11:43 +0000

Real life has taken over. Mostly all my fault, but you know, stupid is as stupid does. It was a nice dream while it lasted.

Take care,
Shawn

I complain too much

xix — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:15:32 +0000

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em $0.02 Ante - 9 players - View hand 827802
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $21.28
BB: $10.00
UTG: $21.57
UTG+1: $26.31
UTG+2: $20.40
MP1: $20.00
MP2: $19.64
Hero (CO): $38.15
BTN: $9.95

Pre Flop: ($0.33) Hero is CO with K J
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.30, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.30, 3 folds

Flop: ($0.93) T Q 5(2 players)
UTG+1 bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.33) A(2 players)
UTG+1 bets $1.30, Hero raises to $2.60, UTG+1 calls $1.30

River: ($7.53) 8(2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $6, UTG+1 folds

Final Pot: $7.53
Hero mucks K J
Hero wins $7.18
(Rake: $0.35)

Absolute Poker No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t20/t40 Blinds - 2 players - View hand 827803
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN/SB: t1805 M = 30.08
Hero (BB): t1195 M = 19.92

Pre Flop: (t60) Hero is BB with A T
BTN/SB calls t20, Hero raises to t, BTN/SB calls t-40

Flop: A J Q(2 players)
Hero bets t, BTN/SB calls t0

Turn: K(2 players)
BTN/SB calls t0

River: 5(2 players)

Final Pot: t0
BTN/SB shows K 8 (One pair, kings)
Hero shows A T (Royal flush)
Hero wins t2390
(Rake: t-2390)

Don't chat while playing...

xix — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:05:13 +0000

This is why one shouldn't chat while playing...

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 3 players - View hand 827400
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $3.27
BTN: $2.26
SB: $6.13

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with T 3 2 3
BTN calls $0.02, SB calls $0.01, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.06) T A J(3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($0.06) A(3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($0.06) 3(3 players)
SB bets $0.03, Hero folds, BTN folds

Final Pot: $0.06
SB wins $0.06

It seems I don't like boats... maybe that's why I'm a losing player. ;)

I think I quit....

xix — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:32:27 +0000

Life/Poker

xix — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:17:38 +0000

"Life / Poker is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it"
Â Â -- Â Charles Swindoll / Me ;)

Finding your new A game, then finding TILT

xix — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:54:53 +0000

Over the past two days I was fortunate enough to notice my A game had progressed to a new level. My reads in various situations were correct more often then not. I was getting paid off with my good hands, and I was finding good folds base on my reads. It felt fantastic. I had started working on a couple of key points in my game which I thought were weak for which i thought I could reap great benefits if I even improved the slightest.

Those two key points were developping reads and stop roboting. So I went down from playing 6 to 8 tables of 6 max, to playing only 4 and I was focused in the hands I was playing, but even more focused in the hands I wasn't. I think this last part is a very key concept that a lot of micro stakes, maybe even small stake players could improve on. Lots of players will try to build reads while they're in a hand versus someone and I think it's probably the worst time to do that. You should build your reads on someone while he's in a hand against someone else and then use those reads while you are in a hand against them. Another thing that's important to note is that you can build reads on two maybe three players at once if you pay more attention to the hands you aren't playing! That's definitely +++EV. +EV cause you're building reads, +EV cause you're building reads on more then one player and +EV cause it's not your money that's in the pot!

But unfortunately, with my new found A game, I discovered my TILT. I have a very specific kind of TILT. I don't get mad, I don't start screaming at the screen or start bashing my mouse. When I TILT, I simply just stop carring. I say "eff it" and then I just start playing poorly. I try and make my opponents fold what I know are better hands instead of simply folding my own hand. I try and trap players with good hands, which I think they actually notice since it's a big difference from my usual style of play. One good thing about this TILT situation is that I also discovered when I TILT. I rarely TILT when I get sucked out on, unless I've been sucked out on multiple hands in a short period of time. My main TILT situation which flips the A game switch off and the C game switch on is when I feel I played a hand horribly. I have such high standards when it comes to my game play that as soon as I do anything which I feel is a C game type play, I lose it. The worst thing about it, is that I know I lose it! But since I stopped carring I keep playing. That might actually be considered an F game. Knowing I'm playing my C game and not carring = F game.

Here's an example of what happens when I play a horrible hand and I TILT:

The hand in question was played vs a player that seemed good. I say "seemed good" simply because I hadn't seen him do anything out of line yet, but there were some moments where his lines didn't really make sense but since he didn't get to showdown I wasn't about to get a good solid read. He was playing 30/14 with 7% 3B but was only 3B from the blinds. Most of his aggression would come on the turn and he seemed to play most flops passively. I should have realised that his 3B on the flop was a sign of strenght and should have folded my hand.

Hand #1
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 814816
The
Official DeucesCracked.com
Hand History Converter

BB:
$11.47
UTG: $10.51
MP: $9.04
CO: $6.44
Hero
(BTN): $23.60
SB: $6.56

Pre Flop:
($0.15) Hero is BTN with Q A
3 folds,
Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, BB calls $0.30

Flop:
($0.85) 4 T 7 (2 players)
BB bets $0.70, Hero raises to $2.10, BB raises to $4.30, Hero raises to $23.20 all in, BB calls $6.77 all in

Turn: ($22.99) Q (2 players - 2 are all in)

River:
($22.99) 7 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final
Pot: $22.99
BB shows T T
(a full house, Tens full of Sevens)
Hero shows Q A (two pair, Queens and Sevens)
BB wins $21.85
(Rake: $1.14)

After that hand was over I started getting upset with myself. I basically turned my draw into a bluff and lost a stack because of it. There's no reason to play a hand this way at the micros. Most players will still pay you off when you hit your draw on later streets. I should have simply flatted his lead out flop bet and played the hand in position instead. C game move.

Soon after is when I started playing horrible. These 4 next hands litterally happened withing about 10 minutes of eachother.

Hand #1
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 814815
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $20.13
MP: $13.30
CO: $10.00
Hero (BTN): $11.93
SB: $4.25
BB: $12.54

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 3 3
1 fold, MP raises to $0.30, CO calls $0.30, Hero calls $0.30, SB calls $0.25, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($1.50) 6 3 4 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP bets $1, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $3, SB folds, BB calls $3, MP folds, CO folds

Turn: ($9.50) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $8.63 all in, BB calls $8.63

River: ($26.76) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $26.76
Hero shows 3 3 (a straight, Three to Seven)
BB shows K Q (a flush, King high)
BB wins $25.45
(Rake: $1.31)

Hand #2
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 814817
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $11.61
Hero (SB): $10.35
BB: $10.34
UTG: $11.13
CO: $11.75

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is SB with J K
UTG raises to $0.30, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.90, BB calls $0.80, UTG calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.70) J 5 5 (3 players)
Hero bets $1.50, BB calls $1.50, UTG folds

Turn: ($5.70) K (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BB calls $3

River: ($11.70) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $4.95 all in, BB calls $4.94 all in

Final Pot: $21.58
Hero shows J K (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
BB shows A A (two pair, Aces and Fives)
BB wins $20.53
(Rake: $1.05)

Hand #3
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 814818
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $21.65
BB: $10.00
UTG: $12.16
MP: $4.35
Hero (CO): $11.80
BTN: $10.00

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with T T
UTG calls $0.10, MP raises to $0.30, Hero calls $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, SB calls $0.25, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.20

Flop: ($1.60) 9 2 J (5 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, MP bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70, BTN raises to $3.50, SB folds, UTG folds, MP folds, Hero calls $2.80

Turn: ($9.30) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $8 all in, BTN calls $6.20 all in

River: ($21.70) 8 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $21.70
Hero shows T T (two pair, Tens and Nines)
BTN shows Q J (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
BTN wins $20.64
(Rake: $1.06)

Hand #4
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 814819
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $10.81
BB: $10.05
Hero (UTG): $10.30
CO: $10.00
BTN: $17.88

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with A Q
Hero raises to $0.40, CO calls $0.40, 3 folds

Flop: ($0.95) J 2 A (2 players)
Hero bets $0.60, CO calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.15) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.30, CO raises to $3.40, Hero calls $2.10

River: ($8.95) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $5.90 all in, CO calls $5.60 all in

Final Pot: $20.15
Hero shows A Q (a pair of Aces)
CO shows A J (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
CO wins $19.17
(Rake: $0.98)

View all 5 hands

Fortunately for me I had been having a good day so I finished the day about down only 1.5 BI. But oddly enough, I still felt great about it for two reasons. I found my new A game and I found my source of TILT. Now all I need to do is be disciplined enough to do some right quitting.

EDIT: Read this blog post from FenderJaguar. He touches a lot on the importance of getting reads.

Glitch Glitch

xix — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:46:11 +0000

[Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
Neo: Whoa. DÃ©jÃ vu.
[Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
Trinity: What did you just say?
Neo: Nothing. Just had a little dÃ©jÃ vu.
Trinity: What did you see?
Cypher: What happened?
Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.
Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!
Neo: What is it?
Trinity: A dÃ©jÃ vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.Â

Basically it's the same as my last 2 posts. 2 months nothing done... Go Me!

New Start

xix — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:23:56 +0000

Whats up everyone. I can't believe it's already June! It's almost summer! For this reason, I'll post a few tracks which always seem to fall back on my playlist around this time of year.

Chicane - Autumn Tactics
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - Summertime
DJ Food - The Crow

As I stated earlier, we're in the last leg of the first half of 2010 and unfortunately I'm nowhere near my goals that I had set for myself for this year. And it's not only pertaining to my poker goals but my life goals also. Because of this I started doing a little 'soul searching' over the past couple of weeks. I needed to find out why this was happening. There has to be a reason or multiple reasons why I keep falling short of the goals I set for myself. I've come up with a couple of items that I think are at the root of the issue and that I want to work on both on and off the tables.

- I have many goals but no plans
I know where I'm going but I have no idea how to get there. I don't workout all the steps I need to do before getting somewhere and this always seems to cause me to fall off the wagon. I need to start define the steps I need to complete to achieve those goals.

- I don't apply myself 100% to anything I do
Either be it planning a project for work or analysing DC videos to better my game. I don't do nearly enough of it, and when I do do it, it's always last minute and never as good as it could have been if I would have simply done it from the start.

- I always expect conflict
I always expect conflict in anything I do. Even when I think of simple every day things, I always expect things to wrong and that there will always be someone that will oppose me. At the tables, I always become hyper aggressive with marginal hands trying to push people off their hands even when I know I'm beat. Like the title of my blog says, "Sometimes you need to know when to fold your cards and take a rest."

At the end of March I had posted about doing session warm-ups. Unfortunately I never kept up with the habit but I feel it's something I really need to do to have a good session. Also, I think I will try to create the same type of habit for my work day.

I guess that's about it for today. Have a good day everyone.
Thanks for reading.

Just fncking do it

xix — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:29:51 +0000

Sup peeps!

Iâ€™ll start off with a few tracks that have been in my track rotation since the last post:
Marilyn Manson â€“ The Nobodies
Endymion â€“ Abduction
Dashboard Confessional â€“ Hands Down

Havenâ€™t been updating much. Iâ€™ve had lots on my mind over the last little while and Iâ€™ve been writting more in my personal journal then anywhere else. Here are the cliffnotes:

April started awesome, and finished pretty shitty. Was up about 21BI but finished up maybe 20BB.
May has started off pretty sucky also.
Feeling pretty shitty about my game and Iâ€™m not too sure where to turn / what to do.
Iâ€™m feeling a bit overwhelmed by events in my non-poker life which isnâ€™t helping.

Iâ€™ve noticed that after I load up a couple of tables and start playing, my minds starts racing thinking about 10000000 other things. I donâ€™t have the focus I want at the tables. I also havenâ€™t been putting my focus on studying one game which isnâ€™t helping. Iâ€™ve been playing NLFR, NLSH, HUNLSNG, HUPLOSNG and PLO and watching random videos for each.

So my plan for the next little while is simply to Just fncking do it

Iâ€™m going to stick to NLFR and NLSH since the games donâ€™t differ all that much.

Goals March/April & End of Year

xix — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:13:34 +0000

Whatâ€™s up peeps. Hereâ€™s a few tracks that have been on my grinding playlist since my last post:

Gary Jules â€“ Mad World (SKC Feat. Munk & Falcon Remix) [Drum & Bass]

Emancipator â€“ Soon it will Be Cold Enough to Build Fires [?Ambiant Downtempo?]

Lab 4 â€“ Perfect Drug Remix [Hard Trance]

Goals for end of March

Better utilize Position; Play more hands in late position.
Analyze opponents actions before acting.
Play 3 bet pots more carefully.
Always have a reason for my actions.
Clear VIP status by end of month.

Goals for April

Study ranges more in depth.
Warm Up before EVERY session.
Create â€œCool Downâ€ Plan (? What goes up must come down ?).
Continue learning to play 3 bet pots properly.
Take my 3rd shot at 25NL.

Poker Goals
Iâ€™ve always been a dualist at heart. Even back in my gaming days I preferred playing 1 on 1. Thatâ€™s also where I want to move to within poker. Iâ€™m currently playing 10NL and, unfortunately, the 1 vs 1 tables on PS start at 50NL. So I have a long way to go. But Iâ€™ve still defined short and long term goals.

Short (within the next 4 month)

Start taking shots at 100NL 6m & FR ( @ 35BI ).
Start taking shots at 50NL HU ( @ 100BI ).
Fully watch pr1nnyraiding 1, 2 and DogIsHeadsUp.
Continue working with my coaches/study groups to better my game.

Long Term (before end of year)

Be a winning regular 200NL 6m and FR player.
Be a winning regular 100NL HU player.
Have coached at least 1 uNL player.
Have written a uNL guide for 6m and FR.

Session Warm Up

xix — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:28:10 +0000

One thing that I will start implementing before playing a session is to have a session warm up. All professional athletes have a warm up before competing; this usually consists of static, dynamic, ballistic stretching and drills. Most e-athletes have a warm up session either by playing against someone else for one or two games before or if in a team settings, going 2 vs 2 on the selected maps.

For poker there are some steps that I plan to take to get myself ready to play.

HH review.
Going over hands from the previous session is a good way to get your poker mind warmed up. This will bring up items which you want to work on about your games, either playing OOP or playing in 3B pots. This is a good time to add subsequent notes on players.
Notes review (Goals & Blog).
If you have a blog and you post your weekly and/or monthly goals or if you post problematic hands/situations, reviewing those will help bring forward the areas of your game you wish to work on and keep them in your mind for the session youâ€™re about to start.
Watching videos.
Watching an entire video might be complicated, but if youâ€™ve taken notes on the videos you watched, going over parts which talk about parts of your game you want to work on will definitely help you correct those parts for the session and if done often enough, in your game.
Visualization
This one is more of a 2 part process. First you need to focus your mind (become mindfull) on the session at hand. This can be done using the breathing techniques that can be found in the series Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment. While becoming mindfull of the session you are about to start, envision yourself properly applying your goals which youâ€™ve defined in steps 1, 2 and 3.

One this is done I will be ready to load up some tables and play. One seated at the tables I will have 2 more tasks to do.

Go over the players on the table. If you have stats on these players go over them and define what your general strategy for playing will be.
Go over your notes for the players you have on the table. Keep in mind any weaknesses that you might have found against your opponents and define a strategy for exploiting those.

I think after doing all of these steps at the beginning of each session, I will have done everything possible up to that point to play at my best. To play my â€˜Aâ€™ game. Because the only thing I have complete control over at the table is me.

Drive and Focus / Blogroll

xix — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:45:43 +0000

I found the The microstakes confessional thread this morning and itâ€™s made me think about the way I approach poker and its made me notice a few things which I believe I must definitely improve on to become a better poker player.
First is to use my resources to their full potential. I have access to a lot of material to better my game technically; books, membership to training sites, user accounts on poker sites and forums, but I donâ€™t use them. I hoard everything I can but very rarely use it.

I also donâ€™t use my blog to itâ€™s full potential as a learning tool. I came across jjd323â€™s blog this week and it inspired me to blog more with the intention to use it as a log my progress as a poker player. Right now itâ€™s mainly used for random poker ramblings which isnâ€™t doing much other then wasting my time by posting and the readers time when reading it.

Next is that I never have the right frame of mind when I sit at the tables. My usual frame of mind is to sit and win. True thatâ€™s a better frame of mind then â€œSit and Loseâ€ but I donâ€™t think it will help my progress. One thing thatâ€™s constant amongst the high stakes players is that they always try to learn and adapt, which is what has made them so successful in this game. Bosoxx34 and KasinoKrime have mentioned this multiple times in their blogs and in their videos. A successful poker player needs to be a perpetual student of the game because the game is always changing.

Last is that Iâ€™m lucky enough to be good friends with many great poker players. Most of them are currently or have been pro at some point and they have all offered to help me out with my game but I rarely ask for their help. I always have great intentions of starting projects with them which would help me with my game but itâ€™s never been anywhere past one or two sessions. I think the kicker with this whole situation is that one of those resources is my wifeâ€™s best friend and we both live in the same city so it would be easy for me to get help from him. He has a great poker mind, understands the game very well and heâ€™s able to explain everything very clearly so it would be easy for me to learn from him.

So as you can see I big time fail @ learning poker but at least I realize this now and I can do something about it.

In one of my few posts in my blog I complained about missed a great opportunity in 2002 to start playing poker and now that I look back at it, I donâ€™t think I learned anything from that realization considering what Iâ€™m doing with my current opportunities.

This week Iâ€™ll work on defining some goals and objectives and Iâ€™ll be posting them here in my blog. I think having defined goals and objectives is a must because climbing a ladder thatâ€™s leaning on the wrong wall is pretty useless if you ask me.

One thing Iâ€™ll steal from KasinoKrimeâ€™s blog is that I will post some songs that have been on my play list that week or that session. A little warning, I like almost every style of music possible so there will be a great variety of tracks.

First will be DJ Korsakoffâ€™s PowerRave this is the first track in my running play list. Definitely helps with getting that adrenaline flowing.

Huge Downswing = Lost half my roll

xix — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:17:59 +0000

Iâ€™ve been on a pretty bad downswing since the beginning of the month. I had been running pretty well since the beginning of the year and I had moved up from 5NL to 10NL to 25NL. Up to now Iâ€™ve lost just over half my roll just this month.

My hands just arenâ€™t holding up and itâ€™s getting pretty soul crushing. I knew it would happen at one point but I didnâ€™t expect this hard of a downswing till maybe 50NL or something. I guess Iâ€™m a little relieved that at the stakes Iâ€™m playing itâ€™s a bit easier to win it back then it would be at the higher stakes so I shouldnâ€™t complain too much.

Needless to say Iâ€™m back down to 5NL. Iâ€™m still rolled enough to play 10NL but my confidence is shot right now so I think a little stay at 5NL will do some good for me. I might just watch some videos for a few weeks. Iâ€™ll be getting my Mt. Robosto assignment this week I think. Maybe thatâ€™ll help break this downswing.

Here are a couple of the hands that I played.

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $17.20
SB: $18.00
BB: $10.00
UTG: $15.10
CO: $14.00

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 6 J
1 fold, CO calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.35, BB calls $0.30, CO calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.60) K K Q (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $0.90, SB calls $0.90, BB folds, CO folds

Turn: ($3.40) 3 (2 players)
SB bets $0.60, Hero raises to $3, SB raises to $16.70 all in, Hero calls $12.90 all in

River: ($35.20) 3 (2 players â€“ 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $35.20
Hero shows 6 J (a flush, King high)
SB shows T K (a full house, Kings full of Threes)
SB wins $33.45
(Rake: $1.75)

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $25.00
UTG: $28.85
MP: $20.85
CO: $29.55
BTN: $27.60
SB: $30.65

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with A A
2 folds, CO raises to $0.75, BTN calls $0.75, 1 fold, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, BTN calls $2.25

Flop: ($6.85) 6 4 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $4.25, BTN raises to $24.60 all in, Hero calls $17.75 all in

Turn: ($50.85) K (2 players â€“ 2 are all in)

River: ($50.85) Q (2 players â€“ 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $50.85
Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces)
BTN shows 3 5 (a straight, Three to Seven)
BTN wins $48.35
(Rake: $2.50)

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $2.55
BB: $35.75
UTG: $6.00
MP: $13.95
Hero (CO): $10.50
BTN: $11.60

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with 9 A
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BTN raises to $1.10, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.70

Flop: ($2.35) 2 3 A (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.65, Hero raises to $9.40 all in, BTN calls $7.75

Turn: ($21.15) 5 (2 players â€“ 1 is all in)

River: ($21.15) 5 (2 players â€“ 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $21.15
Hero shows 9 A (two pair, Aces and Fives)
BTN shows 4 4 (a straight, Ace to Five)
BTN wins $20.10
(Rake: $1.05)

Few Nights Off

xix — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:38:54 +0000

Iâ€™ve been playing pretty furiously since the beginning of 2K10. Put in about 30k hand last month, already at around 20k hands this month; which is a huge change from last year where I played about 120k hands in the entire year.

Yesterday I watched the menâ€™s olympic hockey game between Canada and Norway, tonight I went to a wine tasting event and I must say it was fantastic and tomorrow Iâ€™ll be watching the game between Canada/Switzerland.

Thereâ€™s not much I can say about the Canada/Norway game other then Go Canada Go!!! 8 Goals! As much as I dislike Heatly for leaving the Ottawa Senators, I love him as part of team Canada. Itâ€™s kind of unfair that one of our main lines is also the main line for one of the top teams in the NHLâ€¦ well, not really, not when youâ€™re going for GOLD!

Tonight I tasted some great wines from here in my province of Ontario and had some good conversations with some family and friends. It wasnâ€™t until now that I realized that I didnâ€™t think once about poker all night.

I now think that taking nights off are definitely a must, even if itâ€™s just for one or two nights. Think of it as like rebooting your Windows box after running for 2 week straight. (NOTE I did say Windows for a reason ;))

5NL -> 10NL -> 25NL -> 10NL

xix — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:30:24 +0000

Well I havenâ€™t posted much lately. Iâ€™m blame laziness. ;) Iâ€™ve wanted to post about my 2010 goals and such but I havenâ€™t really defined them yet and to be honest, I donâ€™t really have any other then just learning the most I can and going as high up in stakes as I can.

With that said, things have been going well for me since the beginning of the year. I started off at 5NL, built up my BR to start taking shots at 10NL. My first shot at 10NL didnâ€™t go so well so I had to move back down and build up my BR again. I went on a pretty sick heater and took a shot by the next weekend, had a good run and was able to stay there. With the help of my friend/coach Ryan I was able to start patching a major leak in my game; playing too passively. Playing passively works fine for 5NL and you can still crush the game pretty well with that style of play but once you hit 10NL it just doesnâ€™t work.

My second shot at 10NL went fairly smooth and I was able to build my BR pretty fast to start taking shots at 25NL. Clearing two Stellar Bonuses and exchanging some points for the F40 Bonus helped a lot. I didnâ€™t really want to stay at 10NL for all that long. I expected 25NL to be nearly the same skill level as 10NL so there wasnâ€™t really any reason to stay there.

I was finally able to take my first shot at 25NL yesterday. I had already decided to limit it to 3~4BI depending on if I was playing horribly or if I was just running bad. My first session went well; I finished up by half a BI. Had one or two weird spots but nothing really special. I did win my second biggest pot of my poker life which was awesome. My biggest pot was at the end 2008 when I first started playing seriously. I reviewed that hand and to be honest, I should have folded it. I had hit a 3 outer on the river to hit a straight beating out 2 pair. Iâ€™ll be able to best that pot size sooner then later.

After a short break, I decided to start up a second session. This session was just a bad day on the losing side of variance. I lost a few big pots which put me down 4BI for the session. KK vs AA, QQ vs AA, both against the same guy on two different tables. KK vs 75s where he hit his flush on the river and last, top set of Qs against A7s and he hit his flush on the turn.

Overall, I think I can beat 25NL. Sure I only played about 1500 hands but I felt that the general game play at 25NL was somewhat weaker then at 10NL. It could have also just been the tables I was sitting at. But for now, Iâ€™m back in the 10NL camp till I rebuild my BR to be able to take my second shot at 25NL. Hopefully Iâ€™ll have a similar experience to what happened at 10NL and my second shot will be on the good side of variance.

I may try and build up to more then 20BI before I take another shot. Since 25NL is 2.5 times the BI for 10NL, the losses are greater when you move down. Iâ€™m thinking of building up to 24~25BI before taking another shot, that way I can take 5~7BI to take my shot which should make the transition easier. Weâ€™ll see.

Thatâ€™s about it for now I guess. Iâ€™ll try and post a bit more regularly in the upcoming weeks.

Going for a run before playing?

xix — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:44:37 +0000

I randomly go out for quick runs at lunchtime during the work week and I feel that it helps me keep focused and energized for the afternoon work hours. Over todayâ€™s lunch run I though of trying to go for a quick run before sitting at my computer for my evening sessions. I would imagine it would have the same effect at my lunch run.

Iâ€™ll keep a log of it here for the next couple of weeks and see if it helps with my focus at the tables.

10NL and the 20BI mental block

xix — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:45:58 +0000

As Iâ€™ve mentioned before, I used to take random shots at 10NL before actually getting to the proper 20BI for that stake and I think it made me play with â€œscared moneyâ€. I noticed this once I took my first shot at 10NL WITH 20BI for that stake today and it went very smoothly. I didnâ€™t have the same worries I had previously when calling with marginal made hands finished up 1BI with made it just that much better. Lets hope I can keep running well.

Variance and Bad Play

xix — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:40:05 +0000

This month has certainly been quite exciting. First I decided to switch to 6max from FR. I actually had a great run at first and in about 6000 hands I had a 14 BI upswing putting me within 1BI of making it up to 10NL. Thatâ€™s when things started to get ugly.

I think at this point I was starting to focus more no winning that last BI then playing poker properly. My W$woSD went straight down and my showdown winnings were pretty flat, winning as much as I was loosing. But I think I came out on the wrong side of variance most of the time. What really killed me was the W$soSD, over the last 1600 hands or so, it went down on a steady decline to the final mark of â€¦. drum roll -7BI! So basically Iâ€™ve cut my months winnings in half because of bad play.

Iâ€™ve decided to accept that for what it is, a lesson learned. Donâ€™t start playing marginal hands to try and hit miracle flops. Keep to your A-Game and everything will happen as it should. Donâ€™t force it.

So this week is going to be â€œBack to Basics Week!â€. My plan is to rewatch the â€œFrom the Ground Upâ€ series by TubaSteve and n0whereman. Itâ€™s the first series I watched when I had first joined a year ago and I think it wouldnâ€™t hurt to rewatch the series to make sure my basics are in check.

Goals for the remainder of the month:
- Keep opening range tight.
- Keep calling range tighter.
- CBet good flops.
- Stop forcing hand with loose passive players, theyâ€™ll happen on their own.

Switching to 6max

xix — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:41:30 +0000

Iâ€™ve decided to make the switch from FR to 6max as my primary game. I decided to make this switch because thereâ€™s just a lot more 6max content then there is FR content. Also, the player pool is much larger which makes it easier for finding games.

Played my first 6max session yesterday night and it went really well. I got into some tough spots which Iâ€™ll post later. There is one hand I can post now since I had already put it in the forums: 5Bet pot with KK. I think instead of 4Betting to 3x I should have shoved, but since we were deep, I thought I could probably find a hand that I could outplay him post flop later on in the game. Iâ€™ll post the other hands later on once I get home.

Excited!

xix — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:21:58 +0000

Iâ€™m extremely excited about what the next year will be like for my poker game. I finally renewed my DC membership for a year term, taking advantange of the sweet deal of getting a license for Omaha Manager and a signed copy Tommy Angeloâ€™s Theory of Poker book, and I can already see the +EV effects of watching a few videos over the Free Flash Weekend. My thought process during my hands is much more analytical then it was last week. Iâ€™m seeing spots that I wouldnâ€™t have before. Itâ€™s just crazy how a little knowledge, well applied, can help your game.

I even took the time to play a little PLO after watching the first two episodes of Hellomaha. To be quite honest, I wasnâ€™t expecting much, I just wanted to get a feel for the game but I got into some good situtuation. One of them, me getting completely free rolled with a made nut straight and the other crushing a nut flush with quads. It seems like itâ€™s going to be a pretty crazy game to learn.

With my new membership, I decided that I was going to be a lot more active on the DC forums. I even got my network administrator to unblock deucescracked.com from our firewall so I can access it from work, -EV for work, +EV for poker. ;) While browsing the forums I found one thread and one blog post that really inspired me for the upcomping year. The first being Malefiicusâ€™ Poker Story. Unfortunately, living such a life is impossible for me as Iâ€™m married and own a house and about to start a family, but just the idea that he was able to start living this life from simply working hard on his game has grown my desire to do the same. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

And reading DCâ€™s Origin Story on KRANTZâ€™s Blog just how great DC is. The enthousiams in his post is, as said many times before, epic. Itâ€™s made me proud to be part of this community. Now I just need to figure out how to get a DC hoody so I can show my pride at the local casino when I start crushing the games there! Always look left baby!

Interesting hand ... good fold?

xix — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:56:16 +0000

Villain(HJ) is loose passive. 21/2/1 over a ~450 hand sample size. Heâ€™s always really agressive on the river because he rarely continues without a hand. His WTSD is 18% with a 56% W@SD. But was still generally a losing player.

Villain2(UTG+1) is also loose passivish. 24/9/1 over a ~350 hand sample size. Does have a relatively high CBet%.

I had been pretty loose aggressive but I had been hitting a lot of hands.

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $9.53
CO: $2.00
BTN: $4.19
SB: $10.00
BB: $14.57
UTG: $5.31
UTG+1: $5.22
UTG+2: $7.96
Hero (MP1): $9.06

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is MP1 with K A
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.20, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.20, MP2 calls $0.20, 4 folds

I could have 3B here but since I was already playing aggressive, I thought I would try and just call here. With my aggressive image up to now, I think a 3B would only fold out too much where I would lose a bit of value at this point. But that brings horrible situations like being overcalled by the guy directly to your left.

Flop: ($0.67) 9 K 2 (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $0.45, Hero raises to $1.25, MP2 calls $1.25, UTG+1 calls $0.80

So I hit the flop well. Thereâ€™s two flush cards out there so Iâ€™m planning to bet big to charge them because thereâ€™s lots of Axs in both their ranges. After villain 1 bets 2/3s I decide to pot it to try and put myself in a HU situation against him. I think QQ/JJ and KJ/KQ would call one off here. Iâ€™m not really impressed that both called of course.

Turn: ($4.42) 5 (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2.40, MP2 raises to $8.08 all in, UTG+1 folds, Hero folds

Final Pot: $9.22
MP2 wins $8.77
(Rake: $0.45)

This is where Iâ€™m not too sure whatâ€™s my best like. I think check/fold is too weak. Bet/Fold seems to be a good line but if I bet 2/3pot, Iâ€™m putting over 50% of my stack in the pot. I decided to bet just over half pot but I think this makes my hand look like AQ / AJ ?? I dunno

Tilting about missed opportunity

xix — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:49:21 +0000

This post is a bit more about personal life then poker really but itâ€™s about a missed opportunity concerning poker.

Back in from about 1999 to about 2004 I played a lot of Quake3Arena. I was a relatively good player. Meaning that I played with/versus professional caliber players but never played professionally myself. There was a huge player community site named xsreality.com (now esreality.com) which made it easy to know about all the different players in the world. In general, team play (TDM: Team Death Match) was dominated by Euro teams while 1v1 play was dominated by US players. I was mainly a TDM player myself but played a bit of 1v1. Since my primary game was TDM, I followed the Euro teams very closely.

Around 2002 one of my favorite players decided he was going to start playing poker instead of Q3A. At the time I thought it was a stupid idea, I didnâ€™t believe that there was much money in poker. It had crossed my mind at the time that MAYBE, just MAYBE I was being a bit quick on judging his choice and that I should probably looking into this â€œonline pokerâ€ thing and see what itâ€™s all about. Needless to say I was stupid enough not to and just kept playing Q3A.

Looking back at the time in my life Iâ€™m kicking myself in the ass. I had very little responsibilities at that time; I played Q3A for about 3 to 10 hours a day depending on my plans at that time. I had a good paying job which would have provided me with a bit more flexibility of re-buying since I didnâ€™t have as many bills as I do now. I just think were I would be 6~7 years later if I would have just been a bit more open-minded at that time. I know I certainly wouldnâ€™t be killing myself trying to build my miniature bankroll to get from 5NL~10NL to 25NL.

All that to say, always be open-minded about opportunities that might come your way. Either it be in poker, career or life in general. You never know where it might lead you.

5mins, -3BI later

xix — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:37:48 +0000

What a horrible session. All of these 3 hands are played within 5 mins of eachother:

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $14.75
MP1: $2.00
MP2: $8.55
CO: $10.30
BTN: $20.45
SB: $10.00
Hero (BB): $11.60
UTG: $10.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with 2 7
UTG calls $0.10, 6 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.25) 2 2 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Turn: ($0.85) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

River: ($1.65) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $9.30 all in, Hero calls $9.30

Final Pot: $20.25
Hero mucks 2 7
UTG shows 8 8 (a full house, Eights full of Deuces)
UTG wins $19.25
(Rake: $1.00)

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $15.90
BB: $2.00
UTG: $7.00
UTG+1: $6.95
MP1: $6.10
MP2: $10.65
Hero (CO): $10.00
BTN: $12.40

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with A J
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.10, MP1 raises to $0.20, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.20, BTN calls $0.20, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.95) 9 4 A (4 players)
UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets $0.40, Hero raises to $1.20, BTN folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 raises to $5.80, Hero raises to $9.80 all in, MP1 calls $0.10 all in

Turn: ($12.75) T (2 players â€“ 2 are all in)

River: ($12.75) 8 (2 players â€“ 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $12.75
MP1 shows Q A (a pair of Aces)
Hero mucks A J
MP1 wins $12.15
(Rake: $0.60)

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $2.95
BB: $10.00
Hero (UTG): $16.35
UTG+1: $3.65
UTG+2: $7.00
MP1: $7.90
MP2: $5.60
CO: $6.20
BTN: $8.20

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with Q Q
Hero raises to $0.40, UTG+1 raises to $0.70, 2 folds, MP2 calls $0.70, 4 folds, Hero calls $0.30

Flop: ($2.25) 9 2 7 (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets $4.90 all in, Hero calls $4.90, UTG+1 folds

Turn: ($12.05) 6 (2 players â€“ 1 is all in)

River: ($12.05) 5 (2 players â€“ 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $12.05
Hero shows Q Q (a pair of Queens)
MP2 shows 7 8 (a straight, Five to Nine)
MP2 wins $11.50
(Rake: $0.55)

Busy Month

xix — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:04:14 +0000

Really havenâ€™t had the chance to play this month and it shows. Iâ€™m down 3BI in about 2000 hands. Havenâ€™t been paying as much attention to the tables as I should have been.

Hereâ€™s an example:

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdâ€™em â€“ 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $8.18
CO: $5.00
BTN: $12.90
SB: $1.95
BB: $5.42
Hero (UTG): $8.08
UTG+1: $9.88
MP1: $9.66

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is UTG with J K
Hero calls $0.05, 4 folds, BTN calls $0.05, SB calls $0.03, BB checks
Should have probably just folded this hand, especially unsuited and UTG.

Flop: ($0.20) J 4 J (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $0.20, SB folds, BB folds, Hero calls $0.20
Villain is super loose aggressive and I beat most of his range.

Turn: ($0.60) J (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2.20, Hero calls $2.20
Villain bet very fast, Iâ€™m thinking he has a pair giving him a FH. I let the clock run down before calling making him think I have a hard decision.

River: ($5.00) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $5.63 all in, BTN folds
I should have probably C/R, villain has shown that he has a hand and heâ€™s been very aggressive up to this point. If I bet Iâ€™ll probably scare off any mid pair or even 4Ã—. But I went and bet anyways and I probably lost tones of value.

Final Pot: $5.00
Hero mucks J K
Hero wins $4.75
(Rake: $0.25)

Oh well, lesson learned.

June Review

xix — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:06:42 +0000

Here were my June Goals:

10k hands ~8000
Move up and stay at 10NL nope
Study NL Math nope
Session reviews, Session reviews, Session reviews none
Learn to better define player types and how to beat them yup! (see below)
Update my blog more often nope

Even if I didnâ€™t reach most of my goals, I did have a great month. I finished up almost 10BI. I think my style of play is a lot more solid now which would help a lot when I move up to the higher stakes.

I havenâ€™t thought of any goals for July yet, but Iâ€™ll try and post some before the weekend.