Another Week At The Tables

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - Another Week At The 100NL Tables

The Good

The first hand to look at is a purely pre-flop hand but I believe it illustrates an important concept with regards to deep stack play. In this hand me and the villain were both 300BB deep, he was a fairly standard TAG player who I hadn't played any big pots with yet, however at this point I was running over the table, up 2 buy-ins in approximately 30 minutes, and as such my table image was definitely good. The only time previous to this I had re-raised out of the blinds at this table was with KK which had gone to showdown; not sure if the villain was aware of this.

** Game ID 632788160 starting - 2006-12-01 13:56:12
** Greenville [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- xxxx sitting in seat 1 with $69.65 [Dealer]
- hero sitting in seat 2 with $309.12
- xxxx sitting in seat 3 with $96.50
- xxxx sitting in seat 4 with $192.51
- villain sitting in seat 5 with $333.88
- xxxx sitting in seat 6 with $199.32

hero posted the small blind - $0.50
xxxx posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to hero: 4 of Clubs, 4 of Spades
xxxx folded
villain raised - $3.50
villain makes a standard PFR. This guy is a 10/22 and not a particularly strong player.
xxxx folded
xxxx folded
hero raised - $15.50
I re-raised to 4.5x his raise. This has only one real purpose. If I hit a 4 I want to be able to take all 309BBs I can from him before he can get away from his hand. Consider the future rounds of betting.

Option 1 - Flat Call

If I flat call his PFR and the Big Blind tags along then the pot is $10.50. A Standard C-Bet of $9 will get the pot up to $28.50, turn bet of $25 builds the pot to $78.50 and we both still have approx 265BBs in our stacks. How can I convince him to part with another 265BBs on the river? I probably can't unless he has me beat.

Option 2 - Re-raise

This has several advantages, other than giving me the opportunity to win the pot right away and net $5, it also makes the Big Blind fold all but premium hands and gets me heads up with the villain for future rounds of betting. So, consider that he calls my re-raise, the pot is $33 before the flop. A Standard C-Bet of $30 builds the pot to $93 for the turn, turn bet of $85 builds the pot nicely to $263, leaving us stacked approximately 170BB deep for the river. A 170BB bet into a 263BB pot is a lot easier to call than in option 1 where we need our 265BB bet into a 78BB pot to be called in order to stack our opponent.

This hand illustrates one of the differences between deep stacked play and shorter stacked play. I wouldn't re-raise the 44 if we were both only 100BB deep; it's only a profitable play if we are both deep stacked. Also, if he decides to call with his most likely holdings, i.e. AJ/KQ etc and doesn't pair on the flop then he can't call my $30 c-bet with air and I win $16 from him; 66% (I think) of the time, the flop won't help him and he will have to fold to my c-bet. I think re-raising in this particular scenario is clearly more profitable than flat calling.

xxxx folded
villain folded
hero mucks:
hero wins $20.00 from the main pot

As things happened, he considered for a few seconds before folding, netting me $5.

End of game 632788160

The Bad

In this hand a scenario any regular low limit player will instantly recognize, "Hello, I'm a fish with aces". Here I somehow manage to pay him off despite clear warnings. Keep this in mind next time you're in my shoes and either lose less or fold!


** Game ID 636536913 starting - 2006-12-06 18:01:00
** Gracefield [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- hero sitting in seat 1 with $115.55
- xxxx sitting in seat 2 with $100.00 [Sitting out]
- xxxx sitting in seat 3 with $99.50
- villain sitting in seat 4 with $83.24 [Dealer]
- xxxx sitting in seat 5 with $106.85

xxxx posted the small blind - $0.50
hero posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to hero: King of Clubs, Queen of Spades
xxxx folded
villain called - $1.00
xxxx called - $1.00
hero bet - $6.00
We are 4 handed and I think this is a reasonable hand to raise out the BB in such circumstances. I will usually raise slightly more than usual from the blinds to compensate for lack of position.
villain raised - $11.00
Ding Ding Dingggggggggg Donkey with Aces Alarm One has rung. The limp-insta-min-re-raise ninja move. At this point I honestly remember hearing the above mentioned alarm and thinking 'proceed with extreme caution', but the fact I was running bad evidently affected my decision making capabilities.
xxxx folded
hero called - $11.00
It is correct to call the min re-raise here, as it's $5 into an $18 pot; you should just be aware that you really need to flop big. I also usually take an optimistic view of the min-re-raise from a weak player, since they're basically telling you if you hit big you're gonna get paid, it's like a lottery scratch card.

** Dealing the flop: 4 of Spades, Queen of Clubs, 6 of Spades
hero bet - $16.00
Woohoo top pair with a good kicker! Best hand I've had in weeks! Let's rock. Wait...this guy did the insta-min-re-raise pre-flop fish special. Nevermind, let's bet out a nice amount just to make sure he really has those aces, despite the fact you've seen the exact same thing from the fishes hundreds of times and they've NEVER been bluffing.
villain raised - $32.00
Hi. I have Aces. Could I possible make it any clearer to you?
hero called - $32.00
Does he really have aces? C'mon poker site, give me a break, I'm running bad and my TP-almost-TK gotta be good for once, right?
** Dealing the turn: 5 of Clubs
hero checked
^^^^ Folding may have been a better move you tool.
villain went all-in - $40.24
No really, I have aces. Look. I went all in. Consider all my previous actions and there is only ONE possible hand I can have right now.
hero called - $40.24
Hmmmm. I think he has aces. But wait, I have TP-almost-TK. Psh this fool ain't gonna bluff me.

** Dealing the river: Jack of Clubs
villain shows: Ace of Hearts, Ace of Spades
Hi. I have Aces.
hero mucks: King of Clubs, Queen of Spades
I hate poker.
xxxx wins $165.48 from the main pot

End of game 636536913

The Ugly

The Ugly this week isn't a hand, it's my PT stats:

Hands - 12,150
VPIP - 24.72
WTSD - 26.57
W$SD - 44.42
PFR - 16.61
Amount Won - (1,018.76)
BB/100 - (4.19)

A number of factors contributed to my making a loss, however it is mostly myself to blame. I tilted probably $250-$300 on sheer stupidity; I didn't fold when it was blatantly obvious I was beat, I played too scared (so many times I would see someone flip over a hand that I would have got them off easily if I had bet the river), JJ (-$380), KK (-$258), AKs (-$103) etc. But the main factor, in my opinion, is pretty simple and straightforward - I wasn't concentrating or enjoying playing. I spent most of my time at the tables singing along to the Stone Roses and drifting on autopilot. I think that when you play LAG it really emphasizes your post-flop playing ability, where I would consider myself usually very strong, this week I wasn't really paying attention; so many sloppy inattentive plays. I haven't had one single losing week since I purchased Poker Tracker in September. I've had more single losing sessions this week than I have in the entire run of Sep-Nov. A friend I made through Cardrunners hits the nail on the head here:

[21:31] kenny: i need help getting out my rut
[21:31] kenny: any ideas?
[21:31] Jam: erm tighten up?
[21:31] Jam: or watch some more CR vids
[21:31] Jam: and become enthusiastic again? ?----Bingo

Jamie I'll buy you a Pot Noodle (any flavour you want, I'll maybe even stretch to a King Size one) when we're crushing the 2000NL on Ladbrokes for that piece of advice.

So I decided to play some poker I am enthusiastic about, I played one single table of 100NL and really concentrated on it, it was the most action table I could find, and I played how I enjoy playing, raising 63s UTG etc. I ran the table over and won $150 in 25mins, only going to showdown once. Then I went and played my first MTT in ages, a $3rebuy and got 3rd / 150ish. (evidently listening to ActionJeff munching Ceaser Salad has paid off).
So, this week it's gonna be back to being enthusiastic, concentrating and crushing the game as a consequence.

I'd be interested to hear if you (whoever's reading this) have had a losing session/week/month lately, why they think that is, and what they're gonna do to turn it around. I really think it's good to share the good and the bad, start a blog or something, anything that keeps a record. That way when you're running bad you can look back at when you were running well and see:

30 November 2006:

"Have been destroying the 100NL, had a sick 4 hour 4 table session where i ran at over 50 BB/100 and $1500 in 4 hrs. 100NL Stats

11,814 Hands / 15.19BB/100 +$3588.89"


Let the Good Times Roll.


P.S. Hand of The Week

** Game ID 638543573 starting - 2006-12-09 14:36:24
** Wentworth [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- xxxx sitting in seat 1 with $76.23
- xxxx sitting in seat 2 with $196.40
- xxxx sitting in seat 3 with $73.00
- monkeytilter sitting in seat 4 with $100.00
- xxxx sitting in seat 5 with $45.59 [Dealer]
- hero sitting in seat 6 with $148.63

hero posted the small blind - $0.50
xxxx posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to hero: Ace of Hearts, Queen of Spades
xxxx folded
xxxx folded
monkeytilter raised - $55.00
xxxx folded
hero went all-in - $148.63
xxxx folded
monkeytilter folded
hero mucks:
hero wins $205.13 from the main pot

End of game 638543573

P.P.S - More HH analysis next week short on time right now.

Update

Been thinking of some changes to bankroll management and the blog contents etc. Heres the plan for bankroll:

Play $100NL till my Bankroll is $10k - i moved down to this level after a bad run at 1/2NL and i feel a lot more comfortable with more buy-ins, i might even consider not playing 1/2NL till i have 20k BR.

The Blog will get a Video update once a week - i ordered a new headset for making vids, standalone micorophone doesnt seem to work well. Videos will be 2-tabling whatever limit im currently playing at.

The Blog will get a weekly update comprising a standardized format update along the lines of 'Good, Bad & Ugly' what i plan to do is The Good - 2 Hands where i play them well, The Bad - 2 Hands that i misplay, The Ugly - 1 hand with some kind of sick beat (hey wouldnt it be nice if i didnt have one to post?? =) ), also there will be +EV and -EV - little thing i've noticed throughout the week that are good/bad for me & my profit, The Week in Numbers - a stastitical analysis of hands played maybe not with all full details but something interesting. I think having a standardized format that covers the day to days of the poker grind is the best format.

Every so often i will write an article about some particular aspect of being a cash game grinder. I hope to have one done reasonably soon & aim for one article per month.

A Reminder - i'm not writing this blog for anyone's benefit but my own. I firmly belive it's good to hold public record & (if possible) discussion of your hands etc - i'm just giving my thoughts & opinions on things poker related.

So time for some stats at the end of my first full week playing.

Hands Played - 18,531 Profit - $1714 - This shoulda been so much more but i guess i learned my lesson about playing when literally exhausted. Got up at 4am on Saturday morning as i couldnt sleep. Funny thing is i was out with friends and i went in early to goto bed and sleep longgg time but i couldnt sleep and decided it was a good idea to get up and play at 4am in the morning after 0 hrs sleep and having only had 4 or 5 hours sleep each night all week. Poker is a game of small edges, you lose a large part of that edge when you're super tired. So that brings me to another point. Trying to complete this challenge will be a good part about mainting my physical (and necessarily mental) state so as to maximize concentration and focus on the tables. I made some sick plays this week when i was really alert and switched on. I was up 42 buy-ins before i donked off 15 buy ins over a few k hands playing when exhausted and not really concentrating - get into a good routine so you can concetrate! O.k. im still tired as fuck so i cant write properly.

Sickest Session this week was a 4hr 50BB/100 session where i made $1550. Fuck yeahhhhh.

Happy with my progress so far, still need 81.5k hands before 2k7, gonna be tough but im hard as nails obv. Learnt my lesson about playing when super tired - never again.

Future Updates likely to have a higher degree of author coherence.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - A Week at $.5/$1 NL Cash Games

The Good

The first hand to look at took place at the end of a session I was playing at 2am local time. I play on a European only site so this means that most players on at this time are tilt prone drunks or addicts like me. This hand took place against someone who I had already pegged as being a weak player. I have been continually raising hands in this game, given it is 3 handed and I think both players are weak, hoping to frustrate them and force them to play back at me. That’s what happened here:

** Game ID 632607504 starting - 2006-12-01 02:22:16

** Buber [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- hero sitting in seat 3 with $103.75 [Dealer]

- xxxx sitting in seat 4 with $100.00 [Sitting out]

- xxxx sitting in seat 5 with $195.26

- villain sitting in seat 6 with $93.39

xxxx posted the small blind - $0.50

villain posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to hero: 2 of Spades, 2 of Diamonds

hero raised - $4.00

Standard button raise

xxxx called - $4.00

villain raised - $19.00

This guy re-raises it instantly; if a weak player re-raises it instantly it usually means he doesn’t have a great hand. Generally speaking weak/frustrated players will slow play anything decent here hoping to get paid. The size and speed of the re-raise tell me it’s an action made of frustration more than anything else.

hero called - $19.00

I think for a while, and come to the conclusion that I’m certainly ahead pre-flop and to call. This would be a marginal/poor decision against a solid player given stack sizes etc.

xxxx folded

** Dealing the flop: 7 of Diamonds, Jack of Hearts, 9 of Diamonds

villain bet - $21.00

He instantly bet out, like he had already decided this was his hand; weak frustrated players would not do this with any piece of that flop my read on this guy told me that he had nothing.

hero went all-in - $84.75

I think for a little while and decide that my best action is to push since I think I’m ahead and that he’s frustrated enough to call.

villain went all-in - $54.39

** Dealing the turn: King of Diamonds

** Dealing the river: Jack of Clubs

villain shows: Ace of Diamonds, 8 of Hearts

hero shows: 2 of Spades, 2 of Diamonds

hero wins $191.78 from the main pot

End of game 632607504

He missed any aces or eights and my hand holds to stack him.

The 2^nd hand to look at features pocket 2s again. The way I played the hand will look risky; it is dependant on what had previously happened at the same table. I had been sitting at this particular table for about half an hour, and ten minutes previous to this hand I had laid down an over pair vs. a very solid player who had min-raised my flop bet then bet out pot on the turn on a reasonably coordinated board that could certainly have given him trips or a straight. The villain in this hand knew that I could fold an over pair and he wanted to make me do it again.

** Game ID 632825085 starting - 2006-12-01 14:54:26

** Greenville [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- xxxx sitting in seat 1 with $74.95

- hero sitting in seat 2 with $303.42

- villain sitting in seat 3 with $116.07

- xxxx sitting in seat 4 with $306.32 [Dealer]

- xxxx sitting in seat 5 with $131.75

- xxxx sitting in seat 6 with $12.77

tinkasdad posted the small blind - $0.50

Imparator84 posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to hero: 2 of Clubs, 2 of Diamonds

Lockdown folded

hero raised - $4.00

I will raise pocket pairs from any position all day at .5/1NL, if I hit I’m very likely to get paid.

villain called - $4.00

Quick call from the villain. No real information gained from this.

xxxx folded

xxxx folded

xxxx folded

** Dealing the flop: 4 of Hearts, 3 of Spades, 10 of Spades

hero bet - $7.00

Standard continuation bet; the board doesn’t look scary, it is unlikely to have hit the caller range except maybe AT/KT but the chances are this flop has missed him.

villain called - $7.00

Villain calls very quickly; I interpret this as ‘This flop doesn’t look like it hit you either pal I’m not folding my over cards just yet’.

** Dealing the turn: 10 of Clubs

hero checked

Given that I don’t have any solid read as to what the villain has I decide to check and see what happens; could be considered weak, but if I do bet out a reasonable amount and get re-raised can I profitably call?

villain bet - $23.50

Hmmm…he bet very quickly and he’s a standard .5/1 reasonably weak player. There are several reasons he would bet so much so quickly – I checked, showing weakness and the board isn’t very scary to him; he could still think it’s unlikely I have anything; I have been super-LAGgy and he doesn’t like me and my continuous betting, it’s his turn to win a pot. He knows it’s unlikely I have a ten and that he can represent it since he called the flop bet.

hero called - $23.50

I called the time bank and started thinking through. This is when my opponent said ‘overpair?’ in the chat box. Ahhhh you want to bluff me out here, you think I’ve got an over pair and want to make me fold it since you’ve seen me do it before. Unfortunately given that I’ve pegged him as a weak player, I know that if he had the ten he’d check behind, hoping for a bet on the river (broadly speaking, weak players at this level play ‘in reverse’ bet big when they have nothing and slow play when they have a monster). Also, I know what he thinks I have now since he was kind enough to type in the chat box – bad move.

** Dealing the river: 3 of Hearts

hero bet - $45.00

Terrible card. I am now playing the board and don’t get any value with my pockets 2s. I know the villain thinks I have an over pair so my only option is to bet out and hope he folds. I’m 95% sure he doesn’t have the ten or any piece of the board and can’t call.

villain folded

Villain folds instantly. Phew.

hero mucks:

hero wins $112.50 from the main pot

End of game 632825085

The Bad

** Game ID 634116046 starting - 2006-12-02 23:07:25

** Bourdieu [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- xxxx sitting in seat 1 with $95.85 [Dealer]

- hero sitting in seat 2 with $121.05

- xxxx sitting in seat 3 with $102.69

- villain sitting in seat 4 with $87.90

- xxxx sitting in seat 5 with $39.95

- xxxx sitting in seat 6 with $51.52

hero posted the small blind - $0.50

xxxx posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to hero: 4 of Clubs, 4 of Spades

villain called - $1.00

xxxx called - $1.00

xxxx folded

xxxx folded

hero raised - $7.50

This is a marginal play, no-one has shown any aggression but my hand is border-line; I’d expect everyone to fold in this situation a large % of the time, but remember the villain limped UTG indicating he isn’t a very strong player, combined with the fact that I’ve only been at this table ten minutes and I’ve raised his blind from the button a good few times already he might just want to call and try to bust me.

xxxx folded

villain called - $7.50

Villians thinks a little while then calls, this doesn’t really tell me much.

xxxx folded

** Dealing the flop: King of Diamonds, 3 of Hearts, 7 of Spades

hero bet - $13.00

Hmm this isn’t a great flop at all considering the previous action; the king is a bad card considering the weak players’ limp/call. However I don’t want to check and show weakness, maybe he has Ax and will now fold.

xxxx raised - $26.00

Alarm bells should be ringing right about now. A weak player thought for a while then minimum raised it. This is a CLEAR sign to fold and move on. Calling here and hoping for a 4 would be suicidal. The min raise should tell me that he will more than likely play his hand all in.

hero called - $26.00

What are you doing, fold you idiot.

** Dealing the turn: Ace of Clubs

hero bet - $35.00

Ah! The Ace! I can represent AK and completely disregard the fact I’ve already been min-raised by a weak UTG limper.

villain went all-in - $54.40

Villian instantly goes all-in, obviously he isn’t convinced I have AK or AA.

hero called - $54.40

What are you doing? You think he is bluffing?? Please find nearest bottomless hole in the ground to deposit money into next time you call this.

** Dealing the river: 10 of Hearts

villain shows: King of Clubs, 7 of Clubs

Obv. They were soooooted. Thank me for keeping the fish in the game and making them think limping UTG with K7s is a good move.

hero mucks: 4 of Clubs, 4 of Spades

villain wins $174.80 from the main pot

End of game 634116046

The Ugly

This hand is a good summary of why I love/hate cash games:

** Game ID 627864987 starting - 2006-11-25 00:08:08

** Heidegger [Hold 'em] (1.00|2.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- villain sitting in seat 1 with $440.20 [Dealer]

- xxxx sitting in seat 2 with $200.00 [Sitting out]

- hero sitting in seat 5 with $211.35

- xxxx sitting in seat 6 with $198.00

hero posted the small blind - $1.00

xxxx posted the big blind - $2.00

** Dealing card to hero: Ace of Spades, 10 of Diamonds

villain raised - $4.00

hero called - $4.00

xxxx called - $4.00

** Dealing the flop: Ace of Hearts, 4 of Spades, 5 of Spades

hero bet - $11.00

xxxx folded

villain raised - $22.00

hero raised - $91.00

villain called - $91.00

** Dealing the turn: 5 of Hearts

hero bet - $117.00

villain called - $117.00

** Dealing the river: 2 of Clubs

hero went all-in - $0.35

villain called - $0.35

hero shows: Ace of Spades, 10 of Diamonds

villain shows: 3 of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs

villain wins $427.70 from the main pot

End of game 627864987

+EV

Writing a large A4 note that says ‘Slow Down & Think’ and hanging it on your other monitor.

Taking some time out from playing poker to analyze your play

Listening to mellow music while playing

Being nice to everyone at the table, complementing their plays and saying nh etc. These guys are your customers and you want them to have a good time and come back again.

Watching some Cardrunners videos if you’re running bad (The ones where GP loses lots make u feel best)

Realising that some sessions are about losing the minimum instead of winning the maximum.

I need a double cheeseburger and hold the lettuce, don’t be frontin’ son no seeds on the bun.

-EV

Ignoring the large note that says ‘Slow Down & Think’ i.e. the 44 hand

Bluffing with a bad table image / vs. calling stations

Playing tired

Trying to record videos for your blog and forgetting to turn the microphone on till you’re done

Not learning how to use pokerhand.org so that people can easily read the hand history – if I post more HHs I will do that

HP Brown Sauce on my bacon roll