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Day 14 down
I have been trying to decide what frequency is best for posting, and I think I have settled on every 5K hands. Not a lot interesting happens on a day-to-day basis.
I have played a little over 7K hands now, and I now feel fairly confident that my earn rate estimate will hold up (and may be conservative) over the long haul. I now have close to 20K hands of 6 max overall to support my opinion.
I have now seen a couple of nasty negative swings and managed to bounce back from them. Maintaining solid play in the face of bad losses is the key for me. A couple of days ago, I was two-tabling, flopped sets on each table simultatneously, and had them both cracked on the river, one by runner-runner flush, and one by a gutshot straight. I seriously had to calm myself down after that, and I did it by realizing that the bets I lost on those two hands were a drop in the bucket overall.
Things I've learned since my last post:
1) I seriously hate three-tabling 6 max. My monitor resolution isn't high enough to prevent overlap, and there are just too many decisions to make simultaneously three tabling. I can, however, play two tables and a full table, so I have taken to doing that ocasionally to clear bonus dollars at other sites.
2) I very much prefer taking days off to playing every day. To that end, I have started to play extra hands so that I can take a day off without falling too far behind. My wife seems to greatly appreciate my doing this, as she often falls asleep when I am playing, so she doesn't notice an extra half hour to an hour of playing time. She does notice the evenings when I am ahead of schedule and take the night off.
3) When I think of my goal in terms of hands played instead of bets earned, it has some interesting effects. First, it reduces my tilt. I'm often more focused on how may hands I've played rather than how much I am up or down. Second, it makes me think more long term. It seems like I've just started, but I am already 7% complete. That's a good feeling really. Finally, it turns my play into a little bit of a grind. That's not all bad, but I can certainly see why some professional players complain about their "job." Still, it's more interesting than my other daily grind. As a side note, you'll notice that I don't post my win results. I am trying hard not to let my earn rate be the focus of this endeavor, even though that's the way you keep score in poker.
4) After examining some hand histories, I noticed that my aggression is sometimes a function of my success since sitting at the table. In some ways, I think this is appropriate behavior because of the way players react to "blood in the water," but I want to even this out somewhat. Can anyone guess if I was up or down when I played this hand?
Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (6 max, 5 handed) converter
Preflop: Koolmoe is SB with Q, Q. MP posts a blind of $5.
Button raises, Koolmoe 3-bets, BB folds, UTG folds, MP (poster) folds, Button caps, Koolmoe calls.
Flop: (9.40 SB) 5, 9, Q (2 players)
Button bets, Koolmoe raises, Button calls.
Turn: (6.70 BB) J (2 players)
Button checks, Koolmoe bets, Button raises, Koolmoe 3-bets, Button caps, Koolmoe calls.
River: (14.70 BB) 6 (2 players)
Button bets, Koolmoe calls.
Final Pot: 16.70 BB
5) I have drastically toned down my river aggression. Statistically, I think it's a wash. I'm missing some bets, but inducing more bluffs. Hopefully my reading skills will improve some and I will find the right balance here. I'm more comfortable with my play on the river now than early on. I think I was a little too aggressive then. Still, I am searching for the right balance here.
A final interesting development. I am currently between jobs, so I have a lot of time to play right now. Interestingly, I am finding the games pretty good in the early afternoons. I guess it's all the European players.
7273 hands
VP$IP 22.91%
PFR 16.48%
Folded BB to steal 60.38%
Folded SB to steal 80.21%
Aggression 1.82/2.94/2.47/1.20/2.12 (preflop/flop/turn/river/overall)
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