Operation: Heading Up ... back

Despite not posting much lately, I'm still here, reading this forum on a regular basis ... alone in my misery.

Cause starting of November was:

DOOMSWITCH
[X] ON
[ ] OFF

Some short history - up to July last year I was mostly toying around, grinding micro stakes with decent success but not much money cause, well I was playing micro stakes. Then in July my 'life' turned upside down. Wife and child went to her mother on a nice countryside summer vacation for a full month. Aside from regular 8-16 day job I had all the time to play poker and boy did I play. I ended the month turning my ~$90 into ~$770 and never in my (poker) life did I have more confidence in own abilities. After they came back I obviously had little less time to play but still kept logging hours and my BR grew ... August ... September ... October.

During that time my real life turned upside down and at one moment I had to withdraw overall $1300 to cover life expenses. I hated the fact that just after settling in NL100 and already making preparations to jump to NL200 I ended under-rolled with about $1500.

Gambling demons waking up
The more my self-confidence grew, the more I got bored with 6max games and more I was thinking about some refreshment. Eventually I decided to move to NL cash Heads Up. So I withdrew $500 from Pacific and deposited to Tower (Ongame) - have a good RB plus plenty of bonuses there. Foolishly in my mind I had a false feeling of safety since my 'main' roll was still on Pacific and flushed my half a grand at HU NL50 faster than burning it right away. As if I had not been under-rolled in the first place. I wasn't ready for HU cash. Back before that I played some smallish stakes HU SNGs and that was it. Decent semi-nit (me) turned into uber-aggro monkey and got what he deserved.

"No problemo, I'll go back at Pacific and rebuild" ... and then it started. THE WORST downswing in my life. I've been reading about this many times but never really expected it'll happen to me. I was hitting so many 2nd nuts vs THE nuts it was sick. Every single idiot hit his draw no matter how hard I bet. Also I was flopping so many sets of aces that it was surreal, which btw SUCKS! Who is going to pay me off? And more than half of it - CRACKED!!!!! So I was falling down/dropping down in stakes till I hit $400. At that point I couldn't even look at that awful Pacific lobby and decided to cash out and move my roll to Tower (RB + bonuses). And it continued and was dropping in stakes more till it hit ~$190. During that time I was swiching between HU cash and 5max. Slowly my HU game improved, along with figuring out what good adjustment really is ... aaaand variance finally stopped F'ing me and now it's Robusto time.

Teh Plan
So I devised the plan:
- play NL15 till 300
- take '2 BIs shot' at NL25 - if I drop to 250 move down
- play NL25 till 600
- take '2 BIs shot' at NL50 - if I drop to 500 move down
- play NL50 till 1200
- take '2 BIs shot' at NL100 - if I drop to 1000 move down
- play NL100 till 2k - then decide what next

Present day
BR: $600
Tomorrow I'm taking shot at NL50

90%+ of it will be my new crack: HU cash.
The rest: 5max if and when I get bored at HU.


Oh, one last thing (Orthodox Christian here): Merry Christmas!

BR: $760
Started hot ... NO, started smart (what a change, I might add).
Seriously though, tonight it was definitely my A game and I was actually pretty disciplined in doing what I know I should, not getting out of the line, carefully picking spots to bluff and extracting value instead of trapping.

Overall there were 4 NL50 HU games (1.5+ hour, 406 HHs) and I won them all:
#1) +$11 (my opponent ran away before I took it all)
#2) +$46
#3) +$51 (he had $60+ but the match took a little longer and the rake at low stakes ...)
#4) +$49 (he actually had $160+ but chickened out when we got to even stacks)

Some memorable hands:

HAND 1
This one actually gave me a trouble. At the beginning villain was pretty tight, but as I was getting more and more aggressive he started to make moves, semi-bluff etc. Given very recent history his flop raise looked so suspicious to me, but than again this I often found to be overpair so I decided to call and see what happens on the turn (usually he'd slow down w/ air). Turn was another point where I was in doubt of whether to raise or represent weakness and risk some draws hitting. Obviously he completely lost his head here :)

Hand P4-57807543-59, Started at 1/7/2008 1:28 PM (EST)
Table 'Dodoma': $0.50-$0.50 No Limit HE (Real)
Seat 2: Sparttan ($50.45 in chips) (on the button)
Seat 7: Hankyou31 ($60.35 in chips)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
Sparttan : Post Blind ($0.25)
Hankyou31 : Post Blind ($0.50)
Dealt to Sparttan: 6h
Dealt to Sparttan: Ac
*** Pre-Flop *** :
Sparttan : Bet ($1.50)
Hankyou31 : Call ($1.25)
*** Flop *** : 3d 4c 6s
Hankyou31 : Check
Sparttan : Bet ($2)
Hankyou31 : Raise ($7)
Sparttan : Call ($5)
*** Turn *** : [ 3d 4c 6s ] 6c
Hankyou31 : Bet ($14)
Sparttan : Call ($14)
*** River *** : [ 3d 4c 6s 6c ] 3h
Hankyou31 : Bet ($37.60)
Hankyou31 : All In ($37.60)
Sparttan : Call ($27.70)
Sparttan : All In ($27.70)
Hankyou31 : Show Cards
Sparttan : Show Cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $109.80 | Rake: $1
Board: [ 3d 4c 6s 6c 3h ]
Sparttan bet $50.45, collected $99.90, net $49.45 Shows [ 6h Ac ] (a full house, sixes full of threes)
Hankyou31 bet $60.35, collected $9.90, net -$50.45 Shows [ Qs Js ] (two pairs, sixes and threes)

HAND 2
At first villain was on a heater and I was constantly reloading till his luckbox eventually dried up. Slowly I was getting it back when this came:

Hand P4-57806883-163, Started at 1/7/2008 2:03 PM (EST)
Table 'Mandalay': $0.50-$0.50 No Limit HE (Real)
Seat 3: aspank20 ($93.95 in chips)
Seat 7: Sparttan ($74.85 in chips) (on the button)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
Sparttan : Post Blind ($0.25)
aspank20 : Post Blind ($0.50)
Dealt to Sparttan: 5h
Dealt to Sparttan: 6d
*** Pre-Flop *** :
Sparttan : Bet ($1.50)
aspank20 : Call ($1.25)
*** Flop *** : 4c 2h 8s
aspank20 : Check
Sparttan : Bet ($3)
aspank20 : Call ($3)
*** Turn *** : [ 4c 2h 8s ] 3d
aspank20 : Check
Sparttan : Bet ($10)
aspank20 : Call ($10)
*** River *** : [ 4c 2h 8s 3d ] Ad
aspank20 : Check
Sparttan : Bet ($25)
aspank20 : Raise ($79.20)
aspank20 : All In ($79.20)
Sparttan : Call ($35.10)
Sparttan : All In ($60.10)
aspank20 : Show Cards
Sparttan : Show Cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $167.80 | Rake: $1
Board: [ 4c 2h 8s 3d Ad ]
aspank20 bet $93.95, collected $19.10, net -$74.85 Shows [ 4s 5s ] (a straight, five high)
Sparttan bet $74.85, collected $148.70, net $73.85 Shows [ 5h 6d ] (a straight, six high)

HAND 3
(same opponent) and this is how it ended :)

Hand P4-57806883-166, Started at 1/7/2008 2:04 PM (EST)
Table 'Mandalay': $0.50-$0.50 No Limit HE (Real)
Seat 3: aspank20 ($17.80 in chips) (on the button)
Seat 7: Sparttan ($149.80 in chips)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
aspank20 : Post Blind ($0.25)
Sparttan : Post Blind ($0.50)
Dealt to Sparttan: Ac
Dealt to Sparttan: Ad
*** Pre-Flop *** :
aspank20 : Call ($0.25)
Sparttan : Bet ($1.50)
aspank20 : Raise ($4)
Sparttan : Raise ($147.80)
Sparttan : All In ($149.80)
aspank20 : Call ($13.30)
aspank20 : All In ($17.80)
*** Flop *** : 4c Qs 3c
*** Turn *** : [ 4c Qs 3c ] 10c
*** River *** : [ 4c Qs 3c 10c ] 8c
Sparttan : Show Cards
aspank20 : Show Cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $166.60 | Rake: $1
Board: [ 4c Qs 3c 10c 8c ]
aspank20 lost $17.80 Shows [ 9s 6d ] (Queen high)
Sparttan bet $149.80, collected $166.60, net $16.80 Shows [ Ac Ad ] (a flush, Ace high)

BR: $770

Didn't play much today. Lack of sleep eventually made me pretty meh and unmotivated for any hard work, especially when hard thinking and concentration are called for.

I played only one half an hour-ish session. Villain at first looked like a nit, only to see him going ballistic 5min after we started. It was tough match with lot of e-dick contesting preflop and some bullying postflop (and almost no showdowns) with both parties reloading here and there. In the end I'm satisfied of how I played, hardly any mistake were made and the fact that he left the battlefield while little in red pretty much sums the game. $10 profit for me.

BR: $806

My life schedule was overloaded these days and fatigue was killing me. After taking some days off I finally managed to log 3+ hours of play. Overall there were 9 sessions played, only this time I was swinging more than usual (but on the other hand - pretty standard for HU). There were some tough beats hitting, the toughest being flopped boat cracked! Within short amount of time I happened to see all sorts of players ranging from uber-weak "fit or fold" with his whole BR on table (HU 4 RollZ :)) up to uber-aggro-semibluffing-donk who gave me a lot of trouble and forced me to make some powerful and quite risky moves in order to adjust. Also I've just got ~$150 from rakeback (I play at Tower - Ongame skin) but since this money was payed to my moneybookers account and since I'll soon need to withdraw some I'll pretend it doesn't exist as part of my win rate and stick to table winnings. Also I've just gathered enough player points to buy $200 7x bonus which will hopefully clear by the end of this operation.

Sessions:

#1) -$23.55 (lost early and when it was obvious I'm slowly getting it back, he left)
#2) +$43.8
#3) +$35.6
#4) -$62 (tough beats ending with boat cracked)
#5) -$33.35
#6) -$21.8
#7) +$54.6 (this one was pure pawnage)
#8) +$1.6
#9) +$41.35 (took guy's roll)

Finally a hand from tough session against overaggresive opponent as an example of adjusting to someone who is good enough to fastplay made hands but also goes to far with (semi)bluffs. Despite it's suicidal look and feel bear in mind that there's much more to it than meets the eye like reads, recent history, flow of events, timing tells ... something it's impossible to see from text HHs:

Hand P4-58152210-155, Started at 1/11/2008 7:56 PM (EST)
Table 'Auburn': $0.50-$0.50 No Limit HE (Real)
Seat 2: .Lars ($88.55 in chips)
Seat 7: Sparttan ($69.45 in chips) (on the button)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
Sparttan : Post Blind ($0.25)
.Lars : Post Blind ($0.50)
Dealt to Sparttan: 10c
Dealt to Sparttan: Ah
*** Pre-Flop *** :
Sparttan : Bet ($1.50)
.Lars : Raise ($4)
Sparttan : Call ($2.75)
*** Flop *** : 4h 2h 7h
.Lars : Bet ($8)
Sparttan : Call ($8)
*** Turn *** : [ 4h 2h 7h ] 3d
.Lars : Bet ($20)
Sparttan : Raise ($56.95)
Sparttan : All In ($56.95)
.Lars : Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $100.95 | Rake: $1
Board: [ 4h 2h 7h 3d ]
.Lars lost $32.50
Sparttan bet $69.45, collected $100.95, net $31.50

BR: $762

Actually it was way worse than it looks. First it started with a sick cooler against the same opponent. I've lost 6+ byuins to him in two longer sessions and I can't recall of ever seeing someone hitting hands so hard. Eventually I started making tilty moves and final result was 4 BIs lost - cooler / 2 BIs lost - tilt. And I still think he's a fish. The moment my BR dropped to ~480 and according to my (OP) BR plan I had to move down to NL25.

Then the robusto began. In like hour and a half I built back to 630 before I even noticed it's (according to BR plan) time to move up to NL50 again. Once again I had the opportunity to play against this same guy only this time his lame traps didn't work ending with me slowly taking about buyin from him before he left. I now blame myself for playing like idiot against easy to read fish. And after some time I was back to 762. Wanted to robusto the whole way but was too tired - in the middle of the process I started two tabling (and slowly getting used to it) and broke my personal record: 3K hands in a day!

There's one more thing interesting to note: my BR plan says bellow $500 play NL25, at $600 take 2 buyins shot at NL50 and that's what I did. Alright, so I lost $320 (last all-in) to $480, dropped to NL25, rebuilt to $630, moved up to NL50 again and ended at $760 ie one bI down. However buyin-wise it's: (NL50) 6.5 BI down, (NL25) 6 BIs up, (NL50) 2.5+ BIs up => I ended the night as a winner for more than 2 buyins up. This is perfect example of what bad (thin in this case) bankroll management does to an otherwise ok player. But I was aware of this problem before I even started and I still think this is the quicker way provided you have enough faith in yourself.

BR: $903

Played a short session last night, maybe like 45min, 2-tabling. This time I was hitting some cards and winning was smooth. Also with more practice playing two tables is not such a big deal anymore and after watching some HU videos and/or reading discussion of good msnl/hsnl players this actually seems to be the norm. Or should I say 'good balance' between playing as more HH/hour as you can on one side and not playing too many so you can actually notice important things like timing tells etc. on the other.

Hand of the day:

Hand P4-58587522-187, Started at 1/17/2008 12:15 PM (EST)
Table 'Agadir': $0.50-$0.50 No Limit HE (Real)
Seat 2: Sparttan ($72.25 in chips)
Seat 7: Josefiina21 ($50.15 in chips) (on the button)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
Josefiina21 : Post Blind ($0.25)
Sparttan : Post Blind ($0.50)
Dealt to Sparttan: Qd
Dealt to Sparttan: As
*** Pre-Flop *** :
Josefiina21 : Call ($0.25)
Sparttan : Bet ($1.50)
Josefiina21 : Call ($1.50)
*** Flop *** : 8h 6h 9d
Sparttan : Bet ($3)
Josefiina21 : Call ($3)
*** Turn *** : [ 8h 6h 9d ] Qc
Sparttan : Bet ($9)
Josefiina21 : Call ($9)
*** River *** : [ 8h 6h 9d Qc ] 2s
Sparttan : Check
Josefiina21 : Bet ($16)
Sparttan : Call ($16)
Josefiina21 : Show Cards
Sparttan : Show Cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $59 | Rake: $1
Board: [ 8h 6h 9d Qc 2s ]
Sparttan bet $30, collected $59, net $29 Shows [ Qd As ] (a pair of Queens)
Josefiina21 lost $30 Shows [ 7d 4d ] (Queen high)

BR: $1150

Last night was night of big bluffs. I happened to run into plenty of laggg spewtards, which was pretty strange for fishy NL50. Must have been some players distribution variance. During the process I had to make lot of adjusments and plays that I never considered earlier like double float (call flop, call turn, donk river) and some fancy big river bluffs. As for bluffs I guess I should be happy since 80%+ of my bluffs were well timed and 80%+ of me calling possible bluff was really a bluff. At this point some sexy HHs would be nice but since I can't make my PT load Ongame HHs and since I lost my internet cable connection (forgot to pay for another month) we'll skip that part. Aaaand since modem-net is such a PITA, guess I'll take two day rest and continue on Monday.