I haven't played much this month due to IRL issues. If I don't post an October recap, rest assured that I am not dead. I'll get back to this Op when I can. See Jason, that wasn't so hard. :p
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I haven't played much this month due to IRL issues. If I don't post an October recap, rest assured that I am not dead. I'll get back to this Op when I can. See Jason, that wasn't so hard. :p
It's been almost four months since my last update. It's good to be back. I had IRL stuff to deal with but I've put that behind me (no jail time, lol) and I'm looking forward to a good year in 2011!
I only played 22K hands in the last 4 months. I played 10 NL as usual and, eventhough I didn't play much, it was fun and I was playing pretty well. I was looking forward to playing more in January and starting the new year strong, but around the end of December the doomswitch got flipped. I lost lots of stacks as a 80% or better favorite after getting all-in on the Turn. I also had QQ< KK, KK< AA, etc. It was a major downswing (16 BI's) and it affected my play a little. After I made some bad calls for 2 or 3 stacks, I decided I had to change something so I dropped to 5 NL.
Here's the awesome graph:
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9946/3months.gif
As soon as I dropped down, my hands began to hold up and the runbad stopped. I played 5800 hands of 5NL for +12 buyins (10.3 ptbb/100 hands). So after four months, I'm only down 2 10NL buyins. I suppose the doomswitch has been flipped off so I'm going to move back to 10NL and see how it goes.
My 2011 goal is to become comfortable and playing well at 25NL. Anything beyond that would be great, obv. I still won't have a lot of time to play this month, but hopefully that will change for the rest of the year.
I still have a healthy 10NL BR of $640.
I played 3-4 tables in my first session back at 10NL. I found myself in a reg war on one table. I had two solid regs to my left. I should have found a better table, but it was a fun challenge. They were 3betting my button quite a bit, forcing me to fold.
In one hand, villian 3bet and I called. He donked the flop and I bluff-raised on an A-high flop. It didn't work and I folded to his all-in shove.
But, that set me up perfectly to take down a good sized pot a few hands later. That is, until the f'in River.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($11.30)
BB ($18.89)
UTG ($19.14)
UTG+1 ($8)
MP1 ($12.41)
MP2 ($10)
CO ($10.15)
Hero (Button) ($8.30)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif, 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif
UTG calls $0.10, 4 folds, Hero bets $0.40, SB raises to $1, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.60
Flop: ($2.20) 7http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif, Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif, 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif (2 players)
SB bets $1.50, Hero raises to $3.40, SB raises to $10.30 (All-In), Hero calls $3.90 (All-In)
Turn: ($16.80) 8http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($16.80) Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: $16.80 | Rake: $0.83
Results:
Hero had 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif, 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif (three of a kind, tens).
SB had Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif, Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif (three of a kind, Kings).
Outcome: SB won $15.97
The session wasn't too bad, though. I finished it only down 1/4 buyin.
February 2011 Recap
I'm just gonna do a quick recap to get it out of the way. I'm way late with it but I still want a record of the month.
As you can see from the graph, it was a very swingy month. I think a lot of that was inconsistent play. Some days I felt like I played great and other days were kinda crap. I made some bad reads occasionally. An example of a bad read would be to not give credit to villian for a flush on the river, since he had bet the flop and turn fairly hard. I didn't expect him to bet his draw. I put him on a big pair or two pair, so I lost a good sized pot with my flopped set. Oh well.
One session I lost 4 BI's. I don't really have a definite stop-loss, but I probably should've thrown in the towel at around 3 BI's.
I was glad to be in the black for the month and I think I re-learned some lessons. I was still kinda gettin back in the groove of playing. I plan to play more hands in March.
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Played 10NL FR for 12,366 hands
Monies: $12.80
Bonus: $10 (1st Stellar Reward of the year)
Total: $23
------------------------------------------------
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5563/poker22011.gif
I had a pretty slow start this month. I've been break-even for the most part, but it's starting to pick up. I think I'll go for the Reload Bonus on PokerStars. It will be the first real bonus I've tried to get. As long as my deposit goes through ok, it looks like a pretty easy bonus to clear. I will have to play more hands than I ever have in a month, but I don't see any problems with that. I should have plenty of time to grind.
I thought I'd post a couple of fun hands. I enjoyed playing these so here ya go.
Villian is 22/9 over 100 hands so he's not really a nit and I haven't noticed anything suggesting he's any more than an average player.
OOP, I do a standard 3bet and get called. If I'm the Villian, I hate these low-card flops. They leave such a wide range of overpairs and, in this case, flush and straight draws. I decided to shove all-in, knowing that I'm likely ahead of his range and that he might have a hard time folding on this flop.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG+1 ($4.03)
MP1 ($5.47)
MP2 ($10.13)
CO ($10.93)
Button ($4.24)
Hero (SB) ($9.42)
BB ($5.67)
UTG ($3.30)
Preflop: Hero is SB with K:spade:, K:club:
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.10, 1 fold, CO bets $0.40, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.30, 2 folds, CO calls $0.90
Flop: ($2.80) 4:heart:, 7:spade:, 6:heart: (2 players)
Hero bets $8.12 (All-In), CO calls $8.12
Turn: ($19.04) 7:club: (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($19.04) 3:diamond: (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: $19.04 | Rake: $0.94
Results:
Hero had K:spade:, K:club: (two pair, Kings and sevens).
CO had J:club:, J:spade: (two pair, Jacks and sevens).
Outcome: Hero won $18.10
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This is my first hand at the table and I have no history with villian. I'm folding this garbage to any bet, but no one does. I get a pretty good flop and I don't want to slow-play two pair but I think it's a good chance for a C/R. When villian bets small, I put him on a draw and raise as intended. When he 3bets, I put him on TPTK or possibly still a good draw. I don't think a better 2-pair is in his range so I shove, expecting a call and scoop a nice pot. I don't get to play strange garbage 2-pair hands very often, but they do have value. Obv, I meant to put him all-in with my 4bet, but missed it slightly.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG+1 ($5.08)
MP1 ($11.13)
MP2 ($3.40)
CO ($9.52)
Button ($8.51)
SB ($4.23)
Hero (BB) ($8)
UTG ($6.90)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 6:diamond:, 10:club:
UTG calls $0.10, 4 folds, Button calls $0.10, SB calls $0.05, Hero checks
Flop: ($0.40) 6:spade:, Q:spade:, 10:diamond: (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets $0.20, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.70, UTG raises to $1.20, Hero raises to $6.70, UTG raises to $6.80 (All-In), Hero calls $0.10
Turn: ($14) 4:spade: (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($14) 7:heart: (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: $14 | Rake: $0.69
Results:
Hero had 6:diamond:, 10:club: (two pair, tens and sixes).
UTG had K:diamond:, K:club: (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $13.31
In the second hand I like leading more than a c/r because given the preflop action it's fair to assume that UTG/maybe BTN are loose passives who won't bet air/draws/middle pair often enough. Flop checking through is kind of a disaster as well. Pot/overbet seems fine here.
GL with the rest of March.
Thanks for stopping in. I agree with leading being best.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoopyDude
I just 'added to your reputation', lol. WTF - a new feature of the forums. (bottom right link)
I decided not to go for the reload bonus. I don't play enough hands for it to be worth it. If PS still allowed eChecks, I would have done it anyway, but I don't want to hassle with an International money-order, etc.
Poker is not great atm. I should say that I'm not playing well. I'm only breaking even this month, again. I would be doing a lot better if I could find the Fold button. So, for the rest of the month I'm gonna take more time on tough decisions and hopefully fold at the right times.
I've played 10,300 hands so far this month. I've earned 570 VPP and I need 180 VPP to get SilverStar. At this pace it will take me 6 days and there are 10 days left in the month. Piece of cake. I know SS is no big deal. I just thought I'd work it out here for the hell of it.
I got SilverStar today, two days earlier than expected but I have been playing a lot (for me). It's still lol volume for most of you real grinders.
The last 3 days:
Day 1, multiple coolers = down 3 buyins in 1st session, get 1 back in 2nd.
Day 2 and 3 = recover the other 2 buyins.
I'd like to string together a few wins without a bad day taking most of it back. I've won 8 of my last 9 sessions, but the loser was 3 BI's. So it's lolpokerz. On the plus side, I feel like I'm playing much better than the first 3 weeks of the month. I could still put together a decent month with some rungood. I'm close to moving up to 25NL, but I might want to pad the BR a little more. I kinda like the idea of being a BR nit. Also, I think I need to work on some aspects of my game.
March 2011 Recap
Just like last month, I'm just gonna do a quick recap since March was pretty meh. I definitely could have played better early in the month so I'll try to stay more focussed in April. I will say that I was pretty amazed at how good some of the fish were running. By that, I mean that they sucked-out a lot. If not against me, then against others at my tables. I think it was the worst I've seen.
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Played 10NL FR for 18,460 hands (a new record)
Monies: $20.75
Bonus: $10 (2nd Stellar Reward of the year)
Total: $30.75
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8245/march2011.gif
So far, April has sucked balls. I got down 6 BI's early in the week. I managed to get back to +1.5 BI's and then tonight ran like crap again (fish were killin it!) and now I'm down 2 BI's. No big deal, I guess. Ima just grind it out.
Anyway, check this out. After shutting down my god-awful 10NL tables, I decide to rail the Isildur1 vs Urnotindangr match. I watch a few hands and can't believe they're such donks, spewing thousands per hand $$$. So, as soon as I get the chance (Isildur1 took a break) I decide to take a seat and play me some HU4ROLLZ!
Apparently, the spewtards don't want my monies. Here's a screen shot of the message PS showed. Watev.
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9051/isildur1i.jpg
i thought isildur played on FTP. regardless, sucks that stars wouldn't let you play pokarz on their website. i'd email support and threaten to move to FTP and take isildur back there with you. that'd learn 'em.
I haven't been online since Thursday night when I had a pretty good session. I was kinda pissed to lose the weekend of grinding by being out of town, but it's also good to get away for a weekend w/friends. When I got back home today (Sunday), I logged into PokerStars and tried to jump on a table. I'll post a screenshot here for posterity. Since then, I've been reading up on what grinders are calling Black Friday.
http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/2...eenshot2aq.jpg
I hope all of us get our rolls back in the end. Whatever happens, I'd guess it will take several months to pan out. I still have a few bucks on another site, so I'll try to log-in tomorrow. I'd like to be able to play enough to maintain some skillz. It would suck to have to stop completely.
Well, PokerStars and the DOJ worked a deal to let US players cash-out. That part of the agreement didn't take nearly as long as I expected. PokerStars showed once again that they are the best run online poker room.
Here's my direct-deposit from the "forced cashout".
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/9586/cashout.gif
April Recap (10NL / 4NL):
The low volume is due to Black Friday (4/15/11) and the worst weather ever recorded in Tennessee. There were 30+ tornadoes and massive power outages. I'll post a few pictures in the next post.
As for poker, the month started badly obv, but it seems so long ago that I don't remember it very well (I spent the last 8 days without power). Anyway, I guess the main point is that, after Black Friday, I found out that I was still able to play on one of the smaller sites where I had about $30 dollars. I actually started out at 10NL since that's what I was used to playing on PS. Of course, I quickly realized that wasn't gonna work, so I dropped to 4NL, the lowest level available. I'm still underolled but I've built the roll to $54.00.
I may not ever get to cash out from this site if the DOJ goes after them, but I guess it's worth the risk just to be able to play.
Hands: 13,422 @ 3.5 BB/100
Current BR = $54.00
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/2509/may2011.gif