Biondino for President '08

[biondino]

Time for a new operation. 2007 was not, in truth, a good year for my poker career. I had intended/hoped to make $12,000 - I barely made half that, and ended the year on a depressing 11k December totalling -$270. As you may have noticed, I posted a plea for help with my game and was very pleased to get some offers from players whose games I respect greatly, so I hope I'll be able to take advantage of their kindness in the coming weeks.

Yesterday saw me kick off my 2008 campaign with just under a thousand hands at Mansion Poker, part of the Ongame network (and where I have my juicy 36% rb). A short daytime session saw me literally boggling at how bad the players were compared to Full Tilt. A longer evening session saw me adjust my view slightly - while there were still poor players, a lot of the villains I was up against were in the range I find hardest to deal with - players with laggish ambitions if not necessarily all the required skills, stats of say 37/18 and an inability to fold. I had a day of coolers, mostly small scale with the occasional half-stacking, and my default game of small-ball aggression had significantly less effect against these players.

Having said that, I'd have been level par if it hadn't been of a 72/21 with position on me who just had my number. At first I was pleased, having identified him as an over-player, calling and raising in too many dubious spots. But either he calmed down, or I overplayed my hands against him, because he took maybe half a stack with a series of position-based small pot wins and a soul-destroying hour where he two-paired Q8-type hands vs my TPTK THREE times and straighted vs my set a further time to leave me 2 buyins down on that table.

However, I believe I largely played solid poker throughout, my only big dumb mistake being to bet too hard with low two pair when the board paired on the river. I have a couple of failed double/triple barrels but compared to the large number of successful ones I'm certainly not berating myself about that. What I should do now is have a reviewing session and see whether I was really in the zone or whether actually I was spewing a few BBs here and a few more there.

So, no sample hands from yesterday, just a resolution to make back the $88 I lost. I am toying with the idea of trying 100nl 5max at Ongame - if it's easier than Full Tilt's 50nl game then I really should, since even 2ptbb/100 at 100nl is verging on the respectable in terms of income. But I should probably wait until I've been sweated by a few better players so that the most obvious leaks at least can be addressed - I have no doubt there are plenty of them.

Thanks for reading this far, and keep watching this space and letting me know your thoughts!

Have a great 2008 y'all,
Mark

[XTR1000]

yay happy 2008 !

is there an update for the ongame software to tile up tables? I´d like to give ongame a shot again, but their huge non-resizable tables made me sick

[biondino]

They offer mini-tables now, which are pretty mini - I reckon I could fit 12-16 of them on my screen. Not too pretty obv but they do the job.

Edit - I neglected to say that I was noticing occasional slowdown while 3-tabling yesterday - my lappy isn't top spec but it's not too outdated and I ran task manager to see how much memory the prog was using and it was hitting 60% regularly. So while I would totally suggest you give it a go, I'd play it together with another less resource-hungry site .

[biondino]

I probably won't get the chance to play (or review last night's hands) tonight as I have offered to read my gf's PhD thesis. It's 220 pages of tight academic prose, but at least I have already read the 80-page third chapter. Small mercies etc

[kmind]

Good luck, Mark! You've helped me a lot in the past so thanks a bunch. You have my vote.

[griffey24]

Good luck man, hope 2008 treats ya better!

[daven]

I am toying with the idea of trying 100nl 5max at Ongame - if it's easier than Full Tilt's 50nl game then I really should,

good luck yo
is it really that easy?

[biondino]

I don't know yet! But 50nl seems (small sample size) considerably fishier than Full Tilt so far, but bear in mind I have spoken out about the lack of difference between the sites before, so I want to be sure it's not just the result of half a dozen session vs fish before I come to any firm conclusions.

Last night I got to play 113 hands of ring (+$4 woo), a HU tourney (embarrasing how bad I did, though busting with KK is unfortunate), and won a Stars SNG with surprising ease. Nothing much to report other than that my discipline is holding steady.

Oh, and I only read chapter one of her thesis (74 pages). It's brilliant, I am seriously in awe of her brainpower :O

[Anosmic]

Good luck mate.

Perhaps 2008 will be poss without us constantly bitching to each other...

I'll be back to poker when my FM2008 addiction is worn off

[biondino]

Hello hello. Quick 450-hand session tonight, 3-tabling (still too much slowdown aaargh bloody Ongame), +$27. It was +$47 until my last orbit on my last table, during which I got 4 good raising hands and lost each one of them. Not much to report - felt my play was fine, not as aggressive as sometimes but that's because when I sat down I was surprised at the amount of raising and re-raising going on around me. Luckily that changed after half an hour or so - virtually no 3-betting pre-flop from anyone on any tables, which was nice.

There weren't a lot of key hands either - the only stacking I handed out was nut flush vs Q-high flush, pretty standard, and the only big hand I lost - just over half a buyin - was tptk with AK vs a turned 2 pair when shortie villain re-raised me all in for another $6.

However, there were two hands I wanted to post just in case they get comments. They're both the same kind of hand - would love to hear what you think.


Hand 1: villain is loose passive pre-flop (41/9 I think) and takes hands too far post.
$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($15.05)
CO ($17.00)
BTN ($36.10)
Hero ($69.85)
BB ($58.15)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 5 players) Hero is SB
UTG calls $0.50, 2 folds, Hero bets $2, 1 fold, UTG calls $1.75.

Flop: ($5, 2 players)
Hero bets $3.50, UTG goes all-in $12.80, $9.3 to Hero ($64.1)?


Hand 2: a very similar player, no special reads.
$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Holdem
3 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
BTN ($91.10)
Hero ($44.85)
BB ($14.40)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 3 players) Hero is SB
1 fold, Hero bets $1.50, BB calls $1.25.

Flop: ($3.5, 2 players)
Hero bets $2.50, BB bets $5, Hero bets $15

[biondino]

700 or so hands, down $42, including 2 buyins at Party. 100 hands is a small sample size, I know, but I sat at two tables full of 100BB+ players who played, no joke, high quality poker every hand. I didn't notice a single misplayed hand, either in terms of dumb bets or revealing showdowns. It was scary.

Luckily, Full Tilt, of all places, came up trumps and limited my losses (which currently stand at -$110 for the month). Oh, and it helped that for the first time I can remember, I managed to hit my one-outer while all in for full stacks when I rivered quads with my 3rd set vs top set. Sweeeeeet

[daven]

I managed to hit my one-outer while all in for full stacks when I rivered quads with my 3rd set vs top set. Sweeeeeet

sounds horribly familiar - but that was a few days ago...
what's your FT handle?
I found myself at an apparently strong 50nl FT table today - seven 100BB+ players running between 11-9 and 16-13... I stayed for a while, but it felt like a waste. So I left.

[biondino]

My FT name is SandInMyVagina - what's yours? The quality at FT is by and large of a fairly high standard, but finding the fish isn't impossible.

[biondino]

Haha - how's this for serendipity?

Hello Mark,

It has come to our attention that your Player ID may be seen as
offensive or inappropriate to other players.

Your Full Tilt Poker account has been closed, and we request you create a new account with an appropriate Player ID.

After you have created your new account, please contact us from the email address registered to your original account (the address this email was sent to) and let us know your new Player ID. We will then transfer any real money balance and Full Tilt Points in your original account to your new account.

Please note that when you create your new Full Tilt Poker account, you will need to register it with a different email address. For security reasons, an email address can only be registered to one Full Tilt Poker account.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email us. We're always here to help.

Regards,

Tyler
Full Tilt Poker Support


Oh dear! That's a bit of a pain. I wonder who complained? Will it affect my rakeback?

And then, 6 minutes later:

Hello Mark,

Mark, we sincerely apologize for the previous email that we had sent you. At this time, your account has been re-opened, and you will find that your account balance has remained intact.

You do not need to create a new account, Mark, and we apologize for the inconvenience. You are free to use your account as normal.

On behalf of Full Tilt Poker, I wish you the best of luck at the tables. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Regards,

Tyler
Full Tilt Poker Support

[Anosmic]

Ha ha ha ha.

Vaginas are innapropriate...!?!?

[daven]

ok, no hands on you yet
I'm davenigma
Please flame me with hands I play terribly

[biondino]

Will do!

Crappy hand of the day: 55 vs AJ on a JTT5T board, sigh...

[biondino]

Okay, here's a tough spot. Villain is a 12/8/2.3 over 66 hands, and I don't remember seeing him check raise before:

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, P4-57609472-1718
played at "Dessau" for USD RM from 2008-01-05 20:34 until 2008-01-05 20:35
Seat 2: EdgrAllnPWND ($51.30 in chips) [As Th]
Seat 5: militantia ($70.15 in chips)
Seat 8: lellopolli30 ($6.55 in chips)
Seat 10: badbluffer57 ($95.80 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
lellopolli30 posts blind ($0.25), badbluffer57 posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
EdgrAllnPWND bets $2, militantia calls $2, lellopolli30 folds, badbluffer57 calls $1.50.

FLOP [board cards: TD,2C,4S ]
badbluffer57 checks, EdgrAllnPWND bets $5, militantia folds, badbluffer57 bets $15

[biondino]

843 hands today, down $23. I didn't play badly as such; very few obvious donk-offs, dumb calls or badly timed bluffs. But my game did feel stilted and one-dimensional and I think I really do need to be sweated by a better player sometime soon!

[badgers]

Okay, here's a tough spot. Villain is a 12/8/2.3 over 66 hands, and I don't remember seeing him check raise before:

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, P4-57609472-1718
played at "Dessau" for USD RM from 2008-01-05 20:34 until 2008-01-05 20:35
Seat 2: EdgrAllnPWND ($51.30 in chips) [As Th]
Seat 5: militantia ($70.15 in chips)
Seat 8: lellopolli30 ($6.55 in chips)
Seat 10: badbluffer57 ($95.80 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
lellopolli30 posts blind ($0.25), badbluffer57 posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
EdgrAllnPWND bets $2, militantia calls $2, lellopolli30 folds, badbluffer57 calls $1.50.

FLOP [board cards: TD,2C,4S ]
badbluffer57 checks, EdgrAllnPWND bets $5, militantia folds, badbluffer57 bets $15

Why would that not be an easy fold?

[biondino]

That's what I'm asking, I guess. Folding TPTK to one piece of aggression seems so weak, and I am pretty damn weak already

I'm interested to know if anyone thinks it's not a fold, though, and the reasoning behind their thinking. More than anything, why is this guy turning his set/overpair face up while clearly not taking the best value line?

[biondino]

Here's a hand to have a look at if you will. Villain is a 31/2/2 and as poor as that sounds. He sees too many flops, he takes hands too far, but as you can see he's been pretty fortunate recently with big hands. He has been betting too often pf to not be bluffing at times though I suspect he's mainly kosher.
Texas Hold'em $100 NL (real money), hand #P4-57707979-423
Table Dana Point, 6 Jan 2008 6:05 PM ET

Seat 1: cerval 1 ($273.50 in chips)
Seat 2: EdgrAllnPWND [ K,A ] ($109.15 in chips)
Seat 4: burgerx2l ($94.50 in chips)
Seat 5: philippe89 ($15.00 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
cerval 1 posts blind ($0.50), EdgrAllnPWND posts blind ($1).

PRE-FLOP
burgerx2l folds, philippe89 folds, cerval 1 calls $0.50, EdgrAllnPWND bets $4, cerval 1 calls $4.

FLOP [board cards 2,K,6 ]
cerval 1 checks, EdgrAllnPWND bets $8, cerval 1 calls $8.

TURN [board cards 2,K,6,8 ]
cerval 1 bets $25, EdgrAllnPWND bets $96.15 and is all-in

[biondino]

This player is not a good player but he completely has my number. His stats after 50 hands are 47/12/18(!!!). I doubled him up from short earlier and then again when he limped AK utg (I had QT in the BB on a xTJQ board) and he's been making my life a misery.

What am I doing wrong?

Texas Hold'em $50NL (real money), hand #P4-57684686-1250
Table Salvador, 6 Jan 2008 6:33 PM ET

Seat 1: EdgrAllnPWND [ 8,10 ] ($45.55 in chips)
Seat 2: rom. ($45.15 in chips)
Seat 4: hiawis ($75.60 in chips)
Seat 5: alexmasteron ($21.85 in chips)
Seat 9: pilles ($6.70 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
rom. posts blind ($0.25), hiawis posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
alexmasteron folds, pilles calls $0.50, EdgrAllnPWND calls $0.50, rom. bets $1.50, hiawis folds, pilles folds, EdgrAllnPWND calls $1.25.

FLOP [board cards 2S,9C,10C ]
rom. bets $1.50, EdgrAllnPWND bets $4, rom. bets $5, EdgrAllnPWND calls $2.50.

TURN [board cards 2S,9C,10C,2H ]
rom. bets $10, EdgrAllnPWND folds.

[biondino]

BTW the table is 43/9 and there aren't any actually good players on it. And I am getting destroyed.

[biondino]

Quick recap - 4.7 buyins lost, second worst day ever. Help needed desperately. Have a look at this post in the bad beat section for a breakdown of today's gory details.

[biondino]

I'd love to have people contribute to this blog in any way. Maybe if people could ask em questions about aspects of my game, or give thoughts on the hands above, or just say "there there, it'll all be okay"

[badgers]

I'd love to be able to help but I am struggling myself a little at 50NL. I think my main leak is underestimating the strength of weak players min-raising, checking behind on the turn then firing on the river etc... That is why I asked earlier about AT.

Perhaps we could exchange some hand histories and review each others play? I may not be the best person to help, but since we are at a similar level experiencing similar things we could help each other and talk about why we make particular plays etc. Shoot me a pm or add me on msn (linky below) if interested.

[biondino]

That'd be great - I have added you on my work MSN and will say hi when you're online.

[biondino]

A quick question - while I was looking at my stats yesterday I say that in raised pots, I cbet 54% of the time and raise 5% of the time. This seems small to me, but even so, I was getting raped with calls and raises to my c-bets. One massive problem for me is having a clue when to believe these bets and when not to - second barrels work fairly frequently so maybe that should be my default, rather than check/folding and sobbing quietly every time an OOP villain leads the turn.

[BigPapi]

I can't access my stats, because I'm at work but seems like the 3 of us are playing at the same level and I'd like to help out too! I've been winning at 50NL in december at 8ptbb/100 hands, but I still have trouble with certain aspects of play at 50NL and when I moved up to 100NL for a couple of days I really noticed what you're describing here in your last post gets even worse. I really like to find a solution for this and 3 know more then 1, so hopefully we can all move up succesfully soon. I do think I know part of the solution is putting opponents on ranges and acting on that assesment. But sometimes that's easier said then done

[biondino]

Sounds good, Papi!

Today I had a winning session: +$64 in 268 hands (at Crypto - I only played there because I needed to check my Neteller details, but I stayed). I found two nice weak passive tables, and played some good cards, although if I hadn't 4-outed a dude for stacks I'd have been well down. Though I notice I lost $$$ on both 3OAK and straights

[daven]

Okay, here's a tough spot. Villain is a 12/8/2.3 over 66 hands, and I don't remember seeing him check raise before:

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, P4-57609472-1718
played at "Dessau" for USD RM from 2008-01-05 20:34 until 2008-01-05 20:35
Seat 2: EdgrAllnPWND ($51.30 in chips) [As Th]
Seat 5: militantia ($70.15 in chips)
Seat 8: lellopolli30 ($6.55 in chips)
Seat 10: badbluffer57 ($95.80 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
lellopolli30 posts blind ($0.25), badbluffer57 posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
EdgrAllnPWND bets $2, militantia calls $2, lellopolli30 folds, badbluffer57 calls $1.50.

FLOP [board cards: TD,2C,4S ]
badbluffer57 checks, EdgrAllnPWND bets $5, militantia folds, badbluffer57 bets $15

fold. If Villain was a short stack pushing to $15 I would call to take down his JTs, but here it doesn't seem worth it. If he has a set you are relying on runner-runner. I'm not sure that raising pre is good, but it's 4-handed and that's a little unfamiliar to me

[daven]

BigPapi, Badgers, biondino.
We're all playing some $50nl right?
I was thinking about the best way to study someone else's play etc.
Dunno about you guys, buy my standard sessions are 1-2.5hrs, 6-tabling between 400 and 1000 hands.

Maybe we should share by e-mail a session worth of hand history .txt files, can then import them into Poker Tracker and examine each others play as we see fit. Then comment or something.

I guess it would be of value if we looked seriously at the sessions ourselves beforehand and included a commentary on interesting or difficult hands - something to refer to after reviewing sessions, cos it would be interesting if we agreed on which spots were interesting vs trivial.

Anyway, if you guys are keen send me a pm.
If you send me a session I'll get it back this month sometime, maybe by Sunday?
Cheers

[daven]

I say that in raised pots, I cbet 54% of the time and raise 5% of the time. This seems small to me, but even so, I was getting raped with calls and raises to my c-bet

Dunno if this helps? it seems you cbet a bunch more than I do, but maybe that's cos I'm running 16-12, and sometimes don't feel like c-betting 44 multiway...
oh, do you have a standard c-bet size?

if I filter on raised pre-flop, raised or bet post-flop I'm running about +2ptBB/hand - which is ludicrous! 25%wtSD, 64%W$SD.

First Action on Flop after a pre-flop raise:
Raise 2.8%
Bet 42.1%
Call 4.3%
Check 43.1%
CheckRaise 0.4%
Fold 7.4%
No Flop/No action`43.9%

[BigPapi]

My sessions are usually 1-3h of 3-4 tables. Wouldn't it take you ages to review an entire session??

I think maybe we should pick a couple of hands per session (not necessarily big winner/losers, but generally difficult spots) and send those per email to eachother with our own comments and go from there?

If someone has time to go through an entire session that would be great, because then maybe you'll pick up some smaller but structural mistakes you're not aware off. But I don't know if we should just send entire sessions, mainly because of time involved.

[biondino]

I have just ordered a jack online to make my recording mic fit my laptop, so if I can sort it out I want to make a video of my play which I'll gladly share.

I also play 1-3 hours of 2-4 tables, fwiw.

How about: Each of us takes an interesting session, then goes through it, manually deletes the ultra-standard hands and obvious folds, and then adds notes or reads to the (say) 10% of hands that are left. This doc can then be circulated for people's thoughts? It could be 5 hands long, it could be 50 hands long, but as long as the hands themselves seed discussion it's all good.

[BigPapi]

yeah I think that would be good. That saves the readers some work and could make it very doable.

I've got a mic on the way too, because I was going to make some 10NL vids for a couple of friends, but then I could make a video too so you I'll share that too when it's done!

[daven]

My sessions are usually 1-3h of 3-4 tables. Wouldn't it take you ages to review an entire session??

nah, not once it's loaded. 3hrs, 4 tables, say 70hands/hr. <1k hands, it's nothing. Maybe an hour or two to review trends and enough hands for it to be meaningful, plus it would be an hour or two thinking solidly on poker while not playing - studying/thinking time that I don't make enough time for but is definitely +EV.

I think a major benefit to this information sharing is having someone else point out which hands are questionable, I think a major leak everyone has is the hands they are playing consistently and think are fine when they may in fact be far from it. Recent example for me was to do with c-bet sizing and reward ratios.

Anyway, here's how I would do it: Filtering is great.

1) A session that big I'd go to position tab and skim which hands you're open raising (and folding) by position, check for polarisation or not, how you behave after limpers, check for crazy steal attempts and/or blind defence. Look at any hands that you are 3-betting or 3-bet on.
2) I'd go to the tab that shows types of hands, and see how you played your monsters - searching for lost value or otherwise
3) I'd filter on went to river and lost and see whether they seem standard
4) I'd look at river fold hands to see if you should have even reached the river
4) I'd look at some non c-bet hands to see if they make sense

umm, and I'd do some other stuff. I think this would raise interesting points about playing style and overall leaks more so than just a couple of isolated hands could.
But happy to do whatever people think is best.

[Vi-Zer0Skill]

Okay, here's a tough spot. Villain is a 12/8/2.3 over 66 hands, and I don't remember seeing him check raise before:

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, P4-57609472-1718
played at "Dessau" for USD RM from 2008-01-05 20:34 until 2008-01-05 20:35
Seat 2: EdgrAllnPWND ($51.30 in chips) [As Th]
Seat 5: militantia ($70.15 in chips)
Seat 8: lellopolli30 ($6.55 in chips)
Seat 10: badbluffer57 ($95.80 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
lellopolli30 posts blind ($0.25), badbluffer57 posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
EdgrAllnPWND bets $2, militantia calls $2, lellopolli30 folds, badbluffer57 calls $1.50.

FLOP [board cards: TD,2C,4S ]
badbluffer57 checks, EdgrAllnPWND bets $5, militantia folds, badbluffer57 bets $15

The only hands that are beating you that he could have would be 4-4/2-2. I would get all in on the turn, even if it requires you to overbet slightly. He is going to have K-10/Q-10 or be bluffing often enough. I'm not sure what i would do if the effective stacks were 150BB or deeper though.

[Vi-Zer0Skill]

This player is not a good player but he completely has my number. His stats after 50 hands are 47/12/18(!!!). I doubled him up from short earlier and then again when he limped AK utg (I had QT in the BB on a xTJQ board) and he's been making my life a misery.

What am I doing wrong?

Texas Hold'em $50NL (real money), hand #P4-57684686-1250
Table Salvador, 6 Jan 2008 6:33 PM ET

Seat 1: EdgrAllnPWND [ 8,10 ] ($45.55 in chips)
Seat 2: rom. ($45.15 in chips)
Seat 4: hiawis ($75.60 in chips)
Seat 5: alexmasteron ($21.85 in chips)
Seat 9: pilles ($6.70 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
rom. posts blind ($0.25), hiawis posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
alexmasteron folds, pilles calls $0.50, EdgrAllnPWND calls $0.50, rom. bets $1.50, hiawis folds, pilles folds, EdgrAllnPWND calls $1.25.

FLOP [board cards 2S,9C,10C ]
rom. bets $1.50, EdgrAllnPWND bets $4, rom. bets $5, EdgrAllnPWND calls $2.50.

TURN [board cards 2S,9C,10C,2H ]
rom. bets $10, EdgrAllnPWND folds.

i like your preflop play, but i would not raise this flop. Definitely one of the best pieces of poker advice i have gotten was from Halvsame. I think he was commenting on someones' HH and said something to the effect of, " better to think, 'then what will i do', rather than 'now what do i do'".

How would you respond to a 3bet if you were to raise villain's flop c-bet? Given that this likely isn't a hyper aggressive 5handed table, felting TPWK for 100BB, even on a drawy flop, is going to be -EV. Calling on the flop and reevaluating the hand on the turn is going to be the better option.

[biondino]

Thanks - that is a lot of food for thought. In the first hand you look at, are you sure you're seeing it at the level of a $50nl player? I agree that it seems an odd play for any hand that beats me to make, but this guy has been SO nitty, and the flop is SO dry, that it feels like this is a blunt way for him to ensure we're playing for stacks.

[Vi-Zer0Skill]

Thanks - that is a lot of food for thought. In the first hand you look at, are you sure you're seeing it at the level of a $50nl player? I agree that it seems an odd play for any hand that beats me to make, but this guy has been SO nitty, and the flop is SO dry, that it feels like this is a blunt way for him to ensure we're playing for stacks.

over a larger sample size i think it would be clearly better to deviate from a "standard" line but in this case i'd stick it in and not think much about it.

[biondino]

Down $40 tonight in 750 hands or so. Very little to report - got stacked for $65 when made a straight on the river vs a guy who had already made a (unlikely) boat on the turn, fair enough. Not a lot to report, other than running superhumanly good on one table (and still barely making any money).

I also got Camtasia set up, and tried to make a video, but the very first hand I played I played so badly that I got in a huff and stopped recording. Which is a shame, as I made my losses back and as much again in profit ov er the next 5 minutes.

I might try and make another video tomorrow. It's a LOT harder than I thought!

[daven]

starting to review sessions from bigpapi and badgers. Send one through as well if you want. It's probably +EV cos otherwise i'd likely be playing more poker and the short session I played (600hands-ish) was so far from my A-game that it was ridiculous. Lucky not to go down a lot (-$3.80 for the session), unlucky to be stacked in my last orbit top two vs top set - but it should have been an easy laydown = time to reread spoonitnow's post about pausing and folding when you want to fold rather than pushing anyway...

[biondino]

Poker's weird - I am running SO hot at SNGs, when I play them, but ring is doing things to my behind that I'm not comfortable with.

Dave, I have just had a quick look at my first 100 hands yesterday and reduced it to 19 hands. There's not a lot in there but I've emailed it to you anyway. Next time I might try filtering as per your suggestions, as that might be more interesting.

[biondino]

Last night was kinda fun, coming 5th in a Stars $4.40 SNG (I don't play the $10s because it's just Sunday evening light relief, and I seem to be pretty decent at them) - that's my 5th final table, I think, though as ever I can't convert chipstacks into wins. I had more than double the 2nd biggest stack with about 11 players left, but running into AA twice on the FT crippled me and I ended up busting when I obli-pushed on the button and the BB had AK.

Very little ring to report - I played a single table while mucking around in MTTs and finished $2 up or something ridiculous. Still looking forward to my upswing - it's coming soon, right, poker gods?

[biondino]

Soon maybe, but not tonight. But if I will call off my stack with AJo in a BvB confrontation, then it's not like I can blame anyone else.

It's a shame really, because I was playing pretty sweetly for the most part. Only some rather expensive double barrel failures prevented me from finishing up; I even managed to make some hero folds (if that's not an oxymoron). I was also playing 14/10 at 6max, and I was actually in a less nitty mood, so that gives some idea as to the kind of cards I was getting.

Here's a hand - I'd love your thoughts. UTG was a half-stack who had just sat down but had raised his first three hands. I wanted him to push, basically, but he chose to call:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (4 handed) Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

BB ($5.50)
UTG ($26.55)
Hero ($56.55)
SB ($28.15)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, K.
UTG raises to $1.5, Hero raises to $7, 1 fold, BB calls $5 (All-In), UTG calls $5.50.

Flop: ($4.75) 3, 3, 7 (3 players, 1 all-in)
UTG checks, Hero bets $6, UTG calls $6.

Turn: ($16.75) 3 (3 players, 1 all-in)
UTG bets $11.5

[biondino]

(btw down $430 for January so far, though probably up about $150 in tourneys/SNGs - but I count ring as my main game so I choose to keep the records separate. My new target is to break even before the 1st February. Talk about a lowly ambition, sigh)

[Da GOAT]

id raise just a touch more preflop and shove flop

HH error for pot size on flop

[biondino]

Okay, a good session, so I am going to post my biggest winners if there's any debate about how to play them.

Biggest hand - an honest-to-goodness stacking. This guy was playing 53/16 and I had three-bet him 3 times previously, and he had folded each time either pre-flop or to my c-bet (I had done it with good hands each time fwiw). I was actually videoing this hand, and said, before he bet, that I expected a re-raise.

HAND 1:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP ($50.20)
Hero ($57.85)
Button ($78.50)
SB ($74.30)
BB ($50)
UTG ($52.95)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, Q.
UTG raises to $1, MP calls $1, Hero raises to $5, 3 folds, UTG calls $4, MP folds.

Flop: ($11.75) Q, 3, 6 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $8, UTG raises to $47.95 (All-In), Hero calls $39.95.

Turn: ($107.65) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($107.65) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $107.65

Villain holds A 4


HAND 2:
Poor fucker, what a cooler.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Button ($21.50)
Hero ($114.05)
BB ($22.05)
UTG ($50)
MP ($16.95)
CO ($32.85)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , .
MP calls $0.50, 1 fold, Button calls $0.50, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($2) , , (5 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP bets $2, Button folds, Hero calls $2, BB calls $2.

Turn: ($8) (4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP checks.

River: ($8) (4 players)
Hero bets $111.55 (All-In), BB calls $19.55 (All-In), MP folds.

Final Pot: $47.10

Villain holds T 3


HAND 3:
Villain is loose aggressive, and I have been raising a lot. With his aggression, his short stack, I couldn't really see another way of playing this.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Button ($28.10)
Hero ($151.30)
BB ($21.75)
UTG ($50)
MP ($37.05)
CO ($28)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , .
3 folds, Button calls $0.50, Hero raises to $2.75, BB raises to $5, Button folds, Hero raises to $154.05 (All-In), BB calls $17.25 (All-In).

Flop: ($45) , , (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($45) (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($45) (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $45

Villain holds A K

[biondino]

Anyway, + $117 in 211 hands. That'll do, pig.

[Da GOAT]

nice work

[biondino]

Only played about 50 hands of ring tonight, 1-tabling along with a 45-man Stars tourney. I eventually gave up - with a profit of $0.05 - when it became clear it was a pretty decent table with an aggressive and decent half-stacker to my left. Made 2 aggressive bluffs though, vs him and another aggro player two to my right - I might post them, see what you think.

The 45-man was interesting. Doubled up early, lost most of it, then shorted it for a while before doubling up 4 or 5 times just before the bubble. I went about an hour without making anything but an all-in bet, which was fun.

The final table was satisfyingly weak (including me, if I'm honest). I managed to get my chip lead back with 5 remaining, and then, according to the log of a chat I was having with former FTRer Satan1974 (anyone remember him?), I typed "doubled up shortie AGAIN" no less than five times. Sigh.

Eventually, HU, I raised and 4-betted all in with ATo vs a guy who, to be honest, wasn't much of a player. He called with A6s and, of course, survived the T-high flop and flushed on the river. I typed "I think you may be the worst player I've ever seen win an MTT" into the chatbox immediateloy afterwards... but deleted it before pressing send

[biondino]

Reads: dude is very aggressive when he bets (psbs on every street kinda thing), and I folded a couple of times to his aggression in medium sized pots (which is why my stack is so short - I thought I'd set Full Tilt's auto-reload gizmo but clearly it's not working) I didn't believe this river bet, and reckoned I had just enough of a stack to have FE while looking like I didn't.

FullTiltPoker Game #4883323739: Table Vosburgh (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:26:20 ET - 2008/01/16
Seat 1: eskimobi65 ($46.50)
Seat 2: PokerAA012 ($20)
Seat 3: iliveinabox ($89.25)
Seat 4: Ruslan1977 ($230.10)
Seat 6: SandInMyVagina ($33.20)
Ruslan1977 posts the small blind of $0.25
SandInMyVagina posts the big blind of $0.50
5 seconds left to act
PokerAA012 posts a dead small blind of $0.25
PokerAA012 posts $0.50
The button is in seat #3

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SandInMyVagina [K 5]
eskimobi65 calls $0.50
PokerAA012 raises to $1
iliveinabox folds
Ruslan1977 calls $0.75
SandInMyVagina calls $0.50
eskimobi65 calls $0.50

*** FLOP *** [4 5 T]
Ruslan1977 checks
SandInMyVagina bets $3.50
eskimobi65 folds
PokerAA012 folds
Ruslan1977 calls $3.50

*** TURN *** [4 5 T] [6]
Ruslan1977 checks
SandInMyVagina checks

*** RIVER *** [4 5 T 6] [2]
Ruslan1977 bets $11.25 (exactly the size of the pot)
SandInMyVagina has 15 seconds left to act
SandInMyVagina raises to $28.70, and is all in
Ruslan1977 has 15 seconds left to act
Ruslan1977 has requested TIME
Ruslan1977 folds

Uncalled bet of $17.45 returned to SandInMyVagina
SandInMyVagina shows [K 5] a pair of Fives
SandInMyVagina wins the pot ($32.10)

[BigPapi]

hey, good playing with you

the hand you hit trips from SB I had 24o from the BB on the A43 2tone board. I didn't believe you had the ace or a pp because you didn't raise from the SB. when you 3bet my flopraise I got suspicious.

right after you left I picked up AA and spiked the A on the flop. A6x. the other guy had A6 and payed off. So was a pretty good session

[biondino]

I really haven't played much poker lately, mainly because my mind hasn't been in the right place after a (timely, amicable, mutual) split from my long-term gf. The one ring session I had was ruined by CALLING pre-flop 3-bet push with AJo (it was blind vs blind, sigh). However, I am still on fire tourney-wise - My current streak is something like eight ITM, including a 45-man (2nd) and a 180-man (5th). Now if I can keep that up in the FT $32.5k freeroll tonight, I'll be a happy boy

Yesterday I played my first ever large field live MTT. 142 players, £33 buyin, and I ended up busting in 27th after playing some of the best poker of my life. The irony is that I hadn't realised for a second how long a 142-man live deepstack tourney would go on for, and although it started at 1pm I had social engagements at 8pm. My tablemates were sure the game would last beyond midnight.

Fortunately, that pretty much worked for me. I had lost a few small hands and was down to average stack (after some strong play had put me close to the chip lead) when, at 7.45pm, I called a shortie's all in with A8o. He had 52, I was dealing, and I forgot to rig it and the first card I dealt was a 2. Ah well. This left me with an M of about 2, so I went all in next hand with 97 and ran into 99. Game over, but I've never been so happy to bust from a tournament, especially after playing so well.

Overall, it was fun, though not knowing anyone, I did get a little bored after a few hours. I think next time I'll go for a smaller field (and ideally a smaller buyin - though £1260 first prize would have been nice).

[Muzzard]

Keep it coming Mark! Hows it been since we were at DTD?

[biondino]

Haha - I am 9 buyins up in 2,500 6max hands this month So I have made back my DTD losses (if not quite the train fare), but I am definitely running hot (17 pocket pairs -> 7 sets the other night, for example), so I'm not getting overexcited.

[biondino]

6 buyins down since the post above. Meh.

Another 180-man ft, another mid-table finish despite being chip leader with 9 left. Dammit pokerstars, I appreciate the luck that got me there (AA twice, KK 4 times, one massive suckout), but does it all have to desert me once we're looking at the decent money?