Little review

[Anosmic]

Hi guys,

So I'm trying to review my play a bit and I would appreciate any feedback.

When I got staked at Party I switched from playing micro SNGs to $5nl ring games.
It's been a little over 2 weeks since I started and I've only played 2500ish hands, so it's all fairly new.

In general it feels like it's going well. BR is up from $50 to $130 (includes $25 bonus).
I'm playing a little loose, but the tables seem to warrant it, imho. My VPIP is 36.4% but is still a lot lower than the others at this level.

I'm playing from the BB (includes the blind when you come to the table) about 35%, (27% if you don't count hands I'd play from UTG) and have a $20 from this position.
SB is 43% (34%) and have a small $8 profit from there.

So, while I think I'm playing too many weak hands in the blinds (check with A8o and hit an ace on the flop...) I'm not holding on to them so much that it hurts (or variance is looking after me just now ).

My most profitable hands (avg profit) are finally starting to look reasonable (KK, KA, JJ, (44!), QQ, AT, AQ) and the worst (66,33,88,22,KT,KJ) are mostly pps that have never hit their trip for me (yet) or in the case of 66 have done so and then I lost to something bigger.

I've been 2-tabling a fair amount if I'm doing some work or something and 4-tabling when I'm just playing. 4-Tabling has been tricky at times, but for the most part it's been okay (just as long as I don't get a playable hand at the same time as a tricky one).

One thing I have noticed is that my late-night sessions have been bad. I've been losing most of my money at sort of 1.AM local time, which is also when the servers are most packed. On the other side when I play early morning here it's been quite easy.
So am I running into better players when the server is packed, or is it just that I'm foggy late at night? Anyone got any experience of this at Party's $5nl?

I have a spreadsheet with my buy-ins and profits etc. I've got a nice colour-code and the majority of them are either not-coloured (more or less break-even) or green (>+25% of buy in).

Other than one or two occasions when I've come away with nearly 3 buy-ins I've just come away with an extra dollar or two. But that's okay right? I mean that's steady winning? It's just all the guys around here tend to start their stories "So I'm up a couple of buy-ins when..." and I've never been up a COUPLE of buy ins...

Okay, so there's a quick run down of what I've been looking at.
My main thoughts are:
1) Look at my play from the blinds.
2) Start to look at whether I'm overbetting (and so not winning as much as I could).
3) Look for any evidence that late-night poker debacles are to do with my tiredness.

Anything else I should be looking at from here? I'm going to post my worst five losses, any comments are apprecaited.
Any statistics I should be trying to add to my analysis? (For example post-flop aggression? Not sure how to work that out).

Okay: my losses (some of this makes me cringe already)

Hand History Ring
Table: Not Set: Hand: 3911938985
10 players

Stack Sizes
UTG+1: 4.88
MP1: 4.48
MP2: 6.7
Hero: 10.24
MP4: 4.67
CO: 24.84
BTN: 6.61
SB: 6.25
BB: 2.11
UTG: 6.65

Hero is MP3 with: A A

Blinds
SB posts blind 0.02
BB posts blind 0.04
Pre-Flop
2 folded, MP1 raises 0.12, 1 called, Hero raises 0.60, 1 called, 4 folded, MP1 raises 0.96, 1 folded, Hero raises 2.40, 1 called, MP1 calls all-in 3.4, Hero called, 1 called

Flop T 2 7 (Pot:15.58 3 players)
Hero bets 0.60, MP4 calls all-in 0.1

Turn J (Pot:16.28 3 players)
River 7 (Pot:16.28 3 players)
Results in White
MP1 shows Jc, Jd
MP1 wins 12.97
Hero wins 0.74
MP4 shows Ks, Ts

Coverted with Anosmic's Hand Converter

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($5)
Hero ($5)
UTG+1 ($2.44)
MP1 ($5.02)
MP2 ($5.24)
MP3 ($11.62)
CO ($9.79)
Button ($6.62)
SB ($5.23)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with T, T. SB posts a blind of $0.02.
Hero raises to $0.25, UTG+1 calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, 2 folds, CO calls $0.25, 3 folds.

Flop: ($1.06) 8, 7, 9 (4 players)
Hero bets $1, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, CO raises to $4.74, Hero calls $3.74.

Turn: ($10.54) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks.

River: ($10.54) A (2 players)
CO calls $0.01.

Final Pot: $10.55

Results in white below:
Hero has Tc Th (one pair, tens).
CO has 9h 9s (three of a kind, nines).
Outcome: CO wins $10.55.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($4.93)
Button ($3)
Hero ($4.52)
BB ($4.66)
UTG ($12.83)
UTG+1 ($2.81)
MP1 ($6.65)
MP2 ($1.09)
MP3 ($4.92)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A. Hero posts a blind of $0.02.
UTG calls $0.04, UTG+1 calls $0.04, MP1 calls $0.04, MP2 calls $0.04, MP3 calls $0.04, 2 folds, Hero (poster) raises to $0.23, BB calls $0.21, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.21, MP1 folds, MP3 folds, Hero raises to $1.91, BB calls $1.68, UTG+1 folds.

Flop: ($4.27) 5, 2, J (3 players)
BB calls $2.59.

Turn: ($6.86) T (3 players)

River: ($6.86) 6 (3 players)

Final Pot: $6.86

Results in white below:
Hero has Ad As (one pair, aces).
BB has Ts Tc (three of a kind, tens).
MP2 has Qd 5d (one pair, fives).
Outcome: BB wins $6.86.

Hand History Ring
Table: Not Set: Hand: 3854194171
10 players

Stack Sizes
CO: 10.37
BTN: 5.24
SB: 4.92
BB: 5.01
UTG: 6.63
UTG+1: 6.19
MP1: 5.48
MP2: 3.76
MP3: 7.6
Hero: 4.18

Hero is MP4 with: Q Q

Blinds
SB posts blind 0.02
BB posts blind 0.04
Pre-Flop
2 called, 2 folded, 1 called, Hero raises 0.20, 1 folded, BTN raises 0.36, 5 folded, Hero called

Flop 4 8 8 (Pot:1.38 2 players)
Hero bets 1, BTN raises 2, Hero called

Turn 8 (Pot:7.38 2 players)
Hero checked, BTN raises all-in 2.8, Hero raises all-in 1.8

River 3 (Pot:11.98 2 players)
Results in White
BTN shows Ad, Ah
BTN wins 9.2

Coverted with Anosmic's Hand Converter

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 ($6.30)
MP3 ($4.68)
CO ($6.15)
Button ($5.50)
Hero ($4.17)
BB ($6.76)
UTG ($2.77)
UTG+1 ($3.38)
MP1 ($10.21)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, T. MP2 posts a blind of $0.06. Hero posts a blind of $0.02.
UTG calls $0.04, 2 folds, MP2 (poster) checks, 3 folds, Hero (poster) completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.18) T, A, K (4 players)
Hero bets $0.1, BB calls $0.10, UTG calls $0.10, MP2 calls $0.10.

Turn: ($0.58) 4 (4 players)
Hero bets $0.5, BB calls $0.50, UTG folds, MP2 raises to $4, Hero calls $3.50, BB folds.

River: ($9.08) 3 (2 players)

Final Pot: $9.08

Results in white below:
Hero has Kc Th (two pair, kings and tens).
MP2 has Jd Qh (straight, ace high).
Outcome: MP2 wins $9.08.

Hand History Ring
Table: Not Set: Hand: 3912253566
10 players

Stack Sizes
MP1: 6.58
Hero: 6.48
MP3: 7.55
MP4: 4.96
CO: 3.67
BTN: 4.56
SB: 4.68
BB: 4.65
UTG: 9.67
UTG+1: 2.16

Hero is MP2 with: 6 6

Blinds
SB posts blind 0.02
BB posts blind 0.04
Pre-Flop
UTG raises 0.08, 1 folded, 1 called, Hero called, 4 folded, 2 called

Flop 7 9 K (Pot:0.60 5 players)
4 checked, Hero checked

Turn 6 (Pot:0.60 5 players)
SB bets 0.29, 2 folded, 1 called, Hero raises 1, SB raises 1.42, 1 folded, Hero called

River 4 (Pot:6.31 2 players)
1 checked, Hero bets 2, 1 called

Results in White
SB shows Kd, Ks
SB wins 7.71

Coverted with Anosmic's Hand Converter

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($8.38)
MP2 ($4.28)
MP3 ($4.52)
Hero ($4.50)
Button ($5.62)
SB ($6.31)
BB ($8.76)
UTG ($4.92)
UTG+1 ($5.82)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, A. SB posts a blind of $0.02.
UTG calls $0.04, 3 folds, MP3 calls $0.04, Hero raises to $0.2, Button calls $0.20, 2 folds, UTG calls $0.16, MP3 calls $0.16.

Flop: ($0.86) 6, 9, T (4 players)
UTG checks, MP3 checks, Hero bets $1, Button folds, UTG calls $1, MP3 folds.

Turn: ($2.86) 8 (2 players)
UTG bets $1.92, Hero calls $1.92.

River: ($6.70) 8 (2 players)
UTG bets $0.64, Hero calls $0.64.

Final Pot: $7.98

Results in white below:
UTG has Qs Jd (straight, queen high).
Hero has Ac Ah (two pair, aces and eights).
Outcome: UTG wins $7.98.

[iloveyoooo]

This isn't going to be expert advice here, but it's something for you to read anyway

Any hand when you go all in with AA preflop is a hand well played, so I don't think there's anything you should change about these ones. Same goes for set over set.

Hand 2: You have to assume, unless you have a read, that your opponent is not a maniac. In this case, what hand could he have that he would push all in with and you would beat?

In your QQ hand I doubt you can get away from it in 5NL. Perhaps you could reraise preflop and fold to another raise Has villain showed many hands down?

In your KT hand it's quite hard to put villain on a hand because you'd have expected him to bet with either a straight or trips on that flop, but again you have to think "What does he do this with that I beat?".

End of garbled advice

[aokrongly]

Stop playing KT.

If you are 4 tabling and aren't going up 1 buyin overall for your BR about every 2 (or even 3 or 4 hours just to give you a learning curve) then you have some leaks to fix.

You're on the right track, though. It sounds like you're going to improve fairly quickly. Holding on to cards just a tad too long will bleed away money. but basically, at this point you're probably doing OK for your experience level. You are definately looking at the right things and asking the right questions. Don't put too much pressure on your game. If you can average 1-2 buyins (net) per 4 hours session then you are golden. Other might talk about bigger wins. But if you can average 1 buyin net win (4 tabling) for every 4 clock hours you play for the rest of your life, that's probably OK.

Regarding the 1 am thing, I assume you don't normally play that late. Typically people stay at the tables longer than usual because they are "behind" want to "catch up" are waiting for the "cards to turn", etc. In other words they are not playing from a balanced emotional state. There are times you want to stick around even if you're down. Those times are when you are playing your game well. But if you get a little tilty - i.e. you are trying to "catch up" etc etc. Just turn off the computer and go to sleep. Also, there is an endurance issue in poker. You need to be sharp or have a game that's so easy to execute that you can do it half asleep. It doesn't sound like you have an auto-execute winning game, and you probably don't have the experience and stamina to play past your normal stopping time.

[Anosmic]

Thanks for the input guys. Very encouraging.

I'll think about the KT, aok. The thing is I usually fold it outside the blinds; althought I've played it from a late position in an unraised pot and have usually won with it. It was showing a nice profit until that hand.

I have worked up some stats on my win rates. I make it about $1 per hour or $2.30/100 hands.

So at the moment I'm going up a buy-in per 200 hands(ish) and every five hours (per table).

Thanks for giving me some stats to shoot for.

As for the late-nighters. Well, I tend to play when I can (i.e. when everyone else is in bed.) That's why I'm up at 3.a.m now ... I finished up at 1:00 today (up almost 4 buy-ins, yay!) and spent some time going over my stats.

I do often play tired. But usually try to stop at that point. As far as stamina goes I think I'm pretty good in that area (used to play competitive chess, so used to concentration for hours into the evening).
What I don't have is this experience, this "auto-execute" you're talking about. Hopefully it'll come.

Thanks again guys.