Tuesday 26 January 2010

Murraculous

Well done to Andy Murray this morning. He fought toe to toe with Rafa Nadal for two and a bit sets and came out on top. Its a shame that Nadal had to retire, but watching how it was going i doubt Nadal would have lasted 5 sets. I'm a fan of Federer and in my opinion he is still favourite to life the Aussie Open, but hopefully Murray can take his chance this time. I would say that Murray played some excellent tennis to beat Nadal, but so did Federer to beat Hewitt - and he made it look like a stroll!.
Lets hope they both get to the final and its a good one, whoever wins.




Poker has gone pretty poorly in the last week in comparison to how it had gone in the previous two. I've ran pretty much break even, but cleared the $1500 January sale bonus. I had one pretty huge tilting session where i lost $700 in 10 minutes, but thankfully my image and some lucky flops meant i got $500 of that straight back. It was an unusual thing for me because i don't normally tilt and in the odd times i do i try to stop playing.

I've dropped off the pace on the PTR winners board, but am still there on the PL board. Its funny how i do much better at PL - I always have done - and i don't think its because i differ in my play. Maybe there are the opportunities to see cheaper flops or the fact that flops are multiway more. I do think some regulars avoid them and also some of the push/fold short stackers for obvious reasons. I don't go out of my way to sit at PL tables, but maybe i will start making a conscious effort to for the rest of the month and see what happens.

Steve

Saturday 16 January 2010

The good, the bad and the ugly

I've been running well all month generally, so there would come a time when i ran poorly. That was yesterday. I played 10k hands altogether and thought i was playing well aside from a few blips near the start. However i ran $370 under expected, though i was up $160 regardless.

To do with running bad, its hard to actually spot proper 'run bad' as opposed to all in EV 'run bad'. A friend of mine is running reaaally bad, over months and months. Today i just lost a few more all ins than i was expecting. This first hand, had we got it in on the flop i would have ran really well according to all in EV, but since we got it in on the river my graph doesn't show how hot i ran.

Lol one outers

Anyway, i'm happy with how i'm playing and also how i'm adjusting to the regs. I'm also happy with my mentality and my abilty to grind. I'm not forcing myself to play, but i am aiming to play 10k hands a night. However, should i feel tired, tilted (hasn't happened yet) or just fancy a night off, i have no problem cutting my session short.

The good

SB: $51.15
BB: $51.45
UTG: $93.50
UTG+1: $24.50
UTG+2: $58.50
MP1: $79.55
MP2: $29.50
Hero (CO): $186.45
BTN: $132.30

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with Th Ts
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, UTG+2 calls $1, 1 fold, MP2 calls $1, Hero raises to $7, 4 folds, UTG+2 calls $6, 1 fold

Flop: ($17.50) 8c Jc 8s (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $11, UTG+2 calls $11

Turn: ($39.50) 2c (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero checks

River: ($39.50) Tc (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $16, UTG+2 raises to $32, Hero raises to $48, UTG+2 calls $8.50 all in

Final Pot: $120.50
UTG+2 shows 8h Td (a full house, Eights full of Tens)
Hero shows Th Ts (a full house, Tens full of Eights)
Hero wins $117.50
(Rake: $3.00)


The bad

MP2: $83.00
CO: $119.65
BTN: $100.00
SB: $116.20
Hero (BB): $100.00
UTG: $103.05
UTG+1: $105.65
MP1: $39.65

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with Ah Qs
5 folds, BTN raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($6.50) Qd Jh Qh (2 players)
Hero bets $4, BTN raises to $12, Hero raises to $35, BTN raises to $64, Hero raises to $97 all in, BTN calls $33 all in

Turn: ($200.50) Kc (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($200.50) Kd (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $200.50
BTN shows Ks Qc (a full house, Kings full of Queens)
Hero shows Ah Qs (a full house, Queens full of Kings)
BTN wins $197.50
(Rake: $3.00)

The ugly

UTG+1: $17.00
Hero (MP1): $116.75
MP2: $49.55
CO: $72.25
BTN: $120.35
SB: $120.35
BB: $20.00
UTG: $151.15

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is MP1 with 8c 8h
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, CO calls $3, BTN calls $3, 2 folds

Flop: ($10.50) 6s 3s 8s (3 players)
Hero bets $8, CO raises to $16, BTN folds, Hero raises to $113.75 all in, CO calls $53.25 all in

Turn: ($149.00) 5h (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($149.00) 9c (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $149.00
Hero shows 8c 8h (three of a kind, Eights)
CO shows Ad 7s (a straight, Five to Nine)
CO wins $146.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Running well

I've been on fire this month so far. I'll post my graph at the month's end but i'm around $700 above my all in EV at the moment - just from January!

As can be seen from PTR's page on me, my Hot or Not rating is 100 which i assume is the highest possible.

One goal i would like to accomplish would be to stay on PTR's biggest winners for the year (at pokerstars 100NL) to date. At the moment i'm on there due to my hot streak. Hopefully i can up the volume and keep a similar winrate and maintain my place on that leaderboard.

Oh, and can you say 'cooler'?




CO: $100.00

BTN: $100.00

SB: $133.65

BB: $114.60

Hero (UTG): $155.95

UTG+1: $119.40

MP1: $65.35

MP2: $118.30



Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with K of hearts K of clubs

Hero raises to $4, 4 folds, BTN calls $4, 2 folds



Flop: ($9.50) K of diamonds K of spades 3 of diamonds (2 players)

Hero bets $5, BTN calls $5



Turn: ($19.50) 6 of clubs (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $11, Hero calls $11



River: ($41.50) 2 of diamonds (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $33, Hero raises to $135.95 all in, BTN calls $47 all in



Final Pot: $201.50

BTN shows 3 of spades 3 of clubs (a full house, Threes full of Kings)

Hero shows K of hearts K of clubs (four of a kind, Kings)

Hero wins $198.50

(Rake: $3.00)




Many thanks to HappyPixel who told me how to convert the hand histories into something more pleasant to look at!

Steve

Sunday 10 January 2010

AKcc turns a flush

This is a hand that came up a couple of days ago. I'd been having a good session so far and i think the turn is an interesting street on this hand.

My HUD is still faulty, and i've been doing well without it, but as a consequence i had no reads on this guy.

***** Hand History for Game 37861554559 ***** (Poker Stars)
$100.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, January 08, 06:41:36 ET 2010
Table Tilia III (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Seat 1: Beldar69 ( $89.05 USD )
Seat 2: Beatrism ( $134.05 USD )
Seat 3: rei1978 ( $116.15 USD )
Seat 4: ASMoney ( $120.30 USD )
Seat 5: Nanni2407 ( $23.00 USD )
Seat 6: Eggpie ( $109.50 USD )
Seat 7: Pawippy19 ( $14.80 USD )
Seat 8: BuSiNeSS21 ( $18.50 USD )
Seat 9: MaxDyak ( $19.00 USD )
MaxDyak posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
Beldar69 posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Eggpie [ Kc Ac ]
Beatrism calls [$1.00 USD]
rei1978 calls [$1.00 USD]
ASMoney folds
Nanni2407 folds
Eggpie raises [$6.00 USD]
Pawippy19 folds
BuSiNeSS21 folds
MaxDyak folds
Beldar69 folds
Beatrism calls [$5.00 USD]
rei1978 calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, 7c, 9s ]
Beatrism checks
rei1978 checks
Eggpie bets [$15.00 USD]
Beatrism folds
rei1978 calls [$15.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]
rei1978 checks


The pot is $18 on the flop, and i have overs with the nut flush draw so naturally i cbet it in position.

The guy who limp called pre, just called then i hit my flush on the turn - but it paired the board. I have $85 behind, so naturally there will be some more betting. I thought about his range and i think i'm ahead of that {flushes, random pairs 88/1010 etc, sets which are now FHs, A7, A9 and random gunshots} - so i bet $40 to look like i was scared of a 4th club, and this happened:


Eggpie bets [$40.00 USD]
rei1978 raises [$95.15 USD]
Eggpie calls [$48.50 USD]
rei1978 wins $6.65 USD
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
rei1978 shows [7d, 7h ]
Eggpie shows [Kc, Ac ]
rei1978 wins $223.50 USD from main pot

If we go back to the turn, i should have thought about his CALLING range, not his range for getting to the turn. Aside from something like A7 hiting a 7 on the river, pretty much all that folds to a bet can't end up beating me anyway (or has at most 2 outs).

Assuming his calling range is:
Flushes
The odd trip 9
Sets - which are now full hosues

Its surely a WA/WB situation, with a slight tendancy to limit the amount of trip 9s and flushes he has because he might have led out with both of these if he was scared about letting me draw to a 4th club (note: if he had a flush, it will be Q high at best). So is my best play to check?
Within his calling range, sets make up a fair proportion so maybe i should check and call a river bet (or bet if checked to me).
The upside is that i may get value from his range that may not call the turn bet and also i don't get stacked when he has a FH.
The downside is that i now don't stack lower flushes and give him chance to boat up for free.

Initially i thought it was a clear bet/call in the heat of the moment, but after thinking about his calling range maybe its not so clear cut.

Thoughts appreciated please!

Steve

Saturday 9 January 2010

Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! Bloggers can register to play for free in the WBCOOP, if you don’t have a PokerStars account you can get your Free Poker Download at PokerStars

Registration code: 863533

Look at me go

On the 3rd I started my years poker play, and acutally ended up having my most profitable day at cash games yet. I won around $950 altogether plus fpps and stellar awards.
My best ever day included my $1k+ tournament cash, and my best ever cash day in terms of buy ins was 13 1/2 at 50NL ($675) but this is my highest score in just cash games.

It actually got me onto PTR's daily leaderboard - you can see me in 6th place below.


Supernova Elite is the top tier i can get by playing at Pokerstars. I thought i may have an outside shot at it, but it doesn't look like i will be getting it this year. The new vpp structure has lowered the amount of vpps i can accrue at my current limit and means i would have to play closer to 4 million hands in a year than the 3 million+ i was expecting.
I've made a $100 bet with my brother that i can get to 300kvpps before he can get to 100k. Its not much money considering how much we will get by getting to our respective goals, but the pride of winning the bet will hopefully make me play more. Who knows, if i'm at 400k by June, i may consider moving up in limits to hit SNE.

I'm gonna start including interesting hands i played in this blog, but not in this post as its already quite long.

Steve

Friday 8 January 2010

welcome 2010


New year = renewed efforts to keep this blog going.

Above is the graph of my 24 hour session. I completed 22 1/2 hours, mainly 24 tabling, before my computer crashed. I took this as a sign to stop, though if it were a challenge or for money i am confident i would be able to complete it.
I'm pretty happy about being positive after the session as other people who have had a go haven't done as well. On the other side, if i went on a tilt inducing downswing i reckon i would have probably stopped, so i guess i ran well in that respect.

I had a good new year and xmas. Spent New Year's eve in a pool hall i frequent in York. It was all you can drink fro the night for £40 - you just helped yourself behind the bar. Saw a lot of former uni mates which is always a laugh.

Will update you on more of my exploits soon. I'm gonna aim to update this more, but keep the posts a bit smaller so its more of a 5 minute job rather than 15!.

Steve