Short term positional weirdness

I checked my position stats for $50 NL. Ha!



Basically, I haven't lost any money from any position. The "money seat," the Button, is the only position where I haven't won any money.
The worse seat, the Big Blind, is my biggest money maker.

Yeah yeah, it means nothing but this is probably as freakish as my stats will ever look so I'll laugh a them while I can.

$50NL FR

I decided to take a stab at $50NL, full ring. I sat at three tables, and finished ahead in all three. I finished in the green on all three, and was in the green in my other shot at $50NL, so obviously I can expect to come out ahead every time based on these results.

I play short sessions, as my attention wanes and I like to leave before I start losing.


I won quite a bit without ever seeing the flop. I won with a big bluff towards the end. I represented a Q on a board that had two queens, and he believed me. I really had a busted nut flush draw. So his fold was good news. The same fold would have been a disappointment had I actually hit my flush.

It wasn't long that, despite the bigger limits, I found my attention wandering. I kept focusing on some TV show I don't care about. I can't even remember was it was. At that point I closed all but one table to prevent myself from getting careless. The one table I left open had a couple targets I was hoping to exploit. That bluff on the QQ board was against one of my targets, so I left soon after that.

So far I'm 29.32BB/100. Totally sustainable!*



*unless I end up being human.

Bleh!

Hit a couple satellites. Got reamed in both.
Oh well.
Off to hit some rings now.

Blase

My last couple beats in the satellites:




Triple this and you can see how I've been running lately.

I did have a bit of luck yesterday though. I played a non-satellite S&G and had the same sort of beat, but then I played another last night and won it. When I was heads up I only had 1/3 the chips in play, but I got the guy's number and was about to take it down.

I'm not sure if I can play today. I have a bulldozer leveling out some of the hill and drainage by my house, so I need to be available to watch him.

Also, my wife and kid have no plans for the day, so I'll be disturbed a lot.

I'm hoping to hit the $1 CardsChat $100 added even tomorrow though, as I'll have the day off.

On the plus side, even though I haven't played many sessions, they've all been winners lately. I had an enjoyable session last night with a bunch of CC'ers. I only made $5, but I wasn't exactly playing for monetary gain. It was fun, and that's what I was after.

Oh... and I watched a buddy play a $3 rebuy for a ticket to the Sunday Millions last night. She bubbled. Ouch!

Ouch

Got a little burned last night.

I played a HU S&G and for the first time ever, I felt completely outmatched. The guy pwned me.
I was able to get our stacks back to equal a couple times, but he was relentless and just punished me. I failed to adapt, waiting for a big hand where I could have put the hurt down, but good hands were few and far between and he wasn't backing down to anything.

I finally lost when he limped with A/J, I checked with Q/J, and the flop was something like 9/T/J. I got my stack in, and failed to hit my straight for the loss.

I hit three $25 FR tables and lost on all three. I lost something like $4 on one, and $17-something on each of the other two.
On one I had A/A on an all-diamond rag flop. I shoved, and was called A/4 (he paired the 4 and had the Ace of diamonds). Yes, he made the flush. I've been getting flushed on a lot lately.

Dumb play by both parties:
I'd been playing pretty tight with a VP$IP at 9 and a PFR% at 6, when I raised with A/Qs. I was called by one guy on the button. The flop was 4/7/9 rainbow. I raised on the turn and river (hitting face cards each time, but not ones that helped), and my $8 (into the $12 pot) was called on the river with his pair of 7's and a T kicker. Ugh!

Something similar happened at the same table, with a guy who kept calling my middle-pocket pair on a rag flop and caught his J on the river to beat me.

Maybe I should just give up bluffing altogether? (Other than the continuation bet that is.) Let people pay me off when I hit.

My daughter turned 5 today. Tonight we take her to a "meet the class" function at the school she'll be attending. It's a pajama party theme, so she's supposed to be wearing pajamas.

I don't know what I'll be playing tonight. I've been sloppy lately.
Even though my latest cash out put my roll under what it should be for $50NL, I think I might try that to keep me on my toes. I'd move down if I lost a couple buy-ins.
Moving up in limits has always resulted in my playing well and winning a lot. (I don't think I'll do it, but it's worth considering... especially since I decided I'd start on my daughter's birthday back when I was rolled for the new, higher limit)

S&G Satellites are killing me

Well, my "goldmine" had gone bust lately. I lost my last 5 S&G's, four of them I was all-in with the best hand and they turned or rivered their flush. The last one, I had A/J on a A/J/4 flop (two hearts) so I shoved and his K/Q benefited from a T on the river. It was a 10k+ flop, so had I won I could have folded my way to the payout.

I swear, I was just happy that I didn't lose to a flush. A heart on the river would have done it.

Oh well. It happens.

I haven't been playing many rings, which are my bread and butter. I was running bad, then cashed out a bunch last week, and have been avoiding them until I'm sure I'm not going to play aggressive and try to win back my withdrawal.

I cashed out enough that I'm no longer properly rolled for $50 NL. However, some CC'ers played a $50NL table so I sat at one for the first time.
I made 49bb/100!*


*Over 16 hands, so it's means nothing.

100% Victory

I really think I have this satellite S&G figured out. If you can double up twice you're pretty much guaranteed a victory if you just sit back and wait. People make *terrible* decisions when their goal should just be to survive.

Last night, just before the full final table (6 places win a ticket, 7th gets a $6) three short stacks went all-in on each other. I was short myself but I insta-folded my A/Qs. They had A/J, Q/J, and T/T. The T/T won, knocking the other two out.

At the final table, on the prize bubble ($6 already guaranteed), someone who had almost exactly 1.5 BB's more than me (I was the shortest stack with an M of less than 2!) shoved with A/J UTG. He was such a short stack, of course he was going to get called. He was eliminated and I got my $11 T$. That shove cost him $5. Had he just waited, I'd have had to have gotten really lucky over the next 10 or so hands to beat him.

So anyway, I did well in the only game I played.

Not sure what I'll do tonight. I'm tickled by my success in the satellite S&G's, so I'll probably play more. Not sure if I'll hit any ring games.

Profit hasn't really been a concern lately. I'm making one, but it's not the goal right now. I'd be fine if I was losing.

Correction... I think that if I was losing I'd develop a problem with it and get back to ultra-serious mode.

But right now I'm just tinkering around, making a few bucks here and there.

Maybe I'll hit my Full Tilt account? I'd like to turn my $10 there into something bigger, so I can help represent CC in the forum challenges this June.

Yesterday...

I got up early yesterday and had 30 minutes to kill so I played three tables for a few minutes. I won about 13 BB's on a couple of them, and lost a couple BB's on the third.

Last night I wasn't in the mood to play rings. I had planned on hitting two $2.20 satellites but I got really tired. Then my K/K got cracked by A/K to knock me out 1/2 of the way through (I had an above average stack) with three of us all-in, which took a little wind of my sails. So I decided to call it a night.

I decided to sit at a few tables for a few minutes to see what happened before going to bed, but got in a conversation with a CC'er and ended up staying longer than I had planned.
At one table my 8/9s flopped top two pair with 2 clubs on the board. I got shoved on by a big ($65) stack who I put on an overpair and I won despite both the turn and river being clubs. Thank goodness he didn't have any clubs either. He had J/9! Nom nom nom!
At the other table, I had A/T on the button I think, and two-paired the flop vs a short-stack's A/Q. He got pwned.

Yesterday's stats: (The top two stats are from last night, the bottom two from the morning)


Here's the results of the my previous day's ring sessions:


This one is from even earlier day... Wednesday. It was several days ago, and if I recall I lost $.80 for the day, which was worth the price of diversion:

F-Tilt

Well, I emailed Full Tilt and they say I can't create a new account, even if the old one had yet to make a deposit. I'm 90% sure I can do it anyway without repercussions, but I'm a stickler for the rules. That means that FullTilt will not be getting my deposit.

However, I they finished the letter by opening up a sliver of hope:
However, we do value your continued support of Full Tilt Poker, and we
are currently looking into organizing something that will help players
who are not already attached to an affiliate. We have added your
username to our files for further consideration. Please be patient.


EDIT: I got another email from FullTilt:
We have added your username to our files for further consideration.
Please note that our partnership with the affiliate Rakebackpro?s is in
the testing phase, and a test group of players have been selected to
participate.

If the partnership continues and you are selected to receive rakeback
from the affiliate you will receive a confirmation email from Full Tilt
Poker.

I am looking at other places to deposit, but I'm not sure where to go. Cake has a nice first-time deposit offer and a generous 33% rakeback rate, so that's where I'll look into first. I have no idea what the software looks like or what the feel for the site is though.

Even though they had a super-user fiasco, Ultimatebet looks pretty tempting as well. The main reason being is that CardsChat has a weekly Monday tournament there, which I'd like to play in.

...


Well heck. I looked at the results for the CardsChat $5.50, $100 added UltimateBet tournament. They had 10 people play yesterday. $10! If this is typical, how can I not go to UlitmateBet?
This needs some looking in to.

Mid-May update

Ok...

Due to my ups and downs at 6-max (due to bad luck and apathy) and my recent success at full ring I've stopped playing 6-max for awhile. I'm sure I'll go back, as it's exciting and makes me think more.

The full rings $ tables... I just never played them until a few days ago. I expected that they'd be boring (which they are a bit) with a lot of people playing a tighter game (which they are), but that doesn't make them less beatable. And I find that playing 6 at a time isn't difficult, whereas 4 6-max tables on my little notebook PC can be a little hectic.

I'm doing well at the full rings. I think some of it is that none of the FR regulars have hand histories on me, so I can get away with a little more. But otherwise, I've been seeing a lot of stupid calls. I never considered that more players = more potential bad players at a table.
Anyway, I'm just starting out so it could all be beginner's luck. We'll see.

I've also been playing more S&G's. I'm not very good at tournament poker, so I avoid it. I mean, I'm a winning player, I just shoot myself in the foot too much.
I'd been wanting to play the $100k on Stars ever since I started playing there but didn't want to put $11 towards it. I played 3 $2.20 satellites and 2 $1.10 satellites and lost them all. This was over a period of weeks, maybe even last year.
Then I played another $2.20 satellite a couple weeks ago. If I won a seat I'd have $11 invested towards getting that $11 seat. I ended up bubbling. But the bubble paid $7 I think (maybe $6?). Anyway, it was enough that I didn't give up on it.

I've been watching exceptional CardsChat players play tournaments and they play much the same way I do, but they don't crack and start making moves out of boredom.

So anway, after watching Tenbob awhile I got a bug up my butt to play and keep my nose to the grindstone all the way through. I mean, I know what to do, but seeing him do it without choking sort of smacked some sense into me.

(Note: I played the $3 CC event and lost just before Lost started. The next week Lost was off-the-air and I got first place. The next week Lost was still off the air and I got 2nd place. The next week Lost was off the air again and I got 1st place. Coincidence? No. The next week I got cocky and was eliminated early. With Lost back on the air, I was the first to go out last week.)

Since then I've played 5 $2.20 satellites to the $100k, and won 3 of them. One I lost due to a suck out, and another (the second game) I lost do a donk-move.

I think I've figured out the structure on these things. Basically I play tight, gamble very little, and let people give me their chips. Then at the end as long as I've got a decent number of chips I can sit out and let the short stacks slit each other's necks.
If I'm short myself, I shove in the right situations to accumulate blinds out double-up.

It's different than regular tournaments as the payout is the same to everyone who lasts.

Still, I can't believe the stupidity I've witnessed in this game. We were 3 away from the money when a big stack raised it. He was raised by another big stack. These guys then proceeded to battle it out on the flop and turn. One finally shoved on the turn, causing the other to fold. Had he called and lost he'd have been out when the blinds came around to him. Stupid stupid stupid.
Maybe 6 hands later the game was over.

I'm not sure what my plan is right now. I'm not quite in "make money" mode. The full ring games are more of a diversion, to kill time. I get bored of playing after less than an hour, so I quit. Thankfully I'm quitting ahead now.

Anyway, I'm just going to take it easy and do what I want when I want. I have $8.33 on Full Tilt now which I worked up from $2 worth of freeroll wins. I pop in and add little bits to it every once in awhile.

I'm sort of in a dilemma with the Full Tilt account. They only allow one account per user. I have money on my account, but I've never made a deposit. Looking at my info, it doesn't even look like they have my address. Just my name and email address. So I'm not sure if a no-deposit/no-verify account even counts.
I'd sort of like to make a deposit on Full Tilt for a change of scenery. However, if I play without rakeback I'd feel like I was losing money. I'm tempted to abandon the account, create a new one with a rakeback site, and play exclusively with that. I'm just not sure what the legalities are. I think I can do it as long as I've never made a deposit with my current account, but I'm not sure.

Abandoning my $8.33 on FT is no big deal, as rakeback would easily pay for that.

I guess I should ask FT.

AA v KK

Last night I checked out my PokerTracker ring game stats to see how often my A/A lost to K/K.

I couldn't find an easy way of seeing this stat, so I just went though every A/A hand I had (170 of them out of 39,433 hands) and looked at the hands where I won or lost at least $10.
(Yes I know this totally discounts when short stacks have KK, and most of my $.01/$.02 play)

Anyway, in these pots my A/A was up against K/K three times, and I lost all three times.

Ouch!

A/A is still my biggest money maker, and its win rate is nearly 5% higher for me than K/K. I also know that this sample size discounts most of my $.01/$.02 hands and plays against short stacks, and that over the course of a million hands I'll probably crush K/K 8/1.

Lately... I keep trying to grind, getting a lot of small wins, but I keep losing the big hands. It's a cooler, but I do know I'm also making some questionable plays as well, so I could decrease my losses. If I four-table I'll usually win a good amount on one, win small amounts on two others, and get totally pummeled on the fourth... enough to end the night in the red.

I've been playing less and observing (videos and posts on CardsChat.com) more but when I do play it still seems to train wreck on me.

Oh well. I know this will pass.
I'll be moving up limits soon, assuming I don't lose too much in the next couple weeks, and when I do maybe that'll switch things up.

Running cold

I've been running cold.

Tonight my Q/Q flops a set against a 50/33/3 player who called me down and hit his flush.
A bit later three of us got all-in pre flop:

The SB was short stacked with $10, but the button had a full $25.

Oh well.

I won nearly a buy-in at one table to help offset the damage. Still finished down about 1.5 buy-ins before quitting.

I should mention that the CC ring game I sat in was the second "real" full ring game I've played in.
I played a few (20) full rings at $.01/$.02 when I was starting out, but only played short tables. In fact, I only had 1 hand in the #4 position.

My first real ring game was with a group of CardsChat.com players back in February. I lost something like $12 early (most to Zachvac, on a stuuuuuupid play) but managed to end the session in the green.
Yesteday was my second, and I finished ahead as well.



Hmm... that might not be legible.
$25NL, 148 hands, 20 hands won, 2 sessions, 1.95 hours, $14.90 won, 20.14 bb/100, $10.07 $/100, 15.28 BB/Hr, $7.64 per hour, $5.15 rake.

I really didn't see too much difference between 6-max and full-ring. I'm in position less and there are more people drawing to potentially better hands, so I have to tighten up a little. But the same concepts apply, I just played tighter.

Yesterday, I kept getting hands UTG. I took a lot of blinds with UTG raises. At 6-max I'd have been called a lot more.

I think the weakest hand I raised with UTG was A/Js.

Anyway, I've been thinking about testing the waters with full ring. Maybe I'll try 6 tabling those instead of the 2-4 tabling the 6-max I normally play?

We'll see.

I'm semi-active on CardsChat.com. One of the big members, a guy who's games and posts I have a lot of respect for, celebrated his 10,000th post by holding a tournament. The entrants transferred him $1 which he put on his own head as a bounty, along with additional $10.
So knocking him out was a big deal.

Sunday morning, the day of the tournament, I was trying to build my $5 bankroll on Full Tilt (I've never made a deposit on the site BTW. I won $2 in freerolls and build that through conservative ring play) when I was disconnected from the Internet.

I tried my telephone and the line was out.

Being a computer technician, I deal with phone issues on occasion so I went to the box outside and hooked up a phone. No dial-tone there either. That means that it's the phone company's fault.

I called the phone company and they promised to have it fixes tomorrow. YIPE!

I could hear crackling on the line, which sounded like they were working on it, and sure enough a 90 minutes later is was up and going.

I played the tournament at 4:30 but 40 minutes in the line went out!

I jumped into my car and drove to work. I was able to sit down and play a few rounds and then we hit the first break. I was also pleased to see that ChuckTs, the guy with the bounty, had moved to my table.

Some time after play resumed ChuckTs raised from UTG. This means that he has a big hand. I had K/K, so I gleafully shoved, pretty confident that he'd call I was low on chips so I figured he'd call with J/J+ or A/Q+. Really, the only hand I didn't have crushed was A/A.
He called with A/K! I was better than a 2/1 favorite!
The flop was K/r/r! That gave him a 0.30% shot. That's 1/333! He could only win with running aces!
I squealed with glee!

Sure enough:


Assuming I wasn't going get in the money, I can't think of a better way to go out. I got in with the best of it, I got to see a fabulous train wreck, I have something beautiful to complain about, and all my chips went to the one guy who I would have been glad to give them to.

That was one of the few times where fate kicked me in the nuts and I LOL'd.

I wish ChuckTs went on to win, but he didn't even finish in the money. Oh well.

Later a bunch of CC'ers played a $25 FR that I birded. I eventually sat in... just as everyone was leaving. I wish I got in earlier. :( I made something like $16 in the half hour or whatever it was I played.

After that I was able to rail another CC'r, which was cool. He kept me updated on MSN.

Later at night I watched Ngreanu and Greenstein play a high stakes FR HORSE game. I'm not a HORSE fan, so I lost interest fairly quickly, but I kept going back to watch.

So really, I didn't play much poker yesterday.

Oh... I finally released my $100 bonus the other day. I need to cash out the $100 I deposited, becuase I prefer to just have winnings in my account.

I'm rolled for $50 rings, and have been for awhile, I'njust have trouble taking the leap. I think I'll do it after my daughter's birthday.