Poker Elmo's World

2009-06-17T19:51:00.001-07:00

Ending this blog

Hi all. I am not playing quite as much poker anymore - and don't post enough to blog on it consistently. I will still post occasional poker thoughts, and will post on my recent big tourney win, but will now just do it on my professional blog - PAeconomist.blogspot.com. (The benefit of teaching game theory is I can post about poker topics and it still fits my work :) )

Thanks to all who followed this over the past couple years.

Matt

2009-03-01T07:17:00.001-08:00

I am not good at quitting :)

So, I was planning to basically quit and only play tourneys and only once a week. That basically lasted two weeks. I played cash games along with tourneys during those first couple days I devoted to tourneys, I also played an extra hour session of just cash games a couple times during the first half of February. The last two weeks, however, I started playing more. I wanted to play, I was winning, therefore I played a bit more. However, through Wednesday, Feb 25th, I had played enough to earn (only) about 5600 FPPs, and had not played any on any other site. I had played a lot less than before, but still a decent amount. My spring break started Friday, so I decided on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I would try to get to 10K FPPs so I am supernova at least one more month. I was successful, although it was a drag, even though I had a nice couple days in terms of profitability. Saturday I earned about 2800 FPPs in a day. I don't want to do that again.

Overall, on cash tables I had a great month - far exceeding my average monthly profitability for 2008 (which I was happy with). Also, for fun, I spent about $200 buying into step 1s and step 2s on pokerstars. I turned that into three step 4 entries (each worth $215). I already had two - so now I have five step 4 entries. I will start playing those this week. Once the WSOP sats start, I will try to play step 6s since I could just keep the cash if I win the satellite.

I don't think I will be making a trip to this years WSOP - although big satellite wins could change my mind. :) Will post if I win big.

I still don't intend to play too much, although since this is my spring break week, perhaps I can put in a few hours on some of these days to build a lot of FPPs early and then perhaps maintain supernova for another month. The dollar value of the FPPs I get is pretty sizable once stars adds their supernova multiplier, so it is certainly nice to have.

2009-01-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

Thinking of making a big shift in priorities ...

I am thinking of (almost) giving up poker. I have a couple new ideas for where to take my professional life. I am very excited about them. However, I think poker is going to get in the way if I don' make major life change. The problem is that when I have a free 40 minutes (sometimes less), I often fire up some games. Combine the times where I play for longer, with all the 20-50 minute sessions, and that is a lot of time I play poker. It isn't wasted time, since I earn money, but I fear that if I don't make a big change, I will struggle to get anywhere with my new ideas.

My initial plan:

1. Finish getting 10K FPPs this month. I only have 2500 to go - that won't take too many hours.

2. Quit poker, except for Saturday afternoons. I have supernova until March 31st if get to 10K fpps this month. I get a freerole tourney on Saturdays that is a nice value.

3. After March 31st, only play one night a week - and focus on tourneys. I like tourneys much more, so I should play them more, right? I could have a couple cash game tables going, or some SNGs going, but I think the big thing is to only play one night a week.

It is a bit scary for me to commit to this, since it is a big change. However, I think I have to do this. I need that time to work on my new ideas.

2009-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

A bit of redemption

In my last post, I noted how I felt bad about making an error in the $10 buyin, $30K guarantee on Saturday, Jan 10th. Well, I entered again this week.

I did OK early, doubling up with good hands and chipping up nicely. I then hit a couple monster hands and once in the money, I found myself chip leader with about 500 left. When that happened, I was telling myself how I was going to play better and make this one count.

I did.

I used a lot of small (about 2.25x the bb) raises PF to steal pots - they worked about half the time. I also had a few hands and when I got played back at, won some nicer pots. I played pretty aggressive most of the time, and from the time I had the chip lead until the final table (which was going from over 500 to 9), I was only all in once, with AJ vs. KJ, to get to about 1.9 million chips when starting the final table. That was 3rd in chips, and the mean chip count was 1.75 million.

At the final table, I was in the sb with AK and about 2 million chips. The short stack was on the button and pushed for about 400K. I reraised and the bb called for about 1 million chips with JJ. The short stack had 97. The JJ held, and we were 7 handed, but I was now one of the shorter stacks.

I pushed A6s in teh hijack with just under 1 million chips and an M=4, but was called by AK to cripple me, and I was out a couple hands later. I ended up 7th, for just over a $1,000 cash. I have had bigger tourney cashes, but $1,000 is nice, and it is pretty cool to finish in the final 7 out of a 5,000+ player field. I just wish I would have won the coinflip with AK. Maybe next time. :)

2009-01-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Tournament Blow Up

I played in the Supernova freerole on Saturday. When I play that, I often join the pokerstars $30K guaranteed, which has an $11 buyin. I got bounced early in the supernova freerole, but did well in the 30K. I was actually chip leader with 240 or so left, but this tourney has 10 minute blinds, so the chip lead does not afford you as much leeway as in other tourneys.

I made an awful, ill-timed move after I drifted down in chips. I was probably 12th in chips out of 160, but I was in the bb vs. the sb who had more chips. I am going off memory here, so the numbers could be slightly off, but they are close: I had about 190K chips when the average was 110. The sb raised my bb from 6K to 16K. I called the extra 10K with 54 suited.

The flop was K73 (all different suits). The sb led for 20K into the approx 40 K pot. Now it is on me. I think he is going to CB this always. He was very aggressive in the 3 or so orbits I had played with him. So, if he raises 1/2 the hands from the sb, then continuation bets always, his range is super-wide and he usually does not have a king here. Because I have a gutshot straight draw behind in case he does have something, I decided to raise. Up until now, I think my decisions are smart. The next move is where I think I screwed up. I could have raised to 50K. That opened me up to be bluff-3-bet all in and I fold, but it would be very tough for him to 3-bet there without a king. Note that even his bluff has me beat.

If I push, I likely only get called with good kings, a pair of aces, and a set. I decided to almost push - raising to 110 K. This was dumb. He reraised, and I could have folded and left myself with about 65K. Given the odds of a gutshot, I should have done this. I called, however, and busted to his AK. I should have either pushed (which makes my later decision easy), or bet smaller.

In a normal structure tourney, I don't even consider gambling like this. But these have 10 minute levels, and it almost plays like a turbo. Still, I am bummed about the way I played that hand.

Cash Games and Sit-and-Goes

I had a good January, mainly with cash games. I am buying in for 30 big blinds at full ring games, mostly 1/2 NL and 2/4 NL, and usually leaving if I hit over 50 big blinds. I had just been crushing the games, but have had a downswing since Sunday night, down between 10-15 buyins. I am still up 10-15 buyins for the month, which is good, but it feels less noteworthy since I was up so much more 5 days ago.

In SNGs, I am still playing super-turbos, and doing pretty well this month (year). I seem to do better on the full tilt ones than on stars, but I think that is probably just short-term variance.

I will likely be playing the stars $50K freerole again Saturday afternoon. I will try to be in IRC for anyone who wants to stop by to chat.

2009-01-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

Thinking about goals for 2009

ITH had a thread on poker goals for the year. I posted there, but figured I would list them here also.

1. Enjoy poker.

2. Don't use poker as a default way to spend the extra 20/30/40 minutes if I don't want to play.

3. Maintain supernova on stars (not sure if the first two are compatable with putting in the 20-hours per month I need to make supernova, but hopefully ...).

4. Earn money. I would be thrilled if I came close to earning what I made in 2008 (I would like more, naturally, but if I made what I did in 2008, I would be one happy potato).

Reviewing last years goals:

1. Continue to make some side-money for my family. I would love to make enough to finish our basement and fully-fund my roth IRA and my wife's roth and conventional IRA. (I know - saving for retirement - pretty exciting thing to do with poker winnings.)

Well, this was mostly a success. We finished our basement and did contribute quite a bit to savings.

2. Play a few more tourneys. Related to this, I would love to play a major live tourney or two, but I am not sure when/where I will get the opportunity.

Online, I did not play too many tourneys. So this would be a failure. But, I did play and cash in the $1500 WSOP event #2., so this was a partial success.

3. Work my way up to 5/10 NL holdem.

I came nowhere close. I played a bit of 5/10 from time to time, but losing one massive pot was enough to send me back down the limits. I still mostly grind 1/2 NL, but I do play some 2/4 and 3/6.

4. Begin Poker-Coaching.

I did a bit of this. I enjoyed it, but I don't really have much time for this.

2009-01-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

New Year

I took a short break at the end of 2008 from poker, and I am still assessing how much I want to play in 2009. I have been feeling like I am playing too much, and I should slow down. The problem is, poker is a way I earn money, which makes me think I should play whenever I have free time.

I am supernova on stars still. I get 2 months free at supernova, but it will extend until July if I get 10K base FPPs per month. Unfortunately, I have not been interested in playing too many cash games. I have been much more focused on SNGs, which I earn far fewer FPPs playing. Also, some of the games I have been playing on stars are their "hyper turbos", which are even sicker than tilt's hyper-turbos. They have no rake, however, which means no FPPs. The players on stars are worse, however, since their hyper turbo SNGs are all for satellites. Even the regulars who multi-table make some awful mistakes. On Saturday night, I won one without playing a hand. It was a 6-max SNG, with 2 seats. On the first 4 hands, two players doubled up. Then these two geniuses, who could coast and get at least 3rd (which is your money back), get all in with KJ vs. QT. One player now has 3000 chips, I have 650, and another player has 850. The player with 850 gets all in to the big stack a couple hands later and loses, and I win my seat with a VPIP of 0.

I really would like to get my butt in gear and get the 10K base FPPs, however. I like being supernova. I get a greater rate of FPPs, which works to a nice rakeback. I have also played the 50K weekly freerole most weeks, which has the value of a $35 buyin tourney. I have had little luck there, but the play is far weaker than a typical $35 buyin tourney, so it is a good tourney.

2008-12-19T05:12:00.001-08:00

Now I know what a crack addict feels like

I have been playing a lot of the hyper-turbo SNGs on full tilt and they are very addictive. I probably have averaged playing 20-25 per day over the past week. I mostly play the $45 and $30 buyins, since the variance is huge.

For those who are not familiar with the hyper turbos, you start with 300 chips and the blinds start at 15/30. The stacks aren't so thin where you have to push absolutely anything early, but they are pretty short. The trick in this (as with all SNGs), is knowing exactly when it is right to push and when it is right to fold. A good knowledge of ICM is crucial, although with stacks this short, you can't push all in as liberally and you can call all in more often. I actually don't think my ICM knowledge is perfect, but it isn't bad.

My best guess is that I have about a 5-10% ROI in these things (probably slightly higher counting the full tilt rakeback).

I have played a tad on stars, but not much, I had a nice run a week ago on the cash game tables there, so my bankroll is higher now than it has been in a while. I also have no more plans to cash out for a little bit, as our basement expenses are now covered.

On January 1st I will start putting in some hours on stars as I try to maintain my supernova and build up FPPs early in the year. Regardless of how devoted I get to earning Stars VPPs, I will certainly have enough for one $1500 event at the WSOP. I likely would have enough for two events or a bigger buyin event. However, I don't know whether I will be making the trip this year. (Since we have 3 kids, it puts a pretty big burden on my wife.)

I hope everyone enjoys the holidays. I will try to provide more-frequent updates (hopefully with good news).

2008-12-10T08:02:00.001-08:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 685903

2008-12-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

Update

I made supernova shortly after my last post. I had felt like I was in a rut where things were not going right so I had not been playing as much. It was cool to make it - and I cashed out 186K FPPs right away to help pay for finishing our basement.

I have played a tad more recently. I got back into SNGs and sats. I have had some limited success. On stars, I have been bounced from all sats except I won a 650 W$ sat, which makes the overall experience profitable. On stars I have only played multi-table SNGs. I haven't played too many, but of those I played I took down a $36 45-man tourney.

I have played a bunch on full tilt recently also. A wise person might ask: "Why the he** would you get supernova on stars, then go play on full tilt". The reason is that they have these "super-turbo" SNGs. They are like crack: very addictive. The levels are 3 minutes long, and you start with 300 chips. ICM becomes very important, although some adjustments are crucial as well (big stacks there are extremely powerful). I have probably played 250 of them by now. I am +EV in them (at least up to the $70 level), but the variance can be pretty brutal.

I have played some NL FR and SH on stars as well. I am only playing that when I want to, however. In January I will make sure I put in the time to maintain supernova - but for the rest of the month I can avoid cash games if I choose.

2008-11-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Up to 97500 Base FPPs

I keep getting closer to Supernova. I had very little time to play this week, but I think I might be able to get to supernova this weekend (should take about 5 hours of play).

If I don't get there, I will get close.

I am not quite sure what I will spend my FPPs on yet. I was going to pay to finish the basement, but I think I have that covered.

Running about average when I play. The past 2 years the games have gotten easier around the holidays. With the bad economy, I don't know if that will happen again this year. I hope so, however.

2008-10-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

Getting close ...

Poker is still a bit of a drag. I am winning a bit, although nothing to shout about, but not enjoying it much. Most of of the time I am playing between 13-16 tables of 1/2 NLFR.

As the screenshot shows, I am almost at supernova. Once I hit it, I am probably taking a week break from poker.

2008-10-11T05:47:00.001-07:00

Playing for profit, not fun ...

I have been enjoying poker a lot less recently. I have been doing OK (albeit not great), and am now well out of a downswing I had in September.

Poker just isn't too much fun right now. I have been playing between 10-18 tables of 1/2 NL at stars. It all just seems the same anymore. I am potentially looking for other ways to make side money (through work opportunities) so I could play less and not have a drop in our family income.

I will keep playing a bit. I am almost at 90K base FPPs at stars, and certainly want to hit supernova this year. It isn't too tough to hit 10K base FPPs per month when averaging 14 tables. Further, my attitude may change at some point this year or next, and I would be pretty upset with myself if I came so close and was not able to enjoy supernova benefits next year.

2008-09-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lousy week

I had a pretty rough week - lost about 10 buyins over the course of the week. I am sure that I miplayed a few hands, but mostly I think it was coolers/bad luck. Yesterday I had 5 big hands where all money got in:

The first 4:
QQ vs. JJ (win) pre flop
AK vs. QQ (loss) pre-flop
QQ vs. JT on a J73 flop (loss)
98 vs. JT on a KQ8 flop - he had a flush draw too, so he was over a 65% favorite (loss)

The worst part of this - the 3 loses were at 2/4 NL (short stacking), while the win was at 1/2 (also short stacking). After this, I played some full stack NL. I was slightly up, when I got all in on a Q82 flop w AA vs. KK, and was rivered. Kind of a bad way to end the day.

Bad swings happen, just as good ones do - so I just need to keep playing well, or stop if I think I am not playing well. I am up a bit today, and am probably done. Hopefully I have a good weekend.

Quest for supernova

I am at about 5300 base FPPs this month, and slightly over 77K for the year. I should hit 100K (and supernova) sometime in late October or early November. That will add a nice boost to the FPPs I earn from stars.

2008-09-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

Playing some, but still busy

I have played a bit in the past few weeks, but have been busy, as today marks the end of the first two weeks of the semester. My results have been all over the place. Since the last post, I have had two big downswings and two big upswings. thankfully, one of the upswings was completely ridiculous, so I am up a modest amount over the past few weeks. Really, I am running at about my expectation, but my results are all over the place.

WCOOP?

I doubt I will play any WCOOP events. I simply don't have time to commit more than 4 hours to an event. (And if you do well, it takes far more than that.) With the school year starting, and all the kids activities, it is tough to find big blocks of time to play. I usually play in stretches of less than one hour - and sometimes for as few as 15-20 minutes.

2008-08-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Have not played much this month

I guess that statement is all relative - but I have played about 11K hands so far this month. Given I have mostly 10-16 tabled, it really isn't many hands. I was getting back from a trip early this month. Then I visited family where I was gone for 9 days. I played a couple times on the trip, but only for a couple hours.

Thankfully I have done pretty well, with a PTBB/100 rate that is just slightly above my long term rate. On the trip, I also played live. I played a $175 tourney at the running aces casino in MN, where I busted in the 3rd hour on a pretty standard play. My mom played too, almost making the final table. While she was playing, I played some cash games where I won back my buyin for a break-even night.

I have about 5400 base FPPs (VPPs) for the month. I hope play 10 hours or so in the next 10 days, which will get me to Platinum star for yet another month.

School starts again on Monday. I am looking forward to it - but once again that will certainly cut into my ability to find time to play poker.

2008-08-05T09:07:00.001-07:00

Took a break

I had a family vacation last week. Because of that, I didn't play a single hand of poker for over 8 days. I played a little each of the past 3 days and ran well, which I am happy about. I am playing only on pokerstars this month, as I hope to make platinum again. I had just over 60K VPPs going into this month, so if I get platinum every month from here on out, I will reach supernova in November. Given that the school year starts up in a few months, I might struggle to make platinum every month, but hopefully I can accumulate enough VPPs early to get to supernova soon.

Next year - Supernova elite or another quest?

The more I play, the more I realize that trying for supernova elite will be futile given I have a full time job. I can comfortably play 12-16 tables now, still with no use of AHKs, so it is feasible I can get to 24 tables, but I just don't think I will be able to, nor do I think I can get in the hours necessary.

I might have a quest to earn enough in FPPs in the first part of 2009, however, to buy pokerstars WSOP main event package. It costs 710K FPPs, and it is one of their best values in terms dollar value/FPP. I would need to earn just over 200K base points, which I think I could do, especially if I focus and play a lot in the first 2 weeks of 2009, as I might be able to earn 40K base points per week those two weeks, which would allow me to coast to the 200K by May.

2008-07-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

Made a final table Sunday night

I played a few tourneys Sunday night:

The $200 mulligan on full tilt (busted in hour 2)
The $75 7:00 PM tourney on full tilt (busted in hour 2)
The $11 (one rebuy, one addon) at stars - busted in hour one
The $22 rebuy on full tilt.

In the last one, I made a run. I went into hour 2 slightly above average in chips, then used big hands to propel me to 3rd chip position out of about 60 left after the 2nd break. Starting the 3rd hour, I literally raised every hand first in. It was a 6 max tourney, so fewer players to go through, but I chipped up from 34K to 66K by doing this, and getting action twice when I had hands (I certainly got more action because of my image).

However, after changing tables to a very aggro table and losing a 12-out coinflip, I only ended hour 3 with 44K in chips. This was still above average with about 35 left, as we neared the bubble of 24 players paying. I chipped away, restole where necessary, and got lucky twice (KK beats AA, and J9 beats QQ on a J82 flop) and made the final table.

I busted in 6th (which is first out at a 6 max tourney) at the final table when I restole from "tilting guy" who happened to have QQ that time, and that was good for a $475 cash. I am happy with most of my play, but will review my hand history. I think I got too timid raising first in the later stages of the tourney, although I did resteal a lot.

1/2 NL cash games

14-18 tabling 1/2 NL is going OK, although I can't play as many tables on full tilt, I think. Their software lags a bit, and the fact that I don't see images for players makes it tougher for me to track who I am playing against and their tendancies. I think at full tilt I have to restrict myself to 8 (which is what I can play with 2 monitors in tile mode). Last week was a profitable one, although slightly below expectation, in large part due to losing a fair amount trying to 14-table full tilt (where I think I made a few mistakes).

Going to mostly grind this week, although I might try to play tourneys one night.

2008-07-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

Downswing over?

After winning over 3 buyins earlier in the day, I played for a bit at night. Mostly 17-tabling 1/2 NL, but at the end I came back to play some limit.

Sometimes poker seems so easy.

In my NL games, I made over $0.80/hand. Poker seems so easy sometimes.

VPPs for the month

I am not even to 15K VPPs for the month. Given the double VPP promotion, that is slacking. Thoughts of 30K VPPs are long gone. 20K VPPs would be a stretch, although I do plan on playing several hours tomorrow.

2008-07-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

Grinding Stars

I have been playing quite a bit on stars the past few days. They have a double VPP promotion that started July 1st and goes through July 6th. I was hoping to get about 5,000 VPPs per day, for 30,000 K total, but after 3 days I had barely broken 10,000 VPPs. Not bad, but not great.

The games are a bit tougher, as all grinders are multitabling, and I am about even for the past 3 days. I am up some at NL cash (16-tabling), but down at limit. I think the NL earn rate is about normal for me, and I have been a tad unlucky at limit (e.g., last night I only got AA 4 times in 1350 hands, and lost money with them). However, I might only be a breakeven player vs. all these grinders right now. The problem I run into is I can get a lot more VPPs with limit.

Will be playing quite a bit the next 3 days on stars, then I have to play tilt to work off a $250 bonus I got from them. I think I need about 5,000 Tilt points, which should not be too tough to get if I can 8-10 table NL games, as tilt points accumulate more quickly than stars points (but they are not as valuable).

2008-06-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

Fighting through a downswing

I had a pretty bad downswing recently. I actually had a bad 4 days right after the WSOP, so I took a 3-day break. Then I had a great week after that, but proceeded to lose all the profits from my great week within 3 days or so. Most of my loses have come from HU NL holdem, so I am going to take a break from that game until I can figure out and fix my leaks. Some of the downswing is bad luck, but some of it is certainly from bad plays. That being said, I have now posted 3 straight winning days since my disaster of a day Saturday, recouping about 1/2 the losses from that day.

Multitabling stars and thoughts about next year

I have been experimenting with increasing the number of tables I play on stars. I have now 15 tabled NL full ring several times. I have had pretty decent results too. Over about 10K hands, my earn rate is slightly above my long term average earn rate. 10K hands is still very much the "short-run", but I don't feel like I am missing much.

I am going to investigate how to use these "AHK scripts". I would love to work my way up to 24-tabling 1/2 NL. If I can successfully do that - I may make a run at supernova elite on stars next year. If I 24-table 1/2 NL full ring, I estimate that it would take 1200 hours next year. That sounds like a ton of hours, but if I play 20 hours per week during the 30 weeks classes are in session (for 600 hours), and 35 hours per week for 20 other weeks (700 hours), that would get me the necessary hours with some times for when I need breaks. While that sounds like a lot of hours (even for me), I usually play poker every day. So 35 hours a week would mean 3 hours most days, with 3 longer days per week. In addition to 24-tbling 1/2 NL (or perhaps some 2/4 NL in there as well), there are other options. Ten tabling 3/6 limit SH, 5/10 limit full ring, or some combination of the two would also get me about the same number of VPPs as 24-tabling 1/2 NLFR. If I could somehow become a winning player at 5/10 SH and could 8-tbl that, that would get me much more. I think it is important to have this option, as if I get a bit bored of NL, I could take some time to play limit.

During the final 6 months of this year, I will work on figuring out whether I can profitably 24-tbl 1/2 (or 2/4) NLFR, and 10 (or more)-tbl 3/6 SH limit. If I can, I think I will go for it. The rewards are just too awesome, with the value of the enormous number of FPPs, and free buyins to the PCA, WSOP, and WCOOP main events.

2008-06-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

WSOP trip report – Part 2.

Note – the beginning and end chip counts are accurate. The rest are probably close, but also probably not exact.

Levels 3 and 4 (100/200 blinds and 100/200 blinds with 25 antes). I start these levels with 3375. Average is probably about 4300.

My M=11 when I start in level 3. This stack size has some features: 1) it isn’t a great size to splash around with, as a reraise means you lose 20% of your stack, and 2) it is a decent stack size for reraise pushes if you find a good spot, since you could pick up the 300 in blinds and the initial PF raiser (often 600) to add 30% or so to your stack.

To start these levels, I am playing patient, and looking for a spot to reraise push, even with a marginal hand. I will play good hands, of course, but I can’t count on them coming for me. I play about an orbit or so – losing the blinds twice, and getting one steal, before picking up the first meaningful hand – KQs in the big blind. A guy in MP raised to 600 and I have about 2900 in my stack. At this point, I think I could have pushed, but I decided instead to call the extra 400. I don’t like having to call off 15% of my stack on a call, but any flush draw, straight draw, or top pair hand and I will be getting all my chips in the middle. I have 2300 in my stack after the call. The flop is a very pretty KK2. I check, and he bets 1300. With only 1000 left, I don’t mess around and just push all in, since there is a flush draw on board. Looking back, this is probably a mistake, although I might be saying that since he folded after I ch-raised pushed. That being said, I don’t know that ch-calling there looks any less like a monster. Either way, a good result, as I added 1900 from villains stack and the 100 small blind to chip up to about 4900.

About 4 hands later, I get 55 (either in CO or hijack) and raise to 550 (bb is 200). The big blind calls. He is an aggressive guy who I think might be a live pro (or at least thinks he is capable of being a live pro). The reason I think this is his fundaments seem a bit shaky, but he is very aggro and seems very, very comfortable. The flop comes T72 with two spades. He checks, and I make a CB of about 625. He calls, I am not happy, and a 4 comes on the turn. He checks again, and I check behind. There is a flush draw on board, along with many straight draws, so I could be ahead, but I can’t play a big pot with 55 here. The river pairs the 2 – which is a good card for me. It is very doubtful he has a two, so if he was winning, he is still winning, and he was on a draw, he didn’t hit. I am mentally thinking about what to do if he bets, but I don’t have to worry – he checks. I check behind, and he shows T3 of spades for a busted flush draw. I add another 1250 to my stack – which is now around 6000.

The blinds go through me, and then I pick up 66 in 3rd position. I get called by the button (who was same player as 55 hand) and the small blind (who was villain in the AT suited hand in level 1. The flop comes 852 with 3 spades (I have no spades). Given I had been very active and the board isn’t too pretty for me, I decide not to CB this flop when the small blind checks to me. The button also checks, and we see an offsuit ace hit the turn. When the small blind checks to me, this seems like the perfect card to make a bet with. I can very easily represent an AK, AQ, AJ, etc. with this bet after raising PF and checking the turn, and so I fire about 900 chips or so into the pot, and both players fold. This gets my stack to just over 7,000 chips.

This is about where level 3 ended and level 4 began. Level 4, like level 3, was 100/200 blinds. However, level 4 also had a 25 chip ante – making the pots much more worth stealing! In the first orbit of the new level, I stole two times. Once was sb vs. bb, once in MP. Both I must have had something, but I didn’t write down the hands (probably suited connectors or broadway cards). One thing I notice now is a guy comes to our table, and I swear he is Mike Matasow, just 20 years younger. It is just uncanny how similar he looks to him. He does seem like a much nicer guy than Matasow, however, and much quieter.

I took an orbit off due to lack of cards/opportunities. When the blinds hit me again, I fold the bb, but limp A8o first in from the small blind. The flop comes A82. Hmm … how to play this monster. The opponent was an older guy who was very nice, but, bless him, was horrible. He was way, way, way too tight. He wouldn’t bet for me, so I made a small bet hoping he had something and would call. He folded, and I pick up the equivalent of a steal. This guy was great, and I will call him Old Fish from now on. I abused Old Fish throughout the tourney, but he saw enough good hands from me to always think I had it. Plus, once of twice when he contemplated and I got called elsewhere, he saw the goods from me. Old Fish would say things like: that guy pushes light – I was ready to call him with AK, maybe even AQ.

I fold for an orbit, and find AKs utg. This is now near the end of level 4, where we are about to go on a break. I raise utg to 625. The button, who is our 20-year younger version of Mike Matasow, reraises to about 1900. He only has 2000 behind. I have about 7300 or so, and figure that there is too much in the pot, and there are too many hands he would play here that makes me think I have good equity vs. his range. He was moderately aggro at times, and I had been aggro, so perhaps he was reraising me light. Although, maybe subconsciously I am just thinking this since he looks like Matasow. So, it gets back to me. I ask how much he has left to confirm he only has about 2K or so. I then put in enough chips to push him all in. When our Matsow-look-alike goes into the tank, I am happy. He obviously does not have aces or kings. I figure he will certainly call with either AQ or a lower pair, since he wouldn’t fold for half his chips, but I am not in too bad of a spot here.

After a few minutes, he starts asking me questions. I don’t really say much, figuring my utg raise and push look strong enough without me talking. Plus, I am not a good enough live player to make sure I don’t give away information. After about 5 minutes he folds! I was stunned, but happy. At the end of the next break, he was commenting on how dumb he was to reraise there with QJ. He asked what I had and I told him I would tell him after one of us busted. (Which wasn’t much longer for him.) I folded my blinds, then a few more hands before the 2nd break. At the 2nd break, I had 9,775. I was very happy with being able to chip up to 9775. Plus, I in levels 3 and 4 I increased my stack without ever seeing a showdown, which is certainly a much lower-variance way to increase a chip-stack.

To be continued …

2008-06-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Poker Elmo's 2008 WSOP event 2 trip report – Part 1

Note – the beginning and end of chip counts are accurate. The rest are probably close, but also probably not exact.

Prior to day 1 starting. I felt really good. I was talking to ChrisJP before the event started about this – but I felt quite different. This year, walking into the WSOP, I felt like a poker professional. I have now earned pretty significant sums of money for a few straight years playing poker – and feel like I have a great feel for the game. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself either, since this is only one tourney and absolutely anything can happen in a tourney. I had 3 other WSOP tourneys, with poor results (main event 2005 – busted with KK to AA near end of day 1 when I had a well-above-average stack, prelim event 2006 – busted in first two hours with a bad non-push early and a bad push late, and busted in level 4 of another 2006 prelim with average stack when my AK ran into AA). I have replayed those events and bustouts in my mind many times. However, I was determined not to let the ghosts of my WSOP past affect me today.

I stayed at ChrisJP’s place the night before the event – wow, what a great advantage. It was so nice to wake up and just go outside on a beautiful 70 degree morning and relax and chat with Chris. As I was driving to the Rio, I felt so much better than I normally do waking up in the morning when in a hotel – I felt like I had a “home-court advantage”.

Levels 1 and 2 (25/50 and 50/100 blinds). I start these levels with 3000. Average is 3000.

I got TT within the first couple of hands, on the button, and elected to call a 3x raise (to 150). The flop came 972, and I called a 250 bet from a lady who I don’t think would double barrel without an overpair or better, so when she also bets the turn, I fold.

About an orbit later, I get AT diamonds and raise to 150 from the hijack. I am called by the sb, who checks a KK8 flop w two hearts. I make a CB of 225, and it is called. The turn brings a 2, and I check behind when villain checks. The river brings is offsuit ten, and villain fires 500. Given the possibility of a busted flush draw or lower pair, I call and get shown 88 for a flopped boat.

With these two hands, I lost half my stack within 20 minutes and I am thinking that I could be out quickly. There were probably two minutes there where the following things went through my mind:
- I wanted to be anywhere but Vegas
- I couldn’t believe that I seemed destined for another early WSOP exit.
- The thoughts of my other WSOP bustouts went through my mind.
- I can’t believe that I could be out without ever being above the starting stack.

After a minute or so, I slapped myself (figuratively) and reassessed the situation. The facts as I saw them:
- This is only one tourney, I can’t put too much stock in any one tourney.
- I still have 30 big blinds, I am not dead
- Every tourney I have made a big score in there has been a moment where things looked really bad.
- I am better than these people – so lets just play poker and see what happens.
- I might bust early – but I won’t go out without a fight (this cues the Rocky music in my head).

Game on.

An orbit later, I get 88 in the sb with an OAD in the bb who thinks he is hot stuff. I limped 88, thinking this guy would raise, and he did not disappoint. He raised to 175 (bb is still 50), and I raised to 850. He thinks for a while and pushes me all in (for about 1500) and shows KJ. This is a pretty bad play by him, IMO, as he has to be at best flipping, and he could have folded with only investing 175. The board came AQ5-Q-9, and I double up back to about the original starting stack.

I felt good about things at this point – like I had a new lease on my tournament. After defending my big blind to a 3x raise with AJ, I ch-raised a J92 rainbow flop and took down the pot. The next hand, I limped K2s in the sb, and the flop came KK2 in a 3-handed pot. I checked the flop, hoping there would be a bet, but there wasn’t one. On the turn, I checked again, and the big blind bet 125 into the 150 pot, and the MP limper called. I decided to ch-raising here, hoping someone had enough to play along (there were two flush draws on the turn. I ch-raised to 400, hoping a flush draw might find the odds appealing to call, or perhaps someone else has a monster they will stack off with. Both fold, however, and I pick add another 400 chips to my stack.

My stack is now up to about 4000 or so (I think), and we are now moving to the next level, with 50/100 blinds. I find 88 in my big blind and defend a 3x raise from the hijack. My early read on him is that he is pretty straightforward, a bit agro, but won’t get too out of line when his stack is at risk. When the flop comes 974 with two diamonds, I decide to ch-raise is 350 chip CB to 900. I think I am probably best here, and if he reraises I will safely dump my hand. He folds, and I am up to 4600 or so. The next orbit in the small blind, I find AQ suited, and I reraise a button raiser from 300 to 900, and he folds. This gets me over 5K.

I feel like I have been pretty active, and I guess I have. I haven’t been too out-of-line, but the table has not known that. Right now, I am feeling super about things. I was a card from being out within 30 minutes, and now I am above average at about 5K.

Unfortunately for me, it was time for my luck to even out after winning a flip earlier. I raised to 300 with 99 from 3rd position, and 5th position pushes for about 1600. I have an easy call with getting 300+300+150+1300=2150 and I have to call 1300 given this is a laggy guy who’s range seems pretty wide. He had AJ and I was a slight favorite until the door card was a jack. This pushed me down to 3500 or so. Fortunately my mindset was still good, and I was thankful that, of the two all in races, I won the race when I was all in and lost when I had 3500 left. I still was above the starting stack, and ready to go back to work.

I played two hands of note in the last fifteen minutes or so of level two. I cold-called a pre-flop raise to 275 with 22 in the cutoff seat. The effective stacks were about 3500, and I felt I was (barely) getting the implied odds to try to spike a set. Further, with position, sometimes other situations arise to pick up a pot. It didn’t hit, however, and when I was bet into, I folded. With about 13-1 odds, this was a pretty marginal call pre-flop, and might have been a mistake.
One blind steal with 76s, a few hands that I fold, and the first two hours are over. My chip stack at the end of the first two levels is 3375. It could have been a lot worse, so I am happy to be here with this stack. However, blinds are going up to 100/200, so I don’t have time to be patient. I don’t have to go crazy, but need to do some work to accumulate chips.

To be continued …

2008-06-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Heading home

I am about to get on a flight home from Vegas. For those who didn't listen to the podcast, I finished 181st in Event 2, for a payout of almost $4,300. I wrote down almost all my hands of note during tournament. I hope to provide a hand-for-hand account of my tournament in the next few days.

Outside of the WSOP - it was mostly a breakeven trip. I played 3 SNGs and chopped one, for a slight net win. However, I lost about a half buyin at 5/10 NL. I was pretty happy with my play in 5/10 NL - especially since it was the highest stakes cash games I had ever played live. I think the play in the 5/10 NL game I played was comparable to a $100 or $200 buyin NL full ring table at stars.

2008-06-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

WSOP updates

Updates will be located on the Right hand side. If those don't provide the most recent updates, the forums at ITH will have them:

http://www.internettexasholdem.com/poker-forum/

Hopefully I will call in early and often!

2008-05-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

Awesomeness

I love the quote on this poster: "When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead". I have had three bad sessions - one Friday afternoon at HU NL, one Monday morning/afternoon and one Tuesday morning/afternoon. I took a short break each time, came back and did great. While the quote here is kind of silly, the parellel to poker is obvious. Don't dwell on a downswing - just play your game well, and if you think you aren't playing well, take a break and come back. If you make correct decisions, the money will find its way into your bankroll.

There is plenty of negative things one could focus on in poker. Last night I made it to 29/1370 in a stars MTT - losing when a guy min-reraised me with J8o, and I pushed all in on the flop with 11 outs vs. him when he flopped top pair, but I missed. That sucked, as I was excited for a chance at a big payday and 29th paid a pittance. However, it is probably much more important that I think I am playing very well in MTTs going into Vegas. Further, I have been on a nice little run again this week as I have been playing quite a bit of 2/4 NL (both full ring and short-handed), making this the 6th straight week for me to book a nice weekly win. (I have been counting weeks Friday-Thursday, so I could still end up negative for the week, but as of today I am having the best week of this stretch).

Speaking of awesomeness, I leave for Vegas Saturday morning. This is probably the last update I give prior to Vegas, but I will try to call in with audio updates from the WSOP. I play events on Sunday and Monday, so be sure to check often if you want the scoop on how I am doing (the tourney starts at 3:00 PM eastern time, so the first update won't be until 5:15 or so Eastern time).

2008-05-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

The past few days and week in review

I have had my fifth straight week of really good results (and, I think, pretty decent play). A quick summary ...

HU NL cash

I am doing well with it - although I just lost a couple buyins to one player in mostly variance, but one or two questionable plays. That being said, I am up for the week at 2/4 NLHU play, albeit not too much and not too many hours. Overall, I feel good about how things have gone.

Turbo tourneys

In the past couple days I have played 4 $60 45-man tourneys, cashing in one of them for 3rd, and 3 $12 180 man, winning one.

Tourneys

Nothing to report since the other night, I am feeling good about my game.

Limit Cash

On haitus until I figure it out a bit better - reading stoxpoker right now.

No-Limit Cash full ring

I am playing some and I think the 2/4 NLFR games on stars are quite beatable (at least by me). I look forward to playing those more in the near future.

2008-05-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

Tourney game shaping up

Last night I played a couple 8:00 PM tourneys - one on stars and one on tilt. I cash in stars (finished about 60/1400) and, with 145 left (135 paid), I got all in PF w QQ vs. 98s for a 36K chip pot (26K was average) but was outdrawn. I was happy with my play in this full tilt tourney, however. Going into the WSOP - that is probably more important than the results.

On stars, I felt like I played very well also - but lost a critical hand where I lost a big pot with 88 vs. JJ (I have to give the opponent credit here - I saw him raise KK utg before, so when he limped, then raised from utg, I figured his range was most pairs up to 99 or so, along with AK and AQ. I was surprised that he had JJ - and just have to give him credit for mixing up his game well. I am not too unhappy with my play there, and in fact, I might have been ahead of his range. My chance to double back up to an almost-average stack failed when my QJ couldn't beat 88.

I am pretty happy about how well my tourney game is going now. I am very excited for Vegas (I leave in 9 days).

NL cash games

Since my post about my win against the one opponent, I have played a bit more NLHU cash games and am a bit more than a buyin ahead. I have been playing 2/4 and 3/6 NL full ring games along with 1/2 and 2/4 NL heads up games.

2008-05-21T08:30:00.001-07:00

WSOP audio blogging - test

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2008-05-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

2008-05-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

WSOP plans

As you know, I am playing in event 2 of the WSOP. I pre-registered, and received the confirmation via email that I received the day I wanted - day 1B (Sunday, June 1st). Because of my chop in the People's championship, I am also going to play event #3, the PL holdem $1500 event. In this event, ITHers will have approx 30% of my action. I like this for a couple reasons. First, I think there are some strategic mistakes made at PL holdem that are not made in NL holdem. Second, there is a 5K WSOP event that will draw in a lot of the top pros. So, while the field will certainly be tough - most of the top pros will probably play the $5K.

If I make it out of day 1 of event 2, I will not be able to play event 3 and will give the stake to another ITHer to play for the backers.

Life Decision

I realize that I have not updated you on what we decided. I mentioned a while ago how we were deciding whether to take a job somewhere else. We decided to stay - we are happy here and I like my job and my co-workers here.

Movin' On Up

I have been so happy with my Heads Up NL Cash game that I am moving up in stakes. Yesterday was my first day playing 2/4 NL HU cash games. I made a couple mistakes that were costly and had two huge outdraws that cost me big pots (T6 vs. QT all in on T62 flop - he hits running jacks, and 33 on T43 board - all in vs. shorter stack with T9 and board hits a running T and 4), but overall I netted a slight win yesterday. The winning or losing isn't as important as making good decisions, however. If I do that - I will win in the long run.

2008-05-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

The People's Championship

I imagine most who read my blog also read nside's blog, but for the one or two who don't, here is a link to how the the People's Championship went down:

http://www.nsidestrate.com/blog/2008/05/16/i-am-the-ith-peoples-co-champion/

2008-05-16T05:41:00.000-07:00

Chopped the ITH People's Championship

Seven of us played in the ITH People's Championship last night. While small, the field was very tough - including nside and yankees31. I ended up getting HU with nside with a huge chip deficit. However, a flopped set for me and QT for him on a T high board helped me double up.

When I had a slight chip lead (just under 55% of chips, I think), nside and I decided to chop. Normally I would ask for a bit more out of the chop, but since nside is a friend, the extra equity I could fight over would only total about $100, my chip lead was pretty small, and nside is also a good player, I decided to chop. We discussed that he owes me a drink in Vegas for it, however.

So - the original plan for the People's Championship was that you paid $250, with $125 going to the "players pool" for 1/2 your action in the WSOP event, and the other $125 going to the backers pool, for 5% of the action of the winner. I am not certain how it will exactly work with the chop, but I assume that instead of the "backers" getting 50% of 1 player, they will get 25% of two players. So I will get $1250 to buy into a WSOP event - with $375 of my action going to the people's champion backers. I will also get 2 1/2 percent of nside's action.

I suck at limit

Well, maybe not, but I had an awful hour at it yesterday, losing 60 big bets. That is a loss of $10/minute at 5/10 limit - not a good hour. I am taking a break from it until I read stoxpoker a bit more. Also, I think I am clearly a winner in the games at CakePoker, but I am probably only a slight winner or breakeven player at stars or full tilt.

I rule at NL HU

OK, I think I am good, but perhaps I don't rule. However, as bad as I did at limit yesterday, I did better at 1/2 HUNL. I won 5 buyins yesterday and this morning, which means I am actually up in cash games over the last 2 days, despite my awful, awful performance at limit. I really feel in the zone in NL cash games right now. I am thinking of moving up to 2/4 NLHU - I am ready.

2008-05-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Getting excited for WSOP

Two weeks from Saturday I head to Vegas, and I am excited. I sent in my registration for event 2. I will play day B of event #2 - on Sunday, June 1st. I certainly plan to do well and be playing on Monday, but if I am out Sunday, there are lots of tourneys I could play. Nside posted a schedule of tourneys on ITH, which include some $500 buyin events. I will likely either play $500 events on Monday and Tuesday of my stay. However, I might instead opt to buy into the $1500 PL holdem event which starts on Monday, June 2nd.

Getting tourney game into shape

Although the results aren't there yet to prove it, I think my tourney game is getting into shape. I have made a couple small adjustments that I think are paying off.

Doing well still with cash games and SNGs

After a breakeven stretch for a few days, I have been on a tear again yesterday and today. The main game I am doing well in is Heads up NL holdem cash games. I have been playing the 1/2 NL games at both cake poker and full tilt poker and have done well. I broke my rules and decided to play some multi-tablers, largely because I didn't want to wait, but I also felt good about my game and wanted a challenge. It is fun to see 3- and 4-tablers of HUNL play me for 30 minutes and then leave to find softer spots.

What is Elmo Reading?

I have received a big shipment of books recently. Now that I am back into limit holdem a bit, I have stoxpoker's book. Wow, that is not light. I think I am going to break from limit holdem a bit until I study this book a bit more. When I go back, I first thing I am going to study/memorize that starting hand chart. It is quite different from anything else I have seen. That won't take long, of course, but I think starting with that would be nice. The other concepts in there don't seem so foreign - but I am getting quite a bit out of it, even though I am still in the early stages.

I also received Harrington on Cash I and II, and Gus Hanson's book (Every Hand Revealed). I look forward to reading those a bit in the next couple weeks and on the plane.

2008-05-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Still running-hot

I have been running pretty well still in SNGs, limit holdem, and NL holdem. I have played a fair amount of each, playing the most limit and the least NL. It is nice to run hot now, as I will bring a nice roll so I can comfortably play 5/10 NL tables or 20/40 or higher limit while in Vegas with no fear of bankroll implications.

Tourneys

I have been watching more PXF videos - and feel good about what I am learning. I played a few tourneys tonight but have bombed out so far, except I am still in the fill tilt $32K guaranteed. I did win a $320 sat on FT, however, so at least that has paid for tonight's entries.

I am shaking off the rust of my game, and feel pretty good about my game, but am still making more mistakes than I would like. But, I am starting to get back into my groove, and hopefully my game will be in top form by the WSOP.

2008-04-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Made Platinum Star - Bought WSOP Seat

I earned 10K FPPs in the past 2 weeks, getting to platinum star today. Then I purchased my WSOP seat with FPPs. Stars puts most of the money right into your account. Thus, I still need to buyin - but it is basically official. Tomorrow I buy my plane ticket.

On a major heater

I have mostly played limit, but have played 30 or so SNGs - mostly $60 turbos. I have been killing the games. I am up big at 5/10 limit, and doing well in SNGs. Sunday night, I played 18 SNGs - 2 $114 turbos and 16 $60 SNGs (2 sessions - one 10 tabling, one 8 tabling). I cashed in 8 or the 18, earning 4 firsts, 3 seconds, and 1 third. To make it better, one first and one second were in the two bigger buyin SNGs. This is certainly not a sustainable earn rate - but I certainly enjoyed the run on Sunday.

Enjoying PokerXfactor

I debated for a long time whether to go with cardrunners or pokerXfactor. I went with PokerXfactor since I thing now I need more improvement in tourneys, and also they do have some very good cash players that should still improve my cash game skills. I have really enjoyed watching the videos there - both tourneys and some of Rizen's cash game stuff.

Gotta run - will try to update again soon.

2008-04-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

Limit poker, and progress towards platinum star

I got clearance from my wife on Friday, April 18th to play the opening event of the WSOP. I decided to use my pokerstars FPPs to buyin. The problem: I was not platinum star and needed to become it. Bigger problem: I had 40 FPPs in my account last Friday, and I needed 10,000.

Since then, I have been playing quite a bit. Probably 2-3 hours a day, ranging from 3 (when kids are around) to 10 tables. I have played some NL and SNGs, but most of the time has been at 5/10 limit. Today I have about 6,000. It will be a busy weekend.

Limit poker used to be my bread and butter game. Then, after a downswing in late 2005, I never enjoyed it again. However, I was in the mood to "gamble" more, and sat down a limit table a few weeks ago and loved it. Further, many players were making big mistakes. I probably still have quite a few leaks, but I think my game is quite a bit better than the competition. I don't know if there is any better feeling in poker than value betting a very marginal hand and getting paid off. (E.g., you raise 88, bb calls, flop is K63. He checks, you bet, he calls. Turn is a J. He checks, you bet, he calls. River is a 9 - and you fire again when he checks and get paid off by AQ or 76.)

I am going to study hands by nside (http://www.nsidestrate.com/blog/) and others at ITH. I would love to move up to 10/20 or higher in the next month or so.

Tourney news

I finally bought PokerXfactor recently, and started watching some of the videos. There is nothing super-surprising in there for me yet, but I think watching the top pros go through their thought process is still really helpful for me. I have watched one JohnnyBax tourney and some Rizen cash games and have really enjoyed watching them and I think I am benefiting by seeing how they think about hands. The price isn't cheap, but $200 for 3 months is pretty small if I can gain any extra equity in my $1500 buyin WSOP tourney this summer.

2008-04-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

Several updates - and going to the WSOP!

A life update

Life has been crazy. I am currently a teacher at a small liberal arts University. I never knew I wanted this type of job, but once I got here, I liked it. I recently interviewed, however, at a major University. I got an offer, and our family is in the process of deciding what to do.

Poker update

I have played a lot more limit holdem recently - the players are just bad. I am doing well, although I am not sure how much of that is running well.

WSOP 2008 Update

I am going! I got clearence to play event #2, the $1500 opening weekend donk-a-thon. I might play event 3, if I bust out early of event 2. I certainly am not planning to bust, however. I plan on using my stars FPPs to buyin, but have to hit platinum star this month to make it - time to grind!

The school year ends in two weeks, so I will be posting more soon.

2008-03-25T05:39:00.001-07:00

Wow, has it been a month?

I have been super-busy with work and travel, so have not played too much. When I have enjoyed moderate success this month, both in short-stacking NL full-ring, and in satellite turbo-rebuys. I have worked on 7-10 tabling, and have done OK with it when I have had the opportunity to play. It isn't as fun, but the hourly rate when playing 10 tables can be pretty nice.

Gotta run - will post again when I have something interesting to report.

2008-02-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

Update

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been swamped with work recently.

A few updates:

1. I am in a minor downswing. I am down maybe 6 or so buyins over the past 10 days. Nothing major, and I was on such a major upswing between the two downswings that it seems really minor. There have been some truly nasty beats, but also, as usual, a couple hands I probably should have played differently.

2. I have played a few SNGs on Cake Poker and have really enjoyed them. I used to play $55 turbos on stars and FT poker often and did pretty well. I might get back into them for a while - at least while I am enjoying them. I still think I understand the endgame quite well, although I should probably play around with my Sit N' Go power tools to refresh a bit.

3. I played some tourneys Sunday afternoon. I don't think I played bad overall, but I think I am pushing a tad too lightly when I get short-stacked. I will focus on being (slightly) more patient when down to an M of 3 to 5.

Life will be crazy for the next couple weeks, so I don't know how often I will be able to play or post - but I will try to provide updates on anything exciting.

2008-02-09T07:28:00.001-08:00

Quite a good 16 hours.

Since getting home from work yesterday evening, I haven't played much - but what an incredible run.

I won multiple buyins at Full Tilt from HU NL cash and a little from 1/2 NLFR (short stacking). I was up at Full Tilt, then sat down with a guy who had $160 in front of him at a NL table. I searched his name and he was only playing the one table, so I sat down. The table with him was quite an adventure, and I will post details with the hands later, but it was a good run with him. (It is too good a story to ruin here - it will get it's own post :) )

This morning I played 3 satellites on stars - all for EPT event qualifiers (worth 800 W$ or 650 W$).

After starting off rough on the first $20R for 800 W$, I ended the rebuy period at 2000 chips, but spent 3 buyins (which would give me an EV of 3000 chips). I added on, and was in for 80. From there, however, things took off - and I ended up winning one of the two 800 W$ seats.

I was still in another sat for a 650 W$ satellite (busted in one). This one was a roller coaster. My stack yo-yo'd largely because I got called more often than expected. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. I made it down to the bubble as second shortie. 4 people get 650 W$ seats and there are 5 left. I am 2nd shortie but shortest stack is in the big blind.

The following is a crazy hand, IMO. I get AKs utg. What should I do? I could argue a fold, since shortie only has 3 big blinds left. Further, two players behind me are a bit reckless and aggro and I think they would put shortie all in 80% of the time.

I decided to push, as should shortie survive, I am next on the chopping block, and will have to take the big blind. Further, AKs is very rarely dominated, so at worst I should have a 47% chance of winning if called. Well, here is the hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t3000 (5 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero (t20800)

MP (t35741)

Button (t39500)

SB (t45313)

BB (t9146)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ad, Kd.

UTGA raises to t20500, MP calls t20500, 3 folds.

Flop: (t42200) 8s, 3c, Jc (2 players)

Turn: (t42200) 8d (2 players)

River: (t42200) As (2 players)

Final Pot: t42200

Results in white below:

Hero has Ad Kd (two pair, aces and eights).

MP has 9s 9c (two pair, nines and eights).

Outcome: Hero wins t42200.

It came down to a river card. I was surprised that a big stack would risk so much of his stack with 99 there when I was short and so was big blind. But, these kinds of errors are part of why these sats are so profitable. Unfortunately, it almost cost me here, but thankfully I made it through the hand.

After this hand, shortie lasted about one more orbit, but busted. I actually put the "99 villain" all in during his big blind with 88, but he called with A4o and hit his ace. I won 650 W$ in this sat, for a very profitable morning. Recall I won 800 W$ last month - since then, I spent about 400 W$ in sats, and have won two more, which brings me to over 1800 in W$. I am now in super shape to keep playing these turbo-rebuy sats, while also having enough join in some WSOP satellites when they start up.

2008-02-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

Adventures vs. guy who played me at two-tables, part two: he returns for more!

I told you yesterday about the guy who I played HU against at two different tables. He was only playing two-tables, and joined the waiting list to play me on a 2nd table so we were both only playing two tables - both HU against each other. I took 6 buyins from him.

Well, last night, he returned. I was going to play just for a 15-20 minutes, but out of curiosity searched his name prior to sitting down. He was not playing. So I start a new table, and some random donk joins. After 5 minutes, though, the donk leaves, and who should sit down but the guy I beat the night before for several buyins. I am stunned at this point. It has been 5 minutes and he was not playing before. I felt like I was being stalked. I checked my other table, and he was on the waiting list there too. I asked him if he thought I was so bad that he had to put me on his waiting list. He said no, he just wanted to win his money back from me.

Looking at this choice - it is clearly bad. There is no reason why he should have been playing me unless he thought I was really bad. There are dozens of people playing, the reason to waitlist someone is if you think there is a reasonable chance they are the best to win money from. Vengance generally is not a good trait to have as a poker player. He eventually joined the 2nd table, and we were off. He was playing a bit better last night. He was reraising me PF from the bb more often (he almost never did before this) and was value betting more often. I was down about a full buyin at one point. I considered leaving, figuring he might be good, and there is no reason to play a neutral EV game. I started winning back some funds, however.

This was one of the points where I decided to play a game that was not exceptionally positive EV, but was playing because I think this player was playing pretty well and it was good practice. I actually told the guy that he was not good for making profits against tonight, but good practice for playing well and we started chatting about the previous night. He seems like a good player and a nice guy who just had some bad luck the previous night and started tilting just a bit. We were about even and I stacked him for 1.5 buyins with KK vs. QQ. I won another 1/2 buyin for a total of 2 buyins that night. We chatted friendly most of that session, and he said he did not want to play me again.

It was fascinating to chat with him, though. He said, I know now that you are a good player, but last night I did not think so. (I recommended Taylor and Hilger's Poker Mindset). He also said he was very frustrated by my aggression throughout the match and by the very thin value bets that I made against him on the river. When he mentioned the last, I knew he was a serious player. He studied the hands after we played and made a good effort to come after me again. I give him credit for ambition, but more credit for realizing he does not want to play me anymore.

It was a pretty fascinating experience, and I am glad I came out on the winning side again. But long after I remember the money I won I will remember playing this guy at 2-tables two nights in a row.

2008-02-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

Update

I am going to be swamped with work for February, so I am not sure how much I will be able to play (several papers to write/revise, along with a couple grant applications due).

I have played some cash games recently. I tried limit cash for a while - it went great for a while and I won a ton at 3/6 and 5/10 - the players seemed so bad! Then of course, I lost most of it back, and the players didn't seem so horrible anymore. That sent me back to NL - where things have gone OK. I have mostly short-stacked NL cash on FT poker, but have also played some HU ($1 bb, $100 buyin). Tonight I played HU NL for a short while while I lost a couple buyins to one player. I was down 3.5 buyins but the player was so mediocre I stayed and won 1.5 buyins back.

A short while later I decided to two-table HU NL for a while ($100 buyin, again). I was playing a guy and won about a buyin from him. I searched his name, and he was only playing one table. Then, however, on my other table the player left and this guy joined my other table. So I was playing two tables, both against the same player. Since he was only playing these two, I don't think this was a coincidence. He must have thought I was a donk. I ended up taking this guy for almost 6 buyins - after he was down 2.5 buyins, I was about to go. I actually left one table, but on the other, I ch-raised all in on a JJ62 flop w 99 and he called with A9 and lost. I felt bad about hitting-and-running, but I had sat out. I told him I was planning to leave, but would stay for another 15 minutes since I did not want to hit-and-run. He asked me to get back on the other table, which I did. He started playing pretty bad after that - and I took another couple buyins from him. I perhaps should have stuck around, but my wife and I were going to watch TV - sometimes +EV poker is not +EV life, so I left. I am generally happy taking 6-buyins from someone, however.

2008-02-02T06:30:00.000-08:00

Always cool to quadruple up in NL cash

I had a good day at cash games yesterday, although most of my winnings came from one hand. It think I was up $600 or so for the day in cash games - and this hand helped ...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (9 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

SB ($365.35)
BB ($176.20)
Hero ($117)
UTG+1 ($233)
MP1 ($422.50)
MP2 ($411.20)
MP3 ($407)
CO ($394)
Button ($853.55)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ac, Ah.
UTGA raises to $14, 4 folds, CO raises to $44, Button calls $44, SB calls $42, 1 fold, UTGA raises to $131 (All-In), CO calls $73, Button calls $73, SB calls $73.

Flop: ($472) 8c, 2s, Jc (4 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($472) Ad (4 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($472) 8h (4 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $486

Results in white below:
SB has Jh Jd (full house, jacks full of eights).
Hero has Ac Ah (full house, aces full of eights).
CO doesn't show.
Button doesn't show.
Outcome:

I also played 9 tourneys last night ($30 on bodog, $25 on FT poker and stars at 8:00, $20 rebuy on FT, $3 turbo rebuy on tilt, and several sats). I won a sunday million seat on stars and cashed in the $20 rebuy. I was doing very well, but my A7 lost to A6, then I ran AJ into an uber-aggro guys AQ and AK within 2 orbits and was out. I finished 17th - but was happy how I played. I feel like I am getting my tourney-groove back. Overall, I finished about even in the cash tourneys and won a bit because of the satellite win. Naturally, however, the big money comes from getting a top 3 finish. I think I am playing well so if I keep putting myself in the top 30 of tourneys the big score will happen soon.

I also feel like I am completely in synch with satellites right now. I have played so many turbo rebuy sats that I really know when to sit back, when to push trash, when to stall, etc. I think I might have a 50% + ROI on those stars turbo sats. In fact, in the past three weeks, playing a limited number of satellites, I have won 3 Sunday million seats (one was a $530, too), an 800 W$ seat, two 530 UB T$ seats and one 215 T$ seat through UB. I also am good at the non-turbo sats, but of course those take much longer. I am running a bit hot to win this much, naturally.

A reminder - I am now offering lessons - right now my best games are probably NL cash and satellites. http://pokerelmo.blogspot.com/2008/01/pokerelmo-offering-private-poker.html

I will probably play some this weekend - but nothing Sunday evening as I will be watching the super bowl.

2008-01-30T04:14:00.000-08:00

Decided to play yesterday ...

I was one day from reaching the "gold" iron man status on full tilt, so I decided to play a bit yesterday. Hopefully, this is the start of a new upswing. I won back all of Monday's losses plus a lot more, winning several buyins for the day over about 600 hands.

I think I played well, but the things that were going wrong in the past all went right. When I choose to reraise a guy who raised every button in heads up with J4s as a resteal, the flop was 974 and I turned a jack for two pair. On top of that, the guy decided to get frisky on the turn with AQ. I flopped trips or sets and got paid off several times and won an all in coinflip with Q3 suited vs. AJ on a J73 board when I had the flsuhd draw.

I actually played 1/2 NL full ring but dropped to $0.5/$1.00 NL HU cash. I figured heads up was too swingy to play 1/2 NL HU. I discovered there is a MASSIVE difference in player quality at 1/2 NL HU vs. $0.5/$1.00 NL HU. The main thing, I think, is there are so many more regulars at 1/2 NL HU it is tough to find the fish. I didn't have that problem at the $1 big blind games. I hope that is a sign of things to come - as I may play that a bit more.

E

2008-01-29T03:18:00.000-08:00

Cash Game Downswing

I think I can officially call myself in a downswing. After losing a 2.5 more buyins at 2/4 NL I dropped down to 1/2 NL where last night I another 2.5 buyins. Combining that with the previous week, and I am in a 10+ buyin downswing in cash games. This is probably my biggest cash game downswing in terms of buyins in over a year.

Why the downswing?

1. I think part of it is a leak I discovered. At 2/4, at least, I have lost several big pots calling big bets with good but not great hands. I am working on putting in a raise earlier to define my hand, or simply being willing to give up a hand out-of-position. This probably accounts for 2-3 of the buyins.

2. Bluffs being caught more often than normal. It just seems that I don't bluff often, but when I do I happen to get caught. I will pull a bluff in a situation where a player can only call me with 20% of his range, and he has that 20%. That is a bit of bad luck.

3. Horrible outdraws. Last night I had AA lose to 54s when he turned a flush. I had reraised PF and he called, then potted the flop and he called so the pot was about 150 with about 140 left when he hit. I also had a redraw to the nut flush, but did not hit. KJ all in vs. TT on the turn of a QJ9x board and river is an 8, etc., etc. I don't like telling bad beat stories - this is just an explanation.

I will take a couple days off, then perhaps play again Thursday.

The good news - my bankroll is big enough to handle it, although I am dropping to 1/2 NL until I get out of this rut. Also, I have been doing great with satellite tourneys and the number stars T$ and W$ in my possession (over $480 and $600, respectively) and UB T$ (about $750, I think) are all from recent wins and have countered most of this downswing. Now I just need to turn those into tourney wins!

2008-01-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

2/4 NL

The good news - I am now very confident I can beat the game at either Cake Poker or Full Tilt Poker.

The bad news - I have lost about 2 buyins this week. That being said, 4 hands have really hurt:

1. AA vs. KK all in pre-flop, KK outdraws.
2. KK vs. AA - all in on blank flop. He wins
3. KK vs. QJ when we get short stack to commit 80 of 240 stack pre-flop. Lose when JJ3 flops.
4. Three barrell bluff called by good player - he called me down with T8s on a T high board. He made a good play/good read.

If I win one of those, I am about even, if I win two, I am ahead. If I win 3, I am up a couple buyins.

That being said, there were two hands where I lost a lot by calling down too loosely - so I could have done better. But overall, I am very confident right now that I can be a winner at the 2/4 NL games. I think I will be making that my new home.

2008-01-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

Jekyll and Hyde Weekend

The Jekyll was my performance in tourneys and satellites – the Hyde was cash games.

I finished down 2.5 buyins – most from 2 hands this afternoon. The first when I got all in with a set versus a flush draw and gutshot and he hit the gutshot, the 2nd when against the same guy I got all in with a pair and nut flush draw vs. his straight. Just bad luck to not win one of those. I had one or two questionable plays yesterday but also some bad luck to keep me even for yesterday at cash games. I also lost about 5 buyins at HU SNGs, once again it just seemed like nothing was breaking my way. Before this weekend, I had been in a mini-downswing on cash games – probably down 3.5 buyins prior to this weekend – making it a 6 buyin downswing over the course of the week or so. Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary. But, I had been running so well that it seems odd to be having a rough week.

As bad as this weekend has been for cash games and HU SNGs – it was good for tourneys and satellites. Saturday morning I played a few satellites, one of them being the $20 turbo/rebuy for an 800 EPT seat on stars. I won that and cash out the 800 W$. This will give me a good start at making my run for the WSOP. Today (Sunday) I won a seat to the Sunday million (which I cashed for T$) and also a $530 seat to the UPC on UB – which I cashed for T$. So overall, counting T$ and W$, it has been a profitable weekend. I made a run in the pokerstars 50K freerole for supernova players (cashing an entry I won over the weekend). I finished 27th. I was disappointed in my bustout, as I was slightly above average, and had a blind-steals gone bad with 64s and T9 (vs. AK and QQ short-stacks), and busted when my K7 lost to AJ after spiking a K but having him hit a river-ace. I won $175 there, but would have loved to have made a run at the final table where top price was 9.4K. I think I played those last hands right, however, and I am definitely glad I played aggressive trying to accumulate chips when I thought I was making +EV plays.

With classes starting again last week – my time to play decreases. I don’t teach Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, so I hope to play some tourneys – mainly on Wednesdays, Fridays and over the weekend.

2008-01-09T06:35:00.000-08:00

Great Post on 2+2 and a couple random thoughts

It takes a lot of time, but Phil Galfond answers lots of questions on this post on 2+2. To save time, just look for every post from Jman - he usually posts the question he is answering before he replies. There are some great NL tidbits in here.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/printthread.php?t=88525&pp=100

A couple random thoughts:

Different sites and difficulty of players

I had always thought players at pokerstars were a bit tougher than full tilt poker or elsewhere. A discussion at ITH has made the reason for this obvious. Those who 12-table full time earn so many FPPs on stars that they can become supernova elite. With that, they earn approximately 50% rakeback based on the bonuses and other items they can cash in their FPPs for, and Pokerstars buys their way into two free 10K tourneys. This is pretty tough to beat. For a part-time player, pokerstars is not as ideal for me - since I spread out my play enough I won't even reach the regular "supernova" level.

Full Tilt Poker still has some 8-12 tablers playing, but not as many. This means more spots on the tables are filled by your average player or by a complete fish. That makes for slightly easier games.

A few observations about the 12-tablers at $1, $2, or $4 big-blind no-limit holdem.

They are beatable - but not for a huge margin. They will likely not adjust to you since they don't have the time to pay attention. They will know your PT stats though.

The tighter ones don't raise lightly, especially in EP.

Good 12-tablers (who still can only be average overall, since they can't adjust to how you are exploiting them) are generally good about controlling pot size with marginal hands. If there is an EP/MP raiser and they call with AQ suited - they will generally not raise on a Q high flop nor bet/raise the turn. Likewise, some will slow down with AA. They could go bust with it - but won't usually be the one pushing the action.

You can pick on their blinds more loosely than a fish. Just don't get too crazy - they might catch on to you.

2008-01-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

Woot - a Royal Flush!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (9 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

SB ($569.70)
BB ($858.30)
UTG ($264.25)
Hero ($110)
MP1 ($384.20)
MP2 ($449.05)
MP3 ($62)
CO ($400)
Button ($648.60)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with As, Ks.
UTG raises to $12, UTGB raises to $44, 7 folds, UTG calls $32.

Flop: ($94) Ts, Qs, Kd (2 players)
UTG checks, UTGB bets $66 (All-In), UTG calls $66.

Turn: ($0) 8s (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($0) Js (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $226

Results in white below:
UTG has Qc Qd.
Hero has As Ks (straight flush, ace high).
Outcome: Hero wins $226.

2008-01-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

2008 Poker Goals

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and New Years Day. Watching some football, I figured I would jot out some of my goals for 2008.

1. Continue to make some side-money for my family. I would love to make enough to finish our basement and fully-fund my roth IRA and my wife's roth and conventional IRA. (I know - saving for retirement - pretty exciting thing to do with poker winnings.)

2. Play a few more tourneys. Related to this, I would love to play a major live tourney or two, but I am not sure when/where I will get the opportunity. I am sure I will play a few WSOP ME satellites, and if I make it I will just figure out how to work out the timing.

3. Work my way up to 5/10 NL holdem.

I will do this short-stacked, at least initially. I am already playing 2/4 and 3/6 short-stacked in 6-max and full ring games and enjoying good results. I hope to keep this up and keep moving up limits as long as my profits keep going up.

4. Begin Poker-Coaching.

I hope to have a post about this posted soon - but soon I will be offering poker coaching. I have done some already, and I have found it rewarding on a number of levels. First, I enjoy teaching (it is what I do for my career). I have enjoyed teaching the players I have coached as they have enjoyed success. Second, having to articulate ideas for someone else can helps me better understand various concepts. Research has shown that people learn best by doing or instructing others - and I think poker is no different.

2008-01-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

Review of 2007 goals and how I fared

1. Continue to provide a nice supplemental income for my family.
I was successful in this goal. The only bad part is now occuring - taxes.

2. Continue with NL cash games.
I was successful in this game. I have dramatically improved my NL cash game play throughout the year. This is my bread-and-butter game, and I am in the process of moving up to 2/4 and 3/6 NL games when shortstacking. I have even played some 5/10 NL games.

3. Play more "higher buy in" tourneys.

I failed here - A string of surgeries for my family and my son starting school contributed to me playing tourneys less than once-a-month since June.

4. Win a WSOP seat or two again, but make a deep run.

I barely tried. I did almost win a seat when I finished 4th in a WSOP $33 rebuy when my AA lost an all-in 3 way pot with 4 left. If I win that I have 60+% of chips in play - but those are the breaks.

What did I accomplish that was not a listed-goal?

Emotional control. Maybe reading the poker mindset helped. Maybe the article by Angel Largay helped where he discussed being afraid of being a losing player during a downswing. Whatever it is, I have been much better about handling the emotions that come when losses of $500-$1000 are common.

2008-01-01T13:54:00.001-08:00

PokerElmo Offering Private Poker Lessons

I am now offering private poker lessons/coaching. I specialize in heads-up NL holdem, full ring NL holdem, and 6-max NL holdem. However, I have also made thousands of dollars in SNGs and NL holdem tourneys over the past few years playing part time and have coached players in those areas as well. I am a professor of economics and teach game theory, and this is a foundation for my teachings.

I charge $80 an hour.

My services could be valuable for several types of players:

- Break-even or losing recreational amateur players who want to lose less/win more and become happier with how they play.

- Serious amateurs who are seeking to increase their earn rates and move up limits.

- Professionals who specialize in other areas of poker who want to be able to add HU NL holdem as a profitable game.

Why me and not someone else?

While I am certainly not the right choice for everyone, there are several reasons why you might consider me for your poker-coaching needs.

* I am a teacher. I am a professor of economics at a university and my job is to teach complex topics to people with many different incoming skill levels. I have even taught a class on poker at my university.

* I am a significant winner at the areas I offer coaching. You will be getting someone who knows what they are doing.

* Those who I have coached have been impressed. One player won his seat to the WSOP main event while I was coaching him in a $640 WSOP satellite on Pokerstars. This was a friend, and I offered to coach for free. However, he was so happy/impressed with my coaching decisions that helped him win his seat that he voluntarily gave me 5% of his WSOP action.

Please email me at matt_rousu@yahoo.com if you have any questions or are interested. Or log into the forums at www.internettexasholdem.com and send a private message to Poker_Elmo.

2007-12-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

The variance of NL and thoughts on my poker mindset

After a modest down-session this morning (2 buyins), I got to thinking more about the swings I have had this year. This year has been a very profitable year. In fact, after doing my tax returns, this year is close to 2005 for my most profitable year (I played limit poker and tourneys that year, and had some big scores). Given the supposed drying up of games after the ULIGA, I am very happy with my results.

During this year, however, I have had several HUGE downswings, at least in monetary terms. I bet I have had 15+ drops of $500, with many of those being close to $1000 or more. About half-way through the year, however, those drops stopped phasing me. They just happen and are inevitable. What I can control are my next decisions vs. my opponents. One trick I do sometimes is think about how I would think about my results if I were betting on myself to lose. Franky, I would be depressed. Despite a small "victory", I am only erasing the games from the previous day, or few days (or in rare cases, perhaps a week or more). Then, what often happens is in the next few days that "win" is completely erased and then some.

It is a pretty silly mental trick, but it works for me. For those who have not already, I would highly recommend The Poker Mindset by Taylor and Hilger. I recall what Chip Reese used to claim - he was not necessarily the best against another players "A" game, but his "B", "C", and "D" game were about the same as his "A" game, while other players games dropped off more dramatically. In a time when it is pretty easy to have a reasonable knowledge of the game, so much of my profits come from capitalizing on others not having a good poker mindset. Much of how I keep the money is keeping an appropriate mindset myself.

2007-12-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

Update

Things are still going well. I have played all my cash games this month at Cake Poker - and have liked it. I have actually spllit time between 1/2 NL, 2/4 NL, 3/6 NL, and 5/10 NL. When I play anything other than 1/2 NL, however, I am only buying in for about 1/3 of a buyin. I think this is helping me adjust to the stakes without risking more money. Further, as Ed Miller and others have pointed out in their publications, playing a short stack is more "dummy-poker". When adjusting to new stakes, having easy decisions is a good thing. I plan to keep up with this strategy for a while, especially at Cake Poker, where I see virtually no difference in skill level between 1/2 NL and higher.

I am playing some Heads up still - but it is probably only consisting of 10% of my hands.

On a non-poker note, I have been on crutches since the Monday before Thanksgiving after having knee surgery (I had microfracture to rebuild cartilage). I am still on crutches for another few weeks, but feel fortunate that my job gives such a big break between semesters and that I have been forced to sit around and play more poker during the past month. :)

On a less-pleasant note - I now am going to get some forms ready for taxes while I watch the end of the Patriots-Giants game. :(

2007-12-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

Poker is a Sick Game

OK - so my actually bankroll is in about the same place as it was Friday in my last post (I think I might be down one buyin). However, I had a 4-buyin upswing Friday and a 4-buyin swing down on Saturday. The problem was Saturday I had the brilliant idea to jump to 2/4 NL, so I was up 800 Friday, then down 1600 for Saturday. After getting slapped around at 2/4 NL, I dropped back to 1/2 NL and won almost 4 buyins Sunday.

So, after 3 days, my bankroll is pretty much right where it was on Friday. But it was a pretty sick ride.

2007-12-14T06:58:00.000-08:00

Enjoying my Cake

I have been playing Cake Poker this month, and have been running well (I think I have also been playing well). The players there are just a bit weaker than what you see elsewhere, and I calculated that I am running about 15 PTBB/100 - which is much better than my long-term earn rate.

While I think the weak players are contributing to some of my success, I don't think this type of earn rate is sustainable. However, I think along-term earn rate of 7-8 PTBB/100 might be sustainable at Cake Poker for me, which is still pretty good.

2007-12-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

NL HU Cash tip #4

What does your opponent do, and how should you react, the river (PART 2)

So you have now decided to play and you picked an opponent and a buy-in amount you are comfortable with. It is time to play. What should you be thinking about? Well, you should be trying to figure out everything you can about your opponent. What hands is he raising with, what does he limp with? Does he tend to bet big with flopped trips/sets or slowplay? Does he value bet 3rd pair on the river, or does he check down? Does he tilt easily? Does he overbet a monster on the river?

We will work backwards and continue our discussion about your opponent’s river tendencies, and what you should do.

In part 2 of river play, we talk about the light value-bettor.

How do you play against the guy who:

1) Value bets very light (3rd pair through 5th pair).

Raise him often. First, you need to try to figure if he would put in a 3rd river raise with non-monsters. If not, then raise him liberally. Raise him on bluffs, raise him with top and 2-pairs, and monsters. If he is likely to reraise often (or if he catches on that you are river raising him often), then you should start to limit your raises to monsters or bluffs. The monsters are easy calls, the bluffs are easy folds. If bluff raises seem too tough to figure out when to do – pick out one type of hand that you will bluff raise the river with. (Perhaps busted straight draw that completes a possible flush?)

The common thought is to call more. There is truth to that, but to fully exploit someone who is value betting too light, you need to punish this player by raising. Calling more is OK, but you want to limit it to spots where you think you have some value and want to get to the showdown but don't want to put in any more chips.

Next time we will discuss a passive player on the river.

2007-12-05T05:34:00.001-08:00

November Review - December Plan

I wrapped up November on a sour note with heads up games. I was up about 32 buyins at one point in the month, ended the month up 27 buyins. Still a good month for a part-time player, but part of the loss in the end was a huge pot (almost double buyin each) when I misplayed the turn. (I had KK against an OAD - flop had a lower pair - turn brought trips to the board. I should have slowed down on the turn, figuring if he has quads I will lose less, and I might win more if he does not. I foolishly bet the turn, and when he pushed the river I was priced in, especially since he had pushed light many times before.)

I was upset with myself over that and took time off from heads up poker. HU poker is strange. It is so different from 6-max or full ring or SNGs. In those, a lot of the decisions are really automatic and you can play OK even if not feeling optimally. HU NL Cash games are so player dependent that if I am not in my top mental condition I should not play.

Since my bad night at HU, I have started playing at Cake Poker - mostly 6-max NL 1/2, and done well. I jumped back into a HU game last night for the first time and won, although I would have only been even for the HU match if it were not for my 99 beating KK by having the 4 hearts on board match my 9 of hearts.

All in all, things are going well. I will continue the HU NL Cash game series soon (I think I actually have the next one mostly written). I had been thinking of jumping more to 2/4 NL HU cash games, but I am not sure I am emotionally ready for those big swings. I have been consistently taking money out of my BR (funding IRAs and Roth IRAs, etc.), perhaps I need to grow my bankroll a bit more and then I would feel more comfortable attacking the bigger games.

2007-11-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

NL HU Cash tip #3

What does your opponent do, and how should you react, the river (PART 1)

So you have now decided to play and you picked an opponent and a buy-in amount you are comfortable with. It is time to play. What should you be thinking about? Well, you should be trying to figure out everything you can about your opponent. What hands is he raising with, what does he limp with? Does he tend to bet big with flopped trips/sets or slowplay? Does he value bet 3rd pair on the river, or does he check down? Does he tilt easily? Does he overbet a monster on the river?

We will work backwards and today talk about your opponent’s river tendencies, and what you should do.

In part 1 of river play, we talk about two topics, the river overbet and the river check raise.

1) The river overbet: Be very, very careful before calling. Most river overbets are done when someone has the nuts. Not the 2nd nuts, not a good 2nd best hand, not a value bet, but the nuts. This statement is more likely to be true if: 1) your opponent is multi-tabling HU, 2) your opponent has a full buyin, and/or 3) you think your opponent is good. Many players use reverse psychology to think big bets means “he really wants me to fold here”, I should call. That is why the river overbet is used on occasion, and is probably a decent move to have in one’s arsenal.

A river overbet is less likely to be a monster hand (although probability still might be greater than 50%) if 1) your opponent is weak and 2) your opponent is playing a smaller buyin.

2) The river ch-raise: Most weak players don’t have this in their arsenal. Most players at the limits I play usually only do it for value, although I have run into a river bluff ch-raise on a few rare occasions. When is a river ch-raise not likely to be a monster? It is more likely if your opponent is tilting. It is less likely if your opponent is not tilting and perceives you as tilting or someone who is very tough to shake off hands.

The next post in this series will discuss what to do when your opponent value bets the river with very marginal holdings.

2007-11-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

Poker related: what am I thankful for?

I had another good year at poker. It is time to give thanks. In the scheme of things, poker is a small thing to be thankful for, relative to family, health, etc. But it never hurts to take a moment to give thanks, even for the little things.

I am thankful that I am able to make some side-money with poker. I certainly have worked hard on improving my game over the past few years, but I know lots of people who have hobbies that don't earn them income.

I am thankful that there are still sites that are open to US players, and the momentum now seems to be more in favor of overturning the ULIGA than for making it stricter.

I am thankful that I have learned how to play HU poker, and play it well.

I am thankful that I might get back into sports-arbitrage soon.

I am thankful for the ITH community. I have made some really good friends there over the past few years.

2007-11-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

Tips for playing HU NL poker

I am posting various tips on playing NL HU poker. Some will seem obvious, others not-so-obvious. Some will be technical, others not.

Topic 2: How much should you buy in for?

Someone who can play both shorter and deeper stacked HU equally well probably would have a slightly higher earn rate. However, many players are better at one or the other. Whether to buy in for the full amount or less largely depends on individual factors. Some factors that can point you in one direction vs. another:

1. Do you play a lot of SNGs and especially HU SNGs?

If you play a lot of SNGs, you are used to playing with smaller stacks relative to the blinds. Most SNGs begin with about 50 big blinds, and quickly the biggest stack becomes much less than that. If this is what you are used to, I would recommend buying in for far less than a full buyin. A starting amount of 25-40 big blinds might be appropriate, as this will be similar to the earlier stages of a SNG.

2. How good are you at controlling the pot size?

If you play a lot of cash games, you probably are used to attempting to control the pot size so you win a lot with a monster vs. a good 2nd-best hand, and lose a reasonable amount when you get a good 2nd best hand and go up against a monster. The better you are at controlling the pot size with deep stacks, the more likely you would succeed at HU NL when playing for a full buyin.

3. How mechanical is your game?

If you play mechanically, you should stick with smaller buyins. What do I mean? Well many players are technically quite able, except they tend to think about all situations with similarly and don’t randomize their actions. Do you find yourself doing the same thing heads up every time you have AK, QQ, AA, or 54 suited? If so, you might want to stick to shallower stacks. The more confusion you create for your opponents, the better, so if you tend to think there are several good ways to play a hand and will often play a hand differently, you would be more likely to succeed with deep stacks.

4. How are you feeling right now?

Sometimes your personal mood will indicate how much you want to buy in for – don’t ignore that. If you normally buy in for $100 on a $1 bb NL HU table, but don’t want to risk that much right now, there is no shame in buyin in for $40-$60.

2007-11-14T08:40:00.001-08:00

Tips for playing HU NL poker

I will start posting various tips on playing NL HU poker. Some will seem obvious, others not-so-obvious. Some will be technical, others not.

Today, I begin where you begin: picking a table.

TOPIC 1: How to select a table in NL HU cash games

Table selection is important in all games, but it might be more critical in HU games than elsewhere. There are only two players in a HU game, you and your opponent. Unless you are better than everyone in the world, there are two possibilities:

- You are better than your opponent
- Your opponent is better than you

There is more to it than that, of course. There are many players who I think I am better than who play HU NL, but I avoid them. Why? Because they are decent players and their flaws are more-minor than the typical player. Against these players, my EV would be way down.

So, table selection is important, but you might ask: how do I find a good opponent to play? Here are a few tips:

1. When you first sit down – search the opponent on the site. Are they playing multiple HU tables? If they are – you should probably leave. Someone who plays multiple heads-up tables at once almost always is a winner. Why? Well if they are not a winner, they won’t be playing HU NL very long – so it would be really lucky to bump into one.

2. How much do they buy in for? If someone buys in for the full amount or the pre-set standard amount, that does not tell me much about their play. But, if someone buys in for $126.2 at the $1/$2 NL table, that gives me very valuable information. They probably are buying in for the last of their bankroll. Players who do this are more likely to make big errors, and I love them at my table. Further, players who buy in for the minimum or close to it and only play one table are often appealing.

3. When you are playing, what do you notice? Is this player making good value bets, mixing up his/her play, bluffing or semi-bluffing occasionally, etc. If so, perhaps you should leave. If someone is raising all in for $80 pre-flop to steal your $2 – smile and enjoy!

4. Have you lost 2-buyins to the same player? If you have, maybe you should leave. First, maybe you think they are weak, but they are stronger than you. Even if they are indeed weak, they are now likely playing their very best game. There is nothing wrong with stopping the game and going to another table. Sometimes, even mention in chat – "you have my number today, so I think I am done: gg". If you really think that player is weak, they will spot you again at a later time and might sit down with you.

Many people feel embarrassed to leave a table. Don’t be this guy. Poker is about making money. There are many times I have said “no thanks” and sat out when someone I don’t want to face sits at my table. Other times I have said “I think you seem like a good player – I am going to look for some fish.” If your goal is to improve against good competition, then take on some of these players and test yourself. However, if your goal is to make money, don’t feel embarrassed about not playing the other strong players.

2007-11-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

Killing the games!

I had been on a good run before my post on Friday. In the 60 hours or so since that post, I am up about 8 full buyins at 1/2 NL HU playing a couple hours each day. I guess that is not too out-of-the-ordinary in the scheme of things, but that boost to my bankroll is quite welcome.

My hourly rate

I decided to go back through my PT stats for heads up games to see how profitable they have been this year? I am running about about 9 PTBB/100 at HU games (all levels). It is slightly higher for 1/2 NL HU, where I have played the bulk of my games. This translates into 18 big blinds per 100 hands. The tradeoff you face when playing heads up is that it is tougher to play multiple tables, but you get more hands per table than in 6-max for full ring. I get in about 130 hands per hour per table. So, per hour, I am earning about 24 big blinds per hour per table. I was a bit stunned to see how high this was - perhaps I am just running really hot and my actual long-term rate will only be about half of this. If that is the case, I will enjoy the ride until the crash hits.

2007-11-09T14:16:00.000-08:00

Not dead, but not posting much

I have been so busy with life, that I have not really considered posting much recently.

I plan on playing less often. I still enjoy poker, but not as much. Funny story, though. I told my wife that I was going to cut down on poker a week ago Thursday. Since then, I have gone on an absolute tear, bringing in a great 10 days of results. So results have been OK, even though play-time has been limited.

I have really been dominating HU Cash NL. I feel like I have slipped at NL HU SNGs, but it could just be variance. The HU NL cash is so profitable, though, I have focused on that instead.

Family life is going great, work is going well, but not much time for poker. Things might change in about 17 years when our youngest is out of the house. Until then, I guess I have to come to grips with the fact that I won't be playing as much as I once did.

2007-09-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

Quick Update

My son started kindergarten recently. That has been a big hit on time, mainly because I am always getting up early with him and rarely stay up late anymore. The consequences: no more tourneys for now. This has been a bummer for me, as I love tourneys. However, by 8:00 PM, any tourney that I do well in will go until at least midnight or 1:00 PM – often later. This is later than I want to stay up given I am up by 6:00 AM, so I have not played tourneys.

I have played a lot of Heads up recently. I am rotating between $33 turbo SNGs and HU NL cash (usually $1/$2 NL). I have been focusing more on the SNGs in the past week, and have done well. I think my ROI in them is about 8-10%, which could make for a good hourly earn rate if I focused on 3-tabling for an extended period of time. Usually I can only fit 30-40 minutes of playing in, however.

I will try to start posting some HU NL information soon – but the key idea is simply to get into your opponents’ head. Know what they raise, when they slowplay, whether they would checkraise flopped trips, etc. Everyone is different, and the big challenge is to make reasonable guesses about how your opponents play as quickly as possible.

2007-08-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Read something recently that has really hit home

I had a bit of a downswing last week - and it didn't phase me much. I lost over 8 buyins over the stretch, and with 2 of them being at 2/4 NL (rest split between 1/2 NL and $1 bb NL), it was a sizeable downswing in $ terms, although not much relative to my bankroll nor relative to the stakes.

I used to get really upset with downswings. One of them affected me so bad that I was never able to play winning limit poker again (was at 4bb/100 over 30K hands at 5/10 limit). This was in December 1995, but even more recently I have had issues where I get really angry, when I know it is just the variance of the game. Despite having to report a sizeable amount of winnings to the IRS each of the past 3 years and complete understanding that I know that the variance is good, since the fish have to win sometime if they are to play, I still got upset.

I read something recently that really opened my eyes Angel Largay (sp?) from Bluff mag wrote an article where he said he experienced many of the same things. He was finally able to admit to himself something that got him over the emotional hump. He was afraid. When he had a downswing, he was afraid that maybe he wasn't a winning player after all. That all those winnings for all those months/years were a fluke. That really hit home and helped during my recent downswing.

When I have had downswings, I think I have become afraid that perhaps something is changing that won't allow me to keep winning. While my wife and I have made a conscious effort not to spend the money I have earned through poker as income, it has helped in many ways. We bought a new van recently, and it helped with a down payment on a house. Now it is helping fund my wife's IRA and both my and her Roth IRAs (for those not in U.S. - these are retirement accounts that offer tax advantages).

Could I still get a tad afraid in the future? Sure, but I think knowing and admitting the fear is half the battle. I recovered from the downswing quickly and recovered a good chunk of the losses back in the past couple days. I hope to keep this mindset during future downswings.

2007-08-23T04:49:00.001-07:00

Controlling the pot size and a few hands

In the beginning stages of reading Professional NL holdem – the new Ed Miller book. A lot of that book is about controlling pot size, something I considered in the past, but probably not at the technical level that is optimal. I am starting to try to work on this.

Here is one hand where it backfires

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero ($247.30)

BB ($123)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Ac, 7h.

Button raises to $7, BB calls $4.

Flop: ($13) 8d, 7s, 5s (2 players)

BB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($13) 3s (2 players)

BB bets $12, Hero calls $12.

River: ($37) 3c (2 players)

BB bets $36, Hero calls $36.

Final Pot: $109

Results in white below:

BB has Ad 3h (three of a kind, threes).

Hero has Ac 7h (two pair, sevens and threes).

Outcome: BB wins $109.

While it backfires, I think I played this correct, at least on the turn and river. There are lots of hands he can have that beat me on the flop and turn. This player is such that if he bluffs the turn (either as semi-bluff or conventional), he will also fire the river. If he has value, he usually ch-calls a moderate bet on the river. So on the turn bet, I see several reasons to only call a) keeps pot smaller with a marginal hand, b) win more if he is bluffing, c) extract value from small river bet if he checks.

The only point where I think I could (should?) have played different is by betting the flop. I let him catch up, but if I know he has A3, I love the check on the flop.

Here is an example where everything worked out a lot better

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Hero ($317.20)
BB ($243.10)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is Button with [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/qd.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/qc.gif[/img].
[color=#CC3333]Hero raises to $7[/color], BB calls $4.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($13) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/2c.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/kh.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/kc.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]
BB checks, Hero checks.

[b]Turn:[/b] ($13) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/tc.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]
[color=#CC3333]BB bets $12[/color], Hero calls $12.

[b]River:[/b] ($37) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/6h.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]
[color=#CC3333]BB bets $36[/color], Hero calls $36.

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $109

Results in white below: [color=#FFFFFF]
BB has Ts 3s (two pair, kings and tens).
Hero has Qd Qc (two pair, kings and queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $109. [/color]

Heads up – when you check, opponents often take that as a sign to charge with turn and river bets. With QQ on an ace high flop, this is an ideal spot to keep the pot small. Sure, I will sometimes call turn and river bets and lose to Ax. But there are enough cases like this hand to make calling profitable.

I flopped a flush here, and tried to play a big pot. Unfortunately, the guy had a set and filled on the turn with too little behind to consider getting away.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero ($204.40)

Button ($173)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Js, 6s.

Button raises to $7, Hero calls $4.

Flop: ($13) Qs, Ts, 2s (2 players)

Hero checks, Button bets $8, BB raises to $24, Button calls $16.

Turn: ($61) 2d (2 players)

BB bets $50, Button calls $50.

River: ($161) 3d (2 players)

BB bets $94, Button calls $93 (All-In).

Final Pot: $347

Results in white below:

Hero has Js 6s (flush, queen high).

Button has Qd Qh (full house, queens full of twos).

Outcome: Button wins $347. Hero wins $1.

Sometimes, players hang themselves (also – having position is nice)

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero ($209.50)

BB ($346.90)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7d, Td.

Button raises to $7, BB raises to $12, Hero calls $4.

Flop: ($23) 9h, 8s, Jc (2 players)

BB bets $20, Hero calls $20.

Turn: ($63) 5d (2 players)

BB bets $60, Button raises to $179.5 (All-In), BB calls $119.50.

River: ($0) 5c (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $422

Results in white below:

BB has 8c Jh (two pair, jacks and eights).

Hero has 7d Td (straight, jack high).

Outcome: Hero wins $422.

When stacks are 140 bb deep, position becomes much more important. Here I called a reraise PF with a very marginal hand. With flopped bottom 2, I am willing to get all in, and I don’t want to keep the pot small. Further, I am betting big to protect my hand from many different cards that could hurt me (and many that hurt me, I can’t detect).

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero ($277.20)
BB ($274.40)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8c, 5c.
Button raises to $7, BB raises to $20, Hero calls $12.

Flop: ($39) 5s, Qh, 8d (2 players)
BB bets $36, Button raises to $144, BB raises to $288, Button raises to $403.2 (All-In), BB calls $4.39 (All-In).

Turn: ($623.80) 3h (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($623.80) 8h (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $623.80

Results in white below:
BB has Kh Ks (two pair, kings and eights).
Hero has 8c 5c (full house, eights full of fives).
Outcome: Hero wins $734.60.

I have a lot of work to do on controlling pot size, especially with working on PF actions influence post-flop decisions. The problem I see is that varying raise sizes does give information away about your hand. Perhaps I need to randomly vary raise sizes, but then also for hands where one size is better I make sure I use that size more often.

2007-08-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

A guy threatens to report me

This is hilarious. I made a tough call after determining the guy had an Ace or nothing – figuring his range is such that the call is correct. I was right …

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Hero ($131.30)

Button ($145.10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7s, 8s.

Button raises to $7, Hero calls $4.

Flop: ($13) 3c, Ah, 8c (2 players)

Hero checks, Button bets $6, Hero calls $6.

Turn: ($25) 5d (2 players)

Hero checks, Button checks.

River: ($25) Qc (2 players)

Hero checks, Button bets $20, Hero calls $20.

Final Pot: $65

Results in white below:

Hero has 7s 8s (one pair, eights).

Button has Ts 9c (high card, ace).

Outcome: Hero wins $65.

Then the following chat comes up (villains name is “GilbertTheGator”). This chat was during the beginning of the next hand (where I won a small pot with 55).

GilbertTheGator: horrilbe call
GilbertTheGator: i played the flush draw u idiot

GilbertTheGator: ur so bad

GilbertTheGator: value bet the river
GilbertTheGator checks
GilbertTheGator: lololol

GilbertTheGator: im gonna bust you so fast

Well, this guy is a tool, obviously. But how to respond. Well, I had to leave soon anyway, so I thought I could put him on tilt a bit for others to enjoy by making the following comments:

PokerElmo: fine, I will leave after this hand, if I am so bad
PokerElmo: thx for letting me know I am outclassed

He did not like this:

GilbertTheGator: if you hit and run you will be reported and blacklisted

I sat out once the big blind hit me, then said:

PokerElmo: blacklisted, for leaving with my money?
PokerElmo: please report me

After I sat out, he said he was writing the email. I know the rules well enough to know anyone can leave at anytime. I thought about reporting him, actually, as these kinds of threats might fool others who don’t know the rules. I guess you meet all kinds of tools online.

2007-08-17T06:04:00.001-07:00

What a way to wake up (Elmo's adventures with tilting guy)

A guy started tilting on my $100 buyin 6-max table this morning. Big time! He lost a couple modest pots, then I see him push 53s for $140 to steal the blinds (he showed). He started pushing every hand. I had never seen anything like this in NL. I was stunned. I have seen people tilt by pushing trash, but usually they leave. He would lose, but kept reloading, and kept talking trash!

He slowed down a bit, and was only pushing the first 2/3 of hands first in. So it is folded to me on the button and I get 99. I figure limping looks more suspicious than raising, so I raised and he pushed. Naturally, I called. When his T3o did not hit …

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (4 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

UTG ($99)

Hero ($100)

SB ($107.60)

BB ($169)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9d, 9c.

1 fold, Button raises to $3, SB raises to $107.6, 1 fold, Hero calls $97 (All-In).

Flop: ($201) 5d, 7s, 7c (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($201) Jd (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($201) 2c (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $201.01

In another couple hands, I get AJ

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (4 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

SB ($106.35)
Hero ($199)
UTG ($92.40)
Button ($167.50)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is BB with [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/ad.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/jc.gif[/img].
[color=#CC3333]UTG raises to $92.4[/color], [color=#666666][i]2 folds[/i][/color], Hero calls $91.40.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($185.30) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/qs.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/js.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/2h.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]Turn:[/b] ($185.30) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/2c.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]River:[/b] ($185.30) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/td.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $185.30

Results in white below: [color=#FFFFFF]
Hero has Ad Jc (two pair, jacks and twos).
UTG has Kh Jd (two pair, jacks and twos).
Outcome: Hero wins $185.30. [/color]

Now with triple the buyin stack, I find AQ a few hands later.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (4 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

SB ($106.35)
Hero ($288.90)
UTG ($100)
Button ($167.90)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is BB with [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/ad.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/qh.gif[/img]. UTG posts a blind of $1.50.
[color=#CC3333]UTG (poster) raises to $99.5[/color], [color=#666666][i]2 folds[/i][/color], Hero calls $98.50.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($200) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/2s.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/7c.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/jd.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]Turn:[/b] ($200) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/4s.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]River:[/b] ($200) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/8h.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $200

Results in white below: [color=#FFFFFF]
Hero has Ad Qh (high card, ace).
UTG has Qs 6d (high card, queen).
Outcome: Hero wins $200. [/color]

Alas, you can’t win them all …

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) [url=http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php]Hand History Converter Tool[/url] from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

SB ($509.70)
BB ($100)
Hero ($476.75)
MP ($101.50)
CO ($108.50)
Button ($96.65)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is UTG with [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/as.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/8s.gif[/img].
Hero calls $1, [color=#CC3333]MP raises to $101.5[/color], [color=#666666][i]4 folds[/i][/color], Hero calls $100.50.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($204.50) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/9d.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/qs.gif[/img], [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/7d.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]Turn:[/b] ($204.50) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/td.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]River:[/b] ($204.50) [img]http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/tc.gif[/img] [color=#0000FF](2 players)[/color]

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $204.50

Results in white below: [color=#FFFFFF]
Hero has As 8s (one pair, tens).
MP has Ah Ks (one pair, tens).
Outcome: MP wins $204.50. [/color]

Overall, I won almost 3 buyins from this guy! What a way to start a day, as for our friend? Well, a picture is worth a thousand dollars, um, I mean words.

2007-08-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still alive

I am still unable to find a block of time to play a tourney, however – I really am getting the itch. However, by 8:30 PM the idea playing for 3 straight hours and the idea seems lousy, so I never sign up.

I have played a ton of heads up in the past month. Some heads up cash ($1 and $2 bb), and then transitioned into SNGs. It has been a nice venue – I am now thinking I should set the date on the calendar for the WCOOP HU event.

My wife and I are trying to figure out what to do with the modest amount of money I earn at poker. My wife and I don’t want to “spend” it like it is income, since we don’t know if this source of income will always be available (games might get tougher, more regulations to make it tougher to play, etc.). We are now saving some the cashout money in order to finish our basement. We are also contributing to a retirement plan. (I know, we live a crazy life!)

I start school in 10 days – so life gets busier again. Not sure how much less poker I will play – but certainly playing time will go down.

Will post some interesting events in the next day or two.
E

2007-07-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

A brief history of gambling and poker with Poker Elmo – part 4.

I started watching the first season of the world poker tour in 2003, and was intrigued. It was clearly a game of skill, and I, of course, thought I would have an advantage in any skill game (a bit arrogant, yes). These players were so cool - Gus Hanson, Howard Lederer, etc. I knew there was Internet poker, but I was skeptical. Would these sites really pay out? Were the cards dealt fairly? Were these scams, where house players would win? I was unsure. However, after seeing the host of the WPT make advertisements for party poker, I figured it must be OK. So, I deposited a modest amount, but really went nowhere.

For my first month at internet poker, nothing happened. In late June, I got my first poker book. It was Phil Hellmuth’s book. Now, most people would not even use Hellmuth's book for toilet paper, saying it is that bad. At the time, however, it was quite eye-opening and it made sense. It preached a tight-aggressive game. I started following his strategies, but for the next month, nothing happened. However, at the end of July, I had my first really good run. I had a $250 week, playing 2 tables of $1/2 limit. I was certainly happy about that. I followed that up with about many weeks in a row with small profits. Mrs. Elmo, who was initially a bit nervous about my playing online poker, was happy when we were able to use the first withdrawal to buy a mattress. Not a glamerous purchase, but we needed one and this purchase helped me convince my wife that maybe this was not a bad hobby.

I started beating limit a bit, but then started getting bored with limit. Starting in December 2003 I started playing MTTs more seriously. I also played some low buyin NL holdem. I remember how great it felt in April of 2004 when I finished 2nd in a $30 partypoker tourney for about $700. Overall, I did not make much from December 2003-May 2004, but was learning NL holdem and NL holdem tourneys. I also started dabbling in PL omaha a bit and even some blackjack bonus chasing. Another big thing that happened was that I started bonus chasing in April. This would be a nice little boost.

I started earning a bit again in June. I had a 2nd in a $10 bugsysclub tourney for a modest score, plus an entry to a WSOP freerole. I earned a bit chasing blackjack bonuses. I was modestly beating cash games. Nothing big – but was doing OK. Around this time I made my first post at ITH. Little did I know how important that site would become for me later. In July I had another run in a tourney – a $30 PL holdem tourney where I finished 4th, but that was only after my flopped straight got outdrawn by 2 pair after getting all in on the flop. I felt good about my performance.

We moved to PA in August 2004, and I continued doing OK. Then, on the first Saturday in September, I sat down to play a freerole for a WSOP seat on bugsysclub. I remember thinking I would play the first two hours very tight, then ramp up the aggression, playing the doyle brunson style of forcing other people into tough decisions. I picked up aces in the first hour to double up. I also played AK very aggressively all night and only lost one small pot with it. I got the chip lead with 60 left and used it like a club to steal chips. I made the final table, and got heads up with a 4-1 chip lead. However, after losing two all ins, I was down in chips until I chipped up a bit, then had 77 beat KQ to take a big lead again. When AK held over KJ all in pre-flop, I won my seat to the 2005 WSOP – and it was still only September 2004.

Here is my post on ITH about it – I was still a newbie there when I made this post.

http://www.internettexasholdem.com/phpbb2/i-won-my-entry-vt8568.html?highlight=won+entry

2007-07-12T05:27:00.001-07:00

History of gambling and Poker Elmo

Part four is complete - but since it has been so long, here are parts 1-3

A brief history of gambling and poker with Poker Elmo – part 1.

For almost as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gambler. I guess it probably started on the day the school year ended in 3rd grade. It was one of those half-days that end the year, so we were out at noon. My parents took my brother and I to the Canterbury downs (now Canterbury park) race track. I mean, they did not want to make the mistake of having kids who did not know what it mean to hit a trifecta or the daily double. They gave us $20 – enough to bet $2 on every race. But there was a catch. We only got to keep the $20 if we bet on each race. The thrill of watching the horses run down the track was amazing. I ended up with a 15% ROI and a profit of $3 – which was a pretty big deal to me back then. I was hooked.

Through my grade school and early high school years, I gambled sporadically. There were occasional poker games, although those were mostly at large family gatherings so it was not too often. For a short period of time in 6th grade our class was heavy into “flipping quarters”. In this game, you and a friend each flip a quarter in the air. One calls “even” if they think they both will end up on the same side or “odd” if they think they will not. I picked up tells on most people as they had a certain rhythm, so I could figure out whether they would get heads or tails based on whether it was heads up or tails up in their hand. After I kept winning (up over $10 - big stakes for us) the other kids stopped playing. Then my gambling ended for a while – really, for several years.

In the summer before my senior year of high school, as an avid football fan, I decided it would be a great idea to start wagering on football games. I even convinced about a half-dozen of my friends to start as well. We decided it would be a great idea to enlist in a service that predicts games (we were not very smart). The cost was not too high, but the picks were lousy. That being said, it is not like I could pick winners much better. I took a relatively major loss for a high school student and pushed thoughts of professionally gambling out of my mind, at least for moment. In the back of my head, however, I knew I would be back. In did not take long before I jumped back in …..

A brief history of gambling and poker with Poker Elmo – part 2.

After the sportsbetting fiasco, I decided that sportsbetting was not for me. But blackjack, yes blackjack, now that is where I would make money. I bought books and starting learning how to count cards. In MN, you could legally gamble at 18 and there were several casinos around. I turned 18 shortly after I graduated from high school and I was ready. Armed with a very loose knowledge of how to count cards and the willingness to risk up to $30 meant that I was destined for success. Quite surprisingly, however, things did not work out quite the way I had hoped. Perhaps it was because counting through 8 decks was not necessarily exciting, or that I spent more time hitting on the female gambling degenerates at the table with me, but my losses came as often as wins. It surely could not have been my lack of card-counting talent, so it must have been something else.

As I went off to college, I could not gamble often anymore (you must be 21 years old to gamble in most states), so my gambling adventures were limited to when I came home from school. What better thing for a broke college student to do than go to the casino? More time passed, and as I was entering my senior year of college, I realized that I should give sports betting a shot again. I was pretty smart, and surely could pick enough winners to make a profit. Well … the only positive thing I could say this time is I did not convince my friends it would be a good idea. Only I lost money here, but this spanking from the sportsbooks convinced me again that I should not gamble on sports.

I graduated from college and decided that the whole “get a job” movement was overrated, so I decided to stay in school. While I admired the tenacity of my friends who were going to take 8 years to get a bachelor’s degree, after 4 years in college I found myself in graduate school. I was quite busy with schoolwork there, and even though I lived 25 minutes from a casino, I did not go gambling too often. A few times a year I might go play blackjack, but that was it. My wife and I would host get togethers for my grad school friends and we would play micro-stakes poker. But I was pretty focused on grad school and was not thinking about gambling as any sort of serious activity …

A brief history of gambling and poker with Poker Elmo – part 3.

During graduate school, I gambled very little. I lived only 25 minutes from a casino, even, but was so focused on my studies that I did not have time to get back to my thoughts of gambling. This focus was necessary for me – I am not smart enough to coast through a Ph.D. program. There were occasional breaks where I could gamble a bit. I had poker nights with friends for low stakes (really low, like quarters low). I went to the casino on occasion, but overall I gambled little. Overall, my 4 years in grad school represent what could be known as “the lost years”.

Towards the end of my graduate studies, in June 2002, my wife was out-of-town on father’s day weekend so I decided to go to the casino as a present to myself. I took a break from the blackjack table to play 7-card stud. I had the “Thursday-night poker” book, which gave me a general idea of how to play correct stud, which probably gave me a small edge at 1-5 spread limit. I had sat down briefly before in the poker room, but felt so overwhelmed I quickly left. This time it would be different, I told myself.

I sat down with $20, not realizing that was a very small amount. The hours flew by as I kept accumulating chips. Before I knew it, I was up well over $100. Then the following hand came up. I am dealt T7-T, and I 3-bet for the max. I can’t remember the upcards, but someone almost certainly had me beat at this point. I got a 4th-stree 4 and a 5th street 7 for 2 pair. But, I had 3 spades and everyone pegged me for the flush. When I bet they all called to chase “my flush”. I felt so powerful to have them all fooled. When the 6th street T came up I had a boat and a well-concealed one at that. I kept max betting and all 4 who were in the pot came along for the ride. That was close to a $200 pot and was thrilled. In hindsight, I realize that I got really lucky to hit my boat, as others certainly had 2 pair beat, but that hooked me on poker. Further, having them all think I had a flush at a low limit game was not that important. But it did not matter to me then – I thought I was a natural poker player. Further, playing poker was so much more fun than blackjack and so much more mentally challenging. I guess this is when I could officially say that I was hooked.

We moved from Iowa to Raleigh a few weeks later, however, and I was no nowhere near a casino. My gambling days again slowed down. We moved in June, and I probably did not gamble at all until I made some friends there and got invited over to poker nights starting in April 2003(I call them friends, they probably call me “the annoying a-hole who wouldn’t shut up until we invited him over for poker”). I lost a bit the first couple of nights, but saw that I could beat the game if I took some time to learn it. The stakes were low, with $0.25-$1.00 betting limits or $5-$10 NL holdem tourneys. But, while low, the guys were great to hang out with and the stakes were high enough to keep me interested at that time. Soon, I began beating the game. Around this time I started seeing commercials for internet poker ...

2007-07-09T08:02:00.001-07:00

How much “gamble” do I have today?

If you read through the blog, you will notice that I play $1 bb or $2 bb mostly, but occasionally have dabbled in bigger stakes also. It is quite odd – but on different days I may have completely different desires for risk. On days where I don’t want to risk as much, I play $1 bb NL 6-max. 4- or 6-tabling that I can still earn a very nice rate. When I have a bit more gamble in me, I will play $1/2 NL or even 2/4 or 3/6 NL (usually short stacked at higher, but not always).

After reading about the poker mindset more, I think this is a healthy thing to realize. If there is a day I crave action – it would be foolish to play $1 bb NL, as I will likely play too reckless. In fact, I have had these moments where I play far too reckless at $1 bb NL. I don’t know that it was tilting as much as wanting action. These days it is far smarter to play higher stakes. Likewise, there are days when a $500 loss would upset me more than it should. At $1/2 NL, that is just 2 ½ buyins and could happen in a bad 10 minutes. On these days, playing $1 bb NL is a better choice.

It has taken me a while to realize this, but I really think this is a bit asset. Just because you can technically beat a limit, does not mean that you have to play that everyday. Lately, I have not wanted to play much 1/2 NL - so I have stuck with $1 bb NL.

I had a good Saturday and Sunday playing - winning some cash games and winning a $215 UB seat and a $215 pokerstars seat, although Sunday night I gave back some when I bought in to a couple tourneys and two EBJ games (one SNG, one tourney) and did not cash any. I also lost about a buyin this morning, but still up since the last post.

2007-07-07T04:58:00.000-07:00

Update

Sorry for the lack of updates. Life has been busy (which seems surprising, it is summer). Our family took a vacation and my wife had surgery to correct for carpal tunnel, which has required me to be on kid duty (for 3 kids under five years old) and help her out a bit too since she can only use one arm for a week or so.

From mid-June to July 1st, I had a mini-slump, where I only won a bit in cash games. However, I had a trip to play live poker in Council Bluffs. There I got rivered in some nasty pots (flopped flush, almost all in by river when guy rivers a boat, flopped bottom 2 and guy calls big bets with A-rag on A87-4-4 flop and beats me with aces up). I ended up down only $400. Given that I was playing $2/$5 NL, that could have been worse, but one timely river bluff got a guy off a boat (KQ spades – flop KJT with JT of spades. Turn is T, I bet 35, villain min raises. This guy had played trips very similarly earlier, so it was exactly what I put him on. I have 6 outs for a straight and 9 for a flush, however, with 2 for a royal flush. Through in 2 K outs, I have to call. (Knowing that I have to play anything but a K river or royal flush carefully as he may have a boat.) The river is a J, making the board KJT-T-J. Well, I was pretty certain he had a T, but not a J. Therefore I bet out about 2/3 the size of the pot (I was OOP), which was $110. He went in the tank and folded his ten face up!

Since July started, however, I have not played tourneys. Just cash games due to my busy schedule. But when I have played cash games, I have been tearing things up. I have mainly played full buyin $1 bb NL, and am up over 10 buyins for the week. May try to post some fun hands soon.

I started toying with Elimination Blackjack (EBJ) on UB. It is fun, and there is strategy involved, but I am not very good yet. I would love to learn this game better. However, there is an opportunity cost, since I am giving up a nice earn rate at NL cash whenever I play it. But, since I don’t play for a living, focusing solely on earn rate is probably not the best thing to do. Further, if I get good at EBJ – it could provide a nice earn rate in the future.

2007-06-14T03:33:00.000-07:00

My most amazing poker comeback story has a bittersweet ending.

I played both the million and the UB 200K Sunday. I busted in the million about 2/3 way through (player wise). I got shortstacked when I ran AK into AA. I actually played it conservatively – I only CC the PF raise, then just called all the way on a K high uncoordinated board. That left me with 5K – which I got back up to 14K, but that was still only half the average and I busted when I pushed K9s from the CO with an M of 5 and 10K chips and ran into QQ which held up.

In the UB 200K, I was at half the average after losing a bunch of chips w QQ when I had to fold and a PF raise and continuation bet on a KJ4-2-A board. I had about 3.6K in chips, then had to fold the bb. The average was 7.5K, and I picked up 77. Here is what transpired.

Ultimate Bet

No Limit Holdem Tournament

Blinds: t200./t400.

(Ante: t50)

9 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: t17210

UTG+1: t15700

MP1: t7210

MP2: t19510

MP3: t5135

CO: t5305

Button: t9145

ELMO: t3430

BB: t3285

Pre-flop: (9 players) ELMO is SB with 7♠ 7♣

UTG raises to t800, 6 folds, ELMO calls t600 (pot was t1850), BB raises all-in t3235, UTG calls t2435 (pot was t5285), ELMO raises all-in t3380, UTG calls t145 (pot was t10300).

Flop: T♥ 2♦ A♥ (t10445, 1 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t10155, Sidepot 1: t290)

Turn: 3♣ (t10445, 1 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t10155, Sidepot 1: t290)

River: A♣ (t10445, 1 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t10155, Sidepot 1: t290)

Results:

Final pot: t10445

BB shows 3h As

UTG shows Ks Qd

ELMO shows 7s 7c

I had a good chance to triple up, but vs. 3 overs, not surprising I lost. I was left with a piddling 290 chips. The big blind was 400, with a 25 ante, so I was toast. There were a couple limpers, and I figure 63s might play OK in a multi-way pot. Further, the antes will eat away my stack quickly, so why not try to get lucky now.

Ultimate Bet

No Limit Holdem Tournament

Blinds: t200./t400.

(Ante: t50)

10 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: t15650

UTG+1: t7160

UTG+2: t19460

MP1: t5085

MP2: t5255

MP3: t9095

CO: t12315

ELMO: t290

SB: t10155

BB: t13780

Pre-flop: (10 players) ELMO is Button with 6♠ 3♠

UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t400 (pot was t1100), 3 folds, MP3 calls t400 (pot was t1500), CO folds, ELMO calls all-in t240, SB calls t200 (pot was t2140), BB checks.

Flop: 8♦ 4♥ Q♣ (t2340, 4 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: t1700, Sidepot 1: t640)

SB checks, BB bets t1000, UTG+1 raises to t2500, 3 folds.

Uncalled bets: t1500 returned to UTG+1.

Turn: 3♣ (t4340, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t1700, Sidepot 1: t2640)

River: 3♦ (t4340, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t1700, Sidepot 1: t2640)

Results:

Final pot: t4340

UTG+1 shows Ks Qs

ELMO shows 6s 3s

That is right – I had 6 high against a pair of queens, and hit runner-runner 3s!

I was still desperate, of course, but that pot more than quintupled me up.

Next hand – AK

Ultimate Bet

No Limit Holdem Tournament

Blinds: t200./t400.

(Ante: t50)

10 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: t8350

UTG+1: t19410

UTG+2: t5035

MP1: t5205

MP2: t8645

MP3: t12315

ELMO: t1650

Button: t9705

SB: t12330

BB: t15600

Pre-flop: (10 players) ELMO is CO with A♥ K♠

6 folds, ELMO raises all-in t1600, Button folds, SB calls t1400 (pot was t2700), BB folds.

Flop: J♥ 6♠ 3♣ (t4100, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t4100)

Turn: K♣ (t4100, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t4100)

River: 7♦ (t4100, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t4100)

Results:

Final pot: t4100

SB shows 4s 4d

ELMO shows Ah Ks

And I am above where I started when I had the 77.

I stole the blinds once. Then I get the big blind with a guy who loves button raising. I figure I am going to do a stop-and-go. When the board comes, I figure I get all in either way if behind, but the only way to get all in if I am ahead is to trap. Here is what happened.

Ultimate Bet

No Limit Holdem Tournament

Blinds: t200./t400.

(Ante: t50)

10 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: t9405

UTG+1: t13330

UTG+2: t14700

MP1: t7450

MP2: t16660

MP3: t5140

CO: t5355

Button: t13780

SB: t12665

ELMO: t4900

Pre-flop: (10 players) ELMO is BB with Q♠ J♠

7 folds, Button raises to t1200, SB folds, ELMO calls t800 (pot was t2300).

Flop: A♥ J♣ 9♠ (t3100, 2 players)

ELMO checks, Button bets t1900, ELMO raises all-in t3650, Button calls t1750 (pot was t8650).

Turn: J♥ (t10400, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t10400)

River: 5♦ (t10400, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t10400)

Results:

Final pot: t10400

Button shows Kc 9h

ELMO shows Qs Js

From here I got aces a couple times, then moved my stack to 25K. Near the bubble, I think I made a mistake making a continuation bet in position w 99 on a KQx board against 2 players, one of whom was belowabove who ch-raised all in, forcing me to fold. This pushed me down to 16K or so. I then got nothing for cards, and was whittled down a bit and my short stack push was called and I busted in the money – doubling the buy in. It always sucks to bust, but that comeback to get ITM is still impressive, IMO. The real money is always in the top 3, so I am a bit disgusted I could not make it farther.

I was impressed with how maniacal below above was near the bubble. I think I may need to study bubble play a bit more.

Crushing Cash Games.

I have been crushing cash games the past few days. I decided to drop down to $1 bb NL SH, and I actually don’t know if I am going to move back up. The players are so much worse that my earn rate might actually be higher at $1 bb/NL. When I first sit down, I try to play like a complete maniac for 15 hands or so – raising half the time. Then I remain aggressive PF, but settle into more of a normal game. The table, however, will not give me any respect. I have had some very loose calls, and I am up about 13 buyins since Sunday playing a limited schedule.

I am off to IA to visit friends for a few days, so I doubt I will play any online poker again until Monday.

2007-06-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

NL – 6-max. Wow, the swings are freaking huge!

In the 48 hours since I posted last, I am up about 1 buy-in playing ½ NL 6-max. This does not quite tell the story, however.

Wednesday, I had a good day – winning over 4.5 buyins. A great day playing relatively little (at one points, I was up 50 PTBB/100). Yesterday, I gave most back. I was down 2.5 buyins when this hand came up (hand history crapped out for UB on this hand, so this is by memory).

Elmo has 99 – raised utg (6-max) to $7 $400 stack.
UTG+1 is a LP PF player, LAGGY post-flop player with $1000 chip stack (this is ½ NL, max buyin $200).
Everyone else folds.
Flop is K 3 3.

Elmo bets $12 as a continuation bet. UTG+1 calls. Elmo is thinking “I am done with this hand”. Then however …

Turn 9Wow – I made a boat. Since stacks are so deep, the best way to possibly stack him is to ch-raise here, so I check.

UTG+1 bets $40 (about the pot). I ch-raise to $145. This leaves $235 behind or so – a good amount for a river bet should he call. To my delight, he calls.

River – a K

UHGGGG! I check. He bets $100 into $300+ pot. I figure he must see there is no way I have a king, so there is a better than ¼ chance he is value betting with either a 3 or AA (or QQ), so I call, and he shows King-Ten. His turn call was incredibly weak, but worked out. I certainly sucked out on the turn, but if I don't, I lose far, far less on this hand.

Sooooo…. that K on the river meant instead of losing 1 buyin, I lost 4 buyins yesterday.

I decided just to stop for the day. I had plenty of other things going on – so no biggie. In general, I felt I was playing OK, but there is no point in proceeding when I could just start again fresh the next day. This morning I decided just to one-table to start to make sure I made proper decisions (after a big loss – this is not a bad strategy). I ended a half-buyin up making me up one buyin over 2 days. Not a bad result, really, but a pretty sick way to get there. If I won 3.5 buyins per weak playing part-time, I would be thrilled. Just a brutal, gut-wrenching way to get there.

This Sunday – I am playing the Sunday million on stars and the UB $200K. Hopefully I can make a nice run in one or both. I would not mind winning one hundred thousand dollars this weekend.

2007-06-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

The 1/2 NL SH Roller Coaster

The past few days have been a bit crazy: A brief look at my results over the past week:

Thursday: Up $500
Friday: Up $1000
Saturday: Down $700
Sunday: Down $150
Monday: Up $150
Tuesday: Up $450

And in a short morning session I am up again. Overall, it has been a profitable week – but the swings are pretty crazy. I am mostly playing 2 or 3 tables with a full buyin. I just am playing a good tight-aggressive game. I am making the occasional move, but mainly to slow down the guys who raise PF 20% of the time or so.

I have not played many tourneys recently – but I will be playing the Sunday million and UB $200K this Sunday (ended up not playing this past Sunday).

SOME HANDS

I need to learn to fold aces better – at least against the multi-tabling robots

Poker Stars

No Limit Holdem Ring game

Blinds: $1/$2

6 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

ELMO: $232.60

UTG+1: $132.55

CO: $113.30

Button: $199

SB: $53.85

BB: $97.60

Pre-flop: (6 players) ELMO is UTG with A♠ A♦

ELMO raises to $6, 2 folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Flop: 9♠ T♣ 2♣ ($19, 3 players)

BB checks, ELMO bets $12, Button raises to $40, BB folds, ELMO calls.

Turn: 3♦ ($99, 2 players)

ELMO checks, Button bets $66, ELMO raises to $182, Button calls all-in $87.

Uncalled bets: $29 returned to ELMO.

River: 5♦ ($405, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $405)

Results:

Final pot: $405

ELMO showed As Ad

Button showed 2s 2d

Sometimes - they call with their gutshot draws (and we like it!)

Poker Stars

No Limit Holdem Ring game

Blinds: $1/$2

6 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: $258.80

UTG+1: $105.45

CO: $197

Button: $219

ELMO: $371.40

BB: $216

Pre-flop: (6 players) ELMO is SB with T♣ 9♣

4 folds, ELMO raises to $6, BB calls.

Flop: 4♣ A♠ J♣ ($12, 2 players)

ELMO bets $8, BB calls.

Turn: K♣ ($28, 2 players)

ELMO bets $22, BB raises to $66, ELMO raises to $238, BB calls all-in $136.

Uncalled bets: $36 returned to ELMO.

River: 4♠ ($432, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $432)

Results:

Final pot: $432

ELMO showed Tc 9c
BB mucks Ts Qs

A good river fold? He was calling quick on flop and turn – made me think he was on a flush draw the whole way

Poker Stars

No Limit Holdem Ring game

Blinds: $1/$2

5 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

BB: $216

UTG: $533.05

ELMO: $226

Button: $200

SB: $182.20

BB: $226.40

Pre-flop: (5 players) ELMO is CO with 9♣ A♣

UTG calls, ELMO raises to $8, 3 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: A♦ 9♥ 2♦ ($19, 2 players)

UTG checks, ELMO bets $14, UTG calls.

Turn: Q♥ ($47, 2 players)

UTG checks, ELMO bets $42, UTG calls.

River: 4♦ ($131, 2 players)

UTG is all-in $469.05, ELMO folds.

Uncalled bets: $469.05 returned to UTG.

Results:

Final pot: $131

Sometimes you raise the flop to try to see if they have nothing. You were wrong, but it turns out right!

Ultimate Bet

No Limit Holdem Ring game

Blinds: $1./$2.

4 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

ELMO: $250.80

Button: $201.90

SB: $278.05

BB: $173.05

Pre-flop: (4 players) ELMO is UTG with J♥ J♣

ELMO raises to $7, Button folds, SB raises to $23, BB folds, ELMO calls.

Flop: 2♣ K♣ 4♠ ($48, 2 players)

SB bets $25, ELMO raises to $70, SB calls.

Turn: J♦ ($188, 2 players)

SB checks, ELMO bets $80, SB calls.

River: 2♦ ($348, 2 players)

SB checks, ELMO is all-in $77.8, SB calls.

Results:

Final pot: $503.6

ELMO shows Jh Jc

SB showed AK

2007-05-28T04:07:00.000-07:00

Tournaments last night

I played several tourneys last night. I busted early from the UB $35 and the full tilt $24 (starting at 7:30 and 8:00 PM). I put in $6 in a sat for the UB 30K guarantee that started at 11:00 PM and won – but busted in the event 15 minutes in with AA when villain turned 2 pair with his KJ (he had put in over 1/3 of his stack with KJ prior to the turn when he took the lead – wtf?).

I also played the stars 18K guar. In that I had some success. I was down early to half the buyin, but battled back and fought my way the whole tourney. 1676 entered, and I ended up in 7th when my AK lost a flip to 99. If I win that I am tied for the chip lead and probably win or take 2nd. Instead, I got just over 1K for my troubles. This tourney was a lesson in short stack play. I was hovering with an M of between 4 and 7 for most of the post-money bubble, usually with a slightly (or well) below average stack.

I am not sure if any hands there are too fascinating – but I will check. I have worked on patience in tourneys and I think that has started paying dividends.

2007-05-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

Stars

Thanks in part to their double FPP promotion, I reached Platinum Star for the first time. I really wish I would have played a bit more, actually, and provided myself a good base for getting supernova. I also deposited for the first time since Neteller left, going to my local wal-Mart to make a deposit for a $150 bonus. Even with the $9.50 fee– it was definitely worth the time.

Ring Game Update

After having a great few days at the beginning of the stars FPP promotion, I essentially broke-even on ring games during the last week of the promotion. I think part of the reason were the games were much tougher, since many grinders were 10-tabling more than normal to get double-FPPs. I also ran a little cold, losing several hands where I got all in with 70% chance to win or better. I earned over 35K in FPPs during the 11 days of the promotion – which is enough to buy into the $530 Sunday million should I choose, and ended up a fair amount based on wins for the first 5 days.

On Wednesday, the first day after the promotion ended, I started winning again. I played FTP and stars and players seemed much worse. The quality of players really does matter, lol.

My current MO is to buy into Full Ring games with 27.5 big blinds. The number 27.5 is not too important, but at 1-2 NL I buy in for $55. That allows me to multitable quite easily.

Several Tournaments

Nightly 100K on stars

I played this Tuesday, May 15th and finished 9 out of the money. I pushed A3o on the button first in with an M=4 and was called by 99 and did not improve. I was half the average stack, and think my move was right since I will probably pick up the blinds 75% of the time, and the other 25% of the time I will still win some of the time. I was bummed about the bubble, as I had a great table where I had a good read on lots of donks but was moved with about 30 from the bubble to a different table with lots of bigger stacks and I had no reads.

Stars Million

I played in and cashed in my first stars million on Sunday. I was able to triple up early by hitting 2 sets. I played both moderately slow. On one, I got a lot of chips out of AJ when I probably would not have won much had I played it faster. The other, I won 10K post-flop on a A72 flop w 77 when the other guy had AK. Had I led that flop harder, I think I could have busted the guy, which would have given me an extra 4K, as he had a 14K stack.
I won with QQ vs. K5 to give me a 50K stack, which was actually bigger than the average stack on the bubble (40K). It was a funny tourney, as prior to the bubble bursting, I lost with AK to KK to go to 17K. The bubble burst, I stole blinds a couple times, then pushed J8o with a 20K shorter stack and was called by 66. The flop was T92 giving me 14 outs (4-Qs, 3-Js, 3-8s, 4-7s). I turned a straight and was average. I stole a couple blinds and was up to 60K, which was barely above average.

Shaniac, a top tourney pro both online and live, was at my table. He was in the big blind with about 25K when I had 40K after dwindling a bit. The cost per orbit was now about 6K, and when it folded to me, I pushed 54s on the button into his big blind. He picked up AK and held and, just prior to the 2nd money level, I was again pushed down to 17K. The 2nd money level bubble burst, and I was alive, but desperate. There were 1500 or so left, and I had just over double the starting stack. However, I won a coin flip with 88 vs. AK, then utg pushed and I had JJ in MP and called and doubled again! All of a sudden I was at 80K. I pretty much maintained without getting cards by making the occasional steal. By the time the bubble for the third money level came around, I was at about 60K when the average was 100K. Everyone folded to my SB, when I had K7. With blinds and antes worth about 11K at this point, it was an easy push. The big blind thought and thought, and called off his tournament life with T6o. The donkey hit, however, and I was back to 17K right before the bubble for the third money level. It was so odd – before each money level bubble I moved down to 17K. I survived the money bubble, and checked my rankings. The average was 110K, I had 17K, and at one point my stack size was 885 out of 895.

I picked up a 3-hand rush, however, tripling with KQ when I hit a K, then, on the next hand in the big blind, it was folded to the sb who pushed KJ and I called with AQ and doubled again. I reraised all in with 88 vs. a LAGGY player on our table, and was at 120K – above average! After 20 hands or so, I picked up AQ, and the table donk raised in EP so I pushed. (Big blind was 10K, so he raised to 30K, and I pushed my 110K stack). He called with K7o (the idiot raised K7o utg, WTF) but hit his K. I was down to 10K, and this time I did not recover. I cashed for 700 or so, and was generally happy with my play. The one thing I would have liked to do better was prevent my stack from dwindling so much, but I was at an aggressive table without much for cards, so I don’t know how much more I could do.

Ultimate Bet Satellites

On Friday I played 3 ultimate bet satellites – one to $200 WSOP Satellite, one to their $200 buy in 200K guarantee, and one to their $530 buy in tourney. All were turbo tourneys, and I won seats in the later two events! After buyins, I won a net of 600 in tourney dollars with these wins. I cashed out the $530 buyin – as that tourney has a really tough field, but am playing the 200 on UB this Sunday. I might play the 200 on UB the next few weeks.

Tourneys this weekend
I am playing the Goldstar freerole today on Stars. Tomorrow, I am playing the People’s Championship for ITH. Winner gets a WSOP ME seat with 4K in equity – although I will likely buy 1K more of myself. It will be a huge, huge hassle if I win, but I will probably try to fly my mother out to watch the kids while my wife and I go to Vegas. I am also playing the UB $200.

2007-05-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

Got my computer set up – have begun multitabling

I have been on a good run at 6-max $200 buy in NL if I play 1 or 2 tables. I want to begin multitabling at stars, however, now that they have their double FPP promotion. I can easily 8-table with 2 screens, and might even have 10 tables open much of the time.

To do this, I don’t buyin full, I will be playing NL full-ring, and buying in for $55. That allows me to play short-stack strategy and capitalize on bigger stacks who are playing looser against other big stacks (for implied odds) and will not give me enough credit since they think I must be weak for buying in short. I hope to make platinum star by the end of their 10 billion hand promotion, and maybe even rack up several thousand extra points.

With double points, if I played 8 hours, I would earn pretty huge FPPs (10K or more). Without any earnings, that is worth about 215 T$ – a huge boost. Naturally, I expect to earn significantly more than that. However, I don’t plan on playing 8 hours per day. But, I would like to 8-10 table 1-2 hours every day at NL (perhaps 1 hour twice a day). My earnings per hour doing that should be pretty nice.

Tourneys

I played a few tourneys last week. I am rusty. I made a couple bad moves, although some decent ones as well. Only one worth mentioning was a FT tourney. I was well above average with 200 left (money starts at 150 and lost with AJ to 77 and 99 to AJ back-to-back to bust out. If I win the second flip, I am about 4th in chips headed into the bubble, a prime spot to make a run. But, it did not happen. Now that the semester is over, I have over 1000 T$ to use and hope to play some nightly 100Ks and some Sunday millions.

I have also played a couple $33R on stars for WSOP seats (I would just keep the 10K). I have had the most horrendous luck in the rebuy period on those – just sick. I have spent 6 buyins in the last two tourneys and stopped before the rebuy period ended. Just sick beats and was so disgusted with those I did not want to continue. I will take some shots again at those, however (still have over 1200 in W$).

The rust should be off here by this week – hopefully I can start making a few runs. After seeing how well ITHers are doing in the nightly 100K and in the million – I am itching to get in there and make some noise.

2007-05-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

My poker mindset

Matthew Hilger and Ian Taylor (Piemaster) have a great book on the poker mindset. I know most of the material they write pretty well, but I admire their cold and calculated look at how a poker player should approach the game. Sometimes I wonder about my own mindset.

If I am being honest, I think my biggest skills are:

Ability to adapt to many different situations in MTTs, especially post-bubble
Analytical ability in NL holdem and willingness to adjust
Ability to never take a massive loss and walk away from games if I had a bad run
Ability(?) to never play games that are outside my bankroll.

My biggest weaknesses
Inability to be satisfied with mastery of one game (I jump from PLO to NL holdem, to tourneys, to SNGs, etc.)
Frustration level when I get a couple bad or unlucky beats
Unwillingness to move up levels quickly

Most of my biggest weaknesses have to do with mindset. Sure, I can become better at every game I play, but in NL holdem and NL holdem tourneys, I am not "weak". I am not sure my emotional state with poker is optimal, however. For example, I had a great run over the past few days, clearing about 1000 in a few days. But one session where I have AA losing to QQ on a flopped set, KK losing to QT all in on a Q94 flop, and 22 losing to 99 on a 982 flop, got me very frustrated. I need to do a better job realizing this is variance and focus on the longer run.

I know completely that a focus on the short term is unhealthy, yet my mind and emotions don’t always run side-by-side.

Summer is here – expect more updates

The school year is over, and grades are in. I expect to update my blog much more often!

Got a new computer with dual monitors

I am just getting it hooked up, but I expect to be able to 8-table some now with this setup. Woo-hoo!

2007-04-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Played a little the past few days - big tourney mistake

I played a little the past few days. Thursday I played the bodog $40 tourney, 25K guaraneteed. I was doing well, was chip-leader for a while with under 100 left, and decided that when it got down to two tables, I would try being a bit more aggressive to try to get a lot of chips going into the final table.

That was a mistake. I normally play the final 3 tables so well, that I should not have changed. I am plenty aggro in spots, but also know how to be patient. I chose an awful spot for an ill-timed bluff and busted in 18th. I got paid a miserable $250 or so, when top 6 all paid over $1K. It was an awful feeling, and so uncharacteristic of me to donk it up so late. My usual strategies work. If I want to make subtle changes, I should just follow along with toro or TP and think through each situation late.

In other news, I have played some PLO and NL holdem. Overall, I am down a bit, but it is because the one time I bought in full and played I lost with A6 to AQ on a AQ6 board to get stacked.

Also, once summer rolls around, I am going to play the majors most Sundays, or at least the million. The money at the top is so big, I have to throw in my lottery tickets each week.

2007-04-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Swamped at Work - but Iowa donks killed me

I have not played much recently, with two weeks left in the semester, things are pretty swamped.

However, I took a trip to Iowa for work last week, both to present a paper and conduct some research. I was also able to go to Prairie Meadows to play some poker. Wow, the donks had a wonderful time with me there. I got aces three times, once only getting the blinds, and the other two times I played against guys who flopped sets. I got a King high flush and the table idiot had an ace high flush. I made one mistake, getting too aggressive with A7 diamonds on an A35 flop to a guy who limped 24 and flopped a straight.

Given these 4 hands, I am thrilled that I only lost a little more than one buyin. Overall, not bad given those 4 hands.

Reading Rolf's PLO book.

I have been reading Rolf's PLO book. Initial thoughts are that it is a good book, although mainly designed as a short-stack strategy. I am reviewing this later for ITH, so I won't say much about this now.

2007-04-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

My best call ever?

There was a quick call on the flop, which made me think he might have a draw. Then he had a quick overbet on the river which made me think he had air.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

UTG (t1410)
UTG+1 (t4855)
MP1 (t1535)
MP2 (t955)
MP3 (t1345)
Hero (t4300)
Button (t1730)
SB (t1060)
BB (t1565)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Qd, Ac.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t30, MP1 calls t30, 2 folds, CO raises to t120, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls t90, MP1 calls t90.

Flop: (t405) 3d, 2d, 9c (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, CO bets t305, UTG+1 calls t305, MP1 folds.

Turn: (t1015) 6c (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks.

River: (t1015) 3c (2 players)
UTG+1 bets t1440, Hero calls t1440.

Final Pot: t3895

Results in white below:
UTG+1 has 5d 7d (one pair, threes).
Hero has Qd Ac (one pair, threes).
Outcome: Hero wins t3895.

2007-04-06T17:11:00.002-07:00

A sick hand

There are 17 players left, 16 win $1050 seats to the Friday night WSOP qualifier on stars. I am in 2nd position – and here are the stack sizes.

Seat 1: calluch (22880 in chips)
Seat 2: KidPokerJD (9534 in chips)
Seat 3: muscovey (11040 in chips)
Seat 4: pokerelmo (7439 in chips)
Seat 5: beowulf (4644 in chips)
Seat 6: raiseit (15960 in chips)
Seat 7: DaDonkeyDonk (44524 in chips)
Seat 8: Duffs#1fan (4448 in chips)
Seat 9: Y2JKID (31960 in chips)

The big blind is 8000, which means neither the big blind nor utg can get through the blinds without going all in (before I have to be all in). Further, the player utg on the other table has only 6000 chips, so he is all in.

I pick up aces!

What do you do?

I figured at least one other player would call, so I would win about 7/10 of the time.

I figured the odds of the 3 players all winning were about 1/8 (giving each a 50/50 chance). So there is a 7/8 chance I win without having to win a showdown. Further, if disaster strikes and they all win, I still could win my all in when I get the big blind.

I folded.

Here is what happened:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t8000 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

SB (t22880)

BB (t9534)

UTG (t11040)

Hero (t7439)

MP1 (t4644)

MP2 (t15960)

MP3 (t44524)

CO (t4448)

Button (t31960)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with As, Ah.

7 folds, SB raises to t16000, BB calls t1134 (All-In).

Flop: (t20334) 5h, Kh, 6c (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t20334) 2h (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t20334) Qs (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t20334

Results in white below:

SB has Jh 9h (flush, king high).

BB has Kc Ad (one pair, kings).

Outcome: SB wins t20334.

And I win 1050 W$. Woo Hoo!

2007-04-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Playing just a bit – thoughts on cash games

I still am busy, but have a moderate lull in my schedule this week. I have been able to play a little, and have mostly played 1/2 blind NL. I have started playing full ring, and simply tightening up my game PF, and the results have been good. I have not jumped onto 1/2 NL 6-max tables recently, but the games have not been this easy since before neteller. Perhaps the U.S. fish are finding a way to deposit money into sites again. Either that or some U.S. sharks have given up. Whatever the reason, I though the cash games had gotten a lot tougher from right after neteller left until mid-March or so. Now they seem to be getting a bit easier. I have seem some WTF type calls from people, which are very profitable and I did not see as many of those in the past couple months.

I usually buy in for $80 on those tables and 3-4 table, although I actually have 5-tabled it easily. I need to get a dual monitor setup so I can start to 8-table. I think that would be a profitable investment.

When will I have time to play tourneys?

I have 1200 in T$ at stars, and several hundred also at Ultimate Bet, but I don’t know when I will get to use them. It might not be until after my school year is over, although I suspect I will be able to sneak in a tourney here or there. My plan is to play the nightly 150s or Sunday millions with these T$ on stars, and the 120 bounty or sunday 200K on UB. However, I am sure a few smaller tourneys or satellites will eat some of the funds. Still - I should get buyins for at least 7 $100+ tourneys out of this. Hopefully I can hit a big score.

2007-03-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

Just getting crushed with work – poker on the back-burner. But, in 3 hours Sunday …

I am super-busy with work right now. A colleague at work had a baby and I am taking over her course for the last 7 weeks of the semester. I am also busy with a couple research projects and we are in the middle of advising which always takes a lot of time. So, I have had little time for poker.

I played Sunday night a week ago in 4 tourneys – crashed and burned in 3 tourneys, but in the 4th tourney I cashed in the $30 rebuy on tilt. Unfortunately, shortly after the money bubble burst, I ran JJ into AA (stacks are so thin there is no way to avoid going broke there).

I did well throughout the week at PLO, both 6-max and HU, although I gave a lot of it back in a bad hour yesterday (Sunday) morning. I still have a positive week, despite only playing a few hours (4 hours total, I think).

This week was crazy – Friday I was working until 8:30 PM, Saturday I worked from 6:45 AM to 5:30 PM, and Sunday I had work from 12:15-2:15. I got home Sunday, my wife was going to rest for a bit, and my kids wanted a bit of computer time. So I logged in on my laptop just in time for a Rd 2 tourney at bugsysclub and the 2:30 stars satellite to the $1050 buy in million. After a tough week, I felt like I earned a little poker-time. I started by doing well in the satellite, and built a stack. I picked up hands and they held, and I won a seat. If I have a minute, I will post a couple interesting hands. The most fascinating two (IMO) involved what to do with TT vs. the chipleader and 99 utg with only 2 players left.

It felt really great to win $1050 T$. Plus, I was still in the bugsys tourney, although just rolling around at slightly below average. After the 2nd break, I had 20K and the average was 30K with blinds of 1K/2K and 200 antes (M=4). I got into a showdown with 76s, 33, and Q4s on 3 consecutive hands but ended up with 40K after those 3. I stole some more, won some showdowns, and ended up with the chiplead with 12 left. I took my foot off of the accelerator as we hit the final table, just playing ABC poker. With 5 left, we were all about average, I turned up the heat. I got lucky to tie with 22 vs. 55 against a short stack. I would have still be in, but had 200K chips instead of 100K chips. The next hand, utg raised to 30K and I pushed with AK. He called and I held to pick up a big chip lead. From there I whittled and got all in when I was dominating players and got heads up with 700K in chips vs. 220K. I whittled him down to 100K in chips, then got all in with AT vs. A2 and won.

Great 3 hour stretch on Sunday. The funny thing is, these were the only two things I had up. Normally I have other tourneys up, but just these two open yesterday, and I went 2-2 for a $1500 afternoon.

2007-03-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

A lousy 24 hours

Wow, did the variance tax hit me hard. I decided to play a bit of full buy-in $2/$4 NL.

2 big hands - once where I hit a set, we get all in on the turn, and someone hits their 12 outer on the river. Another, I flop a nut flush draw and gutshot straight draw and get all in on the flop vs. a set and don't hit.

Then today I played some $2/$4 NL for $100 buy ins, and lost QQ vs. AK (all in PF), KJ vs. AA (all in on the flop where J flopped - certainly this is not a bad beat, however), and QQ vs. TT (all in PF). After this, I then made a really bad call for a big pot.

Overall, it was one of the worst 24-hour periods I have ever experienced.

Oh well, I guess this is why I have large bankroll, so that stuff like this can happen without putting a serious dent in my bankroll. I was going to make a run for 3000 points on FTP this week (Thursday to Wednesday), but after this bad start I am not certain if I will or if I will take a short break.

2007-03-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Short Update

I still have to complete the rest of my trip report, but thought I would update on what has happened since I have been home.

Cash games

I have been on a nice run. I am up a bit, mostly playing $1/$2 blind NL and $0.50/$1.00 blind NL. Some 6 max, some heads up. I have also played and won a bit playing PLO. The competition online is much, much, tougher than live play. I am a bit surprised I have not hit a downswing (as I often have after returning from live play). Thankfully I am making correct decisions.

Tourneys – Satellites

I have a bunch of stars W$. I have played several satellites for entries into WSOP satellites (the $650) or the EPT final (the $800). I have not succeeded, but came close in the $800. Unfortunately I found the right big blind to raise with junk while I still have folding equity, but the small blind picked up KK and knocked me out – refunding my buyin in 8th place when top 6 got 800 W$. I also used some W$ to enter the WSOP $160 double shootout. I played tight with little for cards (blinds go up real slow which makes this possible), but lost a flip with JJ to AQ and was bounced.

The bright spot was that I played a UB $20 turbo/rebuy satellite for an entry into their $530 Sunday tourney. I played well – then was crushed when my AJ push was called by KT and he hit. There were only 5 left, and 2 get seats. However, I was down to 4000 chips when the average was 30,000 and the big blind was 1600. My chances were very slim. However, I picked up A9 and doubled on the next hand, then stole blinds twice to get to 12K. I picked up another couple blinds to get to 17K. Then I pushed 87 from the big blind when the small blind limped with A9. He called my push and the board came 26J-T-8! I rivered the 8 to get to over 25K. Then, on the next hand in the small blind, I picked up KK. The CO limped, I raised to 8K (bb was 2K now, I think), big blind and CO called. Flop was 773. I bet 10K, big blind folded, CO pushed and I called. He showed 22! My hand held up, and all of a sudden we are 5 handed and I have half the chips in play. I cruised from there, and won 530 T$. I was going to play the event, until Toro basically told me that the tourney is populated by the best players and few fish play. I instead played the UB $120 bounty tourney …

Non-Satellite Tourneys

I played the $120 UB bounty tourney Sunday night, along with the $50 bodog tourney. The bodog tourney was a nightmare. I need to remember to play super-tight there, as the players on bodog are stupid and aggressive. It can be a very profitable place to play, but you have to resort to simple ABC poker. There is no point setting up a bluff when the players can’t think past the fact that “I have QJ on a AQ442 board – I have a pair, I must call”. My mistake on that tourney, and I was out early. The UB $120 went better. I lost some chips early, but the good blind structure and my good play allowed me to get those chips back and hang out at about the average through the first few hours. You get a $20 bounty for each player you bust, and I ended up busting 4, and finishing in the 2nd money level for a $215 cash (plus the other bounty money). I reraised AQ with an M=7.5 and blinds about to go up and was called by AK to bust. This was probably a mistake, but since I was just moved to a new table, I did not have good reads to find out whether a reraise would be a scary proposition there. Before that, I think I played some great poker, especially since I lost a bunch of coin flips that could have given me a much larger stack. I may post a great play by me that really paid off on my next post.

2007-03-02T04:57:00.000-08:00

Elmo’s Vegas Report – part 1

Wednesday

I arrive at about 9:30 and get to the hotel at about 10:30. I played a bit of $1/$2 NL to try to get to Vegas time late at night. I was very tired, and ended up winning only $18. It would have been more, but called a short stacks $45 reraise with TT when he had JJ with only a few hands left.

Thursday

My plan of getting on Vegas time failed, as I was up by 7:00 AM. (Which is 10:00 AM eastern. I got a few things ready for my conference, got breakfast, and called my wife early. I am here for a conference, so I checked the schedule, and figured out what I would be doing with the conference that day. Then I walked by the poker room. The only thing available was the $55 donk-a-thon (fast blind structure tourney). Only 19 players in it, actually, so it was not too bad. I knew it would not be a big time committment. It played like a 2-table SNG. I played pretty standard, got lucky with an 89 push when AT called when I was very shortstacked, chiped up a bit, and had 6500 when 4-handed (started with 1500). The other three players all had slightly more than me, so I was happy to take a 4-way chop with blinds of 1000/2000. Nice way to start.

I played some $1/$2 NL in the afternoon, and won a bit – a few hands of note:

I get AA. Someone raised into me (for $15). I reraised to $55 (about 180 behind), other guy pushes and I insta-call. He pushed with 99 for about 70 more, so I picked up a nice pot.

I raise several limpers with JJ – I raise to 20. I get 6 callers!! :0 Flop – JT3. checked to me, I bet about 45. A shortstack pushes for 110 with King-Ten, saying, “I haven’t done anything stupid yet, now seems like a good time”. My top set holds and I win a big pot.

I get AK. Nutjob joined the table, and we were having fun chatting it up. He raisesd. I reraised (I think he raised 10, I reraised 30). A short stack reraises all in for 100. Nutjob folded AQ, I called with AK. Shortstack has 96s (WTF?). He flops 987, and wins.

I get 53s. I decide that even though it isn’t 53o, I will play it. Folded to me, I raise to $6. button is moderately tight and standard player, reraises to $15. Both stacks are deep, so I call. Flop is J34. I check, he bets $10. I figure he could easily have missed the flop, so decide to call and reevaluate. Turn is a 7. I check, he bets $30 (pot is close to $60 prior to his bet. I am still not convinced he has a J, but think he does. Now I likely win with a 3, 6, or 5, however. I call. River comes a 6 giving me a straight. I bet $20 trying to sucker him to a raise or at least get some value for my turn call. He just calls and is pretty disgusted with me. He says “I thought you were better than that”, which I did not hear. (Nutjob did). Then he says “I did not think you were so, uh, uh”, when I decide to complete it and say “bad”? He says yes. Then nutjob and I start talking about how bad of a player I am for the next half hour. None of this seemed to cheer up the guy who I outdrew. (I figure I won $110 for my $30 turn call, so I was getting an OK price. Plus it sets up my image as someone who is unbluffable with someone who would be playing for the next few days. I like that image.)

Shortly after this, ChrisJP stopped by to pick up me and Nutjob to go to dinner at a steakhouse in Paris. There we met nside and suited, NukeDuke and Mrs. Nuke, Taz and Tara, Nardo and his friend, and Tanya. Dinner with this group was a great time – it is just fun to chat with so many ITHers. Nside can tell the story of Nutjob giving the headlock really well – his written version does not do it justice.

After this we play some ITH donk-poker. I play a bit of NL after it is over then crash for the night. Overall I lost a bit in the night session, but not much.

FRIDAY

The next day I spent a lot of time working. I was attending sessions, preparing my presentation, and presenting until 3:00 PM. After that, I walked over to the Wynn where Nutjob, nside, taz, and Nuke were playing the $500 two-day event. Suited told me dinner was at 6:30 at the Wynn restaurant right next to the poker room. I went and played some 1/3 NL at the Wynn while I waited for the dinner break. One key hand:

2 limpers and I am in MP with QJ clubs. I limp. 2 more limpers and the blinds come in and we are 7-handed to the flop. The flop is KT8. While I have an OESD – with 6 others in the pot this is not the time to get too aggressive. It is checked to me and I check. Thankfully the others check as well and we see a free card. The turn brings a 6 of clubs that puts two clubs on the board. One of the blinds bets $18 (into $20 pot). There are 2 callers. I figure the better could have anything. Further, the callers must not be too strong (unless they have 97) and I have a monster draw with 15 straight or flush cards. I raise to $120. Folded to the original bettor who calls. The others fold. The key thing for me to determine is “what would he call with?” I ruled out a set, as the board has so many draws that he should want to push. Also, a 97 for a straight is possible, but with all the other straight draws and the flush draw, that seems unlikely. A flush draw seems most likely, to me, so I will fire the river. The river is a 10, pairing the board. He checks to me. I have about 155 behind. I pause, start counting out a bet, then put all the chips together and push all in. He waits about 5 seconds or so before folding K6 face up. I guess I got that read wrong, but it turned out right.

Lets think about this hand. I think I played it right, although you could certain argue that I should have only called the turn and played it much more cautiously. With all the players in the hand, that would have been acceptable. I don’t think I played it wrong, however. The villain with K6, however, made a big mistake IMO. By calling on the turn, he allowed himself to be put in the position to make a huge mistake, folding a pot worth over $450 after my all in for $150 with the best hand. If he reraises the flop, he does not get put into this situation. The problem he was facing is that he was not closing the action on the turn. He might have thought he calls the turn and folds if one of the other players reraises. Perhaps he even thinks he plays almost any river card except the disaster cards (which a ten and eight were awful for him). I guess this is where my aggression helped. He was facing two unpleasant possibilities, and he chose the one that allowed me to bluff him out of the pot.

There was a complete and total donk who bought in for $600 at this table. He called off a pot bet of $150 on the turn with an OESD on a board w 3 spades! He ended up winning the hand and had a big stack. I left the table (and the donk) to eat with nside, suited, nutjob, taz, tara, nuke, and mrs. Nuke. I am not sure I made the right decision with that donk there, although dinner was very nice (and extremely tasty). Thankfully nside can interpret food written in any language, and he helped me make a good choice.

I watched nside make it to day 2 of the Wynn event, while Taz and Nuke got unlucky. Then I went back to my hotel and played some ½ NL. There was a total donk (worst I have ever seen). He would raise to $50 PF with 1 limper, bet the flop then show everyone his hand (e.g. J82 board, he bets $50 then shows his QJ), etc. Unfortunately, I could not take advantage and actually lost money at the table.

I crashed again at a reasonable hour – because the next morning I had more work to do for the conference.

Part 2 coming soon ….

2007-02-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

A good couple days

Since the big 2nd place finish on Thursday, I was basically brake-even Friday-Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, however, I found my stride, pulling in a couple big days on the cash-game tables.

I started playing some heads up cash games on FT poker. Those are fun and profitable. There are several players who multi-table those. If you want practice against pretty decent players - they are not bad to play against. If you want profits - they are not ideal. Thankfully there are plenty of people who will play HU who have some glaring mistakes. The whole idea of how to play heads up is not really that hard. Figure out what your opponent does wrong (raise too much, fold too much, get involved in big pots with weak hands), and exploit that.

I am still dabbling with PL Omaha and still playing NL holdem 6-max tables. I vary my buyins there, sometimes going short stacked, but sometimes I just buy-in for the full amount. I mainly will buy in for the full amount when I see weak opponents (when I saw 2 players get all in pre-flop for 100 big blinds each with 99 and AJs, I instantly bought in for the full amount).

Life is crazy, but going to Vegas soon for a conference where I am presenting two papers. There will be a bit of poker time there as well, which should be fun.

2007-02-11T08:49:00.000-08:00

Took 2nd in a $30 rebuy on Thursday

Well, I have not played many tourneys recently, but Thursday night I decided to play the nightly $150 at stars. I crashed and burned on stars. However, at the same time, I played the $30 rebuy at Ultimate Bet. I ended up finishing 2nd for a $2400 payday.

After one buyin and one addon, I was pretty shortstacked post-break. After a bad run at NL cash games on the other tables I was playing, I was tired of the tourney and was just hoping the misery would end soon so I could go relax. That was not to be. I stole blinds, then got into a situation where I was all in and dominating PF, then all in and won a coin-flip PF, and was above the average. After getting all in with AA vs. KK and AQ, I was among the chip leaders with 30 left.

I stayed in good chip shape most of the time, and cruised into the final table. There were many interesting hands, there, however, and I even needed some luck. Here are a few hands:

With 11 or 12 players left.

Some history – F4Zi reraised me twice in a row earlier, and I commented how he must have good hands here. Once he even paused when I raised AQ and I made a comment like “you were even considering a reraise there too, weren’t you, lol”. Then this hand came up.

Hand #39516139-307 at Thu9pmA-001 (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Started at 09/Feb/07 01:13:09

unbay2K4 is at seat 0 with 25710.
royo1 is at seat 2 with 129705.
Harold Wang is at seat 3 with 106620.
momadance is at seat 4 with 176965.
F4Zi is at seat 8 with 104210.
The button is at seat 0.

unbay2K4 posts ante (500).
royo1 posts ante (500).
Harold Wang posts ante (500).
momadance posts ante (500).
F4Zi posts ante (500).
Harold Wang posts the small blind of 2500.
momadance posts the big blind of 5000.

unbay2K4: -- --
royo1: -- --
Harold Wang: -- --
momadance: Th As
F4Zi: -- --

Pre-flop:

F4Zi raises to 15000. unbay2K4 folds. royo1 folds.
Harold Wang folds. momadance calls.

Flop (board: 3c 4d 2d):

momadance checks. F4Zi bets 24000. momadance raises
to 107000. F4Zi folds. momadance is returned 83000
(uncalled).

Hand #39516139-307 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
momadance wins 83000.

I liked this play, as he probably has 2 high cards, and will struggle to call even with AK so close to the final table. He could have also had a hand like 77-99. He swore a bit after he folded (not at me, I think, just in general). Even if called, I have a straight for outs (unless he was raising really loose with a 6 in his hand) and might even have the Ace and ten for outs. Thankfully he folded, and this hand propelled me into the final table with a nice stack.

WITH 4 PLAYERS LEFT

Hand #39516138-100 at Thu9pmA-Final (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Started at 09/Feb/07 02:05:11

Pwnasaurus is at seat 1 with 164435.
momadance is at seat 4 with 282970.
royo1 is at seat 5 with 349350.
MadonWilly is at seat 7 with 149745.
The button is at seat 5.

Pwnasaurus posts ante (1000).
momadance posts ante (1000).
royo1 posts ante (1000).
MadonWilly posts ante (1000).
Pwnasaurus posts the small blind of 5000.
momadance posts the big blind of 10000.

Pwnasaurus: -- --
momadance: 7h Th
royo1: -- --
MadonWilly: -- --

Pre-flop:

royo1 folds. MadonWilly folds. Pwnasaurus raises to
25000. momadance calls.

Flop (board: 2s 8h Qd):

Pwnasaurus bets 37500. momadance raises to 166500.
Pwnasaurus folds. momadance is returned 129000
(uncalled).

Hand #39516138-100 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
momadance wins 129000.

I called the raise because Pwn is good and aggressive, but I think I had a decent read on what he would do. As soon as the flop hit, I knew I would push if he bet small, fold if he bet big (I had no hand), and check if he checked. The reason? The stacks were too thin for a bet from him to make sense if he hit a Queen. He should check the flop and try to trap me, or even check the flop and turn and try to trap me. The only bets that make sense are middle pair or a total bluff. I put him to the test, and I knew that he was a decent player and probably would not call unless he had a queen.

Hand #39516138-110 at Thu9pmA-Final (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Started at 09/Feb/07 02:08:21

Pwnasaurus is at seat 1 with 141735.
momadance is at seat 4 with 296870.
royo1 is at seat 5 with 382950.
MadonWilly is at seat 7 with 124945.
The button is at seat 1.

Pwnasaurus posts ante (1200).
momadance posts ante (1200).
royo1 posts ante (1200).
MadonWilly posts ante (1200).
royo1 posts the small blind of 6000.
MadonWilly posts the big blind of 12000.

Pwnasaurus: -- --
momadance: 7s 9h
royo1: -- --
MadonWilly: -- --

Pre-flop:

Pwnasaurus folds. momadance raises to 32000. royo1
re-raises to 112800. MadonWilly folds. momadance
folds. royo1 is returned 80800 (uncalled).

Hand #39516138-110 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
royo1 wins 80800.

This fold is questionable. The reason I made it is that I am certainly behind. That being said, I was getting a good price. But with folding, I still had a nice stack, and the value of the chips I would lose by calling seemed more valuable. They were valuable enough to tilt the decision to a fold at the time, although I am not sure it was the right move.
So, the bigger question is, why raise 97s in the first place? Well, with these stacks, there are not many hands I call a reraise with. Maybe AT, KQ, and 44 or better. Those hands don’t come around often, and you need blinds. So, if I will fold QJ to a reraise, then it really does not matter whether I raise first in w 97s or QJ, A5, or 27o. I fold all hands to a reraise, so the initial hand matters very little.

As evidence – here is what happened when I raised KQ.

Hand #39516138-114 at Thu9pmA-Final (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Started at 09/Feb/07 02:10:46

Pwnasaurus is at seat 1 with 215535.
momadance is at seat 4 with 246870.
royo1 is at seat 5 with 381950.
MadonWilly is at seat 7 with 102145.
The button is at seat 1.

Pwnasaurus posts ante (1200).
momadance posts ante (1200).
royo1 posts ante (1200).
MadonWilly posts ante (1200).
royo1 posts the small blind of 6000.
MadonWilly posts the big blind of 12000.

Pwnasaurus: -- --
momadance: Qd Kh
royo1: -- --
MadonWilly: -- --

Pre-flop:

Pwnasaurus folds. momadance raises to 34000. royo1
goes all-in for 380750. MadonWilly folds. momadance
folds. royo1 is returned 346750 (uncalled).

Hand #39516138-114 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
royo1 wins 84800.

4-haned, the odd thing was how little PF raises were respected, and how much reraises were respected. Here I pushed light on Pwn.

Hand #39516138-125 at Thu9pmA-Final (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Started at 09/Feb/07 02:14:39

Pwnasaurus is at seat 1 with 226935.
momadance is at seat 4 with 214070.
royo1 is at seat 5 with 402150.
MadonWilly is at seat 7 with 103345.
The button is at seat 7.

Pwnasaurus posts ante (1200).
momadance posts ante (1200).
royo1 posts ante (1200).
MadonWilly posts ante (1200).
momadance posts the small blind of 6000.
royo1 posts the big blind of 12000.

Pwnasaurus: -- --
momadance: Tc Kd
royo1: -- --
MadonWilly: -- --

Pre-flop:

MadonWilly folds. Pwnasaurus raises to 30000.
momadance goes all-in for 212870. royo1 folds.
Pwnasaurus folds. momadance is returned 182870
(uncalled).

Hand #39516138-125 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
momadance wins 76800.

The shorty busted, the Pwn and Royo got all in with Pwn having A7, royo having AK which held up. We got heads up and I was down 236K to 709K. But, I had $2400 locked up and feel like I am a really good Heads up player, so I am perfectly happy with the situation I find myself in.

I got a bit unlucky here – tough to flop 2 pair and split:

Hand #39516138-140 at Thu9pmA-Final (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Started at 09/Feb/07 02:19:29

momadance is at seat 4 with 193670.
royo1 is at seat 5 with 752830.
The button is at seat 4.

momadance posts ante (1600).
royo1 posts ante (1600).
royo1 posts the small blind of 8000.
momadance posts the big blind of 16000.

momadance: 3c Jh
royo1: -- --

Pre-flop:

royo1 calls. momadance checks.

Flop (board: 3s Ad Js):

momadance checks. royo1 checks.

Turn (board: 3s Ad Js 2c):

momadance checks. royo1 bets 20000. momadance goes
all-in for 176070. royo1 calls.

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

momadance shows 3c Jh.
royo1 shows Jc 3h.

River (board: 3s Ad Js 2c 4s):

(no action in this round)

And on the next hand I bust with A5 vs. A9 when his kicker played. Overall, I am happy with my play, although in hindsight I think I perhaps should have raised a bit less PF and reraised once or twice more. This final table was so odd in how little PF raises were respected. I caught on a little by reraising a few times, but should have probably slowed down on my PF raises.

2007-02-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

No More morning NL cash games

After playing a half hour and getting crushed, I am giving up NL cash in the morning. I think the competition (at least on Full Tilt) is too respectable, where I am only very modestly +EV during this time frame.

Looking back over the past several weeks - most of my losses come from 7:00 AM to 8:30 AM. If I really feel the need to play during this time anymore, I will jump back into SNGs.

I have been only breakeven the past week. I suspect it is bad luck (one day I had aces and kings less than 1/2 the amount I would expect, the next day I was negative with them), but part of me wonders if the neteller issues are keeping fish out, but leaving in the good players.

Whether to play deeper stacks?

When I play $1 big blind NL, I love playing with deep stacks and I play really loose-aggro PF (more emphasis on the loose). That strategy has been extremely profitable for me. When I jump to 1/2, I am more fearful of that strategy, however. I guess I am not sure it will work. I have played a bit more straightforward at 1/2 NL, but part of me thinks a LAGGIER approach might also work there too.

I may test it out a bit more at 1/2 NL and see what happens. It is certainly very fun - I just want it to also be profitable.

2007-02-01T05:10:00.000-08:00

Several topics

Neteller

Neteller has dropped all U.S. transactions to pokersites. They also would not mail me a check. Because of this, I had to transfer my funds to an ITHer in the free world (non-U.S.) who was cool enough to then put it on stars and send it back to me. However, I had to pay $150 or so in transfer fees to neteller simply to get my money out. This is nothing but extortion from neteller - I hope those bastards end up homeless and hungry.

The big issue now for me is how to move money around. Thankfully I had a decent amount in Stars, Full Tilt, Doyle's Room, and Bodog, with lesser amounts (but still sufficient) at Ultimate Bet and Bugsysclub. These are the sites I play now, so that is good. However, I will want to deposit soon to take advantage of deposit bonuses, etc., so I need to figure out what to use.

Nice Satellite Win

I played a $5 turbo rebuy and a $20 turbo rebuy on Sunday at stars for an entry into the $530 buyin stars million. I spent $40 on the bigger one and $25 on the smaller won, and won my seat in the $5 turbo! I cashed out right away to get T$. Now I can play 3 of the night 100K on stars - the $150 buyin tourney! I am excited about that.

NL cash

Going OK on NL cash. I had a good Sunday, breakeven Monday, good Tuesday, but losing Wednesday. Overall, up decent for the week (again), however.

I am doing some higher buyins at times. I am not sure I should be, however.

Rewards and Where to Play

I made goldstar at stars this month, and hit "iron man" at full tilt. I also have rakeback at full tilt, and bonus and rakeback at Doyle's Room.

I will probably try to maintain gold at stars, but the iron man at full tilt might be tough. It takes 25 days of 200 pts. a day. January had 31 days, giving me 6 days of slack. With only 28 days of slack in Feb, and me taking a trip at the end of the month, won't get it at full tilt this time. I might try to get gold or silver, however.

2007-01-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Roller Coaster Ride

My last post was on Friday, January 19th. That day was a big down day. Well, Saturday I made back all the money and more. Sunday I made back all the money again. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all moderate losing days, with Tuesday being a big down day almost as big as the Friday.

I think I am mostly playing OK, but am in the process of reviewing my losing hands to ensure. Certainly there are a few bad plays in there, but mostly I think it is just variance.

Today I am up a little, but am upset about one bad play in particular that was costly.

Not going strong for WSOP 2007

I decided not to make a run for a 2007 WSOP seat. With 3 kids at home, I am not going to try for a seat this year. That does not mean I will play no satellites, but I will only play freerole satellites or satellites with a massive overlay.

If I don't end up winning a seat (half of me really wants to, the other half really does not want to bother with the hubbub again this year), I will save some money from my winnings and probably go to AC a couple times over the summer.

2007-01-19T06:51:00.000-08:00

Paying a variance tax

After having a great 3+ week run, things just have not been great this week. Win a bit, lose a bit, and I was showing a modest weekly gain.

That is, until this morning's session.

QQ vs. AA, 98 all in on the flop vs. 77 on a 942 board. KK vs. 74 when donkey calls massive bets and rivers his flush. Etc., etc. I also made 1 or 2 questionable plays - but mainly bad luck, I think. Overall, an awful session that pretty much makes me even since Sunday, I think (have to check both computers to confirm this, but I think that is about right).

Oh well, this is bound to happen sometimes. Hopefully another upswing starts with the next session!

2007-01-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

Crushing cash games - wish I had time for tourneys
I have been playing 1/2 NL still - buying in for shorter stacks and just crushing the games. In fact, Saturday was my single best day at cash games ever! It was so good that it made my decent days on Friday and Sunday seem mediocre. I have actually played a fair amount, but it is in short spurts.

I would love to find time to play more tourneys, as I have tournament dollars at both pokerstars and at Ultimate Bet saved up. Thursday night has traditionally been my tournament night - as long as I am not too tired I might try to play the UB $100 at 8:00 Est. and the Pokerstars $150 at 9:00 Eastern. Overall, my time playing will decrease dramatically now that school is back in session, but hopefully I keep winning. :)

2007-01-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

My 2007 goals

1. Continue to provide a nice supplemental income for my family. The last 2 years I have made nice side money, which has really helped.

2. Continue with NL cash games. This goes a bit with 1, as I think this is the single most profitable game.

3. Play more "higher buy in" tourneys. Tourneys with buyins of $100 and more. I think I am plus EV in them, so I should play them.

4. Give up on satellites for events with buyins of $500 or less. I think they are simply not +EV enough for me to justify my time away from other ventures.

5. Win a WSOP seat or two again, but make a deep run. This last part is very subject to luck, of course, so all I can really do is to play my "A" game.

Today, I started the new year while continuing to crush 1/2 NL. It is nice to get the new year off to a nice start.

2006-12-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

Best Week of Cash Games EVER!

Well, the title pretty much sums it up. I played on two computers, so I don't have all the info here, but basically I won 15 PT bb/100 (30 big blinds) per 100 over about 5,000 hands at 1/2 NL. I have been buying in short stacked and crushing the games. I think it has been so profitable for several reasons:

1. A bit of luck. I have had some back luck (KK ties QQ, AA loses to KK twice, flopped two pair loses to a rivered set, etc.), but naturually I have had less bad luck than normal.

2. Players think I am bad because I buy in short stacked. They think I don't have much money, or am playing higher limits than normal, etc. Then they don't give me credit for being able to put any thought into the game. Some of the hands people call me with are crazy!

3. I play with 30 big blinds - they play as if I have 100 big blinds. Opponents incorrectly play speculative hands against me (low suited connectors, low pairs, etc.). If we both have 100 big blinds, these plays can be correct. But when I only have half that, it usually is not, since the implied odds for the villain are not there.

4. I can play more aggressively with strong hands without worry of really tough river decisions. If a scare card hits the river but I only have $30 left with a pot of $60, I can call without much regret. If I face a bet of $75 when the scare card hits and the pot is only $60, then I have a horribly tough decision that I could (and have) easily screw up.

I don't expect the streak to continue, but I will ride it out as long as possible.

I might post about my 2007 goals tomorrow.