I am leaving for London tonight and will not be back until next Tuesday. I am bringing my laptop and may put in a few sessions from the road, but will most likely take the week off.
Put in a mini session this afternoon winning $533 in 145 hands. I also discovered that at least one of my opponents is reading the blog. Interesting little exchange:
Anonymous: go write in your blog about how you outplayed [ ] twice on the river
Anonymous: "i check called ace high on the flop cause i was trapping"
Drewkamm: i don't think checking a high qualifies
Anonymous: oh my fking god
Drewkamm: sorry dude...that was sick
Anonymous: go write that in your blog please about how you outplayed me
Anonymous: please do it
Drewkamm: i will probably post it in my blog about running well and getting lucky...why the hostility?
Anonymous: cause im down a million dollars in the past week
During the hand in question, we were playing heads up and I called a raise with 5c6c. The board came down Qs,7c,4c, giving me a straight flush draw. He led, I raised, he reraised, and I shoved. He ulimately called and had the one hand I didn't want to see, Ac9c (a higher flush draw). I am still 43% to win, but the turn 8c (giving me a straight flush) is pretty sick. I won over 2k in the pot, but unfortunately lost most of it back playing 10-20 capped NL (losing a flip and just playing poorly).
Several people have asked me if I am concerned with my opponents potentially reading my blog and gaining insight into my play. The honest answer is yes and no. Of course reading my analysis regarding the way I play a particular hand in a particular situation could be helpful, but overall, I feel like I vary my play enough and adapt to my opponents such that it should not significantly affect my results.
To Anonymous (if you are reading): Sorry to post our exchange on here, but I wanted to address the issue of opponents potentially reading my blog. I haven't played much with you, but I know that you are a highly successful HIGH stakes player and are one of the toughest HU players on Full Tilt...I assume you were just frustrated from a few bad sessions and do not actually find my blog offensive (if you do, I'd love to understand why. Please post a comment if you feel like I am misrepresenting my play or my skill level or something). Anyways, best of luck.
Bottom Line: $9,704
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Reflecting on Week 1
After completing my first week as a full time player last night, I wanted to take a step back this morning (glad I did not do this last night while still fuming from my poor evening session) and point out a few observations from my first week.
1. First and foremost, I am enjoying myself. Poker is a constant challenge which very much caters to my competitive instincts. Playing against some of the best online pros in the world just makes me want to become that much better. Despite playing more than 10,000 hands this week, I am never bored while playing and feel like I have to constantly adapt or my opponents will get the best of me. That said,
2. Poker is surprisingly stressful. Perhaps this will go away with time, but at this point I just care too much. Although my sessions typically only last 2-3 hours, I am incredibly focused on each hand and take no breaks. After each session, my body feels the impact and I typically need about an hour of dead time before I can really think about anything non-poker related.
3. If I were doing this for the long term (i.e. as a career), I would definitely set a weekly schedule and really try to stick to it. I think playing two sessions a day, each 1,000 hands long, five days a week, would be an optimal routine. This would mean playing about 25-30 hours of poker a week (trust me, this is A LOT)...My schedule is just going to be too crazy over the next few months to stick to something like this, but I will be sure to take days off going forward (I played every day this past week which was a mistake).
4. I like my setup. Given my bankroll and my skillset, I think that 4-tabling 6-max 10/20 NL cash games is the best use of my time from a bankroll management, risk/return, and $/hr perspective. In choosing this setup, I have made several choices including playing online rather than live, cash games instead of tournaments, 4-tabling 10/20 NL, and playing short handed rather than full ring games. Let me briefly explain the rationale behind each of these decisions.
Online vs live: the driving factor here is flexibility. I can live where I want, and play where, when, and for however long I want. In addition, I also strongly believe that online play offers a much better risk/return profile than live poker at a casino. The difference is driven by the sheer number of hands you can play online. In one hour live I will see ~40 hands whereas online I will see ~400. This means I can play lower stakes online, protect my bankroll, and still make more ($/hr) than I could make live. There are obvious limitations to online play as well (not seeing your opponents is a big one), but I think these are more than offset by the difference in hand volume.
Cash vs tournament: the key difference here is volatility. A winning tournament player can go months in the red before having a big score, whereas a winning cash game player should put up a positive result in every month (assuming full time play). Given the fact that I am trying to build a bankroll for the WSOP in June, I just feel like grinding cash games makes more sense for me. There are other substantive differences as well including the difference in focus between pre-flop play (tournaments) and post-flop play (cash games). In cash games, every street is important (preflop, flop, turn and river), and so weaker opponents have more opportunities to make mistakes from which strong players can capitalize.
4-tabling 10/20 NL: 4-tables seems to be the perfect balance for me. I am never overwhelmed by the action (I can see all 4 screens with no overlap), and equally important, I am never bored. As such, I do not try to force the action, because I am always within a few minutes of having a real hand to play...Given responsible bankroll discipline (x buy-ins at a certain level), I could probably play as high as 25/50 NL. In the past, however, I have never played above 5/10 NL for an extended period of time. After one week of play, I think 10/20 is probably the right spot for me. The games are substantially tougher than 5/10 NL (much more agressive and probably 60-75% full time pros), and although I will not win as many bb/hours, I believe that I will be more profitable at this level (I am staying open minded here, and if this proves not to be the case, I will drop down to 5/10). In addition, playing 10/20 NL will force me to play my best and continually sharpen my game, which will only help me going forward.
6-max vs 9-max: this is another interesting choice, as I used to be a 9-max player. Full ring games (9-max) have many weaker players than the short handed 6-max games at the same level. Still, 6-max games force the action, and as a result, players have to open their hand range (play more hands), and are faced with many more difficult decisions (why weak players avoid the games to begin with). As a result, there are many more opportunities for weaker players to make mistakes. This will always result in an opportunity for stronger players to get a larger edge. This is obviously a tradeoff between tougher competition and more opportunities to exploit weakness, but I believe I will be more profitable in these short-handed games.
5. Losses hurt more: unfortunately, it is rooted in human psychology that losses hurt more than gains feel good. I can attest to this fact after one week of play, which is why I am constantly trying to detach myself from the financial results.
I feel like there are many more thoughts floating around in my head, but I guess I will save many of them for later. As always, if you have a question or comment, feel free to post in the comments section.
1. First and foremost, I am enjoying myself. Poker is a constant challenge which very much caters to my competitive instincts. Playing against some of the best online pros in the world just makes me want to become that much better. Despite playing more than 10,000 hands this week, I am never bored while playing and feel like I have to constantly adapt or my opponents will get the best of me. That said,
2. Poker is surprisingly stressful. Perhaps this will go away with time, but at this point I just care too much. Although my sessions typically only last 2-3 hours, I am incredibly focused on each hand and take no breaks. After each session, my body feels the impact and I typically need about an hour of dead time before I can really think about anything non-poker related.
3. If I were doing this for the long term (i.e. as a career), I would definitely set a weekly schedule and really try to stick to it. I think playing two sessions a day, each 1,000 hands long, five days a week, would be an optimal routine. This would mean playing about 25-30 hours of poker a week (trust me, this is A LOT)...My schedule is just going to be too crazy over the next few months to stick to something like this, but I will be sure to take days off going forward (I played every day this past week which was a mistake).
4. I like my setup. Given my bankroll and my skillset, I think that 4-tabling 6-max 10/20 NL cash games is the best use of my time from a bankroll management, risk/return, and $/hr perspective. In choosing this setup, I have made several choices including playing online rather than live, cash games instead of tournaments, 4-tabling 10/20 NL, and playing short handed rather than full ring games. Let me briefly explain the rationale behind each of these decisions.
Online vs live: the driving factor here is flexibility. I can live where I want, and play where, when, and for however long I want. In addition, I also strongly believe that online play offers a much better risk/return profile than live poker at a casino. The difference is driven by the sheer number of hands you can play online. In one hour live I will see ~40 hands whereas online I will see ~400. This means I can play lower stakes online, protect my bankroll, and still make more ($/hr) than I could make live. There are obvious limitations to online play as well (not seeing your opponents is a big one), but I think these are more than offset by the difference in hand volume.
Cash vs tournament: the key difference here is volatility. A winning tournament player can go months in the red before having a big score, whereas a winning cash game player should put up a positive result in every month (assuming full time play). Given the fact that I am trying to build a bankroll for the WSOP in June, I just feel like grinding cash games makes more sense for me. There are other substantive differences as well including the difference in focus between pre-flop play (tournaments) and post-flop play (cash games). In cash games, every street is important (preflop, flop, turn and river), and so weaker opponents have more opportunities to make mistakes from which strong players can capitalize.
4-tabling 10/20 NL: 4-tables seems to be the perfect balance for me. I am never overwhelmed by the action (I can see all 4 screens with no overlap), and equally important, I am never bored. As such, I do not try to force the action, because I am always within a few minutes of having a real hand to play...Given responsible bankroll discipline (x buy-ins at a certain level), I could probably play as high as 25/50 NL. In the past, however, I have never played above 5/10 NL for an extended period of time. After one week of play, I think 10/20 is probably the right spot for me. The games are substantially tougher than 5/10 NL (much more agressive and probably 60-75% full time pros), and although I will not win as many bb/hours, I believe that I will be more profitable at this level (I am staying open minded here, and if this proves not to be the case, I will drop down to 5/10). In addition, playing 10/20 NL will force me to play my best and continually sharpen my game, which will only help me going forward.
6-max vs 9-max: this is another interesting choice, as I used to be a 9-max player. Full ring games (9-max) have many weaker players than the short handed 6-max games at the same level. Still, 6-max games force the action, and as a result, players have to open their hand range (play more hands), and are faced with many more difficult decisions (why weak players avoid the games to begin with). As a result, there are many more opportunities for weaker players to make mistakes. This will always result in an opportunity for stronger players to get a larger edge. This is obviously a tradeoff between tougher competition and more opportunities to exploit weakness, but I believe I will be more profitable in these short-handed games.
5. Losses hurt more: unfortunately, it is rooted in human psychology that losses hurt more than gains feel good. I can attest to this fact after one week of play, which is why I am constantly trying to detach myself from the financial results.
I feel like there are many more thoughts floating around in my head, but I guess I will save many of them for later. As always, if you have a question or comment, feel free to post in the comments section.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
AK Blues
I played the PS 1k Tuesday (and the $100 rebuy) in addition to 3-tables of cash. I definitely didn't feel that sharp as my timing just seemed to be off the whole session. In addition, I ran quite poorly in the cash games, losing a large flip, and taking two pretty bad beats. Playing poorly and running poorly can be a deadly combination in a hurry. I dropped just under two buy-ins playing cash and an additional $1,359 in tourney fees, making tonight my second largest loss to date.
Not exactly the way I wanted to end my first week.
A few of the larger hands. You might notice the trend that I did not win many of these.
Rabbit_hunter just owned me tonight:
Classic flip: Rabbit had been playing very agressively and so I felt like I had to reshove my AK here (against some opponents I would consider a fold) as I knew I would be losing equity otherwise. Unfortunately, could not win the flip.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174639
Big semi-bluff: I am very happy with the way I played this hand as I almost timed out on the turn deciding whether to shove or muck. I decided that AQ, KQ or some kind of big draw was more likely than AA or a set, based on his flop smooth call and big turn raise. I made the correct decision and got my money in with 70%+ equity. Unfortunately, 70% is pretty far from 100%. Just a sick river. This hand really hurt as I had already been losing and this hand ended my session.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174621
AK < AQ: I played a little bit of capped NL today, which means that only $600 from each person can go into the pot on any given hand. Got it in here with AK against AQ, but my opponent spiked a Q. Just not my night.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174723
The hand which sent me to the rail in the PS 1k Tuesday:
AK no good: my opponent's shove here is very questionable, but I was happy to see it sitting with AK. Unfortunately, he had 33 and was a slight favorite in this flip.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174653
Bottom Line for Week 1: +$9,171
Not exactly the way I wanted to end my first week.
A few of the larger hands. You might notice the trend that I did not win many of these.
Rabbit_hunter just owned me tonight:
Classic flip: Rabbit had been playing very agressively and so I felt like I had to reshove my AK here (against some opponents I would consider a fold) as I knew I would be losing equity otherwise. Unfortunately, could not win the flip.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174639
Big semi-bluff: I am very happy with the way I played this hand as I almost timed out on the turn deciding whether to shove or muck. I decided that AQ, KQ or some kind of big draw was more likely than AA or a set, based on his flop smooth call and big turn raise. I made the correct decision and got my money in with 70%+ equity. Unfortunately, 70% is pretty far from 100%. Just a sick river. This hand really hurt as I had already been losing and this hand ended my session.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174621
AK < AQ: I played a little bit of capped NL today, which means that only $600 from each person can go into the pot on any given hand. Got it in here with AK against AQ, but my opponent spiked a Q. Just not my night.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174723
The hand which sent me to the rail in the PS 1k Tuesday:
AK no good: my opponent's shove here is very questionable, but I was happy to see it sitting with AK. Unfortunately, he had 33 and was a slight favorite in this flip.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2174653
Bottom Line for Week 1: +$9,171
Running Well
I put in a short 514 hand session this morning, and although I had a hard time winning many pots, I ran very well in the two largest pots in the session, which made the session quite profitable netting $3,105.
Like most poker players, I have the tendency to fixate (and complain - sorry) on the bad beats I take (see Gus Hansen post), but I think it is important to recognize when the cards turn in your favor. Too often poker players attribute all of their wins to skill and all of their losses to bad luck. This logic is obviously silly.
I am not sure either of these two large pots can be considered bad beats (as I was ahead when the majority of the money went in), but I will be the first to admit that I was very fortunate to have these hands turn out the way they did.
Turn and RIVER: this really was a remarkable hand. I flop mid-set after calling a button raise from the small blind. Typically I would go for a check raise here, but decided to lead, because the button was an agressive player with a huge stack and I thought he would likely raise the flop, following through on his pf raise. Instead, the button called and I initially put him on a mid pair like 99, A7, a weak K, or a draw like 68. I would love to claim that I check called the turn because I thought I was behind, but the truth is I was trapping and wanted to get paid off on the river. I just couldn't give him the 96, as he called with just a gut shot on the flop. I like my check on the river (although risky) as I knew my opponent would bet this river (whether he had a hand or not), and my all-in raise gets called by his straight. If I don't fill up on the river, I probably go broke here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2171428
Lucky flop with 1010: I almost smooth called here, which is what I will typically do in this situation, but king was raising a lot and jeet's trail call looked weak. Alarm bells did go off when jeet trail called my overraise, but I can not honestly say I put him on bullets. This was just a very fortunate flop, and I knew that leading on the flop was the best way for me to get paid off. I decided to check the turn to make it look like I had given up on the hand, but given my opponent's hand (AA), I was getting paid off either way.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2171424
Bottom Line: +$14,201
Like most poker players, I have the tendency to fixate (and complain - sorry) on the bad beats I take (see Gus Hansen post), but I think it is important to recognize when the cards turn in your favor. Too often poker players attribute all of their wins to skill and all of their losses to bad luck. This logic is obviously silly.
I am not sure either of these two large pots can be considered bad beats (as I was ahead when the majority of the money went in), but I will be the first to admit that I was very fortunate to have these hands turn out the way they did.
Turn and RIVER: this really was a remarkable hand. I flop mid-set after calling a button raise from the small blind. Typically I would go for a check raise here, but decided to lead, because the button was an agressive player with a huge stack and I thought he would likely raise the flop, following through on his pf raise. Instead, the button called and I initially put him on a mid pair like 99, A7, a weak K, or a draw like 68. I would love to claim that I check called the turn because I thought I was behind, but the truth is I was trapping and wanted to get paid off on the river. I just couldn't give him the 96, as he called with just a gut shot on the flop. I like my check on the river (although risky) as I knew my opponent would bet this river (whether he had a hand or not), and my all-in raise gets called by his straight. If I don't fill up on the river, I probably go broke here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2171428
Lucky flop with 1010: I almost smooth called here, which is what I will typically do in this situation, but king was raising a lot and jeet's trail call looked weak. Alarm bells did go off when jeet trail called my overraise, but I can not honestly say I put him on bullets. This was just a very fortunate flop, and I knew that leading on the flop was the best way for me to get paid off. I decided to check the turn to make it look like I had given up on the hand, but given my opponent's hand (AA), I was getting paid off either way.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2171424
Bottom Line: +$14,201
Monday, February 25, 2008
I Hate Tournaments
Played the Full Tilt 1k Monday night tourney tonight with little success. I got my starting stack (3k) up to 7k after doubling through with 88 (against AQ), but then ran terribly and couldn't win a hand. Tournaments are very very frustrating as I feel like I should win money when I play well, but that just isn't always the reality in tournaments.
I three-tabled cash games as well and had another winning session. I was up $2,105 in 718 hands so I netted $1,045 on the evening.
My favorite hand from the cash game session:
Suspect call: I literally tilted Hockeystud by commenting earlier in the session in the chat box, "I probably should have value bet that river", after I rivered two pair and beat him out of a pot. The guy went nuts for some reason and started gunning for me the rest of the session. Perhaps I should try to tilt people more often...I knew I was getting paid off on the river, but I thought he at least an A.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168565
Here is a quick summary of the tournament:
10-ball, corner pocket: I reraise here with 88 against a late position raiser. We get it in and I win the flip against AQ.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168501
AJ reshove: make a nice read here and reshove with AJ. I get it in dominating my opponent (A10), but he spikes a 10 on me.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168504
Ladies: recover some of my lost chips with ladies here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168515
Trap with AJ: get my opponent to shove with 89 here but my AJ does not hold up. We got it all in preflop, but watching the cards come out as they did made it that much worse.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168519
I then lost AQ against K9 and A8 against K10 to get cracked in the middle of the pack. Very frustrating.
Bottom Line: +$11,096
I three-tabled cash games as well and had another winning session. I was up $2,105 in 718 hands so I netted $1,045 on the evening.
My favorite hand from the cash game session:
Suspect call: I literally tilted Hockeystud by commenting earlier in the session in the chat box, "I probably should have value bet that river", after I rivered two pair and beat him out of a pot. The guy went nuts for some reason and started gunning for me the rest of the session. Perhaps I should try to tilt people more often...I knew I was getting paid off on the river, but I thought he at least an A.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168565
Here is a quick summary of the tournament:
10-ball, corner pocket: I reraise here with 88 against a late position raiser. We get it in and I win the flip against AQ.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168501
AJ reshove: make a nice read here and reshove with AJ. I get it in dominating my opponent (A10), but he spikes a 10 on me.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168504
Ladies: recover some of my lost chips with ladies here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168515
Trap with AJ: get my opponent to shove with 89 here but my AJ does not hold up. We got it all in preflop, but watching the cards come out as they did made it that much worse.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2168519
I then lost AQ against K9 and A8 against K10 to get cracked in the middle of the pack. Very frustrating.
Bottom Line: +$11,096
Calling Station
Put in a 780 hand session this morning on Full Tilt playing about half of the hands at 5-10 and the rest at 10-20 NL (still having a hard time getting multiple 10-20 games going in the morning). I ended the session up $2,818 and much of the win came from two river calls where my opponents bluffed their missed draws.
Tough river call with cowboys: checking the river here was the obvious choice (as opposed to a defensive bet which sometimes makes sense in similar situations), because I would only get called by hands that beat me, and would actually get raised occasionally in this spot by missed draws as the A is unlikely to have helped my hand after betting the flop and turn. After I checked the river and my opponent bet, I tried to piece together the hand. I really thought AJ was unlikely as my opponent would have likely raised on either the flop or turn with top pair, top kicker. A weak J like QJs made more sense, but then a river bet here would make no sense at all. That left a flush draw, which certainly seemed most likely. Still, if my opponent had the nut flush draw he would have paired his Ace and would have the best hand on the river. Very few players (only top pros capable of very thin value bets), however, will value bet this in a big pot on the river. He would be thankful to have spiked his A on the river and checked to show the hand down. Thus, I gave him a missed flush draw and decided to call on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2165783
River call heads up: playing heads up is always a lot of guesswork. This felt like a missed draw to me on the river (mainly because of his check on the turn), but he certainly could have been trapping with a hand like 66 and hoping that I would bet the turn. Always nice when you look someone up and they have a busted draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2165793
Bottom Line: +$10,051
Tough river call with cowboys: checking the river here was the obvious choice (as opposed to a defensive bet which sometimes makes sense in similar situations), because I would only get called by hands that beat me, and would actually get raised occasionally in this spot by missed draws as the A is unlikely to have helped my hand after betting the flop and turn. After I checked the river and my opponent bet, I tried to piece together the hand. I really thought AJ was unlikely as my opponent would have likely raised on either the flop or turn with top pair, top kicker. A weak J like QJs made more sense, but then a river bet here would make no sense at all. That left a flush draw, which certainly seemed most likely. Still, if my opponent had the nut flush draw he would have paired his Ace and would have the best hand on the river. Very few players (only top pros capable of very thin value bets), however, will value bet this in a big pot on the river. He would be thankful to have spiked his A on the river and checked to show the hand down. Thus, I gave him a missed flush draw and decided to call on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2165783
River call heads up: playing heads up is always a lot of guesswork. This felt like a missed draw to me on the river (mainly because of his check on the turn), but he certainly could have been trapping with a hand like 66 and hoping that I would bet the turn. Always nice when you look someone up and they have a busted draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2165793
Bottom Line: +$10,051
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Mini-Roll
Another nice win as I shipped just over two buy-ins in a 700 hand session tonight on FT.
I played well, but the cards dictated much of the session as I was dealt several big hands in profitable situations.
A few of the more interesting hands from tonight:
AA vs. KK: poker is easy when you are dealt bullets against cowboys.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162703
Tough spot with JJ: this was a pretty interesting hand and illustrates the importance of position. I came very close to folding after I was raised on the flop (and thinking through the contingencies after the fact, I think folding is probably the best play here against this opponent)...turns out I was way ahead with JJ against 1010, but not convinced I made the best play here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162708
Double gutter semi-bluff: I typically only show the largest hands I win or lose and thus rarely show the smaller bluffs and semi-bluffs which are critical to playing profitable poker (mainly because they help balance your range of hands in various situations and keeps your opponents guessing). In this hand, I have a double gutter on the flop, but am playing my opponents cards and not my own. After limping from the button, leading on the flop, and just smooth calling my smallish check raise, I can almost hear my opponent telling me he has a hand like J10 or QJ. I know that he will muck on the turn if he does not improve, and I take it down by firing my second bullet.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162721
Confused against AA: I have to admit, I did not expect my opponent to turn over AA here. I guess his under the gun limp should have alerted me to the possibility, but his play made it seem like he had some kind of drawing hand instead. I probably didn't need to pay him off on the river, but decided to call because I thought he may have missed his draw or just be trying to bet me off of a chop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162725
Pair and a flush draw: this hand is a good illustration of basic poker math and the power of a big draw. After flopping a pair and a flush draw, I raise the flop even though I know my opponent is likely to have an A. I would prefer it if my opponent folds, but I insta-call his all in, because I know that I am not far behind. As it turns out, I was 49% to win after the flop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162726
Sick turn: not sure it mattered how I played this hand after the flop as the money was likely going in. Glad this guy was short-stacking.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162729
Bottom Line: +$7,233
I played well, but the cards dictated much of the session as I was dealt several big hands in profitable situations.
A few of the more interesting hands from tonight:
AA vs. KK: poker is easy when you are dealt bullets against cowboys.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162703
Tough spot with JJ: this was a pretty interesting hand and illustrates the importance of position. I came very close to folding after I was raised on the flop (and thinking through the contingencies after the fact, I think folding is probably the best play here against this opponent)...turns out I was way ahead with JJ against 1010, but not convinced I made the best play here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162708
Double gutter semi-bluff: I typically only show the largest hands I win or lose and thus rarely show the smaller bluffs and semi-bluffs which are critical to playing profitable poker (mainly because they help balance your range of hands in various situations and keeps your opponents guessing). In this hand, I have a double gutter on the flop, but am playing my opponents cards and not my own. After limping from the button, leading on the flop, and just smooth calling my smallish check raise, I can almost hear my opponent telling me he has a hand like J10 or QJ. I know that he will muck on the turn if he does not improve, and I take it down by firing my second bullet.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162721
Confused against AA: I have to admit, I did not expect my opponent to turn over AA here. I guess his under the gun limp should have alerted me to the possibility, but his play made it seem like he had some kind of drawing hand instead. I probably didn't need to pay him off on the river, but decided to call because I thought he may have missed his draw or just be trying to bet me off of a chop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162725
Pair and a flush draw: this hand is a good illustration of basic poker math and the power of a big draw. After flopping a pair and a flush draw, I raise the flop even though I know my opponent is likely to have an A. I would prefer it if my opponent folds, but I insta-call his all in, because I know that I am not far behind. As it turns out, I was 49% to win after the flop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162726
Sick turn: not sure it mattered how I played this hand after the flop as the money was likely going in. Glad this guy was short-stacking.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2162729
Bottom Line: +$7,233
Feels Good to Win
Put in a short 650 hand session this afternoon on Stars and posted a $1,911 win. Definitely feels good to put in a winning session, and will hopefully be able to string a few together. Overall, I actually think the games are slightly tougher at Poker Stars, but I needed a break from Full Tilt after this morning.
Just a few hands:
Nice check with AK: this hand is a very good example of why you should not always continuation bet (after raising or reraising preflop) on the flop. After reraising with AK I get called here by the trail caller (i.e. his hand can not be very strong here and he is likely calling because he puts me on a move). After missing the flop, I know that my opponent is looking for any excuse to check raise me all in. Instead, I check the flop, spike one of my six outs on the turn, and get paid off from there.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159595
Quads: In a multi-way raised pot with an A high board, I will almost always lead with a set as I strongly believe it is the best way to win a big pot. After getting called in position, I really thought I was going to get paid off. Hitting quads on the turn did not slow me down because I know I'm still getting paid off against almost any A and a spade draw. Not sure what this guy had (maybe a weak A).
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159609
Interesting spot with bullets: After raising with AA here and getting called out of the bb, I cb the flop and check when I turn the under straight. I value bet the river and my opponent puts in a large check raise. River check raises are very rare online and are very very scary. Still, I could not figure out how this guy could possibly smooth call, check, and check with 56, 66, A6 or 67. If I had any guts, I would have reraised him all-in (although he may have called with just an A after committing more than half his stack)...He obviously thought he had 10 outs on the flop, but would have actually lost a decent pot had a Q or A rolled off on the turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159634
From yesterday's session:
Tough beat: I just did not run well this weekend. In this hand I flop a flush and get it all-in on the flop with 73% equity in this $3,300 pot. Nothing wrong with the way my opponent played this hand as I would likely shove the flop as well with top pair and the nut flush draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159797
Thin value bets gone wrong:
I really don't dislike my play here. It is a sb vs bb battle and I flop top pair with AK. I know my opponent would have check raised me on the flop with a flush draw, so I think the turn is a great card for me, picking up top two pair and the nut flush draw (little did I know that I was called by a gut shot on the flop). When I get smooth called on the turn, I put my opponent on a hand like AQ or A10 with one spade. The river bet is thin, but I actually like it. It looks like I might be running a 3-street bluff (which often happens in these blind battles) and I think I definitely get called by AQ or A10. If I check, I certainly call his shove in case he is bluffing with a missed flush draw on the turn, and he would like check AQ or A10 so I get no value from these hands.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159807
I really like how I played this hand right up until my last decision. I check the flop with mid pair (hoping to show the hand down), smooth call on the turn as I pick up a flush draw, and value bet the river when I spike two pair. BUT, after getting check raised on the river, I can absolutely only beat a bluff. He could be bluffing in this spot, but if he was, he'd check raise me to 8 or 9 hundred, not $560. Tough to fold two pair here to such a small raise, but I need to make this fold.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159812
Just a few hands:
Nice check with AK: this hand is a very good example of why you should not always continuation bet (after raising or reraising preflop) on the flop. After reraising with AK I get called here by the trail caller (i.e. his hand can not be very strong here and he is likely calling because he puts me on a move). After missing the flop, I know that my opponent is looking for any excuse to check raise me all in. Instead, I check the flop, spike one of my six outs on the turn, and get paid off from there.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159595
Quads: In a multi-way raised pot with an A high board, I will almost always lead with a set as I strongly believe it is the best way to win a big pot. After getting called in position, I really thought I was going to get paid off. Hitting quads on the turn did not slow me down because I know I'm still getting paid off against almost any A and a spade draw. Not sure what this guy had (maybe a weak A).
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159609
Interesting spot with bullets: After raising with AA here and getting called out of the bb, I cb the flop and check when I turn the under straight. I value bet the river and my opponent puts in a large check raise. River check raises are very rare online and are very very scary. Still, I could not figure out how this guy could possibly smooth call, check, and check with 56, 66, A6 or 67. If I had any guts, I would have reraised him all-in (although he may have called with just an A after committing more than half his stack)...He obviously thought he had 10 outs on the flop, but would have actually lost a decent pot had a Q or A rolled off on the turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159634
From yesterday's session:
Tough beat: I just did not run well this weekend. In this hand I flop a flush and get it all-in on the flop with 73% equity in this $3,300 pot. Nothing wrong with the way my opponent played this hand as I would likely shove the flop as well with top pair and the nut flush draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159797
Thin value bets gone wrong:
I really don't dislike my play here. It is a sb vs bb battle and I flop top pair with AK. I know my opponent would have check raised me on the flop with a flush draw, so I think the turn is a great card for me, picking up top two pair and the nut flush draw (little did I know that I was called by a gut shot on the flop). When I get smooth called on the turn, I put my opponent on a hand like AQ or A10 with one spade. The river bet is thin, but I actually like it. It looks like I might be running a 3-street bluff (which often happens in these blind battles) and I think I definitely get called by AQ or A10. If I check, I certainly call his shove in case he is bluffing with a missed flush draw on the turn, and he would like check AQ or A10 so I get no value from these hands.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159807
I really like how I played this hand right up until my last decision. I check the flop with mid pair (hoping to show the hand down), smooth call on the turn as I pick up a flush draw, and value bet the river when I spike two pair. BUT, after getting check raised on the river, I can absolutely only beat a bluff. He could be bluffing in this spot, but if he was, he'd check raise me to 8 or 9 hundred, not $560. Tough to fold two pair here to such a small raise, but I need to make this fold.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2159812
Gus Hansen
When I logged on to Full Tilt this morning, I noticed a full ring (9-handed) game of 25-50 NL with Mike Matusow and Gus Hansen both playing. Although I am trying to stay disciplined about only playing 5-10 and 10-20 NL, I decided to take a shot in this game.
Games with Full Tilt pros (especially big names like Mike and Gus) attract two types of players: top online sharks and weak recreational players playing well over their head. This creates an expected return at these tables well higher than a typical game at this level. In addition, I don't consider Mike or Gus particularly strong players IN THIS GAME. Gus is typically a 200-400 NL player, and unlike Phil Ivey, has a hard time focusing on lower stakes, and Mike, in my humble opinion, is just not that good of an online player. In summary, I felt like I had an edge, I have experience playing at this level, and although I have a hard time with the swings playing this high, I am properly bankrolled for this game.
Unfortunately, Gus ensured that the session did not last long.
I had a fairly tight image early in the session, when I decided to try a resteal from the bb with 57 off after the sb smooth called Gus's button raise (this is a fairly typical move, because the button raise is likely weak and the sb is dead money).
Gus calling in position is not fully unexpected and does not narrow his range of hands all that much. On most flops, I will fire a cb (representing a big pair or AK/AQ) around 1k and take it down the majority of the time. This flop, however, was one where I thought checking made much more sense. After Gus checked behind, I thought it highly probable that he was slow playing an A, as Gus will typically bet in this spot if he missed the flop to try and steal the pot.
After hitting trip 5's on the turn, my focus shifted to figuring out how to get Gus to pay me off. Since I thought Gus likely hit the flop, I decided to play it strong and led on the turn for 1k. Gus insta-shoved and I insta-called. When I called so quickly, I am sure that Gus knew he was beat, but I highly doubt he expected me to turn over 57 (talk about an image builder). Don't get me wrong, I am not recommending playing 57 this way very often, but it does show the value of deception in high-stakes cash games.
After all the money is in the middle on the turn, I am 95.5% to win and all I'm thinkin about is Vegas and the fuckin' Mirage.
Bang, Gus spikes a two-out Ace on the river and ships an $8,300 pot.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2158262
Bad beats are a part of poker. Obviously, this one was particularly tough to take because I was taking a shot in a bigger game and the odds were so overwhelmingly in my favor. That said, these types of hands are going to happen to all serious poker players, and it is how one responds to these beats that will define their level of success. I am proud of myself for immediately signing off FT after taking this beat and not compounding this bad luck with poor play.
I keep reminding myself that I am intending to play on and off for several months, and that this poker experiment really is a marathon and not a sprint. Gotta just keep grinding.
Financial update: the good news is I am still up $1,277 since getting back from West Palm Beach on Wednesday (which is when I started playing full time and keeping this blog). The bad news, of course, is that I was up over 10k before the weekend. The reality is that if I continue playing at these stakes (4 tabling 6-max, 10-20 NL) where one buy-in equals 2k, the swings are going to be this large or larger on a daily basis. When I stop and look at these numbers, they are astounding and can be paralyzing. It is very easy to get caught up in the short term financial swings, but this is very very dangerous. It is a constant challenge, but I am continually telling myself to merely focus on the quality of my play.
Yesterday's session: I still owe some hand histories from yesterday's session, but I don't feel like sifting through PT and posting them at the moment.
Games with Full Tilt pros (especially big names like Mike and Gus) attract two types of players: top online sharks and weak recreational players playing well over their head. This creates an expected return at these tables well higher than a typical game at this level. In addition, I don't consider Mike or Gus particularly strong players IN THIS GAME. Gus is typically a 200-400 NL player, and unlike Phil Ivey, has a hard time focusing on lower stakes, and Mike, in my humble opinion, is just not that good of an online player. In summary, I felt like I had an edge, I have experience playing at this level, and although I have a hard time with the swings playing this high, I am properly bankrolled for this game.
Unfortunately, Gus ensured that the session did not last long.
I had a fairly tight image early in the session, when I decided to try a resteal from the bb with 57 off after the sb smooth called Gus's button raise (this is a fairly typical move, because the button raise is likely weak and the sb is dead money).
Gus calling in position is not fully unexpected and does not narrow his range of hands all that much. On most flops, I will fire a cb (representing a big pair or AK/AQ) around 1k and take it down the majority of the time. This flop, however, was one where I thought checking made much more sense. After Gus checked behind, I thought it highly probable that he was slow playing an A, as Gus will typically bet in this spot if he missed the flop to try and steal the pot.
After hitting trip 5's on the turn, my focus shifted to figuring out how to get Gus to pay me off. Since I thought Gus likely hit the flop, I decided to play it strong and led on the turn for 1k. Gus insta-shoved and I insta-called. When I called so quickly, I am sure that Gus knew he was beat, but I highly doubt he expected me to turn over 57 (talk about an image builder). Don't get me wrong, I am not recommending playing 57 this way very often, but it does show the value of deception in high-stakes cash games.
After all the money is in the middle on the turn, I am 95.5% to win and all I'm thinkin about is Vegas and the fuckin' Mirage.
Bang, Gus spikes a two-out Ace on the river and ships an $8,300 pot.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2158262
Bad beats are a part of poker. Obviously, this one was particularly tough to take because I was taking a shot in a bigger game and the odds were so overwhelmingly in my favor. That said, these types of hands are going to happen to all serious poker players, and it is how one responds to these beats that will define their level of success. I am proud of myself for immediately signing off FT after taking this beat and not compounding this bad luck with poor play.
I keep reminding myself that I am intending to play on and off for several months, and that this poker experiment really is a marathon and not a sprint. Gotta just keep grinding.
Financial update: the good news is I am still up $1,277 since getting back from West Palm Beach on Wednesday (which is when I started playing full time and keeping this blog). The bad news, of course, is that I was up over 10k before the weekend. The reality is that if I continue playing at these stakes (4 tabling 6-max, 10-20 NL) where one buy-in equals 2k, the swings are going to be this large or larger on a daily basis. When I stop and look at these numbers, they are astounding and can be paralyzing. It is very easy to get caught up in the short term financial swings, but this is very very dangerous. It is a constant challenge, but I am continually telling myself to merely focus on the quality of my play.
Yesterday's session: I still owe some hand histories from yesterday's session, but I don't feel like sifting through PT and posting them at the moment.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Rough Session and Beer Pong
Rough 600 hand session this afternoon in which I dropped 3 buy-ins. I swear to god, this poker thing is stressful: financial and emotional rollercoaster.
I am actually not that disappointed in my play. I played very well for the first 500 hands, getting into trouble making thin river value bets twice (which is going to happen, but is critical to being a top-tier cash game player), and losing a 4k pot when I had about 75% equity (all-in on the flop). I am only disappointed that I continued playing after taking this tough beat. I tried to fight tilt, but ended up losing a buy-in shoving a flush draw in a spot I knew I would get called.
I will post some of the hands tomorrow. Right now, I'm off to ship a beer pong tourney.
I am actually not that disappointed in my play. I played very well for the first 500 hands, getting into trouble making thin river value bets twice (which is going to happen, but is critical to being a top-tier cash game player), and losing a 4k pot when I had about 75% equity (all-in on the flop). I am only disappointed that I continued playing after taking this tough beat. I tried to fight tilt, but ended up losing a buy-in shoving a flush draw in a spot I knew I would get called.
I will post some of the hands tomorrow. Right now, I'm off to ship a beer pong tourney.
Friday, February 22, 2008
I love Damon Jones
Never good when Damon Jones and Eric Snow (not to mention two D-leaguers) play a combined 76 minutes against you and you still lose. Sucks to be the Wizards right now.
Put in a late night 900 hand session tonight. Started down about a buy-in as a result of some tough spots and mediocre (poor) play. I picked up several big hands in the second half of the session though and ended up booking a very nice win of $5,122.
The games were not nearly as agressive as this morning, but there was still plenty of action. Here are some of the larger and more interesting hands:
A trap that worked: I was going to check raise all-in here on the flop, but after flopping top set I decided to play it slow and I lucked out that my opponent had the case K.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2150965
A trap that didn’t: Not sure what to think of this hand. I may have been bluffed off the best hand here, but there are just so many hands that have me crushed with this board. If you are going to trap with big pairs, you have to be able to fold them after the wrong flop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151017
Flopped a flush: I like my smooth call on the turn as it looks like I have the bare A of spades, which sets up the raise on the river, which looks like I missed my draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2150977
Losing the minimum: To be honest, I just lucked out here and decided to play this hand slow in position. I could have easily bet the flop in which case we probably get it all-in before the turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2150990
Tough spot with bullets: I lost a fair amount of money on this hand, but I really like how I played it. With three players smooth calling my raise, it is fairly likely that someone flopped a set, and by checking the flop I can save myself from going broke in case someone did outflop me. If dwballz check raises the flop with his set I muck and get away very cheap. After his smooth call, however, a fold or a call just felt too weak in this spot. I wanted to commit myself to RR's $1,100 stack but not to dw's. RR pushed all-in over my raise, which is what I wanted, but dw unfortunately had a set and came over the top. Not an ideal result, but happy with the way I played it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151008
Too agressive with AQ: I just didn't think RR would overraise with AK here, so I thought I had a lot of fold equity and would be in a flip situation at worst. Just a bad read of my opponent's betting patterns.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151014
Representing AK with KK: KK is going to stack QQ a lot, but I like how I played this hand to represent AK trying to induce a call from QQ-1010.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151043
Good AQ: I trap on the flop and turn here after flopping trip Aces. I almost checked the river, but decided it was more likely my opponent would call a shove rather than bluff the river based on how the hand played out.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151033
Bad AQ: Ahh...I really want this one back. It is a tough spot for me flopping top pair, top kicker in a reraised pot heads up. Still, Checkmate is a solid player and his flop smooth call was very fishy. I should have checked the turn (losing some value if he has KQ or AJ), and then called a bet on the river. I definitely didn't need to lose my stack in this hand.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151053
That's all for tonight. I will likely take tomorrow off, but may put in a short session at some point.
If anyone has any questions or comments on any of the hands, feel free to post a comment.
Put in a late night 900 hand session tonight. Started down about a buy-in as a result of some tough spots and mediocre (poor) play. I picked up several big hands in the second half of the session though and ended up booking a very nice win of $5,122.
The games were not nearly as agressive as this morning, but there was still plenty of action. Here are some of the larger and more interesting hands:
A trap that worked: I was going to check raise all-in here on the flop, but after flopping top set I decided to play it slow and I lucked out that my opponent had the case K.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2150965
A trap that didn’t: Not sure what to think of this hand. I may have been bluffed off the best hand here, but there are just so many hands that have me crushed with this board. If you are going to trap with big pairs, you have to be able to fold them after the wrong flop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151017
Flopped a flush: I like my smooth call on the turn as it looks like I have the bare A of spades, which sets up the raise on the river, which looks like I missed my draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2150977
Losing the minimum: To be honest, I just lucked out here and decided to play this hand slow in position. I could have easily bet the flop in which case we probably get it all-in before the turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2150990
Tough spot with bullets: I lost a fair amount of money on this hand, but I really like how I played it. With three players smooth calling my raise, it is fairly likely that someone flopped a set, and by checking the flop I can save myself from going broke in case someone did outflop me. If dwballz check raises the flop with his set I muck and get away very cheap. After his smooth call, however, a fold or a call just felt too weak in this spot. I wanted to commit myself to RR's $1,100 stack but not to dw's. RR pushed all-in over my raise, which is what I wanted, but dw unfortunately had a set and came over the top. Not an ideal result, but happy with the way I played it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151008
Too agressive with AQ: I just didn't think RR would overraise with AK here, so I thought I had a lot of fold equity and would be in a flip situation at worst. Just a bad read of my opponent's betting patterns.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151014
Representing AK with KK: KK is going to stack QQ a lot, but I like how I played this hand to represent AK trying to induce a call from QQ-1010.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151043
Good AQ: I trap on the flop and turn here after flopping trip Aces. I almost checked the river, but decided it was more likely my opponent would call a shove rather than bluff the river based on how the hand played out.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151033
Bad AQ: Ahh...I really want this one back. It is a tough spot for me flopping top pair, top kicker in a reraised pot heads up. Still, Checkmate is a solid player and his flop smooth call was very fishy. I should have checked the turn (losing some value if he has KQ or AJ), and then called a bet on the river. I definitely didn't need to lose my stack in this hand.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2151053
That's all for tonight. I will likely take tomorrow off, but may put in a short session at some point.
If anyone has any questions or comments on any of the hands, feel free to post a comment.
Marathon Session and New Nemesis
I woke up this morning at 10am, pounded a red bull, and was determined to put in a solid session of play after the disappointing end to my session last night.
1,716 hands and 5 hours later, I feel great about the way I played. Financially, the session was a roller coaster as I went up about 2k in the first 700 hands as I grinded four passive 5-10 NL 6-max games. Then, 10-20 NL tables started filling up and the action just exploded. I went from up 2k to down over 4k in less than 300 hands as I could not win a coin flip to save my life. I felt like I was playing well and just running poorly and decided (I think objectively) that I was not tilting and to continue playing. Things turned around and I was able to grind my way back to a $3,136 profit on the session. After last night, I am very happy that I was able to keep my focus, avoid tilt, and keep grinding after my session took its huge downturn.
There are lots of interesting hands I want to post, so I will try to keep my commentary short.
After reviewing my session on Poker Tracker (it is finally working properly), I realized that my 5 largest winning pots and 3 largest losing pots (and 4 of 5) were all to the same player, BigBlueBin23. This was my first time playing with him and he is the most aggressive and one of the toughest players I have ever played against. Here is just a sampling of our battles:
I get the best of him:
Fairly straight forward but the fact that he called shows how hard we were pushing against one another.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2147954
I had just gone into my huge downswing before this hand and I think it played out the way it did because he thought I was tilting after losing 2-3 buy ins.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148021
This hand probably best illustrates how agressive BigBlueBin23 was playing. Very rarely will I make a 4th raise with AQ let alone hope for a call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148024
Straight forward.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148045
Very interesting hand. I bluff an overcard and a gut shot on the flop and then spike my ace on the turn to put me in a tenuous spot at best. BBB check raises me on the turn and only against him would I even consider making this call (I thought I lost this pot on the river at first and may or may not have started cursing).
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148103
He gets the best of me:
This was a pretty tough spot given my opponent. I really thought I was protecting the best hand when I shoved on the flop. This is why it is so difficult to play against agressive players.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148082
Previous to this hand BBB had lost several large pots in a row and I knew he was likely to tilt and bluff off some chips. Still, I play it much too passively and make a bad call on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148089
I could not win a flip today.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148096
This hand occurred before I played with BBB for a while. I misread his strength (I was calling to bluff the turn or river the whole way) and tried a bad bluff on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148117
Always a bad idea to bet yourself off a draw. Betting or raising with a draw is typically a bad idea unless you are strong enough to call a reraise.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148120
Some other interesting hands against other players during the session:
People often ask me, how can you "read" people on the internet. Obviously, you can not get physical tells, but this hand is a great example of reading betting patterns. After my opponent check called the flop and then led strong on the turn, I was very confident that he had a draw or a weak ace (turns out, he had both) and not a set or two pair. Making reads like this is critical at these stakes, because the play is so agressive that you have to know when to muck an overpair and when to shove in with top pair.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148070
This was pretty much a mistake hand from the start. A reraise steal here with KQ is not a bad play (as long as it is done rarely), and I was obviously looking to take this down preflop. After the trail caller called (note, not the original raiser, meaning a much weaker range of hands), this is actually a good scare flop for me as I am representing a big ace or a fairly big pair, and I thought my opponent would likely fold a small pair (the hand I thought he had) to a bet on the flop. After getting called on the flop and spiking a Q on the turn, I actually shoved in for value (again, thinking he had a smallish pair) on the turn, but this play is pretty terrible. Alarm bells should have gone off in my head when he just smooth called the flop and he is probably mucking a small pair on the turn anyways, so I am getting very little upside from this move.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148413
Interesting little heads up hand. I raised the flop to see where I stood and called the turn when I picked up the straight draw as I was pretty sure I was getting paid off on the river if I hit.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148056
This is a good example of why the small blind is such a tough spot to play a hand. I try a semi-bluff check raise on the flop and give up after getting called. In general, I think I am playing too many hands from the small blind heads up against the big blind. I have a bit of a tournament mentality when it folds around to me in the sb, and need to start folding more as these are very tough spots to play from.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148153
Losing flips for days:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148133
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148135
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148147
Standard annoying bad beat:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148141
Poker tracker note: My PT is now up and running and recording all of my results. I can see my summary results on screen (i.e. up $3,136 in 1,716 hands), but have not yet figured out how to copy and paste these results onto this blog. Eventually, I will post my results like this.
1,716 hands and 5 hours later, I feel great about the way I played. Financially, the session was a roller coaster as I went up about 2k in the first 700 hands as I grinded four passive 5-10 NL 6-max games. Then, 10-20 NL tables started filling up and the action just exploded. I went from up 2k to down over 4k in less than 300 hands as I could not win a coin flip to save my life. I felt like I was playing well and just running poorly and decided (I think objectively) that I was not tilting and to continue playing. Things turned around and I was able to grind my way back to a $3,136 profit on the session. After last night, I am very happy that I was able to keep my focus, avoid tilt, and keep grinding after my session took its huge downturn.
There are lots of interesting hands I want to post, so I will try to keep my commentary short.
After reviewing my session on Poker Tracker (it is finally working properly), I realized that my 5 largest winning pots and 3 largest losing pots (and 4 of 5) were all to the same player, BigBlueBin23. This was my first time playing with him and he is the most aggressive and one of the toughest players I have ever played against. Here is just a sampling of our battles:
I get the best of him:
Fairly straight forward but the fact that he called shows how hard we were pushing against one another.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2147954
I had just gone into my huge downswing before this hand and I think it played out the way it did because he thought I was tilting after losing 2-3 buy ins.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148021
This hand probably best illustrates how agressive BigBlueBin23 was playing. Very rarely will I make a 4th raise with AQ let alone hope for a call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148024
Straight forward.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148045
Very interesting hand. I bluff an overcard and a gut shot on the flop and then spike my ace on the turn to put me in a tenuous spot at best. BBB check raises me on the turn and only against him would I even consider making this call (I thought I lost this pot on the river at first and may or may not have started cursing).
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148103
He gets the best of me:
This was a pretty tough spot given my opponent. I really thought I was protecting the best hand when I shoved on the flop. This is why it is so difficult to play against agressive players.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148082
Previous to this hand BBB had lost several large pots in a row and I knew he was likely to tilt and bluff off some chips. Still, I play it much too passively and make a bad call on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148089
I could not win a flip today.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148096
This hand occurred before I played with BBB for a while. I misread his strength (I was calling to bluff the turn or river the whole way) and tried a bad bluff on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148117
Always a bad idea to bet yourself off a draw. Betting or raising with a draw is typically a bad idea unless you are strong enough to call a reraise.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148120
Some other interesting hands against other players during the session:
People often ask me, how can you "read" people on the internet. Obviously, you can not get physical tells, but this hand is a great example of reading betting patterns. After my opponent check called the flop and then led strong on the turn, I was very confident that he had a draw or a weak ace (turns out, he had both) and not a set or two pair. Making reads like this is critical at these stakes, because the play is so agressive that you have to know when to muck an overpair and when to shove in with top pair.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148070
This was pretty much a mistake hand from the start. A reraise steal here with KQ is not a bad play (as long as it is done rarely), and I was obviously looking to take this down preflop. After the trail caller called (note, not the original raiser, meaning a much weaker range of hands), this is actually a good scare flop for me as I am representing a big ace or a fairly big pair, and I thought my opponent would likely fold a small pair (the hand I thought he had) to a bet on the flop. After getting called on the flop and spiking a Q on the turn, I actually shoved in for value (again, thinking he had a smallish pair) on the turn, but this play is pretty terrible. Alarm bells should have gone off in my head when he just smooth called the flop and he is probably mucking a small pair on the turn anyways, so I am getting very little upside from this move.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148413
Interesting little heads up hand. I raised the flop to see where I stood and called the turn when I picked up the straight draw as I was pretty sure I was getting paid off on the river if I hit.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148056
This is a good example of why the small blind is such a tough spot to play a hand. I try a semi-bluff check raise on the flop and give up after getting called. In general, I think I am playing too many hands from the small blind heads up against the big blind. I have a bit of a tournament mentality when it folds around to me in the sb, and need to start folding more as these are very tough spots to play from.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148153
Losing flips for days:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148133
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148135
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148147
Standard annoying bad beat:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2148141
Poker tracker note: My PT is now up and running and recording all of my results. I can see my summary results on screen (i.e. up $3,136 in 1,716 hands), but have not yet figured out how to copy and paste these results onto this blog. Eventually, I will post my results like this.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
First Loss and TILT
I put in a 1,000 hand session tonight on Full Tilt and recorded my first loss (since starting this blog - don't worry, there will be many more). I was down $3,606 on the night. I ran into some tough spots early and fell behind two buy-ins within the first 200 hands when I ran KK into AA (all-in preflop) and bottom two pair against a flush draw and gut shot (all-in on the flop), losing both hands. I grinded back over the next 500-600 hands (down about 1k at my high-water mark), but am very disappointed with the way I played at the end of the session. It is no coincidence that a big loss and a long session coincided with one another. My desire to get back to even made me push hands harder than I should have and I ended up tilting off about a buy-in at the end of the night. A 1,000 hand session is a reasonable session (probably about 2.5 hours of play), but I need to shorten my sessions when I am losing (and possibly not playing my best) and lengthen them when I am winning (and playing well), and not the other way around.
I need to convince myself that every hand is part of one long extended session. Losing focus of this fact and worrying instead about the volatility of the current session cost me tonight.
Poker tracker: the PT support staff is working on the issue and I will start posting hands again as soon as it is resolved (hopefully tomorrow).
I need to convince myself that every hand is part of one long extended session. Losing focus of this fact and worrying instead about the volatility of the current session cost me tonight.
Poker tracker: the PT support staff is working on the issue and I will start posting hands again as soon as it is resolved (hopefully tomorrow).
Done Deal
It appears to be a done deal. In a three-way deal with Seattle and Chicago, Cavs get Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally World, Delonte West and a 2nd round pick for Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Shannon Brown, Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall.
I like this deal a lot. Wally is still a very productive player on the offensive end and is a much better fit in Cleveland than Hughes. He and Gibson will get a lot of open looks. Losing Drew's scoring will hurt some, but Joe Smith is underrated and should be able to make up for most of Drew's production. Ben Wallace will bring a tough interior defender (replacing Marshall who is completely done at this point in his career) and Delonte West is a solid backup point guard. Clearly, with a deeper front line and a better fit at the 2, we are a better team right now after making the deal.
Perhaps more importantly, though, the deal allows the Cavs to maintain their long term financial flexibility. Hughes and Wallace have equally terrible contracts, which expire after the 2009-2010 seasons. Although we are taking on Wally's huge contract this year, it expires after next year along with the large contracts of Joe Smith, Eric Snow, and Damon Jones (and Anderson Varejao unfortunately), which will give the Cavs a lot of flexibility before the trade deadline next year or in the summer of 2009.
The Celtics and Pistons still have more talent, but I wouldn't bet against LeBron in a 7 game series against either team.
I like this deal a lot. Wally is still a very productive player on the offensive end and is a much better fit in Cleveland than Hughes. He and Gibson will get a lot of open looks. Losing Drew's scoring will hurt some, but Joe Smith is underrated and should be able to make up for most of Drew's production. Ben Wallace will bring a tough interior defender (replacing Marshall who is completely done at this point in his career) and Delonte West is a solid backup point guard. Clearly, with a deeper front line and a better fit at the 2, we are a better team right now after making the deal.
Perhaps more importantly, though, the deal allows the Cavs to maintain their long term financial flexibility. Hughes and Wallace have equally terrible contracts, which expire after the 2009-2010 seasons. Although we are taking on Wally's huge contract this year, it expires after next year along with the large contracts of Joe Smith, Eric Snow, and Damon Jones (and Anderson Varejao unfortunately), which will give the Cavs a lot of flexibility before the trade deadline next year or in the summer of 2009.
The Celtics and Pistons still have more talent, but I wouldn't bet against LeBron in a 7 game series against either team.
Poor Play, Nice Win
I put in a 650 hand session this morning on Full Tilt. It was very difficult to sustain a 10-20 NL game as there just aren't enough high stakes players on Full Tilt in the morning. If I want to play morning sessions going forward, I will probably have to play on Poker Stars.
Due to the lack of players, I was jumping around from table to table as short stackers would join and then exit. In the spirit of assessing my play objectively, not based on results but on the quality of my play, I think I played a very fair session. I did not tilt at any point, which is good, but my timing just seemed to be off for much of the session. I played much too timid and passive, trying to protect my stack, and ended up putting myself in difficult situations on the turn and river after smooth calling the flop. I still booked a nice win of $1,296 playing almost entirely at 5-10, but really felt like I should have put up a bigger number given the situations I was in. Once again, there were many interesting hands, several of which I misplayed and need to improve from, but I am still having trouble with Poker Tracker. I will hopefully have it resolved before my session tonight.
Cavs update: Ric Bucher just reported on ESPN that the Cavs are in serious talks with the Bulls which would send Chris Duhon and Ben Wallace to the Cavs for Larry Hughes, and the Sonics which would send Wally World to the Cavs for Donyell Marshall and Ira Newble. I will wait to see if either of these trades go through before commenting. 45 minutes before the deadline and counting.
Due to the lack of players, I was jumping around from table to table as short stackers would join and then exit. In the spirit of assessing my play objectively, not based on results but on the quality of my play, I think I played a very fair session. I did not tilt at any point, which is good, but my timing just seemed to be off for much of the session. I played much too timid and passive, trying to protect my stack, and ended up putting myself in difficult situations on the turn and river after smooth calling the flop. I still booked a nice win of $1,296 playing almost entirely at 5-10, but really felt like I should have put up a bigger number given the situations I was in. Once again, there were many interesting hands, several of which I misplayed and need to improve from, but I am still having trouble with Poker Tracker. I will hopefully have it resolved before my session tonight.
Cavs update: Ric Bucher just reported on ESPN that the Cavs are in serious talks with the Bulls which would send Chris Duhon and Ben Wallace to the Cavs for Larry Hughes, and the Sonics which would send Wally World to the Cavs for Donyell Marshall and Ira Newble. I will wait to see if either of these trades go through before commenting. 45 minutes before the deadline and counting.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Cavs deadline deal?
A blockbuster Cavs trade is apparently brewing. I had previously heard the rumors regarding Mike Miller and Andre Miller (and Mike Bibby and Jason Kidd before they were traded this week), but Danny Ferry is apparently working on something bigger. The part about the Cavs getting back a draft pick is puzzling, because aside from LeBron, they have very few assets with trade value. This makes me think the Cavs are taking back a bad contract in this deal. Perhaps something like Ron Artest and Kenny Thomas for Drew Gooden, Sasha Pavlovic, Shannon Brown and Ira Newble's expiring deal. Look forward to seeing what happens tomorrow.
Poker Stars
Another solid 500 hand session, this time on Poker Stars. I played four tables of 6-max 10-20 NL and each table ran short handed for much of the session. The session was short (taking just over an hour to complete 500 hands) and full of action. Overall, I ended up $2,293.
I have pasted links to a few of the more interesting hands below:
Bullets: A tough spot with aces here. I smooth called the preflop raise here (something I probably do ~25% when in position so I can control the size of the pot after the flop), because I thought there was a good chance jbabt would repop after his under the gun limp. Instead we took the flop three handed and the board looked moderately scary for bullets. After getting check raised on the flop by the limper, I considered folding, but decided that jbabt would very rarely limp with 99, JJ, or QQ, so the only hand I really had to worry about was QJs. J10, 910, KQ, two hearts, or a straight bluff seemed much more likely. As such, I decided to push in and jbabt mucked.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137464
Blind battle: I flop a monster here and try to figure out how best to get paid in this blind battle. Unfortunately, I put him on two over cards on the flop and decided to just smooth call, hoping he would bluff the turn and river if the draws did not complete (67 or diamonds). I wanted to represent the draw on the turn as well by checking in position and taking the free card. Then, on the river, I overbet to try and convince him I was bluffing 67 or 68, which I thought wouldn't work because the diamond flush did hit. He obviously put me on a straight move and decided to look me up with 77. Seeing his hand, if I raise the flop I might win a very large pot. Oh well.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137484
Missed a bet: I make a standard in position raise with A9 and get called by a loose/agressive player in the BB. After flopping three nines, I do not even consider slow playing and fire out a standard continuation bet on the flop. I know if he flopped a K I can win a big pot, and he may check raise me with any pair or on a bluff as it looks probable that I completely missed the flop. After his call on the flop, I put him on a weak K or some kind of gut shot (QJ or J10) with plans to bluff later. ADZ124 check called again after I fired my second bullet on the turn. The river J annoyed me as K10 or even 910 felt like a possibility. After his check, though, I really should have fired again. It would have been a thin value bet as there are not many hands that he can call with that I have beat, but it is pretty tough for him to have a 10 there or a full house and not raise the turn or bet the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137888
Quads: Decided to play this hand slow as I thought Magistr_Ludi might be bluffing. Turns out it didn't matter how I played the hand. Poker is easy when you flop a set against AK hitting top pair.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137474
Bad beats are annoying.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137514
I have pasted links to a few of the more interesting hands below:
Bullets: A tough spot with aces here. I smooth called the preflop raise here (something I probably do ~25% when in position so I can control the size of the pot after the flop), because I thought there was a good chance jbabt would repop after his under the gun limp. Instead we took the flop three handed and the board looked moderately scary for bullets. After getting check raised on the flop by the limper, I considered folding, but decided that jbabt would very rarely limp with 99, JJ, or QQ, so the only hand I really had to worry about was QJs. J10, 910, KQ, two hearts, or a straight bluff seemed much more likely. As such, I decided to push in and jbabt mucked.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137464
Blind battle: I flop a monster here and try to figure out how best to get paid in this blind battle. Unfortunately, I put him on two over cards on the flop and decided to just smooth call, hoping he would bluff the turn and river if the draws did not complete (67 or diamonds). I wanted to represent the draw on the turn as well by checking in position and taking the free card. Then, on the river, I overbet to try and convince him I was bluffing 67 or 68, which I thought wouldn't work because the diamond flush did hit. He obviously put me on a straight move and decided to look me up with 77. Seeing his hand, if I raise the flop I might win a very large pot. Oh well.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137484
Missed a bet: I make a standard in position raise with A9 and get called by a loose/agressive player in the BB. After flopping three nines, I do not even consider slow playing and fire out a standard continuation bet on the flop. I know if he flopped a K I can win a big pot, and he may check raise me with any pair or on a bluff as it looks probable that I completely missed the flop. After his call on the flop, I put him on a weak K or some kind of gut shot (QJ or J10) with plans to bluff later. ADZ124 check called again after I fired my second bullet on the turn. The river J annoyed me as K10 or even 910 felt like a possibility. After his check, though, I really should have fired again. It would have been a thin value bet as there are not many hands that he can call with that I have beat, but it is pretty tough for him to have a 10 there or a full house and not raise the turn or bet the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137888
Quads: Decided to play this hand slow as I thought Magistr_Ludi might be bluffing. Turns out it didn't matter how I played the hand. Poker is easy when you flop a set against AK hitting top pair.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137474
Bad beats are annoying.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2137514
Nice Morning Session
I put in a 500 hand session this morning on Full Tilt playing some short handed 6-max games at both 5-10 and 10-20 NL (and one 10-20 PL game accidentally). Ended the session up $3,421, which is great, but more importantly, I think I played very steady poker. I am really trying not to get caught up in short-term results to avoid tilting when variance turns against me. Instead, I am just focusing on playing every hand as well as I can. I am capping each of my sessions based on a hands played limit rather than some stop loss or gain target to reinforce this mentality.
Had several interesting hands which I wanted to share from this morning, but Full Tilt deleted my hand history for some reason.
One interesting hand I do remember:
10-20 NL, 6-Max table, playing 4 handed: I open raise to 70 from the button with JJ and the SB repops to 230 (a standard pot reraise). I had about $3,500 in front of me before the hand started and the SB had about $1,600...this was a tough spot for me as I legitimately considered folding, calling, and reraising. I will often just muck JJ to a reraise if I am out of position and not getting proper odds to call and try to flop a set. It is incredibly easy to lose a big pot with JJ to AA, KK, or QQ when the flop comes down with three rags.
In this situation, I was not getting proper odds to flop a set (I am ~7.5:1 to flop a set, and since I needed to call an additional $170, I would have to scoop an average pot of $170*7.5=$1,275 when I do flop a set to break even). However, the fact that my open raise from the button looked like a possible steal, the SB's reraise has a much wider range of hands (possibly as wide as AA-22, AK-A10, KQ-67s) , many of which I am well ahead of. That, given with the fact that I was in position, (knowing the SB would auto CB on the flop), led me to call.
The flop came down K, 3, 2 rainbow and the SB insta-bet $300 into a pot of $470...Again, a tough spot for me. A raise here made little sense, as the SB would muck if he was bluffing and would reshove any hand that can beat mine. Still, I had a tough choice between folding and calling. I felt like the SB's range was still very wide and I thought a delayed smooth call would be pretty scary and slow him down unless he had AK, AA or KK (or 33 or 22). The turn was a 10 (completing the rainbow) and the SB insta-checked...This was an easier decision for me. Many players will see this check and insta-shove, but I think this is a silly move as the SB could still be trapping with a monster like KK (or even AA or AK). I checked planning to call or check on the river.
The river was a J, completing a board of K, J, 10, 3, 2 and giving me a set. The SB led for $700 (leaving him an additional $400) and I had my 3rd tough decision of the hand. I was certainly at least calling, but I was not sure if there was value in a raise here. His play was completely consistent with either a KK trap or an AQ bluff that rivered the nuts. Still, a bluff with 99-44, 89-45s, or a value bet with AK, KQ, 1010, or AJ seemed more likely here. I ultimately decided that he would probably make a crying call if he had one of these value bet hands and decided to shove. Not sure if this was the best play or not to be honest, but given his range of hands it felt correct. He mucked the river and I scooped a nice $2,500 pot.
Had several interesting hands which I wanted to share from this morning, but Full Tilt deleted my hand history for some reason.
One interesting hand I do remember:
10-20 NL, 6-Max table, playing 4 handed: I open raise to 70 from the button with JJ and the SB repops to 230 (a standard pot reraise). I had about $3,500 in front of me before the hand started and the SB had about $1,600...this was a tough spot for me as I legitimately considered folding, calling, and reraising. I will often just muck JJ to a reraise if I am out of position and not getting proper odds to call and try to flop a set. It is incredibly easy to lose a big pot with JJ to AA, KK, or QQ when the flop comes down with three rags.
In this situation, I was not getting proper odds to flop a set (I am ~7.5:1 to flop a set, and since I needed to call an additional $170, I would have to scoop an average pot of $170*7.5=$1,275 when I do flop a set to break even). However, the fact that my open raise from the button looked like a possible steal, the SB's reraise has a much wider range of hands (possibly as wide as AA-22, AK-A10, KQ-67s) , many of which I am well ahead of. That, given with the fact that I was in position, (knowing the SB would auto CB on the flop), led me to call.
The flop came down K, 3, 2 rainbow and the SB insta-bet $300 into a pot of $470...Again, a tough spot for me. A raise here made little sense, as the SB would muck if he was bluffing and would reshove any hand that can beat mine. Still, I had a tough choice between folding and calling. I felt like the SB's range was still very wide and I thought a delayed smooth call would be pretty scary and slow him down unless he had AK, AA or KK (or 33 or 22). The turn was a 10 (completing the rainbow) and the SB insta-checked...This was an easier decision for me. Many players will see this check and insta-shove, but I think this is a silly move as the SB could still be trapping with a monster like KK (or even AA or AK). I checked planning to call or check on the river.
The river was a J, completing a board of K, J, 10, 3, 2 and giving me a set. The SB led for $700 (leaving him an additional $400) and I had my 3rd tough decision of the hand. I was certainly at least calling, but I was not sure if there was value in a raise here. His play was completely consistent with either a KK trap or an AQ bluff that rivered the nuts. Still, a bluff with 99-44, 89-45s, or a value bet with AK, KQ, 1010, or AJ seemed more likely here. I ultimately decided that he would probably make a crying call if he had one of these value bet hands and decided to shove. Not sure if this was the best play or not to be honest, but given his range of hands it felt correct. He mucked the river and I scooped a nice $2,500 pot.
First Post
I will be posting my poker results and sharing my poker experiences and insights on this blog. Apologies preemptively for any rants about Cleveland sports teams which will undoubtedly occur as well.
To give a little background, I have been playing poker seriously for the past 4 years while working in the finance industry. I started in the underground clubs in Manhatten while working as an investment banking analyst, building my bankroll slowly in the incredibly loose 1-2 and 5-5 NL games. Weekends in AC were also a regular occurence during my time in NYC. My bankroll got a nice boost when I placed second in a prelim WPT event at the Borgata for 65k.
Since moving to Washington DC two years ago to work for the World Bank, I have shifted my poker focus to the online world, and have slowly moved up the ring game ranks.
Last week, I quit my job and now have a 6-month window (I will be attending business school in the fall) to give poker a full time shot. I am incredibly excited and plan to take this opportunity seriously. My goal is to build a sizable bankroll over the next four months, playing primarily in online cash games, and then head out to Vegas in June and play in most of the Hold'em WSOP events. My hiatus from the real world got off to a promising start last week.
I have never used Poker Tracker or any other poker software before, and am having a bit of trouble installing it properly. Once I get it going, I will use it to post my daily results and to also post links to interesting hands which I will provide commentary on. Until then, I will just post my results and I guess you will have to trust me.
You can typically find me at either Full Tilt or Poker Stars under the screename Drewkamm at the 10/20 NL tables.
To give a little background, I have been playing poker seriously for the past 4 years while working in the finance industry. I started in the underground clubs in Manhatten while working as an investment banking analyst, building my bankroll slowly in the incredibly loose 1-2 and 5-5 NL games. Weekends in AC were also a regular occurence during my time in NYC. My bankroll got a nice boost when I placed second in a prelim WPT event at the Borgata for 65k.
Since moving to Washington DC two years ago to work for the World Bank, I have shifted my poker focus to the online world, and have slowly moved up the ring game ranks.
Last week, I quit my job and now have a 6-month window (I will be attending business school in the fall) to give poker a full time shot. I am incredibly excited and plan to take this opportunity seriously. My goal is to build a sizable bankroll over the next four months, playing primarily in online cash games, and then head out to Vegas in June and play in most of the Hold'em WSOP events. My hiatus from the real world got off to a promising start last week.
I have never used Poker Tracker or any other poker software before, and am having a bit of trouble installing it properly. Once I get it going, I will use it to post my daily results and to also post links to interesting hands which I will provide commentary on. Until then, I will just post my results and I guess you will have to trust me.
You can typically find me at either Full Tilt or Poker Stars under the screename Drewkamm at the 10/20 NL tables.
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