More of the same

I had a couple of tough beats tonight but overall it went very well again. I got 2 outered on the river by a higher set. I called his $39 overbet because an ace and a busted flush draw was on the board. Oh well. That was a $102 pot.

I also lost a $65 pot after flopping top 2 against a flopped set on a 2 spade flop. I assumed he had 2 overs and the flush draw since he had lost a big pot to me not too long before that.

On the good side I had an AA versus AK aipf for a $113 pot. That was nice. Strange but nice.

All in all it was almost 2000 hands of 5 and 6 tabling NL experience while getting paid.

Here's my $50 NL chart so far:



That wraps up 2008. Glad to end it on a good note. I am gonna cash out an undetermined amount on the 1st and then hit the NL tables in January. I'm gonna try to put in around 16k NL hands and 4k hands .5/1 LHE single tabling. We'll see how it goes.

September $452.78
October $872.04
November $901.35
December -$169.56

BR $2,318.87

1885 hands of NL

5 tabling the $50 tables. I had a couple of tough folds (for me) in the early going and then it was smooth sailing until I kept missing draws in big pots. Got some donks to donate near the end though so all ended well.

I am running at 8.83ptbb/100 thru 6500 hands. That's what I'm talkin' about!

I can't tell you how many times I saw somebody with AA make a horrible river call when they had to call a huge overbet. I guess if I can fold AA when I'm obviously beat I'll be ahead of the average $50 NL donk.

Speaking of:

Villian is 17/13/.8 AF btw which probably tells me I could've easily folded the turn. But hey, I'm learning and I guess he could've had a busted flush draw but I would be surprised with his stats being so passive.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com



Hero ($76.80)
MP ($36.35)
CO ($55.20)
Button ($104.40)
SB ($54.95)
BB ($33.25)


Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ad, Ah.

Hero raises to $1.5, 3 folds, SB calls $1.25, 1 fold.


Flop: ($3.50) 8c, 7d, 4h (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $2.5, SB calls $2.50.


Turn: ($8.50) 3c (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $3.5, SB raises to $9, Hero calls $5.50.


River: ($26.50) 9s (2 players)

SB bets $19, Hero folds.


Final Pot: $45.50

SB doesn't show.
Outcome: SB wins $45.50.

Here's my chart from tonight:



It's nice to win money while I'm learning a new game. Hopefully things keep falling my way and I don't try to get too fancy. I think I was a victim of that tonight for a while. There's just no need to go crazy at this level. Make hands and make money.

Oh I also min-cashed in the 5k Turbo Takedown yesterday for $90. AQ < AK when I pushed 2 off the button with 6k and 1,100 in the middle. BB had me drawing dead on the turn. I made a big call early with QQ on a 542 board and 33 somehow missed 17 outs on the river to double me.

BR $2,190.72

Time to take a break from 1/2 LHE

December 1/2 6 max LHE:



I'm pretty sure that while I'm trying to adjust my play to take advantage of the HUD I have sprung a massive leak. I will probably play a session or two next month and if that go well I'll keep playing but if not I will continue trying to learn $50 NL 6 max and kiss goodbye to Platinum for a while.

I've played 2500 hands of $50 NL and it has gone much better than LHE:



I'm running at over 10ptbb/100 right now so I'm sure that will come back to reality soon enough. I've never been much of a NL cash game player but maybe with the HUD and what I've learned the past 3 months in 90k hands of LHE I will have the skillset to succeed some.

We'll see.

Gonna play in the 5k turbo takedown tomorrow and the $11 35,000 person 500k guarantee.

BR = $1,973
December = -$515 so far

Still on track for Platinum *sigh*

The funny/sad/encouraging part about last night is that I didn't really tilt although I DID play 2/4 HU LHE at the end. That was a lot of fun but not very profitable as I got up $100 after 20 minutes or so and then quit 10 minutes later up $4.

What I find that happens when I start off like I did last night is that I become way too passive. I was hoving around 1.4 to 1.2 AF at most of my tables and that's not good in 6 max. At all. I'm sure that contributed to people sucking out.

My plan is to continue 5 tabling 1/2 6 max this month and continue to try to improve. Last night was one of those epic bad nights where I folded two winners early in the session for $60 and then had hands like K hi flush versus ace hi several times, ace hi flush rivered by sets that filled, top pair to 2 pair, 2 pair to draws that hit, my draws continually missing, etc. etc.

BR at $1933.80

Ditto

Well, I finally got to use the HUD on PT3 last night in a sweet 5.5 hour 2800 hand session. It was really, really nice to have everything right in front of me as I made my decisions. I'm looking forward to using it more as I try to improve my 6 max skills.

Last night's session:




Wow, what a night. About 2 hours in I was thinking HUD was the answer to all of my prayers and I was in for a $400 night. Boy was I wrong. That $300 nosedive was so horrible. It continually amazes me how streaky 6 max is. Ugh.

I worked my way back up thanks to two amazing maniacs and then once they left I drifted down again. It was an interesting feeling after they left. The tables seemed soooo tight. Just one night with the HUD opened my eyes as to how important table selection is - even at 1/2.

Even though December has been less than ideal I'm still looking forward to improving my skills and figuring this game out. I will probably cash out everything over $2,000 on 1/1/09 and attempt to retain my Platinum status in January at 1/2.

Still hanging around $2300 and on target to get Platinum while I'm learning so I'm not complaining.

More Pain

That's the sad reality of 6 Max LHE. Lot's of pain with a little bit of fun mixed in and when you have finally played enough hands to take away the thrills and chills you are just punching a timeclock making money. Haha. Too dark? I agree.

Last session:




I had 3 set over sets last night in huge pots along with another huge pot where I flopped top two with AQ versus top set versus two other guys that eventually folded on the river. $77 pot. Weee. Those 4 pots were well over $200. I still squeaked out a win but it wasn't fun. At all.

I feel like I'm waiting for the 'ole 6k hand upswing that deposits $800 into my account and makes me like poker again. All the while I am trying to improve and figure out how to play against the various villians that populate my tables. To be honest that's the fun part - experimenting with my style of play and trying to pull moves against the few thinking players I encounter.

Ha I'm reviewing hands against a regular right now and some of them are from months ago. I was waaaay too passive. Wow. I still am but it's kinda shocking to see what I used to do.

Still down around $200 for December...

FPP Schedule for 2009

I'm at 14k fpps right now. If I make Platinum this month I'll have 22k fpps on 1/1/09 (after deducting 5k for the Turbo Takedown). 10k vpps each month = 25k fpps at Platinum and 35k at Supernova starting around late October SO:

(deducting 5k for the TT each month and 50k for the $650 cash bonus when I accrue enough)

1/1/09 22k
2/1/09 42k
3/1/09 12k $650
4/1/09 32k
5/1/09 2k $650
6/1/09 22k
7/1/09 42k
8/1/09 12k $650
9/1/09 32k
10/1/09 2k $650
11/1/09 22k
12/1/09 2k $650
1/1/10 32k

So that's $3,250 in cash bonuses if I hit at least 10k vpps a month for the entire year. I'll revisit this in a few months and see how realistic it is.

Blah

I have now lost in 3 out of the past 5 sessions including last night's $101 loss in 5 hours. Gross. I hate feeling like I have no idea what people have. That's exactly what seems to happen when I start running bad. Such a funny game.

Here's December so far:

Maybe my best session ever

This stuff is so subjective. Coming off of two straight losing sessions it would've been easy to have a crisis of confidence.



Starting off the first hour killing it really helped me feel better. Then the horrible beats started and didn't let up for close to 3 hours. I was able to remain calm though and kept repeating this mantra: "if they keep playing this badly and I keep playing well I WILL make money in the long run". I felt like Stuart Smalley.



Anyway, the cards finally turned in my favor in the last hour and I ended the session on a positive note.

I am still on pace to get Platinum this month. My goal right now is to be able to get a $685 cash bonus the first week of February with 50,000 fpps. Hopefully my account is around $3,000 at the start of the new year and I can mix in some 2/4 tables.

$2,263.68

Going down?

Yes, that would be me. Dropped close to 150 BBs Monday night. $291.75. Ouch.

The only good part was I put in 5 hours instead of 4. If I was smart I would cut my losing sessions short and extend my winning sessions - duh. So I made over 1,100 vpps which puts me on pace to maybe get platinum this month. I'll try it again tonight and see if I can play better and, more importantly, run better.

Monday's fun:

November

Well I didn't have time to play in the freeroll or the 100 fpp tourney Saturday but I did manage to cash for the 3rd consecutive time in the 5k turbo takedown yesterday (9746 runners). I got $150 as AJ > 1010 aipf (got taken out on the river for a little extra drama). Winning that hand would've given me an average stack and I easily would've cruised into the $225 prize level as we were only 150 spots away - in fact the guy that took me out finished 123rd for $453.

It was an excellent month all in all.

September $452.78
October $872.04
November $901.35

Here's my run since I started following proper bankroll management:

9/5/2008 $261.96
9/16/2008 $494.59
9/29/2008 $714.74
10/15/2008 $745.63
10/29/2008 $1,586.78
11/15/2008 $1,694.63
11/30/2008 $2,488.43