Farewell to Bankroll, and Political Gambling

So, there are times when bankroll management is a strength of mine (risk aversion, compartmentalization), and there are times like this month. I guess it started when the new ipod touch was rolled out. I had recently earned enough FPPs to purchase it via onecall.com gift certificates, but they never got them in stock. It's been nearly two months and they still don't. Eventually I think I may have lost my mind, and decided to pay cash for a 32g. I withdrew some money from p*, and reasoned that I'd just eventually do a cash bonus to make up for the $400.

Then I decided I'd take a shot at 3/5 at muckleshoot. And 2 hours later, my roll was down another $600 woo. I got a little unlucky ($300 flip, and then KK < AA), but mostly it's just what happens when you're underolled, okay. So I'm down $1000. Then I bought Guitar Hero World Tour ($200) b/c wifey was out of town for a week and I was a bit miserable. Down $1200.

My downturn could have gotten much worse when I took a pretty strong position on Obama winning the election. I ended up laying $600 to $200 across several bets. Of course I loved the price I was laying...by the week before he had to have been 10:1 or better, but obviously losing the $600 would have been much worse than winning the $200 would have been good. link to wiki article on utility

A couple of minor upticks along the way: I won the chiptalk QTOC, had small wins at 4/8 limit and online 50nl, cashed last night in the weekly CT. But in general I'm down, and may need to hunker back down at p*.

Anyhow, here's my update, which was apparently a requirement to get paid for the Obama bet by a certain Washington CT'er. Peace. Read more!

Yeah, that's right, I'm not posting.

You know why? B/c I'm a bitch and last month sucked. I'll post stats later, but I finished down a few buyins. Nothing catastrophic, but yeah it sucked.

Issues:
1) timing.
Seamus started kindergarten, so I stopped playing so much in the afternoon when the family is home (they were pissed at me about it), and started working on getting in all my hands noon-3 or so. These hours are packed at P*, but they suck. I mean...they suck. Usually 2 platinum grinders at every good table I find, and of course they have as many hands on me as I do on them, and blah blah blah. I long for the days of playing in the evening, but I'm gonna have to figure out how to start playing those hours again.

2) variance (?)
Who fuckin' knows? All I know is that I played 18k hands and had something like 6 swings of 7 buyins or more last month. I mean...really?

3) the fuckin economy
I'm discouraged about my chances to get in more than a year of real volume. With the way things have turned, we're seriously concerned about our prospects for a really good refinance deal in 2 years with only one income. Chances are I'll be teaching again in the fall, which means my days of even 10k+ hands/month will be over. Which turns what I'm doing now back into dabbling, fucking around. sigh...

Also, J-fuckin-M and my headup match, of course, got down to a shovefest in the 5th match of five. Of course I'm bitching now, and of course it's prolly an exaggeration, but he basically did what I figured he'd do, which is to call down in most big pots with any piece of the board. With a minute to go, I brick out the river, have 1300 behind, JM has 1000 behind, and there's 700 in the pot. I decide to bluff it so that I can run him over at 50/100, knowing there's a really good chance he'll call with a single pair on a scary'ish board. So yeah, he calls, I'm handcuffed with the big blinds, game over. blurg. I'll see if I can find some hands later. Read more!

Phil Hellmuth, Village Idiot

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

thanks to dangerlion Read more!

Chiptalk HU Tourny

16 player field, run over the course of a few weeks, with matches scheduled on our own. The great news about this is that we can set them up at our discretion. In other words, we can play 2 out of 3, 3/5, 4/7, whatever floats our respective boats.

I played scottwire in my first match and beat him 2/3. Last night JM and I played 4 of our best of 5. He crushed me in the first, I had him down 2:1 in the second until A7s < 78s aipf. He went up 2-0, and I had to work hard to get even at the end of the night.

The rubber match is tonight at 9pm local. I'd like to comment and put up some hands, but I'm too paranoid about potential foes reading up. I'll do that after I take it down.

PS: Our quadrant of the draw was scottwire, JM, mrticsay and me. No offense to the rest of the field, but these are possibly the strongest 4 players of the 16, and I've already filed an official complaint to the appropriate regulatory body. Read more!

Why Do I Run So Good?

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Poker Stars Game#20789010612

fragio007 ($16.60)
winniwy ($12.10)
jayboy16 ($13.95)
Talon2000 ($12.30)
GJBRADLEY ($47.10)
thejojobinks ($51)

fragio007 posts (SB) $0.25
winniwy posts (BB) $0.50

Dealt to thejojobinks Jc Js
call, fold,
GJBRADLEY raises to $2
thejojobinks raises to $7.50
fold, fold, fold, call,

FLOP ($16.25) 6h 4c Jd
check,
thejojobinks bets $6.85
GJBRADLEY raises to $39.60
thejojobinks calls $32.75

TURN ($95.45) 6h 4c Jd 2c

RIVER ($95.45) 6h 4c Jd 2c Tc

GJBRADLEY shows Ac 7c
(Flop 5.9%, Turn 15.9%)

thejojobinks shows Jc Js
(Flop 94.1%, Turn 84.1%)

GJBRADLEY wins $92.45 Read more!

The New Ipod Touch: or, Come On, Onecall!

Two things happened last week. One, I got past the 24k fpps, which is what I need for $400 in onecall gift certificates. And two, the new touch was rolled out, which is 32gigs for $399.

So...Onecall...WTF????!

They still don't have it in stock, and although they claim they do customer service right or some such nonsense, in chat they claim they have "no idea" when it'll be in.

Um...why am I torturing myself at the grind, if not to get cool gadgetry? We're going to DC in October and I best have meself a touch by then, or there will be repercussions. Oh yes, there will. Read more!

Late Night Poker Tour: Quarterly Tournament of Champions

Worst QTOC ever, b/c basically entries are based on performance over 3 months but there are only about 6 or 7 regulars, so as a regular it'd be embarassing to not make it.

That said, I rarely play tournaments anymore, and I won last night, so...you take your victories as they come.

It was an FTP 2-stacked thing, and since the field tends to be loose/bluffy early, well, I did what I always did and blew off a buncha chips right away.

I call this first hand "hey there's a really good player on the button. let's pump up the pot so he can take it away from me."


I got 3bet by the tightest living human and layed down AJ, and nowI'm down to 2500 and nit up. My image is horrible with those that aren't solid (about half of them) to begin with, and now it looks like I'm playing maniacally. So I wait.

P.S.: Woo for waiting! Although given the board, I'm not sure how Seitz gets away here, unless he checks the turn which is probably 74% too nitty for words.


Yay, I'm riiiiich. Oh wait, there was this hand. I hate the way it went down, but I wonder, given the weird flop action, if there was any way out for me.


Now I'm back to 2300 and self-flagellation. I know that against whataboutj, tdog, lucky, and hoffa I'm likely to have to play for stacks if we play a pot. littlebu and fsu88 are solid but will play back at me. And osumike will sometimes allow himself to be bullied. So I'm going to work on his blinds, and in the meantime try not to get out of line.

I forget about not getting out of line a bit later. In this hand, there were so many limps I wanted to raise just on principle, but didn't. Anyhow, on the flop hoffa put out that ridiculous probe bet, which I noticed he does quite a bit. And, having thought about raising preflop, the dry flop, et cetera, I figured it might be a good time to take it down. It was.


I hate this hand, b/c villain is 26/10 and has folded to 3bets 2/11 times in the 800 or so hands I have on him. So I know he's not raising with 22, I think he's not raising with AT, and I KNOW he's calling with every single hand that beats me. But I'm just so inclined to be aggressive that I make these dumb shoves. I hate it, it's a horrible move, and I got super-donk-lucky.


On the other hand, there's this hand. Lucky is a similar player to tdog...he limps a lot, raises little, and gets spewy later in hands. This looked to me like the classic limp in with a little sumthin sumthin and then reraise b/c what the hell might as well. I may have had a hard time with TT, but I don't think so...and this was a pretty easy fistpump snapcall.


Now I'm at 6600 and I can play.
Stacks:
Seat 1: littlebu ( $5935.00 USD ) <-- to be feared. we have a lot of history, and he's a strong player
Seat 2: FSU88 ( $3546.00 USD ) <-- to be feared. similar to littlebu, but in addition i'm not sure the stt is his strength, which is even more scary. he does weird stuff and I'd prefer to not get involved.
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $6659.00 USD )
Seat 5: osumike11379 ( $1350.00 USD ) <-- will play very solid. target for abuse.
Seat 8: whataboutj ( $6640.00 USD ) <-- likes to defend his blinds, slowplays maybe a bit too much, otherwise pretty tight. very reluctant to open pots.
Seat 9: Hoffa13 ( $2870.00 USD ) <-- pretty aggro/weird. not sure what's up with him, even though i have a lot of hands with him. too lazy to look up numbers now, but last night was the same. i have most my hands with him at p*, and HEM isn't good at combining usernames from diff sites. So I didn't have his #s up from p*. At FTP, in limited action, he's 33/24/9 (!).

In all, I like my seat a lot, with the two most dangerous players on my right and the very tightest player on my left.

This hand is weird, b/c...well obviously. I check behind the flop b/c I don't think he has any outs. His call on the turn, I think, mostly has to do with my flop check. I feel like he's value betting a nine or 66-88 type hand on the river. I was pretty sure he wouldn't call, but I feel like there was some chance he would, and there was pretty much 0% chance he had me beat.


I double up osumike with J4s (wooooo!), and chop away at the blinds for awhile. Here's osumike's hand, btw. I want to put it up b/c I think it's a pretty big mistake on his part.

Seat 1: littlebu ( $3995.00 USD )
Seat 2: FSU88 ( $3386.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $9319.00 USD )
Seat 5: osumike11379 ( $1110.00 USD )
Seat 8: whataboutj ( $6400.00 USD )
Seat 9: Hoffa13 ( $2790.00 USD )
osumike11379 posts small blind [$80.00 USD].
whataboutj posts big blind [$160.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mwfeldman [ 4s Js ]
Hoffa13 folds
littlebu folds
FSU88 folds
mwfeldman raises [$430.00 USD]
osumike11379 raises [$1030.00 USD]
whataboutj folds
mwfeldman calls [$680.00 USD]
osumike11379 shows [4d, Ad ]
mwfeldman shows [4s, Js ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, 5d, Jd ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2d ]
osumike11379 wins $2380.00 USD from main pot

Mike only has 1030, my raise is to 430, so he knows I'm not folding. Let's say he gives me 30% on my button raise. Then...
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 48.028% 44.85% 03.18% 1108882084 78652760.00 { A4s }
Hand 1: 51.972% 48.79% 03.18% 1206379372 78652760.00 { 55+, A2s+, K5s+, Q7s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, A7o+, A5o, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o }

Yeah, that's right...he's a dog. Why guarantee a race in which you have no edge? BTW, if he gives me 40%, then he's 50.5% woooooooo...

So basically it's a really bad play to reshove with a bad ace hi if you can't get the guy to fold. He tells me in chat he thought I was making a move, et cetera. I bide my time.

Then I make the crush.


I bust hoffa with JJ > QK aipf, and we're 3 handed, blinds 120/240 and a 50ante.
Seat 1: littlebu ( $11107.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $10927.00 USD )
Seat 8: whataboutj ( $4966.00 USD )

I consider this to be far from an optimal situation. whataboutj gets sik aggressive shorthanded, and littlebu is the player I feared most at the table since hand one. And whatabout j may be short, but at 20bbs is still plenty deep enough to play back and get me to lay down. My plan is to pick up AA v KK like 3 times. Also, it's to be aggressive as always, lay down when necessary, and have them make bigger mistakes than me. If I nit up they'll know it and run me over. If I play my game, they'll sometimes get a little too wrapped up in the joy of getting me to fold. That said, I'd still like AA v KK.

The first hand of note: god-bless-america that I started playing cash games. I think I'm like 66.4% more creative now, and I basically would never 3bet in the past. Not that this hand is particularly creative, but still...


So 3handed I open then fold 3 times, which means (maybe) that I'm getting played back at, which is a good thing according to my plan. Since I know they're not gonna let me run them over, I want them ramping up aggression and making big mistakes. But then this hand comes up, and I think it's my mistake. My shove offers him 2:1, so unless I think he's pretty far out of line, I'm taking a race. And, of course, it'll cripple me to lose the pot. Which I do.


Down to m<3, I just log out and let myself blind out.

Yeah, no. Not really.
I get a walk the very next hand (?). I fold k2 in the sb, shove rags on the button and pick up another set of blinds. I fold my bb, then steal the button and sb and get another walk. Alrighty then! I've doubled up, and whataboutj can spew. Can I sneak into h/u play? Yes sir, yes I can. I see what happened there, but I think J was missing some key points. Mostly...it wouldn't really hurt bu to double him up, but it hurts J a lot to go bust here. The board is pretty scary, his hand is of moderate strength, and I'm really short. I think it's a pretty easy fold (for a slightly tough fold, that is). I think J's pot sized bet is the real problem. It made him feel trapped. Not necessary, imo. 1000 does the trick, I guess, and makes it easier to fold.



In any event, woo h/u!!!
Seat 1: littlebu ( $24643.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $2357.00 USD )

Two double ups would be nice. If only I could pick up aces on my first hand. If only...
***** Hand History for Game 8174760892 *****
$30000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, September 22, 12:49:48 ET 2008
Table Chiptalk LNPT (61893922) Table 1 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: littlebu ( $24643.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $2357.00 USD )
littlebu posts small blind [$150.00 USD].
mwfeldman posts big blind [$300.00 USD].
littlebu posts ante of [$25.00 USD].
mwfeldman posts ante of [$25.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mwfeldman [ Ac As ]
littlebu raises [$24468.00 USD]
mwfeldman calls [$2032.00 USD]
littlebu shows [Td, Ks ]
mwfeldman shows [Ac, As ]
littlebu wins $22286.00 USD
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9d, 7d, 3h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]
mwfeldman wins $4714.00 USD from main pot

w00t. We go back and forth for 20 hands or so with small pots and flop takedowns, and on HEM it looks like I'm running him over but I've only grinded up to 5400. Flopping 2 pair is always nice. I'm happy with the way I played it, and I'd like to have not shown my hand down but there's no way he folds a better hand if I raise the river and I don't think he calls with much of anything worse. The board cooperated and I was able to check two streets, otherwise I don't think I make an additional chip on this pot.


New stacks:
Seat 1: littlebu ( $10622.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $16378.00 USD )

We go back and forth, with smallish pots, I flop one pot huge, he donks and then folds (drats), and then we finish it off with a good old-fashioned cooler.


This is a pleasing result for me. Then, today, I resumed the torture of 50nl. We're taking a 4 day trip to DC in November, followed by 5 days in Chicago, so my streak of big volume months will likely be over. It kinda looks to me that it won't be a moment too soon.
Read more!

Some "Valuable" Information From a Poker "Professional"

This guy is using words that I understand, but isn't saying anything that I can then interpret to have meaning. How does a guy like this get money to play? Seriously, he plays all the 10k tournaments. WTF? Just watch.

Read more!

Last Night, WSOPME

Only watched the first episode, but this was my favorite hand. I wonder why?

Read more!

I Run Bad, Carry On

I've got 10.8k hands for the month, which looks like I'll fall short of 25k, but it's certainly not out of reach, depending on how things go. The last two months I did significant volume the last 10 days or so, and I tend to get mmore hands in when I run well. When exactly will that happen?

My allin EV for the month is +$150 (which is a bad enough 1.5ptbb/100), but my results are worse, at -$26 for the month. Some examples of how I get to this point.

From today:


Ah yes, a mere 95.5% equity when the money get in.

Here's another from my favorite fish of all (anonymized to protect my monies):


This one is also close to my heart:


For balance, here's my biggest suckout of the month. (Going to look now...not sure what it'll be. I sure hope it's a big one to cheer me up)...oh yes. Yes it is.



Take that you donkey! That'll learn you for playing QQ. It is just top set, you know.

Read more!

Some Wicked Hands From the WSOPME

The coverage is great this year, despite the two mongoloids doing "commentary" and "analysis." But there were some awesome hands on Tuesday night's shows, and here are some.

Some guy lays down (correctly) with a monster. I don't know whether to agree with Matusow (he's unlucky to draw players like this in such a weak field) or disagree (dude, you have a guy at your table that's slowplaying a set of jacks and then laying down after filling up).


Ivey bluffs out top two and a set. Again, the board is scary and stuff, but again we have a player slowplaying a set and then laying down when things get worse. How badly do these guys want to make the money?



Ivey shows disdain for the mere mortal who fearfully calls with, basically, the nut. This one is really interesting, as someone who also gets testy with the n00bs. He realized a few seconds after snapping that the guy is just, sorta, hopelessly scared/stupid, and calms down. The "we just see things different ways" is a smooth insult, and deserves appreciation.

Also, of course, he doesn't have THE nut and could be coolered here, but how weak/scared do you have to be to respond that way with J8 in that spot?



Read more!

Recent Tournament Stuff

Finished 3rd at uw85's tournament on the 4th. 3 handed i'm in the bb, blinds 8/15k with an ante and i have 120k. I'm covered by both villains. Button limps, SB completes and I check my option with K7o. Flop comes KT4 rainbow. SB checks, i bet 45k into 48k and the button calls. Turn is a 6 to complete the rainbow. I move in for my last 60k and he calls nearly without hesitation with AT. Wheee, river ace.

I'm down, but I catch the points leader for the year, and October is the final month. I'm now up 10 points. The thing is, you get 10 for a final table, and his tournament is often like 15 players. The guy right behind me is a real tight fuck, so there's a lot of pressure on me now to FT. Uw85 uses a weird non-weighted system, 100/80/60/40/20/10s for the rest of the FT. So...you see. If he finishes 6-9 and I don't FT we tie for the year. If we both FT i need to keep him close and if he finishes 4th or better and ahead of me I'd be dead.

Took down the CT Thursday tonight for the 8th time, tying poker god fsu88. Here are some hands that mattered...

In my first hand of any consequence, I 3bet a guy I've never seen before but is shaping up to be the table captain lagtard. I lay down here but I'm looking for opportunities against this guy.



Next hand of consequence, shockingly, against the same player. He limp/calls and I think there's zero chance he has an ace or a big hand there. He donks the flop and this seemed like an easy shove to me. Also, I may have been feeling slightly tilty. But I'd bet $100 he had 55(ish).


This is another example of the fairly retarded lagtard stuff he's doing. I remember at this point to be looking for stacking opportunities against him, not chances to steal small pots.


It's hard to imagine, but I basically play no pots of consequence until 50/100. I raise 44 and cbet scottwire, which is always scary b/c he loves to CR the flop. I pick up blinds with QQ and 3bet JJ v my archnemesis but get no action.

My first big pot comes at 75/150. It's against...yes, kalhan. I 3bet AQ, shove it b/c it's about right and I don't want him getting any ideas about me laying down. Winning races is nice.


That hand put me in the chip lead with 18 to go. There were some medium stacks and some players that I knew wouldn't reraise light, so I got to work on stealing blinds. I pick up the blinds 4 of the next 11 hands unopposed, including a QQ that left me sad and unsatisfied.

I dropped 1k when i opened 66 and matty minraised allin with QQ. It looks like I sat really tight for a few rounds after that, prolly b/c of the awkward stack sizes. I can't open small enough to be able to fold to a shove by a shorty at that point, and they're all shorties.

My next big hand is here, v joserijo. He's a pretty good lag. He plays 50nl and is really aggressive. He's been stealing liberally, and I shove here b/c my stack is at that point. He INSTAcalls with that hand, which tilted me in anticipation of a bad flop. Hand holds up, big chipleader now with two tables.



This hand is a big blurg, but I think is basically necessary at this point in the tournament.


So I'm getting exactly 2:1. I stoved it against broadway, aces and pairs and figured I had 35%. I call, he shows A8 and I brick out.

Speaking of chronic check-raisers...I think Raiderjoe might be the worst. I swear this guy has CR'd me on the flop several hundred times. I feel 100% sure I dodged one here, and it pleased me. In other times I would have ALWAYS bet the gutshot on the flop.


I bust joserijo with QQ > Q7 aipf. Flopped a set but had to sweat a flush draw on the turn. Was happy to see him gone b/c I prefer weak-tights a the table, not lags.

FT now. I bust some guy with AJ > KJ aipf w00t.

Chiptstacks and evaluation of the situation:
Seat 1: thejojobinks ( $13758.00 USD ) <-- animal
Seat 3: vrecksler ( $7393.00 USD ) <-- fundamentally sound. maybe too patient. glad to have him behind me, i think he's a bit scared of me.
Seat 4: mattythatguy ( $1989.00 USD ) <-- can spew, but mostly tight.
Seat 5: RaiderJoe40 ( $2085.00 USD ) <-- very tight, tricky after flop (won't matter unless he gets some chips though)
Seat 6: julesdAA ( $8325.00 USD ) <-- unknown
Seat 7: scottwire ( $5346.00 USD ) <-- very good player, will shovebot well.
Seat 8: cdnmoose07 ( $12104.00 USD ) <-- he plays pretty tight, but find him to be a bit of a spewer. we play regularly on monday nights and i see him do some crazy stuff. he also steals like crazy and i'm happy to be behind him.

Some more hands:
Jules gets crippled and i bust him aipf KT > A3. I double up raiderjoe (drats) with a dominated ace aipf.

From 6handed to 4 handed my stack goes from 12k to 18.5k without seeing a flop. Not getting great hands, but I have the chips and they're waiting on big hands, I guess. Cdnmoose makes a huge mistake whatever he had here...I think this is just horrible.



Eh, the replay doesn't do it justice, but he's getting like 3:1, and half his stack's in the pot. He claimed he had 3 outs, which I guess means he had A9 or something. But seriously? He leaves himself 5k at 400/800, which I find really silly. The good news (for him) is that he starts shoving like a maniac and no one wants to play with him. He doubles up without a flop, and then busts raiderjoe with a small ace aipf v joes Kx.

Stacks and situation:
Seat 1: thejojobinks ( $25320.00 USD )
Seat 3: vrecksler ( $13386.00 USD )
Seat 8: cdnmoose07 ( $12294.00 USD )

So vrecksler will be looking for good opportunities, but will undervalue steal opportunites and bad broadway hands to open. cdnmoose won't have that sort of hesitancy, and will apply pressure. It's my job to steal from vreck and not let cdnmoose run over me.

No action with AK, KQs. Vreck doubles up through moose with AK > A5 aipf, and moose is down to 3k.

The very next hand I double him up to 6k with Ax v 33 and he's off to the races again. Is this getting long now?

I make another raise/call with Q9, and again lose a 40/60 to cdnmoose. Now stacks:
Seat 1: thejojobinks ( $14746.00 USD )
Seat 3: vrecksler ( $20272.00 USD )
Seat 8: cdnmoose07 ( $15982.00 USD )
blinds 400/800

Gonna speed it up now, b/c i'm tired as shit.

Vrecksler busted with this hand and was really disappointed, but come on. Moose makes a ridiculously spewy shove for 20+bbs with a bad ace and sucks out. Vrecksler got it in silly good, and that's just how it goes.


HU went 11 hands. He started with a 2:1 chiplead and I'm proud to say I lost exactly 0 chips but for my blinds in the match.

lol not true now that I actually look at the HH. This hand nearly blew my head off. I really thought he was pretty strong, and I obviously was gonna lose at showdown if I checked, but could I really shove this river? He takes a big pot and I'm in trouble, nearly down 4:1


These are the last two hands. Of course I flop it sik hard but he makes another redonkulous spew with king hi, then we race off for the rest. I win my 8th woo.









Read more!

Seitz's Hammer Hand

This sicko is headup for a wcoop event and bluffs a hammer just for the CT'ers. You can't see it in the replay below, but he showed the hand for the rail. w00t.

Here it is: Read more!

Not Much to Report

Still playing every day. The wife and baby are out of town and the kid is off to kindergarten for 3 hours a day, but I'm not really seeing an increase in volume. I thought I'd be able to, but really I'm still cranking out about 1k per day. I'm having some wicked swings, and am working again on being less spewy with medium-strength hands.

Results have been blah, I haven't been studying much with DC vids. I Have to maybe figure out how to regiment things a bit better. Read more!

w00t seitz! 46k score.

Good friend and former team member seitz333 takes down 46k and second place in the wcoop 8 game, a tournament structure he's played exactly once before.

read about it here.

He's been playing the bigger tournaments for close to a year, I guess and this is big time, imo. Congrats and stay away from our microtournaments, bitch! Read more!

Urm...okay

Niiiice...

First, I induce a giant spew from a nitty regular.
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



saw flop | saw showdown



Button ($50.75)

SB ($54.45)

BB ($70.25)

Hero (UTG) ($63.75)

MP ($58.90)



Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K

Hero raises $2, MP calls $2, 1 fold, SB calls $1.75, BB raises $13.25, Hero raises $33.50, 2 folds, BB raises $56.50 (All-In), Hero calls $28.25 (All-In)



Flop: ($131.50) 2, 5, A (2 players, 2 all-in)



Turn: ($131.50) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)



River: ($131.50) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)



Total pot: $131.50



Results in white below:

BB had Q, A (two pair, Aces and fives).

Hero didn't show K, K (two pair, Kings and fives).

Outcome: BB won $136


This one was a barrel of fun:
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



saw flop | saw showdown



Button ($90.55)

SB ($26.40)

BB ($50)

Hero (UTG) ($49.25)

MP ($99.25)

CO ($50)



Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K

Hero raises $2, 2 folds, Button calls $2, 2 folds



Flop: ($4.75) 5, 3, 2 (2 players)

Hero bets $3.80, Button calls $3.80



Turn: ($12.35) 6 (2 players)

Hero bets $7.75, Button calls $7.75



River: ($27.85) A (2 players)

Hero bets $17.25, Button raises $77 (All-In), Hero folds



Total pot: $62.35



Results in white below:

Button didn't show

Outcome: Button won $119.10


To round off the big hands, we had kk < AA, JJ < AA, KK v flopped set and AA v 48 (dooooh, NOT 48!!!??!).

For the day: 704 hands, 21/20/6, -36ptbb/100 w00000000000000000t.

Tonight: the Bothell tournament. Confidence booster or soul crusher? More later.
Read more!

Sorta an ugly day and AHK scripts make their first appearance

Got in a good number of hands today, like 1500, but tilted for a good part of it and was lucky to get out only down 1.5 buyins. Lost 3 huge pots with a pair when an overcard came on the flop against lagtards. I really need to figure out what to do when I'm frustrated, b/c I only get so much opportunity to play and I really don't want to just walk away when I have the chance.

On the good news front, I found some really useful AHK scripts at 2+2 software that I started using. Betpot uses wheel click to bet pot (preflop, sometimes flop, sometimes river), and rightclick to bet 2/3 pot (more likely on the flop/turn). Also messed around with starsplanner, which places tables and autobuys in, and stars reload, which makes sure all the tables are topped off. Unfortunately, one of the latter two seems to turn away new tables when seats open, so I've laid off them for now. Finally, I started using theopener, which is set up to open p*, HEM, and betpot with a single click.

I'm pretty optimistic despite a rocky start to September. Even though I got in 20k hands last month, it was less than 40 hours, and I ended up averaging $25/hour. Theoretically, this means I can consider it a possibility that it might be realistic for me to make some real money this year.

Notice the use of theoretically, possibility and mightberealistic. I'm guardedly optimistic. Read more!

Folding When Beat: I did it!! (??)

I think this is a good lay down but, as a payoff wizard, it pains me.

The guy is 16/12/4 over 50 hands. Small sample, but the line he takes is strong like bull, no? I just can't see calling there and then folding to a massive river bet if it bricks out.

Feedback, por favor.
Read more!

I Love This Game!

Played some more. Was just treading water, when I played this monstrosity. Don't even know what to think about it, except when the action goes like this I tend to be drawing just about this dead.



I was buzzing, and started to shut down tables. Then, in the next few minutes, these two hands happened.



I was sick when he called, of course, and dumbfounded when they pushed me the pot.

Then, finally, this:


99 lol. Also, the replay's not working, but the short stack had 67o w00t.

THEN I shut down the rest of my tables and ran for it. Good month. :D Read more!

End O' The Month

Family out of town today, and I took the opportunity to play against the big Sunday crowd and finish the month strong. Had a great day, then flopped set under set, stacked off, felt the tilt buzz, and logged off (victory!).

Probable final numbers for the month (assuming I'm done for the day):
Total hands: 21324
ptbb/100: 3.4

But... I'm putting a big asterix on this result. Maybe I'm just rationalizing, but here goes. At the end of last month I had that nasty downturn, and I switched to .1/.25. Results remained bad into August. And I just couldn't win at .1/.25. On 8/24 I realized I needed to play .25/.5 if I wanted gold, and...I wanted gold, so I switched over to 50nl exclusively. Since then I've done great, winning 7.5ptbb/100. So, breaking it down for stakes...

25nl: 9362 hands, -.15bptbb/100
50nl: 11962 hands, 6.15ptbb/100

So, kinda, sorta, I met my goal of 5bb/100.

I met my goal of 20k hands. I met my goal of signing up for a training site. I haven't done any coaching, and me/bu/scottwire have shared hands only once. :(.

For next month:
[ ] 25k hands.
[ ] 6.5ptbb/100
[ ] Fold when beat. Specifically, when c/r'd by a nit with less than two pair.
[ ] Regulate DC viewing. Specifically, I'd like to watch after peak hours, at least 2 hours/week, at the computer. Been using the ipod, but it's more scattered, b/c I'll be all over the house. Also, on the ipod it's impossible to read hole cards.

In the end, I'd like to ramp up my play volume. Just crunching some #s, I figured I'm getting 321 hands an hour at 50nl, with mostly 4 tables but sometimes 5 and very occasionally 6 when transitioning. At that rate, I'll need to up my play from 15 hours/week to 20 hours/week to hit 25k hands this month. That seems really reasonable to me. And if my month goes as planned, I'll be a couple of weeks away from having 50 buyins to 100nl.

Stay tuned.
Read more!

Ick, Bad Day

Flopped a boat and guy rivered a bigger boat. Stacked off with tptk v a flop min check/raise (like duh). I turned a set against a turned straight. This and much much more. The good news, I think, is that even with those three hands, and one brain fart donk off of a bluff, I still finished only 1.5 buyins down in 900 hands.

And then there was this:


mmmm...it warms my heart looking at it.

Oh well. Didn't mind booking the loss, but I was a bit tilted and I wasn't at all happy about that.

Here's the set v straight hand. It's so gross, b/c it's one of two cards to which
I even put in one more chip.


Also, an update on yesterday, and my point about chumps refusing to bet their hands. yay for losing the minimum here.

Read more!

Getting More Value

I've been watching all sorts of stuff at DC, but one of only two series I've been watching in its entirety is Real Life Micro NL-Grinder: Unlimited Texas Hold Them, which is basically comprised of Wilt on Tilt doing sweat sessions and HH reviews with his student, a 50nl grinder. They've been great, and one of the concepts that's really basic that I've been working on is getting more value out of medium strength hands against calling stations. In the past I would check behind on the turn for deception or to keep from stacking off or whatever, but really I was just not getting value. And Wilt argues that, basically, you should keep betting until your straightforward opponent indicates that the situation has changed.

Amazingly (not really), it works. I mean, hands come up where goofballs slowplay AA and end up doubling through me, but much more often he's just calling down with something dumb b/c he doesn't believe me and he has tpbk or because he thinks he's slowplaying a worse hand.

In any case, this leads to situations where I'm just bet bet betting, even when semi-scare cards come later, and I'll have to occasionally bet fold assuming these guys aren't incredibly tricky. The fold part...I'm working on that.

The good news, and I've reported on this before at CT, is that a lot of the really bad players at these stakes can't bear the thought of losing a customer, and as a result will often play very slow and then make tiny value bets later in the hand when they flop a monster. The result is that I seem to be winning big pots and losing small ones.

Today: 900 hands. Hands in which I won 40+ bbs, 11. Hands in which I lost 40+ bbs, 3.

Had another great day (and hope to get in another session later during the CT Monday night tourny), +$289. w00t.


Read more!

More on The Benefits of DC

Bought my subscription on 8/15, and since then have watched about 10 videos. I believe it's helped tremendously, and now I have some semi-anecdotal proof. Here's my chart since then. Notice the thin line is my allin EV (took a couple of aipf beats in this time). Even given the variance, though, I'm at 6ptbb/100 in this time, comfortably ahead of where I wanted to be for the month. Woo, I say.


By mwfeldman Read more!

New Update on August Goals and First Thoughts on September

[x] 20k hands.

As of now I have 14.5k, not including tournaments blah blah blah. I've played 18 days of 6max, at 800 hands per day. I only need to average 611 hands per day to hit the number.

[?] 5ptbb/100

I'm at 4.25 for my last 7k hands, and moving up. For the month only 1.5 :(, but I could conceivably get there.

Now, September. What I think, for now.

[ ] 25k hands. Average 1k over approximately 25 days of play.
[ ] Bump my earn up by one ptbb/100. Realistically I hope to finish around 2.5 this month, so shoot for 3.5 next. This would earn me $875 and put me within sniffing distance of being realistically rolled for .5/1. Read more!

As Promised, Some Non-Bad-Beat Hands

Holdem manager has a nice mark hand feature which allows hands to be marked for viewing later. Yesterday I played 2k+ hands and couldn't find anything interesting when I did a cursory view. It's easy to find big pots, but ones that were medium sized that seemed interesting in the moment are harder to locate. So here are some I marked recently.

In this hand I raise to isolate the fish on the button, adn get called by the other fish in the bb. He plays 67/8/4 in a small sample. On the flop and turn he makes baby bets, and I assume as a rule that from a bad player that means he has bottom or middle pair. If the board hadn't paired 6s on the river I'd have likely value bet. I wonder whether I'm a sucker for not betting the turn, in fact.


I feel like this one is a typical spew. In the bb the player is 63/13/1. She calls on the flop and I guess she has a queen. I was wrong and she was stronger...but still with those numbers I don't know why I should assume she'll even lay down a queen. Dumb river bet imo.



Finally this one, which I'm kinda proud of. Folds to me on the button. The blinds are both under 20%vpip in 150+ samples, and both fold BB 80% of the time. The table is tight and I'm bored so I go for the steal. The BB 3bets and yuck, b/c I have 24, you may notice. But I look a bit deeper and see that he's 3bet out of the blind a whopping 16% of the time. Not that I needed stove to tell me, but when I look now, I see that includes such hands as KTo, QJo, Q9s, A5s, 66. I think most of the time he has a relativelyl junky hand, and I know that Holdem manager has informed me that I 4bet too infrequently. So...


w00t. Read more!

Upward Trends and Optimistic Thoughts

When things turned bad at the end of July, I lost 7 out of 8 days, for a total loss of $782 :X. After that, since 8/8, I've won 7/12 days (not spectacular, but not horrible), for a win of $307, woo! In the second stretch I played at 22/17/3, compared to 24/18/2.75 during the losing stretch. Hrm...maybe that's not all that different. But my vpip is down some, my vpip/pfr is up some, and my agg and 3betting is up some(6 to 6.8), and let's pretend that makes a diff.

More generally, I've been watching the videos and if nothing else getting my head right. I'm picking my spots a little better, reading hands a bit better, and I've tempered my agg in situations where it looks like my fold equity is minimal and I face aggression. Shit looking for hands. I'm gonna get better at marking hands for posting. Starting...now.

I took some nasty beats today, but now I'll post some happy hands.

In this first, I got my stack back from a donkey that got it in with tpnk v my Aces and rivered trips. mmmm...so sweet.


In the next I turn set over set, which proves there is a God. Nice slowplay, sir.


In this hand, I feel like I got an extra $10 or so with a river check-raise.


In this hand...yeah I cold decked him. And it was fun.


One final note...I think I'm gonna make 20k hands rather easily, in my dreams I come close to the 5ptbb/100 goal I set for the month. I'm at 13k hands and 0 ptbb/100 for now.

Also, I figured out that if I play ONLY 50nl for the remainder of the month I can squeak out gold status again. So...I'm going for it. I'm actually at .75/100 for 50nl, so I don't think this is a stretch or much of a risk.

Read more!

Too Much Crying?

I really don't want the blog to be a series of posts where I bitch about how I run, but the fact is I've had bad results. Of course I'm working on it, and don't intend to slow down. Since my mid August update I've picked up the pace and have a decent shot to get in 20k hands this month. And, in reality...I'm at worst break-even over the 5 weeks I've been playing a lot. I feel like Deuces Cracked and Holdem Manager were good investments, and in all I'd say things are looking up.

Point: I may be a bit of a drama-bomb when I bitch here. I realize that, will try to stop the impulse to post when things are bad, and work on putting up more hands that are interesting in ways that don't include bad beats. Read more!

How does one lose 6 buyins in 553 hands?

How? Sit right back and you'll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip...

kk < AA aipf one buyin
aks < AA aipf v same villain 5 minutes later one buyin
top pair v flopped set v maniac one buyin
tptk v flopped set same maniac 4 minutes later one buyin (4 so far!!!)
AA v flopped quads, slowrolls me on river wooo!
99 < 88 aipf v maniac that stacked me twice already with sets above.

that's 6 buyins. the rest of my 548 i ran a little better than even. yay for that!

for the month now, 11k hands, -$182.

also, i switched over to holdem manager, and it kicks PT3's ass.
Read more!

Another 3/5 Session at Muck

First off, I learned last night that getting to the card room at 7:30pm on a Friday night is in no way "getting in before the rush." I was so proud about leaving home at 7 to get there early...suffice to say that valet was full (a rarity) and I was 37th on the list for 3/5.

Not so bad, except for the fact that this meant I'd have to not get tilted while I waited. The choices of things to do while you wait on a 37 man list are sorta limited, and all include tilt-inducers. I could play blackjack (tilt factor 5, also way too many $5 bets per hour), I could play craps (tilt factor 1, boredom factor 8.56), I could sit at the bar (tilt factor 7.4). In the end I played limit, which provides a variety of tilt factors depending on what sort of cards I'm dealt. I'm happy mucking for an hour, but am easily thrown off balance by some of the stupidness.

Example: Old asian guy thinks it's his job to put on a kill pot, so any time he wins the kill button he raises the next hand hoping to put on a kill. He does this for the 3rd time this hour (last time ended up showing Q4s), there are two callers, and I call with 67 of spades in the BB. Flop 34T with two clubs. It checks around. Turn is a 5 to give me the nutsack, but (ominous chord), it's a second diamond. The button bets, I c/r, 2 players call 12 cold (nice), and the button calls.

Obviously a club would be a scarecard, as would the board pairing. But I don't think I can get too excited about runner runner, right? (ominous chords repeat). River comes K of diamonds, I check call and he shows some junky flush. It doesn't bother me that he limped with T8 sooted. It doesn't bother me that he got there and got an extra bet on the river. But...he did call two cold on the turn, and for some reason I can't abide that shit.

That said, I play good. I buy in for $200 and at 10:20 or so am called for my seat and rack up $325

Again, the 3/5 game is sweet. There's drunk Fort Lewis soldier that puts in a dead straddle on my first hand, then moves in when it's raised to $50. Everyone folds. He moves in at least one other time in the first round, and he's buying drinks for anyone that would like one. No one else is raising, for the most part. 3bets are nearly non-existent, and so are usually minimum (b/c why would you want to lose customers when you 3bet 2%?).

The first hand I play: in the cutoff, one limper to me. I raise A9s to $25 and am called by drunk soldier and the limper. Flop comes 886 two tone but not my suit. EP limper makes it $30 into $80, I'd very much like to raise and would almost always do so online, but don't know whether he'd fold 22 here, so I go away. Soldier calls. Check/check on the turn (ten of blank). The river is an offsuit Queen, soldier check/calls $50 and EP shows 66 for the win.

Next hand I play, it folds to the button who raises to $20. I make it $65 from the sb with AA and everyone folds.

At least three other times that I can remember I raise limpers with strong hands and meet no resistance (AQ, AQ, AK).

Then, 3 limpers, I make it $35 in the sb with JJ. A different EP limper calls. No read, very quiet asian man. Flop comes k34 rainbow. He has a bit less than $200., and as I'm wondering if I should bet he's stacking his chips up in a tower to move in. He could be trying to intimidate me, but it doesn't matter b/c I'm way ahead or way behind. If he has the king he'll move in, and if he doesn't he'll fold, but the turn card almost certainly won't make a difference. So I check and he quickly check behind.

The turn is a blank, and now I figure I'll just take it down. I bet $40 and he quickly moves in. I felt a little steamy that he extracted a bet out of me and fold for the extra $145.

My last hand, so I could make it back by 1 to feed the baby: UTG I make it $20 with AQ (offsuit red) and get 4 callers. Flop AJ9 with two spades and I'm smelling disaster brewing. I bet $60 and thank jebus when everyone folds.

I still think it'd be hard to lose money at this game if I played it every day, but I can't play it every day and don't have the roll to lose even two buyins. I'll prolly still take some shots at it, but must be wary, for I do like poker and would have a hard time getting going again if I did something stupid. Read more!

August Goals Update (Update)

I decided to stop being a nit and buy 6 months of Deuces Cracked. I'm in, have downloaded my first video, and plan to watch minimum 3 hours a week to start shoring up the game. We'll see how all that goes. Read more!

Mid-August Update and More on Aggression

On August third scottwire made his post about aggression which really got me thinking about whether my low aggression was the key to turning it around. It's been 12 days, and I think that the results look fairly decisive in some ways, and not so much in others.

Here's 7/14-8/2:


Amongst other things, we'll notice that my winning streak was despite losing money without showdown consistently. And although I ended tiny winner for that 15k hands, I lost $700 without showdown.

My numbers during that time were 23/16/2.25

Now, 8/3 - 8/15:




Now, I'm a net winner without showdown. Unfortunately, I appear to be showing down quite a bit worse than before. Nevertheless, still a net tiny winner.

Numbers: 24/19/2.85

Aggression up over 25%, a bit looser than before, which I think needs to be corrected, and a higher % of pots that I open for a raise.

In addition, on the aggro front, I've increased my 3bet preflop % from 5% to 9% in the latter period, and my att to steal % has gone from 30 --> 35.

August goals
[ ] On track for 20k hands
(only 6k. as predicted, i didn't play for 5 days while my bro was in town. still think 15k is very reasonable).
[ ] 5ptbb/100.
(um...no. still working on that)
[x] Get/do coaching
(still swapping hands with littlebu and scottwire)
[x] Consider cardrunners
(yeah, i considered it. it looks like people like deuces cracked better, and i'm still considering it, and working on setting it up. i'm even more motivated now that i'm not killing it the way i thought i was briefly).
[ ] 2+2?
(haven't really spent much time there. maybe i'll hit up littlebu for some direction, b/c i know he's been using the microstakes forum for help).

I haven't quit, although I'm not pumping out hours with a frenzy like last month. For now I'm just trying to stay even-keeled and keep rolled so I don't need to move down :(.


Read more!

Haven't Been Around Much, and A Milestone

My brother was in town Monday til today, and haven't played a hand. Also, I'm still losing. For example, there's this hand. The guy had been sitting there for an hour, and I was fairly sure by the check/minraise I'd be able to get allin. The 7bet was kinda silly, whatever. But this is the sort of hand that I feel has been plaguing me.


So today was my first day back, lost 2 buyins in 500 hands and quit after the above hand.

Coincidentally, that hand hit a milestone for me! It put me in the red for the first time since I started the blog. Total #s: 18k hands, -$18.

woooooooooo!!!
Read more!

Good News Bad News

Bad news: I still can't win. In fact, look at my chart since i started at .25/.50 and you'll see my win has turned into something...statistically insignificant. Good news, is that I think maybe I've made a good change. After reading Scott's blog entry about aggressiveness, I decided he was right, as my money won without showdown had been on an ever-downward line since about hand 4k. So here's my chart for Saturday/Sunday/this morning, with money won without showdown in red.

The fact that it's above zero...that's a good thing. If we look at my 3 weeks of play, you can see I've lost a significant amount without showdown. That means I'm not stealing enough, not playing my draws aggressively enough, and I'm helping build pots and then laying down too often.


So, eh, I dunno. Carry on? This afternoon I'll do the HH's for bu and scott and see what they had to say about me. I'm excited for the week, but also have guests in town Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri and am skeptical about getting my hands in.

But...that might mean I have another live play post next weekend. Hoorah.
Read more!

Lost Again Today: Moving Down

Yeah. Another three buyins down, and now I'm right about 1.5ptbb/100 over 16k hands. I'm still super-rolled for .1/.25, but I'm moving down anyhow. If I'm not sure I can win at .25/.50 (and I'm not), then why play there? I played 6 or 7 hundred hands at .25nl today and lost there too (LDO), but it does look softer and maybe I can get something done this month.

Still shooting for 20-25k hands, still hope to hit that earn rate goal, and still doing HH swaps with bu and scottwire. Hopefully I'll have good news in a week or two. Read more!

Reality Setting In? Winner's Tilt? Something's Just Not Right.

The most likely answer, of course, is that I'm playing like booty. I made gold, which is nice, and haven't been stretching myself. Been playing 4-6 tables and feel like I'm staying on top of it just fine. But...after my first 4k hands I was at 21ptbb/100, and now, after 13k hands I'm at 2.5. This...is ugly.

I'm regularly stacking off with top pair, paying off flopped sets, et cetera. I think part of it is frustration/chasing...like my overpair's GOT to be good this time. And some of it is just running normal and not expecting it after the ungodly start.

Good news:

• Made gold easy, and will do the same next month.
  
• My goals for next month seem realistic (20k hands, 5ptbb/100).
  
• I've been using PT3, by myself and in chat with littlebu, to try to figure some things out.
  
• We did week one of HH swap, and we're doing it again this week, with scottwire.

Bad news:

• It could be that things will get worse.
  
• My rate is much lower for the month than I had hoped.
  
• I've LOST money over the last 11k hands (and i only have 13.5k total).

Read more!

Help Me Jeeeeebus

Got a bit reamed last night, for five buyins. Was fine, no major tilt, just...got killed.

Made adjustments per littlebu's advice, but I don't think that was the issue at all.

Quick summary of adjustments: basically opening more with broadway/Ax type hands on the button/co, and a bit more raising against a single limper with similar hands/ position.

Overall for 10k hands : 23/16
Yesterday (1k hands: 25/20

Overall on the button: 27/20
Yesterday on the button: 35/29

Overall in the co: 25/21
Yesterday in the co: 28/25

Win rates (not that these mean anything over 1k hands)
Overall: .16ptbb/hand on the button and .20 in the co
Yesterday: .25 on the button (w00t) and -.25 in the co (oops).

None of this is what made me get killed yesterday though. Here are the big hands. It might get ugly, so make sure you're sitting down.



On this hand I don't mind laying down preflop. In fact I often will, and this is the exact situation I mentioned to littlebu might be a leak for him. There's no way we lay down the flop...but then laying down the turn seems a must. Playing it this way was just booty though, and is a classic situation (for me) where I call the river just because. I got myself there and feel i need to go all the way.

This against a tight regular. Whatever...maybe I should have raised again preflop, I dunno.


This is the kind of hand that just comes with the territory. I love the action, of course, but hate to lose it.


Board: 6h 8d 9d
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 50.572% 50.28% 00.30% 454 2.67 { KcKh }
Hand 1: 26.098% 10.96% 15.13% 99 136.67 { 8h7h }
Hand 2: 23.330% 08.19% 15.13% 74 136.67 { 7d7s }

It went on and on, and...finally, this is my most favoritist of all b/c of how sad it is.



Overall, 1k hands, -25ptbb/100. Gotta go, baby crying. Peace.
Read more!

Wife Swapping, urm HH Swapping With Littlebu

Was up early this morning with the baby and worked on bu's HH. Coincidentally, he shipped me his notes while I was working. Cliff notes: he thinks I don't steal enough, I think he 3bets too much, and we agree I suffer from a bit of fancy play syndrome.

I wasn't sure how I felt about him berating me for not stealing on the button/co enough, until I looked at my PT. I play tighter UTG, of course, but end up raising just about the same %. I think this indicates that the extra hand I'm playing on the button are mostly cold calls. This has to be bad...and today I'm going to experiment a bit with raising more often there with hands like A7, QT et cetera.

I referred him to the 2p2 micronl sticky to read up on threebetting. Essentially he's reraising hands that seem to be ahead of the raiser's range, but in then getting himself in spots where he could be dominated. In fact he played a hand where he had AT, 3bet, flopped T hi and stacked off to QQ. I like 3betting a more polarized range to avoid domination and to help the postflop play (56s will play better post flop than AT, imo).

More later...will break 10k hands today and, if I'm lucky, 1k profit as well. Read more!

A Generic Update

Getting near 10k hands for the month. I've only played 10 days and I'm at 9400 hands, 8.6ptbb/100. Obviously way down from the other day, but still above my goal for August.

I went to two plus two to read up on 3betting ranges, b/c I started noticing how often I was getting 3bet, and was a bit confused by it. Sticky threads are a must b/c the content in microlimit is booty. Found good stuff and have been playing with it. What I found really helped me, with my 3betting and understanding my foes'.

Swapped hands with littlebu and have to find time to work on that. Should be fun, and I'm excited to see what he has for me. I'm on pace to make gold this month and want to make sure I get there...figured out that I've been getting about 300 base points per 1000 hands of play, and with 3 days left of the month and 900 points back, I should just make it. Also, I figured out how to get some money onto p* so I can get the 40% bonus.

Excited about how things are going, although it's been rocky. It's funny, I played 2500 hands today and tilted nearly none, but when I played the CT MMN QTOC tonight and was crippled when a guy 4 bet a Queen on 3rd street in stud hi/lo I nearly lost my mind. Then I went to play the LNPT, got it in 3 ways with middle set v TPTK and a flush draw (the flush draw called all in after 2 AI's in front of him, and of course got there. THAT made me quit playing for the night...losing $16.50 in tournaments.

Glad I've switched over...maybe I'll just stop playing tournaments altogether. Read more!