Slightly down

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. – I’ve got a lot of work on atm and not much time for poker or for detailed posts on my blog

I’ve played a few hands since my last post and I’m down roughly 1 buy-in.  No time for posting hands unfortunately but most of my big losses were the result of a bit of tilting on my behalf, and most of the wins were pretty big pots thankfully.

I’ll try and post a but more next time.

 Bankroll:  $471.90

Properly rolled for $25NL – starting the grind

So after a fifth winning session at $25NL, I now have ~20 buy ins and feel comfortable with the new bet/raise/pot sizes and so will now start grinding it out multi-tabling it until my bankroll reaches $750 at which point I will seriously consider taking a shot at $50NL

Anyway, I don’t want to get ahead of myself. – Here are a few hands from my last session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1511551

I didn’t think the villain had the Ace here. It had folded around to him preflop and if he had had an Ace he would have surely raised it up rather than just limping. Well that is what a strong player would do anyway…..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1511564

Here I don’t like c-betting every time on the flop because it is only going to fold out worse hands and get reraised by hands that beat me. This earned me an extra 2 BB on the turn.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1511584

This villain had been raising way too much preflop and I hate playing AQ OOP, hence my large reraise preflop. I think villain had a small pocket pair here trying to get a cheap showdown and so when the K came on the river, it was a perfect opportunity to represent AK

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1511596

Small hand, small pot. When the second Q came on the turn, I was quite happy to check behind for pot control with the intention of calling a reasonable bet on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1511608

No slowplay from me here. – I find players are more likely to call a raise on the flop with 2 cards to come, rather than a big bet on the turn, so I nearly always raise strongly in these situations.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1511623

Again, a c-bet here is only getting called by a better hand and checking ensures I get maximum value out of the hand IMHO.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1511638

Ok, I was quite fortunate to hit my set on the turn, but I feel the villain could have got away from this – I bet out quite strongly on the flop and the turn and made a “CALL ME PLZ” value bet on the river. I don’t see how his TPCK could be any good here.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 200

Net profit / loss: +$14.60

Winrate: +14.6 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $496

Running good at $25NL

Well, things are still going pretty well for me at $25NL. I admit I’m running pretty good and getting maximum value with my hands, but I do also feel I’m making some good laydowns and not getting to carried away. What I do like about moving up is that when you’re winning, your bankroll goes up so much quicker! I mean I was at $400 a week ago and now I’m at >$480

Here are some hands from today’s session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1509029

This could have been worse for me. Against KK I could have lost a lot more here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1509040

Hmm, villain was quite nitty, and his minimum donk-bet/reraise on the flop looked very strong. Villain had a big stack and I felt I could find a better spot to get my money in. Too weak?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1509056

Looks like villain was trying to represent the flush. I wasn’t buying it and I still had 10 outs to the nuts in case he did.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1509071

Hmm, I’ve been trying to not put my stack at risk recently with a single pair, but here I felt villain’s line was pretty weird. Plus the fact i played my top pair pretty weakly with a standard half pot c-bet and then just a check on the turn. I just had to call his bet on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1509083

set vs set so obviously the result is good, but I’m also pleased with my bet-sizing in this hand. Previously, I haven’t been shoving on the river, thinking that villain’s won’t call. I think it’s a leak of mine and I’m trying to be more aggressive in these spots.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 220

Net profit/loss: +$35.45

Winrate: +32.23 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $481

Treading carefully @ $25NL

So I’m carrying on taking shots at $25NL and so far it’s working out well with 3 out of 3 winning sessions. I’m playing slightly tighter than I was at $10NL because I really don’t want to get into any marginal situations, lose a big pot and have to move back down. I’m also only playing on one table until I reach a BR of > $500 and I start feeling 100% confident at the new higher stakes. This probably sounds weak/tight to most of you, but it seems to be working out for me.

Here are a few hands from this evening’s session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1506473

Ok, I realise this hand is very boring, but I included it just to show how I grind it out. This hand actually came quite late in the session and I had already established an image as a rock at the table and I had a read that villain was playing too many hands. This is a good example of how important position and table image is in NL holdem,  and not necessarily the cards in your hand. 

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1506490

No idea what villain had here, but he probably had A6 or something like that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1506498

Obv I’m pleased about the result of this hand, but I’m not sure if I played it well. Obviously AK would have me crushed here, and just after my river bet, villain typed into this into the chat “I have AA” and then tanked for about 20 seconds before folding. Did I play this badly ? Thinking about it, on the river, there’s no way a worse hand is calling me there, but on the other hand, a check is leaving me open to a bluff. Tough spot. Comments ?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1506514

I was getting the pot odds to call on every street here. Great card for me on the river, and villain was pot committed with a decent hand.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 77

Net profit/ loss:  +$21.55

Winrate: +55.97 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $445 

Short winning session at $25NL

Well my second session at $25NL was also a winning one. I’m treading very carefully still, trying to play uber ABC poker and no fancy stuff or marginal situations so as to keep the variance down. This is because I really don’t want to have to move back down to $10NL. This means I’m playing a bit weak tight, but hey, it seems to be working. I just played one table and selected it very carefully. I’m still amazed by the number of fish at this level. Sure there are some solid TAG’s too, but there always seems to be about 2-3 villains with crazy loose passive and loose aggressive stats.Here are a few hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1495677

I never play AK like this usually preflop, but one of the villains behind me had been raising every hand, so I thought I’d let him do it again. Sod’s law, he just limps behind. Obviously with so many opponents seeing a flop, I wasn’t going to get too attached to my hand. Nice of everyone to check it to the river to give me my flush. I was obviously calling the river raise with just one card in the deck that could possible beat me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1495696

UTG’s min-raise set alarm bells off here. His standard raise up til this point had been bigger than that so this looked like a raise to build the pot but begging for action, so I decided to call behind. With hindsight, this wasn’t a great play because I still didn’t know where I was in the hand when the flop came. I therefore had to bet to find out where i was. The flop was quite dry so a half-pot bet was enough to test the water. I was relieved to see UTG fold and not too bothered by the call from the other villain as he was a complete call-station and he always raised when he actually had a decent hand. I decided to fire a second barrel on the turn and he instafolded.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1495725

Ok, I had a very strong read on this player to make this call on the flop. First of all, he was very loose and very aggressive, particularly preflop. Secondly, he had just lost a HUGE pot and was on tilt. And thirdly, I knew his preflop range had to be even wider than usual since it folded all the way round to him. I was willing to call his all-in preflop, no problem, but then he just called. The Ace was a pretty bad card for me obviously, but I didn’t think he necessarily had an Ace. I reckoned he was more likely to bet this flop than to call a bet, so I just checked with the intention of reraising all-in. His all-in took me a bit by surprise, I was expecting him to bet about half that. I tanked for a bit, then decided I had incited the bluff so I had to call it.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 72

Net profit/loss: +$9.30

Winrate: +25.83 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $424.40

Took a shot at $25NL

Took a shot at $25NL

Well, I took the plunge, and finished up just over half a buy-in after 100 hands and so I am delighted with the result.

I just played one one table and looked for a table with lots of players seeing the flop.

Apart from 1 stupid play by me where I suffered from fancy play syndrome, I felt I played well. My initial reaction of this level is….. “Wow !” Compared to $10NL, I found it really fishy, much more aggressive and some pretty bad play lol. I don’t mind playing vs overly aggressive players because my TAG, patient style of play can make some good money at these kind of tables Some of the things I saw were people 3-betting light (with 22) preflop, and a lot of c-bets were getting raised on the flop or floated on the turn. It certainly makes for some interesting poker. I won a huge pot at the end of the session vs a bad player and decided to call it night so as to finish up on my first session.

Here are some hands (in the order they were played):

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1492372

Pretty standard – I had been watching villain while waiting for a seat at the table and he was very loose and his min bet seemed to be just a blocking bet trying to get a cheap turn card. Sorry, no chance !

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1492423

When the villain raised me on the flop and called my rearaise, I thought I was in for a huge payday! Looks like he was just making a move and didn’t believe my donk-bet on the flop…..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1492441

Every now and again, I like playing my draws aggressively like this to narrow the field and to build the pot. Luckily the villain was quite weak and not very good at sizing his bets to price me out.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1492456

Alright, don’t ask, I have NO IDEA what I was thinking of when making this move. It would have been reasonable I suppose (but still bad) vs a loose player, who could be limping with an 2 cards and would have to fold this. But this villain was very tight and so probably limping with a small PP. In fact that is what he had, he told me after the hand, and I believe him. Awful FPS by me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1492468

Huge pot vs calling station. Preflop, I was getting excellent odds to call the raise with everyone calling ahead of me. On the flop I knew I was ahead of playmategirl and JC9778, but not too sure about the preflop raiser, but figured I would soon find out by raising. On the turn, the 6 didn’t change much so decided to push.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 112

Net profit/ loss: +$14.90

Winrate: +26.61 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $415

Time to take a shot at $25NL ?

Well I have just finished another big winning session. I feel I am playing pretty well, losing the minimum when behind (or maybe I’m getting bluffed ?!) and winning stacks on my big hands. I’m definitely running good, but I feel I’m also getting full value out of my big hands.

When my bankroll was around the $350 mark, I said to myself, I’d take a shot at $25NL when my bankroll reaches $375. Well, when I did in fact reach $375 (very briefly, because I had a big downswing just after), I chickened out and said I’d take a shot when my BR reaches $400!

Well, here I am, my bankroll is at $400 and I can’t decide whether or not to go for it. I definitely think my game is good enough, and I really want to start playing at a level where a winning session actually does result in a bigger bankroll increase than just a couple of dollars on average. No, what is really holding me back is that if I do drop 2 buy-ins (the stop-loss limit I would give myself before moving back down to $10NL) it is going to be a real pain in the arse having to grind back up from $350 at $10NL If anyone has any advice on moving up, please post….

Anyway, here are a few hands from my latest session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491785

This hand very nearly put me on tilt. Villain was obviously a big calling station, with stats to match. When he cold-called me on the flop, I thought he might already have me beat with 2 pair (ie the kind of ridiculous hand that a calling station would call with preflop. That explains my check on the turn. Again, when the Ace came, I wasn’t going to get carried away as any K would give the villain the str8. My plan was to just check call any reasonable bet. Awful play by villain obv, but I should have bet hard on that turn, or maybe I’m being too results oriented ?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491804

Hmm, I feel so weak in these kinds of situations, particularly since villain was a total LAG who was raising everything.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491830

Same villain as previous hand. No way he has an Ace every time……….

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491839

I don’t often come back over the top in spots like this, but I just felt that the villain was making a move. Seems I was right.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491845

This was vs villain from hand 1, and he had just lost a big pot so I knew he’d call my preflop raise with trash and then be pot-committed. lol @ T4o

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491858

I feel I got maximum value out of this hand, particularly considering villain only had a small pocket pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491863

Sweet, set vs set

Session stats:

Number of hands: 355

Net profit/loss: +$10.60

Winrate: +14.93 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $400.20

Bankroll at all-time high

Well, so far so good as far as far as analyzing my game goes and plugging the leaks goes. I wouldn’t say  my play is perfect, obviously far from it, but I feel I now know when I am beat on most occasions and have learned the discipine to lay it down and wait for a better spot.

I have now got my bankroll back to above where it was before the recent 5-6 buyin downswing and am now very close to the $400 mark. I realize this isn’t much in absolute terms, but this is all relative to the level I am playing, and I hope to take a shot very soon at $25NL.

Anyway, here are a few hands from my latest session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1488998

I felt my play here was fine until the turn. My bet on the turn was ok, maybe it should have been a bit more, but I should have just folded to his check raise. His call on the flop is a mistake, unless of course I pay him off with implied odds, which unfortunately I did….

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1489014

Pretty standard really. Maybe villain didn’t have an Ace. Maybe he did. I don’t care really, I’m not going to go broke to find out. I can find better spots at these levels to win money.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1489041

lol ! Ok, so I got a bit lucky here, but villain’s preflop range is obviously a lot wider than AA here and there is no way I am folding to an all-in by a shortstack with JJ in my hand. I was hoping he was going to berate me afterwards and then I would have told to him to get a proper buy-in and people might take his raises a bit more seriously !! I’ll take it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1489069

I decided when I saw this flop and villain’s halfstack that I was going to get it all in with this hand no matter what. This is a good example of why you shouldn’t call a preflop raise with AJ IMO

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1489091

Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1489106

I was pretty pleased about how I played this hand. The villain was a TAG so I knew his preflop range had to be something like AQ, AK, JJ, QQ, KK, AA. Normally I 3-bet KK pf, but here, it folded around to me and I was last to act, so the flop was going to be heads up. If I had raised, I was pretty much turning my cards face up. I decided therefore to just call and disguise my hand a bit. It worked !

Session stats:

Number of hands: 337

Net profit/loss: +$13.95

Winrate: +20.69 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $389.60

I’m back !

It’s been a while since I posted. This is simply because I haven’t been playing since the last post. I have a lot of work atm with my job and I have been working late and so been pretty tired and from my previous experiences, I play pretty bad when tired so I decided to stay away from the tables for a while.

Anyway, this morning I had a good lie-in and leisurely breakfast and decided to play a small session. It went pretty well. I felt like I made mostly good decisions, I was getting good reads on my opponents and didn’t tilt when I took a really bad beat when I got it all-in preflop with KK vs J9s and lost….

Here are a few hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1484196

Shortstacker villain had been raising a lot preflop and I decided to make a stand with my pocket pair. If villain had a big stack I would just call for set value obv.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1484230

Bad beat I mentioned earlier. In the chat window, I typed my usual “NH SIR” and he replied “ty, a bit lucky though”  Hmm….

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1484237

Pretty standard for me. Villain’s play is pretty awful in this hand. Limping A4o OOP and then donking $1 into a .40 multi-way pot. I was obviously raising this big on the flop to price draws out. The villain actually berated my play after this hand. WTF ?! My hand crushed his on every single street lol.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1484265

This is probably one of the weirdest hands I’ve played in a while and an example of why it can be so hard playing vs bad players sometimes at these levels. All three villains who called preflop were calling stations. Here are their stats:

Antoniet808: 42/11/0.65

schütze2102: 52/8/0.84

CashDroid: 30/6/0.7

So I was pretty sure my hand was way ahead before the flop. On the flop, villain’s .20 bet into a $2.10 pot and call behind was giving me 12-1 pot odds !! ie more than enough for my estimated 6 outs. On the turn, obviously I was delighted to see the Ace, but still had no idea where I was in the hand with another weak bet and call in front of me. I very nearly raised this turn, but decided the pot was pretty big vs several opponents and I only have one pair so decided to just call and try and see a cheap showdown. On the turn I was getting over 7-1 pot odds to call with my TPTK. On the river I was quite happy to get the cheap showdown and take down the pot. Weird hand ! Comments ?

Session stats:

Number of hands: 155

Net profit/loss: +$3.65

Winrate: +11.77 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $375.65

Short but sweet

Short but sweet session. Here are a few hands:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1463898

I hate AQ, particularly from ep. I could have c-bet this flop, but it wouldn’t have been very credible on a low card flop and I thought I’d take the free card. Obviously I can’t call the river bet.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1463918

This time my AQ worked out a bit better. Big mistake by villain giving me a free card on the turn with his straight. But with the board paired, I was happy to just call and take it down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1463937
On the turn, I was sure I had the best hand and didn’t want villain drawing to his flush. He was short-stacked, so figured he might actually an all-in.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with my recent play and discipline. I haven’t tilted and tried to chase my losses and I’ve made progress in playing small pots with my small hands, basically just grinding it out and my bankroll is now almost back to where it was before the downswing. My goal is to make the $400 mark, at which point I will start considering taking a shot at $25NL.

We’ll see…..
Session stats:
Number of hands: 103
Net profit/loss: +$3.05
Winrate: +14.81 ptBB/100

Bankroll: $372