$25NL graph

Keeping the momentum

Well, My winning sessions at $25NL seem to be continuing. I should be pleased, but I am also very aware that I have been getting good cards and more importantly, good flops. I’m not complaining obviously, just trying not to get too carried away by my results.

A few hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1620583

Hmm, not sure what I was thinking of here on the turn….lol

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1620589

Hmm again. Very weak play by villain and I think I lost the minimum here. In the past, I would raised villain’s minbet, but my experience is that they will call down if they hit the flop with a weak Ace.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1620599

I will often punish limpers on my button, particularly with a strong hand like AKs. I can’t believe these villains limp .25 and then call a raise of $2!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1620608

I’ve been hitting a lot of sets recently and was delighted to get called to the river. I decided he was pretty bad and might get married to his top pair or PP and call an all-in. Oh well !

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1620618

Nice to flop quads ! I nearly always bet out on flops like this to build the pot early. My check on the turn was to make villain think I had tried to steal the pot on the flop and had now given up with the “scare card” on the turn.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 164

Net profit/loss: +$20.20

Winrate: +24.63 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $670

Running good or playing well ?

It’s been a while since I’ve had a major downswing and I’m not sure whether that’s due to me running good or playing well. I think maybe it’s a bit of both. I feel my play has really improved recently, in particular with regards to “sensing” when my opponent has me beat and folding before it gets too expensive, and also with regards to getting good value from my big hands.

I have been experimenting recently with going all-in or making bigger value bets than usual on the river when I am sure to have the best hand. I am getting less calls, but when they do call, it makes for a huge pot!

Here are some hands from my latest session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1617233

I don’t like c-betting on a dry flop like this – Only better hands will call. By checking, I keep worse hands in and villain thinks I don’t have an Ace. Villain made a bad call on the turn and got lucky on the river, but I’m still satisfied with how I played this hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1617257

I put ja_thewolf on a higher overpair (he had been playing very tight) and called preflop for set value.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1617277

It’s always nice flopping a full-house ! Check out my min-raise on the turn lol!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1617292

I didn’t put villain on a big hand preflop -after all it had folded around to him before he raised. He probably had KJ or something like that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1617316

KK > JJ standard

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1617326

I was getting a fantastic price with my suited connectors on the button behind a raise and 2 callers. Great flop again !

Session stats:

Number of hands: 248

Net profit/loss: +$33.20

Winrate: +26.77 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $649

Still grinding

Still grinding the $25NL tables on PS.

No time to post HH’s, sorry, but I’m playing reasonably well IMHO. I get a bit impatient at times, but I’m much better at knowing when I’m beat now.

Bankroll: $616 

A fellow blogger gets a great score

Shout going out for  ElCattivo (http://bankrolling.wordpress.com/), a fellow blogger, who just came 3 rd out of 2000 in a Stars tournament for a cool $800. Well done mate!

ElCattivo started blogging at around the same time as me, with similar objectives – to learn / play good solid poker with strict bankroll management and discipline.  His bankroll is definitely moving in the right direction and at a good pace.  I really hope that in the future, we’ll both be playing higher levels and making some good money !!

Check out his blog ! 

Running good @ $25NL

I am running pretty good atm at $25NL and so am trying hard to maximise my profit in the knowledge that the good run won’t last.Here are a few hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593548

Yuck! I should have stopped to really think about the whole hand on the river before betting out. My reasoning was that if he didn’t have a club, he would call anyway, thinking I am trying to steal a split pot. I think my river bet was ok, but villain isn’t raising this river without the Ac……

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593564

I took my time on this flop. I thought villain was making a play but I couldn’t be sure, and if I was wrong, I had very few ways to improve my hand so decided to fold and wait for a better spot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593576

Great flop for my suited connectors. When villain bet out, I decided to just smooth call for maximum value (no draws out there) Same thing on the turn. I put him on a King, not a flush draw and decided a King would call a reasonable bet on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593586

In this hand, villain had been very aggressive and so I called with the intention of taking it away from him on the turn. The Ace and his weak bet gave me the perfect opportunity to do just that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593592

At last a monotone flop in my favour! With the min-raise from the shortstack on the flop, I just decided to get it all in straight away.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593600

I played this hand very badly postflop. I really should have raised the flop and wtf was I doing checking this river with the nuts ?!! Villain had been betting on all streets and I thought he was going to bury himself on the river… Damn!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593609

I think I got maximum value here. I told you I was running good!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1593613

Ok, so I got lucky, but with the villain only having a halfstack, I would still play it like this.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 295

Net profit/loss: +$32

Winrate: +21.83 ptBB/100

Bankroll: $581

Solid session

Longish session

Should have been up much more but badly played one or two hands….

Here are some of the hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1591540

This was the hand I played badly. AQ = standard raise preflop, but I should fold this to a rearaise because villain isn’t doing this with AJ. My usual play is indeed to fold here preflop, but villain was very aggro and I put him on a steal. Spew by me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1591564

Villain played this very well IMO. He disguised his hand very well and got maximum value from it. I should have just called behind on this flop for pot control.

Next 2 hands were vs same villain and I had been watching him very closely. – He had been raising a lot of hands pre-flop and c-betting everytime. It was time to draw a line in the sand ! :-

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1591599

This was my first move against him. I had no doubts in my mind, he was ahead, but my experience of over aggro villains is that they will back down if they think they are beat (unlike calling stations)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1591619

And again ! I think I was getting under his skin a bit here and he wanted to steal my blinds. Without a read like this, I would just fold my KJo preflop. I decided to show my bluff to really get into his head, and then I really tightened up against him and he left the table a few hands later, lol.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1591635

Here I was pretty sure I was ahead as villain would have raised preflop with AJ+

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1591644

Huge pot for me here. I was a bit worried that villain had QQ here, but that was the only hand that beat me, so decided to felt it. Luckily I reraised strongly preflop because babacaar mentioned that he folded QQ preflop after the hand.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 343

Net profit/ loss: +$16.95

Winrate: +9.88 ptBB/100

Bankroll: $549

Fantastic weekend!

Just got back from Paris where England beat France last night 14-9 in the semi finals of the rugby world cup. It was a fantastic weekend and match. I think even my gf enjoyed it !I just played a short session, and finished up over a buy-in which takes my bankroll to over the $500 mark, its highest ever. I feel totally comfortable at $25NL now and am pleased with the transition from $10NL. I have played over 3000 hands at $25NL with a 8 ptBB/100 winrate. Yes I know this is a small sample, but I feel I am still a winning player at this level.

A few hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1587002

A raise from the blinds usually represents real strength and with villain’s raise on the flop on an otherwise dry board, I just didn’t see what I was beating. I’m not a big fan of playing QK, but I will play it in position like here but quickly let it go to any major resistance. QK is the sort of hand where you either win a small pot or lose a big one. A real trap hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1587024

Pretty standard. Min-raise from a shortstack UTG, and I’m holding KK. I decided immediately that whatever happens I’m going to felt this on the flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1587035

Several reasons for my raise on this flop. 1) Villain had raised before the flop and so was obviously going to make a continuation bet, heads up on pretty much any kind of flop, so didn’t necessarily have a strong hand. 2) I had a flush draw and 2 overcards so had plenty of pot equity. 3) The board was paired on the flop and so little chance that the villain had connected with it. 4)By raising, I took the initiative in the hand. Notice how the villain checked the turn and I was able to get a free card on the river. At this point I was pretty sure villain had 2 overcards – in fact I should have bet this river, but I doubt a worse hand would have called. If the ten hadn’t come on the river, I would have bet out again on this river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1587075

I love hands like this ! It has been a while since my set gets paid off.

Session stats:

Number of hands: 95

Net profit/loss: +$33.35

Winrate: +70.21 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $532

Too much work :(

Too much work atm and not enough poker

Just a quick update so you don’t think I’m not posting because I’m losing. It’s not that at all – I’m just not getting any spare time to playor study my game atm. Since my last post, I have played a couple of sessions and my bankroll is slightly up at $480.  No time to post hands, but basically I haven’t been getting a lot of hands/action and so am pretty pleased to be slightly up.

I won’t be playing poker this weekend either because I’m going to Paris with my gf to watch France vs England in the rugby world cup semi-finals !!   I bought a load of tickets over a year ago for the group stages which gave me the right/option to purchase 2 tickets for either of the 2 semi-finals. I had no idea then it would be France / England, so obviously I’m delighted !!

Bankroll: $480

Small winning session

Here are a few hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1544245

I HATE monotone flops when I have a big hand but without the suit in question. I just cannot interpret villain’s bets/ raises to be aggressively drawing to the flush or whether they already have a made hand and I’m drawing dead. This villain was a total donkey, playing > 60% of his hands preflop, like calling a $1 raise with T3s out of the blinds. Having said that, I should have folded this river I think. Comments ?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1544264

Villain was pretty tight, but I didn’t necessarily give him credit for a hand on the flop, hence my raise to his c-bet. When he bets into me again on the turn, I decide I’m beat and I can find a better spot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1544286

What an awful turn ! As played, I think I lost the minimum here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1544295

Damn, I thought I was going to get it all-in here when villain called my flop raise. lol at villain’s donk bet of 50 cents into a $6 pot on the turn. Err, I don’t think so.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1544318

I don’t normally push here, but with his 3-bet and shortstack, I knew he was committed.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1544324

I think villain was chasing his Royal Flush here and when it didn’t come, decided his hand might be good.

Number of hands: 295

Net profit / loss: +$5.30

Winrate: +3.59 ptBB / 100

Bankroll: $478