Previously, this would really have put me off to either move straight back down or to even stop playing altogether for a while. But on reflection when I went back through the hands, there was a lot of coolers (KK v AA, QQ v KK etc) and to be honest I lost the minimum on a lot of my hands where worse players would have lost a great deal more.

I was also pleased with how my tilt control went on this losing session and on going through my hands, I realised how bad the players were at this level and so decided to keep going with my shot.

Well to cut a long story short, I grinded it back and managed to stay up at €50NL for the whole month and finished up for the month by a small amount:

Ok, so the graph isn’t as pretty as last months but the level of play seemed to have so much more variance than at €25NL There were quite a few TAG regulars against whom it’s difficult to win a big pot, but there were also a lot of fish, but lots of different types of fish – Some LAG tards, some stations and everything in between.  The hard part was working out what their value betting ranges were and how to adjust to that.

Very often, a very passive line was the most profitable post flop vs the aggro tards, but it can take you out of your comfort zone calling down three streets with just TPNK or even MPNK.

So anyway, my final results were:

Hands: 7138

Winnings:  + €117

Winrate: 1.7 ptbb / 100

Bonuses:  + € 60

= Total winnings for the month:    +€ 177

So obviously not a huge amount, but overall I’m pleased to finish up for the month while moving up to €50NL.

My goal for April is to stay up at €50NL and adjust even more profitably vs the fish.

GL at the table

So I made €134 over about 6000 hands of €25NL which works out as a winrate of 4.4 ptbb / 100

I also made €10 in bonuses so that makes a month of €144, which isn’t bad bearing in mind the level / volume.

My goal for March is to move up to €50NL.

GL at the tables

My goals for April were very simple. Since this is my first month back at poker after a long break, I just wanted to have a month of  solid ABC poker, no fancy play syndrome, no tilting, no chasing losses, just  a full month of solid (nitty lol) poker !

Well I think I accomplished it. Firstly, I only played 2 tables at a time of $25NL fullring with the aim of making the right decision every single hand.

I played 6000 hands and ended up winning 6ptbb / 100  (+$180)  In absolute terms, I realise that’s peanuts compared to a lot of other players out there, but in relative terms (ie for the small volume), then I think it’s pretty decent and it gives me confidence in my play and something to build on for the months to come.

Here is the graph:

My goal for May is to play 10k hands of $25NL and to simply make the right decisions for every single hand, ie discipline !!

Good luck at the tables

So I played the “Sunday Warmup” on Pokerstars yesterday.  $215 buy-in, 4500 entrants, $800,000 prize pool and top 675 get paid. I’ll tell you where I finished later on but there is a hand I’m just not sure about.

At the beginning of the hand, I was in pretty good shape. Average chip count were about 25-30,000 IIRC.

I was in about 80th position out of about 1500 left. Top 675 get paid. If I just hold on to my chips, I could easily coast into the money.

What should my “tournament” thought process in this kind of spot ?! 

If all the money goes in preflop (which it probably will if I 3bet),   then he’ll have a pocket pair like always and it’ll be a coinflip. 

In a cash game, vs a shorty it’s obviously standard to 3bet and call an all-in as this is +EV in cash terms.

My difficulty is knowing when I should be trying to keep hold of chips, and when I should be taking risks to try and accumulate them (at the risk of moving down the leaderboard.)

Let me put my question another way: If we could see villain was holding a medium pocket pair and he open shoves preflop, should we be calling (ie taking a coinflip) or folding and conserving our chips ?

TIA

Poker Stars No Limit Hold’em Tournament – t500.00/t1000.00 Blinds – 9 players – View hand 660323

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): t62633.00 M = 41.76
BB: t24810.00 M = 16.54
UTG: t20161.00 M = 13.44
UTG+1: t79619.00 M = 53.08
UTG+2: t33045.00 M = 22.03
MP1: t27128.00 M = 18.09
MP2: t25879.00 M = 17.25
CO: t22611.00 M = 15.07
BTN: t9600.00 M = 6.40

Pre Flop: (t1500) Hero is SB with A K

4 folds, MP2 raises to t2275, 2 folds, Hero ??

I’m not a tournament player because I get so frustrated with playing for hours only to lose a coin flip or get sucked out. Also, at my low level of bankroll, even finishing on a final table of a small buy-in MTT wouldn’t be a huge payday, so I wouldn’t be concentrated enough on it anyway.

But having said that, I can see the upside of playing a major big buy-in tournament. One where the money does matter and the top prize is a life changing amount of money. Now, that would keep me concentrated and on my A game for hours on end !

My problem is that on my current bankroll, I can’t justify the $215 buyins for the major tournaments. Then I came across the pokerstars step tournaments which is basically a series of SNG single table tournaments, whereby the top 2 finishes move up to the next step, 3rd place and sometimes 4th place get another go at the current step, and 5th place you either move down a step or win a few dollars and 6th-9th crash out completely of the step system.   Winning a step 4 ticket can be used to enter any major $215 tourney on stars (Sunday million etc) and so it was my goal to win a step 4 ticket.

I used to play SNG’s years ago and was pretty good at them with an ROI of about 7% over a large sample. So I figured I should have at least a fighting chance of doing it.

I played 3 “steps special 60 FPP’s” (first 10 places get a step 1 ticket) and finished 7th in one of them to earn me a single step 1 ticket.

I won my first step 1 tourney (after being down to 200 chips at one point) which gave me a step 2 ticket.

My first step 2 tourney, I finished 3rd (for another go at step 2).

Same again for my second step 2 tourney. I finished 3rd (for yet another go at step 2)

On my 3rd attempt (last night), I finished 2nd, earning me a step 3 ticket.

I played my first step 3 ticket this evening. It finished a few minutes ago, and I came in 2nd for a step 4 ticket !!

I played so tight at the beginning. I raised QQ in UTG at one point and folded it to a 3bet and an all-in behind me (they turned over AK and AA).

So I now have a step 4 ticket (worth $215) for an initial investment of 180 FPP’s 

I have decided to play the Sunday Warmup this Sunday. 

Come on, ONE TIME !!!

So when I flopped the 2nd nuts and he had only overlimped preflop, I knew he was way behind with total trash so I gave him a bit of rope. When the Ace came on the turn, it was a perfect card for him to double barrel me and when the King came on the river, it was even better. 

I think he was seriously trying to rep AK here. Such a bad bluff which made absolutely no sense anyway, bearing in mind his limp preflop.

Poker Stars $25.00 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players

UTG+1: $25.90
Hero (UTG+2): $26.75
MP1: $10.00
MP2: $42.30
CO: $25.00
BTN: $23.20
SB: $25.00
BB: $43.65
UTG: $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG+2 with 9 9

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.25, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.25, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.25, 1 fold, BB checks

Flop: ($1.35) 4 4 9 (5 players)

BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, MP2 bets $0.80, BTN folds, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $0.80

Turn: ($2.95) A (2 players)

Hero checks, MP2 bets $1.75, Hero calls $1.75

River: ($6.45) K (2 players)

Hero bets $4.50, MP2 raises to $39.50, Hero calls $19.45 all in

Final Pot: $54.35

Hero shows 9 9

MP2 shows T 7

Hero wins $51.65

(Rake: $2.70)

He went on tilt after I called:

Villain said, “nice slowroll”
Hero said, “no slowroll”
Hero said, “i called straight away”
Villain said, “yeah thats why you first wait 6 seconds”
Villain said, “haha “
Villain said, “wauw “
Hero said, “slowplay yes”
Hero said, “slowroll no”
Villain said, “slowroll yes”
Villain said, “omg “
Hero said, “nice bluff though, you surprised me thats all lol”
Villain said, “sure”
Villain said, “what ever”
Hero said, “nearly jumped out my seat”
Villain leaves the table

This guy was so bad, he must have donked off about 5 buyins in an hour.

He was so bad, that I decided to limp / reraise my KK from EP, which is such a donk play in itself, but this guy was so bad, that I knew he’d still call anyway !

After the hand, he said he called my allin on the turn because he put me on AK ………….  lol

To be fair to him, he was a really friendly guy and every time he lost a hand he always said “nh” along with a bit of  friendly banter in the chatbox – He was obviously just playing for a bit of fun and that’s fine by me

Good luck at the tables !

Poker Stars $25.00 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players

BTN: $28.50
SB: $23.90
BB: $76.55
UTG: $24.75
UTG+1: $16.80
Hero (UTG+2): $26.70
MP1: $26.00
MP2: $40.75
CO: $32.30

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG+2 with K K

2 folds, Hero calls $0.25, 2 folds, CO raises to $1, 1 fold, SB calls $0.90, 1 fold, Hero raises to $3.75, 1 fold, SB calls $2.75

Flop: ($8.75) 7 2 3 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $4.25, SB calls $4.25

Turn: ($17.25) 9 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $18.70, SB calls $15.90 all in

River: ($49.05) T (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $49.05

SB shows 2 Q

Hero shows K K

Hero wins $43.85

(Rake: $2.40)

Poker Stars $25.00 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players

BB: $26.15

Hero (UTG): $30.30
UTG+1: $27.90
MP1: $25.00
MP2: $25.00
CO: $26.65
BTN: $25.45

SB: $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG with A A

Hero raises to $1, UTG+1 raises to $3, 6 folds, Hero raises to $8.25, UTG+1 raises to $27.90, Hero calls $19.65

Flop: ($56.15) T J 3 (2 players)

Turn: ($56.15) 5 (2 players)

River: ($56.15) K (2 players)

Final Pot: $56.15

Hero shows A A

UTG+1 shows K K

UTG+1 wins $53.35

(Rake: $2.80)

***Sigh***

Oh well, I’m obviously delighted with my read and with his call, it was just a bit brutal getting rivered like that as such a favourite lol.

I’m really happy with my play at the moment, I think I’m getting great value with my hands when I’m ahead, and losing close to the minimum when behind, I can’t ask for much more really. The results will come.

I was particularly pleased with how I handled the bad beat. I was a bit pissed off obviously, but that lasted for about 30 seconds and I just carried on with my usual game plan, not at all trying to recoup my losses.  I would have been more pissed off if I had been outplayed or made a mistake to be honest,  so that’s a sign I’m becoming less results oriented…….

Good luck at the tables

God I hate my car. It’s always breaking down, but I can’t afford a new one at the moment so I just end up shovelling bad money in getting it repaired.

On Tuesday evening, driving home from work, I noticed my car was making a very strange noise, and then just as I was pulling into my car park in front of my flat, I heard an almighty bang, followed by a sound of metal dragging on the ground. 

Oh fuck, the exhaust pipe.

I parked the car and jumped out to check out the damage. It was broken roughly in the middle, but nearer the front and it was dragging on the ground. Fuck, fuck fuck, I hate this car and above all I hate having to deal with getting it repaired – asking people to pick you up from the garage, to ferry you around, to explain to my boss that I’m gonna be late, that I need to leave early etc. The whole thing just pisses me off. And all that for a piece of shit car in the first place.

So it was 5:30pm, and I had a broken down car which could start but which couldn’t/shouldn’t be driven. All the garages would be closing soon and I had to get to work next day. Bollocks !!

I locked the car up and went up to my flat and fired up Google maps on my PC. Walking time to/from work was 40 minutes. Ouch, it’s doable for just 3 mornings until the weekend and I’ll be able to ask for a lift at least some of the way in the evenings. I then called around a few garages and managed to find one open on Saturdays. The mechanic said they were open, but their suppliers of parts wasn’t so if they didn’t have the part, they wouldn’t be able to fix it Saturday.

“But if I bring my car in, you will be able to at least keep it locked up over the weekend and fix it Monday or Tuesday?”

“Yeah, sure, no problem, bring it in”

So that was my plan. To make do without the car til the weekend and then on Saturday to call my breakdown recovery service (covered by my car insurance) and instruct them to tow it to this garage.

So Saturday morning, I call up my insurance company and explain. They said no problem, the recovery truck thing will be there within 45 minutes (this is the maximum wait time as defined by my insurance policy). 

Over an hour later, I was still waiting and it was getting close to lunchtime.  This wasn’t so much a problem about me getting hungry, but for those that know France and the French, well lunchtime is sacred over here and the whole country grinds to a halt between midday and 2pm, and it kinda goes into slow motion for the 30 minutes leading up to it and the 30 mintes after it. So not wanting to turn up at the garage at peak eating time, I called my insurance company to find out where the hell the recovery truck was and to tell them to get a move on because it was soon gonna be lunchtime. The girl at the other end of the line contacted them directly for me and came back to me to say ok, they are on their way.

2 minutes later, my mobile phone rings:

“Hi this is the breakdown guy, I am told you want your car taking to a garage. Which garage is it ?”

So I tell him the name and address of the garage. (one of these quick repair places, similar to kwik fit etc in the UK)

“Well for starters, that’s not a proper garage. Make sure the car is ready when I get there to save time.”

“Everything is ready. I am just waiting for……..YOU”

What a dick ! Seriously. The guy is clearly pissed off that he’s being told to hurry up by my insurance company. “not a proper garage!”  WTF  does it have to do with him anyway where I’m taking it ?!  His job is to take me and my car to where I request to get it fixed.  Not a garage ?! Well wtf is it ? A hotel? A restaurant ? A zoo ? It’s a place to get my fucking car fixed, NOW HURRY UP.

So 5 minutes later, he turns up and parks his truck and I immediately drive my car up behind it so he could drive it on to the back of the truck. He does all this and then makes sure it is all secured, which takes about 10 minutes.  Bear in mind he still hasn’t said hello or even acknowledged my presence yet.  He then signals to me to jump in the passenger seat next to him for the drive to the “garage”  Hmmm, this is gonna be fun.

So I jump in and off we go and within 2 minutes, he was already laying in to me about the insurance company hurrying him up.  FUCK ME this guy is tilting me. My insurance company is probably his biggest client.  The contract I have with my insurance company is that they have to get a recovery vehicule to me WITHIN 45 minutes. I pay them a lot of money for this service. Some years go by where I don’t need it, but when I DO actually need it, I think I am well within my rights to make sure I am getting what I am paying for. And FFS, if this guy’s company can’t handle the 45 minute condition, then that’s HIS FUCKING PROBLEM, not mine.

But I tell you what, if I was running a business and I had a customer who made up probably >50% of my revenue (my insurance company is HUUUGE), then you know what, I would make sure I met all their requirements and treat them with a bit of respect and decent customer service. 

So I basically told this guy that the contract I had with my insurers was for a 45 minute wait, and not an hour and a half and if he didn’t like it, then that’s not my problem.  Cue frosty silence for the rest of the drive to garage.

When we got there, he took care of taking the car down of the truck while I went to the garage reception area to organize getting the car checked out. I was in the middle of discussing this with the guy from the garage when the recovery driver guy hands me his paperwork and just as he was about to leave he turns to the garage mechanic and said (so i could hear him) ” The whole length of the exhaust pipe is damaged. You’ll need to change the whole thing IMO”  and then he drives off !!

FUCK YOU !! Your job was to pick my vehicule up withing 45 minutes and take it where I want. THAT’S IT !! NO MORE NO LESS.  You were incapable of doing that, so STFU with sticking your nose in to what needs doing on my car.

Obviously this guy was just trying to get the garage to screw me over for what needed doing on my car, but no way did  the whole thing need changing.

Anyway, the garage gave me a quote. – It was “just” the catalyzer part of the exhaust that needed changing for which they quoted me 400 euros   Ouch, no choice really and they knew it so I said ok through gritted teeth.  They said it will be ready in an hour and a half, so I gave them my mobile phone number and asked them to call me once it was fixed as I was going to grab something to eat while waiting. “No problem sir, we’ll call once it’s fixed”

So off I went to have a bite to eat and do some shopping at the shopping centre next door.  An hour and a half went by. No call. There was  air conditioning in the shopping centre so I’d rather wait there than in the hot garage. Another 30 minutes went by, still no call.  Worried there might be a problem, I decided to go back to the garage.

“Oh yes, we finished your car 30 minutes ago”

FUCK ME, HOW ABOUT CALLING ME THEN FFS !  I’m paying you 400 euros for 30 minutes work. Any chance of a bit of customer service. So I pay and go and pick up my car, which still has all the plastic sheets inside, is still on the “ramps” (so it is up to me to drive it off them) and the ignition key was in the “ON” position and so the battery was being worn down (on purpose ? Is this some “coy” plan to wear down customer’s batteries ?!! WTF)

Seriously, I hate cars, and I hate the whole repair thing.  BASTARDS !

Villain is running at 13/10/1 over a sample of 60 hands.  Not a huge sample obviously but enough to know he’s not a maniac or loose passive.  He’s a typical TAG regular.

My image at the table is pretty tight and I’m probably running 12/10/2 or something like that

So a TAG raises from the UTG and I’m on the button with KK.  A few months ago, this would have been a standard 3 bet for me without even thinking. But I have been thinking a lot about my game recently and watching some training videos and have come to the conclusion that vs a TAG raise from UTG, it is often better to flat.  By 3 betting this, I am only getting action from KK and AA from a tight regular.

After his preflop raise I think we can put him on 77+, AK

When the flop comes down I am way ahead of UTG’s range, but have no idea about BB’s hand range. A UTG lead and a call will be showing strength to BB and so he’s not going to bluff at this. I didn’t want to raise the flop with BB still to act. If BB folds, I am feeling very happy about my hand vs UTG’s range.

Well BB does indeed fold and the hand is now HU and time to start building the pot.

When the villain bets out again on the turn, I think we can take out 77 and AK of his range.  So now I put him on 88+  I raise for value. My hand is under represented and a lot of hands I beat will call. I think a hand like AA, KK or a set of 8′s will reraise me here and try and get the money in. So when he just calls we can put him on 99-QQ.

Then comes the river, and this is where I fucked up.

A ten comes on the river and villain checks. Ok, this is what I’d expect villain to do with all of his range (99-QQ), particularly after my raise on the turn.  I beat 99, JJ and QQ and TT beats me.  There are more hands that I beat than beat me and those hands will almost definitely call if I bet but villain won’t necessarily bet them. So betting this river is the right line, but how much ?!  Well here was my first mistake I think. I think I bet too much to get a call out of 99 and JJ, especially after my turn raise.  I need to make it an amount whereby villain has to make a kind of crying call. I think about $6 here is a good amount.

Then came my second mistake. I didn’t think about what I would do (before betting) if I got check raised. And that’s exactly what happened. I got check raised and I insta-called without even thinking.  This was a terrible call by me if you think about it.  A check-raise on the river is one of the strongest plays in NL holdem. Villain is passive. I have called him 2 streets and raised him on the turn, after he open raised UTG. He is bluffing here like…………… never!!  Let’s go back to his range on the river again.  99-QQ.  Well 99, JJ and QQ are just going to call this bet. They are not going to get fancy and check-raise me. Even more so that my river bet is for a decent amount. And of course TT is going to raise me.

What I am most disappointed about here is that I had done all the hard work up until the river and had played the hand pretty much perfectly and had a pretty good idea of villain’s range.  I now need to improve my discipline and actually use this knowledge during the game to make the right decisions.

I think river decisions are where a lot of money is won and lost at NL Holdem and I’m trying to come up with some sort of check-list / thought process to help me take the right line:

• What is villain’s range on the river ?
• What hands do we beat in that range? What hands have us beat in that range ? Do we beat more hands than beat us ?
• From the hands that we beat, will villain bet with those hands ? Will he call a bet with those hands? (if so how much)  Will he raise with those hands if we bet ? Will he raise with better hands if we bet?
• If getting bet into or raised, could villain be bluffing ? (reads?, missed draws? passive/aggressive? previous action? My hand range ?)

What else could we add to this list to help us take the right line on the river ?

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (CO): $25.35

BTN: $49.90
SB: $25.10
BB: $19.75
UTG: $29.70
UTG+1: $47.20
MP1: $28.65
MP2: $21.60

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with K K

UTG raises to $0.75, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.75, 2 folds, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($2.35) 3 5 8 (3 players)

BB checks, UTG bets $1, Hero calls $1, BB folds

Turn: ($4.35) 3 (2 players)

UTG bets $1.25, Hero raises to $3.50, UTG calls $2.25

River: ($11.35) T (2 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets $8.50, UTG raises to $22.50, Hero calls $11.60 all in

Final Pot: $51.55

Hero shows K K (two pair, Kings and Threes)
UTG shows T T (a full house, Tens full of Threes)

UTG wins $49.00

(Rake: $2.55)