So awesome...

Sat down today with a 90/75 two seats to my right and had a good time. He was running hotter than the sun agains the rest of the table over 75 hands... T2o vs AKs, Q3s vs AQo, 62o vs AJs... all-in preflop and I think I may have literally started salivating a little. He lit up the chat box nonstop too. Needless to say, I ran a little overly tight at 9/1 on that table lol since he was opening for 24BB and 3betting 65%.

I finally get a crack at him when he changes it up and manage to get his ego to spazz out:

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 210726
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $85.50
BTN: $32.20
Hero (SB): $28.65
BB: $25.00
UTG: $17.45

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with J Q
1 fold, CO raises to $0.50, BTN calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.40, 1 fold

Flop: ($1.75) Q Q 4 (3 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $5.25, BTN folds, Hero calls $5.25

Turn: ($12.25) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, CO raises to $13, Hero raises to $22.90 all in, CO calls $9.90

River: ($58.05) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $58.05
CO mucks J 8
Hero shows J Q (three of a kind, Queens)
Hero wins $56.05
(Rake: $2.00)

I picked up a pot a little later on after he was super tilty from dropping from $170 stack to $60. I limp/reraised AJs to 1/3 my stack, flop was J32 and I CRAI and he folds with less than 1/4 of his stack left.

Good times!

First Impressions of the Mint (aka 25NL 6MAX)

Well that was fun! I finished my first session of 25NL 6max and I’m quite impressed. This is actually a money printing factory in disguise.

The first table I sat down at, the player to my left immediately leaves and is replaced by one of the best 25NL FR regs on Stars. He 3bets both of my opens in the first orbit and I decide it’s time for a change of scenery. And it was smooth sailing after that.

Extremely tiny sample obviously, but I can’t adequately explain how uber satisfying it is to run 30ptBB/100 and not show down anything better than 1 pair hands. My aggression factor was an unseemly high 5.5 and this is totally because 25NL 6max poker call down ranges are like 5NL FR – completely face up, fit-or-fold showdown poker. When you can cbet 80% of flops and take down 70% of those, you are going to insta-profit. No need for me to run any sort of bluff and no reason to call down since I know they have it (although there definition of “it” is not very good all the time).

I’m not really sure what the definitions of nit/TAG/LAG are yet, but I played 22/19 and felt pretty comfy with that range. I squeezed a few nice spots too and people just 4bet/fold or call/fold flop every time.

I ran a little bad against a guy that bought in for $9 and doubled him up 2x for $9 on his first hand and $11 a little later on and my winrate would have been even higher if not for those 2 hands. Getting AK all-in preflop against this guy when he posts UTG, open-minraises Q9o and then shoves over my 3bet makes me giggle.

I think I’ll start posting some hands for discussion since I probably still suck hardcore at 6max and I need advice to get my head wrapped around this game a little better. I know there’s quite a few of you out there that read my blog so please leave comments!

Hand History Analysis

Preflop: Dealt AsTs, 80BB effective.
I open ATs for 3BB in MP. Stats-wise unknown calls in BTN – I have a read that he gets agro with draws on the turn when shown weakness. I am playing under the assumption that the rest of his call down range is standard light/weak stuff.

Flop: Ad 3c 5c, pot is 7.5BB, 77BB effective
I cbet this for slightly more than 2/3 because I cbet pretty much every flop and it’s for value obviously. Villain calls.

Turn: 3s, pot is 17BB, 72BB effective
Pretty blank card imo and is actually a good card if I’m behind AJ/AQ since chances of chopping are higher since another 3, K or A will leave us chopping and also lowers the chance of him having a set. I’m thinking commitment now since that’s what the next bet will do and I’m not folding since I’m ahead of his range.

So that leaves the question of maximizing vs that range. I opt to go with my read since there’s a flush draw out and let him do his thing, plus I’m a little worried about him folding 44/66-TT if I double this. So I think he bets his entire flop continuance range here, and even if he doesn’t bet pocket pairs he’s probably more likely to call the river with them than the turn.

He obliges and bets 12BB making the pot 29BB and leaving him with 60BB. A PSR is to 53BB so I opt to just shove for value.

Make the switch?

I need a break from full ring NL

I feel like I've been running pretty bad for the last 30k hands but I know for a fact that about 75% of that is actually bad play. I seem to be losing my patience with the FR game and have been running into incredibly strong ranges a lot and getting owned.

Today was kind of a breaking point running 5 BI below equity, but equity was only breakeven. I just feel like my game needs room to breakout a bit from the nitty handcuffs of FR. I'll probably still put in some decent volume because I'm getting close to retaining Supernova for the year - currently 80k VPPs and want to finish that off and get the milestone bonus. But I want to start focusing on 6max and PLO.

I have had huge difficulties switching to 6max in the past since I can't get beyond the FR hand ranges wrt hand reading. People say it's the same game with 3 seats removed, but I always find that the dynamic is completely different - a lot lighter imo.

And I don't think that the SSFR grind is something that I'm wanting to do. Mass tabling is starting to lose it's appeal for me, especially with the changes to the VIP program which are already implemented in the 6max games and will be in the FR games as of next year.

I see a lot more potential in the bigger fish pool of the 6max games compared to the FR reg-fest and can see myself playing a lot higher there than in the FR games if I can catch on to it this time. I think I'm starting to really like the prospect of playing more hands against a lot more of the real action-junkies. I plan to 4-6 table it and want to be a lot more aggressive with my bankroll, too, since only having 6 buyins on the tables feels so much less risky than having 18 buyins out there despite the higher variance. I think it's time to start basing my game around reads and lines and exploitation instead of solely on HUD stats.

I also find PLO to be rediculously interesting and love the basic strategy behind it. I find the fact that flopping (multiple) draws to the nuts is better than flopping the nuts so intriging. And people have such a limited understanding of the game and don't realize that Ts9s8h7h is a monster starting hand multiway compared to AAKK. I get consistently berated for playing "trash" in multiway reraised pots and I love it.

Example: people overplay the nuts with QQ65 on 478 flops. You are going to be in a world of hurt if I repop you with QJT9, JT98, T986 etc and even more so if I can add flush draws to that. Wraps are so awesome! It's just unfortunate that the pool is quite small - this game needs a lot more airtime on TV.

So a preliminary guide I'm going to try to follow:
* Finish off 100k VPPs at 50NL in the next 1.5 months, probably just 24 table nit it up and get it over with.
* Start 25NL 6max and 25PLO 6max - 10k-20k hands each 4-6 tabling to get a feel for the games again
* Be comfortable with 75BI rule, take shots at next level with 75BI if I'm comfortably beating current stakes, drop back if I lose 10BI. Using my existing BR this is easy up to 100NL/200NL.
* Willing to currently withdraw 1/2 of profits for the month to cover life expenses up to $1k. Everything else stays in the BR.

Quick Update: Power Failure

Haven't been able to play at all the past 2 days :( Huge lightning storms in my area have been causing havoc with the hydro system here and have somehow managed to knock out my internet connection at home.

Attempts to reinstall my connection lead to the blue screen of death (first time I've seen this on Vista) and I'm currently reformatting and all that fun stuff. Hope to be back online later tonight or in the morning.

Edit: I finally got back online and playing again yesterday (Saturday). Took about 13 hours after reformat to re-import all my hands so I figured I'd just wait it out instead of playing HUDless. Turned out that my PC still insta-crashes when trying to install my ISP provided software but I figured out a workaround that appears somewhat less efficient but doable. It is nice to have 90% of my harddrive back although it was completely unnecessary.

uFR Challenge III: Day 13

I haven't updated as I haven't played a whole lot this week - only about 9k hands.

Had a couple of fun hands today:

Hand #1 - I had just lost a stack to this 30/15 LAG reg 30 hands prior getting my AA in vs KK and KJo preflop.

CO: $81.40
Hero (BTN): $73.30
SB: $81.40
BB: $63.75
UTG: $80.35
UTG+1: $50.00
MP1: $92.90
MP2: $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with K K
5 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, SB raises to $6, 1 fold, Hero raises to $18, SB raises to $81.40 all in, Hero says "are you serious", Hero says "maybe i will spike", Hero calls $55.30 all in

Flop: ($147.10) K 5 J (2 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: ($147.10) 8 (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($147.10) 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $147.10
Hero shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)
SB shows A A (a pair of Aces)
Hero wins $144.10
(Rake: $3.00)


Hand #2 - this hand turns into a totaly trainwreck for BB (20/3) and I kind of felt bad for him. I almost broke my mouse on the turn.

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players - View hand 183814
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $50.00
SB: $41.05
BB: $43.05
CO: $29.25

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 4 7
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.50, SB calls $1.25, BB calls $1

Flop: ($4.50) 3 5 Q (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $1, Hero calls $1, SB calls $1

Turn: ($7.50) 6 (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $40.55 all in, Hero raises to $47.50 all in, SB folds

River: ($88.60) 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $88.60
Hero shows 4 7 (a straight, Three to Seven)
BB shows Q 5 (two pair, Queens and Fives)
Hero wins $86.60
(Rake: $2.00)

Other than that things have been pretty variance free and steady. Looking through my biggest losing hands for the month, I've noticed quite a few spots that are completely unneccessary and avoidable and could easily be up more so that's something to work on.

Currently sitting at 4.16 ptBB/100 over 33k hands.

uFR Challenge III: Day 4 + 5

Day 4. I unfortunately only managed to put in 500 hands yesterday but the games were super fishy and I was up a quick 2 buyins before quitting for the day. It should be July 4th every Saturday of the year.

Day 5. Got off to a slow start today and finished the first session down a buyin after spewing my last hand. I was probably a little tilty at breaking even for 1200 hands with flopping absolutely nothing worth valuebetting. I did a little session review and picked out the biggest fish and the biggest pots I'd seen today and made notes on which ones were stacking off super light.

Then I fired up some more tables and got into some good spots where 2 or 3 regs were constantly 3betting me and I recognized the situation as a good squeeze spot for them and 4bet light successfully a number of times and played back at the right flops and came out ahead in the 3bet/4bet light game.

My favorite hand for this month so far. I loled when I saw the nitty SB fire $1 into $1.50 and thought lol he has Asx. Calling is pretty much a 0EV play since I'm about 25:1 to hit and that's 1/2 his stack, plus I have to have his hand exactly right and I don't think my straight draw outs are good since I'm either crushed or don't get paid off anyways - but hitting straight flushes for stacks is so much fun so I have to call. Fortunately the fish on my left came along for a couple bets to add some value.

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - View hand 174086
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $56.25
UTG+2: $50.00
MP1: $52.00
MP2: $74.20
CO: $50.00
BTN: $50.00
SB: $50.00
Hero (BB): $111.70
UTG: $52.70

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with T 6
UTG calls $0.50, 6 folds, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks

Flop: ($1.50) 5 3 4 (3 players)
SB bets $1, Hero calls $1, UTG calls $1

Turn: ($4.50) 7 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4, UTG calls $4, SB raises to $16, Hero calls $12, UTG folds

River: ($40.50) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $32.50 all in, Hero calls $32.50

Final Pot: $105.50
SB shows A Q (a flush, Ace high)
Hero shows T 6 (a straight flush, Three to Seven)
Hero wins $102.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Winrate is rising again.
3.12 ptBB/100 over 21k hands.

uFR Challenge III: Day 2 + 3

Day 2 was pretty rough. I got off to a really good start and put up 2.5 buyins in 1500 hands. The session I played later in the evening just coolered those away but I did manage to vindicate myself somewhat on my last hand for the day. I need to start shoving rivers more often again:

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - View hand 171246
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $59.45
BB: $51.30
UTG: $48.70
UTG+1: $56.50
Hero (MP1): $50.00
MP2: $50.00
CO: $39.80
BTN: $55.65

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP1 with 3 3
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 4 folds, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.25) 9 J 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2, BB calls $2

Turn: ($7.25) 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5, BB calls $5

River: ($17.25) A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $41.50 all in, BB says "why so much" and tanks his entire timebank, BB calls $41.50

Final Pot: $100.25
BB mucks J 7
Hero shows 3 3 (a full house, Threes full of Nines)
Hero wins $97.25
(Rake: $3.00)

More updates in this post to follow as I play today...

Day 3 got off to a nice start. I forgot that it's Friday since I'm on holidays and was wondering why the games were sooooo fishy this morning. I played 18 tables and at least 5 of them had a 60/20 that managed to rack up 4 buyins. Good times!

This was the biggest winner so far today, villain is 53/29 and running hotter than the sun so I decided to put a stop to that:

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - View hand 171437
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $50.95
Hero (BTN): $50.00
SB: $50.00
BB: $57.30
UTG: $49.50
UTG+1: $50.50
UTG+2: $49.25
MP1: $50.75
MP2: $188.80

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with A A
4 folds, MP2 calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50, Hero raises to $3, 2 folds, MP2 calls $2.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($7.25) 7 Q 9 (2 players)
MP2 bets $3, Hero raises to $9, MP2 calls $6

Turn: ($25.25) 6 (2 players)
MP2 bets $10, Hero raises to $38 all in, MP2 calls $28

River: ($101.25) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $101.25
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
MP2 shows J 8 (a pair of Sixes)
Hero wins $98.25
(Rake: $3.00)

The biggest loser was against another of these guys. I was hoping to get him to spazz out with his top pair on the flop here. Didn't realize his hand might actually be that strong otherwise I might have bet the flop bigger but, whatever I'm probably still ahead enough of the time on a seemingly blank turn:

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - View hand 171438
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $53.95
UTG: $51.40
UTG+1: $40.35
Hero (MP1): $73.75
MP2: $39.75
CO: $52.95
BTN: $43.30
SB: $57.60

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP1 with K K
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 4 folds, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.25) J 7 3 (2 players)
BB bets $1, Hero raises to $4, BB raises to $10, Hero raises to $20, BB calls $10

Turn: ($43.25) 8 (2 players)
BB bets $32.45 all in, Hero calls $32.45

River: ($108.15) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $108.15
BB shows J 8 (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
Hero mucks K K
BB wins $105.15
(Rake: $3.00)

Winrate is starting to climb out of the BE stretch induced mean average of 0 from the first 10k hands
15k hands
1.5 ptBB/100
$222.20

I thought I was up more than this but HEM had my sessions messed up and I was in for a dissappointing look at results when the HUD said +$130 on the day and HEM actually says $65.

Tables were quite nice this afternoon I'm assuming due to July 4th weekend. Finished the afternoon up 5 BI and quite happy. Then got sucked out and coolered 3x in my evening session within the first 15 minutes:

AA to KK AIPF 4 flush boards are the bane of my existance.*
99 to 55 on 5569x
88 to QQ on Q8xxx

*I officially request a rule change that one card flushes do not count, you don't deserve to draw to a one card flush and throw the rest of the hand ranking chart out the window with your 7 high no draw, unless the flop is mono, cause if you are drawing to a 1 card flush then you are terribad.

Winrate currently stands at 2.0. I win the interwebz.