Golf TR.

I actually managed to get out to a golf course this morning for the first time in 2 years. I used to golf fairly regularly back towards my high school days, probably twice per week but life has kind of just filled up with other things since then. 5am felt pretty early as I had a ~2 hour drive to meet my group for a 7am tee-time  at their local course but it was a really nice morning at 23 degrees already.

They decide they want to degen it up and play $1 per hole skins with one mulligan allowed on each 9 holes which I obviously oblige to even though I haven't picked up a club the past few seasons. Keep in mind these guys are even bigger nits than I am and prefer to play $0.10/$0.20 with 25bb at our home games. =)

The first two get off some decent drives and I set up my tee fully expecting my ball to get a bit of air time by being driven downwards off the tee, bouncing up 10 feet in the air and making off for the weeds on the right. To my surprise, my ball decides to take off 225 yards straight down the middle and I win the first 3 holes in similar fashion, knocking down 8 foot puts while everyone else was 2-putting.

After that things kind of evened out and I my forearms started to ache a bit once they had a chance to rest during the breakfast break. The skins started to carry over a lot and I ended up with the best overall score but just didn't win the right holes and finished at +$7. I got destroyed on the island green par 4, first nailing a rock, bouncing off the bridge and back into the water and then overshooting the green where I was able to take a drop on the fringe, as well as on a monster par 6 that was a chore to get to in 7 considering I wasn't hitting my irons that far by the 17th.

They use a weird rule with respect to lost balls penalties: +1 for literally lost ball and +1 for the drop resulting in +1 if it's out of bounds and you pick it up and +2 if it's in the water and unretrievable. Sounded kind of silly to me, but it added a bit of strategy in that it seemed better to take two safe shots than one risky shot that would cost you on average 50% more than normal if you mess up. Final tally was 104 which they of course counted as 108 considering I "lost" four. Not terrible considering the circumstances although I think I could have shot 97 if my short game wasn't completely out of whack on the back 9 on at least 8 of those causing a lot of chip shots to get on. Definitely going to try to get out there a bit more this year.

Poker

Every time I've sat down the past few days I start loading tables from the lobby, get to about 8 and then say eff this I don't feel like playing and insta-close them before I post blinds. Not that I haven't been winning, but I just plain haven't felt like it and have instead headed over to the 6max hyper-turbo shove fests with mediocre results after running super hot at 49% ITM one day followed by 8% ITM the next to even out at 33%. I think these are defintely profitable although I don't much care for the change to the 10/20 start for 25bb rather than the old 25/50 10bb start. I think I understand shovebot strategy a lot better than the average person that plays these and just end up bleeding off a couple blinds sitting around waiting to implement it because by the time you have unknowns' 25bb stackoff range figured out along with the nuances of what a minraise means, you're down to a formulaic 10-15 bb anyways.

In one of my last posts I said I was going to withdraw and move down to 10NL 6max. My plan seems to change every time I write up a new blog post as I'm feeling kind of wrestless and impatient with poker at the moment. Almost immediately after I wrote that, I did withdraw but kept playing 25NL Full Ring after a couple of sessions of 6max. I'm just at that point again where I'm torn between making easy money and getting tired of the same thing over and over again without seeing large improvements although I feel like I'm playing extremely well right now. Waiting for the next boom I guess.

200k VPP Tomorrow

Tomorrow's my last day. Finally. It's been a very tough grind since I decided in early November to get to work on reaching 200k VPP, I believe I had about 145k at the time. I was starting to lag behind last week so I decided I needed to increase my VPP production since I am fairly burned out and the thought of putting in more volume per day than I have been was just gross. Played some 100NL FR with some mixed results, not terrible but I hated the larger dollar swings.

Then I decided to switch it up and mass table 6max. 20-50bb 6max. What a gong show. The variance is actually kind of low ime, which is weird since people are absolutely terrible and willing to get it in a lot. It is very refreshing to bet/bet/shove your TPTK for value again. I mean you can't really go wrong shoving turns against half-half stackers.

Also fixed a lot of my game the past few days using a fancy poker program I call a calculator. It's free, just search your computer for calc.exe. Started punching in numbers in terms of required success frequencies and came out with some very obvious answers. Of course I've known for a very long time that aggression doesn't have to work often and that's why it wins, but it has always seemed very counter-intuitive to me for some reason. I said enough is enough, just do it. And it works! Still selective aggression obviously. But there's a lot of spots that go under selective.

I have 800 VPP to go and should finish it up tomorrow. Or the next day if I slack off. It's another 3 hours of play basically and I've been doing 4 hours per day. Today was extremely fun. Aggression got me the following results: + mucho Sklansky bucks, lots of 6max 50bb reg beration for doing apparently stupid things and skydive without a parachute off the EV cliff to end the day. I'm so happy about being finished with this race that I'm finding a lot of things funny again.

Still deciding on 2011. No official announcement from Stars on buyin structures. The 2011 VIP thread was apparently for announcing the non-changes to the loyalty program while, to paraphrase Stars' rep in that thread "buyin issues will be dealt with separately." Like Stars is actually going to set off the bomb to start another flame war between short and full stacks to announce they aren't changing anything.

I've noticed my blogroll over on the right hasn't updated in a lot of cases, which is completely understandable as blogs typically come and go as does motivation to write. I won't remove anyone since they're still good reads, but I am looking to add some fresh content so if you'd like to do a blog link exchange send me a message here or on 2p2.

Happy New Year everyone! Good Luck in 2011!

BR Rebuilding Plan

I mentioned in my last post that I'm going to pretend I have $500 and work my way back up to re-pad my bankroll since I'm a huge life nit. I'm still actually rolled for 100nl by most people's standards but other people's ability to withstand variance without moving down makes me sick. My BR took a large hit between cashing out a decent amount at the beginning of June and the ensuing soul crush.

So far so good. Played 10k hands at 25nl for 8 ptBB/100 in the last 3 days so I only have about 4-5 buyins to go to move back up to 50nl again. That's a solid $40/hour 12 tabling 6max so it's really not that far off my 100nl 18 tabling FR hourly. And there's virtually zero stress and zero risk. The only really difference is that bonus $/hour drops from $19.90 to $7.75. I'll cut that difference in half once I move up again next week.

I'm starting to catch up on the DC podcasts and they're really interesting with a lot of interesting and good information. Just downloaded all of the Stars/2p2 Podcasts but I'm a little tilted at them using long titles that don't let me see who's in the interview on my podcast list on my iPod. I put a text file with the list on a different app so I guess that will have to do.


25nl Observations:

• TAGs and nits are extremely straightforward and transparent.
• LAGs are extremely bad and spewy. All of them.
• People limp a lot. Limpers are 100% fish and generally won't fold any piece postflop.
• Everyone calls down and stacks off much lighter than I am used to.
• Implied odds are ridiculous.

Suggestions:

• Play straightforward most of the time.
• Punish limpers.
• Let LAGs hang themselves and induce spazz. Widen your 3bet value range against them.
• Take cheap draws with high implied odds instead of semi-bluffing a lot unless you're the PFRer making cbets.
• There are a lot of very floatable TAGs on good boards with position.
• Bet/Bet/Shove your monsters.

July 9th Edit: I just hit my 20 hypothetical buyins last night and this continues to run so well that I'm seriously considering going for 25nl July Ultimate Grinder instead of moving back up. Seems like such a beat to play for a badge that's not even real lol. But that's probably not going to happen since I'm going to start splitting up my volume between Stars and FTP playing Rush and that's not tracked (thankfully).

But the hourly is really good, the variance is virtually nothing (38 ptBB/100 standard deviation compared to my usual 34 ptBB/100 for FR), I have had 3 stress free days feeling happy, and my confidence is building a lot at the same time. Everyone had a 5 day head start and I'm now in the top half of the list.

May = 6max

After putting in 100k hands of full ring in April I think I'm going to give 6max a shot. I want to see which one suits me better for long session grinding and I want to keep my skills in both dynamics up to date. I did play a few thousand hands of full ring the past couple of days as well as final tabled a 135-player Rush tournament for a decent score. That was mainly the result of me swonging +4/-4 buyins at 100nl to breakeven on FR cash yesterday and feeling kind of bad about it, still up several buyins there for the month.

I've played in a few SCOOP events but so far haven't really been able to chip up very well. Typically running around average stack for the first 3-5 hours and then crash and burn. Very card dead plus I feel like I've wasted 4 hours of my life when I run set under set or Queens into Kings or some other random postflop bullshit that cripples me or knocks me out. It's really not worth it for me if it makes me feel like not playing poker at all afterwords... might as well stick to cash then. Kudos to all the donkament pros out there that can handle the long hours and months of winning nearly nothing in anticipation of that huge score without jumping off a bridge in the meantime. I had to laugh at the 42% final table payout for the last SCOOP event I played considering there were 18k entries. Seriously, spread the wealth a little.

Today I decided to start watching a bunch of videos again and really think about my decisions at 6max. So I obviously 18 table 50nl so I could focus and get back into the game flow =) 7k hands later I'm up 10 buyins so far. Will probably put in another 3k hands or so today. Pretty sure I win the internets for volume in micro-6max games (aside from CJ and Chiren of course).

I'm really hoping I can move up to 100nl 6max without getting crushed again. I think my understanding of ranges vs lines is approximately 34x better this time around compared to the end of last year so it shouldn't be a problem.

Baby was due last Saturday so I'm expecting to become even more busy any day now. My 2 year old daughter is extremely excited so that's nice.

Planning to hit Supernova for 2010 sometime next week. Time for some milestone bonuses!

EDIT: Make that 1 more hour for a total of 8k hands and 14 buyins and my last Stellar bonus for the day!

50nl 6max regs wars (lol)

I haven't posted in a while. This month has felt pretty rough so far even though it shouldn't. I went on one of the biggest heaters of my life in the first 3 days winning something like 30 buyins spread across 50nl, 100nl and 200nl. I can actually say that most of this was due to good play. I was the most on top of my game that I've ever been and it felt like face up poker even at 200nl. Then I proceeded to dump half of it back. Poker feels so easy when you're playing well and then you wonder what happened to that mindset when it disappears for a while.


I'm also having an odd reoccurance at 50nl 6max. I keep running in to the same 2 regs who play every 50BB min table there is. They both play insanely long sessions during peak hours and it's pretty tough to avoid them. Luckily one is extremely exploitable despite going to showdown an oddly high % of the time and winning at showdown a rediculous % of the time over a large sample.

The other reg is where most of my problem at that level is lately. We are both very good at putting each other in tough spots using position so part of the solution is to make sure I have good seat location relative to him. If I don't, I rarely profit on that table since he totally wrecks the flow I'm trying to create. It's a lot tougher if he starts a session before I do since most seats opening up are on his right. I'm going to have to do an in depth analysis of his play if I want to keep winning at the same rates I have been there and hopefully figure out his ranges a little better. He's really well balanced vs regs.

10 days until Christmas holidays!

November is finally over

Haven't posted in a while. I seem to post a lot less when I'm not winning, which has been the case the past couple of weeks. I've been basically breakeven after a very swingy second half of November.

I think it's a combination of bad sleeping habits and trying out new stuff, then trying to find my way back to fundamentals when something doesn't work out. That can lead to some frustration and trying to force things. I've also taken a couple of failed shots at 200nl FR and 100nl 6max in the past week so that has a lot to do with it as well.

Part 2 of my 25nl series is out now and Part 3 is on the way. If only I could keep running as hot as I do in my videos... lol... maybe I should just start recording all my sessions and talking through my thought process out loud.

25nl Crushing the Quarter Part 1 Released!

The first installment of my series, Crushing the Quarter, on Best Free Poker Coaching has just been released. I hope you guys enjoy it. There's lots of room on the video page or in the forum over there if you have a questions or comments about anything in the video.

I ran pretty horrible this week. I'm going to say that it's probably mostly due to bad play even though I feel kind of under expectation, but my sleep schedule has been absolutely terrible and I don't think my thought processes this week were anywhere close to optimal wrt assessing my play or really anything at all. I'm sure the slightly under average run got to me and ended up with more than a bit of tilt.

I decided to put one more terrible night into it but I changed it up drastically. I moved up. I cut tables - lots of tables. 100nl 6max 4 tabling and taking extensive notes seems kind of gross when I think about it but is amazingly fun when I'm actually doing it. I'm writing this down so that I can refer back to it when I get the urge to mass table when I should be trying to improve.

I played a 45 minute session 4 tabling just trying to book a win. As a rule I don't agree with using stop-wins, but when you're downswinging over several days or weeks, I think getting that winning session in despite it really meaning nothing in terms of anything other than mental stability and confidence is important. My goal was 1 buyin. I ended up wiping out my losses for the week.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 377387
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $113.90
MP: $122.20
CO: $103.00
Hero (BTN): $115.45
SB: $174.35
BB: $217.45

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with A A
UTG raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero calls $3, SB raises to $16, 1 fold, UTG raises to $38, Hero raises to $115.45 all in, SB raises to $174.35 all in, UTG calls $75.90 all in

Flop: ($345.80) 6 5 3 (3 players - 3 are all in)

Turn: ($345.80) 9 (3 players - 3 are all in)

River: ($345.80) 5 (3 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: $345.80
UTG shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Fives)
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Fives)
SB shows K K (two pair, Kings and Fives)
Hero wins $3.10
Hero wins $339.70
(Rake: $3.00)

*This play was reads based. SB and BB were both squeeze happy regs running rather loose-ish.

It's all thanks to a cold deck of course but I'll take it. +1 more buyin when I get QQ in vs 44 BvB and hold.


 ** Side note: either I'm typing too fast or my keyboard isn't working properly but some of my esses are not always showing up. My grammar really isn't that terribad that I forget to pluralize where necessary =)

Feeling pretty good right now

Thought I'd do a quick update. Played a few amazing sessions today and playing my A+++ game. Getting a lot of max value in some thin spots (ty Joop) and playing way more effectively aggressive than I normally do.

I skipped a few days worth of playing already this month because I just didn't feel like playing. But the past few days, and especially today, I feel like I've had some aha moments wrt manipulating people's ranges and stuff recently and am now super motivated again. Playing face-up poker is just so much fun.

Obligatory brag graph:

I obviously enjoy photoshopping and was a little bored so.... yeah.

Continuing to put some big scores together more frequently. Hopefully I can keep this up. I'm also extremely excited about playing some tournaments in December as part of a potential uFR team. Someone has to hit it big.

Other than that, the first video of my series "25nl: Crushing the Quarter" is due out on Friday the 13th on Best Free Poker Coaching

Run Good Part Deux: MOAR!

Put in my 2nd best day ever yesterday. This wouldn't have happened due to my insta-MTT-tilt syndrome when I reg'd for the Supernova freeroll but then I decided to get it in with AQs on the 3rd hand so that I don't have to sit there all day. TT and AK hold and I'm out and I avoid the whole tilt scenario I get into after playing 4 hours to bust 50 from the bubble and decided to fire up 100nl instead of donkaments.

I unfortunately ran into the 1k hand breakeven stretch after the first 1300 heater. Lately I've been plateauing like this and deciding to quit. I don't check my graph while I play, but you can sense after a while that you're not getting anywhere besides accumulating FPPs. So I took a break and really didn't get back to the table and wish I would have. My reads were insanely good yesterday and the largest pot I lost was $22 at 100nl 6max. This makes for a wow-session considering I only managed to win full stacks 2x and ended up with 5 buyins - the other $100 was 50nl. For once I was the one pushing people off of 50BB pots and not creating dead money I intended to fold.

Favorite hand of the day. BTN is 21/19 and stealing 45% with a decent fold to 3bet % so I go for the 3bet and semi-bluff. Turn is amazing   =)

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 338502
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $100.00
BTN: $103.00
SB: $250.25
Hero (BB): $107.60
UTG: $152.35

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with K J
2 folds, BTN raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero raises to $10, BTN calls $7

Flop: ($20.50) 7 9 Q (2 players)
Hero bets $12, BTN calls $12

Turn: ($44.50) T (2 players)
Hero bets $23, BTN raises to $81 all in, Hero calls $58

River: ($206.50) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $206.50
BTN shows A Q (two pair, Queens and Nines)
Hero shows K J (a straight, Nine to King)
Hero wins $204.50
(Rake: $2.00)

100nl 6m: Finally some run good!

I've been running really substandard in my 100nl 6max shots so far, plus I think I've been a little spewy in the 3bet/4bet/5bet wars and I'm trying to cut that out and it seemed to help a lot today lol. Not so surprisingly a little patience goes a long way against people that don't like to fold much and like to play back a little more.

I mean, "they're not playing back at you" yeah. But in terms of what they are willing to play back at you with becomes wider since they game is probably 3x more aggressive than 50nl 6max imo. It's not really playing back at you when they have a draw and choose to semi-bluff rather than c/c. That's just standard better play.

Some highlights from today:

Terrible looking "shortstack" table I know, but these aren't shortstacks, they're just 40/10's that ran out of money. My auto-post blind is turned off. Setmine FTW.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 333978
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $20.50
SB: $171.40
BB: $153.65
Hero (UTG): $101.60
MP: $22.75
CO: $20.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with 6 6
Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, CO calls $3, BTN raises to $8.50, SB calls $8, 1 fold, Hero calls $5.50, CO raises to $20 all in, BTN raises to $20.50 all in, SB calls $12, Hero calls $12

Flop: ($82.50) 5 6 3 (4 players - 2 are all in)
SB bets $8, Hero raises to $81.10 all in, SB calls $73.10

Turn: ($244.70) 3 (4 players - 3 are all in)

River: ($244.70) 7 (4 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: $244.70
BTN shows K A (a pair of Threes)
SB shows 8 8 (two pair, Eights and Threes)
Hero shows 6 6 (a full house, Sixes full of Threes)
CO shows J T (a pair of Threes)
Hero wins $162.20
Hero wins $1.50
Hero wins $78.00
(Rake: $3.00)

This hand was pretty standard but gives you and idea of "not playing back" hand ranges that I tend to see a lot with a slightly higher than average 3bet/4bet %. He's playing completely correctly in stacking off according to my range imo lol except it should be pre.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 333982
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $242.50
BB: $104.00
UTG: $98.50
MP: $26.95
Hero (CO): $117.35
BTN: $104.85

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with Q Q
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, SB raises to $10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($61.00) 6 7 Q (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $35.50, SB calls $35.50

Turn: ($132.00) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $51.85 all in, SB calls $51.85

River: ($235.70) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $235.70
SB shows J J (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
Hero shows Q Q (a full house, Queens full of Sevens)
Hero wins $232.70
(Rake: $3.00)