I Doubled my BR on FT Tonight!

Started the night by winning not 1 but TWO buyins at $25NL Full Ring. Talk about shooting a fish in the barrel.

Didn't hurt that the first hand I was dealt was AA, 2 hands later KK, 7 hands later AA again. Good way to start the night off. From there just abused the table until I finally left up over $50.

While I was playing that, saw a normal $5 MTT starting in a few minutes. First time I've had most of the night to play poker and felt like playing so I hopped in.

Took down 2ND PLACE for a nice $300 profit!

Details coming tomorrow night. I highly suggest everyone interested in MTTs read the following article by Hoy. This man just took 3rd, 4th, and 1st in the $50 -50k guarantees in a matter of 3 weeks. Great article on preflop size raising:

http://hammerplayer.blogspot.com/2008/02/preflop-raising-sizing-in-mtts.html

I'll post details of my deep run in this micro-limit MTT tomorrow night plus screenies.

I know this isn't major to other bloggers out there that play the big stakes and 4-5 figure scores but for a low-limit grinder like myself its a huge confidence booster. Biggest win since I won a 52" flat screen TV in a rakeback tourney.

More details tomorrow.

See you at the virtual felt,

DubsPoke
FT: $702

85% Healthy...

but still not playing much poker. Future in-laws have been in town since last Friday morning. Other side of future in-laws coming into town starting tomorrow evening. Guests > Poker.

Hopefully I'll be able to continue my poker adventures next week.

Until then. . .see you not at the virtual felt,

DubsPoke

Not Playing While Sick

Still under the weather so I've been avoiding playing any type of poker or really even being on the computer at all.

Did try to play yesterday with terrible results. Got stacked 2x on PokerStars effectively destroying that bankroll. The hands:

1) Ran KQsuited from Button into a limped KK. I opened for standard raise and catch top two off flop. Get it all-in on turn to see the cooler of top set vs my top two.

2) 3 hands later - I open with standard raise with AA. Get called from same player as hand 1 (who is playing about 33/8 after 250 hands). Flop 10-8-7. I raise and get flat-called. Turn brings Ace. We get it all in again. River brings 9. Of course my opponent holds J-Q and caught his gutshot straight. Dumbass.

So I stopped playing until I feel better. Another doc appt today. Hopefully some new meds that will clear this crap up.

See you at the virtual felt,

DubsPoke
FT: $370
PS: $21

Continue to play cash games...

And continuing to profit. FT up over $415. Got stacked once on PokerStars (games see to be much easier here by the way) when a 90/8 donk lucksacked a flush vs my nut straight. Other than that, playing very well there as well. I'll be getting some interesting hands up over the next couple days.

I'm also hoping to play a few low-limit MTTs to see how that goes. From what I've read, it's typically not a good idea to mix cash with SNG/MTTs. My own personal belief is that you should be able to adjust accordingly if you are a good player. We'll see.

See you at the virtual felt,

DubsPoke
FT: $415
PS: $85

3k hands at .10/.25 - how am I doing?

I've finally turned a profit! I'm up ~$30 after being down ~$100 after 2k hands.

I'm pretty happy with the direction my cash game is going. I don't believe the last 1k hands can be contributed to being "hot" either. Rather, it's the limiting of the mistakes that I would stack off on. I haven't been stacked in a while where I wasn't ahead when the money went in.

A big change though is table selection and better utilization of the poker tools available. I now open up 6-8 tables and let them get datamined by PokerTracker for about 10 minutes. I then identify where the most fish are (those guys playing 35% of hands or more) while trying to avoid those tables with players I know that cause me issues (typically 15-25% VPIP with 12-18% preflop raise). I then avoid playing against these players without strong hands but open it up a little against the weaker fish. I also like to take advantage of the tight passive players as well. I love it when the sit immediately to my left. I can steal blinds at will it seems like. If they do call a preflop raise, a small continuation bet usually gets them folding. If not, then I now slow down and be careful.

I've learned that it is all about adjustments. You can't play the entire table the same, instead you need to play each individual player.

Sorry for the bit of a ramble. My brain still isn't all together; I ran a 102+ temp from last Thursday until Monday due to a particularly nasty flu virus and sinus infection. While still a bit under the weather, I hope to resume regular posting this weekend.

See ya at the virtual felt,

DubsPoke
FT: ~$375
PS: 100?

Villian accussed me of playing this hand poorly...

the villian in the hand below had the balls to say in girly chat that I played this hand very poorly. what do you think?

Full Tilt Poker Game #5217031694: Table Ripken (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:48:39 ET - 2008/02/11
Seat 1: pikeamus ($29.40)
Seat 2: CokeJr007 ($15.55)
Seat 3: KalAAschniKKov ($49.80)
Seat 4: 08-15am ($25.50)
Seat 5: DubsPoke ($22.55)
Seat 6: Chukombo ($24.75)
Chukombo posts the small blind of $0.10
pikeamus posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DubsPoke [Kd Qd]
CokeJr007 folds
KalAAschniKKov has 15 seconds left to act
KalAAschniKKov folds
08-15am folds
DubsPoke raises to $0.85
Chukombo folds
pikeamus raises to $3
DubsPoke calls $2.15
*** FLOP *** [Qc 6h 3c]
pikeamus bets $4.50
DubsPoke calls $4.50
*** TURN *** [Qc 6h 3c] [Kc]
pikeamus has 15 seconds left to act
pikeamus bets $9
DubsPoke raises to $15.05, and is all in
pikeamus calls $6.05
DubsPoke shows [Kd Qd]
pikeamus shows [As Ah]
*** RIVER *** [Qc 6h 3c Kc] [6d]
DubsPoke shows two pair, Kings and Queens
pikeamus shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
pikeamus wins the pot ($42.95) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
DubsPoke adds $25
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $45.20 | Rake $2.25
Board: [Qc 6h 3c Kc 6d]
Seat 1: pikeamus (big blind) showed [As Ah] and won ($42.95) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 2: CokeJr007 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: KalAAschniKKov didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: 08-15am didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: DubsPoke (button) showed [Kd Qd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 6: Chukombo (small blind) folded before the Flop

How do you play a Royal Flush for Maximum Value?

How would you have played this hand for maximum value?

FullTiltPoker Game #5131726874: Table McDermit (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:43:10 ET - 2008/02/05
Seat 1: Segaman ($16.90)
Seat 2: dzsonzon ($23.90)
Seat 3: DubsPoke ($23.35)
Seat 4: pamponet ($12.55)
Seat 5: arkgabor1978 ($21.65)
Seat 6: tan2wan2 ($30)
dzsonzon posts the small blind of $0.10
DubsPoke posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DubsPoke [Th Kd]
pamponet folds
arkgabor1978 folds
tan2wan2 folds
Segaman folds
dzsonzon raises to $0.50
DubsPoke calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [Td Ad Jd]
dzsonzon has 15 seconds left to act
dzsonzon bets $0.50
DubsPoke calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [Td Ad Jd] [7d]
dzsonzon has 15 seconds left to act
dzsonzon bets $0.50
DubsPoke calls $0.50
*** RIVER *** [Td Ad Jd 7d] [Qd]
dzsonzon checks
DubsPoke has 15 seconds left to act
DubsPoke bets $1.25
dzsonzon folds
Uncalled bet of $1.25 returned to DubsPoke
DubsPoke shows [Th Kd] a Royal Flush
DubsPoke wins the pot ($2.85)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3 | Rake $0.15
Board: [Td Ad Jd 7d Qd]
Seat 1: Segaman (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: dzsonzon (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 3: DubsPoke (big blind) collected ($2.85)
Seat 4: pamponet didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: arkgabor1978 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: tan2wan2 didn't bet (folded)

Micro-limit Cash Games

As you all are aware, I've been focusing on learning to play the cash games. I am happy to report that I'm starting to have some short-term success.

While many very good poker players believe a TAG style is ideal for micro-limits due to inexperience and the "i-don't-give-a-shit-and-just-want-to-gamble" attitude of many of the micro-limit players, I actually have found a relatively LAG style to work best for me, depending of course on the table.

In "Super System 2," Doyle Brunson advocates an aggressive style of "attacking" pots. Raise or fold in most cases. Limping is not ideal in most cases. His main idea is that he is going to win a lot of small pots and probably be behind on the big pots. But he'll always try to leave himself with outs. He also loves the double belly busters (essentially two gutshot draws, hard to see straights when they do hit) and the low suited connectors.

On Cardrunners, many videos feature the advantages of position, utilizing reads to determine play, and, once again, aggressive play. These have been an immense help to me so far.

What has happened, is that my micro-limit cash game sees me raising a lot from position with a wide range of hands (small suited connectors, pocket pairs, suited aces and suited kings depending on table). The problem I had (and many players at this level) is that they get tied to their $$s invested in the pot. If I raise 40cents and get re-raised, I think I need to call with my Kh10h when, unless I have a very strong read on the player, the hand is an obviously easy fold.

And this is a point Doyle makes very strongly in his book. As soon as the money is put into the pot, it is no longer yours. Therefore you should NOT be concerned with how much you have invested in the pot. Instead, you should remain focused on your hand and your reads. If your hand/read dictates that you fold, then fold.

I have found myself continuation betting a lot more often, and as a result, I am picking up a lot of pots off the flop. I'm winning more small pots while also keeping my big pot losses to a minimum. This aggressive style of continously attacking pots causes a real funk for my opponents. They can't tell if I have a made hand or not and they are typically too scared to 3bet to find out.

As a result, I'm no longer losing full buy-ins on a regular basis. Instead, I'm actually having more winning sessions than losing sessions at 10NL.

Do I still make mistakes? Oh hell yeah. What I'm happy about is that my mistakes are costing me less, I'm learning how to identify the weak/passive players and stack them on a more regular basis, and my bankroll is slowly going up.

I'm working on a post/article about the importance of adaptation in poker. It's a topic I've had to learn the hard way about. I'm actually spending some time on it so I hope you all enjoy it once I have it completed.

See you at the virtual felt,

DubsPoke
FT: $352 ($60 downswing from my recent high of $420 due to donking in MTTs and some really bad luck in $10 SNGs).
PS: ~$105 ($65 uptick at the $10NL (.05/.10) 6max ring tables)