Playing better but running TERRIBLY!

Two gems from tonight that turned a very good night into a very mediocre one:



and



So instead of being up two buy-ins I ended down 1/4 a buy-in. oh joy.

Live Blogging: My Chat Privelages on PS has Been Revoked

Here's why:



Less than 30 seconds later on another table...



I played both hands perfectly based on my reads of the individual players at question. On the top hand, the player's range was incredibly tight. I knew exactly what he had and abused him for it. Pokerstars RNG then abused me.

Bottom hand. 70/30 player. His range is incredibly wide making my push PRE profitable. Pokerstars RNG abuses me again...after teasing me first of course.

So instead of being 4 buy-ins UP. I'm 2 buy-ins down.

And for kicks and giggles KK < 99. All in on turn on a J-Q-6-3 rainbow board. 9 river for another 3/4 buy-in loss.

Sucks to consistently be making the right reads and getting bent over and ass-f$cked.

BTW - I did not yell at anyone directly but apparently the string of profanities was too much for someone at my table.... oh well.

UPDATE:

I can't win. Pokerstars won't let me:



and your standard cooler:




Amazing I'm only down 5 buy-ins at this point.

UPDATE 5:57pm AZ time:

Took a short break, took the puppy outside, and turned on some jazz to calm my nerves a bit. Loaded up 6 tables.

Stacked two people almost immediately. Back to just a 3 BI loss for the evening.

Tilt Control by Playing Multiple Tables

Interesting development. I have had better tilt control over the past couple days by playing 6-8 tables at a time rather than playing my standard 2-4 tables.

The reason?

2 reasons actually.

-First, I don't have time to think about the bad beat or try to berate my opponent in the girly (a terrible habit in the first place). I have too many tables popping up needing my attention.

-Second, I'm seeing more hands. At the microlimits, my profit will come from letting my opponents make mistakes and gifting me money. I don't need to outplay my opponents, just need to play my good hands the standard way and they will pay me off. The more hands I see equals more good hands equals more opportunities for donkeys to give me money.

As a result, I've made back my losses from my 4 BI downswing in very short order despite having two coolers where I pushed QQ and KK into AA.

Good luck at the felt.

DubsPoke

Down 4 BIs in 100 hands

All-in postflop, 2 runner-runner bad beats, one cooler and one missed draw later on 3 different tables in less than 10 minutes, I have been effectively tilted and left the tables.

TPTK < KJo (runner runner 4 card flush, he called full buy-in after flop with 2nd pair)

Flopped set of 7s < Jh4h. Villian called 5x BB raise from SB with that hand. I raise from BB, get reraised by CO, villian pushes all in with his pair of Js. Runner Runner flush.

KK < AJ. 3bet preflop. I raise post-flop, he pushes. I call. Turn Ace.

Flop top pair and flush draw against maniac playing 70/65. He pushes on flop. Shows AA. I can't catch one of my billion outs after I improve to a OESD on turn.

I'm more pissed that I can't continue to play than the loss of the money as I feel I played excellent poker over the weekend to push my feeble balance on FT to its high water mark since switching to cash of $233. Back down to $191.

UPDATE: Took a nice break. Walked the puppy and came back off tilt (I can phsyically feel when I'm on tilt, this pressure that is on the bridge of my nose and pushes up through my forehead and eyes). Decided to see how I could do 8-tabling playing ABC poker. Won back a buy-in in about a half-hour. Fiance on the way home so taking another break to make supper and whatnot. Ahhhh it feels good to know that I made a good move by taking my break.

Can ya say UPSWING?

Wow. Just ran like a god for an hour session while six tabling (experimenting with a dual-monitor setup with my laptop and and old monitor). Unbelievable. Check out the two snapshots for details.




and the hand list:



EDIT: LOL - Just noticed I got dealt 72o TWELVE TIMES! I run so BAD! ohhhh... AA 9 times and only got them cracked once. Maybe not so bad...

Two hands I think I played incorrectly yet still won

So I got in a very brief session yesterday. A winning session (+1.5 buy-ins). Yet I question the two hands that won me the most money. What do you think of my play? My comments are below each instant replay.



My analysis: Villian here is a 21/19/4.5 player over 200+ hands. The definition of slightly loose, aggressive, perhaps bluffs a bit too much.

Preflop: I'm ok with flatting from SB. Folding is an option but he is a full buy-in+ and I think he'll pay me off if I hit a set.
Flop: Error #1, I need to bet my set, especially being out of position. My thoughts at the time was that I would check-raise. whoops.
Turn: I got to bet now to protect my hand from the 4card flush. His flat call scares me.
River: Maybe he missed. Let's bet. Crap. Got raised. @#%@#%@#$ I hate RNG. crying call. WOOHOO!

Terribly played hand imo. Looking for input on if river call of raise was correct. I think have the odds to justify it but perhaps I was just being a spewtard.



My analysis: Only 14 hands on this guy but he has been a spewtard playing over 50% of his hands raising 42% of them, and an AF of over 5 (means bluffing often), but very micro hand sample worries me.

PRE: I flat from Big Blind with a pocket pair that gets me in trouble often. Nothing wrong here.
Flop: Check-raise. Crap. Let's see where I'm at. I actually paused to think this one out. he pushes. What hands push? Sets flat. Overpairs flat. Draws push right? Semi bluffs push? Complete air? Nah, he has something just don't think it is that strong. Let's look at hand ranges. Based on his play so far, I narrow his range to TPGK, OPES, two pair, perhaps a set. Only overpair possible in my mind is JJ.

I have a gutshot plus an over. I'm ahead of the majority of the hands he could have. Make confident call for once.

Ship it.

What do you all think? Good thinking or spewtard who will continue to be a breakeven player?

DubsPoke

Come to conclusion: Table Image at Micros does NOT exist

Hard lesson to learn/admit but I really just need to focus on playing my cards and the board while I struggle through 10NL. As the attempted bluff below shows, table image means nothing at the micro levels.

Unfortunately, can't post more now as I have to get to work. Just wanted to state that I know I was on tilt below (thus the poorly timed bluff attempts and bad call knowing I was beat with only a 4 card flush or an ace to save me).

Ahhh well. Back to grinding full ring tables as a rock to rebuild a bit.

Plus had a good swing late last night so I'm back up a bit from my low.

Down 3 BIs again in less than 45 minutes (live bloggin' style)

+two pair with K3 (limped to me in BB), all in on turn against 99...river 9; full buy in loss
+TPTK with AQ < 99 AI after flop...river 9 (full buy in loss)
+TT < QQ (all undercard flop on a player that was playing 78/46/AF7 over 40+ hands) (1/2 buy in loss)
+AQ < AT (AIPF, 1/2 buy-in loss)
+Dealt AK 6 times approx 200 hands. Net loss: $7.45

FUCK ME.

So I take a break, come back and sit at ONE table. Fold for 3 straight orbits. And then this, Villian is 38/2 over ~60 hands:



I know I'm being completely results oriented.

but....

WHAT THE FUCK?

And of course the a$$hole immediately stood up and left.

UPDATE 4:39 AZ time:

At least I can pull the resuck myself every once in a while (some basis of my play was villian is 68.75/25/2.0 over 32 hands):

Playing Breakeven Poker

Playing break even poker is very frustrating for the psyche. But I have one comfort.

I'm not alone.

Many many posts on many many forums as well as many many blogs and bloggers speak of the frustration I am having. It's that time when a fresh player decides to dedicate himself to the game. Read a few books. Get some experience. Head back to the tables.

And find that nothing you have studied works the way it's supposed to.

I'm not alone.

I can do this. I have the base knowledge to be successful. Now I just need the experience.

I'll have that light-switch moment where my poker world will open up before me.

Others have before me. Others will have it after me.

I'm not alone.

I had my breakthrough moment at 2NL. I had my breakthrough moment at 5NL.

I'll have it again 10NL.

In the meantime, thank goodness for rakeback.

DubsPoke

Having to regulate myself...again...

Bull$hit like this.....(I had a great read on this guy and knew I had him crushed based on previous history)



cause graphs like this...



When I'm playing well, I'm playing real well. But I'm like a firecracker, one bad beat or questionable play by my opponent...and BOOOOM. As you review the graph, notice how it is like a roller coaster?

Fortunately, I know the problem. A recent post by Leatherass on his Stoxpoker blog (is that site worth joining by the way?), discusses how poker is essentially two elements: the tools to play the game and the mental capabilities to master it. When he discusses the mental capabilities, he starts referring to sports psychology and the ability to think through difficult situations or while being under immense pressure. In the realm of poker, newbs like me feel immense pressure that they must immediately earn back what was wrongfully taken from them. That pressure blocks our abilities to think clearly and move on to the next hand. This is known as tilt.

So improving our mental game will improve our results assuming we know most of the poker basics. Sounds easy, right?

Ha...I wish. I know enough to stop playing once tilt starts to set in (obviously still need to stand up just a tad quicker based on the graph above). My problem is learning how to prevent tilt in the first place.

I have a limited time frame in which I can play each night (about 2 hours after work until fiance gets home). I don't want to have to sit out for half of it because I can't control my emotions.

Leatherass mentions that in order to succeed you need to have a pre-session routine that gets you in the right frame of mind. I'm going to try that. Here will be my routine:

1) Load up a full 6max table with at least 3 players with 3/4ths to full buy-ins. Start data-mining it and join the wait list.

2) Re-read a sheet of favorite posts I have created that describes the rules to be a successful online poker player (corny...yes, effective? we'll try anything once)

OMG !!!! AS I WAS TYPING THIS:




FUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I hate nights like this.

Stop-loss at 5 buy-ins now hit for the night. The two beats now posted and then two coinflips of QQ vs AK (ace on river after getting it all in on turn on all undercard board) and JJ vs AK (4 card flush, runner runner style, all-in preflop). So pissed right now can't even finish this post.

---------------------------------------

So took a 5 minute break to take the puppy out to piss. Came back and made back most of my losses in less than 10 minutes. Sick sick game we play. Sick sick game.

DubsPoke

Another Micro BI MTT Final Table

Came into the final table 6th in chips but not in great shape. Made a couple small errors that put me in a position to have to push 55 into the massive chip leader who was calling with any two cards at that point. He hit one of them that was higher than mine (think it was J7o). Ahh well. Pretty happy with my play overall. A couple interesting spots I'll have to find the HH for. But for now, enjoy the FT results box. Some day I'll be playing some bigger buy-ins but for now I'm content with consistency. What is a good % in cash for MTTs?



Oh yeah...and won 2 BI's at 6max cash games while playing as well.

DubsPoke

Table Selection at 10NL = Success?

Is it possible to practice table selection at 10NL? I'm still trying to determine the answer on this one. Yesterday, I decided expirement a little bet.

I opened up my first table and immediately sat down. But didn't post for the first two orbits. Data mine on a very limited scale but it did give me an indication of who the superfish were at this table. Bought in with an idea of what I was getting into. Had a target two seats to my right. Super lag. Something like 76/10/5. In other words, playing almost any hand at any time. Super aggressive bluffer post flop. Stacked him on about the 4th hand. The reason why? Because I was already aware of his tendencies just because I was patient enough to wait 2 orbits before posting.

I also datamined 4 more tables while I started playing my first one. As I got comfortable with my first table, I added a second table where players were mostly full-stacked. Good results.

After feeling comfortable with my reads there, I added another table. Small goof when I bluffed with 22 on the turn on a QT9 two heart board. Got called by AK. Which spiked his A on the river. Will have to find the actual HH for you all to laugh at...errr with me about.

Was very happy with my results. Positive 3 buy-ins. Will have to keep it going. Make sure you all join in the RAZZ tourneyhosted by NYRambler tonight. Low buy-in. Lotsa fun. I'm going to try to be there, if the fiance allows it...

DubsPoke

Got crushed on FT this past weekend

And no one to blame but myself and my sense of entitlement. Entitlement in poker = tilt. After making a terrible hero call on a JJxxx board with KK and got beat by a callstations J4o on a preflop raised hand, I manage to swing down about 6 buy-ins over the next day and half. Something I call "extended tilt." I left the table for a couple hours after that hand. Came back and did not recognize that I was still tilting. The results spoke for themselves. Despite having some successes, I'm still a newb. That much I am 100% confident in.

And, somewhat conveniently, SirNeb copied this 2+2 post on his blog. I copy it here for my own good, to reread often.

"Here's your problem. You don't have the fortitude, nor bankroll, nor temperment, to be a casino. A casino is a big ol' building, where people's dreams might possibly come true. Especially if you own the building.

Casinos get rich, expand a whole city, and get richer, by offering bets where the casino has a two or three percent advantage. But the bets have to be offered, have to be wagered, a million times. Roulette, for instance: red or black, odd or even, high or low, the house has a 5.25% advantage on all but one bet on the layout.

Will the customer occasionally have a streak? Of course. A full third of the customers that evening will actually have a winning night. The casino doesn't care. You, of course, would be willing to walk in front of a truck. Will one drunken guy actually make several thousand dollars, having started with twenty bucks? Of course. The casino doesn't care. You, by the way, will not even walk out looking for the truck, you will put a bullet in your brain, right there at the table. The casino is right, and you are not right. "correct mathmatically" might be a better term than "right".

You think, apparently, that when you have a winning hand, and the 'customer' is drawing to a flush on the river, You've Got Him Nailed. You don't. You have only created a situation where you have four times the advantage that a casino has. You have a situation where it's 80-20 that you're going to win.

Now I want you to work really, really hard on this, because you haven't yet. If it's 80-20 for you, how many times out of a hundred can we predict that the 'customer' will hit his flush? The answer is twenty times out of a hundred. ('Grab that man. Don't let him dash toward the highway'.)

Can the 'customer' have a streak of winners? You bet he can. ('Grab that revolver'). He might hit several in a row.

Why do you care? (Because you're an idiot). No, it's because you haven't given it the appropriate amount of thought, and because you're not bankrolled well, and because you care about the outcome, and you should not care.

You should have enough in your bankroll that you can offer the 'customer' his flush draw about a hundred times a day. You want him (assuming he's dumb enough: but you're right, there are millions of 'em) to call your bet, and shoot for his flush draw. 80-20 in your favor, if he's betting on the river, 60-40 in your favor if he's betting on the turn (and, you get to charge him MORE for the river, if he's not all in).

If he wins his bet, and you're smart enough to be a casino, you should comp him: buy him a few drinks, compliment that ugly date he brought with him, buy him dinner if you have to, but keep him right there, making his bet over, and over, again.

But not you: you are involved. You are worried. You are so upset that he won one, or ten, of those bets. But the fact is, if that happens a thousand times (that bet where you are 80-20), you will be a rich man. You should be grateful, when you have put the 'customer' in a postion where you offer an 80-20 proposition, and he takes you up on it.

Here's what you should do: change your attitude. Play standard poker. Lose your emotion. You don't care about this bet, or the next one. You just want the guy to keep playing, if he's going to keep playing at the odds you're offering. Charge him for his longshot bet. He'll pay? He'll go for it? OUTSTANDING.......

Grind it out. (They call it that, for a reason). Lose your personal involvement with one hand, or one session. If you're playing right, the money, in smaller amounts, will roll in. (Not in larger amounts: you're not entitled to larger amounts. When your opponent bets his flush draw and loses, you didn't win the whole amount. You won the whole amount LESS the fact that one out of five times you're going to lose, and thus give some back. But believe me, there will be plenty left over.)

Quit caring about your results. Play standard poker. If you're doing it right, the money will roll in.

Play standard poker. If you're doing it right, you're offering the customer bets where your advantage is four times that which built Las Vegas. Do it all day long. All week long. All year long. Grind it out."


-2+2 abominable(I hope I give proper credit)

Not too bad...

Considering I never got above 10k in chips the entire tourney, I'm pretty happy with my play. Ranged between 4k and 8k for the last 1.5 hours. Card dead but stole just enough to survive. Went out when my button push with J10o couldn't outrace 77 from the SB.

Used my $26 token for the $16k Guarantee

Not fairing too well so far. About half way through the second hour and I'm right around my starting stack level. Got as high as about 4.7k and then dropped back down. Had AA cracked early to drop me down to 800 chips but fought back up to my high and now back down. Going to need to make a move in the next orbit...

UPDATE: Out #272/731 runners when I reraise UTG+1 3xBB raise with my 2.7k with TT from LP. He calls off 1/3rd of his remaining stack with KQo. Hits the Q on the river. Ahhh well. Seriously misplayed some hands in the middle to put myself into that position.

DubsPoke

There's my token...

In the $6.50 token frenzy...

Well at least I won something...

But no token.

Took down an MTT today.

Unfortunately, it was only a $1 tourney. Still it doubled my bankroll and I can play somewhat more comfortably on FullTilt now. Had some very key hands in there that I will be wanting some input on.

But for now, ENJOY this screenie:




DubsPoke
FullTilt: $198
PokerStars: $346

Crushing on FT today!

Up over 4 buy-ins on 10nl 6max. And am currently deep in a $1 MTT. 492 runners, down to 33, i'm in the middle of the pack. Come rail me if you want! ProBubbler is my screen name.

Took my bankroll on FT from $27 to $76.

JUST doubled now in 3rd with 31 left.

DubsPoke

UPDATE: made it to $1 tourney Final table. I have 33k and am 8/9 remaining. Gonna need a double soon with blinds at 1.5/3k 500 ante.

UPDATE: down to 7 remaining. I'm in 2nd (barely) with 104k chips after an interesting play with KK and then winning a coinflip AIPF with 77 Blinds at 2.5k/5k 750 ante.

UPDATE: Just took out 7th place. UTG+1 raised 20k leaving himself 40k behind. I shoved over the top. He calls. My As10s > 8s9s. 2nd out of 6 with 169k chips. Chip leader has 197k. 6th place just made a bad all-in push and got busted out. Now I am 3 out 6 remaining.

UPDATE: Down to 4\ remaining. still in 2nd with 154k.

Update: just took out the shortstack. Chipstacks as follows:

ProBubbler 154k
Villian#1: 426k
Villian#2: 138k

UPDATE: We're HU. and i just doubled by winning a coinflip with 77.

Stacks: 250k for me. 450k for him.