DubsPoke's Bankroll Building Experience

Bankroll challenge: Starting with a whole $2!

2011-04-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've been anti-Full Tilt for several years now due to lack of rakeback. That hasn't changed. However, I did have a couple bucks (literally) left on an account there. With a now 1 year old little girl running around, my serious play time is limited to a couple hours late at night after she goes down for the night.

Soooo...when I have 10 or 15 minutes these days, I'm popping into the $5NL Rush tables. It's proving to be a fun little format for short distractions. Now just to build it up so I can play the limits available on my phone....

So far, so good, 10x my original bankroll in 500 hands.

Whoops...

2011-03-24T21:30:00.001-07:00

Run good officially ended. No longer going to be posting results. Period.

10 tabling 100NL

2011-03-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

After all the struggles and ups and downs, who would have thought that I'd blitz to playing 10 tables of 100NL and starting to look at 1/2 within the first quarter of this year?

So far this year I've put in just over 60k hands at 100NL, maintaining a respectable 2.65 BB/100 (that's BB not bb). I've been running very hot over the last 30k hands which certainly helps. The graph for your viewing pleasure:

There is no such thing as a doomswitch.

2011-02-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

/end of story. (I hope this ride never ends.) One thing to note, I continue to play a 50bb stack. I honestly think that regs don't give me credit and I'm getting paid off lightly right now. I'm sure that will change soon enough. In the meantime, I'm enjoying this:

Upswinging and a Question

2011-02-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

It's funny how spending an hour really concentrating on a solid video can result in a 10 buy-in upswing. Was it the video or the practice of concentrating?

Hmmmmm....may have to investigate this one further.

Million Dollar Freeroll Cash

2011-02-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

One benefit of all the hands I put in last quarter was that I was able to achieve Supernova. A benefit of that is a quarterly $1 Million Freeroll put on by PokerStars. Today's tourney got 6180 entrants. I was able to finish 765th for a cash of $300. Not bad for a freeroll. Really not bad considering I haven't played a tourney forever. Really didn't make any mistakes until the knockout hand. Early position minraised, shortstack with 19k stack shoves. I'm in the BB with about 16bb, a 42k stack, and find myself with AJo. I reshoved and got snapped off by KK from the original PFR and AQ by the minstacker. No miracle straight for me and I go home $300 richer.

A good experience and looking back, I should have folded. I had enough play left to get to the next cash breakpoint of top 702. The pay jump was $100 if I would haven't gotten there and after that point the pay jumps decelerated immensley (top 600 got only $50 more). Oh well, lesson learned. Hopefully I can convince the wife to allow me the time to try a few more tourney's down the road.

And, oh yeah, my bankroll has reached it's highest point ever. /brag doomswitch on??????

2011 Poker Goals

2011-01-06T19:01:00.000-08:00

Main 2011 Goal: Be playing 1/2NL by the end of the year

Sub-goals required to meet main goal:

500k hands in the year
42k hands per month
10k hands per week
2 hours of play per weekday, minimum of 3 hours per day on the weekends (16-20 hrs play per week)

Study:

Finish and comprehend a book, "Poker Math That Matters"
1 video reviewed/studied per week. This includes posting feedback to author and actually asking questions

Mental:

Control tilt.
Maintain 3 buy-in stop loss at all times

Physical

Eat better, drink more water and less caffeine, exercise more (which means exercise period)

And do more of this, remembering constantly to analyze the villians and there hand ranges. I would say I was about 80% confident I was ahead making this +EV (now I just need to do the actual math to see if I was right):

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1110128

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $74.10

SB: $15.50

Hero (BB): $64.75

UTG: $51.65

MP: $50.00

CO: $105.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A 8

3 folds, BTN calls $1, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4, BTN calls $3

Flop: ($8.50) 6 5 3 (2 players)

Hero bets $4.50, BTN calls $4.50

Turn: ($17.50) 6 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $6, Hero calls $6

River: ($29.50) 4 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $10, Hero calls $10

Final Pot: $49.50

BTN shows T K (a pair of Sixes)

Hero shows A 8 (a pair of Sixes - Ace kicker)

Hero wins $47.10

(Rake: $2.40)

Congratulations! You have achieved Supernova.

2010-12-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

Wonderful message received from Pokerstars.

Supernova

2010-12-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I decided in mid October that I was going to make Supernova. Since then I've been pushing hard. With a screwy schedule and an 8 month old, every spare minute has been put into getting hands in. I went from averaging 12-15k hands per month to getting in approx. 20k in October. November saw that jump to over 63k hands. I'll top that mark in December as I'm already approaching 65k hands.

At first I tried mass multi-tabling 18 tables AND jumping to 100NL. Big mistake as I suffered some significant (to me at least) losses. Dropped back to 50NL and recovered to only 15% of my starting bankroll to month being lost.

That was nothing compared to November where nearly a third of my bankroll disappeared. Took some heavy losses as my basic game is not strong enough to make good decisions at the rate required. Fortunately bonuses from the store kept my bankroll able to absorb the losses.

For the last two weeks, I scaled it back to 6 or 7 tables but putting in more hours after discussing with wife the benefits of hitting. Winrate has sky-rocketed and my confidence has been restored. I'm over 65k hands so far this month and will probably approach 70k. I've also restored a bit of the bankroll with profits. Supernova bonus will put me back at my original bankroll from back in November.

So I definately learned a lot throughout this experience and am hoping to share some of this insight after the new year.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Take care and be looking for my Supernova screenie.

Go Hawkeyes!

2010-10-30T17:16:00.001-07:00

My condolences to all MSU fans who actually thought they had a chance at a nat'l title.

Why it's important to not TILT....

2010-10-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

Tilt is still holding me back from being anything more than a marginal winner at my stakes. The following 3 hands shows why it is critically important not to tilt. I've been working on pounding shorties. With my 3b squeeze shove, I thought for sure that the SB would fold, a 36/9 poor player over a very small sample size. I was shocked to see what he called off 37bbs with:

*******************************

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 989412
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $23.85
SB: $63.00
BB: $20.00
UTG: $16.40
Hero (CO): $116.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with K A
UTG raises to $2, Hero raises to $6, 3 folds, UTG calls $4

Flop: ($13.50) 4 3 K (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $11, UTG calls $10.40 all in

Turn: ($34.30) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($34.30) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $34.30
UTG shows 7 K (a pair of Kings)
Hero shows K A (a pair of Kings - Ace kicker)
Hero wins $32.65
(Rake: $1.65)

******************************

After this, I simply took the following note:

100NL6M:

-sat w 40bb stack at 50bb table

-cld 35bb in SB vs BB 3b sqze

So I know this player is going to call down lightly at this point. Time to look for top pair or better. I'd get my opportunity very soon after:

*******************************

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 989413
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: $24.35
BB: $43.05
UTG: $63.00
MP: $20.00
CO: $75.20
Hero (BTN): $58.80

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with 8 7
2 folds, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $4, 2 folds, CO calls $3

Flop: ($9.50) 6 5 3 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $6, CO calls $6

Turn: ($21.50) 9 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $19, CO raises to $65.20 all in, Hero calls $29.80 all in

River: ($119.10) 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $119.10
CO shows 5 5 (three of a kind, Fives)
Hero shows 8 7 (a straight, Five to Nine)
Hero wins $116.10
(Rake: $3.00)

*******************************

Time to finish him off:

*******************************

By keeping in control, I was able to maximize my returns (albeit it was a bit of a cooler for him). Now I just have to remember this mantra ALL the time, instead of 60% of the time!

Speaking of loving PokerStars Updates....

2010-09-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Another significant change to the VIP club makes purchasing $ bonuses much easier and much more attractive:

From 2+2 http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/pokerstars-vip-program-changes-oct-1st-2010-a-887224/

PokerStars VIP Program Changes: Oct 1st, 2010

PokerStars would like to announce two changes to VIP Club Rewards effective October 1st. These changes are made after listening to input from players here on 2+2 and elsewhere.

Effective October 1st, VIP Reward Bonuses purchased from the VIP Store will instantly reward players with cash. In the past, players had to earn VPPs equal to 7 times the dollar amount of the bonus prior to the reward being credited to their account. This requirement will be removed.

Also, starting October 1st, NL and PL ring games at limits up to and including $0.05/$0.10 will earn VPPs at rates faster than other stakes. The new rates will last at least through December 31st, 2010.

$0.01/$0.02: 12X
$0.02/$0.05: 10X
$0.05/$0.10: 8X

These rates will be reflected at new tables created as of October 1st. Older tables awarding the previous VPP rates may still exist until the next server restart. Note that the 10X multiplier from the MicroMania promotion in July was continued unannounced and is still in effect, so the 'older' tables are awarding 10X VPPs.

NL/PL ring games at other stakes will continue to award VPPs as normal. All Fixed Limit games, including stakes that have been awarding 10X since July, will also award VPPs at normal rates. Some older Fixed Limit tables up to and including $0.10/$0.20 may continue to award VPPs at 10X until the next server restart. The normal VPP rates for ring games are:

8+ seats: 6X
7- seats: 5.5X

Thank you for your continued involvement in helping PokerStars to better serve their customers.

Loving the new PokerStars Update

2010-09-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Some seriously good stuff. The Average Stack sort feature in the lobby is phenomenal, especially with the new auto buy-in and seat me options (eliminates delay that occurs when using TableNinja). I also think it is helping get the 100bb games more popular as the default puts those tables at the top of the list. Fish like easy so they go to the top of the list. Tada more good 100bb games.

At least that is my theory. I like the following hand. I 100% knew my opponent had AJ here based on previous reads and wasn't going to fold a full house. 100% standard and easy play.

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 913930
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $50.00
UTG: $53.35
MP: $37.70
CO: $54.55
BTN: $51.50
SB: $64.10

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with Q Q
3 folds, BTN raises to $1.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4, BTN calls $2.50

Flop: ($8.25) 8 8 J (2 players)
Hero bets $4.75, BTN calls $4.75

Turn: ($17.75) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $11.25, BTN calls $11.25

River: ($40.25) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $30 all in, BTN calls $30

Final Pot: $100.25
Hero shows Q Q (a full house, Eights full of Queens)
BTN shows J A (a full house, Eights full of Jacks)
Hero wins $97.25
(Rake: $3.00)

WWYD - River Play #1 - Turned two pair and facing action from loose-passive

2010-09-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 905042
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $77.20 - your loose passive fish, 66/0/0 > 66 hands
Hero (BB): $50.00
UTG: $96.60
MP: $52.35
CO: $89.55
BTN: $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with J 3
4 folds, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks

Flop: ($1.00) J 8 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.75, SB calls $0.75

Turn: ($2.50) 3 (2 players)
SB bets $2.00, Hero raises to $6.50, SB raises to $11, Hero calls $4.50 (What is his range? sets a HUGE chunk of the time?)

River: ($24.50) A (2 players)
SB bets $4.00, Hero calls $4 (dumb bet, but what do I do?)

Final Pot: $32.50
SB shows 4 3
Hero shows J 3
Hero wins $30.95
(Rake: $1.55)

I can't figure out how to do the cool, click to show results thing like PokerMeister does, but I'll figure it out. PM - If you happen to stop by here, please drop me a line with some hints.

What goes up...comes down when you are a TiltMonkey

2010-09-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ran well at 100NL for a bit, then tilted off the profits in a couple subsequent sessions. It's a little tight on my bankroll so I've decided to drop to 50NL for a bit and conquer my TiltMonkey disease.

Next post, a what would you do post similar to PokerMeister's "Just the facts..a low stakes poker blog." I'm digging his site and suggest everyone visit it.

So much to talk about...

2010-08-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

And no time to actually do it. I've been putting in a ton of hands recently and have found myself in a lot of interesting situations.

Fortunately a bit of run good at my shot at 100NL has given me a lot of confidence. Now to keep everything in perspective and keep working.

The Overbet for Value

2010-08-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Been putting some things together and feeling better about my game. Villian here is pretty fishy so as soon as he called my re-raise on the turn I figured the overbet for value on the river had a very high probability of being successful. I think the chat might have gotten him over the last hump to click the call button. Nasty cooler for him. I'd like to think I could have gotten away from the flopped two pair....could you?

PokerStars Game #48145852603: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50 USD) - 2010/08/14 9:29:25 PT [2010/08/14 12:29:25 ET]
Table 'Merapi' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: mmarcshark ($25.75 in chips)
Seat 2: JIEBPAH ($9.75 in chips)
Seat 3: gmiko ($25.75 in chips)
Seat 4: mr. gulaman ($52.30 in chips)
Seat 5: palcevmglazz ($25.50 in chips)
Seat 6: DubsPoke ($59.25 in chips)
palcevmglazz: posts small blind $0.25
DubsPoke: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DubsPoke [8d 8c]
mmarcshark: folds
JIEBPAH: folds
gmiko: folds
mr. gulaman: calls $0.50
palcevmglazz: folds
DubsPoke: checks
*** FLOP *** [3s 8h Jc]
DubsPoke: bets $0.50
mr. gulaman: calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [3s 8h Jc] [Ac]
DubsPoke: bets $1.50
mr. gulaman: raises $1.50 to $3
DubsPoke: raises $6 to $9
mr. gulaman: calls $6
*** RIVER *** [3s 8h Jc Ac] [9s]
DubsPoke: bets $49.25 and is all-in
mr. gulaman said, "J8"
DubsPoke said, "really?"
mr. gulaman said, "no"
mr. gulaman said, "lol"
mr. gulaman: calls $42.30 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($6.95) returned to DubsPoke
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DubsPoke: shows [8d 8c] (three of a kind, Eights)
mr. gulaman: shows [Jh 8s] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
DubsPoke collected $101.85 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $104.85 | Rake $3
Board [3s 8h Jc Ac 9s]
Seat 1: mmarcshark folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: JIEBPAH folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: gmiko folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: mr. gulaman (button) showed [Jh 8s] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights
Seat 5: palcevmglazz (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: DubsPoke (big blind) showed [8d 8c] and won ($101.85) with three of a kind, Eights

Up and Down

2010-07-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

My last several sessions have one adjective in common: ROLLERCOASTER.

A common theme seems to be a physical negative reaction to what occurs at the table. Therefore my focus for today's session is to elminate negative PHYSICAL reactions. That would include cusssing, frowning, rolling my eyes, slouching, fist-slamming, tight squeezes of the mouse, and grinding my teeth.

As the session progresses, I will also be writing down any other negative physical reactions that occur and post them later.

There's a reason for this which I will attempt to blog about later.

Good luck at the felt,

DubsPoke

7/3/10 Session Recaps - 3 sessions so far today.

2010-07-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Been listening to Leatherass videos from dragthebar.com while playing 8-9 tables this morning. Played very focused and didn't let rough beats/coolers get in the way of good solid play. Stats normalized to around 22/17 with ~5% 3bet.

Made a couple mistakes against loose station fish by calling off their river bets in spots where I should have folded. Marked that down as a leak to review.

Up about 22 buy-ins in last 3 sessions. Running above expectation and playing well. Great combo.

7/2/10 Session #2

2010-07-02T16:43:00.001-07:00

Had to cut short again:

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Poker Stars Game#46272482703

Burnardo ($64.15)
DubsPoke ($67.40)
G_S_V ($79.30)
drliu ($50)
lazybeer ($50)
ProdigyXII ($56)

Burnardo posts (SB) $0.25
DubsPoke posts (BB) $0.50

Dealt to DubsPoke Kd Ad
fold, fold,
lazybeer raises to $1.50
ProdigyXII raises to $5
fold,
DubsPoke raises to $16
fold,
ProdigyXII raises to $56 (AI)
DubsPoke calls $40
FLOP ($113) 9s Kc 5d
TURN ($113) 9s Kc 5d 6d
RIVER ($113) 9s Kc 5d 6d 8c
ProdigyXII shows 7c Ac
(Pre 29%, Flop 6.3%, Turn 6.8%)

DubsPoke shows Kd Ad
(Pre 71%, Flop 93.7%, Turn 93.2%)

ProdigyXII wins $110

7/2/10 Session #1

2010-07-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Time Target: 2 hours
Hands Target: 1750 hands
Focus: Making the best decision that I can make based on the information presented. Do not tilt because of bad beats and poor opposition; I can't control them but I CAN control my reaction.
Leaks I am aware of:

Calling 3bets OOP and IP with marginal hands too often (suited connectors, KQ, KJ, etc.)
Not adjusting to a call station. Using the line of thinking that surely he can't call me down THIS time...yes, he can. doh!

*****Session Review******

This set me off and I couldn't refocus so had to quit. The player 2 to my left was raising EVERY hand so it's a perfect opportunity to limp-3b or 4b depending on the action. I got exactly what I wanted. I have no idea who in their right f'in mind would think calling off your stack with 33 with 3, yes THREE players all in in front of you. GRRRRRRRRRRR.

PokerStars Game #46268782106: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50 USD) - 2010/07/02 15:02:33 PT [2010/07/02 18:02:33 ET]

Table 'Lucia' 6-max Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: IsuMarci ($27.90 in chips)

Seat 2: Truhustla1 ($16.60 in chips)

Seat 3: taikoz ($25 in chips)

Seat 4: ssinsd ($35.95 in chips)

Seat 5: DubsPoke ($25 in chips)

Seat 6: abgftgdfd ($23.25 in chips)

Truhustla1: posts small blind $0.25

taikoz: posts big blind $0.50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to DubsPoke [Ah Ac]

ssinsd: calls $0.50

DubsPoke: calls $0.50

abgftgdfd: folds

IsuMarci: raises $2 to $2.50

Truhustla1: raises $2 to $4.50

taikoz: folds

ssinsd: calls $4

DubsPoke: raises $20.50 to $25 and is all-in

IsuMarci: raises $2.90 to $27.90 and is all-in

Truhustla1: calls $12.10 and is all-in

ssinsd: calls $23.40

*** FLOP *** [9s 2d 3h]

*** TURN *** [9s 2d 3h] [Kc]

*** RIVER *** [9s 2d 3h Kc] [7s]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

ssinsd: shows [3s 3c] (three of a kind, Threes)

IsuMarci: shows [Ad Ks] (a pair of Kings)

ssinsd collected $5.80 from side pot-2

DubsPoke: shows [Ah Ac] (a pair of Aces)

ssinsd collected $25.20 from side pot-1

Truhustla1: shows [7d 6s] (a pair of Sevens)

ssinsd collected $63.90 from main pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $97.90 Main pot $63.90. Side pot-1 $25.20. Side pot-2 $5.80. | Rake $3

Board [9s 2d 3h Kc 7s]

Seat 1: IsuMarci (button) showed [Ad Ks] and lost with a pair of Kings

Seat 2: Truhustla1 (small blind) showed [7d 6s] and lost with a pair of Sevens

Seat 3: taikoz (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 4: ssinsd showed [3s 3c] and won ($94.90) with three of a kind, Threes

Seat 5: DubsPoke showed [Ah Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces

Seat 6: abgftgdfd folded before Flop (didn't bet)

7/1/10 Session #2 Goal

2010-07-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Time Target: 2 hours
Hand Target: 1400 hands
Focus: Continue to improve my play in 3bet pots. Focus on not having "runs" of bad play after bad beats/poor play. I will do this by continuing to make the best decision I can based on the information available, not based on personal animosity directed towards the villain. After all, I cannot control the cards that are dealt or the play of the villain, only the reaction I have to them.

****Post Session Review****
Focus Grade: F - Started playing somewhat spewy from the start. Playing a LAG style requires focus and a red line that is relatively flat (in my opinion). My red line started at a 45 degree angle down. Bloat and folded way too often. Didn't focus on player types but on my cards. Justified way too many a light call based on my drawing power but without realizing that I didn't have the implied odds necessary to make the calls. CBet way too often on bad boards in multi-way pots as well.
Time Target: 112.4 minutes (just shy of 2 hours)
Hands: 1658 hands. Leads me to believe I was playing too many tables, especially for how poorly I was playing. I need to start with 6 tables and then table-select the remaining ones with a max of 12 tables. Lesson to be learned from this.

Time to hit the sack. Nice long holiday weekend and I need to make sure I approach each session with a good attitude and a focused mind.

7/1/10 Session #1 Goal

2010-07-01T17:29:00.001-07:00

Time to play: 1 hour
Hand target: 800 hands
Focus: On quality by making the best decision possible with the information that is available. Win or lose doesn't matter as I can't control the cards or my opponents, only my reaction to what develops.

Post-session analysis forthcoming.

*****Post Session Results****
Time Played: 62.7 minutes
Hands: 923
Focus: Bad at the beginning. Cut back on the number of tables and refocused. Slowly added tables back in. Played a hand poorly at the end. Also, mis-clicked 3bet w J2o in the SB and got 2 callers, didn't cb QJT flop, bet turn King and somehow miraculously took down a decent sized pot.
Overall Focus grade: probably around a B. Ended up about 3 buy-ins which is a bonus.

6/30/10 Session #2 Goal

2010-06-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

My goal is to play 1200 hands with a continued focus on making solid decisions to the best of my ability. Win or lose doesn't matter as I can't control how the cards come or how my opponents play, merely my reaction to them.

Update: Mixed results. Got a little tilty when a villain called a 4x check raise w 2nd pair and turned trips. This was shortly after having to fold AA to a 4flush river scare card that also completed a 4 card straight. This tiltiness lead to some passive fancy play syndrome that cost me about 4 buy-ins off my high. Still ended the session +2.

Things to work on:
---faster note typing
---Remember to focus on all tables. I ended up focusing a lot more on the 2 tables where I couldn't get anything going rather than the other 10 that I was having some success on. That is just plain stupid.

Will be back at it tomorrow.

Make it a good one,

DubsPoke

VPP: 24,587.17
SN Goal: 100,000
VPP to go: 75412.83

Session Success

2010-06-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

This session was a success. 1 hour played, 826 hands. 31/26 w a 10% 3b. Breakeven redline. I concentrated on making good decisions throughout the session. Played 50NL on PS on the 20-50bb tables. Up 8 buy-ins. Had one hand that normally would have put me on tilt, but I reminded myself that I was concentrating on making good decisions and, based on my read of this spazzy overly aggro player, I believe my play was correct:

***** Hand History for Game 1111111111 ***** (Poker Stars)
$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, June 30, 05:23:19 ET 2010
Table Prudentia (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( $10.00 USD )
Seat 2: Player2 ( $90.60 USD )
Seat 3: Hero ( $25.00 USD )
Seat 4: Player4 ( $29.40 USD )
Seat 5: Player5 ( $11.65 USD )
Seat 6: Player6 ( $36.55 USD )
Player5 posts small blind [$0.25 USD].
Player6 posts big blind [$0.50 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 7h 8h ]
Player1 folds
Player2 folds
Hero raises [$1.25 USD]
Player4 raises [$3.50 USD]
Player5 folds
Player6 folds
Hero calls [$2.25 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Js, 2h, 9h ]
Hero checks
Player4 bets [$1.50 USD]
Hero raises [$6.25 USD]
Player4 calls [$4.75 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
Hero bets [$15.25 USD]
Player4 calls [$15.25 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 7d ]
Hero shows [7h, 8h ]
Player4 shows [Qs, 9s ]
Player4 wins $48.30 USD from main pot

I have absolutely no idea what he was doing with Q9 there but oh well. A double gutter and FD (15 outs I think) versus him plus what I consider a good chunk of fold equity based on the hand played out and I think my shove is plenty ok. Thoughts?

Anyways, most of the time, this would have put me on tilt. This time though, I moved past it and continued to focus on good decisions. Ran well, played well = happy dubspoke.

Make it a good one,
DubsPoke

My Goal For This Session

2010-06-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

My goal for this session is to play 600 hands of quality poker focused on good decisions. Quality isn't determined by how much I win or lose because I can't control the cards or my opponents. Quality is determined by making the best decisions to the best of my ability. That is my goal.

Brag Post

2010-06-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

14.68bb/100 > 13.6k hands at .25/.50NL. $40+/hr. Weekend 50bb players are terrible. I'll take it. Enough said.

My first 4 figure weekend....

2010-06-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

A full weekend long heater plus an aggressive bankroll approach has equaled my first 4 figure profit in a weekend, spread across two sites. Considering my roll was on life support on one of those sites, I'm now back in comfortable shape.

I don't know if I should share my secret of where all the fish are hiding, because I certainly have found a HUGE pond right in front of everyone's noses.

As for my aggressive bankroll approach, I came across this site:

http://www.pokerprofessor.co.uk/winning-poker/wps1-strategy-guide.htm

It advocates a high-risk method of single tabling with approx 15-20% of your roll on the table. BUT if you stick by it's hand guide/strategy, it actually works surprisingly well. I did it on Doyle's Room (yay RAKEBACK!), and went from $200 to $1200 in a week. By the way, Doyle's Room...not much traffic but very very soft games. Even the regs are pretty poor. Take the HUD away and people become clueless.

I'm not ready to reveal the other method that I crushed it fat a rate of 25.73bb/100 > 2700 hands for approx $750 in profit (w/o rakeback)....

I am certainly very cognizant that I ran EXTREMELY well this weekend. Hopefully I can continue to keep tilt under control as well as not exceed my capabilities in terms of tables and hours (aka VOLUME).

I'm also looking at turning this blog into something more entertaining. Right now, content is DRY. Sorry!

And ryverrat, if you are still stopping by...drop me a line!

Session become brutal...

2010-05-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Down 4-6 buyins. EV stat says i should be breakeven. joy.

Playing Micro FR

2010-05-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

Decided for the time being that I'm going to focus on FullRing games. While I truly enjoyed HU SNGs (and did pretty well over a very small sample size), with a 6 week old baby, it's nearly impossible to not get interrupted while trying to finish a match.

With FullRing cash games, I'm able to load up a bunch of tables and leave or time out whenever I need to in order to take care of my little girl.

As a result, I've been able to get in quite a few hands whenever I have a few free moments. So far so good. On Doyle's I've broken even after initially dropping 8 buy-ins in a spewy tilt-infested session on my initial go around. I'm pretty happy with my recovery. 33% rakeback is very helpful and is resulting in a decent run.

On Stars, I'm up 10 buy-ins over 7600 hands for a nearly 15bb/100 rate. Having a bit of a rough session at the moment with coolers, but playing pretty well through it and breaking even. Something interesting, over my 7600 hands so far, nearly all of my winnings are from non-showdown. Definitely not what I expected.

I'm currently running 6-8 tables on Doyle's while simultaneously running 8-12 tables on PokerStars. I'll try to keep you updated.

By the way, I've found some new blogs that are poker-focused and entertaining as well. I'll post up some links eventually. For now, baby is wanting my attention. Adios for now.

Messing around...

2010-05-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Experimenting with a variety of games at the moment when I have free time. Enjoying HU SNGs at the moment. Just call me waffles...Mr. Breakeven. But they're quick, low variance and somewhat tiltless endeavors. I'll let you know if I head in any certain direction.

WTF? No posting since the 3rd?

2010-04-11T07:22:00.001-07:00

No post of daily results because I haven't played since the 3rd. My wife is preggo and due date was on the 8th (still waiting by the way). So I haven't been in a proper state of mind to sit down at the tables so I just haven't. I'll be back soon enough hopefully.

Graph - April Results through 4/3/10

2010-04-03T23:09:00.001-07:00

A decent day. Some minor tilt in the middle after my AA got cracked by 7c5c, all in on flop of 9c7xc and he sucked out a 7 on turn for 130bbs.

Managed to recover nicely and put together some solid sessions finishing up a little over 3 buy-ins for the day.

Graph - April Results through 4/2/10

2010-04-02T23:07:00.001-07:00

A decent 1680 hands played for a couple buy-ins profit. A tedious breakeven stretch in the middle where I was distracted by http://robustothemovie.com/. Interesting vids to say the least.

Graph for the month so far:

Back...

2010-04-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

After having my best month ever in December, I followed it up with my worst 1.5 months ever. Job changes, personal life changes, etc. could all be used an excuse. But the main fact is I played like shit. So be it.

I took a couple week break and am back and ready to go. This month I'm going to use this blog as a journal of my play. If I play, I will post my results at the end of the day. If I have time, I'll also include recaps of hands I found interesting and my thought line for your review.

One day in, had a short but solid session of 6tabling 25NL. Graph below:

Big changes personally & professionally

2010-02-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

So a lack of blogging this month can be attributed to a lack of playing. First - I decided that since I'm playing 50NL, I can make the move to PokerStars as I put in sufficient volume to probably make SuperNova. Security, software, reputation, ease of cashing out (and no fees) lead to this decision.

So while I've been waiting to get the money moved around, I've been donking around in the microlimits without much traction. A real lack of focus mostly but some slightly bigger concerns as I wasn't even able to control tilt at 2NL. Very laughable.

But then a bigger change came professionally as I received a promotion and am now management. We also had a couple other issues come up at work that needed immediate attention so I've been putting in increased hours as well.

And my wife is only 2 months away from delivering our first, a baby girl.

This all means that my time on the table will continue to be reduced. Which I'm actually ok with. With that said, my desire to become a solid, winning player and fly through the limits has never been greater.

An awfully strange juxtaposition indeed. So how do I accomplish becoming great with limited time?

Simply make better use of my time.

Back to the drawing board...

2010-01-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

Playing absolutely horrible right now. Bluffing in the wrong spots and missing value in the right spots. Time to refocus and rededicate.

Dropping down for a while...

2010-01-23T18:03:00.001-08:00

Just because I'm not feeling it and putting myself in terrible spots. I've hit my hand goal, now I just need to concentrate on not sucking anymore.

Dedicated to learning HU

2010-01-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

Mostly because it's been so brutal to me so far. Yet, I can see how it can be very very profitable. Any suggestions on how to get started are greatly appreciated.

later - DP

Ouch.

2010-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Well I tilted off 10 buy ins last night at 50NL HU. Whoops. I am actually not too bothered by the loss of money as I have put in sufficient volume to cover with rakeback earnings. But I am determined to not let it happen again. More later.

The Red Line Difference....

2010-01-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

My January 2010 graph. Title says it all.

PokerStars Promo

2010-01-15T19:41:00.001-08:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers, you too can take part by registering on WBCOOP

Registration code: 636494

turned it around...

2010-01-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

Once I recognized why I was failing (related to red line in last post), I came off tilt. I'm now enjoying a nice little upswing. More on my adjustments later.

More on my redline....

2010-01-12T21:51:00.000-08:00

This is my graph of my January 2010 so far. The huge drop halfway is a massive cooler at 100NL followed by monkey tilt and then a period of what I fear most, residual subconscious tilt. I'm now trying to focus on what this subconscious tilt looks like.

As you can see from the graph, when I tilt, I come down with a combination of fancy play syndrome and station like tendencies. To explain further, when I am in this mode, I tend to try to get fancy against the regulars. This often leads to such spewage as stacking off with 99 in a 3bet pot on a 7 high board in a BTN vs blind situation.

The second part of my tilt is a tendency to become a bad calling station where I call preflop raises with too wide of a range versus the wrong player types. I also find myself involved in too many hands where I fire 2 streets against the 40/10, 50/20 type players with air or weak made hands. These players are not folding with any piece of the board plus any draws. As a result, I find myself folding often on the turn and river when faced with aggression.

Long story short, I've been spewing, not paying enough attention to board texture and villian type, and generally trying to force a quick upswing rather than be patient and wait for the good times to come.

Of course running like $hit at times certainly doesn't help. As I was typing this, I flop a set on a two heart board, fire a pot size bet on the flop into two players, get snapped by a 40/20 type, turn brings a spade draw out there and I fire another pot size bet, river completes the back door flush and I find myself stacked by a flopped OPES turned flush draw rivered nuts. yay.

Less than 2 hands later on my 2nd table, I play a hand terrible and get stacked w AQ in 3bet pot vs 36/23 monkey who has AK on A9XJK board. This is a perfect example of failure to prevent action on one table affecting play on another table. HAVE TO FIX THIS!

So my night went down 3 buy-ins, up 1, down 3, up 1/2, to now down 2.....sigh...

and this post turned to a good one to a shitty one real fast. sorry.

Redline has dived....

2010-01-12T20:04:00.001-08:00

and so has my results. Need to get this $hit under control and fast. more to come later.

I warned myself about the tilt monkey...

2010-01-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

And still managed to do it. Nothing completely horrible fortunately. Had AA get stacked by 33 within my first 4 hands at a 100NL table. Instantly spewed 2 buy-ins through horrendous play at the 50NL level on two of my other tables (pretty flippin' hard to do considering I was playing just the 1 100NL table and 3 50nl tables). Then continued to get coolered at the 100NL table for a nother 3/4ths a buy-in.

Dropped the 100NL table and made back a bit at the 50NL table, but still short of where I want to be to continue at the 100NL level. I'll be back you bitches. I'll be back.

Currently reading a thread by "boywonder" on 2+2 and found this gem (which I already knew, but frequently forget/disregard):

Your mental, emotional state while playing is 80 % of the work, and you can work and take specific steps to get better at that. Being in the right emotional state will allow you to open up your eyes to what you and the other players are doing without being stuck in the previous hand you lost, how much you are up, what you´re gonna eat later, etc. Combine that with some basic technical steps that can be taken and you got the other 20% to at least achieve enough to live comfortably off poker. I believe, that with todays games and climate, anybody with even mediocre intelligence and some discipline could at the very least make a comfortable living playing this game.

- BOYWONDER - from: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/destroyed-3-6-time-move-up-graph-286574/index2.html

Taking shots at 100NL

2010-01-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

Well....due to my December run good (best month ever for me in cash games), I am now rolled for shot-taking at 100NL. As long as I can prevent tilt meltdown, I believe I'll be able to succeed.

My focus will continue to be on player identification, situation analysis, and hand reading. Seemed to work well at 50NL.

2009 recap and 2010 outlook post coming soon.

Can you spot my first shot at 50NL?

2009-12-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

This graph is a combination of 25NL and 50NL. Can you spot my first attempt at 50NL combined with a poorly timed full buy-in loss at 100NL as a result of chasing a fish upwards and getting coolered and then the subsequent tilt (sorry for the terrible sentence structure)? Then can you identify where I successfully made the transition and started crushing 50NL?

I'm a little concerned about the redline dropping down a bit in the latter half of the month. As long as it stays positive, I'm okay with it. I believe the redline is very indicative of strong reads and solid play. A 45 degree line downward indicates to me that you are playing just your cards too much and not your opponents enough. Anyways, more later.

Dubs

Transitioned to 50NL...

2009-12-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

Well, didn't get to go home for Christmas. Flippin' blizzard across midwest cancelled my wife's and I flight into Omaha on Thursday and Friday. We made the best of it but I certainly missed being home for the holiday. We've rescheduled for the 2nd weekend in January. But that has allowed me a decent amount of time at the tables.

I'm finally out of micros and into "small stakes" full-time. I've been on a heater recently and this may be my best month ever. By far.

I've also made "Legend" status on UB which is a 4x multipler for UB points. Combine that with their current promotion for 3x power hour until the New year and I'm rolling in 12 UB pts per status point earned. I'm going to try to get in some good volume before the New Year as a result. With a baby 3 months away, this might be the last time I get this good of a grind in for some time.

By the way, World of Warcraft + poker = profit. I've been two-tabling while I grind away in WoW when I'm not in the mood to fire up 4 tables. My winrate during these sessions has been ridiculous. I think it's because:

-fewer tables = better reads
-less Fancy play syndrome which ties into
-willing to fold more often

anyways, back to my warrior and back to the tables. have fun ya'll.

Massive monkey tilt is bad

2009-12-19T07:20:00.001-08:00

Started yesterday. Was up 3 buyins at 50NL. Ate some supper with teh wife and came back.

AA < KK shortly after starting. BOOOOOOOM. 6 buy-in downswing. Oh well, only 3 buy-ins lost for the day right?

Carried over into the next day.

I've now been forced back to 25NL. Yay.

Someone asked for this...

2009-12-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

My 84k hand graph of 10NL:

Starting to get comfortable at 50NL, mixing in 25NL HU

2009-12-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

Starting to hit a groove at 50NL and adjusting well to the table dynamics/play at UB. Incredibly soft games are available. Patience and position are key. Bankroll is approaching highest ever. Best part - there are no plans or need for a withdrawal this time around. I may finally be able to make some decent coin.

I've also been mixing in some 25NL HU. The hand reading experience is vital to becoming a successful poker player and HU play really helps that facet of my game exponentially.

Plus it's incredibly lucrative despite rake chewing up a huge part of your profit. I tilted one guy terribly last night and he ended up dropping 2.5 buy-ins to me before "disconnecting." Fun stuff.

Adjusted well to 25NL, now taking shots at 50NL

2009-12-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

Title says it all. I have a lot of thoughts running through my head for solid blog posts. I think I'm going to try to tackle the value of EV in HEM, or more aptly, the lack of value of the EV stat.

I'm scared....

2009-11-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

To make a positive post as I'm now up 14 buy-ins over 1500 hands since my whine post. More later on what I'm doing that I feel has resulted in this positive swing (besides running hotter than Mercury).

Bitch post for the win....

2009-11-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

Gorged myself on a Thanksgiving feast, drank a $hit load of Sam Adams Winter, passed out for 3 hours, got home, bit hungover, win 4 buy-ins in 585 hands. Easy game.

err...make that 5.5 buy-ins.

Why am I freaking out at 25NL???

2009-11-26T11:22:00.001-08:00

Seriously...why? I'm only down just 4 buy-ins over 11k hands this month and I have 25 buy-ins for the level still.

Yet it feels like if you want to flop a set, just play against me. You can crack my KK and AA all day long.

I can do this. I will do this. You wait and see.

Maybe this hand finally changes my luck at 25NL?

2009-11-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

I love my play here and I'll fill you in on why tomorrow.

BTW - in this hand below, 2 donkeys and the villain who is a thinkin and relatively tough tagsish type (24/14 >295h).

Another quick stat, I've switched skins to UB for aesthetic purposes (cleaner than UB) with a better "classic" table layout for 4-8 tabling). Anyways made the switch a few days back.

Here is how I'm running:

25NL: 3817 hands = -8.22 BB/100 (in HEM BB/100 = PTBB)
10NL: 2672 hands = +21.15 BB/100

I can only think it is a mental thing about "running bad." I guess I could whine about top set of Aces getting beat by a guy not giving up a J3s and getting runner runner for a flush for 180bbs or losing to 53 vs AA on a K93 flop where he turned two pair but I won't. I've sucked out my own a fair number of times.

So I'm taking a different approach. Playing one table of 25nl and 3 of 10NL as I implement some changes to my cbetting strategy. More on that on a later date.

Anyways, back to the hand that really swung my night at my 25NL table:

Absolute Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 384637

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (MP): $32.81

CO: $15.98

BTN: $18.74

SB: $49.99

BB: $20.86

UTG: $77.99

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP with K Q

UTG raises to $0.85, Hero calls $0.85, 2 folds, SB calls $0.75, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($3.40) J 9 8 (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets $1.70, Hero calls $1.70, SB calls $1.70, BB calls $1.70

Turn: ($10.20) 9 (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $5.70, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls $5.70

River: ($21.60) 3 (2 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets $17.10, UTG folds

Final Pot: $21.60

Hero wins $20.52

(Rake: $1.08)

Using image and metagame to your advantage

2009-11-21T22:45:00.001-08:00

A couple hands earlier I turned a flush against this villain on a KKxAx board and value owned him on the river.

This hand came up about 3 hands later:

Absolute Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 383307

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $25.44

SB: $11.19

BB: $7.35

UTG: $10.02

MP: $20.74

CO: $5.45

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 3 A

1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.45, 2 folds, MP calls $0.35

Flop: ($1.05) T 5 9 (2 players)

MP checks, Hero bets $0.60, MP calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.25) 2 (2 players)

MP checks, Hero checks

River: ($2.25) 4 (2 players)

MP bets $2.25, Hero raises to $24.39 all in, MP calls $17.44 all in

Final Pot: $41.63

Hero shows 3 A (Straight, ace to five)

MP mucks 9 K

Hero wins $39.55

(Rake: $2.08)

Owned.

Major Improvements to Absolute Poker Lobby....

2009-11-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

AP has finally joined the big boys in terms of lobby filters and organization. All I gotta say is about fricken' time! Can finally filter to one specific game size or range (i.e. 10NL) plus some additional nice filters such as % of players to preflop (0-25%, 25-50%, etc). Also the ability to filter out 72 tables, jackpot tales, etc.

If you haven't signed up for Absolute Poker or Ultimate Bet, make sure to sign up for RakeBack through me for a nice 30% rate.

If you do have an account there, go ahead and check it out. I'm glad to see them finally making some much needed improvements.

Another strong night....

2009-10-29T21:12:00.001-07:00

+4.5 buy-ins again tonight. Also mixed in a 25NL game and got coolered AK vs AJ on AKJJx brd (I should have folded and even said so but didn't follow through on my read). Eventually made that buy-in back at 25NL by beating up some shortstackers.

Anyways, almost fully rolled for 25NL finally. Looking forward to continuing to cruise through the micros.

Here's my graph at 10NL on AP since I started this HEM database early this year. Approx 71k+ hands at a clip of 5.76BB/100 (not bb/100, for bb/100 essentially double my BB/100 i.e 10.4bb/100). Not bad. Take out a breakeven/bad play stretch in there and I'll take it.

Enjoy.

Ended the streak....

2009-10-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

Ended the streak of 4 straight sessions of instantly dropping 2-3 buy-ins and then working my way back to a positive session.

Instead, I just played well the entire session for a nice 2.5 buy-in win.

I like it when I play well.

Here's a sample of the notes I've been taking on videos I've been watching. This note taking I believe is critical to really actually "learning" what I'm observing

I don't expect you to really make heads or tails of these notes, but enjoy anyways!

top 3 leaks at micros:
1) not vbetting enough
2) not folding enough on trn or rvr when raised
3) not folding enough to 3bets

In order to call PFR, need 2 of 3:
1) skill advantage (3principles: get value, don't bluff, don't pay off)
2) card advantage
3) position advantage

Moving Up:
-Theoretically wrong to play the same game when you move up limits
-see someone 3bet a suited connector, call IP and it wil be profitable -> allows you to creep back towards looseness
-can't be an outlier if you are not playing loose; you can be a winner playing tightly, but you can't be a massive winner

Small/Micro:
-image doesn't matter as bad players don't adjust/acknowledge
--we do need to adjust how loose we are based on how others are playing

-Lean towards being tight until you know it's a good idea to lean towards loose

(The Coaching Tree - Episode One)
-bet bet bet bet for value and fold if they raise
-at 25NL, you are not making most of your money bluff-catching, you make most of your money through value betting: morale of the story: FOLD MORE OFTEN
-you make your money by valuebetting not by calling
-people aren't bluffing as much as we think they are
-a bad players mistake is they call too much, they will get to showdown a lot. (need big cards pre against this type of player)
-if tricky, hard players (fold hands like A8, k6, etc as they aren't going to make big hands against someone who is decent at applying pressure)
-anytime you think you can get called by worse, you should bet for value; keep betting and fold if they raise
-if you have a problem paying off all the time, WORK ONIT!.45

(The Coaching Tree - Episode Two)
-play tighter against good players and looser against bad players
---1) skill advantage (3principles: get value, don't bluff, don't pay off)
2) card advantage
3) position advantage
-Pot management
-big cards are great against bad players

(The Coaching Tree - Episode Three)
-can control ability to cooler by choice of cards (king hgh flush as opposed to T hgh flush)
-double barrell with increase in pot equity and fold equity? Look for those spots. why he prefers T8o vs A6o; the semi-connected allows for str of hand to improve with multiple cards vs A6 only looking for A and still may not be good
-each individual situation is unique
-what types of strength does my hand have, what sorts of things make my hand more powerful (T9s - more money behind relative to pot, someone with a looser range preflop -> able to bluff more often)
-while he may call less often when we shove, the extra money we make

(The Coaching Tree - Episode 4)
-FR can fold to aggression when lacking the nuts
-player identification - easier to call down aggressive opponents than against passive opponents
-take notes on patterns (min raise, min3bet, etc) and then take specific notes when pattern is broken
-stats vs observed hands - observing one hand will tell you the world more than any stat

(THE COACHING TREE - Episode 5)
-against bad plyers should be betting for value more often
-nver wnt to pay off a passive player or a person with a tight range
-you cannot play good poker until you understand equity (66 on 2A2 brd w FD, 66 may be best hand but has terrible equity against overcards and FD
-can beat aggressive players by calling, beat passive players by betting
-low cards are worst against loose players

(ROAD TO ROBUSTO - Episode 5)
-as the stacks get deeper, opponents stack off
-deeper stacks benefit more in position

(THE COACHING TREE - EPISODE 6)
-ck-call and then donk trn with strong hands on dry boards is a good line
-making right choices pre makes post flop game easy
-against shorties: playing aggressively when they raise, play really tight when they shove

(The COACHING TREE - Episode 7)
-a lot of players are incapable of overbetting without the nuts or very near nuts
-if getting 3bet a lot by good players in the blinds, raise smaller pre???
-shortstackers make there money not by squeezing lightly, they make their money by stealing blinds and having you call lightly when they have a tight range

(Road to Robusto - Episode 5)
-

(Baby Steps - Episode 1)
-UTG range @ 25NL: all PP, suited aces to AT, offsuit AJ, KQo, some suited connectors
-cbets: player types and flop types
-3betting
-raise loose from button but not against shortstacks

(Baby Steps - Episode 2)
-

(Baby Steps - Episode 4)
-

(CardRunners - The Biggest Difference - Episode 1 of 4)
-think not only about improving your game, but also self-mgmt to put in more hands and make more money
-set aspirations with a certain kind of goal in mind
---be honest with yourself where you stand on the grand ladder of poker plyers
-watch high stakes and identify weakness in the worse players
---examine unexpected plays
-watch your own stakes and observe top winners, why are the constantly winning at high winrates?
--table selection? mimic their reads?
-Figure everything out, make sure to understand WHY something is good or bad
--be careful with forums, instead consult with good players
-Put in Better Hands
--don't just sit down at 6 random tables, prob filled with regs
--find the soft games! pick games better than your opponents
--spread bankroll around
--don't let ego get in the way of your profitability, you're an idiot and you should just check-fold your whole life
--play your best
--diversify the way you grind, miss out on value if don't check out other limits such as lower stake that offer a huge fish, look at FR games or HU games if identify fish
-Practice Hand Reading
--use excel
--play 1-2 tables and think about what opponents range is through every street
-verbalize, speak it aloud
-Get your logic straight
--EV is most important, not comfort (ie avoiding tough spots)
--EV is most important, not pride
--OVERALL EV, NOTHING ELSE

(BalugaWhale - Ghost)
-Don't choose how loose or tight based on your position, need to choose based on where are the bad players, where are tehy at and how deep are we?
-bigger mistake to stack off lightly vs passive plyer than loose aggressive player
-general philosophies run throughout poker
--getting value is important, not paying off is important

(Parralells - Episode 1)

(CardRunners - The Biggest Difference - Episode 2 of 4)
You are your biggest responsiblity - you are in complete control of yourself.
-Be Honest.
-Observe, observe, observe. View from a completely OJBECTIVE standpoint.
-->DON'T SPECULATE when you are making reads on people, deciding what people might do, how the game might change around you based on dyanmics and history
----->for example, I've raised 4 times, he is 3betting lightly because he is annoyed - where are the facts that support this???
----->don't follow blindly (forums for example)
----->make sure to understand WHY someone is saying what they say and evaluate from there

TILT CONTROL!
->Factors
--->Bankroll affects tilt to extreme degree; solution: play with a larger bankroll relative to the stakes you play
----->mathematics of 20BIs is sound but account for fact that very slight amount of losing momentum on short bankroll can cause unbelievably long and enduring cylce of bad play due to general stress, lack of confidence and tilt; one bad session leads to bad week to bad month to bad year
----->finance swing, stress swings, level of happiness swings, understnding of game swings, current swing factors into tilt
---->Manifestations of tilt
------->spewing
------->FPS - Fancy Play Syndrome
------->Any deviation from your top play
-----RECOGNIZE TILT WHEN YOU ARE DEVIATING FROM TOP PLAY> SAY IT ALOUD!
-Techniquies for tilt control
-->If stop less is less than 5 buy-ins, probably stressing bankroll too much
---->drop down to a lower limit to allow to be more comfortable with swings, hit stop loss less often
------>Trailing stop-loss, i.e. up 10 buy-ins, then lose 3 back; quit at that time.
-->Change stakes, play easier games to regain confidence; helps get your head in right place to avoid those hefty downward spirals.
-->Talk to yourself; say things aloud, ask yourself questions. Results in your awareness increasing, becomes much more personal, introspective, allows you to focus on your mistakes; sounds silly but is INCREDIBLY helpful
-->Building on increasing credibility and recognizing own mistakes, reflect with a friend
-SUGGESTIONS
-->play over-rolled (50 buy-ins)
-->Find minor distractions (for example, Bejewelled) to help clear your head, refocus, allow some tilt to wash away
-->NEVER FORGET TILT'S IMPACT (tilt being less than your best, if you tilt off one buy-in every 10k hands = 1/2 BB/100 from overall winrate; if winrate is 2BB/100 that is 25% cut of your winrate; several months delay of moving up.)
MOMENTUM CONTROL - one of biggest factors in success
-->Quit when losing seperates the people who have had success vs those who burnout and quit
-->NEVER quit when winning
----->Play too much when losing and not enough when winning
-->Stop splashing
-->CHANGE TABLES, look for better games
----treat each table like it's own mini-session, if getting crushed on one, LEAVE IT!
GAME SELECTION
->EXTREMELY EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
--->takes 2 minutes, don't be lazy!
--->find non-regulars, under 100BB
--->don't avoid shortstacks, these are BAD plyers, take advantage of it
--->Scan other stakes for good games (above AND below)
GRINDING ETHIC
->First: better play
-->Time of day, focus, games, etc
->Second: more volume
--1-table in the background
--random, short sessions; these add up significantly over time
--set financial goals???
---not goals like I want to make $5k, but rather something tangible; like i want to pay for a trip, can't take trip until $XXXX.
MOVING UP OR DOWN
->Taking shots
--NOT a full-time jump
--preserve confidence
--prepare for changes
--SET YOUR EGO ASIDE, end result is $$ not pride
IMPROVING
-Short study, EVERY DAY
-Ask yourself
--what's his range?
--how about an alternative? do you understand or just regurgitating?
--can i do the math?

(CR - Krush - SSNL pt 1 of 2)
-

(Road to Robusto - Ep 7)
-Unconscious incompetence - Mistake?
-Conscious incompetence - Learn to stop making them
-Conscious Competence - Learn to exploit others
-Unconscious competence - Learn to let others to exploit themselves

(CR - The Big Difference Pt 3 of 4)
Handreading
-2 part decisions
--1) Make a read
----->need a read in order to justify an action (not just "I have a good hand")
--2) Use it
-Data loss throughout the course of a hand
-->someone will see a flop, draw flop comes and people add a hand to someones range (3h4h)
-BIG difference (hand reading mistakes is the BIGGEST difference)
-be the best self-corrector
-Mistakes
->Projection = people think that their opponents would do what they themselves would do
--> you do not equal your opponents
---->cannot factor in their information, variable valuation, and emotional state
->Absolute Strength
--avoid changing their "range" due to data loss (opponent always 3bets 99 but you put him on a set of 9s after flop on 9 hgh brd)
->Exotic tells
-Successes
->Legitimate tells
--->Timing, for example -quick call is showdownable/weak made hand
----->Planning (insta shve rvr probably had plan to shve before rvr even came)
----->Ease (example: easier decision, faster action)
--->Bet sizing
----->Round numbers
->Experience
-->"Most" (most of the time, this happens)
->Notes
-->Consistency
-->Information exchange
-->Simple and certain
->Showdowns (immensely important to developing reads)
-->Pay Attention!
-->Avoid fanciness
->Conclusion
-->No set of rules
--->No simple answers
--->Never, always, etc.
-->Four part process
---->1) Make a read
---->2) Consider all plays
---->3) Calculate EV
---->4) Press the button

(DC - Parallels, Ep 8)
-against bad aggro players, don't play back with them with bluffs because they don't fold weak made hands while good players may fold those hands
-don't want to call semibluffs, we want to play into them

(King for a Day - Episode 1)
-player with less than full stack is typically a weaker player
-don't want to be forced to call w draws

(NuteDawg 100NL 1)
-identify those players that think you are getting out of line and then play tighter against them and let them hang themselves.
-betting a flop with intention of betting the turn
-->think about what kinds of cards you want to barrell and what is their calling range on the flop; you want to be thinking about this on the flop before you make your cbet
-biggest flaw - don't think deeply enough about what their opponents ranges are and how they will react to all the different plays at your disposal

(vitalMyth Leakfinder)
-auto pilot bets & raises
-->cbetting w any sort of equity, discount opponents range (Qjx brd w AT), they are never folding a huge part of their range)
-->Value from worse?
-->Fold out better?
-Raising to gamble
-->Will money go in??
-Raising big hands
-->Beaten if called??
Suited Aces OOP
-Implied odds
-Strong draw flops often
--Shows gamble
--Get folds
-Need credibility
--C/R a lot
--Trappiness
-->Not thinking about protecting against anything, value from worse, etc.

(VitalMyth - The Big Difference pt 4 of 4)
-Recall 4 steps
---1) Make a read of opp hand's range 1st thing always!
---2) Consider all plays (minbet, 2x pot, 1/2 pot, check, lead, etc.)
---3) Calculate EV
---4) Press the button
-Best Players
---Have a very very good understanding of equity
---Understand all options and understand consequences of all options
-Make Life Easy is COMPLETE BS!
---Avoid tough spots
---Polarized ranges
---Fold marginal hands
----->Doing this prevents you from becoming good!
----->Instead make tough spots easy
----->Push small edges
-Don't PANIC
---I can't...can I?
---->Fold big hands...you CAN fold big hands, is it the best strategy?, calm down and think, the pain of making the mistake is worse than the pain of folding; because at the end of the day you are playing for money, not ego
----->Define your edge, "i get value from this guy because he overvlues TP", "i get value from this guy because he folds too much."
----->Fold despite long odds; you don't have to call getting 6:1 for example
---Won't they start...?
----->No, they won't
----->They're STILL stupid
---What does he have?
----->All-in I guess.... <- this is BAD!
--stop call-folding!
--Review all sessions
--Be honest with yourself
--Get in control
--It's not easy!

Playing super well....

2009-10-26T20:39:00.001-07:00

Here's how I know.

Past two night sessions, go down 2-3 buy-ins within the first 10 minutes of each session. Mostly because of a coolers or bad beats but 2 of them (one in each session) due to my own bad play.

And I didn't tilt. Instead I recognized the losses for what they were, especially the losses due to bad play. Made a note to help develop my reads on the villains.

And then went on to crush. First night was the 3 buy-in downer. I swung it back to +2 buyin session.

Tonight instantly down 2 buy-ins when semi-coolered with a flush over flush and then a terrible play in a 3bet pot w AK when I tried to push a bad player (even had dbag in his screen name) off a Q high flop when I pushed over his re-raise and he snap called w JJ and I bricked out. I recognized my mistakes in the hands. As a result, I didn't tilt. Made my notes to develop reads on both players and moved on.

Moved on to a +5.5 buy-in session over 2 hours.

Oh yeah, final VPIP/PFR of 30.1/23.2. Not exactly nitting it up.

Uhm.....make that a +7.5 buy-in session. Just turned quads and got check-raised. I flatted; he snaps shove river and I win a $40 pot at 10NL. So I guess you can say I run pretty well too.

Anyways, the other example of playing well:

Absolute Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players - View hand 341566

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $19.91

Hero (CO): $18.33

BTN: $33.46

SB: $10.40

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with 3 3

Hero raises to $0.30, BTN raises to $1.05, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.75

Flop: ($2.25) 2 K Q (2 players)

Hero bets $0.80, BTN raises to $1.60, Hero raises to $3.80, BTN calls $2.20

Turn: ($9.85) J (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($9.85) A (2 players)

Hero bets $6.45, BTN folds

EDIT: Important note is that we are playing relatively deep with effective stacks of 180bbs. This gives me much more room to maneuver and apply pressure as you see in the following analysis.

I have a very strong read on this player. I know that his 3bet is JJ+ based on the 1.2k+ hands I have played with him. On this flop, I have a particular plan against him so I donk into him expecting the re-raise from AA, KK, QQ, and AKo and AKs. He probably flats with a small chance of fold JJ (chance of fold increases if missing Js). I put in the 3bet (notice this size is considered relatively large for this particular table, this is important at it puts a good deal of pressure on him) to gather more information as I'm about 70% positive that he'll give me a free river with anything less than a set here. He will be shoving QQ and KK, AA with Aspade. 50/50 on him flatting w AKo with Ace spades. This means I can make a move on the river if it is a spade. He obliges and flats the 3bet and gives me the info I need to play this hand perfectly.

He checks behind Jd trn which eliminates JJ from his range. I now put him on AK.

So in order to avoid any "data loss" (concept that we add hands to villain's range after the flop that we said he couldn't have before the flop - Cardrunner video by Vital Myth as part of "The Big Difference" series. HIGHLY RECOMMEND), I put villian on JJ, QQ, KK, AK, AKs due to his 3bet. After flop, I am able to eliminate As from his range based on the action. Qs and Ks is already out there so he cant have those either.

The river is the absolute perfect card to bluff at against this particular villain as I 100% KNOW that he does not have a spade. I am also 100% positive that he is a thinking enough player that he will fold to a largish raise.

Against a bad player, this is a much much closer play as they will not be willing to fold two pair or stronger on this river. (EDIT: actually against a bad aggressive or even bad passive player, I am check-folding this flop texture.)

Anyways, just thought I'd share my thoughts on an interesting hand. I've made some great strides recently in my poker playing based on changing HOW I am studying the game and, as a result, how I'm approaching the game when I'm on the tables.

See you at the felt,

DubsPoke

Turning a corner

2009-10-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

Been playing without a HUD for the past few days after watching a video by BalugaWhale and Tubasteve on DeucesCracked (the first Coaching Tree episode).

By not using a HUD, I'm having to develop reads and really think through hands as they are played. As a result, I think I'm turning a corner in my poker development. Time will tell.

I'm a tilt monkey...

2009-10-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

and i'll never play above 25NL unless I fix myself.

enough said.

Love this quote...

2009-10-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

From one of my favorite CardRunners instructors vitalmyth:

In reference to players not game selecting because of ego:

You're an idiot and you should just check-fold your life.

Impressed by DeucesCracked

2009-10-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

Seriously very impressed. If you weren't aware, DeucesCracked has a promotion going through Oct. 4 where everyone can view all of their videos in their flash format.

I've been checking out their small/micro stakes vids. check out "Road to Robusto" by tubasteve and "uNL looseness" by BalugaWhale. Especially Episode 4 of Road to Robusto where it is purely a HEM review. More specifically, how to use filters in HEM.

Sounds boring, right? Far from it. It is filled with gems and actually shows you the impact of your leaks. Such as calling turn raises.

Here's some gems I jotted down in notepad while listening:

top 3 leaks at micros:
1) not vbetting enough
2) not folding enough on trn or rvr when raised
3) not folding enough to 3bets

In order to call PFR, need 2 of 3:
1) skill advantage (3 principles: get value, don't bluff, don't pay off)
2) card advantage
3) position advantage

Moving Up:
-Theoretically wrong to play the same game when you move up limits
-see someone 3bet a suited connector, call IP and it wil be profitable -> allows you to creep back towards

looseness
-can't be an outlier if you are not playing loose; you can be a winner playing tightly, but you can't be a massive winner

Small/Micro:
-image doesn't matter as bad players don't adjust/acknowledge
--we do need to adjust how loose we are based on how others are playing which is different than adjusting based on our image

-Lean towards being tight until you know it's a good idea to lean towards loose

The dangers of "reverse tilt"

2009-10-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

If you are not a decent HU player.

Story is short. I erupt after having my AA cracked by 74s for 100bbs, all in the flop when he just had the naked FD (i had A of diamonds too). Damn river.

Anyways, I erupt and talk some $hit to the guy and I reload my 100bbs. He gives me crap about being a pussy and not loading to the 200bb option that is available on AP.

He continues to chatter and eventually challenges me to a HU battle. I had already calmed down, recognized the error of my ways, and de-tilted. He more or less went on reverse tilt.

My read on this foe is that he was pretty much a nit/slight TAG player. In other words, get him in a HU battle and he will be lost most of the time.

I accepted his challenge. And took 3 buy-ins from him in 180 hands through solid HU play, recognizing his leaks and exploiting the hell out of him.

And life is good today.

A personal post....

2009-09-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

i don't think I've ever made one of these but....

GO HAWKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huge win tonight.. Unfortunately our boys play much better as the underdogs and i don't know if that will be possible after tonight.

Oh yeah...I'm going to be a daddy in 7 months....scary $hit!!!!

(but very excited about it too!)

Cut down to one table

2009-09-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

And played an MMORPG (not WoW, sorry Waffles).

Won back my 2 buy-in loss from the previous session.

And then went on to win 5 more buy-ins. Going to have to think about this for a while and find out why such a drastic change in results.

Session Evaluation

2009-09-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

Played pretty well until the last 2 hands caused me to have to shut it down for a while.

AA cracked by QTo, flop QTx. 3 straight times I lost with AA in the session. I could actually feel my body heat rise.

Next hand, AQs. Flop top pair and flush draw. Get it in against maniac who flopped bottom set. I couldn't improve and instantly down 2 buy-ins for the session.

I shut it down as this is a continuation of a very bad downswing right now where I am playing very poor poker. I am considering even dropping down lower than 10NL which is pathetic but may be necessary.

But for now, a short break while I refocus.

September is not August unfortunately

2009-09-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

Poor decision making and run bad at 25NL with mediocre performance at 10NL has me in a bit of quagmire. I'm pressing a bit too much.

But I'm confident this is still going to be a month where I finish playing 25NL as my main game with shot taking being made at 50NL.

Also, I have started making plans to really improve this blog. Only time will tell if I have the conviction and aptitude to follow through on these plans. Wish me luck. F that. Wish me strength. Personal strength is much more reliable.

Now 9 tabling comfortably.

2009-08-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

I've set up a AHK script (I'll post a copy if interested, just let me know in comments) where i can press CTRL+ QWEASDZXC to quickly move a table AND re-size to a desired location:

TABLE Q - TABLE W - TABLE E
TABLE A - TABLE S - TABLE D
TABLE Z - TABLE X - TABLE C

I have a bit of overlap on ASD but at least everything is decent sized; I'll post a full-sized screenie in a bit.

As a result, I'm rolling in rakeback, I'm crushing for a 9ptBB (18bb/100) rate and I'm getting in over 1.2k hands per 2 hours. I suggest this only if you have control of the basics which I'm finding I do at 10NL due to my long-term winrate I've been able to maintain at this limit.

My graph for August:

And here is why everyone should play with rakeback. My graph with rakeback:

PS - I'm also almost back to 25NL. Woohoo!

Here's the screenie. Please note that I can see the entire table on the bottom row. MSPaint couldn't allow the full screenshot for some reason.

Going to be posting more...

2009-08-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

as my daily commute motivates me more and more to become a pro poker player some day. 45 minute commute is now 1 hr+. F' that noise.

For real though, I will be posting more. I'm going to try 12 tabling for the next few days just to see how I can do.

More later.

DubsPoke

(PS -> having rakeback is turning out to be huge; if you don't have it, sign up for it by clicking the linkage to the right).

Haven't posted in a while....

2009-08-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Because I lost my game....seriously cannot win over the last 2+ weeks. Was up +$200 at one point last month after being down $90.

I'm now back to where i started because of bull$hit like this (keep in mind this is at 5NL, pot is equivalent of almost 3 buyins):

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

UTG		($6.12)
Hero (UTG+1)		($13.37)
CO		($10.79)
BTN		($5.00)
SB		($15.98)
BB		($6.75)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1

1 fold, Hero raises to $0.20, CO raises to $0.35, 1 fold, SB calls $0.33, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.50, CO folds, SB calls $1.15

Flop: ($3.40, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.45, SB calls $2.45

Turn: ($8.30, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero goes all-in $9.42, SB calls $9.42

River: ($27.14, 2 players)

Final Pot: $27.14
Hero shows:
SB shows:

SB wins $25.84 ( won +$12.47 )
Hero lost -$13.37
CO lost -$0.35

Since July 1st I am a whopping 20 buyins under All-in EV. That doesn't count coolers and the like. Man i'm f'in pissed at poker right now.

EDIT: LOL - as soon as I posted this I coolered someone where we both had a straight with my 8T vs his 85 on 679xx board. And then had TT hold up vs two half stackers w 99 and AKo all in preflop. I have not posted all this time because i don't like bitching about bad luck and coolers.... perhaps i need to change that philosophy?

Battling Tilt - The Story of July

2009-07-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

So this month so far has been marked some insane battles with tilt.

After starting off with $90ish dollars on Pokerstars, I immediately went on a 7 buy-in downswing of run bad + tilt. Hit a low of $13 before I decided that I better play some 5NL or risk going busto for my first time ever.

And I grinded back up before another set of tilt + run bad set in. Fortunately, I was still playing 5NL so a 6 buy-in downer didn't hurt nearly as bad.

Grinded that back up to about $120ish. Sat at two 10NL tables, one horrendous beat later plus one tilt-induced terrible call led to some more losses at 5NL due to tilt.

And now, back on the upswing. Really need to focus at just saying "NH" no matter what. Sort of resets the brain, allowing me to move on to the next hand and the next villain.

That and TABLE SELECTION. If you're running bad at a table, just MOVE. Pride doesn't pay. Choosing good tables and identifying targets does.

And oh yeah, if a 40/2/1.2 fool is RAISING preflop. He probably has an Ace. Don't try to bluff him off it.

That is all.

Good luck at the felt!

DubsPoke

This was a fun one.

2009-07-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

LOL - against a 71/3/0.9 moron:

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

UTG		($4.22)
CO		($5.00)
Hero (BTN)		($6.08)
SB		($4.53)
BB		($8.67)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 5 players) Hero is BTN

UTG calls $0.05, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.20, 2 folds, UTG calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.47, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.25, UTG calls $0.25

Turn: ($0.97, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.45, UTG goes all-in $3.77, Hero calls $3.32

River: ($8.51, 2 players)

Final Pot: $8.51
Hero shows:
UTG shows:

UTG wins $8.11 ( won +$3.89 )
Hero lost -$4.22

Back to crushing.....

2009-07-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Dropped down to 5NL once my BR dropped down to a whopping $15 on PokerStars. Dropped my # of tables down to 2.

And back to crushing the game. Going to work it back up to $100 and then start implementing one table of 10NL until $150 and then go with two tables of 10NL. I'm extremely confident I can crush this 5NL - 25NL so I'm not worried about playing on a short bankroll. I'll just drop down faster if I get a short span of run bad/play bad

Crushed.....

2009-07-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well....after talking it over with the wife, I withdrew my bankroll from AP. We're going to be relatively debt free by the end of next month as a result.

So I left myself $100 at Pokerstars.

And promptly get absolutely crushed. I've been dealt KK 11 times, I've lost with them 7 times. All-in EV of +60. Real results of -40. AA dealt 12 times for a loss of $5 as well. Not playing great but running terrible as well.

7 buy-ins gone and I'm on the verge of going busto for the first time ever. Hopefully I can scratch my way back out of this.

June Results and a Dilemna

2009-06-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well...not much to say but that I absolutely crushed the month of June. My best cash results over a full month since I've started tracking. I doubt I'll be able to play at all tomorrow due to work commitments so results below a day early.

My bankroll is at its largest point that I can ever remember. I actually have over 30 buy-ins for 50NL but have not ventured into that area. I'm kinda in a place of lingo.

Here's the problem. AP has a Bad Beat Jackpot (BBJ) which results in extra rake being taken out of every pot on 50NL tables+. While there are some tables that don't have the BBJ rake, most (and the softest) tables do. From what I can tell, BBJs are severely negative EV.

2nd part of the problem. I don't like playing on AP/UB as I feel like I'm sort of endorsing their poor customer relations and very shady past history. I'd much rather play on an accredited site like FullTilt or PokerStars.

3rd part of the problem. I can't get rakeback on FullTilt because of their stupid f'in policy (sorry for the rude language but it really does piss me off) of not allowing old accounts to be credited to new rakeback providers. Seeing as how I created this account at a time when I didn't even know what RAKE was, much less rakeback, I'm pretty perturbed. Additionally, they won't even tell me who I signed up THROUGH so I can't negotiate with anyone either.

So that leaves me with Pokerstars or Cake poker. Not a fan of the games available on the Cake network and definitely don't like their lobby/software. So that leaves Pokerstars. I like Pokerstars, a lot. However, the lack of rakeback is a concern. And, from what I understand, the games are tougher as well.

All this boils down to a tough decision. For now, I see myself continuing on at AP to see if my winrate can withstand the cost of the BBJ rake. Please let me know your thoughts as well as I'm very torn with this decision.

And speaking of winrates....here's my winnings summary for the month of June:

While I have ran well (i.e. breakeven on the All-in EV), I believe there are quite a few other factors resulting in this mini-breakthrough. I'm not exactly playing tight (especially at FR games). More on that later. But for now, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the fact that I've somehow managed to win over $800 playing 10NL and 25NL in a one month period.

Hopefully next month I can double that while playing 50NL for a full month. I'm nervous and excited and can't wait for the challenge.

Only now to decide where I will be playing at....

A fun results sheet for the month of June so far...

2009-06-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

I don't think the results below the top line are possible without that top line....

Mixing it up...

2009-06-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

While some folks focus on "specializing" in one game or variation (6max, FR, HU, etc), I'm finding better success by mixing it up.

For example, I crushed HU at 10NL banking a very significant (and in my opinion, unsustainable) winrate of 47.38 bb/100 over approx 5k hands. This swelled my bankroll so I started taking shots at 25NL HU.

And got crushed for about 8 buy-ins at that level. Played poorly, ran worse, tilted a bit for the first time in a while, and finally did not table select well (by choice to some degree as I wanted to challenge myself to get better by playing against regulars/better players).

And although I lost money, I think the experience far outweighs the negative impact on my bankroll.

So I took a short break from HU to play some 6max. And crushed it over a small sample size, winning back a majority of my losses at HU. The game just seemed soooo much slower. My understanding of opponent's hand ranges, player types, etc. were much much more accurate. I'm extracting good value from my big hands and my not so good hands.

So after a couple days of 6max, I decided to play some FR. Ridiculous how soft these games are. Utilizing a much improved understanding of player type, table dynamics, knowing what my own image is, I'm finding a huge amount of success at the FR games. I think with so many training sites having such a big focus on HU and 6max, that you now have 2 types of FR players: the super NITs that mass multi table and are exceptionally exploitable and then the casino donks - those that play FR at the casinos and then decide to try online (play 50%+ of hands for example).

For example, tonight I ran pretty hot playing a whopping 4 tables of FR winning 6 buy-ins in 1.5 hours and 360 hands. While, yes, I ran very hot; I also exploited the hell out of my opponents with my big hands getting them to commit their stacks to me.

For example, I tilted one player by continously attacking when he showed weakness. He decided that he was going to make a stand for 65 bbs by 4bet shoving AJo over another one of my 3bets. He ran into my AKs. After reloading, he slams AQo by raising 6x PFR, I flat. KQx flop, he pots it and shoves over my minraise. Whoopsie. My AK has him crushed; he curses a bit, reloads again and sucks out on someone else for a stack. His tilt fades and I avoid giving any of my stack back to him.

Oh well, starting to ramble. With a bankroll over the 1k mark, I'll probably mix some HU back in as I continue to flip between soft games at 6max and FR. Good luck to all of you out there.

And seriously consider playing some HU just for the experience.

DubsPoke

PS -> It will also help your tilt control! More on that later.

Moving up to 25NL...

2009-06-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Going to take a few shots and see if I can continue to run hot at 25NL HU and 6max.

Will keep you all updated...

+9 buy-ins.....

2009-06-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

For the day, up 9 buy-ins at 10NL playing a whopping 2, yes only TWO tables, at a time. One 6max and one HU.

59bb/100 so far for the month at HU play. 37.75 bb/100 at 6max. How long can this heater last!?

I suggest everyone play HU....

2009-06-04T20:45:00.001-07:00

Not even necessarily for making money but simply for learning how to read an opponent at a faster rate.

I've only played about 3600 hands of 10NL HU since returning to AP. While I've managed to crush it for nearly 55 bb/100, the affect it has had on my confidence in 6max is quite amazing. I've been able to adjust much much faster to my opponents. My reads have been much much more accurate. As a result, I've been able to adjust my cbets based on my perception of my opponent's range which leads to getting better more value when I'm ahead and limiting losses when I'm behind.

Combined with tourney results, rakeback, and reload bonus, I'm up about 9 times my initial buy-in from this past Sunday. I'm thinking I'm going to run the BR up to $1k before I jump to 25NL just for comfort sake. We'll see if I can be patient enough to work towards that goal.

Might as well toss in a deep run in a small tourney....

2009-06-02T23:19:00.001-07:00

The bankroll is now in very good shape considering I only had $75 last Sunday....

Heater Continues....

2009-06-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

Won another 5 buy-ins in about 2.5 hours yesterday playing a combo of HU and 6max (1 table of each is all!).

Had a very entertaining session where my opposition was overbetting every river in which he had a decent made hand. He got me a couple times with this move. He also coolered me pretty hardcore when his KT ousted my flopped straight by running out a better straight (I played it passively waiting for his massive overbet...which I got).

It was way past my bedtime and approaching ridiculousness but I knew I could get this guy if I could just get the opportunity. My read had really developed on him over the past 1.5 hours. But I eventually got him:

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
2 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

Hero (BTN)		($33.99)
BB		($28.86)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 2 players) Hero is BTN

Hero raises to $0.20, BB raises to $0.60, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.20, 2 players)
BB bets $1.20, Hero calls $1.20

River: ($3.60, 2 players)
BB goes all-in $27.06, Hero calls $27.06

Final Pot: $57.72
Hero shows:
BB shows:

Hero wins $57.22 ( won +$28.36 )
BB lost -$28.86

I timed down quite a bit thinking that perhaps my flush was beat by a better flush. But then I determined that if I'm going to play 24s then I better be damn well ready to commit to it if I hit my hand.

He insta-quit me after the chips were shoved my way.

Uhm....make that ~19 buy-ins...

2009-05-31T19:29:00.001-07:00

Took somebody for about 6.5 buy-ins. Sat at his table when he had $37 on a 10NL table. I proceeded to take that from him plus a few more buy-ins.

I was amazed he just kept on reloading. And I still think I missed some value in more than a few spots. It was fun playing deep like you see so often in training videos. Really does change game flow quite a bit.

Funny part is when he finally did quit me; he let me know that he was going to go play a "big" table and make it back because they play so aggressive up there.

He dropped down on a $1/2 table, proceeded to luckbox the first 5 hands for $50 profit and insta-quit his poor foe. He is the exception not the standard folks. I'm just glad he made it back; gives him more money to lose to me down the road.

Tripled the BR....15 buy-in day

2009-05-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

I've absolutely crushed most of my 10NL HU opponents. (think only one actually took money off the table from me out of the 10 or so I played).

Combined with my 6max winnings for the day, I'm up about 15 buy-ins and tripled my BR in a single day.

And it's only 3:50 my time. Gonna ride the heat wave.

Experimenting with HU

2009-05-31T14:12:00.001-07:00

Since FT shut down my rake account, I've been forced back to AP. While not thrilled to be playing there, they are one of the few sites with micro limit HU. So I've been playing a combination of HU and 6max.

Started with a whopping $75 deposit; I've more than doubled that roll today alone through solid play and running well.

My goal is to build the BR to allow me to play 50NL. Once that point has been reached, I'll make the move to Pokerstars to see if I can make platinum (platinum is good for approx 20% rakeback). I do not want to continue on AP as I think the BBJ, while allowing for a ton more fish to jump on the tables, is overall a ripoff in terms of rake.

We'll see. A LONG LONG ways to go.

Bet Sizing

2009-05-30T15:01:00.001-07:00

I'm amazed at how little attention I pay to this CRUCIAL part of the game. vitalMyth has an excellent leakfinder vid up on Cardrunners that I encourage everyone to check out.

I'm experimenting a ton with my game right now which is causing quite a bit of volatility. I'll try to post more as I learn more...

Rebuilding s the BR

2009-05-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

So I crushed my limit at FR during the month at a pace of approx 24 bb/100 over about 10k hands.

Took a withdrawal leaving myself about $250 online in order to purchase this:

HP HDX18t Premium Series customizable Notebook PC

* • Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
* • Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
* • 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) - For 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
* • 500GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (250GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
* • 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M - For DDR3 Memory
* • 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
* • Lightscribe Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
* • Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Fluid)
* • Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
* • 50% OFF!! HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner
* • Full Size Backlit Keyboard
* • 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

So now I'm playing on a bit of a thin roll at FT; I'm thinking I'm going to grind out a ton of micro-limit SNGs (9man - 180 man) just to see what kind of ROI% I can maintain as well as get myself back up to being properly rolled for 10 and 25NL. Should be interesting, I'll keep you all updated.

I'm Back.

2009-05-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

Wordpress just didn't work out for me. Too complicated and since I now have a full-time job, time to go back to to the easy route, blogger.

Anyways, I love and hate the following play:

UTG is typical tag 26/20/3.1. UTG+1 is 43/30/8.2 and my image over 120 hands or so is 25/21/0.8.

So essentially I think my image is one where I'm only 3betting very strong hands. UTG calls me. 66-QQ is the range I put him on. This flop sucks but the only way I win is to fire right?

$0.05/$0.1 Deep No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

UTG	shill212	($19.70)
UTG+1	balboa_rico	($7.33)
CO	Hero	($14.20)
BTN	evgew4kaplus	($17.50)
SB	cL0Ne09	($14.43)
BB	reddog96	($10.88)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 6 players) Hero is CO

shill212 raises to $0.35, balboa_rico calls $0.35, Hero raises to $1.50, 3 folds, shill212 calls $1.15, balboa_rico folds

Flop: ($3.50, 2 players)
shill212 checks, Hero bets $2.10, shill212 folds

Final Pot: $3.50

Hero wins $5.37 ( won +$1.77 )
shill212 lost -$1.50
balboa_rico lost -$0.35

I've Moved to Wordpress

2009-01-20T17:02:00.001-08:00

In preparation of bigger things, I've moved to wordpress for now.

Update your links:

http://dubspoke.wordpress.com/

You know you are playing well....

2009-01-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

When you can come close to minimizing your losses with AK on this type of board:

http://weaktight.com/697472

This guy timing on this hand SCREAMED a flopped set. He SNAP-called my flop raise. A weaker King THINKS about making a move before acting. Then he INSTA-checked turn. Was 100% positive he had a Full House at that point.

Yet I couldn't fold the river to the half-pot bet. Bah. Oh well. I'm happy only losing $16 rather than $50.

New PBP

2009-01-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

Time to expand/create a new PBP as I crushed my last one.

2009 Goals:

1) To have a $1k month
2) To have a $1k week.
3) To have a $1k day.
4) To have a $1k pot (win).
5) Improve my MTT game and win an MTT with 1st being >$500.

Beginning Date: January 14, 2009
Starting BR: $1000
Initial Limit: 50NL 6Max
Next Target: $2000, 100NL

Target Winrate: 5bb/100
Hrs per day: 4
Tables: 4
Avg Hands per table per hour: 80
Total Avg Hands per hour: 320 hands an hour
Profit per hour at 5bb/100: $9.60
Total profit per day: $38.40
Plus Rakeback per day: ~$17
Days to complete: ~18

I plan on being at 100NL by February 15th.

How am I going to achieve a 5bb/100 winrate? Going to be paying close attention to the following factors:

1) TILT CONTROL. When I surpass a 2 buy-in loss in a single session, I will shut down all tables and take a mandatory break. I will walk the dog. I will clean the house. I will play Wii. I will NOT play poker. Yes, 2 buy-ins isn't much but I have to be careful since I'm playing on only a 20 buy-in roll. I have been very susceptible in the past to large downswings due to lurking tilt. Lurking tilt is tilt that is there although you are not completely aware of it.

2) POSITION. As long as you are playing position correctly, you can play LAG or TAG depending on table dynamics. I have gotten away from this and I suffered some bad swings as a result. 19/13 may not be fancy but is certainly effective at this limit.

3) TABLE SELECTION. There is no reason to play at a table on AP that has less than 2 fish. Period. If said fish are on your left and not on your right, find a better table. All you are going to do is bleed money to them as they call you down 3 streets with random crap. If you are in position, you can pot control, go for 2 streets of value and check behind the river when necessary.

4) AVOID HERO CALLS. I posted the Balbomb quote to the right for a reason. There is absolutely no need to get fancy at 50NL. Ok, you may lose a 10-15bb pot a time or two where you are being bluffed. The times you get your money in good though will far surpass any of those losses.

5) FOCUS ON BEING TIGHT IN BLINDS! Enough said. SB is the worst starting position. Why am I playing so many hands from there?!

6) STUDY and PARTICIPATE IN FORUMS. Ever since I started chatting with Ryverrat and discussing hands, beats, etc, my game has improved immensely. Forums and articles are a great way to get better while not playing.

7) PAY ATTENTION TO STACK SIZES. Not smart to raise in CO with 87o with a shorty to your left playing 40/10. They're going to call with ATC. You are going to be OOP with a marginal hand. Same when they are in the blinds. You need high card value against these donkeys.

8) SEPERATE POKER FROM PERSONAL LIFE. This could be renamed "Don't be a moody bitch." The wife isn't the one sitting down at the tables. I am. The wife isn't telling AP to badbeat me back to 0. She wants me to win too. So stop being a moody bitch. When the tables shutdown, I need to release myself from the emotions tied to it.

Goal for Today: Position

2009-01-14T06:23:00.000-08:00

It's simple. If you play in position, your likelihood for winning increases. Therefore, I'm going to try to play in position as much as possible.

About done with AP

2009-01-13T23:18:00.000-08:00

Server crashed again last night. I had just 3 bet two opponents with strong hands and was involved in hands on other tables as well. Come back and I think my account balance is missing the amounts put into those pots.

Stack on that the software is TERRIBLE for multi-tabling more than 6 tables at once.

The only saving grace right now is that I have reached Platinum VIP there and am racking points in that I can convert to cash.

Want some good reading/help on 6Max Cash?

2009-01-12T19:50:00.001-08:00

Then check out this guy's site and get the pdf: http://ryanfee.com/

Secrets of the Amateurs linked that in his 2009 goal post. Thanks Andy. Ryan Fee's thoughts are well outlined and really help put into perspective many of the things we SSNL struggly with. Good stuff.

Treading Water....

2009-01-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

Start off 1 buy-in down when AA gets cracked by runners. Get refocused, play solid, get back to positive ground.

Wham, bam, @#%@ @#%@#$. Two hands in less than 10 seconds apart lose to a 3 outter and a 6 outter all in on flop. Down two buy-ins with equity in the positive.

I'm now back to less than $10 down. Man this game can be frustrating. I will not be going for Supernova until I'm a consistent winner at 50NL and have 40 buy-ins banked. Then I may consider it. I love having a goal to shoot for. I don't like playing on AP because of their past history, I hate Hellmuth (or at least the persona he has created) and don't want to even remotely support the deuchebag. And I hate their software.

But for now, it is the smartest place for me to play at. eck.

Great Post on Pot Control

2009-01-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

Found this post on 2+2 about pot control. GREAT post. Suggest everyone check it out.