This has been a very bad week for me. I still managed a profit because of one great night but my weakness returned for a few days and that hurt. A while back I spoke of chasing cards as my kryptonite. I had managed to avoid this trap for almost two months but alas I reverted to my old ways. The thing is I was doing it for different reasons this time. I had to withdrawl $200 from my bankroll to address some unexpected bills and I wanted that money back in a bad way. My play loosened up to much and I married to many hands. I even disregarded my self imposed loss limit on two days and nearly met with disaster for the week. But like a good little poker player I found the leak and once again patched it. This time hopefully I used concrete instead of scotch tape to seal it.
Sunday
This is day one of the meltdown. After clearing the bonus at Absolute I sent back to my mainstay at Party Poker. I had scheduled the transfer of the $200 that morning so we all know what happened. I met my loss limit on one table and then instead of quiting I met my loss limit on another. I knew I was doing everything wrong and went to bed pretty pissed that night.
104 minutes, -36.44BB, 82 hands, -44.44BB/100
Monday
I decided to log onto UB and found that I had a $34 bonus that I still hadn't cleared. I don't know how I had overlooked that but UB was to be the site of choice for the rest of the week. Things started badly as I met my loss limit again. And again I ignored my own rules and joined another table. Things faired better this time though and I made back the earlier loss and a little more for a small win.
175 minutes, 18.13BB, 222 hands, 8.16BB/100
Tuesday
Played solid poker and managed to make back a little more of the Sunday loss. I table hopped a little to find the right fit for my play but a good night overall.
123 minutes, 16BB, 149 hands, 10.74BB/100
Wednesday
Meltdown number two. I just needed a decent night to erase what was left of Sundays bad play and I blew up again. I played to within a few dollars of my loss limit (this way I could say I didn't play to my loss limit before leaving. Stupid..Stupid..Stupid) left the table and found one that broke up 8 hands after my arrival. Joined yet another table and chased to my loss limt.
134 minutes, -28.5BB, 154 hands, -18.51BB/100
Thursday
Finally kicked myself in the ass and resigned myself to accept what was happening. The planets aligned, I played well, others didn't play well, a perfect combination that led to a perfect night of poker. I erased my bad nights was finally profitable for the week.
135 minutes, 42.63BB, 164 hands, 25.99BB/100
Friday
This was supposed to be my night to lock down a decent week but instead spent most of it in the emergency room. My oldest son decided to jump down, instead of slide down, a big carnival blow up slide. He walked off the ride then winced in pain. A close by pediatrician thought it might be broken so off to the Children's Hospital we went. Turns out it is only a bruise with a possible sprain and all is well.
Saturday
Since Friday night was spent away from home all night we had several movies due back to Hollywood Video on Sunday. We watched these and thus no poker played.
Week Total
11.18 hours, 11.81BB, 771 hands, 1.53BB/100
Friday, July 23, 2004
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Never Judge A Book By It's ....
This was supposed to be a write up about how a "loose/aggressive" player can win out over a "rock" at the $1/$2 LHE 10 seated level. The idea sprang forth because I found myself seated at a table with a well known blogger over the weekend. I have no idea if he knew who I was but I said nothing and neither did he. I was seeing allot of flops that night, around 34% and he wasn't seeing any. The flops he did see brought no action and although I'm sure it appeared I was on the verge of being a "maniac" as my stack would fluctuate 5BB's at a time I was still winning. The other player was slowing bleeding away chips. This could all be attributed to bad cards on his part but the more I thought about it the more I realized I was seeing allot of this from other players as well. After 54 hands this blogger had bled away about 3.5BB's and had only seen two hands to showdown. Of those two hands he lost one. I was up 8.75BB in the same span of hands. Again this could just be a bad run of cards and no single session can be a determination of anything. My curiosity was piqued enough though to follow up and thus here we are.
In order to have some semblance of credibility I went to Poker Tracker for my statistical analysis. I've played 6,212 hands at the 1/2 level but that encompassed allot of players. 1,295 unique players to be exact. Needing a way to dwindle this down I chose to only include players I had seen 100 or more hands against. This doesn't represent any magic number but for percentages I thought this number of hands should give some general idea of individual playing styles. The number that had seen 100 or more hands was 99.
The next step was to determine the criteria by which the players would be filtered. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel I searched the Internet for someone who had broken down Poker Tracker numbers into a style of player types. This should have been easy, but wasn't. I kept reading reference to a 2+2 forum post regarding percentages and playing styles. A search of the forum yielded nothing and so I was left to my own devices. That was until while reading an unrelated thread, I stumbled upon a direct link to the post. The post was written by MS Sunshine and described his breakdown when determining player types. Certainly more time and effort was put into his research than mine so his numbers were adapted for my use. The breakdown as he presented it is as follows:
For ring games:
very tight(under 15%sf)
tight(16-21%sf)
med tight(22-26%)
med loose(27-33%)
loose(34-50%)
very loose(over 50%)
nutball(with the exact% in note)
very passive(never raises preflop)
passive(< 3%pfr)
med ag(3-6%)
ag(7-10%)
very ag(11-15%)
above 15% I write very ag with %
I assume that the numbers above are for seeing the flop and not VP$IPF(Voluntarily Put Money In Pre Flop) as Poker Tracker presents it. To adjust the figures we need to consider the big blind. For the most part we can see the flop when in the big blind without further cost. To account for this I decreased the above percentages by 2% pre flop. That would bring a VP$IPF for a tight player to 19%. Pre flop aggression is the other key factor in filtering out the players but now I have a problem. Through observation and common sense we know that a player that tight will not want to raise every time they are in a pot. The cards may very well warrant this action and some players will always call but many others will fold if paying any attention at all. This forces the tight player to camoflague the starting hands buy limping in a majority of the time. This has led for a PFR%(Pre Flop Raise Percentage) that really has no significance for me and won't be used for this purpose here.
I had considered myself a rather loose player and although I had no intention of using my own numbers in this analysis things no longer jive. If going off the figures represented above I am not a loose player. I am not a tight player either but fall into the medium loose range most of the time. In fact right now my VP$IPF is at 24.95. That is a point or two lower than usual but still puts me at the low end of loose or high end of tight. My aggression matches the above numbers but when looking at players in the range as above the study becomes a different beast entirley. Poker Tracker will only let me choose a greater than or less than number when filtering player data. In order to be accurate for loose numbers the players need to have a VP$IPF of between 32% and 48%. These figures are very broad and represent 20 players if we include the 100 hands played criteria. Now in considering aggression we can put the PFR% figure back into the equation because alot more hands are being played. I want to look at aggressive players so using the 7-10 range the players are now reduced to 3.
Every one of these three players are a loser in the hands I've seen. In order to bring this back into the realm originally intended though the numbers will have to be reworked. A true loose player is not a winner according to my statistics. If I rework with numbers matching my own which would be the medium tight to medium loose range of 24% to 27% while maintaining the 6-10% aggression pre flop the number of players moves to 4. Still not a large enough sample base but now we see one winning player. This players winnings outdistances the loosers making for a positive expectation in the long run but still nothing indicative of a loose player type being better.
In fact what I have been able to determine while reviewing all of the data is that a vast majority of players at the 1/2 level play incorrectly. Those that play loosely are either to aggressive or not aggressive enough and the majority of tight players are to weak post flop. I know this is ground breaking news and you'll want to rush out and tell everyone. In fact the conclusion makes the whole excercise rather pointless. People have been professing this for ages yet I still had to sift through the data in order to come to the same conclusion.
With that said I need to look at my own play. As stated previously I never intended to use my own numbers in the study but now they become relevant. I am a winning player at this level even though many tight players cry that the 10 seated 1/2 can't be beat. My stats show that a tight player can in fact beat this level and does so at a pretty good rate. My looser style also beats the level and I attribute it to post flop play. I know I push sometimes to hard and can loose big ones but I win bigger ones. To beat a dead horse post flop play is everything. To put the numbers down the tight player criteria mentioned above averaged to the following numbers:
# hands 3,619
VP$IPF 14.98
PFR% 4.73
BB/100 4.19
For comparison here are my numbers:
# hands 6,212
VP$IPF 24.95
PFR% 6.37
BB/100 3.46
So is Loose better than Tight. Not when looking at this data. Is Tight better than Loose. It appears so but more importantly you need to find your comfort level and exploit those at your table to maximize your gain. If you are going to choose a loose or tight style you need to know how to play properly. Both can win... It's up to you to find out how.
In order to have some semblance of credibility I went to Poker Tracker for my statistical analysis. I've played 6,212 hands at the 1/2 level but that encompassed allot of players. 1,295 unique players to be exact. Needing a way to dwindle this down I chose to only include players I had seen 100 or more hands against. This doesn't represent any magic number but for percentages I thought this number of hands should give some general idea of individual playing styles. The number that had seen 100 or more hands was 99.
The next step was to determine the criteria by which the players would be filtered. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel I searched the Internet for someone who had broken down Poker Tracker numbers into a style of player types. This should have been easy, but wasn't. I kept reading reference to a 2+2 forum post regarding percentages and playing styles. A search of the forum yielded nothing and so I was left to my own devices. That was until while reading an unrelated thread, I stumbled upon a direct link to the post. The post was written by MS Sunshine and described his breakdown when determining player types. Certainly more time and effort was put into his research than mine so his numbers were adapted for my use. The breakdown as he presented it is as follows:
For ring games:
very tight(under 15%sf)
tight(16-21%sf)
med tight(22-26%)
med loose(27-33%)
loose(34-50%)
very loose(over 50%)
nutball(with the exact% in note)
very passive(never raises preflop)
passive(< 3%pfr)
med ag(3-6%)
ag(7-10%)
very ag(11-15%)
above 15% I write very ag with %
I assume that the numbers above are for seeing the flop and not VP$IPF(Voluntarily Put Money In Pre Flop) as Poker Tracker presents it. To adjust the figures we need to consider the big blind. For the most part we can see the flop when in the big blind without further cost. To account for this I decreased the above percentages by 2% pre flop. That would bring a VP$IPF for a tight player to 19%. Pre flop aggression is the other key factor in filtering out the players but now I have a problem. Through observation and common sense we know that a player that tight will not want to raise every time they are in a pot. The cards may very well warrant this action and some players will always call but many others will fold if paying any attention at all. This forces the tight player to camoflague the starting hands buy limping in a majority of the time. This has led for a PFR%(Pre Flop Raise Percentage) that really has no significance for me and won't be used for this purpose here.
I had considered myself a rather loose player and although I had no intention of using my own numbers in this analysis things no longer jive. If going off the figures represented above I am not a loose player. I am not a tight player either but fall into the medium loose range most of the time. In fact right now my VP$IPF is at 24.95. That is a point or two lower than usual but still puts me at the low end of loose or high end of tight. My aggression matches the above numbers but when looking at players in the range as above the study becomes a different beast entirley. Poker Tracker will only let me choose a greater than or less than number when filtering player data. In order to be accurate for loose numbers the players need to have a VP$IPF of between 32% and 48%. These figures are very broad and represent 20 players if we include the 100 hands played criteria. Now in considering aggression we can put the PFR% figure back into the equation because alot more hands are being played. I want to look at aggressive players so using the 7-10 range the players are now reduced to 3.
Every one of these three players are a loser in the hands I've seen. In order to bring this back into the realm originally intended though the numbers will have to be reworked. A true loose player is not a winner according to my statistics. If I rework with numbers matching my own which would be the medium tight to medium loose range of 24% to 27% while maintaining the 6-10% aggression pre flop the number of players moves to 4. Still not a large enough sample base but now we see one winning player. This players winnings outdistances the loosers making for a positive expectation in the long run but still nothing indicative of a loose player type being better.
In fact what I have been able to determine while reviewing all of the data is that a vast majority of players at the 1/2 level play incorrectly. Those that play loosely are either to aggressive or not aggressive enough and the majority of tight players are to weak post flop. I know this is ground breaking news and you'll want to rush out and tell everyone. In fact the conclusion makes the whole excercise rather pointless. People have been professing this for ages yet I still had to sift through the data in order to come to the same conclusion.
With that said I need to look at my own play. As stated previously I never intended to use my own numbers in the study but now they become relevant. I am a winning player at this level even though many tight players cry that the 10 seated 1/2 can't be beat. My stats show that a tight player can in fact beat this level and does so at a pretty good rate. My looser style also beats the level and I attribute it to post flop play. I know I push sometimes to hard and can loose big ones but I win bigger ones. To beat a dead horse post flop play is everything. To put the numbers down the tight player criteria mentioned above averaged to the following numbers:
# hands 3,619
VP$IPF 14.98
PFR% 4.73
BB/100 4.19
For comparison here are my numbers:
# hands 6,212
VP$IPF 24.95
PFR% 6.37
BB/100 3.46
So is Loose better than Tight. Not when looking at this data. Is Tight better than Loose. It appears so but more importantly you need to find your comfort level and exploit those at your table to maximize your gain. If you are going to choose a loose or tight style you need to know how to play properly. Both can win... It's up to you to find out how.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Layout Change
Well I finally decided on a layout change. It looks alot more streamlined and a bit easier on the eyes than the previous one. I need to update the links but that will have to wait until later. Thanks to Cheap Thrills for recommending w.bloggar. It's easy to use and a nice editor for the blog.
Monday, July 19, 2004
When I Grow Up I Wanna Be A …
Sorry it's been over a week since my last post but other than rehashing things I've said before there was nothing to report. This brings me to what I want to do with this blog. There has been much discussion lately and even some press about blogger burn out. I am not at this point but I could see how it happens. It becomes a chore at times to sit down and come up with things to discuss. I have concentrated solely on my play with this blog to date and I've been happy with the results on a personal level. With that said though when you hear people complain (bitch) about poker blogs they seem to describe exactly what I do. This is to talk about what I did last night or show a hand history to a big pot or etc..
Now I don't want to bore anyone, especially myself, so 've decided to take a departure from this style. I want to write solely about poker but rather than rehash what I did in specifics I'm going to start writing about poker in general or items that I feel relate to my play in an observational or breakthrough way. This may or may not interest my six regular readers. I assume you come here for the purpose of scoping my play since I presently write about only that. I will not completely abandon this and will dedicate a weekly post at the end of each week, which will serve as a recap of play and a status of bankroll.
To go along with my new direction a new layout is due. I will be taking the next two days to come up with this change of appearance and work on my first article. I've decided to address the differences in style as well as the differences in winning which I have observed at the 1/2 level. Specifically the mannerisms of a "Rock" as compared to my style of "Loose/Aggressive". I hope you will all stick around for this change and help me with the growing pains as I try to find my way yet again in the blogsphere. As always comments are wanted and appreciated.
Now I don't want to bore anyone, especially myself, so 've decided to take a departure from this style. I want to write solely about poker but rather than rehash what I did in specifics I'm going to start writing about poker in general or items that I feel relate to my play in an observational or breakthrough way. This may or may not interest my six regular readers. I assume you come here for the purpose of scoping my play since I presently write about only that. I will not completely abandon this and will dedicate a weekly post at the end of each week, which will serve as a recap of play and a status of bankroll.
To go along with my new direction a new layout is due. I will be taking the next two days to come up with this change of appearance and work on my first article. I've decided to address the differences in style as well as the differences in winning which I have observed at the 1/2 level. Specifically the mannerisms of a "Rock" as compared to my style of "Loose/Aggressive". I hope you will all stick around for this change and help me with the growing pains as I try to find my way yet again in the blogsphere. As always comments are wanted and appreciated.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
An Excellent Week
I have just completed my most profitable week of play. It’s been a very good two weeks as last week I had my biggest single day. There’s no better cure for the doldrums a bad run brings I can assure you.
Week – 11.05 hours, 74.94BB, 6.78BB/Hr, 642 hands
The play at Absolute Poker is what’s made all the difference this week. I encountered the same play as the night before with many of the same players. I don’t know how long I can keep this up but I was able to double my buy-in again last night. I was well on my way to another record night when Mr. Loosey Goosey joined the table on my immediate left. He wouldn’t lay down anything and was catching everything so I decided to call it a night early and secure my nice win. I was in a good mood and my wife was enjoying watching me win so it was best not to press the issue any longer.
I more than likely won’t be playing over the next two days since were going to spend some time at the lake. I’ll have broadband access but the family will need all of my attention. My deposit bonus at Absolute should be cleared after another 2 days of play so I’ll have a decision to make. The software is atrocious but the games are so good I may try to live with it for a while. It seems the same players are there every night so I’m sure they will try to slow me down before to long.
Until next week this is one happy poker player signing off…..
Week – 11.05 hours, 74.94BB, 6.78BB/Hr, 642 hands
The play at Absolute Poker is what’s made all the difference this week. I encountered the same play as the night before with many of the same players. I don’t know how long I can keep this up but I was able to double my buy-in again last night. I was well on my way to another record night when Mr. Loosey Goosey joined the table on my immediate left. He wouldn’t lay down anything and was catching everything so I decided to call it a night early and secure my nice win. I was in a good mood and my wife was enjoying watching me win so it was best not to press the issue any longer.
I more than likely won’t be playing over the next two days since were going to spend some time at the lake. I’ll have broadband access but the family will need all of my attention. My deposit bonus at Absolute should be cleared after another 2 days of play so I’ll have a decision to make. The software is atrocious but the games are so good I may try to live with it for a while. It seems the same players are there every night so I’m sure they will try to slow me down before to long.
Until next week this is one happy poker player signing off…..
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Evolution
First off I’d like to give a hearty Thank You to JD over at Cheap Thrills. JD offered a workaround to the Absolute Poker software problems. Fortunately I didn’t have to use it last night but the software seems to have a memory leak that grinds it down to a slow crawl at times. Speaking of grind (nice seguay there) last night was a big success.
I titled this post Evolution because I realized this morning that I have evolved. Evolved as a poker player that is. I mentioned in the last post that the players at Absolute seemed to be weak/tight and last night I found more of the same. The difference for me though was that I knew how to exploit it. Now I know that I’ve exploited table tendencies before but last night was different. I actually played some hands “incorrectly” to help foster my image and maintain control over the table.
I’ll try to elaborate and well see how this translates. I sat down and started playing my normal tight/aggressive game. It didn’t take long to figure the tendencies of each player at the table out. For the most part any opening raise in the late position would win the blinds. Also a raise would limit the field and often produce heads up or three way action to the flop. Now this is a pretty big departure from Party Poker and the “No Fold’em Hold’em” we hear about and experience. Also it became evident that several players at the table were paying attention to the action.
Comments began between two players in particular that I was on a good run and that I was getting good cards. To foster this table image I began showing my strong hands when everyone would fold to me on the flop or the blinds would fold to a raise from me when I had a big pair. I’ve never done this before and I wouldn’t do this every time but often enough so that those who were paying some attention would believe that I “only” played premium hands. This allowed players to lay down their hands to me and feel confident that I had the best of it. Knowing this, I was able to bluff at several pots at the right time and do an extraordinary amount of blind stealing.
As it inevitably happens though I was caught with “my hand in the cookie jar” when I bet into a player who I knew would lay down a marginal hand when I had second pair. He had the top pair though and I was forced to show the hand. It was then that I changed up a little bit. I was able to select about three hands where I would raise in late position with nothing and if I was called I would fold to the flop bet. It sounds stupid but at this table, with these people, I was able to reassert that I was only playing solid hands and would lay down anything marginal.
The average pot size I won last night was around $8. Definitely a small number but I was able to foster an image that allowed me to steal so many blinds and pots on the flop that I doubled my buy-in in two hours winning $59.75. This night was certainly a light bulb night and I feel better and more confident for it. I deliberately molded others to my will last night and it was good. I know it’s not something I can do all the time or even very often, but now I believe I can recognize when the opportunity presents itself.
I titled this post Evolution because I realized this morning that I have evolved. Evolved as a poker player that is. I mentioned in the last post that the players at Absolute seemed to be weak/tight and last night I found more of the same. The difference for me though was that I knew how to exploit it. Now I know that I’ve exploited table tendencies before but last night was different. I actually played some hands “incorrectly” to help foster my image and maintain control over the table.
I’ll try to elaborate and well see how this translates. I sat down and started playing my normal tight/aggressive game. It didn’t take long to figure the tendencies of each player at the table out. For the most part any opening raise in the late position would win the blinds. Also a raise would limit the field and often produce heads up or three way action to the flop. Now this is a pretty big departure from Party Poker and the “No Fold’em Hold’em” we hear about and experience. Also it became evident that several players at the table were paying attention to the action.
Comments began between two players in particular that I was on a good run and that I was getting good cards. To foster this table image I began showing my strong hands when everyone would fold to me on the flop or the blinds would fold to a raise from me when I had a big pair. I’ve never done this before and I wouldn’t do this every time but often enough so that those who were paying some attention would believe that I “only” played premium hands. This allowed players to lay down their hands to me and feel confident that I had the best of it. Knowing this, I was able to bluff at several pots at the right time and do an extraordinary amount of blind stealing.
As it inevitably happens though I was caught with “my hand in the cookie jar” when I bet into a player who I knew would lay down a marginal hand when I had second pair. He had the top pair though and I was forced to show the hand. It was then that I changed up a little bit. I was able to select about three hands where I would raise in late position with nothing and if I was called I would fold to the flop bet. It sounds stupid but at this table, with these people, I was able to reassert that I was only playing solid hands and would lay down anything marginal.
The average pot size I won last night was around $8. Definitely a small number but I was able to foster an image that allowed me to steal so many blinds and pots on the flop that I doubled my buy-in in two hours winning $59.75. This night was certainly a light bulb night and I feel better and more confident for it. I deliberately molded others to my will last night and it was good. I know it’s not something I can do all the time or even very often, but now I believe I can recognize when the opportunity presents itself.
Friday, July 09, 2004
Absolute Poker…not quite
Since Absolute Poker has reworked their bonus structure and they were now offering a 20% reload bonus I headed back. When I fired up the program I should have known I was headed for trouble. The software had not been used in a while and needed to self-update. This wasn’t too unusual but the amount of time it took was. The Absolute server was taking fffoooorrrreeeevvveeerrr to download. I kid you not when I say that I spent upwards of 10 minutes waiting for the process to complete. If I was using dial up I could understand it but my cable connection always solidly reports at over 2Mps.
I blew this off and went to make a deposit. No errors or slowdowns occurred and the bank properly showed the deposit and bending bonus. The software looked no different than when last used so I don’t know what they were updating. The lobby page presented two active 1/2 tables and I joined the wait lists.
A few minutes of wait and I was seated. I found myself at what had to be the tightest table I’ve ever seen. It was rather common to have only the blinds see the flop. I was able to take advantage of this and within about 45 minutes was up 10BB. That’s when it happened. No warning and no signs of impending danger but it happened. We were heads up going into the river and my opponent doesn’t act. His little time bar expires but nothing happens. No fold, no check, no nothing. The quiet table just sits there not responding in any way. At first I thought the cable went out, nope. The laptop crashed, nope. Absolute crashed, nope the lobby still works. I find the table name and click on it, the list of players comes up without me. What the hell?!? I double click the table name and up pops the table in a second window with everyone playing right along without me. I still have a window up showing the same table with no activity though and when I try to close it a warning pops up, “If you leave the table now your hand will be folded.” Well I’ve got news for you, you already folded my hand like five minutes ago.
I close the window down and rejoin the table I never really left. Now I’m perplexed and a new player at the table wants to see about every flop. I get a hand and he of course sucks out the flush on the river to my flopped set. Normal stuff at any poker site but for some reason I want to punish him. Yes it’s tilt but not in my normal tilt fashion. I’ll still play a good game but not if sucker is in the pot. Then I’m stupid because he must be punished. Problem is he’s not a sucker, after calming down and actually watching his play he was just on a good run at the time and he’s a decent player. As I usually the the case when tilting I realize this after it’s to late and I’ve not only given back my 10BB profit but I’ve squandered another 15BB.
Absolute doesn’t freeze up on me anymore but the table graphics and sound get excruciatingly slow at times and others complain about it as well. The poker may be good but “Absolute” poker it is not.
I calmed down and started winning again. I ended the night up 4.29BB for two hours work so I’m happy about it. The table was very weird though. One hand almost everyone would see the flop and on the next only the blinds would be in. The poor guy to my right was getting a little frustrated with me. When he would be the small blind and it folded to him he would about always raise it. If I had something I would reraise in the BB but if I didn’t I would still call. On the flop I would lead out and he would fold 90% of the time. It was easy blind stealing and he commented at one point that I needed to give him a break. I responded that the flop always seemed to hit me. I don’t think he bought it and I left shortly thereafter so I didn’t get to test him again.
I figure I’ll need about five days of play or so at my current rate to clear the bonus. I’ll be there for a week, but if they don’t fix the problems with the software I’ll cash all out and head back to Party. (until the next reload bonus anyway)
I blew this off and went to make a deposit. No errors or slowdowns occurred and the bank properly showed the deposit and bending bonus. The software looked no different than when last used so I don’t know what they were updating. The lobby page presented two active 1/2 tables and I joined the wait lists.
A few minutes of wait and I was seated. I found myself at what had to be the tightest table I’ve ever seen. It was rather common to have only the blinds see the flop. I was able to take advantage of this and within about 45 minutes was up 10BB. That’s when it happened. No warning and no signs of impending danger but it happened. We were heads up going into the river and my opponent doesn’t act. His little time bar expires but nothing happens. No fold, no check, no nothing. The quiet table just sits there not responding in any way. At first I thought the cable went out, nope. The laptop crashed, nope. Absolute crashed, nope the lobby still works. I find the table name and click on it, the list of players comes up without me. What the hell?!? I double click the table name and up pops the table in a second window with everyone playing right along without me. I still have a window up showing the same table with no activity though and when I try to close it a warning pops up, “If you leave the table now your hand will be folded.” Well I’ve got news for you, you already folded my hand like five minutes ago.
I close the window down and rejoin the table I never really left. Now I’m perplexed and a new player at the table wants to see about every flop. I get a hand and he of course sucks out the flush on the river to my flopped set. Normal stuff at any poker site but for some reason I want to punish him. Yes it’s tilt but not in my normal tilt fashion. I’ll still play a good game but not if sucker is in the pot. Then I’m stupid because he must be punished. Problem is he’s not a sucker, after calming down and actually watching his play he was just on a good run at the time and he’s a decent player. As I usually the the case when tilting I realize this after it’s to late and I’ve not only given back my 10BB profit but I’ve squandered another 15BB.
Absolute doesn’t freeze up on me anymore but the table graphics and sound get excruciatingly slow at times and others complain about it as well. The poker may be good but “Absolute” poker it is not.
I calmed down and started winning again. I ended the night up 4.29BB for two hours work so I’m happy about it. The table was very weird though. One hand almost everyone would see the flop and on the next only the blinds would be in. The poor guy to my right was getting a little frustrated with me. When he would be the small blind and it folded to him he would about always raise it. If I had something I would reraise in the BB but if I didn’t I would still call. On the flop I would lead out and he would fold 90% of the time. It was easy blind stealing and he commented at one point that I needed to give him a break. I responded that the flop always seemed to hit me. I don’t think he bought it and I left shortly thereafter so I didn’t get to test him again.
I figure I’ll need about five days of play or so at my current rate to clear the bonus. I’ll be there for a week, but if they don’t fix the problems with the software I’ll cash all out and head back to Party. (until the next reload bonus anyway)
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Not a Repeat
Well the big win from last week could not be duplicated. (yet!) I took the weekend off from poker due to the holiday and work but I still managed to get some play in. I played on Friday, Monday and last night.
Friday was mixed as I started out nursing a big loss. The table I was at had players bailing out like they were on the Titanic. I know I wasn’t the one driving them away because I was sucking eggs. After 14 hands we were down to 3 players from the original 10 and I was down 5 BB. Normally I would just leave the table when this happens, but as I had just arrived, I thought I would give my short game a try. The only thing that stuck in my mind was to be aggressive. This to my detriment was the “only” thing that I was thinking. Not be aggressive with a good hand, just be aggressive. I was heads up by hand 16 and my opponent must have felt like it was Christmas. No lumps of coal for him this year, no siree, I’ll just fill his stocking with chips. I was being decimated by my own hands and soon even I had to jump ship.
The next table wasn’t fairing much better. At least this time the table lasted 40 hands before we were short. I was determined to play shorthanded though and avenge my earlier loss. This time I decided to pay attention and use what knowledge I had. I was able to laydown a hand now and push it when I was best. I was able get back to just over even when my opponent had had enough and left me all alone.
Feeling rejected and unneeded I joined what would be my last table of the night. This table rocked and actually stayed at full strength throughout my stay. I was able to extract a nice win which took care of my first table loss and then some.
Table One – 16 minutes, -16.88BB, -63.28BB/Hr
Table Two – 61 minutes, .63BB, .61BB/Hr
Table Three – 100 minutes, 24.13BB, 14.48BB/Hr
Overall – 177 minutes, 7.88BB, 2.67BB/Hr
Mondaywas a bit of a downer as I couldn’t get anything going. I took the loss but I didn’t feel bad about it. Come to think of it I don’t know why I don’t feel bad about it, or good about it. I’m just indifferent to the whole experience. Very odd.
141 minutes, -5.63BB, -2.39BB/Hr
Tuesdaywas a trip back to the winning ways. I shouldn’t be cocky about it though because I was on auto pilot for the short time I played. The family and I had just finished watching Disney’s Haunted Mansion, (good film but to scary for little ones), and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I was definitely just playing my cards as I couldn’t concentrate long enough to pay any more attention than that. Fortunately that was good enough and profits came my way.
51 minutes, 9.38BB, 11.03BB/Hr
I would be remiss if I didn’t say thank you to Iggy and John-Paul for their kind comments last week. I would also like to make a little addendum to my year in review post from last week. I didn’t get into the specifics of deposits and withdrawls for the year but I am very happy to report that none of my current bankroll is my own money. I was able to withdrawl my original buy in a few months ago so everything is profit. Wow that is nice to say.
Friday was mixed as I started out nursing a big loss. The table I was at had players bailing out like they were on the Titanic. I know I wasn’t the one driving them away because I was sucking eggs. After 14 hands we were down to 3 players from the original 10 and I was down 5 BB. Normally I would just leave the table when this happens, but as I had just arrived, I thought I would give my short game a try. The only thing that stuck in my mind was to be aggressive. This to my detriment was the “only” thing that I was thinking. Not be aggressive with a good hand, just be aggressive. I was heads up by hand 16 and my opponent must have felt like it was Christmas. No lumps of coal for him this year, no siree, I’ll just fill his stocking with chips. I was being decimated by my own hands and soon even I had to jump ship.
The next table wasn’t fairing much better. At least this time the table lasted 40 hands before we were short. I was determined to play shorthanded though and avenge my earlier loss. This time I decided to pay attention and use what knowledge I had. I was able to laydown a hand now and push it when I was best. I was able get back to just over even when my opponent had had enough and left me all alone.
Feeling rejected and unneeded I joined what would be my last table of the night. This table rocked and actually stayed at full strength throughout my stay. I was able to extract a nice win which took care of my first table loss and then some.
Table One – 16 minutes, -16.88BB, -63.28BB/Hr
Table Two – 61 minutes, .63BB, .61BB/Hr
Table Three – 100 minutes, 24.13BB, 14.48BB/Hr
Overall – 177 minutes, 7.88BB, 2.67BB/Hr
Mondaywas a bit of a downer as I couldn’t get anything going. I took the loss but I didn’t feel bad about it. Come to think of it I don’t know why I don’t feel bad about it, or good about it. I’m just indifferent to the whole experience. Very odd.
141 minutes, -5.63BB, -2.39BB/Hr
Tuesdaywas a trip back to the winning ways. I shouldn’t be cocky about it though because I was on auto pilot for the short time I played. The family and I had just finished watching Disney’s Haunted Mansion, (good film but to scary for little ones), and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I was definitely just playing my cards as I couldn’t concentrate long enough to pay any more attention than that. Fortunately that was good enough and profits came my way.
51 minutes, 9.38BB, 11.03BB/Hr
I would be remiss if I didn’t say thank you to Iggy and John-Paul for their kind comments last week. I would also like to make a little addendum to my year in review post from last week. I didn’t get into the specifics of deposits and withdrawls for the year but I am very happy to report that none of my current bankroll is my own money. I was able to withdrawl my original buy in a few months ago so everything is profit. Wow that is nice to say.
Friday, July 02, 2004
The Big One
I am happy to report that last night I had my biggest single winning session ever. What makes it even better is that I almost had to quit because I was dangerously close to my loss limit.
Our story starts with a logon to Party Poker and no tables to play. Everything was full so I had to go the “beggars can’t be choosers” route and put my name on the waiting list. A few minutes later I was able to join a table that featured a lot of tight players. I settled into my chair expecting a long slow grind and that’s what I got. Things started out badly when my first hand, in the big blind, was A5d. Not a bad hand to have in the blind but the fifth card for the flush never came and I lost $5 right off the bat.
Crap cards were the norm for the next two rounds but then I found myself with J3o in the Big Blind on the third rotation. Truly a hand to be mucked but when I checked preflop to see two Jacks hit I was on cloud nine. I slowplayed the flop and started pounding the turn and river only to be raised and reraised. I expected a monster pot to come my way but another player also had a J. His kicker was a K and I dropped another $13.
For about an hour after that I floated up and down as AK lost but JJ held up and As would never give the flush. (gave to a lot to others, just not to me) I found myself down as much as 15 BB but then the patience began to pay off. My solid hands began to hold up and my chip count began to steadily increase.
About half way through the session I was dealt AJo in middle position and it held up when an A flopped. The small blind kept pumping the pot with his pocket Jacks and the pot paid me off $32. This put me up $34 from my buyin and there I stayed for an extended period of time. A few small wins and losses had me treading water until the breakout began.
Enough players had come and gone that I now had a nice mixture at the table. This combination of players, and cards holding up, led me to have my most profitable stretch of 4 hands ever. It started and ended with pocket 8’s. I had three pots within the stretch that brought in $84.75. My first hand brought me trips on the flop and they held up for $30.50. The next hand I was UTG with Q8d. I decided to fold preflop and then in the BB I receive QQ. This holds up unaided and another $17.25 comes my way. The final hand was not as pretty as the others. I actually sucked out on someone to take the pot but it was the biggest pot at the table for the entire time I was there. I feel the player that I sucked out on miss played his hand. His flop action was correct but his turn play was a huge mistake. I had the pot odds to call the bets but he should have been pounding the pot. I’ll post the hand below.
Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (9 handed) converter
Preflop: lifesagrind is SB with 8s, 8c.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button raises, lifesagrind calls, BB calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.
Flop: (12 SB) 4d, 4h, 6d (6 players)
lifesagrind checks, BB checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, CO bets, Button raises, lifesagrind calls, BB 3-bets, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, CO calls, Button calls, lifesagrind calls.
Turn: (12 BB) 5c (4 players)
lifesagrind checks, BB checks, CO bets, Button calls, lifesagrind calls, BB calls.
River: (16 BB) 7c (4 players)
lifesagrind bets, BB calls, CO calls, Button folds.
Final Pot: 19 BB
lifesagrind shows 8s 8c (straight, eight high).
BB shows Tc 4c (three of a kind, fours).
CO shows 5s 7d (two pair, sevens and fives).
Outcome: lifesagrind wins 19 BB.
After this I sat through one final orbit and lost a little when my AQs didn’t improve and I had to fold the turn. My profit for the session was $97. This destroyed my previous best of $78.
Stats – 127 min., 48.5BB, 22.91BB/Hr, 143 hands
This helped boost my BB/100 at the 1/2 level to 2.97. If I have another night like this tonight I might just start playing the SNG tourneys earlier than planned.
Our story starts with a logon to Party Poker and no tables to play. Everything was full so I had to go the “beggars can’t be choosers” route and put my name on the waiting list. A few minutes later I was able to join a table that featured a lot of tight players. I settled into my chair expecting a long slow grind and that’s what I got. Things started out badly when my first hand, in the big blind, was A5d. Not a bad hand to have in the blind but the fifth card for the flush never came and I lost $5 right off the bat.
Crap cards were the norm for the next two rounds but then I found myself with J3o in the Big Blind on the third rotation. Truly a hand to be mucked but when I checked preflop to see two Jacks hit I was on cloud nine. I slowplayed the flop and started pounding the turn and river only to be raised and reraised. I expected a monster pot to come my way but another player also had a J. His kicker was a K and I dropped another $13.
For about an hour after that I floated up and down as AK lost but JJ held up and As would never give the flush. (gave to a lot to others, just not to me) I found myself down as much as 15 BB but then the patience began to pay off. My solid hands began to hold up and my chip count began to steadily increase.
About half way through the session I was dealt AJo in middle position and it held up when an A flopped. The small blind kept pumping the pot with his pocket Jacks and the pot paid me off $32. This put me up $34 from my buyin and there I stayed for an extended period of time. A few small wins and losses had me treading water until the breakout began.
Enough players had come and gone that I now had a nice mixture at the table. This combination of players, and cards holding up, led me to have my most profitable stretch of 4 hands ever. It started and ended with pocket 8’s. I had three pots within the stretch that brought in $84.75. My first hand brought me trips on the flop and they held up for $30.50. The next hand I was UTG with Q8d. I decided to fold preflop and then in the BB I receive QQ. This holds up unaided and another $17.25 comes my way. The final hand was not as pretty as the others. I actually sucked out on someone to take the pot but it was the biggest pot at the table for the entire time I was there. I feel the player that I sucked out on miss played his hand. His flop action was correct but his turn play was a huge mistake. I had the pot odds to call the bets but he should have been pounding the pot. I’ll post the hand below.
Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (9 handed) converter
Preflop: lifesagrind is SB with 8s, 8c.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button raises, lifesagrind calls, BB calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.
Flop: (12 SB) 4d, 4h, 6d (6 players)
lifesagrind checks, BB checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, CO bets, Button raises, lifesagrind calls, BB 3-bets, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, CO calls, Button calls, lifesagrind calls.
Turn: (12 BB) 5c (4 players)
lifesagrind checks, BB checks, CO bets, Button calls, lifesagrind calls, BB calls.
River: (16 BB) 7c (4 players)
lifesagrind bets, BB calls, CO calls, Button folds.
Final Pot: 19 BB
lifesagrind shows 8s 8c (straight, eight high).
BB shows Tc 4c (three of a kind, fours).
CO shows 5s 7d (two pair, sevens and fives).
Outcome: lifesagrind wins 19 BB.
After this I sat through one final orbit and lost a little when my AQs didn’t improve and I had to fold the turn. My profit for the session was $97. This destroyed my previous best of $78.
Stats – 127 min., 48.5BB, 22.91BB/Hr, 143 hands
This helped boost my BB/100 at the 1/2 level to 2.97. If I have another night like this tonight I might just start playing the SNG tourneys earlier than planned.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
State of the State of my Poker Career Address
Poker career? Can one call it a career if only played part-time. I’m certainly a rank amateur at best although I have used poker as a means for added income at times. An experiment that started out brilliantly and then suffered due to consecutive weekly losses. So perhaps the word career is a bit premature. In the future it may not be but for now lets retitle this entry “State of the State of my Poker Hobby Which Brings Forth Funds Address”.
That’s much better. Why an address you ask? Well I officially completed my first year of playing online poker on June 19. I figured since I’ve been in a rut at the tables lately that I should look back, check my progress, and prepare a road map for the future. It seems like just yesterday I was playing the .01/.02 tables at UltimateBet. Since then I’ve used the “build a bankroll” technique to move from one level to the next. I tried my hand at multi-table tourneys, and sit-n-go’s as well. What better way to chart the progress than give a recap of all my numbers.
2003
Online play is really my only experience. This whole thing started out as just something fun to do. I didn’t have much money to invest so I was just looking to see what I could do. My play was very sporadic during 2003 and I rarely played more than 2 or 3 times a week. Approaching the end of the year I decided to take the game seriously and see what I could do. The breakdown of the levels are:
.01/.02 – 15.15 hours played, 862 hands, 10.38BB/100 hands (If only I could do that at 15/30 without having a clue what I was doing)
.25/.50 – 113.77 hours, 6871 hands, -3.58BB /100 (The fact that I had no clue what I was doing became very evident. I was holding my own at first but I quickly lost money after that. I think I read Sklansky’s Advanced Hold’em during this period which only made things worse for me. I took everything as literal and didn’t know how to apply it to my game.)
.50/1 – 9.5 hours, 761 hands, -7.88BB /100 (A horrible attempt to spend a week at a level I wasn’t ready for.)
SNG - $5.50 buy in – 14 plays, 1 first, 2 second’s, 5 fourth’s - -$22 (Just call me bubble boy)
Multi-Table Tourney – 6 tourneys, -$37, best finish 62/400 no money places
2004
I plunged headlong into 2004 really determined to improve my game. I started reading everything I could find on the internet and started devoting much more time to the game. I came across Poker Tracker and this has proven to be an invaluable tool. Breakdowns:
.25/.50 – 19.71 hours, 1405 hands, -2.65BB /100 (This level has proven to be my nemesis. I just can’t overcome the players. I haven’t tried to go back since improving my game so it may be different now but getting killed doesn’t begin to describe this train wreck.)
.50/1 – 107.47 hours, 7943 hands, 4.71BB/100 (I finally hit my stride and the game became much clearer to me when I moved up. I’ve played more hands at this level than any other and I’m confident that I can always make money here if I have to.)
1/2 – 65.7 hours, 4233 hands, 1.92BB/100 (This is my current level and as you can see I’m not enjoying the same success I had at .50/1. I’m still close to the 2BB/100 mark though and this includes a bad run that I had for over two weeks. I’m only now starting to recover from that so the BB figure is a bit skewed. I’m quite confident that over the long term I will have success here.)
SNG – 23 played over varying levels of $2, $5, and 2 $10, 3 first’s – 2 second’s- 4 third’s, -$29.50 – (I took two months off of playing these and when I played three last week I finished in the money in all three of them. I know my no limit game has gotten better but I’m not ready to devote much money to these yet.)
Multi-Table tourney’s – 7 tourney’s, -$92.13, best finish 10/129 – (My tenth place finish was my only money win but it only gave me a profit of $1.37 since it was a two dollar tournament.)
Future
For the short term I want to keep myself out of the dark place my game went recently. My wife is going back to work next week so my bankroll is my own again. No more bleeding off the profits so I can build up and move on. The wife doesn’t want to keep working though so I’ve decided to set a goal. I have no set time frame in mind but I want to be able to supplement her income by playing poker. She wants to be home with the kids and I want her to be as well.
To accomplish this I’m going to try to go into overdrive and soak up as much knowledge into my shriveled brain as I can. I will need to take home $400 dollars a week to do this. Now in order to be a good citizen I need to take taxes into account. This will be 27% federal and 7.84% state. A good win of about $600 a week should pay the taxes and allow the $400 in profit to go into the bank. Allowing for family time I will more than likely only get an average of 13 hours a week to play. At a single table I would need to beat a 15/30 game for a decent win rate to earn this money. I could multi table a lower level and get the same money so I’ll have to see how it goes. At 15/30 I will need a bankroll of $9,000 so I’m a long ways away at this point. I want to be able to make the money and still have some leftover to continue to grow the bankroll so I’m probably a year or so out for this goal.
I also want to spend some more time on the SNG tables. If I can get these under reasonable control then I’ll move more seriously into multi-table tourneys. I’m going to hold off for a while on this one as well since I need to build a cushion for myself at the 1/2 level first.
Well there it is. Past, Present, and Future. I know I have a lofty goal to have the wife at home but it’s not an unattainable one and I’m under no pressure to do it right away. Any way that’s it. Comment if you have any suggestions.
That’s much better. Why an address you ask? Well I officially completed my first year of playing online poker on June 19. I figured since I’ve been in a rut at the tables lately that I should look back, check my progress, and prepare a road map for the future. It seems like just yesterday I was playing the .01/.02 tables at UltimateBet. Since then I’ve used the “build a bankroll” technique to move from one level to the next. I tried my hand at multi-table tourneys, and sit-n-go’s as well. What better way to chart the progress than give a recap of all my numbers.
2003
Online play is really my only experience. This whole thing started out as just something fun to do. I didn’t have much money to invest so I was just looking to see what I could do. My play was very sporadic during 2003 and I rarely played more than 2 or 3 times a week. Approaching the end of the year I decided to take the game seriously and see what I could do. The breakdown of the levels are:
.01/.02 – 15.15 hours played, 862 hands, 10.38BB/100 hands (If only I could do that at 15/30 without having a clue what I was doing)
.25/.50 – 113.77 hours, 6871 hands, -3.58BB /100 (The fact that I had no clue what I was doing became very evident. I was holding my own at first but I quickly lost money after that. I think I read Sklansky’s Advanced Hold’em during this period which only made things worse for me. I took everything as literal and didn’t know how to apply it to my game.)
.50/1 – 9.5 hours, 761 hands, -7.88BB /100 (A horrible attempt to spend a week at a level I wasn’t ready for.)
SNG - $5.50 buy in – 14 plays, 1 first, 2 second’s, 5 fourth’s - -$22 (Just call me bubble boy)
Multi-Table Tourney – 6 tourneys, -$37, best finish 62/400 no money places
2004
I plunged headlong into 2004 really determined to improve my game. I started reading everything I could find on the internet and started devoting much more time to the game. I came across Poker Tracker and this has proven to be an invaluable tool. Breakdowns:
.25/.50 – 19.71 hours, 1405 hands, -2.65BB /100 (This level has proven to be my nemesis. I just can’t overcome the players. I haven’t tried to go back since improving my game so it may be different now but getting killed doesn’t begin to describe this train wreck.)
.50/1 – 107.47 hours, 7943 hands, 4.71BB/100 (I finally hit my stride and the game became much clearer to me when I moved up. I’ve played more hands at this level than any other and I’m confident that I can always make money here if I have to.)
1/2 – 65.7 hours, 4233 hands, 1.92BB/100 (This is my current level and as you can see I’m not enjoying the same success I had at .50/1. I’m still close to the 2BB/100 mark though and this includes a bad run that I had for over two weeks. I’m only now starting to recover from that so the BB figure is a bit skewed. I’m quite confident that over the long term I will have success here.)
SNG – 23 played over varying levels of $2, $5, and 2 $10, 3 first’s – 2 second’s- 4 third’s, -$29.50 – (I took two months off of playing these and when I played three last week I finished in the money in all three of them. I know my no limit game has gotten better but I’m not ready to devote much money to these yet.)
Multi-Table tourney’s – 7 tourney’s, -$92.13, best finish 10/129 – (My tenth place finish was my only money win but it only gave me a profit of $1.37 since it was a two dollar tournament.)
Future
For the short term I want to keep myself out of the dark place my game went recently. My wife is going back to work next week so my bankroll is my own again. No more bleeding off the profits so I can build up and move on. The wife doesn’t want to keep working though so I’ve decided to set a goal. I have no set time frame in mind but I want to be able to supplement her income by playing poker. She wants to be home with the kids and I want her to be as well.
To accomplish this I’m going to try to go into overdrive and soak up as much knowledge into my shriveled brain as I can. I will need to take home $400 dollars a week to do this. Now in order to be a good citizen I need to take taxes into account. This will be 27% federal and 7.84% state. A good win of about $600 a week should pay the taxes and allow the $400 in profit to go into the bank. Allowing for family time I will more than likely only get an average of 13 hours a week to play. At a single table I would need to beat a 15/30 game for a decent win rate to earn this money. I could multi table a lower level and get the same money so I’ll have to see how it goes. At 15/30 I will need a bankroll of $9,000 so I’m a long ways away at this point. I want to be able to make the money and still have some leftover to continue to grow the bankroll so I’m probably a year or so out for this goal.
I also want to spend some more time on the SNG tables. If I can get these under reasonable control then I’ll move more seriously into multi-table tourneys. I’m going to hold off for a while on this one as well since I need to build a cushion for myself at the 1/2 level first.
Well there it is. Past, Present, and Future. I know I have a lofty goal to have the wife at home but it’s not an unattainable one and I’m under no pressure to do it right away. Any way that’s it. Comment if you have any suggestions.
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