sevens

I haven’t updated in a while, mostly because it hasn’t been going that great.  I played early this morning and lost my mind for 2 BIs.  Then I played 2k tonight and had to lay down top pair and top two pair quite regularly, and got coolered with middle set vs made flush.  Ugh….

The morning sesh’ where I lost my mind…..hey, at least I had a $25 lesson on 3-betting.  Here it is in case you didn’t already know this:  When you 3-bet a person with a high steal percentage (like….30%+) and they call, THEY FRIGGING HAVE IT. JACKS OR BETTER OR ACE KING.   Then (OH YES, THERE IS A THEN), when they check raise an A22 flop and you have TT, THEY HAVE AK, THEY ARE NOT BLUFFING YOU.  DO NOT RERAISE ALL IN. 

Other than those two spazz’s, I think I’m playing well, this is just the nature of poker.  At least in my experience, this is how runs go.  

Stake update: +$30

Yeah I lost track of days.  Whatev.  

I’ve played 2 sessions since my last update I think, one of them I ended down less than a buy-in, and had a bunch of “wow” moments.  #1 - Don’t build big pots when I don’t know where I’m at, like in the case of an overpair.  What I need to do is decide on the flop what I’m going to do (do this if X, do this if Y, and do this if Z, for example).  #2 - When I just flat call on the river - like when I try to take a passive line OOP with one pair by c/c turn c/c river - I’m more often than not behind.  I think this is probably because most people at 25NL aren’t big bet bluffing the turn and river like ever.  And if they’re a bad player, the more likely it is they are big betting with hands that beat one pair.  #3 - I have Ax or a paint or a low pair - Basically whenever I’m repp’ing Ax on an Axx flop, and I get raised or checkraised - One pair is only as good as a bluff catcher because they rarely have a weaker one pair.  

Anyways, my session was not on Full Tilt, because I couldn’t log on to FT for some reason, but I could on Stars.  So I played like 200 hands, ended +1 BI, and called it a day.  I just needed to keep my game sharp.  

So I’m re-reading NLHTAP for a second time, and the two sections that have really stuck out for me are the sections on bet sizing and bluff bet sizing.  The first one is fairly straight forward - big hand = big pot, small hand = small pot.  Everyone gets their fair share of big hands and small hands in the long run, and those who make big pots with their big hands will be profitable in the long run.  The second concept is one I didn’t notice before.  Basically what the book recommends is when bluffing, you don’t bluff to make someone fold.  You bluff to make them fold a specific hand.  For example, you think a bet of X amount will get them to fold one pair, but not hands better than that.  You put them on a one pair hand as most of their range; don’t bet more than you need to (X amount will get one pair to fold, remember?) to get the job done.  On the other side of the coin, don’t bet so little that one pair will still call and you don’t know where you’re at.  

Stake update: +$185

8 tabled 25NL for like 900 hands tonight.  Had some standard big hands - flop a set vs top two, get it all in vs a spew monkey, blah blah blah - and some standard “this fish has the top 1% of his range again lol” second best hands.   I also went 0/3 getting KK to showdown tonight, lol.  Once I actually check folded after 3-betting a BTN raise from the SB.  I don’t have the HH but basically it went down like this.

10/5 open raises from the BTN, I 3-bet a PSB with KK and he calls.  We’re full stacked.  Flop is AQx.  I thought based on stats, I only beat 2 logical hands, both of which are not calling a flop bet, and I’m way behind to the rest of his range.  I beat TT and JJ, but way behind AA, AK, AQ, and QQ.  So I actually check folded.  Ugh.  But I think it was the right play.  It just felt nitty.  

The other two were folding KK on an ATTJx 3-flush board to a river bet, and folding KK on an Axx two tone board to a donk PSB by a bad player.  I didn’t want to turn KK into a bluff catcher so I just folded.  

My lol hand of the night was timing out with QQ - I honestly don’t remember how that happened, maybe I was just getting too many other tables popping up, but I rarely time out from too much action any more - and I would have flopped AQQ vs two fish who were giving action.  Hah!

Stake Update: +$190.  

I played a little over 1k hands yesterday, and it was a series of villains having the top 1% of their range and flopping awesome vs big hands.  I ended in the green for the night, so I can’t really complain, but I had a pretty basic lesson smack me in the face.  When bad players bet big, it’s the nuts like every time.  I had a hand with AA where I had position on a full stack who ran 56/2 or something like that.  He check called a board of 347 or something.  The turn was a 3 and the river was inconsequential, but he lead out for decent bets on the turn and river and I called him down, and he flipped up A3o for trip 3s.  I mean…I really thought that overpairs or one pair might be in his range, but then I thought about what goes through the mind of bad players.  They don’t get aggro in the right spots often enough, they wait until they have two pair or better.  They are bad because they play too many hands and don’t know what to do with them all.  So when they have big hands, they either get super trappy or play them face up.  

I also totally got pwned by a guy who slowplayed a set all the way to the river and I had a big overpair (I don’t remember if it was AA or KK).  And I flopped a set of queens vs a guy who tried to trap with AA by flatting pre.  

Stake update: +$136

The stake is on!  

It started with $400 on Full Tilt (backer’s name not included because I don’t know if I have the OK to include it or not) and today was my first session for the stake.  I played like 900 hands total today, and ended +$120.   I was flopped like 3 or 4 sets, but the biggest hand was cracking aces 150BBs deep.  I had QJs in the BB with $39 and the SB had me covered.  A few people limped in and the SB made it $1.50 to go.  Normally I don’t call there, but I felt that if he had AA/KK, I had great implied odds and could just fold if I don’t flop two pair or better.  The flop came QJx and he checked, I lead out for $3.50 into a $4.50 pot, and he check raised to $10.  I had like $35 left and I reraised all in.   He thought for a second and called, flipped up AA, and my top two pair held up.  

But damn, I think 25NL at FT is actually softer than 25NL at PS.  Here’s to more running great!  As per the stake and my backer’s goals, I suspect that I’ll be taking a shot at 50NL on FT much sooner bankroll wise than my first shot at 50 on PS.  Things have been going great and I feel really confident in my 25NL game, so I’ll just need to make a few adjustments to start beating 50 (I hope!)

I’m also buying two more poker books tomorrow, Small Stakes NL (Malmuth) and a hard copy of NLHTAP.  I have the latter on my laptop as a pdf file but having it as an actual book will let me read it on the plane when I head back to MN a week from wednesday.  

On to more flopping awesome ~

I had a 600 hand session at 50NL the other night, lost about $70 (totally standard, no big deal, I never got my money in behind), but some of it was me being out aggro’ed in NSD pots.  Then, the next night, I had a sweat session at 25NL with Split Suit and we talked about some pretty basic stuff I think I was overlooking, like bet sizing and why we raise.  I realized there are some small kinks I need to work out, and I feel more comfortable doing it at a level I know I can beat and where the money means less if I lose.  I will probably play a couple more weeks at 25 while I’m working on things like flatting pre instead of 3-betting, steal bet sizing, c-betting, and my personal favorite non c-bet bluff, the double barrel.  Against weak tight TAGs, double barrel bluffing is pretty profitable IMO.  I don’t know if I got lucky in this hand, but I think I played it well. 

I open from MP with QJs and am flat called by a tight BTN.  Flop is 468r (or something, he either has a set, or doesn’t know what to do with a pocket pair, sometimes missed AQ/AK) and he calls my c-bet after tanking for a second.  His logical range, in my mind, was unimproved pocket pairs that he didn’t know what to do with, like 22 - TT.  The turn is a K, and I think he really doesn’t like it, as it hits my logical range, mostly AK.  I bet and he folds pretty quickly.   There was enough left behind that I could easily fold to a raise, in which case his range is either a set (since I’m supposed to have AK there) or AK that he decided to float the flop with and now he’s turning it into a bluff (sort of).  

I’m also rereading some sections of NLHTAP because I’ve heard several people reference it, and I realized that there are some really great gems in there, and I need to solidify some post-flop concepts.  

So, here’s to crushing 25NL for just a little longer.

I took my first shot at 50NL tonight.  I made a decision to take a 5 BI shot, and my stop loss would be BR $750, at which point I would grind 25NL until BR $1k again.  

Unfortunately, the weather was not on my side tonight; bad heat lightning made my internet connection so slow that I actually was disconnected at one point.  After about 15 minutes and 50 hands, I decided to call it a night and try again when I could have a better connection. 

Aside from some pretty standard non-showdown pots with AK, 99, and KTs, the only other big hand I had was AA vs AQo all in preflop for 50BBs, which held up.  So nothing really eventful, but I can always say my first session of 50NL ever was a profitable one!

I also finished my article for pokertutoronline.com, titled “Thinking Through a Hand”.  It’s not up yet, but I’ll be sure to link it here as soon as it is. 

I broke $1,000 bankroll tonight!  That’s starting from scratch - $0 last summer, won $5 in a PPA Drive freeroll, and have been learning and grinding for a little over a year now.  It’s not a huge deal crossing that line, but it just feels really awesome to look in my Cashier and see 4 digits instead of 3.  

Bankroll status: $1,017 and some change.

That is all. :)

Life is great all around!  I’m on vacation in WA state for the month of August visiting my family while in between semesters at school.  I’ve recently switched my major from Guitar Performance to Composition and Song Writing.  So this should be a good break for transitioning and thinking about life.  I won’t be able to play as much poker, but I’ll still be able to put in a good clip this month, probably close to 20k hands.  

In poker news, things are going great on Poker Stars.  I’m very very close to 20 BIs at 50NL, but there are other developments that I’m excited about before taking a shot at 50NL.  I was approached by a 100NL reg  on 2+2 who’s game I have a lot of respect for, offering to stake me on Full Tilt.  There’s really no downside at all; I get some really good coaching for the price of splitting my profits, I’ll have a much more solid game after the stake is over, and I can combine my winnings with my Stars bankroll when it’s over.  We both have the same goals for me too: 100NL by the end of the year.  

I will be doing a 25NL video sometime this week too, depending on when I have the time to, just probably general stuff.  And I’m working on an article outlining what’s important to learning to beat micro stakes.  

And here’s a hand I felt I played well from last night.

Villain was a huge calling station; the first hand I saw him show down was A high, calling all the way to the river. 

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (MP1): $46.75
MP2: $15.35
CO: $14.45
BTN: $23.35
SB: $15.25
BB: $51.90
UTG: $78.45
UTG+1: $8.15

Pre Flop: Hero is MP1 with Q Q
2 folds, Hero raises to $1, MP2 calls $1, 2 folds, SB calls $0.90, 1 fold

Flop: ($3.25) T K 6 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.75, MP2 calls $2.75, SB folds

Turn: ($8.75) T (2 players)
Hero bets $6.75, MP2 calls $6.75

River: ($22.25) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $5, MP2 calls $4.85 all in

Final Pot: $31.95
Hero shows Qs Qh (two pair, Queens and Tens)
MP2 mucks 6h Ac
Hero wins $30.45
(Rake: $1.50)

So I put in like 2k hands over the weekend.  I’m very excited to get back to playing!  I had to hold off for a few days because of school and finals week and whatnot.  I played bad and dropped a couple buyins, so I had to quit early on the first night, but I got my focus back and played well most of the weekend.  The time that I did not play well was right after playing in the forum donakment.  lol

So 25NL has been good to me for the first 6,500 hands. 90% of the time, I’m playing well.  I know for a fact I’ve been running really well too.  Good example:

I have TT UTG+1.  A nitty full stack opens for 2x UTG.  I flat, thinking he has a big hand. Flop comes A high with no draws.  Pot is 5bb.  He bets 3bb, I flat and peel a card.  I turn trips.  He shoves all in (what) with AQ and I call.  

Man I suck at blogs…..I’m just really happy with my play and my progress right now.  I should be taking a shot at 50NL very soon, if not within the week. 

Bankroll update: ~$800