Downswing

I'm officially on my biggest downswing ever, 9 buy-ins at 2/4. Im supposed to head down to Atlantic City this afternoon, but I really should just take a big break from poker right now.

I have no excuses. I'm playing badly, flat out.

All great things have to end eventually

Last Friday was a particularly interesting day. My friend Chris from high school, who plays 50NL and 100NL, came over to my house and we planned to grind together. I got stuck $1700 and decided to go sit at 5/10 NL heads up on Full Tilt. A complete idiot sat with $400 against me and built his stack up to 2K at one point. While I should have never sat at these stakes in the first place, I felt it was the right decision to continue playing because he was so bad. I came back and stacked him, but I am still a little upset at myself for playing higher stacks in the wrong frame of mind. I usually have much better self-control than that.

I'm currently on a mini-downswing, particularly at 2/4 NL on Absolute. Im specifically down $2,250 over my last 1K hands there. Ive run into some tough coolers, but I've also made a couple bad decisions in big pots. I'm going to post some of the hands that I'm questioning my play in. You guys can feel free to comment on any of them... the more feedback, the better. I actually need to begin posting hands on forums again.


Hand 1: Learn to fold hands, dude

This is the most obviously butchered hand of any, in my opinion. Villain is roughly 20/15 at this point in the session, which are very solid numbers for the crazy players at Absolute. I think that the turn is an incredibly obvious check/fold spot. He won't have AA/KK often at all here, but at the same time TT is the only hand I can beat... and I feel that TT will check behind here a lot here. I lost $300 here that was completely unnecessary.

Hand 2: Freaking overpairs again

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Villain is unknown at this point. I think it looks fine, but comments on all streets would be appreciated. I mix up 4 betting and just calling preflop in this spot, and was in the air about what to do on the flop. I also wonder what I should have done if he lead out on the turn. I had planned to probably fold if he made any sizable bet on the turn. Agree or disagree with this plan versus an unknown?

Hand 3: Villain seems strong, should I still jam?

Semi-bluffing is always a big part of my arsenal, but it gets questionable when you feel like your opponent has a strong made hand. When the hand was happening, I didn't have stats on the villain, but his small 3 bet and healthy-sized flop bet seemed very strong to me at the time. Do you guys ever just call in spots like this when you feel like JJ+ makes up a very large portion of your opponent's range? I should probably pokerstove this hand, but I feel like it's very marginal whether to call or raise, especially when we were slightly deep.

Hand 4: When to give up versus someone you have history against

This is what poker is all about. Villain is a pain-in-the-ass regular, running about 25/21 over a couple hundred hands. We have been 3 betting each other preflop, and I can sense that he doesn't want to give me much credit in any pots we're involved. The board texture makes a call-down more complicated because I feel like he could be semi-bluffing OR putting me on a draw. I feel like he can put me on a queen by the time I call the turn, but does that mean I have to fold the river? I don't know. I guess I have to tip my hat to him once he bets $340 on the river? Does anyone jam the turn?



By the way: Happy holidays, everyone.

So far, so good

2/4 NL on Absolute is going really well so far. Variance has been a good friend to me, as I have run my initial 2K on the site up to 7K already.

I'll show you the most interesting hand I've played on Absolute so far: This is going to surprise you. You may argue that it looks like I'm squeezing here (and thus someone might 4 bet me without a complete monster), but with an UTG raise I feel like the big blind is SCREAMING strength. I had him running at 20/13, he really wasn't getting out of line. With us sitting deep-stacked, this was a really shitty spot where I felt like I had to shove. If I shove, I feel like only aces are calling. This is a really rare fold for me, but I honestly feel good about this decision.

I will only log roughly 15K hands in for December because of finals earlier and the fact that I spend days straight with my girlfriend. However... as long as I don't run bad to end the month, I should have really good results. Let's keep our fingers crossed that good things keep happening.

I'm going to finally play some live poker again after Christmas. My friend Mike has a beach house 10 minutes from the casinos in Atlantic City. It looks like my friend Pete (famousanus) and his friend Jared are also gonna head down, so it should be fun to have us wreck some of the live games at Borgata. I'll probably just play 2/5 NL to start, but if Im feeling comfortable in the live setting I'll probably jump to 5/10 NL. For a lot of online poker pros, live poker is just a hobby that they often donk around in. I want to actually win at live poker, though, just to prove to myself that I can beat any poker game I choose to sit down in.

I run good at life

To put it simply: My life has been awesome lately. I got a 3.8 GPA for this past semester, which is a huge leap over any previous semester and helps out my cumulative GPA greatly. I've also fallen in love with my girlfriend. We have awesome chemistry and meeting each other's parents last week went really well.

I'm running well and playing well on Absolute. I've taught myself to stop bluffing the unbluffable players on Absolute. Patience is a big virtue versus these guys. I had a big score tonight, winning 7 buy-ins. I now feel like it's time to move up to 2/4 NL on the site. Even if 2/4 NL is only moderately more difficult than 1/2, I will still make a killing in these games.

One way that I'm actually motivating myself to work in poker is by setting goals of things to purchase. Specifically, I want to get an Infiniti G35 at the end of spring semester. I have decided that if I make a certain amount in the first 4 months of 2008, I will get one. This goal has really gotten me excited about poker overall.

Finally trying out new sites

It has been over a year since I played cash games on any site besides Full Tilt (PartyPoker being the last, lol). I love Full Tilt's software, but the games are so tough that I am basically burning money to not play on smaller sites. I moved 2K onto Absolute this week. I'm currently playing 200NL on there to get comfortable with the software and build my account up a bit. After that, Ill start grinding 2/4 NL on there and see how it goes. So far, the games seem good.

In non-poker news, I'm already done with my final exams and it's only December 10th, so that feels great. I had a relatively easy semester, and should get a higher GPA than I have any previous semester. The truth is that I'll be content with just having a 3.0 GPA when I graduate. It is basically a pride thing since I probably won't use my degree directly anyway. Anyway, now that I'm done school, I have over 3 weeks to focus on poker. I'm expecting big things from myself.

First real heads-up battle

Yesterday, I played my longest HU match against someone. Though I have played a lot of heads-up the past month or two, I typically have short sessions against weak players. If a session lasts longer than 200-300 hands, it is abnormally long. This system has produced great results for me, but I also want to find ways to improve my HU game against better players.

My session yesterday was against someone I believed I had an edge against. He seemed competent, but was playing too tight preflop and seemed to have exploitable leaks postflop. I asked him if he wanted to start up a 2nd table (which I don't normally ask opponents), and he said yes. We proceeded to log a 820 hand session, which is pretty long for HU.

I can honestly say this was the most fun I've had playing poker in a while. As the session progressed, I realized he was a smart player and adjusting to my style. It became a grueling mental battle. I don't have much experience playing more than 1 HU table, but I realized that there are even more head games when you're playing multiple tables versus the same opponent.

When all was said and done, we played for stacks several times, took bad beats on both ends, and had a mutual respect for each other. I lost roughly $600. I talked to him on MSN messenger after the session, and learned that he normally plays 5/10 NL 6 max. I doubt we'll have a rematch because my edge is either microscopic or non-existent. I just hope to have learned from the experience. Here are a few hands from the session:

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Hand 1: Having an image helps Heads-up

I had been taking stabs at pots on the river versus him early on, and he had been looking me up. That helped greatly to get paid off in this spot. I remember when Phil Ivey said that it is never that bad to get caught bluffing - and he couldn't be more right.


Hand 2: See, I can mix it up too!

By this point in the match, there has been a lot of 3 betting by both parties preflop. I began floating his 3 bets in position with marginally good hands, so I thought this was a good spot to mix it up and just call his 3 bet with a monster. I just called on the flop to disguise the strength of my hand, because I felt like it would smell like a bluff when I go to bet the turn. The plan followed through greatly and I managed to get my money in with 75% equity.

Hand 3: Meta-game sure makes you stack lightly

This was at the tail end of our session. We had crazy meta-game going on. Since I had been C/Ring his continuation bets a lot, I figured it may actually be smart to do it here with TP no kicker. I expected there to be a chance of him floating me with nothing. When the turn came, I realized I had to stack off with my hand. I actually love his cold call of my C/R since I have air so often there. I believe the hand played itself when the way the board was on the turn.

November = Bad work ethic, good results

November is over, and it brings mixed feelings for me:



I should be happy with my results for little amount of time I played, but only playing for 36 hours over the entire month is pretty pathetic. I should be able to play at least double the hours and not feel like it is a "grind". I need a better work ethic even if I am going to accomplish my goals in poker. That also includes being able to balance poker with academics, my social life, my girlfriend, and some exercise too.

I think I made a lot of strides in my heads-up game the past 2 months. I have run VERY hot heads-up over a 15-20K sample since August, but I feel like I am playing well also. My hand reading skills and my overall fundamentals in NL hold em continue to improve, in spite of not putting the hours in. The problem is I haven't had the desire to play 6 max lately, but I'm sure the desire will come back soon.

I filled out an application to be the protégé of Cardrunners owner Taylor Caby. He is going to select one regular CR member to take under his wing next year. I spent a decent amount of time making sure I answered the interview questions well. It would be awesome to become Taylor's student. He is an amazing NL player that I could learn a lot from, and I know I would make the most of it. Unfortunately, I will be competing with about 1,000 other applicants for the spot. If one of my friends gets selected, I will be just as excited for them (albeit jealous, as well).

Please don't yell at me...

Okay, so the truth is that I am playing less poker this month than I have in a loooong time. When I have been playing, though, I have been playing mostly heads-up. I feel like HU is refreshing right now, because I don't have to fire up a bunch of programs to log a session. The session also ends whenever I feel the right time is to quit; whereas with 6 max, I feel like I have to force myself to play at least 2 hours. I will eventually get back into the swing of playing 6 max, but in the mean time, HU is improving my ability to adjust to opponents' styles.

Things with my girlfriend are starting out really well. We have good chemistry, and seem to have the same goals in our relationship. Unfortunately, I have been home for Thanksgiving break and haven't been able to see her lately. I'm heading back on Sunday, and we'll probably try to spend a lot of time together over the near future.

School is going well, given the fact that I have never put much of an effort into college. It's also going well outside of academics because living with 5 other guys gets me socializing a lot. The only area I am really lacking in (outside of being lazy with poker) is that I am getting close to no exercise. I want my energy level to be a lot higher than it has been, and just being overall fit makes anyone happier overall. Now, if only I could light a fire under my ass...

HAUPT! Two three four...

I played heads-up against my friend Haupt yesterday online. He is a very good 6 max player (solid winner at 2/4 to 5/10), but has little HU experience. We agreed to play small stakes, but to take it seriously. I played him because we could discuss hands together in real time. Playing each other is -EV for both of us (if we're not learning from it).

I beat Haupt up, winning a little less than 5 buy-ins. I got a nice run of cards, but he also overplayed a couple hands. Regardless of any results, it was a fun experience. I would do it again as long as we are playing for productive reasons. Here are some of the more interesting hands from the session:

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Hand 1: The very first hand. Nice one, sir.

I had a feeling that Haupt might be very aggressive in the beginning of the match, but I had no idea he'd go apeshit on the very first hand. The fact that I know Haupt plays me aggressively was the reason I kind of close my eyes and called his shove. I was getting about 2-to-1 and figured it was a marginal decision. I also didn't want to set a precedent of being run over. I was shocked when I saw his 64o. I really don't like his shove. I'm just going to shrug, and then call his shove a lot (with the range I am 4 betting). I have to be 4 betting lightly in order for him to induce a fold.

Hand 2: Nice river for me...maybe?

Haupt was already down a lot at this point. He was still playing quite aggressive. The J on the turn was a decent card for him to 2nd barrel without having improved, so this actually made me slightly more apt to call. When the river spiked a ten, I was contemplating a check-raise, but figured he would give up too often. I lead out, he thought for a bit, and then min raised. I had no idea what to think; a better ten was the only hand that made sense. It seemed very believable in my eyes that I had trip tens myself. With the really good odds I was getting, I shrugged and called (again). I was really surprised to see air. I don't really like Haupt's raise because if he had a strong hand like an overpair, he would usually just call the river. I also think it's more likely that I have a ten than a missed draw here (though I know my game better than he does).

Hand 3: Did you put me on air again, Haupt?

This is a really shitty spot vs any good, aggressive player. 99 is a tweener hand preflop; I'm not sure whether to call or 4 bet. I decided to just call, knowing the flop would come with overcards often and it'd be a really tough spot once he c-bets. For this reason, I decided I had to peel one card. I saw little point in betting the turn, since I could see him checking better hands on the turn (for pot control, OR for deception). I hit gin on the river, and was pretty surprised I got paid off. I doubt I am going to value bet a hand less than his on the river, so he is basically hoping I have complete air there.

Hand 4: Sick bluff, Haupt. I like it.

I have to check/raise the flop with air occassionally, in order to protect myself from being exploited too much. When Haupt called, the board was so dry that I figured I should just give up. When he checked behind the turn, I put him on a K, or a middle pocket pair. His bet on the river looked like an obvious value bet, so I instantly folded. When he showed air, I was shocked. I actually like the line he took a lot. The fact that he delayed his bluff until the river made it very convincing that he didn't float me.

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Haupt has great hand reading skills and fundamentals. Once he logs more hands at heads up, he will be a very strong HU player. I definitely think he's the better 6 max player between the two of us.

Thinking about life

I am already getting antsy about renting a house in Vegas next summer. It's an opportunity to get away from school and the sometimes depressing atmosphere of Pittsburgh, PA. It's also my chance to see what it is like to live with several other poker players my age. I actually have visions of buying my first house right out of college (in spring 2009), and having a couple poker playing friends live with me. As of right now, odds are I'm just going to play poker for the time-being after I graduate. I love the freedom that playing poker allows me. Ideally, I'll live someplace sunny with 2-3 others in a nice house.

I need that external factor of having poker friends in order to keep me motivated. If I had no one to talk to about poker, I would almost never have the drive to play. Part of what motivates me is being able to move up the ladder in the poker world, and to share my success with people who can relate. I also enjoy analyzing poker hands and general theory with people.

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My life is in a unique situation right now. Lots of my friends are stressing over school now that we're in junior year of college. That has taken high priority in their lives. For me, I am content to just get by and receive my degree. I'd like to have a 3.0 GPA when I graduate, but that's the extent of my academic worries. I'm not stressing over finding internships or extra curricular activities. I'm also not strapped financially, so that's another worry that doesn't exist for me. Lately, I've been just doing a lot of thinking about where my life is heading. I want to find happiness. I feel like I have a lot of good friends here at Pitt and I am having a good college experience, but something is missing.

Part of it is that I feel much happier when I have a partner to share my experiences with. Having a girlfriend raises my confidence and makes me enjoy the little things in life much more. I've started seeing a girl I met at Pitt recently, and we've hit it off well. I like her a lot and hope it works out. This whole experience is making me quickly feel invested in her. I'm already relying on the situation to be a piece of the puzzle to make me happy in life, which I probably shouldn't be doing.

Ron Paul cured my apathy

I feel like it's my duty to tell you guys about presidential candidate Ron Paul (if you don't already know him). Ron Paul is a strong advocate of social AND economic freedom. He reflects the views of many poker players. He's also the first of his kind with a REAL chance to win the election.

I donated $100 to him today. It was the first time I've ever donated money to a political campaign. The past couple years, I was apathetic to world issues and our government, because I figured nothing would change in the right direction. Our country has been heading towards bigger government: more spending, more bureaucracy, and less of the ideals our founding fathers sought. Here are some of the key views Ron Paul advocates:

1.) Elimination of the IRS and the income tax. Revenue from income taxes only represents a third of all government spending. If we cut spending levels to what it was at the beginning of the 21st century, we wouldn't even need the money from income taxes anymore. The income tax didn't even exist until last century, and is completely unnecessary.

2.) No longer being the world's police force. Ron Paul has recognized for the past 3 decades that the US trying to police the world has only created negative effects. A large reason for animosity towards America is because we have been trying to tell other countries how to run themselves. We do not need to police the world in order to achieve free trade, and happy relationships with other nations.

3.) Elimination of social security. Everyone knows that the SS system in this country is quickly going broke. We are pouring billions of dollars into a system that won't be able to support older Americans anyway. Ron Paul supports privatizing social security, which is the only logical path to take in order to fix this mess created.



Even if you "don't care about politics", there is still a lot to be gained from supporting Ron Paul. I strongly recommend everyone do some basic research on him (he has a ton of videos on Youtube), and donate if you feel that he represents where America should be heading.

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November is off to a good start poker-wise. I hate to set monetary goals, since they are hard to achieve in a swingy game.... but if I make less than 8K this month, I will be disappointed.

Review of October

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I haven't played much poker at all lately. School, women, etc are taking up a bit more energy than I was expecting. Here are my results for October:



I am not happy about the amount of laziness I had this month. I fell 6K hands short of what I said I'd play at 2/4 NL 6 max. This was my first month playing almost completely at 2/4. It went okay, with a pretty small winrate at 6 max. I had some very swingy sessions. I do feel like I am game selecting well, it's just a matter of putting in a higher volume.

I also need to do more with my poker game (outside of playing). I have not been discussing hands with friends, or watching videos as much as in the past. I strongly believe my game improved most rapidly around July of this summer. At that time, I was constantly treating myself as a serious student of the game. Lately, I've kinda been mechanically playing hands in a standard way. I need to think about the game more if I want to keep improving.

For November, I'm not going to set any real goals. I expect to have my best month ever ($$$-wise) as long as I play enough hands, table select, and keep studying the game. I do wonder how many hands I'm going to put in. I have a guest coming over for 3 days, and it's also likely I'll have more involvement with women (or one in particular) than I have in a while. Women are definitely -EV if you are trying to maximize in the poker world. :P

Yucky session, sir

I had a really rough session today. Lost $1800 over 500 hands. It was basically just 4 all-in pots, in which it was a really standard hand. That's poker, though it really sucks to lose 4.5 buy-ins when it's not even in my control.

Not to toot my own horn, but I definitely complain less than 95% of poker players. I've spent the past 2+ years listening to most other players bitch about bad beats, coolers, etc and it's made me realize I never want to sound like them. If I'm going to actually play poker for the long haul, I'm going to have to take the losing times like a man. At the end of today's session, I reviewed the session with an open mind. I asked people about a few hands where I felt I played it fine, but wanted to make sure unbiased sources agreed with me. You have to keep an open mind, and always be looking for lessons to learn from your hands.

I got my hardest mid-term coming up on Monday, which sucks because I'm finally in the mood to grind right now. Oh well, time to hit the books.

UPSWONGS LOL

I am on an upswing the past week or so, and October is shaping up to be a good month now. As long as I table select, I feel very confident playing 2/4 NL on Full Tilt. The only thing that could hold me back from having a very strong end to 2007 is laziness. I do need to branch out to other sites, though. Full Tilt has, bar none, the toughest cash games online. It is stupid of me to not want to play vs easier competition. My friend Pete plays 3/6 and 5/10 NL on a smaller site, and admits the competition he faces is much easier than I do at 2/4 NL on Full Tilt.

Pokertracker has been acting up for me for the past several days, and it's very aggravating. Luckily, the PT support is very quick and helpful, so hopefully this will get fixed soon. I've been data mining a LOT at 2/4 NL on Full Tilt lately, which has bloated the size of my database. That is likely the reason behind the errors I am getting lately.

Side note: I never get tired of watching poker on TV (High Stakes Poker in particular). I have amazing recall of hands televised. It's fun to see how bad some of the "TV pros" play on the show. I truly respect only a few of the players on HSP. Antonio Esfandiari is perhaps the only top NL player who is on every season. If you want to see some great TV, watch Season 2 when Antonio, Phil Laak, Sammy, Negreanu, drunk Jen Harman, and Minh Ly are on. Some of the best television, period.

Well, that was easy

Last night, I went to log a session 4 tabling. At a 1/2 NL table, a spewy fish was sitting with a big stack. He was running about 52/27 on the session, and had $800 in front of him when I first sat. He talked trash in the chat box after winning/losing a big hand, which combined with his lagtard play was aggravating me. I decided to challenge him to heads-up in the same "test of manhood" that I seem to do every week. I loaded up a 2/4 NL heads up table, and surprisingly he bought in for full.

I then went on to give him a pretty bad beating. He was willing to stack very lightly, and I could see that it would be very easy to outplay him. He was not content on letting me win any big pots. He called every reraise preflop, and called or raised every c-bet in RRed pots. I knew I'd have to gamble in this match.

The main pots:
-Close your eyes and call. He loved to both bluff the river, and value bet very thinly. He would have raised the turn with an ace most of the time, so I felt this was an easy call vs him.
-Sadly, this is a cooler. By this point in the match, I thought my hand was a monster. Even when he 3 bet the flop, I felt great about the situation. It was unfortunate, but comes with the territory of playing a very aggressive HU match.
-The final hand. This is my 2nd biggest pot ever. I'm fortunate to get in a spot like this, but it's still amazing he stacks off 2 buy-ins with bottom two.

One hour later, I was $1400 richer.

"Jesus christ, 4 bet him!"

Last night I played a session at the library where I won $800. I have done well taking my laptop to the library and grinding in the past, probably because I have zero distractions there. My friend Pete, who goes to Pitt and plays 3/6 NL online, watched over me this session. It was pretty funny because he would yell at me about some of my plays right in the middle of the library. I'm sure people were upset with us, since most people were trying to study.

2/4 games have been really shitty lately (all aggro regulars, few non-regulars). I'm trying to actually practice some basic form of table selection. I played two tables of 1/2 NL and two of 2/4 NL last night to compensate for the shitty games, and it worked out well. Even though I am trying to move completely to 2/4 NL right now, I do feel that playing lower when the games are bad is a smart decision. I'd rather get more hands in, and play against soft competition, than play versus a bunch of good 2/4 NL regulars where I have little edge.

I have mid-terms over the course of the next 2 weeks, but I am going to try to grind. I have played about 4.5K hands through 8 days in October, which is embarrassing. I have very poor time management sometimes. I'm gonna make the promise right now to play 7K hands over the next 6 days. Please hold me accountable, and yell at me if I'm ever online but not grinding.

October rulz

...okay, not really. I'm down 5 buy-ins at 2/4 NL 6 max. It hasn't hurt me psychologically, but it still makes me less enthusiastic to grind a lot. I've made various errors, and run badly as well.

I went home this weekend to relax and get a break from the city. It was pretty refreshing. I had planned to get some sessions in while home, but only got one HU session in this morning. I found a loose-passive fish sitting with a deep stack at 1/2 NL and took 2 buy-ins off him. He then left with $350 still in front of him. I would have postponed by drive back to Pittsburgh if he sat long enough. I felt that my edge was that large.

In other news, plans are coming together already for next summer. I'm organizing plans to rent a house in Las Vegas. It will be me and 4-5 other online players who I'm friends with. I found a 5 bedroom place very close to the strip that I'm very interested in, and I've already contacted the owner. The idea behind the house is that we will all be mid-stakes NL grinders, so we'll all have a bond that should make for a lot of fun over the course of a month.

Review of September

I had a bizarre final two days for September, losing 1.2K on Saturday and winning 1.7K today. I was up 2.4K at one point today and pounding my chest, but lost a cooler as my final hand for the month that stung. Oh well. It still is very psychologically satisfying to dig myself out of the hole I was in yesterday.



Overall, September was a mediocre month, and the reoccuring theme was that I didn't push myself enough. I played about 7K hands less than I said I would, and didn't finally dive into 2/4 NL until the end of the month. I do feel like I played well when I did play, but I didn't play nearly enough if I want to keep progressing. I'm hell bent on having a $10K month before the end of 2007 without having to have played more than 25-30K hands any single month. I'm also hell bent on being one of the best mid-stakes players on Full Tilt by the end of the year.


Goals for October:
-Play at least 20K hands at 2/4 NL 6 max
-Play at least 6 sessions of 5/5 NL live
-Take notes on most CardRunners videos (unless it's a video from Andrew)
-Post at least 5 hands per week on CR forums

The harsh reality of online poker

Cardrunners released its new site layout today, and CTS/Muckemsayuhh is the newest Cardrunners pro. He is a very respected high stakes NL and PLO player. He's also only 20 years old, but you would never peg him as being so young because of the amount of respect he has in the online poker community.

Lots of the online winners, most of which are in my 20-25 age range, say that they aren't worried about the future of online poker. I am trying to be a realist. The main problem lies in the fact that poker (unlike the real economy) is a negative sum game. Rake takes tens of millions of dollars out of the online poker economy every year, and the winners obviously take money out of the economy when they cash out. Thus, the only way for the online poker economy to maintain itself requires a LOT of new blood and new money to continually enter it.

The amount of information at anyone's disposal is amazing. The learning curve is so quick that one could go from novice, to winning HS player in less than a year if they push themselves. The amount of people in my age range who are rapidly becoming stronger and stronger NL players is insane. With CTS's new video, that much more information is being consumed by thousands of players.


It has gotten to the point that the shark-to-fish ratio is getting very sour. So many people are excellent players, while fish are more reluctant to part with money now (in comparison to the golden PartyPoker days). In the high stakes games, “fish” don’t really exist anymore. The high stakes games online are so incredibly dry that it’s a bunch of excellent regulars battling it out with little edge over each other.

What all this means, I don’t know. Online poker may just be a complete niche in a few years, where the games are so tough that there is little money to be won. In the mean time, I need to do everything I can to stay with the pack as games keep getting tougher. I’ll start right now by taking notes on CTS’s video, which is extremely insightful.

Guys love to sweat me

I did a sweat session tonight with a poker friend, jaywks. The session was very bizarre. I ended down, in spite of getting more JJ-AA than I ever have, but the session was very productive. Having poker friends is extremely important, and doing sweat sessions are the best way to collaborate with another serious poker player. I've done sweat sessions with 2-3 other guys as well, and they are a great way to improve your game.

I finished down 7.5 buy-ins, or $1500 during that horrible day I blogged about last week. While losing that much in one day is pretty atrocious, I didn't get down on myself. I went to bed, woke up and it was a new day. I've gotten much better at coping with tough times in poker lately. I recovered those losses and a bit more since then, in spite of not playing very much.

Time to hit the sack. I got a bunch of schoolwork tomorrow and then I'm gonna go play some 2/5 NL live tomorrow night. Good luck at the tables, everyone. My next entry I'd like to discuss High Stakes Poker, a show that I have a love-hate relationship with.

Playing very badly

As of the time I'm writing this post (7 PM EST), I am down almost 6 buy-ins on the day. Unless I start winning some of that back tonight, this is the worst day I've ever had for poker (in terms of BIs). This really sucks because it means I need to work on my fundamentals again, and this whole fiasco is going to delay me from permanently moving up to 2/4 NL.

I think that I have been playing badly the past few days, but I've been lucky to break even the couple sessions previous. It has finally caught up today in a big way. My opponents are catching a lot of hands, and I'm just closing my eyes and throwing money into the pot.

Some of my perceived holes of late:
1.) I am not c-betting the flop enough (I check behind ace high or pairs too much)
2.) I am stacking off WAY too light vs solid regulars
3.) I am firing multiple barrels vs opponents who I shouldn't be bluffing
4.) I am making hero calls on the turn and river when I can only beat air

This list doesn't even have a lot in common, other than the fact that I'm certainly a.) rushing myself, and b.) not playing patient poker. Once I'm in a pot, I have to win the pot. It is reminiscent of how I was playing before this summer. I need to figure out how to switch myself back, and do it quick.

But you gotta make the money, yo!

I just busted out of the Pokerstars WCOOP #1 event ($200+15 NL 6 handed). I finished 556/4610, just 22 spots out of the money. It is frustrating, but I was playing to win the tournament. I got extremely aggressive in the last half hour before I busted. I probably was spewy, but I'd rather play to give myself a chance for first. So many of the people in this tournament were trying so hard just to make the money, which is a recipe for never getting really deep.

I gave this tournament my all, which I can't say for most tournaments I entered this year. I'd make a horrible professional tournament player, but it can be enjoyable to play 1-2 a month. I just need to ensure I'm going to try my hardest if I enter one, otherwise I am wasting my time and my money. I don't regret playing this tournament, though. It was a good structure, and just the right buy-in. I wasn't taking a big shot, yet it's enough money to make me feel invested enough to focus.

Anyway... this past week, I've played less poker than any other week in about 4 months. I've been busy with school, and just doing other things. I am going to get back on the grind now, though. I'm gonna log a few thousand hands at 200NL to get the rust off, and then grind 400NL seriously. I still have big expectations for September, and I'm going to follow through with them.

Let's step it up, man

I did well in a live session yesterday. I was on the fence about playing because live is boring (and less profitable), but I can't complain since I booked a nice win. However, I'm most glad about playing because I met a dealer who knows a lot about the bigger games running in in the area. He give me information on all of the 5/5 NL (and larger) games in the city.

I am going home this weekend to get my car (it was in the shop). A primary reason I'm bringing it out to school is for the poker games in the city and suburbs. I realize that playing live can be very slow, and I am not learning a lot when I play live versus online, but there is still a lot of money to be made. The 5/5 NL games here are full of complete idiots sitting with 1K+ stacks... lots of middle aged people looking to blow off some money.

I also played a session of 2/4 NL today, which was very swingy and ended with me breaking even. I butchered a hand worse than any hand in a while. I have no history with villain, so this is probably a fold... but even if we're not folding, my 5 bet is absolutely horrible.

Starting next week, I'd like to begin logging a lot more hands than I have been lately. I need to follow through with my goals, and start beating 2/4 NL. I'm at the point mentally where I don't feel on track with accomplishing my goals if I'm not having 10K+ months soon.

I question my intelligence sometimes

I just lost $43 pushing all in blind at $3 cap NL. Throwing away money is always fun (especially when it makes you tilty, thus stopping you from playing actual poker afterwards). Please punch me in the face if you ever catch me doing something stupid like this anymore.

In other news, I'm off to a good start for August. My winrate for 200NL is very pretty (6.5 PTBB/100 over 50K hands). I have proven I can beat 1/2 NL for a pretty solid rate, and I'm rolled for 400NL... so basically I need to stop being a pussy and start grinding 2/4.

Review of August

August has come to an unfortunate end, signaling the beginning of the academic year. I had a decent month for poker...





I feel dissatisfied though, because the second half of the month was very swingy, and I always feel like I am capable of more. The shots I have taken at 400NL and 600NL were against very favorable opponents, but I ran badly (ever since the AA vs AA hand). I'll stay away from 3/6 for a bit, but I definitely think I am capable of beating 2/4 NL. I'm just going to pull myself fully out of my current downswing before I move back up. I would like to see myself playing 2/4 NL as my main game by the end of the month.

Goals for September:
-Play at least 20K hands at NL 6 max, 5K hands at NL heads up
-Play WCOOP #1 on Pokerstars ($200+16 NL 6 max), put my full effort in
-Go back to 2/4 NL after recouping a few thousand

I'm not going to set a monetary goal, but I would like to have a 10K month soon. Winning 10K is very realistic for someone grinding 2/4 NL. All I have to do is believe I can do it. On 2+2, a screenshot was posted of someone who made 50K in one month at these stakes (over 53K hands).

The real test of a poker player

The past week has been rough for me, both in life and poker. I felt really frustrated about my living situation at school, and felt like nothing has gone right in poker lately. Life tilt, mixed with the bad side of variance, can be a recipe for disaster. I am currently on a $2500 downswing (about 9 BI at 1/2 to 3/6 NL), which is my largest ever. Summer break was completely smooth sailing for me, so to hit a brick wall now has been tough. I have taken shots at 2/4 and 3/6 games that were definitely profitable, and they have not worked in my favor.

When I spoke with my mom on the phone this afternoon, she gave me a pep talk that I was in badly need of. She told me that everyone needs to battle through tough times, and that I need to persevere. The things she told me are ideas that I would have said I already know, but actually hearing my mom tell me it gives a much more powerful meaning. After speaking to her, I feel rejuvenated (in comparison to the feeling of helplessness that I had last night).

Class started back up today, so that will take up a lot of my time... but I feel the energy and desire to continue my journey to be the most successful poker player I can be. I know that I have to fight through the downswing and just play my A-game, not letting short term results get to my head. Someone can be the best technical player in the world when they're winning, but if they can't fight through the rough times, they will have no staying power in poker.

Finally experiencing the opposite side of variance

Having my first rough day in a while. I had a few tough pots at 200NL 6 max, and was down 2 buy-ins. I challenged an over-aggro donk (who stacked me in a coin flip) to a heads up match. He said 2/4 and I was more than happy to oblige, I felt just by spending a half hour at one table with him that I had an edge. Challenging people to HU is fun - it's the way dorky internet players (and I am one) challenge each other's manhood.

Anyway, we got down to business. He is very aggressive, and C/Red my continuation bet at a ridiculously high frequency. We were about even, when this pot happened. We played for another half hour or so after that, and then he quit on me, still up a buy-in. I'm down $815 so far today. According to my equity in all-in pots today, I should only be down $92. Oh well. That's poker... the same poker that has awarded me many pots that I didn't deserve in sessions past.

In the past, during sessions like today, I'd either get depressed, or just get angry and continue to play on tilt. I felt like I maintained my composure today, though... which makes me happy. Being able to quit when you're starting to tilt is very important, but even more important is to maintain emotional stability (so the tilt never happens in the first place).

Gonna try to log a long session or two tonight, after I eat dinner and get some light exercise.

Back at school

I moved back into college at Pittsburgh on Saturday. There can be a lot of distractions that take away from poker here. I live in a 6 person off-campus apartment. Roommates trying to get you to hangout, plus noise distractions, etc could really take away from me putting solid hours in playing poker this fall. It makes me miss home because I had an incredibly relaxed setting with more/healthier food at my disposal. I'll have to make due though - gonna try to log at least 2K hands today now that I've finally settled in.

I bought an inexpensive poker table on eBay so I can try to run some cash games in our basement here. It'll give me the opportunity to play some live poker without having to drive anywhere, or have to deal with ridiculously large rake. I'll still try to play 5/5 NL a few times a month, but it'll be nice to just play 6 handed 1/2 NL games (with friends) right in the comfort of my own place.

My biggest pot ever

I decided to 3 table 400NL tonight. I was feeling pretty focused and didn't feel afraid to play the stakes. Moving up is a big step for me, so I get a little jittery about the stakes (even if I'm comfortably rolled for 2/4 NL). I had a clear head tonight and was ready to get down to business. I was up $700, then lost a few tough pots including KK vs AA, and was back down to even for the session. Then I had this happen...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1372228

The strangest thing is I just sat emotionless at my computer. Not because I was in shock, but just because I was unaffected by it. I'm actually disappointed I didn't get really excited over something like this. It goes to show that poker really does make you unaffected by the money, and I just treat pots like they're another pot. Good or bad thing? You decide.

Anyway, I've logged only 2K hands at 400NL so far, but it is going reasonably well because my confidence is slowly building. I will keep playing 400NL on certain nights when I feel good about my game that day, and the games look good. Now is the time that it's important for me to run good. All the high stakes players have generally run good when they moved up - they had to in order to move up so many limits. Things are looking good so far.

Holding my friends (and myself) accountable

I've decided that this post will show where I, and my 4 closest friends in online poker are currently at. It will also show where we want to be by the end of 2007. This is to help motivate each other to advance in poker and not get complacent. Everyone is being held accountable by each other. I had my friends answer a 4 question survey, which will be looked back on periodicially over the next few months. This will be successful if all 5 people are in a better spot (playing higher and bigger BR) by the end of the year.

Questions
1. What stakes do you play online in the past month?
2. What is your net result for the months of June and July (strictly for your main cash game stakes)?
3. How much money do you have online that you currently consider your online bankroll?
4. Where do you want to see yourself in poker by the end of 2007?


Whitewash:
1. 90% at 200NL, and starting to dabble in 400NL
2. 32,146 hands; +$7,511
3. 15K
4. Comfortably beating 400NL and playing 600NL when games look good. Would like to keep 25K online.

cntgetmedown:
1. 200NL
2. 53,034 hands; +$7,336
3. 10K
4. Beating 600NL

Jethro87/SootedNines:
1. 95% at 400NL, 5% at 600NL
2. 42,876 hands; +$7,519
3. 20K
4. Crushing 600NL for sure, possibly beating 1000NL

Haupt_234:
1. 60% at 400NL, 40% at 600NL
2. 45,066 hands; +$15,634
3. 24K
4. Comfortably beating 1000NL and sometimes 2000NL if the games are good... after a few cashouts

Andr3w321:
1. 200NL
2. 58,624 hands; +$7,212
3. 11K
4. Comfortably beating 400NL for a nice winrate

Emotional rollercoaster today

First off - yesterday I decided to buy into the FTOPS Event #1 ($200+16 tournament) on Full Tilt. I busted a little more than an hour in. While I lost most of my chips in an 8K pot AA vs JJ all-in preflop, I still feel that I wasn't playing my best. I get impatient in tournaments, especially full ring. Like limit hold em, I am going to make myself get better or stay away from tournaments from now on. If I'm not going to enter a tournament with a hunger to try my best to win it, then I'm not going to enter it period.

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Now onto today's session. I started off the day playing 1K hands, and I ran hot as hell. I was up $1200 after the afternoon session, and feeling really good. I did my usual routine of taking a break to eat, stretch and clear my head, and then logged back on. I had a rough session tonight, losing back half of the profit I made earlier in the day. Some rough hands, some stupid bluffs. All in all, I logged 1784 hands for a +$552 day. Looks decent on paper, but really feels disappointing given the way it happened.



I want to do a rundown of several of the large pots I played on the day, to review my play. Gaucho, a guy who plays 25/50 NL online and who I respect a lot as a person, talks about how you should always be questioning your plays... both in pots you lose, and even pots you win. Just because you had a winning session doesn't mean you played well, and certainly doesn't mean there was nothing to learn from.

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Hand 1: Unorthodox play with KQ vs fish

At the time, villain was running something like 40/30 and getting really out of line. He seemed like a really weak player. I normally hate 3 betting preflop with KQ, but my opponent was really out of line, and I had position. With the flop coming Q62, I'm either way ahead or way behind now. Usually never check behind after RRing preflop, but I figured villain was aggressive (and stupid) enough he may think I'm giving up. Once he checks turn, I feel 95% confident I have the best hand, and decide it's time to get some value. He quickly C/Red all-in, which felt weird. I did not feel like he would play AA/KK/AQ in this way. Also, the fact that I checked behind the flop meant I felt I had to make this call vs a LAGtard.

Hand 2: When in doubt, just reraise AK

Villain (running like 25/15 on the session, no read otherwise) 3 bets me as second to act. This looks really strong, and when it folds back around to me w/ AK, I contemplate just calling. When people make small 3 bets, it's often a sign of strength, but I didn't think his range had to be extremely small here. I decided to 4 bet because I hate playing passive poker, and I hate being out of position postflop. Do you guys think this really thin vs an unknown player? I felt that if I just bet out the flop, he will get away from KK-TT too easily. I checked, hoping he do something stupid so I could do an easy C/R all-in. He obliged, immediately bet pot, and I pushed. He thought for 5 seconds and then folded, which seems really odd for me. I assume he had a big pocket pair, so his play on the flop is really bad.

Hand 3: I'm a spewtard sometimes

aka Shooter is a 200NL regular, pretty standard TAG (runs like 21/15). AQo is a very easy 3 bet when he opens on the button. When he calls my reraise, I put him on 77+, AQ+. I contination bet a flop with all babies...I felt it is a bad flop for me to bluff, but his range includes overcards just enough that it is +EV to c-bet. Once he calls, I almost always give up in this spot. At the time, I thought the jack might be a scare card. I really should just give up here and never bet. Shooter is going to like his hand enough here, and the pot is big enough that it is stupid to try to push him off his pocket pair. only 88-TT might fold here, and even those may not fold out if he feels stubborn. Once he pushed, I am getting 4.6-to-1, meaning I need 18% equity to call. Even if I have 6 outs, I'm not getting the right price, so it is a bad call at the end.

Hand 4: Why didn't I just fold?

Villain was unknown at this point, so I think my light 3 bet when he raises UTG is spew. Once he calls, I think the flop is a good flop to c-bet. He calls and unless he is a fish (which I can't know with no read), he probably has a big hand now. The turn gave me an OESD, and instead of just taking a free card, I decided to shove for a little more than pot. Do you ever not take a free card here? Obviously, my biggest mistake is getting involved preflop in the first place. I need to learn to not get aggressive at 200NL when I don't know if my opponent is even capable of folding yet.

lol live poker

Last night I played a live 1/2 NL game for the first time in months. I convinced myself that it was worth it because there would be no rake, and the game is right by my dad's house. When I got there, the game was never more than 5 handed (which I don't mind) and almost everyone bought in short (which I do mind). I was up small until the last half hour of the session, where I coolered someone, and I ended +$401 on the session for 5 hours of work. Pretty much the biggest win possible given the amount of money on the table.

Live poker can feel dissatisfying at times, even when you win. You come across a lot of degenerates, and they're often miserable people who you can't help but wonder how humans can turn out like that. I prefer playing online a lot more because you get to play from the comfort of home, where I can start and end a session whenever I want to. Live poker is also obviously very slow. Even though the game was 4-5 handed last night, I still felt myself getting bored because people took extremely long with their decisions.

Regardless, any win live feels good right now because I'm trying to build my live bankroll up a little more. I want to feel comfortable playing the 2/5 and 5/5 NL games in Pittsburgh this upcoming semester, and it's very annoying to have to move my online money around. I actually have a live NL freezeout against my friend Mike coming up at the end of the month - $400 stacks, 1/2 blinds. Hopefully that will help boost my live roll a bit too. Should also be a fun challenge.

Donking around in HU poker

I decided to play some heads up today. I don't have a whole lot of HU experience, but like to play a few days a month just to try something new. I also want to improve my heads up game. I feel very comfortable when a game is 4-6 handed, but need more experience playing 2-3 handed.

I first sat at 3/6 heads up Limit Hold em this morning. LHE has been my leak this year. I have both run badly and played badly, I'm sure. I lost $500 in about 1.5 hours, which is pretty disgusting for 3/6. After that, I am pledging to stay away from LHE until I do more research on the game. I may trade coaching with a limit player from 2+2 or Cardrunners (get coaching from a shorthanded limit player, in exchange for coaching them on 6 max NL).

On life tilt, I finally left the limit tables, and sat at 1/2 NL heads up. I wound up playing a fish who stayed for 4 hours (which is very long for online HU sessions). He outdrew me in a $550 pot (set vs straight draw), but he stayed long enough that I got all my money back and busted him. I was very friendly with him in the chat box, and we actually exchanged email addresses so we can play again in the future. I find that networking is very important in poker... yet no one talks about it.


I have started the month well at my main game, 200NL 6 max. I am probably running above expectation in the games lately, but at the same time I think my game is pretty strong vs the competition. It's almost time to move on to greener pastures. My bankroll is big enough to play 400NL, it's just a matter of working up the courage to start taking shots.

Best month ever; bright future

Hey guys, welcome to my poker blog. This blog is mostly for me to keep a log of my happenings - I want to keep myself honest, and be able to look back on sessions and learn from my mistakes. I've seen a few of my online poker friends keep blogs, and it seems to work well for them. I'd love for you guys to leave me comments anytime, especially when I post hands.

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July has just gone into books, and was by far my best month yet for poker.





This crushes my record for best month. I spent the first several months of 2007 not accomplishing much. I was having very mediocre results, and only played 10-15K hands a month - drastically less than I could have played given my relaxed schedule. I finally took a turn in the right direction in June, when I had my best month (at the time). I set several goals for June, and followed through with them.

I feel that I can attribute my results to three main causes: running hot, pushing myself harder, and having friends through poker. The latter is by far the biggest reason. In the middle of June, I began talking to about 3-5 guys from Cardrunners who play similar stakes to me. We discuss hands and general theory, as well as help motivate each other. Having them as friends has really helped speed up my progress. I feel like a much better poker player now than I was two months ago.

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GOALS FOR AUGUST:

-Play at least 25K hands of NL cash
-Take a shot at 400NL when I feel confident, and the games look good

I'm still really hungry to push myself further, and having recent success has only helped build my confidence in poker. I feel like the sky is the limit right now. I am not going to set a monetary goal, because a.) I think it can lead to not playing your A-game, and b.) I don't know which stakes I will be playing the bulk of my hands at. I expect almost all of my hands to still be at 200NL, but I would not be surprised if I end up logging several thousand hands at 400NL either.

I will post on the blog semi-regularly, posting some long/interesting sessions with their results and a few interesting hands. Here's to my good run continuing as we head into August.