Never confuse motion with action

Pretty standard week for the most part. The 2/4 and 3/6 games on FTP have been pretty good the past two weeks or so. Even the TAGfish are probably donning a comfortable win rate in those games for the past couple weeks. Hands to follow.

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

CO: $167.30
BTN: $670.30
Hero (SB): $764.80
BB: $615
UTG: $654.70

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG calls $6, CO folds, BTN calls $6, Hero raises to $38, 2 folds, BTN calls $32

Flop: ($88) 8 4 A (2 Players)
Hero bets $60, BTN raises to $120, Hero raises to $228, BTN raises to $632.30 and is All-In, Hero calls $404.30

Turn: ($1,352.60) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($1,352.60) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: $1,352.60 Pot ($3 Rake)

BTN showed K Q (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-$670.30 NET)
Hero showed A A (a full house, Aces full of Eights) and WON $1,349.60 (+$679.30 NET)

The fruits of playing LAG and pissing off donkies. Easiest $680 I've ever made. The holidays must have really had him in the giving spirit.

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $257.90
SB: $396
BB: $549
Hero (UTG): $826.20
CO: $446.50

Pre-Flop: 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $14, CO folds, BTN calls $14, SB folds, BB raises to $52, Hero calls $38, BTN calls $38

BB is a solid TAG. We've tangoed a bit in the past and I had been involved in a hand with him where I made a very aggressive play and won a $500 pot without showdown. BTN is your standard LAP donk. BB makes the mistake of granting me the implied odds I need to set mine.

Flop: ($158) 5 A 7 (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

BB hesitates and checks. I opt to check behind bc I assume that he leads AK-Q here. I weigh his range towards KK-QQ. I didnt want to blow him off of it so I check behind trying to rep KK-88.

Turn: ($158) 5 (3 Players)
BB bets $77, Hero calls $77, BTN calls $77

Even better. Once again, my turn logic is consistent with my logic on the flop.

River: ($389) A (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $697.20 and is All-In, BTN folds, BB calls $420 and is All-In

At this point, I have to bet. He's obviously calling if he slowplayed his AK-Q. The only way I would get value from KK-QQ is if he felt I was bluffing. If I were to bluff, I wouldn't VB so I opted to shove.

Results: $1,229 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB mucked J J (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and LOST (-$549 NET)
Hero showed 5 5 (four of a kind, Fives) and WON $1,226 (+$677 NET)

This opponent really played this hand bad. By checking the flop, he opened himself up for disaster. Its going to be very difficult to get value with JJ OOP against two other opponents. Lead the flop here and let the hand play itself. If he receives any action, it should be obvious that hes behind. He turned what should have been an easy decision into a difficult one and convinced himself that I was bluffing.

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Player

SB: $594
BB: $214
UTG: $1,069.40
MP: $279
CO: $311.35
Hero (BTN): $878.55

Pre-Flop: T J dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $21, SB folds, BB calls $15

BB is a tight passive short stacker running 21/10/1.7. I have a note on him that he bluffed the turn and river when I checked the flop behind.

Flop: ($45) A 6 J (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

By betting Im not getting called by anything Im ahead of, and at the same time, Im folding out anything that I beat. No draws other than a gutter. Safe check. Im willing to make a very small mistake to potentially induce a larger mistake on his part.

Turn: ($45) 4 (2 Players)
BB bets $40, Hero calls $40

Uh oh. Ive seen this line before.

River: ($125) 6 (2 Players)
BB bets $153 and is All-In, Hero calls $153

I can only beat a bluff, but based on his quick timing, I went with my read.

Results: $431 Pot ($3 Rake)

BB showed T Q (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-$214 NET)
Hero showed T J (two pair, Jacks and Sixes) and WON $428 (+$214 NET)

In terms of monetary gain, this was an insignificant hand. However, this was a confidence boost because I was able to make a call based on his timing and a read.


Picture with my buddy from his 21st birthday celebration.

After crosses and losses, men grow humbler and wiser

I arrived home on Saturday evening. The drive back from school wasn't bad because I didn't hit any traffic in DC. Finals were pretty rough but I did good. I received my final grades from three courses so far. I'm still waiting on one final grade, though. If I can pull out an A- then I'll make the Dean's List for the first time. Right now I think its borderline between an A- or a B+. Say a prayer for me.

Ive been able to log some hands since getting home but not as many as I would like. The times have been quite hectic around here. Last night was my best friend's and my sister's birthday. My sister turned 20, Ill be celebrating her birthday on Friday with some of her sorority sisters. Last night was my friend's 21st, so we went out last night relatively low key, but he has an entire evening of festivities planned for Saturday night. Some great times ahead in the near future.

Anyways, I played on Sunday night and lost about $700 over 2k hands. Not too bad considering I was down $1.8k about 1200 hands into the session. I took some donk for a BI and a half at a 3-6 table when it broke and left us heads up. Beautiful. Monday night I came back with a vengeance. Was playing really LAG and started catching hands at the perfect time. I cant believe how many bluffs I induced. People were putting their stacks in the middle with absolutely nothing and I happened to have a hand. Finished up $3.8k in 700 hands. $1.9k at both the 400s and 600s. Best night yet.

My coach is excellent in keeping things in perspective because he has emphasized that the good and bad nights are only a small squiggle on a long term graph. Yes, its cool to win nearly 4k in one night, but its tough to quantify because its only a number. I want to get to 5-10 as soon as possible, so this is yet another step in the right direction. I'll never be complacent with my results because satisfaction is only good for stalemating my progression as a player. Ive seen it several times in the poker community already where someone experiences substantial success for the first time and automatically assume that their abilities are near perfect.

Too many players worry about winning and losing. They think, "If I run good..." or even worse "If I don't run bad..." This is a loser's mentality; one who is not confident in their abilities. If you are truly confident in your abilities as a player, you should focus on playing your best. Playing your best and losing is fine. However, playing bad with bad results is obviously not OK. Some people even play bad and win, thus allowing them to believe their play is Hellmuth-esque. Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that if you feel you have an edge in a game, then you should really focus on playing your best and nothing else.

Well done is better than well said.

Finals have begun. I have two final exams and two final papers. One paper is ten pages in length and the other is twenty. Ive put a good dent in everything except the twenty pager. I have all of my research done for it and there is alot of material to write about. Its due Thursday so Ill be fine.

After spending all day and the majority of he evening in the library, I logged 1k hands while 4-6 tabling. I had my biggest night yet, $2.75k. I also eclipsed the $20k BR mark. As Im writing this, I'm not really experiencing any feelings of excitement. I haven't accomplished my goals yet, so there is nothing to cheer about. It is simply a step in the right direction.


Weekend was a good time. Friday night was LAXmas. The lacrosse team's annual Christmas party. I live with the lax guys in my class so Friday night was standard procedure for the most part. Saturday afternoon was spent in Cameron Indoor for a matchup against Michigan. A close friend of mine got hooked up with some tickets.

Drive thy business; let it not drive thee

Since my last update Ive learned alot about 2-4. I need to keep logging hands, because I learn so much by playing. Im still trying to find the right balance in my game. This is the first limit I have played at that requires me to get into the head of my opponent. Its alot of fun, but it can also be mentally draining. My sessions are usually around an hour long at 2-4, which relative to the past, isnt that long for me. However, once I feel my mind tire I stop playing and take a nice break. Poker is tough because if you aren't playing at 100%, then you're losing money.

I want to exceed 25k hands this month. Im going to hit a rough patch once finals roll around. I should be able to log a decent sample while I am home for winter break.

Edit: I just read Martin's blog (Dodgyken) and he wants me to post a hand from a sweat.

Villain is a regular running at 27/21/3 over 1.3k hands. We have some history. This session I outplayed him twice in decent sized pots and he knew it. It seemed like he had it out for me after that. I had also been playing a bit looser than usual.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (6 handed) Full Tilt

SB ($431)
BB ($745.30)
UTG ($142)
MP ($427.90)
CO ($397.55)
Hero ($469.40)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Kh, Td.
3 folds, Button raises to $14, 1 fold, BB calls $10.

Flop: ($30) 2s, 9d, Ks (2 players)
BB checks, Button bets $22, BB raises to $58, Hero calls $36.

A decent board for him to c/r me on considering I'll have a hard time continuing without a K or better. Its tough for me to put him on a set. He's repping 22, a draw, or air. He three bets 99+ based on my image.

Turn: ($146) Jd (2 players)
BB checks, Button bets $92, BB raises to $422, Hero calls $305.40 (All-In).

I decide to bet bc I wanted to protect against draws, which I felt occupied the majority of his range. He c/r all in while the majority my range is clearly top pair. His turn c/r represents 22, KJ, and J9. I discounted KJ and J9 because he practically never c/r those hands on that flop. So it was either 22 or a draw. I figured that he figured he could maximize his fold equity with a draw bc one pair typically has a tough time finding a call to a turn c/r.

River: ($940.80) Qc (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $940.80

Fortunately, he was drawing. To be specific, he was drawing to 2 outs after he showed his 55. The most important variables in the hand were my image and his psychological state.

The sleeping fox catches no poultry

Back in Durham after an awesome Thanksgiving break at home. Good family time, good parties, good bar nights, and other good extra curriculars. This trip home easily gets an A+.

School work is going to slow down for a short period of time before finals. I'm looking forward to logging more hands. I had a session with Brian last night. I learned alot. 2-4 is beginning to feel like home, which is nice. After we concluded our session, I continued to play. WARNING, brag to follow: I stacked Brystmar. It was cool. Nothing too crazy. I had a LAG image and used a reverse timing tell to disrupt his read.

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

MicoTX (BTN): $437.50
drombanna (SB): $317.20
Triumph44 (BB): $370
Mano Nera (UTG): $452.60
imnob (MP): $354.30
Hero (CO): $400

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to $14, MicoTX raises to $48, 2 folds, Hero raises to $112, MicoTX raises to $437.50 and is All-In, Hero calls $288 and is All-In

Flop: ($806) Q 9 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: ($806) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: ($806) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $806 Pot ($3 Rake)
MicoTX showed Q T (a full house, Nines full of Queens) and LOST (-$400 NET)
Hero showed Q Q (a full house, Queens full of Nines) and WON $803 (+$403 NET)

... Scratch that vid, sir.

A big congratulations to Verneer, who was offered a position at Cardrunners as a Guest Pro. This is a huge accomplishment and is a testament to his abilities as a player and teacher. His instructional videos will be top-notch for low limit players. I'm very fortunate to have been coached by him and also to have him as a friend.

Reads

I was going over some hands and I came across an interesting one where I made a move based off of a read. He was 73/28/1.1 over 125 hands. I had a note where I observed his min raise was weak in 3b pots.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (6 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($569)
SB ($430.10)
Hero ($837.60)
UTG ($400)
MP ($80)
CO ($400)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ks, Kh.
1 fold, CO raises to $12, Button calls $12, 1 fold, BB raises to $56, 1 fold, Button calls $40.

Flop: ($122) 2c, 7h, As (3 players)
BB bets $84, Button raises to $168, BB raises to $869.6 (All-In), Button folds.

Final Pot: $243.60

Im happy the play worked well based off of my read. However, I do not think I maximized my value here. Without a draw in sight, I should have called the flop. I can check the turn and allow him to bluff again. Basically, instead of shoving the flop I should have check called this hand all the way down bc my hand is essentially a bluff catcher and it allows him to keep bluffing. On the flip side, he could be min raising A9-3 to see where hes at, but hes usually calling with those hands anyway. I played this hand awhile ago. If my memory serves me correctly (there's a good chance it isn't), he's not folding very many A's in this spot. I don't really have any conclusive remarks in regards to the feeler raise but I'm just trying to cover all the bases. Sorry if this was scattered. Just my thoughts as they came to me.

On another note, I arrived home last night from school for Thanksgiving Break. Home sweet home. Big plans this week. Lots of fun stuff going on and I am looking forward to it. On a sad note, I have a huge presentation on Monday when I get back. Ill be on my grind with that at some point in time this week. My school work is like a tsunami. It comes in huge waves. You see it coming, but you can't run or hide. It is not a pleasant experience. The month of November has been a continuous tsunami. From an optimistic point of view, its a pretty small price to pay considering the long-term benefits of a college education.

Update

I haven't had a whole lot of time to play this week. Ive played four sessions since my last entry. Combine the latter with 2/3 tabling and you get a small amount of hands. Although I haven't played much, I can feel myself growing as a player. Pawel did an excellent job in teaching me how to play optimal ABC poker with some tricks. Learning this is the key to beating SSNL. You cannot build a huge, fancy house without a strong foundation. Build your foundation at the small stakes, then build the rest of your crib at MSNL. Want a big, fancy house? Make sure you have a good foundation. I can thank Pawel for mine.

At this point in time, Im ready to build off of my strong foundation. To guide me through the process, I felt it would be best to bring in a specialist. Brian Rue (hookem148) and I had our first two sessions on Sunday and Monday. I can also thank Pawel for that one. My game is progressing. Brian has helped me with how image affects one's play and when to switch gears. Image and switching hears are very important factors in MSNL. Players are much better hand readers and game flow is a very important variable to consider. Im very grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with Brian.

Ive pretty much luck sacked my way through my first 1.7k hands at 2-4. Im running at an astronomical 15ptbb/100. I have been practicing very careful table selection. Since Im only playing 2-3 tables, Im pretty crazy about my table selection. Last night I was break even after an hour of play. I was about to leave my tables because I had a meeting about a school project. Before leaving for the meeting I went from TAG to LAG. When I switched to LAG, I got credit for several orbits. When I was about to leave my tables (which would have been about the time I would have switched back to TAG), I caught a couple of big/ semi-big hands and got paid. A perfect example of how image and table flow dictate the correct play. Im certainly not even close to perfect. There are still some adjustments I need to make. FPS caused me to miss some value on a hand I played yesterday. As SirNeb said to me, "Standard TAG lines turn your hand face up. MSNL regulars are much better hand readers." This does not imply FPS should consume your lines. It implies that thinking one level deeper is a necessity to beating MSNL for a solid win rate.

400nl

Played my first session at 2-4 last night. I had a very productive AIM chat with SirNeb on Tuesday night. What he told me will probably save me at least a couple weeks/months of aggravation. He advised me that the regulars are much better hand readers than what I found at 1-2. SirNeb stated that standard TAG lines would turn your hand face up against these guys - I definitely observed this. I still have not completely digested all that we talked about, but Ive been thinking about it non-stop. As I play and review my game, I should get better at adapting to these games. That said, I was a bit rusty tonight but I think I played well. I could have squeezed a little more value out of some hands, but overall it was a good learning experience.

I played about 500 hands between 2 and 4 tabling. I spent the majority of the time 2 tabling and finished up a BI. Played in my first ~1k pot. Well, actually, two pots. I won one http://www.pokerhand.org/?1678159 and lost one (Im including this for the indirect comedy - villain was bad, obviously) http://www.pokerhand.org/?1678167. I was nervous he had AA/KK but I had notes on him. I had him tagged as a slowplayer and that he bluffed with small bets. I also saw him min bet/ min 3 bet with a monster.

Here is a small hand that I learned alot from: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1678180 The previous orbit I had floated him BvB and raised his turn bet, to which he tanked it and folded. The texture of this flop is so draw heavy. Hes only behind JT, 55 or maybe a TP type hand (KJ). TP is kind of sketchy bc I 3 bet AJ PF and flat his flop lead with QJ for pot control. There are so many draws out. When I raise he can deduce that the majority of my range is a draw or air especially since I had raised him BvB last orbit. He tanked it during this hand as well and made the proper play by pricing out most draws, folding out air, and putting me in a tough spot with TP (even tougher depending on my kicker). I should have flatted his flop lead and reevaluated on the turn. If I hit my gin card on the turn, I can hit him with the same line as I did last orbit. Except this time I think theres a good chance that he goes with any hand that has value.

Still Alive

Sorry for the lack of updates. Since last Sunday I have been quite busy. Last week I had my 21st birthday, Halloween, and it was parents' weekend at school. The birthday was fun. My buddies took good care of me. Halloween was an extension to the birthday. We went to Franklin St in Chapel Hill. It was nuts. We decided to go into any bar that didn't have a ridiculous line. The Library eventually fulfilled this requirement. We all had a great time. It was a 180 degree turn from the Duke social scene. An interesting thing occurred in the bar: I was called our for using a pick up line. It was quite hilarious because I did not use a "pick up" line. I told her that it was not a pickup line and that I thought she was the one trying to pick me up. A friend of mine told me that he had been called out for using pick up lines in the past, and I found it funny that I was called out. It kind of caught me off guard but I remained composed because I really wasn't using one. On to the weekend.. My parents, aunt, sister (19) and brother (16) visited for the weekend. A great time was had by all. Saturday night my parents allowed my brother to come out with my sister and I. This was pretty cool because it was the first time my brother and I have been out together. He is now a sophomore in high school and I am beginning to treat him more like a friend and less like the little brother who I used to just beat up all the time. Its a pretty cool transition. I'm proud of him bc he held his own quite well in social situations consisting of people alot older and more experienced than him. All in all, the past week has been a much needed breath of fresh air from my daily routine. All good times must come to an end, though. Back to business.

School work is going to pick up in the coming weeks. I have planned out the rest of the month of November. Its going to take alot of discipline on my part to successfully complete my academic and poker related goals.

Birthday

The long awaited 21st birthday has almost arrived. Its kind of surreal. I remember dreaming of the day I would turn 21. Well, it will be here on the 30th. My buddies are taking me out tonight. They dont have practice tomorrow so it should make for an interesting night.

Goal Accomplished

As anticipated, I accomplished my goal this weekend. Pawel was there for it and so was one of my best friends from school, who Ive talked about in my last post. He is one of the few people that regularly I come in contact with that I share my trials and tribulations as a poker player with.



I am looking forward to continuing my progress as a poker player. Pawel said that I would no longer need his coaching once I reached the 10k mark. I ran at 6ptbb/100 over 25k hands at 200NL this month. The original date we had set for this was goal Christmas. Well either Christmas came early this year or my hard work has finally paid off orrr maybe a bit little both? While this 10k signals the end, it also marks a new beginning. I am not satisfied with the 10k mark... and I mean that with all my heart. Assuming I will enter the real world in August of '09, I have roughly 21 months to devote to poker to fulfill my maximum potential in this game. This time around I will not make the same mistakes which prevented me from accomplishing my goals in wrestling; at the same time, I will not make the same mistakes which have compromised others chances from accomplishing their goals in poker.

Anyone is free to comment on my blog, I won't bite. I am going to start including some hand analysis in my posts. I think it will be beneficial for both me and my readers.

No Play?

I spent yesterday writing and revising a case study on Marvel Enterprise. My assignment was to establish two ways in which Marvel could sustain long-term profitability. Their main problem was that the majority of their profits have come from their most well-known characters, such as Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk. The services of these characters have been exhausted. Marvel obviously cannot live off of these characters forever. I could go on forever about this (5 pages to be exact, lol) but I'll spare you before I get carried away. I think it turned out well, though.

At night, I spent some time with my best friend at school. He's a member of the lacrosse team and has 7am practice every morning Mon-Sat, but not on Wednesday's. I know, 7am isnt that bad, but for us college bums that is rough. We pretty much just kicked it and shot the shit for a few hours. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Yesterday I did a little bit of hand analysis and alot of reflection on my game. The reflection was key. I am aiming for consistency. Every time I think about "consistency", it elicits a response from my mind and body. In respect to poker, this response is playing my TAG game which is meant to be profitable at small stakes over a large sample of hands. I have placed a Post-It directly under my monitor with one word on it - consistency.

Long-term goals are very important. My goal of a 10k BR is a long-term goal. It is a destination. Something to work towards. Many people set high long-term goals but fail to reach them. Some may use the excuse that their goal was simply not attainable, which could actually be legitimate. Aim high, but the goal should be a mature one within reason. Here's the beef of the story. Yeah, I want a 10k BR. Ok, cool - GL! Many people will leave their goal setting at that. This is the primary reason as to why they do not achieve their long-term goals. So how do you do it? Pretty simple answer - short-term goals! In wrestling I wanted to become a state champion (long-term goal). My short-term goal was to not leave the wrestling room until I felt like I could only crawl out on my hands and knees. Obviously implying that I worked my ass off each day to the point where I could no longer stand. Another everyday example: You get in your car at 9am to drive to work. You just go to work? No, you turn left at this street, go through a light, and make a right at that street. The turns are all short-term goals which allow you to accomplish your long-term goal of arriving at work. My short-term goal with poker is to play consistently. This does not mean play the same way every single hand I'm in. There has to be a slight inherent randomness to my game, otherwise I'll be exploitable by good players. Consistently playing MY game will allow me to reach me goal of a 10k BR. Accomplishing short-term goals allow you to ultimately achieve your long-term goals. This rant has concluded. Good day sirs and GL- Dice

Not Pleased

Tonight was very swingy. I think this is due to the looser style I played tonight. This is not a good thing. After watching Fabian and CTS latest vids, I found myself playing ultra aggro post flop. Although it has its merits, for where I am with my game a looser post flop style does not fit in well. I do not doubt that Fabian's style has granted him great success, but I feel that it is unnecessary to play that way to beat the small stakes. This loose post flop style also requires extraordinary hand reading abilities to play profitably. As I move up in stakes, loosening up post flop will become important. At my current stake, I can expect to get paid off with my big hands alot more than I will at higher stakes. Basic logic suggests that I should be patient and show down winning hands- as I have said too many times to recall. Sometimes I get testy when I feel I am being exploited- especially in 3 bet scenarios. I must continue working on detaching myself from my emotions at the table. There is no need to get testy, emotions are -EV and a loose 3 bettor is easy to exploit :) My overall message is that at the lower stakes we must remain patient and calm while at the table. Lost 3 BI tonight. I am now 7 BI short of my goal. I am anticipating the completion of this goal by week's end (Sunday). After two solid winning nights, it's nice to get a lick of reality. I know what I have to do to win. Its now simply a matter of execution.

Back to Back

Yesterday I made it back to the tables in one piece after a pleasant Saturday. My day started off with me four tabling while Malfaire, Peten2toms, and Verneer watched/coached. I ran super hot. I was hitting sets like it was my job. I was up 4 BI fairly quickly. Shortly thereafter, my profits slowly bled away. I cut the session off at 1.5k hands and +3 BI.

I made a big f-ck up when I accidentally misclicked and folded an easy call for $25 into a $100 pot with TP2K against a donk. He proceeded to show me the ever glorious 62 off for bottom pair no kicker. He asked in the chat, "KK?" (there was an A on the board) I got a good laugh out of that one.

Following the session, I got something to eat and took care of some homework while keeping tabs on the Eagles game. Ugh, don't get me started on my Eagles. That's all I'll say on that topic.

Around 10pm I decided it was time for another session. I logged 1k hands total. Right off the bat, I lost with AA to villain's KK- oh well. I rallied hard. I did get a little help from an old friend of mine to my right who went on tilt for a brief period of time after I stacked him with quad 9's to his QQ. Its nice to get paid off with quads.

The more I play and study, the clearer and easier this game is becoming. Most of my decisions are becoming second nature- its pretty cool. With that said, I don't like it when things come easy. The reward is not nearly as satisfying. I'm going to continue playing, analyzing, and studying. I ended up +6 BI total for the day. Back to back +6 BI nights. The good thing is that I dont feel any sense of satisfaction from my latest results. The first time I did it, I was pumped. This is now familiar territory and I'm not going to jump for joy every time I have a 1k night. Its all in a day's work. Hopefully I can achieve my 10k BR goal by the end of this week. I need 4 more BI.

First 1k Night

Last night I had my first 1k night. It was pretty cool, but this is only the beginning of the race so I'm going to celebrate today and forget about it tomorrow. I played two sessions and logged 2.7k hands. I won 6 BI total on the night. Friday nights are donkey-rich, so I continued my tedious table selection. My goal is to be seated one or two seats to the left of a donkey. Once I establish position, I'm there to stay and I'm there for a donkey killing spree.

I've been working on folding. In the past Ive made the mistake of calling big bets with marginal holdings. Tonight I lost only two pots over 200bb. I got my money in as a 4.5:1 and a 2.5:1 favorite in those cases, so I cant complain. I folded over pairs a couple of times tonight. Another concept that makes a huge difference has been identifying who I can value bet thin. A couple of extra $60 or $70 bets here and there pay off big time in the long run.

On a personal note, today is "Joe College Day" at Duke. Its going to be a day long music festival. I will most likely be engaging in certain non-musical festivities- you can take that any way you like. I need ten more BI to complete my goal of a 10k BR. GL - Dice

Loser

Tonight I am a loser. It wasn't variance. Alot of it was FPS and calling in marginal spots. I dropped 3.5 BI over 1k hands. I wasn't dealt too many winners, but I could have minimized my losses alot better than I did. Im not happy with my bluffing frequency. I put some moves on guys that just didn't work out. At this stake, the primary focus should be showing down winning hands and minimizing losses. I am very unhappy with a river call I made with aces. Villain from the SB lead at me in MP all three streets. I said I would call 2 streets and fold to a river bet. I tanked it on the river and called as time ran down. No excuse for this. Can't call three streets against a reasonable opponent with only aces. I feel like part of the reason I called was bc IT WAS ACES! A level one thinker makes that call. I had a good feeling he had me beat as soon as he lead the flop. I should have raised his flop bet about 2.5x and folded to any further action. Oh well, I wont make that mistake again.

Interesting Hand

Played 2.5k hands last night. I was satisfied with my play, but not overly excited about it. Called some large bets in marginal spots. A large bet is the most telling piece of information in no limit hold em . Even though a particular holding may not seem likely, a big bet should merit serious consideration.

Here is the hand from the other day that I said I would post along with my thought process.

Background info: BU is 23/20/5.6 and is a thinking slightly LAG opponent with a 41% Att. to Steal Blinds. The SB was a donk playing 51/0/.8. Since I had been on the loose passive donk's left, I was quite active.

MP ($204.30)
CO ($238.70)
Button ($216.25)
SB ($442.35)
Hero ($197)
UTG ($463.60)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Td, 8s.
3 folds, Button raises to $7, SB calls $6, BB raises to $30, Button calls $21, SB folds.

Standard button open by him and also a standard call by SB donk. Perfect spot to squeeze. Button flats my squeeze. He knows this is an ideal spot for me to squeeze and I figured he was looking to play a big pot in position against me b/c he knows I have a wide range.

Flop: ($65) Ks, Ac, 6h (2 players)
BB bets $40, Button raises to $80, BB raises to $209 (All-In), Button folds.

I follow up the flop with the aggression I had shown preflop. He min raises me. I'm was about to fold, but instead I decided to play poker and start running through his course of action and the hands he representing. I know that he knows I have a wide range here. I started going through his range for this flop min raise. AA has the deck crushed so he would flat my flop bet. KK could milk my AQ-J by also flatting the flop or he could simply shove if he thinks Im going all the way with an A. AK certainly didn't fit the mold bc against a wide range, why would he want to take a flop with it? That would be bad play, and I know as a LAGGY opponent he's 4 betting AK in that spot every time. It took me some time to deduce this, and I knew that if I shoved, he'd have excellent odds for a call. I was very confident with my read when I shoved (I had to be with those odds) but I must admit I was nervous. It was one hell of a rush, though. When he folded, it was an amazing feeling. It was reminiscent of the feeling I would get from winning a big match. A fleeting moment, indeed, but it was a great feeling when he folded.

Final Pot: $96

I finished up 3.5 BI over the course of last night. I am half way to my 10k BR goal after one week. 6.8ptbb/100 over 11.6k hands this week while 6-8 tabling. Tedious table selection has been key. On another note, I won a new 80 GB laptop through CR's promotional giveaway. LOL I couldn't believe it. I am in dire need of a new computer. I guess I'm lucky and this is a sign of good things to come?

Short Session

I six tabled for about an hour and 15 minutes tonight. Would have put in more hands, but I'm tired and my eyes were starting to get heavy. The weekend finally caught up to me. Went on a nice little run tonight over the span of 10 minutes where I won 3 BI. Flush over top 2, AK over AQ on A high board, and trips with a better kicker. Felt good to go on a little heater. Other than that there wasn't too much action. I ended up +3 BI over 600 hands. Over 9k hands Ive won 12 BI, thus leaving me 16 more BI to go before accomplishing my goal. I have an interesting hand from my session yesterday that Verneer asked me to post along with my thought process. I'm quite tired right now, so I'll save the hand for tomorrow morning.

Emotional Control

As my poker game continues to progress, I am realizing just how important emotional control is. I have thought about this in the past, but lately I have developed a deeper understanding of it with the help of Verneer and SirNeb. When I asked SirNeb what he felt contributed to vast improvement as a player, he humbly stated that the keys to success (other than obvious ones such as work ethic and skill) were logging many hands and emotional control.

I've done alot of reflection on my marathon session. It has granted me a better understanding of the game of poker. I did not have intentions of playing 4k hands. Around 1.7k hands into the session, I was $50 short of a 6k BR. I decided I would conclude the session after reaching 6k. To make a long story short, I came within $50 on two separate occasions and dropped at one point back to 5.5k. The moral to the story: as I neared my target the first and second time, I got anxious. I upped my aggression and was loosening up preflop. Slowly but surely, I lost money. I could have went on monkey tilt after dropping back down to 5.5k, but I decided that it would be better to instead just focus on playing optimal poker. Seems easy right? lol. This is a long term game. If you attempt to make it a short term game by loosening up, being over aggro, and falling in love with pots (aka tilt), you're progress as a player will be stagnant. You may improve, but the results will not show. The lesson I took away from the marathon session was that the only thing in your power is to make the correct play EVERY time. Bad beats will happen. If you cant handle them, go cry to your mommy- I'm sure she'll understand. Over the course of 100k hands, you'll endure many bad beats. If each bad beat puts you on tilt or even slightly alters your play for the worse, it will certainly show on your bottom line.

Mental toughness is a key in this game- more than you'd imagine. After taking a beat, you have three options: 1. Go on monkey tilt, 2. quit, or 3. play optimal poker. Personally, I prefer the latter. I see it as a challenge. Its a challenge I take pride in. After four years of wrestling for a nationally ranked high school wrestling team and two years of Division I, I think should be able to handle a little bad beat. This is a bit of a rant, but I hope it makes sense.

I am proud of the session I put in last night. I played 1.5k hands and merely broke even (+$35). However, within the first 250 hands I endured the following beats/ coolers. These are not posted for cry baby purposes. If you continue reading, it correlates with the remainder of the educational value of my post.

1. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590392 Villain was 85/17/.6
2. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590407 Villain was 66/35/1.6
3. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590415 Same villain as hand 1.
4. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1590420 Villain is 30/9/1

These were hands that took place during the first 250 hands. Granted, I could have easily went on tilt, but instead I chose to play optimal poker. Over the course of the next 1.5k hands I managed to bounce back. I wasn't winning huge pots, either. It was weird because I checked my account balance at one point in time and I was nearly even. I couldn't believe it. Granted I was upset during the immediate time that they happened- Im human, but I quickly eliminated all negative thoughts and focused on "making the correct play every time." Emotional control turned what could have been a disastrous night into a slightly profitable night.

Marathon Session

Last night/ early this morning I played a marathon session of 4k hands. It is the longest session Ive ever played. I 6-8 tabled and had alot of fun. The reason I played for so long was because I wanted to top my BR off at 6k. I came within $50 several times and got knocked down. Eventually, I made it happen and Im happy with the way things went- up 4.25 BI.

As a side note, with the help of Verneer I have established a goal. The goal is for my BR to exceed 10k by the New Year. Once I achieve this landmark, Verneer feels that I will have officially established myself as an overall winner at 200NL. The challenge started this past Thursday. My roll at the time was 4.4k. Some hands...

1) Villain is 16/7/.9 and a river AF of 5. Check turn for pot control. Only hands Im legitimately afraid of are JT, 99, and 55. He leads the river and I immediately discount the probability of 55. It was a tough call to make, but I checked the turn for this exact purpose- I didnt want to call a huge bet with tptk. By betting the turn I dont think I get value from hands that Im ahead of anyway. I tanked it when he lead into me. He could show up with JT, 99 here but his river AF suggested he was betting more hands than just the nuts. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1587303

2) Favorite hand of the session. Villain is 40/16/1.2. I have a note on villain from previous experience at 50NL basically stating he's donk. His turn min c/r is strong, but with 8 outs to the nuts, its an easy call. Value shove the river. He snapped called. This put me over my 6k goal (6.2k). http://www.pokerhand.org/?1587451

Bankroll Aggression

With 22 buy ins for 200nl, Verneer gave me the green light to 3 table for an hour. I ran red hot and won 3.5 buy ins over a bit less than 300 hands. I won 2 buy ins at 100nl. Biggest cash game night ever for me. It felt good; at the same time, I realize that it is only the beginning to a long road ahead. I am excited for the future.

On a personal note, Fall Break was an awesome time. Nothing too rowdy, but I spent alot of time with close friends and family. I went up to a party at Rider U on Saturday night. A good friend of mine has a nice house there and he did it right. Monday night I got together with my high school crew. The girls from my grade all live together in a house in Manayunk, PA- they go to Philly U. Relatively low key night but still good fun. I worked out with my little brother a couple of times. We have wrestling mats in our garage and we went at it a few times. Hes getting alot tougher, but still cant take me down. He has yet to ever take me down, but when he does I will be very proud of him. Because when he does, I will know that I have done my job. My sister came back from Villanova (sophomore) on Sunday to visit. I hadn't seen her since I left so that was nice. We get along well.

Some hands:

1. I only had 12 hands on him at the time. He was running 55/25/1.2. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1574844

2. Villain is 38/9/.6 over 400 hands. His river AF was 4. Turn and river play?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1574850

Back to 100nl

This past week was midterm week, aka hell week. Its one of the most dreadful weeks of the year. A shit load of work in a short amount of time. Its comparable to a tsunami. You see it coming, but you cant run and you cant hide. Its going to hit you hard, and when it does, its no surprise. I feel confident with the way things went.
Im heading home for fall break this weekend. Im very excited to spend time with fiends and family. Not too sure that Ill have time to play poker, but Ill try to log some hands.
I had some free time last night so I decided to log some hands. First I played a 1.3k hand session. It didnt go very well. I dropped 4 buy ins. Ouch, I was pissed. After a two hours of chilling out, I decided it was time for another go at it. This time I would only 4 table, rather than the usual 6 table. Over 800 hands I won 3.25 buy ins. It felt really good to make a strong comeback. I had quite a few trouble hands from my sessions.

1) Villain is 67/13/.8 over 425 hands. I think I played this too passively. If I lead the turn, do I call a shove? http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554504

2) Villain is 42/14/.75 over 100 hands. Is this turn call a spew? http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554521

3) Villain is 67/48/3.8 over 100 hands. He was an avid bluffer. I went for a turn c/r but he checked behind. Whats the optimal line here? http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554532

4) Villain is 47/19/.8 over 150 hands. Hes taken this line against me before, to which I laid down an over pair. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554539

5) Villain is a good regular 20/17/5.2 over 1.9k hands. His flop AF is 10. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554551

6) Villain is a terrible donk at 65/16/1 over 125 hands. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554559

7) Villain is 44/17/.9 over 50 hands. Flop, standard. Turn, ew. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554565

8) Acehole is 20/13/1.5 over 150 hands. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554576

9) Acehole again. Bad river call? http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554595

10) Acehole was owned me, lol. Lead into with TPTK. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1554611

Go Phils

The Phillies have officially taken lead in the NL East pennant race. It is the first time this season that they have stood at the top. With merely 17 games left to play in the regular season, the Phils were 7 games behind the Mets. Fast forward 15 games later and we're sitting at the top of the NL East. If the Phils win the pennant, it could be regarded as one of the best late season comebacks in the history of baseball. The Phils have won 12 of the last 15, while the Mets have lost 11 of the last 15. Talk about shitting the bed. I wish I was back home right now. Everyone is going nuts. With two games to go and a one game lead, it should make for an interesting finish. The Fightin' Phils are in a groove. Their team chemistry is the best in baseball right now. Hopefully they can carry this momentum into the post-season.

In the world of poker things have been going good. Pretty standard for the most part. I played 1.6k hands last night winning two buy ins. I also donked around in a couple tournies. Played in three, cashed in two. I got pretty deep in the 17k GTD on FTP but while in the money my big pairs didn't hold up. QQ<44 with 30 left while in 5th place- lost 40% of stack. AA
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1533461
Villain is 67/34/1.1 over 150 hands. The turn is an easy fold, but how should I typically proceed on the flop. I feel that open folding the flop to every donk lead is weak. What are some factors I should take into consideration when considering my best course of action against a donk lead?

Some Tough Spots

I played two sessions yesterday and logged a little over 2k hands. I ran hot, but I don't think I played my best during the first session. I lost a 400bb pot set over set on a dry board so I was a bit rattled by that. Came back for a second session after our UF2B sweat, which generated some interesting discussion as always. I was happy with my play the second go around. Here are some tough spots I ran in to.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1526947 Is this fold too tight? 3 betting villain is 60/0/.2 over 50 hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1526959 Villain is 19/16/4 over 800 hands. I have never seen a min raise from him.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1527443 Villain is a multi-tabler running at 16/14/9 over 200 hands. Too passive on the flop/turn? I did not want to raise b/c I felt he could b/3b several draws on this board, but it would be a tough call to make. If he were to b/3b, is it a fold?

50nl

By way of Verneer's recommendation, I have decided to drop down to 50NL for one week. The plan is to play from Monday (yesterday) to this Sunday. I need to regain my confidence after my latest downswing. Started off yesterday nice. I won 4 BI, even though I took two bad beats in 200bb+ pots. I had a session with Verneer tonight, while Mark sweated- solid session. Tonight I lost $18 over 1500 hands. Ill post my top 4 biggest winners and losers form tonight.

Winners

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521624 This hand occured during my session with Verneer. We checked the river to induce a bluff from a missed draw, as it was the only holding we could legitimately get value from.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521630 Standard play. I was very excited to see my hand hold up. Maybe a sign of good things to come?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521633 Weird line by a villain. He was at the table for 8 hands and played every one of them. Plus, his sn was cokeman43, so I figured he had the itch and couldnt bear the poker table anymore.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521643 I heart donkeys.

Losers

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521565 Not too happy with this hand. Villain is 38/4/1 over 115 hands. I included a set in his range, but the reraise looked like it didnt want action. Looking back on the hand, with a deeper stack I should have taken a more passive line. At the moment in time I felt that he could have a weaker J, draw, two pair, or a set. I opted to shove because I felt that I was ahead of his range on the flop. Considering the ~150bb effective stack, I should have taken a more passive line.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521595 Villain was 45/11/1.3 over 220 hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521610 Standard

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1521614 Villain was 17/13/2 over 310 hands. This was the second hand in a row that I isolated.

I definitely feel the benefits to dropping down, but I'm looking forward to getting back to 100nl. The play is much worse at 50nl than 100nl. It doesn't seem like much of a difference after you move up for the first time, but when you move down after being there for a while the difference is very noticeable. The regulars at 100nl are typically thinking on level 2, while regs at 50nl are
still on level one. GL- Dice

Friday Night Donks

Since Friday night is typically a fun filled poker night full of weekend gamblers, I decided to refrain from going out and 5 table 100nl. I lost 6 buy ins on the night over 2k hands. Overall I think I played well, but who knows, I keep losing. Here are some fun hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1507540

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1507544

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1507536

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1507553

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1507555 Couldnt lay it down. Guy was a maniac. I had been waiting for an opportunity to stack him.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1507551

Thats all for now. I feel very dejected right now. 100NL is kicking my ass.

The Good Ole Days

Tonight I got a nice taste of the good ole days. After winning 7.5 BI last night, I dropped 5 BI tonight. Had a session with Verneer tonight, so I felt confident with my play. My graph for the month is crazy.

200nl

Took a stab at 200 NL because I had 21 buy ins and games were soft. The following hands occured within 10 minutes of each other. I was only two tabling so I could get a feel of the game and also protect my roll. I figured I would play two tables of 200nl which is $400 in play, rather than 6 table 100ml with $600 in play.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1486136 Villain is 26/17/4.6 over 117 hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1486141 Villain is 27/19/1.4 over 91 hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1486150 Villain is 29/23/5 over 62 hands. He was playing back at in me in literally every single pot I entered. This may have been a marginal spot, but when I called I truly felt ok. His large flop bet is indicative of a bet that doesn't want action. My perception of his range, based on my image and his own, was AK, 99+ .

My downswing from last week had subsided late Wednesday night. I ran ok from that point until last night but I played a ton of hands. Figured it couldn't last too long. I took a shot with 21 buy ins on 2 soft tables at 200nl and got burned. You must be lucky to win at this game.

Fall is Approaching

Tonight was a productive night of poker. The night started of with a lesson with Pawel, while Mark sweated. We ran in to some interesting scenarios. So far, Pawel has armed me with new theoretical concepts related to bet patterns, bet sizing, and playing out of the blinds. My newly acquired weapons have worked quite well, but I still need to make some adjustments in playing from the blinds. Most of the blind play is related to limped pots, and most of the adjustments I need to make are within my postflop play to loose passive opponents. I'm excited for the future. I know what it takes to keep improving, but I must continue to take the steps necessary to do so. School is alot of work. Tons, tons, tons of reading. Eventually it will evolve into tons of writing, but I'll save that for another day. After my session with Pawel and Mark, we had our UF2B weekly sweat. This week was Martin's (Dodgyken) turn. He played four tables of 200NL on FTP. He played very well while making some nice lay-downs. During his PT review, we had some good, interesting discussions. About UF2b, sorry for lack of updates- our double barreling piece should be up on the UF2B site shortly. As a group, we have decided to open up the format of our site. Look for posts on a more consistent basis in the future.

Downswing Continues

I dropped 4 BI today. KK vs quads, aces, set of tens, AA vs KQ sucks out. I feel like Im playing well. My coach, Pawel Nazarewicz (great guy, knows his stuff), adjusted some of my bet sizes and also some blind on blind play. He said I was playing well and everything we encountered during our session was solid ABC play. I continued to play well (at least I conceived it to be well) after our session and was up 2 BI but finished down for the day over 1.1k hands. Ive lost 10 BI between my last two sessions (last Wednesday and today). Took some time of after my last "bad" session and the saga continues. When I look down at KK in the hole, I legitimately am concerned about the possibility of AA. Thats an exaggeration. I have been pretty good with controlling tilt, so Im not tilting off BI's. Its an area of my game Ive been working quite hard at. Emotions at the poker table are -EV. I am patiently waiting for this downswing to end, but its becoming quite annoying. My Sklansky bucks suggest I'm getting my money in good, but my Dice bucks do not.

Frustrating

Haven't posted in a while due to time constraints. I have been running horribly lately. Tonight I was sucked out on the river on three tables at the same time with either two pair or better. Two nights ago I lost a 400bb pot with in a 4bet pot with KK vs 24o on a 355 board when he rivered a six (got it all in on the flop) and also lost 200bb in another 4 bet pot with KK vs. 96s when he flopped the nuts on a T87 board. Keep in mind these were 4 bet pots. I heart donkeys. That is all I will complain about but I could go on about various bad beats. Quite frustrating. Its supposed to work itself out in the long run but more often than not it seems that it doesn't. This month has been not been good. I was up overall on the month going into tonight, but after -5 BI night tonight on tables that were donkey rich, Im getting very annoyed with the vicious swings. My BR experienced 1.2k fluctuation this week from its high point to its low . Way up, way down, back to even, and finished it off down. Excited to take a couple day break from poker as I am preparing to move back down to Duke next week and will be spending lots of time with friends and family. Hopefully the poker gods will be somewhat merciful upon my return to the tables in the near future. GL all- luck seems to be a very important factor to the cash game grinder.

July Recap

The month of July was a big month for me in terms of progression as a poker player. The game much clearer to me than it was a month ago. The funny thing is that the better you get, the more you realize how much you actually suck. There are certain facets of the game which I am looking forward to devoting meticulous study to, such as: practicing "hand ranges calculus", analyzing showdown hands with respect to the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, and also analyzing showdown hands in conjunction with my EV/ pot equity by street. I also want to devote a serious amount of time to situational factors which influence "hand range calculus" such as position, board texture, betting patterns, image, and bet sizing. For those who are unaware, "hand range calculus" as defined by 2+2 poster LearnedfromTV refers to the "acknowledgment that poker is actually a game of incomplete information, and attempts to define best actions in terms of maximizing expectation versus the range of possible hands your opponent could have, in light of the range of hands it is likely he thinks you have."