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.