Thursday, October 18, 2007
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.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
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?
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?
Monday, October 15, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
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
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
Thursday, October 11, 2007
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
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
Friday, October 5, 2007
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
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
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