2010/08/01 - 2010/08/12
#SnGs: 240
ROI%: 8.2
ITM%: 55.0
Winnings (without rb): $149.50
Winnings (with rb): $241
Friday, 13 August 2010
Getting Some of It Back
Took a 24hr break and as I predicted, this rest would do good things for my game. As I don't have much time to play today, due to other activities in my life I've only played 5 sits but got back 86% of what I lost yesterday over 30 sits. This brings us to the current cumulative numbers for this month:
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/12
#SnGs: 240
ROI%: 8.2
ITM%: 55.0
Winnings (without rb): $149.50
Winnings (with rb): $241
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/12
#SnGs: 240
ROI%: 8.2
ITM%: 55.0
Winnings (without rb): $149.50
Winnings (with rb): $241
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Houston We Have a Problem
Negative day, which is to be expected sometimes, right? Took a shot at $22 and despite breaking even in a about dozen sits, decided to fall back to $11 for now. Found the field to be rougher than $11 after all and having a big enough bankroll is only half of what you should considering for going up levels. You should also bring your game up and I was not feeling comfortable there yet. I prefer to go back if and when I grow my bankroll a little more so I can be more comfortable playing there.
Reasons for this negative I feel are not so much about luck, but rather me being a little tired and making mistakes. These can be costly on turbo sits of this nature and I feel when I focused and rested, it's a totally different game and very different results. So I've decided to let it rest for a bit and pick it up again somewhere tomorrow, perhaps a good 24 hours from now.
Time for numbers.
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/12
#SnGs: 235
ROI%: 7.0
ITM%: 54.5
Winnings (without rb): $125
Winnings (with rb): $223
Reasons for this negative I feel are not so much about luck, but rather me being a little tired and making mistakes. These can be costly on turbo sits of this nature and I feel when I focused and rested, it's a totally different game and very different results. So I've decided to let it rest for a bit and pick it up again somewhere tomorrow, perhaps a good 24 hours from now.
Time for numbers.
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/12
#SnGs: 235
ROI%: 7.0
ITM%: 54.5
Winnings (without rb): $125
Winnings (with rb): $223
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Running Good!
I have definitely been running hot in the past couple of days and making the most out of it. After only one and a half days playing $10+1 sits, I've been fortunate enough to grow my bankroll enough to jump to $22+2 sits. Incredibly, I kinda felt the $10+1 sits were softer than the $5+0.50 ones. I'm looking forward to dive into the $22+2 tournaments tomorrow and see how it goes.
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/12
#SnGs: 213
ROI%: 12.9
ITM%: 55.9
Winnings (without rb): $185.50
Winnings (with rb): $257
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/12
#SnGs: 213
ROI%: 12.9
ITM%: 55.9
Winnings (without rb): $185.50
Winnings (with rb): $257
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Catching Up
Wow, almost a month has gone by and a lot of stuff has already changed in my poker landscape. Since I wrote my last entry, I got into a big live poker tournament, the KFPT 440 EUR Main Event at Figueira da Foz Casino, an entry which I won in a live satellite the day before the main event. Unfortunately the tournament didn't go too well, as I got eliminated shortly after dinner, following a couple of missteps of my own. What was left was a bit more experience at this level which I hope to make into good use in the future.
Speaking of live tournaments, they are unfortunately really expensive and my cash from the early KFPT final table simply won't last forever and I don't want to burn it right away. So I've decided that for the next year or so, I'll be focusing on winning entries to these tournaments through live and online satellites. That and what I'm going to ramble a bit about in the next paragraphs.
Recentely (late July) I was offered a very nice rakeback deal and I'm trying to make good use of it, grinding it out online. I'm getting 55% right now, playing at a somewhat large network (not PokerStars, not Full Tilt) and I'm doing nicely so far. This network has some juicy Double or Nothing 6-max type tourneys, which pay double the buy-in to the first 3 players. I started out grinding these ones at the $5.50 buy-in, which means I get $0.55 in rakeback from every two tournaments I play. I've been trying to decide in which SnG type I have the most edge (if any!) and I'm still quite undecided. But I've been playing these double ups a lot.
The great thing about rakeback is how it attenuates variance A LOT. In fact, I can't live without it anymore and for me online poker without some sort of rakeback deal is just non-sense. You can't really on variance alone and it WILL bring you down sooner or later. Obviously, my idea with this is not to get stuck in these $5.50 but rather to go up the ladder and climb to bigger buy-ins, collecting as much rakeback as possible because you pay more rake the bigger the buy-in, of course. Since the beginning of August I've been grinding these $5 + $0.50 sits not really sure if and when to move up, until today I came across a great bankroll management video on YouTube which served as a good guide. I modified it a bit, to make it even safer and to cut to the chase, I'm basically moving up when I reach 20 buy-ins and moving down when I fall back to 15 buy-ins.
Looking at my bankroll, it became obvious in light of this strategy, that I could now move up to $11 SnGs, so that's what I'm playing now and having 14.6% ROI after 23 tournaments. Too early to say, but I feel the field isn't much stronger, only has a bit more regulars multi-table rocks. I'm also looking to unlock a $129 bonus at the room I play. For this I need to win another 5172 points right now, which by my calculations will take around two weeks to get. If I succeed in getting this by the end of the month, it's a massive boost to my bankroll and it will probably allow me move up again (to $22 SNGs). Mid-term objective is to collect enough rakeback that will allow me play in live tournaments monthly. We'll see.
From now on, as I did with my former challenge, I will post daily stats of my progress.
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/11
#SnGs: 188
ROI%: 8.7
ITM%: 53.7
Winnings (without rb): $100.50
Winnings (with rb): $158.50
Speaking of live tournaments, they are unfortunately really expensive and my cash from the early KFPT final table simply won't last forever and I don't want to burn it right away. So I've decided that for the next year or so, I'll be focusing on winning entries to these tournaments through live and online satellites. That and what I'm going to ramble a bit about in the next paragraphs.
Recentely (late July) I was offered a very nice rakeback deal and I'm trying to make good use of it, grinding it out online. I'm getting 55% right now, playing at a somewhat large network (not PokerStars, not Full Tilt) and I'm doing nicely so far. This network has some juicy Double or Nothing 6-max type tourneys, which pay double the buy-in to the first 3 players. I started out grinding these ones at the $5.50 buy-in, which means I get $0.55 in rakeback from every two tournaments I play. I've been trying to decide in which SnG type I have the most edge (if any!) and I'm still quite undecided. But I've been playing these double ups a lot.
The great thing about rakeback is how it attenuates variance A LOT. In fact, I can't live without it anymore and for me online poker without some sort of rakeback deal is just non-sense. You can't really on variance alone and it WILL bring you down sooner or later. Obviously, my idea with this is not to get stuck in these $5.50 but rather to go up the ladder and climb to bigger buy-ins, collecting as much rakeback as possible because you pay more rake the bigger the buy-in, of course. Since the beginning of August I've been grinding these $5 + $0.50 sits not really sure if and when to move up, until today I came across a great bankroll management video on YouTube which served as a good guide. I modified it a bit, to make it even safer and to cut to the chase, I'm basically moving up when I reach 20 buy-ins and moving down when I fall back to 15 buy-ins.
Looking at my bankroll, it became obvious in light of this strategy, that I could now move up to $11 SnGs, so that's what I'm playing now and having 14.6% ROI after 23 tournaments. Too early to say, but I feel the field isn't much stronger, only has a bit more regulars multi-table rocks. I'm also looking to unlock a $129 bonus at the room I play. For this I need to win another 5172 points right now, which by my calculations will take around two weeks to get. If I succeed in getting this by the end of the month, it's a massive boost to my bankroll and it will probably allow me move up again (to $22 SNGs). Mid-term objective is to collect enough rakeback that will allow me play in live tournaments monthly. We'll see.
From now on, as I did with my former challenge, I will post daily stats of my progress.
2010/08/01 - 2010/08/11
#SnGs: 188
ROI%: 8.7
ITM%: 53.7
Winnings (without rb): $100.50
Winnings (with rb): $158.50
Saturday, 17 July 2010
NL10 Day #2 - Part II
And at last, a losing session. It's weirdly encouraging to know that a negative session precisely when I didn't play my best poker at the time. It encourages me because it makes me confident that playing A-game is definitely the most important thing, especially in the long run.
Won one pot without showdown before the flop after I 4-bet all-in from the SB with KQo based on a read I had. It worked, but could have easily gone really wrong. I did NOT want a call on that spot... Earlier on, I had JJ in UTG, raised 3BB, 3-bet from button and I flat call. Flop comes 289, two hearts, and I check-raise all-in, again based on read. Unfortunately I was really wrong, as he snap-called me with KK and, as poker loves donks, I rivered a J to double up. Yes, I apologized on the chat box... didn't deserve that one!
On the negative side, single-handedly responsible for this being a losing session, were two pots where I got stacked-off, or shall I say, I stacked myself off, if that even makes sense. In the first, I have a huge losing fish on my left whom I'm waiting for the right spot to exploit. In this hand, I'm on the CO holding AsTc, he's BTN, it's folded to me, I raise 2.5BB, villain flats, both blinds fold. Flop comes 5TQ rainbow, I c-bet 2/3 of the pot, standard, he again flats, after taking a while to make the call. I'm definitely not putting him on a Q and I believe I have the best hand at this point. Turn is a 7, two diamonds on the table now and despite the possible flush draw, this card looks pretty much like a brick to me so I fire a second, almost pot-sized, bullet of $1.20 to a $1.45 pot. My opponent again calls and I'm kinda clueless right now about he may be holding, but I believe he's holding a weaker Tx or even A5, typical of fishes calling every street at these stakes. River is a 9d, putting three diamonds on the board. I wasn't worried about the diamonds but this makes a possible flush, so I bet again for value, but only a third of the pot, maybe out of a little weakness on my part. My opponent goes instantly all-in, another behavior typical of a big fish and instead of taking the cautious route and accept that maybe I read this one wrong, I decided to go with my gut feeling and my read and called. He shows me AdKd to take all my chips. Hard to see this one coming...
The other bad hand is a good example of psychology gone wrong, in which I enter a new table and instantly get KK. There's a raise and someone flats it and I go immediately all-in for $10, trying to cause the impression that I'm a huge maniac and hoping that someone calls me with [AK-AJ,QQ-TT]. And someone did! What really screwed it all up was an A spiking up right on that flop and the caller holding AQ offsuit! So I'm out of chips and again rebuying...
Even if I do believe that I was a little unlucky in both cases, maybe I should have been more cautious, especially in the last hand. I should have 3-bet pre-flop and probably would've folded on the flop with that A and a show of strength of my opponent, making me lose minimum. Ah well...
Positive thing also is that this session allowed me to collect a 1,500 yearly VPPs bonus from Stars, worth $10. I wasn't aware how this works and when I figured out I could get $10 from the VIP store directly into my account I noticed the 750 VPP bonus sitting there waiting for me as well. Nice. Also broke the 1k hands barrier in this session. 1/10 of the challenge is done.
Session stats:
Minutes Played: 122.0
Hands: 331
Winnings: EUR -5.35
VPIP/PFR/AF/3Bet%: 22.2/14.8/2.73/5.8
Won one pot without showdown before the flop after I 4-bet all-in from the SB with KQo based on a read I had. It worked, but could have easily gone really wrong. I did NOT want a call on that spot... Earlier on, I had JJ in UTG, raised 3BB, 3-bet from button and I flat call. Flop comes 289, two hearts, and I check-raise all-in, again based on read. Unfortunately I was really wrong, as he snap-called me with KK and, as poker loves donks, I rivered a J to double up. Yes, I apologized on the chat box... didn't deserve that one!
On the negative side, single-handedly responsible for this being a losing session, were two pots where I got stacked-off, or shall I say, I stacked myself off, if that even makes sense. In the first, I have a huge losing fish on my left whom I'm waiting for the right spot to exploit. In this hand, I'm on the CO holding AsTc, he's BTN, it's folded to me, I raise 2.5BB, villain flats, both blinds fold. Flop comes 5TQ rainbow, I c-bet 2/3 of the pot, standard, he again flats, after taking a while to make the call. I'm definitely not putting him on a Q and I believe I have the best hand at this point. Turn is a 7, two diamonds on the table now and despite the possible flush draw, this card looks pretty much like a brick to me so I fire a second, almost pot-sized, bullet of $1.20 to a $1.45 pot. My opponent again calls and I'm kinda clueless right now about he may be holding, but I believe he's holding a weaker Tx or even A5, typical of fishes calling every street at these stakes. River is a 9d, putting three diamonds on the board. I wasn't worried about the diamonds but this makes a possible flush, so I bet again for value, but only a third of the pot, maybe out of a little weakness on my part. My opponent goes instantly all-in, another behavior typical of a big fish and instead of taking the cautious route and accept that maybe I read this one wrong, I decided to go with my gut feeling and my read and called. He shows me AdKd to take all my chips. Hard to see this one coming...
The other bad hand is a good example of psychology gone wrong, in which I enter a new table and instantly get KK. There's a raise and someone flats it and I go immediately all-in for $10, trying to cause the impression that I'm a huge maniac and hoping that someone calls me with [AK-AJ,QQ-TT]. And someone did! What really screwed it all up was an A spiking up right on that flop and the caller holding AQ offsuit! So I'm out of chips and again rebuying...
Even if I do believe that I was a little unlucky in both cases, maybe I should have been more cautious, especially in the last hand. I should have 3-bet pre-flop and probably would've folded on the flop with that A and a show of strength of my opponent, making me lose minimum. Ah well...
Positive thing also is that this session allowed me to collect a 1,500 yearly VPPs bonus from Stars, worth $10. I wasn't aware how this works and when I figured out I could get $10 from the VIP store directly into my account I noticed the 750 VPP bonus sitting there waiting for me as well. Nice. Also broke the 1k hands barrier in this session. 1/10 of the challenge is done.
Session stats:
Minutes Played: 122.0
Hands: 331
Winnings: EUR -5.35
VPIP/PFR/AF/3Bet%: 22.2/14.8/2.73/5.8
NL10 Day #2
Saturday afternoon home alone is perfect for another of these online sessions. Somehow I don't feel like playing for long periods of time right now, so I sat for one hour of NL10. We'll see if this is a continuing trend, but I seem to get tired more easily playing cash than tournaments. The static nature of the game probably explains it. Tournaments are always moving forward and the differences between early, middle and late phases make it always exciting, I guess.
Anyway, another NL10 session and this one has been the most profitable one so far. Two days in and four sessions later, I'm still to have a negative stretch. But they will come. Ohhh, they will come. This time, I ran into a few fishes and was able to actually exploit them. I also had a few cards and was able to extract some value from them. I'm going to paste two hands here, which we won't go into much detail, but are illustrative of the nonsense that goes on at these stakes:
This is what happens when people think top pair is the nuts. Another example was the following hand.
Again, top pair rules. In both these hands - and on a few others - I was able to take more liberal, relaxed, lines because I had somewhat solid reads on my opponents. I started using a well known website to fetch player profiles in cash games and it's been helping me quite a bit.
Anyway, session stats, as usual:
Minutes Played: 60.3
Hands: 182
Winnings: EUR 14.28
VPIP/PFR/AF/3Bet%: 19.8/14.7/24.00/4.8
Happier about my aggression and 3bet%, which won me a couple of good pots without showdown. More to come soon!
Anyway, another NL10 session and this one has been the most profitable one so far. Two days in and four sessions later, I'm still to have a negative stretch. But they will come. Ohhh, they will come. This time, I ran into a few fishes and was able to actually exploit them. I also had a few cards and was able to extract some value from them. I'm going to paste two hands here, which we won't go into much detail, but are illustrative of the nonsense that goes on at these stakes:
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com
Button ($10.40)
Hero (SB) ($12.26)
BB ($10.16)
UTG ($10.30)
MP ($11.09)
CO ($9.74)
Preflop: Hero is SB with A
, A
1 fold, MP bets $0.40, CO (poster) calls $0.30, 1 fold, Hero raises $1.25, 2 folds, CO (poster) calls $0.90
Flop: ($3.15) 9, A
, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $1, CO calls $1
Turn: ($5.15) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.70, CO calls $1.70
River: ($8.55) 2
(2 players)
Hero bets $8.26 (All-In), CO calls $5.69 (All-In)
Total pot: $19.93
Results:
Hero had A, A (full house, Aces over nines).
CO had A, 7 (two pair, Aces and nines).
Outcome: Hero won $21.53, CO won $0.05
Button ($10.40)
Hero (SB) ($12.26)
BB ($10.16)
UTG ($10.30)
MP ($11.09)
CO ($9.74)
Preflop: Hero is SB with A
, A1 fold, MP bets $0.40, CO (poster) calls $0.30, 1 fold, Hero raises $1.25, 2 folds, CO (poster) calls $0.90
Flop: ($3.15) 9
, A, 9 (2 players)Hero bets $1, CO calls $1
Turn: ($5.15) 5
(2 players)Hero bets $1.70, CO calls $1.70
River: ($8.55) 2
(2 players)Hero bets $8.26 (All-In), CO calls $5.69 (All-In)
Total pot: $19.93
Results:
Hero had A
, A (full house, Aces over nines).CO had A
, 7 (two pair, Aces and nines).Outcome: Hero won $21.53, CO won $0.05
This is what happens when people think top pair is the nuts. Another example was the following hand.
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com
Hero (Button) ($11.02)
SB ($21.94)
BB ($5.55)
UTG ($10)
MP ($14.13)
Preflop: Hero is Button with K, 8
2 folds, Hero bets $0.25, 1 fold, BB calls $0.15
Flop: ($0.55) 2, 10, 10 (2 players)
BB bets $0.40, Hero raises $0.90, BB calls $0.50
Turn: ($2.35) A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
River: ($2.35) 8 (2 players)
BB bets $1.30, Hero raises $4.40, BB calls $3.10 (All-In)
Total pot: $11.15
Results:
Hero had K, 8 (flush, Ace high).
BB had 7, A (two pair, Aces and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $10.60
Hero (Button) ($11.02)
SB ($21.94)
BB ($5.55)
UTG ($10)
MP ($14.13)
Preflop: Hero is Button with K
, 82 folds, Hero bets $0.25, 1 fold, BB calls $0.15
Flop: ($0.55) 2
, 10, 10 (2 players)BB bets $0.40, Hero raises $0.90, BB calls $0.50
Turn: ($2.35) A
(2 players)BB checks, Hero checks
River: ($2.35) 8
(2 players)BB bets $1.30, Hero raises $4.40, BB calls $3.10 (All-In)
Total pot: $11.15
Results:
Hero had K
, 8 (flush, Ace high).BB had 7
, A (two pair, Aces and tens).Outcome: Hero won $10.60
Again, top pair rules. In both these hands - and on a few others - I was able to take more liberal, relaxed, lines because I had somewhat solid reads on my opponents. I started using a well known website to fetch player profiles in cash games and it's been helping me quite a bit.
Anyway, session stats, as usual:
Minutes Played: 60.3
Hands: 182
Winnings: EUR 14.28
VPIP/PFR/AF/3Bet%: 19.8/14.7/24.00/4.8
Happier about my aggression and 3bet%, which won me a couple of good pots without showdown. More to come soon!
Friday, 16 July 2010
NL10 Day #1 - Part II
OK, let's just completely forget the live tournament I was talking about. It was just one of those usual home games where all of a sudden a lot of different people show up whom you never saw before in your life, whom after 10 minutes you can immediately tell they know shit about poker but who are on a HUGE hot run. Impossible to play against, unless you keep folding until you're 10BB and then shoving with any ace. Just not in the mood tonight, so even though I reach the final table, tried to steal the blinds with 84s and was caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Whatever, I really felt like going home anyway. It's wrong and I know I should adapt to any circumstances and any tables I may find.
Anyway, back home earlier than expected so decided to try another NL10 session at PokerStars. This time played for half an hour and it was again a positive session, this time thanks to a really lucky hand just before the session ended. Earlier on I had gotten in a couple of bad spots, once thanks to a bad read where my opponent had a set and I thought my top pair was good enough and another where I lost most of my chips to a higher flush. Tough to get away from those... then right when the session was drawing to a close, almost doubled up with QQ vs KK, a hand in which I 4-bet all-in before the flop, was on a flush draw after the turn and ended up rivering a Q. I had been losing almost $8, was able to slowly grind my way back to losing only $2 and this hand turned things around for good. Here's the stats for this second NL10 session:
Minutes Played: 87.1
Hands: 304
Winnings: EUR 4.37
VPIP/PFR/AF/3Bet%: 25.7/15.8/4.60/3.0
I think these are good solid stats for now, maybe the 3-bet % should be higher, provided I find the right spots. Something to tinker with in the next sessions. Here's how the graph is shaping up and you can see how up and down this session came out to be:
Anyway, back home earlier than expected so decided to try another NL10 session at PokerStars. This time played for half an hour and it was again a positive session, this time thanks to a really lucky hand just before the session ended. Earlier on I had gotten in a couple of bad spots, once thanks to a bad read where my opponent had a set and I thought my top pair was good enough and another where I lost most of my chips to a higher flush. Tough to get away from those... then right when the session was drawing to a close, almost doubled up with QQ vs KK, a hand in which I 4-bet all-in before the flop, was on a flush draw after the turn and ended up rivering a Q. I had been losing almost $8, was able to slowly grind my way back to losing only $2 and this hand turned things around for good. Here's the stats for this second NL10 session:
Minutes Played: 87.1
Hands: 304
Winnings: EUR 4.37
VPIP/PFR/AF/3Bet%: 25.7/15.8/4.60/3.0
I think these are good solid stats for now, maybe the 3-bet % should be higher, provided I find the right spots. Something to tinker with in the next sessions. Here's how the graph is shaping up and you can see how up and down this session came out to be:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)