Had to add Titan to my list of cash on the left so that puts me at 4.5k at the end of March. Still a long way to go but feeling good playing NL100. Next month if I get off to a good start I think I will take a run at the NL200 tables for a bit.
Hoyazo got me all turned on to these Full Tilt $26 tokens so I think I will continue to invest some of my ring winnings into getting these. That way I can enter some good MTT's where I have an outside chance of hitting my goal in record time! Maybe sometime soon I can join the 50k challenge that cmitch is on right now. Been really slow and steady in building the bankroll... hopefully as I get closer I can get more into taking stabs at the higher levels.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Solid Night
Took about 3 hours to get my taxes done and finished off the night with 1.5 hours of poker. The players at Full Tilt NL$1 are much more aggressive. That being said it only took about 20 mins for me to get back to my usual TAG game. Ended the evening up $90 so I am finally back at the same total dollar level as the beginning of the month. That was mostly because of $500 free cash from myCitadel and $100 from Nine. I did give $300 to my brother but that still means I was on a $400 downswing from my peak.
So end of March and at 4.3k.... goal of 10k so going to continue to work in some MTT's but will also get back to the NL$1 games where people try to give you money!
So end of March and at 4.3k.... goal of 10k so going to continue to work in some MTT's but will also get back to the NL$1 games where people try to give you money!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Bounty Collected... Thanks Kat.
Kat was cool enough to work quickly to create this blog banner for me:
Since I haven't put one of these up on my site before I am still working on how to do that but I hope to figure it out soon.
Just so people know how I got my online name of Guin it goes back to 1993 during my first year at Dalhousie University. Studying for first year of my commerce degree was a little boring so I started to play a MUD called Gateway. So any MUDers out there I am your typical pker who uses poker as my new game of choice! Being a huge Mario Lemieux fan I followed the Pittsburgh Penguins. So Guin was short enough and the 36 being my number was related to being half the size of Mario but having all the talent! So Guin36 being my usual login name for email and such.
Well my daughter who is almost two started referring to her stuffed penguin as mungo. So on some recent poker sites I have started to use Mungo36 as my username.
Taxes are going to keep me from everything but a few blogger or freeroll events this weekend. Corporate taxes and personal taxes are going to drive me insane... hopefully I can make a good run at it tonight instead of going out.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Fishy Fishy!
Playing in the HUC was a blast but FishyMcDonk ran over me like a truck last night. He pulled some moves from the boxing arena like the champ he is... first off he made me wait in the ring shadow boxing for 30 mins waiting for him to show up! Sneaky sneaky! Then in round 1 I have him on the ropes and then my computer crashes. Coincidence? Now I know I got to keep my good eye on this Donk! Finally blinds got higher and lost round 1 with a crappy push with A4 into 88.
Round 2 was even worse for me. Fishy pulls move 3 and says GO! to signup for our 2nd round (shame that FT doesn't have a rematch option at the end of a HU match) and when I click register I see I am facing someone else. Ack! So I end up setting up our 2nd match and 2 tabling. That wouldn't be bad but I sort of suck at HU and my opponent is top notch so I am already playing out of my league. Two hands did me in .... BB and I see QQ. Fishy comes in with his min raise which doesn't say much to me so I pop it with a pot sized bet. He calls and flop is A 10 5 with two spades. I lead out for 1/2 pot and he pots it. I fold and he shows 105o.... nice hand and nicer flop! A few hands later I see Q6 and we limp in. Flop is KQ6. I am hoping he has TPGK and the only way to find out it to raise. He min raises and I pot it and he reraises. If he has KQ I am going to pay him off so I push. He shows K6 and I know that the poker gods aren't on my side.
Great match but I felt like the Maple Leafs vs. Senators... Ottawa has something over us Toronto guys this year.... at least until the playoffs (still hoping or dreaming)!
Round 2 was even worse for me. Fishy pulls move 3 and says GO! to signup for our 2nd round (shame that FT doesn't have a rematch option at the end of a HU match) and when I click register I see I am facing someone else. Ack! So I end up setting up our 2nd match and 2 tabling. That wouldn't be bad but I sort of suck at HU and my opponent is top notch so I am already playing out of my league. Two hands did me in .... BB and I see QQ. Fishy comes in with his min raise which doesn't say much to me so I pop it with a pot sized bet. He calls and flop is A 10 5 with two spades. I lead out for 1/2 pot and he pots it. I fold and he shows 105o.... nice hand and nicer flop! A few hands later I see Q6 and we limp in. Flop is KQ6. I am hoping he has TPGK and the only way to find out it to raise. He min raises and I pot it and he reraises. If he has KQ I am going to pay him off so I push. He shows K6 and I know that the poker gods aren't on my side.
Great match but I felt like the Maple Leafs vs. Senators... Ottawa has something over us Toronto guys this year.... at least until the playoffs (still hoping or dreaming)!
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
HUC Night again and Full Tilting
Played a couple MTT's on the weekend on Full Tilt. I sure enjoy those $26 tokens that you can win for $6. I went 2 for 2 and found that the opposition was quite tame. Improving in the blind stealing department and maintaining a tight image. Now I just have to figure out what MTT I want to play in with the tokens. I also stepped down a level on the ring games as I haven't played much this month. It was quite easy to build up my stack and make moves while still building a tough to beat image.
Just starting to feel good about my game again... oh I did clear a $100 bonus on Tiger Gaming so I ended up $90... that goes to show how I have been playing. The players might be a bit better than before but it is still weak compared to players at UB.
Tonight is HUC night for me and I am pumped up for the event. I was out last night way too late for a Monday and that is making me a little worried about my ability to be alert. Hoping that the thrill of the event keeps me going.
Just starting to feel good about my game again... oh I did clear a $100 bonus on Tiger Gaming so I ended up $90... that goes to show how I have been playing. The players might be a bit better than before but it is still weak compared to players at UB.
Tonight is HUC night for me and I am pumped up for the event. I was out last night way too late for a Monday and that is making me a little worried about my ability to be alert. Hoping that the thrill of the event keeps me going.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Round 1 done and still alive!
Well things went very well last night as I managed (somehow) to squeak into round 2 of the HUC3. When people put bounties on themselves that shows a little extra confidence in their abilities. My first match I look across at Katitude and realize that if I can win she will come up with a banner for my blog. Earlier in the day, I had posted about wanting that bounty but my confidence showed when I later asked Dugglebogey for one. If you check out his work you will see that he is inspired by Canada!Well back to discussing my first match.... Kat is about the most patient person I have played against. I think in the first level that we folded most hands back and forth or a quick fold after seeing a cheap flop. Eventually blinds forced us to start playing some hands and I take a lead with my gutshot straight filling in vs. Kat's 2 pair. I managed to hold onto the lead and force Kat to be more aggressive (again blinds were working with me on this). Still it took a while before I was able to get all in with my AJ vs. KJ for Kat on a J high flop. Bounty captured!
You would think they would give you one min in between matches to gather your thoughts, but no such luck. WWonka folded the first hand before I knew I was playing! This match was the total opposite as he loves to steal blinds and show. The big thing for me was to not get upset by these steals and to focus on playing well. One hand I hit top pair of Q's and check hoping to check raise. No luck as WWonka checks behind and a second 9 hits the board. Here is where I acted like a donkey by betting now and then calling his large value bet on the river. Got lucky by pushing with a short stack with AKs on a J high flop. He has a J and calls and I river an A to get back close to even. Late in this tournament I finally fight back a bit to defend my blinds with a push and he folds. Then the big hand was me raising with A4o and getting called and flop is 4 9 10. I bet 3/4 pot and expect to take it down but he pushes. Ack! If he had a set he wouldn't push, and he would raise with 99 or 1010 or any overpair preflop. So I called with bottom pair thinking it was either the best or worst read of the night! Turn was an A and a blank river gave me a huge chiplead. Next hand he pushed and my pocket 10's held up.
Looking forward to the next round against FishMcDonk. Going to be at Full Tilt at 9 pm on Tuesday March 28th at 9 pm. Hopefully we can figure out how to setup a private room for the match.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
HUC Night
Well the live charity event was sort of a push fest. By the time the blinds got to me the first time (started in CO) the blinds had gone up 2x. Guys are building pots so I stick around in my bb with 10 7 off and flop is 679 so mid pair and inside straight draw. I check and it gets raised to 200 (we started with 1k of chips) and I call and hope for the best and the turn brings a 5. Fold! A couple hands later on the button I look down and see AK. Two limpers (one was Bob Probert) and a lady who has played every hand and paid $250 to rebuy once already. So I have 520 in chips and figure that a pot sized bet is 280 so I push. Lady is my only caller and I am hoping she has Ax or Kx but she has QJo. She hits a Q on the turn and my night is over.
Lots of free beer which was mostly warm until they found some ice later in the evening. Good chance to chat with a few players like Rob Pearson and Gary Leeman while laughing at our friends crazy plays holding up in the pushfest poker event.
Tonight is a heads-up challenge and I really have to get home and try to practice a bit before I go in there and lose quickly... would be nice to make it to at least round 2 and get to know a few more bloggers.
Lots of free beer which was mostly warm until they found some ice later in the evening. Good chance to chat with a few players like Rob Pearson and Gary Leeman while laughing at our friends crazy plays holding up in the pushfest poker event.
Tonight is a heads-up challenge and I really have to get home and try to practice a bit before I go in there and lose quickly... would be nice to make it to at least round 2 and get to know a few more bloggers.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Big Live Event for me tonight
Going to play in a charity poker tournament tonight where seats were $250 each to enter. Each table will have a NHL alumni playing and it should be a good event. I got started up last night deciding to play nothing but tournaments... finished 8th in a $3 rebuy tournament on UB and also did well in a Full Tilt event. Some of the guys I work with will also be playing so hopefully I don't end up out on the first hand!
I don't mind when you get knocked out of large events with bad beats because you played well. So when I am all in with AA on flop vs. JJ and KQs and lose to the flush I can understand how that happens. When you win a couple of those hands instead of losing them you end up at the final table with a good chipstack. At one point it was regular for me to last long into tournaments but never with enough chips to be effective. Now I am getting to be one of the larger stacks but find it difficult to turn that into winning at the final table.
Sometimes I think it would be better to use the large stack as a guarantee to a good finish and go watch some TV for 15-20 mins. Come back and play shortstacked and try to move up a couple more places. Really the problem is with the extra intensity at a final table and being mentally drained after a day of work that makes it tough to keep up the focus.
More stuff for me to work on but at least when I keep focused I like how my results turn out.
I don't mind when you get knocked out of large events with bad beats because you played well. So when I am all in with AA on flop vs. JJ and KQs and lose to the flush I can understand how that happens. When you win a couple of those hands instead of losing them you end up at the final table with a good chipstack. At one point it was regular for me to last long into tournaments but never with enough chips to be effective. Now I am getting to be one of the larger stacks but find it difficult to turn that into winning at the final table.
Sometimes I think it would be better to use the large stack as a guarantee to a good finish and go watch some TV for 15-20 mins. Come back and play shortstacked and try to move up a couple more places. Really the problem is with the extra intensity at a final table and being mentally drained after a day of work that makes it tough to keep up the focus.
More stuff for me to work on but at least when I keep focused I like how my results turn out.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Nine.com free money
I got a call from a rep at Nine.com and he offered me $100 free if I made a $100 deposit. Not a bonus to work off but cash in my available account. I put in $250 and he gave me 25% cash on the extra $150 deposited.
This is the first time a site has done that but I will see what happens when I go to put the cash into Neteller after working off a small bonus that I have at Nine. The Action Network has always been good to me and the players have only recently improved. Starting to see more europeans on the site which means they must be advertising more overseas. It used to be a goldmine to play against other Canadians who only watch WPT or WSOP on TV to learn how to play.
MyCitadel is also working with me to come up with a better ewallet than Neteller. Hopefully someone out there has a pet peeve with Neteller and can let me know.
This is the first time a site has done that but I will see what happens when I go to put the cash into Neteller after working off a small bonus that I have at Nine. The Action Network has always been good to me and the players have only recently improved. Starting to see more europeans on the site which means they must be advertising more overseas. It used to be a goldmine to play against other Canadians who only watch WPT or WSOP on TV to learn how to play.
MyCitadel is also working with me to come up with a better ewallet than Neteller. Hopefully someone out there has a pet peeve with Neteller and can let me know.
Monday, March 20, 2006
PSO tourney 5
Well the results were better from this PSO tournament vs. the first one. Finished 40+ in the event but went out with QJo and got two players all in with Q 10 4 with flush draw on the board. Rivered the flush J and lost the hand against AKo so not bad that I had him drawing to a 3 outer with one of them putting a flush on the board.
That being said I find that I rarely get any good hands on Absolute... cards just seem so cold for me on that site which is troubling if I am playing there for rakeback!
Going to work on MTTs until Wednesday since I have a large buyin live event where top 10 get paid.
That being said I find that I rarely get any good hands on Absolute... cards just seem so cold for me on that site which is troubling if I am playing there for rakeback!
Going to work on MTTs until Wednesday since I have a large buyin live event where top 10 get paid.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Hung over = BIG night out
The goal last night was to do 32 tequila shots... don't think I made it that far but gave it one hell of a run. You know you have had too many when you pound back 5 shots and it tastes like water. Even with all the beers, wine and shots I actually feel pretty good today.
So who knows I might have to find a green beer to drink this evening.
This weekend the goal is to finish off a Tiger Gaming bonus where I am doing my best to not lose my entire deposit. That will be another $100 from Tiger to play against the worst players in the world!
So who knows I might have to find a green beer to drink this evening.
This weekend the goal is to finish off a Tiger Gaming bonus where I am doing my best to not lose my entire deposit. That will be another $100 from Tiger to play against the worst players in the world!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
32 today
Damn I am getting old... hopefully when I look at back this when I am 40 I will chuckle thinking about the good 'ole days! So I think I will need to set up a few goals for this year to grow this bankroll from 3.5k to hopefully over 10k. About 1.5 months ago I thought that was going to be too easy but my play over the last couple days hasn't been so positive. Just playing sloppy and costing me a few buyins. That being said I know I can play winning poker as long as I stay on the correct side of the not too aggressive line. Also I figure that I do have to move down a couple levels and put in 20k hands of short handed play to improve in that area. In addition working on my live game so that I can dominate the local 1/2 play is the goal. Want to build a live bankroll for that purpose so I will probably put aside 2k to start out.
Tried to play good last night but only managed to play well for 15 mins before I resorted to being reckless. When I am running well I don't try to force things and I get to sit back and pick people off in MTT's. Last night I pushed with an OESD and lost to TPTK. Too early to make that type of move but felt if I won I could push around the passive table I was sitting at. Ring wasn't kind either with guys catching outs against me or me bluffing in bad spots. Thing is that I didn't lose much cash last night as two big hands held up. Players at Absolute Poker seem much better than players elsewhere. That being said I can't even beat the guys at Tiger as I must be underestimating their abilities. Time to swallow the pride go down a level and put in the hours playing good poker.
Tried to play good last night but only managed to play well for 15 mins before I resorted to being reckless. When I am running well I don't try to force things and I get to sit back and pick people off in MTT's. Last night I pushed with an OESD and lost to TPTK. Too early to make that type of move but felt if I won I could push around the passive table I was sitting at. Ring wasn't kind either with guys catching outs against me or me bluffing in bad spots. Thing is that I didn't lose much cash last night as two big hands held up. Players at Absolute Poker seem much better than players elsewhere. That being said I can't even beat the guys at Tiger as I must be underestimating their abilities. Time to swallow the pride go down a level and put in the hours playing good poker.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Still sick but bday tomorrow
So tonight I will put forth a good effort and try to do well in my first PSO league outing. Tried playing a bit at Tiger today and got torn apart. Good starting hands like KK with a 523 flop and flush draw so I get all in against a set of 2's. Then my straight with flush draw on board sees the river pair and I do a crying call against the full house.
But tonight it is time to get out of this funk and start to play the way I know how to play! Been a while since I felt strong at a poker table. I have a charity poker event that is a $250 buy in next Wednesday so I better start to play some SNG's and MTT's to get ready for that event. NHL alumni will be playing and should be easy to make some simple moves against the beginners.
Tomorrow I am 32. These years are starting to fly by!
But tonight it is time to get out of this funk and start to play the way I know how to play! Been a while since I felt strong at a poker table. I have a charity poker event that is a $250 buy in next Wednesday so I better start to play some SNG's and MTT's to get ready for that event. NHL alumni will be playing and should be easy to make some simple moves against the beginners.
Tomorrow I am 32. These years are starting to fly by!
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Tough month
So far it has been a tough month for me. My family has been ill and so have my co-workers which is fine but I finally succumbed to a few of the deadly viruses around me this last week. That has resulted in nothing happening on my poker account other than a little bit of reading. Hopefully this weekend I will get in a few hours of tax time and then a few hours of poker in the evening.
On a good note I made it to the Leaf's game last night and had awesome tickets to watch the Hab's lose. Right now the future of the Leaf's doesn't look good but at least last night was a step in the right direction.
So assuming that I am able to sit in front of a computer then I will participate in the next couple PSO league tournaments. The only bonus that I am currently working on is a 50% reload bonus for $100 at Tiger (love the bad players on that site). Then I have to get ramped up on Full Tilt and go find my big fishy friend who owes me a few buyins!
On a good note I made it to the Leaf's game last night and had awesome tickets to watch the Hab's lose. Right now the future of the Leaf's doesn't look good but at least last night was a step in the right direction.
So assuming that I am able to sit in front of a computer then I will participate in the next couple PSO league tournaments. The only bonus that I am currently working on is a 50% reload bonus for $100 at Tiger (love the bad players on that site). Then I have to get ramped up on Full Tilt and go find my big fishy friend who owes me a few buyins!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Not playing much
Been taking some time this week to relax and read a bit more about the game. Found myself inbetween bonuses and looking to setup a couple rakeback programs. The first being at Absolute Poker so I can play in the PSO league. I have missed the first two events so I have to attempt to do well in the next batch to get an alright ranking.
Started reading volume II of Harrington on Holdem and love the idea of inflection points. These are concepts that are you sort of have a feel for but once they are described you take more time to focus on that area of play. Being a tight player I used to get to the final table too shortstacked to make a run at winning the tournament. Now I have improved on the earlier portions and it is time to learn how to take down a tournament.
For those people who do use Neteller it is time to setup a MyCitadel wallet. It will work on most poker sites and in the near future they are coming out with some cool features. You can get a debit credit card so you can purchase stuff from Amazon using that card like a regular credit card. In addition they also charge zero fees to put cash into your account unlike Neteller which charges 9%. I will be talking to them about adding such features as multiple currencies in an account at the same time and also allowing people to pass cash between each other. I found that to setup the account it was much quicker and easier than Neteller (no phone calls). Hopefully they will also allow some sort of referral bonus so all of us bloggers can get paid to promote them a bit. Even without getting paid I think from what I have seen that it is a good alternative to Neteller.
Started reading volume II of Harrington on Holdem and love the idea of inflection points. These are concepts that are you sort of have a feel for but once they are described you take more time to focus on that area of play. Being a tight player I used to get to the final table too shortstacked to make a run at winning the tournament. Now I have improved on the earlier portions and it is time to learn how to take down a tournament.
For those people who do use Neteller it is time to setup a MyCitadel wallet. It will work on most poker sites and in the near future they are coming out with some cool features. You can get a debit credit card so you can purchase stuff from Amazon using that card like a regular credit card. In addition they also charge zero fees to put cash into your account unlike Neteller which charges 9%. I will be talking to them about adding such features as multiple currencies in an account at the same time and also allowing people to pass cash between each other. I found that to setup the account it was much quicker and easier than Neteller (no phone calls). Hopefully they will also allow some sort of referral bonus so all of us bloggers can get paid to promote them a bit. Even without getting paid I think from what I have seen that it is a good alternative to Neteller.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Ace on the River
Great book... just wish it was full of hands and cut down a lot on the rest of it. I am lucky that my money management skills are developed from my typical line of work so no problems for me there. I will take the spend time with the family notice to heart as it is the most important thing in my life.
It was kind of cool to think through a hand playing against Gus Hansen and I am sure I would have messed up a few of the other hands. A few of the tips about playing late in tournaments will also come in handy. I have improved to the point where I can get to the final table with some chips, but then I start to spew them as I run into big hands.
Played live last Wednesday night and was down $40 mostly to a buddy who I was messing around playing against. Silly to do but costly in long run until I beat him out of some cash first.
It was good to take the weekend off from playing and focus on some reading and watching some WPT events on TV. I watch them after I tape them so I can fast forward to tough spots where I have to think through a hand. Good experience and it feeds the hands which feed into the mental database that we use when we are playing. The idea of modelling successful players is one which poker players don't mention enough. Take a close look at guys who are winning and see what they are doing to gain all those chips.
Over the next couple days I am going to post about a e-wallet that I think can challenge Neteller for our business. Think of no deposit fees and hopefully soon they will allow multiple currencies to be held inside your account. Let me know if there is anything that your current e-wallet is missing in terms of functionality that you would like to see.
It was kind of cool to think through a hand playing against Gus Hansen and I am sure I would have messed up a few of the other hands. A few of the tips about playing late in tournaments will also come in handy. I have improved to the point where I can get to the final table with some chips, but then I start to spew them as I run into big hands.
Played live last Wednesday night and was down $40 mostly to a buddy who I was messing around playing against. Silly to do but costly in long run until I beat him out of some cash first.
It was good to take the weekend off from playing and focus on some reading and watching some WPT events on TV. I watch them after I tape them so I can fast forward to tough spots where I have to think through a hand. Good experience and it feeds the hands which feed into the mental database that we use when we are playing. The idea of modelling successful players is one which poker players don't mention enough. Take a close look at guys who are winning and see what they are doing to gain all those chips.
Over the next couple days I am going to post about a e-wallet that I think can challenge Neteller for our business. Think of no deposit fees and hopefully soon they will allow multiple currencies to be held inside your account. Let me know if there is anything that your current e-wallet is missing in terms of functionality that you would like to see.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Learning - when to avoid playing
Well last night I was heading home hoping to watch a movie with the wife. She had to study and since things needed to be quiet I ended up playing poker online. That was the first mistake of an evening where I went out of my way to make every mistake I knew to avoid. Here is a quick list:
1. Be ready to play. Not just play but show up knowing that you can beat the game and put your mind to that goal.
Last night I was careless and sat down to put in some hands and wasn't focused.
2. Play conservative until you know your opponents. I am not saying that you should not try a move on someone but don't put your stack on the line until you are sure it is +EV
Last night I lost my first buy in trying to push a guy off a hand by reraising all in. How could I put a good read on a guy after 10 hands? He might be able to lay down an overpair if he thinks your raise is AA or he could call with the nuts.
3. Play very conservative while on tilt. This rule keeps me in a situation where I am only supposed to play AA, KK, QQ and AK from any position and AQ from late position until things cool down a bit. After losing a big hand you almost want to get back in the game and mix is up which is how most people get in trouble.
I convinced myself that I wasn't on tilt and ended up losing about 1/3 of my next buy in by calling pre flop raises with garbage hoping to catch someone. This resulted in my VPIP to soar so my raises and calls had less respect than before.
4. Don't lose a stack to TPTK. How many times do we see the K on the turn with all low cards and then figure that we have the best hand. Keep the pot small as you only have one pair but still bet to make the flush draw pay to see that next card.
4a. Very big red flags should go up when passive players start reraising on the turn. Watch out for sets and two pair as most at low levels don't reraise with just draws.
I had TPTK on turn vs. a guy who was a bit crazy pre and postflop. VPIP was 53% and pre flop raise was 23%. My mistake vs. this guy was only calling his min raise preflop instead of reraising him. The lack of info of how he would react to being reraised would cost me later in the evening. I figure that his reraise (since he is nuts!) has to be with a worse K. Instead he had two pair since his 72o hammer hand hammered me for him to double up.
5. Once you identify the maniac put him on your buddy list and take your time to take that stack. Just because bad players are out there doesn't mean you will have an opportunity this time to take them out.
5a. Bad players get hands just like everyone else.
My buddy from my TPTK hand min raises (he was just to my right so perfect table position for me) and I have AK again. Well he isn't going to get away with min raising with junk so I put in a 6xbb raise. Everyone else folds but my buddy is stubborn and he reraises me. I figure that at worst I am a coinflip and a push should get my money in with the best of it so I push. He calls with AA and I do a great job of doubling him up again.
6. If you have broken more than one of these rules in an evening don't continue to play.
I took the last $26 I had on Full Tilt (damn site is making me live up to their name!) and followed my friend to his next table. Right idea but again I wan't to force the situation. So he limps from UTG and I am in CO and see 72o. Figure that since I have sacrificed so much it would be nice to get back at him with the hammer. So I raise to 4xbb to isolate (which is easy on Full Tilt as most are so tight on this site) and he reraises me to 8xbb. I call and the flop is 7 8 10 and he puts me all in. I call because I am sure my 7's are ahead right now. He shows 56o and hits the 9 on the turn and a 7 on the river. So my set loses to my buddy while I get to explain to my brother what happened to his Full Tilt account!
Well it was a humbling experience but the positives were that I know who I want to be playing against but I have to remember the fundamentals that built the bankroll.
Just got my copy of Ace on the River from Amazon today so that will give me something to read when my wife doesn't want to watch a movie!
1. Be ready to play. Not just play but show up knowing that you can beat the game and put your mind to that goal.
Last night I was careless and sat down to put in some hands and wasn't focused.
2. Play conservative until you know your opponents. I am not saying that you should not try a move on someone but don't put your stack on the line until you are sure it is +EV
Last night I lost my first buy in trying to push a guy off a hand by reraising all in. How could I put a good read on a guy after 10 hands? He might be able to lay down an overpair if he thinks your raise is AA or he could call with the nuts.
3. Play very conservative while on tilt. This rule keeps me in a situation where I am only supposed to play AA, KK, QQ and AK from any position and AQ from late position until things cool down a bit. After losing a big hand you almost want to get back in the game and mix is up which is how most people get in trouble.
I convinced myself that I wasn't on tilt and ended up losing about 1/3 of my next buy in by calling pre flop raises with garbage hoping to catch someone. This resulted in my VPIP to soar so my raises and calls had less respect than before.
4. Don't lose a stack to TPTK. How many times do we see the K on the turn with all low cards and then figure that we have the best hand. Keep the pot small as you only have one pair but still bet to make the flush draw pay to see that next card.
4a. Very big red flags should go up when passive players start reraising on the turn. Watch out for sets and two pair as most at low levels don't reraise with just draws.
I had TPTK on turn vs. a guy who was a bit crazy pre and postflop. VPIP was 53% and pre flop raise was 23%. My mistake vs. this guy was only calling his min raise preflop instead of reraising him. The lack of info of how he would react to being reraised would cost me later in the evening. I figure that his reraise (since he is nuts!) has to be with a worse K. Instead he had two pair since his 72o hammer hand hammered me for him to double up.
5. Once you identify the maniac put him on your buddy list and take your time to take that stack. Just because bad players are out there doesn't mean you will have an opportunity this time to take them out.
5a. Bad players get hands just like everyone else.
My buddy from my TPTK hand min raises (he was just to my right so perfect table position for me) and I have AK again. Well he isn't going to get away with min raising with junk so I put in a 6xbb raise. Everyone else folds but my buddy is stubborn and he reraises me. I figure that at worst I am a coinflip and a push should get my money in with the best of it so I push. He calls with AA and I do a great job of doubling him up again.
6. If you have broken more than one of these rules in an evening don't continue to play.
I took the last $26 I had on Full Tilt (damn site is making me live up to their name!) and followed my friend to his next table. Right idea but again I wan't to force the situation. So he limps from UTG and I am in CO and see 72o. Figure that since I have sacrificed so much it would be nice to get back at him with the hammer. So I raise to 4xbb to isolate (which is easy on Full Tilt as most are so tight on this site) and he reraises me to 8xbb. I call and the flop is 7 8 10 and he puts me all in. I call because I am sure my 7's are ahead right now. He shows 56o and hits the 9 on the turn and a 7 on the river. So my set loses to my buddy while I get to explain to my brother what happened to his Full Tilt account!
Well it was a humbling experience but the positives were that I know who I want to be playing against but I have to remember the fundamentals that built the bankroll.
Just got my copy of Ace on the River from Amazon today so that will give me something to read when my wife doesn't want to watch a movie!
Monday, February 20, 2006
Party NL200
Got in 300 hands at the NL200 level tonight... I was just feeling on my game this evening. Ended up +278 over 300 hands which should have been higher.... works out to 22.9 ptbb / 100, which is incredible since one broken bluff cost me $75. Most of my cash came from one crazy player who bet into me when I had nut flush but straight flush was possible. Since it was impossible to put him on any hand I called him down (I know very weak). He was shocked that I would just call in that situation so I knew he would try to do the same thing again if possible. Here is the fun hand of the evening.... I know my limp utg with A2s is sort of bad but I was trying to look not so tight at the table.
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
10 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
Hero: $306.55
UTG+1: $237.73
UTG+2: $200
MP1: $190.65
MP2: $191.65
MP3: $29
CO: $303.82
Button: $178
SB: $177.35
BB: $49.40
Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is UTG with :2c :ac
Hero calls $2, 6 folds, Button calls $2, SB folds, BB checks.
Flop: :kd :6c :3c ($7, 3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5, Button calls $5, BB folds.
Turn: :5c ($17, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $10.18, Hero raises to $20.36, Button calls $10.18.
I only raised here to make it seem like I was trying to push him off of the hand. He liked to call so it also helped to build the pot.
River: :8s ($57.72, 2 players)
Hero bets $25, Button raises all-in $150.64, Hero calls $125.64.
I put in a good 1/2 pot value bet thinking that he won't raise me unless he thinks his flush is good. Again it is the situation where a straight flush draw is possible so part of me is expecting his push....
Results (in white):
Final pot: $359
Hero shows 2c Ac
Button doesn't show 4c 4d
So he leaves the table after that hand. He was telling me about how he usually plays much higher levels but if that is the case then I can't wait to move up! I have met one guy who is so dominant at the NL100-200 levels that if it can be helped I won't sit at a table with him again!
I also had the opportunity to pull this crazy move on my first hand at another table. The guy I was against was a complete maniac who called every raise I made after this!
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
10 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $123.50
UTG+1: $176.60
UTG+2: $51.70
MP1: $101.50
MP2: $287.12
Hero: $198
CO: $197
Button: $92.52
SB: $296.05
BB: $714.03
Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is MP3 with :kc :qc
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $2, 3 folds, Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, SB calls $7, BB calls $6, UTG+1 calls $6.
Flop: :ah :6h :8c ($32, 4 players)
SB bets $6, BB folds, UTG+1 calls $6, Hero raises to $35, SB calls $29, UTG+1 folds.
Turn: :4h ($108, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $55, SB calls $55.
River: :4d ($218, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero raises all-in $100, SB folds.
Uncalled bets: $100 returned to Hero.
Results:
Final pot: $218
So another nice bluff for me and a good way to sit down at a new table. It sure doesn't feel like the NL25-50 tables where I can stay cool even when pushing all in. I guess the fact that the dollar amounts are bigger gets the heart pumping. After another 5-10k hands I should be in fine form. Going to take another run at the live game this week so I needed some experience playing with blinds of 1/2 instead of 0.50/1.
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
10 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
Hero: $306.55
UTG+1: $237.73
UTG+2: $200
MP1: $190.65
MP2: $191.65
MP3: $29
CO: $303.82
Button: $178
SB: $177.35
BB: $49.40
Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is UTG with :2c :ac
Hero calls $2, 6 folds, Button calls $2, SB folds, BB checks.
Flop: :kd :6c :3c ($7, 3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5, Button calls $5, BB folds.
Turn: :5c ($17, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $10.18, Hero raises to $20.36, Button calls $10.18.
I only raised here to make it seem like I was trying to push him off of the hand. He liked to call so it also helped to build the pot.
River: :8s ($57.72, 2 players)
Hero bets $25, Button raises all-in $150.64, Hero calls $125.64.
I put in a good 1/2 pot value bet thinking that he won't raise me unless he thinks his flush is good. Again it is the situation where a straight flush draw is possible so part of me is expecting his push....
Results (in white):
Final pot: $359
Hero shows 2c Ac
Button doesn't show 4c 4d
So he leaves the table after that hand. He was telling me about how he usually plays much higher levels but if that is the case then I can't wait to move up! I have met one guy who is so dominant at the NL100-200 levels that if it can be helped I won't sit at a table with him again!
I also had the opportunity to pull this crazy move on my first hand at another table. The guy I was against was a complete maniac who called every raise I made after this!
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
10 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $123.50
UTG+1: $176.60
UTG+2: $51.70
MP1: $101.50
MP2: $287.12
Hero: $198
CO: $197
Button: $92.52
SB: $296.05
BB: $714.03
Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is MP3 with :kc :qc
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $2, 3 folds, Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, SB calls $7, BB calls $6, UTG+1 calls $6.
Flop: :ah :6h :8c ($32, 4 players)
SB bets $6, BB folds, UTG+1 calls $6, Hero raises to $35, SB calls $29, UTG+1 folds.
Turn: :4h ($108, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $55, SB calls $55.
River: :4d ($218, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero raises all-in $100, SB folds.
Uncalled bets: $100 returned to Hero.
Results:
Final pot: $218
So another nice bluff for me and a good way to sit down at a new table. It sure doesn't feel like the NL25-50 tables where I can stay cool even when pushing all in. I guess the fact that the dollar amounts are bigger gets the heart pumping. After another 5-10k hands I should be in fine form. Going to take another run at the live game this week so I needed some experience playing with blinds of 1/2 instead of 0.50/1.
Canadian Hockey - horrible weekend
Well I have managed to lose about $300 on betting that the US could beat Latvia and that Canada could beat Switzerland. Horrible results both times but the play at the tables has been good. Tiger gaming was nice enough to offer me a 50% reload bonus so I put $200 into that site and ended up $50 with 15 mins of play.
I am also trying out Full Tilt using my brothers account and I was up $110 playing NL50 for a couple hours. Players on that site just love to push chips in the middle with nothing at that level so it was easy to pick people off. My favorite guy was running with 45/25/0.8 stats. He ended up giving me $45 of my winnings because I started reraising him almost every time he raised. He fought back against my KK hand where I landed a full house and 4 clubs on the board! I wish he had the A and reraised me but no luck so ended up $25 on that one hand. The only move I pulled on a guy was with 99 from MP2 and a raise from UTG who was running with 40/20/3. Flop was Q high and he checks so I figure I can get AK or a pocket pair lower than Q's to lay down with a pot sized bet. He calls and an A falls on turn.... now if you have been reading my blog you will know that I will fire at these pots again and represent AQ. So I bet 1/2 pot and get called. River is a 2 so I bet out $25 (this is NL50) so his push won't get me to lay down the hand and it looks like a large value bet. He folds and I show... set him up for later! He started calling me down to river with middle pair and left after losing a couple more hands to me.
My very initial FTP stats show me at 24/8/3 and win rate of 28 ptbb / 100. I keep thinking that this is unsustainable but then I continue to run at these levels at NL50 and winning at NL100 with a 15 ptbb / 100. I just need more hours at the tables.
UB was also working well for me and I managed to push my balance up to $300 with one hand at the NL100 tables. Again this site has so many very aggressive players that patience becomes the name of the game.
I am also trying out Full Tilt using my brothers account and I was up $110 playing NL50 for a couple hours. Players on that site just love to push chips in the middle with nothing at that level so it was easy to pick people off. My favorite guy was running with 45/25/0.8 stats. He ended up giving me $45 of my winnings because I started reraising him almost every time he raised. He fought back against my KK hand where I landed a full house and 4 clubs on the board! I wish he had the A and reraised me but no luck so ended up $25 on that one hand. The only move I pulled on a guy was with 99 from MP2 and a raise from UTG who was running with 40/20/3. Flop was Q high and he checks so I figure I can get AK or a pocket pair lower than Q's to lay down with a pot sized bet. He calls and an A falls on turn.... now if you have been reading my blog you will know that I will fire at these pots again and represent AQ. So I bet 1/2 pot and get called. River is a 2 so I bet out $25 (this is NL50) so his push won't get me to lay down the hand and it looks like a large value bet. He folds and I show... set him up for later! He started calling me down to river with middle pair and left after losing a couple more hands to me.
My very initial FTP stats show me at 24/8/3 and win rate of 28 ptbb / 100. I keep thinking that this is unsustainable but then I continue to run at these levels at NL50 and winning at NL100 with a 15 ptbb / 100. I just need more hours at the tables.
UB was also working well for me and I managed to push my balance up to $300 with one hand at the NL100 tables. Again this site has so many very aggressive players that patience becomes the name of the game.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
What starting hand am I quiz?
 | You scored as Big Slick. You are the comrades in arms, best buddies Big Slick - Ace-King. Not prone to rash decisions, you are impeccable, recognize a good opportunity, but won't procede unless the conditions aren't just right and you have gathered all the evidence.
What starting Hold 'Em hand are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
Kind of a neat thing to try out .... pretty good description of how I play. Guess that is why I love Poker Tracker!
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