June was kinda disappointing, but I guess I should just be happy I’m not losing $$. My shot at 400NL didn’t go so well – pretty much breakeven. Honestly, I’m not sure if my edge up there is that much and obviously I didn’t play enough hands to really find out. I think my shot was really premature with only 30 buyins, I should have had more. Its important to remember the old adage “get rich slowly.” I’ve heard this many times before and always thought I was following it, but I think I was kind of jumping the gun with 400nl.
This month I have entered into a prop bet with a 200NL buddy of mine to see who can make more at 200NL this month. We each put up $100 and I really hope I can grind some serious hands this month even though I’ll be out of town about 10 days. My goals for July are as follows:
1. Make $4k (I’ve never set monetary goals before but hopefully playing mostly 200nl I can clear this)
2. Win my prop bet
3. Learn some omaha (maybe play 5-10k hands at 50nl)
4. Play at least 20k hands at 200nl
The best spent five seconds of your life:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1764124
So far this month I’ve played 2333 hands at 400NL (about 1000 today in which I lost about $1200 (3 buyins). Overall I’m up $500 at this level and my bankroll is sitting at 10.5k. I think I’m going to continue playing here unless I drop below 10k in which case I’m going to move back to 200NL until I reach 12k again.
My first impressions of the level are that the average level of play is about the same, but the better players are better and the worse players are worse if that makes sense. In 200NL there seems to be a lot more 12 tabling zombies who play predictably and nitty and then there some bad 3 tabling guys thrown in. At 400NL it seems that there are a lot more guys 1 tabling buying in for like $155.59 which is likely their whole bankroll and then there are some pretty solid 6 tabling guys too. So far it seems way nittier than 200NL and I think I’m throwing in too many double barrel bluffs which I should probably just give up on after I’m called once since its so nitty here.
I’ll be making a river checkraise strat post soon so be on the lookout for that.
Here’s some youtube news bloopers for your entertainment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUM-mR_VbBA
At the request of my first comment ever here are my lifetime cashgame stats(LOL I have reader(s)!) I had to combine all my screen names together which I’d never done before. Also, keep in mind starting in January 2007 I had a very nice tourney score for 13.5k so I started taking shots at 200NL which didn’t go so well to start. This doesn’t include any rakeback I have made or any $$ from tournies/sngs either. In total it looks like I’ve played about 145k hands.
June is going pretty well so far. I’ve withdrawn about $1k this month to pay some rent/food and my bankroll is sitting very close to $12k. I have started taking some shots at 400NL and hopefully I can move up there full time soon.
Sweet website where you can watch movies on your computer while they are still in theaters. Most of the old links are broken but the ones on the front page listed as “recently updated” usually work. So far this month I’ve seen knocked up and the new fantastic 4 without leaving my house or spending a dime. Pretty sweet. PS If you work for the government please don’t sue me for posting this link.
Just finished up a 1000 hand session where I won over $1k. Overall this month I’m up like $2900, though no doubt some downswing is just around the corner. I’m really happy with how I’ve been playing lately.
This is one of my best played hands ever
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1167016
We were both very deepstacked and I had been calling him in position with some low connected cards so I figured he was doing the same. I was really afraid of a set but I didn’t think he would have bet so large on every street with one.
I’ve also been releasing overpairs pretty easily which is something I used to struggle with(aka yesterday I wasn’t making these folds) but shoving here is usually a mistake in my opinion and one that a lot of players at the 200NL level make.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1167023
May turned out to be kinda disappointing. I ran really well to start and toward the end of the month I really think my play started to fall off. My voyage into limit holdem was also a huge failure. I was just playing too loose in limit and by the time I realized it I was down like $700 or something and tried to win some back but only ended up losing KK/AA a bunch of times for a lot of bets before I quit. The graph is also slightly misleading because I lost about $500 live and something like $500 I would guess in tourny fees. On the other hand, I can’t be too upset. I did manage to win a decent amount and I only hope next month I can greatly improve on this amount. My goals for June are to play ~30k hands and hopefully be playing 400NL by months end. I will probably take shots when my BR reaches 12k and not really move up for good until I have 16k.
Lost about 1.5k in the past two days. As I write this my KK just got busted by 23o in a blind battle. Good times. I wish cardrunners would come out with a new sbrugby NL cash game video, he always helps my game a ton. On the bright side at least this will get me to play more and I think I’ll have no problem reaching 30k hands this month.
Update: hand of the day follows
PokerStars Game #10120270128: Hold’em No Limit ($1/$2) – 2007/05/26 – 20:37:57 (ET)
Table ‘Beryl II’ 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: andr3w321 ($200 in chips)
Seat 2: O*JoKerZ*O ($37 in chips)
Seat 3: mdeckND ($169 in chips)
Seat 4: diego100672 ($286.35 in chips)
Seat 5: TheNewPlague ($366.05 in chips)
Seat 6: psvdave ($225.15 in chips)
diego100672: posts small blind $1
TheNewPlague: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to andr3w321 [Tc Ah]
psvdave: calls $2
andr3w321: raises $8 to $10
O*JoKerZ*O: folds
mdeckND: folds
diego100672: calls $9
TheNewPlague: folds
psvdave: calls $8
*** FLOP *** [Ks Ac 8c]
diego100672: checks
psvdave: checks
andr3w321: bets $24
diego100672: calls $24
psvdave: folds
*** TURN *** [Ks Ac 8c] [6h]
diego100672: checks
andr3w321: bets $58
diego100672: calls $58
*** RIVER *** [Ks Ac 8c 6h] [3s]
diego100672: bets $194.35 and is all-in
andr3w321: calls $108 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
diego100672: shows [Kc 3d] (two pair, Kings and Threes)
andr3w321: mucks hand
diego100672 collected $409 from pot
andr3w321 said, “WOWOWOOW”
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $412 | Rake $3
Board [Ks Ac 8c 6h 3s]
Seat 1: andr3w321 mucked [Tc Ah]
Seat 2: O*JoKerZ*O folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: mdeckND (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: diego100672 (small blind) showed [Kc 3d] and won ($409) with two pair, Kings and Threes
Seat 5: TheNewPlague (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: psvdave folded on the Flop
Two rules to learn and abide by:
1. Don’t bluff in reraised pots
2. Don’t bluff without outs
Now for some elaboration. In general bluffing in reraised or 3bet pots is a bad idea. By the time someone puts in a big 3bet and then continuation bets the flop they have put in about 1/3 of their stack. At this point they are pretty committed to the hand and aren’t going to be easily coorced into folding and they are right to do so. If you hit top pair in a reraised pot you should probably end up felting it and if you lose chalk it up to a cooler. Here’s an example
POKERSTARS GAME #10042500943: HOLD’EM NO LIMIT ($2/$4) – 2007/05/22 – 00:11:01 (ET)
Table ‘Viola’ 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: number007 ($528 in chips)
Seat 2: andr3w321 ($596.30 in chips)
Seat 4: TableATM ($656 in chips)
Seat 5: MrteddyKGB ($418.10 in chips)
andr3w321: posts small blind $2
TableATM: posts big blind $4
Duffs#1fan: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to andr3w321 [Ah Th]
MrteddyKGB: folds
number007: raises $12 to $16
andr3w321: raises $36 to $52
TableATM: folds
number007: calls $36
*** FLOP *** [6c Ad 5s]
andr3w321: bets $68
number007: raises $127 to $195
Strazza joins the table at seat #3
andr3w321: raises $349.30 to $544.30 and is all-in
number007 said, “why holly wood ?”
number007: folds
andr3w321 collected $496 from pot
andr3w321: doesn’t show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $498 | Rake $2
Board [6c Ad 5s]
Seat 1: number007 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: andr3w321 (small blind) collected ($496)
Seat 4: TableATM (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: MrteddyKGB folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
In this hand I almost folded to his flop raise. It was very close. The only thing I beat was a pure bluff. However, as you can see he instafolded but he could have easily had AK and I could have lost. He made a big mistake by trying to bluff me out here. You just do not have very much fold equity postflop when so much money goes in preflop, bluffing is usually just bad.
For rule number two you should always have outs when you bluff. Bluffing with KT on an A high flop is just bad. You have 0 outs if called. Its much better to bluff with at least overs or a gutshot or something. Here’s a hand where it works out nicely and my hand is disguised well.
POKERSTARS GAME #10072379568: HOLD’EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) – 2007/05/23 – 20:18:18 (ET)
Table ‘Atria’ 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: andr3w321 ($213.90 in chips)
Seat 2: ihatehorses ($200 in chips)
Seat 3: Tupz ($220.05 in chips)
Seat 4: royalsu ($214 in chips)
Seat 5: eliane ($200 in chips)
Seat 6: pommesxd ($337.30 in chips)
andr3w321: posts small blind $1
ihatehorses: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to andr3w321 [Qc As]
Tupz: folds
royalsu: folds
eliane: raises $6 to $8
pommesxd: folds
andr3w321: calls $7
ihatehorses: folds
*** FLOP *** [3d 9c 4h]
andr3w321: checks
eliane: bets $10
andr3w321: raises $20 to $30
eliane: calls $20
*** TURN *** [3d 9c 4h] [8s]
andr3w321: checks
eliane: checks
*** RIVER *** [3d 9c 4h 8s] [Qh]
andr3w321: bets $55
eliane: calls $55
*** SHOW DOWN ***
andr3w321: shows [Qc As] (a pair of Queens)
eliane: mucks hand
eliane leaves the table
andr3w321 collected $185 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $188 | Rake $3
Board [3d 9c 4h 8s Qh]
Seat 1: andr3w321 (small blind) showed [Qc As] and won ($185) with a pair of Queens
Seat 2: ihatehorses (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Tupz folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: royalsu folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: eliane mucked [9h 6h]
Seat 6: pommesxd (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Had my first losing session today in awhile.
how you get no action in a 4-way reraised pot with a set is beyond me
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119442
i started counting my money preflop, didn’t end up that way though
pretty weird how he played it, I’m only calling with KK, maybe QQ with a read
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119466
here’s a hand I botched, definitely 4betting this next time
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119475
Of course from those hands you probably think I’m a huge nit, maybe enxt time I’ll post some more crazy hands of mine.
By peers I mean my college buddies and not other 200NL grinders or anything. I’m finding it really frustrating not being able to talk to anyone about poker. I spend the majority of my time thinking about and playing poker and have no one to talk to about it.
This summer I am without and job so I am basically doing nothing but play poker, but my friends think I’m just doing nothing. I went to Cedar Point yesterday with 6 other buddies of mine and the conversation with one of the girls went like this
her: “what are you doing this summer?”
me: “this.” (riding rollercoasters/doing nothing I imply)
her: “oh, that’s cool”
me: “what about you?”
her: “i’m taking a class and working”
Now from this conversation I know she thinks I’m just a lazy ass with rich parents or something but this is just not true. My parents struggle to pay for my education and I’ve paid all my own bills except tuition since last September with savings/poker winnings. This “job” of poker is a very antisocial one and very emotionally draining. The fact is nobody really cares how much you are up or down or about your recent bad beat or anything.
Having said all that I’m up about 7k this month which is more than most of my peers will make all summer so I don’t really care what they think. I also have no intention of telling them because I don’t want the “he’s a stupid gambler” stereotype placed on me, and if my roommates know how much I’m winning they will want me paying for drinks, etc. This blog helps with venting tho.
Keeps the bill collectors away. Or at least so far that is true. I’ve finally gotten comfortable 4tabling 200NL. I started off the month playing 100NL, went on a decent downswing. Then I decided I was going to two table 200NL and reallly focus on every decision I was making. I had some success and at about 5k hands or so for month I started 3tabling and now I 3-4 table mostly.
Hopefully I can keep this up or at least not lose much for the rest of the month if I start running bad. My goal is 30k hands, but hopefully I’ll get more. I really need to stop playing short sessions when winning and longer sessions when I lose. On some days I will get stuck $400 or so and just keep grinding til I’m even for the day which is generally a bad idea.
I played a little live today at Detroit’s greektown casion. Flopped a set of 4s and ran into a set of Kings. Live poker is so rigged. Also ended up getting it all in with AK on a JT3 flop against QJo. That hand was bad, but honestly I do not have the patience to play live. Shoot, I don’t have the patience to one table a 9 person game online I don’t know how people can do this live. Whatever gg $500 for me. Luckily today I won it all back online. Whatever – I’m thankful to be finally winning at cash games and really owe it all to Cardrunners and sbrugby I think. Good luck at the tables.
