Results tomorrow

I'm shitting it. I find out my degree class tomorrow at 4:30 and then I'll get the breakdown of marks next week. I honestly have no idea what I'm going to get which sucks since I hate the uncertainty over my immediate future. I'm going to join my family on holiday in Wales on Saturday so I can have a little get away and be with my family for my 21st.

balls

I've just finished a horrible session, pretty much nothing went my way. Overpairs lost to FDs, sets lost to straight draws, my dual straight flush draws miss and I end up tilting. I lost $4k overall today, $1k of that is tilt or mistakes but the rest of it is just the deck's fault. I would post the hands but I've just spent a bit of time looking over them and I'm quite pissed off so I don't think I would be giving an objective opinion at the moment. Balls.

Still at home

With all the flooding that has happened recently I am stranded in Burton-on-Trent since no trains are going north from Derby due to "servere weather conditions", plus the roads are flooded and those that arent have huge queues due to the trains being down so there is basically no way I can get back unless my parents fancy driving for around 10 hours (there and back) which I assume they don't. To be honest its always nice spending time at home but I think that I will be forced to miss the grad ball plus a proposed trip to a casino for some live poker so in that sense I'm dissappointed. The upside is that I've got to see some of my mates who have just got back from unis elsewhere which is always sweet, also I played a little bit last night and had a pretty sweet session. I started off two tabling and then waited for better tables to become available until I was 4 tabling (on one monitor which is widescreen so I actually get overlap :( ), either way its amazing what table selection can a bit of focus can do to your winrate. Even though only playing 4 tables isn't great for my $/hr it was good fun and I ended up 3k due to running well but also not making any big mistakes (plus I won a 6 person $5 sng that I played with colin for and additional $19.50!).

I'm just going to relax and take it easy for now, I'll try to get back to York tomorrow so I can make the grad ball but unforunately it looks unlikely.

Blogging > Poker

At the moment I'm at home dog-sitting for my parents this weekend and I'm bored and I don't want to play poker at the moment because I just don't feel motivated. I haven't played that much poker recently and to be honest I haven't felt like playing at all but sometimes I get too bored and have to resort to poker if everyone else is busy doing things. The strange thing is that I haven't actually played a lot over the past weeks anyway so I don't feel that I should be getting bored of it or be needing a break. Also with the fact that I am actually in the position to make some decent money makes me feel that I should be playing. A few days ago I played at Mo's home game and I really enjoyed it, it was pretty action packed and it was good to play with people who enjoy playing but take it slightly seriously at the same time. Some of us are planning on going to a casino in Leeds in the next few days so hopefully it will be a laugh.

Finally two things of note: I'm on my new pc at the moment which is pretty awesome although the keyboard is a bit condensed so I keep mistyping. Also I get my degree results on Friday so the usual "arg can't stand the waiting" applies.

Things going well again

I played for about 45mins today playing 6 tables and although the session was short I think I played ok and didn't spew too much. I seem to be playing more 6max than HU recently because its just hard to get a HU game these days, having said that I got to play an unknown today who I completely spanked, I only won a buyin off him but I pretty much just ground it out of him and I felt completely in control of the match. Hand time...

HU match
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1182669
Early in the match, I had won almost all the PF pots to start with and this was the first time he had 3bet me PF so I assumed that he was waiting for a strong hand to do it with - hence the 4bet.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1182677
This move is a little risky but I really don't think he has a strong hand here (he should raise the flop if he has) and he didn't seem the type to make hero calls. Although I had been bossing him I had only shown down solid hands and I had purposely not made really thin value bets in order to show down some solid hands so that I could exploit a solid image.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1182688
Perfect semi bluffing opportunity, I don't like calling again on the turn because he probably has a jack and won't pay me off much on the river if I hit so the semi bluff is the best move here IMO.

6 max hands
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1182695
A funny hand to start the day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1182703
This hand I misplayed a bit. The background is that I've been 3betting quite a bit in position but I haven't shown down a hand or been played back at yet so I'm assuming that people might want to start to mess with me. I am pretty damn sure that the cold caller doesn't have a complete monster unless its AA because I have played with him quite a lot and I've never seen him slow play like this. So on the flop I have position, the pot is £160 and my opponent has an additional £270 behind, if I bet then I am commited to calling a shove but hopefully I have many outs. I think a check is best here since I am behind against his range and I have very little fold equity, perhaps he has AK and I can get him off his hand but its unlikely that he has it. Pushing the flop like I did isn't a bad move (I would have had to call if he open shoved) but seeing a turn (hopefully a spade) and re-evaluating is best.

Wow a poker update?

I know I've been a bit lazy about posting over the last couple of weeks but thats because I haven't played that much for various reaons, most recently my housemates brother came up for a few days so quite a lot of drinking was done. I never ever play when I've been drinking so nothing really happened aside from the occasional small session around lunchtime. Anyway I've got in a couple of hours worth of play today so its time to go over some hands, I'm just going to post the big ones because I want to play a tournament in 15mins - just for a change.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1180487
Pretty standard really. My opponent is a solid player who plays $500-$2000 and is certainly capable of making the odd move, aside from that I hit TPTK in a reraised pot so its pretty easy to get my stack in here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1180491
I lost a buyin to this guy HU who was a complete calling station but the cards helped him out hitting backdoor flushes 3 times lol. This is a bit of a thin value bet but against this guy I like it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1180497
Pretty normal I guess. My opponent had been a bit frisky and I had also been frisky in isolating him so I'm happy to get half a stack in here, full stacked I might fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1180499
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1180500
This hand is kinda interesting. The person to my right is a complete donkey, VPIP of 70% and calls any raise etc, the guy who raised my raise is a solid TAG. PF is standard once the donk comes along (otherwise I fold) and on the flop I think its worth taking a stab at this one since I probably have both of them beat - looks like TAG has AK/AQ and donk has anything but unlikely to have a pair, obviously once I'm called by the TAG its game over.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1180505
Pretty standard, sure it sucks that the guy could have a straight but if thats the case I have outs and he could also have lots of other hands.

Thats all I have time for I'm afraid since the tournament starts in 3mins, I've only posted my losing hands because thats what I prioritize looking at but I've had a decent day so far, $2k up.

I'm not dead, I'm just lazy

I haven't updated this in the last few days for a few reasons, mainly because I haven't been playing that much and when I do play it tends to be for 15mins before my PC owns me. I've basically been breaking even but I'm more happy with my play than I was before, I think/hope I'm not making as many/any big mistakes any more but I feel that I've lost my cutting edge a bit. The style I play tends to involve a balancing act between mass aggression and spew, but by decreasing the spew I have also cut back on making as many moves which kinda makes it boring to play.

I plan on trying to play a bit today because I can't stand just doing nothing and "wasting" time just playing video games, going into town shopping and going out all the time. I hate sailing through the days with no purpose or nothing to aim for, waiting for results sucks.

I'm a pussy

I haven't blogged over the last few days because I've had a couple of days off from poker after having a bit of a downswing playing $1000nl and £500nl where I lost 8k over the course of a couple of days. The slightly alarming thing was that it appeared that I was losing it consistently, sure I had the standard set over set and missing flips but it got to the stage where I was playing scared, and I knew I was playing a little scared and less confidently than normal and without realising it I over compensated and just spewed. At the time I didn't realise it but since I've taken a min break and looked back at some of my hands I can honestly say I was spewing. So I played a single table of $600nl today just to get back into things and I hope to play a fair bit tomorrow.

I must admit that this experience is basically confirming the fact that I wouldn't like to be a "poker pro". Although I'm not playing for a living, I'm playing to try to fund (fees, accomodation, living costs, BR for social poker etc) my masters next year (if I get my first - fingers crossed) and losing $8k aka £4k in a couple of days can be pretty stressful. Luckily my BR was pretty padded after having a hot run previously (it peaked at $51k) so I'm not really going to feel the loss in the sense that I won't be forced to drop limits or anything but I am certainly affected by losing money that could significantly affect my future. I think that is one reason why I wasn't playing well - because I let the money mean something. Anyway hopefully things go well tomorrow and I get to blog about a good session.

Until tomorrow, good luck and have fun at the tables.

Another shity session

Its pretty funny how big a part confidence can play in your game and determine your success. At the moment I can't say that I have much, and I'm sure its affecting my play but also it sucks when I don't hit a set every other hand. I know that I've been on a bit of a heater recently so its no suprise that I'm having a few bad sessions but I think that having quite a few winning sessions in a row has affected my vulnerability to tilt. I'm not talking horrific spew all over the place but just things like folding to 3bets too much or calling too much and just generally going into autopilot and doing things too quickly so I'm not thinking enough.

I played HU against one of the guys who I used to beat at $500nl (and consequently he refused to play me for a while) who has now moved up to $1000 and £500 and he pretty much owned me. I know I wasn't playing my A game but it was atleast my B game and I was pretty annoyed at how it went, at one stage I was down $4k to him but I managed to get it back to a $1500 loss before my pc gave me the blue screen of death. My pc is really starting to annoy me now since it has done that 5 times in the last 3 days. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to get it fixed or just buy a new one since its 3yrs old anyway, I'll have a look at some prices and decide.

I would post some hands but I've just spent a good 30mins going over some of them and I don't feel like doing it again.

Anyways Good Luck to England tonight!

Finally...

Sorry for the delay guys I just seemed to have problem after problem, firstly the video decided to stop after 40mins when I first produced it so I had to split it up and then sendspace kept kicking me off when I was trying to upload. Anyway better late than never! As I said before I think I could have done a better job of explaining things but hopefully there are still a few things that are helpful to you guys. Let me know what you think.

Part 1
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4p6bxy
Part 2
http://www.sendspace.com/file/kvjbbq

Any comments or criticisms are always welcome.

A tilty session

I just played a pretty crappy session, initially things started OK but I think I got a little out of line and made two pretty horrific bluffs which were just stupid, then of course I lose a flip or two and things get silly. Down 1.5k for this session.

Hands in order of occurance.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1143998
Pretty standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144002
Very early in the HU match. I think that this hand in isolation is slightly -EV since my opponent appeared to be quite tight from first impressions but as long as I tighten up afterwards and be aware of my image then I think it can be +EV.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144014
A fairly disciplined fold on the river against this player.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144017
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144021
Standard, I suckout in style.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144026
I put him pretty squarely on AJ by the river and I hoped that he would fold since I had raised UTG but its not a bad call, I think my image was a little too crappy for it to work.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144034
On the flop I called with a gutshot, a backdoor FD and an over in position in case this guy shut down on the turn but in all fairness I think folding is best. The turn is a pretty obvious shove given his weak bet since medium stacks tend to be very straight forward.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144044
Tilt in progress. Although that said it isn't a bad push because the flop is very likely to have missed him plus it can look like a set/two pair overbetting to rep a draw.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144047
I think checking this flop is a mistake and obviously once he calls the turn he has an ace so shoving is stupid, again I appear to be on tilt.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144053
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144056
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1144059
Here I was pretty sure he didnt have a T because he would have shoved and I knew he wouldnt bet the turn with a made hand so I was calling all the way.

The obvious annoying thing here is that I was clearly not playing that well and was tilted at some time so I'm going to hope to change that.

The video didn't create properly so I'll try it again tomorrow and hopefully it will be uploaded by the evening.

Video Time!

After playing poorly yesturday I decided that it was the perfect time to make a video since it could really help me to focus on what I'm thinking which will hopefully help to consolidate my fundamentals (Also Angus reminded me recently that I had promised to make one and I haven't yet). The video is in the process of being created now and hopefully it will be up in the evening. It contains a $5oo table, 2 $600 and one £500 - equivalent of $1000, I think its pretty good but I don't think I explained things as well as I could have but hopefully there is still decent content. If this one proves popular I'll try to make another one but probably just a 2 table one which will enable me to fully extrapolate my thoughts.

Normally I would go through my hands now but as they are in the video I'm going to wait until after I've posted it and most of you have watched it and then write down my thoughts about the tricky hands and elaborate on any comments which I made at the time.

Watch this spot!

A bad day.

Today just didn't go well, I didn't play well from the offset and then I started to tilt after some crappy hands. I ended the day down 1.5k after losing 3k in my second session which is a little shity but I guess I deserve it after yesturday. After playing badly and losing I didn't want to play and more so I only played 2 hours today which is a good thing given the way I was playing.

Hands by table and order in which they were played.

Table 1
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141492
This hand is gay, the turn bet here is so see through and obviously once I call the turn I am calling a none heart river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141501
I hate it when unknowns cold call because you always have to give them the benefit of the doubt and they always come up showing crap.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141510
Possibly not a good idea to try to represent AK against 2 people.

Table 2
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141520
I think I ballsed up this hand pretty badly. Once the guy cold calls me I'm slightly scared but I'm not folding top two on such a draw heavy board. I think the best play is to shove the turn.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141516
Pretty normal I guess.

Table 3
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141570
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141571
I actually feared Q9 after the C/R on the river but I forgot that this is party.

Table 4: HU
I actually got schooled here which hasn't happened for a long time but I guess its good to have a challenge every so often. The thing which dissapoints me a lot though is that looking though the hands in PT tells me that this guy was just being super straight forward really when I thought he was being a bit tricky. His lines against me were check call top pair for 3 streets, check raise 2pair+, check call draws, make some bluff raises. I'm looking forward to playing him again because after doing my homework I am confident that I can spank him/her.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141529
Huge mistake here not folding the river, there really isnt any other draw he could have and only a flush makes sense. In my defence this was very early in the match but in some ways that should make in even more of a fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141533
He wins the raising war.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141538
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141539
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141543
At this stage I think I am tilted since I shouldn't be reraising 24s.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141545
This hand sucks ass because he either has 77 or a bluff given his turn and river play combined since he doesnt have a jack as he check calls top pair, on the turn alone 67 looks possible too but obviously not given the river play.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1141548
Total spew and tilt. On the flop I think I orginally planned to try to hit my gutshot or give up and then I suddenly got fancy play syndrome, I actually misclicked the river since I meant to shove but it ended up saving me money since the bluff would have been retarded. I stopped playing after this.

A good day.

I got in the 3 hours as I wanted and played almost 1000 hands, normally 4 or 5 tabling and as the image below shows, I ran disgustingly hot.



I'll try to run through some interesting hands as opposed to just ones where I stack someone or vice versa but I don't really know how effective I am at trawling through 1k hands. Warning: cards may be very hot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1138937
This hand is obviously a cooler but the way I played it is inviting to be bluffed if he doesnt have a big club which is so important in HU in my opinion, you want to try to maximize your equity against your opponents range and since people rarely have anything that sometimes means playing a hand in a way to maximize value from bluffs not made hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1138960
So in thise case I think the best option is to try and get it in on the turn and hope the other guy has a 5 which allows me to freeroll my flushdraw to scoop the pot. Obviously his line looks pretty strong anyway but even if he is bluffing its unlikely that he will bet the river after I call a turn C/R so just jamming it is best IMO.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1138974
Now this hand is interesting. PF is standard - 89o in the BB = raise if only SB calls, my opponent definitely isn't very solid and is pretty much a calling station (in that case you can argue for a check PF but I chose to raise this time since I hadn't been that active recently). So the flop doesnt help me but I make a standard cbet which is called and then I turn second pair. In my opinion there are two ways to play this hand, one is to check the turn in order to induce a bluff on the river by the FD or hope to check it down against a weak ace or small pair. The other way is to bet the turn to get max value from draws but put no more money in the pot at all since you have over represented your hand to some extent. Against a calling station type opponent who is unlikely to bluff and is more likely to have a random FD here I think betting again is the best option.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139012
This hand is pretty standard but I question what my opponent has here to call the flop yet fold to the river. I think the river is the interesting part here because it is possible that I could be drawing dead, possible hands are things like AQ/AK, KK, QQ (unlikely though given the PF action but not everyone reraises them all the time), 77 is pretty likely PF although you would expect a raise on the flop so that makes it less likely, then there are random hands like KQ, KJs, JJ or JTs etc. I think that betting the river is just good enough because hands like AK will always pay you off and sometimes AQ, if I check the river and my opp shoves then I have a tough decision because my hand is so underrepped and he could be bluffing while at the same time its hard to put him on a hand that I beat since JT "should" check behind since the pair of Ts now beats hands like 99 or AJ. So basically if I was (not saying I would) going to call the river then I should definitely bet it in order to get value from hands which would otherwise check behind. On balance I think betting is better than checking but also its worth thinking that betting means that I don't have to show that I'm squeezing with KTo if my opponent folds, which helps to maintain a solid image (obviously this isnt a massive factor but certainly worth consideration).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139050
The interesting part in this hand is the turn/river. Against this opponent who again is pretty weak I think checking the turn is good for 2 reaons 1) it doesnt look like I have AK so he will hopefully pay me off on the river with something like 99 which he may fold on the turn, 2) if he was floating me with Ax on the flop (which seems relatively common for some reason at party) then it helps to keep the pot small and makes my decision easier on the river. When the second ace hits the river it offers a great spot to make a big value bet looking like a blatent bluff which should get paid off by a lot of hands, also if I am raised on the river I have an easy fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139064
This is probably the toughest hand of the night and I think I misplayed it fairly badly. I get limp reraised by a weak player who seems to have been aggressive in recent hands and could well be on tilt and then we hit a dodgey flop. I think for sure that the river call is plain wrong but the flop and turn are so hard to fold given that I probably have 13 outs. I really dont like raising the flop though because I'm just building a large pot OOP with a very marginal hand which could be drawing dead, raising the turn may be an option since it makes my decision easier on the river but I doubt that this player is folding that much so it seems like spew without much fold equity. So yea, basically I'm stumped and I'll see what some other people say about the hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139131
This isnt particularly interesting but its quite funny, a few days ago another 4 would have hit the turn but not today. :D

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139139
This hand is pretty good, I think that playing so much HU makes me more inclined to make more A high calls which may or may not be a good thing. For the record I was planning on calling a none diamond river because things just didn't stack up with respect to what I knew about the player - but obviously the ace made it a lot easier.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139146
Inducing the squeeze, this guy had been squeezing a lot (quite rightly too) whenever the maniacal/tilted guy raised and I flat called so I decided to set a trap for him and I was willing to felt AQ in this spot too because I thought it was quite likely that he realised that I had seen him squeeze too much and was therefore trying to resteal.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139153
I was planning on trying to take away the pot on the turn but obviously I hit a pair so I was ahead of any A high hands so there was no point in betting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139155
Pretty standard I guess, my opponent is a solid 2p2er I think and his play was very consistent with a hand like 88/99 and I think I got the max value here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139161
I played a bit of 3 handed today which is something which I rarely get the chance to do but I must admit that I really like and I'm actually quite proud of this hand. On the turn I think its really likely that he has something like KJ and is ahead of me but he can't stand a raise so I turn my hand into a bluff on a fairly decent turn card given my intention. Its worth noting that this is early in the session so my image is still good, he thought for ages then typed something like "I can't believe I'm folding this". :D

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1140232
Pretty standard HU hand, note this is from the former 3handed game so the BB is the button, therefore it is all about reraising PF since you have position bost Post and Pre flop. This was the perfect spot for a 2 barrel because I think that he just has a jack or low ace given that he didn't raise me on the flop (which he certainly would have done with a draw or a big hand because of our history and my image which has now been established).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139187
DID SOMEONE SAY HERO CALL?!?!?!?!
I really didnt believe his line here, if he has a big diamond but not the nuts then he checks the turn to induce a bluff and exercise pot control, if he has a small diamond then he just looks to check the hand down since it has showdown value. So basically he either has the Qd or a bluff and its pretty obvious which is more likely given my image and previous history.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1139198
This hand is nothing special but its very funny. The key here is the bet size on the turn to ensure that I have exactly a PSB left on the river to shove while not making it stupidly obvious that I have a monster by just potting the turn.

That will do for now, obviously I'm really happy with how today went but I expect that variance will catch up with me tomorrow.

Good luck at the tables guys.

The poker gods heard my call: Running stupidly hot

It seems that the poker gods have intervened to help me decide what to do.

Today I am running as hot as I ever have, pps make sets, draws actually complete, opponents pay off with garbage. It is truely brilliant yet disturbing at the same time. Anyway what I think is that I'm going to aim for 3-4 hours a day of poker, so tonight for instance I'm aiming for 3 hours because the England - Brazil match is on and I plan on drinking so I'm not going to be able to play as much. However during the weekend I hope to get in 4 hours on both days since it is the most profitable time of the week (aside from 2am on a friday but I dont want to play then :P). So far today I've got in two hours as well as finding time to go into town with my sister so I'm pretty happy, if I can get another hour in from 6-7 then things will be brilliant.

I plan on posting the hands from today after the match, lets hope I continue to be fed money. :D