Apparently Liverpool run worse.

Arg, I've never felt so gutted and sick to the stomach by a draw. That game and the result pretty much sums up the way my day has gone - play well and get shafted.

Anyway I'm getting tired so I'm going to crank out the hands from today pretty fast...

I just played 4 tables of 6max for about an hour and played pretty well in my opinion.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506511
Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506518
Thinking about it I think I made a mistake here and should have called. Villain is a TAG regular but I'm sure the river bet is a bluff since its pretty obvious that my hand isn't that strong so I think he would have a) checkraised less if he was going for a c/r for value but b) I think he leads the river a lot anyway. So this was a missed opportunity I think.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506548
This might not look that impressive but my opponent is actually a nit with 15/9 or something similar, but of course even once you think it through he is definitely (semi-)bluffing.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506555
Pretty sure opp has AQ here a lot of the time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506560
This hand is a bit strange - my opponents range is so polarized and basically has the flush or 65 (which seems a very unlikely turn call given the 2 fd's on the board) or else he is bluffing the other missed draws or just floated randomly on the turn with the intention of betting any scare card. At the end of the day though I think I'm perhaps overthinking this hand, a 200nl player flat called a drawy turn then donks out pot on the river when one of the draws hit - he probably has it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506594
Opponent was very loose and we were 4 handed since one guy was sitting out so this hand is completely standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506601
Same guy a few hands later, meh.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506608
I flat called here since the blinds were very aggressive and I was hoping one of them would shove since my call looks like a draw. Got the money in anyways.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506619
Gotta love the limp reraise. I had been punishing this guy for a while so I was expecting a limp reraise soon enough. The flop sucks for him and obviously he needs to c/f but I guess my image or his hand blinded him.

Seat 2: Shads ( $198.00 )
Seat 3: murrillo ( $128.80 )
Seat 5: TRadje ( $443.40 )
Seat 6: george60 ( $207.05 )
Shads posts the small blind [$1.00]
.TRadje posts the big blind [$2.00]
.** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Shads [ 7c 8s ]
george60 folds
Shads raises [$6.00]
TRadje raises [$19.00]
Shads raises [$53.00]
TRadje folds

Pokerhand didn't take this one and a session isnt complete without a 4bet bluff. Opp is a decent reg who is obviously capable of 3betting light in a blind battle so I like a 4bet here with a hand that has no calling value in a 3bet pot OOP.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506646
Opp was a compete maniac, previously he cold called a 4bet with 76o and hit trips on the flop against AA lol. I went with my read and Im pretty sure I have him beat here on average.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506668
Misclicked call PF but what can you do? Was spot on with my read but in all fairness this call down is pretty standard against a decent opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506681
GoGo fold QQ/KK please.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2506689
Standard.

So not much luck but I'm happy. I still can't get over the liverpool game though... :(

I run like a disabled tortoise

Just a mere $700 below EV today. The good thing is that I think I actually played very well and I remained completely objective throughout. I'm just going to make some food before the Liverpool v Chelsea match and I'll try and post some hands after the game.

Getting back into the Groove

I think I'm playing reasonably now, the HUD has definitely helped although holdem manger crashes every time I try to use the HUD on a HU table - but in fairness its where I need it the least. Either way HEM has definitely paid for itself - I'm up about 7 buyins over the last few sessions, and although apparently I'm running below expectation I'm pretty sure that I am running well.

I love playing when I'm running well. Even though there is no relation to past luck and future luck I think its just the added confidence from having winning sessions. I had another decent session today and played well HU and even though I kinda neglected the 6max tables a bit. I'm too tired to post hands now but I should have some up tomorrow or some time soon.

Good luck at the tables guys.

Holdem Manager is my hero...

So far things have gone well today; I did about 2hours revision and I downloaded holdem manger on Boomer's recommendation... and after about 4 hours I actually got it to be fully functional (there was a strange conflict between OpenSSL and PostgreSQL which caused me a lot of problems). Anyway having a HUD again is absolutely amazing - its like you have been walking around with sunglasses on the whole time and suddenly someone removes them. Its just so nice to be able to see just basic things at a glance plus some people I thought were standard tags actually turned out to be nits. At the moment I'm up just under 4 buyins which is pretty good although I have been running well - hit set vs AA etc.

I'll update more later on I think as I plan on playing more later on. So all thats left is to say TY BOOMER!

Good luck at the tables guys.

No mental discipline

Played for an hour today and lost 4 buyins, the final one through tilt, half through mistakes and the rest due to bad luck. Unfortunately my PT on my desktop doesnt seem to pick up all my hands which is strange since the one on my laptop does. I'm wondering if its something to do with when I use the "view last hand" button on BF but I don't know. I'm getting a little tired with Betfair due to being unable to record stats properly and being unable to use PAHUD. The players at BF are pretty bad but I'm tempted to go back to crypto. I think its probably due to the fact that I'm just frustrated at running bad right now but I may move soon.

Main hands for today that actually got recorded.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2414362
Ah well these things happen. Pot is like $150 on the end, I think my image is enough to get paid in these spots when people look me up with various pairs... or sets.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2414378
I think I should have folded the turn here, it was early on and I didn't really have a read so thats a $28 mistake.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2414392
I dunno how much value I have checkraising here - probably not much. I think I should either bet fold the river or just flat call. I was planning on flat calling but when he made a small bet on the river I thought it could be an Axs type hand - but even if it is I dont think I get many calls.

Can't get any more hands since they werent picked up. Needless to say KK < FD, 2 pair < TP rivered 2p, 0 draws hit etc.

Until next time...

Exams and Poker

I've started revising for my end of year exams, I've got mocks and the real deal coming up in 3 weeks (yea strange setup) so I'm putting in the hours during the day and trying to pass... I never thought I would say that about any sort of academic work but boy this course is hard but the reward at the end is basically my dream job so it is definitely worth it! Anyway I've started playing poker in the evenings again as a bit of light relaxation and something to look forward to at the end of the day. I think I played pretty badly to start with but ended up playing very well, unfortunately I ended up down 3 buyins but I got pretty unlucky in more than a few spots. Here are the particularly interesting or horrible hands although for some reason my PT doesnt pick up a lot of hands and has apparently missed quite a few key ones today...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393761
Early on in the HU match, my opponent had been 3betting light so I decided to call and make a move on various flops. It is quite loose but I think as long as I am right about my assessment of his 3betting range then it is profitable.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393778
Spew really, for some reason I just didnt believe he had the nuts - really poor play on the river though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393806
Calling a reraise UTG with AQo is suicide - don't do it! C/R on the flop is ok though imo.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393827
Poor spot to bet the river. Either bet the turn then shove the river or just shut down unless you hit the Q or flush.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393848
Good fold on the river I think, he has the flush or a T here almost always. (note how somehow I've jumped to $600 - damn PT)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393882
Perfectly played hand. :)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393887
I think I should have definitely bet the turn here and been prepared to get it in. The river is a bit of a crying call with the way I was running but given the way I played the hand its an easy call.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393902
I would have called that shove on a none 4 straight board...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393915
I guess pretty standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393919
I like the PF flat call here early on against a half stack because a 3bet comits me to the hand and I dont wanna get allin with AJ without a read. Plus its great for deception if you are playing against full stacked players in the middle of a match.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393942
Nice light 3betting, not the greatest flop to cbet though, double barrel on the turn is standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393951
I like this bluff, my opponent has to put me on AK or AQ. Calling with AT here is certainly a mistake.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393960
Standard I guess. LOL @ opponent's 3 pair call down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393976
I love it. I love it. I love it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393985
NH

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393992
LOL!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2393999
Please hit a draw ffs. Call on the river is terrible though, I knew I was beat but I think I was frustrated from constantly missing my draws.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2394014
Meh

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2394021
Maybe could raise the turn here? His line is so bluffy though I thought he might bluff the river also. Still probably raising the turn is better.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2394043
Meh bluffing the nuts is not a good idea. I still think the bluff is good overall though, a naked ace certainly cant call.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2394057
meh, JJ or AA. Probably JJ the way thingsa re going for me.


OK somehow I cant find my AA v KK hands (twice with my KK) and the 2 outer against my set or a standard 70/30 for a buyin. Overall I didn't play great and I certainly made some mistakes but I ran terribly as well. Hopefully things will go better next time :).

Running well

Playing 200nl now has really brought my attention to how the size of your edge will affect your swings and how the stronger players are less affected by a couple of key hands in a match. For instance last night I played for about an hour and had a session where I had a typical "bad" session, ie draws missed, overpairs lost etc. but I still managed to end up about half a buyin from stealing lots of small pots and 3betting and 4betting PF. I know I've been running very well but its still nice to feel confident about your results.

I'm back in London now so I don't expect that I will get too much playing done after next week but I'm going to try to play on the weekends. My BR is at about $13500 now after I withdrew about $1200 so things are looking good. When I hit $15k I'll play $500nl but I must admit I'm tempted to move up a little sooner!

Just a quick update

Basically poker has been going pretty well recently, I've played a little bit on most days and I've been on a pretty hot run over the past few days. Current BR is approx $13k, when I hit $15k I'm going to move up to 500nl because the games here are just so juicy and I feel like I have a big edge. I'm going to withdraw about $1k a month though so that I can get the benefits of playing and make it feel a little bit more serious and joblike. So because of this I might not be able to move up for a month but thats ok.

The final video of the current series should be up soon - either late tonight or earlyish tomorrow.

Anyway take care guys and good luck at the tables.