The Next Level

Beena bit remiss in posting lately ... *shrug* :) Anyway, the good news is that my good run continued and I have cracked the $200 barrier, and have made the step up to 10nl. Initial results are fairly positive, having been as high as $223 before sliding back to $215 last night. Had AA cracked (first time in ten AA hands) after hitting a straight, got all the cash in but the Kh that made me the straight also made his flush with him holding some junk like Q7h. Anyway first reaction at 10nl is that the play is much the same, I've had a few people who like to re-raise back at me but overall no great difference.

Update

Hmmm well it's been a while since I posted. Kinda lost the intial enthusiasm I guess. Bit disappointed, I feel like I'm not really putting much into to learning at the moment, just pretty much playing 100 hands a night at 5nl. Still, I'm generating valuable experience, and I do feel I am improving at making good laydowns where there is a high chance I am beat, especially when I get re-raised holding two pair on a draw heay or overcard board.

That said, I've been on a good run lately, and the BR has been increasing steadily. I've been getting some good starting cards, playing them strongly, and they've been holding up, which is always nice :) Also I feel that with experience I've been able to play slightly more aggressively postflop, yet still let the hand go if I run into serious resistance.

Also I have taken Staresy's advice and launched into $5+.50 SnG's on UB. Played three so far for two fifths and a third. I feel comfortable with the playing standard, but mentally I am still a bit conscious of the buyin, I guess that just takes a bit of getting used to. But I almost put in for a $1 SnG the other day and that just seemed a waste of time, so maybe I am adjusting better than I thought.

Current goal ... get BR to $200, and then sample the delights of 10nl.

And some times it just happens ...

The cards ran hot tonight. It's great to experience, it doesn't happen often but tonight I just had one of those great nights where it all went right. The ironic thing was I only played one table becuase only one 5nl table on Stars was active, normally I'd play two.

Things started well ... this was my first hand! (Apologies for not removing the names of the innocent, hand converter doesnt seem to convert for this format).

POKERSTARS GAME #4527465867: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.02/$0.05) - 2006/04/05 - 05:27:22 (ET)
Table 'Schilowa' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: preston60 ($9.56 in chips)
Seat 2: Jonnie G ($7.70 in chips)
Seat 3: djones148 ($1.88 in chips)
Seat 4: T.J. Combo ($16.85 in chips)
Seat 5: murkulater ($5.67 in chips)
Seat 6: Quiike ($5.70 in chips)
Seat 7: TommieVB ($10.48 in chips)
Seat 8: Gaspiggy ($3.70 in chips)
Seat 9: aob_buzz ($5 in chips)
Jonnie G: posts small blind $0.02
djones148: posts big blind $0.05
aob_buzz: posts big blind $0.05
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to aob_buzz [As Ah]
T.J. Combo: folds
preston60 said, "alright piggy"
murkulater: raises $0.55 to $0.60
Quiike: folds
TommieVB: folds
Gaspiggy: folds
preston60 said, "a little 3 7 eh"
aob_buzz: raises $0.90 to $1.50
preston60: folds
Jonnie G: folds
djones148: folds
Jonnie G said, "hey it won the world series"
murkulater: raises $4.17 to $5.67 and is all-in
aob_buzz: calls $3.50 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Jd 7d Jh]
preston60 said, "J 7"
*** TURN *** [Jd 7d Jh] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 7d Jh Jc] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
murkulater: shows [9h 9c] (a full house, Jacks full of Nines)
aob_buzz: shows [As Ah] (a full house, Jacks full of Aces)
aob_buzz collected $9.57 from pot
preston60 said, "who likes it"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $10.07 | Rake $0.50
Board [Jd 7d Jh Jc 5d]
Seat 1: preston60 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Jonnie G (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: djones148 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: T.J. Combo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: murkulater showed [9h 9c] and lost with a full house, Jacks full of Nines
Seat 6: Quiike folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: TommieVB folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Gaspiggy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: aob_buzz showed [As Ah] and won ($9.57) with a full house, Jacks full of Aces

Allright!

Played patient for a while, then later ...

POKERSTARS GAME #4527613272: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.02/$0.05) - 2006/04/05 - 06:30:41 (ET)
Table 'Schilowa' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: preston60 ($13.12 in chips)
Seat 2: Vic3Roy ($7.96 in chips)
Seat 3: wRyanW ($1.93 in chips)
Seat 4: T.J. Combo ($15.30 in chips)
Seat 5: normanorca ($7.11 in chips)
Seat 6: jps151074 ($10.82 in chips)
Seat 7: TommieVB ($5.66 in chips)
Seat 8: gmcatm ($3.12 in chips)
Seat 9: aob_buzz ($9.64 in chips)
Vic3Roy: posts small blind $0.02
wRyanW: posts big blind $0.05
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to aob_buzz [4d 4s]
preston60 said, "just low enough to call"
preston60 said, "ty"
T.J. Combo: folds
normanorca: calls $0.05
jps151074: folds
aob_buzz said, "damn river wouldnt have played it otherwise :P"
preston60 said, "thats 3 sets in 800 hands"
T.J. Combo said, "77?"
preston60 said, "i'm on a role"
preston60 said, "LOL"
TommieVB: folds
gmcatm: calls $0.05
aob_buzz: calls $0.05
preston60: calls $0.05
aob_buzz said, "two in like the last five, stop complaining :)"
Vic3Roy: raises $0.10 to $0.15
wRyanW: folds
normanorca: calls $0.10
gmcatm: calls $0.10
aob_buzz: calls $0.10
preston60: calls $0.10
*** FLOP *** [4h 7s Ts]
TommieVB is sitting out
preston60 said, "i'm not compaining - i'm braggin"
aob_buzz said, ":)"
T.J. Combo said, "lol"
Vic3Roy: bets $0.50
normanorca: folds
gmcatm: folds
gmcatm is sitting out
preston60 said, "lol"
aob_buzz: raises $0.50 to $1
preston60: folds
preston60 said, "j/k"
Vic3Roy: raises $0.50 to $1.50
aob_buzz: calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [4h 7s Ts] [Qd]
T.J. Combo said, "I keep saying to myself that I'll go to bed after this hand"
Vic3Roy: bets $1
preston60 said, "i seriously am unsure of whats goin on what now"
aob_buzz: raises $6.99 to $7.99 and is all-in
preston60 said, "i think someone's been drinking out ofmy handle..."
T.J. Combo said, "I think someone was betting the flush draw"
Vic3Roy: calls $5.31 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [4h 7s Ts Qd] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Vic3Roy: shows [Js Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Fours)
aob_buzz: shows [4d 4s] (four of a kind, Fours)
aob_buzz collected $15.62 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $16.42 | Rake $0.80
Board [4h 7s Ts Qd 4c]
Seat 1: preston60 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: Vic3Roy (small blind) showed [Js Jc] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Fours
Seat 3: wRyanW (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: T.J. Combo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: normanorca folded on the Flop
Seat 6: jps151074 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: TommieVB folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: gmcatm folded on the Flop
Seat 9: aob_buzz showed [4d 4s] and won ($15.62) with four of a kind, Fours

I so nearly folded to the re-raise, fearing an over set ... and in retrospect I think I made a mistake, I should have pushed right there. But for a change it came off ... and the river would have sealed it anyway.

Finally, although I didnt make much here, how is this for a flop:

POKERSTARS GAME #4527624226: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.02/$0.05) - 2006/04/05 - 06:35:37 (ET)
Table 'Schilowa' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: preston60 ($14.71 in chips)
Seat 2: Vic3Roy ($4.25 in chips)
Seat 3: wRyanW ($1.86 in chips)
Seat 4: T.J. Combo ($15.23 in chips)
Seat 5: normanorca ($6.69 in chips)
Seat 6: jps151074 ($11.04 in chips)
Seat 9: aob_buzz ($17.30 in chips)
jps151074: posts small blind $0.02
aob_buzz: posts big blind $0.05
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to aob_buzz [Qc Ad]
Vic3Roy said, "i knew it too"
T.J. Combo said, "I think Pokerstars has a Continuous shuffle thing going on"
preston60: folds
Vic3Roy: folds
wRyanW: folds
T.J. Combo: calls $0.05
normanorca: folds
preston60 said, "lol - thats the worst"
jps151074: calls $0.03
aob_buzz: raises $0.15 to $0.20
preston60 said, "been there though - good hand"
preston60 said, "good pot managemtn"
T.J. Combo said, "Last hand for me, then I'm out."
preston60 said, "cuz i woulda called most bets there"
T.J. Combo: calls $0.15
jps151074: folds
*** FLOP *** [As Ah Qs]
aob_buzz: bets $0.25
preston60 said, "BS TJ"
T.J. Combo said, "Damn, this 9 high is hard to get away from."
T.J. Combo: folds
aob_buzz collected $0.45 from pot
aob_buzz: shows [Qc Ad] (a full house, Aces full of Queens)
preston60 said, "y quit now - your about to double up"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $0.45 | Rake $0
Board [As Ah Qs]
Seat 1: preston60 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Vic3Roy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: wRyanW folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: T.J. Combo folded on the Flop
Seat 5: normanorca (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: jps151074 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: aob_buzz (big blind) collected ($0.45)

I so wanted to check the flop, but I thought that would look like a slowplay after the raise, and was hoping if he held the other ace he might re-raise my bet.

I enjoyed tonight ... so many times it doesnt happen, but it sure did tonight!

New Heights

BR has broken through the $140 barrier for the first time ...woohoo!

It's all about perspective

You know I think I've had a bit of a revelation this morning - I've been beating myself up unnecessarily and I think my expectations have been too high. I was briefly checking out a few posts on the 2+2 forum and I read a thread about bb/100 hands and what level is sustainable. General consenus seems to be that over the long term anything over 5bb/100 hands is unsustainable.

Well I'm currently running at 16bb/100 over 5.4k hands. I downloaded a nice app called PokerPatterns that graphs my PT results. Check out my progress here http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/6519/pokergraph54009pf.jpg .
So really when I've been thinking I'm on a bit of a downswing its been more that I started hot and I'm just coming back a bit towards reality :) I shudder to think what a real downswing will be like then ...

Anyway, this has lifted my confidence a lot. Maybe I'm not as much of a donk as I thought I was (waits for the flames ... lol)!

April Begins ...

Well this post was going to be about how to identify a downswing vs just playing poorly. I had a pretty flat last week of March, nothing really to write about. But after 2,300 hands of 5nl I was still showing a slight loss. This in contrast to 3,000 hands at 2nl where I was up about $30. So I was starting to question whether this was just the inevitable slower patch or whether I really was making poor decisions. Looking at results I know isn't the best way to judge - I'm going to try and increase the number of hand histories I'm posting on FTR to continue to evaluate the way I'm playing.

Anyway enough of that for the moment becuase April began with a bang, tripling my money on a 5nl table with a series of good hands. For a change not jusy good hands but the betting gave me good pot odds to try and improve and improve I did. Won nicely from the big blind, hitting a boat eights full of deuces. Also made the nut flush and raised a guy holding K high flush, he called.

It's nice to have a good session after a bit of frustration of late.