Back to Work

Back to work last week so not nearly as much cards played. As a consequence the week was defined by some big hands that didnt go my way this time, twice making nut flushes on the river but the same card made boats for my opponents. Not much else to report :(

Evaluation Time

Well today is the last day of the holidays for me, back to work tomorrow. That will probably see a bit of a reduction in the amount I will be able to play, but hopefully I'll still manage some good sessions in the evenings. I've played pretty solidly over the last two weeks, and I think I've strenghtened my game in two key areas. One is having a proper system for six-max starting hands, as mentioned in a previous entry. The other is a point that Rob sent to me via an e-mail article I really liked, focusing on "Raise or Fold ... there is no Call" (sounds a bit like Yoda). I've tried to apply this philosophy in my last few sessions and results aside, I feel like I am playing a much stronger game. Results have actually been good - really good yesterday, I think yesterday was my best single day playing cash games. That aside though, I've been looking at spots where I am facing a raise and consciously deciding whether I want to play the hand. If I decide yes, I'm re-raising most of the time. What this has done has made me throw away marginal hands more often, but if I decide to go, I play it with more strength. While I'll have to modify to suit opponents, overall I think its been a great addition and I'm going to try and refine this aspect of my play.

In terms of results, despite a few bad sessions the last two weeks has seen me increase the BR about 15%, so pretty happy there. Nice to have a decent run after about 5k hands of going backwards or staying even. This morning would have been a small win too but for a guy that rivered a five high straight flush on me!

Having a System

Good news in that most of the loss incurred in the last 24 hours has been recovered today, with a couple of solid sessions :)

One thing I think that has strengthened my 6-max cash play is having a definite system of starting hands. Previously I focused on trying to play aggressively in position, but I think at times I overdid it, which meant I picked up a lot of small pots but lost some big ones which tended to outweigh the small gains. Now I am using a chart that Chipp posted over at Plus One, and its been very useful in providing a solid discipline. While I think I was following this intuitively about 80%-85% anyway, its picking up that last ten to fifteen percent I think that is making all the difference. My VPIP has stablised around 23%, and combined with aggressive play so far I am feeling very comfortable overall, able to get away from shows of resistance yet push my advantage when I have it.

24

...as in the last 24 have sucked fairly hard :) BR down about 8% in the last 24 hours. Made a lot of second best hands. But the most disappointing thing was a Stars $4.40 180 man that I decided to play mid-afternoon after the wife was home ... the kids had some friends over so on a whim I decided to jump in a Stars 180 man. Very slow early, but then picked up some hands and got some chips ... then some more ... then some more! Suddenly I was chip leader with 80 to go, and I stayed in the top5 right until it got down to 27.

Then I had one awful hand which didn't go my way. I had the big chipleader on my left, he had about 25k to my 18k, and I was still in the top 5, I think we were 1 and 2 then. I get KK in the big blind, and the CL min raises UTG. A short stack on 2.5k chips raises all in, and I raise again to 5000. The CL calls, and we have three way action with one all in.

Flop comes Ks 4c Qs, I make top set, but there are some nasty draws out there. At this stage the pot is around 13k, and I cant see how my chips arent all going in here. The pot is pretty nice as is though, and I dont want two of them drawing at that board, so I jam. The CL thinks for ages before mucking. The short stack shows Ac Td, the turn is an 8 but of course the river is a J. I still take the side pot of 4980 but the main pot of 8k goes to the other guy.

Those chips would have given me a really big stack ... unfotrunately from there I hit several hands that were likely second best, and with the bubble approaching I took the conservative option. For example I raised JJ in early position to 2.5 bb (I think blinds were 300/600) and got three callers. Got re-raised with K on baord and had to let it go. Couple of similar hands whittled my stack away and then of course we had the bubble grind which went for ages. Ended up going out 12th which is my best finish in a 180 - but I'm really disappointed, I had a great chance to make top 5 at least.

Well I didnt really want to make a bad beat post I guess its the disappointment - so close yet so far. I admire people that specialise in tourneys, it must take some real resilience to be able to work for hours regularly, get close and then get little or no return.

Variance Continues

Just when you think you're on a run, the variance kicks in! I'd been on a bit of a heater over the past 48 hours, adding about 10% to the bankroll. This morning though reality returned, I think I had my worst single session, losing about a buyin and a half. Reviewing the hands on PT I wasn't really unhappy with any of my plays, except maybe where I had JJ on a 6 5 2 5 board. Villian bet check called all the way, including my river bet, and showed A6 for the rivered boat. Perhaps I should have checked behind on the river, knowing that any 6 or 5 had me beat, 43 as well although I doubt that hand would have called my pre-flop raise.

Anyway this isnt about bad beat stories, but I do want to use one hand to illustrate something that I am thinking about. This hand was the first real big one of the session. I'm UTG with AcAs, first time I have seen Aces in quite a while. Aces have been good to me so far, PT says I was running at 93% with them, higher than you'd expect. I'd made a few raises lately so was hoping I had a fairly aggressive image, and was praying that this would be the hand that someone would take a stand and re-raise. Didn't happen though, and only the SB called my 3.5 bb raise.

The flop comes Js 4c Td, so no flush draws out there but some potential OESD, I'm hoping this guy has hit his J and wants to play. I bet $1.30 into a $1.70 pot, he calls pretty quickly, but not an insta-call. Turn is 5d, which I think is a pretty good card for me - I'm not putting him on diamonds at this stage or a small straight draw, and I cant see 55 calling the bet either. So I am thinking only the original OESD is the danger, and I dont want to drive him away if he is holding a J or T, so I bet $3.50 into the $4.30 pot - a significant bet but still under pot. Again, the relatively quick call.

River is the Qd, thats an awful card for me. QJ just made two pair, so did QT, and 98 made the straight. Q9 would be a good holding, he makes top pair but is losing to my AA. At this point he only has $3.40 left and with the pot at $11.30 I'm not getting way. I put him all in and he insta-calls and shows AK for the rivered striaght. DIdn't see the gutshot coming.

The point of this is not a bad beat story but bet sizing. I'm wondering here if there is anything I could have done to drive this guy away, he seemed to like his gutshot. Conversely, should I be driving him away ... most times he doesnt hit and I take a nice pot. I need to think about this more and see if there was anything I could have done better ... or whether long term I want donks calling me down with these sort of draws knowing I will win in the long run.

A Good Day

A pretty good day yesterday - I got a reasonable amount of poker in given I am still on leave from work (back Jan 15) and my son decided he wanted to spend half the day doing stuff with me and the other half playing Lego Star Wars II on the PS2 :)

Despite needing to grind out the remaining bonus at Full Tilt, Kevin over at 640SnGs.com inspired me to try one of the two table SnG's at Stars. My BR doesnt support the $20 ones that he's playing, so I jumped on a $5.50 that filled pretty fast (with the BR about $600 I should probably be playing the $10's but thats another story). I really ennjoyed it, and despite being short-stacked almost the entire tourney - I finished in a respectable third. Got down to the final three with 4k in chips and the other two had over 10k, with blinds 200/400 plus antes I figured I needed to play the button very aggressively, and either pick up some blinds if the other two didnt want to risk losing 40% of their stack to me, or alternatively if called try to have live cards and double up. Unfortunately the plan didnt come off, I jammed T9o and got called by the BB with KQ, and didnt improve.

After a break and some time with my son I came back after lunch and settled down to two table some 25nl 6-max at Full Tilt, and again I was quite pleased with my play. I've had some days in the last week where I think I've played sub-standard with the frustration of bobbing around the $600 BR mark, not seeming to make any headway. Yesterday though I played solidly, and after 45 min I was down about $15 - but happy I hadn't made any poor plays, I think I made a few second best hands and got away from them as cheaply as I could, and I had more than one drawing hand where the opps were giving me great odds to tag along for the ride but didnt hit. Finally though about an hour in I got two hands almost simultaneously on my different tables - one I hit a straight with Ts9s, and the other I made trip Kings with AKo. The latter one only got me about $8 or so, but the suited connector hand was awesome as I managed to get AJ and 78 all in with me on the turn with a J 8 2 7 board. River didnt help anyone improve and I turned a losing session into a profitable one of just short of a buyin. Some good lessons learned there, especially about staying patient playing good poker even if the results arent flowing your way initially.

I'm Back!

Can't quite believe it'a been a six month hiatus ...time flies as they say. Happy new year and all that, perhaps its the turn of the year that has inspired me to get back onto updating the blog.

Poker wise I hadn't been playing as frequently in the last few months of the year. We are planning to extend the house so that has been taking up a fair bit of attention. But we signed the contract yesterday and with work likely to start in Februrary, January looks like a good time to play some cards.

I had sort of intended to spend Jan playing SnG's for a change of pace ... until I realised that I only have until mid-Feb to clear a $100 bonus on FTP. So I've been two tabling 25nl pretty hard this week - and only broken about even. I seem to get up around two buyins after a few sessions then come crashing back with one or two bad hands. Today was a classic example, make top two pair with AK, however the turn K makes my opponent the straight after he calls my pre-flop raise withQcTc, then calls my flop re-raise with the gutshot draw, which he hits.

Which leads to another issue - quitting while ahead. Had quite a few sessions in the last few days where I have got up a buyin or more against weak opponents. Conventional wisdom seems to be when you're running good stay at the tables, but on several occasions I've instantly gone cold and bled most of the profit off. Rob tells me in bankroll building mode there's nothing wrong with the hit and run, but that doesnt help clearing the bonus, which at the moment is primary goal.

Anyway its good to be back and I will make a concerted effort to keep writing in 2007.