Cost of a Saturday Night Out.... Priceless
2 bottles of champagne, vodka & Redbulls, beers and tips
$700
Paying a stranger in the street to drive my car home
$100
Baby-sitter
$120
Playing poker completely wankered
$1,750
Loss of expected winnings that I would have made if I'd stayed in
$1,000
Total cost of a Saturday night out
$3,670
NL cash is not suited for drunken play. I was nearly $3k down before I sobered up and remembered where my Fold buttons were. The worst part of the evening is that I remember very little about it. Oh well.
October Update 4
Day 22: +$1,715
Day 23: +$1,530
Day 24: +$1,317
Day 25: +$514
Day 26: +$277
Day 27: -$1,751
Day 28: +$1,129
Month-to-Date Stats:
Total: +$24,020
Hours: 192
Average Rate: $125/hour
Hands: 129,181
BB/100: 8.38
Monday, October 29, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
16. That's the Magic Number
Now you may try to subtract it
But it just won't go away
Sixteen times one?
(What is it?)
Sixteen
And that's a Magic Number
Full Tilt have now increased the cap of the number of cash tables you can play to 16. I played 14 two nights ago, and 16 for much of last night/this morning.
I had no problem handling 16 although it makes it more difficult to go for a piss and get back before timing out.
I'm still waiting on getting my 3rd 30" Dell monitor connected so for now I have been playing with a slight overlap with the extra 4 tables.
I made very little last night but this dip had little to do with playing the extra tables. It was really just a case of bad luck. According to the graphs produced by PokerEV, I was robbed of a shitload! :)
The 1st graph shows that I "won" over $2.2k Sklansky Bucks.* The "All In Luck" graph shows that I was due an extra $900 worth of equity from all-ins!
*Sklansky Bucks
Sklansky bucks/dollars are theoretical money won or lost based on the Fundamental Theorem of Poker. The FTOP is discussed in The Theory of Poker.
Basically, if you lose a hand but your opponent made mistakes, such as drawing to a flush without proper pot odds, you may lose the pot but you have earned Sklansky bucks by causing your opponent to make a mistake.
On the flip side. If you are drawing without odds but you get luck and draw out on your opponent, you win the pot, but you lose Sklansky bucks.
Reference: Poker.Wikia.com
Now you may try to subtract it
But it just won't go away
Sixteen times one?
(What is it?)
Sixteen
And that's a Magic Number
Full Tilt have now increased the cap of the number of cash tables you can play to 16. I played 14 two nights ago, and 16 for much of last night/this morning.
I had no problem handling 16 although it makes it more difficult to go for a piss and get back before timing out.
I'm still waiting on getting my 3rd 30" Dell monitor connected so for now I have been playing with a slight overlap with the extra 4 tables.
I made very little last night but this dip had little to do with playing the extra tables. It was really just a case of bad luck. According to the graphs produced by PokerEV, I was robbed of a shitload! :)
The 1st graph shows that I "won" over $2.2k Sklansky Bucks.* The "All In Luck" graph shows that I was due an extra $900 worth of equity from all-ins!
*Sklansky Bucks
Sklansky bucks/dollars are theoretical money won or lost based on the Fundamental Theorem of Poker. The FTOP is discussed in The Theory of Poker.
Basically, if you lose a hand but your opponent made mistakes, such as drawing to a flush without proper pot odds, you may lose the pot but you have earned Sklansky bucks by causing your opponent to make a mistake.
On the flip side. If you are drawing without odds but you get luck and draw out on your opponent, you win the pot, but you lose Sklansky bucks.
Reference: Poker.Wikia.com
Friday, October 26, 2007
"Crying over you, crying over you."
The following comment was left on my last post by one of the Full Tilt regulars:
Is the secret to your success 4-betting with QJo, and getting allin for 175 BB as a 2-1 underdog?
dobieatwar
It's not on my agenda to pick fights with anyone, but it's disappointing to receive a sarcastic comment from another regular at the tables. Especially when it shows a complete lack of understanding of the game on their part. I apologise to dobie if this post sounds harsh but I don't appreciate his comments here or in the chat box at the table.
Here is the hand that dobieatwar is referring to, together with my comments. Hopefully he will learn something from this analysis and improve his game as a result.
FullTiltPoker Game #3969835186: Table Laurel Ridge - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:08:02 ET - 2007/10/26
Seat 1: dobieatwar ($344.35)
Seat 2: Bling1528 ($275.90)
Seat 3: lamta ($41.70)
Seat 7: Narena ($378.40)
Seat 9: premgolf ($256.70)
premgolf posts the small blind of $1
dobieatwar posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Narena [Qc Jh]
Bling1528 folds
lamta folds
Narena raises to $7
premgolf folds
dobieatwar raises to $22
Narena has 15 seconds left to act
Narena raises to $58
dobieatwar calls $36
*** FLOP *** [Jc 9d Td]
dobieatwar checks
Narena bets $88
dobieatwar raises to $286.35, and is all in
Narena calls $198.35
dobieatwar shows [7c 8c]
Narena shows [Qc Jh]
winston1984 sits down
*** TURN *** [Jc 9d Td] [8d]
winston1984 stands up
*** RIVER *** [Jc 9d Td 8d] [Qh]
dobieatwar shows a straight, Queen high
Narena shows a straight, Queen high
dobieatwar ties for the pot ($343.35) with a straight, Queen high and starts crying like a baby
Narena ties for the pot ($343.35) with a straight, Queen high
dobieatwar: another bs
dobieatwar: another suckout
dobieatwar: good job
Dobie:
Fuck me mate. You can't really be that fucking naive can you? This is a perfect example of why I don't get my table chat re-instated. I would still be arguing with all the fish and calling them useless cunts.
I 4-bet pre because I'm pretty confident that you're just playing back with a weak hand- frustrated at being pushed around. Even if I had been wrong and you had been ahead it doesn't make my pre-flop play poor. When you're battling with common opponents, hands shouldn't really be analysed in isolation- they are part of a more complex strategy. You've also completely ignored the fact that we are playing short-handed here- there are only 5 of us at the table. Surely you're aware how the dynamics of a table change when playing with just 4 opponents!!?
The flop is great for me. My 3/4 pot bet will often take the pot down- and may even induce a bluff given that we are deep enough.
As it happened, your dubious commitment of $58 pre-flop out-of-position with 87 paid off due to hitting your miracle 1.2% chance of flopping a straight!
When you push over the top, it is $200 to call into what will be a $700 pot. With odds of 5/2, that is a very easy call given the strength of my hand.
To be honest, I'm very surprised at your own inability to recognise what I have just explained, together with your "another bs/ another suckout" comments and your cheek in criticising my play in this instance. (I don't pretend that I don't make some awful plays at times, and I'm more than happy to accept criticism when it's justified if someone feels the need to vent- but that isn't the case here.)
Anyway mate, I sincerely hope you do well at the tables but do choose your targets more carefully in future- there is far easier money to be had out there.
The following comment was left on my last post by one of the Full Tilt regulars:
Is the secret to your success 4-betting with QJo, and getting allin for 175 BB as a 2-1 underdog?
dobieatwar
It's not on my agenda to pick fights with anyone, but it's disappointing to receive a sarcastic comment from another regular at the tables. Especially when it shows a complete lack of understanding of the game on their part. I apologise to dobie if this post sounds harsh but I don't appreciate his comments here or in the chat box at the table.
Here is the hand that dobieatwar is referring to, together with my comments. Hopefully he will learn something from this analysis and improve his game as a result.
FullTiltPoker Game #3969835186: Table Laurel Ridge - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:08:02 ET - 2007/10/26
Seat 1: dobieatwar ($344.35)
Seat 2: Bling1528 ($275.90)
Seat 3: lamta ($41.70)
Seat 7: Narena ($378.40)
Seat 9: premgolf ($256.70)
premgolf posts the small blind of $1
dobieatwar posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Narena [Qc Jh]
Bling1528 folds
lamta folds
Narena raises to $7
premgolf folds
dobieatwar raises to $22
Narena has 15 seconds left to act
Narena raises to $58
dobieatwar calls $36
*** FLOP *** [Jc 9d Td]
dobieatwar checks
Narena bets $88
dobieatwar raises to $286.35, and is all in
Narena calls $198.35
dobieatwar shows [7c 8c]
Narena shows [Qc Jh]
winston1984 sits down
*** TURN *** [Jc 9d Td] [8d]
winston1984 stands up
*** RIVER *** [Jc 9d Td 8d] [Qh]
dobieatwar shows a straight, Queen high
Narena shows a straight, Queen high
dobieatwar ties for the pot ($343.35) with a straight, Queen high and starts crying like a baby
Narena ties for the pot ($343.35) with a straight, Queen high
dobieatwar: another bs
dobieatwar: another suckout
dobieatwar: good job
Dobie:
Fuck me mate. You can't really be that fucking naive can you? This is a perfect example of why I don't get my table chat re-instated. I would still be arguing with all the fish and calling them useless cunts.
I 4-bet pre because I'm pretty confident that you're just playing back with a weak hand- frustrated at being pushed around. Even if I had been wrong and you had been ahead it doesn't make my pre-flop play poor. When you're battling with common opponents, hands shouldn't really be analysed in isolation- they are part of a more complex strategy. You've also completely ignored the fact that we are playing short-handed here- there are only 5 of us at the table. Surely you're aware how the dynamics of a table change when playing with just 4 opponents!!?
The flop is great for me. My 3/4 pot bet will often take the pot down- and may even induce a bluff given that we are deep enough.
As it happened, your dubious commitment of $58 pre-flop out-of-position with 87 paid off due to hitting your miracle 1.2% chance of flopping a straight!
When you push over the top, it is $200 to call into what will be a $700 pot. With odds of 5/2, that is a very easy call given the strength of my hand.
To be honest, I'm very surprised at your own inability to recognise what I have just explained, together with your "another bs/ another suckout" comments and your cheek in criticising my play in this instance. (I don't pretend that I don't make some awful plays at times, and I'm more than happy to accept criticism when it's justified if someone feels the need to vent- but that isn't the case here.)
Anyway mate, I sincerely hope you do well at the tables but do choose your targets more carefully in future- there is far easier money to be had out there.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Running On Full
I continue to run well, however the recent "tweeking" of my game has definitely improved my play and so I'd like to think it's not all down to the Poker Gods! :)
I made $1,715 tonight in 7 hours, meaning my stats for the past three days are:
Hands: 12,809
Hours: 17.5
BB/100: 27.03
Profit: $7,239 (inc. $315 rake back)
Rate: $414/hr
(BB/100 for the month is up to 9.94 over 92k hands)
EDIT: I just had another $1.5k+ night, so BB/100 is now up to 10.32 for the month. (BB/100 is now 25 for my last 16k hands! A nice little lucky streak!)
I continue to run well, however the recent "tweeking" of my game has definitely improved my play and so I'd like to think it's not all down to the Poker Gods! :)
I made $1,715 tonight in 7 hours, meaning my stats for the past three days are:
Hands: 12,809
Hours: 17.5
BB/100: 27.03
Profit: $7,239 (inc. $315 rake back)
Rate: $414/hr
(BB/100 for the month is up to 9.94 over 92k hands)
EDIT: I just had another $1.5k+ night, so BB/100 is now up to 10.32 for the month. (BB/100 is now 25 for my last 16k hands! A nice little lucky streak!)
Monday, October 22, 2007
October Update 3
I managed 45 hours this week, so I'm pretty much on target at this rate to reach my goal of 200 hours for the month. Week 3 went well:
Day 15: +$2,215
Day 16: +$329
Day 17: +$1,142
Day 18: +$16
Day 19: +$51
Day 20: +$4,307
Day 21: +$1,217
Month-to-Date Stats:
Total: +$19,289
Hours: 136
Average Rate: $142/hour
Hands: 86,819
BB/100: 9.63
Despite winning every day this month so far, I've still been experiencing some large swings for $1/$2 (and a little $2/$4.) On the 18th, I was over $1k up within the first hour, then I lost over $2k(!!) in under an hour and was soon $1.3k down! (I decided to keep playing until I was back in profit even if it took all day- but it only took about 3 hours.)
Considering I'm at close to 100k hands for the month I'm very pleased with my win-rate of 9.63 BB/100. However it just shows that even 100k hands isn't a large enough sample to give an accurate figure here! Maybe you need 500k hands!? (My BB/100 since going full-time, 700k+ hands ago, is 6.62 BB/100)
(NB: 9.63 BB/100 is 4.82 PTBB/100)
I managed 45 hours this week, so I'm pretty much on target at this rate to reach my goal of 200 hours for the month. Week 3 went well:
Day 15: +$2,215
Day 16: +$329
Day 17: +$1,142
Day 18: +$16
Day 19: +$51
Day 20: +$4,307
Day 21: +$1,217
Month-to-Date Stats:
Total: +$19,289
Hours: 136
Average Rate: $142/hour
Hands: 86,819
BB/100: 9.63
Despite winning every day this month so far, I've still been experiencing some large swings for $1/$2 (and a little $2/$4.) On the 18th, I was over $1k up within the first hour, then I lost over $2k(!!) in under an hour and was soon $1.3k down! (I decided to keep playing until I was back in profit even if it took all day- but it only took about 3 hours.)
Considering I'm at close to 100k hands for the month I'm very pleased with my win-rate of 9.63 BB/100. However it just shows that even 100k hands isn't a large enough sample to give an accurate figure here! Maybe you need 500k hands!? (My BB/100 since going full-time, 700k+ hands ago, is 6.62 BB/100)
(NB: 9.63 BB/100 is 4.82 PTBB/100)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Just Another "Run-of-the-Mill" $4.3k Night at $1/$2...
Sometimes the cards hit you in the face and give you big hand after big hand. Last night they didn't just hit me; they tied me up and fucked me up the arse. I have never run so well. (I played pretty well too, and I don't remember a significant single mistake all night.)
In total I made $4,307 in just under 8 hours ($4,162 + $145 rake back) from 5,708 hands. (36BB/100!) :)
The biggest hand of the evening is something I've only seen once before:
Flopped Set vs Set vs Set
The very last hand of the evening is typical of the luck I had- when my under set turned quads:
Quads vs Full House
Stats from the evening:
Some other points:
*I was dealt AA 34 times (25 would be average) and won every single pot with them!
*I was dealt KK 33 times and won all but 3 pots with them.
*I only lost one major pot all night when some muppet rivered a flush vs my trips.
I am such a luck-box.
A couple of people have recently asked to see my Poker Tracker stats for $1/$2. Here are the 700k hands since going full-time 6 months ago:
Sometimes the cards hit you in the face and give you big hand after big hand. Last night they didn't just hit me; they tied me up and fucked me up the arse. I have never run so well. (I played pretty well too, and I don't remember a significant single mistake all night.)
In total I made $4,307 in just under 8 hours ($4,162 + $145 rake back) from 5,708 hands. (36BB/100!) :)
The biggest hand of the evening is something I've only seen once before:
Flopped Set vs Set vs Set
The very last hand of the evening is typical of the luck I had- when my under set turned quads:
Quads vs Full House
Stats from the evening:
Some other points:
*I was dealt AA 34 times (25 would be average) and won every single pot with them!
*I was dealt KK 33 times and won all but 3 pots with them.
*I only lost one major pot all night when some muppet rivered a flush vs my trips.
I am such a luck-box.
A couple of people have recently asked to see my Poker Tracker stats for $1/$2. Here are the 700k hands since going full-time 6 months ago:
Monday, October 15, 2007
October Update 2
I managed 40 hours this week, so on target at this rate for about 190 hours. I'll try to step it up a bit. I've been taking a nap in the evenings/night from about 9pm - 2am and then playing. I'd like to be able to start a little earlier really but my sleeping pattern is all messed right now and I'm too tired to play without that extra sleep.
Day 8: +$303
Day 9: +$753
Day 10: +$1,505
Day 11: +$602
Day 12: +$909
Day 13: +$114
Day 14: +$109
Total: +$10,013
Hours: 91
Average Rate: $110/hour
Hands: 60,859
BB/100: 6.04
So, 14 consecutive winning days so far but strangely I have had to recover from an average deficit of $650 on half of those days!
Here's a $800 cooler from a $2/$4 table this morning. Probably not the best flop play by the villain but it worked for him! He may have been trying an intentional "mis-click" but all of the money was going in anyway.
$2/$4 Cooler
I managed 40 hours this week, so on target at this rate for about 190 hours. I'll try to step it up a bit. I've been taking a nap in the evenings/night from about 9pm - 2am and then playing. I'd like to be able to start a little earlier really but my sleeping pattern is all messed right now and I'm too tired to play without that extra sleep.
Day 8: +$303
Day 9: +$753
Day 10: +$1,505
Day 11: +$602
Day 12: +$909
Day 13: +$114
Day 14: +$109
Total: +$10,013
Hours: 91
Average Rate: $110/hour
Hands: 60,859
BB/100: 6.04
So, 14 consecutive winning days so far but strangely I have had to recover from an average deficit of $650 on half of those days!
Here's a $800 cooler from a $2/$4 table this morning. Probably not the best flop play by the villain but it worked for him! He may have been trying an intentional "mis-click" but all of the money was going in anyway.
$2/$4 Cooler
Monday, October 08, 2007
October Update 1
One week down, and I'm on target to reach 200 hours by the end of the month.
I wasn't going to play last night due to being tired, but figured that I'd be giving up potential earnings if I missed a day. A can of Red Bull woke me up though and I managed 6 hours at the tables to take me up to 50 hours for the week.
Day 1: +$500
Day 2: +$533
Day 3: +$1,288
Day 4: +$676
Day 5: +$709
Day 6: +$503
Day 7: +$1,512
Total: +$5,720
Hours: 50
Average Rate: $114/hour
Hands: 32,659
BB/100: 6.16
A good month so far! :)
I bought an extra monitor last week. My set-up now consists of 3 x 30" Dells and a 24" Dell. Despite being able to have all four connected, I think I'll just stick with the three 30"s. I'll post up a couple of photos soon.
I really wish Full Tilt would allow you to play more than 12 cash tables. I know I could play 16 comfortably, and maybe as many as 20. I posted a few weeks ago about having played 16 tables simultaneously, but it meant having to play 12 on Full Tilt and 4 on Pokerstars- and having to constantly switch focus from the format of one site to the other made things difficult.
One week down, and I'm on target to reach 200 hours by the end of the month.
I wasn't going to play last night due to being tired, but figured that I'd be giving up potential earnings if I missed a day. A can of Red Bull woke me up though and I managed 6 hours at the tables to take me up to 50 hours for the week.
Day 1: +$500
Day 2: +$533
Day 3: +$1,288
Day 4: +$676
Day 5: +$709
Day 6: +$503
Day 7: +$1,512
Total: +$5,720
Hours: 50
Average Rate: $114/hour
Hands: 32,659
BB/100: 6.16
A good month so far! :)
I bought an extra monitor last week. My set-up now consists of 3 x 30" Dells and a 24" Dell. Despite being able to have all four connected, I think I'll just stick with the three 30"s. I'll post up a couple of photos soon.
I really wish Full Tilt would allow you to play more than 12 cash tables. I know I could play 16 comfortably, and maybe as many as 20. I posted a few weeks ago about having played 16 tables simultaneously, but it meant having to play 12 on Full Tilt and 4 on Pokerstars- and having to constantly switch focus from the format of one site to the other made things difficult.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Poker Goals and Targets
Setting goals or targets can help to improve your overall poker performance in several ways including aiding with discipline and motivation. However it's important to understand how goal-setting works otherwise it could actually have a detrimental effect on your poker profits.
When I used to teach maths in England, we were introduced to "SMART Targets."
Smart Targets Definition
Quoting from the above link:
Goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based.
The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:
S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
Basically, what this means is that your goal is defined in such a way that it will directly help your game, as opposed to simply being a "wish."
The following "goals" are fairly common examples of what are really just wishes which by themselves won't actually help a player's game at all:
*** Make over $2k this month
*** Win 2 MTTs this month
*** Increase my STT ROI to 10%
It's true that simply by putting these targets in print can help to motivate a player, but with a little more thought we can give ourselves more of a chance of achieving them.
Here's an example of what I mean:
*** Make over $2k this month by:
**Reducing my VPIP% at full-ring games from 26% to 20% (by not playing Axs from early/mid-position, not playing less than AQ from UTG, only playing connectors from late position, not playing ATC just because they're suited.) I will analyse my stats on Poker Tracker at the end of each session.
**Taking a 10-minute break everytime I loss a big pot and start to tilt. (To help recognise tilt, I'll define it as shouting out loud or hitting something.)
**Having my girlfriend change my password and hide my mouse everytime I go out on the piss, so that when I come in shit-faced I'm unable to play poker.
Here's another example:
*** Increase my STT ROI to 10% by:
**Calling less all-ins when the blinds are high, and pushing more often instead. (I will analyse the times when I do call all-ins, and assess whether it was the correct play or not.)
**Reducing bluffing on the river against players that I have noted as calling stations. (I will record any river bluffs that I do make and their results, and make a note of my success rate.)
**Turning off my chat so that I don't get distracted by getting involved in pointless arguments at the table.
October's Goal
So, onto my goal for October which I will keep very simple:
***Play over 200 hours by:
**Spending no more than 90 minutes a day on poker forums.
**Planning each week in advance, allowing for times when I will be working-out, playing football, sleeping, and shagging.
Setting goals or targets can help to improve your overall poker performance in several ways including aiding with discipline and motivation. However it's important to understand how goal-setting works otherwise it could actually have a detrimental effect on your poker profits.
When I used to teach maths in England, we were introduced to "SMART Targets."
Smart Targets Definition
Quoting from the above link:
Goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based.
The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:
S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
Basically, what this means is that your goal is defined in such a way that it will directly help your game, as opposed to simply being a "wish."
The following "goals" are fairly common examples of what are really just wishes which by themselves won't actually help a player's game at all:
*** Make over $2k this month
*** Win 2 MTTs this month
*** Increase my STT ROI to 10%
It's true that simply by putting these targets in print can help to motivate a player, but with a little more thought we can give ourselves more of a chance of achieving them.
Here's an example of what I mean:
*** Make over $2k this month by:
**Reducing my VPIP% at full-ring games from 26% to 20% (by not playing Axs from early/mid-position, not playing less than AQ from UTG, only playing connectors from late position, not playing ATC just because they're suited.) I will analyse my stats on Poker Tracker at the end of each session.
**Taking a 10-minute break everytime I loss a big pot and start to tilt. (To help recognise tilt, I'll define it as shouting out loud or hitting something.)
**Having my girlfriend change my password and hide my mouse everytime I go out on the piss, so that when I come in shit-faced I'm unable to play poker.
Here's another example:
*** Increase my STT ROI to 10% by:
**Calling less all-ins when the blinds are high, and pushing more often instead. (I will analyse the times when I do call all-ins, and assess whether it was the correct play or not.)
**Reducing bluffing on the river against players that I have noted as calling stations. (I will record any river bluffs that I do make and their results, and make a note of my success rate.)
**Turning off my chat so that I don't get distracted by getting involved in pointless arguments at the table.
October's Goal
So, onto my goal for October which I will keep very simple:
***Play over 200 hours by:
**Spending no more than 90 minutes a day on poker forums.
**Planning each week in advance, allowing for times when I will be working-out, playing football, sleeping, and shagging.
Monday, October 01, 2007
September Report
Due to being in England for half of September I only had 15 days of playing cash online. Therefore it was a fairly decent month.
Total: $9,910 (Excluding $3k made playing live in England)
Hours: 97
Average Rate1: $102/hr
Average Rate2: $330/day ($680/day for the days that I actually played cash on)
Rake Earned: $1,650 (included in above total)
Losing Days: 6
$1k+ Days: 5
Best Days: $2,309 and $2,066
Worst Day: -$608
Due to being in England for half of September I only had 15 days of playing cash online. Therefore it was a fairly decent month.
Total: $9,910 (Excluding $3k made playing live in England)
Hours: 97
Average Rate1: $102/hr
Average Rate2: $330/day ($680/day for the days that I actually played cash on)
Rake Earned: $1,650 (included in above total)
Losing Days: 6
$1k+ Days: 5
Best Days: $2,309 and $2,066
Worst Day: -$608
Thursday, September 27, 2007
BB/100 Vs. PTBB/100
I made the mistake in my last post of quoting my PTBB/100 (Poker Tracker) which is based on limit games, and is in fact half of the true BB/100 value. (PTBB refers to "Big Bets" as opposed to "Big Blinds.")
My BB/100 since going full-time at the start of March (multi-tabling x 12) is actually:
BB/100: 6.19 (over 616,880 hands)
(This excludes Rack Back which would make it between 7 and 7.5 BB/100)
I made the mistake in my last post of quoting my PTBB/100 (Poker Tracker) which is based on limit games, and is in fact half of the true BB/100 value. (PTBB refers to "Big Bets" as opposed to "Big Blinds.")
My BB/100 since going full-time at the start of March (multi-tabling x 12) is actually:
BB/100: 6.19 (over 616,880 hands)
(This excludes Rack Back which would make it between 7 and 7.5 BB/100)
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
September Update 1
September is going well considering I had 12 days off from playing cash whilst back in England. So far I'm at $9,327 profit for the month (not including the $3k I made playing live while back in England.) (I'm up $8,213 in the last 8 days, over a total of 53 hours; $155/hr.)
I've made a minor adjustment to my pre-flop/flop play and I feel that I'm playing really well. I've also been making sure that I only play when fresh, even if it means some unusual sleep patterns. (Yesterday I slept from 2:30pm until 7:30pm, and then 10:30pm until 2:00am before I started playing- for 5 hours until 7am.) I've actually been trying to add a bit more structure to my daily schedule, and I'll post about that at another time.
I looked at my PT stats since going full-time in March earlier today (600,000+ hands.) I was a little over 3BB/100 @ $1/$2, and a little over 2BB/100 @ $2/4. This number was a little lower than I thought, however they're not bad considering I'm playing 12 tables at a time, and RB isn't included. (My average hourly rate is $94/hr.) As a result, I decided to add some $2/$4 tables tonight, and will continue to play those as long as my $2/$4 BB/100 is at least as good as 50% of my $1/$2 BB/100.
***EDIT: SEE NEXT POST FOR CORRECTION ON BB/100 WHICH IS ACTUALLY DOUBLE THAT QUOTED ABOVE***
I'd like to play more STTs as I've also been running really well at the $55 9-seaters, however I doubt they're as profitable as playing cash. If I get time in the afternoon then sometimes I'll play them on my lap-top while watching TV. I played 4 of the $55 STTs simultaneously the other day and got 3 x 1sts , and a 2nd. It got a bit hectic with them all being HU at the same time!
September is going well considering I had 12 days off from playing cash whilst back in England. So far I'm at $9,327 profit for the month (not including the $3k I made playing live while back in England.) (I'm up $8,213 in the last 8 days, over a total of 53 hours; $155/hr.)
I've made a minor adjustment to my pre-flop/flop play and I feel that I'm playing really well. I've also been making sure that I only play when fresh, even if it means some unusual sleep patterns. (Yesterday I slept from 2:30pm until 7:30pm, and then 10:30pm until 2:00am before I started playing- for 5 hours until 7am.) I've actually been trying to add a bit more structure to my daily schedule, and I'll post about that at another time.
I looked at my PT stats since going full-time in March earlier today (600,000+ hands.) I was a little over 3BB/100 @ $1/$2, and a little over 2BB/100 @ $2/4. This number was a little lower than I thought, however they're not bad considering I'm playing 12 tables at a time, and RB isn't included. (My average hourly rate is $94/hr.) As a result, I decided to add some $2/$4 tables tonight, and will continue to play those as long as my $2/$4 BB/100 is at least as good as 50% of my $1/$2 BB/100.
***EDIT: SEE NEXT POST FOR CORRECTION ON BB/100 WHICH IS ACTUALLY DOUBLE THAT QUOTED ABOVE***
I'd like to play more STTs as I've also been running really well at the $55 9-seaters, however I doubt they're as profitable as playing cash. If I get time in the afternoon then sometimes I'll play them on my lap-top while watching TV. I played 4 of the $55 STTs simultaneously the other day and got 3 x 1sts , and a 2nd. It got a bit hectic with them all being HU at the same time!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
August Report
A bit late coming, but I've only just got back home after 2 weeks in England. August was my worst month since going full-time. I missed a few days at the end of the month due to being in England. However my play was pretty poor at times and I also didn't run too well.
Total: $10,506
Hours: 168
Average Rate1: $62/hr
Average Rate2: $339/day
Rake Earned: $3,452 (included in above total)
Losing Days: 11
$1k+ Days: 5
Best Day: $1,685
Worst Day: -$788
A bit late coming, but I've only just got back home after 2 weeks in England. August was my worst month since going full-time. I missed a few days at the end of the month due to being in England. However my play was pretty poor at times and I also didn't run too well.
Total: $10,506
Hours: 168
Average Rate1: $62/hr
Average Rate2: $339/day
Rake Earned: $3,452 (included in above total)
Losing Days: 11
$1k+ Days: 5
Best Day: $1,685
Worst Day: -$788
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Fish with Extra Chips Please
I went over to the Brighton Rendezvous Casino last night with Snap and Canaryboy from the Betfair forum to play in their £30 Rebuy event. (I'd played there once before when I was back in England 2 years ago, and managed to pick up 3rd place on that occassion.)
With unlimited rebuys and an optional add-on, the field of 43 had 107 rebuys/add-ons for a £4,500 prize pool. Starting stacks were 2,000 with 25/50 blinds, and a 30 minute clock.
Just as when I had played before, the runners were nearly all regulars. They all seemed to know each other well and they were generally pretty pleasant. The overall standard was pretty poor with few decent players.
I managed to get my stack up to nearly 12,000 just before the break, before losing half my stack against some atrocious play which included my OOP opponent calling my pre-flop raise and flop bet with K7 on a Q44 flop.
One guy rebought 6-7 times before the break after discovering that calling gutshots on the flop and pre-flop all-ins with 86s weren't optimal plays. (I raised to 4,000 UTG with KK @50/100 when I chucked in 1k chips instead of 100s, and he called off his 2k stack with his pretty-looking suited rags.)
I intended to take an add-on at the break as my 6,600 [average] stack couldn't afford a big hit. However, after having a piss, beer and cigarette I discovered that I had left it too late.
After the break, I was able to build my stack to around 15k and I stayed around that mark from two tables out until the Final Table.
I raised the first 3 or 4 hands on the Final Table and managed to double up with my set of 4s against the BB's AQ. I then shoved my 40k in to take the 4.5k of blinds plus 3k from a limper with my JJ. However I had a call from the button (approx 10k) with K9. The turn gave me a set and him a gutshot, and the river gave him his straight just as he had finished saying goodbye- so he sat back down.
Two hands later I raised to 12k UTG (2k/4k) with AA. "K9 man" is the only caller from the blinds, and we see a ragged flop. I put him all in and he starts to think. It's quite clear he has fuck all. It's an easy call for any pair given the current pot size. It's also an easy fold for just about any other holding. I had started to get a little cocky (in a friendly way) at the FT, and tried to induce a call with the usual "You're well behind mate. If I were you I'd definitely be folding" type of bollocks. Anyway, he called with KQ and his 3% shot didn't improve.
Canaryboy played really well and eventually went out in 4th for £450. Considering he was a short-stack for a lot of the time it was a great achievement.
Earlier on, Snap was unlucky to be outdrawn in a 3-way all-in when a little more luck would have put him up with the chip leaders. He still made a profit though as he and I had bought in Canaryboy so we split his winnings 3-way.
I actually lost more chips from missed blinds while taking a piss (I had nearly 10 pints 'cos I'm such a lad :p) than I did in any single pot. One piss cost me 4.5k when I only had 20k left- and I fucking sprinted to the loo too! (Tip: When playing live, it's cheaper to take a piss at full-handed tables.)
Anyway, we were soon down to the final three and we then decided to chop for just over £1k each.
Overall, it was a great night but I've got a fucking headache this morning.
I went over to the Brighton Rendezvous Casino last night with Snap and Canaryboy from the Betfair forum to play in their £30 Rebuy event. (I'd played there once before when I was back in England 2 years ago, and managed to pick up 3rd place on that occassion.)
With unlimited rebuys and an optional add-on, the field of 43 had 107 rebuys/add-ons for a £4,500 prize pool. Starting stacks were 2,000 with 25/50 blinds, and a 30 minute clock.
Just as when I had played before, the runners were nearly all regulars. They all seemed to know each other well and they were generally pretty pleasant. The overall standard was pretty poor with few decent players.
I managed to get my stack up to nearly 12,000 just before the break, before losing half my stack against some atrocious play which included my OOP opponent calling my pre-flop raise and flop bet with K7 on a Q44 flop.
One guy rebought 6-7 times before the break after discovering that calling gutshots on the flop and pre-flop all-ins with 86s weren't optimal plays. (I raised to 4,000 UTG with KK @50/100 when I chucked in 1k chips instead of 100s, and he called off his 2k stack with his pretty-looking suited rags.)
I intended to take an add-on at the break as my 6,600 [average] stack couldn't afford a big hit. However, after having a piss, beer and cigarette I discovered that I had left it too late.
After the break, I was able to build my stack to around 15k and I stayed around that mark from two tables out until the Final Table.
I raised the first 3 or 4 hands on the Final Table and managed to double up with my set of 4s against the BB's AQ. I then shoved my 40k in to take the 4.5k of blinds plus 3k from a limper with my JJ. However I had a call from the button (approx 10k) with K9. The turn gave me a set and him a gutshot, and the river gave him his straight just as he had finished saying goodbye- so he sat back down.
Two hands later I raised to 12k UTG (2k/4k) with AA. "K9 man" is the only caller from the blinds, and we see a ragged flop. I put him all in and he starts to think. It's quite clear he has fuck all. It's an easy call for any pair given the current pot size. It's also an easy fold for just about any other holding. I had started to get a little cocky (in a friendly way) at the FT, and tried to induce a call with the usual "You're well behind mate. If I were you I'd definitely be folding" type of bollocks. Anyway, he called with KQ and his 3% shot didn't improve.
Canaryboy played really well and eventually went out in 4th for £450. Considering he was a short-stack for a lot of the time it was a great achievement.
Earlier on, Snap was unlucky to be outdrawn in a 3-way all-in when a little more luck would have put him up with the chip leaders. He still made a profit though as he and I had bought in Canaryboy so we split his winnings 3-way.
I actually lost more chips from missed blinds while taking a piss (I had nearly 10 pints 'cos I'm such a lad :p) than I did in any single pot. One piss cost me 4.5k when I only had 20k left- and I fucking sprinted to the loo too! (Tip: When playing live, it's cheaper to take a piss at full-handed tables.)
Anyway, we were soon down to the final three and we then decided to chop for just over £1k each.
Overall, it was a great night but I've got a fucking headache this morning.
BFWCOP3
I'm back in England now for two weeks to visit my family and to play in Betfair's BFWCOP3 tournament this upcoming week-end.
I'm really looking forward to the event, and it'll be great to see everyone that I met last year and a few new faces too. Mandylou from the Betfair forum has put in an awful lot of time and effort again this year, and I'm sure it will be on par with last year's excellent week-end.
To be honest, the poker itself is just an added bonus. This trip is costing me well over $10,000 if I include loss of online poker earnings on top of all other expenses. So it's not a +EV journey to make from a poker perspective despite the added value on offer with JPJ and his Bournemouth posse playing.
However, I will still be taking the event as seriously as is possible for someone who will be completely shitfaced.
I'm back in England now for two weeks to visit my family and to play in Betfair's BFWCOP3 tournament this upcoming week-end.
I'm really looking forward to the event, and it'll be great to see everyone that I met last year and a few new faces too. Mandylou from the Betfair forum has put in an awful lot of time and effort again this year, and I'm sure it will be on par with last year's excellent week-end.
To be honest, the poker itself is just an added bonus. This trip is costing me well over $10,000 if I include loss of online poker earnings on top of all other expenses. So it's not a +EV journey to make from a poker perspective despite the added value on offer with JPJ and his Bournemouth posse playing.
However, I will still be taking the event as seriously as is possible for someone who will be completely shitfaced.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
AK OK?
Following on from my post on committing pre-flop (or not) with KK in deep-stacked ring games, here's a similar situation regarding AK. I thought I'd reproduce it here as I believe taking this approach will help optimise returns from full-handed $1/$2 NL tables.
This is a recent post from Keith A on the Betfair forum:
Is this incredibly wimpy?
Game #4419792843: Hold'em NL ($1/$2) - 2007/08/27 - 21:29:29 (UK)
Table "TampTamp" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: bennekom ($208.35 in chips)
Seat 2: sayenda ($213.05 in chips)
Seat 3: reptek ($197 in chips)
Seat 4: Strudel ($205.05 in chips)
Seat 5: Arnoldio ($178 in chips)
Seat 6: VANPOISON ($330.35 in chips)
Seat 7: threturns ($193.35 in chips)
Seat 8: PhatPhuk ($85.55 in chips)
Seat 9: Pokekunu ($139.05 in chips)
Seat 10: Kaiser004 sits out
VANPOISON: posts small blind $1
threturns: posts big blind $2
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Arnoldio [As Ks]
PhatPhuk: folds
Pokekunu: raises to $6
bennekom: folds
sayenda: folds
reptek: calls $6
Strudel: raises to $24
Arnoldio: folds
VANPOISON: folds
threturns: folds
Pokekunu: calls $18
reptek: calls $18
----- FLOP ----- [Th Jh 4c]
Pokekunu: bets $115.05 and is all-in
reptek: folds
Strudel: folds
Returned uncalled bets $115.05 to Pokekunu
Pokekunu: doesn't show hand
Pokekunu collected $72 from Main pot
My original response:
I would fold here pre-flop 100% of the time.
There are different styles of play that can all be successful to some extent or another at these tables. I tend to play fairly passively without monsters- although I am aggressive when leading out with strong draws.
However, no matter what your style, you should rarely be calling here. Full-ring cash is so different from tournament play. You can afford to be patient, and raises (and especially re-raises) in FR cash should be respected so much more than in tournaments.
You are most likely up against AA/KK, and at best you're against QQ/AK. (Even against another AK, you're a dog. You're splitting at best, and most likely you'll be forced to fold to a continuation bet on a non-A/K flop.)
The blinds aren't going up anytime soon, and I've yet to see anyone blinded out at the cash table. Wait, and find a better spot.
Understandably perhaps, not everyone agreed. Here's my second post:
Just to clarify- just because I multi-table, my play isn't simply a robotic ABC "only play good hands" type of game. I am aware of what goes on on every table, and I wouldn't play much differently if I only had one table open. I have also played around 1,500,000 hands at these tables.
Obviously the more information you have, the better choice you can make. However, with limited information you have to make the best decision you can based on experience.
The depth of your (and opponents') stacks have a massive impact on your decisions. The shorter the stacks, the easier it is to play.
All half-decent starting hands are shoving hands when your (or opponent's) stacks are short enough. However there is an upper limit for shoving with all hands except AA.
Most players are happy to get it all in with KK pre-flop. "I'm only behind to one hand." What if you both had 1,000BB would you call an all-in then? What about 10,000BB? A ridiculous example of course, but it's used to illustrate a point- that there is an upper limit.
AK (and all hands) play better in tournaments for shoving/calling an all-in because the nature of play is very different. The idea is to accumalte chips, so people play looser and are prepared to gamble a little more. Even at the first level of an MTT players routinely shove/call with all types of hands AJ+, KQ, any pair (obviously the lower the buy-in, the greater the range.) So AK is in pretty good shape in most cases- at least, it's rarely a big dog.
However cash is not about being the chip leader. You can't "bully" at the cash table because you have a big stack. The is no advantage to having more or less chips than someone else, so there is no urgency to gamble in order to build a stack- so players are typically more selective with hands that they are prepared to get it all in with pre-flop.
Now, there will also be maniacs and other players who are just clueless. Many cash players are poor because they play 100BB full-ring cash the same way as they see players on the TV playing short-handed Final Table shallow stack poker. If you have this information on a player then you have to factor it in to your decision of course.
On most occassions though, faced with the situation that we have here, you won't be up against a complete maniac or muppet- so you base your decision on your experiences of having been in this situation before and your experiences of witnessing others in this situation.
General I wouldn't want to commit myself to more than 50BB pre-flop with KK. With AK, it's probably around 25-30BB however it's also situation dependent. E.g. If I'm in the BB with AK and facing a 3.5BB raise from a player with 25BB then I'll raise him to, say, 15BB (and get the rest in on the flop if not raised again pre.) However if there's a 4BB raise from the UTG deep-stack and then a raise to 9BB from a 30BB mid-position stack then your decision is much harder. His re-raise here looks strong and also you don't know if the UTG will raise again.
In the original question, I would possibly even be folding KK here. However when holding AK, I assure you that shoving is a massive, massive losing play.
Following on from my post on committing pre-flop (or not) with KK in deep-stacked ring games, here's a similar situation regarding AK. I thought I'd reproduce it here as I believe taking this approach will help optimise returns from full-handed $1/$2 NL tables.
This is a recent post from Keith A on the Betfair forum:
Is this incredibly wimpy?
Game #4419792843: Hold'em NL ($1/$2) - 2007/08/27 - 21:29:29 (UK)
Table "TampTamp" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: bennekom ($208.35 in chips)
Seat 2: sayenda ($213.05 in chips)
Seat 3: reptek ($197 in chips)
Seat 4: Strudel ($205.05 in chips)
Seat 5: Arnoldio ($178 in chips)
Seat 6: VANPOISON ($330.35 in chips)
Seat 7: threturns ($193.35 in chips)
Seat 8: PhatPhuk ($85.55 in chips)
Seat 9: Pokekunu ($139.05 in chips)
Seat 10: Kaiser004 sits out
VANPOISON: posts small blind $1
threturns: posts big blind $2
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Arnoldio [As Ks]
PhatPhuk: folds
Pokekunu: raises to $6
bennekom: folds
sayenda: folds
reptek: calls $6
Strudel: raises to $24
Arnoldio: folds
VANPOISON: folds
threturns: folds
Pokekunu: calls $18
reptek: calls $18
----- FLOP ----- [Th Jh 4c]
Pokekunu: bets $115.05 and is all-in
reptek: folds
Strudel: folds
Returned uncalled bets $115.05 to Pokekunu
Pokekunu: doesn't show hand
Pokekunu collected $72 from Main pot
My original response:
I would fold here pre-flop 100% of the time.
There are different styles of play that can all be successful to some extent or another at these tables. I tend to play fairly passively without monsters- although I am aggressive when leading out with strong draws.
However, no matter what your style, you should rarely be calling here. Full-ring cash is so different from tournament play. You can afford to be patient, and raises (and especially re-raises) in FR cash should be respected so much more than in tournaments.
You are most likely up against AA/KK, and at best you're against QQ/AK. (Even against another AK, you're a dog. You're splitting at best, and most likely you'll be forced to fold to a continuation bet on a non-A/K flop.)
The blinds aren't going up anytime soon, and I've yet to see anyone blinded out at the cash table. Wait, and find a better spot.
Understandably perhaps, not everyone agreed. Here's my second post:
Just to clarify- just because I multi-table, my play isn't simply a robotic ABC "only play good hands" type of game. I am aware of what goes on on every table, and I wouldn't play much differently if I only had one table open. I have also played around 1,500,000 hands at these tables.
Obviously the more information you have, the better choice you can make. However, with limited information you have to make the best decision you can based on experience.
The depth of your (and opponents') stacks have a massive impact on your decisions. The shorter the stacks, the easier it is to play.
All half-decent starting hands are shoving hands when your (or opponent's) stacks are short enough. However there is an upper limit for shoving with all hands except AA.
Most players are happy to get it all in with KK pre-flop. "I'm only behind to one hand." What if you both had 1,000BB would you call an all-in then? What about 10,000BB? A ridiculous example of course, but it's used to illustrate a point- that there is an upper limit.
AK (and all hands) play better in tournaments for shoving/calling an all-in because the nature of play is very different. The idea is to accumalte chips, so people play looser and are prepared to gamble a little more. Even at the first level of an MTT players routinely shove/call with all types of hands AJ+, KQ, any pair (obviously the lower the buy-in, the greater the range.) So AK is in pretty good shape in most cases- at least, it's rarely a big dog.
However cash is not about being the chip leader. You can't "bully" at the cash table because you have a big stack. The is no advantage to having more or less chips than someone else, so there is no urgency to gamble in order to build a stack- so players are typically more selective with hands that they are prepared to get it all in with pre-flop.
Now, there will also be maniacs and other players who are just clueless. Many cash players are poor because they play 100BB full-ring cash the same way as they see players on the TV playing short-handed Final Table shallow stack poker. If you have this information on a player then you have to factor it in to your decision of course.
On most occassions though, faced with the situation that we have here, you won't be up against a complete maniac or muppet- so you base your decision on your experiences of having been in this situation before and your experiences of witnessing others in this situation.
General I wouldn't want to commit myself to more than 50BB pre-flop with KK. With AK, it's probably around 25-30BB however it's also situation dependent. E.g. If I'm in the BB with AK and facing a 3.5BB raise from a player with 25BB then I'll raise him to, say, 15BB (and get the rest in on the flop if not raised again pre.) However if there's a 4BB raise from the UTG deep-stack and then a raise to 9BB from a 30BB mid-position stack then your decision is much harder. His re-raise here looks strong and also you don't know if the UTG will raise again.
In the original question, I would possibly even be folding KK here. However when holding AK, I assure you that shoving is a massive, massive losing play.
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