Oh yeah, Poker

I found myself with some free time this morning and figured I would run some hands for the first time in weeks.  I have not had much free time to play cards, and with me losing so much, I was not in a hurry to get back at it to be honest.

Nothing special, just some $50 NL 6 max and only about 200 hands, but at least I won just over $60.  With so few hands, not really sure if I was playing good or bad to be honest.

I really do love this game, I just have a hard time grinding out hands at a major pace like some do.  When I start losing, that becomes even harder.  The time away from poker has shown me a few things though.  First, I don’t want to be the guy that spends 10 hours a day playing poker.  I started doing this so I would have more free time and I sort of let it consume me and I devoted so many hours to playing, it became just like a job again.  Second, I need to study the game a lot more then what I was doing.  While not playing, I have read a few books, read a few forums, and poured over my PT hands and stats.  Hopefully this will help once I get back into it.  I would like to spend 15 mins studying for every hour I play.

I didn’t start playing poker to become rich.  I started playing so I could be my own boss, work when I want, how I want, etc.  Honestly, if I could make as much or just a little more then any job I ever worked, I would be happy.  Since I am uneducated, and never had a great job, that should be no problem to be honest.  Don’t get me wrong, If I started making $100k a year, that wouldn’t be so bad either

So I am not really back yet.  Around the 1st of August is when I want to start playing more.  Until then I will just sneak in 500-1000 hands a day when I can and keep studying and working on things.  I am still helping my dad with some renovations to his house, connecting with friends I had ignored while playing cards, and playing a lot of World of Warcraft.  If you don’t play WoW, don’t start.  It is very time consuming and very addicting.  Hope things are going well for you guys at the tables.

What’s up bitches?

I love how they use that line in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.  Good show, check it out sometime.

I haven’t updated because I couldn’t tell you the last time I played a hand of poker.  Well over a week now and I love it.  Sometimes you forget about the other things out in the world if you get to wrapped up into something and I had done that with poker.

Anyway, I have no clue when I will start playing again.  Maybe this weekend, who knows.  Until then I have no clue when/if I will update this or not.

A Good Day

Finally turned in a winning day.  It was fairly short, just 800 hands.  I will get back on track with every thing after the holiday.  With my niece being here, and living on a lake, things are/were crazy.  There was a party every day so far this weekend and every night had fireworks.  I don’t mean someone lighting off a bottle rocket, I mean big time, professional type fireworks.  It’s nice to sit by the campfire at the water and watch them.

I think I wont about $120 today and cleared $40 in bonus money.  Not bad for 3 hours work.  For whatever reason, I am totally obsessed with making people fold the better hand and it is costing me big time dollars.  I can think of about $125 or so in bets that I wasted today in trying to make the better hand fold.  I have never really done this that much, so I am a bit confused why I am now.  I need to really get away from it though.

I promise after tomorrow, things will be back to normal with dollar amount updates and more hand histories for everyone to laugh at.

For you Americans that are reading this, have a great fourth of July.  It really is a special day.

It Continues

Droped over $200 again today.  Not in the mood to update the stats with that crap, so that will wait.

I found a great post by Titans over on his blog.  I used his model and dug through Poker Tracker to find some holes in my game, and man do I have some.  Did that for a few hours and watched some videos from Card Runners.  Hopefully things turn around this week.

Maybe I’m A Donkey

Something has been bothering me the past few days.  I was playing at Full Tilt and I was totally berated by two players for over an hour.  Here is the situation.

Basically, I saw the guy over betting pots when the board was scary.  Everyone folded to him all night.  So I waited to get a hand and I was going to jump him.  I never got one, so I decided to look him up with a marginal hand.  I don’t remember the hand for sure, but I ended up calling his big over bet with second pair and we checked it down from there.  Sure enough, he flipped over 5 high with no draws and I took the pot down.  Him and the other guy just went off on me, asking how the fuck can you call that big bet on that board with that hand.  Now, I don’t make it a habit of calling big bets with marginal hands, but I was pretty confident in my read and I went with it.  Don’t you have to do that sometimes?

Him and the other guy just went off on me the rest of the night.  Any time I bet, they would say I must have A high cause I was betting, or I must have hit bottom pair, all kinds of stupid shit.  It didn’t bug me at the time, because at the tables I hardly ever let talk get to me.  But now, the more I think about it, I am really bothered by it.  Maybe I am a donkey.  I am sure some of this doubt is because I have been losing lately, but who knows.  Maybe I just suck at poker.

Go To Hell, June

Man, what a month.  Quite possibly the worst month of poker in my life.  I have not totaled up everything yet, but a quick guess is I am stuck about $2,500 for the month.  Most of that coming on a two day meltdown at $1/$2 that cost me a cool $1200.

I would love to sit here and spin some bad beat stories, and I did have my share, but almost all of my losses were due to bad play on my part.  You name it, I did it.  Being a calling station, being over aggressive, playing out of position, playing big pots with small hands.  Good bye June, I am not sorry to see you go.

Today was just as bad.  I dropped 3 buy ins in my first 50 hands and never really recovered.  I ended the day up down $89.07.  I actually ended up winning about $200 after I moved to Party from Full Tilt, and worked it back to almost even before pissing away some more.  I only played just over 700 hands, as I was getting ready for my nieces visit this weekend.  She will be here in the morning and is leaving Monday I think.  She lives out of state and I don’t see her much, so she gets priority over cards this weekend.  I think I can still sneak in about 1,000 hands a day though.

Here are the ugly totals so far:

Goal = $10k

Today = -$89.07

Total =  $62.78

One Of Those Days

Well, day 2 wasn’t much better then day one. At least I got in more hands today. I played just over 1,200 hands and made a whopping $30.80. It was a pretty harsh day to be honest. I was probably stacked a good 6 or 7 times. Each time, I was way out ahead and got sucked out on, or 3 times I flopped top pair with a nut flush draw, and missed each time.

Here is a good example. AA, KK, AKo, AKs, and AQs were all losers today, and all lost over $100 for the session. Ouch. A couple cards here, a couple there, and we are talking about a great day. Oh well, those days happen and I am pretty good about dealing with them to be honest. I fully expect many more days like today during this quest. I should be happy I was still able to come out ahead I guess.

Oh yeah, I earned $45 in bonus money today too. So I guess my daily total is $75.80. Not great, but it is positive so that is in the right direction. I am disapointed to be honest. I was hoping for a big day right out of the gate so I would have a little cushion when I run into my losing days.

Goal – $10k

Today – $75.80

Total -  $151.85

I’m off to relax for a few hours before I play my after midnight session. Here are some hands:

Hand #1 – Week flop bet, check on the turn, you are getting pushed on every time.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
5 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $90.20
CO: $236.95
Hero: $104.20
SB: $103.05
BB: $115.30

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with jh ah
UTG calls, CO folds, Hero raises to $4.5, SB folds, BB raises to $15, UTG folds, Hero calls.

Flop: 6d 5s qh ($31.5, 2 players)
BB bets $15, Hero calls.

Turn: 7s ($61.5, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero is all-in $74.2, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $74.2 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $61.5

Hand #2 – Way to call $15 cold withi JTs.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $251
UTG+1: $34.75
CO: $37.40
Hero: $130.65
SB: $161.85
BB: $68.15

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is Button with ks ad
UTG raises to $3.5, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, Hero raises to $15.5, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls, CO folds.

Flop: kc 4s 4c ($50.5, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $50.5, BB raises all-in $52.65, UTG folds, Hero calls.

Turn: 6c ($155.8, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $155.8)

River: 7d ($155.8, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $155.8)

Results:
Final pot: $155.8
Hero showed Ks Ad
BB showed Jc Tc
Hand #3 – The dreaded set over set

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $40
Hero: $98
CO: $75
Button: $35.70
SB: $97.50
BB: $152.20

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with jh jd
UTG (poster) checks, Hero raises to $4.5, 3 folds, BB calls, UTG folds.

Flop: td ks js ($10.5, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $8, BB raises to $16, Hero raises to $66.5, BB raises all-in $147.7, Hero calls all-in $35.
Uncalled bets: $46.2 returned to BB.

Turn: 5c ($213.5, 0 player + 2 all-in – Main pot: $213.5)

River: 7d ($213.5, 0 player + 2 all-in – Main pot: $213.5)

Results:
Final pot: $213.5
BB showed Kd Kc
Hero showed Jh Jd
Hand #4 – Me being a donkey

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players

Stack sizes:
Hero: $109.40
UTG+1: $85
CO: $96.20
Button: $113.05
SB: $99
BB: $91.60

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG with kh ac
Hero raises to $3.5, 2 folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Flop: ad tc jd ($11, 3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $9, Button raises to $25, BB folds, Hero calls.

Turn: 3h ($61, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $39, Hero raises all-in $80.9, Button calls.

River: 2c ($222.8, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $222.8)

Results:
Final pot: $222.8
Button showed As Js
Hero showed Kh Ac

Not A Good Start

June 28, 2006

Well, the quest got off to an inauspicious start.  The only hands I played were for a friend I was making a video for.  I played it last night after midnight, so it goes on todays tally.  That is how I will be doing things.  I usually play two sessions before midnight, and one after midnight.  Well, the one after midnight will go on the next days tally.

Anyway, I only played 59 hands and made a total of $74.05 plus $2 in bonus money.  I have no clue how much rake I made, that is going to have to come at a later time and date, when I get paid on the 15th of the next month.  So here are my whopping totals for today:

Hands Played: 59

Money Won: $74.05

Bonus Earned: $2

Total Money Earned $76.05

I didn’t have many eventful hands, but this one was pretty good:

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
5 players

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with 9h 9c
Hero raises to $4.5, CO folds, Button calls, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: 9s 5d 6d ($14.5, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $8, Button calls, SB folds.

Turn: 4d ($30.5, 2 players)
Hero bets $25, Button raises all-in $95.25, Hero …………

Please feel free to comment on what I should have done here.  I will post the complete HH with results in the comment section.

I’m Back, and I Have A New Quest

Since I have basically abused this blog like a red headed step child, I figure now that I am back, its time for a new quest. Now, I am not some big stakes player that is in the $10/$20 NL games, I am just a $.50/$1 grinder. So while this quest is not a lot of money compared to everyone else, it will be a pretty decent chunk of change for me.

Starting today on June 28th, and finishing on August 31st, I will attempt to win $10,000. What are the rules for this fine quest you ask? No rules at all, just win $10k. I can do it any way I see fit. I can bonus chase, count rakeback, casino whore, etc. Just as long as all of those things add up to $10k at the end of the two months.

Now being a NL player, I don’t really bonus chase that much, so I imagine that wont play much into this. I currently have $300 in bonus money at Full Tilt that I will clear and the I will soon have a small bonus at Titans Poker I will need to clear. Other then that, no other bonus money will come into play probably.

Most of my play will probably be at Full Tilt because of their rakeback program. Party has the fish, but no rake back and I imagine this type of play could generate anywhere from $2k-$3k in rakeback for the two months. Here is some of the math so you can see what I am up against.

I generally four table .50/$1 NL 6 max tables. Over the last 30k hands at this level, I am winning 9.35 PTBB/100. Pretty good win rate and not much room to go up. Going down is more likely to be honest. So I will use a win rate of 7 PTBB/100 to figure things out for this quest.

I normally play around 20 days per month, so 40 days total for this quest. $10k divided by 40 means I need to win $250 a day on average. Using my estimated 7 PTBB/100 win rate, I would need to play around 1800 hands per day to win $252 a day for 20 days. That is not counting rakeback or bonus money, so that will give me a little cushion as well. On the days I don’t play, I am usually playing some SNG’s, or MTT’s or even some Omaha, and yes any money won at those will also count towards this quest.

I already see some problems with this. I am supposed to be out of town two different times in the next two months and my dad has asked me to help him with some remodeling again. So, that could really put me in a tough spot as far as getting in enough hands. I think I can do it though.

I will try to make a new post here each day (even the days I don’t play, just to let people know what is up). I am not big on telling the general public what my bankroll is, so I will just start things at $0 and go from there. I will also try to post 2-3 hands from each day for discussion/debate, or just to laugh at my donkey like play.

So, sit back and enjoy the journey. And be sure to wish me luck.

EDIT: I just realized setting this up based on 20 days of play each month was wrong.  I have no clue how many days I will play, so I am going to base it off the whole 65 days.  That means I need to win $154 per day to complete the goal.

May

Well, I did not reach my goal of playing $1/$2 NL by the start of June.  I have the bankroll, and I think I could beat the game for a small margin, but I can make a lot more money at $.50/$1 right now, so that is where I am staying for now.

For both levels combined, I finished the month of May at just over 8 BB/100.  Before rakeback and bonuses, I was clearing $39 an hour as an earn rate.  Hopefully with rakeback and bonuses figured in, it shoudl be up around $45 an hour for the month.  Sure beats punching a time clock, thats for sure.

I basically didn't play the whole last week in May.  My internet connection was hosed big time and on average, it was out a good 12-14 hours a day for about a week.  Bad thing was, it was usually from noon till midnight, the exact hours I would like to be playing.  So needless to say, my winnings for May could have been higher if I was able to play.

Lazy day today.  I need to catch up on some stuff I missed when my connection was down.  I need to set up the members tournaments over on pokerfox and organize some stuff for our NL short hand group.  After that stuff is caught up on, I will clean up the work area and get ready for the new week.  Then it will probably be off to Party for some O8 Limit.  Hope you are having a good weekend.