played for the first time in a while last night and stars handed me my ass dropping $350 in like 500 hands. makes the grand total for the month like -1.1k over very few hands. yuck.
didn't bet any of the UFN fights last nite although i liked one fight but didn't pull the trigger.
just bet a couple golf futures for this weekend, bit of a whim but i like both guys and they're both due in a small 30 man field.
J. Furyk +1802 - 1u
G. Ogilvy +3504 - 1u
gotta go finish handicapping this weeks nfl and maybe even look at some more bets on this weekends ufc card.
tg
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
switched to stars
finally fed up with ftp enough to leave and go to stars. early on it's been really tough getting used to and i decided to go on uber monkey play mode and donate like $850 playing 100nl. since then i started reviewing my hh's again and focusing more when i play and it feels like things are coming back.
really haven't played much though, only a couple thousand hands.
i also moved some money onto a couple of different online sports books so that i could bet some nfl and mma. i've settled on betting in units of $10 and so far am taking a very cautious approach to it. im trying not to just bet hunches, instead going with sound reasoning and only picking a few spots where i really like a side. i don't expect to be uber successful at it but it will be a fun experience and i know i'll have a better chance at making a little money doing it rather than betting long shot parlays and futures.
i've bet 2 mma fights already for ufc103, they are:
in nfl, i went for 3/3 in my first week:
tg
really haven't played much though, only a couple thousand hands.
i also moved some money onto a couple of different online sports books so that i could bet some nfl and mma. i've settled on betting in units of $10 and so far am taking a very cautious approach to it. im trying not to just bet hunches, instead going with sound reasoning and only picking a few spots where i really like a side. i don't expect to be uber successful at it but it will be a fun experience and i know i'll have a better chance at making a little money doing it rather than betting long shot parlays and futures.
i've bet 2 mma fights already for ufc103, they are:
- vitor belfort over rich franklin +129
- mirko cro cop over junior dos antos +116
in nfl, i went for 3/3 in my first week:
- Seattle laying 7.5 to St.Louis (they won 28-0)
- Atlanta laying 4 to Miami (they won 19-7)
- Tennessee getting 6.5 to Pittsburgh (they lost 13-10)
tg
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
random junk
so i played one last session before i went on vaca, was up 700 to stuck 450 to up 100 to stuck 500 to finish up 230.
went on vaca for a while and didn't play much upon on my return. went back to losing a little bit each session but nothing major. all my sessions last week were super short but frequent so that explains it. then on friday i had a really quick session and won like 350 in 15 minutes.
then i withdrew 1k to cover some expenses so i was down to about a 6k roll online. got to thinking about how each sessions results has been affecting my mood and how im kinda rollercoasting with only 2-3 buyin swings and what it comes down to is being under rolled for 200nl.
so for that reason i decided to drop down to 100nl again and played a session there on monday where i was crushing it before my computer went apeshit and started crashing repeadetly. overall i made like 250 in a couple hundred hands.
i think im gonna grind there for a bit, at least till i have an 8k roll but maybe even more. so far in my 200nl shot taking im only up like 3 buyins over like 22k hands or something for a pretty small winrate. i feel i have a good edge in those games but 100nl is even softer so i should have no problem there.
this month i ended up down like 180 i think but who knows if my computer didn't crash out. couldn't play last night cuz it really crashed, may play tonite if i can get it fixed in time. im also back to the brink of being done with ftp and if i can find a reasonable route of getting money off there and onto pstars i think i will forego the ease and luxury of cash rakeback for the pastures of great customer support, top class run business and overall less stressful atmosphere than that of ftp.
a shame really since i used to love that site.
tg
went on vaca for a while and didn't play much upon on my return. went back to losing a little bit each session but nothing major. all my sessions last week were super short but frequent so that explains it. then on friday i had a really quick session and won like 350 in 15 minutes.
then i withdrew 1k to cover some expenses so i was down to about a 6k roll online. got to thinking about how each sessions results has been affecting my mood and how im kinda rollercoasting with only 2-3 buyin swings and what it comes down to is being under rolled for 200nl.
so for that reason i decided to drop down to 100nl again and played a session there on monday where i was crushing it before my computer went apeshit and started crashing repeadetly. overall i made like 250 in a couple hundred hands.
i think im gonna grind there for a bit, at least till i have an 8k roll but maybe even more. so far in my 200nl shot taking im only up like 3 buyins over like 22k hands or something for a pretty small winrate. i feel i have a good edge in those games but 100nl is even softer so i should have no problem there.
this month i ended up down like 180 i think but who knows if my computer didn't crash out. couldn't play last night cuz it really crashed, may play tonite if i can get it fixed in time. im also back to the brink of being done with ftp and if i can find a reasonable route of getting money off there and onto pstars i think i will forego the ease and luxury of cash rakeback for the pastures of great customer support, top class run business and overall less stressful atmosphere than that of ftp.
a shame really since i used to love that site.
tg
Monday, August 17, 2009
losing streak
have lost my last 4 sessions so that's 8 in a row now. yuck.
it's not that bad though as over the whole 8 sessions im only down like 11 buy-ins and fortunately i started the month up 7 buy-ins quick. it's easy to go on a stretch like this because my sessions are usually very small (hand wise) with a session usually consisting of 500-1k hands.
feel like I've been playing pretty good of late, just running into spots where it appears villains have the nuts and im near the top of my range but not beating what they're repping.
im going away on vaca for the week starting tomorrow so unless i get some hands in tonight i probably won't play again till Saturday.
tg
it's not that bad though as over the whole 8 sessions im only down like 11 buy-ins and fortunately i started the month up 7 buy-ins quick. it's easy to go on a stretch like this because my sessions are usually very small (hand wise) with a session usually consisting of 500-1k hands.
feel like I've been playing pretty good of late, just running into spots where it appears villains have the nuts and im near the top of my range but not beating what they're repping.
im going away on vaca for the week starting tomorrow so unless i get some hands in tonight i probably won't play again till Saturday.
tg
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
early august
have been playing a decent amount so far this month. most of my action has come at the 1/2nl deep w/ ante tables. these games have been by far the most aggressive games i've ever seen no matter played in. the amount of 3-betting / 4-betting / 5-betting pre-flop is just gross and every pot that is eligible will be squeezed regardless of positions and player types. the games are full of regs with the occasional fish or nit but for the most part it's just regs battling and stacking off 200bb deep w/ cheese.
the games are incredibly fun to play in but i believe i will stop playing them because a) the variance is insane and b) i may be a dog in most line-ups as i think a few 400nl regs are the mainstays in the games and are down at 200nl while learning adjustments for the ante games.
i will say that i have learned one very important thing of late though and that is not all tag/lag regs are created equal. i generally tag a player as a tough reg after i see his preflop stats after a 100 hands or so but lately as i'm getting better at hand reading and evaluating ranges i'm seeing some of the better players making pretty terrible mistakes. not that i don't make some really bad mistakes myself but i've generally felt that if you played 23/19 preflop and were a 400nl reg you were awesome at poker. true most people including myself have a decently solid pre-flop game but post flop is where the skill is and im starting to identify the tag fish when i see them. (as well as stop acting like one myself cuz i def am)
so anyways, i had a good start to the month following up a that $370 session with a 1k winning session but since then it's been $425, $415, $625 and $50 losing sessions. this puts me at slight loser for the month which is fine since it's only swinging 7-8 buyins which is normal. the first losing session i played pretty poorly and was unfocused for most of the session but i believe i've played a lot better since then and just haven't gotten the results.
funny enough the $50 loss tilted me after i was done the session because i saw that i was up about 700 playing pretty well, winning lots of small to medium sized pots before getting stacked twice and losing a couple of other good sized pots. i know for a fact though if i wasn't playing well this little losing stretch would have probably looked more like a 15 buyin downswing so hooray for not being a total fish.
short term plan is just to stick to the regular 200nl games and only play the ante tables when the game is soft. while enjoyable, the ante games are playing too tough right now to justify playing in them over a typical soft 200nl table.
tg
edit: oh yeah, also played 2 of my biggest pots in recent memory, once getting my TT in vs KK on a T42 flop over 300bb deep vs a tagfish that was tilting (i won) and the other was my AKo allin vs 9h7h in a 3bet pot 200bb deep on a K84hh flop (i lost). the second was cool because i would never usually raise and stack off like that 200bb deep but i had been raising this tagfishes cbets all night and he had been folding so it was a great spot to setup.
the games are incredibly fun to play in but i believe i will stop playing them because a) the variance is insane and b) i may be a dog in most line-ups as i think a few 400nl regs are the mainstays in the games and are down at 200nl while learning adjustments for the ante games.
i will say that i have learned one very important thing of late though and that is not all tag/lag regs are created equal. i generally tag a player as a tough reg after i see his preflop stats after a 100 hands or so but lately as i'm getting better at hand reading and evaluating ranges i'm seeing some of the better players making pretty terrible mistakes. not that i don't make some really bad mistakes myself but i've generally felt that if you played 23/19 preflop and were a 400nl reg you were awesome at poker. true most people including myself have a decently solid pre-flop game but post flop is where the skill is and im starting to identify the tag fish when i see them. (as well as stop acting like one myself cuz i def am)
so anyways, i had a good start to the month following up a that $370 session with a 1k winning session but since then it's been $425, $415, $625 and $50 losing sessions. this puts me at slight loser for the month which is fine since it's only swinging 7-8 buyins which is normal. the first losing session i played pretty poorly and was unfocused for most of the session but i believe i've played a lot better since then and just haven't gotten the results.
funny enough the $50 loss tilted me after i was done the session because i saw that i was up about 700 playing pretty well, winning lots of small to medium sized pots before getting stacked twice and losing a couple of other good sized pots. i know for a fact though if i wasn't playing well this little losing stretch would have probably looked more like a 15 buyin downswing so hooray for not being a total fish.
short term plan is just to stick to the regular 200nl games and only play the ante tables when the game is soft. while enjoyable, the ante games are playing too tough right now to justify playing in them over a typical soft 200nl table.
tg
edit: oh yeah, also played 2 of my biggest pots in recent memory, once getting my TT in vs KK on a T42 flop over 300bb deep vs a tagfish that was tilting (i won) and the other was my AKo allin vs 9h7h in a 3bet pot 200bb deep on a K84hh flop (i lost). the second was cool because i would never usually raise and stack off like that 200bb deep but i had been raising this tagfishes cbets all night and he had been folding so it was a great spot to setup.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
long time no blog
haven't updated in a looong time. boils down to plain ol laziness.
June ended up being my best month in a looooooooooooooong time. i think i cleared 1.8k in the nl cash games mostly at 100nl and a little 200nl mixed in. it was definitely a good confidence boost to have a winning month since it had been a while.
in the beginning of july i hardly played and when i did i was dicking around with the 7game mix on ftp. it was my usual random bored with holdem lets play something else phase i go through every once in a while. i lost a few bucks playing that before i woke up and went back to taking shots at the 200nl games.
the first half of the month was a bit of a write off because i didn't have much time to play and when i did the new software update on ftp was fucking up horrendously. later in the month though when some bugs were ironed out i was grinding decently hard and although i was stuck about 1.3k for the month early and down to a 5k roll i managed to go on a nice 2.3k heater before settling down with like a 700 win for the month.
i've only played one small session this month (yesterday) and made like 370 in just a few hands playing the new ante tables that have finally made it down to the lower limits. for now it appears that a lot of these ante tables are reg filled but im really hoping some of the nittier 12 tabling regs start playing them because it will be so much more profitable for a looser player.
i must admit during the last month i was ready to move my roll off of ftp to stars but the addition of some security upgrades along with ante games and deep games will keep me there. (plus they gave me a $200 bonus for playing the shitty sw while they get the bugs out)
i also finally got a bluefirepoker membership and it's the absolute nuts. so far i'd say the nl content alone is the best on the internet bar none and im sure the plo content is just as good if not better. so far i've only watched some phil galfond and dr giggy vids but they are both extremely great teachers and i feel like im learning a ton. i also found the little bit of socalquest and samoleus content i've watched to be awesome as well.
i'll cut this post here but will update later in the week with some other thoughts on whats going on right now.
tg
June ended up being my best month in a looooooooooooooong time. i think i cleared 1.8k in the nl cash games mostly at 100nl and a little 200nl mixed in. it was definitely a good confidence boost to have a winning month since it had been a while.
in the beginning of july i hardly played and when i did i was dicking around with the 7game mix on ftp. it was my usual random bored with holdem lets play something else phase i go through every once in a while. i lost a few bucks playing that before i woke up and went back to taking shots at the 200nl games.
the first half of the month was a bit of a write off because i didn't have much time to play and when i did the new software update on ftp was fucking up horrendously. later in the month though when some bugs were ironed out i was grinding decently hard and although i was stuck about 1.3k for the month early and down to a 5k roll i managed to go on a nice 2.3k heater before settling down with like a 700 win for the month.
i've only played one small session this month (yesterday) and made like 370 in just a few hands playing the new ante tables that have finally made it down to the lower limits. for now it appears that a lot of these ante tables are reg filled but im really hoping some of the nittier 12 tabling regs start playing them because it will be so much more profitable for a looser player.
i must admit during the last month i was ready to move my roll off of ftp to stars but the addition of some security upgrades along with ante games and deep games will keep me there. (plus they gave me a $200 bonus for playing the shitty sw while they get the bugs out)
i also finally got a bluefirepoker membership and it's the absolute nuts. so far i'd say the nl content alone is the best on the internet bar none and im sure the plo content is just as good if not better. so far i've only watched some phil galfond and dr giggy vids but they are both extremely great teachers and i feel like im learning a ton. i also found the little bit of socalquest and samoleus content i've watched to be awesome as well.
i'll cut this post here but will update later in the week with some other thoughts on whats going on right now.
tg
Monday, June 29, 2009
playing 1/2
i've played two more sessions at 1/2 winning about 275 in the first and breaking even in the second. both sessions were about 850 hands and the second session was 6 tabling most of the time.
since reading the baluga book i feel my fundamentals are a little stronger and that 6 tabling does not cause me to horrendously spew like before. i guess thats only true for a short period of time though because my second session saw me up a couple buyins halfway through before spewing it off to break even.
lesson learned: 6 tabling can be profitable in small doses, 4 tabling is still optimal.
i also played a $24 8pm mtt on friday night while playing and busted 507/14xx runners after shipping 14bb's w/ A2s on the button over a bad players limp and the sb woke up with KK.
i plan on playing tonight and will probably play 200nl although if im feeling a bit unfocused i might just play 100nl for a bit. (been a little on the sick side last few days)
my roll is about 5.9k so everything above 5k is in action when playing 200nl and if i lose it i would probably drop to 100nl for a bit to make sure im playing good.
regards,
tg
since reading the baluga book i feel my fundamentals are a little stronger and that 6 tabling does not cause me to horrendously spew like before. i guess thats only true for a short period of time though because my second session saw me up a couple buyins halfway through before spewing it off to break even.
lesson learned: 6 tabling can be profitable in small doses, 4 tabling is still optimal.
i also played a $24 8pm mtt on friday night while playing and busted 507/14xx runners after shipping 14bb's w/ A2s on the button over a bad players limp and the sb woke up with KK.
i plan on playing tonight and will probably play 200nl although if im feeling a bit unfocused i might just play 100nl for a bit. (been a little on the sick side last few days)
my roll is about 5.9k so everything above 5k is in action when playing 200nl and if i lose it i would probably drop to 100nl for a bit to make sure im playing good.
regards,
tg
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
another shot
played a shortish session on Monday night and made 400 so last night i decided to take another 1/2 shot.
i played 600 hands i think and made about 120 but also dropped 35 playing some 2/4 o8.
br is at about 5.5k right now and i'll play 1/2 again tonight.
tg
i played 600 hands i think and made about 120 but also dropped 35 playing some 2/4 o8.
br is at about 5.5k right now and i'll play 1/2 again tonight.
tg
Monday, June 22, 2009
the weekend
i set a goal for myself to play 5k hands this weekend since the weather was supposed to be crappy and i didn't have anything to do.
i started off playing 1300 hands Friday nite and made $130 or something but didn't feel i played my best. i wouldn't say i played horribly but definitely not optimally.
saturday i put in 2 small 500 hands sessions making another 570 which was good for a $700 weekend.
after that my weekend got unexpectedly busy and i never got to play again. my saturday session i was a lot happier with my play. i have to remind myself sometimes not to try and be a hero and make huge calldowns since most of the time players at 100nl are not capable of making big complicated bluffs.
i also tried to play a mtt on saturday morning and just could not get into it and busted back raising AK into QQ. never know, i may try and play another tonight.
tg
i started off playing 1300 hands Friday nite and made $130 or something but didn't feel i played my best. i wouldn't say i played horribly but definitely not optimally.
saturday i put in 2 small 500 hands sessions making another 570 which was good for a $700 weekend.
after that my weekend got unexpectedly busy and i never got to play again. my saturday session i was a lot happier with my play. i have to remind myself sometimes not to try and be a hero and make huge calldowns since most of the time players at 100nl are not capable of making big complicated bluffs.
i also tried to play a mtt on saturday morning and just could not get into it and busted back raising AK into QQ. never know, i may try and play another tonight.
tg
Thursday, June 18, 2009
lot has happened
so since my last post and lot has occurred. i continued to do well at 100nl and worked my roll up to 4.5k + 500 hundo from rb. i cashed the rb out and decided to take a shot at 200nl if there were some good games.
i found a bunch of good games but unfortunately it was a pretty wild session and i ended up dropping around $500. it didn't really bother me as i thought i played well and gave myself a 3 buyin shot and was willing to lose the money.
after that i went back to 100nl and quickly made the $500 back and was back at a 5k roll. i wasn't quite feeling up to taking another shot though so i decided to just play 100nl again. well over the last 2 nights i've played pretty poor and dropped like $750. my play the last 2 sessions has been extreeeeemeeeely spewy and both times i really needed to make a good quit but refused too.
it really sucks that i've done this to myself since i was on pace to a really good month for the first time in a long time. not sure i'll play tonight but starting tomorrow nite i'll be back to 4 tabling with intense focus and concentration. i also might try to luckbox a few mtt's this weekend as well, we'll see.
tg
i found a bunch of good games but unfortunately it was a pretty wild session and i ended up dropping around $500. it didn't really bother me as i thought i played well and gave myself a 3 buyin shot and was willing to lose the money.
after that i went back to 100nl and quickly made the $500 back and was back at a 5k roll. i wasn't quite feeling up to taking another shot though so i decided to just play 100nl again. well over the last 2 nights i've played pretty poor and dropped like $750. my play the last 2 sessions has been extreeeeemeeeely spewy and both times i really needed to make a good quit but refused too.
it really sucks that i've done this to myself since i was on pace to a really good month for the first time in a long time. not sure i'll play tonight but starting tomorrow nite i'll be back to 4 tabling with intense focus and concentration. i also might try to luckbox a few mtt's this weekend as well, we'll see.
tg
Monday, June 8, 2009
first week of june
has gone well, i actually played small sessions mon-sat that put me around 4k hands for the month so far which is good for me.
i felt i was playing extremely well early in the week but started to slip later in the week. one session in particular i 6-tabled which just turned into a huge variance fest and i was happy to go back to just 4 tabling.
i played a little plo one day only because i saw scott fischman (red pro) playing some dude at .50/1 huha and i've heard he's pretty weird/spastic/not very good and he was sitting on less than a buyin so i put my name on the list just for giggles. i actually got a seat and he was sitting with 40bb and i doubled him up once in plo w/ a rundown hand that flopped tp against his pretty obvious overpair, then he won a good size pot from me in holdem before i busted him w/ a set vs over and flush draw.
im up a little over $400 for the month so far but i need to slow things down a bit for my upcoming sessions and try to keep focused. i had a really good coaching session last week where i felt much more into the discussion than ever before. my coach seemed to think i played some hands very well so that was a lot more satisfying than the usual moan when i explain a hand.
oh, and everything i said about not caring about the wsop is a complete lie, im absolutely jonesing to win a bracelet. i think part of the turnaround is the auto-bio of mike matusow that i've been reading lately where he talks a lot about the older wsops and how much it meant back then to win a bracelet. i guess nowadays it just seems to unrealistic to enter 1500 people events and believe you have a legit shot.
anyways, bracelet talk is a long ways away, for now im just going to concentrate on crushing 100nl and going robusto in the cash games.
tg
i felt i was playing extremely well early in the week but started to slip later in the week. one session in particular i 6-tabled which just turned into a huge variance fest and i was happy to go back to just 4 tabling.
i played a little plo one day only because i saw scott fischman (red pro) playing some dude at .50/1 huha and i've heard he's pretty weird/spastic/not very good and he was sitting on less than a buyin so i put my name on the list just for giggles. i actually got a seat and he was sitting with 40bb and i doubled him up once in plo w/ a rundown hand that flopped tp against his pretty obvious overpair, then he won a good size pot from me in holdem before i busted him w/ a set vs over and flush draw.
im up a little over $400 for the month so far but i need to slow things down a bit for my upcoming sessions and try to keep focused. i had a really good coaching session last week where i felt much more into the discussion than ever before. my coach seemed to think i played some hands very well so that was a lot more satisfying than the usual moan when i explain a hand.
oh, and everything i said about not caring about the wsop is a complete lie, im absolutely jonesing to win a bracelet. i think part of the turnaround is the auto-bio of mike matusow that i've been reading lately where he talks a lot about the older wsops and how much it meant back then to win a bracelet. i guess nowadays it just seems to unrealistic to enter 1500 people events and believe you have a legit shot.
anyways, bracelet talk is a long ways away, for now im just going to concentrate on crushing 100nl and going robusto in the cash games.
tg
Monday, June 1, 2009
may results
unfortunately i didn't end up playing much in may. the month started off pretty slowly by playing small sessions of plo & mixed ha before getting it out of my system and making 100nl my sole game.
after that i still didn't get a lot of playing time in and then unfortunately had a death in the family that made me not want to play.
just last week i started back playing again and the results have been good. i credit the improvement in my play recently to the balugawhale book that really helped clarify a few things that i didn't understand but was trying to emulate. often times i think ssnl guys like myself see things in training videos or hear a pro say something and we implement it into our game with no understanding of why. (we also mis apply it a lot too)
i was hoping to post some hem graphs but once again my db is all messed up and missing hands for some unknown reason. the results on the month are about 8k hands played with a net profit of 700 @ 100nl and then like 150 in losses from plo at the beginning of the month.
my style has me playing 27/22 so far this month and its really fun and interesting to be in the action more rather set mining and playing 18/15.
also, wsop has started once again, every year i say that i will for sure play in next years series and then am never rolled to do so. last year i was rolled to take a shot at a smaller buyin if i wanted but was never even close to contemplating it. this year i got a slight itch and thought about possibly playing in some super sats to the main event but then realized if i win a 12k package im obv just going to take the cash and not play, so then essentially i would just be playing top heavy payout mtts. to be honest my dream of winning a bracelet is really pretty dead. when i think about my future playing poker i mostly think about playing cash games online and have no real interest in mtt's anymore. even live play is something i get an itch for once every 2 months and then wonder why i ever wasted my time. i guess the most realistic thing for my own wsop future would be to go and play some cash or something one year but even thats a stretch i think since i get so annoyed with having to deal with assholes playing live.
im hoping to continue playing well and ironing out mistakes in june. my roll is at about 4.4k right now and im toying with the idea of taking a 3 buyin shot at 1/2 once i grind it up to 5k. im also hooking back up with my coach after a couple week hiatus and im looking forward to better discussion now that i think i understand some fundamentals better.
tg
after that i still didn't get a lot of playing time in and then unfortunately had a death in the family that made me not want to play.
just last week i started back playing again and the results have been good. i credit the improvement in my play recently to the balugawhale book that really helped clarify a few things that i didn't understand but was trying to emulate. often times i think ssnl guys like myself see things in training videos or hear a pro say something and we implement it into our game with no understanding of why. (we also mis apply it a lot too)
i was hoping to post some hem graphs but once again my db is all messed up and missing hands for some unknown reason. the results on the month are about 8k hands played with a net profit of 700 @ 100nl and then like 150 in losses from plo at the beginning of the month.
my style has me playing 27/22 so far this month and its really fun and interesting to be in the action more rather set mining and playing 18/15.
also, wsop has started once again, every year i say that i will for sure play in next years series and then am never rolled to do so. last year i was rolled to take a shot at a smaller buyin if i wanted but was never even close to contemplating it. this year i got a slight itch and thought about possibly playing in some super sats to the main event but then realized if i win a 12k package im obv just going to take the cash and not play, so then essentially i would just be playing top heavy payout mtts. to be honest my dream of winning a bracelet is really pretty dead. when i think about my future playing poker i mostly think about playing cash games online and have no real interest in mtt's anymore. even live play is something i get an itch for once every 2 months and then wonder why i ever wasted my time. i guess the most realistic thing for my own wsop future would be to go and play some cash or something one year but even thats a stretch i think since i get so annoyed with having to deal with assholes playing live.
im hoping to continue playing well and ironing out mistakes in june. my roll is at about 4.4k right now and im toying with the idea of taking a 3 buyin shot at 1/2 once i grind it up to 5k. im also hooking back up with my coach after a couple week hiatus and im looking forward to better discussion now that i think i understand some fundamentals better.
tg
Friday, May 8, 2009
april recap / may so far
alright so april ended off kinda badly, i think i lost a couple stacks in 100nl and made maybe a little money playing huplo. i'd like get back to posting graphs but unfortunately my hem for april is all kinds of messed up with hands spread over 3 db's and all the omaha hands missing.
my estimate all tolled would be about a $300 loss on the month combined in both nl and plo games. thats obv not very good.
to start may i was really lost on what to do, can't win at nl, running good in plo but realize that its not a game that i want to play on a consistent basis. i ended up playing some 50ha and 50huplo to start the month off and was up some to start but then got kicked in the ass by some plo variance and was stuck 150 to start the month. after a tiny break and getting sick of 4 card poker i've rededicated myself to the unlimited version of hold thems.
my first couple sessions back and i've really been focused, concentrating on ranges of opponents and sticking to 2-3 tables to help keep that focus throughout a session. the other thing i've dedicated myself is not tilting. i don't often go nutso tilting smashing monitors and open shoving but i have realized that i've probably about 80% of my poker playing time this year soft tilting.
so i've been gaining a little momentum and then balugawhale's ebook came out yesterday and after reading the first 3 chapters some concepts are just soooo much more clear now that i feel like im ready to crush. this is after only 3 chapters of the basic volume so i can't imagine how good the rest must be.
look forward to reading the rest, playing a little and seeing what happens.
tg
my estimate all tolled would be about a $300 loss on the month combined in both nl and plo games. thats obv not very good.
to start may i was really lost on what to do, can't win at nl, running good in plo but realize that its not a game that i want to play on a consistent basis. i ended up playing some 50ha and 50huplo to start the month off and was up some to start but then got kicked in the ass by some plo variance and was stuck 150 to start the month. after a tiny break and getting sick of 4 card poker i've rededicated myself to the unlimited version of hold thems.
my first couple sessions back and i've really been focused, concentrating on ranges of opponents and sticking to 2-3 tables to help keep that focus throughout a session. the other thing i've dedicated myself is not tilting. i don't often go nutso tilting smashing monitors and open shoving but i have realized that i've probably about 80% of my poker playing time this year soft tilting.
so i've been gaining a little momentum and then balugawhale's ebook came out yesterday and after reading the first 3 chapters some concepts are just soooo much more clear now that i feel like im ready to crush. this is after only 3 chapters of the basic volume so i can't imagine how good the rest must be.
look forward to reading the rest, playing a little and seeing what happens.
tg
Monday, April 27, 2009
return from sickness / shot taken
heyo, was sick as a dog for like a week and a half and still haven't fully recovered. during most of the time i was sick i stayed away from playing poker because i have zero ambition to do anything when im sick except for lay around and be sick.
i believe my first session back was thursday night and i broke even. i lost about 250 in holdem over a short period but managed to win the majority of it back playing huplo.
friday nite i played for just a bit since i was feeling a little worn out and booked another 190 win in huplo and didn't play any holdem really.
then for the first time in my life, i woke up too early on saturday morning for my golf game and had an hour to kill. so i thought i would just go 1 table some 50 plo hu as usual while i had breakfest and coffee. 10 mins into sitting down i some how see that this really bad 1/2 2/4 reg i've played with before is sitting at like 10 tables of 2/4 hu plo, hu ha and 6 max plo. a bunch of his hu tables were empty and just couldn't resist taking a shot since i fiugred his nl game is pretty weak and he must be horrible at omaha.
so i sat on 1 table of 2/4 hu ha and got stacked in the first 10 hands or so of holdem. he had opened the first 4 buttons so i decide to 3b K9s and he calls. flop is dry T42r so i cbet and he calls. turn is an offsuit J and i thought and fired again. i thought he would fold most of his pp's under a Ten at that point and maybe even a weak Ten. he calls and i spike a K on the river with only like 220 left in a 400 pot i shipped it in and he snapped me off w/ a set of 4's. i think it's a pretty standard hand that he played well and i got unlucky to hit runner runner bluff/value cards. so stuck 400 right off the bat before i decided what my stop loss was so i kept going with one more bullet.
through the omaha rounds i thought i he was playing pretty poor and i had mounted a comeback and was only down like 250 so i joined him on one of his 2/4 huplo tables as well and started 2 tabling him. i managed to work my stack up on both tables just grinding him down until we got in it on this hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4155883
now stuck a 1/6th of my br i battle back and probably had the deficit down to just 400 before slipping a bit and ending the brief session 600 loser.
i wasn't really pissed at all, it was a great spot for a shot and both hands i got stacked in i think i played fine so what can you do. it was one of the rare times i've had where my poker play spawns some degeneracy. like taking a shot at 1 table at 4x the limit with a 1 bullet stop loss is no big deal really but i had in the back of my mind when i started that, i was quitting the session at 7:15am because i had to pick people up at 7:30, i was only putting one buy-in in play and i was only playing one table. at 7:30am when i finally quit i had broken all those guidelines.
yesterday afternoon i took a few minutes to play a short huplo session that ended up going longer than i wanted but was finding it hard to quit but i think i ended up losing maybe 30 or something after 2 tabling for a bit and then 1 tabling for a while. the 1 tabling match was against a decent opponent that didn't seem to have great omaha fundamentals but really adapted well and did a much better job changing gears than i did. it was a good learning session thats for sure.
gotta get back to playing holdem tonight as i don't want to venture too far off the path with plo. i think i might just play two tables for a bit and really concentrate on every decision.
i've kinda come to terms with the fact that im much better suited playing for fun rather than being the ultimate grinder thats got a sick hourly. i actually think i have a better shot of making more money playing less tables and less hours but concentrating when i do.
tg
i believe my first session back was thursday night and i broke even. i lost about 250 in holdem over a short period but managed to win the majority of it back playing huplo.
friday nite i played for just a bit since i was feeling a little worn out and booked another 190 win in huplo and didn't play any holdem really.
then for the first time in my life, i woke up too early on saturday morning for my golf game and had an hour to kill. so i thought i would just go 1 table some 50 plo hu as usual while i had breakfest and coffee. 10 mins into sitting down i some how see that this really bad 1/2 2/4 reg i've played with before is sitting at like 10 tables of 2/4 hu plo, hu ha and 6 max plo. a bunch of his hu tables were empty and just couldn't resist taking a shot since i fiugred his nl game is pretty weak and he must be horrible at omaha.
so i sat on 1 table of 2/4 hu ha and got stacked in the first 10 hands or so of holdem. he had opened the first 4 buttons so i decide to 3b K9s and he calls. flop is dry T42r so i cbet and he calls. turn is an offsuit J and i thought and fired again. i thought he would fold most of his pp's under a Ten at that point and maybe even a weak Ten. he calls and i spike a K on the river with only like 220 left in a 400 pot i shipped it in and he snapped me off w/ a set of 4's. i think it's a pretty standard hand that he played well and i got unlucky to hit runner runner bluff/value cards. so stuck 400 right off the bat before i decided what my stop loss was so i kept going with one more bullet.
through the omaha rounds i thought i he was playing pretty poor and i had mounted a comeback and was only down like 250 so i joined him on one of his 2/4 huplo tables as well and started 2 tabling him. i managed to work my stack up on both tables just grinding him down until we got in it on this hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4155883
now stuck a 1/6th of my br i battle back and probably had the deficit down to just 400 before slipping a bit and ending the brief session 600 loser.
i wasn't really pissed at all, it was a great spot for a shot and both hands i got stacked in i think i played fine so what can you do. it was one of the rare times i've had where my poker play spawns some degeneracy. like taking a shot at 1 table at 4x the limit with a 1 bullet stop loss is no big deal really but i had in the back of my mind when i started that, i was quitting the session at 7:15am because i had to pick people up at 7:30, i was only putting one buy-in in play and i was only playing one table. at 7:30am when i finally quit i had broken all those guidelines.
yesterday afternoon i took a few minutes to play a short huplo session that ended up going longer than i wanted but was finding it hard to quit but i think i ended up losing maybe 30 or something after 2 tabling for a bit and then 1 tabling for a while. the 1 tabling match was against a decent opponent that didn't seem to have great omaha fundamentals but really adapted well and did a much better job changing gears than i did. it was a good learning session thats for sure.
gotta get back to playing holdem tonight as i don't want to venture too far off the path with plo. i think i might just play two tables for a bit and really concentrate on every decision.
i've kinda come to terms with the fact that im much better suited playing for fun rather than being the ultimate grinder thats got a sick hourly. i actually think i have a better shot of making more money playing less tables and less hours but concentrating when i do.
tg
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
little of each
monday i played very little but managed to bust some dudes bankroll for 190 playing huplo and then lost 60 or so in a 100 hands of nl before calling it quits cause i was on the phone and not feeling well. (good quit!)
last night i started a short session that ended up going long (for me) and played close to 1200 hands of nl and maybe another 150-200 hands of huplo. i started off with about 600 hands of nl 4 tabling and was up a bit, then played 2 tables of 50 huplo for about 20 min before just going down to 1 table cuz my mind was spinning with the 4 cards and all. i doubled a 1/2 stacker who hit-n-ran, then played a different 1/2 stacker that i built up and then eventually busted getting me to even.
i took a small break and then decided to hit the tables again and stuck to nl 4 tabling with some absolute whales. i usually just end sessions when i want regardless of how good the tables are because generally the bad players will always be there at a 100nl but i had two tables with two different guys playing 60/40 and never folding to 3-bets or cbets so i stuck around. i lost a couple decent sized pots with the one dude playing 200bb deep but eventually got some back and then stacked him 165bb deep to give me a 130 profit on the session.
the session was weird and im not sure whats happened to me but im playing this laggy 26/21 style now and it seems to fit. i don't know, maybe its just some sort of progression point that im at right now.
also sent an inquiry into why event 18 (216 huplo and 22 huplo for the mini portion) at the upcoming ftops has no satellites running. they replied that they will be up shortly and i think i'll try to grind those a little bit (esp if they are sngs) to try and make some extra coin while getting a cheaper shot at the gold!
tg
last night i started a short session that ended up going long (for me) and played close to 1200 hands of nl and maybe another 150-200 hands of huplo. i started off with about 600 hands of nl 4 tabling and was up a bit, then played 2 tables of 50 huplo for about 20 min before just going down to 1 table cuz my mind was spinning with the 4 cards and all. i doubled a 1/2 stacker who hit-n-ran, then played a different 1/2 stacker that i built up and then eventually busted getting me to even.
i took a small break and then decided to hit the tables again and stuck to nl 4 tabling with some absolute whales. i usually just end sessions when i want regardless of how good the tables are because generally the bad players will always be there at a 100nl but i had two tables with two different guys playing 60/40 and never folding to 3-bets or cbets so i stuck around. i lost a couple decent sized pots with the one dude playing 200bb deep but eventually got some back and then stacked him 165bb deep to give me a 130 profit on the session.
the session was weird and im not sure whats happened to me but im playing this laggy 26/21 style now and it seems to fit. i don't know, maybe its just some sort of progression point that im at right now.
also sent an inquiry into why event 18 (216 huplo and 22 huplo for the mini portion) at the upcoming ftops has no satellites running. they replied that they will be up shortly and i think i'll try to grind those a little bit (esp if they are sngs) to try and make some extra coin while getting a cheaper shot at the gold!
tg
Monday, April 13, 2009
unbanned self
well the last week was another rollercoaster. i don't remember all the numbers but i dropped like 4-500 last tuesday and had another one of my stare at the wall pondering existence moments. then thursday nite i had my lesson with my new coach and i managed to run sick hot and made like 600+ in a short amount of time. on friday i played a very small session and lost 150 then saturday i sat down and put in a so so session followed by a bad one and dropped 400 again. the jury is out on how well i was playing but one of the stacks was QQ v AA bvb against a reg, again. yesterday i played a little and managed to win like 350 back which was good.
my coaching lesson was great, we came across a lot of spots and overall found a few spots where i can significantly improve upon.
now around late last week i also decided to unban myself from playing small amounts of huplo under the conditions that i only play to break up my nl sessions, i only play droolers, i only play .25/.50 stakes and i set a stop loss of a $100. also i also dug up some training videos and starting watching them to help improve my play. i believe i played a bit on friday but don't remmeber the results, on saturday i started my afternoon session dropping a $100 but then played a bit after my nl session and made just over a $100 back. yesterday while just trying to get the holdem manager features working properly i stacked some guy and then made another 100 or so after my nl session for a pretty good run.
im also excited that the ftops has gone way of the scoop and is offering a 1/10th the buyin scale series in may. (mini ftops) the result will be absolutely monster fields with good pay days and realtively low buy-ins (avg $22) and i plan on playing whatever ones are running during my cash sessions.
til next time,
tg
my coaching lesson was great, we came across a lot of spots and overall found a few spots where i can significantly improve upon.
now around late last week i also decided to unban myself from playing small amounts of huplo under the conditions that i only play to break up my nl sessions, i only play droolers, i only play .25/.50 stakes and i set a stop loss of a $100. also i also dug up some training videos and starting watching them to help improve my play. i believe i played a bit on friday but don't remmeber the results, on saturday i started my afternoon session dropping a $100 but then played a bit after my nl session and made just over a $100 back. yesterday while just trying to get the holdem manager features working properly i stacked some guy and then made another 100 or so after my nl session for a pretty good run.
im also excited that the ftops has gone way of the scoop and is offering a 1/10th the buyin scale series in may. (mini ftops) the result will be absolutely monster fields with good pay days and realtively low buy-ins (avg $22) and i plan on playing whatever ones are running during my cash sessions.
til next time,
tg
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
april so far
first off looking back at march i only lost like $300 online instead of the $700 i thought.
april so far has been ok but nothing spectacular. i think im up like $250 in nl6m but down some from small tourny buy-ins and a few hands of huplo.
plo in general is like crack cocaine for me and my first small foray into huplo was absolutely addicting until i dropped 150 last night playing some guy that sat in for $20 at a $50 table. now i have to swear off plo again for the near future if i plan to ever live a sane existence.
i have been playing quite a bit though so far this month which is good and i've kept the majority of my play to 4 tables which is ideal. i've recently made some fairly substantial changes in my pre-flop game concentrating on isolating fish and attacking tight blinds with a much higher frequency and it resulted in developing a pretty wild image. i think over my last 2500 hands i was playing 25/21 or something similar although last nites tables would not allow for such and i was back down to taggy numbers.
but in all seriousness i really just need to concentrate post flop. my major problem is i generalize post flop play way too much without regards to what villains actual range is and how he thinks. i tend to just think on auto pilot and barrell this turn or cbet this flop cuz i think i would generally fold his range to those bets. it's a compounded problem though because i think a lot of my own post flop play is somewhat irrational when facing the pfr. so when im playing against good players im misrepresenting their thinking and when im playing bad players im giving them too much credit for folding.
for the life of me i cannot do it but i need to start putting players on specific ranges and then whittle them down street by street while simultaneously evaluating my equity against the perceived range. sounds easy but 20 minutes into a session im right back to spazz click button mode.
end incoherent ramble/
in other news i've hooked up with a new coach that im really excited about. im really excited about this new opportunity but realize i need to start putting much more work in myself in order to get the full benefit of the coaching i recieve.
gonna play tonight and although i have extreme mtt jealousy right now due to the big scoop series on stars im cutting out all mtt activity for the time being as well as a self ban on any variation of 4 hole card games.
tg
april so far has been ok but nothing spectacular. i think im up like $250 in nl6m but down some from small tourny buy-ins and a few hands of huplo.
plo in general is like crack cocaine for me and my first small foray into huplo was absolutely addicting until i dropped 150 last night playing some guy that sat in for $20 at a $50 table. now i have to swear off plo again for the near future if i plan to ever live a sane existence.
i have been playing quite a bit though so far this month which is good and i've kept the majority of my play to 4 tables which is ideal. i've recently made some fairly substantial changes in my pre-flop game concentrating on isolating fish and attacking tight blinds with a much higher frequency and it resulted in developing a pretty wild image. i think over my last 2500 hands i was playing 25/21 or something similar although last nites tables would not allow for such and i was back down to taggy numbers.
but in all seriousness i really just need to concentrate post flop. my major problem is i generalize post flop play way too much without regards to what villains actual range is and how he thinks. i tend to just think on auto pilot and barrell this turn or cbet this flop cuz i think i would generally fold his range to those bets. it's a compounded problem though because i think a lot of my own post flop play is somewhat irrational when facing the pfr. so when im playing against good players im misrepresenting their thinking and when im playing bad players im giving them too much credit for folding.
for the life of me i cannot do it but i need to start putting players on specific ranges and then whittle them down street by street while simultaneously evaluating my equity against the perceived range. sounds easy but 20 minutes into a session im right back to spazz click button mode.
end incoherent ramble/
in other news i've hooked up with a new coach that im really excited about. im really excited about this new opportunity but realize i need to start putting much more work in myself in order to get the full benefit of the coaching i recieve.
gonna play tonight and although i have extreme mtt jealousy right now due to the big scoop series on stars im cutting out all mtt activity for the time being as well as a self ban on any variation of 4 hole card games.
tg
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
V
that's what my graph would look like from the last week or so.
i took a couple unintentional days off just due to being busy, i played two sessions on sunday both going horribly and dropped $600+. i was pretty dejected from that so the next session i played i just chilled and 3 tabled 50nl and played a $24 45 man sng. i did well there making like $170 at 50nl and min cashing the sng (6/45 for like $54) over only a couple hundred hands.
last night i decided to play back at 100nl but just stick to 4 tables. i ended up 5 tabling a bit plus playing a $24 mtt and ran very well. i made like $480 in cash games and busted the mtt early in the 2nd hour when i lost a flip w/ QQ v AJss on a T hi spade draw flop.
anyways, it's a new month so another fresh start. march wasn't great but it wasn't horrible. i probably lost a little in mtts and think i lost around 700 playing cash mostly due to the 1/2 disaster but made 1.6k in live games in vegas. i guess the major downfall of march is that none of my winnings made there way back to my br :(
tg
i took a couple unintentional days off just due to being busy, i played two sessions on sunday both going horribly and dropped $600+. i was pretty dejected from that so the next session i played i just chilled and 3 tabled 50nl and played a $24 45 man sng. i did well there making like $170 at 50nl and min cashing the sng (6/45 for like $54) over only a couple hundred hands.
last night i decided to play back at 100nl but just stick to 4 tables. i ended up 5 tabling a bit plus playing a $24 mtt and ran very well. i made like $480 in cash games and busted the mtt early in the 2nd hour when i lost a flip w/ QQ v AJss on a T hi spade draw flop.
anyways, it's a new month so another fresh start. march wasn't great but it wasn't horrible. i probably lost a little in mtts and think i lost around 700 playing cash mostly due to the 1/2 disaster but made 1.6k in live games in vegas. i guess the major downfall of march is that none of my winnings made there way back to my br :(
tg
Thursday, March 26, 2009
made a video
made a 45min video of myself 6 tabling for my coach's review last night. managed to run sick good over the 450 hands and made $170.
i actually flopped a straight 3 times although i only really got paid on one and had to fold the river on the other.
hoping to play tonight.
tg
i actually flopped a straight 3 times although i only really got paid on one and had to fold the river on the other.
hoping to play tonight.
tg
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
hiatus over
been a long time since posting. i said in my last post i wouldn't post again till i had some green numbers. well i've had some wins but probably still too many losses. here's a recap of the last month and a half:
i'll be back to posting regularly whether it be good or bad from now on.
tg
- kept playing 100nl online after last post for another 2 weeks or so with mostly poor results until i had like back to back 4-5 buyin losses and decided i was done playing till my vegas trip.
- during one of those lossing sessions i decided to dick around in a $24 6max ko bounty tournament so that it would keep me interested in playing the cash tables. 5 hours later at 4am i took 3/904 ppl for 1.8k which was def a roll saver.
- took about a week off prior to vegas trip
- went to vegas and played mostly 1-2 (300 max bi) and 1-3 (500 max bi, i usually bought in for 400) first night in vegas im up about 400 early before i get fall down drunk and give away profits. second day i puke all day, put in a small session at night winning about 250. next day i played made like 500 or something. day after that was my biggest day building my 300 bi up to about 1.5k. last day there i drop 200 when i didn't even want to play for a grand total of 1.7k profits i think.
- unfortunately none of the profits got back into my br as i bought my gf some stuff, treated myself to some nice dinners and shopping, came home and paid some bills and poof it was gone which is fine.
- took another few days off after my trip and started back online around the middle of this month.
- felt like i had some confidence back in my game, started analyzing my leaks a little more intently and put together a nice little string of winning sessions.
- played a ton this past weekend started off playing really well i thought, picked up a few flaws in my thinking from a training video and was doing pretty well until i just started getting murdered by the deck again. i ended up playing 1/2 at a couple tables because of a huge whale and he proceeded to stack me twice, once for 150 bb's so i dumped 700 in that session only later to come back and stick to 100nl and get murdered for another 5 bi for a -1.2k day.
- also since my mtt score i've playing some of the smaller ones that won't affect me roll wise but could produce a nice payout. i haven't had much other success but the fields are usually huge so it doesn't mean much. i've also played a couple 45 man sng's which are just unbelievably juicy but haven't picked up a cash in those yet. i did play a satellite to the 750k guarantee the other day ($216 bi) and managed to cash a seat but by the time the tournament rolled around i didn't have the focus or patience to play it so i unregistered and took the converted T$ to help offset the cash losses.
- keep grinding 100nl while playing roughly 4 tables but sometimes 6 if i can get a good seat on a fish at more than 4.
- play the occasional $26 mtt or 45/90 sng just cuz it keeps things interesting and the fields are so still super soft.
- keep up consistent coaching sessions weekly which over the last month or so hasn't happened for one reason or another.
i'll be back to posting regularly whether it be good or bad from now on.
tg
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