The Season of Goodwill

6 hours into December, and I'm $2.5k up. The good run continues o_O

Also, had my aces in the small blind run into aces in the big blind. Which I've never seen before. There's always something new I guess. For now at least. Seeing as we were allin preflop and UB doesn't flip em, the King on the flop wasn't enjoyed that was for sure!

December

So, November was a pretty quiet month for poker one way or the other. I only played 13 hours which is way down on my average. Although I still managed to make a little over $3k in that time, so it was one of my best hourly rates for a few months. And was my 9th winning month in a row. Which was very nice. I still can't help feeling I'm on a lucky run at the moment, as things seem to be coming easier that usual. Sure, maybe I'm playing better than before, but there's definitely a doubt in my mind as to where my current good run is coming from. But I guess that's always the way - poker really does play cruel mind games with you sometimes. Running bad? Maybe you're making some really basic mistakes and it's not bad luck at all. Running good? You must just be getting lucky, and anyone could have made money from this run of cards. Maybe more.

Anyway, I'm planning to put in a lot more hours this month - even with the various festivities I want to make sure I put in between 30 and 40 hours. I've almost reached the $35k bankroll I want to have went I start playing full time, but it's more about getting in the zone, and exercising my poker muscles before it becomes my career. I played two one of hour sessions yesterday and was off to a flying start, posting $600 and $800 wins respectively. Including calling down a $200 bluff on the river, which was one of those calls that I knew I couldn't have made a few months ago. Then I got in a very nice situation when I called a raise from the big blind with AQ, to see the flop come QQ4. And the raiser was holding KQ. So, another lucky break for me! Anyway, you can only play the cards you're dealt, and I feel I'm doing that well, and maximising my wins in those sorts of situations. And the PokerTracker/GameTime+ combination is really helping aswell, coupled with all the data mining I'm doing. I'm sitting down at some tables and having over 1000 hands of data on some players, which is really useful info if used correctly. As with Player Notes, it's important not to get too hung up on them, but in the game of partial information every little helps.

So here's to posting a 10th winning month in a row, and pushing on for that 40k mark.

37 working days to go...

ptbb/100

Well, it finally had to happen. And as soon as it did, I realised I'd left it far too long. As is often the case in my life, I identify things that need to be done, and then never seem to quite get round to doing them. Take, for instance, the spare tyre in my boot that has needed replacing for about a month. Or the fact that I've never had a TB innoculation. Or the posters that took about three months to get framed and hung up. Or the bed bugs I did nothing about for six months, even when they were biting me every single night.

So you probably won't be too surprised to learn that I've only just got round to installing and using PokerTracker. Yep, I've classed myself as a serious player for quite a while now, but never used this tool. And I now realise that you can't really call yourself a serious player until you do. It's just mind blowing how much useful info you can pull from it. Sure, the stats on other players are gonna take a while to build up to be really useful. But the things you can learn about your own game are astonishing. I had around 30,000 of my own hands lying around on my hard drive that I could feed in, and already I'm discovering loads about my game. So the race is on to feed the database with as many hands as possible. I'm currently data mining the UB 3/6 NL tables 24/7, trying to amass as many stats on my potential opponents as possible.

That's if I can ever leave the 3/6 tables on VC Poker of course. I just rediscovered how truly bad the play on that site is. I've shied away from playing there recently because it doesn't show losing hands in the hand history, which I thought was a big disadvantage. However, the standard of play easily makes up for that. I had a day off work yesterday, and managed to put in 4 hours. I made $1500. And I had to endure a couple of coolers for entire buyins. That took my active bankroll over 30k for the first time ever, which was pretty cool. My plan is to have 35k in place for the end of January when I turn pro, so it looks like that goal is well in hand. And on that note I now have a finishing date at work, and can begin counting down the days I've got left in the office.

55....

Getting my (online) feet wet again

Well, I took a week off online poker after getting back from Vegas. Mostly because I was so exhausted from the holiday that I was on the point of nodding off most evenings, so didn't think I was in a very good state for reengaging with the enemy. And this week I've been very slow to get back to tables as I've had various things on in the evening. So last night was my first proper session in quite a while. After the fairly mundane pace of a single ten-handed table in Vegas, coming back to 4 six-handed tables was quite a shock. But I settled down fairly quickly, and was soon reacquainting myself with the Rebuy button. Maybe it was a bit of rust, or just some bad luck, but I couldn't seem to win a pot, with every hand being run down by the river, and every AK unimproved getting raised on the flop. In just over an hour I was down about $1500, almost my entire profit after 60 hours work in Vegas. Still, I wasn't done yet. I was feeling good and felt I had the measure of my opponents, I just needed to catch a few cards.

To break the cycle I switched one of the 2/4 tables for a 3/6. Maybe not the most sensible plan when you're on a bad run, but I was ready to try anything. Unfortunately, things continued in the same vain, and I lost a quick $300 in the first 4 or 5 orbits. Had I forgotten how to play during my time in Vegas? Was I suddenly back to a ten-handed 1/2 grinder that I was about a year ago?

Then came the hand that turned my session around. I'm still not sure how well I played this hand. I can certainly defend my actions (with the eventual all in call automatic given the pot odds and my opponents likely holding), but it doesn't look too pretty in retrospect. Still, the perverse pleasure you get from coming from behind in a hand, is quite nice for a change. See what you think:


Hand #35085828-6083 at Peachtree City (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 26/Oct/06 14:31:24
 
     anakinso is at seat 1 with $602.10.
     Honest_UK is at seat 2 with $367.45.
     Wild_ Moe is at seat 3 with $1063.90.
     HOVADOGG84 is at seat 4 with $600 (sitting out).
     colodeck is at seat 5 with $311.50.
     The button is at seat 5.
    
     anakinso posts the small blind of $3.
     Honest_UK posts the big blind of $6.

     anakinso:  -- --
     Honest_UK:  4h 6h
     Wild_ Moe:  -- --
     colodeck:  -- --

Pre-flop:
 
          Wild_ Moe raises to $21.   colodeck folds.   anakinso
          calls.   Honest_UK calls.  

Flop (board: 6c 2s 5d):
 
          anakinso checks.   Honest_UK checks.   Wild_ Moe bets
          $63.   anakinso folds.   Honest_UK raises to $199.50. 
          Wild_ Moe re-raises to $661.50.   Honest_UK goes all-in
          for $346.45.   Wild_ Moe is returned $315.05
          (uncalled).  

Turn (board: 6c 2s 5d 4d):
 
        (no action in this round)
         

River (board: 6c 2s 5d 4d Td):
 
        (no action in this round)
         

         

Showdown:
 
     Wild_ Moe shows 8s 8d.
     Wild_ Moe has 8s 8d 6c 5d Td: a pair of eights.
     Honest_UK shows 4h 6h.
     Honest_UK has 4h 6h 6c 4d Td: two pair, sixes and fours.
         

Hand #35085828-6083 Summary:
 
     $2 is raked from a pot of $755.90.
     Honest_UK wins $753.90 with two pair, sixes and fours.
----------------------------------------------------------------


Wild_Moe was pretty pissed about the whole affair, and I can definitely see it from his point of view. However, when the action is to me in the BB it's $15 to call into a $48 pot. Fairly straightforward with a hand with a decent potential like 64s. He was a fairly aggressive player, so the move on the turn was to pick up the pot against AK etc. And if he does have the overpair (and won't believe I've flopped a set) I've got 9 outs to improve with. Anyway, that was the hand that seemed to turn the tide, and my hands started holding up and my bluffs started working again.

This hand I was particularly pleased with. I definitely wouldn't have been capable of this play a few months ago:

Hand #35085828-6295 at Peachtree City (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 26/Oct/06 16:05:03

Grym02 is at seat 0 with $634.70.
papaGEORGIOOO is at seat 1 with $744.10.
Honest_UK is at seat 2 with $1099.30.
sever23 is at seat 3 with $481.95.
-vault- is at seat 4 with $600.
kitch1486 is at seat 5 with $440.60.
The button is at seat 0.

papaGEORGIOOO posts the small blind of $3.
Honest_UK posts the big blind of $6.

Grym02: -- --
papaGEORGIOOO: -- --
Honest_UK: 6s 6c
sever23: -- --
kitch1486: -- --

Pre-flop:

sever23 calls. kitch1486 folds. Grym02 folds.
papaGEORGIOOO calls. Honest_UK checks.

Flop (board: 5h 5s 3d):

papaGEORGIOOO checks. Honest_UK checks. sever23
bets $18. papaGEORGIOOO folds. Honest_UK raises to
$36. sever23 re-raises to $78. Honest_UK calls.

Turn (board: 5h 5s 3d 7h):

Honest_UK checks. sever23 bets $174. Honest_UK
raises to $696. sever23 folds. Honest_UK is
returned $522 (uncalled).



Hand #35085828-6295 Summary:

$2 is raked from a pot of $522.
Honest_UK wins $520.


So, after 3 hours, I finished about $150 up. Not a big score, but a decent result after the way things started. And I was definitely pleased with my play. Time to get back on the online poker wagon properly, and ride the bankroll to 30k...

Vegas. Baby.

Wow, that was a fun trip.

I don't think I've ever played quite so much poker in a week (somewhere between 60 and 70 hours), and I pretty much loved every minute of it. We ended up only played $1/$2 NL cash games, so the stakes were lower than I'm used to now, but that just meant I could properly relax and remember what it's like to just enjoy the game for what it is, not necessarily worrying about my hourly rate, and whether I should really be 3 or 4 tabling. It was still a fairly profitable week (making a little over $2k), but for the hours I put in that was probably about a third of what I could have made online. But this week wasn't a money making exercise for me - it was about leaving the banality of my current job behind for a little while, and doing what I wanted to do 24 hours of the day. And that pretty much consisted of drinking and playing poker, occasionally venturing outside to the pool to enjoy some sunshine before we came back to the cruel English winter.

I haven't quite got the motivation to write up all the happenings in essay style, so I'll bullet point a few highlights as they occur to me:

- direct flight over with Virgin was a lot nicer than the indirect one with NWA last time. TV and movie offering were actually pretty decent. Didn't manage to sleep a wink on the way there unfortunately, but had no such problem on the way back. No great surprise I guess.

- 60 hours is a long time to be awake with only cocktails, poker, and casino oxygen to keep you going. Was an interesting experience though.

- when hot, Finnish poker players who share your love of ice hockey sit down next to you in the MGM Grand, and you have 2 hours of great conversation with them, ask them for their number. Don't think of the various reasons why you'll never actually see them again, just ask. Saves a lot of wondering about what might have happened if you hadn't been such a pussy.

- if you call KK all in preflop with AK, but then can't focus on the board well enough to work out why the pot is being pushed towards you, it's probably time to take a break.

- 5s and KQs were my lucky hands of the trip. I couldn't stop flopping sets with 5s, and even hit quads twice with them. And I cracked Sub-Zero's puny aces with them. KQs _almost_ cracked aces twice within an hour. Once I did bust a guy when I flopped top pair with an open-ender, and he was "lucky" enough to turn his set... the other time I flopped top two, but the turn and the river were both 6s...

- I was actually concerned that we might struggle to make the 6 hour daily requirement for the Mirage's poker rate. Between the two of us. I think we averaged about 8 each.

- favourite hand of the week : I've got QQ in late position. Couple of limpers and I pop it to 12. I get two callers. Flop comes 997, two diamonds. Check, check, and I bet 30. I get one caller who I put on a flush draw. The turn is a beautiful Queen (no diamond). Another check, and I bet 75. Call. The river isn't a diamond. He checks, and I bet 100. He mumbles something that I can't quite make out. I look to the dealer for some help. "He said he's all in". I still can't quite believe my luck, and make the call for my last 150. He turns over AQ of diamonds. What a beautiful turn it was! Don't ask me why he pushed on the river though lol

- 2nd favourite hand of the week a.k.a. The Easiest Pot I've Ever Won With Aces : playing on a loose table in the Venetian at around 4am. I've got aces in the cutoff. UTG raises to 20 (yes, this is still 1/2 we're playing). Folds round to me. I make it 60. I catch Sub-Zero's eye who's down the other end of the table. He knows exactly what I've got. Small blind smooth calls(!) and so does the initial raiser. Flop is 10 10 7 (2 clubs). UTG pushes for about 150. I call. Think the turn and river were an 8 and a 6. UTG mucks and they push me the $500 pot. Boy, that was tough lol

- least favourite turn card of the week, 4 spades : multiway limped pot. I've got 97clubs on the button, and call. Super tight small blind, raises to 6, with what I think is aces. Amazingly, only me and 2 others call. Flop comes 9 7 4 (two spades). He leads out 2/3 pot like he would with aces, and someone deliberates for a while and calls with what I think is a flush draw. I reraise to 3 times his bet. They both think good and hard and call. And I'm thinking great, now no spade or 4 on the turn please...

- people seem to love to blind straddle in Vegas. I'm not really sure why. I tried it a couple of times whilst drunk, but didn't seem to get much advantage from it.

- worst players of the week seemed to be in the Wynn - but I just couldn't get used to the $1/$3 blind structure.

- oh, and can anybody tell me why the waitresses in Ceasar's Palce are so... un-Vegas? I felt like my Gran was bringing me drinks at one point.

- and I know they'll never read this but big shouts to the table at the Mirage on our last night in town. It was just what I wanted to round the holiday off. Lots of drinks, lots of banter, and lots of characters. Big John, Shifty, Shady, Jaime, Junior, Shifty's many brothers, Sunshine and Sub-Zero... I won't forget that table in a hurry that's for sure. Good times.

Unfortunately, I'll have to end this post on my one regret for the holiday - and that was never leaving my comfort zone for the whole trip. The original plan was to spend a little time on the 1/2s to get in the Vegas spirit, then move up to play mostly 2/5. I even wanted to take a shot at some 5/10 at some point. But I never did. I stayed where I was making money, and having fun, and never really took a shot. And if you can't take a shot in Vegas where can you? I only realised the error of my ways whilst having a late dinner on our last night there with a Danish guy we'd met at the Mirage. He was there with his best mate, and they were both celebrating their 30th birthdays. And they'd both made a promise to play some high stakes poker in Vegas. And they were going to. Some 25/50 in the Bellagio. They'd put aside $5k and were just gonna do it. And I thought why the hell am I not? I had almost $4k with me at the time. I could at least play some 5/10. maybe even 10/25. Just as I was coming round to the idea I realised I'd already been playing for about 12 hours and had been drinking the entire time. It just wasn't the right moment to take my shot, cos I knew I'd be disappointed if I played badly due to tiredness etc. And we were leaving the next morning. So I made a silent vow to push the envelope a bit more next time I touched down in Sin City, and not be happy grinding it out on the low limit tables. Hopefully that should be next year during the World Series, so I've got some time to reach down and find a pair...

T Minus 2

2 days until we fly out to Vegas for a week. The fever has me in its grasp. Can't think about anything else at the moment.

Poker playing bankroll will be approximately $1500. Am hoping to at least double it. Will be treading the fine line between having fun on the tables (i.e. drinking and reraising with The Hammer), and making enough to pay for the holiday.

One things for sure - it's gonna be a hell of a lot of fun.


Bring it on.

A couple of bad beats

So, things are looking a bit bleak in the online poker world. Not what you want to hear when you're positioning yourself to make a career out of it. Good job I live in a country where my government don't decide what I can and can't do with my leisure money. My condolences out to the US poker playing community, who are facing some tough times ahead. Let's hope a way round all this ridiculous legislation is found soon, and we can get back to shufflin' up and dealin'


So, I'm dabbling with $3/$6 a bit these days. And obviously the extra money flying around is a little unnerving at first (at least it is for me). But I like to think I can still play my best game, and make the calls I believe in. And not distrust my read just cos I've got to call more than I'm used to on the strength of it.

Enter my first big test. And I passed with flying colours. Shame it cost me $1400 really...

***** Hand History for Game 5288550729 *****
$600 NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, October 01, 06:21:48 ET 2006
Table Monster #1277198 (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 3: FoggyDuck ( $787.60 )
Seat 4: LitleGee ( $318 )
Seat 5: s4508 ( $937.07 )
Seat 1: H0nest ( $920.80 )
Seat 6: funksoulbrah ( $693.50 )
Seat 2: MDMICK ( $534.50 )
funksoulbrah posts small blind [$3].
H0nest posts big blind [$6].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to H0nest [ Jh Js ]
MDMICK folds.
FoggyDuck folds.
LitleGee folds.
s4508 folds.
funksoulbrah raises [$21].
H0nest raises [$54].
>You have options at Table 105917 (No DP) Table!.
funksoulbrah raises [$156].
H0nest calls [$120].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, Td, 2s ]
funksoulbrah is all-In [$513.50]
H0nest calls [$513.50].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5d ]
funksoulbrah shows [ 5s, 5h ] a full house, Fives full of eights.
H0nest shows [ Jh, Js ] two pairs, jacks and eights.
The time at which hand ended:Oct 01 2006 06:23
ETfunksoulbrah wins $1383.50 from the main pot with a full house, Fives full of eights.


Hey ho. Onward and upward. Who knows? Maybe a 90%er will hold up for me next time :)