Ramblings

Its been a while

2009-03-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

Its been quite some time since I've posted last. I've been kinda burned out and not excited to play, so I haven't forced myself to. I did however take a $250 shot at 1/2 LHE, and failed miserably. I'm pretty sure it was a combination of variance and me being not the greatest player. I might go play some .25/.5 LHE and try to improve, but I'm not certain about that. Since I have not been very excited to play, I'm setting some rules for myself regarding poker.

A- DONT play while doing other things

B- DONT play tournaments until at least after spring break

C- Stick to the following games: 25NLHE (no longer rolled for 50NL after the LHE adventure), 25PL08/50PL08 .25/.5LHE

D- Set time limits for my play. Sitting down and playing for 10 minutes is not effective, nor is playing for 3 hours straight.

other things to do

D- Find a way to xfer money to FT and off of Pstars. The VIP program is just awful for how much I play.

E- Figure out if I want to buy a LHE book or a PL08 book.

F- Get holdemmanager's Omaha module (beta) when it comes out.

I'll update after spring break to see how well these are being followed.

Spaz Induce Successful

2009-02-08T20:38:00.001-08:00

Well, I don't know if this is a spaz, just because he called, instead of shoved weak garbage. Either way, I managed to stack him. Notice the flop and turn bets, setting up the fun overshove. The turn card also helped, but I don't know how necessary it was, other than giving me safety against the flush.

So the real question is, what does Villain beat here?

PokerStars Game #24744444235: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2009/02/08 23:29:17 ET
Table 'Murzim' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: senorbum ($72.45 in chips)
Seat 2: XyrisMax ($59.95 in chips)
Seat 3: Propel519 ($30 in chips)
Seat 4: URAssCheez ($53.15 in chips)
Seat 5: 1Tarnation ($70 in chips)
Seat 6: KY_KID_78 ($54.25 in chips)
XyrisMax: posts small blind $0.25
Propel519: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to senorbum [Kc Ks]
URAssCheez: calls $0.50
1Tarnation: folds
KY_KID_78: calls $0.50
senorbum: raises $2.50 to $3
XyrisMax: folds
Propel519: folds
URAssCheez: calls $2.50
KY_KID_78: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 9h Ad]
URAssCheez: checks
senorbum: bets $1
URAssCheez: calls $1
*** TURN *** [Kd 9h Ad] [Ac]
URAssCheez: checks
senorbum: bets $0.50
URAssCheez: raises $1.50 to $2
senorbum: calls $1.50
*** RIVER *** [Kd 9h Ad Ac] [4d]
URAssCheez: bets $4
senorbum: raises $62.45 to $66.45 and is all-in
URAssCheez: calls $43.15 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($19.30) returned to senorbum
*** SHOW DOWN ***
senorbum: shows [Kc Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Aces)
URAssCheez: mucks hand
senorbum collected $104.55 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $107.55 | Rake $3
Board [Kd 9h Ad Ac 4d]
Seat 1: senorbum (button) showed [Kc Ks] and won ($104.55) with a full house, Kings full of Aces
Seat 2: XyrisMax (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Propel519 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: URAssCheez mucked [As 3s]
Seat 5: 1Tarnation folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: KY_KID_78 folded before Flop

First 8k hands of 50NL

2009-02-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

So, I'm still running like god in 50NL. My stats are the following over my first 8018 hands.

BB/100: 13.00
VPIP: 18.8
PRF: 15.9
3Bet: 5.7
Went to show down: 27.3
Won money at showdown: 55%
Aggression: 3.92
Cbet: 79.5%

Things I would like to do in the next 8-12k hands:
Run at VPIP/PRF of 22/19 or so.
3bet up to around 7.5%

In order to increase my VPIP, I need to focus on playing about 5-7% more hands from the CO and 2-3% more hands from MP. Also, I need to steal more from the button when the blinds are tightish. 3betting will increase from squeezing more and 3betting on the button more often. I currently 3bet fromt he button 8.6% of the time. I'd like that to increase to about 10%. I'd also like my CO 3bet to increase to about 6.5%.

One of the biggest problems I've had in trying to play looser is that I've been multitabling. When I multitable I instinctively go into a tighter game as I am more accustomed to playing that way.

I'll update on these goals when I reach 8k hands or so, or midway through if I feel like it.

Attempt at 50NL

2009-02-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

So I took a shot at 50NL during the endish of january. Over my first 5k hands, I'm up $250 or so, running at an unsustainable 9.7BB/100. I think the part that I am most proud of is the fact that over my first 500-1000 hands I was down 3 BI's or so. I was about a BI away from moving back down to 25NL when I started to play well AND hit cards. I never thought that people at 50NL could so awful. There are so many people who are trying to win every pot that you can let them do the betting for you. That being said, having HEM definitely has helped as even after 50 hands you can get a decent idea of what your opponent is raising with. You can only narrow the range so far but you can get a good idea of how somebody is playing.

Tonight or tomorrow I will try to post an interesting hand or two. For now, I have to think of what I want for dinner.

Interesting hero Call

2009-01-18T14:37:00.001-08:00

Lately I've been doing some experimenting with hero calls. Now I don't normally like to make hero-esque plays, but I think it's necessary in some cases in order to increase win-rate. Below is an example of a hero call. I'll post my thoughts of each play as I go.

Hand #1749011426001243: Calgary (6-Max) 11426
Seat 2: N.Sa*** (20.10 in chips)
Seat 3: Unab*** (26.30 in chips)
Seat 4: Bans*** (37.95 in chips)
Seat 5: senorbum (19.55 in chips)
Seat 6: wild*** (12.95 in chips)
Seat 7: Sina*** (46.30 in chips)
N.Sa***: posts small blind $0.10
Unab***: posts big blind $0.20
Dealt to senorbum [ Ac Qc ]
Bans***: folds
senorbum: raises to $0.70 Pretty obvious raise
wild***: folds
Sina***: folds
N.Sa***: folds
Unab***: calls
@@@ F_L_O_P @@@ [ 7c 7h 9s ]
Unab***: checks
senorbum: checks Now I will normally cbet here, but I like to mix it up once in a while to balance my range.
# # # TURN # # # [ 8d ] This is a pretty blank card. I'm probably still ahead here
Unab***: bets $0.60 Odd bet sizing here. It's like 1/3 pot or so. This is either a monster or nothing almost always. If it is some random 1 pair like A8s, he's probably giving up on the river, even though he shouldn't.
senorbum: calls
&&& RIVER &&& [ 4s ]
Unab***: bets $2.70 This bet makes no sense at all. He went from extreme underbetting to making a PSB. If he has a monster, he's almsot certainly just mashing the 1/2 pot button. Rarely do people at these limits value bet the river so hard. Occasionally you might see it, but not often.
senorbum: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Unab***: shows [ Kc Ts ] (Pair of Sevens )
senorbum: shows [ Ac Qc ] (Pair of Sevens )
senorbum wins $7.70 with Pair of Sevens with Ace kicker

Cake poker action

2009-01-16T10:52:00.000-08:00

So apparently the people who play on cake poker are absolutely awful. Most of them are very tight passive, which is a little weird to get used to since people like that just don't stack off with TPTK. However, once you realize this, it's pretty easy to manipulate. Also, a lot of the awful players are regulars so note taking is very beneficial.

One of the ways I've been getting people to put money in when they are behind is to check behind the turn after cbetting the flop. I used to just continue firing the turn with marginal hands such as top pair weak kicker, but against many opponents I allow them a chance to bluff or call a value bet on the river. People who are weak tight are much more willing to call a river bet than they are a turn bet as there isn't a street of betting remaining. This is probably elementary for a lot of people, but I feel like I finally have gotten a good grasp of board textures to do so with.

Also, rakeback is still amazing. I'm at around $50 so far this month, with plenty of time left to scoop up more. Rakeback eases the pain of variance.

Edit: Here is an example of utterly awful play, which is far from uncommon.
Hand #1747011405001022: Calgary (6-Max) 11405
Seat 3: 1put*** (35.85 in chips)
Seat 4: donk*** (11.15 in chips)
Seat 5: senorbum (19.80 in chips)
Seat 6: mumt*** (20.90 in chips)
Seat 8: rabi*** (25.96 in chips)
senorbum: posts small blind $0.10
mumt***: posts big blind $0.20
Dealt to senorbum [ Ah Qh ]
rabi***: folds
1put***: folds
donk***: raises to $0.70
senorbum: raises to $2.10
mumt***: folds
donk***: calls
@@@ F_L_O_P @@@ [ Th 8c Ad ]
senorbum: bets $2.40
donk***: raises to $5.80
senorbum: is all in 15.3000
donk***: folds
senorbum: returns uncalled bet $11.90
*** SHOW DOWN ***
senorbum: mucks
senorbum wins $15.20

Quick Update

2009-01-07T10:08:00.001-08:00

Today I started dabbling in some $16 turbo Single table Sit and Go tournaments to see if the competition is any tougher than the $6 tournaments. So far, it seems not to be. My first tournament ended when blinds got somewhat high and somebody decided to slow play AA to my AJ. The flop came 2J5 or something, with 2 suits. I had to stack off, as there was so much he/she could have had. But my second tournament came with me taking down first! I know it is just a STT, but its still good to know that these don't have that tough of competition. I got most of my chips when an aggressive player raised from the CO into my AK in the BB. I reraised about a pot sized amount, then he shoved over me. We were #1 and #2 in chips, so I wasn't quite pot committed at that point. I tanked for a bit and made the call and he turned up KQo. I've been tanking more and more latetly, just because I want to evaluate what I think he/she could have. Making snap decisions is definitely -EV.

Belated Happy New Year

2009-01-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well, the new year is off to a slow start. I've been playing about breakeven this month so far (including last couple days of dec.). I only got bronze in ironman last month. I would have had silver if I played something like 3 more days. My mind was fried though after finals and whatnot. Oh well.

I haven't had any interesting hands really, so nothing too new to post regarding that. I will be playing quite a bit this week so I should be able to pick up something interesting. Also, if I got stop running bad, that'd be super.

Congrats to loretta for hitting the top100 on the Pstars leaderboard. He now gets a chance to play for a 6stamp passport, and some other cash. I haven't looked at the structure yet, but hopefully it will allow for some time between levels.

That's it for now. More to come soon!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-25T19:36:00.001-08:00

So apparently the combination of beer, sweets, and things with cheese on them have not been kind to me. I mean, they are all wonderful at first, but it doesn't take long until they start staying with you longer than you'd like. But such is the holidays, right?

This week I've been trying to play 100+ games at the $6 SnG level. My goal is to at some point soon crack the top 40 on Pstar's SnG Leaderboard. So far, it looks like it is definitely doable. After about 70 games, I'm averaging about 13ish points per game, which would give me a total of 1300 points, obviously. To get in the top 40, I'd have to put up around 1400 points, depending on the week. This is definitely something that will be obtainable. I might even be able to do it this week if I can run goot for my last 30 games. Either way I'm very happy with how my SnG game has been progressing. I still notice that once in while I probably fold/check when I should be shoving. Learning is part of the the intrigue of poker.

My writing is awful tonight. I think all the cheesey potatoes went straight to my brain.

Merry Christmas

Brutal Semester: Over

2008-12-18T23:12:00.001-08:00

Today felt like it would never come. All week, and many of the weeks before, I've been far too busy. Finding time to workout, play poker, and play Fallout 3 (amazing btw) has been ridiculous. It's generally been pick 0-1 of them and get less sleep. But its over.

Poker tonight was so/so. I took some brutal beats, 2 against the same player. The first time I had KK in LP and MP just flat shoves for 60BBs into an unraised pot. I call and he flips over 47o. I don't even remember what came on the board, but needless to say, he took down that pot. The second hand against this player I had KK, again, and raised preflop like normal. He just called, as well as one other player. The flop was 553 rainbow. Random player checks, donk bets .10 into a $1 pot, I put in a pot raise. Random player folds, donk min raises and I shove. At this point I know that he has a 5 in his range, but then again, his range is approximately 22+ as well as random hands with 5's and 3's. When the cards are flipped over he shows A3o. He spikes an A on the turn and takes down a $20ish pot. So, Instead of being up $16 to him I'm down $16 to him. That's a 3 buyin difference. But such is poker. I got my money in well ahead both times, so that's all I can ask for.

Outside of cash games I've been playing a lot of $2.20 180 man turbos on stars. I used to play the $4.40 games, but they take so long and the play is at the same level, if not worse at the 2.20s. People have no idea what range to shove/call shoves with, among other things. An example of this is it was folded to me so I shove OTB with 3.5BB's (don't ask how I got that low). Both SB and BB folded? I was moderately confused, as calling 2.5BB's into that large of a pot is clearly +EV. Oh well. I think I played 10-12 games tonight or so and cashed in 4 of them, final tabling 3. No big cashes, as the best I finished was 4th, but I put myself in great position over and over, so I'm very happy.

Tomorrow I shall be driving/visiting family so I'm not sure if I'll get to play much. More updates soon though.

Oh, and rakeback is amazing. $80 this month. I should hit at least $100. Woot.

First Post

2008-12-16T22:42:00.001-08:00

This first post isn't going to have a whole lot in it. Basically Istarted this blog for mainly poker associated reasons. I felt it wouldbe a good place to post some beats/brags and other things, as well aspotentially post some theory topics if my mind is up to it. I mightgrab some posts from the red pro section at pokerroad.com because Ifeel like they have a lot of sound advice, as well as some crazyinteresting metagame stuff going on.

I'll try to make my firstpoker post this weekend, but these next 1.5 weeks will be very busy. Imight be able to update on thursday, as I'm going to try to grind out a4-6 our session of cash games.

Current BR: Pstars about 700, full tilt 130. Rakeback earned this month:$72. Iron man bonus inc:$50.

Mygoal is to be at 25NL by the end of january, which coincidentally willmark about a year since I started playing/won $5.50 on a freeroll onstars and built from there.

Thanks for reading...interesting points to come.