I would bet you can guess where this is going from the title. Pretty rough time for me to go on a "downswing" (I put it in quotes because anything below 3 buyins can't really be qualified as a true downswing, but it feels like a lot to me since I was on a sub 10 buyin bankroll to start with). I played for just over 4 hours today and again lost $200. I felt like I ran pretty terribly, but I think there are also some pretty clear flaws in my game. I play far too tight on a limited roll, and that's not a good strategy for beating the games.
Can't really complain too much, I was at a much improved table compared to yesterday, I just never got anything going. Not a single time in the last two days have I been even a dollar above my starting stack of $200, I just hardly ever won pots.
Just fold garbage hands repeatedly until I've dropped ~$20 from blinds alone, then see an ok hand, raise over some limps, and check fold the flop when I air-ball the flop. As a fun example, I had 99 and about $95 in front (after folding a bunch for a few hours), there are a few limpers and I jack it to $30 expecting that I'm shoving most flops against one caller and probably half of flops against two callers. Instead, I get two callers, the flop is AJT with two clubs, and one of the villains leads into me for 1/2 pot. I fold and the eventually get it in after the other villain turned a royal.
I did double up after I had dropped all the way to $50 with AcQc against 7h8h. Though in testament to how I've been running, I did this while not improving one bit throughout the hand.
My last hand of the day, and likely the last hand I'll play in California (unless I magically become better at poker without an online game to practice with, or I somehow come up with a significantly larger bankroll) was an AsKs with just over $100 behind. A bad player opens to five, another bad player calls, I bump it to $30, get a flat caller on the button, everyone else folds. Flop comes Q86 rainbow, and I can't c-bet without being committed, and I don't really want to give up after investing so much, so I open shove about 1.2x pot and lose to KQo. Pretty pleased he called with that preflop, but hey, what can you do. I play TT+, and AQ the same way, so I think he's losing money on the deal, but in this case luck was on his side.
I thought I was going to get more mileage out of posting after each live session, though now I'm quite sure this will be the last post regarding a live session in at least 12 months. Until next time.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
2nd Session at Bay 101
Played this afternoon for 3 hours and lost $40. Played ok, never really had any good situations or very man bad situations. Just a boring session with no major hands played.
The table overall was very tight for a live table. I may have arrived too early in the morning (~10:30 am), but the table I was seated at had a bunch of nitty middle aged guys. Weird that middle aged guys were as nitty as they were (typically these are the money guys since they tend to work 9-5 and are just in the game to gamble and get away, but apparently not the ones in my game). In fact, the table was so tight overall that I don't think anyone at the table could have been a long term winner with that table lineup, meaning I think that the money would mostly just move back and forth and everyone would lose out to the rake.
Without rake, I think I could have beaten the lineup, but with the $5 per hand that sees a flop at the Bay, there's really no way to be a good lag unless you are deep stacked or playing in a 2-3-5 game. So my game, even at tight tables like the above, is limited to playing tightly so as not to lose out to the rake as much. With a percentage rake schedule allowed in most other states, I would loosen up considerably at a table like this and take advantage of people folding too much, but that is simply not a good option here, in my opinion.
Anyway, I'm planning on heading back over tomorrow around noon and hope for a better table.
The table overall was very tight for a live table. I may have arrived too early in the morning (~10:30 am), but the table I was seated at had a bunch of nitty middle aged guys. Weird that middle aged guys were as nitty as they were (typically these are the money guys since they tend to work 9-5 and are just in the game to gamble and get away, but apparently not the ones in my game). In fact, the table was so tight overall that I don't think anyone at the table could have been a long term winner with that table lineup, meaning I think that the money would mostly just move back and forth and everyone would lose out to the rake.
Without rake, I think I could have beaten the lineup, but with the $5 per hand that sees a flop at the Bay, there's really no way to be a good lag unless you are deep stacked or playing in a 2-3-5 game. So my game, even at tight tables like the above, is limited to playing tightly so as not to lose out to the rake as much. With a percentage rake schedule allowed in most other states, I would loosen up considerably at a table like this and take advantage of people folding too much, but that is simply not a good option here, in my opinion.
Anyway, I'm planning on heading back over tomorrow around noon and hope for a better table.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
First Session at Bay 101
So I played my first session at the Bay 101 this afternoon. It didn't go as well as I would have hoped. I played for 4 and a quarter hours and lost $200.
I wasn't really nervous at the start of the session (I usually am at a new casino or a new game), so that was good. I started off the session poorly, loosing ~$60 in the first 30 or so minutes. Then I came roaring back, starting with a JJ hand where I was one of the blinds, and had a raise to $13 and 3 callers to me. I bump to $55 with ~85 behind and take it down. This brought me back to about even. Following this, I had a TT then beat AKs for ~$50 and an AKo that took down a $70 pot on the river w/o showdown.
And then it all fell apart. Three hands did me in. In two of them I had 99, and one was JTs. I played them largely ok in my opinion, just bad spots. Here is one of the 99 hands:
I have ~$280 OTB.
V1 has >$500 UTG.
V2 has >$450 in CO.
V1 limps for $4, folds to V2 who makes it $20, I flat, V1 calls.
Flop is 78Tr, V1 checks, V2 bets $50, I call (could have folded but I had quite a bit behind and thought a J or 6 peeling was likely to get at least some action), V1 folds.
Turn is 5d (2 diamonds out), V2 bets $100, I fold. V2 says good fold and flashes AA.
I played the JTs hand too passively, I should have led the flop instead of c/c'ing top pair, as villain likely would have just mucked his hand if I lead flop. Instead he turns 2pr and rivers a boat with 95o on 9d6cJc5s5d. I call down (I had him triple barreling boats and whiffed draws only, maybe AJ but not to the sizing chosen) and am sad.
Oh well, there's always the weekend.
I wasn't really nervous at the start of the session (I usually am at a new casino or a new game), so that was good. I started off the session poorly, loosing ~$60 in the first 30 or so minutes. Then I came roaring back, starting with a JJ hand where I was one of the blinds, and had a raise to $13 and 3 callers to me. I bump to $55 with ~85 behind and take it down. This brought me back to about even. Following this, I had a TT then beat AKs for ~$50 and an AKo that took down a $70 pot on the river w/o showdown.
And then it all fell apart. Three hands did me in. In two of them I had 99, and one was JTs. I played them largely ok in my opinion, just bad spots. Here is one of the 99 hands:
I have ~$280 OTB.
V1 has >$500 UTG.
V2 has >$450 in CO.
V1 limps for $4, folds to V2 who makes it $20, I flat, V1 calls.
Flop is 78Tr, V1 checks, V2 bets $50, I call (could have folded but I had quite a bit behind and thought a J or 6 peeling was likely to get at least some action), V1 folds.
Turn is 5d (2 diamonds out), V2 bets $100, I fold. V2 says good fold and flashes AA.
I played the JTs hand too passively, I should have led the flop instead of c/c'ing top pair, as villain likely would have just mucked his hand if I lead flop. Instead he turns 2pr and rivers a boat with 95o on 9d6cJc5s5d. I call down (I had him triple barreling boats and whiffed draws only, maybe AJ but not to the sizing chosen) and am sad.
Oh well, there's always the weekend.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Transition to Live Poker
So it's been a fairly long while since my last post. In that time, a number of things have happened:
- I started playing on FTP in mid-March of 2011. I wanted to take advantage of RUSH poker since my time available for poker is typically limited. RUSH allowed me to play ~700 hands/hour playing just two tables, and I did not have to table select. Instead of setting up a session of 5-6 tables on Stars, which typically took 10-20 minutes depending on the time of day, I just fire up 2 tables of RUSH and go to town. My winrate was a bit lower but the volume made up for it, I was on pace to clear 40k hands/month, which would have been my record by almost 2x (previous record was 23k hands in Jan of 2010). I was hoping to use RUSH as a signifcant motivator in my poker development. I had never had an avenue through which I could reliably get good volume in, and this seemed like a great way to do that. It would have been great for me to get in so many hands, but unfortunately:
- Online sites shut down in US by DOJ in mid-April 2011. Known as Black Friday in the online community, this obviously sucked for me. Even though poker is not a main income source for me, I enjoyed having something that was intellectually challenging as a hobby that I could do in the comfort of my own home. Unfortunately, the government does not agree that I should have that ability (before this gets any more political or I get comments from anyone saying "F big government", etc.; you should know that the banning of online poker is largerly to entirely due to the conservatives in congress in their desire to legislate morality and "protect families"). Sorry about the rant there, I'm still a little bitter.
- I started playing live $1/$2 NL at my local casino. I ended up playing 2-3 times/month over the summer for 3-5 hours per session. I felt myself getting much more comfortable at the tables throughout my time. The casino was actually fairly nice, with a non-smoking poker room, and by all accounts the best room in the state. I gave myself a starting bankroll of $1,100, which was roughly the amount I was able to withdraw from Stars after Black Friday (still no money from FTP). Through a combination of 2 tournaments and 8 cash game sessions, I increased my bankroll to $1,718. I ran above expectation in my opinion, though I don't think I played poorly. I just think that for my current skill level (was a big winner at $10NL and small winner at $25NL online) a $21/hr winrate at $1/$2 live is probably unsustainable. That type of winrate is reserved for pretty good players in fairly weak games. If I'm being honest with myself, I'd like to think I could sustain a $10-$12/hr winrate at those games.
- I moved to the SF Bay area in August 2011. I haven't played a live session yet, but I plan on playing mainly at the Bay101 casino in San Jose. This is because it has the most tables and is the most renowned/well regarded in the area from what I have read (though regs at other places tend to like their place more, typically Bay101 is high on everyone's list). Plus, Matt Savage works there, and it is widely known that he is one of the best tournament directors in the industry. I'll keep my bankroll at $1,718, which will be a little tight because the smallest game spread at Bay 101 for no limit is $1/$2/$2 with $4 min bring in (no limping for $2). So my risk of ruin is actually higher than I'd like, but I also would like to think that my potential upside is substantial.
In the coming months, I will be updating this blog after every live session with session length, winnings (losses), monthly totals, and current bankroll. I haven't yet decided if I should deduct travel expenses out of my bankroll or out of my other life-roll accounts under the premise that they would be the same if I drove to any other hobby I might have (hockey, golf, etc).
- I started playing on FTP in mid-March of 2011. I wanted to take advantage of RUSH poker since my time available for poker is typically limited. RUSH allowed me to play ~700 hands/hour playing just two tables, and I did not have to table select. Instead of setting up a session of 5-6 tables on Stars, which typically took 10-20 minutes depending on the time of day, I just fire up 2 tables of RUSH and go to town. My winrate was a bit lower but the volume made up for it, I was on pace to clear 40k hands/month, which would have been my record by almost 2x (previous record was 23k hands in Jan of 2010). I was hoping to use RUSH as a signifcant motivator in my poker development. I had never had an avenue through which I could reliably get good volume in, and this seemed like a great way to do that. It would have been great for me to get in so many hands, but unfortunately:
- Online sites shut down in US by DOJ in mid-April 2011. Known as Black Friday in the online community, this obviously sucked for me. Even though poker is not a main income source for me, I enjoyed having something that was intellectually challenging as a hobby that I could do in the comfort of my own home. Unfortunately, the government does not agree that I should have that ability (before this gets any more political or I get comments from anyone saying "F big government", etc.; you should know that the banning of online poker is largerly to entirely due to the conservatives in congress in their desire to legislate morality and "protect families"). Sorry about the rant there, I'm still a little bitter.
- I started playing live $1/$2 NL at my local casino. I ended up playing 2-3 times/month over the summer for 3-5 hours per session. I felt myself getting much more comfortable at the tables throughout my time. The casino was actually fairly nice, with a non-smoking poker room, and by all accounts the best room in the state. I gave myself a starting bankroll of $1,100, which was roughly the amount I was able to withdraw from Stars after Black Friday (still no money from FTP). Through a combination of 2 tournaments and 8 cash game sessions, I increased my bankroll to $1,718. I ran above expectation in my opinion, though I don't think I played poorly. I just think that for my current skill level (was a big winner at $10NL and small winner at $25NL online) a $21/hr winrate at $1/$2 live is probably unsustainable. That type of winrate is reserved for pretty good players in fairly weak games. If I'm being honest with myself, I'd like to think I could sustain a $10-$12/hr winrate at those games.
- I moved to the SF Bay area in August 2011. I haven't played a live session yet, but I plan on playing mainly at the Bay101 casino in San Jose. This is because it has the most tables and is the most renowned/well regarded in the area from what I have read (though regs at other places tend to like their place more, typically Bay101 is high on everyone's list). Plus, Matt Savage works there, and it is widely known that he is one of the best tournament directors in the industry. I'll keep my bankroll at $1,718, which will be a little tight because the smallest game spread at Bay 101 for no limit is $1/$2/$2 with $4 min bring in (no limping for $2). So my risk of ruin is actually higher than I'd like, but I also would like to think that my potential upside is substantial.
In the coming months, I will be updating this blog after every live session with session length, winnings (losses), monthly totals, and current bankroll. I haven't yet decided if I should deduct travel expenses out of my bankroll or out of my other life-roll accounts under the premise that they would be the same if I drove to any other hobby I might have (hockey, golf, etc).
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