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.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
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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