It's Just Business

This month it's bad news and bad news. Poker went meh, as you'll see. In addition, however, I have been layed off from the internship I've held for two years. I won't go into too many details, as I'd like to keep potential options open at the company for future employment. But I will say this, it was not based on my performance, or lack thereof, "it's just business." Maybe things will have turned around by the time I graduate.

As for poker:

Tournaments:

# Played : 48
Avg Buyin : $4.88
Total Cashes : $151.37
ROI : -35.45%

Down about $80 in tournaments this month, nothing significant to say, other than it felt like I was playing pretty well. Standard tourney downswing, nothing to get excited over.


Cash Games:

Hands Played : 2,332
Profit/(Loss) : ($12.75)
PTBB/100 : (2.73)

This is the more concerning result, if over 2,332 hands you can get concerned about results. I was up over $30, had a 6.5 BI downswing, then recovered about $20 to get where I finished. Hard to say if I was playing very well. There were a couple standard cooler spots, but I think if I were on top of my game, fully focused and playing as well as I could have been, I may cut the downswing in half. On the flip side, I think I'm starting to get a bit better at making thin river calls:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop saw showdown

SB ($22.65)
BB ($10)
Hero (UTG) ($12.40)
MP ($6.40)
Button ($13)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K
Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold, Button calls $0.30, 1 fold, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.95) 2, 9, 10 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.80, Button calls $0.80, 1 fold

Turn: ($2.55) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.50, Button raises to $4.30, Hero calls $2.80

River: ($11.15) 10 (2 players)

Hero checks, Button bets $7.60 (All-In), Hero calls $7 (All-In)

Total pot: $25.15 Rake: $1.20

Results:
Button had Q, 9 (two pair, tens and nines).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $23.95

Villain was running 46/0/2.2 over 40 hands to this point. The overall read I had developed in this time was that he was hyper-trappy/passive with big hands. Example is that he checked down 99 OOP on a 94667 board, after the turn put a 3 flush on the board. He didn't try to get one street of straight value. In other hands he was playing pretty aggressively postflop, considering he had never opened pre.

At the time of the call I was very unsure about the hand, and contemplated posting it on 2+2. I think now that this is a pretty good call down based on my read and the following reasoning:

First, his flop call means little. His turn raise, on the other hand, tells me he is repping the flush or maybe a straight with a flush draw (QJo , but certainly not 67o). Unless he has a weak flush that calls the flop bet, a raise here does not fit what I've seen of his playing style with made hands. Further, no straight and flush draw gets there on this specific turn other than QJs and 67s. He may be raising the 67s, but again, based on what I've seen of his playing style he's flatting here with the Q high flush.

Two thoughts enter my head on seeing this raise: 1) I've not yet seen him raise with the nuts before the river. 2) There are few other hands that make sense for him to have, outside of QJ, and maybe 67s.

River pairs the top pair on the board, making the board even scarier. He shoves his remaining stack in after I check. First thought in my head: God playing OOP sucks. Then I start thinking; he's not doing this with bare trip tens, my call on the turn would have scared him too much with three hearts out, and he has significant equity in the pot without turning his hand into a bluff. He could be doing this with any made flush, and any full house, but his turn play would still be suspect based on my reads of him at the time. At this point, my hand is a bluff catcher, since I beat none of his value shoving range. But getting a little over 2.5:1, I only need to be good about 29% of the time for this to show a profit (call 7 to win ~18 before rake). In this spot, based on my read from previous hands, I estimate his bluffing frequency to be near 40%, if not higher. So I called, and was right this time.

In the past, I'd fold this hand on the turn or river. I'm not sure if that means I'm getting better as a player, or if it means I'm rationalizing a bad call that turned out correctly this time. In any case, there were other questionable hands this month, but I think this was the most interesting.

Until next time.

June WrapUp

June went fairly well. I ended up playing the most $10 NL 6-max cash I've played in any month so far this year. Here are the results of that:

3006 total hands
10.25 hours played, averaging 3 tables at a time, and 293 hands/hour.
$15.30 profit, or 2.54 PTBB/100.

Overall not terrible, but definately not as good as it could be. Ideally, total hands would be 10k+ and profit would be above 8 PTBB/100. That said, at that rate I wouldn't be playing $10 NL for much longer.

This month was eye-opening for me though, as it exposed a number of leaks I need to work on. This is very good news, as I've never actually identified individual leaks in my play before, I generally just got better by experience and reading 2p2. We'll see how much I improve now going forward.

Tournaments turned out significantly better:

35 tournaments played
$154.75 in total buyins
$309.88 in total cashes
$155.13 in profit, with an ROI of 100%

A 100% ROI is quite good, though given my skill level probably unsustainable. Career I've averaged around 90%, which means I'm probably running above expectation. However, I did play very well in tournaments this month for the most part, and I think that I can start increasing my average buyin soon.

That's all for now, looking forward to a July that includes more cash game profits and hopefully some more good tourney scores.

The Streak is Over

My 2nd place streak in $4/180 mans is now over at 5. About damn time. I sucked out pretty hard a couple times in this one, the most significant time when I isolated a short stacks open ship with 6's, got called by the BB who covered with T's. Short stack had JJ, I win both side and main pot by flopping a set, and getting to 50k.

After that I played pretty conservatively but with points of aggression. I never dropped below 40k after that hand. Got HU with 77k to villain's 193, but got paid off a couple times pretty big when I flopped the nut straight and 2 pair and he just called down both times. Here is the final hand, after about 30-40 hands of HU. Finally win a flip. Felt nice.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00+$0.40 Tournament, 1000/2000 Blinds 200 Ante (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t41688)
Hero (Button) (t228312)

Hero's M: 67.15

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7, 7
Hero bets t4000, SB raises to t41488 (All-In), Hero calls t37488

Flop: (t83376) 7, K, J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t83376) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t83376) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t83376

Results:
Hero had 7, 7 (three of a kind, sevens).
SB had 8, A (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won t83376

Bad Session

I really need to work on folding. I really suck at it right now and it's costing me a ton of money in the long run. In this session it really felt like I was running bad, but I was compounding it by paying people off where I shouldn't.


Exhibit A:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($10.05)
Button ($11.35)
Hero (SB) ($10)
BB ($2)
UTG ($6.40)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
2 folds, Button bets $0.30, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, Button calls $0.70


Flop: ($2.10) 6, 9, 7 (2 players)

Hero bets $1.40, Button calls $1.40

Turn: ($4.90) 10 (2 players)

Hero bets $3.30, Button raises to $8.95 (All-In), Hero calls $4.30 (All-In)

River: ($20.10) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $20.10 | Rake: $0.95
Results:
Button had 8, A (straight, ten high).
Hero had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Button won $19.15


I think this needs to be a check fold on the turn. Yeah it feels weak, but one of the conceivable draws gets there. My thinking at the time was there is a decently low chance he calls a 3-bet with an 8 unless he has exactly 88, so I was betting to protect against the flush draw.

Maybe the bet is pretty close, but when he raised, I knew he had the 8. He should essentially never have a bluff here since it's pretty obvious I like my hand and have committed myself to the pot. But I couldn't refuse the 4:1 odds for some reason... I need to work on this, because there is no way I have 20% equity in the hand, which is needed in order to call here. Against any 8 or set, his most likely holdings given the action, I have less than 3% equity (combined). This needs to be a fold after his raise for sure, if not a check/fold.


Exhibit B:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($23.25)
SB ($9.50)
Hero (BB) ($10.10)
UTG ($9.35)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, Q
2 folds, SB calls $0.05, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.20) 4, 5, Q (2 players)
SB bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.60) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.90, SB calls $0.70

River: ($2.40) J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.20, SB raises to $2.40, Hero calls $1.20

Total pot: $7.20 | Rake: $0.35

Results:
SB had J, 4 (two pair, Jacks and fours).
Hero mucked K, Q (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: SB won $6.85

I'm not sure how I feel about the action before the river... I should probably raise pre to $.40. By probably I mean should, I was just gunshy by this point of the session. Anyway, on the flop, I flat his bet because I don't want to raise/get it in against a combo draw on the flop. I know that's not necessarily what he has, but I've recently been too worried about flop spots against or with combo draws, specifically that the draw maximizes their equity in the hand by getting all the money in on the flop. Know this, I've been trying to punish draws that miss on the turn by keeping the pot manageable on the flop and then betting 3/4+ pot on the turn.

However, in retrospect I don't think this strategy is warranted on this flop. First, he is probably going to just flat a combo draw to any raise. Even if he 3bets, he won't be getting enough in the pot for me to justify not raising this flop. Anyway, the draw misses and I raise turn when he shows some weakness by betting the same amount. He calls, and this makes me think that he is in fact on a draw. River is a blank, so I value bet after being checked to. Here is where I make my mistake, after he CR's, I know he has one pair beat. People at $10 NL DO NOT check raise river without beating top pair, ever. Maybe some of the best players do, but this was certainly not one of those players. I gave him a range of stuff that hit the river, mostly two-pair type hands, but perhaps KT, 99, 55, or 44 also get here in this fashion if he is quite bad. It is inexcusable that I pay off this river CR, even with the odds I'm getting. I don't think he's doing this with less than KQ more than 5% of the time (it's significantly closer to 0, and may in fact be zero, but I must account somewhat for spaz factor). I need him to be doing it closer to 18% of the time.

All in all, the session had me tilted less than 100 hands in, and I stopped after just 1/2 hour and 156 hands down $22.2. Solid. I was running pretty damn bad, (I won 5 total hands through this time), but by playing how I know I should I can shave that number in half. Good players not only need to maximize their wins, but minimize their losses. The latter is something I dreadfully need help with. Luckily, it's something I know how to fix.

May

May turned out pretty well for me. Volume was pretty low because of the week of school and finals at the beginning of the month, as well as my week-long honeymoon to Hawaii at the end of the month (which was awesome).

I played a total of 13 tournaments, with a total buyin of $52.95. The good news is I obtained a 285.36% ROI over those tournaments. The bad news is that in order to do so I got another second place in a 4/180. For those keeping track, through 209 tournaments, I've gotten heads up a really strong 7 times. I've taken down just one of these though, so it's incredibly dissappointing. As a direct result of this fact, I have absolutely no confidence in my heads up game, but I'm having a hard time pinpointing my mistakes.

In the last episode of futility, I got heads up with a 2-1 chip lead. We were roughhly even through about 40 hands, and he kept open shoving or three-bet shoving about 15-20% of hands, and I just never had anything during those times. I took down a majority of the other pots (roughly 60-70% of total pots). Our first major pot was when he limped his button and I checked my option in the BB with T7s. I proceeded to flop a flush draw and open-ender, and triple barreled, whiffed, and he called down with j5o, for a flopped middle pair (4th pair on the river). I kept my cool even though I had just missed 21 outs twice, which is a positive change from my past. However, this gave him the advantage in chips. From there, the blinds starting going up and he kept shoving, now with a slightly higher percentage of hands. I never seemed to have a solid hand, but I finally raise/call A2s, only to be shown A7o. I flop a flush draw on a paird board, but we end up chopping. A few hands later, I raise/call A6s, he shows A7s, I flop a 6, he turns a 7, and we're done. He just never seemed to have anything when I did and always had me kicked when I was ready to show down. Whatever, I wasn't too upset with my play, though 1 for 7 is starting to really annoy me. I'll have to keep playing these, getting HU, and working on my game. I could also play some HU SNGs, but those never were very fun for me, so we'll see what I decide.

As far as cash games go, I ended up playing 519 hands of $10 NL 6-max, with $24.50 of profit, for a BB/100 of 23.6. Very strong, but not sustainable. I played really well, but also got pretty lucky.

So far in June I've played another 761 hands of the same cash games, and have only made $5.95, for a BB/100 of just 3.91. This is definately sustainable for me, but is on the low side of where I want to be for this limit. I think 8+ is readily achievable. I think I'm still playing much better than in the past, I've loosened up to be around 19/16, which is still pretty tight, but not as bad as I was (16/12). I still have a ways to go, but for this limit those stats aren't too bad, and they should be very profitable.

I'm also planning to start 6-tabling the cash soon, as I currently only 3 or 4 table. That should help my $/hr but might hurt my BB/100 slightly. We'll see how it works out, but I'd definately like to keep it above 7 (for the year I'm at 7.28 through 2.25k hands). I posted on facebook that I wanted to get 40k hands combined in tournaments and cash this summer, and I've fallen well behind the pace thanks to my vacation. I think if I start 6-tabling successfully this goal will not be too tough to attain, so I'm looking forward to putting in some time at the tables. I haven't felt this good about my game in general (other than heads up) essentially since I was ignorant of how bad I actually was.

As a parting note to show that the games are still good (and to gripe that I run bad), here is a hand from earlier this week.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($6.75)
Hero (SB) ($12.70)
BB ($5.25)
UTG ($5.80)
MP ($6.95)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero bets $0.50, 1 fold, MP raises to $0.90, Hero raises to $9.60, MP calls $6.05 (All-In)

Flop: ($14) A, 10, 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)


Turn: ($14) J (2 players, 1 all-in)


River: ($14) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)


Total pot: $14 | Rake: $0.70


Results:

Hero had K, K (one pair, Kings).
MP had A, 2 (two pair, Aces and twos).
Outcome: MP won $13.30


For the record, that is a limp/min-3-bet/insta-call with A2s. I was so happy when I saw his hand. I used to get pissed off at this result, but this time I was just so happy that he just gave me equity preflop like that. Once this hand occured, and I thought about how I felt, I knew I had turned a corner in my poker career. I'm finally starting to distance myself emotionally from the results, which will no doubt be extremely crucial in my continued developement as a player.