August Recap - September Goals

August was a brutal month. I played 13,064 hands on Full Tilt and 6,509 hands on Carbon Poker. I'm up about 9 buy-ins on the month. I ran so horribly bad on Full Tilt it was very tough to keep my head on straight. Fortunately though I had an awesome month on Carbon to make up for it.


I didn't reach my hands played goal of 35k, but part of that is due to quitting sessions early, and also dropping down from 6 tables to 4 tables. The reason I'm playing less tables is because I have been making a lot of changes in my game and I need the extra focus on each table and each hand to analyze situations well. I'm starting to get better with my new style and will probably be 6-tabling again soon.

I'm very confident that the changes I've been working on have given me a significant edge in the games I'm playing. I'm still learning new ways to use Holdem Manager, as well as learning more about +EV lines to take in hands. The games on Full Tilt are so good and my street-by-street decisions have improved so much that I know I'm ready to start crushing 100nl and probably 200nl when my bankroll reaches the appropriate level.

September Goals:

1. Increase last months volume by 5,000+ hands. This will be done by increasing from 4 tables to 6 when I feel confident in doing so.

2. Focus on playing at times when I'm able to bring my A game. Think about ranges street-by-street and for each different opponent. Don't autopilot.

3. Continue to play within my bankroll and hopefully take a shot at 200nl mid month.

4. Continue to study Holdem Manager and watch videos. Learn more and improve every session.

5. Continue practicing good tilt management.

6. Run better.

I'm going to be focusing more on cash games with no specific tournament goals. I may or may not play tournaments as my mood and schedule determine. That said, Mini FTOPS is coming up and I'll probably play some of those.

Thanks for reading and play well.

Poker is Like Fighting

Well except that we sit on our asses...



Randy Couture of the Legendary UFC talks about MMA, skill, parallels of competition between fighting and poker, etc. He's a down-to-earth man who has a natural and visceral understanding of game theory and 1 on 1 competition.

I'm not Superstitious

I swear. But for some reason I am making a killing on Carbonpoker.com while at the same time I am on a horrendous downswing on Full Tilt. I'm not one who believes that sites are rigged for action or that I have better luck on one site than the other. That said, I know that playing on Carbon is keeping me sane for now and keeping my bankroll healthy, so I'm just gonna go with what's working and stay there for a while.

It's true the games are softer on Carbon but I still know I can beat the games on Full Tilt, I just have to get past this downswing. I know for a fact my play is good, I've gone over my hand histories and most of my downswing can be attributed to bad beats and coolers like set over set 5 times in the last 4 weeks. Sure I've gotten my money in bad a couple of times but according to HEM I'm still running 15BI below expectation. That doesn't even include the pots I've been rivered without getting all in.

I'll give you an example:



or this:



Now in both of these hands villains were huge donks and I knew KK was good until it wasn't. Against good players I would definitely be more cautious 300BB deep or on drawy boards. But against these particular donkeys I'm happy to get my stack in the middle in these spots and I'm just looking for the best way to commit them.

So anyway here I am whining again. I don't like to do that, but I also wanted to give you an example of what I'm dealing with lately and trying to keep my head. This is a tough, tough game, even against fish at times. Thankfully I've learned good principles to keep my mindset right because the swings can kill you even with good bankroll management.

I'm not at all worried that the games on Full Tilt are too tough, and I will be back, but for now I have a bonus to clear on Carbon and so I will be playing there while I rebuild my roll and my confidence. Not to mention the games are so juicy, why would I not play there? I should always be looking for games there even when I'm playing on Full Tilt.

Fun Hand of the Day:



Obviously I played this hand on Carbon. I have some history with the villain, he's a LAG reg. He has a lot of moves in his arsenal. In the past he's been able float/bluff me effectively and is generally pretty aggressive any time he senses weakness. Unless of course he has a hand that he wants to get to cheap showdown with.

Pre-flop and flop are standard. I checked the turn not for pot control or because I thought I was beat, but I wanted to induce a bluff from him, which he's doing 80% of the time which I will c/r shove. When he checks he's only checking a very small portion of his range and it's basically top pair or middle pair that wants a showdown. On the river I thought about all my options and almost timed out. An over shove here looks so polarized and my hand is completely under repped. It would be difficult for him to put me on QQ+ because the standard line would be to bet the turn, or value bet smaller on river, so I'm really repping AK or middle pair that I've turned into a bluff. He tanked for a while before finally making the call.

If You've Ever Wondered

why I sometimes don't post for a while...



This is my 100nl graph since I've been playing on Full Tilt. Kinda sucks huh. Notice the all-in EV. If I were running at expectation I would be profitable. Instead I'm stuck 11 Buy-ins.

This is the kind of thing that makes me ignore my blog and stop playing poker for a few days. I realize it's a small sample size, but it's a big chunk of my bankroll. Fortunately I've been playing over rolled and don't have to move down yet. God if I have to grind 50nl 1 more time I'm going to kill someone.

I wish I had something more interesting to write about. But I decided to take this time to whine to my readers and vent some of my frustration. This is why you have to use good bankroll management. This is why I think the 20 Buy in bankroll rule is ridiculous. I think you need a minimum of 30 buy-ins to play comfortably at a given level, and probably more like 40-50 if you are really serious and play a lot of tables.

Anyway, I'm done bitching for today. Play well and stay disciplined out there.

Cool New Poker Show

I was trolling pocketfives.com when I found this.



Great show, I just wish it was available in hi-def. Enjoy.

Session Review

Just played a session on Carbon for the first time in a couple of months. I played 100nl and came up 1.5 buy-ins. The players were pretty loose/passive for the most part, playing fit or fold, and I still have notes on a few of them. Games on Full Tilt are definitely tougher, which helped me to exploit the fish on Carbon very well.

I was able to bet a lot of hands for value and get called off pretty light even in big pots. Of course I got sucked out a couple of times, but that's just how it goes.

I was only 3-bet twice during the entire session of 299 hands. I folded both times with a low pocket pair. I saw one showdown where a cold caller got it in w/ QTs vs. 3-bettor's JJ. JJ held and my 77 was safe in the muck. But WTF, QTs? Against the right opponent on these tables you can get a stack in with JJ and pretty good equity pre flop. That doesn't happen much on Full Tilt.

I made my biggest adjustment by 3-betting for value and bluffing a lot less at these tables. I did run into 1 or 2 regs and adjusted by closing tables with strong aggressive opponents to my left. There was really no reason to play at these tables when there were so many other good games running. I played a max of 4 tables and payed close attention to my opponents' tendencies. This allowed me to put them on very accurate ranges and play my hands accordingly. Almost every hand gave me my intended result of either a call or a fold depending on which opponents I was up against. I played one of my best sessions tonight by playing better than pretty much every opponent I faced tonight and finding strategies to exploit each of them.


BustedJJ: Q,9
BustedJJ Posts SB 0.50
BB 1.00
UTG Folds
HJ Folds
CO Folds
BTN Folds
BustedJJ Calls 0.50
BB Checks
Flop: K,T,Q
BustedJJ Bets 1.25
BB Calls 1.25
Turn: 7
BustedJJ Bets 3.00
BB Calls 3.00
River: 6
BustedJJ Checks
BB All In 37.50
BustedJJ Calls 37.50
BB Shows: J, 3
BustedJJ Won 82.00 from pot 1 with Pair of Queens

Pretty standard to bet flop and turn, then when I check on the river I plan to call most bets because no draws get there and any pair that is check/calling me is looking to show down on the river. So I'm expecting to get river value out of a lot of missed draws and pure bluffs. I had to timebank to his shove though because I have to be right more often than not to make this call.

After giving it a few seconds of thought while making decisions at my other tables I decided to call because I felt that he could only have AJ or a bluff here as any other hand would either bet smaller for value or check. Since he didn't raise pre flop I could say it was unlikely he had AJ, or any other hand that could've hit that flop hard, and was bluffing here most of the time with either bottom pair, air, or a missed draw. I made the call and scooped the pot.

July Recap - August Goals

Well July was a long and interesting month. There was a major event in my family, my sister just got married and I have a new brother in law. We had some family members in town and have just been enjoying the summer, with swimming, BBQ's, beers, laughs and stories here in Southern Oregon. This in turn has lead to me ignoring my blog and the poker community in general. Nothing personal, but family first you know.

So with things starting to settle back to normal here I'm ready to kick it into high gear on the poker front. During July I have managed to squeeze some cash hands in, and have really been transforming my game.

I've been watching videos on cardrunners and have learned quite a bit from the aggressive coaches. I especially enjoy Raptor's and iRockHoes' videos. Both very talented and deep thinking players. Although much of what they teach is only marginally applicable in 100nl as there aren't nearly as many tough thinking opponents as the stakes they play, though there are a few. I've definitely made a few mistakes by making advanced moves vs. not so advanced opponents and watching them backfire. So that's something I need to be more cautious of and try to play more straightforward in most spots. Standard lines at 2000nl are not so standard at 100nl.

So I'd say my enthusiasm for cash games has been renewed as I now have a lot more confidence in my game and my ability to read and react to changing dynamics. I'm also learning a lot lately which is very stimulating and exciting. All this learning has also made me realize that I still have many leaks and a long way to go in plugging them. That said there are enough fish in these games that I can still beat 100nl.

I'm not sure why, other than my bankroll, but I decided to take a shot at 200nl about mid month. I ran pretty bad and lost 4.5 buy-ins in a short session 4 tabling. So much for that. It wasn't a great decision because I am in the midst of completely changing my game, but I had the discipline to shut it down within my own shot taking guidelines. My bankroll is still doing well although I am running 10 BI below expectation right now at 100nl. Variance is fun.

I've hardly played any tournaments this month and have zero positive results, except for a min cash in the 50-50. But I plan to change that this month.

My Plan:

This month I intend to play a minimum of 35k cash hands at 100nl so long as the bankroll remains healthy. I will be focusing most of my attention to cash games because profits are so much more consistent than MTT's and the rakeback generated is quite a nice supplement to my bankroll.

As far as tournaments my plan is pretty loose. MTT's require large time commitment and so I probably won't be playing that high of volume. So schedule permitting I will be playing MTT's 2-3 days per weak and mixing in cash games. I will be focusing on $26-55 BI tourneys during the week, most likely in the evenings.

I will commit my Sundays to tourney grinding and play anything within my bankroll $22 up to $75. I feel it is okay to play the $75 once in a while, even though they are a bit above my roll. Sundays are a great day to do this because the fields are so much softer and the top prizes so much bigger.

I will continue watching videos and reviewing hands. I'm going to crush 100nl this month and hopefully next month I will take another shot at 200nl.

I plan to post 2 blogs per week with hand histories. Feel free to leave comments on those as I would really like to see other opinions on my hand histories.

I'm really excited to get back into poker and more motivated than I've been in a long time to learn and develop my game.

So I hope you all are having a great summer and finding success in your own goals as well.

BTW I'm working on lining up an interview with a top midstakes SnG and MTT grinder. I will post more details as this unfolds.

Cheers.



CO raiser was an aggressive player with a high steal %, 3-bettor was 3-betting 34% on the BTN so this felt like the perfect spot to squeeze. Both players seem decent and can fold even strong hands here like AQs, AKo, 88-JJ. My 4-bet range stat is pretty narrow and so my hand looks super strong and these guys have to have the tip top of their range to continue.

Update - 2009 Goals

Hey,

It's been a while I know. For all my regular readers, I hope you are sticking around, and thank you. I'll give an update of how poker has been going for me lately then I'll talk about my June and my goals for July and the rest of the year. I'm going to reevaluate my overall yearly goals as we are now officially half way through 2009 and a lot has changed.

Update:

So, I managed 2 final tables this week which was pretty nice, although slightly disappointing. I know it's bad to be disappointed any time I make a final table, but for me, tournament poker is about winning the big score. I have my eye on first place the entire tournament and to get within a few spots of it and not make it, can be a bit of a let down. I'm grateful for what I've achieved but I'm still hungry for a win.

My first final table was in the 50-50 on Full Tilt with a 7th place finish. I was very happy with my play overall and went out on a coinflip for the chip lead. I've been hunting for this final table all month so I did accomplish my goal. I am going to win this one eventually.



The second final table was today. I decided to take a shot at some higher buy-ins and had my best Sunday ever. So I guess that's something to be proud of as well. I finished 5th in the $75 buy-in $22.5k guarantee on Full Tilt. I played really solid for most of the tourney, and ran good in key spots to build a stack. I was hanging around between 20-30 big blinds for most of the way. I was very happy to reach the final table as there were many points where my tourney life was on the line and I never had a big stack until the final table.




I am disappointed with my play at the final table. Well, one hand at least which was my last. We were down to 5 with 4 very aggressive players, including myself with raises being 3-bet left and right. I was 2nd in chips with 1st directly to my left. He had 3-bet my 2 previous raises and I was looking for a spot to play back at him. I was in the small blind when 3rd in chips raised from the cut-off. I had 22 and decided to turn it into a steal. 1st in chips in the big blind 4-bet for about half my stack and cut-off folds. I was frustrated with him and decided to ship it as I thought he was bluffing. He called and turned over QQ, which is about the worst I could hope for, and it held. I really wish I had maintained the level of patience I had throughout the tournament up to that point. I mean 22 is such a crappy hand, what was I thinking?

I don't know, maybe I'm being results oriented because I know if he had tabled AK I would have thought it was a fine play. But really with him raising into the 2 biggest stacks at the table, that should have been enough to tell me I was way behind his range. I know I could've found a better spot. So, lesson learned, I'm not going to choke like that again when big money is on the line.

Goals:

The following is a link to my post where I listed my goals for 2009:http://bustedjacks.blogspot.com/2009/01/2009-poker-goals.html

A lot has changed since then so I've decided to review and revise my goals moving into the 2nd half of the year.

Here is the list:

1. Make more poker friends and start talking more poker and learning.
2. Join a training site. (was thinking cardrunners for cash games but am open to suggestion)
3. Focus more on each and every hand and opponent to make better decisions.
4. Review more hand histories.
5. Post hand histories and session reviews in this blog.
6. Play more HU SnG's and cash, figure out which one I'm more suited for and crush.
7. Move up to $200NL 6max by April with 25 buy-in bankroll.
8. Be winning $400NL 6max player by end of year with 40 buy-in bankroll.
9. Always, always, always practice good game selection and bankroll management.
10. Make a Sunday Major MTT schedule by April and start playing them.
11. Start playing cash games at my local casino.
12. Make a trip to Vegas sometime this year and crush donks in cash games.
13. Strike a better balance between poker and real life.

And here I will review and revise:

1. I've done okay with this, having made a couple of poker friends I've been sharing hand histories here and there, and talking strategy. It has been quite helpful and I plan to continue. Thanks to those who have helped me out, you know who you are.

2. I got my free membership with cardrunners and have been watching a lot of videos. This combined with my purchase of Holdem Manager has caused me to completely reevaluate and retool my cash game. I am learning a lot and am still in the process of becoming an unstoppable 6max player. I plan to continue watching more videos as well as subscribe to bluefirepoker.com where I have been discussing hand histories on their forum. This has also helped a lot. Thanks bluefire SSNL forum members.

3. Well some days I have more focus than others, but I have been doing well at this for the most part and am always striving to learn and improve from every hand I play.

4. I've been doing much better at this in the last couple of months and especially since I got Holdem Manager. I will continue to improve on this in the coming months.

5. I didn't get off to a great start but I have also been doing better at this lately and intend to continue to post and discuss more hand histories in this blog.

6. HU has pretty much taken a back seat for me and I don't know if I will ever fully concentrate on it. However it is a very good tool for improving my poker game as most hands I play are in HU pots and I will probably continue to play it on a casual basis.

7. I haven't moved up the cash ranks as I had hoped. Part of that is due to my poor decisions with game selection and alcohol and also the fact that I became semi burned out on cash games. I'm still playing them and I intend to get back on a schedule with a hands per month goal next month. This month my sister is getting married and we will be having a few family members coming into town over the next 3 weeks or so. This will prevent me from playing a rigorous poker schedule this month although I intend to put in as many hands as I can when I get the time.

8. 400nl, Hah, we'll see. I would love to think of this as a realistic possibility but I still have a lot of ground to cover before I reach this point.

9. Well I made 1 major mistake in this area and I am determined to improve on this immensely as I believe this is the single most important aspect of being a winning poker player.

10. I'm still not bankrolled for the Sunday Majors, but beginning August 1st 2009 I am going to post a monthly schedule which will include an MTT schedule as well as a cash game schedule. These will be on a hands played and tourneys played basis as my buy-ins will fluctuate depending on my bankroll. I have found that I enjoy playing MTT's as much as cash games and will continue to do both in the future.

11. Haven't done this yet, but I will before the end of the summer.

12. Haven't done this yet, hopefully It will be a possibility sometime this year. The bright lights of Vegas are definitely drawing me near. Good luck to those at the WSOP this year. Wish I could be there.

13. I admit I need to improve in this area. Online Poker is a solitary endeavor. Which is funny because I believe poker started out as a very social game and many people get together to enjoy a poker game with their friends and have a good time with other people. But when you grind, the people aspect becomes just another calculation, and I tend to forget that this game, and it's rewards, are meant to be enjoyed with others.

That about sums it up. I will get into more detail about my monthly goals next month and will continue to review this list as time goes by. I wish you the best in your goals and achievements as well. Remember to feel free to comment any time on whatever strikes your interest. I am always curious what is on the minds of my fellow poker players.

Peace.