Diary of a Grinder

Rant

2009-10-23T18:41:00.002+01:00

Well.... its been a long long time since I have posted. Apologies for that.... for some reason I seem to have lost the blogging spark recently.

However.... I feel a bit tilted right now and I figure venting it out blogging is > venting it out playing :)

So... been trying to grind out the HUSNGs.... been playing a lot on pokerstars recently but over about 400 games (mix of PS and FT) I am breakeven. I think that about 150 of those games at the start of the breakeven stretch are probably down to bad play, but the last 250 games have been just poo.

I am pretty happy in the knowledge that I am almost always getting it in as a favourite, and the times that I am not is usually because I am running AJ into AA. I think that over the last 200 games, I have had AA about 5 times and every time it has been folded PF... whereas it looks like I have lost about 20 of the last 200 to AA. Meh... oh well... variance bla bla... But you know what I mean... it just makes you feel a bit crap when you really want to make some money and its just a long breakeven grind.

I am going to start to 2 table because I think that I can maintain my concentration with 2 tables, but hopefully it will allow me to increase my games/hour and therefore reduce my variance.

Anyway... on to happier news. About to go out and get drunk!

Hopefully I will maintain the urge to keep on blogging for a bit :)

The true colours of poker

2009-07-17T22:23:00.005+01:00

I haven't really been keeping my blog up to date... sorry about that, not sure if anyone really reads it anyway but its nice to put my thoughts down on paper every once in a while. (I have however been trying to update my twitter regularly so you can follow my more up to date progress through tweets).

I have been debating how to write this post as it is supposed to have a bit of an impact, so I think the best way is to start with some graphs.

This is the graph of my last 350 HUSNGs, they are a mix of $20 and $10 HUSNG played on Poker Stars and Full Tilt:

As you can see I have been going through a pretty brutal break even stretch. When compared to the 600 HUSNGs I played previous to that, it puts it more into perspective:

I have been meaning to play quite a lot of poker over the summer, but so far all it has yielded is frustration and self doubt. Is it possible that I have just run well and am now paying for my luck... possible I guess but I am still confident (although not as much as before) in my game and I feel that I am still making correct decisions even if the results are not reflecting it.

Basically, even though I thought I was prepared to deal with variance and all the suffering that comes with it, sometimes it feels like it will never end, and that is what I am starting to feel like at the moment. I have tried my best to sit down at every session and say to myself that as long as I play well and make the correct decisions then the results will come, but over the past 2 months, this has not been the case.

I am still confident that so long as I continue to do my best that eventually things will turn around and I will be able to win some games but for the moment I am going to take a couple of weeks off and keep my mind of poker for a bit.

I have also been railing the mid and high stakes HUSNGs following some of the big winners, including mr 147_star (btw, I tried raising every hand to 147 pf but it still didn't work) and I really hope to pick up some tips or find some leaks in my own game. But seriously, really well done to all the durham guys who are having success at the moment, am very jealous about the Vegas trip which sounds amazing (to be honest, I could never afford it the way my poker is going at the moment!)

Will post again when I start making some money (don't hold your breath)!

G

Also, check out this link HUSNG Variance it models HUSNG variance according to win rate and gives some quite interesting results.

Twitter

2009-07-09T11:10:00.003+01:00

Decided to give all this Twitter hype a shot... follow me here http://twitter.com/mrwooster

Seems to be a bit easier than updating the blog the whole time... but will still try to.

Going to post regular twitter updates for all my sessions.

Gl

Quadaments

2009-04-19T17:36:00.001+01:00

All good things must come to an end :(

Full Tilt Poker Game #11765655419: Table Honors (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 12:18:41 ET - 2009/04/19
Seat 1: byondthgrave ($75.20)
Seat 2: egofreako ($47.80)
Seat 3: jdthefolder ($27.65)
Seat 4: fastfrille ($43.05)
Seat 5: McManiax ($57.10)
Seat 6: Cafe Creme ($50.75)
jdthefolder posts the small blind of $0.25
fastfrille posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Ts Td]
McManiax raises to $1.75
Cafe Creme calls $1.75
byondthgrave folds
egofreako folds
jdthefolder folds
fastfrille folds
*** FLOP *** [Ad 2h Tc]
McManiax has 15 seconds left to act
McManiax bets $2.50
Cafe Creme has 15 seconds left to act
Cafe Creme raises to $6
McManiax calls $3.50
*** TURN *** [Ad 2h Tc] [4d]
egofreako adds $2.20
McManiax has 15 seconds left to act
McManiax bets $9
Cafe Creme has 15 seconds left to act
Cafe Creme has requested TIME
Cafe Creme calls $9
*** RIVER *** [Ad 2h Tc 4d] [Ah]
McManiax has 15 seconds left to act
McManiax bets $34.25
Cafe Creme calls $34, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $0.25 returned to McManiax
*** SHOW DOWN ***
McManiax shows [Ac As] four of a kind, Aces
Cafe Creme mucks
McManiax wins the pot ($99.25) with four of a kind, Aces
Cafe Creme adds $50
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $102.25 | Rake $3
Board: [Ad 2h Tc 4d Ah]
Seat 1: byondthgrave didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: egofreako (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: jdthefolder (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: fastfrille (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: McManiax showed [Ac As] and won ($99.25) with four of a kind, Aces
Seat 6: Cafe Creme mucked [Ts Td] - a full house, Tens full of Aces

$144.60

2009-04-18T19:26:00.002+01:00

Biggest pot I have played for a while..... nice to win it too.... defiantly didn't put him on aces....

Full Tilt Poker Game #11746570880: Table Honors (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 8:47:35 ET - 2009/04/18
Seat 1: Cafe Creme ($74.95)
Seat 2: Karlktulu ($28.80)
Seat 3: R4ph4 ($72.05)
Seat 4: NNURCDD ($22.05), is sitting out
Seat 5: KrulleVaar ($101.20)
Cafe Creme posts the small blind of $0.25
Karlktulu posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Kh Th]
R4ph4 raises to $1.75
KrulleVaar folds
Cafe Creme has 15 seconds left to act
Cafe Creme calls $1.50
Karlktulu folds
*** FLOP *** [5c 9h 2h]
Cafe Creme checks
NNURCDD has returned
R4ph4 has 15 seconds left to act
R4ph4 has requested TIME
R4ph4 bets $3
Cafe Creme calls $3
*** TURN *** [5c 9h 2h] [6c]
Cafe Creme has 15 seconds left to act
Cafe Creme bets $5
R4ph4 raises to $15
Cafe Creme has 15 seconds left to act
Cafe Creme calls $10
*** RIVER *** [5c 9h 2h 6c] [Ah]
Cafe Creme has 15 seconds left to act
Cafe Creme bets $22
R4ph4 raises to $52.30, and is all in
Cafe Creme calls $30.30
*** SHOW DOWN ***
R4ph4 shows [As Ad] three of a kind, Aces
Cafe Creme shows [Kh Th] a flush, Ace high
Cafe Creme wins the pot ($142.60) with a flush, Ace high
R4ph4 adds $50
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $144.60 | Rake $2
Board: [5c 9h 2h 6c Ah]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (small blind) showed [Kh Th] and won ($142.60) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: Karlktulu (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: R4ph4 showed [As Ad] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 4: NNURCDD is sitting out
Seat 5: KrulleVaar (button) didn't bet (folded)

Will try to post a longish update soon... hopefully over the next few days

Royal!!!

2009-04-12T21:49:00.004+01:00

LOL at his cards

(For easier viewing: http://www.pokerhand.org/?4102004)

Full Tilt Poker Game #11645198526: Table Eugene (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 13:14:48 ET - 2009/04/12
Seat 1: Cafe Creme ($27.07)
Seat 2: redbullnut ($57.05)
Seat 3: ohuenchik ($37.03)
Seat 4: psmadsen ($52.49)
Seat 5: los46550 ($60.82)
Seat 6: gueleg ($0), is sitting out
los46550 posts the small blind of $0.10
Cafe Creme posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Qs 9s]
gueleg stands up
redbullnut folds
ohuenchik folds
psmadsen folds
los46550 raises to $0.75
Cafe Creme calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [Ks As 2d]
los46550 checks
Cafe Creme bets $1.50
los46550 calls $1.50
*** TURN *** [Ks As 2d] [Ts]
los46550 checks
Cafe Creme bets $4.50
los46550 calls $4.50
*** RIVER *** [Ks As 2d Ts] [Js]
los46550 checks
Cafe Creme has 15 seconds left to act
Cafe Creme bets $13.50
los46550 calls $13.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Cafe Creme shows [Qs 9s] a Royal Flush
los46550 mucks
Cafe Creme wins the pot ($38.48) with a Royal Flush
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $40.50 | Rake $2.02
Board: [Ks As 2d Ts Js]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (big blind) showed [Qs 9s] and won ($38.48) with a Royal Flush
Seat 2: redbullnut didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: ohuenchik didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: psmadsen (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: los46550 (small blind) mucked [6s 5d] - a flush, Ace high
Seat 6: gueleg is sitting out

£5 anyone?

2009-02-20T13:58:00.001+00:00

£5 to anyone who dresses up in chinos and a shirt (preferrably Jack Wills), picks a fight with Tony and then runs away like a little girl. £10 if you get it on camera. Seriously, I would love to witness this.

Work > Poker

2009-02-19T12:24:00.001+00:00

Played 1HUSNG yesterday vs a -16%ROI fish and lost in 19 hands... Made a somewhat silly bluff halfway through the match and then ended up getting it AI with K5 on a T5T board (obv he has slowplayed QQ). So, the silly bluff went like this: I raise Ad9d IP he calls. Flop Jh4h5h, pot is 120 and he leads for 60. I raise to 190. I see this donkbet a lot from aggro players on monotone flops and I think that it is often a bluff, but vs this opponent who was pretty passive I should have known better and not raised... he is never folding a heart and often has a pair. I wouldn't say that it is never the right move because I think this is +EV vs a lot of aggro opponents, but not vs this one.

I have a lot of coursework to do so probably going to play very little over the next few weeks, however I am going to do a full review of the last 100 $20 HUSNGs I have played so expect a long post in the next week or so as I go through a thorough analysis of my HU play, something which I hope will really help me improve my game.

Learning about 'soils and foundations' at the moment and my lecturer is the most boring man in the world... seriously, I would rather get slowrolled by Chris May.

Happy learning

Breaking Even

2009-02-18T09:16:00.001+00:00

Played 12 $20 HUSNGs yesterday and ended up down 2 BI due to loosing 4
in a row at the end of my session. I think I played pretty well, the
only hand where I kicked myself was when I shoved over a turn donk
with AK on a 4643 board vs a very bluffy oponent and he snapped with
86....

In the other games, I lost 2 flips with AJs and AQo vs 77 and 55 and
also lost with KQ to Q8 on a Q74 flop so not too upset about ending
the session down, but it is frustrating as I have been breakeven over
the last 200 games.

It's 9:15am and I am in a very boring lecture on management.

Stay +EV

Blogging on the move

2009-02-09T09:38:00.000+00:00

It seems that not writing blog posts is getting a bit boring, but
whenever I get home and decide to write a post, I either forget what I
was going to write about or just forget to write a post all together.

I have set up my blog so I can publish posts directly from my phone so
hopefully I will be able to make more regular posts from wherever I am
at the time. (Currently it's 9:30am and I am in a lecture on Polution
and Enviromental Sustainability.... Great stuff!)

Note that this has the HUGE advantage that I willbe able to write blog
posts while in klute.

Ah, something really interesting is about to happen in my lecture. I
hope!

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T14:20:00.002+00:00

Happy New Year to all.... 2009 should be an interesting year given the current economic situation... tho on the bright side, every time I see the £ loose value I see my $$ increase in value so at lease there is some small compensation.

Not much to report pokerwise, usual story, not had much time to play blah blah... but the HUSNGs are going great. Have moved up to the $20s again and seem to be doing ok, and have started dabbling in the idea of transitioning to turbos which I think will yield a higher $/hour than the regulars.

Also want to say congrats to Paul who seems to be absolutely killing the games now.... no one really knows how he does it but pretty sure that he must have the only PokerStars superuser account in existance.... but seriously... he is doing insanely well!

So... going to try to grind out some turbos between doing some work....

HUSNG Discussion

2008-12-02T19:12:00.004+00:00

Since HUSNGs seem to be my main game at the moment I thought I would introduce some concepts for discussion. So as not to make this one massively long post I am going to try to split it into several posts.... however, I am busy this week and away this weekend in Edinburgh watching the rugby so don't hold your breath.... tho I do promise to do my best to post more often.

According to sharkscope I have played 287 HUSNGs to date any my graph looks like this:
According to Holdem Manager I am open raising 57% of buttons, 3 betting 9.9% from the BB and calling around 8% of the time in the BB, though I am pretty sure that these stats are inaccurate as Holdem Manager is a little lacking in tourney support and I can't seperate out the $10 HUSNGs from all the other tournaments I have played...... Not really sure what 'good' stats are so let me know what you think.

The first think I would like to discuss is open shoving/3-bet shoving the first hand of a HUSNG.
Paul (147_star) and I discussed this concept and tried to come up with a sensible range to open shove or 3-bet shove the first hand of a HUSNG on the basis that at these low limits the average player is very bad and is likely to freak out and call with a wide range usually consisting of any pair or A. I think that the range we came up with was 99+ and AJ+ (ATs?) and so far I have had a lot of success with this play. I would be interested to know what people think of this play and what your opening range should be.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8882578617: $10 + $0.50 Heads Up Sit & Go (67968481), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:47:36 ET - 2008/11/09
Seat 1: GALZUUD (1,500)
Seat 2: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Cafe Creme posts the small blind of 10
GALZUUD posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Jc As]
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
GALZUUD has 15 seconds left to act
GALZUUD calls 1,480, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [Jc As]
GALZUUD shows [Ah 9c]
*** FLOP *** [Jd Qd 7h]
*** TURN *** [Jd Qd 7h] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jd Qd 7h 5c] [5h]
Cafe Creme shows two pair, Jacks and Fives
GALZUUD shows a pair of Fives
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Fives
GALZUUD stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [Jd Qd 7h 5c 5h]
Seat 1: GALZUUD (big blind) showed [Ah 9c] and lost with a pair of Fives
Seat 2: Cafe Creme (small blind) showed [Jc As] and won (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Fives

Full Tilt Poker Game #6543781496: $10 + $0.50 Heads Up Sit & Go (49743015), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 9:21:12 ET - 2008/05/24
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Seat 2: phatBwoi (1,500)
phatBwoi posts the small blind of 10
Cafe Creme posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Ah Th]
phatBwoi raises to 60
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
phatBwoi calls 1,440, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [Ah Th]
phatBwoi shows [5d Ad]
*** FLOP *** [Qs 8d Kc]
*** TURN *** [Qs 8d Kc] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 8d Kc 4s] [2c]
Cafe Creme shows Ace King high
phatBwoi shows Ace King high
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with Ace King high
phatBwoi is sitting out
phatBwoi stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [Qs 8d Kc 4s 2c]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (big blind) showed [Ah Th] and won (3,000) with Ace King high
Seat 2: phatBwoi (small blind) showed [5d Ad] and lost with Ace King high

Full Tilt Poker Game #6247641712: $5 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go (47553104), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:05:02 ET - 2008/05/01
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Seat 2: labo2480 (1,500)
labo2480 posts the small blind of 10
Cafe Creme posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Tc Td]
labo2480 has 15 seconds left to act
labo2480 calls 10
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
labo2480 calls 1,480, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [Tc Td]
labo2480 shows [9s Kc]
*** FLOP *** [Js 4c 2d]
*** TURN *** [Js 4c 2d] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Js 4c 2d 9d] [5h]
Cafe Creme shows a pair of Tens
labo2480 shows a pair of Nines
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with a pair of Tens
labo2480 stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [Js 4c 2d 9d 5h]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (big blind) showed [Tc Td] and won (3,000) with a pair of Tens
Seat 2: labo2480 (small blind) showed [9s Kc] and lost with a pair of Nines

Full Tilt Poker Game #8807235931: $5 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go (67342490), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:19:42 ET - 2008/11/04
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Seat 2: lewismark (1,500)
lewismark posts the small blind of 10
Cafe Creme posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [9d 9c]
lewismark raises to 60
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
lewismark calls 1,440, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [9d 9c]
lewismark shows [6h 6d]
*** FLOP *** [9s 7d 2c]
*** TURN *** [9s 7d 2c] [4d]
*** RIVER *** [9s 7d 2c 4d] [6s]
Cafe Creme shows three of a kind, Nines
lewismark shows three of a kind, Sixes
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with three of a kind, Nines
lewismark stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [9s 7d 2c 4d 6s]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (big blind) showed [9d 9c] and won (3,000) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 2: lewismark (small blind) showed [6h 6d] and lost with three of a kind, Sixes

Going to grab some dinner now but am preparing a slightly more interesting post on playing short stacked in the late stages of a HUSNG.... something which has caused a lot of head scratching on the Durham Uni Poker forums....

Watch this space

Pinch and a punch, first of the month

2008-12-01T17:01:00.003+00:00

So.... Looks like its been a while since I last posted. This is almost entirely due to me being lazy but also partly due to me having lots of work to do. Am once again going to make an attempt to keep my blog up to date although I expect my posts will be of the shorter variety (do I hear cheers?).

Having struggled with the HUSNGs on PokerStars I moved back to playing them on Full Tilt with much more success, I think that the longer structure is much more suited to my style of play and I suck at playing short stacked (something which I am working to improve). My current stats for the $10 HUSNGs on full tilt are:

Played: 265
Avg $ per game: $1.6
ROI: 15%
Total $$: $418

I moved briefly up to the $20s when I was running well but quickly dropped $150 and so went back to grinding the $10s.

I have started playing 2 tables now and so am averaging 12 games per hour.... meaning that I should be able to significantly boost my volume..... hopefully will be able to put in the hours. Am planning to make it to about 400-500 games at the $10s before I move up to the $20s but might take a couple of shots before then.

Will try to add some more interesting stuff soon.... but its good to be back blogging.

Ty

Durham Durham

2008-10-02T14:13:00.002+01:00

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, only got back to uni yesterday and so have not had much time to play yet, but am now getting back into the swing of things and there should be some more regular updates.

Firstly, big congrats to James for cashing in the WSOPE main event (2 years running)... looks like it was a pretty tough tourney so really well done!

While James has been celebrating his cash of about £20K or so..... I just lost $80 playing HUSNGs loosing 13 out of 16 games. So, going to take a walk now to cool off ;)

Chow

Morocco!!!!!

2008-09-01T22:16:00.002+01:00

So... i'm off to Morocco tomorrow for 16 days, flying out to Marrakesh and spending a couple of weeks travelling around. Will try to update my blog with a couple of pics if I find some free wifi, but otherwise it might be quiet for a couple of weeks.....

Going to be grinding full time when I get back tho, so it should pick up again....

Gl to all

G

A note on Success, Failure, and the Downswing Mindset

2008-08-22T11:11:00.003+01:00

I cam across this thread on two plus two http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=280899

I really made me realise that my poker mentality could be fundamentally flawed. I tend to think of my self as having a fairly sturdy poker mindset.... I am not playing for a living so I am not relying on running well in poker to support myself and I am being staked to play so I should have less emotional attachment to the money I am playing with. All this should mean that as long as I am content that I am playing +EV poker, the outcome of the game should not effect me... after all, so long as I am playing good poker, the immediate results should have zero impact on my mentality.... I am not looking to cash out every day.... I am not having to account for the daily swings out of my own pocket.... and I know that variance is a fundamental part of poker (albeit a rather horrible one). So, why is it that when I loose a HU match I am effected in a negative way?

There are 3 possible ways to loose a HU match:

1) I am outmatched and outplayed..... However, at the $10 HUSNGs on Full Tilt it is very rare to come accross even a winning player and so I think that it is unlikely that I am going to come accross many players who simply just dominate me. (I am not claiming to be a great poker player, just that my opponents tend to be worse than me)

2) I play badly and make -EV decisions..... We all make -EV decisions sometimes, (there is no such thing as the perfect poker player) and they are usually the result of not being in the correct mood to play poker. Maybe you are too tired, too tilted, too drunk.... playing in the wrong mood leads to making -EV decisions, which finally result in you loosing a match which you should have won.

3) Getting outdrawn.... It happens to the worst player in the world and it happens to the best player in the world, it is something that we cannot escape.

Reasons 1 and 2 are aspects of poker which can be avoided (in the case of HUSNGs you cannot leave a match once it has started..... but there is still an aspect of game selection at the higher levels), however reason 3 CANNOT be avoided.... we WILL get outdrawn again and again and again. We have NO choice. Since we have no say in the matter, this aspect of poker should not effect us in any way.

So... to improve my poker mentality... I am going to concentrate very hard on making correct decisions and ban myself from checking my sharkscope stats / cashier balance every 2 minutes.... Correctly calling a shove with 77 on a 355 board vs your opponents K8 and them hitting a K on the river (hand from today) should make you ecstatic that you made a great call, not bitter that your opponent always hits his cards.

I am going to finish with a quote from Irieguy from two plus two:

Everybody will eventually run worse than they thought was possible. The difference between a winner and a loser is that the latter thinks they do not deserve it.

So, am going to try to post much better content on my blog from now on, and improve my poker mentality and attitude towards running bad vs playing bad.

Gl to all

Pr1nnyraiding anyone?

2008-08-21T11:51:00.003+01:00

So... have been reading through Krantz's blog and came across a couple of hilarious posts.... the first one was him and Ariel (AKA FoxwoodsFiend) doing flips for $20K PLO read it here.

The second one was a transcript between 'G' and 'R'... not sure if one of them is Krantz or not but it makes a great read:

(Taken from http://www.dangerlion.com/?p=249)

Exploit This:

G: Folding is exploitable here!
R: Of course it is.
G: Exactly!
R: Precisely!  Well, unless he’s never bluffing.
G: Never bluffing… you’re right!  We should fold.  Since he’s never bluffing here.
R: Of course we should, he’s never bluffing.
G: Never!
R: Ever.
G: But how do we know that never is never ever unless we call?  Folding is exploitable!
R: Exploit me, then.

Made me laugh :)

Tennis tilts worse than poker IMO

2008-08-19T18:05:00.002+01:00

Firstly.... I still seem to be getting nutted by the deck.... still loosing flips and also had AA< JJ which didn't help, however, it appears that playing tennis can tilt me worse than playing poker (if my internet doesn't stop crashing as I write this it could top 1st place tho!!!! FK Orange!). I play recreational tennis on a regular (almost daily) basis at the moment, and I have to say.... loosing a tennis match because of bad play on my part seems to tilt me more than anything! I think that it is probably a good thing because I tend to take out any aggression on the tennis court rather than playing poker tilted and it is a good way to unwind (FFS... internet cutting out AGAIN!).

In other news, I have come across this chart . I am going to try to apply it to situations where I have less than a 10BB effective stack (I think using it for stacks greater than 10BB, although +EV is probably suboptimal) and basically, you match your cards to the chart, and if your effective stacks are less than the number indicated then you push/call, otherwise you fold. I think that at the moment I am pushing / calling too tight when the effective stacks are really small and so I am going to use this chart for a few weeks and see what gives. It should be noted that if your opponent is blatently VERY nitty or VERY manic, then you should adapt your pushing/calling range accordingly... but as long as you follow this chart your actions will always be neutral or +ve EV.

(P.S. The internet has cut out about 6 times while writing this post and is now officially the thing which tilts me the most!!!!!)

I have a really big pair of .......... beats!

2008-08-18T15:10:00.002+01:00

I try not to flood my 'poker talk' with bad beats because, to be honest, no one wants to hear how you got knocked out of a tournament because you can't win a flip with AK vs TT.... its much more interesting to hear about why you made a squeeze play from the BB when the BTN called the MPs raise because you know that MP is a very weak player and that the BTNs range is very wide or why you decided to call a shove with A high because you had seen your opponent be very aggressive with flush draws and have a good read that he always bluffs the river when he misses......

Having said that.... some beats are worthy of a mention... and I think that to qualify for a mention, either the amount of money involved has to be massive (unlikely in my case) or the beat has to be of monumentous savagery.

So... I present to you, two beats of monumentous savagery:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3058659

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3063286

For those of you who like equity calculations.... here they are:

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt
990 games 0.094 secs 10,531 games/sec
Board: 4c 3s 4h
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 95.101% 95.05% 00.05% 941 0.50 { QhQs }
Hand 1: 04.899% 04.85% 00.05% 48 0.50 { Qc9c }

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt
990 games 0.281 secs 3,523 games/sec
Board: 7h 2c 6s
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 98.485% 98.48% 00.00% 975 0.00 { AcAs }
Hand 1: 01.515% 01.52% 00.00% 15 0.00 { QcJh }

Swongs?

2008-08-16T18:02:00.003+01:00

So... looks like HU variance has finally caught up with me.... over the past few days I have tried to put in the hours and have managed about 40 HUSNGs on pokerstars. Apart from a couple of retarded plays I think that I have been playing well, but the beats seem to just not stop..... I guess that it is in the nature of HUSNGs because you are very often getting it AI with overcards vs undercards and therefore you are often getting it AI as no more than a 60% favourite.... so obviously its not always going to swing your way... and lately it has not been doing so for me.

I am still debating wether to play on full tilt or pokerstars and so I think that for the moment I am just going to play on whichever site I feel like until I made a proper decision.

Anyways.... so you can all pity me:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3054812
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3054837

The rest are all 60/40s which swang the wrong way....

Going to spend a bit of time going through some of my sessions to iron out my leaks (aka gaping holes) and hopefully will be able to avoid the suckouts..... I am really starting to like HUSNGs and it seems like they can be very profitable.

Sorry for the rather low quality entry.... better update to come soon ;)

HUSNGs Cont

2008-08-10T22:44:00.003+01:00

So... its been just over a week since my last post and what have I achieved? Well, not much as I have been away sunning myself on the French coast for 5 days. However, a 4 hour drive on my own each way allows one to think about poker and dig up a few theories (or maybe I have just had one too many beers tonight?).

Although I have been away for most of the past week, I have managed to play about 5 HUSNGs in the past 2 days (not a lot I know). Although I am finding the level of play very poor, I am also finding that I am much more prone to tilt when playing HUSNGs. It seems that if I loose more than 2 HUSNGs in a row I have to quit my session and get some air before playing again. I am not really sure why this is as I am winning/loosing much smaller sums of money than I was playing 50NL cash, but I think that because a HU match is so much more personal, it tends to tilt me more when I get outplayed/sucked out on. I think that part of the problem is that I am playing a very small volume of HUSNGs at the moment, and so winning/loosing 2 or 3 in a row really makes a difference, but when I get some more time on my hands (haha like thats going to happen in the next month) and I am playing 10/20 a day, then I think that I will be less prone to tilt.

Have mostly been playing the Full Tilt $10 HUSNGs with a good winrate, but also add in a few $6 Poker Stars Turbos when I am in the mood and it still amazes me how bad some of the players are...... however one hand came up today which I was really not sure about:

PokerStars Game #19504559000: Tournament #101256960, $6.00+$0.25 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2008/08/10 - 08:30:05 (ET)
Table '101256960 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Poppy021184 (1420 in chips)
Seat 2: hero (1580 in chips)
Poppy021184: posts small blind 10
hero: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hero [Td 5d]
Poppy021184: calls 10
hero: checks
*** FLOP *** [7d 5s 2d]
hero: bets 60
Poppy021184: raises 80 to 140
hero: raises 460 to 600
Poppy021184: calls 460
*** TURN *** [7d 5s 2d] [Ks]
hero: bets 960 and is all-in
Poppy021184: calls 800 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (160) returned to hero

My notes on the player are:

Plays around 70% of hands, raises about 20%. His raises tend to be minraises.
If he limps btn he calls a raise from the BB.
He likes to call down light and will call with draws.

Meh..... I am not sure how else to play this hand... I guess I could have been more passive on the flop and turn but FD + pair is a really strong hand and ahead of a lot of his range.... what do you think?

Got to get some sleep... but expect an update soon... maybe even with some sharkscope stats.

HUSNGs

2008-08-02T10:01:00.002+01:00

So.... over the past few months I have not had a lot of time to play poker..... and when I have had time to play I have been grinding the $10 HUSNGs on Full Tilt.

When I last posted I was going through a rather unpleasant downswing which left me about $400 down.... and since then I have been trying to rebuild at the HUSNGs.

I have (only) played 167 games, for a profit of $174 and an roi of 9%... obviously completely meaningless given the short sample and nothing compared to Paul's efforts as he seems to manage more SNGs in a day than I do in a month (credit to him... he is crushing the games and I am kinda hoping he might give me some tips....).

The reason I chose to play HUSNGs is because I find the game really interesting. There is a lot of scope to become creative and every opponent is really different so you have to adapt to each unique situation. The average player at these levels seems to be pretty poor and, although the variance is quite high, I think that the HUSNGs can be really profitable (again, see 147star's blog for proof!).

As far as I can see, if you can maintain a 10% ROI and average 10 games an hour, thats about 1BI per hour..... and even playing the $10HUSNGs, thats $10 an hour.... however, I only 1 table at the moment and so get through about 6-7 games per hour.

Time for me to get going.... but will be posting again soon

The Comeback

2008-08-01T09:07:00.002+01:00

Ok..... I am very sorry that I have not been updating my blog recently... I have been quite busy and I guess a bit lazy. So, welcome to the 'comeback' of my blog, hopefully I will keep it going longer than before and there should be lots to talk about.

Will try to compile a summary of events since my last post and publish it sometime over the weekend, and then post at least twice weekly.

Its good to be back :)

Exams

2008-05-11T10:50:00.001+01:00

Been a long time since my last post, and I am afraid that it will probably be a little while until my next one. The reason is that I have been revising for my exams which start tomorrow and last 2 weeks.

Will be back on the 23rd after which I will be playing a lot of poker (I need the money for the summer), so until then.... happy grinding.

96% equity is NOT enough

2008-04-21T10:23:00.004+01:00

It seems my luck has not yet changed and I continue to be murdered by the deck. I have now passed the 10BI mark and so can label this as a genuine 'big' downswing.

Played about 800 hands last night for a net loss of 4BIs at 30NL, although I think that I played well. Am liking my new 'tigher' style as it avoids getting into tricky spots, and people seem to 3-bet me less.

The 'big beat' last night was getting it AI with a Q high flush draw on the turn vs a really badly played straight, and him rivering a straight flush. Luckily he was only shortstacked, but I think that this is still a pretty insane beat. Poker stove analysis shows him to have 4% equity on the turn. Here is the hand.

Also managed to get it AI with a straight vs a set on the turn for a full stack, but full tilt decided that I don't deserve to win.... so he riveres a boat. The reason I call the 3-bet preflop is because the player is very tight, and I think his 3-betting range is very strong, giving me good implied odds if I hit hard with KTs. Hand here

Twice I got 3 outered, first hand where I flopped the nut straight with a J high flush redraw (J9 on a 8QT board), an insanely strong hand. I managed to get it AI 3-ways, vs AQ and K9, and turned a J giving K9 a higher straight, and missing my flush outs. Second 3 outer was vs a shortstack who thought it wise to 3-bet me with A2o and then barrel away with A high, maybe he already knew what the river card would be? Hand here.

A few other coolers to go with the above.... called a minraise on a JTA54r board on the river in a small pot with A9 vs villains A4 and took my self to valuetown with A9 vs AT on a A35KQ board.

So all in all poker is not treating me well at the moment..... (sympathy please)