jjfever5k

hand rails

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:17:00 +0000

HAND ONE
PF: i open with 9To on the button in a 4 handed game. i think this is fine.

FLOP: i think he is usually leading with hands much weaker than mine here. he probably tries to check-raise the flop or make a move on the turn with hands that beat me. so if i raise he usually calls/raises with a better hand and he probably folds worse hands. also i'm not too worried about him having a straight draw and letting him catch up since i have one of his 9s.

TURN: my plan was to raise or bet most turn cards so that's what i did.

RIVER: i just don't know. i feel like if he is ahead on the river then most of the time he was ahead the whole hand. not many players at this level will slowplay something like a FH all the way till the river. i read him as weak on the flop and turn and i just don't see how the 6 makes his hand often enough. if he has me beat i expect to see T6 here more times than 89. it's $7 to win $13 so i think the pot is too big for a fold to be correct here??? how often do i have to be good here for a call to be correct? math is still a part of my game that needs a lot of improving.

HAND TWO
i think a river check is correct since hands like AQ and QK *might* find a call here. worse hands probably don't find a call here. and also, you know, the straight possibility.

september 10. 07

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:50:00 +0000

tonight i played bad. i stayed up all night, played very tired and started out when i was still slightly drunk. i made a lot of very poor decisions. i was cold calling raises with junk, check-calling the flop with second pair/no kicker, i god mad at players for bad beats. i dropped 5 buy ins.

my past 4 session look like -$38, +$13.75, +$47, -$51. the two winning sessions were day sessions when i was rested and feeling well. the two losing sessions were late at night.

today i was looking over my stats for the 2 years that i've been playing. my live win rate is more than 4X bigger than my online win rate. after 2 years i'm still struggling at the micro limits online.

i can do better.

eggs

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Tue, 22 May 2007 02:59:00 +0000

i had to make another withdrawal this week since i haven't yet been able to find steady work here in richmond and needed to pull out touring/living expenses.

i feel like i've been running pretty bad lately. i'm also finding that having had to withdraw a large portion of my bankroll has affected my mood and play. last night i made some poor decisions/crying calls and decided now is a good time to cool off and step down for a little bit.

i played two 1HR sessions today and made 5BIs. it felt good to put in a couple of winning sessions after not doing so well this month. after tomorrow i won't be able to play for almost two weeks because i'll be on tour w/out a laptop.

some nice hands from today.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119168
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119178
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119201
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119869
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119873

bag of d1cks

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sun, 20 May 2007 22:40:00 +0000

poker continues to go really super awesome for me this month. down 4 buy-ins this afternoon. some pretty standard hands.

standard
standard
standard
standard
standard

AND

standard

AK twice against same fellow, and also some other stuff too

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sat, 19 May 2007 23:05:00 +0000

i won't always call this flop shove but against this opponent i think i have to most of the time. he likes to play big pots and usually plays TPTK like the nuts.
AK

this hand came after the other hand that was before this hand. AK

BONUS

no mon(k)ey$

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Fri, 18 May 2007 22:20:00 +0000

may has been pretty lousy so far. as of right now i'm down about a buy-in for the month.

i'm leaving for tour next wednesday and probably won't be bale to play until i get back at the beginning of june. maybe i can put together a couple of nice sessions in the next few days for a little profit.

i use pokercharts.com to keep track of my stats. this is was april looked like.

sup? NMH.

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:45:00 +0000

not much to say about this one. probably the craziest multi-way pot i've ever played. i threw up on my pants. thanks guys.

equity on the flop (i was 57%, TP/FD was a lame 33%)

on the turn (i now have a better chance of getting cancer than winning this pot)

long distance runner

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:07:00 +0000

here's a hand i played and lost and my friend pillars showed me why i'm a donkakong.

---------------------------------------------------
From: jjfever5k

i flat called here because both of the opponents are hyper aggressive and i am almost always stacking them if i hit a set and they have an overpair. i'll fold if mikehoshino 3 bets.

I PLAY GOOD

luckily i run the best ever.

------------------------------------------------------
From: Pillowz

i'd still fold pre-flop.
calling three bucks pre-flop is too much if you're just gonna fold 85% of the time when the flop comes.
also, calling here and then having to fold if mike [4-bets] is pretty yucky.

standard play is to raise flop. i can't imagine anyone is going to fold QQ, KK, or AA at that limit given pot size. there are too many scary turn cards which might hurt your action and the board is fairly draw heavy [though, granted, you shouldn't be too worried about draws in a 3-bet pot as people will be holding big pairs or stuff like AK most of the time.]

i guess you just called since you mentioned he's super aggressive and might fire again on the turn w/ AK or something?

that river sucked.

in the long run, you run the same as everyone else.

-christopher

---------------------------------------------------

regarding the "you run the same blah blah" statement...he's SO wrong...duh

WRONG
WRONG
NONONONONO

--------------------------------------------------
(ok i don't *always* run so bad)
999 VS 333
KK vs QQ loses
AA VS QQ wins

these were three hands in a row (the n*gger chat on the second hand was from the friendly fellow who lost set over set the hand before). the last hand was a perfect set up. this massive overbet play obviously won't always work, but when it does it's niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. i insta-shoved to look like i was on mega tilt since he just hit a two-outer on me the hand before. i figure he's likely to call with AQ-AK, TT-KK, maybe AJ and 99 since these hands "crush" my tilty range. i guess all the money might have gone in anyway though, so, errrr....

more magic times

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Tue, 15 May 2007 20:01:00 +0000

i guess this guy was probably trying to trap or get in a CR with TPTK...it's a pretty nice flop for AK. wicked gold free card. not sure if i should have raised the turn here. i probably could have bet more on the river. i may need to start playing my big hands bigger.

ALSO, I HAVE AN INTERVIEW FOR A REAL LIFE JOB IN 20 MINUTES!

OMGLOLMAGICTIMES!

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:20:00 +0000

last week i withdrew some funds from pokerstars and proceeded to have three losing sessions in a row (about a 7 buy-in total loss). but it looks like today i broke the withdrawal curse!! i played for about 3 hours this afternoon and made 2.5 buy-ins. then i watched the sopranos and entourage and drank a legend beer (my new favorite local brew). then i played for another hour tonight and made a little more than 2 buy-ins.

the games have been pretty aggressive lately and there are a lot more players open raising than limping these days. i'd been kind of wanting to try a limp/reraise play. i don't *love* the play because it usually screams of AA or KK ... so i was looking for a good opportunity to pull it off for a potential big reward. this guy AAATonyKK is a weird type of nit player. he ALWAYS opens for 11XBB and when he does it's always a premium hand so when he calls my reraise here i can put him on exactly AK, JJ-AA and i have a real good idea of where i am in the hand. if the flop comes all babies he's usually getting his money in with an overpair and i'm not worrying about a set. MAGIC TIMES

it's always nice when you can get paid off with quads.

a shhhh ton of hands

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sun, 13 May 2007 06:30:00 +0000

here is another failed bluff where i lost a stack. i don't make these plays normally and i'll probably just delete this kind of thing from my game for now, especially at these stakes. i don't mind three betting this guy with air. he's a pretty solid regular and he knows that i'm also, errrr, a solid regular as well, so i think he could be reraising me with medium strength hands like QK, 99, etc. i should have made a larger raise to get some fold equity into this bluff. i'm giving him nice odds to call and hit a good flop against the big pair i'm representing. if i had made a much larger raise, maybe $13 to go, then he can't call with a hand like AQo or 44.

clearly i'm in trouble when he 4 bets me here. the pot is $23 with his raise and it's $7 more for me to call, hit a flop pretty big, and win the $30 plus the $10 behind. or i could hit middle pair and go broke against AA. after the preflop action i don't think i have any other choice but to play the flop this way...i have 5 outs to an overpair (other than JJ) and i'm way ahead of AK.

****

this hand involved the same opponent as above. i'm not sure if i should make a big 3 bet on the flop. also thinking a check raise might have been a good idea on the turn after just calling the flop. he claims to have had AhJh which only makes me about a 60/40 favorite on the flop.

****

this guy was mega-weak, constantly fired multiple barrels with air, and was going to go broke on a bluff if i hit my pretty well disguised draw. if he had a full stack i think my implied odds would have been good to call a flop overbet here. instead i went (half) broke to a half stack in an unraised pot. LCIKALICK

****

these two hands are against the same opponent. i forgot that i won this AK hand off of him earlier and that may have factored into my decision on this later hand. WhiteZeasy is showing huge strength by three betting me out of position. i have to put him on AK, QQ-AA and maybe JJ. we were both very deep, if i was only 100BB deep then i may have just pushed here. this is kind of an ugly flop for my hand considering the range i put him on and his bet is really ugly. i used up my whole time bank before mucking. he claims he had AK and LOLd at me for folding...which makes me think it was probably a good fold. i don't see him leading with AK here (unless it was exactly AdKd) and i have two of the kings which makes it harder for him to have AK. it should be obvious that i have a strong hand and many opponents are stacking with KK and AQ in my spot here. i think it's very likely he had AA or QQ.

****

still working on when to double barrel. this may have been a good chance to fire again since my hand might have very well have been good on the turn here anyway.

****

****

an utg raise, utg+1 reraise, cold call in the middle then an OOP shove. i think i *have to* pitch this hand %100 of the time. i wasn't sure how pokergenie27 found a call here with TT, but after the first two EP raisers muck their hands there is a good chance a lot of shared cards are dead. also he only has about 50BBs behind.

****

can i find a river value bet here?

****

shorties are killing me, these hands add up:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1089227
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1088553
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1088379
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1088358
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1088211

****

with AQo i'm not sure if i should be raising a guy with less than half a stack.
i clearly can't fold the turn for a $3 shove either...i could have 6 clean outs. or not.

****

maybe i should be smooth calling more with AA, KK?

****

these aren't moves i make very often, but i've been trying to open my game up a little, be less predictable. i thought this was a great turn card to semi-bluff at...i'm not sure:

****

won a coin flip:

****

if this was heads up i was calling for sure. i see top pair here so infrequently that i think i can call with a ton of hands profitably.

****

i'm not folding to this guy's min 3 bet preflop. not sure how to handle it post
flop, a push/fold situation on the flop? i don't hate my play here

****

i think if he had reraised me preflop this would have been an easier call to make because JJ-KK would have been real possibilities. i was fairly worried about a set here PARTY TIME

i think i should have put in a raise on the flop, maybe get it heads up. i forgot about this hand..and looking over it i don't like the way i played it at all. (G)A(Y)CES

i clearly like my call a lot better if i have the Ad. i should probably find a fold here

****

i'm trying to get more value out of sets. i won't always check the flop AND turn in this spot but i was certain this particular player was going to fire twice. not sure if there is a better way to build bigger pots with sets.

same guy...i don't know

AK

****

this guys loves to shove in these spots with junk, i had notes on him saying he shoves with Q9o, etc. i crush his range. nice hand.

clean

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sat, 12 May 2007 22:45:00 +0000

WELL, HELO HILLO ERRR

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Fri, 11 May 2007 18:09:00 +0000

THIS IS MY FIRST POST IN, LIKE, TWO YEARS. EVERYTHING BEFORE THIS IS, YOU KNOW, MUCH OLDER. I'LL TRY AND KEEP THIS UPDATED REGULARLY.

down 5 buy-ins at $25NL yesterday.
some hands i went broke with and/or probably played bad.

not sure what my line is on the river after he min raises the turn. C/C? am i supposed to go broke HERE?

****

this guy is a regular at these games. his standard line is to call a RR PF and then C/C the flop with almost anything. if he has position on me, he often auto bets the turn/river if i check to him after a c-bet. i had decided on this flop that i was probably going to fire at least two bullets, maybe 3. my inital reaction after the hand was that it was a terrible bluff, especially considering we were so deep. after some thought i think it may have been *ok*. unless he has 77, i think it's hard for him to find a call on the river (maybe with a set). he wasn't showing any strength and i think he would have put in a raise by the turn with a big pair or set.

other than the pot being so huge, i called his river check-shove for information. even though i lost over 1.5 buys-ins on this bluff i think it will work to my advantage in future hands. after this bluff he cold called almost every open raise i made with hands like 78o. DUMB BLUFF

****

what? i had the seven of clubs for the nuts HERE. probably a tilt call. i'm a donkalonk.

****

i had just come back from taking a peepee when THIS HAND happened. i usually unclick "auto post" when i'm gone for a few minutes and just wait for my BB again..but i got postedederd right away after i clicked "i'm back bitches". i called protecting my golden BB+SB already in the pot. i like my flop raise, and would have loved to just get it all in on the flop. not sure what i do on the turn though...i think leading like this is probably a mistake.

here's my equity on the flop:

cards %win %lose %tie EV
Ac 7c 51.62 46.57 1.82 0.525
Qs Qd 46.57 51.62 1.82 0.475

on the turn:

cards %win %lose %tie EV
Ac 7c 31.82 61.36 6.82 0.352
Qs Qd 61.36 31.82 6.82 0.648

clearly i'm a big dog against his range on the turn..even a hand like QTc is smashing me in the face now.

----------------------------

i took the day off today. i watched a friend's baby play with a skateboard and a hose, did some laundry, and saw a crappy movie. it felt good to just take a day off from playing.'

New Graph

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:32:00 +0000

Ok ok, this is my latest graph, it looks much better :)

"Streak: $166.15 W4 - I am on a 4 session winning streak for a total of $166.15 over 6 days."

Poker Software, Session Tracking, etc

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 13:33:00 +0000

I recently started using some poker software. I've downloaded free versions of Poker Tracker and Poker Charts. I've already reached my max amount of hands on poker tracker and need to buy the full version, but I've got time left on poker charts before I subscribe to that (there is a monthly fee).

By importing your hand histories into Poker Tracker it allows you to see how many times certain hands have won and lost, % of hands you are playing, results based on position, pre or post flop results, etc. It also allows you to keep track of other players results, how they play in a variety of situations, if they bluff a lot, etc. PT has a ton of other features I haven't even begun to explore yet.

I've been using Poker Charts to track my sessions. It allows you to keep track of where you are playing, who you are playing with, length of sessions, types of games, limits, etc. It gathers information from all your sessions and lets you know your hourly rate, win rate accuracy, time played, etc. It also allows you to make different graphs based on your results.

Here is a chart of my total earnings for my first 10 sessions logged.

Playing Outside of My Bankroll

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 16:58:00 +0000

I've been playing outside of my bankroll without fully realizing it. I recently moved down in limits online to adjust to swings and properly build my bankroll, but I am still playing outside my bankroll in live cash games. Most of the cash games I play are NL, $20 buy in, .25/.50 or .50/1.

Theoretically I should have at least $500-$1K to be playing my regular cash games.
If I want to keep playing the $1/2 NL game at Foxwoods I should have at least $2K.

I currently have two separate bankrolls, online and live. I don't plan on merging the two until I have a comfortable online bankroll that I can withdraw from...until then, unless I can convince some of the guys at my local games to start playing .05/.10, I will have to continue to play outside my bankroll. Another option is to start padding my bankroll with outside funds.

I found the following chart at:
http://www.pokerlistings.com/bankroll-examples-for-texas-holdem

Bankroll requirements for various limits at Texas Hold'em:

Game	Limit	Minimum Bankroll

Limit Texas Hold'em	$0.50-$1	$300-$500
	$1-$2	$600-$1,000
	$3-$6	$1,800-$3,000
	$5-$10	$3,000-$5,000
	$15-$30	$9,000-$15,000
	$30-$60	$18,000-$30,000

No-limit Texas Hold'em	$0.25-$0.50	$500-$1,000
	$0.50-$1	$1,000-$2,000
	$1-$2	$2,000-$4,000
	$2-$4	$4,000-$8,000
	$5-$10	$10,000-$20,000

As you can see, for limit Texas Hold'em we recommend a bankroll of 300-500 times the big bet, and for no-limit Texas Hold'em a bankroll of 1,000 -2,000 times the big blind.

Bankroll Requirements

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 14:21:00 +0000

Here is an interesting/helpful post from 2+2 that a friend sent me. I am currently between .05/.10 & .10/.25. I'll be playing the former for awhile.

------------------
General consensus is that a player should keep at least 20 buyins for each limit he's playing. Excluding poor beginner play, bad bankroll management is the biggest reason that new players go bust. Do yourself a favor and only play in games you can afford.

Limit: $0.01/$0.02 | Needed: $100
Limit: $0.05/$0.10 | Needed: $200
Limit: $0.10/$0.25 | Needed: $500
Limit: $0.25/$0.50 | Needed: $1000
Limit: $0.50/$1.00 | Needed: $2000
Limit: $1.00/$2.00 | Needed: $4000
Limit: $2.00/$4.00 | Needed: $8000
-------------------

More Foxwoods, More Online

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:14:00 +0000

I had a couple of good nights at homegames last week making about $100 total. I went on an early rush at WNP and ended that night up $60...then had another $40 win night. Not bad.

More Foxwoods

I went to foxwoods again yesterday with two friend from WNP. We arrived around 3pm and left around 7pm. I sat at a $100 max 1/2 NL table. My table started off with a lot of very loose/aggressive players. We saw a lot of multi way action for large preflop raises. The standard raise for these guys was anywhere between $12-$25 (6-12.5X the BB..doesn't make much sense for 1/2) and they would raise with/play pretty mediocre starting hands. It's difficult to play this type of game when you possibly have to call off 1/5 of your stack preflop with a vulnerable hand (like mid pockets) in a multi way pot. I lost my first buy in within an hour and a half when i overplayed pocket 9s. I bought back in for another $140 over the next couple of hours and was down to about $40 when I hit two big hands in a row and built my stack back up to $200. I was starting to feel comfortable and 'in the flow' of the game when my friend who drove came by and said I had time for one more round. I managed to lose $60 within that round when I raised or rereaised with big Aces (if I wanted to make a standard reraise I had to make it $12 to $25 or $15 to $30) and had to fold after betting out on the flop and getting reraised . I ended down $100 for the day (which is certainly better than being down $240). If I had known we would only stay 4 hours I wouldn't have gone, the drive alone is 3-4 hours roundtrip, and it's just not worth not being able to take my time when I'm playing for those stakes. I think if I had been able to stay longer I would have been able to battle my way back and end the day with a profit. It takes awhile for me to really get settled into a game, 4 hours is just the beginning.

Early on I was thinking of requesting a seat change but decided if I want to become a better poker player I need to be able to play at all different types of games. If I had to make changes to my game yesterday I would have thrown away more pocket pairs to preflop raises (I saw a few flops for a $12-15 raise with hands like wired 2s, 4s, 6s, 9s hoping to hit a set against multiple players). I could have waited for even better starting hands, really taken it slow. I also would have changed the way I played some big Aces, possibly smooth calling with hands like AJ and AQ instead of reraising, saving myself a bet when I had to fold on the flop.

I've Been Playing Online Again

I deposited $50 into Pokerstars less than two weeks ago and have been playing steadily since. A friend of mine who does very well online suggested I move down to .25/.50 instead of .50/1 , which was great advice. I've managed to build my bankroll up to around $400 so far which allows me to take swings at this limit. It feels like a whole new game and my ideas about micro limits have totally changed. I've started playing 2-3 tables at a time and have gotten comfortable at these levels. I've started to pick up on online tells, betting patterns, etc, as well as adjusted my play to different types of players. I've managed to get better control over going on tilt (although I admit I've had a few outbursts), managed to make better decisions and laydowns, and overall just sharpened up my game. My friend suggested I stay at these levels for awhile, maybe until I'm able to build my bankroll up to about $1k, which seems like a good idea. I'm more excited than ever about playing online, so we'll see how it goes.

A Lesson Re-learned

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:30:00 +0000

Last night I played a $40 buy in tournament in Cambridge run by a woman named Trudi. It was a home tourney, the structure was good and the whole thing was monitored by laptop. It was pretty uneventful for me and I was knocked out something like 5 or 6 (out of 16 players) when my straight was beat by a rivered full house. That was fine, nothing I could do about it. After that I played a cash game and between the tourney and cash game I lost about $100 (about 1/3 of my already modest bankroll).

If I want to be a good poker player I have to be honest with myself, not just in poker but in day to day life. I have to consider why I make certain decisions and not make excuses for bad decisions. Last night wasn't a good night for me, it seemed like most of the time I was one step behind , AQ vs AK, pocket Ks vs pocket As, etc. Those things happen and that's fine, the idea is to push on while minimizing my losses and maximizing my wins. A couple of hours into the game I was stuck about $55 or so when I got lucky and doubled up when my AQs hit a flush against AA. Now I had about $30. After that hand I managed to scrap up a few more chips when I found AQo in late position against a standard preflop raise. I reraised and got called by the original raiser making it heads up. The flop came AJx. My opponent bet, I raised, he reraised, and this is where I really messed up. I made some crucial laydowns earlier in the night and I was happy with those moves, especially considering how poorly I was doing and how easy it is throw money away when feeling beaten up. Now I KNEW deep down that I was beat, my opponents mock disgust with the flop coupled with his confident aura let me know he was in very good shape, but regardless, for some unknown reason, I pushed all in. I pushed all in when my instinct was telling me my hand was no good. He called and of course I was beat. I walked away just about broke for the night when I could have left in ok shape. Just doing the math now I'm realizing I was in better shape before that hand then I thought I was.

So the question is why did I throw my money away at the end? I thought I had disciplined myself not to make bad moves like that. I mulled it over as I was falling asleep last night and realized it was lack of confidence & poor self esteem mixed with the friendly spirit of the game. The last couple of weeks have averaged a loss for me (last night makes it a %50 cut to my bankroll) and I was feeling defeated and worn down (resulting in low self esteem and lack of confidence in my poker playing ability), and even though I thought I was at the point where I could just push through those feelings, last night proved that I'm not 100% there. As I called I told my opponent I owed him one (he was the one who doubled me up earlier when I cracked his As) and told myself that if I was in fact beat that it was no big deal, just money, just a friendly game. I thought I was done with that way of thinking.

Will I make a mistake like this again? Maybe, but I'm happy to have walked away with a valuable lesson (re)learned.

Update: Foxwoods Trip, etc

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:41:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I've posted here so here is an update.

WNP
I was doing pretty well in the WNP standings, staying around #2, but a couple of losing weeks in a row has put me in the number 10 spot (out of 17 players) with -8 points.

We had a tournament last week (10 people, $20 buy in) at the WNP home and I came in second, taking home $50. When it got to heads up with Oakie he had about a 3/1 chip lead over me. I had battled my way to just about even when the final hand happened: I was flopped top two pair and Oakie was flopped 4 to the flush, I bet, he reraised all-in, I called, he caught his flush. It was a good final hand and I was happy with the way I played.

HOME GAMES
I've been hosting a bunch of home games with people from the Boston Poker Meetup list. Those have been going well. I've met a bunch of nice people and good players. We've mostly been playing $20 buy in No Limit Hold Em cash games, but have mixed in some dealers choice here and there. I learned to play 7 Card Stud, I enjoy the game a lot and it's a nice break from Hold Em. We've also played a bit of Omaha, Crazy Pineapple, and Blind Man's Bluff...all fun games.

FOXWOODS
I finally made it out to Foxwoods last weekend. My friend Chris and I headed down last Friday and started playing around 4pm. I sat at the 1/2 $100 max buy in No Limit game. The players ranged from good to poor...most of them, like myself, were average players. I played tight and stayed quiet for the first couple of hours. After awhile I got used to the table and atmosphere and became more talkative and loosened up my play a bit. I went broke a few hours into the trip when my AQ raced pocket 10s and Js. I was flopped top pair, but the Jacks turned trips. I bought back in for another $100 and that lasted me until 8am the next morning when I walked away with a $220 profit for the 16 hour session. It was a great experience and a lot of fun. The problem I have with weeknight home games is the time constraint, games don't usually last more than 4 or 5 hours, so if you're down around midnight there is no time to battle back. Having an 'unlimited' amount of time to play at Foxwoods was a good change, it allowed me to take the swings without worrying about the game breaking up soon. I definitely made some mistakes and it was good to have time to adjust and make up for those mistakes. Having a dealer who assured the game would move quickly and smoothly was also a plus. The rake was high, it cost $5 every half hour for the 1/2 No Limit Games...so I spent a total of $160 for 'time', plus tips. Overall I enjoyed myself immensely and I will definitely head back as soon as I get the chance, it's difficult getting there without owning a car.

Playing Online PT2

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sun, 22 May 2005 22:26:00 +0000

I had a tough losing streak this past week. My original impression of 2/4 wasn't completely accurate, there are still a large amount of bad players who play at this level. For the first week or two whenever I played I would walk away up, it almost seemed impossible for me to walk away down, forget about totally broke. That changed quickly starting over the weekend, all of a sudden I couldn't win a pot with the best hand...or I would get into pots with good starting hands and have to fold when my hand didn't improve. In retrospect the losing streak definitely affected my game, I'm not going to blame all my loss on 'bad players' or bad beats, I definitely could have saved money by making better decisions. Here are some mistakes I think I made:

1) Staring out as one of the short stacks at the table. It seems like the majority of people sitting at 2/4 start with at least $100 (give or take), I've been sitting down with $50. If I win some of the first hands I'm involved in then I'm in good shape, I can handle some losses and still be able to battle my way back. If I lose a few hands (or just one big hand) right off the bat I'm in rought shape, it leaves me with not a lot of chips to do anything with. So when I rebuy online (after I take a short break to reevaluate my online play) I think I will try staring with $100 (and cashing out if I fall to $50).

2) Not being able to lay down monster hands the way I've done in live cash games. One thing I've noticed is that if I'm in a hand and all of a sudden my opponent raises or reraises me on the river, I'm beat (I haven't seen an instance yet where this wasn't true). Situations come up sometimes where someone has limped in with something like a weak K when I've got pocket As, and they hit a K on the flop so they stay in the hand, there is a bet and call on the turn, then they hit their two pair on the river and raise or reraise. This is when I need to lay down the monster hand and save some chips.

3) When my losing streak started to hit I should have just waited a few days or even a week to sign back on to play, but I played almost everyday hoping things would turn around and of course went broke. I need to learn to take time off, the chips will be there to play later when I've cooled off.

SSPC Event 4

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Mon, 16 May 2005 00:02:00 +0000

On Saturday I played the 4th event at the SSPC. This week the tournament was pretty uneventful for me. I managed to hang around for awhile until I caught pocket As in the BB, decided to slow play them, and called the small blind's all-in bet on the K high flop. I figured he had something like KQ, but he was flopped two pair, Ks and 5s. I talked to at least three other people who were knocked out of the tournament with cracked pocket As! I guess the 1st place finisher of the tournament basically sucked out on most her all-ins (catching trip 10s against someone's pocket As, etc) to take the win.

After I got knocked out I sat at the 1/2 NL cash game, I bought in for the minimum, $40, and walked away with $200 ($160 profit). I was a little sick and felt worse as the day moved on, so the cash game was a nice end to a blah day.

Quitting Micro Limit Online - UPDATED

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sat, 14 May 2005 16:10:00 +0000

8/31/2005

My original post is at the bottom.

I'm currently playing at even lower limits right now and am happy with my decision to do so. I thought moving up in limits would increase my win rate, and it did for a short period of time, and then I went broke again. The more I play, talk about, and read about playing online, the more I realize most of my earlier ideas about online poker was false. The problem wasn't with other players, it was leaks in my own game: specifically not adjusting to different types of players, making too many decisions out of frustration, and playing outside my bankroll.

Here is a post I found on the 2+2 forum that sums up what I'm talking about:

"How do I deal with all these loose players sucking out on me with terrible hands?
A common complaint is that the players are so bad that it actually prevents you from making money. New players often feel that if they could just go to a game where opponents "played more reasonable hands", "respected my raises", and "didn't chase all the way to the river" they would make more money. This whole notion (to quote SSH) is absurd. Poker is a game where you profit from the mistakes of your opponents. If your opponents make more mistakes you will make more money. Loose, passive limit Holdem games are highly profitable for this reason. It is as simple as that. Focus on winning the most money, not the most pots. "

------------------
ORIGINAL POST
------------------

I have officially quit playing micro limit online. I got tired of having the best hand just to get sucked out on the river by someone who should have folded preflop. It doesn't do any good to complain about it, let's just say I took enough runner-runner suck outs to drive a person insane. So what I realized is that it made no sense to try to beat micro limit. It just gets ridiculous when %70-80 of the table is limping in and willing to chase straights and flushes or hoping to pair that A or K on the river.

Tonight I moved up to 2/4, not that much higher, but high enough to see a difference in the way people play. What I noticed was the majority of people play better, but there were still 1 or 2 maniacs at the table. The key is to not get involved with maniacs on sketchy hands, but hope to get them in a pot when you've got the nuts and they don't have much of a chance of sucking out on you.

It took me a month or so to lose $100 on partypoker.com playing tight at .50/1. Tonight I sat down with $50 at at a 2/4 table, played the best I could, and tripled up within an hour and a half (making back what I lost playing micro). So now I'm back to the beginning and hoping to be more succesful (less frustrated) at these limits. Tonight was only one night, we'll see how it goes from here.

SSPC Event 3 and Some WNP

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Sun, 08 May 2005 18:59:00 +0000

WNP was back on this week and I did well. Bought in for $20, no rebuys, and walked away with a $75 profit. I was in a good zone and it payed off this week. I also lucked out at the beginning of the night. I hit a miracle river making trips for my pocket Qs against my cousin's pocket As. I took down another all-in later on in the night, my two pair against Oakie's gutshot straight and flush draw. I felt like I was making good calls, good laydowns, and also getting a bit of luck.

SSPC3

On Saturday Jimmy and I headed over to the SSPC for their 3rd tourney of the season. My goal this week was to 1) not have to take a rebuy and 2) beat my finishing place from two weeks ago. I accomplished both, finishing in 12th place (out of 50). I also won back half my buy-in with 5 bounties (worth $3 each).

I was determined to play better than two weeks ago. From now on each time I play a tournament I want to make a point of remembering at least one mistake I've made, and try my best NOT to make that mistake again. I promised myself no all-in moves unless I felt like it was absolutely the right time to do so (with the nuts, if I was positive I had the best hand, or if it was time to make a move at the pot if I was seriously in need of some chips).

I was seated at a comfortable and friendly starting table and I knew some of the players (including my brother). A dream situation happened very early on in the tournament. The 3rd or 4th hand I raised preflop with pocket As and had one caller (who studied me hard for a minute before calling). The flop came down Q high and my opponent moved all-in quickly. The only thing I was worried about was a set, but I thought his all-in was too fast for that, it was more of a "phew, no Ace" all-in. I called and he showed me pocket Ks. After that huge pot I sat tight for awhile, observing the other players at the table.

Awhile later I looked down to find wired 10s and called a preflop raise from a player to my left, there were two other callers. The flop came down low cards, I think it was checked to me, I bet, and the player to my left moved all-in. 10s were a good hand for the flop, but this guy raised preflop and was now all-in which meant he could 1) have an overpair, 2) be on some kind of draw 3) have overcards or 4) have flopped a set. I put him on overcards. To my surprise the other two players in the hand called before me (including my brother) and I had a tough decision to make. I know the way my brother plays, he was the first to call and I figured he most likely had a small pair or overcards. I had played with the other caller before, had seen her call big bets on draws, but still wasn't sure what she had. I decided that my brother and the other player weren a little hesitant about their calls and figured I had a good chance of knocking out the three of them at once. I called and saw that I was in good shape. The guy to my left had a big A, my brother had a smaller A, and the woman to my right was on a draw. The turn and river helped nobody and I raked in a huge pot and three bounties!

After that hand my momentum was up but I still sat tight. I caught some hands, raked in a few pots, made some big/tough laydowns, and aside from playing one good hand poorly (not getting the most for my flopped top two pair) I was happy with my the way I was playing.

When we got down to 13 people (two tables) the anties and blinds were getting higher and since we only had 6 people at our table things were moving faster and my stacks were getting smaller. I knew I had to get my chip stack back up soon so I wouldn't be antied out of the game, so when I looked down at A8h in the small blind after a run of cold cards I moved all-in. A player who had started to make some questionable calls (he called someone's all-in with K3o catching a 3 to win the pot) decided to call and showed A,10c knocking me out with the 10 kicker.

I don't regret using this hand to make a move, I was hoping to steal the anties and blinds. What I probably should have done was completed the bet and played from the flop. Next tounament I have to strengthen my late-tournament play. I've gotten good at pacing myself during the early and middle stages of a tournament, but now I need to figure out how to work my chips when the blinds and anties are up and I can't just sit and wait for a hand.

Playing Online

noreply@blogger.com (jason talbot (jjfever5k)) — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 17:37:00 +0000

Part One

I started playing online recently. I've been playing .50/1 limit 1/2 limit on partypoker.com and heads up games on ultimatebet.com. Playing online is the ultimate test of patience...I'm still not sure if it's a good idea to be playing at such low limits. On one hand it keeps me in check, it's so tempting to loosen up and play more hands, I have to remind myself to stick to tight and smart play. On the other hand I'm not sure if getting used to playing with people who will call with anything and suck out on the river is helping my game.

An example of the types of situations I run into: I had KJ in the BB and am flopped top two pair. Someone enters the pot out of position with 62c. The turn brings a second club but I've got top two pair and what are the chances of 1) this kid having two clubs in the hole and 2)another club coming on the river, right? Well he catches his runner runner flush with 6 high in his hand and rakes in a nice pot.

So my question is should I be playing for higher limits? Are the players better or will I still find bad players who are just willing to play for more money? I've never had such ups and downs in live cash games. This is the ultimate test...how to survive playing low limit online. Will playing smart/tight win over time or will it be a constant up and down?

I guess the way to do it might be to continue playing at levels I'm comfortable with (in terms of my bankroll) and eventually move up to higher stakes (and hopefully find more 'serious' players at those levels).

Part Two

Last night I decided to play online all night to see how I would fare. I was playing .50/1 limit and early on I was doing pretty well, I won a couple of big hands totaling about $50. I was focused and playing well. Then i started to get cold cards and the blinds started eating away at my stack, so i stopped for awhile and got dinner. After eating I signed back on and i just wasn't as focused as earlier and made started making mistakes. It's amazing how easy it is to 'do the right thing' one moment and completely lose track of it later. So that's the goal, stay focused, and when I start to lose focus, take a break.