Today I though I was heading for a possible Sunday blow-up. I started playing at around 4:30, and played until dinner. It was a usual losing session for me, I was down from getting outdrawn a few times, and a cooler or too. Didn't have much hitting either and eventually found myself down $320 at one point. Realizing I was foolish to be playing without my new secret weapon, I promptly watered my bamboo and cranked up the tai chi music. I battled back to $200 before getting called for dinner.
The "All-American" meal I had, hamburgers and corn on the cob, apparently agrees with me playing the great American pastime that is poker. I sat down ready to turn things around and I can definitely say things went MUCH better. Sets started hitting, my opponent's draws started missing, and I was having no problem with firing at pots at will, which is usually the best way for me to tell if I am in "the zone." It's not all skill though, I got lucky very early in my post dinner session, and it seemed to get the ball rolling for everything else.
Full Tilt Poker Game #2761223635: Table Grand Hills - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:47:40 ET - 2007/06/24
Seat 1: Jaturongkabaht ($167.95)
Seat 2: Blank ($258.10)
Seat 3: Blank ($88.50)
Seat 4: Villain ($93.20)
Seat 5: Blank ($145)
Seat 6: Blank ($98.85), is sitting out
Seat 7: Blank ($33.15)
Seat 8: Blank ($66.15)
Seat 9: Blank ($50.05)
Blank posts the small blind of $0.50
Blank posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [9d Jd]
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain raises to $3.50
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Jaturongkabaht calls $3.50
Blank folds
Blank folds
*** FLOP *** [Jc 4h 5c]
Villain bets $8.50
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $23
Villain calls $14.50
*** TURN *** [Jc 4h 5c] [6h]
Villain checks
Jaturongkabaht bets $35
Villain raises to $66.70, and is all in
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht calls $31.70
Villain shows [As Ad]
Jaturongkabaht shows [9d Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 4h 5c 6h] [9s]
Villain shows a pair of Aces
Jaturongkabaht shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
Jaturongkabaht wins the pot ($184.90) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Villain is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $187.90 | Rake $3
Board: [Jc 4h 5c 6h 9s]
Seat 1: Jaturongkabaht (button) showed [9d Jd] and won ($184.90) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 4: Villain showed [As Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces
There was nothing pretty about that hand, and I can honestly say I play it pretty piss poor. I don't really have much on the villain here, which probably means he is somewhat tight. Also at this level, people will generally c-bet on non descript flops such as these, but almost never with a pot bet (actually pot bets are pretty rare at this level, and usually indicate either a not very experienced player, or something funky). I do think my reraise here was a mistake, and honestly I probably let it go if I get reraised, but he just called. On the turn, I probably should have just checked, but what made playing this board somewhat difficult was the presence of the two clubs. The line the villain was taking was certainly one AKs and AQs would take. I probably should have checked the turn, but obviously I went with him having AKs or AQs and fired $35 at the pot. However I don't think my call of his push was as bad as it looks. Now that he has pushed, I think we can pretty safely narrow his range down to five hands, AKs, AQs, AA-QQ. I'm getting 156-31 odds, pretty much exactly 5-1. I am 11% to beat AA-QQ and 65% to beat AKs and AQs. After doing the equity equations, I would have to assign the villain a 90% chance of have AA-QQ before the play has -EV, and that seems unreasonable. So as much as the call might look like a donk move (the villain certainly thought so) it actually had +EV. Of course I can't really do these equations in 30 seconds, so I might still be a donk.
All-in all, my post dinner run was +480, making me +280 on the day. I am really enjoying my recent success and I hope the variance switch doesn't flip any time soon.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
What goes up and down faster, a yo-yo or a Thai prostitute?
The answer is neither. My bankroll goes up and down faster than both. Wednesday was fun, except not. I lost more big pots than I won. I started up a little, then down a little, then down a lot, then down a little, then even, then down a lot, then down a little, then down almost $250, to don $40, before finally ending down around $125. I kind of just figured it was variance catching up to me, or that Wednesday might be the new Sunday. Probably the real reason is that Wednesday I am tired from work, and it's really the only day in the middle of the week where I can play, so I end up going overboard a little. I did however discover my new rally music. Daft Punk and R. Kelly seemed to be losing their touch, and while Into Nirvana from Tekken 5 still gets things going for a short burst, it doesn't last nearly long enough. However, feeling in need of mental balance and concentration, I hit up my Tai Chi playlist. I can definitely it helped to reign me in for a good hour, and got back to within $40 of even (from down $250), before getting sucked out on by a two outer and losing about $60 and finally quitting after losing about $125 for the session. I will definitely be listening to that more often.
Thursday I needed a break, and had to night planned with the Ms. anyway. We finally stopped being lazy and went to see Pirates 3. It was definitely better than the 2nd movie, and overall pretty decent. I will definitely say to all the people who missed the scene after the credits, you didn't miss anything that a friend couldn't have told you. Definitely not worth sitting through. After that, the Ms. insisted we sneak into another movie (something she's better trying to get me to do for two years). She somehow convinced me to go sneak into Waitress with her. I wasn't too excited about going to see it, but for a date movie I would have to say it was very good.
Friday saw my BR, take a steep nose dive. I think I seriously would have been better off just entering a $216 sit n' go or something. I played for an hour just to try and get my 200 points for the day before I went out, even though I really didn't need to. Everytime I had AK vs AQ, the bored came AQx, my straight + flush draws refused to hit (even though I was getting great odds both times to call the turn bets) and I had about five flush draws suck out on me, two of them being backdoor. All in all, I dropped $300 in less than an hour, and I promptly quit with a disgusted look on my face when I hit 200 points.
For as bad as Friday was, tonight completely covered it and more. It was my favorite kind of night, one where all the big pots I got into went to me. The only notable exception being the set over set I was involved in, but it had been a long time since I had lost one of those, so I figured I was due. I was also thinking about how much better I've been doing with the $80 buy-ins, as opposed to the $90 buy-ins and how I would like to skip that level all together. Thankfully, after tonight, I can do just that. After all was said and done, I was up $540 for the night and now get to be part of the full buy-in club. Even better, I have hit the goal of going up about $1500 in the last month, and undoing the majority of the damage of my last blow-up. From here I'm not exactly sure where to go. I am very comfortable in the .5/1 games and should probably stay here for a while. I am also very uncomfortable with the fact that I currently have $3800 invested in online poker of my own money, and having only $4200 at the moment (including the money I have stuck in Neteller, which I should be getting next month). I have been considering not letting my BR grow for a while, and slowing withdrawing my profits until I have taken out my original investment. And I can securely play on just my profits. Unfortunately, this means I probably won't be hitting my goal of $12000 by year's end, barring a large MTT cash. But after seeing that by playing 6 .5/1 tables, I am earning about $8 a hour on rakeback alone, I think having an $8000 BR to play 2/4 should have me earning plenty.
Thursday I needed a break, and had to night planned with the Ms. anyway. We finally stopped being lazy and went to see Pirates 3. It was definitely better than the 2nd movie, and overall pretty decent. I will definitely say to all the people who missed the scene after the credits, you didn't miss anything that a friend couldn't have told you. Definitely not worth sitting through. After that, the Ms. insisted we sneak into another movie (something she's better trying to get me to do for two years). She somehow convinced me to go sneak into Waitress with her. I wasn't too excited about going to see it, but for a date movie I would have to say it was very good.
Friday saw my BR, take a steep nose dive. I think I seriously would have been better off just entering a $216 sit n' go or something. I played for an hour just to try and get my 200 points for the day before I went out, even though I really didn't need to. Everytime I had AK vs AQ, the bored came AQx, my straight + flush draws refused to hit (even though I was getting great odds both times to call the turn bets) and I had about five flush draws suck out on me, two of them being backdoor. All in all, I dropped $300 in less than an hour, and I promptly quit with a disgusted look on my face when I hit 200 points.
For as bad as Friday was, tonight completely covered it and more. It was my favorite kind of night, one where all the big pots I got into went to me. The only notable exception being the set over set I was involved in, but it had been a long time since I had lost one of those, so I figured I was due. I was also thinking about how much better I've been doing with the $80 buy-ins, as opposed to the $90 buy-ins and how I would like to skip that level all together. Thankfully, after tonight, I can do just that. After all was said and done, I was up $540 for the night and now get to be part of the full buy-in club. Even better, I have hit the goal of going up about $1500 in the last month, and undoing the majority of the damage of my last blow-up. From here I'm not exactly sure where to go. I am very comfortable in the .5/1 games and should probably stay here for a while. I am also very uncomfortable with the fact that I currently have $3800 invested in online poker of my own money, and having only $4200 at the moment (including the money I have stuck in Neteller, which I should be getting next month). I have been considering not letting my BR grow for a while, and slowing withdrawing my profits until I have taken out my original investment. And I can securely play on just my profits. Unfortunately, this means I probably won't be hitting my goal of $12000 by year's end, barring a large MTT cash. But after seeing that by playing 6 .5/1 tables, I am earning about $8 a hour on rakeback alone, I think having an $8000 BR to play 2/4 should have me earning plenty.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Stay off the roads in NYC
The Ms. is now a driver. Well it's just her permit but it's one further step in the wrong direction =). I also get to be the one to teacher her how to drive. That probably a good thing though, because her dad is a european driver, and well, it's not like the BQE needs another person speeding, cutting across two lanes without signaling, and tailgating. At least I signal. I also had the joy of getting into my first moving accident today. Some tiny spanish woman rear-ended us and apparently the only english she knew was "I'm sorry." Thankfully, unlike my car which is a 2006 Civic hybrid in which the bumper shatters when hit by a pebble, her parent's car is a 1994 Ford Contour, and the bumper already had plenty of wear on it. It looked like there was no damage to either car, so I just gave her a dirty look and drove off.
As far as poker goes, I had an up and down weekend, eventually ending at where I was when I made my last entry. Saturday I had a cool deck playing with $90 buy-in (it seems that buy-in amount doesn't agree with me) and dropped about $200. Sunday the cool deck continued, and was down about another $150 until I hit a set followed by aces, doubled up on both, hit a few more hands until I was up about 70 on the session, until I had this hand, which cause me to give back about $40 of that:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2697784202: Table Jasper Bluff - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:19:21 ET - 2007/06/18
Seat 1: Big Blind ($162.20)
Seat 3: Jaturongkabaht ($76)
Seat 4: Villain ($110.75)
Seat 5: Blank ($135.40)
Seat 6: Blank ($117.35)
Seat 7: Blank ($51.10)
Seat 9: Blank ($36.25)
Blank posts the small blind of $0.50
Blank posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [Jc Js]
Jaturongkabaht raises to $4
Villain calls $4
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Big Blind calls $3
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3c 5d]
Big Blind checks
Jaturongkabaht bets $9
Villain raises to $18
Big Blind folds
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $40
Villain raises to $62
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht has requested TIME
Jaturongkabaht: bleh, i guess you got me
Jaturongkabaht folds
Uncalled bet of $22 returned to Villain
Villain mucks
Villain wins the pot ($89.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $92.50 | Rake $3
Board: [Ts 3c 5d]
Seat 3: Jaturongkabaht folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Villain collected ($89.50), mucked
This was a really odd hand. First of all, anytime min-raises come into the mix the hand enters some odd territory. At this level, people seem to be concerned that raising too large will scare people anyway from their big hands, so they think they will be clever and min-bet. This should have been red flag number 1. Also, the villain is someone who I see pretty regularly at the tables, probably knows most of the time I will follow up on my PF raises on ragged flops, so he may have had me on something like AK. However, I also know he is the type who doesn't really focus on playing well per se, but he does focus on only putting in a large amount of chips in the middle with the nuts or near nuts. So I felt that I am probably calling too wide against this player on a turn bet (or more likely check-raising all-in), so I made a small re-raise to let him know that I wasn't just c-betting. When he four bet me, I knew he had a set and so I folded. I had a very long discussion with Riddim about this hand, and we both agreed the optimal play here was to just call the min-raise and go from there, but I think as it played, my played saved me money. I forced him to announce his hand at a point where I would fold. Had I waited, I would have been stacked. My whole point to the argument is that my game is not as optimal as I'd like it to be, so sometimes the optimal play will cause me to make a large mistake later, and it is necessary to make a smaller mistake early to cover-up those flaws.
My Monday session went much better than that. A few big hands, here and there over a three hour session and I ended up about $170 on the session, or exactly where I left off on Friday. In either case, I'd late and I have work tomorrow. New goal for the week, add another $300 to the BR by Sunday night.
As far as poker goes, I had an up and down weekend, eventually ending at where I was when I made my last entry. Saturday I had a cool deck playing with $90 buy-in (it seems that buy-in amount doesn't agree with me) and dropped about $200. Sunday the cool deck continued, and was down about another $150 until I hit a set followed by aces, doubled up on both, hit a few more hands until I was up about 70 on the session, until I had this hand, which cause me to give back about $40 of that:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2697784202: Table Jasper Bluff - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:19:21 ET - 2007/06/18
Seat 1: Big Blind ($162.20)
Seat 3: Jaturongkabaht ($76)
Seat 4: Villain ($110.75)
Seat 5: Blank ($135.40)
Seat 6: Blank ($117.35)
Seat 7: Blank ($51.10)
Seat 9: Blank ($36.25)
Blank posts the small blind of $0.50
Blank posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [Jc Js]
Jaturongkabaht raises to $4
Villain calls $4
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Big Blind calls $3
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3c 5d]
Big Blind checks
Jaturongkabaht bets $9
Villain raises to $18
Big Blind folds
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $40
Villain raises to $62
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht has requested TIME
Jaturongkabaht: bleh, i guess you got me
Jaturongkabaht folds
Uncalled bet of $22 returned to Villain
Villain mucks
Villain wins the pot ($89.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $92.50 | Rake $3
Board: [Ts 3c 5d]
Seat 3: Jaturongkabaht folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Villain collected ($89.50), mucked
This was a really odd hand. First of all, anytime min-raises come into the mix the hand enters some odd territory. At this level, people seem to be concerned that raising too large will scare people anyway from their big hands, so they think they will be clever and min-bet. This should have been red flag number 1. Also, the villain is someone who I see pretty regularly at the tables, probably knows most of the time I will follow up on my PF raises on ragged flops, so he may have had me on something like AK. However, I also know he is the type who doesn't really focus on playing well per se, but he does focus on only putting in a large amount of chips in the middle with the nuts or near nuts. So I felt that I am probably calling too wide against this player on a turn bet (or more likely check-raising all-in), so I made a small re-raise to let him know that I wasn't just c-betting. When he four bet me, I knew he had a set and so I folded. I had a very long discussion with Riddim about this hand, and we both agreed the optimal play here was to just call the min-raise and go from there, but I think as it played, my played saved me money. I forced him to announce his hand at a point where I would fold. Had I waited, I would have been stacked. My whole point to the argument is that my game is not as optimal as I'd like it to be, so sometimes the optimal play will cause me to make a large mistake later, and it is necessary to make a smaller mistake early to cover-up those flaws.
My Monday session went much better than that. A few big hands, here and there over a three hour session and I ended up about $170 on the session, or exactly where I left off on Friday. In either case, I'd late and I have work tomorrow. New goal for the week, add another $300 to the BR by Sunday night.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Back In Black
Well I'm finally back in black as an online poker player with my current session. However, I feel like things may be starting to wear on me. I took one hell of roller coaster ride on Wednesday, I shot up $375 during my first hour of play by making three hero calls (all of which were correct), one overpair vs overpair suckout, and one straight flush draw that hit the straight. I felt like I probably should have just quit there. I wasn't playing all that well, and I was tired, but I hadn't made the 200 points I needed for the Ironman competition (going for gold this month) and I figured if was hot, I was hot and I should see if I could ride it a bit longer. I also decided my BR could now handle my buying into the tables with $90 and brought all the tables that weren't already up to that level to $90.
Unfortunately, the poker gods, deciding that I was being gluttonous by not quitting after the gift they had given me, ruled that I could not win another big hand for the rest of the session. I now had the Antimidas Touch, everything I saw turned to shit. I honestly don't remember most of what happened (a sign that I was in no condition to be playing) but I found myself going from +$375 to -150 over the course of about 3 hours. I then found myself in a hand with a pair and a flush draw and in my worn-out, poker losing stupor, I found my self throwing out a $100 hail mary to try and get close to even for the night:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2661277695: Table Munoz - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:19:16 ET - 2007/06/14
Seat 1: Villain1 ($102)
Seat 2: Blank ($95.95)
Seat 4: Blank ($93.85)
Seat 5: Blank ($48.50)
Seat 6: Villain2 ($184.85)
Seat 7: Blank ($85.35)
Seat 8: Blank ($137.90)
Seat 9: Jaturongkabaht ($95.40)
Jaturongkabaht posts the small blind of $0.50
Villain1 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [8d 7d]
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Villain2 raises to $4
Blank folds
Blank folds
Jaturongkabaht calls $3.50
Villain1 calls $3
*** FLOP *** [9d 2d 7c]
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht bets $8
Villain1 calls $8
Villain2 has 15 seconds left to act
Villain2 raises to $37
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $91.40, and is all in
Villain1 raises to $98, and is all in
Villain2 calls $61
Villain1 shows [Kd Ad]
Villain2 shows [9c 9s]
Jaturongkabaht shows [8d 7d]
*** TURN *** [9d 2d 7c] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [9d 2d 7c 4h] [9h]
Villain1 shows a pair of Nines
Villain2 shows four of a kind, Nines
Villain2 wins the side pot ($13.20) with four of a kind, Nines
Jaturongkabaht shows two pair, Nines and Sevens
Villain2 wins the main pot ($283.20) with four of a kind, Nines
Villain1 is sitting out
Jaturongkabaht is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $299.40 Main pot $286.20. Side pot $13.20. | Rake $3
Board: [9d 2d 7c 4h 9h]
Seat 1: Villain1 (big blind) showed [Kd Ad] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: Villain2 showed [9c 9s] and won ($296.40) with four of a kind, Nines
Seat 9: Jaturongkabaht (small blind) showed [8d 7d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Sevens
As you can see, that was an awful play, and as it turned out I had nearly drawing dead. To make it even worse, I had been playing with Villain2 for most of the night and all my observations should have told me he had a VERY strong hand there, and not just TPTK or an overpair. Villain1 I wasn't worried about at all. I haven't seen any spectacular play from him at all and I was honestly shocked when he called. In either case I was done after that hand. Now -$250 for the session, I was WELL beyond Caro's Threshold of Misery, and made my best decision of the night, I turned off my computer. Caro's Threshold of Misery is actually a concept I wish I held to a lot more strongly than I did. In short, the theory states that there is a point at which you have lost enough money during the session that numbness sets in, and every additional loss has almost no effect on you. THe biggest reason I have these large blow-ups is because I fail to recognize when I have hit this point. I think Wednesday night I hit that point when I had fallen down to only being +$50 for the session. Yet my ego and ultra competitive drive held me captive to the poker table, and I continued to piss off an other $300 while in a state where winning poker was probably impossible. To top in all off, the hole $625 swing gave me a massive case of heartburn, a sure sign that I may want to consider a break in the near future.
For as bad as Wednesday was though, today was great. I slept over at the girlfriends house (also a great reason not to play Thursday night, woke up at 12:30, had sex at some point, rode the train with her to work, went home and ate a snack and eventually sat down to play at around 6. Started today again with a $70 buy-in at my 6 tables and worked it for about $200 on a few big hands that got paid. I took a dinner break at that point and came back and played for about another hour and a half and pretty much it was more of the same, and I walked away with another $200. Given the horror story of Wednesday, I decided this time when I was up $400 would be a good time to stop. It was just a solid, uneventful day of poker, which is pretty much my favorite kind =).
Unfortunately, the poker gods, deciding that I was being gluttonous by not quitting after the gift they had given me, ruled that I could not win another big hand for the rest of the session. I now had the Antimidas Touch, everything I saw turned to shit. I honestly don't remember most of what happened (a sign that I was in no condition to be playing) but I found myself going from +$375 to -150 over the course of about 3 hours. I then found myself in a hand with a pair and a flush draw and in my worn-out, poker losing stupor, I found my self throwing out a $100 hail mary to try and get close to even for the night:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2661277695: Table Munoz - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:19:16 ET - 2007/06/14
Seat 1: Villain1 ($102)
Seat 2: Blank ($95.95)
Seat 4: Blank ($93.85)
Seat 5: Blank ($48.50)
Seat 6: Villain2 ($184.85)
Seat 7: Blank ($85.35)
Seat 8: Blank ($137.90)
Seat 9: Jaturongkabaht ($95.40)
Jaturongkabaht posts the small blind of $0.50
Villain1 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [8d 7d]
Blank folds
Blank folds
Blank folds
Villain2 raises to $4
Blank folds
Blank folds
Jaturongkabaht calls $3.50
Villain1 calls $3
*** FLOP *** [9d 2d 7c]
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht bets $8
Villain1 calls $8
Villain2 has 15 seconds left to act
Villain2 raises to $37
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $91.40, and is all in
Villain1 raises to $98, and is all in
Villain2 calls $61
Villain1 shows [Kd Ad]
Villain2 shows [9c 9s]
Jaturongkabaht shows [8d 7d]
*** TURN *** [9d 2d 7c] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [9d 2d 7c 4h] [9h]
Villain1 shows a pair of Nines
Villain2 shows four of a kind, Nines
Villain2 wins the side pot ($13.20) with four of a kind, Nines
Jaturongkabaht shows two pair, Nines and Sevens
Villain2 wins the main pot ($283.20) with four of a kind, Nines
Villain1 is sitting out
Jaturongkabaht is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $299.40 Main pot $286.20. Side pot $13.20. | Rake $3
Board: [9d 2d 7c 4h 9h]
Seat 1: Villain1 (big blind) showed [Kd Ad] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: Villain2 showed [9c 9s] and won ($296.40) with four of a kind, Nines
Seat 9: Jaturongkabaht (small blind) showed [8d 7d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Sevens
As you can see, that was an awful play, and as it turned out I had nearly drawing dead. To make it even worse, I had been playing with Villain2 for most of the night and all my observations should have told me he had a VERY strong hand there, and not just TPTK or an overpair. Villain1 I wasn't worried about at all. I haven't seen any spectacular play from him at all and I was honestly shocked when he called. In either case I was done after that hand. Now -$250 for the session, I was WELL beyond Caro's Threshold of Misery, and made my best decision of the night, I turned off my computer. Caro's Threshold of Misery is actually a concept I wish I held to a lot more strongly than I did. In short, the theory states that there is a point at which you have lost enough money during the session that numbness sets in, and every additional loss has almost no effect on you. THe biggest reason I have these large blow-ups is because I fail to recognize when I have hit this point. I think Wednesday night I hit that point when I had fallen down to only being +$50 for the session. Yet my ego and ultra competitive drive held me captive to the poker table, and I continued to piss off an other $300 while in a state where winning poker was probably impossible. To top in all off, the hole $625 swing gave me a massive case of heartburn, a sure sign that I may want to consider a break in the near future.
For as bad as Wednesday was though, today was great. I slept over at the girlfriends house (also a great reason not to play Thursday night, woke up at 12:30, had sex at some point, rode the train with her to work, went home and ate a snack and eventually sat down to play at around 6. Started today again with a $70 buy-in at my 6 tables and worked it for about $200 on a few big hands that got paid. I took a dinner break at that point and came back and played for about another hour and a half and pretty much it was more of the same, and I walked away with another $200. Given the horror story of Wednesday, I decided this time when I was up $400 would be a good time to stop. It was just a solid, uneventful day of poker, which is pretty much my favorite kind =).
Monday, June 11, 2007
Confessions of a Bored Poker Player
And so begins yet another poker blog, thrilling I know. I bet everyone can't wait to read about yet another young internet player who plays stakes less than we all care about. But, alas, boredom drives many people to try out new things. You can thank my good session today, that I was too afraid to continue for fear of the dreaded sunday blow up.
For those who don't know, or for some reason care to know about my poker history, is goes something like this. I started playing when I was 14, using dimes as chips playing spread limit HE. Eventually we bumped it up to $10 buy-in tournaments with about 5 people when I finally got my chip set. At somepoint, late one night I found myself staring blankly at ESPN, too lazy to change the channel (although, I'm not quite sure why anyone would change the channel from ESPN, save when they are airing golf), and I found myself watching the 2003 WSOP main event. Yes, I'll admit it, I am a Moneymaker boomer. Watching that tournament, I found myself getting drawn into just how strategic and intering poker was. I though it was just about throwing money around stupidly in games with half the deck being wild (thankfully, many people still do), I came to see it then as a beautiful art. I began to take poker much more seriously after that and made it a point to try and crush my home game when possible.
Unfortunately, due to my fairly young age, I wasn't quite able to get into internet poker at that point. I was only 16 and still didn't pay that much attention to the fact that I could try and FR some money without a deposit. Meh so I guess I don't get to tell one of those $0 to $1,000,000,000 stories some people tell (I have a feeling most of them are bluffing about that anyway), anyway I started with $50 at Pokerroom a few months after I turned 18, playing the $5 sngs. And so began the tale of about my first 9 months or so of online poker. Win some in tournaments, go broke in ring games. Busted my first $50 and redeposited. Made my second $50 last for a while until I moved to Full Tilt. And I must say I am glad I did. Even though at that point I would definitely say FT had the hardest competition on the net, it was so much nicer to be playing on a client based site, and company who supports Apple software is a great company IMO. Of course, I really wasn't ready to start playing as much as I did. I was probably what you would call a live one at that point. I was good enough to think that I was usually in the top 30% as far as players go (I think the middle third is probably here I was at), and bad enough to go broke on several occassions. Each time I would deposit more that the last, and at some point I found myself $1200 in the hole. I think my biggest problem back then (it still is) was BR management. I'd bounce back and forth between all types of games, and I was never really rolled for the cash games I'd end up in. I moved to PLO and PLO/8 when I didn't think HE was really working out for me. I actually became a very good PLO/8 player rather quickly (it's almost a total math game, which is my specialty), but I kept trying to push myself into cash games way too big for my BR and would always have my sunday blow-up rear it's ugly head. I'd win all week and then blow all my profit and then some on Sunday when I am worn-out from all the poker during the week and going out on Saturday night.
So anyway, $1200 in the hole, and really down on poker, I decided the pool of Omaha players was too small to be profitable and switched back to HE cash games. I had a $600 roll at that point and so sensibly I played .1/.25. This just so happened to be right after the UIGEA, when everyone from Party Poker flocked on to FT and thankfully, I did well. I also bought during this time what I consider to be the best book on NLHE written yet, Sklansky's No Limit Hold 'Em: Theory and Practice. Before it I was a very tight, big hand type player. That book taught me the value of implied odds and has allowed me to play NLHE cash games on another level. When my BR hit $800, I moved up to .25/.5 NLHE. I didn't do so well there. After dropping about $100, I decided there was something about that level that I hated and vowed never to play it again. However, a section of Sklansky's book had caught my eye. It talked about the advantages that a short stack has against deep ones. So, being the BR management donk that I am, I moved to .5/1 and played a $40 stack on two tables. From there I took off and in 6 weeks I went from about $1100 in the hole to $500 ahead. However, I was exhuasted after that and I planned on taking the end of December until mid January off. Of course right when I was about to start playing again, Neteller got busted (I had all but $200 of my BR in it) and I now had to find another way to fund my poker playing.
I was able to get back up and running at the end of the month and tried to pick up where I left off. Unfortuately, this was about the same time as the third FTOPS at FT. I ended up blowing most of the $500 I depostied on sats, which I managed to do horrible in all of them I floated for a while on what was left for a month or so before going busto. Then did try two with another $500 held my own until spring break and then, through a combination of my SS NLHE strategy, and my newly found $36 turbo sng's, I went from $500 to $2200 in almost 2 weeks. But, what goes up that fast, comes down even faster. Me, being the BR donk that I am, decided to take a shot at 1/2. Two full buyins later, and one bad beat, and one full boat getting sunk by quads later, I was on massive tilt. It was time for a sunday blow-up like I've never done before. $400 more blown at that level and I was long past Caro's threshold of misery. I decided you know what, I am a good player, I am going to full-buy in a 2/4 game and just not allow my self to loose. WRONG!!!! Full boat vs. quads again. So then I figured I'd try $200 at 2/4 and work my SS magic. Nope. Sorry. No magic. $200 gone. I will spare you the details of how I lost the rest of the $600, and the $500 deposit I made afterwards, but needless to say, it was UGLY!!!!
Thankfully these days are better. I made another $500 deposit, and so far so good. I currently play 6-tables at a time, sizing my buy-in 5% of my BR and it's worked. After a nice session tonight I am currently sitting on a $1500 BR, and looking forward to once again being in the black. My goal for this year is to 1) NOT DONK OFF MY MONEY BY PLAYING TOO HIGH. Hopefully blogging my stupidity will force my not to do it. 2) Have a big enough BR to play 3/6 by the end of the year. $12000 is a big of a loftly goal, but I have high standards for myself. I also want to be able to play poker semi-pro while I am in China for a semester starting in January. GL to me, I'm gonna need it. I make sure I water my Bamboo to keep the luck flowing.
Oh yeah, and what would any poker blog be without a HH. This is my favorite hand of the session. There is no better feeling than when a LAG play is rewarded, and the person who paid you for it lets you know who the donk REALLY is:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2633977519: Table Charitable - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:15:12 ET - 2007/06/10
Seat 1: HHammer878 ($118.35)
Seat 2: Richman316 ($37.60), is sitting out
Seat 3: jsk213 ($55.35)
Seat 4: bakes1251 ($60.25)
Seat 5: Jaturongkabaht ($77.40)
Seat 6: Rock HaEmet ($76)
Seat 7: Ellen Mikey ($42.65)
Seat 8: angelsach ($121.20)
Seat 9: jimc43 ($285.90)
bakes1251 has 5 seconds left to act
bakes1251 posts the small blind of $0.50
Jaturongkabaht posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [5h 7h]
Rock HaEmet folds
Ellen Mikey folds
angelsach raises to $4
jimc43 calls $4
HHammer878 folds
jsk213 folds
bakes1251 folds
Jaturongkabaht calls $3
*** FLOP *** [3d 4s 6s]
Jaturongkabaht checks
angelsach bets $8
jimc43 folds
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $22
angelsach has 15 seconds left to act
angelsach raises to $78.50
Jaturongkabaht calls $51.40, and is all in
angelsach shows [Qh Qd]
Jaturongkabaht shows [5h 7h]
Uncalled bet of $5.10 returned to angelsach
*** TURN *** [3d 4s 6s] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [3d 4s 6s Jh] [3h]
angelsach shows two pair, Queens and Threes
Jaturongkabaht shows a straight, Seven high
Jaturongkabaht wins the pot ($156.30) with a straight, Seven high
angelsach: wow
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $159.30 | Rake $3
Board: [3d 4s 6s Jh 3h]
Seat 1: HHammer878 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Richman316 is sitting out
Seat 3: jsk213 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: bakes1251 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Jaturongkabaht (big blind) showed [5h 7h] and won ($156.30) with a straight, Seven high
Seat 6: Rock HaEmet didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Ellen Mikey didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: angelsach showed [Qh Qd] and lost with two pair, Queens and Threes
Seat 9: jimc43 folded on the Flop
angelsach: what a fckin donkey
angelsach: calling with 57
angelsach: stupid fck
Jaturongkabaht: =)
There only one thing to do when someone calls you a donk after a play like that, smile like you are goin' to Hawaii!
For those who don't know, or for some reason care to know about my poker history, is goes something like this. I started playing when I was 14, using dimes as chips playing spread limit HE. Eventually we bumped it up to $10 buy-in tournaments with about 5 people when I finally got my chip set. At somepoint, late one night I found myself staring blankly at ESPN, too lazy to change the channel (although, I'm not quite sure why anyone would change the channel from ESPN, save when they are airing golf), and I found myself watching the 2003 WSOP main event. Yes, I'll admit it, I am a Moneymaker boomer. Watching that tournament, I found myself getting drawn into just how strategic and intering poker was. I though it was just about throwing money around stupidly in games with half the deck being wild (thankfully, many people still do), I came to see it then as a beautiful art. I began to take poker much more seriously after that and made it a point to try and crush my home game when possible.
Unfortunately, due to my fairly young age, I wasn't quite able to get into internet poker at that point. I was only 16 and still didn't pay that much attention to the fact that I could try and FR some money without a deposit. Meh so I guess I don't get to tell one of those $0 to $1,000,000,000 stories some people tell (I have a feeling most of them are bluffing about that anyway), anyway I started with $50 at Pokerroom a few months after I turned 18, playing the $5 sngs. And so began the tale of about my first 9 months or so of online poker. Win some in tournaments, go broke in ring games. Busted my first $50 and redeposited. Made my second $50 last for a while until I moved to Full Tilt. And I must say I am glad I did. Even though at that point I would definitely say FT had the hardest competition on the net, it was so much nicer to be playing on a client based site, and company who supports Apple software is a great company IMO. Of course, I really wasn't ready to start playing as much as I did. I was probably what you would call a live one at that point. I was good enough to think that I was usually in the top 30% as far as players go (I think the middle third is probably here I was at), and bad enough to go broke on several occassions. Each time I would deposit more that the last, and at some point I found myself $1200 in the hole. I think my biggest problem back then (it still is) was BR management. I'd bounce back and forth between all types of games, and I was never really rolled for the cash games I'd end up in. I moved to PLO and PLO/8 when I didn't think HE was really working out for me. I actually became a very good PLO/8 player rather quickly (it's almost a total math game, which is my specialty), but I kept trying to push myself into cash games way too big for my BR and would always have my sunday blow-up rear it's ugly head. I'd win all week and then blow all my profit and then some on Sunday when I am worn-out from all the poker during the week and going out on Saturday night.
So anyway, $1200 in the hole, and really down on poker, I decided the pool of Omaha players was too small to be profitable and switched back to HE cash games. I had a $600 roll at that point and so sensibly I played .1/.25. This just so happened to be right after the UIGEA, when everyone from Party Poker flocked on to FT and thankfully, I did well. I also bought during this time what I consider to be the best book on NLHE written yet, Sklansky's No Limit Hold 'Em: Theory and Practice. Before it I was a very tight, big hand type player. That book taught me the value of implied odds and has allowed me to play NLHE cash games on another level. When my BR hit $800, I moved up to .25/.5 NLHE. I didn't do so well there. After dropping about $100, I decided there was something about that level that I hated and vowed never to play it again. However, a section of Sklansky's book had caught my eye. It talked about the advantages that a short stack has against deep ones. So, being the BR management donk that I am, I moved to .5/1 and played a $40 stack on two tables. From there I took off and in 6 weeks I went from about $1100 in the hole to $500 ahead. However, I was exhuasted after that and I planned on taking the end of December until mid January off. Of course right when I was about to start playing again, Neteller got busted (I had all but $200 of my BR in it) and I now had to find another way to fund my poker playing.
I was able to get back up and running at the end of the month and tried to pick up where I left off. Unfortuately, this was about the same time as the third FTOPS at FT. I ended up blowing most of the $500 I depostied on sats, which I managed to do horrible in all of them I floated for a while on what was left for a month or so before going busto. Then did try two with another $500 held my own until spring break and then, through a combination of my SS NLHE strategy, and my newly found $36 turbo sng's, I went from $500 to $2200 in almost 2 weeks. But, what goes up that fast, comes down even faster. Me, being the BR donk that I am, decided to take a shot at 1/2. Two full buyins later, and one bad beat, and one full boat getting sunk by quads later, I was on massive tilt. It was time for a sunday blow-up like I've never done before. $400 more blown at that level and I was long past Caro's threshold of misery. I decided you know what, I am a good player, I am going to full-buy in a 2/4 game and just not allow my self to loose. WRONG!!!! Full boat vs. quads again. So then I figured I'd try $200 at 2/4 and work my SS magic. Nope. Sorry. No magic. $200 gone. I will spare you the details of how I lost the rest of the $600, and the $500 deposit I made afterwards, but needless to say, it was UGLY!!!!
Thankfully these days are better. I made another $500 deposit, and so far so good. I currently play 6-tables at a time, sizing my buy-in 5% of my BR and it's worked. After a nice session tonight I am currently sitting on a $1500 BR, and looking forward to once again being in the black. My goal for this year is to 1) NOT DONK OFF MY MONEY BY PLAYING TOO HIGH. Hopefully blogging my stupidity will force my not to do it. 2) Have a big enough BR to play 3/6 by the end of the year. $12000 is a big of a loftly goal, but I have high standards for myself. I also want to be able to play poker semi-pro while I am in China for a semester starting in January. GL to me, I'm gonna need it. I make sure I water my Bamboo to keep the luck flowing.
Oh yeah, and what would any poker blog be without a HH. This is my favorite hand of the session. There is no better feeling than when a LAG play is rewarded, and the person who paid you for it lets you know who the donk REALLY is:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2633977519: Table Charitable - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:15:12 ET - 2007/06/10
Seat 1: HHammer878 ($118.35)
Seat 2: Richman316 ($37.60), is sitting out
Seat 3: jsk213 ($55.35)
Seat 4: bakes1251 ($60.25)
Seat 5: Jaturongkabaht ($77.40)
Seat 6: Rock HaEmet ($76)
Seat 7: Ellen Mikey ($42.65)
Seat 8: angelsach ($121.20)
Seat 9: jimc43 ($285.90)
bakes1251 has 5 seconds left to act
bakes1251 posts the small blind of $0.50
Jaturongkabaht posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [5h 7h]
Rock HaEmet folds
Ellen Mikey folds
angelsach raises to $4
jimc43 calls $4
HHammer878 folds
jsk213 folds
bakes1251 folds
Jaturongkabaht calls $3
*** FLOP *** [3d 4s 6s]
Jaturongkabaht checks
angelsach bets $8
jimc43 folds
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $22
angelsach has 15 seconds left to act
angelsach raises to $78.50
Jaturongkabaht calls $51.40, and is all in
angelsach shows [Qh Qd]
Jaturongkabaht shows [5h 7h]
Uncalled bet of $5.10 returned to angelsach
*** TURN *** [3d 4s 6s] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [3d 4s 6s Jh] [3h]
angelsach shows two pair, Queens and Threes
Jaturongkabaht shows a straight, Seven high
Jaturongkabaht wins the pot ($156.30) with a straight, Seven high
angelsach: wow
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $159.30 | Rake $3
Board: [3d 4s 6s Jh 3h]
Seat 1: HHammer878 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Richman316 is sitting out
Seat 3: jsk213 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: bakes1251 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Jaturongkabaht (big blind) showed [5h 7h] and won ($156.30) with a straight, Seven high
Seat 6: Rock HaEmet didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Ellen Mikey didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: angelsach showed [Qh Qd] and lost with two pair, Queens and Threes
Seat 9: jimc43 folded on the Flop
angelsach: what a fckin donkey
angelsach: calling with 57
angelsach: stupid fck
Jaturongkabaht: =)
There only one thing to do when someone calls you a donk after a play like that, smile like you are goin' to Hawaii!
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