exit music texas hold'em blog |
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Posted Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:13 am GMT by exit music
Introduction
I've been wanting to create one of these for a little while, I had a livejournal but decided it's not a good place to stick poker blogs. I found this site, seems an appropriate space 
I'm a young (20) aspiring poker player, I am relatively new to the game, been playing the game for about a year or so. I mainly play live poker, although I am just getting into online poker as well.
For a starting reference, here are my present bankrolls:
Live- 480
Online- 385
I cashed out my entire $600 bankroll at the end of august, so what you see in the live roll is entirely profit that I've made since then. My online bankroll cosists a buyin of 200 at Titan Poker. I litereally just started at Titan a week or two ago, they offer a 150% deposit bonus, which will take forever to actually cash in on. I doubt I'll be able to play enough to make the 30000 points I need for the 300 bucks. I think I've cleared about $20 so for, I have until January sometime - what does anyone recomend for whoring this bonus?
I most frequently play with about a dozen or more assorted co-workers and friends and accquaintances. The most common game we play is .50/1 blinds No limit with a max buy-in of $40. The relative short stacks promote a lot of extra action, it's not uncommon for people to re-buy 4 or 5 or 6 times.
I've done a little bit of reading into Hold'em, I've read HoH 1-3, Hold'em for advanced players, TJ Cloutier's Pot/NL book, Caro's book of tells, and I'm just about done Sklansky's newer No Limit theory book. Honestly, this book describes No Limit Hold'em better than any book before it. It's so much more in depth than the more limit-oriented sklansky books. I recomend it Highly - No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice by Sklansky and Ed MIller.
I played some poker tonight, we played tournament style tonight instead of the normal cash game. We played assorted buy-ins, 10 10 20 and 15 buyins for the 4 tournaments we played tonight. The payout was 100% to the winner unless a split was arranged and there were 8 people playing. In the 1st 3rd and 4th tournaments I busted out. The 3rd one involved me pushing with 88 when we were 3 handed on the button. I had been making frequent plays at the pot with mediocre hands to steal blinds by going all-in, so picking up 88s was pretty nice, anyways, BB picked up AK, spiked an ace on the flop and took me out.
The 1st tournament we were down to 3 handed, I was short stacked but building myself back up in chips, blinds were pretty massive and I was pushing with about 35% of my hands and surving okay. I picked up KQ on the button and go all in, Big Blind picks up AA and destroys me. The last tournament needs no mention, I literally blinded to death, I picked up no winning hand and didn't win a pot.
I did cash in the second tournament. I picked up a couple of small pots early to get a slight chiplead. I pick up A9 offsuit in the cutoff seat in the second stage of blinds with 6 people remaining. I limp and the Button raises 3x the BB and it folds around to me, I have a feeling he's making a bit of a play on me so i call it. Flop comes A 10 5, I raise about 3/5ths the pot and he smooth calls me. My opponent is a really good player, one of the most fearsome players at the table. I still don't think he has a premium hand, I really don't think that he's got an ace, either a pocket pair or some face cards. The turn comes a 3 and I check into him. He pushes all-in, seeing some obvious weakness in me. Not sure what you guys would have done about that, I agonized for quite some time and decided that I was beating him, I call and he shows me KQ and my hand holds up.
There were a bunch of interesting following hands, but I'm just gonna skip to heads up. I was a substantial chipleader for the entire tournament, when we got down to heads up some dude worked his way up and it was about 5/2 in my favor. I could definitely afford to double him up once but not twice.
I was playing the bully and chiped away at him, he did double up once, but it was still about 5/3 in my fav. after the blinds I stole. I had been trying to set him up a little bit - I was intentionally making it obvious that I always bet when I had a good hand and always checked when I was intending to fold. A couple times I let him push me off pots with all in raises.
The blinds were 150/300, I had about 1800 and he was around 1200 in chips
I picked up 54 in the BB and he limps so I check. The flop comes 4 6 10. That is a pretty good flop for me, any pair is normally golden heads up. I considered betting out on the flop, as I have been doing with about 70% of flops. Instead, I checked b/c I had a feeling I could get a couple extra chips if I check-raised all in against him. Just after I checked, he pushed all in and put me in quite a predicament. I knew he had been making similar raises with f*ck-all and I figured that there was a pretty good chance that I had the best hand. I called him and he shook his head and flipped up J3offsuit saying "nice call." Anyways, I pulled $80, which ended me at +25 for the night, definitely not a huge cash, I expect to make much more at a cash table than I do in a winnter take all 8 man tournament.
This has been an epic first post, I'm such a ramblingly obbsessive writer, so as long as I stay motivated there's a good chance that I'll be updating this a couple times a week, as often as I play perhaps.
I hope you all welcome me to your site, wish me luck.
Did you know that participating in a poker forum can help you improve your own game? Be it by sharing experiences or simply asking for help, participation in a forum helps you focus and keep 'on topic' which will help you improve your game. You can learn from other players feedback and from their experiences. Why the THP poker forums? We offer one of the best managed texas holdem poker forums available, and the community within is far more friendly than those typicaly found on other sites. We've made a 'lurkers edition' of the poker forum available here on Holdem Poker Online, but we encourage all visitors to register and join in on the conversations on TexasHoldem-Poker.com
Posted Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:10 am GMT by misterjokerboy
Hi Exit music and welcome. Looks like you're doing a decent job so far. There is actually a specific place for blogs, I've put the address below for you. Quite a few of us on here use this and might be a slightly better place for your blog.
Keep up the good work, and keep posting 
http://thpblog.com/blogs.php
Posted Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:51 pm GMT by exit music
Just a mini update here, I checked out that link, honestly I prefer forum software compared to that site's blog software, so I'm gonna leave this here.
I played a bit online yesterday in the afternoon. I would say that my strength in Hold'em is cash games, that is the format I started on with the exception of about a thousand play money sit'n'gos at Pstars. I was 3 tabling .10/.20 NL. At those limits I'm pretty convinced that playing Loose aggressive is the best way to make money because the play is so weak. I broke even + a bit on 2 of the tables, the 3rd table I was playing pretty good, they saw me as a maniac so their preflop hand selection was becoming loose, while post flop it's all ABC weak poker. Only 1 hand of relevance comes to mind, I pick up T7off on the button and make it .45 to go, 2 callers. Flop comes 10Q7 rainbow. Douche raises about 2$, I make it $5, he goes all in and I call, he shows me AJ of hearts and hits runner runner flush, which put me down to about 4$ in chips, so I cashed out feeling a little angry after that crazy suckout.
I took a bit of a break, this game forces me to drugs, seriously. After that I played 4 sit'n'gos, all of them 20+2 6 person, divided 60/40/20 give or take. For the first 2 levels of blinds I played pretty tight, not wasting too many chips, but at the 3rd level I switch from 1st gear to 6th and begin my crazy aggressive play. I started to absolutely dominate most of my tables, the players at these limits are quite weak. In 2 of the sit'n'gos I placed 3rd, getting my money back. In the 3rd I was chipleader for the entire thing, when we were heads up I push with 88s he picks up AJ and spikes an ace and goes on to win. In the 4th I was chipleader as soon as I started to push people around, although nobody was willing to commit all their chips - a good thing b/c they were all short stacking themselves and I was getting almost all of the dead money. Anyways, nobody was even close to catching me, I won that one.
I'll be playing some live poker on monday night, so I'll probably have an update after that session.
Posted Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:34 am GMT by exit music
I played some .5/1 $40 no-limit tonight to a little bit of success.
My $40 dwindled for the early half of the game, I was down to about 24 when I picked up KQs in the big blind, the cutoff and button both call, SB folds and I raise it up make it 3$ more, cutoff folds and BB makes it $10, so 7 more for me. I definitely have the pot odds to stick around at this point, but I can't really see myself just calling here, I feel comitted to the hand so instead of calling and hoping to hit, I make a semi bluff here and go all-in. This guy is a very active player who would never limp with AA or KK from the button, so I figured there was a good chance I could make him lay down hands like AJs or A10s. I figured this play also could scare away mid-pairs that he might be dicking around with. Anyways, he agonizes for a bit and calls with A10s, a very questionable call in my opionin, the flop comes with a King and another one follows up on the turn to secure my double up. He complained a bit, I don't really have the right to say he made a bad call, but whatever.
I picked up a couple small pots here and there with KK and JJ, I work up to probably 60 or 70 in chips. I pick up 26off in the small blind, after about 4 or 5 limpers, I complete the BB and take the flop - 3 4 5 rainbow, I floppped an absolute monster hand. It was a multi-way pot and I didn't wanna give 7/x a chance to catch a card to beat me so I lead out for $4 and get 2 callers. Turn card is the 4 and I check to my very aggressive caller. He makes a bet of 6.50 and I smooth call it. I'm pretty sure he has at least top pair, this guy has a range of calling hands pretty much all the way down to 35off, ect ect. I was somewhat worried about the boat. A King on the river, I make a bet of 20$ and then he re-raises all-in. I didn't really wanna hear him say that, I decided that I'm not good enough to lay down my hand, so I call and he has A4, so my hand was good and I double up to about 140 in chips. For basically the rest of the night I wasn't in a substantial hand, went down to 135 in chips and cashed out around 3:30 in the morning.
Also played a quick 3 person tournament at work (with my boss, while on the clock) for 10$ which I took down, so up 115 for the day. My live bankroll is at $595. There is a 1/2 NL game locally, I think that I should at least get up to a Grand before I start playing that game, we'll see. I have the day off work tomorrow so I plan on playing online poker for a chunk of the afternoon. I'm also playing .5/1 again on wednesday, I'll plan on updating thursday.
I told you I'd update this beeotch often 
Posted Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:55 pm GMT by exit music
Well I had the day off work today so other than sleeping in until 2:00, I played online for probably 2.5 hours.
I've been having decent success at 6 person 20+3 sit'n'gos. The payout is 60/35/25, so all you have to do is make top 50% in order to get your money back, and considering the play at these levels I think it'll be a good way to build up the bankroll.
I just played 2 of them this afternoon, but I won both for a nice 74$ profit. Both tables were actually pretty tough for the first 4-5 levels of blinds.
On the first table I really had trouble getting anything started. My gameplan in these tournaments is to play lots of small pots as early as the 2nd level of blinds. I honestly couldn't win a pot, every time I bet, I was re-raised which doesn't work well for my strategy, especially preflop. You start off with 1000 in chips, I was down to 500. The blinds got up to 30/60 and then I doubled up with QJs on a flop of JJ5. Once the blinds got big, the play got reallly bad, someone called my all-in re-raise with K10o, I had A9s and it held up. I was just short of the chipleader when it was down to 3 handed, I pick up AJs in SB, button pushes, I push and BB calls... Button had J2s, BB had A8s, so I've got them both dominated and scoop the 5600 pot, leaving BB with 400 in chips and the other guy busto in 3rd. Clearly he didn't make up that chip difference.
The second tournament was really tight as well, it was a grind all the way down to the wire. I was probably the most aggressive player at the table, but there were lots of steals and re-steals which surprised me at these levels. After playing 4 handed for about 30 minutes, the short stack finally bubbled when my A7 makes 2 pair. After that, short stack pushed with J10 and 55s held up to knock him out. In heads up, I bet my opponent out of the first 3 hands. The 4th hand I picked up Q5 on a flop of 245. I check/call the flop and he goes all-in when another 5 comes on the turn... obviously I call and scoop the win.
I made 6$ at a .25/.50 table during those tournaments to cover the "rake". After that I bought in for $40 at a 1/2 table - I know this is a stupid play, but I figured I was up a bit so I'd check out some higher limits just for shits and giggles. I think I only played about 10-15 hands, I picked up JJ in the BB and after like 4 limpers I made it 6$ to go and get 1 caller. The flop was QJT rainbow. I bet out for $7 and he called. I check the turn after a K comes up and he checks behind me. Another King on the river, I checked it and he lead out for 10$ and I push. He calls me down with Q5s...?? so I take my double-up and exit the table +40, which is all that I wanted to accomplish.
My online roll is at $533 after today, so I'm pleased b/c I definitely made more than I would have at work today 
Here's the deal, I am taking this year off of school so I'm basically working, chilling with my G/F and playing poker for the next 9 months. You can expect many updates!
Cheers
Posted Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:24 pm GMT by exit music
I played a little bit online this afternoon. I am playing live poker tonight, but I'll drop a mini update to save room in the next one.
In 3 Sit'n'gos, I came in 3rd to get my money back one time and I went busto in the other two. Both of the losses were b/c of really bad situations and less than optimal play by me.
Many situations such as raising with KK 5x the BB, getting 3-4 callers and having a AQQ flop, raising with JJ and having a AK8 all-spades flop, ect ect. I got away from each of those after the flop, but I was super short stacked early on both times and busted out. It seems that I either bust out early or gain a massive chip lead and weild it like a chainsaw. The tournament where I placed 3rd was strictly b/c on my opponents idiocy, I was short stack and 2 people with more chips than me busted out in the same hand.
I played a 5$ rebuy tournament, I was down to probably top 50 or so out of 230 when I unfortunately was part of some Set vs. Set action - unfortunately I flopped trip 6's while he flopped trip 10's. Oh well, I was pretty close to the money, I didn't rebuy so it was a small investment.
I made up a little ground in cash games, but my online roll is back down to 480 after today. I'm feeling good though, so tonight's cash game should go well
Posted Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:19 pm GMT by exit music
Last night's session was not good!
Not only did I suck but the cards in the deck screwed me just a little bit. I was making horrible calls and making horrible bluffs and making horrendus checks and folds.
With AQs I flopped top pair on a AJ6 board, bet 4$ on the flop with one caller and got check raised for 20$ on the turn... stupidly I called the re-raise, he had AJ and it held up.
With A6o in the small blind, the big blind was doubled and after about 6 callers I stuck around for the flop, which came AQ6. I checked and UTG raised it to 3$ which got 2 callers so I re-raised to 20$. UTG calls and the others fold. After a 7 on the turn I stuuuupidly checked on the turn and he checked behind me. Another 7 came on the river to seal my stupid fate, I checked and he pushed all in - obviously I was counterfeitted so I had to lay it down.
The last hand of the night I tossed away my last 25$ in a stupid bluff, the manic player at our table checked to me on a KT6 flop, I had 98s and semi-bluffed all-in with my gutshot, he had KJ and called me down. I obviously didn't hit.
Anyways, the damage was a loss of $60. Not really that bad, only down 1.5 buy-ins, I'm still up for the week in live cash games, but it's the biggest loss I've had with these guys in a couple months.
I will probably not be playing any poker until next monday, so this short break will hopefully clear my head a little bit so I can go in and make some good decisions next week.
Wish me luck - I hope everyone is enjoying the blog so far.
Posted Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:00 am GMT by exit music
I'm back after a pretty good weekend in Toronto, clear headed, looking foreward to the prospects of another week of online play.
I sat down at a cash game for an hour or so when I got home. My goal for the immediate future is to work on table image, especially in sit'n'gos, but it definitely has importance in cash games too.
The cash games were not all that interesting. I just played .25/.50, bought in for $30. I was in a pretty interesting hand, I had TT in 2nd position with about 55$ in my stack, I bet 2 and got 2 callers. The flop came JT3 and I lead out for 4$ which got 1 caller on the button. I had been faily active in the past 5-6 hands so I wanted to represent weakness on the turn, so after a 3 I just checked. He bet 5$ - either he had a J and was value betting, he had a pocket pair or a straight draw - all of those I am beating except JJ. I decided the best way to extract money was to re-raise another 10. He called my raise. The river was another J, a horrible card for me, it either killed my hand or killed my action. I decided to make a protection raise of 6$ on the river, he thought about it forever and mucked his hand. His call on the turn/fold on the river leads me to believe that he had an over-pair, maybe QQ or he really didn't have anything. Either way, I scooped the fairly large pot.
Anyways, I cashed out for about $80, so it was a good start to the week.
My online roll is at $540, my goal for the end of the week is 700, hopefully I'll be able to play enough to accomplish that - we'll see how it goes. I'd like to get my roll up to 1K by the end of the month, at that point I will start playing .5/1 NL.
Posted Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:02 pm GMT by exit music
Greetings, today found another day of not working, so I played some poker. I decided to mix it up a bit and today I focused on Heads up Sit'n'gos.
In the 3 or so hours that I played this afternoon, I managed to get in 13 of them. I played the 30+1.50 NL format.
After winning the first 3 I played, I lost 4 in a row. Some of the ones I lost were pretty sad, I lost one of them on the first hand, I turned a wheel with A7 on a 2345 board with 2 clubs... the beeotch had Q7 of clubs and the river was another club :/ we were both all in on the turn...
Heads up sit'n'gos are not exciting to write about - I love heads up, every hand is unique and every match is unique, it's such a battle of witts... except for when some donk is willing to call all-in on the first hand with a gutshot and a flush draw. After the 4 losses I only lost 1 more, so I finished at 8-5, not a horrible record all things considered. Heads up seems like a strength of mine, I am an aggressive player, but I am also very patient.
I just wanna give one hand highlight here cause I played it soooo perfectly, it makes me very happy
The stacks were about 1200/800 in my favor after about 30 hands of back and forth, I started off pretty short, but I pushed all in for 700 with AK after his raise and he calls me with J10...?
Anyways, I had A5 in the BB, I decided to slowplay the Ace and limp-in, which I hadn't been doing very often this far. The flop came A-10-2, I lead out for 40 (blinds were still 10-20) - I'd been leading out on about 70% of the flops thus far - and he just called. He was a pretty good player, he was very defensive so he could be calling with a wide assortment of hands. The turn card was a 5, giving me 2 pair. And I decided to check - he checked behind me. He had been checking down a large amount of hands, 2-pair, top pair, middle pair, ect. I put him on a hand, either mid or bottom pair. I decided to check on the river as well b/c I'm sure he'd bet out if he caught a piece. I think he bet about the pot and I pushed all in - a pretty big over-bet, but because of my table image he put me on nothing and called me down with 10-7.
I am enjoying the Heads up tournaments, they seem like a decent way to build up my bankroll. Does anyone know how much a difference in play I should expect between the 30+1.50 to the 50+2.50 level? Once I get up to 1K I'm not sure if I should move up in levels there, or just grind it out at lower stakes while moving up in cash games....??
Online Roll: 615
Tonight - MORE POKER Live poker just feels more fun though, so it wont feel like such a grind - Live cash games are sooo much better than online cash games.
Posted Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:03 am GMT by exit music
Okay I'm home from tonight's session, it was not a cash game as expected. We only had 6 people and we didn't get started until about 12:30am so we just did a 20$ tournament, 80/40 for 1st and 2nd. 1000 chips, 5/10 blinds every 15 minutes and we capped the blinds at 150/300 so that 3 handed wouldn't become a push-fest.
Started out Horribly. Every time I had a hand, someone else had a monster hand, every time I bet out to steal, someone had enough to raise with, ect ect ect. I got down to about 550 in chips, the blinds were up to 30/60. 2 limpers, both of them seemed very weak, I had K9 so I pushed all in. Unfortunately one of the blinds woke up with a monster hand - KK. Despite being a 91%/9% underdog, I flopped an open-ender and closed it on the turn
Things started to roll pretty well after that, I started to make some good steals until this disaster hand:
66 in LP, folds around to me. Blinds are 40/80, I was sitting around 1800 in chips so I make it about 200 to go and I get 1 caller, a short stack with about 800 chips. Flop comes 774, he checks to me. I really did want to bet here - he had about 600 left and there was about 450 in the pot, any raise I make will pot-commit me to the hand, so I just went all in. He quickly calls and flips up A7  Frown, I sunk back into my chair -but the 3 came up on the turn and a miracle 5 on the river gives me another crazy straight to knock us down to 3 players.
We played 3 handed for quite a while, we were all big stacked and short stacked at one point. I played pretty solid, I got sucked out on a couple times to short-stack me but I won a critical race with Ah-3c against Ks-8s to keep me alive.
Eventually I trapped one of the players for all his chips when 6-7 offsuit flopped 2 pair. I was a huge chipleader in heads up. The 13 heads up tournaments I played today prepared me well for endgame tonight, I quickly dismantled the other dude to pull the win.
Poker is such a great game. My live roll is at $600, I am gonna start playing this $50 3 table tournament that happens twice a week at a local bar. I've only played there once before, I busted on the bubble when my KK lost to flopped quad 4's on a 944 board :/ oh well, that's poker
Posted Wed Nov 15, 2006 12:41 am GMT by exit music
So I was told I didn't need to work today, so other than the random shit I do to entertain myself throughout the day, I got to play some poker. I work at a Golf Course, by the way. I am also Canadian, so because of the cold I don't really need to work much for the next 4-5 months. I will be working part time, but my poker hobby is making me about as much as I make at work...
I think I logged about 2 hours today, mainly played the heads up Sit-n-go's. My record for the day was 6 wins, 3 losses before I got antsy enough to stop playing. My record for heads up SNGs is 14-8. I would love to have a 2:1 record or better, but considering my relative inexperience I'll take what I can get - I know that I could easily lose 10 in a row and be screwed for half my bankroll.
Other than heads up I attempted a 5$ MTT rebuy tournament. I got knocked out early with AQs, the flop was A-10-3, I pushed on the turn and A8 caught 2 pair on the river - I didn't feel like rebuying despite the shitty play.
So my online roll is at 675, I think if I keep going, unless I see a bad downswing, I should be able to get past 700 by the end of the week.
Posted Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:50 am GMT by exit music
Today involved both online and live poker once again.
Online:
5 heads up Sit'n'gos, 3-2
40 min session of .50/1.00 NL, bought in for 60 cash out for 107
1 $10+1 NL MTT, busto without winning a hand - and I made it past the first break
15 min session at .25/.50 while playing in heads up, think I made about $10
Live:
3 hour session NL40
I literally won ONE hand the entire session and it was just the blinds plus one limper with a $2.50 raise preflop - everyone folded... the limper had 4-6offsuit and the blinds had nothing.
I lost 2 buy-ins which ties for the worst session I've had with these people in the 8 months I've been playing with them at least once a week.
The first buy-in was lost - EP made it 2.50, I call with 88, short stacked botton goes all-in for another 15, it folds around to me so I call, he has K-J offsuit and flops a full house I was left with about 10$, I went all in from the BB with KJs after 3 limpers - and get 3 calls - 66, AJ, KQ
The second buy-in I limp w/ 4-5 of hearts on the button, flop comes A-2-6 with 2 hearts, I call a 4$ raise. Turn is the K  , raiser makes it 10, I push for 21 more and he calls with the nut flush
Those were literally the only 3 hands I was involved with outside of limping in to a couple pots in about 3 hours....
Oh well, my online roll is past 700$, so I'm happy and I really could care less about the live suck-fest.
Peace out bitchezzzz
Posted Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:09 pm GMT by exit music
Online poker this afternoon for about 30 minutes:
2 Heads up matches -
1: A very long drawn out match, got to about the 5th or 6th level of blinds. I came out quick with a chiplead thanks to a flopped straight, I played pretty small preflop b/c he was making bigger post-flop errors which I could capitalize on. He got back to even after my 99 ran into his TT, it went back and forth for a while. On a 7-4-4 flop, I had 7-9, I made a small bet - he called. I bet the turn and he mini-raised me. I bet the river again, hoping to showdown, but he re-raised 200 more (probably about 200 in the pot) - I would have folded but he pushes way harder than that on his big hands so I knew my 7s were good, which they were - this swayed it to about 1400-600, which he couldn't recover from.
2: This match lasted about 4 hands. I flopped a set, he flopped an open-ender. The board paired on the turn and he hit his striaght on the river, he couldn't get away from it so I got 95% of the chips at the table, which he couldn't recover from.
The biggest thing to look for when playing heads up is where your opponent makes the errors - before the flop or after the flop. Some people will fold their small blind, which is a -EV play no matter your holding - these people wont pay you off much before the flop, but will usually call you down with lots of pairs, aggression is key here.
Some people will call almost any raise pre-flop but play tight post-flop - these are the easiest opponents b/c you can take down most pots on the flop without risking much, and if they stick around you know you're beat.
Loose preflop-loose postflop opponents are the toughest ones to read. I like to play small-ball against them preflop, check the flop and put in a decent bet on the turn to see where I stand. You should try to check-down most pairs becuase of the threat of being re-raised unless you are certain you have the best hand.
I keep re-learning this lesson, but if you bluff on the river, make it substantial becuase 2nd or 3rd pair will always call if it costs less than half their chips - it's much harder to call an all-in with 3rd pair.
After those heads up sessions I attempted some Pot-limit Omaha. The players were quite weak - I flopped an OE straight flush draw, made the straight on the river and got someone's whole stack. I also flopped a full house and got someone else's stack. These games are pretty ripe, I may keep trying them in the future. Bought in for $25 at a .25/.50 table and cashed out for $55.
Online roll is at 800$ after today, although I really didn't play enough to have any losses.
I will be playing in a 3 table 50$ tournament tonight, so wish me some luck.
Posted Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:44 am GMT by exit music
UGH my live poker Bankroll just took a bit of a hit tonight,
50$ tournament:
Pretty good game, the play was not too interesting. Early on I picked up JJ and made it 5xBB to go, 3 callers. Flop is Q-7-3 all spades, I lead out for 2/3rds everyone folds to short stack who goes all-in. Normally I'd fold here, but after he bet he didn't deal with his chips he just gave me a death stare - anyone who's read Caro knows that he's got f*ck-All so I called him, he's got K-J and I take his stack.
Couple hands later I f*ck up bad with KK, flop comes 5-3-2 with 2 diamonds. I raise, 2 calls someone re-raises, I call everyone else folds. Turn is a 10, I go all in and the short stack called w/ 6-4 (the preflop raise was 8x BB...? "but they were suited!" was his response). This puts me down to about 3200 in chips (you start with about 3K).
No action for quite a while until I pick up AA on the button, I push preflop after 2 calls, and 2 people call, they hold and I triple up.
After that there were a series of lost races - I had a couple pocket pairs against over cards which didn't hold up. We were down to 12 people, I have about 4K in chips, I push with A-3, K-Q suited calls me and my Ace holds up. The blinds were at 300-600 at this point. I was BB, folds around to short-stacked SB, who limps so I push with K-10, he's got about 2500 left and calls with Q-3 offsuit, obviously he spikes a queen on the river.
After that I have 8-7 spades, flop comes 6-9-3 with 2 spades, I push, AK calls me...? and after 2 whiffs I was out in 11th, just off the final table.
After that there was a cash game and I lost about 60$ with AJ on a flop on J-7-6, even tho I raised 7$ preflop, dude's got 7-6.
Anyways, the live roll is down to about $400, so I guess that means no more 50$ tournaments until I start making some money in the NL40 cash games.
Posted Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:22 am GMT by exit music
Played a couple online sessions in the past couple days.
I think I am 3-0 in the heads up sit-n-go's and I also had a +75$ session at a .25/.50 NL cash table.
The cash game was awesome, it was the perfect mix of calling stations, weak-tight players and maniacs - turning 20 into 95 in about 35 minutes is sweet. My KK got cracked b/c my 3.50$ preflop raise got 5 callers, but I cracked someone's AA with J-8 when I flopped a flush draw + a pair and turned a second pair
Heads up is going great, I feel I'm playing really well, I'm identifying my opponents easily and adjusting my plan against them very well.
The online roll is over 900$, which past my week-end goal of 700$, so I'm pretty happy. Goal for the end of week is 1K, hopefully the ugly half of variance doesn't prevent me from this. I will stick with my limits until 1.2K so I have a little breathing room at higher limits and hopefully don't fall below 1K.
I'm playing well, but I also know that I have lots of room to grow, especially in my live game.
I have a couple questions:
1) I give off lots of tells in live poker - I say this b/c lots of my bluffs get picked off - what is reccomended for bluffing? I wish I could tape myself playing... but that wont happen...
2) Do I have a loyal readership here? How many of you check back to this post often? Do you like what you read? Where do you think I should improve my game? What steps should I take to improve?
The reason I have a public blog is so I can receive critisism - so people - critisize me!
Posted Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:37 am GMT by xDiamond_CutteRx
I read it and it seems like you have a solid handle on the game, but the location might make it hard for others to read. I would recommend moving it to the thpblogs site that I and many others are much more likely to check.
In general on the last post, I would say just try to be aware of what you're doing in the pot at all times, and try to develop a routine.
Posted Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:39 am GMT by exit music
Thanks for the comment xD_Cx, your blog is the reason I'm posting here at all - what do you mean I should develop a routine? Like - play from X until X hours at X/X games, or when I'm in a hand, go through a list of thoughts that I have to meet a critera for before I put money into the pot - I guess both of those aren't bad, but what exactly did you mean? I like this post's location, but you're right - I should move it to the other site. Once I reach my goal of 1.2K I will chance places, that way I wont be wasting pple's time with my penny-stakes blog. I wanna give this one some closeur as well.
Okay I played poker for a while today - both online and live.
The online poker session was alright, I probably played from 5:00 until 7:00 - that's pretty much all the time I can dedicate to a session online - which will probably hurt my chances in big tournaments... although big tournaments are my obvious weakness at this point.
I actually had a losing day for heads-up sit-n-go's, I played 5 and only won 2.
The matches I lost were pretty horrible, I only got out-played in one of them. The first match, I had a guy read perfectly, I knew what he was doing pretty much at all times - I didn't call him off when he had a good hand and I slowplayed him at the right times. The stacks were 1400/600 in my favor and he just started going crazy with the all-ins, he was obviously losing patience and wanted the match to end. I lost the following races, all of which were all-in preflop:
A-Js vs. A-3
T-T vs. 7-6
Q-Ts vs. Q-3s
After the match he said "I knew I couldn't beat you with skill, so I decided to flip coins for the match" - ugh, losing that way is the worst way to lose, when I get schooled at least I can learn something
The other match I lost, the dude literally had a monster hand every time I was in a pot. I had KQ, flop was KQ2 - obviously he's got pocket QQ's - every time I hit a pair, he had me outkicked/overpaired - it was pretty rough. The one time I bluffed, he had a set of 9's
I tried another 5$ re-buy tournament, I made it past the second break, but I busted out around 40th/300ish. I was playing okay - the players at this level are absolutely horrible. I busted with 5-6s, I pushed preflop on the button after one limper for 5K, blinds were 200-400, the limper with 5.2K called off all his chips with J-10off and I lost that race. I don't quite understand his call, but whatever. I figure if I keep playing these eventually the pieces will fall together and I will win a couple of races. Although in MTTs I have zero cashes out of about 6 attempts - I should probably play better stakes - Titan has horrible selection for higher-limit MTTs though, maybe I just never play when they are happening.
My "saving grace" for today was an hour-long session at a .25/.50 cash table - I bought in for 25$, someone called my prefectly set-up check-raise bluff with 3rd pair, so I was down to about 10 and I rebought another 15 - I cashed out around 60$, so a slight profit there dealt with some of my losses for the day before I called it quits. Not too many interesting hands, I was the "loose cannon" at the table, nobody knew what to do against me, so that is great - lots of my bluffs got called but my good hands got paid off alright.
Live NL40 .50/1.00:
I played like an absolute maniac tonight. We only had 5 players, 2 of whom were weak-tight, 1 guy was weak-loose and one guy was loose aggressive, then there was me - the table maniac - an image I don't usually carry at this game, but tonight it paid off pretty well.
Again, I was down a buy-in pretty quick. I literally saw about 75% of flops, I probably came in for a raise half of those.
My first buy-in loss was sad, I was in the SB with A-7off. Folded to me, I made it 2.50 to go and BB (LAG) doubled my raise. Flop came T-5-5. At this point I figured that A-high was the best hand, I figured that he could be re-raising with anything from JQ or better. I would have lead-out but I figured I could take down the pot with a little extra profit if I check-raise him here. Anyways, he bet 4$ into the 8$ pot and I pushed all in for another 25$ - he thought about it for a really long time and was like "I guess I'll pay you off" - not something I wanted to hear - and he flipped up AQ  ... aaaand time to reach for my wallet. Once again.
My rebuy fluxuated quite a bit, I went back and forth between about $30-60. I can't really remember many hands in this period, I made lots of insane plays, lots of crazy bluffs, some working, some not working, but I worked my stack up to about $65. In the SB I got 7 -2 and it's limp'd around so I complete the blind. The flop was 5-6-8 with one heart. I checked and BB (LAG) makes it 4$ to go. I'm getting crazy implied odds here, so I call with my OESD. The turn card is the 4 , so I have a straight with a flush-draw. I check and BB bets $11 - I'd been making lots of crazy plays so I figured there was a good chance of getting TPTK/overpair to call me, so I just pushed all-in. He takes a while thinking about it, but calls with 7-6, so he's got a pair and the same straight as me. We laugh about the probably split pot, I'm praying for a heart and when the 6 falls on the river I was so delighted, picked up the $130 pot with my back-door flush
I had pocket Aces twice - the first time I trapped a short stack all-in when he flopped TP with K-7 for about 35$.
The second time was actually quite an interesting hand:
Aces on the button. One limper, CO (weak-tight) makes it $4 to go - I look over at the blinds who really don't seem too interested so I decide to set a trap and just call here - the limper also calls so we've got $13.50 in the pot. I have them both covered by about 60$. Flop comes J-4-2 with 2 spades. Limper checks and CO bets $7 - this guy is really tight so he at least has A-J, I figure it's not too likely - he seemed pretty happy with his hand, so he's got either JJ-QQ-KK or AJ. I figure that I'm either doubling him up or I'm stacking him so I just smooth called and gave him a bit of rope. The limper also called - I put him on 2 spades right away, he's a notorious calling station, especially with any viable draw. Turn comes a safe card - an 8 - limper checks and weak-tight makes it $17. Now is a good time so I push all-in here, mr. chaser agonizes forever and folds his 2 spades - CO thinks about it for a couple seconds saying "I can't decide when exactly I lost this pot." I laugh and tell him "preflop," which gets a call out of him - he shows KK, which is awesome for me. A Queen on the river scoops this 70$ pot for me.
We played from 12:00 until about 4:00am, I basically took all of the profit at the table, cashing out for $220 after an $80 buy-in, a great session considering the stakes and the buy-in level - which kinda makes up for last weeks thrashing at the live table.
My live bankroll is back up to about 550~ and the online roll is down to about 850~
Tomorrow I might play in the $50 tournament at the sketchy bar, but we'll see about that.
Posted Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:51 am GMT by exit music
I played in a poker tournament/cash game tonight.
The tournament was a 50$ NLH with 22 players, 2 tables of 11. I literally won a single pot: I was super short stacked - I had about 1100 and we started around 3K, I pushed allin with AJ and got 2 callers, I was leading the whole way but hit an ace on the river.
In the SB it was folded around to me, the blinds were at 200/400 and I pushed all-in with K-5s, BB was this insane player - he didn't know how to play hold'em whatsoever, he called multiple all-ins with the shittyest of hands, like 4-7, J-5, ect ect - he woke up with AQ, I flopped a 5 but he hit his queen on the river but at that point I was super short stacked so I either wanted to take advantage of the massive-stacked calling station to my left and build a massive stack or just go busto, which is what I did. My MTT strategy is shit, I need to re-read Harrington on hold'em - or maybe I just need a little bit of luck... I dunno.
After the tourney was a 1/2 100NL cash game. I bought in for 75$. Second hand I picked up A-Qs in hearts in the CO. Person to my right makes it 6$ to go, I call and about 4 others call. Flop comes Q-7-4 with 2 hearts. Someone bets $10 and gets 2 calls, I make it $35 total, the button calls and 1 other calls. Turn is an 8, checks to me, I bet 25$, which covers both pple left in the hand, I get 1 caller who's got Q-J - and I hit the flush on the river.
A couple hands after that I pick up Q-Ts in spades, I see a flop for 6$ on the button with about 5 people. Flop comes J  9 2, I decide to just call a 5$ bet on the flop instead of raise it and everyone calls . The turn is the A which gives me my flush - dude bets 20 and I make it 40, everyone else folds and he's all in - he flopped 2 pair and my flush holds up.
I didn't play a hand again for a while, saw a couple flops but nothing materializing. AKhearts on the button, CO made it 6$ and I just call and see a flop with 4 others. Flop comes Q -T -6 , I just smooth called a 10$ bet on the flop, it's just me and one other, he goes all-in on the turn, he had Q-6 and my hand holds up.
I cashed out for $260 about half an hour later which is a pretty good outing for me considering my bankroll which is just under 700$ now. I didn't play any online today, I may play for a bit tomorrow, but we got a live NL40 game tomorrow night which I'll play.
Posted Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:52 am GMT by exit music
Tonight I played in a decent session of NL40 .50/1 from 11:00 until probably 3:30ish.
It was a bit of a rollercoaster, although not a scary one, slight ups and down - definitely a children's rollercoaster, but there were a bunch of interesting hands that I was involved in.
We started out 6 handed, so I employed the frequent "dick-raise" as my companions were calling it, a bet of $2 preflop and I was making the raise every time I entered a pot, raising with hands basically all the way from AQ down to 5-3s or 5-7os (obviously depending on position and the amount of people in the pot). Early on I added about 15$ to my stack with KQ after flopping a queen and getting called down by Q/x, I kept the pot pretty small b/c the board was somewhat dangerous. I bet the flop, and checked the turn, which induced a $10 call from my man when I bet the river.
I made it $4 to go with AKos in middle position, getting 1 caller on the button and one in EP. The flop came K-10-3 of different suits, EP checks, I bet $6 into the 12$ pot, button calls and EP folds. Turn comes a Q of diamonds (one diamond up), I bet $10 and again the button calls me. I read him for weakness on the flop, not sure how the turn affected his hand, again he cold called so I gotta put him on some sort of draw or K-Q/K-J/K-10/K-x. I was beating about half those hands so I wasn't too worried about my spot at this point as long as a safe card comes on the river - unfortunately the 9 of diamonds comes up, making every hand I considered to be beating me other than K/shit. I was thinking of making a protection bet, but instead I tried to check it down - if he hit a str8, he'd be raising me anyways and if he missed I doubted he'd try a bluff on that board. Anyways, he bet out for 15$ and I had to fold it - he showed me J-7s for the bullshit runner-runner straight.
Later on I dick-raise in the cutoff for $2 with A-4os, button folds, 3 callers in EP. Flop comes A-10-5 in different suits. It checks around to me so I bet $3 into the 8$ flop, which gets me 1 caller. This guy likes to slowplay his good hands so I was slightly worried about an Ace with a better kicker. The turn came down a 4 - and he bets out $3 into the $16 pot, so I make it $10 to go, 7 more to him, which he eventually calls. The river card is an abysmal 5, basically counterfeitting my hand. I put him on an Ace, so after he goes all-in on the river there was no way I could stick around - he laughs like a banshee and shows me 6-5 for a rivered set of 5's After that hand I was down to about $15 in chips, I almost added another 20 to my stack but decided against it, not sure why, on a whim I put my wallet back into my pocket.
About 5 minutes later I nearly double up with AJ when I flopped 2 pair and turn a full house - a rebuy wouldn't have helped b/c the other guy was also short stacked so it just took me up to about $35.
At this point a bunch more people arrive so I have to dramatically alter my play for an 11 handed ring game - the dick-raise isn't too profitable against 10 other dealt hands.
Maybe an hour later I pick up QQ on the button (The only premium pair I saw tonight). I made it $5 to go, which nets me 2 callers. The flop comes A-9-7. Both EPs check to me so I make it $6 to go. I wasn't thrilled about the ace on the flop, but you gotta see where you stand after a flop like that. EP1 almost immediately went all-in for his last 21$, making it another 15 to me with 42 in the pot already. EP2 agonizes for quite some time, he shows his hand to another player, which lead me to believe that he had a weak ace, but he folded. Now, EP1 is a decent player, but he was getting pretty short stacked so there was a slight chance he was getting desperate. He's also the type of guy who would probably re-raise if he had a decent ace preflop, and he probably would have bet the flop if he hit the ace. He also wasn't taking his eyes off of me as I was contemplating the call, which is a pretty decent sign of weakness. Anyways, I wasn't sure on my situation, he easily could have had a weak ace, but considering the fact that EP2 probably folded an Ace and all the other suspisions I had about his hand, I made the call - he had J-9 for second pair and my queens held up, netting me the $75 pot.
For the next couple hours I really couldn't connect on anything. I had AKs and AKos, I bet $4 preflop both times, but missed the flop both times and had lots of action in front of me. I had 88's twice and 99's once, I called a preflop raise in each of those circumstances, and each time 2 overcards flopped with betting in front of me. I also raised $3.50 preflop with QJs on the button after 1 limper, which got 2 calls. Flop was K-9-4, EP1 immediately went all-in, so that takes any maneuvering on my part, I had to lay it down w/o seeing if my gutshot could connect.
After this slight slump it was pretty late, we were back down to a 6 handed game and I could re-employ the dick-move strategy, although I was pretty much back down to about $45 in chips.
In MP I had AJos and I made the raise to 2.50, which got 1 EP caller and 1 LP caller. The flop came Q-J-7 with 2 clubs. EP (LAG/Maniac) bets 5$ and I decide that I could be leading so I call, and LP (TAG) also makes the call. The turn card was an uninteresting 6. I was the short stack of the 3 pple in the hand with only $35 in my stack. EP bets $15 and I have a real puzzle to put together. EP could literally have any 2 cards, he is the epitome of what Helmuth refers to as a "Jackyl" in his book, he is loose, will bet with any 2 cards regardless of position. At this point I had a feeling he was on some sort of draw, although I really wasn't sure. LP, on the other hand, was a bit more worrysome. His $5 call definitely meant he connected with the flop, at the very least a OESD or a flush draw, or a weak queen. He was fairly big stacked so he'd definitely stick around for $15 with a draw, but I figured that all of his holdings could be made to lay-down if I re-raised. After some contemplation, I decided that there was about a 60/40 chance I was beating EP so I pushed all in. LP took quite a while to think about this one, but eventually layed it down after I shit talked him a little bit by saying "what do you have Q-8? I'm pretty sure rick (EP) can beat Q-8" and he layed it down. EP had me covered, but not by much, but he, too, layed his hand down. We rabbitted the river, which was a deuce - LP frowned and showed me the Q-2 he folded, EP claims to have had a flush draw, but he was probably just bullshitting, I doubt he'd have layed that down for another $18. I did show them my hand.
I played semi-aggressive for the last half hour and stole enough pots to get up to about $85 before cashing out. I was pretty happy with how the night turned out, I had a roughly equal balance between shit-luck and decent luck. I was making really good reads on my opponents and playing pretty well, so despite the mere $45 profit, it was a good session. Slow and steady builds the bankroll, as a wise man once typed.
This has been a really good week, I'm up $310 after 3 sessions since monday in live poker - which definitely counterbalances the rough time I had last week. I screwed around online for a bit today, not worth reporting on.
Bankrolls:
Live roll: 710~
Online roll: 870~
Hopefully I'll have some time in the next 2-3 days to play online to get myself up past 1K, which was my end of week goal. I should have some time this weekend I think.
I just orded the book The Psychology of Poker, which I'm pretty excited about. Psychology is an interest of mine and especially if I can relate it to poker - plus the book has decent reviews, so I'm pumped to read it. I just finished No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice by Sklansky/Miller - definitely a great read, a staple in any NL Library, far more useful than the earlier Sklansky books for modern deep-stack NL.
Anyways, this was a pretty thorough update for tonight, peace.
Posted Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:08 am GMT by exit music
Notes on the dick-raise:
I get lots of criticism for this play and even online I see people reaming others for using such a tactic. However, I think it is totally reasonable for a couple of reasons. To make things clear, if you play tight aggressive, you probably don't play enough hands to make the dick-raise deceptive, but if you play enough hands, you can build up really nice pots preflop. Essentially the goal of the bet is not to isolate, but it does give me a good indicator of my opponent's current holding. A 2x BB bet doubles the stakes. If you do it with enough hands, your opponents will have no clue what to put you on, and if it comes a ragged flop and you continuation bet, you might get respect for a made hand causing everyone to fold. If the flop comes with an Ace and you dick-raised with A-10 or A-J, your opponents may not give you credit for top pair. Keep in mind that this tactic works most effectively if you are deep stacked and in 5-7 handed games.
If you feel like you are a fairly ABC Tight-Aggressive player that doesn't quite get enough action on his good hands, give this strategy a try. It will definitely throw your opponets off, especially if they really know your TAG style. Basically raise 2x-3x the BB with hands ranging from AJ/AQ down to low gap connectors like 7-5os and better. Make the raise only when you have mid-late position and only when there isn't a string of limpers. If you are re-raised, it really depends on the type of hand you hold. If you have a hand like 9-7os, you probably don't wanna call a preflop re-raise, but with a hand like 10-8s, it's probably worth it to see the flop.
In addition to this, if you employ the dick-raise with players who don't know you very well, the implied odds you get from a hand lik 6-8s is massive. You totally camoflauge the strength of your hand if you flop an OESD and if your opponent makes a decent pair, there's a great chance that you can stack him.
I much prefer hands like 8-6 to hands like AQ - b/c with AQ you can hope to flop a pair, and most likely you'll bet and steal whatever you raised preflop for a small pot. IF you are called after you hit on the flop, you are either winning a decent pot from TPWK or losing your stack from someone with a mid-connector who's got 2 pair, ect.
With mid-connectors, you can build a pot preflop and then if you hit on the flop, you will be the one stacking all of your opponents chips and he will be the one cursing you for breaking him when he's got TPTK on a J-7-6 board. If you miss the flop, you can make a small bet to try to win the blinds and win a small pot, or fold and lose a very small pot. It's hard to lose a big pot with mid conectors unless you get really screwed with the dick-end of a straight or a flush vs. flush hand.
Obviously this tactic only works ideally in cash games, in tournament style, 2x BB bets are moronic.
For the record, 7-6 suited is my favorite hand in poker.
Posted Fri Nov 24, 2006 9:00 pm GMT by exit music
Okay, the past week has been really shit for online... I haven't had a winning day in the past 4 days I've attempted to play. I got really tilted yesteday and moved up in limits in a vain attempt to make money back which lost me even more money
Anyways so as a result of my donking I am below $600 again, pretty much getting rid of my past couple week's profits. So I am taking a step back to re-evaluate my online pokering, I need to definitely stick with .25/.50 until I make back some ground.
Despite losing all that money, I deinitely learned a couple of lessons. This was really my first "bankroll management" slip and I am still in the plus, so I could be doing worse...
Anyways, it depressed me at first but I gotta get over it and keep truckin.
Titan poker is a really horrible site, by the way. I can't decide where to go next - either Poker Starts, FCP or Pacific Poker.
Where are the best sites to play at? Who offers the best rake-back?
Posted Sat Nov 25, 2006 11:42 pm GMT by exit music
I'm still havin a hell of a time recovering my account.
My account is still under 600, but after a couple more losing sessions, I had a couple winning ones. Pot limit Omaha seems to be a good place to play b/c the players are generally moronic. It is a lot more swingy and it's pretty tough to put people on a hand, especially if the board is really textured... flopping a str8 isn't always a good thing, flopping a set isn't usually a good thing. In the session I played tonight I was still up about $45, so that's a good thing.
It's annoying though, I wish I could have just cashed out the 900 I had at the beginning of last week and switched sites, but it's too late for thoughts like that.
I decided that the next website I will use is Full Tilt poker. I did a thorough overview of a bunch of sites and FT has great software, game trafic, and okay bonus. It has really good tournament selection, which is what I'm looking foreward to.
Anyways, I still gotta keep chopping away and take baby-steps upwards. I gotta keep chunking away for $20 at a time and eventually I'll get back up. I am gonna cash out sometime early in december and move sites.
Mad TV is not funny.
Posted Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:17 pm GMT by exit music
BLOG MOVED:
http://thpblog.com/blogs.php?blog=11084&cat=49
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