I’m excited. Leaving to vegas in 2 days. The games in vegas are so easy. I cashed out my online bankroll and off to vegas. I feel like Matt Damon in Rounders, except this is no high society type game, just 1/2NL at the Bally’s. More to come….
05
Oct
Going to Vegas….
28
Sep
light reflection
I started mainly as a SNG player so my experience in cash game is somewhat limited. I had a some experience in cash games a while back when I was still experimenting and dabbled here and there for fun. At the moment I lack the experience to really crush 25nl, but have a pretty good thought process when reviewing hands or discussing situations. However, things change quite a bit when I’m actually playing and this comes back to my lack of experience. I find that my thought process becomes jumbled and incoherent. I question myself and always wonder if I’m taking the correct line. My constant self debate brings down my confidence and that is what I need to work on.
Goals for this week:
- play 3k hands
- watch Road to Robusto NL and take notes
- review 5 hands
24
Sep
Fail
OK so big fail on my part for this first week. I have not met any of my goals especially not the 2.5k hand one. However, I have watched Road to Robusto NL and liked it very much. Steve showed us how to kick ass by playing his normal style. He basically played what he thought to be optimal and exploited all the fishes. There were some spots that I’m a little confused about but I took a bunch of notes and I’m looking forward to discussing them with Sam and anyone else interested.
So back to meeting goals for this first week. I most likely will not be able to hit 2.5k hands, now this is not to say I have not been studying poker as I assure you, I have. I’ve been watching videos and reading forums and taking notes, but have not had the time to put in a one to two hour session let alone a string of them. School has just begun for me and a host of other chores that I had to get done since returning from vacation. Excuses aside, 2.5k hands is a pretty easy goal and I promise to hit it in the coming week. Although I won’t be able to put in 2.5k hands this week, I do plan on playing at least one session worth one to two hours to get in some hands so I have something to review with Sam.
I might post my notes on the blog after I review it with Sam and tweak it a little so look forward to that.
23
Sep
running good at 10NL
I was playing at the same tables bookie was at. I wanted to be at the same table as bookie. He tells me he’s a winning player at 10nl, so I wanted to see how a consistently winning player plays. For the most part he was just straightforward and tight. I can see how this strategy works at 10NL, but it’s not good enough at any of the higher levels. I made an awesome read and called a guy’s river bet with 94os (just a pair of 4 with the 9 kicker). I know, what the hell was I doing with 94os on the BTN. Uhhhhhh I was trying to isolate the player to my right. This strategy was working fine for awhile, until he decided to get fancy and try calling me down. Of course once I noticed that I just value betted him, instead of trying to double barrel him off a hand. How did I make this soul read call? It was easy, I believe every hand the villains is telling you a story. On the river, when the line the villain takes doesn’t follow the story he was telling all along, something is up. At this point he’s damm good and got me fooled with the NUTS or he’s making a move.
Came online to check emails and then go to bed. I ended up playing 3hrs of poker.I think I might be addicted.It turned out good. I’m at about 700 hands toward the 2.5k weekly goal. It’s going to be a lot easier than I initially thought. I’m pretty close to the half way mark with just 1 day of play. As long as I keep this consistent the rest of the month this goal should be a piece of cake.
Session Results:
679hands
+11.02
My $ EV is $25.39, lost KK vs QQ and got stacked for 100bb, sucks. Oh well it happens.
21
Sep
First Official Post
Sharing this blog will be an interesting experience for both Sam and I. I’ve had several failed attempts at maintaining a blog in the past and was never motivated enough to keep it going. I’m determined to keep this one going with Sam and to keep us both on track to improving our game.
Our goal for the first week is to watch some videos on DC that pertain to our limit and playing a minimum number of hands per week. We will be reviewing hands from our sessions and spots from videos and each others play. Since this will officially be the first week, we’re going to take it slow and see how things develop. GL Sam, make sure you put in the hands.
Goals for week 1:
- minimum of 2.5k hands
- watch Tubasteve’s Road to Robusto NL series (episodes 1 & 2)
21
Sep
test post
1…2…3, testing 1…2…3. OK, should be good.
21
Sep
Joined a poker group…
A few days ago I joined a poker group, I Stack More. I’ve always wanted to find a group of collective minds to discuss concepts and hand history with. I did a few session with the group today. It was interesting to see how other thought about the same situations and the thought process that happens during a hand. During the sweat session I find myself not being able to express my thought process very clearly. This got me thinking, maybe I’m doing things and not truly understanding why. Either way being a part of a group with similar goals is definitely going to help me grow. If nothing else I now have a support group who knows my goal and will keep me focus towards reaching them.
I’ve added Ben as a Author to the site. Welcome Ben. Hopefully by me knowing Ben will be checking this blog often, it’ll make me post more frequently.
2.5k Hands Weekly Goal
My new goal is to play a minimum of 2.5k hands/week. It shouldn’t be too hard but I don’t think I play enough, so this goal should help me in at least establishing a playing schedule.
18
Jan
Frustrated Villain
I’m being pretty aggro, stealing every chance I get. The villain has decided to take a stance and not let me keep stealing his blinds. He’s 3betted me from the BB a few times. I folded to his 3bet once, called him and CBET the flop 2nd time, he folded blinds to me the rest, and then the situation below came up. I knew he was frustrated with my steals and just decided he wasn’t taking it anymore.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $0.50 BB (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (Button) ($56.80)
SB ($83.50)
BB ($53.50)
UTG ($62.10)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 8
, J
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.25, SB calls $1, BB raises to $4.50, Hero raises to $9.25, 1 fold, BB calls $4.75
Flop: ($19.75) 10
, 3
, 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Turn: ($19.75) 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $11.25, BB calls $11.25
River: ($42.25) J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $26.50, BB calls $26.50
Total pot: $95.25 | Rake: $2
Results:
Hero had 8, J (two pair, Jacks and eights).
BB mucked 4, 2 (one pair, twos).
Outcome: Hero won $93.25
Wow he called me down with bottom pair 4 kicker. Awesome.
Starting today I am going to post the 1 hand with the biggest loss per day to analyze. The focus of the hand post is to identify big leaks. I understand an important determining factor of whether a leak is a big one is the frequency. I don’t have enough hand logged to go off the frequency of my mistakes, so I’ll just start off with hands where I loss a big pot.
i was at a full 6max game, when it seemed like everybody started to just vacate the room. The villain was the only player left. The first hand heads-up he raised me from the BTN. In my mind he had an aggressive (maybe even overly aggressive) image.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $0.25 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($26.65)
Button ($22.90)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, K
Button raises to $1, Hero calls $0.75
I decided to just call and let the villain take the lead. I wanted a flop where I would hit TP and have the villain in a situation where he had TP weak kicker.
Flop: ($2) 8, 4, Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $1, Hero calls $
I really like this flop. I figured the villain has top pair weaker kicker. QJ or Q10 maybe. Seeing how aggressive he was playing AQ+, KK, AA were possible but I thought unlikely. If he had it I was willing to go broke.
Turn: ($4) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3, Hero raises to $6, Button raises to $20.90 (All-In), Hero calls $14.90
The turn was a little tough. Could the villain really have a 4 in this spot. A4s was the only hand that made sense. I had only played a few hands against the villain so I didn’t know how wide he was open raising. I finally decided to call his shove because in my mind he has a loose aggressive image. Also there were very few hands that had me beat in this spot.
River: ($45.80) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: $45.80 | Rake: $1
This post about the hand with the biggest loss, therefore I obviously didn’t win at showdown. I’m not going to post the villain’s hand, but have you comment on what hands you think are in his range and what decision you would make at the decision points.
Till next time
Sam
12
Jan
Catching Up Post
Well Okay I am really going to try and post more often. The intent of this bring you up to par on what’s has been going on with me so far.
December Vegas Trip:
Vegas was damm fun. Andrew and I got caught in a winter storm. The Cajon pass was closed until further notice, the morning we left. We both decided to ignore the warning and attempted to go anyways. This trip was solely a Poker Run, and I love Poker run. When we arrived at the Cajon Pass, sure enough just as the newscaster said, it was closed. All the truckers were parked on the side of the road waiting for the storm to clear and the pass to re-open. Dru and I did the samething. We parked for several hours. After 7hrs went by, we decided to head over to Morongo Casino for some poker there. Going back to rest up and attempt Vegas again the next day, was NEVER an option. We both had too much Gamble in us and were very determined.
Dru and I arrived at Morongo around 6 o’clock. The casino has a 7pm $5 dollar buy-in multiple re-buy game. We both signed up for the game. Dru left me to go play some BlackJack. I thought Morongo has a deep stack game, but it turned out their NL game were all shortstack games. They spreaded a $1/$3 40Min/$100Max game. This is just a little bit better than the HG $2/$5 $100buy-in game. After being dissapointed that I wasn’t going to get to play deep, I decided to just sit and wait for the tournament to start.
I didn’t like the tournament structure. For $5 I got 500 tournament chips. The blind started at 25/50. Then you had the option of buying 1500 extra chips for $20. The re-buys were $20 for 3000 chips the first hour. After all was said and done the tournament costed me $85 dollars. I can’t remember a good hand I got early in the tournament. When it came down to 2 Tables, I noticed how passive everybody else was playing. I started to steal from the cutoff. Nobody called. Made an attempt to steal again from the BTN, again nobody called. Stole a few more pots and manage to stay afloat to the final table. Dru also made it to the final table. The final table was once again full of pretty passive players. I had K3os in the BB and a guy in MP pushed all-in, it came around to the SB, who I told “you call and I am coming over the top”, that got him to fold. It was great for me I had to call a few more chips (less than a SB) to go to the river. The shortstacked MP raiser had AQos, fortunately for me I got a 3.
later int he tournament Dru became a shortstack. He was on the BB when this lucky old man limped in. Dru immediately pushed and the old man practically insta call him with 33. I thought Dru was making a steal attempt or pushing with crap since after posting the BB he was commited anyways. Turned out Dru actually had a hand. I dont remember what it was but it had 33 beat. It was something along the line of 77 or 88? He had an overpair. I remember mumbling “80% to win, big favorite”. The guy next to me tells me he folded a 3. You guessed it, the river, the case 3. Lucky old man, was once again, lucky ass hell. I kept stealing relentlessly until it got down to 3 players. One guy suggested we chopped. I looked at the price structure and the pay difference and decided there wasn’t much value in continuing play. I definitely had a big edge over my other two opponents. I stole 2 -3 pots in a row before one of them asked to chop. By that time we all had equal amounts in chips. Well 3rd place paid $290 or so. Minus the $85 it cost me I was happy with the results. More importantly I was happy with the way I played throughout the tournament. I don’t remember getting any kind of premium hands preflop or on the flop. I just aggressively stole when I thought the situation was favorable and my fold equity were good.
After the tournament I jumped in to a limit game while Dru went to play some BlackJack. After awhile I got worried about him, as BlackJack one of those fast pace games where you can easily go +/- 1k easy. I circled the casino a few time and found him. Dragged him over to the limit table. We sat at the limit table until the wee hours of the morning. There were a group of 18yr olds that didnt know how to play poker very well. Unfortunately they were getting pretty damm lucky. I was aggressively trying to steal and re-steal the pots, except it seemed they were always catchign cards on me. One of the kid even would reraise me everytime i raise, it didnt matter what he had, he just kept doing it. We would cap a few times, I even had to slow down with a flopped str8 on one hand (lower end). He rivered an inside card to make a higher str8. Errrrrrr. I think all and all I walked away +20. I don’t remember how Dru did. With the BlackJack winnings he walked away + also.
At 7am, tired ass hell, we jumped back in the car and continued our donkey quest to vegas. Dru and I stopped at a Denny’s where we fell asleep in the car for awhile. After we woke up, we got breakfast. We were talking about poker, when a waiter walking by heard us and apparently he was an aspiring poker player also. From the things he said and how excited about poker he was, I knew he was a newbie barely learning the game. I remember maybe a year ago I thought I knew a lot about poker and how to play the game, I now realize what little I really know.
After breakfast we got back on the road and headed again for Cajon Pass. Neither one of us knew if the pass was opened, but we decided to gamble and check it out anyways. Got to Cajon Pass, and sure enough we had won that coinflip. Traffic thru the pass was pretty heavy. The pass had probably just opened.
The traffic to vegas was long and conjested. Normally I don’t have the patient for such things, but this trip I had all the patients in the world. It was my determination to get there. It took us a long while but we eventually made it to vegas, tired and sleepy but we made it. We checked in, took turn taking a shower, changed clothes, and headed for the poker tables. I sat down at a $1/$3 $100min/$300max game. At first I was a little intimidated, I didn’t know what to expect from a live deepstack game. I’m use to fast aggressive 6max online deep stack games. Turned out the game was very fishy. Everyone was passive. I think my game is very bluffy in nature. I started to make a lot of steals at various pots. Took down almost all the pots I tried to steal. It was awesome, the whole table was letting me run all over them.
We left vegas having logged 18+hrs at the table. I walked away a little over $500. Awesome trip. Dru got comped the room. He had buffet voucher for the Flamingo lunch buffet, so we ate there. Dru also had a BOGO coupon for the Rio’s Seafood Buffet, we ate there. That buffet had degraded a lot from the time I first remember going there. I definitely don’t recommended that place.
I wish I could remember more of the detail of our Vegas trip, but this is a post a month after the trip.
Work:
Work has been getting busy. The optempo has been steadily increasing. This year signify the countdown to our unit’s deployment in 2010. One year from now, I will probably be blogging from a location other than home.
I was scheduled to ETS (end term of service) in Feb 2009. After delaying it for a long time, I finally decided to reenlist for one more year. With the economy being as bad as it is and all I hear about from everyone is how they lost their jobs or got cut in hours. I eventually decided to stick around the security of my job. Sometime my job suck. It sucks not because I have to sometime work long hours or overwhelm with work. It sucks because sometime the people in charge are complete IDIOTS.
Life:
I recently got a dog. His name is Mr. Lion Snuggles. Sharmaine wanted to call him snuggles since he likes to snuggle with us. I gave him the first name of Lion for an ancestor are the inspiration for the Lions statue that you see at entrance of Imperial palaces.
I’m going to try and post more often, so it won’t be long post with me trying to remember things that happened months ago.
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