On My Poker Grind

Sick beats on later streets

2009-10-03T00:41:00.003-04:00

I've hit set over set in 3 way pots where the other villain shoves to catch a straight and having a set than getting shoved on and a villains Aces catching top set..

but this makes up for it all sorta

PokerStars Game #33570682041: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25 USD) - 2009/10/03 0:36:55 ET
Table 'Gliese' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Roxerz ($25 in chips)
Seat 2: Krymi ($18.85 in chips)
Seat 3: ThePitbull83 ($19.90 in chips)
Seat 4: themaxiumguy ($21.40 in chips)
Seat 5: MalCohen ($8.65 in chips)
Seat 6: ejpleet ($25 in chips)
Roxerz: posts small blind $0.10
Krymi: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Roxerz [Ac Ad]
ThePitbull83: folds
themaxiumguy: raises $0.75 to $1
MalCohen: folds
ejpleet: folds
Roxerz: raises $1.75 to $2.75
Krymi: folds
themaxiumguy: calls $1.75
*** FLOP *** [8h As Ah]
Roxerz: checks
themaxiumguy: bets $2
Roxerz: calls $2
*** TURN *** [8h As Ah] [6c]
Roxerz: checks
themaxiumguy has timed out
themaxiumguy: checks
*** RIVER *** [8h As Ah 6c] [3h]
Roxerz: bets $20.25 and is all-in
themaxiumguy: calls $16.65 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($3.60) returned to Roxerz
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Roxerz: shows [Ac Ad] (four of a kind, Aces)
themaxiumguy: shows [8d 8s] (a full house, Eights full of Aces)
Roxerz collected $40.95 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $43.05 | Rake $2.10
Board [8h As Ah 6c 3h]
Seat 1: Roxerz (small blind) showed [Ac Ad] and won ($40.95) with four of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: Krymi (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: ThePitbull83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: themaxiumguy showed [8d 8s] and lost with a full house, Eights full of Aces
Seat 5: MalCohen folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: ejpleet (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

PokerStars Game #33570866572: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25 USD) - 2009/10/03 0:45:41 ET
Table 'Alrisha V' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: u fat mess ($12.55 in chips)
Seat 2: tatt batt ($17.15 in chips)
Seat 4: palo1234 ($8 in chips)
Seat 5: Roxerz ($16.25 in chips)
Seat 6: BLABLATOR ($6.20 in chips)
BLABLATOR: posts small blind $0.10
u fat mess: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Roxerz [Kc Ks]
tatt batt: calls $0.25
palo1234: raises $0.50 to $0.75
Roxerz: raises $1.50 to $2.25
BLABLATOR: folds
u fat mess: folds
tatt batt: folds
palo1234: calls $1.50
*** FLOP *** [Kh 2s 2c]
palo1234: checks
Roxerz: checks
*** TURN *** [Kh 2s 2c] [2d]
palo1234: bets $5.75 and is all-in
Roxerz: calls $5.75
*** RIVER *** [Kh 2s 2c 2d] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
palo1234: shows [3h 3d] (a full house, Threes full of Deuces)
Roxerz: shows [Kc Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Deuces)
Roxerz collected $15.80 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $16.60 | Rake $0.80
Board [Kh 2s 2c 2d 3c]
Seat 1: u fat mess (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: tatt batt folded before Flop
Seat 4: palo1234 showed [3h 3d] and lost with a full house, Threes full of Deuces
Seat 5: Roxerz (button) showed [Kc Ks] and won ($15.80) with a full house, Kings full of Deuces
Seat 6: BLABLATOR (small blind) folded before Flop

than the next hand at the same table..
PokerStars Game #33570895481: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25 USD) - 2009/10/03 0:47:04 ET
Table 'Alrisha V' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: u fat mess ($12.20 in chips)
Seat 2: tatt batt ($17.90 in chips)
Seat 4: palo1234 ($10 in chips)
Seat 5: Roxerz ($24.05 in chips)
Seat 6: BLABLATOR ($5.10 in chips)
tatt batt: posts small blind $0.10
palo1234: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Roxerz [7h 7c]
Roxerz: raises $0.50 to $0.75
BLABLATOR: calls $0.75
u fat mess: folds
tatt batt: folds
palo1234: folds
*** FLOP *** [Js Jh Ah]
Roxerz: checks
kawelljd has returned
BLABLATOR: checks
*** TURN *** [Js Jh Ah] [7s]
Roxerz: bets $1
BLABLATOR: raises $1 to $2
Roxerz: raises $2.50 to $4.50
BLABLATOR: calls $2.35 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($0.15) returned to Roxerz
*** RIVER *** [Js Jh Ah 7s] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Roxerz: shows [7h 7c] (a full house, Sevens full of Jacks)
BLABLATOR: shows [Jc 8c] (three of a kind, Jacks)
Roxerz collected $10.05 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $10.55 | Rake $0.50
Board [Js Jh Ah 7s 4h]
Seat 1: u fat mess (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: tatt batt (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: palo1234 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Roxerz showed [7h 7c] and won ($10.05) with a full house, Sevens full of Jacks
Seat 6: BLABLATOR showed [Jc 8c] and lost with three of a kind, Jacks

Long accomplished day

2009-09-30T23:33:00.004-04:00

I started off the day with 4 hours of sleep since I was staying up the previous night trying to grind for Goldstar with 280VPPs left, it seemed impossible for me today. I woke up at 03:45AM and went to Physical Traininng than class at 07:05AM til 5:30PM. It was impossible staying awake through Contracting Business Ethics etc., but 5-6 cups of coffee later, I'm awake jittering everywhere.

I start the grind at 5:30PM ASAP and I realize 10NL ain't cutting it so I 15 table 25NL short stacked with $5 at every table. Profited about +$60 for the night and got exactly 280VPPs for the win with an hour left to go before the end of the month and I would not be eligible for goldstar if I was late. I got my contracting homework done as well and made some good folds and mostly ran good having my JJ+ against a lot of smaller pairs or overcards so all day it was like a STT SNG flip where I would either be 54%-80% ahead and almost never the underdog. If you flip about 40 times with 75% equity, you have to end up positive..

Goin busto

2009-09-26T17:08:00.000-04:00

i got raped at 100NL so i moved down to 25NL and bam

Full Tilt Poker Game #14952982336: Table Need (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:05:53 ET - 2009/09/26
Seat 1: Aiglon147 ($28.89)
Seat 2: vivir el sueno ($32.11)
Seat 3: CaptJackKingOff ($21.57)
Seat 4: Grimreaper0304 ($26.44)
Seat 5: allstarp ($34.51)
Seat 6: R1200CLC ($19.32), is sitting out
Aiglon147 posts the small blind of $0.10
vivir el sueno posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CaptJackKingOff [6s 6d]
CaptJackKingOff raises to $0.75
Grimreaper0304 folds
allstarp folds
Aiglon147 folds
vivir el sueno calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [6h 3d Ac]
vivir el sueno has 15 seconds left to act
vivir el sueno bets $1
CaptJackKingOff raises to $2
vivir el sueno has 15 seconds left to act
vivir el sueno raises to $5.75
CaptJackKingOff raises to $9.50
vivir el sueno has 15 seconds left to act
vivir el sueno raises to $31.36, and is all in
CaptJackKingOff calls $11.32, and is all in
vivir el sueno shows [3s 3h]
CaptJackKingOff shows [6s 6d]
Uncalled bet of $10.54 returned to vivir el sueno
*** TURN *** [6h 3d Ac] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6h 3d Ac 3c] [Qc]
vivir el sueno shows four of a kind, Threes
CaptJackKingOff shows a full house, Sixes full of Threes
vivir el sueno wins the pot ($41.08) with four of a kind, Threes
CaptJackKingOff: ewow\w
CaptJackKingOff is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $43.24 | Rake $2.16
Board: [6h 3d Ac 3c Qc]
Seat 1: Aiglon147 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: vivir el sueno (big blind) showed [3s 3h] and won ($41.08) with four of a kind, Threes
Seat 3: CaptJackKingOff showed [6s 6d] and lost with a full house, Sixes full of Threes
Seat 4: Grimreaper0304 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: allstarp (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: R1200CLC is sitting out

Aces falling from the sky

2009-09-20T12:18:00.002-04:00

When I left for Basic Military Training, I had about $500 left and withdrew $300 once I was done. It's been very busy so I figured I don't have much time to grind so as my usual crazy self, divided that by 4 and got 4 buy ins for 50nl. Things went great so I had about 3.5 BI (buy ins) for 100NL. Now after a few hours of grinding this morning, I'm at 7 BI for 100NL and am pretty happy. This could be short term variance but I'm pretty dead on EV wise. I hit silverstar and should be on track to get Goldstar this month but Platinum star would be a nice goal for next month as I'm running out of time now with all the studying I should be doing.

100NL has been a huge varianace ride but if I can stick to 4 tabling here and slightly winning, it will be worthwhile. Possibly add 2 more tables when my bankroll increases.

I'm Back Royally

2009-09-18T20:22:00.001-04:00

I've been waiting around at tech school for about a month for class to start and I haven't been able to do much. I started up reading on poker and playing some whenever I get the chance and now that I have started classes, it's not too often. I played some 50NL and have been winning so I'm taking a shot at 100NL and this isn't too bad of a start

PokerStars Game #33008004735: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00 USD) - 2009/09/18 20:13:20 ET
Table 'Guangxi II' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: oppway ($71.05 in chips)
Seat 2: Kanjer53 ($32.15 in chips)
Seat 3: roma19852009 ($70.15 in chips)
Seat 4: Roxerz ($94.90 in chips)
Seat 5: Pistoliere ($20 in chips)
Seat 6: Majin Legacy ($312.30 in chips)
roma19852009: posts small blind $0.50
Roxerz: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Roxerz [Tc Kc]
Pistoliere: folds
Majin Legacy: folds
oppway: folds
Kanjer53: folds
roma19852009: raises $2 to $3
Roxerz: calls $2
*** FLOP *** [8h Qc Ks]
roma19852009: bets $3
Roxerz: calls $3
*** TURN *** [8h Qc Ks] [Ac]
roma19852009: bets $4
Roxerz: calls $4
*** RIVER *** [8h Qc Ks Ac] [Jc]
roma19852009: checks
Roxerz: bets $7
roma19852009: calls $7
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Roxerz: shows [Tc Kc] (a Royal Flush)
roma19852009: mucks hand
Roxerz said, "ROYAL"
Roxerz said, "FLUSH"
Roxerz collected $32.35 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $34 | Rake $1.65
Board [8h Qc Ks Ac Jc]
Seat 1: oppway folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Kanjer53 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: roma19852009 (small blind) mucked [5h Ad]
Seat 4: Roxerz (big blind) showed [Tc Kc] and won ($32.35) with a Royal Flush
Seat 5: Pistoliere folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Majin Legacy folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Leaving for Bootcamp

2009-06-06T13:04:00.000-04:00

I'm headed to Atlantic City to the Taj Mahal right now. I haven't played poker in a while as I lost some interest but mainly due to the reason that I'm leaving for Air Force Basic Military Training in 19 days. Wish me luck, as I will prolly be gone for 6+ months.

Barely Beating 50NL

2009-04-20T11:59:00.003-04:00

So I suffered my worse day of poker yesterday. I started off the morning with -$200 10 tabling 50NL than I played at the local Sunday Home Game .50/$1.00 and I bought in for $100, upped it to $350 and lost a big hand.

I was UTG with 55 and I limped in, MP raised to $10, CO Calls, SB Calls.

FLOP 3h 4d 5s

SB bets $15
(UTG)I call with top set
MP calls
CO raises to $200 with $200 behind him
SB folds
(UTG)I'm ALL IN
MP calls time, tanks for a minute and folds KK

CO flips over 26o for the straight, I flip over my set and am looking for 10 outs and I have a 1:3 shot of hitting a boat now knowing the other cards. I didn't catch it and I busted and rebought and had my KK all in preflop vs AQo which did not hold up.. A bit of bad luck but I could of possibly fold top set on that straight board knowing that the villain is super laggy that plays a lot of connectors and crap in general.

Good news, I hit another straight flush, bad news, that straight took it away.

I chopped my 10 tabling down to 4 tabling and have been playing a lot of $3.30 KO tourneys. I need to stop playing them but they are fun. I am studying videos since I got a Stox membership via FTP. I haven't been focusing much on poker but I need to get back on my A game.

DRENbuterol

2009-04-10T11:36:00.003-04:00

I'm gonna digress from the main topic of Poker here and just blog a lil about my feelings right now. Not happy sad feelings, more of analyzing my state of being as I just received my order of DREN from bodybuilding.com. DRENbuterol is a dietary supplement that is a thermogenic that is supposed to increase the bodies metabolic rate so I can burn fat faster. I'm going on vacation to Florida in a month so I'm trying to make sure I'm as cut as possible. This stuff is Caffeine, L-5 Hydroxytryptophan, Beta Methoxyphenylethylamine and Yohimbine HCI.

So I took this at around 10AM and I was tired. I instantly woke up from this and on an empty stomache besides a donut, I felt like I was starving cause pretty much I am. I went to burger king and got 2 Whopper Jrs and I took 1 bite and felt like I'm not hungry but I still am. It feels like this thing is turning my stomache inside out but not in a painful way. It says EUPHORIC feeling and I guess this is what they mean. I guess butterflies in your stomache cause this thing probably messes with your nervous system like a madman. Hopefully I don't have a heart condition.

As for poker, I hate online in comparison to live. I make so much more in live poker but online is at your pleasure of coming and going. 50NL online is harder than 100NL live. People defend c-bets too often and if you don't c-bet, they will. I guess I need to learn to defend but those min c-bets don't make anyone fold besides me.

3rd live cash game.

2009-04-09T03:18:00.002-04:00

So I played about 7 hours of .50/$1.00 live at the same house for the 3rd time. I bought in for $100, busted and bought in for another $100. I worked my way up to $293 which in the end was a $93 profit overall. I have been playing way too tight and limp folding too many hands. I need to start raising to prevent others from raising crap. Put those people on the defensive while I can lead out etc. I wasn't so lucky as someone flopped quad 3s on me and I was drawing to nut flush but luckily I didn't get there but I paid heftily. A win is a win even though how small it is.

Win more, lose more popularity

2009-04-06T01:34:00.002-04:00

So I went to the .50/1.00 game again for the 2nd week and I bought in $100 this time. I ran pretty hot, hitting set over 2 pair, straight flush against straight, Full house over Nut Flushes, and Nut Flush against 2nd Nut Flush. I did get lucky as I was hitting the board well but a lot of the decisions I made were correct and I went from strong hands preflop to nuts in general. I did have my Aces and Kings busted for big pots by call stations but thats what happens, you lose big with hands. Both times I knew I wasn't strong in these flops but I got it relatively cheap in comparison to the profit I made. I left with around $650 after 7 hours of playing. I wanted to leave within a few hours but I kept hitting and winning large pots and I didn't wanna hit and run so I ended up staying. I'm not sure why everyone kept asking me to stay. I do have a lot of chips to be taken away from me but it's not like I was ever spewing chips.

I made a lot of live noob mistakes like counting my chips everytime I have a monster and people could read me like a book but I could get a lot of tells just by table dynamics. Not gonna go into this much but stuff like bet sizing and paying a little attention. Live poker is very dangerous though. It's high variance and people are nothing like online players. I guess that maybe a good thing.

1st Live Game

2009-03-30T00:01:00.001-04:00

So I went to my first home game, it was my first cash game live besides the Borgata which didn't really count for me since I didn't play cash back than and bought in min $60.

I bought in with $120 and left with $573. It was so nice, hit sets like crazy and pushed people around here n there but I did get some bad beats at the end but all in all, it was a profit so I'm happy. Keep playing tight and things will be right.

Heads Up!!

2009-03-25T23:44:00.002-04:00

So I was bored one day and playing Shot Online (online golf game) with a couple of friends so I decided to play some Heads Up because some people take forever to drive their balls to the green.

BAM, no HU experience besides playing STTs(9man) SNGs. I heard variance is highest in HU so I am scared to play some more. I only played HU cause I was bored but so far it's been godlike since I've been busting people in under 50 hands on average.

Party Poker $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $48.00
Hero (BTN/SB): $52.05

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN/SB with Q K
Hero raises to $1.50, BB raises to $5, Hero calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.00) K 5 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($10.00) 8 (2 players)
BB bets $8.00, Hero calls $8

River: ($26.00) 4 (2 players)
BB bets $22.00, Hero raises to $39.05, BB folds

Final Pot: $70.00
Hero wins $0.00
Hero wins $69.50
(Rake: $0.50)

Party Poker $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $33.50
Hero (BTN/SB): $110.85

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN/SB with T T
Hero calls $0.25, BB checks

Flop: ($1.00) 2 7 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.00) T (2 players)
BB bets $1.00, Hero calls $1

River: ($3.00) J (2 players)
BB bets $2.50, Hero raises to $7, BB raises to $32, Hero calls $25

Final Pot: $67.00
BB shows 9 8
Hero shows T T
Hero wins $66.50
(Rake: $0.50)

Can't be results oriented based...

2009-03-15T18:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I normally set mine like 99% of the time when it's raised 3-4x BB and they have a full stack or multiple callers but this time I didn't feel like being in the middle of a min reraise war and I wasn't hitting sets and bam, look what happened, fish stacking off light.

Full Tilt Poker Game #11157632461: Table Pale (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:27:16 ET - 2009/03/15
Seat 1: cginsula ($31.30)
Seat 2: Moby88 ($25)
Seat 3: szuwar82 ($11.88)
Seat 4: HERO ($48.37)
Seat 5: Moto ($29.42)
Seat 6: Willy Weasel ($20.50)
HERO posts the small blind of $0.10
Moto posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [7s 7c]
szuwar82 is feeling happy
Willy Weasel has 15 seconds left to act
Willy Weasel folds
cginsula raises to $0.75
Moby88 has 15 seconds left to act
Moby88 calls $0.75
szuwar82 raises to $1.25
HERO folds
Moto folds
cginsula calls $0.50
Moby88 has 15 seconds left to act
Moby88 calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [4d 7h 9c]
cginsula has 15 seconds left to act
cginsula bets $2.50
Moby88 adds $1.25
Moby88 folds
szuwar82 raises to $5
cginsula calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [4d 7h 9c] [9h]
cginsula has 15 seconds left to act
cginsula bets $3
szuwar82 raises to $5.63, and is all in
cginsula calls $2.63
szuwar82 shows [Kc Kd]
cginsula shows [Qd Ac]
*** RIVER *** [4d 7h 9c 9h] [8s]
szuwar82 shows two pair, Kings and Nines
cginsula shows a pair of Nines
szuwar82 wins the pot ($24.10) with two pair, Kings and Nines
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $25.36 | Rake $1.26
Board: [4d 7h 9c 9h 8s]
Seat 1: cginsula showed [Qd Ac] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 2: Moby88 folded on the Flop
Seat 3: szuwar82 (button) showed [Kc Kd] and won ($24.10) with two pair, Kings and Nines
Seat 4:HERO (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Moto (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Willy Weasel didn't bet (folded)

Oh well, I missed out on $50 but I did stack off a fish 125bb+ deep on set over set QQ > 77.
So my transition to 6max has gone pretty smoothly since I slowed down my crazy call station way when having a pair.

A quote from the rapper TI's song explains what goes on in my mind when I play stuff like SCs 9T and hit a pair of 10s.
"Usually n****s don't know what to do when they back against the wall
So they just start shootin'".
You're probably like WTF but what I mean is, I'm put in a position where someone is betting strong into me and I have top pair but crap kicker so I don't know what to do so I just do what most animals do, bite. I learned to just fold and get myself outta those situations and to know that I am playing suited connectors for straights and flushes, not pairs. Also note, if you hit 2 pair with a SC, it usually means the villain has the straight if they bet strong. Well, not always but it's the idea that both of you preflop had the same idea of going for straight or flush but one of you flops the 2 pair and the other flops the nuts. This used to blind me but not anymore.

I started cash 3 months ago and got goldstar 1st month at Stars and the VIP program sucks ass, so I am back grinding on FTP and their shitty software/support system but can't resist the rakeback.

I'm running -$100 under EV due to bad beats but the RB should make up for it. In Sklansky's Theory of Poker, he quoted a professional poker player who was a WSOP chip leader who suffered 2 bad beats in a row to go from chip monster to chip begger and the pro went about it like it was nothing. The point was, the pro said you can only be bad beaten if you are playing well meaning you are way ahead on whatever street you are but you just faced some bad luck. When I first started cash, I was bad beating a good amount of people and playing decently. Basically playing solid 75% of the time and the bad 25%, I was luck boxing more than I should. I feel more solid now but I am grinding for 5000 FTP for Stox 1 month membership via FTP.

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Bankroll started on FTP: $240 4 days ago
Currently: $400+81 rakeback

wow

2009-03-09T19:57:00.001-04:00

this sums up my day, multiple by 5

PokerStars Game #25790514200: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2009/03/09 19:54:16 ET
Table 'Gaika III' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: smiler1974 ($25.25 in chips)
Seat 2: Roxerz ($29.50 in chips)
Seat 4: scam_kamk ($25.65 in chips)
Seat 6: jmc1483 ($32.90 in chips)
smiler1974: posts small blind $0.10
Roxerz: posts big blind $0.25
AceMumbo: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Roxerz [Kh Kd]
scam_kamk: calls $0.25
jmc1483: calls $0.25
smiler1974: calls $0.15
Roxerz: raises $1.50 to $1.75
scam_kamk: calls $1.50
jmc1483: folds
smiler1974: folds
*** FLOP *** [Tc 7c Qc]
Roxerz: checks
scam_kamk: bets $1.75
Roxerz: raises $6.25 to $8
scam_kamk: calls $6.25
*** TURN *** [Tc 7c Qc] [6d]
Roxerz: bets $16
scam_kamk: calls $15.90 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($0.10) returned to Roxerz
*** RIVER *** [Tc 7c Qc 6d] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Roxerz: shows [Kh Kd] (a pair of Kings)
scam_kamk: shows [Qs 9h] (a straight, Six to Ten)
scam_kamk collected $49.80 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $51.80 | Rake $2
Board [Tc 7c Qc 6d 8h]
Seat 1: smiler1974 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Roxerz (big blind) showed [Kh Kd] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 4: scam_kamk showed [Qs 9h] and won ($49.80) with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 6: jmc1483 (button) folded before Flop

6max vs. FR

2009-03-08T10:18:00.000-04:00

It's kind of crazy that I am playing 6max instead of Full Ring since I am such a nitty TAG player but I believe I make good enough post flop decisions that I can hang around 6max. I moved down to 10 NL to practice and grind and now I am back at 25NL but I don't have much of a bankroll because I withdrew most of it for bills. The grind is over and over but I got a part time job so hopefully that pays for my bills while my online bankroll builds so I can become a 50NL regular. So far this month has been decent, 11500 hands and +$140 so things are running slow and steady.

I deposited on Ultimate Bet about a week ago for the deposit bonus + rakeback. Come to find out, the 30% rakeback is contributed so it's really like 15% and the deposit bonus is impossible to clear. You have to leave $25 in the UB account if you transfer so it's almost impossible to get your money off since they have a minimum withdrawal limit for US players which is $100 and costs a $8 fee. Everyone laughs at people for playing UB because of the scandal but this is the other bad side of UB as well. Stay on Stars. I have been having a huge problem of my non showdown winnings go down but of course my showdown winnings are always up because I am pretty nitty. Looking to sweat with some 25-50NL 6max regs, let me know.

Position Position Position

2009-02-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

So one day I didn't practice bankroll management and I lost a ton at 50NL but that's not the point here. So it is easy to play AKs from position but it is even easier to play pocket pairs from position. When out of position, you can only pray to be up against a weak-tight opponent but when in position, it is too easy. C-bet c-bet c-bet and sometimes you get check-raised. When you do get check-raised, it is sort of a godsend because now you know you are not behind and villain has a strong hand and you know where you are and the other times they are just a crazy bluffer but that's usually not the case. Sometimes you get the check-minraise which you are like WTFBBQ what are they doing and that's the point where stats come into play cause a reg will know that's bad if they are trying to shake you off a flush but if it's a dryboard, run.

I haven't been doing well this past month. I was doing real well my 1st month learning and destroying everything in my path even for the first 20k hands at 25NL, it was a breeze. The last 50k or so has been rough breakeven stretch and now I don't know what to do. I am going to pick up another job and hopefully not have to withdraw from my online roll so I can keep learning and progressing.

I really need to learn to fold big pots. People do it all the time when they know that the 1 card that they don't want to see comes. To me, poker isn't really about making all the right moves, it's about avoiding all the mistakes because mistakes are a shit ton more costly. Sometimes you have that monster on a straight flush board, that check/raise from the villain isn't there just saying HELLO, it's saying SHIP IT.

Sweating, coaching, videos etc.

2009-02-17T09:24:00.000-05:00

So I've been experimenting lately, moving up to 50NL and back down to 10NL and switching to 6max and back etc. I'm still hanging around FR 25NL 8 tabling but I just started back 6max and great results so far... The variance is crazy but people make some really bad moves as they stack off with TPTK and river a 2 outter vs my overpair kind of stuff.

I feel like sweat sessions have been helping me a lot as I look more in depth to what I do and I am sorta sweating / getting coached in 6 max which should help my hourly rate. I withdrew about $500 for bills but my roll is sitting around $400. I would be playing 50NL if only I didn't have bills =(

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Time to move up?

2009-02-03T13:41:00.000-05:00

The thing about poker is you are on your own for the most part. You don't have someone to guide you through the way unless you have a coach whic not many are too luck to have. I'm beating 25NL pretty easy but I'm a bit scared to move to 50NL and my bankroll isn't quite ready for it yet but my stats show that 25NL is going pretty steady. I had to withdraw money for bills and have been teaching my mom poker which hasn't been going that well.
I guess my new goals is: 50NL and to try out 6 max. I am pretty dead on with reading hands and I have been making a lot of big laydowns with KK-QQ often.

So I learned a lot of poker from the 2+2 forums but it feels like I am not learning much anymore from it. In fact, I am more or less getting berated or getting advice from people at lower stakes or not so strong winning players. I need to mind my own business a lot more but I'll keep going there as it is the poker bible to me. Than again, the reason I improved in poker was because I was told I played a hand horribly in a post about a hand I played that got paid off. My adversity should not get the worse of me; I should look at it as a challenge to conquer. It would be nice if I could get myself to play more than 6 hours a day cause the last 2 90min sessions have been $100+

Bankroll: $620 - $160withdrawl - $20 stake

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Cash Games > SNGs

2009-01-30T19:29:00.000-05:00

Cash is so much faster and with only a small bankroll, I was able to get to $20 an hour while when I was with a 4 figure bankroll, I wasn't making a great hourly rate. I've been doing it a bit crazy but results can't lie.

Went to 25NL with 4 buy ins and I'm sitting on 10.

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Don't be suprised if she ask where da cash at?

2009-01-28T14:07:00.001-05:00

Where da where da cash at... So I've started cash a week ago and I started at the botom and not following bankroll management, I'm at .05/.10 but 14k hands, I'm doing pretty decent. Hoping it will be less than 1 week til I can move to 10/25. I'm probably moving way too fast for my own good.

So I'm withdrawing my roll from FullTilt and quitting SNGs for good. No more rakeback no more useless FullTilt. Pokerstars is where it's at and 8 tabling on 2 monitors is niceeeee.

Gotta run
Bankroll: $99

Bad Beats or Arrogance?

2009-01-27T00:54:00.000-05:00

Long time ago in a land far far away, someone limped in and than got raised by my As Ks and someone else calls behind me. Board comes Ah Kh 2C and I look at my 2 pair and think, it's a good day to be me as the limper bets 2/3 the pot, I reraise 3x his bet size and the caller behind me runs away from the pot and the person before me calls the reraise. Turn comes a 4D which gives us nothing, He checks, I raise another 2/3 which makes the pot huge and he shoves over, I think donkey and snap call. River comes a 7H and as I happily turn over Top 2 pair, he flips over trips. This isn't an actual hand of mine, it's based on a TRUE STORY lol.

So I think DONK DONK DONK YOU GOT SO LUCKY DONK but the joke is on me. I want to get in his head and many times, a donk will call and sometimes just suck out but there is a math theory that will prove his limp call worthy. So what is this crazy math? Reverse Implied Odds.. You thought implied odds was bad, reverse implied odds is something like that. If you don't know what it is, google it, it's hard to explain but reverse implied odds for him is to win 8x the amount of the pot. How or why will this work? Because knowing that a pocket pair will only hit a set is 12% chance or 1/8 times. So we will miss 7/8 times so we will be losing most likely 7/8 times if we fold to any bet on the flop. So that 1 time we hit our set, we can usually guess we have the nuts on the flop and in the end, you are still probably a major favorite and if the board gives him a strong hand like A or K, you probably think he might have A or K and will fight with this hand. A lot of people fight strongly with A K as a hand and why not, it is powerful and I'm not sure if it's all your chip worthy, it has been proven that a lot of people will risk all their chips.

So put yourself in the shoes of the villain in the .05/.10 game with max buy in at $10.00, you limp in and the raiser bets .40 and someone after him calls, BB and SB folds and you call with 2C 2H. The pot is now at $1.35 and you get the A K 2 flop and bet $1.00 which is about 2/3 the pot and you are reraised $3, other villain folds and you call and pot is now $7.75. The pot is huge and you guys both have about $6 left behind so either way, you're gonna go all in most likely or he is, depend on how your read of his strength, you check and he goes all in and you call. You win the pot and take his $10.00 so that 10 cent limp turned into 30 cent more call made about 30 times the original investment.

I may have done some math wrong but this is a simple concept after you get the jist of it and I wonder, am I missing more concepts and are these people sucking me out?

Reads = Nuts, 5 bet = bad beat heaven

2009-01-24T18:26:00.000-05:00

I started on PStars again with $20 starting at .01/.02 NL and I moved up in about 2 days to .02/.05 which is pretty beatable as long as your luck is way better than mine. I'm playing at way smaller stakes than my bankroll and I've been posting about some situations with top pocket pairs and people seem to take me as a joke. I don't know why I am bothering to ask because my reads have been dead on and it's so easy to spot the types of players at these stakes.

First is the loose donk, you will see him with a short stack shoving over your raise with nothing.
Call stations, they like to play a lot of hands and it's hard to c-bet them but if you hit, they are people you make money off of.
Dream chasers, they chase flushes, straights, 3 outters and they just don't know what pot odds are, this is where I make most of my money.
Learning Fish, the weak/tight players who try to play premium hands but don't realize positional disatvantages. You can bluff these kids so easy.

So I've been talking about how my reads have been right on and yeah, it's simple to read if someone has AA-QQ + AK. How? 4-5 betting. Donks just shove over and yeah it's possible they can have AA but they also won't have it a lot as well. When I raise preflop 3-4x BB with KK-AA and someone reraises 3x exactly the size of my raise, we know he knows standard AA-QQ play. I reraise again to get another read and if they call, it's more likely they have QQ, possible KK-AK, sometimes slow roll AA but rarely. If they raise over, you know it's AA-KK.

So I've had 7/8 reads correct. The one read I had wrong was when I had AA. This one was tricky because it was a 3 way pot and I tried to min raise to keep the other guy in the pot(wrong and greedy) but he eventually got away when he was the 4bet small reraise by the villain. So what did I have the villain on? I reraised all in and the villain called and I was 99% sure KK. I was wrong, he flipped over AA to split and luckily for the 3rd villain who folded earlier, the rake didn't destroy us.

I've had KK one too many times and each time I would either win the blind or lose my stack. So.. I 5 betted a lot of villains and they continuously flipped over Aces. I was pretty upset that I was beating the stake but than I would break even because of these preflop wars. So I got AA and they have been making very little but solid wins and I was lucky to 5 bet another person who I read had KK and I saw the flop and was thinking, well it makes the chance that he does have KK smaller but I still stuck with my read and he flipped over KK for a set that took another buy in.

So someone was like continue to play the Kings the way you do because you still have a 20-80 chance of beating Aces and those are horrible odds. Well another 5 bet later with my KK, I read Aces and yes he flipped over AA but my horrible luck ended as I flipped over Quad Kings.

All this is under 6,000 hands and this is at microstakes. So what people have been telling me was wrong. Yes there are donks at microstakes but there are a lot of people who know how to maximize EV.

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Bankroll $61

Good news, Bad news, New news

2009-01-22T20:38:00.000-05:00

So we gotta start with the bad cause it leads to the good.
BAD NEWS: FTP closed my account due to 'multi-accounting'. I had made an old account back than and used it once, ya know one of those drunk deposit and blowing through $50. So when I got serious with poker, I played on Pokerstars than realized I could get rakeback on FTP so I made an account there and got rakeback.

GOOD NEWS: They will transfer my money I earned to my old account which is nice I didn't lose hundreds of dollars but without rakeback, FTP is not really a good pokersite to play on.

NEW NEWS: Since the account closing and my goal in the New Year to switch to cash which I sucked at, I tried .01/.02 NL today and am running hotter than the sun.

Pokerstars Bankroll Started with $20 now I'm at $44.

So Stressed, Poker is a mindfuck

2009-01-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

Excuse my French, but the past few weeks that I have been playing which has been a lot less has been a stressful time. My graph shows major downswings and upswings and I feel that I have been playing better and better the nothing has improved. I've seen so many 3 outters hit against me and most were preflop but even when it was not, I don't know what is going on in the villain's mind but he went for it and it just always seemed to hit. I play solid, I'll get 1st or 4th and what that will end up is me breaking even over time. Variance is supposed to be smaller over a larger sample and I figure 4 games at a time maybe too small, maybe not. So many call stations and slow playing donks, it has been a rough road. The issue with me slow playing others verse others slow playing me is that I chase dreams, they chase flushes and straights.

Big Stack Bully!

2009-01-18T11:25:00.000-05:00

I love bullying people around when it comes to the bubble. Some people will pick up that I'm a bully, some people just have a wide calling range and will prove that they have the balls to stand up to me or will have the balls to stand up to me and have no chips left. I don't completely bluff a lot, I do a lot of semi bluffs with marginal high cards or suited cards. Sometimes they get called and suck out on others, sometimes I look like an idiot. You can't bully everyone though. It is easier to bully regulars rather than bully fish because fish will call based on their cards, not ICM. I must admit, I am one of those fish many times because I feel like I am bullied constantly because I have to double up in those bubble situations and I believe I don't have to many BBs left so I make bad calls with KQo that have small chances vs Ax and are coin flipping with pocket pairs.

I've been on tilt trying to open up during the bubble and I realize, bullying has its conditions as well. You can't really bully as a middle stack as well as you can as a short or large stack. Short stacking is a common strategy where people shove which has a lot of Fold Equity but if you are so short stacked that pot odds dictate you to be called from the BB, it's not as effective. As the big stack, if there are 4 people and 3 get paid and the 2nd large stack folds and you have a a med-small stack in the BB and a micro stack in the SB, than the med-small stack realizes the micro stack will blind out sooner so he will play it safe and fold and hope that the SB will have to take the coin flip first. This is very good in theory but you have to know who you are bullying if they bite back stupidly or not. People make stupid calls and get amazing pots but for the most part, they shouldn't or won't, win the pots that is. I haven't been playing much and things have been goin up and down a lot lately..

Bankroll: $407

Things are looking up

2009-01-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

My sister and her boyfriend came over and my sister's boyfriend used to be a Party Poker grinder back in the day which funded his college tuition. He is now an auditor/accountant which also helps with his poker skills but he has no need to play. I told him about me being unemployed and how I've been paying my bills through poker but I'm barely living. I haven't been playing much and December was a horrible month in general. With 6 months of experience playing poker, I am still relatively a newb and in the last post 3 days ago, I found another flaw in my game. People say loosen up but the question is how loose? I got too loose and I corrected it and the past 3 days, my ROI skyrocketed. I know my sample size is so small and I still have to improve a lot still but I can't keep saying things without posting some sort of graph. I realized if I played 40 hours a week, I could make a great living.
Average $6.50 turbo game time: 45mins, 4 tabling
8 hours = 480minutes / 45mins 10.6 games x 4 tables = 42.5 games x 25% ROI = $63. It beats minimum wage and I don't plan on staying at the $6 stake too long but if I could get to the $11 stake before I have to withdraw, it will give me a chance to build my bankroll a bit faster as long as my ROI doesn't drop. I think I did the math wrong or possibly since my ROI has skyrocketed over this small sample size, I've been making $50 in 1-2hours the past 2 days.

Difference between Loose and Aggressive, Bubble Time

2009-01-06T17:48:00.000-05:00

As to my last post about my FTP account being closed/suspended, it was because of my Ultra Prepaid Account that I made to deposit with Full Tilt was suspended due to excessive balance. They charge horrendous fees for everything and I racked up about $75+ worth just from one $50 deposit. I feel like it's a scam but than again, who can regulate something that is already not so legal.

Anyway, to the point, I haven't been playing much poker lately due to playing a lot of other video games and just being bored/burnt out with poker. I got my FTP license plate and my $500 from FTP so I had about $300 left and had tilted away almost $100 or so but now I'm back to $300. I decided to move down to $2.25 which is really a super small stakes for me but I beat it too easily but it is a lot of bad beats to handle sometimes but I learned how to reduce my volatility a bit.

Volatility is sorta like variance, basically trying to reduce as much luck as possible so you have a consistent win rate and thats not what I have, I either hit 1st or 4th which has it's benefit sometimes..
I've gone over it before but play by position. AKo in button facing a raise is grea to call instead of reraise. Now another thing I had not thought about that has messed my game up a lot. Bubble time, I am 3rd-4th tied for botom stack and it is bubble with about 10x BB left. I shove too often with ATC when folded to me. Theoretically it is correct and ICM will back a lot of shoves up but if you shove too many times in a certain amount of time, you're gonna run into Aces or someone is gonna get tired of you and flip with A9o and that flip is not worth it. During bubble time, folding equity is important. When someone calls your all-in, you better hope to be 70-30 and not 53-47 because you are the small stack, it's all over if you lose that flip but if you can make them fold and get those chips that will keep you in the game longer instead of blinding up to the top, you will have a higher survival rate.

I have been picking on the other short stacks and continuosly stealing chips and I run into trouble and lose. Yes you are supposed to open up and become looser with your hands near the bubble but it doesn't mean taking 27o and shoving unless you really have to.

I had 1500 chips with blinds 300/600 so 2.5 BB left and I was the SB vs the BB who had only 1800 and it was folded to me with 27s. The worse starting hand almost and this would be a 98% bluff but could I fold with 2.5 BB left? Hell no, the BB still has more chips than me and I would blind out first if we both just folded. I hit time and shoved and he folded. I am now in 3rd with a bigger stack and now the small stack has 1200 chips and shoves and is called and he flips over 88 which loses to JJ.. I barely made it but if this was 2 weeks ago, I would of shoved with ATC with 4 BB to the chip leader who is a loose call station and I would of probably lost. Because I was patient and the blinds got so large, I made a good shove at the perfect time where I would of moneyed no matter what cause the small stack had to be called by anyone because of pot odds.

Since I was patient and I moneyed, it's now ok to shove ATC and pray to get lucky but I won a K8 vs A5 which is very lucky to double up against chip leader and than the I proceeded to watch the chip leader suck out on mid stack and that got me to go heads up which I do decently. Either way, 1st or 2nd is a hell of a lot better than 4th which doesn't get paid.

Publish Post

When they say TAG early that's about 15/10 and LAG later that's about 30/20 or so, doesnt mean 40/30 which would be what I seemed to do if you reset the hands played before the bubble. Ofcourse, conditions always matter and if you are the chip leader by far, learn to bully right.

Bankroll: $312

It's Christmas but I'm not so Merry.

2008-12-25T19:26:00.000-05:00

Well yesterday, Christmas Eve, Full Tilt Poker does the holiday thing by suspending my account. So $800 bucks on there and I had set a withdraw for $500 few days before to pay some bills. If I don't get that $500 in time, I will be behind on my bills and I don't know what to do. I just got a message saying to email loginsupport@fulltiltpoker.com and ofcourse around this time and it being FullTilt, the reply will take forever. What am I gonna do? Well I have a couple bucks in my bank account and I deposit $25 on Pokerstars and right now I'm grinding it out. $1 SNGs will take forever to build and I honestly don't know how I did it before.

I was like either do or die time so I just jumped to $3.40 SNGs and am hoping to break $60 by tonight. Than hopefully double that by tommorow and be able to grind $6.50 turbos. Pokerstars support is amazing but I truly hate not having rakeback since I made almost $100 in rakeback this month on FTP. I will be grinding on Stars as Roxerz and I'll be around the 2+2 forums so stop by and give me a PM wishing me luck cause I will need it. New goal, $500 in 1 week.. I've seen $5 to $1000 but that guy was a pro, I'm just joe schmuck.

Bankroll: $19 :(

A day in the life of a Poker Grinder

2008-12-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

So what have I been up to lately? After I quit my job a month ago, I've been trying to find another job until I ship out to boot camp for the Airforce but with the bad economy, it's been rough so I can look towards poker for support. I started learning poker 5 months ago so I am still a newbie in my eyes but I have advanced faster than the average poker player. I've been supporting myself from poker for the last month and I know that's such a short time spand that it's not even really considerable, but eh, beats being a bum doing nothing.

So every morning I'm up by 9-10AM and I'm thinking, what's life gonna bring me today, hot streaks or bad beats. If poker is your only income, you're considered a poker pro even if you make a thousand a month or hundreds of thousands. Of course I don't consider myself a pro, I'm still in my baby stages and I only play the micro/low stakes and I'm a Sit N Go grinder, a tournament style of poker. It's one of the slowest forms of poker in terms of profit but it's pretty consistent as in I have a 1 in 3 chance of winning some money. Cash games tend to be more harsh, you are up against 5-9 other people and you can lose hundreds to thousands of dollars in 1 hand, happens a lot and happens daily, but of course you can be that person who wins all that..

Unlike other jobs where you earn an income and it becomes your capital, your capital is your income because you can only risk about 1-5% of your total bank roll in a game. If you have $10,000 and you enter a game that cost $5,000, if you lose twice, you are broke and now unemployed. If you have $10,000 you have to play games in the range of $100-$200 range where that's what you will buy in with.

Not everyday is a good day, not every day will bring you happiness. There are a ton of idiots that will take that 1 in 5 shot to take all your money and 4 out of 5 times, you take theirs but sometimes fate throws you a curve ball and it just hits ya in the nuts. Poker players feed off these idiots who go for that 1 in 5 shot but there's always luck so that's what makes poker.... POKER.

The benefits of poker are SO AMAZING! You have a job you can play any time, the amount of money can be thousands to hundreds of thousands a year, no commuting, and it's sometimes so easy. 1 hour of work, I made more than in a day serving tables at On the Borer. The downside of poker will make you want to jump off a bridge and pull some people with you. Sometimes you play really well and that 1% chance someone else wins happens... happens over and over again. You can't control that you played solid poker and are hurting because some wreckless idiot beat you again. This downswing can last for days to months, mathematically it's gonna happen to you but sometimes it just lasts longer than it should. Many people have lost their life savings from gambling but they were irresponsible, they were ignorant to how amateur/pro poker players almost never go broke. My social life has gone to shit, all I do is read poker books, forums and get on my poker grind; It's not really that fun anymore, there's no chatting, it's all about getting your reads on people and it's either, idiot or dangerous player.

My social skills are going to shit and I'm emotionless besides happy and angry. But through hard work and determination, I'll hopefully be living comfortably in the Airforce with poker as a nice side job. Even though I haven't called or said anything to anyone, I miss my old friends and co-workers etc. Maybe you might see me at the World Series of Poker(WSOP) on ESPN =P

my dual monitor setup

bankroll: $780

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Start playing poker and not your hands

2008-12-13T14:33:00.000-05:00

I realize why I'm probably losing at the $10+1 level, I'm playing ABC hands and not poker. If I miss the flop I just check and fold even with position. Analyze the freakin flop according to your PF raise, is it in this person's range? Maybe I should stop 4 tabling and get back to 1 tabling with analyzation because I stopped thinking as to what people are doing and as to why they are doing it. If I see 1 high card J or Q and I raise, it's a decent flop to bet at with position and get notes on people who do slow play.

I moved back down to $5 and so far it seems a lot easier. People are a lot looser and will min bet variation of 3 betting back at you with nothing and play the flop strong like they had something. In the $10 level, if peope sense weakness in you, they will 3 bet you and take the pot down sometimes. I'm not used to 3 betting in SNGs unless I have premium hands or it's an all in situation.

Raising to stop post flop play, when you are out of position with a good hand like AKo but don't want to take the risk of missing the flop and having to c-bet out of position, bet a size that people would rather not call. My constant 3x BB strategy to cover up my hands isn't that good anymore since it's too 1 dimensional since I have a small premium range and will bet at what I hit. Slow playing is the other side but thats just 2 dimensional and thats just a 50/50 read of if I have it or not. I need to learn to call down hands and keep allowing aggros to bet at me but watch for the freaking flushes..

Breakeven/losing days, time to review

2008-12-11T15:26:00.000-05:00

So my hot streak has ran out and I decided to review what has been causing me to lose. I've been thinking too much in absolutes and not considering all the other factors when making my moves. I have 9BB left and I have a have 33 UTG, I shove since I'm under 10x BB... The any two card(ATC) shove isn't the best. It's good in theory and mathematically logical but it's not always right and I haven't taken into consideration of people's VPIP/PFR. Also, from UTG, it's not in my tight hand range even loosened up for an all in.

I've been reading a lot and reviewing but don't take into consideration that these books and notes are all situational. So let's review the thing I have read and learned and further review the conditions to make these theories true.
You have 8x BB left and you are on the button 5 manned, is a shove correct? Only if it is folded to you and the BB and SB are tight. If their stack is huge and they are very loose, they can call depending on pot odds so be weary but theoretically you should shove ATC.

You have 7x BB and you have 22 UTG 4manned, should you shove? This one is rough since you are blinding out soon and you have a decent card. You are ahead of AK in a coin flip and it is the bubble so yes shoving is good.

You have AQ on the button, blinds 20/40 and it's 9 manned early with UTG raising to 160. UTG range this early is tight and with a raise like that you can only call from button, you have position, no point in reraising here. Normally I call but even if an A flops, do you still think you have the best hand? Look at his VPIP/PFR and if it's more than 16VPIP than call, if it's not, he's a nit and you can fold.

Heads Up, A8o is the minimum top tier hand to go all in with according to Harrington. It is not the minimum 3 way remember. More people = become more knitty. KQo is not that great all in 4manned, it is ok 3 manned because your ITM but if you have KQo vs A2, remember you are still behind.

I fell in love with high suited connectors like TJ JQ KQ but they are trouble most of the time. They have many outs but remember, those outs are for the nut straight/flush, not top pair ok kicker. Mid pairs are 77-99, they are mid game raisers, not 22-55, they are limped all game until heads up and possible 3 manned. Play more aggressively during HU, less aggressive bubbling because of my over aggression, I loosen too much.

Do not call OOP and make sure your calling hands are better than your raising hands.
Bankroll: $693

Satellites to the $750,000

2008-12-07T15:16:00.000-05:00

So I entered 4 satellites to the $750,000 today, 1st was the 300FTP 9man SNG which I hit 4th, ran card dead and the donks just were running hot. I entered a 50FTP 90+ man turbo which was just pure luck and I didn't luck out. Than I went out of my bankroll management and tried a $24+2 which I figured I could outplay people in which I did but 3 hands got me from ITM to outta the tourney. Who knew J2 would destroy KQ. My last attempt was a $69+6 turbo MTT I saw 25 spots got paid guaranteed and when I entered 30 seconds before it started, there were only 40 players so what great odds. The late registration made that into 93 players and now 29 spots and 30th is like $150 so I play tight and triple up and when it came to bubble time, the blinds were the size of a lot of people's stack at 500/1000. I had 3k chips left and kept folding everything and no one was getting knocked out so the blinds came back to me and I only had 1k behind me and the chipleader shoved on me, I called with A8 and doubled up and watch everyone blind/ante out.

The bubble was hillarious after I doubled up. No more pressure, and people with 1500 chips were at risk even more than the ones with 500 chips because of position. Whoever was blinded out first was just unlucky in comparison to the guy in last position who was getting ante'd out with 150chips lol. So I won the $200+16 buy in but I'm gonna just take the money and run. Yet again, too much money for me to risk.
So I'm up +$130ish
Bankroll: $691

Goals and Accomplishments on my journey.

2008-12-05T23:16:00.000-05:00

So my first post I had just a little bit of time to post so I didn't go in to deep about it. My goal was first to be a winning player but that came pretty quick, it's my journey to $13,000. Why 13K? That's a lot of money for someone who started off with $25-$50. I have a lot of bills to pay and that would take a lot of stress off my skin.

On the way of grinding up, I played a few MTTs and Cash games that stray away from my SNG grind. Cash, nothing notable since I don't really get much of a profit or any but MTTs are something I loved but the variance kills me and sometimes they take too long. With my small bankroll, I played a 50 cent tourney which had 2800 entrants. After 6 hours, I placed 6th for a mere $36.00 but a 7200% payout but imagine if that was $5.00 game... When I decided I was determined to switch to FTP and get rakeback, I had no money to deposit and had no money in my FTP account but I did have like 500 FTP(it's like frequent flyer miles). I used 300FTP to buy in a 9man SNG which I sat and watched 7 people get knocked out so fast and with my mere $3000 chips versus $10,500 chips, I didn't have the odds but the blinds were so small since it was only like 20 minutes into the game so blinds were still like 80/160ish. I played so aggressively from the start of heads up and I kept hitting the flop so nicely and just kept winning every pot and about 10 hands later, I was left with 13,500 chips all alone.

That 13,500 chips translated into 2500FTP which was automatically sending me to the next round against 2,000 people and only 108 will get into the Sunday $750,000. I played solid winning about all my hands that I did play and than the blinds got pretty high around 300 players and I was a short stack. I shoved with QQ and bam a big stack calls with AA. I was pretty angry that I played so solid and I played the hand correctly to be unlucky enough to run into Aces but luckily another Queen-bee showed up for Trip Queens to win and I got to the top 50 which was way more than enough. I won $200+16, the buy in for the Sunday $750,000 but I chose to withdraw and just keep the money, but 1st place for the Sunday $750K is about $140k which could do me well but I'll take a crack at that when I'm more comfy.

Bankroll $507

My 1st Post

2008-12-04T15:19:00.000-05:00

This blog has been long overdue. I started learning poker seriously about 5 months ago. I probably tilted about $250 before I started becoming break-even than eventually became a winning player. I started playing cash games and I totally sucked at it and still do a bit at this point but I'm a SNG player(Sit n Go). It's a small tournament style 1 or 2 table game.

I was an avid member on bodybuilding.com forums and I found a poker thread there and some guy known as DeathbyLight pointed me to the 2+2 forums where I started learning from the daily poker grinders. I was playing the $1 / 45man tournaments and I was decent but barely making anything. DBL pointed me to the STT(Single Table Tournaments) which have a lower variance(consistency of winning/losing) so a skilled player will prevail in the long run.
My 1st graph

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My current graph

Starting Bankroll $100
Current Bankroll $470