Officially switching to wordpress

I'm not going to keep this blog in synch with Wordpress any more. Might just let it grow moss, might delete it eventually or I might use it for a specific aspect of my poker journey.

The killer blow was Wordpress handling of media. It's sooo useful being able to get clean URLs to images that you've uploaded to the site.

I also like the stats - showing me just how few people visit :)

I like Blogger's simple interface but Wordpress has grown on me a lot. I like the idea of video hosting there too in time.

Anyhow, thanks for standing by me all this time Blogger. I'm sure you'll survive without me.

FT Challenge Day 12

I'm correcting the day counter - should be day 12.

Anyway, just a short session tonight because I've not been getting enough sleep. Did okay. No nasty surprises, no quads!

One table was great, actually found some loose weak tight players that were folding too much post flop and making no signs of adjusting to aggression.

Stats:
124 hands BB/100 14.52
29/20.9/2.67 3Bet 6.45% CBet Flop 84.62%
WTSD 27.5 W$SD 63.64
Att to Steal 48.15 FoldBB to Steal 0%
LWPC 12.5%

Didn't quite make it to the elusive 300BB mark today. Fingers crossed for the next session.

FT Challenge Day 11

What a rollercoaster!

I had a great session in the evening then decided I should try put more hands in and break the bankroll for the next level up then had a horrible evening session. Basically too tired to hand read plus some nasty variance (like Quad Queens versus nut straight).



Stats:
725 hands
28.6/20.83/2.24 3B 5.24
WTSD 37.50 W$SD 55.56
Att to Steal 37.4, Fold to Steal 45%
Limp WPC 15%
BB/100 2.51
Rake $13.85
Fold to T Raise 25%

FT Challenge Days 9 and 10

Had reasonable sessions over last couple of days as I tightened up my post flop play. Had a particularly good session tonight.

633 Hands
27/19.4/1.9 3Bet 4.73 CBet F 85.92
WTSD 39.3, W$SD 55.70
AttSteal 32.52 Fold BB to Steal 50%
LWPC 10.76%
BB/100 7.98
Rake $12.15
Fold to Turn Raise 42%

Still Swimming after a Week!

Apart from a disastrous session playing ill-yet-still-over-confident-and-showdown-bound this morning, the first week has gone okay.



Had I not played this morning, there’s a strong likelihood I’d have moved up a stake this weekend. Mustn’t dwell on it though. All in good time – certainly do NOT want to be having sessions like that at higher stakes!

With regard to the $50 rakeback part of the objective, I’ve accrued just over $10 of rakeback with only 2/3 of the month remaining. This is definitely looking overly ambitious now unless I move up the stakes.

The difficulty accruing rakeback at FT has helped me to appreciate the old loyalty bonuses at Everest: even though they only occurred at most once every two months, I was clearing $50 in 3-5 days there playing 6-max $.25/$.50. The downside was that the clearance requirements grew rapidly once you moved up from the lowest VIP tier.

Anyhow, glad I’m still afloat. Long may it continue.

FT Challenge Day 8

I fell ill on Friday and couldn't play.

I should have stayed away from the tables Saturday morning too because I lost a whopping 60BB. Must admit some of the problem was over-confidence caused by the mounting backroll. Over-confidence led to loose play and bad showdown habits.

Buckled down this afternoon and evening. Clawed back 40BB. With rakeback and bonus that takes my account a little closer to the magic mark to move up to the next level. Won't make it this weekend though.

Anyhow, here are the stats.

842 Hands
30/21.38/1.54
WTSD 40.43 W$SD 50%
Steal 38.15% FBB to Steal 62.96
Limp WPC 14.43%
BB/100 -2.29
Rake $13.39 (=rakeback of $3.60)
CBet F 84%
Fold to Turn Raise 41%

Estimated total rackback this month is around $11. Just about a fifth of the number needed for the challenge in 1 third of the time. Ah well!

I might give myself two months. Just shows that the bonuses at Everest have been very good value: I was clearing $50 in 3-5 days playing less hands!

FT Challenge Day 6

A rocky session this evening but somehow pulled a positive BB/100 out the bag.

I had one table that just didn't go right for me at all for most of the session. Will have to review as I'm sure I called down way too much.

Anyhow, stats for today:
386 Hands
27/19.4/1.97 3bet 2.27%
WTSD 39 W$SD 48.94
Steal 38.67% FBBtoSteal 62.50%
LWPC 7.78
BB/100 5.26
Rake $6.70
CBet Flop 75.56%
Fold T Raise 0%

The Fold to raise stat is perhaps telling along with the more obvious W$SD < 50%.

Oooops, just realized that "Fold T Raise" is "Fold to Turn Raise".. not the stat I was looking for but all the same, I've been folding around 25% of hands in this spot but today I didn't fold any.

FT Challenge Day 5

Only squeezed in two sessions in the last few days but they both went pretty well. Got lucky sometimes but that evened out.



Maybe $1.25 rake...

Results for July 09

Just going to post this on DC. Needed somewhere to store the image so why not make a post out of it like I used to when I was winning nice amounts each month.

FT Challenge Day 3

Played abysmally today. Lucky to only lose 15BB. At one point I was down almost 60...



I have some seriously bad call down habits. It's costing me a fortune but I don't know how to ween myself off of it.

Another $2.50 rakeback approx

FT Challenge Day 2

Day two went really well thanks to a good run of cards in the mid-day session: I opened up three tables with a view to closing the worst one and ended up making money on all three. The extra concentration meant I tailed off towards the end and my last hand was another C-game moment.

Here are the stats (approximately):



Think I scraped about another $3 rakeback in total.

Risked playing again this evening when I was tired and it almost ended in tears. Lost a lot on one table by calling down many times when I was way behind but thankfully balanced it out on another.

FTChallenge Day 1

Day one went ok bankroll-wise. I accrued about $2.20 rakeback.

The goal of $50 by month end may be a little ambitious but early days yet.

Here are some non-results-oriented stats:



Here's one of the C-game hands from an early session in the day. Villain was very loose and I have a habit of equating looseness to high bluff frequency. This guy didn't need to bluff because I kept getting paying him off!

Villian's stats are 79/21/1 WTSD 40% W$SD 45% after 117 hands

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em - 4 players - View hand 214724

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.4 SB) Hero is CO with 7 7

Hero raises, BTN calls, SB calls, BB calls

Flop: (8 SB) A T A (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets, BTN folds, SB folds, BB raises, Hero calls

Turn: (6 BB) 2 (2 players)

BB bets, Hero calls

River: (8 BB) Q (2 players)

BB bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 10 BB

BB shows A T (a full house, Aces full of Tens)
Hero mucks 7 7
BB wins 9.5 BB
(Rake: $0.25)



This doesn't look like a flop where you're going to fold out better hands or get hands worse than 77 to call. My thought process at the time was "if I had an Ace here, I'd continuation bet. The fact that there are two aces on board makes it less likely my opponents have an Ace so I'll continuation bet and hope to take the hand down here".

Thing is, how valid is this thought process against 3 opponents?

Even if the continuation bet was okay, with no draws beyond gutshots and backdraws on this scary board, the raiser (without a very good read otherwise) is most likely holding Ace, Ten or a strong pocket pair so I probably should have folded to the raise.

Villain's play was completely consistent with his hand but in the heat of the moment, I didn't even think before hitting the "call" button and going into call down mode.

Swimming with Sharks

In an effort to spur myself to greatness, I'm going to state objectives for August loud and clear right here for all to see. Whether I come back to reveal the results at month end or give any updates in between is an entirely different matter!

This month my goal is to face the aggro-shark infested waters of Full Tilt micro limits and accrue a minimum of $50 rakeback without going broke. I'm starting with about 300BB.

For me this isn't going to be easy:
* somewhat embarrassingly, I'm a losing player at $.25/$.50 6max at both Full Tilt and Party Poker.
* I don't get to play many hands per month due to work commitments
* I have a bad record playing aggressive opposition
* My hand reading sucks :(

I named this post "Swimming with Sharks" not because I want to swim with them but because it's an inevitabe outcome of playing regularly at any site these days.

Table selection/quitting must be one of the first skills to improve this month, followed immediately by better hand-reading. Without these pillars supporting my game, I may only last a few sessions!

New look for Full Tilt

The new Full Tilt Poker client downloaded to my PC today.



You get to choose which lobby you want...



I chose the new beta. It's pretty clean and the custom table list is a great timesaver.




Like the new widgets too.

Just desserts for a maniac!

I may get complaints from my neighbours about this hand. It was 2am when I finally stacked the table maniac. May have shouted in the moment. Can't remember how loud, but I definitely remember punching my fist in the air.

One time!

Full Tilt $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 192624

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP posts a big blind (1 SB)

Pre Flop: (2.4 SB) Hero is CO with K Q

1 fold, MP checks, Hero raises, 1 fold, SB 3-bets, BB calls, MP calls, Hero calls

Flop: (12 SB) 2 3 4 (4 players)

SB bets, BB folds, MP calls, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, MP calls, Hero caps!, SB calls, MP calls

Turn: (12 BB) Q (3 players)

SB bets, MP calls, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, MP calls, Hero caps!, SB calls, MP calls

River: (24 BB) 8 (3 players)

SB bets, MP folds, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 28.6 BB
Hero shows K Q
SB shows A 3

Hero wins 27.6 BB

(Rake: $0.50)

First intentionally missed CBet after PFR

Since I moved to 6-max, I've been CBetting 100% of flops after a pre-flop raise. The guys at DeucesCracked advocated against this in general terms so I've started to look for spots where it's better to check behind.

This one worked out pretty well. I have overcards with only a loose connection to the flop and a draw heavy board.

EverestPoker $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 172661

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.6 SB) Hero is CO with T Q

UTG calls, Hero raises, 1 fold, SB calls, 1 fold, UTG calls

Flop: (7 SB) 8 4 9 (3 players)

SB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (3.5 BB) 7 (3 players)

SB bets, UTG calls, Hero calls

River: (6.5 BB) J (3 players)

SB bets, UTG folds, Hero raises, SB calls

Final Pot: 10.5 BB

Hero shows T Q
Hero wins 10 BB
(Rake: $0.25)

A personal touch from the HoldemManager team

Had a lovely experience yesterday: an update to HoldemManager contained an enhancement that I'd asked for only a few days before.



It's only a small thing but I'd been putting up with it for months thinking that surely someone had mentioned it and it would be fixed sometime. I'd search the forums previously and not found any mention. Update after update, no change. Maybe I was missing something?

So, a few days ago I decided to bite the bullet and go ask if I could set the default Min BBs somewhere.

Lo and behold, the same day a support guy says he'll mention it to the developers. A few days later I get confirmation that the next beta update will contain the fix. The next day, out pops a beta!

Admittedly, I was lucky to get the request in during a phase of quick updates but heck, it feels great to be on the receiving end of responsive customer service. :)

The shine wears thin

Had a really rocky month this month. Losing overall at all sites.

Again I thought I'd turned the corner at Everest a few days ago having had a really good winning streak over 500 hands playing a relatively LAGgy style. Recovered all loses and looked to be heading off my 500BB goal to move up a limit.

Settled down to a session the next day and BAM! Lost it all again and more over the course of the next 500 hands.

Think I may not be able to break through at all unless I learn to hand read better. Sessions with low W$SD totally kill any chance I have of making it to higher stakes.

Wierd thing is... why is this happening now? How comes I had 3 or 4 months of good results? Is variance really this cruel?

Hollywood Poker upgraded to OnGame P5 Engine

The upgrade was announced about a week ago. Roll out to be incremental. Finally filtered down to my account today. Looks like an Adobe AIR application.



The new lobby looks crisp and clean.



The tables are responsive but I’d prefer them without the avatars and perhaps a little less animation too. Not much is configurable at the minute.




Bye bye HUD and session imports into HEM for the forseeable futue.

the lucky PLO hand in full

Party Poker $2.00 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 9 players - View hand 145462

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $2.67

CO: $7.58

BTN: $0.92

SB: $6.14

BB: $4.04

UTG: $2.99

UTG+1: $6.55

Hero (UTG+2): $2.25

MP1: $0.82

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is UTG+2 with J 8 K T

UTG calls $0.02, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.06, 1 fold, MP2 raises to $0.10, 4 folds, UTG calls $0.08, Hero calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.33) T K J (3 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets $0.16, MP2 calls $0.16, UTG folds

Turn: ($0.65) 6 (2 players)

Hero bets $0.32, MP2 raises to $0.64, Hero raises to $1.99, MP2 calls $1.35

River: ($4.63) 3 (2 players)

Final Pot: $4.63

Hero wins $4.40

(Rake: $0.23)