Half way up Everest!

250 out of 500 points achieved at Everest. Phew!

Lets hope I get some decent hands on the way to the summit...

Back to black

Well, I tightened up my game and, thanks to a very aggressive gambler who had the second nuts, made back all the money I'd lost.

Actually, from the chart above, it looks like I won it back twice since the last post. However, I was playing far too many hands and getting burnt so it was just luck the first time. Okay, so there was luck the second time but at least I wasn't losing as much in between the big hands.

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Everest $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.6 SB) Hero is SB with 8 A

UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, 3 folds, BTN calls, Hero calls, BB checks

Flop: (5 SB) T 4 K (5 players)

Hero checks, BB bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, BTN folds, Hero calls

Turn: (4 BB) 7 (3 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets, Hero raises, BB folds, UTG 3-bets, Hero caps!, UTG caps!, Hero caps!, UTG caps!, Hero caps!, UTG caps!, Hero caps!, UTG caps!, Hero caps!, UTG caps!, Hero caps!, UTG caps!, Hero caps!, UTG calls

Final Pot: 36 BB
UTG shows 3 Q
Hero shows 8 A
Hero wins 35 BB
(Rake: $0.50)

How to lose it all!

Just lost all the money I've won over the last 5 days!

Bummer. Pretty sobering thought. Just when I thought I was getting somewhere I go donk it all :(

I'm sooo tired today because I couldn't sleep last night. Not sure I would have played any better if I wasn't tired though. Table was full of tight aggressive players. Couldn't make any headway.

You know, I'm tempted to try again later. Maybe the dangerous addiction is coming? Watch this space...

OMG Saved by the Bell!

Had an awful session on one table today. Came very close to losing all the money I've grinded out over the last couple of days. Playing 3 tables isn't a good idea. Must have the dicipline to close the $.10/$0.20 table once I'm seated at the two $0.25/$0.50 tables.

Had a big downswing today on one table but luckily got paid off by one guy right at the end to bring me back level. So, in the end, I still made the point quota without losing anything.

Long and winding road

Did another 25 point session at Everest tonight. Took 3.5 hours! Stuck to limit hold'em starting at $.10/$.20 whilst I waited for a seat at $0.25/$0.50 only to donk $8.00 in the first few rounds.

I played on 3 tables - two $0.25/$0.50 and the disastrous $0.10/$0.20 table. Stacks were going up and down on the $0.25/$0.50 (usually in the black) but by the end of the session I was still $1.60 down on the lower stake table.

Slightly up for the session as a whole though: $5.77.

Not sure I can keep this up whilst doing long days at the office. Only 10% of the points earnt so far. Long way to go!

that fateful hand in full...

Everest No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (10 handed) - Everest Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($9.16)
MP2 ($2.29)
MP3 ($3.26)
CO ($1.80)
Button ($8.73)
SB ($2.68)
BB ($3.08)
Hero (UTG) ($9.62)
UTG+1 ($2.01)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 4, 4

Hero raises to $0.20, 1 fold, MP1 calls $0.20, 5 folds, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.65) 8, 4, K (3 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $0.20, MP1 calls $0.20, 1 fold

Turn: ($1.05) 8 (2 players)

Hero bets $0.50, MP1 calls $0.50

River: ($2.05) K (2 players)

Hero bets $2.05, MP1 raises to $8.20, Hero calls $6.15

Total pot: $18.45 | Rake: $0.92

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I played the set far too weakly. I was trying to keep a few people in but when I hit the full house on the turn I should probably have played stronger. 

By far the worst mistake (in my opinion as a novice player :P ) was calling the all in raise faced with a two pair board.

Calling with the worst hand

I got pwned today. Very fitting after my last post (anyone can win with good cards). Basically didn't spot a better full house that completed on the river. Went all in and lost my stack :(

I just couldn't make headway on the NL tables . Thankfully I managed to grind most of it back (minus $0.03) playing Limit (mainly $0.25/$0.50). 

All this just to try earning Summit Points because I was offered $50 for 500 summit points this month. At the outset it seemed like a good deal but after a rollercoster session today, I've cleared $1.50's worth of bonus and almost lost $10.00 in the process! What's more, I won't get any of the $50 unless I clear all 500 points.

$0.10 NL at Everest is much tougher than it was at Pacific the other day. Totally different but then the table was very tight, people were much better at bet sizing and I was perhaps gambling a little too much given the tight aggressive nature of the table.

Anyway, I'm a bit dazed and confused now. Losing a whole buyin over a bad call sucks big time.

I wasn't supposed to play today - got work todo. It's perhaps getting addictive? Have to watch out for that.

Anyone can win with good cards

For the record, the reason Titan won't let me withdraw is they want me to earn 1860(ish) Titan Points first. If I play at too low a limit, the points take forever and I'll never see the money. I have to play as high as I can stomach. Obviously there's a good chance I'll lose all the money whilst trying to earn the points but still, I've decided to take on the challenge.

Playing $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em accrues points at a tolerable speed for the amount of risk taken. NL is a less forgiving - since $0.10 NL stakes are the most expensive I can afford. I'm not going to deposit more money to help play at higher stakes though both because of the risk and also on principal.

I am considering joining a different iPoker skin e.g. Mansion, VC Poker or Chili Poker but figure it's not worth deciding until I clear my Titan bonus.

On to other matters...

I've received the money from CDPoker. Only took three working days so hats off to them for that. PKR hasn't oblidged yet. Bodog transfer back to Neteller was same day.

FullTilt has consolidated my accounts (I'd opened for play money in the early days, another when I tried to change my account name to "obadonke" and then there's my main one that's linked to rakeback). I now have more money at FullTilt than PokerStars but still not enough at either to support a proper stab at even $0.10 NL.

Today I tried NL at PacificPoker at very small stakes ($0.06 BB = $6.00 buyin) and doubled my money. If I manage to double my balance again I'll be back to what I first deposited there (having splurged a lot on tournaments when I was starting out).

Since the Pacific table I was on was labelled "beginners" I thought maybe I can't class myself as a beginner any more and I should stop playing at that limit but there weren't many games on at the time so I decided to try somewhere else.

Given I'm trying to clear the points backlog to get at the money at Titan and also since iPoker is notorious for being full of nits, I tried Titan poker $0.10 BB NL = $10.00 buyin next. I doubled my buyin in just over an hour.

This isn't a brag. I have a horrible feeling this was just a lucky run. A lot of the players were timid and what's more I didn't run into any nasty set vs set or flush vs flush scenarios. thankfully, I never had to risk my entire stack either and all my runin's with shortstackers saw me with the better hand going into the showdown.

Consolidating my position. Stop loss decided

I haven't played over the last few days as I've been busy working out what an appropriate stop loss figure should be.

To help with the calculations, I used Microsoft Money to analyze all spending for 2008. The result was shocking! I squandered a fortune last year on non-essential items. The amount I spent on Poker pales into insignificance - especially when you consider most of my 2008 poker bankroll is still available on the sites I've tried (atleast £400 worth - assuming I can withdraw it).

So, my first guess of £3 a day stoploss is definitely feasible but I will make it a bit higher - say £5 a day.  Since I haven't lost any money this year, that means I've accrued a stop loss of £70 so far. I might put a max on it - say £500? This should stop me getting tempted to try higher stakes just 'cos my (somewhat fictitious) stop loss is really high.

Now, whilst analyzing my spend last year, I added all my poker accounts as "assets" in Microsoft Money and realised I have money spread out too thinly across too many sites. 

I've started to consolidate the bankroll. Going to drop 4 sites completely - have already started withdrawal proceedings at these sites. If I struggle to get my money out I'll have to write off what's there and never play there again. Also plan to limit my bankroll on most other sites but we'll see how that works out.

I like playing on PartyPoker so I might reload there even though I haven't done so well at the site. I'd like to try to win at Virgin Poker too though the field there is very tough for me (competent LAGs even at micro stakes) and it's where I've lost the most money to date (11 euro).

anyhow. I'd best get to bed! wish me luck getting my money off the poker sites - especially CDPoker who I now found out is attrocious at paying out money. It's already been 24 hours and they haven't even acknowledged my request via e-mail :( TitanPoker informs you immediately (though they have so far declined all my requests  to take money out so I suppose it's not much different).

Poker Motivation

for the record, I'm trying a different approach to motivate my poker study this year.

The basic strategy is to avoid buying any personal treats (i.e. gadgets or software upgrades) unless I can pay for them through poker.

Given that I'm currently a losing player, this may seem fanciful *but* it has one huge benefit: it reduces impulse spending!

I've already avoided buying a few DVDs and computer games. Instead they've gone on my amazon wishlist.

Observant readers may have noticed the obvious catch: I could spend more playing poker than I would buying stuff. This is true.

I haven't decided exactly how I'm going to avoid overspend on poker but I shall probably approximate how much I typically spend on personal treats over a period, take a small percentage of that and make it my daily stop loss figure.

I'll allow myself to accrue my stop loss over time. E.g. if I allow myself £3 a day and break even (or profit) for 100 days, then the stop loss is now £300... but if I then lose £60, the stop loss the next day would be £243.

Something like that...

I should also factor in what happens if I go out and by a treat... i.e. if I have a £300 stop loss then spend £100 on a treat... my stop loss should go down.

Of course, I want to MAKE money, not just break even or minimize my losses. Just got to consider all possibilities .

6-max Micro NL exploration on DevilFish

Have been back at work for a week now. Trying a new regime to allow poker time in the evening. Played poker 3 nights during the week. Spent most of yesterday reading and finally sat down for a session today.

Decided to try my hand at micro NLHE - and picked Devilfish.com (Entraction Network) mainly because

• it's a network I hadn't tried yet
• it seems to be growing (slowly)
• I could sign up for a rakeback account there
• I had money sitting in MoneyBookers waiting to be used somewhere.

The fact that PokerTracker and HoldemManager don't support the site yet also seemed like a benefit because I could "hide" my losses. However, after playing for an hour or two and just about getting back to even (thanks to some hyperagressive people who decided to throw their money onto our table), I wished I had some stats to help analyze what had gone down.

Shout out to rambo7479 (from Malmo Sweden) : thanks for adding a bit of chat to the session.

Now, why did I even try No Limit Hold'em when I'm not even a break even player at Limit yet? Well, its because there is sooo much more action (i.e. people playing) No Limit cash games. Its very easy to find games so you can play it on any network.

I wasn't going to bother because you have to put a lot of money at risk in each hand but at $0.02/$0.04 its okay (though when you go all in and lose your 80bb stack, it still no fun :P). Over time I'll hopefully build up tolerance to playing at higher stakes (i.e. by saving so much bankroll that $50 (say) is nothing).

I might have a go at FullTilt since the money I have there has been sitting around for a long time. I think min stake there is $0.05/$0.10 though.. or you can play CAPped NL (max commitment in a hand = 30bb). I dunno.

Mustn't let the limit poker drop though, just starting to get somewhere with it I think.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Played a little on FullTilt at about 2am and got a really good table. Was up $10 within an hour but was too tired to stay around after that. Played loose aggressive and hit a lot of good flops.

Spent today analyzing my stats from PokerTracker. Put them in Excel. Took a lot longer than I expected and not sure I got lots out of it BUT the key benefit was to prove to myself that the dealt card distribution at Virgin Poker was legit.

Even with the small sample size I have (652 hands), my dealt hole card distribution came out pretty close to expectation.