What leaks when the sun shines?

Woah. Can't believe this is the first post in April.

I've played at least a few hands every day since the 3rd despite being inundated with work. Feeling pretty wrecked to be honest.

Was going to write something reflective today but with the complete absence of posts up to this point... what the hell let's stick to basics.



Have taken the plunge, playing exclusively 6-max at FullTilt. Started off pretty bad but then dropped down a limit, calmed my aggression a little and took on board more of what Danzasmack was saying in his Prices Right videos at DeucesCracked and hey presto, things started to go a little better for me.

Had an amazing set of hands at one point and made a whopping $30 at one table but in the excitment I proceeded to donk most of my winnings again to finish almost even for that session (hence the big spike around 700 hands).

The silver lining to that particular cloud is that it revealed a pretty significant leak : I play like a contented fish when I'm way ahead in a session: playing cards that I'd otherwise muck, chasing draws when I don't have the correct odds, try to bluff more... What the hell?! Gotta cut that out. Sit out and gather yourself man!

The fact that I'm still chasing that illustrious high point in my April winnings chart 500 hands later is a real sobering thought. Hopefully this leak is well and truly plugged.

Guelling 6 max at Full Tilt

Woah. Talk about getting put into place! I got eaten alive at the 6max table tonight. Started off okay for the first few hands then I suffered some really horrible draws.

The guy to my left was hyper aggressive . Very few people would lay down to a bluff and it also seemed people were hitting the board a hell of a lot- e.g. two outers and the like. ARGH! What a frustrating session. Just glad I got it back to even before I left although I realise that’s a very bad way to go about the game. Should have set a time limit.

Not sure I’m ready for that type of game yet. Just hope my full-ring game hasn’t been affected like it was last time I ventured into 6max territory.

Silver lining? at least I’ll have earnt a little rakeback!

Life of a maniac

Oh my. Just tried 6-handed at $.25/$.50 on Titan. Started with $15. Completely donked! Lucky to break even. I kept making some doe then passing it to the guy on my left. Eventually he got up and walked off with the winnings. I was trying to bluff too much basically. No one respected my raises.

The most frustrating thing about 6 handed is how quickly the table breaks up.

Trying 6-handed at Titan

Up until now I've occasionally applied full ring strategies and hand selection to short-handed limit games with mixed results. I'd had a few really good sessions, and lots of bad sessions where I was just bullied off the tables. I still ended up ahead in Jan for 6-max play but only because I got away from the bad sessions before they blew a big hole in my bankroll.

the experience pointed out a few things:
- there are a lot more limit short-handed tables than limit full ring
- the tables are way more aggressive
- consistent winners had higher VPIP than I was used to in full ring
- the blinds were brutal - if you tried to play fullring nitty tight, the blinds really started to dent your stack
- I would struggle to work out the adjustments required for short-handed without help

So one of my treats for good behaviour in January (i.e. not splurging any money on unnecessary stuff) was the book "Limit Hold'em: winning short-handed strategies" by Terry Borer and Lawrence Mak.

Have now skim read everything upto pre-flop starting hand ranges. Pretty deep stuff. Lot of useful info and a few chuckles thrown in too.

Had a little practice session on Titan at $.1/$.20 and, after putting an entire table on tilt through overly aggressive play (I started off a bit too excited and bluffed way too much), I got paid off enough to practically double my initial buyin (30BB). I acted like a doucebag and took off at that point because it was getting late.

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.