It's been nearly three months since my last update and plenty has happened in that time. I fell ill with some strange virus and only had the energy to play a very small amount of poker. At this point, I'd been on a bit of a downswing which eventually totalled 18 buy-ins (see my last blog).

When I was unwell I decided it would be a good idea to watch some videos, so with a hot water bottle and a mug of hot chocolate (yeh I wasn't well!) I sat down and started going through all of Nutedawg's six max videos.

I thought the content of all the videos (around 30 in total) was incredible and ended up filling well over 100 sides of A4 with notes. Although it led to minor adjustments to my play, there were a ton of these adjustments along with the fact that my way of thinking through eaach hand had now changed significantly.

I would recommend any six-max cash game player to go through these videos in isolation even if you've already seen the videos before, I could almost guarantee that your game will improve by doing so.

The videos improved the following for me:

Table Selection

In a previous blog earlier on this year I touched upon how I table select. This has now changed to the point where I only start my own tables who choose ones that are just filling up. The difference now is that I find myself on tables where there's often 2-5 other bad players at the table, rather than just the one.

Three-Betting from OOP

I used to do this too often and got into some silly spots as a result, I don't do it any more! I'm focussing more on doing this in postion instead for reasons that are probably obvious to a lot of you.

Dealing with Small Blind Opens

A lot of regs at 100NL open with a very wide range from the SB, I'm now rarely folding to these raises in the BB.

Value Betting Against Fish

I mentioned this in a previous blog some time ago, but this has now become the focal point of my game and has boosted my win rate significantly on its own. I think now that big value bets on the river against bad players is the most profitable play in the game.

Then there's continuation betting and dealing with raises and check-raises which I feel I'm much better at doing now. I used to give regs far too much credit before and looking back I know I must've folded the best hand far more often than I orignal throught I might have.

There's more but I won't go into too much detail about what I learned from the vids.

So after I'd recovered, I started playing again at the start of May, conveniently I had a week off to start things off and things went very well. The 18 buy-in downswing I mentioned earlier turned into a 30 buy-in upswing.

However after a short break-even period I'm writing this blog during what is now a 20 buy-in downswing. Here's the graph since May:

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/4027/20110813sincemay.png

I've only managed to win 3 of my last 18 sessions and am currently on 9 losing sessions in a row.

The thing is, to me this seems like a big downswing, but it's just boring standard variance. If I played this game for a living at $100NL (for the sake of argument), I would've gone through this downswing period in a week and probably wouldn't think too much of it. However with the low volume that I'm playing at the moment (just 40,000 in three months as you see in the graph above) it is longer and a little more painful!

I've done some analysis of plenty of hands that I've played and have seen mistakes that I've made. An example is value betting big against fish when I'm not happy to get all-in with the hand, a big leak which I'm confident I've now plugged.

Things are looking good for the following reasons:

I've looked at hands where I've got all the money in as a 60%+ favourite and lost and a 60%+ dog and sucked out since the downswing began. The difference between the two has cost me nearly ten buy-ins alone, and I'm running slightly below average in the coin-flip department (unlike during the 30 buy-in upswing period, where I was running like god with those flips!). This can only start to even out I guess.

Since I've started creating my own tables, I've been involved in a lot more heads-up play. I've been running badly lately in these recently losing just over $600 since May, the sample is tiny with just 2,500 hands, but heads-up variance is enormous! This is a level of variance that I haven't been used to.

I've also looked at big pots (where I've committed more than $50, or half a buy-in, into a pot) since May and this is what I found:

Winnings = $12,592.00
Losses = $ 7,544.95

This is 62.5% in my favour, so if I can keep this up I'm certain I'll be winning big long-term, it's just a pity that I'm not able to play full time (in the same way that this won't let me change this font!).

Over the last week or so I've been focussing purely on starting my own table or sitting on tables where another fishy looking player has sat down to play heads-up against a reg. Before although I wasn't joining waiting lists, I was still joining tables that had four or five players on to get a seat next to a fish.

This seemed OK but it meant that was probably going to be the only fish to ever sit down at that table. Since I've changed the focus to only the tables with 2 or 3 players on (along with the ones I've started myself), the percentage of bad players that I've been playing against has soared.

Now that I'm off for the next week (work that is), I'll be taking this chance to keep this focus and play a decent sample with it, I'll be intrigued to see what happens.

Another change I've made is to my opening ranges. Nutedawg always said that if there's a bad player in the blinds then you can open with a much wider range as you'll be in position against that player. This is a concept that I may have taken a little too far so I'll be looking to adjust this.

The rest are just little things that won't interest you (well done if you even got this far). I'm a little disappointed with how the year's gone up to now, I was hoping to be playing at $200NL at least for next year. I think I'll probably stick to $100NL, pay off the car should I make enough money and carry on at the same stakes until I establish myself a little more.

I'll finish off with the rollercoaster of 2011 so far...

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/9210/20110813annualgraph.png

Hi everyone,

I'll start with the latest graph, as you can see the downswing has continued...

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8360/20110421annualgraph.png

With so much going on this month I haven't played a great deal of poker, but I've got some time off work over the next couple of weeks so I'll have time to really get some volume in.

I've had a look at my game too and there are a few things that I feel will give me a slightly better edge...

1- The HUD
As I mentioned in my previous blog nearly all my pre-flop stats on my opponents were deceptive in some way, meaning that I was playing far too aggressively with too wide a range in places, and playing far too tight in others.

2- Table Ninja
Has made life easier when multi-tabling, I'm really enjoying using this.

3- Calling Ranges in-Position
I've been a little loose when calling raises in-position, hands like 74s and 98o are definitely playable against terrible players, but there have been times when I've taken the idea way too far.

I'm not looking to play a tight game, I always want an active image at the table, but this is one adjustment I feel I really should make.

4- Set-Mining
This was a deceptive play about forty years ago, unfortunately against solid regs there's a much smaller chance of getting paid off with these hands. Players are pot-controlling a lot more with over-pairs, whereas in the early online poker days these were extremely profitable.

I'll be looking to play these hands more against the bad players as the edge is always going to be big against these guys anyway. Whereas against regs I may just be dumping pairs such as 22-55.

5- Bet Sizing Against Weak Players
This is one of the biggest leaks I've spotted, I'm betting the same amount with big hands against bad players than I am against good ones. I'll be barrelling pot-sized bets from now on!

This adjustment alone made the difference between a winning and losing session last night, although the win was only small.

6- Concentration (or just not being a spoo)
Well, have a look at this hand! I thought I rivered the nuts for some strange reason, luckily I spotted what I had done before calling the shove! Sorry I can't get the converter to work :(

PokerStars Game #61092264994: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00 USD) - 2011/04/20 21:25:57 WET [2011/04/20 16:25:57 ET]
Table 'Juliet V' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: -SAVAGE3000- ($102.15 in chips)
Seat 2: GiefMonies ($103.05 in chips)
Seat 3: WalkerBoh ($100 in chips)
Seat 4: Charousek ($107 in chips)
Seat 5: emolvo ($122.60 in chips)
Seat 6: dean anger ($142.20 in chips)
WalkerBoh: posts small blind $0.50
Charousek: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to -SAVAGE3000- [8h Qh]
emolvo: folds
dean anger: calls $1
-SAVAGE3000-: calls $1
GiefMonies: raises $2 to $3
WalkerBoh: folds
Charousek: folds
dean anger: calls $2
-SAVAGE3000-: calls $2
*** FLOP *** [5h Jh 3s]
dean anger: bets $2
-SAVAGE3000-: calls $2
GiefMonies: calls $2
*** TURN *** [5h Jh 3s] [Td]
dean anger: bets $3
-SAVAGE3000-: calls $3
GiefMonies: calls $3
*** RIVER *** [5h Jh 3s Td] [8s]
dean anger: checks
-SAVAGE3000-: bets $25 - OOPS!! Love the bet size though! ;)
GiefMonies: raises $70.05 to $95.05 and is all-in
dean anger: folds
-SAVAGE3000-: folds
Uncalled bet ($70.05) returned to GiefMonies
GiefMonies collected $72.50 from pot
GiefMonies: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $75.50 | Rake $3
Board [5h Jh 3s Td 8s]
Seat 1: -SAVAGE3000- folded on the River - thank fuck for that.
Seat 2: GiefMonies (button) collected ($72.50)
Seat 3: WalkerBoh (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Charousek (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: emolvo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: dean anger folded on the River

Good luck at the tables everyone! I hope all you players from the US get everything sorted out soon.

Oh hi!

As of my last blog update I had around 34,000 hands played for the year. I was going vamp this up to 40,000 by the end of March but I thought now was a good time to take a break, do some analysis, watch some videos and then come back playing 6-max in April all happy and refreshed.

Frustration? I'll start by referring to a section of my favourite poker book 'The Poker Mindset' by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger (I do recommend indeed). This is from the section 'Reaction to Losing a Big Pot'

Well it applies at any time when playing the game, but anyway...

Stage 1 - Anger
Playing out of anger to get back to break-even at 5am the next morning and performing flying headbutts into the monitor fall into this category. These players are extremely happy when winning and thoroughly miserable when losing.

Stage 2 - Frustration
"That's the second time I've flopped an open-end straight-flush draw tonight and caught nothing!" or "Whenever I have kings against a donkey, an ace hits the flop" are just two of the whiney comments that have come out of my mouth over the last week or so.

Stage 3 - Acceptance
Satisfied when winning, a little disappointed when losing or taking a bad beat. Perhaps a little annoyed when it looks like you played a hand badly. Not perfect, but a good place to be.

Stage 4 - Indifference
Couldn't give a shit either way.

I'll be honest, it's not as clear cut as this. Everyone must get frustrated sometimes, even after reading a book like the one I mentioned.

Last weekend I made a start at six-max and played a few hands. I started a little later (Saturday night) than planned as I really got into some of the videos and made some adjustments to my disaster of a HUD...

I found errors in the HUD regarding pre-flop stats, once I go through these you may want to check yours, for those of you that already knew this I congratulate you on your divine wisdom...

Fold to 3-Bet
This refers to how often your opponent folds to a 3-bet at ANY TIME, whether it's pre-flop, on the flop, the turn or the river.

Fold to a Pre-Flop 3-Bet
Problem solved! Oh wait, no! The reason why this percentage is always around 80% is because it takes into account the 95% of these folds that are in the blinds, when the player as just seen a raise and a re-raise ahead of him (or her, or he-she).

Fold Steal to a Re-raise
At last.

Fold to 4-Bet
Same as above, I won't go into it.

As for my brief time as six-max, I really am finding it easier to exploit the bad players at the table if they're in the two seats to my right. I can also justify opening my UTG and HJ ranges for this reason too as that player would be in the blinds anyway.

Saturday was basically a case of winning a total of three buy-ins from two crap players, it had been a while since this happened at full-ring, although I'm sure it won't always be that simple, I've only played about a thousand hands at six-max so far.

GRAPH TIME!

http://img717.imageshack.us/i/20110404annualgraph.png/

Now I'm going to demonstrate why I should be an instructor in one hand, I believe this will open your eyes as to how a draw can be played to the absolute optimum level when playing OOP vs a reg. I hope you all learn from this wonderful piece of genius:

PokerStars - $1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

CO: $264.45
BTN: $37.00
SB: $116.60
Hero (BB): $100.90
UTG: $128.55
MP: $100.05

SB posts SB $0.50, Hero posts BB $1.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero has 6h 3h

fold, MP raises to $2.00, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.50, 2 players) Qh Td Kh
Hero checks, MP bets $3.00, fold

MP wins $4.30

Heh! I'll hope to update this again by next week, good luck everyone!

All is going OK so far with 30,000 hands played and around $1,400 profit to show. Variance over this time has been as expected (that post I mentioned on the previous blog about variance is still coming, I'll just need time to put it together! Looking forward to see what you guys think).

I'm hoping to play out enough poker to hit the 40,000 hand mark by the end of the month, but that may be difficult as I won't be playing much next weekend (although this weekend I will be).

So why six-max? Well here's a list...

1- I've specialised in six-max before (as well as SNGs, MTTs and HU Matches) over the years, but now the difference is the money involved.

2- Table selection (or seat selection) is even more effective as there are at most four other regs with you and the fish at the table, as opposed to seven others at full ring. Sitting in one of the two seats to the fish's left at four tables will see me playing up to 400 hands/hr (50% more than at present even though I'm six-tabling full ring) with a greater edge.

3- More post-flop play as players tend to be more active in six-max. I feel the strongest part of my game is post-flop which is why I don't mind entering with a wide range of hands pre (my VPIP is runs between 20-25 at full-ring, my comfort zone!)

4- Volume of players: On Stars alone, up to 1,000,000 hands are played a month all the way up to $1,000NL, which is simply not the case at full ring. This would make table selection easier (I won't pretend I can beat regs for a decent profit at any level, let alone that high up!) and give this 'career' more longevity assuming things don't change hugely in the future.

5- More hands against the same number of players. 80% of the notes I take are based on what my opponents have seen me do and not vice-versa (the HUD is the main reason for this admittedly). It would make an interesting dynamic in longer six-max sessions.

Graph time (sorry about the crap quality of the previous ones)!

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/9633/20110318annualgraph.png

Nothing particularly interesting to report at the moment, only 25,000+ hands played so far so I'm hoping to up the volume of the next couple of months quite a bit all being well.

Still no particularly interesting hands worth posting, although plenty of big pots have been played. One thing I have done is a little research to help with table selection.

I took 20 players who are losing over 50 big bets per 100 hands over 500+ hand samples and looked at their stats. Here are the averages for those stats and how they relate to the average stats.

VP$IP - 44.30 - Very high
PFR - 13.75 - Average
3 Bet - 5.41 - High
Fold to 3 bet - 54.96 - Low/Very Low
Flop C-Bet - 67.69 - Average
Fold to Flop C-Bet - 43.82 - Average
Raise Flop C-Bet - 14.23 - Average
Fold to Flop Raise - 39.63 - Average

Based on this I've been looking for players with high VPIPs and low fold to 3-bet percentages to be in one of the three seats to my right. Naturally players with a lower PFR will be folding to 3-bets less, so that's taken into account of course.

I also table select in three stages, first I search for LAGs, then if there's not enough of those I'll look for semi-LAGs, and then finally loose passive players. I find this gives me much more chance of just playing at the tables where the REALLY bad players are.

Graph time!

http://img853.imageshack.us/i/20110302annualgraph.png/

This one shows what the last weekend was like. I've used MS Excel to project what this graph is likely to look like in the future. It makes good use of the '=rand()' feature, which inputs a random number between 0 and 1. I've used it to project variance based on a 2.5bb/100 win rate over millions of hands to see what's likely to happen.

I first put this together over a year ago and am looking forward to posting how it's done in the forums (and indeed here) soon. Before this year began I made some assumptions based on this analysis:

Assuming that I play 240,000 this year, there's a good chance any of the following will happen*:

A downswing of at least 15 buy-ins.
4 and 5 buy-in downswings to be constant over varying periods of time.
A break-even period of around 50,000 hands.

The swing that you see at the end of my graph is what I call a 'blip' as it will form part of a general upward trend. This period ended a run of quiet, even fairly boring sessions, where all the big hands came at once, admittedly in the downswing period there were a few bad beats costing me between $40 and $100 at a time, oh well.

Here's a sample graph from excel:

http://img64.imageshack.us/i/varianceanalysisgraph.png/

*Based on a 2.5bb/100 win rate with standard deviation of $100 per 100 hands.

More on this to come! Only 215,000 hands left to play...

Sorry it's been a while, balancing coursework and poker is a little harder at the moment (I've been doing a course in computing since October, it's now starting to get hard!).

I won't post any hands in this thread as there's a good number of interesting ones that have come up since the last update, too many for me to go through at this time.

So for now here's a graph! I've added one with the gold line too (all-in EV for those who are not familiar with this, which basically shows how you've been running in all-in situations) as the sample is now reasonable enough for this to have any meaning.

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/6712/20110213annualgraph.png

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3366/20110213annualgraphwith.png

As for poker in general, I'm still making sure that the bad players are within the three seats to my right.

I've also added more weight to the player's post-flop stats and less to their pre-flop stats in table selecting as some of the biggest losers don't have terrible pre-flop figures.

Players with high bet and raise %ages combined with low fold %ages are the most obvious candidates, some of these players have a VPIP of less than 25% but are losing 40+bb/100 hands over thousands of hands.

I hope soon to be posting some hands, I just need a bit of time to find the ones that have been really interesting. I was hoping to have played out well over 20,000 hands by now, but things happen I guess and I'm sure I'll be back on track soon.

Good luck at the tables.

Read on villain: three-legged donkey (or I could've said 'has potential' ).

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


UTG+2: $91.40 (91.4 bb)
MP1: $71.50 (71.5 bb)
MP2: $107.80 (107.8 bb)
MP3: $133.90 (133.9 bb)
CO: $202.35 (202.4 bb)
Hero (BTN): $100 (100 bb)
SB: $100 (100 bb)
BB: $215.20 (215.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 8 7
2 folds, MP2 raises to $4, MP3 folds, CO calls $4, Hero calls $4, 2 folds

Flop: ($13.50) 4 8 8 (3 players)
MP2 bets $3, CO calls $3, Hero raises to $10, MP2 calls $7, CO folds

Turn: ($36.50) K (2 players)
MP2 bets $40, Hero raises to $86 and is all-in, MP2 calls $46

River: ($208.50) K (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $208.50 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 4 8 8 K K
MP2 showed K 5 and won $205.50 ($105.50 net)
Hero mucked 8 7 and lost (-$100 net)

I guess this is why variance is so huge in this game, it's easy to forget that the difference between winning and losing a buy-in is two buy-ins!

I also feel my flop raise should've been bigger, but I really didn't want to scare the guy off, I'm sure you can see why.

Hope you all enjoyed!

Been a little while since my last update, mainly because I couldn't be bothered . But I'll keep doing so as it would be nice to look back on these in the future.

Nothing particularly interesting to report, I've made one change in the way that I now want the aggressive and semi-aggressive fish in the three seats to my right, rather than the four seats. This was to take advantage of their inflated opening ranges in late position and their even more aggressive style of play in general.

The short-term issue in these sessions is that because these players are so hard to bluff, I simply play fit-or-fold against them, this can be a nightmare when I'm not catching hands. Things like not catching sets against aggressive 5x raisers can take it's toll, but it'll be worth it long-term I'm sure.

The story of the most recent sessions have been the hands that I've been folding, mainly on the river. Hands such as sets, two pairs and AA, I'm trying to keep some discipline in these inflated pots but I can't help thinking 'shit, I seem to be folding too many good hands!'

Some interesting hands and spots...

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


CO: $103.50 (103.5 bb)
BTN: $110.55 (110.6 bb)
SB: $49.10 (49.1 bb)
BB: $100 (100 bb)
UTG+1: $83.30 (83.3 bb)
Hero (UTG+2): $109.95 (110 bb)
MP1: $232.25 (232.3 bb)
MP2: $109.35 (109.4 bb)
MP3: $101.15 (101.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with 4 4
UTG+1 calls $1, Hero calls $1, 2 folds, MP3 raises to $5, 5 folds, Hero calls $4

[I]This player was so nitty I didn't even have AJ in his range, on the river I felt I was up against either AQ or a bigger set. A big fold I'm sure you'll agree...[/I]

Flop: ($12.50) J A 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks

Turn: ($12.50) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $7, MP3 calls $7

River: ($26.50) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $20, MP3 raises to $89.15 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results: $135.65 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: J A 3 4 Q
Hero mucked 4 4 and lost (-$32 net)
MP3 mucked and won $132.65 ($31.50 net)

[I] This next hand was played against a bad LAG, on the river I was really in a bind, after finding his raise % on the river was only 6, this prompted the lay-down. Combined with the fact his range was so wide he could've spiked two-pair somewhere![/I]

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 7 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


SB: $133.75 (133.8 bb)
BB: $106.75 (106.8 bb)
MP1: $143.50 (143.5 bb)
Hero (MP2): $100 (100 bb)
MP3: $154.85 (154.9 bb)
CO: $127.05 (127.1 bb)
BTN: $140.55 (140.6 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A A
MP1 folds, Hero raises to $3, MP3 calls $3, CO folds, BTN calls $3, SB calls $2.50, BB calls $2

Flop: ($15) 4 T 5 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $9, MP3 folds, BTN calls $9, 2 folds

Turn: ($33) K (2 players)
Hero bets $20, BTN calls $20

River: ($73) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $25, BTN raises to $108.55 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results: $206.55 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 4 T 5 K 6
Hero mucked A A and lost (-$57 net)
BTN mucked and won $203.55 ($63 net)

A couple of failed three-barrel bluffs, one with a flopped flush draw and the other with a flopped open-ender, also took place.

http://img269.imageshack.us/i/20110122annualgraph.png/

Here's to the weekend... Good luck everyone.

I'm going to post this hand as punishment for being a silly boy, I'm hoping I won't be making some kind of series of this (I'm more than capable I'm sure). I'm hoping that everyone can learn a little something from this hand...

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


BTN: $140 (140 bb)
SB: $63.50 (63.5 bb)
BB: $101.50 (101.5 bb)
UTG+1: $103 (103 bb)
UTG+2: $100 (100 bb)
MP1: $40 (40 bb)
MP2: $249.20 (249.2 bb)
Hero (MP3): $99.50 (99.5 bb)
CO: $78.50 (78.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q Q
4 folds, Hero raises to $3, CO folds, BTN raises to $9, 2 folds, Hero calls $6

The villain is a TAG, I figured that it wouldn't be worth 4-betting here as his range is likely to be QQ+ and AK (in fact you could add JJ and AQ to that range and I still wouldn't go with it), so I flatted instead.

Flop: ($19.50) 6 8 J (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $12.05, Hero raises to $36, BTN raises to $131 and is all-in, Hero calls $54.50 and is all-in

I've now made what I can only perceive to be the worst possible play by check-raising. My thought was 'this is a co-ordinated board so I'd better get this over with quickly'.

Instead all I've done is folded most of the hands that I beat and invited the better hands to stack me.

What I feel I should've done was flat call the c-bet then bet the turn so there's a chance that a scare card could come off, helping me if I'm ahead or behind as the pot will remain small either way (most likely anyway).

Turn: ($241) 3 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: ($241) 4 (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: $241 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 6 8 J 3 4
BTN showed J 8 and won $238 ($98 net)
Hero showed Q Q and lost (-$99.50 net)

Would anyone else have played the hand I feel it should'vebeen played, please feel free to comment. In the end I was up $131, partly thanks to sucking out with KK vs. AA (a spot where I feel folding KK was an option, I had already folded kings pre in this session too).

A good start to 2011 then, these LAG fishes on my right really make the game much easier to play when 3-betting light isn't necessary.

I'm trying to stay down-to-earth though as there's nothing like a big losing streak to bring any player down to Earth, regardless of how good that player is.

Here's some info on how things have started off this week:

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7527/20110112annualgraph.png

$696 up so far at 7.7bb/100, i doubt very much that this is a sustainable win rate, but I can always fantasise I guess.

Some fun and interesting hands (no massive one-outer and runner-runner bad beats to speak of yet, that will undoubtedly change so, although I've been two-outered a couple of times for relatively small amounts of $).

The 1st hand is a royal flush (hooray, I checked the turn hoping to make it look like the flush scared me, double-barrelling would've been fine too), and the 2nd handis a great example of how having position on a LAG donkey makes life so much easier, I'm folding this hand pre if it weren't for that guy.

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


MP2: $100 (100 bb)
MP3: $138 (138 bb)
CO: $160.85 (160.9 bb)
BTN: $141.90 (141.9 bb)
Hero (SB): $99 (99 bb)
BB: $109.20 (109.2 bb)
UTG+1: $60 (60 bb)
UTG+2: $100 (100 bb)
MP1: $100 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with T A
7 folds, Hero raises to $4, BB calls $3

Flop: ($8) 7 K Q (2 players)
Hero bets $5, BB calls $5

Turn: ($18) J (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

River: ($18) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $8, BB raises to $26, Hero raises to $90 and is all-in, BB folds

Results: $134 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 7 K Q J 2
Hero mucked T A and won $131 ($32 net)
BB mucked and lost (-$35 net)

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 7 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


BB: $83.30 (83.3 bb)
MP1: $113.15 (113.2 bb)
MP2: $113.80 (113.8 bb)
MP3: $100 (100 bb)
CO: $70.45 (70.5 bb)
Hero (BTN): $146.20 (146.2 bb)
SB: $100 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with Q J
3 folds, CO raises to $3, Hero calls $3, SB raises to $10, BB folds, CO calls $7, Hero calls $7

Flop: ($31) 4 5 7 (3 players)
SB checks, CO bets $10, Hero calls $10, SB calls $10

Turn: ($61) 4 (3 players)
SB checks, CO bets $10, Hero calls $10, SB raises to $30, CO calls $20, Hero calls $20

River: ($151) 6 (3 players)
SB bets $50 and is all-in, CO calls $20.45 and is all-in, Hero calls $50

Results: $271.45 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 4 5 7 4 6
CO mucked T 6 and lost (-$70.45 net)
Hero showed Q J and won $268.45 ($168.45 net)
SB showed K K and lost (-$100 net)