Back in the good old days, I used to crush 1/2 hu no limit. This was back in freshman year of college, about three years ago, before HU really boomed.

I don't play too much hu NL anymore. I remember I got away from it for a couple months to focus on school and a combination of factors drew me away after those couple months. First, I became more interested in PLO. Second, the hu nl game had evolved - it seemed everyone started to try to play exactly like MasterLJ.

Anyway, back when I was really good at heads up, I truly thought that stats mattered almost 0 percent.
I remember thinking, "It won't matter if people datamine 100K hands on me, because my stats are a result of me adapting to my opponents. Datamining would just be a waste of time."

The only advantage someone could gain on me was by playing very aggro for about 20 hands (when I was trying to gauge how they played) and then instantly switch to a more passive style as I adapted to their aggro style. Opponents could learn this strategy through datamining.

But other than that, datamining was worthless. I think this was because I allowed my game to tremendously adapt to opponents. I could go into limp-mode or go into 3-bet mode. I could cbet a lot or rarely at all. Etc.

More and more I see players adapting the mindset that their own stats have to be some perfect magic number. Some people seem to be like, "OMG, my button PFR is only 32% over my last 20K hands. This NEEDS to be at least 34%."

Another example is everyone's obsession with balancing ranges. While this is important, it's not going to make someone the best player in the world. Being the best means you are the one offensively adapting to your opponents... not the one defensively trying to stop your opponents from adapting to you. Make sense?

I think this is what Phil Ivey does better than anyone in the world. He really doesn't give a hoot about balancing his range because he just plays every hand the best he can against his certain opponent.

An example of this was a hand on HSP. I don't remember the season. There was a raise and a call, Ivey call with 5h9h. Flop was 234 with two hearts. There was a bet and a raise, and Ivey folded.

Some people might think, "If Ivey's not 3betting with 5h9h here, then he is not balancing his raising range well enough. His tightness is exploitable." This is faulty thinking, because Ivey's perceived 'tightness' is a result of him adapting his game to his opponent. Obviously, Ivey is capable of making very loose plays when the time calls for it. (by the way, in the above hand, Ivey's opponent had a set.)

This was a bit of a ramble.

But the lesson learned is that stats can only take you so far. Past that, you have to learn to adapt in every situation. If you're a HU player, don't become obsessesed with trying to play exactly like MasterLJ. If you play ring games, don't worry so much about your own statistics. If you constantly adapt then your statistics will be worthless to your opponents.

After a fun-filled 141 tournaments this month, I am finally in the green for a whopping 9.2 ROI and less than $7/hr.

Contrast to last month: 219 tournies, 83 ROI, $38/hr.

A problem I seem to have is that once I get to the final table I have an incredibly high number of ninth-place finishes.

This month I have 9 final tables and three ninths. Last month I had 19 FTs and three ninths.

So in total that's 28 FTs and six ninths. Is it a problem of maybe getting to the final table and then saying, 'shit, i made the final table, i'm happy and now i'll stop trying'? I'd like to think that isn't the case.

Looking back on how I got eliminated in ninth:
-Lost A9s vs AQo 4BB deep. (This was 10 hands after I lost JJ to AA 12bb deep for the chip lead.)
-Lost TT to AQo 8bb deep. I went AI on the button after a MP limper and was called by the big blind.
-Lost KK to 55 16bb deep for the chip lead. UTG and UTG+1 both limped, I raised 60% of my stack in UTG+2, folded around to UTG+1 who limp-RR all in.
-Lost QQ to AKs 11bb deep.
-Lost 77 to KTs 7bb deep.
-Lost 97s to AQs 6bb deep (my stack was depleted 14 hands earlier when I lost JJ to ATo 19bb deep)

I think part of the issue is that I do partially open up if I see the rest of the table tightening up. This creates situations where I might not have a premium hand. But it also means if I do accumulate chips, it increases my chances of a big cash.

So let's see how that is working out for me in the last couple months:
10 times I have finished first-third
9 times I have finished seventh-ninth

I'll take it, especially because (obviously) finishing 1-3 means a lot more than 7-9.

It's still frustrating though when I reach a final table to just finish ninth. For instance, yesterday I had a six-tourney session in which had five non-cashes and one ninth. I won a total of 48 cents.

I go for a squeeze play after a MP open and btn call, run into AA, and start getting berated before the hand ends.

Seat 1: DerCapitan (4,550)
Seat 2: HERO (2,325)
Seat 3: lui1979 (2,550)
Seat 4: thejackal72 (4,930)
Seat 5: rumsey182 (2,136)
Seat 6: Giix (8,710)
Seat 7: WertlGG (6,830)
Seat 8: fowlernumber9 (8,498)
Seat 9: howlibowli (2,675)
HERO posts the small blind of 80
lui1979 posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ts 6s]
thejackal72 folds
rumsey182 folds
Giix folds
WertlGG folds
fowlernumber9 has 8 seconds left to act
fowlernumber9 raises to 320
howlibowli folds
DerCapitan calls 320
HERO raises to 2,325, and is all in
lui1979 folds
fowlernumber9 calls 2,005
DerCapitan folds
HERO shows [Ts 6s]
fowlernumber9 shows [Ad Ah]
*** FLOP *** [Jd 6c 3c]
*** TURN *** [Jd 6c 3c] [3d]
fowlernumber9: fishhhhhhhhhhh
*** RIVER *** [Jd 6c 3c 3d] [6d]
HERO shows a full house, Sixes full of Threes
fowlernumber9: fihhhhhhhhhhh
fowlernumber9 shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
HERO wins the pot (5,130) with a full house, Sixes full of Threes
fowlernumber9: fishhhhhhhhhhh
*** SUMMARY ***

I haven't updated this blog in a while. All right... a long while.

I feel like the more consistently I win, the more I want to study my plan/study other's play/read poker blogs/play poker. I think this is the same for everyone.

No one wants to talk about poker when they are losing. And no one wants to post losing graphs. And that's probably why I haven't posted in a while - because, until recently, I was losing.

After running my bankroll down to a minuscule amount of what it once was, I switched to tournaments (or donkaments - I'll admit, there are quite a few donks).

Over about 900 tournies in the last 3 months, I'm making about $30/hour, which is about as good as I ever did playing hu1/2 holdem and omaha. Except instead of doing it on a 10K-25K BR, I'm doing it on a 2K-6K BR.

About the first 500 tournies were all at $6, $11, $22 and a few at $33. My ROI was 8 and my hourly was about $10. After about 400 MTTs my ROI is about 80 w/ about $35/hr.

Something I've had to overcome is the difference in short-term winnings. Let's say I play an $11 tourney, run well and win. Let's say first place pays $700. Well, the equivalent to running well enough to win a tournament w/ about 300 people comparing to 1/2 hu omaha is about $2,500, maybe more.

Sure, tournies can be very frustrating. I admit that - I've gone through two stretches of 30+ tournies with zero cashes. It's not fun.

But the point of poker is to make money, and that's what tournaments have done for me lately.

In contrast, let's say I learn to 4-table 100NL. I study hard and learn to make 3bb/100 (seems like a stretch, maybe, that I could even do that.) At 300 hands/hr, I will make $9/hour.

EVEN if I learn to do that while 8-tabling, or learn to 4-table 200NL at the same win rate, or learn to 8-table 200 NL at the same win rate... I will still be even with what I make now.

And how long would it take to learn to win 3bb/100 while 8-tabling 200NL? I don't know. Maybe 200K hands. Maybe never. Maybe 6 months. Maybe 18 months.

So while I likely won't get back into playing mainly cash games for a while, I can at least blog about my success now. Who knows, tomorrow I might start a massive downswing that will disconnect me again from wanting to talk about poker.

Yes. I'm not lying. Played 1/2 hu omaha against a fish. He ran unreal.

At one point he at 2K on the table to my 200. I came all the way back and thought pretty good of myself.

Then I chipped him down to 120. He won an all in with about 65% after I four bet AAxx (he flopped pair+open ender). Then, he doubled again when I got it in with two gutshots and A high fd to his pair+ Q high fd (I had 60% to win).

Then, we got it in some hands later when I turned a set against his top two + gutter after the flop went chk/chk. He hit his eight outer. He had over 1300 on the table when I quit.

I must really suck at poker. My EV today is 1500. My actuall winnings is -1900. Yes, I should have won 2$/hand at 1/2 plo hu. I didn't.

Just think... If I had run 3400$ ABOVE equity, I would have won 4900$ today. Wow. I think I may have had one 2K day ever.

But no. I ran 17 buy ins below equity. I will have to drop down if this happens one more day. My bankroll can't stand it.

This one tabling thing is going well. Running a little above average and winning 25BB is great. Also feel like I'm playing well.

I have definetely switched to a low-variance style in the last week. Instead of really pushing FE in spots, I have been calling a lot more and evaluating again on the next card.

Example: today I was playing an incessant 3better and we are 100bb deep. I raise with T963, he 3bets, I call. Flop is T54 rainbow. He pots. Normally I would raise and get it all in here. However, this guy was barrelling like 100% of the time so I knew if I hit anything on the turn (esp a 2,7 or 9) I can fist pump push. So I flatted the flop, Ace comes on the turn, he pots again and I fold.

This new strategy is very negative on my red line, which I don't give a damn about anyway. The pot above I'm either going to lose 54 w/out a showdown or likely win 200 w/ a showdown. I like my chances. So while my red line has been taking a hit, I'm in the green overall. Overall winnings is the only thing that matters anyway.

Even though I'm up, today I have taken a hit, losing 6 buy ins and running... surprise, surprise... 6 buy ins under equity. Awesome. I have had 7 all ins. The worst equity I have had is 42% and under 50% twice.. I have won once. Some of the hands my opponent has gotten it in with the top 10% of his pushing range as well, so I should have even higher equity. I guess I didn't follow the rule of stopping at a -500$ loss, but my play has not suffered at all today.

Even after losing a lot today, I'm still up ~600$ over ~1200 hands for a 15 ptbb winrate. Not bad. Running 800$ below equity overall.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5141651
Nice to win these for once. Pretty sick flop, but I'm putting the rest in no matter what the flop brings.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5141671
This guy would raise every time it seemed I wasn't strong. There were a couple hands before this where he would raise with bluffcatchers instead of just calling. I guess he figures he can't lose if he gets me to fold. This wasn't a snap call, but I figured he was bluffing enough of the time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5141695
I generally run horrible at these ante tables. Loose 3bet, above average flop, and I hold on (barely) for the win.

Now a few losers:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5141706
This player was 3betting 40% of the time, tilting, and was getting owned. His turn chk/raise screams a draw or mediocre hand. He could have already had a better two pair on the turn, but I called after some thought.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5141740
Pretty standard hand from today. I hit a wonderful flop and get it in good. I want him to call my all in all the time so I can't be frustrated when he has the second nuts and boats up. I though about leading out on the flop but there were four people to act behind me. I have to chk/raise big because there are so many turn cards that can kill my action.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5141757
This guy was raising 100% of buttons and playing fairly loose in position. Very tough for me to fold this, even 175bb deep. I was pretty happy to get the money in until I saw his hand. I fold this if I have a weak flush draw and less overcards.


Well, thats all for now.

I haven't posted on this thing in forever, but i remember when I used to post I was at the top of my game and winning like crazy.

I think posting here forces me to think about my play instead of making excuses to why I lose hands, such as "I have a very loose image, so it's OK for me to get it in here with one pair+gutter in 4bet pot 300bb deep because I might get called by worse". Not good.

Let's see... the last 1 1/2 years has been up and down with poker. I'm down, but I'm not sure how much because I lost all my old hands when I got a new computer and I have never kept track of SNG winnings. It started with me continuing to crush 1/2 hu plo. School started, I went on a heater, and by Dec. '08 my bankroll was 28K.

Since I was crushing the games (I think 10-15 ptbb), I moved up and played some 2/4 and 3/6 hu. Did not run well and lost about 7K (which really isn't that much for those limits). It was frustrating, but I still had 100 buy ins at 1/2.

Well... then my car broke down. Goodbye 4K. Then I got in an accident (my fault). Goodbye about 1.5K (insurance thankfully didn't punish me too bad). Then my computer screen broke. New computer, goodbye 1K. Then I took 5K out to put in bank accounts.

Soo... then I was down to 9K or so. Got a new computer at the start of last summer and won about 5K quickly. Then summer got really frustrating and I lost the 5K and ended the summer even. School starts and I win about 2K on very limited hands. Winter break: frustrating again. Was down, then up, then ended down about 3K. (I did win 2K at the casino playing 1/2 nlhe though).

Now my br is about 7.5K... but that changes every day. I'm still playing 1/2 hu pl. If I play hu holdem, people insanely game select and no one plays me after 20 hands. I suck at 6 max holdem and I don't understand why. I have also played some 1/2 deep ante plo and have done well (albeit running bad in all ins). I like those antes games.

Basically, my typical week is play well, grind out 150$ sessions, then lose it all plus more in one sitting. I definetely have a tilting problem. In the last 1.5 years, I have 3x as many -1000$ sessions as +1000$ sessions. Not good at all.

Also, winning $150 after playing for 30 minutes is good, but then I look at my graph and it barely shows up. $150 is not quite as big as a 6K downswing.

Here are my new rules whenever I play, we'll see how they work:
Play one hu table at a time.
Don't do other things while playing.
Quit if down -500$.
Quit if effective stacks are 300bb+.
Don't play deep tables.
Be happy with small wins. Can't win 6K in one setting.

sat down at 1/2 plo deep table today with a guy who had 400 on one table and 900+ on another. Being someone I had never seen, i generally assume the guy is either someone who is good and is either playing down or someone who is very aggro and has money to burn.

this guy was the very aggro type. in the first six hands he raised the button all three, 3bet me twice, and chk/raised my cbet the one time he didnt 3bet. his AF by street over 146 hands was 3.46/5.00/8.00. He would vbet incredibly light, give me very little respect (see: http://www.pokerhand.org/?3159067 - where i have a hand well in the lower part of my range and i'm still 50% to win on the turn.)

this guy 2 and 3 barrelled mercilessly and rarely cared what i could have. we went back and forth for a bit- he takes an early buy-in lead but then i win a couple big ones (stacks were ~1150:400 in my favor at one point). he then came back a bit to get stack sizes to even.

im generally not too comfortable playing 400bb deep, only because im not very used to doing so, but I felt like I had a pretty big advantage against this guy.

now to the big hand: my 3bet preflop is standard. I have a hand that plays well deep, etc. I obviously hit a very good flop. If I was 200bb deep against this guy, I would 4bet the flop and have no problems getting it in. However, being 400bb deep i dont want to get it in on the flop with only A8xx. Now, once he raises the flop and I call, I have at least an 8 about 90% of the time- but this opponent doesnt really care about that, because he will multi barrell with his entire range.

On the turn is when I make my decision for the hand. By calling the turn I am deciding to play my hand as a bluff-catcher. If he has nothing, I know he will continue to bluff. If he has a boat, I know he will continue to bet.

On the river he obviously catches his gin card. I have very high confidence that he would have pushed the river no matter what card came. It took me probably about two seconds to call.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3159109

I have no regrets about the way I played the hand.

Seat 2: CUPIDSTUNT6969 (small blind) showed [6s Qd 7d 3d] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sixes

classes start tomorrow, which is good and bad. and newspaper will be in full swing, which i write for and work on about 25 hours a week. what all this means is less poker playing and more of doing actual work which i make little or no money doing (in the short term at least).

my poker endurance is really low for some reason. after like 150 hands i my play starts getting gradually worse. not that im playing bad, i just dont have my A game anymore.

got it about 150 hands last night and about 150 this afternoon at 1/2 hu plo and played well (i feel i could have played slightly better in spots), but cards fell my way and i won 530$ which is nice. almost all my hands came against 'the blunt', who is a decent player and in the top 90% of people i play. i have picked up a few spots in his game that i can take advantage of though. that said, i have ran well against him, winning at 43BB over 260 hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093893 biggest pot by far. the match had been very aggro, and i really like my hand here obv. however, if i raise the turn- why am i raising? for value? as a semibluff? for protection? i couldnt think of a great reason to raise big, and i didnt want to just call either because every single card that doesnt pair the board completes some kind of straight and i didnt have A high diamonds. so i finally decided to min raise, giving him room to push over the top with draws. its always nice playing 800bb pots as an 80% fav.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093933 not much to say here. cold decked hand that i end up winning. as a side note, i should have 4bet the flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093933 me getting outplayed. for one, i believe he stacks off with any flush here, so my play isnt bad in that aspect... and my bet also protects against sets. however, at this point in the match i thought he would raise the flop with A high clubs, making only and K or Q high flush beat me. oops.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093962 the 'omaha bluff'. i run this bluff rarely, because i feel as though i need the right situation and opponent for it to work- which i thought i had both here. this guy is good enough to lay down a low flush and i can effectively rep an A high flush with the way i have played the hand. chances are, he didnt have a flush anyway.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093993 heres a situation where it would NOT be a good idea to bluff the A high flush, because if i had AA and two spades i am bet/calling the flop. i do have a flush sometimes though, because i could have somethign like 9TJQ with spades that i just checked behind on the turn. my thinking on my river call was that he would not vbet a straight, so it came down to if he had a flush, and i was getting decent odds to call.