To update first time readers I started this blog in at the end of December with the intention of watching videos and really working on my game. I've been doing pretty well but can't do anything at NL50. I don't know what it is, I move up and get my ass smacked right back down to NL25. Murder NL25 move up to NL50 and rinse and repeat.

I notice I am looser at NL50 for some reason but don't know why, mental I'm sure. Just venting here a bit, anyway for the month of March I'm not playing any NL50, strictly NL25. Part of this is to work on my game the other part is I have to pay some federal taxes and have cashed out a few hundred $'s and will cashout a few hundred more later this month hopefully.

Anyway here are my results since I started this, Since 12/25/2008.



Rake sucks. I'll try and do better for my next blog, this was just a quick update. I've been slacking at the blog thing.

Every time I take some time off from studying poker, I always seem to fall backwards. It's not one of those things that you can just pick up where you left off after some time away. While my Dad was here I took time off from studying because I was spending time with him. I wasn't watching videos, reviewing hands or posting hands. I expected after those two weeks to just start playing at the level I was.

I've watched some videos since then and my game improved, then I haven't watched any videos in a week or so and my game slowly regressed. You have to continually be involved with poker and thinking about the game to get better. So I'm going to try to get back to watching videos and posting hands, I have some marked in hold em manager to post I'll probably put one or two up today.

I had a bad day yesterday at NL25, I don't think I've had any bad days there since I've moved up. I dropped $200, a lot of bad play and some tilting. Luckily my cushion is still good and I have 24 BI's still, so back to the drawing board.

#1 Starting with the obvious I've been slacking at putting up blogs.

#2 I've been slacking at watching videos, and I can tell in my game. As in not watching any videos.

#3 I played some hands of HU. A big no no for me, Hu is a huge leak, I'm very bad at HU play.

#4 I haven't been reviewing any of my sessions.

#5 I'm just not ready for NL50 yet, don't know why. Probably refer to #2 and #4.


On the good side I keep killing NL25, I did play a good stretch of NL50 where I thought I finally got it and was going to move up for good. But I started to slide again and moved back down to NL25 and then back to NL50 and then back down to NL25.

Looking at my stats, for whatever I reason I start to loosen up significantly at NL50 and I get the FPS disease.

Well a quick update and I'm off to watch one or two videos. I told myself I can't play again until I watch 4 videos. I'm also seriously thinking about sticking with NL25 until I hit $2k. I'm tired of the up to $1k down to $600 move down rinse and repeat. I've done the rinse and repeat I think about 4 times in the last 30 days or so.

Well my dad took off a few minutes ago and is on his way cross country back home. It was really good seeing him and I'm glad I got to spend some time with him and more than that, that my kids did. It was a great visit and hope it's not 3 years before I get to see him again like this last time. Hopefully he doesn't catch to much rain or snow on his way across Arizona and New Mexico.

With my dad gone some of my attention can focus back on poker, I played very little while he was here and didn't watch any videos. When I did play it was at night while everyone was sleeping. That week or so pretty much went like, take a shot at NL50, FAIL, move down to NL25 play badly but still win some of my losses back, and rinse and repeat. I've been pretty much break even on the month overall which is terrible. I shouldn't have been taking those shots at NL50 when I didn't have time to work on my game. So back to work on my game, hopefully I can fit in 3 or 4 videos this week and try a shot at NL50 again this weekend when the games are better.

On the home front I'm done with my 3 weeks off from work and helping the wife recover from her surgery. Well not exactly but I have to go back to work. I go in tonight at midnight and I'm sure it will be terrible switching my body back to midnights for one week and then I have to move to day shift. The other terrible thing will be catching up on 3 weeks of backlogged work e-mails and work I have to do. I have to eat though so back to work it is. I also have to mix in the washing clothes, doing dishes, sweeping and mopping in the mix now too. Being Mr. Mom the past few weeks wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but it's not exactly fun doing a bunch of things that you don't like doing and usually don't do.

I haven't posted any results lately while my dad was in town, so here is how January went, February so far and since the start of this blog. You'll notice a few hands at NL10, I decided to open up FullTilt the other day and realized I had $15 left on there, so I played a few hands of NL10. I was thinking about seeing if I could run this money up or just get all my money off of Stars and put it there so I can suck up some rake back. Who knows I'll decide that another day.


January


February


Since start of blog.

I'll start with the game, it wasn't very exciting for the majority of the game. The last quarter was very exciting and trumped the other 3 quarters. I was really pulling for the Cardinals to win but not upset that the Steelers won though. I did go to high school with one of their players, so it's good that he has a Superbowl ring now.

I enjoyed the game and we had a good time by my friends house. He has four kids and my two kids just ran around and caused chaos for the whole day. He had a few other friends over and after the game we played a $20 6 person SNG, I came in second and got me and my wife's money back.

I haven't been playing much with my Dad in town and probably won't be for the rest of this week. He's staying until the 8th which is what I was hoping for, since it's been so long since I've seen him. His wife is flying in today and I'll meet her for the first time, so that'll be nice.

I took a small shot at NL50 last night. I was instantly up about $140 and should have called it a night especially since I've been struggling to move up. I started playing a little bad and dropped all the way down to -$80. Yes that's negative $80. I realized I was having a case of FPS. I shut down all of my tables went grab a snack out of the kitchen and came back, found one good table, maximized it on the monitor and put my entire concentration on that table. I made it back to even on that table but after I busted a fish the table broke up. So I did the same thing again, finding an even better table with four fish all with stacks of over $100. I made about $40 and the table broke and I decided to call it a night. After the big swings I figured I'd book the $40 win for the day.

I haven't been watching videos like I should, mainly a product of my Dad being here and not having time. I've been playing at night once everyone goes to bed. So my choice is usually get a few hundred hands in or watch a video, so I've been choosing to play. After this week I'll catch up with some videos and hopefully be a reg at NL50 (we'll see). I may continue with one table maybe two just to concentrate on good play until I start back on my video watching. Of course I probably won't stick to that last sentence if I'm playing well, but oh well.

I haven't had time to upload screen shots, so maybe I'll have time tonight or tomorrow to put up the January stats and results.

I haven't been playing much. My Dad is in town visiting so I have been spending a lot of time with him. I haven't seen him in almost 3 years so it's nice to see him again. We are very close it was just a matter of circumstance that's it's been so long that we've seen each other. He rode his motorcycle cross country and isn't sure how long he'll stay so we'll see hopefully for at least 5 days or so.

On the poker front I need to watch some videos and get my game together. I haven't been playing very well but not terrible either. This little time off will hopefully give me a clear head and when I get the chance to play some more hands I'll be back in a good frame of mind. Well everyone is sleeping so I'll play a few hundred hands before bed.

I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to update again before the Super Bowl or not so hopefully that's a good game. I'm sure I'll give my thoughts about the game here.

Well yesterday was just pure misery. I couldn't win a flip, when I was a big favorite I get 2 outed, and in general nothing I did worked. I became somewhat tilted and started playing bad toward the end of the day, I probably put in 600 to 700 tilted hands (that's not good). I wasn't on monkey tilt or anything like that I just wasn't in a good frame of mind to play poker. Oh yeah did I mention this all happened while taking a shot at NL50.

At one point in the day I was up almost $100 and ended up down $160. My all in EV for the day was at +$30 for a difference of $190 of expected value. Funny I posted yesterday about the coming downswing.

Anyway I didn't think NL50 was that much more difficult than NL25. A little more floating was the big difference I noticed, the 3betting was about the same and 4 betting also. Oh well I'll build back up to $600 or so and try it again. This same thing happened at NL25 with my first crack at it.

Well here are some hands.

This is me attempting to stack the table fish. This one sums up the day.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3768765

Can I please just kill one short stacker?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3768772

Die short stacker who 3bets every other hand!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3768770

Flushes are so pretty.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3768768

Somewhat questionable hand. Villain had been very active lately bulling me around, 3 betting me and 4bet me twice where I folded. Seemed like he was trying to push me around again so I went with it. Obviously I don't win flips.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3768766

Oh the river loves me.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3768849

Well that's a sample of some of my grief. I think I may not play today and just watch 2 or 3 videos.

Here are the stats from yesterday, terrible luck and terrible play make for days like these. I actually don't think I played that badly, with the exception of the hands at NL25 most of those were on tilt.

Looks like I'm falling back to reality some. Here are my total stats since 12/25/08 and a graph too, just for fun.





I'm still up overall and winning at a good rate, so I shouldn't complain that much. Rakes is absolutely murder, I'm seriously thinking about switching back to FullTilt where there is rakeback. I really like PokerStars a lot better, but I don't know if I like it $100 less a month better. Game selection seems better at stars, so I don't know. Overall I'm not running that far below allin EV so yesterday was just back to reality somewhat.

I saw a good NL50 table and took a shot. Didn't pick up any hands or find myself in any good situation to pick up pots. I lost about 12 uneventful dollars.

My account is up over $600 and I am thinking about continuing the 10bi shots at NL50. I feel like I'm getting well adapted to NL25, but I am still making some mistakes here and there. I haven't made any large crazy tilt mistakes in several thousand hands.

I've played a little over 25k hands since this taking poker serious thing started on Dec. 26. I ran at 30bb/100 at NL2 7.3k hands, 19bb/100 at NL10 11.7k hands, 17bb/100 at NL25 so far (including a move up that went disastrous and sent me back to NL10) 6.5k hands, and -20bb/100 at NL50 only 127 hands. Over all the hands it comes out to 22bb/100. So I'm writing this thinking where do you draw the line that I'm running good and playing good. I think I'm playing good and I'm up $30 EV wise, with a total profit of about $540. So obviously there is some run good in there.

I think while I'm playing very confidently I should take a shot at NL50. If I lose 2 or 3 BI's I can go back and grind a proper roll for NL50.

On another note I've watched the "Myth of the Red Line" series. I thought it was good and I definitely got some good info out of it. I know people say don't worry about your red line but I like Zaitsev's approach to this video. He played focusing on different places to take down pots. There were some in the comments that criticized some of his hands, but he was over exaggerating position for video purposes and solely focusing on those situations where you can take down non show down pots. The video wasn't meant to be a certain style of play but different situations that you can recognize and exploit within your style of play. A good series overall and definitely worth watching as long gas you keep the previous sentence in mind while watching.

I know this isn't one of my better blog entries, but it's late and I had some random thoughts about poker that those who read regularly might enjoy.

One last thought, today was my third consecutive + $100 day, and a bad sign is I'm starting to think if I play 2000 hands or so it's not unreasonable to make $100 plus at NL25. Thinking positive isn't so bad but I'm a very realistic person and I know this run is going to be accompanied by a down swing at some point. So maybe writing this here and reminding myself about that every once in a while will keep me a little more level headed when things aren't going as good at some point.

I'll start with the personal stuff first. Playing Mr. Mom isn't so bad so far, other than me having a hard headed wife that insists on trying to do to much after surgery. I guess this is better than having the opposite. Everything has been going smooth for the most part so far and I have been able to get a decent number of hands in.

So I hit the 10BI mark for NL25 and disregarded the whole wait till the next calendar day thing. Well things went well this time and so far the move up is sticking. NL10 was becoming increasingly easier and NL25 isn't as intimidating this time. I've been focusing on table selection a lot since my last move down to NL10. This could be the reason I found it increasingly easier. I've been picking tables by average pot size and then player to the flop percentage. After being at a table for 30 or so hands I look around and have to be able to see 2 spots at the table I'm easily making money from, if not time to click sit out next blind and move on. I'm starting to make this habit and every 5 minutes or so I'm looking at each of my 4 tables and asking that question and responding accordingly.

So the last two days have been pretty good, yesterday I had my first +$100 day in a very long time and am up about $80 today but probably won't play anymore till later tonight. One note of disappointment is me falling off the video watching wagon. I finished the "So You've Been Raised" series and that was good for me, it has me folding in some spots where I necessarily wouldn't have before, therefore saving me money in spots I'm obviously beat. These spots weren't so obvious to me before this video series. I have the next two series mapped out that I'm going to watch. First I'm going with Zaitsev's "Myth of The Red Line", it's two videos and I'll finish it by tomorrow (my goal). Then I'm going back to Verneer for season 2 of "Crushing the Micros" this one focuses on post flop play.

On that note while looking at the comments for the "Crushing the Micros" series I noticed some back and forth between Verneer and Cardmagician that was continued in one of the forums. I think Cardmagician had some points but left out one big thing that made all of his points meaningless. Cardrunners isn't for beginners as he suggest, I would argue anyone who finds their way here is already some type of student of the game, even if it's just as basic as thinking about how to get better. I would imagine that the vast majority here are way more advanced than just thinking, and know the terminology of poker players and some basic strategy.

Not sure why I put that last paragraph there but was thinking about that while typing. Well here is what you want the stats. The first is from the last 2 days, and the second is from 12/25/08 till present. For the first time readers of my blog that is the date I decided to get serious with poker and become a serious student of the game. My blog also starts on 12/26 (I think, to lazy to verify) recording my journey.

The last two days.



Since 12/25/08




P.S. I'm still looking for a free file hosting place where I can put these photos. I use flickr now but Yahoo DSL won't give me a free Pro account anymore starting Feb. 1st. If anyone knows a good one PM me or leave a comment, thanks.

Yesterday I took the mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law back to the airport in San Diego. I called the wife when I was on my way back home and told her I had the urge to go play poker at viejas when I saw it on the drive to the airport. She told me take $300 and go play and win some money. I took her up on the go and play part but not on the make some money part. I went early in the day and it was all regular players there. There were a few fish, one directly on my right who kept spewing money. Two of the regs I thought were really good and I stayed out of their way. One of the others I thought was OK but it seemed like the other good reg respected his game so I don't know. I thought he was overly aggressive which led me to my first big mistake of the day. By the way it was a 1/3 NL game $300 max buyin.


FIRST MISTAKE:

He was relatively tight and raised UTG. I called in late position (first mistake) and the button called. The flop was Q high with two hearts. He fired pot, I called thinking I'm just going to let him keep shoveling money in (I should listen to myself) button called also. Safe turn and the same action. Safe river and UTG OK over aggressive reg fires for about 3/4 pot. I'm thinking did he flop a set here and kept firing, I think he would slow down with AQ at some point, run into some strange two pair (he did play some strange cards from time to time), I just couldn't put anything together that I beat so I folded (mistake). I didn't follow my read, my read was over aggressive saw him try to buy some bigger pots and was going to call him down and shove river with safe cards, I basically had scared money and folded. He showed KQ with top pair good kicker, button folded on river presumably missing his flush draw. If I would have won that pot I would have been up about $450 or so (results oriented but will bring me to a point at the end).

SECOND MISTAKE:

I was dealt QcQs UTG I raised to $15 (pretty standard raise) two callers, including the button who was the same villain in my first mistake hand. I was only about $260 deep or so at the time. Flop was all low cards and all spades. I bet $40, one caller folds, and button raises to $100. If I call I have $145 or so left. In position this guy although seems somewhat competent has been calling with a big range of cards. So my thought was he's over aggressive and could be doing this with nut flush draw, over pair (9's, T's, J's) anything else he would have 3bet, strange two pair, set, and taking our other hand into account he could just have straight air knowing I can lay something down. Now being partially still tilted from mistake #1 and the thought that I was leaving probably in the next 45 mins I decided to shove. He instacalled and tabled the 59 of spades (or something just as ridiculous) and faded the turn and river spade to take it down. He had me covered and I went and finished my drive home after about 6 hours or so of live play.

SO WHAT DID I LEARN?

I'm sure I made some other small mistakes, but these two large mistakes were the difference of being up $400 and being down $300. It made me realize how important every decision really is, and when you make a wrong decision in these big pots it's the difference between winning and losing. This regular I was referring to I thought played some of the smaller and medium pots a little suspect, but he was involved in 4 or 5 big pots and made the right decision in all of them. He was up $700 or so when I left, I made two bad decisions in big pots and was down $300.

Bankroll, that regs had a few thousand dollars in their pockets when I saw them buy in. They could play without fear knowing they could rebuy. I had one bullet and played like it in that first hand. So maybe I may change my 10 buyin rule for moving up to NL25, we'll see.

That's all for now, I have to go and play MR. Mom. Just me to take care of the wife since her surgery and everyone has left town.

EDIT:

I pokerstoved mistake 2. I gave the villian the range of any PP except QQ, and any combo of suited spades. I was a 52% favorite. Maybe it wasn't such a big mistake especially if you include a little air.