Poker in the Rear

After yesterday's hellacious sessions I woke up ready to WIN. I've been finding the tables pretty soft when I play between 7am-9am my time, so when I saw it was 8am I decided it was worth a shot. It went very well as I finally ran like god:








Since getting back from my boat trip I've been on a bit of a poker kick. I've got a seriously insane travel schedule this month (as detailed in an earlier blog post) so I'm not going to get much poker time. This was kinda my 1 week of the month where I could really focus on playing cause the rest of the time I'll be traveling and hanging out with family.

My brother, fiance and I came out to my dads house on Monday to hang here for the week. He's outta town and my mom is on this crazy work kick with a deadline for a book they're writing. If we'd chilled there life woulda been hectic. I had Mon-Thurs to focus on poker and today I have to leave my cave and re-enter the real world. I'm taking my fiance out on a shopping spree for her birthday and a haircut / hair coloring at a fancy salon. Then we head to my mom's place for a belated thanksgiving dinner since the family was spread out traveling around the world on thanksgiving day.

I'm happy with my littl intensive poker week though. Started off horribly cause my 10 day trip was enough to get me to forget soooo many basics. Most importantly I lost my patience... I got back eager to win money and that lead to losing lots of money. Then I got my shit back together but variance decided to make me its bitch. But I learned a LOT and have opened up my game even more, and I feel like I'm at a peak right now. It's a great feeling. I also know I have a lot to learn, but I feel like my brain is soaking it in.

So let me just throw down my PT stats and some graphs for this last week since returning from the boat:








I hope to keep playing and keep updating this blog, but who knows if that will happen or not during the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone who's been reading, commenting and especially giving advice on hands. Happy Holidays!

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Comments (6)

Been using the Auto hand posting tool that was in the news a few days back. Seems to work fine but sometimes it sends the wrong hands in. I finish my session and go look at LP and there's a bunch of random hands posted... So what's the trick? Do I need to tell it to post once the next hand has started? Do I need to do it while the hand is in progress?

Also it might be that as I'm multi-tabling another table pops up right when I tell it to post a hand, and then it takes the last hand from another table...

Anyway, the only thing I'd like to add to it is the ability to pick different hands for it to auto-post. Maybe I just didn't read the directions well enough, but being able to look at your hand history and autopost from there would be great... actually that might work... shit, I'll go re-read it now.

EDIT: Wait, I'm an idiot. THAT IS HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE USED. HAH! So that probably explains the random hands - I probably had the hand history open on the wrong hands.

Ah well, live and learn.

As long as I'm editing, I might as well mention that I took a break and ate dinner while watching the Bronco's play... they started off ok but reverted to being the Denver Donkeys by the end, losing the game and their shot at the playoffs. Then I got back on the comp and 5 tabled NL50 for about 2 hours and played awesome. I definitely play well when I'm on 5 tables and am going to stick to it. I keep reverting to this 8-10 table shit when there's lots of laggy tables to choose from, thinking that if I just play tight I'll win. It kinda works sometimes cause when I rush I rush big, but I think that I leak a hell of a lot more too.

So here's the final graph for today. Goodnight all!

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Comments (2)

And only won 30$ over 1,800 hands. I know I was way up at one point. Too lazy to post a graph SS. Some hands...

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335974 - Good fold? http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335990 - This guy was super laggy. Probably shoulda Cr the flop? He was making Cbets like 90% of the time. http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/336013 - bad move? was thinking I could squeeze here. http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/336033 - good fold? figured he had KQ or the flush. I hate this spot.

EDIT: Nevermind, here's the graph. I actually recovered from my horrible start to the day. Then I donked it off over the next 1,000 hands or so... FUCK

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Comments (3)

I sat down to a painful 15 minutes today. Started off nicely, making a few nice plays, getting dealt a bunch of hands so I was playing pretty aggr and had a LAG image. Then everything went to hell and I got stacked 3 times in quick succession, then had to fold a few big pots after I'd put in a decent amount of money. I probably just went down 4 buyins in 15 minutes of playing. To top it all off I folded AA in a huge pot and the guy showed a bluff... my wrists are now asking "oh where art thy knife?"

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335755 - I'd raised 4 hands in a row before this and won 2 of them. Thought he was sick of me.

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335779 - At the same time I'm getting stacked I played this hand, having to fold after putting in a decent amount.

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335757 - This is the next hand I play on another table... gahh!

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335772 - The next hand at the same table, slightly tilted now and thinking about how he called with such crap on the flop. wrists wrists wrists

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335754 - hit this hand on my other table right after getting stacked the 3rd time and 3bet a bit light and have to fold to a 4bet

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/335767 - Then my aces get bluffed and I'm ready to push all in on all my tables with air in frustration, anger and desperate hope of having something go my way.

Instead, I close pokerstars and come make this post.

So here's the sessions stats - lasted no more than 15 minutes, probably like 10.

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Comments (6)

So went down to 5 tables. Much better so far. Had a winning session going earlier till I got sucked out on twice for big pots and then donked a stack pushing AQs preflop.

I realized why I was losing so much - I wasn't playing poker, I was just trying to be a poker bot and nutpeddle. Wasn't analyzing a damn thing, wasn't making reads, wasn't paying very good attention to peoples tendencies. Too hard to do that with so many tables. It was good to multi table like that for a bit to get my overall hand-speed back, as well as to quickly pound the basics back into my head. But now it's time to really PLAY poker, not just make the standard move over and over again.

This amazing idea of "PAYING ATTENTION TO THE TABLE" led me to make this great read and call. Almost laid down on the river, but he'd been acting a maniac for a while and I figured chances were high that I was good. Here's that hand:

Submitted by : k2o4

PokerStars Game #13823488077: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/12/12 - 21:28:20 (ET)
Table 'Koranna III' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Taxi A7 ($84.05 in chips)
Seat 2: k2o4 ($50 in chips)
Seat 3: shifty803 ($49.35 in chips)
Seat 4: dwlhunter ($56.60 in chips)
Seat 5: nomanirvana ($50 in chips)
Seat 6: ValueKill ($146.15 in chips)
dwlhunter: posts small blind $0.25
nomanirvana: posts big blind $0.50

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to k2o4
ValueKill: folds
Taxi A7: raises $0.50 to $1
k2o4 : calls $1
shifty803: folds
dwlhunter: folds
nomanirvana: folds

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $2.75)

   
Taxi A7: bets $2.50
k2o4 : calls $2.50

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $7.75)

   
Taxi A7: bets $10
k2o4 : raises $10 to $20
Taxi A7: calls $10

River (Pot : $47.75)

   
Taxi A7: bets $27.50
k2o4 : calls $26.50 and is all-in

Showdown
Taxi A7: shows (high card Ace)
k2o4 : shows (a pair of Sevens)
k2o4 collected $97.75 from pot

Summary
Total pot $100.75 | Rake $3
Board  
Seat 1: Taxi A7 showed and lost with high card Ace
Seat 2: k2o4 showed and won ($97.75) with a pair of Sevens
Seat 3: shifty803 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: dwlhunter (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: nomanirvana (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: ValueKill folded before Flop (didn't bet)

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Why don't you blufffffffff a big pot at me!

POKERSTARS GAME #13811783811: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/12/12 - 10:57:00 (ET)
Table 'Theotes V' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: VinceVega12 ($46.75 in chips)
Seat 3: theboe07 ($52.25 in chips)
Seat 4: halberry ($53 in chips)
Seat 5: k2o4 ($70.45 in chips)
Seat 6: Loc0Loc0 ($199.85 in chips)
k2o4 : posts small blind $0.25
Loc0Loc0: posts big blind $0.50

Holecards
Dealt to k2o4
VinceVega12: folds
MYBONNIE joins the table at seat #2
theboe07: folds
MYBONNIE is sitting out
halberry: raises $1.50 to $2
k2o4 : calls $1.75
Loc0Loc0: raises $5 to $7
halberry: folds
k2o4 : calls $5

Flop (Pot : $16.00)

   
k2o4 : checks
Loc0Loc0: bets $11
k2o4 : calls $11

Turn (Pot : $38.00)

   
k2o4 : checks
Loc0Loc0: bets $17
k2o4 : raises $35.45 to $52.45 and is all-in
Loc0Loc0 said, "nice suckout :'("
Loc0Loc0: folds
k2o4 collected $70 from pot
k2o4 : doesn't show hand

Summary
Total pot $72 | Rake $2
Board  
Seat 1: VinceVega12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: theboe07 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: halberry (button) folded before Flop
Seat 5: k2o4 (small blind) collected ($70)
Seat 6: Loc0Loc0 (big blind) folded on the Turn

POKERSTARS GAME #13811396440: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/12/12 - 10:27:24 (ET)
Table 'Doris' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: SandwichAces ($35.05 in chips)
Seat 2: draghkar ($65.15 in chips)
Seat 3: lebowskiguy ($79.65 in chips)
Seat 4: theboe07 ($49.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Z - OPC ($49.50 in chips)
Seat 6: k2o4 ($70.65 in chips)
theboe07: posts small blind $0.25
Z - OPC: posts big blind $0.50

Holecards
Dealt to k2o4
k2o4 : raises $1.50 to $2
SandwichAces: folds
draghkar: folds
lebowskiguy: folds
theboe07: folds
Z - OPC: calls $1.50

Flop (Pot : $4.25)

   
Z - OPC: checks
k2o4 : bets $2.50
Z - OPC: calls $2.50

Turn (Pot : $9.25)

   
Z - OPC: bets $8.50
k2o4 : calls $8.50

River (Pot : $26.25)

   
Z - OPC: checks
k2o4 : bets $25
Z - OPC: folds
k2o4 collected $25 from pot
k2o4 : doesn't show hand

Summary
Total pot $26.25 | Rake $1.25
Board  
Seat 1: SandwichAces folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: draghkar folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: lebowskiguy (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: theboe07 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Z - OPC (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 6: k2o4 collected ($25)

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No particular reason. Just got back from a 10 day boat trip and was rusty as hell. Slowly added more and more tables until 17 cause my screen just got awkward at that point. For some reason mass tabling like that seems to help me get back into the groove since I run into standard situations over and over again and I remember, oh yeah, just do the right move, it doesn't matter if it works or not.

Played a little over 3k hands and went up about 2.5 buyins... haha. That just feels sad and pathetic to me!





Definitely played tighter but it's pretty hard to do that many tables of 6max. If I took more than 3 seconds to analyze a hand I'd usually end up getting hands folded on 2-4 tables. I played ok, but I got stacked in every overpair vs set situation I hit, as well as all the times I hit TpTk w/ AK or AQ. So gonna go play my regular 4-8 tables now and remember that... If I had avoided that leak, even one outta every 3 that happened, I'd be up pretty big for the session.

Ok, just wanted to note that down for the night.

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Comments (4)

Other than the stuff that got me in trouble with "To Catch A Predator"... but that doesn't count, right?

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So I'm in Costa Rica again. Quick 2 day trip (well 1 full day here) for some business meetings. I don't want to be here. Yes, Costa Rica is great, but San Jose sucks. I don't like having to come all the way down here for quick business meetings where all I get to see is a hotel room, a conference room, and the inside of a cab while riding around a polluted city. If I'm in Rica I want to go to the beach, but my last 3 trips here haven't taken me anywhere near one.

I go home tomorrow. Fly all day, land, sleep, then wake up and start the Xmas tour. I have a lot of family I have to see every year around this time, so it's tour time. It goes a bit like this:

December 1st - Fly to Trinidad (Caribbean) and do a 10 day boat trip on my uncles catamaran. This will be awesome, except no poker for a bit. That's fine, glad to have a break, but also slows my progress, which sucks a bit. Plenty of time to read, look over old PT hands, and watch High Stakes Poker episodes though, hehe. Between wakeboarding, snorkeling, and sailing around, there's actual lots of down time.

December 10th - Come back to colorado. Spend 4 days at home with my mom and brother.

December 15t - Fly to DC to visit family. Always a good time, and my Grandma is an amazing cook.

December 22nd - Fly back to colorado. Got screwed here cause of how the tickets were set. Spend the night, repack, then...

December 23rd - Fly to Michigan. visiting family there for Xmas. Again, another great time. My mom is one of 6 children and I'm the oldest of 12 grandchildren. It's a fucking crazy gathering of family every year.

December 30th - Fly back to colorado to enjoy new years with friends. And the travel ends!

Tentative: January 15th - Move to costa rica. Still dunno if this will happen, but work may require me down here.

Dunno how much poker I'll get in this month but I'd love to be playing solidly in NL100 by the end of December, ideally being up in NL200 before I move to Costa Rica. We'll see how much I get to play, how well I play and how the cards treat me.

As far as the cards go, this last month they've gone very nicely. They kicked my ass in the beginning, but at the end they paid me back handsomely. Here's my November results:







Off to meetings now!

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Comments (6)

Well NL50 6max has been going very fast. I basically haven't had a losing session yet, though most of the wins have been about 1-2 buyins. I haven't been leaving when I'm on top either, I try and always leave after losing a solid pot rather than when I'm winning big. Read something about that in Ace on the River and like doing it that way. Getting pretty used to leaving on a loss and don't feel a need to chase. Plus I'm seeing such a huge benefit to leaving after a loss, chilling for a bit, then coming back later. I think if I stayed after the loss I'd be more likely to lose money than win it back.

Anyway, rambling! The only losing sessions I had were yesterday when I got adventurous and tried playing some LAG, and then some maniac (60/40) to see how it went and get a feel for that perspective, especially since I NEVER do it. I actually did pretty well, but played 3 sessions and left each session after losing a big pot. Came out 3 buyins down from that experiment, then played a final session for the day and won it back playing my regular game. I like my regular game. I think it's ok. So I decided to stick to it.

Now I've hit $2,000. 20 Buyins for NL100. I was playing a 30 Buyin rule through NL25, but then I got inspired and took a shot at NL50 at 25 Buyins. It's gone well so far. Now I'm wondering if I should start taking shots at NL100. I think I want to wait a bit, till I have 23 or 24 buyins at least, so I have a bit more cushion. But maybe I'm just being too nitty. I do want to get out of the microstakes ASAP, but I also don't want to push it too hard and go backwards. I haven't played very many hands at NL50 and my success could just be a pretty good hot streak.

Actually, I know I'm running very well in big pots. That's been huge. I also think I'm playing an OK game, but not as good as my stats are saying. And who knows when the next downswing will come. I really don't want it to hit while I'm taking a shot with a short roll. Here's my Poker EV graph of my NL50 6max run so far...



And here's PT and a regular graph:





So what do you think this NewB should do?

1) Start taking shots now
2) Start taking shots at about $2,300 - $2,400
3) Stick to your 25 Buyin rule and wait till $2,500.

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Comments (12)