Week 27

This week was fairly hectic with exams and assignments. I've still got a bit of a cough as well. I have one more assignment to finish off and then I can start playing again.

Also, my LeggoPoker video was released on Friday and got a good response. So go watch that if you haven't already.

Week 26

I've been really busy with college all week and managed to get sick on Friday so I've been too tired and unwell to play.

I did manage to watch a good few videos this week though, about 4 in total.

I'm going to be pretty busy all this week as well with more exams and assignments, I'm really looking forward to the break so I can get some decent hands in.

Week 25 and November

Monday I had a soccer match in the morning, it was 4th year maths vs. 1st year maths. It's an annual cup that the maths society holds every year. We won 2-1.

Tuesday I watched a video.

Wednesday I played in the final against the 2nd years (they beat the 3rd years 10-2). We had lost to them last year so we were looking for a little revenge. We lost 1-0 having dominated the game, pretty disappointing. I also took a nasty fall after a bad tackle. Luckily, I managed to soften the blow with my face and get a couple of scratches above and below my eye, just in time for the ball on Thursday. I also tore my knee up pretty badly so I've been limping around for the week, stupid astroturf.

Thursday I went to the ball, had a great time.

Friday I was relaxing and recuperating.

Saturday I got in a session. I felt very tired towards the end of it. I can't wait until the Christmas break so I can get back into a routine again.

Sunday I got in a small session, felt like I was playing really well and running over people a lot.

I also found out I came second in the LeggoPoker competition so you'd better go pick up a Leggo subscription, if you haven't got one already, to watch it.

So here's the results for November:






I guess it's interesting that both my steal percentage and VPIP/PFR from the BTN have gone way up. There's just loads more nits and uncreative regs who aren't bothered about playing back at me.

There's nowhere near enough hands to do anything detailed but it's nice to be running hot again :).

Week 24

Bankroll is up to $3,163.

Monday I spent the day putting the finishing touches on the Leggo video and recorded it that evening. While I was waiting for it to render I put in some more work on my 1000th boards.ie post, it's now 12 pages long in word. I really wish I wasn't so much of a perfectionist about everything, I spent two full days working on the video when I already had a lot of the content written out and months working on the 1000th post on and off.

Tuesday I watched a video.

Wednesday I didn't get anything done.

Thursday I went playing soccer in the evening.

Friday I watched a video.

Saturday I got in a good session. I finished off the 1000th post and posted it up, link here.

Sunday I watched a video and got in a decent session.

I didn't feel like I was playing well this week, too tired I suppose. At least I got a lot of work done on other projects, it's been a fairly productive week overall.

Week 23

Didn't get any poker in but cashed out $500 so bankroll is down to $3,128.

Monday I watched a video.

Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't get much done.

Thursday I watched a video and went playing soccer in the evening.

Friday I went to a months mind for my friend and then out for the night after that.

Saturday I was at a Christening and then out again.

Sunday I was working on a video for the LeggoPoker competition. It's taking a long time to put together, it didn't help that I had to teach myself how to use PowerPoint either. If I can get all the content done tonight I should be able to record and submit it tomorrow, I should really stop procrastinating so much.

Week 22

Bankroll is up to $3,628.

Monday I watched a video.

Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't get anything done.

Thursday I watched a video, it was one with Tommy Angelo as a special guest. Joe Tall was talking about how he used to play loads of 15 - 30 minute sessions in a day which allowed him to mentally reset and play his A game all the time. He was playing stud though so he didn't have to wait for blinds to come around so I'm going to try playing one hour sessions and see how that goes.

Friday I got in a session in the afternoon. I aimed for an hour but in the end I played an extra 10 minutes because a mega fish was tilting and randomly shoving 100bbs preflop. I watched a video and got in another one hour session. I seem to get in the same amount of hands that I usually do.

Saturday I played two one hour sessions. I went to my parents house to go out that night, myself and my younger brother got into a fight with some guy after he insulted Jennifer. We confronted him and his friend, he threw a punch, which gave me a pretty bad cut on my nose, but I got him back. The gardai (police for non Irish readers) showed up and broke it up and they called an ambulance for him. I didn't see him get taken away so I assume they were just cleaning him up a bit, his face was covered in blood. Two of my knuckles are a little tender and I've got a cut on my nose but we won the fight and that's the important thing.

I didn't get any sessions in Sunday as I didn't get home until late and I was too tired to play.

Week 21

Monday I got in a session in the afternoon.

Tuesday I started coming down with a cold and was feeling tired and groggy all day.

Wednesday and Thursday I was very busy in college so no time to get anything done.

I watched Pok3rplaya's sample video for PokerSwat on Friday. I really hope the site goes well for them, there's clearly been a lot of effort put in. Aaron sent out a "Happy Halloween" update to keep us informed about upcoming plans, I even got a shout out in it :).

Saturday I put in a session in the afternoon, I started taking notes on Chapter 2 of the audio series but it's pretty long.

Sunday I watched a video and got in a session. I watched another video later and got some more work done on Chapter 2.

October Review

Since last month it looks like my VPIP from the SB and UTG have gone up significantly, although the UTG stat is based on very few hands. These are more than likely bad trends.

Both my W$WSF and W$SD are down a lot, this could be just a function of running bad but it's also possible that I was playing noticeably worse due to tiredness. There's not really enough hands to say.

My aggression factor and aggression frequency are both down and, although my flop cbet is up slightly, my turn cbet is down a lot. It looks like I'm playing a little more passively in general and I definitely feel like my confidence is down a bit.

We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.

Week 20

Bankroll is up to $3,257.

Monday and Tuesday I didn't get a lot done.

Wednesday I watched a video.

Thursday I had a busy day at college so no poker study.

Friday I watched a video.

Saturday I got in a session in the afternoon and did some more work on my 1000th boards.ie post. It's coming along pretty nicely, I need to write a couple more sections and come up with examples for some other sections. I'm pretty pleased with it so far though.

Sunday I watched another video. I played a session but Party started to lag a lot whenever the pop up to tell me that there was a seat available for a table I was waiting on came up. It meant I was disconnecting and timing out a lot so I gave up. I did manage to get another o.k. session in later on though.

My recent results have been pretty annoying but they're over such ridiculously small samples that they're completely irrelevant. However, having them strung out over a few weeks is making it feel a lot worse then it should be. Hopefully putting that down in writing will help .

Week 19

Bankroll is down to $3,254

Monday I was asleep for a lot of the day so I didn't get a whole lot done.

On Tuesday I listened to the conference calls for Chapter 5/6 (it was combined) and Chapter 7.

Wednesday I didn't do much.

Thursday I put in a long session. A mega donk ran ridiculously hot against me, I lost 6 buy-ins and decided to drop down to $100nl to rebuild. I think going back to college has had a bad effect on my game, I'm way more tired now and tilting a lot more than I ever have before. I might cut back playing to the weekends and only when I'm refreshed and not stressed out. The same thing happened a little over a year ago and really shattered my confidence (and my bankroll).

Friday I managed to get into the gym, if I could get in two or three times a week I'd be delighted. I also started taking whey protein again.

Saturday I started playing but my internet cut-off so I listened to the conference call for Chapter 8 instead. I watched a video later on as well.

Sunday I got in a decent session in the afternoon and got $40 worth of a reload bonus cleared.

A disappointing week overall, I've spent so much time at $100nl that being back here is pretty frustrating. I'm not sure what I can do to help improve my concentration though, I'm just auto-piloting way too much and not thinking things through. Meh.

Week 18

Bankroll is up to $4,687.

I got in a small session Monday afternoon. Later on I managed to get in a decent session, felt like I was running pretty bad at the start of it but o.k. later on. Overall I feel like I'm playing well, taking loads of notes, etc. I haven't posted a hand in a while so I thought I'd post this one against a 46/10/2 over 600 hands.

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
CO: $393.21
Hero (BTN): $200
SB: $169.45
BB: $200
UTG: $162.48

Pre-Flop: 8 5 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG calls $2, CO folds, Hero raises to $9, 2 folds, UTG calls $7

This is my 3rd hand at the table. I isolate the weak player in position, this is pretty standard but it's worth mentioning that overlimping is perfectly acceptable with this hand. However, my default is to raise.

Flop: ($21) 7 2 Q (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $14, UTG calls $14

The flop is pretty normal, not overly dry or overly wet. My cbet size will usually be around 2/3 to 3/4 pot. Here I have 8 high, my opponent isn't full stacked and won't exploit me for betting smaller with air and bigger with value hands, so I bet towards the smaller end.

I get a very quick call. This is a timing tell which usually means my opponent has a weak made hand or a draw.

Turn: ($49) T (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $38, UTG calls $38

The ten is a pretty good double barrel card. The best ones would obviously be an A or K but I expect my opponent to frequently have middle pair or worse, if he has a made hand, so the ten puts another overcard to his likely hands on the board and will be a scare card for him. My bet size is designed to be big enough to get folds but also leave enough behind to get him to fold to a river shove.

River: ($125) 4 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $139 and is All-In, UTG folds

On the river all possible draws miss, I have 8 high and have to shove to fold out flush draws and stubborn weak one pair hands.

Results: $125 Pot
Hero mucked 8 5 and WON $262 (+$201 NET)

Tuesday I got in a session in the morning, I did some pretty spewy stuff at the start but improved as the session went on. I was getting 3bet a good bit so I started 2.5xing the BTN as a default and I picked up the blinds almost every time, it's amazing how unable the regs were to counter it, they were so used to 3betting and almost terrified to play a pot postflop OOP. Here was a fun river bluff raise:

Villain is playing 55/18/2.3 over 1.1k hands, I also have the following notes on him:
didn't cbet top pair good kicker hu OOP
donk bet OESD.
donk bets draws
donk bet called J8 on T94r

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
BB: $207.30
UTG: $203
CO: $169.90
Hero (BTN): $386.60
SB: $241

Pre-Flop: 6 8 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, CO calls $2, Hero raises to $9, 2 folds, CO calls $7

Like the last hand I isolate the weak player in position. Again overlimping is perfectly acceptable with this hand, but my default is to raise.

Flop: ($21) 7 T 4 (2 Players)
CO bets $14.96, Hero calls $14.96

I flop a double bellybuster and backdoor flush draw and get lead into. This is the type of draw that we want to play passively because it's so hidden. Only having 8 high we also wouldn't mind taking the pot down now.

However, against this player we know his range is very heavily weighted towards draws, not only because we've seen him donk bet a draw multiple times but also because we've seen him not value bet strong hands before. The important point is that almost every draw he can have here is going to have a higher overcard then us and isn't going to fold. He may call a raise but if he were to shove over the top with Jd2d we'd be really hating the situation.

Turn: ($50.92) Q (2 Players)
CO bets $24.46, Hero calls $24.46

The queen is a blank which hits nothing, his bet size suggests a draw looking for a cheap river and, like on the flop, there's still no reason to raise.

River: ($99.84) A (2 Players)
CO bets $48.92, Hero raises to $338.18 and is All-In, CO folds

All the draws miss, his bet size is weak and we know he doesn't value bet thin. If we had any showdown value this would be a clear call. However, since we don't, and the ace is a good bluff card we can shove over the top and expect him to fold the vast majority of his range.

Results: $197.68 Pot
Hero mucked 6 8 and WON $484.94 (+$387.60 NET)

I got another session in later on, I did some spewy stuff at the start again. I'm going to have to stick up some post-its or something to remind myself not to spew at the start of sessions.

On Wednesday Aaron uploaded the conference calls so I downloaded them and listened to the conference call for Chapter 2.

Thursday I listened to the conference call for Chapter 3 and went to a removal in the evening. A close friend of mine hung himself, he was 23 and had a young daughter. The family asked his friends to write a speech for the funeral and the lads had started working on it but were having a bit of trouble making it flow and getting it altogether. So, since I'd gotten an A2 in English, I was asked to write it. I was very pleased with it, it turned out really nicely.

Friday I went to the funeral and didn't really feel like playing on Saturday either.

Sunday I managed to get in a small session in the morning and I listened to the conference call for Chapter 4.

Week 17

Bankroll is down to $4,598.

Monday I listened to chapter 9 and started posting some questions in the forum, basically whatever came to mind.

On Tuesday I went through Chapter 1 and started taking loads of notes, pretty much anything that was said I took down.

Wednesday I finished off writing the notes for Chapter 1, posted some more questions and got a load of work done on my 1000th boards.ie post.

Thursday I watched a video. Friday I put in a decent session, kinda swingy but o.k. I played a second session later but had to stop when Party decided that it didn't want me to type in bet sizes anymore.

Saturday morning Irish Broadband thought it would be a good idea to cut off my broadband for a few hours. When it finally came back on HoldemManager wouldn't open for me so I played hudless for a little while until Irish Broadband decided to cut off my broadband again while I was 5 tabling. It's o.k., I was far too tilted to play anymore at that stage anyway. I started taking notes for Chapter 2 and put in another session.

Sunday morning I put in a good session. I got in another session later on, I was getting kinda tilted towards the end, doing some pretty spewy stuff.

Overall it was an o.k. week, I got a lot of work done at the start but the end of the week was pretty frustrating and tilt inducing.

September Review

Again it looks like the biggest problem with my stats is I haven't played enough hands. I probably did 8k hands a week back when I first started this blog and now I'm struggling to do it in a month.

Overall I think the stats look pretty sexy, my flop AF and cbet% have gone back up to a respectable level.

My turn cbet% is going in the right direction but my river AF isn't great, although it's a small sample for that.

Besides that there's been little bits of fluctuation here and there but nothing terribly interesting. My VPIP/PFR has stayed around the same level as last month, maybe this is my new style.

My won $ without showdown is still negative but I'm not terribly bothered about that.

I've decided I'm going to set a new goal. I completed my previous goal and since then I've put in about 10k hands so maybe some motivation will do me good.

I'm going to try to hit $20k by Christmas. I've got experience at $400nl already so I don't expect to have any psychological problems with moving back up, etc. Balancing time spent studying the game with time spent playing is something I'll have to improve if I want to achieve this though.

Week 16

Bankroll is down to $5,443.

I played a session Monday after college, didn't run very well at all. I had a fish cooler me twice for 100BBs each in the space of 3 hands, and then hit and run. I didn't feel like I was playing that great anyway tbh.

On Tuesday Party launched their new software which fucked up SpadeEye so now I can't table select. I opened up a few tables just to try out the new style, I didn't like it very much, at least it's possible to go back to the "classic" view. I cashed out $500 as well.

Aaron (aejones) has just launched his new site, www.memoirsofaejones.com, for his audio files. He'd agreed to sell them to me individually before but we were both on holidays and lost touch so I PMed him again to see if I'd still be able to get them individually. He said it would be a bit of hassle but he'd do it and also offered to give me a substantial discount if I got all of them together since I'd inquired previously. I decided to take him up on the offer and get them altogether, it's putting a pretty big dent into my bankroll but I'll still be able to play 200nl and I don't really want to keep annoying him for each new chapter. I also played a $55 tourney on Stars.

Wednesday I watched a video and was able to get the $4k over to FullTilt to pay for the audio files, I listened to two of them. It's pretty difficult to keep concentration without something to watch and I can't read forums, etc. without having to rewind the audio every couple of minutes to pick up what I missed. It probably would have come out a whole lot better as a PowerPoint video, even if it was only a few different slides with summaries or whatever. Content is obviously excellent even though these first two were on preflop play which tends to be fairly dry and boring most of the time. I've also heard a lot of it before from various sources so it's, mostly, nothing groundbreaking but I guess it never hurts to have the fundamentals drilled into you again. There are, of course, one or two little gems which should have a significant effect on my winrate though.

Thursday I watched a video and listened to another two chapters of the audio files. Chapter 3, playing 3bet pots, was........thorough. That's probably the best way to describe it. It goes way beyond just dry texture vs. wet texture. A high boards vs. Q high boards vs. 9 high boards vs. etc, rainbow, two tone, mono tone, good cbet spots, good barreling spots, reacting to raises, bet sizing, how to play different hand strengths, typical hand ranges for villains in different spots, perceived ranges and probably some other stuff I've already forgotten. It was almost always brought back to balancing and reasons why given for the majority of things. I had to rewind several times because I'd constantly miss stuff.

Chapter 4, playing 3bet pots without initiative, was really good as well, possibly the best one so far. The conference calls aren't up yet but I'm really looking forward to them.

Friday I listened to chapters 5 and 6, which are on postflop play, and tried to get HoldemManager working with the new Party update but now I can't get HoldemManager to turn on at all which is fairly frustrating.

On Saturday I reinstalled the earlier version of HoldemManager. Party are after fixing their hand histories so it should work again as well as putting a player list in the lobby so hopefully SpadeEye should be updated soon. I listened to chapter 7, psychology with gp333 as a guest, I'm usually not big into the whole leveling thing but it was still really good. I also listened to chapter 10 on leading and dealing with leads since I had another coaching session with Tri that evening and that was one of the topics we were going to discuss.

The coaching session went well, we talked about the article he'd sent me called line variations, stuff on river checkraising, minraising/gayraising and donk betting. We looked at a few hand examples, discussed any questions I had and got into a big argument on 3betting. Our next session is on 3betting (and probably postflop play in 3bet pots as well) and, even though I've got 3bet theory coming out my ears at this stage, it will be nice to hear more of his thoughts on it as his approach is different to the one I use and both BobboFitos and aejones recommend (although their opinions are slightly different on some parts). So even though I had a big argument with him on it I'm going to try and keep an open mind about his approach even if I don't adopt it myself.

On Sunday I installed the update for SpadeEye and put in a decent session which went well. I listened to chapter 8, deep play with BobboFitos as a guest, and then put in another small session.

Next week I hope to finish the audio files and get through the conference calls which should be up soon. After that I'll go through the audio files more slowly and start taking some notes. It should be much easier to find things I want to ask about or have elaborated that way. It'll also make it easier to revise and refer back if I have it in print. Hopefully Party manage to not fuck up their software for a little while so I can actually get some hands in.

Week 15

Bankroll is up to $9,800.

I cashed out $700 on Monday. I started playing The Godfather on PS2 and ended up not getting any sessions in Monday or Tuesday. That was pretty stupid since I was close to clearing a $250 reload bonus but it looks unlikely I'll get it cleared now.

Wednesday I put in a decent session, running well with regs making loads of spewy plays at me. Didn't have time for a second session.

Thursday I was playing Godfather again and went to a going away party for a friend that night so I didn't get any sessions in. I was too hungover to play on Friday as well.

Played a small session Saturday evening, I felt really weird, didn't feel in control or in the zone at all. I was getting in unusual spots, not sure what to do half the time, having to think about basic decisions. I just decided to quit early, hopefully it's only temporary. I watched a video though. My CardRunners subscription ran out, I'm going to leave it for a while before renewing, it's pretty hard to keep up with 3 training sites.

Didn't play at all on Sunday either. It's been a pretty bad week for getting anything done, I still have to organize a time for my next coaching session. I'm back to college tomorrow, last year I only played at the weekends and I'm not sure if I'll be getting in any hands during the week this year either. I'll see how my timetable fills out and try to find some good times for a session or two.

Week 14

Bankroll is up to $9,675.

Monday I had a frozen raspberry, fresh strawberry, whole grain summer fruits, apple juice and honey smoothie. Session was going very well until I got nut flush draw + two overcards in vs. top set in a 3bet pot 200+BBs deep and didn't suck out. I was happy with how I played, felt pretty in control and was getting away with a lot of stuff.

Tuesday went o.k. again, felt like I was running well but seemed to be getting played back at a lot. Had a sweat session with SlowHabit in the evening, ran pretty well, had a lot of fun and learned a good bit too. One thing I realized is that I tend to just auto fire cbets when it's a good spot for it (good board texture or backdoor equity, etc.) and don't just give up a small pot or two every now and then. By doing that I would improve my image with the donks I'm pounding on and, because they're less frustrated, they'll play back at me a little less and let me pick up more pots in future. The other argument is that I should just pick up the EV now and worry about future implications later. It was nice having somebody sweat me, even though I timed out a good bit, verbalizing my thoughts before every action helped a lot.

I didn't get a chance to play on Wednesday as I had a meeting but I did watch a couple of videos. CR and DC seem to be releasing a load of good content the last couple of weeks, having a set schedule and using series seems to work really well. I still have a soft spot for Leggo though, I love that they answer my questions. Tri (SlowHabit) sent me an article called "Line Variations" for us to discuss in our next session. It talks about 4 different plays you can make and basically gets you to think about what you're doing instead of just being a robot.

I didn't play at all on Thursday either, I really need to put in two decent sessions tomorrow. I went back through some of the hands in the sweat session and sent them to Tri with a couple of questions and he emailed me back a few hours later. I watched a video in the evening. I'm being pretty lazy at the moment and I have a bit of stuff to do between getting UCCPokerSoc set up for next year, writing my 1000th boards post and searching my database for some hand histories for my next coaching session. But the games are usually very good on Fridays so I gotta get some hands in as well.

I couldn't get to sleep Thursday night. I watched a video, had a strawberry, banana, peach yogurt and tropical juice smoothie and went back to bed about noon on Friday, woke up a few hours later and played a long (for me) session. It started off pretty poorly, was getting sucked out on, value betting into better hands, etc. It turned around after a while, I coolered a nit with AA > KK 200+BBs deep which was very nice.

Saturday I watched the Liverpool vs. United match and managed to get in two sessions afterwords. I'm glad I got in a few more hands in the last two days. The sessions went well which is always nice.

Sunday I watched a couple videos and got in a decent session later on. I'm getting used to not knowing how I'm doing until the end of the week. I find that I'm quitting sessions because of how I'm feeling rather then how much I'm up or down which is a lot more profitable and a lot less stressful.

Week 13

Bankroll is up to $7,238.

Monday morning I played a small session, I've decided to take the $won and BB/100 off my HoldemManager because I find I let short term results effect me too much. At the very least it should make it more awkward for me to find out anyway. I'll put it back on at the end of the week when I'm posting my stats though. I went to the post office delivery office to collect my LeggoPoker tshirt and hoodie that arrived while I was on holidays and played a second session when I got back. I paid another $50 for hand histories for the next month and started a $250 reload bonus I was offered for being inactive for two weeks. The offer was for 50% up to $500 but I only have 15 days to clear it and I didn't want to have to force myself to clear a big bonus. This way I should be able to clear it pretty comfortably.

Tuesday morning I tried to do a video but struggled to get 4 tables running, by the time I did I wasn't in the mood to do it so went for a break instead. I bought a smoothie maker at Argos, I got the idea off RoadSweeper's blog. I bought some juices (orange, tropical and apple), wholegrain yogurts (plain, raspberry and summer berry), honey, oatmeal, frozen fruits (strawberry, raspberry and summer fruits) and some fresh fruit (oranges, bananas, pears, pineapple and melon). Going to try mixing things together and seeing what comes out :).

I started with orange juice, frozen summer fruits, a bananna and some honey. I found the frozen berries very bitter so I don't think I'll be trying this one again. I managed to get a video recorded during my second session.

Wednesday I had a frozen strawberry, plain yogurt, banana and oatmeal smoothie. With a small bit of orange juice and honey. Much nicer taste even though there was a bit too much oatmeal in it. Played a decent session and then had a frozen raspberry, raspberry yogurt, banana and apple juice smoothie. This one was very nice. Didn't get in a second session but watched about three videos.

Thursday I woke up pretty late as I'm in a bad sleeping pattern since coming home. I played a pretty long session in the afternoon and SlowHabit sent me his comments on my video in the evening. He feels like I pot control too much, put too much emphasis on showdown value and tend to auto pilot with strong hands without putting my opponents on a range first. So definitely some pretty important leaks to fix there. I didn't play a second session as I was going through what he sent me and asking follow up questions.

Friday morning I had a fresh strawberry, raspberry yogurt, banana and orange juice smoothie with a little honey. Very nice again although there were a bit too many seeds in it, probably from the fresh strawberries and the raspberry yogurt. I got in a decent session, felt I was cbetting a bit more and not caring as much about getting my bottom or middle pair to showdown. I tried to pay more attention to my opponents range when I had a big hand but I'm not sure I put enough thought into it. Didn't play a second session but watched a couple of videos.

Saturday morning I had a pineapple, pear, apple, orange, banana and tropical juice smoothie. Nice to have something a little different to the strawberry/raspberry combos. Only got in one session again, I really need to start getting up earlier and starting earlier.

Sunday I got started pretty soon after I got up but didn't get up until about 2. Played a decent session and ran pretty well.

Here's an interesting hand.

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $370.35
Hero (BB): $203
UTG: $210.95
MP: $282.08
CO: $390.87
BTN: $106.50

Pre-Flop: Q A dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, MP raises to $7, 2 folds, SB calls $6, Hero calls $5

MP is playing 19/14/2.3 over 13k hands and the SB is playing 29/12/1.4 over 290 hands. MP is opening 17% first in from that position and the SB is calling opens 22% of the time.

I decide to flat because against MP I feel that squeezing would sort of be turning my hand into a bluff and with good relative position I'm going to have a lot of spots where I can check raise with overcards and back door draws. I could squeeze to isolate the SB and if he was a bit looser then I think the upsides of isolating him would outweigh the risks of turning my hand into a bluff against MP. I also expect MP and the SB to have dominated aces and queens a decent amount as well although that's a concept which would usually apply more to AJ/AT.

Flop: ($21) 2 T J (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets $15, SB folds, Hero calls $15

I flop a gutshot and two overcards and check to the preflop raiser. MP cbets 71% of the time but has a turn cbet of 33% with a river cbet of 73%. I also have a note which says that he slowplayed in a limped pot and checked AQ on A76 as the PFR OOP. What this tells me is that this player will cbet with air very frequently, almost never follow up on the turn without a hand and will often check the flop with top or middle pair for pot control.

We have a weak but hidden draw , two overcards and a modest amount of showdown value. The K is a pretty disguised out which, if he does have a big hand, he'll have trouble getting away on. If I hit an A or Q my hand will often be best and I might be able to get a small amount of value on the river if the turn checks through, if he does bet the turn it would put me in an awkward spot, I think I'd probably call and fold the river but it would be close.

If the turn and river does get checked through I may have the best hand against a suited connector type hand. I think check raising is reasonable as well but this is a type of draw I'd prefer to play passively whereas something like As7s I'd usually play aggressively although that's also a hand that can be played passively.

Turn: ($51) 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets $38, MP folds

The 8 is a hidden bluff out which means that even though I was drawing to a gutshot, I can represent that I was drawing to a flush draw, so all the spades give me more outs to try and win the pot. If I check I would never check raise as I doubt he's going to bet the turn thin at all, I wouldn't be surprised if a turn bet was a flush only.

So I expect the turn to check though a lot of the time but a river bet isn't going to be that great as a bluff because he can be pot controlling any number of made hands which will happily pay off one river bet to show down their hand but may be more inclined to fold the turn fearing another bet on the river. So by donking the turn I can leverage my stack.

I would probably bluff any spade card and probably bet really small on a A/K/Q/9 to gain a crying call from a J but I think check folding an A/Q would be o.k. too. I wouldn't bet any board pairing card but other cards would be closer and more timing/feel dependent.

Results: $51 Pot
Hero mucked Q A and WON $86.45 (+$64.45 NET)

Looking at my graph for the week it's been very breakeven, just up and down accross the 0 line the whole time. I've got a sweat session on Tuesday which I'm looking forward to. I also highly recommend getting a smoothie maker, I've always struggled to eat enough fruit so it's a great help.

Late August Review

Sorry this got so delayed but between getting sorted after coming home, bad sleeping patterns and basically just being too lazy to upload all the photos I haven't gotten around to it until now.





There isn't really enough hands to do anything more specific but a couple things to note:

My steal % has dropped pretty significantly which has caused my VPIP and PFR to both drop about 2%, might be a lack of confidence or maybe the games are a little more aggressive.

My flop cbet% is down about 5% which I'll explain tomorrow in my weekly review is probably a leak and what I plan to do about it. My turn cbet and river cbet are both up significantly which, although it's going to be correlated to my lowered flop cbet%, I'm pretty pleased about.

My W$WSF has gone up a little, which is pretty good considering I'm down this month and was up considerably last month. I think this is caused by firing more double and triple barrels. I've finally been getting a little better at pulling the trigger on my triple barrels.

My WtSD has gone up, most likely because of my lowered flop cbet%, I'll get to that tomorrow. Although my lowered AF might also indicate that I'm calling too much. And my W$SD has gone down because I'm not running hot any more :(.

My 3bet% went up slightly, especially from the BTN. I'm happy with that although I think I may have been 3bet isolating the maniacs a little too loosely in some spots. I'm going to tone that down a bit.

I got the latest installments of Bobbo's Bible while I was on holiday, I've read them twice so far.

So here's a few photos from Fuerteventura. There was clear skies and hot sun almost every day bar 1 or 2 slightly cloudy days. Luckily we were close to the ocean so there was a nice breeze all the time, although it did pull a bit of sand with it every now and then.

Here's me and Lauren at a steakhouse we went out to on the second night. We didn't go out every night because we didn't want to get sick of it too early and other times we'd have to get an early start if we were going somewhere or else we were too tired after coming back.

Any time we passed one of these cars or horses or whatever else Lauren wanted to go on it.

This one was at a three story shopping center we went to. Despite all the shops there wasn't a huge amount of great clothes there.

Here's a few shots from a zoo we went to, it was a huge outdoor place and the sun was scorching which made walking around to see the all the animals pretty tough but we slogged through.

There was a swimming pool three doors down from us and even though there was usually a decent amount of people there it was never packed so we didn't have any trouble finding places to lie down.

This was at a European restaurant.

Me and Lauren posing.

Me and Jennifer after drinking too much.

We were coming back from a nice local restaurant and decided to have a go on the trampolines; my one was really digging into me, I think I ate too much.

We went to a big water park on the last day, all the sun tan got washed off and we all got badly burnt. Here's some action shots.

Talk to you tomorrow.