June Review

6max:







So I've tightened up a little since moving up to 200nl, lol I'm such a nit now.

Doing a lot more 3betting, far more TAGs and LAGs with loose ranges so more spots for it. My 3bet% from MP - BTN are much higher then those from the blinds, I think 3betting IP >>>>>>> 3betting OOP.

I've managed to get my SB VPIP down significantly and I've started making money from there which, although probably largely due to variance, is very nice.

Looking at the graph I'm running above expectation, which is great, long may it continue :).

My non showdown winnings were going downwards at the start which was probably while I was getting back into the swing of things again, they started moving upwards after about 4K hands so I think that's a sign that I was getting comfortable.

When I moved back up to 200nl it started going downwards again but it seems to have stabilized and hopefully I can get that to start moving upwards again. It took a nasty hit on Saturday but, being in the middle of a 5 buy-in downswing, I was almost definitely playing suboptimally.

I'm pretty happy with the amount of hands I got in, including HU it's about 27K which is fairly good imo.

I guess I could run a few filters or something. I'll use Pokey's post although I'm not able to do some of the filters in HoldemManager.

Steal attempted (unopened, position is CO or BTN, action is raise):



Blind defended:

In SB and steal defended = true:



In BB and steal defended = true:



Pocket Pairs:



Pocket Pairs Coldcalled (MP, CO or BTN):



When I filter for SB or BB it shows me up a little under $2k in 200 hands so I think it may just be variance.

Suited Connectors:



Suited Connectors Coldcalled:



Offsuit Connectors:



Offsuit Connectors Coldcalled:



Most of the damage here was caused by this hand against a 87/46/1.6 over 236 hands.

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $292.30
BB: $207.05
UTG: $420.65
Hero (CO): $322.80
BTN: $263

Pre-Flop: Q K dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG raises to $8, Hero calls $8, 3 folds

Flop: ($19) 4 Q T (2 Players)
UTG bets $12, Hero calls $12

Turn: ($43) 9 (2 Players)
UTG bets $28, Hero calls $28

River: ($99) 7 (2 Players)
UTG bets $98, Hero calls $98

Results: $295 Pot ($2 Rake)
UTG showed K J (a straight Nine to King) and WON $293 (+$147 NET)
Hero mucked Q K (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$146 NET)


There doesn't seem to be a filter for c/ring. I'm not sure how PokerTracker did it but as a guess:

Out of 2762 times I saw a flop OOP I check raised 60 times or 2.17%.
Out of 1342 times I saw a turn OOP I check raised 14 times or 1.04%.
Out of 858 times I saw a river OOP I check raised 4 times or 0.47%.

So about 1.57% overall.

But if I did it by times when I checked and there was a bet the percentage would be much higher, 5.64% for all streets.

Overall it looks pretty good and no major leaks anywhere.

HU:







Dear God that's fucking brutal, I don't even want to talk about it.

How the fuck can I be losing money on the BTN at HU???? Hyachachachachacha.

Week 5

6max:



HU:



Bankroll is down to $5,905

I went back up to 200nl HU Monday morning, broke even. My button VPIP went down to 67%, folding the button is the new opening the button imo. Played a bit of 6max in the evening, made half a buy-in, but the tables were very quiet so I went to play some HU instead. I ended up dropping a little under 2 buy-ins there.

I cashed out $500 and moved another $500 to PokerStars for when I get the tourney bug. Ended up playing a few tourneys in the evening, down about $100.

Tuesday morning I played a little 6max, dropped half a buy-in. Dropped another 3 buy-ins at 200nl HU in the afternoon but managed to clear another $10 from my bonus, woohoo.

I won 3 buy-ins at 6max on Wednesday, hit 2 straight flushes with JTs as well. Only had time to put in one session though.

I took a day off on Thursday, only watched one video.

Had a good day Friday, didn't put in a morning session but won 5 buy-ins in the evening at 6max so I'm happy with that. Played a few tourneys that night, didn't cash so down about $170 from them.

Dropped a little over 5 and a half buy-ins Saturday morning at 6max. I was sneezing a lot in that morning, probably hayfever or something, and that made me feel a little groggy. I felt like I made some pretty poor calls in spots and I just couldn't get anything going. I won back a buy-in in the afternoon.

Sunday morning I decided to make a 6max video to apply for the leak finder series on CardRunners, won a little under a buy-in. The video took forever to render so I didn't get a chance to put in a second session. Read another chapter in my book though.

My bankroll seems to be going backwards at the moment and I'm not getting in a lot of hands either. Going to have to get the finger out and put in some effort. I think I'm going to stick to 100nl HU from now on until I get some coaching or something. I should really cut out the tourneys as well but it's an o.k. way to pass a few hours, I can play them tired and I should be massively +EV in them so I don't mind too much.

Week 4

6max:



HU:



Bankroll is down to $6,778

I spent most of Monday morning trying to get HoldemManager to import from GJP, turned out I just needed to update to the latest version. Ended up dropping a little over 3 buy-ins at HU which isn't a great start but not to worry.

Made a little over a quarter buy-in at 6max, I was down 2 buy-ins at one stage but then poker became easy again.

Another b - r - utal day of heads-up, down a little under 4 buy-ins. Looking at the graph it shows that I'm running almost $1K below expectation for the 2 days. I'm going to drop down to 100nl to rebuild. I'll stick to 200nl 6max though.

6max went a lot better and I won over 3 buy-ins. I'm going to move another grand over to GJP.

I finished fooled by randomness Wednesday morning and proceeded to lose another 3 and a half buy-ins at 100nl HU. I'm on a 10 buy-in downswing at HU which, while not unusual, suggests I need to do something differently. At the moment I've been opening 100% of buttons unless my opponent is a massive fish, I think I'm going to tighten up a little bit and see if that helps. Here's some interesting discussion about the pros and cons of opening 100% on the button. Lost a little under 2 buy-ins at 200nl 6max in the afternoon.

Thursday I took a day off, watched a couple of videos, read two more chapters of my book but mostly just relaxed.

Friday I decided to play 6max in the morning because I wasn't really in the mood for HU, I won a bit over 2 buy-ins. In the afternoon I won another 3 buy-ins, my first $1k day. Finally popped my cherry .

Didn't get a lot of hands in Saturday morning, broke even. Dropped a buy-in in the afternoon. I played a couple of tourneys on Stars later on but didn't cash.

I couldn't get any tables going on party Sunday morning so I went to play some HU instead, won 6 buy-ins at 100nl which was very nice. I brought my button VPIP down to 74%. I didn't get sucked out on at all and even managed to put a bad beat on a short stack, great success. I played a little 6max in the evening and broke even.

So a bad start to the week but made it back and pretty much broke even. I've also cleared $30 of my $500 deposit bonus on GJP. I can't remember any interesting hands that I played, hopefully there'll be 1 or 2 worth discussing next week.

Week 3

My bankroll is up to $6,866.

I managed to get my small blind VPIP down to a nitty 33% as well.

Sunday night I got a cleaning bug and tidied up a load of my room. I'm going up to my parents on Wednesday so I'll probably finish cleaning and move a load of stuff I'm unlikely to need very often up there. It's strange how once you're into a routine you have way more time and energy for stuff. During the school year I was really lazy but now I seem to be getting loads of stuff done. I used to go to the gym about 4 times a week but that was about 5 years ago now and I've never been able to get back into that routine, hopefully once I've forced myself to go a few times it'll get easier.

Monday morning I played round 2 of the boards heads-up tournament with Oscar (Bohsman), I won 2 - 0. It was a good game, he missed some big draws in crucial spots which definitely helped me.

I won a little under a buy-in at 200nl, I felt I played o.k. I might have over adjusted in a couple of spots although, with the amount of hands I play, when I feel like I'm being played back at I usually am. There were lots of nits, which is great, but a couple of decent ones as well who were adjusting to me. Some of the fish I played at 100nl tightened up a lot at 200nl which was annoying. I cashed out $200 as well.

Second session went well and I won another 2 buy-ins. The tables were getting quiet and I didn't mind booking a win so I only got in about 500 hands for the whole day. There were 3 aggro regs on one of the tables I was playing at which was nice since I got AK twice, however the fish I was there for tightened up a lot, probably because he wasn't getting a chance to limp that much. I played a few tourneys on stars, didn't cash.

Tuesday morning was very quiet so I added in a couple of 100nl tables as well so I could get some hands in. I made about 1 and a half buy-ins at 100nl and 1 and a half at 200nl. I was playing pretty tight (by my standards) but I wasn't getting that many hands. Made a bad stack off against a nit as well, doh. I may struggle to clear this reload bonus in time.

Second session there was more action but I ended up dropping 2 and a half buy-ins.

I had an insanely head wrecking start to the day Wednesday, 1 guy called my 4bet OOP with JJ and flopped his set against my AA. I had a fish call me down with trips while I was value betting top pair. The same fish called me down while I was value betting top pair and the board four flushed on me, then it happened again against another fish only this time I had two pair. I had to play 1 or 2 tables of 100nl for a while again, and broke even there. I can't complain too much though since I finished the session up 3 buy-ins.

I didn't get a chance to put in a second session as I had a meeting. I got "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Taleb back from a friend and started into that.

Thursday morning was very quiet so I didn't get started until about 2. The tables didn't really pick up until about 3 or 3.30. I made a quarter of a buy-in but managed to get in about 450 hands which gave me a little under 100 party points and put a nice dent into my reload bonus. I needed 1250 points to clear the bonus and with the rest of today, Friday and Saturday to go I've still got to get in a little over 600 more points so I'll hopefully get it done in time but the lack of action in the mornings is a big problem. It's all very dramatic if you ask me. Will RedJoker clear his reload bonus in time and save the world or will the evil Anurag Dikshit fuck him over?????



Find out the exciting climax.........after this hand:

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

SB: $335.65
BB: $247
Hero (UTG): $462.75
MP: $203
CO: $208
BTN: $308.50

Pre-Flop: A T dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $8, MP folds, CO calls $8, 3 folds

Preflop is standard, all AXs are an open for me from any position. I get a call from the CO who's playing 20/14/3.7 over 474 hands. His slightly passive stats indicate that he probably has a fairly wide coldcalling range here. Something like 22 - JJ, 45s - KQs, 64s - KJs, KQo, AQo and maybe some suited aces or two gappers as well. Sometimes he may even turn up with some offsuit broadways or connectors as well.

Flop: ($19) 5 3 Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $10, CO calls $10

I flop an overcard, backdoor flush draw and two backdoor gutshots. This is a pretty dry flop so I can bet a little smaller. Anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 pot would be my standard here and I'd usually mix it up a bit.

The small bet is designed to sometimes take the pot down cheaply without risking too much and induce calls from weak made hands; 66 - JJ, 54s/65s and complete air looking to float. This bet size will get bluff raised a decent amount as well but that's fine because, if I feel that his frequencies are skewed, I'm comfortable 3bet bluffing and I don't expect anybody at 200nl to be capable of bluff shoving over that.

I'd make the same size bet with made hands as well because there's very few draws on this board; 64s/67s.

Turn: ($39) 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $34, CO calls $34

The turn is an interesting card. The reason for making a small cbet to induce light calls is because I'm going to be following up on a huge amount of turn cards. I'd check back a Q or a non spade 3 or 5 most of the time though. This bet will fold out most underpairs and floats which make up a large portion of his range. So, even though they're ahead on the flop, they're putting their money in almost dead since they have to fold the turn.

The 6 is an interesting card because it's not really a great card to double barrel, it improves a lot of his 1 pair hands; 54s and 64s now have a pair and OESD, 67s has a pair and gutshot, 65s has two pair, 66 has a set.

However, it also gave me the nut flush draw so bombs away. My bet sizing is a lot bigger here because the board is now much wetter and I don't want him to call with weak made hands or float me again. If I had a strong made hand I'd bet this big for value against a pair of queens which I fully expect him to call with.

River: ($107) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $80, Hero folds

I'm very unlikely to triple barrel a dry board because I don't expect anything in his range which called two streets to fold on the river. I've spiked second pair so I might now have some showdown value and had a decision to make about whether I wanted to block bet small on the river, check call or check fold.

Having called two barrels his range is likely to be AQ/KQ/QJs/QTs as well as the pair + draw stuff and, every so often, a slowplayed monster. I don't expect him to turn the small pairs into a bluff on the river and there's not a lot of pure air in his range so block betting and check calling don't seem great.

Results: $107 Pot
CO mucked and WON $184 (+$132 NET)

There was lots more action when I started my second session, made another half buy-in and, more importantly, another 150 party points.

Made another 1 and a half buy-ins Friday morning. Broke even in the evening but grinded out a lot of hands so shouldn't have any trouble clearing the bonus tomorrow.

I won a little over 2 buy-ins Saturday morning, lots of action on the tables for a change. It quietened down a lot during my second session, made another half buy-in and cleared my bonus. Bit of an anti-climax in the end.

I didn't play at all on Sunday, I needed a day off and it's father's day so I decided to have a break.

I'll move $2k over to GJP tomorrow and start playing HU. I'll probably play in the mornings if there's more liquidity since I only play 2 tables of HU at a time but I'll play 4 at 6max and sometimes 5 or 6 if there's good tables going.

Week 2

Here's position stats and a graph for the month so far:




Bankroll is up to $4743 so I'll take a shot at 200nl tomorrow.

Monday morning started out poorly, I dropped about three buy-ins. I got check (min) raised a lot, probably should have folded a little more than I did though. Towards the end some of the better regs sat down at some of the tables and I didn't really adjust very well, should have tightened up a bit more. Live and learn.

I cleaned up my desk as well. I have enough distractions with SpadeEye and HoldemManager, no need to have anything else annoying me.

The second session went far better and I finished the day with a profit of a little over half a buy-in. I felt I was hand reading much better. There were 4 times that nits check raised or raised me on dry boards, I 3bet every one and they all folded. Easy money. I think the red bull definitely helped me so that's being added to the routine.

It was a weird day, I hit quads three times. I also had a fish call two barrels against me with ace high no draw.....unfortunately he was good. I had another fish call two barrels against me with king high, my ace high was good though. I must be doing something right I suppose :).

Tuesday morning I dropped a bit over 2 and a half buy-ins. A lot of the damage was caused by one fish who just couldn't miss. I got a mini fridge, it's an early fathers day present. Finished the day down a little under 3 and a half buy-ins.

Wednesday started off really well, couldn't miss and quickly ran up 4 and a half buy-ins. I got in a couple of marginal squeeze spots with JJ and TT and I'm not sure I'm happy with how I played them, dropped 3 buy-ins, won it back and finished off the day up a little over 3 buy-ins.

I couldn't play a second session as Jennifer (my girlfriend) had to go away so I was baby-sitting for the evening. I'm not sure it's called baby-sitting when it's your own child, probably parenting or something like that.

Thursday morning was pretty quiet, couldn't find a lot of good tables. I only got in about 300 hands before my break, made about half a buy-in. I got in another 500 hands when I got back, not great but again it was kinda quiet. Won another 2 buy-ins, made a couple of good hero calls which I was happy with. Got very lucky against a fish as well.

Here's an interesting hand. Villain is 52/4/2 over 23 hands.

Party Poker, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $100
SB: $61.11
BB: $98.07
UTG: $21.50
MP: $39.88
CO: $140.33

Pre-Flop: 8 A dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $5, 2 folds, CO calls $4

I isolate with A8o otb, fairly standard most of the time.

Flop: ($11.50) 2 8 3 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $7, CO calls $7

His range for limp calling is pretty wide here. I flop TPTK on a moderately wet board. My bet size is about 2/3 pot which I feel is fine for this board, probably could have been a little bigger though.

Turn: ($25.50) Q (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $18, CO calls $18

Turn is an offsuit queen which is pretty much a blank but may be a scare card for him. I'd probably double barrel here sometimes but not often. I considered checking to control the pot, sometimes induce a river bluff and get him to call a river bet lighter.

However, I felt there were enough draws and weaker made hands in his range that value betting and checking back the river would be the better play. I bet about 3/4 pot on the turn, if I was double barreling I'd usually bet a little bigger but he doesn't know that and I want him to call with draws, weaker 8s and maybe 44 - 77.

River: ($61.50) 4 (2 Players)
CO bets $110.33 and is All-In, Hero calls $70 and is All-In

An offsuit 4 peels off and he overbet shoves. The 4 isn't a fantastic card because 34, 44, 56 and A5, are all in his range here. However, there's lots of missed flush draws and other missed straight draws that he can be bluffing. I also felt that he may check if he had hit a disguised draw but maybe not. He may even be turning Qxhh into a bluff here which briefly crossed my mind. Anyway, I made the call and was good.

Results: $201.50 Pot
Hero showed 8 A (a pair of Eights) and WON $198 (+$98 NET)
CO showed 5 4 (a pair of Fours) and WON $40.33 (-$59.67 NET)

I felt pretty tired after my second session, I'm not sure I'm cut out for grinding everyday. I may have to take a day off one day during the week, it'll give me time to study the game as well which I haven't had too much time for recently. I think I'll do this on Thursdays, it was pretty quiet, I have to do grocery shopping anyway and I'll be refreshed for the softer weekends.

I got onto Ian and set up an account with GreenJokerPoker, so once I've cleared my two reload bonuses on party I'll start playing HU over there. I have a few options, I could do HU every second day, for the second session each day or I might do Monday to Wednesday HU and Friday to Sunday 6max. I haven't decided yet. I also reread the first 5 chapters of Bobbo's Bible, my third time going through it.

Friday started well, made over 4 buy-ins. One hand really pissed me off though. I decided to slowplay my set just to mix it up a small bit. For some reason villain (25/17/2.2 over 101 hands) decided to check back the turn and min raised the river. I was considering shoving but I was completely confused as to what his range could be and what worse hands he'd call me with. 5 seconds left and I hit call. I was pretty unhappy with how I played this hand but maybe I'm just being results orientated.

Party Poker, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $105.50
MP: $98.50
CO: $98.50
BTN: $73.54
SB: $83.75
Hero (BB): $185.93

Pre-Flop: 9 9 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to $4, 2 folds, BTN calls $4, SB folds, Hero calls $3

Flop: ($12.50) 8 9 2 (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $7, BTN folds, Hero calls $7

Turn: ($26.50) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

River: ($26.50) 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets $18, UTG raises to $36, Hero calls $18

Results: $98.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed 8 8 (three of a kind, Eights) and LOST (-$47 NET)
Hero showed 9 9 (three of a kind, Nines) and WON $95.50 (+$48.50 NET)

Second session went fairly awful, lost it all back and broke even for the day. Very frustrating. I decided to go play a live tourney in the Bank Casino for a change of pace, didn't cash.

I broke even Saturday morning, started off with a couple of bad beats AK < 94 and AK < AQ both AIPF but made it back. Made 3 buy-ins in my second session and cleared a $100 reload bonus. I got through the next 2 chapters of my book.

I started off my $250 reload bonus on Sunday morning, made 2 buy-ins and another 1 and a bit in the evening. So a nice end to the week after a neutral start.

Looking at my position stats I seem to be losing quite a bit from the SB, I think I'll have to tighten up a good bit from there, although 18 hundred hands is hardly conclusive. Otherwise I'm happy enough with my overall game.

The reload bonus will probably take most of the week to clear and I'd prefer to play 6max at the weekend so I'll probably start playing HU the week after.