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.