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.