July Results

It's been a while since my last post but I've been playing a lot recently, 95% of it at 6-max. I'm very confident about my 6-max game right now, I did have a crappy 5 buy-in downswing on Saturday that dropped my bb/100 quite a bit but luckily I erased all of it the last two days to get my bankroll right back to where I was before it happened.

I don't have time to post hands now but I'll put up the results and then come back with a bunch of hands tonight or tomorrow.

Week 3 Results

I couldn't have played less hands if I tried. Very disappointing. I blame it on my new job which started on Wednesday and I've worked four days straight for the first time in a year. The real world sucks, but at least I really enjoy being a sportswriter.

I've got tomorrow and Monday off to hopefully put more hands in in two days that what I've done the entire last week. At least I ran well.

Most of my profit came from one session where I made a little over 4 buyins. I ran pretty hot, here are some hands. I put a few of these on the CR forums. I'm running 17.4/13.6/3.5 which I am pleased with. 17/15 would be ideal. I got stacked three times for a full buy in. Here are two of them. The other one was a set over set situation. Ghey.

I think I overplayed this one, villain was 20/17/6 but had a 12 aggression factor
at this point in time. I was lost here but after posting it, I think just calling is the right play and making a decision whether or not to play for stacks on the turn. Still don't know about it though.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1287086

This player had already check raised me once and I had to fold after a c-bet. I think this is standard shove, let me know if you think otherwise.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1287110

Villain is standard TAG but this is a blind vs blind battle. I really felt he was playing back at me and don't know how he calls with his hand. I think he'd fold anything but high pairs here at worst. My image was also very LAG due to getting a bunch of hands and I haven't shown much down.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1287118

Another high variance play but I think this is a good play even though we are a little deep.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1287134

Here is a nice call I made to pick off a bluff. Terrible river card but I had a good read that he had a worse ace and basically insta called his push.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1287138

Bankroll is just over 4k, highest it's been at Full Tilt, I just got to get the hands in like I should.

Back to 6-max

I've gotten my PAHUD situation taken care of and it's time to start logging a bunch of hands at 6-max. I played a good amount yesterday and it was up and down but I ended up in the green for the session. I won't be able to get any in today probably but here are some hands from yesterday.

I got stacked twice and lost another big pot where I doubled up the short stack.

I don't know how I feel about this one. I started off playing pretty tight at this table but had been opening up recently. The villain was aggressive at 21/19/6 but his AF at this time was about 12. I don't know if playing for stacks is correct here or not, such a bad spot. Maybe just calling and pushing a safe turn? I'm lost here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1275999

Here's the other hand I got stacked on. This player had checkraised one of my c-bets earlier and I had to fold. I think going with this hand is kind of standard but high variance I guess, let me know if you disagree. Villain was 29/10/1.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1276004

Here's the only other sizable pot I lost. I might have overplayed it a tad but he was a short stack and for 60bb I don't know if it's that bad getting it in here on the flop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1276011

I had a pretty good read on the guy here. The ultimate scare card came on the river but I read him for a worse ace and picked off a bluff. He was a big fish so that helped.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1276015

I won some big pots but they were all pretty standard. I ran at 17.6/14/3.4 over 1200+ hands so I feel good about that for a profit of $168.05 at a 6.56 bb/100 clip. My bankroll hasn't changed at all since my first initial run at Full Tilt, I'm sitting at about $3600. My goal is to be rolled for 1/2 by the middle of September. I'll have two rakebacks in by then for around $800 or so. Making $1,500 shouldn't be a problem worst case scenario and hopefully I'll make more so I can cash out a bit. That's all for now.

Week 2 Results

This week didn't work out so hot poker wise but that's because things have been going well in the real world. I just started a new job and got a new cat, etc.

I ran bad at heads up at the start of the week and haven't put in many hands at all since then. I'm also on life tilt because my PAHUD registration code got flagged. So random, I don't even use the other computer I put it on months ago. Maybe I'll get it straightened out soon. I hate playing without it since I'm used to it so I've stuck to heads up the last few days when I've played. I did get a little rakeback this week from a little bit of play at 25nl last month so I'm down a little over a half buy in.

I'm planning on putting a lot more hands this week, especially 6 max as soon as I get this PAHUD thing cleared up. I played a grand total of 763 hands of heads up since my last post. Here are a few hands.

I find that pot size check raises usually aren't typically too strong. Most opponents will think a bit and make a little smaller raise with big hands like a set or top two pair. On this drawy board I decided to go with the hand. Should I have waited for a safe turn?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1267853

Should I have raised this river or turn for value? I thought it would be pretty thin but it probably would have gotten paid off.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1267857

Look for a ton of 6-max hands later this week.

Tough Run

I've been running like crap the past three days heads up, just sick spots that I generally couldn't do much about although I'm sure my play hasn't been optimal.

Thankfully I've done well over a small sample size at 6-max. I really think heads up play can help tremendously with the 6-max game. My aggression along with VPIP and PFR raise percentages have been more where I'd like them to be so far and I think it certainly helps hand reading. A large part of the 6-max game is trimmed down to heads up play anyway for the most part after the flop.

I've dropped about five buyins through a little over 4,000 hands of heads up but got four of them back through 1,500 hands at 6-max so luckily I've only dropped a buyin since my last post. Hopefully I can book a decent week even though it's started rough. Here are some heads up hands, I'll keep bad beats to a minimum.

This villian was a competent player and even though I don't like stacking off for a full buy in with one pair, I was pretty confident my hand was good here. With him leading out and thinking a while before shoving, I felt I was ahead. Nice turn sir.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255502

This villain wasn't so competent, I guess he thought his hand was good after my check raise on the turn. I guess I could have led the flop and probably would have if he wasn't such a fish.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255515

Another fish, ouch.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255599

Again, a bad player here but I thought he was fairly weak and thought this was a good bluffing spot and I had outs in case he wanted to go with the hand. Don't know how he takes his hand all the way but looking back I guess I should have took the free card.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255525

This hand worked out well. Usually I raise the flop here but he was very aggressive and I took a chance and waited a for a safe turn to try and get the money in. I figured I was good here 95% of the time.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255537

Here is another instance where I thought waiting for a safe turn would be optimal. Lucky for me the turn put a lock on the hand and I didn't have to worry about making marginal decisions.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255540

I've made some big calls on overshoves on the river and here is another. A lot of times at 6max I find these to be strong, not so much in heads up though. Of course, I've made my share of bad calls but those have come on smaller bets for the most part.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255546

Time for some 6-max hands which I'm sure is much more relevant to anyone reading my blog. I want to keep mixing them both together. I just stuck to heads up last week because I was riding some positive momentum.

Does anyone keep betting this turn into two players? I thought there was a decent chance my hand wasn't good and I didn't want to get raised out of the pot. If it was just me and the short stack I'd be happy to get it in. The short stack was a 50/12/1 player while the bigger stack was a standard TAG regular.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255583

Should I have bet this river for value? Looking back maybe a bet/fold is the best play here. Villain is a solid TAG/SLAG winning regular who is aggressive. I think he rarely has less than two pair after calling my turn raise, maybe a big draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255589

That's it for now. I ran 20/16/3.5 at 6-max which is a big step for me actually. I had been anywhere from 15/10 to 16/12 and have struggled getting those numbers up while feeling comfortable doing so. Heads up has helped me do that.

Week 1 Results

Not bad for my first week at Full Tilt. I'd like to get to 10,000 hands a week, but as long as I'm over 5,000, I'll take it. The screenshots are for the first week of July including June 30th. I'll be doing a review at the end of every week such as the 1st - 7th, 8th - 15th, etc.

I ran decent but I know I can improve a lot since it was my first experience with heads up cash games. I think 10 -15 bb/100 in certainly possible and that's my goal in the long run.

Some things I need to improve upon is loosening up more and being more aggressive out of position. Too many times I've let limpers see cheap flops when I have decent holdings. Here are the stats and graph.

Still Grinding

Put in a short successful session today and did decent yesterday as well. I'm starting to get some comments which is good and I've tried to get around to some of the other CR blogs as well.

Forums are a good place to post your hands and receive feedback but I think blogs help out tremendously. For people who don't do a good job reviewing hands and going over their sessions, writing every few days about poker can help immensely. And having groups of people shadow each other can't hurt either.

Made a small profit yesterday during the day through only 100 hands or so with some hands coming later that night. I didn't play much longer today but made a nice run. There was one player who rivered me a few times for decent pots but when all the money went in today, the best hand held up. Pretty much all of my profit today came in a 30 minute span, I was basically break even yesterday and late last night, or early morning I should say.

I think I played this hand poorly. I don't like playing short stacks with $40 or less. I've been seeking out stacks between $50 and $80 and full stacked fish that I have stats on. Stack size was the problem here. I don't know what the ideal play would be on this hand. Calling the flop and raising like this seem bad. I didn't want to fold it though. What would you do?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1240325

This guy didn't raise a lot preflop but his postflop play was bad and maniac like. This flop is just too drawy for me not to go with this hand against this player.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1240331

Took all of five minutes to stack this guy. I really didn't know if my hand was good here with his overshove. Often those shoves show a lot of strength.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1240337

Don't know how much I'll get in tomorrow, but I'll have a Week 1 report up this weekend with a screenshot. I've logged almost 6,000 hands so far this week.

1,035 hands
36/25/2.5
+167.30 (8.08 bb/100)

Bankroll: $3,580

Variance kicks in

I knew the heater wouldn't last for too long. It's been an up and down past two days and I've put a lot of hands in. I think I've played well for the most part and ran pretty bad in certain spots. I'll save the bad beat stories. I'm still excited about how profitable heads up can be. Luckily I'm down just a tad over the span.

I ran pretty bad yesterday, dropping all the way down to 3k. I recovered toward the end and played solid today to run my roll back up over $3400. Played a ton of hands so here are a few.

This guy called me a prick at the start of this match, because apparently he didn't want to play me and told me so. But I don't read chat that much and he didn't get up. He should have. What's that theory about having quads and shoving because the other player can't fold a boat? Oh well here it is.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1235021

Again, why these games are so profitable. If I could stick to playing opponents like this, I'd be in good shape. I'm starting to datamine the heads up games so it should be easier to avoid solid players.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1235025

This one hurt, first time I've been stacked for a full buy in. Way to play your kings so well buddy.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1235031

Ok, tough spot here. I played this draw pretty aggressive. He was a competent opponent and played pretty standard ABC. I thought I'd have some fold equity here and picked up some extra outs on the turn. What do you think about this line?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1235032

Again, another aggressive play with a drawing hand. Looks fine to me, but maybe I shouldn't play so high variance since I get money so easily playing ABC poker. In a reraised pot I looked to get it in on this flop. Should I have just called his min raise?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1235037

Overall, I'm pleased with my play so far. There were several other $100 plus pots I got my money in as a big favorite and lost so I feel good about being basically even with those hands mixed in. I'm also building up some rakeback for the first time. I've already got $75 or so coming in after 4 days of play in July. $500 to $700 a month sounds nice in rakeback alone.

I'm running way too tight lately but I do seek out the loose fish so I don't think I need to be quite as aggressive as what is usually standard. I would like to be around 40/30-35 though.

Heads up: 3,308 hands
36/25/2.3
-90.85 (-1.37 bb/100)

Bankroll: $3413.00

Stick to What Works

I did get in another session late last night. I started off at 6-max and dropped about $140 in a little less than a hour. Switched to heads up and got almost all of it back in 10 minutes. I stacked some guy twice in a row, pretty rough hands. I coolered him in both.

I put in another short session tonight, strictly heads up. Stick with what works right? Another winning session but not the domination like it has been. Two hands could have made it a nice win for another quick buy in but I'll take the small win. Here are those two.

This guy was a loose fish but I thought he could lay it down here. Not sure what he puts me on here, he beats nothing. Guess I should have let it go.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1228837

For some reason I didn't call here, I rushed my decision and didn't think it through. Looking back it was an easy call I think even though he was tight. Worst fold I've made so far playing heads up.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1228843

Worst session so far, but $50 in 45 min ain't bad. Hopefully I'll get some longer sessions in later this week.

Heads up:
268 Hands
33/27/3.7

+48.55 (9ptbb/100)

Bankroll: $3480.00

"Like Printing Money"

I remember reading that quote and hearing Taylor from CR saying it before. I can see it definitely being the case. I played some more heads up at 100nl today and like yesterday, focused on table selection and it worked out very well once again. The players were pretty bad for the most part. I know it can't be this easy and the heater I'm on can't last forever.



Only thing is, I don't think I'm on a big heater as far as the cards go, I'm on a fish heater is the only way I can put it. I'm getting to play bad opponents and being patient until they give me all their chips.



Here's the biggest pot of the day. I wasn't too worried with his raise and figured I'd have to dodge another heart worst case scenario. Fortunately I was a huge favorite, don't know what he's thinking here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1225220



Again, what??? I'm thinking AA maybe, the turn made we sweat it a little.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1225235



I played this hand a little unorthodox and it worked out well. Does anyone raise this turn or lead the river? Apprarently he thought I weak, bad judgementttttttt. I was planning on check raising the flop here and had no clue what I thought he might play this way. I gambled by checking the river to him but it worked.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1225242



This is the only guy who gave me any trouble, he bluffed me in a few pots and took about a half buy in until this hand where I picked off this bluff. Easy call but I wouldn't have been suprised for him to turn over a 3.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1225249

I played really tight today heads up but I think it was just adjusting to my opponents. Hopefully I can keep this going. No 6-max today but I'll mix that in next session.

Heads up: 35/26/3
615 hands
+368.85 (29.99 ptbb/100)

Overall: +368.85 in 1.7 hrs.
Bankroll: $3,461.25