Monday nite game

Balance : $6190

Playing solid online – integrated my nitty game with PF raising and SB folding now for well rounded play.

Monday night game was fun but no luck.  I played a superb bluff representing a flush to James but he’s too loose (or thinks I’m too loose) and called.  I’ve seen him call marginal hands.  Then later I hit AA99 but a flush on the board.  I know those donks will call with top pair so I called off my stack in the hope it was top pair.  No luck, Bob had the nut flush.

Low stacked in the rebuy I moved all in with 84 off suit.  Hit 888 and ended up with 2000 chips (1500 buy in).

Cold carded in the freezeout.  Had 5000 chips, but lost half of them calling off a flush draw + gutshot str.  I had to fold on the river when I missed.  You can call all the way with these donks for pissy bets.  The bets were 700 for the str/flush draw on the flop…about 1/2 the pot.  Then another 2/3 bet on the turn….I grinded and eventually went out on 7/8 offsuit as I had merely 2 blinds left and it was my BB.

Weirdly, some people were down to 1 BB.  And came back from that!  I have no idea who won, I’ll get the result later.

It was a great laugh anyway, even if I went out in 7th.

Aaaaargh….$1000 downswing

Balance : $5214

Like a stone it fell.

3 coolers.

JJ….flop no overcards, I have the flush draw with the overpair…all money goes in…I run into…AA!  ($200)

QQ…flop no overcards, all the money goes in…I run into AA! ($200)

KQ….raise it PF…bet the flop….this guy is a calling station, keeps re-raising me even though I flop 2 pair.  I’m suspecting a set of 9s….all the money goes in on 4th…..he turns…a set of 9s!!!! ($200)

Then I lose $400 on pure stupidity, or blazen bluffing whichever you want to call it.  I watched Antonius lose $283K on a 3-bet bluff, which is pretty much what I did.  I figured the table tighter than it was.  Guy called me down with top pair and 10 kicker even though he could be sooooooooo beat.

My graph looks terrible, like a vertical nosedive.  I am trying to integrate some PF raising/sb folding into my previous nitty game.  I will no doubt try again later, but I am being relatively nitty, and will probably abort any crazy bluff moves (I slowed it down, then got outdraw on the river).  So aggressive or not, it’s a gamble.

A change in direction…

Balance : $6197

 After this downturn, I figured I’d post on some strategy forums…I got pointed to a tutorial website and found some videos that just changed my play altogether.

Previously, I had thought that limping a lot and folding to a raise pre-flop would cut down my variance.  Instead, I let in hands like 85 suited or whatever which caught straights and I paid them off with my top pair/2 pair or trips. 

So after watching the video I indentified two holes in my game

- raise PF more

- fold the small blind

- play more position

Voila, I’m up 9 buyins in the last 3 days, I’ve probably played about 2500 hands to achieve that.

I also installed Poker Hud which gives great stats on the other players. 

My next step is to get a coach, I’m now in the area where $500 on 2 hours coaching would probably benefit my game immensely.

Anyway, onwards and upwards as I fine tune towards the perfect poker…

A very depressing 400 hands…

Balance : $4569

Todays coolers…

I have KK, raise, I call.  Hit a K on the flop.  I bet, he moves all in, I call.  He shows AA.

Turn : A

Cost $200

 ————–

I have J10 suited, I call a raise in position.  Flop comes K/10/10.  Bingo.  So I bet, he re-raises I move all in etc.  He shows KQ.  So it comes runner-runner for a straight.

Cost : $80

———–

I have AK.  Board comes A76 (two diamonds).  I bet, call.  4th st a diamond.  I check as I now have a k-high flush draw.  River…diamond.  $60 in the pot.  He bets $50.  I figure he’s weakish with such a big bet…wouldn’t you value bet with the nuts?  I call.  He has the STRAIGHT FLUSH.  It was lucky I didn’t have the Ace of diamonds.

Cost : $55

———-

Made a good bluff on the river….I had a busted draw, he bet like a pussy so I re-raised to see.  the board was 6688J.  Any 8 or 6 gave the fh.  I represented a 6 or an 8.  Instead, he called me with QQ after thinking nearly the maximum time, therefore it was a good bluff but it just didn’t work on this guy.

Cost $100.

The only thing that propped up my balance was solid lay downs and aggressive bets at the right moment which worked most of the time.  So I did play solid from that aspect.  Had to lay down QQ at one point…and top pairs a few times.  Still I got beaten up…..

Poker is a bit depressing right now.  I’m losing it slowly, but losing.

Poker sucks….

Balance : $4745

 Recent events

- the big $3000 prize fund home game didn’t go ahead due to lack of interest

- I was cold carded on the Irish Open sat and bombed out with AKo all in to run into KK.

- played another tournament on a new site for $30. Very cold carded and got my money in low stacked 4-way with A6 suited….I felt I was playing bingo.

- I’ve been getting beat on marginal calls and bad luck on the 1/2

I tried two methods – loosen up the starting hands and also play uber tight.  Both yielded similar results, a little gain, then a loss.  I can’t seem to go up more than 1 buy in.

Today I limped with AA and was crushed.  Worst of it was I got my money in on 4th street with nut flush draw, straight flush draw and the straight draw.  The other guy had Q10 to make the str. on the flop.  So I guess  I better raise every single time I get AA except HU.

Another hand the flop came J/T/8.  I had a ten.  I bet it and he called anyway, turn a 10, river a J.  He bet 1/2 pot….after a long think I called.  He had a Jack.  He had pussy bet the flop so I figured he might just have had a 10.  I am following Doyle Brunsons way of thinking and paying off these pots.  But because I’m not stealing as much it doesn’t compensate.  So I have to stop paying off these marginal spots.  The only thing that is saving me is tough poker.  By calling PF raises and then betting them 2/3 on the flop regardless.  Making these bold moves at the right time or re-raising for information is keeping me away from bigger pots.

I played some 2/4 by accident – they were empty tables.  Got crushed again on marginal calls.  Top pair with Ace kicker seemed to be a killer for me.

I have little choice but to continue to grind 1/2.  I would hate to move down to 0.5/1 but will have to if I got below 18 buyins.  Chris Ferguson says once you dip below 20 buyins it’s time to move down.  I’m being slightly laxer at 18 buyins.

I ask the question a lot with PF raising.  I’m folding a lot with top pair and Ace kicker.  That’s a hand that gets me crushed.  So I bet the flop, if there’s a re-raise I might re-raise again or fold.   A re-raise usually means 2-pair or trips when the board might present a draw.

Basically, I am playing fairly solid, but still not yielding results. 

Down by $3500 from high :

2/4 – 7 buyins

1/2- 4 buyins

I would call this an 11 BI downswing.

My card range is really tight.  I only loosen up with more players in the pot, in position or HU (but less HU).

No option but to plod on.  I’m just running 1 or 2 tables in background while I work…no proper sessions.  Not until my balance goes up again.  If they’re profiling me, they’ll see I’m playing less as I lose and shifting down limits, if there is some sort of suttle doomswitch involved.  Again, I probably make the profile of a solid player – betting big when I have the best hand, tight card range, folding to pf betting except when the odds increase etc.