Week 8

 

Feels great to be able to post a winning weekend. I made a few adjustments to my HUD and to my play, hopefully these are going to continue to pay off in future. I lost the first 2 sessions of the weekend before breaking the 9 session losing streak with an excellent session to finish. I doubt I was playing badly enough to be a loser at these stakes for all but 1 of those 9 sessions, so it was a pretty gross run. I can be very grateful my comeback didn’t start with a run like that…

I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the reload bonus on the weekend, the games usually improve considerably when there’s a reload bonus so fingers crossed all the recs aren’t off playing spin and gos!

 Hands

Villain was reg who I hadn’t seen before. I felt like there was enough of a chance that he was either bluffing or betting with a flush draw here that a shove was best.

 

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players – View hand 2607354
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: $25.10
BB: $37.16
UTG: $26.53
UTG+1: $5.01
MP1: $25.00
Hero (MP2): $26.46
CO: $28.38
BTN: $18.75

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP2 with K A
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, CO raises to $2.25, 3 folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.85) T 3 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $3, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($10.85) T (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $6.90, Hero raises to $21.21 all in, CO folds

Final Pot: $24.65
Hero mucks K A
Hero wins $23.54
(Rake: $1.11)

vs a 47/27 over 100 hands. Not sure about my play here.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players – View hand 2607358
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP1: $59.33
MP2: $25.58
Hero (CO): $25.00
BTN: $24.44
SB: $44.12
BB: $34.27
UTG: $38.13
UTG+1: $8.59
UTG+2: $43.41

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with K A
2 folds, UTG+2 calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1, BTN raises to $2.70, 2 folds, UTG+2 calls $2.45, Hero raises to $6.60, 1 fold, UTG+2 calls $3.90

Flop: ($16.25) 4 9 4 (2 players)
UTG+2 bets $15.52, Hero raises to $18.40 all in, UTG+2 calls $2.88

Turn: ($53.05) Q (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: ($53.05) T (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $53.05
Hero shows K A (a pair of Fours)
UTG+2 shows T 9 (two pair, Tens and Nines)
UTG+2 wins $51.05
(Rake: $2.00)

Week 7 / October Review

October Graph

Bankroll after week 7: £500 (£240 cashed out)

Very disappointed with my play on Friday. I ended up down $150 for the day, including -$100 trying to speed through the last 1k hands playing zoom. I don’t think I played well and don’t really want to get into too much detail! I was so steaming that I only had 5 hours sleep on Friday night, then woke up and played Minesweeper on tilt for 3 hours straight… On balance I thought it would be best if I took Saturday off.

November Targets

Dedicate Friday from 2pm and Saturday all day to poker

Roughly 5k hands per day that I play

No Zoom!

Week 6

 

 

Bankroll after week 6:  £758.62

Had a really tough weekend, but on the whole I’m very pleased. I was very glad that despite running bad (which has to happen at some point) I kept playing decently and I think the EV line in the graph shows this. If I can create graphs like this my tilt management must be working, so despite the bad run and the disappointing last few weeks I’m pretty happy.

Volume was a little lower than I’d hoped, still aiming for 40k hands for the month so I’ve got some work to do tomorrow!

Hands

Pretty crazy hand with a tight player in the blinds, two massive fish and a brilliant river for a gutshot!

 

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players – View hand 2602361
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: $25.00
UTG: $37.44
UTG+1: $25.79
Hero (UTG+2): $51.69
MP1: $49.38
MP2: $18.96
CO: $22.42
BTN: $29.17
SB: $25.53

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG+2 with K K
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.75, CO calls $0.75, 1 fold, SB raises to $4, 1 fold, Hero calls $3.25, MP2 calls $3.25, CO calls $3.25

Flop: ($16.25) T 9 6 (4 players)
SB bets $8.50, Hero calls $8.50, MP2 calls $8.50, CO calls $8.50

Turn: ($50.25) 6 (4 players)
SB bets $13.03 all in, Hero calls $13.03, MP2 calls $6.46 all in, CO calls $9.92 all in

River: ($92.69) 7 (4 players – 3 are all in)

Final Pot: $92.69
Hero shows K K (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
MP2 shows Q 8 (a straight, Six to Ten)
CO shows 5 5 (two pair, Sixes and Fives)
SB shows A A (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
SB wins $6.22
SB wins $10.38
MP2 wins $74.09
(Rake: $2.00)

Hoping to play 8k hands tomorrow to hit 40k for the month, followed by 5k hands on Saturday. 🙂

Week 5

Bankroll after week 5: £849.09

I almost managed to hit my 10k target last weekend. I played a 4h30 session without a break to finish, and while I don’t think I played my best game I played decently and didn’t make too many mistakes even though that volume is a lot for me.

I also made a whopping $1 in Spin and Go profit. I was taking advantage of the free $3 ticket if you play 3 Spin and Gos on a tablet/ mobile. It’s the first time I’ve used the PokerStars app and I have to say it’s fantastic. I don’t know why I expected less from Stars but it really is great, perfect for recreational play.

Hands

Villain is 15/12 after 550 hands, SB is 72/11 over a small sample. I have 88, 33 and KJ in my range and given how dry the flop was I couldn’t resist raising here.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players – View hand 2597382
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

CO: $28.26
BTN: $29.34
SB: $22.76
Hero (BB): $25.78
UTG: $25.00
UTG+1: $24.65
UTG+2: $29.11
MP1: $25.88
MP2: $7.77

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with K Q
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.75, 5 folds, SB calls $0.65, Hero calls $0.50

Flop: ($2.25) K 3 8 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $1.80, SB folds, Hero calls $1.80

Turn: ($5.85) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

River: ($5.85) J (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $3.80, Hero raises to $12.50, UTG+1 folds

Final Pot: $13.45

Hero mucks K Q
Hero wins $12.84
(Rake: $0.61)

Villain in this hand is 18/15 after 350 hands. I think my play’s alright, I wasn’t expecting him to call down this light though.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players – View hand 2597383
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP1: $27.56
MP2: $7.61
Hero (CO): $28.74
BTN: $25.00
SB: $29.04
BB: $25.00
UTG: $27.61
UTG+1: $21.65
UTG+2: $27.73

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with 9 8
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, BTN calls $0.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($1.85) 8 J 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.30, BTN calls $1.30

Turn: ($4.45) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.40, Hero raises to $8.60, BTN calls $5.20

River: ($21.65) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $18.09 all in, BTN calls $14.35 all in

Final Pot: $50.35
Hero shows 9 8 (a pair of Eights)
BTN shows J A (a pair of Jacks)
BTN wins $48.35
(Rake: $2.00)

Currently on 25k hands for the month. There are 3 more days that I’m going to play (starting tomorrow) so I should be able to hit that 40k target.

Week 4

Bankroll after week 4: £833.19

It was a very frustrating weekend. Friday went great, but I had to finish my last session early because of a problem at home. This left me with 5800 hands to play on Saturday, but I had other commitments in the early afternoon so I had to start late anyway. I felt the pressure of having to put too many hands in and played my C game, and I’m still so annoyed that I can only just bring myself to post about it now! I managed to quit after 1500 hands but the damage was done.

I managed to win 5/6 Spin and Gos to turn my $7 of deposit bonus tickets (and $1 ticket for playing 10 ring game hands…) into $16. It seems crazy that I can run that well in them and only make $9, don’t think I’ll be making the switch any time soon.

Here are my sessions to date anyway

I’m trying to figure out ways to improve my mental game. I’ve written a little program that bugs me after a certain interval and asks me to rate my play. If I rate myself poorly, it will reduce the waiting interval and then ask again. If I rate my play as good, the interval is increased. If the interval becomes too small, it tells me to reduce the number of tables and gives me some helpful advice. Even smaller and it tells me to give up for a while. It’s a really ugly program but hopefully it will do the job. I’ll give it a test run next week.

Another way I want to improve my mental game is noting tilt trigger points. So, starting with the most tilt inducing:

• Feeling annoyed about how I played a hand (this is the biggest trigger by far)
• Playing while not feeling well
• Running badly against fish
• Running badly against regs
• Feeling under pressure to hit a target

As long as I feel happy with how I played my mental game is usually pretty strong. Once I start to make a few mistakes, I have to make sure I don’t compound them by letting my mistakes get to me.

Hands

Villain was playing 23/18 over 50 hands, so probably some kind of regfish judging by stack size. I bet flop thinking that I would happily barrel any A, K, Q, or diamond, and I should have a fair bit of fold equity even with this small-ish bet. Turn, I probably could have bet a little stronger to discourage what happened….

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 7 players – View hand 2592768

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

CO: $15.50

BTN: $25.73

Hero (SB): $25.10

BB: $20.35

UTG: $21.15

UTG+1: $27.84

MP: $29.89

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with Q K

3 folds, CO raises to $0.75, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, CO calls $1.25

Flop: ($4.25) 3 6 2 (2 players)

Hero bets $1.80, CO calls $1.80

Turn: ($7.85) 5 (2 players)

Hero bets $3.50, CO raises to $11.70 all in, Hero calls $8.20

River: ($31.25) J (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $31.25

CO shows A J (a pair of Jacks)

Hero shows Q K (high card King)

CO wins $29.84

(Rake: $1.41)

Week 3: Heater

Bankroll after week 3: £836.25

It’s been a while since I’ve played 10k hands in 2 days! I was very pleased with how I played each session (obviously it’s easier to have a good mindset when you have a nice run..). Great start to the month 🙂

I’m aiming to play another 10k hands next week.

Hands

Hand 1

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 7 players – View hand 2588179

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: $26.77

UTG+1: $6.96

Hero (MP): $28.33

CO: $41.30

BTN: $26.05

SB: $10.00

BB: $25.45

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP with Q A

2 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($1.85) T Q 3 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $0.88, Hero calls $0.88

Turn: ($3.61) 7 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $1.72, Hero calls $1.72

River: ($7.05) 9 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $11, Hero calls $11

Final Pot: $29.05

Hero shows Q A (a pair of Queens)

BTN shows J A (high card Ace)

Hero wins $27.74

(Rake: $1.31)

Button was 10/9 over 500 hands. I like to check the flop here more than most players because I don’t want to bet/fold the flop too much on a board where he’s likely to play back a lot. On the river, I didn’t believe he would call KJs here preflop, so that leaves his range as 99/air with occasional QQ/TT (discounted heavily because I have a Q and his betsizing on flop and turn) and against that range I have to call, even considering his nitty preflop stats.

Hand 2

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players – View hand 2588186

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: $32.95

UTG+1: $29.13

MP1: $25.75

MP2: $41.67

CO: $40.78

BTN: $26.17

SB: $53.81

Hero (BB): $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with 7 9

6 folds, SB raises to $0.50, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($1.00) 3 9 9 (2 players)

SB bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.20) 9 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $1.50, SB raises to $4.80, Hero calls $3.30

River: ($11.80) 6 (2 players)

SB bets $7.50, Hero raises to $19.10 all in, SB calls $11.60

Final Pot: $50.00

SB mucks K K

Hero shows 7 9 (four of a kind, Nines)

Hero wins $48.00

(Rake: $2.00)

Villain was 20/16 over 100 hands. I think I should raise the flop here on a board with a flush draw. Nice result though 🙂

Week 2: Reality Check

 

Bankroll after week 2: £602.43

 

Friday was a shocker. I played very poorly at the start of the session. After 1k hands I had the hands to be in profit, but I found myself down $50 due to avoidable mistakes. I played better towards the end of the day, but then the run-bad kicked in and I ended the day down $155.

On Saturday I considered taking the day off. I was still frustrated with how I played on Friday and thought that might negatively affect my play. I managed to turn that into a positive – I made sure that I remained focused and considered each major decision carefully. I was tempted to grind back to even but at the time I planned to end the tables weren’t fantastic so rather than force a return to the green I thought I’d call it a day and I feel very happy with the recovery and positive about next weekend.

Goals

I think one of the reasons for my Friday tilt was my unwritten, unrealistic goals. I was trying to crush instead of focusing on each hand and every decision. I think it would help to put down some realistic goals to measure my performance and keep my results in perspective.

Week 3: 10k hands

October: 40k hands

2014: £1000+ bankroll

Notable hands:

PokerStars – $0.25 NL – Holdem – 9 players

MP+2 (MP+2): 100 BB (VPIP: 11.18, PFR: 6.47, 3Bet Preflop: 2.60, Hands: 173)
CO (CO): 80 BB (VPIP: 9.09, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
Hero (BTN): 100 BB
SB (SB): 113.08 BB (VPIP: 14.63, PFR: 12.20, 3Bet Preflop: 4.70, Hands: 371)
BB (BB): 68.76 BB (VPIP: 63.64, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
UTG (UTG): 228.64 BB (VPIP: 22.68, PFR: 16.63, 3Bet Preflop: 6.92, Hands: 816)
UTG+1 (UTG+1): 151.12 BB (VPIP: 26.96, PFR: 21.26, 3Bet Preflop: 5.98, Hands: 656)
MP (MP): 100 BB (VPIP: 17.46, PFR: 15.08, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 126)
MP+1 (MP+1): 104.08 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Dealt to Hero:
Ah 5h

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB, fold, BB raises to 3 BB, CO calls 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop (9.4 BB, 3 players):
Ac 6h 4h
BB bets 4.48 BB, CO calls 4.48 BB, Hero raises to 24 BB, BB calls 19.52 BB, fold

Turn (61.88 BB, 2 players):
4c
BB bets 41.76 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 41.76 BB

River (145.4 BB, 2 players):
5d

BB shows:
Jc Jh
(Two Pair, Jacks and Fours)
(Pre 67%, Flop 7%, Turn 5%)

Hero shows:
Ah 5h
(Two Pair, Aces and Fives)
(Pre 33%, Flop 93%, Turn 95%)

Hero wins 138.84 BB

I decided that I had too much equity to just call the flop, I have nearly 50% equity vs AK so I was quite happy to just raise flop planning on calling any turn. I thought there was a chance he would put me on an unpaired flush draw and call down with KK, he turned up with JJ so that makes raise clearly better vs. this player.

PokerStars – $0.25 NL – Holdem – 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG+1 (UTG+1): 100 BB (VPIP: 23.08, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 11.11, Hands: 13)
Hero (MP): 100 BB
MP+1 (MP+1): 100 BB (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)
CO (CO): 137 BB (VPIP: 26.29, PFR: 12.00, 3Bet Preflop: 4.17, Hands: 175)
BTN (BTN): 105.56 BB (VPIP: 71.43, PFR: 57.14, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 7)
SB (SB): 100 BB (VPIP: 15.79, PFR: 7.89, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 39)
BB (BB): 106.56 BB (VPIP: 18.54, PFR: 9.27, 3Bet Preflop: 3.76, Hands: 611)
UTG (UTG): 100.76 BB (VPIP: 14.08, PFR: 12.64, 3Bet Preflop: 5.43, Hands: 353)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Dealt to Hero:
Jd Js

fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, CO calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop (7.4 BB, 2 players):
2c Kd Ks
Hero bets 4.8 BB, CO calls 4.8 BB

Turn (17 BB, 2 players):
2d
Hero checks, CO bets 10 BB, Hero calls 10 BB

River (37 BB, 2 players):
Th
Hero checks, CO bets 52 BB, Hero calls 52 BB

CO shows:
Ah Kc
(Full House, Kings full of Twos)
(Pre 43%, Flop 93%, Turn 100%)

Hero mucks:
Jd Js
(Two Pair, Kings and Jacks)
(Pre 57%, Flop 7%, Turn 0%)

CO wins 134.64 BB

I thought a player with 15% cold call (and 40% fold to cbet over small sample) will have an awful lot of hands going into the turn here, so I was happy to bet flop for value and c/c turn. On the river, I didn’t believe he’d overbet a king too often (what’s he expecting me to call with?), but I’m probably just giving a fish too much credit here. I still think it’s a reasonable call but I’d be interested to hear other opinions on this.

Week 1: A promising start

I started with £500 in my PokerStars account and played on the 25nl Full Ring tables on Friday and Saturday. I’m very pleased with the results, it’s been a while since I have played and I’m glad to get off the mark with a win.

Bankroll after week 1: £627.71

 

Notable Hands

Sorry for the ugly text hand histories. Next week I will work out something more readable…

Hand 1

$0.10/$0.25 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
6 Players

Stacks:
UTG $50.72
UTG+1 $24.65
CO $36.97
badgers (BTN) $25
SB $25.35
BB $40.89

Pre-Flop: ($0.35, 6 players) badgers is BTN Jh Qd
3 folds, badgers raises to $0.62, 1 fold, BB raises to $2, badgers raises to $3.90, BB calls $1.90

Flop: 9d 4s Tc ($7.90, 2 players)
BB checks, badgers bets $2.80, BB raises to $7, badgers goes all-in $21.10, BB calls $14.10

First run:

Turn 1: 2s ($25.05, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River 1: 6h ($25.05, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Second run:

Turn 2: 4d ($25.05, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River 2: 7d ($25.05, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $50.10
badgers shows
Jh Qd
BB shows two pair, Tens and Nines
Ts 9s

BB wins $48.10 (net +$23.10)

badgers lost $25

Hand 2

$0.10/$0.25 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players

Stacks:
UTG $24.98
badgers (UTG+1) $27.02
MP1 $7.74
MP2 $20.55
MP3 $25.55
CO $36.33
BTN $19.40
SB $18.75
BB $26.12

Pre-Flop: ($0.60, 9 players) badgers is UTG+1 Js Qs
[CO posts $0.25]
1 fold, badgers raises to $0.75, 3 folds, CO raises to $2.50, BTN calls $2.50, 2 folds, badgers calls $1.75

Flop: 9h 3h Jh ($7.85, 3 players)
badgers checks, CO checks, BTN checks

Turn: Jc ($7.85, 3 players)
badgers bets $5.50, CO folds, BTN calls $5.50

River: Td ($18.85, 2 players)
badgers checks, BTN goes all-in $11.40, badgers calls $11.40

Final Pot: $41.65
badgers shows three of a kind, Jacks
Js Qs
BTN shows two pair, Jacks and Fives
5h 5d

badgers wins $39.78 (net +$20.38)

CO lost $2.50
BTN lost $19.40