January 2012 Review

It ain't too long now before I will be on a flight to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Its the first time that I will be visiting this region and I'm pretty excited.

It will be nice to get some decent weather as it is 7 or 8 Degrees C in London whereas its between 20C and 23C on the island.

In the centre of the island is the 3rd highest volcano (Teide) in the world which stands at 3,718 metres tall at its summit.

January has been a low volume month due to a few reasons. Firstly I took part in the mass protest against the rakeback changes. I was banned from playing for over a day for this. I then spent time with the missus doing a few day trips while she was off work. After that I got sick so my grind only began really around 12 or 13 days in. Now with the holiday I will miss around 5 days at the end of the month.

The worm looks like this:

I had some fun playing omaha even though I lost a little. I have played a little HU too and it is quite interesting as you try to figure out the villains game.

The final numbers for January are as follows:

80,256 Hands Played
12,709 VPPs

+$1,998 (Cash Game Winnings)
+$150 (Stellar Rewards)
+$1,500 (FPP Cash Bonus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$3,648 (Total Month)


Finally I would just like to give a shout out to the Liverpool FC boys who have made it to the League Cup Final at Wembley. Even though it is the smaller of the Cups contested by the top flight teams it is a big deal to us as we have not won much in recent times, lol. I will try to get tickets to this one even though it won't be easy.

Weighted Contribution Impact

Since Stars switched to the WC method of VPP distribution I have made 11,842 VPPs and my HEM states that I would have made 12,752 in the 2011 dealt method.

This is only a drop of 7% which is not too bad at first sight. However as I have played a lot of the happy hours which were awarding 1.5 times the normal VPP rate my figures will be skewed.

I carried out a session by session comparison and this showed a drop of between 15% and 40% across around 12 or so sessions that I looked at. I believe my personal drop is around 25% overall.

It will be a more accurate reflection if I carry out an analysis of Feb's figures when there are no happy hours scheduled.

Hopefully there will be some positives changes to come out of the talks that are taking place this week.

A Gift

I don't know what to say about this one apart from cheers mate..!!


Poker Stars, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details

CO: $23.30 (46.6 bb)
BTN: $50 (100 bb)
SB: $51.60 (103.2 bb)
BB: $49.50 (99 bb)
Hero (MP): $56.50 (113 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K K
Hero raises to $1.50, 3 folds, BB raises to $49.50 and is all-in, Hero calls $48

Flop: ($99.25) 5 K 7 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: ($99.25) 6 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($99.25) 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $99.25 pot ($2 rake)
Final Board: 5 K 7 6 8
BB showed Q T and lost (-$49.50 net)
Hero showed K K and won $97.25 ($47.75 net)

It Must be the Weekend

The games on the weekend are pretty dam juicy.

I am itching to leave NL50 behind for good and play NL100 & NL200 exclusively but every time I look at the Pokerstars Lobby the NL200 games look awful, the NL100 games look hit n miss and the NL50 games look amazing. So I am still playing the majority of tables at the Fiddy while mixing in some of the Hundo.

Sometimes the villain turns up with a hand you just don't expect to see:

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - View hand 1603507

MP2: $20.00
CO: $48.30
BTN: $19.25
SB: $101.40
BB: $41.20
UTG: $63.15
UTG+1: $20.00
UTG+2: $50.00
Hero (MP1): $68.60

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP1 with Q Q
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $1.25, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4.10, 4 folds, BB calls $3.60, 1 fold

Flop: ($9.70) Q J K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $7.95, BB calls $7.95

Turn: ($25.60) J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $16.85, BB calls $16.85

River: ($59.30) T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $16, BB calls $12.30 all in

Final Pot: $83.90

BB shows 3 K (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
Hero shows Q Q (a full house, Queens full of Jacks)

Hero wins $80.90
(Rake: $3.00)


Then they go and do it again. Different Villain but pure bluffage all the same

Poker Stars, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details

MP3: $29 (58 bb)
CO: $47.55 (95.1 bb)
BTN: $55.90 (111.8 bb)
Hero (SB): $52.75 (105.5 bb)
BB: $37.05 (74.1 bb)
UTG+1: $61.65 (123.3 bb)
UTG+2: $22.95 (45.9 bb)
MP1: $50 (100 bb)
MP2: $20 (40 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A A
5 folds, CO raises to $1.50, BTN calls $1.50, Hero raises to $6.40, BB calls $5.90, 2 folds

Flop: ($15.80) 3 9 K (2 players)
Hero bets $11.30, BB raises to $30.65 and is all-in, Hero calls $19.35

Turn: ($77.10) 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($77.10) 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $77.10 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 3 9 K 8 9
Hero showed A A and won $74.10 ($37.05 net)
BB showed A J and lost (-$37.05 net)


I am playing a few hands at NL100 too. I got a nice welcome back. Standard Cooler but nice all the same. The interesting part here is the play of the CO. The best he is hoping for surely is 2x AK. Unlikely your gonna get 2 worse pairs calling.

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details

SB: $51.20 (51.2 bb)
BB: $161.70 (161.7 bb)
UTG+2: $53.35 (53.4 bb)
MP1: $74.50 (74.5 bb)
MP2: $85.90 (85.9 bb)
Hero (MP3): $100 (100 bb)
CO: $100 (100 bb)
BTN: $187.35 (187.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with A A
UTG+2 calls $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5, CO raises to $15, 3 folds, UTG+2 calls $14, Hero raises to $38, CO raises to $100 and is all-in, UTG+2 calls $38.35 and is all-in, Hero calls $62 and is all-in

Flop: ($254.85) 7 6 J (3 players, 3 are all-in)
Turn: ($254.85) 5 (3 players, 3 are all-in)
River: ($254.85) T (3 players, 3 are all-in)

Results: $254.85 pot ($3.00 rake)
Final Board: 7 6 J 5 T
UTG+2 mucked K K and lost (-$53.35 net)
Hero showed A A and won $251.85 ($151.85 net)
CO mucked Q Q and lost (-$100 net)


Hope the doomswitch stays off for the next week

Peace