Lucky 13

So we are 7 days into August and poker is moving along....

The month started fast with me bagging almost 8 buy-ins in 1.5 days and thoughts of a bumper month came to fruition. 3 Days later I was back down to earth with a bang losing around 12 BIs and being stuck a little for the month.

My Live cash session at the casino has seemed to have turned things round the other way. Since then I have not lost 1 session of cards and my stats are looking pretty sexy.

13 Lucky sessions in a row!!....:

NL50 currently seems a lot more spewy at times than NL100 and there are very few crushers around. 

I have played okay without being anything special apart from day 1 when I played near flawless poker. Every other day I have been able to identify mistakes including some big ones by looking through hand histories.

Also I have been running good for a change:

If I can quadruple what I have made in week 1 then it will be a productive month. As I have no bonuses this month I am relying on winnings alone. I could cash a $1,500 bonus but its better to save for the $4,000 if cash flow is not a problem. I am thinking about doing another live session pretty soon.

Bye...

The worst REG at NL50

Before you say it, its not me. I may well be up there but this guy is in a class of his own. This fish was sitting to my right for around 200 hands at one table. I was observing him closely as he pretty much stole every time from the CO, BTN or SB. His overall stats in my database show a combined steal of around 60%.

The graph above only shows him down around $5k but the loss rate is around -6bb/100 shipped on NL100 and NL50 from 66k hands. I often wonder how someone can be so bad at this game. I think I have a small clue as to why he loses massively (see HH below).


Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players

Hero (BB): $51.35
UTG: $104.00
UTG+1: $20.00
MP1: $50.00
MP2: $30.00
CO: $26.10
BTN: $57.70
SB: $53.25

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with Q Q
6 folds, SB raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $4.75, SB raises to $14.50, Hero raises to $51.35, SB calls $36.85

Flop: ($102.70) 7 A 8 (2 players)

Turn: ($102.70) 6 (2 players)

River: ($102.70) 7 (2 players)

Final Pot: $102.70

Hero shows Q Q
SB shows K 3

Hero wins $99.70
(Rake: $3.00)

Sitting with the Limpers....

I briefly played some live poker yesterday at the Vic in London.

I usually play the £1/£2 game which has a max buy-in of £400 ($650). I put my name on the wait list and also put myself down for the £1/£1 game (£200 max buy-in). I got called almost instantly for the latter as the wait list for my normal game was about 5 long.

It was quickly apparent that this was a really good table. Unfortunately I had the 3 most active players to my left but it was still good to be at the same table.

It is the first that I have played a live cash game in which I can say for sure that I was easily the best player at the table. Its amazing how much people give away from random strategy comments that are so wrong. You have to figure if they are levelling you or just don't have a clue. These lot were just not that good or knowledgeable.

My biggest pot came only after about 5 hands in. I opened UTG with KQss and the 2 aggro players directly to my left folded but the 3rd guy who was very active too called. I opened to 7x for some reason and immediately thought wtf, why did I do that. It's just what the others were doing so I did too, donk. Everyone else folded. Dream flop for me as it came down 346sss. I knew that if I checked here he would bet and I could check raise but that may seem to strong. With the low cards he could easily have an overpair and put me on 2 big cards chasing another spade. I decide to cbet and bet around 3/4 pot. He insta calls. The turn is 2h was puts a one card straight out there with still all low cards. I Hollywood for a few seconds before leading another 3/4 pot sized bet. He insta calls again. He must have like 77-TT I reckon. The river is another blank from my POV and is the Jd. I have the 3rd nuts on this board and he will rarely have a flush here. I bet again around 3/4 pot again and he insta calls then mucks as I show and I take down my biggest pot of the night for around $250.

I only played for 2hrs or so before getting bored and deciding to go home and fire up stars. I won most of the pots that I played past the flop. I lost a few where I called pre flop raises then folded on the flop. I made a small win for the night.

In other news

Here is DN making a great play:

Carefully select your moment vs the Whale

Its always great fun to have a whale at the table. Its even better when they are aggro

The Villain here was a 78/43 with a 3bet of 27% and a ft3b of only 13% over 100 hands

This is a deep table too

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players

SB: $82.25
BB: $134.40
UTG: $118.85
Hero (UTG+1): $130.35
UTG+2: $94.00
MP1: $98.75
MP2: $177.80
CO: $56.20
BTN: $142.90

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with Q Q
UTG raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $5.40, 5 folds, SB raises to $12.30, 2 folds, Hero raises to $130.25, SB calls $69.95 all in

Its always concerning when someone 4bets from the blinds but when its this guy its no surprise and there is no need to get cute here vs a 78/43, just get it in. He's gonna raise & call super wide here

Flop: ($166.50) 9 8 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: ($166.50) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($166.50) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $166.50

SB shows A A
Hero shows Q Q

Hero wins $164.20
(Rake: $2.20)

Even whales get AA once in a while...!! But its all good when your running like god.... nice to suckout big style once in a while

2011/2012 English Premiership Football Season - Poker Fantasy League

The new football season commences in 10 days.


So, you fancy yourself as a football manager?? Well put your skills to the test.

The official premiership site runs a fantasy football game of which i have played for the last 5yrs or so. 


I have created a league for Poker Players & Friends to join. We have 8 runners already so please come and participate.

If you want to sign up, please go to the link below and create your team. Once your team is ready, join my league. Code is: 685938-175587 

http://fantasy.premierleague.com/


Also if you fancy a small wager then put your name down on the 2+2 link (see below)



2+2 Fantasy Premiership Thread

GL

If you don't understand the Debt Crisis that is facing USA, Europe and other Countries

July 2011 Review

Going downhill is the name of the game. My poker skills seem to be in decline. I review my sessions daily on HEM and leaks are creeping in.

This month has been the month of the spite call (calling when u know your beat just to see their cards)

I have also dropped down to NL50 while I deal with my new issues.

I am going to experiment with playing only 12 tables as a regular. I did this during the month only to go back up to 16 tables at the end of the month. I will mix different tables and stakes and hopefully find some composure. This seems to be my problem over last 2 months.

I am planning a total change of direction from Sept 1st onwards so watch this space for more on that one.

I plan a hard grind in August


The final numbers for July are as follows:

96,000 Hands Played
19,716 VPPs

-$1,724 (Cash Game Losses)
+$305 (Tournament Winnings)
+$53 (Live Cash Winnings)
+$100 (Deposit Bonus)
+$2,600 (200k VPP Bonus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$1,334 (Total Month)


The Ytd numbers as at the end of July are as follows:

784,000 Hands Played
201,856 VPPs

-$1,214 - Jan
+$1,075 - Feb
+$722 - Mar
+$4,766 - Apr
+$3,278 - May
+$415 - Jun
+$1,334 - Jul
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$10,376 (Total YTD)

Are You Dizzy Blood?

The villain in this hand is a 50/6 with a 3bet of 9.1% over a small sample

I would never play this hand this way vs a reg as my play on the flop would scream strength. However against an unknown or a fish it often works perfectly and induces the raise. I now have a 2/3 pot size bet stack remaining but have 2 streets to bet it. This allows me to check back the turn as he has the impetus in hand and allow him to continue his bluff. If he checks back I still have the opportunity to shove the river and he might improve his hand and call or call anyway with 88-JJ.

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players

SB: $50.00
BB: $46.50
UTG: $50.00
UTG+1: $18.50
UTG+2: $53.45
MP1: $41.15
Hero (MP2): $65.25
CO: $50.00
BTN: $47.20

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP2 with Q Q
4 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, CO calls $1.50, BTN raises to $3.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $13, 1 fold, BTN calls $9.50

Flop: ($28.25) 7 Q 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $5.00, BTN raises to $19, Hero calls $14

Turn: ($66.25) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $15.20, Hero calls $15.20

River: ($96.65) 5 (2 players)

Final Pot: $96.65
Hero shows Q Q
BTN shows K A

Hero wins $93.65
(Rake: $3.00)

200,000 VPPs

Just hit 200,000 VPPs, weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

$2,600 bonus, nice.... now I am even for the month, lol.

I hate poker.....

Sixty Eight Grand Bonus

The 65th Billionth hand on Pokerstars was dealt yesterday.

The run up to it was preceded by the 65 billion promo give-away.

Stars gives free money to each millionth hand leading up to the 65th billion. 300 hands get paid out.

The big winner was ‘yllams’ from New Zealand. He won $68,420 in prize money for being in the right place at the right time and winning the Mega Milestone hand.

There were $770,588 in prizes awarded during the whole promotion, with over 1,600 winners collecting cash.

The prizes are calculated as follows (source, Pokerstars website):

Milestone
Players dealt into a milestone hand win a cash prize of $50 for every VIP Player Point (VPP) they earned in the previous 50 hands played on that table. All players dealt in will also receive a base prize of $50, and any player that wins a portion of the main pot will get their prize doubled!

• Dealt into Milestone Hand: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $50) + $50 = Cash Prize
• Win Milestone Hand: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $50 + $50) x 2 = Cash Prize

Note: The 300 regular Milestone Hands will begin with hand number 64,700,000,000 and end with hand 64,999,000,000.

Example: You play for half an hour on a $1/$2 NLHE table. You play 53 hands in this time and are then dealt into a milestone hand. The system will look at the most recent 50 hands that you've played at that table and calculate the number of VPPs earned. In this instance, you earned 31 VPPs, so the prize will be: 31 * $50 + $50 = $1,600. If you go on to win the hand, you'll receive $3,200.

Mega Milestone

When the big 65 Billion Mega Milestone is reached, all players dealt in will be rewarded $500 for every VPP earned in the previous 50 hands (calculated same as above, including the base prize of $500 for all players dealt in). The winner of the Mega Milestone will also have their prize money doubled, and will also receive $65,000 on top - which means a grand total of tens of thousands of dollars!

• Dealt into Mega Milestone: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $500) + $500 = Cash Prize
• Win Mega Milestone: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $500 + $500) x 2 + $65,000 = Cash Prize

In the event of a split pot (either from a tied hand or from a split pot game) all winners will receive a share of the $65,000 proportional to their share of the main pot of the hand.

Example 1: You play 50 hands and earn 60 VPPs when the Mega Milestone hand hits on your table. You will receive (60 x $500) + $500 = $30,500. You win the hand and your cash prize is doubled to $61,000. You will also receive an additional $65,000 - bringing the total cash award up to $126,000.