Sunday Update

Well played about a thousand hands over the weekend on and off. Up to 365 again. FT emailed back and said they've passed my details onto a rakeback website so hopefully I'll get some info from them. This is much more promising than I'd first thought... maybe I'll be able to get it?! Would be great if I could... I'll let you know how it goes. The research work is still coming along although I'm trying to get my head around a little glitch. Basically I verified that we should often check behind on the river if we only stand to be called by a better hand... but the maths suggests that the more we bet on the river the less this is true. I'd have thought the reverse to be true. Risking less enabling us to bet more often. Hmmm I was struggling to get my head around it... Will have another go when I get a minute. Finally, Full Tilt are running a promo throughout September where it looks like they are paying you to play. Must read the TOC to verify this but it seems that if you play every day they are giving you money. This is obv an awesome deal esp for low stakes players. It is likely to draw in fish too so I'll be playing plenty on FT for the forseable future. As for the bonus I was trying to clear I have two weeks to clear some more. But since I'm still at 5c/10c I'll prob only manage 20 bucks or so more. It's still a good return, I just don't have enough spare money at the moment to play the higher limit.

A little research

Hi, every time I have a bad session I like to concentrate on improving part of my game. After I spewed that river bet last week, I decided I needed to do some study. Today I've done some of the most important work I think I've done yet. The river is obv a critical street of play and I've been playing about with some EV equations and things with the goal of knowing what my strategy should be once I get there. Why is it so critical? - well this is the biggest street where the largest bets go in. So playing it well is crucial for profitability. And like I asserted in an earlier post there's no reason why we can't master this street since the draw element is removed. Anyway I've got more things to do yet which means I prob won't play until maybe Friday. When I do I hope to be much clearer on a game plan once I've reached that final street. Hmmm... whether to share that info on here? Well I guess I can discuss a couple of principles that I've discovered but I'll leave the maths out.

Good Evening

Well played some more tonight - been watching the cricket on tv all weekend. Not a great night but only $4 down. What I'm going to do is play 5c/10c for a bit - and really concentrate on those turn and river decisions. Tonight I felt I played well but for one all - in with ak ran into aces. But my opponent was short stacked so felt compelled to call getting tons of odds. If things start going my way again I'll go back up. Unfortunately this means that I'll sacrifice some of that bonus I am trying to earn. But when I don't have enough buy - ins to play 10c/25c comfortably without worrying about my bankroll this makes sense. When I'm playing well and things are going well too then there's not a problem but spewing that 70 bucks hurt me tbh. I didn't feel in the right frame of mind to play after that. Tonight I think I just got unlucky otherwise could well have ended night ten bucks up. So I'll try again when I next get chance - ride out this little dip then move back up.

Playing poorly

Had an atrocious hour or so, a couple of buy - ins lost down to 350 again. Just didn't play very well. Might post a couple of HH here. It doesn't help at this time of day play seems much better. Instead of choosing the low variance route and playing two barrel poker - which I've been quite good at recently, I was not slowing down when I needed to. Made a pretty bad decision with an overpair of TT so maybe that hand tilted me somewhat... Then ran a bluff on a board it was unlikely to work on. Could have saved 15 bucks on a river where I bluffed with no fold equity. On the same hand I ran a reasonable play on the flop but then over played the turn and river. Could prob have got away losing $20 bucks less. This is a valuable lesson... While it's great being able to accumulate chips and win them - knowing when it's better to save them is also critical. A saved bet is as good as a made bet. Over the next few days I'm really going to slow down bluff wise. Two barrels only from now on - this is exploitable I know but I need to get some discipline back into my play. Solid values and making moves only at the right times. Let's see if we can pull ourselves around. Going to take a break now. Will see if my head is better later on.

Update

FT bankroll $420 after this evening, including another $10 bonus release.
Adjustment in these games is important. In the past few days constantly betting and chipping away getting folds has allowed me to slowly accumulate money. Tonight however, there was alot of loose flop calling and I quickly realised that against most of the opposition betting wasn't working as I was being called down light. I hadn't played against any of these players before so they weren't adjusting to me it was obv they had a loose passive style. So I quickly had to adapt and I was only betting streets when I genuinely felt I could get value from weaker hands calling. But I didn't hit many hands - one set and an all - in KK vs. AK allowed me to win about 18 dollars. Still going well. Not sure I'll be able to clear the entire bonus in time though I should manage most of it. These are very valuable for low stakes grinders - they can seriously increase hourly win rate. It's free money after all and I must make sure I take any bonuses like this that come around from now on.

Awesome passage of play...

Had a great evening. Won 33.71 - could have been more if I hadn't run a big bluff on a double paired board and been called by a low pocket lol. Feel I'm at the top of my game currently, and also getting some good cards too which obv helps. So, FT bankroll is now 386.81. I run a database program called poker tracker which logs my results so that I can plug leaks in my game. Over the last ten thousand hands (cash) I've won nearly 200 dollars at a win rate of $2 per hundred hands. Most of that was at micro stakes though. If I can sustain that win rate in these current games - and providing I continue to practice good table selection I should do - I'll be earning as much as I do in my day job. Crazy to think that. Note: I play four tables at once if you spotted that the maths doesn't add up. Am definitely convinced that I'm correct to reraise with 22 - 66 now. These hands have low EV despite all the set miners out there. They lose the most equity those times they showdown against better sets. So 77 - TT are much better calling hands since they gain equity those times the low pockets hit undersets and also have showdown value as I mentioned before. Essentially you are semi - bluffing with the low pairs. Like you might do with a flopped draw. If you're called and then c - bet succesfully it more than makes up for the times when you run into an overset. Plus these low pockets are hardly ever good after the flop without a set. As for reraising with other hands I'm trying to pick spots where my image is such that I think it has a good chance of success and tbh the cards don't really matter. I think many players are aggressive to the point where they spew EV. Just do it enough so that you are believable... That's all that's required. Finally here's a hand history that proves I'm getting good cards. I'll just post the text as I don't think anyone actually reads this blog anyway lol! It won't stop me posting - it helps me to think about my game.
Full Tilt Poker Game #14090423110: Table Letter (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:44:41 ET - 2009/08/17
Seat 1: nioubie ($9.72)
Seat 2: TUZALI ($20.37)
Seat 3: slapbet23 ($25)
Seat 4: BPSmith1984 ($20.76)
Seat 5: B4nko ($25)
Seat 6: bfrdtjustice ($14.77)
bfrdtjustice posts the small blind of $0.10
nioubie posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to B4nko [5d 4d]
TUZALI folds
slapbet23 folds
BPSmith1984 folds
BPSmith1984 stands up
B4nko has 15 seconds left to act
B4nko raises to $0.85
bfrdtjustice calls $0.75
nioubie folds
*** FLOP *** [6d As 8d]
bfrdtjustice checks
nioubie stands up
B4nko has 15 seconds left to act
csigusz77 stands up
Raskolhnikov adds $25
keisariq adds $25
B4nko checks
*** TURN *** [6d As 8d] [7d]
bfrdtjustice bets $1
B4nko calls $1
*** RIVER *** [6d As 8d 7d] [Kc]
bfrdtjustice checks
B4nko bets $3
bfrdtjustice calls $3
*** SHOW DOWN ***
B4nko shows [5d 4d] a straight flush, Eight high
bfrdtjustice mucks
B4nko wins the pot ($9.46) with a straight flush, Eight high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $9.95 | Rake $0.49
Board: [6d As 8d 7d Kc]
Seat 1: nioubie (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: TUZALI didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: slapbet23 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: BPSmith1984 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: B4nko (button) showed [5d 4d] and won ($9.46) with a straight flush, Eight high
Seat 6: bfrdtjustice (small blind) mucked [Qc Ad] - a pair of Aces

This game is easy sometimes.... LOL.

Two hands that occurred within a few minutes of each other tonight...
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Seat 1: aburke85 ($51.12)
Seat 2: dedikzak1 ($52.82) -
Seat 3: Trolya ($15.72) -
Seat 4: B4nko ($45.66) -
Seat 5: TTough ($25.72)
Seat 6: patsartifacts ($25.51)


PRE-FLOP:

Trolya posts small blind $0.10
B4nko posts BIG blind $0.25
Dealt To: B4nko


FOLD TTough
FOLD patsartifacts
FOLD aburke85
FOLD dedikzak1
CALL Trolya ($0.15)
RAISE B4nko ($0.75)
CALL Trolya ($0.50)


FLOP:

Pot: $1.5
   

CHECK Trolya
BET B4nko ($1)
RAISE Trolya ($2)
CALL B4nko ($1)


TURN:

Pot: $5.5
     

BET Trolya ($2.75)
CALL B4nko ($2.75)


RIVER:

Pot: $11
      

BET Trolya ($4.50)
RAISE B4nko ($40.16)
CALL Trolya ($5.72)
UNCALLED B4nko ($29.94)


SHOWDOWN:
B4nko:

MUCK Trolya

B4nko collected $29.87 from main pot with four of a kind, Fives

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $31 Rake: $1.57

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: aburke85 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: dedikzak1 button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: Trolya small blind mucked [Tc 6c] - a flush, Ace high - Net Gain/Loss: ($-15.72)
Seat 4: B4nko big blind showed [5s 5d] and won 29.87 with four of a kind, Fives - Net Gain/Loss: ($14.15)
Seat 5: TTough didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: patsartifacts didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


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Seat 1: ALEC81 ($61.39) Sitting Out
Seat 2: rossooneri ($25) Sitting Out
Seat 3: Trolya ($2.63) -
Seat 4: B4nko ($25.15)
Seat 5: Denman98 ($24.65) -
Seat 6: patsartifacts ($44.62) -


PRE-FLOP:

patsartifacts posts small blind $0.10
Trolya posts BIG blind $0.25
Dealt To: B4nko


RAISE B4nko ($0.85)
FOLD Denman98
CALL patsartifacts ($0.75)
FOLD Trolya


FLOP:

Pot: $1.95
   

CHECK patsartifacts
BET B4nko ($1.30)
CALL patsartifacts ($1.30)


TURN:

Pot: $4.55
     

CHECK patsartifacts
BET B4nko ($3.30)
RAISE patsartifacts ($6.60)
RAISE B4nko ($9.90)
CALL patsartifacts ($3.30)


RIVER:

Pot: $24.35
      

BET patsartifacts ($32.57)
CALL B4nko ($13.10)
UNCALLED patsartifacts ($19.47)


SHOWDOWN:
patsartifacts:

B4nko:


B4nko collected $48.55 from main pot with four of a kind, Fours

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $50 Rake: $2

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: ALEC81 is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: rossooneri is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: Trolya big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.25)
Seat 4: B4nko showed [4d 4h] and won 48.55 with four of a kind, Fours - Net Gain/Loss: ($23.4)
Seat 5: Denman98 button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: patsartifacts small blind showed [Kh 7h] and lost with two pair, Sevens and Fours - Net Gain/Loss: ($-25.15)
  


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