Played some 50NL Zoom and I think it's the best session I've played since I've been back. I made very few mistakes in my opinion and I also got dealt black kings so got a free buy-in from Stars. Weeeee!
Also played the Hot $16.50 but it didn't go very well. I must be honest and admit that my push/fold knowledge is very poor. I feel that the last few tournaments I've let my stack get way too short before committing to an all-in spot.
In the past one of my key tournament money earners was shoving very wide in the small blind or on the button but it just seems to me that it's very rarely folding to me in those spots these days. I wonder if this is just small sample variance or whether the tournament short stackers are improving.
I tried loading up SNGWiz to try and practise some late game situations but for some reason it no longer recognises me as a registered user which is kind of frustrating. I've not used it for over a year so I've probably only got myself to blame.
I'll try emailing the developers and see if they can send me a new license and perhaps I'll read "Kill Everyone" again and study the push/fold tables printed in it.
Tournaments are fun and it would be nice to be able to register a couple of good scores now and then.
Right, I will post again soon. GL!
Friday, 28 June 2013
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Full Tilt MTOPS Main Event
Got myself four entries. I have a bunch of FTP points so I purchased tickets from the store and will see how I get on.
I think technically for a proven tournament winner with good knowledge of push/fold ranges it would be best to enter for the maximum number of entries with eight. This would give such a player a good chance to go deep. But for me - probably a break even tournament player - I thought that four entries would be sufficient. I think that making good late game decisions would become difficult if I had eight tables up.
The tournament itself is massively under registered currently (with about 15 minutes left) so there is a large overlay. Get yourself involved, it looks like free money!
Anyway I will put updates here, it's $90k to the winner.
Update 1: Didn't realise there was a 30 minute seating window, so I'm just sat around waiting right now. I've also opened a beer. Not the most sensible tournament decision but I'm just viewing this as a bit of fun. If things get serious I'll switch to the coiffee later on. The tournament still has an overlay, although it is diminishing.
I've never noticed that FTP offer multi-buy-in tournaments before. I wonder how it affects the ICM; I imagine that for a proven winner it's best to buy in as many times as possible. But does this mean that the fish/reg ratio deteriorates? I'd imagine that only knowledgeable players would buy-in more than once.
Great. The HUD isn't working on FTP for some reason so time to nit up. Should probably have checked before I registered...
Update 2: Fishy field, but card dead. Really not running too well, got three lives left but the fourth I was knocked out dominating my opponent with AQ vs Q8o right to the river. Meh. The three remaining lives are very close to being valueless given the stack sizes relative to average so I don't think my tourney foray will last a great deal longer!
Final update:
Last life, very short, over 10k villains to beat. It's not happenin'! Signing off as I will need to sleep as soon as I'm KO'd.
Good night!
I think technically for a proven tournament winner with good knowledge of push/fold ranges it would be best to enter for the maximum number of entries with eight. This would give such a player a good chance to go deep. But for me - probably a break even tournament player - I thought that four entries would be sufficient. I think that making good late game decisions would become difficult if I had eight tables up.
The tournament itself is massively under registered currently (with about 15 minutes left) so there is a large overlay. Get yourself involved, it looks like free money!
Anyway I will put updates here, it's $90k to the winner.
Update 1: Didn't realise there was a 30 minute seating window, so I'm just sat around waiting right now. I've also opened a beer. Not the most sensible tournament decision but I'm just viewing this as a bit of fun. If things get serious I'll switch to the coiffee later on. The tournament still has an overlay, although it is diminishing.
I've never noticed that FTP offer multi-buy-in tournaments before. I wonder how it affects the ICM; I imagine that for a proven winner it's best to buy in as many times as possible. But does this mean that the fish/reg ratio deteriorates? I'd imagine that only knowledgeable players would buy-in more than once.
Great. The HUD isn't working on FTP for some reason so time to nit up. Should probably have checked before I registered...
Update 2: Fishy field, but card dead. Really not running too well, got three lives left but the fourth I was knocked out dominating my opponent with AQ vs Q8o right to the river. Meh. The three remaining lives are very close to being valueless given the stack sizes relative to average so I don't think my tourney foray will last a great deal longer!
Final update:
Last life, very short, over 10k villains to beat. It's not happenin'! Signing off as I will need to sleep as soon as I'm KO'd.
Good night!
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Latest News
Hi!
So I've finally reached 10k hands in my new sample. I'll be honest - I haven't played well enough to beat the games and I'm suprised that I'm around break even so far.
I sense that I'm making fewer mistakes as time goes on so perhaps after a few more thousand hands I can get back to winning ways, but since I'm playing at a higher limit and I have no "previous" at these stakes it could just be that a winning 25NL zoom strategy does not equate to a winning 50NL zoom strategy.
I think I'm going to mix in some non-zoom cash game tables and really concentrate on beating the fish.
Why 50NL?
After all those years playing like a nit in 10NL and 25NL games that's a good question, but the truth is that now I'm earning more money I can afford to play higher stakes. I'd like to go to 100NL soon but I wanted to give myself a run at 50NL first as a warm up. If I can do OK (read breakeven) at this limit over say a hundred thousand hands then I'll just go straight up. The rakes better at 100.
HUSNG?
A couple of years ago I dabbled in the HUSNG games before I caught the Rush bug and I've quite fancied giving them a go lately. I'm sure there are enough weak players about that they are still profitable but the barrier to entry is that they are a totally different ballgame to full ring so I'd need to start my learning again from scratch.
But there are some great HUSNG resources out there, and the Sharkscope leaderboards prove that there is still tons of money to be made in that format.
Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this was no brief flash in the pan and that my enthusiasm has returned for the game no matter whether I win or lose. I think I needed a year to sort my life out and now that all is good I can attempt to bring my game to the next level. GL
Friday, 31 May 2013
2.5k hands so far
Super small sample, break even overall.
I have a habit when playing after a break to fight for too many pots, and this showed itself again in two different forms.
1/ I recklessly 5-bet shoved A2o against an aggressive late position opener who 4-bet from the button. I was convinced in terms of game flow and given his wide steal range that he would be 4-betting light in that spot quite often plus I had a blocker. He did call though and I was dominated.
The trouble with 5-bet shoving light is that the odds we're laying ourself aren't that good. If I have 25% equity against a calling range (true in this case) and I'm risking two and a half times the pot then I need a large percentage of his 4-bet range to fold for it to become profitable (I think it's around 40%). This sounds possible but pretty unlikely.
2/ I made a call with ace high on a double paired board against an aggressive fish. The board played out in a way that it counter-fit all of his low pairs and all of the draws missed. So I decided to play bluff catcher.
I can name plenty of times in the past when this might have been a reasonable call against certain opponents and I guess I threw this guy in with the same player type. The problem was I had very few hands on him. He was certainly a fish (weird bet sizing plus less than full stack) but I don't think I had enough hands to reliably make an ace high call. He could have turned out to be a really passive fish who only bets the nuts (which he had in this case).
Other than these two big mistakes I think I've played pretty solidly. Enough of my opponents were making errors against me that I'm pretty confident that I can beat this limit providing I can cut out mistakes like the above.
I can sense that some of my sharpness is returning with time and hands and I think that I will make fewer mistakes as time goes on. And really this is the essence of poker; the challenge is to reach a standard where the very best players at your limit are making no fewer mistakes than you are. GL
I have a habit when playing after a break to fight for too many pots, and this showed itself again in two different forms.
1/ I recklessly 5-bet shoved A2o against an aggressive late position opener who 4-bet from the button. I was convinced in terms of game flow and given his wide steal range that he would be 4-betting light in that spot quite often plus I had a blocker. He did call though and I was dominated.
The trouble with 5-bet shoving light is that the odds we're laying ourself aren't that good. If I have 25% equity against a calling range (true in this case) and I'm risking two and a half times the pot then I need a large percentage of his 4-bet range to fold for it to become profitable (I think it's around 40%). This sounds possible but pretty unlikely.
2/ I made a call with ace high on a double paired board against an aggressive fish. The board played out in a way that it counter-fit all of his low pairs and all of the draws missed. So I decided to play bluff catcher.
I can name plenty of times in the past when this might have been a reasonable call against certain opponents and I guess I threw this guy in with the same player type. The problem was I had very few hands on him. He was certainly a fish (weird bet sizing plus less than full stack) but I don't think I had enough hands to reliably make an ace high call. He could have turned out to be a really passive fish who only bets the nuts (which he had in this case).
Other than these two big mistakes I think I've played pretty solidly. Enough of my opponents were making errors against me that I'm pretty confident that I can beat this limit providing I can cut out mistakes like the above.
I can sense that some of my sharpness is returning with time and hands and I think that I will make fewer mistakes as time goes on. And really this is the essence of poker; the challenge is to reach a standard where the very best players at your limit are making no fewer mistakes than you are. GL
Sunday, 26 May 2013
I'm Back
Good Morning
It's a rather lovely British bank holiday Sunday and I'm up for some Zoom poker.
In the last few weeks I've begun to get a bit of an itch to play again so I've decided to put in a few thousand hands at 50NL Zoom. I'm pretty busy so I'll have to fit it around other commitments but hopefully I'll be able to manage a few thousand hands per week.
Once I've reached a milestone (maybe 50k hands) I will post some graphs and give some thoughts on the current state of the games.
I really don't anticipate much because after a year out my game is likely to be very rusty. Additionally I imagine that there are new trends and theories doing the rounds that I will not yet be aware of.
I'm not sure how much of a renaissance this will be but for now I'm back at the tables. GL!
Edit:
Message from PokerStars:
Welcome back to PokerStars, where the Stars come to play!
As a welcome back present, we'd like to deal you quads.
Thank you for playing at PokerStars!
PokerStars Zoom Hand #99121709247: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2013/05/26 10:32:19 WET [2013/05/26 5:32:19 ET]
Table 'Arp' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Interface21 ($25 in chips)
Seat 2: wordsmt ($55.04 in chips)
Seat 3: chachar73 ($43.75 in chips)
Seat 4: Blood Out444 ($61.76 in chips)
Seat 5: daveaneo ($25.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ($56.68 in chips)
Seat 7: tezonchik ($54.64 in chips)
Seat 8: faustus2 ($48.50 in chips)
Seat 9: The Cambist ($50 in chips)
wordsmt: posts small blind $0.25
chachar73: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [9c 9s]
Blood Out444: folds
daveaneo: raises $0.65 to $1.15
Hero: calls $1.15
tezonchik: folds
faustus2 has timed out while disconnected
faustus2: folds
The Cambist: folds
Interface21: folds
wordsmt: folds
chachar73: calls $0.65
*** FLOP *** [9h Js 9d]
chachar73: checks
daveaneo: bets $2.50
Hero: calls $2.50
chachar73: calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [9h Js 9d] [5d]
chachar73: checks
daveaneo: checks
Hero: bets $6.50
chachar73: folds
daveaneo: folds
Uncalled bet ($6.50) returned to Hero
Hero collected $10.70 from pot
Hero: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $11.20 | Rake $0.50
Board [9h Js 9d 5d]
Seat 1: Interface21 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: wordsmt (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: chachar73 (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 4: Blood Out444 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: daveaneo folded on the Turn
Seat 6: Hero collected ($10.70)
Seat 7: tezonchik folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: faustus2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: The Cambist folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Edit 2:
Initial thoughts are that the games don't immediately seem too dissimilar to before. Many of the regs that I used to bump into are still present in the games. I imagine that they have improved beyond my old standard by now though.
I was reading through some old posts on this blog, and it's clear to me that I used to think at a much higher level than I do now. A year out of the game is a long time, and I may never return to that standard (in fact I'm pretty sure that I won't).
However what today's play has reminded me of is that I used to love the challenge of playing hands against thinking opponents; the challenge of assigning ranges and making the right decision. I've missed the battle with these regs that I used to compete with day in and day out. So I'd like to keep this little renaissance going; perhaps I begun to take the old battles for granted and forgot that I actually relished them.
So expect to see more posts in the near future as I begin to rediscover my passion for the game. I'll never be as sharp as I was but at least I'm back!
It's a rather lovely British bank holiday Sunday and I'm up for some Zoom poker.
In the last few weeks I've begun to get a bit of an itch to play again so I've decided to put in a few thousand hands at 50NL Zoom. I'm pretty busy so I'll have to fit it around other commitments but hopefully I'll be able to manage a few thousand hands per week.
Once I've reached a milestone (maybe 50k hands) I will post some graphs and give some thoughts on the current state of the games.
I really don't anticipate much because after a year out my game is likely to be very rusty. Additionally I imagine that there are new trends and theories doing the rounds that I will not yet be aware of.
I'm not sure how much of a renaissance this will be but for now I'm back at the tables. GL!
Edit:
Message from PokerStars:
Welcome back to PokerStars, where the Stars come to play!
As a welcome back present, we'd like to deal you quads.
Thank you for playing at PokerStars!
PokerStars Zoom Hand #99121709247: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2013/05/26 10:32:19 WET [2013/05/26 5:32:19 ET]
Table 'Arp' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Interface21 ($25 in chips)
Seat 2: wordsmt ($55.04 in chips)
Seat 3: chachar73 ($43.75 in chips)
Seat 4: Blood Out444 ($61.76 in chips)
Seat 5: daveaneo ($25.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ($56.68 in chips)
Seat 7: tezonchik ($54.64 in chips)
Seat 8: faustus2 ($48.50 in chips)
Seat 9: The Cambist ($50 in chips)
wordsmt: posts small blind $0.25
chachar73: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [9c 9s]
Blood Out444: folds
daveaneo: raises $0.65 to $1.15
Hero: calls $1.15
tezonchik: folds
faustus2 has timed out while disconnected
faustus2: folds
The Cambist: folds
Interface21: folds
wordsmt: folds
chachar73: calls $0.65
*** FLOP *** [9h Js 9d]
chachar73: checks
daveaneo: bets $2.50
Hero: calls $2.50
chachar73: calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [9h Js 9d] [5d]
chachar73: checks
daveaneo: checks
Hero: bets $6.50
chachar73: folds
daveaneo: folds
Uncalled bet ($6.50) returned to Hero
Hero collected $10.70 from pot
Hero: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $11.20 | Rake $0.50
Board [9h Js 9d 5d]
Seat 1: Interface21 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: wordsmt (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: chachar73 (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 4: Blood Out444 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: daveaneo folded on the Turn
Seat 6: Hero collected ($10.70)
Seat 7: tezonchik folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: faustus2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: The Cambist folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Initial thoughts are that the games don't immediately seem too dissimilar to before. Many of the regs that I used to bump into are still present in the games. I imagine that they have improved beyond my old standard by now though.
I was reading through some old posts on this blog, and it's clear to me that I used to think at a much higher level than I do now. A year out of the game is a long time, and I may never return to that standard (in fact I'm pretty sure that I won't).
However what today's play has reminded me of is that I used to love the challenge of playing hands against thinking opponents; the challenge of assigning ranges and making the right decision. I've missed the battle with these regs that I used to compete with day in and day out. So I'd like to keep this little renaissance going; perhaps I begun to take the old battles for granted and forgot that I actually relished them.
So expect to see more posts in the near future as I begin to rediscover my passion for the game. I'll never be as sharp as I was but at least I'm back!
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Boo!
Been a while, huh?
I've been pretty busy with work and things and to be honest I've hardly played a hand in 2 - 3 months.
My training is going to be worth much more value in the long run than earning a few dollars per hour at poker so unfortunately the game is going to be on the back burner for the foreseeable future.
Overall my life is well back on track after my work frustrations at the start of last year and the brief turmoil of being unemployed. It's great being a driver and being in a role where I have a chance of progression and where I'm undertaking training that will put me into a different league of earnings.
And what about poker? Well I've started to get a little bit of an itch to play again. I think I had a bit of burn out for a while after playing nearly a million hands in a couple of years. I quite fancy playing a bit of tournament poker for fun in the remote chance of a big pay day, because the grind of cash games (not to mention the time effort required) is still a bit of a turn off at the moment.
I'll probably be looking at Full Tilt's Rush tournaments so that I can get in more volume if I do play. And if I do I'll be sure to post all about it here.
It would be a shame for my history to fade away; for the ups and downs and the rants and raves to disappear; for the booms and busts to become another dead thread at the back of a google search. So I will try to keep my blog going, even if my posts are only intermittent.
Until then, good luck at the tables!
I've been pretty busy with work and things and to be honest I've hardly played a hand in 2 - 3 months.
My training is going to be worth much more value in the long run than earning a few dollars per hour at poker so unfortunately the game is going to be on the back burner for the foreseeable future.
Overall my life is well back on track after my work frustrations at the start of last year and the brief turmoil of being unemployed. It's great being a driver and being in a role where I have a chance of progression and where I'm undertaking training that will put me into a different league of earnings.
And what about poker? Well I've started to get a little bit of an itch to play again. I think I had a bit of burn out for a while after playing nearly a million hands in a couple of years. I quite fancy playing a bit of tournament poker for fun in the remote chance of a big pay day, because the grind of cash games (not to mention the time effort required) is still a bit of a turn off at the moment.
I'll probably be looking at Full Tilt's Rush tournaments so that I can get in more volume if I do play. And if I do I'll be sure to post all about it here.
It would be a shame for my history to fade away; for the ups and downs and the rants and raves to disappear; for the booms and busts to become another dead thread at the back of a google search. So I will try to keep my blog going, even if my posts are only intermittent.
Until then, good luck at the tables!
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Welcome back FTP!
FTP is back! Thank you Poker Stars you legends!
My $1.2k balance and 96k FTP points are restored, and I've just paired my account with the Stars one so that I can have liquid cash movement between the platforms depending on my mood.
Can't believe I'm so happy about this, but it's really weird using the old software again. I love Stars but opening FTP back up is like meeting back up with an old friend who I haven't seen for years.
Good luck at the tables!
Edit:
So I've played a few hands there now and I think I may move back. I don't want to sound sour because it's been great playing on Stars, but I think that I'll get a better rake back deal on FTP. I don't think it would take too much work to maintain Platinum Edge status, which amounts to 20%. Plus you get FTPs so combined I think I could get about 25% rakeback on FTP compared to probably under 20% on Stars. At the end of the day, I'm only talking a handful of dollars but if anyone has read my previous post on compound interest you'll know that these small numbers can make a big difference over time.
In order to make this easier, I may actually move to 100NL. I will likely need work on my game to become a winner there, but I doubt that there is too much difference between that limit and 50NL plus the better rake and rake back will probably enable me to at least break even until my game improves.
Edit:
So I've played a few hands there now and I think I may move back. I don't want to sound sour because it's been great playing on Stars, but I think that I'll get a better rake back deal on FTP. I don't think it would take too much work to maintain Platinum Edge status, which amounts to 20%. Plus you get FTPs so combined I think I could get about 25% rakeback on FTP compared to probably under 20% on Stars. At the end of the day, I'm only talking a handful of dollars but if anyone has read my previous post on compound interest you'll know that these small numbers can make a big difference over time.
In order to make this easier, I may actually move to 100NL. I will likely need work on my game to become a winner there, but I doubt that there is too much difference between that limit and 50NL plus the better rake and rake back will probably enable me to at least break even until my game improves.
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