I'm beginning to think that a downswing is looming.
I played precisely 80 hands and managed to make $1.16, or 29BB. Don't get me wrong, I'm not playing badly, as far as I can tell. I may even be playing like a long term winner, but when I've profited from 5 sessions of 5 I can't help thinking that something's up.
My first hand of this session, I was dealt QT, obviously called a raise and two callers from the big blind. The flop came AKJ of different suits. The initial raiser called me down all the way and showed A3.
It's true, everyone flops the nuts on occasion. However, about 3 hands later, I flopped the nut flush with KQs. And then again the very next hand with AJs.
Still, I didn't go crazy, and my play remained solid. I was down slightly on one table, up a little on another and up over $1 on the table where I'd had all the cards. And then I see that the guy to my left has $0.07 left on the flop, I have 45 and the board is 952. We go all in and he turns over A9. What a shame, I've lost $0.11 in total this hand.
But no! I can't even lose this! Instead, the turn is a 6, and river a cruel 3. If there's one thing I hate more than sucking out, it's sucking out when I don't need to.
The tables began to break around me so I thought I'd catch my breath.
I look forward to moaning about some sick beats very shortly.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Monday, 29 August 2011
Sunday, 28 August 2011
The longest session so far (which isn't really saying much as there have only been 4)
I've just finished a 251 hand session. I feel so unsatisfied. Just like a young man coming in for a quicky.
I think I ought to explain the absence of yesterday first though, as that makes chronological sense. I didn't play at all yesterday. When I say I didn't play, I didn't play on my account and I didn't play FLHE. I did actually play on Johno56's account for a short while, in Newton's 2-7 Single Draw Freeroll, whilst between tipsy and drunk. I ran good. I also ran good in roulette earlier that day, when Ted told me to load red 7 as it hadn't come red for a while. I put 2 chips on, as well as a bet on red and bets on several splits. It came red 7. However, I hadn't been able to play before this, and I was not in a fit state to grind (despite Ted's insistence) after it.
I'd also like to say, I bloody knew that Bolt would get a false start. I wanted to go in and put a bet on it, but I thought I was just being ridiculous. I should trust my gambling instincts in the future. By which I mean I shouldn't.
Anyway, I have now grinded today. It wasn't good initially. I was down some (negligible) amount of money from bricking draws. However, a turning point came after about 60 hands. I got dealt 7s, flopped the set, turned the boat with someone else turning trips and won a couple of handy bets. Immediately after this, on another table, I was dealt 4s and the hand played out almost exactly the same. Am I playing too consistent and predictable? Or am I right to play it the same at this level? Probably because I very much doubt they were watching me at my other tables. They would be pretty sad if they were.
I did lose a bit of value after this when I kept donking good flops. I flopped trip 2s and donked with a raiser and caller behind me. They both folded. My donking did pay off later though, as I donked when I hit kings for top pair with K4, the initial raiser raised and got called, so I thought he probably had me outkicked and I laid the hand down. I would have probably thought he was just c-betting with a mediocre ace. It turned out he had the best ace - AA. However, he got rivered by a stupid gutshot, but I was glad not to be involved.
I lost focus, partly after noticing the Man U v Arsenal score. (8-2 is quite shameful.) Consequently, I lost a lot of value. Being fourflushed on the river didn't help either.
Fortunately, I sucked out pretty well with J8s.
Poker Stars - $0.02/$0.04 Fixed Hold'em (5 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com
SB: $0.09
BB Psychomobil: $0.75
UTG: $0.46
CO: $1.18
BTN: $0.56
Pre-flop: ($0.03) Psychomobil is BB and dealt 8h Jh
UTG calls $0.02, CO folds, BTN calls $0.02, SB raises to $0.04, Psychomobil calls $0.02, UTG calls $0.02, BTN calls $0.02
Flop: ($0.16) Ts 6h 9c (4 players)
SB bets $0.02, Psychomobil calls $0.02, UTG folds, BTN raises to $0.04, SB raises to $0.05 (All-in), Psychomobil calls $0.03, BTN raises to $0.06, Psychomobil calls $0.01
Turn: ($0.33) Ts 6h 9c 3h (3 players)
Psychomobil checks, BTN bets $0.04, Psychomobil calls $0.04
River: ($0.41) Ts 6h 9c 3h 2h (3 players)
Psychomobil checks, BTN bets $0.04, Psychomobil raises to $0.08, BTN raises to $0.12, Psychomobil raises to $0.16, BTN calls $0.04
Showdown:
Psychomobil shows 8h Jh (jack-high flush)
SB shows Jd Jc (a pair of jacks)
Outcome: Psychomobil wins $0.40
Outcome: Psychomobil wins $0.30
So that was cool.
I finished the 251 hands with a massive profit in the end. $0.07! Still, a profit is a profit, according to simple logic. A profit is not anything else. It's a negative loss, I suppose, but that's actually a profit so I stand by my initial statement that a profit is in fact a profit.
Hopefully the next session will result in a profit, such that profit1<profit2, if profit1 is the profit of this session and profit2 is the profit of the next session. That would be highly satisfactory.
I think I ought to explain the absence of yesterday first though, as that makes chronological sense. I didn't play at all yesterday. When I say I didn't play, I didn't play on my account and I didn't play FLHE. I did actually play on Johno56's account for a short while, in Newton's 2-7 Single Draw Freeroll, whilst between tipsy and drunk. I ran good. I also ran good in roulette earlier that day, when Ted told me to load red 7 as it hadn't come red for a while. I put 2 chips on, as well as a bet on red and bets on several splits. It came red 7. However, I hadn't been able to play before this, and I was not in a fit state to grind (despite Ted's insistence) after it.
I'd also like to say, I bloody knew that Bolt would get a false start. I wanted to go in and put a bet on it, but I thought I was just being ridiculous. I should trust my gambling instincts in the future. By which I mean I shouldn't.
Anyway, I have now grinded today. It wasn't good initially. I was down some (negligible) amount of money from bricking draws. However, a turning point came after about 60 hands. I got dealt 7s, flopped the set, turned the boat with someone else turning trips and won a couple of handy bets. Immediately after this, on another table, I was dealt 4s and the hand played out almost exactly the same. Am I playing too consistent and predictable? Or am I right to play it the same at this level? Probably because I very much doubt they were watching me at my other tables. They would be pretty sad if they were.
I did lose a bit of value after this when I kept donking good flops. I flopped trip 2s and donked with a raiser and caller behind me. They both folded. My donking did pay off later though, as I donked when I hit kings for top pair with K4, the initial raiser raised and got called, so I thought he probably had me outkicked and I laid the hand down. I would have probably thought he was just c-betting with a mediocre ace. It turned out he had the best ace - AA. However, he got rivered by a stupid gutshot, but I was glad not to be involved.
I lost focus, partly after noticing the Man U v Arsenal score. (8-2 is quite shameful.) Consequently, I lost a lot of value. Being fourflushed on the river didn't help either.
Fortunately, I sucked out pretty well with J8s.
Poker Stars - $0.02/$0.04 Fixed Hold'em (5 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com
SB: $0.09
BB Psychomobil: $0.75
UTG: $0.46
CO: $1.18
BTN: $0.56
Pre-flop: ($0.03) Psychomobil is BB and dealt 8h Jh
UTG calls $0.02, CO folds, BTN calls $0.02, SB raises to $0.04, Psychomobil calls $0.02, UTG calls $0.02, BTN calls $0.02
Flop: ($0.16) Ts 6h 9c (4 players)
SB bets $0.02, Psychomobil calls $0.02, UTG folds, BTN raises to $0.04, SB raises to $0.05 (All-in), Psychomobil calls $0.03, BTN raises to $0.06, Psychomobil calls $0.01
Turn: ($0.33) Ts 6h 9c 3h (3 players)
Psychomobil checks, BTN bets $0.04, Psychomobil calls $0.04
River: ($0.41) Ts 6h 9c 3h 2h (3 players)
Psychomobil checks, BTN bets $0.04, Psychomobil raises to $0.08, BTN raises to $0.12, Psychomobil raises to $0.16, BTN calls $0.04
Showdown:
Psychomobil shows 8h Jh (jack-high flush)
SB shows Jd Jc (a pair of jacks)
Outcome: Psychomobil wins $0.40
Outcome: Psychomobil wins $0.30
So that was cool.
I finished the 251 hands with a massive profit in the end. $0.07! Still, a profit is a profit, according to simple logic. A profit is not anything else. It's a negative loss, I suppose, but that's actually a profit so I stand by my initial statement that a profit is in fact a profit.
Hopefully the next session will result in a profit, such that profit1<profit2, if profit1 is the profit of this session and profit2 is the profit of the next session. That would be highly satisfactory.
Friday, 26 August 2011
The first entry
Hello non-existent readers,
It's obviously necessary to introduce this blog, though there may be another place to do it like a description but at the top/side, in which case, oops. But I've done it now and I have no regrets.
Anyway, I'm a poker player. My preferred game is probably stud hi/lo, but I can never find enough decent games, as well as other stud variants, I also play quite a bit of 2-7 single draw heads up, and occasionally 8-game mix. At least, I did before I shot it all off in a number of days. Poor bankroll management was to blame, and I'm sure few people are surprised by this. I discovered Fifty50s and Steps, but my bankroll couldn't handle the swings.
Basically, I took my initial deposit of £100 (~$155 at the time), and then my re-deposit of another £100, and managed to grind it down to $2.80.
This morning(/last night whilst dreaming) I had the idea of attempting to grind it up again, playing $0.02/0.04 FLHE, the only game I can play with this roll.
It was a lot more successful than I had expected. I decided to play 3 tables of Fast 6-max. After 77 hands, I was pushing the $4 mark! It really was a gruelling session, taking several time (15 minutes) and I thought, "I'm not sure if I can really handle this sort of grinding".
I know man! I'd made $1.13: a win rate of 37 big bets/100 hands. I've read that standard is about 3, though my massive winning session was obviously due to variance. I did get dealt aces, kings, queens and tens in the same session of 77 hands.
The seconds session was slightly tougher. I got dealt kings twice in a row at one table, only to be sucked out on twice in a row. It's a lovely feeling losing a pot in which you're over 97% on the flop. About 50 hands in, I'd lost a buy in (20BB). Thankfully, after 178 hands, I'd somehow managed to recover to $0.19. I thought it was a loss at the time, and it really should have been.
And then I go and play the third session of the day (several hours after the first, I should add) and won $1.23 in 76 hands.
So there we go. My goal is to win several money in the near future. Who needs SMARTER targets? Does anyone know what SMARTER targets are anymore? They could just be a sports concept really. Ie. a non-existent one.
I'm clearly not a real grinder, having only played just over 300 hands so far today. And I really can't be bothered to play much more today. Maybe a quick session at midnight. But I'm intending to ease my way into it. By the time I'm at uni, on September 19th (something for the yanks there), I'll be able to waste all my time on this ridiculous task.
Good riddance to you,
Psycho
It's obviously necessary to introduce this blog, though there may be another place to do it like a description but at the top/side, in which case, oops. But I've done it now and I have no regrets.
Anyway, I'm a poker player. My preferred game is probably stud hi/lo, but I can never find enough decent games, as well as other stud variants, I also play quite a bit of 2-7 single draw heads up, and occasionally 8-game mix. At least, I did before I shot it all off in a number of days. Poor bankroll management was to blame, and I'm sure few people are surprised by this. I discovered Fifty50s and Steps, but my bankroll couldn't handle the swings.
Basically, I took my initial deposit of £100 (~$155 at the time), and then my re-deposit of another £100, and managed to grind it down to $2.80.
This morning(/last night whilst dreaming) I had the idea of attempting to grind it up again, playing $0.02/0.04 FLHE, the only game I can play with this roll.
It was a lot more successful than I had expected. I decided to play 3 tables of Fast 6-max. After 77 hands, I was pushing the $4 mark! It really was a gruelling session, taking several time (15 minutes) and I thought, "I'm not sure if I can really handle this sort of grinding".
I know man! I'd made $1.13: a win rate of 37 big bets/100 hands. I've read that standard is about 3, though my massive winning session was obviously due to variance. I did get dealt aces, kings, queens and tens in the same session of 77 hands.
The seconds session was slightly tougher. I got dealt kings twice in a row at one table, only to be sucked out on twice in a row. It's a lovely feeling losing a pot in which you're over 97% on the flop. About 50 hands in, I'd lost a buy in (20BB). Thankfully, after 178 hands, I'd somehow managed to recover to $0.19. I thought it was a loss at the time, and it really should have been.
And then I go and play the third session of the day (several hours after the first, I should add) and won $1.23 in 76 hands.
So there we go. My goal is to win several money in the near future. Who needs SMARTER targets? Does anyone know what SMARTER targets are anymore? They could just be a sports concept really. Ie. a non-existent one.
I'm clearly not a real grinder, having only played just over 300 hands so far today. And I really can't be bothered to play much more today. Maybe a quick session at midnight. But I'm intending to ease my way into it. By the time I'm at uni, on September 19th (something for the yanks there), I'll be able to waste all my time on this ridiculous task.
Good riddance to you,
Psycho
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