Poker Update

I have been running hot hot hot!!

On May 26th,

I played some guy at 25/50 Cap.. I feel like I played really well and outplayed him pretty thoroughly, and the results reflected it. At first, I was stuck around ~5500 to him because everytime I tried a move it was just horrible timing.. He woke up with KK, QQ, QQ, and QQ in pots where I tried moves.. anyways that pretty much set my image for the rest of the match as an agressive station who would not fold a napkin postflop. Afterwards I got my head on straight and began to climb back and crush him.. Eventually I was +10k up on him, making me +7k the the day.

On May 27th,

I played some 5/10 Cap in the morning, it was kind of funny.. Basically there is this one regular who really plays this weird unique (not good) style of heads up and ALWAYS wants to play me.. The problem is soon as he is up he hit n run’s, but if I get up he always stays and reloads.. anyways long story short twice I ran KK into AA, and 3x top 2 into his straight or set, and the best part was he was still down to me LOL… He’s just sooo bad that he loses tons without showdown, I was actually laughing to myself because I kept beating him down, then he’d pull of some ridicolous cooler to get back up (but not up overall or he’d leave) and then I’d grind him back down.. It was hilarious, maybe a good metaphor would be a fish flopping around and struggling in your boat before the fisherman is gonna smack it with a paddle.. hah, it was only a matter of time.. Except the game filled up and I didn’t feel like playing.. BUT i got all my coolers/cold decks out of the way at 5/10 Cap before I played the same guy I played on May 26th.

We 1-tabled 25/50 Cap and about ~30 hands in I could tell he adjusted alot better then yesterday, he was 3betting me more and would NOT give any respect to my 3bets whatever (the first 5times i 3bet him, he shoved 4 of them, and called and shoved over me on the other) I was once again stuck maybe ~4500 and feeling pretty lousy at my play.. However, I started making smaller adjustments (like obviously 3bet for value only) and began getting hit by the deck.. Basically my hands were all holding up, and I hit a few crucial suckouts along the way.. If i had to guess i’d say i won about 75% of the 50/50’s and more then my fair share of 60/40’s. Basically I went from being down ~4500 to up around ~6000 before he started to just do dumb stuff.. example being: I raise KJ, comes QTA, he cr’s me, I call.. turn 6.. he shoves 57 (no pair no draw) and stuff like that.. Then eventually I got my 79cc all in vs his ATcc on a 4c 8c Qh board, and hit a red 7 to bring him down to ~800 bucks and me up to ~9700ish profit.. I basically ran like god when it mattered (HU at games higher then my normal stakes) and it feels good. Already my summer is alot better then my last summer..

May 27th onwards,

I plan to just wrap this month up trying to improve on my 5/10 and 10/20 Cap game a bit more.. I’m actually down at 10/20 Cap this month, I feel like I’m getting played back at a ton, like im sitting on a table with 5 people who are all thinking “this clown raises 51% on btns, I am NOT gonna let him win a pot off ME” and it makes your results miserable when their timing is impeccable.. So I am going to be weary of 10/20 Cap.. 5/10 Cap I feel like the competetion is alot easier and for the most part I am outplaying people + I am running good so that is a good combination to have!

 

May 23rd

May 23rd really sucks.. It seems about 1 in every 6 weeks I have a crazy day where I end up getting stuck tons. Sometimes I get outplayed, and sometimes I just feel like it is a cold deck, and sometimes it is a mixture of both.. Yesterday I took another shot and ran absolutely horrible.

25/50 Cap

1) first off there was a fish in the game, and while I am not completely comfortable playing on my own money, i sold off 25% of myself with a cap of max 800win/lose… It started off me losing AQ to 88 AIPF, then AK to JJ AIPF, then i lost with QQ to A8.. I lost with a set to a straight, then a straight to a set. The only hand I remember winning was like AQ to 44 on a A78 board where the guy raised my cbet and we got it in (yes my image was that bad apparently) Then to top it off i lost with AA to 88 after putting in 500 pf and it comes a magical T82r board.. Sweet.. It was truly Murphys Law playing those hands and its sickening.. The reason I sell off action is because I am positive im +EV in certain lineups but it is so easy to drop alot of buyins if you are not winning flips and getting coolered like mad.. I ended up winning 21% of my showdowns in my session at 25 50 Cap.

 

Also on the day I was playing 5 10 Cap and won 54% of my showdowns.. I ran really well on the lower stakes and horrible at the high stakes, I want a refund on my luckbox.

Anyways the person who had a piece of me lost 800, but what can you do, it was definately an EV spot for both of us, and I dont mind giving up some EV to try and reduce a little variance.. I also had a 10 buyin downswing + recovery at 10 20 cap, I was running awful 6handed (3x losing with hands against someone all in on turn with them having 2-3 outs) but then the games turned shorthanded and I took control and slapped some people around.. I am pretty damn sure I play well stuck and I stay level headed with a clear mind, the only part of my game that wavers a bit is my function of game selecting, but even then I really don’t pick games where my EV is less then estimated 1-1.5ptbb.

Anyways long story short at 1 point I was stuck around 9k.. I recovered about 2.5k at 25 50 cap (still stuck lots there when i quit cause games got even worse), then played alot of 10 20 cap and recovered alot more.. I ended up somehow breaking even, my graph is truly magnificent. And obv my luck graph was about $5000-8000 under expectation for the day.. all things considered I have alot of self-reflection to do after days like this.

Im Baaaaaaack!

I got back yesterday from Mexico!.. was so much fun.. our resort was right on the beach, everyday you could have fresh local fruit and meats while looking out over the ocean, and obv unlimited drinks also. We did some cool stuff like sailing a hobie cat on the Ocean, zip lining 400m over a river in the Mexican Jungle, taking a boat to a private beach and more. We also found this artist who did amazing paintings with just his fingers, it was truly fascinating to watch how much detail he could put into these pictures, he did them on tiles and had a frame to go with them.. I got 2 of them for our house and am really happy I did.

 

Also got into Business, ship ship.

 

Now that I’ve taken 4weeks off from poker im ready to start playing again refreshed, hopefully I can pick off from where I left off, but nevertheless I plan to stick to a tad lower stakes while I regain my bearings.. Will see,

 

For May I guess my goals are:

1) Attempt to play longer sessions and stop trying to “book” wins with monetary money goals in mind, just play if your feeling well and games are good, and get off the computer if your not

2) Spend a bit more time looking at pokertracker and reviewing some sessions, I have got away from that a bit because my winrate has been a little higher then I expected it, but obviously everyone makes mistakes, and I want to make sure I am not making more then I have to.

3) No money goal or hand goal in mind, just play the last 10 days or so of May and see where it takes me while sticking to the above 2, will see.

April Wrap-Up

I am finishing this month after just 3weeks of playing. I finished up school doing very well in my final classes.. As for poker I started the first 10 days running well/playing well and had my shots go well.. The next few days I was busy studying for my final test, after that I did decent at 10/20 cap but didnt quite play as well as I think i could have at 5/10 cap..

Overall I am very pleased with my results however, I wanted to acheive 5ptbb+ at 5/10 and I did that, I also almost managed to play 14,000 hands in a little under 20 days, so i am also pleased with that. Last few days I have been concentrating more on beating up on the regulars, I think the higher you move up the more you have to concentrate and beat the people you are constantly playing with day in and day out.. I feel I adjusted quite well shorthanded but could have had better results 6handed.

 

Now it’s time to go back home, and then off to Mexico on May 1st for 2 weeks. After that I’ll be back in Victoria.. Anything over 10k in May will feel like a good result for me.  But I’ll write a post when I get back detailing more May Goals and possibly future Summer goals.. Good luck at the tables

Marathon Sessions / Taking Shots

I’ve been thinking alot about these subjects lately, And I feel i have some good things to say about them.

*Marathon Sessions

First off, Marathon sessions I try to avoid.. Every once in awhile (like say once per 6weeks) i get stuck alot and try to grind it out, and sometimes i can make miracolous recoveries but othertimes i can get stuck Ten-fold. I feel even worse when you get stuck Ten-fold the just cutting the session short. I think a good guideline is if “If i wasn’t stuck, would I sit in this game?” If you can answer, “yes” then yeah ok play it and GL. I feel I sometimes play my best poker when I’m stuck, and luckily that helped me on the 12th.

 

I had a final on the 14th, and made a mistake of playing poker on the 12th.. I was stuck probably around 600 bucks when a fish sat with me at 10/20 Cap.. I took about 200 off him before he quickly left.. i Searched him and he was sitting in 550+20 HU SNG. So i played him.. 4x.. And Lost every single one… I think we were dealt over 100 hands, and my best hand postflop was middle pair top kicker which i lost a big pot with anyways. His crowning acheivement was calling 40% of his stack PF with 78s and flopping trips vs my KK.. Anyways HE quits me after DEMOLISHING me for 2k+ and I was left pretty tilted.. There were some higher stakes cap games going  (10/20+) and I sat. I managed to play over 3000+ hands that day (which is huge for me) and had a 12buyin downswing at 10/20 cap before recovering it all and then a little bit more.. Bottom line is i was at one point stuck almost 8k but somehow finished up 1k… That was a sick day (with a sick graph but I suck at knowing how to post stuff) and I’m still thinking about solutions to help me not get in that situations again anytime soon.

 

*Taking Shots

Taking Shots can make or break your month. Take this simple function and apply it to poker… Z = S(x) + L(y)

S is skill in relation to your opponents, with X being game selection, psychological aspects like your state of mind that affects your play, how high you are playing (assume higher you play, less skill you have compared to the field you are playing)

 

L is luck, with Y being winning coinflips, being in the right place at the right time, and being on the right side of coolers.. Now anyone looking at this equation knows the higher your X,Y the higher your S & L , and thus the higher your Z (Z being defined as overall results for that level)

Shot Taking is important because it can make or break your month, and for me it can leave me feeling pretty shitty if it doesn’t go well.. When I look for shot taking, I *KNOW* I cannot control Y & L, they are apart of the game.. what I *CAN* control is S & X.. To maximize my chances of sucess, first try to find a good game and come in with a good mindset.. Have a temporary* (I say temporary because if your shot is going horrible but you are still rolled and playing well in a profitable situation, then by all means keep going) stoploss and just go for it. Dont overcompensate for the stakes by amping up your aggression, just go for the main mark in the game and think of the money in BB’s, not $. I honestly feel this will maximize your S equation, which in turn will bring up your Z equation, as for L, you are on  your own there.. Good Luck

 

As For results lately, I did have a shot taking go well on the 8th i believe where i won just a smigen over $10k. That was pretty cool (I have a very long history of NOT running well at shots). I’ve been taking it easy at 5/10 cap not wanting to get stuck alot before my vacation (and I think having my shot this month going well contributes to not playing as much as I should be).. I haven’t been having great results in 5/10 cap lately, but there are some regulars who have been giving me action who I feel I have a good edge on, and despite not doing well 6handed I have been doing well shorthanded to still give me a slightly upsloping graph. Hopefully I can finish this month strong, as this is my last week of poker before I’m gone for 3weeks.

Marathon Session

Just writing this now so I don’t forget to talk about it later.. My final is on 14th and after that I’ll update this topic with some of my thoughts.

First Week of April

Few thoughts and such that I just wanted to update

 

#1 – I should waste less time on 2p2

#2 – I should check the games I want to play in, if their not good dont bother wasting time sitting around on the computer

#3 – If i win 15,000+ this month I should buy a BB Gun.. I have to park my car on the street, and I sware to god crows wait for me to park and then they shit on it.. Like I’m not even kidding, I have never seen shit around my car, its always directly on the hood/roof/sometimes on bumper if they get creative.. I hate birds so much.. And buying 9 dollar car washes tilt me also. (I’d have to spend like 30+month on these)

So far I’ve played almost 3000 hands this month which is nothing, but I have ran well and played well… I have had alot of headaches lately so tonight I think we’re just going to rent a movie. Hannah finished school, and i’ll be done on the 14th (Stats Final) Once that is done i’ll have a week to relax in Victoria before heading back to Kelowna for a week before our trip.  These next few days are going to suck as I’m waiting to see if i got into business, and also knowing I have to do vvvwell on this final (85%+)

Rebeginning The Blog

Going to restart the blog for a few reasons

1) Cuz i can (i found my password!)

2) Why not?

 3) can write down goals, thought processes, moods, misc

 So to begin…

April Goals

1) 12,000+ Hands

2) 10,000+ Dollars

3) run hotter then the sun

4) NO HU SNGS (inside joke from march)

5) Get into Business

6) Get ready for Mexico!!

April is a busy month, I’m finishing school, going back home for the last week, then going to Puerto Vallarta for Two weeks.. Just gonna take it easy this month.

Funny Day

Hey all,

No Poker Today, but like i said im back to even for the month thanks to low stakes grinding..
Anyways i played basketball today and got killed at my friends house, so i offer to drive down to my house and we play there, and i get killed again.. so that kind of sucks, So then we play poker and i get killed again! (FFS, FU nick) So after i get violated today i go to drop him off

Now his neighbor just recently put new cement on his driveway and when i get home this is whats on my msn…

nick says:

yo man

nick says:

funny stuff

nick says:

you reversed into my neighbours driveway when u dropped me off

patrick says:

ya?

nick says:

new cement!!

nick says:

u fucked it up

patrick says:

lol u swerious?

nick says:

lol

nick says:

yea

nick says:

hahaha

patrick says:

p.s. – dont tell them its me?

nick says:

man the workers were still there

nick says:

no kiddin

nick says:

so they went over

nick says:

to look at it

nick says:

other guy calls the boss over

nick says:

i’m lookin at my dad

nick says:

hes like uhh patrick destroyed the driveway

nick says:

we peace inside before they could say anything

nick says:

check yo tires

nick says:

don’t want wet cement on there if its still tehre

patrick says:

lolol

patrick says:

tires r fine

nick says:

lol man

nick says:

i’m gna check it lata

nick says:

when they leave

nick says:

see the carnage

patrick says:

prety fukn funny lmao

nick says:

i know

patrick says:

hi-lite of my dat

patrick says:

day*

nick says:

they are going to have to re ddo it

patrick says:

only thing ive done right today

nick says:

well yea the day ur havin

nick says:

hahah

nick says:

for sure

nick says:

i’m gna look

nick says:

lol

patrick says:

lolol

nick says:

man

nick says:

LMAO

nick says:

i was lookin thru window

nick says:

so they couldn’t se

nick says:

they are all pointing at it shakin their heads like 5 of em

nick says:

hahahahahahahahah

all i have to say is LOL

Pokerstars Update

After that night i lost 1k at 2/5NL live my month seemed like it was going to be a complete waste, i was unmotivated and just pissed off that i could not get anything going. I had 900 on stars sitting around so in 4 days i have managed to turn that into 4k+ by just 8tabling the .5/1. The game there is pretty soft and not a ton of variance so it is a confidence builder

Now im actually planning on hitting Platinum star this month and hopefully mantaining through the rest of the year, will see.. Im back to even for the month after all the bullshit i’ve gone through the last few months I guess thats ok? Hmm, I wont have much time to play for rest of month, maybe another ~6 hrs total.. Oh well, and August I’m going to be busy also (Going Camping/Moving and Settling in) But its always nice to win ~30 buyins in 4 days of playing (even if it is small stakes)

Anyways In July/August I plan to finish ~40,000 hands at .5/1 before i move up to 1/2 (hopefully by 40k hands i hope to have changed the 900 into a proper roll for 1/2 where i wont have to cringe if i get rivered) So i’ll keep you updated on that.