Shortcut that led to the long road again...

Since I was running well for a few days, I decided to indulge myself and take a shot playing 50nl. My bankroll dictates that I shouldn't be playing any higher than 10nl, but like Jensen, I was getting a little bored playing at the level I was at.

Throughout the course of the weekend, I dropped just over four buy-ins, leaving my bankroll below $150. The sessions went alright for the most part, just couldn't really get anything going. I paid off a number of hands where my reads were shaky, but I think I made the right decisions even if I ended up losing the hands. The losses hurt, but if I were properly rolled for the level, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. Generally, four buy-ins is nothing and I would keep playing, but being as short as I was, I decided to take the prudent route and drop back down to 25nl.

It's hard to make any real conclusions about the shot at 50nl. The tables I played seemed to be looser than most I've played at 25nl. The players were slightly more aggressive. I think I made some good adjustments to the tables and played steady poker, although I was playing a bit tighter than normal due to a lack of cards and also knowing that one or two bad hands could seriously affect my bankroll.

That last statement is the one that is important. The fact that I know that the stakes were affecting my play is a sign that I shouldn't have taken the shot. There is nothing wrong with playing tight. I'm willing to play like a nit when I have to, and have won games that way, but if you aren't willing to make some calls based on your reads because you're afraid to lose, you're in the wrong game.

That being said, I'm going to be at 25nl for a while longer till I can at least get to $500 before taking another shot at 50nl. Tried to take a shortcut, but it always seems that shortcuts lead back to the long road... :)

Night Off

I decided to take a night off and play some pool with friends. Will be back to the grind tonight.

other shoe gonna drop?

Played another short session and ended up just over two buy-ins.  I've been really tired recently while I'm playing.  Borrowed a page from Jensen and made sure that I stopped while I was ahead.  Major difference I've seen in my play recently is that I haven't been making the thin calls and plays I was making before.   I know that I'm probably leaving money on the table, but it's really affect the volatility.  I may start opening up again when I feel a little more comfortable with my bankroll.

Cards have been runing good for a couple of days which makes me wonder if I've just been on a mild heater and if the days of losses are just waiting around the corner.  I'm still not liking my stats, but that's a work in progress.  I still think I still need to make a couple of PF adjustments.

19.4 vpip (this is around where I expect to be)

11.2 pfr ( a little low)

4.32 AF (kinda high)

2.5 3B (a bit low, but I still have a hard time with this)

115 minutes

509 hands

+54.80

Quick Update

Just finished a quick session. Things were a little rough starting, but the cards cooperated when I needed them to. I didn't lose any huge hands, but there were a ton of small hands I didn't get away from. I played a lot tighter but a lot more aggressive than normal playing about 15.2/8/6 for the session. Things at work have been kind of hectic so I wanted to get back into the habit of updating right after the session so that this is a little more regular.

Here's one hand that is bothering me, though. The player was playing fairly tight. I think I made the right decision, but I still wanted to make this call.



132 minutes
686 hands
+47.35

weekend update

Haven't really had much to talk about recently. Played Wednesday and Thursday dropping about 1 1/2 buy-ins. The weekend's sessions went fairly well and I actually ended up gaining ground instead of dropping 3-4 buy-ins like I normally do. I was hitting a fair amount of hands and getting paid off. I also feel like I did a better job of keeping pots smaller with my marginal holdings and a better job of getting away from TPGK, TPTK which are hands I've been way overplaying recently.
In honor of my friend, Jensen, here is a hand that really set this guy on my table off. He had me all the way, but the poker gods were kind.

I read this hand right and decided to gamble, but wasn't rewarded. It's the luck of the draw, right?



This last hand, I'm wondering if I could have extracted more value after flopping the boat. I was really hoping my opponent was drawing to the flush which would have almost guaranteed a stack off. Do you think I could have extracted more value without the guy folding?

Bleeding chips

Looks like I'm still having problems with my HEM stats. My export doesn't show last night's session. Played a two hour session last night and lost just over one buy in. Lot of decent starting hands, stole a lot of blinds, but didn't connect with any of my bigger hands. Oh, unless we want to talk about getting screwed with KK on a 3, 8, J rainbow board. There was a maniac on the table who just kept pushing. Was going to look him up a hand before with AQs, but got the KK the next hand. The guy pushed with KQh and ended up catching runner-runner for his flush. Two hands later, he jumped off the table.

Kind of pissed me off, but it didn't set me on tilt which is an improvement. Playing 3-4 tables, it's so easy to be down a buy-in just playing the hands I'm supposed to be playing. I'd like to have a day or two with solid results just to boost my confidence. I don't think I'm playing that badly, and I reviewed my hand selections for the past several sessions.

I'm playing a little more out of position than I should, but the hands have been mostly strong. I do need to drop the speculative hands, though. In position, I've been playing a whole bunch of stuff that I need to really narrow. I guess that's something to work on over the next several days.

bad night

Lost close to a buy in tonight. Played a fairly long session that went back and forth. I had one big hand where I made a bad decision with AK after I flopped TPTK.



I just couldn't really connect with anything and was bleeding chips playing rather aggressively. I couldn't really recover from the hand above. Not much to say other than that.

165 Mins
799 Hands
-21.15

Changed computers, lost information, decent weekend

I didn't play a whole lot this weekend, but still put in a decent number of hands. Problem is that I really can't tell what my specific stats are. I changed computers this past Saturday. I've been able to get HEM running, but I've had some trouble loading the past data from my old computer. It kind of sucked yesterday playing against guys I know I've played before and not having stats on them.

The good news is that for the first time in a long time I ended the weekend in the black instead of dropping three to four buy-ins. There were a couple of hands I wanted to post, but my HUD shut off half way through the session. I need to work on my play against more aggressive players. I know that I should be willing to call down with thinner holdings, but I just have a hard time doing it.

All in all, though, I'm fairly happy with my play this weekend.

hands ????
time ?????
net: +53.50

lackluster night again

Tried playing a deep stack table in addition to two normal tables last night. The cards just weren't cooperating and I just keep leaking chips on all of the tables. I had a number of monster draws, but nothing hit. Thing that sucks is that my oppenents had hands each time.

All in all, I'm fairly happy with my play last night. There a couple of hands that I got stubborn and didn't want to let go of what I was sure was a loser. Oh, and a hand where I doubled someone up with set vs. over-set which caused me to ultimately have a losing session, but like I said, all in all, it wasn't bad considering what I was being dealt.

I ended up dropping $10.20 overall. I've updated the totals, but will have to look for the actual session stats.

glad to get out of that one

played a pretty long sesson and I'm just lucky that I was able to walk away with a small win.  Cards really weren't cooperating and I was down for most of the session.  There were just a whole bunch of hands that I got inolved with that turned out the wrong way and I was having a hard time getting people off hands.  I was down almost two and a half buy-ins for the night but connected with two or three big hands.  Like I said, I was just happy to walk away with a small win.

218 mins

843 hands

+16.25

Uneventful Evening

Don't have my full results here to update, but last night was an uneventful night playing. Overall, I ended up dropping 1 buy-in. I got it in on a flopped set against a guy with top pair and the nut flush draw. Needless to say the guy got there.

Had a bunch of small wins on three of the tables which kept me afloat. More to come.

should have quit earlier

Ended with a winning session last night. Was up a bit more, but bled chips away as I got tired. All in all, though I'm happy with how I played and I'm happy that I was able to bring the table I got stacked on back to almost even. Was up almost two buy-ins at one point, but ended up just over one.

Hands 848
+25.9

still in session. posting so i don't tilt

Just got hit with a huge cooler. I'm posting now before I lose the hand history and hopefully, this keeps me off tilt. The other three tables have been going well so far, and I thought this was going to be my chance to double up on this table.

shor session

Played a short session last night, for a small win. 3 winning sessions in a row. Maybe things are turning around.

635 hands
+13.25

updating went down the tubes this week

so much for regular updates.  I've been playing, but not a whole bunch of hands.  Looking at my session stats, my longest session was last night 553 hands played.

I've had a few losing sessions this past week, but nothing more than 1/2 a buy in after the dismal day playing on Labor day where I lost $44.45.  Booked winning sessions the past three nights for just over $90 or so.  I have to grab the stats off my laptop so I can finally update my ytd numbers.  Hopefully I'll get to that after work this afternoon.

Time to possibly quit

I forgot to export and e-mail myself this weekend's results. Thanks to the help of a buddy of mine, we had a winning session on Saturday afternoon, but I had some extremely rough sessions on Sunday and last night. I'll update the totals a little later tonight. I won a whole bunch of little pots, but the deck was against me any time I had anything big. The frustration led to tilt, and we all know where that goes. Here's a couple of hands from last night which I think I didn't take enough into account.



I should have raised more pre-flop but I still couldn't see someone calling a raise with an 8 in early position unless they had a pair of 8s. The board was draw heavy, but I was the aggressor again a guy who was short and got caught betting straight into his set. I felt I may have been up against a large draw rather than the set.

Here's a hand that kind of set me off, but the guy had me all the way. I just played the TPTK way too aggressively at the flop, but it's still going to go all-in on the turn when the ace falls.



And of course, what would this be without at lease one bad beat replay. My other table was doing well, but I had just gotten stacked with the AK a few hands before on my second table. Serves me right for slow playing the aces, but I really don't think that I would have pushed the guy off his 10's with a 3-bet preflop. After this happened, I decided to call it a night.