I hate FTP

I've been taking a break from poker, but decided to play tonight for a while. This is the reason why I think FT has it out for me.



then there was this hand that was just jacked up

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.