Avg. pot size > buyin

Wow, I found a 25NL table with an average pot size of ~$40. It had dropped to about $35 by the time I sat down but it seems the largest fish was still there. He doubled me up when pocket ducks hit the second time I played them. Turn/River was Q/Q so I was full by showdown. Beat his flopped two pair. There was another guy in up until my turn raise which swelled the pot.

Had I hit a set at 50NL I'd have gotten no action at all, even in a raised pot. That's just the way I seem to run there.

UTG AJo: I had decided that this was my last orbit so this was the second hand I folded that I would normally limp. Folding here is close to optimal TAG play anyhow...The other hand I folded was 42s (suited gapper :D). Hardly a major loss.

~3bb a min. I run goot.

Since I quit a little earlier than expected I decided to watch 100NL for bit. So far I've seen KK & QQ get setted by TT and 22. So set mining is just as profitable here as at lower limits (fukn' duh). I'm thinking about buying in short at 100NL for 40BB. I don't give set miners implied odds to call my PFR raises, and if I hit a set in a limped pot I'm liable to be called by top pair since I'm so short. Well, it might take a bit of pot size manipulation and a good 2nd best hand (two pair).

Ha Ha

SB AKo: I hit TPTK. Call a SS all-in. He shows ATo for two pair. The very next hand I pick up AQs. Two pair man has TT and raised in EP. I push, he calls. I win a coinflip. After that two pair man loses to TT, I don't think he had anything much.

QQ: I river broadway to beat a set of Jacks. Shame it was against a guy I like. 4 to the flop: KJ8r. Bit shitty but I pot it and get a caller. Uh oh. Turn: Ace. Check behind. River: Ten. Guy bets $6 into $16. I raise $17. He calls.

SS with 82o goes all-in against AQ. WTF.

32 of diamonds wins twice in a row. First time I hit bottom two and MHIG at SD. Second time, I have a flush + gutshot draw on the flop. Turn makes both and I have a straight flush draw with the 6 of diamonds. Villain bets, I raise to full pot. Villain folds.

BB T4o: Flop bottom two again on an AT4r flop. Turn is a Queen. I check since it's likely one of the 4 callers on the flop had a strong Ace and the turn has given him top two. Or someone could have been playing KJ. I fold to action on the turn. River was a blank, winner shows AJo. I folded the winning hand. Major grrr.

AJo: TP3K lost to 79o runner-runner full house. Wow.

AJs: I win a coinflip against a SS with TT. I am the TT crusher. Thank god the other guy didn't call my iso-push, he had AKo.

SB KK: I lose stack to A7o. SOB. Should have pushed over his raise preflop. Fucking faggot. For his next trick he cracks Aces with A3o by hitting trips.

QQ: LRR all-in. No callers.

I haven't hit a set for ages and I really, really want to double up off of this guy. Take a medium sized pot off him with KJo, TP2K. He's dropped a buyin but considering he was sitting on 6 it's a little early to celebrate.

AQo: Dickhead button raises, I contemplate pushing but I hold back. He could have AK, in which case I'm smoked. Or he could have a PP, in which case I'm coinflipping. If I had AK I'd have pushed. At worst I'm coinflipping but more likely he folds. Or he plays his Axo and is drawing very slim.

Stayed too long watching dickhead lose his stack. Had to abandon AKo when it was 3 way between a mostly solid fish, dickhead, and me. Solid minraised me on the turn which seemed to indicate that my TPTK was no good. Dickhead didn't call him on the river, though, so he could have had the straight, a full house, or air. Dickhead left after pissing away about 3 buyins. NH, sir.

Seemed to be profitable early in that session and breakeven/losing later.

Back in the saddle

Decided to sit for a quick game. If I lose more than $10, I'm gone. Interesting table. SS limped QQ and then really didn't do shit thru the rest of the hand. Board made a straight and it was a 3 way split.

SB A8s: Flop flush draw but I don't bet it? Talk about weak. Gets there on the turn. I hate myself for not betting this.

CO AKo: I fold to 5bb PFR. Weak ass. Two aces on the flop, turn & river are both 9's. I hate myself for not calling preflop.

AQs: Bet flush draw, probably bluffed off when it doesn't get there on the river. Board was paired. Don't think my Ace high was good enough.

I give up 50NL and go sit at 25NL. Going okay until I call river bet with pocket 7's thinking my two pair might be good enough. ATs, bet my broadway draw. Doesn't get there on the turn. C/F. I like 25NL, my mistakes aren't costing me as much. Also, I seem to get paid off which is nice. Plus people do crazy shit like going all-in preflop with K3o, called by T9o. NH.

lol, flop trip Queens coming out of the BB.

BOOM! If only he'd cracked Kings too.

BB 67s: Call PFR, have a heart draw but SB overbets the pot (he flopped two pair). River made the flush. Could have bad beaten both of them.

See, this is why I love 25NL. You've got some idiot seeing the river in a raised pot with 32o on a A2QQx board. Surprisingly PFR's KK was good.

Dumbass slowplays AA, gets stacked by a set of snowmen.

Q8s flops gutshot + 2nd nut flush draw. I should have probably pushed. As is, I called flop, folded turn. Flush came on the river.

Pff, you'll get yours. AJs, call PFR. Hit TPTK on a JT diamond board. Villain bets 1/4 pot, I raise to full and he min raises me. If I had the flush draw I'd have pushed his sorry ass.

Maybe not, he rivers a straight to beat my TP2K. Like a knob I call. Another dickhead looking for a beating. Raises twice in a row. I have 77 the first time and KQs the second. 77 misses and KQ of diamonds hits TP2K on an all heart board.

Just fucked up calling with Axs. I called flop which I shouldn't have done. I then folded turn. River completed the draw. I should have folded the flop or called both streets. In fact, I really hate my turn fold since I should have been looking to take two stacks. Great implied odds.

Crappy table/session but less crappy than 50NL has been.

I hate you newbie poster

EP KQo: Minraise from newbie poster. Hit TP2K on flop, 3/4 pot. Called. Half-pot blankish turn, minraised. GRRRR. Fold.

Next hand JJ: I open push. Newbie poster almost calls. Looks like a mad tilt move. It sort of is but I actually have cards.

BT JJ: Reraise CO to $3. All heart flop (I have Jack of hearts), newbie poster opens for 1/3 pot. I raise to full pot + his bet. He times out/folds. Bitch.

EP 56s: Flop bottom end of the straight on a rainbow board. Raise minbet to full pot, PSB blank turn. Villain folds. Wish it were the cunting newbie, he'd probably have called down.

LP K9s: Get into trouble postflop. I have TPGK & an OESFD on the turn but the river blanks me. River is check/check. I lose to 87's two pair. Grr. Bitch here just lost a large pot to a set of 6's.

Poker hates me. Someone gets AA all-in against AKo. I can't hit a flop to save my life. AA was so obvious too. Do you really call $20 preflop with AKo? Do you then stack off on an all heart flop holding the 2nd nut flush draw? No one does that against me.

Past three hands I've been dealt are: J5s, J4o, & J3o. WTF?

New table. 66, miss flop. I haven't hit a set for awhile now. I haven't stacked someone with a set for ages. I am down about half a buyin and I really haven't been playing that badly.

SOB, fold A7s preflop to SB raise. Would have turned the nut flush. Sometimes I should just peel it off. BB A5s, TPNK + flush draw I bet 2/3 pot on my draw. Folds. Fine.

EP AJs: 6bb raise, folded preflop. Cool.

AQo: TP2K, improves to top two on the turn. Lose a buyin to 32s that flopped the wheel. Fuck you?

Two hands later I get black Aces and open push. I take the blinds despite typing 'tilt' in the chatbox.

Wheelboy loses my money to...newbie poster from first table. God.

I pick up black Aces in EP again and play them normally. Largish pot but only two way. I had top set but I didn't want to see a flush river so I put caller all-in on the turn. I'm still so way behind now thanks to wheelboy. I see he's lost some of his own money now. Good.

I pick up Aces again (3rd time at this table). Play them normally and win without SD. Thing is...now I can't bluff Aces because I'm more liable to have to SD.

Dropped just over 1.1 buyins in 2h30m. That makes me sick. Seriously sick. What makes it worse is I lost because of my own stupid mistakes: Not raising AQo preflop, and then thinking my top two was good enough to stack off with in a multiway pot. Generally I'm way ahead here and normally I wouldn't bother calling a push with just two pair. However, I've watched myself piss away money all day while people with shitty, shitty hands are taking stacks. My little note even says: "Never go all-in with less than a set." It's weak-tight but it avoids variance like this. I wish I had had a set, then I wouldn't feel so bad about dropping a buyin. I seem to remember I dropped a buyin before with two pair. I guess I had 6 outs but it was a huge mistake and the poker gods were unforgiving.

I'll give 50NL another shot tomorrow or later. If I lose more than half a buyin, I'm going to have to drop down. Looking at my log, I haven't won significantly in over 13hrs of play. That's about 650 hands.

Like I said, the worst thing is I seem to constantly be putting my money in with what turns out to be the worst hand on the flop (JJ vs A6o, KK vs ATs, AQo vs 32s). And then, magically, no one ever calls when I'm ahead. GRR.

Michael Jackson

Could only bet $0.50 on the river with the backdoor nut flush because the slider was buggered. Grr.

1/∞ are my odds of winning the Euro lotto seeing as I don't have a ticket. Grr.

UTG AQo: I'm new to the table. SS raises, I put him all-in. He flips AKs. Bollocks. What I like is the guy who considered calling my isolation push with 95s. Now I wish he had done.

Wow, I found the pushy preflop table. Guy called off huge amounts with Michael Jackson twice. Man, all the fishies are going to bust before I get a hand.

Made the rather large mistake of calling LP raise with KJs. KQ8r flop. He bets a little, I raise to full pot. He calls. Check/check turn. River T. He bets full pot now. I have TP3K and I'm awfully behind to AK/AJ/KQ. Calling is awful, pushing has FE but if he was the straight or two pair he's probably calling. No other way to play it after I called...but I should never have called.

CO KK: 6bb raise, no callers. Wow, this table does surely suck. I'm stealing from the CO next orbit too. Guy limped KK and won a nice pot.

UTG KQs: TP2K, I take it to the river and the flush doesn't come. I'm sure that's what he was drawing to. Didn't call my value bet. Betting went: pot, half-pot, half-pot. Pretty strong by me. Maybe if i'd played KJs this strongly.

Presto! Get a full house on the river, guy doesn't call my half-pot value bet. Slider wasn't working so I had to choose between betting 1/4 pot on flop or 3/4. I chose 1/4 and got raised to full. Bargin. Potted turn, half-pot river value. I love PP, they're so easy to play even OOP.

I told you this guy was nuts. I was into all the shit when I was 12, he's 35.

UTG QQ: Ugh, like the idiot I am I go for the LRR. It fails again. I am not LRR again now for a long ass time. I don't care if I win the dead money. Rather that then have to fold to minraise on overcard flop. His raise there actually looked like a set/two pair rather than TPTK. He hasn't gotten out of line much so I'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I now wish I hadn't. He's just showndown a very poor hand indeed.

CO TT: Semi-bluff steal. Queen high flop, really quite good for TT.

EP AQo: Fold to CO raise. Of course, would have hit TPTK. Too worried about being dominated again. Not good.

JLH is rumoured to be doing PB. While I doubt it's true, it would be fantastic. She has such a great rack, and is just generally cute as hell. I'd be hard for a week just from the pics; if I was with her I'd be permahard.

SB KK: Reraise PFR, open push Jack high, 2 club flop. Nothing I beat likely calls me, if one of them had Fishhooks, so be it.

UTG+1 99: Limp, take it on Jack high two spade flop. Definitely stealing from the CO. Or not. KK raised before me and I folded J9o. KK lost to AJ's broadway. Guy just tilted off the last of his money with Michael Jackson.

BT J9o: I would have flopped quad 9's had I played. Imagine if I'd have made a steal there.

Card dead after 'wasting' my big hands earlier. NO MORE LRR! I have to wait for my PP to run over someone elses/or hit a set. I can't wait for payday so I can put money on party. Bonus whoring & multitabling. Woohoo!

BB T2o: Obvious fold but I'd have hit two pair against AKs. Fucksake, all I want is to double up. Just need a villain to make a hand he's comfortable calling with.

KK: Lose to ATs. Two SS all-in on Ace high flop. Wins with flush. Fuck you? Would have lost loads had the other SS not had unimproved pocket snowmen. There is litterally no way I'm folding KK to SS there, though. Ironically, had I LRR here, ATs would have probably raised and I'd have put him all-in preflop. I'd have won more Skalansky dollars that way.

Almost litterally can't make a hand now. BB ATo: Wow, might as well just go all-in now. Maybe if it were suited. I need to quite soon, been at it for hours and I'm tilting.

BB AKs: UTG+1 and SB have a preflop raising war. I think about calling SB's reraise but I decided that it's likely that at least three of my outs are tainted, the only way I'm winning is with a straight or a flush. UTG+1 showed AA, SB had QQ. Queen on the board. Ouch.

Wow, AA runs over KK. Why can't I have these sort of situations for a change? (I know, I've had them before, I'll have them again...but it's annoying.) No, I get my good hands cracked by fucking shitty Ax hands. Fucksake.

4hrs -$12. Damage control, I think that could have been so much worse.

Cold decked

Not much I can say. Not hot at all. Lost a small pot when my TP2K ran into TPTK. Could have gotten away from his river minraise. Lost money set mining and not hitting. But there's so much dead money flowing around the table I can't leave.

My first raise of the table doesn't get called, which is good seeing as it was a steal (BT A9o). I've had to fold some good hands to raises preflop which is annoying. Well, not had to but I have.

SB AQs: Reraise preflop. Hit an all diamond flop, King high while I'm holding two spades. AKo wins with rivered two pair. Maybe I could have taken this on the flop with a check-raise. I'm pretty much pot committed with that, though, and I don't like being pot committed with Ace-high. The alternative to pot size raise is check/push and hope no one flopped the nut flush.

Proper pissed off now. I can't hit a flop to save my life. Oh I lie, hit TPTK with ATs. Great. No idiot with KT to pay me off.

I again lose money set mining. Implied odds were there since PFR showed AA. Happy I called that preflop, though.

UYG KK: LRR 4x, no gamblers. Guess 3x would have been more likely to be called. I'll have to bear that in mind next time. I was hoping someone actually had a hand for a change, though.

CO 77: I semi-bluff and take pot.

MP3 77: Again! To make up for not hitting a set in ages I flop quads...again. Flop I check to the CO PFR, who bets pot. Sweet, I call. He fires $5 into $15 on the turn and I think about raising him there but smooth call hoping he'll bet river too and I can raise him all-in there. Unfortunately he checks behind on river. Should have value bet.

EP JJ: Fucksake. Super fish calls raise with A6o and flops his Ace. I fire pot on flop and 1/2 pot on turn but check river. He checks behind. Fucker is good and I lose my sessions winnings...which as I'm playing BEP puts me down.

Making a little back at new table. Not a fan of the minraise but it seems to evoke calls. I'll do it all day then.

UTG AA: LRR? Again, no. Pot flop and no callers. Previous hand I limped TT, potted undercard flop, got raised, called (?!) and folded minbet on flush turn.

Mostly happy with how I played that losing session. A few things I'm not happy with: No value bet on the river with quad 7's, firing two barrels with JJ when it was likely superfish had an Ace (albeit I thought he had a stronger one), folding TT to a minbet on flush turn (I should have folded to flop raise...or pushed. Pushing is gamboolrific because nothing I beat likely calls), AA & KK LRR...without the reraising (I need to make a standard raise to build a larger pot. If I get setted, I get setted). Still largely small mistakes in terms of dollars...except for JJ, where I put most of my money in when I was behind.

Don't tap the glass

So I'm done taping the glass. My interactions with the fish is now restricted to 'nh' and 'ty'.

Kournikova is aptly named, I can't hit a flop hard with it. Made the mistake of calling a preflop raise with it out of the SB, complete miss.

77 won a small pot. Should have been more but I think I raised him too much on the end. Should have gone for 2x to get called. I had Sevens full, he probably had trips. I have yet to find a good amount for when I want to get called (or hope he pushes that). I asked closer to 3x/all-in and he wasn't having it. Screw eww!

Some people are ridiculously deep stacked at this table. There's one ~4x, two ~3x, and two more ~2x. Insane. The worst loose-passive fish is on my left. I don't mind too much since he's passive.

Almost call a 6bb PFR with 87s but then I think better of it. Table breaks. New table seems to have broken too. Grr. New table...

K5s cracks Aces with two pair on a all diamond flop. He's a genius for calling $10 preflop with K5s. SS keeps buying in with 10bb. Get a stack you moran! Pushed AQo this time but lost to KJs. Ace cracking fish is sitting out. Grr. Damn, someone doubled up through him before I got a chance. lol, down $100 in two hands. Once against Broadway vs A5o TPNK, then against rockets holding a pair of eights. Jesus. He's nearly bust. Oh no, he's bouncing back. Damn he's gone.

EP AA: Limp/reraise...only without the reraise. Grr. This table sucks now. Bet pot on Q high flop. Turn puts pair of sixs on the board. I don't believe he called PSB with bottom pair so I put him all-in. Thankful he folds since I imagine only hands that beat me call. Then again around here you never know. Maybe he put me on quads like the other guy did...

Finish up dead even. Grr.

They read me like a book...

Getting heckled from the table coach. Unfortunately I pick up AA on my second hand and I play it as standard (e.g. >10% raise). All folds. Table coach is ragging on me about how I wasted AA. Of course, he has no idea that I actually had AA and I'm not inclined to tell him. I could explain that I would have made the same raise with TT+ (I should do this with AQ+ too early in the session) and it's regretable that no one liked their own hand enough to call. He then further heckles me betting 2/3rd of pot on turn (with AJo on a QTxx board) and then folding to raises (winner had a boat). Whatever, I hope he makes a great 2nd best hand against me.

What an unsuccessful POS session. I pick up more fishy hecklers. They've got me all figured out, apparently. AQ on a AJT flop. I pot it, get smooth called then raised all-in. I have to fold. Raiser shows TT, caller shows KQ. I get away light. ATo, TPTK, pot flop, fire again on turn, minraised. Again, I have to fold. He could just be playing back at me but risking a stack with a pair of Tens is retarded. These two hands made me really stuck since I invested money postflop. AQo...I could have checked the flop. ATo, I could have checked the turn.

AKo MP. I raise to $2, everyone folds, which is exactly how I wanted that to play out. I then get more heckles of "what a waste of AA". I shouldn't have bothered responding but I did: "i didn't have AA". Expert comes back with "you're lying is as good as your poker". rofl. If they think I have AA everytime I raise, good for them. At least they won't make the mistake of calling me :)

I've found a much looser 50NL table. Two people have stacked off since I've been sitting here. AA lost to KQs, 99 (set) lost to a straight. Fish who cracked Aces is still here so I'm sticking around.

BB AA: Please some action. I reraise preflop, open push the flop since it had T9 hearts and I couldn't afford to slowplay. Damn, with a safer flop I can pot it.

MP JJ: 3bb raise (should have made it 4bb given position), pot Ace-high, two diamond flop. Caller there and I have to C/F.

BT KTs: I raise 3bb (should have been 4) and flop top two but they're diamonds and I have hearts. Someone likes there hand and bets flop, I raise to full pot, he calls. Turn is a non-diamond. He bets 1/5th pot, I raise to full again and he folds. Good because if he'd have pushed a diamond river I'd have been livid.

UTG ATo: Knew I shouldn't have bothered with TPGK. Lost $3. Villain minbets 2 club flop, I reraise to full pot. Turn completes the flush and helps the str8 draw. Villain now makes a real bet. Grr, nice call. I guess if he had a OESFD then fine.

Dude with JJ pushes the river on a xKKxA board? NH, sir...

Finish -$10. Didn't earn enough off of AA the two times I got it, and I could have made the same amount with any two cards. Oh well. Quite happy with the amount JJ netted.

Not bad and I'm sticking to 50NL from now on. I now regret ever using the chatbox. From now on I'll have it open but not use it.

Newbie blind

Okay, from now on I'm raising or reraising my newbie blind if it's not complete junk. Had J9o but folded to EP raise. Hit flop for two pair, flush completed on the turn, river would have given me a boat. Okay, it's probably not worth raising or reraising but it's worth calling with.

AQo gets me in trouble when I decide to play it. I can't say anything at the table so I'm doing it here: You're dead, bitch. He could have been slowplaying the str8, had the flush, or TPTK. If I didn't have the redraw to the nut flush, I wouldn't have called the turn minraise. Uh oh, AQo again. Only cost 1bb to C/F the flop. Pff, he probably had the flush on the last hand since he just showed suited junk (92s) for a one card str8.

I wish I could stay around long enough to bust him but the table died.

Pretty breakeven other than that. Picked up AQs in EP, flopped GSFD. I bet and get raised. 13outs? All-in, all day. No call. Actually, just checked only 48.1% to win but I guess FE might make that slightly +EV. OESFD (62.4%) is all-in, all-day.

One guy on tilt after losing to a flopped full house against QQ. He had K8s on a Q99r flop?! Nice call.

Rofl, same guy flops a set, checks flop, checks turn, underbets pot on river. I have nothing but I think my nothing is bigger than his so I call. Wow, you really rolled me there, shark. Of course, he wasn't getting anymore than I paid off so I guess he did alright.

Grr, almost quitting time and I'm fustrated. Doh, made my str8 on the river OOP but I went for the check raise. Of course, checked behind. I should have fired off a value bet, looking for overcalls or 3bet. I had the friggin nuts and didn't get anymore money in. I suck.

Moved table. Seems jucier and I may 'work late'. Plenty of preflop aggression here. JJ ran into QQ preflop. QQ hit a set to top it off.

KQo/s seems to be doing well, hit rainbow flop for two pair. I bet 3/4 which is a little much since I'm looking for callers. Then I hit flop for TP2K, no callers there which I appreciate.

Presto! Don't call SS PFR, wouldn't have hit anyway. JJ gets his money back with a set of 6's. Bad call preflop, though.

99: Flop quads. Two Aces on the board, so this guy has to have a full house. I 1/3 bet river, guy raises, I push. Guy doesn't call so I tell him it was a bluff. In fact anytime I don't show after a push, I'm saying 'bluff :)' in the chatbox. Villain (JJ): "GOOD FOR YOU". Comedy.

All that and measly +$1. Grr.

50NL

Sat down at 25NL and won $20 really quickly. Thought I'd give 50NL a quick go. Hit two sets (TT & 44) but neither got called. TT improved to a boat but I think I could have gotten more value by smooth calling the turn. 44 I didn't want to lose to a flush so I played it hard too.

LP QQ: Miss some value on turn (King) and river (Jack) against AJo. If he'd bet hard at the King I'd have had to have folded. I was pretty much committed to calling any bet on the end except a push. Although I might have called that too. Thought it easier to check behind. Yep, I don't like money. Only raised to 6bb preflop which gave set miners odds to call.

77 back to back. Neither hit.

LP KJo: River a King, bet $1.50 at it. Called by KJo.

LP AJo: Flop is KJx. Someone bets less than pot. I raise, called. Turn and river are both 6's, we check them through. He shows AQo for air. MHIG.

1 hr +$16. Could have been more but after the last too disasters I didn't get too aggressive. I should have pushed the flop with QQ, really, and hoped he called with something I beat. On the whole, much tighter than 25NL but still just as loose in places.

Straight Flush

Wow, got my first ever straight flush, 9 high holding K5s. I was hoping someone had the Ace high flush on the river. Unfortuately, no, so I didn't get my push called. If I'd have lost with the ignorant end of the straight flush that would have been brutal. What I wanted in there was opponents with: An Ace high flush, a Queen high flush, a full house, & quads.

LP A2s: Wow, I'd have won this had I stayed until SD since neither showed an Ace (two on the board). Unreal.

BB KK: Reraise guy so hard it makes him hurt. Open push undercard flop. I really want him to call this but he doesn't.

SB KTo: Hit TP2K, fold on flop. Winner (villain from KK hand) shows T9o. Should have taken it to the felt.

BB JJ: Raised to $1.50, one caller. I reraise to $7.75 since I don't want to see a flop. Initial raiser calls. And I know I'm against a bigger pair. If he'd have reraised me I would have had to have folded. FPS broke him, though. Flop was Jack high :))) He checks to me, I push, he insta-calls. Villain flips AA, I show my set. Villain doesn't improve and I take his stack. He leaves. If I'd missed, I'd have checked behind on the flop. If I'd missed the turn too and he found a decent bet, I'd have had to folded. If I was villain I'd have pushed preflop.

Newbie blind AKo: New table, just sat down, first hand. SS pushes in front of me. If I call, I run the risk of others calling, and I really don't want that. I push 100bb since I want this HU. Medium stack (60bb or so) calls. Thankfully no one else does. SS had T3s or some junk, medi had AJo. I hit a King and it's all over.

2hrs, +2 buy-ins. Break time.

Eyeing 50NL. Another +4/5 buy-ins and I'll give it another shot. Another 12 buy-ins and I'm BR'ed for it anyway. For what I've seen so far, it's a little tighter and rewards 'optimal' TAG play a bit better.

Lost

Lost a pot with pocket snowmen, 3 overcards (QT9). Both villains had missed the flop completely. One had raised 93s or some utter junk, the other had KJo. Pair of Queens on the board and all I had to do was call $1 on the flop and check it down. Needless to say, no reads.

QTs: flops 2nd nut flush. I bet it hard because I don't want to lose to a 4 flush Ks. I bust the SS with KsXx but the initial 8 high flush bettor doesn't call. Good fold.

AJo: Flop two pair but there's a flush draw. Turn's a blank. I slightly overbet the pot to disuade a flush draw. Nope. Flush arrives and villain wakes up. Cursingly I have to call. K6s. I have his number now, though. I hit my flush on the river a few hands later with AQs. Situation is a bit differernt though, since I had overcards & a flush draw. K6s on a an AJx flop is nothing but a flush draw. Next time this happens I'm betting 2x the pot on the turn and folding a flush river.

BB KTo: AQx flop. Price my gutshot, doesn't get there by the turn. Fold.

MP QQ: Raised 8bb or so with two people in before it gets to me. I make it $5. Initial raiser takes his time before folding. Cold caller calls and it's HU. Undercards but 2 diamonds on the flop. He checks, I push. He thinks for a bit and calls. He has J2 of diamonds, flush draw and a pair of twos. Flush draw doesn't come in but it doesn't really matter since I get a full house after all the cards are out. The ultimate revenge against flush draw chasers?

LP A5s: Rainbow flop, no hearts. Checked around on the flop. Ace on the turn, checked around to me. I bet at the Ace. Villain calls, river is a blank. He bets pot or a little over. I think I'm being bluffed at but whatever. I fold.

Lots of smack talk from the deep stack at the new table. From what I gather, deep stack went all-in preflop with 44 and won by hitting his set. Hopefully I can take his stack.

UTG+2 KQo: Fold to raises from behind me. TT rivers his set. I'm guessing that reraiser had AK and lost with TPTK.

LP AA: I double up through big stack. He pushed all-in preflop when I had AA. No freakin' brainer. He had 88.

SB K9s: Flop top two. I think I get bluffed off this on the end when the board pairs but I'm not calling an all-in with two pair. I'm either WA or WB.

BR just about moves into the next hundred. Cool :)

Scumy

Shitty day so far. My pocket ducks flop a full house (JJJ) but AQ rivers a Queen. I should have raised the flop harder and then gone into C/F mode if called. It sucks to have read villain right but not make the correct play. Although, I must admit that I was scared of a higher PP.

Finally get AA but only in EP, limp looking to reraise. Nope. QTx flop, guy bets, I raise. HU turn, I bet pot, guy folds. Beats winning the blinds but still only a pittance.

Table is too tight.

KJo EP. 3 Flush AT9. I have the draw for the nut flush draw. Bet flop, C/C turn (King), river makes 4 flush with the 8. I half pot, villain raise to full and I only call. Bad. I need to push that, or at least reraise. I was thinking to myself: "What if he has the straight flush? I might lose!" Weak as piss.

BB limped TT: Got a rare flop of undercards. Bet pot on flop, 2 callers. Turn is another undercard, bet pot, 1 caller. Undercards are bunching into a str8, uh oh. River is a Jack, I don't have much left if I bet pot so I decided to push. Calling station folded.

UTG+2 KK: Limp looking to reraise, don't get the oppotunity. Flop is KJ8r, top freaking set baby! I bet pot on flop. Turn is a Jack. Full house! I put as much in as I think villains will call and they do. River is a blank and I push. One villain lets his clock run but neither end up calling.

ATo: Flop TPTK, have to call $1 to continue. I fold?! Turn is an Ace. I could have destacked the SS and KK too (assuming he can't get away).

EP QQ: I raise to $3.75, I hate seeing flops with QQ and I figure if I get no callers then fine. Someone pushes for nearly 100bb, SS pushes behind. Back to me. I'll call SS any time. I call. 100bb shows KK and I crack a wry smile. Someone loves me, though, because the board makes a str8 and it's a 3 way split. Lucky lucky!

Arg, just lost set (TT) over set (44). Only against a SS though. Still a fair chunk. Shit happens.

Very aggressive that session, but then I had the cards to justify it. After I lost with my set and the table went short handed, I lost ATs 3 handed to J9 or something. I can't play short handed.

BT Q4s: Consider limping but end up folding. Would have flopped two pair and improved to a full house. Of course :)

Limped KTs: KQ8r. SS bets $1. I fold my TPGK. If I had two pair I'd have raised him all-in.

Just timed out and folded something preflop. Hope it wasn't anything good...Folded something else? WTH. May need to quit/find a new table, I think my concentration is wandering.

Call with 95s out of the blinds. Oops, I must have misclicked call any. TT9. Two SS go all-in. I should have called, winner had 78o and paired his Seven. Other one had 62o.

BT raise and I'm holding AJo. Looks like a steal and he's SS so I reraise him all-in. He has AKo. Uh oh. Board pairs twice and only our Aces play. Rake wins but I get another lucky let off.

4 hrs of BEP. Balls. Just looked through my HH. Not a great amount of losses there. Could have extracted more from KK, maybe, by not of pushing the river. Should have pushed the river with nut flush. Lost $10 set over set but shit happens. Lost a little bit each time with my two lucky dodges.

Latenight

Playing late at night on Friday gets me up against some new fish. Pick up QQ in EP/MP and make it $4.50 to go. Called by EP. Flop is horrible: KJTr. Villain is slightly SS so I raise him all-in hoping he didn't hit it very hard and will fold. He calls and shows QT. He called off his stack with bottom pair. Wow.

Aww, too cute.

Booked a small late night win thanks to the Hiltons. All my other hands were pretty dire.

Not sure if I mentioned the reason I was slightly stuck earlier: KJ drawing to a gut shot against known LAG. Hit a Jack on the turn for TP2K. I should have folded since I was looking for a Queen on this str8 heavy board. At SD I'm shown the idiot end of the str8 by LAG. So easily avoided.

Party on

Finally got my debit card today! Means now I'm able to really start bonus whoring (BW)...except now that I have the ability to commit money to BW I don't actually have the money. At least, not until the start of next month. I could commit some now but I want to maximise on any deposit bonus (obviously).

According to winehq I'll be able to abuse: Bet365, FTP, Noble, Paradise, Party, Pokerroom, Stars, Titan, Total, True, & UB. The only ones I'm interested in are FTP, Party, Stars, and UB. Possibly Pokerroom. Also, Pokertracker is listed as working but Poker Ace HUD isn't. Damn, I may have to setup vmware box afterall.

Culled from 2+2: Troll much? Black flops! Girls are LAGs.

Trying to play some poker if my connection will permit me. Doesn't look like it. Think I need a new table already, too many SS pushing preflop. I mean I love fish but only when they have full stacks.

New table one known LAG, 1 possible TAG, one rock, rest are unknowns. Think I see one doubled up fish. Table might be dying. Fish is losing his stack fast and it's not to me. Grr. Another known LAG joins. Better LAG takes a nice pot off the resident fish with TPTK. Worse LAG takes more off fish with KK. Hit top two on KQJ. 'TAG' bets, I raise. Checked turn, called small bet on river. 'TAG' shows K5, TPNK. Folded A8s in the SB to a 3bb raise. I would have flopped the flush. Grr. J9s, hit two pair, improves to boat on the turn. No one likes their hand enough to pay me off. Typical. Table breaks.

Want to try hitting 50NL tomorrow. I think I have to adapt my style to the higher limit. That is where I was betting generally accepted amounts with my big hands, I shouldn't have been. I don't do that at 25NL, I get as much in preflop as I can with QQ+. I typically open for about $5 at 25NL with those hands. At 50NL I should be opening for $10, and getting more in if I can. Set miners can call upto $5, after all.

Pocket ducks hits on a K2Q flop. I try and extract as much as I can from my villains but neither looked to have a strong hand. Villain bet $1 into a $10 pot on the river, I raised to full pot and he folded. Oh well, at least he knows nothing about my hand. His bet on the end is just ridiculous as a blocking bet, I thought he meant to 3bet or something (I'm okay with that).

Table looks to have died. One more orbit. Hmm, just filled up again.

Black KQo underfire from the blinds (SB minraised, BB made a proper raise). Probably air but just in case...

Limp black TT in EP. Call button raise, comeon top set. Overpair, I raise half pot bet to about full pot. Villain 3bets so I'm thinking he has an overpair too. I don't know why but that hand irked me. Maybe because a small percentage of the time MHIG enough here. Also because I had to leave a decent amount of money on the table.

BB AQs. TP2K. Bet pot, take it down this time.

Time passes... and I run at a grinding slight loss.

Broke

Another table broken. Shame since there's some really awful players here who have me covered. Last hand I played before I left was AKo out of the SB. Flop was all hearts, turn was the King of hearts. Nothing but TPTK on a 4 flush board in a tiny pot, such an easy fold.

First hand at new table, 43s. Call a minraise preflop and hit an OESD. Call $1 flop bet and checked down. PFR shows AJs, I win by pairing my 3 on the river. He could have taken that on the turn or the river.

I crack Aces with a set of 5s (improved to full house, actually). Woot, doubled and then some. I got AA's stack but JJ was in there too. Lots of money went in the flop but JJ layed it down. Can't remember what the other guy had (all-in glitch shows everyones hand), maybe two pair or something. I checked flop, AA bet 5bb (roughly pot), JJ & other called. I raised to 10bb, AA reraised to 15bb (?), JJ & other called. I stopped screwing around and raised to 40bb, AA called, JJ & other folded. I think there's a case for raising to 30bb to try and get the other two to come along. Then again, do I really want to have a huge multiway pot with my set OOP on the turn?

Glad I played that hard on the flop since it meant I had to push any turn, including one that completed the flush. I wouldn't have liked to have done that in a multiway pot. HU is fine. Turn was a Queen. Another argument for getting this HU after the flop is I don't want someone else drawing a higher set than me. Also I think I remember what 'other' had: 58s, which would have given him a higher full house on the river. Yet another argument for getting this HU after the flop. The only hand I would have been behind to would have been 88.

Cracking aces is good for the BR. Funny thing is, AA lost to a set of Jacks a few hands later. AA only won 1 out of the 3 times I saw it at that table.

Live ones

Found a table of live ones, unfortunately I've gone card dead. Flopped two pair out of the blind on my first hand, though. Missed a value bet on the river since I had no reads on either villain. One of those WA/WB situations. Three checks on the river and MHIG. I hate bloating the pot with top two since you can easily end up calling off to a set.

Fish are berating each other for being maniacs. One is getting unbelievably lucky. If only I was getting cards.

Hot, well I think so. I know a lot of people hate Paris but I really like blondes with B (?) cups. She didn't really seem to know how to fuck but with all the experience she's gotten since Rick I'm sure she's improved.

Speaking of fucking, friends talking about going to Amsertdam first week in Feb. Kind of a bad time for me but it would be fun. Never been but I know there's plenty of sex and drugs in that city. Sounds ideal.

Meh, since that first hand I can't hit shit. KhQh from the SB, I see an all club flop Ace high. I've bleed off nearly $5 with limps, blinds, & set mining. Mostly blinds since I'm not getting cards. Nearly done, bed soon.

SB AhKh raising wins me the BB. Kournikova wins!

UTG+1 KK. I call looking to reraise. No raises. A high flop. I fold on the turn because I'm betting one of these nubbins has Ax. Again, indecisiveness cost me more there. Either fold the flop or take the hand. The limp looking for a reraise ploy was also silly considering there have been very few PFR. I should raise and take the dead money in front of me.

On my last orbit. Dropped $5+ putzing around. KQo hits a gut shot. Next flop/turn is AQQK why can't I have that board? The A is a bit scary to KQ. UTG+1 33, nearly done. Doubt I hit a set here. I do and take the pot w/o SD. I think my raise (full pot, inc. the dead money he just bet) may have been too scary. Maybe a call turn, raise river line would have been better.

Somehow I manage to be +$13. Over the past two days I've had: -$13, -$11, & -$5 (-$29) losing sessions and +$14 & +$13 ($27) winning. Talk about breakeven!

Sound of a suckout

SS goes all-in with KJ on a King high flop. I call with AKo and he rivers a Jack. He then leaves. I'll look you up down the line, buddy. 73.5% of that pot was mine.

AQ, call a PFR from LP. Flop is AKQ. I fold on the turn thinking my two pair is pretty obviously behind. Stupidly I called PSB on the flop. I should put him all-in or fold. But no, villain shows ATo and wins! Grr. TPGK and a gutshot, big whoop. Looking him up if he sticks around.

AA, raise $2 from the BB. No callers.

QQ, limp UTG looking to reraise. Limped around. Grr. Flop is Jack high. PSB flop, 1 caller. Turn a Ten, caller is SS so I put him all-in. He folds. Maybe I lost value but, OTOH, I didn't give him an oppotunity to outdraw me.

This table is unbelievably fishy. Cool, just need to keep making +EV plays, and not fold the winning hand...

Another AA vs. KK. Neither improved.

There's a bug that seems to show everyones hand in all-in situations. Quite interesting. Also makes me think I should do some packet sniffing just in case they are dumb enough to be sending me everyone elses cards before showdown.

Table died and while I was able to bust some SS with TT preflop (he pushed with Q8o or something) I still finished -$4. Then site died for me. Fine with slight loss, only one 'mistake' and that was with AQ. Calling was indecisive. He either had AK, JT, AQ, or Ax. Without a read I credit the PFR with AKo and do not continue. With a read, I raise him hard.

Unstuck

Almost unstuck myself with a small winning session. Finish -$10. Bleh.

Oops

Okay, I made a big mistake that cost me. Guy on my right hasn't been to SD that I can remember and I misread his aggression as missed overcards. Having AKs myself I called him down. Bastard showed AA. Normally my tight play would have gotten away from this on a whiffed flop but I misread his bets as trying to push me out. Fuck. Now I have notes and will not do that again against him. In fact, without a ninja read, I'm not calling down with AK. It used to be one of my biggest losers and I'm not going to let that happen again.

That mistake turned a marginally profitable session into a losing one. The second of the day. What a downer.

24

Good start to the season (only watched the first 2hrs). I think there's a chance it might be okay. Elisha is back for a few hours midseason apparently but Chase isn't. Jack working outside the system works better than Jack working with the system. It fits the action movie motif much better. Killing so many people off so that Jack now has even fewer resources helps.

Involving Jack's new girlfriend and her son is a bit contrived, really. I mean, he stole a freaking helicopter what does it matter if the kid goes to the police? He'll be in LA long before they did anything. Bit of a loose plot thread.

1. 99: Missed my chance to double up. Flop was 52A and I said to myself if everyone calls PFR cbet I'm calling too. But I folded. Turn was a 9. While I think I made the correct choice I almost wish I had gambled there.
2. EP back to back AA: Dead money each time. First time I raised 4bb and then reraised all-in preflop. Tilty. A reraise is good but only 60bb or so. Second time no one called my first 4bb raise. I think an open push might have gotten called. I mean, it looks like a tilty bluff. Shame the loose deep stack had just left. Doubt I'll be getting rockets again soon.

Stuck about $13. Which, when I compare it to scurvydog's exploits doesn't seem to bad. The aquarium was running like shit today which, combined with my dead cards, probably resulted in my blowup at the end there. And no, I'm not at work again because I'm a sick degenerate.

Grr

1. BB KQo: Just lost TP2K to 42s when it made a full house. I was confident I had the bettor beat, had no idea what the other guy was calling with.
2. Card death continues. Table coach is berating KK for calling him down when he had A7, two pair Aces and Jacks. Table coach not only raised his A7 preflop, he called a large reraise with it. I <3 table coaches.
3. BB black 88: New table. Limp in, fold out.
4. SB Q2s: For $0.13, where's the harm? No flush or trip Twos, easy fold.
5. CO A8s: Flop trip Aces. That's bad news. Worse news is, backdoor flush so I could only check behind on the river (no c/r for you!). He showed King high, MHWG.
6. UTG KJo: Fold to deep stack LP raise. I'd have made Broadway on a 4 flush board. PFR folded river anyway.
7. SB QTs: Fold to minraise. No showdowns since my trip aces.
8. BT QTs: Same again, raise is larger though.
9. Two short stacks on my left are pissing me off with steals. Need to bust one.
10. LP 99: Got a hand that will bust one of the buggers. Furthest one to my left does his typical steal raise, a few people call (grr, that's not how to do it), and I reraise him all-in (actually, yet again I failed). He got the idea and went in. Others fold (good). If any had called before it got back to me I have to push over them or fold. 99 isn't that great of a hand :) People got the idea and he went all-in HU against me. 99 wins. I <3 my +5% vs AKo.
11. BT JJ: Win dead money. My table image had to be awesome after that bust. So I couldn't really expect calls. Tried finding another table but it crashed. Quit.

Sicky

Thought I was going to be well enough to go in today. I'm not, what a shame. Actually, in all honesty I still feel like shit but there was a time when I would have soldiered on. I just don't think it's worth it anymore. (9hrs sick pay for industrial accident that put me out of work for 8 days and is still affecting me. Jah bitter.)

Will have to watch 24 premiere tonight. Elisha is supposed to be back after her Hollywood sojourn. Good, maybe after 24 finishes she can start getting naked? Hopefully it doesn't get ridiculous this season (like 3 & 4). 2 more hours broadcast tonight.

1. MP KJs: Limped in, TP2K 2 spades and I'm holding 2 diamonds. Small bet, I raise to full pot. 1 caller. Turn is the Ace of diamonds. Checked to me, I half-pot, called. River completed the flush with King of spades. Villain wakes up and bets about half-pot. Here we go, outdrawn by a flush. Do I have to pay this? Grittingly I call. Villain shows J6o, MHIG. I don't think he had paired his six, either.
2. New table, that one died. Argh, so did that one. /cycle I don't want a SS on my left. Grr. Two people just left. Fuck it, I'll play this orbit. Filled up, yay.
3. MP red AKo: QT flop, call flop, fold turn.
4. EP TT: All heart flop AJ7, turn is another Ace. Fold. Villan shows 7x which is 2nd bottom pair. I think river put 4 to a flush out too. Mental note.
5. BB KTs: Flop nut flush draw, half-pot. Made the mistake of checking the turn. I need to price my draw 1/4 pot say. He's not checking behind and letting me river him for free.
6. MP A6s: Call minraise and minbets on flop and turn.
7. BB QJo: Call minraise, miss flop.
8. BT K4s: Limp, no one likes the flush draw flop except the SS. Damnit.
9. BB A7s: AK8 flop. Whoopee.
10. I seriously need a hand worthy of raising preflop otherwise all I'm winning is the blinds when I do hold a monster. We'll see what the BT/CO brings.
11. UTG 55: Q99 flop. Super.
12. SB & BT JQo: Win SB w/o SD in a blind battle. Win BT checked down at SD.
13. EP AQo & AJo: Pick up some smallish pots on the flop with these two. Grind, table is a bit too tight. Time to look for fish.
14. MP AKs: Pick up dead money preflop. Yes, this table is too tight. Not a bad result with AKs, though.

New table and I think I've found a fish with a deep stack...F-me he just left

1. BB QTo: Flop Broadway, bust a SS. Wish he wasn't so SS. If only the big fish had stuck around for that hand.
2. CO A3s: Call minraise, flops all red and my cards are all black.
3. SB KJo: Price draw on flop, hit Broadway on turn. Villain folded. C'est la vie.
4. MP3 AJs: 6bb raise. Loads of callers. Overcards, think about firing at blank flop but fold. Villain shows KK. I got away cheap. Notes on villain.
5. BT KJo: Call minraise preflop and two minbets. Spewing? I think I need to tighten up a little with KK villain around. I think I spot a deep stacked fish (DSF?), it's the villain of this hand.
6. BB A7s: Call minraise preflop, bet $1 on my flush draw. Didn't make it on the turn so fold. Nice family pot.
7. BT A5s: Limp/Fold. Seem to be playing a lot of suited Aces today. Meh. Two people have me covered, someone else is pretty even. One of the guys that covers me is a little loose.
8. MP AKo: TPTK, could have gotten more on turn and river. Flop was AQ so I was worried about two pair.
9. EP AJo: Lose TP3K to T9 two pair. Ha.
10. UTG KK: Limp looking to reraise hard. No action preflop. Flop is all clubs (yuck). I have Kc. Pot it and get ready to fold. All folds. That time I'm thankful for a small pot.
11. SB red 99s: 2/3 pot flop with my overpair. Fish calls. Turn is an Ace. Ow. Interestingly the villain who had me covered who I thought was good managed to lose most of his stack while the villain I consider quite bad has doubled up. I'm only +$10 (was +$15, grr).
12. omg, bad villain picked up KK when the board made a full house (7's full of Queens). Two people playing the board against him. He loses to a single Queen. I need some cards, dealer. Good villain is either tilty or not as good as I thought. Loses to a backdoor flush, probably with AK top two. FUCKING CARDS. Ahem. We're short handed so my standards have dropped but they haven't dropped to 52o. T6o?
13. UTG TJo: Callable shorthanded but not really.
14. BT 44: Call, AA7 flop. Pot it folds.
15. EP AJs: Raise preflop, King high flop, 2/3 pot. Turn is Ace of clubs for the club flush. I fire again (probably looks weak). Turn pairs the board. Check, he well overbets pot. No way I can call with TP3K. Cunt. Now I'm back to about my buy-in. New dealer, new deck. This is why I want my debit card.

Ball busting slightly profitable session.

Backing down

Back to 25NL for now. It continues, flop Broadway with AQo. Bet pot on flop and turn. River is Queen of Hearts. Guy goes all-in for the rest of his chips. We've both put 2/5 of our stacks in. At best I'm splitting with a A-rag, at worst he hung around with a flush draw. Shows Ah4h. Fucking scumbag. What's worse is that I paid him off. In retrospect, I should have pushed the turn and see if he really wanted to gamble. I hate paying him off there but equally I think folding to his push is just as bad. I flopped the 3rd nuts and got out drawn by the second nuts. If he had AhTh then his play was fine. Next time there's a flush draw and one card to go, I'm making sure he puts his money in when he's behind. Especially since I can't fold the river.

Ugh, I'm losing the will to live. KQo, TP2K. C/C the river and lose to another bastard flush. You fucks will get yours, this I foresee. Oh look, J8s. Why don't I call a huge PFR! Or better yet, raise preflop! Think of my implied odds! (As it happens I would have won a small pot with a flush. Doh.)

First hand KK busts two people. Doubled up and a little bit more. That's the way to do it. Put SS all-in preflop. Push the flop. Someone else came along for the ride but I'm not complaining. When I saw the Queen on the flop I thought "Oh, here we go..."

AA wins the blinds + limper. Should I have gotten cute? No. Does show I should raise more preflop, though.

Cracking Aces.

Two of the people are kind of regulars that I know. Made notes on the third. Watching the chatbox is +EV. AJs, 0.5PSB my gutshot. Folds on the flop. FE in action. AQo UTG+2, board is all clubs but I hit TPTK and have the Ace of clubs :o Bet pot, get folds. Good good, didn't really want action but if called and I get a 4th club it would be push time. AQo again, overcards on a paired board. River is a King. Fold. AJs, overcall with a gutshot, fold turn. Implied odds were almost there, though, so only a small mistake.

New table time.

1. CO TT: PFR because I need to raise more if I want people to call when I raise with better hands. Nice rainbow flop, 9-high, HU. Checked to me, I pot it, C/R all-in. Hmmm. Hmmm. Reluctantly I fold. Two pair, a set, or air. I beat one of those and I can think of better places to push. If I had QQ+ I probably would have gone broke. That was close.
2. 22: Call PFR, C/F.

Found a new table, pretty awful. Set miner is to my left. Be gone.

1. UTG KK: Limp pray for a raise. Get 2. Put the LP raiser all-in (well, I tried to but missed by about $2). Two Queens on the flop, board plays out and I win. Shit myself thinking he hit quads for a second, though. Logically, 2 Queens on the board makes the likelyhood of him holding Hiltons tiny. If he's not a complete idiot, he had JJ. Set miner said he folded TT preflop. Shame, I would have liked his money too.
2. Table's dying. Trying to get set miner to reveal what he went all-in with earlier.
3. QQ LP: AJx on the flop. Call a small flop bet. He bets 2/3 pot on the blank turn. Worst case scenario he has a strong to good Ace. That fits because he minraised preflop (?!) and I reraised to 12bb. Reluctantly I fold. Grr, lost 16bb.
4. Set miner takes money off of QQ villain with a set of Twos. Good. QQ villain then hits trips and wins a medium pot. Bad. Why, yes, I am vindictive.

New table.

1. UTG AKs: End up losing a tiny pot to quad Fours. Oh well.
2. LP KJo: TP2K, possibility of a str8. Reraise to full pot on flop. PFR folds, as does the other caller. Good.
3. LP AJs: Wow, what a hand. Huge family pot, I was planning to fold on the flop but everyone was calling so I was getting almost immediate pot odds on a gutshot. Unreal. AK would have taken this down with TPTK. K9 won the main pot, Tx the side pot. Both pots were nearly $30. Amazing.
4. LP TT: Bet pot + dead money on the 862r flop. Don't have much left so push turn (another 2). Villain shows J8s. Ha! J8s loses to a premium hand, who'd have thunk it.
5. LP KK: Get it all-in against QQ on the turn. Guy loses the last of his money to AA. Poor SOB.

Good day at 25NL on the whole. Losing hands: TT (C/R and I fold), KQo, AQo (flop Broadway, villain rivers flush). At 50NL: KK (vs. J8s), KQo (vs. QJ two pair, maybe?), AQo (Ace high lost). 4h 40m +$46. Not great but not bad. Actually won more than that gross since I dropped 1 buy-in straight away with Broadway vs. rivered flush. So I'm about back where I started before I dropped a 50NL buy-in and a 25NL buy-in. I'm sticking to 25NL for a little while longer.

Luck

"If it weren't for luck I'd win every one", says Hellmuth. A few things that bother me about that quote.

1. If there's no luck involved, you're not playing poker. So that statement makes absolutely no sense at all.
2. He's implying that he plays perfectly according to the fundamental theroem of poker 100% of the time. Sorry, but no one does that without a marked deck. What's worse is he's assuming that he can read world class opponents perfectly 100% of the time. That's beyond arrogant in my opinion.

Hmm, I like lists.

1. A2o newbie blind: Flop a gutshot, call to see turn. Fold turn.
2. Red 66 UTG: Call PFR, miss flop.
3. AQo SB: PFR, miss flop. 0.5PSB flop, 3 callers? Have to fold Ace high on the river.
4. KQo LP: TP2K, bet pot get 3x raised. Grr. Maybe a set, maybe two pair. Probably just a LAG. Fold anyway.
5. AJo CO: Limp, C/F flop. Winner shows slowplayed AA. Sneaky!

Down $12.50 already. Steaming. If I make a hand now, I think I'm going to overplay it. Probably to my detriment. Need to rebuy or quit. Rebuy for $13.75, you LAGy pricks are going down. Actually, screw that I'll find a better table.

1. 75s BB: I like this table already, plenty of raising preflop and 5 people calling. AQo destacks two people with two pair. NH, sir.
2. Two people all-in preflop. One shows 88 the other AKo. Kournikova wins. Maybe I'll be able to push AA/KK preflop with a full buy-in?
3. Table tightening...cards dead...Argh.
4. KK MP3: 3bb raise before me. I make it 10bb. He calls. Flop is 88x. He bets $1. I push (!?). He calls. Shows J8s. fahfkafa.

So I'm out again at 50NL with a big pair. Since he called $5 preflop how the fucking fuck should I put him on an 8 there? Once again I put my stack in when I'm behind. Fuck that, push it preflop. Every. Goddamn. Time.

I mean, I recognise implied odds and calling $5 with a PP is just about acceptable but with T8o & J8s? Give me a fucking break.

Seriously, if people are going to call junk into my PFR that telegraph AA/KK I'm pushing preflop everytime. If they want to gamble then fine.

I need to frag something.

Stream

These stream of consciousness posts aren't of any interest to anyone really. They're sort of theraputic to write, though, so for the moment they'll continue. Sorry.

Need to shave since my hair is getting out of hand. Been wearing a hat during the day and when I take it off in the evening there's just an explosion of hair (almost as bad as Book in Firefly).

Still no debit card, which sucks. In fact, it's getting worrying now because the one I have is going to expire at the end of the month. Of course, I can't phone the bank to resolve this issue since I donked up the security questions last time. I may try anyway.

Not many tables open at this time of day. Joined a few waiting lists. I don't have many notes on 50NL players yet.

Still haven't set up vmware box. The reason I need a dedicated box for it is because I use archck (basically CK patchset + reiser4) which vmware doesn't like. If I can get away with just using wine, then good but I doubt it. Also, I'm not sure what level of performance the old hardware will manage, especially when it's then X-forwarded. Not really an issue until I get new debit card and build BR.

First flop: TsJdQd, I limped Ad2c from the BB. Two people go at it. Flop broadway much? Why someone would have limped AK I don't know. I mean, I do it as part of counterplay but I'm not sure if it's optimal. I was hoping that it would have been checked around and I could see a Kd on the turn, and a Td on the river :)

QTs UTG+1, hopefully limped. Nope, fold to a button raise. Two diamonds on the flop but the flush doesn't come in. Good fold, I was drawing dead. Winner shows AdKd. Try and limp QJo UTG. Bad play. Fold to raise, QsJs on the flop. Fahh. KQo split the pot two ways. Complete the SB with Q9s, BB raises hard. God, I hope he did have AA/KK and killed his action. He sat out shortly after so maybe he did.

Argentinachicas. That's why I want to go to Argentina. I also hadn't checked out formergirlfriends in a while. 5+ galleries that I hadn't seen. Why, yes, I am perverted :)

Meanwhile, at the poker table...-$3.25 having done nothing but limp a few hands and pay the blinds. Any c-bets I make should have great folding equity but I doubt people are paying attention. Check J9s from the BB, miss flop. 43o SB, should I complete? Yea, probably but not against a PFR. Set of 3's just doubles someone up. NH! Give me some cards, dealer, god. -$4. Table's dead, play out the orbit. A7s, paired flop. Call to see turn, not a club. Checked through. I hit a 1 card straight on the river with my 7. $2 bet for value, both call. I win. AJo UTG, damn, wanted to get away without playing another hand. Flop is 234, two diamonds. Easy C/F.

Break +$5. Hope for a better table and better cards afterwards.

Fifty again

Try 50NL again. Fold ATs in the SB to a PFR because I don't like my hand or position. I think the guy who busted my Aces is sitting at the table. It's on like Donkey Kong. Christ, guy limps AA and minbets the whole way through the hand. WTF is up with that? Scary board, certainly, but limping AA? AA shown again. That time it took a respectable pot. 95o in both blinds, yay. Try and limp QTo from the button, SB raises, I fold. I have a feeling I should be the one stealing here. AA shown again. Table is dying? 55, call PFR looking for a set. Miss, c/f. Fold T2s, flop is 522. AKo, I fold to BB's 5bb PFR? I should have been the one raising. Leave table -$7.50.

Been to one table, caught no hands, left -$1.75. New table now, get black bullets in my newbie blind. 6bb raise, 1 caller. PSB flop, fold. 66, call an 8bb PFR. Miss. There goes my AA winnings. I had a feeling I should have folded but you just know as soon as I fold a PP, I'm going to hit. TT on the button, 4bb raise. Take it preflop. Cool. Table dies and I leave -$0.65. Grr.

Challenge, Day 2

The Ultraviolet trailer looks great. Hopefully better than RE2 and Equilibrium. At least Milla looks attractive in UV, she looked quite haggard in RE2. Equilibirum was okay in a very B-movie kind of way.

50NL today, $69 roll. Just folded 94o in the SB, 2 Nines on the flop. KK on the button, 6bb raise, one caller. Pot Queen high flop, guy folds. Doubling up may take a long time with these cards I'm getting. May have to start bluffing more. Limp QJo but 6bb raise behind me. Would have flopped an OESD. 99 in the BB, call a min raise. Jack high flop but I pussy out. 99 again. Miss again. Not doing too well, down about $6. Might be time to find a new table. UTG+1 KJs, call 5bb raise, check/fold missed flop. PFR showed TT. /quit -$10.

So what went wrong there? 1) I didn't hit any flops 2) I didn't buy any pots.

New table, someone gets rockets with me in my newbie blind. I only lose the 1bb I called preflop with KQo. ATo UTG, just say no! 77 SB, complete, check/fold missed flop. River's a Seven. A9s on the button, limp, call turn minbet. TT, 3bb raise. Flop KK4r, shorty goes all-in. Grrr. QJs MP1. Mid pair but no flush/str8 draw, easy fold. Down $5 already. Two people deep stacked with $150 & $220. Blinds are coming. Wow, deepstack just went all-in with bottom set against a set of aces. Blinds are coming again. Jesus, new dealer. SB K7s, would be worth completing but not calling a PFR. BB AA, I go broke against T8o. Hey buddy, I like your preflop call! I like you calling PSB on the flop with a gutshot! Things I don't like about my play: PFR was 3bb coming out of the BB so he only had to call 3bb after he'd limped 1bb. I think I should have made it more and taken it down preflop. I pot the flop, but there's a str8 draw so I think I should have open pushed. I should have definitely folded the turn.

BSG was frakking brilliant. I'm not sure what's up with Apollo. Gina/Baltar relationship is interesting. I thought Gina was going to die at the end of the episode. Oh well, the conflict between Six and Gina should make for interesting future episodes. Kain: "Frak you!" Gina: "Sorry, you're not my type."

Back to 25NL. AQo in newbie blind, raise, pot flop, win. AQo UTG, limp and fold to Button raise. Wow, the quality of play here is just amazing. ATo vs K9o HU all-in, ATo wins with high card Ace. Limp AJo, flop broadway. Minbet, get PS raised (yay!), in a quandry of what to do. There's a heart draw so I really don't want to see a heart turn or a paired board. Went all-in, uncalled. Oh man, if I'd called those LAGgy pfr with KQo, I'd have taken a huge pot. Flop was KQx, turn K. Goddamnit. Who the hell calls 1/3rd of your stack preflop with KQo, though? QQ, time to get paid. Bah, too much preflop. It was the decent LAG raising too otherwise I would have gotten paid there. If only the maniac had called. JJ, end up all in preflop. There's a King and a Jack on the flop. Think I got lucky against the other guys all-in. Maniac shows K9s. Very next hand I get 77 and flop top set. I gleefully call dudes all-in. River is an Ace, he shows AA. I want to kill something. He acknowledges he got lucky. "That's poker", say I. Not sure why I'm sticking around. I should have just sat out after winning with JJ, then I wouldn't have doubled AA up :) It's just a bad beat, I need to get over it. Two people go all-in preflop with AA. It would have been funny if one won with a flush :) Funnilly enough, I'm the deep stack at the table now after maniac called off loads. AKs, flop Broadway on a rainbow board. Me and maniac go all-in (well, I'm virtually all-in, $4 left). River completes the backdoor flush and I have my heart in my mouth. Pot's shipped my way! $112 pot, biggest yet!

When to move up

fimbulwinter:

first off you should never view it as a quantum leap kinda thing. just take little shots when you feel comfortable, have the money and are good enough. here's a hand waving yardstick:

try 50NL when:

- you're confident in your preflop game
- you understand position
- you have a good idea of their hand by the river
- you have an ok feel when to continuation bet
- you have 500 or more

100NL when:

- you're confident playing draws
- you can spot good semibluff opportunities
- you can lay down AA/KK unimproved
- you're attacking the blinds in easy steal situations
- you have 1200+

200NL when:

- you're ok betting your stack on a draw
- a PFR from you doesnt always mean AA-JJ and AQs+
- you're starting to play one hand while holding another
- you have more than one mode
- you have 3000 or more

400NL when:

- you can ID profitable preflop steals
- you know how to pick between b3b and c/r
- position factors heavily into your play
- you're good at manipulating pot size
- you have 6000+

1K NL when:

- your lines don't define your hand
- you're good at playing and winning lots of small pots
- your oop opponent must hold a strong hand to win a pot from you
- you understand the real math of the game at least at a basal level
- you have 20000+

25NL to 2000NL 2+2 challenge

Hereafter referred to by me as 2kNL2+2C.

Okay, I doubt I'm eligible for the competition (not able to provide HH) but I'll certainly try the challenge. Off to a decent start: AQs newbie blind, raise, TPTK. Win without SD. QQ in the BB, raise, Top set. Win without SD. ($36.50) I'm almost grateful not to have been called on the river since it completed the flush. My half-PSB may have made him fold a smaller flush. Guy to my right just called an all-in holding air? He was shown AA that had made Aces full on the turn. Well, what exactly does high card Four beat, buddy?

Other than those first two hands I haven't played hands other than my blinds. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to SD the next hand. K9o UTG+2, muck that shit. J7o, no thanks JD. 73o, Hackem. BB J5o, Jackson Five hits zippo. SB was forgetable. J6o. 88, limpable. Foldable. 65o. The blinds are coming! J7o. JTo UTG. Bah, would get a semi-decent hand OOP. BB J2o. Nothing flop. 83o. Would have hit two pair and turned a full house. Would have had to have called $11 preflop all-in, though. K9o. I might limp that but I'm certainly not calling a PFR. KTo, try and limp. I do call 2BB more preflop this time. Fold flop. Q4o. New dealer, please! KJs, woot. Miss flop but raise minbet to PS and win tiny pot. Should have raised preflop but then my flop raise is less believable. 67o. Something else. Something else UTG. SS pushed and couldn't beat KT, TPGK. 23o beats TT straight over set. QQ beats KK with a Queen on the flop. Limp 45s, flop's all black. A3s, flop the nut flush (K9Js). Is it weird that my first thought is "Did anyone flop a straight flush?" Call flop bet. Turn puts two Jacks on the board. I feel like raising but he may have KJ. Or that Jack might have scared him. He checks river (4th suited card), I half-PSB, he calls and I win. I felt half-PSB was good since he might call with a hand I beat. If he minraised me, I would have felt okay about calling. If I felt he'd have called a PSB and not raised with a better hand, I would have bet that instead. Ladies on the flop from from my BB. Someone flopped trips to someone elses full house. It was the guy who lost KK v. QQ. Not his day.

Breathe? ($39.62) $11 to go! Someone is talking to me. Table is way too tight. Fook, just folded KT (mid pair) to flop half-PSB. Turn would have given me trips with another Ten. AJo, 1 caller, flop's all hearts and I have none. C-bet, called. Turn is another heart. Easy fold. JJ, bollocks no callers that time. Guy on right thinks I'm attacking his blinds/limps. QQ, hit top set to guy on my right's two pair. Take his stack.

($69) On to 50NL tomorrow. Had to reload the site (buggy POS) to get chat to work so I could commiserate with the loser and the railbirds. Better to keep them happy then to look like a total dick by taking his money and sitting out/leaving without so much as a 'ty' to his 'nh'. Better to keep the customers happy :)

Better days

I've had better days. My throat is killing me. The best it could be is inhaling ozone, the worst manganese (causes Parkinson's). Need to fix ventilation at work because this job, while on the whole okay, is not worth crippling myself over. I think (hope) it's ozone because it's more or a burning sensation and my eyes are a bit irritated too.

Back to 25NL for the time being. May have another 50NL shot at the weekend. If I hit set over set on my first hand, I'm going to sit out even if I don't think it's affected me. It did last time but I didn't see it until after I tilted off a good chunk of change. Looks like KK just ran into AA preflop (both put nearly 100BB stacks in). AA won with Broadway, KK must have been sick to have hit his set and still lost. I just folded AKo UTG to BB's (guy who just showed AA) raise. King on the flop and he overbets the pot. I imagine that he had AK and not AA/KK. Just called his 4BB PFR with black AKo. I could have probably won that pot had I bet the flop when checked to but took a free turn and folded. Main villain lost to a pair of Fours so it's likely he had AK there too. My buddy got tricky and lost to a a straight Jack high. His opponent had an OESD on the flop, made his hand on the turn. Bah, I think I just folded a SC to a PFR that would have made trips had I called. Buddy just gave away half or what he had left to Jack high straight man.

I question the value of hands like A8s then I see a flop like AA8r. If only I could flop a full house like that. The luck boxes are swinging plenty of pots. AT vs. AK just took a bunch off me with two pair. On the plus side I learned he bets his middle pair hard. QQ just won me a smallish pot of overcallers money. Very standard. Could have done that with any two cards, though. Could have gotten cute on the flop by not potting it. AKo made Broadway for a tiny pot. Playing out of the SB sucks so bad. Probably should have checked the turn and given someone else a chance to bluff at it. On the plus side I've showndown only one hand which should let me buy more pots with semi-bluffs.

Scurvydog continues to post interesting and entertaining bloggage. Bonus whoring is definitely the way forward but I need a roll to make it worthwhile. He's talking about sinking $1k into a single site. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of roll. Still haven't received new card.

AA, won a tiny pot when I hit an Ace on the flop. Pooh. Beats winning the blinds. BB AQo, gutshot on the flop, TP2K on the turn. Would have prefered a Jack really but he seemed to know he was beat. Maybe he could only beat a bluff? God knows he's bluffed a lot. Luckboxes all left, time to find a new table. Looks like I'm -$5.

Site's crashing, yay. Screw ewww! /quit -$5.

Risk of Ruin

What a scummy day...! Ran out of gas so no central heating/hot water for the night. I should have stock but it wasn't delivered over the holidays. 2 men out at work means chumps who show up have to work harder. To be fair, one's in hospital with some sort of gastro problem. The other is holidaying in France but has been answering his mobile. Could be worse.

Uh oh, 22 in the newbie blind. Hit bottom set. Lost to top set. Wow. Apparently having the chatbox open is +EV since he identified his hand before I pushed (apparently). I wonder if the other guy had middle set. Glad this happened at 50NL when I'm taking a shot, jesus.

Anyway, previous to that hand I had deposited $100 as my 50NL roll. I blew through half of it on my first hand with set over set (over set, probably). Online poker is rigged :) I have to question my play, though. That's a pretty dry flop. High card Eight. Rainbow. Slight straight draw. What's calling me here, really? Overpairs JJ+. The other two sets.

Need to get something off my chest: FUCKFUCKFUCK.

Okay, I'm tilting. Push pushed (60BB) preflop with AA after checking down 88 (overpair) on a 55x flop. Okay, maybe, maybe, someone calls who thinks I'm tilting there. Too right, I am tilting. I just lost 2/3rd of my 50NL roll playing piss poor poker. Need to switch off emotions. God knows what I just lost pissing AA away like that.

FUCK.

$0.82 quads

JJ won me the blinds. That was my clue to find a better table. Overcalled my straight draw coming out of the blinds. I think the BB is probably my least profitable position. I nearly called again then with my flush draw without proper odds. Turns out my implied odds would have been good. Winner was slowplaying AA (wtf?). AA gets shown again. Limp TT, hit top set. Don't get much action, don't showdown. Bah. That's why getting PPs into a raised pot is goot. Or raising preflop. Or betting the flop. That's my new line with TT: Raise preflop, PSB flop. If called, re-evaluate on the turn.

Flop: 222. Someone just tried to represent trips on a paired flop. AA put him all-in and he didn't show the goods. Haha. Wow, flopped quad snowmen! I won $0.82! Fuck this table. Just lost $0.88 with QJo. rofl. On the plus side: 99 on the button, 4BB raise, two callers, PSB flop, two folds. Now to get to the point where I can judiciously do that with any two cards.

Ball breaking, break-even -$1 session.

Grinding

JJ, 8BB raise, two callers, PSB flop, no takers. Of course, one of the callers has now taken to raising a lot. Someone busted him, though. QQ, call an $8 all-in. Lose to 87o with two Sevens on the flop. That's poker. Woot, finally got AA and I...stole the blinds. Now that's fucking bullshit. KK, managed to pick off the raises in front of me but no callers. I think a better line here is a normal raise and push the flop. QQ, time to get in trouble. Do my standard 8BB raise, two callers. Nice flop but two diamonds. Pusssh. No callers. Happy with that. AA, 3 callers @ 8BB. Pot flop, no callers. Happy with that too. Flop was scary as hell, 366.

Looking over my hand histories, everything looks good except AA, bet $0.25, won $0.75. That hurts. +$8 over 2.5hrs, bit shit but I can't double up everytime I get AA/KK, unfortunately. No real aggro Americans either so that could have something to do with it.

If I try the SS experiment again, I'm only playing: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs, TT, the top 6 hands, and I'm pushing them all preflop. AKo is too weak. I'm not even sure about AKs or TT. But, honestly, I don't think I can be bothered trying it. If I were playing three 25NL tables at the same time then it might be alright. Where's my new debit card?

The great short stack experiment

I was thinking about lagbuddy and his bluffs. They work against me because I'm tight and able to make laydowns. Sometimes he's called down, though. Pure bluffs don't work too well for me because they're always called down by bad players. I much prefer to semi-bluff since there's more than one way to win.

Started a third BR for the Miller Short Stack Strategy. I had one BR for 10NL and one for shot at 25NL. Although, since the shot has gone quite well they're essentially merged. Sitting at 100NL table with 20BB. I checked down my BB and won with a pair of Fours :o) Guy on my left has 10 buy-ins. Q6o in the BB, folded to 5BB raise. CO KTs. Nice hand but not good enough. There's only really two hands I'm going to feel comfortable pushing, AA and KK. Oh, someone else seemed to be employing a short stack strategy. Ran into a set of Fives. Gutted.

Folded 88, kind of a shame but it has to be done. Would have had an overpair but that's no match for the mighty 62o, full house Two over Six. UTG+1 QJo. BB AKo, raised, pushed flop. Lost to a pair of Nines. Damnit. Unfortunate outcome but he did exactly what I wanted him to do. Fuck, KQo UTG and I forgot to turn auto post blind off. Should have just pushed the flop anyway. River was a queen. 88 in the BB, raised so I folded. Would have hit bottom set on a 3 flush board. I probably push that expecting to lose to a flush. Former deepstack seems to be on tilt after losing to a set that turned into a full house. Fuck. SB J6s, tiltman goes all-in, someone else follows him. I have a feeling I should call but I don't gambool. I'd have flopped two pair. AKs, I'll just push preflop, I think. Pushing over a raise, even better. SOB, called by AKs. House wins. Somewhere in the there I folded TT, I think I should have pushed that. Not only is this strategy losing so far it's also extremely fucking boring. Tiltman goes all-in again, called by TT. Ace on the river and he still can't beat a pair of Tens.

Been at this an hour (~60 hands) and I've had AK twice (lost once, drew once). Really should have pushed those Tens. Should have pushed first AK preflop. Tiltman might have called and the J9 guy might have folded. JJ stacks AK preflop. Maybe I should try this with a full buy-in? I mean, if you're going to get called why not? AJs, think about it but fold. 56s out of the SB, I flop an OESD. I almost push this and then I almost call a small bet. Turn completed my straight. Pooh. New plan: TT-QQ, push preflop because I probably won't like any flop I see. AKs beats KK with a rivered flush. Fuck, now I can't get rid of the chat box. AKo, SB. Pusssh. Probably dead. Flop is QJx. Come on dealer, give me a Ten. Ran into JJ and QQ. Good-o.

Short stack BR is bust. In fact, it's beyond bust at -$6. What a waste of time and money that was. Although, I may have completely fucked it by playing Kournikovas instead of just AA-TT. AK: won 0, lost 2, tied 1. Next experiment will be a shot at 50NL with $100 roll (if I can still afford it). The difference there is I will actually be playing poker instead of folding and being eaten by the blinds. Goddamn you, Mr. Miller!

Canine

K9s seems to be one of my most expensive hands. Flopped a straight and a flush draw but neither came home. Winner showed AQo, which made a full house on the river. Boy am I glad the turn didn't make a flush!

AQo in the SB, raised from CO. I fold. Flop wouldn't have helped me at all so I got lucky there. Two people at the table in an argument since one stacked someone with two pair. I'm not sure what his gripe is, guy should have never have called. UTG+2 ATo, limp but fold to a raise. Same the next hand but with KJo. Awww, quit it! My mistake for playing KJo from EP, ATo is acceptable.

This is hilarious, the table captain is repeatedly whining about the deep stack's play. Deep stack has a female name and they're both American. Yes, I think choosing a feminine name is a very +EV idea.

Made the mistake of calling a raise from behind me with AJo. Very nothing flop for me, though. Next board had a Jack on the flop and another on the turn. Freaking always. Disconnected, trying to reconnect...

Finally made it back. Not done much since then. Limp AJo MP, raised from behind. Luckily I fold even though I think this is a button move. Half pot c-bet. One of his callers likes his hand and pushes...Button calls and shows T8s for a straight flush Queen high on the river. WTH? He called almost a full buy-in when he was drawing.

My LAG buddy is back. Just read this. Guy is my hero. He has a girlfriend who looks like Jessica Alba (allegedly, I doubt he's that lucky) and he can turn $88 into thousands in a short amount of time. Makes me want to GAMBOOL!!! big time. Perhaps I start another roll, say $50, and try the Miller short-stack strategy. From my understanding it's a super TAG game where one sits with only 20BB. Starting hand requirements become group 1 and 2 hands only. Plan is to raise 5BB preflop and then push any flop. Or, if reraised preflop, push.

AQo UTG+1, limp but fold to 8BB raise from lagbuddy. SB called, showed down AQo and won. I told lagbuddy I folded AQo preflop and he tells me he had KT and flopped two pair. Gutted. He's doubled himself up through pocket Hiltons, though. KQo, my favourite hand :) Missed the flop that time, though. Shame since lagbuddy built a huge pot. Nice, he flopped trips with a SC. Limp ATo, flop Ace. Half pot, 1 caller (deepstack). Turn is a Ten and I pot it, hoping he calls with a stronger Ace. I considered pushing but reigned that idea in when it occured to me that only a set calls. If he'd raised me I might have bailed. Two pair is great but you don't want to get married to it. 77, call PFR in a huge family pot. Flop was 54J. Missed but I almost convinced myself that I still had the best hand. Unfortunately, didn't go to SD so I'll never know. Lol, lagbuddy got rockets and the deepstack called his preflop all-in. He's now got 4 buy-ins. God knows what deepstack had. It wasn't KK since there was a King on the board. Maybe QQ, if so, that's all kinds of stupid.

I don't think lagbuddy realizes how much info he's leaking in the chat box. He just admitted to raising to 8BB with A6. I knew he liked to bluff. Meanwhile, I'm not doing too good. Kind of card dead. Lost a little this session. Pretty tired. CO AKo, call a $1.50 raise from the blinds, damnit, what a shitty flop. Don't fancy calling $5 with Ace high. Line reaked of a PP or a bluff. AKo only beat one of those.

/quit -$10. Fah. Saw AA three times at the table but didn't get it myself.

It's all skill...

Start with the worst hand and go up hill. QQ in MP3 (iirc), raise it up to 6BB. Two callers, SB and someone else ahead of me. Fine. Flop is nice and low but two spades and one club. Checked to me, I pot it, SB raises me and the other guy gets out of the way. I call (although I should have probably just pushed). Turn is the Ace of Clubs. He goes all-in and I think to myself: "I'm confident I was ahead preflop and on the flop. If he's hit his A-rag, so be it. I've put too much in to fold now." Kind of dumb reasoning in retrospect but river was a pretty, pretty Queen! I'm not sure if I sucked out on this one. Possibly.

Waiting for my new debit card to arrive. I'll be able to hit up new sites and bonus whore. Although, I really want to be putting $500 into party at the least. Need to make a $500 roll first :)

Limp AJo in the SB. Board pairs twice, fold on the turn to a small bet. I think I have the best kicker but this is an extremely marginal place to extract value. I'm not even sure if I chop there with a smaller Ace. I think so. Damn, AKo UTG (last orbit). 55K, pot it, two callers (MP1 & SB). I go into C/F mode; I smell a 5. Turn (a Three, completes the spade flush) is checked around. Okay, maybe I'm good? River is a Queen (I was hoping for another spade). SB bets 3BB into a 14BB pot, easy call. MP1 then raises to 16BB, easy fold (even though SB called). Sure enough, MP1 shows J5o (nice hand...).

/quit +$17. Weekends are good!

It continues

JJ UTG. I limp hoping to reraise. Well, BB raises but I didn't reraise enough since it went 3 way. Flop is QTT. BB and I check, 3rd wheel puts in PSB, SB goes all-in. WTF can I do but fold? QQ on the button. Time to lose some more. CO raises and I reraise to 17BB. That should define my hand, bitches. Still goes 3 way...OMFG. Client crashed when I tried to go all-in on the flop ATT (over aggro?). Fuck, fuck, fuck. What a waste of $5. Or, maybe I lucked out and someone was holding an A or a T. Fuckysticks.

Fuckit, next time I get one of the top 4, I'm going all-in preflop. Fire and forget. At least that way I don't have to worry about dodging overcards. Like that hand just there! AA vs. QQ (big stack). Wow, he's not so big anymore after paying off: AA, quad 9's and a full house on the same hand (quad's went all-in), and then my set of 7's. He has less than $4 left now. $170 to $4 in less than 5 hands.

Ah, guy on my left confirms my suspicions about guy on my right. He plays shit hands and likes to bluff against weakness. Lefty wins with TPWK. Guy on my right is my new target. Pocketducks, call his raise, miss the flop, and fold. AKo in the SB. Win the blinds by potting it on the flop. Wow, had I played A6o in the face of a raise, I'd have won a large pot with a 1 card straight.

Righty is loose but he's not stupid. (Pocketducks again, flop AAQ. C/F.) He's unlikely to call a push without a good second best hand. He'll probably slowdown if/when I reraise him preflop. I may get him with a set or AA vs. KK. There are some other people at the table who have me covered but I think lefty is the softest target. Okay, only two people now. I'd have got a backdoor flush against him had I stuck around until the river with QJs. Damn, and now he's gone. One person has me covered, table is shorthanded, and they're all tight. Leave.

Stalking righty, he's now two to my right. Played a few hands. Took K9s too far chasing a gutshot. KT would have flopped broadway. Righty has lost about $10 so far. Reload? KK in the BB. Hope someone raises. Nope, have to raise limped pot to $5.25. Two callers. Push Jack-high/2 flush flop get 1 caller. Caller shows 88. Phew. Sooner or later I'm getting cracked and then I'll just go spare.

Guy to my immediate right has me covered. His play seems quite solid and my image is rock like so doubling up again is going to take some doing. Table is shorthanded. Damn.

/quit +$38.

The Grind

Back to it for an hour or so. Took ages to find a table, POS site.

Finally found one that looks loose enough. UTG raises to 5BB and I've just posted the blind in MP3 with AQs. I fold preflop not wanting to be dominated. Villain shows ATs and wins with a pair of Tens. Then I limp with KQs, call a raise to see a flop but only get a gutshot. C/F. Although, I made the mistake of checking here which allowed someone behind me to push me off my draw. I think betting what I'm prepared to pay to draw and folding to a raise is better. I must say all this aggression is making my play super easy. Even when I'm pretty confident they're bluffing, I just fold. AKo, fold to 12BB raise behind me from a medium stack, losing 2BB that I'd called. Flop was Ace-high, so TPTK. He bet large at the flop (commited himself, really) so he either had AA, a set, or air. The good news is, I think I'm getting paid off when I make a hand. The preflop aggression might allow me to push AA/KK over a raise and get callers too. Although, knowing my luck, they'll get cracked. 33 UTG, UTG+1 raises. JJQ flop, turn is a Queen. I can't bail fast enough. UTG+1 shows down 77 vs. KQ. Well, duh, a naked Ace beats you tard. Let alone a slowplayed monster. CO A9o, fold. ATo UTG+2, fold. Board would have given me runner-runner Broadway. As it was someone else got T9 filled in for them. Damnit, might have taken a stack with a higher straight. 34s in the BB, flop bottom two pair. Uh oh. I name my SD but with a 6 on the river I bail when I'm reraised. Villain either had set, straight, or air. I know I have to SD something soon but bottom two with an obvious straight isn't the time or the place. In hindsight, I think my blocking bet was way too weak. I doubt I'm good here often enough to call what he asked though. I hate having two pair on a straight draw board. ATo on the button. $2 to go, fold. God, there are some donkeys at this table. I just wish I could stop missing the board. At the same time, I have to credit villains with hands better than Ace-high.

I don't know if I'm playing shit or what but this will be another losing session. It's only ~100 hands, though, so hardly a large sample. Also, I don't feel like I've spewed pre or post flop, particularly. I don't even know the odds of making a runner runner straight so I hardly think folding there was too bad. Oh, 0.5%.

Variance seens to be catching up with the LLAG donkeys. All their stacks are depleted considerably. Oh, but I see one of them now has a huge stack. Must have missed that action. Keep getting 72o, I should reraise that preflop, right? God. Just gone two full orbits without playable hands. And, yes, I need cards to win I'm afraid. Especially at this level. Wow, flop is QQQ. Cool :) Bully who got aggro with me is all-in now. Damn, his Q9o beat 99.

/quit -$10 over ~100 hands. 4th consecutive losing session. Bugger. Not long until July 1st either. Good good.

ToC

Just watched the 2005 Tournament of Champions (super. fast. torrent. zzz). Really, really entertaining and some great poker on the final table. I felt bad for Adams (? the internet player) when Hoyt cracked his Aces. He took it fantastically well. Matusow played brilliantly. Dannemann (sp?) showed he could come over a field of pros and that his 2nd wasn't a fluke. Hellmuth was pretty shit, in all honesty. He had a really nice call on Hoyt, though. Hoyt did the same to him later. Hellmuth going out with T8s was funny. Whining all the time about Hoyt was funnier. Matusow's all-in bluff was great.

Goto 666

Jesus, QQ in the BB, raised one limper and the SB. Flop is KKx. Great! Checked around, I call down KQo to lose about $6 (including PFR). Fuckoff? lol, QQ again but I limp, get set on the turn, don't win much against the previous cunt (asked too high a price on the river; I wanted my goddamn money back). Raise KK preflop, no callers. Fuck you nits. Or maybe since I showed down QQ they suspect I actually have hands? Whatever, table was too tight for my liking. /quit -$6. Great.

Would have broken even if it weren't for my calling down. Duh! I also made mistakes with the second QQ: Didn't raise preflop, didn't bet flop, called turn, bet too much on river. I should have just pushed his bet on the turn. It looks donktastic so he probably calls with TP. He probably wouldn't have put me on QQ either since I'd just shown it down. Damn, what a missed oppotunity to get my money back.

Natural Born Gambler

This is a gambler. He is a gambler who plays poker but a gambler nonetheless. Notice how the poker players respond to him. If you play poker, do not be this type of player; he is exactly what the good players feed off. He talks about being a 'feel' player and mixing it up. I feel sorry for him because he has a problem.

His hypothetical shows that he has no real understanding of the game. As he states it, easy push. As it's restated that the lone Ten of Hearts is the nuts, I still push. Why? Because HU I am not folding because I fear one card and because I would never gamble my entire personal wealth, not even my entire roll.

If he's for real, I hope he gets the help he needs.

All that said, I am playing outside my roll, and thus my risk of ruin is higher than it should be. I have about 8 buy-ins for 25NL instead of the recommended 15. I really don't see this being a problem since I'm essentially nut-camping. This is only profitable because the play and the players at this level are, for the most part, totally awful and pay me off whenever I do have a monster hand. I think 'counterplay' is good upto 200NL on this site, if not beyond. So while I am gambling beyond my roll, I think my risk of ruin is small to nil.

As such, I will move to 50NL without an adequate BR when I hit $350 by depositing $100 and using that as my 50NL roll. If I bust that $100, then I don't move up until I hit $650.

KQo, folded to the 3rd flush card on the turn (had middle pair). Would have rivered a 3rd King. JJ, raised from button, I call and I'm looking at an overpair to the board, heart flush draw (I had the Jack of Hearts). Someone puts in a 1/3 pot bet, PFR folds, and I really, really think about calling. I think it was close so I folded. Flop bettor shows 22, a set. River was a Jack. Results wise, I made the right decision there. The river card is just a tease. If that set had been slowplayed, giving me a free turn card then a reasonable bet, I'd have rivered him. So results wise for him, fast playing was the way to go. However, if both the turn and the river were a blank he wins more from me. Good job he doesn't know that :) My counterplay (limping JJ, calling the raise) allowed me to get away from this.

Then I get 55, I call a $1 raise. Person who lost to the set goes all-in behind me. I think this is an aggro donkey move to pick up the dead money. I can see him tilting and doing this with any two cards. But I'm not confident enough of this to risk a full buy-in. If I was SS, that's an easy call.

Set hunting isn't going well, almost all my losses this session come from calling PFRs with PP. The rest are blinds and limps. I think I'll find I'm down a good $10 when I quit in an orbit.

Oh, cancel that. Just lost $6 with the idiot end of a straight out of the BB. Obviously 62o is a great hand, kudos for limping with that because if somebody does make the wheel you beat them. Genius. 67s, I can take but hitting 4 perfect cards that's a little too much luck. I called his raise on the river because I thought we were splitting. Bollocks.

That makes it a -$15 session instead of a more reasonable -$9. Oh well, that's poker.

Given my current winrate, it might be longer than I anticipated before I move up, even with a shortcut. Week so far:

sun, 1120-1210, 0h 50m, +20, 25n
sun, 1340-1515, 1h 30m, -3, 25n
sun, 1800-1830, 0h 30m, -9, 25n
sun, 2030-2115, 0h 45m, +37, 25n
mon, 1210-1400, 2h 00m, -2, 25n
mon, 1710-1810, 1h 00m, -10, 25n
mon, 2100-2125, 0h 25m, +9, 25n
tue, 1930-2030, 1h 00m, -15, 25n

Call it 8hrs for +$29, $3.63/h. That's really not a great sample size to work with. I don't have PT so working out BB/100 is impossible, unless we assume all hands seen rather than all hands played (I don't know if that's how it's figured anyway) which 1-tabling works out to 12BB/100. AFAIK, that's good but my sample size is so tiny it really means nothing. However, going off of that playing 1 hr per night during the week, 2 hrs per day at the weekend, that's 4.5 weeks to move up. Sounds quite reasonable, even to the point of being slow. Perhaps $300 (3 wks) should be my 'shot point'. I'll see how the rest of this week pans out first.

Cowboys

Picked up KK in the CO, raised to $1 odd before me, I make it $5. SS limper pushs $10 all-in and the initial raiser folds. Limper pushing like that is weird but I call. I was thinking, "If I'm going to run into AA vs. KK this is a cheap time to do it." I win unimproved. Maybe limper had Queens but I don't give him that much credit.

Another SS pushed with T7s, called by AKs. Short stack won!

Bah, I try and limp KTo in MP3 but the biggest stack at the table raises. At SD he can't beat A8o (pair of Aces). Interesting :) I keep picking up KTo OOP, kind of a pain.

Fold 73o in the BB to the min raise. Flop two pair.

Last orbit. Table's shorthanded and I need to bank my small profit. /quit +$9. Not bad for a 25 min session. Cancels out my earlier loss :)

I own preflop but when someone's junk AI cracks AA/KK I am going to be howling.

Mixed marriage

KQo in the BB. Checked preflop, checked flop with an Ace, turn is a King. I bet 1/4 pot or so. 2 callers. River is another Ace. I check, checked behind. I win smallish pot. I don't like my line here. If anyone has an Ace they probably bet that flop. So I have to assume that no one has an Ace, and if no one has an Ace then KQ is TPTK. I should bet the river for value given that I am probably WA. Table is kind of dead now. Crap, disconnected.

Going to have to talk to Pipex support. It's probably outside of their control but it seems odd that someone else I know who uses Pipex doesn't have an issue. The only difference between him and me is that he's not on the dreaded 'Traffic Monitoring' scheme. I want to know why the hell traffic to xs4all.nl is going through in-addr.arpa for a reverse DNS lookup.

Crap, my TT just ran into QQ. Neither of us improved on a low raggedy board. Lost about $5 there. I thought he had a piece of the board and I was ahead. Guess he thought the same. I don't see myself getting away from that, just like JJ didn't get away from it when I had QQ. His minraise preflop tells me nothing.

/quit -$10. Jesus, how'd that happen?