Ran bad, but with new learning... so I am ok with that

I haven't done the math yet, but it was not a pretty week. I must have cut my +$1500.00 run down by a third this week. I will check and post the damage but there is something interesting to go over first (ugh as I type this I had another guy (a total fish) hit a set to my over pair... I hate those kicks in the gut!).... sigh



Anyway, as I said I certainly ran bad this week, lots of hands I just could not get away from. Over sets, two pair to my top top, over flushed, coolered you name it, I hit it this week. But there is more to it than that. This was also a week that I Added a new element to my ....



HOLD ON I have the fish heads up... ok made a few more bucks before the table filled up again.



As I was saying this is also a week that I added a new element to my game. Through discussion with poker partner Slurpee Dude on some reading he was doing recently we decided that the biggest difference between ourselves and the players that have the ROI trajectory that we are trying to get to is money left on the table in the hands that are somewhat marginal wins. This may sound like some pretty basic stuff but knowing it is one thing, put it into practice is entirely another.



The change I was trying to implement was to call less and be the last bet into the pot more often. For example it was a while ago that I realized that AK should be a raising hand not a call when the pot is already opened kind of hand... but that is the easiest one to do.



So I took the advice to raise more, or fold, not call and tried to work it into my game (Keep in mind that last set of changes I made made a huge impact on my profitability giving me the best stats and profit run I have experienced). But how to implement it...



If AK is a hand I want to be the last raise in pre flop with more often, does that apply to AQ? If not why not. While it did not feel good, I was trying to move out of my comfort zone so I pushed myself to do it, more because I could not see why not really. So imagine the leak in your game when someone opens the pot with AK and you go to the flop as the final raiser with AQ.



The other part of the changes I wanted to implement was to sharpen my reads to be able to value bet more, and allow my opponent to make drawing calls with slightly bad pot odds, but not always bet them out of the pot.



Two problems with these changes this week.... 1) They were hitting their draws every time, and 2) I was getting frustrated with the hitting and lost the ability to fold when I needed to. Next since the poker Gods seemed content to let every opponent hit a set on me, the very week I was increasing my aggression or value betting hands like large over pairs more... this also created a leak or gaping hole in my game. Obviously if you allowing your opponents to draw more often to add some to your pot 3/4 times, then you need to know a) what they are drawing to and b) be able to freakin fold when they hit and over bet their hit!!


One hand comes to mind where this hurt, I have KK against 55, an overaggressive player at 2$ hits his set on me in a rag flop, he bets into me and I raise. Then his bet on river pretty much commits me, and boom another big loss.

So all in all I don't think that it is the wrong thing to add more value to the hands I am going to win, but overall it is a mistake to go into a session adding in two more aggressive layers into your game at the same time, and thinking, ok I am going to increase the aggression to max out my profit... nothing wrong with the sentiment but if the table texture and action requires a less aggressive position you are leaving yourself very exposed... So a bad time to run bad for sure

Here is a hand where I did max out the value on:

I am Phase II with (9h9c)

Texas Hold'em $0.50-$0.50 NL (Real Money), #528,069,099
Table Mogadischu, 30 Jun 2007 12:20 PM ET
Seat 1: Phase II ($88.70 in chips)
Seat 4: Seraph235 ($96.80 in chips)
Seat 5: flundra10 ($12.45 in chips)
Seat 6: CMETAHA ($56.10 in chips)
Seat 10: DonLC14 ($53.80 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDSSeraph235 posts blind ($0.25), flundra10 posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP:
CMETAHA folds, DonLC14 folds,
Phase II bets $1.50, (9h9c)
Seraph235 calls $1.25,
flundra10 calls $1.

FLOP:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C ]
Seraph235 bets $3
flundra10 calls $3,
Phase II bets $10,
Seraph235 calls $7,
flundra10 calls $7.

TURN:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C,5S ]
Seraph235 checks, flundra10 checks, Phase II checks.

RIVER:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C,5S,9D ]
Seraph235 checks,
flundra10 checks,
Phase II bets $5,

- I thought about this bet for a long time. The had to be coming with something, and it would only take a 7 to beat me... I normally would check here, but decided from the actions of my opponents that I was a likely to get a call and that no one was open ended on the turn. I did not think I was leading the whole way I will admit.

Seraph235 calls $5,
flundra10 calls $0.95 and is all-in.

SHOWDOWN:
Phase II shows [ 9H,9C ]
Seraph235 mucks cards [ KH,8H ]
flundra10 mucks cards [ AS,6S ]

Phase II wins $8.10, Phase II wins $35.85.

So the idea is this is the extra few bucks I need to be taking down when I am far from the nuts, but likely in the lead. This big fat middle area is where I believe the profit to be that will make the difference for me.

New, New High

Things continue to go well. I am keeping myself out of trouble for the most part, and overall I am comfortable with my play. Of course I have been here before so I need to stay alert to any developing leaks in bank roll management, or play.

This is an nice place to be right now. I am not terribly worried about my cash flow which is great. It is nice to play at the limit that I can afford and have it also be a game that I can beat.

there is no question that I have been hitting and last nights session actually had some sick beats in it. For example twice I flopped top two to my opponent flopping a set, and a few other hands that are a little sticky to get away from. But I made it back and finished the session positive anyway. Believe it or not I am actually thankful for that session as I was starting to worry about the lack of sicker hands that I have been experiencing lately. I have lived through or gone broke through weeks of running bad, and it can happen again (look forward in time through my blog for the next "Man, NOTHING will hold up" post).

Anyway where I am at now:

Cash and tourney since May 2nd 2007: +1440.00

I am feeling the itch to buy myself a cheap laptop, and or pay off a little of my credit card with some of this cash, but will hold off as long as I can.

So close in a tourney

Finished 9th today in a 5K tourney for $150.00

While I should be happy as this is my best tourney cash for a very long time, I am disappointed with the final hand. Once we hit the final table, every person out would guarantee me anther 50 then 100 then more pretty quickly. So I wanted to tighten up as every position I move up the cash has value to me. There really was no room for play though, the blinds were up pretty high so for 70% of the table it was all in or nothing. I got AK and pushed. I was isolated by the chip leader (who had his money in bad several times and took guys out yuck) turns over AQ. I couldn't be happier than to have him pinned to a three outer. Flop 9 9 Q. Lights out.

Yes yes, it happens, but I played well and wanted a big cash badly so I am pretty pissed. Can't shake it so I gotta shut down my session for now, I wont be any good for cash. Knowing I am not in the mindset to play cash well does make me feel a little better (at the good decision).

Anyway moving on...

So the good news is this means I am sitting at +1200.00 since my last bust out (will need to check the date for future posts).

So I Will steal a page from GroovyT's blog and start to post my wins tracking:

Wins since May 2007: +1200.00

New High

Closed my bankroll at a new high (for this newest run since I think early 07 - would have to read my blog to be sure of the start date, but who the hell reads these things anyway)

I have $645.00 in play, but have also given my wife $90 since my restarts and of course the $250 back to Slurpee Dude. So all in all I have ran nothing but a free tourney entry into $988.00 over the past couple of months at 25 cent to 2$.

I will stop mentioning the paid outs now and just focus to the actual cash I have going forward. So as it stands right now:

$153 in click 2 pay
$83 @ Full Tilt
$412 @ Hollywood

This puts me over a quarter of the way to my 2K goal by the end of August.

What has happened over the past week. Well, I had a two day fantastic run here this week, starting last night in a 50 cent short handed NL HE game with a $5 or $10 straddle on. No word of a lie, I am in a session and this guy (bless you sir) sits down and starts to bet 5.50 or 10.50 every hand. So he takes down about 15 blinds in a row before the table starts to react to him and push back. Then all hell broke loose.

The average pot at this 50 cent table was $173.00 and not much below that for about an hour. This guy is all in preflop with anything and everything and or betting people off of the turn and the river with an all in. Soon he is up to over $700.00 (remember this is a $50.00 max buy in) and I am down about $180 (the hands don't matter playing this guy). My favorite hand that this maniac won was a re-raise all in against a guy with KK for a $180.00 pot... with 10 7 diamonds... and he hits his diamond, J high, straigh flush, very lovely.

It was neat to have to adapt my game to how he was betting, as did a couple of other better players. for example, blinds 25 and 50 cent... he makes it $10.50 I have AK o, I raise to $35, he calls, I hit I check, he bets $30 then folds to my $48 check raise. So we can say the action was sick. But I refused to play a call and pray type of game, and I think I was right.

I called up Slurpee Dude and he cashed in for a triple up before leaving. The hardest part was when I started to catch, soon I have $220 (and only up about $35) at this table, and now tangling with this guy is getting really risky. He is all in for his $600, on a hair trigger.

Thankfully he was not a good enough player to recognize that the table had adapted and he was now giving back heavily to three of us. He would bet $10.50 and he would call a big raise with his rags... sometimes catching something sick and cleaning out yet another poor sap. Anyway I kept my head and used him as I should and after he left the table I had $300 and was up about $110. Don't get me wrong it was easy , I had to fold for $130 more into a $220 pot with AQ, A high board, no straight, no flush, on river he pushed at me, and I KNOW it was a good fold against sumb crumby two pair. So I really had to keep my head. (how did I know, well I did pick up on enough betting patterns (thanks PCH boys!) to make my decision based on his betting pattern... the cards DID, NOT, MATTER, he told me what he had by how he bet.

btw he left at just under $400.00 for and there was at least three of us at the table with $200 in play at this point. Very impressive really, I applaud this guy I really do. If he was a hair saner there would be a really good chance that he could have left us all negative hundreds and savagely on tilt.

Anyway so I stayed at the table and took over his roll as the big stack. Not exactly the same far more TAG than he was playing but it was confusing for the players to call my $35 flop or turn bet, and I was taking down some nice pots. So I closed the table up about $150 with over $350.. phew....

Today I took $40 of my winnings and gambled (no other word for it) with a short stack buy in at a $2 table, using the short stack gaem that I am building for myseld (I have a draft post saved with about a page of things I do and don't do, and it is working). But the table was full of short stacks so it was a game I could beat. I soon showed a couple bluffs put a guy on tilt and left after 20 minutes and $140 up.

This weekend I should hit my next $100 bonus, as I am getting close now.

So all is running well, and even better I feel more and more weathered for when it doesn't. We will see, but I know my learning has moved farther in the past three months than in the past year.

The Nordberg

I just want to post to say that Nordberg is a force to be reckoned with. I was but chaff in the wind to his might. I tried to take notes but it was too complicated to even write down.

(all in fun)
--Felter

When nothing holds up

Bad day, nothing held up (appropriate title eh?). The hands don't matter as there is no learning in any of them, but once all in I was 6 outed, 2 outed, runner runner flushed, oh and my favorite my nut flush vs his bluff K 5 miss... runner runner fives, with a paired board on the flop.

There is often learning but I am not so sure this time, other than this is an opportunity for me to work on not being angry for the rest of my night. Poker is a hard hobby for this reason, the feeling when these things happen is kind of hard to know if you don't play poker.

An attempt at explaining it might be a feeling of your gut has this weird empty feeling and you heart is sliding down into the empty space where your guts once were (ignore the graphic reference, I am going for a feeling here). Kind of a winded punched in the gut feeling.

Anyway so as I was saying the challenge is not to snap at your kids, or want to go sit alone in a room somewhere... and likely play more poker. I don't profess to be an expert at anything related to poker and this is another example of where I have a lot to learn.

I have not snapped at my kids and my lovely wife has nothing to fear, but I did need to sequester myself to a private place to blog for a few minutes. This is the only thing that I know of to cool me off.

Anyone have any ideas out there on what to do to cool off?

Wow as I type this... my AK for the rest of my stack all in vs a call from QJ for his whole stack (I have him covered by three bucks).... Flop 10 5 A, Turn K, river who cares... lol no biggie par for the course today

Back to poker

Well after a very distressing week in the Winnipeg poker community, it is time to return back to poker. Make sure you are checking out pegcityhustling.com for all that has happened in our little poker community. But it's time to move on, unless there is some support needed like the social they are talking about holding. If we do anything like that count Felter in.

I have returned to solid play, but it has not been very profitable. I think I may have found a leak in my game where I can have sessions that are way under aggressive. Almost as if there are two Felter's. But I have had a couple of sessions where I have noticed it mid session and changed it up. If I can notice it when it is happening it will be solved. I am beginning to understand how Phil Laak uses brainwave monitoring equipment and can see certain patterns in the images when he is playing well. When I am too laid back I bet it would be identifiable (as insane as this sounds, he really does it apparently).

I have had some swingy session and took my $209, down to $75 back to $205 a couple of times in a couple of sessions, but without tilting the solid play will keep you coming around. As I said before unless I run bad, and I just can't worry about that, I don't have the bankroll for it. So if it happens it happens.

Anyway I have about $212 right now and will continue to plug away. The next bonus is coming soon ($100) so that will help inject a little life back into my game.

Nothing else to report other than my thoughts are with the players who were charged in the raids. I hope nothing untoward happens as a result.

--Felter

Old ghosts returning

It appears that I am more of a creature of habit than I can control. In the past I have taken a small stake or small tourney cash, run it up to just under or just over a thousand dollars and then something happens, and I can not hold on to that bankroll as it slides through my fingers like a handfull of sand. The harder I grab at it the faster it slips through with only the sound of crushed aspirations as it slides into the abyss of failed dreams.

Sound a bit dramatic, yes it is, but to make a point. The micro grinders like me, the ones that are reading and studying and talking and blogging and posting are not really doing this for fun. We are doing it to beat the game; to prepare like a chess player to become a grand master. Until we can make a real go of it, it is not about the money but about the decisions (yet somehow all those Sklansky dollars ain't paying for this education).

Symptoms of the inevitable slide are:
1) Having a great run - CHECK
I took $25 from a free tourney entry win to $765, cashed out $250 to pay back my staker (from a previous $250 stake that I very nearly went broke on). At my high the remaining $475 was at $575 (mid session)

2) Beginning to play too much - CHECK
on a heater the game pulls you in. My goal of reaching a $2,000 bankroll seems like it will be within reach any minute now, the game gets easy, idiots try to bluff you off the second nuts and life is good

3) Since I am running this well here, at a higher limit I can.... - CHECK
If I am running this well at $1, I can step up to $2 and buy in short and ... yes I shamefully admit I made a return to $2 this week, with a $60 short stack buy in (but just one buy in was all I was going to risk) took a cooler and re bought... I ended this session, up 20 cents. When I doubled up the second buy in, I somehow came to my senses and left a table full of better players, or at least players with a much larger bankroll (and with aggressive poker being good poker, sometimes those two things are not as different as I would like to think)

4) Bad sessions increase in their depth - CHECK
I recovered magically from several sessions that cut my bankroll in half, or WORSE this week

5) Then the bad sessions BUT the recovery doesn't happen and you have two big bad sessions in a row - CHECK
I put back to back sessions together that ran me from $575 down to $98 - literally turning my baby bankroll into liquid shit. The first of these session had NO SHARPS in it at all. I played after coming home late just off the plane from a 19 hour day and lost more than $200 (it is hard to type that sentence and not erase it btw)

6) Playing sessions that are likely to be down - CHECK
(from the above point)

Doctor check me into the hospital, it was all coming to reality too quickly, and I slipped again. In the second large down session I was calling near pot bets with third pair sure he was bluffing, and was never right (funny how when I am on my game, I am sometimes right, when I am not, I am never right). Yes it is absolutely correct that my hands were just not holding up, my continuation bets were always getting called, I wasn't finding tables with the maniacs and LAGs that have built my bankroll up, but all of these things are symptoms of poor play too.

For example if your continuation bets are "always getting called" guess what, your competition has adapted to you, but you haven't adapted to you. Through playing too much and running poorly from some legitimate nasty river cards, I almost go into auto pilot. This is where I begin to play the game mechanically, I am concentrating and trying to play correct poker (notice I did not say Good poker) so I revert to a very safe, very predictable strategy and almost could sleep while doing it.

Anyway to wake myself up I went to a 25 cent table and played as an absolute LAG. This may look like tilt but absolutely was not. It was intentionally having a session where I intended to shake up my game (not the table, sorry badass23 but it was not about you at all). I opened every pot for the standard 8x blind raise and showed every garbage hand that was not called. Every time I caught a piece I over bet it, I would bet pre flop whatever the guy next to me had left. All of this when I thought I had the best hand or would not get a call. I finished that session at $57 from the $25 buy in... hmmm and I felt mentally alert again. I shook off the autopilot.

Then I returned to the game I have been doing well at. I bought into a $1 table for $20 and through good short stack poker I closed the table at $88 when I felt tired.

Hopefully my math is all correct but my baby bankroll currently sits (stake free) at $209.35 after those small recovery sessions. Unfortunately all it will take is solid good poker play, but on a bad run to eliminate this, but I can't worry about that. All I can do is return to setting as many things in my favour as possible. For example I virtually never win in early AM Sat and Sun sessions... and I am blogging rather than playing right now.

--Felter

Poorly Played Session

I am a little mad at myself right now for playing an extended session when I was too tired to do so. My hope was to finish the last 75 points to hit my $100 bonus, and when I hit I was $40 down, so then I decided just to get that flat... you guessed it, I closed $160 down.

Now this is not a huge deal as I was up $100 earlier in a session, and the day ended positive... but there is no way to let myself off the hook, I wasted $160.00 I did not need to waste.

Let's take a step back for a second. It was only two months ago that I pulled myself back to life in a cash from a points entry tourny and nursed that $25 into more than $700... If this is how I am going to play when I get a bit of baby fat on my bankroll I am not impressed.

As I type this ... three handed, AA to JJ he bets $5.50 pre flop I flat call J high flop, of course set of Jacks to AA - ouch... so down again now, but this was pretty tough to get away from not as big a deal... Need to focus and play careful