Poker Blogs - Texas Holdem Poker

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006

Meeza back!

Posted 9:51 am in Categories: Poker

Well as you may have read in my most previous blog, I indeed did go busto.

I'm back now. Properly focused and starting to delve deeper into the game.

I've had a lot of time thinking about why I busted and I truly believe it was not poor play alone. Sure, there is going to be bad play; but I do not think this was the primary cause.

Twas' mainly bankroll management. At one point I was going so high up in cash games that I was sitting with over 50% of my roll at the table. Sure - I was lucky enough to kick arse for the first day or two... but then I convinced myself that I could handle the pace at the higher stakes. Pfft. ^^ = busto.

Started things off the other day with $200 on FullTilt… amped to get my feet wet in the SnGs. It was a shaky start, but I think the ball is rolling now.

SnGs
Buy-in $5.50
Payouts $22.50 $13.50 $9.00

1st 3
2nd 4
3rd 3
xxx 9

Played 19
ROI% 42.11%
ITM% 52.63%
Net Profit $44.00

The plan is to slowly build as I work towards the 10+1 SnGs. I've kind of said to myself that I am only moving to the next level once I have accomplished the following things.

1/ Build up ~35 buy-ins (Little less then $400 - NOT including Rakeback and bonuses)
2/ Play about 100/200 5.50SnGs with a steady ROI% of 15%/20%+

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Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Busto!

Posted 5:41 am in Categories: Poker

I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.
I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll at any one time.

Okay that'll do.

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Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

Books and goals.

Posted 11:07 am in Categories: Poker

This isn’t a very exciting blog, rather just a long overdue update.

I recently decided to steer away from cash games and focus completely on tournaments. I’ll be playing nothing other then the $5.50 MTTs on Full Tilt, with perhaps the occasionally STT SnG thrown in if there are not any big tournaments running.

The reason for the decision was pretty simple. Firstly, for me, cash games became a little too dull, and in the foreseeable future I could not see my BR increasing significantly as a result of my time spent at the ring games. Unless of course I “took a gamble” and played out of BR, which will never be an option. Secondly, I find that I enjoy tournaments much more then ring games. And last of all the big prize pools in tournaments appeal to me, as well as the confidence boost that comes with it.

Today my Harrington book series arrived which was really exciting. I’m a few chapters into Volume I and I am already looking at this game in a completely different light. It’s pretty amazing to see how my mind thought about this game two weeks ago as opposed to now… Hopefully, as I continue to work my way through this series I will come across more moments like this. I’m sure that will be a positive sign that my game is improving and I hope that my bankroll will begin to follow suit if this is the case.

I think at this point it would be a good idea to set myself some realistic, yet challenging goals.
In one month’s time I hope to…

*
Specific goals:
Make two MTT final tables.

General goals:
Work on the mathematical side of my game.

Here is a hand which saw me bail out of a recent MTT. It is an obvious mistake, but I feel it’s important for me to really start looking at these key hands in order to improve my game.

I felt that villain re-raised me out of spite because before this particular clash, I stole about 4 or 5 pots in a row. Calling the initial raise was mighty silly because after I looked back at the hand histories I learnt that this guy was a rock solid player. He never showed down anything worse then AQs, so I should of immediately put him on a higher pocket pair due to volume behind that raise (which I kind of did yet foolishly tried to talk myself into think he had AK). Before the call I am coming about 18th out of a remaining 110, so in excellent shape, yet I just didn’t lay it down. Bleh.

Full Tilt Poker Game #946893015: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (6206818), Table 4 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 9:27:13 ET - 2006/08/29
Seat 1: Fridas_Boss (2,495)
Seat 2: Q of the Nile (1,320)
Seat 3: HOKUSPOKUS (1,330), is sitting out
Seat 4: Oasis123 (3,510)
Seat 6: Jach Row (2,650)
Seat 7: Whiz101 (765)
Seat 8: GhostOTedBinion (1,775)
Seat 9: drbandit (2,535)
GhostOTedBinion posts the small blind of 25
drbandit posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #7
* HOLE CARDS *
Dealt to Oasis123 Jack of Diamonds Jack of Clubs
Fridas_Boss folds
Q of the Nile folds
HOKUSPOKUS folds
Oasis123 raises to 250
Jach Row raises to 1,200
Whiz101 folds
GhostOTedBinion folds
drbandit folds
Oasis123: thats a big raise
Oasis123 has 15 seconds left to act
Oasis123 calls 950
* FLOP * Seven of Diamonds Ten of Diamonds Six of Hearts
Oasis123 bets 2,310, and is all in
Jach Row calls 1,450, and is all in
Oasis123 shows Jack of Diamonds Jack of Clubs
Jach Row shows Ace of Clubs Ace of Hearts
Uncalled bet of 860 returned to Oasis123
* TURN * King of Clubs
* RIVER * Six of Spades
Oasis123 shows two pair, Jacks and Sixes
Jach Row shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
Jach Row wins the pot (5,375) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
* SUMMARY *
Total pot 5,375 | Rake 0
Board: Seven of Diamonds Ten of Diamonds Six of Hearts
Seat 1: Fridas_Boss didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Q of the Nile didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: HOKUSPOKUS didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Oasis123 showed Jack of Diamonds Jack of Clubs and lost with two pair, Jacks and Sixes
Seat 6: Jach Row showed Ace of Clubs Ace of Hearts and won (5,375) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 7: Whiz101 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: GhostOTedBinion (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: drbandit (big blind) folded before the Flop

Was dealt KK a few hand later but lost to a set of queens.

Any thoughts?

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Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

Multitabling and the ‘click’ factor.

Posted 11:23 am in Categories: Poker

Right, well this afternoon felt really strange. So many things in my poker game just fell together and I am really seeing this game in a new light. I have confirmed and began working on a lot of new problems I have found in my game, and am continually on the hunt for any more which may surface.

One of the major things I have verified and eliminated is a problem which falls into the risk versus reward category. I read a lot about aggression in books and on the forums and learnt fairly quickly that a clever aggressive player is a winning player. I wanted to be like that. But, I was doing it all wrong. I play 10NL and found myself trying to steal a lot of 30/40cent pots on the flop; I thought this was aggressive and therefore thought it was the right thing to do. Sure, that’s great, but it did not work every time. All of those pot sized bets I’d put out there in the dark generally became extremely costly over a long period. I would take down big pots occasionally when I actually had a hand. This is good… but I’d lose the profit from these hands and then some from all my stupid attempts to steal a pot on later hands. THEN, when I actually got beaten (which happens) – I was really in the hole. Took me a few weeks to figure this out, but after tonight’s session I am doing wonderfully.

Oh yeah, this brings me to the second point I wanted to talk about – I tried Multitabling for the first time tonight. Only two tables because I didn’t want to be in over my head. Well, I find that it helps A LOT to multitable. This is because if I get a dry-ish run of cards I’ll tend to limp through with hands I wouldn’t normally play, or take hands too far because I just want in on the action. Boredom they call it. Anyway, Multitabling is good because generally speaking, there is always going to be some kind of action for me to be a part of and it keeps my brain in gear.

I have just seemed to have ‘clicked’... I know I still have a very long way to go, and there was probably some positive variance helping me along tonight, but I don’t care. I was definitely doing something right tonight and am feeling very confident.

I’m going to go out on a limp here, some may agree but I feel that…

“Winning poker = fucking boring poker”

Thoughts?

*
Bankroll is at $211.85

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Lil’ Updateage

Posted 3:55 am in Categories: Poker

Okay well not much has happened lately, just been grinding my little ass off trying to play as much poker as I can. Cleared the first $18 of my Full Tilt Poker deposit… sheesh, it’s going to be tough to clear the remaining $162, that’s for sure. Anyone know any other sites with some sort of Rakeback bonus and with a deposit bonus that is easier to clear?

So basically, I’ve been playing as much poker as I can over the last few days, still not profitable, but I don’t expect to be just yet. After a little chat with Craig I changed the way I think about a few things so I hope this will be a turn for the best. The point is just to knuckle down and play a lot of hands and slowly yet surely weed out the things which are costing me while not being results orientated.

I’ll most probably purchase poker tracker in the next week or two, it’d be a little pointless at the moment since I only have a few thousands hands saved, I’d like to get a bigger data pool first, then work from there.

The plan for the near future is to:

Play copious amounts of 10NL.
Not think about the money, just try and make the best decision every time.
Harass the forum with hand histories.
Read the HoH series.
Dabble in some SnGs/MTTs

*
Bank roll is at $180.55

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