Monthly review- July 2010

Monthly Review- July 2010  
Cash winnings: $874.47
SNG/MTT winnings: $0
Rakeback: $468.39 FPP value (11,709.65VPPs * 2.5 FPPs/VPP * 1.6c/FPP)
Stellar Rewards- $150
Current Bankroll- $3,658.70+35,093.64 FPPs x1.6c= $561.50= $4,220.20
Hours played|$/hr: 95.93| $15.56/hr
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$1,492.83 profit

It was an interesting month to say the least.  I played a decent volume (91 hrs) but hit some tremendous variance (15 buy-ins under all-in ev) and so my hourly rate suffered.  Yesterday was the worst where I dropped nearly 14 buy-ins in less than 2 hrs.  

I do keep having to remind myself though that this is a hobby right now and anything gained is a step in the right direction. 

On a positive note, I did a ton of review of my game.. watched a lot of videos, read hand histories, studied opponents, and feel like I made great strides in overhauling my game and plugging leaks.

Not to go into any great detail, but I did purchase the leakbuster software that comes as an add-on to hold'em manager.  It is not necessary for someone to review their game, but it definitely makes things a lot easier.  However, I take the "acceptable" ranges of stats with a grain of salt.  The program's real merit is in its ability to break your game down into individual components and tell you whether you are winning or losing money in that area.  For example, light 3-betting. It showed that I was leaking a ton of money 3-betting suited connectors but was making a lot with suited blocker hands like Q8s, K2s, A5s etc.  The reason being obvious, the villian will be less likely to have AA/KK/KK and big Ax hands thus by process of elimination the light 3-betting works immediately to get more folds.  And if they do call ip you have big suited cards that can continue on a lot of flops.

There are a few other areas that I won't go into.  Maybe I will do a writeup sometime on plugging leaks via HEM.  (which so far is leaps and bounds better than PT3)

 To summarize the month, I struggled trying to find the best games for me and finally settled in on standard 100bb games.  The 50bb thing was getting very old and while it was nice to build a roll from the ground up with low variance, I felt like it was holding my game back.  A monkey with a stick can win with a 50bb stack.  I want to be a monkey that can win without a stick and lots of chips :)  In August I will continue to grind 25NL until 5K.  After that I will move up to 50NL hopefully for good.  I feel that even if I could "beat" 50NL before now, I wanted to make sure I plugged most of my big leaks before starting to splash more money around the table.  I am pretty sure I am there now and just need the 100 buy-ins to move up.

By the way, I have been meaning to start setting targets both short term and long term.  I will go ahead and do next month  (I don't call them goals by the way, because then you feel like crap when you don't reach them.. its a mental thing)

Targets for next month:

1. Get rolled for 50NL and move up.

2. Stop looking at the how I am doing during sessions.  Focus on playing hands and table selecting and only check the cashier once a week (Sunday evenings?) 

3. Work on continuing to lop off my C-game.

4. Set a more rigid playing schedule.

5. Start working out again and continue eating well.

6. Play 200,000 hands.

So I reviewed some hands from earlier this year...

First of all I made the switch to Hold'em Manager.  I watched a Deucescracked video on it and was sold.  The greater flexibility on reviewing my play makes it a much better choice for me.  And besides that, it runs much faster doesn't take 40 hours to perform maintenance on a database.  (It takes like 15 minutes)

So then I reviewed some hands from a 50NL session in February.  I had my mouth open seeing how I played a bunch of hands. It was like the twilight zone on how bad I was less than 6 months ago and I wonder how the hell did I not go bust.  I was a super mega nitfish to say the least.  I would post a hand or two but they are way too embarassing.

On another note, I have been experimenting on different setups.  I have been a stacker for some time so its rather awkward to try new setups.  I have been playing a few 2NL sessions with "stack and tile."  Its a nice program but really slows down play for megatabling.  I really can't see much benefit to it and there is way too much clicking and eye movement required.  What I really want is the ability to watch the action on the laptop and still play a lot of tables.

I guess as long as I play on a 17" laptop I will be stuck stacking.  The most I can reasonable tile is 6 tables and they are so tiny it hurts my eyes to try and read the HUD.  The thing is, if I am playing less tables and really concentrating on exploiting people, I prefer to tile.  I am guessing 12 tables would be a good sweet spot for me if I had a PC with a 24"ish monitor.   I am not sure I am willing to cash out the $1,500 or so necessary to get a good PC.. I have a lot of thinking to do on the subject.

My main concern is on becoming an FPP pro and burning out.  I want to improve and move up and not just get stuck at 100NL or whatever as a mega tabling nit who hates going to "work."  On the other hand, I really want Supernova and then the 200k VPP bonus after that before the year end.  It would be tough to get there without mega tabling.

I guess I have a lot of thinking to do on the matter.

Floundering lately

So I am about $300 under all-in ev lately which is likely why I have been treading water for the past week.  I have had a couple minor downswings in the 6-10 buy-in range so no significant damage to the BR.

Game selection continues to suck.  I am likely switching back to the 50bb max tables again because they are definitely fishier.

On another note, I am headed back out West tomorrow for work.  I am not sure what my schedule will be like but it would be nice to play a ton of hands in my downtime out there.  

I would like to make a push for Supernova by the end of September and the possibly go for 200kVPPS by years end.  I am hoping to be a permanent reg at 100NL by the time I get Supernova and that'll make it fairly easy.

Effective bankroll is about $3,700 now.

Played my first 100NL session!

So I went ahead and made the leap to 100NL playing a 50bb stack.  If I do this I have 60 buy-ins for the level and I feel that is sufficient.  I will drop back down if I hit some huge downswing and end up losing like 1k or something

I was pretty dang happy with the tables that were available.  People were actually putting money in the pot again.. it was nice to get paid a couple of times on decent hands.

I got over 1kVPPs in 2.5 hrs which is pretty dang insane. If I can just break even at 100NL I will probably make more money a month then in my real job.

I did get coolered a few times or else I woulda had a huge winning session.  I do not dwell on bad beats, its just always funny to run extremely good and play good and still end up down money anyways.

Here are three of the ones:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

UTG+1 ($101)
MP1 ($75)
MP2 ($105.20)
MP3 ($121.10)
CO ($40)
Hero (Button) ($72.25)
SB ($192.60)
BB ($100)
UTG ($109.55)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6, K
6 folds, Hero bets $2.40, SB raises to $3.80, BB calls $2.80, Hero calls $1.40

Flop: ($11.40) 3, 4, 2 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $8.10, SB calls $8.10, BB calls $8.10

Turn: ($35.70) 9 (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $20, Hero raises to $60.35 (All-In), SB calls $60.35, 1 fold

River: ($176.40) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $176.40 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 6, K (flush, King high).
SB had 9, A (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: SB won $173.40
SUBMIT A BUG
Converted hand:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/Poker-Hand-6dKd-Ring-Button-1129051.php

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

MP3 ($115.45)
CO ($100)
Button ($65.25)
SB ($100)
BB ($36.90)
UTG ($100)
UTG+1 ($43.35)
Hero (MP1) ($60.90)
MP2 ($40)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 10, 10
2 folds, Hero bets $3.60, 2 folds, CO calls $3.60, 3 folds

Flop: ($8.70) 2, J, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $6.20, CO calls $6.20

Turn: ($21.10) J (2 players)
Hero bets $10.65, CO calls $10.65

River: ($42.40) J (2 players)
Hero bets $14.50, CO raises to $79.55 (All-In), Hero calls $25.95 (All-In)

Total pot: $123.30 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 10, 10 (full house, Jacks over tens).
CO had J, Q (four of a kind, Jacks).
Outcome: CO won $120.30
SUBMIT A BUG
Converted hand:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/Poker-Hand-ThTs-Ring-MP1-1129053.php

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

MP2 ($96.90)
MP3 ($116.10)
Hero (CO) ($50)
Button ($30.95)
SB ($102)
BB ($104.50)
UTG ($98.50)
UTG+1 ($101.50)
MP1 ($80)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 10, 9
5 folds, Hero bets $2.40, Button calls $2.40, SB calls $1.90, 1 fold

Flop: ($8.20) J, 3, Q (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $5.85, Button calls $5.85, 1 fold

Turn: ($19.90) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $41.75 (All-In), Button calls $22.70 (All-In)

River: ($65.30) 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $65.30 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had 10, K (straight, King high).
Hero had 10, 9 (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Button won $62.30
SUBMIT A BUG
Converted hand:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/Poker-Hand-Tc9c-Ring-CO-1129054.php

Crappy player pool

50NL has proven to be very very nitty.. with a much lower player pool than both 25NL and 100NL.. There were 92 tables of 25NL, 85 tables of 100nl, and 42 tables of 50NL earlier today. This makes game selection difficult.

I am thinking my best bet might be to grind up to 5k and then switch straight up to 100NL. It might make for culture shock, but spending X number of hands playing 50NL against a bunch of nitty regs makes my stomach churn.

Thinking of moving up

The BR is now above 3K with FPPs figured in. My game seems to be coming together nicely lately and I am curious as to how I will do at 50NL. My move earlier this year was a feeble one with the worst downswing of my poker career (24 buy-ins) so I guess its natural to be a bit gun shy.

I feel like I am leaps and bounds ahead of where I was back then and even though I had a big downswing, I still ran .86BB/100.. so it wasn't like I was a loser.

I guess I will go ahead and make the leap again because if I am able to beat 50NL for a decent rate now, I am wasting money by not moving up.

On another note, I am now playing a 100bb stack vs. the 50bb stack I had been employing through May and June. I feel like my game has progressed to where I can handle those "tough spots" you get into with deeper stacks... I feel like I get much more value out of my big hands now and can manage the pot against the nits much more effectively. I love putting them in tough spots.

I am also running around 15/13 now vs the old 11/9 or whatever I used to run. The games are pretty loose lately so I consider 15/13 pretty dang laggy.

So I will post my progress at 50NL once I get a few thousand hands under my belt.

The games suck lately

So yeah.. having a hard time getting a large number of decent tables up. Every table is like 90% nits constantly all day long, even at 25NL lately. What the heck is going on here?

Anyways, after a few straight lackluster days at the tables.. I have decided to try a new strategy for awhile. It might be a flop but who knows. I am going to transition to LAG for a bit and see if that makes things a bit simpler for me.

Obviously the thing a TAG fears most is a good LAG. The worst thing I can do is try to play a TAG style on a table full of TAGs.. so the obvious thing for me to do is the opposite.

I played a couple of hours tonight running around 22/20 I'd guess and it was surprising how easy all of my decisions suddenly are. Instead of focusing on making hands and valuebetting I am now doing nothing but looking for profitable spots both preflop and postflop.

For example, we all know that a decent TAG has a range of hands postflop and how much they want to invest depending on what part of their range connects. So we pressure their range constantly at the right sweet spots to elicit folds via bluffs or get them to make mistakes and put a bit more in when we are ahead of their range etc. Its rather fun watching them squirm with their "big" decisions when I already know exactly what they are likely to do with each part of their range. (I know because I have played their style for so long)

All I do is watch for the right spots and then plan exactly what I am going to do profitably long before the flop hits the felt.

But overall, the main reason for me to switch over to LAG is to get action. Its hard to get your whole stack in with the nuts when all you will get your whole stack in is with the nuts. Waiting to cooler or get coolered simply is not fun.

Here is my graph for today.. you can see when I switched to LAG, my red line shoots upwards. Notice most of the money I made was in non-showdown money.. its nice having cards not matter.



One downside of the switch, however, is that I had to lower my tables to 20 at a time instead of 24.. I will try to build back up to 24 slowly over time. 24 tabling a LAG style would be pretty sick.