You may have noticed in recent posts that I have been getting somewhat emotionally attached to my results which have, lets be honest, not been great. However throughout this period despite internal fears of losing and the fact that my misery at the tables has spilled over into my homelife and meant that I've been a pain to live with (ask Nat), depsite this I have maintained my calm and made good decisions at the tables. There have in nearly 6000 hands of holdem only been one hand which I would play differently. Obviously I have made mistakes and misread situations BUT I have been happy with what I have done in a playing sense.
This is absolutely fundamental to poker and success in the game. If you approach the game with a negative attitude and assume you are going to lose, then shock, horror you will virtually every time. Now I know I have felt like this and have written about it here, but whenever I have sat down to play I have done so looking to win and playing the situation rather than my bankroll. I have not been scared by losing and laid down hands because it all got a bit big in the betting. I have not chased flushes and straights trying to win a monster. I've played good fundamental poker and am genuinely happy with how I have played at both hold'em and omaha.
Sadly results have been in a downward spiral and it is very difficult to look positively when outside of sessions when all you seem to have is misfortune.
Today I sat down after having had minimal sleep but I felt good and was concentraing well so I played a short session. I hadn't intended to play but it felt right for me and I was back into the right frame of mind to play. I've only played 600 hands and have quit for the day as tiredness has caught up with me again. For once hands hit me and I played nicely once more. The very last hand I played before quitting I was dealt AA in early position and the following happened
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1703593
It had been going pretty well and I decided to take a bit of a flier with my AA and overplayed it quite deliberately. I wanted to raise and get one not two callers. This said my raise is one where I am comitting to the pot a quarter of my stack so it is most unlikely I will be folding this regardless of the flop. My usual raise here with AA would be lower but I like mixing it up with my big hands and the overraise felt right to me.
As soon as I was called by the early position caller I put him on AK/JJ/TT. If he had more he would have reshoved and the way he played it the AK felt most likely. Plus he hesitated a lot before calling so I was confident it was not KK.
Anyway the flop came KJ8 which was going to be either brilliant or disasterous. Either way I am playing this hard. I raised just under pot and got put all in. Standard call (can't drop now) and luckily he did have the AK which I suspected. However it is always a relief when it gets pushed to you in these situations. It could have been JJ and gone the other way quite easily.
I've spoken before about how I like the overplay of hands. Usually they either pre or on the flop so I like to do it with big hands and more marginal ones as well so I keep people guessing. Plus because I do get seen (and show) when I do this with lower hands it gives me more margin for getting called and stacking someone when I do have the goods.
After the preflop call he can't do anything but go all in when he hits the K, if he doesn't go in then why has he played the hand in the first place? Anyway it was a superb note to finish on and is a good example of one way I occasionally play AA.
Anyway I won $1000 for the session and that makes rather a difference to how I feel about poker right now.
Hands - 6006
Profit - $1616.95
PTBB/100 - 3.37 (still not high enough 5.0 is the aim long term)
Steve
Showing posts with label hand history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hand history. Show all posts
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Return to Hold'em
And would you look at that, a successful day, a very successful day. There has been a multitude of fist pumping and general expressions of excitement, enthusiasm and less of the ennui which I have at times associated with this fine game.
I haven't played hold'em for about a month and you know what, it's good to be back. The break seems to have refreshed my attitude towards the game and my omaha experiences have probably made me a stronger player. I am very smartly playing below my usual level and am at the 2-4nl game which means a $400 buy in. This has a number of advantages, the main one being that I am not at all scared to lose and am willing to back myself stronger than when playing higher stakes. I make a decision and I live or die by it at these stakes so I am probably a more dangerous player for others to come up against.
Anyway I've won 3.5 buy ins today or $1400ish which feels gooooooooooooooooood. I am not a hugely swingy player at holdem, never have been, never will be. 3-4 buyins is an excellent day and I tend to slowly build with my tight aggressive style. This somewhat less stressful form of poker is very useful for me given recent history in omaha and I have maintained my patience and good humour throughout the three sessions I have played today.
Patience is always key to my success as I win a low percentage of pots but tend to make them count for a lot so if I allow frustration to sink in my gameplan suffers accordingly. I've enjoyed my play today, made a few well calculated bluffs along with some less well calculated ones. Have managed to extract huge value from my big hands and the worst hand in terms of profitability today has been AA where I've lost $250. Usually AA is my biggest winner, in fact long term it is by a massive amount and I play it well. Sadly I've been a bit unlucky with it today whereas QQ has been marvellous. Thank you ladies!
I needed today. I really really did, although I know that I now have to continue where I have left off it feels good to have not only played well but been rewarded for it too. I'm gonna post two hands from today (ones where I win) and discuss to some degree.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688770
This first one is hugely, hugely significant as for the first time in a long time I flopped top set and it won.Let me repeat that IT WON. It was not the nuts when I bet or went all in as he could have had a straight however there is zero chance I am putting that hand down on the scant possibility of 9T being my opponent's holding. I always feel that aggressive play rewards itself when done in a controlled fashion and this hand my aim was to calculate bet size to ensure my opponent committed his whole stack should he have a big hand. He did andsadly for him I had a higher set. This is a really tough beat in hold'em and I would probably have gone down in similar fashion with his hand. BUT I won with top set lalalallalalalala, can you tell that this is a significant weight off my previously overburdened shoulders.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688734
I reraised a fair amount preflop today with AK and many others but decided to play it slower in this one and the AK7 flop seemed to be a bit of a gift. I checked to the preflop raiser adn was quite sad that nobody else called to juice the pot a bit. Anyway as I was out of position I raised to $100 (had I been behind him in the play I would have flat called most times) and for some reason which I truly can't explain he pushed all in for $300 with AQ. Idiot! What can I have which I check raise with which he is beating. So unlikely that he isn't drawing very very light and a call or fold were the only real options in my opinion. Multiway pot where I check raise when I must suspect he has an A should send warning signals but apparantly and luckily not.
The only other hand I'd like to mention is one where I faced an overbet flop from the raiser with A87 showing and two clubs. I like the overbet as a sign of weakness where you really have a monster and fell hook, line and sinker for it on this occasion as I didn't think my opponent was that smart. I pushed all in over the top with my AQ only to be quickly called (never good) by his AK. I spiked a Q on the turn to take down a $500 pot and boy did a suckout feel good. This sort of thing just hasn't happened for me over the past 2 weeks, in fact it has happened always against me on every occasion so this turn of fortune managed to give me some spark back and I would say that today I have actually run well and a bit above expectation. Maybe I'm due eh!
Anyway I'm going to sign off by giving my stats for the day, and I may be doing this a bit more regularly
Hands - 1786
Profit - $1424.72
PTBB (per 100) 9.97
Good win rate, great win rate in fact. For those of you who do not understand the PTBB it stands for Poker Tracker Big Blinds per 100 hands. Poker tracker big blinds are for some reason calculated differently to what makes sense to me but if you double it then you have the real rate. So I've won nearly 20 BB per 100 hands today or $80 per 100 hands. I'll take it, considering I can get in around 300 hands an hour that is a useful rate and one which I would like to see continued.
It's not a loss, get in, get in, get in, maybe I can play after all
Steve
I haven't played hold'em for about a month and you know what, it's good to be back. The break seems to have refreshed my attitude towards the game and my omaha experiences have probably made me a stronger player. I am very smartly playing below my usual level and am at the 2-4nl game which means a $400 buy in. This has a number of advantages, the main one being that I am not at all scared to lose and am willing to back myself stronger than when playing higher stakes. I make a decision and I live or die by it at these stakes so I am probably a more dangerous player for others to come up against.
Anyway I've won 3.5 buy ins today or $1400ish which feels gooooooooooooooooood. I am not a hugely swingy player at holdem, never have been, never will be. 3-4 buyins is an excellent day and I tend to slowly build with my tight aggressive style. This somewhat less stressful form of poker is very useful for me given recent history in omaha and I have maintained my patience and good humour throughout the three sessions I have played today.
Patience is always key to my success as I win a low percentage of pots but tend to make them count for a lot so if I allow frustration to sink in my gameplan suffers accordingly. I've enjoyed my play today, made a few well calculated bluffs along with some less well calculated ones. Have managed to extract huge value from my big hands and the worst hand in terms of profitability today has been AA where I've lost $250. Usually AA is my biggest winner, in fact long term it is by a massive amount and I play it well. Sadly I've been a bit unlucky with it today whereas QQ has been marvellous. Thank you ladies!
I needed today. I really really did, although I know that I now have to continue where I have left off it feels good to have not only played well but been rewarded for it too. I'm gonna post two hands from today (ones where I win) and discuss to some degree.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688770
This first one is hugely, hugely significant as for the first time in a long time I flopped top set and it won.Let me repeat that IT WON. It was not the nuts when I bet or went all in as he could have had a straight however there is zero chance I am putting that hand down on the scant possibility of 9T being my opponent's holding. I always feel that aggressive play rewards itself when done in a controlled fashion and this hand my aim was to calculate bet size to ensure my opponent committed his whole stack should he have a big hand. He did andsadly for him I had a higher set. This is a really tough beat in hold'em and I would probably have gone down in similar fashion with his hand. BUT I won with top set lalalallalalalala, can you tell that this is a significant weight off my previously overburdened shoulders.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688734
I reraised a fair amount preflop today with AK and many others but decided to play it slower in this one and the AK7 flop seemed to be a bit of a gift. I checked to the preflop raiser adn was quite sad that nobody else called to juice the pot a bit. Anyway as I was out of position I raised to $100 (had I been behind him in the play I would have flat called most times) and for some reason which I truly can't explain he pushed all in for $300 with AQ. Idiot! What can I have which I check raise with which he is beating. So unlikely that he isn't drawing very very light and a call or fold were the only real options in my opinion. Multiway pot where I check raise when I must suspect he has an A should send warning signals but apparantly and luckily not.
The only other hand I'd like to mention is one where I faced an overbet flop from the raiser with A87 showing and two clubs. I like the overbet as a sign of weakness where you really have a monster and fell hook, line and sinker for it on this occasion as I didn't think my opponent was that smart. I pushed all in over the top with my AQ only to be quickly called (never good) by his AK. I spiked a Q on the turn to take down a $500 pot and boy did a suckout feel good. This sort of thing just hasn't happened for me over the past 2 weeks, in fact it has happened always against me on every occasion so this turn of fortune managed to give me some spark back and I would say that today I have actually run well and a bit above expectation. Maybe I'm due eh!
Anyway I'm going to sign off by giving my stats for the day, and I may be doing this a bit more regularly
Hands - 1786
Profit - $1424.72
PTBB (per 100) 9.97
Good win rate, great win rate in fact. For those of you who do not understand the PTBB it stands for Poker Tracker Big Blinds per 100 hands. Poker tracker big blinds are for some reason calculated differently to what makes sense to me but if you double it then you have the real rate. So I've won nearly 20 BB per 100 hands today or $80 per 100 hands. I'll take it, considering I can get in around 300 hands an hour that is a useful rate and one which I would like to see continued.
It's not a loss, get in, get in, get in, maybe I can play after all
Steve
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Some Hand Histories
As I've not been posting as many hands as I probably should I thought I'd post a few interesting ones from the last few days and discuss them. I've also used a site to display them in a better format. Let me know if you prefer them like this or the hand history posted in full within the blog! Hand histories posted above analysis
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1627592
Having been away for a couple of days I got back this afternoon and this was the first big hand of the day, quite weird as I make a fairly standard play as I flop 2 pair, straight and nut flush draw and decide to be aggressive and lead out, am called on the flop and then raised on the turn. No way I can drop to the big reraise as I have huge outs and am possibly still ahead so I went all in. This cost the guy $30 more to call in a $2300 pot and he (much to my delight) folded and then left. Really weird and he must have been bluffing with 0 outs, however how can you drop this, if I have gone a bit crazy and gone all in with nothing but a nut flush draw he could win by pairing - so bizzare and it wasn't like he got disconnected.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1627614
Next up is a standard(ish) play against a mid stack, he raises pre and gets 2 callers so I raise pot with AAxx to hopefully get rid of the other 2, if they call this is not a good situation as I will probably have to lay the hand down if it's not a good flop. Desired result happens and by this stage I am not going to get shoved off this hand regardless of what flops. He shoves I call and win a big pot which without the preflop reraise I almost certainly fold on the flop! It is noticeable that in these situations when the opponent pushes rather than letting you bet it is very likely that the AA is ahead as otherwise they tend to make sure that you bet and get committed to the pot.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1627623
Last one I'm posting for now is just to show the value of rundown hands, I call preflop with 789T single suited and get a fine flop giving me a wrap, rather than raising I decided to just call while it was cheap and flopped the 9 for a straight on the turn. The other fella has hit two pair and foolishly decides that I don't have the straight and calls my all in. These sort of hands can pay off extremely well against certain opponents as they fail to realise quite how vulnerable the two pair which they hold is.
That's it for now, do let me know if this is a better format for viewing as I will change things depending on comments if somone has improvements which could be made.
cheers
Steve
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1627592
Having been away for a couple of days I got back this afternoon and this was the first big hand of the day, quite weird as I make a fairly standard play as I flop 2 pair, straight and nut flush draw and decide to be aggressive and lead out, am called on the flop and then raised on the turn. No way I can drop to the big reraise as I have huge outs and am possibly still ahead so I went all in. This cost the guy $30 more to call in a $2300 pot and he (much to my delight) folded and then left. Really weird and he must have been bluffing with 0 outs, however how can you drop this, if I have gone a bit crazy and gone all in with nothing but a nut flush draw he could win by pairing - so bizzare and it wasn't like he got disconnected.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1627614
Next up is a standard(ish) play against a mid stack, he raises pre and gets 2 callers so I raise pot with AAxx to hopefully get rid of the other 2, if they call this is not a good situation as I will probably have to lay the hand down if it's not a good flop. Desired result happens and by this stage I am not going to get shoved off this hand regardless of what flops. He shoves I call and win a big pot which without the preflop reraise I almost certainly fold on the flop! It is noticeable that in these situations when the opponent pushes rather than letting you bet it is very likely that the AA is ahead as otherwise they tend to make sure that you bet and get committed to the pot.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1627623
Last one I'm posting for now is just to show the value of rundown hands, I call preflop with 789T single suited and get a fine flop giving me a wrap, rather than raising I decided to just call while it was cheap and flopped the 9 for a straight on the turn. The other fella has hit two pair and foolishly decides that I don't have the straight and calls my all in. These sort of hands can pay off extremely well against certain opponents as they fail to realise quite how vulnerable the two pair which they hold is.
That's it for now, do let me know if this is a better format for viewing as I will change things depending on comments if somone has improvements which could be made.
cheers
Steve
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