I'm a Hero, Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Here are some hands from yesterday's session. Kind of standard seeing as villain rep absolute air. But meh, I haven't posted some hands in a while, plus I think I would have folded to most of these a little while a go.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $30.45
BTN: $18.15
SB: $10.00
BB: $87.75
Hero (UTG): $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with K A
Hero raises to $1.75, CO calls $1.75, BTN calls $1.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($6.00) 5 2 2 (3 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $2.50, BTN folds, Hero calls $2.50

Turn: ($11.00) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $7.50, Hero calls $7.50

River: ($26.00) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $18.70 all in, Hero calls $18.70

Final Pot: $63.40
CO shows A T (a pair of Twos)
Hero shows K A (a pair of Twos)
Hero wins $60.40
(Rake: $3.00)

I rivered a flush draw, and like a fish, called with terrible odds anyway. Meh.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $50.00
BB: $35.95
UTG: $66.05
MP: $51.85
CO: $58.35
BTN: $62.90

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with Q K
4 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.00) A 3 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, BB calls $2

Turn: ($7.00) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $4.50, Hero calls $4.50

River: ($16.00) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $11.50, Hero calls $11.50

Final Pot: $39.00
Hero shows Q K (two pair, Queens and Sevens)
BB shows 4 5 (a pair of Sevens)
Hero wins $37.05
(Rake: $1.95)

Meh, he 3bets all Ax hands that are good enough to bet the turn and the river with, plus all draws missed, so easy call in the end.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (CO): $62.90
BTN: $81.25
SB: $39.40
BB: $50.00
UTG: $60.25
MP: $101.95

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with T K
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, 1 fold, SB calls $1.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($4.00) 4 9 J (2 players)
SB bets $3, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($10.00) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $4.50, Hero calls $4.50

River: ($19.00) 9 (2 players
SB bets $30.15 all in, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $30.15

Final Pot: $79.30
Hero shows T K (three of a kind, Nines)
SB shows 6 5 (three of a kind, Nines)
Hero wins $76.30
(Rake: $3.00)

Villains went off at me in the chatbox for this one "you gotta be kiddin me!!". I replied "Soz, I can see your cards." and he quit.

Also was browsing Shopto earlier and saw Need for Speed: Undercover for £9.95, World Championship Snooker 2009 for £4.95, and I brought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II for £42 aswell. Don't think I'm getting anything too exciting this Christmas, DJ Hero would be nice, but I thought it'd give me something to do after Christmas for when I'm not grinding.

I've been really focusing on my game recently. I'm a waiter in a restaurant, and all day long, when clearing tables or making hot drinks or meals for customers, I think about Poker. Different lines to take, past hands, how I can deceptively play hands, and it's starting to pay dividends for me. I've put in a maximum oif about 18k hands at 50NL, and I've lost about 10BI, but in the last 3k hands, my graph has been going upwards and I actually feel like I have an advantage over most of the players there now. I still need to refine my game a lot, but I'm feeling really good going into the New Year despite my results not reflecting my play so far.

I've also been asked to stay on at the restaurant into 2010 which gives me stability, I'm cool with working there for quite a while, there are some really good people there who are all super friendly, I've made a couple of good friends and everyone seems to have a laugh.

Good luck in 2010 everyone, may you all run goot!

Sick Sick Sick Hand & Life Updates

Ok, this hand was played about half an hour ago, I'm still tilting from it and extremely angry at myself for folding. I'm actually the most tilted I've ever been from Poker (except from taking a beat at 2NL one time and following the guy around for days tryna bust him), I'm so annoyed at myself because I feel I played the hand perfectly, except the river, I just don't trust me reads at all, when they're mostly correct.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $35.45
Hero (SB): $82.50
BB: $10.75
UTG: $50.10
MP: $18.85
CO: $101.10

Bit of history, I've 3bet the guy about two orbits before hand SB vs. CO, I'm running about 26/26 and have been running over the fish at this point iirc. Villain is a 23/17, w/57% fold to 3bet and a 2% 4bet range.

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with K K
2 folds, CO raises to $1.75, 1 fold, Hero raises to $5.50, 1 fold, CO calls $3.75

So when he flats, considering I've 3bet him before and have been running aggressively, I take him off QQ+, AK, and put him on hands like 88-JJ, AJs+, and maybe KQs, his stats suggest he's never 4betting light, or a tleast rarely, so he flats his entire range here except QQ+ and AK. I have two blockers to Kx, so that makes it even more unlikely, he can have hands like QJs, T9s, J9s in randomly aswell, but I'm happy with the situation now.

Flop: ($11.50) T 9 Q (2 players)
Hero bets $7, CO calls $7

Once he flat calls, I'm very happy with my hand. He's raising QQ/TT/99, also I expect him to be raising KJ aswell, the fact that I have Ks means he can't have it (obv), which means he can't take me off AKss, and even if he has As to take me off AKs, I'm ahead.

Turn: ($25.50) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $12, CO raises to $29, Hero calls $17

I've narrowed his range down to like JJ or QJ here, with the occasion QT or T9, but they're unlikely. I'm not sure he calls another street with JJ or QJ, so I opt to bet about half pot, and hope he reveals the strength of his hand to me by either raising or flat calling. I'm looking real weak here, and when I call his raise, my hand looks like AA/KK always, so I hope he tries to take me off it on the river. I'm not worried much about him catching up, 'cos he's got like 11 outs if he's got QJ, or only 5 if he's got JJ, I'm looking for value more than anything from these hands, so I bet small, he raises like I want to, and I call. I don't like shipping because I'm only getting called by better hands, I'm hoping for him to hang himself on the river.

River: ($83.50) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $59.60 all in, Hero requests TIME, Hero folds

Result, he does! But I can't call. I'm so angry with myself, I set the whole hand up perfectly, I did everything right to get him to spazz out with QJ/JJ, and he obliged, but I couldn't click call. I'm so angry with myself right now, I'm 95% sure I'm ahead at this point, I just could not click it, and I asked the guy for his MSN, he obliged and we spoke for a bit about the hand and image, his reasoning behind the hand and my reasoning.

Just wanted to blow off some steam and write about the hand, 'cos I'm so pissed right now, I made him my puppet and canceled my plan at the last.

---------------------------------

Life wise, I'm back in employment, start work Monday, and I can't even be arsed writing about it now 'cos I'm even more angry now I've written that ^ and ran back through it, so I'll probably update it tomorrow or something.

Good luck.

October Review

Overall, I guess the month was a small success. I didn't get in half as many hands as I wanted too, mainly because of FIFA '10. Although, even when I wasn't playing the game, I still wasn't all that focused on grinding. Mainly because I couldn't be bothered dealing with the expected swings of 50NL, I'd just begun crushing 25NL on a regular basis and it felt good, and after I took my shot at 50NL, I expected to get crushed eventually, and when it didn't happen, I didn't wanna play because I thought it would come sooner rather than later, but then I couldn't motivate myself to play for smaller at 25NL, so I was kinda stuck.

Goals wise, I did quite well:
[x] Take shots at 50NL - They went very well, although just over break even, I've yet to move down so I'm delighted, rakeback has been huge too, so I highly doubt I'll be grinding 25NL in the future, unless for other certain purposes.
[x] Focus more on decisions - Definitely sorted this one out. Without this I'd have got crushed, I'm proud of myself that I've spotted two leaks in the last couple of months, mental leaks, and plugged them with consummate ease. They were both holding me back, FPS and focusing, I guess they're kinda in the same boat, but I've improved so much after focusing a lot more on the tables, aswell as of it.
[x] Watch more DC/Stox - Was kinda meh on this one, I'd say I watched 6 videos through the month, 2 of which were in the last 2 days. I think I'll set a bar of 10 next month, Stox and DC, I think I need to nail the Mathematics of NLHE from WiltOnTilt, this may uncover a leak, I don't do much math on or off the table, we'll see. I'll pass it for this month though.
[ ] Book some coaching - Didn't need too! Did well enough to continue on my own, but will definitely review this next month, I'll certainly get a coach before I take shots at 100NL.

Profits wise, it was decent, +$583 inc. rakeback. Not huge, but plodding along nicely, and considering I only put in 17k hands, it's not bad. I've set a goal for a $1k month before the end of 2009, which should happen in December depending on the hours I put in. Which kind of brings me to a next point, I've been offered a temp. job from 6th Dec-31st Dec, hours are 10pm-6am, so my clock will be insane, plus I dunno how much time I'll have to grind! Especially as the games from 6am-11am UK time are pretty fk'in poor. =[ Here are the graphs and stats:

25NL Graph w/stats

50NL Graph w/stats













Month Graph w/stats













So as you can see, 25NL was very good, 50NL was okay, I started okay, just had a wee downswing at the end, and got most of it back, although still need to work on the rest next month. I've been thinking over some aims for the next month, and they are (drumroll):

• Play 30k hands @ 50NL
• Watch 10 coaching videos
• Profit for the month overall
• Read the Theory 4rum @ 2+2 more
• Gather a maths base for Poker

I think that'll do, I may look at coaching but I might save that until December, I may also withdraw some money for a new laptop, I'm in dire dire need of a machine that actually runs half decent, but for now, time to watch get a buddy into Fringe at last. ;l

Cleared Stars, IronMan still possible

So I finished clearly Stars's 15k FPP $200 bonus last night (this morning, 5am counts right), so now I've deposited on FullTilt and activated the $600 bonus, I can withdraw from there too, instead of using the shitty 2+2 P2P transfer system which is so annoying. So many people want FT for Stars, and no one wants Stars for FT, there's like a ridic ratio, everyone was posting asking for the same as me, when fortunately someone picked me, ain't I the lucky one 8-) ..

So yeah, depo'd at FT and have until mid January to clear the bonus, which will be no problem. I plan on using the $600 to invest in Grindcore the coach. I've been thinking about it for about 6 weeks now and figure he can pick some holes in my game seeing as he grinded the same stakes as me and moved up very quickly, so he's probably the most recent on the market too.

Not much else to talk about, I think I gotta start focusing on my play again cos I'm wiening off the good play and starting to go back to the FPS in certain places, like trying to make hero calls. Also had a job interview last week, they'll let me know if I get it on Thursday, keep your fingers crossed 2+2r's!

Job, College and Poker

Okay so I had an interview on Saturday, which went very well. Said I would have got the job on the spot 12 months ago but in the recession their getting so many good applicants for jobs that he needs to go away and think about it, so he said he'll give me a call in a few days after he interviewed the rest of the applicants. Really hoping I get it, like desperately hoping I get it.

I rung my college and spoke to finance, they said the course is £1.3k, which is a big no no at the moment. Unless of course my 2 NVQ's don't count as full NVQ's for the coming year, which I hope to God is the case, and I also hope that if I'm able to do the course without paying, that the hours aren't too long as if I get the job, the hours are 17:30-21:30 Mon/Tue/Wed, and 18:30-22:30 on Thur/Fri, so I don't wanna have to turn down college because I'm working silly hours.

In all honesty, the only reason I'm going back to college is for a bigger circle of friends, something to do in the day, and some more qualifications. I'd prefer to play Poker for a living over anything else realistic at the moment, and although I really would like to go into computing, I don't wanna borrow money from family when I know they can't afford it, and then in 3 years down the line finish college and not even get a career in the field to follow it up, give them the money back and say "thanks, but I didn't even need it."

Poker wise I took a day or two off last week because I was playing well behind my best, and it was costing me. I was real tired too the majority of the week do I didn't feel like grinding. I put in 500 hands last night and was up just under a BI, although it should have been a lot more. In general I'm finding 25NL easy, I just fail to make lay downs and continue to make stupid river calls, so I need for that to change before I gain a decent WR, I don't even look at my WR that's how meh it is, I think I'm just breaking even.

Football started on saturday, fuck yeah! 6-1 away to Everton, sick result and a sick performance. Got Celtic away tonight which won't be easy, generally we're the better team, but at Parkhead I believe they could probably beat most teams in the world, their fans are pretty much like their 12th man over there, so an early goal or two to silence them would be perfect for the rest of the night. I'd settle for a score draw (away goal), although a clean sheet and a win would be perfect.

First time 24 tabling

So yesterday I decided to give 24 tabling a go for the first time. I've 12 tabled and 16 tabled before but I gave 24 tabling a shot and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, except my eyes started bleeding after an hour and I quit +2BI. It was only 10NL as I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it at 25NL obviously, and I was as high as +5BI until I got AKs in against AA pre, and got 2 outered on 3 different occasions, but it was a good experience I guess.

Hit a bit of a swing at 25NL, although I was playing far from my best game, I mean real far. I got into spots I shouldn't have, made a call when I knew I was beat (villain shoved for pot on 65AA8 river, and I had AQ, it's probably a piss easy fold, I don't think he does this with A7-AJ, and of course he flipped 88. Got QQ in against T8o on T74tt flop and he spiked a T on the turn obv.

College wise I've gotta give them a ring in the next few days and see how much I've gotta pay for the course. Of course I can withdraw my roll, and I wouldn't even care if I had to withdraw my entire roll, I would love to get a coaching/stake deal from 2+2. Kinda difficult to look for a job right now too as I don't know what's going on with college and what days I'll be there, so although I'm still looking it'll hard to apply for full-time jobs when I start college in 4 weeks..

Birthday in about 8 days too! Going out with 2 good mates on the saturday, and the saturday after prolly go down the pub 'n watch the Arsenal/Man Utd game with a mate I went to school with, probs won't get too pissed. Not.

Teh Swine Flu

Had swine flu all week, no grinding, more beats at 25NL before that, eugh.

Haven't played properly in about 2 weeks to be fair, so my BR is still about the $420 it wasn't 2 weeks ago, I think I may grind 10NL to get back into it and then revert back to 25NL after I've played a little and watched some more DC vids, notably Unconventional Wisdom and Remixed.

Silver for next month though, so it ain't all that bad.. Grinding tonight.

Last Night & 5NL Full Time

Ahhh finally. Firsty, last night was fucked. Originally I met 2 mates down the pub for the football, which didn't go well, we were 2-0 down inside 12 minutes, needing 4 goals to win, so we had pretty much lost already. The pub was a little shit so we went out at half time and found a better one, I was sitting there and all of a sudden one of those moments occur, where you say something and everything goes quiet when you say it. "Fuck this man, this is an old mans pub." Literally everyone around me went quiet when I said it, 3 old blokes looked around and at me whilst me and my mate just burst into tears laughing uncontrollably, which was fair enough in my opinion, we were the only 18-19 year olds in there while there were three 20-26 girls across the room, and the rest were 40 year-old+ old blokes. So anyway, when it finished we went to Subway for something to eat, and my 2 mates wanted to go clubbing, I wasn't really dressed for it and neither were my 2 mates, but they decided to go to Kingston anyways and try to get in somewhere, and if all else failed, we'd go Cinema and watch X-Man Origins.

We ended up going to Kingston Uni and trying to get into their library, which didn't work, and all the clubs were shut (which I knew anyway, but they were adament they'd get into a student bar somewhere), so yeah, the cinema was shut aswell. FML. So we went to the train station and didn't get a pass at the station, just jumped straight on the train, then the conductor came, we decided to get off and walk back up the way he came and get on again, but he opened the doors where we were getting off so it was impossible, so we were stuck in no where at 11:10, no buses were running where we wanted to go, plus the last train was approaching and quick, we were fucked to put it mildly.

We decided to get a train to Richmond, where we'd get a night bus to where ever it goes and walk to my place while my mate would crash for the night. Fortunatly the train went to Twickenham on the way to Richmond, which was where we started, and my last bus ran until 11:49, so I was hoping I didn't miss it, or else I'd have a 2hour walk back home (which I've done before drunk, fun times). He stayed on and got his Mum to pick him up in Richmond (I feel sorry for her, coming all the way from Kensal Rise), and I managed to catch the last bus where I had an interesting encounter with a women at the bus stop. She decided to stand in front of the bus stand with her back to it while facing the other way, I walked up and stood behind her to look at the bus times, and she jumped in the air, screamed and jumped around to me. I looked at her, raised my eyebrow and asked her what her problem was and she was like "I thought you were trying to go through my bag." I laughed, she laughed, and then she proceeded to walk on. When my bus came, I got on it and she got on next stop, moral of the story is, she was still afraid of me. LOL. I got home at 12:30, browsed the net for a little and went to my sisters for the night (babysitting duties ftw!).

Back to Poker though, and I spent 4 hours on Monday looking through PokerTracker to compare what was happened to my game which was causing me to breakeven at 2NL and 5NL (lol!). I went through all the filters, saved them as .png's and then compared them at the end from when I was winning comfortably, to now, and the result were shocking, the thread can be found here (not all my findings are there). I was showing down so much shit, and I was calling so much OOP it was untrue, so I've tightened right up and am up 4BI today, at 22ptbb/100. To be fair though, I did suck out on one pot, which I'll get up later as the hand converter's being a bit of a bitch, but I got some action on a couple of sets and what not, although I did bluff away a BI overall aswell, so it could have been better.

I've been sucked out on so much, I feel as bad as someone farting in church now that I've sucked out on the river.

I feel dirty!

Fuck Off, Sister!

I'm fucking dying to get this started, I haven't played Poker for about 4 days! I just wanna get it started already, I told myself I wasn't going to start until Friday originally, but my niece stays around on the weekends so it leaves me little play with until maybe the evenings, even if she's downstairs with my Mum, my Mum's always calling me for favours 'n shit so I can never settle down for a decent session, so I decided to start on Monday morning as no one was in all day, until I woke up at 10am and found that my Mum didn't go to work, so that put me off for a day as she wanted me to help her with some shit.

"Ok, I'll start Tuesday", I tell myself. Until I get a phone call at 7pm asking to my babysit while my sister gets called in for emergency work on Tuesday, 9-6. So that rules that one out, so I'm now sitting here with my niece jumping all over me because she thinks it funny when I tell her to get fuck off and proceed to pretty much throw her off the sofa onto the floor, she comes back for more. She sleeps from 1-4 but I really can't settle down playing Poker at my sister's, I don't know what it is, I just seem to run bad for some reason, it's probably a mental thing more than anything and when I get a decent roll ... lol, my niece just took a drop ... I'll play some more at my sisters and get it over with once and for all!

So yeah, I won't start tonight as the football's on (Chelsea vs. Barcelona) and I could do with some FIFA, so I'll wake up tomorrow morning, do the shitty chores in the house for half an hour and eat my breakfast, which should leave me with the whole day to begin my grind! That is unless either my Mum decides to take another day off work for some reason, or my Sister decides she wants to come around for a bit, I can pretty much guarantee something will get in the way.

We'll see..