Capping off a great month

Just finished my session for the night, which also finished off the month for me. Played 947 hands of very card dead poker. Only won 1 good pot that I can remember when I had aces. 3way to the flop... guy flat call my flop 855, then led out 35$(pot size bet) on the turn HU, I shoved, and he folded with 50$ behind. Just couldn't imagine he led out that big with trips or better. I've seen a few people who will do it, but they are very very rare. doubled up a short stack JJ v T8o, when we had an 8 high flop. Pretty uneventful session overall where I ended up down $47. There was one hand that was almost interesting... I don't remember making the preflop call, clearly it was a misclick but just funny to me when the screen popped up and I saw myself with the nuts, and couldn't figure out why the pot was so big.


Full Tilt Poker Game #10896333816: Table Charitable - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:48:54 ET - 2009/02/28
Seat 1: Sick_Rick06 ($240.15)
Seat 2: checkingNuts ($21)
Seat 3: shaq1337 ($100)
Seat 4: annuity6401 ($14.85)
Seat 5: BoooomBaby7 ($109.95)
Seat 6: Blue Horseshew ($135.50)
Seat 7: bignamba10 ($327.45)
Seat 8: 72Monkey ($113.05)
Seat 9: Blindhunter7 ($124.15)
checkingNuts posts the small blind of $0.50
shaq1337 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [2c 5c]
annuity6401 raises to $3.50
bignamba10: wow..
BoooomBaby7 calls $3.50
Blue Horseshew folds
bignamba10 folds
72Monkey folds
Blindhunter7 folds
bignamba10: i was freakin afraid of JJ there
Sick_Rick06 folds
checkingNuts folds
shaq1337 adds $1
shaq1337 folds
*** FLOP *** [4h 3c Ad]
bignamba10: nice move though
annuity6401 bets $1
bignamba10: dont think i would have called with anything less
BoooomBaby7 calls $1
*** TURN *** [4h 3c Ad] [6d]
annuity6401 bets $1
bignamba10: really looked like a VB
BoooomBaby7 raises to $5
annuity6401 folds
Uncalled bet of $4 returned to BoooomBaby7
BoooomBaby7 mucks
BoooomBaby7 wins the pot ($11.90)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $12.50 Rake $0.60
Board: [4h 3c Ad 6d]
Seat 1: Sick_Rick06 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: checkingNuts (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: shaq1337 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: annuity6401 folded on the Turn
Seat 5: BoooomBaby7 collected ($11.90), mucked
Seat 6: Blue Horseshew didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: bignamba10 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: 72Monkey didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Blindhunter7 didn't bet (folded)


Jimmy must have somehow used mind control to get me to call preflop with 52.
Needless to say this was an outstanding month for me poker-wise. Started with $1250, and just hoping to win about 1k grinding NL50. The big tournament win for $3500, and then running very hot grinding NL100. I can't peg exactly how much I am up on the month. But roughly I have won just under 2k from NL100, $250 from NL50, $3500 from the big tourny cash, and throw in a little rakeback and it's about a 6k month. Pretty insane.
I have cooled off on the NL100 grinding since I started off stupidly hot. But over 14k hands I am averaging just over 13BBs/100hands. This was up over 20 for a while, but I have been running much more "normal" the last week as my graph shows...

I qualified for the top Iron Man level with my play today. I look forward to playing in the 30k freeroll in a few weeks. Time to set some goals for next month...

I know I won't continue to average $100/hr grinding these cash tables. But I want to continue to play 1-2 hours a day 12tabling and by the end of the month get a decent approximation of how much I can expect to make per hour. I am going to keep a bankroll of 4k online which is more than enough for NL100, and probably withdrawal money whenever I get up to the 5k level. I would like to start examining my play and see what I can learn from my stats on holdem manager to tweak my game to be better.

I am going to keep playing in tournaments when I can. It is tough to make goals for tournaments, it would be nice to say "I hope I win another tournament next month", but there is so much that goes in to winning a tournament that that's not a very good goal. I just want to continue to read the books that I haven't finished and see how I can implement those strategies. This next month there are a few live tournaments with good structure that I am hoping to be able to play in. Regardless of whether or not I get any big cashes I want to look back at the end of the month and know I have made some strides in my tournament game.

That's all for now, let's hope that tomorrow I can start of March hot.

-Boooom

Solid night... tournament drought

Played 2 tournaments tonight. The 28k and the 11.5k KO 6max. Donked out very quickly in the 28k, and lasted about an hour and a half in the 11.5k. I was up to 7k in chips, flat called a raiser with KQ, Flop 88Q and he had J8c. So I doubled him up and lost 3k from my stack. From there I was able to double up, but then my QQ ran into AK and lost the flip for all but 350 of my stack, and that was pretty much it. Haven't been able to get much going since my deep run in the 32k, but I'm still hopeful.

Meanwhile I played a nice 96 minute cash session during the 2x ftp "happy hour". 1109 hands, interesting session, with a fair amount of right cards at the right times. Slow start when I had KK run into AA for a full stack. I got "lucky" on a set over set situation where I had 55, called a raise, flop was J5x. Other guy had JJ, I check called the flop. When the flush hit on the turn, I bet out, he called, then I bet out the river, and just flat called. Lost 45$ on that hand, when I should have lost 100. Also the big hands I was hitting just couldn't find any action. However I grinded my way back to even midway through the session.

Then had an interesting hand where I limped JJ utg. 4 other people also limped, and the BB who had very tight stats raised 4x, which was a strange size raise, because he knew he would get alot of action that way. I opted to flat call since I put him on a big hand, even tho I knew that would invite everyone else in. We went 5 way to the flop which was 887. It went check check to me, and I figured to have to best hand if the preflop raiser wasn't showing any aggression, so I bet 10$ about half the pot, trying to find out where I was. Everyone but the SB called. Turn J, Yahtzee! To my delight the SB led out with a $22 bet, at this point I figured he either had a big hand, or some kind of draw. It is very unlikely he would check call the flop, then bet out the turn on a bluff. So I knew i had to raise, so I made it 50$ and he shoved with K8o. Nice turn let me pick up a big pot.

Little bit later a tight utg player raised to 3$, and middle position called. I had 56h in the SB, and decided to make the call. I rarely call raises with these hands OOP, but I figured I had a good chance of getting paid off if I hit something big, and both other players had full stacks. 3way to the flop... AQ5, 2 diamonds. I check, raiser checks, MP bets 4$. I don't suspect the raiser is slowplaying anything, so getting over 3:1 I make the call. Turn 5, Yahtzee! I don't put him on AA or QQ so I figure I'm way ahead now unless he has the fluke Q5 or A5. I check, he bets 9$, and I put in a big raise to 34$. Either he has an Ace and I want to build the pot as much as possible, or he has a flush draw, and I want to make him pay to suckout on me. He thinks for a while and shoves, I call and he turns over AQ, probably putting me on a big draw with my very large raise. Another nice pot.

These two 2 outers pretty much add up to my $200 profit on the session. I also got my 200 ftps for the 27th already, so just one more day to go to qualify for the Iron Man 30k freeroll next month. I did pretty well during the midweek and hopefully I can have a good weekend. Good news... my withdrawal from a week and a half ago made it into my bank account yesterday. 1.5 weeks is pretty good time for fulltilt, previously I waited as much as a month for a withdrawal.

Random thoughts about how I've been playing...

Since the NL100 tables are more aggro than the NL50 tables I have been countering it with tight play, and not overly aggressive. My issue comes when I play hands so weak (like the JJ hand earlier), that I never really well define where I am in the hand. I find myself in odd situations where I don't have alot of information about my opponents hand to make my decisions. My concern with playing hands faster preflop and on the flop, is that I will still find myself in some very tough spots, and the pots will be bigger. And considering that I generally have trouble folding, even when I feel like I should... I want to keep myself out of those spots, reducing my variance, and reducing the likelihood of me going on tilt. So when I do make mistakes, hopefully it will be in smaller pots where it costs me less. Part of why I play so tight is because of those factors. It seems to be working better at the more aggro NL100 than it did at NL50. Maybe I am losing out overall by losing value on some pots where I should play faster.

Also, one mistake I feel I have been making, is that I generally tend to bet my monsters very strong on the river (close to pot, sometimes more, unless the pot is huge already, then go for slightly more value). Normally this is a good way to go, because when I get called, im getting paid pretty good, and then people don't get to see my cards for cheap. However, when I try this method against players who I know are solid, who maybe call my flop and turn bets, then usually flee when the big hammer comes on the river. I feel like against players who I know are solid, I should just go for a normal value bet, while I keep hammering the river against players who I don't think are quite so wise. These are just some things I've been thinking about, I'll be giving weekend reports starting tomorrow.

-Boooom

Bounce Back

Just finished up my night session. Everything went smoothly, the tables weren't super donkey, but I definitely found some big ones. 1496 hands, 13 tabling for 105 minutes. Finished with +$277 profit, making up for my session earlier (which was about -250, because after I lost 200 grinding, I sat in a HU match and ran into a calling station when I wasn't hitting any hands... after he won 50$ he ran like a pansy). Not alot of huge hands, was mostly a gradual climb. People weren't too willing to pay me off on my monsters, but I managed to get alot of flop and turn bets out of people. One hand near the very end of my session was a nice gift, but I had to provoke it...

Full Tilt Poker Game #10847193784: Table Silver Penny - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:59:29 ET - 2009/02/26
Seat 1: Sarahhh Monster ($124.85)
Seat 2: BoooomBaby7 ($113.85)
Seat 3: RGittings ($64.20)
Seat 4: TNN4731 ($164.95)
Seat 5: pceout ($100)
Seat 6: PkrOzzy ($106.10)
Seat 7: bbp247 ($116.85)
Seat 8: RC Heli Pilot ($100.50)
Seat 9: HugeNut ($26.80)
PkrOzzy posts the small blind of $0.50
bbp247 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [Qs Qd]
RC Heli Pilot folds
HugeNut folds
Sarahhh Monster folds
BoooomBaby7 raises to $3.50
RGittings calls $3.50
TNN4731 folds
PkrOzzy has 15 seconds left to act
PkrOzzy has requested TIME
PkrOzzy folds
bbp247 folds
*** FLOP *** [Qc 6s 6d]
BoooomBaby7 checks
RGittings checks
*** TURN *** [Qc 6s 6d] [8d]
BoooomBaby7 bets $4
RGittings raises to $16
BoooomBaby7 calls $12
*** RIVER *** [Qc 6s 6d 8d] [Jd]
BoooomBaby7 checks
RGittings bets $44.70, and is all in
BoooomBaby7 calls $44.70
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RGittings shows [Ks Ts] a pair of Sixes
BoooomBaby7 shows [Qs Qd] a full house, Queens full of Sixes
BoooomBaby7 wins the pot ($126.90) with a full house, Queens full of Sixes
RGittings is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $129.90 Rake $3
Board: [Qc 6s 6d 8d Jd]
Seat 1: Sarahhh Monster didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: BoooomBaby7 showed [Qs Qd] and won ($126.90) with a full house, Queens full of Sixes
Seat 3: RGittings showed [Ks Ts] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 4: TNN4731 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: pceout is sitting out
Seat 6: PkrOzzy (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: bbp247 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: RC Heli Pilot didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: HugeNut didn't bet (folded)

I generally check these kinds of flops HU for obvious reasons that he likely didnt connect. When he raised me on the turn I could have reraised to make him pay for a draw, but I didn't really think he had anything. When the draw came on the river I was happy, so that if he did have a flush draw on the turn he would bet it. Also, if he was on a bluff he would hopefully continue. Betting out the river doesn't really help me in either situation. I was very pleased to see him shove and I couldn't call fast enough.

I played for almost 2 hours, durring the "2x full tilt points happy hour" from 8-10pm. This generally is a time where there are alot of fish out, but also a good amount of grinders so I have to be careful with my table selection. I was happy to make up for my earlier losses, and not fall into a dreaded downswing. Just 2 more days to qualify for Iron Man, then hopefully I can have a big weekend.

-Boooom

103 minutes of pain

Played a session just now, never really got things going. 1625 hands, -$193. I experimented and played 14 tables, instead of the normal 12. It didn't really seem to effect my play much, other than making it a bit more difficult to record notes on players after hands.

Took a couple of bad beats, and crap cards that rolled off. like my AK losing to AT, on an Axx flop when there was a 3bet preflop, and considerable amount of flop betting. Turn T owned me. Also AA getting crushed by the table donkey with 98o. The flop was T97, so he wasn't going there, he raised me on the turn, and I shoved, which he quickly called and rolled off a 6 on the river.

I still need some help with folding, my AK got owned by A7 on a board that ran out AT772. I felt like I was beat when I got raised on the turn but couldn't get away from it. I need to trust my gut feeling more on hands like this.

It's sick to think about how much we lose on rake. Rakeback helps a bit, but FTP is making a killing. In my session today I lost $87.60 to rake. So really I only lost about $100 to other players. In almost 11k hands over the past week and a half, $584 has been raked from me. Oh well, good thing there are enough donkeys out there to make up for it and make me money.

-Boooom

Grinding Away...

Tonight I played 2 tournaments as well at a 990 hand cash game session. The tournaments didn't go so well. The 28k I doubled up on the 2nd hand. Then went card dead for an hour, before losing over 2/3 of my stack on consecutive hands with big draws. I was down to about 1300, but doubled up against a donk who called me with Q7h. Then next hand got it allin preflop against same guy with 99 v 66, but he flopped a 6 and that was it for me. The other tournament was the 11.5k KO 6-max. Had decent start, got up to about 5k but got coolered when I had A6o. flop came AK2, turn 6, river 4. Other guy had AK and stacked me. Oh well.

The cash session went ok. Got off to a rough start when I 3bet a guy with KK, and he called and flopped a set with 33. Also I limp reraised a guy who was playing 50% of his hands when I had AK. The flop came AKx, and he had KK and stacked me. After the first 30 minutes I was down about $170, but came roaring back. Some guy donated to me with QQ on a Khigh board when I had AK, and then I got pretty hot. Before I knew it I was up $130. However nearing the end of my session I picked up AA utg and raised 4x the BB. The next to act put in a small 3bet to 8$. I quickly 4bet to about $25 and he shoved with KK. The board ran out JT9Qx. By the end of the session I was up $5... but a win is a win. I seem to be running semi-normal now, getting a mix of bad beats in my session, but I can't wait for the heater to return.

Withdrew some money from the account today, weird thing with FTP, when you do an electronic funds transfer the max you can take out is $995. Random amount, not sure why it's not $1000. 4 days left in the month and I need to make sure I get 200 ftps each day to get the highest iron man level and qualify for the 30k freeroll tournament. Last month there was about 600 players in the 30k freeroll, and I figure with only 28 days in this month, that number will go down next month. Making a seat in it worth even more. The competition will be kind of stiff, but I figure most of the players will be cash games players, making the early going tough, but once the blinds get big, hopefully they can be taken advantage of.

I'm still hoping to improve my tournament skills. The WSOP circuit event is coming to San Diego next month and I am hoping to play in a few of their $200 and $300 events, and maybe even the 500$ event on the first Saturday. I am sure the field will be very soft, and it would be nice to land a good cash. All depends on how well this NL100 stuff goes over the next month or so. If I can continue to be successful with a larger hand sample size, it will give me a lot more confidence with putting up the buyins for those tournaments. More to come on that in the coming weeks.

-Boooom

All streaks come to an end...

Just finished up my cash session for the night, and only lasted 30 minutes in the 17k tournament. Had my first losing session since moving to NL100. Definitely a lot of donkeys out, but things weren't going my way. Played about an hour. Knew things weren't looking that good when a guy raised utg with 67s, I reraised to 9$ with KK. He called and had 18$ behind and shove on a Khigh board, but he had flush draw and hit. Here is a sick hand that happened a little bit later...

Full Tilt Poker Game #10812901712: Table Steamship - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:00:30 ET - 2009/02/24
Seat 1: 23ChipStack23 ($25)
Seat 2: David in SC ($24.50)
Seat 3: PocketJaKKd ($100)
Seat 4: Mac317 ($143.15)
Seat 5: Goso ($15.50)
Seat 6: BoooomBaby7 ($101.65)
Seat 7: DrSpitzvogel87 ($38.45)
Seat 8: Ivanei Ivanov ($100)
Seat 9: PkrOzzy ($100)
PkrOzzy posts the small blind of $0.50
23ChipStack23 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [Ks Kh]
David in SC raises to $3.50
PocketJaKKd folds
Mac317 folds
Goso folds
BoooomBaby7 raises to $9
DrSpitzvogel87 folds
Ivanei Ivanov folds
PkrOzzy adds $0.50
PkrOzzy folds
23ChipStack23 folds
David in SC calls $5.50
*** FLOP *** [Js 5s Kc]
David in SC bets $15.50, and is all in
BoooomBaby7 calls $15.50
David in SC shows [7s 6s]
BoooomBaby7 shows [Ks Kh]
*** TURN *** [Js 5s Kc] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [Js 5s Kc Qd] [Ts]
David in SC shows a flush, Jack high
BoooomBaby7 shows three of a kind, Kings
David in SC wins the pot ($48) with a flush, Jack high
BoooomBaby7 adds $20.85
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $50.50 Rake $2.50
Board: [Js 5s Kc Qd Ts]
Seat 1: 23ChipStack23 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: David in SC showed [7s 6s] and won ($48) with a flush, Jack high
Seat 3: PocketJaKKd didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Mac317 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Goso didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: BoooomBaby7 showed [Ks Kh] and lost with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 7: DrSpitzvogel87 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Ivanei Ivanov (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: PkrOzzy (small blind) folded before the Flop

This guy was playing 50% of his hands, just a sick flop. At this point I was down $180 on the session, but battled back to be only down 100$. Just couldn't get back to sea level cause the short stacks kept sucking out on small pots. Finished down $134. I knew it would happen eventually and it could have been worse. Tomorrow I'll have to get back to the winning ways.

-Boooom

Hot Hot Hot...

Just finished a 2 hour session. It started off kinda rough. I made a bad call and paid a guy off early in the session when I had KK. But got lucky on 1 big draw against a set, then settled into the session. Ended up destroying everyone. Details to come, right now I have to go take a test. Fill you in on some interesting hands when I get back.

So my session earlier was sick. Semi-slow start, was feeling a little shaky getting myself into tough spots. But settled in and came on strong late. Here are 3 big hands that went down...

Full Tilt Poker Game #10806300446: Table Brush - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:16:56 ET - 2009/02/23
Seat 1: BoooomBaby7 ($207.65)
Seat 2: LifeRiversMe ($100)
Seat 3: JAnders5 ($100)
Seat 4: Mr Grigoriy ($18.50)
Seat 5: kogakeqot ($19)
Seat 6: ischiaswilly1 ($20)
Seat 7: bigdstrong68 ($48.20)
Seat 8: renohcard ($20.55)
Seat 9: 1Tomcat14 ($218.70)
kogakeqot posts the small blind of $0.50
ischiaswilly1 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [Ad Kh]
bigdstrong68 folds
renohcard folds
bigdstrong68: did u just get to the table
1Tomcat14 folds
BoooomBaby7 has 15 seconds left to act
BoooomBaby7 raises to $3.50
LifeRiversMe folds
bigdstrong68: i got your back boom
JAnders5 has 15 seconds left to act
JAnders5 has been disconnected
LifeRiversMe: yea and i could see that he was friendly and trying to give money away
JAnders5 has reconnected
JAnders5 has 15 seconds left to act
BoooomBaby7: thanks, lol
JAnders5 raises to $9
Mr Grigoriy folds
kogakeqot folds
ischiaswilly1 folds
BoooomBaby7 calls $5.50
*** FLOP *** [Ks 5d Ac]
BoooomBaby7 checks
BoooomBaby7: he knew he was donating
JAnders5 checks
*** TURN *** [Ks 5d Ac] [7h]
BoooomBaby7: not like he was unaware
BoooomBaby7 bets $9
JAnders5 has 15 seconds left to act
JAnders5 raises to $24
BoooomBaby7 has 15 seconds left to act
BoooomBaby7 calls $15
*** RIVER *** [Ks 5d Ac 7h] [Td]
BoooomBaby7 checks
JAnders5 has 15 seconds left to act
JAnders5 bets $67, and is all in
BoooomBaby7: lol, seriously?
BoooomBaby7 has 15 seconds left to act
BoooomBaby7 has requested TIME
BoooomBaby7 folds
Uncalled bet of $67 returned to JAnders5
JAnders5 mucks
JAnders5 wins the pot ($64.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $67.50 Rake $3
Board: [Ks 5d Ac 7h Td]
Seat 1: BoooomBaby7 folded on the River
Seat 2: LifeRiversMe didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: JAnders5 collected ($64.50), mucked
Seat 4: Mr Grigoriy (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: kogakeqot (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: ischiaswilly1 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: bigdstrong68 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: renohcard didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: 1Tomcat14 didn't bet (folded)


This was a very sick laydown for me. But this was the first time I had seen this guy 3bet preflop, and he had played tighter than me, which is super super rare to find. When it came down to it I couldn't put him on anything worse than AK after the way he played it. So I folded. The fold ended up paying off later because it allowed me to save that 67$ for this hand that happened just a little later on the same table...


Full Tilt Poker Game #10806466723: Table Brush - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:27:01 ET - 2009/02/23
Seat 1: BoooomBaby7 ($175.05)
Seat 2: LifeRiversMe ($100)
Seat 3: JAnders5 ($133.50)
Seat 4: Mr Grigoriy ($20)
Seat 5: kogakeqot ($36.10)
Seat 6: ischiaswilly1 ($35.25)
Seat 7: bigdstrong68 ($34.25)
Seat 8: Traumverwalter ($20)
Seat 9: 1Tomcat14 ($214.70)
ischiaswilly1 posts the small blind of $0.50
bigdstrong68 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [Jd Js]
1Tomcat14 calls $1
BoooomBaby7 raises to $3
LifeRiversMe folds
JAnders5 folds
Mr Grigoriy folds
kogakeqot folds
ischiaswilly1 folds
bigdstrong68 calls $2
1Tomcat14 calls $2
*** FLOP *** [8d 6c Jh]
bigdstrong68 checks
1Tomcat14 checks
BoooomBaby7 bets $7
bigdstrong68 calls $7
1Tomcat14 raises to $24
BoooomBaby7 raises to $59
bigdstrong68 folds
1Tomcat14 has 15 seconds left to act
1Tomcat14 has requested TIME
1Tomcat14: sensing a big hand
1Tomcat14 raises to $211.70, and is all in
BoooomBaby7 calls $113.05, and is all in
1Tomcat14 shows [8s 8c]
BoooomBaby7 shows [Jd Js]
Uncalled bet of $39.65 returned to 1Tomcat14
*** TURN *** [8d 6c Jh] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [8d 6c Jh 9s] [Qc]
1Tomcat14 shows three of a kind, Eights
BoooomBaby7 shows three of a kind, Jacks
BoooomBaby7 wins the pot ($357.60) with three of a kind, Jacks
BoooomBaby7: sick flop
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $360.60 Rake $3
Board: [8d 6c Jh 9s Qc]
Seat 1: BoooomBaby7 showed [Jd Js] and won ($357.60) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 2: LifeRiversMe didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: JAnders5 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Mr Grigoriy didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: kogakeqot (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ischiaswilly1 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: bigdstrong68 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Traumverwalter is sitting out
Seat 9: 1Tomcat14 showed [8s 8c] and lost with three of a kind, Eights

This hand was very satisfying because this guy had been calling my raises and check raising me all night, but I never hit a hand against him. I am glad I saved my money from that other hand cause it made this double up that much bigger!

The last hand I'm going to share is from the very end of my session where a guy brutally overplayed his hand on the flop...


Full Tilt Poker Game #10806605284: Table Ogden - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:35:26 ET - 2009/02/23
Seat 1: temak ($81.30)
Seat 2: FoodFightAfrica ($102.55)
Seat 3: richierich169 ($46.65)
Seat 4: BDigity ($105.25)
Seat 5: wbmsexy ($228.20)
Seat 6: POCKETACESOK ($123.30)
Seat 7: Dr Dexterity ($177.15)
Seat 8: BoooomBaby7 ($191.45)
Seat 9: RoundersClub ($100.40)
BDigity posts the small blind of $0.50
wbmsexy posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [5c 5h]
POCKETACESOK has 15 seconds left to act
POCKETACESOK folds
Dr Dexterity folds
BoooomBaby7 calls $1
RoundersClub folds
temak has 15 seconds left to act
temak folds
FoodFightAfrica folds
richierich169 folds
BDigity calls $0.50
wbmsexy checks
*** FLOP *** [5d Ks 8d]
BDigity checks
wbmsexy bets $1
BoooomBaby7 raises to $5
BDigity has 15 seconds left to act
BDigity raises to $15
wbmsexy folds
BoooomBaby7 has 15 seconds left to act
BoooomBaby7 calls $10
*** TURN *** [5d Ks 8d] [Qh]
BDigity has 15 seconds left to act
BDigity bets $22
BoooomBaby7 raises to $175.45, and is all in
richierich169 is feeling confused
BDigity has 15 seconds left to act
BDigity: 88
BDigity has requested TIME
BDigity: nh
BDigity calls $67.25, and is all in
BoooomBaby7 shows [5c 5h]
BDigity shows [Kh Qs]
Uncalled bet of $86.20 returned to BoooomBaby7
*** RIVER *** [5d Ks 8d Qh] [5s]
BoooomBaby7 shows four of a kind, Fives
BDigity shows two pair, Kings and Queens
BoooomBaby7 wins the pot ($209.50) with four of a kind, Fives
BoooomBaby7: almost
BDigity adds $40
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $212.50 Rake $3
Board: [5d Ks 8d Qh 5s]
Seat 1: temak didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: FoodFightAfrica didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: richierich169 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: BDigity (small blind) showed [Kh Qs] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 5: wbmsexy (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: POCKETACESOK didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Dr Dexterity didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: BoooomBaby7 showed [5c 5h] and won ($209.50) with four of a kind, Fives
Seat 9: RoundersClub didn't bet (folded)

This hand capped a 2 hour session where I racked up a $500 profit over 1540 hands. I'm now up about 2k since I started NL100. I'm trying to get better at laying down hands cause too often I make curious calls when I'm pretty sure I'm beat. My flat call yesterday with the 2nd nuts, and my AK lay downs are starts. But hands like the KK at the beginning of the session I should be able to get away from. So far I have been very happy with the Holdem Manager and how it helps me adjust my play to certain players. I am going to play the 17k tonight, and probably another short cash session... gotta keep this train moving.

-Boooom

Snowboarding... and lots of aces

Snowboarding on Friday and Saturday was awesome! The snow was excellent (it didn't hurt to bad when I fell), and I was able to land some small jumps. I broke in some brand new boots and bindings which made a huge different compared to the crappy old boots and bindings I was using before. Got to carve it up for a few days with some cool guys. Only bummer thing was that the Wifi at the motel6 we stayed at really sucked. So I was able to play about 4 hands, on 1 table Friday night then called it quits. Because the connection kept going in and out. Because of that I didn't get my 200 ftps for Saturday, and now have to get 200pts the rest of the days of February in order to get the top Iron Man bonus level. My last post talked about how I have been running disgustingly hot at NL100 since I started February 15th. Well today was no exception.

I played two sessions today. One was 933 hands and the other was 764 hands... for 1697 total hands. My net profit was $457 over those two sessions. The tables were very loose and my hands seemed to be holding up. The craziest thing about today was the rate at which I was dealt aces. On average you should be dealt aces (or any specific pocket pair), once every 221 hands. Which means I should have been dealt aces between 7 and 8 times. Well in these sessions I had aces 19 times. More than double what would be expected. The even bigger thing was that I did not lose any of those hands where I had aces. On 3 occasions I got it allin preflop for 90 or more big blinds. My net profit on these 19 hands was $605. I was getting a ton of action and holding up, which made for a very profitable day.

I was very happy with my play, there was one hand where I had KK v AA, that I almost got away from. The guy bet 15$ on the flop when I knew he had a big hand, then the turn came Q, and he shoved for 30$. I should have folded, because the only thing I could have previously beaten was JJ or QQ, and the Q killed my kings. Instead I decided to pay off the guy on the cold deck, a spot where I could have saved 30 bucks. Overall I played tight and let the donks give their money away. However there was one hand that I was expecially proud of... here it is...

Full Tilt Poker Game #10785813874: Table Greenbrook - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:31:30 ET - 2009/02/22
Seat 1: shtaket31 ($22.60)
Seat 2: TopPokerChef ($45.55)
Seat 3: BoooomBaby7 ($128.15)
Seat 4: renohcard ($19.50)
Seat 5: dezrobi ($55)
Seat 6: 34dfjr ($22.95)
Seat 7: tzedakahjohn ($150.05)
Seat 8: porch50 ($17)
Seat 9: RoundersClub ($100.50)
RoundersClub posts the small blind of $0.50
shtaket31 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [8s 8d]
TopPokerChef folds
BoooomBaby7 calls $1
renohcard has 15 seconds left to act
renohcard folds34dfjr folds
tzedakahjohn has 15 seconds left to act
tzedakahjohn folds
porch50 folds
RoundersClub raises to $4.50
shtaket31 folds
BoooomBaby7 calls $3.50
*** FLOP ***
[Kc 5c 5s]
RoundersClub checks
BoooomBaby7 checks
*** TURN ***
[Kc 5c 5s] [8h]
RoundersClub bets $7.50
BoooomBaby7 calls $7.50
*** RIVER *** [Kc 5c 5s 8h] [7d]
RoundersClub bets $18.50
BoooomBaby7 calls $18.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RoundersClub shows [Kd Ks] a full house, Kings full of Fives
BoooomBaby7 mucks
RoundersClub wins the pot ($59) with a full house, Kings full of Fives
BoooomBaby7 adds $0.35
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $62 Rake $3
Board: [Kc 5c 5s 8h 7d]
Seat 1: shtaket31 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: TopPokerChef didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: BoooomBaby7 mucked [8s 8d] - a full house, Eights full of Fives
Seat 4: renohcard didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: dezrobi is sitting out
Seat 6: 34dfjr didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: tzedakahjohn didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: porch50 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: RoundersClub (small blind) showed [Kd Ks] and won ($59) with a full house, Kings full of Fives


This was a very strange hand where it turns out I saved myself 70$. When he raised to that amount out of position I figured he had a big hand, I had some notes on him to where I knew he was a very tight multi tabler. The check on the flop was strange, because HU you would expect him to continuation bet a very high percentage of the time, but AK might check there, feeling good about the security of the hand. Turn 8 looks pretty yahtzee I know he doesn't have 55 raising out of position, so I have the 2nd nuts. His turn bet was very close to the size of the pot, so I flat called it figuring I didn't want to discourage a river bluff if he was in fact checking the flop and then betting the turn on air. The river rolled off blank, and he fired another close to pot size bet. He had $70 behind the 18.50 bet. I figured if I raised him to about $60 I would be commiting myself to his allin shove. The only thing I could maybe put him on in this situation from the way he played the had was AK or KK. I could see him checking the flop, and firing the turn with something like QQ or JJ. But there is no way he would fire the river so strong. I decided to play it safe with my 2nd nuts, which is something I very rarely do. In these situations, even when I suspect I might be getting coolered, I ship it anyways because the opponents at these stakes are so random. I figure I might be ahead, otherwise just take the cooler and move on, it happens. But this time I felt pretty confident that it would not be a good move to raise, and then force myself into calling a shove over the top. It turned out I was right, and saved myself $70 on the session.

I keep thinking... there is no way I am going to keep running this hot. But as long as the donks keep offering me their money, and not sucking out, I'll take it. I have recorded 6k hands at NL100 and have been stupidly successful. From what I have noticed, the play is much more aggro than NL50. And that is probably very good because the majority of the people are not going to realize how tight I play, and have their games adjusted for the way everyone else is playing. So while their plays might be semi correct/good against the average player at these stakes, against me they are greatly overplaying their hands. Whatever it is, I hope I can run stupid hot for as long as possible. After today's sessions I am up about $1500 over 6,000 hands of NL100.

Didn't get to play tournaments this weekend, but might try to squeeze the 10pm tourny in tonight. Hope this next week is as good as the last.

-Boooom

Staying Hot...

I've been running super hot at NL100, and have not had a losing session yet. This morning was no different. I played for 45 minutes, 545 hands, and netted a profit of $248.

The biggest hand was where this fairly solid guy raised 2nd to act to 3.50. I reraised with JJ to 10.50. I almost didn't reraise, but he was raising 15% of his hands, so I figured I had the best hand. He flat called and the flop came JTx, 2 clubs. He checked, I bet 12, only to be check raised to 37. I flat called knowing it would go in on the turn one way or another. Turn came, he shoved for the remaining 50 or so, turned over AKc. One of the worst hands I could be up against. He hit on the river... an Ace, which wasn't enough so I won the 200$ pot.

In the last week, since moving up to NL100, I have play just about 7-8 hours 12 tabling, and am up almost 1k. Also got my rakeback this morning which was about $80. Let's hope I can keep the sweet run going, and that when it does end, I don't hit a very big downswing.

-Boooom

Deep run... bad beat

Just made a deep run in the 32k 26$buyin on fulltilt. 1600 entrants and over 8k for first. I was down to 1200 early on. But got back to 1700, then quadrupled up when I shoved on a big squeeze play with AJh from the BB. The original raiser folded, but the 3 other players all ended up allin. Their hands were KQo, JJ, 98o. Flop was Qhigh but I went running hearts for the big pot. Cruised from there to a pretty decent stack. Once we got deeper I was able to go into Gus mode and keep my stack up despite subpar hands. I pretty much stayed close to or a little above avg stack the rest of the tourny. I was raising on average about 20% of my hands once the big antes were implemented. And after a abotu 2.5 hours of that, I only faced a reraise twice. I got on a little roll with the blinds at 2k/4k 500ante, up to about 133k. Then this hand happened with about 50 people left... the guy on the button pretty much had one move when stealing blinds, and that was allin.


Full Tilt Poker Game #10737525749: $32,000 Guarantee (80710948), Table 120 - 2000/4000 Ante 500 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:26:44 ET - 2009/02/20
Seat 2: 23pebbles23 (53,164)
Seat 3: ricktip (25,318)
Seat 4: Philosoph (106,621)
Seat 5: tiltedpony (51,446)
Seat 6: blessd1 (70,427)
Seat 7: MERODOTOU (25,890)
Seat 8: BoooomBaby7 (133,224)
Seat 9: karini77 (243,002)
23pebbles23 antes 500
ricktip antes 500
Philosoph antes 500
tiltedpony antes 500
blessd1 antes 500
MERODOTOU antes 500
BoooomBaby7 antes 500
karini77 antes 500
MERODOTOU posts the small blind of 2,000
BoooomBaby7 posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [Ah Kh]
karini77 folds
23pebbles23 folds
ricktip folds
Philosoph folds
tiltedpony folds
blessd1 raises to 69,927, and is all in
Philosoph is feeling angry
MERODOTOU folds
BoooomBaby7 calls 65,927
blessd1 shows [4h Kd]
BoooomBaby7 shows [Ah Kh]
*** FLOP *** [8h 6s 5h]
Philosoph: LOL
*** TURN *** [8h 6s 5h] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 6s 5h 4s] [Kc]
blessd1 shows two pair, Kings and Fours
BoooomBaby7 shows a pair of Kings
blessd1 wins the pot (145,854) with two pair, Kings and Fours
Philosoph: BINK
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 145,854 Rake 0
Board: [8h 6s 5h 4s Kc]
Seat 2: 23pebbles23 folded before the Flop
Seat 3: ricktip folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Philosoph folded before the Flop
Seat 5: tiltedpony folded before the Flop
Seat 6: blessd1 (button) showed [4h Kd] and won (145,854) with two pair, Kings and Fours
Seat 7: MERODOTOU (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: BoooomBaby7 (big blind) showed [Ah Kh] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 9: karini77 folded before the Flop


Great flop, BS turn, this hand hurt me greatly, taking over half my stack. I was able to steal some blinds a few hands later. But then I was dealt A7o in the BB, the cutoff raised about 2.5x the BB, and I shoved to try and take it down but ran into QQ and it held up. Took 43rd for $97.06. Disapointing finish, but definitely was good affirmation that I can continue to make deep runs in these tournaments. Alot of things have to go right to make the final table in a tourny that big, just wasn't happening tonight.

On a side note, I was freerolling in the tournament. Earlier today I used 5400pts, to play in 3 single table sngs where the top 3 get a 26$ tournament token. I cashed in all of them picking up 3 tokens which is always nice.

Until next time, I'm calling it a night.

-Boooom

Session recap, random thoughts

Played the 6max KO, things didn't go my way. I felt like a played fine early, had one well executed bluff against a player who was over aggro. Had built my stackup to about 5k. Then called a raise with AJs, after a Jxx flop, the preflop raiser put a healthy continuation bet out. Turn paired the board, he had about 1700 behind, and proceeded to check raise allin on the turn when I bet. I called, he showed QJh, and proceeded to river a Q to win the 4k+ pot. That chopped me down to under 3k as we approached the end of the first hour.



One player was probably the worst at the table from what I had seen, but was on a hot streak and had over 10k in chips. He raised and I called with J7h on the button. Flop Q7x, and he checked. Now I had played a pot with him earlier where he raised with A8, didn't bet the flop, then check called the turn and river with Ace high. That in mind I put him on a similar holding since I expected him to bet with any pair, or even without one. I bet about half the pot, and he called. Turn 8h, putting 2 hearts on board. He checked, I threw out another half pot bet, and he called. River was a low blank, and we went check check, only to see him turn over A8 again... the winning hand with the 8 on the turn. This cut me down to about 1k in chips, with the blinds at 40/80. From here I was able to double up once, but then had my KQ run into 99 a little after the first break... 99 held up and ended my run at a repeat.



Meanwhile I was playing a NL100 session and did not get off to a good start. I was down just a bit and then my connection started freaking out on me. I had QQ in the BB, there was a raise and a flat call out, I wanted to reraise but my screen froze up, by the time it unfroze my time was almost up and I didn't have time to punch in my reraise so I quickly hit the call button in time. The flop came 9 high, I check raised the preflop raiser to 30, he thought then shoved, I called the extra 35$ only to see his 99 for top set. I dont know if he would have folded preflop to a reraise, but at least I would have felt alot better if I made him put in an extra 10$+ to see the flop. After this I was quickly down 100$ on the session. However the birthday gifts began to come in, I was allin preflop with AA twice, once for 35$ against KQs, and then for 95$ against JJ. Holding up in both of those was nice and got me back on track. AK v A5s allin preflop for 35$ held up. I was doing well, a set of 8s against AK on an AQ8 flop won me another 100$ or so. There were some minor set backs along the way with people flopping sets and getting some small bets out of me, but at the end of the night I was +216$ in 75 minutes.

Good news, I have holdem manager fully up and running. The autoimport is working great, and it is nice to be able to see much of my stats. As I play more I will have more and more information on my opponents. Right now I don't really use the HUD very much, as I am still getting used to it. Also it is hard to use the data when I see a guy has a VPIP of 32, but its only for about 40 hands, that doesn't help me a whole lot. So that should become more and more helpful the more I use it.

Moving up to NL100 is going ot bring me higher rakeback! In that seesion I averaged 650 hand in an hour, but most of the time I was only playing 11 tables (because tournament was running). So with 12 tables the whole time I would get a little bit more. Based on 27% rakeback, I was earning about $9.50/hr on NL100. So basically I can hope to be getting close to 10$/hr on NL100 which turns into a nice weekly bonus every Friday morning.

In my last post I showed a sweet royal flush where I coolered a guy who had 25suited (Jimmy's favorite hand). Well I observed a hand on one of my cash tables that redeemed the power of 25suited, and I am sure Jimmy will appreciate this more than anyone...

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [6h As]
Einhander777 has 15 seconds left to act
Einhander777 folds
cbman000 folds
atthetalbe has 15 seconds left to act
atthetalbe folds
veritas folds
edinho81 raises to $3.50
BoooomBaby7 folds
Tank tapper has 15 seconds left to act
Tank tapper raises to $21
Tkannon7 folds
edinho81 calls $16.60, and is all in
Tank tapper shows [Ks Kh]
edinho81 shows [2c 5c]
Uncalled bet of $0.90 returned to Tank tapper
*** FLOP *** [Ac 6c 3s]
*** TURN *** [Ac 6c 3s] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 6c 3s 4h] [3c]
Tank tapper shows two pair, Kings and Threes
edinho81 shows a flush, Ace high
edinho81 wins the pot ($39.15) with a flush, Ace high
Tank tapper adds $20.10
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $41.20 Rake $2.05
Board: [Ac 6c 3s 4h 3c]
Seat 1: edinho81 showed [2c 5c] and won ($39.15) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: BoooomBaby7 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Tank tapper (small blind) showed [Ks Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Threes
Seat 5: Tkannon7 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Einhander777 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: cbman000 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: atthetalbe didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: veritas didn't bet (folded)

I have also changed my system for taking notes on people. I have started using different colors to help my identify certain types of players. The solid players who play tons of tables I labeled red, the players who I have random notes on and I don't know how solid they are I have left green. And the bad players who I have seen make critical errors I have labeled purple. I am hoping this will help me as I gain more notes on NL100 player (I have alot on NL50, but moving up has left me with less) so when I open up a table I am thinking about sitting at, I will quickly be able to tell if it is a decent table, or a really bad table. Anything I can do to maximize the amount of fish, and limit the amount of sharks at my tables, should make me more profitable.

I am going snowboarding this weekend which will be epic. They just got hit hard with snow up in the mountains... fresh powder here I come. I am off to read Harrington on Holdem, let's hope I learn something insightful.

-Boooom

Happy Birthday to me...

So this morning after my post I decided to play for about 35 minutes to try and get my 200 ftps for the day in. Since I knew I was going to be pretty busy the rest of the day due to my birthday. However I was greeted witha nice birthday present early in my short session...

Full Tilt Poker Game #10705692081: Table Dronberger - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:12:01 ET - 2009/02/18
Seat 1: Sergunia ($20)
Seat 2: BoooomBaby7 ($98)
Seat 3: lesya777 ($24.20)
Seat 4: jwpoker4 ($103.50)
Seat 5: BP ($101.10)
Seat 6: AgiPokerStar ($20.50)
Seat 7: coldcards1 ($161.40)
Seat 8: RoundersClub ($104.25)
Seat 9: Flotschi101 ($17.50)
BoooomBaby7 posts the small blind of $0.50
lesya777 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BoooomBaby7 [Tc 8c]
jwpoker4 folds
BP folds
AgiPokerStar folds
coldcards1 calls $1
RoundersClub folds
Flotschi101 folds
Sergunia folds
BoooomBaby7 calls $0.50
lesya777 has 15 seconds left to act
lesya777 checks
*** FLOP *** [Jc 9c Qc]
BoooomBaby7 checks
lesya777 bets $2
coldcards1 has 15 seconds left to act
coldcards1 raises to $7
BoooomBaby7 calls $7
lesya777 has 15 seconds left to act
lesya777 raises to $23.20, and is all in
coldcards1 has 15 seconds left to act
coldcards1 calls $16.20
BoooomBaby7 calls $16.20
*** TURN *** [Jc 9c Qc] [6h]
BoooomBaby7 bets $28
coldcards1 calls $28
*** RIVER *** [Jc 9c Qc 6h] [3h]
BoooomBaby7 bets $45.80, and is all in
coldcards1 has 15 seconds left to act
coldcards1 calls $45.80
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BoooomBaby7 shows [Tc 8c] a straight flush, Queen high
coldcards1 mucks
BoooomBaby7 wins the side pot ($147.60) with a straight flush, Queen high
lesya777 mucks
BoooomBaby7 wins the main pot ($69.60) with a straight flush, Queen high
lesya777 adds $20
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $220.20 Main pot $72.60. Side pot $147.60. Rake $3
Board: [Jc 9c Qc 6h 3h]
Seat 1: Sergunia (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: BoooomBaby7 (small blind) showed [Tc 8c] and won ($217.20) with a straight flush, Queen high
Seat 3: lesya777 (big blind) mucked [2c 5c] - a flush, Queen high
Seat 4: jwpoker4 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: BP didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: AgiPokerStar didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: coldcards1 mucked [Qh Kh] - a pair of Queens
Seat 8: RoundersClub didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Flotschi101 didn't bet (folded)


WOW, unreal... it's rare enough top flop a straight flush. But to get that much action when there was only 1 limper and the blinds is unheard of. One guy was coolered (sorry Jimmy, sometimes 25 suited gets owned), and the other guy was just a donk, nice gift for me on my birthday. I am just starting the 26$ 6-max KO... the same tournament I won last Friday. This is the first time I have played it since then, so hopefully I can defend my title, and do a little better than I did in the tournament last night.

Back to reality

Note: Today is my 22nd birthday. I don't get super excited about birthdays anymore, I'm getting older, and I do get a few gifts which is cool, but I think overall birthdays are overrated.

Tuesday was a day of going back to reality. The long weekend was over and in the morning I drove back to campus and had class at 12:30. I did not take any schoolwork home over the weekend so it really made me forget about school and the work I need to be doing. Also on Tuesday night I had two tutoring sessions (I do private tutoring in math and physics for high school students). It's a good little side job, the 20$/hr is always easy money. However with how poker is going right now, it could easily be aregued that I would make more playing online in that same time.

Last night I also found the time to finally play another tournament. I played the 10pm 17k 26$ buyin on fulltilt. I was off to a good start, got myself up to almost 10k chips at the first break. Shortly after the break the wheels started coming off. After 2 missed draws (one where I bluffed the river for about 2k, only to see my opponent go allin), I was down to about 3k. Very next hand naturally I get AA, with the blinds 120/240 ante25. I pop it to 720, same guy who just moved allin on me on the previous hand pops it to about 2500, so clearly I shove he calls and shows AK. Board runs out TTxQJ. Boooom... back to reality again, I guess I'm not going to win every tournament I play in, oh well. I think playing in madman aggro mode is harder in 9 handed play, than in 6handed. I don't think I know how to pick my spots as well in 9 handed and get myself into tough decisions. I'll have to figure this out as I play more tournaments. The 6 handed tourny was alot easier, because you are never very far out of position. Raising UTG or UTG+1, you only have to get by 2 or 3 people that have position on you. Hopefully I can find the right mix for 9handed play. In the mean time, I'm going to go enjoy my bday.

-Boooom

Loooong Monday

Slept in this morning. I did play a pretty good session of NL100, where I was +160$ in about an hour. Haven't had a losing session yet which is awesome. Hung out with the girlfriend's family tonight. Her younger cousins are really crazy, and I found out I don't really like playing games with them. Because they think its really funny to not follow the rules in some games. Or in other 2 player games, the ones who are not playing but are watching, just love to sit there and tell you what to do. Which is very annoying and hanging out with them drained the energy out of me. However it was nice to hang out with my girlfriend before I go back to school tomorrow.

After that I went over to my friend's house to play a home game. These were some guys from church who I knew weren't very good at poker. The buyin was 5$ and somehow the decision was made to only raise the blinds when someone got knocked out. With the blinds starting very small, I saw every single flop for most of the night. It was up and down and I ended up getting 2nd place, and got my 5$ back. However it was one of the longest, more frustrating games I've played it. It is one thing when people don't completely know how to play, I can work with that, but when you have to tell a person its their turn... everytime its their turn, that's just stupid. Was the slowest game ever, mostly just because people weren't paying attention. Got home late, and I probably won't play with them again just because of how frustrating it was for me, a person who is always paying attention to where the action is on every hand, and I ended up feeling like I was babysitting them. Next time I'll probably just go hang out, and not play.

It was a good weekend, but I am very tired and have to go to class tomorrow. Good news was that Chick's was having a big liquidation sale this weekend, I went and bought new snowboard bindings and books for 40% off. Hopefully these new boots don't tear up my heel like my last ones did. This weekend I'm going snowboarding and it should be awesome because the mountain should be getting fresh snow right now. My birthday is on Wednesday, so hopefully I will have a good week. HOPEFULLY I will find the time to play some tournaments this week.

-Boooom

Diving into NL100

Today was a pretty good day, although I didn't play much poker. Went to church, got to hang out with some friends, then hang out with my girlfriend tonight. I did manage to squeeze in 2 short NL100 sessions. Before I played I withdrew a little over 1k, to make my account $4,000.00 exactly... so I had exactly 40 buyins.

Each were less than an hour, but overall things went pretty well. First session I managed to go +180. I was up to 300 on one table, got it all in 2hands. One guy went crazy with JJ in a blind battle when I had KK. Then I hit a set with 77 on A7x flop, and a guy overplayed his AJ. The rest were just small up and down pots. In my second session I ran into a bit of bad luck, but was able to recover. I had QQ utg, and limped, a guy in mid position raised to 4.50, and the BB called, I 3bet to 18$, and they both called. the J53 flop was yahtzee for the BB with 55 and I doubled him up. His preflop call isnt terrible, but it definitely is not good. He has to be positive he is going to double up if he flops his set, and I still don't think hes quite getting the right odds.

At that point I was down about $130, but won a 60$ pot with a flush. Then I had AKs in the SB, mid position raised to 3.50 and I flat called as did the BB. Flop was 8high with 2 spades, and we checked around. turn was the yahtzee 3s, and I bet out 9$, only to be raised by the preflop raiser to 25, I made it 58, and he insta shoved. I guess he thought he hit yahtzee after his preflop raise with 74s. That double up got me back to sea level and I ended up finishing the session +20$. A +200$ day on my first day of NL100, needless to say, I'll take it. I'd much rather deal with the big downswings in a few weeks when I get used to the level. Big downswing to start at the new level would be very discouraging and damage my confidence. At least I'm not dealing with that yet.

I have not quite figured out Holdem Manager yet. I was able to upload some hands, that are being saved to a specific folder. However after my first session when I was plus 181$, when I loaded the hand it was missing a few, and said I was only +77$ on the session. Not sure exactly what's going on but I will figure it out soon. I need to get the hands to auto import so I dont have to import the file after each session. Also I have not set up the HUD (heads up display), so I can't see peoples stats on the table. Once I figure this stuff out it should just help me more. Lastly I really want to play some tournaments since I haven't had time to play anything since my big win. I'm going to enjoy my day off tomorrow before heading back to school on Tuesday... ironically I have more time to play poker when I'm at school then when I come home to visit my family and friends.

-Boooom

Boosted bankroll... what now?

I played 12 tables of NL50 for about 30 minutes last night before going to bed. I ended up down about 50 bucks, which brings my bankroll down to about $5050. My big cash Friday night has greatly boosted my bankroll.

At the beginning of the month I had $1250 and was hoping to make about 1k over the month 12 tabling NL50, and then eventually, once I got my bankroll up to about 3k, I wanted to move up to playing NL100. Now with just over 5k, I am very well bankrolled for NL100 with 50 buyins. However I am a little aprehensive when it comes to jumping up to the new level. In some ways I feel like I haven't "earned" my way up to that level. I expected to grind for a month or 2 before moving up. So one of my options is to just withdraw about 3k, and bring myself down to 2k (very well bankrolled for NL50), then grind back up to 3k before I move up to NL100. Withdrawing 3k would allow me to play some live poker when I chose to. However I don't think this is the best option for me.

One option I haven't considered yet would be to move up to NL200, with 25 buyins. Which isn't idea, but it is not bad at all. After all I started the month with 25 buyins at NL50. But I don't like this idea because the NL200 game will definitely be tougher to beat, and the swings involved would be much bigger (4x) than what I have gotten used to at NL50. All in all, I don't like this idea at all.

I think my best option is to make the jump to NL100. I will soon get used to the swings involved, and I am very confident that I can beat that game. Another incentive is that the rakeback will be much higher at NL100. At NL50 I was making about 20-30$/hr, I don't expect it to double because the tables will be a little tougher, but it would be nice to started making $40+/hr (with rakeback). I am going to withdraw some money, probably about 1k, leaving myself with 4k to play NL100. 40 buyins should be more than enough to get me through the swings involved. Also it leaves me with plenty of bankroll to continue to play some tournaments. It is recommended that you have anywhere from 50-100+ buyins to play tournaments. This leaves me with well over 100 buyins for 26$ tournaments. I think leaving myself with 4k bankroll will be a solid amount for me to play NL100 and play tournaments. This is what I'm going to go with for now and see how I settle into the NL100 games.

My biggest concern with NL100 is that there will be more solid multi tablers , compared to the number of fish at the tables. I haven't been running any software to track my play, but yesterday I just bought Holdem Manager which is supposed to be a great program. This should help me not only figure out who the players are who play all the time, but also what their specific tendencies are. One of the problems I run into when I discover players who are multabling 8 or more, is that I know they are probably a pretty solid player. However, I don't know exactly how tight or aggressive they really are. I group them all into one category, where I mostly give them respect. Having data on all the players I play against will help me to adjust my game better against each individual opponent. Lastly, it will give me stats on my play, and hopefully I'll be able to fine tune my game to get better. This should help me with the adjustment to the new NL100 level. I will keep updating you as to how NL100 is going, and also how my future tournaments go as I continue to try and implement the things I learned from Gus's book, and hopefully some new ideas I gain from Harington's books.

-Boooom

Gettin' Lucky on Friday the 13th

So Friday the 13th, I get home from dinner and my cousin's basketball game and sit down to play some cards. I was going to just do my normal 12 table thing, but since I had just finished Gus' book I decided to play a tournament that was starting in 5 minutes... the 24+2 KO 6-max. Now I've never been a huge fan of 6-max, but I figured using Gus' wild strategy would best be used at a short handed table, which a large majority of people don't know how to play well.
I started the tournament off slow, but then thing quickly turned around, after about 40 minutes I had went from 3k to almost 9k in chips and was sitting pretty comfortable. One thing I have noticed about Gus' strategy is that he does not go for a lot of big bluffs, however the crazy table image you get, will cause other people to make crazy bluffs against you. Weird dichotomy there, but it works out nicely. By the time we were almost through hour 2 (when the antes come in... which Gus' explains is when you really have to turn it up and steal a lot of pots) I had a very nice stack. I then got hot, people overplaying their hands vaulted me into the chip lead in the middle of hour 3... sitting with about 50k.

This was perfect, Gus' ideas work best when you are able to build a big stack, then use it to run over the table. This is where I was at, and not really paying attention to the status of the tournament or my chip stack anymore (since I knew I had everyone covered). I went into attack mode, stealing blinds whenever possible, and when I did get called I often won the pot on the flop with a continuation bet. My stack steadily rose without much effort, or "big pots". I cruised with the chip lead all the way down to the money bubble. 835 people started the tournament, and 101 people would make the money. I definitely turned up the pressure when we got close to the bubble, and my table definitely noticed it. I got a few comments from my table mates, but aside from a few words, they weren't willing to actually stand up to me. The bubble bursted, and it was time to make a run to the final table. I needed to keep the pressure on people, and hope they didn't figure out what was going on and fight back. Turns out the large majority of people who play 24+2 tournaments on FTP, don't know how to fight back, because for the next few hours I ran over my table, slowly building up and keeping my chip lead. In no time, we were down to 18 players left. I still had a healthy stack, and unfortunately, my table had a few big stacks as well. One of them who decided to start fighting back. I had about 225k at my new table, then in the next 15 hands or so, was down to 175k, because one guy kept getting frisky. But hat was ok, in no time I had some hands hold up, and got back in the rhythm of the table.
12 people left.

I was very fortunate in this tournament that I had some big gifts late. I did have one bad hand where I called off 2/3 of my chips with AQ on an Ahigh board, and the other big stack had a set of 3's. I regret that call, but that crazy guy quickly doubled me up twice with very subpar hands (called my allin shove with K3o, my TT held... and when I turned 2 pair and I raised him, he shoved over the top with Thigh, drawing dead, so that was nice). I had quickly recovered from my misstep.
I had the maniac on my right who had doubled me up twice but still had a big stack. Then the key for me turned out to be the two very weak players on my left. We fairly quickly made our way to 7 players left, the final table bubble. Durring the time at this table where I took the big hit, and was at only about 1/2 the average stack, the thing that kept me afloat was that EVERY time I was on the button, the SB and BB folded to my raise. There was only 1 time where the BB called, then folded to my flop bet. There blinds and antes kept me afloat while I was waiting for my double ups.

Got to the final table, which progressed quickly. A tight short stack on my left had AK v my AT, and I made a flush. A couple of good holds, and continuing to keep on the pressure and stealing blinds, and we were down to 4 handed. Then I busted the maniac on my right, I don't exactly remember the hand, but I think I had JJ in the BB, and he shoved with a weak hand that had 1 over and that was it for him. 3 handed was interesting because me and the guy on my left each had over 1mil in chips, where the 3rd guy was very shortstacked with 100k. He got up to 180k, but then I was able to knock him out and we were on to HU play.

This HU match was kind of weird, for the first 20 minutes or so, my opponent never raised preflop, he kept limping. So I played small ball for a while, and was down just a bit. A little bit later I turned up the volume and started putting more pressure on him, this was working, as I had a small lead 1.4mil to 1mil. I thought I was going to win when the board read KT9x, and I had KT, got it allin only to find out he had KT as well, so we chopped. I found out that this player was very predictable and wouldn't bluff, so I had to keep winning small pots and wear him down. At the beginning of the HU, I played a little weaker while trying to guage him, and that let him get a small early lead. But no more, this guy was going to face pressure whenever possible. He kept limping preflop, and I kept taking the pots down with flop or turn bets. I told my friend on AIM "I don't want to win every limped pot, but he won't let me fold". I won a big pot with trip Aces where he bet the flop and turn, then folded to my shove, which took him down to 500k. I continued to grind him down to about 330k, when I got 99 in the SB. I limped because he so often folded to my raises, but I had been limping a fair amount so it wasn't an obvious slowplay. He raised to 90k, and I insta shoved, he called of the rest of his chips with A8o, and I held up. Ship it! Thank you Gus Hansen, the madman genius, just padded my bankroll with $3,565.45, well surpassing my monthly goal. Here is the screen shot of the end... with a guy on the table asking me to send him some cash since he had been railing for me, lol.

Recap:

I felt like I played great, I felt like I was in control the entire tournament. It helps that I was running well, and hitting flops at the right time. But staying in attack mode was key, and also helped me to not sit an worry about avg stack, people left, etc. Which is one thing I usually spend a lot of time doing late in tournaments. I'm not disillusioned enough to believe I will dominate a ton of tournaments now, because I won't run that well all the time. But we will see how tournaments in the future go. I am going to mostly stick to cash games still just because of the convenience. I can sit and play for an hour, where tournaments a very time consuming.

Shoutout to sfman22 who railed me durring the final table. Exclaiming "BOOOOM ROASTED" whenever I won a pot, that was fun to watch. Also to Tuckr who watched me at the end (it always seems to help you play better when you know a good player is watching you), and gave me some advice on hands from time to time, but not too much, he let me do what I had to do.

6.5 hours paid off big. $3565 is huge, + the 17 KOs I had at 4 dollars a pop. Now I'm sitting on a $5,100 bankroll. Which leaves me with alot of options which I will discuss in a later post as I decide what to do with this big cash. Now I'm gonna go enjoy my Valentine's day.

-Boooom

Tournaments... my love, my hate.

Over the last few years I've played a good amount of online poker. Maybe my biggest struggle has been with tournaments. They are soooo tempting, because you can win so much, for so little. However, too many times you play for 5 hours, only to take a bad beat right before the final table and have your dreams crushed. In the last 6 months, I have had to face the reality, that I am not a winning tournament player... and that it would be best for me to stick with multi-tabling cash games. I have done that pretty sucessfully the last few months, mostly just using my FullTiltPoints to satelite into tournaments, and those are mostly all I play. I have a friend who plays on Poker Stars and almost only player tournaments with varying success, but I would say he's much better than me, and definitely turns over a profit. He told me about a book he read by Gus Hansen, "All Hands Revealed". This book documented almost every hand Gus' played, with his own commentary on why he plays in such a ridiculous way. He is well known around the world as a madman at the poker table. My friend read it and told me the advice he got from it for tournaments was incredible.

Considering I love playing tournaments, and wanting to get much better at them, I decided to should do what I did when I first learned how to play poker. Pick up some books and learn everything I can about good tournament strategy. I ordered Gus Hansen's book, as well as both of the "Harrington on Hold'em" books on tournaments. I got them in the mail this last week, and quickly zoomed through Gus' book, amazed at how he runs over tables, and crushes the field with inferior holdings. I was quickly convinced that this was the way to play tournament poker, because everyone sits around and waits fro hands, and tries to stay alive. Someone has to exploit them, why not me? Honestly, I had been figuring this out before reading Gus' book, but didn't know how best to do it. The other big thing I learned from the book was to defend your blinds against weak raises, even if you have a weak hand. Also, to very often lead out into the preflop raiser and put them in tough decisions, instead of always "checking to the raiser" which lets them exploit their positional advantage. These things were huge to learn, and I felt they would help me improve my game tremendously.

I am about 1/3 the way through Harrington's first book, but already feel like Gus has helped me take great leaps.

-Boooom

Starting things off... goals

Beginning of February '09, bankroll 1250.

My goal for the month was to win about 1k, playing 1-2 hours a day... (50 hours in the month x 20$ an hour got me to this goal)

I started out the month ok, most of my sessions with small wins. However on Friday the 6th, I played for 3.5 hours and got toasted for -250$. Lot of bad players out that night, who seemed to be having a lucky night. Went snowboarding the next day which was amazing and definitely helped me cool off.

Spent the next week recovering, trying to get back on track, which I slowly did. It's only a matter of time before all those fish stop getting lucky. Came into Feb 13th with 1500... definitely not on track for my end of month goal but looking for a good weekend. Although I knew I probably won't be able to put in too many hours with it being Valentine's day on Saturday.

-Boooom

About me...

Hi, my name is BoooomBaby and I play poker online at FullTiltPoker. Lately I've been learning a lot about bankroll management. The main thing I do is 12 table .25/.50 NL. I play pretty tight, but like to take charge when I enter a pot. The tables are usually pretty soft and it's a pretty easy game to beat. With rakeback, I have approximated that I profit an average of about 20-30$ an hour at this level, seeing about 800 hands per hour. I always buyin for the full amount, and it is recommended that to be properly bankrolled, you have anywhere from 20 to 40 buyins for the game you are playing. I started the month of February with 1250 in my account giving me 25 buyins for NL50. I try to play 1-2 hours a day (usually more on the weekends if I have time) which helps me to qualify for FTPs Iron Man which gives me some small bonuses.

In this blog I will give updates as to how I've been doing, some insights into my mind as I deal with the ups and downs poker. I will use this to vent (over bad beats), rejoice (over big rushes), and also talk about events from my personal life from time to time. If nobody reads this, that's fine, but if you do, I hope you enjoy.

-Boooom