Don't play when not in the mood...

I did some drafting, then felt like I should play some as I wanted to keep playing continuously so I stayed in the right mode. But my head wasn't into it and so I played badly. And then I ran badly... and then the game got shorthanded and I thought "well, I'm horrible at short handed, so this is a chance to practice, and this entire session is a wash anyways."

Yeah that was smart.

Short version, down roughly $100 last night. A good lesson learned to not play when I am not in the right mindset to play. I never "have to" play, and I should not act like I do.

Poker tracker what?

I'll be honest, I played very little the past two days. Magic Online has a new beta up for Magic2010 which I am invited to, so I am drafting like mad to try to break the thing and have some fun. I did play some last night though, putting $100 down on a $2/$4 table, and playing, honestly, boring tight poker (15% VP$IP!) and ending up $11.

However poker tracker says I am down $7.75 for that session. I have no idea why. I even downloaded the hand histories from UB again and re-imported them. Same thing. Wish I knew what was wrong there.

Entertainingly, I show myself as currently up $153 and.. I just traded $150 to a forum friend to get them started up here so.. I'm back to even. :P

I only had one hand that was annoying in the session, so I'm posting it to 2+2, and will link it here. I think that might be a better way to make my blog more educational as well.

Just an update.

Monday was boringly simple play. Not a lot though. So instead I shall post my two favorite hands from my BJJ play:

Hand one: Thank you for folding for 18 more cents in a $30 pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4497188

Hand two: Worst tarp evar!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4493930

Weekend Play

Over the course of the weekend, the Bad Beat Jackpot hit over $200,000 so I braved the jackpot tables to see if I could get a piece of the jackpot. Even if I got the split for being at the same level, it was probably going to be worth the amount I would lose in EV by playing those tables.

Turns out I didn't need to worry much as I destroyed the tables for a couple of buy ins while I played. I also saw some hilariously bad playing, specifically related to people playing short. I saw a guy at a .5/1 table fold a $3.50 pot for 5 cents more. I also saw a guy fold a $40 pot for 18 cents more. I'm pretty sure I may call both of those with any two cards.

No bad beat jackpot for me though, it's still running today. I did make Contender though, which is something in the UB player rewards program, no idea what it is. I'll have to look at it later..

Last night I had a horrible night, so am staying home sick. I loaded up one table to nut peddle while lay here half dead and am getting crushed, down one buy in. I guess at least I have some buffer space from yesterday. :P

Make up!

So after my horrendous run on Wednesday, I did end up playing some more at lower stakes to blow off steam, and making back some money. I then did an honest review of every hand I played to see objectively if I played bad, or if I ran bad.

I do a lot of hand by hand analysis, which may bore some people to tears, but I think it's really the best way to learn how to improve your play if you have the objectivity to look back at a hand and go "Wow, that was a donk move, what was I thinking?" I also post threads on 2+2 like this one to try to get opinions from people on where I am making mistakes or if I am lost in a hand.

Honestly, it was a little of both. I definitely ran bad, but I could have had a significantly less impacted loss if I also had not screwed up some other hands were I tried to run over the table with lesser holdings. In general, there's a lot of calling stations in $2/$4, so I need to be less bluffy and play tighter. Right now my VP$IP is 21.94. I'd like to knock it down to 19% or so, and basically just stop getting tricky. Very boring solid TAG play looks like it has a just fine shot at $2/$4 and I need to remember that.

But to objectively look at things, I am currently running .9bb/100 over 556 hands at $2/$4, and overall at all limits running 2.03bb/100. However, due to rake and a horrible session when I jumped up to $3/$6, I am currently down $62. At the end of the month I'll be able to better see how things look when I get my first rakeback payment.

I'm going to try to play a lot this weekend to hit Contender is UB's RAI$E system. The regular benefits don't matter much, I just thought it would be a fun goal. And maybe if I don't care about the points I'll cash them out. Contender looks easily doable every month even with as little as I play, so maybe this will be a good way to get some extra value out of the site.

Last night I played in the Small Stakes Limit Shenanigans 8 game event. Its HORSE + some, and is fun because it switches up so much. I felt pretty good in it, with Stud H/L and Limit Hold'em being my weakest games, Limit Hold'Em because it was shorthanded, and I suck at shorthanded. Nonetheless I think I did fine until blinds got up and I got caught bluffing on a Limit Hold'em Hand, than ran horrible in Razz, a good example being raising with A25, and then seeing the next two cards be King, King. By the time Stud H/L hit, I needed to find a way to double up, but it didn't happen and down I went. Oh well, was great fun anyways. :) Then I played some normal 2/4 for a while.

Yesterday was "break even poker" land so I don't have any real exciting hands. I'll leave you with this one because I have no idea why I was never raised in this hand. Villain.. pretty passive. It wasn't even a bad beat really, and I have no call to complain, as in the BB I ended up with A4 again and flopped trips, so this was.. pre-karmic? :)

Absolute/UB Cereus Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 4
5 folds, CO calls $2, 1 fold, Hero calls $1, BB checks

Flop: ($6) 2, A, 3 (3 players)
Hero bets $2, 1 fold, CO calls $2

Turn: ($10) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $4, CO calls $4

River: ($18) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $4, CO calls $4

Total pot: $26 | Rake: $1.25

Results:
Hero had A, 4 (two pair, Aces and fours).
CO had 2, 2 (three of a kind, twos).
Outcome: CO won $49.50

One comment on my night..

IT'S NOT FUCKING MUBS IF THEY SOMEHOW HAVE THE GOODS EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME!

*ahem*

I may perhaps have "run bad" tonight. I'll post more when I'm less... sensitive.

Killing my "leeway"

Twas a bad night, with me dropping a buy in almost immediately to remove that leeway I had bragged about just yesterday. In general I loved my table, it had a 40% Saw Flop, so, undaunted, I fastened my seat belt and got ready for the ride. This was the final result:

Table 1 - -40.8bb/100
Table 2 - 8.89bb/100
Table 3 - 23.39bb/100

I still dropped $51, or essentially half a buy in, but considering the roller coaster ride that was going on, it could have been a lot worse or a lot better. I would have kept playing at that table a lot longer, but was getting tired.

I shall leave you with this hand, which I was lost in so badly. :(

Absolute/UB Cereus Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5, 5
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $2, 2 folds, MP3 calls $2, 1 fold, Hero calls $2, SB calls $1, BB bets $4, UTG+1 calls $2, MP3 calls $2, Hero calls $2, SB calls $2

Flop: ($20) 3, 4, 8 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP3 bets $2, Hero raises to $4, 1 fold, BB calls $4, 1 fold, MP3 calls $2

Turn: ($32) 3 (3 players)
BB checks, MP3 bets $4, Hero calls $4, BB calls $4

River: ($44) A (3 players)
BB checks, MP3 bets $4, Hero folds, 1 fold

Total pot: $44 | Rake: $2

Results:
MP3 didn't show
Outcome: MP3 won $42

One Monster gives me some breathing room..

Not a bad night, but mostly because of one monster hand at the end.

Still feeling pretty confident about my game at UB, and before the monster hand came up, I had dug out of my negative hole, and was enjoying the slow grind that was limit poker. I had a nice long, but cool conversation with Thomas today where we discussed how he plays nowadays, and my desire to beat $2/$4 limit. He is nicely concerned that I will simply never be able to beat the rake there long term. I wish I had a solution to that, but I don't. All I can do is try and avoid the bad beat jackpot tables every chance I get.

Unfortunately, right now the jackpot tables are the looser tables. So I have to try to play them and hope I can beat the double rake. So far, I am successful, but I'm still very cautious about the long term prospects. Here's my stats for tonight:

Table 1 - 8.13bb/100
Table 2 - 26.08bb/100
Table 3 - -11.14bb/100
Table 4 - 183.59bb/100 (rofl gg massive pot of doom on a table that died shortly after)
Table 5 - 5bb/100

Obviously the fact that I play short sessions really makes these numbers look skewed. Currently right now overall I am running 12.41bb/100 which is "hotter than the sun," but it's still so few hands that one monster like this one is what takes it to the tipping point:

Absolute/UB Cereus Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com


Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9, 9
Hero bets $4, 1 fold, MP1 calls $4, MP2 calls $4, MP3 calls $2, CO raises to $6, Button raises to $8, 1 fold, BB calls $6, Hero calls $4, MP1 calls $4, MP2 calls $4, MP3 calls $4, CO calls $2

Flop: ($55) J, 4, 9 (7 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, MP1 bets $2, MP2 calls $2, 1 fold, CO calls $2, Button raises to $4, BB calls $4, Hero calls $4, MP1 calls $2, MP2 calls $2, CO calls $2

Turn: ($79) 5 (6 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4, MP1 raises to $8, MP2 calls $8, 1 fold, Button calls $8, BB calls $8, Hero raises to $12, MP1 calls $4, MP2 calls $4, Button calls $4, BB calls $4

River: ($139) 6 (5 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4, MP1 calls $4, 1 fold, Button calls $4, BB calls $4

Total pot: $155 | Rake: $3.50

Results:
Button didn't show
BB didn't show
Hero had 9, 9 (three of a kind, nines).
MP1 didn't show


By the way, I am not sure I played this well. Probably going to post it on 2+2. On the flop I wanted to see who would keep betting for me. On the turn, since it stopped so quickly on the flop, I wasn't willing to risk missing any big bets, so out I came firing, and wasn't willing to let up with anything less than a turn cap, which I would take to me "crap, someone had pocket jacks."

If you take out that monster I am making a much more reasonable 2.8bb/100.

Still, I'm very thankful for this hand. It gives me some nice variance leeway to keep learning the tables here.

Rest of the weekend

Some quick stats on up to my current weekend sessions. Just about every session was pretty short. It's still hard to find quality time to get in multiple hours of pokering. This was a mix of 2/4, 1/2, and even one .5/1 out of boredom.

7/11
Table 1 - 4.84bb/100
Table 2 - 20.22bb/100
Table 3 - -10.83bb/100
Table 4 - -60.40bb/100 (OW!)
Net: -$52.75

7/12
Table 1 - 6.1bb/100
Table 2 - 32.93bb/100
Net: +$21.60

7/13
Table 1 - 8.13bb/100
Net: +$6.50

So, I'm still at a loss, mostly due to some atrocious pain on table 4 where everyone had a monster every time. I think my W$SD% was 0. Yep I just checked, it was. Pocket Aces lost, AK lost, KQ lost, pocket 6's lost. Oh well, it happens.

And my obligatory "bad beat" hand. I knew the table well, and knew I could early limp and go set mining... It all worked so well....

Absolute/UB Cereus Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($111
SB ($26.50)
BB ($51.25)
Hero (UTG) ($81.35)
UTG+1 ($93)
MP1 ($17.25)
MP2 ($52.50)
MP3 ($25.25)
CO ($83.50)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 6, 6
Hero calls $1, UTG+1 calls $1, MP1 calls $1, MP2 calls $1, 4 folds, BB checks

Flop: ($5.50) A, J, 6 (5 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1, 1 fold, MP1 raises to $2, 2 folds, Hero raises to $3, MP1 calls $1

Turn: ($11.50) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, MP1 calls $2

River: ($15.50) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets $2, Hero calls $2

Total pot: $19.50 | Rake: $1.25

Results:
Hero mucked 6, 6 (three of a kind, sixes).
MP1 had 5, A (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: MP1 won $36.50

Such is life. :P

Honestly, right now I feel like I am playing fine, and only had one hand I looked at said "WTF was I thinking there?" I'm going to stay at 2/4 for a while I think and see what happens when I ride out the variance machine for a while...

First night on UB

Only single tables a 2/4 table. Had a super fish on it raising/playing almost anything. Table had a 40% Saw Flop percentage as a full ring table! Woot! Bad side, it was a jackpot table. :(

I started really cold though, not getting any good hands, but playing a couple speculative hands with good pot odds, but kept missing, and was $15.00 down fairly soon. No big deal, but not getting a hand while so much money was being tossed around was getting frustrating.

I ended up a little bit after a few hands, so I'll take it, but it was a horribly unexciting start to my Ultimate Bet run.

Starting all over again in poker

So, I've been playing a lot on Full Tilt and a little on Pokerstars, but mostly.. Full Tilt. Recently however, I have run into rake back issues, namely my rake back provider going AFK for month's at a time, so I asked Full Tilt to allow me to change rake back providers and they said "no."

I don't really blame them for saying no, but at the same time, it did mean I wouldn't play there any more. So, after some checking around for existing deals that I had still going, I settled on Ultimate Bet, so since I did, i might as well pimp them and say click here for a Rake back deal.

Through a fortuitous happenstance, I had a friend who needed money on Full Tilt, and had money on Ultimate Bet. So, one quick transfer exchange later, and poof, I had $1,300 on Ultimate Bet.

The first thing I did was start to check out the site. To quote my 2+2 post to save typing:

So, I moved my money off of Full Tilt to UB. My rake back situation could not be solved through support, so I am abandoning Full tilt. Why UB? Because I figure no self respecting 2+2'er (and thus theoretically good player) would frequent UB, so the players left playing, at my micro small stakes must be true fishies. And I play low enough to not think someone is super user-ing me for my like $50.

But, logging on just now, I noticed that tons of people play the jackpot tables, which have a horrible rake for my stake. This is scarily bad. Not sure what I can do there. I may not be able to overcome the jackpot rake. So sad.

Second, there is 0 $1/$2 limit tables going on right now, yet like 15 0.50/1.00 tables. What a weird anomaly, it looks like there is very little 2/4 and 3/6 action going on as well.

This leaves me to .50/1.00 or.... Omaha or NL maybe? Bleck. I dunno, maybe I'll just grind the hell out of .50/1 and see if I can overcome the jackpot rake. The games do look horribly soft.

So, my next step was to start data mining tables. I'm a big fan of data mining, even at low/microstakes. Any extra information is good information. So to that end I ended up with the Script for UB Data Mining.

It doesn't have a table selector which is bad news for me, but it's better than nothing. While I was at work today, it grabbed about 2,000 hands at .5/1, 1/2, and 2/4. Poker Tracker 2 would not upload them though, but that was quickly solved when I tried to upload them as AP hands instead of UB hands. Weird, but who cares?

Next was setting this blog up again. Wheee. Ok, that's done. I tried to rename it to like 50 different names, all taken. Was very depressing. :(

Finally, I need goals. What am I going to play? How much do I want to earn? How many hands should I play?

Well, I'm copping out on this one for now. I'm going to spend the first week dipping my foot in the pool so to speak. I'll play a few hands when the tables look good, and hopefully in a week I'll get a good feel for if I belong in the 2/4 game.. or lower right now.

If you made it this far, wow, that's dedication. Thanks for reading. Hopefully in the future I'll have some entertaining hands and situations to chat about. This was the big set up, now to start the real action.