Update 29/12/2010

$605.51.

Played 8 PLO8 $12 turbos, cashed 4 out of 8, 1 3rd, 2 2nds and 1 1st. Played various cash games.

Peak $635.

Signing off,

LV.

Boxing Day + Christmas Day 2010

It's been a sad couple of days because although I was given a pure freeroll on the winnings I made I didn't actually make any money in the end! Yep, down to just under $500 and pivoting around that point. And now the freeroll period is over. I'm sitting on $525 as of my latest session playing $0.25/$0.50 6Max Omaha 8. I've emailed the staker and I wonder what he'll say. He hasn't replied yet but it's Boxing Day so I don't really blame him.

The latest downswing was largely caused by me getting totally killed in Stud 8. Maybe I was getting lucky at the beginning. I'm pretty sure I'm doing a bunch of things wrong and it doesn't help when I play multiple tables. I know that when I play just one or two tables I can zone in on the action and players. But my attention span is similar to that of a goldfish. If I'm not in a hand I'm on Facebook! I figured out a way to combat it. Rush Limit Hold'em! I'm pretty bad at hold'em but if I play micro Rush I won't get bored. I decided to play a fun strategy where I make sure I see all five cards and a showdown in headsup pots when I raised with a hand with showdown value. It's surprising how often it works because people call raises with the worst hand a lot and then think they can bluff me off. Can't bluff a calling machine! I combined the strategy with some common sense stuff like if I have 22 and the flop is AKQ there is basically no legitimate starting hand I beat.

Anyway when I get bored I get impatient, waiting for hands, and that's all tilt. I have to admit it's been contributing to these losses. There's no way I can lose that much that quickly just because of bad luck. Back to the drawing board methinks.

Signing off,

-LV

Update 24/12/2010

I've been playing almost constantly for the past few days but it hasn't got me anywhere. I've peaked at around $626 and been down to $580ish. The most recent session has put me back down to $584.10, I played four tables of Stud High, both $0.50/$1 and $0.25/$0.50, and got absolutely crushed as I got rivered nearly every time I played a hand. It was pretty amazing that I lost quite so much because I was playing several opponents who were calling to the river with absolutely nothing only to somehow back into various straights and flushes. My kings and aces were no match for their luck. If I got raised, I was almost always beat. Sadly I got raised a lot, and it didn't mean anything to start with the best hand.

Nevertheless I have had successes. It was playing Razz and Stud 8 at these limits which got me to my peak. I don't think I can handle the swings of Stud High so I will probably focus on Stud 8 and Omaha 8 again. It may be that I just don't get Stud, despite watching various training videos and almost always starting with the best hand. I don't play A2Q like my opponents, or in the case of a particular opponent 293 rainbow, which of course beat my split Kings despite me betting and raising until the river. They say the chasers will go home broke but I was yet to witness it. It seems very much like bingo unless some people fold their hands on 3rd Street. I started with 777 and the guy who called with 885 hit an 8 on 4th Street! Luckily I filled up and he got what he deserved.

Like I said, i should just focus on the split pot games.

 Signing off,


-LV

Update 20/12/2010

Over the past two nights it really has been swings and roundabouts! I've played a variety of games, Omaha 8, Stud 8, Limit Holdem and Razz cash games. I've even moved up to $0.50/$1. I went down to as low as $522 but now back up to $585.85 following the grind of the early hours of this morning. Staker says I can keep all that I make pre-Xmas which is awesome.

I have looked into my rakeback and it turns out I am getting 10% on Full Tilt. Abysmal. But it seems the guy is still around to pay up because he messaged me back instantly and it sounds like he does check stuff regularly. He says next payment comes in mid January.

I've got a-chatting to a couple 2p2ers, marshalldylan10 and LT7. LT7 said he was interested in staking me. I told him I already got me some money but I need a roll on Stars. Marshall likes Stud 8 but mostly plays on Stars. I am gonna try to keep talking to them both about hands and strategy.

I had a fair few big hands this morning. I got rolled up trips at least three times. One time I had rolled tens and a guy who took off with split sevens made quads. Ouch. It also didn't help that he was the most aggressive player at the table, meaning that I lost a lot of bets that hand. No matter, I won them all back from him later because he kept jamming a low draw against my three jacks and three sevens ^_^. They couldn't figure out what I had when I was going berserk with a JT53 board with no suits. I think if I keep betting and raising no matter what I should turn a big profit with those hands. Previously I thought it was better to try and make it look like I have a low. But the board doesn't come out good for me often enough and I just miss out on a load of money.

Marshall suggested I sort the categories on my PT Stud out. We figured out that small split pairs are likely longterm losers. I'm making money on my buried 99-QQ but not split. I put KK into its own category - it obviously does a lot better than QQ and worse as long as there's no Ace showing. The lower the pair the more you gotta worry about overcards being paired in your opponents' hands. I will update on this later once I've got a few thousand more hands in.

In the Omaha games I am doing very well. I'm not making any mistakes preflop and I think my recognition of how to play various hands (limp or raise) has developed a lot. Postflop there's always room for improvement. I think I make a lot of good folds but there are times I think I should not pay off on the river so much regardless of pot size. I look at the pot and can't resist the pot odds! I think I have to improve at Limit 6max as I have struggled a lot against some hyperaggro players. It's frustrating seeing the flop with your strong hands out of position but missing and giving them the pot just because they've got a bet and a dream. You can't just throw away A23x to a guy because he has position, ya know?

I forgot to add that I also played some Triple Draw 2-7. It's so fun! Here's a little picture of me holding THE HOLY CITY : 

Signing off,

LUCIUS VARENUS

Thursday Night/Friday Morning 17/12/2010

My Full Tilt Cashier

So far I've made $95.55 from playing Omaha 8 and Stud 8. I think it's safe to say I'm crushing the games given that I've only put 24 hours of play in inside 3 days.

Signing off until later tonight,

LUCIUS VARENUS

Wednesday Night, Most Of Thursday Morning 16/12/2010

This session was great. Tinkerman sent me $100, I instantly started playing $0.25/$0.50, one table of Limit Omaha 8 and another table of Stud 8. I'm on a 50/50 deal with him now + stakeback. I've got to keep him in the loop about progress each week.

Anyway I played almost perfectly and won $22 over a 12 hour session. After I was sent the $100 I took out the $13.05 which comprised the $0.05/$0.10 limit games roll so I only have Tinkerman's money in there. I am very happy with my play. Here's a couple pics of profits/winrate:

Anyway later into the session I was sent another $400. I'm delighted about it! It's great to have a decent roll. I am going to play these stakes until I've made $50 as a warm up for playing the bigger games.

Signing off until tonight,

LUCIUS VARENUS.

Update 15/12/2010

After I posted last I continued playing Stud 8 and Omaha 8. I peaked at around $15. Then I got really tired at the end of the night because I'd been playing over 12 hours and played NLHE 6max $0.01/0.02. I spunked off most of it. Then I went to bed, sad, and when I got up I played 2 tables of Razz, spun up a few bucks, played FR Omaha 8 and a table of 2-7 Triple Draw. Needless to say I worked it back up to $13.05.

I should have quit when I got tired but instead I fucked around blew hours of work! I need to work on having better discipline if I'm to succeed in future.

In other more exciting news, I have now had two offers for staking. Tinkerman and Unrealzeal have come forward but it was Tinkerman who has sent me money. He sent me $100. More on this soon.

Meanwhile I will be playing $0.25/$0.50 Limit games and will update when I've got some history on that.

Sessions Recap 14/12/2010

Last night I played 6max and FR Omaha 8 $0.05/$0.10 cash. I pretty much broke even and it was a fairly frustrating session because I spent so much time going through swings but not really getting anywhere in the long run. I posted some hands on 2+2 but not a lot was that interesting about it. I played fairly aggro but I probably need to up the amount of hands I'm raising preflop. My range is a little bit too unbalanced preflop but then again it just doesn't feel as favourable to be raising with not so good A2 and A3 hands with bad suits or ranks. I played for a long time, till 5am-ish.


Today and this morning I have been playing $0.05/$0.10 Stud 8. I've been playing 12 hours so far and I'm doing well. I believe I have played around 750 hands today, 569 of those are recorded on PT Stud. It says I am running at 6.71BB/100 hands. In limit poker that it is what is considered to be crushing the game. You should be happy to be winning 1BB/hr! In simple terms it means I have got my so-called bankroll up to $15. I am feeling confident about my Stud 8 game right now.


In other news Antony and Max have been spending the night here grinding on their laptops, we've shared food and had a lot of laughs whilst listening to random music, even playing a game where the object of which is to get each other to say "T" and the sayer will then be bound to make the tea.


Apart from my winning in the Stud 8, it turns out my bankroll could take a huge upswing because 2+2 poster 'unrealzeal', a regular in the Omaha/8 section, offered to stake me condition upon me showing him hand histories and stats which were to his liking. Also fairly well known Stud reg tinkerman messaged me asking why I was playing the micros. It seems my strategy posts attract good attention, people value them, and when they see me playing $0.05/$0.10 I guess they feel a bit of pity and/or think they can make some easy money by staking me. I'm not complaining!


Anyway I chatted to unrealzeal on Skype tonight and he's interested. If he confirms then he says he'll start me off at $0.50/$1 Omaha 8 FR. I'm waiting for him to get back to me. When I hear from him I will post more details.


Signing off,


-LUCIUS VARENUS

Saturday Night

I slept at Richard's house last night. If you're an outsider reading, Richard is one of my friends local to me with whom I play poker live. We regularly have a home game on Fridays or Saturdays at his house, rake free, playing microstakes mixed games.

The plan was yet again to play poker there but no such game materialised. Everyone is too broke, goddangitall! Instead I watched my friends play online but mostly that was glancing - the boxing was on and the idea of the night was to eventually watch Amir Khan fight. We watched every fight but that one! So the night was largely uneventful. We ended up playing Big 2 and Kalooki in the poker room. It got to around 1am and I was too tired. So I slept in the poker room (there's a bed in there) and the boys went back to playing online.

Overall a neutral EV night. Sad because I could've been playing online winning some money. But it's always good to get out and have a little balance in life. You have to balance your range... of activities!

Later today I'll be dining with my parents for Sunday roast. I do this nigh on every week. But I should manage to get a couple sessions in today - one before dinner and one when I get back. But the brilliant TV show Garrow's Law might be on for another episode, although I doubt it. If it is on, it's at 9pm. I doubt it's on because the last episode we watched indicated some sort of finale, with Garrow being tried and charged for adultery. He was pegged to have to pay £10k (like £1m in today's inflated economy) in damages. The jury found him guilty but ordered him to pay only 1 schilling!

So I'll post later with regards to sessions/hands, etc.

Signing out,

-LUCIUS VARENUS

11/12/2010 - Introduction

I've decided to start a poker blog. The purpose of this is to record my progress and thoughts on hands/sessions/said progress for my own gratification and perhaps if someone happens across this they may be interested.

I have been a poker player for over seven years. I'm 23. Why do I want to start a blog now of all times? In truth I've never done one. The reason I want to start now is that I feel that my game and ability are reaching new heights and also I have started a new leaf on Full Tilt Poker. I play as LUCIUS VARENUS.

Yesterday I was staked 40/60+SB by TwoPlusTwo's Oscillator who plays as 'her ghost' on Full Tilt to play in the $20+$2 Stud Hi/Lo Eight or Better MiniFTOPS Event. The event had 1973 players and I finished in the money in 111th place. Not the greatest of cashes but I played phenomenally well and sadly ran into a period of being card dead as the limits went up into the thousands. I busted in the 2500/5000 level, getting my last 1k into the pot with a paltry 458. I had to gamble as I could barely afford to bring it in and ante. Things looked OK on 4th Street when I hit a 6. But by 5th Street three of the 7s had gone and I ended up making a pair of Eights with no low.

Needless to say I won $55.24 for my efforts, more than a 100% ROI! That means I had to transfer 'her ghost' a total of $41.94 leaving me with $13.30 for myself. I then had $13.39 in my account total as I had 9 cents left before the tournament began.

Just some background. I've been playing so long that I've seen it all. The lofty highs and the crushing lows, the beats, the suckouts, the spectacular bluffs and the downright maniacal. I've played as high as $5/$10 and in the past 2 years I have played as much as 200,000 hands of various variants and stakes online. But I haven't made a deposit in at least 18 months and have relied heavily on staking deals, two of which fell through. The reason for this is that I unemployed and have had to cash out on numerous occasions. If you can't afford to live, you can't afford to play poker. I kinda need to be concious and alive in order to play and that means a man's gotta feed himself!

My bread and butter game in the past couple of years has been Omaha 8. For a long time I considered myself to have great ability in that game. And it was proven by my $1800 in cash game winnings from all Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit. Most of my PokerStars tournament winnings come from Omaha 8 too. I was beating the $6.50 turbo sit & go's pretty good. Just check out my Sharkscope, I'm called 78OFFTILT on PokerStars.

Recently however I feel I have developed strength in other games and my Omaha 8 game has deteriorated probably because of not playing it nearly as much as I used to and also playing in shorthanded PL games has definitely screwed with my starting hand range in FL Full Ring for example. I know that I have to tighten up and reel in the aggression that works well in 6max games if I want to beat the Full Ring games again. When you're so used to betting pot every time someone checks to you it's hard to get used to the fact that people don't fold in Limit poker and the betting increments (poor implied odds) and more multiway action deny you the leeway of playing less than premium hands that is afforded in PL 6max.

I should mention that today I played my first session using that $13.39. I jumped into a $0.05/$0.10 Razz cash game. It was quite a random decision - my game selection was predicated on the fact that there were no other $0.05/$0.10 Stud games that weren't full. It was shorthanded and I played a bunch of hands heads up. The plays made by my opponents were alarmingly poor and I was glad to be in the game.

Unfortunately I booked a $1.81 loss but I don't feel bad about it at all. I got my money in as a favourite on a couple of big hands but I kept making pairs! You don't get nothing for a pair - NOT IN THIS GAME! For example I had the fortune of running 456AQ into 23Q69 heads up against a gamble-happy aggro monkey. He shamelessly open-completed the bet with a Q door card. I merely called as a 2.6 to 1 favourite to let him commit/hang himself on later streets, led when I was dealt the Ace and I check-raised 5th street. We capped it! I was approximately 63.5% favourite. He paired the 3 and I paired the Ace on 6th but I merely called his bet since I couldn't know it. I was an even bigger favourite there. He checked the river, begging me to bluff, I didn't bite as I winced after receiving a King.

That was the story pretty much for that session, the other losing hands were much like that.

"Bankroll", if you can call it that, now $11.58.

Signing off,

LUCIUS VARENUS