09/03/2011 - ^Peeeeeeeeeak!^

Yesterday I started off on the $2/$4 Stud 8. I had a great table but I got killed, guys literally spewing losing hundreds of dollars to everyone except me, playing hundred dollar pots every hand which I wasn't involved in. When I did hit a good run I'd get AA and get them cracked, so I'd run my $64 up to $150 and then watch it all slip away. When my hands held they usually ended on 5th St. At least I got rolled Aces again - and got SOME action! Seriously though most of the big pots I played I had them by the balls and they sucked out for half. I had 23459 all clubs on 5th (in that order!), 6th I make a wheel, one guy makes the AK flush on the river and the other guy who started with buried TT got a T on 6th and rivered a boat. So that was good for my implied odds but the fact is I should've scooped the whole pot and they were drawing dead to half. That is what is most frustrating about split pot games. You have them by the balls and they hit some ridiculous miracle not to scoop you, but to get half the pot - because that is all they could win - and they were a huge dog to get any of it. You just can't seem to hit your freeroll, you know? Other times you get it, you have like 4 outs with 1 card to come, 4 outs on a pure freeroll and you hit it. I've played huge pots before in PLO8 where I have the low locked up and a gutshot and put the guy all in, he shows his 2 pair or set and no low, exactly what I thought he had, we're all in and BOOM! Gutshot comes in, and I'm like "THAT'S WHAT WE CALL A FREEROLL MY FRIEND!"

So anyway, I had a sad face. I had around $1380ish and gave up on the Stud 8. I don't remember if I mentioned it but yesterday I was playing Stud Hi $1/$2, won a big $60 pot with a K high straight. That put me on $1475 before that Stud 8 session. Stud seems like a goldmine. Guys constantly paying you off with the worst of it every single hand. You raise with an Ace door and they will call with two Eights. Most times you have that beat except in obvious steal situations. But it's not too different in any poker game online - I mean - you rarely sit in any variant of poker online and think "I can't beat this game" or "These guys just aren't giving their money away". So yeah, sad face, and I took a little break and eventually sat on the $2/$4 O8 full ring and fired up a couple of $12 PLO8 sit n gos. 2 tables of the $2/$4 and two SNGs. I won both SNGs for $49.50 each and won a bunch of money on $2/$4, righting the ship and putting me on my peak.

No progress on Stars. I *almost* played some but thought "Nah I'll focus on Full Tilt and fix those losses."

Full Tilt BR: $1573.02

Stars: STILL $103.

Signing off,

-Lucy

07/03/2011 - 7 Game, 7th Place.

Yesterday I played a little bit of $2/$4 Limit O8 which got me up to $1330ish during the afternoon. Took a break and went to play the home game. Took out £40 from le banque, sat with £20, we intended to leave at around 10pm, and I worked it up to £78.

Been a while since I talked about any hands so may as well bring up the hands from the homegame I played. The first hand I won was in the Stud 8 round. We played £0.25/£0.50 with a £0.05 ante and did so for all the Stud games. We wanted to play one level higher but the host we generously call The Oracle denied it.

So anyway I fold a bunch of hands in that first rotation and get dealt 74A with a 74 of clubs. We were 4 handed. Maxcel completes the bet with a 3 up and I make it two bets with my all important Ace to represent Aces and well, because with that Ace I'm winning. Antony comes in on a low card and makes it 3 bets and Maxcel caps it up. I'm not really concerned they have much of anything other than some nice low cards, I'm pretty sure my Ace is winning. Call, call. They both get paint and I'm FTA with the Ace up. I get an offsuit 2 and lead out. Both call. They catch good on the next street and I bink a 6 for the made 76 low. So I bet and both call, chasing me down for half the pot! Love it. I think I hit an 8 of clubs next and they paint off again, both with low draws, my Ace is still good for high. So now I have a flush draw. I lead and both call. River I get an offsuit 3, giving me the lock low but sadly nothing other than Ace high for high. I bet, Antony passes, assuming he missed his hand, and Maxcel calls and I show my hand. He shows a measly pair of fives with 4 to a 76 low (drawing dead) but that's good enough to take half.

I fold a lot then it's PLO. I get KK24rb in the SB and there's no straddle on. Richard passes, Maxcel calls. I just call it and try and hit a set (otherwise I'm done). Antony checks. Board comes out K-T-x, x being some sort of low card I think. I lead out for almost pot, Antony raises pot, Maxcel folds. I dwell up and eventually move in and he calls with the QJ9 wrap straight draw. He hits his straight on the turn but I bink quads on the river to send his hand down in flames.

I fold a lot and we're 5 handed then it's Super Stud. That's 5 card 7 Stud Hi/Lo played pot limit, you discard 2 cards in 3rd and play from there. I get A24 rainbow. I limp FTA and Antony raises it up pot. Richard calls and Maxcel reraises, Martin's out and I decide I have to fold right there or move in. I like my hand too much so I move in and both call. Maxcel's got 3 low hearts, can't remember what Antony had, something low. Anyway I catch bricks but eventually I get 3 kings. Maxcel gets a low heart on 4th but both brick off so I scoop with the trup kongs.

In that game I also fold a big hand. I make a 6542A on 5th St and check it, Maxcel is showing 234 and Martin has A6A showing. He checks it and I check to Maxcel. Surprisingly he takes a free card. He catches a 5, I brick and Martin catches something he likes. Anyway he checks, I check and then evenutally  fold my hand when Maxcel bets. He had A234 with a pair on 5th and caught that wheel on 6th.

Next few rounds I spew off a bit, bluffed a hand in 2-7 NL where I got dealt 88844, got called postdraw by a T low. Get AQo in NLHE, 3-bet squeeze pre and c/f a 7-9-4 flop with a 2-suit. Lewy tells me he hit a set. Get 79s and limp. Antony raises to £2.20 (20p BB so 11x). I'm sitting on £45. Someone else called and I decided to call after I saw that he had 200 BBs, making sure implied odds were there. Flop comes 7 high and he bets ~£8. I call. Turn and river are K and Q, we check it down and he shows 88.

Eventually we start playing Svitten. In Svitten, it's PLO but you get dealt 5 cards and you have to make the best 5 card poker hand inside your holecards (with one draw going to the flop) as well as make the best Omaha hand on the board. So it's a split pot game and the way you scoop is you have the best Draw hand and then try and make the best Omaha hand. I folded a bunch of hands and then played AA. I raised it pre, flop came 443 w/ a flush draw. I had AA56x so I drew 1 and got a Q. We put it all in 3 ways and I had the best high hand so I got half the pot. I made my straight on the river but somone already had a boat. An A on the turn or river would've scooped me the pot.

Final hand of the night I get 78TJ all diamonds. I raise it up and everyone calls. Flop comes 563 and that 9 would be really useful right there. Sure enough I draw 1 and get an offsuit 9 and Antony and Maxcel put it all in with me on the flop. One has a set for the Omaha and other has a straight for the Omaha and the best they can muster for Draw is a pair. I hit a bigger straight on the turn, river's a blank and I say the three words they don't wanna hear in Svitten, "Straight and straight." I scoop a huge pot and we finish the session.

Get back and play the $26 7 Game again. I also play the $5.50 O8. I bust in the O8 and get 7th in the 7 game for $111. Not going to complain about that win, but I should've been more aggressive. I was too card-dependent.

Not sure what I'll do today but I'll play that tournament again and probably will for times to come.


Full Tilt BR: $1418.22
Stars BR: Still $103

Signing off before I sign on (JobCentre lol),

-LV

06/03/2011

In the past two days I've been playing the $2/$4 Stud 8. Also I played the $26 $3000 guaranteed 7 Game tournament last night. On Stars I'm destroying the $0.25/$0.50 game. In the $2/$4 game I'm still loser, down $50 after almost 3000 hands. But really that's just two pots I need to scoop to get even, and I certainly think that will happen.

In terms of swings I got as low as $1000. But I said I'm gonna keep at it so I hit the $1/$2 along with a $2/$4 and ground it all back up to $1300 and then $1326 yesterday. But I shipped my mate $26 for the $3k guaranteed because he gave it to me in cash, not something I liked doing since it's pretty much outside the agreement of my stake, but then again it's $26 and no big deal and I'm not ever making a habit of it whilst I'm on this stake deal.

Played a couple PLO8 sit n gos too, cashed in one for third.

Full Tilt BR: $1287

Stars BR: $103

Over and out,

-LV

03/03/2010 - Upping and downing.

Since my past entry I peaked at $1410 playing Stud 8. I played the $3/$6 yesterday no problem and held my own. That put me on $1340. Today I played $2/$4 and I did well at first, it got me to my peak. But I was playing on PokerStars with my new $20 someone from 2+2 sent me as a thankyou for getting them HEM for free and towards the end of the session I got tired. The game broke and I ended up heads up first with Cyndi Violette and them some other guy who said he knew me from 2+2. Playing Cyndi was simple enough but this other guy had my number. He was good. I felt it inside but didnt want to admit it. I tried bluffing him 3 times and it never worked. I was sitting on around $1370 when he came, then he took ~$100 off me. Or rather, I gave it to him. I donked off because I wasn't thinking, just pressing buttons whilst I got even more fatigued. I kept doing things I don't normally do. I called it a night after the game started again Full Ring because I knew I would end up losing more if I stayed.


Before I hit the $3/$6 yesterday I thought it was a big deal to play that high. That fear was what kept me at $1/$2 and below with this amount of money. I can definitely handle betting that kind of money better now. So I've got no qualms about playing any $2/$4 FL game except my slight concern still that 300 BBs is not enough. Then again any time I go back down to ~$1000 I can just go back to $1/$2.

Meanwhile earlier in the day, I played a bunch of tournaments. Normally I don't play tournaments but I thought it might be a good idea to create a list in Excel of all the tournaments that aren't NLHE or PLO. Subsequent to that thought I played every tournament going from midday onwards, till about 5pm. I cashed in 1 for a paltry $4 or so, and came 3rd in the two $12 turbo PLO8 sit n gos I entered. So no profit on that venture, sadly only a breakeven one. I didn't take the tournaments seriously at all because none of them were for more than $6. If I had been serious I probably would've won both PLO8 sit n gos for $100 total since I blew the chip lead in both 3 or 4 handed.

On PokerStars I've been playing $0.25/$0.50 Stud 8. The game is piss easy to beat and I've already got myself to $50 before dropping a few bucks because of my rolled tens getting beat. Guy caught open trup deuces and got his full boat on 6th after I raised him on 5. Standard. I'm getting numb to that stuff.

The plan with the Stars money is to grind up from the lowest limits so I can have money on each site. All the time I'm on this Full Tilt stake deal I can't cash out any money. So with a Stars roll there's the potential for that some point down the line.

PokerStars BR: $47.75

PokerStars Peak: ~$52

Full Tilt BR: $1275.96

Full Tilt Peak: ~$1410

Vacating the premises,

-LV

Update - 28th Feb + 1st March

Pretty amazing session. It was something in the region of 40 hours long.

I started with 1 table $0.50/$1 Limit 5 Card Draw and 1 table $1/$2 Stud Hi/Low. I sat with $16 on 5CD and worked it up to $104. Pretty awesome for a game with only 2 betting rounds. Kinda broke even on the Stud 8.

That was around 3 hours. Then I took a small break and went back to $1/$2. Maybe... what... 30 hours later? I was sitting on ~$1170 BR-wise. So I think I'm about to go to bed then I see $2/$4 Stud 8, MASSIVE Italian fish sitting at I HU table. I think this could be money in my BR so I sit with him. Maybe 1 hour later I've taken $122 off him.

Weird thing about the 40 hours was I was hardly ever tired. Adrenaline and coffee work wonders.

BR now 

Gonna play the $2/$4 Stud 8 FR now because the $1/$2 is not going and I can handle it. (March 2nd). BR now $1271.

Over and out,

-LV

Limit Hold'em is still profitable! 26/02/2011

After my big loss yesterday playing $2/$4 Omaha 8 I quickly got over it, lost my sad face and thought, "Fuck it, let's play Limit Hold'em!" So I fired up 5 tables of $0.50/$1 full ring and 3 of $1/$2 full ring and about 8 hours later that same day, I had won another $100.

Today I played a $6.60 Stud 8 MTT for my poker breakfast, which took about 3 hours. I came 2nd and unfortunately it only paid two places. After watching more House (Now on Season 4 Episode 11) I had a bath, got dressed and fired up some Limit Hold'em DeucesCracked videos. During watching those I decided to start playing. So I opened 2 tables of 6max $0.50/$1 FLHE and I was away. I played for about 6 hours, I am guessing I played something like 1200 hands. It was a weird session because I was massively crushing it on one table (sat with $16, finished with $92) yet getting massively donked on the other (finished on $6, had reloaded a couple of times). Ultimately it led to a profit of only $5.35, which sucks for the amount of time spent but at least I didn't lose. I quit when I realised I was getting tired and impatient and I'd just lost a big pot with Qs9s on one table where I ran into slowplayed AA and 44 where I flopped a set on an A94 flop and bet, guy with 7c6c called and turned a flush+straight draw, he rivered it and I capped the river because I thought he had aces up. That second hand is pretty ridiculous but it's not the first time I've lost with a set to some miracle backdoor hand playing this game.

What is fun about that whole endeavour is that it made my bankroll become exactly $999.99. Going to stick with the Limit Hold'em games and hopefully get back to where I was before BR-wise, toward the $1175 mark.

Signing off,

LV

Took a shot at $2/$4 FR LO8 - 25/02/2011

I lost $235.50 over the space of 252 hands. I played from about 2.30 AM to 9.20 AM. BR now $898.09.

Mostly I ran really bad. I was card dead mostly and almost every time I raised preflop I missed the flop, would have fish in the hand so could not bluff, and so I check/fold. When I did make a big hand it got beat. I tried to isolate fish, I tried to play a few more hands to make something happen, but either they hit the flop, I counterfeited my low draw or I missed completely. I couldn't get any steal situations on the button because a fish already limped in before me.

At the start of the session I was up about $30. Slowly but surely I lost my profit and couldn't recoop, then I went totally card dead, which led to me eventually tilting a bit, trying to make some moves to make something happen (mistake), still being disciplined postflop, untilting then getting a series of good situations where I got unlucky and lost hand after hand.

Ultimately this means I will go back to playing smaller stakes games, probably Limit Hold'em as planned in my last post, win it all back and then have another go.

Now -$768.50 in $2/$4 Limit O8 lifetime. Sad face.

Until next time, signing off,

-LV

24/02/2011 - Thursday morning - Limit Hold'em is profitable!

4275 hands played and I'm now up $100.20 at $0.50/$1 Limit Hold'em this month. I think I started my session before midnight playing 4 tables. I finished it at 7.30am this morning playing 3. It's approx 8:40am at the time of writing.

BR is now $1140.19! I plan to play 20k hands at this level then move to $1/$2. Obv I am massively overrolled for $0.50/$1 but I want to be sure I can beat the small stakes in Limit Hold'em (LHE) before I go to $1/$2 and higher. I have in the past felt Hold'em was my weak point. If I can refine my skills playing LHE I think I will improve on versatility, enabling me to play the game everyone's playing, instead of constantly desiring mixed games and more particularly, O8. If I can get good at Hold'em I'll feel more comfortable playing the WSOP Main Event in the years to come. That's not particularly my dream - I'd much rather play the $1500 events and $50k HORSE! But at least I'll be able to have a crack at it.

All that said, I still prefer my bread and butter Omaha 8. But as always, variety is the spice of life.

By the way, if you don't already watch it, the TV show House is great. I highly recommend it!

Here's something for your perusal! A classic LHE blind battle. Chilliflush opened preflop and I went with my read that my K high was good the whole way and called each time he bet. He bet flop, turn and river.

Signing off,

-LV

Update 23/02/2011

It's been a month since I last updated. The truth is I haven't played a lot - a few days tops. I made Bronze last month for Iron Man but I've come nowhere near this month. I played a lot after that last update but I mean I didn't play after the start of February.

The good news is that when I have played I have won. After that last post I went and lost even more, and went down to $550. After I collected myself mentally I managed to win it all back - I've mostly had winning sessions since then. I'm sitting on $1069.09 and feel confident about my game whatever the variant of poker.

Most of the wins have come from playing $0.10/$0.25 PLO8 and 6max Limit $1/$2 O8. I crushed in both, netting what I guesstimate is $400 total? The rest has come from $1/$2 2-7 Triple Draw and more recently, $0.50/$1 Limit Hold'em.

I figure I never did badly at Limit Hold'em so I may as well give it a go. The full ring games are still great and there are usually 2 or 3 fish playing above 40% of the hands with low aggression. The tight players don't really play that tight either. The tight Limit Hold'em players are playing probably between a third and a half more of the hands than the NLHE afficionados. I can't say I'm a fantastic player because there's certainly spots in which I feel totally lost (when I am unsure whether to peel the flop or not) but so far I've won $39.55 in 799 hands which is an excellent result over a relatively tiny sample. I am going to play this a lot and see if I can win long term at it. It feels easier than O8 although it's more complicated to play. I think that is related to the fact that split pots are rare so the rake is much more beatable. It wasn't an issue for me in FLO8 because long term I have won >$1000 at that game. However if I scooped every hand I played in which I won money like in Hold'em I'd probably have won double that amount. I think the fact my HEM stats say I've won $25 more than I've paid rake playing Hold'em could well make my hypothesis hold true. But it's a small sample and there's no way 9BB/100 is sustainable, so we'll see how it all pans out!

I haven't really got any hands worth posting. Like I said, I'm confident in my play so any hand I post would either be some irrelevant bad beat post or one where I played great and got uber value. It's pointless posting either. So you should expect only to see the "Swings & Roundabouts", ergo the ups and downs of my roll, and the details of what I've been playing.

I know I should play more. I've said to my staker i should have $1500 come the end of March. But I don't like playing when I feel poker is boring me or my head isn't in the right place. Every time I want to sit down and be able to focus without any mental hindrances so that I play my A game. 'Variety is the spice of life', I tell my friend Maxcel, despite his nagging at me trying to get me to have grind on the mind as much as he does. The guy plays every day for hours! Most of the time that's just not for me. Poker will still be there tomorrow I reckon.


I won't be getting any rakeback. I'm trying to get that resolved. But my affiliate is not good at being an affiliate and he seems quite shady. More on that coming soon.

On a final note, I'm going on holiday to Madeira in April.

Signing off,

-LV

Update 23/01/2011. Big downswing.

Tonight I lost around $260, I took a massive blow to my BR and confidence. There were stints of frustration but I cannot admit that I made so many mistakes nor was I tilted in the slightest to warrant or encourage such a huge loss.

I started the 5 hour session with 5 tables. 2 of 2-7 triple draw and 3 LO8. Mostly  and no higher than $1/$2. I lost silly money in the triple draw and I can remember a few hands where I am certain I made mistakes. Most of my losses in that game came down to missing my big draws or betting the river, getting raised and never seeing worse than an 85432. I've got to do that bet/folding thing more often, but I have seen people bluffraise me when I pause before betting. Yet the man to my left was drawing to bad hands the whole time, and he won over $170. This guy was 3 betting 9 draws pre and patting rough tens and owning me in position. The maths weren't in his favour but luck certainly was. Another man won $100. This is in $1/$2. I probably did about 7 $32 bullets.

In O8 I was getting plain unlucky! I am sure the only time I capped a street way behind was when I flopped a king flush. Obviously the guy who plays 60% of the hands miraculously has the ace flush. Usually his highest card is a king, let's put it that way. Another hand I flopped broadway with two pair. A fellow of a similar ilk called two bets on the flop with KQ89 (one pair, gutshot, backdoor flush). So the only way he wins that hand is his flush. Guess what, he gets there - and the other guy who I KNEW had two pair rivered the low as well. Chances of both those things happening are well below 10%.

It's not exactly Right Thinking to be looking at my cashier balance or graph during my session but I knew I was losing big and had to keep track. To be honest I only quit because I was tired. My friends in the background were telling me to stop but I was telling both them and myself I am playing the same way I always do and that usually makes me win. This time it isn't working, and it isn't working in a big way, but I know how I play gets the money and if I keep swinging, the ball might find the bat, y'know?

Looking at my graph for Limit O8 I've definitely had a downswing this month and I'm neither above nor below expectation. Compile it with PLO8 and PLO however, and I am £150 roughly below expectation.

This is the biggest loss I've incurred thus far and I am not sure I am able to withstand another such loss. It definitely means I have to start playing $0.50/$1 again and stop $1/$2. Maybe I'll try those PLO8 sit n gos again, they gave me a nice boost before. When you take a hit like this you have to be humble and drop down in stakes.

Despite the grim loss, I still feel good about the way I play, except I need to find the fold button more often. A bet saved is a bet earnt.

Despite a massive win earlier in the month at Triple Draw I am quite sure I have now lost more than I have won and it has become a drain on my bankroll compared with O8. As addictive as it is the only solution is to stop playing it until I have studied it a bit more and can afford to splash around. With $773 (was $1036) I can't afford to mess around.

Signing off,

LV

Update 19/01/2011

Alright so it's been too long, grind on the mind and all that. I knew I was abusing the blog, leaving it untouched for so long.

I've come a fair old way since my last post, my roll now stands at $1,138.72. It's always nice to be able to put a comma in it, that's what I say. I've made a lot of money in a relatively short period of time, most likely thanks to moving up to $1/$2 limit games and playing those $11 PLO8 turbos. I've also sat in a few $0.10/$0.25 PLO games, I feel I am quite good in that game.

I got to that point basically playing a few $11 PLO8 sit n gos (couple of $50 1st places, a lot more 2nds), some PLO (+$52), and the rest comes from Stud 8 ($.5/$1, $1/$2), a teensy bit of NLHE $0.05/$0.10 deep tables (+$40) and limit Omaha 8. I have really crushed the 6max O8 lately. I managed to sit with drnkyrmlkshk who is a 2p2er and O8 reg. We chatted a bit and he said he admired my game and that I was a lot stronger than my threads give me credit for. I was glad to get that compliment from him because I know he does well in the limit O8 cash games and has his own roll of around $4700, he is a strong player himself and I know he knows it. So if he can know what makes a strong player and he sees it in me it's probably a correct assessment, right?

With regards to my staking deal, I have opted to build up to at least $1500 then end the deal. Alternative options centered around buying a piece of the stake which meant I would have to make less money to get off it.

Until next time, signing off,

-LV

Update 01/01/2011

I started being ill yesterday, I caught it off Antony. I told him I probably wasn't going to be able to play. Nevertheless I played, grinded my 50 FTPs and then decided to go for the 125. I think this month I will try to crack Gold for Iron Man. I managed Bronze in December and that netted me a $25 bonus. I'm pretty sure they'll be doing a Mid Year Bonus so if I can get 4 out of 6 months of Gold I should get a $350 bonus. I'm half way through clearing the $25 already - only need 250 FTPs total and I've got 125.

I've played a couple of great sessions on the $0.50/$1 Stud Hi/Lo. Peak $692. Bear in mind I was on ~$605 just days ago. Now $671.51.

I didn't do a whole lot for New Years. We just played Civ 5 a lot! Very fun. NHS interview day soon.

Signing off,

LV