MYNAMEIZGREG's Poker Blog

Legopoker

2007-08-14T13:27:00.000-05:00

If you read www.legopoker.com at all, you might have heard that I have partnered with Chris Tickner, the current webmaster and programmer. I'm really excited about this, becuase we have a lot of really prime things in store for everyone. Therefore, my blog is being moved to his site, at the following URL: http://mynameizgreg.legopoker.com (I will no longer be posting on this site). It should be a great partnership, and I'm really looking forward to it.

In other news, I have the 10 beta testers, and we will start in about a week. I am also really excited about this course, because I think I'm going to open an entirely new world to these guys (and girls), and everyone's games should dramatically improve.

Stay Tuned (over at legopoker!),
Greg

Calling Beta Testers

2007-08-04T21:45:00.000-05:00

I have essentially finalized my lessons for my course, and I am ready to accept beta testers. Please email me at Gregpokerlessons@gmail.com if you are interested in being a beta tester. Here is a formal introduction to the course:

As many of you know, I had that staking thread on two plus two where I got over 200 replies from people interested in being staked by me. Obviously, I had to say no to a lot of people, but it got me thinking about how I could help a bunch of people out. I get asked to coach individuals all the time, and I turn them down for a couple reasons. First, the pure economics of coaching - it kills your EV/hourly/whatever. Of course, I think this fact shouldn't matter if you get enough intrinsic satisfaction from coaching, which many people do (myself included). However, 1 on 1 coaching is exactly that - one person. I would rather be more efficient with my time.

I like helping small stakes players. Quite frankly, I don't see too much joy in helping some guy who is crushing nl400/600 become a winning player at nl1000. However, I love the idea of helping a breakeven/losing/winning small stakes guy really start to find his place, and eventually move up and compete in a different game.

Obviously you read my blog, and I assume that you read a lot of my posts on two plus two. You have seen that I have a different approach to the game than most HSNL players. I don’t play unless I’m playing my best, and a host of other criteria. Poker is so psychological, both internally and between opponents. I focus on those types of things a lot.

I’m also decent at poker :). When I came up with this idea, I was hoping that the name I’ve worked to make for myself, and the high quality nature of my posts/blog entries would suffice in terms of validating my ability. But, I am being told by marketing experts to use numbers, so: I am a winning player at 10/20NL (big winner) and 25/50NL (not as big :P), and for example have made well over 200k this summer.

So, what is this idea? I want to teach a seminar. 10 hours, over the course of about a month. I want ten students at a time. The lessons will be taught over skype, or an alternate voice program if I come across something better. Before the course, I will distribute a quiz to students, and they will fill it out and return it to me. I will go over the quiz, and my expectations during the first class. The remaining classes will be split up as follows:

Class 1 – An approach to the game/Quiz Review
Class 2 – Theory
Class 3 – Theory
Class 4 – Hand Histories
Class 5 – Theory
Class 6 – Theory
Class 7 – Sweat
Class 8 – HH
Class 9 – Sweat

The theory sessions will consist of me lecturing and providing examples to important theories (for instance, when to fold vs call vs 3bet preflop, and how to exploit 2+2 norms). Hand history classes will entail students each emailing me 1-2 hands, and then going over them all as a group. The sweating sessions are when I will play and the students will sweat me – I will be playing the stakes of the students, so they can see how things such as image and table dynamic tie into one’s play.

I’m really excited for the course and it’s going to be a knockout. I am confident that participants will most likely be able to beat the hell out of their games after taking the course :).

However, I need it tested. That’s where the beta comes in.

In a mutually beneficial situation, you get a much cheaper price for my course, and I get people to give me feedback and tweak things. So, you need to be willing to keep in contact during the course, and also write up a formal review afterwards (whether it be positive or negative). If you are able and willing to do these things, the special beta price is $50/hour, so $500 total for 10 hours. I only need 10 people, and I have a couple already, so please e quick if you are interested. Otherwise, I expect everything to go great, and for more courses to be taught in the future.

Once again, if you are interested, please email me at: Gregpokerlessons@gmail.com . Thanks.

Greg

PS I’m still not doing 1 on 1 coaching so don’t ask about that :).

Augusto

2007-08-02T12:11:00.000-05:00

It's pretty hot in the DR. I am leaving tomorrow, but I've had a lot of fun. Haggling with the vendors is neat, but they really try to rip you off. I got a lot of people who want to test my beta seminar, so that's good. I'll start that up after I get back from Vegas. My only concern is that some of the specific things I will be talking about are too advanced for SSNL, but that's what the beta is for, right? I haven't really put any poker in the last couple entries, so I'll talk a little about that.

About 10 days ago on UB I played Big Egypt HU on 2 tables. I know he does well at the 2k and 5k HU on FTP, but UB is like my home court, so I play a lot more people on there. It was really annoying because the times that he got my stack, with one exception, were all coolers. However, I had to work and outplay him to win pots. He stacked me quickly twice; about 3 minutes in I lost with AQ in a 3bet pot to 77 on a A97 board. Then, he hit a runner runner flush agaisnt my top set when he check-minraised the flop with air, and bet the turn on the picked up draw.

Image is so important HU. After the two coolers, I found myself down 5k, and then sat at the other table. We battled back and forth. I went down 12k at the bottom when he could do no wrong. I battled back, and decided that he was cbetting too much (almost 90% of the time) so I countered by check raising a lot. I donked into him a few times with very good hands, and we saw a showdown in those hands a few times. I mixed in air a couple times, but he never saw. So, his read on me had to be that I donk with strong hands, which led to this hand.

He raises, I call with 66. The pot is 150, flop is A24, and I donk into him. He raises, and I decide that I can rep a really strong hand. I call, and the turn is a king. I check, he bets pretty big, maybe 850 into the 1250 pot, and I shove. He quickly types, "set good. or 53." It's really satisfying to be able to know what a fellow HS player is thinking, and thusly exploit him.

The dynamic of our match was weird. Most of the time, the turn was being checked through by me. Just the way the hands worked out, it didn't seem like I was value betting very thinly (I kind of wasn't at the time). However, then a hand came up where I raised 9Jo and he called. The flop was 926r, and he c/c. The turn was a queen and I bet again, pretty big. The river was a king, and I bet again for value. I figured that my image at this point was big hand or air when I bet those three streets as bigly as I did, especially given our recent dynamic. He thought for a little and called with 52. Afterwards he typed, "sick was that a vb or a bluff." I wound up making a huge comeback to +400, and then he quit/had to go. I felt pretty satisfied because I seemed to have a good idea of how he played by the end of it but I feel as though I was really starting to confuse him.

Tomorrow I come back for literally the night, and then it's off to Vegas. I'm itching to play.

Greg

A little update

2007-07-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

I am pounding away at a keyboard on some public computer at the dominican right now so I only have time for a small update.

In terms of poker, I am playing very well (running well also). I ended my month 2 nights ago, as I will not be able to play anymore for the rest of the month. I started my session at +89k on the month, and immediately went up about 7k at 10/20. I got excited that I might be able to reach a 100k month. Then, I saw some good 25/50 tables on FTP, and sat down. I don't have the raw HH, but the following hand occured.

1 limper, I raise to 225 with TT on the button, the SB cold calls, 2 to the flop.

9x8x4c. He donks out 300 into the 425, and I make it 1150 I believe. He calls.

9x8x4c 5c. He shoves for a PSB. To me it's pretty obvious that he has one of a couple hands. Clubs, most likely with a pair unless it's TQcc; a slowplayed overpair (probably rare), or 9x try to "protect his hand." I call quickly, and he shows 86c. Obv the river is a club, and I kiss goodbye my 100k month. I wound up 92k I think over only about 31k hands, which I am very satisfied with. Next month I will continue to hop in good 25/50 games, and very soon I will be starting up my seminar, as I have outlined all the details. I am very excited about the program because I am sharing a lot of really good information.

The Domincan is really cool. The weather is nice, but the food and service is mediocre. This is my first non-Spring Break all-inclusive vacation, so I guess it's standard. It's fun hanging out with Danielle and her family, although we almost sent her brother to the hospital last ngiht to pump his stomach.

Hopefully I can send back another update in the coming days, but it's tough without internet.

Greg

Update Coming Soon

2007-07-23T20:16:00.000-05:00

Guys, I promise I will have an update within the next day or two. I will be very busy in August, however, so I'm not sure what I will be able to pull together. On the 27th of July I will be going to the Dominican Republic for a week, and then the day after I get back I'll be off to Vegas for a week. Then, I might go to the shore for a few days. Afterwards, I head back to college.

I do have a funny sidenote. I played in the UB 215 or whatever tournament yesterday, and got 27th! I went out with AJ < KQ, rigged obv.

I will be staking a couple players, and also I am in the middle of setting up a seminar-type course, consisting of 10 hours/classes over about a one month period ONLY for SSNL players. This course will hold 10 people, and it will be a combination of theory lessons, hand history reviews, and sweating me playing SSNL. I am mapping out everything and I can confidently say I am not really holding anything back in terms of my knowledge of the game. There will be a beta version available to try for only $50/hr/person, so let me know if you are interested in being one of the beta testers for it.

Greg

PS. I'm really serious about that update!

6/11/07 - The Dynamic of a HU session (Gone Bad)

2007-06-11T12:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I am still running downright awful, but I have decided that is not a good enough reason for me to not have a huge month. Up a measly (in terms of normal bb/100) 22k at this month on the month, I would still like to have another 60-70k month. I can do it, but I need to change one thing around:

1) No more HU at NL5000.
-It's not that I'm not +EV, I just can't handle the swings. Well, I can, but right now I am trying to accumulate funds to pay back my dad for taxes from last year, and also I want about 100k or so to invest in real estate. So, in the last couple months, I haven't been withdrawing, because I needed about 200k spread out along all the sites, but now I need to get some money out, which means I need to minimize variance, and that means no more 5k HU.

Now, I played a HU session on PokerStars yesterday against Meatcity, who IMO isn't really that strong of a player, but makes good calls and pulls them out of his ass sometimes. He is also very aggro and likes to c/r dry and low, low, high flops. I will post the big hands and talk about how they changed my view of him and the flow of the match. We were on two tables. For this blog's purpose, I will post, in order, every hand where the pot was $2k or more (50bb each) or if some interesting hand comes up.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

Hero (BB): $2,020.00
SB: $1,980.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 6 8 (2 Players)
SB raises to $60.00, Hero calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) 7 5 T (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $120.00, Hero raises to $380.00, SB calls $260.00

Turn: ($880) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $620.00, SB calls $620.00

River: ($2120) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Pot Size: $2,120.00 ($1 Rake)

SB had T 8 (two pair, Tens and Sevens) and WON (+$1,059.00)
Hero had 6 8 (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-$1,060.00)

So, this hand tells me he is basically going to give me no credit unless I make it absolutely certain that I have a hand. For example, if I had pushed the river for a 1/3 PSB, I "couldn't" be bluffing since he is "committed", and he would've folded. This was the three overall hand we played, and I already had no credit. Great.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $2,395.50
Hero (SB): $2,846.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt T T (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB raises to $250.00, Hero calls $190.00

Flop: ($500) T 4 A (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($500) 9 (2 Players)
BB bets $420.00, Hero raises to $900.00, BB raises all-in to $2,145.50, Hero calls $1,245.50

River: ($4791) 8 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $4,791.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had A A (three of a kind, Aces) and WON (+$2,394.50)
Hero had T T and LOST (-$2,395.50)

Standard. Flop the second nuts and lose HU.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $3,293.00
Hero (SB): $2,070.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt K 9 (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) 3 K 4 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $100.00, BB calls $100.00

Turn: ($320) J (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $240.00, BB calls $240.00

River: ($800) 5 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $580.00, BB calls $580.00

Pot Size: $1,960.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had 6 4 and LOST (-$980.00)
Hero had K 9 (a pair of Kings) and WON (+$979.00)

On this hand I bet the flop and turn big, and put in a little 1/2 PSB value bet on the river. I often will pot this river but at this point I thought his most likely hand was a 56 type hand, but unfortunately that includes 35 and 45, so I thought a full pot would shift his calling range away from hands I beat to hands I lost to too much.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

Hero (BB): $2,884.00
SB: $2,469.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt Q K (2 Players)
SB raises to $60.00, Hero raises to $220.00, SB calls $160.00

Flop: ($440) 7 9 A (2 Players)
Hero bets $300.00, SB calls $300.00

Turn: ($1040) 7 (2 Players)
Hero bets $720.00, SB folds

Pot Size: $1,760.00 ($1 Rake)

Here I make a gutsy two barrel. I really like this play because he is calling me light on the flop, but on the turn my range shrinks entirely to an ace or seven. If he doesn't think I am capable of bluffing here, he MUST fold everything else, and shoving is just dumb. If he called I would shove the river because my range would then narrow to big aces, a seven, (and a bluff).

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

Hero (BB): $3,282.00
SB: $2,119.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 8 8 (2 Players)
SB raises to $60.00, Hero raises to $220.00, SB calls $160.00

Flop: ($440) Q 6 Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $320.00, SB calls $320.00

Turn: ($1080) 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets $600.00, SB calls $600.00

River: ($2280) 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets all-in for $2,142.00, SB calls all-in for $979.00
Uncalled bet of $1,163.00 returned to Hero

Pot Size: $4,238.00 ($1 Rake)

SB had Q T (three of a kind, Queens) and WON (+$2,118.00)
Hero had 8 8 (two pair, Queens and Eights) and LOST (-$2,119.00)

I stack myself on a questionable play. I thought that at the time he would call me with a six, but in hindsight this is a bad bet for a few reasons. 1) He will never bluff the river so I can c/f 2) If my read is off and he won't call with a six I beat nothing when called and 3) The board is so dry he can slowplay a queen or say f it and just grit and call off his stack with TT or something. Looking over this hand c/f on the river is correct, but the rest of the hand is good (He called with Ax once on a flop like this in a 3bet pot).

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $4,592.00
Hero (SB): $2,378.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 8 7 (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB raises to $220.00, Hero calls $160.00

Flop: ($440) 4 6 5 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($440) 3 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $320.00, BB calls $320.00

River: ($1080) 5 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets all-in for $1,838.00, BB calls $1,838.00

Pot Size: $4,756.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had 9 7 and LOST (-$2,378.00)
Hero had 8 7 (a straight, Four to Eight) and WON (+$2,377.00)

Here I get kind of lucky, and the hand itself is standard. I have seen him slowplay a big hand before (the AAA vs TTT hand) in a 3bet pot so I check back. Then I slowplay the turn by calling because his range is very wide and I don't want to blow him off his hand. Then I shove the river for about 2x the pot and hope that he finds a call with an overpair or whatever. I put this hand in because it was important for future ones.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $2,154.00
Hero (SB): $4,815.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt T 9 (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB raises to $220.00, Hero calls $160.00

Flop: ($440) 4 5 T (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $320.00, BB raises all-in to $1,934.00, Hero calls $1,614.00

Turn: ($4308) 2 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($4308) 7 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $4,308.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had J A (high card Ace) and LOST (-$2,154.00)
Hero had T 9 (a pair of Tens) and WON (+$2,153.00)

I bet the flop in this hand because he has seen me slowplay a flopped set and a flopped straight in 3bet pots, so his read on me has to be that I slowplay a hand I like. When I bet this dry board, chances are I don't have much (due to the board itself and his read). I get him to shove with A hi and take it down.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $3,299.50
Hero (SB): $3,820.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt A 5 (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB raises to $250.00, Hero calls $190.00

Flop: ($500) T 2 2 (2 Players)
BB bets $420.00, Hero calls $420.00

Turn: ($1340) 4 (2 Players)
BB bets $720.00, Hero calls $720.00

River: ($2780) A (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets all-in for $2,430.50, BB folds

Pot Size: $5,210.50 ($1 Rake)

This was one of those hands where I am shocked he folded but I think the ace ruined my action on the river. The way it went down he could put me on AdXx and I feel that is what happened.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $1,990.00
Hero (SB): $5,219.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt T T (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB raises to $240.00, Hero calls $180.00

Flop: ($480) T 6 K (2 Players)
BB bets $320.00, Hero calls $320.00

Turn: ($1120) 2 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($1120) 2 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $550.00, BB calls $550.00

Pot Size: $2,220.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had A J and LOST (-$1,110.00)
Hero had T T (a full house, Tens full of Deuces) and WON (+$1,109.00)

I like the way I played this hand. Something that people lose sight of it maximizing value regardless of your hand. I was talking to a friend about a week ago and I played a huge hand very slowly even though I was deep with an opponent because I thought he had nothing. The same thing applies for this hand. I go back to slowplaying on the flop now that he has seen me bet/call and slowplay good hands, so I can have a big hand here or a float or a pot control marginal holding. On the turn I can't really see him being strong, so I check back. On the river, he is most likely extremely weak, so I just make about a 4/10 psb. This will get value out of his really weak holdings, and maybe confuse him into CRAI with nothing or a king or something. The point is, just because I had a full house doesn't mean I suddenly went psycho and auto tried to get every cent into the pot. When you have a huge hand you still need to figure out what the other guy's range is, and how to maximize value VS THAT RANGE.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

Hero (BB): $6,298.50
SB: $2,030.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt J T (2 Players)
SB raises to $60.00, Hero calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) 5 8 T (2 Players)
Hero bets $100.00, SB raises to $300.00, Hero raises to $850.00, SB raises all-in to $1,970.00, Hero calls $1,120.00

Turn: ($4060) 3 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($4060) 7 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $4,060.00 ($1 Rake)

SB had 9 J (a straight, Seven to Jack) and WON (+$2,029.00)
Hero had J T (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-$2,030.00)

Standard/I can't win ahead/behind/flipping mantra.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $5,154.00
Hero (SB): $3,168.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt Q 3 (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) J 8 Q (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $100.00, BB raises to $300.00, Hero calls $200.00

Turn: ($720) 5 (2 Players)
BB bets $620.00, Hero calls $620.00

River: ($1960) A (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Pot Size: $1,960.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had A 9 (a pair of Aces) and WON (+$979.00)
Hero had Q 3 and LOST (-$980.00)

This hand really hurt. I make a good play while he draws to a 3 outer, putting in half a buyin, then gets exactly 0 dollars in while ahead. Preflop is usually a fold for me, but against loose opponents, I like to give off the perception that I am loosening up as well. That means trying to be aggro preflop in terms of not folding every hand in or out of position. I had been card dead recently, so I was folding a lot on two tables. Against this player, he will tighten up if he sees you are nitting it up, so I started opening more to hope that he will think I am loosening up and was just card dead the last 5 minutes. On the river, I almost turned my hand into a bluff and shoved, but I wasn't sure if he would fold 2 pair. I didn't think he would, so I checked and a pair of aces laughed in my face.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $7,118.00
Hero (SB): $1,970.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 6 7 (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) 4 2 T (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $100.00, BB raises to $300.00, Hero calls $200.00

Turn: ($720) K (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $480.00, BB calls $480.00

River: ($1680) 6 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets all-in for $1,130.00, BB calls $1,130.00

Pot Size: $3,940.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had 8 8 (a pair of Eights) and WON (+$1,969.00)
Hero had 6 7 (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-$1,970.00)

This was an interesting hand. He likes to c/r those crappy flops, so I know he isn't that strong here necessarily. On the turn, I bet, which means my range is a ten, a king that floated, and any 2 pairs or sets, and jj/qq I guess too. Now, on the river, my range is no longer a bare ten or jj/qq, so it changes to a king, 2 pr, set, bluff. If he doesn't give me credit for any big hands EVER, then he should call. A few reasons why I bluffed: 1) I haven't been calling his check raises light and 2) The river is basically a 1/2 PSB. Remember we saw before him call with a really marginal hand with not much left on the river so he doesn't need to be trapping here. I thought it was a decent bluff, but I guess I could be wrong. I'm not sure if his call was good or not, but I know he just isn't going to give me credit.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

Hero (BB): $7,116.50
SB: $2,049.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9 J (2 Players)
SB raises to $60.00, Hero raises to $220.00, SB calls $160.00

Flop: ($440) K 8 K (2 Players)
Hero bets $285.00, SB calls $285.00

Turn: ($1010) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB checks

River: ($1010) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $400.00, SB calls $400.00

Pot Size: $1,810.00 ($1 Rake)

SB had 5 A and LOST (-$905.00)
Hero had 9 J (a full house, Kings full of Nines) and WON (+$904.00)

Standard

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $9,365.00
Hero (SB): $2,069.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt K 8 (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) T 8 3 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $100.00, BB raises to $300.00, Hero calls $200.00

Turn: ($720) K (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $540.00, BB raises all-in to $9,005.00, Hero calls all-in for $1,169.00
Uncalled bet of $7,296.00 returned to BB

River: ($4138) J (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $4,138.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had A T (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-$2,069.00)
Hero had K 8 (two pair, Kings and Eights) and WON (+$2,068.00)

I called his flop c/r with a hand that had outs to improve, and I also had position, which meant I could represent a straight draw, or a flush draw. Although he really isn't giving me credit, calling on the flop is ok because he most likely isn't strong at all.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

Hero (BB): $8,218.50
SB: $1,800.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 8 J (2 Players)
SB raises to $60.00, Hero calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) 7 6 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets $100.00, SB raises to $300.00, Hero raises all-in to $8,158.50, SB calls all-in for $1,440.00
Uncalled bet of $6,418.50 returned to Hero

Turn: ($3600) A (2 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($3600) 4 (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $3,600.00 ($1 Rake)

SB had T 9 (a straight, Six to Ten) and WON (+$1,799.00)
Hero had 8 J (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-$1,800.00)

It's tough when you donk into someone and they raise 100% of the time, and your play looks like a draw but you have a much stronger hand, and you really like your play, and it doesn't matter because they have the nuts.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

BB: $7,994.00
Hero (SB): $3,434.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt A Q (2 Players)
Hero raises to $60.00, BB calls $40.00

Flop: ($120) 9 T Q (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $100.00, BB calls $100.00

Turn: ($320) 6 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $240.00, BB calls $240.00

River: ($800) 5 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $560.00, BB calls $560.00

Pot Size: $1,920.00 ($1 Rake)

BB had 9 6 (two pair, Nines and Sixes) and WON (+$959.00)
Hero had A Q (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$960.00)

You know you are running badly when you are betting for value or raising to try to get it in because you are so ahead of someone's range but you lose anyway. BTW he played this perfectly.

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 2 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

Hero (BB): $6,297.50
SB: $3,718.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt J J (2 Players)
SB raises to $60.00, Hero raises to $240.00, SB calls $180.00

Flop: ($480) 2 4 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $320.00, SB calls $320.00

Turn: ($1120) 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets $820.00, SB calls $820.00

River: ($2760) 6 (2 Players)

So here it is. The moment of truth. You have 2300 effectively left on the river, and everything has led up to this point. All the good and bad plays, all the bluffs, all the value bets, and all the timing. What are you gonna do? How is he going to react?

Let's examine checking. Checking means that he will check behind A LOT of hands. That isn't good for starters, because we have a huge hand. If we do check, is it to check/call or check/fold? Well, what hands can he really value bet if we check? Probably anything more than one pair. But, can he bluff? Sure, and we won't know. It's probably really close between check/call and check/fold. Flip a coin, etc.

Now, what about betting something like 1/2 pot. Sure he might get a nine to call, but can we really bet/fold here? I'm not sure. And, given our history, can we really be bluffing here for a 1/2 PSB? Probably not. He is smart enough to know that. Can we have a flush here and be betting 1/2 pot? Doubtful. So, it will probably look like what we actually have, which is a one pair hand. Hell, he might even fold if we do this.

What about shoving? Can we be bluffing? Yes. Can we have the flush? Yes, but we know he won't give us credit. What does this mean about his range for calling? Good things, actually. He thinks that he don't have the flush, or at least won't fold something because of the flush. If anything, to him it probably increases the chance we are bluffing. So, he will call with any bluff catchers. What do those consist of? Anything one pair or better.

So, we can check and face a really hard decision, or get him to check behind the great majority of the hands we beat, which is bad. A half pot size bet is bad because we can't really be bluffing, and his shoving will be mind boggling, and this size, given previous hands, gives him the best opportunity of figuring out what we have. So, it looks like shoving, which increases our chances of bluffing in his mind, and allows him to call with worse hands, seems like the best choice. But it's gonna be crazy either way, so close your eyes and goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

River: ($2760) 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets all-in for $4,917.50, SB calls all-in for $2,338.00
Uncalled bet of $2,579.50 returned to Hero

Pot Size: $7,436.00 ($1 Rake)

SB had 8 6 (two pair, Eights and Sixes) and WON (+$3,717.00)
Hero had J J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$3,718.00)

Awesome.

Run well,
Greg

Running Badly

2007-06-08T03:04:00.000-05:00

I try to keep my head up and not write about running badly, as it happens to everyone, but I have to right now. The last two days, I have REALLY focused on playing. I have played well I think, but I have just not won the big pots when I was all in. Here are the biggest pots I have played in the last two days, where I am -13k at 25/50 (overall I am up 3k which I am proud of). For speed and to avoid anything else I will just post suckouts as opposed to coolers as well:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1153439
I make a tough call and get rewarded! Can't even win the side pot to break even vs 97o, lollll

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1153442
This guy had my number all night, and by had my number I mean got it in behind and won every time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1156117
Tough call in a 3bet pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1156119
3% to win, 22% to win, VICTORY!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1156120
I get floated.

Then there was the standard I was value betting/trying to get the money in and I was beat. That happened a lot so I'll just spare you there.

That's all for now. Enjoy the sadistic nature of the game.

Greg

6/1/07

2007-06-02T03:27:00.000-05:00

I suck at poker. I need to move down from 25/50 for a while, and focus on 10/20. Here are some hands I am not sure if they are good or bad but I know some of them are bad. I will just post them and my thoughts on them:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1140146
Villain here is pretty bad. He can have K6/K7/K5/K4 for 2 pr, or air/OESD. I figure on the river I don't beat anything but the turn is close.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1140149
Looking back on this hand I committed too much here with one pair on a drawy board. I need to see what he does on the turn and most likely fold to more aggression.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1140150
Trampo is a good player here so I actually need to bet/call this river IMO. He can turn his hand into a bluff here, and it's kind of obvious I'm going for thin value with an ace.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1140152
Standard vs this guy he's not good. I could bet the flop here but IMO that would make my hand look strong to him in this situation.

So, I'm done with NL5000 for a while. Back to the 2k grind, as I need to accumulate funds and I need to keep focusing on my game more.

I have been thinking about some stuff and I have come to some interesting conclusions, so I am going to be doing some new stuff. One of the concepts I think I am going to start introducing is overbets, so stay tuned for more fun stuff.

In this hand I set up this overbet by betting things like 160 into pots of 60 for probably a total of 3 hands. I also bet 350 into a 200 pot at some point.

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $10/$20 Blinds - 3 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

SB: $2,070.00
Hero (BB): $2,305.00
BTN: $1,874.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 6 2 (3 Players)
BTN calls $20.00, SB folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($50) 2 8 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $40.00, BTN raises to $130.00, Hero raises all-in to $2,285.00, BTN calls all-in for $1,724.00
Uncalled bet of $431.00 returned to Hero

Turn: ($3758) 6 (2 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($3758) K (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $3,758.00 ($1 Rake)

BTN had A 8 (two pairs, Eights and Sixes) and LOST (-$1,874.00)
Hero had 6 2 (a full house, Sixes full of Twos) and WON (+$1,883.00)

5/30/07 - Review

2007-05-31T03:14:00.000-05:00

I've decided to review a bunch of hands from a session I just played as much as possible and talk about them on my blog. I will vary posts consisting of big hands, well played ones, and poorly played ones. The session I just finished I was down a frustrating $7.5k, especially since I was down 25k on UB's 25/50 game. I don't think I played well in that, and it's too much to ask to be even when the biggest game you play is 5k and you drop 5 buyins in it.

I started playing HU vs this huge fish and had this hand damper my experience:

Later on I made a bad/questionable call vs Gaucho who generally gets the better of me, but at least I showed I will call him extremely light:

My image cooled off and then I had this poorly timed bluff but I am satisfied with the hand:

This hand vs a reg hurt. When the river came I knew I was beat:

I also played this guy HU at 10/25 where we have a LOT of history, and took him for about 14k. Here was the biggest hand. I tried to start 3betting him more when we got deeper because he would always call preflop (thinking I had a biggish hand) but play straightforwardly on the flop. I guess right when I got a good hand is when he decided I wasn't 3betting only premiums, which explains his flop call:

I had some coolers like KQ vs AA 3handed in a 3bet pot vs a maniac on a K82 but that's been standard for me this month. I am at a disappointing +67k and I feel as though I have run poorly all month (with the exception of tonight). Back to the grind...

Why number goals are bad

2007-05-30T01:38:00.000-05:00

OK, I am kind of combining the first two of the topics I wanted to discuss in future blog posts. I just told my friend in an IM that non-card poker lessons are the second best things in terms of helping your game, but they are easier to teach and benefit from.

Note: As I am writing this, it seems as though this post is turning into lots of smallish anecdotes/brief ideas, instead of more formal paragraphs. I'm not sure I like it, but let me know what you think.

I sat down at all my tables after I came back from a night out, and I was ready to play. About 40 minutes later, I quit. The games just weren't good. Did I want to play more? Yea. I played a little PLO, and then stopped that because I was getting bored. The point is, get up when the games aren't good.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen tables full of 6 regulars, battling to see who's penis will slap the others' and escape untangled. Most of the time, one of those guys will have a small edge, and the others will just be attempting to run well. Either way, there are better games out there. If there aren't, why are you playing? There used to be so many days where I looked back and said, "Well, I guess I should've just stopped playing." Do you really want to play that badly? Go play omaha, or, *gasp*, go drop down a level and play there.

That covers not playing when the games aren't good. I will briefly touch on: not playing when you aren't in the mood, and playing when you are focused.

People play poker when they aren't playing well all the time. I used to do it. Two months ago I was sick and decided to load up some tables because what the hell else was I gonna do. Well, -6k later and I called myself a moron and closed up the tables. I curled up in my bed and had a fun time watching TV and not losing 20k more.

The times I go out and don't drink, I usually come back around 1-3 AM and play poker until 3-5 AM. In order to do something like this, you really have to be ready to pack it in at any point. When I'm driving back home, I question myself if I am ready to play. If I am the least bit tired, I just don't play. 90% of the time, when I am ok to play, I have to be ready to quit if I make a few bad mistakes, or the games dry up because all the normal human beings go to bed. Consider how alert you are around the hours you play if you cannot control yourself once you sit down.

I was talking to a friend of mine a couple weeks ago, who said he was playing poorly/tilty but there were two megafish at the table so it was still +EV. Oh ho ho ho ho, this is soooo wrong. I told him get the hell up, and he did, after dropping two more buyins doing ridiculous things against the fish.

On that note, I look for signs of me not playing well. When I start to tilt or make a couple bad plays, my body and face physically get hotter or redder, and the slightest layer of sweat emerges over my face. I have learned that once I feel this it's time to get up because I'm not playing well.

Also, "getting back to even" has cost me loads of money fwiw.

Now, because we cannot predict how many hours of the month we will be playing, because we don't know when we will play poorly, etc, I really dislike the idea of setting "requirements" of x hands a month, or y hours a month. It implies that there will be a certain amount of tables being played, and a certain amount of hours per day. This will inevitably result in forcing yourself to play, which will result in not getting up when you should, and not sitting down when you should. If you could only play 20 hours of A-game poker a month, what is the point of slaving over 80 more hours if you will either lose a little, break even, or win a minute amount each session. There is none. Furthermore, you are allowing poker to control your life, which will only lead to tilt, antisocial behavior, and problems in your life that you don't want. You don't need to set number goals for yourself. You know what you are capable of. If you don't, you can experiment a little bit, and see what your limits are.

I talk about when it is time to not play moreso than the opposite because the mental aspect of poker is severely overrated. A couple weeks ago, I grinded well for about 5 days straight, playing good lengthed poker sessions. Then, I was in the middle of 2 heads up matches on UB against opponents who weren't bad but I had an edge of them, when I noticed my session was approaching four hours (my normal is 1.5-2 hrs), and my eyes were starting to get tired. The fact that my session went to that length was ok because I felt fine that particular time, but I continued to barge on because I had a small edge of my opponents, and I knew it. Well, within 15 minutes I went from +3.5k to -7.5k (at 10/25), because I was dumb and tired. Even if you are in decent games, if you are at the table when you shouldn't be, you will lose.

Two nights later, I was driving home, and a feeling came over me that I was going to crush the games that night. I told one of my friends and right after I wrote the away message I won a 11.5k pot at 10/25. I wound up about 15k in one hour, which included climbing back from a ludacrious 7 buyin loss to this crazy guy HU. When he flopped two pair with Q9 vs my TPTK with AQ in a 3bet pot, representing about the 20th sick/huge cooler/suckout of the match, I quit before my head exploded.

Although this post was somewhat choppy, I think the main points of when to play and when not to play are pretty clear. I hope you enjoyed this, but next time I think I'll write something more card specific ;).

Run better than I have been,
Greg

A review of my goals

2007-05-22T02:48:00.001-05:00

In my last post I posted a bunch of goals. As I have progressed through this month, I really haven't achieved all of my goals, but I haven't tried to either. It seems to me that goals are apparently best used to guide you in the right direction, and then you have to acheive your actual best medium, which may or may not fulfill the said goal. However, it is necessarily to follow and try to reach every one of your goals if, after starting them and being more knowledgable about the necessity of them, you still deem them essential.

Last month I didn't play that well. So this month I came up with all these things to do differently, when a lot of it turned out to be mental, which I am finding out is SO SO SO SO critical in poker. I'll quickly run over my goals and how they developed, since I am about to pass out from exhaustion:

1) Sweat other players more
Didn't happen. I think what wound up happening was me looking over my hands more, and thinking about different lines and how to play in an unorthodox manner.
2) Try to play more HU
I've played about 80% of my hands this month HU and it has definetely benefitted me unbelieveably. I've become a force HU.
3) Game Select More
I did this very well until about 2 days ago, which I blame my good month for. However, in the next couple days I am going to cool off a little, and really focus on this more since I feel it is invaluable.
4) Avoid playing NL5000
Heh. Didn't really happen, but I definetely waited until I was prepared mentally, and also waited until I was up a lot from the month overall so a big hit wouldn't spiral me into depression
5) 50k
I achieved this goal already. Twice ;).

Sorry for the brevity of this post, but I promise I will have more soon. Tomorrow (today at this point in time) is me 3 year anniversary with my girlfriend, so I will be excitedly celebrating that. Afterwards, I have plans on 3 new topics to discuss in my posts:

1) Mental Aspect of playing
2) Setting hand number goals/hours
3) Balancing poker with lifestyle/relationships

By that point, it will be the end of May and I'll throw in a summary thread.

Until then, play well and only play when you are mentally prepared.

Greg

Goals

2007-05-02T13:40:00.000-05:00

I normally don't do something like this, but after an extremely disappointing April, I am going to write out some goals. I'm going to approach the game really differently this month, and hopefully come out on top.

1) Sweat other players more
This one is something that I have never really done before, but I'm looking forward to it. Right now, I am a decently winning player at 10/20NL, but I certainly am not crushing the games. There are people who are crushing though games, and also beating higher games. The obvious answer is to watch them, interact with them, and try to come up with ways for me to improve my game, because I don't really know where to improve right now.
2) Try to play more HU
Last month I probably broke even playing HU NL2500 on UB. This month I want to continue playing, and break through somehow. This includes I gues playing NL1k on FTP HU. I am very fortunate to have one of the best HU players on UB mentoring me in this field, and I really want to put in some hands.
3) Game select more
Last month I got stuck with the idea of always needing to play NL2000+, and this month I won't have a problem playing NL600 or whatever if I feel like playing and the games aren't good
4) Avoid playing NL5000.
Sure I might be +EV in these games sometimes, but the variance is too high. Unless it is sitting HU with some fish, I will not be playing games bigger than NL2000 or I guess NL1500 deep stacked on FTP.
5) 50k
I am setting what I feel is a REALLY achievable goal, and I better fucking reach it.

OK now a fun brag. This month has started off well, espeically thanks to the 8k I took off Durrr one night on PS :).

In the Void, and Pushing Temporary Edges

2007-04-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

The whole month of April, and especially the last week I feel as though I have been playing what I call in the void. I simply mean that I have been playing in the "blah" mood the entire month, not optimally, overthinking situations, and just playing poorly in general. So, what does that mean? It means it's time to do one of two things: either drop down and play a lot of tables, or get out of the void. Of course, getting out of the void is something that I really can't do myself, so it looks like option one for now. I'll probably play about 8 tables of NL600 on stars, which will be a decent hourly, and I can play without thinking too hard about poker, since apparently I have some ineptitude to play poker right now. I think this is the best thing for me to do, at least until finals are over.

A funny story was me playing NL600 last Friday. I took $4000 (yes that's almost 7 buyins at 6m) from a 2p2er, who said that I should at least name my boat after him. I thought this was funny, but also realized that this is one of the ways to make a lot of money in these games. There are so many regulars these days, that, aside from table selecting in terms of fish, you can also do so in terms of weaker regulars. This is something that I commonly did at NL2000, but works well at midstakes (on stars at least) as well because people enjoy playing obscene amounts of tables. If you can get position on some of the weaker regulars, you can anger them, and even tilt them, and this effects 5-6 tables. So, you have transformed an overwise solid player into a spew monkey.

This reminds me of someone I was playing hu last week. It was like 3 in the morning, and I wanted to play. So I sat on FTP against who appeared to be a good player, while one of my friends decided to sweat me. He normally plays NL100, but I think he HAS to be one of the best players at that limit, so I do respect his opinions... sometimes :P. So, I am 3 tabling vs this guy at NL1000, and after about 5 minutes my friend comments that this guy seems solid. I agree, but I think he has a weakness: 3bet pots. Many otherwise really solid players don't know how to play in 3bet pots, whereas I frequently change my gears to capitalize on this. So, at this point in the match we are playing really solidly, and I don't think I have a decent edge. I'm ready to quit in about five minutes, however, my opponent all of the sudden types in the chat box, "20 mins more, I'm tired and need to go to bed at 4."

Boom. He's tired. Time to take advantage. I start really putting he pressure on preflop via raising on the button, but I made sure not to 3bet him that light. My reasoning was that he was tired and therefore would not think it through that I wasn't 3betting that light, and instead just see raise preflop, raise preflop, raise preflop, and just assume that I would 3bet him light as well. Of course, you can take this logic one step further, and play a hand in the strangest manner that you can think of :).

So, this hand comes up, and I haven't 3bet in a while. Yes, I just talked about how I wouldn't 3bet him that light, and therefore I should 3bet with big hands because he won't give me credit anyway, but I decided to mix it up on this hand because he hasn't seen me only call a raise with a big hand yet (about 45 minutes in). This deception, combined with the fact that I haven't 3bet in a while (I like to have some form of "protection" when 3betting my big hands, ie having 3bet kind of recently at least).

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $5/$10 Blinds - 2 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh/)

Hero (BB): $1803.25
SB: $2484.75

Preflop: Hero is dealt As Ad (2 Players)
SB raises to $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) Jh 2c 2d (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $45, Hero raises to $165, SB calls $120

I check raise this perfect flop, which is standard. He's probably aggressive enough to float me here, since it's unlikely I have a two, and I "can't" have JJ+ since I didn't 3bet preflop.

Turn: ($390) 6s (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $275, Hero calls $275

When I check the turn, the strongest hand I can have vs a good hand reader is a jack. By check/calling, I represent a jack, and nothing better.

River: ($940) 8h (2 Players)
Hero checks,

The river was close, because I think when I check he will check back all jacks. But, I guess since my hand seems so defined as weak, he can show up here with ATC? I hoped so.

SB bets all-in for $2014.75, Hero calls all-in for $1333.25
Uncalled bet of $681.50 returned to SB

Pot Size: $3606.50 ($0.50 Rake)

SB had Qh 8c (two pair, Eights and Twos) and LOST (-$1803.25)
Hero had As Ad (two pair, Aces and Twos) and LOST (-$1800.25)

Luckily, I was right.

So, now I can take advantage of this temporary edge. He is tired AND I have momentum, which is huge heads up. On another table, I raise with ATs, and I am 3bet. I call because the effective stacks are like $2500. I won't walk through the HH, but I'll just ask to note that it is really obvious he has a one pair hand on the flop (or KK), and should not be actively inflating the pot. The turn from his perspecive is probably a c/f.

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $5/$10 Blinds - 2 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh/)

BB: $2415.50
Hero (SB): $3909.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt As Ts (2 Players)
Hero raises to $30, BB raises to $110, Hero calls $80

Flop: ($220) Kd Th Tc (2 Players)
BB bets $155, Hero raises to $500, BB calls $345

Turn: ($1220) 6c (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $700, BB raises all-in to $1805.50, Hero calls $1105.50

River: ($4831) Js (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $4831 ($0.50 Rake)

BB had Ad Kh (two pair, Kings and Tens) and LOST (-$2415.50)
Hero had As Ts (three of a kind, Tens) and LOST (-$2411.50)

Of course, then I donked back about 2 buyins because I myself was tired :).

This post is getting long and rambling, so basically my point is to say that in these new days and games, sometimes you need to find other ways to make money than from just the fish. Look for tired or otherwise solid opponents who happen to be playing poorly, and take advantage of the temporary edge that you will have. I've said before that high stakes games aren't necessarily about who's the best, but rather who's playing the best. This concept trickles down to MSNL as well, so keep it in mind, and adapt accordingly, which mean get off the tables if you aren't playing well!

Until next time,
Greg

Sorry

2007-04-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

I apologize. I've gotten lots of IMs and emails worried about my downswing, and how it was unlike me. Firstly and most importantly, thank you for the comments. It's really cool that people actually read this blog, and care enough to see if I am mentally ok.

Nextly, the post was a joke. It was a delayed April fools joke because no one would ever believe the post if I made it on April 1. So I made it on April 1 + 0, or the tenth. If you highlight the black area under my name in the last post, you will find that it is a joke. Either way I'm sorry that I didn't make something more obvious.

With that said, karma kicked me in the ass the next day, and I *did* tilt, and I *did* lose 20k in a session where I shouldn't have. I didn't sit there and throw away 10 buyins at 10/20, but the tilt part was be trying to get unstuck a few grand by sitting hu vs some guy on UB who had humungous stacks on every table. At this 25/50 table, he had 55k. His name was gimme_nutz, who I later found out was Durrr.

I actually thought that I was outplaying him, and that my style combated pretty well against his. I had worked my stack up to about 9.2k from profit, and then he won about a grand. I was 3betting him enough to not get credit for a huge hand when I did, but not to the point where he would think I had any two suited or connected cards, either. Here was a really sick hand that I quit after, because I knew I would life tilt if I kept playing. I wanted to c/c any non-club because he (remember I didn't know it was Durrr) was pretty aggressive. Pretty sick river.

Ultimate Bet - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $25/$50 Blinds - 2 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh/)

Hero (BB): $7941
SB: $55238.90

Preflop: Hero is dealt Kh Ad (2 Players)
SB raises to $150, Hero raises to $550, SB calls $400

Flop: ($1100) 8c 9s 2c (2 Players)
Hero bets $750, SB calls $750

Turn: ($2600) Kc (2 Players)
Hero bets $1800, SB calls $1800

River: ($6200) Ts (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets all-in for $52138.90, Hero calls all-in for $4841
Uncalled bet of $47297.90 returned to SB

Pot Size: $15882 ($1 Rake)

SB had Qs Jc (straight, king high)
Hero had Kh Ad (a pair of kings)

Anyway, the rest of hte month has been pretty not that great. I've played poorly an ran badly as well, resulting in me being up something like 10k. The issue is I don't have too much money online, because I cashed out for taxes, and since then I'm down like 30k (I absolutley blasted off the first three days of this month), so I'm a little low in the FTP account. I'm still gonna prob play 10/20 pretty frequently, but really only when I feel like it. I'd like to grind some 5/10 as well, as I consider that free money a lot of time. I think I'm gonna stop playing PLO as well, because when I do I'm never mentally focused, or it's just randomly thrown in with NLHE. Or I play at like 5 am when I'm very tired. So, that's done for a while.

Lastly, I'm pledging to make this blog better, and get back to posting more frequently, mainly because there are a decent amount of people reading this. I guess by definition you guys enjoy my posts, so I will post more often. Anyway, I'm off to the gf this weekend at Penn State, so I'll probably only play a limited amount. Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you later.

Greg

Well at least March was good

2007-04-10T17:48:00.000-05:00

OK, so a couple things:

1) In March I had 3 20k downswings!!! But I managed to pull out of them and make a $73k month which is my biggest month ever.
2) I apologize for the lack of updates but I have been really, really busy.
3) I'm not sure if the trip report is coming. I'm depressed right now. See #4 for more detail.
4) I was doing well in April, and then today happened...
4b) Take a shot at 25/50. Lose two buyins. Proceed to life tilt and lose two more buyins. After running badly, my FTP account is busto. Oh well, I didn't have a lot on FTP anyway.
4c) PS 25/50k. GG 60k in the account when I started shoving any pair preflop, or any piece of the flop postflop.
4d) GG 80k on UB when I started playing 25/50 HU and 10/25 basically shoving anything that had a face card preflop. I actually ran up a pretty big stack for a while. That didn't last....

Right now I have about 20k on UB and 5k on Cake Poker. I guess I start rebuilding next week. This is so fucked up because I have never done something like this before. Whatever. I might post sometime in the future.

Greg

April Fools!!! Everyone never falls for a joke on April 1, so I made a joke on April 10! Sorry to anyone who I offended from this. I'm doing well in April so far, I promise.

Short Update

2007-03-19T21:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back from Acapulco, and it was great. I will have a long-ass trip report up in the next couple days. In the mean time, I am getting back into poker, as I didn't play at all during Spring Break (probably my longest time without playing for over a year).

Some differences that I have noticed at NL2000 are thin value bets = $$$$, and sometimes you just have to close your eyes and do what you think is right :).

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $10/$20
5 players

Stack sizes:
Greg: $2104
CO: $2007
Button: $2794
SB: $3129
BB: $387

Pre-flop: (5 players) Greg is UTG with 8d ad
Greg raises to $70, CO folds, Button raises to $220, 2 folds, Greg raises to $660, Button calls.

Flop: 3h 8c 9c ($1350, 2 players)
Greg checks, Button bets $1210, Greg raises all-in $1514, Button calls.

Turn: 6d ($4378, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $4378)

River: 5h ($4378, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $4378)

Results:
Final pot: $4378
Greg showed 8d Ad
Button showed Qc Kh

Look for that trip report in a couple days.

Sigh Pour it out...

2007-03-10T02:36:00.000-05:00

Wow. Raise your hand if you want to hear some stories about an emotional roller coaster.

Although I don't want to get into finances too much, I guess I have to mention some of them. I finished up Feb at a little more than +55k from poker (and whatever more from rakeback/bonuses, prob about 3k). So, for March, I decided to finally step up to the plate and play 10/20 (and 10/25 on UB).

I immediately started running hot, and playing extremely well. In fact, I have noticed something about my game. When I am running hot I am unstoppable and make awesome plays, and dirty calldowns. However, sometimes when I am not running good, I start playing poorly. In fact, today I donated two buyins because I wasn't running good and tried to make something happen. In the future I absolutely need to turn the computer off if I even begin to get frustrated.

I started the month blazingly quickly, working up to about +80k in maybe 7 days. Since then, I have obviously cooled off, but also not played well. Currently, I am at +55 on the month (coincidentally enough), and I will not really be playing much in the next week, as it is Spring Break and I will be going to Acapulco with the gf and some friends. Actually we leave Saturday (today I guess) at 5. I can't wait.

So, I think something that high stakes has taught me is that total playing ability doesn't matter nearly as much as how you are playing at that time. When I am playing my A game, I am better than pretty much everyone I encounter. However, I make stupid plays, and play my C game, and I am destined to fail. Thusly, I think that I am going to do in the future is stop playing after 1 big mistake, or 2 small mistakes. This can be as small as a bad call preflop, or raising with air when I can't really rep a hand that is going to fold out my opponent's, and obviously as big as getting stacked due to a boneheaded play.

Actually, I just had an epiphany. When I am not playing my best, but still playing in a capable manner, I will just play NL1000 or NL600. When I am playing my A game, I will continue to play NL2000/2500. As much negativity is in this post, I will give myself credit for only sitting in games where I think I have a decent edge, which means leaving some NL2000 games where my edge is small, and variance large. Chances are, there is an NL1000 game where it is more +EV to sit.

I'm very excited for Mexico, and I think it is important for me to stick with NL2000. However, I have a feeling the amount of hours I will be playing NL2000 for will be significantly reduced. I'll update this blog most likely after Acapulco, where I should have some crazy ass stories. I'm considering just going crazy and spending a lot of money.

Greg

Some Updates, and Some Thoughts on Saving Money

2007-02-26T17:48:00.000-05:00

So, I've been playing really well lately. I'm not sure what to really say about that, but I really don't want to discuss finances too much. I guess maybe I'll get into it at the end of the month more. I will say, though, that I had a -9k session on Friday. Then, Saturday around 5PM I had a +3.3k session, and from like 11 PM - 3 AM a +7.2k. I was home for the weekend so I just played after hanging out with my family for a little. It was really really refreshing to get that back, and gave me a lot of confidence. I reviewed my downswing, and there were a couple spots where I gave away stacks, but otherwise I played fine. On one hand, I looked it over and was really happy about the way I played this hand. I'm not sure whether it's superduper or normal, but I got excited about it basically I felted TP0K in a 4way pot and was ahead:

Guy 1 is at seat 0 with $3378.25.
Guy 2 is at seat 1 with $1018.50.
Guy 3 is at seat 2 with $1573.
Guy 4 is at seat 3 with $828.55.
Villain/Reg is at seat 4 with $818.90.
HERO is at seat 5 with $1131.
The button is at seat 5.

Guy 1 posts the small blind of $5.
Guy 2 posts the big blind of $10.

Guy 1: -- --
Guy 2: -- --
Guy 3: -- --
Guy 4: -- --
Villain/Reg: -- --
HERO: Qs 6s

Pre-flop:

Guy 3 folds. Guy 4 folds. Villain/Reg
raises to $35. HERO calls. Guy 1 calls.
Guy 2 calls.

Flop (board: 3c 9d Qc):

Guy 1 checks. Guy 2 checks. Villain/Reg
checks. HERO bets $105. Guy 1 folds.
Guy 2 folds. Villain/Reg raises to $350.
HERO goes all-in for $1096. Villain/Reg goes
all-in for $783.90. HERO is returned $312.10
(uncalled).

Turn (board: 3c 9d Qc Ah):

(no action in this round)

River (board: 3c 9d Qc Ah 9c):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

HERO shows Qs 6s.
HERO has Qs 9d Qc Ah 9c: two pair, queens and nines.
Villain/Reg shows 8c Tc.
Villain/Reg has 8c Tc 3c Qc 9c: flush, queen high.

Hand #39412812-40278 Summary:

$3 is raked from a pot of $1707.80.
Villain/Reg wins $1704.80 with flush, queen high.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Even though he had 12 outs, I just liked the hand a lot for some reason, and I knew I was gonna get out of my downswing.

So, I read a thread about Good2CU getting drunk and losing 40k, which apparently is a lot of his poker bankroll since he has to pay taxes and just bought a new car. I immediately recalled a conversation I had with my friend - he informed me that he would spend at least 60k if he had won an FTOPS event that cashed first for 130k. I was shocked, because my strategy would be so unbelievably different. I am so conversative with spending money, and bankroll management, that I would never go crazy like that. Right now, other than money that I have in sites to play poker with, and other than about 10k that I have locked away for personal expenses, I have everything in investments. I just feel like I want to take advantage of these years by making a lot of money to set me up for after college. I don't really care if BBV thinks it isn't "baller," I don't really care if I'm joked at as a "life nit," and I don't care that I don't go compulsively buying shit that I may or may not even want.

Sure, I spend money. If I feel like I want some new clothing, I'll go and drop $500 and not even think about it. I actually want to go get one of those GPS navigation systems, so I'm gonna get that as well. And, admittedly, I do spend a bunch on my relationship (plane tickets, dinners, gifts, etc). But, that makes my girlfriend happy and feel special, and I love the ability to make her feel loved because she deserves it.

My point is, you can spend money, but it should be used in moderation. I know so many people who are playing SSNL or MSNL and making 4k or so a month. But, they are spending half of it, tilting away somemore, and betting away the rest. Great, you can make a lot of money playing poker, but what the hell does that actually accomplish? If you want to have money and you can win at poker, why not just suck it up for a few months, and build a bankroll? Then, when you get to a level where you can no longer print money with your eyes closed, treat yourself a little, and start trying to get better! I realize I'm starting to ramble, so I'll try to get to a point here. People are generally too spendy, and just categorize themselves as such, without really looking at ways they can maybe cut back a little in the short term, but be able to spend more in the long term.

One last thing. I have done really well this month with not tilting. And the reason is that I have been able to stop playing when I have started to tilt. We all know this is infinitely more difficult than it sounds, but I think I may have devised a way to help. When I feel myself steaming, I can stop because I have trained myself to, upon emotionally feeling hot/angry, to start seeing the money in an absolute manner. For example, $1000 is not one buy in, but it is one thousand dollars. Then I think of all the things I can buy for one thousand dollars, and I close up the tables. Afterwards, I cool off by either playing video games, or browsing things I could buy with the money I just saved. I think it's important to turn this switch off when playing well, but it is critical to know the absolute value of the money in front of you. Hell, maybe it'll stop you from shoving that slider all the way to the right.

Until next time,
Greg

Random, Somewhat Angry Thoughts

2007-02-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what to think right now. I'm kind of pissed because I have a midterm tomorrow that I found out about today, but realistically I hate running badly.

I hopped on PokerStars before 24 tonight, and my God the regulars there are just annoying. They are bad, they spew like motherfuckers, and, best of all, they win no matter what! I know what they have, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you aren't getting odds on your call if you hit every time. It doesn't matter if you shove with some ridiculous hand if you get there every time. So, the key is to play against people that can make thin plays, and then suck out against them. It works every time!

Greg

Now I get to go study for a midterm...

It's Valentine's Day

2007-02-15T02:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Let's get the poker out of the way so I can talk about life stuff again.

As a player who is completely overrolled for any game I would ever consider playing, I came to an interesting conclusion tonight. I was playing on UB, and a really really soft NL2500 game opened up. I decided to join because I was up on the night, despite PS's best attempts to keep me down (cough *66* cough). Yes, there was a lot of history involved, but whatever. Well, I am not one to back down just because the stakes are higher, so I took the liberty of getting into a 8.7k coinflip and obviously losing. http://www.pokerhand.org/?824382. In a few moments, I found myself down 6.5k at nl2500. Somehow, between that and a brutal, brutal, -2400 PS session at nl600 this afternoon with Jay, I managed to make it to +722 on the day. Feeling that I was going to puke from the swings, I graphed the month:

Click it. Anyway, as you can see I'm at 17.5k on the month, but I've highlighted in green circles the shots at NL2500. Oh, the first big drop is from this hand: http://www.pokerhand.org/?824296. In total, I've dropped a little over 13k at NL2500 this month.

This brings me to my conclusion about taking shots. Unless you want to build an insufficient bankroll to a larger amount and are willing to risk a lot of future grinding, it's not a good idea. I cannot handle the swings. I hate it. I realized tonight that, after 3.5 hours of getting punched in the face on PS during the afternoon, I played a session that quickly went up to about 8k, putting me at like +6 on the day. Now I'm sitting there at $722 on the day. I don't want that. Yes, I understand it can go the other way, but to me at least, it hurts a lot more when you take a shot and lose than when you take a shot and win. Furthermore, for a player that isn't overrolled, this literally can be devastating to your roll. God help you if you start tilting as well.

So, I'm not taking any more shots anymore. I get stressed out, and the stakes become too high. Plus, I should be at 30k on the month, and now I'm missing 13 of that :/.

Anyway, let's talk about something fun. Today was Valentine's Day. I sent my girlfriend (of nearly three years!) some nice flowers (ok, very nice flowers), and I am also getting her Custom made M&Ms, but clearly they were backordered up the ass so she will be getting those the 21st. I will be visitng her at Penn State tomorrow, which will be nice.

Side story, and then a little conclusion about poker. I went to CVS today to get some condoms, and they had them locked up. Obviously this will increase safe sex.... Anyway, I went to the front counter and told the woman I needed to purchase condoms, but they were locked away and a sign said to get assistance. She immediately sent Julio over to unlock them. It was funny because she was a 60 year old woman, and I had a look of shock that I went up to her and said this. I somehow skipped out on her lecture about whether I'm ready or not.

Also went to the dry cleaners. I get my laundry done because I despise folding luandry. Luckily, there is this sick rate at the local laundromat. I get it washed + folded (no detergent etc needed) for some $/pound, which happened to be 35lbs for $24.50. I gave the woman a tip and left with two bags, very excited. I then ripped one bag open somehow against some sharp part of my trunk? which left me aggravated.

So, I am playing less, and kind of hopping around on sites. This keeps my interest up, and I enjoy it more. I'm also staying away from playing during the day so I can get other stuff done. I relax, hang around my suite, and play video games. It's a lot more interactive than sitting there with headphones on and looking at a computer screen, which I can do later for 2-4 hours anyway. Besides, it works itself out as everyone else goes to bed around 12:30-1, while I am up until 4 generally. Except for now, since I have a 9:30 tomorrow, and I like to shower/eat breakfast beforehand. I'm off to bed, but before I go, I will say one thing:

If you are playing Mario Kart 64, do not consider yourself an "expert" player unless you know and utilize the power slide. Otherwise, good luck to you...

Greg

I'm backkkkkkkkkkk

2007-02-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I'm updating this blog again, and with a kind of new twist. It's going to kind of get away from poker poker poker, and be more like life poker. I'm trying to reevaluate my life, and figure out what I'm doing exactly, and where I'm going. I don't feel lost, nor empty, I just feel like I'm rolling through each day and just getting to the next. I'm not sure what that means, but obviously it's something semi-significant.

I'm working out again, which is a pretty big step for me. After lifting for about 4.5 years without more than a week's break, I, for whatever reason, felt that I should take about a 3 week break during finals last spring. Afterwards, I just never felt like going back. I didn't have the desire, and I'm sure poker had something to do with it.

Somehow I managed a 3.3 last semester while waiting until the last minute on everything, mainly/probably because of poker. This semester I'm not going to screw around as much, and I'm, going to get stuff done on time.

I have some really thoughts from time to time, and it's difficult because I feel like I'm starting to find an answer to an unknown question, but my thoughts stop in the middle of it. Think of figuring out the first 13 letters of the alphabet, then suddently stopping.

I'm getting back into poker again, and feeling better about that. I will be putting in less hours though, and trying not to play during the day so I can accomplish other things I need to do. Then I will reward myself by playing at night. With that said, I'm still pretty sure I can put in hours as good as anyone does, as that has always been my trademark. Right now, I'm playing 3/6 on PS until further review of the play, and 3/6 and 5/10 on UB (and staying away from 10/25 after getting hit and run by a donk HU after a sick suckout, and after losing a 7.5k pot HU with a lesser trips). I'm also going to start lessons back up with Jay, and after my first one I felt like I regained some great stuff. I really like my life plan, and sure, I might not be making AS MUCH money as I could potentially, but I won't feel like I'm going through the motions, I will be happier, and I'll enjoy everything more. And it will be good to actually get my body back to what it once was.

So, I'm not sure what to expect from this blog. Thusly, you shouldn't either. It's going to be pretty strange, but I've been in a pretty strange mood lately as well. I think it'll be interesting though, so stick around. That's all for now,

Greg

I Don't Want to Move up I like 400

2006-07-08T03:04:00.000-05:00

I am killing in NL400 and I just absolutely rock the game. Yes I am running decently well, especially against my coach. He gets into some sick situations vs me, and when he has the nuts, we chop :). Anyway, so far this month I have played 18,755 hands and am up 13.6k. This included a 2.7k tilt session at UB HU 1/2 PL. It was gross. At the beginning it was a bunch of terrible suckouts and bad setups, and then it got to be tilt. Thankfully it was only 1/2, and I did eventually push the x button after my full house was cracked by a higher fullhouse to cap the defeat. However, I am learning a lot and playing 2/4 on autopilot. I am hesitant to move up to 3/6 for unknown reasons. I need to though. Once again I would like to thank my coach for all the help he's given me (jkrantz). He hoped into some 10/20 games the last couple days and looked like he never left them :).

Anyway, the real reason I am posting this entry is because I took a shot at 5/10NL in a couple games tonight and completely owned them. I sat down at one table because one of my fish from NL400 (Also plays NL200) was there with 1700. I demolished him. Here are all the hands that I was involved in at the table. I am pretty sure that I only won a single pot where it wasn't HU vs him:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($1874.41)

UTGA ($1000)

MP ($953)

CO ($3014.43)

Button ($3100.21)

SB ($192)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Qs, Kd. SB posts a blind of $5.

UTGA raises to $45, MP calls $45, 3 folds, BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $35.

Flop: ($140) Qd, Ts, 2d (3 players)

THE VICTIM checks, UTGA bets $115, MP folds, THE VICTIM folds.

Final Pot: $255

Results in white below:

No showdown. Hero wins $255.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

SB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($1829.41)

BB ($1092)

UTG ($908)

MP ($3014.43)

CO ($3100.21)

Button ($187)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Qs, Qd. SB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ posts a blind of $5.

4 folds, SB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ (poster) completes, BB raises to $25, SB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $25.

Flop: ($70) 7c, 6d, 5h (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, BB bets $60, THE VICTIM calls $60.

Turn: ($190) 3s (2 players)

THE VICTIM bets $100, Hero calls $100.

River: ($390) 5d (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, BB bets $285, THE VICTIM folds.

Final Pot: $675

Results in white below:

Hero has Qs Qd (two pair, queens and fives).

Outcome: Hero wins $675.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($1589.41)

UTGA ($1302.50)

MP ($1000)

Button ($2999.43)

SB ($3187.21)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ah, Qs. SB posts a blind of $5.

UTGA raises to $45, 3 folds, BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $35.

Flop: ($95) 4c, 8c, 9s (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, UTGA bets $88, THE VICTIM calls $88.

Turn: ($271) 2h (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks.

River: ($271) Ks (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, UTGA bets $245, THE VICTIM folds.

Final Pot: $516

Results in white below:

Hero has Ah Qs (high card, ace).

Outcome: Hero wins $516.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($1451.41)

UTGA ($1423.50)

MP ($1000)

Button ($3014.43)

SB ($3187.21)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9d, As. SB posts a blind of $5.

UTGA raises to $45, 3 folds, BB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $35.

Flop: ($95) 7h, Ts, 9c (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, UTGA bets $88, THE VICTIM calls $88.

Turn: ($271) Td (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks.

River: ($271) 3c (2 players)

THE VICTIM bets $150, Hero calls $150.

Final Pot: $571

Results in white below:

THE VICTIM has 7s Js (two pair, tens and sevens).

Hero has 9d As (two pair, tens and nines).

Outcome: Hero wins $571.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

MP =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($1167.41)

Button ($1689.50)

SB ($1020)

BB ($3014.43)

UTG ($3182.21)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5h, Ah. SB posts a blind of $5.

1 fold, MP =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $10, Button raises to $50, 2 folds, MP =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $40.

Flop: ($115) Ks, 8h, 7c (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($115) 9h (2 players)

THE VICTIM bets $50, Hero calls $50.

River: ($215) Qh (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, Button bets $135, THE VICTIM folds.

Final Pot: $350

Results in white below:

Hero has 5h Ah (flush, ace high).

Outcome: Hero wins $350.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($1067.41)

MP ($1802.50)

Button ($1015)

SB ($3004.43)

BB ($3182.21)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Ks, Qd. SB posts a blind of $5.

UTG =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $10, MP raises to $50, Button calls $50, 1 fold, BB calls $40, UTG =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $40.

Flop: ($205) Ah, Ad, 3c (4 players)

BB checks, THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks, Button checks.

Turn: ($205) 9s (4 players)

BB checks, THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks, Button checks.

River: ($205) 9d (4 players)

BB checks, THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks, Button checks.

Final Pot: $205

Results in white below:

BB has 6s 6c (two pair, aces and nines).

THE VICTIM has Ts 4s (two pair, aces and nines).

Hero has Ks Qd (two pair, aces and nines).

Button has 5h 5c (two pair, aces and nines).

Outcome: Hero wins $205.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($1017.41)

MP ($1955.50)

CO ($965)

Button ($2999.43)

SB ($3132.21)

BB ($800)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 6s, 6c. SB posts a blind of $5.

UTG =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $10, MP raises to $50, 4 folds, UTG =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ calls $40.

Flop: ($115) Kc, 7s, 9s (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($115) 3s (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks.

River: ($115) 5h (2 players)

THE VICTIM bets $40, Hero calls $40.

Final Pot: $195

Results in white below:

THE VICTIM has Ac Qd (high card, ace).

Hero has 6s 6c (one pair, sixes).

Outcome: Hero wins $195.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

SB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ ($643.41)

BB ($2020.50)

UTG ($1114)

MP ($3011.43)

CO ($285)

Button ($950.25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7h, Td. SB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ posts a blind of $5.

4 folds, SB =#A500AF(THE VICTIM)/ (poster) completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($20) 7s, 7d, 2h (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($20) Kd (2 players)

THE VICTIM bets $10, BB raises to $30, THE VICTIM calls $20.

River: ($80) 6d (2 players)

THE VICTIM checks, BB bets $60, THE VICTIM calls $60.

Final Pot: $200

Results in white below:

THE VICTIM has 4s Kc (two pair, kings and sevens).

Hero has 7h Td (three of a kind, sevens).

Outcome: Hero wins $200.

He shortly busted thereafter. I would up up about 1.1k from that table, but wound up ever more on the other table I had opem (1.22k). A large contributing factor was this hand :).

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG ($1855.97)

MP ($1085)

CO ($1194)

Button ($1390.37)

SB ($2631.07)

BB ($1256.94)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Qs, Qc. SB posts a blind of $5.

2 folds, CO raises to $35, 1 fold, SB (poster) calls $30, BB raises to $113, Hero calls $88, SB folds.

Flop: ($281) 2s, Qd, Tc (2 players)

BB bets $199, Hero calls $199.

Turn: ($679) 2c (2 players)

BB calls $934.94 (All-In), Hero calls $872 (All-In).

River: ($2485.94) 2d (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $2485.94

Results in white below:

BB has Jc Ac (three of a kind, twos).

Hero has Qs Qc (full house, queens full of twos).

Outcome: Hero wins $2423. BB wins $62.94.

Well, I'm going to bed, as I have a very busy day tomorrow. Good bye.

The Month of June

2006-07-01T12:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the last of updates. I've been very busy... (playing poker obv).
Anyway, I got a summer job as an athletic trainer at a local facility, and will be resume boosting for the next couple weeks. The trainers are all really cool and I used to train with them so I know them and it's a lot of fun. We go to various local high schools to train teams in different sports. I am training a local HS football team so far, and also a women's field hockey team which is different. Next week I interestingly go back to my old HS and train the football team there. Back to poker.

I started off June ~8 tabling 1/2 NL and making good money on that. However, I took a shot around the 14th or so at 2/4 and mentally malfunctioned. I moved back down to 200 for a while and then moved up to 400 and stopped playing like a little baby. I outplayed a lot of people IMO and did very well. I remember my summer goal was $30k and potentially $35k if I really pushed myself. Well, in June I really pushed myself. I played on average 4 hours a day, and racked up over 75k hands.

For the month of June, I made over $25k! And, rakeback got me over $2000 more. In total, my earnings were nearly $28k. Here is a link to a graph and PT stats of my month.
http://img427.imageshack.us/img427/386/junefullgraph1zn.jpg

I made a lot of money, but the rakeback was huge on the side. Luckily, I can get you rakeback too if you want it. Just e-mail me at mynameizgreg @ gmail.com . I will work with you to get it; it really makes a difference.

My July goals are 75k hands, $30k from poker. My plan is to play 2/4NL for the first 15 days of the month, and then to begin incorporating 3/6 in the latter half. By August, assuming I don't lose everything, I would like to begin playing 3/6 full time.

Lastly, I would like to thank my coach jkrantz because he has been a crux in my development as a poker player. If you possibly are interested in coaching you can contact me with your information and I will pass it on to him. I am not sure if he has time right now but I will certainly check.

That's all for now, and hopefully I'll get an update soon. Good luck at the tables.

Greg

LOL POKER IS SO EZ?

2006-06-10T00:58:00.000-05:00

I am killing everyone and everything in my path. I am now 9-12 tabling, and it is kind of annoying becuase I do not get the sounds on the four tables on my laptop so I have to push it back to see more. Anyway, I just finished a session where the second to last hand happens and it is this:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flopsaw showdown

BB ($299.20)
UTG ($81.75)
MP ($169.55)
CO ($279.85)
Button ($228.20)
SB ($133.80)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 5h, 4h. SB posts a blind of $1.
UTG calls $2, MP calls $2, CO raises to $11, 2 folds, BB raises to $23, UTG folds, MP folds, Hero LOL OMG IMPLIED ODDS I CALL $14.

Flop: ($55) Jd, 7h, 8h (2 players)
BB bets $50, Hero LOL OVERPAIR??? GO 6 OR HEARTTTTTT calls $50.

Turn: ($155) 3h (2 players)
BB bets $50, Hero LOL OMG YOU ARE LOSER I WIN GG IMPLIED ODDS calls $204.85 (All-In), BB calls $154.85.

River: ($564.70) Jc (2 players, 1 all-in)
OMG JJ I WILL HURT SOMEONE???????????????????????????????
Final Pot: $564.70

Results:
BB has Ts Th (two pair, jacks and tens). LOL NOT EVEN TOP PAIR?????
Hero has 5h 4h (flush, eight high).
Outcome: Hero wins $564.70.

So, is my image really that loose? I guess...

Since that last session on 6/8....

6/8 not early AM - 6/10 early AM (2 AM):
NL200/PL200: +$1,834.06 7.75bb/100
PL400 (TY Donk): +$611.90 76.49bb/100 (obv sustainable)
------------------------
6,015 hands +$2,445.96 8.89bb/100

Umm... PLEASE NO DOWNSWING?

Ok, so I had a good day

2006-06-08T03:27:00.000-05:00

So, variance finally stopped murdering me, and I got well on my way. I thought I played well the good majority of the time, too, so I am definitely satisfied. The following graph is from my session on 6/7 and one early this morning on 6/8. Hopefully I can keep this up.

Click it to make it more clear.

I've been playing some PL200 lately and I'm not sure if I like it. I know it's +EV to sit when there is a megadonk there, though. I hate UTG raising to 7, and not being able to overbet. I check the PL200 tables last unless there is some terrible player there.

So it's been a while

2006-06-06T18:26:00.000-05:00

Well,

May didn't go so hot. But, I now 9 table NL200 and understand 90%+ of the things I didn't before. With that said, I am starting anew. I put my "new" balance at $2000 two days ago, and it is now about $2400 i believe. This month, however, I believe I have received about $2000-3000 worth of suckouts. I know this is difficult to believe, but let's see some highlights.

QQ vs. AQ AI prf for a $900 pot board TJKK7
34 vs. A7 AI on a A25 flop (yes I know I was 97/3).
AA vs. 99 AI on a jack high flop no nine.

Those are the worst ones, and I won't even bother with the standard ones (top set vs. OESD, overpair vs. FD, etc). Just know that I plan on making $10,000 this month 9 tabling. Let's get to work.

New Month, New Insight

2006-05-08T02:22:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a little while since my last update. However, this is not because I am doing poorly. Although my Party account hit 2.5k at the lowest, I have worked it up to 7k+ now. My lessons with jkrantz have given me a totally new insight in the game, and my thought process is different now then it was even five days ago. I was going over some hands with him and I commented how I played this hand terribly and wouldn't play it like this now, even though the then was 5 days ago. In the short time, I have basically saw the light, and it's bright as hell. This month is going to be really great. Add on a sick VIP bonus I got (2220 points for $470), and I should make some monies.

My plan is to have my lessons at 400NL, and then keep playing 200NL however many tables on my own. After I hit 10k or at the end of the month, I will move up to 400NL. By having my lessons there now, I can see exactly what I am going to throw myself into.

BTW, tournaments suck and I hate playing them. I can't make enough from them anyway. I got bored in the 750k so I wound up throwing my chips in the middle with 68o (which, I remembered afterwards, is the hand that knocked me out of the 1M guarenteed) on some straight draw that never came vs. a set of kings blind vs. blind. Anyway, I managed to get into the 1M guar. for this month so I'm stuck playing that. There is still money in Stars, and I do not know why. I still have the other part of my bankroll, but am keeping myself to 10k in party as my party/poker bankroll. Anyway, since I really can't go back that deep, I will post my stats since May 1st, spanning of course until now, May 8 3:25 AM. Note that the NL400 stats are from my lessons, and also include my getting stacked around 12:30 AM on May 1st, so if I didn't suck they'd be even higher. The thing I am taking from this is that I feel supremely confident at NL200, don't mind dropping $400 on a hand, and am mentally ready for NL400. I just want to be overly cautious and hit the 10k mark until I jump up.

Lastly, I have a summer goal. It is to make $30,000 before I go back to school. This challenge is May 1st - August I think 16-18. I feel this is a moderate goal, and I really should be pushing myself to 35ish, but I am not sure how much spare time I will have. Having a girlfriend is very time consuming...

Onto the stats, and then a hand I found really really funny. I will try to post more useful hands in the future, but just laugh at this one. Enjoy!

Since May 1st:
NL400 - 772 Hands +702.74 11.38bb/100
NL200 - 7562 Hands +1,654.39 5.47bb/100
NL50 - 373 Hands +220.58 59.14 bb/100
---------------------
+$2,577.71 8,707 Hands

I have been making my sessions longer, and I will not sit unless I have 2 hours to play. This is a great strategy, as due to the image I create I feel like it takes longer to play, make a hand, and get paid off. I keep firing cbets, and I feel like the cycle goes they get respected, small upswing, they get disrespected/opponents play back, bigger downswing, I get a hand + play back with a hand = stacking. I was very proud of myself tonight as I was down a bunch about an hour or so into my session, and I was still unphased. I wound up only up $50-60, but I was proud that I was able to stay focused and not do stupid things to try to create a winning session. Ok, here's the humorous hand. Note that I have not opened my mouth at the table, and I don't think he has either. He is aggro FWIW.

***** Hand History for Game 4197356565 *****
$200 NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, May 06, 02:05:44 ET 2006
Table Table 106627 (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: AnEnigma4U ( $492.88 )
Seat 5: bdmagee28 ( $143.53 )
Seat 6: GREG ( $223.05 )
Seat 4: PeedaSB ( $178.45 )
Seat 1: MrGrinch04 ( $89.05 )
Seat 3: smaverick007 ( $98 )
smaverick007 posts small blind [$1].
PeedaSB posts big blind [$2].**
Dealing down cards
**Dealt to GREG [ 6c 6s ]
bdmagee28 folds.
>You have options at Table 107392 Table!.
GREG raises [$7]
.MrGrinch04 folds.
>You have options at Table 106635 (No DP) Table!.
>You have options at Table 106646 (No DP) Table!.
AnEnigma4U calls [$7].
smaverick007 folds.
PeedaSB folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6h, As, 8d ]
GREG bets [$13].
>You have options at Table 106646 (No DP) Table!.
>You have options at Table 106635 (No DP) Table!.
AnEnigma4U raises [$26].
>You have options at Table 107392 Table!.
>You have options at Table 106646 (No DP) Table!.
>You have options at Table 107392 Table!.
GREG calls [$13].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]
>You have options at Table 106646 (No DP) Table!.
GREG checks.
>You have options at Table 107392 Table!.
AnEnigma4U bets [$35].
GREG raises [$90].
AnEnigma4U: Dude
>You have options at Table 106646 (No DP) Table!.
AnEnigma4U: I raised you pre-flop with ten-seven of spades
AnEnigma4U: You are toast
AnEnigma4U: Call to see douche bag
AnEnigma4U raises [$344.14].
>You have options at Table 106646 (No DP) Table!.
GREG: well
GREG: you didnt raise prf
GREG: and you dont suck enough
GREG is all-In.
** Dealing River ** [ Jd ]
AnEnigma4U shows [ Jc, Ah ] two pairs, aces and jacks.
GREG shows [ 6c, 6s ] three of a kind, sixes.
AnEnigma4U wins $189.09 from side pot #1 with two pairs, aces and jacks.
GREG wins $446.10 from the main pot with three of a kind, sixes.
>You have options at Table 106646 (No DP) Table!.

OK Maybe it's going up a little

2006-04-24T02:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I am doing much better. I had my lesson with jkrantz tonight and he said I played well, so I'll take his word for it. I my demise, the stars qualifiers stopped at 2:30, so I was shut out of those. Since I am dead money in MTTs, I didn't slap down the t$215 to play. This week, however, the entry is $500+30, and the qualifiers are $70, so I am looking forward to playing in some of those. In other news, I have now figured out how I will make money. I am going to play the Stars 11s, with maybe a qualifier running at the same time, because I seem to be absolutely murdering those. Everything clicks, and I feel like my opponents play with their hands face up.

On Party today, I saw a $70 qualifier for the 1M guarenteed next month, and I figured it was a bunch of pissed off people from Saturday, so I hopped in. I got my buy-in out of the way. I didn't do that hot in the Stars MTT Qualifiers, but I also got my J3 sucked out on AI on the turn of xJA3 by AK, who got the K on the river. The thing I am most happy about is my short-handed play, but I guess I can thank 6-max for that. I seem to have a huge advantage when it becomes 4-5 handed on Stars, so I can fire up 6 SNGs and not even pay attention until it goes down to that many people. Also, on the Stars MTT qualifiers, there seems to be a bubble at 3 people, since second place gets almost a full refund, which I knew but it didn't even cross my mind during play until someone got mad that I made an isolation raise with K8s. He'll live.

I feel like these tournaments have really improved my hand reading ability, and that carried over into my lesson tonight. I am still going to take the week off from cash games though, as my confidence is still subpar.

The most impressive stat about the tournaments has been my heads up play. Assuming being a big stack vs. a small stake averages out, I was 9-3 heads up today. This is huge when there is such a difference between 1st and 2nd in terms of prize money. Oh, one of those was in a 11 HU SNG that I lost on Party, so I was really 9-2. Anyway, it's annoying when $640 of your profit gets through down the drain as a wasted buy-in, but it is the way it is. With that said, on to the stats:

Tournaments: 51 Tournaments, +$718 (+$78) ROI: 58.71%
Cash Games: NL200, 797 hands, +$346.09
------------
Total: +$1064.09 ($424.09)

I am slowly getting there. Tomorrow I have to keep working on a paper, and my roommate wants to watch me play some of the Stars SNGs (he's a HSPMNL (High-Stakes Play Money NL Holdem :P ) player, so it's remotely relevant. That's all for now, signing off.

Roller Coaster, but not going up

2006-04-23T02:52:00.000-05:00

Wow. I'm not really sure what is going on. I have been running the worst I ever have in my life. Even my coach, JKrantz, seems to think it's unreal :). Anyway, I had hands like my 22 vs. K8 on a 2K8 flop, of course K turn. Then there was my AA vs. KK all-in on the flop, K turn. Let's see, QQ vs. A9 AIPR, quad aces. It has been unreal.

So, I plummeted in NL200, which was 85% variance 15% tilt. Still that 15% cost me at least a buyin, so maybe it's more 70/30 or 75/25. Either way, I am slowly recovering. I have been playing MTT qualifiers on Party, where I managed to accumulate about 5 buy-ins for the 1 million guarenteed, and a buy-in for the 750k next week. So, Party is forcing me to play in those. Oh, that QQ vs. A9 hand was the second to last hand HU between the last two people in the 1M qualifier, so effectively it was a $640 suckout. Good times.

I am banning myself from cash games for a while. I am doing quite well playing the MTT qualifiers, and finally figured out Stars tonight (I decided to deposit there, and turned a profit. Also, the 3 qualifiers that jsup from pocketfives.com and cardrunners.com was in, he got sucked out and I won all three :) ). I sucked out vs. his aces though in the most gresome bluff ever. runner runner K8 giving my 8K two pair. Like I said, except for my lessons with JKrantz, I will basically be playing these SNGs until I bring my bankroll up to about 10k. Although my actual bankroll is much larger, I only alott a certain amount as my "Partypoker bankroll." The profit from the stars SNGs will go into that fund, though.

In the stats, I will put in parathesis the profit if you count the Party MTT buyins as profit, as you have to take the first entry, and the ensuing ones are deposited as cash in your account. I try not to because I feel I am dead money in these tournaments anyway. Of course, I played the 1M great today, after one stupid play (double barrel) in the first hour and down to 3450/5000, I built it up to 20000 at the second break by a couple really good reads, two real cards in my hand, and a couple steal. My fate was sealed when I called a minraise from a fish who I felt I could outplay postflop about 30 minutes into the third hour. He had about 30000 and I had maybe 17k. I held 68, and creamed myself as the flop was 79T. He check called a 2500 bet into a 3500 pot. Then, he c/red AI on a 5 turn. I instacalled, and he flipped over 8J. I cried. I felt good about playing a solid 2.5 hours of good poker, though. Well, I need to get some rest so I can hit up the Stars SNGs tomorrow before the 1M tourney. I'll leave you with my stats.

-Greg

Stats from 4/20-4/23 3 AM

NL200: 1707 hands of pure, unadultered rape. -$2025
PP SNGs: -$108
PP MTT SNGs: $960 ($1987)
Stars MTT SNGs: $921
------------------
-$252 ($813)

On second thought, I really hate how Party makes you play all those entries. These days wouldn't be that bad otherwise... maybe I should learn how to play MTTs...

Welcome to my blog

2006-04-20T01:44:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog. Here, I will chonicle my journey as a poker player. First, let me tell you a little about myself. I am an 18 year old college freshman who attends Wake Forest University. Outside of poker, I enjoy working out, and attempt to do moderately well in school. I am a Health and Exercise Science major.

Now that introductions are out of the way, we can get into the point of this blog more. I want to track my progress in poker, as I am always striving to get better and eventually move up in stakes. I am a no limit holdem player, and I play NL200. In a month or two, I want to move up to NL400. When I get bored, I play heads up SnG's on Party ($11s), and SnG's in general. Today, I experimented a little bit with B2B and playing the SnG's there. Basically, I was able to play 6 tables fine without paying attention to them. Although it was a small sample size, I didn't need to pay attention at all and this will be very convenient if I am clearing a BJ bonus or want to watch TV, etc.

I recently have hired a coach to help me with my cash game play, as I want to completely conquer the current level before moving onto the next. I feel like I am playing too many hands for NL200, as my image really isn't paid attention to that much. Otherwise, I feel I am moderately successful, but I feel like recently I have just run into some bad situations. I'll try to post some hands, and if nothing else, give updates about the day/week depending on how much I play. We are in crunch time with school as finals are coming up, but I'm tired and rambling so that will be all for today. Here is what I did poker-wise:

NL200: 895 hands, -$722.73
Party 11s HU: 2 tournaments, +$18
B2B 11s/5.5s: 57 tournaments, +$493.08
--------
Total: -$211.65

Although I lost overall today, I did have about a 70% ROI in the tournaments. Also, I got set over setted twice today, including QQQ vs. turned AAA, which is always fun. If those hands go my way, I'm up about $450 on the day, so it could be worse. Anyway, I have a lesson tomorrow at 7, where we're going to discuss preflop play, and I hope to get a good session in. My 9:30 tomorrow got cancelled, so I only have 1:30-2:45 Human Physiology tomorrow. I should be able to get to the gym, do some schoolwork, probably not play any of the B2B tournaments during peak hours (4-8:30 EST), and have my lesson at 7. Should be somewhat eventful. Until then, "play well."

-Greg