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PokerRoom finally kicked my ass for the last time today. I have no idea what it is about the tables, or more correctly, how I play at the tables that makes me unable to win there right now, but my loss today of over $75 completely destroyed any confidence that I'll be able to win it back at that site. I know I haven't given the site enough time and things could turn around if I keep at it, but at this moment I just have a very bad vibe about playing there. I'll probably try again later on, but for right now I'm going back to UB and see if I can build my bankroll back up. So far that's the only site I've proved to myself that I can win at and I need all the confidence I can get right now.
I'm also basically going to start from "scratch". Even though I said I wouldn't do it, after much more thought (and the ass-kicking today), I feel I need to go back down to the $25 tables and completely work my way up from there (and try and relearn a thing or two that I think I've forgotten). And I'm going to use an adequate bankroll to do it. Instead of withdrawing the entire $800 from my bankroll I'll keep $175 in there, and added to the $325 that I'm withdrawing from PR, I'll have a $500 BR exactly to start with.
I played sort of a practice session at the $25 tables today on UB using that $34 I had left in there. Even though I played there very late afternoon (4-6:00 central), the action was unbelievable. I'll have to get used to some stuff again (like my 6x raise with QQ getting called by A5o and losing when AA8 came on the flop) and I'll have to relearn how to really tighten down and try not to use "plays" on these tables (something I should've been thinking about at the $50s because it isn't much different and I lost way more than I should've trying to play people on there) and just try to get the best hand and milk as much as I can get with it.
I may start a new journal when I'm ready (of course it'll be a "journey to $50 tables" sort of thing because that'll be the next stop), but first I'm going to try to win that $175 back. I'm irritated that I had to put that in there (that being not part of my winnings), but I figure if I'm going to drop down to $25 I may as well do it right and start with 20x the buy-in and not screw around. Assuming I win that $175 back (the bonus $ I still have coming will help) , then withdrawal it, I'll probably start a new journal after that with my original bankroll of $500 again.
Anyways, I'm pretty down on myself and my play right now, but hopefully basically starting over will help me to regain some of the confidence I've lost. Thanks to those of you who contributed something to this journal. I'll definitely still be around BTP, though I may not be quite as visible for awhile.
Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:37 pm
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The last session didn't go much better than the ones before it. I ended up losing a small amount. I'm still up $9.45 on PR right now, but I swear it feels like those people are picking me apart. And a table on my final session is one everybody dreams of finding as well. There was a player who had over an 85% VP$IP. In a particular hand he called a preflop raise of $3 with T3o UTG! TT3 came on the flop.
He was the classic calling station. If he had anything on the flop he called. If not, he folded. Then there were two others, both with VP$IPs over 50%, but they were very aggressive. Each one had a PFR% of over 25. All had really nice stacks. Unfortunately I didn't get the cards (isn't that always the way?). My big hand I won a $10 pot with quad 8s from one of the aggressive people by letting them bet into me on the flop, but of course at the first sign of strength I showed (which was simply calling his postflop bet) he tried to check it out afterwards and ended up folding to a very, very modest river bet I made. It was still funny watching those aggressive players keep betting into the calling station as if they could get him to fold and end up losing to middle pair. *L* I did try something last night after playing two tables for a half hour or so: I turned one of the tables off and just played a single. It was a bit boring but it was amazing how much I could find out about the other players that I wouldn't've if I'd been two-tabling. A couple years ago I stopped two-tabling for the very reason I think I'm in a rut now. I try to pay equal attention to both tables and if there is a gift to doing that, I don't have it. I end up not paying enough attention to either table.
However, I still want to two-table, so I think the next time I play I going to have one primary table (the table with the best potential) and pay attention almost solely to this table and opponents and figure out reads and make actual poker plays and do all the things I can do to win. With the other, secondary, table, I won't pay attention to it much at all. Oh I'll probably notice if someone is raising every other pot or calling down every other hand (and if I don't, PT will tell me so), but in general, I'm not going to even try to figure out if a guy is susceptible to being bluffed or he always slowplays big hands and pushes mediocre hands. To do this, though, I need to tighten up considerably on that second table. I need hands that, if I catch them, are very strong and require very little thought on my part. I'm thinking of trying Black Knight's PP experiment on my second table to see how that works out (though it may not be exactly how he plays it). I will probably play pretty weak/tight at this table when I just catch just a little something. I can't get involved in really tough decisions if I have no clue about my opponent. I certainly don't expect to win as much at this table as the other (and if I do I have some serious readjusting to do), but if it could win me a few bucks each night as an addition, it'd be worth it to give it a try.
So I'll play the PP from any position, so long as it's not raised too much. I'll be aggressive AA or KK from any position of course and I'll be aggressive with JJ-AA from the later seats. I'll probably only play AKs/o from later position. I'd call a small raise with them or raise them myself if it's limped to me. I'll play AQs/o as well, but only if it's limped to me in late position. I won't play them with a raise in front of me. If it's limped I'll play them like AKs/o, raise them to narrow the field. With the aggressive plays I'll make my standard CB, and if I don't hit and if I get called and don't improve on the turn, I'll probably try to check it down and fold to any strength shown. With overpairs I may not fold immediately, but I'll try to get to SD as cheaply as possible (unless, of course, an obvious straight or flush draw is staring me in the face).
I'm not altogether sure about all of this yet. The only way I'll be able to test it out (and make changes if I feel it's necessary) is to play, but I do know that I need to make some kind of change away from trying to get a read on both tables at the same time. For me, that just isn't working out very well at all.
Well anyways, hopefully I'll be a little more refreshed tomorrow and ready to hit the tables again.
Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Wed Apr 12, 2006 5:29 pm
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I tried to buy-in for half a stack on two tables (something I never do, but considering my bankroll I thought I'd try it). I played that way for awhile but it got to be too much trouble. I felt I needed at least $25 in there to justify calling raises with pocket pairs (or SC in position) so everytime I'd lose a couple bucks I'd buy in to $25 again (and PR doesn't make that process painless). I was actually more comfortable with half buy-in though and I felt I got a little more action that I usually do with a full stack, but unless I figure out another way to do it (maybe buy-in for $30 and rebuy if it gets below $25 or something) I'll probably stick to the full stack for right now. I'm not going down to the $25 tables though; my small BR will live or die at the $50s, since it is replacable.
I'm going to experiment tomorrow with aggressiveness. Unless it's a small PP in early or middle position (where I don't want to be bet out of the pot), if I'm the first one coming into the pot (or even the second if the first person limped), I'm going to raise it. If I don't have a hand I'm not comfortable raising I probably shouldn't be in the pot anyways. Most of these people seem way too passive and I feel I'm not taking advantage of that. It seemed like very, very few hands today were making it to showdown. Usually the more aggressive person (and there were a couple, and each had chipstacks of well over $100) was taking it down before that, even if his move was obvious, and they kept letting him do it. I think I turned passive for awhile because of my bankroll, so we'll see what happens tomorrow if I turn it up some. The blinds are seeing way, way too many cards on those tables for cheap or free (but it's nice when you're in the blind
). Anyways, today I don't think I would've did much raising anyways. The cards were pretty dead after I hit that set. On one table in particular I had an 8.70% VP$IP. I've never seen so many J2o and 84o hands in my life.
So anyways on to the stats:
Today
Lost: $41.25
239 hands, about two hours of play total
Total on Poker Room
982 hands
Won: $14.85
VP$IP: 19.55
PFR: 3.87
WTSD: 15.64
W$SD: 60.61
PTBB/100: 1.68
Quest to $100 tables: $2000
Total Bankroll: $414.85
Left to Win: $1585.15
Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Tue Apr 11, 2006 4:31 pm
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Oh well, just wanted to vent a little. It wasn't a bad beat but I'm not quite as upset losing like this as I would be if I'd done something completely moronic. It was in an unraised pot so I guess I should consider that before patting myself on the back. And there were signs he gave that should've told me what he was holding (which I didn't notice until I replayed the hand, fat lot of good that does me now). At the time, however, I switched off any circuits to the thought process of what he might have and was only trying to consider how to bet to make the most money. I guess he was too.
Anyways I'll probably play again later tonight so I won't bother with stats right now. I'll see if I can minimize the damage done today and hopefully at least not fall any further down than I am now. I'm positive I'll be in my opponent's position before too long so I'm not going to sweat a single loss too much.
Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:19 pm
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So here's the breakdown so far.
Today
Won: $36.70
138 total hands, about 1 hour of play
Total on Poker Room
743 hands
Won: $56.10
VP$IP: 20.46
PFR: 3.90
WTSD: 15.85
W$SD: 61.54
PTBB/100: 7.77
Quest to $100 tables: $2000
Total Bankroll: $456.10
Left to win: $1543.90
Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:45 pm
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Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Mon Apr 10, 2006 5:03 pm
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Statistics: Posted by black_knight6 — Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:59 pm
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The last session I played I calmed down a lot though and took my time and if the other table had to wait, it had to wait. I didn't want to make rash decisions on both tables just because I felt like I had to make them quick. I'm still getting used to the noises as well. It could very well be telling me that I'm due to act on another table and I'm just missing the audible signal. I'm sure by this time next week it'll be running much smoother for me still.Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:53 pm
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But this afternoon I played there again and it went a lot smoother. Maybe that was because I won, I dunno.
I'm happy to say that I'm a winning player at PR right now (if only by $17). I'm getting more comfortable with the software and was even able to do a little reading on both tables, particularly the big pots (the few times that there were big pots). I'm still not crazy about overlap but I guess lots of you got used to it so I probably will too. I just can't imagine adding a third table on PR right now though. I'd be timing out all over the place. *L* I've still yet to figure out the best time to play on my own. So far the tables have ranged from somewhat tight to so rocky that I've yet to see anything like it, even at UB. Generally they seem much more passive than UB though, especially preflop, so I'm winning more than my share of hands just limping in (even with mediocre hands in early position because I'm 90% sure it won't be raised and that I'll probably be facing 2-3 limpers at the most usually) and making a flop bet. I kept thinking that someone was going to put a stop to me doing that but they never did.
But during the week I'll take your advice and try to play later. I have to get up at 5AM for work so I can't play too late.
I'm only up now because I'm having a bout of insomnia. But I'll try to make 8-10:00PM (central) my "usual" time from now on, if for nothing else than getting consistent results in how it's going at PR. Speaking of sleep, I'd better give it another try. With luck I can get in three hours before work.
Statistics: Posted by Kramer545 — Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:55 pm
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I have overlap left and right...you'll get used to it...try playing 6 tables on a 15.4" laptop...THAT'S a nightmare. So, I use 2 monitors now with 4 on each.
Absolutely play at night: that's the busiest time. Best time to play is 9-12 (midnight) EST. It becomes playable usually after 4pm EST though...but try to play at nights for the best action.
Statistics: Posted by black_knight6 — Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:34 pm
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