Good news!

In the short session I played today I managed not to piss away my entire bankroll so I have officially made it one year now playing entirely on other peoples money. Whoo-hoo and thankyou to all the fools who have sponsored me this past year. I shall do my best to squander your hard earned money as best I can.

I played for about an hour today and managed to make some money.

$50NL

Hands: 140
Amount Won: $70.45
BB/100: 100.64 (Ice's BB- double PT)

I have posted one have that was either really annouying or quite amusing depending on your dispostion.

forum/viewtopic.php?t=4397

Otherwise everything was pretty ABC. I am still playing with my game. Not really changing what I do but how I do it. I have been playing with my raising a bit mixing it up. I have also been playing with my betting. Otherwise I am becoming a bit more fearless in attacking weak players, like I would at limit. I guess the difference is the degree to which a player can shoot back at you in limit over NL. Its taken a little while for me to feel good about exploiting this, especially when I am bluffing. I know the key is to pick your moments but it seems its only now my eye is getting dialed in.

Since I am in the writing mode and have got my new spread sheet working I might as well post my months results.

This covers on from the 15th till today due to the hard drive implosion. I know I was up before that though its complicated as I withdrew some money and released some bonus funds. Too complicated for me to try to piece together.

$50NL

Hands: 1166
Amount Won: $92.25
BB/100: 15.82

I have also released another $30 from UB. I am trying to put all my efforts into shifting my mountain there though it looks like there are going to undo me again with another reload this weekend.

Its been about two months since I made my switch to NL. I have to say I feel a million times better now. I am fully comfortable at the $50NL, even with 3 tables going. I started with one then built to two tables. This has stunted my earning potential this month but thats now sorted. I have never really payed more that 3 as I think that is my optimum.

Well its been a reasonable month. I am happy and in the zone now ready to see what I can really do over the next couple months as I push to $100NL. I reckon 25 buy-ins is a good target for to move up. I am 14 away right now so I figure getting there is a fair endorsment of my skill to move up.

Speak soon.

Rich

I played about 30 mins in ring games last night. To be honest I didn't feel in a good shape so decided to cut my session short. I made about $4 during that time so cannot complain and had enough time to get this hand in...

I have been trying to get this to convert but its not going right.

Disco chorus is I get AA, reraise a raiser (from $2 to $6, see I'm learning). He goes over the top so I fold... I mean I call as I have him covered.

Flop (hope he hasn't got the king or bollocks)

Turn

River

Result, him AA, me AA, UB makes $1.80.

Other than that I got drawn into one of my pet addiction, the Party Point freerolls. This one was the $250 tourney with a top prize of $35 and a field of 1556. Why do I bother? I made an all time record getting knocked out in 102nd place after 2 and a half hours. From now on I am going to play only the $5000 tourney or the $350k qualifier. No more wasting time on crap. Worse thing being the hand the basically ended my tournament being this...

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (10 handed)

SB (t19780)
BB (t13849)
UTG (t19381)
UTG+1 (t24814)
UTG+2 (t4722)
MP1 (t7840)
Hero (t15844)
MP3 (t9114)
CO (t1606)
Button (t8361)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with , .
4 folds, Hero raises to t1900, 2 folds, Button calls [t8361] , 2 folds, Hero calls t6461.

Flop: (t9261) , , (2 players)

Turn: (t9261) (2 players)

River: (t9261) (2 players)

Final Pot: t9261

Results in below:

Hero has Kh Ah (two pair, kings and fours).
Button has Qs Ts (flush, queen high).
Outcome: Button wins t9261.

Maybe my call was suspect but it was sooted. Plus the QT guy was an idiot, god knows how he had lasted as long as he had. When he flipped I was like, sweet! 2 and a half hours for that!

After that I pushed with 99 and ran into JJ and QQ, no help and I was consigned to going to bed without supper.

Well I am going to stick some time in today. I am waiting in a UB cashout to start at Party but I am dubious as to whether it will hit today so I have left money in UB to play there. What with their latest reload I stock up any more bonus dollars and I am going to appear as a liability on their balance sheet!

Good luck all who go into combat today, results later.

Rich

Just played for a little under 2 hours. Got my 100pts on UB so thats $10 there. Otherwise I made about $3.70 overall. Not ideal but at least its not a loss. Rather silly session really where I lost money in big pots but won loads of small pots to make it all up. I had the mixed satisfaction/disappointment of stealing one guys stack twice in 3 hands with sets. The disappointment being he would only reload for $12.50! Otherwise I felt good. I rolled with the punches and managed to get some good ones of my own out there.

I have to say I am rather liking NL now. Maybe this is pride before the fall but I am finding I now am not flying by the seat of my pants so much. I hope this continues. I am playing the Paradise lottery tonight out of boredom.

Speak soon.

Rich

Okay... WOW!

Whats happened I here you ask? (or not, you might really hate me after all)

I have just finished playing a 2 hour session on Party. I think its fair to say right up front it is the best session of NL I have had. The results? To be honest I finished up only $35.95 (I say only, I am more than happy to make any money any time). But as a session end to end it was brilliant. I was aggressive when I needed to be outright stealing some pots. I also got out of many potential banana skins.

Right, the stats:

$50NL

Hands: 207 (I kept to two tables as it was my first time back at Party in a while)
Amount Won: $35.95
BB/100: 34.74 (Ice's BBs)

The results would have looked a lot more impressive but for this hand pretty early in.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed)

SB ($49.5)
BB ($52.8)
UTG ($48.75)
Hero ($47.2)
MP1 ($33.25)
MP2 ($50)
MP3 ($73.45)
CO ($30.1)
Button ($100.8)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with , . SB posts a blind of $0.25. MP2 posts a blind of $0.5.
1 fold, Hero raises to $2, 4 folds, Button raises to $55, 2 folds, Hero calls $45.20 (All-In).

Flop: ($103.45) , , (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($103.45) (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($103.45) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $103.45

Results in below:

Hero has Qd Qs (one pair, queens).
Button has Kc Ah (flush, king high).
Outcome: Button wins $103.45.

I have to say losing to the four flush was especially bad. I should give you some background before I get berated for going all-in with queens, which I try to avoid unless I have reason which I did here. This player had been with me from the start and had been extremely aggressive preflop. He was sitting on his stack of $100 and to my mind I think was happy to gamble anything over the $50 since it was his profit. Previous to this I had already folded tens to his all-in reraise. No one had yet called him down so I figured he was either bullying or getting AA and KK about 10 times in 50 hands and played like a muppet. Given the AKo my read was spot on, sadly this time the cards were against me.

Good news was I didn't miss a beat (well aside from a fuck me to the computer), reloaded and got on with it. It helps that I was steam rollering the other table when I lost this so technically I was only $4 down for the session at the time. I haven't lost too many stacks since I made my jump so I was happy I could let it go and get on with things. I put my money in with the best of it, my thinking was sound... ce la vie.

What I was really happy with was my overall play. I was really aggressive (40% betting on the flop Ice!) with my hands including several times leading into raisers. There were a lot of weak players on my tables and my aggression was controlled. If I smelt weakness I would bet with little thought to my cards, using position and texture of flops. This includes folding a guy with JJ on an AKX flop when I had 22 (he showed me as if to say what a great laydown, plu-eze). I was really punching the weaknesses and since I was showing down pretty ABC hands I was getting way more respect than I deserved.

I think I am really grasping the complexities of the NL game. Its taken a little while to get there but my mind is now seeing the position, texture, players who have acted and who is yet to act. There are still areas to improve on. I think I am not value betting as well as I should. There were a few occasions where I had people leading into me on the river when I hid my hand (including quads once) and raised too much. I am trying to make a big pot a huge pot too quick and losing money from it. Just got to remember to take a deep breath, assess and bet. I had similar troubles in limit so its not surprising.

I have set myself a few rules to play.

1. I reload whenever my stack is below $35. I was doing this at $40 but I found I was losing the shape of the session and this was affecting my play. I like to know where I am at during a session. Plus if I have been taking a whacking its only right I should acknowlodge it and amend the play slightly. While I know this might mean I lose value on a monster, I am willing to compromise since this is for my state of mind plus there is a 50% chance if I am all-in I will still have the other guy covered due to the amount of shorties playing. This is especially true on UB where just buying in for $50 makes you big stack or top 3.

2. As I said earlier in this journal, no more fancy play or slow play preflop with AA or KK. This is especially true of KK where I will nearly always reraise a raiser. I am of the opinion I would rather win a small pot there and then over losing a big pot or seeing an ace on the flop and being in a jam. I know this might lose some ultimate value but I see it as such a devalued hand if there are raisers then the ace hits that I am going to make'em pay to see it.

3. I am setting myself a stop-loss limit of 3 buy-ins. I do not believe I can play my best with more than three losses to my name. I reserve the right to change this as I go since if I have $250 on one table and lose three, big deal. I know how I am and what I need to play my best, if I am down that far I would rather stop and go again on another day, simple. Its not the dollar value since I have lost far more, just the fact that the whole session then becomes damage limitation and about my losses. I would rather get over it later.

I am sure there are other rules I have set but they escape me now. I am trying to bring my game up a level since unlike limit a few loose hands and BAM, there goes your session, week or even month of good play. Been there too many times already so I am giving the game due respect.

Oh, special shout out to Shuleafs. I have spoken to him a couple of times on MSN and he seems a top guy. I wish him all the best in the WSOP and hope he kicks ass. That and Man Utd get relegated!

Good luck all and my the tables be your mistress...

Rich

This is pretty funny because I was sitting at the QQ table with you. I was hicks53081 and I was surprised to see you call an all in with QQ. I hadn't noticed the guys betting pattern, but I only had 50 hands on him.

The arse was after that I put notes on him not to reraise pre-flop no matter what and I was totally ready to trap him. I was just stalking but he stopped playing mental, he never went over the top once after that and I never got the right hands against him. I think he was happy to walk away with the $100 profit on the table, wanker.

According to PT I am down 50 cents to you, you have been warned!

Thanks for posting. Good luck.

Rich

I have this superstition that I can never win three days in a row. Bollocks...

$50NL

Hands: 341
Amount Won: -$93.17
BB/100: -54.64

Now this looks pretty bad. Truth is I was destined to lose today and I was looking at roughly a $30 loss when on the final orbit of my final table this happened...

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed)

BB ($50)
UTG ($37)
UTG+1 ($52)
UTG+2 ($95)
Hero ($82.33)
MP2 ($116.85)
MP3 ($53.55)
CO ($43.4)
Button ($49.95)
SB ($32.1)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , . SB posts a blind of $0.25.
2 folds, UTG+2 calls $0.50, Hero raises to $1.5, 3 folds, Button raises to $4, 2 folds, UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to $9, Button calls $45.95 (All-In), Hero calls $40.95.

Flop: ($101.15) , , (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($101.15) (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($101.15) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $101.15

Results in below:

Hero has Kd Kh (two pair, kings and queens).
Button has Jd Js (full house, jacks full of queens).
Outcome: Button wins $100.40. Hero wins $0.75.

I could live with losing in this situation to aces, occupational hazard. In this situation I would only fold kings if I am bollock sure someone has aces, and to be honest on $50NL there is so much goofiness its tough. This hand goes my way I actually make a small profit on the day. This one was tough to deal with. Its might well have been the first time I have lost an all-in where I was favourite. Well there was the QQ vs AKo but thats marginal, I can live with that. Wank!

Otherwise I played in the same table as MVPSPORTS. He had tried to talk to me but I had missed it and only noticed him there after about 50 hands! So much for paying attention to the table. I do not remember messing with him much. I had doubled up in dubious fashion( forum/viewtopic.php?t=4506 ) then proceeded to throw the profit away. I had one of those nights where every flop missed and everyone seemed to call when I didn't want a call then fold when I wanted a call. I have to say I was worried I was betting out too much since I started to get raised a few times on the flop. This presented an interesting challenge to me. I decided to mix it up so I did some chk raising, interestingly even when I missed since I chk raised for the same amount as I would lead bet with but it had the effect of folding a few heads up situations. I stole one guys stack doing this with AKo and hitting the A and K on the flop. I think had I lead out on that hand I would have folded the guy as he was playing a weak ace.

I guess all told I am down only two stacks which isn't the end of the world. Just so damn frustrating. That is now two all-ins in a row I have lost when favourite. I know there is the whole thing about feeling good I got my money in with the best, but it still sucks ass. I should be up another $100 and that bites. As it is I am now down $49 for the month. Well its early days and I feel I am playing real well so it will turn. I cannot keep losing these all-ins. I am going to post in the NL section though one I did win where I was a big underdog. Must be karma.

Till tomorrow.

Rich

Ric, glad to hear you are Ok after all the events of today, I know I spend to much time on this board when I hear about this and the first thing, I think is I hope our UK BTPers are OK. Sad day for the world.

Thanks Rhound, and all the others for their kind support. It is appreciated and its nice to have people care.

Played a little tonight but didn't feel great so quit early. Nothing bad but I made some money real quick and could feel I was going weak/tight, not wanting to play that was I know I should. I am within one session now of finishing the Party bonus so I am happy with the result.

$50NL

Hands: 146
Amount Won: $48.60
BB/100: 66.58

I made money on the two tables I was playing. I only had two up since I was watching TV and just generally not into it. I didn't get too many stellar hands which I think contributed though I just wasn't into it. Once I got up nicely in the session I just went protective and that is not the way I like to be. There for it was an easy decision to finish early. I may well play a little when the missus is on later, we shall see.

I had one icky hand. I made good in the end but I think I was trying to be too clever with it. Having reviewed it I think I did well though I was playing with fire. I have been trying to vary my play, especially on the flop so I am not getting into the auto bet poton flop/bet half pot on the turn/ value bet river kind of play.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed)

UTG ($72.7)
UTG+1 ($63.15)
UTG+2 ($49.25)
MP1 ($49.5)
MP2 ($51.25)
MP3 ($31.3)
CO ($124.15)
Button ($7.85)
Hero ($48.75)
BB ($53.65)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , . Hero posts a blind of $0.25.
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to $1, 5 folds, Hero (poster) calls $0.75, 1 fold.

Flop: ($2.50) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $2, UTG+2 calls $2.

Turn: ($6.50) (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+2 bets $6, Hero raises to $15, UTG+2 calls $40.25 (All-In), Hero calls $30.75 (All-In).

River: ($98.50) (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $98.50

Results in below:

Hero has Kd Ac (two pair, aces and kings).
UTG+2 has Js Jc (one pair, jacks).
Outcome: Hero wins $98. UTG+2 wins $0.50.

I 100% think my check on the river got me more value in this hand that straight betting. The fact he pushed after my check raise I think was more of a semi bluff that went wrong. I figure the only hand I am hating is kings here but then why no raise on the flop from him when I lead? Any thoughts appreciated.

Might post more later.

Rich

I played a little today, not a huge session and on just two tables.

$50NL

Hands: 123
Amount Won: $36.45
BB/100: 29.63

I might have been able to add another $50 but I got stacked playing AQ badly. Well I say badly, actually I got caught by someone limping UTG with AA who didn't reraise. I hit the Q on the flop and the A on the turn so it was tough to get away from. A lower set might have been on the cards but I really didn't see AA. I was up about $70 when this happened so it was a case of easy come, easy go.

With the win posted today I am making steady progress this month. I do feel a lot better playing NL, more of a positive expectation everytime I sit down. Its been interesting looking over the stats I have on PT. I feel I am very much in the zone where I should start to really start making money. I am carrying about 10 BB/100 hands (Ice's BBs) since I got my new PT database. This is about 2.5k in hands, not a huge sample but this includes losing two all-ins where I was fav, though I won one where I was a big underdog so swings and roundabouts.

So far my vital statistics are:

VP$IP: 14.78
Won $ WSF: 38.86
Won $ At SD: 50.57
PF Raise: 6.73

Aggression:

F: 5.73
T: 4.65
R: 2.64

Overall: 4.76

I am happy with the way I am playing right now. I think I have my brain nicely in the zone and I am taking time to think about things but at the same time trusting my instincts. I do think there are areas I need to improve on, river betting being one of them but I am learning. Of late I have taken to posting a few hands on the NL ring games section and giving my thoughts on others hands. This has been good for me, I am very into the school of thought that its not what you do, but why you do it thats important. I am still developing my NL brain but I am starting to see the dividends now.

The post on playing AA all-in has been very interesting. I do think on the $50NL it has potential as that so often indicates med-strong pair that you can get the calls. I have posted two hands of players going all-in and beating me (stop sniggering) with JJ and AKo. I had one go today but it folded around me, I think this would work best if against an existing raiser rather than out of the blue. This way it looks like a defensive move rather than offensive. Hopefully anyone with a raising pair will call, we shall see how this one works.

I need about 140 raked hands which I shall finish tomorrow to get $100 out of Party, then back to UB. I have made $27.83 so far on top of this bonus. Its not amazing but then I have been stacked twice plus this is Party so any profit is a good thing. Its been interesting playing on Party as I feel I have had to mix things up a bit, this has included doing a few check raises. It has been good to really think about my play. I have tricked a few now into betting away big pots then shutting them down. This is the imagination I wanted to put into my game which I have previously written about lacking. Sometimes it easy to get into the habit of betting the pot, turn etc. Trouble is a good player will exploit these patterns if there is no variation, I know I will attack sometimes just because I feel someone is going through the motions.

I am going to finish todays sermon now. Will be back tomorrow so till then stay lucky.

Rich

Well I put the hours in today, big time. I did two sessions, one on Party and one on UB.

First results, then commentry blah blah blah.

$50NL

Hands: 755
Amount Won: -$17.69
BB/100: -4.68

Talk about a worth it day! I have to say I have mixed feelings about today. It is very fair to say I was card dead for long periods, at one point folding 50 consecutive hands over 3 tables. Otherwise I just remember a lot of frustration, bad cards and bad flops then when I did hit I got screwed. I got out kicked a couple of times which is arse as I play good kickers anyhow, AJ vs KJ sort of things.

I think I knew it was going to be a hard day when about 2 hours in I had 7s on one table and 8s on the other. On my third table I had a flop of 78Q rainbow. The two tables with the hands missed of course. You ever get the feeling someone is trying to tell you something...

Well I cannot really complain as today was a good day for the BR as I freed up $100 from Party and I made another $14 from UB. This numbs the pain a little.

Looking over the stats its pretty obvious where my problem lies, 26.67% won at SD. I have looked at the hands and for the most part its not been major things. I lost with middle pair to a full house when the guy bet $1.50 on the end. Otherwise it was just bad stuff. Having said that I went to SD only 11.72%. I still won seeing the flop 29.69% from a VP$IP of 13.64. My SB percentage was down to 17.72% as I have felt I am playing too many hands from there.

Twice I had AA in the blinds or UTG and let it pass on my aggressive table. I had 8 limpers twice when I boosted it to $20 but no players. I was especially disappointed with the UTG hand as one guy had min raised from MP1 and got 4 callers!

One icky AA hand I have posted on the NL section:

forum/viewtopic.php?t=4581

I think its one of those hands where gut feeling takes over and since it was the end of my session I was less inclined to gamble.

I still feel the NL is progressing well and I am getting better with every session. The big thing I am now working on is putting a little creativity into my routine. Mixed results so far but it keeps life interesting. I did feel for some long periods I had lost my feel to a degree and went back to basics. I think this is reflected in my lower than normal PFR (5.56%) and lower VP$IP (13.64%). I do worry I open raise too much which is costing me when I feel obliged to take a stab at the flop if I am heads up. I have skipped betting on a few where I have multiply players behind me and someone has to have connected.

Looking overall my play seems to be stat wise good. I think I need to get a little rub to make the money come in. I am only $17 up for the month which sucks. Guess I could be down but still, I am not feeling the love!

I am now about $750 from what I need to make the jump to $100NL. I have decided I am going to jump as soon as I have more than 20 buy-ins. I know there is something of a jump but I figure if I can play my way up I may as well continue my learning curve there. I would like to think I am a fast learner so why not? We shall see how I feel when I get there and maybe I'll get a little advice while I am there.

Rich