4 buyins in 5 hours sounds freakin awesome to me, congrats.

Trying to Overcome

mood: sore from the gym

Sorry for the lack of updates. I was on vacation with the family in NC, gearing up for the summer months. Last month was tough as hell. I had to fight tooth and nail to have any sort of winnings. Luckily I survived and had a good run the last week I played.

This month started out badly as well. Had a couple of rough sessions. I keep getting in these very difficult spots. My last session Scott was watching and was laughing at how many times I was being checkraised. Hard to fight back when you can't flop a hand.

The good thing is I had a monster session early yesterday for about $3k. I WAS flopping hands and getting significant action. I lost a couple of buyins to start but after that I steamrolled everyone. That session had been a long time coming.

I've decided my play is too standard to win a significant amount. My play didn't use to be standard at all. I would pride myself on big calldowns, big bluff raises etc etc. After decimating my bankroll on strippers (obv) and playing too much live poker, I had to move all the way down to 1/2 and change my game up. Well the 2/4 and above has improved so much that I have to make moves to have a solid win rate. It's something I've been working on my last few sessions.

It's not easy to abandon the gameplan I've had since July of '07. It's been very successful for me. I realize now that it just isn't as profitable as it once was. While solid TAG will still win, it won't come close to the maximum equity. I don't get paid off anymore.

I think my game will be better for all of this. If I can bring back some of the old Kenny style, and merge it with my more standard good play, the sky is the limit.
We'll see what the future brings.

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An example of a play I wouldn't have even considered making 3 months ago:
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

I had KQo. The preflop raiser is a decent player. He checked through the flop of J66 4 handed with only one player to act behind him. When the rainbow 9 hits, he bets. Well, what can I discern from this information? It's very unlikely he has an overpair or a big jack. Those types of hands are a must bet for him 4 handed. He might have slowplayed a 6, but he's fairly aggro so that's probably not the case either. That leaves a bluff, a weak jack, a 9, some kind of draw like QT. There are some good hands, but mostly his range is polarized towards a marginal holding. I decided to raise and represent a 6. It's not much to represent, but it's still going to be very hard for him to continue. It also helps that I have two overs and a gutter. I took it down this time.

I had a few other cool hands like this, but forgot to save them. Next time I will try to have more. All I have left is a runner runner bad beat lol:
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

One Royal isn't Good Enough for Me.

Mood: too awake


So let me just start off with this:

Bang!
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d
(opponent had KJ)

and... Bang!
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

Two royals, two sessions... one fun day!


I didn't play spectacularly. I ran above expectation for the first time in a long time! I am playing better though. I'm looking at situations differently, trying to play more aggressively and take down more pots. As recently as a few weeks ago I was letting them all slip by. No more.

I'm still not doing it perfectly. Not every spot is correct. I'm getting a better feel for it as each session goes by. I'm also finding I don't mind playing with the regulars as much. There was one giving me trouble today but I'm going to look at some adjustments.

Here's another example of a move I tried. This one didn't pan out... still
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

On the turn I thought there was a possibility I was ahead with my [4s]. I also thought I could represent different hands depending on the river card. Unfortunately his hand became top two pair, and he would be wrong to lay it down.

The month is going well so far. Hoping it stays that way! I need a big month to boost my confidence and my bankroll.

One more hand: check out these stack sizes and my river bet size!
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

Starting to Remember

mood: ecstatic

Just pulled in two awesome sessions for my normal Thursday start of the weekend poker madness. It's amazing how despair can change so quickly into euphoria in this sweet game. The pots are coming easy lately, I'm even sucking out! Granted there all standard spots where the money goes in... so even my decisions aren't bad. Everything is going well so far this June.

My second session today I made $2400 on a single 2/4 Full Ring table. haha In only two hours! Too bad I lost on the other tables. But I'll take it! I'm not too greedy.

My game is looking good right now. I'm putting opponents in much tougher spots. I certainly need to tweak it, but I'm putting in a lot of study to help. I haven't been this excited or this focused about my poker game in a long time.

Here's the graph for the month so far:



Keep it up Kenny!
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Hands:

lol. notice the small lead to entice a river raise. if i pot it, alot of times they just call with the flush. https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

Using my good image against a donk
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

He bets the river I throw the hand away:
https://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand ... wcLCxMA%3d

Tuesday, June 17, 2008


Looking Good!
Current mood: smart

After my session the other night, I sat in front of my computer looking at my charts for the month of June. I was in awe. The results so far have been stunning. It's not that I'm this incredible player (though I like to think I'm pretty decent) but the variance has taken an upswing of epic porportions.

More than a few times I've gotten the money in, in ABC spots, and sucked out when they held the top of their range. Even without those hands though, I'd still be having a great month. If I keep this winrate on pace for the rest of the month, I'll have my best month ever. (Including when I was playing 5/10.) Of course, I don't actually expect to keep it up for that long. It's nice to dream however!

I've played a little bit of 5/10 as well when the games are decent. I haven't seen much in the way of results on that side, but the games seem very beatable. That's an encouranging sign for me. I only wonder when I'll actually be comfortable enough with my bankroll to play it full-time. It's not like I'm short at all. Maybe when I get 50 buyins. We'll see how I feel at that time.

I'm enjoying this while I can. Let the good times roll!