Journey to $100 tables and beyond...maybe

[Kramer545]

First of all, thanks for the answer BK!

As I said before, typically I'm going to make this a weekly journal and add to it every Friday or Saturday, but since this is my first time playing in the new month, and I did pretty well, I thought I'd talk about myself a little bit.

I played about an hour and 25 minutes on two tables (never switched). One I didn't do great on. I lost $5.80. I think I got involved in that table a little more than I should've (past the flop) because there were two fishy acting players there with good sized stacks and I guess I didn't want to be the only one not getting their money. My only sizable win was limping/reraising KK UTG. That was a little over $11. My biggest loss at that table was around $6.50. Other than that I didn't get many good cards at that table and yet still managed to get my VP$IP over 18%. While that doesn't seem loose in general, it most certainly was with the cards I was getting.

The second table was a different story altogether. I was getting cards and they were holding up. I won $93.75 at this table. Embarrassingly enough, my third largest win came as a result of me doing what I said I wasn't going to do in my last post; play [Qc] from early position. I can't even follow my own rules for a single day! Fortunately the pot was never raised and the flop came out [Tc][Js] and I got someone to go all in with a smaller flush draw. To add insult to injury the river was for a straight flush.

My second biggest pot came as I flopped a set with my 88 and got an all-in against me. The opponent had JJ and for the life of me I can't figure out why he went all-in on the turn when an ace had come out on the flop, but that's just the $50 level I guess.

My biggest win was scary though. After 2 limpers, MP2 minimum raised to $1. MP3 called, I called on the button with [Qc] (my thinking at the time was that I needed a huge flop to continue and if I hit only king or queen I was gone, but I figured the first two limpers would probably call the 50 cent raise so I felt there would be plenty of people in the pot to take a chance and I was in a good position). Flop came out [Qd][9c]. It was checked to MP2 (the original raiser) who bet the pot ($5.25). MP3 folded and I made a minimum raise. If one of the limpers reraised all-in I may have folded, putting them on JT or a set of nines. Instead they both folded and the original raiser ups it to $36.75. At this point I figure it's either all-in or fold, as both of us would've been pot committed if I'd just called. I had him covered. With his minimum raise preflop I put him on AK (lots of people at this level are a little scared of playing AK and don't want to get too involved with it preflop, but they know they should raise preflop with that hand so they usually make it a really small one) or maybe a flush draw with AJ of diamonds. I didn't think for a second that he had QQ or KK; I figured he'd raise more preflop. I reraised him all-in. Probably a mistake in retrospect because he did show so much strength (and I hadn't had much of a read on him yet) and he had so little left that he wasn't folding. Well it turned out I was right. He didn't have KK or QQ, he had AA! That one came out of left field. I just thanked my lucky stars that the board didn't pair with something other than king or queen.

Any thoughts on where I might've went wrong here? Even though no matter what you say I'm not going to give the money back to him. *L* But I think I may have gotten caught up again with two pair and pushing them quite a bit more strongly than they deserve without making some key considerations that may have eluded me. I did at least slow down and try to think it through while I was playing but now I'm wondering what thoughts I maybe should've been having but didn't. I just looked at it again and it seemed the most likely hand he was pushing was 99. That would maybe account for his small preflop raise and that's the hand I really should've been afraid of. At the time though I'm not sure if him having a 99 even crossed my mind (even though it did cross my mind that one of the limpers may have had 99; it seems like a hand that most people just call raises with other than raise themselves in MP).

My bankroll is finally back up to over the $1200 mark at $1202.11 but some of that is from bonuses I've earned.

[Kramer545]

[Kramer545]

Well I found out where all the wild players were hiding at UB: they don't get online until 8:30. I almost never play that late. I usually play late afternoon-early evening. I played about 2 hours this afternoon and it left a bad taste in my mouth so I decided to try a little bit later session. Wow, my bankroll was up and down almost continuously. I'd win a big one, then give some back, then win another big one. I'm embarrassed to say that I still ended the day down some, although I guess I won about $5 on three tables in this late shift I was trying.

The big loss came when I hit a set. I had [2h] in the CO. It's raised to $3 a couple of seats in front of me. Raiser has a low PFR% so I'm assuming its a big pair. He has a lot of money so I call. It's just the two of us. Flop [3h][2c]. He makes a pot bet of $6.75. I'm not too worried about the clubs. And I don't want to show my strength just yet so I call. Turn . He checks. Uh-oh. Why'd he check? If he did indeed have a busted AK on the flop why'd he check now when he actually hit? Does he have two queens and the king scared him? Here I make my mistake. That check made me very nervous so I check behind him. The pot's $20.25 at this point. The river is a . He comes out with a pot sized bet. Ugh. After his turn check I was trying to talk myself into the fact that he had KK. Now I realized my check on the turn made it seem like I was drawing and now I couldn't tell if he actually did have a strong hand or is just representing one to push me off the hand. After screwing up so badly I felt I had no choice at that point but to call and hope that he had AA or QQ. No such luck. He turns over [Kh]. The only positive thing about it is that I could've gotten stacked really easily here and was at least able to avoid that.

I lost about $20 altogether on two ill-timed raises. Earlier in the day those raises probably would've won pots but now I was playing with people who call $1.50 raises with 76 unsuited under the gun. I failed to adjust my own play and when they came over the top of me I had no choice but to fold.

On the bright side I stacked someone for $47 when I hit a royal flush on the turn, and I also flopped a full house when my KK hit. And I got paid off nicely for that too. If I just could've avoided the paying off of others it would've been a great night. *L*

So I guess until I switch sites I'll probably try to play later at night at UB when the action is a little better, and maybe on weekends. I think I'll avoid the 4:00-8:00PM crowd completely from now on. Plus I've been experimenting with 3 tables lately. I think I'm going to go back to two. I can play three comfortably enough (time-wise) but I just am not able to give the other players my full attention like I can with 2 tables and I'm uncomfortable getting into a big pot with them when I really don't know who they are and how they play. Sufficed to say, I only saw one person that I recognized from the "early" crowd.

Hopefully I can tighten up a bit and start actually winning instead of breaking even and losing very small amounts as I've been doing for the last few days. I just noticed my VP$IP for a couple of these late tables was over 25%. My actual VP$IP for all the games I've played is 18.83%, so I was much looser for whatever reason than I typically am. I think maybe I got so excited seeing all that action that I wanted to join it. *L* I'll try to slow down a bit tomorrow and see if it goes any smoother.

[Kramer545]

Time for my weekly checkup. I had a mediocre start to the month. It could've been much, much better had it not been for lack of discipline on several key hands. Here's my stats for the week:

Won: $110.85
PTBB/100: 8.48
Hands: 1307
VP$IP: 17.44%
PFR: 4.74%
WTSD: 20.72%
W$SD: 46.15% (still can't get this up!)

I'll ignore my winning hands in this post. At this level there's not much to it except get a big flop and hope to trap someone. I did get my first Royal Flush of online play this week so I'll mark that occasion.

What I'll do is, as embarrassing as it is, to list my 3 biggest losers of the week. Kind of a "What not to do" sorta thing. I'll save commentary until the hand is over so I don't clutter it up (as I'm known to do). I'll list them in order from my biggest loss on down. These are all at $50.

Loss: $31.25
9 players
I'm OTB with [Qh] ($49.80)
UTG ($31.25) and UTG+2 limps. I raise to $2.75. Only UTG calls. Pot: $6.75
Flop: [8h][2d]
UTG checks. I bet the pot. UTG minimum raises to $13.50. I go all-in. UTG puts in his remaining $15.
Final board: [8h][2d][Ts][5h]
UTG shows [2s], full house. He wins a $63.75 pot.


This one's obvious and a moronic play on my part. How many times have I read on this forum that minimum raises often equal monster hands? More times than I can remember at any rate. I believe at the time I felt he had a smaller overpair: JJ or TT. Looking at it now I wonder how I ever could've thought that.


Loss: $30
8 Players
I'm on the CO with [2d] ($49.25)
It's folded to MP1 ($48.75), who bets $3. I'm the only caller. Pot: $6.75
Flop: [2c][9c]
MP1 makes pot sized bet. I call. Pot: $20.25
Turn: [2c][9c][Kd]
We both check.
River: [2c][9c][Kd][Jd]
MP1 leads with pot sized bet. I call.
MP1 shows [Kh], three kings and wins $57.75.


This one I wasn't so sure about. There was something very bizarre about that check he made on the turn and him having KK did cross my mind. It explains why I checked the turn as well, but it doesn't explain why I still called his river bet.


Loss: $25.50
9 players
I'm in MP1 with [7d] ($64.30)
I limp as well as two others behind me. BB ($39.25) raises it to $2.50. Only I call. Pot: $6
Flop: [6c][4s]
BB bets $3. I raise it to $8. BB calls. Pot: $22
Turn: [6c][4s][4h]
BB checks. I bet $15. BB calls. Pot: $52
River: [6c][4s][4h][Kd]
We both check.
BB shows [Qd], two pair and win $49.40.

Ugh. I think I remember raising the flop to see if BB had a busted AK (it was a pretty weak flop bet he made). After that my actions are unjustifiable. I guess I can only be thankful that king showed up and froze me before I could let out a little more rope to hang myself with.

Anyways those were my biggest losses. The next one was $12.25 and then $11.25. After that I had no losses more than 10 bucks. It's mainly concentrated around the three I've listed above (although I'm not discounting losing $7 here or $9 there...they do add up).

If I can just get the hell out of hands I know I should get out of I may actually start to accomplish something here.

Anyways that's it for now.

[black_knight6]

The first hand was bad...the other 2 weren't, IMO. You did all you could in the 3rd hand and gave up on the river like you should. He could've been drawing for all you know, or had AK.

Once you get off UB, I expect that you'll find even better success...seems to be going well so far though. I like the 'worst loss' idea.

[Kramer545]

I'll try to make it a running weekly thing (the worst loss idea). I was going to do the top 5 losses but I ran out of energy, and it was very late, so I changed it to three. *L* I'll use a cutoff of $10 though; no sense getting too involved with every little loss and cluttering things up even more. Maybe this'll make me try even harder to avoid those kinds of losses.

[Kramer545]

[black_knight6]

No seat change (UB and FTP are RARE in allowing you to do this...it'd be nice if it were universal); no mini view (another thing that would be nice); and yeah, the rake structure is perhaps the best around for all levels (up to $2 at the 100 level...nice).

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.

[Kramer545]

I actually played again last night and brought my losses down to $19 total for yesterday. I still felt a little awkward at the site but it was a little better than the first sessions. I was still getting several "You must hurry up Kramer545!" from the software. *L* I try to arrange it where I can see both my seats but that's difficult sometimes depending on where I sit at both tables (that's why it would be great for them to put you in the same spot each time).

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.

[Juskimo]

[Kramer545]

Thanks Jus. I'm sure I will. Anything new is going to take a little adjusting. My problems mainly come when I'm involved in a pot at one table. I'm completely absorbed in that table and all the while PR is screaming at me to make a play on the other table though I don't know it. I'd gotten to the point where I was happy to be dealt junk just so I could hurry up and click the "fold" button immediately and pay attention to the other table. *L* And that's not a good way to be thinking. But honestly if I was dealt AA on one table and KK on another I was almost in a panic by the time the hands were done. 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.

[black_knight6]

This is just how it works when you start to multi-table, and it'll happen again - but not as bad - when you add your 3rd, then 4th tables, etc. 8-tables means nearly non-stop clicking for me...but it's rare that I feel flustered and feel like I have to rush...but it still happens. Remember that PER TABLE EV drops when you add tables, but your hourly rate goes up. Also, it'll get easier as you speed up your thought processes AND get more confident in what's the correct play...both speed up your play and this is essentially what lets you add tables. I felt just as flustered as you when I first added my 2nd table...now, poker feels slow with only 6 tables

[Kramer545]

[Kramer545]

Oops, I was writing while you were posting BK. Just wanted to make sure you saw that I wasn't just ignoring your post. I'd love to add another table sometime, but I still know I have a ways to go before I'm confident that I am making the correct move at times. Right now I feel the slower I go, the better decision I'll make, because I simply don't have the experience to draw back on. Maybe one day, but this is even another good reason not to try and rush into a higher level before I'm ready. But I certainly wouldn't mind adding another table before that, yet now I'd have to get my bankroll up a little higher before I'd feel comfortable risking so much on three tables. I probably shouldn't even be playing two, but unless things change and I start getting beaten badly, I'm entirely comfortable with it.

[Kramer545]

Had to play a little earlier tonight. After not getting much sleep I didn't know if I could make it very late. I had a decent hour or so of poker. It was a grind. I had a couple of decent pots, but mostly I was trying to survive between them. I think I might've saved a good amount of money on my last orbit. Had QQ in the CO, raised it to $3 preflop. Was raised to $10 by the button. Didn't have a good feeling at all (and he'd only played 7 hands at that point so I had no read) and mucked. The tables were a bit looser today, however. I made a tough call with KJs on a jack high flop with the other guy pushing my flop bet and going all in with $14. He had QJ.

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