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I ended the month down 3 buy-ins. I'll take it considering I was down 8 buy-ins three days ago. Add rakeback and bonuses, my bankroll is just about right where it started on Aug 1.
Another decent night tonight - hitting a few two pairs and sets and squeaking out some extra value on the river with a small, callable bet or raise. I made one play I didn't like - trying to pick off a bluff with a pair of aces when the runner-runner flush got there. Another one of those combo-draw deals where I couldn't see how he could have called a flop bet and then hit a flush - turns out he had second pair and then hit runner-runner. Hard to make those combo-reads, and cost me 63 blinds. It was the only hand where I lost more than 20 out of the 763 hands played tonight.
Finally, it doesn't hurt your winrate when you play against someone who doesn't know when they're beat.
once a cow has a taste for violence, it reverts. it becomes feral.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
SB: $21.69
BB: $19.00 (Hero)
UTG: $8.10
UTG+1: $34.71
CO: $35.17
Button: $10.00
Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with 
(6 players)
UTG calls $0.10, 4 folds, Hero checks
I don't usually punish limpers when I'm out of position. I'm also less likely to do it when the limper is under the gun. Let's see a flop...
Flop: ($0.25) 
(2 players)
Hero bets $0.12, UTG raises to $0.24, Hero calls $0.12
And it's a nice flop too. Trips for me and the second nuts. I give my famous "weak lead please don't call" (patent pending) move and get raised. What's he raising with? Well, if he's got pocket tens, he wins. I'm not folding this sucker. I call the min raise.
Turn: ($0.73) 
(2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.10, Hero raises to $2, UTG calls $1.90
A queen is good - limpers don't usually have QQ. But they could have QJ/KQ/QT. When villain minbets, I have to checkraise on the bigger side to make sure I can shove river. He calls. I have zero idea what he's holding right now, but I'm not afraid of much on this board. My best guess is Queen-Ten.
River: ($4.73) 
(2 players)
Let's see. J8 and KJ got there. Did he raise me on the flop with KJ? Can't see it. No suits were around for semibluffing, or straight draws. I suppose he could have called the checkraise with KJ as it's a legitimate draw. It's more likely he's got some kind of 3, but I can't see an under the gun limp with a 3. Well, he's felt like sticking around this long, and he's got just over a pot sized bet left in his stack, let's see if he wants to give it to me. If he's got J8 or KJ, or one of the sets, I'll be giving it to him.
Hero bets $16.66, and is all in, UTG calls $5.76, and is all in
Hero showed , and won ($15.17) with three of a kind, Threes
UTG mucked 
Hero won $15.17
(Rake: $1.08)
Slowplayed aces. Brilliant! You would think checkraising someone to 19 times their original bet, and a river overshove, would be a clue that I like my hand, but he couldn't let the rockets go.
Good thing the case ace didn't come on the river, LOL.
A solid night of 178 BB won, and that's after getting stacked once with a set to running straight cards (still, he had to have a 5 in his hand to fill a straight, hard to see many fives in someone's hand in a raised pot, but 35s took the money). Oy.
These same donkey plays that fool our reading skills are also what pay us. Someone raises and I three bet pocket jacks, and a 50/36 calls me (only 14 hands, but he's still playing half of them). The original raiser calls too. Flop is 922. I bet my little "half pot, I'm so scared" bet, and the 50/36 raises me. He's playing half his hands, which is both scary and emboldening. Scary is thinking this idiot called with 32s or A2s and I'm dead. Emboldening because playing 50% of your hands leaves lots of combinations with no deuce. He raises. I feel the pit in my stomach, but I go with my gut and the math. I stick it in. He calls his stack off with pocket fours, and I win a big pot.
Amazing how you can win 2 buy ins playing against awful players, and having your big hands hold up.
Someone suggested I needed to play nut draws faster, and good things could happen. Something good finally happened.
Feral Cow Poker
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
UTG+1: $10.00
CO: $15.92 (Hero)
Button: $21.45
SB: $21.84
BB: $12.38
UTG: $1.57
Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with 
(6 players)
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, 2 folds, BB calls $0.20
Standard cutoff raise with a broadway sooooted Ace. Big blind calls. I've got him as a 13/4 after only 23 hands. That puts leans his range towards pocket pairs.
Flop: ($0.65) 
(2 players)
Wow, nice flop for me. Overcards and nut flush draw. I've been told to play these suckers fast, so here we go.
BB checks, Hero bets $0.40, BB raises to $1.10, Hero raises to $15.62, and is all in, BB calls $10.98, and is all in
Once villain calls, I figure he's got 99 or 88 and I'll have to hit one of my nine outs to win.
Hero shows BB shows 
Ten-Jack? Looks like he was playing his draw fast too. Great news for me, I'm actually ahead when the money gets in with ace high! Also a mix of good/bad news for him - he has pair outs he probably didn't think he had (a jack), but the jack of diamonds, as well as his diamond straight cards, are no good. I'm a 3-1 favorite when the money went in.
Turn: ($24.81) 
(2 players)
River: ($24.81) 
(2 players)
Villain hits his jack on the river, but wrong color. It gives me the nut flush.
Hero showed , and won ($23.16) with a flush, Ace high
BB showed , and lost with two pair, Jacks and Twos
Hero won $23.16
(Rake: $1.65)
It feels good to stack someone for a change - this might be the first one in 6000 hands. It gave me a win on the night. Still some rough spots to the night- my aces got cracked again by T7s (check a street for pot control and let him get there, bleah). My pocket kings faced an ace AND an all spade board (no spade for me) - easy fold on flop, but cracked again. Jacks twice won neither time.
But I played well tonight - no major mistakes, and a big hand finally won was the reward.
Don't stack off on a pair, they say. Good idea. Tonight I had a good session with the exception of this hand (which was worse than a stacking off - 150 big blinds down the toilet). I'm fucking hopeless out of position.
Milked from the teat of a feral cow
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
CO: $15.41
Button: $11.11
SB: $5.50
BB: $15.10 (Hero)
UTG: $9.37
UTG+1: $8.99
Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with 
(6 players)
2 folds, CO calls $0.10, Button calls $0.10, SB calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.60, CO calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50, SB folds
Punish those limpers. They must be masochists - they both call.
Flop: ($1.90) 
(3 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.60, Button calls $0.60, Hero raises to $2.50, CO calls $1.90, Button folds
I checkraise top/top, and get a customer. Dangerous territory. I have no reads for him, so once he calls, I've got him on a worse ace, a club draw, or a hand that beats me (sets and A7/A4).
Turn: ($7.50) (2 players)
Hero bets $4, CO calls $4
Protecting like hell against the flush draw, and/or getting value from a worse ace.
River: ($15.50) 
(2 players)
Hero bets $8, and is all in, CO calls $8
Well, here I am in no man's land, with half a pot sized bet left. Is there a worse spot in poker?
If I check, he'll put me all in anyway and I'll probably have to call with good odds. That's probably the best play - checking allows him to bet bluffs/busted clubs that wouldn't call a bet anyway, or worse aces that suddenly think they're good.
I'm not thinking that clearly at the moment, though. I decide to put the money in and hope for ace-queen or worse...
CO showed 
, and won ($29.50) with three of a kind, Sevens
Hero showed , and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens
CO won $29.50
(Rake: $2)
The dreaded combo-draw - a pair AND a flush draw that tripped up on the river. I'm not nearly good enough to read a hand to get that specific. When I saw the seven on the river, I thought "can't be many sevens in his range, that looks like a blank". It wasn't.
Ace-king is killing me this month, (so is AA and QQ for that matter). But those are unlucky - this hand is just plain butchered. You don't want to stack off with one pair, but how do you pot control when you're out of position? Do you check/call, check/call, check/call all the way down like a pussy and let the flush get there at his price? His pair+draw was a small favorite on the flop, but my TPTK has to be a favorite against his entire range, doesn't it? So against his range, I'm value betting all the way down.
I would like some advice on fixing my play here, if you have any. How do you play this hand once the flop comes?
Live game, $1/$1 blinds. Give me ranges for both my holding and villain's.
UTG+1 (hero) playing about 12/5.
MP (villain) playing about 40/15
Table is loose and fishy.
Hero raises to $3, MP calls, CO calls, BTN calls.
Pot $14.
Flop Ks 5h Qd rainbow.
Hero bets $5, MP calls $5, fold, fold.
Pot $24.
Turn 8d.
Hero bets $11, MP raises to $34 (all in), Hero calls.
Live cash .50/$1 game. I call a raise with AsQs. Tony calls behind me. PC raises it up with a three-bet from the big blind. The first raiser folds, and it is up to me.
A marginal situation here with AsQs. With no other information I probably throw my hand away. Several factors here have me leaning towards a call, though.
1) I have seen PC three bet light before with weaker Aces than Ace-Queen. Those cases were slightly different - for example - he three bet me once before with ace-ten, but I was a button opener. However, I'm not sure PC cares or takes position into account much, either his own or the position of opening raisers. He is strictly an aggressive, level 1 thinker.
2) PC's stack is short. He's putting $10 in now, he's got $35 left behind. I can't get into too much trouble with kicker problems. If I call, there's an SPR of 2 on this hand.
3) PC is fairly easy to read postflop. His default play is to bet, without much regard to board texture or number of players in the pot, but his bet sizing usually gives away the strength of his hand.
4) Tony behind me will call if I call, giving us a nice multiway pot that I can push hard if my spade draw comes.
Before calling, I make my plan. I'm willing to put it in with an Ace top pair here against PC (hoping I've caught JJ-KK). Two spades and all my money gets in (especially if they're both small). Be careful with top pair queen (watching for KK/AA). I call and Tony calls as well.
The flop is three low cards with two clubs. A complete whiff for me. PC checks, which is uncharacteristic for him. Is he planning a checkraise? Not really his style. He might be going off his normal "bet bet bet" line because players have been adjusting and trapping lately. Tony check/called three PC bets with pocket aces tonight and won a nice pot from him.
I check, not knowing what Tony is going to do. Tony checks.
The turn changes everything - an ace. PC wakes up and bets now, and his bet size is more like the "I mean it" value bet size than his wimpy "I have something please go away" bet size. He has an ace. The hand that most fits his actions is ace-king, of course (preflop three bet, whiff/check on the flop), but I stick with my plan. I raise up his bet, committing him. Tony folds, PC goes all in, I call the tiny reraise, saying "ace-king is good". He shows ace-king and more than doubles up in a $45 pot.
Bad luck for me, or bad play? Some would argue that wading into a three bet pot with ace-queen is a recipe for trouble, and they wouldn't be wrong. I tried to take all the facets of this situation into consideration before planning my move, and felt like I was willing to pay off AK with 40 big blinds against this player. Whether that decision was right or wrong in light of all the information I had, I got caught with kicker problems and paid nearly half a stack for it.
PC came out a winner on the night. His double up through me gave him the ammo he needed to continue his bet-bet-bet lines and win lots of small pots. PC seems immune to bad preflop decisions, and he makes plenty of them. In another hand, he limped into a pot, then called a raise behind him, with king-seven suited. He hit his king and bet the flop and turn, where he got a fold. He showed the king-seven, proving he had hit the king. HA! Whoppde-doo - he hit the king with a seven kicker. Why can't his opponent have Ace-king there, or even king-queen? Or king-jack, king-ten, or king-nine?
Getting into a pot with a queen kicker, as I did with AQ, where only one kicker beats you, isn't nearly the mistake of getting into a pot where 5 kickers can lose you a big pot. But PC happily sails along, seeing flops with junk hands, and never paying for these mistakes.
Later, PC called one of my raises with Queen-eight off and hit the queen on the turn. He bet it and I folded my unimproved pocket fours, as I wished desperately I had ace-queen-of-spades on this hand instead of the hand before.
For me, a loss of twelve big blinds on the night. My ace-queen was the big pot loss, and having kings cracked (oh-for-three with KK the past two weeks) lost another $10, but a garbage two-pair and a flopped straight (both out of the blinds in limped pots), and two flopped sets won me decent enough pots to stay close to even.
Still not winning. Didn't win a single hand of my first 10 today. The HUD was full of shit. Guys playing 8/3 and folding 92% of their blinds were threebetting me. Guys playing 85/10 were checkraising me on a single broadway board. I never had a thing.
Went down $4. I stopped playing "correctly" and just played to take down pots. Got AA and two called. flop came 783, two hearts. Blind donked into me, third player called. I just shoved my whole stack in. Every card is a scare card of some sort these days. I got 2 folds and it emboldened me. Found a guy punishing a limper with 39/30 stats. I had pocket tens and decided big enough against the half stack maniac. I bet over half his pot and I got a fold.
Then another disaster. Button raiser and a small blind flat caller. I made it 15x the blind with AKo. The small blind calls. The flop is all diamonds, ten high - I have the ace of diamonds. Small blind bets like 1/6 of the pot. He's scared. I shove. Not much he can call with there. He thinks quite awhile, then makes the call. Pocket queens. Stronger than I thought, but plenty of outs. Actually, I'm a 52% favorite to win the hand, and I obviously had fold equity, so a great play. But I don't improve and I lose the pot. Stacked again.
I decide push on, but soon 4bet shove over a threebettor with a third of a stack. I have pocket nines and don't give a shit about a third of a stack. I lose again to kings. I can't decide if the play is fine or not or if I'm tilted.
-779 BB under expectation for my month's all-ins. 8 buy-ins, just on all-ins! That's almost the exact amount I'm down for the month, by the way. Normal luck puts me at break even.
Part 2 coming, going to switch games for a bit...
Part 2
Switched to my capped cash game. 30 big blind cap in every hand simplifies play. The purists don't call it "real" poker. Whatever. Rush has been BAD to me right now. I needed a change.
Had a LAGGY dude to my left, I raised his blind with AK, he shoved. AK is an automatic all in for this game, especially vs. a LAG. He's got pocket 4s, and I lose another race.
That's the only bad hand though. I actually get lucky and flop a full house with 66 and a 667 board. I also catch pocket queens who can't/shouldn't fold. It puts me up 28 big blinds on the table. I feel like playing some more, but one of the players times out and the 90 second countdown starts. It feels like forever, and I take it as a sign to get the hell out with a tiny profit.
Still down a buyin and a half on another unlucky day. I review my hands, nothing awful. I pushed the action with my semibluff flush+overs draw as a favorite, that didn't work out. It stacked me, but I can't argue with the play. I overplayed the nines for a third of a stack. No biggie, maybe a bit of tilt.
I keep working- I really think I'm running into a bad run of luck. Will keep fighting thru it.
... and almost succeed.
The night started similar to the recent ones before.
Converted by a herd of feral cows
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
SB: $6.21
BB: $7.43
UTG: $2.91
UTG+1: $10.20
CO: $55.82
Button: $10.00 (Hero)
Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is Button with 
(6 players)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $0.35, CO folds, Hero calls $0.35, SB calls $0.30, BB folds
UTG+1 appears super tight - a 5/0 after 37 hands. I consider not even calling this hand, but what the hell. I'm in position, I can setmine.
Flop: ($1.15) 
(3 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 bets $0.70, Hero raises to $1.85, SB folds, UTG+1 calls $1.15
Top set. Yay for me. He calls my raise and he's tight. Let's say overpair, or AK/AQ flush draw.
Turn: ($4.85) (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3.85, UTG+1 calls $3.85
KQ just caught me. I'm not afraid of KQ, though, from this player.
River: ($12.55) 
(2 players)
UTG+1 bets $4 (all-in), Hero folds
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKOne might argue I should call because of 4-1 pot odds, meaning I need to be good 20% of the time. I argue there's no way I'm good 20% of the time. All I beat right now is AA and maybe 99. I say he had AdKd and got there, or KK and couldn't get away and runner-runnered me again.
UTG+1 won $11.72
(Rake: $0.83)
So I was down a buy-in lickity-split, as usual, when my friend Mr. Pietzak texts me and says "come play the 5 Full Tilt Point Super Turbo Rush 180 man with me". Playing turbos, let alone Super Turbos, sounds about as fun as flipping a coin for money, but you know, screw it - I'm running so bad right now, moving away from this horseshit Rush poker is probably the best thing for me. I'll bust out of this sucker in about 5 hands, then hit the bed early.
Except I didn't bust out. Shoved with 66 on hand #4 and won the blinds. Got all in with AK three way vs. 49s and JTs and tripled up. QQ vs. 97s won another 600. Then QQ again in a 4 way all in vs. AJs, KJo, and 44 and... I won again! 2268 more chips, and I was among the leaders. Kept going. Won all my races (TT vs. KQ, AK vs. JJ, AK vs. JJ again, 88 vs. JKs). Humming along. It wasn't really poker, per se, but poker hasn't been treating me so well, so why not.
The first real "poker" decision I made was at the final table. My HUD had finally kicked in (this was a Rush tourney and the PT3 HUD doesn't work until the final table). I had KQs on the button and raised it up. The big blind shoved on me. His stats said 43/24/75 AgF. Yup, he's aggro enough. I called, figuring I would behind some type of ace. He showed a totally dominated QTo, and I was the chip leader.
We eventually got 3 handed. I was running hot - even rivered a one card royal flush (my first royal of any kind, but as I only used the Ac in my hand it doesn't really count). The very next hand, I flopped a set of 5s, turned the underboat and got paid by a flush (though I should have shoved and knocked him out, I went for value in case he just had trip aces or a pair).
Not knocking him out is what cost me. He raised on the button and I overshoved with ace-jack suited. He called with ace-king and I was in trouble. A brief flash of happiness with a jack on the flop, but a queen turned him a gutshot straight and down I went in 3rd place.
A great run considering 180 players. Of course, this turbo tourney paid.... top 2. HAHAHA. No money - this was a 5 point freeroll and the prize was a satellite ticket to a Sunday tourney, which I usually can't play anyway. So I'll just pretend it was a regular 180 man and I finished deep in the money.
Was it enough to restore my faith in poker? Maybe. I got pretty lucky and won all my races, hit a sorta-royal flush, then got coolered with AJ vs. AK at a three handed table. A ridiculous ending to a ridiculous tourney.
Went for the comebacker session this evening - bad idea. AQ loses to AJ, then AA loses to AK and K9 was all in preflop for laughs (I was a 92% favorite to win that won on the flop). Both hands lost to runner-runner turn and river straight cards. 2 and a half buy-ins gone in 100 hands. I can't win right now. Can't do it. Not possible.
And I added about 150 more big blinds below my expectation for the month, running at 657 BB below expectation on my all ins in 10,251 hands.
A nice lazy Sunday afternoon to get pissed off at online poker some more.
My aces were cracked again of course, and my kings were up against aces, and my 2 pair was up against a set, and my attempted button stealer had AA when I had KQ top pair. The correct play in most of these situations is to lose a lot of money. I did.
Why do I keep getting in these situations, over and over? And when is it my turn to have someone stack themselves against me because that's the correct play?
I'm running over 5 buy-ins below expectation, just looking at my all ins. But all-in luck is such a small part of the picture, and pretty much worthless to evaluate how you're running. It shows bad beat type hands, but doesn't do anything to analyze ranges of hands you should be facing. Here's an example hand.
Moooooooooooraaawwwr.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
SB: $12.78
BB: $11.41
UTG: $5.20
UTG+1: $10.00 (Hero)
CO: $15.03
Button: $20.43
Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG+1 with (6 players)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.30, 2 folds, SB calls $0.25, BB calls $0.20
Flop: ($0.90) 
(3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50, SB folds
BB is a 36/30 with a 4.0 aggression. My plan here is to call him down. If the turn brings some type of dangerous draw, I will raise.
Turn: ($1.90) (2 players)
BB bets $1.30, Hero calls $1.30
Fourth suit - no flush draw possible. Straights are very improbable. No sense raising.
River: ($4.50) (2 players)
BB bets $3.50, Hero raises to $7.90, and is all in, BB calls $4.40
The only straight is 78. There are no flushes. I have hit top two pair. This villain will call with AK/AQ, A4, A6, maybe T9 even. I'm behind so little, and have so little back, that the only correct play is to shove for value.
BB showed 
, and won ($18.95) with three of a kind, Sixes
Hero showed , and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
BB won $18.95
(Rake: $1.35)
As you see, I was, uh, at the top of the 38/30 LAGgro's range, and played it perfectly. It cost me my stack. This is not all-in luck - this is hitting a hand on the river that pulls ahead of all but a short few hands that the super-loose villain could be playing, and having him show up with one of those few hands.
What's really irritating is that I feel like I'm playing pretty well. I have plugged a few of the leaks I discovered in my last coaching session. I am almost never playing a hand "to see if I flop something" anymore. It's all pressure, raising blinds, punishing limpers, c-betting, double barreling, check-raising with second pair, donking into raisers from the blinds. It's working,
