News from the trenches

- Breaking even at 25NL for some time but not overly concerned as I’m getting my money in good – these things happen. After grinding back to my high water mark I ran KK into AA twice. The first time I managed to get away, the second time I said to myself this can’t happen again can it? It did. Last night I logged on after a brief outage on Stars after they rebooted their servers and the games were wild. I hit some hands and won a few buyins in short time. Right now I’m less than a buyin under my high water mark.
- Speaking of bonuses, I haven’t really played as much as usual so I’m still working through the last reload bonus. I’ll probably still take up the latest WSOP reload bonus though and once these are finished, there are $50 bonuses for Silverstar players I need to clear. I was dubious about these bonuses at first but I find them relatively easy to clear and now look forward to them.
- At the Double or Nothings I’m winning at better than 80%. I’m running well but not getting smashed by the deck, rather on those occasions where I’m allin for my tournament life with either coin-flips or hands like AQ vs KJ or unders,my hand is holding up. I’ve played enough games now to figure I could maintain a win rate of 3 out of 4. My overall tournament ROI on both Stars and FT is pretty high but I consider the sample size of around 100 tournaments relatively small. I am aware though that my tournament results are better than cash games but I just hate being locked down for an hour or so of my time. I like the freedom to get up and take a whizz or grab a quick bite whenever I like.
- I’ve played very little Omaha. I sat briefly at one table and first hand was dealt AAQJ double suited. I flopped top pair with no redraw and managed to stack off against a tight player that flopped a set. Just horrible play and the main reason I took a break. When I play ultra tight, although I’m giving up a little EV I almost always have winning sessions.
- I played my first pub tournament in some time this week. It went pretty much according to script for how I run in these things. In the first half I played some good aggressive poker and came back from the break with the chip lead at my table. As the blinds started to increase exponentially, I couldn’t win a pot and was out in short time. It was good fun though and I’m there purely for the enjoyment, social aspect and to practice my B&M game which is always sadly lacking after these long breaks.

The thin red line

Today was a good day and I finished up around 5 buyins. I think I played well but the biggest factor was undoubtedly running into good situations and then my hand holding up. i.e. LUCK.

It's funny how often you see poker players (and professional sports people in general) put down success to factors within their control and failure to factors outside their control. When we have a good session, we put it down to being in the zone or the result of tweaks to our game. When we lose, it's being coolered or run down with the best hand. The reality is almost every hand we play is sub-optimally, so even bad beats or coolers could have been played better. To my thinking, for every hand we play there's a 'perfect path' which involves the best decision and the perfect bet amount. Every hand we stray anywhere from a little left of centre (right decision on every street but slightly incorrect bet amounts) to making the completely wrong decisions on every street.

Speaking of tweaks, there are some changes which do seem to be making my decision making simpler.

1. I'm raising pre-flop almost every hand. In particular, with small-mid pairs I never open limp any more.
2. My table selection has improved significantly. I now open up 6 or so (loose) tables and I stay at the tables where I have position on the LAG's.
3. I've started taking enforced breaks every couple of hundred hands. A quick stretch and splash of water on the face and I feel fresh again.




FG

One for the records

I don't whine about bad beats - this is just one for the record books.

The guy that shoves the river is the very solid regular. The guy to my right is loose and my mark at the table.

If the board texture is different I can fold my set here. If the donk doesn't call I fold. If I don't figure I can still win the side pot from the donk I fold.

Instead i shove with the worst hand of all three.




Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



MP: $4.65

CO: $25.00

BTN: $39.10

Hero (SB): $36.10

BB: $20.15

UTG: $29.75

UTG+1: $4.00



Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with 6 6

UTG calls $0.25, 3 folds, BTN calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.15, BB checks



Flop: ($1.00) 5 7 7 (4 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks, BTN checks



Turn: ($1.00) 8 (4 players)

Hero bets $0.50, BB folds, UTG calls $0.50, BTN calls $0.50



River: ($2.50) 6 (3 players)

Hero checks, UTG bets $29 all in, BTN calls $29, Hero raises to $35.35 all in, BTN calls $6.35



Final Pot: $102.20

BTN shows 8 8 (a full house, Eights full of Sevens)

Hero shows 6 6 (a full house, Sixes full of Sevens)

UTG shows 7 7 (four of a kind, Sevens)

BTN wins $12.70

UTG wins $86.50

(Rake: $3.00)

Good result, bad play

I'm on a hot streak at double or nothings but a good part has been from running well. Apart from the brutal suckout I managed with KJ, some other points I considered afterwards:

- Jamming with Ax might be fairly standard when I get that short in tournaments, but in DON's a 3 or 4 BB raise would achieve the same result. If I get called, I'm likely in really bad shape.
- In the last hand, I got lucky and my opponent got coolered. The roles could have very likely been reversed and the hand would play the same.
- The KQ hand was the only hand I was happy with. The PF raiser had been robbing my blinds and the shove was purely read dependent.



Hand #1

Poker Stars $5.00+$0.40 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds + t10 - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



MP2: t1545 M = 6.72

Hero (CO): t1205 M = 5.24

BTN: t1175 M = 5.11

SB: t1395 M = 6.07

BB: t3685 M = 16.02

UTG: t1425 M = 6.20

UTG+1: t1430 M = 6.22

MP1: t3140 M = 13.65



Pre Flop: (t230) Hero is CO with K J

4 folds, Hero raises to t1195 all in, BTN calls t1165 all in, 2 folds



Flop: (t2560) 2 4 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)



Turn: (t2560) 2 (2 players - 2 are all in)



River: (t2560) 2 (2 players - 2 are all in)



Final Pot: t2560

Hero shows K J (a full house, Deuces full of Fours)

BTN shows K A (a full house, Deuces full of Fours)

Hero wins t1280

BTN wins t1280





Hand #2

Poker Stars $5.00+$0.40 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds + t10 - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



MP2: t1545 M = 6.72

Hero (CO): t1090 M = 4.74

BTN: t1290 M = 5.61

SB: t1495 M = 6.50

BB: t3355 M = 14.59

UTG: t1425 M = 6.20

UTG+1: t1660 M = 7.22

MP1: t3140 M = 13.65



Pre Flop: (t230) Hero is CO with 5 A

4 folds, Hero raises to t1080 all in, 3 folds



Final Pot: t330

Hero mucks 5 A

Hero wins t330





Hand #3

Poker Stars $5.00+$0.40 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds + t10 - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



MP1: t1535 M = 6.67

Hero (MP2): t1310 M = 5.70

CO: t1280 M = 5.57

BTN: t1435 M = 6.24

SB: t3245 M = 14.11

BB: t1415 M = 6.15

UTG: t1650 M = 7.17

UTG+1: t3130 M = 13.61



Pre Flop: (t230) Hero is MP2 with 8 A

3 folds, Hero raises to t1300 all in, 4 folds



Final Pot: t330

Hero mucks 8 A

Hero wins t330





Hand #4

Poker Stars $5.00+$0.40 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t75/t150 Blinds + t15 - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



SB: t1340 M = 3.88

Hero (BB): t1495 M = 4.33

UTG: t1235 M = 3.58

UTG+1: t1735 M = 5.03

MP1: t3150 M = 9.13

MP2: t1450 M = 4.20

CO: t1455 M = 4.22

BTN: t3140 M = 9.10



Pre Flop: (t345) Hero is BB with K Q

6 folds, SB raises to t450, Hero raises to t1480 all in, 1 fold



Final Pot: t1020

Hero mucks K Q

Hero wins t1020





Hand #5

Poker Stars $5.00+$0.40 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t75/t150 Blinds + t15 - 6 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



SB: t4085 M = 12.97

Hero (BB): t1840 M = 5.84

UTG: t3060 M = 9.71

MP: t1855 M = 5.89

CO: t1350 M = 4.29

BTN: t2810 M = 8.92



Pre Flop: (t315) Hero is BB with A A

2 folds, CO raises to t1335 all in, 2 folds, Hero calls t1185



Flop: (t2835) K 6 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)



Turn: (t2835) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)



River: (t2835) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)



Final Pot: t2835

Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces)

CO shows A Q (high card Ace)

Hero wins t2835





View all 5 hands