Title

June at FR

2009-07-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

At the start of June I moved to 100nl and proceeding to run bad/tilt away several million BI's. I drop down to 50nl for the second half of the month and end up only down about 150 smackeroos.

Going to start back up at 100nl...wish me tilt free play!

june

2009-07-05T23:55:00.001-07:00

i guess june was a pretty good month. i was finally able to move up to 100nl. it's been swingy, i've made a few mistakes, but it'll all come. i'm sure i'll be fine.

next stop... 200nl

- ozzy

i'm so good

2009-06-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

-10bi swing at 100nl... fun!

Bing Blang

2009-06-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

Re: Created Victory Song When I Beat Someone Headsup
Quote:
Originally Posted by ornycjv View Post
PlzdToPwnU: lol
adammc: you would quit
adammc: striaght scummy
PlzdToPwnU: CHECK, CHECK, CASH, MONEY
ORDER
adammc: mmhmmm
PlzdToPwnU: BING BLANG BLAOW
adammc: oh good you post on 2+2
PlzdToPwnU: PWN IS IN THE HOUSE
adammc: you are only supposed to sing this song
hu i was under the impression?
PlzdToPwnU: I JUST WON A STACK FROM YOU
PlzdToPwnU: U COULD HAVE USED IT TO BUY
FOOD
PlzdToPwnU: BUT YOU CAN'T NOW
adammc: lol plz post in thread
PlzdToPwnU: CAuSE IMMA CASH IT OUT
PlzdToPwnU: AND RUB IT ON MY TITT1ES

i'm learning...

2009-06-13T23:37:00.001-07:00

i didn't run KK into AA today... at all. i must be getting better.

nobody blogs...

2009-06-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

i still suck at poker... but i'll blog the fact that i do... what happened?????

- ozzy

Chips and Tilt

2009-05-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Once again I have implemented the don't look at bankroll/daily $ ups and downs. I have removed monies won or lost from my Holdem Manager. I find it focuses me more on my play than my variance. I'm trying very hard to only see chips when I am sitting at tables instead of cash. This allows me to play more aggressively and less "scared". Obviously, I still have a sense if I am winning or losing for the day/week etc...we'll see how long I can go.

For the month of May PokerStars will let you cash in FPP's for $$$$. I redeemed 10k points for 160 smackers the other day...sorta like the rakezback...

I have been doing great not tilting while playing...until last night...lost at least a BI to tilt. I was playing at tables with regs (mistake 1) and was getting 3-bet to death. They probably just had hands...since they were multi-tabling and I played back at the wrong time (mistake 2) and also shoved on a short-stack with 40BB when if was a clear fold (mistake 3). Oops!

See everyone at the group sessions...

PS...don't play weak/tight

Turn and River Play???

2009-05-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

Villain is a 17/15...should I just check/fold river?

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players - View hand 118237

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $105.40

BB: $105.80

UTG: $61.20

UTG+1: $101.50

MP: $126.95

CO: $137.50

BTN: $152.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with 9 9

UTG calls $1, 2 folds, CO raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $2.50, BB calls $2, UTG calls $2

Flop: ($12.00) 3 T 2 (4 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks, CO checks

Turn: ($12.00) 8 (4 players)

Hero bets $8, BB folds, UTG folds, CO calls $8

River: ($28.00) J (2 players)

Hero bets $10, CO raises to $27, Hero folds

Best Hand Ever (for now)

2009-05-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

The beauty of this hand is Jeff tries to slow-roll me and loses...HAH!

PokerStars Game #27872307307: Omaha Pot Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2009/05/06 0:16:47 ET
Table 'Chilton II' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Bondi 888 ($3 in chips)
Seat 2: L3NGTHY ($5.14 in chips)
Seat 3: BluffinFull ($2.23 in chips)
Seat 4: NeedleNoze ($9.98 in chips)
Seat 5: ornycjv ($3.79 in chips)
Seat 6: FenderJaguar ($15.41 in chips)
NeedleNoze: posts small blind $0.01
ornycjv: posts big blind $0.02
Bondi 888: posts big blind $0.02

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to NeedleNoze [Jd Jh Qh Th]
FenderJaguar: folds
Bondi 888: checks
L3NGTHY: raises $0.07 to $0.09
BluffinFull: folds
NeedleNoze: calls $0.08
ornycjv: folds
Bondi 888: calls $0.07

*** FLOP *** [6h Js Kc]
NeedleNoze: checks
Bondi 888: checks
L3NGTHY: bets $0.29
NeedleNoze: raises $0.41 to $0.70
Bondi 888: folds
L3NGTHY: raises $1.30 to $2
NeedleNoze: raises $4.29 to $6.29

L3NGTHY said, "brb beverage"

L3NGTHY: calls $3.05 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($1.24) returned to NeedleNoze

*** TURN *** [6h Js Kc] [Ah]

*** RIVER *** [6h Js Kc Ah] [8c]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
NeedleNoze: shows [Jd Jh Qh Th] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
L3NGTHY: mucks hand
NeedleNoze collected $9.89 from pot

Total pot $10.39 | Rake $0.50
Board [6h Js Kc Ah 8c]
Seat 2: L3NGTHY mucked [Kd Kh 5s 6d]

april...

2009-05-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

april was a good month. up another 10 bi which is nice. i played way more 6max this month as sweating josh and brandi kind of gave me the itch to play it again. i'll probably play some HU games if some fish is sitting or if i can't find a good 6max table.

hope may is good for all!

- ozzy

$100nl Full Ring

2009-04-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Since I did not lose my shirt in Vegas...I moved up to $100nl FR. I played my first real session last night...about 300 hands...up a BI. I only played 4 tables. I think I will keep just 4 tabling a while and really concentrate on the game flow and my opponents. I so much want to play my opponents hands and my perceived range.

The games (last night at least) were a tad bit nittier than 50nl...I did not notice more aggression. I played 16/11/4 for the 300 hands. I took great pains to stay out of marginal situations...folded AJo twice...once from an early position open and once from a nit in middle position. Played almost zero hands from EP.

Big hand of the night...folded to the hijack who limps (50 BB stack)...I am on the button with 78s and limp along to get the blinds to call which they do. The flop comes down 5J6r. Checked around. The turn is a 4. The BB leads for 4 bucks and the hijack calls and I raise to like 18 or so. The BB folds and the hijack calls. The river is a 3. Hijack insta-leds for $10. I count on my fingers (for the forth time) and shove. Hijack calls with A7.

100nl FR Starting May 1st

2009-04-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

See above

Anniversary

2009-04-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not...it has been about a year since the late great DZL put together this study group. The active members have changed a little...but obv still the best damn study group on the web...Happy Anniversary to all past and present members.

First email from Ozzy:
and i live in norcal, in san jose to be more exact. the patriots are the best team in the nfl, much like the red sox are the best team in baseball. i do run like dogshit, though.

First email from Chadley:
FYI, the Cowboys will win the Super Bowl this year, just watch. Oh, Tony Romo for People Mag's Man of the Year. Also, the Dodgers will sweep the Red Sox in the WS. I currently play 25nl although used to be a regular at 50nl (grrrrr, big downswings). I have recovered well recently and will be jumping back up soon! I am a Dentist in Iowa City (insert dentist joke here) although my wife and I (yes, I am married) are moving to Des Moines in a few months. I too am a bankroll nit with about 200 BIs at 25nl (screw off, I don't like variance!)

and Alvin's:
Man, 200 BIs? I have a new nitiness to aspire to.

And I'm shot-taking at 100NL right now with 50 bis. The games are really soft.

-Alvin

Some highlights for me from the past year...(please post yours)

JG losing about two millions BI's at a group 10nl game pretty much in the first 15 minutes...and of course...his SLOOOOOOW roll of the nizzies against Jeff

Chad actually winning the HU tourney and then getting stiffed by Travis

Alvin and JG arguing about every hand during a group session

Am I mistaken or was Ozzy playing 6max when Brandi was in labor?

Vegas I trip

Nothing like a good Fender email...

On the turn you should be like an al'qaeda terrorist bombing everything you see.

Standard! You bring the seaweed and chrome, I'll bring the tazer lol

March 4th is my birthday, I may be drunk on absinthe and dancin' in the ghetto streets like it was New Orleans ;D

Checking back here is weaksauce OZ there's so much money to be made. I mean vs. his range that river is literally gin. You should be dancin' around in twinkle bells and elf shoes when you see that shit, cause it's fucking christmas.

I am looking forward to another good year. Good skill at the table...and remember...results are retarded...play each hand well.

Chat

2009-04-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

For the most part I am pretty cool about the what is said in the chat box. This kind of tees me off...

HackGirl: Nice!
1651651: worked out well
HackGirl: Ut oh?
Dealer: Game #26700208932: HackGirl wins pot ($2.65)
JerrysJets: VN playing....VERY NICE!!
HackGirl: Nice
Dealer: killa477 has a pair of Kings
Dealer: mule250 has a pair of Kings - Ace kicker
HackGirl: UAR: Vives cerca de las montanas? Tienes un bici de montanas?
Dealer: Game #26700235122: mule250 wins pot ($0.95) with a pair of Kings
Dealer: Game #26700256452: NeedleNoze wins pot ($0.50)
HackGirl: Lucky Chuck!
HackGirl: Nice, chuck
HackGirl: Do it!!
HackGirl: Nice bluff
NeedleNoze: hack girl
Dealer: Game #26700270077: NeedleNoze wins pot ($4.30)
HackGirl: Si?
superChuck95: F in g big slick sucker cards LOL
NeedleNoze: please don't talk about hands in progress
JerrysJets: NN - Shut the F up!!!

I don't mind fish berating me after I win a hand or some reg trying to tilt me...it's all part of the game...but to have some morons try and influence the outcome of a hand and then tell me to F off...well screw them. Of course, I reported this to Stars support and I can only hope they do the right thing. This BS needs to be stopped. Please always report this kind of shit if you see it.

And since I was pissed I also reported them for chatting in Spanish...

march results...

2009-03-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

well... march started really well up until the last weekend where it kind of went to shit... i still had an 11 bi month so it was pretty good money-wise, but it took me way more hands than i wanted to. i hope to rebound in april and put together a really good month.

i was pretty proud of myself that i didn't get too down after last weekend. i just spent some time reviewing my sessions and doing a little studying and made up almost all of my losses from over the weekend in not much time. this just shows me more that i should definitely be doing plenty of session reviews and studying as much if not more than actually playing. i have so much to learn and yes, playing will gain me experience but studying my game and trying to learn more should definitely be a HUGE part of my overall plan if i hope to improve.

i guess that's it. march was ok. i wish it could have been better, but i'm not complaining. here's to an amazing april to everyone!

later,

- ozzy

Takes Me Back to Good Ole Days...

2009-03-31T06:49:00.000-07:00

Obv...Level 4 thinking...

jams, grooves and crayons

2009-03-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

christopher (AKA FenderthemindbenderfuckyourmotherJaguar) has been talking about moving over to stars because there are more players who play with pastel crayons or something? whatever... so the other day, chris was like "yo... i need some stars jams and i can give you some groove on UB". i guessed he meant he would ship me some UB money for some stars money. "ok, that sounds splendid, christopher. UB has uber-micro stakes HU which would help me increase my roll there when i'm intoxicated much faster than playing 2nl 6max in stars".

fair enough... i intoxicate myself with a mixture of great stuff. time to fire up some tables. i proceeded to lose my ass at 10nl HU. wtf? talk about a rude awakening. twice i had a guy call me down with A2 in a 3-bet pot when i had two pair and the 2 came on the river. i'm not really complaining, though. this is how it works. yeah... you're gonna get 6 outered every once in a while by some people. sometimes 4 or 5 times a night. i got my money in good, and that's all i can really do and the rest is, meh.i'll take my 81% equity with one card to come everytime.

in other news, i bought a new box of colored pencils that i'll be toying with at the tables.

- ozzy

Will Try Stars....Again

2009-03-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

I started my brief poker career at Stars and then moved over to FTP cause of the rakeback. After last night group session...Chris has kinda convinced me to try Stars again. I always cave to peer pressure...now I just gotz to move the $$$$'s around.

6max vs. FR

2009-03-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

For the near future anyway I am going to be back playing FR...I just enjoy playing FR more atm.

tiring...

2009-03-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

HU is really tiring for me... after about 45 minutes to an hour, i feel exhausted. i don't know if that's normal or not, but i find that i have to take a break after every 45 minutes. when i was playing 6-max, i could go for about 1.5 hours before i would make myself take a break, but i never felt exhuasted afterwards. i would just take a break to refresh myself and get back in the game. is this a stamina thing? do people get used to the constant action and therefore able to play for longer periods of time? maybe this is why people work out and diet well?

sooo tired...

- ozzy

2009-03-09T13:19:00.001-07:00

Holla, invitation accepted.

omfgfmlwtfbullshit

2009-03-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

deleting because bitching doesn't accomplish anything.

February for me...

2009-03-03T17:29:00.001-08:00

so febrauary turned out to be an ok month... i only got in 5600 hands, which doesn't sound like very much, but it took me a while at HU. i played all of my hands HU, except for the 3k hands i put in at 2nl at the end of the month which actually burned me out a bit. i think i'll be sticking with HU, at least for the near future. i ended up almost 11 buy-ins, which netted me a winrate of 9 something which means i suck and i need to get better. i was up over 13 at one point, but i had a few bad days which killed it. still turning a profit and it's actually been my best month in my career as far as pure money goes. i've had better months in term of win-rate, but never at 25nl or higher.

i've gotten a ton of help from a variety of different sources. i've thanked them all and i'll keep thanking them whenever i get the chance.

i hope i can keep this run going in march and hopefully get more hands in. it's pretty difficult because of everything i have going on, but i'm definitely putting in the effort in study and play time. i'm doing as much as i can, all the while balancing my roles in my day to day life.

i've definitely made huge improvements in my game in the past month and hope to keep that going by keeping up with both groups in both session reviews and hand histories that people send out. i think i've been both more vocal and helpful in both of those categories and hope to keep that up as well.

thanks to everyone and good luck at the tables!

- ozzy

February result

2009-03-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to post a graph as I don't want to turn on the doomswitch but February was a good month. Taking a week off at the beginning of the month was great for my game. I ended up about 13 BIs at 50nl and I'm thinking of taking some shots at 100nl again soon.

My game has really improved recently and I think Jeff and Chris have contributed to that a lot. Jeff has really stepped up his game recently(Chris has always been pretty sick) and both are excellent teachers. Very good at explaining things without sounding condescending and I am beginning to think about my opponents ranges much more than before. I still have a long way to go but I feel I am definitely closer to 100nl than I have been in quite some time.

We have switched our session formats as well and now do video reviews. This is much better than before as it allows people to make mistakes they normally would instead of having someone else play for them. Also, it really allows for better discussion as you can pause things too.

Both November and January were really shitty for me but in the last couple weeks I have been able to get my poker roll back to where it was and higher. Anyway, probably a little while yet at 50nl but I will be mixing in 100nl very soon.

My Biggest Pot

2009-02-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

So I am in the poker office with Jeff...he's playing at this table with a huge fish. I jump on the waiting list and soon I am seated at the table. This hand took place like two orbits in...

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to IofNeedle [As Ad]
IofNeedle raises to $3.50
xlengthy calls $3.50
futbol426 folds
QOOQOO folds
Gonzo The Graet raises to $6
reecelights calls $5
IofNeedle raises to $27.50
xlengthy adds $3.50
xlengthy folds
Gonzo The Graet calls $21.50
reecelights calls $21.50
*** FLOP *** [2s 7c 8c]
Gonzo The Graet bets $86
reecelights calls $72.50, and is all in
IofNeedle calls $72.50, and is all in
Gonzo The Graet shows [3d 6d]
reecelights shows [Td Th]
IofNeedle shows [As Ad]
Uncalled bet of $13.50 returned to Gonzo The Graet
*** TURN *** [2s 7c 8c] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [2s 7c 8c 6s] [Js]
Gonzo The Graet shows a pair of Sixes
reecelights shows a pair of Tens
IofNeedle shows a pair of Aces
IofNeedle wins the pot ($300.50) with a pair of Aces

Gotta love $$$$$$

That's Right Boys and Girls...I is Even

2009-02-21T21:13:00.001-08:00

Fucking Banana!

2009-02-19T08:29:00.001-08:00

50NL HU

2009-02-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

so i've been playing HU and it's going really well. don't get me wrong, it's really easy to lose money fast, but you can also make a ton fast. the swings are ridiculous. it's a bit of a downer when you're down a buy-in to someone in 40 hands or so and for whatever reason and they leave just when you feel like you're gaining some traction and adjusting to them. comes with the territory.

i don't know if i'll be posting any graphs or whatever because i may be a little superstitious but it's going pretty well, to say the least.

i'm going to begin recording sessions for the HU group.

did you guys want me to make a 6max video for the LOL_GIRAFFE group? i haven't played any 6max really but i'm sure i could spare 45 minutes to make one.

ozzy

New Format

2009-02-13T10:53:00.001-08:00

I thought the last group session went great. Instead of the usual group sweat...we reviewed a recorded session of mine. We could really dive into the hands and the discuss the play as long as we wanted to. Plus, there is nothing like a Fender rant...I wish I could have recorded his comments...needless to say they were very colorful and descriptive. He called it "tough love"...and it was certainly enlightening. Hopefully we can continue this format for the foreseeable future.

Also, the group has started a separate class on Mondays conducted by Chris. The first one went extremely well with some lively discussion between Vili and Chris.

Alot of the group...seems to be moving into HU NL...I hope they make some posts on how it's going.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tilt

2009-02-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

Last night a made a discovery about myself...I tilt more than I thought.

I lost two big pots against a donk almost back to back...My AK against AJo allin pf, etc. Then my mind turned to REVENGE. I just so bad wanted to get this guy. This caused a couple of problems. First, all my focus was on this retard...so the other 3 tables I had opened suffered from lack of attention. Second, I started to try to force the action.

Over the next several hundred hands I slowly lost another BI. I was playing sub-optimally. I thought I had everything under control...but when I reviewed by stats and hands I noticed quite a bit of mediocre play.

I should be happy that I am sitting a tables with complete morons...and just be patient and play my best game. Until I can do that...I need to come up with a solution. So for now I will either call it an end to the session...or close up the table(s) when I sense I am out to get certain players there. Also, I am implementing a 4 BI stop/loss no matter what.

End O Month

2009-01-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

The month is winding down...looks break even for me after a great December at FR. At least I eek out a little profit with Iron Man bonus and rakeback.

I just starting playing 6max pretty much exclusively the past two weeks. I had my first coaching session with elzino the other day. I recorded an hour of my play and we reviewed the video. It actually was very enlightening. Sample of conversation:

elzino: "Why did you raise here?"
les: "I don't know"
elzino: Don't you think a call would be better?"
les: "I guess"
elzino: "You need to focus more"
les: "Wow...did Jessica Simpson get fat"
elzino: "What?"
les: "What?"

So obviously I gotz my work cut out for me. Thank god he is a very patient guy.

Played a little last night...after a free dinner/drinks from Dell/EMC. I really tried to focus on every play. I still have trouble firing the river...when I am sure my opponent has a weak made hand and just wants to get to show down. Another problem I am having is the damn FPS! I need to remember I do not need to be tricky.

Fender sat at one of my tables last...he had position on a huge fish. Unfortunately, once Fender left the fish stacked off to another player.

Poker Office

2009-01-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

So I stopped by the poker office last night...just to get a little work done. It was nice to see others there plugging away.

Fender mentioned that I am asking the wrong questions when playing a hand. This was/is very good advice.

I will probably stop by again this weekend. Good to get to the office and get some things accomplished esp. with the recession and all.

Poker Graph

2009-01-22T09:03:00.000-08:00

1-2

2009-01-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

So I've made the move. I'm not talking about the move to Portland just yet, but hopefully that will happen sooner then later, but the move to 200nl. So far I've put in about three or four session at 200nl and its been going good so far. Yesterday was one of my bigger days (less when I won a 3$ for 1.7k), but as a cash day is my biggest. I ended up playing for about 5 hours yesterday and netting 1.1k in cash game. Also, Fenderjaguar and I played some tournaments and with his expert guidance throughout the late stage I won a 5$ tournament for 255. So all in all a good day.

I've realized a leak that I have. I think I have some poor turn lines that I take with my medium strength hands. Sometimes I turn my hand's into bluff catchers, or will barrel player of relatively weak ranges when I have a hand that is way ahead of their range. Basically, as Fender put it, I bluff them before they bluff me. I think this is bad because we pointed out a few spots where I lost 30-40 in value. This is pretty huge amount that would be lost of a large sample of hands. I am really going to work on this and try get this leak plugged. Other then that, I feel like my game is getting very solid and I am cruising right along. Made it to my 1-2 goal in half the time I had wanted to. Now I just have to stay here!

Well, Im going to make some breakfast and then put in a session if I can find some good tables.

Poof!

2009-01-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

Well it only took one night and my January profits disappeared. Still get my iron man bonus and weekly rakeback...so the month shouldn't be too bad. Unless, of course, I run like dog shit for two more weeks.

I played 6max last night while group sweated me. Not use to shoving AK pre-flop after playing so much full ring. Of course the 40/22 dickweed had AA. I did enjoy the change of pace after my crappy FR day. I am going to concentrate on 6max for the immediate future.

I have one more coaching session with Zaitsev this week...and then the following week I start several sessions with Mike (elzino). We will be playing 6max only. Once I sharpen my 6max skills and become (hopefully) a winning player, I will add FR back into my repertoire. I find that the skills learned while playing short-handed transfer more easily to FR then the other way around.

On a different note...Kimmy's parents are watching the kiddos in April so Kimmy and I (and hopefully most of SMPS) are headed to Vegas.

Da Rules of Poka

2009-01-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

1. they never have anything, 2. you get two cards you raise because (1), 3. profit

bummed

2009-01-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

Just found out Alvin is going to performing in my hometown on January 30th. Unfortunately I leave that morning to go to Mexico for a week. Obviously I'm super stoaked to go to Mexico but I can't believe I'm going to miss Alvin when he'll be in my hometown.

It's Money That I Want

2009-01-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

Besides being an activity that I enjoy...poker has given me something back. I have started cashing out my winnings over my 120 BI base. Last month I finally made it to 120 BI's...I still believe this is less than Vili's.

I have cashed out....wait for it....$350.00! This is my very first cash out. Feels good. I think I will do this for a while until I improve my skills/fix leaks at FR and want to move up. I like to have around 70-75 BI's for 100nl. I know you BR nit's would like me to have at least 100 BI's...but I am living life on the wild side now.

So far, I have bought Kimmy a new girl scout uniform for when we "play sell cookies at all costs." Gotta love those thin mints! Another cash out should cover the cheerleader outfit with pom-poms.

An Update On Me

2009-01-10T18:03:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here watching the playoffs from my folks place. I had intended to finish off my FPPs on my laptop while I watch Arizona (hopefully beat) Carolina but I left FTP logged in so I'll have to just finish it later.

2009 is about making money more than anything else for me when it comes to poker. Getting things I'll actually use out of the FTP store as a reward for time and really stepping up the grind. My goal for every month is at least 42k hands a month as I'd like to play 500k hands this year. I don't really care if I'm grinding 50NL or 400NL by the end of the year as long as I continue to make money.

So far this month I've been playing mostly FullRing but I'm now starting my days off with about 1000 hands of FR followed by a session of 6Max. I really don't have any goals in terms of game types played for the hand volume, just whatever I feel like. No more than 8 tables of 6 Max (though usually less) and 16 for FullRing.

I recently purchased a Dell 30" monitor but unfortunately the one I got was dead on arrival so I have to begin the rma process with Dell on Monday. I bet I don't see a new monitor until Feb. Up side I'm heading to Hawaii for a week from the 2nd through the 6th so I'm really, really looking forward to that. Going by myself to do some work and hopefully have 4 days to relax.

I started rock climbing this past week and that has been a blast. Had to drop a couple bills on gear for it but it has still be a great experience so far and great work out.

Well, I don't really have any sweet poker theory content rather than just a life update.

Cheers,
joshua

Happiness

2009-01-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

I know this has been discussed in the past. But nothing to do before lunch...so I decided to write a quick blog entry. Believe it or not I still like playing online poker...it certainly is more frustrating than talking geography with Kimmy...however I still get some enjoyment form it.

There will be times when I am playing maybe for 45 minutes into a two hour session and I look at HEM and see that I'm up a couple of BI's. This sometimes is difficult for me. I am playing well and having a good session and I'm glad about winning monies...can I get happier right now? Maybe a little. Can I get sadder? Maybe a lot if I lose 4 BI's. So, I will actually just unclick auto-post and call it a night.

I guess being moderately content is much nicer than being somewhat bummed.

Karma Post

2009-01-08T03:15:00.000-08:00

I think Vili was right about the graph posting curse. I have been running like absolute shit since posting that graph. AK running into 77 in a three bet pot on A72 boards. Standard shit but it is frustrating as hell when it happens.

So I'm going to post my graph since posting the graph before and hopefully it will reverse it. Ha. /rant

I think I am going to grind some 25nl FR for some low stress grindage.

i played poker today!

2009-01-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

i only got in about 200 hands. my internet kept going down. piece of shit comcast, i think my router is going out. anyways, it was a nice return to the ring. it felt good. didn't get into any real interesting spots. i was surprised at how aggressive i felt and how many times a double and triple barreled just because i didn't think the villain could have anything too strong. a change of pace from my last few sessions, from what i remember.

looking forward to the group sessions this new year and hopefully doing some sessions with the group on the side like i used to. the baby is getting to be 6 months old soon, so normalcy is beginning to settle in. i'm trying to get her first words to be "power aces", but she seems to be fighting me on it. i was going to shoot for "show me potato salad", but i didn't want to push the issue.

later,

ozzy

Big pots

2009-01-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

I've come to the conclusion that I run horrible in big pots. So far this month it seems like in any pot with over 200BBs in it, I lose. Doesn't matter if we get it in on the turn and I'm a 4:1 fav or not, I lose. I know it's short term variance as it's only over about 3k hands but I'd like to give a little message to anyone at Full Tilt who is listening, go Fuck yourself. That is all, thank you.

Quick update

2009-01-06T04:18:00.000-08:00

Just going to post a quick brag. The last two months have been going amazing.

New Year's Tilt

2008-12-31T10:53:00.000-08:00

Well 2008 is coming to a close...I have no list of resolutions or vices I am giving up...I take that back...my resolution will be to pick up more vices.

Now that I have immerse myself in the full ring game...there is something I need to address with the general public (you...the reader). I cannot stop myself from tilting when someone min bets post flop. What's with betting 50 fucking cents into a pot of $6.15. Yea...so you say raise them up. They, of course, call and then they bet 50 fucking cents into a 12 buck pot. Is it a computer/technology issue...maybe they do it for religious reasons...maybe their hands are cramped from jacking off or whatever you call it will a chick jacks off..."MAKE A REAL BET or don't play".

My favorite is when I call a min bet on three streets with top pair and dickweed flips over the nutz. I know...maybe I should be glad I only lost $2 for the hand....I'm not...I am enraged! "FUCK YOU AND YOUR 50 GOD DAMN CENTS...MOTHERFUCKER D_BAG!"

I also like the short stack with 20BB's min bets the flop and then shove to your raise....real well disguised AA or KK...."you only got a couple of BB's left asshole...I would have called your shove without the min bet...YOU'RE REAL FUCKING TRICKY...PRICK!"

Maybe it takes balls to min bet into six players in a 30BB pot...I love when 5 of them fold. "HELLO! IT'S A QUARTER...CALL THE A-HOLE...MAYBE YOU'LL GET RUNNER RUNNER ACE HIGH AND CHOP!" Seriously, I like to put on a pair of latex gloves and shove that 25 cents up so far their ass that next time they pull a booger from their nose it's a quarter.

Does this only happen to me...if it does...they must know it's super +EV against me in the long term.

Happy New Year

Almost!

2008-12-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays Everyone...well Santa almost got me my +20 BI gift at FR.

If someone could ship me 5 bucks...that would be great....

Update with me.

2008-12-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

Just over a week ago now I had got the hair up my ass to withdraw everything but $300 and work my way back up. I'm not sure why my ambition is so hit and miss lately. I think what I'm going to do now moving forward is get back up to 100NL with 40 buyins and start withdrawing everything over $4k every month for a bit to really get my ambition back into the game. When you play and play and play and never get anything out of it you begin to lose your fire for playing and studying. So right now thats the plan.

I'm heading to $25NL next so we'll see how that rolls. FR or 6Max, probably an even balance between the two. I love love love both forms. Also dabbling a bit in the limit hold em. I've always enjoyed it so we'll see how that goes - I'm clueless though on how you're suppose to do BR management with LHE.

Some thin brags -
* Hawaii in Feb
* Vegas in April again
* 14 Inches of Snow

Anyways, have a happy and safe holiday.

Cheers,
Joshua

20 Buy-ins Christmas Present?

2008-12-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

I never had a +20 BI month...can I do it? IDK. Make a great present from Santa Poker though.

I am still playing mostly full ring. I had a nice +4BI session one night at 6max...couple of suckouts and I won every flip. So sweet. For the next several months I think I will stick to FR. It really seems to be a much softer game with less variance and so less tilting. Once my roll hits 6k...I might venture into 100nl FR...I will not be playing 100nl 6max with idoubledonk or as I refer to him...ialwayssuckouot.

Here are my stats so far...wish me holiday luck to reach my goal....HO HO HO

Hud Less

2008-12-18T04:26:00.000-08:00

Going to make a quick update about the last week. haven't been able to get pretty much any hands in because of computer problems. When I do get the chance I have been playing without a HUD. I like it actually, at first it was really weird not knowing someones exact VPIP/PFR but after I realized that it actually doesnt matter, I've been doing a lot better.

Albeit a small sample, I've been doing well. These results obviously aren't sustainable, but I am hoping I can keep my redline (sorry Alex) in its nice gentle upward slope.

Thats it for now, Im off to bed to get 6 hours of sleep before I wake up and put in some hands.

Tilted

2008-12-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

Just had a pretty silly session. Don't really know what to say other then it was really frustrating and these type of session are really starting to get annoying.

This hand pretty much sealed the deal for me today. I had to quit shortly after. I usually don't get mad about spots like this, but for some reason it just titled the living hell out of me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3593098

So that's it for today.

I reformatted my computer. That sucked ass. But at least I got linux off it, it had been causing lots of problems and was getting annoying.

2008-12-11T19:19:00.001-08:00

I still remember this video and I still like it -------------->

Much improved from whatever was there before

Full Ring Stats

2008-12-08T19:46:00.001-08:00

As you prob know I am going to play just FR this month. My stats are starting to settle in. Overall, tighter (even for me) and less aggressive play. Looks like my c-bet flop and turn stats will eventually be around the same number. Much tougher to get W$WSF into the forties. I am running a little higher in my W$SD%...I think that's the tighter play reflected there.

Any comments will be appreciated...since I am just sorta playing FR by ear...

Final Tally?

2008-12-06T22:04:00.001-08:00

How'd you guys end up?

I won $250, which if you consider I won over $500 in the tournament, you can see how well I ran in cash games.

I think Les won about $10k, not sure about Josh but definitely more than me. Overall a pretty good result for our group.

Vegas Story III-"The Dink"

2008-12-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

The Venetian Poker Room around 2am Vegas time....

Chadley: Has been grinding it out...up maybe 100 bucks maybe has 300 in front
Lez: seems very solid needs a shave...up maybe 2oo bucks has about 450 in front

Lez is dealt AhQh in sorta late postion and raises to 13 bucks...Lez is raising to only prime numbers cause it is working for him
Chadley is on the button and 3 bets to like 30 smackeroos
Lez thinks OK Chadley has been fairly tight and really hasn't 3-bet all night....so it must be AA KK or AK...Lez decides it is probably KK since he has an ace. So Lez should fold....but the damn mai tai's make him flat call...

Flop all low cards with 2 hearts

Now for reasons unknown Lez starts to think maybe his Q is good....and before he knows what is going on he exclaims "All in"...just like on TV
Chadley insta calls with AA
Lez flips over his cards and before Joshua can say wtf Lez the dealer flips the turn....

3h

DINK!

Vegas Story II

2008-12-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

Four handed poker at the Hard Rock...no rake

Characters
Young dude
real old dude 1
real old dude 2
Lez sorta old

First 2 hands Lez raises AT and AK and gets folds pf

Third hand young dude folds
Lez limps button with 6h7h
real old dude 1 folds
real old dude 2 from BB pops it to 15
Lez calls cause he absolutely knows real old dude 2 must have AA or KK
real old dude 2 is smiling

flop: 5c8h9h

Lez uses his fingers under the table and realizes this is a good flop for him
Real old dude 2 insta-leads for 25 bucks
Lez smooth calls

turn 4s

Real old dude 2 insta-shove the rest of his chips...about 75 bucks
Lez calls

River 9s

Lez flips over the Str8 and real old dude 2 looks confused cause Lez says I got a str8 sir
Real old dude 2 stares at dealer and asks...does he have a str8?
Les says 5,6,7,8,9 sir
dealer says nothing and pushes chips to Lez
Real old dude 2 gets up and walks away...he is no longer smiling
(he never did show cards)

Vegas Story I

2008-12-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

The following is true...but remember I was drinking cranberry juice....

Characters:

Chadley: Donkeys already took $150 bucks from him
Donkey dude: Never folds pf
Joshua: similar to donkey dude
Lezlie: seems solid

Folded around to Chadley in CO who raises to 10 bucks
Lez calls 10 bucks with JTo
Chadley gives Lez a wtf look and I believe mouths FU
Joshua folds
Donkey calls

flop 9Q8 rainbow

checks around

turn 8

Donkey bets 20 bucks
Chadley folds and thinks about how he hates poker and mouths FU to Lez
Lez makes it 55 bucks to go
Donkey says to Lez how much do you have behind...
Lez says something like 160 bucks
Donkey then re-raises
Lez shoves his chips and says...if you got a boat you win
Joshua looks at Lez and says you must have a str8 (good read)
Donkey flip his cards 87
Joshua says to Donkey you got some outs

River 6d

Joshua says to Donkey that ain't one of them

Lez takes a lot of Donkey's money...but most of it did belong to Chadley..so I believe Chadley now hates Lez and hopes his cranberry juice has salmonella in it

Tits

2008-12-06T09:28:00.001-08:00

I was up late and decided to put some hands in. It didnt go as well as I had hoped. I started playing some 25nl because I don’t have any money online right now, only 85 or so on FTP. I am waiting for the check from PS to clear so I can get my bankroll back online.

I decided I am going to be playing on UB. I am playing there because the games are some of the softest available and I get rake back and can use a HUD. Also, they are really quick with processing check withdrawals and general customer service. Other then the cheating scandal, they are a good company.

Well I am a bit tired so I think I am going to sleep until the person who is coming to get my van gets here. He said he would be here this afternoon, but he didn't give me any specific time. I guess I will just sleep till my phone rings, or I could go to 7-11 and get one of those five hour energy things. Actually, I am going to do that. I would like to be on a "normal" sleeping schedule again and it's hard to do when I cant get myself to go to sleep before 8am.

Poker for today: 600 hands -61.95. The big pots I lost where pretty standard.

Here are my biggest losers for the day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3548060

This guy was a big fish. He was playing super lose and being really erratic and aggressive. I thought that there was a good chance that he had a 4 and just as likely a chance that he had a J as well. With the amount of dead money I can’t fold with overs and the NFD. I get there on the river, but he gets there too.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3548078

Here is another standard spot. I flop middle set, and do what I can to get the money in. He ends up having a larger set. Nothing I can do here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3548084

Here I get caught bluffing the river. I had been three betting the crap out of this player and I thought that he would start defending soon by calling my three bets with a wide range. I am okay with this because I get to play a bloated pot in position with initiative. Basically means that I will be printing money off of this guy. I didn’t think that he would be just calling with an A on this board. I was pretty sure that he would play all his Ax hand and flush draws aggressively so I put him on a hand like KQ, KJ. I think that he four bets AK and JJ+. He might flat with TT but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was four betting it for value vs me.

On the river this is exactly how I would play AK, AQ, AJ. I can’t be worried about him having a flush or an A because of how I thought he would play it and the river being a flush card makes it even harder for him to look me up with a bare K. Well, I shipped the river and he owned me with AQ. He did tank before he checked the river, and then tanked before calling. So if he is thinking of folding the top of his range here, this can’t be a terrible spot to bluff.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3548103

This player and I had tangled in a previous hand which led to me make the river play here. He raised with A2s and I flatted out of position with AQ. The flop came A97 and I check called the flop, the turn checked through, and the river brought a Q. The board was A977Q I checked intending to check raise the river and he checked back with A2. This gave me a pretty good idea of what his river value betting range is. He isn’t betting to fold out chops or to try to milk semi-thin value out of his weaker top pair hands. So this means that I think that when he bet’s the river his hand is going to be more polarized between being a bluff the nuts. Also he knows that I can check a huge hand to him on the river.

Well with the my read on the player and the fact that I felt that he would bet the turn with his big Ax hand and I could fold, and that he would be checking down his marginal made hands including bigger PP on this board. So when the turn checks I discounted a big A from his range a lot of the time and felt that he was going to have a KQ type hand or a weak A here. When I check the river and he bets I know that he isn’t value betting thin. So that means that he only has bluffs and strong hands in his range and since I didn’t expect him to check big hands on the turn I decided to turn my hand into a bluff to try to fold his weak Ax hands.

This is kind of a weird spot because a lot of people will say that if he is bluffing most of the time, why turn a better hand into a bluff to catch a bluff? Well, good point. But I think that the reason that this can be a more profitable play then just calling is that we are always winning the pot when he is bluffing, but we can also pick up the pot a lot when he has a better hand that he is value betting thinly and we can make fold. My line looks really strong here and he knows that I am capable of checking big hands to him on the river. I was really surprised when he called with AK. It just reminded me of how weak and passive 25nl players really are. Can’t wait to get my money back online to start getting some hands in.

That’s it for now. I am going to head off to 7-11 and get some of that magic energy medicine and be wired as hell for the next 12 hours.

Lata

some thoughts

2008-12-06T02:10:00.000-08:00

What do we think of starting to set group "strategic' goals? I mean set goals and ways for us to finally start getting moved up. I think we should all list our goals, what we can do to get there and what we can do to help each other achieve our goals.

Josh has given us all an amazingly valuable opportunity here and a lot of us dont seem to be taking full advantage of it. I know that until recently I wasn't as focused as I should be and my game has really suffered for it the past few month. I've been thinking a lot this last week about what I need to get to my goals and I have all the resources in the world to get there, I've just been lacking the hardwork and determination to really apply myself 197%.

Honestly this isn't like me. Everything that I have ever decided I was going to do and set out to do it I have achieved. At the risk of sounding boastful, I am generally good at everything that I do. Everything from being good at video games to card to doing back flips on bicycles. I usually completely involve myself in everything that I do. For some reason though, my poker game has plateaued. As you can see from my graph I think I stopped giving it 197% the last few months.

what do we think?

December

2008-12-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

Well I have decided that December will be a full ring month for me...I will start at 25nl get in a few thousand hands and then move to 50nl for the rest of the month.

Is it triple points on Christmas?

2008-11-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

also, how do we get this horrific color scheme gone and bring back the Family Guy vid clip?

2008-11-30T15:13:00.000-08:00

The 60 minutes poker story is OFFICIALLY tonight. It is at 7pm EST on CBS although it won't be on until the football game is over so could be delayed slightly. Will be interesting to see if the story blasts online poker and portrays it as illegal or if it accurately shows that the players themselves cracked the case and brought it to light thus self-regulating. I'm guessing it will be the former.

Taking a break

2008-11-28T21:08:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, I am going to be taking a little bit of a break from playing. I think I am going to wait to play any more hands till I figure out what site I want to put my BR on and get everything back in order.

It will probably be a week before I play another hand. I am going to self exclude myself from all the sites, as degen as that sounds, I think it will help. Also, When i get the itch to play, the only thing I will be able to do is review the videos i've made, post hands, and review my HEM. Cant be bad thing can it?

I just want to get my head on straight, try to get back on track. Taking a full fledged break is something that I haven't done. I usually say I'm going to take a break and then end up playing anyways.

Lets see how this goes...

Wow...

2008-11-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

...before I even begin, WTF? Who picked this color scheme?!? Jesus...I love it!

Anyway, before I went on my trip I had this kick ass video of analyzing your database for leaks made for you guys and for the leggo promotion. Unfortunately my system caved in. I'm back up and running now w/ a new computer, but haven't played poker in over a week. I'm starting to have withdrawal symptoms. Anyway, I will put up the review of my last 50k hands at 100nl for you guys w/ what I've found to be my biggest leaks.

I hope that it can help some of you guys in your game. I feel like I'm one of the better hand readers at the 100nl level, but I take it to the extreme. Sometimes I level myself, and don't give enough credit other times. This advice should help me improve my game, as well as you guys if you have any of these leaks.

(50k) hands + (4) approx. 10 buy-in downswings + (3) approx. 10k hands break even stretches = still a decent winner.

That last equation just goes to show you the variance involved in this game, and having the bankroll to sustain the swings. I'm sure all of you know I have crazy strict bankroll requirements, and I have no problem moving down if I feel funny/uncomfortable/tilted/whatever the case. I will never go bust, but I might never move up either! So it's really a matter of personal preference I guess.

Graphs:

Leaks (in order of biggest to smallest ) :

1. When facing a raise of my flop c-bet I need to assign my opponents a certain range, take a look at their stack size, make a plan for my hand, and STICK to that plan. Continuing on in the hand with top pair weak kicker (no draw) or worse is lighting money on fire for me. While I catch bluffs every once in a while, it is hugely -EV for me. I know we all hate folding to min-raises but sometimes it's the play that makes the most sense EV wise.

2. My second biggest leak is playing multi way pots when I am not the preflop raiser. I get married to too many marginal holdings. I am also a loser in HU pots when I am not the preflop raiser. The majority of my profit comes from being the aggressor and taking control of the hand. I need to learn how to hand read a little better (guess) when I am not in the betting control, and more importantly not give up the betting control unless it absolutely is more EV to do so.

3. Steal more it is printing money and my most profitable weapon.

4. I need to make sure I keep the fish in the pot when it makes sense to. Also I need to expand my ranges in EP when it is profitable to do so, and play on auto-pilot a little less (don't have too big a problem with this as I 4-table only).

5. I need to 3-bet more IP and less OOP.

6. Playing unsuited connectors is also lighting money on fire for me.

7. Fold to c-bets a little more often, especially against passive opponents. I float way too often.

Doubting myself.

2008-11-28T01:06:00.001-08:00

The last few days have been really frustrating for me and I am beginning to think I don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore. From a statistical standpoint I am falling on the short end but once you compound that with a few regular leaks running bad causing a break even streak suddenly becomes a large downswing.

I've spent a lot of time playing this game and a lot time studying it as well. This last week though I've really brought my studying to a new level and conversely this is also the lowest I've played in the past 18 months. I'm almost on the brink of dropping again to $25NL, which is downright ridiculous.

The thing is though I know what I need to do. Just need to keep playing and grinding through the variance and doing some hefty session reviews with myself. Run bad streaks suck and they're tough to get through but I will.

I hope anyone who is reading this had a fantastic thanksgiving as I can assure myself and the rest of the group did.

Best wishes,
Joshua

1-2 or bust

2008-11-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

Something that has always helped me stay focused and determined has been setting goals for myself. At the beginning of this year I decided that I wanted to be at 1-2 by the end of the year and along the way I have set and achieved, as well as failed miserably, a lot of small goals.

Well I am now setting my last goal. 150k hands, and if I am not at 1-2 I'm "giving up". I wont be quitting poker, but I am going to stop spending 9 hours a day thinking, playing, studying, and shitting poker.

As some of you may know I have been playing "professionally" since February. I did not do this out of choice but necessity. I was laid off from a job and had no notice that it was going to happen. We were actually planning on moving to another city to continue work, but over night it seemed those plans were canceled and 95% of the work crew was let go. It sucked but I knew I could find another job, and my unemployment would be able to take care of my bills until I found another decent job.

Well the decent job never came around and unemployment runs out pretty quickly. I did not end up finding a job, mostly because I did not look very hard, but our local economy doesn't really offer a plethora of opportunity either. Work at a local call center or Wal-mart. I'm not doing that...

I found that I could pay my rent with the micro stakes. at first everything went amazing. I had no problems winning and grinding out a solid hourly rate, one that was a lot more then I was making at my job before, and then something happened.

Honestly I dont really know what happened. It was after my first 1k downswing and I am guessing that it may have been due to the amount of money but it shook me a little and put my confidence at an all time low. It was when I first joined the study group and was still playing on UB. Well, I decided that I could move down in limits for a while and work on my game and since then I haven't been able to put things back together. looking at my graph since I was laid off, the past few months are pretty disheartening.

Luckily I have kept my overhead very low and have few bills. I can actually make enough in RB every month to pay my bills and get away with playing breakeven poker. But honestly I am not satisfied with this. So I am about at my end. So I have a few rules/goals that I am going to start adhering to.

1 150k hands.
2 at least 1k hands a day
3. at the most 6 tables during peak hour and four during off peak hours.
4. I will be recording almost every session I play with camtasia and will go back to talking through my hands. it helped last time.
5. I will do what I can to make no more withdrawals. I am moving my BR back over to FTP and will be sitting on a 2.3k roll.
I am going to move up to the next level with 35 buyins and take a five buy-in shot.
6.2 buy-in a session stop loss. No matter what. I will take at least a two hour break if I lose 2 buy-ins.
7. 6max only. No HU, No FR, no 2-7nl triple draw with jokers being wild. I can still play the low buy-in tournies and sunday 20$ tournies, but thats it.
8. Reviewing hands. I dont review my HH enough. I ordered something like 7 or 8 poker DVD's and books from PokerStars so I will have a lot of reading to catch up on.
9. I am going to start posting hands on CR more often, and commenting on more hands.

Here is my graph from 5/21/08. This was when I started taking poker very seriously and putting in tons of hours. I bought HEM that day

I guess the most frustrating thing about all of this is that with the amount of money that I have won from poker since then, I am still grinding the penny games.

+7.3k in cash games
+2.1k in tournament winnings
+~4.5k in bonuses/rb
+75 in 7-2 games (thanks bitches!)
= a 2k bankroll and still grinding fucking 50nl.

drunk

2008-11-23T01:59:00.001-08:00

<--- drunk

Iron Man

2008-11-20T19:52:00.000-08:00

So I think I'm going to make Iron Man this month. I have been trying to get in more hands each month and I decided by trying to get iron man it would force me to get in a lot of hands. I'm on pace for around 10k hands which for some of us isn't much but for me it is. After getting killed in October for 18 buy ins, I am doing better this month. I started off rough down 6 BIs but I am currently up 2 Bi and hope to end the month around 4 ptbb/100 despite my early struggles. I feel part of my downswing was due to playing too many hands in early posititon and have been really focusing on tightening up while at the same time, loosening up a little otb and 3betting more from the blinds. I'm fairly happy with my stats so far despite only being up a little. I hope the month finishes out strong and a good December follows. Vegas is only two weeks away!!

500 Hands of 25nl FR

2008-11-17T19:06:00.001-08:00

This gives me a chubby

2008-11-17T13:31:00.001-08:00

I'm proud of this graph.

25nl FR over the last three days.

I think I am going to stick with FR for a while. If I can continue with these results it would be silly for me not to.

and the evidence

2008-11-13T05:26:00.001-08:00

I forgot to add a graph to my last post... Here is my last five days.

november

2008-11-13T05:09:00.000-08:00

Is November cursed for poker players?!

...

2008-11-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of updates. This month has been a little bit rough. I ended last month on a great note beating 50nl for 6ptbb/100, and when I decided it was time to move up to 100nl I got absolutely crushed. Couldn't win a pot to save my life. That has carried on into this month.

So as of right now I am just getting my self headed towards even after reaching -20 buy ins. Hopefully I can get back to even soon and take shot number 2 at being a permanent resident of 100nl. Since every time you post a graph when your doing well, you seem to run bad, maybe when running bad you can post a graph and run hot as balls.

WSOP Final Table

2008-11-09T15:40:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, if any of you are interested in following the final table, here is a link for a replayer.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/november-nine/final-table/final-table/

C-Bets

2008-11-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Thanks Alvin for your analysis of c-bets the other night. I have incorporated much of what Alvin said into my game the past few sessions. It has worked out very well. It seems I am risking less money...turn play is easier.

Lets keep trying to bring up such concepts at our sessions.

Caio

Update on 60 minutes story.

2008-10-31T14:11:00.001-07:00

The story on the AP and UB scandals has been pushed back to November 9th. It is on CBS and airs at 7pm I think. Coincidence that it is the same night that they are playing the WSOP final table??

Almost 10k Hands...back to 50nl

2008-10-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

My run at 6 tabling 25nl is over as of today...My stats are below. I will now try and add some tables at 50nl...really no pressure since I am not looking at the $$$$ thingy.

I found myself dropping to 5 tables after about an hour of play...probably will do the same at 50nl. Hope they are as many fishies...it was nice being one of the better players at the table...

Ok...I peeked...6bb/100...see ya next time

New Stats Format....

2008-10-27T19:06:00.001-07:00

Stats from tonight....no cash shit!

Don't Ask ...Don't Tell

2008-10-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have permanently (translation=for now) removed $ and BB/100 from my Holdem Manager. I am so sick of checking those numbers...for the amount of hands I play in a week or month...what difference does it make.

I want to concentrate totally on good decisions and fuck the results.

Quickdate

2008-10-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

^^^ The fast way of saying "Quick Update".

Been grinding like a mad man lately. Putting in a billion and a half hours over the last few days.

Not literally of course. But I have been working on putting in a lot of time. Since my last update I've played 5k hands of 50nl. I got the graph posting curse at first and had a few really swingy session after I posted the last graph. So to avoid this I'm not going to post a graph until I hit my 50k hand mark. By then I am hoping I will be ready to move up to 100nl.

As for stats, I'm beating it for 4.75ptbb over the last 20k hands. If this continues I will be rolled for 100nl by the time I'm ready to move up.

Peace

60 Minutes Sunday

2008-10-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

I believe the 60 minutes story discussing the AP and UB poker scandals is on tomorrow night. Figured everyone would be interested.

New style=winning session

2008-10-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

So I played around a bit this afternoon with this newer style we've been tossing around in the sessions. I actually ended up playing 29/22 (yes, you read that correctly). I was targeting fish and 3betting the regs with most of my polarized hands. Holy shit does it fluster the fuck out of them!! I'm going to need to review postflop play in 3bet pots a bit with you guys as I'm sure to get into come tricky spots playing like this. I want to fiddle around a bit though with it as I do like it. My green line was up, my blue line was up, my red line was up, shit, if there was a colored line, it went up. I'm very excited to see how this plays out. Later

frustrated with tables!

2008-10-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

so i had some time this morning so i decided to fire up some tables and couldn't keep a table open for more than 20 minutes before it got amazingly bad. i was trying to 6 table and played for about an half an hour and got in only 200 hands as i spent the bulk of the time trying to get my name on new waiting lists. maybe friday mornings are bad to grind at 50nl? i was up 1.5 bi, so that was good but the whole table thing started to piss me off so i shut it down.

- ozzy

WSOP Circuit

2008-10-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Follow Alvin in WSOP

Final Table

2008-10-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

So last night didn't really feel like playing cash games so I loaded up a small buy in donkament ($2+.25, lol). Recently I have been trying to focus on playing more agro in mtt's. I have always had good results in mtt's but often have an average or lower chip stack as things start getting deep. Last night I really tried to isolate bad players and just be aggressive.

Well, I made it to the final table 6th in chips and played well. During the tournament I never got my money in behind and twice lost enormous pots as a 2:1 favorite but because I had been playing agro and building my stack I was able to absorb the hits.

We got down to 3 people, I had 175k in the SB. BB had 180k and button had 365k. Button folds and I look down at Q5o. Yes it's a bad hand but blinds are 3k/6k, BB was weak and had been folding a lot, both preflop and flop. I raise to 15450 which had been my standard raise. Deep in mtt's you just don't need to raise more than 2.5 BB's. The BB called and the flop came 55A. Obviously great for me. I lead 13500 into about 31k for a couple reasons. If he has an A I want value and by betting so small, it looks weak and I may be able to get him to do something stupid. The BB reraises to 35k. I call and check a turn 8. At this point I have put in a third of my stack and I'm trying to figure out how to get the rest in. I think he will bet here often after reraising the flop. He fires 25k into almost a 100k pot. I decide his most likely holding is some sort of weak A and since he has committed so much already, he will call a shove. So, I shove and he snap calls. I was right, he had a weak A. Unfortunately it was A5, he flopped a boat. COOLER!

They ended up only playing about 3 hands HU and it was over. I feel I played well, would have been nice to win that pot and have the chip lead essentially HU. I have yet to win a big mtt online although I have finished 2nd and 3rd multiple times. My time will come I guess. Good news is I won a couple of my buy ins back from my downswing. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.

Lugging Peaks

2008-10-21T12:54:00.001-07:00

So I spent a good four or five hours going through my HEM last night to figure a few things out. I was making a list of hands to review with Duckslayer in our next session in two weeks, and I found a few hands that were pretty pitiful. I think one leak that I have, and that we may all have, is that I tend to think that players are making moves to often. I found a few hands where I stacked of really light thinking that I was getting floated so that the player could rep a hand. Well, that wasnt the case in either scenario and I ended up getting snapped off with the nuts.

I think why I do this is I tend to think that players are thinking on my level, and then I level myself. When in fact, the players are just looking at their cards, the board and saying "I have two pair, I'm all in." This is something I am going to be working on a lot more.

Also, another "leak" that I found is playing different game types. Although I think its variance, I am getting destroyed in PL. A lot of the big losers are coolers but I resolved to stay away from these games. I am just going to play 50nl 6max. No Omaha, no PL, no HU, just 50nl (and the occasional tournament). I am goign to play 35k more hands of 50nl before deciding if I am going to move up to 100nl. By then I should have a very padded bankroll and be able to move up comfortably. So by this time next month I am hoping to move up.

Here is my 50nl stats and graph for this month.

Tilterstorms

2008-10-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Everytime I post a results oriented graph/post, I get fucked. Call it tilty, call it supersitious, call it stupid...I'm never posting results/goals/monthlies again. So my blogging was short lived huh lol. First two days back from break 2k hands down 10 buy ins :( Every fish is owning me. Over rolled or not I'm very close (2 buy ins away or so which would be my worst downswing ever) to dropping back down to 50nl!!! The hell with any monthly goals I had of having my best month ever and putting in a ton of volume. It's not gonna happen this month. The worst part about this is that I tilted away 2 buy ins needlessly and knowingly, it's stuff like that that really separates the good players and the meh. I guess I'm still in the category of meh and really don't know how to get beyond that lack of emotional control/anger I get.

So this was basically a rant blog and while I could delete it right now as I feel better already, I won't. Besides this is also kinda what the point of a blog is as well right. I hope you guys get one good thing out of this at least...being results oriented is lame. Yea I'm sucking right now but it's a small sample and I am a winner at this game...2k hands won't change that. So when you feel down remember not to focus on results so much, just keep trying to improve your game. Do what you need to do to get the bad feelings out of your system and move on...because everything and everyone else is.

Here's to a brighter future.

+1 for needlessly paying 80 bucks in fees tilt cashing out 2/3 of your online roll lol

River Bluff Raise

2008-10-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

First hand for villain...With this board and my actions...he can't call here, right?

Full Tilt Poker Game #8581324804: Table Coolidge (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:30:22 ET - 2008/10/20
Seat 1: IofNeedle ($57.80)
Seat 2: i4ni ($50.75)
Seat 3: kengur101 ($20)
Seat 4: VolleyShoot ($50)
Seat 5: tiltbot_v666 ($50)
Seat 6: pops1947 ($26.35)
i4ni posts the small blind of $0.25
kengur101 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to IofNeedle [5c Qc]
tiltbot_v666 folds
pops1947 folds
IofNeedle raises to $1.25
i4ni folds
kengur101 calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [3d Jd 9s]
kengur101 checks
IofNeedle checks
*** TURN *** [3d Jd 9s] [Th]
kengur101 checks
IofNeedle has 15 seconds left to act
IofNeedle bets $2.15
kengur101 calls $2.15
*** RIVER *** [3d Jd 9s Th] [4h]
kengur101 has 15 seconds left to act
kengur101 bets $1.50
IofNeedle has 15 seconds left to act
IofNeedle raises to $7

WTF

2008-10-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

I might spend the rest of my life 6 tabling 25nl...might be my avatar change to red head!

FINALLY!

2008-10-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

So today I really took what Josh and I said to heart. Although it was just one session, it was still a good one. I did what I was saying and I recorded my session and narrated them. I felt like this helped a lot.

I think that it helped because I am making sure that I am thinking my decisions out, articulating my thoughts and when I hear them making sure they make sense. Also, I think it helped me focus. Im realizing a problem that I have is I start to get bored when I put in long session. I am going to continue doing this and see how it helps over a decent hand sample.

For those other players that seem to be hitting a wall I really suggest this. It seems silly to sit and talk to yourself, but it has been imesneley helpful. When I go to make a move and I say "I am doing this because... well.... actually, I dont now why I am wanting to do this." I stop and dont make the move.

Common sense?!

NINJA BITCHES!!!!!!!

2008-10-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

i played a small session while i had some time at the office and ended up a good winner... i just wish i had more time as the tables i was sitting on were absolutely amazing.

in other news, FTP has a ninja avatar which i'm extremely excited about.

Update 6 Tabling

2008-10-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

What's the Muck Answer...

2008-10-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry boys....no winners this time...better prize next contest

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $50.50 | Rake $2.50
Board: [Js 6h Kd As Qs]
Seat 1: letsplaypoker13 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: B_Cant didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: BirdieBC didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: IofNeedle (button) showed [Jc Jh] and won ($48) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 5: using_it (small blind) showed [2d 2h] and lost with a pair of Twos
Seat 6: LazyEyeLou (big blind) folded before the Flop

2008-10-15T18:25:00.001-07:00
For those of you who dont know, that symbol is supposed to be a broken heart.

Today was pathetic. I'm not sure exactly what to say about it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3328791

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3328794

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3328795

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3328797

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3328803

In 2,442 hands of FR I didnt win a pot over 50bbs.

After the last few days brings me to even for the month.

What do I do?

What the Muck?

2008-10-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Guess the muck cards...win a freakin' prize

Full Tilt Poker Game #8491409829: Table Wilkins (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:44:53 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 1: letsplaypoker13 ($9.55)
Seat 2: B_Cant ($28.30)
Seat 3: BirdieBC ($11.55)
Seat 4: IofNeedle ($25)
Seat 5: using_it ($25.70)
Seat 6: LazyEyeLou ($38.95)using_it posts the small blind of $0.10
LazyEyeLou posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #4

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to IofNeedle [Jc Jh]
letsplaypoker13: lolletsplaypoker13 has 15 seconds left to actletsplaypoker13 calls $0.25
B_Cant foldsBirdieBC folds
IofNeedle raises to $1.10
using_it has 15 seconds left to actusing_it raises to $4.05
LazyEyeLou folds
letsplaypoker13 folds
IofNeedle calls $2.95

*** FLOP *** [Js 6h Kd]
using_it bets $6.70Iof
Needle calls $6.70
letsplaypoker13 stands up

*** TURN *** [Js 6h Kd] [As]
using_it bets $14.95 and is all in
IofNeedle calls $14.25, and is all in

Tough month so far

2008-10-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

So far this month I'm down 10 BIs. I'm currently on an 11 BI downswing and if you go back to the last week of September I'm actually down 14 BIs. Some of it is bad play I'm sure but the bad beat and coolers are just killing me. Talking to Alvin today helped out a bit to realize that this sort of downswing isn't too out of the ordinary but that still doesn't make it feel much better. My session tonight I dropped 3.5 BI and I should have finished up 5 BIs had the hands gone the way of the math. Anyway here is my graph so far and some hands so you can commisurate with me.

On the plus side,I'm fairly happy with my hand volume so far this month and if it continues and I run at 13 pt/bb the rest of the month, I'll break even.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3324879

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3324882

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3324885

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3324897

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3324903

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3324909

I think that's enough to get the point.

Pokahh

2008-10-14T17:21:00.001-07:00

Put in a pretty lengthy session this afternoon. Again, it did not go very well.

I started out playing 25nl. Mostly because there were no good 50nl games going. I played about 1.3k hands and ended up down 1 buy-in. It was a swingy session and couldn't get my big hands to hold. The same thing with 50nl.

I put in 900 hands and ended up -120.00. I played the pot limit games as they were super soft, but again couldn't get my big hands to hold up. I haven't been able to put in a solid winning session in the past week. Its really starting to get to me. Like Oz, my confidence is absolutely shot. Not sure what I exactly want or need to do to get this fixed, but I guess I am just going to keep grinding it out.

Here was a really tough hand from today. I think I should have either shoved the flop or folded. Of course I was leaning towards folding as I did on the turn but I really hate calling the flop and just folding to a blank turn. I think its super spewey and need to be able to fold these easier.

Villain is 18vpip 14pfr and 5.5 agf and folds to cbet only 22 percent of the time over 281 hands. I dont know if he would over value KQ or AQ here. Also, if he riases this flop with AQ he's going tob e betting the turn to protect against draws.

Maybe this is a spot where I should get the money in because of how drawy this board is. I dont know...

Full Tilt Poker Game #8488231040: Table Rizari (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 19:01:07 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 1: ddttk26 ($14.10)
Seat 2: Just Muck lt ($52.20)
Seat 3: Call me Maximus ($85.75)
Seat 4: LooseZepher ($69.80)
Seat 5: BullFrogVI ($80.35)
Seat 6: cleo93 ($50)
LooseZepher posts the small blind of $0.25
BullFrogVI posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #3

Holecards:
Dealt to Just Muck lt [   ]
cleo93 folds
ddttk26 calls $0.50
Just Muck lt raises to $2.25
Call me Maximus calls $2.25
LooseZepher folds
BullFrogVI folds
ddttk26 folds

Flop: (Pot: $5.75)
[    ]
Just Muck lt bets $3.50
Call me Maximus has 15 seconds left to act
Call me Maximus raises to $12
Just Muck lt has 15 seconds left to act
Just Muck lt has requested TIME
Just Muck lt calls $8.50

Turn : (Pot: $29.75)
[    ] [  ]
cleo93 is sitting out
Just Muck lt checks
Call me Maximus has 15 seconds left to act
Call me Maximus bets $21
Just Muck lt adds $12.05
Just Muck lt folds
Uncalled bet of $21 returned to Call me Maximus
Call me Maximus mucks
Call me Maximus wins the pot ($28.30)

SUMMARY :
Total pot $29.75 | Rake $1.45
Board:
[     ]
Seat 1: ddttk26 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Just Muck lt folded on the Turn
Seat 3: Call me Maximus (button) collected ($28.30) mucked
Seat 4: LooseZepher (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: BullFrogVI (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: cleo93 didn't bet (folded)

confidence shot...

2008-10-13T15:48:00.001-07:00

i feel like my confidence is shot... i haven't been able to really play too many hands this month, and i'm up for the month but i've found myself second guessing every spot i've been in. it's not a bad thing to really think through some decisions, but i've taken the whole "don't auto-pilot" thing to a whole new level.

i'm going to plan to do some one on one sessions with the "showmepotatosalad team" and see if i can't get my game back into gear...

- ozzy

300 hands six tabling 25nl

2008-10-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I loaded up 6 tables for the first time in a very long time...it went all right. You gotta play pretty straight forward at 25nl, so that actually helped. Think I should get pretty used to it after 25k hands...that's for sure.

Frustrating session.

2008-10-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just put in a few hands and it did not go to well. I started playing 6max which went fine. I ended up about $60 in 1k hands. The game started to get really bad so I decided to play some HU. Got two really good games going and thats when it went down hill.

The two player I were playing were terrible. It was annoying as hell losing to them. I was getting coolered all over the place. Flush over flush, seemed as though everytime I hit top pair vs the guy, he had a better top pair, or rivered two pair to go along with his bottom pair. It was sick. My last hand was AJ vs QQ on J83 board where he check min riased me and then shoved. Well I am done for the day at least.

Here is the graph. Can you tell where the HU session started?

Hand Volume

2008-10-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Spoke with JG last night...one of my major issue with poker is volume. I am not getting in enough hands. Currently, I am four tabling 50nl. JG suggested that I six table 25nl for a while.

Plan:

25k hands of 25nl six tabling
post graph once a week till end
post at least 1 HH per session

I will probably play no more than an hour without a break....wish me luck.

Of course, I have the exact opposite issue with women...