O-Poker

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...."

I think that describes this week vs. last week pretty well. I got off to a rough start in the 50K Hands Challenge (click here for 50k hands details) thanks to running horribly. Patience pays off. This week, I think I ran normal, got in a ton of hands (for me) and played great (and won 13+ buy-ins). I lost a few pots were I was a big favorite, but probably not many more than would be expected. I ran a set into an overset when both me and my opponent were deep. None of this phased me this week. I was able to shake off the beats and move on without a second thought.

I was in a zone over the weekend. Things were clicking on all levels. I felt like I was making the right decisions most of the time - proper bet sizing, making tough laydowns, making tough calls when things seemed a little fishy, causing players to commit on draws when they have incredibly horrible odds, etc., etc.

I even decided to try to 6 table on my 17" laptop when I had no distractions. I probably played 2-3 hours while 6 tabling and was able to focus and play well. I have always had problems with more than 4 tables in the past.

Another thing that I did was make some adjustments for 1/2nl. A lot of the adjustments would be -EV at 2/4 or 5/10, but were clearly +EV at certain 1/2nl tables. I often found myself sitting at a table with a ton of calling stations. Raising and three betting didn't work well, so I found myself floating a ton and then shutting down if I missed. These guys would call you all the way down with 3rd pair, so when I hit I would keep betting hard. I, also, flat called a lot more in position instead of three betting and then tried to outplay opponents on the flop with position on them. I'll try to get into a few examples of the difference in play between 1/2 and 2/4 in the next few days.

50K Hands Challenge
1/2nl
Hands Goal - 25,000 hands in 1 month; 5 ptbb/100
Hands Current - 10,017 hands; 4.64 ptb/100
Total current profit/loss = +$1,857.20

I am on track with the number of hands and the ptbb/100 should increase from here. I was just shy of 10ptbb/100 for the hands since last week.

A few hands - I'll try to post more later in the week. There were several that I wanted input on but they kind of got lost in the mix while I was 6 tabling.

This hand is a good example of slowing down to keep the pot smaller and letting a player that likes to bluff keep betting into the pot. The preflop betting is standard. On the flop, I made a smaller bet to try to induce a big raise with a hand like AK or KQ (both well within his range). I didn't think that he had a flush draw because he had a raised the flop in the past with draw. I decided to check-call with the intention of getting a lot in on the river. If I re-raised him on the turn or lead out big, I was probably losing any action. The river was a scare card for me. A10 was definitely a possibility based on how he played the hand. I check called figuring that I was ahead. There was no reason to bet the river. If I bet, he was folding most hands that I beat and raising me with most hands that beat me. If I checked, he might bluff at the pot. I checked and he made an odd bet for him. He usually bet pot on the river with a hand that he thought would get paid off. He was bluffing with his gutshot. I think that slowing down and allowing him to control the pot paid off well here. (A case of knowing your opponent - against some other players this might have been an easy lay down.)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1364910

Another example of letting an aggressive opponent bet your hand for you.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1364940

These two hands at the same table in the same session were the start of digging out of the hole from last week.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1364948 - Standard - KK holds up against JJ.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1364943 - I was priced in, never disguised my hand and still got paid off - cooler for the other guy.

Dem Quads Bitches!!!! Over re-raising for value. There is no way that I would make this size raise against a lot of opponents when this deep. It would be -EV. I had played the hand so weak on all streets that I didn't think he could put me on the a full house and his min raise on the river screamed incredible strength to me. I over shoved thinking that this guy would call the shove with a full house or an Ace or King high flush. I was shocked at the call, but didn't mind it. :)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1364952

A Shot of me trying to 6 table - It is still a little mind numbing for me right now.


Graph - 50k Hands Challenge to date (since 8/1) The thing that I like best about the graph is that it looks like the graph of a good stock - higher highs and higher lows.


FTOPS

I wound up directly buying into FTOPS Event #3 - $216 PL Holdem. Nothing exciting happened and I busted out a couple of hours in with top two vs. a set.

I am looking forward to the FTOPS Event $7 -$1k 6 max. I satellited in a couple of weeks ago. This is the FTOPS event that I am the most excited about, especially now that I am getting back into the rhythm of 6 max games. It should be a tough field and the winner will have to get lucky/not unlucky, but it should be fun!!

Good Luck to everyone playing tonight.