O-Poker

I played 3 tourneys tonight and didn't cash in two of them but wound up taking third in the $55 6 max NL tourney on Pokerstars. It was a very long final table, especially for 6 max - about 1 1/2 hours from the start of the FT until my bustout. Three handed it became a crapshoot and I got it in with KQs vs. 66 with no help. I'm disappointed at not closing it out, but I'll take the $1k for 3rd.

Going to bed now.....I'll try to go through some of the interesting hands tomorrow.

I haven't even put in 1k hands yet at $0.50/$1.00 nl, but have noticed quite a few big differences in the play. There, also, seems to be quite a difference between the play at FTP and the play at pokerstars, but this is probably just due to the small sample size. (I'll put up a post about the difference in play between sites if I notice the differences continuing.)

Differences between 100nl and 200nl

1. Thereis a ton more limping. I have seen hands that go - UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, CO and button limp, sb limps, BB raises pot, everyone folds. I was also at a table the other night, where everyone limped, I raised 9x from the SB and everyone called. I may limp-cold call stat to my HUD. I'm not sure if there is a limp-fold stat or not, but if there is then I will probably add that one too.

2. There are a lot more passive players. I have seen more players with 50-70% VPiP/0%-10% PFR than ever before - sometimes 2 players like this at the same table. I had one guy at a table the other night that had a VPiP around 85%, a PRF of 0%, and a FCB of 0%. He always called any flop c-bet and either folded the turn to a bet or made a pot sized bet if checked to. I was amazed to see a couple of people gift him stacks, when his play seemed so transparent.

3. There isn't near as much 3 betting with a couple of exceptions. In general, if someone was 3-betting then they usually had a very strong hand. I did run into a few people that had obviously watched one too many LAGgy coaching vids (3 betting way too much) and didn't understand when other players were adjusting and how to adapt to those adjustments.

4. You need to find a way to note the regulars. There are definitely some good regulars playing 100nl and it helps to make a note of who they are. There are so many more good games to choose from at 100nl. You shouldn't be sitting at a table with some of the better players at the limit, unless there are some fish at the table that you are targeting.

I'm going to try to start saving some hands to illustrate some of the differences.

I have been running/playing horribly for a while now. I think it is time to go back to basics.

The last week has been a little brutal over a relatively small amount of hands. I am up 4.5 buy-ins on pokerstars and down 8 buy-ins on FTP during that same time. I think FTP doesn't like me. :)

The downswing has gotten me thinking a lot. I used to rely on poker for some extra income, but the extra dollars haven't been coming lately - at a time when I could use them the most (starting the new business). The business is set up so that I don't need the extra income, but it would definitely help make things easier.

I'm going to play 100nl for the next 30 days and see how things go. I'll post updates/hands as I go. I'm not going to play any mtt over $55 unless I satellite in. It is a little humbling to drop down to 100nl, but it doesn't bother me like I thought it would. I need to re-tool and re-focus.

I am pretty sure there will be an initial adjustment period at 100nl since I haven't ever really played 100nl regularly. I have watched a few 100nl vids and the games seem a lot more passive than the 200nl and 400nl games.

I'm still alive. It has been hectic getting the new business up and running. We've landed some work and the money should start flowing in soon. I still feel like I'm in limbo because we are in temporary office space until the end of the month when the current tenants move out of our new space.

I haven't had much time for my usual blog reading, forum reading, or posting and haven't played much poker other than a few turbo WCOOP poker sats here and there for a break.

For those wondering what exactly I do - it is construction estimating for owners/developers/etc. I mainly work on large commercial construction projects and renovations as a consultant. Great time to start a new business in this field, huh? :) Really, though, we needed to go out on our own and the timing just happened to be at, hopefully, the bottom or near the bottom of the market. If we can make it work now (and on paper it does) then we should be in an awesome position once the market turns.

Next post will definitely be poker related...........

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

I have worked for da man for the last 14 years. Today is the first day of my new work career!!!

I am now my own boss. All I have to worry about now is figuring out how to get enough work to pay da bills. :)

It is going to be a hectic week, but I should be able to get back to posting about poker by early/mid next week.

It looks like someone got to Scotty Nguyen and he finally put together a decent apology. He sounds like he meant it, even if he is just sorry for the damage it has done to his reputation.

No, not to play poker.

Sorry, for the very long delay between posts. Things have been hectic, to say the least.

I have worked for the same company since I graduated from college 14 years ago. I can't get into all the details here, but my last day is September 9th. Another guy and me are starting our own company. I am a little nervous and a lot excited.

More details to follow........

Oh, yeah. I hope to get back to regular poker posts soon. I may have some free time after Septh 9th.