Party Poker's July Reload

I noticed today that Party Poker had decided to offer their July bonus today (ironically, JUNE 30th). Unfortunately, I am traveling to Indiana tomorrow to visit the 'rents, so that meant I either needed to clear most of the bonus today or wait until I got back. Since Kelly was going out to dinner tonight, I decided to make the bonus and to try and clear 700 raked hands playing $1/$2 limit hold'em. Past experience has taught me that 2/3 of the hands (exactly!) are raked in this game, so that meant that I need to play 1050 hands total. That's only about 4 hours of 4-tabling, no problem!

I played for about an hour at my office after I finished work for the day. I won about $30 in the quick session, which brought my stack up to $633 (a recent high point). After that, I drove home, mowed the grass, and ate dinner. I started 4-tabling around 7pm, and immediately started getting killed by suck-out after suck-out. I played really really well, almost perfect in fact, but the bad beats just kept coming. I swear that all of my AA, KK, and QQ were getting beat. I'd almost always be heads up on the turn against someone with top pair but the river would give them trips or two pair. One hand, I raised from the early position with QQ and both blinds called. They checked the flop to me (all undercards, rainbow) and I bet. The big blind called. The turn was a seven. I bet; he called. The river was a four; he bet; and I called. He turned over 74o!!! WTF? I was stuck $75 for the session at one point.

Anyway, the good news about playing solid poker is that the bad beats only SEEM like they are going to continue forever. Eventually, I started winning more hands and I clawed my way back to almost even for the session. My stack is now somewhere near $615 (after cashing out my reload + bonus).

I have essentially been chasing bonuses for the last two months. I sometimes wonder if I'd earn more if I just focused on winning at poker. I haven't cashed any real earnings in a long long time.

Loss of Focus at Party Poker

I sat down last night focused and ready to play well. Unfortunately, I first caught up on the various posts at thepokerforum.com and noticed that someone had opened a private table. My ego got the better of me and I bought into that room. It was filled with what are normally really good poker players playing like maniacs -- essentially a mine field. I decided to play tight-aggressive and I initially won a few bucks, but then I took two tough (bad?) beats and lost my whole stack.

The first bad beat was when I was dealt 92o in the BB. The flop gave me trip 2's and I checked. The long and short of it, the LAG to my left had limped with 24o and filled up when a four came on the turn. The second bad beat occurred about ten hands later when I was dealt AA under-the-gun. I figured a limp-raise was the best play here because the table was so aggressive. Unfortunately, this was about the only hand at this table that was not raised pre-flop and someone caught a flush on me. After that, I played $2/$4 limit, although I don't have the bankroll for that right now (~$570 at Party). I took a couple of tough beats early, but slowly clawed my way back near even (< $4 loss).

While doing all of this, I played $0.50/$1.00 limit hold em at Poker Stars. I played really really well at these tables. I was slowly grinding away with a decent win rate (~3 BB/100 hands) when I was dealt 88 in middle position. The hand was folded to me, so I raised it up (the tables were pretty tight) and I got four callers. This would have been very disappointing (the 4 callers, that is) except that my ideal flop came of A 8 3 (rainbow). I check-called the flop and check-raised the turn (3-ways). I forget all of the details, but I took down a > $20 pot.

My stack at Poker Stars, therefore, has been steadily climbing since I got my head out of my butt and started playing a better limit game. Simply put, I was making too many continuation bets when I flopped nothing... sometimes I would do this with multiple opponents. I am playing much much tighter post-flop, and the results are taking care of themselves. Against better opponents, I'll need to loosen up, because they will actually get a read on my style of play. But for now, these low limit opponents give me more than enough action to keep me profitable.

My stack at Poker Stars is now ~$95 and the one at UltimateBet is ~$82.

p.s. I almost forgot... I cleared my Poker Stars bonus yesterday, which I quickly withdrew. My new policy is that all bonuses are withdrawn and are not part of my "playing" bankroll. This is all about discipline, since I have noticed that I play better when I am a little short on the bankroll.

More grinding at Poker Stars

Right now, Poker Stars has a "double bonus points" promotion for all of June, in which you get double FPPs between 9 and 10 pm (Minnesota time). Needing to clear 100+ FPPs to get a $110 bonus, I decided to play 3 tables of $0.50/$1.00 hold em at Stars. I also played a single table at Ultimate Bet.

I played really really well all night, although I definitely made a few minor mistakes. Mostly though, I was grinding and slowly increasing my stack size. I was up $20 at one point, which would have been a nice win considering that I started the night with only $70 in my bankroll. Unfortunately, I lost all of that by the end of the night, all on a series of unfortunate hands. I lost with AA vs. KQo; I lost with QQ vs. 22; I lost with AA vs. J2o; and I lost with AA vs. KQs. I also lost a hand in the SB with J9s against A9o when the flop came down 9-high. I definitely played that hand too aggressively, but oh well. That's poker. I finished the night approximately even (perhaps I won one big bet or so) at Poker Stars. I did net a nice win (~$15) at UltimateBet. The total summary is that I played abotu 400 hands (an estimate), winning approximately 16 big bets. So, I really can't complain despite all of the suck-outs when I held AA and QQ.

Attacking that Poker Stars bonus

I played a little bit of $50 NL at Party Poker yesterday morning, and I played it really really well. I won $40 or so in a really short time period (maybe 50 hands? Probably not even that many!), but I felt myself lose my focus so I decided to quit the game. This was, without a doubt, one of the best poker moves that I've made in a long long time. Playing no limit, for me anyway, is a mental drain and I just get killed if I am not focused. So, after that, I decided to play limit, which I played at Poker Stars and UltimateBet. I played two-tables at Poker Stars because I still needed to clear 250 FPP's (or so) to get a $110 bonus. I also played a single table at UltimateBet (both games were $0.50/$1.00 hold em).

It's hard to believe that my Poker Stars bankroll was once $250 but at certain points yesterday... it was a mere $40. Nothing like a short bankroll to force you to play better, right? So, I played tight-aggressive and I basically hung around even for about 2 hours, all the while racking up FPP's. I was too loose or too aggressive at UltimateBet, however, and I very quickly lost $20 (out of a $70 bankroll!). I started playing tight-aggressive there too, and slowly clawed my way back to even for the night.

For whatever reason, virtually all of the action at Poker Stars happened to me in the last 10 minutes of the night. I was in the big blind with 77 when three people limped and the button raised. Without even thinking, I called. Although this was probably the correct play, I literally called without thinking and so I literally said outloud "that was a mistake", referring to the lack of thought rather than the play itself. After my thoughtless call, all of the limpers called and five of us saw the flop, which was Q Q 7.

Most low limit players like to slow play full houses, but I think that this is a HUGE mistake, especially when you flop the underfull. There are alot of bad limit players who will call a bet on the flop here with over cards or a smaller pocket pair. I suppose that they assume that you would slow play a queen. Furthermore, with the underfull, anyone with a naked queen will NOT fold EVER. In fact, they'll be convinced that they're hand is invincible and they'll raise you on the turn and river. The biggest worry, in my opinion, with flopping the underfull is when your opponent pairs his/her kicker and make the overfull. So, I play all underfulls VERY aggressively.

Anyway, in my hand, the flop and turn were both 4-bet. I bet out on the river and was raised so I simply called. I was worried that I was beat... I would have raised at Party Poker where the play is not as good, but at Poker Stars... I figured that there was a decent chance that my opponent had paired his kicker. Luckily, he had not and I took down a $22 pot. That pot represented 70% of my winnings for the night.

So, what did I learn? I learned that patience is the key. Hanging around even is a good thing because sooner or later, you'll catch that big pot and your overall session will be a good one. Loosely looking at the math, I played 300 hands at Poker Stars and I won $20-$25. That's 6-8 big bets per 100 hands, which is a very good win rate. I also have fewer than 90 FFP's to get that $110 bonus! So, it was a very good night.

Note: I used to know that patience was the key... I am trying really hard to relearn this.

Clearing the UltimateBet Bonus

I can't recall how long ago I made a deposit into UltimateBet, but I finally cleared the entirety of my $100 bonus last night. At one point, I had made more than $125 of profit beyond the bonus, but I had lost most of it. Earlier this week, I had won only ~$20 above the bonus.

Anyway, I finally finished clearing the bonus last night. I played a bunch of $0.50/$1.00 limit and I was really patient... so I had cleared a nice profit doing that. I also played a little no limit late in the night. In the last ten minutes of my session, I won $15 or so by flopping the nuts and having fish raise me. It was really weird. In one of the hands, I had a pocket pair (99, I think) and caught a set on the turn and quads on the river and was getting raised by someone with top pair. Simply amazing!

The only bonus I have left to chase now is the one at Poker Stars. Unfortunately, my stack there is back to $50 so I really don't have the bankroll to play even $0.50/$1.00. I am pretty sure that I can build it back playing low stakes no limit. I played a 7stud sit-and-go there last night and placed third. That's another way I think I can build my bankroll there. I barely paid any attention and I easily placed third. If I had played better or caught some cards, then I am pretty sure that I would have one.

Suck-outs in LA

Greetings from Los Angeles! I hate it here, but I digress.

I played a little last night and I played horribly. I bluffed off a $25 buy-in in a no limit table in five minutes. After that, I smartly went to bed.

This morning, I have been playing great but the cards have been against me. I initially doubled up, but then lost an all-in with KK against a flush-draw on the river. I just lost another big pot when a guy called a large raise preflop and a large bet on the flop with K3 suited. I had AT. Unforunately, he caught an inside straight on the turn. Crap!

Oh well, that's poker. It's about time to quit... luckily, this my last day here. Did I mention that I hate LA?

Royal Flush

I was playing alot of limit hold'em tonight and I played really well. I had a couple of bad beats; but even so, the night was profitable at Ultimate Bet, Poker Stars, and Party Poker. To compensate for some of the bad beats, I was dealt the third royal flush of my life. The really cool part of this hand was that one of the other players had a set, so it paid off really really well.


Rodrick posts the small blind of $.25.
Ulivel posts the big blind of $.50.

ssand: -- --
Triton2Toro: -- --
Gordz: -- --
Rodrick: -- --
Ulivel: -- --
tony008: -- --
kujo40: -- --
MTcowboy: -- --
sandeel: -- --
frazwood: Jh Ah

Pre-flop:

tony008 folds. kujo40 folds. MTcowboy folds.
sandeel folds. frazwood raises to $1. ssand calls.
Triton2Toro folds. Gordz re-raises to $1.50.
Rodrick calls. Ulivel folds. frazwood calls.
ssand calls.

Flop (board: 9c Qh Th):

Rodrick checks. frazwood bets $.50. ssand calls.
Gordz raises to $1. Rodrick folds. frazwood
re-raises to $1.50. ssand calls. Gordz calls.

Turn (board: 9c Qh Th Kh):

frazwood bets $1. ssand calls. Gordz calls.

River (board: 9c Qh Th Kh Ad):

frazwood bets $1. ssand calls. Gordz calls.

Showdown:

frazwood shows Jh Ah.
frazwood has Jh Ah Qh Th Kh: straight flush, ace high.
ssand mucks cards.
(ssand has 9s 9d.)
Gordz mucks cards.
(Gordz has Kc Ks.)


$.80 is raked from a pot of $17.
frazwood wins $16.20 with straight flush, ace high.

A little bit more detail

With all of the traveling that I have been doing, I have not posted a legitimate blog in sometime. I haven't played much poker either.

Anyway, I have five free minutes at work, so I thought it would be a good idea to write down my current poker thoughts.

My game is somewhere between excellent and awful, although I think it is becoming more and more excellent. I am definitely doing a better job of picking my spots preflop, but that is no big deal. My post-flop play still leaves a little to be desired, but I am getting there. My problem is that I keep trying to run-over bad players who simply will not fold. The obvious solution is to check and fold more, rather than betting and raising when I do not have a hand. Normally, people would say to bet more when I flop a good hand, but that really isn't possible. I slow play virtually nothing -- I figure that if I bet the nuts aggressively, the donkeys assume that I am bluffing since "everyone" slow plays the nuts. You'd be surprised at how well this works.

I did have a few key hands recently. The first I was in the cutoff with QTs. I raised preflop, trying to steal the blinds. The big blind re-raised me and I called. The flop came queen-high and I bet it aggressively on both the flop and the turn. The river was a ten, giving me two pair, which is better than an unimproved KK. Oops, I made a bad play at the right time.

The other key hand occurred when I was dealt JJ in mid-position. I raised and three people saw the flop, which was 10-high with a diamond flush draw. The donkey in the big blind check-raised me with just a diamond draw. The hand went three-way to the river and my jacks held up. It turns out that the third person had a diamond-draw also.

In the "bad news" department, I just lost a big hand when I flopped a set of eights against a flush-draw that hit. Sooooo disappointing, even though I played the hand absolutely correctly.

Hardly any time to play

I have hardly had any time to play lately. I had a bad stretch of limit hold em, especially at UltimateBet, but I am slowly building my stacks at the various sites.

I spent the weekend in the Arrowhead, looking at waterfalls and fishing with my dad in the Boundary Waters. We caught a bunch of smallmouth bass, which was great, but I lost the two biggest fish of the day. One was a 3+ lb smallmouth that I lost at the canoe (so I don't feel bad... this just saved me the work of unhooking it) but I didn't even see the other one.

Long time, no blog

I have been travelling far too much lately. I was in Atlanta last week and in Green Bay over the weekend. I am traveling to Virginia today. That has left very little time for poker. I played for a couple of hours last night. I lost $30+ at Party Poker playing no limit while not really paying attention. I played some more at Ultimate Bet, winning a few bucks. I am playing right now at UB, and I am getting my butt kicked. I probably shouldn't be playing -- I'm dog tired.

Ahhh... no limit

Greetings from Atlanta! Wow, I do not like this city. Everywhere I go, I am accosted by guys asking me for money. The situation is even worse than New Orleans! My one friend claimed that one panhandler was trying to convince her that God had sent her straight to him so that she could give him dollar. Unfortunately for this guy, however, my friend is a Buddhist and doesn't believe in his Christian god. I suppose my other big problem is that I miss my wife. I can't look at a pregnant woman without getting homesick! Very strange.

Anyway, I paid for a day of crappy wireless service from my hotel, and I have been playing some damn good no limit hold 'em.... mostly at Party Poker, but now at Poker Stars too. I have been buying in the $50 NL rooms for $25 at Party and then playing tight-aggressive. I have had several winning sessions in a row. At Stars, my bankroll is seriously small (started at $53 today), so I have been playing their $0.05/$0.10 no limit rooms (max buy-in = $10).

I have seen some absolutely awful play at these tables. For example, after I started writing this blog, I tripled up on this hand:

PokerStars Game #1853077315: Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10) - 2005/06/07 - 19:15:03
Table 'Phoenix II' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: dk719mac ($9.35 in chips)
Seat 2: 21chew ($11.10 in chips)
Seat 3: stantheman43 ($9.90 in chips)
Seat 4: Qbertness ($8.45 in chips)
Seat 5: Mirlucky ($14.80 in chips)
Seat 6: frazwood ($7.40 in chips)
frazwood: posts small blind $0.05
dk719mac: posts big blind $0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to frazwood [Kd Ks]
stantheman43: raises $0.10 to $0.20
Mirlucky: calls $0.20
frazwood: raises $0.60 to $0.80
dk719mac: raises $4.20 to $5
stantheman43: calls $4.80
frazwood: raises $2.40 to $7.40 and is all-in
dk719mac: calls $2.40
stantheman43: calls $2.40
*** FLOP *** [Kh 7h 4d]
dk719mac: bets $1.95 and is all-in
stantheman43: calls $1.95
*** TURN *** [Kh 7h 4d] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Kh 7h 4d 9d] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
dk719mac: shows [Js Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Fours)
stantheman43: mucks hand
dk719mac collected $3.75 from side pot
frazwood: shows [Kd Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Fours)
frazwood collected $21.30 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $26.30 Main pot $21.30. Side pot $3.75. | Rake $1.25
Board [Kh 7h 4d 9d 4h]
Seat 1: dk719mac (big blind) showed [Js Jc] and won ($3.75) with two pair, Jacks and Fours
Seat 2: 21chew folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: stantheman43 mucked [Ts Td]
Seat 4: Qbertness folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Mirlucky (button) folded before Flop
Seat 6: frazwood (small blind) showed [Kd Ks] and won ($21.30) with a full house, Kings full of Fours

I am not sure how well I played this hand considering that a big raise like that pre-flop plus a call usually means that one of them has AA. In the end, I had the second-nut, but I didn't really even need that.

A brief time away from no limit

Despite my renewed confidence and enthusiasm for no limit hold 'em, I have returned to playing $1/$2 limit. The reason? Party Poker initiated their monthly reload bonus early this month. Because I am going to be in Atlanta all of next week, and I may or may not have internet access in my hotel room... I have been 4-tabling $1/$2 limit. I believe that this is the fastest way to play raked hands. I have been keeping close tract of my poker stats lately, and I know that I 2/3 of all hands at this level are raked. I might play a little $0.50/$1.00 so I can figure out the fraction of raked hands there too.

Anyway, I deposited $600 to get a $150 bonus. So, that means I need to play about 1575 hands before I leave tomorrow. I'll have a little time when I return on Thursday, so maybe I don't need to play all of those hands, but I am going to try. So far, I've played a little over 1000.

The really really good news is that I have been winning while playing all of these hands... nothing better than chasing a bonus AND winning some cash while you do it. My win rate is some sort of ridiculous 7-8 big bets per 100 hands.

That's all for now, it's time to mow the grass before it rains.

Back to no limit!

I played almost exclusively no limit last night at Party Poker. I did play a little at Poker Stars, managing to lose a decent chunk of my stack. My stack there is now down to $50, which is sad because it was once $250. It's time to sink back to the $0.25/$0.50 tables there.

My no limit experience was interesting to say the least. The best part and worst part of no limit is that you don't have leaks, you have gaping holes. My big no limit flaw is my inability to fold a decent (not great) hand. For example, I raise from the button with AK, a limper and the big blind call. The flop comes down A J T, with a flush draw. The big bling checks, the limper goes all-in and I call. I figure that the limper has JT, but I call anyway. Unfortunately, the big blind also calls. My read here was correct; the limper had JT, and the big blind had a flush draw. The big blind won the hand when I got two pair, which completed his flush. I misplayed a couple of other hands, all resulting in either splitting large pots or me losing my stack.

Despite these bad plays, I would almost always grind my way back to even. This gives me hope, because I feel like I can beat these no limit tables right now. I merely need to plug a few holes and I'm there. One of the solutions that I have been considering is to buy in for only 50% of the maximum buy-in. This will cut my risk in half, but not drastically affect my win potential. My game plan is controlled and tight-aggressive, so I win alot of small pots but very few big pots (obviously, big pots are more difficult to win).

I tried this idea out earlier today, playing the $50 NL 6-max at Party Poker, buying in for only $25. Ironically, I doubled up on the first orbit when my KK went all-in against JJ pre-flop. I played the hand really well... UTG raise 6 times the BB, so I figured that he had a hand, but not one that he wanted alot of action. So, I re-raised all-in. I really didn't want a call, but he did. I was very unhappy to see an ace on the turn, but no jack came. I continued to play well, and didn't make any stupid mistakes.

Right now, I am passively (i.e., doing something else too) playing 7stud at Poker Stars. There is a total fish at the table who likes to raise every time that he catches an ace. It is almost comical. Hopefully, I can beat this table and grind my way up to a decent bankroll there.

Still working on my camping journal

For all zero of my readers, I promise to post my camping journal soon enough. I have about 30% of it typed. Today's big activity was touring day care facilities. Wow, this is a big decision!

Poker yesterday was interesting. I have almost lost all of my stack at Pacific Poker, and I really don't care. I continued to lose at Poker Stars. My stack there was once $250 and it is now down to $85 or so, which includes a good night there playing 7-card stud. I think that I am going to try and focus on my stud game there. The structure rewards tight-aggressive play, and the pots at the $0.50/$1.00 limit games were big enough to get me FPP's often enough.

I played a little bit at Party and at Ultimate Bet yesterday too. I think I netted a small profit at Party Poker, including some good play at the $25 NL tables. I had one bad hand where I went all-in preflop with JJ (against KK) and lost $25. I grinded the rest of the time and I made up for that stupid mistake. So, I am now optimistic about playing no limit again. I have been keeping track of my win rate, and I think that if I plug my "pre-flop all-in with crap" leak... that I can beat that game.

Long time, no blog

I spent the weekend camping in Canada; I hope to post my travel log here as soon as I have it written. For now, back to the poker.

I have just been getting absolutely killed at both Party Poker and at Poker Stars. My stack at Poker Stars is now a measly $62. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. It seems like I am always dealt crap, and whenever I have a hand... I am up against a bigger hand. Oh well, this is just a short blog for now. I have to get back to work.