Happy New Year

Just a quick post to wish every one a happy new year.

I'll post my review of 2007 and my aims for 2008 tomorrow.

All the very best for 2008

General Update

Hope everyone had a good Christmas.

I was down at my parents for 4 days and didn't even have a PC to look at. the break did me a world of good. Not sure about all the food and drink though. The usual January health kick is looming fast.

Played a bit of poker since I've been back and have started mixing in a 50NL table into my play. I'm not going to make the jump permanently to NL probably until February just want to test myself a bit and see how I go.

There's a couple of forum links below about moving up in stakes - one I posted and another one posted by Verneer which as usual is a quality post from him. I'll be taking on board some of what he says. Most things I already do but the other's such as playing some HU is something I'll consider doing. Need to watch some HU video's 1st though as never really played any: -

http://www.cardrunners.com/members/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=228420&page=1#Post228420

http://www.cardrunners.com/members/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=228626&page=0#Post228626

One thing I did manage to do whilst I was off was read most of Professional No Limit Holdem. There are some interesting concepts in there which I need to look into further but the book was impressive.

Poker Tracker Problems

Thanks for the comments and advice after my last post, I'll certainly take alot of what was said on board.

I've spent most of this week watching video's by various people - CTS, Fabian, Fruity Pro amongst others. I still plan on watching alot more and re watching the ones I've already watched in more detail.

I also had a go at makong a video this week but I had a couple of technical issues with sound running quicker than the pictures and also PA Hud Stats not showing but I think I have resolved these so will have another go very soon. Hopefully tomorrow but I have issues with Poker Tracker at the moment and don't want to play any where without having PT/PA HUD available. Hopefully Poker Tracker Support will help me resolve what's going on.

I've played a bit today but have started getting error messages popping up every time PT updates and nothing is going into my database. It got to the point where I can no longer play. I've started Datamining and palying at Full Tilt in the past couple of weeks by way of a change whether thats the cause I don't know.

I'm not at work now until 02nd January, and am going down to my parents who live on the South Coast of England on Christmas Eve for Christmas.

Hope everyone has a good Christmas.

Poker Plan Until Christmas

Basically due to Work Committments and also a couple of other reasons mainly the fact that I need to do some serious game study, I have basically decided that I am going to take a break from Cash Games until after Christmas. I may play the odd MTT/Sit & Go

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm reasonably happy with my Pre Flop Game, I have serious issue's and leaks Post Flop which I need to do a lot of work on before taking the game seriously again in the new year. I have the bank roll to move up to 50NL but until I am happy with what I am doing Post Flop on all street's then I am not going to move up.

My plan for Studying at the lower limits is to watch and study as as many of the lower limit video's as I can probably starting with Brystmar's, Fruity Pro's and Verneer's video's. By studying, I fully intend to watch each video 2/3 times. I also plan on reading all the microstakes/Low Limit forum threads at contributing when I can.

One more thing I am going to try and have a go at is making a video tomorrow. Hopefully it will bring up some situations that are causing me the problems I am having post flop.

Finally, I am going to do a serious Poker Tracker analysis of my own game together with any player who I have over 100 hands recorded to try and get a more detailed idea as to how they play and try and spot any trends/patterns in there play.

General Update

Not really played that much this month so far but am slightly up for the month not that I'm overly bothered by results.

I'm generally trying to play with more discipline post flop although the 1st hand below kind of goes against that.

I'm using this month as a serious month for studying the game with a view to hitting the ground running in January. Would like to be moving back up to 50NL by next month but if I'm not ready then so be it and I'm not in any particular hurry.

Here's a couple of hands: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1794907

You'd think I'd have got the message here by the Turn but still decided to call the River for what reason I have no idea but it must have been obvious that he had a 5 at least. I have no stats on him.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1788598

I'm happy with how I played this hand up to the Turn but having had my pre flop raise called and also being called on the flop, the other player bet out the turn which made me think I was behind or he had the Flush Draw.

I wasn't considering calling as this would have pretty much left me committed on the River. My options as I saw it were to fold or Raise which would have had to have been an all in shove. I ended up folding as I didn't thing that a pair of J's with possible flush draws was a strong enough hand to continue with.

Is my line correct here or would anyone have played it differently.

His stats are 17.86/8.33

I posted the above hand on the CR forum and got conflicting replies. I have 2 people including Verneer saying I should have called but someone else saying the fold is fine. This is the type of hand that gets me into trouble of late. As I wasn't sure about it I decided to fold.

Examples of The Problems I Get Into Post Flop

Following on from my last post, thanks for the comments, you are all pretty much spot on in what you say, I am losing a lot of big pots of which the hand below is a good example of where I'm going wrong: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1770409

Now I think I played this pretty poorly from the flop but it sums up pretty well some of the issues I'm having post flop at the the moment. Looking back, I think I should have bet out the flop but thought I was well ahead at this point so checked with a view to Check Raising if he'd bet out. Then on the Turn, I again checked which was a bit stupid and my check raise was not high enough. On the River, I knew he had the flush but decided to make the call any way. I need to learn to lay down this type of hand. His Stats are 30.64/5.96.

November's Results

Ok I'm going to be brutally honest here, I have not been looking forward to making this post but whatever this month is now over for me and it is what it is, I can't do anything about it.

I am going to split the Poker Tracker Stats into 2 different sets - an overall post and also stats since we had our 1st group session with Verneer as since this session I have finally started playing at 18/16 and for the most part have not had any real problem in keeping at these levels. Why it took so long I don't know but at least there is a positive to come from this month: -

Graph For Month



Not really too much too say here. The month had a bad start which I recovered from and then had an absolute nightmare before recovering a bit at the end. The main cause of the down swings is my Post Flop Play, it is a major leak in my game at the moment and is going to need a lot of work over the next few weeks to get it do the Standard Required to play solid ABC Winning Poker.

Poker Tracker Stats For The Month



As this shows for the month I have been playing 15.86/14.44 which is still a bit low overall although as I will show shortly, I have been playing at 18/16 lately which is where I think I can sustain it before moving up to aroung 20/18 which is ultimately where I want to be at the lower limits.

The thing that jumps out at me here is the Flop Aggression Factor it looks way out of line and will probably explain why I'm having problems post flop although I'm not too sure what the optimum level is.

Position Stats For November



For the month these show that I am positionally aware in that I am playing less hands as I move further away from the button. The Cut Off is definitely too low and maybe Middle Position is slightly lower than it should be.

Poker Tracker Stats Since Session With Verneer





Since that 1st session which I got so much out of, I have been playing at 18.03/16.59 which I want to sustain and consolidate for a couple of months whilst working on other area's of my game. Again, I need to increase my VPIP from the Cut Off and MP at the same time I may need to reduce the hands I'm playing from the SB.

Action Plan For December

I've specifically not set any goals for December because I want to focus in the main on working on my game especially Post Flop as too me this is where I am losing most of my money. The area's I want to work on include: -

• Considering Table Image so that this becomes Second Nature
• Post Flop Play in general needs a total overhaul in particular the following: -

1. Stop getting attached to strong pre flop hands post flop
   
2. Reign in my c-betting a bit. I think I am probably c-betting too much
3. Sort out my play on the turn as more often than not I am not too sure what to do here.
4. Take my time when face with a big decision. I act very quickly and need to slow down
   

Over the course of the next few days, I am going to watch as many Card Runner's Videos as I possibly can at 100NL and below in particular paying attention to Post Flop Play. If any one has any other suggestions as to where I can look to improve my Post Flop Play, let me know it will be very much appreciated.

This may sound a bit stupid, but I am going to treat November as a necessary Step backwards to move forward over the long term.

Starting to Get Annoyed

Just played for an hour or so and am starting to get seriously annoyed by my inability to win a hand. Lost 3 big hands which I've posted below. Other than these hands my biggest loss was $3 which was a c-bet called. There's no comments necessary I just need to vent my anger somewhere. 2 Outer's on the River, Sets running into flushes and Aces being cracked which I think is the only one of these I may have got away from but unlikely. Whats really annoying is that I'm not playing that badly but just am not getting anywhere and this month is a total disaster.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1746924

The other player has got similar stats to me and looking back I could possibly have put him on AK but it was looking more likely to me that he had KK/QQ. I've just run this through Poker Stove and when the money went in I'm an 82.323% favourite which is good enough odds for me. After the turn, this had turned to 90.91%.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1746947

I think I could maybe have read him for a set here especially as the board was totally unthreatening but maybe I'm clutching at straws. He's playing 26.47/10.86

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1746964

I kind of knew he had the flush on the turn here and this is possibly where I could have layed this down but for me this is a tough spot as I'm never too sure what to do in these situations. I hadn't been at the table for long at this point and had no reads.

Sorry for all the negative posting lately hopefully things turn around soon. I've got three days to gain a bonus after that I'm taking a break for a few days.

A few Hands and General Ramblings

So much for the regular updates. Was going to post about the embarrassment of an England Football Team but if those Over paid and over hyped prima donnas aren't prepared to put any effort in I don't see why I should waste my time posting about them.

I've not really played that much this week until yesterday which wasn't the greatest success in the world but things haven't been going too bad of late so can't complain too much.

Any way yesterday I played 1000 hands and lost 3 buy ins. For some reason I had trouble with players I normally have no problem with whether I am easy to read I'm not sure but it might be the case. I've been playing on the Crypto Network for some time now and there are alot of regulars on there. Think I might try a new site next month if I can find somewhere which will give me rakeback I will come back to Crypto because the bonuses and Rakeback are good but I need to take a break from there. I wanted to play alot more hands because I had the day off but in the end decided enough was enough. Any way here's some hands that did the damage some of which need no comment and are posted as a note to myself: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733644

This was probably a bad read by me. I had just took a pot from him on another table when he pushed with an Underpair to the board on the flop. In this hand, I never even considered he might be playing a suited connector from utg and raising with it I had him on an overpair to the board. Obviously that will now come into my thinking with this player. His stats are 18.83/9.62 over 239 hands. That being said, flopped set against flopped straight not sure there's any getting away from this especially with my misread.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733654

This hand and the next one are kind of similar in that the same player flopped a set against my premium hand and I was obviously in a charitable mood and decided to pay him off. I have to learn to fold AA/KK post flop otherwise I will never progress my game to the next level. On this hand I don't think I 3-bet enough on the flop not that he was going anywhere but with the nut flush draw coming on the turn I think the money was going in at some point. Is there any way I can get away from this. His stats are 21.33/11.9

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733666

With this hand, I should have bet more on the flop but I think I should have learnt from the previous hand with this player and obviously didn't.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733671

This hand was on an I-Poker skin and I basically decided to become a calling station for some reason. This should have been an easy fold by the turn and certainly on the river because I am not beating a great deal if anything and I knew that at the time but still decided to carry on calling. His stats are 35.94/10.94

On the hole I played badly yesterday and thought I'd stopped doing some of the things I was doing in the last three hands I have posted but slipped back into old habits.

I'm going to have a go at making a video over the weekend which should be enlightening.

Changing My Game

This week, the Group I'm involved in had a Session with Verneer and Hookem148 which was a really good session and from my point of view invaluable and has given me an insight into the level of thinking that is required to be a successful winning player and where I want my game to be. In particular, there was a discussion at the end of the session on 3-betting which I kind of lost half way through.

The session also identified certain situation's where I was missing out on because I was folding but he was exploiting and I have finally been able to open my game up since then by not doing much different but at the moment I am getting more respect at the tables and I think the penny has dropped on this one, about time!

When I post my results at the end of the month, I'm going to do a comparison of my play from before the session with Verneer and Brian and afterwards and I'm hoping I see a fundamental difference.

Most of what I got out of the session was related to Table Image and how fundamentally important it is here are some of the key points I picked up: -

Table Image

• Be aware of Table Image at all times. This was something I knew about but hadn't really brought into my game at all as I felt it wasn't relevant at the levels I'm playing at. However, this is a mistake and it is something I am now conciously thinking about and hopefully before long it will become second nature.
• The importance of Changing Gears and doing the opposite of how you were playing at the start of the session i.e. if playing loose initially tighten up and playing tight loosen up. This is probably going to take a bit of time to bring into my game as I don't feel its a very easy thing to do.
• Someone's 1st impression of you as a player tends to be what they remember and you can take advantage of this.

General Points Made

• Playing re raised pots is a big weakness
• Punish limper's in position
• The Use of Blocker Bets
• Playing for Stack's alot of the time with sometimes marginnal hands against Shortstacks.
• Hands like QJ/ Weak Ax are trouble hands
• AJS doesn't play well post flop
• A & K high flops are good flops to c-bet with as people can't call unless they have the Ace/King. I thought this was the reverse so will see how this goes. Obviously if meet with resistance shut down
• Playing Re Raised Pots is a big weakness unless you have a good hand

There may be other things I missed but these were the main area's for me that I got out of the session and my interpretation of his comments. I hope that we can do some more of these as a group.

Aside from this, myself and Willie also got in a sweat session this week and its something I think we're going to try and do on a regular basis. Neither of us really got into any difficult situations but over time we should be able to help each other as we have totally different playing styles.

Finally I have got out of the habit of blogging and my updates have become more and more infrequent so from now on I am going to try and post an update 3 times a week.

Knowing When to Take A Break

It seems to be a week for blog posts about the Psychological aspects of the game or in the blogs I've read anyway and I'm going to continue that theme.

Last weekend, I was really struggling and starting to force things a bit, making some really bad decisions and basically playing like an idiot i.e. starting to do something I don't do very often and tilt.

As a result of this, I took a break for a few days and its done me a world of good and I'm a totally different player from the one that I was earlier in the week and I feel that over the past couple of days I've played some of the best poker I've played in a while.

This leads me onto the point I'm trying to make. In the past when I go through spells like this - too frequently for my liking, I've tried to play through them hoping things would turn round.

I now realise that this is a big mistake and not playing in these circumstances is a better option.

I also play most days of the week and I'm going to make sure from now on that on one day of the week at least I do not play at all to give my self an enforced break.

I've not really though too much about the psychological aspect of poker in the past but its something I'm going to really look into and consider from now on.

Hopefully I'll have some hands to put up in my next post as I'm not at work until Wednesday.

Can I Start November Again?

So far this month has been pretty horrendous. I've contrived to lose 4 buy ins so far. This is obviously mostly through bad play on my part because I guess I could have got away from some of the hands I lost money with but some of them I don't think I could have done much about.

At least I've got time to recover from this but I was hoping for another solid month and then to move back up to 50NL. This is going to set back those plans because its going to be tough to get back at 25NL.

Anyway here's a couple of hands, which I've also posted on the CR forum: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1661981

The other player in this hand is playing at 50.30/23.08 and I made a bad read here as I thought he was drawing to the flush. I think I should have pushed on the turn. Also, what does the Min bet on the flop mean is he trying to enduce a bet from me?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1661998

Is this a bad call on the flop. Should I have let this go and waited for a better spot. This goes back to problems I keep having with over valuing top pair The other player is playing at 37.5/5.77.

The other hands where I lost significant amounts are hands where I don't think I could have done much about them so there's not much point in posting them.

A Month In Review & November Targets

Ok here goes with this month's review of my play.

On the whole its not been a reasonable month as the graph shows. I could have used a bit of consistency from hand 2,000 to 12,000 but on the whole its not too bad. Another month like this combined with bonuses/Rakeback and I should be able to move back up to 50NL: -



With regards to my actual play, my VPIP is still too low at 14.89 butfor the last week or so I have been playing at about 17 so hopefully I'm close to getting this figure somewhere near where it should be. The one thing that stands out to me from my position stats is that my VPIP from the cut off needs to be 5% higher at least: -





I will do a similar PT analysis as I did last month at the weekend when I have more time. Hopefully I've fixed some of the leaks that I discovered although some of them are ongoing area's to work on.

November Goals

• Play a minimum of 15K hands at a VPIP of 16 with a BB/100 of 4.00.
• For every 2 hours I play, study the game/analyse my sessions for 1 hour. This was recommended in a recent video. I think it was Fruity Pro's last video but I'm not 100% sure.
• Work on my Post Flop game because at times I feel that I don't maximise my potential winnings and also where I am liable to lose alot of money at times.
  
• Watch all the CR Cash Video's and do a detailed review of the low stakes video's in the SSNL Grinder's Group Page.
  
• Actively participate in the Group Sessions.
• Be more active in the CR Forum particularly the Small Stakes NL Forum bot h with the posting of hands and responding to other threads.
• Update my blog on a more regular basis.
  

Quick Update

I've not really played much this week for a number of unforseen - Car trouble and Severe Hangover mainly although I'm hoping to put that right today and will do a proper update later today or tomorrow.

Who Needs Consistency?

Well I do, I just can't seem to string a decent run of sessions together. One day good the next not so good. At times I can't help thinking I don't make life easy for my self: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1610807

I think I could/should have got away from this hand on the flop to the all in re raise. I think its pretty obvious he had a set. He's playing 48.33/30.09.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1610814

This player was playing at 63.45/0.00 and was just annoying as he was such a bad player but I kept donating to him trying to bust him. I got guilty here of playing the player as opposed to the situation. The issue I have with this hand is my regular problem of calling river bets when behind. Will I ever learn!!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?161082

This guy bought in short and I basically felt he was playing with filth trying to double up. I have no stats on him as he'd only been at the table a few minutes but was in every hand. I think I have to wait for a better opportunity here as I also have nothing here post flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1610829

Ok here I think I have to bet out the turn and fold the river with a paired board and a possible straight draw. He's at 23.36/14.58.

Overall, I don't think I am playing that badly and know the area's I need to improve as these are where I am losing most of my money. If I can sort these out I think I will see a marked improvement in my results not that I'm results orientated I just want to improve my bankroll and I'm just treading water at the moment

• Overvaluing Top Pair
• Overvaluing Premium Hands Post Flop at the end of the day there only 1 pair
• Stop making hero River Calls when I'm pretty sure I'm behind - I act too quickly and need to take my time a bit more
• My vpip is still too low but I think I have more pressing issues at the moment
  

I'm going to have to come up with some personal guidelines to help me with the top three so that I can get myself into a routine and eradicate these leaks from my game sooner rather than later.

A Backward Step

I'm currently in the middle of what is an all to regular downward run which has seen me lose 6 buy ins over the past week. And the month had a good start to it as well.

I'm happy with my game at the moment and know that there's a couple of things I need to eradicate as there major leaks - Over valuing Top Pair and also Making really stupid calls on the River when I know I'm behind or even worse than that reraising.

Anyway here's a few of the hands that have caused my downswing: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1601585

One scenario that seems to be happening to me at the moment is that I am constantly being minimum reraised by a number of different players as this hand shows. Should I have folded this on the flop to the check raise which I am inclined to think now or was I basically done for when the King came down on the flop. The other player is playing at 17.44/10.82 and I knew he had a strong hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1601605

This guy was constantly min raising me and a read I spotted later on him was that any Pocket Pair he will min raise. I posted another hand with the same player in the CR Forum a couple of days ago as I played back at him after being min raised for the 900th time that session. He's playing at 48.67/12.55.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1601619

Finally this is probably won of the worse turn bets that has been made in the history of Poker. This is check fold all the way having been called on the flop. He's 21.59/12.5.

There are another couple of hands which are total coolers and I'm not going to bother posting these.

Any way I have the day off tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to get a decent amount of hands in.

General Ramblings

I'm on a bit of a downswing this week. Nothing too serious but am down a couple of buy ins although I'm still showing a slight profit for the month.

Most of the damage was caused when by full house 8's over K's ran into quad K's. The money went in on the flop when we both hit a set. Nothing you can do there.

Here's another couple of hands that have caused me a few problems where I have flopped top pair : -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1582599

The other player here was playing at 58.33/20.83 but only over 48 hands but not really too much to go on.

With this being 4 handed I decided to open raise utg hoping to steal the blinds. Not against someone with those stats. Its the flop where I have a problem with how I played this. Is the reraise ok here or would you have flat called with Top Pair. Having then been 3-bet to my raise I think I should have folded then instead of calling.

On the turn, even though I picked up the flush draw, I had no option but to fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1582625

In contrast to the previous hand, the other player here is playing 13.66/6.05 (there is someone tighter than me!) which should have told me everything I need to know.

Should I have folded to the bet on the flop here. He obviously had something pretty strong. Also, I know the turn play is horrible and I should have check folded.

Group Sessions

As has been alluded to in other blogs, there's a few of us who are holding Group sessions currently running at 1 a week although I think we may be able to expand this may be not involving all of us in the group but with 2/3 of us holding sweat sessions.

I have found the sessions invaluable as it has shown me a couple of obvious leaks in my game i.e checking the flop continuosly with decent hands which I didn't realise I was doing and also I am playing far too quickly. Hopefully over the coming weeks this will help us all.

English Sport Fest

Being a massive sports fan today is a great day to sit in front of the TV with a beer or 2 as all three of the main English National Teams are in action. With the cricketer's already winning the series in Sri Lanka looking to end it in style and the Footballer's in a must win game against Estonia before the vital game against Russia on Wednesday afternoon. However, these are just the hors deuve before the big game later tonight when the Rugby Team play the World Cup Semi Final in Paris against the French. Having been written off earlier in the tournament in defence of the title they won 4 years ago, they caused a huge upset last week in beating a complacen Aussie's who thought they just had to turn up too beat us. We now have every chance of being the first team to defend the title. Rugby s usually a distant second to me to football but not today.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 3164063

Not Much Poker This Week

I've not really had much time to play this week for one reason and another. But I'm hoping to put that right over the weekend and get a fair few hands in.

One thing that has happened is that there's a few of us on here who have set up a Study Group to go through hands etc. I ended up as the person being watched this week and it really brought home a few things I didn't realise I was doing.

I am increasing the amount of analysis I am doing both on my game and more importantly at the moment I think on people I have logged alot of hands against. I would rather play fewer hands but of a higher quality than play loads of hands without learning anything.

September Results

Overall, September has been a better month than the past couple a bit up and down and I'd like to reduce the impact of the dips but I made money this month. I'd like to see that trend continue!!!!

My VPIP is still not where I'd like it to be but its gradually getting to a more beneficial level. Also, I didn't play as many hands as the past couple of months as I took a break for a week: -

Any way here's this month's Graphs and information: -









October Targets

1. Play at least 10,000 hands during the month
2. With Bonuses, Rakeback and Profitable play (I hope), build up my bankroll so that I can play 50NL again. Once at theat level, book a couple of lessons
   
3. Fix the leaks in my game that I uncovered following my previous post and PT analysis
4. Watch all Cash Game Video's uploaded during the month.
5. Constantly analyse my play and also that of my opponents
6. Post problematical hands each day in the CR Forum and respond to at least 5 new threads each day.
7. Read and understand No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice and also Professional No Limit Holdem

Poker Tracker Analysis

As I stated in my previous post, here's a detailed Poker Tracker Analysis of how I think my game is running at the moment.

I've based it on the hands I've played since 01st August as my game has changed alot since then particularly as prior to this I was too tight. My VPIP is still a bit low but I'd rather see a gradual increase which I'm more likely to be able to sustain and feel comfortable with than immediately get it up to where I want it to be in one jump.

This is the article I have used to base my analysis on: -

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=4946669&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

1.Pre Flop Aggression



The idea here is that if you divide your Pre Flop Raise Figure by position into your VPIP for each position other than the SB then if you get a result of less than 0.5 then your not aggressive enough.

My lowest figure here is from the BB which is 0.69, for all other positions, my lowest figure is from the Button which is 0.94.

Overall, I am showing 0.92.

I think this is ok but would lead me to ask whether you can ever be too aggressive?

2. Positional Awareness

Using the same table as for Part 1, your VPIP from the Button to the UTG should steadily drop with the VPIP from the Button being double your UTG VPIP.

I also seem to be ok here and my Button VPIP which is 24.54 is more than double my UTG VPIP of 10.07.

3. Blind Stealing



Using the General Tab, the idea here is that your Attempt to Steal Blind Stats should be at least 20. Mine are at 30 which I am happy with and don't envisage making too many any adjustments here.

Selecting the Chance to Steal and Raised Filter, as the table below shows I am currently running at 0.23 on Blind Steals which when multiplying this number by 100 should be at least double the BB/100 average which it is although I'm not too sure whether I am interpreting this correctly.



4. Defending The Blinds

This should be at -0.375 or better and as the following table shows, I am currently running at 0.68 which again I am ok with.



If I change the filter to show Steal attempted against my blinds, I get a result of -0.41 which is slightly below the optimum of -0.375 which I find very strange because I very rarely defend unless I have a good hand, although on occasions I will reraise someone who is constantly stealing my BB which may be a reason for the negative figure. I'll stop doing that and see if it improves the result here.

5. Heads Up Play



This is probably a bit too neutral a situation than what I would have liked it to be. At least I'm not losing money overall here but would like to see a positive BB/100 here.

Changing the filter to show where I didn't raise pre flop shows a pretty damning set of stats and basically shows that I am losing alot of money heads up when I don't raise pre flop this is obviously a major leak I am going to have to fix.



6. Multiway Pots

This is a bit bleak and is also obviously a leak in my game which I am going to have to fix one issue I know I have is calling on the River when I know I'm behind but I also have recently stopped c-betting with more than 1 other player in the hand and hopefully this will see an improvement in my game: -



If I change the filter to no pre flop raise, then it gives a similar position so I need to be more careful multiway.

7. Pocket Pairs



Other than 2,s,3,s and 4,s the VPIP on all the other pocket pairs is around the 85% mark or higher which I am happy with and I am raising with Pocket Pairs 87% of the time which is kind of what I'd expect if not a bit higher. What on earth is going on with 9's I don't know. I'll post on the Card Runner's Forum with these to get a higher quantity of responses hopefully. Other than 9's 2,s, 3's and 4's are the only losing pair's I have and then these aren't really significant.

8. Suited Connector's



About the only comment I would make here is at least I have positive figure's albeit only just. I would question whether I am playing enough Suited Connectors as I will generally fold to a raise regardless of position. I need to look at AK (S) because this is one of my losing hands.

I have 3 hands where I have cold called pre flop which is as insignificant a number as it should be.

9. Unsuited Connectors

This is a bit of a worrying result, my VPIP and win rate for Unsuited Connectors are higher than for Suited Connectors which are not scenario's I should be seeing.

I am also playing more Unsuited Connector's than Suited so I will need to reverse this particular situation.

My VPIP for Suited Connector's is 20.41 and for Unsuited Connnector's is 21.44.

The Win Rate for Suited Connector's is 0.01 and 0.05 for Unsuited Connector's.

10/11 Post Flop Agression & Check Raising

These final 2 measures use the following table and deal with post flop play: -


Adding together my Bet/Raise %'s when acting first after the flop following a raise pre flop, I get a result of 42.17 which is just above the optimum of 40. I could probably do with getting this to nearer 50 but on the whole its not too bad.

My aggression factor is showing at 3.33 with figures of 2 and above considered to be acceptable.

I've check raised 0.82% of the time which is fine although it is a play I like I don't use it that often.

Summary

This is the first time I have analysed my game to this degree and it has shown some obvious leaks which I need to tighten up and eliminate from my play: -

1. Eliminate Re raising from the Big Blind when someone is constantly stealing my blinds.
2. Try and avoid Heads Up Situations where there is no pre flop raise.
3. Address how I play Multi Way Pots as this is a big issue which I wasn't aware of. If I can fix this then I should substantially increase my win rate.
4. Adjust how I play Connected Cards both suited and unsuited.

I have mainly done this analysis for myself but feel free to make any comments or suggestions. I would recommend that any one who hasn't done a detailed analysis of their game does so as it has identified leaks I didn't know I had.

September Progress

Its been a while since I made any comments on my progress so here goes.

September Progress To Date

Overall, things aren't too bad this month I'm showing a BB/100 hands of 0.99 hopefully I can get that over 1 and may be closer to 2 by the end of September. I've decided that this is going to be the measure of my progress from now on as I'm trying to get away from being results orientated.

As the following graph/tables show, I have been running at 15.51/14.45 with an overall aggression factor of 3.2 over just under 6,000 hands. This is lower than my usual number of hands but I took a week off where didn't play any poker whatsoever and I think that this did me alot of good: -





On the final table, I have also shown the hands which are the significant losing hands for me this month. The sample is probably too small, the Ax hands are mainly from c-betting where resistance has been met. I'm going to adjust my c-betting for this group of hands to remove this obvious leak from my game. The JJ loss resulted from one hand where I ran into KK and the board had no card higher than a 10. The AKS losses have also occurred from c-betting when I've missed the flop may be I'm being too aggressive with this hand.

Hopefully I can kick on from here and have a good finish to the month but I need to avoid the horror weeks I have had about this time in the past couple of months.

Ok thats it for now, my next post will be an in depth Poker Tracker Analysis of my game based on this 2+2 article: -

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=4946669&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

Good luck at the tables.

Chris

Back In The Swing of Things

I started back on the Cash Game Grind yesterday played about 900 hands and ended up down 1 buy in. I didn't really have any cards for most of the time I played but was generally pleased with the way I played and the patience and discipline I showed in not forcing anything.

Here's a few hands I've played which are of interest: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487081

I'd only got a few hands with the other player in this hand and he hadn't stepped out of line at this point or done anything unusual. I have two issues with this hand: -

Firstly on the flop do you do as I did and call his min re raise or do you 3-bet him here.

Secondly on the turn because of the flush possibilities, I check raised him all in which I think may have been a -ve move as I think I could possibly have got all his chips. Does any one play the turn any differently?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487095

On this hand I think I got away with the minimum as it played out, the River Card wasn't really the greatest for me and to say I played it badly would be an understatement. The other player is at 33.6/6.1 over a small sample.

I think I could possibly have raised on the flop but the board was horrible for my hand. If he'd bet more I think I'd have folded.

I decided to make a play on the turn to try and take it down there and then. However I think I probably should have bet more to do so.

Finally on the River I felt I had to call even though the Straight was obvious but in hindsight I think folding would have been the better move.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487106

On this final hand, I decided to fold to a raise and reraise preflop with AK. The reason I did this was because the initial raisor was playing 14.79/14.79 and I felt he had a strong hand. The other player was playing 50.74/20.1 and if he'd have been the only other player in the hand I would not have released it at this stage. It was the existence of the initial raisor that put me off. Should I have at least seen the flop?

I seem to be doing ok in MTT's at the moment, cashing in a $10 Deep Stack MTT on Stars last night and I also finished 12th out of 484 using my FPP's in a qualifier for tonight's WCOOP event where 4 people got seats.

Its my parents Ruby Wedding Anniversary today so I'm not sure whether I'll get any chance to play it will depend on the Alcohol Consumption.

Card Runners Site Down?

Has any one been able to access the Card Runners Web Site today because I've not been able to from Firefox or IE?

The break from Poker has done me alot of good and I'll be back grinding on the Cash Games tomorrow.

Finished 4th in a $1,000 Freeroll on Gutshot this evening for $60. It all helps towards the bankroll.

A bit of a dilemma

I've got a bit of an issue at the moment in that am currently playing on a Crypto Site and Prima/Microgaming Site where although you can set tables to a smaller size i.e. Pro View/Mini View respectively so that you can play more tables, if I do so then I lose my PA Hud Stats. As a result, I can currently only have 2 tables open and even then they over lap big time. I would like to play 3 tables which is about my limit before I start losing control. I'm sacrificing the additional table so I can continue playing with my Hud Stats showing. How would any one proceed with this scenario?

The poker's not been going to badly this week. I've pretty much been playing ABC Poker and trusting my reads and using my PA Hud Stats a bit more. There's not really been much of interest happening and I only have one hand of interest to post here: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1449277

The other player here is playing at 38.61/6.14.

With an early position raise and call, I reraise pre flop here with a view to isolating one other player in the hand or even taking it down there and then. With QQ was the fold an option here.

I absolutely hated the flop oop and decided to check/fold I guess I should maybe have bet out here to find out where I was and too get rid of the potential draws even with a paired board. Having been checked behind me, I decided to make a bet at the pot to try and win it but should I have just check/folded this hand down?

I'm going to be taking a break for a week or so because I will be another year older tomorrow, A bit closer to 40 so no fit state to play hopefully and the hangovers take longer to recover from these days. Then on Sunday I'm off to Nice for a convention for three days with work. Its a hard life. The break will do me good. I'll probably check the forums/blogs out at some point if I get chance but thats about it.

Good luck

Chris

Average Start To September

Its been a while since I posted some hands, here's a couple I played last night where I got into a couple of awkward situations: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1436379

The other player is at 32.46/23.68 and I didn't really have too much on reads from him at this point.

I made a standard Button Raise which he called from the Small Blind with AK I would have expected a raise from him Out of Position which would have seen me fold. I checked the flop with an open ended straight draw, maybe I should have bet out here but I think he would have called regardless. The turn was not exactly a card that helped me and at this point, I think the money was going to go in eventually. Could I have played this hand any differently?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1436398

I just don't like the way I played this hand on the Turn. Check Calling I think is horrible. I should have done one of three things - Bet out, Check Raised or even folded because having been called pre flop and on the flop he obviously had some kind of hand probably KQ/AK. I don't think I had any option on the river but to fold. His stats are 24.15/13.13. How would people have played this on the turn?

Thanks

August Results and September Goals

Here are my results for August which aren't great which I have already documented but were mainly caused by one bad week and I feel taht I am playing better than my results would indicate: -









I played 18,743 hands in August with VPIP/Pre Flop Raise figures of 14.63/13.47. Which is a bit better than it has been. I would still like it to be a bit higher if possible but I would like to see a more gradual improvement up to about a VPIP of 18 as I'm more likely to be able to sustain that than if I get there quickly. As a comparison, my VPIP/Pre Flop Raise Stats in July were 11.92/10.69.

My stats by position were as follows: -

Button 23.72/22.35
Cut Off 15.81/15.30
Mid Pos 12.43/12.23
UTG 10.48/10.32
BB 5.90/4.01
SB 17.38/15.12

My initial thought is that I probably need to play a bit more from the Cut Off.

I'm having problems with My Paint Shop Programme today for some reason and couldn't get the PT Stats to show as I would have liked.

September Goals

I'm not going to set a No. Hands target this month instead I want to focus more on quality instead of quantity.

To avoid being Results Orientated and concentrate on making the correct decisions in every hand I play.

Improve My Post Flop Play i.e. Bet Sizing and also stop making speculative calls on the River when I know I'm behind.

To Be more active in the Forums and these blogs.

Use Card Runners More effectively.

Ensure that I have 1 day a week when I don't play or think about Poker.

Good Luck.

Chris

Perspective

I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here before talking poker but I think this is important.

As you may or may not be aware, I am a big Football Fan, and support Leicester City. There was an incident last night in a cup game between Leicester and Nottingham Forest (Martin AKA DodyKen's team) where one of our players - Clive Clarke collapsed at half time and his heart stopped twice. If it wasn't for the quick response of the medical teams then he would no longer be with us. Its looking like he's doing ok today which is good news. This is the third incident of its kind in the past week but tragically the other two players - a 16 year old from Walsall and a 22 year old Spanish International passed away.

The point I want to make about this is that it puts everything in perspective and bad beats or bad spells playing poker are largely irrelevant and should be treated on there merits instead of thinking the "World is About To End" because we've had a few losing days in a row.

Back To Poker

Thanks for the comments after my last post. the last couple of days have gone ok especially today. In response to one of those comments, I'll post my top ten losing hands over the past couple of months tomorrow. I'll jump on the bandwagon and set up separate blog for these hands and hopefully it will isolate a few things or even just one thing I may not even realise I'm doing.

Chris

This Weeks Results

I'm afraid this doesn't make good reading and to say I'm not very happy is a bit of an understatement.



This month has followed a similar trend to last month and has been happening pretty much all year in that I'll be doing ok nothing spectacular and then towards the end of the month I'll have a bad spell which I don't think I'll be able to recover from.

I'm not sure how to reverse this trend but what I do know is that I have to do something pretty major because if this trend carries on next month it might see the end of my Poker Playing days which will be a drastic step to take because I still really enjoy playing the game but this has been happening all year and I'm fed up with it. I know I'm a better player than I was 6 months ago but this isn't being seen in what I'm achieving.

I have a couple of bonuses to earn which run out this week and if I see no signs of any improvement then I'll probably take a break for a few days.

I promise my next post will be more positive as my last two posts definately haven't been.

Good luck

Chris

Depressing Few Days

I've been a bit slack updating this blog this week mainly because things have not been going very well.

For the past three days I'm down about 4 buy ins not particularly through bad play but I just don't seem to be getting a good run of cards whether I'm being Card Dead, The few Big Hands I've had aren't standing up or not being able to hit a flop its just been one of those weeks where nothing I try seems to work. I know we all go through these spells but what I would like to know is how we can turn these sessions into positives. I'm reasonably happy with the way I'm playing and not tilting but this happens on a regular basis for me and I don't know what to do because despite the improvements I know I have made in my game, I just don't seem to be seeing the results.

I know I'm being a bit too results orientated here but I would like to see an improvement in what I am achieving.

Here's a couple of hands that I may have been able to escape from but I'm not totally convinced that I could have done: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1408087

My opponent is playing at 52.25/35.3 and I mis read him here I put him on a draw which is why I reraised on the turn. Its a couple of days since I played this hand and in hindsight I may have been able to get away from the hand here. Mind you whether I can escape when in the middle of playing the hand I have my doubts. Also would you call the preflop reraise with a Suited Ace?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1408106

A hand against my "friend" the shortstack , he's at 42.04/7.31 which is the main reason why I made the call I was 50/50 to folding but in the end felt I had to make the call. Would any one have folded here. If I never see another shortstack it will be too soon.

That's today's moan over no doubt it will be continued soon!!!!

Back in Control

I played around 700 hands this evening and it was a better session which ended with a slight profit.

I didn't let myself get into too many dodgy situations. It sometimes helps being card dead and managed to escape from most awkward situations. I need to re read the UF2B C-Betting posts because I got a bit carried away with my C-Betting tonight.

Only a couple of hands of real interest: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1396226

This hand with TP and A Flush draw I think I escaped with the minimum here mainly due to the draw heavy board. I never put him on a set, and thought he was drawing. I've played him a fair bit lately and am having a few problems with him at the moment post flop as he is reraising alot so I have slowed down a bit against him. He is playing at 31.87/17.03.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1396255

No comments are necessary here this is a bit of indulgence, if only the game was always this easy!

Things Can Only Get Better

I'm afraid I'm going to have a moan here as things have not gone well this week so far as this graph shows:-

I didn't really play very much yesterday as wasn't in the mood but just had one of those days today where I couldn't hit anything. Didn't have a single set all day and wasn't helped by a couple of cooler's which I just couldn't get away from and there's no point posting them here. I might set up another blog for these hands like some of you have already done.

For those of you that have read RobRacing's post about rules he has set himself, one of which is to fold 1 pair post flop in alot of situations. I was a bit sceptical about this idea at first but the more I think about it the more I think its a positive move.

One thing I have to stop doing is "Stop Calling/Reraising Bets on The River When I Know I Am Beaten!"

I'm back at work tomorrow unfortunately so won't be able to play so much which may be a good thing although I'd like to get in 500 or so hands a night if I can.

Here's to a better end to the month.

Good luck

Chris

Consistently Inconsistent

These are my results for the week which basically shows that the only thing consistent about my play is its inconsistency. At least it was a Profitable week just, and I'm opening up my range a bit more but on the whole I suppose there not too bad.

I got a fair amount of hands in this week as I've been off work but will be back in on Tuesday unfortunately so will probably be down to about 2/3K.

The only real comment I would make is am I playing too much from the Small Blind. At the minute I am raising with pretty much any hand that is folded round too me

Please feel free to make any comments or suggestions.

Thanks

Chris

Recovering After Early Losses

I seem to be having a good day followed by a bad day at the moment. Yesterday was a good day where after a bad start I managed to show an overall profit for the day. Helped by my Aces standing up against Kings which I'm not going to post. I played 1058 hands at 15.41/13.12.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1383277

This is a hand where I got into a bit of trouble from the BB. I said to myself on the River that I'll make 1 raise and fold if he reraises. So what happens, I call his all in reraise. With a paired and flush heavy board, I could and should have got away from this very easily. Whether I should have put a bet in in the flop or turn I don't know, I would have folded if he'd have bet on these streets thats for sure.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1383290

On this hand, with a raise and call, with my Mid Pair I called for the Implied Odds hoping to hit a set on the flop. Having been raised on the flop even though I had an over pair I think that this was an easy fold as he must either have a strong pair or hit his set and is probably a decision I make every time in this situation. He was at 21.92/9.59.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1383304

I'm getting into a few situations of late with hands like AQ where there is a pre flop raise before me and I'm in the blinds and out of position as in this example. I called the raise here in effect playing it like a small/mid pair and folded on the flop to the reraise having led out. Should I be reraising pre flop or even just folding straight off and waiting for a better spot. He's playing 24.12/14.5 over about 400 hands.

Playing Against Short Stacks Why You Don't Slow Play

This week is a bit up and down - one days good the following not so good.Yesterday was a good day but I've played about 200 hands this morning and pretty much wiped out what I made yesterday. More of that later.

One thing that's cropped up with my play over the last couple of days and Graham has also made a post about is playing against short stacks. I think I possibly need to adjust my attitude against them as I am basically giving them no respect for having hit there hands and that is wrong. Any way here's a couple of examples: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376716

This guy was at 63.27/32.65 but only over 50 hands. With that board, top pair was probably never going to be enough. and I should have folded to the reraise, although with an Open Ended Straight Draw as well I'm not sure.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376722

On this hand, I should have raised more pre flop, after that, Top Pair again isn't enough and possibly was a fold on the flop to the reraise against someone playing 39.48/10.22 again over a small sample of 50 hands.

My conclusion is that you need more than Top Pair to play against Short Stacks which is probably an adjustment I am going to make from now on.

Finally, this next hand is an example of why you should never slow play a hand. I broke one of my fundamental rules of poker by doing so. I don't want any comments about this hand I'm just posting for myself as a reminder.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376732

Any way I'm off to hit the living daylights out of a golf ball for a few hours.

PAHUD Stats

I've had a few comments lately about the PAHud Stats that I use so I thought I'd list them here and see what comments, adjustments I should make if any: -

1st Column (Default Settings)

VPIP
PFR
Aggression Factor
Hands Played

2nd Column (Additions Made)

Call C-Bet
Fold C-Bet
Makes C-Bet
Went to Showdown
Won $ @ Showdown

I'd like to add the folded SB/BB to Steal attempts option but at the minute I don't have any room and I'm not sure I could keep track of any more.

I realise that alot of these stats are very much driven by personal preferences and I need to pay alot more attention to them particularly when involved in a big hand.

Thanks

Chris

Bad Start to The Week

What a difference a day makes, played just over 1,000 hands ending up down by a couple of buy ins. May be I played a bit too loose for me I don't know as my VPIP for the day was at 18.95. I didn't believe it either. These three hands were the one's that did the real damage, the first one I played badly and the other two I think that I got myself into a couple of awkward situations where may be I could have got away from them but I think its probably unlikely.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1368562

I think I made a mistake here on the flop in Reraising All In with my overpair. He was playing at 42.77/5.66 and made a comment in the chat box after the hand about people getting heavily involved with only 1 pair which I think is pretty good advice and something I need to take on board.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1368528

On this hand I should have bet more on the flop but with the Over Card on there I wanted to find out where I was without risking to much and exercising a bit of Pot Control. If he'd have reraised then I would have folded. The turn was just a horrible card for me and at this point not sure I could have got away from the hand. He was at 28.07/19.3.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1368543

Having hit the set on the Flop but with the possible flush draw, maybe I should have set him all in at this point although I don't think he was going anywhere. Could I have checked at this point but even if I had done I would have reraised him all in.

Another situation occurred on another table in that I had someone to my right luckily so I didn't really get involved with him who was playing at 62.96/53.70 and was constantly Raising and Reraising on all streets. I wanted to play back at him but never had a good enough hand to do so. How do you play against players like this. I probably should have left earlier than I did. I would have done if he was on my left.

Uploading Position Stats From Poker Tracker

Sorry about this, stupid question time from someone who doesn't know alot about computer's. I'd like to upload my Position Stats later today from Poker Tracker but have no idea how to do so, can someone let me know as to how I can do this please.

Thanks for the assistance

Chris

August Results To Date

Having now worked out how to upload images thanks to DodgyKen and Pkr_brat, I thought it was time I updated my progress to date.

My August Results to date are shown on this image. I'm generally a bit happier with my game than I was a month ago but there is still plenty of room for improvement and hopefully the trend will continue for the rest of the month.

This is more important to me than the first graph in that it shows my stats by position for the month so far. I'm currently playing at a VPIP of 14.48 which for me is pretty good and a big improvement from the 11 VPIP I have been playing. My initial thoughts are that my Cut Off Stats may be a little low but at the same time, am I playing too much from the Small Blind. Also, if any one's got any additional comments/suggestions then please post them.

Thanks and Good Luck

Chris

Recovery After A Bad Start

I played just over 700 hands yesterday at a VPIP of 15.08, its getting there slowly. I had a bad start but after that played ok and recovered my initial losses by the time I finished playing.

This 1st hand is the main culprit in my bad start, I basically don't think there is much that I could have done to get away from this but I am open to any comments where I may have been able to prevent this. I'd forgotten to reload to the max which turned out to be a good thing.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1357726

I guess this next hand is what you call a Big Blind Special. However from my opponents point of view if you don't raise at any point in the hand you deserve everything you get. He was playing at 39.6/5.7. I fold to any pre flop raise. Looking back, I put a Value Bet in on the River, should I have pushed or is that an easy conclusion to draw knowing what he had. I put him on a suited Ace in view of his passivity.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1357736

This final hand, I think I got the maximum I could out of it. I checked on the river because with Potential Flush and Straight Draws on Board I thought that he would only call with a worse hand and I knew he was drawing to something as he had been showing a number of Drawing Hands prior to this. He was playing at 36.61/11.18 over 450 hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1357747

I've got the next week off so will hopefully have more time to play and would like to get about 1,000 hands a day in and see where that takes me. Mind you with the start of the Football Season today, that may reduce my playing time a bit. If my team Leicester City have as bad a season as they have in the past few , tilting may be an option because I'm not a good loser.

08th August 2007

After having a couple of days break, played for a couple of hours this evening. Ended up with $7 profit over 350 hands playing 13.07/12.5.

There were a couple of interesting situations that cropped up and these are shown in the Hand Histories below: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1348275

The other player in this hand was at 74.25/4.04. I probably should have bet out on the flop but but with no flush and an unlikely Straight Draw I thought I was way ahead and wanted to lure hin in. I considered the possible Straight on the River and thought it was an unlikely holding so I made the call. Was this a correct play or should I have folded on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1348297

Having hit top pair, top kicker on the flop and betting out and being reraised , I decided to fold to the Reraise putting him on a 9. Can any one advise whether or not this was the correct play

Play this Weekend

Plqyed just over 1,000 this weekend at 14.61/13.42 showing a very small profit of $6.74. I thought I played ok and didn't really get the results from how I played although hopefully that will come if I carry on playing like this . A few interesting situations cropped up which I have shown below:-

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1337558

I only have 10 hands with my opponent in this hand so had no read. What he was doing in the hand in the 1st place I don't know. I think I should have raised more preflop. My question is this, should I have got away from this hand on the turn or was I just destined to lose a buy in here?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1337581

On this hand, I definately should have bet more than half the pot on the flop. There is a bet half pot button where I played this hand which is too convenient and I have to get away from using it. He was at 31.25/10.80 over 176 hands but I felt he was playing looser than that. Again the same question as the previous hand, should I have folded to the check raise on the turn with a draw heavy board

These were the two hands that were my main losing hands, here's 1 more hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1337617

This final hand was against the same player as in hand two and also shows me hitting the half pot button again. The question I have with this hand is should I have put a value bet in on the River.

I made a decision after the session I played where the first hand occurred that at the moment, I just can't make Stars work for me especially in Cash Games and I am losing so much money because of hands like the 1st one on there. I know alot of people are winning there but its just not happening for me. I have therefore moved what money I had left before I lost it all to Gutshot Poker which is on the Prima/Microgaming network. I have moved it there because I can get 30% Rakeback and also they have regular Deposit/reload bonuses neither of which is available at Stars. I also had a deposit bonus from a few weeks ago that I need to clear by the end of August.

I am also going to move the money I have at Inter Poker to Sun Poker another Cryptologic Account so that I can again get Rake back which I don't have at Inter.

I don't think I'm going to be able to play much over the next couple of days for one reason and another but will check out some of the blogs if I can.

Good luck

Early Results For August

I've played 875 hands so far this month at 15.09/13.26 which is closer to where I want to be from a VPIP point of view. I lost over a buy in on Wednesday night mainly due to one hand where I had an over pair to the board and got sucked in. Apart from that there's not been too much of interest going on. This is the hand where I lost the money. I should have considered the action pre flop and folded on the flop. I didn't believe him as he had been constantly re raising me whenever I'd raised and I thought he was trying it on.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1330269

Any way I'm off work the week after next and there should be nothing to stop me getting a few more hands in this month apart from the start of the Football Season next week and the English Summer - if we ever get one!!!!

Chris

August Goals

Its a bit late but here are my goals for the month: -

Play a minimum of 15,000 hands in the month
Have a VPIP for the Month of 15 at the very least
Take my time before making key decisions
Stop calling bets on the River when I know I'm behind
Watch at least 3 Card Runners Video's A Week
Read and Understand at least 2 Poker Books - The Theory of Poker and 1 other
Increase my level of Thinking which should come with the previous 2 Goals
Post 2/3 hands after every session and be more active in the other blogs

I could go on but I think that's enough for know.

Results For July

As promised, these are my July results. I was reasonably happy up until this weekend but things have gone slightly wrong since then as I have documented elsewhere: -

Hands Played 12,717
VPIP 11.92
PFR 10.69
Loss Fo Month $148.01
BB/100 Hands (2.88)
Total Aggression 2.27


VPIP By Position

Button 18.63
Cut Off 12.97
Mid Pos 11.28
UTG 8.80
BB 5.51
SB 12.77

Still way too low, should the small blind be as high as the Cut Off?

Return Per Level Played

NL50 $190.32 Loss 2,889 Hands
NL25 $128.99 Profit 5,876 Hands
NL10 86.88 Loss 3,952 Hands

I'll be sticking to NL 25 for a while - probably for most of August most definately.

I hope other people have better results than I've had.

Chris

Play From 31st July

Played 375 hands last night not alot happenned had one of those sessions where I was pretty much card dead and couldn't seem to hit a flop. These seem to be the sessions where I lose a fair amount of money. How can you make these sessions work without losing too much. I ended up being down $37.50.

Most of the losses were due to having to fold after C-Bet's were reraised having raised pre flop. I must pick my spots better.

There was only one hand of note which I have posted below. Not sure if there was much I could have done to avoid this. I only have 21 hands with this player and he was 42.86/28.57 and he left immediately after this hand. I thought he may be drawing to the straight which he probably was: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1321481

Last Couple of Days

Not really played very much since my last post mainly due to having to work late over the last couple of days.

I plan on playing a bit tonight and hopefully some interesting hands will occur and have a sweat session with Rob Racing planned for tomorrow all being well.

If any one else in the UK/Europe is interested in doing the same then let me know either on here or via Card Runners.

I'll post my results for July later tonight and will be more active in the other blogs as well.

Good Luck

Chris

Bad Session - Always at Weekends

Firstly a bit of housekeeping, the first hand on my last post was linked to someone else's hand and nothing to do with me. I have now changed this, sorry about that.

I had a bad day yesterday losing $110 which now means that July has turned from being a break even month to a losing month because I don't think I will be able to get that back. I played 700 hands and wanted to play alot more but I'd had enough at that point and was starting to tilt a bit.

The damage was basically done over two hands one of which I made a mistake in not pushing pre flop and the other one I don't think I could do any thing about: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1311345

I'd only just sat down at the table when this happened and had no reads. I'm not sure if there's any thing I could have done to avoid this situation, how many people could have put him on his holding in what I thought was almost the perfect flop for me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1311347

On this hand, I think I made a mistake here by not pushing pre flop after the reraise because I thing he may have folded. He was at 28.85/20 .0 and had made the money before I sat down. May be I should have moved tables because of the high chip stack to my left I usually do but on this occasion I didn't.

This is probably coincidence but I always seem to get good results during the week and at weekends I seem to undo the good work and have heavy losses. This is something that seems to have been going on for a while and is purely variance but its starting to get to me. I think I'm going to stop playing cash games for a bit at the weekend.

Good Couple of Days

Although I haven't been able to play that much this week because of Work committments. The perils of working in an Accounts Dept at month end, I have played pretty well albeit only over 600 hands winning 3 buy ins and even managing to play with a VPIP at 14.29 which is going in the right direction.

There's a couple of hands here which are loosely linked to a comment Pkr_Brat made on his blog about playing Loose Players. The player in question is playing at 66.23/16.88 and once in a pot he could not lay hands down. The first hand I ended up paying him off which is the risk you have when playing against people like this as if the trash they are playing hits then I find that I do not believe them. However, I would still rather be playing these character's in the long run as they are going to be where I make my money more often than not as the second hand will illustrate: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1309016


I'm not sure I could ever call a raise with 85 Suited pre flop. Open raising on the Button no problem but calling a raise I don't know. I guess I should have been suspicious when he Min Raised my bet on the flop and I kind of suspected that he had a 5 but in view of how loose he was I still paid him off. Not a wise move.

Two hands after the previous hand, he lost most of what he'd won from me when he raised all in on the turn with the nut flush draw into a player who had been showing strength all the way through the hand. Not long after, I took this pot down from him when I hit the Full House on the Turn. If the other player in the hand would have reraised I would possibly have folded as he was considerably tighter, I would probably have folded to the loose player also: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1303773