Low Limit Poker Blog

Finally Back Playing

2008-08-19T16:20:00.002+01:00

After pretty much taking June & July off from Poker mainly through Work Committments etc, I am finally back playing poker and have got a fair few hands in this month so far.

I'm kind of easing myself back into the habit of playing and working at the game this month with a view to having a serious go at things in September.

I have this week off so am planning to work at lots of different things if I can tear myself from the Olympics and the awesome performance of the GB Team so far, we're even winning Track & Field medals now which weren't in the script.

One of the main area's I want to look at is my lack of Non Showdown Winnings because its currently a progressive line the wrong way, although whether thats something that I can do anything about because of my playing style I'm not sure - 19/17 this month and its probably easier to flatten this line out if I was playing a looser style.

Willie tells me I have been in a video he's seen so will have to check that out and hopefully take a few things from it. Don't know which site its on yet though.

Going to also get back in the habit of blogging and got some serious catching up to do.

Still Here

2008-07-04T06:19:00.002+01:00

Believe it or not I'm still here.

As I thought it would, work has gone absolutely crazy throughout most of June for various reasons and Poker has very much been on the back burner as a result I have hardly played.

I'm away on a golfing weekend for the next 4 days but then I'm off all next week and things should hopefully calm down a bit after that giving me chance to play some poker and also Study.

The few times I have played I've just played some MTT's in the main because I would rather play cash when I can have a sustained run of playing instead of 1 day here and 1 day there.

Good luck all

Live Game Report & May Results

2008-06-01T11:03:00.004+01:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I played my first ever live game last week as part of the UKFF Forum I belong to. I know its took a while to update but I've been that busy with work and other things that I've not really been online that much.

One thing for sure is that it won't be my last live game because I had a great time although how much that was due to the people and the common theme we had I don't know. It was good to put names to faces.

There were 36 of us who played in a double chance freezeout 6000 chips total with half an hour levels. The tournament lasted over 12 hours. Not sure how with only 36 players but there you go. I ended up finishing 12th when down to 8/9 BB's, I lost in an AJ v 2's Race where I didn't improve. I did have one major piece of luck alot earlier when down to about 4/5 BB's when I rivered a 3 for my A3 to get the better of AK.

On to May, the results I've shown are those since I was back playing after around 20th of MAy almost exclusively ay 25nl other than 1 session where I automatically joined a 50NL table without thinking: -

I've not really had too much of an opportunity to play of late which is probably going to be the case for June as well so this is too small a sample size. One area I've been looking at is my play from the BB in particular my Fold to Steal %. Before I had a review session with Pete, this was running at over 90% over the few hands I've played of late, this is now down to 84% which is kind of where I want to be. I was also losing far too much from the blinds which should hopefully improve over time: -

Nothing really stands out that I can see positionally, probably too small a sample size to look at, we'll see at the end of June how things are.

I've also played a bit of HU which I'm going to continue to do but nothing really to report there as only played a few hands.

June Goals

I'm really not sure how much I'll be able to play in June due to a number of various factor's so not going to set any goals in regards to hands etc. I want to look more at a couple of area's I need to work on which are as follows: -

Continue with what I am doing on the BB
Revisit C-betting and get that worked into my game correctly
Look at Non Showdown pots because this is where I lose alot of money - connected to c-betting
Hand/Table analysis which is where the HU will come in.
Get back posting hands in here and on the forums
Get back into the habit of reading and commenting on other blogs which has suffered alot of late as well as my updating due to lack of time.

Poker and Live Poker Debut

2008-05-25T08:21:00.003+01:00

Since my last post, I took a break from the cash games for over a week. I have been back playing this week but is has been a bit stop start for one reason or another. Champions League Final, Golf, work etc. Any way I've made a few changes although not as many as I'd like at this stage but don't want to try and change everything at once as it won't all sink in. I'm going to add things in gradually. Here's what I'm doing at the moment: -

I had a very useful and eye opening PT review with Pete and there were a couple of things that he pointed out that were pretty easy fixes namely Table Selection and Folding to Steal Attempts from the Blinds. I wasn't playing back enough even with good hands. My fold to steal from the BB was about 92% for example. I've started playing back at people a bit more and it seems to be having a positive affect at the moment although I don't have enough of a sample size as yet to make a proper judgement.
I've dropped back down to 25Nl whilst I get my game in a better shape particularly post flop.
Table Selection is an ongoing process and I'm not there yet although I am getting better. My big problem is staying at tables too long if the dynamics change and a good table becomes bad.
Another area where I am starting to do some work is in the area of C-betting as I'm doing this too much from the wrong spots and causing myself problems.
I've started playing some HU cash as well on I Poker as FT doesn't have any HU tables below 50NL that I've found and thats too high a level for me. The reason for doing this is two fold in that I want to use it to help with my hand reading etc which is very weak and also as a change from 6 max,

I have been playing a few more MTT'S/STT's of late as well and I'm doing ok in them. No big MTT cashes but haven't been far away on a couple of them from going deep.

I'm a member of a UK Football Fans Poker Forum (link is on the right) and they are having a live game today up in a Casino in the Stoke Area - about 70 miles from here. I luckily managed to win a seat via a satellite although I would have paid the entry fee in any case. This will be the first time I will have played live and I'm looking forward to it not to mention the beer afterwards. Updates in next post.

Finally, Dodgy has posted a couple of posts lately about how he analyses his game etc which are well worth a read.

Don't Think Much To May

2008-05-12T22:54:00.002+01:00

Some how so far this month, I've contrived to lose 10 buy ins through various means mainly my poor play and my inability to hit anything.

I've not tilted at all, but am not even thinking about playing a cash table for the next week or so.

Going to watch as many video's as is possible and review pretty much every hand I've played this month.

I'm also going to come up with a strategy for the future i.e. play/study timetable type of plan

April Results - Sort of

2008-05-03T09:27:00.003+01:00

Robert/Willie I replied to your comments on my last post in the comments section of that post.

Here's the graph for April booked a small profit and it shows the normal consistently inconsistent trend. Just shows I have a long way to go I guess.

I thought I played quite well in April although need to understand why I have so many downward trends because its more than just variance.

At this moment in time, I can't post the PT Stats because I'm getting whenever I try and open it up I am getting the message "Are you sure you want to completely remove Poker Tracker and all its components." I'll post them if I can get this issue fixed although not too sure at the moment how to do so. The data's there somewhere otherwise I wouldn't be able to upload the graph!

May Goals

Start using PT3 especially as they have now added IPoker in there latest release which means both my main sites are now covered. (At the moment I have an error importing FT observed hands so I want to get that sorted before using it properly.

Make a concerted effort on following the action and reading players probably dropping down a table or 2 for the short term. This is the no1 aim for the month

Do a better job at studying and self analysis as I've let this slip of late.

Continue the work I'm doing on Top Pair type hands and letting them go.

Start focussing on the Turn/River

Football

Following on from my previous post, we lost and are in deep trouble with one game left and have by far the hardest match of any team who can still get relegated. Even worse Sky are showing the game live and we're useless (more than usual) whenever we're live.

Poker, Football & Other Assorted Ramblings

2008-04-26T10:00:00.005+01:00

Poker

That's the last time I comment about any results mid month because for about a week after that I barely won a hand. Variance at work at its best I guess plus I played really badly at times and got a bit complacent. This week has been better mainly because I've played more like the standard required.

As a bit of a change and because I enjoy them, I've been playing a few MTT's this week. Had a few cashes not to any great extent but I think I'll continue for a few more days yet because I'm getting a bit stale with cash at the moment and I've got a few things I want to look at away from the tables.

The area's of my game which I need to work on in my opinion currently are: -

Overplaying hands where I have 1 pair
Sort out what I am doing on the Turn/River because the turn is a big leak for me
Stop calling people down when I am probably beaten and know it
Unsuited Connector's - do I stop playing them altogether. Since the start of the year this has been a big losing set of hands for me and I'm starting to think there just not worth it - I'm currently putting something together for these involving the Replayer so will have a detailed post shortly
Hand reading, Table analysis and following the action better. I've never been any good at these and its an area I need to focus on quite drastically if I want to take my game to the next level.
Playing multi player pots
3/4 bet hands

That pretty much covers it!!!!

Football

I've mentioned this in the past but I am a massive Leicester City fan. In the late 90's/ early 2000's we spent a few seasons in the Premier League doing ok competing for the most part with the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, usually finishing mid table and winning the League Cup twice in 4 years and being runner's up in another year. This success was due mainly to the Manager we had at the time - Martin O'Neill and the way he was able to get a team without the talent of clubs with more resources to play above themselves and build up an incredible team spirit. Since he left to go onto Celtic and now Aston Villa the club has fallen apart. We are now in the 2nd tier of English football and have been fighting relegation from that league for the past few years. We have never played in a league lower than the one we're in at the moment but it was looking bleak at one point nutil recently. Today we have the biggest game we have had in a long time and its a 32,000 total sell out. We play Sheffield Wednesday who are below us in the League. If we win we're safe and can build for next season. If we draw and results go our way we're also safe. If the unthinkable happens and we lose then we are in desperate trouble.

Other Stuff

Fuel prices in the UK and the rest of the World are going crazy at the minute. In the UK, we are paying £1.10 for a litre of unleaded petrol and most of that is in taxes. In addition to that, a major refinerty in Scotland has been shut down due to industrial action reducing the available supply and probably resulting in prices going up even more and this will probably mean in time if things continue that people won't be able to afford to travel anywhere as the Public Transport system in this country is an absolute joke. For instance if I wanted to get a train to work which is about 25 miles away, I have to get 3 trains which are not frequent and I live in a city which is on a mainline to London. With the profits the oil companies are making and the money that the Government are making, from us, then something needs to be done and quickly. In addition food prices are substantially higher than a year ago and people are going to start panic buying for alot of things.

Ok that's it moan over.

April So Far and a Situation I'm Trying to Avoid

2008-04-14T23:08:00.004+01:00

I'm not going to say too much about April at this stage but it seems to be going ok so far. Hopefully I've not ruined that but here's the graph to date: -

One important correction I have made, is that I noticed a serious flaw in my game and I know I'm not alone in this in that I have spells when I call hands down when I know I'm behind.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've tried toeliminate this from my game although there are occasions where I still find myself doing this. From analysing some key hands, I have found that I am doing this with Top Pair for the most part. Basically I am being a lot more cautious with this type of hand particularly if a c-bet is called or re raised and more often than not am currently folding these hands more often than not.

There's a quote that Dodgy made on my blog a few months ago which I'd lost site of to a certain extent where he stated that "A Raise on the Turn Usually Means That Top Pair is Beaten". Considering the progress he has made over the past 8/9 months this is important advice to bear in mind.

Here's a few hands from the past few weeks which illustrate what I was doing that I feel was incorrect/poor play whatever you want to call it: -

http://weaktight.com/160903

http://weaktight.com/160908

http://weaktight.com/160912

These hands kind of show what I'm trying to demonstrate although I probably do have better examples but my significant downswings usually occur because I play hands like these not only calling hands down but also if I am involved in the hands then playing them too passively.

That's one correction to my game I'm trying to make only another 999 to go!

March Results

2008-04-05T10:12:00.009+01:00

March was very much a stop start month and I never really got anything going for reasons which I have documentated in previous posts. Any way here's March's results. Obviously not a great month again but I have noticed a major leak which I am eliminating from by game which is greatly affecting what I am doing so hopefully that should help. Unfortunately I only discovered this leak recently so am expecting good things from this month.

In addition to the tables below, there is one day's play not recorded as I had my settings wrong after converting my PT Database to Postgres. This day not recorded I was up about $70.

The bulk of the losses between hands 500 and 1784 when I made the mistake of playing when I was ill which is a mistake I won't be making again and the dip around the 11k mark was when I worked out what this leak was so a positive has come out of a negative.

This leak I discovered and it should have been obvious to me is that I am overplaying when I flop hands like TP or TPTK and losing significant pots when I shouldn't be in the hands. I'll make a separate and more detailed post about this in the next few days.

The stats look pretty reasonable to me other than the Agression Factor's look a bit low which I 'm a bit surprised about. Although it may be due to a lower than normal number of hands.

Considering where I was 6/7 months ago and was playing 11/9 to now be playing 18.75/16.29 without any trouble I am happy with what I'm doing Pre Flop. I have an ongoing battle with Post Flop play and have had for some time which I need to address as I'm losing that badly at the moment.

These don't look too bad other than there is too much of a gap in the blinds between my VPIP and PFR percentages which is unusual for me particularly the BB. I need to look at that it may just be variance but should be an easy fix.

April Targets

I don't have any specific goals or targets this month with regards to hands played or anything like that I just want to put some serious work in at my game particularly post flop because that's slipped a bit over the past few weeks. Work commitments are probably going to limit my time to a certain extent as well.

Another area I need to look at is to get back in the habit of posting hands in the various forums etc and start utilising the resources available to me more effectively.

I hope to make a video and also get some Sweat Sessions in but not sure my PC can cope at the moment.

Any way off to put the kiss of death on a couple of nags in this afternoon's Grand National, the only Horse Race I will bet on.

CR MTT Tournament Final

2008-03-30T19:18:00.003+01:00

I've managed to get some sort of Internet Connection over the weekend. Its not great but will do for now I guess. It will have to.

Any way I'm playing in the CR MTT Final tonight all being well so hopefully will be able to take it down.

I'll update later.

I finished fourth, technically third because the person who finished third wasn't qualified and shouldn't have been playing.

Gets me into the CR MTT Series Main Event for free and some Amazon Vouchers.

No Internet Connection

2008-03-28T12:49:00.003Z

Other than for 20 mins this morning before work, I have not been able to get an Internet Connection all week.

I spent Wednesday night on the phone to Virgin Media Customer Service Dept!!!! and there only solution was to use an Ethernet Cable instead of USB to connect to my modem.

I've basically had enough of them as I have been getting a bad connection for some time and am looking to change ISP as soon as I can but that probably won't happen for a couple of weeks.

I can access a few things at work but obviously won't be able to play and can't access the group site at all unfortunately.

I'll up date when and where I can but not expecting to be able to be back on line until I'm back at work next week.

Give me time to review my game I guess.

Good luck all.

Surely Not an Update..........

2008-03-23T11:45:00.002Z

Ok I admit it my blogging has been absolutely atrocious of late. No excuses I just haven't really felt like updating it because there hasn't been too much going on. I have been reading the other blogs but haven't really made any comments of late either which is going to change.

I was ill for a week or so and made the mistake of putting a couple of sessions in which cost me some money but nothing too much to worry about. Just another important lesson learnt. Apart from those sessions, I'm probably running at about Break even for the month.

Away from Poker, two of my other hobbies are Football and Golf. I'll leave the football for the time being because the team I support Leicester City are looking like there going to be relegated to the third tier of Englishj Football for the first time in there history and after watching there latest embarrassing performance yesterday any serious comment will put me on tilt for days. Any way the four biggest teams in England are playing eachother today Man Utd V Liverpool from 1.30pm GMT and followed by Arsenal V Chelsea both potentially key games in the battle for the title with about 10 games left. An afternoon in front of the TV is looming.

As for the Golf, with Easter being early this year, Good Friday is traditionally our 1st game of the year. I'm not a member of a club or anything like that I don't play often enough to make that viable. I just try and play 10/15 times a year after work or at the weekends, weather/work committments permitting. There's four of us who go away for a Glofing weekend in the summer and try and play 3/4 rounds. We're trying to sort out this year's trip at the moment hopefully at some links courses if there not too expensive. We got a quote for Royal Lytham which was way out of our price range at £132 each. Any way I played on Friday in what can only be described as a howling gale (good practice for links courses). I didn't play too badly considering it was my first game for 6 months other than I had something like 38 putts which is not good at all and played the Par 5's like an idiot. I've got some new clubs on order so hopefully they will help my game. Could do with some lessons as well.

Thats it for now I'll have a Poker Update next time because there's a couple of big leaks I've spotted in my game which I need to sort out. Just want to do a bit more analysis first.

February Results

2008-03-02T15:49:00.007Z

This is going to be a bit painful but here's February's results. It was basically a poor month for the most part and from my point of view has to be the Turning Point.

As I've already blogged about, I lost focus in the middle of the month and as a result started playing badly and making some bad decisions. I've not played any Cash at all for the best part of a week now and will start afresh on ~Tuesday/Wednesday of next week. I want to Review alot of my hands from the start of this year before I do start playing again to see if I've got any serious leaks I haven't realised I have.

The second line on the above is when I played a bit of Heads Up. No idea why its showing as 6 Max. I want to play more Heads Up if I can but seeing as I'm the World's Worst HU Player i'm not sure if it will be a good idea. Need to check out some video's etc. before I do

I don't think anything looks significantly out of line but if any one can see something I've missed then please let me know and I will take it on board.

I'm not going to set any targets as such for March just want to start playing some solid ABC Poker and hopefully turn things around.

There are a couple of things I want to work on which are as follows: -

Table Selection
Hand Reading and Table Analysis and putting people on Ranges.
Review more of my play and

One more important thing I need to get back in the habit of doing in a big way is Posting on Forums and replying to more posts on the Group Site and also Blogs of the other people in the group and also watching the video's that have been made which I resolve to have watched and commented on as necessary by Wednesday of this week. I will also be looking to take part in more Sweat Sessions if I can

Good luck for this month

Quick Update

2008-02-24T22:46:00.002Z

Thanks for the comments on my last post. I'll take them on board

I've not played too much of late for a number of reasons mainly due to losing a lot of my enthusiasm and focus which hasn't happened for a while. I've played alot this year up until the last week or so and am going to take a break for a few days probably call it a month and start again next weekend with renewed determination and focus all being well.

I'll spend the next few days doing alot of analysis of my game and also my opponents in particular concentrating on putting people on hand ranges etc. Also posting a lot of hands on the forums because I haven't done much of that of late either.

I also plan on catching up on the Group blogs and video's etc which I've not been too good at of late and I apologise for but also spending a few days not even thinking about the game at all.

Will this Ever Stop!!!!

2008-02-13T06:55:00.004Z

WARNING SERIOUS MOANING POST

For the most part this month had been going ok I was down slightly which was not a big issue as my stats were pretty reasonable and had a sweat session with Vili the other day when we went through my Poker Tracker and that looked ok. However, the last two says have been horrible and I am so fed up that I really am starting to seriously think that I'm not cut out for this.

I've only played 700 hands yet managed to lose nearly 5 buy ins. I know this is being results orientated but I am totally fed up with putting the hours in studying the game and not seeing any returns. This has been going on for too long now and I really don't know what to do. May be I need to change the way I study I don't know. What's even more annoying is that I could probably have got away with these losses but me being me decided to carry on with hands when I was probably behind. Any way here's the carnage in more detail: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2094046

The other player in this hand was playing 81/4/1.18 his Agression Factor increased from the flop to the River, which is not really the issue here, my concern is with my Turn Play. Why the hell did I not just fold to his bet. People keep telling me that I want to be playing against player's with these kinds of stats and I am looking for player's playing like this but most of my losing hands are with this type of player because I never give them any credit.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2094069

On this hand why did I decide to push the flop the board is too dangerous. I should either have just called or folded. He's playing 33.89/13.27.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2094116

This is against the same player as hand 1 and the worrying thing here is that I never even saw the flush coming I thought we may be splitting the pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2094097

This is just standard and I'd do the same here every time.

OK moan over for know no doubt it will continue soon but hopefully not.

If any one sees me at a table tonight please give me as much abuse as you like because I don't plan on going any where near a poker site for a couple of days.

Sorry for the negativity.

January Report Card & February Goals

2008-02-01T20:06:00.001Z

Here's my graph for January, and as you can see, I had a horrible start and end to the month which I have posted about previously but the rest of the month I was reasonably happy with what I did. Unfortunately, the bad finish to the month has made it a losing month from my play but with Rake back and Bonuses, and a bit of profit from the few tournaments I've played, I'm in profit overall.

The bulk of the losses came over a couple of sessions last weekend at Sun Poker but on Full Tilt where I've been playing most of this month, I am in profit overall although 50NL has taken a bit of a hit lately there.

My VPIP is a bit tighter than I would have liked whilst adjusting to 50NL but I've opened up a bit at the new level lately and should see that over 18 this month although I am going to have to be careful at 50NL and if I take too much of a hit (3/4 buy ins) which I don't plan on happening then I will move back down again.

There are a couple of things that I think I need to look at which are: -

Am I too tight out of the blinds when someone is attempting to steal from me?

My won $ at Showdown stats are good, but I don't got to Showdown that often, is this a consequence of my playing style?

I've alluded to this in a previous post, but Agression Factor is an area I want to look at this month, I think my Flop Agression in comparison to the other streets is way to high. I want to get these closer together which I think is a consequence of c-betting and shutting down if I meet with resistance. Maybe I should be double barrelling a bit more or delaying the c-bet until the Turn on occasions. Obviously this will be situational.

Position Stats

The reducing VPIP from the Button downwards is ok although I think I need to increase by a couple of percent on the Button, C/Off and UTG+1. I also need to sort out what is happening on the Cut Off as that has been a bit of a disaster.

February Goals

Start out the month playing exclusively 50NL but with a strict stop loss limit of 4 buy ins before moving down
Continue the ongoing Studying I am doing there's so many resources available to me I need to utilise them more than I am doing.
Participate in a t least 1 Sweat/group session a week
Try and watch and learn from 3 video's a week
Focus when playing i.e. don't get distracted by the Internet etc.
Read Elements of Poker & The Poker MindSet

Area's of The Game To Work On

Table selection and analysis of tables when playing
Post Flop Play in particular improve my Turn Play because half the time I don't know what to do if c-bet doesn't go through
Have a plan for each hand not just react to what is happening on the time
Hand Reading
Stop making stupid calls when I know I'm behind
Take my Time

Ok that will do it for now, good luck every one for February

Slipping Back Into Bad Habits

2008-01-29T22:18:00.000Z

Things have took a bit of a downward turn over the past few days, and I have started doing things that I thought I had irradicated from my game i.e. Making Stupid Calls when I know I'm behind and also playing tired.

Up until Christmas I was mainly playing on Sun Poker which is a Crypto Site and was struggling. Since then, I've been playing on Full Tilt with a fair amount of success. However, the Rake Back and Bonuses on Sun are pretty good so I decided to play there over the weekend and managed to lose 3 buy ins through 1 loose call when I was behind and another couple of poor plays which I shouldn't have made. As a result of this I have withdrawn my money from there and am not going back for a while. I'm annoyed at myself for even going back to play there.

Work's a bit chaotic at the moment it always is at month end - an occupational hazard for Accounting jobs, made the mistake this evening of playing when tired. Something else I thought I stopped doing.

Not sure if I'll be able to play for the rest of the month, it might be a good idea to take a break for a few days any way and read Elements of Poker which arrived yesterday and recharge the batteries.

Video Link

2008-01-25T23:29:00.000Z

I made my first video earlier this week, which was at 50NL. Its not the slickest production in the world and I can only improve with practice but I found it beneficial to discuss hands out loud.

The link is on the Right under the video links section. If any one wants to watch it and make any comments there more than welcome.

Having seen nothing but good reviews about it I've got Elements of Poker on order hopefully it will turn up soon.

I'll have a proper update over the weekend.

Moving Up Permanently

2008-01-21T07:06:00.000Z

Since the start of this year, I have been gradually adding in 50NL tables to my play at the same time cutting down on the number of tables I play from 4 to 3 so that I can follow the games better until I feel comfortable at this level.

After a poor start to the month which seems to have happened to alot of people, and I considered moving back to 25NL and scrapping the 50NL tables, I've managed to turn things round in the last 10 days or so.

Over the weekend, I've decided to concentrate on the 50NL tables for the time being and not play any 25NL tables. I am working to a strict 5buy in loss level before moving back down to 25nl which I hope I don't have to use because I don't plan on having to. I'm also going to give myself a 2 buy in stop loss limit for any session as this is when tilt sets in with me.

Things I Need to Work On

There are a few area's of the game I need to work on which are as follows: -

Interpretation of Agression Factor Stats and using these to my advantage - Ryan Daut touched on this in his video last week where he said people will c-bet and then shut down if called which leads to high Flop Agression and lower Turn/River AF's. This is definitely true with me and was something I 've been thinking about so want to look into further.
Putting people on hand ranges and following the games better.
Table Selection

Poker Books

After seeing some decent reviews of the book by various people, I am planning on getting Elements of Poker. Other books I want to read are Psychology of Poker andThe Poker MindSet. Also, Dan Harrington's cash game books are due to be published next month which are two books Ialso want to get as his MTT book's are supposed to be some of the best around.

Marc (Disconnected) has made a couple of posts lately that because of the increase in resources available to us, we need to dedicate enough time to each element at the same time not forgetting to play. This is so true and one thing I need to address is that I'm not commenting on blogs too much lately which I am going to change particularly Group Blogs even if what I write is rubbish most of the time.

A Couple of Useful Links

2008-01-14T21:54:00.000Z

I've found these blog posts over the past couple of days both of which I think are useful and helpful.

This first post is from Sir Neb and is a post about putting people on hand ranges. This is an area where I know I'm weak so any pieces of advice on this topic are always welcome

http://sirnebsblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/hand-ranges.html

The next post is from Verneer's blog earlier today and is in connection with classifying the level of coaching you require to improve: -

http://www.cardrunners.com/members/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=29&task=show&action=view&id=8666&Itemid=29

I am seriously thinking about getting some form of coaching next month using this month's Rake Back to pay for it. Hopefully I will get about $100 for the month which may get me 2 lessons but definitely 1.

I would class myself as a level B player at the moment, as the Turn and River are definitely where I lose most of my money.

I've been playing break even poker over the past week or so. Got myself a solid base to build on for the rest of the month. Hopefully avoiding the stupid few days I seem to have every month.

I'm a bit behind on commenting on other people's blog particularly group one's so need to catch up on those over the next couple of days.

Every Monday night for the next 3 months, I should be doing a Sports Quiz which is run on a League basis. Each team sets the quiz once during the period the quiz runs for. We set our's last week which was a bonus as we got it out the way. Unfortunately the team that should have set the quiz tonight didn't turn up for some reason.

Update & a Couple of Hands

2008-01-08T23:35:00.000Z

As with most of the other members of the Study Group I had a pretty awful start to the year although I have to a certain extent managed to turn it round.

I've cut down on the number of tables I play from 4 to 3 but have added a 50NL Table to what I'm playing alongside 2 25NL tables.

The 25NL has been going well but I'm down about 3.5 buy ins at the higher level. To be honest I'm not overly happy about that because I am 99% certain I can beat the 50NL game but have made a few bad plays which have cost me. I'm going to take a bit of a break for a week or so at 50NL but will come back to it shortly.

Here's my graph for 2008 so far and a PT table. I'm a bit tighter than I have been of late which is mainly due to tightening up a bit after the indifferent start and being a bit more cautious at the higher level but that will change once I have made the necessary adjustments.

Here's a couple of hands I played this evening at 50NL which to be honest were badly paid by me: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1913279

The other player in this hand was playing 55.79/30.53 and I thought initially he was reraising with nothing much. However, I should have got the message after the raise to $18.75 and folded at this point.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1913304

On this hand I got a bit suspicious and becane very oassive post flop. The problems with this hand were caused by raising when UTG. I shouldn't have even got involved in the hand.

We've added some additional people to the group to give us more options due to Time Differences etc and hopefully we will push eachother and make us all become better playerd.

A Comment That Made A Crucial Point To Me

2008-01-04T00:59:00.000Z

There was some useful comments on my last post which I am definitely going to bear in mind. Something Martin (DodgyKen) said struck a chord with me and what he says is true. Thinking back alot of my money is lost calling raises on the turn/river when I don't have a strong enough hand to do so. The comment he made was as follows: -

Turn raises almost always have one pair beaten at the lower levels

This got me thinking there are undoubtedly other 1 line comments that are made in the Forums/Blogs etc which seem insignificant but is actually a very important piece of advice that I think I'll remember but when I'm caught up in the middle of a hand get so engrossed in it that I forget these snippets of imformation and revert to my old foolish ways. I'm going to start making a list of these and review them before the start of every session until they become automatic features of my play.

Here's a couple of hands I played this evening neither of which need any comment but the 1st 1 kind of illustrates DodgyKen's point accept its a Flop bet I' respond to but this could quite easily apply here. The 2nd one I just like for obvious reasons. More of that one and less of the first please!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1891020

He's playing at 24.87/14.81. Maybe checking behind here for pot control would have been a better play but I felt I had to bet out to try and protect my hand. The size of my bet compared to his remaining stack when he came over the top of me kind of gave me no option but to call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1891052

Flopping Quads is always +ev. I'm actually amazed that the short stack folded to the River bet which I tried to set at an amount to get the BB to come over the top of me and the shortstack to go all in. I got the rest of BB's stack a couple of hands later.

After yesterday's moaning session I am alot happier today and was actually quite pleased with how I got on other than the 1st hand above. I'm in a better frame of mind than I was but the kind of sessions I've had lately is probably where we learn more about ourselves and the game.

Good luck.

When Will It End?

2008-01-03T00:06:00.000Z

The end of 2007 and the start of 2008 have been pretty disastrous from a poker point of view. I feel as though I'm on a permanent downswing which is never going to end. I guess I'm doing something fundamentally wrong because all I seem to be doing is winning small pots and lose big one's. Back to the drawing board I guess. At some point pretty soon I'd like to see some return on the work I've been doing lately. Any way here's a few hands. I'll post some more tomorrow: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1885938

The other player here is playing at 38.89/6.94/2.90.

I guess the fact that he called my c-bet on the flop should have set the alarm bells ringing here. I am kind of thinking now that I should have check call/folded the Turn and certainly under no circumstances should I have called the all in reraise.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1886001

This player is 36.84/15.79/1.54

I never saw the straight coming here. I'm fine with what I did up to the River. Maybe I can get away from this then on a draw heavy board but in view of his Stack Size I'm not sure.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1886032

This hand is actually quite funny. There is no way I am ever laying this down on the flop and will do the same thing every time unless someone tells me I 'm being a bit stupid. I ran this through Poker Stove and I'm only a 53% favourite against 2 players here on the flop. On the Turn this had increased to 69% but the money was already in on the flop. I thought both of them were drawing which is what I wanted but Rivered again.

BB is playing 38.5/22 and UTG+1 is at 55.56/2.22.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1886068

This hand is similar to the 1st one. I've posted this on the forum. The other player is a Card Runners member and is playing at 17.71/14.17/5.10.

This is a horrible flop for my hand but I'm still going to bet out here which is what I did. The call should have told me everything I needed to know. As if there weren't another draws on the board, the Turn decided to add another straight and flush draw to the mix. I think the bet here is probably questionable I now favour a check call/fold depending on what he does. There's no way I'm ever going to call his Turn Bet.

That will do for know I'll post some more tomorrow.

Hopefully that's the end of the negativity for a while.

2007 Review and 2008 Aims

2008-01-01T11:53:00.000Z

For me from a Poker point of view, 2007 has been a disaster from a results point of view. I feel as though I have been running bad all year apart from a couple of months. Now this is what I would have said last year. However, having found Card Runners and changing my game drastically I know that aside from Variance, there are reasons why we run poorly and it is mainly due to poor decision making. For me this is most flop and is a continuing battle for me to get this right as I am losing far to much money Post Flop and this has to change or I will seriously have to consider whether to carry on.

I'm not particulary Results orientated other than I'd like to see an improvement in my results over time. My game has improved so much and I changed it dramatically over the course of 2007 and I would like to see some benefits from that because I'm not right now and there is no comparison between the player I was at the start of 2007 from where I am now.

My bank roll at the start of 2008 is the same as it was at the start of 2007 mainly through Rake back and bonuses fortunately. At the start of 2007, I was playing Full Ring 50NL mainly on I-Poker. In the early part of the year, I lost about half of my bank roll because I didn't really understand what I was doing. I understood the basics but I think people sussed me out because I was so tight and new when to play back at me or when to pass if I was strong. At this point I decided to find a Coaching Site and discovered Card Runners and the Low Limit Grinders Community which was set up and ultimately the Study Group that has come from that. CR has changed my game for the better in that I have switched to 6-max and totally changed how I play for the better. For instance in July my VPIP was 11.92, and PFR 10.69 over 12K hands whereas in December, I played 11K hands and my VPIP was 18.31 and PFR 16.88. I didn't find it difficult playing at 18/17 in December either and can't believe I was that tight looking back. I am happy with my play pre flop at the moment and know where my weaknesses are which is Post Flop and I am prepared to put so much work in in order to make 2008 a successful year for me.

Reading the blogs of the DodgyKen, Dice, LuckySob and Sir Neb just shows where we can get to if we put the effort in and want to succeed which I do.

Thats the negativity over with here's what I want to achieve in 2008: -

I'm currently playing at 25NL and trying to build some 50NL tables into what I am playing by the end of the year ideally I'd like to be a good 200NL player.
In the 1st couple of months of this year I want my Post Flop Game sorted out once and for all. I am going to work so hard at doing this so if I fail it won't be for the lack of trying.
Use and learn from the resources available to me - Watching Video's, Contributing to the Forums through Posting hands and reading other peoples posts. The same with the Blog ensure that I post here regularly and also read the Group and other blogs on a regular basis and learn from what I am doing.
Contribute fully to the SSNL Group we have going.
Add some Heads Up and other types of Poker to my game.
Try and Average 20K hands a month if I can. This will depend on work committments if I have to put in as many hours at work as I did last year then this won't be possible.
Have at least 1 day a week when I don't play.
Look into getting some coaching. This is something I want to do but my bankroll is not at a level at the moment where I can consider paying for a coach. I learnt so much in a group session with Verneer that I can see the benefits of doing this but need the bankroll to do so.

I think that's it no doubt there's other's but I'll review them as time goes on.

I'm not going to make any specific goals for January at the moment as its going to be another month of studying the game for the most part.

Year End Bank Roll $1,457

Finally good luck to everyone at the Poker tables in 2008.

Chris

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T20:16:00.000Z

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

2007-12-29T13:13:00.000Z

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

2007-12-22T20:34:00.000Z

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

2007-12-16T23:03:00.000Z

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

2007-12-10T22:58:00.000Z

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

2007-12-04T22:26:00.000Z

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

2007-11-30T22:29:00.000Z

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: -

Stop getting attached to strong pre flop hands post flop
Reign in my c-betting a bit. I think I am probably c-betting too much
Sort out my play on the turn as more often than not I am not too sure what to do here.
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

2007-11-27T22:38:00.000Z

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

2007-11-24T10:26:00.000Z

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

2007-11-18T09:26:00.000Z

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

2007-11-11T14:23:00.000Z

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?

2007-11-04T07:47:00.000Z

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

2007-10-31T22:18:00.000Z

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

2007-10-28T13:04:00.000Z

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?

2007-10-21T08:31:00.001+01:00

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

2007-10-18T18:41:00.001+01:00

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

2007-10-13T13:57:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-10-07T20:00:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-06T08:50:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-01T23:00:00.000+01:00

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

Play at least 10,000 hands during the month
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
Fix the leaks in my game that I uncovered following my previous post and PT analysis
Watch all Cash Game Video's uploaded during the month.
Constantly analyse my play and also that of my opponents
Post problematical hands each day in the CR Forum and respond to at least 5 new threads each day.
Read and understand No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice and also Professional No Limit Holdem

Poker Tracker Analysis

2007-09-29T09:11:00.000+01:00

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: -

Eliminate Re raising from the Big Blind when someone is constantly stealing my blinds.
Try and avoid Heads Up Situations where there is no pre flop raise.
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.
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

2007-09-23T13:20:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-16T10:20:00.001+01:00

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?

2007-09-13T23:12:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-05T22:45:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-02T15:24:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-01T09:31:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-29T23:27:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-26T15:43:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-25T10:12:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-21T23:21:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-20T22:08:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-18T22:56:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-18T08:49:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-16T12:38:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-15T11:12:00.001+01:00

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

2007-08-14T11:17:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-12T12:28:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-12T12:13:00.001+01:00

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

2007-08-11T12:21:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-08T22:31:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-05T23:37:00.001+01:00

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

2007-08-03T18:26:00.001+01:00

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

2007-08-03T18:07:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-01T19:38:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-01T06:41:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-31T20:28:00.001+01:00

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

2007-07-29T08:36:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-26T22:15:00.001+01:00

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

Play since 21st

2007-07-24T22:24:00.000+01:00

Its been a while since I've posted any interesting hands so here's 4 I've played since Saturday.

I've played 1600 hands at 13.45/11.58 A bit better VPIP but too small a sample. Unfortunately I'm showing a slight loss for these four days all due to testing myself at 50NL on Sunday for a while which didn't go very well. I just wanted to test myself at the higher limit for a session. It gave me some pointers and although I've got my bankroll up to the level where I can move up to 50NL due to a couple of decent MTT cashes, I'm no where near ready to move back up. Will continue playing 25NL for a while and see where I am in a couple of weeks.

Any way on to the hands. This 1st one I'm happy with until the River where I hit a bad card for me although why I reraised all in with the nut flush when there is a paired board I have no idea. Must go down as one of the worst play's I've ever made. I'd only just sat down at the table and the other player did a Runner immediately after this hand!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1296761

This next hand, I flopped a set and my opponent hit a straight on the turn, my question is this, could I have not called his all in bet on the turn bearing in mind I had Pot Odds of 2.5:1. I only have around 24 hands with him at 95.43/0.00?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1296787

The third hand I'm going to post is when for once I managed to lay down Aces on the flop to a check raise and draw heavy board. I think this was the correct play but has any one got anything to add. He was at 27.27/25.97 over 75 hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1296835

Finally, saving the best until last, no comments really necessary, just wanted to post this for myself just a shame I didn't get paid and wasn't likely to!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1296849

Thanks for any comments there very much appreciated.

Poker Tracker Stats

2007-07-21T09:11:00.001+01:00

Following on from my Previous Post About Poker Tracker Analysis, here are my stats based on 27K hands played since I switched from full Ring to 6 Handed Play when Brystmar's Video Series came out, I have also done a comparison with my Stats since this Low Limit Grinder's Community Project Started on 01st July which equates to about 7.5K hands: -

VPIP

All Six Handed Hands

Button 15.37
Cut Off 12.24
Middle Position 11.15
UTG 8.33
BB 5.15
SB 10.83
Overall 10.68

July Stats

Button 17.54
Cut Off 13.15
Middle Position 11.4
UTG 8.73
BB 5.15
SB 11.65
Overall 11.58

Pre Flop Raise (%)

All Six Handed

Button 14.2
Cut Off 11.68
Middle Position 10.86
UTG 8.14
BB 3.46
SB 8.75
Overall 9.58

July Stats

Button 16.5
Cut Off 12.6
Middle Position 11.23
UTG 8.73
BB 3.47
SB 9.24
Overall 10.41

For both sets of Stats, Connecting Cards other than AK which I play 95% of the time unless there has been alot of action in front of me, I only tend to play them less than 50% of the time sometimes alot lower than than. I will generally fold these to a raise before me. With the possible exception of AQ in position.

One thing I know I very rarely do is play a hand if there is a Raise in front of me unless it is a Premium Hand. I have started calling Raises with Mid to Lower Pocket Pairs for Implied Odds Value if the raisor has over say 75% of the Buy In.

Range From Button and Cut Off

Button

Ax to A5
Kx to K7
Qx to Q9S
Jx to J9

On the Button, I will play any Pocket Pair as long as the implied odds are there and connecting cards down to 65S and pretty much fold every thing else.

Cut Off

Ax to A7
Kx to K10
Qx to Q10
JJ/J10 only

For the Cut Off, I will play most Pocket Pairs unless there has been a re raise before me for hands lower than 99 and as long as there is the Implied Odds Value. Connecting Cards I generally play down to 98.

I hardly ever Cold Call Pre flop and as I have mentioned, I will usually fold if there has been a raise in front of me.

Post Flop Aggression Factor

Another area of my game where I a can improve is by being more aggressive Post Flop. Listed below are my Aggression Factor Stats and I don't really have a feel as to what the accepted level these should be showing or how important they are: -

All 6 Handed Tables

Street Aggression Factor

Pre Flop 7.11
Flop 4.54
Turn 2.64
River 1.21
Overall 4.62

Any comments/opinions will be taken on board no matter how critical. I feel that I certainly need to play more hands from the Button/Cut Off and may be to play more hands when there has been a raise in front of me although with this it will depend on the Player who has raised. If they are TAG I would be less inclined to than a loose Player.

I know that the above doesn't read very well I have got it all on an excel spreadsheet. For some reason, I couldn't post the link and it looks even worse when I tried to Copy and Paste the information into the post. If any one can tell advise in how I either add the link, I don't have any problems posting hand links or add a table into a blog post it would be very much appreciated.

I've not been very active this week so will definately have a look at other people's blogs over the weekend.

Thanks in Advance

Chris

Comments About Lack of Hands Played

2007-07-16T23:45:00.000+01:00

Thanks for the comments about needing to play more hands. I agree with you all 100%. Instead of playing for the next couple of days I am going to do the following 2 things: -

Watch as many Cash Game Video's (Brymstar's Series and Fruity Pro Videos in particular) as I can paying particular attention to Pre Flop Play. That doesn't mean just watching them once it means watching them 2/3 times until it becomes second nature.
Do an in depth analysis of my Pre Flop Poker Tracker Stats to establish where there is scope for increasing my Starting Hand Requirements, which will be the content of my next post.

Week 2 Report Card

2007-07-15T10:28:00.001+01:00

Like most of my school reports, Could Do Better is the comment I would make:-

Hands Played: 3007
VPIP: 11.87
Pre Flop Raise: 11.11
Profit/(Loss) (10.49)
BB/100 Hands (3.78)

July Stats: -

Hands Played: 5265
VPIP: 11.68
Pre Flop Raise: 10.83
Profit/(Loss): 18.40
BB/100 Hands (0.25)

Area's To Be Worked On

Increase VPIP - Ongoing from last week
Post Flop Agression - Ongoing from last week
Take my time before acting

Contrasting Fortunes

2007-07-15T09:13:00.000+01:00

Over the past couple of days I have had mixed fortunes. On Friday I thought I played some of my best poker for some time although I didn't end up with a large profit for the day I was still very happy with the way I played. There were no real tight spots that I put myself in and not really any interesting hands other than this one: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1265109

My feelings here having looked back at the hand a couple of days later are that I should have bet out on the turn instead of checking and possibly raising on the river as I had no idea where I was in the hand especially as both player's were very loose. The player who won the hand was at 68.37/20.41 and the other player was at 71.6/14.81.

Yesterday was hard going and I ended up having problems in a few hands. Over the past week or so, there has been a recurring theme in my play in that I seem to be losing sizeable pots to straights which in some occassions are very easy to spot. This next hand is an example of this, the King on the turn gave me two pair and the other player a straight. I tend to act quite quickly and need to slow down and take my time a bit more. He was at 62.5/12.5: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1265121

Sometimes there is nothing you can do. I have no idea what he was doing in the hand out of position and I was a 95% favourite when the money went in. Reraising All in on the flop with middle pair. Not a play I would have made: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1265130

This final hand I think I made a good laydown. I had only just started playing at the table and had no reads or stats on any of the player's at this point. Having got reraised on the flop and with a draw heavy and paired board, I felt that my money could be put to better use elsewhere: -
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1265138

Analysis for 12th July

2007-07-12T22:30:00.000+01:00

Played a reasonably solid session today other than one poorly played hand on my part, I was reasonably pleased.

This is the Bad Hand I Played and got what I deserved for chasing a draw on the flop, hitting the straight and the board pairing. I should have folded to the bet on the flop. I didn't have the odds to call and shouldn't have done so. I knew I was beaten on the River but still put all the chips in!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1257533

Other than that this was the only real hand of interest/ I got very lucky on the River but could never have put him on 2 pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1257544

Doing Something I Shouldn't

2007-07-11T22:40:00.001+01:00

I broke won of my Golden Rules this week and played a quick session of poker on Monday when knackered instead of having a day off. As a result I lost a couple of buy in's in hands that I shouldn't have got involved in or got away from: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254475

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254496

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254501

The first 2 hands ~I was well ahead when the money went in but I can't help thinking I should have got away from them.

The final hand was really badly played from me. I made a bad read, and never put him on the straight which was probably obvious to most.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I have been really busy at work and haven't played that much this week. Hopefully I'll be back on track tomorrow and will be able to have a look at how other people are getting on.

No Poker

2007-07-10T22:40:00.000+01:00

Been really busy at work and not played alot over past couple of days. Probably be towards the end of the week before I get chance to play.

Chris

Poker Stars Sunday $100K

2007-07-09T00:53:00.000+01:00

Somehow managed to finish 123rd out of 15,000 picking up $150 in the process.

Could possibly have finished higher but am really pleased with that.

1st Week Summary Low Limit Grinder's Community

2007-07-08T17:08:00.000+01:00

Overall I think the 1st week of this project has been basically steady as I've not got into too many tricky situations and for the most part it hasn't been too eventful.

Hands Played 2258
VPIP 11.43
Pre Flop Raise 10.45
BB/100 Hands 4. 46
Profit $28.89

There's a foundation there for me to build on but overall I am relatively pleased.

Area's of My Game Which I am Currently Looking To Improve

Try and increase by VPIP to around 14 by opening up my range from the Button.
Be more aggressive Post Flop.

Another Steady Session

2007-07-08T16:45:00.000+01:00

Played another steady session where nothing much really happened over just under 500 hands. One situation which seems to be occurring a bit for me at the moment is I am coming up against Loose player's from a VPIP point of view but who have got very low or zero Raise percentages. How do you play against these player's because I tend to raise pre flop or bet out after being checked to and they more often than not just call. How do you play against these player's because I never know where I am with them?

Here are a few of the interesting ones: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1244288

Yes I won this hand but I think I played it very badly. I had no read on the other player as I'd only just sat down at the table but he was in a full scale slanging match with another player at the table.

I should have reraised him All In instead of messing around continuosly raising eachother until all the money went in pre flop any way.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1244300

This next hand, I fell into my usual practice of not being aggressive enough on the Flop or Turn when I was well ahead. With the board pairing I would have folded to any bet on the river. The winner of the hand was at 57.14/0 and the other player was 42.31/0.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1244300

The problem I had here was that I should have reraised pre flop with AK instead of calling his raise. Having bet out on the flop and being called I did not know where I was despite having the Straight Draw. I ended up Check, folding on the turn. Opponent was playing 66.67/27.54.

As an aside I managed to finish 7th in a $4 180 player STT on Stars picking up $25.

Steady Accumulation

2007-07-07T09:51:00.001+01:00

Had another steady session last night where I ended up in profit mainly through Accumulation rather than any key hands.

I'm trying to be more Aggressive post flop and also increase my starting hand range at the moment in order to get my VPIP slightly higher. I'll post how I feel that's going in a few days when I've got a bigger sample of hands.

Any way here's some hands I feel are of interest and any comments or advice would be gratefully
received.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1241162

This was my biggest losing hand of the night, where I got into a bit of trouble with QQ, feel that I probably should have shut down on the flop with the Ace showing, but as he checked I decided to make a bet to try and take it down there and then. Maybe I should have bet a bit higher I don't know but he was playing at 67/0 and Ax is obviously in his range. I pretty much gave up on the hand when he called my flop bet, but the bet he put in on the river was so small with odds of just under 10-1 I had to call probably another error.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1241176

I think I got sucked in a bit here with the nut flush draw and overcards against someone who was playing at 63.86/2.97 and again should possibly have folded to the reraise on the flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1241185

This last hand was my biggest winning hand of the night where I flopped bottom set. The other player in the hand was wild and to a tighter player I may have folded to the All In Bet on the turn with the possible flush draw but against him I felt as though I was way ahead.

Increasing VPIP

2007-07-05T23:02:00.000+01:00

I had a profitable session today taking on board advice I have received about being more aggressive especially post flop. Didn't really have any interesting hands but was quite pleased with how things went.

I want to talk about something a bit more technical. Over the course of my Poker Playing Career, and certainly over the past few month's and a sizeable number of hands, my VPIP generally seems to settle down at around 10-12.

I would ideally like to try and increase this to between 15-18 has any one got any advice as to some area's I can be looking at to try and improve this result as I am too tight at the moment and need to loosen up my play.

I generally try and play in position however, as a rule I will fold to a raise/reraise unless I have a premium hand.

Frustrated

2007-07-04T22:00:00.000+01:00

Only played for about an hour today. Had a bad session where I lost a couple of buy ins when I don't think I did alot wrong. One hand I had KK, raised from the button got re raised All In by someone playing 42.86/7.14. Called the All In Raise he turned over Q6 off suit and hit the flush on the River.

This is the other hand where I lost a buy in. When I played the hand I felt that there was nothing I could do. However, having played the hand back through Poker Tracker, I now think I should have raised on the Flop or Turn instead of flat calling even though I was well ahead until the river:

-http://www.pokerhand.org/?1234151

On this other hand I played today, I flopped the nut flush and was trying to draw my opponent in by not raising. However, could I have maximised my winnings in this hand by playing it differently?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1234173

Overall I'm a bit frustrated about how today's session has gone but tomorrow's another day.

Comments on Play 03rd July

2007-07-03T22:40:00.000+01:00

I didn't play yesterday as went to a 20/20 Cricket Match straight after work which got rained off so went to the pub instead.

Played ok today and showed a profit over just under 300 hands. Played one hand really badly when I lost concentration with QQ against AA when I called an All In Bet on the Turn with an Ace on the Board which should have been an automatic fold. Apart from that, here's a couple of of the more interesting hands I played: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1231268

Opponent was 50.98/1.96, I think I was too passive here particularly on the turn and should have bet out, also I should have raised more on the flop but was worried about the flush draw. Not sure if he was ever going to fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1231284

On this particular hand I don't think I maximised by winnings here and should have bet out on the flop and river to try and get all his chips. I didn't want to lose my customer on the flop. He was 50.0/0.00

Overall, I think I am too tight and need to loosen up as I always have a VPIP of between 10-12%. Thanks to fellow card runners member RobRacing who pointed this out to me after playing around 140 hands with him on Poker Stars this evening. I need to try and play more hands in position.

Analysis of Play 1st July

2007-07-02T00:18:00.000+01:00

I played over 400 hands this evening, not a lot really happened and I finished the day $0.23 down on where I started. Not too many hands of note, these are a couple of them: -

This 1st hand was one of the 1st hands my opponent played. I had no reads on him. I had AK and flopped Top Pair, Top Kicker. I possibly could have folded on the River but never put him on a straight and what's he doing calling a raise preflop with 45 Off Suit?

POKERSTARS GAME #10718014388: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.05/$0.10) - 2007/07/01 - 18:08:12 (ET)
Table 'Anitra' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: SydM ($5.95 in chips)
Seat 2: losbert ($12.20 in chips)
Seat 3: Danpil ($15.80 in chips)
Seat 4: Eric sti! ($7.95 in chips)
Seat 5: budso ($5.20 in chips)
Seat 6: mc_mat&89 ($4.65 in chips)
budso: posts small blind $0.05
mc_mat&89: posts big blind $0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to losbert [Kh As]
SydM: folds
losbert: raises $0.30 to $0.40
Danpil: folds
Eric sti!: calls $0.40
budso: folds
mc_mat&89: folds
*** FLOP *** [3d Kc 2s]
losbert: bets $0.50
Eric sti!: calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [3d Kc 2s] [6s]
losbert: bets $1
Eric sti!: calls $1
*** RIVER *** [3d Kc 2s 6s] [6c]
losbert: checks
Eric sti!: bets $6.05 and is all-in
losbert: calls $6.05
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Eric sti!: shows [4h 5s] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
losbert: mucks hand
Eric sti! collected $15.30 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $16.05 | Rake $0.75
Board [3d Kc 2s 6s 6c]
Seat 1: SydM folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: losbert mucked [Kh As]
Seat 3: Danpil folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Eric sti! (button) showed [4h 5s] and won ($15.30) with a straight, Deuce to Six
Seat 5: budso (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: mc_mat&89 (big blind) folded before Flop

This next hand was one I folded, which I think was the right thing to do but could I have played it any differently. The pre flop raiser was 30.0/5.0 and I thought he was strong as he hadn't been raising very much. I folded on the flop due to him showing strength having been very passive prior to this hand. The eventual winner of the hand was at 16.67/8.33. I had not seen too many hands with either player: -

** Game ID 1474049910 starting - 2007-07-01 20:01:21
** Candyman [Hold 'em] (0.05|0.10 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- barnarama sitting in seat 1 with $11.90
- mattbag sitting in seat 2 with $4.54 [Dealer]
- saragj sitting in seat 3 with $10.46
- chris1969 sitting in seat 4 with $9.80
- Buzzdee85 sitting in seat 5 with $10.25
- OxPeHuH sitting in seat 6 with $0.85

saragj posted the small blind - $0.05
chris1969 posted the big blind - $0.10
** Dealing card to chris1969: Jack of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds
Buzzdee85 folded
OxPeHuH raised - $0.40
barnarama folded
mattbag raised - $0.70
saragj folded
chris1969 called - $0.70
OxPeHuH went all-in - $0.45
mattbag called - $0.85
chris1969 called - $0.85

** Dealing the flop: Queen of Spades, 4 of Clubs, 10 of Spades
chris1969 checked
mattbag bet - $2.60
chris1969 folded

** Dealing the turn: 9 of Diamonds

** Dealing the river: 8 of Clubs
OxPeHuH shows: 9 of Spades, 9 of Clubs
mattbag mucks:
OxPeHuH wins $2.45 from the main pot

End of game 1474049910

I would be interested to read any comments.

Good luck

Chris

Aims & Objectives

2007-07-02T00:02:00.000+01:00

My Poker Aims and Objectives for July are as follows: -

To play a minimum of 10,000 hands during the month.
Review my play within Poker Tracker after each session, posting any significant hands within the blog for other Card Runner's Low Limit Grinder's to read and hopefully post their comments and advice. Any one is more than welcome to do so. I will read other people's blogs and do the same
To work on and improve the area's of my game which I think are weak i.e. Post Flop Play.
To continuously learn and improve so that I can become the best player I can possibly be.
To set up a Rakeback deal to increase my earnings potential.

Over the long term I would like to get back to playing at the levels I was at the start of this year which was 50NL and hopefully beyond but I am not going to do so until I have seen the necessary improvements in my game and that I have the appropriate bank roll to do so.

Introduction

2007-07-01T12:44:00.000+01:00

I have set this blog up to mainly recored my progress and hopefully show my improvement in playing No Limit Cash Games currently at low stakes with a view to sharing information and reviewing hand history's and other area's of the game with other peolpe who are members of Card Runners.

Poker History

I started playing poker two year's ago initially Sit & Go's on the Prima Network and Party Poker before migrating to playing Limit Cash Games and then eventually switching to No Limit Cash about 18 months ago. I loved the game from day one and still do so perhaps even more now than ever before even through the bad times.

I was reasonably succesful until February this year mainly playing 50NL at various sites and had got my bankroll up to $2k. However, since then I have really struggled with my game and have now got a bankroll of about $300 and have had to drop down to playing $10NL. For a couple of months I thought this was down to variance and the inevitable bad run that all Poker Player's have to endure. However I now think that there are fundamental issue's with my game and I need to radically overhaul how I play which is why I joined the Card Runners Poker Training Web Site.

I don't think that I have used the site to its full potential yet which is why I have decided to take part in a scheme that peterpjames a Card Runners member suggested on the forum's whereby players at the Low Limits help eachother out and share information primarily through recording information on Personal Blog's and helping eachother improve there games with the long term aim of becoming better Poker Player's which I think is a great idea.

Personal Information

My name is Chris and I am 37 and come from Leicester which is a city in England and I work in the Accounts Department of a Manufacturing Company dealing primarily with the Supply Chain area of the business.

Aside from Poker, I am a massive Sports fan especially football, I support Leicester City and also watch most sports both live and on TV. I also take part in a Sports Quiz League which runs during the winter.

I also enjoy listening to music and have been known to have the odd drink every now and then.

That's it for now, my next post will be about my Poker Aims and Objectives.