Party Poker Out, Poker Stars In (PT Evaluation)

I just cashed out my winnings from Party Poker and will now re-deposit into PokerStars.

After trying a late night session of full ring, I firmly decided it was just not for me. After being accustomed to playing $1/$2 6max for so long, I just couldn't stand waiting around like in full ring. I would have to wait so long and then be +$10 over an hour or so. I know for some people full ring is money to them, but its just not for me. Even though it is more stable than 6max and the variance is certainly less, I will always love the aggression and manipulation at 6max and I will continue to strive and hopefully succeed in my attempt to crush these short handed games.

I have re-discovered why I hate Party Poker so much, despite the winrate I have established. There are just too many retarded people playing that I can't seem to escape the suckouts. Granted, a sizeable portion of my losses are due to tilt and not playing hands optimally and making bad decisions...but never on any site besides Party have I had this type of problem. Its not even like I can comfort myself that "oh today your hands are losing but they can't keep catching their 2 outers forver" because some new fish will sit in and chase their gutshot and hit. I've had a good run, definately my best run in Party Poker this month than any other time period at Party, however I need to regain my confidence in crushing 6max limit and to do that, I think moving back to PokerStars will be a good idea. At PokerStars, even though I eventually ended up pissing my bankroll away, I've cashed out most of my winnings out of that site (almost $2k) and even though I lost my roll, I've managed to sustain a win rate of greater than 3.00BB/100 hands. Hopefully, moving back to PokerStars will re-establish my winning methods of play.

I have to write this here to remind myself: DO NOT PLAY NO LIMIT WHEN YOU'RE BANKROLL IS AT RISK

frankly, I just dont have the discipline to properly play No Limit successfully online. In a live game, I can play great...especially with the Rutgers kids that think that reading one book of poker will make them a God at cards. I can make great lay downs live and really manipulate my opponents. But online, I just can't seem to focus as well at NL cash games like I do in live games, and I end up being uber aggressive and losing my stack to someone because I didnt believe he had the trip nines on the flop.

I plan on re-reading some of my old books again, Theory of Poker is something I havent touched back on in ages and I think its long overdue. I think I should read Small Stakes Hold'em once again, just to build upon my foundations more, especially the 6max section.

I would like to ultimately get into No Limit more, become succesfull at it to play online, it was the first game I fell in love with but unfortunately just isn't my knack right now online.

Sklansky is coming out with the new NL cash book, maybe I'll pick it up sometime over the summer. And supposedly this guy, Angel Largay's book is making some big noise in the BTP forums so I plan to pick that one up sometime down the line as well.

I plan to start back playing $.50/$1 6max again once I log into PokerStars, build that roll back to a healthy $600 and then see whats good from there.

LIFETIME 6max limit winnings from Party Poker:

6max Limit Winnings from PartyPoker since I redeposited on April 25th,2006:


LIFETIME 6max limit winnings from PokerStars (November '04-February '05)



interesting to note:
I have played roughly the same number of hands in lifetime standings at both PartyPoker and PokerStars. However it took me 5 months to play 25k hands at PokerStars, while it only took me 3 months to play 29k hands at PartyPoker (mostly due to summer). And also, in roughly the same number of hands, I have made +$1381.38 more at PokerStars than PartyPoker.

I hope I can work back into my old rhythm again at PokerStars and tear it up like i did back in November '05.

bankroll thoughts

Bankroll management has certainly been a problem for me the past few years. Although i've cashed out over 2k in winnings since I started playing poker online back in Summer of '04, I have always lost my bankroll somehow by jumping up too high in limits or tilting it all away. With the start of this journal, and trying to fully utilize PokerTracker and PA-HUD, I'm trying to change that pattern. Back in November '05-February '05, I played on PokerStars $1/$2 6max tables and sustained a >3.00BB/100 hands winrate. Now granted, this is my first month of playing on Party Poker $1/$2 6max...the BB/100 hands i'm looking at right now is a horrendous 1.80BB/100 hands. It might just be a slow month, but I'm thinking that it really might be that I match up better with my opponents at P'Stars, simply because they are a little bit smarter so I wont find myself session after session battling 3 people to the river to hit their gutshots and having them hit.

---------------edited------
I'm going to set up a stop-loss limit now under Tiburon's advice, since I've never really set one up. Its going to be hard to strictly follow this rule, because when i feel like i have to play, my laptop is there right in front of me and its so easy to just double click the PartyPoker icon and play. I think I will set this at -30BB (-$60),
-----------------------------

PartyPoker has been frustrating the shit out of me, well just the $1/$2 6max limits anyway. the highest my bankroll has ever been was $900ish, and ever since I started playing $1/$2 limit, it seems as if I'll go on this nice run and increase my bankroll to about $800-$900 and then I'll hit this brutal downswing and grind it out around $300-$400ish and then run it back up to $800ish and then the cycle repeats. I'm thinking about cashing out my entire bankroll and depositing it back into PokerStars. Or maybe I'll switch to playing full-ring limit...

Its weird...even on PokerStars where at $1/$2 limit 6max i've had a 3.87BB/100 hands win rate after 29k hands, I never ran my bankroll high enough to sufficiently play $2/$4 limit. I mean, I could have, if I didn't cash out some funds every now and then, but I'm really itching to play $2/$4 simply because i've just about had enough of these suckouts that seem to be happening on a regular basis. Granted I know the competition at $2/$4 isnt that much better, but at $1/$2 the common argument i hear is, "its only $1 more and so i called"... when i played a couple of sessions at $2/$4 i still noticed a lot of chasing, but it was significantly less than at $1/$2 and they had slightly better holdings too.

I'm going to try a session or two at full ring and see how it goes, 6max variance is a bastard.

day 18 technically

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 1
Time played today: 1 hour 39 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$6.79
Results for May: +$ 330.67
Holdem bankroll: $335.75

this would have been a win of +$56.79 but in my stupid-tilt mode I decided to let $50 ride on the $.25/.50 NL table and lost my buy in within 10 hands of playing. I knew I should have just walked away, even Tiburon advised me to walk away but i saw his comment too late and I just had this urge to be uber aggressive at the NL table. Well, at least I worked off the buy in at the limit tables and came out a little bit on top.

plan for rest of today:
sleep
try to avoid playing poker until maybe later tonight
pack
relax


Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 2
Time played today: 1 hour 11 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$26.08
Results for May: +$ 356.75
Holdem bankroll: $361.83

i felt relaxed enough to start playing, so I started a session at 12:20pm, and just remembered to focus and play each hand optimally and make smart decisions. that, and the lack of getting sucked out...a good overall session.

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 3
Time played today: 1 hour 11 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$45.50
Results for May: +$ 311.25
Holdem bankroll: $316.33


Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 4
Time played today: 42 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$28.43
Results for May: +$ 339.68
Holdem bankroll: $344.76

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 5
Time played today: 49 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$63.58
Results for May: +$ 403.26
Holdem bankroll: $408.34


Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session6
Time played today: 1 hour 8 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$50.25
Results for May: +$ 353.01
Holdem bankroll: $358.09

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session7
Time played today: 57 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$22.25
Results for May: +$ 375.26
Holdem bankroll: $380.34

day 17

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 1
Time played today: 1 hour
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$38
Results for May: +$ 445.91
Holdem bankroll: $449.95


session started up +$20 and then quickly dropped...was aggressive on my straight draws and most of them didnt hit.

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 2
Time played today: 2 hours 20 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$29.87
Results for May: +$ 416.04
Holdem bankroll: $420.08

i HATE loose passive/passive players, they make me want to vomit.
and lose a buy in

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session3
Time played today: 18 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$44.50
Results for May: +$ 371.50
Holdem bankroll: $375.58

3 times, an opponent turned and caught two pair on me when i had TP/better kicker.
this day sucks, and none of my flush draws hit this session. variance is pissing the shit out of me.


Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session4
Time played today: 32 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$3.00
Results for May: +$ 373.50
Holdem bankroll: $378.58


yeah...$3...in 32 minutes, at least its a profit.



Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 5
Time played today: 1 hour 16 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$8.12
Results for May: +$ 365.38
Holdem bankroll: $370.46

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 6
Time played today: 40 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$41.50
Results for May: +$ 323.88
Holdem bankroll: $328.96

i have seriously, never ever had a day like this. I dropped over 3 buy-ins today alone.
and its not even like I was playing shitty...I honestly think I played solid..I just couldnt catch a fucking break today, it was disgusting.

out of all the open ended str8 draws that I flopped and played aggressively, I would say maybe 1 or 2 actually hit.

out of all the flush draws I had, only 1 hit...and that was a runner runner on someone

out of all the TP/TK i flopped, I would say about 8 or 9 held up.

I think it would be a good idea to take a break tomorrow, just clean shit up and pack some things for when I move out to my Fraternity house in June.

i still can't believe this shit, dropping over 3 buy-ins...ridiculous.
this kind of shit makes me want to cashout of Party Poker and re-deposit my money into P'Stars and tear it up.

almost...

day 16

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 1
Time played today: 6 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$12.75
Results for May: +$ 529.91
Holdem bankroll: $533.95

played a quick session before heading out to my friend thom's beerbq. could only play for a little bit because my sister is retarded and likes to cause internet disconnections by running 112410935039 programs on her computer.


Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 2
Time played today: 2 hours
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$46
Results for May: +$ 483.91
Holdem bankroll: $487.95


played around midnight till 2:30am...was a real grind. was pretty much card dead, I didn't hit a single open ended straight draw that I had, and only hit a flush once but that was a small pot. hopefully better luck tomorrow.

poker tracker check up

looking at my BB/100 hands for all levels for the user name i've been using on Party Poker for the last month or so, things look sort of disappointing. My BB/100 hands for $1/$2 6max is disappointing...even though 5k hand sample base is statistically insignificant...the less than spectacular win rate confirms what i've been thinking all along...i just havent been winning as much as I used to back when I was playing $1/$2 6max in November. I just feel slow...and its been much more of a grind. Hopefully with more hands I will bring this BB/100 hands up. I should be happy though, since most people who play poker are losing players and can't even maintain a win rate of 1BB/100 hands..


this is the pokergraph from April 25th to now. Variance is a bitch, to say the least. At least i'm winning, I should be happy about that i guess. I just know i can do better...

hopefully things will change by the end of the month...will update on stats upon end of every month.

interesting "losing" hands to note:

AJ0 -$16.75
KTo -$36.98
Q9o -$31.75
JTs -$42.25
JTo -$111.63
J9o -$43.75
T9o -$30.00

day 15 (4 sessions)

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 1
Time played today: 1 hour 5 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$39.37
Results for May: +$ 448.23
Holdem bankroll: $448.52



after taking a break yesterday, I believe i played extremely well today despite the results. I was playing with a clarity that I often experience after taking a break. Making great laydowns and smart moves, but maybe it was because i was single-tabling. which brings me back to another issue...I'm wondering if I should start single-tabling again or go back to multi-tabling. When i single table, i do get bored easily but I have great, great reads on my opponents and i can often pull great bluffs in big pots. Earlier today I took down a 10+BB pot with ace high when i check called until the river when I made a check-raise move against an over aggressive player to my left and he mucked it.


just really sucks when I play so well but shit just isnt going my way. I got KK 3 times and had them break all 3 times in huge pots. Once was KK vs AA where i was behind the whole way but it was a huge pot. Then I had KK vs 66 where the opponent holding 66 caught a 6 on the river, i dont even know how he could've stayed in when I was raising another opponent on the flop with a Q on the flop. Then I had KK vs 88 where 88 hit on river...just really sucks. And while all of this was happening i was +$30 on a table... maybe i'll play later.


Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 2
Time played today: 1 hour
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$45.06
Results for May: +$ 493.29
Holdem bankroll: $493.58

i think i might stick to single-tabling, i feel extremely comfortable with my reads and making bluff-raise plays that pay off pretty well, that I can't really accomplish when i'm 3-tabling. For now I guess i will single-table...maybe when I develop my game better and get more comfortable I'll multi-table again.

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 3
Time played today: 1 hour 5 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$53.50
Results for May: +$ 439.79
Holdem bankroll: $443.83

i can't understand it, i know these players at night are just horrible and make so many bad decisions and chase their 4outers and 2 outers, SO IT SHOULD BE PROFITABLE RIGHT? but everytime i play at night i start out pretty good up +$20 or something and then it takes a sharp dive down, when everyone and their mom is hitting their fucking gutshots on me and their 2 outers and it just doesnt stop. as i write right now i'm buying in again and trying to run this table...we'll see how it goes:

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 4
Time played today: 35 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$77.37
Results for May: +$ 517.16
Holdem bankroll: $521.20

finally, piss poor play from night opponents has finally paid off. a very sucessful session, it also helped that I hit a flush draw for once tonight finally, and found particularly passive tables and also picked out my spots carefully against uber-aggressive maniac-type opponents and extracted the maximum bets from them. I seem to run into more maniac opponents at night, and utilizing the most out of these situations + enough luck to avoid being unlucky should = profitable nights.

day 14

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 1
Time played today: 1 hour
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$29.89
Results for May: +$ 589.85
Holdem bankroll: $690.14


solid poker, not much to say, I followed my guideline of moving to a new table once i reach +$10 on a particular table, but i'm not sure if its profitable to do that or not. if im winning on a table should i keep playing? i'm not sure, because i've had times when i've won a lot on a table only to lose most of it and get back to even, and there are times where i've more than doubled my buy-in sitting at a table, hm. I think i'll learn to trust my own instincts as to when to leave a table or not. i'm going to try to play more later hopefully.

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 2
Time played today: 30 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$102.25
Results for May: +$ 487.60
Holdem bankroll: $487.89


horrendous...absolutely horrendous. is all i can say. i didnt even really get a cold deck, just my hands could not hold up for shit. ridiculous. i think i might stop playing today altogether...big loss, two buy ins. Then, even though it might not be smart, I cashed out $100. So now my bankroll is kinda low, and Im going to switch back to single-tabling. i need to rebuild...this is absolutely ridiculous. SAFASHKJFHASJHSAKJDH fucking hate these downswings.

i just need to keep telling myself that its all variance
ALL VARIANCE

downswings are expected.



at least i'm playing on OPM now (other people's money)
my original investment of $200 is now fully cashed out.


so to make myself feel better, i didnt lose my own money
i just lost some other fucker's money that i won.

sigh. i hate this shit

day 13...ugh

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 1
Time played today: 1 hour
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$42.63
Results for May: +$ 515.84
Holdem bankroll: $616.13

opened up 3 tables for a quick morning session, and it started out pretty well. was up +$20 on one table, and +$10 on another table...then everything turned to shit. session ended horrendously...had AK about 6 times, lost everytime with it. QQ held up everytime though, suprisingly. Just could not hit with premium hands, and only won small pots. Got rivered with KK with someone's gay 2 pair in a big pot, everything just wasnt clicking. hopefully i'll play another session later and make more out of it...this session was just bad in every way possible.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 2
Time played today: 52 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$85.00
Results for May: +$ 600.84
Holdem bankroll: $701.13

after i got back from some job searching, I came home and sat back down and decided to play some more poker. played solid, opened up 3 tables as usual. I discovered this: if you feel that the table is unprofitable, leave. simple as that. There were a couple of tables that I felt i just wouldnt get payed off that well one after i played a couple of hands and just left and found other tables. I think during the course of my session I opened and sat in about 10 different tables. played solid and smart. I need to learn to maintain my A game like this for future playing. Feeling good, maybe i'll get in another session later.
------------------------------------------------------------
Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 3
Time played today: 50 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$40.88
Results for May: +$ 559.96
Holdem bankroll: $660.25

last and final session: well, leave it up to variance...sigh. played another session, everything started out pretty good, was up on all three tables but then i started to get a cold deck on a couple of tables. people weren't respecting my raises much either since i wasnt hitting all night. got JJ and QQ a lot, and lost almost every pot with these hands against an Ace hitting on flop, turn, or river. nothing i can really say about this session, i really do believe i played solid all throughout...just could not get people to fold even preflop. i hope tomorrow is better.


i want to try this out tomorrow:
-once i reach +$10 on any table, leave and open a new one.

day 12 short session

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 1
Time played today: 42 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$45.45
Results for May: +$ 640.45
Holdem bankroll: $740.49

UPDATE:
played a late night session...AND WHY I AM RETARDED FOR DOING SO.
i knew i shouldn;t play late at night, its just not my style to play against these loose passive calling stations. its just not profitable...lost almost 2 full buy ins because of retarded plays and a cold deck, FROM NOW on i am not playing past 1am...this shit is ridiculous.


Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session 2
Time played today: 51 minutes
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$81.98
Results for May: +$ 558.47
Holdem bankroll: $658.51
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

played a short session tonight at 9pm at the girlfriend's. opened up 3 tables and just played straight forward ABC poker, nothing fancy, didnt even try to steal any pots...I guess the lack of PA HUD and lack of reads (played less than an hour at all 3 tables) made me resort to playing this way. However, I did adopt a more aggressive approach like Tiburon has preached, and it especially payed off well tonight on one table when i was down from my $50 buy in to $14ish and i got KJ suited...



***** Hand History for Game 4337189813 *****
$1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, May 22, 21:16:58 ET 2006
Table Letter Box (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: CHBB502 ( $71.62 )
Seat 3: HelenGraham ( $100.50 )
Seat 1: HERO ( $29.88 )
Seat 5: pHoffa ( $100 )
Seat 6: memoryzero ( $49 )
Seat 4: PinkLady222 ( $25.25 )
HelenGraham posts small blind [$0.50].
PinkLady222 posts big blind [$1].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO[ Kh Jh ]

memoryzero calls [$1].
HERO raises [$2].
CHBB502 folds.
HelenGraham calls [$1.50].
PinkLady222 calls [$1].
memoryzero calls [$1].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, 4h, 6h ]

HelenGraham checks.
PinkLady222 checks.
memoryzero checks.
HERO bets [$1].
HelenGraham folds.
PinkLady222 calls [$1].
memoryzero raises [$2].
HERO calls [$1].
PinkLady222 calls [$1].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 7h ]

PinkLady222 bets [$2].
memoryzero calls [$2].
HERO raises [$4].
PinkLady222 raises [$4].
memoryzero calls [$4].
HERO raises [$4].
PinkLady222 calls [$2].
memoryzero calls [$2].

** Dealing River ** [ 6d ]

PinkLady222 bets [$2].
memoryzero calls [$2].
memento2 calls [$2].
PinkLady222 shows [ 3c, 4d ] a straight, three to seven.
memoryzero shows [ Th, 9h ] a flush, ten high.
HERO shows [ Kh, Jh ] a flush, king high.
HERO wins $43 from the main pot with a flush, king high with king kicker.

day 10 + 11

didnt really play that much over the last two days.

yesterday:
time: 2 hours 15 minutes
profit: +$51
bankroll: $733


Holdem results ($1/$2 LHE)
Time played today: 1 hour
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$38
Results for May: +$ 595
Holdem bankroll: $695

i shouldn't have played late at night tonight, I knew i shouldn't have. Opponents are much looser and stupidly aggressive at weird times making some of them highly unpredictable. I dont have the edge yet to apply the proper change up to adjust to these "night time players". Its just not +EV for me to play at night, its far more efficient for me to play agains the "day time players", its far easier. Started 3 tabling lately, its been going pretty well, was up at least +$10 on all 3 tables tonight, except for one table... I just couldnt seem to stop running into bad luck. 3 times i lost big pots to an opponent rivering two pair, couldnt hit any of my flush draws on that table either. At least a solid +$20 win on another table helped pad the loss of a full buy-in on that unlucky table... sigh


i read an interesting article Tiburon wrote in his blog about aggressiveness in relation to win rate:

his research in his database are as follows:

Rating Category................................................BB/100

Ultra Aggressor (AF-T>2.00).........................3.59
Tight Aggressive (AF-T 1.5-2).......................1.98
Semi-Loose Aggressive...........................................1.97
Loose Aggressive................................................0.72
Tight Neutral (AF-T 1.2-1.5)........................0.45
Semi-Loose Neutral..............................................1.79
Loose Neutral...................................................0.71
Tight Passive (AF-T<1.2)...........................-3.70
Semi-Loose Passive.............................................-11.42
Loose Passive...................................................-14.41

"As in my autorate rule discussion in another stickied thread, aggression is the key to winning poker. Plain and simple. No doubt about it. Pre-flop aggression factor is absolutely worthless. Ignore it. Your VP$IP and PFR aren't bad, but if you play passive post-flop, you will lose. Raise with your made hands, raise with your draws. Raise more than call, Fold more than raise.

• Aggression is vital to success in Limit Hold'em. Without playing aggressively, you will almost certainly not be a long term winner.
• Never try to semi-bluff or bluff a calling station. Before you try the plays listed here, make sure your read on the opponent is that he can lay down a non-nut or other mediocre holding. If you feel he can't lay it down, play aggressively, but don't try to overplay him.

--------------credit Tiburon----------------------------------

definately have to start being more aggressive with my draws, I've noticed i've slipped into this passive role when playing my flush draws and straight draws against opponents simply because I feel like most of the time i won't hit and they will call down with mid pair or less more than half the time anyway so it isnt worth trying to raise and re-raise draws. I think im pretty aggressive but I know I should push these draws harder than I have been...I also need to work on folding more often rather than calling.

day 9 of summer, moving back down

today sucked, period.

in my morning session i had my bankroll to as high as $833
i can contest that i believe i played great all day.

unfortunately in the afternoon, everything turned to shit and i was hit with a cold deck.
got great cards, just...never got any help on the flop, turn, and especially not the river.

i must've played for at least 5 hours today
and the damage: $-68.00

after my bankroll dropped to about $750ish, i decided to follow Tiburon's advice and move back down to $1/$2, i started to sweat the money a bit playing at $2/$4 and it was in my best interest to move back down. With over $600 in my BR i can comfortably multi-table $1/$2 6max.

current bankroll: $682.67

i need to focus on playing my positions better, and making smart, efficient laydowns in pots that arent worth trying to bluff/salvage.

my goal is to grind this roll out to about 1k and then move up to $2/$4 again.

a dab at $2/$4 limit 6max

after bouncing back from my downswing last week i've been running well so i decided to dabble into $2/$4 limit. This the "highest" of the low limit stakes I have ever ventured in. My experiences with $2/$4 in the past have been...very unstable. My first time playing $2/$4 i crushed the game for a couple of days, making a profit of over $400 and then proceeded to lose it all the next couple of days and more. Why did i decide to try $2/$4 again? I think its because i'm ready now. I actually feel comfortable, not scared or nervous. Even though my bankroll (before opening a $2/$4 table) was $520, I felt like I was ready to play at this level.

the result:

Time played: 3 hours and 18 minutes
amount won: + $212
current bankroll: $732.19


the competition at $2/$4 is still very soft, ABC poker will still make you a longterm winner it seems. although I noticed i did run into more aggressive opponents, but they were usually smart enough to lay down ace high or low pair to a check-raise bluff on the turn, which is a good thing. i'm wary of the many capable players that lurk the $2/$4 tables on their way to move up in limits just like i am....we'll see how it goes. I'm planning on following the "3x buy in rule" (a modification of the 5x buy in rule)...upon if I lose 3x buy ins ($300) i will move back down to $1/$2 limit. Kind've risky, but I think i'm ready even though I do not have the bankroll to safely play at this level.

i just hope i don't fall victim to "moving up too soon too fast".

in the grind

was down to as low as $350 this week but I think the downswing has leveled off and the cards are finally hitting right. Ice Man (an online pro @ BTP) stated the most truthful thing about limit hold'em, "in limit, you are at the mercy of the cards. in no limit I would be able to make it up with or without cards in other hands. Im at the mercy of the cards in limit." It sucks but its true, so much of limit is dependent on how you hit the flop and how your opponents hit the flop. But dont get me wrong, there are so many levels you can outplay your opponents...unfortunately most of that does not apply to low stakes hold'em.

i've got to stop trying to get fancy all the time and trying to win every single pot i'm involved in...in low limit, its better off to play straight-forward ABC poker...well, most of the time.

started 2-tabling consistently, got my bankroll back up to $524.69
improved my win rate of BB/100 hands to: 3.18


i really have to start bonus-whoring again...even though i want to move up to $2/$4 pretty soon.

downswing

fuckin' variance

hit a downswing for the last two days so far...had few winning sessions and too many losing sessions. withdrew $100 yesterday and after a couple of lost buy-ins my bankroll is back down to $470.46

i'm going to try not to play late at night (i.e after 1am), the people i'm playing with tend to be a lot looser and my semi-bluffs and bluff-raises have no effect. Plan on taking a break tomorrow from poker for the day at least...going to go see my girl, get my mind off poker.

if i lose another buy-in I will force myself to drop down to $.50/$1 and build it up to $500 again.

been getting okay cards, just the deck hasn't been hitting me, fucking hate these downswings.

moving up to $1/$2

started playing at $1/$2 today

and to make it quick:

+$118
and the day isn't even over yet..
Bankroll update: $570

i really have to focus on my finals though, FUCK.
just two more days left of finals and I can be killin' this game with no worries.

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update:

it is now the start of summer so with that, another bankroll update:
TOTAL BANKROLL TO DATE: $716.40

profit of $516.40 in 16 days = average of $32/day

now that finals are over, i have more time to focus on poker
my goal is to maintain an ideal bankroll of $800 for $1/$2
however I will be comfortable with my roll sitting at $600.

time to grind it out and make that money.

39k check up

its been quite a week. more poker than studying, but thats how it always seems to go. Finals are here and all day i've been crushing the $.50/$1 building up my roll again. I really have to get focused on my academics more... Anyways, i posted my 39k check up stats from PokerTracker on BTP forum with the help of my girlfriend haha she pwns at computer stuff.

The comments i recieved from the BTP pros make my day...especially from Kuso and The Golden 1...they are internet pros crushing the limit game and I really admire their skill:


forum thread

JJSCOTT2 Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Posts: 602 Location: MELBOURNE, FL	Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject: awesome.
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NWCougar BTP Benefactor Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 344	Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 11:59 pm Post subject: play tighter and more aggressively _________________ " I'm very important, I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."
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Kuso Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 3871	Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 12:06 am Post subject: NWCougar wrote: play tighter and more aggressively looking at the stats, i would say that i agree with this. looking at your results, however, i'd have to say that you may not want to mess with a good thing. 3 bb/100 is good, and it's hard to say if tighter and more aggressive will increase this amount -- esp. if it takes you out of a style you're comfortable with. _________________ PWNED
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The Golden 1 Joined: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 759 Location: La Jolla, CA	Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 12:34 am Post subject: He's already pretty damn aggressive. I dunno if you really need to change everything, you seem to be crushing them pretty well. I'd move up if I was you, I mean I dunno what your situation is like or how many tables you play at once but I think you can be lucrative if you move up. _________________ I don't care what other people say or think, I <3>
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Kuso Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 3871	Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 1:20 am Post subject: moving up sounds like a good idea. _________________ PWNED
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emmasdad Joined: 02 Jan 2006 Posts: 628 Location: Sacramento, CA	Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 8:03 am Post subject: These look great, although I play FR and have no real basis for comparison. I know Xas advocates a 30/20/658967896 style for SH. Your post-flop aggression numbers look inverted, with higher aggression on later streets. Are you making loose calls on 3rd street, or missing bets, or are you a huge fan of the stop and go? Seems to be working for you. Like the others said, move up. 1.5BB at 2/4 pays the same as 3BB at 1/2. _________________ All the cool kids are on IRC. Why aren't you? Here's how: http://www.bet-the-pot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13473

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i don't think I could have had the success i am having right now if it weren't for the valuable information I gained from using PokerTracker in conjunction with PokerAce HUD. Here depicted is the usual set up I use when playing 6max that displays the statistics most important to me in my decision making and observing tells that I easily read without paying close attention to the table (i.e when I multi-table there is no way I could intensely track every player as well as PokerAce HUD does). I still have a lot to learn and I know there are more ways to fully utilize the statistics that are available. But for now, at this level the knowledge i have gained through these tools is sufficient to give me an edge against the competition.





BANKROLL UPDATE:
since deposit on April 25th ($200)
+252.36 BB
=$452.36



FOCUS, build that roll, stay sharp, play smart.