the Taj/Tropicana

Holdem results ($1/$2 NLHE) session (2 total)
Time played today: 7 hours
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$130.00
Location: Taj Mahal
Holdem winnings (Atl City) 2007: +$ 73.00

I don't think i played so bad today, just could not get anything going later on in the night.

First session at the Taj bought in for $150, and was up about +$170. Was pretty card dead in the beginning so I had to make some plays. I would say I bluffed and won about 3 pots with nothing. Timing was perfect I think....I would check raise when I was pretty sure someone was just betting out to steal the pot when it was checked all the way to the cut off or dealer. About an hour and a half into the session I had a pretty big hand, with A 3 suited, flopped nut flush and had a call station put all his money in on the river, so doubled up on that. Then I just grinded it out until we got hungry and met up for dinner.

Afterwards we headed over to the Tropicana, bought in for $150 at a soft table with Tim and Quik. I wasn't even card dead, just I couldnt get the right action on the flop. I won a few small pots with bluff continuation bets but other than that, couldnt get shit going. I would have pocket 10's, or jacks and lead the action with a flop of overcards and get heavy action so i would force to fold. Or I would have AK, or KQ (had them 3 times tonight) and the board would come something ridiculous like 9 9 6, with heavy action. I even had pocket Aces but split pot with another guy with pocket Aces.

I had the right cards, but couldn't make anythign out of it.

There is one mistake I can only think of that I made tonight:

Dealt to me: A K offsuit

I am in middle position. 1 caller before me. I raise to $12

3 folds

Villian calls (he was pretty tight, he would be sleeping and only plays when he has a strong hand)

everyone folds beacuse me and villian have a very tight image

Flop:

9 10 10 (2 spades)

I bet $25 villian almost immediately calls.

at this point I am thinking he has a pair, middle pair. I dont think he hit a house or trips so I was hoping I could bet him out if a higher card comes or I spike my A or K

turn comes off a blank but its a spade.

Villian checks to me
I motion to make a bet, then look at the board and notice that a flush could have hit, I check my cards look at him and then I check.

River comes: 2 (not spade)

Villian immediately checks to me. I hesitated thinking about betting out, but I trusted my initial read that he had a pair and was torn between wither checking...thinking only a hand that would call my bet would be a hand that would beat me, or betting hoping to scare him off his pair.

I decided to check since 1. i hesitated too long and 2. i went for the "safer play"

he flips over AK and we split pot/ lose money to the rake.

random AC night trip part 2

Holdem results ($2/$4 LHE) session 1
Time played today: 4 hours or so
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$50
Location: Taj Mahal
Holdem winnings (Atl City) 2007: +$ 453.00

Holdem results ($1/$2 NLHE) session 1
Time played today: 1 hours or so
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$300.00
Location: Taj Mahal
Holdem winnings (Atl City) 2007: +$ 203.00

Simply disgusting.

i probably played the worst poker of my life this night. I am writing this out of memory of a trip I went with Fabio and Fish about a month ago I would say. We randomly decided to hit up AC again, and I was eager to make some cash. I just ended up playing scared and dumb, and completely predictable.

i should have listened to my instincts and touched up more on some poker reading material before I went down to AC again. Even though all my sessions at AC were winning sessions up until this night, I knew I was in a slip, playing passive and not really utilizing my assets that I had studied before. I had wanted to read up and re-establish my skill set before heading to AC but in the heat of the moment I decided to just say fuck it and head down without addressing these needs.

basically at the limit table I was playing like a little bitch, not raising much..but when the few times I did raise I would play so damn predictable that I would take down small pots, and then invest too much in drawing hands, which is a probably the most common mistake in limit. after a couple of hours, I was sitting at -$50 and decided to switch to the NLHE tables..

in less than maybe 15 hands I lost my entire stack in one hand.

dealt to me: AKo
dealt to villian: 10 2 o

action:

i was UTG and i made the raise from $2 to $12
2 folds
villian calls $12
small blind calls $12

flop:

A K 10

small blind checks
I bet out $35
villain calls
small blind folds

turn:

A K 10 8

i bet out $55
villian thinks for a minute and then calls

river:

A K 10 8 10


I bet out all-in
villain hesitates for awhile and then calls.

i lost $250 in that hand and it fucking sucked.



I'm on a break from poker, in a sense that I don't have the income to comfortably play at the level I want to, and with having a job, my clinical research design class, and other shit I want to accomplish this summer, there is no way I can dedicate enough time to be where i want to be.

poker in general has taken a back-seat in my list to-do

random AC night trip

Holdem results ($2/$4 LHE) session 1
Time played today: 5-6 hours
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$47.00
Results for Borgata: -$ 47.00
Holdem winnings (Atl City) 2007: +$ 503.00


decided to go down to AC again with some of my bros in the spur of the moment, this time we ended up hitting up the Borgata. first off, everything there is pretty much upgraded compared to most casinos since it is only a few years old. I heard some crazy shit about the Borgata though, a lot of hometown heroes trying to be cowboys at the No Limit area so I bought in for $200 at the $2/$4 limit tables. Played for about 5-6 hours and I ended up -$47

it was a sunday night so i didn't expect the place to be packed, but it took about a half hour wait to get a seat at a table. i sat down at the same table with tim and a bunch of grandpas/grandmas, and i thought...fucking perfect. old people are notorious suckers for spewing chips and paying you off. i wasn't card dead, but I ended up folding most of my premium hands anyway because I got outdrawn...that shit happens, so it didn't phase me. I had pocket aces and pocket kings and lost about $50 altogether on those hands, I didnt think there was any other way I could have played them. Lost with pocket aces by someone rivering a two-pair when he had K-10 offsuit, 10 on the flop and he hit a king on the river. Lost with pocket kings to someone turning a two-pair, but I forget how that hand played out. Anyways, after about 3 hours or so, I found myself down about $100.

its easy to try and complain shit on getting outdrawn and what not, but thats just poker, shit happens. you want people to try and draw out on you when you are ahead. this is how you win money, because over the long run those mistakes will not be profitable and you will have the upper hand. i see far too many people blaming their losses like "dude, this one hand i put in....." The problem is, first off, most likely it took them several of hands to lose their money, and secondly....one hand should not be sufficient to blame your problems on. one stack is one stack, if you believe you made the right decisions then in the long run if you run that simulation over and over again, you will have a positive expectation.

there were a couple of things I noticed about my play in the car coming back to new brunswick. while I think I played decent poker tonight, I know I lost my aggressive edge in limit poker. I recalled how I played the first time I went to AC and played limit and I am sure I played much differently compared to the last few times I went to the casinos. I think seeing too many people get drawn out on in limit, and personally observing a lot of my hands turn from being ahead on the flop to losing on the turn and river, I have subconsciously developed a tight passive profile. the slight fear of opponents re-raising on flops has been automatically translated into "must be two-pair or better" in my head lately, and I know it at least 2 instances, where I folded the winning hand due to a lot of aggression on the flop when I held top pair, top kicker (or high kicker) against a semi-tricky board (straight possibility) and to see the winner of the pot have middle pair.

This hand stuck out to me that made me realize how passive I had become.
I was in middle position with A-9 offsuit.
2 callers before me and I called. (I think I would have normally raised)
3 more players call, 6 people to the flop.
FLOP: 9 8 6 rainbow flop I believe.
2 people check to me, I bet
1 fold
small blind raises me (he has been pretty wild, didn't respect his raise much)
big blind re-raises (this raise had me worried since I thought he had to have something good enough to re-raise with)
1 fold
then it came to me and I folded.

I forget what came on the turn and river but I think they were low trash cards.
Small blind flipped over Q-9 for top pair, queen kicker
big blind flipped over K-8 for middle pair.

This kind of situation happened twice to me tonight, and both times I would have taken down the pot, it was a big wake up call to my playing style. Small blind had been sort of wild so I knew people were talking about him and how retarded he was, (he was catching a shit load of cards and re-raising with nothing sometimes). The fact that the big blind re-raised the small blind automatically switched on an "Auto-fold" button in my head to think that it was two-pair or greater. If i hadn't been so fucking passive lately and realized the fact that the big blind MUST know the small blind is wild and he was just raising because he thought top pair was good against the small blind, I probably would have 3 bet it, knowing I had top kicker. But the whole time I had been passive and thinking of possibilities like him having a made straight and shit like that.

i can't believe it took me this long to realize how passive my play had become and how quick i was to assume/give credit to players who play like garbage.

for the next time I go to AC, i will make sure to re-read on some passages in my books that I've neglected for awhile, I've lost my aggressive edge in limit, and that is something that is profitable to me. much work needed to be done on my limit game and I'm thinking about trying out $3/$6 LHE.
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also, fuck the Borgata, I don't care if thats where the young people hang out nowadays, and the waitresses are better looking, I'm in AC to make money.
i feel so much more at home at the Trop.

an update finally

Holdem results ($2/$4 LHE) session(s): 3
Time played today: 14 hours
Results today (green=win; red=loss): +$550.00
Results for Tropicana: +$550.00
Holdem winnings (Atl City) 2007: +$ 550.00


I haven't been serious about poker at all since I entered the first professional year of pharmacy. Course load is intense and leaves very little time for my hobbies. Have yet to read through King Yao's poker book and the NL book by Angel. I plan on getting through those during spring break at the earliest.

Went to Atlantic City during winter break courtesy of my girlfriend. We stayed at the Tropicana for a night. I was nervous before leaving for AC, but I talked to tony via the BTP forum and he got me relaxed...told me the low limit game is cake over there. I brought $300 and started playing on the $1/$2 LHE tables. I was worried at first because I know I had extensive knowledge of short-handed (6max) LHE, but I've never really played full table LHE, but once I sat down I just started killing the game. I played from about 5-8pm, took a dinner break with the girlfriend, then played on from about 10-3am. Played an early morning session before hitting the road to go back home
...and left with about +$450.
I only played for about 14 hours and I could not believe how right Tony was.

I absolutely killed the limit game. definitely a confidence booster and a very good experience for my first time in a Casino.

Went back about a week later with some of my boys and I lost about $150 at the LHE $1/$2 tables learned a lot about the importance of table selection that night. Initially I had sat down at a slow table, just getting blinded off and losing a lot of small pots that dwindled my stack down. Decided to sit in at the adjacent table and started to get my swerve on, ran up my stack to about +$50. But after a short dinner break I sat down at this loose-aggressive table and just could not win out the pot. There would be so many people who would come cold calling pre-flop 3 bet raises and it was just ugly. My pride got the best of me and I decided that i would try and score a winning session on this particular table even though these players just wouldnt fold.

but we went back the next day and we tried playing $1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em. At the end of the night I cashed out +$200.

so all in all, I love Atlantic City. For my career of 3 visits I am sitting at +$500

back from the poker hiatus...somewhat

I haven't touched poker for a couple of months now...kept busy by paying the rent and getting experience as a Pharmacy Technician. Played a couple of NL HE home games for kicks, but nothing serious. Now that summer is coming to a close and I don't have to work so many hours, I've decided to get back into the game.


I recently purchased "Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Poker" by King Yao, an excellent LHE book from what I've heard from Kuso over at BTP Forum, and "No Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice" by Sklansky. My first NL book, I've decided to further my education in NL since i've been getting rusty and noticed a considerable mental failure in composing my decision making skills at the table.


I'm going to try to read BOTH books before putting money back into PokerStars again, or maybe another site to chase bonuses.

PokerTracker Breakdown of PokerStars 6max

POKERSTARS $1/$2 6MAX PT ANALYSIS
(as compared to the 2+2 6max article)
26,161 Hands Played
Green = too high in relation to recommended statistic
Red = too low in relation to recommended statistic

Recommended Statistics for Voluntary Put $ In Pot (VPIP) and Preflop Raise (PFR)
VPIP: 30% VPIP: 25%
PFR: 20% PFR: 16%

my statistics:
VPIP: 35.49%
PFR: 12.52%

breakdown:
I know this already, but I need to tighten up. I need to stop playing too many marginal hands out of position. The key word is too many, in short handed hold'em it is necessary and certainly profitable to some extent to play some marginal hands, you just dont have to play all of them. I have to work on folding K-x suited and Q10o, similar hands like these are costing me a lot of money when i get involved in a pot.
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Recommended statistic for Voluntarily Put $ in from Small Blind (VPIP from SB)
VPIP from SB: 25%-40%

my statistic:
VPIP from SB: 50%

breakdown:
obviously i am playing way too many hands from the small blind. I have to remember that in 6max play, there are fewer opportunities were there are enough players to make limping in with 89s is a profitable play. FEWER LIMPERS = FEWER IMPLIED ODDS.
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Recommended statistic for Folded SB to Steal:
Fold. steal SB: ~85%

my statistic:
Fold. steal SB: 77.06%

breakdown:
i'm not worried about this, my statistic is close enough. When defending small blind, you want to take the initiative back and 3bet or fold, thats usually a good line.
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Recommended statistic for Folded BB to Steal:
Fold. steal BB: 55%-70%

my statistic: 56.03%

breakdown:
I am right in the money for this, the lower this statistic is, the better it is. You are getting good odds to play a wide variety of hands and you should play them profitably. Your decision to defend your BB is based on a lot of factors but in short handed 6max it is especially necessary to keep this statistic as low as possible, if not...you're just giving away your blinds too often and make it easy for people to raise with any two just to get you to fold.
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Recommended statistic for Attempt to Steal Blinds: ~30%

my statistic: 20.41%

breakdown:
i'm not worried about this statistic, because in low limit 6max...it just isnt that effective to raise from the cut off or the button in order to steal because it will barely work. People call way too often and sometimes are waiting to 3bet against you. I should concentrate on picking my spots carefully though
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Recommended statistic for Aggression Factors:

agression factors for 6max games should significantly be higher than in full ring because you are defending your blinds more often. They should also generally decrease street by street.

recommended flop aggression: 2.5 - 3.5

my statistic: 2.96

breakdown: I'm very proud of this statistic, could be a little bit higher but i'm good with this. I'm pushing hard with my hands and draws on the flop but not overplaying them, which still gives me a lot of credit and respect from opponents. Any higher than 3.5 and you're definately overplaying and people will call you down regardless if they hit flop or not

recommended turn/river aggression: 1.5-2.5

my statistic: 3.90 (turn) 4.08 (river)
breakdown:

although these numbers are high, this is my style that works for me. I punish my opponents on the turn and river with big bets and check-raises that maximize profit. I also like to throw in bluff-raises on the turn, because it is a lot harder to call down a 4BB bet on turn rather than 2 BB bet on the flop. Most players are not able to see through this bluff when it is picked appropriately.
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Recommended statistic for Went to Showdown:
WtSD: 32%-40%


my statistic for Went to Showdown
WtSD: 31.42%

Breakdown:
in 6max you will go to show down more often due to the small number of players in the field, and the likelihood of your opponent missing the board as well. I think my stats are good for this, i don't want to be showing down a lot of hands, as opponents can see how i played specific hands...but its good when you know you're ahead.
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Recommended statistic for Won Money at Showdown:
W$SD: 50%-60%

my statistic
W$SD: 48.88%

breakdown:
this statistic is particularly interesting. This means that i'm losing more than half of my hands, and yet i'm still making good money and maintaining a good win rate. This can only mean that i am getting paid off big on my strong hands and losing a lot of small pots. Its strange, but i guess it is due to my aggression that makes this statistic and my win rate possible. I know can i improve this more, and i've been working on this the past few days. I need to trust my instinct more when i think i'm beat and just end up calling the river because "its just one more bet". I can confidently say that more than 80% of the time my instincts are right and i still make that losing call which is costing me too much money.
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Recommended statistic for win rate:
win rate: >0.00 BB/100 hands

my statistic: 4.51 BB/100 hands

breakdown:
anything above 0 BB/100 hands designates a winning player. granted, this all depends on your sample base of hands played. everyone generally states that 10k hands played will give you a good estimate to really see where you are in terms of BB/100 hands. I have played over 40k hands, and my win rate is still sustained at greater than 4.0 BB/100 hands (at PokerStars).

1.0 BB/100 hands designates a winning player
2.0 BB/100 hands designates a good winning player
3.0 BB/100 hands designates a solid winning player
4.0 BB/100 hands not possible to sustain over a long period of time

it seems odd to consider that after 40,000 hands played, it must still be in the "statistically too small of a sample size" category, since I am pulling in >4.0 BB/100 hands. there is still so much to learn about this game, thinking on the next level, and post-OAK bluffs and such. you can not ever get complacent no matter what level you are on.

PokerStars days 1-5

Holdem results ($1/$2 6max LHE) session (multiple)
Time played today: 6.92 hours
Results today (green=win; red=loss): -$53.70
Results for June: -$53.70
Holdem bankroll: $273.30

Its been a rough transition back into PokerStars. Had to kick out the old habits at PartyPoker and start getting accustomed to the competition at PokerStars. I noticed I was playing a lot looser and making more dumb calls, and that lost a lot of money for me. My bankroll is pretty low, it was even as low as $130 at some point during my time at PokerStars...but I think i'm getting back into my groove now. I just have to remember to make more smart laydowns, I really have to work on this. I always point this mistake out and I'll run fine for a couple of days and then i'll forget about it and start pushing hands to the river that shouldn't even be there and lose more big bets.

I have to really focus and keep in mind that a bet saved is a bet earned.
this is key in limit.

short handed games are more predictable at PokerStars, its easy to tell if someone has a hand or not, unlike in Party where you dont know if your opponent is either calling you down with Ace high, low pair, mid pair, or top pair.

Watching Johnny multi-table $2/$4 FR limit really helped me focus on making smart laydowns and curb my uber-aggressive tactics and hone it more on being SMART aggressive instead of just uber-aggressive on the table.

this is interesting to note, my win rate so far for June:


I'm getting killed in the $.50/$1 games, i just don't understand it.
i suppose i'll have to do my best to grind it out carefully at $1/$2 limit
(even though the hand sample is way too small to make any significant remarks)




PLAY SMART, MAKE SMART LAY DOWNS, CALL LESS, FOLD MORE.