Quick Update

I haven't played for about a week now. Mostly because I have been busy with other things, and mostly because I'm just trying to keep my head straight. I've been playing pretty conservative in big pots, and been trying to just let hands go when I don't really have much equity involved. Sure I've made some nitty laydowns, but if you know small stakes, you know players are not willing to fold very often. So there's no sense trying to push them off of hands, because they will just call down light either way. Instead, you should be looking to value bet them to death. Again, because they will call down if they have a pair or draw. Pot odds and implied odds don't matter.

Here's a few hands from last nights session...

Hand #1



Pretty standard hand. It's only the third hand of the session and I get AK off in the BB. Early on I don't like playing too fast. I don't want to get a real loose image and get stuck early. When I get stuck early, I tend to play really spewy. So I decided to flat the raise OOP. Flop comes perfect for me and I really don't have a line on the two villains, so I decided to go for a check raise. With a SS'er in the hand, I know he'll commit with just about any pair. Sure enough, we get the money in and he is drawing really thin.

Hand #2



I butchered the hell out of this hand. First, against a SS, AQ at best is racing. I should have just folded to his weak 3 bet. But the LAG in me just wasn't having it. So I 4 bet him in and of course he has AK.

Hand #3



There's a theme growing, more hands against SS'ers. I get 102 SOOTED in the SB versus the BB. I decided to limp against the SS'er, because he is very capable of shoving with an ace or any pair, so best to play flops with them. I get a great flop for my hand and bet OOP. When he flat calls, I'm sure he has an ace and decide to play pot control from there. Most SS'ers play flops horribly. He should have raised the flop knowing that I'm probably not limping an ace and probably have middle pair or a draw. When he bets the turn I decided to call with just pot odds. I knew that he probably wouldn't shove the river, so a thin value bet would get called. Which is odd for me to understand. When you have $7 left and somebody bets $4 at you, you have to shove or fold. Why they call off their money and not commit the final $3 I will never understand. The only hands he can beat on the river are bluffs and single aces.

Hand #4



This hand perfectly illustrates small stakes weak players. Villain was playing 40/0, that's right 0 raising over 90 hands. So he sees a lot of flops, too many really, and never raises. So his limp in the SB is FUCKING wide. He could be limping any pair, or just about any connected or suited hand. So raising his limp IP is just fine. I hit GIN on the flop and make a standard CBET when checked to. Most weak players usually just check fold in these spots, so his call was kind of shocking. At this point, I put him on the case ACE, possibly an underpair. Since there weren't any reasonable draws I couldn't really put him on anything else. So when the turn comes 10, I decided to play a little slow. I didn't want to get check raised off the hand and figured he would only call with a better ace, I could have gone for two streets of value. However, at the same time, my check makes my flop bet look like a missed flop and just standard CBET. QUADS on the river is delicious. Mainly because it's hard to put someone on the case ACE and will call a thin value bet. So his check call is pretty standard for him. I'm surprised he didn't go for a check raise at any point in the hand.

Hand #5



I pretty much butchered this hand OOP. I make a standard raise UTG with AK off. Player flats IP, again pretty standard. When the flop comes Q high suited I rate to have the best hand, or at least the best draw. I make a standard CBET and get min raised. Most min raises from small stakes players is usually a made hand or set. So I decided to play like a pussy and just check it down unimproved. When he checked the turn IP, I knew he was weak, but just couldn't find the nerve to value bet at any point. So it was pretty funny to see what kind of hand he min raised the flop with.

Hand #6



So many times you hear bad beat stories, well here is a beat I gave out. I got lucky to win the pot, but the way the hand played out was just weird. First I raised 75s in late because my image was tight, and the players behind me were weak passive players. Second, the villain flat calling a raise with Q9s is pretty bad IMO. When the flop comes down my hand goes from speculative to a monster. Flush draw, straight draw, and a pair. I make a standard CBET with two players in the pot and both call, interesting. The turn comes blank for me, and now the player OOP leads out, so I decided to flat call. However, the BUTTON decides to raise at this point. I had to think about the hand because nothing was making sense at this point. How did the 9 help out the button? I know he didn't call with 108 or 85 on the flop, the only hand that made sense was A9 or a flopped set trying to protect his hand now. I made a mistake by just calling, I should have jammed the turn, especially because of his stack size. Then I got lucky and hit my dream card. On a side note, the villain was bitching about how I hit a one outer. But look at the hand again. If he had two pair I could have won with any 4 or 7, and the 4 of hearts gives me the nuts. Since he only had 1 pair, I could win with 4-4's, 3-7's or 3-5's. So 1 outer, I don't think so. I'm still 20% in the hand on the river. The other funny side note is that he had the Queen high flush, but what if I had the ACE high flush. It's conceivable that I raised with A7, or AK in that spot. Then with either a pair and a flush draw or two overs and the nut flush draw played it the same way. So for him to go off about 1 outing him and the such, it just shows how small stakes players don't really grasp the odds and theory of poker.

So last night was a lot of fun and I ended up about 1/2 a buyin. I paid off some hands I shouldn't have and found myself in auto CBET mode again. So I made some really silly CBET's and got raised off of marginal pairs and draws. So at the lower stakes I need to back off and realize that most players are not going to make moves. MOST aren't, there will still be wild idiots, but for the most part, small stakes players won't give action in marginal situations. They just nut peddle and wait for situations. That's why min raises ring the alarm to me. I have been min raised by made flushes and sets so many times that I can generalize that play. So the few players that min raise weak hands are few and far between.

New Month, New Gameplan

So May has begun. I haven't played a session yet, but I'm getting a gameplan together. So here are my goals for the month:

1.) Play 25K hands this month.
2.) Write a blog post at least twice a week.
3.) Keep strict bankroll requirements and play within them.
4.) Play with a stop loss of 3 BI's.
5.) Regain my Ironman status.
6.) Finish reading Zen of poker and Owning the Dragon.
7.) Watch the cash game series videos on PokerVT.

So those are the goals for this month. I lost my Ironman status this month. Mainly because I have been running bad and my mind was shot. I just couldn't get myself to sit and play. I was playing afraid to lose, and not to get in to some good spots. I was not willing to risk losing more buyins, since I have been losing just about every session the last couple of months. So I am going to try and get back to the grind and get the bankroll back to where it should be.

I need to focus more on playing position and my post flop play. Most of the sessions that I lost were because of some sick coolers and beats. If I win even 50% of the hands that I was a massive favorite, the month would have been profitable. However, losing big pots killed my month and my bankroll. So I need to focus on hand selection, being aggressive in position, playing better post flop, and playing small ball in marginal situations. So that is the plan for the month, now let's see if I can make it happen.

In terms of my bankroll, I'll be playing 100 NL to start the month. If my bankroll gets down to 20 BI's, I'll be dropping down to 50 NL, that would give me 40 BI's which is more than enough, and hopefully I can grind my way back up. So we'll see how the month goes.