mathare's Poker Diary

[mathare]

26th February 2010
I wasn't expecting that! I just got my first rakeback payment Only $8.59 but all the same, every little helps as they say. I wasn't expecting it because I am working off a bonus at Full Tilt so expected the loyalty points I am accumulating through paying rake to go towards that and not rakeback. But it seems they are going towards both! So I've been pulling in bits of that initial deposit bonus and earning rakeback - cool!

[mathare]

27th February 2010
The format of Rush Poker may be unique but there is no getting away from the fact it is a no-limit hold'em cash game (unless you play one of the other, less popular, variants) and that's something I don't have a great deal of experience at. I finally got volume I of Harrington on Cash Games for christmas, a year after getting (and not yet reading) volume II. I haven't read them yet but I may do soon to see what Action Dan has to say for himself and what tips I can pick up. I'm doing alright myself with focused aggression and a tight game, which is much easier in Rush Poker as I can fold AQo after a raise and re-raise and not feel as though I have wasted the best hand I will get for ages. For players with focus and concentration issues like me this game is a godsend. Anyway. I'm grinding it out on single table Rush sessions at the mo and more than holding my own. With bonuses, rakeback and the happy hours it's looking like a great bankroll builder, especially as those extras take some of the pressure off the results from the game itself somewhat.

I didn't think I would be but I am a big fan of this game

[mathare]

28th February 2010
I may not be playing Rush Poker in its most effective form but I am playing in a way that suits me, and it seems to be working. I'm talking here not only about my starting hands and betting actions but when I play and for how long.

I've already said I am playing tight and that strategy is certainly paying off. Big (broadway) Aces are useful hands and are standing up so often. Others are playing some strange hands and I am cashing in. I'm not open-limping and only occasionally limping behind if there are a couple of limpers and I have a hand that could hit big like KTs. I've said many times now that c-betting is essential and I stand by that. A bet of two-thirds to three-quarters of the pot on the flop takes it down so often it's incredible. Post-flop play is generally poor; players don't know what to do if they have missed.

As I said yesterday though, it's no-limit cash game poker and that's something I am not used to, and my previous forays into this realm have seen me running away with a smaller bankroll in double quick time. Because of that, and because of the nature of Rush Poker, I am playing short hit-and-run sessions. My bankroll is about $300 or so and I am playing it safe by playing the $0.05/$0.10 tables. Standard bankroll management suggests having 20+ buy-ins so at least 2000 big blinds; I have over 3000. I buy in for the maximum ($10) and I am usually looking to build that up to something around $17-$20 before bailing out again. I've not played that many sessions but unless I am running really hot it seems most times I can achieve my aim within the hour. Then I'm out of there, for a while at least. I may play several such sessions a day each time looking to make a reasonable gain but I would rather play several short sessions than one longer session at this stage while I adapt my thinking to cash games. I'm getting there but the risk-averse side of my character often wants to bank the profit rather than try to spin $10 up to $20 and then up to $40. I'm happier banking a number of smaller profits than looking for big scores less frequently. The big scores can still come; if I am feeling like I am playing really well and am on a roll I may chance my arm over another couple of hundred hands to see how it goes.

I'm trying to play at least one happy hour session a day too, simply because of the double FTP points on offer. The additional points earned during the morning happy hour don't count towards the bonus requirements but they are still useful for spending in the FTP store, and I have my eye on a few things in there. And even without the extra points I am earning the bonus at a reasonable rate. I've only been at Full Tilt for 11 days and have built up 645 points, unlocking $29.55 of my initial $250 deposit bonus, $20 of which has already been released.

I don't really have a plan when it comes to my bankroll and stepping up the stakes to the $0.10/$0.25 tables. I would like to build up a lot more cash game experience first and hopefully build a bigger bankroll as a side effect of that. Maybe I should look to get up to $500 through profits earned at the table and bonuses before I start taking shots at the next level. That should allow me to play a good number of hands at this level which in turn will allow me to analyse my game (specifically at the Rush Poker tables) and see if there are any obvious leaks I can plug to increase my win rate. I'm running a little over 7.5BB/100 at the minute which I am really pleased about. That's only from a little over 3,000 hands though and I would like to get up over 50,000 hands before I really start taking figures like my BB/100 seriously. Tell you what, why don't I set some objectives for my cash game play?

Log 50,000 Rush Poker hands
Win rate to exceed 5BB/100 after 50,000 hands
Increase Full Tilt bankroll to $500

There, that should do for now.

[mathare]

1st March 2010
I had a thought earlier: if I am going to claim all this deposit bonus from Full Tilt I need to start putting the hours in a bit more. Since I found Rush Poker I have played a few hit-and-run sessions that have put on a few points but not as many as I'd have gained had I been multi-tabling SnGs as I originally planned. I know I have till mid-June to rack up the points but I still need to keep things ticking over even though that final date seems so far off at the minute. And so it was this afternoon that I decided to give multi-tabling Rush a go...

Woohoo! That's fun! Two tables is comfortable enough, I'm happy with that for now. It's the right sort of level to keep me constantly engaged but not so much that I am pressed on my decisions and stressed at all. It's just right, as Goldilocks would say. I played for a bit over a couple of hours and squeezed in over 2000 hands - awesome. Just what the doctor ordered to build up my PT3 data and experience. Shame it didn't quite do the same for my bankroll.

My plan with sessions such as today's (which I hope to repeat often now) is to log a couple of thousand hands if I can. I'm looking to make a serious dent in the number of points required to release more of my bonus fund and also work towards one of the Iron Man levels (I'm gunning for silver at the minute but I may aim higher as the month goes on depending on how things go). If I can do all that and not lose much at the tables themselves I will be happy. Today I managed to drop nearly $17 so that doesn't really fit the plan.

I spotted a few mistakes along the way though. I missed a couple of potential straights and flushes on some boards and consequently got caught when I thought my hand was in fact compartively stronger than it was in the end. I'd have top set and think it would be good but miss the fact that the river has put a three-flush on the board and lose to a middling flush, that sort of thing. I need to spot all potential hands from the flop onwards and know what turns and rivers will continue to develop those hands and which are bricks. I must know what the nuts is at all times and assess my hand in light of that so I don't get caught so easily again. That said, if muppets stopped playing 87s into a big raise pre-flop that would help, especially when the pot is heads-up. Still, that's not an excuse; that's where I should be making my money.

Another reason behind today's poor showing at the tables is the fact I ran KK into AA not once but twice, in fairly quick succession too. I crashed one stack with it, rebought and then dumped another a few hands later. Oh well, live and learn. I need to try to identify ways in which to spot Aces pre-flop. Without reads on players (which are near impossible in this game as you don't sit with someone long enough and they keep changing position on you) it's hard to know what pre-flop raises really mean. I assume they mean a decent hand and fold, call or re-raise accordingly. I don't want hands like A9o drawing out on pocket Kings though so I usually re-raise to see where I am. With blinds at $0.05/$0.10 and an standard initial raise to $0.30 I will three-bet to $1 or thereabouts with KK. I think I have been too quick to four-bet and five-bet all-in though. If I am holding a good hand and there has been a bit of raising I sometimes try to take it down there and then by shoving but that's when I have been facing Aces. But I have seen QQ and AKo played like I would play Aces pre-flop so who can tell what people have these days. I don't want to give up big hands unless I have to but I would like to stop my cowboys going down to bullets. I've had it three times now and each time it has cost me a fair whack (relatively, given the stakes).

So a loss at the tables was not part of the plan today but I felt good playing for a couple of hours with two tables on the go so I am satisfied I can do that most days, which is going to be good enough for silver, certainly. And the points I picked up did the old bonus fund a favour too as the next installment was released, another $20 in the bank so perhaps today's loss at the tables wasn't too bad after all, especially when you think I have been banking profits over the last few days which means I am still over $30 ahead at Rush Poker, excluding the bonuses I have accrued.

It's all falling into place, steadily.

[mathare]

3rd March 2010
I didn't update this yesterday, how remiss of me. Hmm. Better do that now then.

In fact I should go back to Monday night when I found myself with a bit of spare time on a couple of occasions so squeezed in a few more Rush hands. It wasn't so good though as it cost me nearly $12. Oh well.

Yesterday was much better though as I profited to the tune of $23.91 in a nice afternoon session. Much of that profit came with a late double up when I hit trip Kings and got it all in against a cocky so-and-so holding an overpair of Aces. Ha!

Today my afternoon session was split into two: a short session before lunch and a much longer one (four hours in fact) afterwards. I struggled before lunch, losing one buy-in at one table and a chunk of one at another. I was perhaps a little unlucky; some hands weren't hitting and others just weren't holding up. But that's poker, and the story continued along the same lines after lunch too. The graph of the session shows a fairly steady downward line till around the middle of the session when it starts to go back up, levels out for a good while as I was found myself up against a sort of glass ceiling, unable to get my session loss back up above a certain level. Every time I won a bit I would lose it again so things stayed steady for a while. Towards the end though I got someone to stack off against me and won that for a very nice boost and reduce the overall losses on the day to $7.70. OK, a losing day at the tables but I unlocked another installment of the deposit bonus (another $20) and actually racked up $16.40 in bonuses today making it profitable overall. And that excludes rakeback calculations too. And of course it's another day towards my Iron Man qualification. And over 300 points towards a T-shirt I have my eye on too.

Away from Full Tilt, I got an email from PokerStars telling me the sports jacket I wanted is now back in stock so I have ordered that :D I am a happy bunny now

[mathare]

4th March 2010
Things are still going well. Reallly well in fact.

Today I played a couple of sessions along the same lines as yesterday; a short one before lunch and a much longer one afterwards. The short pre-lunch session has been just to fill in a bit of time and to take advantage of the morning happy hour whereas the afternoon session is my main session of the day. I'm still playing two Rush tables at once and it's still comfortable. It allows enough time to do things like reply to a few emails and put a few bets on too. I prefer it that way than to throw in another table to take up the slack. That might be too much for me at this stage.

Unlike yesterday I managed to log two winning sessions too. The pre-lunch spell at the tables was just over 20 minutes long but was good enough for $10.49 profit. Most of that came from someone doubling me up when I held KK against their 99. Ha! He min-raised pre-flop (to $0.20), I re-raised to $1 and after a bit of a think he shoved on me. Min-raising looking to re-raise with Aces would be sneaky and would you really drag put the 4-bet so much? I couldn't rule out Aces entirely but I put hands like QQ and JJ higher in terms of probability, along with AK. I called his all-in and was delighted to see an underpair. I was even more delighted to see the board do its bit and not put a 9 out there.

The post-lunch session was an uppy-downy-uppy-again affair. I was going great guns before I missed a straight on the board and lost a big chunk to that. Schoolboy error. I lost a few hands I should have won when I didn't protect my hand sufficiently well. I'd maybe have trips and check it with a two-flush on the flop only for the turn (and/or river) to put another flush card out and screw my hand up. I made a few loose calls too, including one where I knew exactly what hand he had, it was the only one that made sense and it had me crushed, but I still called on the end to see what he had. Why, when I knew what he had? I didn't bet out on some rivers when I should have done and ended up folding to big bets I didn't feel I could call. I should have made smaller blocker bets as I have done several times to good effect. I don't pretend I have this game sussed, I'm still learning from every session and hopefully improving. I had a decent spell towards the end of this afternoon's session doubling up with AA against KK, beating QQ off a good pot with AA and winning another nice one with QQ v TT. All that helped towards a profit of $14.24 from that session to make it $24.73 on the day. I also unlocked the next segment of my bonus so that's another $20 on to the bankroll.

I deposited $250 on 17th February and am now up to $395.23. I like Full Tilt

[mathare]

5th March 2010
A slight reversal of fortune today. Yesterday all was rosy in the garden; today the manure arrived in a much bigger load than expected. I've had a shocker at the tables.

I didn't get a pre-lunch session in as I nipped out to have lunch with the missus instead. Maybe that's where I went wrong. When I got back I sat at two Rush tables as per usual and that's about as good as it ever got. I mean it, I think I managed to just pop into the black by a few cents at one stage but it only lasted a few hands. It ticked along just below evens for a couple of hundred hands before I lost a buy-in in a big pot. I think that one was when the villain min-raised pre-flop and called my 3-bet before beating my AA by making two pair with his T9s. Aww, come on. T9s?!? I rebought and sailed along without any significant wins or losses for another 500 hands or so. Then the wheels came off. Another buy-in gone, this time with AK against TT that had made a set on the flop. He wasn't playing it like he'd got a decent hand but I guess it worked for him.

Once more I rebought. Only now, with the wheels off the axles soon followed, as did much of the chassis if we continue this analogy. I bought in three times at each table and all but lost the lot. I cashed out on one table for $3.48 - that's all I have to show for a $60 buy-in and it all happened in less than two hours. I was hitting the board enough to get me into trouble but not enough to win a hand. I was running into the stone cold nuts far too often when I had a good, but not winning, hand. I ran KK into AA again pre-flop. AA called an early position raise (not mine) so I re-raised big with KK. The original raiser folded, AA shoved and I called. A sneaky way for the villain to have played AA pre-flop; I don't like that at all.

I'd been running good recently and making hay while the sun shone but today the clouds came over good and proper. I knew I was going to have days like this if I am honest with myself but it's frustrating when they happen so I have stepped away from the tables for today in case I tilt any more of my bankroll off. :(

[mathare]

6th March 2010
Today seems to have continued where yesterday left off.

A 97-minute session across two Rush tables during happy hour - great stuff. It was a bit uppy-downy initially before settling down to being attrition due to the blinds more than anything else. I lost a chunk with AQo and another with AJo. With AQo the board got too scary by the river for me to continue in the hand. With AJo I made a good hand but was up against a pocket pair (33) that made a set on the flop. I started to grind it back a bit and was doing OK when I got KK and it all went wrong for me. Early position raises to $0.30, I pump it to $1, the SB calls (!) and the original raiser folds. The flop is T-9-K two suits. SB checks, I bet $1.20 (half pot) and get raised to $6. I didn't really think too hard at this point. I had top set and put him on a hand like AA or a big Ace that had flopped a flush draw. I fancied my chances so called all-in for another $4.64. He flipped JQo for the flopped straight and I missed my outs to the full house and quads. I mean, come on. There has been a raise and re-raise before him and he calls with QJo in the small blind. He gets damn lucky with that flop but that's been the story of the last few days. My c-bets are being snapped off all the way to the river where the villain hits a lucky pair or some such hand to beat my high card. I am struggling with hands like AQo and AJo when I am re-raised pre-flop - play them or lay them down? And the less said about my results in the SB the better. I'd be better off folding every hand from that seat according to my results!

Today's session puts me into red for play at the Rush tables for the first time as I lost $16.80 today, on top of yesterday's significant setback too. I'm not giving up by any means but it has made me realise how much I still have to learn. I may need to quickly pluck a few NLHE cash game books off the bookshelf behind me and start swotting up.

[mathare]

8th March 2010
My Rush results have gone down the toilet! I'm recording losing session after losing session. I am winning a few small pots, posting my blinds and folding those hands to a pre-flop raise and then losing big post. I have a big problem that is costing me more and more each time I play. I probably have several, truth be told, but the one I have noticed most recently is not reading the board correctly. I've mentioned before how I have failed to spots straights and flushes and that the villain has beaten me to a big pot when I have held a good, but not winning hand. This is basically the same thing only more so. I get a sort of tunnel vision. On a board of 99K (rainbow) I will view my hand in the light of that flop and see how it compares. If I have a King with a big kicker I feel I am strong. If my opponent is betting/raising then I consider the chances he has a 9. I think about a King with a bigger kicker than mine if possible. And that's about as far as I got before I start throwing money at the pot. Can you spot where I have gone wrong? I couldn't until I saw the villain's winning hand but by that time all my chips were in the middle.

Let's have a look at my biggest losing hands from yesterday and see what I can learn from how I played them. Remember this is being played at $0.05/$0.10 blinds, just to put the losses into context somewhat.

1. Lost $11.42 with AKo UTG
I raise to $0.30 with a premium hand and get re-raised to $0.90 by UTG+1. It's folded back round to me and I call. AKo is a good hand and I am not going to be scared off by a 3-bet here but nor do I want to 4-bet it. Pot is $1.95. Flop comes 99K rainbow and I lead out for $1 with top two pair and top kicker. I figure I am winning here but half-pot it to see what he does. Nothing with a 9 in it makes sense pre-flop unless he has 99 specifically and he can't outkick my King (I have ruled out K9 - who 3-bets that UTG+1?). I am raised to $3.10 and shove for $10.52 total. He calls and tables AA for the overpair. Turn and river are no help - bust.

I was thinking of the board in terms of all three cards (as I sometimes have a tendency to do) not in terms of the full deck. I neglected to factor in him having KK for the full house or AA for the overpair, both of which made sense pre-flop too. KK is unlikely bearing in mind there is one K in my hand and one on the board so AA is by far more likely. He could also have had AK though (I did consider that but knew I couldn't be outkicked so we'd be splitting barring him holding AKs and it going runner-runner flush).

Never forget to consider overpairs/overcards to the board.

2. Lost $10.37 with AKo from the SB
UTG+1 raises to $0.30, a standard raise, and I 3-bet to $1 as I have found that this move helps define the villain's hand more. Most people aren't interested in calling the 3-bet unless they have a premium hand so this allows me to narrow his range down significantly. BB folds, villain calls. Pot is $2.10. Flop comes 5-K-4 two suited. I have top-top and the two diamonds on board are screaming potential flush draw at me so I need to protect my hand. I lead out for $1.50 which the villain calls. Pot is $5.10. Turn is an offsuit Queen. I don't put him on KQ so I think my top-top is still good, although I haven't ruled out him holding QQ yet, or a diamond draw. I want to make a solid enough bet to make the pot odds poor for a flush draw. He shoves for $7.87 total. It looks like that Q hit him. Has he got KQ or QQ after all? It would be a strange move with AQ as he's still behind to the King I pretty much told him I had last street. And that's not a flush draw move either. I call - and I am not quite sure why now. What did he have that he was shoving with that I was beating? I have identified two hands that fit all the action so far and have me drawing very thin, if not dead. He flips KK for the flopped set and the river bricks.

I completely forgot that action on the turn can be a delayed reaction to having hit the flop hard but not wanting to lose a customer. Go easy(ish) on the flop looking to hit them hard on the turn. That would have told me that KK was in his range rather than it falling down by blindspot. I was thinking solely in terms of pairs, two pairs and a set of Queens there (OK, plus flush draws until that turn shove) but had completely ignored the possibility of KK.

Never forget that action on the turn could mean the villain actually connected hard with the flop, not the turn card.

3. Lost $5.60 with AQo in UTG+1
It's folded to me and I make a standard pre-flop raise to $0.30. I get a middle position caller and a late raise to $1. The blinds fold, I call as does the middle position caller. Pot is $3.15. Flop comes down Q-K-T with two hearts. I make a weak lead of $1 to see where I stand. I have middle pair on a very wet board. The first caller folds, the raiser shoves for $4.60 total. I think briefly, view my Ace and Jacks as outs and call. Errrm? Even if I hit my straight I could go down to a flush. Only two of the three remaining Aces are clean and three of the Jacks, and if a Jack comes I'm splitting with any other Ace. You don't shove on this board without the King or a very strong draw, preferably multi-way draws so it's no surprise he showed AKo with the Ace of hearts. The turn and river bricked, unsurprisingly bearing in mind I was drawing to the Queens only really.

The money you have put into the pot is not yours anymore. People aren't bluffing at this game. Play the cards, not the man, so if you face a solid raise give it up regardless of how much you have put in so far. Keep the chips you have left rather than give them away.

4. Lost $6.22 with KK in the cutoff
Early position raises it to $0.35 so I 3-bet to $1. The button cold-calls (which didn't ring alarm bells at the time but should have) and everyone else, including the original raiser folds. As I said, it's hard for raisers to play against a 3-bet without a premium hand. Anyway, pot is $2.50. Flop comes 4-4-6 with two hearts and I make a solid bet of $1.50. I'm concerned about the flush draw more than anything else and have put him on a range mostly consisting of big Aces and premium pairs. I don't see a 4 or 6 anywhere in a hand that makes sense for his pre-flop actions. The villain calls. I'm still thinking flush draw here. Pot is $5.50. Turn is 5h putting a three-flush on board. I bet out $2 as a feeler bet - has he hit a flush? He min-raises to $4. I've put $4.50 into this pot so far and it stands at $11.50. Do I call the extra $2? Has he put me on a flush draw and he's raising to see where his flush stands or extract value from a weaker flush? I call the raise, or at least as much of it as I can as I only have $1.72 behind. He shows me JTs in hearts for the flush and the river is irrelevant.

What could I have done to save money here? I could have folded to the turn raise. As I say, it looks like he's put me all-in to either get the rest of my stack off me as he has made the flush or he wants to know how big my flush is bearing in mind his isn't that big. I could have done that but should I? That's what I don't really know. Either way where only talking about $1.72 here. I re-raised pre-flop and got a cold-call with JTs. I led out on the flop to discourage flush draws. Should I have led out for more? Is my bet-sizing wrong here? I usually bet out 60-70% of the pot on the flop, which I did here and still got the call. If he doesn't catch the flush card on the turn would he still call when I bet out again? I made a smaller bet on the turn this time as the flush had hit and I put him on the draw, so why did I call his raise?

The main problem here is one of luck I feel. How many times will that guy play JTs on the button into a re-raise and get lucky like that? I'd love to be up against players playing that way every day if I am holding hands like KK.

5. Lost $3.70 with ATs in the SB
It's folded to me in the SB, I raise to $0.30 and get called. Pot is $0.60. Flop is 4-A-3 with two hearts (I always seem to face boards with a potential flush darw on them). I lead out for two-thirds pot, $0.40. BB calls to make the pot $1.40. Turn is an offsuit Ten. I lead out for just over two-thirds pot, $1. BB calls for a pot of $3.40. I have top two pair here and only the flush draw is going to be a real cause for concern, right? Again I lead out for around two-thirds pot, $2. BB comes to life and re-raises to $6. This is the first sign of aggression from him and I don't understand it. Has he made a set? Has he just paired his Ace kicker and has put me on AK, AQ etc? There's no flush possible. Straights are very unlikely so what does he have? The raise doesn't make sense. I folded, but am now questioning that decision.

Why wait till the river to try and get my chips if he flopped a set. The way he has played it I can pretty much rule out AA but would he play 44 or 33 like that when he could be facing a flush draw? Surely you want to protect a set in that situation. TT? Would you play TT like that on the flop? And why not re-raise pre-flop? 66? You don't play 66 like that on that board until the river, that would be crazy play. If I can think through all that and it still doesn't make sense then he's making a play at me and my top two pair are probably good. I should have called. We'll never now what he had though.

There's a big point in that last paragraph: If I can think through all that and it still doesn't make sense. That's the thing I am struggling with. Pre-flop I can play on auto-pilot and most of the time post-flop instinct gets me through as my sub-conscious processes things to lead me to the right decision a lot of the time. But there are times when I need to engage the conscious brain and when I do it panics and goes "Err, err, I don't know" rather than rationally going through the action. I can do all the analysis fine offline, just not in the heat of battle sometimes, as you've seen. That's my biggest leak.

How do I address this though? Perhaps I need to step down to one Rush table for now to give me more time to think in these situations. I worry that these situations are so few and far between though that only playing one table is going to leave part of my brain elsewhere thinking about things other than poker. To be honest, I have that situation a lot of the time anyway, especially when I play in the afternoons and am trying to gamble on the horses at the same time. I need to change my approach to the game, become more professional and single-minded in my poker play and FOCUS more on the game in hand.

Analysis sessions like this teach me a lot, about how I should and shouldn't play hands, but I need to be able to use this knowledge at the tables too rather than just leave it here on the forum. That's the tricky part...

[mathare]

8th March 2010 (part two)
Have a we got an emoticon for throwing your toys out the pram or spitting your dummy out?

Immediately after that analysis of yesterday's results I sat at two Rush tables and started to play. It was going OK, I was holding my own. I was getting KK way too often for it to be a normal session but I still wasn't getting far with them. I'd raise and everyone would fold, or I'd get to see a flop with one villain who would fold to a flop bet (often made to protect my hand against potential draws). I gave up in despair when I lost my stack on one table with KK, and lost another couple of hands I felt I 'deserved' better from. Things weren't going my way - they haven't been for a few days now - so I had to admit defeat and take a break before I steamed away the rest of the my chips.

1. Lost $8.03 with KK in late position
There's a limper in early-mid position so I raise to $0.40. The button min-raises to $0.70 and I re-raise to $2. His min-raise was curious suggesting he had some sort of hand to 3-bet but was he trapping or just wary of a bigger hand? He raises to $5.05. Hmm. Am I going to lay down KK here? I call figuring KK is just too big to let go here as even against AA I have outs. Pot is $10.35. Flop comes 2-4-8 rainbow. That changes nothing in terms of pre-flop holdings. We've both missed that flop. It's all going in at some point isn't it? Should I check and let him put me all-in representing AA or shove on him even though my all-in would only be around 40% of the pot? I went for the latter. If he has AA then fair play to him. Oh, he does have AA. Oh well. Two outs twice, and none of them hit. Boom. There goes my stack, running KK into AA how many times now? Why am I rarely on the other side of that equation?

2. Lost $2.50 with QQ UTG+2
UTG raises, I 3-bet to $1 which is a standard move for me with a big pocket pair. It's folded round to UTG who calls. The pot is $2.15. The flop comes Kd-3d-8c. UTG checks, I can't check on this board with an overcard and flush draws. I lead out for $1.50 and get shoved on for $3.47 total. I fold. The chances of him having a King or at least a draw are too strong here. I don't even have Qd to reduce his outs.

3. Lost $2.30 with QQ on the button
UTG makes a standard raise to $0.30 and I pop it to $1. BB min-raises to $1.70 and alarm bells go off. UTG folds and I call. Pot is $3.75. Flop comes J-A-K rainbow - nice, not! Two overcards, straight draws and hitting my Queen could complete a straight for him with any Ten. I don't like this at all. He bets $0.60 which is a very small bet into this pot. A feeler bet looking to see if his King (or similar) is good? Is he asking if I have an Ace? I probably should have answered with a decent raise but I just called. If I thought I was behind I should have folded, calling was the wrong option here in hindsight. The turn is a 4 and the BB fires again, for $1.60. I do what I should have done last street and fold. I was behind to any Ace and any King. I should have raised on the flop to see what he had. He may have dropped his hand if he just held a King, fearing the Ace. Yes, he could have had a monster given his pre-flop re-raise but on the turn I was just guessing as I hadn't been able to narrow his hand range from the flop betting. Wrong move.

The cash poker books I have in my library are flying off the book shelf and rapidly working their way up my 'to read' pile - sooner rather than later I need to get through them and arrest this slump I am in.

[mathare]

8th March 2010 (part three)
I won't rest until I at least have a few ideas as to why my poker results have taken a significant turn for the worse. If it's just a natural downswing I want to know that. If it's something I am doing differently/wrongly then I want to know so I can take action.

When did the dip start? It looks on my records as though it really kicked on around 5th March and has affected every session since, although there is some evidence that it could have started back on 1st March. Coincidentally that's when I started playing two tables instead of one. Hmmm. Let's compare my results pre- and post-1st March then.

Pre-1st March
I only played 8 sessions in February but managed to rack up 3263 hands and a profit of $50.28 at a rate of 7.70BB/100. I had two losing sessions, each for about half a buy-in. My summary stats are a VPIP of 8.09, a PFR of 6.37, I won 60.42% of showdowns and had an aggression factor of 4.23.

All final hands were profitable except high card, including one pair although only marginally so. This is pretty much as expected.

AA and KK were very profitable for me, 7.80BB/hand and 8.60BB/hand respectively. All broadway Aces were profitable with the exception of AQs although the sample size is too small for this to be too meaningful.

I was playing profitably in every position except the blinds but there I was profitable without factoring in the blind amounts. I was earning much more in late position (around 0.20BB/hand) than early position (0.07BB/hand UTG, 0.01BB/hand UTG+1). My PFR was the same as my VPIP for the early positions, the two figures separating a little as I move towards the button suggest a bit of late limping but none in early positions. I was winning at least 50% of showdowns in all positions other than the SB (42.86%). My steal percentages were 8.11% one off the button, 10.09% on the button and 29.90% in the SB.

Post-1st March
Since March 1st I have played 15 sessions (across 31 tables) seeing 19573 hands and losing $102.01 at a rate of -2.61BB/100. I only recorded 5 winning sessions in this time and have had sessions where I have lost three buy-ins or more. My summary stats are a VPIP of 9.24, a PFR of 6.85, I won 52.83% of showdown and had an aggression factor of 4.11.

On the face of it those summary stats haven't changed much. My VPIP is a notch higher and could be trimmed back in a little but it's not changed much. Ditto my PFR and aggression factor. The lower percentage of showdowns won suggests I am taking hands too far though.

High card, one pair and two pair final hands are not profitable while all others are. I would expect two pair hands to be profitable and one pair hands to be a little less draining than they seem to be (-0.12BB/hand whereas I'd expect more like -0.10BB/hand). My overall records suggest two pair hands should be slightly profitable, probably around 0.05BB/hand whereas I am showing -0.05BB/hand. I am winning over 58% of showdowns with two pair hands so I am seemingly losing too many big pots and picking up smaller ones.

AA and KK are still profitable but the figures have dropped to 4.71 and 2.89BB/hand respectively. KK had been more profitable than AA but that trend has been reversed, probably due to the times I have gone bust with KK against AA. Now few of the broadway Aces are profitable, only AJs, ATs and ATo are making me money. AK and AQ (suited and unsuited) are big problems for me and could be worthy of further investigation as to how I have been playing them.

Positionally things have changed a little bit too. I am losing from the SB at a rate faster than the SB itself, unlike above. I am also losing UTG (-0.03BB/hand) and am only marginally profitable UTG+1 (0.01BB/hand). The amount won increases in the later seats but the win rates are all below 0.10BB/hand, less than half what they were before. There is evidence of an increasing amount of early position limping with my VPIP and PFR diverging right from UTG. I am winning at least half of showdowns from all non-blind positions but this figure is worse for the SB than it was previously. I have increased my steal attempts too, to 14.32%, 17.52% and 33.40% - each up around 5% on my previous figures.

Conclusions
It's hard to draw any significant conclusions as to where things are going wrong and what to do about it as the first sample is a bit small to do much with. That in itself leads to a one idea though: play more one-table sessions to build up the sample to a more equal size. I think that's a sensible idea as it also separates potential "beginner's luck" from one-table play if I play one-table sessions now. I should also try tightening up a bit more to see what effect that has, and steal less unless I have a hand that is worth stealing with. Let's see how that goes.

I said I am going to tighten up more but how much should I tighten up and what does it really mean? 10% of hands equates to 88+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,AJo+,KQo according to PokerStove and I am VPIPing more than that on the button at present whereas I started off VPIPing around 9% of hands in the same position. That's equivalent to 88+,ATs+,KTs+,QJs,AJo+,KQo so excludes A9s and QTs. A VPIP of 8% is 88+,ATs+,KTs+,QJs,AJo+ and that's more what I want to be thinking in terms of really. UTG I should be looking to go even tighter, something like TT+,AJs+,KQs,AQo+ which is 5.3% of hands. I need to recognise that big hands will come around often enough and I can pass up marginal opportunities if I don't think I have a clear edge.

[mathare]

10th March 2010
I don't really understand why it should work but it has done. I have stepped down to a single Rush table in my sessions and I have started to grind a profit once more. I played around three hours yesterday afternoon and finished up over $15. I made $2.13 in an hour at lunchtime today and another $9.60 in an hour and a bit this afternoon. Not big sums but a step in the right direction for sure.

I have had some good hands in that time but I haven't had it all my own way by any means. I stacked some guy earlier with my Aces beating his Kings and then lost all that and some more two hands later when I was in the opposite situation, running my own pocket Kings into Aces. That left me pretty short-stacked but I managed to grind it back up to make a profit on the session.

It's still early days back on single tables but it is at least proving profitable for now, which is more than can be said for my play for the previous week or so. Who knows whether it's a change of luck or because I am playing fewer tables but it's working and that's all I care about right now.

[mathare]

19th March 2010
I haven't played for a week hence the lack of updates. Since I last updated you though I got in a few more sessions and continued in the same vein as my last entry. Not big wins again but wins all the same with profits of $2.04 and $7.96 coming from short one-table Rush poker sessions. With the Cheltenham festival on as well as having various other projects on the go I haven't been able to find the time to play since but I should be able to squeeze in a few hands here and there now and get back to winning ways, all being well.

[mathare]

24th March 2010
I don't get this game at times. I have played six sessions since my last update with mixed results.

I played a bit on Saturday and finished slightly ahead after a very uppy-downy session. Sunday I took a kicking. Monday the same. Yesterday I ground out a reasonable profit in two sessions and then today I take another kicking, losing two buy-ins. I don't feel my game has really changed over the past few days so I guess it's all down to luck but it is frustrating. I am happy to grind out the small profits here and there but losing a couple of buy-ins is then a big step backwards.

How did I lose big in the sessions where I finished with a loss? Let's have a look...

Today it was QQ v AKo twice. I was 55/45 in both hands and in both cases an Ace flopped to do me in. I also lost decent pots with AA (cracked by a flopped flush that I didn't think he had), 77 when I turned a set but the villain had flopped a bigger set, KK when the villain turned a flush and my redraw missed on the river, AQ against a flopped set and TT when the villain rivered me.

Monday it was QQ (again) against Aces, QQ (folded on a scary river) and AJs against AKo.

On Sunday the problems came with AKo against pocket Aces after flopping top pair, KK (folded on the river when a second Ace hit and I was sure I was beaten), 77 beaten by 99 and AJs which I was forced to fold by a big bet on a scary flop.

I'm just not getting the rub of the green, and QQ is killing me at the minute. That hand accounts for the vast majority of my losses over the past week. In fact PT3 says that hand has cost me more than the total I have lost in that period. Thing is though I know I should still be playing it and playing it hard. It was favourite over the two AK hands it lost to earlier today.

Just a temporary downswing I guess, just as I was starting to feel more confident about my game too. I should be back on the horse soon enough though and ready to avenge these defeats

[mathare]

24th March 2010 (part two)
I really can't get a big hand to stand up, that's when I do actually get some action on it anyway. I've tried making standard raises with hands KK and AA only for everyone to fold so I have tried min-raises and got the same result. I'm not limping these hands very often as I don't feel that's the right thing to do. When I do get action I'm not winning big enough pots, or enough pots for that matter.

I just lost another buy-in with QQ! OK, I had lost around a third of it before QQ came along but when it did it hurt again. I raised pre-flop from mid-position and get a caller in the BB. Flop comes Q-K-T two suited. BB bets out around two-thirds pot, I call. Turn is a brick. BB bets out around three-quarters pot so I raise him a little over min-raise. I'm trying to find out where I stand. I assume my set of Queens is good as I don't put him on pocket Kings but he could have a straight/flush draw so let's have a look. He shoves on me giving me over 5-to-2 on the call so I make it and am up against the nut straight with him holding AJo. The river blanks and I'm felted.

I am really beginning to hate pocket Queens! They are my worst performing pocket pair by a mile, my worst of all hands in terms of BB/hand and close up there with AKo in terms of cash lost per hand. Hands like 88, AQs, AQo and AJo are getting up there too. My big Aces just aren't standing up it seems. I'm only a few bucks behind my all-in EV though according to PT3 so perhaps I am just playing these hands wrong and shoving/calling shoves too light...

[mathare]

25th March 2010
This is getting ridiculous now. Perhaps I am tilting a bit, maybe even steaming a little but I can't help but think I am on the wrong side of the luck in this game now. Let me give you a few examples from this morning's session that saw me burn through two buy-ins before I quit.

I get KK UTG+1 and a stack of 66xBB. UTG has me covered (just) and we both have middle position covered with his stack of 35xBB. UTG limps and I raise to 3xBB. Mid position re-raises me to 8xBB which UTG calls and I re-raise all-in looking to maximise my potential on this hand. I want it all in pre-flop so I can't be shoved off if an overcard hits and also to be the aggressor so had I raised to say 20-30xBB here I am inviting a shove over the top. Mid position calls (as expected) and UTG calls. Alarm bells go off now. What's UTG cold-called a re-raise with then overcalled a shove with? Mid-position has AA which fits with his actions perfectly. He saw me raise early and re-raised me then called my shove. Unlucky on my part but OK, it happens. UTG has Q7o. Yes, I did just say Queen-seven offsuit. Erm, WTF?!? He's not dominated I suppose but he needs to hit the board at least twice to win. The flop comes A-8-T, the turn is a 6 and guess what the river is? Unless it's a King I'm screwed but in good standing for the side pot between me and UTG who is drawing to four outs. One of which comes - a 9 on the river scoops a massive pot for the UTG muppet who was cold-calling raises and shoves with Q7o. Really, I wouldn't have mind losing to Aces in that situation too much but both of us losing to a hand like Q7o...

That was the hand that really wound me up but it wasn't the end of it by any means.

I lost over a buy-in with KK on a board of T-A-A-4-8 as my opponent's betting patterns didn't suggest an Ace. He was even toying with me in the chatbox though as he showed down not one, but two Aces for flopped quads. His betting didn't suggest an Ace as he'd crippled the deck.

I misplayed AJo against AKo in a pot that spiralled out of control and cost me almost a buy-in. Hands up, I accept the blame for poor play and not poor luck here. I was never ahead and should have realised that by the turn at the latest.

I ran KK into Aces again too and that cost me over 50xBB. I make that three times in just over 500 hands I had KK and ran them into AA losing each time.

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the hand that made me quit, the one that took away most of my second buy-in yet. I'm dealt 66 in middle position and limp when it is folded to me. I could have raised but I was playing this one as a drawing hand looking to set-mine a cheap flop. The button limps and the BB calls. The flop comes 8-A-A two suited. BB checks and I bet two-thirds of the pot to draw any Aces out. The button calls, BB folds. The turn is a suited 6 putting three to a flush on the board and giving me a full house. Right now I have the button on an Ace, perhaps with a flush draw but perhaps not or on a made flush having called the flop bet with a flush draw. I'm not worried about these hands as I am beating them and it's now about how to maximise my winnings from this pot. I check looking to check-raise but giving him a free card isn't a disaster as I may get him to bet/raise on the river. Plus the pot is small and there may not be much to be won. A suited Jack comes on the river putting a four-flush on the board. I lead out for two-thirds the pot and get min-raised to $1. I raise to $2.20 and get shoved on. I call for a further $3.12 with my full house only for him to flip A6o for an unlikely bigger full house. No flush cards at all. He had an Ace as suspected and was just lucky to hit his kicker. Thinking back I didn't even consider him having A8 or A6 (or AJ on the river when he raised me) but instinct told me I was probably good there hence the raise and call of the shove. I didn't realise I was drawing dead from the flop though.

On balance, I won a couple of decent pots too, with AA against KK and AK against KK but nothing that significant compared to the losing pots.

This game can be so frustrating at times. I keep having early successes when I first play games and then soon slip into the red and struggle to recover, which is normally about the point I think "Sod this for a game of soldiers" and move on to something else. I really am determined to make a profit from cash games and from Rush Poker in particular but if there are serious leaks in my game they need fixing and if it's just bad luck I could do with it evening out a little, and soon please. I don't think I have enough hands in my database yet to really draw (m)any solid conclusions about my game as I only have around 26k in there so I will keep playing and hopefully analyse my game when I have 50-100k hands played, assuming I still have a bankroll then

[mathare]

25th March 2010 (part two)
After my rubbish session this morning I decided what I needed was a spell in my watery thought booth (aka the shower - it's where I have all my best thoughts and ideas). Things started to fall into place a bit more after a few minutes in the spray.

When I first started playing Rush Poker I had been playing one table at a time and had done alright. So I moved on to playing two tables at once and that coincided with a dip in results. I went back to one table sessions and saw an immediate upturn followed by a few really poor recent sessions all but removing the profit I had earlier built up. Not all my two table sessions were bad though and they were certainly useful for building up FTP points, rakeback and so on. If my one table session results weren't obviously better than my two table sessions then one can conclude that the second table isn't harming my game as I feared it may have been so I should start playing two tables at once. At least that way I will get the hands played and start to build up sufficient data to be able to meaningfully analyse my game. I will also get towards the long-term faster and the fluctuations caused by each individual hand will smooth out and a clearer picture will emerge. That's the idea anyway.

So I sat at two tables after lunch with the intention of plugging away for as long as it takes to show a reasonable profit and restore some confidence in play as that had taken a knock after recent sessions where I have lost multiple buy-ins through what seems like bad luck. It was the usual tale of one table going well and the other going badly, really badly at times in fact. It took me just shy of 3000 hands and nearly four hours as well as risking four buy-ins (three at one table) but I did at least finish with a small profit - $0.34 to be exact! A session like that has been good for the bonus account though, as well as racking up quite a few loyalty points and it should see me earn a reasonable amount of rakeback whenever that gets paid too. But more than any of that I experienced a lot of downs and came through them. I made some nice hands and had them stand up, as well as having a load of decent hands beaten by people drawing slim or holding the only pocket cards that could beat me. All part of poker though and I am older and wiser because of this session.

It was a shocking start to it though and I seriously thought I was going to lose a few more buy-ins than I already had in the past few days without anything to show for it. I engaged my brain though and thought back to how I was playing when I first started out and compared that to my current game. I soon identified the problem: Dan Harrington. I have been reading his cash game books and I think my game has changed because of what I have learned from them but it's not applicable here, at least not so much. Rush Poker is a high-card game with little pre-flop raising and virtually no limping. It's a tight, fairly aggressive game and it has to be played that way. I need to stop thinking about what Action Dan recommends for playing hands post-flop and play them the way I know suits this game. That means not calling pot-sized bets with second pair or even just overcards. It means generally tightening up and playing things simply. It means c-betting like I always used to as that used to take down a lot of small pots for me and they all add up. It also means more or less forgetting suited connectors, certainly in all positions other than late position and high suited connectors although one has then to be aware of potential domination. It means consciously valuing suited overcards more than unsuited hands, so not playing ATo under the gun but maybe playing ATs. One thing I have learned from Harrington is the fairly obvious idea of "big hand = big pot, small hand = small pot" but it's an idea I haven't been following. I have been in big pots with nothing but top pair. Why has the pot got so big? Because I have made it big relative to the effective stacks my betting when I could check. I have reined these things in now and things have improved because of it. I am also trying to make sure I have the right number of opponents for the hand I am holding. Do I want many or few opponents for the hand I am playing? I'm also thinking more about the hand I am most likely to make on the flop and thinking about how best to play that, what size pot I want and how that affects my pre-flop actions.

During this mammoth afternoon session I also played with the Full Tilt Poker Academy challenges a bit more to see if I could actually finish some of the tasks on them. Rush Poker doesn't count towards the session tasks, e.g. play a no-limit hold'em session for 50 or more hands and show a profit at the end, that sort of thing. But one-hand tasks such as raise to three times the big blind with AA under the gun do apply to Rush Poker so I was able to complete the Chris Ferguson Pre-flop Play challenge for 400 FTPA points. What I didn't realise though is that you can do each challenge up to 10 times so I have started it again. I had been wondering how you were supposed to rack up enough points to get much from the FTPA store when there are around 30 challenges and they are worth maybe 250 points on average but now it makes sense.

Talking of getting stuff from poker room stores, my PokerStars sports jacket arrived the other day. I love it and am sure it was the right decision rather than the $40 bonus.

[mathare]

26th March 2010
I am seriously on the cusp of at least taking a break from poker if not giving it up altogether. It is seriously winding me up recently and starting to bring me down somewhat. It's not the amount of cash I am losing but the fact that I am losing far more often then I am winning and it's grinding me down.

I'm playing micro-stakes games with the kiddy-fish so why can't I get a break and win a few hands here and there? These games aren't populated with genius players so why am I unable to grind out even a small profit? There has to be something wrong with my game so I need to find out what and look at how I fix it (assuming I can). Maybe I'm just not suited to poker at all and need to give up on the idea of ever playing for substantial profits. Maybe it will only ever be a game to me, one that I play for entertainment rather than profit. That's be a real ball-breaker if that happens to be the case but I need to dismantle my game, and perhaps even my state of mind, at some point in the near future because I can't keep throwing money away like this.

I'll come back to this thread later as I have already written down a bunch of notes on what could be wrong but I need to go out and clear my head soon. Then I can come back and start gathering evidence to either support or dismiss my theories.

[Profit Seeker]

I assume that was written under the heavy influence of alcohol PS

Chance of you making 4000 posts before getting banned must be slim if you keep dishing out insults and using foul language like that

Jeeeeeebus 4000 posts?

[mathare]

Jeeeeeebus 4000 posts?

Ooh, so close. The potty mouth came back out and earned you a ban. You will be missed PS, honest.

[mathare]

28th March 2010
My notes from Friday expanded into almost a huge essay and I needed to get my head round lots of stuff which is why you've not had the promised update till now. I've written loads I just need to split it down into forum-sized chunks and then post it up.

I still struggle to maintain a proper focus when I play. I used to play single-table limit sessions and make a small but steady profit. That was a few years back though. Since then I have been through SnGs, no-limit cash, back to limit, more SnGs and on to Rush Poker. When I found Rush I thought I had found the game for me. How can I lose focus when I am almost always in a hand? I didn't think it would be possible to multi-table when hands come so quickly. But I soon settled, got used to the speed and starting playing several Rush tables at once. Did my game suffer as a result? It's difficult to say as I don't really have conclusive evidence that the number of tables affects my winrate but it's safe to say that what started out as a profitable game for me soon went south and I started losing. And continued losing to the point where I am now about 10xBB down. I'm sure a lot of this is as a result of poor focus at the table. I need to look at why my focus is so poor and what I can do to sort it out.

What does it mean to be focused? It means thinking through betting actions (mine and the villains'). Who raised pre-flop? Who is the aggressor? What did the aggressor do on the flop? What does this mean in terms of hand ranges? When should I check and when should I bet? Am I obviously beaten? Do I have the odds (current and implied) to draw out on him? How many outs do I have? Is the story being told by the betting actions consistent? If not, I could have a bluff catching opportunity? I can do all this in slow-time offline but not consciously during the game. I tend to rely on instinct. I can't really decide whether my subconscious is making good decisions so I want to engage my conscious brain and go through the proper thought processes so I can see how the resulting action compares to instinct. But I am finding it really hard to bring all these thought processes to the fore.

Why am I struggling to focus on the game? There are several reasons, such as:
- the stakes aren't meaningful (on a bad day at Rush I lose maybe £20 but I can lose several times this laying a horse) but I don't feel experienced enough to play at a higher level; if I can't beat the fish at this level what chances do I have at higher stakes?
- I treat the game as entertainment rather than a profitable investment opportunity, that is to say I don't take it too seriously
- I can't be bothered
- other distractions such as email, forums, Betfair and so on

That's probably not a fully comprehensive list but illustrates the main points. A game where I can win or lose a few quid in the course of an afternoon's play isn't capturing my imagination and fully engaging my brain. This is perhaps the biggest challenge I face and I still haven't quite worked out how to deal with it. It's all very well to say I just need to think more about the game as I play but how does one do that constantly when I'm not in the habit?

It's not rocket science to actively put an opponent on a hand range pre-flop based on position and his betting actions and then to refine that range as you get more information through the streets. I just don't consciously do it and as a result end up in situations where I don't know where I stand when faced with a big bet.

I know the problems with my game, at least my approach to the game, but I don't know how to fix them. How does one rewire one's brain? I'm going to have to try really hard to think things through properly for the next few sessions and hope I can start to get into the right habit. Being rewarded for my efforts with a little profit would help too, hint hint poker gods.

One other thing I have wondered about is kind of the opposite of something I have already touched on. I said that when I tend to treat the game as entertainment that I don't take it too seriously. In my financial position I can't really afford to "waste" time playing "games". If it's not contributing to the bottom line, either immediately or with a view to a long-term payback, then I need to review how I am spending my time. I'm not going for all work and no play though, just trying to grind out a profit in whatever way it takes. With poker it's about learning the skills to beat the micro-stakes games to build a bankroll to tackle the higher stakes games. I want organic bankroll growth so my skills grow alongside my balance then I am in a better position to beat the bigger games when I have more money. I read a lot about poker (in books and magazines, not so much online) but how much of this applies to the games I am playing? Micro-stakes cash games are full of fish, not decent players so very little of Harrington on Cash Games is applicable. I am playing the wrong game, or rather playing the right game in the wrong way. I'm at the wrong level. I need to play down to the fish, play them at the game they are playing not the game I think they're playing. So it's maybe a case of taking the game too seriously and thinking about aspects of it too deeply. Fortunately this ought to be quite easy to fix.

I need to forget almost everything I know (or think I know) about cash game poker and get right back to basics. I need to go back to school, micro-stakes no-limit cash game school also known as the 2+2 forums. They have loads of useful information about how to beat micro-stakes games so it's a long period of reading and learning ahead of me I feel. It'll be worth it though. Let's get the basics in order and give me a solid foundation on which to build the skills as I build a bankroll. That way I stand a much better chance of even making it to the bigger games.

Actions
- Read beginners' guide to beating micros-stakes cash games on 2+2 forum
- Read stickies in 2+2 uNL forum
- Apply what I learn from above to Rush Poker
- FOCUS on game in hand and NOTHING else

[mathare]

28th March 2010 (part two)
There is something seriously wrong with my Rush Poker game and I have to find it. Now. I say 'something' but in actual fact there are probably many things wrong with my game but I need to focus on identifying my biggest leaks and fixing them. I'm not looking to iron all the wrinkles out of my game, just to spot a few problems and work on them as I don't believe it is particularly easy to completely overhaul one's game all at once; changes are much more likely to stick if introduced slowly, a few at a time. So that's what I am aiming for, and if I am only making a few changes I want to go for the high impact changes, those that will make the most difference to my bottom line. And so we turn to Poker Tracker and start examining my Rush Poker hands from all angles to see what stands out.

I have played 35,884 hands and am losing at a rate of 1.33BB/100. My main stats (VPIP/PFR/AF) are 9.34/6.88/3.03 but what matters more than this is how they vary with position which we will come to shortly. I am going to showdown 24.81% of the time and winning 55.35% of showdowns. I am stealing 19.14% of the time and folding my blinds 88.12% and 92.58% of the time in the BB and SB respectively.

Am I aggressive enough?
Conventional wisdom says that one should be raising most of the time when opting to play a hand pre-flop. Opinions vary on what makes a good VPIP/PFR ratio but it seems that one should be raising at least two-thirds of hands played. How do I measure up on that front? I (volunatrily) play 9.34% of hands and raise 6.88% of the time which means I raise 74% of the hands I play. I'm happy with that figure. It's not ridiculously high which would suggest I am too aggressive with more marginal holdings (although that may still prove to be the case) and is high enough to suggest I am making the table react to my bets through tight-aggressive poker. Good so far.

Positional Awareness
Position is a massive factor in poker and there are umpteen ways one can analyse their hands based on position. I want to start by checking how my VPIP and PFR vary with position. It's accepted that more hands are playable in late position than early position so VPIP in early should be significantly less than on the button. How much less? I have seen figures of between 50% and 100% less. My VPIP UTG is 7.73% while on the button it is 10.67%. That's not a difference of 50% suggesting I ought to be tightening up UTG and/or playing more hands in late position.

Blind Stealing
I steal the blinds 19.14% of the time which breaks down to be 13.08% in the cut-off, 17.82% on the button and 32.02% of hands in the SB. Is this enough? Not really, at least not according to the 2+2 forums which suggest stealing 20% or more of the time, and closer to 30% for more experienced players. I should be stealing more blinds then.

Let's have a quick look how my stealing has been working out for me though...+0.58BB/hand when I have the chance to steal and raise and breakeven when I just call rather than attempt the steal. Maybe I should be stealing more if it works out so well for me. I need to be careful not to take it too far though.

Postflop Aggression
My post-flop AFs are 4.02, 2.05 and 2.26 for the flop, turn and river respectively. Is it right that I am so much more aggressive on the flop than the other streets? It apparently means I usually decide whether I am going to play a hand on the flop and how to play it. I am betting/raising 4 times as often as I call a bet which means I am not calling too many flop bets to see what the villain does on the turn, even though that's how my play often feels to me. An AF of 4 on the flop means I am not slow-playing hands too often either. It indicates I am betting/raising with strong hands. My (relatively) high flop AF also indicates I am playing draws aggressively, betting/raising to give me two ways to win but also folding draws in the face of strong opposing action rather than just calling the bets and hoping.

What actions do I take after a pre-flop raise? 30.98% of the time I bet out, raising 1.01% of the time. I rarely (0.28%) check-raise though and I should be doing so around twice as often as I do, apparently. Most of the time (54.23%) there is no flop or no action. I should be betting/raising nigh on 40% of the time apparently. When I c-bet I win at a rate of 0.96BB/hand but it is noticeable that my profits are much lower UTG and UTG+1. Is this symptomatic of playing too loose in those positions?

WTSD%
This should be around 25% apparently. I have seen this figure in several places so I am inclined to believe it to be about right. Mine is 24.81% so I am pretty much bang on.

W$WSF%
I should be winning at least 35% of hands I see the flop with according to the experts. I win 47.46% of these hands so this doesn't seem to be a problem. It suggests I am playing strong enough hands pre-flop and not taking chances with too many marginal holdings in big pots. It also suggests I am c-betting at a decent rate but we can check this later.

W$SD
A good figure for a TAG player is 52-55% of showdowns won. I win 55.35% so I am not folding the best hand too often but am winning my fair share of pots when the hands are shown down. Good.

Blind Defence
How am I doing when it comes to defending my blinds? Let's first look at times I have VPIPed and am in the BB or SB. +0.08BB/hand broken down into -0.11BB/hand in the SB and +0.53BB/hand in the BB. My SB PFR may be too high at 62.28% but I can't really be sure. The important thing is though that in each position I am making more when I VPIP than I would lose if I just folded so my play out of the blinds is reasonable. What about defending against steals though? It's a small sample (just 104 hands) but I lose 1.09BB/hand when I call a steal attempt. I should tighten up my ranges here and stop calling with weak suited connectors unless I really have the odds for it and stacks are deep. It's been premium hands like QQ and KK that have done most of the damage to my stats though, both losing big pots. As I said earlier though, small sample, but maybe I need to think about 3-betting rather than calling the steal. My 3-betting range is much tighter consisting only of premium hands (if we ignore the Q2o I 3-bet with once) and 3-betting is marginally profitable.

Heads-Up
I am breakeven in pots where only two of us see the flop. However, that's not the whole story as I am losing in the SB faster than the cost of the blind and am a significant loser UTG in these pots. Why? Let's look at the hands I raised pre-flop. The stats look fine for all positions except SB, UTG and UTG+1 so let's narrow things down to those positions and see what's happening. I am particularly interested in my hand range here. It ought to be really tight as I'm in early position but it's not as tight as it should be (although we kinda knew that from the earlier Positional Awareness section). I think I can seriously reconsider raising hands like AJo, KQo, KJs, QJs and pairs below 88 (maybe even 99) all of which are in my range for raising UTG or UTG+1. That's a quick way of tightening up in early position and will hopefully improve things. What about in the SB? If I am raising in the SB and the flop is heads-up that means the villain has either limp-called my raise or I have 3-bet him, or it's blind v blind and I have raised on a steal. I'm 3-betting a bit light so could drop hands like QJo and ATo. What am I calling raises with? A pretty solid range it seems, no real issues here. Good strong hands that stand a good chance of winning pots against the likely range of a raiser. What am I raising limpers with? A very solid range that makes me a nice profit, actually. Hmm. Maybe my SB play isn't that bad after all once I address the 3-bet issue.

When I opt not to raise and am in a heads-up pot things are roughly breakeven in all positions except the blinds. Why would this be? I'm calling a few too many raises in the blinds it seems as I lose at a steady rate when there has been a raise in front of me. I could tighten up there by folding more often.

Multi-way Pots
When 3 to 10 players see the flop my positional breakdown is a bit weird. I am winning UTG (which makes a change) but losing significantly UTG+1 and am slightly down UTG+2 whereas every other position is profitable (SB is breakeven). If I don't raise pre-flop in these hands then I lose slowly UTG and UTG+1. If I don't raise the pot is either full of limpers or I have called someone else's raises. Let's look at those two cases now: when I am not facing a raise (ie all limpers) there's nothing that stands out and the only really significant point to take away from the case where I call a raise is that the sample is too small to be meaningful. What about when I raise pre-flop? Here we go, big trouble UTG+1 and UTG+2. If I narrow the data down to just those seats I bet I see my hand range is too wide...AJ, AT and pairs below 88 could all be dropped from the range and that ought to help things a little. Another way of tightening up from early position as I suggested earlier was necessary.

Pocket Pairs
The gurus on the 2+2 forums reckon VPIP with pocket pairs should be 85% or more; mine's 57.66%. Hmm. I'll be honest, I don't like the small pairs especially in raised pots. Harrington (and others) suggest playing pairs in such pots as you're calling one bet with the potential to hit a nice hidden hand and stack the villain but I don't think stacks are usually deep enough in my games to make this work as desired. All too often I would find myself calling a 3xBB raise with 22 and missing completely and then what? I don't mind playing 88 or higher, even 77 at times but I really don't like the small pairs in raised pots. My PFR should be at least 50% of my VPIP here, if not higher. My PFR figure is 45.25% so nearly 80% of my VPIPs are raises. That's not too bad.

Are all the pairs profitable though? AA-88 should certainly be and with a big enough sample (and proper play) the smaller pairs should be too apparently. QQ, TT and 88 are all significant losers for me. That looks like a problem for sure. It looks like I need to review my play of these hands.

Suited Connectors
Some people play suited connectors more than others so there are few guidelines on the 'right' numbers to show for such hands, other than BB/hand should be positive, which mine is at 0.05BB/hand. I shouldn't be cold-calling with these hands very often at all, which is fine as I have cold-called with AKs five times out of the 1234 hands I have been dealt. No real issues here it seems although the only profitable hand without paint in it is 43s so perhaps I should give up some of the weaker suited connector hands. This doesn't seem to be a big leak though so I'm not worrying about this for now.

Unsuited Connectors
My VPIP with these hands should be significantly less than that for suited connectors which it is (19.69% VPIP for suited, 11.84% unsuited) but my winrate should be positive, even if only slightly so, but it's -0.09BB/hand. It's profitable when I cold-call so that's not the issue here. Am I raising too light or calling raises too often? My raise calling range is tight whereas my raising range could be tightened (to Broadway connectors only) but the main problem seems to be AKo - it's a significant losing hand for me and I ought to find out why. It looks like a review of the hand histories for this one is in order.

Broadway Hands
I'm thinking specifically of the unpaired paint hands here, suited and unsuited. I just want to check how each of them are performing and whether they are profitable or not. I expect they all should be, or at least not significant losers. Oh. AKo I knew was a bad hand for me but AQo and AJo can join it on my trouble list. I need to review the hand histories for those too to see where I am misplaying them. Everything else is OK for now though. Some of the weaker unsuited hands are slight losers but to a much lesser degree than those big unsuited Aces.

More on Position
I wanted to take another look at position now, focusing not on VPIP or PFR but winrate (profit) in each seat. For a while my BB/Hand in the SB was more than the cost of the blinds, ie I was losing faster than I would have done had I folded all hands in the SB but I have turned this round now. However, my UTG and UTG+1 win rates are negative and my UTG+2 win rate has come down from what it used to be. I am not losing particularly quickly in these seats but is there any reason for me to be losing at all from these seats? How do I lose from non-blind seats? By voluntarily putting money into the pot and not winning it back at the end of the hand. There is no other way. Let's pull up the hand ranges for each of these seats and see how loose I am as well as how I am playing the hands.

UTG
There are some sloppy limps with weak Aces (A8s, A7o), weak broadway hands (e.g. KJs, QJs) and small pocket pairs but it's not as bad as I feared. The biggest losing hands are QQ, AKs, AQs, 77, 88, AKo and TT. Is there anything wrong with playing these hands in this position? 77 is perhaps borderline as part of a tight-aggressive strategy but the rest are playable. Is it a question then of how I play the hands? Open-limping isn't the problem and I can't cold-call or limp behind when I am UTG so if there is a problem with my calling strategy it must be with calling raises (eg calling 3-bets or limp-calling). Ahh, here we go. When I call a pre-flop raise UTG I lose. There isn't a single winning hand in this situation. The range is pretty tight (77-QQ, AKs, AJo+ and KJs) and the sample small (24 hands) but they are all losers. The problems here seem to have a whiff of misfortune such as running AKo into AA and QQ into KK. But was a call the right move here? Let's have a look at hand I raise in this position instead. The range is wider than ideal, that's for sure. It includes all pairs (except 44), all Broadway Aces, KQ, KJs and QJs. It's another small sample (271 hands) but a wide range all the same and one that should be tightened up significantly. It's the same hands causing the majority of the losses so I really need to sit and review how I play those hands.

UTG+1
As my position at the table improves my hand range can open slightly but UTG+1 is not the place to be opening a great number of hands. My range is 22+, 98s, JTs, QJs, KTs, KJs, KQ, ATs and AJ+ which is again too wide, although it partly depends on how I am playing these hands. I said earlier I don't like the small pairs in raised pots and the lowest pair I have called a pre-flop raise with is 77. I have raised with all pairs though and while they are not significant losers (which may only because of a low frequency thus far) I can drop all the small pairs here and switch to just raising premium hands, which means not raising KJs and probably not KQo either. That's a quick tightening up of my early position play. I'm not crazy about the raises with JJ and AQo when I am not first in either. That means UTG has raised signalling he has a strong hand. AQo and JJ are better calling hands here I feel but the sample is small and this isn't a big leak at this stage so I am prepared to let that go for now. I think I need to stop open-limping so often though. I haven't done it very much at all but hands like 44, 66 and the smaller suited Broadway hands don't have any place here. In later position with previous limpers looking to hit a hidden monster, fair enough, but not UTG+1.

In terms of hands to be reviewed for UTG+1, I ought to look at how I play TT, AQo, AJo, KK, KQs and AKs.

UTG+2
I am at least winning in this position so I won't focus on this seat in too much depth, just have a quick glance at my range really. My range is similar to the previous seat and so could be tightened up a little but it's not too bad. I'd like to know what I am doing wrong with AQo, AJo and ATo though as they are my biggest losing hands.

Showdowns
What am I taking to showdowns? Unsurprisingly I am losing money at showdowns UTG and UTG+1, as well as in the SB. Am I getting here with too weak a hand in these positions? Is this all because of my pre-flop ranges? It seems I am getting premium hands beaten rather than getting this far with rags, which is nice to know but I still need to look at those hand histories to work out how I am playing big hands so poorly.

River
What sort of hands am I getting this far with? And how does my position (in/out of position) affect things? I have seen 951 rivers and it's profitable for me to do so, in all positions except UTG, UTG+1 and the SB of course. It's those premium hands getting smashed again. When I have position my win rate is over 2BB/hand compared to -0.34BB/hand out of position. That's something worth being aware of then; I lose when I am out of position on the river. The sample isn't really large enough for meaningful analysis of how I lose but it's worth noting all the same.

Turn
Working backwards we come to the turn, what am I getting here with? I have seen 1375 turn cards and win at a rate of 0.41BB/hand which splits down as 1.43BB/hand in position and -0.31BB/hand out of position. The problem really is those premium hands in early position as that's what driving the losses. I need to spend some time analysing those hand histories for clues I was beaten and to identify where I could have folded earlier in the hand.

Flop
The story on the flop is pretty much the same, winning at a rate of 1.01BB/hand in position and losing 0.12BB/hand out of position for a total win rate of +0.30BB/hand. Interestingly my win rate when I have relative position on the pre-flop raiser is 0.10BB/hand but it's 1.67BB/hand when I don't have relative position. I haven't quite figured out what to make of this yet though.

Conclusions
It's clear I play too loose in early position. Whether I play too loose or too tight in other positions is less clear because of the early looseness. Rush Poker is a tight game though and some of the standard NLHE cash game metrics don't really apply because of that. There is scope for me to steal more often though and also to tighten up my requirements in the blinds when facing a steal.

The big problems seem to be the premium hands though. Have I been beset by bad luck running a good hand into an even better one a few times or were there clues that I was beaten throughout the hand and I just missed (or misread) them? The only way to really be sure of that is to analyse the hand histories for the hands where I lost most, to look back over the action for clues that should have told me my hand was no good.

Recommended Actions
Tighten up in early position, esp. not raising without a premium hand
Steal more from late position
Call fewer steals/fold to more pre-flop raises when in the blinds
Tighten 3-bet range in SB

Hand History Reviews
Review play of QQ, TT, 88, AKo, AQo, AJo - how am I losing so much?
Review play of QQ, AKs, AQs, 77, 88, AKo and TT UTG
Review play of TT, AQo, AJo, KK, KQs and AKs UTG+1
Review play of AQo, AJo, and ATo UTG+2

[mathare]

28th March 2010 (part three)
I have analysed my Rush Poker game (above) using advice from the 2+2 forums and various other sources of help and advice for micro-stakes no-limit hold'em cash games but this got me thinking, how is Rush Poker different to a normal cash game and what do these differences mean? The main differences I could think of were:
- lack of constant opponents so no reads, no history with opponents etc.
- more hands per hour so more bad beats and tilt potential per hour
- no fixed position rotation (small blind doesn't follow big blind etc)
- missing out on information on opponents as you don't get to watch hands you fold

How does this affect a Rush session compared to a normal cash game session? It makes for a tighter game, it means a HUD is next to useless and it means that you have to stereotype all opponents as one rather than being able to identify TAGs, LAGs and so on.

What I mean by this last point is you just have to assume that Opponent A plays the same as Opponent B and so on. You're just up against Opponent X with no specific playing tendencies other than those you assume apply to all players at this level. You don't know if the guy who raised to 3xBB UTG would only do that with a premium hand, you just have to base your reads/hand ranges and what you know about average opponents. This is both good and bad. Good because you build up a picture of the average opponent faster than you do an individual opponent as you're using all hands to build up this average picture. Bad because how many players are truly average? You never actually get a real bead on anyone's play and so are guessing in the dark more.

Does this matter? At micro-stakes, probably not. Just accept you're in a tight game and play accordingly. You won't usually get the right conditions for suited connectors in late position as the stacks aren't usually deep enough and very few pots are limped round, there is usually at least one pre-flop raise, so play the game you're in rather than the game you think you're in. This isn't a typical NLHE cash game (in my opinion) so modify your own game to fit.

How do I need to modify my game then?
- Play only big hands pre-flop
- Steal blinds from button/SB
- If I don't have odds (inc. implied) for a draw then fold and move on
- Play of pocket pairs - do I have the implied odds, i.e. are stacks deep enough?
- Fold more often (pre- and post-flop)

Beginner's Luck
When I first started playing Rush Poker I was doing alright and was winning a bit here and there. Then it all stopped going my way and started to go downhill, rapidly. Why are my results now different to those when I first started? Has my game changed or has my luck changed? I define the early game as the first 15,000 (ish) hands when I was doing well, then the worm turned for the remaining 20,000 (ish) hands. That means we have two reasonable samples to compare though. And I have checked, the difference doesn't really correlate with me multi-tabling so I am ruling that out for now.

Differences between early & current game (early stats v current stats)

• VPIP & PFR basically unchanged (9.26/6.63 v 9.40/7.06)
• Going to more showdowns & winning fewer (22.49/58.54 v 26.46/53.43)
• Winning $ when seeing flop less often (50.27 v 45.46)
• Aggression Factor is way down (4.09 v 2.48)
• 3-betting more (1.61 v 2.56)
• Not folding to 3-bets as often (87.68 v 82.73)
• Not folding BB to steal as often (90.57 v 86.50)

Positions

• Winrate in BB significantly decreased (-0.16 v -0.34)
• Winrate UTG+1 significantly decreased (0.05 v -0.08)
• Winrate UTG+2 significantly decreased (0.10 v -0.02)
• Others mostly unchanged
• Playing looser UTG (6.72/5.59 v 8.47/7.65)
• Coldcalling pre-flop less in all positions
• 3-betting pre-flop more in all positions
• Stealing more on the button (15.73 v 19.45) and less from SB (34.90 v 29.83)

AFs

• Preflop: 2.17 v 2.55
• Flop: 5.45 v 3.21
• Turn: 2.89 v 1.66
• River: 2.43 v 2.16
• Total; 4.09 v 2.48

So I'm...

- playing looser and far more aggressively in early position
- not folding to raises like I used to
- re-raising rather than calling - is this why I am getting into trouble with some premium hands? Creating too big a pot that I am then committed to?
- stealing on the button rather than from SB
- playing more aggressively pre-flop and less so post-flop, noticeably so on all streets => raising/betting less and calling more

[mathare]

29th March 2010
Hand History Reviews
I said earlier that I had a number of specific hands I wanted to review in an attempt to try and identify where I am going wrong with them. This is that exercise. I'm looking specifically for errors that are big i.e. costly and/or obvious. I'm not reviewing every decision, just looking back over the hands to see how I perhaps could have played them differently (better). Obviously, I know the result of the hand now so am looking back with hindsight but I still hope to be able to get something useful from this exercise. The number of each hand I will analyse is not fixed. I will start with the worst hands and work down the list of losing hands till I am satisfied I have identified where I am going wrong. I won't bother with hands where I lost less than 10ptBB (PokerTracker big bets, each equal to 2xBB) though.

All Positions
QQ
1. Lost 38.00ptBB (QQ v 68s, 7-4-9-T-T)
Open-raised to 2.5xBB pre-flop and got three callers; check-raised overpair on rainbow flop; saw turn out of position & bet out for half-pot, villain makes small raise with possible (but unlikely) straight draw on board, called; check-called all-in (for about one-third pot) on river - lost to turned straight (68s).

My pre-flop action is fine in middle position but I don't know why the villain called with suited one-gappers, maybe that's just me. I don't like the check-raise now though, and not just because of the result. I honestly think the villain would have raised had I bet out so I'd be getting more money in when ahead, which is kinda the point of the game. The villain was open-ended with a backdoor flush draw so his bet and call are reasonable. When he makes his straight he raises but I had no reason to fear the Ten really. The money could have all gone in then in which case I may have folded but I doubt it. The check-call on the river I am happy with.

No huge or obvious mistakes there really. I think the check-raise was a poor move but given his turn raise any raise on the flop may not have told me I was beaten and I can't always live in fear of unlikely straights.

2. Lost 37.55ptBB (QQ v 55, 3-2-4-9-A)
Min-raised UTG pre-flop and got min-raised by UTG+2, BB cold-calls, I raise to 10xBB and both call; I bet two-thirds pot when BB checks 3-2-4 two-suited flop, UTG+2 min-raises, BB folds, I call. Turn brings a third suited card making flushes possible, I check-call all-in for less than one-quarter of pot; river is Ace completing straight draw for villain holding 55.

Why the small opening raise? I was completing academy tasks, otherwise that's a standard 3xBB raising hand for me. The BB's cold-call concerned me more than the min-raise. Was my re-raise large enough? There is $1.05 in the pot before my call and after my call my raise is only $0.60 so around half-pot. I probably should have raised more, to $1.20 to $1.40 to give me a better idea of where I stood. Effective stacks were 75xBB so a raise to 12-14xBB would have given AA and KK a chance to perhaps shove on me. UTG+2 was drawing to an open-ended straight and hit on the river when I was ahead 3:1. These things happen. I committed myself to the hand on the flop by betting $2 into a $3.05 flop leaving me $4.51 behind. I should have shoved the rest in over the top of his min-raise rather than call and check-call the turn when the third club came.

No massive errors here but I could have made a couple of better decisions in playing this one out.

3. Lost 36.20ptBB (QQ v 87o, 6-5-9-Q-A)
Middle-position limps, folded to me in SB & I raise to 3xBB, BB and limper call; flop is 6-5-9 rainbow so potential straight draws (and one potential made straight), I bet two-thirds pot with overpair, BB only caller; turn makes me a set, I bet out half-pot, BB calls; I bet half-pot on river, BB shoves all-in and I call with 3.4:1 pot odds. He shows 87o for the flopped straight.

The pre-flop bet could have been a bit bigger given my position throughout the rest of the hand but it's not bad. Flop bet is fine with the overpair but BB gets trappy with a call. Turn bet is good again with the set and again BB is trappy. At this point I think my set is good and have the BB on a hand that's likely to be overcards including an Ace. When the Ace hits on the river and I get action I happily call with good pot odds and a strong hand. I didn't put him on 87o I admit. Should I have done? Come on, he's just called pre-flop (which is loose bearing in mind he doesn't even have position at that point due to the mid-position limper) and calls my lead outs on two streets before getting excited on the river. That Ace could have killed his action if I had a hand like JJ or perhaps KK so he was taking an unusual betting line with his actions. I'd have raised on the turn if not made a small flop raise. Bad luck.

4. Lost 35.75ptBB (QQ x AJo, Q-K-T-2-5)
Open-raise to 3xBB from middle-position, BB only caller; flop a set but on a co-ordinated board so when BB bets two-thirds pot I ought to raise, instead I only call; BB bets two-thirds pot on turn and now I make a small raise, BB shoves, I call and he shows the flopped straight; river is no help.

The error here was on the flop. With a draw-heavy board (three Broadway cards and two suited) I had to raise with my set. The turn was not the street on which to make the raise. I was getting better than 5-to-2 on the all-in though so the call wasn't perhaps that bad given he could have been on one of two flush draws, a straight draw rather than a made straight or a lower set. A set of Kings was possible but unlikely given his pre-flop call. The money should have gone in earlier. I'd still have lost but it should have gone in a street before it did.

5. Lost 27.65ptBB (QQ v KK, 9-9-T-6-5)
Open-raised to 3xBB UTG, middle-position raises to 9xBB, I call; I bet two-thirds pot with overpair and villain shoves over the top for another 34xBB giving me pot odds of 2.27:1. Does he have 99 or TT for a monster? Possible. A hand like A9 or AT? Possible again but would these hands raise so big pre-flop? The odds seem good so I call. He shows KK and the board bricks out.

Could I have spotted he was holding a bigger pair and got out of the way? If I fold to shoves like that too often when getting better 2:1 I will be losing a fair amount of value from big hands (I reckon anyway) so the call is fair enough. Just bad luck to run into a bigger pair. I'd have played the hand the same way now.

6. Lost 27.20ptBB (QQ v AA, K-2-8-3-J)
UTG+2 open-raises to 4xBB, I shove for 54xBB, villain calls; board blanks out.

Did you spot the big mistake in this hand? A re-raise to 10-14xBB would have been appropriate. Had he called I'd have frozen when the K came out and probably folded. Had he raised me all-in, who knows? But that's the sort of hand I need to learn to get away from. A shove there means AA, KK or perhaps AK. The first two have me crushed and I am racing with AK. That's got to be folded in that situation. My shove was a grotesque error.

7. Lost 25.75ptBB (QQ v AA, 9-3-6-7-9)
Open-raise to 3xBB UTG+1, cut-off calls, SB raises to 13.5xBB, I call, CO folds; SB checks flop, I check behind; SB bets around 40% of pot on turn, I call; SB bets just inder half-pot on river, I call.

The mistake on this hand comes on the flop. I raise, get a caller and the SB 3-bets into both of us. I was getting 2:1 on the call but couldn't be sure I had position because of the cut-off. I check-call the rest of the way which is reasonable given the way the board fell. Could I have folded that pre-flop? A raise there doesn't always mean a better hand than mine and post-flop I didn't put in more than I had to so I don't mind this too much. Had the raise been a hand like AKs (which is possible) then my hand holds up and I win a nice pot.

8. Lost 23.75ptBB (QQ x ??, 2-7-K)
The button raises to 4xBB and I 3-bet to 10xBB in the BB, the button raises to 27.5xBB and I call with pot odds of just over 2:1. I bet just over one-third pot on the flop and the button shoves, I fold.

Two mistakes in this hand, correct the first and I can't make the second. When the button first raises it could be a steal, when he re-raises me it's clear he has a hand. As I said before this is probably AA, KK or AK (possibly AQ but unlikely) and I should be folding here really. I said I'd call with 2:1 in the last hand and I am getting that here but I am out of position and he's shown much greater strength pre-flop. After calling I shouldn't be betting out on that board as I won't shove him off any of the hands in his probable range.

9. Lost 21.50ptBB (QQ v AKo, 6-5-A-2-J)
Button open-raises to 4xBB, I raise to 10xBB and button shoves for 43xBB total. I call. He pairs his Ace on the flop and I get no help from the turn or river.

I was getting 1.62:1 on the call and I have said several times now that QQ should be foldable when shoved on like that, only I didn't fold, I called. I was in about as good a shape as I could be at that point and lost the hand on the flop.

10. Lost 20.15ptBB (QQ x JTs, T-3-2-A-J)
UTG+2 I open-raise to 3xBB and only the BB calls; he bets the pot on the flop, I call with an overpair; he makes a small (one-fifth pot) bet on the turn when the Ace comes, I call; the river completes the flush and he bets the pot, I call and lose to his rivered two pair.

The flush is an unlikely holding on the river unless he bet two diamonds on the flop with a backdoor draw. A straight was possible with KQ but that doesn't fit his flop/turn betting. The flop call is OK I think, if he has a set he's bet pretty much the maximum since overbetting the pot is rare so a call here is fine so I can see what he does on the turn. He doesn't like that turn card though. I should raise his turn bet to see whether it's a suck bet, if it is then I can fold my hand but by calling here I don't know where I stand. I am losing to any Ace on the river. I correctly surmised he didn't like the Ace but didn't do anything about it. That's my mistake here.

Conclusions
I got a little unlucky in some of the biggest pots there. Mostly my mistakes seem to be not raising enough when I was likely to be best and calling too often when I have been told in no uncertain terms pre-flop that if I am not already way behind then I am racing at best. In games like this I don't need to race, I can wait for fat value situations and make the money that way. I don't need to shove or call shoves with QQ. I need to bet my sets stronger and I need to raise when my opponent has all but told me the latest board card has him scared.

AKo
1. Lost 57.10ptBB (AKo v AA, 9-9-K-5-8)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG, UTG+1 raises to 9xBB, I call; I bet out half-pot on the flop, he raises to 3 times my bet, I shove, he calls; the board is no help.

The mistakes are huge and incredibly obvious here and all come on the flop. Pre-flop the raise and call are fine. A half-pot bet on the flop says I have a hand, his raises says he has a bigger one. He's clearly not worried by that King so his range now includes a set (9s), a full house if he held KK (or K9 although that is very unlikely), quads with 99 (unlikely) and the overpair of Aces. What else can he have? The best I could hope for is AKs but the flop is rainbow so he's not playing the suitedness in that case. A call would have been a mistake, the shove is a catastrophic error. I'm drawing to just two outs (the remaining Kings) so what was I thinking?

2. Lost 53.15ptBB (AKo v TT, T-4-7-A-K)
There's a middle position limper followed by a raise to 3xBB, I re-raise to 7xBB in the SB which the raiser calls; I bet around two-thirds pot with overcards and get a call; I bet a little over half-pot on the turn and get min-raised, I call; I shove for around half-pot on the river and get called. His set takes the pot from my two pair.

The pre-flop re-raise is too small, that should have been at least 10xBB, especially with that limper in there and my position. The Tens probably call anyway though and hit their set on the flop. What's my c-bet saying? I have shown strength pre-flop, re-raising the guy so I am saying I can beat top pair which suggests an overpair. His call is reasonable but a raise would have been OK there too (from him, not me). I continue to show strength with the bet on the turn but he thinks he has me beaten (which he does) and raises. Is he trying to see if I had AA? A bluff-shove there represents AA perfectly but it's a bold move. The shove on the river says I have a decent hand but top two isn't that strong here really. If he raised the turn because the Ace helped him then we're possibly looking at two pair (AT most likely) and I beat that. A set is possible too with a small turn raise so as to keep me on the hook. I may have been able to check that one down or call a shove from him. Would that have been the better play? It's hard for me to say really as all I can see is him flopping that set and playing it the way he did. I might have made it too easy for him. Had I raised larger pre-flop the money would have gone in earlier anyway.

3. Lost 51.85ptBB (AKo v KK, 5-K-4-Q-9)
UTG+1 open-raises to 3xBB, I re-raise to 10xBB in SB and villain calls; I lead out for three-quarters pot with top pair and get a call; I bet three-fifths pot on the turn and get shoved on, I call with over 3:1 pot odds; river is no help.

The main problem here is getting married to top pair, top kicker I think. It's easy to say with hindsight that I was probably beaten but not so in the heat of battle. The villain signalled he had a decent hand pre-flop with his raise and call. I think my flop bet is fine to find out where I stand with TPTK but I should be checking the turn to keep the pot manageable. He could have been playing KQ or QQ and thus be ahead of me. A set of 5s or 4s on the flop is unlikely but I can't rule it out of his range entirely so top pair may not be any good. Could I have folded to the shove? With 3:1 odds maybe not as I could be good but what hands would he play that way if I was ahead? I think when he shoves the turn I have to let top pair go, and should have checked the turn in the first place.

4. Lost 37.75ptBB (AKo v AJs, 4-6-J-K-8)
Middle position min-raises to 2xBB as an opener and I make a small raise to 5xBB on the button, the blinds fold, middle position calls; villain checks the flop and I bet two-thirds pot which he calls; I bet four-fifths bet when he checks the turn, he min-raises, I call; he shoves for less than one-quarter pot on the river and I call with odds of nearly 5.5:1. His turned flush takes the pot.

The pre-flop raise is perhaps a little on the small side and a raise to 7-9xBB would have been in order, although I did have position so maybe the smaller raise is acceptable. The villain checks the flop with TPTK and a flush draw, just calling my bet. When the flush card comes on the turn I have to bet smaller and wait for a raise to tell me where I am. 80% of the pot is too big here and something around half that size ought to have done the trick. When he min-raises me I have good odds on the call but what am I drawing to if I am behind? I have top pair with no redraws so if he's drawing to the straight or flush (or has a made flush) I am screwed. Should I have folded to that raise? Maybe but as I just said, a better ploy would have been a smaller bet out or even a check behind on the turn to avoid issues of pot commitment. I should have included flush draws in his flop range so when the card hits on the turn I have no reason to make the pot big for him.

5. Lost 28.60ptBB (AKo v AJs, 3-A-3-4-J)
Middle position open-raises to 2.5xBB, I re-raise to 7xBB in the cut-off, he calls; he check-calls my two-thirds pot bet on the flop; he check-raises my two-thirds pot bet on the turn, shoving over the top to double my bet, I call with odds of just under 5:1; the river makes him two pair and he takes the pot.

The pre-flop raise is about the right size and I have no reason to believe I am anything but ahead on the flop so the two-thirds pot bet is pretty standard. His check-call could indicate an Ace with a smaller kicker or a lower pocket pair that is slightly scared of the Ace but is looking to draw out to the full house. When he check-raises me on the turn I have to ask myself if that 4 helped him. There are no flushes and only one straight possible but would he raise 52 pre-flop? Would he play pocket 4s like this? Ditto A4? Did he have A3 and is now dropping the hammer? None of those hands really fit the pre-flop and flop action so I have to think I am good here and with odds of nearly 5:1 this is a pretty simple call. I just get unlucky on the river with him hitting his kicker. I had read the situation right.

6. Lost 28.55ptBB (AKo v AA, 8-J-K-5-6)
UTG+1 limps so I raise to 4xBB in middle position, it's folded round to UTG+1 who re-raises to 11xBB, I call; UTG+1 bets less than half-pot on the two-suited flop, I call; UTG+1 shoves on the suited turn, putting me all-in for 36xBB, I call; the river brings a fourth spade and I lose to the nut flush (although I was losing to a bigger pair anyway).

I am happy enough with my pre-flop actions. The raise is standard and even though the villain limp-reraised I'm going to call in that situation with a hand like this. I call a smallish bet with TPTK on the flop but should have folded instantly to the shove as the turn brought a third flush card. His shove was for over three-quarters of the pot and that should have told me I was beaten. That was the point at which I should have folded.

7. Lost 19.35ptBB (AKo v AA, K-7-J-4-8)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG+2, the button re-raises to 10.5xBB, I call; I bet just under half-pot on the flop and am bet by a huge raise, almost all-in by the button, I call the rest of my short stack with odds of 3.34:1; the rest of the board blanks out and his overpair takes the pot.

The pre-flop action is fairly standard but when I am re-raised is there a case for shoving? My stack is 36xBB and I need to call 7.5xBB. Obviously the Aces call any shove from me so all I am going to get rid off is hands I am racing such as QQ and JJ or hands I beat like AQ. AA and KK will call every time. On that basis the call is fine but it basically commits me to the pot as it makes a pot of 22.5xBB and I have 28xBB behind. On the flop I could just shove with TPTK. All the money was always going in here but I didn't really give myself any fold equity, not that I really had any with his pocket Aces but that's not the point. There was only one real exit point on this hand and it's the pre-flop re-raise, I could fold there but nowhere else in this hand really. That would have been very tight on a micro-stakes table though. I think I was just destined to lose a big pot here.

Conclusions
It seems I am overvaluing TPTK at several stages. I need to factor in the likelihood of the villain having a set as well as accounting for flush draws and so on. There have been some big bets that I have called with nothing more than top pair and no draw but those bets are from straightforward players who are not playing back at me, they have me beaten and I need to recognise that fact. I also need to make slightly larger pre-flop 3-bets.

AJo
1. Lost 47.45ptBB (AJo v AKo, 2-7-A-9-K)
UTG+1 limps, I raise to 4xBB, the cutoff and UTG+1 call; UTG+1 checks, I make a small bet of under one-third pot, the cutoff puts in a big raise to more than three times my bet, UTG+1 folds, I call; I check the turn and call the cutoff's bet of two-thirds pot; I bet 30% of pot on the river, cutoff raises all-in and I call the extra with 4.64:1 pot odds. His two pair take the pot (although I was never winning that pot).

Raising AJo in middle position is perhaps marginal if I don't have the post-flop skills to pull it off in situations like this one. I thought I did have the skills, to be honest, but perhaps it's time to re-evaluate my play of hands like this pre-flop. Why such a small bet on the flop? Is it a probe bet? I don't really know what it is to be honest but when I am raised that ought to suggest I am beaten. He only called pre-flop though so he could be playing a weaker Ace (that hasn't hit it's kicker) or (less likely) a decent pocket pair that is raising to see if I really have that Ace I am sort of representing. I am losing to four Aces (AK, AQ, A7, A2) and beating eight Aces so with odds of 2.21:1 this call isn't the biggest mistake in the hand. When he bets the turn (after I correctly checked) I can fold. He still thinks he's good and I have top pair with a good kicker, not top kicker. I should believe I am beaten and fold.

2. Lost 20.25ptBB (AJo v A8s, A-3-3-4-5)
Button open-raises to 3.5xBB, I call; I lead put for half-pot on the rainbow flop and get a call; I bet two-thirds pot on the suited turn, he calls; I bet less than one-third pot on the river (a third club), he makes a small raise all-in, I call. His flush takes the pot.

The button's raise could be a steal so calling with AJo out of position is a reasonable play. I wouldn't want to be 3-betting here. I have top pair with a good kicker on the flop and think I am probably ahead so bet out and get a call. I don't put him on a 3 so his range is mostly Aces now. The turn brings a second suited card and completes a potential straight but who'd play 52 that way? I have no reason to feel I am behind so bet out again. If I don't bet the river what happens? He shoves on me for two-thirds pot with a rivered flush (after playing a backdoor draw from the flop with a weaker Ace) but what would I do? Any 2 makes him a straight and two clubs gives him a flush. Can I lay it down here? The pot would be laying me over 2.5:1 so I'd probably call. I can't put him on a 2 here and two clubs doesn't make much sense given his play so far unless he specifically had Ax of clubs (which he did). If I don't bet I'd call his shove so maybe he'd lay it down on the river. I could have checked the river but it doesn't affect the outcome of the hand or the amount lost. I got unlucky with the river card as I was ahead of him till then.

3. Lost 18.60ptBB (AJo v 33, 5-A-3-T-9)
Middle position limps which starts a chain of limpers including me on the button so 5 of us see a flop; the open-limper bets four-fifths pot, I make a small raise, he makes a much bigger raise putting me all-in, I call; I was drawing thin and get no help as his flopped set holds up.

I got it all in with top pair good kicker. That's rarely a good thing to do even in weak games like this. I raised on the flop to see if my Ace was good and got told in no uncertain terms that it wasn't. I should have listened, simple as that really.

4. Lost 11.75ptBB (AJo v ATo v 99, 8-4-J-9-3)
UTG limps, I limp behind, the cutoff limps, SB min-raises, BB calls, all limpers call so 5 of us see a flop; SB bets 15% of pot, I call, cutoff calls; SB checks turn, I bet two-thirds pot, cut-off calls, SB min-raises, I call, cutoff calls; river is checked round, SB wins pot with turned set.

I'm not crazy about that pre-flop limp but it's better than a raise with a weakish Ace in that position. The flop betting is weird! SB makes a tiny bet and with TPTK I need to be raising here, especially with the passive cutoff in the mix. On the turn I make the bet I should have made a street earlier only know the SB has a set and the cutoff has an open-ended straight draw leaving me drawing dead. Calling the min-raise isn't so bad with odds of nearly 5.5:1 and checking the river down is fine but the mistake came on the flop.

5. Lost 11.50ptBB (AJo v KQo, Q-Q-9-J-4)
I open-raise to 3xBB from the cutoff, the button calls; I bet around 40% of pot on the flop as a c-bet, button calls; I bet around 40% of pot on turn, button calls; I check river and button bets half-pot, I call with 3:1 odds. His flopped set takes the pot.

Was that a flop to c-bet on? It's got a high pair on board and is likely to have hit the villain in part at least. If he doesn't have at least a straight draw here I have done well. When he calls I have to check the turn even though I make top two pair as it adds another straight card into the mix. I can then re-evaluate where I stand depending on what he does. On the river I get it right with a check-call but it was a street too late.

6. Lost 11.00ptBB (AJo v AKo, K-2-4-J-A)
UTG+2 I raise to 3xBB, SB calls; flop is checked round; SB bets just over half-pot on turn, I call; he bets pot on river, I call; his bigger two pair take the pot.

I was never winning this one but it was weirdly played out. He tried to slowplay on the flop but I checked behind, fearing that K. I was happy to call a small bet on the turn having paired up as the King may not have helped him either. He could be on a draw or have two pair already though. When the Ace hits I make a big two pair but lose to a bigger two pair. Did his betting actions say AKo to you? They didn't to me. They didn't say QT either which would have made a straight, although looking back over it now that seems more likely than AK in many ways. Was the river call a mistake? I was getting 2:1 with two good pair and no strong evidence he had me beaten so I don't mind that call so much. It's certainly not a massive mistake.

Conclusions
These hands have highlighted one of my biggest errors, my unwillingness to believe strong action means a good hand and not folding enough. At this level they are really not playing back at you and folding is a must it seems. I also need to raise weak bets not passively call them and watch which flops I c-bet.

AQo
1. Lost 28.00ptBB (AQo v AKo, Q-K-T-8-T)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG+1, middle position calls, cutoff raises to 10xBB, I call, middle position calls; I bet one-third pot on the two-suited flop, cutoff shoves over the top to around 4.5 times my bet, I call; turn and river are no help as his bigger pair takes it down.

I have no issues with the pre-flop action and make a feeler bet on the flop to see where I stand. The answer comes back telling me my hand is no good yet I call. The pot odds were under 2.5:1 and I had few outs - a Jack splits the pot with any other Ace, any Ace gives any Jack a straight so I am only drawing to the two remaining queens really. A really poor call. I asked if my hand was good and was told it wasn't but continued in the hand all the same.

2. Lost 20.90ptBB (AQo v K9o, A-K-4-4-K)
I open-raise to 3xBB in SB, BB calls; I bet two-thirds pot with top pair on the flop and BB calls; I bet two-thirds pot on the turn figuring my Ace is still good, he calls; I bet one-third pot on the river and call his shove for another 15xBB getting over 4.5:1 pot odds. His full house takes down the pot.

The action up to the turn is standard and I can't argue with any of it. I don't have him for KK, AK or anything with a 4 in it on the turn and if he has a 4 he'll soon tell me so that bet is fine. The river bet though? He must have been calling me with some part of the board so far and a King has to feature heavily in that range so the bet-call on the river was poor. I could have saved myself a chunk here with a check-fold as his range includes a lot of Kings and far fewer Aces.

3. Lost 19ptBB (AQo v AKs, 8-A-2-4-6)
Cutoff raises to 3.5xBB, I re-raise in the BB to 8xBB and get a call; on the (two-suited) flop I bet two-thirds pot and get a call; turn brings a third suited card and again I bet two-thirds pot, he calls; when the river puts a four-flush on board we both check the river. His bigger kicker wins the pot.

I'm not crazy about that pre-flop 3-bet out of position. It was too small for such a bet. I'd rather not 3-bet at all there now but if I am going to do it then the bets needs be around 12xBB rather than 8xBB. On the flop I have no reason to assume I am beaten so the bet is fair enough. The turn bet, however, is poor. The villain could have been in there with suited cards and hence a flush draw which has just hit and I'm now building the pot for him. I should check and see what he does here, as I did on the river when it got really scary. If he bets either of those streets I should fold. I only have top pair with a good kicker. I am losing to several Aces as well as the flush now, let it go.

4. Lost 17.60ptBB (AQo v AKo, 7-3-A-2-J)
I open-raise to 3xBB in middle position, the cutoff raises to 8xBB, I call; I bet two-thirds pot on the (two-suited) flop, he calls; I shove for a half-pot bet on the turn when a third diamond hits, he calls; river is no help as his bigger kicker takes the pot.

Everything is fine up to the turn again. When the flush card hits I should be checking, not shoving. If he puts me all-in then I have 3:1 pot odds and a decision to make but I have no reason to bet there.

5. Lost 14.60ptBB (AQo v KK, Q-2-3-5-T)
I raise to 3xBB UTG+2, middle-position raises to 10xBB, I shove for 29xBB and he makes the call; his bigger pair takes the pot.

Hmm. I could have called that pre-flop 3-bet and led out on the flop. All the money would have gone in on this hand for sure but the pre-flop shove is dodgy, I don't like it at all.

6. Lost 13.00ptBB (AQo v A8s, T-A-3-9-8)
UTG I raise to 3xBB and get one caller UTG+1; I lead out for two-thirds pot on the rainbow flop, he min-raises, I call; we both check the turn; I bet half-pot on the river, he calls and wins the pot.

Pre-flop betting is fine again, I don't mind AQo UTG even though some wouldn't play it. I hit top pair on the flop so bet out. When I am raised I put him on a decent Ace, TT or a big pocket pair looking to get rid of the Aces which is why I check to him on the turn. When he checks behind I think my kicker is still good on the river so put in a half-pot value bet. I'm unlucky that he has hit his kicker because I didn't play this hand too badly.

7. Lost 12.75ptBB (AQo v ??, A-T-T-K-5)
Button raises to 3.5xBB, I call; I bet out half-pot, he calls on the two-suited flop; I bet half pot again on the turn and again get a call; I bet one-third pot on the river which puts a three-flush on board, he raises to 3 times my bet and I fold despite pot odds in excess of 3.5:1.

I am losing to any Ten, AA, KK, AK, QJ and any two spades on the river. What am I beating that would have gone this far? He called bets on the flop and turn after raising pre-flop. He could have a big Ace here, a flush draw with high cards (eg KQ), a big pocket pair (KK, maybe QQ) and perhaps hands like KT. If he has a Ten without a King or Ace he has to raise the turn, surely? There are two flush draws that could beat his trips so he needs to get the money in now. If he has KT or AT he can wait till the river, perhaps even hoping the flush draw completes as it did in case I am on the draw. I can't see many hands he could have played in this manner that I am now beating so I fold. I could have saved myself that river bet too, I didn't need to make that with the three-flush on board.

8. Lost 12.50ptBB (AQo v ??, 2-4-6-K-7)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG+1, both middle position players call; I c-bet for two-thirds the pot on the flop and get one caller; I bet 60% of pot on turn and get a call;
I check-fold to a half-pot bet on the river.

C-betting works well in this game but I need to have some sort of threat potential on the flop. With a 2-4-6 flop my c-bet has to represent a decent overpair as I am unlikely to have a set here and certainly not a straight with 53. When I get a call I ought to slow down, especially when the K hits on the turn. The caller has told me he has a good hand too and while he could have a set an overpair is certainly a good part of his range with overcards in there too but less likely given my c-bet. My turn bet is too big (I could even have checked here) but I do at least do the right thing on the river. When firing that second barrel on the turn I was leaving myself only the Aces as possible outs and that's too slim for a situation like this.

Conclusions
I need to start listening to the answers to questions asked when making bets. If I am raised then chances are my hand is no good. I am overvaluing my hand pre-flop somewhat and need to stop that. I also need to check more when obvious draws complete and to stop firing too many barrels with nothing.

88
1. Lost 20ptBB (88 v QQ, 3-6-6-7-2)
I raise to 3xBB in the cutoff, BB reraises to 7xBB, I call; he bets two-thirds pot on the flop, I call; he shoves all-in for two-thirds pot on the turn, I call; river is no help. His bigger pocket pair wins the pot.

Nothing out of line in the pre-flop action and with an overpair calling a two-thirds pot on the bet is OK. The call on the turn? Pot odds of 2.5:1 with an overpair and few draws mean I need to be up against an overpair to be significantly behind. Unfortunately that's where I am. I can't fault the play here too much really.

Conclusions
No significant errors identified.

A3o
1. Lost 35.10ptBB (A3o v A6s, A-Q-6-A-T)
UTG+2 limps, cutoff limps, I complete from the SB, BB checks; I lead out for three-quarters of the pot with top pair on the flop, UTG+2 calls, cutoff min-raises and we both call; I bet just under half-pot on the turn with trips, UTG+2 folds, cutoff min-raises, I call; I bet one-third pot on river, cutoff puts me all in, I call. His full house wins the pot.

I haven't put this hand in context with those around it during the session but it smacks of tilt doesn't it? I could easily fold the raggy Ace in a multi-way pot pre-flop, and should really fold it. Leading out on the flop though was daft. When I get a caller and then a raiser I am beaten and it's time to fold. Even if I call the min-raise on the flop with over 5:1 odds I should be checking the turn even if I did hit trips as someone is telling me they have a better Ace than me, and it's not hard for them to have a better kicker. I should be exercising pot control here but instead I go with blind aggression all the way and lose a big pot.

Conclusions
I didn't expect to be analysing rag hands in my biggest losers but this is a big pot lost. I should be folding rag Aces pre-flop and not going all guns blazing when I hit a bit of the flop. Stupid play all round.

TT
1. Lost 32.65ptBB (TT v 99, J-8-7-T-4)
I raise to 3xBB in UTG+1, the cutoff and BB call; BB checks, I bet two-thirds pot on dangerous two-suited flop, only BB calls; turn is checked round, I bet half-pot on river, BB shoves over the top and I call despite odds of less than 2:1. His straight wins the pot.

It was going alright till the river really. I had to bet that flop to see where I was with three to a straight and two to a flush out there. There was only one overcard and I had a gutshot. When I hit trips on the turn it makes anyone with a 9 a straight so in many ways I didn't want to hit my card. Checking behind was the right move here. I should have check-folded the river too unless he made only a small bet in which case I could have chanced a call but calling a big all-in shove was ridiculous. I refused to believe I was beaten despite his bet making it obvious.

2. Lost 16.50ptBB (TT v 87s, J-A-9-T-Q)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG+1, the button is my only caller; I make a small bet of a little over one-third pot on the flop and get a caller; I bet 10xBB (around 70% of the pot) on the turn when I make a set and am raised to 27xBB, I call; both players check the river. His turned straight beats my set.

On the flop there are two overcards and he could reasonably have either, both or a strong draw using those cards so a small bet should give me some idea where I am in the hand. He doesn't raise so I have no real reason to suspect I am in a bad way. When I make a set on the turn and he raises me alarm bells should go off. That card completes a few straights including with KQ which fits his action so far. He could also have two pair though so a bet is sensible. Should I be calling that raise though? I am being offered nearly 3:1 on the call and with no clear sign I am behind I don't see how I can fold now. If he has a straight I have redraws to quads and full houses so I call. We both check the river, me because I am pretty sure I am beaten and the villain because any King now makes a bigger straight. I don't like the way he played suited connectors in that hand but it worked for him. I don't think I make any startling errors though.

3. Lost 16.00ptBB (TT v A7o, 7-2-5-A-4)
The button open-raises to 4xBB, SB calls, I call in BB; I lead out for two-thirds pot with overpair when SB checks, button calls, SB folds; I bet one-third pot on turn, button calls; I bet one-fifth pot on river, button calls. His two pair win the pot.

Personally I don't rate A7o as a good stealing hand here but hey, that's not my hand. I feel I have to lead out on the flop when the SB checks as I have that overpair. As it is I got the button calling with top pair, which is what you want here. He hits his Ace on the turn and at this point I should slow down. I could check the turn and river, folding to any significant bets from the button but he's not done anything other than call post-flop so I don't know he has an Ace. I don't see this as bluffing a calling station as such but I could have lost less on this hand by slowing down on the turn and river when the overcard comes.

4. Lost 10.25ptBB (TT v AKo, 6-A-2-3-Q)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG, middle position calls; I bet two-thirds pot on the two-suited flop, villain min-raises, I call; I check the turn (which completes the flush draw), he bets around one-quarter pot, I call; we both check the river. His Aces win the pot.

When I am raised on the flop (which I probably shouldn't have bet anyway) I have to think I am beaten and am drawing only to the Tens. He makes a small turn bet which gives me 4.67:1 and I have a flush draw still, albeit to a Ten high flush which may not be good anyway but I call all the same. I could have saved a bet on the flop but after that I played well enough.

5. Lost 10ptBB (TT x ??, 4-7-4-A)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG+1 and get one middle position caller; I bet two-thirds pot on two-suited flop, he calls; I make a two-thirds pot bluff at the Ace on the turn, he makes a huge raise over the top and I fold.

I didn't need to make that turn bet. The flop bet was fine but not the turn bluff.

Conclusions
It seems as though I need to fold more when told I am beaten. I've got to stop thinking there's no way he can have and just fold and move on. I also need to stop c-bet bluffing at high card flops/turns too. My opponent is likely to have caught the Ace so stop bluffing into him with hands like TT.

UTG
AKs
1. Lost 19.50ptBB (AKs v 88, 8-A-5-5-K)
I raise to 3xBB UTG, SB calls; SB checks flop, I bet around 60% of pot, SB min-raises, I call; SB checks turn, I bet two-thirds pot, SB min-raises all-in, I call; river gives me me top two pair but SB wins pot with turned full house.

He slow-played it on the flop and turn to trap me and it worked. I'm obviously betting the flop in that situation and I have no reason to believe the turn card helped him so I am going to bet that street too and call the raise when I am getting over 5:1 on the call. I got unlucky here.

2. Lost 18.50ptBB (AKs v A3s, 3-3-8-A-K)
I raise to 3xBB UTG, BB is the only caller; he checks flop, I bet two-thirds pot, he calls; he check-calls my two-thirds pot bet on the turn; BB bets out nearly two-thirds pot on the river, I call; his full house wins the pot.

The river was his first aggression in the whole hand which led me to think the King helped him. It made me top two pair and with odds of 2.73:1 on the call I am making it all day. He slow-played a set which turned into a full house and could have possibly taken me for more in that hand, to be honest. I didn't do much wrong at all.

3. Lost 12.05ptBB (AKs v QQ, K-J-3-5-6)
I raise to 3xBB UTG and get one middle position caller; I bet three-quarters pot on a threatening monochrome flop, villain min-raises all-in, I call getting better than 5:1 on the call; the turn is a blank; the river completes the flush. Villain wins the pot with a flush.

That flop was scary and I could check it but then I may be shoved off a decent hand so I bet out. He makes a small all-in raise which I have to call. At this point I am ahead 56/44 which becomes 75/25 on the turn, it's just unfortunate he catches one of his outs on the river. I didn't do much wrong here either.

Conclusions
I've been unlucky with AKs UTG it seems. I got unlucky in three hands without doing much wrong myself.

AQs
1. Lost 17.75ptBB (AQs v 22, 2-A-T-K-4)
I raise to 3xBB UTG, the button calls; I bet around half-pot with top pair, button calls; I bet two-thirds pot on the turn, villain min-raises, I call; the remaining money goes in on the river representing less than 20% of the pot. Button takes the pot with a flopped set.

I can't see anything wrong with my bets pre-flop or on the flop so let's look to the turn. What is the villain's likely hand range when calling my flop bet? Most likely hands include decent Aces and that's what I have to assume he has. Gutshot straight draws are possible if he started with KQ, KJ, QJ, etc. I have to think my top pair good kicker is still ahead though and bet out. What does his min-raise mean here? I am getting over 9-to-2 on the call and I have outs, including the Jacks (although I may then only be splitting the pot) and the last two Aces. I don't think this is a strong enough bet to get me to lay my hand down so I call. The remaining stacks are so small compared to the bet that the river plays itself really. I put the money in but would have called his small bet anyway with odds in excess of 15-to-2. I can't really fault my play too much here. A smaller bet on the turn would have left more to go in on the river but I still think it would have gone in and I would probably have called.

Conclusions
There are no glaring mistakes in the way I played this hand. The villain flopped bottom set and milked my Ace. It happens.

77 (exceptions to 10ptBB rule)
1. Lost 6.50ptBB (77 v ??, 2-6-T-T)
I raise to 3xBB UTG, UTG+1 min-raises to 5xBB, I call; I bet around one-third pot on flop, he min-raises, I call; I check turn, he bets pot and I fold.

I lost a little more than I needed to here when I bet the flop but that's not a huge mistake at this level. He twice showed strength but only min-raised me. When he made a pot-sized bet on the turn I was obviously beaten and rightly folded.

2. Lost 4.25ptBB (77 v AQs, 5-A-A-K-5)
I raise to 3xBB UTG, BB raises to 8.5xBB all-in, I call; he flops trips and rivers a full house.

My downside in this hand was limited by the BB's short-stack so calling his pre-flop all-in was a fairly easy decision. I'm racing overcards and well behind a bigger pocket pair but will see all five cards. He won the race.

Conclusions
No big errors on these hands.

UTG+1
AKs (exception to 10ptBB rule)
1. Lost 5.00xptBB (AKs v ??, 6-Q-9-9)
I raise to 3xBB UTG+1 and get min-raised by the button, I call; he bets out for half the pot on the flop, I call; he bets one-third the pot on the turn and I fold my overcards.

I have nothing and he's shown strength on three streets now. Time to give up and move on.

Conclusions
Played just fine.

KQs
1. Lost 12.50ptBB (KQs v T9s, K-2-2-5-Q)
I limp UTG+1, the button calls, BB checks; I make a pot-sized bet after BB checks two-suited flop, button calls, BB folds; I bet two-thirds pot on blank turn, button calls; I check river which completes flush draw although makes me top two pair, button bets three-quarters pot, I call. His flush takes down the pot.

He was getting a little over 2:1 on the flop and 2.5:1 on the turn with nothing but a flush draw. He hit a lucky river. That happens too.

Conclusions
I got unlucky against a fish playing a draw badly.

UTG+2
ATo (exception to 10ptBB rule)
1. Lost 7.00ptBB (ATo v ??, J-2-J-Q-A)
I open-raise to 3xBB UTG+2, middle position and SB call; I bet half-pot on flop, middle position calls, SB folds; I bet one-third pot on turn, middle position calls; I check river, he bets just over half-pot, I fold.

The open-raise is suspect. I could so easily fold that hand. Having played it I have no need to bet at that flop which could have hit someone. Ditto the turn, I don't need to bet that either. I fold correctly on the river though.

Conclusions
I overvalued ATo and bet into boards when I had nothing. I need to stop that.

Overall Conclusions
What have I learned from this exercise? How am I going to change my play of these 'big' hands?

- I need to review my pre-flop actions, especially 3-bet sizes and what I call raises/re-raises with
- Stop overvaluing top pair top (or even good) kicker
- Recognise that villains are not that tricky and give their bets more credit regardless of how unlikely the hand they are representing is (they play odd hands don't forget)
- C-bet only flops which are likely to have missed opponent, not high card flops
- Fold to big raises when I don't have good odds to draw
- Check more when obvious draws complete
- Stop firing too many barrels with nothing but overcards
- Bet good hands strongly, make villains pay to draw out

[mathare]

29th March 2010 (part two)
I was hoping to get those hand history reviews posted up last night but it has taken me a lot longer than expected to get through them. I had a lot of hands to replay and analyse though and I wanted to do it all properly so as to get the maximum value from the exercise. I think I have done that now, and learned quite a bit along the way. Between that and the analysis I did yesterday I have identified quite a few ways in which I should change my game.

So where do I go from here?

I have around 35k Rush hands recorded so far. I want to take that to 50k at least and my aim for the next 15k hands is to at least break even. Not a very exciting aim but I want to show that I can turn my game around, learn from my mistakes and start to get back on track. I'm not going to win back 10 buy-ins in 15k hands so my target is not to get back to where I started, it's just to avoid losing over the next 15k hands. If I win a little along the way, all well and good. And if I do lose? Then it's time to revisit whether Rush Poker is the game for me. Simple as that.

So here are my new poker objectives, superseding any I had before:
Log 50,000 Rush Poker hands
Breakeven for next 15,000 hands

Now let's get playing and see if anything I have written and read over the past 24 hours or so has sunk in...

[mathare]

29th March 2010 (part three)
There is an old saying that goes "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". Today I want to introduce a new variation on that old favourite, namely "if you can't beat hold'em, quit". You can probably work out from that how today's session went.

I played close to 2000 hands and ended up down $17.25 or a little over 1.7 buy-ins. Not a great result when I said my plan was to play 15,000 hands and breakeven, eh? I'm really struggling in this game and I don't know why which signifies it's time to take a break and come back fresh at some point in the future. Probably. I may not come back to Rush Poker at all I have to admit. I know this sounds like toys out of the pram but this afternoon would me up. Not tilty wound up, just annoyed. If this were any other system e.g. sports, horse racing etc it would have been on the scrap heap ages back with these results but because it needs me to be a part of it I keep playing. I enjoy playing, except when I have days like today.

33 shoves on my pre-flop and I call with AA rubbing my hands with glee. Till he flops a set.

I have TT calling me down when I have AA and he turns a lucky set even though he was drawing very thin.

In the BB I shoved massively over the top of a button raise and SB re-raise with KK (and I mean massively as the raises were to $0.30, $0.90 and my shove was for over $12 although effective stacks were only around $4), SB calls (as I hoped someone would) with JJ (yes!), I flop a set on a board of A-K-T and he rivers a straight when the queen comes. Come on, that's not fair!

I took a kicking with AK, suited and unsuited, AGAIN! I really hate that hand now. I was playing more pocket pairs and was missing so often it was unbelievable. And I mean way more than I should miss with those hands. I was raising pre-flop with solid starting hands only to have to throw them away to massive re-raises. I don't think I played that badly and PT3 kinda agrees with me but I still had a pretty bad session. I don't like this game any more!

When I come back to the tables (there's no point kidding myself that I won't play again in the future) it is unlikely to be at these tables. I think the fact that one can't get any sort of line on an opponent's play is detrimental to my game so when I come back it'll be to normal cash tables. I have devised a 5k Hand Challenge that I want to play out. It's basically 5,000 hands of micro-stakes no-limit cash (perhaps $0.02/0.05 aka 5NL) and 5,000 hands of small stakes limit hold'em (maybe $0.25/50) to compare how I do in each game. The idea is that I will adopt whichever game I do better in as my cash game of choice and continue to hone my skills at that variant of poker (until I have another strop, of course :)) I'm not really sure 5k hands is enough of a sample so I may extend it to 10k hands but we'll see how things go. Before I start either challenge though I need to do a lot of reading, both from the poker bookshelves behind me and of the 2+2 forums. I will learn to beat this stupid game!

[mathare]

30th April 2010
Sad as this may seem, I'm pretty proud of myself. I said I needed a break from the game and I have managed it. In fact I have been off the tables for a little over a month now and as I am going on holiday next week I should easily be able to extend that break till well into May too, by which time I hope to be in a much better frame of mind to play poker.

The break has certainly helped clear my mind of all the bad experiences I have had at the poker tables. I don't think of myself as a tilty player because I don't obviously steam, I don't get stroppy with others and I don't display any of the anger or other emotions I traditionally associate with tilt. But does that mean I have excellent tilt control? Or do I just tilt in a different way to others? Is mine more of a passive tilt than an aggressive one? Do I misplay hands too passively and miss opportunities that way rather than the traditional view of tilters as incredibly loose and aggressive? I don't really know but I am sure it would benefit me to keep a more level head when I do play cards.

I plan to get back to the tables sometime in May and when I do come back I hope it will be back with a vengeance. I have plans that will hopefully ease some of the pressure on me away from the poker tables and allow me to concentrate on my game more. OK, I have yet to put these plans into action properly but I am getting there. Having a plan is better than not having one, that's for sure.

As part of the break I have steered away from the poker literature too, partly so I wasn't tempted to return to the felt before I was truly ready. But I have been reading Poker Player each month still and something in this month's issue made me think about what I want to do when I do start playing again. As I said in my last entry I had been mulling over a 5k Hand Challenge. That's still part of the plan but I want to start with limit hold'em, a game that is much simpler than the no-limit form. I contemplated coming back to play SnGs rather than cash but I now feel cash is the right game for me for several reasons which I won't go into here. I have been reading advice from cash game players this month and there is a definite trend to what I have been reading, a common theme: you need to put in the hours, both to make the money and to improve your skills. When I play I need to play as much as I can. I'd like to play a minimum number of hands per week or per month and make that number pretty respectable. I dunno what exactly, maybe at least 25,000 hands a month or something like that. I should be able to play at least 4 full-ring tables at once so around 250 hands per hour which means I'm looking at around 100 hours of play a month. Hmm, might be possible.

What I'd be trying to achieve here is not huge profits but to find my feet in the game once more, re-learn the nuances of limit poker and to exploit leaks I find in my opponents' game. I'm on a rakeback deal at Full Tilt so making a profit at the tables isn't the primary concern in some respects. I'd like to breakeven at the very worst. Not much of an ambition I know but I am trying to be sensible and set myself targets I think I can hit before trying to stretch myself. I know how important confidence is to my game so I feel it is important for me to feel like I am taking steps in the right direction and to grow my game steadily alongside my bankroll.

There are profits to be made at limit poker. I have made them before and I can make them again by rediscovering the solid game I used to play. I think it is a vital step in my development as a poker player to build up cash and confidence from limit poker before attempting no-limit cash again, even at micro-stakes. I want the experience of various situations under my belt and burned into my brain before I tackle no-limit cash games again.

So there you have it. A plan is forming for my return to the tables next month and I am looking forward to it. There is still quite a lot for me to do before then and I don't want to rush my return so I need to make sure I have completed all the other projects I want out the way before I hit the felt. On the other hand I have a bonus at Full Tilt that will go to waste if I don't get back before mid-June or so. I just need to make sure my head is in the right place when I do sit at the virtual felt once more though, and that's perhaps the biggest challenge I will face for a long time.

[mathare]

21st May 2010
Yesterday I broke a promise I made to myself some time ago - I sat at the online poker tables before I had completed the various non-poker projects I am working on. But I did so with good reason, partly - I felt like it. Well, that's true but the main reason is that I realised that I only have three weeks left on my initial deposit bonus at Full Tilt so unless I get playing and racking up the loyalty points I am going to miss out on another $90 worth of bonus and I don't like doing that.

It was straight back to business yesterday with 4 tables of fixed limit $0.25/0.50 hold'em. It's a different game to what I am now used to after all that Rush Poker so there is some re-learning of hand values and the proper way to play to be done but accounting for the bonus dollars I earned yesterday I broke even (more or less) in a short session of an hour or so. The important thing is that by the end of it I felt like I was really getting back into the swing of it which bodes well for the future. In fact I reckon I could easily step up the number of tables to at least 6 on the go at once and still be able to play my normal game.

One thing I do need to work on is my post-flop play though. Pre-flop it's an easy game but post-flop I am never quite sure when to press on with a hand, especially one that has missed the board, and when to just cut my losses and give up. I'm working on that though.

[mathare]

24th May 2010
I have a big problem - I really don't think I will be able to stick to my current plan. I had an hour and a bit at the tables this afternoon and based on that there is no way I can do what I intended and go back to playing limit hold'em cash games. I had up to six tables on the go, comfortably too, but found it rather dull. Yes, low stakes so the money doesn't mean anything which doesn't help things either but I usually try to treat money in poker as numbers rather than hard currency. I want the numbers to increase rather than thinking in terms of how much (or how little) I am making when playing. But it was all so slow and dull that I may find myself back at the Rush Poker tables trying to remember why I gave them up in the first place.

If only I could find a form of poker I enjoy playing day in day out so that I could hone my skills and start to make some money playing it

[mathare]

26th May 2010
It's still very early days but perhaps Rush Poker is indeed the format of the game that I ought to be concentrating on. I have played a few sessions over the last couple of days and it's been going OK. I'm not racking up big profits but I doing enough to bring in a couple of bucks (but no more, really) here and there so that's progress. Anyway, one doesn't really expect to make much playing $0.05/0.10 tables! But for me it's not about the money per se. It's about learning the game, becoming a better NLHE cash game player and learning to be comfortable with pots that are 10s of BBs and the bankroll swings they bring. It just so happens too that Rush Poker is the format of the game that fits my lifestyle and circumstances best, allowing as it does hit and run poker to be played in short sessions.

Not that I have been playing particularly short sessions that past couple of days. I have been playing for a couple of hours at a time, across two Rush tables, as I look to knock off the rest of that bonus. After today's session I have unlocked a total of $194.04 out of $250 so I still have another $55.96 to go, and at $0.06 per FTP that equates to 932.67 loyalty points. The past couple of days I have been trying to get 100 points off that total in each session, which just happens to have roughly equated to 1500 hands so to unlock the rest of that bonus I'm looking at around another 14,000 hands and I know have around 3 weeks to fit those hands in before the bonus offer lapses. I should be able to do it in around half that time but it's nice to have a bit of slack.

Poker would be pretty boring if all I was doing was trying to unlock the rest of my bonus. I am also trying to make sure that throughout each hand I make as many correct decisions as possible. That is I am trying to play the best poker I can. Sounds like an obvious thing to do doesn't it? And it is, but it's amazing how often I play way below my A game. I hope that through sessions such as those I have been playing I will reinforce good behaviour and proper play in my brain and it will start to become almost second nature. That's the theory anyway. That's why I don't mind whether or not I make a profit on each individual session. Yes, I am unlocking chunks of the bonus so am effectively making money anyway by playing but for me the important thing is how I played rather than how much I made.

OK, so I haven't had any big losing hands or bad beats yet but at this time I feel better prepared for such eventualities and less likely to throw my toys out the pram and switch games as I would have done before. I really want to make a go of this game, to get better at it, start making a profit and to eventually step up the stakes.

That's the plan but it remains to be seen how long I will stick to it, especially given my previous record at sticking to poker plans!