mathare's Poker Diary

[mathare]

26th July 2009
I have been plugging away at the double or nothings on PokerStars as time always (which has been this afternoon and yesterday afternoon really) and am now nearly halfway through the challenge with 24 tournaments played. I can't say I am enjoying them a great deal though. Sometimes the bubble just takes so damn long to burst and it's frustrating as it's not poker as it should be played. Strategy says one should be folding hands that could be played (pushed) as there is no need to build a stack beyond what what see one through to the final five and the money. I had one the other day where there were 3 short stacks when the bubble came and it took way too long to burst. And when it did it was me out in 6th! I was taking on the shorties when I thought I had the best of it but they all seemed to have luck on their side, either splitting or winning pots when they were all-in. Very frustrating. And in another event I got my AA annoyingly cracked by A7s after getting all the money in pre-flop on one of the early levels.

I'm not getting the results I would have hoped for from these tourneys for some reason. I am cashing in 50% of them which is obviously a losing ratio when the rake is accounted for. Played 24, cashed in 12 so a loss of $9.60 overall which equates to a ROI of -7.41%.

[mathare]

29th July 2009
I haven't been at the tables the past couple of nights as I have been planning a holiday instead. Me and the missus seem to spend ages sorting out a holiday these days. A few years ago we'd just walk into a travel agents, give them a rough outline of what we wanted and accept pretty much anything that fell in the right price bracket but these days it's evenings spent mapping where hotels are using Google maps, reading extensive reviews on Expedia and Trip Advisor and so on.

Even though I haven't been playing poker I have been reading more about the game, as I tend to do a lot. I broke off from reading Moshmann's Sit 'n Go Strategy book that I started re-reading a few nights back and read the latest issue of PokerPlayer magazine when that plopped through my door. And in it was a £50 to £500 (or was it $50 to $500? not that it makes a difference really) bankroll challenge. They outline how to achieve this using cash games, MTTs or STTs and it got me thinking again about low stakes no limit cash games. If I can play decent no limit hold'em in tourneys then why can't I dominate some of the micro stakes cash games and make a few quid that way. I don't expect to make a fortune that way, obviously, but I should be able to grind out a bit of a profit playing down with the fishes. So maybe that ought to be my next challenge - 50 hours of micro stakes NLHE cash games to see how I fare.

I also keep reading articles on Omaha in magazines like PokerPlayer and Inside Poker but I haven't really played any Omaha. To be honest I'm a little scared (OK, maybe nervous rather than scared) to get into it as I won't be able to use PokerTracker. I use it to track my win rates as much as (or even more than) I do to get a line on how my opponents play. I know I can use spreadsheets to do the same job but then I don't have hand replayers etc. I don't use PT to anything like it's full capacity but I am nervous about playing without it. I'm not sure that's a good state to be in.

[mathare]

29th July 2009
I finally made it back to the tables this evening and cranked out another six of the double or nothing tourneys on PokerStars. And remarkably I made a profit too. All too often I seem to have a session where I cash in half the events I play and miss out in the others. Tonight I went out in 10th in one, bubbled in 6th in another and cashed in the remainder for a profit of $7.60 taking my overall profit/loss figure up to a loss of -$2.00. I haven't worked out my ROI and ITM as I am still waiting for the tourney summaries from PokerStars in order to be able to update PokerTracker properly

[mathare]

30th July 2009
Another good day - maybe I am finally getting back into the swing of the double or nothing events. Played seven more this evening and cashed in five of them, a much better ratio than I have been achieving in the past. And I played well too. I got lucky in one - I reraised someone I thought was on a suspicious steal only for him to call me and flip KK to my 65o. Whoops! I then hit two pair on the flip and won the hand. Nice. This karma was balanced later on by someone getting very lucky on the river to bust me in 6th. Grrr.

With 37 of the 50 tournaments played I have made a profit of $10.20 for a ROI of 5.11%, which is a little low but better than it has been. My ITM is 56.76% which I would like to improve on but again, it's better than it has been to date so I can't complain too much.

[mathare]

1st August 2009
I continue to edge towards the end of the double or nothing challenge and it's going better than it did at the start. I have now played 44 out of the 50 events and made the money in 59.09% of them (26 out of 44). That leaves me in profit to the tune of $22.40 which is a ROI of 9.43%. The figures are starting to look OK now.

I made one mistake today though - I accidentally signed up for a $10+0.80 tourney after tinkering with my filters to check what other types of table PokerStars offered and I didn't spot it till too late. It had to be now that I get a terrible run of cards and luck too. I had a full house beaten by quads but fortunately got away from it fairly cheaply mainly due to the passive nature of the guy with quads. I also had two pair beaten by trips twice, the second one eliminating me. I was short stacked so it wasn't totally unexpected but I was looking good right till he hit a two outer on the river. Gah! Obviously this one doesn't count towards the 50 event challenge as it's at the wrong stakes.

I have been thinking about what to do next. I fancy some more heads-up action even though I was barely breakeven at this before. Maybe practice makes perfect. I haven;t decided what stakes to play or where yet but the same stakes ($2) and site (Bet365) as before seems quite likely. Another 50 of those and then who knows. Maybe rather than the 50 hours of NLHE cash I mentioned before I will set a target of x thousand hands instead. At 60 hands an hour 50 hours would be 3000 hands. But playing several tables at once can easily get me up to 100 hands an hour so maybe I should be looking to play 5000 hands of micro stakes NLHE cash at 'Stars.

[mathare]

9th August 2009
It has certainly take a little while longer than expected - mainly due to illness this week - but I have finally completed the double or nothing STT challenge with the final 6 tables being played this afternoon. Nothing much to report on those games - it was just standard poker really. I cashed in two and lost four though which means I end the challenge with stats of 28 cashes (56.00% ITM) resulting in a profit of $10.00 (ROI of 3.70%).

Now it's back to the $2+0.10 heads up matches on Bet365 for another 50 tables as I need to feed my action side. I would play them at PokerStars but the rake at that level is 10% rather than 5%. I could increase my stakes to get a lower rake level at 'Stars but as I am not sure I am that good at heads up yet it's best to keep the stakes small for now.

[mathare]

9th August 2009 (part 2)
What's the word I'm looking for? I think the cool kids today would use pwned so let's go with that.

So far this evening I have played 10 $2 heads up matches on Bet365 and won only 1 of them :( I have been struggling since the very first hand to have any sort of dominance and was getting beaten left, right and centre. Getting AA cracked by K4o, AK beaten by A3o etc doesn't help either. Whatever the reasons, I'm not getting the results and because of that it's time to bail out of this challenge for now - put it on hold perhaps - and start something new. But what?

I did say I wanted to get into micro stakes NLHE cash and get a few thousand hands of that in but now's not the time for that. I will have much more time for that in a week or so (when I am out of work) so for now I will stick to STTs. I think it's best to go back to something I can make money from - normal STTs so it's over to them on PokerStars I reckon. Multi-tabling (naturally) at the $10 level should suit me for a while. Let's get another 50 of them in the bank shall we?

[mathare]

9th August 2009 (part three)
I don't think I should have been playing poker today - I'm obviously not in the right frame of mind for it. The games are happening and I am sat at the tables but I'm not playing. It's like watching someone else play - badly! I'm making all the right moves pre-flop but miss a flop and I'm done. It's as if I am scared to c-bet and do what I know I should be doing when I am the pre-flop aggressor. Like I say, it's as though it's not me playing and I'm watching someone else play but with my bankroll.

You can guess from that how the STTs on 'Stars are going...

[mathare]

10th August 2009
Last night while I was trying (and failing) to get to sleep I was thinking about why I was playing so poorly and I reckon it could be linked to my second monitor. I had the tables up on my main monitor and a web browser and assorted other bits open on the second screen. I wasn't focusing on the poker was I? I have seen this in my play before and it costs me money every time. I will hopefully get a chance to play more this evening and when I do I will switch the second monitor off.

[mathare]

11th August 2009
I booked a holiday (10 days in Malta in September) rather than play poker last night but I made up for it with a decent session tonight. I was playing 3-4 tables at once, all staggered by at least half a level if not a full level (10 minutes) and it got a bit hectic when I was heads up on one, in the the final 3 on another and down to 5 on a third. My PC was beeping all over the place as tables demanded my attention but I coped.

Seven tournaments played last night which on top of those played Sunday night makes 10 at this level on PokerStars. I have had 2 x 7th, 4 x 6th, 1 x 5th, 1 x 3rd and 2 x 1st, the three cashes coming tonight, obviously. I played well heads up to win both of those. In some of the others I got starts through quite early double ups with big pocket paisr but then couldn't see it through. I'd either get a good hand cracked on the river or lose a race when calling a short stack when it got to the stage where someone had to play pushbot. And with my stack crippled in each case I tried to fight but then you need luck and I had used all mine up. And those 6th place finishes are odd - I don't know why I am getting so many of them.

Anyway, 10 played and three cashes for a slight loss of $2 overall. I did at least show some glimmers of talent again this evening so perhaps I can make this pay after all.

[mathare]

13th August 2009
I've had a bit of spare time recently so I have managed to play quite a few more STTs on PokerStars - 16 more of them in fact. And it's gone pretty well. I had cashed in three of the first 10 and have cashed in 6 of the last 16 so a better ITM rate. And what's more the finishes have been weighted in favour of the higher places - in fact my cashes are 5 x 1st, 3 x 2nd and 1 x 3rd overall which I am pleased with. They give me a profit of $38 for the 26 tourneys played at PokerStars, a ROI of 13.29% which is ever so slightly down on my previous ROI of 14.55% for the 50 tourneys played at Empire. That only equates to a difference of a dollar or two though so no biggie.

I have been thinking a bit more about the future and where I go when I have played these 50 STTs at 'Stars. In a week's time I will be out of work and will thus have a lot more spare time. I reckon by multi-tabling (4 at once) and staggering the start times I should be able to play around 20 STTs on an average full-time day so I have set myself a target of 100 per week. Keep up a ROI of around 14% and that equates to a profit of just over $150 a week, not exactly a living but certainly a bankroll builder. I can then start to take shots at the $20 tourneys and hopefully start bringing in over $200 a week.

But what if I get bored of STTs? Bear in mind I get bored and like a new challenge quite often. I keep mentioning NLHE cash and my desire to finally crack it but if I look at where my poker profits come from there are two sources: NLHE STTs and limit hold'em cash games. So despite a poor recent run last time I played limit hold'em maybe I should be back on the cash tables for a break sometime. It takes some mental effort to switch between limit and no-limit so I ought to play a few hours on a lower stakes table than I wish to play my main games on to get me back into the swing of it and then grind away the hours at the limit tables and try to make some cash that way. Let's say I make one big bet an hour at each of 4 tables (I should be in this sort of ballpark) and that I will play $1/$2 as I was before. $8 an hour so I should be able to make a couple of hundred bucks a week that way and build a bankroll via cash games. I think PokerTracker has more uses in cash games too as the blinds don't change and any read you get on a player should apply regardless of how long we've been at the table together. They won't have loosened up just because the blinds have made everyone short-stacked is what I'm saying.

Anyway, let's see how things pan out between now and then. As I have said in the past I am a confidence player and at the minute things are going well with the STTs so the cash games are very much a plan B but it's good to have a plan B at least.

[mathare]

15th August 2009
I have plans this evening that will take me away from the computer and thus the online poker tables so I spent a large chunk of this morning and afternoon playing $10+1 STTs to keep things ticking over. I got through another 15 of them but only made a slight profit of $6. All too often I was the bridesmaid when it came to heads up. I was usually around 2:1 down in chips or worse and had been a little lucky to get that far but I always made a good fight of it. Sometimes I got lucky and still lost, at other times I got really unlucky but that's poker. I did manage one win this afternoon though, that along with four 2nd places and a third. I didn't cash in the rest - I did bust out in 6th four more times though. I think 6th is usually about the point where the blinds are such that someone needs to start shoving and that someone is often me if I haven't hit a decent hand before this point. Either that or I have a big enough stack and a strong enough hand to take a shot at busting out a short stack, lose and then get forced into pushbot mode. That seems to be how these things play out. Live and learn though. I certainly feel like I am picking up valuable experience every time I play too, which is good.

So another $6 today takes my profit on these STTs on 'Stars to $44 (ROI of 9.76%, ITM of 36.59%) and to $124 overall (ROI of 12.39%, ITM of 37.36%). I have 9 more to play on PokerStars to complete this challenge but I expect I will just start right over again and try to get a lot more of these events under my belt. I am working off two deposit bonuses on PokerStars too so I need to keep playing there, and I am happy to do so. The stats don't really mean too much until I have a few hundred STTs played and I am still only nearing 100 so there is a long way to go yet.

[mathare]

16th August 2009
Today was a pretty average day - 9 events played for a profit of $9. I had 1 x 1st, 1 x 2nd and 2 x 3rd plus a couple of bubbles but remarkably no 6th place finish! I enjoyed it though, I like these events.

With that done it is challenge completed - 50 normal STTs played on PokerStars now for a total profit of $53. That's a bit lower than I had hoped for as it's a ROI of 9.64% and I would like to keep that consistently above 10%, preferably up around 15% but we are dealing with a small sample here. Had some of those heads up encounters gone the other way yesterday the tale would be quite different. The final stats for these 50 events are 7 x 1st, 8 x 2nd and 4 x 3rd for an ITM of 38.00%. In total, for all STTs the important figures are $133 profit (ROI of 12.09%) and an ITM of 38.00% so that at least is consistent, cashing in 19 out of 50 each time.

I am particularly please that I set myself a target and I have now met it. The tricky bit now though is to set another suitable target. More STTs or limit cash games? I think the latter is the quicker route to getting these deposit bonuses via loyalty points, and probably to a higher VIP level too. But is it the most profitable route? I would be buying in for $50 on each $1/2 table I play and was planning to play 4 at a time which means putting around half my PokerStars bankroll in action at any one time. Just because it is on the tables doesn't mean I will lose it but it's not great bankroll management is it? That said, I have around 200 big blinds in my roll so it's perhaps not that bad. And I will play some $0.50/1 to start off with just to get back into the swing of it having been playing NLHE tourneys as the games are quite different, especially when it comes to the mindset with which one must approach the game. I'll have a think over tea and see how I feel later...

[mathare]

16th August 2009 (part two)
I decided as I was in the STT groove I should continue in it so I played 8 more this evening with mixed results. I busted out in 7th in the first two, followed that up with a 5th and then a 4th before I actually recorded a decent result. A finish on each step of the podium followed with another 7th mixed in to leave me just $2 in profit this evening. I think I played quite well, on the whole, but there were times when I was dominating the villain's hand but was being drawn out on. Sure, I had some luck along the way but I also had it go against me. I made some dodgy decisions in places so I didn't play to the best of my ability but I played pretty well overall. That 3rd place should have been at least 2nd but I was getting tired, shoved on the first or second hand when it was down to 3 players and didn't expect the equally-stacked BB to call but he did, and beat me. Ho hum.

This evening dropped my overall ROI further to 11.36%, a drop of over 3 points from the other day so I need to try and arrest that slide. My ITM hasn't changed much though, it's 37.96%.

[mathare]

17th August 2009
A bit of a setback this evening, in more ways than one. I didn't get as many tourneys in as I had hoped for - I only managed to play 5 when I was looking to play at least 8. I started playing later than expected and because the first few ran slowly I soon got up to 4 tables and stayed there for a while without busting out (or winning) and having the opportunity to fire up many more tables before it got too late to really bother. I need to allow at least an hour to play out the final table and I was starting to feel really hot and tired so when I did have a table space free I didn't feel like playing for another hour.

Five seems to be the number tonight. I played five events and finished 5th in three of them. All of them were starts that should have resulted in cashes, or at least bust outs on the bubble fighting to build a stack but unfortunately it wasn't to be this evening. The other finishes were an 8th and a win, my only cash of the evening. So I lost $10 on the session, my first losing session for a while. Again, I played pretty well though so I shouldn't complain.

One thing I have been thinking about is increasing my multi-table ratio. At present I start a new table around 10 minutes after the previous table until I have four running and then each time I bust out of one STT I start another to keep 4 tables running at all times, until such time as I am approaching the end of the planned session in which case I don't start new games and just complete the ones I am still playing. As I said above I try to allow an hour between starting the last table and the planned end of the session. So I ramp up my session and then wind it down steadily towards the end. I don't plan to change how I manage the end of a session, after all I can't speed these events up any - they take about an hour to play and I don't want to have too many tables running late in the session as I start to get tired and then I know I won't be playing at my best. So if I want to make any changes to the number of tables played in a session it has to be at the start of a session. Maybe I should be firing them up quicker rather than having a 10 minute gap between each. I have been using 10 minutes as that's 1 level and it means I have each table on a different level (most of the time) and thus at different stages of the game. It doesn't always work as smoothly as it might though. But PokerStars does have a very generous clock allowing plenty of time to take one's action on each hand so I could drop down to 5 minute gaps between events at the start of a session and see how I get on. That gets me up and running at 4 tables much quicker. It won't make a huge difference to my multi-table ratio but every little helps.

[mathare]

18th August 2009
A much better session this evening with 8 STTs played (which is the number I would like to play each evening session, ideally) and a profit of $29 recorded thanks to a win, two second places and a third.

Again I was pleased with the way I was playing. I felt like my instincts were good although in my first event I did lay down AKo and JJ to 3-bets in consecutive hands. With the blinds at 15/30 I raised to 90 in early position and in each hand a late-middler 3-bet to 300. Both hands played out the same way but with different players. And in each case I thought about it then folded. They were good hands but how did they stand up against a 3-bet range for players I knew almost nothing about - not so good. It wasn't worth risking the chips at that stage of the tourney. All too often I see a plyer bust out in the first couple of levels - I have taken a few out myself when they overplay AQ or QQ and run into my bigger hands, usually Aces. I have stacked several like that recently setting me up for a nice finish later as I already have a decent stack and can use it while still playing my normal tight game.

Tonight was also a good night for one of my favourite moves for the mid-late stages of a single table tournament - the re-steal. I didn't used to use it that much but after reading several articles on it I have decided to have a go and it's a great weapon to have at the tables. When the game is short-handed and the blinds are such that at least a few players are short-stacked you can tell who is stealing pretty easily and reliably. Then it's just a case of knowing your opponent and whether he is likely to fold to a 3-bet, having some sort of a hand just in case you get called, a suitable stack to make the re-steal threatening enough to the villain's stack and perhaps the most important ingredient of all - balls!

Anyway, things are going along nicely. I am in profit to the tune of $154 from the 121 STTs I have played at this level (71 on Stars and 50 on Empire) which equates to a ROI of 11.57% so that's heading back in the right direction. My ITM is up a touch to 38.02% and staying pretty stable now so perhaps that is the sort of figure I can expect that to level out to long-term. I'd take that, but I'd like to up that ROI a little still.

[crazybadger]

I know you probably write this more for yourself than for others but I enjoy reading it. Poker is something I really enjoy and would love to get into but I've had so many other gambling projects on the go that I had to stop playing about 6 months ago. I'm hoping to get back into it soon with a proper bankroll and strategy and spend some time learning how I play best. This "blog" is helping keep me interested that's for sure :D

[mathare]

I know you probably write this more for yourself than for others but I enjoy reading it. This "blog" is helping keep me interested that's for sure :D

You're glad that this is very useful for me to write, and I enjoy doing so. I try to make sure I add some sort of update after each session if I can. It helps me enormously to just take a few minutes to reflect on how I played and how I felt at the tables. I can then see how things are changing with time.

I have thought about turning this into a proper blog somewhere with more details for each session, including discussions of some of the key hands but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Maybe in the future. Glad to hear you enjoy reading it though CB - because of that I will try to keep it interesting and informative for you.

And good luck if you do get back in to the game soon

[mathare]

19th August 2009
This evening really didn't go to plan and I have no-one to blame but myself.

It was gone 8.30 when I finally sat down at the PC with some time to spare and shortly beforehand I was wondering whether or not I was in the right frame of mind for poker. I had half thought I didn't fancy it but by the time I got on the PC I had banished those thoughts. After all, poker is what I do so if I don't play cards then how will I spend my evening? There's nowt on TV I want to watch either. So obviously I played poker. Badly.

My heart and mind just weren't in it today. I played sloppily and missed several positional opportunities and generally weak. I was calling hands I would normally raise with. I got dealt one of my least favourite hands (AJ) a lot too, as though the poker gods knew I wasn't playing well and were taunting me.

Sure, in one event I got unlucky when I made the nut flush (with AJs as it happens) and got it all in only for the villain to show me a flopped full house. Bah! All part of the game I suppose, and perhaps it was for the best given the way I played. There were moments of sparkling play with some decent short-stack play plus some good early work to build respectable stacks in pretty much all the STTs I played but ultimately it all resulted in just one cash, a second place that should probably have been a win had heads up not been a combination of me facing the luckiest swine at the table and me playing badly against him. He always seemed to have a piece of the board by the river but I was still raising pre-flop and betting out on boards I had missed but had overcards to. He'd make bottom pair or something though and take it down at showdown.

So 5 played tonight with just one second place to show for it. I realised when I had fired up the 5th table (to bring me back up to 4 at once) after busting out with that nut flush v full house that my mind was fully in this tonight and I should stop there so at least I made one vaguely sensible decision tonight. But pretty muich everything I won last night was given back tonight as I lost $28.

I should know better by now...

[mathare]

19th August 2009 (part two)
I had a speck of an idea that might eventually form a proper plan so while I am waiting for the last tourney I entered to finally finish (I busted out ages ago but want the full results for my database) I started to think a little more about this idea. Where am I going with this poker lark over the next few days/weeks?

The first milestone is to unlock my first deposit bonus, which I will do in 3 STTs time. That's another $50 for the bankroll there.

The next step is to reach a total of 150 STTs played, so the 50 I played on Empire and another 100 on PokerStars. I'm on 126 at the minute so another 24 in total. I plan to watch a lot of cricket this weekend but even so I expect to reach this target early next week.

Then it's over to the $0.50/$1 limit tables for a change of pace and to remind myself how much I like this form of the game. I used to be pretty good and do quite well before I started to slump and gave up the game for no-limit tourneys so let's bring back those glory days. I'll start at this level to make sure I can play 4 tables at once - which is my desired level of multi-tabling - and to remind myself of some of the nuances of the game. Once I am confident I know what I am doing again it's up a level to the $1/$2 tables I usually play.

It's a start of a plan at least - let's see how it goes.

[mathare]

21st August 2009
Despite not feeling zoned in again (hence only playing four tables, well that and the late start to the evening) I had a good session. Four STTs played and three cashes. I was kinda giving up on the last two a bit and settled for 3rd place in each of them when I could probably have got at least one second place out of them but I was tired and my mind was elsewhere so best take what I could really. The other cash was a win to give me a profit of $37 from the four tourneys played tonight - I'd take that win rate every day!

Those four events tonight also meant I met my first milestone on my plan - my deposit bonus has been unlocked and $50 has been credited to my account. It's free money so I'll always be happy to take that. I have started on the second bonus now but so far I have worked off only 6 of the 2061pts I need to claim it. Fortunately I have till February 2010 to earn that one.

Today's session brings me to a total of 130 $10+1 STTs played for a profit of $163 or a ROI of 11.40%. I have recorded 17 x 1st, 19 x 2nd and 14 x 3rd for an ITM of 38.46%. I am happier with my ITM than I am my ROI I must confess. I'd like that ROI to be a couple of points higher, which means either upping the ITM or increasing the number of times I win rather than finishing second or third. Not that 11.40% ROI is bad but I think it could be better, that's all.

20 more STTs at this level and that's my second milestone met. Then it's on to the cash tables and off towards a double milestone as releasing the next deposit bonus will also get me enough reward points for the PokerStars trackie top I really like the look off.

[mathare]

24th August 2009
A really horrible afternoon today - my first really as what can loose be termed a pro (I now have no other source of income). I played a good number of STTs - 15 in fact - but things didn't go at all well for me. I got two second places and that was it in terms of cashes. Two from 15 - that's dreadful!

I didn't play my A game today, I admit that much, but I didn't play 'two cashes from 15' badly by any means. I was card dead for long spells and when I did catch a hand it would go awry on the flop mostly, or if I made it that far I'd drown in the river. Things really weren't running my way at all today. I don't feel as though I could get a hand to stand up (although I haven't analysed all the events to see how true that actually is, and probably won't).

Time for a break now but I'll be back for an evening session later. I will not be beaten by this game!

[mathare]

24th August 2009 (part two)
The evening didn't get much better. A second and a third from the last five STTs I wanted to get out the way to take me up to 150 played. Again I wasn't on best form but I was playing well enough I thought. I got unlucky heads up and that second should have been a win and the extra $18 that goes with it. One of those days though. My big starting hands weren't connecting with flops and I was being beaten post-flop so after some reasonable pre-flop action I was being forced to let hands go. I curse this game at times.

Weirdly enough there was a supernova in two of my tourneys today too (the same player each time). Why is a supernova playing $10 sit-n-gos? Like I said, weird.

Anyway, that's the 150 milestone reached. I'm waiting for the summaries of tonight's games from PokerStars still so I can't give fully up-to-date figures on how it has all gone just yet. Needless to say though that today was a serious downswing. I don't want to let it beat me though - I will be back to the no-limit STTs but I want a change of pace and I had planned to go to the cash tables for a break and that is what I will do, starting tomorrow. I hope for a better session than I had today...

[mathare]

25th August 2009
I finally have those PokerStars results and my database is up to date so let's have a look shall we.

150 $10+$1 STTs played for a final profit of just $42 (a ROI of 2.55%). After 50 events my profit was $80, after 100 the profit was $133 so these last 50 events have been expensive. Indeed the graphs shows a very obvious downswing. But was I playing poorly? I wasn't playing my best as I have admitted several times now but I wasn't playing awfully either - not so bad to justify the results I experienced yesterday I don't think. Anyway, I have 17 x 1st, 22 x 2nd and 15 x 3rd for an ITM of 36.00%, down 2 whole points on what it was after 50 and 100 events.

I now have a +ve BB/hand from every position other than the blinds though - I was negative from 4 off the button for some time but have addressed that.

In terms of starting hands and BB/hand my biggest losers are some of the suited Aces. My biggest loser on this measure is AKs - it just wouldn't hold up at all yesterday. Also in there is ATs, AQs, KQo and KTo, although less so for the Kx hands. There are some desperation shove hands in the list too as one would expect - hands like 98o, JTs and so on. When it gets short-handed or one gets short-stacked these become playable under the right conditions but they often need to hit to win if you get called.

Out of interest - biggest winning hands in terms of BB/hand? KK, AA, QQ, TT, 77, JJ, 99, KTs, QTs and A9s make up the top ten with KK and AA streets ahead of any of the other hands. A bit lower down we have AKo, AJs, AJo and AQo so it's not all bad for the big Aces I guess.

But let's put all that behind us for a while and concentrate on the limit hold'em cash tables. I have been re-reading Phil Hellmuth's 'Play Poker Like The Pros', especially the limit hold'em strategies. Oh dear! Position isn't taken into account and you can tell this was one of the early poker books to hit the market as it's pretty poorly written. Lots of examples crafted to a very specific situation that wouldn't arise all that often at all, and lots of reliance on reads. I am glad I have re-read it but I doubt I'll be taking much of it on board over the coming sessions.

And with that let's get started shall we?

[mathare]

25th August 2009 (part two)
A tricky start to limit cash game play this morning. I managed to get up to four tables quite comfortably but there are still some nuances to the game I need to pick up again after I dropped just under $20 across those tables in not much over 2 hours. I have played this form of the game a lot in the past so I just need to find my form once more and play the game how I know I can play it. I need to focus more on pot odds than I have done recently as I can't rely on implied odds.

Let's have another go this afternoon and hope for better...

[mathare]

25th August 2009 (part three)
What was I hoping for this afternoon? Better. What did I get? More of the same :(

Four tables again (as most, if not all, sessions will be I expect as I can handle that comfortably) and another slaughtering for a $0.50/$1 limit hold'em game. Down $47.65 across the tables or -6.12 BB/100 (compared to -5.50 this morning).

I think it's best I just list the thoughts that occurred to me during this session:

• I'm having real trouble playing post-flop at times
• Others are not raising when they have the best hand so my attempts to raise for information aren't working
• Is my play too one-dimensional not to be able to counter such strategies?
• Do I need to tighten up pre-flop to hopefully avoid trouble on later streets?
• Consider better positional play
• Every post-flop decision should be made after evaluating the pot odds and the odds against hitting my hand
• Am I calling too many bets on the flop? I call one bet to see what comes (with a decent (but not the best) hand or overcards, say) but I still need to take pot odds into account to justify the call
• Better reads - put opponents on hands
• Am I over-aggressive? Betting up boards I only have a small part of when opponents are less likely to fold to one bet here than in no-limit
• Limit poker is a more straight-forward game so play it that way. If someone is betting strongly they likely have a hand
• Give more respect to opponents. My first thought earlier with AJo on the button facing early-mid position raise was "Pah, I can beat whatever trash he's playing." He's probably not playing trash.
• Check more? Some of my bets are being folded to too often meaning I don't build pots worth winning
• The dividing line between profitable final hands and losers in PokerTracker is between one pair and two pair for both previous cash session and tourney play but today three of a kind and two pair are both unprofitable - two pair massively so. Why? Is this just bad luck?
• I lost out with set over set and had a full house beaten today. But when I make quads I win a small pot
• Is this really the game for me?
• When does a bad day at the tables become a signal to quit the game?
• I've been jealous of the shown down winners at all tables. Why can't I make a hand?
• I've had rivers (and some turns) making my strong hand lose a lot of value, e.g. I hold AA on a board of T-4-A-J-Q. I had been building a nice pot with top set only for the Q to make big straights possible and got shown K4 on the end.
• Need to strike a balance between building a pot worth winning and protecting my hand
• When was I good at this game? Was it before I discovered no-limit tournaments?
• Read! You have books on this game so read them and pick it up again and fast!

And that's my state of mind throughout the afternoon. Says it all really.

[mathare]

26th August 2009

I had more thoughts last night about multi-tabling. It's either my best fried or my biggest enemy and I can't decide which.

Friend: It stops me getting bored and losing focus. It keeps me playing only strong hands. It keeps the turnover levels high so I earn loyalty points faster. I build up a database on my own play as well as that of my opponents faster.

Enemy: When I am losing, I lose faster. It distracts me so I don't take in all the information available to me. I can't handle it even though I think I can.

I need to go back over my old sessions (and probably this diary thread) to see how I have done before in limit cash games, comparing single table sessions to multi-tablers.
But for now I am going to try a little experiment at the same tables as yesterday. I'm going to tighten up and play a simple straight-forward game. I'm going to play Hellmuth's top ten hands and nothing else (unless I get a free look out of the BB, obviously). So that's 77+ and AQ+ and that's all. I'll play them hard and fast pre-flop (unless I really think I am wasting my time calling 2 or 3 bets with 77, 88, 99 for example) and then take my cues post-flop from the other players, but I will look to stay aggressive even if that means taking down smaller pots as I can do without being drawn out on so often as yesterday. The plan is to make a small profit and prove to myself that these little games can be beaten. I am an experienced poker player struggling to beat some of the smallest games - that's really not right. I need to focus on the basics of hand reading and so on and get some confidence back in my game. I can't afford to lose $65 a day playing $0.50/$1 limit like yesterday. Here goes...

[mathare]

26th August 2009 (part two)
Better this morning but still not great - and my session was cut a little short by a server reset at 'Stars.

Four tables again, for just under 2 hours this time and a total loss of $6.80 or a BB/100 of -1.71, three times better than yesterday admittedly but still not what I was after. It felt OK though, I was able to play the tables very comfortably and considered adding more to the mix but I figured I ought to turn a profit first rather than just lose money faster! I reckon I can take on 6-8 tables like that though, and there were moments this morning when it looked like I could grind out a steady profit. Again I had boards turning evil on me, putting straight draws up on the turn/river which of course were hit to beat my big pairs or sets, that sort of thing still. I'm still finding my feet to some extent but I am confident of being able to beat this game, which is one thing I guess.

And now some more random thoughts:

• Am I too scared of folding the winning hand and losing a pot that I call too many streets when it is just one bet to me?
• Pot odds calculations must be on the basis of improving to a winning hand, not just making a better hand. And that means reading opponents and evaluating which outs might be counterfeited
• It's easy to see how you get gold star VIPs at these low stakes cash tables at the rate VIP points can build up. I gained over 200 VPPs yesterday and just under 100 again this morning. Multi-tabling full-time grinders could easily reach Gold Star or higher.
• When I see a hand at showdown (or via PokerTracker if they muck) I think "Oh yeah" and see it makes sense with the action that has gone before. I need to turn this around and guess the hands before I see them and use that information more
• My multi-table stats - 20 winning sessions and 17 losers (before today) compared to 11 winners and 8 losers for single-table sessions. So it's pretty much the same ratio

Finally for this morning's entry I want to start a new feature - my cash game graph. I want to post up the graph of each session so my ups and downs are out there for all to see. Here's this morning's...

[mathare]

26th August 2009 (part three)
Aww come on. Is it really too much to ask for to have a winning poker session? I'd take even a small win, just $10 or so across four tables over a couple of hours. Is that honestly unreasonable?

You've guessed it, another losing session and this afternoon was similar to yesterday. I lost $37.20 across four tables in a little under 4 hours. That equates to -4.26BB/100 hands, which is better than yesterday admittedly but still way down on what I want to record for these sessions. Things need to turn around and to do so quickly else I'll be depositing into PokerStars yet again. I lost $121 playing tourneys on Monday and another $100 or more these past two days. It's quite worrying actually.

This afternoon's random thoughts include:

• Am I losing faster than the cost of the blinds?
• Am I actually enjoying this?
• The Hellmuth top 10 hands have worked well in the past showing a profit of over 90BB/100 at $1/2 limit (results filtered to those hands only) so keep going with it and things will turn round
• I could profitably add AJ and KQ into the mix too it seems
• This strategy doesn't take into account position and that bothers me somewhat
• One day the river will stop completing straights against my big pairs
• How should I play big Aces when they miss the flop?

The blinds cost 0.50xBB and 0.25xBB so a total of 0.75xBB per orbit and assuming a full 10-seater table that equates to a cost of 7.50BB/100 so I am not losing as fast as I would were I to just fold every hand so that's one thing I guess.

Am I enjoying this? In a way but I'd enjoy it a whole lot more if some of my hands would just stand up. The graph of this session has key moments around hands #650 and #730 where my big pairs just wouldn't hold up. I was betting/raising to protect them and still getting slammed. It wasn't blind aggression though, I dialled it back when I thought I was beaten.

It's not a pretty graph though is it? Never in profit. Not once.

[mathare]

27th August 2009
That answers that then - a winning session is too much to ask for so I am going to stop asking and give in. Yes, quitting after only two and a half days but the way things are going I am left with little other choice really. Poker is now more than a hobby for me, it's a full-time thing and while I don't expect to earn a living from it I would like to show a profit from 40+ hours a week at the tables and that doesn't look like happening playing limit cash games. I know two and a half days isn't long but I have been putting in the hours and have played over 2700 hands in that time but as I am losing at a rate of over 4.60xBB/100 I can't continue. All the confidence has gone from my game, I don't feel like I am playing anywhere near as well as I can. My mind is tuned into no-limit tourneys and I should have recognised that some time ago. The switch between the various forms of the game is not easy and I should have perhaps taken some time out to re-read limit cash game strategies before sitting down but I didn't. My mind is still set on STTs and that's what I will go back to. It can't go much worse than it did on Monday after all.

I do have some more random thoughts to share with you before I quit though:

• I should save myself river bets, e.g. $1 into a $5 pot when I just have overcards as I am beaten by too many hands including anything that pairs any part of the board
• This cannot be natural variance so my game must be shot to pieces - I need to go back to STTs
• Stop even contemplating blind steals
• I am only winning small pots but being beaten out of some much juicier ones
• I've lost the knack for this game
• I'm struggling to know how to play medium pairs properly, pre- and post-flop
• My confidence is shattered
• I'm between books so now is a good time to decide on my future direction
• I have tried limit cash games for over 2500 hands and lost heavily suggesting my future lies elsewhere
• I'm having early position raises with AJ called by A3o and 75o and still not winning pots. You can't bet people off hands
• Maybe I don't have the patience for this game anymore

That bit about being between books may sound a little odd but I always maintain a stack of books to read/re-read and shuffle the order about according to how things are going, re-prioritising my reading. I recently shuffled Small Stakes Hold'em by Sklansky et al and Internet Texas Hold'em by Hilger to the top of the pile but have since reordered my books to bring the first two Harrington volumes back to the top of the pile. I plan to order a couple of books specifically on sit-n-gos too.

Before I post this session's graph I want to do something I don't normally do and that's post up a hand history from this morning.

PokerStars Game #32108400583: Hold'em Limit ($0.50/$1.00 USD) - 2009/08/27 10:28:18 WET [2009/08/27 5:28:18 ET]
Table 'Semiramis' 10-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: PartyBee ($50.40 in chips)
Seat 2: 19_Maximus75 ($24.10 in chips)
Seat 3: Quidnunc ($36.25 in chips)
Seat 4: pigreco13 ($56.60 in chips)
Seat 5: 18121971 ($17.95 in chips)
Seat 6: offsuitstan ($18.45 in chips)
Seat 7: xxVOVKAxx ($19.95 in chips)
Seat 8: Dafejo ($44.85 in chips)
Seat 9: yingwang88 ($18.15 in chips)
Seat 10: mathare ($21.25 in chips)
offsuitstan: posts small blind $0.25
xxVOVKAxx: posts big blind $0.50
19_Maximus75: posts small blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mathare [Jd Js]
Dafejo: folds
yingwang88: calls $0.50
mathare: raises $0.50 to $1
PartyBee: raises $0.50 to $1.50
19_Maximus75: folds
Quidnunc: folds
pigreco13: calls $1.50
18121971: folds
offsuitstan: folds
xxVOVKAxx: folds
yingwang88: folds
mathare: calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [9h Tc 8h]
mathare: bets $0.50
PartyBee: calls $0.50
pigreco13: raises $0.50 to $1
mathare: calls $0.50
PartyBee: calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [9h Tc 8h] [4c]
mathare: checks
PartyBee: checks
pigreco13: checks
*** RIVER *** [9h Tc 8h 4c] [Kh]
mathare: checks
PartyBee: checks
pigreco13: bets $1
mathare: calls $1
PartyBee: calls $1
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pigreco13: shows [As Kd] (a pair of Kings)
mathare: mucks hand
PartyBee: shows [Ah Kc] (a pair of Kings)
PartyBee collected $5.75 from pot
pigreco13 collected $5.75 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $12 | Rake $0.50
Board [9h Tc 8h 4c Kh]
Seat 1: PartyBee showed [Ah Kc] and won ($5.75) with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: 19_Maximus75 folded before Flop
Seat 3: Quidnunc folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: pigreco13 showed [As Kd] and won ($5.75) with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: 18121971 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: offsuitstan (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: xxVOVKAxx (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: Dafejo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: yingwang88 folded before Flop
Seat 10: mathare mucked [Jd Js]

Let's look over that action again and see where I went right/wrong as when this was shown down I momentarily flipped out.

There's an early position caller so I raise it up with JJ. It's re-raised by the player to my left who gets one (cold) caller. The blinds and limper fold. I close the betting with a call so there are 3 of us to the flop. At this point I am 64% to win the pot. The flop is 9-T-8 with two hearts giving me an overpair and open-ended straight draw. I'm now 80% to win. I bet out to try and build a pot as well as make the draws pay. I get a call and a raise (by the player who it turns out had the least chance of winning this hand) which is called in both places. The turn is 4c putting two clubs and two hearts on the board. I still have that overpair (and am 90% to win the pot) but there is another potential flush draw out there so betting out is a given here as I don't want to rely on the flop raiser to bet out so I can check-raise, nor do I think this move would get rid of any of my opponents so best to bet out. I actually check (why?) and it is checked round. The river comes Kh completing a possible flush in hearts and putting an overcard out there. Not what I wanted. No strength shown on the turn but I should probably check-call here. Which I do, and get shown AKo twice and they split the pot.

I made my mistake on the turn, clearly, but I was also somewhat unlucky to lose that pot I think. Oh well, live and learn.

And now that graph. Look at it. It was all action between hands 220 and 250 wasn't it? All the way down and then back up again. You can see I started to claw things back a bit but I was still way down on where I needed to be to get even again and finished down $11.70 for a total loss over the past few days of $123.10. Now you can see why I can't carry on like this. I played 24 tables during this experiment and only won on 8 of them, the biggest win being just over $9 yet my biggest loss was over $22 and I had seven losses over $10. This isn't the game for me right now.