Tag: Cash Games

Back to the Grind

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Last night after work I decided to step back into the ring. I had some cash left in my UB account so I sat down at two $1/2 6-max tables. It was more of the same. Suckouts everywhere. They are causing me to go on tilt. I see tilt coming, but it’s too late. This […]

Ready To Quit

Nick Momrik9 Comments

I’m seriously ready to quit. That’s how bad it’s going. If I wasn’t witness to the string of bad beats I’m going through I wouldn’t have believed it was possible. Seriously…it’s that bad. I’ve bled off 1/3 of my bankroll in a week. No lie. My opponents gut shot straight draws are hitting much more often than my flush draws. Go figure. I really hate complaining, but I’m going to lose my mind. I’ve checked my stats with Poker Tracker and I’m still playing tight. I’m betting my big hands. It’s not like it’s rocket science at these low limits.

I’m not even going to go into details by posting any hand histories, because it would turn into a novel. Besides, who wants to read them anyways. It just goes to prove…the fish aren’t just playing at Party Poker. They are in full force at UB (sign up with “mtdewvirus” as your referrer) and they are sucking out on me in record fashion.

Maybe I should come up with a new hobby. But what hobby out there allows you to make money. Or lose it I should say. 1/3 of the bankroll in a week. Think about that. That’s over 200 BB at $2/4. I wish I could have a week where I came out ahead that much. I’ll need a couple of those just to recover.

What really hurts is the fact that it’s not only the bad beats that are killing my bankroll. I can’t hit a huge draw to save my life. Flush draws are out the window. The same with open-ended straight draws. What about FD + OESD? Yeah right. Or FD + gut shot straight draw? Do I even need to answer?

Does anyone know any prayers to the poker gods? Maybe a rain dance?

Is It Rigged?

Nick Momrik66 Comments

I haven’t posted since Tuesday, so I thought I’d give a quick update of how it has been going at the tables. In one word…shitty! The bad beats are coming in from all directions. I flop 2 pair and someone calls me down going runner runner for a bigger two pair. I flop the nut straight and someone hits a 3 outter on the river for a bigger straight. I flop a full house with the hammer and someone spikes an ace on the river with his A7 for a bigger full house. I flop trips and someone calls me down hitting a 2 outter on the river for a full house. These are just a couple of examples. The other day in a span of 10 minutes I got beat on the turn or river 5 times by someone with 5 outs or less.

It’s simply impossible to come out ahead when the other players are pulling cards out of their ass like this. It’s at times like this when it really makes you wonder if online poker is rigged. I know it’s now, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the thoughts enter my head once in awhile. I can’t complain about the horrible players I guess, but it would be nice if my monsters would hold up to those drawing dead (2-4 outs) once in awhile. It’s extremely hard to recover from losing a 20 BB pot that you were the clear favorite in. Especially when it happens more than once.

Sorry about the bad beat whining, but I needed to get it out of my system somehow. Screaming at my monitor hasn’t seemed to help at all.

Say NO to Tourneys

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That’s my new slogan. At least for the next two months. Tournaments are definitely -EV for me at this point. If I’m going to reach my goal, I can’t keep giving my money away in tournaments. I was “suckered” into another one last night. A $30+3 on UB with $5,000 guaranteed. As I logged into my account and looked over the tables I noticed this tournament had 109 people and only 5 minutes left to register. Top 20 places were paying and unless 167 people entered, UB was going to be adding a decent amount of cash to the prize pool to reach that five grand. For some reason I thought UB cut off registration 5 minutes before the start of a tournament so I signed up. Well, 71 other people must have been thinking the same thing. When the tournament started there were 181 people and UB didn’t have to put up any dough. What at first looked like a 1 out of 5 people win money deal turned out to be no deal.

For the first three levels I saw exactly 0 hands out of the blinds. All I could find were unsuited low cards or marginal cards out of position. I think I managed to win one hand when I made what I thought was a great move with my big slick after the flop only to be called by another big slick and split the pot. As always seems the case, I ended up going in on a draw and lost. Out in 81st place. When will I get it through my head not to put all of my chips on the line for a draw? I do it over and over and over again in tournaments and it just doesn’t pay off. I always bluff at the wrong times too. I guess a draw is a semi-bluff, so no difference there. So the tournament set me back $33 or about 8 BB at my regular $2/4 game. Nothing huge, but it slowly eats away at the bankroll.

That’s it though. No more. I’m vowing to not play another online tournament (except WPBT events of course) until after the goal period is over and I can study some tournament strategy. I like tourneys and no-limit, but I suck at it. I know I suck, but I’m still playing and giving my money away.

I also played some of the $2/4 6-max games last night and lost about 30 BB. It’s always the same thing when I lose. I don’t want to show fear, so I call down a raiser or a check-raiser with my 2nd best hand and lose precious bets. Call it the “I don’t want to be bluffed syndrome.” Sometimes I feel like an incompetent plumber. I know the faucet is leaking and I know how to fix it, but I just sit there with my ass crack hanging out. Drip…drip…drip…

Root of all Evil

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I drove back to Saginaw today and just pulled in about an hour ago. I don’t remember seeing so much fog in an afternoon and I had it the whole trip. At least I didn’t hit any animals like I did on the trip up north. I hit a porcupine (pictures) and will have to get my frong bumper ever “rigged up” or replaced. Just what I needed less than 2 months before the lease is up on the vehicle. So we’re talking at least $300. Nothing I can do about it, so it doesn’t pay to go on tilt.

I didn’t think I’d get in any online poker over the weekend, but I got bored and installed Empire Poker on Mom’s computer so that I could work on the 1050 raked hands I needed to clear for their recent bonus. Playing $1/2 6-max it took me 1,600 hands to clear the $150 bonus. In addition to clearing the bonus, I came out 40 BB ahead for an average of 2.5 BB/100 hands. It was a good weekend for the bankroll. If not for a couple of 2-out suckouts in a row, it would have been much much nicer though. That’s poker.

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Back at Empire

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I logged into Empire Poker today just for kicks and voila! They’re having a redeposit bonus of 25% up to $150. So much for sticking at UB. I just can’t pass up the bonus whoring. Since I’ve been loving the short-handed table and the Party skins don’t have $2/4 6-max, I jumped around some of the $1/2 6-maxers. After stopping by four tables I finished up a total of 28 BB and cleared over 150 of my 1050 raked hands for the bonus.

Tomorrow after work I’ll be heading to my parents for the weekend in order to get my taxes done and visit the dentist, so I won’t get in any online play. We might make a trip to St. Ignace for some casino play, but it’s more likely that we’ll just play some home games. I haven’t done that in quite some time, so it should be fun.

Update: Played another 50 minutes while waiting for laundry and took down another 11 BB. Take advantage of the Empire bonus while you can!

A Final Table

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I made the final table in the limit tournament and finished 9th in a field of 162 for a $32.40 profit. My Mrs. Slick went down to a guy who called two raises pre-flop with his pocket threes and hit a third on the flop. I played well but didn’t really get any hands until when I was down to my all-ins. I couldn’t even get a hand to steal the blinds with. I did make two moves that allowed me to get to the final table though. An aggressive player on the button raised when nobody else entered the pot. I reraised with my pocket fives and bet the flop and turn to put myself all-in. I figured he was on a steal and he end ended up foldin the turn. Another time I stood my ground against a steal with TJo and bet the flop and turn again with no help on the board. I was all-in, but the player folded and I doubled up. I started the final table as the 9th stack I think, so it was going to be an uphill battle and I needed to double through soon with the blinds so high. You can’t win them all. I’m happy with the way I played and didn’t make any bonehead moves, so that’s always a good sign.

It’s kind of nice to be able to enter these cash tournaments with Ultimate Points that you earn while playing the real money tables at UB. Great practice and you can’t beat the price! I think I’m ready for the WPBT tournament tomorrow. Watch out for the defending champ! Boy, I’ll be glad when I can stop saying that. I can already feel the pressure to make a decent showing tomorrow. I’m pretty sure last time was a fluke. The other bloggers really are much better no-limit players than I am. I just happened to get cards at the right times.

I ended up 23 BB to the good at the $2/4 table I was playing, so it’s a nice positive day for the bankroll again. I had doubled my buy-in (always for 30 BB) in the first hour, but then my flopped set of 6s got beat by a 2 outter on the turn by a bigger set in a 19 BB pot (I’m glad the player ran out of money early on the turn). From there I didn’t get any hands for quite some time. I made a few steals, but the key was keeping my composure unlike last night. I was forced to fold my chip stack all the way back down to even, but stuck to my game and came out on top in the end. Imagine that…you do better without tilting.

Tilt Steering

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Tilt is probably the part of poker that is capable of eating away at our bankrolls faster than anything else. Especially for us amateurs. I know I still struggle with it at times and it costs me dearly. Last night was one of those nights.

I found a couple of great 6-max $2/4 games at UB and saddled up for the ride. Talk about a roller coaster! There were a few times where I lost control and it proved deadly. I ended up down about 25 BB for the night and the loss was all due to a few periods of tilt. If I could have controlled my emotions, I would have easily walked away from the tables a winner on the night.

Since my switch to UB on Friday I’ve found great games each time I play. Last night was no exception. In fact, I’ve never come across games like this online. Maybe everyone likes to blow off some steam after a stressful Monday at work, but these people are nuts! I was playing two tables the entire session and at one point, both tables had a pre-flop raise percentage of over 25%. Yes, that 2-5, 25%. On one of the tables I had a player raising pre-flop 50% of the time, another at 20% and another at 16%. Remember, this is all at the same table. I’ve never seen anything close to this bad at Party. NEVER EVER!

So what do I do? I have the winning hand all the way and get beat on the river. Ok, fine, shit happens right? No…I go on tilt for a couple of hands and give away a few BB. I don’t just do this once. I do it several times over the course of the session. Each time I realize it and quickly adjust, but it’s already too late. I’ve given away precious bets. If I had just been able to eliminate the tilt factor, I would have won for the night. Sometimes you have to pay for your lessons though.

I was actually down about 75 BB at one point, was then back to a few big bets ahead, and then back down to where I finally called it quits. It’s frustrating to know that I played like shit in the best position I’ve ever been in at the poker tables. If I had not tilted and the cards went a little more my way, I would have easily pulled a few hundred from these games. I’ll get them next time.

One thing is for sure…I’ll be staying at UB and don’t see myself leaving anytime soon. Well, except to do some bonus whoring on the Party sites.

I'm Back

Nick Momrik1 Comment

Help me give a big warm welcome back to my poker game. I had lost it for almost two months and yesterday I finally found it. I’m back in the ring!

I’ve written before that it’s been a struggle over the past two months. If it wasn’t for deposit bonuses, I would have been done quite a bit. When I last posted about my game, I was in the process of taking some time off. It was well worth it. I didn’t play online at all for a period of 10 days and was able to some reading and think about my game. TOP and ITH are both great books if you haven’t read them.

Party Poker was again offering a great redeposit bonus and it came just in time for my return to the ring. I was disappointed though to actually lose money while working off the required 1400 raked hands for my maximum bonus. Not only did I lose money, but I even ended up behind after figuring in the bonus! So much for taking time off to refine my game and get back to winning!

I was making the same mistakes that had been costing me dearly for the previous two months. I knew what I was doing wrong and just couldn’t stop. As soon as I’d click the button to bet or call, I knew I had made the wrong choice. Always calling check-raisers on the turn is not a profitable situation to be in at the low limits that I play (usually $2/4). You can pick off a bluff once in awhile, but not too many people have the balls to pull a check-raise bluff at these levels. I was calling and then calling another bet on the river. That’s 2 BB each and every time in a losing situation. Not good for the bankroll!

Another mistake I had been making was bluffing way too much. I’d say that of my bluffs and semi-bluffs, I was doing it about 90-95% too much! You can’t win money making this many mistakes and I surely wan’t winning. Bluffs simply are not very profitable at the low limits. There are too many fish that will call you down with bottom or middle pair that it doesn’t pay to bluff them. Simply let them pay you off when you do have a hand. It’s really not that difficult.

While clearing the bonus I think I was down about $350 (or only $150 if you incorporate the bonus I received). Something had to change. I thought about completely moving back down to $1/2 until I could fix my game. I thought about withdrawing $1000 from my bankroll to make sure I wouldn’t blow it. I thought about starting fresh from the lowest limit that Party Poker offered.

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