This is just a sample of how the past two nights of online poker have gone…
Tag: Cash Games
Up a Notch
In the last post I forgot to mention that I’ve made the move to $2/4. I think I did it the same day as the post about goals actually. After 1,000 hands I’m winning close to 4.5 BB/100 hands, which is consistent with my .5/1 and 1/2 play. I’ve been playing a bit at the bad beat jackpot hands (on Party Poker of course). I had heard this tables were extra juicy, but haven’t found that so far. In fact, the play is tighter pre-flop than I had seen at 1/2, but that doesn’t stop people from taking their shitty hands too far and paying me off. Of course they occassionally hit as you may have noticed from my last post, but it all adds up in favor of the better players.
I find it amazing how the cards can change so much. When I was playing .5/1,
Tomorrow I’ll be heading up north for the holiday weekend and I plan to visit St. Ignace for some live action on either Friday or Saturday night. I’ve played there a few times and the tables have been loose every time. It’ll be interesting to see how my SSH strategy holds up. The bankroll keeps increasing, but it sure would be nice to have a big increase from some casino play.
Just remember…”Fold’em more than you hold’em.”
Party No-Limit Tables
I decided to give the Party Poker $25 max buy-in no limit tables a try. Played for about a half hour on a 6 max table and won $50. I got a nice hand or two, but was also able to steal a few pots as well. I might have to try these out more […]
Still Here
I’m still here. Just haven’t played much recently because of some new XBox games. The big tournament that was supposed to be this weekend was canceled because they couldn’t get 10 people. Some other day I guess. Over the weekend I moved up limits and am now playing $1/2 at Party Poker. I had the bankroll to support it and was inspired by Double As’ post a few weeks back. My original plan was to play 10,000 hands at $.50/1 before moving up, but after about 5,500 hands I was over 300 BB to the black so I said why not.
I’m testing out the 1/2 6-max tables and doing pretty well. Well…doing well as far as being ahead for how many horrible beats I’ve taken. I’ve been beaten by runner-runner at least 10 times and in just over 1,000 hands. I’m playing somewhere around 20-22% of the flops at these tables and I’ve gone to the showdown 35% of the time. In a quick (and very guesstimated) calculation I’ve been to showdown about 75 times. Figure in some room where they missed and folded and I’m looking at somewhere around 100 hands. 100 out of 1,000….1 in 10. Runner-runner, according to the odds should hit in the neighborhood of lets say 1 in 45 (if it’s even that good). To make a long story short…these games are lucrative when the odds don’t bite you in the ass. And yes, I know this is a very small sample size to measure any of this, but the point was to show that there is plenty of money to be made there.
I’m curious as to how I should be changing strategy for these short-handed games. My bible, SSH assumes a full table for everything. So far I’ve been using the starting hands they give for a loose table and it seems to be working well. Is this too tight for a 6-max table though? I also try to make sure I get in my value bets and maybe play the middle pair type hands a little more aggresive. I’m very interested to hear what others, who have played these tables, have to say.
In The Zone
Ah Ah, I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Now, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is the .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and could blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself a question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?
Just a little while ago I had a streak like no other. I’ve never seen cards like this anywhere! If I needed a card to hit, it would show up, except for a couple of flush draws that missed. I was just killing the table and it was a blast. I couldn’t believe my own eyes, so it was no wonder everyone was calling me down. I had to leave the table after exactly 60 minutes because the fish swam out and the sharks filled in when they saw the average pot size of the table. For your reading pleasure (and my love of bragging) here are the major hands.
If Luck Weren't Involved…
I guess if luck weren’t involved, I’d win every hand.
Phil Hellmuth
I think I know where Phil was coming from with that quote. After the big tourney win I was on the poker high of my short poker life. I was invincible. Especially to the fish on Party Poker. Or so I thought!
Me and Poker: A History
Earlier this week I had been thinking it would be good to do a post about my history playing poker. After the big win last night in the poker blogger tournament, there isn’t a better time for it, so here it is…
Running Better
The cards were running even better than last night and I think the fish like to play on Saturday mornings. After 81 hands, 44 more BB added to the bankroll. This shit is too easy! This hand was my favorite…
Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold’em (10 handed)
Preflop: Hero is MP3 with
Ad Qd UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, Hero raises, CO folds, Button 3-bets, SB calls, BB folds, UTG calls, MP2 calls, Hero caps, Button calls, SB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls.
Flop: (21 SB)
2h 4c 9s (5 players)SB checks, UTG checks, MP2 bets, Hero calls, Button calls, SB calls, UTG calls.
Turn: (13 BB)
As (5 players)SB checks, UTG checks, MP2 bets, Hero raises, Button calls, SB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls.
River: (23 BB)
Th (5 players)SB checks, UTG checks, MP2 bets, Hero calls, Button calls, SB calls, UTG calls.
Final Pot: 28 BB, between Button, SB, UTG, MP2 and Hero. > Pot won by Hero (28 BB).
Results:
SB has
Jc Jd (one pair, jacks).UTG has
9d Kc (one pair, nines).MP2 has
Ks 9c (one pair, nines).Hero has
Ad Qd (one pair, aces).Button has
Ac 3c (one pair, aces).Outcome: Hero wins 28 BB.
I probably should have been more aggressive, but I went into call mode because I figured that someone had to have a better hand than one pair. MP2 was raising all the time with garbage so I didn’t put him on anything better than a little pair, but I figured for sure someone else was slowplaying two pair or trips. Three hands later came this hand…
Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold’em (10 handed)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with
Kd Ad UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button calls, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.
Flop: (11.50 SB)
6s Jd Td (5 players)UTG checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, CO folds, Button calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.
Turn: (9.75 BB)
6d (4 players)UTG checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, Button calls, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls.
River: (15.75 BB)
Qh (3 players)UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, Button folds, UTG+1 calls.
Final Pot: 19.75 BB
Main Pot: 19.75 BB, between UTG+1 and Hero. > Pot won by Hero (19.75 BB).
Results:
UTG+1 has
9s Tc (two pair, tens and sixes).Hero has
Kd Ad (flush, ace high).Outcome: Hero wins 19.75 BB.
Fish will be fish! Gotta love Party Poker!
Running Good
The cards are running good. I played 165 hands of .50/1 today on Party Poker and walked away over 70 BB in the positive. The fish were all trying to swim up the river, but not many could “flop” over the dam. It was quite a rush. Now I’m just bracing for the other side of variance to hit.
I even played two tables at once for the first time on Party. It didn’t seem to hurt my concentration at all. If anything, it kept me focused because there was more going on. In a matter of about two and a half weeks I’ve managed to double my starting bankroll of $300 if I include the bonuses I’ve gotten on the deposits. More and more confidence in my game is a good thing, as long as I don’t get too confident I guess.
Quads and High Pocket Pairs
Last night I played way too much poker. I sat down at Ultimate Bet because I want to use up the bonuses I have over there. Once I get all of my bonuses, I’ll withdraw the money and put it into Party Poker when they have their next deposit bonus. Have I mentioned that UB’s bonus system sucks?! Playing .50/1 at UB, I get back about $1/hour in bonus. Playing $1/2, it jumps to $3/hour because the pace of play is faster. At Party Poker, I only had to play about an hour or so to get a full $20 bonus!
Nick Momrik 