Happy holidays!

Me and the fam will be having a nice all-day party with plenty of booze, games and strippers - I...I mean caroling. We grabbed a few cases of keiths, stella and corona (blegh), as well as some harder stuff. Me mum baked plenty of goodies to munch on all day. Should be fun though; I'm not sure I'll find time to get any poker in, but tbh I'd rather take a break tomorrow anyways. Come to think of it we could actually get a family poker game going. I'll let you know how that goes if we end up playing :p

Poker's going well still. My last few sessions have been a little swingier than I'd like, but I still haven't really had a significant losing day since I started 50nl. I started today off with some ugliness (both from me and my opponents), but still managed to end the day up $100; new graph added on the right there. I'm still maintaining a very healthy 8BB/100 overall through 25nl and 50nl and I'm very happy about it still.

I'm gonna make this one short, as I'm VERY tired after playing a nice ~ 3 hours of shinny hockey with my old man earlier tonight. I hadn't played since last spring and it was soooooooo fun. Gotta play more.

On a brief side note, I made gold...

Dear ChuckTs,

Congratulations! You have achieved the "GoldStar".

We invite you to learn about your many new PokerStars VIP privileges by visiting http://www.pokerstars.com/vip/gold/

Sincerely,

PokerStars Team.

...and also ordered myself a nice little ipod shuffle. I was eyeing some nicer, higher-end nanos, or maybe just one of those monstrous 80GB ones, but really a cheap shuffle (for 7000FPPS) is all I need. If this delivery is anything like my previous FPP store 'purchases', it should be here well before the forewarned 4-6 weeks.

On another side note, I just saw Control, and thought I'd toss out a little tribute:

~20k hands landmark

Well I've got actually more 25nl hands under my belt than I'd thought - about 11k as it stands now. I've also just reached 9k hands of 50nl and my results are looking nicer and nicer.

My bankroll is probably big enough to move up to 100nl soon (hard to calculate as it's sparsed out over 3 sites + I'm lazy), but I think I'm staying at 50nl for another 10 or 20k hands. I'm doing very well, but like I said I still have leaks that I need to fix, and I'd like to make sure I plug those leaks before I hit 100nl. I could also use some money in my real life here, so I may withdraw some and rebuild at 50nl for a while and take shots at 100nl every so often. We'll see what happens.

Today was supposed to be a whole-day thing but tbh I got lazy. I played for a couple hours, ran a little swingy (several beats, a big cooler, and two big pots where I played like a donkey) but still managed to finish the day $110 up through about a thousand hands. I was a little afraid I'd been doomswitched but it turned around quickly:



Anyways, all's still going well and I've cracked $1000 since Dec 04 which was when I started this whole FR ordeal. Very very happy :)

Overall graph updated on your right there.

Rich and broke at the same time :/

Well things are still going strong in the poker world for me. I didn't play yesterday, but stuck in a few hundred hands today 6-tabling again. I ran into one big hand today, my 97h vs J3h vs K8h all turning flushes, but still managed to finish off the day about $80 up and at 11bb/100.

I couldn't be happier right now playing full ring. While I realize I'm running fairly well, I still think I can beat 50nl by an even bigger margin than I already am. My 7.5BB/100 so far is very solid and I'm more than happy, but I've lost more stacks to bad calls/pushes, beats and coolers than I can count on my fingers and my toes :). In other words, I'm not only still getting my share of beats and coolers, but I'm also still making some bad plays that I think I can correct and I WILL correct.

As you know, I'm 8-tabling, and it's proving to have GREAT benefits for me.

For one, I get way more hands under my belt in a smaller amount of time so I can actually see the long-term effects of certain adjustments in my game sooner. ie I can see leaks better, I can see if calling raises with small pairs for set value is worth it, I can see if 3-betting light is worth the trouble, etc etc.

Another effect is of course the fact that my winrate is much better overall than it would be had I been single tabling or even 2 tabling. Right now I'm running at ~6.5BB/100 through both 25nl and 50nl per table, but am running at a much nicer 28BB/100 if I'm reading my PT database properly. Anyways, the fact is that I make a lot more as I have more tables open. I didn't used to be able to handle 8 tables or even 6, but now I'm actually looking to possibly buy a new monitor for even more tables. That actually brings me to my next point - FPPs. I'm earning them at a much faster rate, and once I reach goldstar this month (only 464 FPPs left :) I'll be earning them even faster. I'm not completely sure what I'm eyeing with the FPPs I'm earning, but like I said, a new monitor would be nice...

Multitabling also has some positive psychological effects on me. For one, I end up being a lot more distracted with more tables open, and that forces me to play a tighter game - ie the most profitable style for 50nl. Another thing is that since I'm seeing 6 or 8 times as many hands in the same amount of time as I would be 1-tabling, I'm actually seeing sets and big pairs a lot more often which is a nice way to deal with tilt. If I lose a stack to AA vs KK all in preflop, I'm never that far away from stacking someone with a set :)

Anyways, I'm kind of ranting and bragging a bit, but I'm just so happy right now with my poker progress that I had to share. Oh, and another thing that's nice about seeing so many hands is that I actually run into tough hands frequently enough to keep the cardschat HA forums pretty busy. Lately we've been getting some very good discussions going on and I'm loving it.

On a side note, my family's completely broke right now and we might even have to sell our house for the near-zero value it's worth. Hooray. All's good though. Times are stressful but we'll get through it; my step father got a new job so that should help some, but we'll see how it all works out. It's so bad right now that we've all agreed that we won't be exchanging gifts this christmas which will kind of kill the spirit, but we're going to have a big drunk-fest with monopoly, poker and scrabble instead. Should be fun :)

CCCOP Main Event and more 50nl

Well the Cardschat Championship of Poker came to an end tonight with the $30 deepstack main event. 5000 starting chips, 20 min blinds and $100 added to the already massive prize pool. I had a blast playing, initially being dealt a terrible table draw with rex and klitkat (bubbasbestbabe on cardschat, a VERY aggressive player). I managed to maintain my stack size through some swings, then eventually got moved to a slightly more favourable table with position on rex.

Again I threw some chips around, stole some blinds, but my stack was still dwindling. I ended up restealing with A8 vs rex's SB steal, only to have him snapcall me with AQs. Lucky for me, I got real kinky earlier today and shoved a horseshoe up my ass. I spiked an 8, doubled up, and crippled rex - pretty much the ideal result :)

After winning that pot I went on to try to bully the table a little more, and added a good chunk to my stack before this crippling blow:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (8 handed)

SB (t9140)
BB (t9063)
Hero (t10877)
UTG+1 (t11845)
MP1 (t4095)
MP2 (t2661)
CO (t8755)
Button (t19707)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ac, As.
UTGA raises to t1100, 5 folds, SB calls t900, 1 fold.

Flop: (t2175) 6c, 5s, Qd (2 players)
SB checks, UTGA bets t2100, SB raises to t4200, UTGA raises to t9752, SB calls t3815 (All-In).

Turn: (t19942) 9c (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t19942) Tc (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t18205


Results:
SB has Qc Qh (three of a kind, queens).
Hero has Ac As (one pair, aces).
Outcome: SB wins t18205. Hero wins t1737.

As much as I would have liked to double up there for a good shot at the ~$380 first prize (6 get paid, ~15 left at this point in the tourney), I'm really not disappointed at all. I played well, got tricky in some spots, but in general played solid and eventually got unlucky. I of course did get extremely lucky myself vs rex, but I still stand by my play there. In the end, I was put in by rex from the SB again, and I called with K2 getting odds for pretty much any two cards. He showed K9, I don't improve, bye-bye CCCOP :/

After the tourney while chatting with Rex and Tenbob on msn, I fired up some ring tables and witnessed the beauty that is the sunday feeding frenzy. For whatever reason, Pokerstars' sunday million tourney seems to put people in uber-donkey mode, and it's obviously quite a profitable time to play the rings (thanks for the tip TB :)

On a side note, a cardschat member and I have discussed coaching him and this will go down in the next while depending on when he's available. If it's successful and he feels I can actually help, then I may just start a little side business coaching micro limit players. I may be getting a little ahead of myself here, but I think I could definitely help losing/break-even players at 25nl or under.

Anyways, graph at the right is updated (and looking a hell of a lot prettier), and I'll keep you guys updated daily on my progress.

50NL! DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN

Well, as far as my progress has gone, 50nl has been swingy to say the least. I started playing a couple days ago - only 4 tables in the beginning - and within about 5 hands, had my first stacking with an overlplayed AA that got looked up by AK for top pair (HA thread here).

I ended up playing 6 tables for 2k hands that first day, and finished almost exactly break even (a little on the negative side). I did run into more coolers and beats, but played pretty poorly overall. I stacked a few fish with some sets, but played poorly enough to still manage to come out at even for the day.

Today I played some more, starting out terribly again but ending the day ahead by a good chunk - so much so that I've brought my ~0BB/100 up to about 4BB/100 so far at 50nl through 4700 hands (already!?).

I plan on hanging around a lot longer at 50nl than I did at 25nl for a few obvious reasons. For one, I probably should have played another 10k at 25nl anyways, but got a little impatient. I also want to get a little more discipline and it would obviously be much cheaper for me to learn that at 50nl than at 100nl. I think I may play up to 50k hands at 50nl depending on how comfortable I feel with my play later on. 10k for now is my absolute minimum.

Anyways, again I just want to say this side game ordeal has been great for me and I'd suggest trying out full ring side games to anyone who plays poker. Lots to be made at the stakes I'm at. I'm actually making $14/hr as it stands, even through my bad beats, coolers and my occasional terrible play. I'll keep updating frequently.

On a side note, I'm going to add another graph over there on the right for my 50nl/pl progress. Notice how much swingier it is (SO FAR). :)

It's a celebration, bitches!

10,315 hands done! In that span I...

-ran at 6.67BB/100 hands
-made $348.70 in profit
-spent $182.60 in rake (grumble grumble)
-made ~2000FPPs
-achieved silverstar status until Jan 31 and I think platinum is possible this month
-learned to 8-table and counting (may buy a second monitor)
-biggest pot won:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed)

UTG+1 ($29.50)
MP1 ($24.75)
Hero ($26.20)
MP3 ($12.50)
CO ($12)
Button ($7)
SB ($20.90)
BB ($31.05)
UTG ($29.20)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Jh, Th.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $1.5, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.50, 1 fold, CO calls $1.50, 3 folds.

Flop: ($4.85) 6d, Qh, 6h (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $1.5, Hero calls $1.50, CO calls $1.50.

Turn: ($9.35) 9h (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $6, CO raises to $9, UTG+1 calls $9, Hero calls $3.

River: ($36.35) 8c (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $14.2 (All-In), UTG+1 calls $14.20.

Results below:
UTG+1 has 2h 4h (flush, queen high).
Hero has Jh Th (flush, queen high).
CO has Ah 4c (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: Hero wins $64.75.

-biggest pot lost:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (7 handed)

Button ($23.80)
SB ($23.55)
Hero ($27.80)
UTG ($22.95)
MP1 ($56.65)
MP2 ($37.05)
CO ($16.10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ac, Ad.
UTG calls $0.25, MP1 raises to $1, MP2 calls $1, 3 folds, Hero raises to $3.75, UTG folds, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $2.75.

Flop: ($8.85) 8s, Ah, Qc (2 players)
Hero bets $6, MP2 calls $6.

Turn: ($20.85) Jd (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $27.3 (All-In), Hero calls $18.05 (All-In).

River: ($66.20) 3h (2 players, 2 all-in)

Results below:
Hero has Ac Ad (three of a kind, aces).
MP2 has Kh Td (straight, ace high).
Outcome: MP2 wins $66.20.

Anyways I'm more than happy with my outcome from the 10k I played at 25nl, and I'm going to decide in the next few days whether I'll be moving up to 50nl, maybe just taking the occasional shot at it, or I might even play another 10k hands at 25nl.

Video of my biggest winning hands and biggest losing hands. Only 30 megs and maybe only good for entertainment value, but I go on a couple minirants about wa/wb and other concepts.

Oh, graph to your right updated as well. You can see the beginning was nice and swingy, but soon picked up a much more consistent upwards direction after a few thousand hands. I did run into a few big bad beats which accounts for that little dip at the top, but I'm fine with those.

Upswings are fun

Well I'm chock full of confidence now with my recent results in my 25nl adventure. That obv means the doomswitch is going to hit me any day now, but w/e. Enjoy it while it lasts, right?

So far at 25nl:

-I'm running very solid (~8BB/100hands) even through a few beats/coolers and some bad play on my own part
-I'm actually gaining some discipline! I folded bottom set vs what was pretty obviously the nut straight where I wasn't getting odds to draw out - something I'd be snapcalling without thought normally
-I've already ripped through 8k hands (almost at my 10k goal) playing 8 tables but I think I may even stick around for another 5k or 10k after to polish things off a little before hopping up to 50nl
-My PS bankroll cracked $1000 for the first time in months. I had to withdraw some funds quite a while ago and ever since my BR has been hovering around $500-$1000. Paying the ~$200 for the stox subscription put a huge dent in it too, but I'm now back where I want to be :)

Well I'm now going to keep an updated graph of my progress on the homepage for your opticalismic stimulation. Ya that's right. Opticalismic. I'm running so good I can make up my own words.

Unfortunately I haven't been running as good in tournaments, save for a razz MTT where I actually placed 2nd for a nice $144 and forgot to mention it in the blog. Should have won the damn thing, but oh well. I haven't played as many tourneys but I'm fine with that - I think I'll be treating tourneys as much more of a thing that I'll do when I treat myself for playing well in the rings.

Here's your song for the day. Big collabo here and then another great song from the other end of the musical genre spectrum:

Leafs run good = I run good?

Well while the leafs were crushing the lightning tonight in a 6-1 win, I was having fun trying to emulate their success in the 25nl rings. I ran through a good 1500 hand chunk again today 8-tabling at 17BB/100 for a nice in-the-green session which perfectly mirrored last session's ugliness. I did manage to donk off a few big pots (namely this one) but even through those bad plays my good luck and good play brought me a nice $130 day through about three and a half hours of play. I'm sincerely confident that I can crush 25nl if I can plug my somewhat large leaks.

One of them was very evident in that previously linked A4s hand where I couldn't let go of a weak two pair in a situation where it was pretty clear I was up against a bigger two pair or better. My hand literally has a mind of it's own in similarly tricky hands like that and I have to find a way to stop and really think about a hand like that so I can stop getting myself into so many bad spots. I mean I literally said to myself out loud "you're not beating anything at this point that takes his line - just fold", but my hand disobeyed me :(

Anyways I was thinking about moving up to 50nl already - I am bankrolled for it after all - but have opted against it until I rake in a few more thousand hands at 25nl or at least plug those big leaks. That might take a while so we'll see what happens.

On a side note, I've got to get my goddamn driver's license. I've never really needed to use a car - the TTC is fine enough for me and I've never really needed to travel to driving-distance places frequently enough to ever need a car. The thing is that in order to get an electrical apprenticeship, a car is pretty much essential. There's no way I'm going to be able to drive around with someone all day so they can teach me simple little residential jobs etc.

The only catch about getting my driver's license is that the testing centre is so $#*%ing far that you need a car to get there. I suppose I could take the TTC but that'll end up being a whole-day affair. Well I guess I don't spend my time doing anything else that would be more constructive anyways...

Leafs, I heart you, and poker, I heart you too.

Ups and downs

Well I'm really grinding out the 25nl tables and now deal with 8 tables at a time which seems high but I'm handling it fine.

A couple days ago I tried 8 tables for the first time and found that I maintained focus just fine, but I soon ran into a couple terrible coolers (see KK vs AA), beats (see AA vs TP vs FD) and unlucky hands (see combo draws missing for stacks) that got me down like 5 buyins. The ensuing tilt stuck me for a couple more and it wasn't too fun. I ended up getting so pissed at myself for not being able to beat fucking 25nl that I forced myself to play a solid game. I ended up winning back enough to only be down $80 instead of $170, but it still hurt. The next day (yesterday) I grinded it out again and had a nice $40 day through only a few hundred hands which brought me back up even more. I recorded that ~hour session so I'll post that soon too.

I'm still not progressing at all in getting a job/new apartment so stay tuned for some updates there (hopefully). Getting sick of this slobby lifestyle.

Gonna grind out the rings again today and maybe play the $3+R if I'm up to it. Wish me luck!

p.s. I've updated the hand histories thread after completely forgetting about it for the entire month of November so go check that out if you haven't participated in cardschat's HA forums lately.

Good and bad news

The good news is that everything's going very well in the poker world for me. I'm now 6-tabling 25nl with a nice ~16BB/100 winrate which is probably unsustainable, but I've still been running into quite a few beats and still manage to scrape out that winrate so I'm pretty confident. I'm basically playing as many tables as I can so that I stick to a very nitty game and don't get out of line. To put it in perspective, I'm making like $20/hr right now which is fantastic. Unfortunately this is only a couple thousand hands into my ring game foray, but I'm happy anyways.



I've been playing a lot of the $5+R $55 satellites lately as well and have won tickets in every one I've entered this week which is also nice. Unfortunately all the $T I'm using from those hasn't brought great results, but it's mostly due to some bad beats in the games I've been playing and of course I'm fine with that.

I just finished a little $5 HU match with vanq which was also fun. I took it down with some luck (yay AJs>AJo) and I'll be posting a video analysis soon too.

On to the bad news...basically, I'm ready to leave my house. I've obviously been playing a lot of poker lately, and my mother is getting a little frustrated with me, obviously not considering poker a 'job'. I've been meaning to move out for a while now, but I won't be able to do so without either winning more with poker (fat chance making enough to completely support myself), or actually getting a full-time job. I just may have to work a dead-end 9-5'er at sobey's grocery store or whatever, but ideally I'd like to get into some type of construction or trades type job.

Anyways, times are a little tough here around the house but I think we can manage. As soon as I get up off my ass everything will be alright. The first step is always the hardest though; I'm such a procrastinator...