Aussie Poker

Again

2005-12-01T17:10:00.000-08:00

Bankroll: $4004

Well, I never update, its true, but here's one. I haven't spoken about the party split, but I'm doing ok now with a new affiliate deal. I've been playing a bit of poker since uni finished, and I've been doing ok, probably could be going a little better. I was breakeven for about 7k hands, and in the last 2k I've started to upswing and I'm making about 1.1 BB/100, which is better then losing, but I'd like to see it move towards that magical 2BB mark :)

Im now a certified neteller user, and can withdraw money at will, but I'm only going to take out my rakeback, and even then I might not. I'm not working much, so a couple hundred here and there will be very handy.

Oh, and I still suck at poker. I'm working on that :L)

Taken a small hit

2005-10-04T03:27:00.001-07:00

Bankroll: $2520

Yeah, a downswing has come. I'm getting rivered a lot, not hitting cards, and a Won at showdown of 48%, I'm sitting pretty light at the moment. But the good news is, its an obvious downswing, not one of those mysterious ones that make you contemplate your play. I know when the luck changes, so will my bankroll.

Other then that, everythings been going swimingly. I've clocked over 2000 hands in the past 4 days, and the rakeback is very very juicey at the moment. I'm getting better as I go, and every day grow more confident. But alas, assignments have gotten the better of me. Now I need to concerntrate in another area.... blast!

Pokerstars blog tournie!

2005-10-04T03:27:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 6874170

The uni holidays are here... Time for some poker!

2005-09-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $3536

Woohoo, finally the holidays are here. I have a crap load of assignments, a crap load of random stuff to do, but that still leaves me with quite a bit of free time. Free time that will be used as poker time, hopefully profit time.

I ran well a few days ago, probably up around 60BB after a smart and quick session. I really like 90 minute poker sessions. Anymore I tend to tilt/get too tired. Playing my A-game is very important, especially since I'm slightly underrolled for 5/10. I was down around 50BB today though, I was about break even till the end, when my flush got cracked by 52o hitting a runner runner full house. Cost me a 15BB pot, and the tilt sorta started. I quit not long after, because I knew the poker wasn't going to be great.

Also, the number of TAGs is becoming intimedating at 5/10. At least 2 TAGs on every table. The games are still good, but it can get really hard to find a table. Depends on the time of day too. Because I have an income outside of poker, and really only play it for fun, it means I can really pick my times to play. I can pick it when I'm only feeling 100%, or the tables are really juicy. If its a rockfest, I usually go do something else instead, which is working out.

I'm setting myself a goal of 10000 hands minimum by the end of the holidays. If I can run decent, I should have a nice roll, and a good launching pad to gain that psychological advantage.

I'll see you guys at the tables!

Biggest upswing of my life

2005-09-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $3720

I decided to try a few tables of 5/10 6max. The rake at 3/6 is now a killer, and severely limits the profitability by as much as .5BB/100. Its pretty significant. Since my roll hit the magical 300BB for 5/10 mark, I decided to go for a few tables and see how it is. I found some big tables: 50/10 stats, with huge LAGs determined to see every flop. I missed with a few hands, but once I started hitting; a set of tens, a flush, and flopped trips, I reaped in huge profits. Even the 3/6 tables were doing well, and I made $700 in total for around 3 hours work; very very tidy indeed.

It makes me kind of fearful though, is a downswing around the corner? No way to play poker though. But everytime I think my downswing is bad, I think of 2 people:

1) Chrisdaddycool went 60k hands breakeven. This guys one of the most respected poker players on 2+2.
2) sbc had a 650BB downswing. Granted he's player sum 600k hands, and its a once in a lifetime swing, but daaaaaamn. That was at 10/20 too. $13000. Thats a nice new car. All in bad beats and cold cards.

I'll be fine. Also, I made a nice $200 rakeback cheque today. I didn't add that too my bankroll total, but it'll be there next time I post. Rakeback is the shit.

All's well in poker

2005-09-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $2954

I just cleared the $100 USETOWIN party bonus. I love 1/2, the games are so easy and straight forward. The trickiest move these guys have is a slowplay, and its so obvious to see it coming. I think 12-tabling 1/2 could make a very tidy profit indeed with little brain use, 2BB per 100, roughly 650 hands an hour, an easy $25 an hour without breaking a sweat, then you've still got rakeback to come. If my bankroll ever gets completely withdraw, I might just try that....

I played some 3/6 too, did alright in that. Its nice to be hitting cards. Makes me wonder how hard the downswings going to be, because its going to come eventually. Just need to toughen up before then.

Also, its good to see my favourite site, somethingawful.com is back online after Hurricane Katrina. SA servers are located in New Orleanes, and STILL are, and STILL the server remains alive. That's great stuff. The poker forum is a cool, relaxed atmosphere, I suggest everyone check it out. Hopefully there's some guys from there reading this humble blog.

No real good hands to post, hopefully I'll find one. I've been doing some session swapping with this cool guy, its been great for finding leaks. Just taking a peak at his now, later all.

Not dead

2005-09-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $2675

I decided to dabble in some no limit for something different. Now that game is very very weird. I understand it, sort of. Its all about showing strength when your weak, and being weak when you're strong. Very tough game for me to grasp, so I might stay away from that for now. I got my ass handed to me in some SnGs I played, and I was doing well at NL till a vicious downswing.

I'm back to my goal of moving upto 5/10 in about 6 weeks. I'm going to pound through a lot of hands, hopefully figuring out some leaks. NL has given me some perspective, and taught me a thing or two about hand ranges. Harrington on Holdem is an awesome read, even if you're a limit player. Reading a players betting habits is crucial at any type of poker to becoming a winner.

I was having an interesting discuss the other day with a fellow player about variance. He offered an interesting suggestion; stop playing marginal, take a 2BB/100 rate with little variance, and you'll never go on tilt. Interesting concept, but I'm not sure how you can apply it to your game. Tighten up preflop? Stop calling draws? I'm not sure how I'd go about doing it, although the idea sounds lucrative for the stable side of us.

I'm just clearing the party bonus on 1/2, man I wish 3/6 played like that. I'm up about 70BB without even breaking a sweat. I can stay breakeven in this game when all my cards miss, thats how easy it is to beat. When they start hitting, I rake in the big bucks. I think I was on 5BB an hour, and I reckon I could sustain close to that on these 60VPIP tables.

Sorry about the lack of updates, I promise more. Ta ta.

My game is like an old Soviet Warship

2005-08-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

Its full of leaks, and I'm lucky that I can destroy any fish.

I gave a session of mine to a guy to review, in return I agreed to review his session. Its great, because we're both very similarly skilled, he's probably more of a text book player, I'm probably a bit more flamboyant, but same EV+ in the end.

I did his review, nothing out of the ordinary. He probably didn't bet here and there, but he was solid all around. Didn't spew at all, which is a great characteristic if you hate variance and love a fat winrate. Anyway, he sent mine back to me.

In short, I spew too much. I'm too loose, I don't play hard, and I don't finish my preflop wars. If I 3-bet someone preflop, I should always come out hard until I'm told I'm no good. I don't. I'm too erratic. So many bad calls, I can't believe I'm winning so much. I'm a good post flop player, but there's a few hands that are very fishily played. You know, thats a couple of big bets I'm wasting to stupid play. If I want to succeed at this poker thing, I need to become more disciplined.

The same reason why I suck at NL is my discipline. I don't wait for the right hand. I have the guts, but thats only half of it. Hopefully I can weed this out, and think about being a big long term winner. Hopefuly :(

(Bankroll is the same).

THE SWINGS ARE LIKE A DRUG

2005-08-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $2508

Ok ok, no more talking about swings. They happen both ways, violent in each, but in the end it evens out. Swings are now irrelovent to how I play, I'm going to ignore them. Good poker is what I've come here to do.

I had an interesting hand today, I'll write out the action by hand:

I was sitting in the CO with JhJc on a 3/6 full table on party (a good, loose table). UTG+1 limps, MP1 raises, MP2 re-raises, MP3 (Poster) Calls, I cap, everyone folds to the BB who calls, everyone else calls. Massive pot obviously, 24SB on the flop.

Flop: 3h 7c 9h

Here's where it gets weird. BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, and MP3 checks. I have two decisions to make... I could take the free card, or I could bet. Betting is good because I have the best hand, plus I could clean up misc overs, K8 and the like (the game was bad enough that people would raise with this). Checking gives me a free card, and if that card is a heart its super. If the card is an ace/king I'm done for the hand anyway, so I'm wasting money by betting the flop. Also, I can't be check-raised.

I choose to bet, all call (weird). Turn is a 2s, and action is exactly the same. It comes to me, I bet, 2 fold, the rest call. The river is a Js. Same thing, I bet, all call. They show me TT, AQ, KK and MHIG for a $150 pot.

Big quick 70BB upswing just happened. They're pretty awesome, I must say.

I'm getting killed by the swings

2005-08-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $2030

Heads up is very swingy. If the other guy hits and he's aggressive, you're in big trouble. I dropped $100 on this idiot. So annoying.

Anyway, I've been reviewing my pokertracker stats. Two things: I'm a bit loose preflop, not 2+2er too loose, but in terms of my skill I should tighten up. I'm a 28/15 at the moment, 24/18 is where I want to be. Little more raising, little less calling.

My blind play is my target area at the moment. Blind stealing is tough, blind defence is even tougher. What do I call with? What should I steal with? Not easy questions, because its so situational. I've decided to be a bit tighter in the blinds till I get comfortable.

Also, I'm hitting another blip. I think I'm going to stop caring, and start worrying about playing more hands.

Time for my interesting hand of the day:

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (6 max, 5 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is SB with As, Qc.

UTG calls, 1 fold, Button calls, Hero raises, 1 fold, UTG calls, Button calls.

Flop: (7 SB) 2d, 3d, 6d (3 players)

Hero checks, UTG checks, Button checks.

Turn: (3.50 BB) Ad (3 players)

Hero bets, UTG calls, Button calls.

River: (6.50 BB) Ah (3 players)

Hero checks, UTG bets, Button calls, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 9.50 BB

Simple line, but the interesting part was the river. I was bet/folding the turn, check/calling the river for one. Anyone know why?

Upswings feel goooood

2005-08-13T01:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, my little downswing just stopped with a nice little upswing. Up about $350 for the day, which is fantastic. I start to doubt myself in downswings, no matter how small, but in the upswings I realise the cards weren't there.

Hopefully I'll mentally prepare myself better if another one happens.

Here's a river fold from today, I hate folding rivers, but I liked this one:

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP with Jd, Jh.

1 fold, Hero raises, 3 folds, BB 3-bets, Hero caps, BB calls.

Flop: (8.33 SB) 6c, Qh, 7c (2 players)

BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (5.16 BB) 9s (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

River: (7.16 BB) Kc (2 players)

BB bets, Hero folds.

Final Pot: 8.16 BB

I can't see how I was good by the river. Probably a standard fold, but maybe its not.

3/6 is tough

2005-08-12T00:56:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $1850

I 4-tabled a little 3/6 today, 2 6-max tables and 2 fullring, its a different beast to what I'm used too. I don't think its the money at stake, more that players are hyper aggressive at times and generally play a lot better. Even weak-tights know they can't fold everytime, and can really make you think.

I've enjoyed the experience however. I lost a few big pots which could have changed my loss to a win. A few guys were lucky, and I haven't been hitting many monsters. I think once the cards start turning, my winrate should too. As long as I can keep breakeven through this period, I should come out a high flier.

6-max preflop has been my recent thoughts. Its tricky to balance correctly. Isolation raises, what to defend the blinds with, all that crap. Pretty difficult. And no hand today :(

Bleh

2005-08-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $1945

Getting a little bit done on the 3/6 6max tables. Those can be really tough against a thinking LAG; a maniac who knows how to place his aggression. Really gets the old nogging thinking. 2/4 has been going ok I suppose, nothing to flash. I'm trying to incorporate a few different ideas into my game, this hand is a good example:

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (7 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8h, 8c.

2 folds, MP2 raises, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, MP2 calls.

Flop: (7.50 SB) Js, 4s, 6c (2 players)

MP2 bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.75 BB) Tc (2 players)

MP2 bets, Hero calls.

River: (6.75 BB) 9s (2 players)

MP2 bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 8.75 BB

I'm kind of clueless with these hands, can I fold this river? Is calling down a good line? Pokers hard stuff.

Getting this blog back on the road...

2005-08-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $2130

I've decided to start once again, and begin posting in this humble blog. There's no doubt I've come a huge way as a poker player. As a guy who started out raising every overcards he had and lived for middle pair, I've become quite an astitute poker player. And its only recently that I've realised how much there really is left to learn. Currently 2/4 is my game of choice, and 4-tabling is a breeze. I've been 3-tabling while grinding away in World of Warcraft; which probably has the same brain use as 4-tabling in the end.

When I'm dedicated to poker, I'm also dabling in 3/6, both 6max and full ring. 6max is a very different beast to the 1/2. Aggressive, but with some poker sense. Its a tough game to beat, but I'm loving the challenge.

My rakeback account has served me well too. I'm with raketracker.com, Eurobet is party in everyway, except they give me a cheque at the end of the month for being a top bloke. Combine that with monthly party bonus's, its free money. Which leads me to my next new business, I've decided all rakeback/party bonus's will go directly to my pocket. That means, every bonus cent I make is MY money, the rest goes to funding that big bankroll. Since I'm not working a whole lot (poor uni student), this gives me some income that would be nice for doing some fun stuff, while also allowing my bankroll to pump and allowing me to move up the limits.

So I'll try and update every few days with some interesting thoughts/hands. Keep on reading!

Yeah, hello

2005-06-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $1685

Alright, I haven't updated in 6 months, but I'm determined to get this blog thing going. I still read all the blogs, I still play a lot of poker, but I just can't be motivated to update this damn thing.

I've been playing 2/4 on my rakeback eurobet account, and its been good, not great so far. Still have a lot of leaks to plug, but you know how it is. 1/2 6 max was a fucking gold mine for me, such easy money. Gives you good experience vs LAGs too.

Stay tuned, I might start updating.

Going well

2005-01-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

Bankroll: $501.42

I've just been two tabling 20+2 sng's, and so far the competition has been soft. Very soft. You can always count on making the top 5 before even having to play a hand, and K9o, A8s have been very overvalued by raisers out of position. Simple errors you can capitalise on. Not betting correct amounts, folding to the blind steals.... just easy money.

My bankroll is getting up there too, SnGs are more profitable than ring games for me at the moment!

2005-01-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

Bankroll: $329

I had 2 good opportunities today to win 2 $20+2 sngs, but one was lost with stupidity, the other with no luck. In the first one I was pinching blinds, got re-raised, so I went all-in with KJ, which got beaten by a weird board of QQAJK, the other guy with AQ made a boat and that was that, bursted out in 4th place after being nicely positioned to begin assaulting. The other time was in heads up, I was 5500, he was 2500, I was blind stealing like crazy, the guy litreally never stole the blinds, or even defended his. It was easy pickings, I had about 4 chances to knock him out. Every one of them all-ins, where I was a coin toss to win. Didn't get any, then he became the large stack. I kept weeding him down with blind calls, until finally pocket 10s were dealt, only to be cracked by J8. Shit, the guy was playing so horribly I should have walked over the top of him.

The funny part was, all my favourites were winning. JJ vs QT? Np, I won. AK vs AQ? The pot was mine. KT vs QJ? I had it covered. I felt like this was how poker was supposed to feel, and it was good, it felt like a good skill game. But until the heads up at my last sng, which turned it all around. Good while it lasted.

And I came 3rd in another sng, but the two players left were hyper aggressives that knew what they were doing, so I'm happy to get any ROI at all from that one.

I've also come to the conclusion that playing peak time US = much softer tables, ones that can be exploited.

Also, party speed tournaments should be avoided like the plague. Pure luck tournaments, I wasted 30$ trying one out. The blinds rise every 3 minutes, and you litreally are forced to play bad cards and get busted out by even worse cards. The only good part is its skillless to win; so if you suck at poker, its a no brainer to play.

Update

2005-01-23T21:10:00.000-08:00

Bankroll: $326.45

Alrighty, I've been two-tabling sng's mostly, and here's what I've noticed:

1) Play them during peak times. You want bad players to be eliminated early, at the very most, 5 people by level 4. Why? Because you don't want to be forced to play marginal hands. If you play during peak times, you'll play a lot of people who are bored easily. They will push. Also, if you score a great hand early, you can capitalise on this. Its win win.

2) Very very tight early on. Limp suited T9 and low pockets from the button, otherwise stay the hell away from the action, and play tentivly. If you don't have a crazy number of outs/your set, fold.

3) Steal blinds habitually. If they fight back, quickly switch to tight mode, then pick them off with your bigger hands. But always assume they're passive, and play tough. You're never worse then 1/5 chance of winning preflop, so remember any hand can beat any hand. Make them scared of you, and it'll be easy pickings later.

Following these rules, I nearly always make it to the top 3. The only times I don't is when I get forced into play a marginalish hand like KJ or 88, and lose to a coin flip when I'm getting desperate. But like I said, pick the tables and it won't happen.

This is easy money folks, rock on!

Not dead, and a lot of poker

2004-12-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

Bankroll: $214

I'm starting to really 'get' poker, and get what to do in certain situations that arrive throughout the course of play. I'm starting to get aggression, and get the concept that poker is about making the other guy make a bad decision, while you only make good decisions.

I've been mixing it up between limit .50/1 (only limit my bankroll permits), and playing a few SnG's. I really really like SnGs. I'm a competitive person at heart, and I like playing the people, less the cards. You only can really play the cards in micro-limit unfortunetly, which is good in the sense of simplicity and focus, but bad in the sense its hard to capitalise on idiots. You can't really pressure them until the betting doubles at the turn, and even then they still don't mind to call. But that's ok, more money in the pot for me.

SnG's however have been quite lucreative so far. I think I've got a formula down; fold fold fold early on except for very high pocket pairs, and AK, which usually means a lot of folds. Don't play anything in the sb except pockets, and only limp in with small pocket pairs looking for a set, if the set doesn't hit, no bet. This tight play basicly ensures I make it to level 4, and by level 4 at party, you'll find that at least 5 people have dropped out, possibly more. This is when you begin.

I find that 10+1 players do not know how to play with big stacks. They don't blind steal, they love to sit comfortably and limp in with everything. They never ever reraise except with the best stuff, and rarely lead with a big raise. They like seeing a multiway pot with their good hands. In other words, they are fucken crazy, and ripe for the picking. And very very predictable.

So once the tables down to about 5 people, and the blinds are usually upto about 50/100 or 100/200, this is when I move in. I blind steal with any face card or suited connector, and laydown if they bite back (which they rarely do). I find bigger stacks don't defend the blinds, especially since you've been seen as tight all game. This is where you build a medium size stack (at party, I think anything between 1000 and 1500 is a very well positioned stack, anymore is a bonus), and wait for the big hands to come. Open up pokertracker, and take notes as to what hands the fish are playing. Are they raising with trash, or waiting for good hands? If its the latter, steal the blinds off them, and respect their raises. If its trash, reraise them and go heads up. You might be unlucky and have them call with something good, in which case make sure you hit your hand, and don't guess they don't have an ace; because Ax is a fish favourite. Just be careful but aggressive when you see the light, and you'll win a lot more then you lose.

Now I should be fighting it out, getting a few playable hands, generally building a stack while I wait for others to be maniacs and bust each other out. Now I should be close to the money, hopefully 1 or 2 from 3rd place. Let the pressure build, hopefully get a great preflop hand and have an all-in showdown, or hit the flop with a marginal hand and move all in. Now I'm in great position, and ready to duke it out with the final people.

Seems to work for me, and its a lot of fun anyway. With this strat you're almost always down close to the money, and its always an interesting game in the end (although mass folding at the start is very boring).

Thats all from me, see you at the party SnG tables!

Ok Im not dead....

2004-11-17T04:57:00.000-08:00

University has gotten the better of me. Time has been tight.

I've been playing a little bit of poker, mostly SnG's. They offer fantastic hand experience for the cost. I haven't come first yet thanks to some brain freezes and bad luck, but I've gotten a few 2nds and a lot of 3rds. Dry cards really show up, but I think I'm starting to get the patience thing in them.

In other news, I heard star city is opening up Poker tables. If this proves to be true, I'll be spending a lot more time in Sydney then usual these holidays. Hopefully filled with fishy japanese businessmen, but we will see ;)

2004-10-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

I've been dabbling in some no limit, and I can safely say I like it A LOT more then micro level limit games. I think I'm going to try and build my bankroll using no limit, enough to tackle the famed 2/4 party games.

I've taken some big pots today in NL, all of them I liked how I played, and my opponents were soon trying to out do me; when I was getting dealt KK and AKs muahahaha. Respecting position and raises in front of me is probably the one thing I've been keeping an eye for, and its working too.

But its early days yet in my attempt to build a bankroll.

Update: Yeah, I just threw away $30 because I thought I was suited. What.... the..... fuck. That was terrible, I was so one sided..... fuck. Muuuust paaaay aatteeennnttiiooon

My shipment came in.....

2004-10-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $140

Yes, I'm getting killed in the .50/1. No one respects your raises, which is cool; more money in the long run, but the swings come hard and fast. I faced a modest 60BB swing against me, denting my bankroll and some confidence. But don't worry ladies and gents, I'll be back.

I just purchased 3 poker books which arrived today; No-Limit and Pot Limit Poker, Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, and Small Stakes Hold Em. Nice standard cornerstone books for poker, I'm going to try and muscle through them this week, hopefully dabble in a few tournaments. I used to be a good tournament player in play money, which means nothing, but I could generally win every second tournament. But they were easy fish, and called anything, and most used the stupid system anyway.

Anyway, I'm going to dabble in some no limit, hopefully the end of this week. Also if any of you guys are from around Sydney and play home games, I'd love to start playing some home games here in australia, email me at colindoc@gmail.com. Hey, its a long shot.

Change of game strategy.

2004-10-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $166

I'm not going to lie. Low limit hold em is no fun when people play Q4o after you cap the flop. I can't really handle how its just a russian roulette of luck.

So what does this mean? I'm switching to No Limit. Thats right, my game is shifting. I know I said I'd grind it out, but really, if I win I feel like Im lucky, if I lose I feel unlucky. Theres no sense of satisfaction or achievement. Maybe not enough hands, maybe not. No Limit is more interesting for blogging purposes anyway ;).

I've ordered 4 new poker books which I'll be reading and reviewing before I partake in No Limit. They should arrive within 2 weeks, be cool all, I will be back to blog, don't you worry.

Smooth as she goes...

2004-10-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $186

I decided to dable in some NL poker; big mistake. I haven't read into no limit other then some forum browsing, and I think I'll stay right away from it until I do decide to seriously go for it.

QQ according to Pokertracker has been by far my best hand, and I'd believe it. Dealt 6 times, 83.3% win, each taking big pots. Its luck makes up for AA and KK sucking so bad; both of those dealt 15 times for a measily profit of $4. Not to many other hands have come out of the closet. AJs has been going strong, but its taken my biggest pot yet at 24BB thanks to a nice flush. Most AQ, KJ, KQ etc have all been losing hands for me. I don't think Im playing them incorrectly, I guess its just the luck of the draw.

That being said, I really need to improve my overcard play, and add more check-raises. Position has also lost me a few hands. Sometimes I think position can really fuck with you, so you have to be ruthless. Maybe no more QJo from early positions anymore, and especially not staring down a raise from any other early positoners. Tightening up my game might be neccesary, but I need to spurge a bit more in late button positons. J9s can be powerful hands if played with the right pot odds, especially with big flops in there favour. Its all about position that allows you to dominate, and Im starting to understand that.

Uni holidays for me at the moment means lots of poker, but I really need to cut down a bit. I've been working my regular job a lot too, I have too much uni study to do. It'd be death to fall behind now. Besides, its not like im a super winning player or anything ;)

Hammered is a good word.

2004-10-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $198

Hammered sort of describes what I've been going through. I'm now undergoing a 100BB downswing thanks to lucking out on cards. Ok, I'll be the first to admit, I didn't push through my wins to maximise my profits, and I didn't exactly cut my losses the best, but lets face it, sometimes the cards just don't happen.

AA twice, AA lost twice, both to really shitty flops (one flop was 9, 10, J, two suited.... a nightmare for AA). KK got cleaned up as well to a two pair of Queens and nines. Apparantly raises just don't phase some people. There was 50 BB worth of losses right there.

BUT having said that, all these bad beats are a good thing. I'm still here, I'm almost to 1000 hands, and I can only see the cards going one way; the nuts way. I had a really bad session this morning, but managed to come back in another one later today. I started to get some real good cards back to back, and actually won some pots with hands that should win pots (rare in low limit I assure you). If my AA and KK had actually won, I wouldn't be going to badly. My losses have basicly wiped out my bonus, but thats ok, its all a learning curve, right?

I'm starting to get good with poker tracker. I have a very small sample, but it looks about right; good aggression, tight but not too tight, good stats so far. The only thing is that 110BB loss thats staring me down. But hey, you do everything right it has to swing around eventually, I still have 190 BB left on my bankroll, so I've just got to keep plugging away.

Also I'm learning HEAPS off the 2+2 forums. Those guys are gods, good players with good advice, and a good outlook. You can post any hand and they'll be upfront with whatevers wrong, never criticising you, but always critically analysing. Fantastic, hopefully my game will be tweaked enough by the 5000 hand limit to be a sufficient weapon.

I think I'm going to take a day or so break from poker, hopefully I'll be back on Wednesday night for a big session.

First serious night.

2004-10-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $190

I've decided to play 2 tables at once, as opposed to three which was the plan. Two seems perfect for me right now, I can still chat on msn, but still pay attention to the game and not get overwhelmed and play reasonable poker.

My bank roll recovered today thanks to some good pots, but I hit a wall for the last hour/half an hour. Made some marginal errors, I'm playing too loosely at the moment. I need to be much tighter preflop, and show a bit more respect, call with better odds. Yes, the basics, easy to say but hard to do in theory. Folding KJo in MP isn't easy sometimes.

I cracked a couple of good sets that paid off well too, which kept my bankroll up to. I can't rely on that anymore.

Pokertracker is now fully working, and fully importing all my hands automatically etc. Hopefully I'll be able to get some stats to show off in a few weeks.

Also a fat bonus coming around for my deposit. Thank you http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com! Remember kids, IGGY for your deposit code, by far the best around!

First night

2004-09-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

Bankroll: $167.50

I started with a $180 deposit. Tonight was just a night to get a feel for poker. I started with two tables on party .5/1, picked up a few little pots, but nothing more then 14BB. I was dudded on a few good hands (dealt AA, flopped a set, beaten on the river flush draw), and missed a straight draw for KJ and lost to pocket 9s (no idea why he was still in), but overall, not too bad. I didn't play anymore then 200 hands, so no sample and any loss/profit doesn't worry me at this stage, however I would prefer it to be well over $100 so topping up doesn't become a concern :P

Still learning how to use poker tracker. I'll get there.

Welcome to my poker blog...

2004-09-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Alright, lets try this again. (First time it stuffed up, I lost some good writing too).

As you probably already have seen, I'm a new poker player from Australia. I'm a student, and very interested in taking on a challenging game like poker. Poker seems like a great challenge, one that takes balls to play it. Mental application means everything in this game, keeping emotions at bay, and grinding the bad to get to the great highs. So lets get into it!

I'm investing $200 into partypoker, and $55 into poker tracker. My end goal is to survive to play 20 000 hands. That should give me an adaquate sample as to where I'm going, and whether or not poker is my thing. My first tables for 5000 hands will be the .25/.50 limit, hopefully building up some skill and confidence. Then I'll take a dive after that to .50/1, and reassess where I am after that 20 000 milestone is reached. That's some serious grind. I'm going to be playing pure ring limit too. No tournaments. Time spent on tournaments means time spent away from perfecting my ring games. That's bad. Focus is neccesary.

I've been doing all I can to ready myself for this. I've read Lee Jones's book, and endevour to be a tight-aggressive leejonesite as they call them. I've been reading a lot of blogs daily, getting a feel for the poker scene, namely http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com, www.wtfman.com/poker, and http://taoofpoker.blogspot.com. I've been reading the 2+2 forums daily, reviewing hands posted, critically analysing them, looking at what others have said and deciding on how my play should model others.

I plan on learning poker tracker to the max. Its a powerful tool, and it must be used to maximise proffieciency. 2+2 forums will be visited daily. I hope to post my 2-3 trickiest hands, ones where I've been unsure, hopefully to learn. And last and probably least, I've gotten a blog to keep myself mentally sane. I'll try not to keep it to a bad beat diary, but venting/bitching is always good for the mind.

So have I got what it takes to achieve my goal? We shall see. So sit back, bookmark this site, and enjoy a rollercoaster that is a new poker player.