December results

No matter how often I remind myself that playing low volume means you don't get to be excited by good results or upset by bad ones, I still get excited by good results and upset by bad ones. It was a mixed month, as far as that goes. I did okay at the $10 regulars, but I'm not sure whether I am successfully multitabling them (I had positive ROI 20-tabling but not so much that I was happy with it: but I only did maybe five sessions, which is far too few to draw conclusions).

So I played 220 11s at 13.1%, 12 12s at -100% (yes, that means I lost every buyin!), 8 16s at 5.5% (all the fun of STTs in two sets of four: ran hot for four, out of the money in the other four), 9 22s at -36% (I mixed a few in but ran like shit--I think I am able to beat them but I don't feel ready to move up to them permanently). I think I was happier with the notion of playing a decent sample at each level before moving up. I played 1K $5s, and I think I should play at least 1K $10s too (I'm somewhere around 800), and maybe the full 1K at the 6.5s

So all in all I played 249 at 3.7%. If I hadn't played at all on Tilt, I would have had a fine month--I have now lost 31 of my last 33 buyins there. I don't think I'm playing particularly well, and although I ran quite well in the first half of the month, I felt like I wasn't getting the run of it in the second half. It's hard to know though. Maybe playing too many tables of the $10s is enough to destroy my ROI? It doesn't feel like that was it, so I think I'll keep doing it, and reevaluate at the end of January maybe.

Let's gamboooooooool

Having said that, what about this?

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100/t200 Blinds - 3 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



SB: t5435

BB: t1755

Hero (BTN): t6310



Pre Flop: (t300) Hero is BTN with T T

Hero raises to t500

Standard raise.

SB raises to t1600

I'm unhappy about that obviously, but I pause and do not turbofold. I consider shoving but this is why I did what I did:

First, his hand selection has been off, but he's got it in when he's been very strong. I'd expect hands that were actually better than mine to get it in straight away. With AA/KK, this kind of player tends to flat to trap you or raise small, not to lose you. So I don't think he has a big pair here.

Second, I'm flipping with the range I expect him to have. He probably flats smaller pairs, so I think he has AJ-AK a lot.

So I could shove, but there's a lot at stake. It seems like a good idea in this spot to flatcall, and then play undercard flops and those without aces fast for the most part.

1 fold, Hero calls t1100

So I call.

Flop: (t3400) 2 T K (2 players)

Which looks like a genius play when I hit my set. But tbh, I'd be content with a K92 flop here, and would play it the same the way the action goes.

SB bets t1000, Hero raises to t4710 all in, SB calls t2835 all in


Easy shove for me. Unbelievably, this clown has AJs. I suppose he could argue that he has a thin call vs top pair, with 8 outs, but if I have top pair, I have to be taking some of his outs.

So it's just the usual terrible, unthinking stuff.

Turn: (t11070) Q (2 players - 2 are all in)


And yet again, I go down to a 5/1 shot.

waaaat and goals

Here's my month in one hand. I've built a decent stack, played really well and now this:

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t75/t150 Blinds - 4 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



BB: t5047

CO: t1410

BTN: t3788

Hero (SB): t3255



Pre Flop: (t225) Hero is SB with A A

1 fold, BTN calls t150

This guy has been very fishy all tourney, playing about 30% of his hands, rarely raising.

He should not limp anything here, but obviously if these fools never did anything wrong, we'd have no hope of making money.

Not that we have much hope anyway, it seems.

Hero raises to t600

A standard raise. I expect him to call, but with AA, I don't really want a fold.

1 fold, BTN calls t450



I'll tell you right now that his hand is 55. He is not getting even close to the odds he needs to call here, and should fold. Not calling raises with pairs is one of the "skills" you need to acquire to win this sort of poker.

Flop: (t1350) 2 3 7 (2 players)

Hero bets t750, BTN calls t750

I suppose he might think I have AK here and his pair is good but he should still fold. Even if your pair is good here, it's likely you'll be overtaken. Looking back, you might consider that it would have been better to bet more, so that I didn't look like I was cbetting. But I don't want to fold out 55! He's worse than 20/1 to improve on the turn, and I am quite happy at this point because I can shove the turn and hopefully get paid. If he then calls, he will be 20/1 to hit the river.

Turn: (t2850) 5 (2 players)

But that's the story of my month.

This shit happens. Poker involves up and downs. This, I suppose, is why the mental game is so important. I tend to think I'm decent when I'm winning and terrible when I'm losing. My overall results are okay: a lot of people would be very content with them. But they don't inspire confidence.

So my overall goal for 2009 is going to have to be to chill out, to make the amount of work I do and games I play match the desire I have to succeed. And I will have to trust that I am able to achieve that success. I should be. I'm not an idiot, and the pond is full of people who are.

Part of that has to be to be happier about what I do well, so I'm going to post more about that. I mean, I did well in this hand. It's how it should be played. I'm confident of that. I could have bet more on the flop to make a flush draw pay but I didn't offer a good price to anything he could realistically hold. So meh. But bad beats are not really instructive, except in case you need reminding that poker is a cruel game.

So my goal is to write about the good things about poker. There are some!

FuckTilt.

I fucking hate Full Tilt. They totally have the doomswitch on me. I fucking hate Omaha too.

Check this out:


Full Tilt Poker Game #9726699027: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (73953868), Table 6 - 15/30 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6:24:43 ET - 2008/12/28
Seat 1: mishmear1 (2,385)
Seat 2: Highlaender (4,050)
Seat 3: JacqueTheRipper (2,910)
Seat 4: basatagirl (2,910)
Seat 5: todds18p (1,140)
Seat 6: Buttonraiser (2,670)
Seat 7: dileris69 (3,795)
Seat 8: rufuslynx (3,000)
Seat 9: Laurie960 (2,940)
Laurie960 posts the small blind of 15
mishmear1 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [2s Ah Ad Qs]
Highlaender folds
JacqueTheRipper folds
basatagirl raises to 90

I have a strongish hand, although it's easy to overplay AAxx in Omaha.


todds18p has 15 seconds left to act
todds18p calls 90
Buttonraiser has 15 seconds left to act
Buttonraiser folds
dileris69 folds
Laurie960 calls 75
mishmear1 folds
*** FLOP *** [8h Js As]

That's a great flop for me. I have a set of aces, and the second nut flush draw.

Laurie960 checks
basatagirl bets 150

I don't make a huge bet. I don't really want folds here. There are straight draws out there, but they are paying too much on this board.

todds18p calls 150
Laurie960 calls 150
*** TURN *** [8h Js As] [Tc]
Laurie960 bets 750

So I figure this fish has hit a straight of some sort. But they can also have two pair, or a set of jacks. I have a ton of outs: 1 ace for quads, 3 Ts, 3 Js, 3 8s, 7 spades. Possibly just calling is better, but I'm pretty unlikely to fold the river, so meh.

basatagirl raises to 2,670, and is all in

So I shove and hope for the best.

todds18p folds
Laurie960 calls 1,920
basatagirl shows [2s Ah Ad Qs]
Laurie960 shows [Ks 7h Jc Qh]

WTF. This retard called preflop with a trash hand and called on the flop with a gutshot. So horrible. But of course he hit it.

*** RIVER *** [8h Js As Tc] [6d]

I miss everything, of course.

January goal

I am having the mother of torrid times on Tilt. I have cashed twice out of my last 32 games. So that sucks.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure about multitabling the 10ers. I'm winning but not much. I think I've just been running bad, but I can't be sure. I expect lower ROI at the

So I'm going to set goals for January and see how I go. 500 games at the 10 regulars, 20-24 tabling, 30 hours of SNG Wizard. Any more than that will be a bonus. I won't look at my results until the month is over. That should settle whether I can mass-multitable the 10ers. If I'm finding it easy enough, I'll step it up to 30 for February, and see what that brings.

I don't set monetary goals because I can't control that. I can set volume goals and just do my best. I'd like to run at 12% but who wouldn't?

bleh

Whenever I get excited about poker, I get bitten by a downswing. It's uncanny. If I have a good couple of days, I don't just have a moderate couple to follow. I get absolutely crushed. So I was enjoying multitabling the 10s, and then I lose 20 BIs. Today, in a set of 17, I lost 80 bucks, seven BIs.

I was going to post the bad beats but what's the point? I shove over limpaholics with AJ and run into big pairs; I shove BvB and get caught by monsters; I have KK cracked when I call a shove on a T63 flop and he has A6 -- obv. he scores his ace; I have QQ cracked when I raise pre, get called by T9 and the flop comes TTx; every time I shove a pair, and I'm not kidding, every single time, I run into a bigger one.

It just sucks. I don't think I'm playing badly. I know STTs have downswings and I know that more volume is the answer. But when you don't play much, it's really hard to bear the variance, and it really makes you question whether you have any clue at all.

Well, can't give up. Best do another set and hope to have better things to say in 90 minutes.

***

Well, it didn't get much better. I won $40 back without ever winning a race, and somehow, every time I got it in with a pair, running into a bigger pair.

I don't think I'm playing badly, and I certainly don't think the games were tough. I don't think it hurts much to multitable. I probably am going to lose a few points of ROI, but I think the decisionmaking is straightforward enough in most games that it won't hurt all that much. I played 24 tables without too much stress, bar one time where I sat out on six tables or so and my program kept stealing focus to sit me in.

But what's hurting the ROI is having my big hands cracked. The style I play depends on making value with AA-QQ, but if every time you get it in with AA, some guy hits his set, and every time you get in with KK, you run into AA or an A hits on the flop, that's going to hurt. It doesn't help to keep having AK < AJ/QJ/QT/T9 and losing races or being really badly outflopped (it's a real killer to have AK vs 66 on a K63 flop because you're never getting away from it, and I think it's worse when you're threehanded vs a total fish and have AQ on a A64 flop when he has A4).

The problem for me now is, I can't see a way forward. I think I should keep on multitabling the 10 regulars, until I've played at least 1K of them, and then have a look at it. I'm actually running well at them this month (lower than my overall ROI in them but better than the lowest I'd hope for), which is more than can be said for other games (0 for 12 in Tilt 12s, and losing a bit at 20s (can't get a pair to hold up in them either)). But it's not progressive for me. I'm a bit scared to move up to the 20s, although I think I should beat them, because almost every time I move up, I get crushed at the new level. You can keep telling yourself it's just variance, but it does seem I'm not good enough to play higher than I do now.

Mind you, looking at my record this month, it does stand out that when I'm in the money, I'm running 8.5%/17.5%/17.5%. I'm not sure why that is but I haven't had any more luck in the money than I have out of it. This really does eat into your ROI, because 43% ITM is okay, but only winning 8.5% of the time is terrible. It's not even par!

So I suppose I can put some down to running bad, and look at my play threehanded to try to see whether I'm pissing away money there. Also, pushing pairs into bigger pairs is something I need to look at. It might be that I'm pushing too wide, or it might just be one of those things. I also need more work on ICM because I don't think I am doing much right at push/fold at all.

An easier pair of hooks

A similar but much easier spot. Again I have JJ.

Poker Stars $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t25/t50 Blinds - 9 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



UTG: t1945

UTG+1: t1130

UTG+2: t3275

MP1: t1125

MP2: t2200

CO: t755

BTN: t745

Hero (SB): t1315

BB: t1010



Pre Flop: (t75) Hero is SB with J J

UTG raises to t200

This is quite a big bet, but often players will 4x the weaker end of their range UTG. So I don't necessarily expect to see a big hand here.

5 folds, BTN raises to t745 all in

This guy is superbad. He doesn't have to have a decent hand here. He lost a fair few chips raising 75 pre and then betting it when he hit bottom pair on the flop. So I'm obviously wanting to play with him. I doubt UTG will call unless he actually does have a monster, but as usual, he has more unpaired than paired hands in his range, and he might well share outs with the other guy.

Hero raises to t1315 all in, 2 folds


He has KQ, which is probably at the top end of his range. I really wouldn't have been
at all surprised to see this idiot show K2.



Flop: (t1740) Q T 7 (2 players - 2 are all in)


Well, that's unfortunate, but I'm happy with the play. You can't help the suckouts but you can help whether you get your money in good.



Turn: (t1740) T (2 players - 2 are all in)



River: (t1740) 6 (2 players - 2 are all in)




***

Later in the tourney I make a mistake though that costs me my equity.

Poker Stars $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



BB: t1595

UTG: t4080

UTG+1: t1450

MP1: t2700

MP2: t680

CO: t1590

Hero (BTN): t720

SB: t685



Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is BTN with Q A


I'd obviously like to get it in with a hand this strong.

UTG raises to t450

This guy is playing 55/0 over whatever it is, 35 hands. He has a big stack but I should fold. These guys really don't raise with anything AQ is ahead of.

But I tilted and refused to fold my strong hand. It's a bad leak in my game, which luckily I do not have the opportunity to indulge too often. But one of the reasons I win at STTs is that I am not married to big hands, and can get away when I'm clearly beaten. Except on the odd occasion that the tilt takes over and makes me say fuck it.

4 folds, Hero raises to t720 all in, 2 folds, UTG calls t270





He has KK of course, and IGH.

Dunno, dunno, OH YEAH!

Here's a moderately interesting spot.


Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



UTG+1: t1345

MP1: t1635

MP2: t3540

Hero (CO): t1320

BTN: t2040

SB: t820

BB: t1770

UTG: t1030



Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is CO with J J

1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t200,

This guy has played very tight and is in EP. But the minraise is ultra fishy. So I'm not really sure what to do. I'm not sure that I'm ahead here, given how tight he is, but obv. even a tight raiser has more unpaired cards in his range than paired. I figure I will call and if the flop doesn't seem to have hit him, get it in there.

2 folds, Hero calls t200

So I flatcall. I would only rarely do this. This kind of spot really is push/fold, but I just felt I would rather not give up the value of my hand by folding, but I'd be happier to get it in on a raggy board than preflop. This doesn't mean I'd fold on all boards with overcards. I'd definitely need to evaluate it on the flop.

1 fold, SB raises to t820 all in

But this changes things! I don't necessarily put the small blind on a particularly tight range, but now I will have my decision made for me by the first raiser. If he shoves, I pretty much have to fold imo, but if he folds, I call, and if he calls, I will then shove, figuring my hand is best and getting great overlay in a multiway pot.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls t620, Hero raises to t1320 all in


I think he has to be shoving with any hand that beats JJ, so I'm best here. I'm often going to end up losing the hand, but if I lose to SB, I can still stack UTG+1 and have 1K, and when I win, I win big.

UTG+1 calls t500


And they show 88 and KQs. I don't like UTG+1's raise with KQs. I mean, I don't like a minraise at any time, but KQs is a relatively weak hand, so you don't want to get shoved over, and you don't want to invite others to see the flop, even if your hand will start favourite against most. STTs are not about seeing flops at the high blinds, but about making people fold. So if you're playing it, and I don't think you should, you're shoving it.



Flop: (t3560) 5 A 4 (3 players - 2 are all in)



Turn: (t3560) 4 (3 players - 2 are all in)



River: (t3560) 6 (3 players - 2 are all in)




So all good for me. Not sure about my first call, but the second time around, I had no doubts about what to do.

Beating the micros

I'm going to post this here because I think it's pretty sound and maybe someone who's struggling will stumble on it.
It's my answer to the question, what is the best way to approach micro stakes cash games online? I know, I don't play cash, but still, I know how I'd do it if I did.

***

If you have top pair with a good kicker, generally bet and keep betting until you have their money or they have yours. Sometimes you will have to fold when it's painfully obv. you are beat, but this means "when the fishy guy who has not taken the betting lead for three hours checkraises you on the turn" not "when the aggrotard shoves over your lead on a flop showing a flush draw". Be willing to slow down against players who fold weak hands though. You'll know who they are. Be very unwilling to fold TPTK though, because at the micros, you'll come across tons of guys who will bet TP of any kind on all three streets. It's okay to check to them if you fear you are beaten, but don't fold if you can help it.
If you have an overpair or stronger, bet and keep betting until you have their money or they have yours. Don't get into the habit of making "great laydowns" of strong hands.
Remember that in limped pots, you will come across more bizarre hands than in raised pots. Try to ensure that most, if not all, pots you enter outside the blinds are raised. You want them to pay to try to make flushes with 83s.
If you have no pair, mostly fold, don't chase unless it's extremely cheap and mostly only when you close the betting or are decently sure that the fishy guy behind you will just call along.
Do not often slowplay. They love to call so you need to fall in love with betting.
Do not bluff players who love to call. Do bluff players who are looking for excuses to fold.

Basically, their wide range is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they will hit ridiculous strong hands that you cannot read them for because they can have so many other hands, but on the other, they will hit lots of weak hands that you also cannot read them for because you just won't believe they found them strong enough to call with. There are many more ways to have a bad hand than a good one, so on the whole, betting hands that are better than most will make money. And when we say bet, we mean bet hard. If they are calling big bets with middle pair, bet big when you have top pair. If they are calling pot with draws, bet the pot at them. Bet more if they insist on chasing for more.

This is how you win at gambling: wager as much as the other guy is willing to wager when you are a favourite, and wager as little as you can when you are not. (This doesn't mean stick your stack in every time you are ahead, because the other guy won't often wager that much with you.)

A round dozen.

Make that 12 buyins.

I cannot fucking believe this.

I get in ahead, I lose. I push a decent hand, I run into not one but two bigger ones. A9 < A4, AJ < KT, blah blah. The last game, on the bubble, I call a desperation shove from shorty. He has 65. I have Q4.

Jeezus fuck. That's 150 bucks in about half an hour. I really need Tilt to switch off the doomswitch. I've now lost 19/20 in the 12s. My ROI has crashed through the floor.

This makes you think you're just not good enough. And maybe I'm not, hey?

Multimurder

So I've been practising 16-tabling the 10ers. It's not too difficult. I think it's gone well, but it's early days. The first time, I cashed 13 out of 16 times and made 89% ROI. The second, I broke even, but I ran like shit. I ran KK into AA three times, AK into AA another, rarely caught a break, and in the money got my money in to win the tourney a couple of times and the other guy caught the big suckout. Twice I outflopped a pair with overcards, only for the other guy to hit a straight on the river, had a set cracked by a guy who called two huge bets with a bare flush draw, and AA cracked by some suited shit that hit a runner flush after calling allin with nothing much on the flop. So the usual, but that could easily have been $50 better, which is 24%. The key thing is that I don't feel I played badly, so I won't stress over the money.

I don't find the decisionmaking too rushed, and I started three fresh tourneys as I was still playing, to see what it's like to play continuously (I would have opened more but I haven't set up the software I plan to use properly yet). I have hotkeys set up for betting and stuff, but I didn't use them. It's easiest to stack tables and just hover near the fold button. It would be harder to do this with turbos, but I'm working on getting the setup right first, before I worry about getting up to speed. I'm not playing turbos just now anyway, because I need to work on ICM. I have very poor knowledge of it, and it's holding me back, because to beat the 16s/24s, I need to be at least competent. It's just laziness has prevented me from putting in the hours, and of course fear.

Fear of what? Fear that I will not, cannot learn. Which is not rational, because when I do time with SNG Wizard, I find I often have "lightbulb" moments (you know, when that little bulb above your head lights up because you get something you didn't before.

***

Sadly, the turbos are going just the same. I'm supposed to be taking a month off, but I couldn't resist playing a few, so I fired four up.

After this hand the fish says "I'm not a fish. I called your hand.

What? You put me exactly on AQs?

Well, maybe you should have folded then?

Full Tilt Poker Game #9465551550: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (72269547), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:05:27 ET - 2008/12/13
Seat 2: MCavalc (955)
Seat 3: moneyOVERhos (2,210), is sitting out
Seat 4: basatagirl (1,320)
Seat 6: swat77 (3,545)
Seat 8: PRFECT8 (2,815)
Seat 9: Dunkster01 (2,655)
swat77 posts the small blind of 40
PRFECT8 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Qh Ah]
Dunkster01 folds
MCavalc raises to 160
moneyOVERhos folds
basatagirl raises to 1,320, and is all in
swat77 folds
PRFECT8 folds
MCavalc has 15 seconds left to act
MCavalc has requested TIME
MCavalc calls 795, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Qh Ah]
MCavalc shows [2c 2s]
Uncalled bet of 365 returned to basatagirl
*** FLOP *** [Ts 8c 4s]
*** TURN *** [Ts 8c 4s] [2h]


Maybe not. So the next hand I do the hail Mary shove.

Full Tilt Poker Game #9465570450: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (72269547), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:06:45 ET - 2008/12/13
Seat 2: MCavalc (2,030)
Seat 3: moneyOVERhos (2,210), is sitting out
Seat 4: basatagirl (365)
Seat 6: swat77 (3,505)
Seat 8: PRFECT8 (2,655)
Seat 9: Dunkster01 (2,735)
Dunkster01 posts the small blind of 40
MCavalc posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ad 2c]
moneyOVERhos folds
basatagirl raises to 365, and is all in
swat77 folds
PRFECT8 has 15 seconds left to act
PRFECT8 calls 365
Dunkster01 folds
MCavalc folds
basatagirl shows [Ad 2c]
PRFECT8 shows [4s 4h]
*** FLOP *** [Th 3h 7h]
*** TURN *** [Th 3h 7h] [As]

Looking good.

*** RIVER *** [Th 3h 7h As] [4c]

OMFG.

And at table 2, I raise to 250 with 1.5K with AKs and of course a fish flats. The flop comes Q high and that looks reasonable to cbet, although I prefer to check mostly. Fish shoves over. OMG. So I fold that and bust out shortly after, shoving over something fishy with KQ. I'm called with 55 and of course I hit nothing. At table 3, I shove TT with 11BB and a tighty snapcalls me. He has AQs. Naturally, the ace comes on the river. I chip back up a bit, but what really sucks is that some cunt limps my blind at t200. I shove 750 with Q7 and I find that this clown limped KQ. Terrible. Why let me see a free flop with that, you fuckwit? On table 4, I shove Q2 with 6BB on the button into two very tight blinds, and one of them wakes up with AT. I then chip up and run AQ into JJ and AK! WTF? I mean, I really fucking need Full Tilt to turn off my doomswitch tbh, because this is getting monotonous. Four games, four buyins down. It's not much but it's 11 out of the last 12 now, and obviously the 24s are fucking terrible for me.

Anyway, have fired up eight more and I hope to run a bit better. I am definitely good enough to beat the 12s, and probably should be beating the 24s too. But luck plays a huge part in this game, and if you have none, you cannot hope to beat any sort of turbo.

Eight games of hell

Some days you need reserves of insouciance when you play poker. You get AK in on a K high flop, the other guy has K7 and rivers a 7. You get K3 in on a K3Q9 board, and the other guy has KQ. You shove over a limp at t100 with 650 chips with A7 and the limper's QJs catches. You shove AQ and some guy who has played 80% of his hands picks up AK. You shove A9 over the guy with the huge stack who's playing every hand, raising wide, and you run into QQ. Some retard shoves over your open with AQ with A7 and he flops a 7. You misclick/call with AQ, hit a Q high flop, bet pot, guy calls and pairs his kicker on the turn, busting you. Blind vs blind, you run A8s into AJ, hit your 8 and watch him river the J. In the end, you are left asking how many sick, horrible ways to lose there actually are. Well, obviously, the answer is going to be more than you could ever imagine.

Finally, some retard limped UTG and I shoved over with AQ. He has K8s and snapcalls. The loser is out, pretty much, because he covers me by 100 chips. His play is unbearably retarded. He did it because I told him to fuck off because he typed "is that your only move?" when I shoved over a limper. The flop is AK9, so not too bad. Turn and river are both 8s. I'd really like Stars to turn off the doomswitch because I just can't play much better than I am right now, but that was an eight-table session that cost me 50 bucks, more than four buyins.

You called with what though?

Why are the $10 games so beatable, Dr Zen?

Well, let me show you.


PokerStars Game #22632892190: Tournament #124960302, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2008/12/04 23:23:39 ET
Table '124960302 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: lsprice (265 in chips)
Seat 2: Ethos_Kid (1145 in chips)
Seat 3: undoface (1130 in chips)
Seat 4: supabaked (3845 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (1510 in chips)
Seat 8: El_Viejito (2515 in chips)
Seat 9: Tiagostuve (3090 in chips)
lsprice: posts small blind 25
Ethos_Kid: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kh Qh]
undoface: folds
supabaked: folds
FR Vessant: raises 100 to 150

Standard open raise. Some players will fold this but that's a bit too tight. No one has been insanely loose so far and tiagostuve and El Viejito have been reasonably tight. I've played with tiaogstuve before, actually, and I don't recall him doing much insane ever, so I'm pretty safe here. This would be the bottom end for me though, and I might not raise it on a table that was a bit wilder.

El_Viejito: folds
Tiagostuve: folds
lsprice: folds
Ethos_Kid: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [4c 5h 4h]

Not the best flop, but if I'm behind a pair, I'm still in decent shape.

Ethos_Kid: checks
FR Vessant: bets 250

So I cbet fairly confidently.

Ethos_Kid: raises 745 to 995 and is all-in

Okay. He has to have a pair, surely? That's his most likely hand preflop. It's a bad call preflop (actually, there aren't many hands that would be good to call with preflop). So if he has been fucking with me with AA/KK, I have eight or nine outs to suck out, and if he has any other pair, I have 15 outs, so I'm a decent favourite. So I'm obviously not folding.

FR Vessant: calls 745

He has 74s.

WTF? Okay, once in a blue moon, you're going to stack a player like me by calling with your suited shit, but there are at least two bad things that can happen to you.

The first bad thing is that you just miss the flop. Then I bet, you fold.
The next bad thing is that you hit the flop. You flop a flush draw and two out of three times you get stacked. That's assuming that I don't have two of the same suit, in which case you get stacked every time. Worse can happen even. You might hit a pair of 7s. On a board like T73, that looks good to go. But say I have a big pair, which I will a decent amount of the time (I don't raise much at t50, and my range for the raise from the hijack is still pretty tight) or even, as I do here, a hand with enough equity vs your pair to make me favourite.

So yeah, sometimes you are going to get very lucky. But you're paying 100 of your 1100 chips to do it. And even when you are, as here, very lucky, you're still getting stacked sometimes.

Well, not this time. He rivered a fourth 4, which shows that the guy who controls the doomswitch has a nice sense of humour.

So these things happen, but Ethos_Kid will be a donator in his time at the $10s, and you can't get that pissed off that people will do rubbish things like that. If they didn't, it would be that much harder to win.

A cautionary tale

I don't often get tricky, preferring the straightforward value game that works well at the low stakes, but here I took a line that mostly would have been better, if I wasn't doomswitched permanently at Stars.


PokerStars Game #22601595008: Tournament #124735199, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/12/03 21:36:27 ET
Table '124735199 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Doctor Roy (1130 in chips)
Seat 2: Tinman161 (1460 in chips)
Seat 3: Royal4000 (1450 in chips)
Seat 4: Lowery44 (1840 in chips)
Seat 5: dprickards (2080 in chips)
Seat 6: Merrillk25 (1460 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Cheeks420 (1080 in chips)
Seat 9: mjs200x (1500 in chips)
dprickards: posts small blind 10
Merrillk25: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Ks]
FR Vessant: raises 40 to 60

Straightforward raise.

Cheeks420: folds
mjs200x: folds
Doctor Roy: raises 140 to 200

Oh dear. I look the guy up though to see why he lost chips, and he looks pretty bad, but I'm not sure. Often, I'd just shove here, but I'm willing to see a flop and if it looks good, get it in.

Tinman161: folds
Royal4000: folds
Lowery44: folds
dprickards: folds
Merrillk25: folds
FR Vessant: calls 140
*** FLOP *** [9d 5h Ad]

That's a good flop. I think it's best to check here, because worse aces will all bet, but other hands might too.

FR Vessant: checks
Doctor Roy: checks

Boo.

*** TURN *** [9d 5h Ad] [9h]
FR Vessant: bets 200

So I bet, but that's a bit cute, and in retrospect I should have bet more. Still, I'm wanting to be called by the hand he actually has.

Doctor Roy: calls 200
*** RIVER *** [9d 5h Ad 9h] [Jh]
FR Vessant: bets 200

Arguably, this is bad, because he won't call with his mid pairs, but I'm hoping he will find it irresistible with AQ. Not sure about my reasoning there, and probably check/call is better.

Doctor Roy: raises 530 to 730 and is all-in
FR Vessant: calls 530

I obviously won't fold in this spot.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Doctor Roy: shows [Jc Jd] (a full house, Jacks full of Nines)

Jeezus. Well, he called with two outs on the turn, but you can't really blame him. These players are quite straightforward, and not betting the flop sort of says I don't have an ace (that's the point of it, of course), so it's possible his jacks are ahead.

***

Think I'm exaggerating about the doomswitch?

Think again:

PokerStars Game #22601984343: Tournament #124735652, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/12/03 21:52:00 ET
Table '124735652 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Omaha_RK (1805 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: thawdgharp (1640 in chips)
Seat 3: 9idiotwind (1690 in chips)
Seat 4: Rancklor (1330 in chips)
Seat 5: mcdramfan (625 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (1490 in chips)
Seat 7: Ryanbankn (660 in chips)
Seat 8: charitypro (2435 in chips)
Seat 9: TruePhoenix4 (1825 in chips)
mcdramfan: posts small blind 15
FR Vessant: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kd Jd]
Ryanbankn: raises 30 to 60
charitypro: folds
TruePhoenix4: folds
Omaha_RK: folds
thawdgharp: folds
9idiotwind: folds
Rancklor: folds
mcdramfan: calls 45
FR Vessant: calls 30

I call because I would limp this on the button and this guy is super bad.

*** FLOP *** [Jc 8d 6d]

Nice.

mcdramfan: checks
FR Vessant: bets 90

I bet, hoping to get action. I will obviously get it in with my pair, overcard and flush draw.

Ryanbankn: raises 510 to 600 and is all-in

Nice.

He has KQ. His play is just awful, on both streets. First, he should not even play KQ, let alone minraise it. Second, he should fold on the flop. He only has six outs vs top pair, and he's never going to make the average $10 player fold top pair with a push.

So he's dead to a queen.

mcdramfan: folds
FR Vessant: calls 510
*** TURN *** [Jc 8d 6d] [Ac]

Add two tens (not Td) to his outs and he's still a longshot...

*** RIVER *** [Jc 8d 6d Ac] [Ts]

Oh.

November results

So I didn't play much in November for one reason or another. I did 19 10ers at 46%. It would have been more, but I bubbled 17, 18 and 19, running into AA twice.

That's one of the more frustrating things in STTs actually. Some guy limps 30ish percent of his range, and you have no reason to believe he has any awareness of the need to be aggressive as blinds rise, so he limps and you shove over him. This time he has aces.

I'm not planning to play much in December either. Doing lots of study instead, to try finally to get some sort of clue in ICM. What's that they say about the road to hell...?

Welcome back, Mr Zen

Here's my first STT after a break. I've played a few bits of HORSE and the like with absolutely no luck, but check this:


PokerStars Game #22371442955: Tournament #123011490, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/11/25 23:56:09 ET
Table '123011490 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: shrume72 (650 in chips)
Seat 2: CoreyKTK (2290 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (1440 in chips)
Seat 4: zitov1 (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: gelk245 (630 in chips)
Seat 6: jimvski (3300 in chips)
Seat 7: bishopdog1 (1010 in chips)
Seat 8: W0lfgang72 (1230 in chips)
Seat 9: KayP17 (1470 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 10
zitov1: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [2h 2s]
gelk245: folds
jimvski: folds
bishopdog1: folds
W0lfgang72 is disconnected
W0lfgang72 is connected
W0lfgang72: folds
KayP17: folds
shrume72: folds
CoreyKTK: calls 20
FR Vessant: calls 10

Could fold with this, but might as well see whether I can hit a set.

zitov1: checks
*** FLOP *** [2d Qd Ac]

There's my set. Drawy board though so I pot it.

FR Vessant: bets 60
zitov1: folds
CoreyKTK: calls 60
*** TURN *** [2d Qd Ac] [Kc]

Hmmm. Well, I'd have to be fairly unlikely to be beat on that board. JT is not likely to have called a bet on the flop.

FR Vessant: bets 120
CoreyKTK: raises 120 to 240

Hmmm. Well, his range probably has a lot of aces, and KQ is definitely in there. Adxd also might have waited till the turn.

FR Vessant: raises 320 to 560

Better not scare him off. I'm clearly going to stack off here.

CoreyKTK: raises 320 to 880
FR Vessant: raises 480 to 1360 and is all-in

No, let's do it for all our money.

CoreyKTK: calls 480
*** RIVER *** [2d Qd Ac Kc] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [2h 2s] (three of a kind, Deuces)
CoreyKTK: shows [Jd Td] (a straight, Ten to Ace)

Sigh.

WTF to the max

Has my luck improved? Has it fuck!

Check this out. This is one of the funniest hands I've ever played:



PokerStars Game #21500138892: Tournament #116481725, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/10/26 0:54:10 ET
Table '116481725 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: Bridget1968 (3435 in chips)
Seat 3: DD2280 (1080 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (3400 in chips)
Seat 5: Pro97 (1680 in chips)
Seat 6: PROJECT.KO (735 in chips)
Seat 7: achiever (3170 in chips)
achiever: posts small blind 15
Bridget1968: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qc Ac]
DD2280: folds
FR Vessant: raises 60 to 90

Standard raise with this strong hand.

Pro97: folds
PROJECT.KO: calls 90

Absolutely terrible player. Called my valuebet with KT on an AA885 board with 54. No prizes in this game for three pair, bro.

achiever: folds
Bridget1968: calls 60

Even worse player. Has been involved in nearly every hand, making on the whole terrible decisions.

*** FLOP *** [4c Ah 5c]
Bridget1968: checks
FR Vessant: bets 210
PROJECT.KO: calls 210
Bridget1968: calls 210

WTF. Well, Bridget is seriously bad, and can have any ace here, and just about any draw. The other guy must have an ace imo. But if he does, he has to shove!

Either one could have a flush draw, and that would be good for me because obviously I'm drawing to the nuts.

*** TURN *** [4c Ah 5c] [7h]
Bridget1968: checks
FR Vessant: bets 480

I think I have to bet here. I'd prefer to be up against one player, but shorty isn't likely to win here.

PROJECT.KO: calls 435 and is all-in

Calling with his ace, I figure.

Bridget1968: raises 2655 to 3135 and is all-in

WTF? Well, she can have A7, I suppose, but she's played badly enough to put AJ/AT in her range. If she has me beat, I have odds to draw out. I'm not delighted to call, but I don't think I can fold here.

FR Vessant: calls 2620 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (35) returned to Bridget1968

*** RIVER *** [4c Ah 5c 7h] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Bridget1968: shows [3s 6c] (a straight, Three to Seven)

What. The. Fuck. The poker gods are just teasing me now.

FR Vessant: shows [Qc Ac] (three of a kind, Aces)
Bridget1968 collected 5330 from side pot
PROJECT.KO: shows [7d Ad] (a full house, Aces full of Sevens)

So both these fucking clowns drew out on me on the turn!

I know, this is how we make money. Except I'm not. I'm losing it. Because this is happening to me every fucking tourney I play. I have cashed one in the last nine. Yesterday, I desperation shoved J8 into JJ, pushed AK into AA, and stacked off with AT on a T high board, get this, against TT. And those are just the hands I didn't get fucked over by the god of luck, but was only booted in the nuts by the god of cold decks.

October results

A little bit early but my poker month is now over, so why not?

And what a frustrating month!

I played:
10 regular 10ers at 6.4%
122 12 turbos at 22.2%
5 regular 20ers at 30.9%
53 24 turbos at -19.1%
2 36 turbos at -17.5%

So overall I played 214 games at 5.2%.

Am I really not good enough for the 24s? Well, I think I am, but I ran truly poorly and that caused me to tilt and play badly some of the time too. 50ish games is not many, enough that a few unlucky breaks can make all the difference. So I will now have a month off, more or less, do some study and hopefully beat them decently in December.

No, Zen, no.

The worst of running badly is that eventually you start playing badly.

This is really bad.


Full Tilt Poker Game #8495892704: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64661264), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:27:00 ET - 2008/10/15
Seat 2: dio555 x (6,290)
Seat 4: themer24881 (1,430)
Seat 6: therealjride (1,920)
Seat 9: basatagirl (3,860)
themer24881 posts the small blind of 100
therealjride posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Jh Jc]
basatagirl raises to 700

I raise a bit more than normal because I want to discourage the bigstack from calling.

dio555 x raises to 2,000

Okay, so now I just fold. I can't play a pot with him, and he's tight enough to have me beat or racing here.

themer24881 folds
therealjride folds
basatagirl raises to 3,860, and is all in


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I knew as soon as I did it that it was a terrible mistake. I would never usually continue with this hand. I should just fold.

dio555 x calls 1,860
basatagirl shows [Jh Jc]
dio555 x shows [Kc Kh]

Fuckwit. I just wanted to win so badly that I fucked up. I'm just so gutted about today. I was nearly back to par but I have lost a couple of hundred today. it's not much money but it really hurts.

Why you should not limp KK

Here's why limping big pairs can be a super bad idea:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8494142078: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64645824), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:10:42 ET - 2008/10/15
Seat 1: donkey1313 (4,675)
Seat 3: iskah (2,330)
Seat 4: bobspamboy (3,340)
Seat 7: fishcop596 (475)
Seat 8: Vortex2099 (1,250)
Seat 9: basatagirl (1,430)
Vortex2099 posts the small blind of 50
basatagirl posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [3s 8c]
donkey1313 calls 100
iskah folds
bobspamboy folds
fishcop596 folds
Vortex2099 folds
basatagirl checks
*** FLOP *** [Th 3c 8h]
basatagirl bets 200

Bet near pot.

donkey1313 raises to 850

Oh man. Well, I'm hoping to see AT and not TT obv. Maybe a flush draw.

basatagirl raises to 1,330, and is all in

I'm obv. not folding on this board.

donkey1313 calls 480
basatagirl shows [3s 8c]
donkey1313 shows [Ks Kh]

wat


*** TURN *** [Th 3c 8h] [As]
*** RIVER *** [Th 3c 8h As] [8s]
basatagirl shows a full house, Eights full of Threes

Niiiiiice.

All in

Given that some of the games I've played, I've just been cold-decked, it makes sense that I have been about even when I've got it in, or slightly better. If you've been running a bit cold cardswise, you're going to be getting it in behind more than you'd like. This is part of luck, just as much as allin luck.

But check out my allin luck.




It should make me feel better to know that I probably don't suck as much as my stats suggest. I'd post my graph for the 12s, but I mislaid it. Anyway, it's actually +luck by a little bit. So it can happen!

I'll explain the graph in case you don't know what they mean, and show you why it should make me feel a bit better.


I am -$297 in luck. That means I have won $297 less than I could expect when the money went in. Basically, if $100 is at stake, and I get it in as a 70/30 favourite, I expect to win $70.

I have lost $180 at the 24s. So I'm 117 dollars behind where I should be. Over 38 games, that's 13% ROI.

I should be running at 13% if I got my expectation when all in.

sigh

You know, I'm sure I'll look back and laugh, but laughing is really hard at the moment. I lost the first four buyins this morning in really horrible ways. I lost on the first hand I played for the morning. A guy called off his stack with a flush draw and hit. I ran completely card dead in two tourneys and basically got eliminated on the first hand I played. Then I lost with 99 vs KJ and ran 88 into QQ. I came third in the next, when my 55 got sucked out on by A3 and the next hand I shoved A7 into AT. You couldn't fucking make this up.

This is what happened in my sixth tourney of the day. I mean, fucksake. How many can I lose like this?

Full Tilt Poker Game #8490887546: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64617910), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:10:24 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 2: israelmoe (1,620)
Seat 3: francis20011 (1,285)
Seat 4: GRENLIK (1,000)
Seat 5: basatagirl (1,600)
Seat 6: Everyman (1,735)
Seat 7: mrpotto (3,085)
Seat 8: brewing (1,340)
Seat 9: WhiskeyBreath60 (1,835)
GRENLIK posts the small blind of 30
basatagirl posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kh Ks]
Everyman folds
mrpotto folds
brewing raises to 180
WhiskeyBreath60 has 15 seconds left to act
WhiskeyBreath60 folds
israelmoe calls 180
francis20011 folds
GRENLIK raises to 1,000, and is all in
basatagirl raises to 1,600, and is all in
brewing folds
israelmoe folds
basatagirl shows [Kh Ks]
GRENLIK shows [6h 6c]
Uncalled bet of 600 returned to basatagirl
*** FLOP *** [6d 7c 3s]
*** TURN *** [6d 7c 3s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7c 3s 7s] [2d]
basatagirl shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
GRENLIK shows a full house, Sixes full of Sevens
GRENLIK wins the pot (2,360) with a full house, Sixes full of Sevens
basatagirl: sigh
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,360 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 7c 3s 7s 2d]
Seat 2: israelmoe folded before the Flop
Seat 3: francis20011 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: GRENLIK (small blind) showed [6h 6c] and won (2,360) with a full house, Sixes full of Sevens
Seat 5: basatagirl (big blind) showed [Kh Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sevens
Seat 6: Everyman didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: mrpotto didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: brewing folded before the Flop
Seat 9: WhiskeyBreath60 didn't bet (folded)


***

Then this. This is just unbearable.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8491012725: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64616066), Table 1 - 200/400 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:18:41 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 1: Senor Boston (1,540)
Seat 3: basatagirl (1,045)
Seat 4: CheckForValue (3,060)
Seat 6: GodzDice (3,345)
Seat 7: craigchin (4,510)
craigchin posts the small blind of 200
Senor Boston posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kc 9c]
basatagirl raises to 1,045, and is all in
CheckForValue folds
GodzDice folds
craigchin folds
Senor Boston folds
Uncalled bet of 645 returned to basatagirl
basatagirl mucks
basatagirl wins the pot (1,000)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,000 | Rake 0
Seat 1: Senor Boston (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: basatagirl collected (1,000), mucked
Seat 4: CheckForValue didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: GodzDice (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: craigchin (small blind) folded before the Flop

But hey, I came back a bit, so I had hope.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8491065113: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64616066), Table 1 - 250/500 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:22:08 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 1: Senor Boston (2,530)
Seat 3: basatagirl (2,010)
Seat 4: CheckForValue (2,460)
Seat 6: GodzDice (3,345)
Seat 7: craigchin (3,155)
Senor Boston posts the small blind of 250
basatagirl posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [9d 6c]
CheckForValue folds
GodzDice folds
craigchin has 15 seconds left to act
craigchin folds
Senor Boston calls 250
basatagirl checks

It's weird that he limps, but I don't think I have fold equity.

*** FLOP *** [9s Ts 4c]
Senor Boston bets 2,030, and is all in

I have to call. He would not shove with a hand that beat mine.

basatagirl calls 1,510, and is all in
Senor Boston shows [Qs 7s]

I'm right, and I'm a favourite to win.

basatagirl shows [9d 6c]
Uncalled bet of 520 returned to Senor Boston
*** TURN *** [9s Ts 4c] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [9s Ts 4c 5d] [5s]

I am -20% at the 24s. I just don't know what I could be doing that I'm not doing. I've played 38 games and lost 180 dollars. First thing this morning, I was a win away from getting my head above water. I've lost 120 dollars to suckout after suckout after suckout.

I know this ends. I know that I will run good again. KK can't be beaten by 66 every time. But man, I need that good to start now, because I can't stand this at the moment. It's just souldestroying.

And the worst thing is, this is only happening to me at the 24s. I was running bad at the 12s earlier, but that evened out, and now I'm going well in them. But in 24 after 24, I'm getting soulcrushed.

Up. And down obv.

I am now losing at the 24s. It really sucks when every time you get your money in with Ax, and villain calls with Ax with a smaller x, and he hits his kicker.

I'd really liked to have started well in them. It's good to begin with a heater, because you can then play confidently, without worrying about future losses. But so far, it's a grim story of suckout after suckout.

Yeah, I know, it's good to get it in ahead, but believe me, it's better to stay ahead.

It doesn't help that no one on Tilt has heard of table selection, so it's tough to find tables that aren't packed with sharks.

omfgwtfwtfwtf

Why am I yelling at my screen?

This is my second 36.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8467684514: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64431792), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:30:20 ET - 2008/10/13
Seat 2: rivercity79 (3,390)
Seat 8: basatagirl (8,015)

Note my huge stack.

Seat 9: Bozy_Man1986 (2,095)
Bozy_Man1986 posts the small blind of 100
rivercity79 posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [9c Ks]
basatagirl raises to 500
Bozy_Man1986 folds
rivercity79 calls 300

This guy is a huge fish and can have absolutely anything.

*** FLOP *** [4d Qs Kd]
rivercity79 bets 2,890, and is all in

Easy call.

basatagirl calls 2,890
rivercity79 shows [Jc Ts]

See? Absolutely shit.

basatagirl shows [9c Ks]
*** TURN *** [4d Qs Kd] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [4d Qs Kd 3h] [Ad]


Aaaargh.

But anyway, I still have a decent stack.
Full Tilt Poker Game #8467693281: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64431792), Table 1 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:31:28 ET - 2008/10/13
Seat 2: rivercity79 (7,240)
Seat 8: basatagirl (4,625)
Seat 9: Bozy_Man1986 (1,635)

Note how short this guy is. I don't want to get involved in a big pot.

rivercity79 posts the small blind of 120
basatagirl posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [2s Th]
Bozy_Man1986 folds
rivercity79 calls 120
basatagirl checks
*** FLOP *** [2c Js Ts]

Well, I'm going to have to play a big pot now.

rivercity79 checks
basatagirl bets 600
rivercity79 raises to 1,200
basatagirl raises to 4,385, and is all in

No problems getting it in here. He can have absolutely anything. To be behind here would be a huge cooler. I expect to see Jx and to have to fade his outs for his kicker.

rivercity79 calls 3,185
basatagirl shows [2s Th]
rivercity79 shows [Kd Kh]

His play is of course awful.

He has five outs: three Js and the remaining kings. He'll have eight on the river if he doesn't suck out on the turn.

I'm a huge favourite obviously. 71/29 to be precise.

*** TURN *** [2c Js Ts] [Jc]

WTF. I mean, fucksake, I would have folded if he had raised pre, but I can't fold on the flop.

I had fucking 8K chips! I am 13 to 1 for that shit to happen to me. You know, I'd rather it had happened at the 14th time of asking, rather than the first.

wtf 7

Well okay, one more:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8424074005: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64102088), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:21:33 ET - 2008/10/10
Seat 1: basatagirl (900)
Seat 3: wissp (705)
Seat 6: 4-Stack (1,305)
Seat 7: Wahish (2,400)
Seat 8: blumjk (4,130)
Seat 9: BARNWOOD1 (4,060)
wissp posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kd 9h]
4-Stack folds
Wahish folds
blumjk folds
BARNWOOD1 folds
basatagirl raises to 900, and is all in
wissp calls 545, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Kd 9h]
wissp shows [Kh 5h]

WTF?

But hey! I have him dominated. He only has three outs, right?

Uncalled bet of 195 returned to basatagirl
*** FLOP *** [6d Qs 4c]
basatagirl: gamble it up

That's right. Fucking retard. If he ever wonders why he's not making money, there it is. Just fold and push ATC when you get the chance. STTs are not about trying to suck out on people; they're about trying to make people fold.

Now he's 7 to 1 to win.

*** TURN *** [6d Qs 4c] [7s]

OMG. You know what's coming though. Another runner runner straight.

*** RIVER *** [6d Qs 4c 7s] [8c]

Yep. So I bust next hand. Another buyin gone to three outs.

Then at my other table a winning player calls my 87 shove for 10BB, I cover him. He has JTs. I have not shown down bad cards at any point.

He cannot justify his call. He is just gambling. Even if he thinks I'm shoving wide, that's an easy fold. I have to be shoving more than 70% for JTs to be a call, and I don't shove that wide against anyone I think is decent because I know they'll call a bit wider than the fish. He doesn't know me and doesn't know that I'll shove wide at all. Most players don't. It's also a fold for me if I know he's calling that wide, but this is a winning player. I expect him to be folding J high.

Actually, I should have known he was retarded. He joined a table that already had three strong winning players and another couple of breakeven ones. That's dumb for a player who is only playing a handful of tables.

wtf 6

I can't even win when 11/2 ahead HU.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8423618942: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:44:47 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (1,930)
Seat 5: basatagirl (11,570)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 300
p p polly posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [3s 5d]
basatagirl folds

I should shove here, but I'm so gunshy.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8423620451: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:44:54 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (2,230)
Seat 5: basatagirl (11,270)
p p polly posts the small blind of 300
basatagirl posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [As Qc]
p p polly raises to 2,230, and is all in
basatagirl calls 1,630

Easy call obv.

p p polly shows [3d 3h]
basatagirl shows [As Qc]
*** FLOP *** [3c Kd 5h]

That's nice.



Full Tilt Poker Game #8423625160: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:45:16 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (4,460)
Seat 5: basatagirl (9,040)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 300
p p polly posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Tc 3d]
basatagirl folds

I think this is close. She's calling tightly though so maybe a shove.


Full Tilt Poker Game #8423626436: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:45:22 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (4,760)
Seat 5: basatagirl (8,740)
p p polly posts the small blind of 300
basatagirl posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Qc Js]
p p polly folds
Uncalled bet of 300 returned to basatagirl

Meh.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8423628694: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:45:32 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (4,460)
Seat 5: basatagirl (9,040)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 300
p p polly posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ac Jh]
basatagirl raises to 9,040, and is all in
p p polly folds

So I'm still miles ahead.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8423631426: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:45:45 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (3,860)
Seat 5: basatagirl (9,640)
p p polly posts the small blind of 300
basatagirl posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kd 6s]
p p polly folds
Uncalled bet of 300 returned to basatagirl


Full Tilt Poker Game #8423632733: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:45:52 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (3,560)
Seat 5: basatagirl (9,940)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 300
p p polly posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Jc 6h]
basatagirl raises to 9,940, and is all in

Easy shove. She's calling tight so I should shove ATC probably.


p p polly calls 2,960, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Jc 6h]
p p polly shows [Qd Qs]

Fucking typical.




Full Tilt Poker Game #8423637025: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:46:11 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (7,120)
Seat 5: basatagirl (6,380)
p p polly posts the small blind of 300
basatagirl posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [5s 2s]
p p polly folds
Uncalled bet of 300 returned to basatagirl


Full Tilt Poker Game #8423638670: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:46:19 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (6,820)
Seat 5: basatagirl (6,680)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 300
p p polly posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [2h 8s]
basatagirl folds

Have to fold this terrible hand because I have a lot less FE now that I've shown a poor hand when shoving.



Full Tilt Poker Game #8423639983: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:46:25 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (7,120)
Seat 5: basatagirl (6,380)
p p polly posts the small blind of 300
basatagirl posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [5d 6c]
p p polly folds
Uncalled bet of 300 returned to basatagirl
basatagirl mucks



Full Tilt Poker Game #8423641451: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64096682), Table 1 - 300/600 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:46:32 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: p p polly (6,820)
Seat 5: basatagirl (6,680)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 300
p p polly posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ah Qs]
basatagirl raises to 6,680, and is all in
p p polly has 15 seconds left to act
p p polly calls 6,080
basatagirl shows [Ah Qs]
p p polly shows [9h Th]

WTF.


*** FLOP *** [6c 9s 7c]

WTF.

This makes the difference, you know. Just before this, I shoved into a guy who had less than 10BB with JT. He had AK and I doubled him. He made a big fuss in the chat about what a bad play I had made, which made me laugh. I said, the only good thing you've done this game is get dealt a good hand. Anyway, I made the money, but shoved AJ and got called by KQ, which inevitably drew out on me.

So make my two big aces hold up and I'm maybe 30 bucks richer. That would make me decently ahead for the day. So these things matter. It's not the huge suckouts so much, although they hurt; nor is it always running your desperate shoves into much bigger hands; it's constantly losing when you're ahead in key hands.

Unbelievably--well, it's unbelievable to me--I am actually ahead in the 12s today, and only behind for the day because in a soft 24 a total fish snapped off my 9BB shove with AJ with a QT that obviously hit a Q on the flop.

The reason I'm feeling down is not the souldestroying beats, but that I don't feel I'm playing well, and don't feel I'm really crushing the game. My results suggest I am, but I think I ran hot and now I'm about where I'm at. Which is depressing. I know it sounds very whinesome to complain when you're winning, but I've been learning poker for quite a long time, and I want to win at a much higher level.

Well okay, it's not desperate. Downswings are not inevitable. I could go on a great heater for the rest of the month and start thinking I'm a winner again. Worst case, I limp along to 500ish games at the 12s and can take stock. For the few people who are reading this, I promise to post something more upbeat in the upcoming.

wtf 5

When you're down, you're down. I'm not going to post any more bad beats. They're just so depressing. But man, can't the poker gods punish these fucking idiots ONCE IN A WHILE?

Full Tilt Poker Game #8422676023: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64092790), Table 1 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:32:41 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: nejaimes (1,485)
Seat 2: shides (1,875)
Seat 3: RichyRich_OH (1,750)
Seat 4: basatagirl (1,455)
Seat 5: jmunsworth (1,450)
Seat 6: BigDave1078 (1,160)
Seat 7: caligulas (1,460)
Seat 8: suckmedeck (1,470)
Seat 9: sunshine202 (1,395)
caligulas posts the small blind of 25
suckmedeck posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Qd Qh]
sunshine202 folds
nejaimes folds
shides calls 50
RichyRich_OH calls 50
basatagirl raises to 275

Standard sort of raise.

jmunsworth has 15 seconds left to act
jmunsworth folds
BigDave1078 folds
caligulas folds
suckmedeck folds
shides folds
RichyRich_OH has 15 seconds left to act
RichyRich_OH calls 225

Now I'll tell you, he has 55. This is an atrocious call. He won't hit a set often enough to make this good, and he can't be confident enough of his hand to call a cbet.

*** FLOP *** [6s Ts 2s]
RichyRich_OH has 15 seconds left to act
RichyRich_OH checks
basatagirl bets 1,180, and is all in

Okay, the all spades flop is superbad, so I shove to, I hope, make single-card flush draws fold.

RichyRich_OH calls 1,180
basatagirl shows [Qd Qh]
RichyRich_OH shows [5s 5c]

Fat fucking chance of that. Having called preflop getting less than 7 to 1 to stack me if he hits a set, this fuckwit is not folding getting the exactly right odds to hit if I do not hold a spade.

He can't even spell ICM, let alone realise that he's losing money even if he hits.


*** TURN *** [6s Ts 2s] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [6s Ts 2s 2h] [3s]

And why should he? I'm not even going to ask why the poker gods couldn't, just for once, have let me have the Qs, so that he was left drawing nearly dead. Not that he wouldn't then have rivered a 5.

wtf 4

I think this is the most frustrating kind of hand. This is only my second 24. I played it because everyone but Deezel50, who is a strong player AFAIK, is a losing player. I think the hand illustrates a couple of principles that are important.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8420430335: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64073283), Table 1 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:41:51 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 2: jdinbeverly (2,280)
Seat 3: Deezel50 (1,550)
Seat 5: basatagirl (1,120)
Seat 6: addicted 2 air (1,905)
Seat 7: thegreatman (3,330)
Seat 8: Straight Right (1,430)
Seat 9: jameg1011 (1,885)
Deezel50 posts the small blind of 60
basatagirl posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kd Jd]

I'm hoping to have it limped round, because I can't really call a raise with this hand, and I don't want to shove over because I'll have zero FE with my stack.

addicted 2 air calls 120
thegreatman folds
Straight Right folds
jameg1011 calls 120
jdinbeverly folds
Deezel50 calls 60
basatagirl checks

I could shove over here, but these players are awful and with this big pot, could easily snap me off.

*** FLOP *** [Ts Kc 3h]
Deezel50 checks
basatagirl checks

I prefer not to lead into a crowd here. My hand is very likely good but I'm liable to be called a lot. If there's heavy action, I can lay it down though. If someone bets, I can CRAI and if they're shitting, I at least get their bet.

addicted 2 air checks
jameg1011 bets 120

He almost certainly does not have a king better than mine. If he did, he would not be minbetting!

Minbets very rarely mean a big hand. Sometimes a tard will milk you with a monster, but I think you have to pay them off, because they're quite rare.

Deezel50 folds
basatagirl raises to 1,000, and is all in

So I shove over.

addicted 2 air has 15 seconds left to act
addicted 2 air calls 1,000

I know when he calls that he doesn't have me beat. He would have bet if he did.


jameg1011 folds
basatagirl shows [Kd Jd]
addicted 2 air shows [Ks 6h]

I knew it. So I'm miles ahead. He needs a 6 or perfect runners to split the pot.

*** TURN *** [Ts Kc 3h] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Ts Kc 3h Tc] [Qc]

Like that.

What makes this galling is the following hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8420512995: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64073283), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:48:19 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 5: basatagirl (1,860)
Seat 6: addicted 2 air (5,095)
Seat 7: thegreatman (1,695)
Seat 9: jameg1011 (4,850)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 100
addicted 2 air posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Jd Ah]

I have decent equity and I know he'll call wide. So I don't want to shove just anything. But I can't pass with AJ. It's a push unless he calls with 92%. Which he won't, crazy as he is.

thegreatman: folded AJ
thegreatman folds
jameg1011 folds
basatagirl raises to 1,860, and is all in
addicted 2 air calls 1,660
basatagirl shows [Jd Ah]
addicted 2 air shows [Td Qh]

Terrible, obviously, but he's not losing thousands of dollars for no reason.


*** FLOP *** [4d 9s Qs]

Well, that sucks. That's how my past week has been. I knew I would bust. I knew that if I put it in with that AJ, he would call with some shit and would outflop me. But I also knew that this was a shove. What can you do?

And yes I know, it's just tilt that makes you think you're doomed to lose. But when it happens to you a ton, you start thinking you are not going to be permitted to win one. That's a seriously bad attitude, but wtf, I didn't win it, did I?

wtf 3

I genuinely feel like crying. These aren't just 70/30s. These are people laying really incredible beats on me. Not just one or two. At least a dozen in the past two dozen games. In literally half my games, I'm getting outdrawn by guys hitting no more than four outs, flopping straights or flushes against my big hands...


Full Tilt Poker Game #8410250300: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63995674), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:25:14 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: greenpolo888 (2,660)
Seat 2: rajangoog (1,685)
Seat 4: Brewmaster8 (2,345)
Seat 6: basatagirl (1,410)
Seat 7: ak800 (1,270)
Seat 8: TestJunkie (1,350)
Seat 9: Sweetcheet (2,780)
ak800 posts the small blind of 40
TestJunkie posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Td As]
Sweetcheet folds
greenpolo888 folds
rajangoog folds
Brewmaster8 folds
basatagirl has 15 seconds left to act
basatagirl raises to 200

Standard raise. I expect both to fold quite often.

ak800 folds
TestJunkie calls 120

He should fold. He has KJs. Calling that with 11BB against a player he knows is tight is no good. Even though my range widens on the button, he should still fold. If he thinks he's ahead of me, he needs to shove. But I'm not that wide. I don't have a big stack or anything, and I'm not going to be raising many hands KJs beats. On many flops, I'll cbet and he's going to have to fold. He can't stop and go often because I'll call a lot of the time.

*** FLOP *** [Qs 3c Ks]
TestJunkie checks
basatagirl checks

Why don't I cbet here?

1/ His range has a lot of Ks and Qs and a lot of pairs. He won't fold any of that. Some he'll shove and I'll have to fold my four outs.
2/ The flush draws won't fold either.
3/ The rest of his range is hands that have somewhat hit this: he might have JT/J9 and may call or even shove with them.

*** TURN *** [Qs 3c Ks] [Jh]

Nice! I turn my straight.

TestJunkie bets 1,150, and is all in
basatagirl calls 1,150

Easy call of course.

TestJunkie shows [Jc Kc]
basatagirl shows [Td As]

So he has four outs. I am a 10.5 to 1 favourite. I have to fade two Js and...

*** RIVER *** [Qs 3c Ks Jh] [Kd]

...two Ks.

WTF.

Idiot

Okay. Now i have to quit for the day because I'm tilting. I just can't stand being drawn out on all the time in such mad ways.


Full Tilt Poker Game #8410097511: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63994435), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:13:23 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: ScoopTheLoop (1,335)
Seat 3: richsun33 (3,030)
Seat 4: vegasvas (2,340)
Seat 5: ajkennedy (2,430)
Seat 7: gio1818 (1,365)
Seat 8: basatagirl (1,510)
Seat 9: brotran (1,490)
richsun33 posts the small blind of 40
vegasvas posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Tc Th]
ajkennedy folds
gio1818 folds
basatagirl raises to 200

Standard raise.

brotran folds
ScoopTheLoop folds
richsun33 folds
vegasvas calls 120

He's not all that fishy.


*** FLOP *** [7h Jd 3h]

Decent flop. Not many Js in his range.

vegasvas checks
basatagirl bets 320

I bet to protect my hand and make Ax/Kx/Qx and flush draws fold.

vegasvas raises to 2,140, and is all in

I put him on the flush draw, trying to push me off a whiffed AK. Or something like 99/88, which could easily think it's ahead here. I mean, obv. he has a J a lot here, but I'm on tilt and I don't want to have been outflopped yet again. A game earlier I lost most of my stack when my allin TT was outflopped by KJ.


basatagirl calls 990, and is all in
vegasvas shows [Kh Jh]

I am an idiot. Where's my discipline? I give them bluffs in this spot. I could have just checked behind if I didn't want to be pushed off it.

There was also this:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8410053881: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63992924), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:09:53 ET - 2008/10/09
Seat 1: JPs Mannequinnn (1,490)
Seat 2: tstew1970 (2,400)
Seat 3: UD-Engineer (1,290)
Seat 4: moosek8 (2,650)
Seat 6: Kasey07 (2,485)
Seat 7: basatagirl (1,180)
Seat 8: zagstar (2,005)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 100
zagstar posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ks Qc]
JPs Mannequinnn folds
tstew1970 folds
UD-Engineer folds
moosek8 folds
Kasey07 raises to 700

He's been quite loose but hasn't raised all that much. So easy fold for me.

basatagirl raises to 1,180, and is all in

NO. Easy fold, you clown!

zagstar folds
Kasey07 calls 480
basatagirl shows [Ks Qc]
Kasey07 shows [Ah Tc]

Sigh.

wtf 2

I've had it with this. I mean wtf. First hand of a tourney.

[63990412, Full Tilt Poker Game #8409376277: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63990412), Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:19:05 ET - 2008/10/08
Seat 1: RyuHoshi87 (1,500)
Seat 2: Slowplayin85 (1,500)
Seat 3: MaximusTN (1,500)
Seat 4: jAN mASKELL (1,500)
Seat 5: CatfishBrown (1,500)
Seat 6: basatagirl (1,500)
Seat 7: melonhedd (1,500)
Seat 8: call in 33 (1,500)
Seat 9: gustony23 (1,500)
RyuHoshi87 posts the small blind of 15
Slowplayin85 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kh Ks]
CatfishBrown is feeling angry
MaximusTN raises to 90
jAN mASKELL folds
CatfishBrown calls 90
basatagirl raises to 405
melonhedd folds
call in 33 folds
gustony23 calls 405
RyuHoshi87 folds
Slowplayin85 calls 375
MaximusTN calls 315
CatfishBrown folds
*** FLOP *** [8h 3d 3h]
Slowplayin85 checks
MaximusTN checks
basatagirl bets 1,095, and is all in
gustony23 folds
Slowplayin85 folds
MaximusTN calls 1,095, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Kh Ks]
MaximusTN shows [7d 7c]


I am an 11/1 favourite. 11 to fucking one!


*** TURN *** [8h 3d 3h] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3d 3h 4s] [7s]

WTF.

Literally two seconds earlier, at t50, a winning player limped UTG. I raised to 200 with QQ.

The flop came 532, I bet, he raised, I shoved.

He has A4s. I mean, wtf. He makes a terrible, shocking bad call, and hits perfect. When this happens occasionally, it's something you can live with. But when it's nearly every tourney, god it hurts.

Give and ye shall receive

Still, it's nice to do this:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8407300683: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63971838), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:50:07 ET - 2008/10/08
Seat 1: johnyblue (1,105)
Seat 3: fuzzywuzzy256 (2,510)
Seat 5: basatagirl (1,165)
Seat 6: FREZA (3,370)
Seat 7: kosamm (1,975)
Seat 9: jam450 (3,375)
FREZA posts the small blind of 100
kosamm posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [7s 3d]
jam450 folds
johnyblue folds
fuzzywuzzy256 folds
basatagirl raises to 1,165, and is all in


I need to check this is Wiz, but I think that the blinds are calling so tight that I can push any two here. I have less than 6BB and the gain of 1.5BB would be pretty good for me.


***

So I checked it in Wiz. I think these guys both get it in with about 11%. That's an ATC shove for me and it's not particularly close. The BB may even have been tighter.

FREZA folds
kosamm calls 965
basatagirl shows [7s 3d]
kosamm shows [Ad Kd]

Oh dear.

*** FLOP *** [7c 4s 9c]

Yay!

*** TURN *** [7c 4s 9c] [Ks]

Boo!

*** RIVER *** [7c 4s 9c Ks] [3c]

YAY!

wtf

This is getting ridiculous.

When people measure allin EV, they are only measuring how they do vs their hot and cold equity. What they don't measure is this sort of thing. But it's crazy how often this happens to me:


Full Tilt Poker Game #8407131709: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63971950), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:37:58 ET - 2008/10/08
Seat 1: Rook26 (1,410)
Seat 2: kepo13 (1,655)
Seat 3: BicRedBilly (1,670)
Seat 4: basatagirl (1,835)
Seat 5: ronthebartender (1,155)
Seat 6: kosamm (1,350)
Seat 7: SNAKE0500 (2,640)
Seat 8: miggitymack (710)
Seat 9: SPIKEARINI (1,075)
SNAKE0500 posts the small blind of 30
miggitymack posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ah Kc]
SNAKE0500: wow, so knew you had ace something!
SPIKEARINI folds
Rook26 folds
kepo13 calls 60
BicRedBilly folds
basatagirl has 15 seconds left to act
basatagirl raises to 270

Decent raise with AK.

ronthebartender has 15 seconds left to act
ronthebartender calls 270
kosamm folds
SNAKE0500 folds
miggitymack folds
kepo13 has 15 seconds left to act
kepo13 calls 210

Not so happy to be called in two places.


*** FLOP *** [Td Kd Tc]

But that's a good flop. It's very very unlikely that someone has a T because
there are only two left in play. I have TPTK, so with luck, someone has a K.

kepo13 checks
basatagirl bets 690
ronthebartender folds
kepo13 raises to 1,380
basatagirl calls 690

I'm not worried about that. I'm obviously stacking off against a fish with TPTK.

*** TURN *** [Td Kd Tc] [3h]
kepo13 bets 5, and is all in
basatagirl calls 5
kepo13 shows [Qd Th]

WTF.

This is my first game of the day. I know you have ups and downs in poker, but this is excruciating. I have AK and hit the fucking flop! That only happens 1 in 3 times. You want to win some of those times, if possible.

mwa

Another bubble. The fish in the small blind has had good hand after good hand. At no point has he pwned the bubble though, even when he had a bigger stack. He is the only guy who can knock me out.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8398494280: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63904323), Table 1 - 200/400 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:45:20 ET - 2008/10/08
Seat 4: basatagirl (4,195)
Seat 5: michaelroberts7 (4,740)
Seat 6: poker_daddy88 (1,355), is sitting out
Seat 8: Zoltan SZ (3,210)
michaelroberts7 posts the small blind of 200
poker_daddy88 posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Th Tc]
Zoltan SZ folds
basatagirl raises to 4,195, and is all in

So I push. I have to. You can't fold TT in this spot.

michaelroberts7 raises to 4,740, and is all in
poker_daddy88 folds
michaelroberts7 shows [Qs Qh]

Fuck.


basatagirl shows [Th Tc]
Uncalled bet of 545 returned to michaelroberts7
*** FLOP *** [8c Qd 4d]

Don't get me started.

Here's the worst of it. As you can see from the HH, the BB was sitting out. I think he would have come back, but obv. he's not likely to call this one.

So I couldn't get through even one player.

Fuck it--plus fucked update

I am thinking I will have to give up my dream. I am not good enough and I don't seem to be getting any better. I lost a ton tonight. I haven't put it into TM but I think I will have lost everything I won this month. I was so excited because I had run my roll to within 30 bucks of moving up to the 24s, but I lost back 12 buyins.

I know there will be ups and downs, but I feel like I'm just lucky when I win, and bad when I lose, and I can't shake the feeling.

Okay, boots, go to town. It's tragic when people dare to want something, isn't it? It makes them pitiful. I know.

***

So what happened? Well, I played ten games earlier today and ran pretty badly. I mean, you can feel quite good about things when you run into two flopped flushes and still end up ahead.

Tonight I played 13 games. It actually feels like more, so I may have dropped one somewhere. Maybe I played 7 and 6 tables and not 8 and 6 as I thought?

I know 13 games is not much, but I didn't feel good at all. I felt like I was struggling the whole time.

So the first game I finished 2nd. I had a lead heads up, but the other guy outran my TT with AQ. Then he beat my 9 high with his 7 high. So meh.

2. A guy raised to 3x at t300. I had AQ in the BB and 2.1K behind and shoved over. He called and showed 66. There's just nothing to say about his play. He should push or fold. If he'd pushed, it would have been the same result. But he probably should fold. I'd need to look at it in Wiz. Raising to 3x is awful though. So his hand held up, just a standard beat. IGH 6th.

3. I have 97 in the BB at t120. One guy limps. Now, this hand is fucking incredible, and I have to say, it really sucks that the poker ghods don't punish these retards for this kind of shit. The flop comes Q97 and I lead out decently. He calls. Turn is another 7. I bet just about the pot and he calls again. I'm putting him on a queen of some sort. Retards love to limp QJ/QT, so I'm not worried that he calls. The river is a blank, I shove and he snapcalls. He has QQ. Sigh. A J97 flop, I double up, and he gets what he deserves. But that's a terrible cooler. IGH 5th.

4. I have AK and make a slightly bigger than standard raise. This is because Full Tilt Shortcuts is set up to make raises that are hard to adjust in a hurry. Anyway, I don't mind. One guy calls. The flop comes KQx and I bet enough to get it in on the turn. Which I regret because yes, this tard called an EP raise from the tightest player at the table with KQ and flopped perfect. I don't think you can get away from my hand, and I'll double up a ton of the time there. Not this time though. IGH 8th.

5. The next game I win. The other guy pretty much handed it to me by playing super weakly HU. The game was a textbook example of why you should be super aggro heads up.

6. At t240, having mostly been card dead, I shove UTG with AJ. I have about 5.5BB. I think folding would be bad but I don't like pushing into a crowd. I liked it more when the SB called with K8. Even though he had 3.5K, his call is absolutely fucking atrocious. They do that quite a bit though, just randomly decide that hands that are never going to be ahead of your range are just the shit. Well, I guess he was right. He flopped a K and IGH 6th.

7. So the next tourney, I'm not sure. The guy who shoved was a regular on the button. He had been reasonably aggro but not actually out of line. I had A7. I felt that I could well be ahead of his range. He showed 66 and I didn't improve. I had a few chips left and chipped back up to 1K. I shoved A6 and got called by 55 and A2. 55 was very short, so even though I didn't improve again, that didn't finish me off. But I only had a bit less than 3BB so I got it in with Q7 next hand. Meh.

8. The next tourney I had KJ in the CO and made a very loose push. I felt the guys behind me were tight enough to make it good. So that was a bad read because one guy called off his stack with KTs. The other had AQ, which was a bit more reasonable, and his hand held up. IGH 6th.

9. The next tourney I got into the money. I'm very aggressive in the money, maybe too much so. Definitely something I need to work on. But shoving ATC into tight players when you have 8ish BB at t400 and they have 6ish is good imo. Well, good so long as they don't call with Q2 when you have T5. I couldn't believe that. It's such a bad call. He had no idea at all that I was pushing that wide and Q2 doesn't even beat a random hand. I'd have folded in his shoes, even if I knew I was pushing ATC. So that hurt. I really take it amiss when people just gamble. I hate gambling and try to avoid doing it. Anyway, I couldn't do anything from that point on, so I got 3rd. Which sucked, because I had actually played well, much better than the tard who called my shove, who had been furnished with great cards more than once when someone else pushed.

10. So I have 2.3K at t300 and some guy pushes UTG with 2.8K. He's a tight player, so his range is not that wide, but I have QQ. I am just never folding, even though I have been having a streak of losing big allins with big hands when I have decent equity. I am good against his range, I think, and I accept that I'll lose sometimes against AJ, but I'll crush JJ-99. Not so much KK though, which is what he had. Yet again the bitches let me down and IGH 5th.

11. What do minraises mean? They sometimes mean "I have a monster and want action" and more often mean "I have a shit hand and want to steal the blinds cheaply". This time, when I shoved over a minraise at t240 with TT, I found out that it meant monster. I think you have to get it in with 6BB and TT though, even though it's going to hurt to run into AA.

12. So some guy with a huge raising range 3xs it. I cover him decently and shove over with KQs. I figure I will crush his range and I'm right. He calls with 87s. This is just gambling. I mean, he might convince himself that his cards are "live" but he's crushed by any reasonable range I'm shoving there. Yeah, but to be crushed you have to not suck out to a flush. So I have 700 chips left and need a miracle. No miracles today though. I stick it in with 54 and the same fish calls with A2. Do I get the same touch of luck he got? Do I fuck! I'm not fond of flushes today.

13. Finally, I sneak into the money and into second by playing cagily and possibly quite well, but when I get it in with 99 vs QJ, you just feel the Q coming. Which it does.

So that was that. It doesn't seem all that unreasonable when you see my bustout hands. Just looks like I wasn't all that lucky. But I didn't play well in the rest of the game. I haven't looked in Wiz but I'm sure I missed shoves, and I put in too much money with bad holdings a few times iirc.

I was feeling good the other day, but the luck was definitely going my way. Not so much that I was winning confrontations (I wasn't really) but I was getting decent cards just when needed. I have been feeling badly out of sorts too. On Stars, I can't seem to play HORSE at all, and the 8 games have been a tragedy for me, and I ought to do okay in them.

You know, you'll laugh if you play poker because I only lost 20 bucks today (although Tourney Manager has certainly misplaced a couple I think, because I'm a bit more than that down from what I had yesterday), and I'm still ahead for the month. It's not the results though. It's how it feels. Maybe better tomorrow, hey? At least I have played more this month. I played 66 games last month and have played the same already this month. And I suppose I won't give in. I'll probably get 20 in tomorrow. These are such small numbers, I know, and I know that luck is everything in the short term. But knowing and feeling are two different things, right?

Flushing it away

So I'm playing okay but I'm not catching too many breaks. This won't be a bad beat post, but it does show the ups and downs:

Tilt Poker Game #8383012222: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63785354), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:06:42 ET - 2008/10/07
Seat 4: bolthier (2,970)
Seat 5: FREZA (1,070)
Seat 6: basatagirl (1,200)
Seat 8: moronello (8,260)
FREZA posts the small blind of 100
basatagirl posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ks Jd]
moronello folds
bolthier folds
FREZA has 15 seconds left to act
FREZA raises to 1,070, and is all in
basatagirl calls 870

I have to call. He's probably shoving very wide, and I have a decent hand.

FREZA shows [7d 2h]

So my call was good.

basatagirl shows [Ks Jd]
*** FLOP *** [2s 8h 6s]

That sucks.

*** TURN *** [2s 8h 6s] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [2s 8h 6s 4c] [2d]

Oh well. It goes that way sometimes.

So I have 130 chips left.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8383015976: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63785354), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:07:09 ET - 2008/10/07
Seat 4: bolthier (2,970)
Seat 5: FREZA (2,140)
Seat 6: basatagirl (130)
Seat 8: moronello (8,260)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 100
moronello posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [6d 5d]
basatagirl: sigh
bolthier folds
FREZA folds
basatagirl calls 30, and is all in

Hooray!

basatagirl shows [6d 5d]
moronello shows [3s 8d]
Uncalled bet of 70 returned to moronello
*** FLOP *** [7d 7c 3h]

Oh dear.

*** TURN *** [7d 7c 3h] [6h]

Yay!



Full Tilt Poker Game #8383019157: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63785354), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:07:32 ET - 2008/10/07
Seat 4: bolthier (2,970)
Seat 5: FREZA (2,140)
Seat 6: basatagirl (260)
Seat 8: moronello (8,130)
moronello posts the small blind of 100
bolthier posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Jc 4c]
FREZA folds
basatagirl raises to 260, and is all in

Not the best of hands but I decided to shove and hope for the best.

moronello calls 160

This is actually okay for me. Bigger pot the times I suck out.
bolthier folds

This is plain terrible. He has to call 60 more to win 720. Awful awful fold. Good for me though.

basatagirl shows [Jc 4c]
moronello shows [As 9h]
*** FLOP *** [9d Td Qh]
*** TURN *** [9d Td Qh] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [9d Td Qh Qc] [Kh]

Yay!

Full Tilt Poker Game #8383022793: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63785354), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:07:58 ET - 2008/10/07
Seat 4: bolthier (2,770)
Seat 5: FREZA (2,140)
Seat 6: basatagirl (720)
Seat 8: moronello (7,870)
bolthier posts the small blind of 100
FREZA posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kd 7c]
basatagirl raises to 720, and is all in

Might as well. K high and less than 4BB.


moronello folds
bolthier folds
FREZA folds

Next hand I have to fold 64 in the BB to a shove.


Full Tilt Poker Game #8383026488: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63785354), Table 1 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:08:25 ET - 2008/10/07
Seat 4: bolthier (2,970)
Seat 5: FREZA (1,840)
Seat 6: basatagirl (820)
Seat 8: moronello (7,870)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 120
moronello posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [7h 7s]
bolthier folds
FREZA raises to 1,840, and is all in
basatagirl calls 700, and is all in

Okay, he won't be shoving as wide here, but I'm not going to fold a hand this strong.

moronello folds
FREZA shows [As Ts]

Meh. It's very close to even money.

basatagirl shows [7h 7s]
Uncalled bet of 1,020 returned to FREZA
*** FLOP *** [4c Kh 6c]
*** TURN *** [4c Kh 6c] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [4c Kh 6c Jc] [8h]

MHIG so now I have a decent stack.


Next hand I fold JT on the button. It's pretty close, I think, and if I had another 200 chips, I might shove.


Full Tilt Poker Game #8383031035: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63785354), Table 1 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:08:58 ET - 2008/10/07
Seat 4: bolthier (2,730)
Seat 5: FREZA (1,020)
Seat 6: basatagirl (1,880)
Seat 8: moronello (7,870)
bolthier posts the small blind of 120
FREZA posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ad Kc]

Now I would have been willing to just fold the next few hands and sneak into third, but this hand is too strong to fold.

basatagirl raises to 1,880, and is all in

moronello folds
bolthier calls 1,760

He must have a superstrong hand. Shorty is pretty short and I have to have something decent to shove into both bigger stacks now I have a decent stack.

FREZA folds
basatagirl shows [Ad Kc]
bolthier shows [8c Ac]

WTF. That's an awful awful call, even if he thinks I'm a fair bit wider than I am.

What makes it awful is not so much that he badly misreads my range, or badly overvalues his hand, but that he is risking becoming short for quite a small reward in equity. But fish do make these calls and I am way ahead.


*** FLOP *** [2c Tc 6c]

WTF.

At almost exactly the same time, this hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8382960457: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (63785489), Table 1 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:00:35 ET - 2008/10/07
Seat 1: ibigdaddy (1,235)
Seat 2: obedbattius (1,970)
Seat 3: ertbAl (1,330)
Seat 5: basatagirl (1,605)
Seat 7: cu0ne (4,960)
Seat 9: todamoon1 (2,400)
cu0ne posts the small blind of 60
todamoon1 posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Js Jc]
ibigdaddy folds
obedbattius folds
ertbAl has 15 seconds left to act
ertbAl folds
basatagirl raises to 1,605, and is all in
cu0ne folds
todamoon1 calls 1,485
basatagirl shows [Js Jc]

I have barely played a hand all game.

todamoon1 shows [5d Ad]

That's just awful. I am not shoving 13BB with anything that A5s is ahead of.

Incredibly, this guy is making money.

*** FLOP *** [2d 4h 6d]

WTF. That's probably why he's making money.