The Weekend!

So
My future plan is to make 10k minimum a month, putting aside 1.5-3k for bills, the next 3k to save up, and the other 4k into my bankroll. I really want to make 20k in April but I've been so lazy, so it's time to set a realistic goal. This month I've played about 50 hours of cards and have made 5kish. Poker's been great! It's been pretty relaxing now.
I go back Mon. but due to some issues with parents, I'll be staying at Barona for a night on Sun, haha. I've never done that before and I'm actually kind of curious/excited to see what the rooms are and what features they have to offer.
I'm going to Barona today actually to spend some time with friends. I'm only going to be playing no limit. They only have up to 4/8 live anyways. It'll be good practice anyways, and it's nice to play a diff game every once in awhile.
I really hope barona has a swimming pool. I love swimming pools.
I'm looking to get a place in San Diego or Del Mar, a furnished apartment, and I'm getting a place in Vegas with some friends. That's pretty much what I'll be doing for the next few months...yayyyyyyy

Decisions Decisions Decisions

I bought a car. It was sexy and I loved driving it.
http://www.wallpaper.net.au/wallpaper/automotive/Infiniti%20G35%20Sport%...
Yeah. Not the smartest decision made but I'm happy with it. The coup is fun and when I get more money, I may trade it in later for a newer model. Heh. It was funny too. I walked into the dealership with some friends and the guy comes up and asks, who's buying the car? I say, me! And he asks, so what do you do for a living? "professional card player" And 5 hours later, I walked out with the keys to my new baby. But let's focus on the now.
This puts me 30k in the hole so I've got some major hours to put in for the next few months. Ideally I'd like to pay it off in 2 months, but most likely it's going to be 3 months.
I have several issues I have to take care of and it's starting to boggle me. If anyone has any advice, please post as I'd love to hear some suggestions.
My relationship with my parents is not good right now. Basically, I'm not welcome to come home so I'm considering getting a place in San Diego (lived here my whole life : ) Funny enough, they don't even know about my poker playing so one can only imagine what kind of blow up they would have when they find out. They are very straight edge Asian Americans. Anyhow, I have a group of places that want to get a place in Vegas for the two months of WSOP. I don't know how I feel about playing @ the wsop. In general I hate tourneys but I did want to play at least 3-5 events this summer, as I turn 21 in May.
What concerns me is money money money. My BR right now is about 10kish, I'm withdrawing and moving some money around, paying bills, etc. so it's a little loose.
I don't want to live with a random roommate this summer so pretty much, getting a 1bedroom is important, and for security issues as I won't have to worry about him or her getting onto my comp and moving my money around! So that expense is about $1400ish if I get a 1br in LJ or Del Mar (which I would prefer).
Right now, rent in Boston is $650 +50ish for utilities.Car payment of $770 is due by May 7thInsurane = $150 a month but I paid for the 1st 2 months already.total: $1570 a month basically.
And if I live in SD and sub-let my Boston Apt, then I'll have ot make about $2500 a month I think? Yikes. And if I share a place in vegas as well, that'll be like 3k a month. But if I ditch the SD place and just live in Vegas, then that's about.....probably $1400 a month. Heh....al;skjdfl;jkasdfjkl
I really don't want to live in Vegas for the whole summer. It's hot and being around degenerates 24/7 does not sound like a lot of fun. Mmmm, card playing can be pretty lonely. Sorry, I'm a little bummed out about everything. Poker is going so well for me right now, yet my personal life isn't faring so well. Friends are leaving, working elsewhere, too busy, etc.
Not fun : /

IM INTOXICATED

Only a little but I can't really focus.

I wish people were awake, I'm pretty talkative. None of my poker buddies are awake, I really felt like just coaching someone in SH LHE FOR FREE !!!!!!!!!!

OH WELL

I did some stupid stuff, I"m at home in CA right now. Bought a car, camera, and I'm really trying to do something important right now that maybe I'll disclose some time later. Parents are pissed but that's life.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......I can't figure out how to post on stoxpoker.com, the new site is cool but it won't let me post a blog!

But thank goodness cuz I'm incoherent at this point.

I'm getting back into techno, dunno, just like listening to it. I like lots of music, except for country. "WHEN A HOE WAS A HOE, AND CRACK WASNT COCAINE BUT JIMMY CRACK CORN" or some stupid lyric like that.

*HURL* *PUKE* UGH. country is something I detest.

NIGHT.

The Fatally Flawed Tag

I had actually read this post earlier from aim786 but stiff posted up http://www.stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1427 a 2p2 link in there about someone who I guess believes the TAG play is fatally flawed. His argument is:A tight aggressive style is fatally flawed.
1) Tight means your starting cards are most often superior to your opponents' cards.
2) Aggressive means you bet and raise a lot.
3) Because of (2) (aggression) your opponents are then free to fold when they have not improved; because of (1) (your cards are better than theirs) this is not a mistake. You therefore get minimum money in the pot when you are winning.
4) Your opponents can call, raise, check-raise etc. at will when they hit. You therefore put maximum money in when you are losing.
(3) and (4) mean postflop disaster, which is in no way compensated for by your relatively small preflop edge.
Before I go on, I want to state for the record that these are just my thoughts. I am only a winning player at 5/10. I have not been playing limit for that long. In no way do I claim to be an absolute authority on the game, everything here is up for discussion and this argument is focused on primarily a 5-6max person game.
I don't believe the TAG system is fatally flawed. It only fails when: 1) your opponents are observant, they'll realize you're only playing good cards, which translates to: PREDICTABILITY2) People who play tight preflop and may not have enough experience postflop and may make a lot more mistakes in short handed games i.e. not pushing their edges when they're ahead, or pushing too much when it is a marginal situation, value betting, etc.
I hope that makes sense, the logic is kind of killing my head right now. But to continue, a 2p2er joker122 makes a great statement:"TAG" is a relative and evolving idea. TAG used to mean 24/17, but it's hard to beat up the mid-stakes games today with that style because it will be handily exploited in the ways you mentioned.
Translation: Tight is a relative term. TAG just means playing tighter than everyone else at the table, there is no specific # that equates an actual TAG, it is defined by the general sort that play the game.
So let me ask you this, why do you play a LAG style in the first place? For more profit? Fun? Action?
Or is it ego?
I'm willing to bet a large portion of you relate most to ego. Hell, I did for a long time til I realized I made a lot more money, and easier money, playing tighter than a 30/20 player.
Do you want to make money the easy way or the hard way? What is poker about? Making money.
Especially when you're multi-tabling, a LAG approach, which I guess is defined as a 45/30 player, is so incredibly hard to employ properly. LAG requires even more reads and attention to each player as certain moves gain or lose value - donkbetting scary turns, or check-raising draw heavy flops - work differently versus different people. Also, per table it's necessary to keep in mind your table image (which imo is the most important attribute to remember) as people may call you down light or heavy depending on your performance.
But...as one poster mentioned to me:
aim786: Let's say u play the first 10 hands at 1bb/hand so the next 10 hands i play at 0.5bb/hand, since the more hands you add the less you make on them so that means im playin 20 hands at 0.75bb/hand but per 100 hands, im makin 15bb/100; while ur only makin 10bb/100 so you have to keep opening up more and more until you pass the optimal point thats the only debatable part, ie whats the optimal vpip/pfr combo
The example is obviously a little extreme but for arguments sake, those #s make it easier to imagine. But is that optimal vpip/pfr combo possible to figure out?
Rather than trying to find this optimal #, it's more important to play tight, play good cards until your opponents catch on and your play becomes too predictable. Then you play more hands, mix it up, and play a little LAG so that people start calling you down lighter. Then you play tight again and get paid off. Isn't this what poker is about?
Baronzeus:the key to poker is to get more from your opponents when you are ahead than they get from you when you are behind. this can be done in a variety of ways: value betting, playing tightly (ie folding second best hands), hand reading and making correct plays (bluffing etc).
ultimately the TAG will win in almost all of the above categories, especially the 1st and 2nd. ------------------------------------------------------------------I liked tmfs's post the best:
"But the main reason I disgree with your post is poker is way to complicated to play well by playing one fixed strategy such as "Tag" and "lag". When I think of good players that I have played against, I don't think that they are a "Tag" or a "Lag", they have the characteristics of both and in the end just play good poker. You might be able beat non-thinking players with just a prototypical "tag" strategy, but soon as you face thinking players you better be able to do something more than follow a hand chart and telling yourself to be aggressive postflop. "
Summary: TAG is a winning strategy that is probably more profitable than a LAG. (Do you know any 45/30s who crush sh lhe?) You play LAG to give the deception that you play bad cards, so people pay you off on your good hands. If they're not paying attention and pay you off anyways, why deviate and play even more cards?

Monotonous Grinding

First of all, I'd like to thank Jarno for his post regarding how even dropping down limits may improve my game. While I'm not a big believer in that, I did try something a few days ago.
I wrote earlier in my 1st post that I'm a big believer in Bankroll Management and that I personally prefer to have 1000bbs per limit I play. Well, this week I hadn't been playing my A game, dropped 120bbs, and just didn't feel very confident. I also have felt, and still do sometimes feel bored with poker, which is a very bratty thing of me to say. It took a lot of hard work and effort to get this far. I sometimes envy those geniuses who jump up the limits so quickly but oh well, to each his own.
Anyhow, a few days ago I looked at AP and saw that there were a lot of 10/20 games going, and they looked pretty juicy...so I jumped in! Already I didn't feel comfortable as I dreaded the thought of dropping another 100bbs at a HIGHER limit so I decided to play as long as I felt comfortable....20 mins = 168 hands heh. Regardless of the results of that quick session, I felt cured! I played my A game again! The pressure of it got to me. I focused hard, thought about the hands as logically as I could and didn't make any loose A high calls. Every move I made, I felt was +ev or reasonable. Didn't get out of hand, made some money, and just stuck with correct play. In a recent video that Stox put up in his HU session w/thebryce, he mentions that he prefers to stick to a correct approach to the game with a few moves here and there, rather than the converse of that. That kind of style has been working really well for me last week, and I guess I got caught up in the monotonous grinding @ 5/10 that I forgot to stick to that approach. Instead I had gotten paranoid that people were bluffing me left and right, etc. etc. which eventually led to a -120bb drop.
But I'm back on my feet and kicking up steam :) The quick 10/20 session really did help me as it kept me in line and made me realize that if I get bluffed once or twice, it's alright because in the longterm, I still make more money than a monkey who bluffs too much.

A new Site!

I'm Blogging for Stoxpoker.com now! :)

I will still post here and there, they'll be the same entries but for those who want to leave a comment and don't want to make an acct @ stox, I'll still respond here.

Here's the 1st entry I made

Have a good day everyone :)

Hey everyone,
my name is Michael Song and I guess I’m going to be a new blogger here :D *audience applause* I’d like to say that when I found out that stoxtrader was interested in adding me, I was definitely very excited to be blogging here. So thanks stox! I hope my posts entertain as well as educate you all. Not that I have that much to teach, but if you pick up on one or two things, that’d make me happy :)
I am 20 years old and currently live in Boston for now, originally from California. I attended Emerson College and I finance myself through poker. I was a film student and the reason I decided to play poker was for the “easy” money. I definitely believe that this is one of the harder ways to earn an “easy” living. But, I never want to have to bus tables, etc etc. I prefer my own freedom.
What’s it like playing pro? I hate it! It can be so swingy! D: But I love it much more than if I had to work a 9-5 job, just not my style. Also, I miss really good Burritos (Ana’s Taqueria is an OK substitute, CA is better) and just really good fast food in general. Not a Wendy’s fan, McDonalds is good, but there’s no Jack in the Box, Carl’s Jr. or In N Out!!! I’ve rambled….OH, AND TOO MUCH SNOW. I just bought running shoes the day before because it was getting to be 50 degrees, and the next day, haha, I look at the weather report on my computer and it said “snowing”. I muttered, bullshit, looked behind my window drape and said “Holy shit! It’s snowing!” Seriously like 3-5 inches of powder in front of my place. I even got the nike+ chip! The thing u can plug into your ipod. Grrrr.
So, I play primarily short handed limit hold’em at 5/10. I’m a big believer in bankroll management because it helps control the mental aspect. For example, if I have 500bbs and I lose 200bbs, I’m definitely going to feel very scared about my bankroll and the last thing I want to do is drop down. If I have 1000bbs and I lose 200bbs, I’m going to be somewhat annoyed but I won’t be bothered because I can still play my A game and not be scared about losing money. I have been advised by some to just suck it up and move up as I’m missing out on more money. I can definitely see that point of view but also, I currently 6table so assuming my winrate is 1 to 1.5bbs/100 (last month I was -.22bb/100 @ 44,000 hands, sickkkkkkk), then I make about $100 an hour. I also just had a great weekish just now.

Oh but then Thursday I lost 50bbs, Friday I won 100bbs, and yesterday I lost 120bbs. I don’t blame these things on downswings, although obviously they happen and yesterday I lost with 4 of a kind…to a straight flush…(sorry, gotta complain once in awhile J) I blame it more on playing bad. If I played better, I wouldn’t have lost as much money. Simple as that. Always play your A game, otherwise you’re going to spew chips unnecessarily. So hard not to tilt when you’re feeling like the Hulk.
Oh, in response to the whole move up every 500bbs, for me personally, I don’t play as well if I feel pressured by my roll. In the past 6 months, I have had multiple 300bb downswings/losses. The first time I was just learning this game, the 2nd or 3rd time, I improved a lot but still lost that much. And the pressure would get to me. I like having comfort and not feeling scared when I play. Thus, 1000bbs is something I personally set. But I do plan on hitting some 10/20 soon when I have 12k or more.
Super long blog entry, sorry! I plan to visit these forums more often. I usually post @ fullcontactpoker.com or on my own @ mikeysong.blogspot.com But I definitely will be browsing and posting here more often :)
Have a good day everyone,
Michael Song

Gotta be Hungry!

I just saw Rocky III last night, for the first time. I liked it a lot. I think it's cool how he brought back Apollo for II and III. The movie reminded me of two things. One is that, to win big, you gotta be hungry. You can rely on luck etc. and hope something big comes your way, but that's a loser's mentality. Work hard, play hard. Make your own destiny. Achieve your goals. I forgot what that's like. Right now I'm just floating along, playing some poker, but mostly just video games. I gotta work hard again, gotta feel hungry. I'm not rich, so what am I lounging around for? :/

But, I am running good in poker right now :) See graph for details. Multiply Big Bets won by 10 and you have a pretty good sense of what's going on right now.

http://img76.imageshack.us/my.php?image=irungooddi3.jpg

Yesterday was my biggest winning day. $1300, more accurately 1288, but 1300 looks cooler :) And how do I feel about it? I did'nt feel a thing. Seriously. When I saw my account, I said "holy shit!" but otherwise, nothing. I don't know, maybe I'm just subconsciously expecting to win? I'm honestly not focusing on the money itself. I'm focusing on playing good, making the correct moves, etc. If a bad beat starts to get to me, I immediately finish up my orbits and take a good 30 min. break or however long I need. Play some video games, shoot up some baddies, clear my head, and get back into cards.

Bankroll: 9.5k :D 11.5 if I don't go to cancun :D :D :D But I wanna go!

The 2nd part that the movie reminded me was the whole "eye of the tiger" concept, which is that desire/obsession to win. If you're a competitive person, you may have felt that at some point where you can't lose, you just can't. You have to win, you will sacrifice everything you have to win. In poker, something very similar to that is required. When you have that desire and ferocity, you're fearless. You're not afraid to make mistakes, really, you don't make mistakes. Your sense are sharp, you're very aware, knowing when they're weak and not.

Winning in poker isn't about sledgehammering away, which makes it kind of tough. It's not like basketball where you can just wake up and start dunking away. It's a lot of jabbing until your opponent falls into the trap, then bam! uppercut! :D Really it is. Feelings cannot be brought to the table.

Someone last night said to me that they need to hit heaters like me. While I agree that I am on a hot run right now, I don't attribute all of it to just that. I'm also playing very well, although I've made a few mistakes I'm not happy about, but for the most part, I'm playing better than before and I think my style right now is causing people to tilt, which is earning me more monies that I should be getting. Just look at this hand for example:

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $5/$10
5 players

I am hero with Jh 9h

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is BB with Jh 9h

UTG folds, CO raises, Button calls, SB folds, Hero calls.

Flop: 6s 7h Js (6.6SB, 3 players)Hero checks, CO checks, Button checks.

Turn: Jd (3.3BB, 3 players)Hero bets, CO folds, Button calls.

River: Ad (5.3BB, 2 players)Hero checks, Button bets, Hero raises, Button 3-bets, Hero calls

I wanted to cap but I was so confused by his play that I thought he really could've slowplayed AJ. Anyhow, he showed A3.

There have been A LOT of bad plays at 5/10 and I'm just raking in the benefits by playing good solid ABC poker. GOOD SOLID ABC POKER. That's all you need.

-Mike

Below are some more examples of poor plays I've encountered this week:

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $5/$10 6 players
Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is UTG+1 with 7d ad UTG raises, MikeySong 3-bets, 4 folds, UTG calls.

This is probably the only time I've 3bet someone with a marginal hand. I've played many hands with this villain and he's verrrrrry fishy. Calling with K high vs him is correct.

Flop: 8h 2c 3s (7.6SB, 2 players)UTG bets, MikeySong calls.

Turn: 5d (4.8BB, 2 players)UTG bets, MikeySong calls.

River: 8s (6.8BB, 2 players)UTG bets, MikeySong calls.

Results: Final pot: 8.8BB

UTG Shows Jh 9d
MikeySong Shows 7d Ad

Same Villain, this time he's in the SB

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $5/$10 6 players

Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is BB with 8s 8d

UTG folds, UTG+1 raises, 2 folds, SB calls, MikeySong calls.
3betting doesn't knock anyone out, so I call to evaluate the flop.

Flop: 4h 3d 4d (6SB, 3 players)SB checks, MikeySong bets, UTG+1 calls, SB raises, MikeySong calls, UTG+1 calls.
I bet hoping utg+1 would raise to knock sb out, I also get a feel for his hand.

Turn: 3c (6BB, 3 players)SB bets, MikeySong calls, UTG+1 calls.
Its very hard to put SB on a hand due to his crazy play, so I don't want to raise just to knockout utg+1 as SB MAY have a hand or not. It's too hard to tell. So i'll take it easy and call down.

River: 2h (9BB, 3 players)SB bets, MikeySong calls, UTG+1 calls.

Results: Final pot: 12BB
SB Shows Qh 6h
MikeySong Shows 8s 8d

In hindsight, I think I should've raised somewhere on that flop to knock UTG+1 out cuz it's obvious he was drawing to overs. At the time I was afraid he had a higher pp or something, stupid stupid. Given his action on the flop, he had Ace high.

Limit Holdem Ring game Limit: $5/$10 6 players

Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is BB with 3d 4d

UTG raises, 3 folds, SB calls, MikeySong calls.

Flop: 3s :10h 4c (6SB, 3 players)SB bets, MikeySong calls, UTG raises, SB 3-bets, MikeySong caps, UTG calls, SB calls.

Turn: jh (9BB, 3 players)SB bets, MikeySong raises, UTG folds, SB 3-bets, MikeySong calls.

River: 5d (15BB, 2 players)SB bets, MikeySong calls.

Results: Final pot: 17 BB
SB Shows Ah Js
MikeySong Shows 3d 4d

SB should've 3bet preflop as it would've knocked me out. I don't like his donkbet on the flop vs 2 others. My cap on the flop is questionable. I can wait til the turn and evaluate what the play is, for instance if a 10 hits, I'm probably counter-feited. But I decided to cap the flop so I can get a feel for where I am.

Turn: have to raise. If UTG 3bets there, after all the action I've given, I would call and fold the river Unimproved, due to teh fact that I have odds at this point to suckout a fullhouse if I'm drawing live.

As played, SB's 3bet on the turn is just spew. It's bad. I capped flop and raised him on the turn, his top pair can't be that good given my action. But he 3bet me so I have to give him credit for something strong. Can I fold two pair in this pot? hellll no.

Good thing I didn't either :)

The Blind Battle

Limit Holdem Ring game Limit: $5/$10 6 players

Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is BB with 5s ac
4 folds, SB raises, MikeySong calls.

Flop: 2s 8s 4c (4SB, 2 players)SB bets, MikeySong calls.

Turn: 8d (3BB, 2 players)SB bets, MikeySong calls.

River: 3h (5BB, 2 players)SB bets, MikeySong raises, SB 3-bets, MikeySong caps, SB calls.

Results: Final pot: 13BB
MikeySong Shows 5s Ac
SB shows KK

I normally 3bet in that spot but I decided to play it differently. I don't think I had any conscious reason to, I just felt that it was time to mix it up. Given the flop, I decided it woudl be good to just call down.

River - only cards that beats me is 5,6 and a boat. I'm feeling very good about my hand so capparoo. Boat is possible but I just don't feel that he has a low set. It jsut wasn't that likely and I'm ahead here more often than not.

If I was SB with KK, I would've called the raise, even vs. the maniac from a few hands ago, I'd probably just call. I could've been slowplaying the trips or the straight. How can you 3bet with just an overpair?

Obv. I got lucky in this hand, but he made a huge mistake on the river so I'm gold. Also, A high in blind battles wins its share often enough. Just calling instead of 3betting shows my opponents that I'll mix it up, and hopefully it'll scare them to back off my blinds.

IM LAZY!

Oh yes. Very lazy. I've only put in 22 hours of play. But the good side is, I'm up 2k or something! I may go to cancun next month with a friend so I'm withdrawing 2,000 for now. If that trip ends up getting cancelled, back into the bankroll it goes!

Bankroll: 8264, 10.2 if Cancun trip doesn't work.

I'm not going to dabble in the 10/20 games til I have 12k. That's just how it is. A 100bbs is just so easy to drop when you're multi-tabling. Losing 2,000 right now would freak me out a little. No reason to rush, I'm making $100 an hour. BUT, I DO NEED TO FRICKIN PLAY MORE. UGH. Its so important to put in the hours. Last night there were sooooo many games going. At one point, I hit a +50bb run in 30 mins ($500) so I just immediately took a break and ordered some dinner.

haha, you know you've ordered too much from the same place when they can either recognize you by your voice or by your order. Everytime after I finish placing my order on the phone, the lady says "oh ok, Ma ee kul?" :D I wish they'd give me a discount for 1) being Korean 2) ordering so often. Oh well, can't always get what you want.

I just recently saw Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAN. I forgot how great this movie is. I haven't even really seen the other movies w/them in it but this movie had me constantly laughing. It's just so ridiculous and fun. YES, I GO TO FILM SCHOOL, BUT I APPRECIATE FUNNY ENTERTAINING MOVIES LIKE THESE :)

I also just saw Ocean's 12. I thought it was pretty lame. If you have time to watch movies, you should def. get Netflix. I love it. I try to watch a movie a night before I go to bed. Just something to ease/relax my mind after all that pokering...that I don't do.

It's odd but with the whole internet poker thing goin on, teh games have gotten juicier....I'm serious. I mean I did improve a lot but there's just so much action at night it's beauitful! Here's an example, and the answer to the other hand.


Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $5/$10
6 players

Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is BB with :10d :10c
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, CO raises, Button folds, SB calls, MikeySong 3-bets, UTG+1 raises all-in $20, CO calls, SB calls, MikeySong calls.

In my opinion, pocket 10s are just too strong to coldcall with. 3betting lets you know where you at, JJ+ would cap here, don't you think? It's a good indicator if we're ahead or not, I'm feelin good.


Flop: 4c 3c 3s (16SB, 3 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: 16SB)
SB bets, MikeySong raises, CO calls, SB 3-bets, MikeySong caps, CO calls, SB calls.

I figure he might have a draw so I'm protecting my hand and since the pot is so big, I really want to know where I'm at so I'm capping to take control etc.

Turn: :10s (14BB, 3 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: 8BB, Sidepot 1: 6BB)
SB checks, MikeySong bets, CO calls, SB calls.

CHECK?! Well I'm obv. way ahead now, but if the 10 didn't hit, I'd still feel pretty confident.

River: ks (17BB, 3 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: 8BB, Sidepot 1: 9BB)
SB checks, MikeySong bets, CO raises, SB 3-bets, MikeySong caps, CO calls, SB calls.

I actually almost just called the 2 bets here thinking someone might have KK. Then I thought it through, only a super weak pansy doesn't bet or raise KK on the turn so, I've got 2nd best boat, I'm capping!

Results:
Final pot: 29BB - $290 pot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MikeySong Shows 10d 10c
UTG+1 mucks As 6c
CO mucks Kh Ac
SB mucks 6s 4s <---- lol, thank you thank you


Villain is 26.26/22.22/3.4

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $5/$10
5 players

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with ac jh
UTG folds, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, CO calls.

CO could mb have AQ, AK is almost out of the question here. Pocket pair, etc etc, wide range CO can have.

Flop: 7h as 5h (7.6SB, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets, CO calls.

Ok, so he doesn't have an Ace or he's playing way ahead/way behind.

Turn: qc (4.8BB, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets, CO calls.

Yay, he doesn't have AQ!

River: ad (6.8BB, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, CO calls.

Given that 2pair check-raises me on flop or turn, he has trip Aces but a weaker kicker than a Jack almost always.

Hero shows AJ
CO shows A6

BAM!

Swingy game!

Hand of the Day:

Villain is 26.26/22.22/3.4

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $5/$10
5 players

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with ac jh
UTG folds, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, CO calls.

Flop: 7h as 5h (7.6SB, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets, CO calls.

Turn: qc (4.8BB, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets, CO calls.

River: ad (6.8BB, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets, CO raises, Hero ???

Call or 3bet? What's your action and why?

Alright so I guess my last hand wasn't that popular or maybe it was just too easy to figure out. I'm trying to think of a way to structure my blog entries from now on. I figured start out with my rambles, then post the answer to last week, and then a new hand for next time but that's kind of messy huh? Alright, from now on, hand of the day in front! And as I write that, I'm going to go look for a hand I want to post. Found one!

So, remember I wanted to put in like 100k hands, i.e. a 200hr month? Um...I think I've played 10 hours so far....As soon as I wake up from my sleep, I'm going to try and crank out some good sessions :)

Part of the reason why I haven't put in long sessions were due to fear. Yes, I had a 7.7k bankroll (although my 2500 in rb hasn't come yet) but when you play for 3 hours and drop 180bbs, it gets a little scary :/ Especially when that's at 5/10, a higher limit than u're used to playing. But you know what? Despite the big drop in monies, I told myself, it's ok, you're a winning player, keep it nice and simple.

nice and simple...I watched a cardrunner video the other day from a very well respected pro aba20 aka sbrugby (Brian Townsend) who plays high stakes no limit @ mainly full tilt poker. In his first video he says something along the lines of: 90% of high stakes poker is just good, solid ABC poker. I took that line to heart, in fact, that line has helped me a lot recently. If games begin to get out of control, I take a breather and tell myself to just play a good solid game. No reason to get too fancy. Just because someone bluffed me once doesnt' mean I have to 3bet him with A2. Good solid poker. Remember, big hands, big pots! Small hands, small pots!

Oh, 5 hours later I won 120bbs over several sessions. so I'm at 4900, aka 7400 bankroll wise and I'm going to be sticking to 5/10 for awhile. Once I'm over the 10k mark in my acct, I'll start dabbling in the 10/20 games.


Btw, if your game is rusty or going sour, I recommend this. Get a friend who you respect to watch your game and give you advice. Exchange your thoughts on how to play a hand etc. It helps a lot. If you multi-table, drop down to 1 or 2 tables (1 is more recommended) and analyze that game. Focus a lot on feel, how the game flows, feeling out strength and weakness, etc.

Another thing I wanted to mention, and this is not out of disrespect or anything but I feel it's important to talk about, on one of the poker forums I read, this poker player finally went busto. I say finally because I was fairly confident it would happen. In one of my blogs I mentioned someone who gambled his whole br and basically ran it back up over 30k+. Well, his mentality to the game is all wrong. I'm not talking about his poker skills, but the fact that he enjoyed to gamble too much. Sports betting on a low br, hopping in games too big for his br, not having the mindset to drop down in stakes and play accordingly. I recall an IM convo I had w/him about dropping down to lower stakes when he had like 2k, and he just couldn't do it.

Now, that's very very understandable, but you have to adjust to your bankroll at some point. Going from 50/100 to 3/6 is a huge jump down, but in the first place, you shouldn't have let that happen, and unless you can find a staker right away, better start grinding out again.

I'm glad I kept a straight head. Despite hearing about people who run up sums of money into large rolls, it's hard to remember that that same mentality will kill your br and make you go busto. I didn't think of myself as a gambler, as I don't really like to lose money. I'd rather just make a lot and quit/be happy but that's not how it works. I realized over this weekend, while i was visiting my friends @ amherst, that I definitely have some gamble in me. While we were drinking, there was a game on tv (I forget what) and I was willing to bet on either of the teams (I only had $30 cash on me but still...). Kind of a surprise really. I just didn't think I had any worthwhile gamble in me, but I do.

At this point in my life, after struggling so much at low limits, I feel that it would be ridiculous and inexcusable if I started gambling at blackjack again or sports for that matter. Every once in awhile is fine but I know myself as the type who wants to get even when he loses big so for my sake, I'm going to stay away from these for as long as possible...basically until friends take me to a casino to gamble, hah!

I want to work very hard. I want to put in a lot of hours at these limits so I can move up fast and play higher stakes while earning more for a less amount of time. Put in some 200hr months now so I can later on work only 40-80 hour months :) Maybe even less!

The answer to the hand I posted last week:


BB is 47.75/9/.08 *LOL (this is out of 111 hands)
UTG+1 is 76.19/14.29/1.5

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
6 players

Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is CO with ad ac
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises, MikeySong 3-bets, 2 folds, BB calls, UTG+1 caps, MikeySong calls, BB calls.
Well, I'm not worried about UTG+1 :) I'm putting him on AA, KK, AK, or QQ

Flop: :10c 7c ah (12.67SB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MikeySong bets, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.
Oh I think it's so obvious he has QQ Or KK, I was really feeling the KK. And this is where it gets funny, when the turn came, I was BEGGING for a K to hit. And btw, I'm not worried about BB at all, he's probably got pocket pair or Ax.

Turn: kc (7.83BB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 bets, MikeySong raises, BB calls, UTG+1 3-bets, MikeySong CAPS

Such an easy cap. You HAVE to cap this turn given the way it's played. You've got top set with nut flush draw, what more do you want?!?!?! Let's look at villain's range, could he really have QJ? He can't have Ac Qc nor Ac Jc as we have that Ace. The only real hand he can have for bet/3betting this turn is the 2nd best set, KK, and he played it exactly like it.

River: I forgot what the river was, I think it went check/call. Unfortunate that the Kc hit instead of a different suit..or that the river didn't pair, but i got lotsa moniesssss :D

In Summary: Villain (UTG+1) played his hand exactly like KK. He capped pf and check/called flop, trying to go to showdown for as cheap as possible. If I was villain, I would've led out the flop and then evaluated if I raised, probably resulting in a call down. But you have to realize that I could raise with PP, top pair, a draw, etc. so versus my range, a calldown is probably correct.

I'm tired, gnight!

Michael Song

YAY FOR MY BANKROLL!

Villain is 40.86/27.6/1.84

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
5 players

Pre-flop: (5 players) MikeySong is UTG with 5h as
MikeySong raises, CO folds, Button 3-bets, 2 folds, MikeySong calls.

Flop: qc 5d 4s (7.67SB, 2 players)
MikeySong checks, Button bets, MikeySong raises, Button calls.

Turn: ah (5.83BB, 2 players)
MikeySong bets, Button raises, MikeySong 3-bets, Button calls.

River: kh (11.83BB, 2 players)
MikeySong CHECK/CALLS

Villain showed AK.

Alrighty, let's look at this hand. I raised utg and button 3bet from the button. From a logical standpoint, this could mean several things, the most logical being, he has a strong hand to 3bet a UTG raiser, while the other end would be, he is going to play his position vs. me

Flop: he bet/calls my check-raise. AQ most likely 3bets here. Now I'm putting him on A high or pocket pair.

Turn: the Ace, I bet and he-raises - obv. has an Ace, does he have AQ?, I 3bet and he only calls. He does not have AQ. I actually didn't give him a range, I just knew I was ahead here.

River: K. I seriously froze. It just made total sense to me that villain had AK, but check/folding is too silly! And if I'm right, do I really want to bet fold or bet call? I just don't know how can you fold here. So I check/called. My gut was right and he showed two pair, AK. Now, villain could've easily had AJ, A10, etc. but I felt so strongly he had AK I just had to check/call.

Mags, you wrote: "I think betting makes him fold a wide range of weak hands where checking may induce a bluff bet. My thinking definetly seems flawed because he might check down a weak ace."
I really like this line of thinking. One thing to never forget is that in these low limit games, a weak Ace is never folding. I believe that someone with an aggression level of near 2 is willing to bet the river with a weak Ace if we check it. The whole time we were representing a strong hand, and now we're checking? This is villain's last attempt to bluff us off a hand, so checking to induce a bluff is not a bad play at all! (but if you know you're ahead, it's still better to bet for metagame reasons, otherwise ppl will float you to the river and bet when you check)

I think 40/27 is a silly lag. I really don't know what his 3betting range is. I forget where but I read somewhere that having your stats of 30/20/2 are optimal and I'll believe it, my stats are very similar to that :D

I want to sidetrack for a second. Another friend I was talking to mentioned something along the lines of becoming really LAG. I don't know why you would want to become as LAG as possible? The more LAG you are, the bigger teh variance/swings you'll experience. A friend asked me, do you want to make money the easy way, or the hard way?

Being a LAG player means you're straying away from Sklansky's recommended starting hands and are playing more hands than your Tight Agressive Player. Why? Mainly because it's fun. The advantage of a LAG is that you become hard to read, and when you become good at it, you can push people off hands, or value bet under the right circumstances. When is the perfect time to play LAG? In position vs. tight passive players or weak tight, people who do not go to showdown that often.

It's wrong to give yourself a strict hand range. I play by feel. I didn't work to become a 31/22/3 lag. I developed my own style. When the table is good, I raise a lot of hands. When the table is playing back at me, I play tighter. I don't always play 30% of my hands. Sometimes I play way less, other times I play way more. It's always situational. ALWAYS. The only hand that can be played pretty much the same way is 2-7 - FOLD lol. But even then, if you're going to make a move on villain and u have 2-7, you might just play it...

Cards become irrelevant in short handed, to a certain degree. There's a huge difference between open-raising and 3betting. Not so much between 3betting and capping. Think about that one :)

Oh right, I just realized the name of this topic. My bankroll! I had a wonderful day today. I basically went on a 50k hand stretch of BREAKING EVEN. After last month's crash @ 5/10 too! Sick, just sick.

To summarize, in the last week of january, I played 3/6 again because I had over a 30bb downswing @ 5/10. For the first 10k hands at 3/6, i ran at 2bb+/100. After that, it started to go downhill. The lowest I had was I think 2.5k? This is why I like to keep 1000bb bankrolls :) Now that it's March 1st, I've accumulated up to 5.2k WITHOUT rakeback. Out of 51k hands, I'm running at -.22bb/100. According ot pt, I'm down $600ish. I think that's more or less correct. Now, with rakeback, I have approximately 7.7k :) As soon as I have 6-7k in my account, I'm going to jump up to 5/10 and dabble around.

What's my goal for March? 20k+ bankroll. No joke. I need to put in some serious hours.
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On a side note, you should always be focusing and playing your A game when you play SHLHE. TAKE NOTES!!! They're so much more useful than PT postflop.

For example, this hand came up, and vs. most people I check/call. Versus this villain, I can confidently check/fold.


Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
6 players

Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is SB with 5c 7h
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, CO folds, Button calls, MikeySong calls, BB raises, UTG+1 calls, Button calls, MikeySong calls.

Flop: 5s as 4h (8SB, 4 players)
MikeySong checks, BB bets, 2 folds, MikeySong calls.

Turn: 5d (5BB, 2 players)
MikeySong checks, BB bets, MikeySong raises, BB calls.

River: ad (9BB, 2 players)
MikeySong checks, BB bets, MikeySong folds.
Uncalled bets: 1BB returned to BB.

This guy is a scared passive player. He always bets out TP when he hits it, and when he has a strong hand, he easily gets excited and bets quickly. Easy strong reliable tell that I can count on. On the river, the bet came very very quickly, I'm pretty sure he clicked bet/raise.

ALRIGHT, TIME FOR HAND OF THE NIGHT. WHATS MY ACTION?

BB is 47.75/9/.08 *LOL (this is out of 111 hands)
UTG+1 is 76.19/14.29/1.5

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
6 players

Pre-flop: (6 players) MikeySong is CO with ad ac
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises, MikeySong 3-bets, 2 folds, BB calls, UTG+1 caps, MikeySong calls, BB calls.

Flop: :10c 7c ah (12.67SB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MikeySong bets, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: kc (7.83BB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 bets, MikeySong raises, BB calls, UTG+1 3-bets, MikeySong ???

What's my action? What do I do on the turn and then river?

Gnight!