Trip report and 50NL progress.

I had a trip this Saturday down to Ceasars in Windsor, CA (few hours from home). I arrived around 10 AMish and played until 4 PM, which wasn't enough time if you ask me. I bought in for the max buy in at the $1/$2 tables, $200, and made quite a few mistakes. I ended up -$140, but it actually wasn't my fault so I don't feel too bad about it, just a bit disappointed. I went there knowing that the only way I was going to lose was if I get sucked out on. Sure enough...

I call a pre flop raise with KQ, 3 to the flop. Flop comes 9TJ. The lady checks, the pre flop raiser (typical balla with sunglasses) bets $20 or something. I raise to ~$60 and the lady ships it, all in for like $180 or something. I'm jumping up and down on the inside, knowing I'm about to ship a huge pot. Balla guy thinks for way too long (he had AK... which gives you an idea as to the skill of live $1/$2) and folds, I snap call. The lady flips over QJ. I sigh. Turn is... 5. Ship $300+ pot to not me.

I also had KK and AA twice, but misplayed them. It was early on in the session, and when I had AA there were like 6 limpers, so I raised to $30. This table was a little nitty for a live game and pre flop raises were only $7-$15 usually, but I didn't know this at the time. Everyone folded and I picked up their stupid limps. One of the times I had KK I raised to $20 pre and only got one caller, took it down on the flop. I realized afterwards that I lost a ton of value on those hands, which bothered me.

My newness to live poker showed when I made a total noob mistake and string bet on the river by accident with the nuts. I had AQ and got one caller pre flop. I bet the flop which was J high and he called. Turn put another on board so I had the nut flush draw. I figure maybe, just maybe this guy knows how to fold so I fired another barrel. He calls. River is and I jump up and down inside. He insta bets like $40 into a $150 pot or so. I hollywood it for a few minutes so as not to give away what's going on... then I slide my one stack of chips out, and then the other. The dealer looks at me and asks 'Did you say raise?', I reply 'I'm all in', and then the dealer explains to me how string bets work and that I just did one. Only my first action counts, so I have only called his bet and don't get the option to raise. I've heard of string bets before, but never even thought about it. The guy flips over KJ for the second nut flush and I miss out on the $130 he had behind because I'm a total idiot. I said to him 'Wow, you're lucky I'm an idiot.' and he said 'Yeah, I would have called for sure if you went all in.'... sigh.

I lost a coinflip for a couple hundred, but that didn't bother me too much (although it did suck). What really bothered me was my noobness and missing value on my flush and my aces and kings. I would have been even or up a bit if I didn't mess up in the 'live' part of 'live poker'.

I've played 4 sessions and 2,300 hands at 50NL and am still getting comfortable to the limit. It feels different than 25NL, with more pre flop aggression and it's even harder to extract value unless it's nuts vs. second nuts. Thus far it feels like everyone floats every flop and never folds, but that's likely just variance rearing it's head given that I have such a small sample. I played my first full 8 table session yesterday and it didn't go well. I started up $75 within about 30 minutes and was going to just call it a session since I didn't want to play too long, but thought to myself I'd try to put in more time. As I discovered last time, the longer I play the worse I play, so I ended up playing for about 2.5 hours struggling to break even. I think that for me shorter sessions are definitely +EV since I feel that my play slips pretty quickly after the 1.5 hour mark, so I'll stick to my shorter sessions from now on. On the last session I played I really, really started to play badly and it felt like the same way I played back at 5NL before I was even beating the limit... not good. So far at 50NL I have gotten lucky though, as evident by the following:



Clearly sustainable.

I'm still waiting on my books to arrive from PokerStars and can't wait to read them. I feel like I need an injection of some intermediate/advanced theory and play because right now my game is fairly basic and standard, it needs a shot of something more. 50NL seems to give out mad FPP's so I should make GoldStar this month and hopefully can start getting some bonuses going on PokerStars. I'm trying to put in more volume and I feel that I will, but it might be a bit less than I'd like since I'm still adjusting to 50NL, but oh well. I should make more this month than last month, so it's all good. I've surprassed my March goal of $1,200 bankroll which I didn't even think I'd make, hopefully I can keep my head above that line for the rest of the month.

50NL shottaments with extra run good

DING!


Hands Played: 238
Minutes Played: 63
Amount Won: $33.55
ptBB/100: 14.10
Tables: 3


Alright, so on March 18, 2009 I finally hit the $1,000 mark in my bankroll! I've come a long way from my last $25 deposit and am infinitely better at NLHE than I was just 3 months ago. I didn't start actually beating 5NL until January, so I'm proud of my progress.

I just completed my first session of 50NL and it was a reasonable success. I won money, but that's not why I say it was a successful session. The first while at a new limit I use to acclimate myself to the general atmosphere of the limit, pick out some of the possible regulars and just get a feel for how the play is. From my short session I noticed more pre flop aggression and (seemingly) positionally aware players. I also found some huge fish which doesn't really surprise me. I raised in MP and a guy just called with KK from the BB. He then called down the flop and turn on a 4 2 2 7 6 board and checked the river to me. I bet the flop because I likely had the best hand and it was just a continuation bet. I fired the turn because again, I felt I had the best hand and he would fold a large portion of the time. This guy is a calling station, but I didn't see a hand like KQ calling my turn bet unless it was a draw. No draws made it, so I just checked behind. lol donkaments indeed.

Anyways back to what I was saying about a new limit. It takes a while to get used to new bet sizing pre flop because of the different blinds. The first time I had to raise a limper it took me a good second to think of what sizing to use, but that will all come in time. Overall the limit seems a bit tougher than 25NL, but with decent table selection and the occassional reg battle it feels like I'll do OK. I never felt outclassed or out of place, which I was actually afraid of. If the regulars start adjusting to me things might get pretty interesting.

One thing I'm proud that I'm not doing is playing with scared money. The limits are doubled and I'm sitting down with $50 at each table and a continuation bet in a 3bet pot (fairly common) is $5-$7 usually. At 25NL a bet that size is usually a turn or river bet, not a continuation bet. The key to getting around this sort of thinking is to just ignore the fact that you're playing with money. Everything is still just as proportional as it was at 25NL in terms of flop bet sizing, stack sizes in ratio to blinds, etc. The only difference is the dollar amount. When I 2 barrel the turn and it costs me $12 I don't think 'Holy crap I just bet $12 and have air', I just think to myself 'I'm going to 2 barrel this card' and do it. The actual dollar amounts are totally irrelevant, your actions are what matters. You continuation bet because you continuation bet. $1.50 at 25NL or $3 at 50NL, it's all the same in terms of ratios. I focus on what my actions are and ignore the dollar amounts behind them, and I feel that it works well.

I used most of my FPP points on PokerStars to order Professional No Limit Hold Em and No Limit Hold Em: Theory and Practice. Both seem to be very highly regarded as must-reads and my FPP points are useless to me right now. Since I'm only a SilverStar I don't earn enough points to get any worthwhile cash bonuses. The books would have cost me around $60 USD in total to order from Amazon and the 5,000 FPP bonus is only $50, so I think it was the best use of my points I could find. If I stick at 50NL and don't have to move back down, I may be able to hit GoldStar which can get me a $285 cash bonus I might actually be able to get, but we'll see.

There weren't any memorable hands from the session... OH EXCEPT WHEN I GOT MY FIRST ROYAL FLUSH!

These two hands are almost back to back against the same villain. In hand 2 I knew he was going to be super aggro because I just stacked him but the play itself is pretty standard. I was getting it in on pretty much any flop.


MP1: $33.20
Hero (MP2): $54.50

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP2 with A Q
3 folds, MP1 calls $0.50, Hero raises to $2.50, 4 folds, MP1 calls $2

Flop: ($5.75) J 9 7 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($5.75) K (2 players)
MP1 bets $0.50, Hero raises to $4.50, MP1 calls $4

River: ($14.75) T (2 players)
MP1 bets $2, Hero raises to $10.50, MP1 calls $8.50

I kind of wish I shoved here, but I really wasn't sure if villain was calling. I figured he'd come over the top with any flush or straight (he was a fish). Now that I know his hand I think he would have called a shove.

Final Pot: $35.75
MP1 mucks K T
Hero shows A Q (a Royal Flush)
Hero wins $34.00

===================================================================

UTG: $15.70
Hero (UTG+1): $71.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with A A
UTG raises to $1, Hero raises to $3.50, 7 folds, UTG calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.75) 2 K T (2 players)
UTG bets $12.20 all in, Hero calls $12.20

Fistpump a baby insta-snapcall.

Turn: ($32.15) K (2 players - 1 is all in)

Vomit into my own mouth and stomp a kitten.

River: ($32.15) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

El oh fuckin' El, thank you PokerStars.

Final Pot: $32.15
UTG shows J K (three of a kind, Kings)
Hero shows A A (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
Hero wins $30.60

Shippin' it

I just played one of my best sessions ever skill wise, and one of my better ones cash wise. I played around 1.5 hrs and was break even on suck outs (3 and 3) and made some really nice moves if I do say so myself. Up until this point I've mostly been playing fit or fold ABC poker. I did a stat review with mpethybridge (Stox coach, 2p2 mod) yesterday and he gave me some advice about basically not playing fit or fold because it's losing a lot of value. I agreed and I do feel I'm at the point where my game should be opening up to all the good stuff poker has to offer.

I'm going to share some of these hands that I enjoyed. If you play 50NL or above they probably seem pretty basic, but I loved making them at the table and am reasonably proud of myself for doing so. Also, I folded AA for the first time ever.

===================================================================

Hero (BTN): $28.80
SB: $23.70 (24/14 over 90 hands)
MP2: $20.85 (51/16 over 69 hands, 100% cbet)

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with 9 9
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $0.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.50, SB calls $0.40, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25

Flop: ($2.25) 8 2 3 (4 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets $1.75, Hero calls $1.75, SB calls $1.75, UTG+1 folds

At this point I feel this is a pretty standard continuation bet and I feel he has air here a lot (air or trips). SB's call tells me that he's on a flush draw most of the time. With the action so far anyone with a set is raising here (even a fish).

Turn: ($7.50) Q (3 players)
SB checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets $5.50, SB folds, MP2 folds

Both of their checks let's me know that MP2 really was just firing a continuation bet and was trying to scoop the pot and that SB is in fact on a draw. I now know SB likely has absolutely nothing and the turn card isn't a bad one. I bet a sizeable bet that should be enough to force MP2 to give up and SB will of course fold his air.

===================================================================

BTN: $27.90 (7/4 over 501 hands, 100% cbet and fold to cbet)
Hero (BB): $53.05

UTG+1 posts a big blind ($0.25)

Pre Flop: ($0.60) Hero is BB with J J
1 fold, UTG+1 checks, 2 folds, BTN raises to $1.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $1, 1 fold

He's likely raising a hand, but the dead money is also something to consider. I figure his range is slightly wider here than his usual 4%. Also if he does have a hand he likely has TT+, or AK. I flat call for the obvious reasons.

Flop: ($2.85) 9 A 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2, Hero raises to $6.25, BTN folds

I check to let him bet and he does a standard continuation bet. At this point I realize that if he has TT-KK here he is folding if I raise this flop because he's an uber nit and he plays his hands face up. I also know that if he has AK he'll likely call, and AA will call or raise. So if my raise is called, I can just be done with the hand. Since I feel only 2 hands in his range are continuing in this spot I make a decent raise. He thinks for a while and then folds. I also assume he uses a HUD and I would show as a fairly TAG regular, so my raise should have some weight behind it.

===================================================================

Hero (MP2): $42.85
BTN: $25.00 (8/4 over 91 hands, 50% fold to cbet and 3.7% 3bet)

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP2 with A A
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.50, 1 fold, BTN calls $1.50, 3 folds, MP1 calls $1.25

I've been watching this player and he is a classic set miner. He folds any flop he doesn't hit. I know when he calls here that he has a pocket pair approximately 134.16% of the time. MP1 is a 59/3 fish so we can just ignore him.

Flop: ($5.10) 6 J 5 (3 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $3, BTN calls $3, MP1 folds

I made a slightly smaller cbet than normal in this spot. MP1 has 75% fold to cbet and he limped pre so he likely has garbage. BTN is only continuing with a set, so I think a smaller cbet gets the job done and loses less when I'm behind.

Turn: ($11.10) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $5.50, Hero folds

Uh... yeah. I thought for a while and realized that this is a value bet and BTN is not an aggro donktard. I realized that more often than not I'm totally dominated here. His AF is 1. This is a set all day every day. I sigh and fold knowing that I saved myself a buy in.



Those are the three hands that stand out to me. A lot of the other ones were positional 3bets in position against regulars and some nice abuse of the limp/fold type players. All in all it was a stellar session and I hope my current rate of winning continues. At this point I hope to be shot taking 50NL by probably next weekend or earlier, depending on how bad or good I run. I'm not sure how 50NL is going to be, but I hope to play more of this kind of great poker and less of value betting the fish. I'm really, really tired of value betting fish. This is the kind of poker I want to be playing.


Bankroll: $935.70