Trying my hand at 5NL and other shit
by evilregis on Nov.15, 2009, under 5NL
I decided to move up to 5NL. My BR was sufficient to move up and I’d had a win rate of 8.18 BB/100 over 11k hands at 2NL.
I started out just single-tabling so that I could concentrate on the new level and get a feel for how, if at all, things would be different.
I’ve since (today) started 3-tabling. So far, on a very very limited sample (<1k hands) I’ve not noticed much of a difference between the two levels. We’ll see if I change my mind as I rack up more hands.
Aspects of my game (perceived leaks) I’m paying more attention to and trying to work on right now:
- stop completing the SB with shitty holdings
- be more positionally aware
- punish limpers rather than join them
I’m running well right now. It’s nice to get off to a good start at a new level. I’d hate to start out bad and have to (almost) immediately drop back down. I won’t post any numbers yet since the sample is disgustingly insignificant.
We’ll see what things are sitting at at the end of the month. With two more weeks to go, if I continue to run this well, I think I’ll be pleased with the month’s-end results.
Who knows though. It’s been a very low-volume month for me. Half way through November and I’m just shy of 3000 hands. There’ve been a handful of days where I didn’t even play a single hand. So I will wave goodbye to 2NL for now.
Next goal is to be rolled and successful enough at 5NL to move up to 10NL by the end of the year.
Dodged a bullet…
by evilregis on Nov.07, 2009, under 2NL
These are the plays that floor me at the 2NL level.
UTG+1, villain limps. CO tries to come along. Obviously with KK in the BB I’m not about to let anyone limp in with trash so I pop it up my standard 4xbb + 1bb/limper. UTG+1 calls.
This is the first hand I’ve played with this particular player so I have nothing on him. No reads. No HUD stats. Nothing. I don’t know his limp range or his limp/call range. Flop is good for me against most of his range and decide to bet out about 2/3 pot.
When villain calls, I put him on possibly a couple draws or small pair (34c-KQc, suited one-gappers, possibly straight draws, 55-AA, 67, 78– I figure he’d raise QQ+ pf), but as I said, I’m ahead of most of his range here and have over 70% equity depending how I massage the given range.
I’m not a huge fan of the 9 on the turn. That could complete some straights I have in his range. Could’ve also given him a full house. I think I still have to assume I’m good here against an unknown more often than not so I bet out again.
Being short-stacked I fully expected him (and hoped for him) to shove here. I was trying to get all our money in the middle.
Given his range of 99+,77,55,AKs,Ac9c,A7s,JTs,T9s,98s,9c7c,87s,76s,6c5c I have 58% equity in this hand at this point and with only having to call $.95 to win $4.05. I need about 23% to call.
Villain turns over T7o! WTF?! Limps in EP. Flat calls a 6xbb raise. With T7o. I’m crushed with only a 4.5% chance to win… and I two-outted him.
Sweet justice. After those last two hands replayed below, I needed a suckout of my own.
Perhaps my 3-week downturn has come to an end! (Hint: no it hasn’t — more to come)
Not a good start
by evilregis on Nov.02, 2009, under 2NL
November hurts already. First we have:
This hand was difficult. I flopped two pair on a straight drawy board. I’m worried about AQ right off the bat which is why I just called his .20 bet on the flop. Also, if he raised with AJ, AQ, AK he’s probably sticking around this hand. Figured I was set with my full house on the turn. Since I have position I just flat call his .50 hoping that maybe he’s drawing now. Hindsight being what it is, I should’ve just flat called his river bet, I think. AK destroys me. I, in my infinite retardedness, didn’t even think about him having rockets. Ah well, c’est la vie. Looking back I played this hand terribly and deserved the loss. I should’ve raised the flop and the turn if he tried to lead out again. And the A on the river I should’ve given much more thought to before pushing like an asshole. Lesson learned.
The next hand I played (on a different table) went disastrously as well. Admittedly, I was probably more than a little tilty when playing QTo the way I did. But the beat was still sick.
So I got frisky with QTo. This player was unknown to me. His re-raise wasn’t especially strong. Had put him on maybe a suited A or a mid-pair. So I was fairly certain I had the best of it on the flop. By the turn I have his range at: TT+,88,AQs+,KQs,QJs,AQo+,KQo,QJo.
I have 62.6% equity in the hand at this point.
At the turn, the pot is $2.35. Villain has $3.02 left. If I check it to him and let him push, I’m getting 56.2% which would make my call +EV. So I figure I’ll put my money in first to keep up the aggression.
When he turned over KJo I was thrilled. First, I couldn’t believe he re-raised me with that, second I was 95% to win this pot. Until the two-outer on the river hit. I got my money in good and that’s the best anyone can do in this game even though I had no business being in there with QT.
Here’s hoping for better results tonight.
October 2009 – biggest win and loss
by evilregis on Nov.01, 2009, under 2NL
Biggest win came from flopping a set with a pair of 6s. Had two villains willing to give me all of their money. AK I could see losing money here. How A6 donk could’ve have figured he was losing at any point in this hand is beyond me. But I’ll take his money nonetheless. Total won: $7.48
Biggest loss comes at the hand of one of the superdonks from my winning hand. He managed to get quite lucky which, for me, resulted in a loss of $5.89.
October 2009 – best and worst performing hands
by evilregis on Nov.01, 2009, under 2NL
October 2009 winning hands
October 2009 losing hands
No real surprises in the winning hands; pairs, suited As and connectors. Those same types of hands also clearly go both ways. There aren’t many atrocious hands in the losing hands. The major A6o loss I had was in the BB so that’s not awful and the K3s hand was just because I thought it’d be a great idea to play drunk. That clearly worked well. Lost my shirt when my flush hit but villain had a full house.
October 2009 – positional stats
by evilregis on Nov.01, 2009, under 2NL
October 2009 position stats
Only lost money in two positions — big blind (which is understandable) and CO. Not terrible, I guess.
I think I need to increase my PFR and stop completing the small blind with shitty hands. I think my SB VPIP is too high. Will keep an eye on that in November.
October 2009 – profit graph
by evilregis on Nov.01, 2009, under 2NL
October wasn’t a great month. Pretty low volume of hands played and spent half the month on a downswing ending with a mediocre winrate.
I’m going to try 3-tabling in the month of November to bring the number of hands played per month closer to 10k. If all goes well I will probably be moving up to 5NL at some point next month.
October 2009 profit graph
I am happy that the downswing didn’t dip into the red, but other than that I would like to see a lot of improvement in November.
Playing As against unknowns
by evilregis on Oct.29, 2009, under 2NL
Here’s a scenario I’ve run into a few times now in my almost 10k hand career in 2NL:
$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/Stacks:
UTG $3.84
UTG+1 $2.85
Hero $5.14
BTN $2.85
SB $2.94
BB $5.35Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 6 players) Hero is CO Ac As
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.10, Hero raises to $0.30, 1 fold, SB calls $0.29, BB calls $0.28, UTG+1 calls $0.20Flop: 7s 6c 2d ($1.20, 4 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.24, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.50, SB folds, BB goes all-in $5.05, Hero goes all-in $3.34Turn: 9h ($11.09, 2 players, 2 all-in)
River: 9d ($11.09, 2 players, 2 all-in)
This was maybe my 3rd or 4th hand at this table and maybe my 1st hand against this particular villain (who seemed to just catch the needed cards against me all night). So facing villain’s all-in, I have to ask if he’s got an overpair like I do or if he hit his set.
At 2NL I’ve seen other villains play this hand the exact same way with a wide variety of hands. Given pre-flop action, I’ve given villain a range of: AKs, AKo, TT+, 66, 77. Given the pre-flop action, I don’t think he’s calling with ducks.
Pokerstove gives me 79% equity against the range I’ve given him and if my math is correct I’m getting 53% [ 3.34/(3.34+2.94) = 53.18% ] so my call is profitable against the range given. It is still profitable even if I remove the AKs,AKo out of his range. This gives me 73% equity in the hand, still above the 53% needed to call.
At the time I felt like he hit his set… but given the pre-flop action I felt like I had to include the overpairs to the board. Would I call with 6s and 7s vs. a UTG+1 raise and re-raise of 15xbb? Haven’t decided. However, given the pre-flop action I felt like I had to consider he was betting the same kind of hand I was.
I am stuck as to whether to trust my gut in this situation — that villain has a set and I should fold or trust in the full range of possible hands he could shove with and play based on that.
Highlight after “Results:” to see how the hand ends.
Results: Villain shows a full house, Sixes full of Nines
One month in…
by evilregis on Oct.27, 2009, under 2NL
Here are the stats and graphs for the first 31 days since I started tracking my playing. I’ll be posting month’s-end numbers Saturday that show just October’s numbers.
Profit graph
Positional stats
Most profitable hands
Least profitable hands
Obligatory intro post
by evilregis on Oct.27, 2009, under 2NL
I intend to use this space to track my progress in the game of poker. I’ve been playing haphazardly for a few years but have recently decided to take it seriously and really learn the game.
I’ll post PokerTracker 3 graphs, hand histories, bad beats, milestones and other random notes along the way.
I’ve got accounts at PokerStars and Full Tilt. I am evilregis in both rooms, however most (99%) of my play will be in cash games (currently 2NL 6-max) on PokerStars. As far as multi-tabling goes, I generally play two tables at a time. That’s for two reasons:
- Three+ tables gets a little small on my notebook
- Playing 6-max means it comes back to me to act more often than if I were playing FR
It’s been one month since I started tracking my play using PokerTracker 3. Today is day 31.
Here we go.
