Month in Review: March 2008

There's no point in beating around the bush. This past month was not been my greatest on record. I ended up playing a whole lot of losing poker and I have only myself to blame. Bad luck's one thing; tilt's a completely different story. Although I don't have every last detail of my play in March, let's take a quick look at the goals I accomplished, those I failed, and a final look at my win/loss tally.

In the end, how bad was March? I played 3000 hands of $1/$2 NLHE and dropped a total of six buy-ins. I think I went as low as eight buy-ins down but managed to win a couple back before moving down to the $100 NLHE games. As for $0.50/$1 NLHE, I was also down two and a half buy-ins over the course of a few thousand hands.

Looking over my sessions, a number of things stand out that really cost me money:

• I got very little action with many of my big pocket pairs. You've got to give action to get action. My timing for tightening up and loosening up was terrible. I found myself paying off my opponents with my poor hands and getting nothing with my good hands. Not very good play on my part.
• I only posted a winning record on three of the twenty days that I played poker last month. Even worse, my winning sessions were all short and my losing sessions all lasted much longer. Chasing losses is not a good reason to keep playing.
  
• Most of my losses came at the hands of players with VP$IPs > 50%. What does this mean? It means I spent too much time bluffing and not enough time value betting.
• I saw the flop with just over 220 pocket pairs and flopped sets 7 times. I flopped a set of Aces three times and I flopped a set of Kings twice. It can be really hard to make money that way. Keep in mind that I'm not saying my losses were a direct result of my inability to flop sets. But I believe that this string of perceived bad luck put me in a terrible frame of mind to play poker. When the world's out to get you, it can pretty easy to justify monkey-pushing second pair on a wet flop against a donkey. [NB: In all fairness, I did flop a set with Presto last week and stacked my opponent which was pretty good.]
• My c-betting success was terrible. I found myself c-betting in spots where a c-bet was not likely to take down the pot. Of course, these failed c-bets made me a little gun-shy and I failed to c-bet a number of flops that were ripe for the stealing.

I managed to hit 80% of my goals for the month of March. I played a lot more medium stack poker. I'm not sure if my losses are a direct result of me playing a bigger stack but it's certainly possible. A bigger stacks means more hands played mean more chances to make costly mistakes. My poor play last month also resulted in my failed attempt to improve on my 13 BB/100 win rate at $1/$2 NLHE in February. I wasn't even close...

On a positive note, I hit my Silver VIP status at Titan Poker and I also obtained SilverStar VIP status at PokerStars. I also hit my goal of getting a new laptop earned solely through poker-derived winnings. So it's not all doom and gloom!

Looking ahead to April, I'll probably play a little less poker given my general levels of exhaustion. I'm also a little shell-shocked from some of the awful plays and terrible results from March. It's probably best if I slowly ease myself back into poker. Of course, I'll need to play enough this month to tide me over once Grand Theft Auto IV hits store shelves on April 29! That game will definitely eat up quite a number of my free-time cycles!

My primary goal for the month of April will be to play 5000 hands of poker at the $0.50/$1 NLHE tables. I'm going to stay away from the $1/$2 tables until I've managed to win 10 - 15 buy-ins. And to change things up, I'll be sticking with the games at Full Tilt and Titan Poker. I'm going to need rakeback and bonuses to help me reduce the variance in my suddenly-small bankroll.

Stick with me and I'll see if I can turn things around. There's nothing worse than keeping up a poker blog while also playing terrible, losing poker. It can be hard to admit to the world that I know far less about poker than I thought I did a short month ago.

And with that out of the way, it's time to make some money...

Keep reading "Month in Review: March 2008"

Time to Lift the Curse!

Back to the tables tonight and ready to kick ass! I've also decided on a plan of action. We'll have to wait and see how things work out.

Earlier today, I withdrew a good chunk of my bankroll into my discretionary fund. I still have enough to play at the $100 NLHE limit. Until I build up a bigger 'roll and regain my confidence, I think I'll revert to my short-stack strategy once again. This style of play can be generalized as tight pre-flop play with an itchy post-flop trigger finger. TPTK is gold when you've got less than 50 BB! I'm hoping that playing short will lessen my fears of getting stacked (a terrible fear to have when playing NL) and allow me to focus my efforts on a good pre-flop/flop game. I'll worry about the turn and river portions of my game when my laptop starts to feel like an ATM again!

I'll also be three-tabling: I tried it the other night and quite enjoyed it. It really helped me stick to a "tight-is-right" type of attack. At two tables or less, I start to read too much into my opponents' play. Thinking on the 3rd or 4th levels does you no good when your opponents are only playing their cards.

I hope to lift this bizarre voodoo-like curse (aka. super-duper-monkey-tilt) that seems to have killed my skills and destroyed my game, my sanity, and my bankroll. I may not define myself as a poker player but I'd much rather be a winner than your run-of-the-mill gambling loser. Voodoo or not, something's busted and it's about time that I fix it!

At least I've locked in enough cash to buy myself a PS3 should things fail to improve! If you feel like helping me reduce my month-to-month variance, please feel free to sign up at PokerStars or RakeTheRake.com.

Have a great weekend!

Keep reading "Time to Lift the Curse!"

Life's Tuff

No poker for me last night. Instead, I spent the night playing a Japanese RPG on my 360.

But since I'd hate to leave my readers with nothing so I've got a funny Tuff_Fish video for all of you. I have to admit I feel for Tuff_Fish in this video. This is exactly the way that I've been feeling at the tables lately. And my results have also been quite similar to what we'd all see in a Tuff_Fish vid too!

By the way, did you know there's a five o'clock in the morning now? I found that out today!

Too tired to keep writing...

...but I should say that I won't be playing poker tonight...

...tomorrow night...return to the scene of the crime at PokerStars...

...one last shot at $100 NLHE?

Keep reading "Life's Tuff"

Plotting a New Course

I'd like to thank Alan, Gnome, Support and SimpleStyle for weighing in on my poker-ineptitude. I think it's fair to say that I lack the experience to adequately handle the variance and the opponents found at the $100 NLHE and $200 NLHE games. Looking back at my recent posts and taking a look at my current frame of mind, I think I may have made the jump to $100 NLHE without being quite ready for the games. But all told, it was a great learning experience and pretty profitable too!

However, it may be time for me to plot a new (and hopefully temporary) course for my poker game.

So the question is: what should I do? I think a solid plan of attack would be to cash out some of my bankroll to lock in my PS3 purchase and to put some more money aside for frivolous purchases. I'm hoping that this might curb my worries about "money" and move me away from a results-oriented style of thinking.

From there, I could move back down to the $50 NLHE limit until I've played a certain number of hands. I'm definitely lacking in experience at the poker tables. All the books I've read have done a good job of starting my poker education but I'm still not an expert in any sense of the word. I'm all book-smarts without any applied skill. My experiences in life have taught me that this can be a really bad thing.

If I could get some input from my more experienced online-poker-playing readers on the following points, I'd really appreciate it. Here's what I'd like to know:

1. How many hands at the $50 NLHE tables should I play before attempting to hit the $0.50/$1 games again? 10K total? 15K? And what sort of win-rate should I be aiming for? I've heard 16 BB/100 (or 8 PTBB/100) is a solid number but I'd like to know if there's a range that more or less captures a winning record given a smaller sample size of hands.


2. Other than confidence and a winning record, are there other aspects of my game that I should look for that mark me as a shark or as a donkey? It seems to me that winning online poker players view many things as being quite standard. If I can start to pick up these "standard" patterns, I'd know that I'm going down the right path.


3. Is there anything else that I've overlooked or forgotten here?

In all honesty, I hate the fact that I'll need to move down in limits. I guess it's an ego thing with me. I've always been pretty good at everything I've ever done. Poker is one of the few thorns in my side. Just when I think I've got it, I get all my money in bad and go on super-duper monkey tilt.

I'm going to try and buckle down. Get back to basics and try to play some winning poker. My session last night was a good start though painfully expensive. At least I lost most of my money on a single hand where most players should go broke.

I've got another 50 VPPs to earn at Stars for SilverStar VIP Status. Once I've finished that off (if for no other reason than I said I would at the start of March), I'll consolidate my money at Titan Poker and Full Tilt Poker. I'll need rakeback to help bring my bankroll back up to the levels necessary for $100 NLHE after I cash out a little play money for myself.

Again, thanks for the comments. With my ego and a some hardcore tilt clouding my vision, it can be hard to step back and see a losing streak for what it is: more likely the result of bad play than bad luck.

Here's hoping that I can change...

Keep reading "Plotting a New Course"

A Sad State of Affairs

Another weekend come and gone, along with a portion of my bankroll and my soul. Poker's the greatest game in the world when you're winning. And it's the worst possible game imaginable when things aren't going well.

MJ was over on the weekend and he witnessed a typical session for me. He even saw me double up when I got extremely lucky against a terrible Villain who managed to pick up a huge hand against me. Of course, I lost it all back and then some the following evening.

I find myself approaching each session with the best of intentions. Play solid, pick up some hands, get paid off, rinse, lather, repeat. But things haven't been going according to plan.

Typically, I pick up very few hands. The good hands don't get paid off. I over-extend myself, tell myself that I have to be ahead this time only to find that I'm well-behind in the hand yet again.

Not sure where to go from here. I've got a few hundred VPPs to pick up at Stars in order to maintain my SilverStar status. I'll take care of that and then take it easy.

I don't even feel confident enough to offer any poker advice on specific hands or specific situations. All the clarity that I had in February has been replaced by a jumbled mess of half-forgotten theories skewed by my tilt-ridden mind.

I've taken comfort in video games in the past week or so. I always feel that I'm letting my Mediocre Poker readers down by stepping back from poker. But there's little point in playing poker with any frequency until I've figured out what's wrong with my game and my state of mind. I've already dropped half my bankroll this month and I'd rather not continue the downward spiral.

I guess I've just taken the reality of poker a little too hard. Last month's results set my sights way too high and I'm paying the price now, one piece of my sanity at a time.

I just want to thank all my readers again for leaving some great comments. I've had some tough questions asked of me. And I've been shown to be wrong or shoddy in my analysis on a number of occasions. It's taken some criticisms for me to realize just how far my game has fallen in so little time. Maybe I'm just mentally exhausted from all the poker I've been playing? Maybe a little time spent with my Xbox 360 will do me some good.

I'll continue to post some of the hands from my recent sessions. I'd like to get some more feedback where possible. I'm not sure if I'll post one disastrous hand from this past weekend. It's extremely embarrassing, caused by my inability to properly focus on the game at hand.

I'll be back tomorrow - hopefully in a better frame of mind than today.

Keep reading "A Sad State of Affairs"

Conditionally Committed

Knowing when to commit to your hand or lay it down can be a tricky proposition. Stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) theory lays down a number of solid guidelines to help you decide when you expect to come out ahead when all the chips are in the pot. But knowing when to commit is not always a matter of simple arithmetic.

The hand that I'm posting today demonstrates the idea of being conditionally committed to your hand. Conditional commitment comes into play when SPR alone is not enough to warrant getting all the money into the pot without first meeting other specific preconditions. These preconditions can be based on a number of things such as:

• Opponents playing styles
• Board texture
• Reads
• Table image

In a hand that I played the other night, I had a slightly loose table image. In the last fifty hands, I'd picked up a number of quality hands but hadn't shown down anything yet.

On the other hand, the Villain in the hand was a total crazy LAG: VP$IP sitting at around 40% with a PFR of about 36%. More importantly, the Villain had shown a willingness to bet weak hands on all streets. I'd already seen him commit a lot of chips to pots holding far less than TPTK. But I'd also seen him fold a lot hands when played back at by his opponents.

I finally got a chance to get paid in a blind versus blind confrontation.

PokerStars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Villain (SB): $183.10
Hero (BB): $100
UTG: $221.80
CO: $100
BTN: $160.25

CO posts $1
Pre-Flop: T A dealt to Hero (BB)

UTG folds, CO checks, BTN folds, Villain calls $0.50, Hero raises to $6, CO folds, Villain calls $5

(Villain liked to limp from SB quite a bit despite his high PFR %. My hand rates pretty well against Villain's hand range of "any two". I raise a little more than usual because of my image and the Villain's playing tendencies.)

Flop: ($13) 5 4 T (2 Players)
Villain bets $8, Hero calls $8

(I flopped TPTK. Villain donk-bet into me as he'd done on most hands he'd played thus far. Against most opponents, my best bet would be to raise the flop and take down the pot immediately. But I remembered that the Villain liked to bet weak hands on all streets but might fold to a large re-raise on my part. By calling the Villain's flop bet, I needed to decide whether or not I was willing to commit to my hand (ie. willing to call a large bet after I've put in more than 30% of my stack) with only TPTK in a hand with an SPR of 7. [NB: SPRs of 7 can be good with TPTK hands against certain loose opponents.]

Since I knew that the Villain would bet both the turn and river, I was bound to play a big pot unless I was willing to raise the flop and take control of the hand. I'd lose value if a raise would force the Villain to fold hands worse than TPTK. So why not let the Villain keep betting? Why do the pushin' when he'd do the pullin', right?

Therefore, I was conditionally committed to my hand as long as I let the Villain do the betting.)

Turn: ($29) 4 (2 Players)
Villain bets $18, Hero calls $18

River: ($65) 3 (2 Players)
Villain bets $43, Hero calls $43

(Since I made my commitment decision back on the flop, calling the river bet getting better than 2:1 was a no-brainer.)

Results: $151 Pot ($2 Rake)
Villain showed 5 5 (a full house, Fives full of Fours) and WON $149 (+$74 NET)
Hero mucked T A and LOST (-$75 NET)

I got a little unlucky that the Villain happened to flop a set on me. But I made a well-though out decision on the flop and stuck with my plan. I'm sure most of my readers will interpret my play as a simple over-valuing of TPTK. I still like my play here. What do you think? I suspect Alan might have something to say about this...

I'm taking a mini-vacation from posting with the four day weekend coming up. I'll be back as usual next Tuesday with some more poker-related content for everyone.

So have a great long weekend! Be safe, eat lots of food, and be sure to stuff as much chocolate into your mouths and those of your children (if applicable).

As for me, I plan on playing some poker at PokerStars, playing some Saints Row on my Xbox 360, and eating my own bodyweight in ham, scalloped potatoes, and Cadbury Mini Eggs!

Keep reading "Conditionally Committed"

More books?!

I had a post planned for today but things fell through on the blogging front. Instead, let me tell you about some books I've just ordered from Amazon.

Long-time readers will know that I tend to start buying books if I feel my game is stuck in a rut. For better or worse, I look to the wisdom of published authors to help knock some sense into my game. That's not to say that I don't feel that there are some great bloggers out there who could teach me a lot. But the bulk of my reading time takes place on the bus to and from work.

In any case, I ordered a few books today.

These books aren't due to arrive for a while. I guess it's time to re-read Professional No-Limit Hold'em Vol. 1 for the tenth time...

I'll be back tomorrow!

Keep reading "More books?!"

Shrinkage

George: Elaine! Get! Do women know about shrinkage?
Elaine: What do you mean, like laundry?
George: No.
Jerry: Like when a man goes swimming... afterwards...
Elaine: It shrinks?
Jerry: Like a frightened turtle!

My game is in full-blown shrinkage mode right now. What was once half-decent and respectable is now nothing more than a small little nothing to be mocked by the average Villain. I even thought I'd give Alan and Gnome the benefit of the doubt and stopped changing my pre-flop raise sizes when I found myself playing against some aggressive pre-flop players. All for naught, unfortunately.

Last night's marathon session at PokerStars closely mirrored the typical sessions that I've been dealing with lately. No action with any of my big hands, too much action with hands that can't stand the heat, and many of my opponents reading my like a book. I found myself playing raised pots out of position. And many pots got stolen from me (a simple assumption given the number of times I was forced to fold after the flop) as I found myself facing pot-sized donk-bets and multiple callers on my whiffed flops. At one table, I found myself with a c-bet percentage of less than 25% due to my inability to get a chip in edge-wise given the amount of action in the hand before I got my say on the button.

I understand that for every good session that I have there will also be one or more bad sessions. Every great flop will be mirrored by just as many - if not more - horrific flops. If I played 20K+ hands a month, I'm sure that I wouldn't feel the effects of variance as much as I do. Then again, the feeling of being on a hot streak can be incredible when you play less hands. Last month's hot streak was a mere 5000 hands long that lasted for three long weeks. It was great!

Although I still seem to be getting lucky when it comes to all-in luck, I still feel as if something's missing from my game. I took a look at my PokerTracker stats and seemed to find a few things that confirmed my general feelings of dismay with poker:

• Of the 197 pocket pairs that I've seen flops with, I have flopped a set or better only 5 times. Of those five times, I flopped sets with AA twice, KK once, QQ once, and 66 once. I only got paid off once with my set of aces because we happened to be all-in pre-flop.
• Of the 700 hands that I've seen a flop with, I have hit the flop with a pair or better only 150 times. What does this mean? It means that my opponents are winning a lot of pots by check-raising me off my high-card hands.

The funny thing is that I'm not really card dead. I'm picking up my fair share of great hands. I've had KK eight times in my last 600 hands! However, seven of those cowboys have been dealt to me in the big blind and I've had everyone fold to me. I think that gets me a little tilty. Especially when I raise AK on my very next hand from UTG and get four callers.

In any case, I'll have some more hands to put up for review this week. I'm going to take a night or two off from poker again. Last night was extremely frustrating and I need to take the time to re-examine my game and work on improving things. As one of my readers pointed out, poker is not video games. It's impossible to guarantee a string of winning sessions no matter how hard you practice. Poker isn't a game that you can beat as readily as Mass Effect - a game I could and did beat this past weekend.

When I play again on Thursday night, I'd like to hit the tables hard with all signs of shrinkage hopefully far behind.

Keep reading "Shrinkage"

Session Review #18: The Hero Returns

I sat down to play a little $100 NLHE on Friday night at PokerStars. I was ready to post my first winning session in over two weeks. Within minutes, I had a couple tables up and running. I bought in for a $100 at both tables, said a little prayer, and started clicking.

PokerStars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG): $115.55
MP: $112.50
CO: $98.50
Villain (BTN): $236.20
SB: $107.45
BB: $100.55

(Villain is exactly the type of player you want seated at your table. Loose, passive, and willing to see the river before deciding to give up on a hand.)

Pre-Flop: 8 9 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $2, 2 folds, Villain raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero calls $1

(Given my stack size, I wanted to keep the pot small pre-flop. I figured that min-raise would probably scare off most of my opponents except for the Villain playing the button. I made an easy call when the Villain min-reraised me.)

Flop: ($7.50) 4 6 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, Villain bets $5, Hero calls $5

(Although I wasn't getting pot odds on my draw, my implied odds were excellent given the Villain's propensity to pay off hands.)

Turn: ($17.50) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, Villain checks

(The Villain was pretty passive but had shown that he was more willing to bet than call on later streets. Figuring that my check-call on the flop screamed flush draw, I decided to put the Villain's mind at ease on the turn. If he bet, I could check-call again then bet out on the river. Unfortunately, the Villain followed his usual pattern of playing passively and he got a free look at the river card. I planned to make a large river bet for value.)

River: ($17.50) 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $17, Villain calls $17

(The six on the river was a great card for me. I knew the Villain hadn't flopped a set because he would have bet the turn. I bet the pot knowing that I'd get paid off if the Villain had anything at all. And if he'd managed to find trip sixes on the river, I was going to get paid off big time. When the Villain called, I put him on a flopped pair of 4s or 3s.)

Results: $51.50 Pot ($2.50 Rake)
Hero showed 8 9 (a flush, Nine high) and WON $49 (+$24 NET)
Villain mucked 5 A and LOST (-$25 NET)

(Villain slowplayed his straight on the turn. I guess he was worried about the flush but felt that 2:1 on the river gave him good enough odds to see if his straight was good.)

PokerStars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $92.85
SB: $96
BB: $244.70
UTG: $102.50
Hero (MP): $118.05
Villain (CO): $84

(Villain was pretty loose and mildy-aggressive.)

Pre-Flop: 7 7 dealt to Hero (MP)

UTG folds, Hero raises to $2, Villain raises to $5, 3 folds, Hero calls $3

(I'd been raising quite a bit in the past half-hour and the Villain had started 3-betting me with more frequency - hence the smaller raise pre-flop. With the rest of the table either folding or 3-betting me, I didn't see much point in raising more than I needed to steal the blinds.)

Flop: ($11.50) A A 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, Villain checks

(When the Villain checked behind on the flop, I figured that my sevens were good.)

Turn: ($11.50) 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets $5, Villain calls $5

(I didn't want to give the Villain a free look at the showdown. I was sure that he didn't have an ace. I bet the turn to see where I was in the hand even though I strongly suspected that I was ahead. When the Villain flat-called, I put him on a lower pocket pair figuring that he might have taken a stab at the pot on the flop with two big cards (KQ, KJ, etc.) or raised the turn with any pocket pairs larger than my pocket sevens.)

River: ($21.50) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $9, Villain calls $9

(The river card didn't change things. I still figured to be ahead of the Villain's range of hands and bet for value. When the Villain insta-called, I expected to be shown 44-66.)

Results: $39.50 Pot ($1.90 Rake)
Hero showed 7 7 (two pair, Aces and Sevens) and WON $37.60 (+$18.60 NET)
Villain showed 4 4 (two pair, Aces and Fours) and LOST (-$19 NET)

PokerStars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (MP): $128.30
CO: $88.50
BTN: $62.70
Villain (SB): $173.70
BB: $100
UTG: $119.25

(Same Villain as Hand 1: loose and willing to pay off a lot of hands. Unfortunately, this hand took place before I had a read on the Villain.)

Could have value bet river but I didn't think he was calling with anthing that I could beat.)
Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $4, 2 folds, Villain calls $3.50, BB folds

Flop: ($9) A K 9 (2 Players)
Villain checks, Hero bets $6, Villain calls $6

(Standard c-bet. Given the board, I'm not too happy about the call.)

Turn: ($21) 6 (2 Players)
Villain checks, Hero checks

(The board was way too scary for me to bet here. If I bet the turn, I might get the Villain to fold a hand that beats mine. But wouldn't the Villain have folded on the flop given that the turn card changed nothing? I figured the Villain for a weak ace, a pair of kings, pair of nines, or a draw of some sort.)

River: ($21) 3 (2 Players)
Villain checks, Hero checks

(Although I could have value bet the river, I wasn't sure how many hands the Villain could call me with that didn't have me beat. A bet would get a call from a pair of kings or pair of aces but that wouldn't be good. I ended up running down my timer a bit while I decided on my course of action. When all was said and done, I realized that I just didn't know enough about the Villain to make a good decision and checked behind.)

Results: $21 Pot ($1 Rake)
Hero showed J J (a pair of Jacks) and WON $20 (+$10 NET)
Villain showed 7 9 (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-$10 NET)

(As I said earlier, the Villain was pretty loose. He called a raise out-of-position with a 97o. And then he decided to stick around by calling my flop bet on a scary board. I might have fired a second bullet against this Villain had I known the kind of game that he was playing at the time.)

PokerStars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $94.35
UTG: $97
MP: $244.70
CO: $102.50
Hero (BTN): $107.45
Villain (SB): $93

(Same Villain as the 77 vs. 44 hand above: loose and slightly aggro. )

Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $4, Villain calls $3.50, BB folds

Flop: ($9) 3 7 J (2 Players)
Villain checks, Hero bets $5, Villain calls $5

(Bet my set against a Villain unlikely to fold.)

Turn: ($19) 6 (2 Players)
Villain checks, Hero bets $13, Villain folds

(Too strong! The only reason I can give for betting is that I didn't want to give the Villain a free look at the river. There was a flush draw but some of his outs would have been tainted given that I could have improved to a boat or quads on the river with the J or 6. If I'd checked and the Villain's flush card hit on the river while simultaneously improving my hand, I could have stacked him. Damn...)

Results: $19 Pot ($0.90 Rake)
Hero mucked J J and WON $18.10 (+$9.10 NET)

PokerStars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter


Hero (BB): $136.60
UTG: $98.50
CO: $100.85
Villain (BTN): $142.30
SB: $115.05

(Once again, we're looking at the same Villain as in the 89 vs. A5 hand and the JJ vs. 97 hand.)

Pre-Flop: 2 A dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, BTN calls $1, SB folds, Hero checks

(Even though the Villain isn't a great player, I wasn't going to raise a weak ace out of position. Any money that I'd make against this particular Villain would come post-flop. There's no point investing a lot of money pre-flop before I can see the flop and figure out how much money I can extract from my loose opponent.)

Flop: ($2.50) K 7 A (2 Players)
Hero bets $1, BTN calls $1

(Top pair is gold against this particular Villain. I didn't want to build a big pot out of position. But I did want to value bet all three streets, if possible.)

Turn: ($4.50) 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets $2, BTN calls $2

(Flush draw comes in but I wasn't going to slow down. If the Villain had raised me here, I could have easily gotten away from my hand knowing that I was behind.)

River: ($8.50) J (2 Players)
Hero bets $4, BTN calls $4

(I'd shown strength on the flop and turn and decided to continue the trend on the river. Had I checked, the Villain would have likely checked through given the betting on previous streets. I believe that a half pot-sized bet on the river in this spot prevents the Villain from making any bluff raises while also allowing me to get value out of a pretty good hand.)

Results: $16.50 Pot ($0.80 Rake)
Hero showed 2 A (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$8 NET)
BTN showed 8 7 (two pair, Eights and Sevens) and WON $15.70 (+$7.70 NET)

(nh...)

I only played a few hundred hands over the course of this session and finished up running at about 21 BB/100. Not too shabby considering how poorly I'd played in the weeks leading up to Friday night. Although I erred on the side of caution many times, I think I played reasonably well. Not too tight, not too loose, and not too passive either.

I played a couple more sessions over the course of the weekend. If I get the chance, I may just put up some hands from those sessions for review. I'm still getting used to playing a medium stack and could really use any pointers and advice from my readers.

Keep reading "Session Review #18: The Hero Returns"

Back in the Saddle

After taking a few days away from the tables, I'm now ready to make my return. I've been reading Professional No-Limit Hold'em and No-Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice non-stop since Monday evening. And I've watched a number of good instructional poker videos as well. It's time to find out just how ready I am to take on all comers at the $100 NLHE tables at PokerStars.

Since my losing streak started a couple weeks ago, I've spent some time re-evaluating the merits of playing short-stacked. I've found that there is a large contingent of bloggers and readers out there who doubt the effectiveness of playing half-stacked. Even though I plan on buying-in for a full 100 BB stack at my tables tonight, I'm not saying that I regret playing short-stacked.

The reasons that I'm trying to move away from playing a 50 BB stack at the tables are as follow:

1. Although it's easy to win money playing short-stacked, I'm finding that my game isn't improving very quickly. There are very few difficult decisions to make when the pots are large and the effective remaining stack size is small. I want to become a better poker player and I'm willing to make some difficult decisions now to facilitate better decision-making when the stakes grow higher.


2. I found myself trying to play too many pots in a desperate attempt to break-even on my sessions. Short-stacked play requires a lot of patience. Value-betting becomes a lot more important and bluffs lose a lot of value. It's very hard to bluff an opponent off a pot when the stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) is low - especially if your opponents are loose and like to see all five cards with their draws. The biggest money loser for me was failed c-bets. Maybe I was getting unlucky to have so many opponents play back at me. But I have to wonder whether my opponents would have check-raised me quite as much had my stack been big enough to put them to decision for all their chips?


3. There are a lot of instructional poker videos out there. For the most part, these videos all demonstrate no-limit hold'em being played with 100 BB stacks. Still, I'd be quite interested to watch an Ed Miller video where he played with a 50 BB stack.

Even though I'll be playing a full-stack, I'll still be playing close attention to SPR. If I can make good use of this theory with a bigger stack, I stand to win much more than I could playing a 50 BB stack. It will be trickier to set up favourable SPRs with a bigger stack. But on the flip-side, it will be harder for my opponents to play a lot of their hands without finding themselves playing without poor SPRs as well. Do you want to know why floating a tight player's raise from the button works so well? Read Professional No-Limit Hold'em to find out!

Before I sign off for the weekend, I thought I'd show you a good example of my recent lack of patience at the tables. I got lazy. I stopped making smart decisions. I started playing a lot looser pre-flop which is not a great idea when playing short-stacked. In short, I was validating the commonly held belief that short-stacked NLHE are donkeys.

PokerStars, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (CO): $103
BTN: $653.70
SB: $207.05
BB: $272.55
Villain (UTG): $203

Pre-Flop: J A dealt to Hero (CO)
Villain raises to $7, Hero calls $7, 2 folds, BB calls $5

(I've got a pretty suited ace. I've been folding a lot and I'm sick of waiting for a good hand so I call. Thankfully, the BB calls as well so I've got position in a multi-way pot with a suited ace. For what it's worth, the Villain is a solid player according to his PT stats. And his UTG range easily crushes my s00ted AJ.)

Flop: ($22) J T 3 (3 Players)

BB checks, Villain bets $15, Hero raises to $96 and is All-In, BB folds, Villain calls $81

(Villain makes a c-bet on a coordinated board into two players. The stack-to-pot ratio for the hand is just shy of 5. Even though 5 is not very good in a three-way pot against a solid UTG raiser, I figure that I'm probably ahead and just push. Will the Villain call with a worse hand in this spot? Who cares?! I'm the short-stack and I'm pushing!)

Turn: ($214) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

(Yuck! Bad card for me if Villain is playing AK, KK, KQs, or KJs.)

River: ($214) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

(Yuck! Bad card for me if Villain is playing AQ, KQ, QJ, or QT.... Wait a second! I just hit a straight! Sweet! I'm the best player in the world. I wonder what the UTG donkey was playing?)

Results: $214 Pot ($2 Rake)
Hero showed J A (a straight, Ten to Ace) and WON $212 (+$109 NET)
Villain showed K K (three of a kind, Kings) and LOST (-$103 NET)

(I'm such a donkey...)

That last hand was so embarrassing that I wasn't sure if I wanted to post it. I made a stupid loose call pre-flop. If I were to play this hand again, I'd follow one of two paths: re-raise pre-flop to better define my hand against the Villain's range of hands or just fold a hand that is quite possibly dominated or flat-out beat by a solid UTG player's range of raising hands.

In cases such as those, a marginally-good SPR means squat if it was achieved by such poor pre-flop play. I lost my patience and tried to force matters. And though I got extremely lucky in this hand, I started my two-week downswing the very next day. Positive reinforcement can be a dangerous thing.

I'd like to say that the donkey plays stop today. But we all know that's not true. I'm going to do my best to make good decisions at the tables. And I truly hope that my smart play and patience will start to payoff before my bankroll dips too low.

Have a great weekend!

Keep reading "Back in the Saddle"

Gearing Up

As I continue to gear up for my comeback at the tables, I found myself watching a couple poker videos yesterday . Great players really make the game seem so easy at times, don't they? When I take a seat at the $100 NLHE tables in full force tomorrow evening, I hope that I've picked up enough pointers to score a winning session.

I'm also hoping that buying-in for 100 BBs makes a difference in my table image. I'm not sure how badly my image suffered when I bought in for 50 BB. I do know that I was having a hell of time pushing my opponents off their hands with my frequent c-bets. I've started to wonder if the implied threat of playing a big pot was lost on my opponents when I only had 35-40 BB behind after making a continuation bet?

I'm also interested to see how I handle setting up favourable stack-to-pot ratios with effective stacks of more than 50 BBs. It can be a tricky proposition and quite difficult to do well when playing against tighter opponents not willing to call large pre-flop bets without near-nut holdings. I guess I'll need to limp, min-raise, and limp-reraise a lot of hands. Is it just me or did I just feel a collective shudder from my solid, poker-playing readers?

I think I've got to remember that I play poker to have fun. Sure, it can make me a lot of money. But if I don't enjoy doing it, it becomes a second job. And it's hard to keep up with a second job if it's costing you money night after night as occurs during long-stretches of break-even or losing sessions.

I've got some more videos to watch before I hit the tables tomorrow night. And I'll probably hit up my Xbox 360 for some R & R tonight.

Oh! Speaking of my Xbox 360: anyone interested in purchasing my mint-condition copy of BioShock can make a bid here.

For those of you who don't like video games, why not sign-up for rakeback at your favourite sites at RakeTheRake? You need the money, I need the money - we're looking at a true win/win situation here!

Have a good one!

Keep reading "Gearing Up"

Training Wheels

I stuck to my guns and spent last night away from the poker tables. It felt good to have a relaxing evening. And I probably saved myself quite a bit of money given the way that I've been playing as of late. I think another couple nights of video games and I'll be ready to hit the tables again.

I still plan on sticking with the $100 NLHE for a little while. But I do plan on making one change to my game. I'm going to buy-in for the maximum instead of showing up with a half-stack. I've found myself wondering whether playing with only 50 BBs has had some strange side-effects on my poker game.

For one, has it made me far too willing to get all my money in? It's one thing to push when I find myself playing a pot with a favourable stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) with a Villain. It's a different story when I find myself pushing top pair too hard in a pot with an SPR of 6-8 against a tight or smart opponent.

I've also found myself having to lay down far too many pocket pairs pre-flop due to poor implied odds. When you've only got 50 BB, even a standard raise of 4 BB leaves very little leeway in terms of implied odds. This is especially true when your opponent tends to c-bet quite often while also refusing to play big pots.

Looking over my stats for the past couple weeks, I've noticed myself losing far less money while playing a little deeper. I'm a little more cautious when it comes to committing to pots. At the same time, I'm a little looser pre-flop and more willing to give action when I have position and a favourable SPR given the effective stack size and the opponent.


I guess I'll have to wait until Friday night to see what happens when the training wheels come off. If I happen to take a big fall, be sure to check out The Greedy Gamer for an increase in video-game related posts.

Keep reading "Training Wheels"

What Goes Up...

Wow...

Last week, I was sitting atop a healthy bankroll and up 7 buy-ins at $1/$2 NLHE.

Today, not so much...

I wish I could pinpoint a specific hand or two that led to my downfall (pictured above) but I can't. Over the past week and a half, I dropped 7 full buy-ins at the $200 NLHE tables and I'm still a little shaky from the experience. With a third of my bankroll gone in a puff of smoke, I think I'd better take a little break from poker.

I was planning on playing my Xbox 360 last night. Relax, unwind, forget about my recent poker downswing. Instead, I played poker.

Ran JJ into QQ pre-flop: -$130.

Ran my rivered two pair into the flopped nut straight: -$100

Ran my Cowboys into a flopped set: -$100

Ran TPTK into a flopped set: -$40

Pre-flop raises and missed flops: -$200

Ran TPTK into rivered two pairs: -$100

And the list goes on. It was a bad night. I understand that variance goes both ways and I'm just now experiencing the pain that I dished out to my opponents in February. But it doesn't hurt any less. When you define yourself by what you do and what you play, it's hard to feel good about yourself when your hobby-du-jour bends you over and says hello.

This post is not to say that I'm going on hiatus. I'm going to take the next few days off from poker. Play some Mass Effect, watch some TV with my wife, and try to shake the fear that's settled into my poker game. When I do hit the tables on Sunday, I'll be returning to the $100 NLHE games for a while. I think I'll try to build my bankroll up to about $4K before I take a shot at the $1/$2 games again.

I've still got some hands that I'm going to post. No bad-beat hands. I see little to no value in posting bad beats. I think we all understand that it sucks to lose to runner-runner. And we've all enjoyed having our opponents hit their two or three outers on the river and take our stacks.

Rather, I'd like to post the hands that I feel I played poorly or played well - there are more of the former, unfortunately.

The only upside to my poker play in March is that I'm quite close to hitting my SilverStar VIP status at Stars. It's a small thing but I'll take it!

Keep reading "What Goes Up..."

Next on the Shopping Block

The following post is not about poker - strictly speaking. It does revolve around ways that I'd like to spend my bankroll though...


Now that I'm thinking about video games again, due in small part to my current losing streak, I'm starting to think about some more purchases that I'd like to make in the next three to six months. As with my laptop, I refuse to spend any "non-bankroll" money on the various technological frivolities that litter my house. What's the point of playing poker if I can't spend money like a crazy mo-fo?

In the words of my uncle - "He who dies with the most toy wins". Let's see what toys I have lined up...

My current video game setup at home consists of:

1. One Xbox 360 Pro console.
2. One 19" Acer LCD Wide-screen monitor.
3. One Sony mini Dolby Digital 5.1 receiver with four-speaker headphones.
4. One Xbox 360 VGA Adapter.

This set-up sits on a shelf beside our incredibly comfortable couch in the basement. Whenever I'm in the mood for a little game-time, I'll place the monitor on the coffee table in front of my seat on the couch. The 19" monitor displays the 360's wonderful graphics via the VGA adapter. And the games are all delivered in 5.1 digital surround sound courtesy of the Sony mini-receiver.

This set-up allows me to enjoy the thrills and spills of video games without tying up the television. Any wives out there with "gamer" husbands know what a pain in the ass it can be to have the entire home theatre system tied up because the man-child they married is busy playing Halo 3. I'm all about compromise and I find that my set-up is ideal. My wife and I can now sit beside each other on the couch while we each do our own thing. My gaming does not interfere with anything that she chooses to do with her free time. And I'm completely oblivious to the world at large when I'm jacked into my Xbox 360. Of course, my wife still gets occasionally annoyed if she wants to sit and talk and I'm busy shooting things in the face.

So what sort of purchase am I looking to make? Don't I already have the ideal system?

I'm looking to add a Playstation 3 console to my home-gaming system. My current set-up is a little prohibitive if I choose to add this new console to my regular gaming rotation. The biggest problem is the Playstation 3's inability to interface directly with a computer monitor. The PS3 has HDMI output but does not provide the VGA output (via a DB-15 connector) that my computer monitor takes as its input.

The other major issue is one of digital sound. My Sony mini-receiver is great...as long as I have only one digital input. With two digital inputs (one from the 360 and one from the PS3), the whole system really breaks down. I have two options in addressing this problem: buy a digital audio input switcher or buy a new receiver. Strangely enough, the two options are quite similar in price.

Putting it all together, here are the components and anticipated costs of building my personal home entertainment system:

1. Xbox 360 Pro Console ($0)
2. 5.1 Dolby Digital Receiver w/ two digital audio inputs ($300)
3. 20" - 26" LCD Television with HDMI input and one of either VGA or Component Video input ($350)
4. Sony Playstation3 Console ($400)

I'm looking at a total cost of around $1200 after tax. At my current rate of -10 BB/100, I wonder how long it'll take me to earn that much?

Maybe I'm better off thanking my sponsors and hoping for continued business!

And while I'm at it - why not sign yourself up at PokerStars? High traffic, great game selection, excellent loyalty rewards, and a fully stocked FPP store!

Keep reading "Next on the Shopping Block"

Getting Back on the Horse

I spent most of last week complaining that my game had gone to Hell in a handbasket. After missing flop after flop, after a little "Take A Stand" tilt, and after a number of ill-advised c-bets and bluffs, I forced myself to play 500 hands at the $100 NLHE buy-in level.

I'm happy to say that my time at the $100 NLHE tables was good. I made a little money - though much of this can be accredited to some great luck - and have moved back up the $200 NLHE tables.

The question is: how are things going?

I've only played a single session of around 400 hands at PokerStars' $1/$2 tables. Unfortunately, I lost just north of one buy-in. My streak of missing flops has not come to an end. I find myself raising pre-flop and getting called by one or two Villains. I miss the flop and end up losing money on failed c-bets.

Last night, I tried changing things up. Rather than automatically c-betting each flop, I tried to keep things cheap when in a pot with some opponents who couldn't fold. In theory, I should have won my fair share of these pots given my higher-than-average pre-flop raising standards. Alas, that wasn't the case. But getting rivered isn't too bad if the pot is kept small.

I have some hand histories to share but I can't seem to get the converters to work right now. I'll be sure to come back later this week with some of my best and worst hands.

All told, I was down about $150 over the weekend. I didn't play all that much, putting in just shy of 1000 hands. I gave three-tabling a try on Saturday night and had fun. Next time, I'll probably wait for my youngest son to be in bed before trying to play more than two tables. My session was punctuated by frequent squeals and squawks from my happy little guy. He just wanted daddy's attention and I love him for it.

As I enter a fresh week of poker, I find myself doing well with most of the goals that I set for myself this month. I've already obtained Silver VIP status at Titan Poker. And I should have my SilverStar status at PokerStars in another 6-8 hours at the tables. The only goal I'm having problem with is the whole "maintaining or improving my winrate" goal. I still feel awkward and unsure at the tables and I can't figure out why. Hopefully I'll find my confidence renewed at some point and I can get back to playing some real winning poker.

Until then, I'm going to start mixing in a little video game time. All work and no play makes me a little crazy. And I find that playing poker on a nightly basis can make my little hobby sometimes seem like a second job. So I plan to intersperse a little Mass Effect throughout my weekday evenings in an attempt to unwind even further. I'm hoping that a little less time at the tables will help me regain my focus.

Even with a little less poker in the next week or two, I still see myself clearing SilverStar status and possibly trying for GoldStar VIP status. Otherwise, I might attempt a triumphant return to Titan Poker as a Silver VIP member. And let's not forget Full Tilt poker: I definitely need to give them a fair shake at some point.

Have a great week everyone! I'll be back either tomorrow or Wednesday with some hand histories and, I hope, news of my improved poker game and unrealistically high win-rates!

Keep reading "Getting Back on the Horse"

Struggling: Hall of Shame (Vol.3)

After a good bout of running well at the tables, I'm sad to say that the streak is over. What used to be easy and straightforward is now complex and frightening. Since the first of this month, I've been unable to pull together a single winning day at the tables. The sad part is that I'm still getting incredibly lucky whenever I have the chance to push all-in. But I'd rather not rely on hitting gut-shot draws on the river to re-invigorate my failing bankroll.

In addition to making numerous poor decisions during my hands, I'm also flopping quite poorly. My pocket pairs aren't hitting sets. My big cards aren't connecting. And my opponents are not folding to my continuation bets. A typical hand for me plays out as follows:

1. Raise pre-flop and get called by one or two loose players.
2. Completely miss the flop.
3. C-bet the flop and get check-raised or called.
4. I either fold on the flop or manage to see a cheap showdown where I lose to bottom pair with my unimproved hand.

The bad plays that I've made have been pretty expensive and include a few ill-timed three-bets on the flop and some ill-conceived check-raises on the turn. In one hand, I tried to represent a king on a K-x-x flop against one opponent and ended up firing on both the flop and the turn. The Villain in that hand held an underpair and LOL'd me when took down the pot.

Last night, I hit a new low when I suddenly found myself on "Take A Stand" tilt.

After missing countless flops in my past three thousand hands, I finally managed to hit second pair. When my opponent played back at me, I refused to give up and fold. I was on tilt.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($20.25)
SB SB ($117.10)
BB ($105.05)
UTG ($340.10)
UTG+1 Hero ($50.00)
CO CO ($30.00)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A T
1 fold, Hero raises to 4.00, 1 fold, SB calls 3.50, 1 fold.

(No reads on the Villain here.)

Flop (9.00) J T 6
SB checks, Hero bets 6.00, SB raises to 16.00, Hero calls 10.00.

(Flop was pretty coordinated and there was a lot my opponent could have. When the Villain check-raised me, I lost it. I put him on a flush draw (any draw - I didn't care) and planned to shove the turn as long as no heart showed up. Unfortunately, there were a large number of hands that my opponent could have held that had me well behind: QQ-TT, 66, KQs, 98s, AJ, or JT. At this point, I was only ahead of hands like KT, QT, T9, T8, 99-77, and 55-22.)

Turn (41.00) Q
SB bets 30.00, Hero moves all-in for 30.00.

(When the Villain put me all-in on the turn, there is no way that I'm ahead. The pot was pretty large and the Villain must have known that I was committed to the hand. I called because I was sure that the Villain was bluffing.)

River (101.00) K

(I hit my straight...)

Hero shows A T
SB shows T J

Hero wins 101.00 with A straight, Ace high

(Terrible. I deserved to lose this hand. I made a terrible call on the flop and the turn. I got extremely lucky and doubled up.)

Heading into the weekend, I just hope that I can regain the confidence that I had last month at the tables. I achieved my Silver VIP status at Titan Poker last night - time to move to PokerStars for a while. Perhaps the venue change will ignite a change in my game. My game is completely broken right now. I just want to pick up the pieces, put it all together as best I can, and start winning again.

And if I can stop getting all-in on the flop and the turn drawing extremely thin, I'll consider that a big step towards status quo. I need to find my A-game but I'll even settle for my B-game or C-game if necessary.

Have a great weekend!

Keep reading "Struggling: Hall of Shame (Vol.3)"

What's in store for March?

After having an incredible February at the tables, I figured that I should set some goals for March. I'm one of those people who need to scatter checkpoints and milestones throughout every task that I choose to undertake. I get bored or lose focus unless my immediate goals are brimming with attainable yet challenging sub-goals.

What do I have in store for March?

• Try to maintain or improve on my 13 BB/100 win rate at the $1/$2 NLHE level.
  
  I was extremely happy with my performance at the $1/$2 NLHE tables in February. I got lucky. But I'll still do my best to improve my game and increase my win rate. If I could maintain a solid win-rate at the $1/$2 games, I might be able to hit the $2/$4 games as early as mid-April or May of this year.



• Try to incorporate more medium stack play into my game.
  
  I've played a lot of short-stack poker in the past couple months. But I would like to work on my medium/deep stack play. The best players make a lot of money on turn and river play by expertly applying the REM process to their game-play and by making the best plays to extract the most EV out of every situation. My game currently lacks both of these sought-after poker skills.



• Achieve Silver VIP status at Titan Poker.
  
  I know I said that I'd stick with Stars and Full Tilt exclusively. But it's hard to ignore the overlay that Titan Poker offers when I play at their tables. Titan Poker's reload bonuses are constant! And I get rakeback on top of the bonus. My overlay is about $5-$10 per table hour given my current set-up. And things only get better as I improve my VIP status. The only problem right now is that current traffic levels are about a third of Full Tilt's and nowhere near PokerStars' astounding player base.



• Maintain my SilverStar VIP status at PokerStars.
  
  Given that I earn about 50 VPPs per table hour at Stars' $1/$2 NLHE tables, I think I'll manage to maintain my SilverStar VIP status. I might even try for GoldStar status someday if I can manage to play three or more tables at once. My ultimate goal at Stars - besides earning tons of money by playing at their frighteningly sweet tables - is to earn enough FPPs to earn myself a $250 gift certificate for FutureShop (aka BestBuy with commmissioned salespeople). As much as I'd like to order other things from the Stars FPP Store, I was nailed with shipping and customs charges on my last attempt. I actually paid more for a couple "free" books from Stars than I would have paid had I bought them from Amazon.ca.
  



• Buy a new laptop.
  
  I've waited a very long time for a new laptop. I'm eyeing a Dell Vostro 1700 with a WUXGA LCD screen (1920 x 1200 resolution). The only catch to making a purchase is that I refuse to use any non-bankroll/non-advertising money in making my frivolous purchase.
  

These were the goals that I set for myself as February came to a close. Now that we're a week into March, how are things going?

Goal: Try to maintain or improve on my 13 BB/100 win rate at the $1/$2 NLHE level.
I'm not doing so well with this one. I've been running ice-cold since I started playing at Titan Poker. Some bad plays by me, some good plays by my opponents, and some devilish plays by Titan's RNG have left me reeling. I'm currently down four buy-ins ($800) at the $200 NLHE tables. The $800 lost represents half of what I'd earned at the $1/$2 tables in February. I've still got another $800 or so before I'll have to move back down to the $100 NLHE tables.

I plan to sit at the $100 NLHE tables tonight. I'll likely stay at the lower stake tables until I put in a winning session of at least 500 hands in length. This should only take me a night or two given my current dedication to poker.

I'm not moving down because I feel that I've played terribly at the $1/$2 stakes. I'm simply looking for a way to regain some of the confidence that I've lost after getting recently "owned". I'm in this for the money and not the glory so I don't mind sticking my tail between my legs and taking a step back, if only briefly.

Goal: Try to incorporate more medium stack play into my game.
I've done reasonably well with a medium stack at the $1/$2 games. I haven't mastered the fine arts of floating and pushing my opponents off their hands but I've done well overall. I've done my best to avoid committing huge chunks of my stack with weaker hands. I've also managed to get paid off with some of my bigger hands after setting up my opponents for the fall. Unfortunately, there have been a couple instances where I got stacked after getting cold-decked or failing to have a set or two hold up after getting it all-in on the flop.

Goal: Achieve Silver VIP status at Titan Poker.
I thought this goal would take me a while. In the past, I found it quite difficult to earn enough Titan Points in reasonable amount of time. Thankfully, points are much easier to earn when most pots are raked for a full $3. I'm about one table hour away from earning my Silver VIP status! I may even try for Gold VIP status if I have time after spending some time at Stars.

Goal: Maintain my SilverStar VIP status at PokerStars.
I almost played a session at Stars last night. But I chose to play at Titan Poker instead. I lost $300 over the course of my Titan session. Maybe I made the wrong choice...

Goal: Buy a new laptop.
Done. I actually cheated a little with this goal. I ordered my laptop from Dell on February 22nd and it arrived Monday morning. The new laptop is awesome! It's a lot more than I need for poker but I had little control over the matter. For those who care, here are the specs for my new Poker Machine:

• Intel Core Duo 2 1.6 GHz processors
  
• 2 MB on-die cache (somehow I doubt that PokerStars software requires extensive processor operation caching)
  
• 3 GB 667 MHz RAM (motherboard has an 800 MHz front side bus if I ever feel that 667 MHz is too slow and need to upgrade my RAM...)
  
• 160 GB hard drive (I'll probably use a tenth of that)
  
• Some random shared memory Intel video card (poker tables aren't graphics intensive)
  
• 1920 x 1200 resolution WUXGA LCD screen (now I can four table with no overlap!)
  
• Full-sized keyboard with numpad

I'm extremely pleased with the laptop. The only problem I'm having is that I have yet to win a single session of poker while playing on my new super-computer. Maybe Dell support could help with that...?

In a nutshell, my ego and my bankroll have taken a quick hit this past week. I'm down but not out. I'll hit up the $100 NLHE tables at Titan Poker and Stars over the next couple of nights. Once I string together 500 solid hands, I'll be back at the $200 NLHE refreshed and ready for action.

I tend to learn a lot more from my "falls" than I do my "rises". That being said, I hope to learn very little over the coming weeks.

Keep reading "What's in store for March?"