Poker Wannabe

4/9/2005 - Party = Wacky

Ah, another fun day at 10/20.  Only playing at Party could I have a great day online, and still be annoyed.  As usual, there were crazily bad players at every table.  And as usual, those bad players always got whatever card(s) they needed. 

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 4 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ad, Ac.
1 fold, Button calls, SB raises, Hero 3-bets, Button calls, SB calls.

Flop: (9 SB) 8h, 2d, 3h (3 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, Button calls, SB calls.

Turn: (7.50 BB) Qh (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB folds.

River: (9.50 BB) Th (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 11.50 BB

Results:
Hero has Ad Ac (one pair, aces).
Button has 7h Td (flush, queen high).
Outcome: Button wins 11.50 BB.

I mean wow, this is 10/20!  And, unfortunately, this hand is typical. 

And I know, I probably should have bet the river.

4/8/2005 - Changes

Well, I apparantly have a new "main game."  For the last week or so I've been playing the 10/20 six-max games on Party.  I've had modest success, but more importantly I feel I can comfortably play the games, and most importantly I've seen that there are still plenty of donks at that level--guys who will play chase the ace or call for any remote runner-runner draw, even heads up.  In typical Party fashion they seem to hit these 8-to-1 against and worse draws about half the time, but there seem to be enough bad players to make up for it. 

I've been alternating between playing four 5/10 tables along with two 10/20 tables or simply playing four 10/20 tables.  It's difficult to tell which setup would be more profitable.  In theory they would be equally profitable--four 5/10 tables at the same win rate (in terms of BBs) would yeild the same monetary profit as two 10/20 tables since I'm playing twice the hands at half the monetary rate.  In reality, though, playing six tables probably lowers the proficiency with which I play each hand, but of course if I play all 10/20, I'm playing against better opponents on average.  So maybe it evens out.  I have a slight suspicion that the four-and-two setup might be a little more profitable, but we'll see.  I'm willing to give up an ever-so-slight profit in order to focus on fewer tables against better opponents, thereby helping to improve my game quicker.  It's a lot easier to reflect on and learn from hands when you don't have a multitude of other tables that all need your attention immediately. 

One drawback to my semi-moving up in limits is that my monthly poker paycheck will be either very small or non-existant as I'll need to roll those profits right back into my online bankroll.  I like to keep 600-1000BBs online and so doubling my limit has effectively halved my bankroll. 

One other change is that I'm reducing the number of days per week that I play poker.  I was on a five-day-a-week schedule, Wed-Sun with Mon and Tue being my "poker weekend" so to speak.  But after analyzing how much more profitable the weekends are in relation to the other days, I've come to realize that it's probably simply not worth it to play on Wednesdays, too.  Also, I've been risking burning out, what with working full time and trying to play poker in the evenings.  So screw it.  Wednesdays are done.  I'll have more time to spend time with friends or go to the gym or whatever. 

4/3/2005 - Weekends! (Encore)

I played some more last night, and yet again I was amazed.  Every time you think you've seen it all, wierder and wierder stuff happens.

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ac, 8d.
UTG calls, 1 fold, CO calls, Button calls, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (5 SB) Ah, 8h, 9h (5 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, UTG folds, CO calls, Button folds, SB calls.

Turn: (5.50 BB) 6d (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, CO raises, SB calls, Hero calls.

River: (11.50 BB) 8s (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO bets, SB folds, Hero raises, CO 3-bets, Hero caps, CO calls $6.25 (All-In).

Final Pot: 19.12 BB

Results:
Hero has Ac 8d (full house, eights full of aces).
CO has 7c 7h (two pair, eights and sevens).
Outcome: Hero wins 19.12 BB.

And one from 10/20 where I've been spending about a third of my time the last few days:

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7h, 7c.
1 fold, MP raises, 2 folds, SB calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) 2s, 2d, 6c (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP calls, SB calls.

Turn: (4.50 BB) 6h (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP folds, SB calls.

River: (6.50 BB) 8s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

Final Pot: 8.50 BB

Results:
SB has 4d 3s (two pair, sixes and twos).
Hero has 7h 7c (two pair, sevens and sixes).
Outcome: Hero wins 8.50 BB.

This isn't Omaha, dude.  Nut-low is not worth much. 

Anyways, 10/20 has been looking a little better the last couple days.  I've been running two 10/20 tables along with four 5/10 tables and that has been working pretty well.  After Thursday's disaster,  I've done well both Friday night and last night, thanks in large part to people like in the above hand.  I still only have slightly more than 2000 hands at 10/20 so actual results don't mean anything, but all other signs are positive: I don't feel overmatched and I feel comfortable enough to play correctly--raising and value betting properly. 

Anyways, this weekend so far has been the best two day stretch I've had since I posted my "best weekend of all time" in mid-February.  Will my luck continue?

And, oh yeah, it's opening day! 

4/2/2005 - Weekends!

I think I may have figured out what the main culprit was for my very mediocre March.

Weekends.  Or, at least the lack thereof.  For various reasons I missed three of the four weekends in March and weekends are without a doubt the most profitable time to be playing poker.  And it isn't even close.

I got to play last night, and wow.  Wow, wow, wow.

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8s, As.
1 fold, MP calls, 2 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (3 SB) 4s, Ts, 7s (3 players)
SB bets, Hero calls, MP calls.

Turn: (3 BB) Ah (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP raises, SB folds, Hero 3-bets, MP caps, Hero calls.

River: (11 BB) Qd (2 players)
Hero bets, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, MP caps, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 19 BB

King-high flush for MP, right?  Nope. 

Results:
Hero has 8s As (flush, ace high).
MP has 8d 4d (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Hero wins 19 BB.

You almost never see guys like that during the week. 

The same guy allowed me to win the biggest pot I've ever won in which I had K-high. 

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP with Ts, Ks.
1 fold, Hero raises, 1 fold, Button calls, SB calls, 1 fold.

Flop: (7 SB) 5h, Jc, 9d (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB calls.

Turn: (5 BB) 9h (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB folds.

River: (7 BB) Jd (2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 11 BB

Results:
Hero has Ts Ks (two pair, jacks and nines).
Button has 6h 2h (two pair, jacks and nines).
Outcome: Hero wins 11 BB.

He was such a dingbat that after he raised the river, my options were either reraise or call. I didn't even consider folding. He was an 80/37/2.9 guy with a 6 (!!!) river aggression. He was betting and raising the river no matter what. In typical PartyPoker fashion, he of course won about $180. I ended up losing $7 to him overall. Grrr.

Anyways, just out of curiosity I went back to the previous three months and calculated proportionally how much time I spent and how much money I made playing online on the weekends (defined as Fri-Sun). 

Month/%time/%$

January/63.2%/69.4%

February/69.6%/95.8%

March/54.1%/84.4%

Overall the numbers are

Jan-Mar/61.2%/77.4%

So I spend just over 60% of my online playing time playing on the weekends, accounting for nearly 80% of my winnings.  Or to put it another way, I spend nearly 40% of my time playing during the week but it only accounts for slightly more than 20% of my winnings. 

Moral: play more weekend hours, damnit!

4/1/2005 - March Recap

March was a grind.  Playing slightly more than half the hours I've been averaging per month from Nov - Feb, I had my worst month online since September.  All month I could barely get anything going and I had a medicore month overall going into last night when I decided to do something different.

I tried the 10/20 six-max games. 

Well, I tried one, while I had three of my normal 5/10 six-max games open.  I was doing well at all four and so before I knew it I was at two 10/20 games...then suddenly I had four going, completely replacing the 5/1o games. 

All I can say is that apparently Party is running an April fool's joke by continuously letting people call the flop with no pair, no draw, pick up a straight draw on the turn, proceed to check-raise and then hit the straight on the river.

Last night's slaughter brought my monthly hourly rate down to about $13/hr.

Stupid poker.

Oh well.  My resolve for April is to play more.  I might try some more 10/20, but I'm not sure how regularly.  UltimateBet apparently has another reload going and so I should finally be able to try to play some triple draw. 

I've been playing online poker regularly since June, starting at 2/4 and slowly building, and while I've had my ups and downs, I've never before had a consistent bleh streak like I've been having since mid-February.  Hopefully I can get back on track at some point. 

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So does the Wynn Las Vegas sound great or what?  I can't wait to get back out there.