this morning i played all the 5/10 and 3/6 games on ipoker. it was an offpeak time so there were 3 5/10 games and 2 3/6 games running.

i felt i played a weird lag pre/ weak postflop game that i wasn't pleased with. i woudn;t carry through with my bluffs, not barelling enough, folding to easily to pressure.

luckily i ran pretty good and still booked a good win. i am quite happy that i feel so down despite winning, shows that i am getting less results orientated

i think it is annoying to put quite alot of money in a pot and have to fold. my style is pretty tailored towards getting the money in even when i am bluffing. that is why i usually have a pretty good redline.

Party Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

this 1st hand i made a loose open UTG because the BB was a maniac who 3bet most hands small and stacked off ridic light postflop (basically a megadonk). i'm not sure i like my preflop play, calling the squeeze. i'm not sure if 4betting is better to iso the donk, but then again i don't exactly want to stack 130BB pre with A8s even against a maniac. i think the flop is fairly standard. i played a hand earlier when he limpraised me min with QT then chked 3 streets on a Q8x board. so when he bets out big i put him on air a tonne. but if i raise i am committed against the other regs who all called. tricky spot i guess

MP: $1,000
CO: $1,109.67
BTN: $895
SB: $1,526.50
BB: $1,350.66
Hero (UTG): $3,117.25

Pre-Flop: 8 A dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $35, MP folds, CO calls $35, BTN calls $35, SB folds, BB raises to $100, Hero calls $65, CO calls $65, BTN calls $65

Flop: ($405) K 8 3 (4 Players)
BB bets $300, Hero calls $300, CO raises to $1,009.67 and is All-In everyone folds


this 2nd hand is pretty bizarre but i think i played it ok. i obviously don't like the flop, but planned to c/r because the BB was a pretty awful donk. when the aggro btn bets and the donk makes a small raise i think i am ahead of the BB range, as i saw him mega slowplay a couple of times before that session. but it is a really awkward spot. pretty sure i can't fold and also pretty sure i can't 3bet, i am almost certainly toast when btn CiB


Party Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $681
BB: $702.60
Hero (UTG): $1,135
CO: $1,000
BTN: $1,298.90

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $35, CO folds, BTN calls $35, SB folds, BB calls $25

Flop: ($110) 8 Q 9 (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $70, BB raises to $170, Hero calls $170, BTN raises to $310, hero folds

Party Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

this last hand is interesting ish. villain was some sort of tagfish who i knew little about. i expect his 3betting range to be pretty tight. preflop is a little loose, but he made it small and JTs can flop some cool hands and i thought he would play super straightforward postflop.

when people chk on A high boards they are hardly ever folding, so the chk back is standard. when the board pairs i just don't think i can call/bluff the river, and i am not getting the implied odds at all, so i just fold. feels pretty damn weak tho.

CO: $215
BTN: $1,096
SB: $980
BB: $1,369
Hero (UTG): $1,057
MP: $534.75

Pre-Flop: T J dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $35, 3 folds, SB raises to $120, BB folds, Hero calls $85

Flop: ($250) 8 6 A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($250) 8 (2 Players)
SB bets $150, Hero folds

Results: $250 Pot
SB showed and WON $397 (+$277 NET)

about 70% sure this is the real annette15

Ipoker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $990
BB: $2,570.75
UTG: $1,907
MP: $1,609.90
CO: $1,014
Hero (BTN): $1,024.75

Pre-Flop: 6 4 dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO raises to $30, Hero raises to $90, 2 folds, CO calls $60

Flop: ($195) 7 2 5 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $120, CO calls $120

Turn: ($435) A (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $230, CO raises to $580, Hero raises to $814.75 and is All-In, CO folds

Results: $1,595 Pot
Hero showed 6 4 and WON $1,826.75 (+$1,036.75 NET)

i'm not gonna post a graph of results of last month because it doesn't really matter how much money i won, i'm trying to cut anything to do with results out of my life (impossible i know). suffice to say it was a reasonable month.

i haven't got a setup sorted out since i arrived in thailand as i haven't settled down atm, taking a week to visit my gf in chiang mai, then prolly moving into a baller apartment in bangkok. so i'm trying to grind on my 14" laptop on a ****ty connection, so fun all round.

today i basically went past my stoploss, but the games were so ridiculous and i was only $200 over or so, i decided to give myself an extra buyin. i lost 4k @ 5/10 on ipoker earlier in the day, and was 6tblin 3/6 and 5/10 on FTP later on when it happened.

i got stacked @ 5/10, so quit as was planned, and just played out my last couple of hands til i hit the blinds


Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: $600
CO: $1,758.80
BTN: $1,230.20
SB: $594
BB: $1,200
Hero (UTG): $1,570.05

Pre-Flop: 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $21, 2 folds, BTN calls $21, SB folds, BB calls $15

Flop: ($66) 5 7 3 (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $54, BB folds, Hero raises to $175, BTN raises to $486, Hero raises to $1,549.05 and is All-In, BTN calls $723.20 and is All-In

Turn: ($2,484.40) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($2,484.40) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $2,484.40 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed 3 3 (three of a kind, Threes) and LOST (-$1,230.20 NET)
Hero showed 5 5 (three of a kind, Fives) and WON $2,481.40 (+$1,251.20 NET)


Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $1,363.10
SB: $1,200
BB: $1,548.50
UTG: $1,942.80
Hero (CO): $1,224

Pre-Flop: 7 7 dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $21, BTN calls $21, SB raises to $90, BB folds, Hero calls $69, BTN folds

Flop: ($207) 6 7 9 (2 Players)
SB bets $150, Hero raises to $380, SB raises to $1,110 and is All-In, Hero calls $730

Turn: ($2,427) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($2,427) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $2,427 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed 6 A (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$1,200 NET)
Hero showed 7 7 (a full house, Sevens full of Twos) and WON $2,424 (+$1,224 NET)


both these hands were against regs, so the fishies were still out in force, so i thought i may as well play on and see what happened

well this is what happened



basically all the down bit was @ 5/10, and all the up bit 3/6. won about 4k @ 3/6

might 9table 1/2 while i watch the chelsea vs liverpool game tonight and try and get even for the month


on a different note, how sick was the federer nadal match at the australian open. they always put on a show, and i always try and watch when they play each other as amazing tennis always ensues.
they are so far ahead of everyone else it is just frightening to see them play each other, the quality of the tennis they play against each other is so high. i feel really bad for roger as he just can't beat rafa atm. he was in tears during his runner up speech.

i also had $100 on the game against fletcher19, so nh fletch

TIME TO GET RESULTS ORIENTATED.

i know it is a resolution of mine to not be results orientated, but i couldn't resist.

trying to pay for stuff when travelling in hotel rooms is one of the funnest things to do

i am currently in novotel hotel at heathrow airport waiting for my flights to thailand tomorrow, with ma boys fletcher and clickingbuttons joining me tomorrow for our 11 hour flights. fun times

here is my little table of results

flights: £364
hotel: £49
roomservice: £21
internet: £15

= £449 ($613 - lol exchange rate)


By sh58

yay so easily made back the losses despite a couple of gay hands like this against a 20/15. sucessful hotel game imo

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $1,015
Hero (SB): $1,000
BB: $2,054.50
UTG: $1,015

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, BTN raises to $35, Hero raises to $125, BB folds, BTN raises to $1,015 and is All-In, Hero calls $875 and is All-In

Flop: ($2,010) T J 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($2,010) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($2,010) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $2,010 Pot ($2 Rake)
BTN showed K Q (a straight, King high) and WON $2,008 (+$1,008 NET)
Hero showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$1,000 NET)

after busting from the donkament yesterday, i wanted to get my £1k back asap. i promptly shot past my stoploss, luckily @ 3/6 not 5/10. obv wasn't gonna be my day, as i then dropped loads more @ 1/2 which i am allowed to play when i go past my MSNL stoploss.

luckily i recovered pretty well

played my first reasonable buyin donkament today (don't really play donkaments in general)

was £1k buyin GUKPT in brighton

this was the 2nd hand of the donkament


10k stacks. 25/50

i open 150 with 99 UTG 7 handed. folded to BB who calls (he had limped UTG last hand T9s and chked it down on Kxx board and won the pot)

flop 863dd (350) i bet 200, he c/r to 500, i call

turn 6o (1350) he bets 500, i call

river 9o (2350) he bets 1500 i make it 5000, he shoves for 10k, i snap ldo

he shows 66 obv, gg


quite funny and typical is the innacuracies of the live blogging

http://blog.grosvenorukpokertour.com/?p=33506

ok, i bet the flop, my name is Haffner, not heffnor, i am english, and live in brighton, about 5 mins to my flat in a taxi, not in 'scandieland'.

luckily this mistake is realised later on

http://blog.grosvenorukpokertour.com/?p=33514


as for the month, i am being pretty lazy the last week or so. have played about 25k hands, up about $16k, so pretty decent

and 3rd

------------------

HAND #1
------------------

ipoker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $1,883.05
BB: $848
UTG: $1,660
MP: $193
Hero (CO): $2,191
BTN: $200

Pre-Flop: 6 6 dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to $30, BTN folds, SB calls $25, BB folds

Flop: ($70) 2 6 Q (2 Players)
SB bets $50, Hero raises to $150, SB calls $100

Turn: ($370) 3 (2 Players)
SB bets $370, Hero calls $370

River: ($1,110) 6 (2 Players)
SB bets $730, Hero raises to $1,641 and is All-In, SB calls $603.05 and is All-In

Results: $3,776.10 Pot
SB showed 54dd and LOST (-$1,883.05 NET)
Hero showed 6 6 and WON $4,081.05 (+$2,198 NET)




------------------
HAND #2
------------------

ipoker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $1,999
SB: $524.07
BB: $707
Hero (UTG): $1,603
CO: $1,799.61

Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $35, CO folds, BTN raises to $120, 2 folds, Hero calls $85

Flop: ($255) Q 6 T (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $150, Hero calls $150

Turn: ($555) 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $380, Hero calls $380

River: ($1,315) 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1,349 and is All-In, Hero calls $953 and is All-In

Results: $3,221 Pot
BTN showed A5dd and WON $396 (-$1,207 NET)
Hero showed J J and WON $3,218 (+$1,615 NET)

hand no.1 is against a spewey reg who i have played a bit of HU in the past, he does tonnes of crazy stuff. he should prolly muck the river there tho even with the pot odds he is getting (or he should have shoved the river himself)

hand 2 is against a good reg, and it is pretty marginal call my end, but i like his line and i would have done the same thing if the situations were reversed. i sorta knew he might try and 3 barell me in this spot so closed my eyes and called



anyway, 5/10 is going pretty good so far, other limits have gone pretty bad, but it doesn't really matter when you run decent at the higher stakes. i quit 12tabling MSNL when i dropped 8 buyins there the other day, may return at some point tho, just lost a little confidence i guess. so i am sticking to about 6 tables atm and playing good solid poker


EDIT: oops, appears i was fairly out with my initial claim, i have found 3 3/6 hands that should be before these 5/10 hands. i'll post them cos they were pretty sick

------------------
HAND #1
------------------

Party Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $7,083.40
Hero (BB): $1,983.80

Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to $18, Hero raises to $66, SB raises to $163, Hero calls $100

Flop: ($332) 6 K 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $250, Hero calls $250

Turn: ($832) J (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $555, Hero calls $555

River: ($1,942) 6 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $777, Hero raises to $1,012.80 and is All-In, SB calls $235.80

Results: $3,967.60 Pot ($1 Rake)
SB showed AK and LOST (-$1,983.80 NET)
Hero showed J J and WON $3,966.60 (+$1,982.80 NET)




------------------
HAND #2
------------------

Party Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $1,046
BB: $558.60
UTG: $585
MP: $305.40
CO: $1,654.65
Hero (BTN): $1,696.40

Pre-Flop: T 9 dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO raises to $24, Hero raises to $81, 2 folds, CO calls $57

Flop: ($171) K K Q (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $125, CO raises to $250, Hero calls $125

Turn: ($671) 2 (2 Players)
CO bets $564, Hero calls $564

River: ($1,799) J (2 Players)
CO bets $759.65 and is All-In, Hero calls $759.65

Results: $3,318.30 Pot ($3 Rake)
CO showed K4 and LOST (-$1,654.65 NET)
Hero showed T 9 and WON $3,315.30 (+$1,660.65 NET)




------------------
HAND #3
------------------

Party Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $1,250
BB: $738.60
UTG: $2,178.45
CO: $518.40
Hero (BTN): $1,529.35

Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG raises to $21, CO calls $21, Hero raises to $93, 2 folds, UTG calls $72, CO calls $72

Flop: ($288) 2 2 8...

don't really have that many goals for the year. i don't see any point seeing monetary goals, as it is impossible to control how much money you make, so i am only making goals based on things i can actually control

1)play 700k hands minimum (about 60k per month should cover it)
2)stick to my 5 buyin stoploss all year no matter what
3)get coaching
4)don't be really nitty with my bankroll
5)buy a house
6)have a good time in the east (hopefully going to thailand, hongkong, singapore, japan, south korea)

as mentioned before i am starting the new year with 5/10 as my main game

played a short session today, couldn't play 5/10 tho as my ipoker account was locked for some reason, so i just played about 9 tables of 2/4 and 3/6 on FTP, won about 5 buyins, and quit after an hour of play

pretty lazy, but i might play later, besides; i am slightly hungover

By sh58

5% 5/10, 20% 3/6, 30% 2/4, 33% 1/2, 12% less than 1/2

25k ish in other poker related activities brings the final total to about 135k, which isn't bad.

i went pro about oct. 07 so it has been my first full year as a pro, so i should be very happy.

i started grinding 50/1 in october 07 and was at 2/4 by febuary. at the start of march i left for thailand to seek adventure, with 20k on party and 5k on FTP. unfortunately you can't play on party in thailand, so i had to start again with a 5k roll, so i decided to grind 1/2 HU; thus began my HU pro days.

in the first 2 days of this i almost busted my FTP account dropping about 20 buyins. i traded 2.5k with someone on 2p2 to continue playing 1/2. he sent first and then i found out i couldn't send him anything in return as party were weird about transfers. luckily he was a saint and let me keep the money and after grinding pretty hard that month i managed to pay him back even after losing 5 buyins on his money straight away. i remember not getting into profit until about the 20th of the month.

a late heater meant i won about 8k that month and was ready to play 2/4 again. april and may went pretty well and when i started june i was mainly playing 3/6 and taking shots at 5/10. despite running awful that month, by the time i returned to england early july, i had moved up to 5/10 but had switched back to playing 6max mainly. i mixed in some FR and HU sessions to keep me well balanced and stop me getting burned out

i spent the first 10 days of the month crushing 5/10, and then made an interesting decision. i was already up more than 20k that month, which was already the most i had ever made in a month, so i decided to cash out most of my money and start again with 2k on 3 different sites (FTP, ipoker, ongame) and starting off playing 50c/1. doing this meant i now had 3 sites with good rb deals that i previously didn;t have, and i was free to invest the money i had withdrawn, so despite hampering my ability to make money in the short term i felt i would make money in the long term doing this. besides, i would be back to 5/10 in no time right?

well i'm sad to say it has taken me a long time to get back to 5/10, i had by far the worst run of my career, running way below equity at every limit i played, totalling almost 90 buyins at one point since june 08.

as it currently stands, my roll is up to about $70k, and i am ready to take on the 5/10 games in the new year




the most important thing i learned in 2008 is the importance of variance. variance is one of the most powerful forces in existance, governing every part of life (it is just variance that we happened to superfluke our way into the world, evolving based on tiny mutations in DNA). as poker players, we look at variance in a more mundane light, but it is still there, deciding where we are going to go.

running below EV is so far the only objective way we have to measure variance, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. every poker players career could have been so different depending on little events that happen at exact points in time. i think of it along the lines of the red dwarf universe (british comedy series) where every time a decision is made, or an uncertain event happens, the universe splits into different paralel dimensions, acting out every single difference.

when taking a shot at the bigger game, you lose 3 buyins and move back with your tail between your legs, and spend another month gathering the courage to try again. or you win 5 buyins and spend that month crushing the higher limit, and start playing 25/50 the next month. just 1 session has dictated whether you start the month at 2/4 or 25/50. think how many of us serious poker players would even be playing if our careers started with a 20 buyin downswing. we are super lucky we ran good when we started playing, and that acted as a shield for our terrible play as beginners, allowing us to learn the foundations to win at this game.

what i have learned is we basically have to ignore variance, as there is nothing we can do to stop it governing our fate. we just have to concentrate on the things that we can control. we can however take measures to reduce the affect of some aspects of variance. i feel putting in alot of volume is vital. if we put in the hands, we can reduce some of the effects of variance. people who don't put in the hours as professional poker players are not only lazy and nearsighted (afterall, who knows if we will be able to make a living in this game 5 years down the line), they are massively increasing the variance in their profession. someone playing 250k hands/year could potentially have a losing or breakeven year at poker even if they are a decent winner, but this is just not true if you play 1million hands. the knowledge that eventually you will make alot of money no matter what happens should have beneficial effects on your pysche (this is a very stressful profession imo)

i apologise for the incoherent ramblings, my next post containing my plans for 2009 will be shorter and more to the point i hope

peace out

got to 20k now, and because i haven't booked a decent 20k+ month for ages, i'm gonna quit now, and just grind 1/2 a bit to reach my 75k hands target. then next year start at 5x higher stakes (lol)



yay, ran 4kish ahead of equity, 1st time in about 6 months i have run ahead of equity. winrate is about 3.5ptbb/100 which isn't great, but not bad as more than 1/2 the hands are 12 tabling

about 35% 3/6, 45% 2/4 and 20% 1/2 so average stake a little higher than 2/4