First losing day for the week

Losing days are inevitable, there's absolutely no way to avoid them. Doesn't mean they're any less frustrating when you go through them knowing that they're going to happen sometimes. This was my first one in about 10 days, so that was a pretty decent stretch of winning days, especially for the high-variance that comes with the 180-man games.

Played 29 games in the afternoon and dropped about $40 in those. Took a bit of a breather, came back a few hours later and put 16 more in. Even felt like I was running really good in them only to get it all taken away late in the games.

Today drops my overall profit a bit, and it cuts my hourly down by about 20%, so that kinda sucks. Double digit hourly is definitely something I'm shooting for at the moment and I think I can definitely get, especially if/when I start putting in longer continuous sets as opposed to the "register for an hour or 2 and then stop" that I'm doing at the moment.

It would be nice to be going into November on a positive note, but I can't complain too much about October. I'm definitely looking forward to hopefully putting in at least double this volume in November despite this little downswing.

In between all of the beats today, there was one shining moment:

Poker Stars No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100.00/t200.00 Blinds - 8 players

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

neyadevil666 (UTG): t3690.00 18.45 BBs

caponfire (UTG+1): t3995.00 19.98 BBs

Moneypenny52 (MP1): t8920.00 44.60 BBs

PsMostWanted (MP2): t5860.00 29.30 BBs

Yesu87 (CO): t4868.00 24.34 BBs

Hero (BTN): t1150.00 5.75 BBs

mariola19 (SB): t910.00 4.55 BBs

sportmike24 (BB): t2695.00 13.47 BBs

Pre Flop: (t300) Hero is BTN with K A

neyadevil666 calls t200, caponfire calls t200, 2 folds, Yesu87 raises to t400, Hero raises to t1150, 3 folds, caponfire calls t950, Yesu87 calls t750

Flop: (t3950) Q 6 J (3 players)

caponfire checks, Yesu87 checks

Turn: (t3950) 9 (3 players)

caponfire checks, Yesu87 checks

River: (t3950) T (3 players)

caponfire checks, Yesu87 checks

Final Pot: t3950

caponfire shows 7 7

Yesu87 shows A T

Hero shows K A

Hero wins t3950.00

Think this is my 5th lifetime royal flush, but I could be wrong, I haven't really kept track of them. This hand didn't really make any difference for my results today, but it's always nice to hit it.

I probably won't be playing at all again until Thursday, so I get a few days to cool down from today and hopefully come back nice and focused on Thursday ready to grind through the weekend.

Rough day that somehow ended with profit

Went to PJ's to grind with him for a bit, because it's always better to yell at a computer screen with another person doing the same thing. Stopped registering after around 2-2.5 hours so we could take a break and get some food. Couldn't get ANYTHING going in those first 2 hours, I really thought I was gonna go the entire set without even cashing in a single game. Managed to string together a couple final tables toward the end of the set though, and finished with 40 games and $22.88 profit for 26% ROI. Not stellar or anything, but profit is profit, so whatever.

That brings my overall total profit for these up to $420.92 and 61.1% ROI. Still probably running a little hot, I expect after a thousand more games that will be lower unless I continue to run hot.

I'm also almost up to $1k lifetime profit on Stars. Currently at $921, with a lot of that coming this month. If I play enough tomorrow I could get there, but more than likely I'll have to wait until next week (might not even play at all tomorrow now that I think about it).

Don't really have any hands that are too interesting to post. This hand isn't necessarily "interesting", but it's probably the most interesting hand I've got from today, so whatever.

Poker Stars $2.00+$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t1000/t2000 Blinds + t200 - 6 players

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

00 J€$€ 00 (MP): t19411 M = 4.62

Evilstorm (CO): t32302 M = 7.69

Hero (BTN): t8703 M = 2.07

SmOLL10 (SB): t16310 M = 3.88

xCANMANx (BB): t15077 M = 3.59

moerle 14 (UTG): t46121 M = 10.98

Pre Flop: (t4200) Hero is BTN with 4 J

3 folds, Hero raises to t8503 all in, 1 fold, xCANMANx calls t6503

Flop: (t19206) 5 T 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: (t19206) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t19206) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t19206

Hero shows 4 J (a flush, Jack high)

xCANMANx shows 9 K (a pair of Nines)

Hero wins t19206

Just about all of the people that play these $2/180s would fold this hand, but they are wrong in doing so. Nash equilibrium has us pushing 22+ Kx+ Q2s+ Q6o+ J5s+ J8o+ T6s+ T8o+ 97s+ 87s. So technically, J4s is just out of that range, and so we shouldn't push here. BUT, that range is based on the assumption that SB is calling with 22+ Ax+ K2s+ K5o+ Q4s+ Q8o+ J7x+ J9o+ T7s+ T9o+ 97s+ 87s 76s, and if SB folds then BB calling 87% of hands (it also says BB should overcall 35% of hands which I think is retardedly loose, but whatever). I highly highly highly doubt either of them are calling that wide. SB is a reg that I see at multiple tables during my sets, but he mass multitables for a single digit ROI. So I doubt he has time to look at this spot and say to himself "I should be calling with my 97s". BB is a random, so I assume he's a losing player (and looking him up real quick while posting this shows me that yes he is), meaning he's more than likely going to be calling way too tight here. He's getting about 2:1 on a call, and I should be shoving pretty wide (which I obviously am), so there isn't really many hands he should be folding. I have a feeling he's not calling too much wider than the K9s that he had here, but I was focusing on other tables at the time of this hand so I don't know if he really thought about it too hard or not.

That paragraph was basically a long way of saying even though Nash equilibrium says this is (barely) a fold, it's still a good shove since I'm 99.9% sure they're not calling Nash. When they call tighter than they should, you can profitably shove more hands.

I got no where near my 50 games/day goal for this weekend, so I don't know how it's gonna go in November. I pretty much have to hit at least 675 games no matter what, which isn't really a lot, but I've just been so unmotivated to grind lately. I don't know, hopefully something clicks next weekend and I can at least get a decent chunk of those games knocked out.

Another frustrating set ends in profit..

Didn't play at all yesterday because I was just not in the mood, so I got up today and started grinding pretty much right away. Like always though, the seemingly endless string of beats started getting into my head, and I stopped registering for new games after about 2 hours. All in all I got 28 games in, which is decent for just a couple hours. Cashed in 2 out of the 28, a 1st and a 9th, for $52.52 profit and 85.3% ROI.

Pretty good for a couple hours. Would've been better if I didn't have to waste my time playing my last table just for it to end with a 9th, but whatever, I can't complain.

Overall graph for the $2/180s:

Still a very nice looking graph, but that could easily change. Just gotta try to ride the upswing while it lasts.

And here is the most frustrating hand of the day:

Poker Stars $2.00+$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t300/t112 Blinds + t50 - 9 players

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Glamstyle (MP1): t2880 M = 3.34

Grafit001 (MP2): t4450 M = 5.16

tripleceez3 (CO): t2685 M = 3.11

Schublade1 (BTN): t3316 M = 3.85

vaidoshis (SB): t12620 M = 14.64

Grandulon_20 (BB): t162 M = 0.19

Hero (UTG): t9285 M = 10.77

Bartfraze (UTG+1): t5780 M = 6.71

UBcave2 (UTG+2): t4382 M = 5.08

Pre Flop: (t862) Hero is UTG with K K

Hero raises to t1567, 2 folds, Glamstyle raises to t2830 all in, Grafit001 raises to t4400 all in, 1 fold, Schublade1 calls t3266 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls t2833

Flop: (t15758) 4 A T (5 players - 3 are all in)

Turn: (t15758) 2 (5 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t15758) 9 (5 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t15758

Glamstyle shows A J (a pair of Aces - lower kicker)

Grafit001 shows K A (a pair of Aces)

Schublade1 shows K A (a pair of Aces)

Grandulon_20 shows 8 Q (high card Ace)

Hero shows K K (a pair of Kings)

Grafit001 wins t2268

Grafit001 wins t654

Schublade1 wins t654

Grafit001 wins t5530

Schublade1 wins t5530

Grafit001 wins t561

Schublade1 wins t561

I've got the top of my range, so I raise instead of shove to get some more value. I get Glamstyle to iso-shove, Grafit001 reshoves, and Schublade1 calls. This is like a dream come true for me here. I figure 2 of them probably have an ace in their hand, so it's unlikely one of them will hit, and the other is probably on a lower PP or something, which I obviously dominate. When it gets back around to me and I call, I'm even happier with what I see. I'm about 77% to scoop a very nice 25 BB pot. But what do you know it, there's the case ace on the flop. Quite possibly one of the most frustrating hands I've ever played, but what can you do, it happens.

Gonna take a break for a little, maybe take a nap or something, and then hopefully come back and put in 30+ more games later tonight.

Another one of those days

So it was another one of those days that began with me getting tilted to no end by what seemed like an unreasonable amount of beats and ended with an unreasonable amount of running good (though at the time it just seemed like running "normal"). I was shooting for 50+ games today, but, like last night, had to stop registering early so I wouldn't tilt everything away. Ended up with 23 games. Cashed in 3: a 1st, a 9th, and a mincash, adding up to $67.84 profit and 134.1% ROI. Absolutely nothing wrong with those numbers, but that doesn't mean it wasn't frustrating getting to that point.

And here's a graph of all my $2.20 180s thus far including today's:

Still a very nice looking graph, but it's still a very small sample size as well. It was nice to get my heads up record even at 3-3 though after basically running like horse shit HU for the past month.

Don't really have anything else to say, so I'll toss in a couple hands here, specifically the hand that got me to HU, and then the brief 3 hand duration of the HU portion, with my comments below each hand.

Hand 1:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 3000/6000 Blinds 600 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

BB (t32220)

Hero (Button) (t57470)

SB (t180310)

Hero's M: 5.32

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 8

Hero bets t56870 (All-In), 1 fold, BB calls t25620 (All-In)

Flop: (t68040) 6, A, 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t68040) J (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t68040) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t68040

Results:

Hero had A, 8 (one pair, Aces).

BB had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).

Outcome: Hero won t68040

Completely standard shove by me on the button with 10 BBs, and obviously completely standard call by him. I just happened to get lucky, nothing he can do about it.

Hand 2:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 3000/6000 Blinds 600 Ante (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (BB) (t93290)

SB (t176710)

Hero's M: 9.15

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, Q

SB bets t12000, Hero raises to t92690 (All-In), SB calls t80690

Flop: (t186580) J, 4, 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t186580) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t186580) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t186580

Results:

SB had K, 5 (one pair, fours).

Hero had A, Q (flush, Queen high).

Outcome: Hero won t186580

Against some players, his minraise could be effective, but I treat it exactly as if he had shoved. He time banked it for a little after I shoved over the top. He probably wanted to fold it, but with it being the first hand of HU, he probably didn't want to look weak or make me think I could just run over him, so he opted to call. For the record, if he had simply shoved in the first place, it's a perfectly fine play with K5s up to about 20 BB effective stacks. I just got lucky enough to have a hand here and have it hold up.

Hand 3:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 3000/6000 Blinds 600 Ante (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (SB) (t186580)

BB (t83420)

Hero's M: 18.29

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q

Hero bets t185980 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t13200

Results:

Hero didn't show Q, Q (nothing).

Outcome: Hero won t13200

In retrospect, it probably would have been better if I had raised here instead of just shoving. By raising, I can get more chips out of him in 2 different ways: he could shove over the top, or he could call and try to "outplay" me postflop. By shoving, I can only get more chips out of him if he calls. Either way, it's obviously never going to be wrong to simply shove here with 12 BB effective stacks.

Hand 4:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 3000/6000 Blinds 600 Ante (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (BB) (t193180)

SB (t76820)

Hero's M: 18.94

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 3

SB bets t76220 (All-In), Hero calls t70220

Flop: (t153640) 6, 7, 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t153640) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t153640) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t153640

Results:

SB had K, 10 (one pair, sevens).

Hero had A, 3 (one pair, sevens).

Outcome: Hero won t153640

I have a suited ace HU, that's golden. I'm pretty much prepared to get it in this hand regardless of what he does. He already showed me he was willing to get AIPF with K5s before. Now that he's the short stack, I've gotta think he's gonna be shoving pretty wide from his SB. I did hesitate for a second before calling though, because A3s is a hand that's easily dominated by so much (better aces and PPs, all of which he's surely shoving here) and rarely a favorite (only a significant favorite against weaker 3s, and roughly between a coinflip and 60-40 with everything else). However, I did not feel like getting into a folding war here, and calling and losing would not be the end of the world. I would still have a little over 100k and we would be roughly even in stacks. So the fact that I could outplay him if that were to happen plus the fact that I'm probably a slight favorite against his range here led me to happily call and take it down.

Mondays Tuesday and Wednesdays are generally a little busy for me, so I probably won't be playing again until Thursday. I hope to give a legitimate attempt at getting in 50 games a day next weekend though to start getting myself ready for November. If I can't do it next weekend, I don't know how I'll be able to in November with Thanksgiving stuff eating up a couple of my playing days.