Spats and Solid Second Half Poker

Ninja.

Chatting with Truth about bankroll management.

Joined a 3.30 deep stack, slow blind. 175 players at start but a good 10-30 minutes of late reg.

I’m out.

Hand 5.

A4 in the big blind, my Ace is a heart.
Three limpers
I check
Flop comes A6h9h
Top pair, three to the nut flush
I bet the pot
Fold
4x reraise
Fold
And I call.
Turn is a 3h
I check.
He bets the pot.
Because he reraised post flop I do not see him as being on a flush. I think he had a strong ace and wanted me out before the flush completed. Or a big pair that wasn’t an ace. Something. I have a strong chance to make the flush on the river, there is a chance my ace is best too.
I call
River is a T non heart.
He goes all in.
Now, in these big field games you get a lot of folks betting and calling to the river with nothing. He did not play like he was on the flush draw. I am scared of a bigger ace too.
I call anyway. There was no absolute read on his hand- I figured myself 50/50 if he had a hand and a 20% that he had nothing. I made the call.
He turns over 57 of hearts.

I think he made a shitty choice and got lucky. I also think he made a move that disguised his hands strength and might have pushed me out of the hand. Then I think he got lucky that his draw wasn’t beaten by a redraw from me.

Overall I am pretty angry about it. At myself, at him, at the cards. It did not help that I had been trying to discuss a few things with Truth and he was being an ass pain. However, he is entitled to go through his own shit and not bend his consciousness to solving my problems at all times. Wait, what am I talking about? Yes he is! What a dick.

Grrr.

Well, so much for my deep run lottery game for the night. I think I will rock a couple of single tables and see if I can turn profitable for the night and then see what I feel like doing.

Back to bankroll management.

I am a losing player over time right now. I am still in poker education phase. I am now capable of winning and do with some regularity. But the size/frequency ratio of my wins has me losing over time. This makes it impossible to make meaningful decisions about how to spend your bankroll. Well, it makes it impossible if you are trying to devise a winning strategy. My goal is to keep an eye on the potential for profit while making sure I get the best possible poker education.

Okay, first single table is a bust. Bottom pair and four to the nut flush runs to the river and flush never catches. Guy calls bets on every street with a pocket pair that is one over my bottom pair- so at the river he is calling with 4 over cards on the board. Top pair and four to the flush that never comes cripples me when the other guy flopped the straight. And all in with AJ gets called by A4 who makes a full house.

Is there comfort in my night being 0 for 4 hands when I lose to flush, hidden pocket, straight, and full house? I mean, at least I am running into monsters.

New game- here we go again- AJ for TPTK post flop. I bet he has a flush straight quads.

Heart rate is up with dark emotions. I need to get my shit in order.

So, here is my plan for my money. I get one tourney buy-in at 3.30 (unless they drop the format), 1 MTT SNGs, at less than 5, and 3 single table SNGs. If I am winning I can play more, but only with profits from that days winnings.

Truth wandered off to bed without saying goodnight. My feelings are hurt. Not sure if he was just not thinking, dealing with his own cranky, avoiding any further conflict (since our conversation wasn’t going well) or what. Oh well, I hope he is okay.

BB with AQ
Several limpers including a guy who is all in for the BB
Late position small stack goes all in for 10x
I reraise for 2x that
Everyone folds
Micro turns over 56s
Small turns over 88
Micro wins, small takes the sidepot

Back to starting stack.

Down 8.80 for the night BTW. Lets track nightly ROI.

Made a move with AQs from small blind, BB went all in. It doesn’t smell right. I call. He turns over 77. He had the edge- but all in? I flop a set, turn a full house, and its game over.

I feel really off my game right now. Really off.

Some things I’ve been thinking about.

Calling in general. A fire cannot burn without fuel. When players are pushing they might be folding, value betting, whatever… But the fact is they cannot win chips if you don’t call. You cannot be too passive- giving up the reraises or folding big hands to their moves, but if you are marginal- just stay out- leave them alone.

Flop hands. Truth and I discussed my run of AKoff during the early phases of last night’s tourney a bit. I feel I really missed a lot of value by over betting and scooping blinds with monster potential hands. I think we need to pull the camera back and think about the meta implications here. We must accumulate chips over time. We have 8+ folding hands per round, ever increasing blinds, and an ever shrinking field- which means an ever increasing average stack size. We must not only win blinds, but win major hands.

So, somehow we need to feed this need for chips while minimizing risk. And we need to do it without knowing what sort of cards we will see. We need a philosophy that holds up to our varied circumstances. Most of the possible holdings we can write off from the top- they are not playable 99% of the time. They are money losers over time- they either take some of our folds or lose big blinds or whatever. With the hands that are left we need to feed the habit. This means marginal hands, strong hands, and premium hands. Uh, lets make this more complicated.

Weak Flop Hands (small suited connectors)
Marginal Hands (Q7off, K8off, A6off)
Marginal Flop Hands (AXs, TJ, 9T)
Strong Hands (TT, JJ)
Strong Flop Hands (JQ, QK, Amid suited)
Premium Hands (we all know these)

My added distinction is for hand that have better potential to become monsters. All premium hands can become monsters. Q7off is marginal and has no monster potential (we don’t count full houses, sets from 2 on the board, quads, 2 pair, etc... since all hands have equal ability to hit this and since the relative strength of THOSE hands gives us our inherent strength.) 9Ts is weaker but has greater overall potential.

Crippled from a healthy third in my current single table.

2 limpers
Limped with A2s from late
Flopped 4 to the
Min bet from first limper
Call from second
Call from me
Turn pairs the board
Min bet
Call
Call
River is an A
No flush for me- but top pair now
Min bet from first limper
Min raise from second
I call- this is a mistake. I was happy to call a min bet here.
I had pot odds all along
Original raiser calls
Original guy flopped 2 pair and had one hijacked
Second guy flopped 2 pair and rivered a full house
I lost my ass.

On the bubble but I am a microstack.

10xed up over a few hands

A couple steals, a couple walks, a lot of folds and then had a guy make a move with AK when I had AA. He flopped four to the but I doubled.

Just need to grind them out now.

Out 3rd. Guy raised on me every hand for 5 or 6 hands- dropping my stack by almost half- I pushed back with A8 and he turned over 99 and won the race.

+9 for the night- but only 3.5 in profit so…

-5.30 for the night

I need to track this different. Joined another 5.5 so I am:

-10.80 for the night

Lost some chips first hand.

Early position limper
I’ve got A7off in BB
Flop is AKblank
I bet the pot
He calls
He must have an ace- probably better than mine
Turn is a blank
I check
He checks
He isn’t sold or he is afraid to lose me
Flop is a K
I decide to test his commitment
I check, he bets, I reraise, he calls

He turns over KQ. It all makes sense- I should have bet the turn I guess. But given that I’ve given up so many chips tonight betting those weak aces from my blinds… Shrug.

Made a move with 99 from mid
One caller
Board is dangerous but not horrible
Pot sized bet
Called
Turn make a flush and is an ace
I check
He bets like 1/20th the pot or something
I call
River is another goddamn flush card- four to a flush I don’t have
I check
He bets
I fold

My stack is now less than 1/3 starting stack

Guy to my right has been a donkey bully. He pushes me all in next hand when I am in the BB with an ace. I call- he has K7off. I double up.

I then more than double up over a couple of hands with AJ right in a row. No showdowns. Once I missed the flop, checked, guy made a small bet, I reraised and he folded. (he didn’t hit THAT flop after calling 4x preflop- I was testing for a big pair). Second time I flopped top two pair and strung as much money out of donkey as I could before I folded.

I double up the donkey. I’ve got AKsuited, he limps, I raise, he calls. Board is some small stuff- he has 300 chips left. He pushes all in- I call- he has 75off and has not hit the board. He turns a 7. Lame but whatever. I just hope he gets more chips so I can take them. He is like a chip launderer.

I double up through donkey again.
Early position min raised
I call with A2suited from mid
Several more callers
Flop is 2 of my suit (all smallish)
Min bet from original raiser
Donkey calls
I go all in which is a 4x reraise
Original raiser folds
Donkey calls
He turns over something like 9Joff- he missed the board completely
He never connects.

I should have gone to the bathroom before this game.

So, to combat my environmental issues I purchased some nice headphones today. I spent a long time looking at all the prices, form factors, and stats on the boxes at Target. They range up to 200 dollarish Bose ones so the selection was pretty good I felt. I noticed that the prices seemed to be HEAVILY driven by form factor/marketing. Two sets of Sony ones with the exact same stats were 30 and 60. Then they had some clearance items that “complicated” the decision because of the perceived value in that 50% off. Being as how my concern is primarily with fighting distraction I felt that LOUD and covering my ear were big items. Truth has some headphones I borrowed a while back and while they made enough noise I could hear everything in the room right through them… Anyway, I found a stat on the boxes that seemed to mean the size of the speaker. All of the Sony’s were 30mm. There were some 20mm and an UGLY Panasonic (on clearance) with 40mm. Then there was this silly looking set that I had written off originally. They were on the expensive side at 49 bucks or so and were marketed towards angsty teenagers silly retro record label skull motif. The brand was “skull candy”. I figured they were crappy with a big sticker because little emo-punkers would want them to go with their skinny jeans. But, to be thorough, I read the stats and they boasted a 50mm speaker. Oh hell yeah.

They are reasonably comfortable and plenty loud. After three hours my ears are pretty hot and suffering a bit from the squeezing- but overall I am pretty happy.

Note: chip leader at the moment with 6 left. Nothing dramatic, just some steals and some spreading of the wealth in the midfield.

Put the small stack (less than 1/3 of me) all in with AJoff. He called with Q7s and hit his Q). Sigh.

Took back table lead, then paid off a small stack and am loosely in last. I made a big preflop raise, he went all in- I called with AJoff he had AQoff.

I am now making a RISKY MOVE THAT I DO NOT APPROVE OF but it worked. I moved all in with a small pair- got called by KToff.

I’ve shown nothing but strong hands- I was shocked I got a caller.

Blinds are pretty big- guy who doubled me is all in almost every hand right now- he stops the round I get KK and I only get the blinds. The thing is- his rush of blind steals almost doubled him up the blinds are so big now.

Focusing now.

In the money.

Heads up now- actually.

First.

Mostly it was like taking candy from a baby. I had him outclassed and we entered with similar stacks. There were three hands of note.

I had built a small lead and then flopped two pair, bet the pot, he called, I bet the pot, he called, and I went all in- he had stayed with nothing to river a wonky straight. I was crippled… I crept back some, won a race, and got to a little over half his stack. I made a big raise with A5, he pushed all in, I smelled a move, and called. He turned over 55. Flop had 2 aces. Then, I made a push with KT and he went all in with his pretty darn small stack. If I folded it would healthy him some- and I suspected his back was broken. I called- he turned over J9off. And game.

+22.50 for a total of

+11.70 for the night.

Last note: I’ve started a log to track all my games each night so I can see how I am doing in what formats.