Worst blogger ever

OK-I suck at blogging. I always seem to find something else to do rather than put entries in this damn thing, but I do want to try and keep it going.

A few months ago, I thought my game was kind of stagnant, and I felt like I needed somthing to get me over the hump. I wasn't really losing or anything, I just didn't feel like I was improving anymore.

After messing around with some NL on Pacific, I found I sometimes liked it better than limit. This led me to join Cardrunners, which I feel has improved my NL (and overall poker) game greatly. Not having anyone I trusted to give me poker advice, the videos on Cardrunners proved to be just what I was looking for...insight into the thought processes of great players.

Over the past few months, I took the knowledge I gained and worked my way up from the $10 to the $25 to the $50 buy in NL games on various sites. Might have made for interesting reading if I been blogging while I did it. ) : I've been working on perfecting the LAG in position style preached on Cardrunners and have had good success with it so far. It's been-play some, watch (and rewatch) videos, play some, watch videos and read forum. I keep getting looser and more aggressive in position and this has been a big change from the TAG style I used to play in NL. We will see how it goes.

I'll try and keep this thing updated more often.

Oh...one nice bump up to the bankroll was playing 3000 hands of blackjack at Golden Palace Casino to bonus whore $200 and actually finishing a few bucks ahead to go along with the bonus.

That really got my thinking about the variance in poker...3000 hands of negative EV BJ game and I still finished ahead.

Running well at tiny stakes....

Quick update...

Ran well over the weekend, still 4 tabling .50/1 on PokerStars, and 2 tabling the $10 buy in NL on Pacific.

Looking forward to moving up.

All Over The Map

OK-lets see how many different ways I can hit the low limit tables...

Party had a another $75 bonus in July, so I cranked out the required hands in holdem..didn't run very well, but cashed out ahead thanks to the bonus.

Still working on that bonus on PokerStars-I did switch to .$50/1.00 holdem. 4 tabling, I've made up some of what I lost experimenting with 7 stud, and the bonus is working off much quicker.

I wanted to consolidate a few accounts that I have cash on and haven't on played in a while.

I had just a few bucks left on Absolute, not even enough for their minimum cashout limit, so I decided to either run it up or lose it. Tried some heads up, but the traffic was near empty, lost a couple of bucks when one guy hit a couple of runner runner draws and left. Decided to play a $10 SNG and finished 2nd. That put me just slightly below the withdraw minimum, so, rather than monkey around any more with a tiny bankroll I deposited a little extra so I can get everything out and use the cash elsewhere.

Since I had a problem once when I put money in and withdrew it without playing a hand, I decided to do something cheap and fun. Absolute has 50 cent (plus 10 cent rake) SNG's, so I did that. Kind of a waste of time, but those things are fun. The funny thing was, most of the players were playing weak/tight for a 60 cent buy in! I've seen worse maniacs at $30 SNG's. I stole a bunch of blinds once they got high, and went on to win the thing. Another sweet $2 or so added to the bankroll. I'll be removing my whole bankroll from Absolute in a couple of days.

Finally, I've had $100 in cashout restricted bonus money on Pacific for a couple of years. My wife used it, but she hasn't played for a while. Now that you can multi-table on Pacific, I decided to play some very low buy-in NL holdem to work on my game and see what I can do with the limited bankroll. Opened a couple of $10 max buy-in tables, played for an hour or so, and finished a few bucks ahead.

Unless I hit a bad run, I will be moving up to $1/2 soon. I've been messing around with various things at .50/1.00, and would like to move to the higher limit. Enough with the $5 pots!

Although I did win a $20 pot at a .50/1.00 table tonight...

I raised from the sb with QQ.

I checked raised my over pair of queens twice trying to thin the remaining 5 players with a flush draw out there.

The guy in late position to my right kept betting, allowing me to make the others call two cold on the flop and turn. Perhaps I should have just bet out on the turn? Giving a free card on the turn would have been bad, but I felt that with that many players remaining, someone would bet and I could get a feel for where I stood in the hand.

With two left on the river and no flush or straight possible, I decide to check the river and see what happened.

The guy in late position to my right bet out again, I called and the other guy called. My queens were good. I thought someone must have two pair or something, but when I wasn't reraised on the turn, I began to think my queens were OK. One guy had middle pair, and I can't remember what the other had...

Resizable tables on PokerStars

PokerStars latest software update included resizable tables, so it looks like I'm gonna switch to 4 tabling holdem for a bit. Tried the new software out for half an hour this morning and it seems to work well (also finished a couple of bucks ahead). I wanna try and take advantage of their VIP program.

Kind of funny how tight some .50/1.00 tables can be online compared to something like $5/10 brick and mortar. Watching more than a few hands getting folded around to the big blind has me looking for another table pretty quickly, but I will stay a bit if the player turnover indicates the game may be loosening up. I also seem to have pretty good results at weak/tight tables, so sometimes I can stay and pick up a lot of small pots. Semi-bluffing = good.

Back from vacation now and am looking forward to diving back into a bunch of hours of poker.

PokerStars and 7 Card Stud

Looks like plans change quickly around here. Got $150 in bonus to play off on PokerStars and decided to play some 7 Card Stud. I am definately a 7 stud beginner, and am playing the .50/1.00 tables. I started out single tabling, as tracking the already dealt cards is required in 7 stud. After a couple of hours, I decided to try 2 tables. We will see what happens.

After a few hours of play, I am down about $30. Seems like it could be equal parts being a little card dead, missing some big draws, and my own inability to play the game very well.

Playing only two tables at this low limit burns the bonus off VERY slowly, so I may switch back to some form of holdem that I can 4 table to get thru the bonus quicker.

I like being able to work on different games at this lower level, but I feel like a dog being taken on a walk and lifting my leg at every hyrant and telephone pole along the way...limit holdem, omaha, seven stud...been in the mood lately for some pot limit and no limit holdem....also have been reading up on a-5, and 2-7 lowball...

I remember stating in my first post something about limit holdem being my best game, well, I want to be able to play all games...and I did say I would throw in some other games...

What can I say, I'm very brave at .50/1.00!

Party bonus and Omaha 8/b

Had a 15% to $75 offer from Party, so I decided to play some Omaha 8 or better for a change of pace. I want to learn (or get better at) other games, so I may do this with other bonus offers. It gives me a liitle more leeway to make mistakes in games I don't have much experience in.

I have played Omaha 8/b before, and I don't think I suck at it. I did some book and Card Player article review as I went along, so I think my play will continue to improve.

Started off pretty well, with small wins the first couple of sessions. There are many bad players at the .50/1.00 level, and Omaha doesn't lend itself to chasing like Hold'em does. Chasing the 3rd nut low when someone else is drawing to the nut low and nut flush is not gonna work out for the bad player. Assuming a good player is only starting with premium hands, it seems to be much harder for bad players to suck out on you in Omaha 8/b.

Unfortunately, I hit a bad streak over the last few hours I played. Kept getting great starting hands that would miss the flop completely. In my limited Omaha 8/b experience, it seems like bad sessions are the result of having lots of premium hands that just seems to miss the flop each time. I thought I did well by not chasing when I did miss the flop, but it did kinda suck folding hands like ah 2d 3h 6d over and over after the flop would come the exact opposite of what I wanted to see. Omaha is not a game to chase in, so I tried to stay patient and wait for the flop to connect with a hand I could scoop with. When 4 tabling, just one extra scooped pot an hour can make the difference between a winning or losing session.

Anyway, thanks to the bonus, I did manage to cash out $30 more than I deposited.

It would have been nice to actually finish ahead at the tables, but that's poker.

Bad connection and moving up

OK-annoying delays tonight while 4 tabling on UB. Not sure if it's UB or me, so I switched from wireless laptop to wired PC. May have been UB, as I had trouble on the other PC too. Seems to have gotten better.

I've been thinking about when I will move up. Decided I want a fairly aggressive schedule, so I won't wait to acccumulate the normal 300 bets for each level (but I will move back down if I hit an early bad run) . Bankroll will include both winnings at the table and bonuses.

I will move to $1/2 when the bankroll reaches $400. If I drop back to $300, I'll move back down to .50/1.00

I will move to $2/4 when the bankroll reaches $800. If I drop back to $400, I'll move back down to $1/2.

I will move to $5/10 when the bankroll reaches $2000. If I drop back to $800, I'll move back down to $2/4.

That's a good start. Hopefully I will be adding to this schedule at a future date.