bitching...

I have to bitch or i'll melt down. Forced myself to take a break, sitting back down for the late night FPP Happy Hour. This is the shit that drives me up the wall - after four hours of bludgeoning my way back into the green, i'm finally about $5 up and here is where it goes in one hand:


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($3.10)
MP1 ($5.30)
MP2 ($4.28)
MP3 ($1.42)
CO ($2.12)
Button ($1.33)
SB ($1.90)
Hero (BB) ($4.95)
UTG ($9.34)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, K
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.05, MP1 bets $0.10, 3 folds, Button raises to $0.35, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.22, 1 fold, MP1 calls $1.12, Button raises to $1.33 (All-In), Hero calls $0.11, MP1 calls $0.11

Flop: ($4.06) K, 2, 9 (3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero bets $1.20, MP1 raises to $3.97 (All-In), Hero calls $2.42 (All-In)

Turn: ($11.30) 4 (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($11.30) 3 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $11.30 | Rake: $0.75

idiocy

i don't know why i only seem to play sharp when i'm to the felt. i played some LHE, took a hit, hit a stride in SnGs, built myself up a little bit, then sat down again LHE outside my bankroll and scratched myself down to about where i was before, now i have like 1o table hours to put in to build myself back up right. so here it is, in writing, 'cuz that seems to work at least for a little bit - i'm sticking to SnGs and eventually tourneys for now. I've been crushing $2 SnGs, which is great, but i'd like to move UP and now i'm staying put. i've just been 1 tabling to try and get back into things, and now i HAVE to grind out at least 10 more hours at $2 1tbl SnGs. not something i'm looking forward to, but i KEEP being STUPID with my bankroll this low. i see a bit and try to play like i'm seeing a lot. *sigh*

back to it.

break over

so a rough start. pretty up and down playing micro stakes NL 6max, stalled nowhere 6max LHE, but bringing it back having found a groove in the micro SnGs... almost back to even, and hopefully i can stick with this and take it somewhere... pt3 numbers to come when i have slightly more relevant quantity maybe, but i'm trying not to think about them and just stay in the moment... afraid i'll jinx it, haha (alright done for the night and putting them out of my head asap, but for the record: 27/14/2.5, and i apparently need to outright remove K/9o from my list of playable hands). just some motivation for now:

Tournament History MTTs + SNGsMTTs OnlySNGs Only
ID	Start Time	Name		Buy-in	Entrants	Position	Won	Notes
91599919	May 16 18:39ET	$2 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$2.00 + $0.25	9	1	$9
91594820	May 16 17:53ET	$2 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$2.00 + $0.25	9	2	$5.40
91587570	May 16 16:52ET	$2 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$2.00 + $0.25	9	2	$5.40
91563086	May 16 13:02ET	$2 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$2.00 + $0.25	9	2	$5.40
91556289	May 16 11:51ET	$2 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$2.00 + $0.25	9	1	$9
91365620	May 15 21:21ET	$3 + $0.30 Tournament		$3.00 + $0.30	502	138	--
91429129	May 15 11:44ET	$1 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$1.00 + $0.25	9	5	--
91429076	May 15 11:42ET	$1 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$1.00 + $0.25	9	4	--
91233529	May 13 20:33ET	$1 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$1.00 + $0.25	9	3	$1.80
91217061	May 13 18:13ET	$1 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$1.00 + $0.25	9	1	$4.50
91047337	May 12 11:32ET	$1 + $0.25 Sit & Go		$1.00 + $0.25	9	1	$4.50

break

so i haven't played much of late. the reason being i took almost all of everything out of my accounts. bills and bills and bills to pay. plus, really, i've been living a little bit beyond my means in some ways. poker has been supporting and helping with that a bit, but now i've sapped my bankroll to avoid sapping my checking account. it's not been all bad, i think a break is doing me well. i'm looking forward to playing again, though i think i'm going to drop to 2 tables max, and try to play more live games, brick and mortar style. a few AC trips perhaps. i'm really excited to touch felt again. i think i'd be able to tear the bellagio up at this point, and i can't wait to go back.

i'll keep posting when i keep playing, though it may be a paycheck or two into the future...

i haven't stopped playing though, and if anything particularly interesting happens in a freeroll that i have time for or a reward point tourney that i find, i'll be sure to post mortem it here.

CONTROLLED aggression in position

okay so i went a bit raise happy for a while there. not in necessarily a bad way at all, just... was definitely playing the maniac at the table for a while. it felt good though, i felt in control, but i was definitely subject to bigger swings than i'm used to, or can maybe handle for now. for example, i was really laying into one of my tables for like three straight orbits. of 20 hands i had probably raised 15 preflop and/or tried to take them with bets/raises on the flop, successfully for the most part, i was up a bit, losing a pot every now and then to a reraise, but taking down the vast majority of the small pots without contention, then i woke up with A/J on the button, made my standard preflop raise for probably the fourth time in a row(4xbb), and the BB pushes back a bit, popping it to 9bb, barely more than a minraise. i decide i'm well ahead of his range given how the table's gone, and to take advantage of my hyper-aggro image, i push all in for about 50bb, and he calls me up almost instantly with KJ. this is the most fun poker i've played in a while, regardless of the fact the flop came QKK and i didn't catch up. i couldn't have asked for a better situation there, and i knew exactly where i was.

this isn't to say i've been totally crazy all night. i go through spurts of hyper aggression, then fall back to really tight, more ABC play, then snap to crazy aggressive for a run, then fall back to tight, straightforward. i think this is overall a much healthier pattern than my previous apathetic habit of slightly loose but straightforward play, devolving into loose passive play mixed with some spewey tilt, back to some tighter straightforward play, then sliding back down the losse/passive slope...

wonder how this will play out if i can keep it up for some SnGs or MTTs tomorrow evening perhpas... provided i still have a bankroll. for now, i unfortunately have to call it a night....

Aggression...

aggression in position. that's the lesson for today that i'm trying to apply in full force today. it's going well so far. playing some micro at cake, 2 tables for now, since some awesome tournament action has that account down to $4.

it feels like the right adjustment i need to make right now - i've been slipping into slightly passive play.

going well so far.

probably switching to stars SnGs later or some multi tables anywhere. maybe a big field tourney to end the night...

adjusting

i think i make broad overarching adjustments too soon based on too little info. i'm quick try to adjust my game to the slightest tendencies of opponents, which really just makes me stray from optimal play too far too quickly.

adjusting is good, overadjusting is bad.

focusing on just playing my game for now.

also i'm going to entirely stop playing all but premium hands from the small blind, and pocket pairs with a limper or two. i have no idea wtf is going on there, but it's disgusting.