On Travel
I am traveling for a week, and unlikely to be playing any poker. Check back July 7. 
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June 29, 2006
June 28, 2006
"W"
That was last night's session. Down, up, down, up. It was a good $3/6 table at VIP. You've gotta love a table where you have pot odds to call a gut shot on the turn. Not implied odds - pot odds.
I wrote about the luckiest player ever in a previous post. He was seated two to my right. Directly to my right the time in the seat was split between two donks, one who was lucky and one who was not. There were also a couple of other goofs at the table. I am reasonably certain I was the best player there. This is not uncommon for me at a VIP table, but I can't ever seem to have a night where everything goes right and I really clean up. I always seem to have to start in the hole and dig my way back out. Ah me, its a pretty small sample size of sessions I am dealing with there, so someday my hands will all hold up and I will peel off a table there up 30 BB.
The luckiest player ever keeps his title. He sat down with $30 (5 BB) and left with $154. He gouged me with such monster starting hands as A2o and Q8o, flopping trips and slow-playing them both times. I won it back by the end of the session, plus another 3 BB, due largely to the two calling stations that sat between us.
I have taken a liking recently to shutting off the chat window. Used to be that I enjoyed the social banter and even some of the heckling that goes on in poker chat windows. I think that I now prefer the 'silence'. While I think that it was useful to see who was about to tilt off their chips by reading their chat, I am concluding that I was more distracted - and thus hindered - by chat than helped by it. There are other signs of tilt besides chat, and I am able to pick up on these, and other signs, better with the chat off. With chat off I am also unaffected by anyone's comments on my play, which may have affected me previously. I never thought that I was, but now when I am involved in a big pot, I find myself VERY curious what other players might be chatting about it, or me, when its done - instead of thinking about the new cards being dealt. I suspect I was getting too absorbed in chat at those times when I had chat on, and I am happy to leave it off now.
June 27, 2006
Short but Sweet
I was in a bad mood last night. I wanted to play poker, but real life conspired against me for most of the evening and I couldn't get to the tables until after 9:30 p.m. As I have to get up at 5:00 a.m., this didn't leave me much time if I wanted to sleep - which I did. I was tired from a long day.
There was nothing going on at VIP Poker, so I checked Pacific. Nothing much there, either. I have a small amount on deposit at Ultimate Bet, so I decided to play some NL there. I have had a hankering for some NL lately. Pulled up a .5/1 NL table and waited.
First hand on the BB I drew pocket 88. C/O, who looked LAG during the few hands I watched while waiting on the blind raised first in to $2.50. I called and flopped top set. He bet the pot into me, and I made way too large a raise back at him by also betting the pot. There were two spades on the flop and I didn't want to make it too easy for him to get a lucky draw. He folded, and I took down a small pot.
Second orbit I had 77 UTG. I limped and called a small raise. Flop came 863 rainbow. I check-called the pot size bet. Turn was a magic 7. I checked and villain overbet the pot. I re-raised all-in and he called. He really loved those queens, but he doubled me up there.
Tired, but satisfied, I went to bed. 
June 26, 2006
Another Day Another U
Traffic has been abysmal at VIP Poker for the past few days. I keep going back looking for that Phat Donk I wrote about on the 21st. Hoping to find him and some of his friends at that full ring $5/10 table again. No luck, though. There was one $5/10 table going, but it wasn't looking that good, so I went down to a $1/2 table instead. There was nothing going on at $2/4 or $3/6. Horrible traffic.
While waiting for my blind to come around I saw there was a $20/40 5-max table with an 88% view flop percentage. Curious, I clicked on it, and there he was! Uber Donk! He gets cleaned out at $5/10 full ring, so what does he do? He moves to $20/40 short hand! If stack size is a fair estimate, he wasn't doing very well at $20/40 either - sitting there with 14 BB in front of him. I was half-tempted to give that table a shot, but I just am not ready for that kind of BR fluctuation.
I decided one table of $1/2 wasn't going to be enough to keep me interested, so I opened a second $1/2 table at Pacific. Both tables were quite loose - just how I like them. True to the current pattern I went down about 8 BB on both. And, true to form, I logged off an hour later up a few BB on both. Its almost like it takes my cards an hour to warm up or something - then the draws start hitting. Very strange. I did have one lucky break. I was in EP and 2 players had posted extra blinds. I had KJo, so I raised first in, hoping to fold most everyone else. Seems I had forgotten I was in cold-calling hell, as 4 of us saw the flop QJ7. I came out swinging and got 2 calls. I turned another J, and got called again. Everyone folded to my river bet, though. Straight draws maybe.
Proving once again, better lucky than smart!
June 25, 2006
"U" after "U"
My sessions are all having a similar characteristic lately: I start off down about 8 - 12 BB, and then I'll churn down there for an hour or more, and then I'll finally hit a monster hand or maybe a streak of decent hands and finish up a few BB. I call these "U-shaped" sessions, and I have been having "U" after bloody "U" lately.
Last night was no exception. First orbit I am UTG with ThTc. I raise and get cold called by MP and the BB chips in to see the flop: Ts 6d 4h. I bet and get called by MP. BB folds. Turn 2d. I bet and get called. River Jd. I bet and get raised. I 3-bet and get capped. I call. Villain shows Qd9d. What he was betting on until the river is one of those eternal mysteries of poker. I decide I like this table even more, as I had previously tagged two fish, and now I have a third.
I chip around down about 10 BB for the next hour. Strangely, I see flops of 888 twice: once holding 77, once holding 99. I get called down by overcards on both, getting rivered both times. Online poker is rigged!
Then as I am getting tired and one of my fish has busted and fled, I get KK in MP3. I raise and get 3 callers. Flop comes KQ7. I bet and get 2 callers. Turn is Q. I bet and get raised by the SB - new to the table, but looking fishy thus far. I call. River is a blank and SB lets me cap it. He mucks at showdown, but I suspect he was very happy with trip queens.
That hand put me up 1.25 BB for the session, and I quit the table before my next blind. It was bedtime. Another day, another U.
June 21, 2006
An Interesting Evening.
I played about 2 hours at a $5/10 table last night. I saw a big phat donk I had played against before was already seated with $500, and I had my choice of a seat immediately on his right, betting into him, or three to his left, with two players between us. I reflexively chose the seat three to his left, but in hindsight I should have taken the one to his right. He plays nearly maniacally pre-flop and his habitual three-bets would have been great for getting him isolated HU. The seat I took was still good, as the two donks between us turned out to be serial cold-callers.
I plopped down with $250 and went to work. He rivered me twice in the first two orbits, and I was down 17.5 BB. My head was spinning, as this was taking me from having a net positive month to date to being in the red - again. I sat out a hand, took a few deep breaths and analyzed the situation at the table. It doesn't matter what I did yesterday, or so far this month. It doesn't matter that mega-donk is up $150 on my money. What mattered was that he was a huge fish, I had position on him, there were other fish at the table, I have excess bankroll out the ying-yang to play $5/10 - this was a premium situation. That's what mattered. That's all that mattered. I reloaded to $250 and went back to work.
Donkzilla continued to raise or re-raise nearly every hand pre-flop. He three-bet 86o and T3o. His stack fluctuated wildly, and I noted that when it got below $300 he started limping in. He was still seeing 95% of the flops, but his hyper-aggression cooled. Until he got below $200, then he went into overdrive again. Back above $200, he limped. Back above $300, overdrive. He became very predictable in that regard.
His post-flop play was less bad than his pre-flop play. Not good, but less bad. He could not let it go if he caught any piece of the flop. This included any draws to 4 outs or better.
I called for one more with K6s from the BB with just 3 players in the pot because the implied odds were so good with him. I rivered the nut flush and he felt compelled to show me that he had cold-called a PFR from the cutoff with A5o. Having flopped his A, I guess he felt screwed.
I picked up a small pot when my pair of TT saw a KQX flop. It checked around and I picked up a J on the turn and a 9 on the river for a crappy straight. Megadonk had slow-played a flopped top-two pair. He was now below $200 and betting wildly pre-flop and flop, throttling back on the turn if he had nothing. Some other guys did a little feeding off him while I waited for cards.
With about $75 left he raised two limpers into me as I was sitting on the BTN with KK. I 3-bet and got a call and a fold. He capped and we both called. The flop was 678 two-suited. He bet and I raised, folding the other guy. He 3-bet and I capped. He called. Turn is another 8. I am not liking this board at all, but he could literally have anything - anything! He bet and I raised. He called. There it was - the slowdown I wanted from him. River is a T, making 3 for a flush as well. An awful card for me. But he had slowed down on the turn, which meant he had nothing. Not even a good draw. He might be sitting on 32o for all I knew. He checked and I bet. With 16+ BB in the pot, and 1.5 left in front of him, he folded for one more bet. 
That put me up about $70 for the session. He donked his last $15 off on the next hand and left the table $500 lighter than he had sat down with 2 hours earlier. I checked off the table before posting the next blind.
I made a lot of good choices last night. That does not always pay off in poker, but last night it did, and it felt very good.
June 20, 2006
Slow and Steady
I have been single-tabling for a couple of weeks now, or playing a main table and one sideshow table that I am not paying much attention to - just nut-pedalling. At first this was somewhat painful for me, as I have been 3 or 4 tabling for over a year, racking up bonus after bonus. The really slow action of just one table was irritating. I am glad I have stuck with it, though, as I am doing something I have not been doing for the past 8 or 9 months: learning and improving my game.
When I first got serious about poker, I improved very rapidly - there was no where to go but up! I got good at grinding, multi-tabling, and finding bonuses to chase. My earn rate was higher than I ever dreamed it could be when I first started playing. I became overly reliant on the edge I had in my pre-flop game. Eighteen months ago, if you were a solid pre-flop player, you could be profitable up to $3/6 full ring limit. There were enough clueless players to keep it profitable. As that slowly drained away I missed the opportunities to improve the other parts of my game. I was too busy being profitable, and finding other ways to be profitable - casinos and sportsbooks. When the slump hit, it took me a long while to figure out I wasn't going to be able to grind my way through it. I needed to make some changes.
I think less of a slump would not have got my attention the way this one did. Down 300 BB I continued to pound out 3 and 4 table sessions without a second thought. Never stopping to review the sessions and hands where I was losing. Knowing the cloud would eventually lift and I would be back on track eventually. Somewhere around 600 BB down I just couldn't stand it any longer. I had to do something different. I didn't know what at the time, but continuing as I was just wasn't making any sense. I started by looking for the weakest players I could remember - Pacific Poker and VIP Poker. I found them just where I'd left them.
Now I was sure I had players that could be easily beat - all I had to do was beat them. And if I wasn't, I had to be sure it was their dumb luck and not my bad play. That meant slowing down and paying closer attention. Now, with that lack of action that I found so painful a few weeks ago, I have the time to analyze my play as I go. Win or lose, I can tell what I am doing right and wrong pre-flop to showdown. It is helping, as is getting significantly better reads on the opponents I face.
Lastly, I started re-reading Theory of Poker three days ago. Four chapters in and I have found two things I missed before that are going to help me at the tables. I have won 5 of my last 6 sessions, and (knock wood) I am ahead in cash games for the month. First time that's happened since February.
June 19, 2006
Card Dead Yet Profitable
I have been playing at Pacific and VIP Poker the past few days - two sites that are fairly fishy. Mostly single-tabling $2/4 and $3/6, but I did squeeze in a long $5/10 session and two short NL $100 sessions. I played both NL tables as nut-peddaling add-ons to limit tables where I was more focused.
That $5/10 table was frustrating because there was so much money going into the pot every hand, but I wasn't getting any cards to play. I made two good laydowns with TPTK, one on the turn, one on the river, and was down about 10BB. My daughter was sitting there and I was explaining to her that this was a good table to play as there were many players pushing lots of money in with marginal hands, and that I would like to flop a set because if I did, I would win a big pot. I explained this to her by saying I'd like to have pocket 77 and flop a 7. Just a few hands later I had 77 UTG and limped in. Got the routine 4 callers, and flopped 727, two hearts. I checked it and the hyperaggro btn bet. I called as did 2 others. Turn was a third heart, and it checked around to the btn who bet. I called and an MP raised. BTN called and I did, too. River was a blank, and I checked, MP bet and BTN called. I raised, MP 3-bet, BTN folded and I capped. MP showed a Q-high flush. I checked off that table up $4, but with an average distribution of cards I would have made a killing.
Friday night I played a $3/6 table and I saw the luckiest player I have yet seen at a card table. My first hand he was UTG and had only $6 at a $3/6 table. He raised first in and I assumed he'd had a bad day and was just tilting off his last $6. (I was sitting out the hand waiting for the blind to come around.) He had 3 or 4 callers, but his T9o turned a boat and he won the pot. An hour later he had turned that $6 into $228, and he left the table. I thought his play was pretty bad, but he just kept making hands. He only tagged me once when he rivered bottom trips. I did fine at that table, and came away with 7 or 8 BB.
I also played an NL $100 table on Friday. One player must have been tilting from something that happened previously as he made huge pre-flop raises about 3 or 4 times an orbit. I caught QQ against him and doubled up my stack. I think that was the only hand I played at that table.
The only other significant item I can remember is that for that several day period my cards were below average. In a loose fishy environment where you can play lots of hands profitably my vp$ip was about 12%. I was just running cold - but making money anyways. Hoping to get a hot run of cards at those tables during the coming week.
June 13, 2006
Quick Update
With out of town guests staying the past few days, I have had little time to play poker. As a normally early riser, I did find a little time, and here's what happened.
I made about $18 playing $1/2 limit at Pacific Poker. I broke even after an hour of 6-max and then turned a small profit after about an hour of FRLH. Nothing staggering - except that I didn't get crushed at 6-max as I normally do. (I played Pacific because its loaded on my laptop and I didn't have access to my desktop.)
I also played two SNGs. I placed second in a 5-seat $20+2. I had a monster chip lead HU, but took two suckouts in a row and ended in second. Oh well. Then I busted 7th in a $8+.80 20-seat. i overplayed a KQo about midway through, and then pushed with 98s when I was down to 4M, and got called by two aces-holders. I failed to spike and was out. Net on SNGs was -0.80 for those two.
I have much to do today on my site and at ITH, as well as around my house. So, even though I have the day off, I don't expect to play much poker today either. Hopefully tomorrow!
June 07, 2006
Bonus-Driven Play
I spent last evening trying to find some place to play on InterPoker. My preferred game there, $2/4 FRLH was running three tables, but they all had 23 - 27% view flop percentages (yuck!) and waiting lists 5-7 deep. I tried played some £1/2 FRLH, and spiked a hand, but when I discovered I was the 4th ITHer at the table, I knew I should look for greener pastures. I played a little .25/.50 PLO, but got hurt when my T9 ran into TT on a board that made T99. I also played a few hands at 7-stud, but that was ridiculously tight, so I quit and went off to dinner.
Later that evening I tried to play again, and the $1/2 and $2/4 FRLH tables were looking about the same as they had earlier. I decided to try my short hand skills again - something that has NEVER gone well for me in the past. I have just 2,500 or so hands of short han in my Poker Tracker database. The earn rate of -3.2 BB/100 should explain why - I either have outrageously poor luck at 6-max or I suck at it, or both. But I want to work off this fat InterPoker bonus, so I kept looking for some opportunities there to do it.
Within 10 minutes I was down 12 BB, and I was getting very agitated. Stand up and pace for a few seconds, taking deep breaths so I don't throw the mouse agitated. I made it back a bit, and then went back down 14 BB. I made it back to down 4 BB and quit. I just wasn't in the mood for the swings. I knew I was too stressed to be playing effectively. Not good. Ironically, my last hand was AA from UTG, and I ended up stealing the blinds.
I woke up early this morning and played some PLO gain. I made back everything I'd lost at PLO yesterday in 2 orbits and I quit. I got the feeling I was playing scared - fearing I would lose that session's profit instead of focusing on the poker. I think quitting was the right answer in that situation, even though I should be mentally past this situation.
For now I think the lesson I am taking is that I should stop being desperate to play a site, and find better games.
June 05, 2006
Best Crypto MPP Deal I've Yet Seen
I had to make it for myself, though. I like to play the InterPoker monthly $100 bonus in the casino first. It is unique among the Cryptos in that it will clear in the poker room, or the casino, or a combination of the two. The way they work the casino bonus, you lose the bonus money first, so I like to start each month in the InterCasino, see if I can double up the bonus, and then play it out in the poker room with the lower variance +EV poker game.
Last month I busted the bonus in the casino, so I never played in the poker room. This month, InterPoker gave me $20 for playing 1 raked hand. That's cool.
This month I ran the bonus up to $220 in the casino. It happenned very fast, in just a few hands, and I didn't work off much of the wagering requirement. Last night, I played a little $2/4 FRLH on an unusually LAG InterPoker table. They spun off a fast 30 MPPs for me, and I even made a whopping 0.75 BB. I hated to leave it, but Mrs Bull and I have this Sunday night "The Sopranos" date every Sunday, and...
After The Sopranos I was reading and posting in the forum and there was a question about InterCasino. I couldn't remember if the wagering requirement is 20X or 25 X, so I logged on to check. It's 25X. Well, as long as I am logged on, I might as well play a few hands, right? Long story short: Dealer showed bad cards and busted on his first 3 hands (I play 5-handed, so that makes 15 good hands for me) and I make $90. I decide to pocket that positive variance and log off. The InterCasino dealer is rarely this kind to me, and I did not want to abuse his kindly nature.
Now I have $310 in pending bonus at InterPoker, and I need 426 MPPs to clear it. That's just shy of 73 cents per MPP. I'll be clearing that at the FRLH tables during the month of June.
June 02, 2006
The Flashing Blue Chat Button
At Pacific Poker you have to manually open the chat window as a separate window. It is not integrated with the poker table and does not automatically open when the table window opens like most other sites. I rarely turn the chat window on. I find it an unnecessary distraction. I have noticed, though, that when there are new chat entries made by others, that chat button, normally green, flashes blue.
Last night I was in MP3 with AA. I raised after two limpers, and the C/O 3-bet me. We got two callers, and I capped it. 4 of us saw a K-high flop that also had two spades (I held the Ace of spades.) It was checked to me and I bet. C/O raised, dropping the other two. I 3-bet and he capped. Turn was another spade, giving me 4 to the nut flush. I bet out and he raised. I 3-bet and he capped. The river brought my set Ace. I bet out and he called. He showed pocket kings for a flopped set, which I rivered him out of for a real nice pot.
The chat button started flashing blue, and continued to flash blue for the next 5 minutes. Wonder what he was saying about me!
Unfortunately, that was all I could put together last night. It was one of those sessions where I flop a flush and check it to the river and everyone folds to my river bet. Or I flop two pair and everyone folds to my flop bet. I flop a flush draw and there's tons of action, but I can't pull the draw. Winning small pots and losing big ones. I finished up 0.5 BB on the session. I'll take it.
I deposited at Intercasino for the monthly $100 bonus. I ran it up to $210 and quit, planning to finish it at Poker. I checked the progress to see how much more clearing was required, and found that I was still meeting the rollover for the May bonus I had busted. I had forgotten they do that - keep the rollover requirement going for the previous month even if you bust it. I played some more blackjack, having a huge U-shaped session before finishing at +$210 ($110 from play, $100 from bonus) again. Now I have $210 in bonus to work off with 105% of the bonus requirements left to be met. I think that'll be good enough, getting a double Interpoker bonus this month. Plus they are giving me $20 for playing 1 hand, because I have not played there for a while. So, $230 for 500 MPPs. Good enough to chase this month, even in the rock gardens of Crypto.
June 01, 2006
Reflections on May
I finished out the month on a bittersweet note. I found a great $2/4 table, but the fish nibbled at me for 12 BB before I finally gave up. I was down, then even, then down, then even, then down. When several of the players I had marked as weak left I didn't stick around to see if they were replaced by other fish. I just bagged it. I was getting annoyed, and had made a few mistakes.
About an hour later I had decided to stay up to catch the outcome of the late baseball game, upon which I had some bets. To kill some time between score updates, I pulled up a .25/.50 SHLH table. I usually stay away from short hand as I nearly always take a beating, but at that low limit, I figured, "who cares?" I sat with $20. About half an hour later I got up with a bit under $30. 20 BB in just half an hour. The players at that table were so wonderfully weak and predictable. I should rename them, Rock, LAG, Turn-Bluffer, CallBot, and AnyTwoCanWin. At times I felt like I could see their cards. It made my play look real good, and that was very gratifying. Unfortunately it was not nearly enough to make up for the $2/4 losses earlier in the evening, so I finished down for the day. (But the Twins won, which is what I wanted!)
May started with a quest for fun. I think that was a splendid idea, and it has worked out well. February, March and April were so damn awful, but I was making it worse by trying extra hard to win. That was an utter disaster. I have been trying extra hard to make good decisions the last few weeks. It sounds elementarily ridiculous, but I had become overly reliant on my small edge as a four-tabler who played correctly pre-flop, and just OK post-flop because I didn't know my opponents. Backing off to two tables, paying closer attention, taking notes again, constantly reminding myself that I have put myself in a +EV situation - all of these things have helped me play better poker all the way to the river. I'm up about 35 BB over the past two weeks. Nothing earth-shattering, or even statistically relevant, but encouraging. And fun.
Have I found my "Fu"? I am not sure it will be something that flips on like a light switch and becomes readily apparent. I did note that for most of May I was apprehensive about getting to the online tables, but last night I was complaining to Mrs Bull about the slow service at the restaurant we were at because it was cutting into my poker time. That's got to be a good sign.