Looking forward.
Date: Sun, May 25, 2008
Lately it has been all about cash games, and that is about to change. This month I have played a load of cash game hands, and I am sorry to say things have not been too smooth. Since my last post I had another bad session, so I my monthly result, while still positive, is absolutely dismal compared to the amount of time I put in.
Fortunately, I don't worry too much about that, since in about two weeks I am going to Vegas with a few of the boys from the office. It will be good times, liberal gambling and booze policies, and of course: Tournaments. I am looking forward to playing about 5 WSOP events this year, and this time I will not be jet lagged during most of them. While tournaments are not my speciality, I am not too bad at it, and I hope I will catch a bit of luck and win a bracelet or just some money. The plan is to spend the next couple of weeks playing lots of tournaments, including a few live ones if I can find any in this by gambling forsaken country.
Sadly, tournaments are rigged. I was reminded tonight when I crashed and burned in all but one, and then I crashed and burned in that one too. My tournament account books show a deficit this year for sure, with no sign of things turning around. Considering that I also have to pay tax of my Las Vegas winnings, the trip is money out the window from a short term economical view point. But whatever, I have a right to dream of bracelets and suitcases full of money, so I am going. If the trip does nothing else, it will reinforce my conviction that tournaments are rigged so I can focus better on the cash games. If all else fails I will get to drive a few very fast cars. I checked, and you are eligible for jail if you just drive 30 mph above the legal limit. I have never been to jail before...
Anyway, the blog is about to change gears for the next month, going from the never ending grind of the cash games to reports of fast tournaments eternally full of bad beats. Then it will get worse with all the fast cars, fast money and hot sun of the Vegas desert. You have been warned.
Like night and day.
Date: Wed, May 21, 2008
I have always thought it more or less established fact that the games were better late at night (Danish time, GMT+1). The logic is that at around midnight everyone in the western world will NOT be at work, and that sleeping schedules is less of a hindrance for poker playing than work schedules. Also the European players who are on roughly the same local time as me will supposedly play worse late at night for various reasons.
What is lacking is some hard proof that this is actually fact, and not just an example of the standard human mindset that the grass is always greener on the other side, or in this case, that money flows more freely when I can't play 'cause wifey wants me in bed.
During my marathon, I did not have the feeling that the games were much better at night time, and surely my results are an indication of the opposite. My day time sessions (before dinner break) produced a win rate of 3.6 BB/100, while my night time sessions produced a win rate of 0.22 BB/100. Obviously those results are not proof of anything, for example a break even session on Sunday night instead of a -17k session would have made the two win rates roughly equal.
If you have some solid evidence one way or the other, I would be pleased to hear of it. Unfortunately Poker Tracker 2 was not much help in this regard. Right now I am working with PT3 to see if there is functionality there to help me (I am pretty sure there is, but I am having some techical problems and am in contact with support).
Fellow blogger Joxum asked for showdown statistics during the marathon. I went to showdown on 26.4% of the hands were I saw the flop, and I won 56% of those showdowns.
Last week...
Date: Tue, May 20, 2008
I played 70,034 hands of poker in 71.5 hours.
I won $23,476.
I paid $7,572 in rake.
I played 979.5 hands per hour.
I played 348 table sessions.
My longest single table session was 818 hands. That was a 7.5 hour session Sunday. I should have left that one out, because it cost me $5,550.
I paid $100,804 in blinds.
I made a total of 421 cold calls preflop (calls where I had not previously put money in the pot. A call from the blinds is not a cold call). This is about 0.6% of my hands. Over half of that was from the button.
I was dealt pocket aces 331 times, and I won $114 with it on average. I won $78/hand with kings, $24/hand with AKs and only $11.6/hand with queens.
I had quads every day. 19 times total.
I did not have a single straight flush.
I raised preflop 17.76% of my hands, and voluntarily put money in the pot 19.94%. My total aggression factor was 5.39.
I 3-bet preflop 8.35% of the times I had the opportunity.
I hit the bottom of a 30 buy-in downswing (middle of Tuesday), which started earlier in the month.
I had two $19k downswings, and I am still at the bottom of the last one.
I played three different buy-in levels:
2000NL:
5,185 hands
$1,856 won
0.89 BB/100
1000NL:
62,822 hands
$19,991 won
1.59 BB/100
600NL:
2,027 hands
$1,630 won
6.7 BB/100
If you have any burning questions concerning the numbers from last week, now would be a good time to post them, since I am already up to my elbows in number grease.
A little perspective, please.
Date: Mon, May 19, 2008
Last post was a nice reminder of why it is important to balance your life, especially so if you spend a significant portion of it playing poker. The highs and lows of poker are so extreme that if it is all you ever do, you will end up with manio depressive tendencies.
I played 71 hours of poker last week. During a run of eight hours Tuesday, I won $23k, almost exactly corresponding with my entire weekly profit. During five hours yesterday, I lost $17k, nearly cutting the entire weekly result in half. It is a wonder I am not a raving lunatic. Like they say, poker is a hard way to make an easy living.
Now I have had a chance to sleep on it, I am still a little bit pissed off actually, but I am capable of other feelings as well. For example, I am glad it's over, and I can do stuff again. Furthermore, I can give you three thoughts on the project as a whole.
One: When you have a load of playing time laid out before you, it takes a lot of focus from your immediate results. This was especially usefull to me in the beginning of the week, since I ran very bad the first day and a half. I think this experience can motivate me to try and fit my play into a larger plan in the future. For example, I could have a specific plan to play 40k hands in a month, and cash out whatever profit is there at the end of it. That way the first couple of sessions will automatically be put into the perspective of the whole month, and hopefully at the end of the month there will be a large surplus, so that the swings of a few hours won't seem so significant. And then I'll try not to lose half the monthly profit in the last damn session.
Two: Holy crap, I can play a lot of hands when I want to! Both in number of tables and number of hours I surprised myself with how well I managed with relatively little effort. I did not think it would be possible to play 1000 hands an hour, but it was. It gives me some satisfaction that I can sit down and grind it out like that, and expect a profit. The problem for any poker player capable of self critisism is that you never know for sure if and by how much you are a winning player. You just never get in enough hands to prove anything, and even if you did, it would take you so long that the games will have changed along with your own playing style. Although 70k hands is still not enough to prove anything concerning poker results, I think that along with my other results this year, there is now very strong statistical evidence that I am able to solidly beat 1000NL while playing a large number of tables. Those 70k hands last week now sit as a sort of documentation, or at least they would have if I hadn't lost half the profit in the last damn session.
Three: As I understand it, if you've been brain washed you are not going to be aware of it. I think it is not too far fetched to compare a 71 hour 10-table work week as a sort of extended brain wash of your poker senses. I should spend some time figuring out how my play has been affected. I can see in my stats that I have actually played slightly less hands and raised slightly less hands this week than I normally do. I believe that I am able to make good subconscious adjustments to my game, and do so continually, but I should try to make myself aware of the changes at some point to make sure they are constructive. For example, if I run bad over an extended period of time, I may make defensive changes that are in fact going to cost me money in the long run. It is about time I took a look at my game, if nothing else by running through a few hands.
I hope you are all now convinced that I haven't grown totally bitter, just slightly annoyed at the unfairness of it all, as ever. I will return with a run down of my stats from last week tomorrow. As you may know, pokertracker 3 is now shipping, so I am in the process of importing my entire hand history two years back into that program right now. Teaser: In my next post I will reveal how large a percentage of my hands that i 3-bet preflop!
I hate everything.
Date: Sun, May 18, 2008
Total
71.4 hours, 70,029 hands, $23,877, MT Ratio: 8.78, 1.64PTBB/100 (e.a.:2.5), $7,503 rake paid.
Today:
10.25 hours, 10,993 hands, -$13,860, MT Ratio: 9.49, -3.78PTBB/100.
"I must admit it was a relief to finally crack $30k, hopefully for good. As the graph shows, I have been grinding the same money up and down forever, and I was getting fairly sick of always returning to $23k. I know you are probably not feeling very sorry for me about being stuck at 'only' $23k, but imagine working 25 hours on something, getting no result and then having to pay for it in the end. But a little before midnight, I finally, finally, FINALLY got rewarded for all the lost coin flips and setups over the last two day. Makes me feel like river dancing."
-Quote playbald yesterday
"$25,031"
-Quote playbald Wedensday.
"Crap day, crap week, crap project."
-Quote playbald right fucking now.
End in sight
Date: Sun, May 18, 2008
Total
65.4 hours, 63,876 hands, $40,584, MT Ratio: 8.74, 2.72PTBB/100
Today:
4.25 hours, 4,840 hands, $2,847, MT Ratio: 9.96, 3.45PTBB/100.
Last marathon dinner break ever. I just want to share with you the sickest suckout ever:
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
5 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $2305.05
Hero: $2965.80
Button: $830
SB: $1092
BB: $2460
Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is CO with :9h :9c
UTG folds, Hero raises to $35, 2 folds, BB raises to $125, Hero calls.
Flop: :9d :js :5d ($255, 2 players)
BB bets $199, Hero raises to $500, BB calls.
Turn: :as ($1255, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $700, BB raises to $1400, Hero raises all-in $1640.8, BB calls all-in $435.
Uncalled bets: $505.8 returned to Hero.
River: :9s ($4925, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $4925)
Results:
Final pot: $4925
BB shows Ah Ac (three of a kind, aces)
Hero shows 9h 9c (quads, nines)
Yes ladys and gents, a one-outer on one try for 5 buy-ins. Of course this sucks royally for me, since it completely ruins my hard earned image as a notoriously unkucky player who succeeds despite horrible circumstances.
Dinner break.
End of days.
Date: Sun, May 18, 2008
Damn marathon runners cloggin' up the whole city like they own the place. Bastards should get a hobby or something. And they had to pick this exact day.
Anyway, one day of misery left, 11k hands to be played and then: FREEDOOOOM!!! (Gibson version, entrails hanging out and everything). Well then, let us gogogogogogo!!!
Finally.
Date: Sat, May 17, 2008
Total
61.1 hours, 59,036 hands, $37,737, MT Ratio: 8.66, 2.65PTBB/100 (e.a.: 3.5), $6,419 rake paid.
Today:
10.4 hours, 9,932 hands, $13,562, MT Ratio: 8.6, 3.32PTBB/100.
My supernatural powers of prediction have triumphed yet again. If I overlook the fact that I didn't exactly have my best day ever, I did go over 35k, so thats a pretty good success rate for a fortune teller. I am now going to set up shop and predict everyones future on the internets at a very modest rate. Death and marriage predictions free on Thursdays.
I must admit it was a relief to finally crack $30k, hopefully for good. As the graph shows, I have been grinding the same money up and down forever, and I was getting fairly sick of always returning to $23k. I know you are probably not feeling very sorry for me about being stuck at 'only' $23k, but imagine working 25 hours on something, getting no result and then having to pay for it in the end. But a little before midnight, I finally, finally, FINALLY got rewarded for all the lost coin flips and setups over the last two day. Makes me feel like river dancing.
One more day and 11k hands to go, and I will be ready to do some serious relaxing.
Day 6 dinner break.
Date: Sat, May 17, 2008
Total
53.6 hours, 51,988 hands, $25,860, MT Ratio: 8.66, 2.56PTBB/100
Today:
2.92 hours, 2,884 hands, $1,685, MT Ratio: 8.57, 3.21PTBB/100.
More of the same. I started the day by getting stacked no less than five times with AK preflop. Since then it has worked out alright, but it definetely has not been my week when it comes to all-ins.
Someone asked for a rake count. Until now, I have paid $5,662 in rake this week.
Dinner break.
Day 6.
Date: Sat, May 17, 2008
As I drove through town on my way to the office, I noticed that a bunch of guys have ripped off my concept, and are going to run a ridiculous amount of clicks tomorrow. I am of course talking about the original Copenhagen Marathon. Hopefully I will be fast asleep when the first guys cross the finish line, and hopefully I won't have any problems crossing town to get in here.
But of course the most important event tomorrow will be me playing my 70,000th hand of the week, probably somewhere around 4am monday morning (remember that my work week splits at 6am).
Another late start today, my sleeping rythm is getting pushed forward, and I also had to get some excercise today. I hope I will actually make some money today, unlike the previous two. For the next to last time: Gogogogogo!!!
Day 5, wall version.
Date: Fri, May 16, 2008
Total
50.68 hours, 49,104 hands, $24,175, MT Ratio: 8.67, 2.52PTBB/100 (e.a.: 3.6)
Today:
10.1 hours, 9,796 hands, $3,484, MT Ratio: 8.9, 2.1PTBB/100.
This must be that wall marathon runners always talk about. I should have listened more closely. As predicted two days ago, the last couple of days have been tough times. I feel like I have been over the same ground fifty times now, but I always seem to be dragged bag to the starting point.
Since my predictive powers are so keen, I am now going to predict that I have my best day yet tomorrow, wich will put me over $35k for the week. Something to look forward to.
Of course I have a few more hands to discuss than I care to, setups, suckouts and donkish moves abound. Worst setup today at a 2000NL table I was all in with AK against aces AND kings. Tough to suck out of that one. Most donkish move I believe I have ever seen occured just a couple of hours ago. It is a case of the rarely used but very efficient bluff call:
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
6 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $976.75
UTG+1: $1516.75
CO: $5343.50
Button: $1066
Hero: $1238.75
BB: $1094
Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with :jd :qd
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $35, CO calls, Button calls, Hero raises to $170, 2 folds, CO calls, Button folds.
Flop: :6h :5s :2d ($420, 2 players)
Hero bets $300, CO calls.
Turn: :6d ($1020, 2 players)
Hero raises all-in $768.75, CO calls.
River: :7d ($2557.5, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $2557.5)
Results:
Final pot: $2557.5
Hero shows Jd Qd (flush)
CO shows Jc 7c (one pair, sevens)
I would not have guessed I was actually shoving for value. Should I have slow played my queen high monster?
Just your average day 5.
Date: Fri, May 16, 2008
Total
44.8 hours, 43,506 hands, $24,482, MT Ratio: 8.62, 2.82PTBB/100
Today:
4.2 hours, 4,198 hands, $3,791, MT Ratio: 8.67, 4.66PTBB/100.
Today is not too shabby I guess, except that I was up twice as much for the day two hours ago, and I still have less money than I did yesterday morning. Name of the game.
Dinner break.
Day 5 starting.
Date: Fri, May 16, 2008
I would very much like to do better today than yesterday, both in terms of $$$ and number of hands. With the new goal of SEVENTY THOUSAND HANDS, there is no reason to be lazy. Here we go then: Gogogogogo!!!
A bad day even.
Date: Thu, May 15, 2008
Total
40.6 hours, 39,308 hands, $20,691, MT Ratio: 8.61, 2.62PTBB/100 (4.2 equity adjusted).
Today:
8.9 hours, 8,130 hands, -$4,340, MT Ratio: 8.5, -2.9PTBB/100.
So I am down $16k in all-in luck this week. That's basically all I have to say about that. I am now including my equity adjusted BB/100 in my daily report card. No, I probably wouldn't have done that if I had been ahead.
Aside from a modest daily result things are going well. I am playing well, not having any physical problems, and people are showing some interest in the project which is all good. So I am now UPGRADING MY GOAL! 50k hands is just a short weeks work, to be a real bad-ass I gotta do 70k. I always thought 10k a day had a nice ring to it, I just didn't quite believe myself capable of that many. The new goal should keep me from growing all fat and happy with myself the next couple of days.
Until tomorrow...
-->