Poker Elmo's World - 2008-08-20
Date: Wed, Aug 20, 2008
Have not played much this month
I guess that statement is all relative - but I have played about 11K hands so far this month. Given I have mostly 10-16 tabled, it really isn't many hands. I was getting back from a trip early this month. Then I visited family where I was gone for 9 days. I played a couple times on the trip, but only for a couple hours.
Thankfully I have done pretty well, with a PTBB/100 rate that is just slightly above my long term rate. On the trip, I also played live. I played a $175 tourney at the running aces casino in MN, where I busted in the 3rd hour on a pretty standard play. My mom played too, almost making the final table. While she was playing, I played some cash games where I won back my buyin for a break-even night.
I have about 5400 base FPPs (VPPs) for the month. I hope play 10 hours or so in the next 10 days, which will get me to Platinum star for yet another month.
School starts again on Monday. I am looking forward to it - but once again that will certainly cut into my ability to find time to play poker.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-08-05
Date: Tue, Aug 5, 2008
Took a break
I had a family vacation last week. Because of that, I didn't play a single hand of poker for over 8 days. I played a little each of the past 3 days and ran well, which I am happy about. I am playing only on pokerstars this month, as I hope to make platinum again. I had just over 60K VPPs going into this month, so if I get platinum every month from here on out, I will reach supernova in November. Given that the school year starts up in a few months, I might struggle to make platinum every month, but hopefully I can accumulate enough VPPs early to get to supernova soon.
Next year - Supernova elite or another quest?
The more I play, the more I realize that trying for supernova elite will be futile given I have a full time job. I can comfortably play 12-16 tables now, still with no use of AHKs, so it is feasible I can get to 24 tables, but I just don't think I will be able to, nor do I think I can get in the hours necessary.
I might have a quest to earn enough in FPPs in the first part of 2009, however, to buy pokerstars WSOP main event package. It costs 710K FPPs, and it is one of their best values in terms dollar value/FPP. I would need to earn just over 200K base points, which I think I could do, especially if I focus and play a lot in the first 2 weeks of 2009, as I might be able to earn 40K base points per week those two weeks, which would allow me to coast to the 200K by May.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-07-15
Date: Tue, Jul 15, 2008
Made a final table Sunday night
I played a few tourneys Sunday night:
The $200 mulligan on full tilt (busted in hour 2)
The $75 7:00 PM tourney on full tilt (busted in hour 2)
The $11 (one rebuy, one addon) at stars - busted in hour one
The $22 rebuy on full tilt.
In the last one, I made a run. I went into hour 2 slightly above average in chips, then used big hands to propel me to 3rd chip position out of about 60 left after the 2nd break. Starting the 3rd hour, I literally raised every hand first in. It was a 6 max tourney, so fewer players to go through, but I chipped up from 34K to 66K by doing this, and getting action twice when I had hands (I certainly got more action because of my image).
However, after changing tables to a very aggro table and losing a 12-out coinflip, I only ended hour 3 with 44K in chips. This was still above average with about 35 left, as we neared the bubble of 24 players paying. I chipped away, restole where necessary, and got lucky twice (KK beats AA, and J9 beats QQ on a J82 flop) and made the final table.
I busted in 6th (which is first out at a 6 max tourney) at the final table when I restole from "tilting guy" who happened to have QQ that time, and that was good for a $475 cash. I am happy with most of my play, but will review my hand history. I think I got too timid raising first in the later stages of the tourney, although I did resteal a lot.
1/2 NL cash games
14-18 tabling 1/2 NL is going OK, although I can't play as many tables on full tilt, I think. Their software lags a bit, and the fact that I don't see images for players makes it tougher for me to track who I am playing against and their tendancies. I think at full tilt I have to restrict myself to 8 (which is what I can play with 2 monitors in tile mode). Last week was a profitable one, although slightly below expectation, in large part due to losing a fair amount trying to 14-table full tilt (where I think I made a few mistakes).
Going to mostly grind this week, although I might try to play tourneys one night.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-07-05
Date: Sat, Jul 5, 2008
Downswing over?
After winning over 3 buyins earlier in the day, I played for a bit at night. Mostly 17-tabling 1/2 NL, but at the end I came back to play some limit.
Sometimes poker seems so easy. 
In my NL games, I made over $0.80/hand. Poker seems so easy sometimes.
VPPs for the month
I am not even to 15K VPPs for the month. Given the double VPP promotion, that is slacking. Thoughts of 30K VPPs are long gone. 20K VPPs would be a stretch, although I do plan on playing several hours tomorrow.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-07-04
Date: Fri, Jul 4, 2008
Grinding Stars
I have been playing quite a bit on stars the past few days. They have a double VPP promotion that started July 1st and goes through July 6th. I was hoping to get about 5,000 VPPs per day, for 30,000 K total, but after 3 days I had barely broken 10,000 VPPs. Not bad, but not great.
The games are a bit tougher, as all grinders are multitabling, and I am about even for the past 3 days. I am up some at NL cash (16-tabling), but down at limit. I think the NL earn rate is about normal for me, and I have been a tad unlucky at limit (e.g., last night I only got AA 4 times in 1350 hands, and lost money with them). However, I might only be a breakeven player vs. all these grinders right now. The problem I run into is I can get a lot more VPPs with limit.
Will be playing quite a bit the next 3 days on stars, then I have to play tilt to work off a $250 bonus I got from them. I think I need about 5,000 Tilt points, which should not be too tough to get if I can 8-10 table NL games, as tilt points accumulate more quickly than stars points (but they are not as valuable).
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-06-24
Date: Tue, Jun 24, 2008
Fighting through a downswing
I had a pretty bad downswing recently. I actually had a bad 4 days right after the WSOP, so I took a 3-day break. Then I had a great week after that, but proceeded to lose all the profits from my great week within 3 days or so. Most of my loses have come from HU NL holdem, so I am going to take a break from that game until I can figure out and fix my leaks. Some of the downswing is bad luck, but some of it is certainly from bad plays. That being said, I have now posted 3 straight winning days since my disaster of a day Saturday, recouping about 1/2 the losses from that day.
Multitabling stars and thoughts about next year
I have been experimenting with increasing the number of tables I play on stars. I have now 15 tabled NL full ring several times. I have had pretty decent results too. Over about 10K hands, my earn rate is slightly above my long term average earn rate. 10K hands is still very much the "short-run", but I don't feel like I am missing much.
I am going to investigate how to use these "AHK scripts". I would love to work my way up to 24-tabling 1/2 NL. If I can successfully do that - I may make a run at supernova elite on stars next year. If I 24-table 1/2 NL full ring, I estimate that it would take 1200 hours next year. That sounds like a ton of hours, but if I play 20 hours per week during the 30 weeks classes are in session (for 600 hours), and 35 hours per week for 20 other weeks (700 hours), that would get me the necessary hours with some times for when I need breaks. While that sounds like a lot of hours (even for me), I usually play poker every day. So 35 hours a week would mean 3 hours most days, with 3 longer days per week. In addition to 24-tbling 1/2 NL (or perhaps some 2/4 NL in there as well), there are other options. Ten tabling 3/6 limit SH, 5/10 limit full ring, or some combination of the two would also get me about the same number of VPPs as 24-tabling 1/2 NLFR. If I could somehow become a winning player at 5/10 SH and could 8-tbl that, that would get me much more. I think it is important to have this option, as if I get a bit bored of NL, I could take some time to play limit.
During the final 6 months of this year, I will work on figuring out whether I can profitably 24-tbl 1/2 (or 2/4) NLFR, and 10 (or more)-tbl 3/6 SH limit. If I can, I think I will go for it. The rewards are just too awesome, with the value of the enormous number of FPPs, and free buyins to the PCA, WSOP, and WCOOP main events.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-06-21
Date: Sat, Jun 21, 2008
WSOP trip report – Part 2.
Note – the beginning and end chip counts are accurate. The rest are probably close, but also probably not exact.
Levels 3 and 4 (100/200 blinds and 100/200 blinds with 25 antes). I start these levels with 3375. Average is probably about 4300.
My M=11 when I start in level 3. This stack size has some features: 1) it isn’t a great size to splash around with, as a reraise means you lose 20% of your stack, and 2) it is a decent stack size for reraise pushes if you find a good spot, since you could pick up the 300 in blinds and the initial PF raiser (often 600) to add 30% or so to your stack.
To start these levels, I am playing patient, and looking for a spot to reraise push, even with a marginal hand. I will play good hands, of course, but I can’t count on them coming for me. I play about an orbit or so – losing the blinds twice, and getting one steal, before picking up the first meaningful hand – KQs in the big blind. A guy in MP raised to 600 and I have about 2900 in my stack. At this point, I think I could have pushed, but I decided instead to call the extra 400. I don’t like having to call off 15% of my stack on a call, but any flush draw, straight draw, or top pair hand and I will be getting all my chips in the middle. I have 2300 in my stack after the call. The flop is a very pretty KK2. I check, and he bets 1300. With only 1000 left, I don’t mess around and just push all in, since there is a flush draw on board. Looking back, this is probably a mistake, although I might be saying that since he folded after I ch-raised pushed. That being said, I don’t know that ch-calling there looks any less like a monster. Either way, a good result, as I added 1900 from villains stack and the 100 small blind to chip up to about 4900.
About 4 hands later, I get 55 (either in CO or hijack) and raise to 550 (bb is 200). The big blind calls. He is an aggressive guy who I think might be a live pro (or at least thinks he is capable of being a live pro). The reason I think this is his fundaments seem a bit shaky, but he is very aggro and seems very, very comfortable. The flop comes T72 with two spades. He checks, and I make a CB of about 625. He calls, I am not happy, and a 4 comes on the turn. He checks again, and I check behind. There is a flush draw on board, along with many straight draws, so I could be ahead, but I can’t play a big pot with 55 here. The river pairs the 2 – which is a good card for me. It is very doubtful he has a two, so if he was winning, he is still winning, and he was on a draw, he didn’t hit. I am mentally thinking about what to do if he bets, but I don’t have to worry – he checks. I check behind, and he shows T3 of spades for a busted flush draw. I add another 1250 to my stack – which is now around 6000.
The blinds go through me, and then I pick up 66 in 3rd position. I get called by the button (who was same player as 55 hand) and the small blind (who was villain in the AT suited hand in level 1. The flop comes 852 with 3 spades (I have no spades). Given I had been very active and the board isn’t too pretty for me, I decide not to CB this flop when the small blind checks to me. The button also checks, and we see an offsuit ace hit the turn. When the small blind checks to me, this seems like the perfect card to make a bet with. I can very easily represent an AK, AQ, AJ, etc. with this bet after raising PF and checking the turn, and so I fire about 900 chips or so into the pot, and both players fold. This gets my stack to just over 7,000 chips.
This is about where level 3 ended and level 4 began. Level 4, like level 3, was 100/200 blinds. However, level 4 also had a 25 chip ante – making the pots much more worth stealing! In the first orbit of the new level, I stole two times. Once was sb vs. bb, once in MP. Both I must have had something, but I didn’t write down the hands (probably suited connectors or broadway cards). One thing I notice now is a guy comes to our table, and I swear he is Mike Matasow, just 20 years younger. It is just uncanny how similar he looks to him. He does seem like a much nicer guy than Matasow, however, and much quieter.
I took an orbit off due to lack of cards/opportunities. When the blinds hit me again, I fold the bb, but limp A8o first in from the small blind. The flop comes A82. Hmm … how to play this monster. The opponent was an older guy who was very nice, but, bless him, was horrible. He was way, way, way too tight. He wouldn’t bet for me, so I made a small bet hoping he had something and would call. He folded, and I pick up the equivalent of a steal. This guy was great, and I will call him Old Fish from now on. I abused Old Fish throughout the tourney, but he saw enough good hands from me to always think I had it. Plus, once of twice when he contemplated and I got called elsewhere, he saw the goods from me. Old Fish would say things like: that guy pushes light – I was ready to call him with AK, maybe even AQ.
I fold for an orbit, and find AKs utg. This is now near the end of level 4, where we are about to go on a break. I raise utg to 625. The button, who is our 20-year younger version of Mike Matasow, reraises to about 1900. He only has 2000 behind. I have about 7300 or so, and figure that there is too much in the pot, and there are too many hands he would play here that makes me think I have good equity vs. his range. He was moderately aggro at times, and I had been aggro, so perhaps he was reraising me light. Although, maybe subconsciously I am just thinking this since he looks like Matasow. So, it gets back to me. I ask how much he has left to confirm he only has about 2K or so. I then put in enough chips to push him all in. When our Matsow-look-alike goes into the tank, I am happy. He obviously does not have aces or kings. I figure he will certainly call with either AQ or a lower pair, since he wouldn’t fold for half his chips, but I am not in too bad of a spot here.
After a few minutes, he starts asking me questions. I don’t really say much, figuring my utg raise and push look strong enough without me talking. Plus, I am not a good enough live player to make sure I don’t give away information. After about 5 minutes he folds! I was stunned, but happy. At the end of the next break, he was commenting on how dumb he was to reraise there with QJ. He asked what I had and I told him I would tell him after one of us busted. (Which wasn’t much longer for him.) I folded my blinds, then a few more hands before the 2nd break. At the 2nd break, I had 9,775. I was very happy with being able to chip up to 9775. Plus, I in levels 3 and 4 I increased my stack without ever seeing a showdown, which is certainly a much lower-variance way to increase a chip-stack.
To be continued …
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-06-15
Date: Sun, Jun 15, 2008
Poker Elmo's 2008 WSOP event 2 trip report – Part 1
Note – the beginning and end of chip counts are accurate. The rest are probably close, but also probably not exact.
Prior to day 1 starting. I felt really good. I was talking to ChrisJP before the event started about this – but I felt quite different. This year, walking into the WSOP, I felt like a poker professional. I have now earned pretty significant sums of money for a few straight years playing poker – and feel like I have a great feel for the game. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself either, since this is only one tourney and absolutely anything can happen in a tourney. I had 3 other WSOP tourneys, with poor results (main event 2005 – busted with KK to AA near end of day 1 when I had a well-above-average stack, prelim event 2006 – busted in first two hours with a bad non-push early and a bad push late, and busted in level 4 of another 2006 prelim with average stack when my AK ran into AA). I have replayed those events and bustouts in my mind many times. However, I was determined not to let the ghosts of my WSOP past affect me today.
I stayed at ChrisJP’s place the night before the event – wow, what a great advantage. It was so nice to wake up and just go outside on a beautiful 70 degree morning and relax and chat with Chris. As I was driving to the Rio, I felt so much better than I normally do waking up in the morning when in a hotel – I felt like I had a “home-court advantage”.
Levels 1 and 2 (25/50 and 50/100 blinds). I start these levels with 3000. Average is 3000.
I got TT within the first couple of hands, on the button, and elected to call a 3x raise (to 150). The flop came 972, and I called a 250 bet from a lady who I don’t think would double barrel without an overpair or better, so when she also bets the turn, I fold.
About an orbit later, I get AT diamonds and raise to 150 from the hijack. I am called by the sb, who checks a KK8 flop w two hearts. I make a CB of 225, and it is called. The turn brings a 2, and I check behind when villain checks. The river brings is offsuit ten, and villain fires 500. Given the possibility of a busted flush draw or lower pair, I call and get shown 88 for a flopped boat.
With these two hands, I lost half my stack within 20 minutes and I am thinking that I could be out quickly. There were probably two minutes there where the following things went through my mind:
- I wanted to be anywhere but Vegas
- I couldn’t believe that I seemed destined for another early WSOP exit.
- The thoughts of my other WSOP bustouts went through my mind.
- I can’t believe that I could be out without ever being above the starting stack.
After a minute or so, I slapped myself (figuratively) and reassessed the situation. The facts as I saw them:
- This is only one tourney, I can’t put too much stock in any one tourney.
- I still have 30 big blinds, I am not dead
- Every tourney I have made a big score in there has been a moment where things looked really bad.
- I am better than these people – so lets just play poker and see what happens.
- I might bust early – but I won’t go out without a fight (this cues the Rocky music in my head).
Game on.
An orbit later, I get 88 in the sb with an OAD in the bb who thinks he is hot stuff. I limped 88, thinking this guy would raise, and he did not disappoint. He raised to 175 (bb is still 50), and I raised to 850. He thinks for a while and pushes me all in (for about 1500) and shows KJ. This is a pretty bad play by him, IMO, as he has to be at best flipping, and he could have folded with only investing 175. The board came AQ5-Q-9, and I double up back to about the original starting stack.
I felt good about things at this point – like I had a new lease on my tournament. After defending my big blind to a 3x raise with AJ, I ch-raised a J92 rainbow flop and took down the pot. The next hand, I limped K2s in the sb, and the flop came KK2 in a 3-handed pot. I checked the flop, hoping there would be a bet, but there wasn’t one. On the turn, I checked again, and the big blind bet 125 into the 150 pot, and the MP limper called. I decided to ch-raising here, hoping someone had enough to play along (there were two flush draws on the turn. I ch-raised to 400, hoping a flush draw might find the odds appealing to call, or perhaps someone else has a monster they will stack off with. Both fold, however, and I pick add another 400 chips to my stack.
My stack is now up to about 4000 or so (I think), and we are now moving to the next level, with 50/100 blinds. I find 88 in my big blind and defend a 3x raise from the hijack. My early read on him is that he is pretty straightforward, a bit agro, but won’t get too out of line when his stack is at risk. When the flop comes 974 with two diamonds, I decide to ch-raise is 350 chip CB to 900. I think I am probably best here, and if he reraises I will safely dump my hand. He folds, and I am up to 4600 or so. The next orbit in the small blind, I find AQ suited, and I reraise a button raiser from 300 to 900, and he folds. This gets me over 5K.
I feel like I have been pretty active, and I guess I have. I haven’t been too out-of-line, but the table has not known that. Right now, I am feeling super about things. I was a card from being out within 30 minutes, and now I am above average at about 5K.
Unfortunately for me, it was time for my luck to even out after winning a flip earlier. I raised to 300 with 99 from 3rd position, and 5th position pushes for about 1600. I have an easy call with getting 300+300+150+1300=2150 and I have to call 1300 given this is a laggy guy who’s range seems pretty wide. He had AJ and I was a slight favorite until the door card was a jack. This pushed me down to 3500 or so. Fortunately my mindset was still good, and I was thankful that, of the two all in races, I won the race when I was all in and lost when I had 3500 left. I still was above the starting stack, and ready to go back to work.
I played two hands of note in the last fifteen minutes or so of level two. I cold-called a pre-flop raise to 275 with 22 in the cutoff seat. The effective stacks were about 3500, and I felt I was (barely) getting the implied odds to try to spike a set. Further, with position, sometimes other situations arise to pick up a pot. It didn’t hit, however, and when I was bet into, I folded. With about 13-1 odds, this was a pretty marginal call pre-flop, and might have been a mistake.
One blind steal with 76s, a few hands that I fold, and the first two hours are over. My chip stack at the end of the first two levels is 3375. It could have been a lot worse, so I am happy to be here with this stack. However, blinds are going up to 100/200, so I don’t have time to be patient. I don’t have to go crazy, but need to do some work to accumulate chips.
To be continued …
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-06-04
Date: Wed, Jun 4, 2008
Heading home
I am about to get on a flight home from Vegas. For those who didn't listen to the podcast, I finished 181st in Event 2, for a payout of almost $4,300. I wrote down almost all my hands of note during tournament. I hope to provide a hand-for-hand account of my tournament in the next few days.
Outside of the WSOP - it was mostly a breakeven trip. I played 3 SNGs and chopped one, for a slight net win. However, I lost about a half buyin at 5/10 NL. I was pretty happy with my play in 5/10 NL - especially since it was the highest stakes cash games I had ever played live. I think the play in the 5/10 NL game I played was comparable to a $100 or $200 buyin NL full ring table at stars.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-06-01
Date: Sun, Jun 1, 2008
WSOP updates
Updates will be located on the Right hand side. If those don't provide the most recent updates, the forums at ITH will have them:
http://www.internettexasholdem.com/poker-forum/
Hopefully I will call in early and often!
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-05-28
Date: Wed, May 28, 2008
Awesomeness
I love the quote on this poster: "When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead". I have had three bad sessions - one Friday afternoon at HU NL, one Monday morning/afternoon and one Tuesday morning/afternoon. I took a short break each time, came back and did great. While the quote here is kind of silly, the parellel to poker is obvious. Don't dwell on a downswing - just play your game well, and if you think you aren't playing well, take a break and come back. If you make correct decisions, the money will find its way into your bankroll.
There is plenty of negative things one could focus on in poker. Last night I made it to 29/1370 in a stars MTT - losing when a guy min-reraised me with J8o, and I pushed all in on the flop with 11 outs vs. him when he flopped top pair, but I missed. That sucked, as I was excited for a chance at a big payday and 29th paid a pittance. However, it is probably much more important that I think I am playing very well in MTTs going into Vegas. Further, I have been on a nice little run again this week as I have been playing quite a bit of 2/4 NL (both full ring and short-handed), making this the 6th straight week for me to book a nice weekly win. (I have been counting weeks Friday-Thursday, so I could still end up negative for the week, but as of today I am having the best week of this stretch).
Speaking of awesomeness, I leave for Vegas Saturday morning. This is probably the last update I give prior to Vegas, but I will try to call in with audio updates from the WSOP. I play events on Sunday and Monday, so be sure to check often if you want the scoop on how I am doing (the tourney starts at 3:00 PM eastern time, so the first update won't be until 5:15 or so Eastern time).
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-05-23
Date: Fri, May 23, 2008
The past few days and week in review
I have had my fifth straight week of really good results (and, I think, pretty decent play). A quick summary ...
HU NL cash
I am doing well with it - although I just lost a couple buyins to one player in mostly variance, but one or two questionable plays. That being said, I am up for the week at 2/4 NLHU play, albeit not too much and not too many hours. Overall, I feel good about how things have gone.
Turbo tourneys
In the past couple days I have played 4 $60 45-man tourneys, cashing in one of them for 3rd, and 3 $12 180 man, winning one.
Tourneys
Nothing to report since the other night, I am feeling good about my game.
Limit Cash
On haitus until I figure it out a bit better - reading stoxpoker right now.
No-Limit Cash full ring
I am playing some and I think the 2/4 NLFR games on stars are quite beatable (at least by me). I look forward to playing those more in the near future.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-05-22
Date: Thu, May 22, 2008
Tourney game shaping up
Last night I played a couple 8:00 PM tourneys - one on stars and one on tilt. I cash in stars (finished about 60/1400) and, with 145 left (135 paid), I got all in PF w QQ vs. 98s for a 36K chip pot (26K was average) but was outdrawn. I was happy with my play in this full tilt tourney, however. Going into the WSOP - that is probably more important than the results.
On stars, I felt like I played very well also - but lost a critical hand where I lost a big pot with 88 vs. JJ (I have to give the opponent credit here - I saw him raise KK utg before, so when he limped, then raised from utg, I figured his range was most pairs up to 99 or so, along with AK and AQ. I was surprised that he had JJ - and just have to give him credit for mixing up his game well. I am not too unhappy with my play there, and in fact, I might have been ahead of his range. My chance to double back up to an almost-average stack failed when my QJ couldn't beat 88.
I am pretty happy about how well my tourney game is going now. I am very excited for Vegas (I leave in 9 days).
NL cash games
Since my post about my win against the one opponent, I have played a bit more NLHU cash games and am a bit more than a buyin ahead. I have been playing 2/4 and 3/6 NL full ring games along with 1/2 and 2/4 NL heads up games.
Poker Elmo's World - 2008-05-21
Date: Wed, May 21, 2008
WSOP audio blogging - test
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