June Results
Date: Sun, Jun 29, 2008
June was a very good month, even better than April and May. I managed to win a little over $6000 this month with LHE, not counting rakeback. In addition to that, I also managed to win a small 6-max LHE tourney ($11 buyin) where I won $264. And finally, I also won around $186 playing PLO50.
With rakeback, I probably made a little over $7000 this month.
Heads-Up
Played $5/$10 and $8/$16 this month, averaging almost 5.5BB/100. I must admit that I probably ran above true win rate. If all goes well, I might be trying some $10/$20 next month.
Hands Played: 7134
Net result: +$4438.00
BB/100: +5.49BB/100
I also managed to keep on the good side of variance in my 6-max games, except for $10/$20. I didn't play that much $10/$20 because there aren't that many tables running on average. In fact, there are always more $15/$30 tables. Too bad I can't multi table $15/$30 because my bankroll doesn't support that yet. These $15/$30 games are usually quite juicy with the 2/3 blind structure. Rake is also a lesser factor here.
Hands Played: 4353
Net Result: +$1630.50
BB/100: +3.20BB/100
April & May Results
Date: Thu, May 29, 2008
I ran very well the last two months. I played a little over 26K hands where I averaged 3.59BB/100, resulting in a little over $8500 profit. In addition to that, I get around $1200 due to rakeback. Needless to say, I am very pleased with these results.
I play mostly $5/$10 the last few months. I did play some $8/$16 but decided to wait a few more weeks before actually stepping up. I did this because I wasn't running well at that moment and I had a few new strategies which I needed work out. I hope to make $8/$16 part of my usual game selection next month.
Hands Played: 14449
Net result: +6206.00
BB/100: +4.18BB/100
I ran well above average the last two months, which is nice for a change. I run about 35/25/1.7 in these games ($2/$4 till $8/$16) which I think is optimal. I will try to play some $10/$20 next month also whenever I can find a good table.
Hands Played: 11241
Net Result: +$2321.25
BB/100: +2.93BB/100
6-Max Limit Hold'em
Date: Sun, May 18, 2008
Even though I mainly play heads-up, I still play some 6-max from time to time. Since I do not rely on 6-max as my main source of income, I can practice excellent table selection. Whenever I don't find any good table, I simply don't play and go do something else. I usually play $5/$10 and $8/$16 whenever I can find a good game. Actually, these good $5/$10 games are practically always better than any $2/$4 and $3/$6 games. At $3/$6 and below, there are lots of nitty TAG's who are just grinding. At $5/$10, there are many gamblers resulting in much better games.
I am also experimenting with playing a looser and more aggressive preflop style in 6-max. I used to play a simple TAG style, which is profitable with good table selection. But after watching a few interesting video's on DeucesCracked, I have decided to give this more LAG style a try. I already knew that at $15/$30 and above, the basic TAG style would be unable to yield much profit. But I always though that at $3/$6, this style would be unprofitable due to the high rake. Maybe I was wrong...
I am going to experiment with this style at $2/$4 for a while. I have now played around 1000 hands playing like this and the style feels right. Of course, I am still making some mistakes which are mostly due to the fact I am used to dealing with HU ranges, not tighter 6-max ranges. But I feel confident I can make the necessary adjustments. If this style works even at $2/$4, I'm just going to make this my basic 6-max style. This style does result in higher variance but the variance is still nothing compared to HU. Besides, playing like nit is just really boring. ;)
To summarize the benefits if this preflop style:
1) More fold equity postflop.
2) Opponents play more strait forward.
3) Get more action on your good hands due to a LAG table image.
4) Play more pots against bad players.
This style will put my VP$IP somewhere around 35% with a PFR of 25% (maybe even more). Quite a bit more LAG than my usual 25/18 style. I'm interested what my went to showdown percentage will be. I am perfectly capable of showing down 42% of my hands but I don't thing it will be that high, at least not at $2/$4. I suspect it will be something like 36% at $2/$4, adding an extra percent for every limit you go up. (depending on average table composition)
Long Time, No Blog
Date: Mon, May 12, 2008
It's been several months since my last confession. It turns out that maintaining a blog as easier when you are running good.
I played a lot of poker in January - March but without actually winning any money. I made the mistake of playing too much when I was working on lots of strategy stuff. In addition to play, the strategies I was working on were not 100% applicable at $2/$4 and $3/$6. Playing close to GTO (Game Theory Optimal) is not a losing strategy there but with the rake, there isn't that much room for profit. Typical low limit opponents themselves play quite far from correct, so you can actually deviate quite far from GTO play to make more profit. But these months have not been a complete waste. Quite the contrary, I learned a ton these months which is now paying of. Sometimes, you need to take one step back to make a few steps forward.
My main game is still Limit Hold'em, only now I play mostly heads-up. Mainly $5/$10 where I run over +5BB/100 over more than 8K hands. Still not a big enough sample size to say anything about my true winning rate but I think it's safe to assume I am a winning player there. This month, I am looking to make the transition to $8/$16. The decision to play heads-up is quite easy for me, as the games are good and my playing style is actually suited best for HU play.
I do play some 6-max occasionally. But only if I can find good tables ($2/$4 till $8/$16) where I can play a simple TAG style and grind a modest profit. If I can't find any good tables, I simply don't play.
I have also started learning all the other HORSE games. Only playing LHE for multiple hours a day is just a very sad existence. I don't think I can do that for long before having some kind of burn-out. By playing many different games, I have a wider table selection and I add more variety. I will wait with the other HORSE games untill I become proficient in both O8 and 7CS.
And learning other will make me a much better player overall. especially 7 Card Stud has many different concepts since the structure of the game is very different from Hold'em.
For instance, in SSH (Small Stakes Hold'em), the authors suggest sometimes waiting for the turn to protect your hand since protecting it on the flop is impossible (when the pot is big). This is a valid strategy, even though you will use it once every 50000 hands or so. But this strategy probably originated from 7CS, where you wait for 5th street to protect your hand. But the concept is much more valuable in 7CS for 2 reasons.
1) In 7CS when people fold on 5th, they cannot outdraw you on 6th and 7th. When waiting for the turn in Hold'em, you just prevent people from drawing out on the river. So in 7CS, you protect you hand more since you prevent people to outdraw you on two streets, not just one.
2) In 7CS, your equity when having the best hand against multiple opponents is not as high as is the case in Hold'em, especially against multiple opponents. You can easily be an underdog with the best hand on 5th against 3 opponents. Problem in 7CS is that every opponent is drawing separately, making it much more likely that someone actually hits something. This concept is also known as the Sklansky horse race concept. This makes protecting your hand in 7CS much more important.
One very important thing I found out when learning new games is that you need to find a good balance between playing and studying. In the very beginning, I think 100% studying is best. Reading books, watching video's, reviewing data-mined hands. Then when I have absorbed lots of information, the balance becomes something like 40% playing, 60% studying. And with studying I mean reviewing my own hands, re-reading relevant parts of the books. Then as time goes by, it becomes more and more play.
Another important thing when reading books and watching video's is that you must not make any big effort trying to remember anything. Whenever it's hard to remember something, you are probably not ready for that knowledge. Even if you manage to retain the information for a while, you will probably forget quite fast. Ideally, whenever you read (or see) something, the information makes perfect sense right away. Now, learning takes no effort whatsoever and you will probably never forget.
My Quest and the Sunday Million
Date: Mon, Dec 17, 2007
For the moment, I'm playing a mixture of $2/$4 and $3/$6. I'm pretty much break even over this month, down $600 on Full Tilt and Everest, but up roughly the same amount on Cake Poker. Still, with clearing bonuses and rakeback, I'm still building my bankroll. With a bankroll of approximately $4700 now, I can almost move up to $5/$10. I will be taking some shots at $5/$10 in the next week whenever I can find a good table and I'm playing my A-game.
Colombianitos Quest
I'm also going to do something for charity this month. I'm going to play 10000 hands on $0.25/$0.50 and donate my entire winnings to the Colombianitos project (see http://www.53offsuit.com/). I'm going to play 6 tables at a time to speed up things a bit. In addition to that, I'm also organizing a little side action to my quest. People can make a $5 bet on my ultimate winning rate after these 10000 hands. The winner takes half the price pool, the other half also goes to the Colombianitos project.
I'm also going to play the Sunday Million on PokerStars. The $215 buy-in is actually way outside of my bankroll but I won a tournament ticket in December's edition of the ITH league. However, I want to play some smaller tourney first before I take a shot since my MTT game is pretty rusty, not having played any in the last two months. Also, I want to study the tournament structure and pay-out structure before I actually play the event. I think that having a shot in suck a big tourney and then not prepare adequately is pretty stupid. The tourney starts with 10000 chips and 25/50 blinds, meaning you start with 200 big blinds. (In a 'normal' tourney, you start with 75 big blinds)
Ohama: Strait Wraps
Date: Wed, Nov 14, 2007
To play any poker game, you always have to know the current strength of your hand. In Omaha, a good draw can easily be a favorite against a made hand, even top set. For Hold'em players who are venturing into Omaha (like me), strait wraps are probably the most elusive hands. They can be very powerful, especially in combination with a flush draw. Or even having a pair with you strait draw may give you the current best hand, or at least 2 outs to trips (which may become a full) which may win you the pot. In the following article, I will evaluate all possible strait 3-way strait wraps and determine exactly how many outs they have. And how many of these outs are to the nuts.
The following simulations will describe the absolute value of the hand. All hands and board are rainbow so no flushes are possible. As how to actually play these hands is a total different story.
(3 up)
Board: A76
Hand: T983
13 outs - 13 nut.
T (x3) Nuts
9 (x3) Nuts
8 (x3) Nuts
5 (x4) Nuts
(2 up, 1 down)
Board: A76
Hand: 985Q
17 outs - 11 nut.
T (x4) Nuts
9 (x3)
8 (x3)
5 (x3) Nuts
4 (x4) Nuts
(1 up, 2 down)
Board: A76
Hand: 854Q
17 outs - 7 nut.
9 (x4)
8 (x3)
5 (x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
(3 down)
Board: A76
Hand: 543Q
13 outs - 3 nut.
8 (x4)
5 (x3)
4 (x3)
3 (x3) Nuts
(2 up, 1 middle)
Board: A64
Hand: 875Q
13 outs - 13 nut.
8 (x3) Nuts
7 (x3) Nuts
5 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
(1 up, 2 middle)
Board: A74
Hand: 865Q
13 outs - 13 nut.
8 (x3) Nuts
6 (x3) Nuts
5 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
(3 middle)
Board: A84
Hand: 765Q
9 outs - 9 nut.
7 (x3) Nuts
6 (x3) Nuts
5 (x3) Nuts
(2 middle, 1 down)
Board: A85
Hand: 764Q
13 outs - 7 nut.
9 (x4) Nuts
7 (x3)
6 (x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
(1 middle, 2 down)
Board: A86
Hand: 754Q
13 outs - 3 nut.
9 (x4)
7 (x3)
5(x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
(1 up, 1 middle, 1 down)
Board: A75
Hand 864Q
17 outs - 11 nut.
9 (x4) Nuts
8 (x3)
6 (x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
Having extra value in addition to a strait wrap can greatly enhance you hand value. If you are up against a another draw who doesn't have a made hand yet, you will win if two blanks fall on the turn and river. Even in the situation described above, against top set, having a pair will yield 1-2% equity since you take away one of his outs. And having a flush draw may also win you the pot. Even if your opponent has a bigger flush draw, you take away two of his outs which will give you around 8% equity extra. Even having a backdoor flush draw will give you a few percent equity extra. Of course, We are not looking at redraw possibilities here but hopefully, by being aggressive on the flop, we will get rid of these longshots.
All 3-way wraps have between 40% and 50% equity on the flop against top set (everything rainbow) which is quite a lot for just a strait draw.
A 2-way wrap is obviously a simple OESD (open end strait draw) with 8 outs (8 nut outs for the upper draw and 4 nut outs for the other draws). 4-way wraps are even more powerful but also much rarer. These usually have a few outs more with even 22 outs for 8743 on a 56x board. On the other hand, they cannot have a pair so you have no chance to win unimproved.
(3 up, 0 middle, 0 down): 13 outs - 13 nut.
(2 up, 0 middle, 1 down): 17 outs - 11 nut.
(1 up, 0 middle, 2 down): 17 outs - 7 nut.
(0 up, 0 middle, 3 down): 13 outs - 3 nut.
(2 up, 1 middle), 0 down): 13 outs - 13 nut.
(1 up, 2 middle, 0 down): 13 outs - 13 nut.
(0 up, 3 middle) 0 down): 9 outs - 9 nut.
(0 up, 2 middle, 1 down): 13 outs - 7 nut.
(0 up, 1 middle, 2 down): 13 outs - 3 nut.
(1 up, 1 middle, 1 down): 17 outs - 11 nut.
Ohama: Strait Wraps
Date: Wed, Nov 14, 2007
To play any poker game, you always have to know the current strength of your hand. In Omaha, a good draw can easily be a favorite against a made hand, even top set. For Hold'em players who are venturing into Omaha (like me), strait wraps are probably the most elusive hands. They can be very powerful, especially in combination with a flush draw. Or even having a pair with you strait draw may give you the current best hand, or at least 2 outs to trips (which may become a full) which may win you the pot. In the following article, I will evaluate all possible strait 3-way strait wraps and determine exactly how many outs they have. And how many of these outs are to the nuts.
The following simulations will describe the absolute value of the hand. All hands and board are rainbow so no flushes are possible. As how to actually play these hands is a total different story.
(3 up)
Board: A76
Hand: T983
13 outs - 13 nut.
T (x3) Nuts
9 (x3) Nuts
8 (x3) Nuts
5 (x4) Nuts
(2 up, 1 down)
Board: A76
Hand: 985Q
17 outs - 11 nut.
T (x4) Nuts
9 (x3)
8 (x3)
5 (x3) Nuts
4 (x4) Nuts
(1 up, 2 down)
Board: A76
Hand: 854Q
17 outs - 7 nut.
9 (x4)
8 (x3)
5 (x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
(3 down)
Board: A76
Hand: 543Q
13 outs - 3 nut.
8 (x4)
5 (x3)
4 (x3)
3 (x3) Nuts
(2 up, 1 middle)
Board: A64
Hand: 875Q
13 outs - 13 nut.
8 (x3) Nuts
7 (x3) Nuts
5 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
(1 up, 2 middle)
Board: A74
Hand: 865Q
13 outs - 13 nut.
8 (x3) Nuts
6 (x3) Nuts
5 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
(3 middle)
Board: A84
Hand: 765Q
9 outs - 9 nut.
7 (x3) Nuts
6 (x3) Nuts
5 (x3) Nuts
(2 middle, 1 down)
Board: A85
Hand: 764Q
13 outs - 7 nut.
9 (x4) Nuts
7 (x3)
6 (x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
(1 middle, 2 down)
Board: A86
Hand: 754Q
13 outs - 3 nut.
9 (x4)
7 (x3)
5(x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
(1 up, 1 middle, 1 down)
Board: A75
Hand 864Q
17 outs - 11 nut.
9 (x4) Nuts
8 (x3)
6 (x3)
4 (x3) Nuts
3 (x4) Nuts
Having extra value in addition to a strait wrap can greatly enhance you hand value. If you are up against a another draw who doesn't have a made hand yet, you will win if two blanks fall on the turn and river. Even in the situation described above, against top set, having a pair will yield 1-2% equity since you take away one of his outs. And having a flush draw may also win you the pot. Even if your opponent has a bigger flush draw, you take away two of his outs which will give you around 8% equity extra. Even having a backdoor flush draw will give you a few percent equity extra. Of course, We are not looking at redraw possibilities here but hopefully, by being aggressive on the flop, we will get rid of these longshots.
All 3-way wraps have between 40% and 50% equity on the flop against top set (everything rainbow) which is quite a lot for just a strait draw.
A 2-way wrap is obviously a simple OESD (open end strait draw) with 8 outs (8 nut outs for the upper draw and 4 nut outs for the other draws). 4-way wraps are even more powerful but also much rarer. These usually have a few outs more with even 22 outs for 8743 on a 56x board. On the other hand, they cannot have a pair so you have no chance to win unimproved.
(3 up, 0 middle, 0 down): 13 outs - 13 nut.
(2 up, 0 middle, 1 down): 17 outs - 11 nut.
(1 up, 0 middle, 2 down): 17 outs - 7 nut.
(0 up, 0 middle, 3 down): 13 outs - 3 nut.
(2 up, 1 middle), 0 down): 13 outs - 13 nut.
(1 up, 2 middle, 0 down): 13 outs - 13 nut.
(0 up, 3 middle) 0 down): 9 outs - 9 nut.
(0 up, 2 middle, 1 down): 13 outs - 7 nut.
(0 up, 1 middle, 2 down): 13 outs - 3 nut.
(1 up, 1 middle, 1 down): 17 outs - 11 nut.