Happy New Year

I'm working today :(.  Probably going to leave a bit early, though.  We're planning to go to a pot luck with several other families, at least for a little while.  Cocktails, champagne and prime rib.  Should be fun, but I doubt we'll make it to midnight...my son is recovering from a flu bug and my wife has been a little under the weather as well.

Here's today's hand.  Not something I do much.

Villain was a little loose.  Passive preflop, aggressive postflop, was in the middle of berating someone when I joined the table, so I thought he might be a bit tilted.  I've been pretty aggressive in general, but showed down a quality hand.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $51.05
MP: $142.25
CO: $93.00
Hero (BTN): $177.60
SB: $100.00
BB: $101.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with Ac Qs
1 fold, MP calls $1, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4.50, 2 folds, MP calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.50) 3h 9h 5d (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $8, MP raises to $16, Hero calls $8

Turn: ($42.50) Tc (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $24.50, MP calls $24.50

River: ($91.50) 4s (2 players)
MP bets $97.25 all in, Hero folds

I guess I thought on the flop that he was pretty polarized, so I tried to float him.

What's the worst hand you'd call with here....

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $173.55
MP: $271.40
CO: $1278.35
BTN: $194.10
SB: $74.60
Hero (BB): $200.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with xx
UTG calls $2, 3 folds, SB calls $1, Hero raises to $8, UTG calls $6, 1 fold

Flop: ($18.00) Jd 9h 7s (2 players)
Hero bets $14, UTG raises to $165.55 all in, Hero...

I don't have any reads to give, but the guy did limp/call preflop first in, so make of that what you will.  In addition to the bottom end of your calling range, what is the minimum hand you'd be pretty happy to have when you call?

Steady Ebb

In an effort to make myself write more, I'm going to try posting my biggest losing hand from each session to see if anyone notices a trend.  I think the only rule is that most of the money has to go in postflop (so no KK vs AA hands where it all gets in preflop).  One of the things I periodically notice with Jared is that when we do hand reviews, he picks up stuff I'm not aware are big problems.  So, even though I don't think that just picking the biggest losers is the best way to review play, it's not a bad place to start if you're looking randomly for blind spots :).

First one is actually not a huge pot, but it was the biggest one of the session...one of those slow bleeding sessions where nothing big happens but you either don't hit, or when you do, you get no action.  Villain is pretty loose and cold calls a lot preflop, but otherwise nothing special.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 Pot Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $97.90
Hero (UTG): $219.30
CO: $164.80
BTN: $52.65
SB: $72.55

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with Kh Kd
Hero raises to $7, CO calls $7, BTN calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($24.00) 2s 8d 9s (3 players)
Hero bets $19, CO calls $19, BTN folds

Turn: ($62.00) Td (2 players)
Hero bets $47, CO calls $47

River: ($156.00) Jc (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $91.80 all in, Hero folds

Final Pot: $156.00
CO wins $153.00
(Rake: $3.00)

I think this hand is pretty standard, at least through the flop.  No reason not to value bet on the flop.  On the turn, the ten isn't a great card because some draws got there as well as some of his range making two pair.  I bet, intending to fold to a raise, because he's pretty loose and there are a number of worse hands I think he calls with.  I can't really see anything to do on the river besides check and hope he checks behind.

December Update

Hey guys, sorry I've been so quiet, but really have not had much going on, poker-wise.  Tons of work and busy with the holidays, good stuff, not too exciting, though.  I have been playing short sessions a few days a week...wanted to make Iron Man this month so I could get a small year-end bonus at FT.

Got a new laptop a few weeks ago (wife and I gave each other laptops for Christmas :) ).  So, I've used some time getting it set up.  It's a big sucker, 17-inch, 1900 x 1200, so I can put as many tables as I want and still have room left over.  Strange thing is my POS work laptop running XP seems to be better able to handle 6 tables plus associated software than this new computer running Vista.  In every other respect, the new laptop is better than the old one.  Oh, well.

I'm just about at the end of another failed shot to stick at 1/2.  The pattern this year has been to beat up on .5/1 and get beat up at 1/2, relatively speaking.  My problem is that I play pretty low volume and have an aggressive bankroll strategy, so I am subject to a lot of potentially failed shots.  But over 25k hands at 1/2, now, I've lost over 25 BI.  Half of that was during a time when I was playing and running like shit (went from relatively comfortably rolled at 1/2 dropping almost down to the bottom of my .5/1 BR threshold).

This latest shot, though, I've been playing pretty well, and just not having stuff work out too well.  I have dropped a lot of poker activity (blogs, forums, videos have been pretty scarce).  But I have continued to be diligent reviewing my own play in depth and have been taking advantage of Jared's help reviewing a few hands from each session as well.  So, I'm pretty confident that I'm playing OK, and it's not like I'm in a big downswing or anything.  My BR "strategy" revolves around 5 BI shots, and I've lost 4.9 BI this time...so one more loser and I'm back to .5/1.

Now, this doesn't affect me financially, but it does make me question sometimes whether I should keep at it.  Part of my motivation to play is the prospect of improving and moving up the ranks.  But if I need to put in a lot more effort than I do now, I don't know if I want to absorb it.  I still think I'm already good enough to profit at 1/2.  I'm not saying I'm great, but I try to table select and I see a lot of bad play, so I should be able to have some sort of profit as I continue to work on my game.  But it's definitely possible my assessment is too optimistic.

I certainly still have the passion for poker, but I've got a lot of other things I'd like more time for as well.  We'll see.  I read periodically about people quitting the game in frustration, but for me, it would be regret.  Hopefully, it won't come to that, and either my game will improve or my luck will turn around at 1/2 and beyond.

November Summary

In some ways, November was a non-event for poker.  I am overloaded with work stuff -- thankfully pretty interesting -- and towards the end of the month with the holiday season getting underway.  That resulted fewer hands than normal, and I don't play a lot of hands to start with.  I also made very little time for anything other than session reviews:  two videos, almost zero forum activity, very few blog entries and comments (sorry, guys!), etc.  

Actually, on that last one...if I've ever made a comment on your blog, I have  been keeping up with it (Google Reader FTW), but I'm doing most of my blog reading on an iPhone, which makes it harder to leave comments.  As things slow down, I should have more time to check from my PC instead, so hopefully I'll be able to comment.  But, I am at least reading!

OK, back to the summary.  Even though the number of hands is few, I have got my game back on track.  I had slipped into some semi-bad habits after running like crap for a bit, and I was making a cold stretch significantly worse than it had to be.  One of those bad habits was slacking off with my own hand analysis, including sending a few to Jared each time.  We used one coaching session for a PT/replayer review.  For those of you with coaches, I would really suggest you dedicate a session to review every once in a while.  Had some hands in that review that I would not have thought to single out for comments for one reason or another, but which I was misplaying.  It underscores one of the reasons I think a coach (or mentor, if you've got a good poker network) is so valuable...we all have blind spots.  So now, even though it cuts even more into my playing time, for the most part, I am not starting a new session until I've done at least a cursory review of the prior one.

I'm still off my bankroll high by about the same percentage as my 401(k) plan is off its portfolio high (boo!), but my immediate prospects are good, if I can maintain my review and play discipline.  Hopefully this month I will have some time for a few more videos, as I've got a few tagged I would really like to study.  For now though, I have to turn my attention back away from poker because there are a couple monthly work project updates that need doing.