Poker 0 Lifting 1

Raising Pots

May I begin by quoting last week's post..."I recall my first weeks at $5NL were a huge upswing and I then came crashing down to Earth, I need to avoid this as much as possible". This week I came crashing down to Earth....I had a terrible start to the week which involved me dropping a staggering 13 buy-ins in my first 4,500 hands, this was 6 buy-ins below EV which makes dealing with these swings somewhat easier. I'm pleased that I played well for the most part and was just losing some big pots which I' always going to lose; Set over set, flush over set etc. I tilted a few buy-ins, of this I'm positive, but for a lot of the time I was just getting my money in good and losing. All other aspects of my game appear solid I just need to find those extra leaks. To this end I have a database analysis session booked in for this week with a 2+2 forum member who I am hoping will be able to shine some light on areas where I am spewing $$s. Think he's gonna have his hands full!!

So the tale of the tape:

Hands: 12,871

Hours: 24.55

$/hour: -$3.37

BB/100: -3.21

Total winnings: -$82.74

Total rakeback: $27.55

Total for the week: -$55.19

So, not an horrendous week, -5.5 buy-ins with rakeback and running well below EV. So, I'm not disheartened I'm confident with the right attitude I can beat these stakes. Really good volume t his week and I'm please to say that I will hit bronze for Ironman which is great, it has been a real grind what with missing the start of the month but has been worth to hit it. Will aim for silver in March so watch this space.

Lifting Weights

The post title refers to the fact that poker wise this week hasn't been great but fitness wise it's been a revelation. A revelation without actually lifting a finger! You see I have rediscovered my motivation and it's all thanks to P90x. For those unaware P90x is a 90 day, 6 days week extreme fitness plan that I have just purchased. I'm not sure what the 'P' stands for but should be poker as this workout has been recommended to me by a number of poker players that do it. Now, I can't actually start this programme until week commencing 14th March which is a little annoying but I want to start it when I am able to have a clear period in front of me to maximise my chances of success. The reason I can't start this week is because I'm off to Switzerland at the end of the week so won't be able to complete this first week. The future is bright, I'm confident in both the pot raising and the weight lifting right now.

Look out for a mid week blog reviewing February!

You Raise Me Up

Raising Pots

I finished last wee full of excitement being ~$1 off $10NL and I'm happy to say that the last session of $5NL I played I made $1.65 over 2,000 hands which pushed my BR above $300, 30 buyins for $10NL. Do I decided to take my shot and move back down to $5NL if my roll fell to $280. So, much like the 10th October's post (http://pokerlifter.blogspot.com/2010/10/up-up-and-away.html) I set off with trepidation to the $10NL tables and tried not to get myself blinded by the increased pot sizes and just continue with my style that I had adopted over the last month or so and be confident in my ability. The only change I made initially was to drop to 6 tables to begin with. I was keen just to make a good start, give the tables my complete attention and try and win a few sessions to 'bed' myself into this new limit. So the first session was profitable albeit a very small amount....as for my welcome to $10NL this was the second hand that I was dealt. Although I felt sick at the end it was reassuring that there still plenty of fish swimming around!

Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players - View hand 1190222

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: $4.78

UTG+1: $4.15

MP: $10.94

CO: $10.13

BTN: $10.00

Hero (SB): $10.00

BB: $7.35

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is SB with A A

2 folds, MP raises to $0.30, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, MP raises to $1.70, Hero requests TIME, Hero raises to $4.70, MP calls $3

Flop: ($9.50) 6 9 5 (2 players)

Hero requests TIME, Hero bets $3.90, MP raises to $6.24 all in, Hero calls $1.40 all in

Turn: ($20.10) J (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($20.10) 9 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $20.10

MP shows Q 9 (three of a kind, Nines)

Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Nines)

MP wins $18.76

(Rake: $1.34)

So, the tale of the tape:

Hands: 7,375

Hours: 14.33

$/hour: $10.43

BB/100: 10.25

Total Winnings: $149.53

Total Rakeback: $21.15

Total for the week: $170.68

What a start?! As you can see I crushed $10NL to the tune of 15 buyins and have had my most profitable ever week. Now, as always, I'm keen to temper this with a realisation that it is not sustainable to be beating $10NL for 14.03BB/100. Fantastic? Of course, but not going to happen over a large sample. I recall my first weeks at $5nL were a huge upswing and I then came crashing down to Earth, I'm need to avoid this as much as possible. I'm keen to just get stuck into the limit so I have a safe buffer for any down swings that come my way and once $10NL rakeback takes effect (this week's rakeback is predominantly $5NL) I should hopefully be safely a regular at this limit.

As mentioned last week, the Ironman promotion has meant that I have played every night this week (except Friday when Pokerlifter hit the town!) however the 7,000 hand volume is fairly disappointing but this is due to the drop from 12 tables to 6 meaning my average hands per hour has dropped from ~750 to ~450. Hopefully will be back to 12 tables soon. I have two days off from the day job this coming week too so am hoping to stick in some serious volume and grind ~16 hours in those two days.

Lifting Weights

I have a plan now for the gym which has really helped focus my mind, have had a difficult week getting down the gym due to the (late night) hours at the tables meaning getting up for a 6am gym start is more tricky. But, like I say I have a plan and this week in addition to the gym I will make (another) start on the 100 push-ups challenge which served me really well last year and needs no real commitment as it takes no more that 10 minutes a night but yet is extremely effective strength builder. I also have someone spurring me on and helping to motivate me now which is a real boost.

In summary - a good week and I am a happy Pokerlifter.

Eye of the tiger

Raising Pots

I started my February grind this week, missed the first few days of February as I was away in my beloved in Cornwall. I approached this week with the same enthusiasm that I ended January with, a desire, commitment and belief to really start making some progress, I've played for too long now at the same limit style and decided it was time for some changes. Nothing major or indeed ground breaking but just stick a cork in a few leaks and play a little more aggressively. I'm far from a passive player and can sometimes be too aggressive but I needed to find the line between controlled, well timed aggression and being a total spew monkey which can sometimes happen! Looking through my database, which is something I have only really recently started to do properly I noticed a few interesting things. When 3 betting preflop my BB/100 is a staggering 216.50 yet I only 3 bet 2.20% of the time...very low. Now clearly this is high as I'm only 3 betting the premium hands but unles there's a showdown, who's to know what you're 3 betting right? So I decided to introduce a more aggressive approach to my pre-flop play by 3 betting more and isolating limpers more. Also, I discovered to my horror I was playing a far too 'fit or fold' stlye of poker post flop so have also made some changes here - c-betting more and barrelling scare cards. An aggressive approach is certainly high variance but I think it's another gear that needs to be added to my game and I should switch more freely between being tight and aggressive and looser, certainly in position.

So, the tale of the tape:

Hands: 11,299

Hours: 15.72

BB/100: 1.02

$/hour: $0.73

Total winnings: $11.48

Total rakeback: $0

Total for the week: $11.48

Another profitable week to the tune of two buyins and with a 13th place finish in yesterday's Cardschat tournament this all amounts to one thing...I'm approximately $1 short of where I want my bank roll to be for $10NL. Very exciting - I wanted to hit this by month end so all being well should be able to get there a little earlier.

I discovered also this week that I have, metaphorically speaking, been 'leaving a lot of money on the table' by not opting in and taking part in Full Tilt's Ironman promotion. In a nutshell you need to earn a certain number of points each day for either 15 or 20 days of that month. If achieved you get bonus points and cash bonuses every six months. As I have started late for February I now need to play on 14 of the remaining 15 days of February to qualify. Quite a grind but can see no reason why I can't achieve it.

Lifting Weights

No gym work this week. Back down the gym first thing tomorrow morning. Starting to feel sluggish with the lack of exercise now but can hopefully turn a corner this week.

Pokerlifter's January

Raising Pots

I realise I have only done one monthly round-up on this blog (last September) and that's just not good enough. So I will look to get 2011 off to a good start by rounding up my first month.

So January only saw one major change in my game itself and that was the introduction of three additional tables taking me up to 12. It still remains unclear at this stage if I'm over stretching myself with this amount of tables, it was definitely tricky to accommodate at first but after awhile it does start to feel natural. The benefit of this amount of tables is of course the increased volume I can put through and with this the amount I'm getting back in rakeback will shoot up. I'm currently playing approximately 700 hands per hour which means to hit my monthly target of 25,000 hands I need only grind 35 hours a month. Of course, this is the minimum and in previous months I have been able to grind upwards of double this amount, so all being well I should be in for a massive February...but enough about 'what ifs' let's stick to some facts and talk about January.

Let's look at the tale of the tape:

Hands: 34,268

Hours: 55.87

BB/100: 0.31

$/hour: $0.19

Total winnings: $10.63

Total rakeback: $19.88

Total for the month: $30.51

So, a profitable January and a great way to start 2011. OK, so I'm far from crushing it and 0.31 BB/100 is pretty poor, I really want to be hitting 4-5 BB/100 per month and as yet I have come nowhere near that in any months. I haven't had a losing month since November but have also yet to have a month where I have really crushed the tables. I have however run massively below EV this month so to come out with a profit following the down swing is pretty pleasing. To illustrate, here's my graph for the month (the yellow is my EV whereas the green line is my actual):

So you can see I should have been up ~$55 on the tables.

So, what do I want to achieve in February. Well I want to play 25,000 hands at a profit of 4 BB/100, hands wise this is easily achievable and I believe I have the ability to hit my winrate target too. This will make me $100 and roll me for $10NL. How do I wish to achieve this? Well I want to become more active in the wonderful cardschat.com hand analysis forum - both posting my own hands and studying others. I have also trawled through my database and isolated a few areas where I seem to be leaking dollars and want to see if I can plug some of those. A more longer term objective and not just for February is to get a coach and/or arrange some sweatsession. So, bring on February and see you for a monthly round-up soon.

Lifting Weights

So the poor cousin of my blog hobbies? Yes, very much so. I have had an appalling January for lifting. I seem to have had neither the time nor motivation to hit the gym with any kind of routine. God loves a trier though and boy do I try. I will aim to hit three steady sessions a week in February. That's all.

See you soon!