In broad strokes, I’ve blown through the earlier resistance level I mentioned in my last post, and am now sitting about $800 above that point. Not bad for a week’s worth of work. Most notably, the first 12 sessions since starting the analysis I referred to in that prior post were positive EV. I ran extremely poorly one day, with an actual result that was more than five buy-ins below EV… but that’s going to happen. You can only control what you can control.
I also cashed in my second Sunday Million ever, although it was a pretty strange affair. During the early stages of the tournament, with everyone still holding a full stack of around $10K, some clown in early position literally open-shoved his entire stack… and there I am sitting behind with pocket cowboys. I mean, wtf?
I thought to myself, there’s no way anybody is going to open-shove with pocket aces while everybody still has an M of over 30. So I called. And yes, he had pocket aces. Fortunately, I spiked a king on the flop. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, that’s all there is to say about that.
I played fairly conservatively until the bubble, getting myself comfortably in the money after knocking out some Brazilian pro with AKs vs. her AQ. Thereafter, I ran pretty card dead, stealing a few pots when necessary but ultimately beginning to succumb to the increasing blind levels. My best opportunity to make a stand came when I held 88 in the cutoff, but I folded in light of an early position raise to $15K from a short stack that should have pushed (I’m pretty sure he wanted action, and I didn’t want to oblige a premium pair). Fortunately, I was able to push shortly thereafter with pocket 7s, and was called by AQ. The flop was ugly, coming AQx – but I spiked a 7 on the river to put my stack back over $100K. A few hands later, I found pocket aces in early position, raised to $15K and was met with a $50K shove from pocket ducks. He spiked a 2 on the river, putting me back in trouble territory. A few hands later, I pushed with AT and was called by a shorter stack with K5, and yes… he spiked a 5 on the river. Then on life support, I pushed my remaining $18K with pocket tens, and was called by the big blind with pocket kings. I spiked a ten on the flop; he then spiked a king on the turn. Keep in mind, these hands were all played in a span of about 5 minutes. Yeah, I’m not a conspiracy theorist; I can’t be because I win money… but there really is a reason the site is sometimes affectionately referred to as Riverstars lol…
Current Bankroll: $16,671.06
Month To Date: 78,215 hands; up $1,309.05; 1.67 bb/100
Year to Date: 213,737 hands; up $3,500.30; 1.64 bb/100
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Resistance Level...
$15.7K appears to be a key resistance level for me, to put things in equity market terms. I first crossed this point early in the year, and then suffered a retracement back to the high $13K level. I thereafter recovered to $16.1K, and then promptly fell back to $15K again (about a week ago).
At this point, I realized I needed to take a more analytical approach to my game. So, I delved into Hold Em Manager much more deeply than I ever had before. My self-assigned task was to sort my results – per holecard combination – from each of early, middle, cutoff, button and blind positions, in each of unopened, limped and raised pots – and then build ranges for each based on my historical success at the $0.50/$1.00 level.
What I discovered was that I was playing a tighter game than was necessary, primarily because the bottom end of my range in most situations were still showing a material profit. So, I’ve been expanding my ranges – slowly – with the intention of identifying the optimal cutoff points. The immediate results have me playing slightly more aggressively, as my last several sessions have resulted in statistics in the 14/13 range as opposed to the 12/10 area. I expect that this will continue to expand with further analysis, ideally, to something where I’m playing a 16-18% VPIP. I believe this would likely be an optimal range for fullring.
A related benefit is that I’ve been able to identify specific holecard combinations that have given me unexpected trouble in certain scenarios. Exploring these scenarios has helped me identify several post-flop leaks in my game, primarily related to inappropriate bluff attempts and failure to identify areas where my opponents could conceivably be strong.
All of the foregoing has led me to take a much more active approach to my play, and the results thus far have been promising. Since starting a week ago, all of my sessions have been winners, and I’m now sitting squarely back at my $15.7K resistance level. (I’d actually be a bit beyond that, but I had a fairly unsuccessful slate of tournaments on Sunday – failing to cash in six of the eight MTTs that I played.)
Speaking of tournaments… I had a rather rude welcome to the Sunday Million. I’d never played in one before, primarily because I felt the $215 buy-in was a bit too steep. But given my relatively successful tournament record, and the deep-stack nature of the Sunday Million, I’ve recently decided to start using my VPPs to buy into these events, hoping to score a significant cash for zero financial outlay.
Well, I was looking forward to this one all week. It felt like taking a leap from the minor leagues to the pros. A 10K starting chip count, reasonable blind structure and potential quarter million payday if the cards ran my way. So I had my full pot of coffee brewed, my complement of undercard tourneys up and running on the left monitor, my nine ring games going on the right, ready to settle in for long haul ahead… and then… four friggin’ hands into the tournament, I was felted by top set over middle set. I’ve told myself that everyone would have gone broke in that spot, considering the inflated preflop pot (raised and a few callers) - and since the top set was sitting under the gun, I thought there was a reasonable chance he was overplaying a premium pair on the 9 high flop. 7-out; next shooter…
On a personal note, I’ve been feeling a little down of late. My personality is such that I tend to lead a fairly solitary existence; my current girlfriend once remarked that I reminded her of Richard Nixon towards the end of the Frost/Nixon movie, where he asked Frost, in earnest, if he actually enjoyed being around people. She’s right; for the most part, my preferred pursuits are largely constructive/competitive, and I’ve never been one for socializing to a great extent. I think this is one of the reasons I’m so attracted to the internet version of this game, for obvious reasons.
While I still feel like a fifteen-year old in spirit, I’ve actually turned forty this year. And while forty isn’t particularly old from a life standpoint (or even from the standpoint of the brick and mortar game), it might as well be the age of a dinosaur from the internet perspective. Most of the people I’m playing against are years, and even decades, younger than I am. In my estimation, this makes it somewhat difficult to establish or become part of a network of players who get to know and support each other as they develop their respective games. Yes, mine is a fairly solitary pursuit, as are most of the other things in my life.
I’ve never had children, nor have I ever had the type of relationship in which one would consider having children. The women that I’ve been involved with have been those who “fell into my lap”, so to speak – as opposed to those who I might actually look to get involved with. That’s not to say they aren’t great women, they just haven’t really been “right” for me.
I have a female friend who is one of the few women I’ve known in my life who I feel I have a great deal in common with, and with whom I enjoy spending time immensely. (Of course, she’s already taken.) She recently commented to me that she’s looking forward to getting married and having children; not necessarily now, but at some point in her life. I remember responding in a somewhat surprised fashion, saying something along the lines of “wow, I thought you were more like me in that regard”, in reference to my stated position that marriage is an institution that doesn’t make sense, considering it’s unnatural to spend one’s entire life with a single significant other.
As I get older, I’m beginning to realize the drawbacks of that position. Perhaps it would be a great thing to have someone there who’s a true soul mate, someone you genuinely enjoy being with on a regular basis. I suppose I’ll never know, as I just don’t see this happening in my future…
Current Bankroll: $15,894.31
Month To Date: 50,096 hands; up $912.00; 1.82 bb/100
Year to Date: 185,618 hands; up $3,103; 1.67 bb/100
At this point, I realized I needed to take a more analytical approach to my game. So, I delved into Hold Em Manager much more deeply than I ever had before. My self-assigned task was to sort my results – per holecard combination – from each of early, middle, cutoff, button and blind positions, in each of unopened, limped and raised pots – and then build ranges for each based on my historical success at the $0.50/$1.00 level.
What I discovered was that I was playing a tighter game than was necessary, primarily because the bottom end of my range in most situations were still showing a material profit. So, I’ve been expanding my ranges – slowly – with the intention of identifying the optimal cutoff points. The immediate results have me playing slightly more aggressively, as my last several sessions have resulted in statistics in the 14/13 range as opposed to the 12/10 area. I expect that this will continue to expand with further analysis, ideally, to something where I’m playing a 16-18% VPIP. I believe this would likely be an optimal range for fullring.
A related benefit is that I’ve been able to identify specific holecard combinations that have given me unexpected trouble in certain scenarios. Exploring these scenarios has helped me identify several post-flop leaks in my game, primarily related to inappropriate bluff attempts and failure to identify areas where my opponents could conceivably be strong.
All of the foregoing has led me to take a much more active approach to my play, and the results thus far have been promising. Since starting a week ago, all of my sessions have been winners, and I’m now sitting squarely back at my $15.7K resistance level. (I’d actually be a bit beyond that, but I had a fairly unsuccessful slate of tournaments on Sunday – failing to cash in six of the eight MTTs that I played.)
Speaking of tournaments… I had a rather rude welcome to the Sunday Million. I’d never played in one before, primarily because I felt the $215 buy-in was a bit too steep. But given my relatively successful tournament record, and the deep-stack nature of the Sunday Million, I’ve recently decided to start using my VPPs to buy into these events, hoping to score a significant cash for zero financial outlay.
Well, I was looking forward to this one all week. It felt like taking a leap from the minor leagues to the pros. A 10K starting chip count, reasonable blind structure and potential quarter million payday if the cards ran my way. So I had my full pot of coffee brewed, my complement of undercard tourneys up and running on the left monitor, my nine ring games going on the right, ready to settle in for long haul ahead… and then… four friggin’ hands into the tournament, I was felted by top set over middle set. I’ve told myself that everyone would have gone broke in that spot, considering the inflated preflop pot (raised and a few callers) - and since the top set was sitting under the gun, I thought there was a reasonable chance he was overplaying a premium pair on the 9 high flop. 7-out; next shooter…
* * *
On a personal note, I’ve been feeling a little down of late. My personality is such that I tend to lead a fairly solitary existence; my current girlfriend once remarked that I reminded her of Richard Nixon towards the end of the Frost/Nixon movie, where he asked Frost, in earnest, if he actually enjoyed being around people. She’s right; for the most part, my preferred pursuits are largely constructive/competitive, and I’ve never been one for socializing to a great extent. I think this is one of the reasons I’m so attracted to the internet version of this game, for obvious reasons.
While I still feel like a fifteen-year old in spirit, I’ve actually turned forty this year. And while forty isn’t particularly old from a life standpoint (or even from the standpoint of the brick and mortar game), it might as well be the age of a dinosaur from the internet perspective. Most of the people I’m playing against are years, and even decades, younger than I am. In my estimation, this makes it somewhat difficult to establish or become part of a network of players who get to know and support each other as they develop their respective games. Yes, mine is a fairly solitary pursuit, as are most of the other things in my life.
I’ve never had children, nor have I ever had the type of relationship in which one would consider having children. The women that I’ve been involved with have been those who “fell into my lap”, so to speak – as opposed to those who I might actually look to get involved with. That’s not to say they aren’t great women, they just haven’t really been “right” for me.
I have a female friend who is one of the few women I’ve known in my life who I feel I have a great deal in common with, and with whom I enjoy spending time immensely. (Of course, she’s already taken.) She recently commented to me that she’s looking forward to getting married and having children; not necessarily now, but at some point in her life. I remember responding in a somewhat surprised fashion, saying something along the lines of “wow, I thought you were more like me in that regard”, in reference to my stated position that marriage is an institution that doesn’t make sense, considering it’s unnatural to spend one’s entire life with a single significant other.
As I get older, I’m beginning to realize the drawbacks of that position. Perhaps it would be a great thing to have someone there who’s a true soul mate, someone you genuinely enjoy being with on a regular basis. I suppose I’ll never know, as I just don’t see this happening in my future…
Current Bankroll: $15,894.31
Month To Date: 50,096 hands; up $912.00; 1.82 bb/100
Year to Date: 185,618 hands; up $3,103; 1.67 bb/100
Monday, April 5, 2010
Reconnect...
Stopped writing for awhile, primarily because the head of my company sent a warning email to the entire staff indicating there was far too much personal internet usage on company time - a practice he considers akin to theft. While he didn't identify the specific culprits, I'm fairly certain any cursory review would have resulted in my having been identified as one of the organization's most prolific abusers... so I cooled it for the time being.
March was a tough month where I ran significantly below all-in EV (+$367 actual vs. +$1536 EV), but things are going better thus far in April, particularly thanks to a solid win in curtailed action today (notwithstanding my AA getting cracked by AK for a full stack). I also cashed in three of the four MTTs I played in yesterday, going deep in a $50 buy in (292 out of 6000+) and very deep in a $10 buy in (21st out of 4000+). I was short stacked in the latter, and pushed in the SB with garbage against what I knew to be a button steal, but ran into AA in the BB. C'est la vie.
I have to get something cancerous removed from my face tomorrow. Expect to be back in action in the evening, however...
Current Bankroll: $15,612.88
Monday: 931 hands; up $346.00; EV: +$464.12
Month To Date: 14,476 hands; up $474.75; 3.28 bb/100
Year to Date: 149,998 hands; up $2,666; 1.78 bb/100
March was a tough month where I ran significantly below all-in EV (+$367 actual vs. +$1536 EV), but things are going better thus far in April, particularly thanks to a solid win in curtailed action today (notwithstanding my AA getting cracked by AK for a full stack). I also cashed in three of the four MTTs I played in yesterday, going deep in a $50 buy in (292 out of 6000+) and very deep in a $10 buy in (21st out of 4000+). I was short stacked in the latter, and pushed in the SB with garbage against what I knew to be a button steal, but ran into AA in the BB. C'est la vie.
I have to get something cancerous removed from my face tomorrow. Expect to be back in action in the evening, however...
Current Bankroll: $15,612.88
Monday: 931 hands; up $346.00; EV: +$464.12
Month To Date: 14,476 hands; up $474.75; 3.28 bb/100
Year to Date: 149,998 hands; up $2,666; 1.78 bb/100
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