Stopping to analyze my results

So after a ton of play in the past three months, I think maybe I should quit playing online poker. I've been doing really poorly lately, and I noticed I have more trouble controlling tilt online rather than live. Furthermore, I seem to have lost my ability to multitable well, effectively making it worth less for me to play online.

It's not that I can't win. (Well, at the moment I can't.) But rather, it's probably a better use of my time to go to the casino and play. However, this could be hurting my growth as a player. Recently, I haven't really been studying the game much. I haven't been reading or comparing hands as much as I used to. This is probably because I am crushing the game I am currently playing and feel no desire to move up at the moment.

The Hustler just added a new game in December, a 5-10 blind, with a 500-1500 buyin. The game is identical to the Commerce game with one exception. Without a built in player base of regulars, it usually draws from the 5-5 300-500 buyin players. This is an extremely soft $5-$10 game that is running daily.
I'm averaging around $200 in $5-$10 games at the hustler. My sample size is small, and I know I can't sustain that win rate, but I think maintain $80+ an hour is doable. If I can make $80 an hour at the casino, and online I make maybe $20 an hour, what's the point of playing online?

Every Sunday, I put up $400 to $1,000 in tournament buyins. I haven't had final table in months in a tournament with a buyin bigger than $30. I haven't won a tournament online in over 4 months. Why am I wasting my time? Even if my ROI is something respectable like 25-40%, I am still doing much better per hour at the casino.

I think maybe I'll just use online poker to improve at other games like PLO and limit hold'em. It's really disheartening that every Sunday, I just light a wad of hundreds on fire.

But I'm SMASHING live. I guess if I look at it this way, I'm running hot at the bigger games and running cold online at smaller stakes. That's always good right? Last night at the Hustler, I ran really good in a 7 hour session where I won $3.5k, and made quads twice, made two sets, and flopped the nut straight for stacks. I shouldn't whine.

Looking foward to the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure. It starts on Jan 4th, and I'm gonna take some time to enjoy the Bahamas. Maybe all my tournament run bad is waiting for this. This would be a good time to ship a tournament, hahaha. First last year was $3 mil, it'll probably be a little smaller this year. It's been a while since I've played a live tournament with a serious buyin, I'm looking forward to it. I'm still selling out action for those that are interested in buying.

Wish me luck.
I'll see you across the felt.

Bryce

Wild Session at the Hustler

I was down $7k at one point in the $5-10 at the Hustler. 16 hours after I started, I managed to book a $5k win.

I'm just going to list fun or interesting hands.

I raise K7s in a straddled pot and get 4 callers. The flop is 2s 3s 6s, and the small blind just leads for $400, a full pot bet. Folds back to me and I debate calling, raising and shoving, and eventually I decided to just ship it all in. The guy behind me makes a big show of his hand and then calls. The regular who lead out, turns over 33 and throws it into the muck. The other guy turns over 22 and bemoans the fact most of his outs to win are gone. The board bricks out twice and I win.

I straddle and pick up QJ. Three limpers, and I make it $100 to go. Two guys call, and the flop comes out Qc Jc Jd. The SB checks, and the BB, the same guy who had 22, leads for $270. I flat call in order to induce the SB to draw to a flush or straight. He folds, and we move to the turn. The BB bets $400 on the 8h, and I raise to $1,000. He instantly moves in for $3,800 and I call just as fast. I turn over my hand and he just mucks his hand stating he's drawing dead.

Stakes are now 10/20
I raise the button to 70 with T4s, the SB calls, the BB calls.
The flop is Tc 8h 7c. They both check, I bet $200, the BB calls. The turn is a 6h, he checks and I bet $400.

I think this is not a standard bet, but a good one vs someone who is going to play relatively straight foward. Most people will call with their flush draw, raise a straight, and fold their one pair hands. They may or may not call with two pair. However most two pairs raise the flop, as do sets, so it's likely a ten is the best hand here. It should be bet for value against fluhs draws, and getting raised isn't a concern because you are usually drawing dead when you get raised.

The BB calls the 400. The river is a Jd, and he bets $600. I call and win vs his Qc4c
Well given, the fact he didn't raise the flop or turn we can figure out he probably doesn't have a set, two pair or a straight. His hand looks like a flush draw trying to steal, and most people wouldn't valuebet a J or T on this river. They just couldn't imagine they would get called by a worse hand.



The CO raises to 70, the BTN calls, I call with Ad5c in the SB, the BB calls.
The flop is 8d 7d 6s, I check call the BB $150 bet. I have the backdoor nut flush draw, a draw to an ace, and a bottom end open ended straight draw, which adds up to an easy call to me. The turn is a 4 and I think he's so liable to bluff here, I should just check/call him. So he obliges me by bettinged $300, then another $500 on the river. He turns over Q9o for a busted OESD, and I win the pot.


I think these hands were kinda interesting, and I was proud of them. I'll try to find more later.


I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

November Monthly Report

November Cash Games Live $7,520
Online ($350.45)
Tournaments Live ($610)
Online ($1,393)
Poker $5,167.01
Staking ($1,257.52)
Net on month $3,909.49



Played a lot of live poker in November. Stayed away from online tournaments and doing better. I'm on track to actually book a win in cash games for the year, even if it's a small one.

Hoping to find time to put in volume in December, I should be busy with other stuff.

An Eventful game of LOLmaha at the Hustler

Tonight I played a 5/10 HA game at the Hustler. HA is the online acronym for a Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold'Em mix. Omaha is a unique action game because with each player getting dealt 4 cards, it's very easy for two people to make big hands.

Anyways, today we started pretty early. Some guy I've never seen before shows up to play. He's acting real cocky, and keeps bragging about how he plays 100/200 Stud at the Commerce casino. I'm not really sure to who he's bragging too cause nearly everyone is ignoring him. Eventually he ends up picking a fight with Miami. Miami loves to play poker, but he's not that good. On the other hand, he's pretty well off (read: rich).
So basically this kid starts talking about how much of a balla he is that he can just gamble for a grand in PLO. Miami is just gambling because he likes it. I don't catch the whole conversation but soon it becomes some ego contest and there are curses flying. Eventually Miami gets pulled aside because he won't drop it, and the kid decides to get up and leave cause "I don't need to deal with this shit. This game is just peanuts, I'm going to go to the Commerce."
Everyone was glad the kid left, even though he was dead money, sometimes it's just better to have an enjoyable experience.

A fun PLO hand

Limp UTG, two other limpers, I limp 3d 6d 5s 5c in CO, BTN limps, blinds complete, we take a 7 handed flop.

Flop is Js Tc 5d.
UTG bets 60 into 70, Zack makes it 210. I make it 500 with my bottom set. (might be a fold, been discussing it). Han (UTG) cold calls, and Zack tank folds. He shows his hand to a few other people, and talks about how sick a laydown this is, so I know he has TT for middle set. I know Han doesn't have JJ or he would've reraised the flop.

Turn is Qd. Han bets the pot which is $1280. I tank and decide to call.
The river is another Q.

He checks, and I move all in. He folds.

I think he knew I had a set, and he knew I knew he had a straight. I should've bet like $300 dollars, cause even if he puts me on a full house he would be hard pressed to fold for $300 into a $3800 pot.


I also ran hot flopping huge in multiway raised pots.
Once 8 people saw the flop for 100, and I had A569ds and the flop came down 557. I just shoveled in $800 of my $900 stack and took it down. Then I had QQ56ds, and saw a flop of Q55, meaning I had the stone cold nuts. It was almost impossible to draw out of me, and I managed to win another $1,000 that hand. Overall I got pretty lucky. I felt like I played quite well though.



I quit up $3,500 for 4 hours of play. Pretty good, but I sold out half my action because my bankroll can't handle the swings of a 5/10 Pot limit omaha game. Last time I played it, I lost a $5.5k pot. Reduce my variance is the right decision for me.

October Monthly Report

October	Cash Games	Live	$5,095
		Online	$513.02
	Tournaments	Live	$1,605
		Online	($97)
	Poker		$7,116.30
	Staking		$914.50
	Net on month		$8,030.80

I won a tournament at the hustler this month. The next day I won even more money playing cash games. I had a 10k week, that was pretty cool
Overall, I've done quite well this month. I finally had a winning month. November is off to a good start too.

15 hour day at the hustler

I went to the Hustler today and played a tournament at 3 PM. I busted relatively early when I got JJ AIPF vs AQ and 88. I was kind of glad I busted, because there was this guy on my table who was really tilting me.

I played the 5-5 game and saw Obama playing. Somehow this Korean regular managed to get this nickname. I know it involves Mike, but I have no idea how it came about. He is a regular fish, so there are jokes about how he bails people out and stuff. Anyways, he's a catalyst for building games, so we managed to get the 5-10 game running. I enter the game down about 500 since I got my kings cracked by a nut flush draw in a straddled pot.

The brown chip game starts and then I lose a really big pot. A guy raises to 40 in middle position and gets 3 callers. I call in the BB and the flop is Qc Jc 2d. Everyone checks to the button who betes 120 into 200. I c/c, and everyone else folds. The turn is a 3h. I check and he bets 280, and I move in for 1100.

What does it look like I have?
Would you fold AQ to me here?

Well it doesn't matter if he would fold a queen, because he turned over two Jacks in the hole.

I had A4c and I bricked the river. I still like that play though.

The night goes on, and I'm running pretty cold. I'm card dead, and when I do hit, I'm always second best. One hand I get 67d all in against 88 on the 6c 2d3d board when I was the preflop raiser and brick. It's like, to instantly get it in vs me without hestistation, people must view me as a nut that could never have aces there. Whatever.
So at this point I'm down like 2800.

I'm debating leaving when George, a friend of mine raises and I call with AJ. The flop is Jd Td 5c, and he bets, I call, and the BB comes along. On the turn he open shoves, and I call and break him for about 1200. He had a smaller Jack.
Now that George is gone, and the two fish left, there are only 6 people several of which are regulars. But they aren't that good, so it's been pretty easy to play. I know I have a significant edge, and slowly chip up. Eventually I am down to 3 handed, vs the worst player on the table.

He is really bad, but he keeps getting the best of me.

Hand #1.
I open 87s from the button for 40 he calls with 92s in the blinds.
The flop is 9c 8c 6s, he checks, and I bet 70, he calls. The turn is the Js. He bets 130, and I make it 400, he calls. The river is a 2, he checks and I check.

Hand #2
I straddle the button to 20, he calls in the SB with T8c, I raise to 80 with J2d, he calls. The flop is Qc Jh 2h. He checks, I bet 140, he calls. The turn is a 3c, he checks, I bet 280, he calls. The river is a 4c, he checks, I bet 460, he raises to 1000, and I call.

On this hand I'd really like to be able to fold the river, but I think he could have like AQ sometimes and slowplayed it or like even a hand like 43, 42, 32, and is value raising. He's so bad, I'm not really sure if I should be folding here. He likes to bluff a lot, but when he bluffs he usually bluffs big.

We are now HU.
I've been chipping up against him cause he plays too many hands OOP and raises huge when he does raise letting me get off cheap. I'm also taking him to value town with middlish pairs.
He is getting crushed slowly, and wants to up the stakes to 10/20. I have no arguements.

Hand #3
I raise to 70 with 5s4c on the button. He calls (you might sense a trend that all the big pots we get involved in, are about him calling OOP. It's probably because that was his biggest leak. I figured as long as I kept playing him in position, I would eventually get it all)

The flop is Qs Ts 5c. He checks and I check, the turn is a 3d. He checks, and I bet 100. He raises to 400.

I'm trying to figure out what he's doing here. I know he knows my range is pretty weak here. I rarely have a Queen, or a big draw. I don't even have a ten that often. So I think he's trying to push me off of a weak pair. He also isn't really representing any hands that are very strong with this line, a queen or ten would just bet the turn right? Same with a flush draw, so I put him on no pair, maybe a gutshot draw at best.

I call.
The river is a Ks. This is a scary card at first glance, but in reality, it probably didn't change anything for either of our hands.
He now gives off a tell I pick up one correctly. Usually he plays pretty fast, but this time he is measuring out the pot and his stack and trying to figure out how much to bet. I am pretty sure he is trying to figure out the right bluff size here, as he usually just fired our more random amounts when valuebetting. Eventually, he throws a whole rack of brown chips in the middle. I hesitate for a few seconds then go with my read and call the $1,000 bet.
Pair o fives is goooooooooooooooooooooooood.
In his heavy accent he says ni han. He said nice hand, but my heart stopped cause I thought he said nine ten. I was like o shit I just leveled myself.

It takes him less than 3 minutes to donate the remaining 1200 he has to me. He raises the button to 60 I make it 170 with KK, and he instaships 1200. I snap call, turn over my hand and hold up vs his ???

The whole match took less than 64 hands. In that time period, I won over $3,500. Sick win rate?
To be fair I ran good, but he made it easy on me.

We ended at 5:45 AM. I won $2,000 in the 5-10 game, lost $500 in the 5-5 game, and lost $340 on the tournament. Overall a pretty good 15 hours

As a random note, while I was at the hustler that night, a $40k+ jackpot hit TWICE that night. Maybe I should switch to limit hold'em. lol

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

September Monthly Report

September	Cash Games	Live	($2,000)
		Online	$632.55
	Tournaments	Live	$0
		Online	($4,105)
	Poker		($5,472.13)
	Staking		$285.00
	Net on month		($5,187.13)

I visited my grandmother in Washington for the second half of the September. In the first half, I went to Vegas and celebrated my birthday. Overall, I didn't get nearly as much volume in as I wanted. I played a lot of wcoop and ftops events but didn't make any final tables and only a few cashes. Oh well.