Back to school

Although i knew i was running well to start with i hadn't really planned on my graph turning ugly straight after blogging about my plans. Looks like i have plenty of learning left to do... I actually find it quite embarrassing to post my results as i'm running well above EV apparently.

The big difference in EV has come largely from two hands where i've ended up reluctantly getting overly involved pre flop and getting all in against 2 opponents both times. Then getting lucky! Once with 5678 and another pot with double suited K's. Neither pot was hugely -EV but in winning both i ran well above EV in them.

I seem to be mildly obsessed by my EV line. If i'm running below it i get frustrated but as soon as i'm running above EV i feel embarrassed about it! I'm not too sure where i'm going wrong in PLO. so far. I think i'm perhaps getting to the river and then folding too often and maybe not protecting my bigger hands well enough but i'm not too sure. Learning PLO cash is proving quite difficult as not only am i learning the intricacies of PLO but i'm learning to play cash when i'm used to sngs and mtts. I think the latter is the most difficult part to adapt to and possibly my biggest problem at the moment. Perhaps i'm approaching the games in the wrong way?

I would post my positional stats but can't figure out how to export them as an jpeg file on the mac... I really need to find a cheap coach though to offer some advice on where my leaks are as i get the feeling the videos aren't specific enough to help me in the cash games.

Perhaps i'm fussing about nothing and just need to put in more volume. I'm just finding it frustrating that i seemingly can't even beat micro stakes cash games so what hope do i have when i move up - something i want to do asap. I think i just need to get some sleep and i'll hopefully feel more positive again! Could do with winning at this game called poker 1 day soon as i'm fast heading for another losing month which is unheard of in my world of success! :)

The only real plus point of this is that i'm racking up fpps on Stars much quicker and easier in these cash games than the tourney grind and am actually enjoying myself while playing again.

On a slightly different note - I've just bought a small % of MI_Turtle in his USA COOP bid. I think he offers excellent value as he's one of the best players about at the moment in the online game and offer % at cost value and sometimes even less as he throws in extra promos and covers any additional rebuys in tourneys out his own pocket. Hopefully he can have a good series and make me some $$$ as i certainly can't make much myself recently! GL Nick!

PLO Learner

The past week has been the final round of the World Rally Championship, conveniently based in my home town of Cardiff. This means i've spent many hours away from the computer in wet Welsh forests!
As a result, i've once again not put many hours in of online pokerz (another convenient excuse i know!)

I've been dabbling in a bit of PLO for a while now, have taken down the a few small tourneys, etc but have never been confident enough with my post flop play to play cash seriously. I've decided i'm going to set out to change that over the coming months!

I seem to be constantly on the look out for sngs which are over in no time at all so i can keep a flexible schedule as i struggle to keep concentration for much over an hour or 2 long sessions. The obvious thing to do would be to play cash games but i've never felt comfortable in them. I think its just as much that i like having a set goal with sngs and mtts (i.e. winning them) whereas cash games just seemed like an endless grind. I've played a few short sessions of micro PLO the past week though and have quite enjoyed the experience so it can't hurt too much to have a crack at them, especially considering how badly the sngs have been going recently. The first few sessions have actually been fairly positive as you can see from the graph below.

Before i get everyone telling me the results mean nothing as my sample size is so small - i'm fully aware of this. Got to start somewhere though and i'd rather be feeling positive with a nice enough looking graph. Only playing $10 plo at the moment but plan on moving up once i've won 30 or so buy ins. I basically want to take my time moving up and learn the game at the low stakes. I know i can be profitable at it but am also aware that i probably have a lot of big leaks in my game at the moment! Would rather lose the minimum while learning and prove to myself that i can beat each level before moving up.

I notice the great Scotsman, Mr Daleroxxu is also in the process of making the transition from sngs to PLO cash, albeit at higher stakes no doubt and probably with more success than myself! I look forward to following his progress. On the topic of Dale - I'd like to extend a big Congrats on getting signed up to Team Pokerstars: online. Best of luck with it Sir!

Knowing me i'll come running back to the sngs in a few weeks time with my tail between my legs but i could do with a change for the time being and if it works out then it'll be great. If it doesn't, it can only serve to improve my all round game! Im not planning on abandoning sngs and mtts altogether. I just want to achieve a healthier all round balance.

Please feel free to offer words of advice if you're familiar with the PLO cash scene and if anyone fancies sharing HH's or discussing the game online let me know. Alternatively, if anyone can suggest a good PLO coach with an affordable hourly rate please point me in their direction! :)

I'll keep everyone updated with progress.

October review, November Plans, etc

As expected, October ended as only my 3rd losing month... Only -$35.64 though so hardly too damaging. Just frustrating more than anything as i seem to be treading water a lot recently.  Roll on the upswing :)

November has continued with the same downward trend though. Currently down about $75. I've reverted back to the 45 man sngs on Stars so things can turn around quite quickly in these bigger fields so $75 down is nothing. Just wish i could hurry up and start making some forward progress and build up the bankroll so i can play some bigger stakes than the $6.50s!

I feel like my break even stretch the last couple of months has been largely down to variance and generally running bad however i have no doubt that my 6 months of playing very little has probably left me a bit out of practice. As a result i decided to rejoin a poker training site to rebuild my confidence and hammer home the basics and perhaps even learn a little more.

I've chosen to go with PokerXfactor. I've always been a fan of the site, am a big Johnnybax fan and they've always been very accomodating. I emailed them to ask about rejoining and they kindly waived the signup fee for me as i was an old member so that saved me a few $. Now i've just got to find the time to sit down and watch some videos! I always find them a good thing to watch when i feel too tired or just not feeling up to grinding. Got to spend money to make money!

I'm considering having a look into trying to play some cash PLO and see how that goes. I've been considering it for a while but never stick at it so i won't set any big goals just yet but i plan on having a dabble in some low stakes PLO, watch a few training videos and hopefully give myself a shot at being able to make some $ from cash games for a change. My main reason for this is that i want to have the most flexible schedule i can so cash obviously allows this. I think should help my all round game as well though so it cant hurt!

I'll leave you on a lighter note - Pokerstars banned TV advert. Its hardly surprising why it was banned  but it still made me laugh as i didn't see where it was going until the end message

Bye bye bankroll :(

The last couple days have been pretty vile. Im used to running bad and downswings in poker but this month has been super frustrating and rather depressing! Unless something turns around this afternoon, i look set to be heading for a losing month - only my 2nd or 3rd ever!

I decided to try to grind the Super Turbos on Full Tilt as they looked fun, were flexible which is what i wanted (i seem to suck at cash so this was the next best thing) and i think my short stack ninja play is one of the best parts of my game. They seemed ideal. I never played on Full Tilt really so just transferred $150 across and started out at the $5 level. They proved a bit of a grind and i didn't fly through them as quickly as id expected but i did make steady profit. Once i hit $300 i moved up to the $10 stakes. Equally as bad play everywhere you look yet frustratingly i was struggling to capitalise. I had the odd short upswing but that was regularly followed by a similar size downswing. Just couldn't get anything going but struggled on :) Got up to about $450 bankroll and was feeling semi happy about how things were progressing but then it all went wrong. In the space of about 50 games i barely cashed in any and simply couldn't win regardless how good i got it in. Endless beats and my graph and bankroll both quickly became a write off. Its not losing the $ that hurts - its the time and effort i put in to build it and then the speed and severity it got wiped out! Don't think i've experienced such a violent swing before since i started playing 4 years ago (in severity terms as opposed the $).

I guess i should've quickly moved back to the $5 games but i really couldn't face grinding them again. I was only playing them as i wanted the 'fun' and satisfaction of building my roll up from the bottom (well almost the bottom).

Not sure what to do now though. I don't want to stop playing these super turbos as i'm sure i can beat them for a decent roi (probably about 8% roi at lower limits) but equally don't really feel like it after the last couple days.

Im struggling a little as well with not having Table Ninja on the mac. Im really reluctant to run dual boot and play on windows as i think it defeats the point of having a mac but equally i could really do with having table ninja. I've also got to put up with PT3 which sucks compared to Hold'em Manager. And despite of all of this - i still maintain the macs better :)

Anyway - any words of sympathy and support are much appreciated at this difficult time for me... lol

Lets hope i can turn this around and quickly...

New Pc, Ireland, grind time.... Maybe

G'day,

Apologies for my lack of recent updates - I've had nothing to report.
As i may have moaned about previously, My PC has been playing up for the last 3 months! I only bought it in Jan so its still under warranty but they're pretty useless. They tried to blame my dual monitors then blamed the graphics card (so i bought a new one), then blamed my PSU (so i bought a new one... still no success). Most recently they've come out and replaced the Hard drive... I'm waiting on them to send me out some recovery discs now to reboot it. I got fed up of waiting though so decided to go out and buy a new 27" iMac. I'm pretty surprised by how much i like it...  It's annoying how programs like Hold'em Manager and Table Ninja aren't compatible but its general efficiency makes up for these not working.
Thanks to this purchase i'm now £1400 lighter and its £1400 i couldn't really afford to spend so now i've got to play some pokerz to make the money back!

This is where i hit my problem - i don't know what to play! I only have a small bankroll now so have to grind it back up again. Im not sure i can face the variance and drag of the mtt grind at the moment but i'm not sure theres enough $ in the super turbos on Full Tilt. They seem like a proper grind with only about 3% roi possible even at low stakes as well as the high variance? hmm. Feel free to offer advice. Im sure ill find my niche again soon though :)

Went to Ireland last weekend on a flat out weekend of Ice hockey and drinking with the lads. Flew out of Bristol at midday on Saturday, landed in Belfast an hour later, checked into the hotel, went for some lunch then walked over to the ice rink/bar and had already had 5 pints before the game and another 2 during (bare in mind i hardly ever drink! lol). Cardiff lost the match to Belfast 5-2 but i was expecting to lose - Id actually bet against Cardiff so made myself some £ while out there too... lol
Then headed into Belfast town for a night out - think we went to the wrong part of town though as it wasn't the best! Wasn't awful either though. Back in the hotel by 2.30am so watched the qualifying for the Japanese gp before catching a few hours sleep. Flew home Sunday at 2pm, back at home by 4 then had to leave an hour later to get down the Ice Rink for Cardiffs home game against Dundee! Flat out weekend, just the way i like it. A few pics below...
Planning on going back for the match in Feb i think.

Think its worth mentioning too - I got a parking ticket a few weeks ago for parking on a cycle path. Id parked in the same place every time i go to hockey for the past 2 years but the council decided to make a point of booking everyone one evening. I wasn't overly impressed so appealed claiming it wasn't clearly signposted (semi true) and requested a copy of the order used giving it legal status.
Got a letter back yesterday saying i was parked illegally but that they're going to let me off (they clearly don't have an order...) which feels like a nice victory. Similar to winning a mtt... :) Result!

WCOOP & quick August review.

The WCOOP is underway at Stars as we speak. As much as I'd like to be taking part, the buy ins are a little large for my very depleted bankroll - Mainly through lack of play the last few months but continuing to dip into the roll to pay the bills! I'm hoping to satellite into some shortly though!
 
As far as August went, another very dry month. Finished the month +$164.28. I found myself playing $20 plo8 cash towards the end of the month just for fun. PLO8 seems to be the only form of poker i feel comfortable playing in cash format (except razz... Ive done quite well in the razz games on Full Tilt in the past!). I wont bother going into detail on my games as its not really worth it. Ive literally just had a table or two open while watching tv a few evenings...
 
So far in September I've played a bit more. Up until today it was just an hour or so each evening for fun. Ive been stuck at home all day today though as my cars having some work done on it so its off the road. I put in almost 6 hours of 'grinding' low stakes sngs/mtts on Pacific.
It went terribly! Ran awfully, unable to win regardless how well i get it in. I'll refrain from moaning too much though :)
Ended the day -$97.70, well below EV. Still up $32 for the month though! That'll buy me lots... lol

Pacific Poker?!

Evening,

I've been continuing my long run of lack of motivation as you've probably guessed from my lack of blog posts. The only play I've been doing is on Pacific Poker building my roll up slowly just for fun. playing no more than 4 tables at a time... mainly 10 man turbo sngs and plo8 cash when it runs! I wish it ran a bit more often!

On that note... Any idea of the best site for plo8? I want somewhere that gets decent amount of games but still fishy. I'm thinking Party poker but the volumes not great there either...

I quite like the new pacific software but holdem manager had an error which meant i had no hud in mtts or sngs. Typically, the same day HM released an upgrade to fix the hud problem but Pacific released a software update which has been a nightmare! every 30 mins or so, usually when a hand shows down, the software suddenly freezes so i have to close it and restart it quickly so as not to time out/miss a hand! Very annoying.
I've emailed support but received no reply other than their automated rubbish.

I also witnessed what i class as obvious collusion against me in a 10 man turbo sng. 3 Argentinian players who i believe were working together. chip dumping and soft playing each other when 3 handed against me (well 2 or them - the other one had been knocked out earlier). I still managed to beat them but still its unacceptable! I emailed Pacific details of the Incident, have twice requested info on their outcome to the investigation without as much as a reply off them! I'm not sure they actually have any support staff!

How can poker sites treat their 'valued' customers this way?

To top it off...

3 card plo8 anyone?

Admittedly it was immediately after the software had crashed and been restarted but still. I was in the hand in time to have an option to raise, fold call etc yet with only 3 cards i feel my account is slightly rigged... lol

Cheers Pacific! Luckily for you I'm stupid enough to keep playing there for the time being although I'm not sure how long ill stick it out!

I'm dreading trying to cash out! They'll no doubt expect me to pass a university level exam paper on astro physic or something before they give me my funds!

At least there are plenty of fish there...