Actual poker discussion.

For the first time ever I'm going to actually type about definate poker strategy. Today I relearned the value of calling a raise with a small pocket pair, flopping a set, and cracking KK ($208 pot with 22, gotta love it). For future reference I will call this move "set mining" thanks to the article on pocketfives.com by the same name. This play is by far the most valuable in my playbook right now. So often you see people overplay top pair or an overpair and with a set you are only a 90% favorite going to the turn against an overpair and you have top pair drawing very thin. I would really suggest reading the article on p5 and using the strategy outlined there. Bobby thinks that 8-to-1 is not your true implied odds. Maybe something like 6-to-1 is more appropriate. Any way, the moral is to call raises with small pocket pairs in NLHE cash games. Trust me, it works.

I am also beginning to understand the concept of position in very real terms. We all know it is better to be in position, but until maybe a week or so ago I thought position was an added bonus to a good hand. Now I realize that position is the KEY to having a good hand and making money. Raising with AK and JJ under the gun (left of the big blind--aka UTG) is a thing of the past for me. It is very hard to continuation bet in 1st position. It is very hard to steal pots in 1st position. NLHE is an impossible game to beat from 1st position. That being said, I don't necessarily loosen up in late position either. I hate when people call raises with K10 offsuit because they were on the button. Position isn't an excuse to play rags--it is a tool you can use to make more money off big hands. I suggest slowplaying less in late position as well. You often will get called more when you bet from position because it looks like a steal attempt. If they are willing to call a bet with losing hands, you should give them the chance to do just that. I just fire away when I flop a hand in position because my "steal attempts" become value bets and profitable calls from my opponents.

Feel free to disagree with all of this. Just my $0.02.

Feeling famous

http://killerbees24.blogspot.com -- bookmark it now.

If you read this and enjoy it, you should check out Bobby's (last name withheld--too many autograph requests already) blog too. I feel like a poker celebrity being mentioned on a blog. He staked me $300 (not $400, Bibbles) which was the springboard for my current run. He is the one person I trust for poker advice and strategy on a consistent basis. Reading his shit will probably make you a better player (he has folded KK twice preflop in 24 hours for God's sake). He also will probably advise you on steriod use and the random walk that is the Stock Market. The only area of expertise I claim to hold over Bobby is in the area of male fragrance, but he's learning.

Today was a good day considering how much I played. Couldn't win a race in SNG's and didn't really have time for tables due to my dad making me do 3 hours of manual labor w/ my bro. I did make a good fold of JJ on the bubble of the tournament but God rewarded my patience the next hand by cracking my AA and sending me to the rail. Overall I had some ITM finishes but no 1st in sng's. My heads-up game is strong but I can't win a 80/20 all in to save my life so I have too many 2nd's and not enough 1st's. Cash games were back in the black $55 for 201 hands--finally a winning day! Tomorrow I am going shopping for some new summer clothes (female's company/advice welcome) and then golfing. No real plans, but it is a Friday night in Hemlock so I doubt I'll get to play a whole lot of hands. I plan on committing either Fri. or Sat. night to poker for the fish though, so I'll put in some hours this weekend for sure.

Needed some cash to start the summer off right so my roll current rests around the $1400 mark. Not a lot of room for error. Almost done with the FTP bonus, I think I am going to Party after that for cash games while keeping $100 or so on Stars for MTT's and SNG's when I feel like playing on 2 computers at once on the different sites. If you know of any easy bonuses at good sites (not KiwiPoker, Interplay, RoyalVegas etc.) I'd love to hear about them.

Go read Bobby's blog.

Thanks

This is simply to say that I had a terrible run over the last 24 hours. I suffered the worst string of beats/terrible plays I've had in awhile. If I didn't have AIM on I probably would have self-destructed or quit. Instead I have Bibbles telling me that I'll be fine. I catch a few monster pots at 1/2 NL and all the sudden I'm down $9 on the day instead of $300. I feel so much better.

It is amazing how quick your confidence falls. I know I am good enough to beat this game on a daily basis--shit I beat it almost every day this month. It always help to have someone calm you down after bad beats.

Back out of the red for today. These next 4 months are going to either make or break me as a poker player.

Hope y'all never have a run like I had.

Variance

Every poker player fears that word. Variance is the reason why every now and again a winning player has a sick losing session. Today's post is all bad beat whines. I apologize in advance.

KK vs. AQ. Flop is KJ10 and I even turned a diamond draw for added suspense. (Yes, I realize fully that he flopped the nuts)
QQ vs. AK all in on the board of AQJ4. Guess the river.
AA vs. Q10. Reraised to $14 preflop from the button. He called, flopped an open ender, and rivered his straight.
KK vs. 33. He "didn't believe me" and rivered his set.

Down $250+ and feeling pretty super duper.

Trying to decide where I'm playing after I finish this reload on Full Tilt. Stars loves me. Dise and Party are soft. Been killing Full Tilt. Lots of options, input appreciated.

Back home in Hemlock so I'll be playing full time now. Tried out 2 sites on 2 different computers side by side today, didn't work out too bad.

The ultimate cooler

862 hands and I've been involved in AA vs. KK five times (having AA only once--which was cracked). So far I've sucked out only once after making a really poor call of the 4th raise. The other times I've lost amounts ranging from $20 to $100 on these hands with only 1 other showdown. This has lead to a roller-coaster earnings kind of day (peaks being at -$129 and +$211).

Bobby and I have talked about KK/QQ preflop a lot and it has made me fold QQ quite a few times in tough spots. As soon as I can fold KK preflop I'll feel a lot better about my game. I always preach about getting away from one pair (especially over pairs)--time to listen to myself and wait for better spots to get my $$$ in. I hate being all in preflop in cash games without AA.

Oh yeah, my MTT game is so weak that I wish I could hide the tab from the lobby.

Can't wait to post about folding KK preflop now...

The basics

A lot of non-poker players ask me basic questions about playing poker online so I want to get a few basics out of the way.

I basically only play No Limit Hold Em (with some Pot Limit Omaha and Stud Hi/Lo). I usually play .50/1 but when I see a good table I'll sit 1/2. I usually play 4 tables but hopefully when I start playing full time I can up that to 6-8 tables. I play on the following sites (in order of preference): PokerStars, FullTiltPoker, Paradise Poker, and PartyPoker. I also am a sucker for 6/12 and 10/20 limit hold 'em at Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, MI (as well as the craps tables and video poker machines while I wait for 10/20 seats).

I use PokerOffice for tracking stats and PokerStove (and/or twodimes.net) for hand analysis. I keep pretty detailed stats from every session in spreadsheets.

I read articles and discussion on pocketfives.com every day. The wealth of knowledge from top ranked players (johnnybax, green plastic, mrsmokey1, zeejustin, etc.) there is nothing short of incredible. I also am a sucker for recpoker.com and twoplustwo.com too even though the posts are usually more amateur-ish.

I have read and reccomend the following books (in order of preference): The Little Green Book, Harrington on Hold 'Em I and II, The Theory of Poker, Hold 'Em for Advanced Players, Super System I and II.

Another important learning tool is talking to other players about hands and strategy. I will be the first to admit my game has plenty of holes and I'll take advice from anyone that can help fill them. If you ever want to chat I'm usually on AIM on InKevinWeTrust while I'm playing.

No poker today as I prepare for my final two exams and get ready to move home for the summer. Already reached the $3k milestone for April though, so the rest of the month's earnings are all unexpected anyway. I'll be on FTP tomorrow for as long as I can possibly play.

From the humblest of beginnings

The purpose of the blog is to chart my attempt to play poker as a job for the summer and prove my parents wrong that I can make 3 times as much on my ass in the basement than being someone's bitch. If you want some poker stories, hand histories, bad beat whines, and other poker related stuff keep reading.

Here is what has happened pre-blog.

After basically being broke to start the month I decided I either needed to get serious or quit playing because the bankroll swings were too much to handle. I had approx. $220 in my Stars account and after having a lot of success at .5/1 I hit a skid that left me doubting my ability and leaving me on the brink of quitting poker for awhile. I'm assuming Bobby will be the only one reading this for awhile, so thanks to Bobby's encouragement/teasing, I decided I needed to prove to myself I can play. Thanks bud.

I started playing $20+2 SNG's on Stars as my only form of poker. I could not believe how quickly my bankroll recovered. It was definitely a gamble playing with something like 9 buy-ins, but I wasn't about to grind $5+.50 SNG's. To date I've maintained an ROI of somewhere around 35.5% for over 50 SNG's--that number is insanely high and I know I can't maintain that level of success for long. Top pros like Green Plastic have written that 10-15% ROI is what top players can expect. Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

Then I made a good showing in back-to-back $5 w/ rebuys on Stars and had officially pumped my BR up to around $800. This is where I made the change over to .50/1 NL and haven't looked back. I put together the record shattering run of 14 straight winning days and aside from 2 rough days, I have been killing the games lately.

I hopped over to Party for a period of 2 days and cashed out $402 profit plus $35 in bonus. The competition is ridiculously soft, but on my shitty laptop the software is too aggravating. I am now playing full-time at FullTilt to clear the $300 in bonus I have coming (plus I'm biased to there software).

The plan to play poker as a job was hatched maybe 2 weeks ago when I decided that with some serious effort/time investment I can easily make $3k a month playing poker. I made somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500 working 35 hours a week last summer at a job I really didn't like. I figure that if this doesn't work out I'll swallow my pride and get a real job, but I really don't see that happening.

The next post will be more interesting and include atleast some poker discussion. I promise.