Thursday, October 15, 2009

Heads up no limit

Yesterday I had a good day at the HUNL tables. Finally. Plus 2 buy ins. It's not that great but I'm happy since it's a nice change to finally win something after losing all the time. I play on Party with only 6 BI bankroll which is not recommended, of course, but I don't want to make a deposit. To be honest, it's not recommended to play on Party at all because of their ridiculous rake. My goal is to feel the game and see if I'm good enough to play HUNL and then I can go somewhere else and play seriously. Right now I'm table selecting like mad, I play only shortstackers and really weak players who don't raise preflop and quitting everyone who raises their first 2-3 small blinds.

Overall, I'm 1 BI down after 2250 hands. I'm losing with three of a kind, mainly because of this hand:

SB - $15
Hero (BB) - $50.85

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 2 players) Hero is BB 3 3
SB calls, Hero checks

Flop: J T 3 ($1, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $1, Hero raises to $3, SB goes all-in $13.50, Hero calls $11.5

Turn: 6 ($30, 2 players)

River: K ($30, 2 players)

Final Pot: 9.5 BB
SB shows: A Q
Hero shows: 3 3

This was the only hand where I had trips and we went all-in.

Some interesting stats:
AA lost $15
AKs lost $15
JJ lost $27 (2 preflop all-ins, against Q3o and Q9o, lost both times; first against runner runner flush and second time he hit 2 Q, on flop and river)

Overall, I know I'm not playing well enough and to be honest, I'm not trying to study this game at all, just trying to feel the game since I don't have time to study poker right now. But I will, as soon as possible.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Downswing again

Ever since that royal flush I've got a month ago, I can't win anything. Not only on Cake but on other networks as well. It's like someone turned on the doomswitch for me. Watch the hands from Cake network I'm losing with since 5th september, sample size 3.3k hands:

AKs, AQs, AJo, AJs, ATs, A9s, A9o, A8s, A8o, A7s, KTs, KTo, QJs, QJo, QTs, QTo, JJ, JTs, JTo, J9s, J9o, TT, 99, 88....

Hit something on the flop:
AKs - 1/14
AQs - 0/6
KQs - 2/10
KJs - 1/11
QJs - 1/7

Nobody believed me I could run this awful but thanks to poker trackers last update, I can now import Cake hands to my database and finally prove everyone I'm not crazy.

September was supposed to be a great month for me but turned out to be a shit month. It was the 3rd biggest losing month in the last 4y. When I say losing, I mean losing by playing. Thanks to bonuses and rakeback, I'm still winning. I've actually won 2 times less money at the end of the month than what I've won in the first 4 days of the month, before that royal flush. Sick.

My friend switched from limit HU to no limit HU. He was doing pressure on me to switch to no limit HU so we could study together but I didn't want to, because I hate no limit. I have only 2 losing months in the last 4y and both times, I was playing no limit. But I couldn't win at limit so I gave it a try and went to Party HUNL 50 tables. I was running so hot I managed to earn 20 buy-ins in just a few days. I wish.

I played ~800 hands and here are the only 6 hands I went all-in preflop with:

QQ vs AJs, flop JJx
QQ vs 88, flop 8xx
KK vs AJs, flop Jxx-A
JJ vs Q9o, flop AQx
AQs vs K9o, flop J64-9
AKs vs Ad6c, flop QsTd2d-3d-4d

All-in performance graph says I've lost -$155 but my expected loss was only -$40. There is either something seriously wrong with my no limit game or I'm extremely unlucky. I hope its the first thing because I can do something about it once I identify the mistakes. If its the second thing, well, I'm doomed.