Christmas update

These stats are from two poker rooms I'm currently playing at:

PokerStars 0.25/0.5 6max
Hands: 8307
WinRate: +3.39 BB/100
Rake: 2.68 BB/100
MT ratio: 4.78
VPP earned: 747.78

Microgaming €0.5/€1 6max
Hands: 4368
WinRate: +1.77 BB/100
Rake: 3.04 BB/100
MT ratio: 2.73
Raked hands: 2005
Bonus cleared: $220

Playing limit on Stars

Smart Euro players don't play on Stars and FullTilt. They don't have good bonuses, rakeback and the competition is tough compared to other available networks/poker rooms. That's why I never played on Stars again after clearing the signup bonus. But this month, I decided to come back and try to earn FPPs while playing 0.25/0.5 shorthanded limit when there is no action on Microgaming network or the tables are not good enough. I knew it won't be easy to achieve even SilverStar and it would probably be a waste of time but I gave it a try and here are the results from the 5 days of playing 0.25/0.5 between 4 and 9 tables at the same time (MT ratio 5.4).


I did some calculations and comparisons and it looks like my current win rate of +9.4 BB/100 is equivalent to a win rate of roughly +0.94 BB/100 on 5/10 6max (in order to make the same amount of money like I did on 0.25/0.5). If I was playing 5/10, I assumed I would never play more than 3 tables at the same time so I wouldn't have played 4k hands in the same time but only 2k.

I know, 4k hands is a small sample, I could be on a heater, etc. Results are great, so let's hope I can keep the current win rate and become a Stars regular.

Flopped quads

One interesting hand from today's session:

€0.50/€1 Limit Holdem
6 Players

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is CO 8 8
UTG raises, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, BB 4-bets, UTG calls, Hero calls

Flop: 8 8 A (12.5 SB, 3 players)
BB bets, UTG raises, Hero 3-bets, BB calls, UTG 4-bets, Hero calls, BB calls

Turn: J (12.2 BB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets and is all-in, Hero calls, BB calls

River: T (15.1 BB, 3 players, 1 all-in)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero 4-bets, BB calls

Final Pot: 23.1 BB
UTG shows: 2 2
Hero shows: 8 8
BB shows: 10 10

In a 300h session today, I'm losing with full house, straight and three of a kind, I had only 1 flush and I still managed to win 35 BBs. I love this game!!

More graphs

Here is the PT graph from the period I mentioned yesterday, since october 16th. I've been playing on Prima network forever but I never had a nice upswing like this one.

Some interesting stats from the entire Prima/Microgaming sample, 26.3k hands:
Hit flop with pair: 1 in 9.6 (only when saw flop; should be 1 in 8.5)
Hit flop with 22-55: 1 in 11.9 (or 17 in 202)
Dealt AA: 104 (I've got dealt only 1 pair less times than AA, it was 22, dealt 103 times; should be 119)
Dealt KK: 145
Flopped something with AQs: 1 in 5.8 (or 12/70, should be 1 in 3.3)
Flopped something with AJs: 1 in 5.9 (or 15/89, should be 1 in 3.3)

Swine flu

Ever since that last update, I played only shorthanded fixed limit on Microgaming and Cake networks and was doing great. On Microgaming, I have 7.1k hands since October 16th and I'm running at +3.9 BB/100 playing 0.5€/1€ tables. Overall, I have +0.43 BB/100 on a 25.9k hand sample. Rake is 3.09 BB/100 (MGR 4.27 BB/100) so this win rate is actually good and I'm satisfied with it. This is my favorite network and I hope I won't run out of good bonuses any time soon.

I gave up on HUNL, at least for now. Its simple, no limit is not my game so I will have to play FL until it dries up completely. FullTilt gave me a $100 bonus so tried to play there for half an hour on 0.25/0.5 tables only to confirm what I already knew. There is no point for Euro players, especially FL players, to play there. The games are awful, so much worse than anywhere else, even Stars looks like a goldmine compared to FullTilt (at least 0.25/0.5 limit).

Almost forgot, I had a swine flu last week. I had a high temperature for 1 day with no other symptoms other than headache and that's it. Either my immune system is really good or this flu is no worse than a normal flu. To be honest, I'm disappointed, I expected it to be far worse :)

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.

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.